Happy Holidays and Welcome 2008
As much of the world celebrates the end of 2007 with holiday, and approaches a new year, we might do well to thank our higher power for the gift of life, and the ability to be able to witness this wonderful thing called life. Our planet earth has often been referred to as Mother Earth – for the nurturing she has provided us, and we should do well to thank her during this time of celebration and hope. Best wishes for a safe and prosperous 2008, and if you haven’t voted yet (yes or no) at www.VoteWorldGovernment.org – why don’t you go ahead and do this now. Some people consider this ability to vote in a global referendum for the establishment of a directly elected, representative, and democratic world government not only a privilege, but a duty.
Senator William Fulbright – What We Need Now
The age of warrior kings and of warrior presidents has passed. The nuclear age calls for a different kind of leadership—a leadership of intellect, judgment, tolerance and rationality, a leadership committed to human values, to world peace, and to the improvement of the human condition…The attributes upon which we must draw are the human attributes of compassion and understanding between cultures.
The kind of leadership we need was eloquently described above by Senator William Fulbright in his book The Price of Power
Pope John Paul II – on the Future of War
The second priority is the elimination of the war system itself with all of its political, economic, and cultural manifestations. Even without nuclear weapons, civilization cannot really progress, or perhaps even endure the destruction and atrocity of modern warfare. At the beginning of the 20th century about 90 percent of casualties were military and 10 percent civilian. By the end of the century, and in today’s world, these figures are reversed. Here’s a quote from Pope John Paul II…
“War should belong to the tragic past, to history: it should find no place on humanity’s agenda for the future.”
United Nations Statistics – a tragedy for sure
While corporate globalization rules the world, hunger and poverty remain extreme. The statistics collected by the United Nations are truly staggering:
* Number of people living in poverty on $2 a day: 2.7 billion
* Number of people living in abject poverty existing on less than $1 a day: 1 billion so poor they live in garbage dumps and shantytowns, virtually without hope. Not surprisingly, 70 percent of the world’s poor are the most defenseless: women and children.
* Number of people who die every day from hunger: 24,000
* Number of children under five who die every day from preventable causes: 30,000
* 2.4 billion people live without decent sanitation, and 4 billion are without wastewater disposal.
Quote from President Harry S Trumann – Resolving Disputes
It will be just as easy for nations to get along in a republic of the world as it is for you to get along in the republic of the United States. [If] Kansas and Colorado have a quarrel over the water in the Arkansas River they don’t call out the national guard in each state and go to war over it. They bring suit in the Supreme Court of the United States and abide by the decision. There isn’t a reason in the world why we can’t do that internationally.
President Harry S. Truman
