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Yes; as for my comment, 'well supported' through theft .

Aha...now I see it.

At least you came in with it on your own ~ seems so obvious, doesn't it ?

Lightning ~

Are you or anyone you know feeling tense as a result of the current terror alert regarding the New York subways? Or, are a lot of people feeling like it's not valid, or its being over-reacted to?

~ Lizzy

Today's news mentioned that soldiers from the Zimbabwe army are being sent home on extended leave, because the Army can no longer afford, or cannot provide meals for them. The civilians are starving already. The army has been fed through the growing disaster facing the country. But now, even the army is suffering.

I don't think we'll have to wait for too long before Mugabe is 'replaced' by military personnel of some kind. He sits at the top of a pyramid made up of cronies, family and army. Senior army officers will be looking very seriously at their options.

Just thought I'd mention this in case the news escaped most broadcasts.

Lightning ~

Are you or anyone you know feeling tense as a result of the current terror alert regarding the New York subways? Or, are a lot of people feeling like it's not valid, or its being over-reacted to?

People are saying it's probably another false alarm being used by the government for drumming up enthusiasm for the war in Iraq and appreciation for its perpetrators, our "saviours from terror." Some people are crowding the busses and having bad experiences because they are slow and break down.
Fear of attack is another price we pay for living in this greatest of cities, at the summit of Western Civilization. We've grown used to it. "If I get blowed up, I get blowed up," said someone boarding the subway.

I am just numbstruck by the tragedy of the earthquake that has hit Pakistan and India. The death count is 20,000 people, so far, and that is just Pakistan[?]. Some areas are totally obliterated. Entire villages destroyed. Hundreds of children killed when schools collapsed on top of them. In colder, mountainous areas, the survivors need to deal with the cold now. Aftershocks continue. No warning for any of it.

Hurricane Stan had already killed over 100 [landslides, mudslides, and flooding] in Mexico, and at least one village in Guatemala has been covered completely with mud up to the treetops, a result of the rains, and they're considering declaring it a mass gravesite.

I am in shock as I listen to these stories, and so deeply saddened to think of all the people who have been profoundly and permanently impacted. The world has become a horror show.

~ Elizabeth

Elizabeth, may I raise another matter here please.

When all of the news companies were spending days and fortunes covering New Orleans and the hurricane, there was next to nothing covering the news that 1000 people died in India as a result of a tropical storm at the same time.

I think we have to take a long view at what is happening to our world. We cannot bring back the dead. We pray for the living. We help the living. Our national domestic problems are large in our own countries, but it takes massive loss of life to get many people to look outside their own back yard.

I hope that those who died knew nothing about it. That is the best I can wish for them.

Thanks for bringing this matter to the forum, so we can all stop and assess our own priorities in this life.

Regards, Byron.

Thanks for that perspective. Yes, assessing our own lives is important. What an unjust 'oversight,' the 1,000 in India losing their lives, as well. You're right. The backyard syndrome is a problem, with only this kind of thing often being the only thing that turns on the lights regarding elsewhere.

Yes, I too hope they died quickly, which I believe most did. Not that this makes it 'better,' but somehow, somehow makes it 'better.'

Taking the long view is difficult in the face of these kinds of things, simply because I don't retain the awareness of having lived during similarly catastrophic times throughout history. Even in my own, current lifetime, my childhood and youth weren't filled with these massive loss of lives, one after the other [or, maybe, it's because I wasn't aware?]. This is just one after the other after the other. On Massive scales.

~ Elizabeth

Maybe it's the start of the murderous future.

Yes, I'd considered that, too, Lightning.

In talking with my former husband, however, he reminded me of the earthquake in Mexico City in 1985, killing [this is from Google} "Officially, the records which were put at the disposal of the authorities listed 4,541 casualties. Nevertheless, non-official versions put the number of people killed at more than 30,000." That discrepancy isn't surprizing, considered how records can be so easily destroyed. His point, of course, is that things have been going on, but I may not have necessarily been aware of them, for one reason or another. All that said, more catastrophic things do seem to be happening at a greater frequency, and more widespread.

Do you remember what 'seems' to have been the 'first, terrorist' action ~ when the wheelchair-bound man was dumped over the side of the ship in his chair? I remember how unbelievable that was to me at the time [still is, for that matter] and how I couldn't imagine anything any more inhumane. Now, though, the manner of things [terrorist attacks] has become so much more than that.

He also was saying that the number of [figures broadcast over mainstream TV] 'collateral' deaths of Iraqis is now considered to be at approximately 40,000.

We heard a description of the issues in Iraq through a piece of truly black-humour. "The trouble with trying to win their hearts and minds is that we are losing too many arms and legs"

No smilies in this post needed.

Yes, Byron ~ it's truly black, and it's truly true .

I'm stunned speechless, listening to the reports of damage and loss of life in Pakistan and India. I'm fearful of the additional loss of lives coming due to exposure to the cold weather, lack of basic needs, and disease. Not to mention ongoing after-shocks and potential of collapsing buildings in the course of rescue efforts. I'm heartened to hear of the cooperation that has emerged between the two countries; and the help that is arriving from various areas of the world.

The realities of anger, frustration, rage, and blame are clearly ~ again ~ normal in the midst of catastrophic situations, where people are fearing for their lives.

I pray that the scale of help needed will arrive in time to save as many lives as possible. My heart is with the people in Pakistan and India.

~ Elizabeth

AP - 1 hour, 44 minutes ago

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan - Rescuers using search dogs, listening devices and breath-detecting machines discovered a dazed 5-year-old buried in the rubble of her family's house Wednesday, a shot of good news as hopes faded of finding other survivors four days after South Asia's earthquake. "I want to drink," Zarabe Shah whispered, her cropped hair caked with dust. An elderly man fed her tiny sips of water from a blue plastic bottle cap. On Tuesday, Zarabe's neighbors recovered the bodies of her father and two sisters. Her mother and another two sisters survived Saturday's quake but gave up Zarabe for dead and left Muzaffarabad for a less-damaged city.

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