Is The Cat Stevens, AKA Yusef Islam, Peace Train Real?

                                              Regarding attending and paying to see a Cat Stevens concert, do the research yourself and make your own decision. Do not live like a human lemming where ethics and morality are never taken into consideration in your entertainment choices. Make your own decisions regarding whether or not Cat Stevens is a sincere person wanting peace for all, or whether he changes who he is and what he represents in order to suit his commercial, monetary interests.
                                       
                                               
                                               

16 Years Of Failed Leadership, Iraq, Afghanistan And Two Presidents

                                          If only the United States had wise, ethical leadership. First there was George Bush, who learned nothing from the Vietnam war. The whole country has been made to suffer the price of arrogant elitists that were convinced they had the magical powers to transform Iraq into a pro western democracy. War destroys. It does not create. We were told that if we did not go to war, Saddam Hussein was about to get his hands on nuclear weapons that he would use. We were lied to, we unknowing people that did not have access to information other than what the elitists and the mindless press provided.
                                         After 9-11, the United States people were told their only obligation was to shop. Uninspiring, incompetent, arrogant leadership could not think of anything better. Later, George Bush proudly announced the war in Iraq was won, but in reality it was only the beginning of a war that persists to this day. When Iraq was initially occupied by the United States, order should have been restored immediately. Instead there was rioting and looting, which the too arrogant to be in touch with reality Rumsfeld declared was an expression of freedom. The mistakes of Iraq kept compounding each other. Baathist party civil servant employees, including teachers, were fired, providing an unemployed disenfranchised population ripe for the continuation of war.
                                         Enter Obama, who instead of addressing the chaos and mess George Bush and company left behind, chose a speedy withdrawal, knowing that there is a consequence for leaving behind a vacuum. It was not he and his band of incompetents that felt the consequence. Instead, it has been the hundreds of thousands of innocent people, including people from minority religions like the Yazidis, that have been the victims of genocide, mass rape, sexual slavery. The United States created a mess, and instead of restoring order, ran, leaving behind others to suffer in the ensuing chaos and violence.
                                            The United States lost focus in Afghanistan when it chose unnecessarily to go to war in Iraq. The Afghanistan war itself has been a series of mistakes for which, like Iraq, no one is held accountable. The Taliban was Saudi sponsored. Why was a full scale ground invasion necessary, as opposed to other steps that could have been taken? Why was no pressure brought upon the Saudis. who were the funders and sponsors of the Taliban, to say nothing of the fact that almost all the 9-11 terrorists were Saudis? More than 15 years later, the United States is caught in the quagmire of Afghanistan, with no end to the war in sight.
                                            Those political leaders still in power, regardless of the countries, that were advocates or cheerleaders for these wars, should no longer be in power. Yet some still are, because incompetents have a way of going on and on. The same applies for those fools in the media and elsewhere that should have raised concerns.
                                              Foolish and incompetent leadership only make matters worse in this day and age of nuclear proliferation and rising Islamic fanaticism, intolerance and terror.
                                         

Shia Iran And The Wahabis, Two Sides Of The Same Intolerant, Bloodthirsty Coin

                                             Sunni Muslims that follow the verses of the Quran that promote violence, intolerance, bigotry and terror, including Sunni Muslims that follow Wahhabism, are no different than Shia Muslims that embrace these same passages. There are differences between the two, but not in a way that is of benefit to the world. Shia and Sunni Muslims that embrace intolerance, bigotry, Jew hatred, violence, terror, the subjugation and destruction of those they consider inferior and infidels, are washing this world in blood and ensuring the destruction of humanity.  Russia and the United States should not be choosing sides in this religious divide, but they cannot stop themselves from putting their political differences before the greater good of humanity.
                                             

Nuclear Warfare Is Not Winnable And Not Survivable

                                              In the September edition of a well known science magazine, key questions about humanity's future were asked. One scientist addressed the chance homo sapiens will survive for the next 500 years. He asserted that even the biggest threats, nuclear war or ecological catastrophe, will not completely wipe out human beings. Regardless of the scientist's credentials, how is it possible to make such assertions?
                                               Regarding ecological catastrophy, no one knows for sure the tipping point at which time a degraded, contaminated environment will make human life on earth no longer survivable.
                                              Nuclear war is not survivable, unless it is conducted on a small scale, and even then millions will die. All out nuclear war is not survivable. Too many people are ignoring or underestimating the very real danger from nuclear weapons proliferation. If mankind goes down the nuclear warfare path, it will be the end of mankind.

