So here we are at the end of 2011. This year will go down in the record books for everything from record storms to record spending. The Iraq war has come to an end, though we are still fighting in other parts of the world, the presidential race is in full swing and millions are still without work. Meanwhile our president gets to spend 4 million to have the holidays in Hawaii and Nancy Pelosi spends $10,000 a night on a posh hotel.
A report came out this week pointing out that the average congressperson is making over 50 times that of the average household and over the last 20 years their actual worth has tripled while ours has gone down. The price of everything under the sun has gone up.
Government people on both sides of the aisle are pandering so much to the far fringes of their respective parties that our economy is in danger of total collapse because no one will compromise on anything.
The patriot act was reinforced with new measures that can allow you to be detained indefinitely on nothing more then mere suspicion. Now not only can you be searched randomly at the airport you can get it on the bus/ train and while your at a rest stop on the highway. In short you are now the enemy the government fears.....
The list of things could go on but this really isn't the point.
When this New Year celebration is over and politics is in full swing once again, you are going to be asked to make a choice. Before you make that choice you need to ask yourself a few questions. #1 Am I better off then I was before Jan. 2009 or worse. How about my friends and neighbors? #2 Is our country and our economy any better off? #3 Do you have more or less freedoms and liberties then you once had, you may need to actually read the Constitution for that answer and then compare it to new laws and regulations. #4 Are the people currently in office or those running really representing you and me and do they really understand what is going on out here in the real world?
I can answer the questions only for myself #1 I am by far worse off, some of it is my own responsibility, and I take ownership of that fact, but I didn't ruin the economy and cause the cost of everything to sky rocket. I don't know anyone who is not scrambling to make ends meet.
#2 The stock market goes up and down but it doesn't do a thing for the millions not working. You can't continue spending when there is nothing left to spend, that's called simple math.
#3 I have read the bills that have been passed and the amendments that have gone with them and all I can say is we are only the land of the free if the government allows it. Everything from your right to peaceably assemble and freedom of speech to your privacy has been under attack. Very quietly and, with the help of most of the media, under the radar, but it has been there. Your freedom is only an illusion.
#4 Christmas in Hawaii? Ten Thousand a night for a posh hotel room? Making 50 times what you and I do, (insider trading) and their personal worth continues to go up, while ours go down? Enough said.
I am not telling you who to vote for. I despise both major parties and believe that they are nothing more then differing wings with the same intent. But these are things that you need to really ask yourself before you vote.
One other thing though, before you vote, know who it is that you are voting for. I watched in total disbelief as people were interviewed during the last presidential election and they didn't know who was who or what it was that they stood for and yet they were there to vote. I don't care if they are pretty or speak well or what their ethnic background is. Research what they support based not only on their rhetoric but on their actual votes or lack thereof. Character does matter. Only support those who take "defending the constitution of the United States" seriously.
Seems that many, if not most, don't take the oath seriously, If they as our representatives won't do that then they don't need to be elected. That includes the president.
Choose wisely.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Super Committee
Let me start off by saying straight out that I don't care for either of our major political parties. When I hear them speak, all I hear is differing versions of how they want to spend our money and what they want to spend it on, while blaming the other side for issues that both sides created and then deny ever having a part of. You need to know this lest you think that in the following commentary that I am picking on one party over another, I am not. The fault belongs to all.
When Obama was running for president he spent his time blaming Bush and the republicans for the budget mess, and certainly Bush had a hand in creating it ,but everyone forgets that from 2006 until 2010 the democrats controlled both the house and the senate and they did nothing to fix the budget or even pass a budget. But this mess didn't happen overnight, everyone from both parties have been complicit in this it has taken us years to get to this point.
Now, instead of doing the job that they were elected to do,in a clear violation of the constitution (See Article 1 section 7 paragraph 1 of the Constitution), they have handed off the responsibility to 12 people in what is being called a "Super Committee". These 12 people, 6 from either party, control the fate of everything from the military to social security. These 12 people literally control the fate of 310 million Americans and quite possibly the economic fates of the industrialized world.
What does anyone, setting aside the legality of the committee, really think is going to get accomplished ? These 12 people have been around for a long time and they are all a part of the original problem. It's like asking Jack the Ripper to babysit your sexy girlfriend and giving him a sharp knife. Worse yet is that anything that they decide won't effect them personally so they don't really have anything to lose, except for maybe an election, and perhaps that's the real truth behind all the indecision and lack of real budget passing.
If the House of Representatives , and the Senate, would do the job that they are constitutionally elected to do, they would make powerful people angry, and they would lose votes and possibly the next election and all the power that it entails, so it was easier for them to allow the formation of this committee. If the committee fails, the focus falls on them rather then those who should have fixed the budget in the first place. It all boils down to keeping control and power.
If you think I'm just guessing, take a cruise through cyber space looking for articles concerning the committee. You won't find many. And the ones that you do find are more interested in what the political fall out will be rather then what their decisions will do to the nation if not the world.
This is what I like to refer to as insanity. The fates of millions if not billions rests on the decisions of small group of very partisan people, who do not have the constitutional authority to make those decisions, just prior to an election cycle, and all any one can say about this is that the President may or may not get re-elected based on the outcome?!
Understand that anything that they come up with is likely to affect me personally. There has been much talk, mostly rumor for the moment, of everything from pay cuts for veterans to co-pay's for the services we receive from the VA and admittedly it makes me very nervous. But the bigger picture is that if they don't come up with something that is feasible and tangible for everyone, we are all go to pay heavily.
So as we get closer to the deadline, remember that the mainstream media is thinking elections, not people, and anything that the super committee decides will be a reflection on that, it has little to do with you and me, it has all to do with who has control at the end of next year.
When Obama was running for president he spent his time blaming Bush and the republicans for the budget mess, and certainly Bush had a hand in creating it ,but everyone forgets that from 2006 until 2010 the democrats controlled both the house and the senate and they did nothing to fix the budget or even pass a budget. But this mess didn't happen overnight, everyone from both parties have been complicit in this it has taken us years to get to this point.
Now, instead of doing the job that they were elected to do,in a clear violation of the constitution (See Article 1 section 7 paragraph 1 of the Constitution), they have handed off the responsibility to 12 people in what is being called a "Super Committee". These 12 people, 6 from either party, control the fate of everything from the military to social security. These 12 people literally control the fate of 310 million Americans and quite possibly the economic fates of the industrialized world.
What does anyone, setting aside the legality of the committee, really think is going to get accomplished ? These 12 people have been around for a long time and they are all a part of the original problem. It's like asking Jack the Ripper to babysit your sexy girlfriend and giving him a sharp knife. Worse yet is that anything that they decide won't effect them personally so they don't really have anything to lose, except for maybe an election, and perhaps that's the real truth behind all the indecision and lack of real budget passing.
If the House of Representatives , and the Senate, would do the job that they are constitutionally elected to do, they would make powerful people angry, and they would lose votes and possibly the next election and all the power that it entails, so it was easier for them to allow the formation of this committee. If the committee fails, the focus falls on them rather then those who should have fixed the budget in the first place. It all boils down to keeping control and power.
If you think I'm just guessing, take a cruise through cyber space looking for articles concerning the committee. You won't find many. And the ones that you do find are more interested in what the political fall out will be rather then what their decisions will do to the nation if not the world.
This is what I like to refer to as insanity. The fates of millions if not billions rests on the decisions of small group of very partisan people, who do not have the constitutional authority to make those decisions, just prior to an election cycle, and all any one can say about this is that the President may or may not get re-elected based on the outcome?!
Understand that anything that they come up with is likely to affect me personally. There has been much talk, mostly rumor for the moment, of everything from pay cuts for veterans to co-pay's for the services we receive from the VA and admittedly it makes me very nervous. But the bigger picture is that if they don't come up with something that is feasible and tangible for everyone, we are all go to pay heavily.
So as we get closer to the deadline, remember that the mainstream media is thinking elections, not people, and anything that the super committee decides will be a reflection on that, it has little to do with you and me, it has all to do with who has control at the end of next year.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Paranoid? I Hope So
I think I'm paranoid. Yup, I am almost certain of it. I guess it's something that can't be helped on my part when the powers that be make it so easy.
I have been reading a lot of posts and warnings in the last few months, talking about the EBS system that is going to be tested @2pm on Wednesday the 9th of November. I had kind of ignored it somewhat but today a friend of mine posted that her local TV station had announced it. They warned that it was going to affect all the TV stations and last for an unspecified amount of time but that it would be lengthy. In addition it will effect all radio and from what I have come to understand all internet as well, though I can't be certain at the moment on the internet part, so we will have in effect a total news blackout all across this country and possibly Canada as well. This troubles me.
On Sept.11, 2001 we were conducting simulations of a terrorist attack on this country and when the attacks happened for real, we were, in a proverbial sense anyhow, caught with our trousers down around our ankles. We didn't know if what was happening was real or simulated. It didn't take long to figure it out, but in the meantime serious damage had been done and our country was shaken to the core. Who actually did what to whom is a debate for another day but one thing is sure; everything that we had ever known was completely and fundamentally changed.
What happens on Wednesday? Perhaps it will be nothing more then then the a fore mentioned test, I don't know, but I can tell you that it makes me nervous to think that we will all be left in the dark for a while with no sources of information to be had. They , the government, could be doing anything during that time and we will not know it's happening and little to no way to find out even if we hear rumors. It would be a great time for them to round up everyone who has ever dissented or protested the government. Perhaps the Occupy folks might want to consider taking a day off, I don't really know, all I do know is that it makes me nervous. The other thing to consider is that if I know about it and others know about it, and we have a real enemy out there, they surely know about it. Whats to stop them from trying something then? The date all in itself is scary because it mirrors 9/11 (11/9) and in many ways the situation will be similar, no information and no one will know for sure whats happening.
So am I paranoid? I hope so. I hope that this is nothing more then a real test and that I am nervous for no reason. See you Thursday....I hope.
I have been reading a lot of posts and warnings in the last few months, talking about the EBS system that is going to be tested @2pm on Wednesday the 9th of November. I had kind of ignored it somewhat but today a friend of mine posted that her local TV station had announced it. They warned that it was going to affect all the TV stations and last for an unspecified amount of time but that it would be lengthy. In addition it will effect all radio and from what I have come to understand all internet as well, though I can't be certain at the moment on the internet part, so we will have in effect a total news blackout all across this country and possibly Canada as well. This troubles me.
On Sept.11, 2001 we were conducting simulations of a terrorist attack on this country and when the attacks happened for real, we were, in a proverbial sense anyhow, caught with our trousers down around our ankles. We didn't know if what was happening was real or simulated. It didn't take long to figure it out, but in the meantime serious damage had been done and our country was shaken to the core. Who actually did what to whom is a debate for another day but one thing is sure; everything that we had ever known was completely and fundamentally changed.
What happens on Wednesday? Perhaps it will be nothing more then then the a fore mentioned test, I don't know, but I can tell you that it makes me nervous to think that we will all be left in the dark for a while with no sources of information to be had. They , the government, could be doing anything during that time and we will not know it's happening and little to no way to find out even if we hear rumors. It would be a great time for them to round up everyone who has ever dissented or protested the government. Perhaps the Occupy folks might want to consider taking a day off, I don't really know, all I do know is that it makes me nervous. The other thing to consider is that if I know about it and others know about it, and we have a real enemy out there, they surely know about it. Whats to stop them from trying something then? The date all in itself is scary because it mirrors 9/11 (11/9) and in many ways the situation will be similar, no information and no one will know for sure whats happening.
So am I paranoid? I hope so. I hope that this is nothing more then a real test and that I am nervous for no reason. See you Thursday....I hope.
To Marines and all Veterans
I heard a statistic the other day that kind of surprised me. It said that 1.3 million veterans had served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. At first I thought that this was a large number until I read further and they said that this only came out to less then one half of one percent of the entire population of the country. Count veterans, no longer serving, and I think you actually get close to that one half of a percent. To put this in another way 99.5% of our nations population have never served.
I find this statistic quite significant when you consider how much criticism is thrown at those who serve from various groups out there. I grew up during the Vietnam war and I saw how our returning vets were treated then, and had kind of hoped that we had learned, alas we have not. I can't begin to tell you how many articles I have read, concerning various veterans issues, where the commentaries were filled with people doing little more then being critical of all of us who have served. We have been called everything from baby killers to idiots, puppets of the New World Order or extreme right wing and even little more then cannon fodder. Amazing how such a large group of people can be so critical of the extremely small group of people who's very job is to see to it that the large group can actually have the right to insult us!
But that's OK, let them say what they will about us, just shows who the real idiots are.
