Cost of War - Eisenhower

‎"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is... spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. ... Is there no other way the world may live?"

--- Dwight D. Eisenhower, speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16, 1953.

Cigarette Anyone?

Smoking cigarettes, it seems is even worse than any of us thought it possibly could be.  

I recall, many years ago reading in an American Cancer Society article about the “safe amount of smoking”  Turns out that - according to them - ONE puff on a cigarette would paralyze for up to twelve hours the tiny hairs (cilia) in our lungs that constantly sweep out debris, smoke, dust, grit, mucus and so on up and out.  Obviously, even if there were no noxious ingredient in cigarette smoke, that would still be enough to eventually do us in.  Our lungs would slowly fill up with debris from the bottom up.  Turns out that back then that was where most lung cancers started - deep in the bottom of the lungs.  

Ammonia has been added now, the government says.  Why ammonia?  Apparently that helps the nicotine - and the carcinogenous ingredients added to the cigarettes - to pass more easily through the blood-brain barrier.  Ammonia added to commercially made cigarettes can boost the availability of nicotine up to 100 times, says a new study by the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology in Portland.  The process of increasing the impact of nicotine by adding ammonia is called "free-basing," which is similar to the chemical process used to heighten the effects of cocaine. Like cocaine, nicotine exists in two forms -- acid and base. When ammonia is added, the nicotine converts from acid to base form. The base form can vaporize more easily from the smoke particles into the gas phase, enabling it to deposit directly on the lung tissue and immediately diffuse throughout the body.

Why are these additives placed in the cigarette to pass so quickly into the body/mind?  Ask any writer about "the hook", which is a phrase used to begin a story to catch the mind of anyone who might be glancing through a magazine or book.
Fewer drags now than previously required will get a smoker hooked.

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and 400 other toxins. These include nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT.  

Something new has been added recently - in addition to ammonia -  flavoring.   Flavors that make the cigarettes more attractive to children and people who are  “thinking” about taking up smoking. 

Advertisements for cigarettes have changed too.  Notice the movies.  How many have you seen lately featuring stories from days when smoking was in vogue.  Particularly movies about World War II.  In fact, how many movies have you seen lately that had NO smoking scenes in it at all?

The real warning to me about the new report concerns what we call “Second Hand Smoke”.  Smoke you breath in from smokers.  We call it “smoke” , it really is a gas.  And it is a poisonous gas.  And according to these newly published findings, it will kill you and permanently cripple your children.

Sick Call for Senator Burr

I called Senator Burr’s office, (202) 224-3154, about ten minutes ago and asked how he voted on the bill today (already approved by the House) which would provide health care for 9-11 responders who suffered permanent damage providing rescue services in New  York City during and immediately after the fires and collapse of the buildings.  

The word from the senator’s office was that the bill had just arrived from the House and would require “reading, discussion, debate and modification before voting”  so he simply voted to defer it to a later time.  When I asked why they can’t do it today,  I was told that  you “can’t be rushed into these things”.    Then I pointed out that when the buildings were burning and collapsing, these people didn’t hesitate to respond - they “rushed in” - and provided the help they could.  Now when those same people are “burning and collapsing themselves” and asking for help, my senator tells me we “can’t rush in to these things”.  

Then I told the lady that I though it would be a remarkable gesture if the senate convened into overnight session and worked right straight through until these important issues were resolved.  AND that if any of the senators got sick from this dramatically difficult work, THEY would have the best health care in the world, whereas some of the 9-11 responders have been denied or eliminated from their own health care.  She said she would relay the message to the senator.  

The Real Problem

The problem we are all pretending really doesn’t exist is the question of whether or not capitalism can be permitted to continue the way it is now operating.  Perhaps even more to the point the real question may be, can it now be changed, or is it already too late for that?  

Capitalism is not free enterprise, even though it often claims to be.   It is a consumer of free enterprises.  It’s  purpose is to consolidate more and more capital into fewer and fewer hands, and it is very good at that.  With proper governmental regulation and control, capitalism can accomplish wonderful things for a nation - but if left to “regulate itself” it can challenge and even control the governments of the nations in which it operates.

Since deregulation of American markets began during the Reagan administration, real wages of working class Americans have remained level or slightly decreased.  The national wealth of our country has continued to increase but is consolidated in the possession of fewer and fewer people.  The gap between “rich” and “poor” is greater now in America than in any developed country in the world.  The Great American Middle Class is disappearing,  a  great extinction of small businesses has swept across our land, and our manufacturing investments have been farmed out to other countries where costs of production are cheaper thus increasing profit for large corporations - who pay little or no American taxes.  

Now we have engaged in a tiny scratch of spit between the American president and the leaders of the Republican Party who, negotiating from a posture of electoral rejection in 2008, have engineered a fascist type of action simply by uniting and refusing to work with the new president in any area.  President Obama may think he is negotiating with the leaders of the Republican Party in a democratic engagement, but in reality he is meeting the new face of a new form of government which is ready to replace constitutional governments in the way they replaced that of the old City States.  

Obama seems to think he is fighting a beautiful fight - and he may well be - but he is really meeting  a new revolution of which he is not even aware.

Veterans Day 2010.

A movement is apparently under way to finally welcome Vietnam Veterans home.  When we came back - back then - it was different.  Our welcome home from combat was often publicly insulting, sometimes obscene, and then there were devastating private moments alone again with our families that were worse to us than the war itself had been. I spent more than 400 days over there, I was insulted and attacked  every time I came back home from those tours, and 85% of us who served in combat there eventually wound up divorced.  Whatever that means.

I suppose I should be glad to be finally welcomed home, but I feel that there is still something missing.  Let me see if I can explain.

President Johnson told the world a lie about the Gulf of Tonkin.  The Navy at first denied it even happened.  Then the president made it clear that there would be war.  The American people screamed in delight and anger as they gathered up their young men and eagerly threw them into Vietnam.  We all heard the slogans:  “We’re in, let’s win!”, “Our Country - Love it or Leave it!”, “My Country Right or Wrong.”   There were others.   

President Nixon prolonged the war.  It was preferable to him to certain other things.  He used the war - not a problem for him.  He never even thought of trial and imprisonment.  

Johnson and Nixon are dead now and beyond personal justice.  But their memories still shine brightly.  We were the first to engage in an illegal war started by a president who was beyond any worry of punishment and funded by a congress who pretended it had more important things to do.

George Bush plunged the nation into a war in Iraq.  It was totally unnecessary, but George Bush wanted war.  Dick Cheney wanted war.  Rumsfeld wanted war.  Wolfowitz wanted war. “Shock and Awe”, “We can be in Baghdad in a week!”  They got it, but none of them went.   They are not dead yet but live in peace, retired with what ever honor they can muster around them and their disastrous administration.  They are still available for justice.  Justice for their war, their tortures, their treason - if any occurred, perhaps other charges.  But they are not worried about that.  Great American corporations are making lots of money from the war which still goes on, and from that other thing in Afghanistan, and in Pakistan, and in Somalia, and other places.  War has now become very easy in America.  War has become a necessity for some corporations in America.  There are also many young people who have no work available for them; war is an alternative.   War has become easy, it makes a lot of money, it provides employment for young people and no body EVER goes to prison - even if they get caught!  

