China’s having won the bid to host the 2008 Olympics was hard won for the communist country who was trying real hard to re-make it’s figure on the global scale. They won the bid and started to invest heavily on developing Olympic venues in the true grandeur of China yet after the billion of dollars spent on the several groundbreaking venues environmental issues abound that may spell disaster for the high expectations they have from the economic benefits of hosting the Olympics. Rivers and shore lines choked with algae due to an influx of pollution from the millions of Chinese who want to watch and take part in the Olympic events is threatening to choke off venues for water sports.
Air quality in Beijing is also deplorable and may cause problem for the many events that may require running outdoors and with many countries having reservations about participating due to possible health risks their problems just keeps on growing and growing. With the Olympic games just a few weeks out, many environmental issues are still being brought up. Even drinking water is an issue for many bottled Chinese products fail standards of some participating countries having them bring their own supplies for their athletes.
True that the Olympics is meant to bridge the differences of man yet China may have simply bitten off more that it could chew. The influx of problems so close to the opening ceremonies is giving people headaches all over and political issues are also being brought out with some countries even threatening to boycott the games altogether to stress their point. China may just have to learn from the lessons of the past that image is not the whole picture but part of the picture and that change must begin from within. The country and its resources are stretched to the limit due to the disasters that swept through the Sichuan Province that killed thousands due to shoddy construction of government schools and buildings.

The moves of scientists to decode and unravel the secrets of the human genome have long been debated for the ethical implications of such scientific actions aims to discredit some validity of the mystery of life. If you look at the religious explanation for life, it was created by a supreme being that deemed us as the dominant creature of this earth. Scientifically, they say that we are the result of millions of years of evolution whereby we have evolved from lesser creatures such as microbes who developed into ever complex organisms leading to us, Homo sapiens or the human race.
This is why Darwin was scorned by the church when he came up with the idea that people evolved from chimps and everybody knows that he was scorned then but praised now as one of the most prominent minds to ever grace this earth. If that were the case, then the separation between religion and science should always be defined and infinite meaning morality and other issues are not to influence the definition of either as time progresses. Philosophers know that people have the ability to bend the rules should a need for it be found and that does not say that the bending has been going on for as long as man has survived on this earth. Even the existence of God has been challenged again and again.
Then when does the poking and experimenting with genetics and the ability to add or subtract traits that allows plants to become more productive, animals to have better health and more. The promises of genetics are good indeed, growing organs from cells rather than transplants and the lifelong drugs to keep the immune system from rejecting the transplanted body part. But how far can we go before it becomes morally wrong, a whole human being? Life is filled with mysteries and it still is, that is the main driving force for such scientific research. Let us place this in simpler terms, would you rather have a flower opening and showing off its full glory and beauty or the opening and closing is due to molecular actions that results in a process that makes reproduction for plants to commence? You choose your rules, your world, and your life!

Behind the scene, the then Prime Minister held meetings with heads of states and religious leaders and figures as he planned his exit form the British government. Much so is his belief in the idea that religion is the way politics would go that he has launched a faith foundation to study the implications and fundamental ideas behind such a concept. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are hard and deadly and he has come to the realization that the battle must be won through the hearts and minds of the enemy and not thought war. He has shown some regret in his support of the war alongside the US which has also suffered blows to their war philosophy. Their aim to bring freedom to the oppressed peole of Afghanistan and Iraq has turned into a battle between the invaders and the invaded with the people fighting for their very existence as they find it hard to accept the concept of democracy.
Policy has shifted again and again and once criminal groups were turned into allies as the war progressed. The problem in the wars was so great that it was hard to trust anyone, even those who worked with them in the streets and battlefield. Informants, ordinary people and religiously motivated people under hard lined Islamic fundamentalists work with and then against their former allies who worked and fought hard to get them freedom they thought they deserved. As a result of this oversight, clerics with their own desires for rule commanding insurgents that take the battle to their former allies.
This is what Mr. Blair aims to study and understand, how to educate people that religion is the key to solving some of the world’s most pressing issues such as hunger, global warming and other issues that need addressing now otherwise this earth of ours may not last much longer for future generations who would have to live in a wasteland due to our decisions today.

We all know Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister of the UK who was replaced by Gordon Brown at the helm of the UK government. He was loved by some and scorned by many, but we’d all have to agree that he played his part in our recent history. A staunch ally of the US when they invaded Iraq, he fought to bring justice to those killed in the London bombings that killed many people. Much so that he continues his work as the official envoy of the West to the Middle East as he continues to play his part in the world of politics which he has come to realize has been utterly changed by religion in one way or the other.
In his many years as the Prime Minister of the UK, he has suffered blow after blow as to why the UK got itself involved in one of recent history’s most devastating blunder, going to war after people who are motivated by religious beliefs and fundamentalism. Fundamentalism that has incorporated violence as part of their basic concepts and that without it, no victory would be possible. Many soldier’s lives were taken by such fundamentalists in Afghanistan and Iraq which the invading forces say would take a year or two to mop up. Now, five years after the initial invasion and long after the dictator Saddam has been executed as retribution for his crimes against humanity, the war rages on.

