tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77462392024-03-07T18:48:58.636-08:00morialekafamorialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.comBlogger2631125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-48339418861498981082014-09-01T22:12:00.001-07:002014-09-01T22:14:27.353-07:00No! No! No!<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I do not want to write this.
I do not want to deal with this. I do not really even want to think about this.
But I am so outraged I simply cannot let it pass. Israel has now announced they
are going to take another 1.000 acres of private Palestinian land for more
settlements. Apparently not happy with failing to annihilate the Palestinians
entirely by violence they are reverting to their strategy of more slowly and
insidiously attempting to get rid of them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Among other things I guess
you could regard this as chutzpa magnified by a thousand or more. This
announcement not only blatantly insults President Obama, Kerry, and others, it
also insults the entire world community, to say nothing of violating ordinary
morality. The U.S. has asked them not to do it, but it is not at all obvious
what will happen if they go ahead and do it anyway, which they quite likely
will. After all, they have been doing illegal, criminal actions for years with
no particular restraints from anyone, why should this time be any different. No
doubt the UN will utter a few “tut tuts,” and the U.S. will say don’t do it,
but the Israelis will do whatever they want, secure in the knowledge that the
U.S. Congress will back them 100 per cent. The Israeli government has no shame
and will obviously do anything and everything to prevent the creation of a
Palestinian state. The UK will threaten some mild sanctions, the U.S. will
support Israel, and the hopeless situation in the Middle East will continue as
is. Unless, of course, ISIS (or ISIL, or IS, or whatever it is) eventually
forces the issue. The IS is not, however, the only “cancer” in the region,
Israel has fulfilled that condition for years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Here are my suggestions for
the Israeli/Palestinian problem and peace in the Middle East:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Israel should be forced to
retreat to the l967 borders.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">All illegal settlements
should be vacated by Israelis and given to the Palestinians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Israel should be required to
rebuild Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Israel should be required to
acknowledge the basic humanity of the Palestinians as well as their human
rights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">There should be a viable
Palestinian state with no supervision or control by Israel, their own airport
and seaport, and freedom to travel as they wish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Far-fetched, yes, I know. It
will never happen unless Israel is forced by the international community (and
the U.S.) to comply. Of course Israel will whine about their security as usual
but if they would simply act responsibly towards the Palestinians their
security would be greatly enhanced. And with the finest military in the region
they would be safe enough from any serious challenges from others. As far as
their much vaunted nuclear power goes, it is as useless as it is everywhere
else in the world. Their perceived threats from Iran, Hamas, and others are as
paranoid and imaginary as Netanyahu can make them. “Give peace a chance” is a
slogan completely foreign to the Israeli administration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be
achieved by understanding.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">–<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><strong><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; padding: 0in;">Albert Einstein</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span>morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-55385697988360500512014-08-31T19:39:00.001-07:002014-08-31T19:43:32.327-07:00No,...<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">No, my personal Journey to
the West did not come to a premature or unexpected end. Yes, I m still alive.
Yes, I have not been blogging for the past month. No, I am not giving up
Morialekafa entirely although I am somewhat tempted to do so after these last
ten years, especially the last two or three years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">My problem, aside from the
nightmarish experience I have had recently trying to change from one computer
to another (ongoing), is that I find I no longer believe anything I hear or
read. I am convinced that ordinary people like myself now live in a completely
surreal world of lies and obfuscations. As I can’t believe anything anymore I
have nothing to offer but opinions based on what I more or less “kind of
believe.” I do not, for example, believe that Russia is the villain in the
ongoing troubles in the Ukraine. I do not believe that the recent
Israeli/Hamass “war” was caused by Hamass any more than by Israel (in fact I am
much more inclined to blame Israel as they have been the brutal occupying power
for so long). In any case, as I do not know the facts of anything anymore, I
merely have to surmise what seems to me to be the most probable reasons for
anything. Ditto when it comes to Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Iran, wherever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">One result of this unfortunate
situation is that I feel I can no longer vote for any national candidate. I
cannot vote for Hillary Clinton because she is an obvious supporter of Israeli
genocide. But none of the Republican candidates are any different, they all
have voted overwhelmingly for genocide. As there will not be a candidate
running on a platform to curb the blatant Israeli war crimes and attempted
genocide, I will not vote for anyone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Similarly, I believe that
President Obama should be impeached, not for any ridiculous reason having to do
with domestic problems, especially Obamacare, but for his support of genocide.
He has actively aided and abetted the Israeli assault on Gaza, provided them
with ammunition and funds, and basically did nothing to curb them. But how
could he possibly be impeached for war crimes and genocide when the entire
Congress of the United States is equally guilty?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">All of this unfortunately
feeds into my fear that the human species will be ultimately doomed to
extinction. But somehow I cannot believe that human beings in general are so
stupid and greedy. The basic problem seems to be that those in charge (our
leaders) have been and are failing us in favor of vested corporate interests
that put increasing amounts of money into their
pockets to get the results they want. As a result of this legal bribery
(how it became legal is an interesting phenomenon in its own right) the public
interest has become totally irrelevant to what goes on in the corridors of
power. The public is sick of “war,” but this doesn’t stop us from engaging in
endless wars, the public is sick of no sensible gun control but we still have
none, the public wants a reasonable immigration policy but there is none, the
public wants a raise in the minimum wage but it is proving very difficult, and
so on and on and on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">With the vast majority of
Congress on the side of corporate power, along with our corrupt Supreme Court,
and also apparently the Executive Branch, there seems to be little chance of
change in the future. We are well along to a Fascist situation where government
and corporations have all the power and ordinary citizens have less and less.
As this seems to me to be true, and there is no relief in sight, I am inclined
to withdraw and refuse to participate in this farce any longer. I have no
respect for the Israeli government and similarly no respect for my own which
does nothing to force Israel to cease and desist in its obvious goal of ridding
themselves of Palestinians. When even Elisabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders
refuse to condemn what Israel has done I see no hope whatsoever for the Middle
East. And as the current situation there is a direct result of our meddling
incessantly in the affairs of others (mostly for oil and short term profits),
there will be no hope until our “empire” collapses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="mailto:lewislangness@gmail.com" title="view quote">Everything that everyone is afraid of has already happened: The fragilityof capitalism, which we don't want to admit; the loss of the empire of theUnited States; and American exceptionalism. In fact, American exceptionalism isthat we are exceptionally backward in about fifteen different categories, fromeducation to infrastructure.</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/james_hillman.html" title="view author"><span style="color: #0000aa; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">James Hillman</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-84679395740688831322014-08-10T22:43:00.001-07:002014-08-10T22:46:49.139-07:00American Dementia<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 15.0pt; mso-outline-level: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16.5pt;">de·men·tia<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><b><i><span style="color: #717274; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">noun</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="color: #717274; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">\di-</span><span style="color: #717274; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ˈ</span><span style="color: #717274; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">men(t)-shə, -shē-ə\</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">medical</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">: a
mental illness that causes someone to be unable to think clearly or to
understand what is real and what is not real.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I think
it is entirely possible that Americans suffer from a form of collective
dementia. Certainly we have a problem understanding what is real and what is
not real. First we seem to cling to the belief that we are a democracy (false),
second, we seem to want to believe we are so exceptional we are indispensable
to the rest of the world (we are now regarded, along with Israel, as the
greatest threat to world peace), third, we believe that we have morality and
right on our side no matter what), fourth, we believe we are the only superpower
left in the world (having never won a war after WWII except, perhaps, over
Granada), and fifth, we believe we lead the world in education, science, and
economy (demonstrably demented as this is no longer true). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It is not
entirely clear to me that dementia is necessarily a condition that affects all
Americans, it could well be that it mostly affects those in politics, from the
President, Congress, and down to the Supreme Court. There are, for example,
hundreds of thousands of citizens all over the world, including many in the
U.S., marching to protest what is happening in Gaza. The same thing happened prior
to the Iraq “war.” The powers that be pay no attention to these demonstrations.
A majority of U.S. citizens want stricter gun controls, they are ignored, just
as those who are anti-war are ignored. Our “leaders” cling to the insane belief
that what we do is right and what others do is wrong. The situations in Israel
and the Ukraine are excellent cases in point, even though in both cases what we
think is right is absurd (insofar as much of what happens has to do with oil,
right and wrong are basically irrelevant, oil always wins). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We do
almost certainly lead the world in sheer hypocrisy. For example, we are the
first to demand that leaders in other nations be arrested and tried for war
crimes, but at the same time we allow our own acknowledged war criminals to
walk around freely boasting of their crimes. Our President had now reduced our
war crimes to the simple homily that “we tortured some folks.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Perhaps a
more interesting case in point has to do with genocide. Isis, that growing
bunch of murderous religious extremists, has chased thousands of Yazidi
religious believers into the mountains and threatens to kill them if they do
not agree to convert to an extreme form of Muslimism. So, to prevent this possible
genocide the U.S. has intervened and is now bombing Isis in conjunction with
Kurdish forces trying to defeat them. This is all well and good and no doubt
necessary (obviously we cannot tolerate religious extremists who want to (and
do) kill everyone who doesn’t agree with them. Genocide, however, is apparently
acceptable when it comes to Palestinians. Israel has herded a million and a
half of them into a narrow strip of land where they can be humiliated, starved,
and killed at will, all with the blessings of our President and almost all
members of Congress. Oh, I know, you will say the two situations are not comparable
as Hamas is firing rockets into Israel, whereas the Yazidi are helpless.
Basically the Palestinians in Gaza are helpless, and also deprived of food and
water, power, and basic necessities, and have been for years as the Israelis
control everything having to do with their daily lives. Hamas, and the
Palestinians, want the siege to be lifted so they can live normal human lives,
Israel refuses and the siege will apparently continue forever. Not only does
the U.S. accept this terrible situation it actively encourages and participates
in it. Our policy is clear enough, protect the Yazidis from genocide but not
the Palestinians. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">You may
argue that Israel is not engaged in genocide. I do not believe it. More and
more Israelis are arguing that it is permissible to kill them, some arguing
that killing Palestinian women is justified because they will just produce more
“snakes,” (where have we heard this before, “nits make lice.”) Israel argues
that is has the right to protect itself from “terrorists,” even though they themselves
were former terrorists, but the only way you can see their killing of innocent
Palestinian women and children as protecting them from terrorism is by believing the children will
eventually become terrorists. It is no different than other feuds, if you don’t
kill the children they will seek revenge for the killing of their fathers and
mothers, and on and on. President Obama says he feels no sympathy for Hamas,
fine, I feel no sympathy for Israel. Israel is the only entity that can end
this horror. They can do it tomorrow by acknowledging that Palestinians are
humans just like the rest of us, that they have legitimate interests that need
to be met, and that they will do their utmost to be fair and reasonable. Don’t
bet on it, and don’t invest much in the future of Israel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The first time it was reported that our friends were being
butchered there was a cry of horror. Then a hundred were butchered. But when a
thousand were butchered and there was no end to the butchery, a blanket of
silence spread.</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
When evil-doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out "stop!"<br />
<br />
When crimes begin to pile up they become
invisible. When sufferings become unendurable the cries are no longer heard.
