Some thinking on Europe's debt crisis

Category:

General Contents

This one I think, may be a provocative one...


Not being a politician or an expert of any sort in the matter of managing Europe's affairs, my reasoning will be somewhat more of a rough and crude thought, about the status of deep crisis that is gripping the European economy.




Having said all this in advance, now I will proceed with my illogical ways of thinking.

The current European crisis may be the result of a hidden agenda. And the driving force behind this agenda is the insatiable greed of a few rich and powerful over the masses. I do believe that this crisis was deliberately wanted and orchestrated, to create ideal conditions for later being able to conduce the European union and its whole economy on the same route of the capitalistic American model.

Practicing capitalism American style on the European nations will never work, and for sure will be the death of capitalism.

Big corporations, oligarchs and capitalism, go well hand in hand

European are jealous of their lifestyle, and the resulting values acquired after centuries of struggle to obtain more dignity in the workplace. They will fiercely defend what they have achieved and will not let egoistic big corporations and sold politicians, can dictate their lives in the name of capitalism.

If this occult maneuvering will ever succeed, then one of my cardinal convictions is that European Union will not be run as a democracy anymore, but more like of an oligarchy. Indeed, the fate of the European economy will be left on the hands of a few power-hungry oligarchs.

The minimum wages and reduced unions power, are their main targets

The relocating of large factories in the third-world countries due to low wages, is not working anymore. Now corporations want to impose new rules to facilitate their factories return. Of course, big corporations influence over policy of national interests can be easily redirected in their favor with the help of some complaisant politicians.

A couple of priorities in that hidden agenda in which I mentioned at the beginning:

• First priority - Reducing the European wages to a minimum to get closer to the capitalistic American model.

• Second priority - Giving more power to employers to fire workers on the spot, without any possible (or at least some diminished) intervention from unions.

Of course with this kind of priorities put on place, national economies will grow faster, but simply because the big companies will be the single ones profiting by cutting salaries together with the power of easily dismissing, at the only expense of workers.

To add to the equation, there is even more bad news. Now with the excuse of some European state being in financial crises, some experts to combat government debts due to excess government spending, have come out with the idea of implementing some severe austerity measures. Doing so, hitting even more severely the middle classes.

Some final thoughts - Days of reckoning

The line of rigor imposed by the global and European markets (at the expense of ordinary citizens), to be able to balance the negative national budgets, created as a result to a mixture of financial speculations, bad managements, greedy big corporations and by corrupted banking systems.

And yes, even banks are taking their share in this game of "arraffamento" - (grab all). People are generally fed up with how wealth is distributed across the different layers of society. Rich people getting richer and poor people getting poorer. I'm not predicting a specific event in the future, but the "occupy movements" taking place in Europe protesting against the banks, capitalism, and the austerity policy of the European Union could be a sign of times to come?

The dark side of the golden age thinking

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General Contents

There are people that find difficult to cope with the present and erroneously believe, if they could escape from the usual refrain of daily horrors (unemployment, wars, global warming, nuclear threats, terrorism, etc.) and be happier, only if they could have lived in an early time. A time in the golden age era.




Gee, my life would be so much better if I just could live in a past

In reality, their thinking it is more of a nostalgia. And this kind of nostalgia is denial, denial of a painful present.

These people see those days (in which themselves did not live personally,) through rose-colored glasses. Their misconception that a different period of history is better than the one they live in today, is a defect of the imaginary. Their romantic imaginary. A falsely reproduction of the imagination due mostly, at their personal sufferings, their fears and by their own anxieties.

Indeed when looking back at a particular period, they tend to focus instead solely on positive experiences (blocking out the negative ones) lived through films and history books which do not always reflect those grim realities experienced daily by the people who really tested them.

"The past tempts us, the present confuses us, the future frightens us"

Emperor Turhan - Babylon 5
(Written by J. Michael Straczynski)

The only problem with the past, is that they were not so golden

In fact, those gold ages had their dark sides. If we could just travel back into any particular period of history, we will see that people's lives were most of the times filled with miseries.

