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The Cold of the Desert
Those who sat through the movie The Day After Tomorrow know that it has all been said before and will  be said again. That we are heading towards major catastrophe through global climate change is a matter of no doubt except to fools. History, where we care to look with dispassion, teaches us that global climate change is a natural phenomenon that peaks every 20,000 years or so. We are now overdue such natural shift in our planetary ecosystem.
  To continue to apportion blame on industry and on individual users of fuels and energy sources that add to global warming is a ridiculous stance adopted by the ignorant. Human contributions towards climate change are certainly present but in such a fractional percentage that it may do little more, in the long run, than advance the coming catastrophe by just a short period of years. Global warming and its effect on the earth’s oceanic convection streams will lead to the dawn of a sudden and devastating new ice age.
  Little is being done to prepare for that eventuality. Instead we see the continued senseless apportioning of blame that has its roots in ignorance.
  Those who would speak of preserving our habitable world for future generations would be better asking themselves just how those future generations are going to cope with a frozen planet. They would also do well to ask themselves just what they are doing to ensure that future generations have at least a thread of hope of a survivable future through the efforts of their forebearers.

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Europe & Lisbon
With much of global public attention focused by media and government sources on terrorism and all its consequences, on armed conflicts and other politically dominated issues, the European Union’s moves towards ratifying the Lisbon Treaty passed through its stages almost like a thief in the night.
  It is an unsatisfactory and thoroughly undemocratic process. Many EU member state governments have simply voted to accept the treaty regardless of public opinion and in many cases have done so without allowing their electorates any effective say in the matter.
  A press statement by the EU presidency on the Lisbon Treaty spoke of the ‘benefits’ of the treaty and named states that had ‘ratified’ it but failed to provide any public detail of their processes of ratification nor did the press statement afford any mention to EU states that have not ratified the treaty and the public opinion in those states.
   Ireland held a referendum on the acceptance of the treaty and voters roundly rejected to accept its ratification. Within hours, argument had split between the pro-treaty camps as to why Ireland had rejected the treaty and the blame was placed on both the anti-treaty brigades and the gullibility and ignorance of the voters.
  The EU’s information web site says nothing of the real content and impact of the treaty but paints it as the only way forward for Europe. It is up to ignorant parties to read and try to make sense of the politically jargonised treaty text if they wish to understand what the treaty will mean. However, the full text version of the Lisbon Treaty was as incomprehensible to the majority of readers as it is such a mish mash of deletions, additions and alterations that it is impossible to determine the actual content in a meaningful way.
  Among the treaty’s effects will be the creation of a centrally controlled European military machine known as the European Defence Agency, controlled by the European Parliament and beyond the controlling powers of governments of individual member states. It will also devolve many decision making processes away from the governments of member states and place much greater powers under the control of the European Parliament. In short, it is a major step towards the creation of a European superstate, as envisaged by France and Germany prior to the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), which evolved into the European Community (EC) and then became the current European Union (EU).
  But the reality should lie in the fact that despite Irish voters rejecting the treaty, its proponents roundly failed to accept their vote. That should by itself speak volumes.

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“Man was always destroying things, and beautiful things.
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It was only afterwards that men felt pity for the things their hands had destroyed.”
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