The truth of the matter is that I have served with the best and the brightest in the world. Some of them may have thought that I felt otherwise at the time ,especially if I was screaming at them for something, but the fact of the matter I knew then , just as I know now, that these were and are the best this nation has to offer. Duty, Honor, and Commitment are more then just mere words to all of you that I have served with and have known. Most of you will get to the end of your lives knowing that in some small way that you made a difference and that your life actually meant something. You may not see it now but you will. To all of you "thank you" doesn't do it justice, especially in this time of war, but that is all I can offer you and ,sadly, is more then your likely to hear from the other 99.5% this week.
To my Marine Corp friends I want to take just a moment to wish you a happy birthday. We are a very unique family amongst warriors with strong traditions and history and to you I wish to send a hearty Semper Fi and to call you out to be recognized for your time and service.
WO George Thomas and Keisha, GySgt O'Hara ,GYSgt. Steve and Denette Bolton , all of whom are still serving, Happy Birthday.
Retired- Scott and April Thurston, Bijan Aleagha, USMC Happy Birthday
Honorably discharged: Scott Bodkin, Jay and Kim Horner,Les Marcue, Joshua Hogshead, David Conrad, Joie Cascella, Dylan Allander, Willam and Loretta Carr. Happy Birthday!
My other friends and family desrve to be recognized as well because they sacrificed them selves for our nation as well.
Airforce: Wayne Mckenny, Tiffany Bonnette
Coast Guard: Dan Enright
Army: David Lacy, Dani Parrish,Steve Wilson
Navy: Tim and Julie LaBonte
To all of you I wish to say thank you for your service. We may ,in time, be forgotten by others but hopefully we will never forget and continue to keep the faith with each other.
Semper Fi.
I find this statistic quite significant when you consider how much criticism is thrown at those who serve from various groups out there. I grew up during the Vietnam war and I saw how our returning vets were treated then, and had kind of hoped that we had learned, alas we have not. I can't begin to tell you how many articles I have read, concerning various veterans issues, where the commentaries were filled with people doing little more then being critical of all of us who have served. We have been called everything from baby killers to idiots, puppets of the New World Order or extreme right wing and even little more then cannon fodder. Amazing how such a large group of people can be so critical of the extremely small group of people who's very job is to see to it that the large group can actually have the right to insult us!
But that's OK, let them say what they will about us, just shows who the real idiots are.
The truth of the matter is that I have served with the best and the brightest in the world. Some of them may have thought that I felt otherwise at the time ,especially if I was screaming at them for something, but the fact of the matter I knew then , just as I know now, that these were and are the best this nation has to offer. Duty, Honor, and Commitment are more then just mere words to all of you that I have served with and have known. Most of you will get to the end of your lives knowing that in some small way that you made a difference and that your life actually meant something. You may not see it now but you will. To all of you "thank you" doesn't do it justice, especially in this time of war, but that is all I can offer you and ,sadly, is more then your likely to hear from the other 99.5% this week.
To my Marine Corp friends I want to take just a moment to wish you a happy birthday. We are a very unique family amongst warriors with strong traditions and history and to you I wish to send a hearty Semper Fi and to call you out to be recognized for your time and service.
WO George Thomas and Keisha, GySgt O'Hara ,GYSgt. Steve and Denette Bolton , all of whom are still serving, Happy Birthday.
Retired- Scott and April Thurston, Bijan Aleagha, USMC Happy Birthday
Honorably discharged: Scott Bodkin, Jay and Kim Horner,Les Marcue, Joshua Hogshead, David Conrad, Joie Cascella, Dylan Allander, Willam and Loretta Carr. Happy Birthday!
My other friends and family desrve to be recognized as well because they sacrificed them selves for our nation as well.
Airforce: Wayne Mckenny, Tiffany Bonnette
Coast Guard: Dan Enright
Army: David Lacy, Dani Parrish,Steve Wilson
Navy: Tim and Julie LaBonte
To all of you I wish to say thank you for your service. We may ,in time, be forgotten by others but hopefully we will never forget and continue to keep the faith with each other.
Semper Fi.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
A Return To Sexual Harassment.
Welcome back to the 1990's! Where sexual harassment and political correctness runs amok to the detriment of many a decent person... oh wait this isn't the 90's?! Well what is going on then? What is up with the accusations against Herman Cain? It's starting to sound like the redux of Bill Clinton and Clarence Thomas, no wonder I am so confused.
I am not a republican. In fact, I have no political affiliation at all, though I would say libertarian best describes me. This post has little to do with politics. Instead, I am going to focus on the mere accusation of sexual harassment and it's results.
During the early 90's I worked for an institution that took care of mentally disabled adults and children. We were a private organization but those in charge at the time, were very liberal, very politically correct and I enjoyed most of my time working there. During my time we had 2 cases of sexual harassment that came up that really opened my eyes to what sort of damage can be done by just the mere accusation. All Names have been changed but the stories themselves are true to the best of my memory.
Paul was a young man of about 30 who loved his job. He was the kind of guy who would work extra hours or bring residents home for the holidays, pretty much anything, just so he could help. This was not an ego trip for him, this was just the kind of person he was. He was one of those kind of people that you could depend on. Then he was accused of sexual harassment by a female resident suggesting that he had made sexual advances at her. All of us who worked with him knew that this was a bunch of bull. Not because she was mentally handicapped, no. He was Gay. He wasn't an inside the closet gay man, no, he brought his boyfriend to work related events and made no bones about who he was and he was accepted by all. But because the accusation had been made it had to be investigated and his reputation in Human Services was ruined from that point on. When the investigators were done he was cleared but the charge, the mere accusation, will always be on his work record and he wound up leaving the line of work he loved.
The second case was a bit more personal because I was involved in it. I wasn't accused but I was the supervisor of the two people in question.
The girl, who I will call Maria, was a very good looking woman and could easily catch the attention of any of the men there. One young man, whom I will call Bob, was particularly taken with her and as things would have it they started dating. I had to put them in different buildings during working hours so that there wouldn't be a conflict at work, but as things tend to happen their personal life came into play at work. After they had had a rather nasty argument they showed up to work, she came to me, and accused him of sexual harassment. Honestly, I didn't see how she could justify that claim, but because I was the supervisor, I sent him home and made my report. When my boss came in in the morning, I told her what had happened and she made her report. It turned out that it was a good thing that I took notes, as did my boss, because after the investigation showed no credible evidence, Maria sued the man and the institution that I worked for. Her claims were that we didn't take it seriously enough and that he had caused her psychological damage. Our paperwork and notes clearly showed that we had taken it seriously and had followed procedures exactly as we were supposed to, but the damage had been done. Nothing was ever proven, but just the mere accusation had destroyed Bob, and had seriously hurt the reputation of the place where I was working.
Is this the kind of thing that we are going to return to? Mere accusations without proof? I am not suggesting that real sexual harassment cases don't exist, they do, but usually they are brought to light when they happen and not 10 or 20 years down the road.
Truly it never ceases to amaze me the timing and politics of all these accusations. With Bill Clinton, it wasn't really until it became clear that he was a serious contender, that the accusations of sexual harassment began to fly, granted that in the end much of it was proven, but the timing was incredible, and despite the fact that the budget was balanced, he will always be remembered for what he was accused of rather then what he did. I had never even heard of Clarence Thomas until he was accused of sexual harassment, which was never proven, during his confirmation hearing. And for him as well, he will always be remembered for the accusation against him, rather then what he does as a justice. Now it's Herman Cain's turn. All of them top dogs, all of it timed, so it appears, to take them down.
I don't know Herman Cain, no more then any other politician, I can't say as I agree with him, politically speaking, on everything, but don't you think it's time that we come up with another way of bringing down a political foe then sexual harassment, without proof? He may be guilty, as was Bill Clinton, but I would think that we would have finally come to a place in time where we would demand the proof before we just assume that the accusations are fact but with the media being what it is I guess that would be too much to ask.
I am not a republican. In fact, I have no political affiliation at all, though I would say libertarian best describes me. This post has little to do with politics. Instead, I am going to focus on the mere accusation of sexual harassment and it's results.
During the early 90's I worked for an institution that took care of mentally disabled adults and children. We were a private organization but those in charge at the time, were very liberal, very politically correct and I enjoyed most of my time working there. During my time we had 2 cases of sexual harassment that came up that really opened my eyes to what sort of damage can be done by just the mere accusation. All Names have been changed but the stories themselves are true to the best of my memory.
Paul was a young man of about 30 who loved his job. He was the kind of guy who would work extra hours or bring residents home for the holidays, pretty much anything, just so he could help. This was not an ego trip for him, this was just the kind of person he was. He was one of those kind of people that you could depend on. Then he was accused of sexual harassment by a female resident suggesting that he had made sexual advances at her. All of us who worked with him knew that this was a bunch of bull. Not because she was mentally handicapped, no. He was Gay. He wasn't an inside the closet gay man, no, he brought his boyfriend to work related events and made no bones about who he was and he was accepted by all. But because the accusation had been made it had to be investigated and his reputation in Human Services was ruined from that point on. When the investigators were done he was cleared but the charge, the mere accusation, will always be on his work record and he wound up leaving the line of work he loved.
The second case was a bit more personal because I was involved in it. I wasn't accused but I was the supervisor of the two people in question.
The girl, who I will call Maria, was a very good looking woman and could easily catch the attention of any of the men there. One young man, whom I will call Bob, was particularly taken with her and as things would have it they started dating. I had to put them in different buildings during working hours so that there wouldn't be a conflict at work, but as things tend to happen their personal life came into play at work. After they had had a rather nasty argument they showed up to work, she came to me, and accused him of sexual harassment. Honestly, I didn't see how she could justify that claim, but because I was the supervisor, I sent him home and made my report. When my boss came in in the morning, I told her what had happened and she made her report. It turned out that it was a good thing that I took notes, as did my boss, because after the investigation showed no credible evidence, Maria sued the man and the institution that I worked for. Her claims were that we didn't take it seriously enough and that he had caused her psychological damage. Our paperwork and notes clearly showed that we had taken it seriously and had followed procedures exactly as we were supposed to, but the damage had been done. Nothing was ever proven, but just the mere accusation had destroyed Bob, and had seriously hurt the reputation of the place where I was working.
Is this the kind of thing that we are going to return to? Mere accusations without proof? I am not suggesting that real sexual harassment cases don't exist, they do, but usually they are brought to light when they happen and not 10 or 20 years down the road.
Truly it never ceases to amaze me the timing and politics of all these accusations. With Bill Clinton, it wasn't really until it became clear that he was a serious contender, that the accusations of sexual harassment began to fly, granted that in the end much of it was proven, but the timing was incredible, and despite the fact that the budget was balanced, he will always be remembered for what he was accused of rather then what he did. I had never even heard of Clarence Thomas until he was accused of sexual harassment, which was never proven, during his confirmation hearing. And for him as well, he will always be remembered for the accusation against him, rather then what he does as a justice. Now it's Herman Cain's turn. All of them top dogs, all of it timed, so it appears, to take them down.
I don't know Herman Cain, no more then any other politician, I can't say as I agree with him, politically speaking, on everything, but don't you think it's time that we come up with another way of bringing down a political foe then sexual harassment, without proof? He may be guilty, as was Bill Clinton, but I would think that we would have finally come to a place in time where we would demand the proof before we just assume that the accusations are fact but with the media being what it is I guess that would be too much to ask.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
The Joy Of November
I love November. I like the fall in general but in my mind there is really something special about November that far surpasses all the other months combined. The end of September the fall officially begins but with it comes the beginning of the school year and all the madness it entails. October is usually pretty good with all the leaves changing color and the change in temperatures, but really there is something just completely special about November, that when it comes, brings a sigh to my mind and rejoicing in my heart.
November is a special month. Most of the leaves are gone off the trees and the days are generally much cooler, but it's almost as if nature pauses for just a few weeks and allows us to relax a bit.The squirrels are busy gathering the fallen acorns and the birds and chipmunks are hanging out at the feeders, there is the smell of wood smoke in the air and you can hear the leaves rustle in the trees as the deer move through the woods, and all the leaves have that satisfying crunch or swishing sound as you walk on old dirt roads. If you walk by some houses you are likely to smell the Cinnamon smell of apple pies and pumpkin as people prepare to have families come for Thanksgiving. Perhaps that is the greatest joy of them all for this month. This is the time of year that we really start to appreciate just what we have in life and the ways that G-D has blessed us. This is the time of year when we think of family and friends and we make plans to celebrate this great bounty together. This is also the time of year when we start to think of others who are less fortunate then ourselves and small ways that we might be able to help someone, who has nothing, at least enjoy blessings for one day.
I suppose it can be argued that every time of year has it's own beauty but for me there is nothing quite like the middle part of the fall. Perhaps it's because in some ways I have approached that time of my life and despite everything I kind of like it. The winter of old age is still a ways off and the spring and summers of my youth are but pleasant memories, and I have finally reached that place where I prefer that which is simple to complex much like what this time of year offers.
