Brilliant.

~~~~~Taking? Corporations are sending the jobs. Heaven help big
business if these
workers start to form unions. Cheap lobour will disappear and then the
already eroding middle class of 'modern' countries will erode even
further
as the playing field levels. When that happens there will be a gearing
up in
shift in the political and economic balance that I can see happening
now.
It suits government and business to have you believe that third world
countries are 'taking jobs'. It's the Zaphod Beeblbrox philosophy of
politics - it distracts you from what is actually going on. There is no
such
thing as continued Status Quo. Look at Russia - the last 100 years is a
micro-history of the global condition since we first stood on our hind
legs.
The USA has been a strong economic and politcal force in the last 75
years
or so. It seems like forever but realistically, that's all it is.
Before
that it was Britain. Spain, Egypt, Byzantium, Incans and so forth have
had
their day. We can bitch, carp and moan all we like about change, but
it's
inevitable. China has been the sleeping economic giant that is now
awakening. Japan, the economic miracle of the latter half of the 20th
centuary, is seeing the first cracks. Globally we're on the leading
edge of
change. It's all very interesting, is it not?

As for terrorism, all races and religions are guilty. Just because it
happened in the past does not excuse it. The Native American. The
Australian
Aboriginals (did you know that the original Tasmanians were completely
wiped
out - is this not genocide?). The Maori. The Crusades. The Moors. The
Romans. The Vandals. The Visigoths. To name a few. Depending on which
side
of the struggle you were on, you were either the innocent victim, the
saviour of your creed or the oppressor. I feel for families on both
sides
who have lost loved ones. I wish it would all stop. But I'm realistic
enough
to know that the struggle has been waging back and forth for centuries.
It's
the ugly side of being human and will continue as long as it is in our
nature to colonise. From what I see, it still is. We're a complicated
species.


I once read, "Better a small help early, than a large help late." I'll
continue to sponsor my child in some kind of effort to reach across the
globe and join hands with my fellow human. BTW, I once heard that, in
terms
of DNA, if we were dogs, we'd all be the same breed, that's how closely
related we all are. Black, white, whatever, it's equivilant to the
number of
spots on a dalmation in terms of our difference from each other.
--
Marisa (AU/NZ)