The cries, too, fall like rain in summer.”<br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/26853.Bertolt_Brecht"><span style="color: #666600; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Bertolt Brecht</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-20300784364496469672014-08-04T22:30:00.002-07:002014-08-04T22:35:01.620-07:00"Talk"<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">There is certainly plenty of
talk going around having to do with the Israeli/Palestinian blood bath. The
Israelis of course blame Hamas, Hamas blames Israel, the UN condemns both parties,
and even the US, an active participant in this dreadful bloody event, has
managed to complain about the attacks on what are supposed to be UN safe
havens. There are apparently marches all around the world condemning Israel
while Israeli defenders continue mindlessly reciting their mantra, “Israel has
a right to defend itself from terrorists.” Hamas is condemned for being a
terrorist group by Israel and the U.S. but is not necessarily so considered by
others. Israel is increasingly condemned by most of the world. It is obvious
that both sides have committed obvious war crimes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Having tried to follow this
slaughter as well as I can (not very rewarding these days), I know that most of
the talk consists of lies, truly obvious and transparent lies. The Israelis and
their supporters lie constantly whereas Hamas also lies. It is virtually
impossible to believe anything we are told by anyone, least of all the U.S.
MSM. The UN charges Israel with probable war crimes, even crimes against
humanity, the U.S. claims to be appalled at some of the recent Israeli military
actions, Hamas is similarly charged, the accusations and denials go on and on endlessly,
as they have, in fact, for years. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The problem with all this
talk is not only that it is a never-ending pack of lies, the problem is, it is
just “talk.” We have heard all of this talk before, several times now. Every
couple of years the Israeli siege of Gaza erupts in a cauldron of violence and
killing, every couple of years the UN condemns Israel for war crimes and
violations of international law, every couple of years the U.S. slaps them on
the wrist (gently, of course) for building more illegal settlements, or
destroying another Palestinian orchard, or more Palestinian homes, or running
over an American girl with a bulldozer for defending a Palestinian home, or
killing a couple of children for throwing rocks, and so on, an endless cycle of
violence and destruction in which the Palestinians invariably lose physically
although probably slowly gaining politically. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Nothing ever happens as a
result of all this. The Israelis simply ignore the UN and world opinion,
confidant their great ally the U.S. will veto any attempt to seriously charge
them with anything (after all, Israel has the right to defend itself from
terrorists, as well as from nonexistent Iranian nuclear bombs). As long as this
situation continues there can, of course, be no possible peace in the Middle
East. As long as “talk” is the only
action talk will just continue to no end whatsoever. Talk is not what is needed,
what is needed is action. As Israel is itself the greatest impediment to peace,
as it is now obvious they do not want a peaceful settlement, a Palestinian
state, or a change in the status quo, and seem to be more and more hinting at a
“final solution,” it is Israel that must be made to change unless, of course,
the U.S. and the rest of the world are willing to tolerate the slow genocide of
the Palestinians. Without some major intervention this will inevitably happen
as even the Palestinian children who are not being murdered will be slowly
destroyed by their lack of education and opportunities, food, and the ordinary
materials for normal lives, to say nothing of their lack of parents and rewarding
family lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Perhaps this latest violence,
far worse than the last outbreak or the one before that, will force the world
to realize they must act to solve this ulcerous sore than never seems to heal.
The main key here, of course, will be the United States. Will the U.S. continue
to support the unprecedented, torturous, punishing siege of Hamas and the inhumane
treatment of the Palestinians, or will we finally say enough is enough and
return to some semblance of decency and morality? Don’t bet on it, that AIPEC
money is powerful, fairness and morality be damned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/haileselas540923.html" title="view quote">The preservation of peace and the guaranteeing of man's basic freedoms
and rights require courage and eternal vigilance: courage to speak and act -
and if necessary, to suffer and die - for truth and justice; eternal vigilance,
that the least transgression of international morality shall not go undetected
and unremedied.</a></span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/haile_selassie.html" title="view author"><span style="color: #0000aa; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Haile Selassie</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
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morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-82506798777224267242014-08-02T22:29:00.003-07:002014-08-02T22:34:13.332-07:00"The Final Solution"<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Well, the Israeli massacre of
Palestinians continues, with the virtually unanimous support of our President
and members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, who seem willing, even
eager, to supply more ammunition and funds to keep it going. Many members of
Congress apparently do not even want a ceasefire, so eager are they to help
Israel rid itself of Palestinians. Netanyahu piously claims (with a straight
face) that they (the Israelis) have nothing against the Palestinian, it is only
Hamas they are after (while continuing to murder more than 1500 innocent
Palestinian men, women, and children who had nothing to do with Hamas).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">There are increasing
references in the written record to Palestinian “vermin,” “snakes,” and such, and
one Israeli writer has even suggested the genocide of Palestinians would be
justified (or legitimate), in an essay soon withdrawn for, I should think,
obvious reasons. Those opposing a ceasefire and furnishing more ammunition
would seem to think this continuing slaughter is also justified.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">What the Israelis have done
and are doing is UNFORGIVABLE, and is not going to be forgotten. Generations of
Palestinians and other Arabs are not going to forget, and are highly unlikely
to ever forgive, no matter what the Israelis do now (assuming they would ever
do anything except go on killing). And
forget the pathetic bullshit about how Hamas started it when they fired rockets
into Israel, or when they kidnapped three Israeli teenagers. It started “way back when,” when Israel herded
more an a million Palestinians into an outdoor prison and lay siege to them,
slowly starving them, controlling every aspect of their lives, and also
gradually killing them off. Where, by the way, came the authority to justify
such a completely unprecedented act? Who gave Israel the authority to preside
God-like over Palestinians? Why did the International community allow this to
happen? More importantly for the moment, why does the world allow such a siege
to continue?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Thus, far from protecting
themselves from terrorists, Israeli greed, stupidity, and racism has guaranteed
they will never be free of terrorists for many generations to come, if ever. Having
managed to maneuver themselves into this impossible situation, If they want to
be free of terrorists there is now, from their point of view, only one solution,
“the final solution,” and they seem to be more and more embarked on it, both in
their statements and their behavior. There is no other excuse for their massive
extermination of thousands of innocent women and children, completely
unjustified collective punishment for an entire population for the acts of a
few. Why does protecting themselves from Hamas involve the indiscriminate
killing of thousands of innocents? It doesn’t. And don’t buy into the crap
about how carefully they are trying to protect civilians, a lie so blatant it
betrays the obvious, they don’t give a damn for Palestinian lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Hamas has now made it clear,
the siege must be lifted, they must be allowed to live normal lives like all
other people, they would rather “die on their feet than live forever on their
knees.” Obviously what Israel has done to the Palestinians should not be (or
have been) allowed, a situation worse perhaps than even slavery. Israel has
made it clear by now they do not want a Palestinian state and prefer to keep
the status quo. This cannot continue if Israel truly desires “peace,” which
they obviously do not. The outcome of this human predicament is not at all
obvious. Are the U. S. and the rest of the world going to participate in the
final solution? If not, what will they do? Unfortunately, and in fact, there
may no longer be any other solution. Even if Israel agreed to return to the
1967 borders, apologized for their attempted genocide, even if they returned
all the Palestinian lands and water they have stolen, even if they publicly
repented for their outrageous behavior, and even if they made reparations and
agreed to a viable Palestinian state, they still might not be forgiven . Remember the mark of Cain: “</span><span style="background: white; color: #252525; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">When Cain spilled his brother's blood, the earth became
cursed as soon as the blood hit the ground.” </span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+4%3A12&version=HE"><span style="background: white; color: #663366; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Genesis 4:12</span></a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
The Israelis may want to deny their basic brotherhood with
the Palestinian “vermin,” but it exists in a higher morality they will be unable
to deny forever. Although I may not be around to see it, their time will come,
and it will not be pleasant.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“No one is
more vulnerable to fear than a man who keeps another in bondage. He will do
anything to prevent justice from rearing its head — for he knows well what he
deserves at the hands of those he subjugates.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<span class="apple-converted-space"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/32743.Jane_Jensen"><span style="color: #666600;">Jane Jensen</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-44130066655422635712014-07-30T22:26:00.001-07:002014-07-30T22:28:27.771-07:00Not Much Hope<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Even now I continue to resist
concluding that all is hopeless. I fear hopelessness as that is the end. There
is nowhere to go after hopelessness. But we are, I am convinced, certainly
approaching hopelessness. We have a Congress that is so dysfunctional it does
nothing. We have a President who is constrained from doing much of anything
mainly because he is Black. And both our President and Congress have proven
themselves to be morally bankrupt by their overwhelming and unconditional support
for the blatant and continuing Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Personally, I find this not only appalling but virtually unbelievable. As both
parties are equally in favor of this ongoing theft, murder, and genocide, I no
longer participate at any level in this morally bankrupt national suicide. Having
now reached the state of a pariah nation, along with the totally evil Israeli
government, it is inevitable that we will eventually collapse because of our
own mindless, aggressive, short-sighted, greedy, racist, egomaniacal, and
ethnocentric behavior.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I see very little hope for
the future, little more than a bare glimmer, and the odds, I think, are not
good. The coming elections will give us our usual choice of voting for the lesser
of two evils. Thus about the only chance we will have is a bit of a long shot.
If Democrats hold control of the Senate, and if they also gain control of the
House, there is a chance that at least some of our more domestic problems may
be at least partly alleviated. But who becomes President will also be critical.
I do not think Hillary Clinton is the right person at the right time but she,
of course, would be far better than any of the potential Republican candidates.
Hillary is sooo 1990’s, and far too much of a Hawk, to say nothing of her being
in bed with Wall Street and corporate America. Even so, if we can achieve a
completely Democratic sweep, and if we can perhaps get a more progressive
President, we may have at least a foot in the door towards some meaningful
change, at least domestically. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But this, of course, would
still leave the issue of our absurd Foreign Policy that still wants to maintain
the charade of American exceptionalism and empire. Overcoming the power of the
Military/Industrial/Political complex will not be an easy task, it could even
prove to be impossible unless it collapses because of its own excesses. It is
not unrelated to our collapsing infrastructure, educational, and economic
systems. If a Russian/UK merger occurs, or even a Russian/China merger, the
U.S. will find it impossible to maintain world hegemony as it so desperately is
trying to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I see truly monumental
changes shaping up in the world, with the U.S. fading and alliances in Europe,
Asia, and South America becoming more dominant and independent of U.S. control.
