Yes We Can, No He Can't

Maybe he toned down his rhetoric deliberately, maybe the occasion got to him (who could blame him for that?), whatever, the inauguration was stark in its assessment of what lies ahead for the USA. I thought that he even might go so far as to appeal for the help of the nation to fulfill his task, but that would be change too far, as was the antiquated ceremony itself, overloaded as it was with ridiculous and outdated religious references.
The danger with Obama, whether we like it or not, is the faith that millions have placed in him. He is only a man. He is not Jesus or Jedi or the second coming. If we believe he is then we have real trouble waiting round the corner. He is a man that can inspire each and every one of us to do what we have to do, not to sit around and wait for it to happen to us, but to make it happen. He can encourage us to each be the change we wish to see.
Can we solve the world's problems, in our own unique way, yes we can!
Should we play follow the leader and expect President Obama to sort them out?
Can he do that? No he can't.

Men Are Still Running The Show

Once upon a time an outspoken and angry young man said that Men were the cause of the world's problems. He said that the prisons were chock full of men, men were the generals that ordered the killings, men were the paedophiles and men were the dictators. Most men were not like this, but most people like this were men.

Nothing has changed, in spite of a 2 female US Secretary's of State, 1 female US Speaker of the House, 1 female UK Home Secretary, 1 female UK Deputy Prime Minister, 1 female German Chancellor, 1 female Israeli Foreign Minister (pictured), 1 female failed US VP candidate and 1 female X Factor winner. With all these cracks in the glass ceiling why has nothing changed, in fact, why are things getting worse?

All these women have one thing in common - they are surrounded and advised by men. They are figureheads, maybe even tokens, who have been indoctrinated in the religion of conformity. They are towing the line, where they should be breaking it. They belong to the Male's favourite invention, the gang, party, sect, religion, club, caucus, call it what you like.

If Tzipi Livni (pictured) becomes the next Prime Minister of Israel, little, by itself, will change. She seems in fact to be the chief protagonist in the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Instead, what we need are numbers of women permeating the corridors of power at every level, in every country throughout the world. There will only be peace when the leaders (of whatever sex) are advised and funded by a balanced body of men and women, with individual viewpoints and the courage to speak their mind.

There is much work left to do.

Conformity ultimately leads to Death

Watching the continuing 'Police enter Parliament without a warrant' saga unfold i am struck that this was always going to be so.
Parliament is criticised for being a 'talking shop' when quite the opposite is true. For countless years now MP's have abdicated their responsibilities and failed to expose government lies, half truths and evasions. They have been unwilling to think originally about anything and increasing rely on 'evidence' from outside bodies which they simply rubber stamp. The evidence comes of course from vested interests who are unable to do what Parliament is meant to do - view things in the round.
Parliament has been failed by its Members. It should never have come to this, so why did it and what can be done to remedy it? The easy answer is to blame New Labour - and they have much to answer for, but the problems are deeper.
The farcical ceremony of today's Queens Speech does very little to set the tone of Parliament as a place of radical thinking, drawing, as it does, on tradition, order and conformity. New arrivals are absolutely overawed by its size and ever present display of history. What would Winston Churchill possibly have to offer the world in 2008? Nothing. So why does his statue dominate the entrance to the Commons chamber? The Commons begins every day with prayers and debate is rigidly controlled by an array of men in suits, men in wigs and men in tights. And we all know what these uniforms promote - conformity, don't rock the boat or challenge the system. The operations and procedures of Parliament are so archaic and so far removed from the reality of everyday life that it is little wonder that the laws that emanate from there effect little practical improvement in our lives.
It is time for Parliament to be moved into the 21st century. The events of recent days are only the beginning of the upheaval that old establishment is going to have to undergo if any semblance of democracy is to survive in the UK. The institution is severely crippled, and without radical surgery will surely die, to be replaced with government by decree. And if you think life's bad now...

Planet Earth 2025

Futurology is normally a load of old rubbish - the authors arrogance and inability to stand aside from their own set of values often means the predictions come to nothing. Whatever came of those inventions foretold in Tomorrows World? And what about the paperless office? To say nothing of the shamefully low hit rates of The Economist World In series and Old Moores Alamanac!