An author, who's name escapes me at the moment, wrote this about fall but I'd like to think he was talking about November." Fall comes in like and old friend, takes off his shoes and stays for awhile, telling stories of places he's been and the things that he has seen." I guess that's how I see fall and November in particular, not as a time to fret over the winter that is to come, but a time to rejoice over the simplicity and beauty of this time of year and of life.
So I hope that as we enter into the Thanksgiving holiday time, that you will take a moment to really appreciate this time of the year and remember all the blessings that G-D has bestowed on you over the last year.
Shalom,
Ignacio
November is a special month. Most of the leaves are gone off the trees and the days are generally much cooler, but it's almost as if nature pauses for just a few weeks and allows us to relax a bit.The squirrels are busy gathering the fallen acorns and the birds and chipmunks are hanging out at the feeders, there is the smell of wood smoke in the air and you can hear the leaves rustle in the trees as the deer move through the woods, and all the leaves have that satisfying crunch or swishing sound as you walk on old dirt roads. If you walk by some houses you are likely to smell the Cinnamon smell of apple pies and pumpkin as people prepare to have families come for Thanksgiving. Perhaps that is the greatest joy of them all for this month. This is the time of year that we really start to appreciate just what we have in life and the ways that G-D has blessed us. This is the time of year when we think of family and friends and we make plans to celebrate this great bounty together. This is also the time of year when we start to think of others who are less fortunate then ourselves and small ways that we might be able to help someone, who has nothing, at least enjoy blessings for one day.
I suppose it can be argued that every time of year has it's own beauty but for me there is nothing quite like the middle part of the fall. Perhaps it's because in some ways I have approached that time of my life and despite everything I kind of like it. The winter of old age is still a ways off and the spring and summers of my youth are but pleasant memories, and I have finally reached that place where I prefer that which is simple to complex much like what this time of year offers.
An author, who's name escapes me at the moment, wrote this about fall but I'd like to think he was talking about November." Fall comes in like and old friend, takes off his shoes and stays for awhile, telling stories of places he's been and the things that he has seen." I guess that's how I see fall and November in particular, not as a time to fret over the winter that is to come, but a time to rejoice over the simplicity and beauty of this time of year and of life.
So I hope that as we enter into the Thanksgiving holiday time, that you will take a moment to really appreciate this time of the year and remember all the blessings that G-D has bestowed on you over the last year.
Shalom,
Ignacio
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Radical Politics and Antisemitism
Radical Politics and Antisemitism.
Two years ago there was a phenomena known as the "Tea Party" They met all over the country in many state capitals and DC, expressing their frustrations with out of control spending and taxation by the government and bankers being bailed all on our tax dollars. Democrats and some Republicans were voted out of office because of their stances on various issues that the tea party was not in favor of. Needless to say it was quite a thing to see.
This year we now have Occupy Wall street,who at least at it's face ,seems to be very much like the Tea Party, arguably with a much younger crowd, and not as well organized, but certainly as vocal and though their actual political impact has yet to be determined.
There have been a few very major differences though in the conduct of the participants, both those involved, and in the media.
Before the Tea Party became another wing of the Republican party, they held peaceful rallies all over the country. They had their grievances and they made them known but they also thought highly of our country and believed that the government had gone way beyond it's constitutional mandate and wanted that to change. The media did two things. They either ignored them or they ridiculed them and said that they were a bunch of racists. Though there was never any proof of ,accusations flew, rewards were offered to prove such a thing and then nothing, no proof just accusation.
Now we have Occupy Wall Street. Let me state right here that I am no fan of the bankers and other thugs who ripped off everyone, or the government people who allowed it to happen. This is simply my observations.
Occupy Wall Street is a group of people that seem to be very un organized. No one really seems to know who is in charge and there seems to be a massive amount of varying views of what these protestors are trying to accomplish. The media ,in this case, is giving them plenty of air time and many a politician and famous person has come out in favor of the protestors. There has been violence and chaos as well as very clear antisemitism. No, that's not all there is to it but this is the stuff that headlines are made of.
This is where the media has failed all of us. They went out of their way to try and prove hatred and racism in the Tea Party, which they were never able to prove, and yet when there are blatant incidences of it in the "Occupy" movement it is ignored by the MSM. Only twice has the national media done it's job yet even then it was so quick as to be missed by most of us,and the only reason that I can come up with is because it was against Jews. Had it been against African Americans, such as what was alleged to have happened with the tea party, it might have made the national spotlight but no it was against the Jews so it was given a pass. Well for me I won't give it a pass so here are two examples.
The first one that I saw was an interview with an African American woman who said that she was representing herself as a teacher and a school union. She put all the blame for the current economic mess on Jewish bankers and financiers. She said that we would be better off if all the Jews left the country. Here is the link. Once you are done that one you can find more linked to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMjm4LxFa1c
That is just one example. Another was a caller to the Glen Beck show. Now whether or not you care for Mr. Beck or his politics, this should concern you that in this day and age, someone would call his show and be so anti Semitic that he suggests " neutralizing" the Jews in this country and shipping them to " Madagascar."
http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/10/25/what-does-america-stand-for/
I am all about speaking out against injustice. I love living in a country where people can march in protest against perceived wrongs, but I can not find any justice or rightness in condemning an entire group of people based on alleged wrongs of a few who share the same name or heritage. If we have reached that point where this is going to be acceptable, anti Antisemitism that is, then you may start by throwing me out of the country I will leave with a smile on my face. No, I am not Jewish, though I practice Judaism as much as I am able to understand it, but I will stand with the Jewish people and Israel without reservation and if that means leaving these shores to defend Israel I will gladly do so. Bigotry in any form, by any one, regardless of their race or perceived gender, is not acceptable and does not speak well for your cause.
May calmer and cooler heads prevail in the days to come.
Two years ago there was a phenomena known as the "Tea Party" They met all over the country in many state capitals and DC, expressing their frustrations with out of control spending and taxation by the government and bankers being bailed all on our tax dollars. Democrats and some Republicans were voted out of office because of their stances on various issues that the tea party was not in favor of. Needless to say it was quite a thing to see.
This year we now have Occupy Wall street,who at least at it's face ,seems to be very much like the Tea Party, arguably with a much younger crowd, and not as well organized, but certainly as vocal and though their actual political impact has yet to be determined.
There have been a few very major differences though in the conduct of the participants, both those involved, and in the media.
Before the Tea Party became another wing of the Republican party, they held peaceful rallies all over the country. They had their grievances and they made them known but they also thought highly of our country and believed that the government had gone way beyond it's constitutional mandate and wanted that to change. The media did two things. They either ignored them or they ridiculed them and said that they were a bunch of racists. Though there was never any proof of ,accusations flew, rewards were offered to prove such a thing and then nothing, no proof just accusation.
Now we have Occupy Wall Street. Let me state right here that I am no fan of the bankers and other thugs who ripped off everyone, or the government people who allowed it to happen. This is simply my observations.
Occupy Wall Street is a group of people that seem to be very un organized. No one really seems to know who is in charge and there seems to be a massive amount of varying views of what these protestors are trying to accomplish. The media ,in this case, is giving them plenty of air time and many a politician and famous person has come out in favor of the protestors. There has been violence and chaos as well as very clear antisemitism. No, that's not all there is to it but this is the stuff that headlines are made of.
This is where the media has failed all of us. They went out of their way to try and prove hatred and racism in the Tea Party, which they were never able to prove, and yet when there are blatant incidences of it in the "Occupy" movement it is ignored by the MSM. Only twice has the national media done it's job yet even then it was so quick as to be missed by most of us,and the only reason that I can come up with is because it was against Jews. Had it been against African Americans, such as what was alleged to have happened with the tea party, it might have made the national spotlight but no it was against the Jews so it was given a pass. Well for me I won't give it a pass so here are two examples.
The first one that I saw was an interview with an African American woman who said that she was representing herself as a teacher and a school union. She put all the blame for the current economic mess on Jewish bankers and financiers. She said that we would be better off if all the Jews left the country. Here is the link. Once you are done that one you can find more linked to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMjm4LxFa1c
That is just one example. Another was a caller to the Glen Beck show. Now whether or not you care for Mr. Beck or his politics, this should concern you that in this day and age, someone would call his show and be so anti Semitic that he suggests " neutralizing" the Jews in this country and shipping them to " Madagascar."
http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/10/25/what-does-america-stand-for/
I am all about speaking out against injustice. I love living in a country where people can march in protest against perceived wrongs, but I can not find any justice or rightness in condemning an entire group of people based on alleged wrongs of a few who share the same name or heritage. If we have reached that point where this is going to be acceptable, anti Antisemitism that is, then you may start by throwing me out of the country I will leave with a smile on my face. No, I am not Jewish, though I practice Judaism as much as I am able to understand it, but I will stand with the Jewish people and Israel without reservation and if that means leaving these shores to defend Israel I will gladly do so. Bigotry in any form, by any one, regardless of their race or perceived gender, is not acceptable and does not speak well for your cause.
May calmer and cooler heads prevail in the days to come.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
TSA IN TN
Apparently the so called terrorists have won another battle here in the good old USA. I knew that they had conquered all of our Federal buildings and airports as well as many other public venues, such as the ever dangerous library and sports stadiums, but until today I hadn't contemplated the depths of just how large that victory actually is.
We were told that one of the reasons that the so called terrorists hated us was our freedom and liberties. We could come and go as we pleased, buy and sell as we wished and essentially do what we wanted unless it harmed someone else.This , apparently pissed them off, so they "attacked" us. Since then it has been nothing but one so called security measure after another, and just like most gun laws, they have been implemented on the wrong people. If and I say "IF" we were really attacked by people of middle eastern descent then shouldn't they be the focus of all this BS that goes by the name of home land security? Show me the last time that grandma in a wheel chair tried to blow up a plane? Or a 6 year old or, for that matter, an American citizen who is white or black,Asian or Hispanic or Jewish. Worse yet is they send out memos suggesting that those of us who oppose these draconian measures, or are in any way opposed to government mandated programs that violate the constitution and are war vets, that somehow we are the bad guys?!The only ones that they can ever find, such as Timothy McVeigh, are so far off the deep end that anyone with a half a brain can see the words " set up" written all over it. No, sadly, this isn't about terrorists, this is about your government being afraid of you and wanting to monitor everything that you do.
A year ago I had written ,from a biblical perspective, why I have been so opposed to all the methods of enhanced security that they have at our airports. The idea of someone giving me a choice between irradiated testicles, and seeing me and or my family virtually naked, or someone feeling them really has no appeal to me so I simply refuse to fly. I am a poor man so that isn't to hard to do. Then they started talking about bus stations and train stations and started implementing the VIPR teams there, to randomly check on passengers, all the time arguing that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear or you don't have a constitutional right to privacy while traveling.
So today my beef is with the clear victory that the" terrorists" won in the state of Tennessee. If it's not bad enough that they have invaded our privacy in the libraries and have tapped our phones and computers, now they are going to go after the one thing that most of us can't avoid and that is driving. Yes! Now the state of Tennessee is going to allow random VIPR units to interrupt your travel plans, if you happen to go by one of their randomly placed units. The fact that they are located on every major highway through the state should mean that you have little to no way to avoid them. So if Tennessee does it how long before the rest of the state run sheeple allow it to happen in their state?
So as I said earlier the "terrorists" have won another major victory today. We have officially become a police style nation and sadly very few of you will give a rats backside about it. The forefathers of this nation had balls the size of boulders when they took on the biggest and most powerful nation in the world. When they wrote the Constitution they knew first hand what a tyrannical government was like and so they wrote into the constitution the ways to avoid that ever happening here. But alas we are all too stupid to see just whats happening and we deserve exactly what we are receiving. So while you rejoice over Qaddafi being killed, or you rejoice over the prospect of 4 more years of Obama, just remember that there is a VIPR team courtesy of TSA and Home Land Security just waiting to touch your Testicles and Vagina out there on the highway, and you will either submit or be arrested and you can wipe the tears of your abject humiliation on a copy of the Constitution which apparently isn't worth much more then toilet tissue anymore. Welcome to the new "Land of the free".
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Lessons from Steve Jobs
Today the world mourns for a man that made a huge impact on all of our lives, Steve Jobs. Whether or not you ever owned any of his products, there was no way that you could avoid the impact on our day to day lives. iPhone, i pads all the way back to the first "Macs" his innovation and futuristic thinking effected us all. He will be missed.