I doubt that I will ever see President Obama and the entire Congress of the
U.S., along with “Bibi” and his barbarian coterie, being tried in the Hague for
war crimes but, then, one can’t expect everything. One has to cling desperately
to whatever sliver of hope remains.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“For the powerful, crimes are those that others
commit.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2476.Noam_Chomsky"><span style="background: white; color: #666600; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Noam Chomsk</span></a>y<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-22451203691762047822014-07-29T23:08:00.001-07:002014-07-29T23:08:15.830-07:00Ten Years!<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Where DOES the time go? Today
marks the 10<sup>th</sup> anniversary of Morialekafa (a native New Guinea word
meaning “insignificant little bug with no other name”). When I first began
writing this blog I scarcely knew what a blog was but I thought it might be
interesting to start one. It has been interesting. I have had readers from virtually
every place on the globe, not because they look up Morialekafa itself, but
because they are searching for some topic about which I happen to have written
at some time, topics like sardines, pickled pigs feet, being an only child,
deodorant, stuff like that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Morialekafa was not intended
to be particularly political although nothing was precluded. Because of the
excesses of the Bush/Cheney years (the nightmare years) my blog became increasingly political. Looking back on it I
can scarcely believe all the things I wrote about, some of which I only vaguely
remember and some that I don’t remember at all. I believe I have been
reasonably consistent in my beliefs and values and I hope I have never been
hypocritical (which seems to have become the most distinguishing feature of
American politics). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I have no doubt that by far
the best of Morialekafa was written in the first five years. If you look up
“Five Years” in the archives (July 25, 2009), you will find an index of those
years. At that time I was blogging almost every day as I continued to do for
some time. In the past two or three years I have written less frequently and, I
am sure, less creatively. The fact is, I have mostly lost interest in U. S.
politics. It is pretty clear that both parties are very similar, they both no
longer act in the public interest, favoring the wealthy and corporate interests
almost exclusively. The hypocrisy and lying have become so blatant we, the
public, no longer have any true idea of what is happening or why, and our voices
are not heard by those who purport to represent us. Having been an ordinary
democrat all of my life I have finally become a full-blown Democratic Socialist
(in the mold of Bernie Sanders whom I very much admire). My limited creative
powers have diminished as well as my interest in politics. I have thought
seriously of just ending Morialekafa entirely (ten years is probably more than
enough), but I know I will occasionally be motivated to write something, at
least until my Journey to the West comes to an end. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But frankly, I believe things
have become so bad I no longer support either party. I no longer sign petitions
(except rarely), I no longer donate money or time, I find I do not believe
anything I am told by the media, and I have lost my faith in my country.
Perhaps I am just getting old and cranky but I am sick of the whole business.
More importantly, I do not want to even remotely be linked to the murderous,
genocidal, colonial maniacs that currently insist on unconditionally supporting
Israel’s attempt to rid the world of Palestinians. Our President and Congress
apparently have no sense of either shame or guilt, just take the money, look
the other way, and speak nobly of robbing the poor to feed the rich, killing
the Palestinians and Russian/Ukrainians to feed the permanently greedy, and
pretend that all is well with the world. After all, as we are constantly being
told, it’s all Putin’s fault.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“Imagine the
people who believe such things and who are not ashamed to ignore, totally, all
the patient findings of thinking minds through all the centuries since the
Bible was written. And it is these ignorant people, the most uneducated, the
most unimaginative, the most unthinking among us, who would make themselves the
guides and leaders of us all; who would force their feeble and childish beliefs
on us; who would invade our schools and libraries and homes. I personally
resent it bitterly.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16667.Isaac_Asimov"><span style="background: white; color: #666600; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Isaac Asimov</span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“I never wonder
to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1831.Jonathan_Swift"><span style="background: white; color: #666600; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Jonathan Swift</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-38135846733988561732014-07-28T22:36:00.001-07:002014-07-28T22:39:38.526-07:00The Irony and the Ecstasy<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Ever since our current
President, Barrack Hussein Obama, was elected, there have been those unwilling
to accept him as a legitimate President. They tried to argue he was not a native-born
American, he was actually a Kenyan, a socialist, communist, at least an alien
of some kind, not one of us, an “other.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Then they (Republicans) vowed
to not cooperate with him on anything. They have kept faithfully to that vow,
even shutting down the U. S. Government at one point, and frustrating his every
attempt to improve the lot of working Americans. By opposing everything they
have of course kept little of anything from happening. Now they criticism him
for this predictable failure, hypocrisy raised to heretofore unknown heights.
But nothing they have attempted has actually brought him down. Their attempt to
make him a one term President failed, all of their smears and lies about him have
failed, but they still have not given up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">During President Obama’s tenure in office there have been
growing mobs of angry White men, armed and potentially very dangerous. They
proudly march with their weapons and have even threatened an armed march on the
White House. Having failed miserably to discredit and smear Obama they have now
turned to a last resort, a lynching (oops, sorry, I meant an impeachment). Some
are ecstatic about the possibility. It is not clear precisely what he will be
charged with but it will apparently be accusations of his abuse of Presidential
power, his use of his office to accomplish things that Congress is failing to
do, like immigration reform and such. If they actually attempt this impeachment
it will inevitably fail, not the least because fully 67% of the public is
opposed, but also because he has used his Presidential powers less often than
any of his recent predecessors, has not actually violated any constitutional
rights, and so on. If somehow Republicans manage to capture the Senate in 2014
they will almost certainly attempt an impeachment as a majority of Republicans
apparently want him impeached, if only to smear his Presidency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The fact of the matter is,
Obama’s “crime” basically comes down to acting Presidential while Black.
Because he is Black he’s not, in the eyes of angry White men, supposed to be
the President. And not only that, he refuses to do what they want him to do, he
does not obey as he should. He is “uppity.”His Black wife is also uppity. Black
people, according to the dominant paradigm of the last 500 or so years, are not
as intelligent as Whites, not as highly evolved if you will, not in a position
to rule over White people, are supposed to stay “in their place.” Obama’s
success is a violation of this widely held paradigm of White male superiority,
not to be tolerated. I do not doubt
there are some who would rather have Obama lynched than merely impeached, but
lynching Blacks is not as easy or as family friendly as it once was, and there
are too many cameras these days. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Should Obama be impeached? I
think so, but not for the petty reasons Republicans offer. Obama should have
been impeached long ago for war crimes. Under U.S. law a President is legally required
to prosecute known war criminals. Obama refused to prosecute Bush/Cheney, et
al, and thus became a war criminal himself. One might understand why,
politically, Obama did not attempt such prosecutions, it would have doubtless
torn our country apart. But his own war crimes have continued and continue to
the present time. His drone warfare is most probably a war crime, but his
support for Israel’s blatant, never-ending war crimes is unforgivable, making
him once again a war criminal himself. Of course prosecuting him for war crimes
is not about to happen. It would be most interesting if it did as the Senate
recently voted unanimously to support Israeli war crimes, they would hardly be
in a position to impeach Obama for the same behavior. Similarly, I believe he would also be guilty
of war crimes with respect to the situation in the Ukraine. But this is now,
law and morality no longer have any connection with reality, nor do truth and
beauty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“Men are more moral than they think and far
more immoral than they can imagine.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10017.Sigmund_Freud"><span style="background: white; color: #666600; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Sigmund Freud</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-80583187157562350642014-07-25T22:15:00.000-07:002014-07-25T22:15:27.443-07:00Attitudes<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I am somewhat amazed, even
taken aback, by the unexpected attitudes of some of my friends, although I
suppose I shouldn’t be. We have a kind of informal club that meets every
Tuesday evening. We think of it as “The Gentlepersons Club” as both males and
females are welcome. There aren’t a lot of members and we play billiards, not
pool, billiards, now known in the U. S. as carom billiards. We also of course
have conversations about various topics sometimes but not always politically
related conversations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Last Tuesday in a
conversation I casually observed that Vladimir Putin had recently married his
girlfriend, apparently a one-time gymnast medal winner. I went on to observe
that he had divorced his wife of 30 years with whom he had two daughters, but
no one was sure where they were. One of the women immediately said, “Maybe he
got rid of them.” I confess I was astounded. Why on earth would this woman, a
perfectly bright, reasonably liberal democrat (I don’t have any other friends)
say such a thing? Obviously her remark must have been prompted by an assumption
that Putin must be a kind of Stalin clone, an evil person who would presumably
not hesitate to dispose of the woman he was married to for 30 years plus their
two offspring. Of course I don’t know where they are, but I would bet a lot of
money they are well-off and living in comfort somewhere, if perhaps anonymously
for their own protection. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And of course they all seem
to believe that Putin is responsible for the situation in Ukraine, having
aggressively moved towards that country. They are apparently unaware of the
violent coup we promoted, along with the EU, that overthrew the democratically
elected President (who was, granted, an evil, greedy son-of-a-bitch) with the
aid of some neo-Nazi groups who happily joined in to help, and are now trying
to destroy the Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Anyway, the next day, in a
conversation with another friend, I remarked that Hamas had offered a ten year
truce to Israel provided certain (what I thought were perfectly reasonable)
demands were met, and Israel had turned them down. My friend seemed to be
confinced that Israel was right to do so because Hamas wouldn’t stop attacking
them even if there was such a truce, another attitude that surprised me (Hamas,
being Arab, was obviously untrustworthy). Of course he and the others also seem
to believe that Hamas started the recent trouble by suddenly (and I guess for
no apparent reason) firing rockets into Israel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Now you have to understand
that none of these friends are news junkies although they do watch some news on
the MSM. None of them as far as I know watch Fox (non) News. They are liberal
democrats, certainly not Neocons, and are all basically opposed to war,
especially the ongoing troubles in both Ukraine and Palestine. I would describe
them all as very typical American citizens, somewhat informed, but accepting
whatever our MSM tells them. So I guess it is not surprising they have the
attitudes they do, the attitudes that our corporate controlled media want them
to have. If ordinary people in the U.S. believe that Putin is an evil dictator
trying to re-establish the Russian empire, ruthless in his attempts to do so,
and believe that Hamas has no legitimate reasons for firing rockets at Israel,
both gross and false claims, what chance is there really to solve any of these
problems? The powers that be have us brainwashed into believing their lies and
gross oversimplifications so they can pursue their corporate interests and world
hegemony. Putin and Hamas stand in their way, so Putin and Hamas are the bad
guys and we, the U.S. and our allies are overwhelmingly the good guys. We have
been fed so many lies and so much misinformation in recent years I truly
believe that ordinary Americans now live in surreal webs of misunderstanding,
divorced entirely from the events in the real world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“If you do not tell the truth about yourself
you cannot tell it about other people.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6765.Virginia_Woolf" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background: white; color: #666600; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Virginia Woolf</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-13066247969277892692014-07-20T22:25:00.003-07:002014-07-20T22:28:28.020-07:00The Depths of Depravity<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I did not start my life
worrying about the depths of depravity of the human species. The truth of the
matter has been forced on me by my now more than 80 years of study and
observation. Reality has a way of reaching even the most innocent of observers.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Because of my academic
interests, and especially my career in anthropology, I have been increasingly
exposed to the behavior of humans both historically and contemporaneously. This
has become more and more unpleasant. Learning about the inquisition and the colonial
period that began in the 1500’s has not made me proud of our human history. The
First and Second World Wars has not made things any better, nor have any events
since then and up to the present. I would have liked to have thought that
things were getting better, a la Steven Pinker, and that we are less violent
now than at any time in history. Professor Pinker, who may not have been out of
his Harvard office much, seems to argue that because we now can kill each other
by the hundreds of thousands we are less violent than when we had to do it one
on one. I gather his research assistants must have picked out the few most
violent “primitive” societies they could find to establish the prevalence of
violence in the “primitive world,” ignoring the many such societies in which
violence was either pretty much absent or controlled by tradition and
sanctions. There is nothing like Chicago in the “primitive world.” My personal
experience in New Guinea did nothing to make me believe the world was just one
big happy place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In any case it is true that
we no longer routinely cut off arms, legs, and hands for presumed misbehavior,
nor do we try out our blades on helpless captives or hunt others with dogs for
sport, and so on. Nor do we routinely bash infants’ heads against the rocks and
mount their mother’s genitals on our saddle horns or hats. That kind of
violence does seem to have diminished pretty much in recent years, even though
in rare cases it does seem to survive. Certainly the cutting off of heads has
survived. The depths of human depravity have apparently also survived in places
like Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, in the Middle East and Africa, and even in the
hearts and minds of a majority of our Congresspersons as well as the Executive
Branch. Can you believe that Congress and the President of the the United
States almost unanimously support what is little more than outright genocide in
Gaza? The Israelis have forced a million and a half Palestinians into a small
strip of land little more than an open air prison and are systematically
killing them at will, including many women and children. This is being done
under the guise of “protecting themselves.” Of course all people have a right
to protect themselves, but this does not ordinarily mean by attempting to
completely annihilate the entire population because of a few responsible
parties. There is no excuse for the Israeli excesses in this case. It goes far
beyond merely protecting themselves and into attempted genocide. The
Palestinians are basically helpless except for some missiles, having no huge
army, no sophisticated American weaponry, no Air Force. They are essentially
“sitting ducks,” “fish in a barrel,” “blind mice,” “sacrificial
captives,””vermin,” to be disposed of. They are uniquely the only persons on
earth who apparently do not have the right to protect themselves. The Israelis,
with their massive military superiority just picks them off at will, claiming
to avoid innocent civilians, women and children, while killing them by the
dozens. This is human depravity on a high scale indeed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The Congress of the U.S., and
the President of the U.S., have endorsed this genocide wholeheartedly. Not only
have they done nothing to stop it, they have obviously encouraged it and
provided the means with which to do it. What is far worse is that some Israeli
citizens have pulled up their easy chairs to watch and cheer this horrible
event, obviously pleased to see Palestinian children blown to pieces, their
homes and parents destroyed, and misery everywhere. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The same thing is happening
in Ukraine with our blessing. Neo-Nazi militias drive Russian separatists into
a building, set it on fire, and hurl insults at the poor souls burning to death.