However, the latest official briefings for President Obama are extremely interesting and show significant signs of reality creeping in to the process. Its conclusions are many, but include:

• A demonstrable link between terrorism, religious fundamentalism and a dominance in the host population of males under 30. It foretells that as a population ages so it turns away from these horrors. Good news.
  

• An acceptance that an enhanced role of women across the globe is likely to result in less military spending, more concern for social and environmental issues and more openness to new ideas (where the solutions to global problems will of course be found)

It's almost as if i wrote it myself?

But all this begs the question - when can start to create the future we each need, and not be locked into someone elses agenda?

Palin Derangement Syndrome

Imagine if this image were replaced by one of Obama.
The cries of 'racism' and 'evil' would fill the airwaves.
But when a man in Los Angeles hangs an effigy of Sarah Palin outside his house there's no problem, read news report here.
If you want to know exactly what's wrong with our world you need look no further than the witch hunt currently being conducted against the Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin. For a collection of examples go here, and here.
Granted, her party's policies aren't much good, but neither are her opponents - both parties are lacking in new ideas, just wanting to pursue more of the same.
Also, her religion isn't much good either, but nor are any of her opponents, they all quote the priest and the scientist as and when it suits them.
But, politics is not about policies (yes you read it correctly) it's about character.
Sarah Palin's pitch is this:
Government does not know best. People know best and should be allowed to move their own lives forward. Ordinary people know more than they are given credit for. Top notch education and a lifetime in a political bubble does not automatically bestow great ability.
And for this she is being crucified by the Obamedia (Obama supporters in the media, how interesting, there is no Wikipedia definiton?!) who believe that government always knows best. The elite that will run government and do run media in the USA plan to create a bureaucracy in order to 'help people'. But the nature of a bureaucracy (as we should know in the UK) is that the help gets lost behind endless targets, reports, meetings and consultants, and all that happens is the redistribution of suffering.
It'll all end in tears. McCain wins and the media shouts 'cheat' encouraging further Palin Derangement Syndrome. Obama wins and wait for the backlash when folks realise that he is not what is seems. Either way, America is more divided now than at any time since the Civil War. And the media bear a large responsibility for that.
What's the real lesson?
A black man or a white man is still a man, and that equals no change.
Still, everyone has to learn.
I'll blog on cheerier subjects after November 4th.

USA 2008 - The Verdict - Part 2 - Obama Biden

Barack Hussein Obama II - born 4th August 1961
Key Numerology Energies 2, 3, 4, 6

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr - born 20th November 1942
Key Numerology Energies - 1, 2, 4, 8

I've been told to make my posts punchier, so hear this... Obama will be a disaster.
It matters not whether the man in the Oval Office is black or white, the point is that he is still a man and in this case a weak and indecisive one. He is The One alright, The One who will abdicate decision making and policy to those around him who are stronger than he is.

Haven't we had enough of bright, well turned out young men who speak well to the converted? It always ends in disaster, but with a compliant media the result is almost a foregone conclusion. Don't say we were not warned. The evidence of his future failure is all there. He has dodgy associations with urban crooks, has no practical knowledge and experience, has written more books than he has laws and inspires love and adoration amongst followers. Sound familiar? I ain't joking, the parallels are scary to 1920's Germany. But then again, when the people of the greatest country in the history of the earth decide they can't be bothered anymore, that's what you land up with.

Obama will surely win the Presidency (although maybe there will be legal challenges), for he is in a Personal Year 22 - the year of supreme effort and ultimate achievement. But his ascension to the throne will mark the end of America as a force in the world. The country is already riven with hatred and divided along every possible fissure you could imagine. He does not have the inner strength to heal the country, so he had better get studied in the business of 'Decline Management.' And the rest of us had better start learning Chinese.

But there is hope - his election might just be the opportunity for people to realise that whenever we place power and responsibility for our lives in the hands of men they always let us down. The sooner we stop pretending to be surprised about this, and instead make a REAL change, the better we will all be.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Crisis? Maybe.
Meltdown? Probably.
Doom? For some.
End of Capitalism? Don't bank on it.