My wife found a quote of his that I wanted to share with you: “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me. I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over $10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I was 25, and it wasn’t that important because I never did it for the money.” Steve Jobs
There are many lessons that we can learn from that statement. The first being that money isn't everything.This was a man who was looking at his own imminent death and he knew the truth to the matter. Money was not going to save him.
Another reason though was because he simply enjoyed his work. Imagine if all of us had that kind of attitude, that the money wasn't important because we enjoy what it is that we are doing, that attitude alone could change the world.
There is a lesson as well that the government could learn if they would simply pay attention. Get rid of all the cumbersome rules and regulations so small business can get to the business of hiring people and stimulating the economy.
In his bio it says that Steve Jobs started in his garage back in 1974. Just imagine the world in that day having all the rules and regs that we have now and then ask yourself if Apple would have every got off the ground. I doubt it. I have friends who are small business men who don't see a whole lot of hiring going on because of all the regulations coming out of DC. I am not talking major corporations here, I am talking about people that I know that are trying to make it and expand but can't because of all the regs.
So essentially there are two lessons to learn here. One is to love what you do so that the money is a secondary issue at best and second is to let loose the chains that are currently stopping small businesses from expanding because you never know where you will find another " Steve Jobs."
Rest in Peace. Steve Jobs, 1955-2011
My wife found a quote of his that I wanted to share with you: “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me. I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over $10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I was 25, and it wasn’t that important because I never did it for the money.” Steve Jobs
There are many lessons that we can learn from that statement. The first being that money isn't everything.This was a man who was looking at his own imminent death and he knew the truth to the matter. Money was not going to save him.
Another reason though was because he simply enjoyed his work. Imagine if all of us had that kind of attitude, that the money wasn't important because we enjoy what it is that we are doing, that attitude alone could change the world.
There is a lesson as well that the government could learn if they would simply pay attention. Get rid of all the cumbersome rules and regulations so small business can get to the business of hiring people and stimulating the economy.
In his bio it says that Steve Jobs started in his garage back in 1974. Just imagine the world in that day having all the rules and regs that we have now and then ask yourself if Apple would have every got off the ground. I doubt it. I have friends who are small business men who don't see a whole lot of hiring going on because of all the regulations coming out of DC. I am not talking major corporations here, I am talking about people that I know that are trying to make it and expand but can't because of all the regs.
So essentially there are two lessons to learn here. One is to love what you do so that the money is a secondary issue at best and second is to let loose the chains that are currently stopping small businesses from expanding because you never know where you will find another " Steve Jobs."
Rest in Peace. Steve Jobs, 1955-2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
One State Solution
Here is a simple solution to the Israeli/ Palestinian problem. It is so simple that I am sure no one will pay the least bit of attention to me. To simple, can't be done. That's what I expect to hear. Yet here in the United States we are living that solution. So knowing that it won't be very popular, here goes nothing...
How about a one state solution? Israel keeps it's borders and all the "Palestinians" become Israelis. It would work. We are living proof that it can work if everyone wants it too.
Look at us here in the United States. We are probably one of the most diverse nations on the planet and yet somehow we make this work. We are a nation of blacks and whites from various ancestries. We are Asian and Hispanic. We literally come from many different cultures and religions and yet , somehow, against all odds, we make this work. Why? Because we are united in one thing. We are all Americans, subject to the rights and privileges thereof. Are we perfect? Not even close. But if there is anything that can be learned from us is that despite our differences we make this nation work and it can work in Israel as well.
Why should there be two separate nations when the simple solution is to join together. The Jewish people have been there for 4,000 years and they are willing to accept the so called Palestinians as members of their society if they would simply stop all the terrorist activities and recognize that Israel has a right to exist. This is not difficult and I have heard various reports from Jews and Arabs alike, who are Israeli citizens , who say the same.
What or who ,after all, is a Palestinian? They are Jordanians, Syrians, Egyptians, amongst others as well as the Jewish people themselves, so why not become one people , one nation, rather then fighting about it? If the Arab peoples of that region are so upset about what they consider bad treatment of "Palestinians" that they support the two state solution, why have they never allowed for their kin to return home?
The "Palestinians" could have things much better then their Arab neighbors if they wanted it to be so and should toss out all their leaders who prevent them from doing so. We are a diverse people who have made it work and I believe that they could do the same. Israel wants peace and from what I have heard so do most of the common people in the Arab world. So the solution isn't two states. It is one state where they can show the world that it is possible for the Jewish and Arab peoples to get along.
How about a one state solution? Israel keeps it's borders and all the "Palestinians" become Israelis. It would work. We are living proof that it can work if everyone wants it too.
Look at us here in the United States. We are probably one of the most diverse nations on the planet and yet somehow we make this work. We are a nation of blacks and whites from various ancestries. We are Asian and Hispanic. We literally come from many different cultures and religions and yet , somehow, against all odds, we make this work. Why? Because we are united in one thing. We are all Americans, subject to the rights and privileges thereof. Are we perfect? Not even close. But if there is anything that can be learned from us is that despite our differences we make this nation work and it can work in Israel as well.
Why should there be two separate nations when the simple solution is to join together. The Jewish people have been there for 4,000 years and they are willing to accept the so called Palestinians as members of their society if they would simply stop all the terrorist activities and recognize that Israel has a right to exist. This is not difficult and I have heard various reports from Jews and Arabs alike, who are Israeli citizens , who say the same.
What or who ,after all, is a Palestinian? They are Jordanians, Syrians, Egyptians, amongst others as well as the Jewish people themselves, so why not become one people , one nation, rather then fighting about it? If the Arab peoples of that region are so upset about what they consider bad treatment of "Palestinians" that they support the two state solution, why have they never allowed for their kin to return home?
The "Palestinians" could have things much better then their Arab neighbors if they wanted it to be so and should toss out all their leaders who prevent them from doing so. We are a diverse people who have made it work and I believe that they could do the same. Israel wants peace and from what I have heard so do most of the common people in the Arab world. So the solution isn't two states. It is one state where they can show the world that it is possible for the Jewish and Arab peoples to get along.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
For You J
I recently received a comment on my last posting, Nothing New Here, from a friend and brother who I will simply call "J" that I agree with and would like to share with you.
This is what he said at the very end ;" I think that you're about 0300 on a twenty-four watch. Stay the course my friend".
Now at first glance it might sound like an insult but for any of you who have served in the military and have been on duty for 24 hrs, or more ,straight, you know that the worst time is the hours between 0200 and about 0500. Every thing is generally quiet and the last of the drunks have made it back to the barracks and you are freaking tired. In my old unit no one who was on duty slept. We went to work all day and then reported for duty at the barracks as the duty NCO, in my case, or the actual sentries who walked the posts. By the time you got to 0200 you were usually wiped out and there wasn't enough coffee in the world to keep you going. I usually spent my time on my feet either just standing or walking the posts my self just to stay awake. There were a few times I remember actually falling asleep while standing and leaning on the wall. Tired does not begin to express it. Once it got to be about 0500 though the barracks would start to come back to life and I found that I could usually get to the end of the duty with out to much trouble.
So to say that I am at about 0300 is about right. I am tired and a bit cranky around the edges. I have stood my watch faithfully, doing my bit to keep the wolf from the door and the bad guys from our shores.I have served king and country, I have helped stare down the Soviet Union and fought against terrorism, just as some of you reading this have. But I have had about enough of all the BS that is currently going on in our nation. I am tired of watching the American dream slip away from so many people ,including my family, because we were lied to and scammed by bankers and politicians alike. No one has been arrested for it and no one has been prosecuted and yet they stole billions of dollars. I am tired of illegals getting benefits while disabled Vets get nothing. I am tired of people telling me what I can say, or believe for that matter or even what I can eat. I am tired of a government who makes it a point to violate the constitution and bill of rights and then tell us it's for our own good, I am even more tired of those who allow it to happen. I am tired of writing to my representatives or congressmen expressing my concerns over many of these issues only to be ignored. This list could go on.
I love my country. I love what it used to stand for, but I am indeed tired of what I see as an endless up hill battle with forces that seemed to be stacked up against us.
It is indeed 0300 my friend, but despite how tired I am, I am still on watch.
Semper FI.
This is what he said at the very end ;" I think that you're about 0300 on a twenty-four watch. Stay the course my friend".
Now at first glance it might sound like an insult but for any of you who have served in the military and have been on duty for 24 hrs, or more ,straight, you know that the worst time is the hours between 0200 and about 0500. Every thing is generally quiet and the last of the drunks have made it back to the barracks and you are freaking tired. In my old unit no one who was on duty slept. We went to work all day and then reported for duty at the barracks as the duty NCO, in my case, or the actual sentries who walked the posts. By the time you got to 0200 you were usually wiped out and there wasn't enough coffee in the world to keep you going. I usually spent my time on my feet either just standing or walking the posts my self just to stay awake. There were a few times I remember actually falling asleep while standing and leaning on the wall. Tired does not begin to express it. Once it got to be about 0500 though the barracks would start to come back to life and I found that I could usually get to the end of the duty with out to much trouble.
So to say that I am at about 0300 is about right. I am tired and a bit cranky around the edges. I have stood my watch faithfully, doing my bit to keep the wolf from the door and the bad guys from our shores.I have served king and country, I have helped stare down the Soviet Union and fought against terrorism, just as some of you reading this have. But I have had about enough of all the BS that is currently going on in our nation. I am tired of watching the American dream slip away from so many people ,including my family, because we were lied to and scammed by bankers and politicians alike. No one has been arrested for it and no one has been prosecuted and yet they stole billions of dollars. I am tired of illegals getting benefits while disabled Vets get nothing. I am tired of people telling me what I can say, or believe for that matter or even what I can eat. I am tired of a government who makes it a point to violate the constitution and bill of rights and then tell us it's for our own good, I am even more tired of those who allow it to happen. I am tired of writing to my representatives or congressmen expressing my concerns over many of these issues only to be ignored. This list could go on.
I love my country. I love what it used to stand for, but I am indeed tired of what I see as an endless up hill battle with forces that seemed to be stacked up against us.
It is indeed 0300 my friend, but despite how tired I am, I am still on watch.
Semper FI.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Nothing New Here
I have been discovering lately just how hard it is to write about the news. Normally I am filled with sarcastic or cynical remarks about all that is called news or those who are doing the reporting.
I am finding this to be more difficult as time goes on. Not because there is nothing to talk about but because it is generally the same thing over and over with only the names of people changing. What is there that is new that I could really offer an opinion on? Occasionally someone comes up with a new tech toy that's pretty cool but I don't claim to be tech savvy so it leaves me out. Sometimes someone will come up with a religious piece that I could go after, but to what end? I am not going to change anyone's minds on what they are predisposed to believe in the first place. Nope I can't think of much that is new.
Less you think I am wrong, consider for the moment; we have been in a perpetual state of war for twenty years. Twenty years of war and no fly zones. It hasn't mattered who was in office or who controlled the house and senate, we have been in a state of war. Nothing has changed except for the official count of countries we are fighting in.
More to consider; Have our politicians changed? Nope. Still obeying the lobbyists rather then the people, they openly admit this through the things that they sponsor and through the way they treat thier so called constituents, Some openly admit that they don't follow the Constitution, which i something that they are sworn to do, and they laugh us all to scorn. Th few that have any integrity are marginalized and ridiculed. So nothing has changed there.
The rich are getting richer faster today then they used to, that might be news worthy, but they are doing it on the backs of the poor,as always, so that negates that as being anything of real value to report.
The economy is shot to hell, but that's not really new either. Seems to be in my 46 years of life I have watched it go up and down like a see-saw, the only real difference was how long the good days lasted prior to the bubble bursting, but still this is nothing more then a repeat of history. Nothing new here.
The world itself has gone a bit crazier, but I'm not sure this is new either. China is building a massive military, the Russians are doing the same, we have our noses in everyone else s business. Iran is getting nukes, Turkey is escorting ships to Gaza, Hamas is firing rockets into Israel and that whole region is one spark away from starting the next great world war. Is any of this really new though? Nope.
So how do we change any of this? I really don't know. Until we get passed all our differences and start looking for solutions to those issues that we have in common, nothing will change. As long as we continue to look only to our own personal religious or political views and never consider that there might be some other points of view that are legitimate, nothing will change.
Perhaps Ronald Regan was right when he wondered if would take "Alien invasion" to make us put down all our stupid differences. I hope not. From all the movies I've seen we don't do so well against them.
I am finding this to be more difficult as time goes on. Not because there is nothing to talk about but because it is generally the same thing over and over with only the names of people changing. What is there that is new that I could really offer an opinion on? Occasionally someone comes up with a new tech toy that's pretty cool but I don't claim to be tech savvy so it leaves me out. Sometimes someone will come up with a religious piece that I could go after, but to what end? I am not going to change anyone's minds on what they are predisposed to believe in the first place. Nope I can't think of much that is new.