The Liberal, Leftist, Far Right Acceptance Or Denial Of Islamic Terror And Violence

                                                 Many liberals like to dismiss the violent passages in the Quran by pointing to violent passages in the Old Testament  and other religious books. They want there to be moral equivalency, believing fairness and the need to display open mindedness trumps reality. But it is they who are not being fair, because the victims of Islamic violence are many, and the killing, raping, and taking young women and girls as sex slaves will not stop until there is reform and change in the Islamic world. Millions of Muslims are following the violent, not peaceful, verses in the Quran. Anyone can read the Quran themselves and see that there are verses that if followed lead to never ending war, slavery, rape, murder, crucifixion, amputations, violence and terror to expand Islam and subjugate or destroy the people of other religions. Other religions have had their reformations. Other religions are not following blindly the violent passages in their religious text. Unlike in the Quran, the violent passages in other religious texts are usually descriptions of what god did, not prescriptions for what people should do.
                                               Only in Islam are people following prescriptions to wage war against other religions and ensure that Islam dominates and subjugates or destroys the other religions. The fact that most Muslims do not follow these violent passages does not diminish the fact that enough Muslims do, and it is setting this world on fire. All of humanity, not just some, will not survive this hate driven religious war. Pretending it does not exist may make some people feel good, but it does not help the victims of this violence and terror, which happens to include many Muslims themselves.
                                                Leftist like to excuse and dismiss Islamic violence, because in their minds, all war, aggression and evil stems from an imperialistic United States and west, and everyone else are helpless victims. Their worshiped "victims" are never held accountable, even though Islamic imperialism has conquered much of the world. In the leftists eyes all murder, killing, raping and slavery is acceptable as long as it is not being done by the west.
                                                The extreme right shares the Islamist pathological hatred for Jews, so to them the Jews are responsible for Islamic terror and violence. Weak people need a scapegoat, and so their Jew hate comes as no surprise. Even though there are no Jews in south Thailand, south Philippines, Nigeria with Boko Haram, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and a thousand other places where there is Islamic war and terror, the weak minded, cowardly Jew haters still need to cling to their Jew is responsible for all ills narrative.
                                                 With most of the world unwilling to face the intolerance, bigotry, hate and violence running rampant in the Islamic world, millions of innocent people, including millions of Muslims, Jews, Christians, Yazidis, Bahais, and others will continue to suffer. At some point, if we continue down this trajectory, religious hatred and fanaticism will combine with nuclear weapons and it will be the end for humanity.

Islamist Manipulation Of Vulnerable People Into Believing Death By Suicide Murder Means Instant Resurrection

                                          Children, youth, deeply troubled and impressionable people that may be easy to convince are being manipulated and exploited, in some cases by their own parents, into believing that death does not exist and that there is instead instant resurrection to a magical paradise when they commit murder and suicide.
                                       
                   
                                         

Religions Are Man Made. Faith And Religion Are Not The Same. Religious Wars Are Dooming Humanity

                                               All religions are manmade.  A person can easily have faith but not follow a religion. When any religion insists it is the only right religion, then it becomes the recipe for conflict. When a religion insists it is the only right religion and therefore it is the religion that must dominate and subdue the others, it is the recipe for war.
                                            When people are confidant that only their beliefs are correct and right, and that they are therefore superior to others, it does not come from the righteousness of God or a higher power, but only from the selfishness of a human being.
                                             Religious wars are not survivable in a nuclear age. If we do not change course and become steadfast in resisting religious intolerance, domination and aggression, humanity will be doomed.

Ensuring National Parks Worldwide Are Protected-Saving Biodiversity

                             Biodiversity is collapsing as species after species becomes extinct or teeters towards extinction. It is called the sixth extinction, and it will not be avoided by ignoring it or by living in a dream world of lofty expectations divorced from reality. Loss of habitat, which is acknowledged as being the greatest driver of this extinction, is accelerating, not slowing.
                              This is a crisis that must move beyond the puny effort of a few private organizations. Besides the multiplicity of reasons why conservation organizations fail, the fact remains that even if most were entirely altruistic and not self serving, they are completely inadequate for the task at hand. The task at hand should be to save as much habitat as possible that contains the highest degree of biodiversity. Not only because such an effort is in the best interest of nature and wildlife, but because it is also in the best interest of people. People need to eat, breathe unpolluted air, be protected from the elements, drink clean fresh water. Destroying rainforests, coral reefs, mangroves, and other wilderness areas goes against these basic needs. Fish and other marine life, the most important food source for hundreds of millions of people, if not billions, need mangroves, coral reefs, clean oceans, rivers, lakes and waters.
                                One of humanity's best ideas, said by some to be the national park system, needs to be expanded worldwide to protect mangroves, coral reefs, rainforests and other wilderness areas. This must be an international effort by non corrupt governments that will assist third world countries that my not have the resources to protect their environment.
                                  National parks must mean something. They cannot continue to be what they are in far too many third word countries- namely parks on paper where the wildlife is decimated, along with the habitat. Governments must work cooperatively to ensure that resources are made available to secure and protect new and existing national parks worldwide, nature and marine reserves, and not just in the confines of a few developed countries. It is not enough that the national park system works in the United States and some other countries. It needs to work worldwide, especially in third world countries where the greatest amount of biodiversity exists.
                                    Protection means securing the boundaries of the parks and reserves, and making sure there is no encroachment by development interests, including logging, mining, tourist development, and so forth. Protection means ensuring that the parks are adequately patrolled and that wildlife is safe from hunting, trapping, and capture for the live trade in wildlife.
                                      The more humanity secures and protects nature, the more it ensures its own survival.
                             

