By now it must be obvious to just about everyone, including the politically blind of the extreme Left and Right, that the order of our world and daily lives has gone drastically askew. And I am not speaking of a larger than normal variation of the moment, but a major divergence from what was previously a relatively predictable course.

As matters stand at this moment in our history, we have no visible future in sight but live day to day; and we all know from personal experience on the financial scale that such is a reliable formula for disaster.

The situation is akin to a game of 'musical chairs', and when the music stops someone will not have a place to sit. And the size, nature and reaction of that 'someone - be it nation or state - will become the determining factor upon which our future will turn.

So let us peruse the rapidly changing times and world and national events to gain an understanding of where we are on our way to the future.

A Financial House of Cards

At present, the nation of Greece rests upon a shaky pedestal, virtually upon the brink of a total financial collapse. Unfortunately, in this matter Greece is not a' lone player' in this shaping disaster, because it is on the 'brink' of defaulting on its international debt repayment. And following closely behind them in the looming crisis are other potential defaulters of similar magnitude such as Spain.

What all of these countries share is a deadly appetite for - Domestic Appeasement. These societies like many in Europe are top-heavy with public employee pensions, and massive national health plans - often requiring no contribution whatsoever by the public.

In a bold attempt to prevent default of their international loan obligations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its allies in Berlin, Belgium and France has offered Greece an unprecedented bailout loan of $136 billion dollars. And it is healthy to remember that they are not alone in this risky outlay, for we are all (including the U.S.) holding hands and our breath for the outcome.

As part of a Herculean effort to curb its massive overspending, Greece leadership promised to cut pensions for its public workers, which has lead to violent street protests.. This is part of an austerity program devised to, hopefully, bring its deficit from 13% of GDP to 3% in three years – an almost impossible task.

Choosing Environmental Hell before Profit Loss

There was a theatrical film released in 1965 entitled, "Crack in the World", whose depicted Science Fictional events bare frightening similarity to those taking place at present in the Gulf of Mexico.

The film's premise was that of a scientist's effort to open a virtual 'crack in the Earth's' mantle, which would release molten magma from its core to harness as an energy source.

Unfortunately, that fictional scientist did not heed warnings of a 'worst case scenario' should that crack open farther than he desired and could not be stopped - which is what happened.

Now here we are 45 years later, having to deal with the eerily similar dilemma of an 'oil leaking hole' in the ocean floor - that defies our best efforts to seal it.

If there are still those remaining who devoutly believe in an effectively operating 'free market system' - without governmental restraint and checks, the BP disaster should remove any doubts from the minds of such skeptics. This was a disaster that - did not have to happen.

The question that begs an answer is: How can a major experienced corporation like BP, drill down more than 4 miles in the exploration for oil - without first developing a reliable system to operate at such untested depths to stem a possible well blowout?

The following excerpts from reliable news sources will give the reader a clear-cut unbiased view of the immoral workings of the - Corporate Machine.

BP Worker Takes Fifth, Making Prosecution a Possibility
Thursday 27 May 2010
by: Erika Bolstad, Joseph Goodman and Marisa Taylor | McClatchy Newspapers

Washington - A top BP worker who was aboard the Deepwater Horizon in the hours leading up to the explosion declined to testify in front of a federal panel investigating the deadly oil rig blowout, telling the U.S. Coast Guard he was invoking his constitutional right to avoid self-incrimination.

The move Wednesday by BP's Robert Kaluza raises the possibility of criminal liability in the April 20 explosion that killed 11 and five weeks later continues to spew hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico each day.

Wednesday's government hearing in Louisiana, however, failed to determine why — despite unusual pressure and fluid readings on the rig — a BP official decided on the day of the explosion to proceed with removing heavy drilling fluid from the well and replacing it with lighter-weight seawater that was unable to prevent gas from surging to the surface and exploding.

Employees and experts testified that in the hours before the explosion, they witnessed a power struggle over that decision — the kind of argument common among the different parties that lease and run complicated offshore drilling operations, but one that this time, had deadly consequences. One employee who worked for the rig owner, Transocean, was so mad after the fight that he warned they'd be relying on the rig's blowout preventer if they proceeded the way BP wanted

And just possibly, some of you have not hard of the following incident that took place as Deepwater survivors were rescued at sea:

After the surviving the unnecessary disaster that did come about, dazed and frightened workers were evacuated from that burning platform, they were met by lawyers from the drilling giant Transocean with forms to sign stating they had not been injured and had no first-hand knowledge of what had happened.

In Gulf Spill, BP Using Dispersants Banned in U. K.
by Marian Wang - May 27, 2010

The two types of dispersants BP is spraying in the Gulf of Mexico are banned for use on oil spills in the U. K. As EPA-approved products, BP has been using them in greater quantities than dispersants have ever been used in the history of U.S. oil spills.

These 'corporate outlaws' may have not only doomed our present, but managed to contaminate our future for years to come. Now, with a cadre of lawyers and, eventually, they'd like to simply walk away from the mess they alone have made - and to continue deep-water drilling.

By their continuing actions, it should be clear to all that morality plays no part in corporate thinking - there's no profit in it.

Middle East Gambit

The Israelis are now being pushed to their limit, and out of the cozy American sustained diplomatic political comfort zone they have occupied for years. They are being pressed to - not have their cake and eat it too.

The Arab world and much of Europe has called their long-running bluff on their nuclear arsenal - that they have steadfastly refused to admit to possessing.