Less you think I am wrong, consider for the moment; we have been in a perpetual state of war for twenty years. Twenty years of war and no fly zones. It hasn't mattered who was in office or who controlled the house and senate, we have been in a state of war. Nothing has changed except for the official count of countries we are fighting in.
More to consider; Have our politicians changed? Nope. Still obeying the lobbyists rather then the people, they openly admit this through the things that they sponsor and through the way they treat thier so called constituents, Some openly admit that they don't follow the Constitution, which i something that they are sworn to do, and they laugh us all to scorn. Th few that have any integrity are marginalized and ridiculed. So nothing has changed there.
The rich are getting richer faster today then they used to, that might be news worthy, but they are doing it on the backs of the poor,as always, so that negates that as being anything of real value to report.
The economy is shot to hell, but that's not really new either. Seems to be in my 46 years of life I have watched it go up and down like a see-saw, the only real difference was how long the good days lasted prior to the bubble bursting, but still this is nothing more then a repeat of history. Nothing new here.
The world itself has gone a bit crazier, but I'm not sure this is new either. China is building a massive military, the Russians are doing the same, we have our noses in everyone else s business. Iran is getting nukes, Turkey is escorting ships to Gaza, Hamas is firing rockets into Israel and that whole region is one spark away from starting the next great world war. Is any of this really new though? Nope.
So how do we change any of this? I really don't know. Until we get passed all our differences and start looking for solutions to those issues that we have in common, nothing will change. As long as we continue to look only to our own personal religious or political views and never consider that there might be some other points of view that are legitimate, nothing will change.
Perhaps Ronald Regan was right when he wondered if would take "Alien invasion" to make us put down all our stupid differences. I hope not. From all the movies I've seen we don't do so well against them.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Jewish Land 2
I think it can be said,with out a shadow of a doubt, that I am pro Israel to the point of being a Zionist. I'm not sure that a non Jew can actually be a Zionist but I do believe that Israel is the rightful home of the Jewish people and that they have every right to take care of their own land in whatever way that they see fit. It's not our place or the UN's place to tell them what they need to do any more then it would be for Israel to tell us what we should do with ours.
I have nothing against the so called Palestinians just their supposed leadership. I say supposed because they are really holding their people hostage to their own prejudices and sadly are passing that on to future generations. But I guess that is about where my sympathy ends. They don't have to live like this, yet they choose to and some how that is Israel's fault. They could rise up and throw out all of Hamas, among others, and make it very clear that they want to have peace with Israel but instead the hide the terrorists and allow them to fire rockets and send out suicide bombers from there, this does not sound like a people looking for peace to me.
The news media in our country is real good at showing the Palestinians point of view any time there is some supposed atrocity going on , however they always seem to be absent when Israelis are hiding out in bomb shelters because they are being shelled again or when an innocent family is slaughtered, including a baby ,for no other reason then they are Jews.
I remember one time they were supposedly showing the IDF killing some kid in the middle of a firefight and it turned out that the whole think was a staged hoax, where was the American media then? Or the guy who was hauled off on a stretcher in three different pictures from three different places. What a bunch of hooey.
I have also seen pictures of the"horrible" conditions that they live under, they eat better then many here in the US do. I have seen their food markets chock full of fresh fruit and veggies along with many varieties of meat. Some will say that they have to go through check points to get out of Gaza and go to other places to work, that they have to carry their papers with them. Let me ask you a question, how is that any different then here? Here in the good old USA you can be detained and arrested if you don't have some sort of ID on you so I can't really see a difference, but more importantly who's fault is it that they have to go through all those check points? I have never heard of a Jewish suicide bomber going into Gaza to blow things up or to try and kill teenagers on a bus. No this has been brought upon them by their so called leadership and their own reluctance to be rid of them.
Have mistakes been made? Certainly. Could things be better? Yes. But it generally takes two sides to work out agreements.
Time and time again Israel has given up land and territory to have supposed peace, do they get the peace? No! Every Arab nation there in the middle east ,including the Palestinians, have only one goal and that is the annihilation of the Jews. It's in their media constantly, it's taught in their schools it's damn near a way of life for them. I you don't believe that this is true, just search the internet and you find all the evidence you need, providing of course you have the courage to do so, or better yet go to Israel and actually talk to people who live there, see it for yourself, then you can make an informed decision.
Show me one nation that wants peace with Israel that can't have it. Israel simply wishes to exist and be left alone and be a place where all Jews have their homeland. I should point out here as well, that under Jewish rule everyone can practice their own religion, serve in the military and government. Women have full rights there unheard of in any Arab nation as well.
But for the sake of argument,lets just say that all the Jews decided that Israel was not worth their time any more any they decided to leave. Who is going to take them? Where could they go that they haven't been kicked out of over the centuries? Sure many of them could come here but just how long do you think that would last before antisemitism sprang up here? How long before someone would get it into their heads that our nations problems are caused by the Jews? Some people already believe that, so that would make it worse.
The bottom line is that Israel is the home for the Jewish people and has been for thousands of years. Israel is only about the size of NJ so trying to split it up more with people bent on their destruction seems to me to be a very bad idea. If the Palestinians really want to live in Israel then all they have to do is stop all the killing, throw out all the terrorists and become Israeli citizens. Then they could come and go as they please and have all the rights that they claim that they don't have now. This isn't difficult if this is truly what they want.
For those of you who would suggest that I go there to live, if I am so passionate about Israel, I will say in closing, I will go as soon as it is possible for me to do so. Israel is the land of the Jews but it is truly the land of G-D because He gave it to them, so if I had to choose between this land and His..I'll take my chances with Israel.
I have nothing against the so called Palestinians just their supposed leadership. I say supposed because they are really holding their people hostage to their own prejudices and sadly are passing that on to future generations. But I guess that is about where my sympathy ends. They don't have to live like this, yet they choose to and some how that is Israel's fault. They could rise up and throw out all of Hamas, among others, and make it very clear that they want to have peace with Israel but instead the hide the terrorists and allow them to fire rockets and send out suicide bombers from there, this does not sound like a people looking for peace to me.
The news media in our country is real good at showing the Palestinians point of view any time there is some supposed atrocity going on , however they always seem to be absent when Israelis are hiding out in bomb shelters because they are being shelled again or when an innocent family is slaughtered, including a baby ,for no other reason then they are Jews.
I remember one time they were supposedly showing the IDF killing some kid in the middle of a firefight and it turned out that the whole think was a staged hoax, where was the American media then? Or the guy who was hauled off on a stretcher in three different pictures from three different places. What a bunch of hooey.
I have also seen pictures of the"horrible" conditions that they live under, they eat better then many here in the US do. I have seen their food markets chock full of fresh fruit and veggies along with many varieties of meat. Some will say that they have to go through check points to get out of Gaza and go to other places to work, that they have to carry their papers with them. Let me ask you a question, how is that any different then here? Here in the good old USA you can be detained and arrested if you don't have some sort of ID on you so I can't really see a difference, but more importantly who's fault is it that they have to go through all those check points? I have never heard of a Jewish suicide bomber going into Gaza to blow things up or to try and kill teenagers on a bus. No this has been brought upon them by their so called leadership and their own reluctance to be rid of them.
Have mistakes been made? Certainly. Could things be better? Yes. But it generally takes two sides to work out agreements.
Time and time again Israel has given up land and territory to have supposed peace, do they get the peace? No! Every Arab nation there in the middle east ,including the Palestinians, have only one goal and that is the annihilation of the Jews. It's in their media constantly, it's taught in their schools it's damn near a way of life for them. I you don't believe that this is true, just search the internet and you find all the evidence you need, providing of course you have the courage to do so, or better yet go to Israel and actually talk to people who live there, see it for yourself, then you can make an informed decision.
Show me one nation that wants peace with Israel that can't have it. Israel simply wishes to exist and be left alone and be a place where all Jews have their homeland. I should point out here as well, that under Jewish rule everyone can practice their own religion, serve in the military and government. Women have full rights there unheard of in any Arab nation as well.
But for the sake of argument,lets just say that all the Jews decided that Israel was not worth their time any more any they decided to leave. Who is going to take them? Where could they go that they haven't been kicked out of over the centuries? Sure many of them could come here but just how long do you think that would last before antisemitism sprang up here? How long before someone would get it into their heads that our nations problems are caused by the Jews? Some people already believe that, so that would make it worse.
The bottom line is that Israel is the home for the Jewish people and has been for thousands of years. Israel is only about the size of NJ so trying to split it up more with people bent on their destruction seems to me to be a very bad idea. If the Palestinians really want to live in Israel then all they have to do is stop all the killing, throw out all the terrorists and become Israeli citizens. Then they could come and go as they please and have all the rights that they claim that they don't have now. This isn't difficult if this is truly what they want.
For those of you who would suggest that I go there to live, if I am so passionate about Israel, I will say in closing, I will go as soon as it is possible for me to do so. Israel is the land of the Jews but it is truly the land of G-D because He gave it to them, so if I had to choose between this land and His..I'll take my chances with Israel.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Jewish Land.
For a long time I have sat on the sidelines when it comes to the politics that involve Israel. It has not been a lack of interest on my part, but rather the feeling that I am but one person, who doesn't have much to offer for solutions to the problems in Israel. While I haven't really figured out anything that would help the current situation I am going to express some thoughts just based on historical facts and insights I have from people who actually live there and from various news sources that you won't find here in the US.
It amazes me that a people, as small in number as the Jews are such a hated group of people. I think the entire population is something like 14 million worldwide and yet for such a small group they are hated beyond all measure. A friend once suggested to me that it was because of the time they wandered in the desert fighting people or because they took over the land of Canaan. Others have suggested that it's because they killed Jesus. Neither of these explanations really make any sense though.
Jews have been in Israel for 4,000 years, they conquered the various nations that were there thousands of years before this current batch of hatred ever began. The only people after that that they had a running war with was the a nation of people known as the Philistines. This again is a nation of people who no longer exists ( this is where the name Palestine came from via the Romans) but it had nothing to do with Israel, it had to do with other more powerful nations that ran them all over such as the Romans or earlier the Persians and Babylonians. So if the argument is because of something that happened thousands of years ago, then why are we not trying to kill off Germans or Japanese or Russians etc. for all their destructive ways during the early half of the 20th century? That at least is recent history. Shouldn't we then deny them their rightful homeland and try to kill them all? Those nations did more then just take land that was theirs, they took entire nations and killed millions, and yet we as a whole have forgiven and let the past be the past. But not so for the Jewish people who's conquering days ended thousands of years ago.
It can't be that the killed Jesus, though for thousands of years that had been Christianities excuse, because most Arabs and Palestinians are Muslim. While they may see Jesus as a martyred prophet, they don't see him as god and, in fact, given the opportunity, those radicals would kill off Christians as well.
So really there isn't a legitimate reason for the hatred.
So what is the historical record then?
In this historical account I am skipping all of the OT references to the Jewish people simply because many of you who read this would not except it as historically accurate, though personally I do, and instead have focused on various historical references that any one can find if they are willing to take the time to look. What I have compiled here is only a partial list of all the historical references . One note, I don't site all my sources simply because it would take to long and this is a blog not a book, but I take no credit for any of this except for taking the time to actually research.
So starting with King Cyrus of the Persian empire:
Following a decree by the Persian King Cyrus, conqueror of the Babylonian empire (538 BCE), some 50,000 Jews set out on the first return to the Land of Israel, led by Zerubbabel, a descendant of the House of David. Less than a century later, the second return was led by Ezra the Scribe. Over the next four centuries, the Jews knew varying degrees of self-rule under Persian (538-333 BCE) and later Hellenistic (Ptolemaic and Seleucid) overlordship (332-142 BCE).
Hasmonean Dynasty (142-63 BCE)
First led by Mattathias of the priestly Hasmonean family and then by his son Judah the Maccabee, the Jews subsequently entered Jerusalem and purified the Temple (164 BCE), events commemorated each year by the festival of Hannuka.
Following further Hasmonean victories (147 BCE), the Seleucids restored autonomy to Judea, as the Land of Israel was now called, and, with the collapse of the Seleucid kingdom (129 BCE), Jewish independence was achieved. Under the Hasmonean dynasty, which lasted about 80 years, the kingdom regained boundaries not far short of Solomon’s realm, political consolidation under Jewish rule was attained and Jewish life flourished.
Roman Rule (63 BCE-313 CE)
When the Romans replaced the Seleucids as the great power in the region, they granted the Hasmonean king, Hyrcanus II, had limited authority under the Roman governor of Damascus. The Jews were hostile to the new regime, and the following years witnessed frequent insurrections. A last attempt to restore the former glory of the Hasmonean dynasty was made by Mattathias Antigonus, whose defeat and death brought Hasmonean rule to an end (40 BCE), and the Land became a province of the Roman Empire.