Nation Of Islam, Selective Concern For Black Lives. Profiting From Hate And Victimization Narratives

                                           When I worked as a cop in what was then the largest housing project in the United States(which has since been torn down), I remember the Nation Of Islam being present at times for proselytizing, but not one single time standing up against the black on black violence that was running rampant and taking the lives of innocent people and gang members. The few times the Nation of Islam staged a walk in a different high crime area, it was always a big media event. If the cameras were not rolling, if there was no media coverage, then this group was absent. One ingratiating reporter from one of the Chicago based newspapers gave this group whatever free, fawning media coverage they wanted the few times they staged a high publicity walk. In the daily battle to save black lives from violence, I learned these groups could care less unless there was something they could gain and if the killing fit their hate and victimization narrative.
                                          Some Nation of Islam members were respectful in their conversations. Others were impossible to converse with in that their hatred for white people, and Jews in particular, knew no bounds.
                                            Hate is a business. Mix hate with religion, and you get inexplicable tax free status and a license to visit disenfranchised populations, like in jails, prisons and some schools, to convert more people to the ideology of hate.
                                              Free speech is one thing, but granting religious tax free status and the unfettered right to proselytize for any so called religious group that espouses hate is plain stupid. Too bad we allow our own throats to be cut.
                                              Promoting hatred, rage and anger, and blaming another race, religion or ethnicity for all the ills in the world, makes a few people very rich, but it does not create self sufficiency, freedom or independence. Instead, it does nothing but create dependency and keeps people dumb, downtrodden and too often brainwashed.
                                               Why hate groups using religion to promote their hate platforms are allowed to flourish is beyond comprehension. Take away tax free status. Take away media coverage and legitimacy to all hate groups including whiny spoiled fools the likes of the rich (rich  from Jew hate, which is a multi million dollar industry) white racist David ( as he travels back and forth to Iran, no different than the American traitors that glorified Nazi Germany).
                                                Real men do not need, and do not use, scapegoats.
                                         

40 Year Proven Advice On the Stock Market, And The Fed Keeps The Bubble Going

                                   An article in the news today concerns a professor who has advised for some 40 years that the best way to invest is in low cost index mutual funds. Buying the market over time in index funds beats the overwhelming majority of actively managed funds and most everyone and everything else. The trillion dollar financial investment industry consisting of brokers, analysts, media pundits, loud mouth television personalities, and so forth, some of whom have financially ruined people, do not want their party to end. For the person that wants a life and that has no interest in the stock market, avoid all the noise and follow the simple advice of dollar cost averaging and buying the market in low cost index mutual funds or index etfs. Unless someone has a passion for the market, and even then it does not mean you will come out ahead, the best course for many is the simplest, least expensive course.
                                     For young people, there is the luxury of time to make up for market downturns. For older people, you better pray the federal reserve and other policy makers have not created the mother of all bubbles by their reckless disregard of reality.

The Premise Of Half Earth And How Well Conservation Is Working

                                  Devoting half of the earth to nature, as a prestigious scientist has proposed, is one of those great ideas that makes many people feel good. If a layperson proposed such an idea, no credibility would be attached. Ideas that are not achievable get attention when a person has the right credentials and pedigree, but attention is far different than action.
                                  The earth is in serious trouble. Biodiversity is crashing. The environment is being degraded and poisoned. Everyday more habitat is being lost by the crush of human expansion and activity. If half of the earth needs to be set aside to save biodiversity and humanity itself, how is such a thing possible when daily more and more is being lost? (To say nothing of nuclear proliferation, war, terror, destructive and murderous religious fanaticism, and more).
                                    In answer to the question how well is conservation working, there is little evidence to suggest very well. Even the scientist behind the half earth concept acknowledges conservation falls far short of what is necessary to save the natural world. What evidence is there that the conservation movement has slowed the extinction rate, other than a few studies from a number of years ago to support this premise? If there was greater accountability and effectiveness, far many more species would have been saved.
                                     It is very possible that conservation failures, conservation ineffectiveness, the failure to hold conservation and wildlife organizations accountable, have lulled people into a false sense of complacency, and prevented far more effective interventions and programs from ever taking hold. Perhaps the conservation movement is held to such a ridiculously low standard that even a minimal amount of success appears as an accomplishment.
                                     A rare rainforest and  highly endangered wildlife were destroyed, (just one example among many) under the very eyes of scientists, naturalists, conservation organizations, that were great with meetings, motions, scientific papers, conferences, lofty words. Unless, and until, conservation, wildlife, and animal welfare organizations are held accountable, until there is critical scrutiny as to their actual effectiveness, conservation failures will far exceed conservation successes.
                                      Overpopulation is not slowing in parts of the world with the greatest biodiversity. Is there one single conservation organization willing to take on this politically charged issue?  Habitat will continue to be lost under the sheer weight of humanity.
                                       If conservation and wildlife organizations continue to be self serving entities, how is it remotely possible for half earth to come anywhere close to being achieved?
                                 