The whole system of banking is inherently dodgy. The principle on which it operates, fractional reserve banking, means that there is never enough money to go round if everybody wants theirs at the same time.
The whole system of markets has its suspect moments as well, but the problem we face now stems from the explosion in the use of derivatives - i.e. the buying and selling of things that don't really exist for prices far in excess of any possible value. Derivatives trading is like playing pass the parcel. And now the music has stopped.
So should be have seen this coming?
Well we did..
The richest man in the world, Warren Buffett, foresaw all the problems way back in 2002, and stayed well clear. I suppose that's why he's the richest man in the world. He couldn't be clearer:

".. even experienced investors and analysts encounter major problems in analyzing the financial condition of firms that are heavily involved with derivatives contracts. When I finish reading the long footnotes detailing the derivatives activities of major banks, the only thing I understand is that I don’t understand how much risk the institution is running.
The derivatives genie is now well out of the bottle, and these instruments will almost certainly multiply in variety and number until some event makes their toxicity clear. Knowledge of how dangerous they are has already permeated the electricity and gas businesses, in which the eruption of major troubles caused the use of derivatives to diminish dramatically. Elsewhere, however, the derivatives business continues to expand unchecked. Central banks and governments have so far found no effective way to control, or even monitor, the risks posed by these contracts.
In our view, however, derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal."

There are three things really going on here:
Wake up the people. It is still far preferable to own your own home, than to rent it privately or from the council. Not because it might or might not increase in value, but because if you own your own home you can do what you like within in, when you like. It is the individuals responsibility to take on debt they can afford, and if they can't afford it they pay the price. Blind belief in the ever spiralling price of your house, the ever cheaper cost of debt and the ever present obligation of someone else to sort out your mess should come to an end, and not a moment to soon. Capitalism is not a religion, although some worship it as such.
They hunt in packs. The goal of the men that run banks is to make money. The goal of the men that run hedge funds is to make money. The goal of the Treasury is to hang onto their money, the goal of the men in government is to post 'the 1000th consecutive quarter of economic growth.' No consideration of happiness, fulfillment or humanity, just money. But that's no different today than it was last week, last year, last decade - or next year.
The end of America. This is the real message of all this. In the land of the free, the government is going to end up owning the mortgages of half its citizens. Lenin would be laughing his head off. The trouble is America can't afford all this. The richest country that ever existed teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, its financial position shored up by the oil rich countries of the Middle East and China. Through the dubious instrument known as sovereign wealth funds, the Chinese government now owns the other half of US mortgages.
This is not the end of capitalism - but it is the end of freedom. The Chairman of Lloyds TSB said the chance to take over HBoS was the 'opportunity of a lifetime.' The propaganda machine makes it seems like he's doing us a favour, but actually he just sees how his enlarged company is going to clean up! This correction will concentrate power and wealth in the hands of the even fewer, who will then insist on regulation that stops this happening again, but also reinforces and entrenches their position.
Power, wealth and influence has drained away from America over the past decade. You may think that's a good thing, but consider the alternative. Capitalism is thriving in China, their people getting richer by the day, yet their people are not free, and they alone make the largest contribution to the destruction of the planet.
The sad fact is that none of this is any different today than it was yesterday, or last week, or even last year. Nothing has changed. It just continues to get worse.
What's the answer? I'm working on it...

The New Priesthood

Science. Witchcraft with clipboards.
Those were the words i heard at the weekend and they stayed with me, because this week the New Priesthood - scientists - are getting serious.
On Wednesday the Large Hadron Collider at CERN will be switched on in a attempt to recreate the conditions that existed at the very beginning of the universe, and to prove the existence or otherwise of God.
That's it then, hail science, the all conquering new religion. Full of certainty, full of predictability.
My arse.
The last time i had an argument about science versus mysticism i was confronted with the words ' I don't believe in psychics, i believe in science.' The person that said this failed to recognise the total contradiction of their own words.
Belief is the enemy here. Scientists have begun to believe their own hype and people just follow blindly the words 'proof' in the same way their ancestors followed the word 'holy'.
It'll all end in tears. But not this week. The experiment will prove nothing, and show nothing, but the ritual will be observed by many across the globe, including those who fear the results.
How is that anything other than a religion?