So war is easy for America - and nothing ever happens to those who bring our nation into war -  what can we do?  Maybe we could just drop any commitment to  prison for deeds already past.   But we Americans  NEED a  Council of  Review.  Let’s just say at the beginning that there will be no sentences issued.  The purpose of this council would be to review the actions taken by American political leaders with a view to holding them to the oath they took with their office, the constitution, and the Geneva Convention rules, among others. No one will go to prison.  The people involved in the events can all come to testify freely, no reason to try to hide anything.   All we will do is to open the prison that is already there and let the TRUTH come OUT.   


Then - we can make it clear that any future actions like those done by Johnson, Nixon and Bush will be brought to trial and they may well face spending the rest of their lives in prison.

Then, we veterans from Vietnam can finally come home.

Election Night 2010.

Election night developed into a great debacle that turned out to have been carefully constructed by the Democratic Party, itself.  Voter concern turned to fear some time ago, then it deepened into distress and  finally into anger as they saw the Democratic Party become the new cause of their problems.

Could anything have changed last night’s outcome?  Yes.  Two very simple steps would have resulted in EVERY member of the Republican Party being thrown out of congress.  Here they are:  1)  Not to let the republicans thwart so many bills by  simply indicating they "likely would" or "might"  filibuster their passage - but MAKE them filibuster EVERY bill that would have helped the American people.  Put it all on camera, all the late night mumblings, all the reading of telephone book addresses, all the absurdity of obstructionism.  And 2) Bring those tax bills, and funding bills to the vote and make the republicans vote AGAINST all these things, and make them vote against them again and again.  

Instead, what the American people saw unfold before their eyes slowly developed into what HAD to be a joint effort, a collaborative construction by BOTH the Democratic and Republican Parties to “fool” them, and by “playing dumb on purpose” - together - to keep the American people in their misery.  The  mistake to force the republicans to identify who they REALLY are - by filibustering and by voting no - may well have cost America its place among developed nations in the world.  The world is changing too much and too fast to accommodate a nation that is returning to the politics of the 18th century and the economic structure of Adam Smith.

What is the cause of the problem?  Almost four  years ago I wrote a blog article

http://theprettypenny.blogspot.com/2007/02/articulate-bright-clean-and-nice.html

saying that Barack Obama was the wrong color to become president then - he was too green.  I think he has proven that observation right.  (And it was not mine alone.) Chicago politics and Illinois politics are tough - no question.  But they are not world class.  Obama’s election was perhaps the world’s last chance to avoid sliding back into a cycle of endless wars, planned poverty increases, consumption of the planet’s resources, and honoring the Ignorance of our Fathers.  Perhaps now Europe can take lead.

What to do?  Well, Obama WAS green, and he IS smart.  He is now clearly beginning his last two years ever in government.  I would like to see him “offer the olive leaf” to the members of the Republican Party, offer to work with them and to help them.  And to try hard - and visibly - to do that.  THEN - when that fails, and it will, to come out publicly and force the republicans into displaying their intention to elevate corporate capitalism to control the nation and its people, and to destroy the government of the United States.  Can he do it?  Probably not.  It was a one-time deal - just like the itty-bitty stimulus.  But the world is stranger than it needs to be.  It is filled with astonishing developments and stunning things constantly happen.   Sometime in the next two years we will all NEED government - and we will need it quick!   Will Obama be ready?

Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck’s “Honor America “event has come and gone now and what did we learn from it?  First, I would like to congratulate Mr. Beck for a job very well done.  He had said that he would not be another Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and he did an absolutely stunning job of carrying that off.

It was a great confluence of the all-white high school dropouts and their mentors, the great robber baron corporate executives who teach those partially educated masses what they should know, especially that their great enemy is - The Government.  Or maybe I should say “govermint”.

We also learned that Beck is a rich and prestigious personality.  Also that he counts two main groups of people as his compatriots, some very rich people like David Koch and Dick Armey. In addition we learned that he has a substantial number of followers who appear to be reasonably well undereducated and fearful of government. In dealing with the latter group, Beck appears to appeal to their fear by invoking unnamed events and he appeals to their lack of education by teaching them some things that they all agree they should, and agree they really do know, largely based on innuendo concerning the Bible, hallowed words from our Founding Fathers, and that Capitalism is really only just free enterprise.

Obviously Beck has no serious political ambitions.  That is clear.  We must remember though that was also clear with Adolph Hitler - and that’s why he rose so easily at first.  Personally I don’t see Beck as being a serious candidate but that is an opinion - for right now.  The people who make the American President are now carefully accumulating and evaluating their list of “Possible Lords”.  I would think that he must rate very low.  

Beck’s role is to attract and appeal to the bottom rung of excitable and fearful people in the United States.  He does that well, and  for that he is paid more than a million dollars each month.  One of his sponsors claims to make your penis larger (Extenz), another is a gold stock company (Goldline).   Wow.  Where is Shakespeare?  He could have a ball with all this.  You can almost see it now - the under educated, the under achievers, the under-sized underdogs.  But.  Gold stocks rise when times are  uncertain and when the world looks  to be in great trouble, especially when there is imminent threat of war or when the stock and bond markets look uncertain and particularily when panic begins to seep out.  Could there be a connection?  If people tune into Beck and hear that the world is floating into uncertain times, are more people are concerned about putting their money into gold?  You bet - this has been going on for thousands of years.

The penis thing?  You got me there.  But if you think you have been deprived of your share of the worlds natural wealth, or if you think God has let you down and cut you off short, then Glenn Beck will make up for those mistakes.  I think you can see that he really does feel for  you.  He may even cry for you.

So.  I don't watch Beck.  Have never seen one of his programs.  Never will.  But he doesn't care.  He is rolling.  A rich man he is and widely respected by a large group of people.  

The Quran, Terry Jones, Rights, Responsibilities and Fire

The First Amendment Right that is granted and guaranteed by the U. S.  Constitution is an absolute right.  That much is certain. Ask Mayor Bloomberg who defended the right of the Florida pastor who plans to burn about two hundred Qurans.  Bloomberg should know.  Well, he “should” know.    Except that one is not supposed to shout “Fire!”  in a crowded theater, and there are nine or so words that no one is "legally" allowed to say in public or to be broadcast to the public.  Also, one cannot “incite to riot” , whatever that might mean - I guess it would depend on the circumstances, right?  One is supposed to say only the “truth” when under oath - does that mean you have been deprived of one of your God-given rights when you swear to God to tell the truth,  the absolute truth and nothing but the truth?  All of the constructs of education and medicine would probably be weakened if teachers and doctors were to tell only the truth instead of promoting learning and healing through cagey encouragement, and of course, it would totally devastate both religion and politics if ONLY the truth COULD be spoken. 