African Elephants, Poaching, Ivory, Overpopulation And Habitat Loss; Tackled By A World Conservation Congress?

                                                    The recent world conservation congress that took place in the not so inexpensive city of Honolulu came up with some very impressive paper accomplishments. At least 85 motions were approved, and so animals and nature can rest assure that they are now properly protected. One senior conservation official proclaimed that elephants have had enough of the ivory trade. It is good that the conservation congress took place, because a month ago, before the conference, when elephants were still being slaughtered for their ivory, elephants apparently were not ready to make such an announcement.
                                                     There are over a billion people living in Africa, one of the fastest growing populations in the world. Was there one single motion that addressed overpopulation and the need to provide safe family planning to impoverished women? Overpopulation is a conservation concern. Overpopulation is not a conservation organization concern. There is a difference. Overpopulation contributes to environmental depletion. Conservation and animal type organization's coffers are far from depleted..
                                                     Declaring that the trade in ivory is illegal does not make the trade in ivory go away. Black markets are not easy things to stop, and newly passed, or even old, laws and agreements on paper may have no impact on the huge ivory black market. In fact, if not carefully thought out, wrong decisions and actions can cause the black market to grow.
                                                      The enormous loss of habitat from the huge growing human population does not allow for room for megafauna. The same reasons bison numbers and range are but a tiny fraction of their historic numbers and range in North America are the same reasons that are dooming large species of wildlife like elephants, lions, giraffes, and so forth.
                                                         Family planning and overpopulation should be important conservation concerns, but they are not. Conservation organizations and animal organizations are about making donors feel good, and not about taking principled stands and positions.
                                                           Everyone concerned with wildlife and conservation seems to have some conservation organization or animal organization that they are convinced is doing everything right. Having only the organizations marketing, propaganda, and some fawning media outlet upon which to rely, there continues to be enormous conservation failures, and enormous failure in simply exposing the failures of conservation organizations and their propaganda and claims.
                                                            One day, while there is still a little of nature and wildlife left, people might finally get serious and move conservation into the hands of capable, non corrupt governments that form coalitions to save and protect the world's diminishing wilderness and wildlife. Governments that will do everything they can, cooperatively, to ensure that adequate resources are in place to protect incredibly important biodiversity hotspots and world heritage places like the Congo, the Amazon, the few remaining rainforest of the Philippines, the increasingly rare rainforest of Borneo, the rest of Asia, and the world.
                                                        Meetings, expensive conferences, meaningless declarations, passed motions, amendments, unenforceable laws on paper, do not save wildlife and habitat. They do make people feel good and important. It is also great publicity and great for fund raising. And of course, a trip to Hawaii never hurts.

Resisting Islamic Intolerance, Terror And Violence, Not Islam

                                       War, death and destruction are the outcomes from any religion, or system of beliefs, that consists of one, some or all of the following:  1. Religious superiority and the belief that all other religions are inferior and the people of other religions must be either subjugated, destroyed, forcibly converted, murdered, taken as slaves, or at best reduced to second class status.  2. Intolerance and bigotry.  3. War, violence and terrorism are accepted, encouraged and promoted as the way to expand the religion, resolve conflict and achieve religious and political goals, including in the subjugation of the people of other religions. 4. Deliberating attacking, harming, maiming and killing civilians is accepted and promoted. 5. Casting terror is an obligation. 6. Denial of responsibility for violence and terrorism by always blaming the other side. 7. Using victim hood as the excuse for one's own cruelty and terror.
                                         An author that writes about how to fight against jihadists makes the point that there are moderate Islamic nations that are allies in this fight. The  nations the author considers moderate are full of hate and incitement against certain minority religions. There is no such thing as an intolerant hate filled moderate.
                                         We must stop minimizing the enormous problem of Islamic intolerance, superiority, and jihad (i.e. when jihad is the pursuit of war, terror and violence, not internal struggle), all of which are causing rivers of blood to flow. We need to stop accepting, excusing, ignoring, promoting or condoning the intolerance, hatred and violence running rampant in the Islamic world. All Muslims, Islamic groups and Islamic organizations that reject intolerance, terrorism and violence must be fully supported.  Closing our eyes to the reality that there are Muslims, Islamic organizations and Islamic governments that embrace the violent spread of Islam, intolerance and bigotry towards other religions, subjugation of non Muslims, and the belief that Islam is supreme and must dominate and rule, will not make the killing go away.
                                       
