Wednesday, March 24, 2010

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.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

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.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

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.

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

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.