Bloomberg-Newsweek

By Bill Varner

May 29 (Bloomberg News) the U.S., Iran and Arab nations agreed yesterday to call for United Nations talks in 2012 on a treaty to ban nuclear weapons from the Middle East.

Agreement on the 2012 meeting helps the U.S. address a demand of Arab nations as President Barack Obama pressures Iran to halt the pursuit of nuclear technologies that might lead to development of an atomic weapon. Arab states have said Israel has a nuclear arsenal that must be part of the discussion.

Israel, which hasn't confirmed or denied it has nuclear weapons, hasn't signed the non-proliferation treaty and didn't attend the UN review conference. The declaration said Israel should ratify the treaty and allow inspection of nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Israeli government hasn't said whether it would attend the 2012 talks.

The Arab group’s insistence on naming Israel in the text was a 'negative political symbol' that makes it less likely that Israel will attend, or even that the meeting will take place, he said.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is an agreement between the five original nuclear powers -- the U.S., Britain, China, France and Russia -- not to spread the weapons and eventually to disarm, in exchange for a pledge from other nations not to join the arms race. At the same time, the non- nuclear nations were accorded the right to develop peaceful programs.

The treaty, which is reviewed every five years, has been undercut by nations that haven’t signed it and may possess undeclared atomic weapons, such as Israel, or that have developed nuclear arms since then, as India and Pakistan have.

There are no penalties for withdrawing, which North Korea did before detonating two nuclear bombs, or for violating its terms, as Iran is accused of doing by not cooperating with UN inspectors.

So how have the Israelis responded under the militant leadership of its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu? They have begun to blatantly violate Lebanon's airspace via several recent unexplainable sorties. The only purpose such treaty violating air space intrusions could serve, would be to test a possible route for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities - before the Russians have time to install a new more powerful missile defense system around those sites.

The American Leadership Pool

When a passenger aircraft during flight runs into a challenging situation, be it mechanical or weather related, the passengers can be confident of the flying skills of the captain. Why? Because they know airline pilots are chosen for years of accumulated flying experience, and are trained to the hilt to deal with - the unexpected.

Therefore, it should trouble us as Americans, that just about every four years we launch a new government with a captain and crew whose flying skills are based solely upon politics, personal popularity and in some cases, racial or ethnic origin. Should airline pilots be chosen in the same manner, there would be a slew of air disasters every day. Makes no sense does it?

For the second time in a row, we in America have elected a leader, Barack Obama, who is unskilled at leadership in such dangerous and trying times as we face at present. In fact, he is so inept he is starting to make his predecessor, George W. Bush, appear - almost capable.

Americans have always shied away from compromise when choosing political leadership, even though the majority of its Middle Class is, politically, in the middle of either the Left or Right.

In point of fact, their viewpoints only become extreme in times of war or great economic distress. Now they have both factors to contend with, added to the specter of domestic and international terrorism. So in fear they have begun to seek leadership from the extreme camps of both political disciplines.

Therefore, more than ever before, it is important to understand what is meant, philosophically, by the term - extreme.

The American Political Left has never seen a social program it didn't like - regardless of its unsustainable size or never- ending costs. Nor will they ever admit to the failure of a program, with particular reference to public education, or the toll its destructive ineffectiveness may take upon our youth.

They also refuse to recognize that there is such a social element as an - illegal immigrant, even in light of the fact that the hordes crossing our southern borders now represent an effective invasion and tentative occupation force.

On the other hand, the American Political Right, obsessed with controlling a woman's right to her own body, appears to be composed of those who deny the projections of legitimate Science in the face of virtually irrefutable collective evidence. While at the same time they willingly accept on blind faith such concepts as - the existence of Noah's Ark, and a man who walked on water, and who was later resurrected from the grave.

This is the pool that we have of late tended to draw our leadership candidates from; most of whom are incapable of projecting into a future they refuse to recognize if it doesn't look like - their version of how the past was or should have been.

This factor alone is the reason we ended up with a Director of National Security, Condolessa Rice, who made the astounding remark in defense of her department's failure to thwart the 9-11 attack - despite numerous credible warnings that such an attack was imminent:

"Who would have expected anyone to use airliners as guided missiles to crash into buildings?"

In other words, she was standing on the brink - and didn't even notice it.

As the 9-11-commission chairman, Thomas Keane, stated: "What we had was a failure of imagination."

Rolling the Dice for the Future

It should have been patently clear to everyone who viewed President Barack Obama's news conference on the Gulf Oil Crisis, that this 'mean well' leader dose not possess the critical quality of - Brinksmanship. He is not the leader we require for these dangerous and fast moving times. He is a man of words and books, not actions.

So it should be understood by all that we retain the future capacity to - come to the brink, as we did during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Arab-Israeli Yom Kipper War. But the next time the 'brink' will come at us a lot faster and we will require a leader who is up to such a task.

However, it must always be remembered that the 'brink' is a small 'last chance plateau' at the doorway to chaos and oblivion: and maintains no fixed predictable position in the future. We cannot accurately state when we are approaching the brink, or even where the brink will be because - the Brink itself is mobile.

Therefore, we must now, more than ever, pursue our risks with a deadly caution, founded on the very real possibility that if and when we come to another brink, the brink may have moved from being in front of us - into the questionable hands of the extreme Left or Right.

Your comments - The voices of our readers