                                     
                                 

Political Correctness - License To Bully, Yale University Halloween Costumes Incident

                                            In the news recently were reports and videos about an incident at Yale, an Ivy league university, in which a group of students confronted a professor regarding an email written by his wife regarding halloween costumes. The level of anger and emotion seemed incredibly disproportionate to the significance of the issue that riled up the students. This is a world on fire with war, intolerance, cruelty and terrorism. A world with massive poverty and environmental depletion, where so many suffer so profoundly. Hopefully this incident is nothing more than the immaturity that comes from being young and perhaps spoiled, and one day will be outgrown. (These students, captured on video in this day and age where all things good or bad are captured, should not be judged harshly.) In a way the incident is unsurprising, considering how in many universities and colleges, the mantra is political correctness, not compassion, tolerance, respect and reasonableness. Universities and schools have become places of indoctrination.
                                              When humans form a mob, often the worst in human nature comes out. This did not constitute a mob, or if it did, it was tame. People on the sidelines watching humans behaving badly too often stand there like lumps on a log. This is not about agreeing or disagreeing with the issue of concern to the group or mob. It is about standing up against those that berate and bully another. It would have been nice if just one student, no matter their position on the halloween costumes, tried to at least calm the situation down and not let the professor be verbally ganged up upon.

The Bodies Of Three Courageous Americans Killed While Fighting With The Kurds Against ISIS Returned Home

                                        The bodies of three Americans killed while fighting with the Kurds against the Islamic State (ISIS) were returned recently to their families. These men made the ultimate sacrifice fighting against a genocidal Islamist organization that has raped and murdered untold thousands, and that has taken as sex slaves thousands of Yazidi women and girls, most of whom are still held captive.  These three men looked at the face of evil and took a stand. Imagine the guts it takes to go fight an evil enemy, knowing that unlike being part of the U.S. military, there will be no death benefits, no medical and disability benefits, no benefits or efforts made made if killed, captured, wounded, disabled and crippled. The courage it takes to go on your own to a war torn foreign land and fight with the Kurds, one of the few true U.S. allies in the middle east, against a genocidal enemy.

Black Lives Matter, Lawlessness And Murder In Chicago And Elsewhere

                                                   In the early to mid 1990's, homicide rates in Chicago were significantly higher than they are now. Crack cocaine had hit the streets of Chicago, and gangs killed each other to establish and control territory. Controlling an area meant controlling the lucrative drug trade, which cheap and highly addictive crack cocaine greatly expanded. As the body count and death toll from the gang wars increased, the black racist and politically correct crowd remained typically uninvolved because in their narrow, selfish world there was nothing they could exploit or gain from black on black violence.
                                                    It was clear gangs, not the police, controlled the housing projects and high crime neighborhoods. Someone suggested bringing in the national guards to the Robert Taylor Homes, the site of vicious off and on gang wars, which at the time was the largest housing project in the United States, three times bigger than the better known Cabrini Green Housing Project. ( All of the large Chicago based housing projects have been torn down, which is one reason homicide rates are lower in Chicago now than they were back then). But the idea was shot down, allegedly because of the appearance it would give of occupation. Lawlessness was acceptable, but political incorrectness, real or not, was not. Had the national guard been brought in, there is no doubt children and teenagers would be alive today that were murdered then.
                                                   Fast forward to the present. Lawlessness and black on black crime continues to be ignored, and so the toll of those killed and crippled continues to climb. It is far too easy and convenient to ignore this massive elephant in the room and pretend that the only thing that exists are racist cops. In high crime, high levels of violence communities, the answer is not a cowed police department more concerned with political correctness than policing, but an engaged, actively patrolling and involved police department. Simplistic, distorted, even untrue narratives help ensure police departments do not reform and remain too often sanctuaries for the promotion, advancement and placement of cronies and clout heavy incompetents. Better policing also means that cops belong on the streets, not in unnecessary paperwork, administrative and do nothing positions. Medically able cops, including the brass, belong in the field. Passive, subdued, or uninvolved police contribute to higher, not lower, homicide rates
                                                   Irresponsible fathers of all races that have children they do not take care of should pay for their recklessness. This recklessness contributes to the violence and lawlessness.
                                                   Racism exists. But each individual case when police shoot must be examined on its own merits. Cops have thousands upon thousands of interactions daily with violent people. It is disingenuous to assume that when police do shoot, it is racism that is the driving motive.
                                                   For every police shooting, of which far more are justified than not, there are thousands of shootings by criminals, gang bangers and other violent people. Focusing only on the tiny number of police shootings that exist in proportion to the high number of black on black shootings, and justifying the complete disregard for the thousands upon thousands of black lives lost by black on black crime with the flimsy excuse that one is racist institutional murder and the other is not is plain nonsense and a cop out.
                                                    Lawlessness and violence that continues to be ignored, condoned, excused, and accepted, has taken untold numbers of lives and will continue to do so. The problem is that few have the guts to stand up against it. It is easier to find a softer, more politically correct target.
                                             