Let's face it.  Rights imply Responsibilities.  The "rights" we speak of were not given to us by some beneficent sovereign being,  they were won through endless encounters on both fields of battle and halls of debate. Americans are not the only people to enjoy these rights but the use of them does imply responsibility for their effect. The American Way - and perhaps the Bloomberg way - to handle all this is to just ignore it and it will go away.  The isolated incidents of course do “go away”, eventually.  The problem is that the pattern of reoccurrence becomes strengthened .  Most of the rest of the world ignores these American idiosyncrasies  because those oddities don’t affect them.  But now comes Terry Jones and his Quran burning.  

Terry Jones, an alleged preacher from Gainesville, Florida who wants to burn Qurans, says he doesn’t want Americans to forget 9-11.  Apparently he doesn’t want us to learn from 9-11 either.  In programs broadcast on the air, Mr. Jones has said that the U. S. government has given up on keeping God “in the country”.  He indicated that he feels God has been taken out of the schools, out of governmental activities and out of all aspects of life.  Apparently Mr. Jones has attributed a lot of this perceived decline in Christianity to Islam.  The Quran burning seems to be his attempt to awaken America to his understanding that Islam is evil, of the devil, the cause for all of our current problems, and bring us all back to our Christian senses.

Jones has a Doctor’s degree from The California Graduate School of Theology, an unaccredited institution in Los Angeles County, which - even though they did give him his honorary doctorate in 1993 - has now said that he never attended class there even for a day, and they are not happy with his planned Quran burning or teaching.  He is a former manager of a hotel someplace in Tennessee and makes money today from renting property he owns in Pinelles County, Florida, and selling furniture through an on-line store which is located in his church.  He has been in trouble with the State of Florida for several years over questions of “tax evasion” and was apparently forced out of  a position as pastor of a church in Germany over the same problem.  Mr. Jones is reported to have been seen recently wearing a pistol while on the church property.  Seems a strange stance for a man of peace - carrying guns, evading sales taxes, burning somebody else's book they hold to be holy.  

The N-word.

Everybody knows what this word is, and the term or phrase “the N-word” is now the generally accepted substitute for that word itself.  Serious attempts have been made to incorporate it into the vernacular by both black and white people of generally good intentions but it never worked and it never will because it carries a huge amount of shock value whenever it is used in any language in the world and if nothing else, it always showers the person using it with questions of distrust and suspicion.  

  

As a kid growing up in Mississippi in the 1930’s and 40’s, I knew that the “N-word” carried three connotations with it:  1)  A person with black skin.  2) A person who was lazy, shiftless, good for nothing, superstitious, and didn’t want to work.  3)  A person who was protected by the government.

Today, people of black skin are OK.  Well - theoretically anyway - and no one is going to denounce them for “being black” - not in so many words, at least.  The “lazy, shiftless” stuff is now recognized as being a generalization and we don’t use that for black people anymore, we reserve that for people who are “protected by the government”.  

So the “N-word” is now left flapping out in its own limbo, currently relegated to less acceptable usage than any of the other combinations of a capital letter, a dash and the word “word”.

Where do we go from here?  We have a lot of serious problems in the world.  Most of them were made to hurt  someone else.  Whenever we can find any success created by people working together in good will then there is still hope.  What we have done with this troublesome word is not perfect but it is a result of people working together to find an acceptable solution.  It is a step in the right direction.

Shirley Sherrod, the Disdainful Press, and the Fumbling Obama Team

Shirley Sherrod has obviously been selected by some great invisible being to make a statement that is so important that it MUST be made.  And she - and it - have made that statement.  I wonder if that great being could have been the ghost of Shakespeare?  This is an epic story reflecting great depth, incomprehensible interactions and innumerable dimensions of fact, emotion, honor, deceit and stupidity.

Trying to honor her murdered father, who died from a  gunshot in the back by a white farmer many years ago, and then her mother and she watched crosses burn on their lawn three nights later, now she tried to reach a slightly larger audience with that story than she ever had before.  It was the 20th Annual Meeting of the NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet in Douglas, Ga, on March 27, 2010.   And she must have thought that would be the ultimate tribute ever made to her father.  But no.  Thanks largely  to other unintended victims in this tornadic twist of publicity, her story is now being reported by the entire country, in print, TV, on internet and in all the major cities of the world in a hundred different languages.  You can’t get an audience like that.  The Pope can’t, the president usually can’t,  the Queen of England can’t but Shirley Sherrod did.  She didn’t intend to get that much attention but  the press woke up to what they thought was a nasty little story, and lambasted it all over the country, then watched in amazement as it “developed” - much like a photographic print in its tray of chemicals (lets call those chemicals a reactive mixture of Research, Investigation and Analysis) - into a totally different story.  Wow.  Everybody was amazed.  And still are.  The press is now pretending they may have done something good, but that  really was only because they screwed it up so badly they're still not sure what really happened.

There’s an even darker side though.  That is the Obama presidency.  Its decision- making process and its organizational structure have had a veil ripped away in a scene not seen since the Revelations of Alice in another foggy wonderland.  We see now the American presidential administration making decisions much like that great marble ball in a pinball machine as it works it way down past all the dinging dingbells, rollovers, bumper caps and flippers, back up again and down again racking up great numbers of points, flashing a lot of light, and making a lot of exciting noise, all of which are only useful to the degree they obscure reality .

Ms. Sherrod resigned from her position as State Director of the USDA Rural Development in Georgia on Monday, July 19,2010,  after the far-right side of the Yellow Press, including Beck and Limbaugh, published a truncated recording of her presentation.  The NAACP then attacked Ms. Sherrod, believing taking the side of the Limbaughs and Becks - well, if they had found and watched the ENTIRE video that would have taken a few more minutes.  The mail stream press, attempting to disdainfully ignore these bad-boys, dutifully reported the skeleton of the mess.  THEN, here comes the other side of the Yellow Press,  Olberman and Maddow leading the gleeful charge with their side of the story. Well, the last guys win this time because the story was on their side to begin with.  Now the main stream press and the administration are still trying to appear well above the fray when they both have been trampled into ridicule by it.   The president has called Ms. Sherrod to express his regret along with everybody else, except of course for those who are holding their sides as they roll in laughter.

Let's face it, the problems shown by the press and the administration reflect a vacuum in the middle of their chains of command.  Somehow the sergeants and the young officers have been lost.  Too many shots are being called by the top-dogs in both organizations and that’s always a checklist for disaster.  The top-dogs are always out of the Loop of Facts because they live in the Loop of Pretend.  

If neither the press or the Obama administration can build a strong structure (that’s the old hierarchy, remember?) of workers who live and work in the Fact Loop, and know what’s going on, and who have the authority to make and enforce decisions, then things will get worse.  I predict they will.

Wanta place any bets?

  

A General Disgrace

That’s the way our generals have been behaving lately.  Petraeus apparently collapsing at a senate hearing - although I listened to the halting, mumbling, monotoneist questioning by John McCain myself and I too collapsed.  I think it was some kind of a hypnotic trance.

Now the Runaway General, McChrystal breaking though the no-no’s of  the military, actually the Know-No’s.  He certainly knows better than to do what he just did and if he didn’t know he should be shot.  Is he dumb?  Probably not.  He’s probably a pretty sharp guy who has come a long way by using his smarts and his puff.  So - did he have something in mind?