In 37 BCE Herod, a son-in-law of Hyrcanus II, was appointed King of Judea by the Romans. Granted almost unlimited autonomy in the country’s internal affairs, he became one of the most powerful monarchs in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. A great admirer of Greco-Roman culture, Herod launched a massive construction program, which included the cities of Caesarea and Sebaste and the fortresses at Herodium and Masada. He also remodeled the Temple into one of the most magnificent buildings of its time. But despite his many achievements, Herod failed to win the trust and support of his Jewish subjects....
The total destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple was catastrophic for the Jewish people. According to the contemporary historian Josephus Flavius, hundreds of thousands of Jews perished in the siege of Jerusalem and elsewhere in the country, and many thousands more were sold into slavery.....
Although the Temple had been destroyed and Jerusalem burned to the ground, the Jews and Judaism survived the encounter with Rome. The supreme legislative and judicial body, the Sanhedrin (successor of the Knesset Hagedolah) was reconvened in Yavneh (70 CE), and later in Tiberias...
Without the unifying framework of a state and the Temple, the small remaining Jewish community gradually recovered, reinforced from time to time by returning exiles. Institutional and communal life was renewed, priests were replaced by rabbis and the synagogue became the focus of the Jewish communities, as evidenced by remnants of synagogues found at Capernaum, Korazin, Bar’am, Gamla, and elsewhere. Halakhah (Jewish religious law) served as the common bond among the Jews and was passed on from generation to generation.
Byzantine Rule (313-636)
By the end of the 4th century, following Emperor Constantine's adoption of Christianity (313) and the founding of the Byzantine Empire, the Land of Israel had become a predominantly Christian country. Churches were built on Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Galilee, and monasteries were established in many parts of the country.
Jews were deprived of their former relative autonomy, as well as of their right to hold public positions, and were forbidden to enter Jerusalem except on one day of the year (Tisha B'av - ninth of Av) to mourn the destruction of the Temple....
Arab Rule (636-1099)
The Arab conquest of the Land came four years after the death of Muhammad (632) and lasted more than four centuries, with caliphs ruling first from Damascus, then from Baghdad and Egypt. At the outset, Jewish settlement in Jerusalem resumed, and the Jewish community was granted the customary status of dhimmi (protected non-Muslims), which safeguarded their lives, property, and freedom of worship, in return for payment of special poll and land taxes....
The Crusaders (1099-1291)
For the next 200 years, the country was dominated by the Crusaders who, following an appeal by Pope Urban II, came from Europe to recover the Holy Land from the infidels. In July 1099, after a five-week siege, the knights of the First Crusade and their rabble army captured Jerusalem, massacring most of the city's non-Christian inhabitants. Barricaded in their synagogues, the Jews defended their quarter, only to be burned to death or sold into slavery.
Ottoman Rule (1517-1917)
Following the Ottoman conquest in 1517, the Land was divided into four districts, attached administratively to the province of Damascus and ruled from Istanbul. At the outset of the Ottoman era, some 1,000 Jewish families lived in the country, mainly in Jerusalem, Nablus (Shechem), Hebron, Gaza, Safed (Tzfat) and the villages of Galilee. The community was comprised of descendants of Jews who had always lived in the Land, as well as immigrants from North Africa and Europe.
The 19th century saw medieval backwardness gradually give way to the first signs of progress, with various Western powers jockeying for position, often through missionary activities. British, French, and American scholars launched studies of biblical archeology; Britain, France, Russia, Austria, and the United States opened consulates in Jerusalem. Steamships began to ply regular routes to and from Europe; postal and telegraphic connections were installed; the first road connecting Jerusalem and Jaffa was built. The Land's rebirth as a crossroads for commerce of three continents was accelerated by the opening of the Suez Canal.
Consequently, the situation of the country's Jews slowly improved, and their numbers increased substantially. By mid-century, overcrowded conditions within the walled city of Jerusalem motivated the Jews to build the first neighborhood outside the walls (1860) and, in the next quarter century, to add seven more, forming the nucleus of the new city. By 1870, Jerusalem had an overall Jewish majority. Land for farming was purchased throughout the country; new rural settlements were established; and the Hebrew language, long restricted to liturgy and literature, was revived.
British Rule (1918-1948)
In July 1922, the League of Nations entrusted Great Britain with the Mandate for Palestine (the name by which the country was then known). Recognizing the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine, Great Britain was called upon to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine-Eretz Israel (Land of Israel). Two months later, in September 1922, the Council of the League of Nations and Great Britain decided that the provisions for setting up a Jewish national home would not apply to the area east of the Jordan River, which constituted three fourths of the territory included in the Mandate and eventually became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Arab Opposition and British Restrictions
The Jewish national revival and the community's efforts to rebuild the country were strongly opposed by Arab nationalists. Their resentment erupted in periods of intense violence (1920, 1921, 1929, 1936-39), when unprovoked attacks were launched against the Jewish population, including the Hebron Massacre of 1929, as well as the harassment of Jewish transport, and the burning of fields and forests. Attempts to reach a dialogue with the Arabs, undertaken early in the Zionist endeavor, were ultimately unsuccessful, polarizing Zionism and Arab nationalism into a potentially explosive situation.Recognizing the opposing aims of the two national movements, the British recommended (1937) dividing the country into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, to be linked by an economic union. The Jewish leadership accepted the idea of partition and empowered the Jewish Agency to negotiate with the British government in an effort to reformulate various aspects of the proposal. The Arabs were uncompromisingly against any partition plan.
The Road to Independence
Britain's inability to reconcile the conflicting demands of the Jewish and Arab communities led the British government to request that the 'Question of Palestine' be placed on the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly (April 1947). As a result, a special committee was constituted to draft proposals concerning the country's future. On 29 November 1947, the Assembly voted to adopt the committee's recommendation to partition the land into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. The Jewish community accepted the plan; the Arabs rejected it.
The State of Israel is born
On 14 May 1948, Israel proclaimed its independence. Less than 24 hours later, the regular armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded the country, forcing Israel to defend the sovereignty it had regained in its ancestral homeland.In what became known as Israel's War of Independence, the newly formed, poorly equipped Israel Defense Forces (IDF) repulsed the invaders in fierce intermittent fighting, which lasted some 15 months and claimed over 6,000 Israeli lives (nearly one percent of the country's Jewish population at the time).During the first months of 1949, direct negotiations were conducted under UN auspices between Israel and each of the invading countries (except Iraq, which refused to negotiate with Israel), resulting in armistice agreements which reflected the situation at the end of the fighting.Accordingly, the Coastal Plain, Galilee and the entire Negev were within Israel's sovereignty, Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) came under Jordanian rule, the Gaza Strip came under Egyptian administration, and the city of Jerusalem was divided, with Jordan controlling the eastern part, including the Old City, and Israel the western sector.
1956 Sinai Campaign
The years of state-building were overshadowed by serious security problems. The 1949 armistice agreements had not only failed to pave the way to permanent peace, but were also constantly violated.
In contradiction to the UN Security Council Resolution of 1 September 1951, Israeli and Israel-bound shipping was prevented from passing through the Suez Canal; the blockade of the Straits of Tiran was tightened; incursions into Israel of terrorist squads from neighboring Arab countries for murder and sabotage occurred with increasing frequency; and the Sinai peninsula was gradually converted into a huge Egyptian military base.
Upon the signing of a tripartite military alliance by Egypt, Syria and Jordan (October 1956), the imminent threat to Israel's existence was intensified. In the course of an eight-day campaign, the IDF captured the Gaza Strip and the entire Sinai Peninsula, halting 10 miles (16 km.) east of the Suez Canal.
A United Nations decision to station a UN Emergency Force (UNEF) along the Egypt-Israel border and Egyptian assurances of free navigation in the Gulf of Eilat led Israel to agree to withdraw in stages (November 1956 - March 1957) from the areas taken a few weeks earlier. Consequently, the Straits of Tiran were opened, enabling the development of trade with Asian and East African countries, as well as oil imports from the Persian Gulf.
1967 Six-Day War
Hopes for another decade of relative tranquility were dashed with the escalation of Arab terrorist raids across the Egyptian and Jordanian borders, persistent Syrian artillery bombardment of agricultural settlements in northern Galilee, and massive military build-ups by the neighboring Arab states. When Egypt again moved large numbers of troops into the Sinai desert (May 1967), ordered the UN peacekeeping forces (deployed since 1957) out of the area, reimposed the blockade of the Straits of Tiran, and entered into a military alliance with Jordan, Israel found itself faced by hostile Arab armies on all fronts.
As Israel's neighbors prepared to destroy the Jewish state, Israel invoked its inherent right of self-defense, launching a preemptive strike (5 June 1967) against Egypt in the South, followed by a counterattack against Jordan in the East and the routing of Syrian forces entrenched on the Golan Heights in the North.
At the end of six days of fighting, previous cease-fire lines were replaced by new ones, with Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Sinai peninsula, and the Golan Heights under Israel's control. As a result, the northern villages were freed from 19 years of recurrent Syrian shelling; the passage of Israeli and Israel-bound shipping through the Straits of Tiran was ensured; and Jerusalem, which had been divided under Israeli and Jordanian rule since 1949, was reunified under Israel's authority.
From War to War
After the war, Israel's diplomatic challenge was to translate its military gains into a permanent peace based on UN Security Council Resolution 242, which called for acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of every state in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.
However, the Arab position, as formulated at the Khartoum Summit (August 1967) called for no peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel, and no recognition of Israel. In September 1968, Egypt initiated a 'war of attrition,' with sporadic, static actions along the banks of the Suez Canal, which escalated into full-scale, localized fighting, causing heavy casualties on both sides. Hostilities ended in 1970, when Egypt and Israel accepted a renewed cease-fire along the Suez Canal.
1973 Yom Kippur War
Three years of relative calm along the borders were shattered on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the holiest day of the Jewish year, when Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise assault against Israel (6 October 1973), with the Egyptian Army crossing the Suez Canal and Syrian troops penetrating the Golan Heights.
During the next three weeks, the Israel Defense Forces turned the tide of battle and repulsed the attackers, crossing the Suez Canal into Egypt and advancing to within 20 miles (32 km.) of the Syrian capital, Damascus. Two years of difficult negotiations between Israel and Egypt and between Israel and Syria resulted in disengagement agreements, according to which Israel withdrew from parts of the territories captured during the war.
TERRORISM
Arab and Palestinian terrorism against Israel existed for decades prior to the establishment of the State of Israel and since then. Thousands of terrorist attacks which resulted in the death and injury of Israeli civilians occurred during the two decades preceding the 1967 Six Day War (which led to Israel's presence in the territories). The establishment of the PLO in 1964 put it at the forefront of this terrorist campaign.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the various terrorist organizations under the PLO launched numerous attacks inside Israel and abroad. One of the most notorious attacks was the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
In spite of the Palestinian commitment made in 1993 to renounce terrorism, thus providing the basis for the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, terrorist attacks nonetheless continued, and strongly intensified since September 2000, resulting in the death of more than a thousand Israeli civilians and the wounding of many thousands more....
My thoughts.
Having established the historical fact of Israel having always been the home of the Jews, let us assume for the moment that the Palestinians had some legitimate claim to the land. Given that premise then the United States and all it's citizenry should concede all the land we took back to the Native Americans and leave. We should also then not so much as flinch if the Mexican government shells us and attempts to shove us out of lands that they once had in the south west. If we are going to tell Israel what they should do with land that is rightfully theirs then we should follow suit and do the same here.
We also need to understand that anyone living in Israel, Jew, Arab, Christian, whom ever has the right to be an Israeli citizen. They can serve in the military and belong to the government and have the kind of freedom that people in other Arab and Muslim nations only dream about.
What the Palestinians and in fact the entire Arab world wants is nothing more then the annihilation of the Jewish people and control of all of Israel.
If you are a Christian or a Jew, then you should recognize the fact that the land belongs to the Jews and was given to them by God. Long after every other nation on the earth has crumbled and fallen into historical insignificance Israel and the Jewish people will still be here because they are Gods chosen. These are the facts.
If your not religious at all then I would simply ask you to look at the historical records, go and search the internet and look for the truth that your not getting here in the US.
I stand with Israel and I oppose a two state solution, when the simplest thing would be for the Palestinians to stop trying to kill the Jewish people and become law abiding citizens of Israel. They could be the ones to actually show the rest of the Arab nations what democracy and freedom is really about. Who knows how much more that would accomplish instead of all the hate and violence.