Much so is the effect of the two terms that being labeled evil invokes our primitive instinct to treat that person differently, as society has associated and branded people who are called to be evil as those who deserve persecution. Society labels anyone who does harm towards his fellow man as evil and being evil warrants punishment. Our judicial system is based on this premise that an evil doer must be punished as his form of payment for his evil acts.
Other societies as the ones in the Middle East offer a more brutal form of judgment which they claim follows the laws laid down by their holy scriptures, “An eye for an eye, A tooth for a tooth” has resulted in many well publicized horrific executions of criminals who were rendered judgment by their courts. If you kill somebody, then you are to be killed and so on and so forth.
Many question this approach to justice and the definition between good and evil for they say it is inhumane and undignified. But some argue that who are you to counter laws and traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation by a people who have developed in parts of the world deemed to be the seats of civilization.
The debate goes on and on so the definition as well as the scope of such debates continues to expand and delve into the deepest recesses of human thoughts and ideology. Ask anyone and they will have their own unique definition of good and evil which would give you an idea of how hard it is to come up with a universally accepted definition of the concept. People are still labeled evil to this day and they are still being punished for their being such. Good on the other hand demands praise and remuneration as everybody knows which is in accordance of the basic concept that the sole purpose of man on this earth is the pursuit of personal gain and excellence regardless of what society says or does.

Everybody on earth has their view regarding the topic and the fundamental ideas behind the two have been debated since the first philosophers decided to ponder why there is good and evil. Philosophers have long argued that the sole purpose of man’s life on this earth is for self satisfaction and that the two ideas come into play in the pursuit thereof. Plato observed and reflected in his works that there are only a few possible ways and means by which man can do good deeds but indefinite ways by which to commit evil towards fellow man.
Time has had the true definitions and fundamental ideas behind the true meanings of the two bent and twisted to suit our very needs. During the time when the US loved and embraced slavery, it was not seen as an evil though today it is by no means defines as such. Societies such as the Nazi’s during the Second World War tolerated genocide as means of attaining the true identity of the Aryan race.
Is Good and Evil a universal description of truth or are they mere terms that as we say are bent and twisted to suit a societies needs and wants.
Moral Absolutism defines good and evil as concepts defined by GOD and that anything done that is against the will of GOD is to be defined and considered to be evil in all respects. Moral Relativism on the other hand offers a broader explanation of the ideals saying they are only products of local culture and that their definition can be changed to suit the needs of men who aim one goal or the other. Universalism on the other hand says that the difference between the two can only be bent so much and that the true meanings are still well defined by the teachings of past societies.

First, our sincerest condolences to the families left behind by the recent earthquake in China that has left more than 12,000 dead and the toll is expected to continue rising due to more areas that are still cut off but the strong quake. Just a quote, for I just can’t seem to notice the still crazy way the Chinese government has in terms of propaganda which it still uses as a main tool for spreading it’s word and keeping it’s hold on its people. Get a handful of photos from the State news agency and you see soldiers ready to go to battle with the search and rescue, soldiers rescuing people and soldiers marching on their way to help those buried in the quake. What about the millions of miserable people who are out there miserable without anything left to live in or eat? What about full aerial shot of the areas which are affected that may give the rest of the world a full view of the magnitude the disaster that is developing. People left to fend for themselves without regional disaster supplies and equipment to deal with such emergencies hence their leaders live in splendor of the capital city.
The government is getting praise for their swift efforts but as one of the largest economies on earth, shouldn’t people in local areas be trained to deal with such disasters. Imagine the worst hit areas, only one line of communication was left that allowed military planners and disaster experts in Beijing to know the magnitude, one government issued satellite phone and that was it. All the areas surrounding the major city center in the worst hit province has little known about their residents?
Focus more on the people and not on the rescuers and their efforts, to hell with the lavish parades as the Olympic torch makes its way through the country. Pull cash from the lavish displays and security in the torch relay and rush aid and people to the stricken areas. That should be China’s priority. In a country where the government is still trying to get used to money from the outside world, corruption still abounds. The collapsed school buildings are surely made of shabby materials and will surely be riddled with holes left by corruption in the ranks of the local officials and civil engineers who have approved the construction of such weak structures in such an earthquake prone area. When will they learn that the people come first and children are the future? Children are the worst hit with schools and other structures collapsing like matchsticks pan caking one after the other, a six story building reduced to a pile of rubble two meters thick?!! China has a lot of growing up to do in terms of people and with money pouring in from the rest of the world; the Chinese government is still pockmarked with corruption even with their displays of stiff penalties for criminals which goes to show that old tactics don’t work anymore.

