veto

[LouiseVargas]

Thank you for posting this essay by Raymond S. Kraft. Where did you find it? I sent it to several friends who are smarter than I am and they said it is written to incite as much fear as possible - pushing every button in an effort to evoke "fear fear fear" in whoever reads it.

I feel Armageddon has begun. Fires and floods, war breaking out all over. Any sane person would fear these events which ARE happening.

I fully believe this will happen. I agree with every word. I've been waiting to read something like this and know someone agrees with me.

I knew on September 11 that the world as we knew it was gone gone gone.

[Dihannah1]

Great Owl wrote in response to my post regarding civilizations lasting two thousand years: "I would be very interested in hearing your reasoning Louise. How do you define a civilization. This may be taking this thread a bit O/T but I am curious as to why you feel this way. I had never given thought to this concept and do not know anything about it. We owls enjoy devouring ideas as much as we do meices."

Hi GO!  I learned this in history classes in Pasadena High School and Pasadena City College. History was not my favorite subject but this is one thing I clearly remember because it made sense to me and explained why civilizations died.

Examples of civilizations are the Roman Empire, the Mayan Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Aztec Empire, the Incas, the Vikings, Atlantis, Amazon, ancient Japan, Egypt, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization

We are now in 2007 and I see our civilization (pretty much the whole world) on the brink of self destruction. Iraq, Iran, Syria, North Korea. Insurgents, suicide bombers, snipers, double agents, WMD, Israel in turmoil along with the Palestinians. Who has nuclear bombs? United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel. States suspected of having clandestine nuclear programs: Iran and Saudi Arabia. I believe (not from a religious point of view) that the end times are here.

I am waiting for suicide bombers to blow up shopping malls, Hollywood landmarks such as the Hollywood Mulholland Reservoir - we would be washed away. It's a damn big dam. Downtown LA has tall buildings. I don't see security anywhere.

Why do great civilizations fall? The history of humankind has been marked by patterns of growth and decline. Some declines have been gradual, occurring over centuries. Others have been rapid, occurring over the course of a few years. War, drought, natural disaster, disease, overpopulation, economic disruption: any of these can bring about the collapse of a civilization. Internal causes (such as political struggles or over farming) can combine with external causes (such as war or natural disaster) to bring about a collapse.

Sadly, the world has come to this point. I'm not sure it's the fault of any country or elected politician. It just is what it is. For some strange reason (I learned in my political science class), there is an aspect of human nature that makes some of us want to make war in order to conquer.

I totally agree

[Dihannah1]

Thank you for posting this essay by Raymond S. Kraft. Where did you find it? I sent it to several friends who are smarter than I am and they said it is written to incite as much fear as possible - pushing every button in an effort to evoke "fear fear fear" in whoever reads it.

I feel Armageddon has begun. Fires and floods, war breaking out all over. Any sane person would fear these events which ARE happening.

I fully believe this will happen. I agree with every word. I've been waiting to read something like this and know someone agrees with me.

I knew on September 11 that the world as we knew it was gone gone gone.

I agree on this as well.