Population Reducing Catastrophes

Famines:

• 1272, 1277, 1283, 1292, 1311
• Great Famine of 1315-1317

Wars and civil disorders:

• Hundred Years War (1337-1453)
• local warfare caused destruction of crops, of houses, and of life in general

Pestilence and Disease:

• The Black Death (1347-1352)
• epidemic attributed to bubonic plague caused death of one-third to one-half of European population

If they were lucky enough to reach adulthood (because of the high infant mortality,) the life expectancy of an average man because of pestilences, famines, violent deaths, continuous wars and any other forms of natural or man-made calamities, was quite shortened.

Life expectancy variation over time

(wikipedia.org)

In short, their life span usually was not over 40 years old... I wonder, who is crazy enough to want to live in a past not so golden?

Yahoo, its public forum, and Robert Bentley apologies

Categories:

General Contents/Islam

Yesterday after I read an article on a Yahoo news, I tried twice to post a personal comment, and both times it was rejected. Thereafter, I got very disappointed! I couldn't understand why it was rejected. Solely, after I re-read the comment a couple of times I realized how simplistic, foolish, presumptuous and naive it really was...




Here a short extract from that article:

Ala. governor apologizes for remarks on Christians

By BOB JOHNSON, Associated Press Bob Johnson, Associated Press – Wed Jan 19, 7:41 pm ET

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Two days after being sworn in as Alabama governor, Robert Bentley apologized Wednesday for proclaiming to a Baptist church audience that only Christians were his brothers and sisters and vowed to work for people of all faiths and colors.

His comments Monday shocked and offended some believers of other faiths, but the backlash didn't seem to be a serious political wound for the retired dermatologist and Southern Baptist deacon.

(If you would like to read it in its entirety, here is the link: Ala. governor apologizes for remarks on Christians)

note: because of Yahoo has replaced the article with a new one, I giving you now a new link: Ala. governor apologizes for remarks on Christians

and here is my comment:

Why don't we start another war in the name of a God?

In conformity with our consciences and our personal beliefs, why don't we start another war by the name of our God or any other God?

This can be another of those perfect occasions (found right here, in this Yahoo's public forum) to start a new holy war between religions and civilizations.

Even though I am myself a Christian, I totally disagree with his untimely comments.

We must look at the fact objectively!

He can be as much as he likes a Christian, but only when he is in his private... If wants to be a political figure, he should discard his beliefs so that he can manage public affairs in a fairly balanced way.

We must learn from history!

Don't ever mix personal beliefs with politics or in a long term what we're going to get will be nothing but troubles!

For example: look at those Arabic countries where Islam has been, or it is an integrated part of their political system. Those same nations are now partially if not totally failed States!

The United States are modern and civil societies, just because, our political systems have been freed by ideological corruptions and religious poisonings...

Don't let religions be part or even to influence partially our political decisional affairs, ever!

All the above made me think really hard on the nature of my blogging experience. Especially when I want to run a blog, I should be more careful on what I write. Even when I know that I'm posting anonymously, I should be more considered with my opinions, be a bit more responsible, weigh the words that I use because I never know what damage they could cause.

Of course I can come out with some excuses, like I am not a professional writer, or I am not that smart and so on. But in the very end, none of them are valid excuses because of the commitment I took when I decided to start a blog. Particularly, toward any possible reader I had to be: responsible, frank and honest, not disregard blatantly what I wrote because that could lead me toward some unpleasant consequence, don't post any demented nonsense (Ok, maybe some ), and finally be balanced on my judgment.

I know! I am not that perfect ! Nevertheless, I'm trying to be the best blog writer I can be.

Now, going back to the comment I tried to post on Yahoo, I believe it was misunderstood. The first part of my comment wasn't an incitement to violence, and surely it wasn't a call for a holy war, but I was simple trying to be sarcastic on that argument!

Regarding the last part of my comment, where I wrote about Islam been an integrated part of the political systems in all the Arab countries, and that they are partially or totally failed States. The only reason I could think of, is that Yahoo got overly scandalized about that remark?

Right! Like the Alabama governor, Robert Bentley with his untimely comments I should now prostrate myself and apologize.

