[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by perrjojo

I doubt the world is any bigger mess but two things have changed. Instant communication lets us know more and the weapons we have available can harm a lot more people.

You are very right in my very uneducated opinion.

[tucson]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725

Me too. If you read some of the Gospels too it seems more about sincere belief in God in private rather than ostentatious pageantry in public.

We must preach the gospel to the whole world :-) Praise His Holy Name.

[Patty55]

Originally Posted by tucson

We must preach the gospel to the whole world :-) Praise His Holy Name.

I was raised Catholic, went to Mass pretty much every Sunday but recruitment wasn't required.

Then we got a boat and horses but thankfully had the Catholic loophole that God is everywhere. You want to see praising of his holy name, spend a Sunday at the Jumper Ring-LOL.

You all need to lighten up.

[kittygilchrist]

Originally Posted by Patty55

Y'know, all this God stuff on this thread is getting out of hand. I do believe in the power of prayer, but I believe it to be more of an internal thing.

I think sometimes God needs a helping hand, so... I believe in the USMC, the SEALS, a good education and hard work.

Agree that some of pushing for God in the thread is insensitive. I also agree that our military, education, and work ethic would be useful, if we had a moral compass.

[graciegirl]

Good people all, and all worried about the wars. And the badness, and the sadness and the killing and the robbing and the raping and the meanness.

We can govern ourselves and hope for better outside of ourselves. And try to vote for the people who have common sense.

[TexaninVA]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725

They got Osama Bib Laden who was supposedly the master mind behind this attack. I do think we should stop monsters like Bin Laden, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot,. etc with whatever means possible. The United Nations, though, should have the real force.

The reality is the primary force for peace and stability, since the end of WWII, has been American military power. You can look around and see the results of what happens when that power is withdrawn (eg Iraq). Nature abhors a vacuum and there are lots of bad actors (eg ISIL) who will fill it.

Also, given that the UN is largely a collection of 3rd world socialist or authoritarian states, giving them the "real force" is not a good idea. America would be the loser on that deal IHMO.

[Patty55]

Getting back on topic, I think a big part of the problem is TMI. In one of or gulf wars I remember our military invaded with dashboard type cameras and it was shown on CNN. What was that about?

I think in this country the line between fantasy and reality is blurred. So many people (and not just children)believe all those insipid reality shows are real. They end up glorifying teen pregnancy, bored housewives and families who speak so badly they need subtitles.

There is no accountability, if a boy is old enough to father a child he should "man up" and support it financially. Back in the day I worked on the Child Support Enforcement project title IV-D. I guess it's no longer in effect, I see a lot of deadbeat dads wandering around and welfare customers not working. Perhaps it's over simplifying the problem but the boys should be raised to respect the girls and the girls need to be taught to respect themselves.

I've been flamed in the past for saying that this is no longer the country I grew up in. Not to get political, but I believe in the process, this is the country that the majority wants, so be it.

[kittygilchrist]

Patty, in an earlier post, you asked for the lighter side.

[ame]Http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wneCa_yIuzg[/ame]

Click above...it's there even tho you can't see it.

Me Buffett singing fruitcakes. Guaranteed to lift the mood.

[Patty55]

Originally Posted by kittygilchrist

Patty, in an earlier post, you asked for the lighter side.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wneCa_yIuzg

Click above...

Me Buffett singing fruitcakes. Guaranteed to lift the mood.

Quoted your post to show the link.

Loved it, how apropos.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by TexaninVA

The reality is the primary force for peace and stability, since the end of WWII, has been American military power. You can look around and see the results of what happens when that power is withdrawn (eg Iraq). Nature abhors a vacuum and there are lots of bad actors (eg ISIL) who will fill it.

Also, given that the UN is largely a collection of 3rd world socialist or authoritarian states, giving them the "real force" is not a good idea. America would be the loser on that deal IHMO.

Here is a recent example of the UN at work:

Here are the 11 U.N. members that voted against a resolution on Ukraine’s unity - The Washington Post

[Suzi]

I fear that our country is in serious trouble. The social decay of a considerable number of our citizens; the rampant belief that life revolves around them; parenting is a secondary occupation; disrespect for our environment; entitlement mentality and loss of hope. The world, on the whole, is becoming a more dangerous place and death due to religion is going to be more common place. Its scary and sad and I feel very bad leaving this mess for my children and grandchildren.
I have to say I am at a loss of what to do or where to start. I'm not a religious person but I am very spiritual. I was raised with the 10 commandments and believe in a christian way of living. I was raised and I raised my children with the same principles of respect for others and tolerance of differences. Even if we could institute changes in our country that would bring about healthy changes, how do we inspire the rest of the world?

[Rags123]

Originally Posted by kittygilchrist

Let's try this again using Albright's statement on CBS instead of my calling it "gone to hell in a handbasket"...

What do you think of current world affairs, and if you can say it without political sides taken, what can we personally do or espouse as a nation?

For new posters, you may not promote your party or bash the other party. If you do, the thread will be closed.

WARNING....I will end this post by saying.....I DONT KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO RESOLVE ALL THIS.

My thoughts are not popular at all. The world lacks leadership. The folks, whether they be Muslim, Christian or whatever that want to take control with terror and warfare are seeing a clear lane. Thus they almost can kill at will, and inflict pain on innocents.