Well, the war is not going well.  Like most wars it is going somewhere else other than where it was supposed to go.  It has just recently become America’s longest war in its history.  Casualties are starting to soar.  Iraq is spinning in and out of “control?”.  Iran is smugly confident, and Israel is wild-eyed.  Something is going to happen soon.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party  is boiling and bubbling with excitement over the possibility of kicking Obama out of the White house in 2012.  They are trying to set up their new presidential guy.  They have a lot of good presidential timber to choose from - like, well, Mitch McConnel, Boehner, Kyle, Cantor, Palin, Romney, Barbour, Paul or Paul, Santorum, Perry (if he hasn’t succeeded by then), Gingrich, Jindal, Armey, Coburn, Ney,  or . . . hmmm Ensign?, or Sanford?, well . . . HEY, how about McChrystal! WOW.  Do you suppose?  And if Obama fires him then - then - then - the plot thickens, contrast happens, sides are drawn up, intelligence is implied, and . . . Sara Palin gets a new guy to run with - somebody who couldn’t finish his job either.

So.  McChrystal will probably offer his resignation when he meets Obama.  What if Obama accepts it, puts it in his shirt pocket, and sends McCrystal back to do his job? The drawdown (if it does happen) will run through 2011 and into 2012, and Obama will be the greater man to come out of this showdown.  Will this happen?  Stand by - breaking news is coming in now.  Obama’s pretty sharp too, so be prepared to be amazed.  

Israel's Latest Insult.

I wonder if Israel can do no wrong in American eyes.  We see the latest insult to world opinion being the boarding of Turkish ships in international waters as another understanding and acknowledgment that international laws do not apply to Israel.   Just as they are not bound by Palestine’s property on the West Bank - in short, Israel is telling the rest of the world that Israel can draw its own boundaries as it feel necessary to fit its wishes.  Israel is the only sovereign on this planet, and they need no friends.   That is, as long as they have the US backing them - in fact they seem willing to turn the rest of the world against not only them but against America too.  

Just as they have taken land from Palestinians on the West Bank by sending “settlers”  into Palestinian land.   then using the resulting conflict as rationale to send in army and construction crews and build walls for  “protection”  of the “settlers”, they seem to feel that international law is simply a minor inconvenience that Israel’s prior Covenant with Yahweh has already provided for.

The people in Gaza have been stranded for three years  And Israel  apparently is waiting for them to either die, or throw out their elected leaders, and put in pro-Israeli officials.  That isolation in Gaza led to this attempt to bring in ships with food and shelter items into Gaza -and that was the ship attacked by Israel on the high seas resulting in the deaths of nine people onboard the aid ship.  

The American government said that an investigation into the matter WAS needed.  BUT that Israel should lead the investigation.  All this following a week in which a diplomatic attempt to establish a Middle East Nuclear Free Zone was insultingly “vetoed” by Israel

It does seem strange that Jews have been so inordinately successful in world events since around 1950.  I wonder to what extent that is due to American Jews. More than 55% of American Jews have a college degree and 25% possess a graduate degree. Apparently  Jews comprise only about 2% of the American population yet  35% of the 50 richest people on the Forbes 400 list are Jewish, and Jews comprise about 40% of all US billionaires.    They also seem well represented in the newspaper, magazine and TV world, including the USA Today, Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.  Thirteen American senators currently are Jewish as are 30 representatives. So American Jews apparently are well educated, have money, are aware of world events and have a potential to shape American public opinion.  

Why do they not display a similar skill in shaping world opinion?  Perhaps it is that if they can drag America along behind them then they just don’t care.  This makes it very difficult to talk meaningful peace in the middle east.  Israel has all the trump cards and we all play  by their rules.  America is the enabling force but it is controlled completely by Israel.

Israel has also found a crack in the Christian religion that provides a privileged access to the Christian far right.  That comes through a combination of what the Christians call the “Old Testament” and the last chapter of its own “New Testament”  which is named “Revelation”, a mystical forecast of how God will end the world phrased in terms of Biblical mythology and allegedly end the world "soon".  So now there are radical American Christians who are enthusiastically allied with  Jews simply because of the reference in the Jewish bible about Jews being God’s Chosen People.  Since those references are also in the  Bible that these Christians believe in, it has assumed the proportion of a-priori knowledge.  Now tie this in with some of the stirring words found in “Revelation” like the “Antichrist”, Armageddon, the end of the world, fire from heaven, horsemen, apocalypse  - all terms that are poorly understood in Christian mythology, and they become spun into a nebula of innuendo in which those magic phrases snap and crackle like God’s own lightning.  Now if such an inarticulate mass could be led by extremely well educated, literate, and united people, this great mass would have no choice but to wobble in the general direction of permissibility, begging forgiveness for being late as they are driven along.

The only force that could possibly be brought against this great tide is reason - but then “reason”  becomes a trick of the antichrist.  You can’t reason anymore, that is un-Christian - all knowledge is in the bible - anything else is sinful and needs to be purged and destroyed.

Does Israel have any hint of what they are playing around with?

Open Letter to Maurene Dowd

Hey gal, I love you!  Well, not really YOU - you know, I mean not THAT way, but I do love the way you write.  Usually.  But I gotta talk with you about your column on May 29, 2010, about how Barack Obama needs to get emotional to show us that he is really worthy of leading our country.  

Think about it.  Look at the problems now pouring down on our country.   1) There’s the immigration issue - Texas is apparently still trying to succeed from the the union, while Arizona may be the first state to get kicked out.  Meanwhile, American businesses continue to undercut Mexican corporations and entice their former workers to come north.  2) Korea is in a state of accelerated crises again as “Dear Leader”  wobbles around, dribbling and shooting baskets with the War-ball  3)  The world’s financial structure was short-circuited under the last administration and SOMEBODY has still got to fix it - still.  4) Israel apparently thinks God actually did give all of the land in the mid-eastern part of the world to them, and they can ignore all other laws passed by any other country.  5)  The supreme court has a vacancy-pending, and there will be raucous cries from republicans during that process.  6)  Iran is poised to go nuclear - like as in war - maybe - unless Israel hits them first .  How would you like to reason with Netanyahu and Ahmadinejad?  7)  We’re still trying to begin to recover from the greatest recession since the 1930’s, and the republicans still say “NO!” and the democrats say “eh - well, yeah, maybe?”.  8)  Elections are coming up - soon, and 9)  oh yeah, the gulf spill, and 10) a few incidentals (* see footnote).

Not the time for our own Dear Leader to go emotional on us.  If you have a major leak in your house you don’t want a plumber to show up and cry.  If a tree falls on your house you don’t want an arborist to come by and wring his hands.  If your car won’t run right you don’t want a mechanic to raise the hood and say “Oh,  I can’t believe this!”    You don’t want your dentist to look in your mouth and say “uh-oh”, or  your doctor to look at you, shake his head and say  “Oh my God, I feel so sorry for you”.  No.  Times of crises are times for leadership.   Leadership means an ability to examine the symptoms we all can see, determine what the problems really are and identify the causes of those problems.  And then by selecting options, developing criteria and evaluating the whole mess to build a pathway into a new world.   And here we are now, figuratively taking on water, with a tree on the house, and a car that won’t run, a tooth that hurts, and a pain in the ass - or at least the body politick.  