Alright, maybe I was a bit too crude and abrasive on the last part of my argument, but that it is so true! Islam isn't towards the Arabs that much beneficiary! Is it? Most of the Arab populations are uncultured, underdeveloped and generally poor.
That's why some of the Arab prostration, may lead some of them in the becoming Muslim fanatics, and therefore, in the name of Allah, martyrs = terrorists!

With that last part of my comment, I was trying to point out, the importance of separation between church and state as happens in any modern nation.

Now, I sorely regret to have written such stupid nonsense . Even though, they were all insanely irresponsible statements, Yahoo should have posted it anyway... Even when they were that bad, stupid and careless, and let decide its readers if they were worthy of some consideration ! I'm not trying to be controversial, neither to criticize Yahoo for its decision, but this is what I firmly believe in: the freedom of expression even when it isn't so pleasant or too foolish.

Some things are worth fighting for - worth dying for

Category:

General Contents

They may take our lives, but they'll never take our Freedom!

I was thinking to start my posting again by writing something like this: It has been a while since my last post, and I want to apologize for that! Shamefully, I should totally blame my lack of appetite for blogging not because of shortage on valid materials, but rather on my mental fatigue.

You see, hasn't been an easy task for me to post every other day. It has never been!




Today, I'll try to jump start it again by writing something, anything to revamp my old passion for blogging. Hopefully, this trick will restore it.

However, later I got to read an email from my contact form, which had a positive impact on me. These're the kinds of true incentives, which could help myself in going on with my blogging passion.

First I want to thank publicly Stephanie, for leaving a nice comment into my contact form:

Hi - I just wanted to say that I love your blog because these are the things that also interest me. I have long been a fighter. And have long had the misfortune of trying to understand people - why does the gang member stay, why does the mafia rule, why the Taliban and the KKK - where are the Good people who wish to fight for what is just and kind and important?
I don't know. I find myself repeatedly helping people to get up and out of their situations only to find them running back to what they know even if it destroys them. So Hats Off to people like Rita Atria - Viola Liuzzo - Madge Oberholtzer - And so forth and so on.
I would rather be a martyr than a victim, an accomplice or a pawn. Some things are worth fighting for - worth dying for. Thanks for sharing

My answer to this latter was:

I'd to wade through a dozen of email scams before I could get to a genuine one, yours! And for that, I thank you from the bottom of my hearth.

Now more than ever, I believe that these are the kind of comments, which may be worth the time I've spent for posting into my blog.

I totally agree with your concept, be a fighter rather than submit to inequalities, injustices, iniquities and so on... be a martyr than a victim, an accomplice or a pawn.
As you have mentioned my dear friend: Some things are worth fighting for - worth dying for.

Thank you again,
Red.eVolution

I end this here, by re-proposing myself again with a regenerated determination on keeping going with my blog and the promise to write more on subjects such as the lack of equality for some sectors of mankind, its unfairnesses, its morally objectionable behaviors and anything else pertaining with these matters.

Thank you all

Why God, why me?

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General Contents

Today, I would like much to entertain all of you in a long and very futile conversation on God and his preferred creation, a true product of perfection: the human being.

In this passionate and mindless conversation of mine, would I try to unravel the eternal and yet unsolved mystery on the human creation (if indeed there were any?).




Not, no really! It will be a simple questionnaire on the human existence and its earthly sufferings - and it'll be mostly based on the questionable rhetoric from religious teachings regarding its condition and existence in this planet, or it'll be more based on rationality ?

Maybe it will be a mix of both or else? At any rate, after that I'll be done with all of my nonsense, we'll see what will come out (hopefully everything will make sense ).

Why God, why me?

Throughout critical circumstances of my life, I was often used to cry:

Why God?
God why me?
God why I have to suffer?

...and of course, the most obvious one:

My God, what I have done to deserve it?

...I was looking very hard to find some answers (any answers) to questions from a God, who never gave any.

Today, in trying to help myself to find some answers, I'll use a kind of very eccentric criterion. In this criterion to formulate this my naive and somewhat crazy assumption, I'll be using (as usual) solely my incorrect reasoning. - Duh!

