RANDOM THOUGHTS ARCHIVE...

15/04/2002...

I am not a religious man, so if I offend you or your beliefs, I apologise, I mean only to highlight my version of the truth. To me, once a man who believed he'd found belief in Christianity, I fail to see the commitment people show to God, Allah, or any of the gods. Science was the turning point in my life, as I became proficient and highly interested in physics, chemistry and biology, palaeontology being my subject of choice at the time. Since then, it is safe to say that my mind has opened; yet I remain a staunch atheist and sceptic. In the past decade there have been at least three major conflicts based on religion. The first two being Bosnia and Kosovo against the Muslim Albanians, a conflict I cannot fully comment on seems Bosnia was more about race, but it is quite obvious that religion played a part. The other is the one currently raging at the moment, the Intifada in Israel/Palestine. I consider Northern Ireland to be almost purely territorial now, so I have chosen to leave it out, also it is terrorism/freedom fighting and based on single acts rather than all-out conflict.

Israel and the Palestinian people have been fighting for years, but the core reason behind the fighting is mostly based on religious/racial prejudice. Why does religion, the supposed preaching of peace and goodwill, lead to such bloody violence? One where civilians are neither safe from the military or freedom fighters/terrorists. I agree, the motivations are also territorial, the Palestinians wanting their own state, just as the Jews were granted by a UN resolution to give them Israel. I also see the fact that the Islamic world is large with many Islamic nations to the Jew's single nation of Israel. I can see the territorial side and some of the religious aspects, but it is still killing in the name of religion, mainly relating that to the Islamic extremists, but I also say this because I have heard many Israelis saying that the whole idea of them leaving their homes to escape the fighting is actually some subconscious effort at anti-Semitism. My message for the day, if there is truly one besides making you think, is to consider the fact that religion is not a way of life, but merely their for moral guidance. Don't put your life on the line for a simple quote, passage, reading, whatever of whatever holy book your religion hold's dear. Thank you...

SISSpy...

09/04/2002...

Hey again... Today's thought comes from the land on the troubles, Afghanistan. Today, we had the first British fatality of the conflict, and just like the American's first, it was an accident. Members of the Royal Anglian Regiment were on patrol in Kabul when someone obviously had a negligent discharge, the term used for the accidental firing of a round. Most are harmless but this time it hit someone. One of the soldiers was hit in the head. It was totally an accident and I bet the man whose weapon went off must be distraught.

Other things today... Quantum physics... Ohhhh boy. Bet you're not even listening now. Well, all I want to say on the issue is it is a highly interesting topic, this could be the future in technological terms, with people working on 'quantum computers'. It really makes you think that we're moving to the 'Star Trek age' as you might say. To think, scientific discoveries are coming in the shedloads even though the more obvious areas are already known. Just want to give a testiment to the science guys, and gals, and for their work. Without it, quite frankly, you would not be reading this.

SISSpy...

08/04/2002...

Wow, a second thought... this doesn't happen often, especially not in as many days, but I better commit it to 'paper' before it's lost in that land of no-return called my mind. Okay, before I start, I'll admit to something. Like many young Brits, I'm not a lover of the monarchy, in fact, for the past few years I've done nothing but hope for its dissolution, but today, and the last week, I was actually moved, not to crying stage ("phew") but here is the story.

As you are probably aware, the Queen Mother died last weekend. Now her coffin is lying in state at Westminster Hall in Windsor, and it is open (not the coffin, but the hall containing it) to the public. There are queues, as mentioned yesterday, that have stretched 2 miles long. Today, a historic, or at least it is thought to be, event took place. The grandchildren of the Queen Mother, Princes Edward, Andrew, Charles, and Viscount Linley (son of the late Princess Margret) mounted their own vigil around the Queen Mother's coffin, live (as always) on television. They replaced the Royal Company of Archers, who'd been making their 20 minute vigil, and they came down in slow march, Charles and Andrew in their naval uniforms, Charles being a former Rear-Admiral, and Andrew being one of the main chopper flyers in the Falklands War and at the rank of Commander. Andrew and Viscount Linley were in civvies, although Andrew had a short stint in the Royal Marines.

I respect them, I could not have done it, 20 minutes they stood, as solid as the lion's around Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, although Linley did a lot of wobbling. Although I can understand how hard it must have been for the Princes, Linley has it worse, with the loss of his mother and grandmother all within the space of a quarter of a year. Anyway, there they stood, and it was just moving. And then the Queen gave her tribute to the Queen Mother and thanked the nation. She was loved and probably is the most loved Royal, bar Diana, this nation has ever had. Its her funeral tomorrow, may she rest in peace.

SISSpy...

07/04/2002...

Hey folks, well...random thoughts... hmmm... All my thoughts are random, this'll be the thing I struggle on. Okay, well, today in the news. The queues to the Queen Mother's coffin as it lies in wait for the funeral on Tuesday was about 2 miles long! Surely thats a record? I don't know for sure, but I guess not, or that would have been mentioned. Wow, the other major thing, Bush is going all hard-line on the Israelis... Now, I had a conversation about this today, but I think this is the US's biggest change in, not policy, but more thought, towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But then again, it is the pursuit of peace that the Americans have always tried for, I guess this is another way that the Bush administration thought up.

Now, seems this is the first entry in the random thoughts, which, by the way, shall be archived and kept for you all to see how God damn hypocritical I can be, I'm gonna try and bring awareness to something. God forbid... well... I'm struggling here. Oh well, maybe I can come up with something from the news....

Got one... okay. Colombia... land of the cartels. Well, there has been terrible fighting in Colombia for years, the biggest problem of late being FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Force of Colombia. Today, a massive car bomb in the Villavicencio district of Colombia was detonated and killed at least 12, and left over 70 injured. No one has owned up, but all eyes are on FARC as the culprits. Now, FARC came to being during the period of civil war between Liberal and Conservative parties between 1948 til 58, where many guerilla forces fought. Quite a number found no solace in the leadership of the Liberal party, and turned to Communism. One of the groups mention was lead by Manuel Marulanda (the alias of Pedro Antonio Marin), which he called FARC in 1966. He still leads the group at the tender age of 70.

During the 1980s, FARC grew slowly, but eventually found the wonderful money making enterprise that still consumes Colombia to this day, drugs. They will not consume them, they explicitly prohibit that, but instead they began to tax each stage of their production, even to their distribution, which take place through their illegal airfields. This leads them to make about $300 per year... that's not including the 'subsidies' of extortion and kidnapping, the later being one of the main things that keeps them well publicised.

Not being totally biased here... FARC did at least try the political route, a la IRA and Sinn Fein, but with little success. They found that the UP (Patriotic Union, their party) was being destroyed by death squads of far-right groups. This was about late 1980s. The problem was, these death squads were both drug-financed, so gang warfare... and they were state sponsered, or rather, believed to be. Over 3000 members were killed, including their presidential candidate for 1990. As you can believe, this lead to the abandonment of the political avenue, as it quickly became a cul-de-sac and the return and sole use of military power. Tried and tested.

They have followed this to this very day, and have been in peace talks with the government for three years, although it has yet to come to the stage where the violence, extortion, and more worryingly to foreigners, the kidnappings will stop.

Now, I'm not saying 'Down with FARC...' Just keep an eye on the region, its no longer about Pablo Escobar and that farce of a scenario, but the focus is shifting back to a Northern Ireland type stalemate, where the violence will continue, unabated. So, if you see something about Colombia in the news, I hope you find this of some use.

SISSpy...

Thanks to the BBC's profile of FARC for the production of my own guide.