                                                   
                                                 
                                                 

Federal Reserve-Mandate To Make The Stock Market go Up, No Matter What They Pretend Is Otherwise

                                    To the federal reserve- why not officially declare that interest rates will forever be kept artificially low, no matter what is the consequence, and cease to exist? Or be more aggressive in your present policy of inflating stock markets and real estate, and in punishing savers, renters and others (in the real world, not the fed imaginary world, there is skyrocketing inflation in the rental markets, health insurance and health care) by simply buying stocks.
                                    The potential for a slight rise in interest rates on Friday sent the markets downward. In typical manic depressive style, today it is suggested rates will continue to stay low, and the market recovered dramatically from its depression back into euphoria. When this bubble they are creating bursts, not a single person will be held accountable, just like in 2008.

The Decline Of Wilderness And Wildlife, The Rise Of The Worst In Humanity

                                             There is a ten per cent decline in wilderness areas since the 1990's, according to recent news articles. One scientist is quoted as declaring this to be catastrophic. Another scientist asserted that what is lost can never be replaced.
                                              Anyone that has been traveling the past twenty years, paying attention to wilderness areas, would easily have witnessed this decline. But is it ten per cent or is it more? The articles said the decline is 30 per cent in the Amazon and 14 per cent in the Congo. Other wilderness losses are supposedly higher or lower, with everything averaging out to ten per cent. I could not find anything referencing how they reached these conclusions. Maybe it was by satellite images showing forest loss. I have been in rainforests where the trees are still standing, but virtually everything that cannot fly has been wiped out. I do not think the loss in the Congo stands at only 14 per cent. Even if the trees are still standing, the thousands of people daily hunting, trapping, eating everything alive they can capture or kill, including primates, have ensured that the devastation to the Congo does not stand at a mere 14 per cent. And this is to say nothing of mining interests and how they poison the land and waters, even if trees in the surrounding areas are still standing.                                          
                                               A 30 per cent loss in the Amazon is disastrous. The Amazon is one of the lungs of the planet, and like the Congo and other tropical rainforests, it is one of the richest places in biodiversity. Other rainforests, important sources of biodiversity and more, in southeast Asia and elsewhere, are rapidly being destroyed. The Philippines, once covered in rainforest, has lost over 95 per cent of its forests, and what little is left, rather than being aggressively protected, is still being destroyed. Borneo, home to the orangutan, was a place where it was said an orangutan could go from one side of the large island to the other without ever touching the ground. Now the small amount of pristine forest that remains is still being destroyed. What was once vast rainforest is now mostly palm plantations (palm oil, the main product of the palm tree, contributes to heart disease).
                                                 If seven billion humans have caused this much damage, in which vast forest cover, mangroves, coral reefs, wildlife, sea grasses, marine life,  unpolluted rivers, waters and lands, are lost forever, how much worse will it be when soon there will be over ten billion of us?
                                                 Instead of waking up to how damaged is the world, and doing what we can to prevent further damage, we have instead a toxic mix of greed, selfishness and violence that will keep the damage going.
                                                   As nature and wilderness declines, a number of opportunistic organizations that have presented themselves as the answer to conservation, to wildlife protection, and even to animal cruelty and suffering, will continue exploiting these issues for their own gain. Their coffers have grown exponentially as animal suffering has exploded, and as wilderness and wildlife continues its steep decline. Greed and selfishness is not limited to those who in the pursuit of money do not care what is harmed.
                                                   Even worse than the vast numbers of people who are dismissive of the natural world or treat it like a sewer, are the vast numbers of people that believe they have no obligations to this world other than to kill in the name of their religion.  While the world is awash in a wave of killing in the name of religion, others excuse, justify, condone or ignore the violence, which makes it much worse. God and killing should never go together, but in this twisted, greedy, violent world, they do.
                                                   In the future, with deranged regimes and organizations chasing after nuclear weapons, with humanity destroying, exploiting, and failing to come to its senses, life will be very hard indeed for those humans living in a depleted, overcrowded world devoid of wilderness and compassion, but abundant with hate filled religious fanatics eager to kill on behalf of their demented perception of God.
                                             

CEO Predicts Stock Market Goes Up Because Nowhere Else For Money To Go

                                        A CEO of one of the major banks in the United States stated the stock market will go up because there are no alternative places to put money. He did not say the market is strong because the actual economy is strong and vibrant. Many pension funds, with obligations that far exceed assets, and other institutions, are not prepared to withstand a significant market decline. It is not reassuring that the economists, academics and financial experts that did so well not predicting or preventing the 2008 crash are still in charge.