These are militias “on our side,” encouraged to destroy people defending their
vital interests they falsely label “terrorists.” Nothing we can ever do now
will ever erase the blood on our hands. We may not have reached the ultimate in
human depravity as yet, but we keep on trying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I get it. I haven't seen much of the real world yet. But let's
say I do get out there... and it turns out that it's not even worth seeing? Or
even worse.. what if it's so ugly and cruel that I can barely stand to look?
What if I only meet idiots and the depraved? What's that going to teach me?
What can I learn from that?”</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4015649.Naoyuki_Ochiai"><span style="color: #666600; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Naoyuki Ochiai</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-32389472226580244162014-07-18T22:46:00.001-07:002014-07-18T22:48:50.026-07:00Out of Control<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I have a sickening and
frightening feeling that most everything is out of control and apparently no
one has the power or authority to bring things under control, or, if they do,
they are refusing to act. As a first relatively simple, example, consider Darrell
Issa. Mr. Issa seems to suffer from some form of subpoena disease or
compulsion. During his tenure as head of an investigating committee he has
issued 99 suboenas, far more than his three predecessors combined, and shows no
signs of stopping this torrent of highly questionable subpoenas, his latest
being issued for no apparent reason at all (except for his dubious contention
that one does not need any particular reason for issuing one). This has been
going on for several years. No one seems able to stop him. Speaker of the
House, John Boehner, probably has the authority to stop him but as he fears
reprisals from the Tea Party, does not. In this particular case you might say
that realistically he does not actually possess sufficient authority.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">A more serious example is
Israel. Israel is out of control and has been virtually since its inception.
The Israelis have built illegal settlements on Palestinian land one after
another, they have stolen Palestinian water, destroyed Palestinian orchards and
homes, and herded more than a million into the Gaza strip where they slowly and
systematically are trying to exterminate them but so far have failed to do so.
You might recall a famous line spoken by actor Paul Henreid in the movie
Casablanca, “Even Nazis can’t kill that fast,” a line ironically not entirely
inappropriate with respect to the Gaza situation. Israel has ignored
international law, the United Nations, and the entire international community
as it has gone about its racist, colonial activities and no one has been able
to control them. President Obama is possibly uniquely able to stop them but, as
in the case of Boehner, Congress would surely not allow him to do so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The Congress of the United
States, especially the House of Representatives, is out of control and has been
throughout all of Obama’s tenure in office. They simply refuse to help govern
and have said a resounding “no” to everything Obama has tried to do. No one,
not even public opinion, has been able to get them to act. Even the possibility
they are committing political suicide doesn’t faze them in their mean-spirited
attempt to destroy Obama. The Senate, too, is virtually out of control, using
their Republican minority to block Obama appointees and anything else they
don’t like. Harry Reid has the power to stop them by a simple changing of the
rules but does not do so even though the current rules are crippling our
nation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The Presidency itself is out
of control as our more recent Presidents
have unilaterally gone to war without Congressional approval and, under the
tutelage of the chief torturer/murderer, Vice President Cheney, have
increasingly usurped more and more power. Presumably Congress could put an end
to the Chief Executives’ power grab but do not. The State Department, too, is
out of control as the recent coup in Kiev makes clear. The idea that somehow
they will cause a regime change in Russia through their Ukraine activities
seems particularly stupid, and linking up with surviving neo-Nazis to bring
this about is even more stupid and out of control. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The situation in the Middle
East, especially in Syria and Iraq, are clearly out of control with so many
different groups involved it is hard to know which is which or what is actually
happening. And of course parts of Africa are out of control, what with Boko
Haram kidnapping and slaughtering at will. There appears to be no overriding
authority anywhere that can actually control human affairs. This seems to be
especially true in so-called democracies where things can be out of control for
long periods of time before some election might (or might not) actually bring
about necessary changes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In a very broad perspective
you might argue that human affairs have been basically out of control ever
since humans stopped living in small bands and in harmony with nature and their
environment. You might also argue that this represents a collective and massive
failure of human leadership at all levels for centuries. How else does one
explain the incredible mess we have made of things?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 15pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Where there is no
vision, the people perish. Proverbs 29:18</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 22.5pt; margin-right: 100.4pt; margin-top: 11.25pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
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morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-29066757090809731442014-07-14T22:14:00.001-07:002014-07-14T22:14:33.758-07:00Moral and Mental Midgets<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Tonight for the first time in
my life I was so repulsed by the news I had to turn it off. I wanted to watch
Chris Hayes as I occasionally do, but when it began by our best known senile
warmonger claiming there is no moral equivalence between Israel and the
Palestinians who have dastardly attacked Israel I thought I might throw up.
John McCain needs to be retired before he kills again. Of course there is no
moral equivalence, the Israelis have long since abandoned any evidence
whatsoever of morality. If McCain’s absurd view of morality was not bad enough,
both the House and the Senate passed resolutions approving of Israeli’s current
actions in Gaza. They do this under the guise of Israel’s right of self defense
(as if any nation does not have the right of self defense). In fact, in my
opinion, these endorsements are nothing short of approving Israeli genocide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The ostensible reason for the
Israeli attacks on Gaza have to do with the kidnapping and killing of three
Israeli teens. Israel immediately blamed Hamas for this criminal behavior even
though Hamas denied it and there was no evidence they were involved. Israel
knew the teens were dead but began their revenge attacks on Gaza as if they did
not, bombing innocent civilians, destroying Palestinian homes, killing innocent
women and children. Then some Israeli citizens kidnapped and burned alive a
Palestinian teenager in revenge. These horrible criminals were not
representatives of the Israeli government but just extremists acting on their
own. This horrible act of revenge did nothing to make the situation better. So
even though neither of the parties were representing their governments, but
were extremists acting on their own, Israel decided to hold the entire population
of Gaza responsible and began an all-out slaughter of Palestinians living
there, holding, that is, the entire population of Gaza responsible for the acts
of a very few, an obvious war crime.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Yes, Hamas did send lots of
rockets into Israel. So far, as far as I know, not a single Israeli death has
occurred. Yet the Israelis have killed hundreds of Palestinians, including many
women and children and have displaced many thousands more. This has been an
overreaction of no small proportions, targeting the million plus trapped in
Gaza who are basically defenseless, “shooting fish in a barrel,” so to speak.
It is as far as I know a fact that Palestinians have no army or military even
remotely able to engage Israel, they have few if any tanks, no air force, no
sophisticated U.S. weaponry, virtually nothing but some rockets smuggled in
from somewhere. They have no way to respond to Israeli aggression and abuse other
than by using rockets. Israel is in complete control of the Gaza strip,
monitoring everything that enters, controlling their economy, even limiting the
number of calories per person they are allowed. While I hesitate to say it, I
have come to believe that if they thought they could get away with it they
would not hesitate to annihilate all the Palestinians. They would not, of
course, consider this genocide, rather ridding the world on nonhuman “vermin”
and such (where have we heard this before). I say this because it appears their
only solution to the “problem” is to bomb and kill the Palestinians into
submission, to reduce them at best to second class citizenship in an apartheid
state (if they cannot otherwise get rid of them). It is clear Israel does not
want a Palestinian state, does not want to give up the lands they are illegally
occupying, and prefer an ongoing status quo in which Palestinians are divided
and powerless. The campaign to bomb them into submission, to bully them and
humiliate them, even with U.S. support, is doomed to fail, unless, in the end,
they can be made to disappear entirely. This
is an absolutely shocking situation with only a “permanent solution” possible, a
solution now fully endorsed by the United States, a solution that will “live in
infamy” forever if allowed to continue. Israel has to be forced, however “kicking
and screaming” into abandoning its current strategy and acknowledging the full humanity
and legitimate rights of the Palestinians. If no solution can be found to this
racist, colonial anachronism, the road ahead will inevitably lead to disaster. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I do not mean to demean or
denigrate midgets, merely to point out the smallness of thought and morality in
relation to the size of the problem. I have no doubt that a Congress of Midgets
could do much better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt;"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/robertele153232.html" title="view quote">I have been up to see the Congress and they do not seem to be able to do
anything except to eat peanuts and chew tobacco, while my army is starving.</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/robert_e_lee.html" title="view author"><span style="color: #0000aa; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Robert E. Lee</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
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morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-13805707354206071092014-07-13T22:28:00.001-07:002014-07-13T22:29:17.018-07:00Transcendental Shame<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">As a boy, and even as a young
man, I was always a proud American patriot. I believed in America as the “land
of the free and the home of the brave,” “My country right or wrong,” American exceptionalism,
democracy, the “shining beacon on the hill,” and all the other jingoistic
idiocies I was taught and encouraged to believe. Now as I am approaching my 85<sup>th</sup>
year of being a “participant-observer” in this house of horrors, and nearing
the end of my journey to the west, reflecting back on my development over all
these years has become mostly unpleasant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I guess my first experience
of at least a bit of shame came when I began to learn about what we Western- Europeans
did to the American Indians we so violently displaced. Of course coming to
grips with our history of slavery, racism and discrimination, just added to my
slowly growing shame about my country’s past. Vietnam certainly did nothing to
make me feel better about things, it was just another shameful episode in our
history of shameful episodes. If this was not enough to be ashamed of I began
to research the history of colonialism, beginning in the 15<sup>th</sup>
century and up to the present. I confess to not knowing just how shamefully,
even unbelievably horrible this several hundred year period truly was. And
realizing that every major European, “Christian,” nation was involved and all
participated in this true horror story did nothing to ease my sense of shame
and guilt. There were acts of savagery so common and so terrible it is now
almost unbelievable: murder, arson, rape, pillaging and exploitation without
end, cutting off people’s hands and feet, hunting them with dogs for sport,
killing their infants, stuffing their bodies with sand and hot peppers,
torturing them with water, branding then, and who really knows what all else
was commonplace. Our contributions to this mass miasma of sadism and violence took
