Terror, Elections and the Elephant in the Living Room

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Apr 15, 2016 at 05:36

Hi, Moh. Good to see you again. You said,

"What I was getting at is maybe you could judge the age by the cumulative amount of radioactive substance stored in the bones. So - after 10 years - you have X, after 50 years 5X and so on"

I never did any radiocarbon dating, but my understanding is that elements like carbon do not accumulate in the body: We replenish them when when we eat, drink and breath. This exchange of our bodily composition with the world around us stops when we die. The isotope ratio of carbon in our bones then begins to change because of decay of the C-14. The composition in the atmosphere, meanwhile, is assumed to be constant. That's a big assumption, of course; but that's the way it goes in science.

The Chernobyl example is a unique situation. Unlike C-14 in the atmosphere, the radioactive isotopes from the reactor melddown were unevenly distributed across the earth.

You said,

"I was just thinking while watching the news tonight (with the usual islamic atrocities from whichever continent you care to name) - how islam is like a big ponzi scheme, lots of devotees trying to hook people into it, so that they in turn can hook others . But there's nothing at the centre. No real wealth - just hopes of wealth."

All religions, including atheism, are like Ponzi schemes, in that they promise a reward that one can't lay hands on until he dies (atheism assures him that he will lay hands on precisely nothing -- which, for most people, is a better reward than the Bible offers to evildoers). Like Ponzi schemes, however, religions do impart rewards to the participants. In the case of the former, that reward is the money sent to the participants up until the network collapses.

In the case of religion, the reward comes from works, which are produced by faith. That is how the two differ. In the case of Islam, some of the their faith produces good works: the notion, for instance, that an all-seeing and all-knowing God will answer every deed can deter people from harming themselves and one another, just as it does in Judaism and Christianity. In the case of violent Jihad, however, no good is done to anyone and great harm is done to many.

Concerning eternal rewards, these are meted out by the one true God (the God of Israel) at the final judgment, according to one's works on earth. People who forgive wrongs done to them on earth, are forgiven in heaven; people who speak and live the ways of peace obtain peace; those who help the poor are given treasure; and those who practice violent Jihad are cast into eternal hellfire.

Thanks for the affirmation concerning moving to Australia. After I get my taxes done, I need to get to work renewing my passport. No government on earth is permanent; and any country can quickly become life-threatening to Jews, Israel sympathizers and Bible-believers -- as well as to others, such as political dissidents. It's better to be safe than sorry; and one needs to be prepared to move quickly.

I was just thinking today, how uprooted my generation has been in my family. Out of 15 of us (including spouses, in my wife's family and mine), only 5 of us lives in the state we were born in. In the mean, we live about 800 miles from home; with my wife and I living some 3000 miles away and our children and grandchildren more than twice that. We moved because of our jobs, violence in the places we left and our religion, in that order. I imagine most Americans have had a similar experience; but we don't go crying to the UN about it, or start intifadas. We just move, suffer a little, and start over again -- sometimes from scratch. That's just life.

If we're running out of history to muse on, I notice that we are living in pivotal times. First, I want to check to see if we're both on the same page concerning the shape of the world we live in:

1. There is just one great Empire in the world, which I will simply call The Empire. It contains the "Five Eyes" (US, Can, UK, Aust, NZ), NATO, EU, EFTA, Japan, Korea, Israel, Taiwan and Singapore; and has affiliated states in places like Afghanistan, Colombia, etc. Some countries would like to be part of it, It isn't a unified legal entity, like the People's Republic of China, nor even a single alliance such as the Collective Security Treaty Organizatin; but it has real military teeth, which it exercises collectively, and considerable freedom of movement of people and goods within its borders. Effectively, it is the modern equivalent of the Roman Empire; or in Biblical terms, "The Beast". You and I live in it.

2. Item #1 is the central factor in strategic relations. Even the "War on Terror" and the "War of Civilizations" are subservient to it. Russia and China are as close as they are, in order to maintain their mutual independence of The Empire. India is being insensibly drawn to join it. Personal feuds aside, Turkey, Isaral and Saudi Arabia are aligned with it; and Iran and Syria are aligned against it.

3. There has been a tremendous amount of activity this past year; and this will continue in the coming months; concerning factors drawing The Empire together and pulling it apart. Among these are 1. various Free Trade agreements: TPP, TTIP, CETA, etc.; 2. separatist tendencies: Grexit, Brexit, Catalonia; 3. tremendous economic pressures involving the stability of the Euro, the security of the Dollar as a reserve currency, interventions by central banks, etc. and 4. factors affecting freedom of movement: barbed wire and border checks arising in Schengen, the expiry of visa exemption reciprocity between the EU and the US and Canada. Also, 5. while The Empire seeks to expand, in places like the Ukraine, Syria and the "Pivot to Asia", it is being militarily confronted by the Russians and Chinese.

There are many news headlines and UN resolutions that fit into the above scenario. It's a big historical event, the "elephant in the living room" that not many seem to notice. It makes the Islamist terrorists and the US election, Trump and all, seem like mere footnotes.

That's all I have. I should go to bed soon. Shalom shalom :-)

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