Like many of us around our planet, I have the day off, time to think. . .  To contemplate this historical moment we all are sharing in.

This is not the usual-annual new year.  This is not just the turning of the millennium.  By our view of history, the 2nd to the 3rd millennium, which is not, by any means, not - all the peoples point of view on our planet.

I sit here in my little rented abode, in America, watching/listening to a video on the planet-shared Internet/World Wide Web.  A live performance of music at the Shoreline Amphitheater by the surviving members of the Grateful Dead and friends, they call themselves "The Other Ones," and they are wonderful.

My ability to enjoy this in my home, and to see and hear this type of quality, and to realize that just five years ago it was not possible to do this type of communication at this level of video and audio quality, over a telephone line, simply blows me away.  But even more mind-blowing is the fact that just last year, it was documented, that over 50% of the world's population, has never made a phone call, much less touched a computer.

How this technology has changed my world, and your world, like no other time in our shared history has, is amazing, and frightening to me.  I make my living inside this industry.  I own a small computer shop, I'm semi-retired, whatever that means, I enjoy what I do.  As I have quoted in many places in my website, "Those inside history, see it the least." I see so many people, everyday, that simply don't see it, much less begin to understand its ramifications.

How this technology has brought many peoples on this planet together, as in no other historical shift in technology has - We all are aware of the more negative aspects. . . porn, spam, etc., I also see a very positive resultant. . .  Communication, on scale never experienced by humans before in history.  Finding the truth, by even us "little people" all over the planet, is now not only easier, but it's easier to verify the truth faster.  Add to this, the ability to disseminate the information to all peoples even more easily, and one can begin to appreciate the fear those at the top have, those that have lied, then you can begin to understand the hope I have for the future of our planet.

How this technology has helped to prove the truth of the facts of our shared plight of global warming, and the spreading of this truth to all peoples.  All of a sudden, with minimal effort, we so openly know of their lies.

That several key corporations are now breaking ranks inside the core of the coal & oil industry, the largest economic entity in all of known history.  The likes of Ford, General Motors, Daimler-Chrysler, and the Southern Company, is quite telling.  Bill Ford, the current chairman of Ford, said just last year. . .  "...climate change is the most challenging issue facing the world and anyone who disagrees is in denial."  I, and over 2,000 scientist, from over 100 countries on our shared planet, also agree.

And this is just one of many fronts of truth being exposed, and shared by us all on this planet.  We are truly, at least those of us who have access to this amazing technology, are finally becoming a global community.  It can not be denied that there is an element of "Us vs Them".  The "Them" side being the liars-for-dollars crowd, which is NOT every global corporation, many global corporations are making good decisions, not only for their bottom lines, but also for the future of their own continued existence within our shared societies.

What I see as making this the historically significant time that it is, is that the gloves have now finally come off, so to speak.  Truth is finally being seen, "Mother Nature" has begun the punishment, the extreme weather related events are so in-our-faces, and the proof of the lies so clearly exposed, that we, the inhabitants of this "Starship Earth" are being forced out of denial.  It is simple, we grow up, if we don't. . .  I don't want to contemplate that.

There is hope, actually a great deal of hope.  As in the following from the Heat is Online.org website documents. . .

"In early March, the Global Climate Coalition, the main industry lobby group against meaningful climate action, announced it was restructuring in the wake of wholesale defections by auto and oil interests.

Between December, 1999 and early March, 2000, the GCC was deserted by Ford, Daimler-Chrysler, Texaco, the Southern Company and General Motors.  While many of the defecting companies said their anti-Kyoto posture had not changed, this was a major blow to a 10-year campaign by oil, coal and automotive interests to prevent public action to address the climate crisis.

In a statement, the Global Climate Coalition announced in mid-March that it was restructuring as an umbrella group for trade associations -- rather than individual companies.

Given the inclusion in its membership of the American Petroleum Institute, the American Automobile Manufacturers Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Mining Association and Western Fuels, individual companies may continue to work through their trade associations to undermine diplomatic climate talks, finance campaigns of legislators who are antagonistic to climate activists and lobby against significant action.

The defeat of the Global Climate Coalition reflects, among other things, a student divestiture campaign which urged universities to divest their holdings in companies that belonged to the GCC.  It also represents a sustained effort by the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, which has mounted shareholder actions against a number of intransigent corporations.

Regardless of the next effort at obstruction and public confusion, the effective gutting of the GCC represents a sea change in the American political landscape on the issue of climate change."

Yes - There is hope.  I, for one, am happy that I lived long enough to actually see the changes begin.  And begin they have.

With all that can be said about the negative aspects of this amazing technology. . .
I find it to be a friend.