place mostly here in the U.S. and the Philippines where our behavior was every
bit as shameful as that of the European colonials (with the possible exception
of Prince Leopold of Belgium who was by all accounts the absolute worst).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Anyway, learning about all
this sharpened my sense of shame even though I, of course, was not involved in
it. Nor was I personally involved in the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon,
the attempt to kill the millions upon millions of buffalo that almost
succeeded, the destruction of the salmon runs, the near extinction of the Pacific
Bluefin Tuna, or the hundreds of other species now extinct because of human
behavior. I am, however, ashamed that we did and are currently doing things
like this. The Pope, that current colorful character from Medieval times, has
recently announced that what we are doing to the environment is a sin. For once
I agree wholeheartedly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I cannot say that the Afghan
and Iraq wars, along with our other military adventures all over the world,
make me feel any less shame for our country. Our uncritical support of Israel
war crimes I believe is shameful, as is what we have recently brought about in
Ukraine. Drones, I believe, are totally shameful as is our ridiculously
dishonest treatment of Iran.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">While I have more or less
gotten over my sense of shame about the past, the current scene still keeps me
shameful. The shame I have felt at various times over being White, an American,
supporting Israel, supporting our non-stop wars of aggression and exploitation,
an Imperialist, and so on, have now been transcended by an even greater sense
of shame. I have become ashamed of being
a member of the human species, the most evil, avaricious, violent,
short-sighted, destructive, murderous, egomaniacal, thoughtless, uncooperative,
irrational, and suicidal species that
has ever existed. As a species we have a virtually unique capacity for
falsehood, denial, distrust, and hypocrisy. We have laid waste to our
environment, our planet, and each other, and keep on doing so. Our future is for the first time seriously in
doubt. I wouldn’t bet on it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“Huamani’s skepticism was
substantial. He knew that men are a joke of the gods, sent to mortify the
animals.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Abel Posse <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-77408842058429904952014-07-12T22:43:00.002-07:002014-07-12T22:43:27.196-07:00Nothing too Heinous<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">There is apparently nothing
too heinous the Israelis can do that will bring about any meaningful action on
the part of the United States, Europe, or anyone else for that matter. It is
entirely clear by now that Israel does not want a Palestinian state, does not
want peace with the Palestinians, does not want to give up any of the land or
water they have already stolen from the Palestinians, does not regard Palestinians
as fully human, and, in fact, would be delighted if somehow the Palestinians
could be made to simply disappear entirely. And, as they are currently doing, as
they always do whenever they see any excuse, no matter how feeble, they are
trying to bring about their desired aim by bombing Gaza incessantly, perhaps
actually invading that tiny prison in which they have already trapped more than
a million basically defenseless Palestinians. They have apparently killed
hundreds of them, mostly women and children, in the best colonial tradition (they
are basically subhuman, “nits make lice,” and etc.). This one sided slaughter
continues while the rest of the world looks on idly and does nothing of
substance to stop it. The United States could stop it but, in fact, supports it
in the most shameful way. Empire building colonials and other racists flock
together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It might be observed that
none of this would be happening were it not for the colonialism of the past
when Britain and France divided up the Middle East, creating nations that were
previously non-existant and not viable to begin with. Then to add insult to
injury they allowed the creation of a Jewish homeland right in the center of a
hostile Arab environment. Perhaps if the Israelis had been content with what
they were given it might have actually succeeded, but they were not content and
embarked upon a program of systematically alienating more and more Palestinian
land and water, all with the blessing and support of the U.S. whose constant
meddling in the Middle East is well known and a major contributing factor to
the terrible unrest that plagues the area. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I do not know how all of this
will ultimately play out but you can be certain there will continue to be
thousands, perhaps even millions of more deaths, probably mostly women and
children, millions more displaced, unfathomable misery and starvation, and more
ethnic cleansing if not outright genocide. As has been said so often, “You reap
what you sow.” I doubt that history will judge this well, the immorality and
shame are far too great to go unnoticed. I think we are probably witnessing the
absolute final moments of European colonialism. It is not going out with a
whimper but, rather, a death throe unbearable to watch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Yes, it is true, rockets are
being fired into Israel, there is no other means for Palestinians to take
action, there have been no Israeli casualties that I know of, and the Israeli
response has been the usual massive overreaction allowing them to kill as many
Palestinians as possible, all in self defense, of course. And oh, yeah, there
is that terrible Iran problem, you know, the country that is trying to develop
a (imaginary) bomb to attack Israel, the U.S., and the entire world if the U.S.
doesn’t do the Israeli bidding and immediately bomb them. How long is the world
going to put up with this Israeli nonsense? It looks like forever. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/noamchomsk635724.html" title="view quote"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Unlike Iran, Israel refuses to allow inspections at all, refuses to join
the Non-Proliferation Treaty, has hundreds of nuclear weapons, has advanced
delivery systems.</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #0000aa; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/n/noam_chomsky.html" title="view author">Noam Chomsky</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
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morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-79936070755343362002014-07-09T23:29:00.002-07:002014-07-09T23:30:06.405-07:00Shooting Fish in a Barrel<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">No doubt you all know that
three Israeli teens were kidnapped and murdered by someone. Netanyahu
immediately blamed Hamas although there was no evidence that Hamas was the guilty
party (as it turned out the kidnappers and murderers were three extremists acting
on their own). Although the Israelis knew the three were dead they did not
acknowledge this until after they conducted air and other strikes on Gaza,
essentially bombing and killing many innocent Palestinians who had nothing to
do with this horrible event, by the way, a blatant violation of International
law (when did Israel ever pay any attention to International law?). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Not to be
outdone, three Israeli extremists kidnapped a Palestinian teen and burned him alive.
This, of course, enraged the Palestinians, some of whom began firing rockets
into Israel, not very effectively. This was one of those opportunities Israel
never passes up to increase their genocidal attacks on Gaza Palestinians. They
have been bombing Gaza for days and massing troops and tanks on the border for
an actual invasion of that unfortunate little strip of land, an overreaction
with no other explanation than wanting to eliminate as many Palestinians as
possible using this recent violence as an excuse. As a million and a half
Palestinians have been herded into tiny Gaza where they have no viable army or
air force, no tanks and heavy equipment, no way of successfully fighting back,
they are completely vulnerable to whatever horrors Israel wishes to visit on
them. So, while it is true Hamas may be firing rockets into Israel, the
asymmetry of power is so overwhelming and obvious the metaphor of fish in barrel
seems perfectly apt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The amazing truth of this
seems to be that, in fact, no one in the world, least of all the United States,
seems to care what happens to the Palestinians. Some European nations propose
some relatively minor sanctions but no one seems willing to demand the Israelis
cease their obvious genocidal behavior “or else.” There is no serious “or else”
involved, just unremitting warnings that Israel should stop building illegal
settlements, stop their racism, and so on. All talk, no actions. Israel has for
years ignored the United Nations, ignored International law, and thumbed their
nose at the International community, to say nothing of common decency and human
rights. The U.S. is shamefully complicit in this completely out-of-date,
racist, colonial, criminal, enterprise. Even the savage beating of a U.S.
teenager by Israelis does little but raise a few eyebrows while offering Israel
even more money to continue ”protecting themselves” from their neighbors they,
themselves. antagonize and insult on a daily basis. Pity the poor, defenseless
Israelis, with the most sophisticated and strongest army in the Middle East, to
say nothing of their unique stockpile of nuclear arms, they are so put upon by
the basically defenseless Palestinians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Do we hear the truth about
what is happening? No, we do not. Do we hear the truth about what is happening
in the Ukraine? No, of course not. Do we hear the truth about Iraq, Afghanistan,
Iran, Africa, China, or anywhere else we are meddling and causing trouble? No,
we definitely do not. Is it all about oil and other resources we want and the
military means we employ to get them? Of course. Is it all shamefully disgusting?
You bet. Is it the American Way? You might be able to decide if you did not
presently exist in totally surreal web of lies with no connection to reality. A “grain of salt” no longer suffices, maybe a
collective and massive dose of electro-shock (sorry, can’t afford it, have to
have more tax breaks for the 1%). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/432185.Oliver_Wendell_Holmes_Jr_"><span style="background: white; color: #666600; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Oliver Wendell
Holmes Jr.</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-39679318256314844592014-07-06T22:30:00.001-07:002014-07-06T22:31:44.406-07:00That's It?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">That’s it? It’s over? Craven
Bundy and his not-at-all-merry band of loser militiapersons have brought the
“full faith and credit” of the formerly United States of America to a
standstill. Bundy apparently gets to keep his cattle grazing on public lands at
our expense, apparently will not pay the million dollars he owes the
government, and apparently has won an unprecedented victory. Of course we know
the FBI is investigating, at least they said so some time ago, although not
much has been heard about it lately. Perhaps they are waiting for Bundy to die
of old age, or his militia guards to die of boredom, or the entire episode to
be forgotten in the excitement of our new involvement in the religious war in
Iraq. Maybe they will shoot someone and then exonerate themselves for the l51st
straight time. Maybe we will never hear of this disgusting episode again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In any case, the situation in
Nevada pales into insignificance when compared with our truly stupid
maneuvering in Ukraine. Having backed a violent coup in Kiev, along with some
neo Nazis, we keep trying to goad Putin into taking some form of military
involvement in the east of that unfortunate country so that we can then claim
the whole problem is a result of his aggression (instead of ours). If Putin were
not so level-headed we would already be involved in the beginning of another
war, or at least another “cold” war. Imagine, if you will, a war with Russia. It
is perfectly obvious there can be no military solution to the problems in
Ukraine. Everyone, it seems, Germany, France, Russia, is aware of this even
though the United States is not and apparently wishes further violence and
killing. John Kerry, I think perhaps the worst Secretary of State ever,
persists in talking down to the Russians as if they are in the same category as
Belize or Costa Rica, telling Putin he must immediately stop the violence in
eastern Ukraine (as if it’s his fault), and as if he alone has the power to do
so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Interestingly enough, this
may be the beginning of the end of our attempt at hegemony in the world.
Britain, France, and Germany are not as willing to engage in serious sanctions
against Russia as their economies are so closely tied to that nation.