My religion has taught me, to invoke God in times of misery and sufferings by looking hard inside my own soul, my own spirituality. However, in the end, because my invocations were left unanswered by an indisposed God, and hence I felt alone and miserable. Consequentially, I was always led to the less spiritual part of myself, my brain (), in order to get some comfortable answering.

Maybe it's that there aren't really any valid reasons or religious explanations, for the existence of humanity or its sufferings? They are just there!


Perhaps, the human being was just dumped on this lonely planet not by a supreme being, but rather by violent random acts, which were generated from a constant expanding universe?

Do I have lost my faith, and thus I became an atheist or worst a sinner ? Maybe I have, or perhaps it's just that I'm still searching for a tiny speck of evidence that God really does exist?

After all, the perceiving and understanding for the mystery over the creation of mankind, isn't it perhaps an integral part of an elevated and rational mind? If yes, then why we need the help of a monotheistic religion () while coping with our daily doubts and misfortunes?

P.S. Gee, I've just realized that this article comes with too many maybe and also many question marks! I'm really sorry for all that.

Apparency of things versus their true quality

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General Contents

We live in a world where appearances matter more than qualities... It's sad but true! We are all easily deceived by the beauty of things and never go to the point of their true qualities.




An outer visual appearance of something or anything (this may be a non-animated object, as well be a living thing), has more importance than its true inner quality.

Of course, beauty is a quality by itself - it gives pleasure to the senses.

However, beauty and quality hardly ever go together. Because it's a formula that won't mix very well to combine a good final product.

Now, as a case in point, a very attractive or seductive looking woman, plus a good intellective quality (all that won't ruin the entire package. Will it? ) it's very hard to find in a single soul. Of course, it can (rarely) happen.

Another case in point is when some of us are easily infatuated with a fancy car - but what about the functional part of it? Will this fancy car take us safely to our destinations, or if it will work flawlessly without giving us any kind of trouble during our journey?

Probably, it will not without the functional qualities!

As you can see, beauty isn't synonymous with safety and reliability. Beauty is an optional not a requirement, in the other hand quality it is. In a real world quality should come before beauty, but that's not always the case.

The qualities of being dependable and durable in a car, for some people aren't first priorities. Appearances are on the top of their personal books.

For people happens the same thing, particularly in working places. If a guy or a girl, isn't visually very appealing, even though he/she possess qualities like knowledge or skills for a specified field, he/she will always come after the good looking guy/girl.

Unfair, but that's how the world goes around. Appearence has its own privileges upon a quality. A product or a human being is and always will be evaluated first by its appearance and later by its quality/capability to perform or produce.

After all, we all are after the beauty first. If we deny it, we are just plain liars.

Honor killings in a yesterday Sicily

Category:

Honor Killings

Marcello Mastroianni in Divorce, Italian Style

In a not so remote past, i delitti d'onore (honor killings) weren't only an exclusive prerogative of Muslim countries - Shamefully even in Italy until a few decades ago, honor killings were happening. Even though under different modalities, these were mainly occurring in the south of Italy, particularly in Sicily.




These honor killings were committed by enraged husbands, fathers or brothers, for the offense of an actual or perceived immoral behavior done by their wives, sisters, or mothers being punished for having tarnished their own reputation or that of their families, were not else than truly tribal justices. The killers were always justified for having defended their honor by the society at large.

Even the Italian laws were much lenient toward those crime committed under the false pretense of, "honor".

Article 587 Criminal Code Rocco
(In force since 1930 and abrogated with the law n.442 of 08/05/1981)

"Whoever causes the death of spouse, daughter or sister in the act when he discovers the unlawful sexual relations and the state of anger went from offense given your honor or his family, shall be punished by imprisonment three to seven years. The same punishment those who, in those circumstances, causes the death of the person who is in unlawful carnal relationship with the spouse, daughter or sister."

Most of the time the sentence was not more than 3 years. Often was under three years, and even to a not more of few months imprisonment.

*****

When I go back with my mind to many years ago, of when I was still living in my Sicily, I can clearly recall that some men were, indeed, wrongly inculcated in believing that they were the bosses and masters of their women, treating them as if they were properties (hopefully today, things have radically changed).

