The Pope, the Church, and the People...

... Which People?

The Pope came to Ireland. Nobody dare to say he's not a messenger of peace and compassion, whether they are religious or not - I am not!

Not being religious mean you are not in accordance with A religion, or ANY religion... that set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, that superhuman agency, practising devotional and ritual observances, containing their own moral code for the conduct of human affairs...

For this set of beliefs, we better take from the nature... cosmology (it doesn't mean you don't believe in God)! The moral code can be found in philosophy. The conduct of human affairs was broadly spoken by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. No fear involved! Pure reasoning!

But when it comes to re.li.gion... that's belief! And we are talking about a particular variety of such belief, especially when organized into a system of doctrine and practice, usually based on the teachings of a spiritual leader. It's might be all about fear!

I was discussing the abuse of children by priests, the other day, and the church's position on the subject. A friend of mine dared to question the gravity of the issue! Full of arguments regarding universal love, compassion for the kind of life the priests live... I heard, patiently. When he finished, I brought the universal love to the victims... and then I asked whether the church was above the law.

And there was no answer...

The most inclusive country in the world...

Someone in the radio said that Israel was one of the most inclusive countries in the world! We might ask: How come!

Just looking to the occupied territories, one cannot say it's an inclusive society by any stretch of the imagination! That land is an occupied part of the world, where people were (and still are!) literally thrown of their land, dispossessed from their land, and the land is taken by other people (the Israelis) who think they are entitled to it, just because some 5,000 years old text of their bible tells them so!

How crazy does that sound?

Get out from my nest, will ya?

Source: pixabay

Why should an elder couple, or a widow, give up their family house, other than by their own wish? Nothing more reasonable, I'd say... but no! Absurdly enough, AIB is planning to target the so called "empty nesters" to downsize and so free up badly needed family homes!

Empty nesters are couples/widowers living by themselves in 2 or more bed houses with no children - either because they don't have children, they left, or even died.

Pursuing this route would make more sense if the problem was space, but it's not. We have plenty of space in the country. What we don't have is a government!!!

...

Oh, ok... I accept I should kept going further the last full stop there and specifically say that we don't have a government who cares about the home crisis... but just because this post is about home crisis. That we don't have a government, we don't!

There are 5 historically prevalent forms of government: aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy and tyranny. We are - as far as I know - ruled by democracy. And democracy is referred to be the "rule of the majority"!

Either we are NOT a democracy, as clearly the government does not rule FOR the majority, or we are misunderstanding which majority we are talking about: is it the majority of PEOPLE or is it the majority of MONEY?

Who's to answer???

Of tracks, robots and shores...

What’s robotics’ benefits to humankind?

It was on the radio that Denmark is actively working on a project to integrate more robots into the public sector, as a money-saving measure. To illustrate the way they’re thinking, the project claims that while unskilled worker in health sector costs something around €30, a robot costs 80c! Impressive, isn’t it? More impressive would be to know whether there is anyone thinking about the social cost of the project!

It must be all about money only - did someone say greed is good? How could we produce something which we will need to redress later, if not moved by one’s own selfish benefit over other human beings? Is that humankind?

---

Back on track!

The recession is over, and the economy is growing... Let's get the country back on track!

You probably heard these words a lot lately. That's the Irish government trying to convince you that getting back on track is a good thing, thus must be pursued at any cost! Well... here, humbly standing before my laptop, I will disagree! Merely because the track we were - and still are - doesn't look good at all!

Grow the economy - grow to where? Make the banks “health again” (what does it mean?) so they can lend you more money, and then you can get more debts, and be a slave of consumerism and production of goods!

Is that life?

---

Shore, Offshore, Re-ashore

"money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons
entitled to constitutional rights" - https://movetoamend.org/

We all know Capital can move freely across the globe, hunting for more profitable shores. There’s nothing new on that. But people cannot. People cannot even pay less taxes in Europe! People cannot order goods across the borders within EU, they have to "move" with the good - carrying it. If ordered by post, extra taxes will be charged.

Why the same is not applied to companies? Off-shoring saves dramatically, but this saving is not socially re-passed! Big companies save billions using semi-slavery workers in desperately sub-developed countries and pocket it all!

Is 1000% profit acceptable before the world we live? What about 500% profit? Capital over humankind, profit before people, while we should rule people before profit. Will the big-bag-money companies soften their stone hearts? You better not expect that! Neither should you expect anything from the government. Still, the big-bag-money companies depend on you! They depend on your consumption, in your belief that the recession is over, that the country is getting back on its tracks, and that those tracks are good! So you will keep consuming, indiscriminately, therefore production can be maintained and the big-bags can be filled with even more money.

The way we live is excessive. We should clearly look into our lives and decide by ourselves what is necessary, without privation. The choice of how citizenry spend their money really matters, and can make the difference.

Consume. But consume wisely!