Ultimately Putin and Russia hold all the winning cards, they can either join with
the UK and effectively neutralize the U.S., or they can join with China and so
the same thing. Russia has all the natural resources, Germany and China have
all the know-how and manufacturing, together they can make the U.S. more of a
bystander than the “sole superpower,” and change the dynamics of the world
entirely. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Along with the situation in
Russia and the Ukraine is the fact that European nations are becoming
increasingly fed up with the behavior of Israel and boycotts against Israel are
apparently gaining in importance. The U.S., seen as virtually the sole
supporter of that racist, apartheid nation, will ultimately, I think, lose
credibility when it comes to any peace process in the Middle East. The U.S. and
Israel are already widely believed to be the greatest threat to peace in the
world. Things can only get worse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Now, of course, is ISIS, and
the Caliphate. In order to stop this powerful Muslim movement the U.S. will
have to find itself in league with Iran, Syria, and Russia (as well as the EU),
a fact of no small importance that will also probably impact our relationship
with Israel and the Middle East in general. Trying to establish the Caliphate
was a bold more indeed, but probably destined to fail. I doubt that all other
Muslims will swear allegiance to this upstart “nation” or whatever it is, and
it appears that virtually everyone else will also oppose it. We might have
wished for religious wars and Crusades to be only faint memories of the past,
but, alas, not so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alejandroj527190.html" title="view quote"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">I believe in mysticism, with an interior goal, and you are
your own temple and your own priest. I don't believe anymore in religions,
because you see today there are religious wars, prejudice, false morals, and
the woman is despised. Religion is too old now; it's from another century, it's
not for today.</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/alejandro_jodorowsky.html" title="view author"><b><span style="color: #0000aa; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Alejandro Jodorowsky</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
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<!--[endif]--></span>morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-62652147514221074742014-06-30T22:53:00.000-07:002014-06-30T22:54:49.889-07:00The Forever of Our Discontent<div class="MsoNormal">
What is it with the human species that we apparently cannot
ever let things be as they are? As far as I know no other species acts as we
do. They do not proselytize nor do they attempt to impose their particular
beliefs or behaviors on others. It is true, no doubt, that in some cases one
group takes over territory belonging to another group, or true that one animal
takes over the harem of another, and so on, but these are acts of nature
programmed in to the nature of animal societies. Humans, it seems, cannot let
things be as they are, or at least so it seems. What would the world be like if
humans had just let each other alone?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Over the course of human history and evolution there were
developed hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of unique human cultures. It
is difficult to imagine that in any of these the members were living “lives of
quiet desperation.” It is true that looking back at some of them we might think
they were poor and squalid, but surely the members thought their customs and
beliefs were basically fine as they would not have known any other life.
Certainly they did not wait around for some other people to come and change
their way of life, either by force or otherwise. One has to assume they lived
their lives as they were, more or less content that that was what life was
like.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
It appears to me that individuals and human groups have
seldom if ever been left alone to just enjoy life as they knew it. What might
have been, for example, if the Pope, back in 1452, had resisted the King of
Portugal and not authorized his request: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
In the first Papal Bull on 18 June 1452, at the request of
the Portuguese King, the Pope authorized the King of Portugal “…to attack,
conquer and subdue Saracens, pagans and other unbelievers who were inimical to
Christ; to capture their goods and territories; to reduce their persons to
perpetual slavery, and to transfer their lands and properties to the King of
Portugal and his successors.” (Boxer 1969:21) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
With this authorization we know what the Portuguese
accomplished in Africa and all the way to India and South America, setting the
stage for colonial enterprise and plunder all around the world. The quest for
slaves, ivory, gold, silver, rubber and other loot followed, unleashing a flood
of savagery the “savage world” had never before experienced. Virtually all of Christianized Europe engaged
in this massive and terrible onslaught, slaving, killing, torturing, and
stealing wherever they went. Obviously they were not content with what they
had. Their discontent was, I suppose, driven by greed and a lust for power,
even as human behavior is now. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
This is not to say that the “savages” themselves were not
discontented. It seems no human individual or group has ever been completely
content to just let thing be; they fought over territory, raided to capture
cattle, horses, pigs, and other items of local value, and sometimes even human
heads and women. There were times, of course, when they were momentarily
content, but contentment seems not to be very characteristic of humans, always
looking for new horizons, new conquests, new experiences, mountains to climb,
oceans to cross, artistic expressions, and constant innovations. </div>
<div style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br />
I suppose one could argue that permanent discontent has
something to do with our large brains and intelligence, in which case perhaps
large brains are not entirely desirable. Humans have at times been distinguished
from other creatures because of tool making (no longer a useful standard), or
because of having fire, or “x” number of cubic centimeters of brain, or
language (also no longer entirely useful standard). It seems to me that if
there is one defining feature of humankind it may well be discontent. No one
ever seems entirely happy or content with what they have, at least not in
American culture, and if there ever were contented people they were soon
converted to discontent when they discovered what others had that they did not
have. For many “savages” (a ridiculous term that does not really separate one
person or group from another) tin cans and glass beads became immediately
desirable, along with metal knives, pots and pans, and other objects of worlds
they had not previously known. And, of course, for humans one thing leads to
another...and so here we are back in Iraq… </div>
<div style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think
we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put
away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;">
<a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_lennon.html"><span style="color: #0000aa; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">John Lennon</span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
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morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-5582571179927571332014-06-23T23:20:00.001-07:002014-06-23T23:23:50.221-07:00Me and Kati (18): Tired of the BS<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Kati, I ran into our friend
Alonzo (not his real name) a few days ago. He is about to retire. Alonzo is
about the only person that has read this blog regularly since its beginning ten
years ago. He might not have been so devoted in the past year or so as I have
ceased to write it except intermittently. In any case he informed me he will
not be reading it any longer as he is going to give up the internet upon his
retirement. Alonzo is a very intelligent man, he gave up watching television
twelve years ago, recognizing what an utter wasteland it has become, and now he
feels the same way about the internet. The overuse of commercials is one reason
he gave up television, along, of course, with its obsessive concern with providing
“infotainment.” The internet is presently going the same route with far too
many commercials and increasingly insipid content. In short, Alonzo is tired of
bullshit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Kati, I find myself in the
same frame of mind. The commercials are insulting enough but the incidental
bullshit that accompanies them is worse. We no longer get any real news, just
reports of what our MSM think we should hear, and it is invariably bullshit,
bullshit from top to bottom. Nothing we are told about Ukraine, Russia, and
Putin is accurate as the current problems there are entirely of our own, NATO,
and the UK’s making. Our criminal enterprise along with Israel, at the
Palestinian’s expense, is shameful, but of course a brutal, racist, Israel can
do no wrong (and who cares about the Palestinians anyway). The terrible crisis
in Iraq is again a result of our own stupid, illegal, and unconstitutional
destruction of that country. To hear John Kerry talk about it is enough to make
you gag: “we expended billions of dollars and American lives to give Iraq a
chance to become a democratic country,” and blah, blah, blah, all bullshit (I
believe Kerry may be our worst Secretary of State ever). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Our Sublime Court tells us
that money is speech and corporations are persons and the MSM lets them go
unchallenged on this unadulterated bullshit. The Koch brothers with their
absolutely obscene wealth are blatantly trying to buy the United States and the
media and Congress approves while at the same time trying to penalize the poor.
I swear, Kati, our world has become nothing but constant unremitting bullshit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I wish I had Alonzo’s
intelligence and strength of character. I know I should give up television as
an absolute wasteland of insulting commercials, insulting shows, and insipid
content. I know the internet is being taken over by commercials and nonsensical
content, and may be on the way to becoming even worse. I know I should ignore
the mountains of bullshit that will come our way between now and November, 2014
and 2016, I know there is no truth anywhere anymore, that the candidates are
picked for what they will do for the obscenely wealthy and corporations, that
there is really little difference between them, that our democracy is a farce,
that our foreign policy is based on greed and exploitation, and I also know
that no matter who is elected to office in Congress or the White House will
truly make much of a difference. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But Kati, this is our world,
the world we now live in, the only world we have. The choice is clear although
neither pleasant nor practical. To paraphrase one of the worst human beings
ever, clearly in the Cheney category, Donald Rumsfeld, “We have to live in the
world we have, not the world we would like to have.” Great advice from one of
the world’s greatest bullshitters ever.
So, my darling Kati, what do we do? We could move farther North, find a great
hole in the ground, pull a rock over our heads and ignore the world, or we can
continue living in the phony world of absolutely unremitting bullshit that
surrounds and mocks us now on a daily basis. Do not forget Kati, we will soon
have another attempt to vote for either tweeldee or tweeldum, probably Hillary
Clinton or Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, or whomever. A completely irrelevant exercise
proving there are suckers born every minute and two or more politicians to “take
them.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“Powerlessness is
an excruciating pain; it is torture insurmountable.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5082833.Richelle_E_Goodrich" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: auto; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background: white; color: #666600; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Richelle E. Goodrich</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-75761486716619270382014-06-18T22:48:00.000-07:002014-06-18T22:48:39.297-07:00Like, Who Cares?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Why does the MSM keep offering
us the likes of Sarah Palin, John McCain, and Dick Cheney? Who cares what these
rightist nitwits have to say? I suppose there might be a few people somewhere,
like Idaho for example, that might still want to listen to them, but I am
pretty sure the vast majority of Americans no longer care what they have to
say. You might think the MSM would like to appeal to the largest population
possible, but they keep giving us more and more opinions from those whose
biases and mindlessness are already apparent. Indeed, you might well wonder why
we have to listen anymore to Republicans who, we know, will always be ready to
oppose anything Obama is for. If you know what Obama is for you already know
what Republicans will be against. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I guess Sarah Palin is the
best example of someone we no longer need to hear from, a basic know-nothing
who had her fifteen minutes of fame, courtesy of John McCain, whose decision to
choose her as his running mate has to rank up there with one of the most
stupid, self-serving, ridiculous, and contemptuous political moves of all time.
You might wish she would simply disappear into the forgotten history of failed
Vice-Presidential candidates of all time, but no, we still have to hear from
that opinionated, fishmonger’s wife’s, shrill voice, with the regularity of
anytime she can get in front of a camera which is all too often. You do have to
give her some credit, of course, for advancing mindlessness to a near art form.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">John McCain is another one we
truly do not need to hear from any longer. If he is not entirely senile he is
at least still embarrassed by being defeated for the Presidency by a (gasp)
Black man. He now apparently feels that he must oppose President Obama on
everything, even if that means delivering contradictory opinions from time to
time. Mention a problem or a country anywhere in the world and you know his
solution will be “bomb-bomb-bomb.” A jingoist of the first rank you know he believes
America is exceptional, always right, more moral, stronger, and should be
entitled to rule the known earth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Dick the Slimy is probably
the absolutely worst individual we have to listen to thanks to the MSM. For someone who should be on trial in the
Hague for his obvious war crimes, and someone who has been proven wrong on
virtually everything he has claimed, he does not hesitate to offer his
poisonous advice at every opportunity, and the MSM gives him plenty of
opportunity. He may well lack any moral compass but he certainly doesn’t lack
for chutzpa. Please MSM, don’t give him any more airtime, and that goes for his
bloody-handed colleagues like Wolfowitz, Rice, and the rest of the torturing
warmongers that all ought to be in jail. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I believe in free speech and
I do not believe in censorship, but I also believe in editorial supervision.
