CNN: Zimbabwe introduces $100 billion banknotes
Each bill “…can buy only four oranges. The new note is equal to just one U.S. dollar.”
“…the official inflation rate now at 2.2 million percent.”
“The new bills are actually bearer checks and have an expiration date of December 31.”
BBC: Zimbabwe introduces Z$100bn note
“Zimbabwe’s meltdown has left at least 80% of the population in poverty, facing mass shortages of basic goods.”
From a resident: “So Z$100 billion can’t do anything because for me to go home I need Z$250 billion, so this [note] is worthless.”
“Zimbabwe was once one of the richest countries in Africa.”
Stunning in its sadness and surrealism . . .
What causes such gross failure?
Why does it seem the haves could care less about the have-nots?
What does it take for people to realize that we’re all people?
Ever wonder how long the masses are going to take these sinister lies they’re being told?
Of course, making people starve is a very old technique used by oppressors. The oppressors don’t even have to live in the same country as the sufferers, especially in our global home.
Makes me want to cry . . .
“The dragon, symbol of heaven, comes to fight the false dragon that symbolized the inflation of the earth principle.”
I Ching
“Nations, though exhausted and disillusioned, have seemingly begun to cherish anew the spirit of revenge, of domination, and strife. Peoples, convulsed by economic upheavals, are slowly drifting into two great opposing camps with all their menace of social chaos, class hatreds, and worldwide ruin. Races, alienated more than ever before, are filled with mistrust, humiliation and fear, and seem to prepare themselves for a fresh and fateful encounter. Creeds and religions, caught in this whirlpool of conflict and passion, appear to gaze with impotence and despair at this spectacle of unceasing turmoil.”
Shoghí Effendí, Bahá’í Administration, p. 67
“Today, the agency on whom has devolved the task of creating this framework and of liberating the promotion of human rights from those who would exploit it is the system of international institutions born out of the tragedies of two ruinous world wars and the experience of worldwide economic breakdown. Significantly, the term ‘human rights’ has come into general use only since the promulgation of the United Nations Charter in 1945 and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights three years later. In these history-making documents, formal recognition has been given to respect for social justice as a correlative of the establishment of world peace. The fact that the Declaration passed without a dissenting vote in the General Assembly conferred on it from the outset an authority that has grown steadily in the intervening years.”
Bahá’í International Community, 1995 Mar 03, The Prosperity of Humankind
July 20, 2008
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My focus today is what’s wrong in Our Family’s Home . . .
From the Environment Section of AlterNet:
Why Our Food Waste May Be Our Greatest Asset
Composting is key to reducing waste costs, cutting global warming emissions, and increasing urban food security.
Time to Face the Hard Realities of a Global Energy Crisis
America needs a comprehensive plan to deal with post-peak oil — and that is going to involve some serious long-term thinking.
Get Ready for the Post-SUV World!
SUVs and big pickups are waddling off into the sunset, leaving Americans with no more excuses for the nation’s profligate oil use.
Global Warming’s Twin Evil: Wildfires and Drought
The 850 fires burning in California alone should be a wake up call that we’re unprepared for rapid climate change.
All this and much more on AlterNet’s Site . . .
And, absorb this wonderful, educational, and surprising video: “Solving” climate change from David Keith.
What’s driven our Family to this Crisis?
What can we actually do?
How much of the Crisis is manageable?
What needs to occur in political circles to make change actually happen?
Why in the world, considering that the environmental problem was already a concern in the 1950’s, have we let it get this bad?
Will prayer help?
Will war help? ( That’s a trick question. Just seeing if you’re paying attention… 
)
What in the World can We DO !?!
I’d Love to see your thoughts and feelings in the comments . . .
Today’s quote is from ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT: Statement to the first substantive session of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED):
“The principle of the unity of mankind naturally implies the need for world peace and security. The World Commission on Environment and Development observed in its report that world peace and security are central to sustainable development. The Bahá’í International Community agrees that as long as the specter of war continues to dominate international relations, the well-being of the human race and the environment will continue to erode. It is the Bahá’í view that the root cause of all war and injustice is the failure to recognize the fundamental oneness of the human race. Acceptance of the principle of oneness will induce the willingness to uncover and permanently resolve all other causes for conflict. Indeed, it must be the foundation for any serious attempt to find ways of living in harmony with our environment and each other.”
Bahá’í International Community, 1990 Aug 06, Environment Development
July 19, 2008
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ROTTERDAM, Jul 15 (IPS) - “Human rights organisations all over the world will celebrate the tenth anniversary Jul. 17 of the adoption of the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC is the first and only permanent international criminal tribunal to prosecute individuals accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Interview with human rights promoter Dorota Gierycz: “…I believe that yes, there is a very difficult initial period when there is this kind of tension between justice and peace, but in the long run there can be no peace without justice, and if we just keep pushing things under the rug there will be no room for genuine understanding and consolidation of the society and democracy.”
Pushing things under the rug is an age-old activity of humans when they wish to commit a crime or when they feel they just need a break from moral responsibility.
Holding things high in the full light of the sun can be painful. Making the effort to use tact and diplomacy while still pursuing rigorous truth is hard work. It seems mere humans can’t regularly accomplish these desirable goals.
Well, I’m here to say that humans can’t accomplish peace and justice if what they depend upon is just their human powers.
We have more than animal bodies for a reason. Our bodies (and our minds and hearts subjugated to the body) will always vote for the easy path, even if it leads to war—war between nations, members of a family, neighbors…
So, where’s the “instruction book” so many people claim we don’t have?
“The Heavenly Books, the Bible, the Qur’án, and the other Holy Writings have been given by God as guides into the paths of Divine virtue, love, justice and peace.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 61
“The fundamental spiritual truth of our age is the oneness of humanity. Universal acceptance of this principle — with its implications for social and economic justice, universal participation in non-adversarial decision-making, peace and collective security, equality of the sexes, and universal education — will make possible the reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the home of humankind.”
Bahá’í International Community, 1993 Apr 01, Sustainable Development and the Human Spirit
July 18, 2008
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NEW YORK, Jul 16 (IPS) - “Despite opposition from some hardline factions in Iran, the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has responded positively to a proposal by the United States that it open a U.S. Interests Section in Tehran — its first formal diplomatic presence since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.”
WASHINGTON (CNN) — “The Bush administration has decided to break with previous policy by sending one of its most senior diplomats to engage Iran’s top nuclear official, the White House announced Wednesday.”
So…
Will anything of substance happen?
Will a war be averted?
~~~~~~~~~
I’m always more positive about world events then the events themselves may seem to warrant. I have an abiding faith in the future of humanity. I feel that the slow climb our human family has made—from the savannas of Africa, to the lush kingdoms of Babylonia, to the riotous global adventuring from the 15th to the 17th Century, to the bleeding and war-torn world we now have—this laborious climb is too important for a few human leaders or a few thousand bombs to stop.
I’ll pray for the leaders gathering in Switzerland and I’ll keep this quote in mind:
“A world federal system, ruling the whole earth and exercising unchallengeable authority over its unimaginably vast resources, blending and embodying the ideals of both the East and the West, liberated from the curse of war and its miseries, and bent on the exploitation of all the available sources of energy on the surface of the planet, a system in which Force is made the servant of Justice, whose life is sustained by its universal recognition of one God and by its allegiance to one common Revelation—such is the goal towards which humanity, impelled by the unifying forces of life, is moving.”
Shoghí Effendí , The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 204
July 16, 2008
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