"The Final Solution"

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).

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one Israeli writer has even suggested the genocide of Palestinians would be justified (or legitimate), in an essay soon withdrawn for, I should think, obvious reasons.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.

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?

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.

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:  “When Cain spilled his brother's blood, the earth became cursed as soon as the blood hit the ground.” Genesis 4:12.

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.

“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.” 
 

Jane Jensen

  

Not Much Hope

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.

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.

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.

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.

“For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit.” 

 Noam Chomsky

     

Ten Years!

Where DOES the time go? Today marks the 10^th 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.

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).

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.  

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.

 “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.” 

Isaac Asimov

 “I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.” 

Jonathan Swift

The Irony and the Ecstasy

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

“Men are more moral than they think and far more immoral than they can imagine.” 

Sigmund Freud

Attitudes

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

“If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.” 

 Virginia Woolf

The Depths of Depravity

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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?” 
 

Naoyuki Ochiai

Out of Control

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Where there is no vision, the people perish. Proverbs 29:18

Moral and Mental Midgets

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Robert E. Lee

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Transcendental Shame

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^th 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.

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^th 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).

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.

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.

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.

“Huamani’s skepticism was substantial. He knew that men are a joke of the gods, sent to mortify the animals.”

Abel Posse  

        

Nothing too Heinous

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.

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.

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.

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.

     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.

Noam Chomsky

Shooting Fish in a Barrel

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?). 

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.  

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.

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%).

  “I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.” 

 Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

That's It?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

    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.

Alejandro Jodorowsky

The Forever of Our Discontent

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?

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.

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:

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)

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.

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.

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…

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.

John Lennon

Me and Kati (18): Tired of the BS

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.”

 “Powerlessness is an excruciating pain; it is torture insurmountable.” 

 Richelle E. Goodrich

Like, Who Cares?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

 I don't pay a lot of attention, frankly, to what Barack Obama says.

Dick Cheney

Inexcusable Ignorance

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.

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^st century.

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.

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.

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.

“Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves.” 

 Herbert Marcuse

On Tenure

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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).

  The whole purpose of annual reviews is to keep you abreast of whether or not you are fulfilling the requirements of tenure.

Norman Finkelstein