Why the editorial boards of the MSM think the majority of their viewers want to
listen to the opinions of has-beens, never-weres, failed pundits, the simple
minded and assorted failures I do not know, but I, for one, would prefer to
never hear from any of these characters again. At least our borderline retarded
ex-President has the decency to just “lay low” and paint pictures. Thank you
Mr. President, it’s the best thing you have ever done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/dickcheney574794.html" title="view quote"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">I don't pay a lot of attention, frankly, to what Barack Obama says.</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/dickcheney574794.html" title="view quote"><span style="color: #0000aa; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Dick Cheney</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-9731152842014640142014-06-14T23:22:00.002-07:002014-06-14T23:22:38.098-07:00Inexcusable Ignorance<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">You might think that public
figures, especially those who believe they might run for President, should
acquaint themselves with the facts before pontificating on important topics. It
is obvious they do not. Take the recent case of Marco Rubio, for example, who
announced publicly that he does not believe global warming has anything to do
with human activity in spite of what the scientists say. The facts of global
warming are well known and easily available by now, fully 97% of the world’s
scientists agree on the matter, the evidence is also all around us at the
moment. Still Rubio doesn’t believe it. I suppose Rubio has a right to believe
any nonsensical thing he wants, but he should not be permitted to run for any
important or influential office, especially President, as his opinion on this
matter will get us all killed. It could be the case that Rubio actually has
considered the facts, either researched them himself or had his aides do it (which
I very much doubt) and still concludes he doesn’t believe it. He still doesn’t
believe it because he doesn’t trust or believe in science. If this is truly the
case he has no business in any position of influence, authority, or power. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Rick Perry is a similar case
in point. He recently indicated that homosexuality was more or less a choice
and that it might be cured. That homosexuality is not a matter of choice but a
matter of genetics is by now well established. Perry, like Rubio, fancies
himself Presidential, but has obviously not bothered to study the facts about
something he claims is so. Again, the facts are easily available. Perry and
Rubio can both be said to be inexcusably ignorant. Even worse they seem to be willfully
ignorant. Such individuals have no business in government, assuming that
government is supposed to further and protect both individual and national
interests. It is absolutely inconceivable to me that anyone who professes not
to believe in science could be elected President in the 21<sup>st</sup>
century. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">How is it that this kind of
anti-science inexcusable ignorance is even tolerated in a world fraught with
such dangers and so dependent upon rapidly changing technologies and
information? Magic, myth, and fairy tales are not sufficient for dealing with
the real and contemporary world. I suggest this kind of inexcusable ignorance
is tolerated in the United States because, in fact, people like Rubio and Perry
do not exist in a vacuum, they are merely swimmers in a veritable ocean of
inexcusable ignorance. The ocean of ignorance we currently must swim in has
come about slowly over the past couple of decades. It can be seen in the
deplorable nature of our public schools, the low status and salaries of
teachers, the privatization of schools, the efforts of Christian fundamentalists,
and the general ethos of anti-intellectualism that has characterized our
culture for some time. We hear of “pointy-headed intellectuals,” the derogation
of teachers (“them as can’t do, teach”), budget cuts at all levels, and the
conversion of our Universities and Colleges into, basically, trade schools. The
idea of education or knowledge for its own sake has long since disappeared. The
United States, which used to lead the world in most everything, has slipped
badly when compared to many other countries. We appear to lead only in the
category of military spending. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I do not believe this tragic
situation came about by accident. Although I am not much of a conspiracy
theorist I think in the case of this blanket of inexcusable ignorance there has
been a conspiracy of sorts. Those in power have deliberately “dumbed us down,”
so to speak. They have taken over the news and turned it into “infotainment,”
have refused to adequately fund our schools at all levels, have resisted all
attempts to help people with education and have, in fact, made University
attendance virtually unaffordable, preferring instead to make a profit from our
students and schools. This is shameful. The result of their actions over time
have brought us to the point they apparently wished to achieve, a class society
in which there are only two classes, the obscenely wealthy (“aristocrats”) and
the poor (“peasants”). The peasants, being ignorant, are easily controlled and
exploited and less likely to revolt (revolutions usually begin with
intellectuals). This system of ignorance may be inexcusable but it is not
difficult to understand. It keeps the poor “in line,” insures low wages, and
glorifies exploitation. It also allows inexcusably ignorant individuals to
attain high public offices. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Does anyone even care anymore
who becomes President? The powers that be don’t care because they choose the
only candidates and know they will control him or her in any case. The voting
public may think they care but their only choice nowadays is between the
ignorant and the idiotic. Wall Street always wins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“Free election of masters does not abolish the
masters or the slaves.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/49930.Herbert_Marcuse"><span style="background: white; color: #666600; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Herbert Marcuse</span></a></span>morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-11911941369047275172014-06-11T22:44:00.004-07:002014-06-11T22:46:53.190-07:00On Tenure<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It seems to me there is a
terrible amount of confusion over the concept of tenure. I find it impossible
to believe that any judge could claim the tenure system to be unconstitutional,
as a California judge apparently recently ruled. As I understand it (or perhaps
misunderstand it) the concept of tenure did not arise because it was to provide
permanence of employment to any and every professor/teacher no matter how bad
they may be at their chosen profession. There is nothing in the tenure system
that prohibits bad, especially really bad, teachers from being fired. Tenure
has basically nothing to do with permanence of employment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Tenure exists primarily for
one major reason, and one major reason only: to insure that no one can be fired
for expressing and teaching ideas that may not be in the mainstream of opinion.
In short, to guarantee the First Amendment right to free speech. This prohibits
teachers from being fired for political reasons at the whim of administrations that
may not approve of, say, socialist or communistic ideas, or other ideas that
may not be in the current mainstream of current belief. Galileo, for example,
could not have been fired for teaching that the earth revolved around the sun, or
Darwin could not have been fired to suggesting and teaching the theory of
evolution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">If this is true, and I
believe it is, there is nothing in the tenure system that prevents a bad
professor/teacher from being fired if their performance is found to be
consistently bad or inappropriate. Tenure should not be automatically awarded
to a bad teacher simply because that individual managed to last for two or more
years. And it should not be particularly difficult to uncover the reasons why
any individual teacher is being fired. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">If, in fact, the tenure situation
in California is such that truly bad teachers are being automatically retained
because of two or more years of no matter how lousy performance they have
completed, and if it is also true that these terrible teachers are being systematically
assigned to the worst (usually minority) schools, this is a terribly harmful
and unjustifiable procedure. But this is not a result of the tenure system, it
is a result of the egregious ABUSE of the system. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I believe that the tenure
system has in fact been seriously abused. Some schools, even probably many
schools, have confused the idea of tenure with the idea of permanence of
employment simply because of survival for a relatively short time. Tenured faculty
can and should be fired if they are found to be incompetent, irresponsible, criminal,
mentally unbalanced, or otherwise offensive, but they should not be fired for
espousing views that are out of the mainstream of contemporary acceptability.
In any given case the reasons for firing a teacher should be subjected to a
careful examination by an independent examining body and determined on the
evidence submitted for the action. Tenure should not exempt anyone from the
possibility of losing their job due to incompetence, irresponsibility,
criminality, or consistently poor performance. On the other hand new or unpopular
ideas should not be muzzled by those fearful of change or obviously biased in
their beliefs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Where would we be without
Galileo, Darwin, Freud, Einstein, and the other creative giants of the past had
they been untenured (actually they were untenured and forced to pay a price for
their ideas, which only makes the necessity of tenure more obvious).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/normanfink531214.html" title="view quote"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">The whole purpose of annual reviews is to keep you abreast of whether or
not you are fulfilling the requirements of tenure.</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/n/norman_finkelstein.html" title="view author"><span style="color: #0000aa; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Norman Finkelstein</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-52749358395333969602014-06-07T23:26:00.001-07:002014-06-07T23:29:22.564-07:00Facts, Shmacks<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Many, it seems, mostly
Republicans, have apparently attained an entirely new and surreal level of
ontological existence, a level where “facts” have become irrelevant or may not
even exist at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Marco Rubio, one of the many Republican village idiots with
Presidential delusions, has given us what is perhaps the best example of this
new state of being, by announcing publicly that he does not care what 97% of
scientists say, he does not believe them. In other words, he does not believe in
scientific facts, or at least considers his opinions to be on the same or even
higher order of validity. He is thus entitled to his own facts even though they
are based on opinion rather than scientific method. I guess his rationale for
this, if pressed, would be that scientific facts are merely the opinions of
scientists and thus one opinion is as good as another. Unhappily, Rubio (who I
confess I can only think of as “Junior”) is not the only one who refuses to
believe in science. Global warming deniers are trying to get us all killed, but
don’t knock short-term profits. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Facts, if they truly exist, are almost completely irrelevant
to the MSM and the internet. Facts are not needed when the media is onto a potentially hot
topic. Take the case of Sergeant Bergdahl, for example. Within hours of the
announcement of his release by the Taliban he was already found guilty of
desertion and cowardice, and there were suggestions that he should be shot by a
firing squad, hung, or even left to the Taliban, hoping they would do the dirty
work for us. His father was slandered as a Muslim, or at least a sympathizer, because he had a long beard and spoke a few
words of Pashtun, the language of those who were holding him captive. President
Obama was immediately attacked for trading five dangerous captives for him,
there were calls for his impeachment, claims he had broken the law, and, of
course, the usual claims that he is himself a Muslim or Muslim sympathizer. Fox
(non)News apparently went out of their way to find some of Berdahl’s fellow
soldiers that accused him of cowardice and desertion, and even went so far as
to claim some soldiers were killed as a result of having to search for him. Many
politicians and others that had immediately tweeted congratulations for his
safe return, to immediately deleted them
when the first signs of possible wrongdoing were suggestions. Bergdahl’s home
town of Hailey, Idaho, had planned a hero’s return for him, canceled the event. His family has received death threats.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
My point here is not that Berdahl is not guilty, or is
guilty, the important thing to bear in mind is that all these accusations and
suggestions were made BEFORE ANY FACTS AT ALL WERE KNOWN ABOUT THE SITUATION! This
is standard operating procedure for the MSM. Whenever a story breaks they
immediately cover it even while admitting none of the facts are known, but they
promise to bring them to us when they do become available. Of course by the
time the facts become known, if they do at all, the damage has already been
done, the various speculations, rumors, and innuendoes remain in the minds of
many who may or may not even hear the corrections. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
The absolutely shameful news coverage of the Ukraine
situation is another case in point. No one seems to care about the facts of the
matter, Putin and Russia are guilty, are “bad” and solely responsible for the
crisis in direct contradiction to the real facts of the matter. The same thing
is true of the so-called Iranian crisis, now known to be a completely falsified
claim of Iranian wrongdoing. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Facts, I am sorry to say, are no longer useful in this
strange new and surreal world we are currently living in. If the facts
contradict what it is we want to believe we just reject them, science is under
fire for insisting on telling us things we do not want to hear. Congresspersons
are assigned to the science committee in spite of their being anti-science, the
potential damage to our nation, and even human life itself, is dangerous and
unknown. The war between science and theology should have been over a hundred
years ago, unfortunately it lingers
almost exclusively in the U.S. As the late great Jimmy Durante concluded his
show, “Goodnight Miss Calabash, wherever you are.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The
strong belief can make things out of imagination.<br />
But that can also make facts as if they were fairy tales.”</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
―</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3336353.Toba_Beta"><span style="color: #666600; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Toba Beta</span></a>,</span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><i><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/13409671"><span style="color: #666600; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Master of Stupidity</span></a></span></i><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-64016196933427043072014-06-05T22:35:00.001-07:002014-06-05T22:37:37.118-07:00Lost in the Past<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I have been wondering why our
foreign policy (in my opinion) has become so hopelessly, even excruciatingly
and absurdly awful, to say nothing of unproductive and harmful to our once
privileged position in the scheme of things. I have concluded that the reasons
for this have to do with the fact that our “leaders,” including our Secretary
of State, John Kerry, our Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, and even our
President, Barack Obama, as well as many others in the current administration.