President Of Indonesia Asserts Large Youth Population Of The Muslim World Is A Strength

                                       Recently at an economic conference, the president of Indonesia stated that the large, young population of the Muslim world is a strength. But is a young, rapidly growing population a strength or a weakness?  In Indonesia alone there is one of the world's highest rates of deforestation, along with poverty, overpopulation, significant environmental degradation and pollution. Young, fertile populations raised to not believe in birth control and that live in societies that offer few opportunities do not face bright futures.  Add to the mix the growing bigotry and intolerance in the Islamic world, along with the corrosive and spreading belief that violence,war and terrorism are the only ways to resolve conflicts, and the result is anything but a strength. In oil rich Islamic countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, oil has assisted in the unchecked growth internationally of fanaticism, intolerance, and bigotry. If ever the oil or need for it disappears, these countries will have nothing left but young populations filled with religious fanaticism and hate.
                                        A young and growing population is only of benefit if the population is educated, disciplined, tolerant, and willing to use their youth and talents to promote compassion, goodwill and peace in the world. If the president of Indonesia was thinking along these lines, then he is correct. But if he thinks that a young population, simply by virtue of their religious affiliation, will be of benefit to the world, then he is sadly mistaken.

The Human Need To Belong, A Strength And Fatal Weakness

                                           Humans are social beings with a powerful need to belong. This can work in the favor of humanity, or to its detriment. When belonging involves being mobilized against an enemy to hate and despise, expect years of war and violence.

The Plight Of Eastern Gorillas And 9000 "Conservationists" In Hawaiian Paradise

                                     According to the news today, there is a world conservation congress taking place in Honolulu, with over 9000 delegates attending from over 180 countries. This is an opportunity for conservation organizations to do what they do best, attend meetings, lament the sad state of affairs for many species (their attempt to elicit sympathy and more contributions), and exaggerate (to put it mildly) their accomplishments. They especially like to highlight species that draw maximum attention and sympathy, such as pandas, and in the case of this conference, eastern gorillas. Not because they can or will do anything productive to help, but because they know that if they give the appearance of concern, that is enough to keep them in business. And what a business conservation can be.
                                      In one of the news articles regarding this big conference, a senior official from one of the conservation organizations related that there must be a much greater investment on the ground if the eastern lowland gorilla is to survive. A much greater investment on the ground when? Already the eastern lowland gorilla has been decimated by habitat loss and hunting, and all the while its numbers have dramatically declined, why was there no investment on the ground? Everyone involved in the conservation of Congo region species and great apes knew this decimation has been going on for years.
                                         While the great ape species have been crashing, along with thousands of other species (some of which are of little or no interest to anyone, unfortunately) the fortunes of  a number of conservation groups associated with great apes and other wildlife have grown exponentially.  Furthermore, being associated with the right species, such as with chimpanzees, has turned a lucky few into superstars, with cult like followings. Sadly, few if any are willing to look critically at what these people and their organizations actually accomplish. Conservation organization failures are never revealed, and their alleged successes are never scrutinized. People, instead of facing hard truths, would rather be lulled into thinking their money in combination with these organizations saves certain species and improves the world.
                                             Conservation must move out of the hands of self serving conservation organizations, and into the hands of responsible governments that have the resources and ability to actually accomplish conservation. This is discussed at length in another blog. In the third world, including in places like the Congo, conservation groups have been enormously ineffective and rarely, if ever, held accountable.
                                                Back to the worldwide conservation congress or conference in Honolulu, one of the world's most expensive cities.... millions of dollars for expensive air travel, expensive hotels, expensive food in expensive restaurants (food in Hawaii is expensive), expensive rentals of conference halls and meeting places, expensive entertainment. Donors are probably unaware that even if their money does not help the eastern lowland gorilla or other species, at least there is a great trip to Hawaii for those poor suffering conservationists.
                                                  Shielded by eastern gorillas (and some other species), hiding behind their plight, 9000 or so "conservationists" are living large in one of the world's' most sought after vacation destinations.
 

Overpopulation: Continuing To Ignore The Role Of Religion

                                            There are those that assert that poor people in third world countries have large families in order to ensure that at least some of the children survive, and that if there is adequate health care, families will be satisfied with one or two children.
                                            It is not that simple. Religion is a powerful force, and some of the major religions in the world are against family planning. To ignore this huge elephant in the room or pretend it does not exist may be expedient, politically correct, or the easy thing to do, but it is also irresponsible.
                                           

The Stupidity And Shared Jew Hatred Of White Supremacists And Their Islamic Supremacist Allies, WW2 Taught Nothing