What we need in these times is a leader who can preside over a group of experts.  In this case over groups of experts.  Now is the time for leadership from the top and also from those panels of “experts”.  Is Obama the man for this job?  Well this is where we find out.  The question I’m asking, is he sliding back into  America’s Tea Party past or is he leading us into the new world which lies ahead?  We will find out soon.  And no crying please.

(* Reference is to minor wars (in alphabetical order) in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and other assorted places) 

Memorial Day 2010

This weekend as we pause for a moment to remember the brave troops who died for our nation, let's also remember who made these wars possible.  Here is a partial list:

CACI- Interpreters and interrogation - Abu Grhraib, etc.
Halliburton - construction military bases, oil field, infrastructure

Titan Same as CACI   - worth $1B

Bechtel - Construction and engineering 

Aegis Defense Services - police

Custer Battles - first war contractor found guilty of fraud.
KBR

General Dynamics - tank shells, Stryker vehicles, bullets, etc.

Nour USA Ltd.  Pipelines

Chevron,

Exxon Mobil

Veritas Capital Fund/DynCorp - train Iraqi police

Washington Group International - build schools, water works, utilities

Environmental Chemical - clean up battlefield

Aegis -  Private security

International American Products - provide electrical services

Erinys - protecting Iraq’s oil reserves

Fluor - water sewage

Perini - Environmental cleanup (run by Dianne Feinstein’s husband)

URS - environmental cleanup (also run by Dianne Feinstein’s husband)

Parsons - Tesla Motors - reconstruction and construction of buildings

First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contraction - 

Armor Holdings - Armor for military vehicles.

L3 Communications - training Iraqi law enforcement personnel

AM General - Extra wide ATVs

Cummins - power generators

MerchantBridge - telecommunications

GlobalRisk Strategies - Risk management - insurance - humanitarian aid.

Lockheed-Martin,

Northrop Grumman,

ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, NBC

More than half of the American defense budget now goes to these companies.  It is in their best interests to have war.  The more wars we have the more money they make.   They NEED war.  They also conveniently fall outside most of the judicial requirements of the laws of our nation, the nation they are housed in, and the nation they are engaged in.  They are not bound by any constitution, law, sovereign, church or any rule of law.  Their only obligation is to maximize their own profit.

Let's remember these guys this Memorial Day.  They even take care of those graveyards we will see on TV.  

How Much Did You Spill?

How much did you spill in the Gulf of Mexico?

We all know about the spill now.  And we all know about the anger.  We have seen a few of the tears and a lot of pointed fingers.  We have heard the screams against the government, against BP, against Halliburton, against Deep Water, against all those poor pensioners in England, and against all the others involved in this catastrophe.  

How about you?  And me, too.  What is our responsibility for this incredible mess?

My nieghborhood is well stocked in SUVs just like the ones in this picture .  We have a lot of big cars that can’t get very good gasoline milage.  Every house but one has two cars.  Or three.  Some have four, one has  five (teen-agers).  

We have a lot of grass in this neighborhood.  Legal grass.  The kind  you grow in your front yard.  And it is always clipped two inches high.  All weekend long the ‘hood sounds like an Air Force flight line during a major launch exercise.  Everybody has push mowers that run on gasoline, everybody has a riding mower.  There are clippers, blowers, weed eaters, even chain saws, and mulchers.  Some run on electricity - not that big a deal as far as the spill goes.  Some people, like me, hire a guy to drag a mower or two in on his truck which gets 5 mpg, then cut grass, eat weeds and blow it all away.  I pay him money and I think he sends some down to the Gulf to help pay for the spill.  I’ll ask him next time I see him.

A Picture of Islam

Today was the day to make fun of Mohammed. It was the day to draw or create pictures depicting him as an animal, insect, plant or worse.  Pakistan apparently shut down access to Facebook and YouTube because of those pictures, and some of the pictures were probably broadcast.  I say probably because I haven’t seen any so far and while I’m not looking FOR them I am pretty open to most stuff that crosses the net.

At any rate the entire thing has become a huge mess.  Islam has a religious requirement that certain images not be created.   This accounts for some of the amazing art found in Muslim mosques.  There were to be no representations of any thing that was created by God.  That included people, animals, plants, even earth and clouds.  Significant modification to that  tradition is now apparent with photographs, video and movies moving through the Islamic world on newspapers, magazines, movie theaters, computers and internet.  But the requirement is basically still there, particularly with respect to the Islamic Prophet Mohammed.  Any picture representing to present his likeness, even if intended to present a handsome, intelligent, pious and glorious image is still considered a vulgar and insulting sacrilege to roughly a billion Muslims on the planet  

This issue resurfaced recently when a writer was innocently trying to put together a children’s book series about the various religions.  She had words and pictures of Rama, Buddha, Moses, Jesus and many other religious leaders and then found out that she couldn’t put even her obviously and intentionally not-realistic pictures of Mohammed in her series-to-be.  That was a minor problem that affected her project.  Then Danish newspapers picked up the story and ran a series of cartoons about  Mohammed to show that there was no problem, the main issue was not Islamic religious legal technicalities but the western values of Free Speech.  The cartoons went hypersonic when death threats supposedly by Islamic “martyrs” were directed toward some of the Danish cartoonists.  Some of those cartoonists are apparently still living in fear of their lives for that act.  

Now enter a stupid American TV program called “South Park”.  They spoof and make fun of everything and everybody they can find.  They decided to run a series or a show which depicted  Mohammed as a bear.  MORE death threats came from more Islamic “martyrs”, and South Park dropped the segment the day it was to be shown.

So now comes someone on Facebook.  Apparently this episode is seen as the  catyclsmic collision between the great western world’s right to free speech with an Islamic religious taboo. The Muslim response has been to threaten to assassinate more of the perpetrators, now even a treat to kill innocent people as retaliation.

The western right to free speech is not a gift given by any god, it is a right that was denied by an almost endless series of kings, popes and other creatures of nobility and it was won in an almost endless series of wars.  It is based on the understanding that most governments and most religions want to control all that is printed about them and their activities.  Any westerner (European or American) would  therefore “know”  that if they were restricted from writing about or photographing  some event or thing that it was probably illegal to begin with and SHOULD be written about or photographed and published.

Muslims have had a problem with the religious requirement against depiction anything in the natural world.  Any showing of Mohammed cannot possibly be based on historical drawings so they would all have to be bogus.  But to threaten the western people who attempt to present Mohammed, including innocent people who happen to be near the target is repulsive to all mankind and all religions.  

It is my feeling that Islam should be less concerned about images of Mohammed, and more concerned about the image of Islam.