are simply lost in the past. They seem unable to comprehend that the “American
century” is over, that we are no longer the “sole superpower,” the “shining
light on the hill,” the “exceptional” and “indispensible,” “moral leader” of
the “free world,” or that our hubris has now finally been exposed for what it
is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">We once led the world in wealth,
manufacturing, education, democracy, standard of living, technology, science,
military superiority, and (perhaps) even moral authority. All of that has slipped
away, especially, I think, during the Bush/Cheney nightmare years that began
the present century. We no longer appear to lead in any category except
apparently in military spending. But even our military superiority has proven
illusory as we have lost repeatedly now to smaller countries with rag-tag
armies and smaller weapons. Our billions and billions of dollars worth of
nuclear bombs are basically useless and no longer separate us from other
nations with the same shameful stockpiles of such weapons. Similarly, our
billions of dollars worth of tanks and other armor are equally useless. We have
undeniably lost power, influence, and control around the globe, even as we
continue to pretend we have not. Our hypocrisy knows no end. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Perhaps nowhere is this more
evident than our recent attempt to separate Ukraine from Russia and, more
ridiculous than that, our apparent plan to somehow bring about regime change in
Russia itself by making conditions in Russia so bad eventually Vladimir Putin
would be removed from power and a ruler more to our liking would result. The
hypocrisy involved in President Obama and others chastising Putin for attacking
smaller countries, considering our own behavior in this regard, is so
transparently foolish and dishonest as to be laughable. Our days of bringing
about regime changes have come to an end in both Syria and Russia. Obama
announced that “Assad must go.” Assad remains, just as Putin will, and just as
Cuba and Venezuela have survived our repeated attempts against them. We have
lost our control over Latin American countries and are losing it over other
countries as well, naked exploitation just isn’t what it used to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> Russia and China are not going to be cowed or
controlled by the United States, and combined they represent new international
politics. Similarly, a German/Russian collusion would also mean a formidable threat
to American hegemony. Besides, what the hell are we doing meddling in the
affairs of Europe and Russia anyway? What business is it of ours what happens
there other than our now feeble attempts to control the world? There is a good reason
why we (along with Israel) are now considered the greatest threat to peace. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But even as we have lost our
last several wars, more and more control over others, and have sacrificed our
own well-being in our futile attempt at a world-wide empire, we still have
Hagel lecturing the Chinese on how to behave in the South China seas, and Kerry
lecturing Russia on how to behave in the Ukraine, and Obama patronizing Putin,
and Kerry pretending to be an equitable broker in the Israeli/Palestinian
situation. It’s as if things haven’t changed in the past few years of the 21<sup>st</sup>
century. I don’t know if Obama and others recognize the changes and just do not
want to admit it, or if they still somehow cling to their beliefs about our
exceptionality. Of course no one wants to admit we lost our empire during their
time in power (even as we are). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" class="MsoNormalTable" style="background: white; mso-cellspacing: 3.7pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
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<td style="padding: 0in 0in 0in 0in;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I
have not become the Kings First Minister in order to preside over the
liquidation of the British Empire.</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td>
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</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Sir Winston Churchill<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-62750166234610550742014-05-28T22:44:00.001-07:002014-05-28T22:47:18.523-07:00Misogyny<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The recent terrible stabbings
and shootings near Santa Barbara seem to have renewed the interest in misogyny
as if, somehow, misogyny has just now been discovered. This is weird, I think,
as misogyny is as American as apple pie. Actually, I should say, misogyny is a
long-standing and integral part of the fundamental Western-European paradigm of
belief that has served us for the past several hundred years. This is a topic
that could easily be a lifetime of work and thought and is rather complicated
as well as in a way inexplicable. But, in brief:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Start with the claim that
ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. That is, the development of an individual
reflects the evolution of the species. When translated to cultural evolution
this means that present day “savages” represent an earlier stage of mankind.
There was an evolution from savages to barbarism to civilization. Carried a bit
farther this was interpreted to mean that children represented an earlier
stage, they were thought of as “little savages.” The art of children was
believed to be a form of “primitive” art, and children’s thought was believed
to be “primitive” like the art of primitive savages. Given the belief in
ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny, and given the extension of this idea into
the evolution of culture, this made sense at the time. It seemed clear that
cultures had evolved from savagery to civilization and individual human
development evolved in much the same way: the thought of children was similar
to that of our “primitive” ancestors, their art was similarly “primitive” and
as they matured they reached “higher” stages of thought and understanding.
Australian aborigines, Bushmen-Hottentots, and other such Black people were
lower on the evolutionary scale than, for example, American Indians, Asians,
and so on up to the “highest” people of all, White people, especially White
Western-Europeans. This was the “great chain of being” that culminated in White
superiority. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Women did not escape their
position in this fundamental belief system even though in a sense they were
outside of it and could have been excluded from it. Although there was no obvious
logical reason for it, women became part of it because it was claimed they were
really like children, and, as such, also like “savages.” Consider what was
written about them by noted authorities of the time: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> Cesare Lombroso was most probably the
most important criminologist of the
nineteenth century and perhaps the first
to equate women with children and savages:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“We also saw that women have
many traits in common with children; that their moral sense is deficient ; that
they are revengeful, jealous, inclined to vengeances of a refined cruelty. In
ordinary cases these defects are neutralized by piety, maternity, want of
passion, sexual coldness, by weakness and an undeveloped intelligence. But when a morbid activity of the psychical
centres intensifies the bad qualities of women, and induces them to seek relief
in evil deeds; when piety and maternal sentiments are wanting. And in their
place are strong passions and intensely erotic tendencies, much muscular
strength and a superior intelligence for the conception and execution of evil,
it is clear that the innocuous semi-criminal present in the normal woman must
be transformed into a born criminal more terrible than any man.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Lombroso’s views on women
were shared by others at the time. Paul Broca, an authority on brain size,
argued that women’s brains were smaller than men’s, not only because they were
smaller than men, but qualitatively. Gustave LeBon:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“In the most intelligent
races, as among the Parisians, there are a large number of women whose brains
are closer in size to those of gorillas than to the most developed male brains.
This inferiority is so obvious that no one can contest it for a moment; only its
degree is worth discussion. All psychologists who have studied the intelligence
of of women, as well as poets and novelists, recognize today that they
represent the most inferior forms of human evolution and that they are closer
to children and savages than to an adult, civilized man.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Even Darwin linked women to
past stages of civilization:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“It is generally admitted
that with women the power of intuition, of rapid perception, and perhaps of
imitation, are more strongly marked than in man; but some, at least, of these
faculties are characteristics of the lower races and therefore of a past an
lower state of civilization.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Like Aristotle, who believed
woman had fewer teeth than men, but never bothered to actually count their
teeth, these early authorities simply imposed their beliefs about women into
the widely accepted paradigm of the time. When you consider that women only
achieved the right to vote in the U.S. in 1920, and even after that were often legally
considered children with respect to property rights, were expected to be
subservient to their husbands and so on, it is obvious that misogyny survived
for a long time, and still does in some respects. As the word misogyny first
appeared (I think) in the 1600’s it has been with us for a long time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">An examination of the
position of women historically as well as ethnographically would no doubt shed
some light on this perplexing problem, but that is for another time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 15pt;"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/wcfields384250.html" title="view quote">No doubt exists that all women are crazy; it's only a question of degree.</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/w_c_fields.html" title="view author"><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">W. C. Fields</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7746239.post-74634844392357880112014-05-24T22:40:00.001-07:002014-05-24T22:50:02.498-07:00Intolerant<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 15.0pt; mso-outline-level: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16.5pt;">in·tol·er·a·ble<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><b><i><span style="color: #717274; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">adjective</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="color: #717274; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">\(</span><span style="color: #717274; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ˌ</span><span style="color: #717274; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">)in-</span><span style="color: #717274; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ˈ</span><span style="color: #717274; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">täl-rə-bəl, -</span><span style="color: #717274; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ˈ</span><span style="color: #717274; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">tä-lə-rə-, -</span><span style="color: #717274; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ˈ</span><span style="color: #717274; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">tä-lər-bəl\</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.25pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">: too
bad, harsh, or severe to be accepted or tolerated : not tolerable<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">So just how bad does
something have to be or become to be intolerable, even absolutely intolerable?
And when it does what, if anything can be done about it? There are several
things going on at the moment that I find intolerable. For example, I believe
the continuing Republican whining about Obamacare, and their continuing
nonsensical votes to repeal it, is intolerable. They have wasted hundreds, if
not thousands of hours of time, and millions and millions of dollars of
taxpayer money on this absolutely futile attempt and are still talking about
it. Why have they not been stopped? Why has this been allowed to continue well
beyond the point when it became obvious it was simply a complete waste of time
and money? Is there no one who could have stopped this nonsense? Well, of
course there is. John Boehner, the Speaker of the House, could have stopped it,
but didn’t. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">What about Benghazi? There
have been multiple official investigations on this so-called scandal, at least
50 hearings of one kind or another, 25,000 pages of documents provided,
testimony by relevant witnesses, and It is by now perfectly obvious what
happened and what went wrong. There is nothing new to be learned. So why do we
now have a new committee to investigate it once more, another complete waste of
time and taxpayer money? Could no one have prevented this? Why, of course, John
Boehner could have refused to set up this new committee, but he didn’t.
Personally, I find this absolutely intolerable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I am not citing these two
examples simply to castigate John Boehner. There are many officials, including
President Obama, who are refusing to exercise their authority even when they
have it. Why is this so? I suppose the simplest explanation is “politics.” Our
elected officials no longer do what might well be seen as the “right” thing to
do because it is not the politically expedient thing to do. Political
considerations are now more important than the interests of the people. Take
gun control, for example. It is common knowledge that the vast majority of
citizens believe in certain kinds of gun control, even members of the NRA, but
we cannot have it. Minimum wage is another example. The citizenry is
overwhelmingly in favor of raising the minimum wage, but we do not yet have it,
and may or may not ever have it. Food stamps, unemployment insurance, Medicaid,
Social Security, jobs, all favored by a majority of the people but apparently
beyond the capability of our elected officials to manage in the public interest
. There is an obvious disconnect between the public interest and what happens
in the corridors of power. We know the reasons for this, corporations and the
wealthy control our elected officials, and cause them to act for their private
interests rather than for the public interest. This is, I submit, absolutely
intolerable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The most obvious locus for
intolerability has to be the Republican Party which has refused for the past
six years to participate in government at all. It is, put simply, the party of
“no.” They announced this would be their policy as soon as President Black
(oops, I meant Obama) was elected and they have stuck with it with remarkable
obstinacy. They have done everything possible to keep Obama from succeeding at
anything, and because they have been relatively successful at this they now have
the temerity to blame Obama for the very problems they, themselves, have
manufactured. Just as they wasted much of the Clinton Presidency with false
claims and outlandish opposition, they have wasted the six years of Obama’s
Presidency. Whatever you may think of Obama, and he clearly has his
shortcomings, there is no doubt our country would be far better off if the
Republicans had not elected their near treasonous strategy to prevent him from
succeeding at anything. The Republican Party has now succeeded in becoming
absolutely INTOLERABLE. Unfortunately there is nothing in our (false) democracy
we can do about it except vote them out of office at every opportunity. Where
is a benevolent dictator when you need one?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/henryawal235352.html" title="view quote">A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined
with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties,
classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his
use of deceit or violence to attain his ends.</a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/henry_a_wallace.html" title="view author"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Henry A. Wallace</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
morialekafahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15976144466781683823noreply@blogger.com0