It amazes me that a people, as small in number as the Jews are such a hated group of people. I think the entire population is something like 14 million worldwide and yet for such a small group they are hated beyond all measure. A friend once suggested to me that it was because of the time they wandered in the desert fighting people or because they took over the land of Canaan. Others have suggested that it's because they killed Jesus. Neither of these explanations really make any sense though.
Jews have been in Israel for 4,000 years, they conquered the various nations that were there thousands of years before this current batch of hatred ever began. The only people after that that they had a running war with was the a nation of people known as the Philistines. This again is a nation of people who no longer exists ( this is where the name Palestine came from via the Romans) but it had nothing to do with Israel, it had to do with other more powerful nations that ran them all over such as the Romans or earlier the Persians and Babylonians. So if the argument is because of something that happened thousands of years ago, then why are we not trying to kill off Germans or Japanese or Russians etc. for all their destructive ways during the early half of the 20th century? That at least is recent history. Shouldn't we then deny them their rightful homeland and try to kill them all? Those nations did more then just take land that was theirs, they took entire nations and killed millions, and yet we as a whole have forgiven and let the past be the past. But not so for the Jewish people who's conquering days ended thousands of years ago.
It can't be that the killed Jesus, though for thousands of years that had been Christianities excuse, because most Arabs and Palestinians are Muslim. While they may see Jesus as a martyred prophet, they don't see him as god and, in fact, given the opportunity, those radicals would kill off Christians as well.
So really there isn't a legitimate reason for the hatred.
So what is the historical record then?
In this historical account I am skipping all of the OT references to the Jewish people simply because many of you who read this would not except it as historically accurate, though personally I do, and instead have focused on various historical references that any one can find if they are willing to take the time to look. What I have compiled here is only a partial list of all the historical references . One note, I don't site all my sources simply because it would take to long and this is a blog not a book, but I take no credit for any of this except for taking the time to actually research.
So starting with King Cyrus of the Persian empire:
Following a decree by the Persian King Cyrus, conqueror of the Babylonian empire (538 BCE), some 50,000 Jews set out on the first return to the Land of Israel, led by Zerubbabel, a descendant of the House of David. Less than a century later, the second return was led by Ezra the Scribe. Over the next four centuries, the Jews knew varying degrees of self-rule under Persian (538-333 BCE) and later Hellenistic (Ptolemaic and Seleucid) overlordship (332-142 BCE).
Hasmonean Dynasty (142-63 BCE)
First led by Mattathias of the priestly Hasmonean family and then by his son Judah the Maccabee, the Jews subsequently entered Jerusalem and purified the Temple (164 BCE), events commemorated each year by the festival of Hannuka.
Following further Hasmonean victories (147 BCE), the Seleucids restored autonomy to Judea, as the Land of Israel was now called, and, with the collapse of the Seleucid kingdom (129 BCE), Jewish independence was achieved. Under the Hasmonean dynasty, which lasted about 80 years, the kingdom regained boundaries not far short of Solomon’s realm, political consolidation under Jewish rule was attained and Jewish life flourished.
Roman Rule (63 BCE-313 CE)
When the Romans replaced the Seleucids as the great power in the region, they granted the Hasmonean king, Hyrcanus II, had limited authority under the Roman governor of Damascus. The Jews were hostile to the new regime, and the following years witnessed frequent insurrections. A last attempt to restore the former glory of the Hasmonean dynasty was made by Mattathias Antigonus, whose defeat and death brought Hasmonean rule to an end (40 BCE), and the Land became a province of the Roman Empire.
In 37 BCE Herod, a son-in-law of Hyrcanus II, was appointed King of Judea by the Romans. Granted almost unlimited autonomy in the country’s internal affairs, he became one of the most powerful monarchs in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. A great admirer of Greco-Roman culture, Herod launched a massive construction program, which included the cities of Caesarea and Sebaste and the fortresses at Herodium and Masada. He also remodeled the Temple into one of the most magnificent buildings of its time. But despite his many achievements, Herod failed to win the trust and support of his Jewish subjects....
The total destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple was catastrophic for the Jewish people. According to the contemporary historian Josephus Flavius, hundreds of thousands of Jews perished in the siege of Jerusalem and elsewhere in the country, and many thousands more were sold into slavery.....
Although the Temple had been destroyed and Jerusalem burned to the ground, the Jews and Judaism survived the encounter with Rome. The supreme legislative and judicial body, the Sanhedrin (successor of the Knesset Hagedolah) was reconvened in Yavneh (70 CE), and later in Tiberias...
Without the unifying framework of a state and the Temple, the small remaining Jewish community gradually recovered, reinforced from time to time by returning exiles. Institutional and communal life was renewed, priests were replaced by rabbis and the synagogue became the focus of the Jewish communities, as evidenced by remnants of synagogues found at Capernaum, Korazin, Bar’am, Gamla, and elsewhere. Halakhah (Jewish religious law) served as the common bond among the Jews and was passed on from generation to generation.
Byzantine Rule (313-636)
By the end of the 4th century, following Emperor Constantine's adoption of Christianity (313) and the founding of the Byzantine Empire, the Land of Israel had become a predominantly Christian country. Churches were built on Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Galilee, and monasteries were established in many parts of the country.
Jews were deprived of their former relative autonomy, as well as of their right to hold public positions, and were forbidden to enter Jerusalem except on one day of the year (Tisha B'av - ninth of Av) to mourn the destruction of the Temple....
Arab Rule (636-1099)
The Arab conquest of the Land came four years after the death of Muhammad (632) and lasted more than four centuries, with caliphs ruling first from Damascus, then from Baghdad and Egypt. At the outset, Jewish settlement in Jerusalem resumed, and the Jewish community was granted the customary status of dhimmi (protected non-Muslims), which safeguarded their lives, property, and freedom of worship, in return for payment of special poll and land taxes....
The Crusaders (1099-1291)
For the next 200 years, the country was dominated by the Crusaders who, following an appeal by Pope Urban II, came from Europe to recover the Holy Land from the infidels. In July 1099, after a five-week siege, the knights of the First Crusade and their rabble army captured Jerusalem, massacring most of the city's non-Christian inhabitants. Barricaded in their synagogues, the Jews defended their quarter, only to be burned to death or sold into slavery.
Ottoman Rule (1517-1917)
Following the Ottoman conquest in 1517, the Land was divided into four districts, attached administratively to the province of Damascus and ruled from Istanbul. At the outset of the Ottoman era, some 1,000 Jewish families lived in the country, mainly in Jerusalem, Nablus (Shechem), Hebron, Gaza, Safed (Tzfat) and the villages of Galilee. The community was comprised of descendants of Jews who had always lived in the Land, as well as immigrants from North Africa and Europe.
The 19th century saw medieval backwardness gradually give way to the first signs of progress, with various Western powers jockeying for position, often through missionary activities. British, French, and American scholars launched studies of biblical archeology; Britain, France, Russia, Austria, and the United States opened consulates in Jerusalem. Steamships began to ply regular routes to and from Europe; postal and telegraphic connections were installed; the first road connecting Jerusalem and Jaffa was built. The Land's rebirth as a crossroads for commerce of three continents was accelerated by the opening of the Suez Canal.
Consequently, the situation of the country's Jews slowly improved, and their numbers increased substantially. By mid-century, overcrowded conditions within the walled city of Jerusalem motivated the Jews to build the first neighborhood outside the walls (1860) and, in the next quarter century, to add seven more, forming the nucleus of the new city. By 1870, Jerusalem had an overall Jewish majority. Land for farming was purchased throughout the country; new rural settlements were established; and the Hebrew language, long restricted to liturgy and literature, was revived.
British Rule (1918-1948)
In July 1922, the League of Nations entrusted Great Britain with the Mandate for Palestine (the name by which the country was then known). Recognizing the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine, Great Britain was called upon to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine-Eretz Israel (Land of Israel). Two months later, in September 1922, the Council of the League of Nations and Great Britain decided that the provisions for setting up a Jewish national home would not apply to the area east of the Jordan River, which constituted three fourths of the territory included in the Mandate and eventually became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Arab Opposition and British Restrictions
The Jewish national revival and the community's efforts to rebuild the country were strongly opposed by Arab nationalists. Their resentment erupted in periods of intense violence (1920, 1921, 1929, 1936-39), when unprovoked attacks were launched against the Jewish population, including the Hebron Massacre of 1929, as well as the harassment of Jewish transport, and the burning of fields and forests. Attempts to reach a dialogue with the Arabs, undertaken early in the Zionist endeavor, were ultimately unsuccessful, polarizing Zionism and Arab nationalism into a potentially explosive situation.Recognizing the opposing aims of the two national movements, the British recommended (1937) dividing the country into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, to be linked by an economic union. The Jewish leadership accepted the idea of partition and empowered the Jewish Agency to negotiate with the British government in an effort to reformulate various aspects of the proposal. The Arabs were uncompromisingly against any partition plan.
The Road to Independence
Britain's inability to reconcile the conflicting demands of the Jewish and Arab communities led the British government to request that the 'Question of Palestine' be placed on the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly (April 1947). As a result, a special committee was constituted to draft proposals concerning the country's future. On 29 November 1947, the Assembly voted to adopt the committee's recommendation to partition the land into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. The Jewish community accepted the plan; the Arabs rejected it.
The State of Israel is born
On 14 May 1948, Israel proclaimed its independence. Less than 24 hours later, the regular armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded the country, forcing Israel to defend the sovereignty it had regained in its ancestral homeland.In what became known as Israel's War of Independence, the newly formed, poorly equipped Israel Defense Forces (IDF) repulsed the invaders in fierce intermittent fighting, which lasted some 15 months and claimed over 6,000 Israeli lives (nearly one percent of the country's Jewish population at the time).During the first months of 1949, direct negotiations were conducted under UN auspices between Israel and each of the invading countries (except Iraq, which refused to negotiate with Israel), resulting in armistice agreements which reflected the situation at the end of the fighting.Accordingly, the Coastal Plain, Galilee and the entire Negev were within Israel's sovereignty, Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) came under Jordanian rule, the Gaza Strip came under Egyptian administration, and the city of Jerusalem was divided, with Jordan controlling the eastern part, including the Old City, and Israel the western sector.
1956 Sinai Campaign
The years of state-building were overshadowed by serious security problems. The 1949 armistice agreements had not only failed to pave the way to permanent peace, but were also constantly violated.
In contradiction to the UN Security Council Resolution of 1 September 1951, Israeli and Israel-bound shipping was prevented from passing through the Suez Canal; the blockade of the Straits of Tiran was tightened; incursions into Israel of terrorist squads from neighboring Arab countries for murder and sabotage occurred with increasing frequency; and the Sinai peninsula was gradually converted into a huge Egyptian military base.
Upon the signing of a tripartite military alliance by Egypt, Syria and Jordan (October 1956), the imminent threat to Israel's existence was intensified. In the course of an eight-day campaign, the IDF captured the Gaza Strip and the entire Sinai Peninsula, halting 10 miles (16 km.) east of the Suez Canal.
A United Nations decision to station a UN Emergency Force (UNEF) along the Egypt-Israel border and Egyptian assurances of free navigation in the Gulf of Eilat led Israel to agree to withdraw in stages (November 1956 - March 1957) from the areas taken a few weeks earlier. Consequently, the Straits of Tiran were opened, enabling the development of trade with Asian and East African countries, as well as oil imports from the Persian Gulf.
1967 Six-Day War
Hopes for another decade of relative tranquility were dashed with the escalation of Arab terrorist raids across the Egyptian and Jordanian borders, persistent Syrian artillery bombardment of agricultural settlements in northern Galilee, and massive military build-ups by the neighboring Arab states. When Egypt again moved large numbers of troops into the Sinai desert (May 1967), ordered the UN peacekeeping forces (deployed since 1957) out of the area, reimposed the blockade of the Straits of Tiran, and entered into a military alliance with Jordan, Israel found itself faced by hostile Arab armies on all fronts.
As Israel's neighbors prepared to destroy the Jewish state, Israel invoked its inherent right of self-defense, launching a preemptive strike (5 June 1967) against Egypt in the South, followed by a counterattack against Jordan in the East and the routing of Syrian forces entrenched on the Golan Heights in the North.
At the end of six days of fighting, previous cease-fire lines were replaced by new ones, with Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Sinai peninsula, and the Golan Heights under Israel's control. As a result, the northern villages were freed from 19 years of recurrent Syrian shelling; the passage of Israeli and Israel-bound shipping through the Straits of Tiran was ensured; and Jerusalem, which had been divided under Israeli and Jordanian rule since 1949, was reunified under Israel's authority.
From War to War
After the war, Israel's diplomatic challenge was to translate its military gains into a permanent peace based on UN Security Council Resolution 242, which called for acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of every state in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.