Free Speech and Islam

The latest issue has arisen over a TV program called South Park which I have only seen by accident on probably four or five occasions and for a total time of perhaps forty-five seconds, probably less.  I think the program is stupid and insulting.   I freely admit that I haven’t really given it a fair chance, but I don’t intend to do so either.   However, I understand that South Park planned an episode showing the Islamic prophet Mohammed as a bear, or depicted as a person wrapped in a bearskin - I don’t know which and don’t really care.  Personally, I think that either would be insulting to anyone who might watch it whether they were Muslim or not. 

But now - apparently - death threats by some Islamic organizations have cowed South Park into backing off these presentations.  That is achieving a poor prize at a very dear price.  The very idea that the press can be cowed into submission by threats of terrorism cannot be tolerated.  Yet, on the other hand, the press must also be held accountable by some mechanism to be responsible as well as free.  Personally I am not willing to go to the mat supporting South Park.  

Free Speech is more than just a right.  It is a NEED of any democracy or representative government.   That right also imposes a responsibility to use it fairly, impartially, and with respect because the “speech” which is delivered is not important in itself.  The value of free speech comes from its search for truth, and its accounting for and accurate recording of events.  If it is also malicious and untruthful and done under the protection of “free speech”, then it  assumes a tyrannical nature and thus constitutes an attack on the very principle of free speech itself.  Indeed, to me the very allegation that South Park IS a member of the press is idiotic and out of line.  Yet they cry "Freedom of the Press!"

The Danish cartoonists who depicted the Islamic prophet Mohammed in various poses and did that simply to “prove” they could flaunt the right of free speech without regard to other peoples' feelings.  I have seen those cartoons and thought many of them were instructive and fair and well supported.  Still, their use for that purpose of flaunting the right of free speech alone, in my opinion, was abusive.

Yet there is no way to punish those cartonists or South Park for their extravagances.  They have made fun of one of our major rights and thus have belittled and threatened it.  The right of free speech is extremely important and well worth defending, but I am not willing to defend those cartoonists or South Park because to my mind, they did as much harm to the principle of free speech as did the terrorists who came into our land and traditions after them.

All rights have a sword-like nature in that they can cut both ways.  To paraphrase Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the press IS mightier than the sword yet if it only causes the sword to be drawn against the press, then it has the capacity to destroy all rights.

Women, Children and Gays - In a Nutshell

"Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society which increases earthquakes."  This from an Iranian cleric, Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi speaking in Tehran this week.  He went on to say that the earthquakes were caused because immodest women had disappointed God.  “There is no other solution but to take refuge in religion and to adapt our lives to Islam's moral codes."  Poor God.  He's got a right to be mad.  How's he going to get them ready for heaven?  Especially when so many of the angels flit around in wispy scarves. 

So the message from Islam appears to be an admonition to follow the lead presented by the Roaming Catholic Church and “Coverup”.   At any rate, to adapt our lives to the moral codes of the church.  Pedophilia may be an inconvenient truth that "can happen anywhere”, but the church will take care of it’s own pedophileers - no need to bother the police, they have enough problems with bad guys.

Meanwhile, the protestants are romping and stomping with tea bags swaying from their hat brims and pistols flopping on their hips and some of them shoot down medical doctors, and they all love to protest a woman’s right to choose whether to carry a child for the next 20 years when she can’t afford those she already has, and she had no choice in the conception of THIS one either, and they piously grimace as if they might be in prayer, indeed praying to maintain the sanctify of marriage by protesting and keeping homosexuals out of wedlock - ALL  of this of course, because it is God’s desire - and God needs help from good ole' gunslingers from time to time.

And the Jews are plowing up Palestinian homes and building “settlements”  for more Jews, normally an act of war - would be if they tried that in France or Italy say, but not of course, when God wills it, because God gave this land to the Jews, right?  Or did He give it to the Palestinians?  Depends on which "This Land Is My Land for Dummies" book you have bought into.  

And they will ALL tell you that they all worship the same god.  Really?  Come on now, this is a joke - right?  Do ANY of them really worship ANY real god?  Or do they  really mean they just worship their own religion?  

The Gay Deciever

Army Secretary John McHugh told the troops last week that the previous policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" concerning gay and lesbian soldiers currently serving in the armed forces was no longer effective.

Now he is saying he misspoke.  They still can be kicked out if they tell anyone they are gay.  McHugh now says that before the old policy can be changed, the Army needs to "talk with gay soldiers."

Hmmmm.

The Catholic Church Attacks. First the Law, Now the Press.

Some are calling for the Pope's resignation.  It won’t happen, certainly not for any sexual reasons, because the church can not begin to comprehend the magnitude of the problems felt by their victims.  And also, that one pope might step down for any reason does not provide assurance that his replacement might not be associated with another fetish or two, probably also dealing with sex because anything involving sex is clearly a mystery to the Catholic Church.

Probably the best course of action for the Catholic Church to take would be 1)  to permit and encourage their priests and nuns to marry, 2) to permit and encourage the ordination of women, gays and lesbians as Priests,  eligible for promotion to Bishop, Cardinal and Pope, and 3)  to meanwhile refrain from comments of any nature concerning matters of which they cannot - by their very own vows, willingly taken before God - have any knowledge of, or experience of, sexual acts and their consequences.  That means that the church should have no voice - none - concerning matters involving sexual intercourse, conception or contraception, carrying a child to birth or abortion, nursing, feeding and taking care of young children, especially the education of young children!!! or the health care of young children.  The  Catholic Church is prima facie unqualified and incompetent in these matters.  If the Catholic Church is to provide any such care involving children, that must be done under adult supervision.

The willful, deliberate and continual refusal by bishops and other priests - and the Pope - to notify legal authorities of crimes committed by the Catholic Priests should carry the same penalty to the supervisor as the perpetrator of the crime, as is fitting in other professions that are true professions, like medicine, psychiatry, or counseling.  Archbishop Nyez has been quoted as saying the church should treat sex abuse cases very seriously. That's fine, it would be nice if the church did take some action but the most important thing is to report these allegations to the local authorities - because they indicate a possible violation of law, and legal remedies need to be applield.

Now we find the Great Church is mounting counter attacks by charging newspapers like the New York Times - and others - as being out to get the church and the pope.  The pope himself has said he takes this matter as a “test of himself” - good God, he REALLY doesn’t understand what damage his church has done, does he?  And  as the leader of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict,  was in charge of all the investigations of all the pedophiliac priests for 20 years before he “ascended”.  Now the new leader of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Levada wrote:  "I am not proud of America's newspaper of record.  The New York Times, as a paragon of fairness."  Certainly the Times seems to be walking closely to the edge of their cherished motto: All the news that is fit to print".

Israel Makes it Perfectly Clear

Israel made the same mistake again.  Twice now they have "accidentally" let slip notices to the world that they intend to continue their acts of war against Palestine by building Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem. The first time was just moments before Netanyanhu met the American Vice-President, Biden, the second time now was just moments before Netanyahu met the American President, Obama.  They are sorry,  they say.

Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament in between the two episodes that "Jews are building in Jerusalem, and Jews were building in Jerusalem 3,000 years ago."  Of course the Jews have been fighting with their neighbors over land for a lot longer than that.  Probably back before Abraham, back in the time of the goddesses.