                                              The large influx of Muslim refugees into Europe has white supremacists in the United States and elsewhere convinced it is a Jewish plot to destroy Europe and the white race. In their demented eyes, white Jews are not really white, even though Jews belong to a religion, culture and ethnicity, not a race, and consist of people of all races. It is the supremacist typical pseudo science nonsense. It was not enough that Hitler's Jew hating obsession resulted in the near complete destruction of Europe with over 50 million dead, and millions more permanently disabled and disfigured from the war, including American soldiers and many others whose lives were ruined in order for Hitler to indulge his supremacist and Jew hating obsessions.
                                                 Humans, the most destructive species on the planet, seem incapable of learning from history, so the whole Jew hating thing is in full bloom again. No matter how many millions must die as the Jew haters pursue their dream of annihilating Jews, no matter how close to the complete annihilation of mankind we may go during this age of nuclear weapons. They would prefer to see thousands die just to see a few Jew dies, and for hundreds of millions to die just to see millions of Jews destroyed.
                                                The Islamic supremacists among the refugees share the white supremacists' hatred for the Jew, as do black supremacists. The white supremacists blame the wars in the middle east and the refugee flood into Europe on the Jews, because weaklings need simple answers and someone to blame. The Islamists among the refugees now in Europe are making the lives of many European Jews intolerable. Islamic supremacists and white supremacists want not only a Jew free Europe, but also a Jew free Israel and world. The white supremacists pretend to care about Europe, they pretend to care about the United States, they pretend to care about the white race, but like their demented dead Hitler, they are slaves only to their demented Jew hating obsession. All societies based on a foundation of hate, intolerance, and religious, racial or ethnic supremacy are destined to self destruct. This is why the Islamic world that embraces hatred, intolerance and supremacy is imploding, ravaged by war and violence.
                                                The nazis, the Japanese during WW2, brought the world to the brink of destruction. Now the world is going in that direction again, and this time with nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, there will be no coming back.
                                               

Islamic Supremacists, White Supremacists, Black Supremacists, The Crutch They Share In Common

                                   Islamic supremacists, white supremacists, black supremacists all need hate as a crutch, and have found in the Jew their crutch. Their anger, which they think is a sign of strength, is instead hysteria, and their violence is a sign of weakness. Cowardly, weak people need a target to hate. If there was no Jew, they would find one.

The Unaccountable Federal Reserve - Or The Art Of Kicking The Can Down The Road

                                          The federal reserve insists inflation is contained. But by what measurements? Medical costs are not contained. Medical insurance is expensive and beyond the reach of untold numbers of middle class people. Millions of people live one small step away from financial ruin if they have a medical crisis in their lives.
                                         If these people are so good at managing the economy, why did they not avoid the 2008 financial crisis? What other events will they miss? What negative events are their actions creating? What will be the consequence of keeping interest rates artificially low for so long? Now some are talking about going negative on interest rates, as some European countries have done.
                                          If in the end all they have done is create enormous bubbles in the stock and housing markets, and the whole thing comes crashing down again, there will be no tool at their disposal by which to respond. And if all they have done is punish savers, reward speculators, artificially inflate the stock and housing markets, will a single person be held accountable for when the whole thing unwinds?

Russian Television, Kremlin Lapdogs. Kleptocracies, Comparing Japan, Russia, U.S

                                          An article in the news today reported on countries where a small number of people own most of the country's wealth. Russia scored high on the list, a place where there is a high level of poverty and an incredible concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few. Strong middle classes, the foundation of a strong democracy, do not do well in oligarchies or anywhere where wealth, power and opportunity are limited to a small number of people.
                                          Japan scored well, a place where there is a strong middle class and where the rich do not own a disproportionate and unhealthy level of the country's wealth. In Japan, executives are reasonably compensated (unlike in the United states, where executive compensation has reached the stratosphere, as it is a grab whatever you can mentality, and to hell with everyone else). Executive compensation in Japan remains within reasonable proportion to what Japanese workers earn.
                                             Everywhere in the world where wealth and power, political and economic, are concentrated in the hands of a few, there is nothing but misery that results. Japan is doing something right. The United States, while it still has a strong middle class, which has been shrinking, needs to do everything it can to ensure the long term health of its middle class.
                                             Do not expect any of this news to be broadcast on a certain Russian television station, the mouthpiece of the Russian government. Interesting how the commentators and hosts on that station like to present themselves as progressives, seekers of truth and justice, as they provide endless spin always favorable towards Russian interests. Let us not forget their parade of fringe characters to whom they grant legitimacy regardless of how destructive and hate filled are their distorted lie filled messages and propaganda.
                                               One particular host, a fawning poor excuse for a man, will tell you Russian bombs are only flowers if the Kremlin tells him so. He and the other measly lot tow the Kremlin party line. What an ingratiating group of rear end kissing lemmings. What a shame that a free, independent press (unbeholden to special interests, unbeholden to corporate interests, unbeholden to governments, unbeholden to anyone) anywhere continues to be harder to find than the end of a rainbow.
                                                Meanwhile, regardless of whether it is in Russia, or in another country, wherever wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of a few, the outcome is always dismal.