In Syria, it has been years where they still are killing children in the streets and the same leadership remains. In Iran, they process nuclear (I KNOW what they say it is for) unfettered and also threaten Israel with extinction. Israel is threatned by Hamas. Iraq has erupted once again and Turkey who opened their borders to allow fighters into Syria are not fighting with ISIS.

Not even mentioning Libya where Ansar al Sharia is getting a strong foothold.

All of this...Hamas, Ansar al Sharia, ISIS, Al-Qaeda are terrorist groups. I would think that they all want somewhat what Hamas got which was a victory at the ballot box.

For me, the center piece is nuclear weapons and what that could mean to our world. Our world is small.....not nearly what it used to be, and I am always reminded of the gasing of the Tokyo subway by a far east religious group which was intended to be nuclear but they lost patience. They had found the nuclear material they needed and had a price...just could not wait.

My fear is that someone somewhere will have the patience and wherewithall to get their hands on nuclear weapons that can destroy MILLIONS of people in a nano second. That would destablize this world enough to allow these folks to gain control they want where they want.

Sounds crazy...scary, but I have not even eggarated one thing.

How to stop them is the question. We can ignore them and say we have our own problems and hope their "antics" do not come on our shores. We can work on doing something within the UN, which was established to tackle this stuff, but I would not hold out much hope there. We can try and mobilize all of our allies to fight these folks, but then the question is HOW do we fight them.

If you have been keeping up, the war is now one being waged in cyber land. In 2012 Secy of Defense Panetta raised this issue and called the cyber threat the most serious. The classic fear is that enemy hackers – from countries like Iran, China, or Russia – could infiltrate the U.S. power grid, shutting down government agencies, crashing planes into buildings, and grinding the economy to a halt.

I actually am typing a long post and we should never live our life in fear, but we must keep all of this in front of us as we waste time, my words, in self absorbed politics.

We do take things for granted in this country and we do not think it, but the war is going on and on and on, perhaps without us.

I DONT KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO RESOLVE ALL THIS.

[Tennisnut]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725

Here is a recent example of the UN at work:

Here are the 11 U.N. members that voted against a resolution on Ukraine’s unity - The Washington Post

And there were 100 that voted in favor and ten along with Russia voted against. I would consider that a landslide.

[Deseylou]

The world has always has bad,bad,bad people in it
There are also good people.
When people want to rule, and are unwilling to listen to a differing opinion, strife occurs.
I don't believe we will ever have world peace.
The best we can hope for is, world tolerance.
I'm sorry, I don't communicate very well via the written word.
Debbie

[Rags123]

This is an opinion piece from a gentleman in Pakistan. He happens to share my fear of nuclear terrorism, and he is in the middle of the area.

This is not to scare anyone...does not seem from the comments it would anyway, but we BETTER be aware, not in fear....AWARE. Once that occurs, the world will change forever.

"During the last 16 years, Pakistan and India have doubled the number of their nuclear warheads, making them the fastest growing nuclear weapons states in the world. However, India has deployed a nuclear triad of bombers, missiles and a submarine capable of firing nuclear weapons. Pakistan has also developed a network of nuclear weapons factories, plutonium reactors and nuclear missiles. India has invested a lot on spy satellites, aircraft, drones and early warning radar, while Pakistan has developed spy and modern warning systems. At present, both the states hold a massive nuclear stockpile and the size of this stockpile has doubled since 1998. Both states have developed cruise missiles and are seeking nuclear submarines. China’s tacit support to Pakistan for boosting the country’s nuclear weapons is considered to have strategic implications for India. All these weapons and strategic developments in both the states mean that confidence-building measures remain only on paper with no one wanting to extend the hand of cooperation."

"This day-to-day militarisation of potential conflict, the withdrawal of NATO and US forces from Afghanistan, and civil wars in the Middle East have all intensified the war of interests between the two states. In the presence of all these weapons, the danger of nuclear terrorism, the potential spread of nuclear materials in the black market and the recent threatened control of nuclear materials by Sunni terrorist groups (ISIS) in Iraq, has raised serious questions about the safety and security of nuclear weapons in South Asia. Pakistan faces a series of threats to its national security. These threats come from the Taliban and the likely potential use of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) devices by domestic terrorist and extremist groups. The international task force on the prevention of nuclear terrorism has also warned that the “possibility of nuclear terrorism is increasing” because of a number of factors including “the conventional forms of terrorism” and the vulnerability of nuclear power and research reactors to sabotage and of weapons-usable nuclear materials to theft."

The danger of nuclear terrorism in South Asia

To this I add the backdrop of what is happening in this country as our borders are swamped by folks that we have great sympathy for and we should IF their stories are true. I have read a few links this morning that seem to think the border crisis should not worry us relative to terrorist entries and that is based on the Mexican gangs not wanting to have the wrath of the US should a terrorist attack occur and have the entry point being from there. Let us hope so, but the pourous nature of the border is a bit scary since as I have read...so many are just allowed to roam until their hearings and then we just hope they show up.

Do I have an fear of terrorism both here and throughout the word...I DO. Is it irrational...I do not believe so at all. We tend to push aside the terrorism in other parts of the world as if we are secure here.....one look at the border crisis should stem that.

To the point of the thread...Albright was correct in her assessment, and as to what we as a nation can do.....hopefully we are doing things as we speak to keep tabs on what is happening in this world, and we as citizens should stop making fun of warnings that never become real. The recent Brooklyn Bridge item should give us pause. And do not allow politicians to play you....READ....the worst thing that will happen to politicians we do not want is for us to be INFORMED