Need hope? Now vote for a project.

If you are seeking an antidote to all the troubling and seemingly unsolvable problems in the world...do yourself and the poor a favor. Visit the "World Challenge 2009" website... http://www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/ where you can see dozens of small replicable projects making an enormous difference in the lives of the poor all over the world.

From environmental protection, to child education and health efforts. From job creation to green mining. All projects in need of meager resources to make a mountain of sustainable, life saving differences. And you get to vote for the one you deem most worth of the prize money The World Challenge will give out.

BIOLOGICAL THREAT GREATER THAN NUCLEAR

U.S. BIPARTISAN COMMISSION CONFIRMS BIOLOGICAL THREAT GREATER THAN NUCLEAR.

HTTP://PREVENTWMD.GOV/

In December 2008, the U.S. Commission for the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism issued a report identifying 13 recommendations for Congress and the Administration. Executive Director Col. Randall Larsen (Ret.) comments on the report on C-span 2-24-09. http://www.c-span.org/Watch/Media/2009/09/24/Terr/A/23523/Col+Randall+Larsen+Ret+Prevention+of+Weapons+of+Mass+Destruction+Proliferation+Terrorism+Cms.aspx His KEY POINTS:
1. Without action WMD attack likely within 5 years.
2. Most likely Bio.
The Bipartisan Commission key finding: “The Commissioners unanimously concluded that unless we act urgently and decisively, it was more likely than not that terrorists would attack a major city somewhere in the world with a weapon of mass destruction by 2013. And we determined that terrorists are more likely to obtain and use a biological weapon than a nuclear weapon. This conclusion was publicly affirmed by then Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Mike McConnell”
They state “three primary reasons stand out in support of our conclusion. First, developing and dispersing a biological weapon would not be expensive -- and it will only get cheaper and easier. Second, the lethality of an effectively dispersed biological weapon could rival or exceed that of an improvised nuclear device. Third, the constraints that a bioterrorist would confront in making an effective bioweapon are significantly fewer than those facing nuclear terrorists. Virtually all pathogens suitable for use in a biological weapon are readily available in nature. The equipment required to produce a large quantity from a small seed stock, and then “weaponize” the material – that is, to make it into a form that could be effectively dispersed -- are of a dual-use nature and are readily available on the internet. The most effective delivery methods are well known in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, and insect-control industries. This is not speculation. Al Qaeda was well down the road to producing such weapons prior to 9/11. Due to the ease in creating a clandestine production capability, our intelligence community had no knowledge of two such facilities in Afghanistan prior to their capture by U.S. troops. Facilities with more sophisticated equipment than those found could be in operation today without our knowledge. “
http://www.preventwmd.gov/9_22_09_world_at_risk_the_wmd_prevention_and_preparedness/

My summary: Once Americans and our policy makers of every political strip understand the dynamics of this growing threat ...our defense and foreign policies will change radically in support more progressive means of prevention of every bio threat and national security concern. They will fully understanding that 'preemption' or aggressive or intrusive disarmament efforts will only exacerbate the problem/threat. War is now obsolete. And human security, through the global enforcement of human right (See UDHR) is our only means of real and sustainable security. Military minds and strategic thinkers are grasping this reality far faster than my liberal colleagues. What's that about?

Mass Exstinction in progress?

Mass Extinction? We may be making it…but we won’t make it.

The last few days, mostly while watching people talk on cell phones while driving, I had the realization ‘we aren’t going to make it”. Our species is doomed. While there is a remote chance we could go on, and on and on …warring, polluting, bankrupting our morals and going deeper into debt… I’m not counting on our wisdom coming to the rescue. And the facts are not encouraging.
There have been at least 5 mass extinctions on earth (six if you count Noah's flood) over the last 500 million years. The worst was called the Permian-Triassic catastrophe about 250 million years ago. It wiped out 95 percent of all species on earth. There were two others before it --about 364 million and 439 million years ago respectively-- and two more after it -- about 200 million and then 65 million years ago.
Now, some experts believe we humans are now in the midst of the next mass extinction. And many believe that and our species disregard for the environment is the primary causal factor. It may be arguable that global warming is the cause, and that we are causing global warming, but there should be no argument that we are not just on the endangered species list. We are on the fast track to extinction. And, there are well over a dozen ways humanity can be wiped out. The good news -- humans are in control of about half of them. The bad news – humans don’t care…(and don’t care that they don’t care) about controlling them. The really bad news… the rest that we can’t control (asteroids, pulsars, pandemics) would be difficult to deal with…even if we were working together in global harmony…instead of using our technological prowess to plan the next war or mass murder.
If you think all this ’doomsday stuff” is hype..or believe Jesus will return to save us…consider the words of NASA’s Director in the Feb 23, 2006 issue of Rolling Stone. “In the long run a single-planet species will not survive”. In all fairness, it is in his professional self interest to promote advancement of space travel. But anyone with 30 minutes to read an astronomy book knows he’s dead on correct.
Even if Earth (and we humans) manage to escape all incoming galactic threats over the next 5 billion years we will still have to contend with the death of our sun. We may have gotten solar power perfected by then but there’s a good chance we’ll be out of oil by then. But I digress.
Fear not for the world during mass extinction. Earth will do just fine. Life will go on…without us. Evolution will ensure that millions of other species will evolve to fill the voids and the cars we leave behind. The strongest will not have survived. Because when Darwin said “survival of the fittest, he didn’t mean those with the biggest biceps or the baddest WMD. In the world of evolution “fitness’ means the ability to adapt. That’s something we humans suck at. We don’t change. We change things around us. We don’t adapt to a changing environment. We change the environment (or ignore it or pray that it will change back).
We are by far the most powerful species ever to exist. Our brains creation and powerful amplification of tools and technology could eventually enable us to move or recycle entire plants…But long before we reach that level of civilized behavior we will have used our nano technology to wipe each other out.
Our global environment (life support system) we depend on is extraordinarily complex and infinitely more complicated than we can imagine. We are just too collectively stupid and/or stubborn. Just for sake of argument, let’s forget the fact that our brain has the extremely flawed capacity to believe anything! And focus on our second greatest flaw…We don’t even do the things we know we should do (eat healthy, get exercise, don’t smoke, and wear a helmet, drive without texting….).

I have little hope for humanity. Things change. For the most part, we and our governments don’t.