The events of the cyclone in Myanmar has become one of the worst humanitarian disasters of recent times with people rotting in canals and rice paddies next to survivors who would surely die of disease unless aid comes fast. The military junta allows some aid to come in, secueing them and marking their names onto boxes as they hand them out in areas nearby the capital where there is little or no much effect from the cyclone. The suspicious eye on volunteers requesting for visas from the government as people continue to die. The UN not having any say on what to do, they say they can meddle under the rights of the many, but with many Western nations tied up in wars somewhere in the middles east and elesewhere in the world, no one is taking a firm stance. Only words and not enough actions.
Myanmar is considered to be one of the poorest nations in the world, ruled by generals and their minions of soldiers weho control the country and its riches, the people have little to go on. The disaster magnifies their aim to help the people, cantering efforts around glorifying and maintainin gtheir positions. The living standards in the country are poor compared to other developing countries that share their economic status. The country is rich in natural resources that are all taken by the military for their own self-preservation.
Food aid is gathered form depots and fresh rice taken by the military leaders, giving the rotten government stores to the survivors who say not even the dogs will eat them. The government has to open up and fast if they are to save the millions of people that are now facing horrible conditions. Control of the situation is their priority which even got to the point where all Western reporters or citizens were rounded up and detained to be expelled from the country. Soldiers commanding the population that they are not to say anything to Westerners amplify the public outcry. The country may be poor and the people much worse, but where is the human compassion from the rest of the world, why doesn’t the United Nations issue directives with respect to aid and military forces of member countries to go in and take care of a mess their own government can’t even handle? Politics is still the key and the hypocritical deafness of all to the cries of people who are suffering come second to world order. Even decorated and well respected people forms the UN are denied entry to manage the mass delivery of aid to stricken areas. Doctors without Borders has been denied visas along with many aid agencies whose people are just itching to get their hands into the thick of things to help the people of Myanmar. Why not do away with politics and just let the global community do what they can to get people back on track with their lives? You hold the key and we as a people of this earth must make out stand known, that people and lives come first!

The Genome project has been an ongoing research program that has many critics due tot he possible implications such research may bring about. True to this, the identification of certain genes that may give a person more chances of being violent and others are raising the possibility of a genetic testing that may bring about discrimination. Other issues such as the area of stem cell research which could bring about cloning of humans (which in my opinion is already underway) making the movie 6th Day a reality with more than one version of yourself around to do your work.
Many ethical issues are rising form the research that have stemmed from the study of the human genome, and some philosophers have seen this as the move by man to become GOD. Manipulating genes to make better crops and animals, making them more productive and hardier to disease and other natural problems may have us dealing with artificial life that was created in a test tube or Petri dish in a few years time. Many have benefited from genetic engineering of rice that has resulted in higher yielding crops that are hardier to disease and better to withstand the wrath of nature. Mother Nature has been running the show till man decided he could get one good trait from one plant and give that to another plant with another great gene to make a totally new variety of plant that is better than both parents. This process normally happens naturally but man is meddling with matters that may become his end. The concerns about GMO’s are rising and people are not quite sure what they’re eating.
Medical experts say it’s bad to eat GMO’s but how do we feed the world which is growing by the millions each year. The rice shortage of the past few months highlights the need for more productive crops in order to feed the population of this earth. Domesticated animals thrive only with human care and medicine that boosts their immunity allowing them to ward of disease and other pests. The balance between need and the real world is a very thin line and the world of biogenetics has managed to keep up till man himself became alarmed at the implications of the things that he has invented. We are truly in a dilemma today regarding what side to choose, natural or manipulated and there may be too little we can do in the case for the law is supply and demand. What people wants, people get and at whatever cost.

We humans have engineered our society to have a few individuals take care of the decisions for most of us. This has had a lot of good and detrimental effects on society for it has indeed brought about peace and order for most of us but misery and discontent with all the rest. Socio-economic groups have different needs based on many factors and they are too broad for one set of people to encompass them all. The Good of the Many outweighs the need of the some as they say. The world is in crisis, global warming, political unrest, wars and other socio-economic problems are getting worse day by day. In the Middle East, countries that were liberated to give way to freedom remain locked in battle as people suffer from identity crisis, saying they need help but let us do the helping ourselves, in Asia countries deluged by disasters say they need help yet many still suffer for the benefit of the cause. The balance between the need of the many and the need of the some to comply with international compliance is a hard game to play for not many can understand the implications of the big picture.
We all live in one planet and one conflict in one country among the thousands of them out there is still a conflict that has the potential to end life on this earth anytime. Peace goes as far as the money and people without cash want it, people with it want more and people who don’t have enough do the same. The need for equality is a hard thing to promote if you yourself cannot enact it for your own people. These governments may have too much on their shoulders that sometimes hard decisions have to be made. You win some and you lose some as they say in the world of politics. Africa, where a lot of oil exists is always locked in battle for control of their resources, Iraq also has oil but is unable to make any profit from it due to interests on who gets to control it and the list goes on. Many of the world’s superpowers have influence and power to do anything but have little will to do so due to the issue of self-preservation. Some of the greatest human disasters have come and gone and are gonna’ keep coming testing the global political will to help one another in the face of uncertainty. Time will tell if we as part of the global society have the will to survive as a race rather than a citizen of a specific country, time will tell and we may be running out of it, fast.