The point is that Israel is not interested in peace talks with Palestine.  Why should they be?  They have the best of both worlds right now.  They can claim that they want peace in the middle east, then build Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, put Israeli citizens in those settlements, then fence them together and kick Palestine citizens off the lands they thought was legally theirs.

America continues pour money and military equipment into Israel as they look chagrined at having being "fooled" again.  Fool is right.  Israel just doesn't care anymore.  They have everything they could ever wish for. Almost.  Next will almost certainly be a military strike against Iran.
Of course we will HAVE to be on Israel's side then.  Fooled again.

The Political ResErection of the Catholic Church.

VATICAN, March 16, 2010-- In a story written by reporter Marco Bellizzi, the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano claims that the American Catholic Bishops speak for the entire Catholic Church when they criticize the current health care bill now under consideration in the American congress. The Vatican claims that “the health care bill approved by the US Senate is not acceptable. . . It cannot be supported and the moral objections raised by the project cannot be postponed for a later moment.” (http://www.cbcpnews.com/?q=node/12618. 2010.0320Sa2329.)

How can it be that the Catholic Church from Rome, Italy, is weighing in on the issue of health care in America? Their main objections appear to be based on issues of abortion, birth control and gay marriage.  Seems that they are now presenting themselves as friends of the court as it were, presenting themselves as expert witnesses in the matter of marriage, sex, pregnancy, giving birth and raising children.

They are, in fact certifiably incompetent in this field since by the very vows to attain their position they have renounced any intention to explore, experience and encounter the issues of marriage, sex, pregnancy, giving birth and raising children. Since they are never wrong therefore, in any of these issues, they apparently now feel comfortable in ordering their followers -  especially American members of congress who are also Catholic - to do as they say.

Nuns and priests are forbidden to experience marriage or sex. Some priests and popes were married, a thousand years or so ago we are told, but that was in the ancient past. None living today have that experience. Sex is also unknown to them. Or is it? Rumors have it that priests often have sex among themselves. Of course, substantiation is hard to come by in that area, but there have also been long standing rumors of pedophilia between priests and Catholic children. That substantiation was also hard to come by until recently. Now information is leaking through an aroused world penal system that pedophilia not only HAS occurred, but that it has been APPROVED by the Catholic church, inasmuch as they not only did not report the transgressor to the proper authorities - as REQUIRED by law - and they did not punish the transgressors themselves, but instead transferred them to ANOTHER venue where they could find another garden of innocents for their immoral and illegal personal passions. And THEN, when “almost exposed” again, these pedophiles in priest's frocks would be sent on, almost as if to carry out their hideous mission in another parish, and then another. And considering that the current pope had been in charge of the council with authority to investigate such charges one can only conclude that he HAD to have taken place in that sexual abuse, either in direct action with minors or in the cover up.  At any rate, it is now clear that Pope Benedict had the opportunity to resolve this issue and he hid it.  We can now see clearly the Pope's attitude toward the children, the law, and the alleged teachings of Jesus.  The Catholic Church trumps all of those bit players.

Now let’s affirm that probably 99.9% of all Catholic priests and nuns are committed to carrying out their duties as ministers to their congregations. But let’s also be clear that we are not speaking about priestly pedophilia as an isolated event. Let’s also be very clear that we are not speaking about an ecclesiastical or religious issue. We are speaking now as a political point of order because the catholic church has decided to bring their church pressure in a political issue and thus forfeited their right to be respected and treated SOLELY as a religious organization.

Furthermore, It is not the issue here that one priest committed a sexual abuse against a minor child. Nor is it even that one bishop covered up a sexual abuse of a minor child. Nor is it even that one supervisor of the priest and the bishop failed to detect and enforce the laws of man and of their church. Nor is it even that these repeated actions apparently became an epidemic of sexual, physical, mental, moral, religious and spiritual rape, or that it continued for more than 40 years - because those accusations apply to only one small country in christendom - Ireland - in which these events repeatedly occurred. Now a groundswell of pedophilia that was committed by Roman Catholic priests back in the 1950s and 1960s is emerging across Europe and the United States.

The present Pope, while Bishop of Regensburg referred a pedophiliac priest to a psychiatrist who stated that in his professional opinion the priest was “incurable”. That priest was subsequently reinstated, transferred to another parish where he continued his pediphilia for years. The current pope's brother said in a newspaper interview published 2010. 309Tu, that he now regrets that he used to slap pupils as punishment after he took over a renowned German boys' choir in the 1960s http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/09/georg-ratzinger-popes-bro_n_491858.html 2010.0320Sa2322.  He has only admitted slapping; now one must wonder if he went farther than that.  One must certainly wonder at his qualifications that "earned" him that post.

While a cardinal at the Vatican, Joseph Ratzinger, now the pope, wrote a 2001 letter instructing bishops worldwide to report all cases of abuse to his office and keep church investigations secret under threat of excommunication. The Vatican insists the secrecy rules serve only to protect the integrity of the church's investigations, and should not be taken to mean the church should not tell police of their members' crimes.  But victims' advocates in Ireland and the United States said the pope again failed to make it clear whether the church considers the secular law a higher priority than canon law when seeking to stop a pedophile priest. Unfortunately though, the Pope DID make it perfectly clear that he condones the Irish coverup.  We can now clearly see that he participated in these illegal pedofilic activities if not as a perpetrator then as an accomplice.  We know that because the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Brady who apologized for "mishandling" a serial child molesting priest, said that he would not resign over the scandals and their coverup UNLESS the Pope asked him to do so.  The pope has evidently agreed with Cardinal Brady that the church is more important than those kids, and the Irish law is totally inconsequential.  Isn't Jesus supposedly quoted as having something to say about rendering to Caesar and to God?  Seems like only the children got rendered.
Chhttp://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/21/world/AP-EU-Church-Abuse-Pope.html. 2010.0321Su0101

So we have not just the crime, and the cover up, both repeated again and again thousands and thousands of times over forty or more years, the willful and criminal defiance of the laws of many nations, the intentional and self-righteous disregard of the alleged teachings of Jesus, for the single purpose of seeking to appear to be legal, honorable, trustworthy and orthodox.  One might wish for the Pope to step down but we know that would never happen, and wonder if there is anyone available for the position who understands the implications of morality, laws, and the meaning of Jesus?

Add all this to the Catholic church's discrimination against gays and lesbians who seek equal rights among human laws, the witch-hunt denouncement of a woman’s right to choose to carry and give birth to a child which she may not even have agreed to create (she was raped because God willed it, or God made the guy want her even though she didn't want any part of it, and she doesn't want and can't afford another child which she, and only she will have to care for over the next twenty years?), the attempt to prevent the use of birth control devices, preferring the spread of disease to helping prevent women from becoming pregnant from a pregnancy they did not want and cannot afford, the refusal to permit women into the priesthood, the requirement of chastity for the priests, and you have the picture of an organization that is isolated from the problems of the people they supposedly serve. The members of this isolated brotherhood clearly and obviously live an unnatural and abnormal life and view the people they serve through a distorted prism. They have been guilty of willful disobedience of national laws and they have offered no defense except to say they are sorry. Indeed they are. They are sorry that they got caught.  Maybe the political message they have for the American health care system is that if you get sick it is because God wills it, and you will get well if that is his will too.