Fortunately, I didn't grow up with that same kind of mentality, just because, culturally I had the advantage of getting better educational knowledges. Thanks to alternatives that I was able to get along the way, my attitude toward women wasn't that of a high being dealing with a subspecies but of an equal partner in life. Alternatives such as: getting a college degree, traveling abroad a lot, and thus, getting to know other cultures.

And finally, a particular thanks to my sisters and my lovely other half, for having taught me that men aren't the dominant parts of humanity and that women are not the subordinate parts of it.

Today, I know very well that kind of Sicilian mentality toward women which was almost similar to those Muslim men of nowadays, in regard of their own women. Because of this reason I can now even understand, those Muslim men acting even worst with their own women because of honor. They have the same retrograde mentality that some Sicilian men were used to have.

In many ways the Sicilian mentality and the Muslim mentality, could both very well be connected together.

For certainty, the Islamic culture had its part in heavily influencing the Sicilian culture. Its deleterious influences (especially when getting to the point of women treatment) was passed on to future generations of Sicilian men by Arab conquerors.

This their thirst for the conquest of the Sicilian land, lasted more or less a two centuries. These two centuries were characterized mainly by continuous horde of Muslim invaders, which at some point in history culminated into a Sicilian Arabic Caliphate.

The result of that Muslim heritage can be seen even today by just listening to the many Sicilian dialects which have embedded in them some Arabs words, and by looking at the many Arabs vestige left in Sicily even after the Normans drove them out.

I'll end here this rather protracted topic, with the addition of only a few more words:


Both sex should respect each other without looking into gender differentiations and the prerogative of a very little benevolent religion toward the gentle sex, but equally live their lives on this world which belongs to every creature without distinctions whatsoever.

Amen!

A post-apocalyptic Europe - The Chernobyl disaster

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General Contents

When the Chernobyl's nuclear reactor disaster occurred on the 26 of April 1986, I was living in Italy at that time. Back then, I knew it was a terrible accident. What I didn't know at that time was: How bad was it?




Today, many years after (even thanks to YouTube) I find out the total truth about the Chernobyl power plant disaster. In fact, it was bad very bad! Much worst than what was reported at that time by the worldwide news media.

It was the classical nightmarish dream that most apocalyptic visionaries have repeatedly (even though, under many forms) predicted to occur in our future, but that time it could have been for real! In fact, after the first explosion in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, there was the possibility of a more catastrophic second one.


This second explosion could have been triggered by the tremendous amount of heat generated by the first explosion of the power plant. Once that heat reached a critical point, it would have managed to crack the cement slab of the same, and subsequently, only a 400 kg of uranium and graphite mixture would have been enough to heat the water beneath the nuclear reactor and create a chain reaction which could have set off the devastating second one.

In all probability, it would have been equal to a gigantic atomic bomb with the force of 3 to 5 megatons. This last explosion would have been accompanied by terrible shock waves and a massive raise in radio activity. As result, It would have claimed thousands of lives in a matter of hours.


Without much doubt, the last explosion could have very well resulted in extensive damages for all of Europe. So exceedingly large that it would have completely destroyed Minsk (a very large city located at 320 kilometers from Chernobyl) and rendered most of Europe an uninhabitable place because of the nuclear radiation fallout.

I posting here only 1 video from YouTube (the one related to the second explosion), because the entire documentary is a ten videos long (too much for a single post).

Chernobyl disaster (Ukraine 1986) part 4 of 10


If you wish to watch in its entireness here is the link to YouTube for the 10 videos documentary: Chernobyl disaster (Ukraine 1986) starting from part 1 of 10.

Of course it didn't happened, but it could have well happened! The risk of a second explosion was for real, and the consequences to it would have been unthinkable. Just imagine what would have been a post-apocalyptic Europe today! Mostly, it would have been a contaminated wasteland by very high levels of radiations.

I must say that I never been fond to the idea of nuclear energy, but I've always accepted it as as something unavoidable. Now I am completely oppose to it! Even when the experts of the nuclear field are telling us that with the modern technologies, the new generation of atomic power plants are very safe.

Because, even when there is only one chance in one billion that in a nuclear power plant something goes terribly awry and it could cost the life and health of millions of people. All that it is for me already more than enough to not want them anywhere.