While the priests and nuns themselves have almost without exception conducted themselves in a highly trustworthy, honorable and devoted fashion, the Catholic hierarchy has behaved in a shameful, disgraceful, immoral and illegal manner.

You were a religious organization. We all urge you to clean your dirty vestments, clear your ranks of criminals and perverted priests and then endeavor to help your congregations find a spiritual dimension in their lives - and in yours also. If you wish to become and remain a religious organization you will be respected as such.

If you want to become a political organization then you are fair game and you will have to defend your statements, platforms, and intentions, and find your past transgressions investigated, all in the mud of politics. And you are no better equipped for this battle than is Mark Sanford or Larry Craig.

You can continue with your mumbling and incantations and smoke and mirrors and hocus pocus, and your faithful members can continue to contribute from their labors to your continuing calls for support because they appear to serve you more than you serve them. But if you become a political organization then you cannot retreat behind your priestly garments claiming any form of special privilege including all your buried secrets.

Israel's Declaration of War

Israel’s method of waging war on Palestine goes like this: 1) Agree that East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip belong to Palestine. 2) Begin building Israeli “settlements” IN East Jerusalem, the West Bank and next to the Gaza Strip. 3) Restrict Palestinian access to those new settlement areas. 4) When Palestinians react by attacking in the settlement areas from which they have been driven, the Israeli army retaliates, kills Palestinians, walls are built around the new settlements and Palestinians are prohibited from passage through those areas between Israeli settlements. 5) American congressional and administration leaders smile sadly and say that Israel and Palestine (and the US) need “go forward from where we are now”. 6) the rest of the world kind of watches, knowing that the United States is somehow, through this process providing some restraint on Israel. 7) Repeat steps 1 to 6.

One of Obama’s stated goals was to work toward achieving peace in the middle east. Palestine has held back because of the settlements recently built on “their” territory. Finally, Palestine agreed to try “one more time”.

To pretend that we “really intend” to “move forward”, Vice-president Biden is sent to Israel to pretend to initiate negotiations. Within hours though, after Biden’s arrival there, Israel announced the construction of a new 1,600 person settlement in the Palestine areas in East Jerusalem. This is the diplomatic equivalent of Netanyanhu banging on his glass with a spoon at an internationally televised dinner at UN Headquarters, then standing on his chair and announcing “This is for the United States and President Obama, the rest of the world, and especially all Arabs!” as he shoots a bird for all the press to record. Vice-president Biden, representing the people of the United States, and who has just arrived on this pretend peace mission, is seated across from Netanyanhu as the consciousness of the world swings like klieg lights and TV cameras might have done, from Netanyanhu’s upraised finger to Biden’s downcast face.

For a number of years now, Israel has been more and more independent of American support. They have taken over the planning, organizing, and development of their action. All we need to do is just cover the checks they write. It has become more and more obvious to more and more people throughout the past ten years or so that Israel no longer needs the support of the United States. They may be willing to accept whatever aid, weapons, armament and money we might send their way but as far as matters of life and death or war and peace are concerned, we should just butt out. Israel doesn’t need us any more. Money? That’s OK, just send it and shut up. Apparently Israel realizes that the American dollar isn’t what it was a few years ago, and of course that is another part of our pretend.

This action by Israel clearly calls for a major change in the United States-Israel relationship. Not just this one action in itself, but that it comes as an obviously developing construct on Israel’s part. This is a natural result of the Gaza Humiliation to All of Mankind, which in turn grew out from other Israeli settlements built on the West Bank which followed other settlements they built in East Jerusalem. America's continued "support" of Israel is now proclaiming to all nations of the world that we are NOT INTERESTED in peace in that region but only in the support of Israel domination of the entire middle-east. One can only wonder how long it will be before Israel will strike Iran and once again throw the middle east out of its fragile, constantly out of balance alignment.

Furthermore, since it is now clear that the United States has no control over Israel, the time has come for us to prepare to cut the swollen financial, armament and diplomatic umbilical cord between us, and set Israel free to find and develop support and friends among its neighbors.

The Senate and Bunning. Wild Pitch.

Let us now praise Senator Bunning. Bunning, the pitcher. Bunning, the author. Bunning, the guy who wrote a sad book. Bunning, who showed how stupid his baseball teammates and opponents were. Bunning, the U.S. Senator. Bunning, the man who now shows us what we NEED to see - how stupid his senate teammates and opponents are.

It’s not Bunning’s fault. He is probably an average man, with average intellect, and average emotional control. All he did was to show us how poorly constructed certain portions of our our constitution are, at least with respect to the Senate. Either that or he has just shown us is how badly our current senate leadership is performing.

By shutting down some portions of the legislative budget with just a simple act known as a “hold”, he has revealed how badly mistaken Joseph McCarthy was about communists and fellow travelers in the U.S. government. All the Soviet Union would ever have needed to have done to bring the United Sates to its knees in surrender was simply to get a single communist elected to our Senate. Then there would have been no more money for the military, for weapons, for Radio Free Europe, or anything. Our government would have been rendered powerless. The House of Representatives would have just sat down to wait for instructions (from the Senate). The president would have have said “Aw shucks.” as he shut down our military machine. We would have simply have just quit and let the Bolsheviks come on in. Well, apparently Bunning COULD have done that back then - eh?

OK . So now what? We have just seen senators holding up appointments, blocking laws and budget resolutions by simply saying “I forbid! (dammit!)”, as Senator DeMint of South Carolina blocked the would-have-been director of the TSA because he might lead them to form a union, and as Senator Shelby of Alabama blocked more than 300 appointees by the president in order to get a contract for a defense department airplane to be awarded to his state, and so on. Now comes Bunning, swirling around, daintily dancing and tapping his toes in a fit of pique, raising - instead of important points of order - just a finger or two. But still saying “NO!”

The American senate IS a pitiful thing. It is the greatest mistake made by our founding fathers. It is the single point that PROVES they were not led by the hand of God. This awful structure misrepresents the American people by concentrating the power of our government in the hands of only a few people, most of them prosaically rural residents of isolated states like Wyoming, Alaska, the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, and so on who have the voting power (in the senate) of half of the United State’s population, and who simply want to just raise their pistol nozzle to push the tip of their cap back on their head and believe that the world is a place in which the biggest problem is the fox that pesters their chickens, knowing they are safe behind some great ocean (whatever might be its name), and that there really ISN’T anything out there that could be a problem, except for the government! And if such a thing DID show up, their dog would chase it away, or they could shoot it.

If George Bush had had one of these peeved senators on his watch he would not have been able to invade Iraq - at least not until he had accumulated all the money he might need to conduct an eight-year long war already in the treasury.

So what is the problem now? Where are the other senators? Where is the senate leader? Where is the president of the United States now? Hmmmmm. Seems like they all want to retain their elected positions. That’s really too bad, they would all make great lobbyists.