However, the Arab position, as formulated at the Khartoum Summit (August 1967) called for no peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel, and no recognition of Israel. In September 1968, Egypt initiated a 'war of attrition,' with sporadic, static actions along the banks of the Suez Canal, which escalated into full-scale, localized fighting, causing heavy casualties on both sides. Hostilities ended in 1970, when Egypt and Israel accepted a renewed cease-fire along the Suez Canal.
1973 Yom Kippur War
Three years of relative calm along the borders were shattered on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the holiest day of the Jewish year, when Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise assault against Israel (6 October 1973), with the Egyptian Army crossing the Suez Canal and Syrian troops penetrating the Golan Heights.
During the next three weeks, the Israel Defense Forces turned the tide of battle and repulsed the attackers, crossing the Suez Canal into Egypt and advancing to within 20 miles (32 km.) of the Syrian capital, Damascus. Two years of difficult negotiations between Israel and Egypt and between Israel and Syria resulted in disengagement agreements, according to which Israel withdrew from parts of the territories captured during the war.
TERRORISM
Arab and Palestinian terrorism against Israel existed for decades prior to the establishment of the State of Israel and since then. Thousands of terrorist attacks which resulted in the death and injury of Israeli civilians occurred during the two decades preceding the 1967 Six Day War (which led to Israel's presence in the territories). The establishment of the PLO in 1964 put it at the forefront of this terrorist campaign.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the various terrorist organizations under the PLO launched numerous attacks inside Israel and abroad. One of the most notorious attacks was the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
In spite of the Palestinian commitment made in 1993 to renounce terrorism, thus providing the basis for the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, terrorist attacks nonetheless continued, and strongly intensified since September 2000, resulting in the death of more than a thousand Israeli civilians and the wounding of many thousands more....
My thoughts.
Having established the historical fact of Israel having always been the home of the Jews, let us assume for the moment that the Palestinians had some legitimate claim to the land. Given that premise then the United States and all it's citizenry should concede all the land we took back to the Native Americans and leave. We should also then not so much as flinch if the Mexican government shells us and attempts to shove us out of lands that they once had in the south west. If we are going to tell Israel what they should do with land that is rightfully theirs then we should follow suit and do the same here.
We also need to understand that anyone living in Israel, Jew, Arab, Christian, whom ever has the right to be an Israeli citizen. They can serve in the military and belong to the government and have the kind of freedom that people in other Arab and Muslim nations only dream about.
What the Palestinians and in fact the entire Arab world wants is nothing more then the annihilation of the Jewish people and control of all of Israel.
If you are a Christian or a Jew, then you should recognize the fact that the land belongs to the Jews and was given to them by God. Long after every other nation on the earth has crumbled and fallen into historical insignificance Israel and the Jewish people will still be here because they are Gods chosen. These are the facts.
If your not religious at all then I would simply ask you to look at the historical records, go and search the internet and look for the truth that your not getting here in the US.
I stand with Israel and I oppose a two state solution, when the simplest thing would be for the Palestinians to stop trying to kill the Jewish people and become law abiding citizens of Israel. They could be the ones to actually show the rest of the Arab nations what democracy and freedom is really about. Who knows how much more that would accomplish instead of all the hate and violence.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Star Trek and Hobbits
I have an idea. I know it's kind of scary to actually believe that anyone could possibly have an original idea, but I think I might have one.
What would happen if we combined the world of Star Trek and the world of Hobbits? Just imagine it: a world with the science and technology of Star Trek combined with the common sense and earthiness of Hobbits? What would a world like that look like?
I love both of those universes. With Star Trek you get all the cool hi-tech gadgets and gizmos along with an advanced civilization that has not only the world unified but has put an end to poverty, disease, war and greed. With the Hobbits you get the peace and quiet that comes from a simple life of farming as well as a the simple enjoyments of good food and drink with long time friends and family. The one thing that they both seem to have in common is the lack of greed and poverty and a desire to see their universes live in peace. What a concept.
Back in July and early August we heard much political rhetoric as to how the people of one party or the other was going to cause massive damage to our economy, if they didn't compromise on taxes or on spending. And that the middle class was going to die a nasty death, adding to the number of poor in this nation. So they came together and sang Kumbaya and fixed nothing while patting themselves on the back for doing so. Now I will grant you the Kumbaya was preferable to all the insults and nastiness, but in the long run, none of what happened is going to fix anything. They just reset the fuse that was all.
This is a question I have to ask myself, as well as you, what does happen if the government money dries up? I am a disabled vet. I depend on the pay I receive, just like many others do, so what happens when it all falls apart and who, ultimately, is responsible for the care of the poor and needy? A friend of mine answered that question one day with the answer being "you are". I agree with that sentiment, to a certain point, that if a person is able to do something to improve their situation then they should, but what do you do with those that are truly poor and destitute? Who then is really responsible for them?
In both the worlds of Star Trek and the Hobbits you see worlds where that isn't an issue. Have you ever heard of a skinny Hobbit? Or how about someone going into Star Fleet because they were too poor for college? Nope, it doesn't happen in their worlds.
Many people that I know would instantly say that the government is responsible for caring for the needy and that they should provide everything from housing to schooling all on the tax payers backs. Or better yet, we should tax the super wealthy to fund these programs and make them pay more of thier money to help the poor. Others would suggest that we could cut spending on useless programs that don't benefit anyone and use some of those funds to help pay for all the social programs that actually do help. In other words, no matter what aisle you swing from, it's the governments responsibility.
Now, I am not arguing and suggesting that there weren't some good ideas out there from both sides of the aisle, not to mention some rather creative ones I read about on various blogs, but two things have been missing from this whole debate; you and me.
I realize that we can't turn back the clock to the old days of barn raising and neighbors actually caring for each other and I realize that we don't live in either the Hobbit or Star Trek universes, but is it really that hard of an idea about going back to the notion of communities caring for their own, to give a hand up, not a hand out? Have we become so accustomed to thinking only of ourselves that we willingly give our own responsibility for our neighbors to the government? And do you really believe that the powers that be really care whether or not you get any services or benefits? If they did they would never have allowed for things to get as bad as they have. In the end they are really only interested in the next election and trying to make them selves look good.
So I see that we really have two choices, we can continue with all the political rhetoric and the singing of Kumbaya, while accomplishing nothing, or we can try to make our own world, starting with you and me, a little more Hobbit or Star Trek like and pray that it spreads to everyone else.
Beam me down Scotty I want some Long Bottom Leaf and some ale from the Shire.
What would happen if we combined the world of Star Trek and the world of Hobbits? Just imagine it: a world with the science and technology of Star Trek combined with the common sense and earthiness of Hobbits? What would a world like that look like?
I love both of those universes. With Star Trek you get all the cool hi-tech gadgets and gizmos along with an advanced civilization that has not only the world unified but has put an end to poverty, disease, war and greed. With the Hobbits you get the peace and quiet that comes from a simple life of farming as well as a the simple enjoyments of good food and drink with long time friends and family. The one thing that they both seem to have in common is the lack of greed and poverty and a desire to see their universes live in peace. What a concept.
Back in July and early August we heard much political rhetoric as to how the people of one party or the other was going to cause massive damage to our economy, if they didn't compromise on taxes or on spending. And that the middle class was going to die a nasty death, adding to the number of poor in this nation. So they came together and sang Kumbaya and fixed nothing while patting themselves on the back for doing so. Now I will grant you the Kumbaya was preferable to all the insults and nastiness, but in the long run, none of what happened is going to fix anything. They just reset the fuse that was all.
This is a question I have to ask myself, as well as you, what does happen if the government money dries up? I am a disabled vet. I depend on the pay I receive, just like many others do, so what happens when it all falls apart and who, ultimately, is responsible for the care of the poor and needy? A friend of mine answered that question one day with the answer being "you are". I agree with that sentiment, to a certain point, that if a person is able to do something to improve their situation then they should, but what do you do with those that are truly poor and destitute? Who then is really responsible for them?
In both the worlds of Star Trek and the Hobbits you see worlds where that isn't an issue. Have you ever heard of a skinny Hobbit? Or how about someone going into Star Fleet because they were too poor for college? Nope, it doesn't happen in their worlds.
Many people that I know would instantly say that the government is responsible for caring for the needy and that they should provide everything from housing to schooling all on the tax payers backs. Or better yet, we should tax the super wealthy to fund these programs and make them pay more of thier money to help the poor. Others would suggest that we could cut spending on useless programs that don't benefit anyone and use some of those funds to help pay for all the social programs that actually do help. In other words, no matter what aisle you swing from, it's the governments responsibility.
Now, I am not arguing and suggesting that there weren't some good ideas out there from both sides of the aisle, not to mention some rather creative ones I read about on various blogs, but two things have been missing from this whole debate; you and me.
I realize that we can't turn back the clock to the old days of barn raising and neighbors actually caring for each other and I realize that we don't live in either the Hobbit or Star Trek universes, but is it really that hard of an idea about going back to the notion of communities caring for their own, to give a hand up, not a hand out? Have we become so accustomed to thinking only of ourselves that we willingly give our own responsibility for our neighbors to the government? And do you really believe that the powers that be really care whether or not you get any services or benefits? If they did they would never have allowed for things to get as bad as they have. In the end they are really only interested in the next election and trying to make them selves look good.
So I see that we really have two choices, we can continue with all the political rhetoric and the singing of Kumbaya, while accomplishing nothing, or we can try to make our own world, starting with you and me, a little more Hobbit or Star Trek like and pray that it spreads to everyone else.
Beam me down Scotty I want some Long Bottom Leaf and some ale from the Shire.
Monday, August 1, 2011
A Stargate, A Marine, And An Unhappy Civillian
Have you ever found yourself in a life and death situation where you believed that the odds were against you to survive what you were going through? Have you ever known what it like look at a camera and have only a few minutes of time to express to your loved ones just how much you miss them and love them? I have.
I was reminded of this just recently while watching "Star Gate Atlantis" with my family the other night. In this particular episode the "Wraith" ,creatures who make Vampires look down right friendly, are about to attack them with such an overwhelming force that they decide to send as much information back to Earth as they can through a compressed micro burst through the star gate. They lack enough power to go through themselves, but they could spare just enough to send messages. So during the course of the episode they showed various people recording their messages while they were waiting to become the latest feeding ground for the wraith. I did find it kind of odd at just how calm they were while they were doing it and one man actually spent his time sending a formal complaint against the leader of the expedition! For my part when my time came to do the very same thing, just before the war in Iraq started, I had all I could do not to cry, never mind complain about my commanding officer. I missed my family badly and just like our intrepid heroes I thought this would likely be the last time I got to speak to them.
The reason I bring this up is because of an article that I read a few days ago, written by a Laurence M. Vance on the Alex Jones web site. Normally I don't write about others articles though I may comment from time to time and generally I get a lot of good information from the Alex Jones page, but this particular article kind of rubbed me the wrong way.
The title of the article was entitled "Thank you for your service?" and was really an article doing little more then showing his arrogance and his real ignorance about what it is to serve in the military. His overall opinion is that he doesn't believe that any of us should thank our military for their service because everything that they are doing, in his enlightened opinion of course, is patently wrong and is not worthy of any kind of praise.
As I have clearly stated before, I don't think that we should be in Iraq or Afghanistan or any other place that we are currently involved in, but I only came to this conclusion after actually serving in the military and going to Iraq. I spent probably 3 or 4 years after my return, reading everything that I could find about all that was going on behind the scenes, before I was finally convinced that this was wrong and we had all been lied to.
Where Mr. Vance shows his ignorance and his arrogance in the way he speaks of your average troops. His opinion would suggest that all of us that were in were nothing but murderous war mongers who really enjoy the idea of killing people, and who were essentially too stupid to stand up and say no to all this madness and none of us are worthy of thanking.
Let me make this very clear to anyone who agrees with him , you have that right and I would fight to defend your right to your opinion, in fact he can have his opinion and I will respect that opinion, though I disagree with him, because this is a part of our rights and freedoms, but let me, as respectfully as I know how, speak of where I disagree.
When you enlist in the military you essentially sign away all your rights. You swear to defend the Constitution and obey orders from those that are above you and that is about where your freedom ends. Everything that you do from the moment you enter boot camp until the day you are discharged is regulated by military life and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Even the lives of your spouse and children are controlled, to a lesser degree, and you do not have the luxury of disobeying orders, unless they are in clear violation of the UCMJ or are morally wrong. I agree that you can't just go out and shoot civilians or rape and pillage villages just for the sheer fun of it and I also understand that there are some morons out there who do those things regardless, but you can't blame all that on your average soldier or Marine. Most are honorable men and women who believe that they are doing the right thing by serving their country, where ever they are sent.
You should go to a military base and watch as a unit is about to be deployed to see if you can figure out what is going on in the minds of those that are leaving, and their families. No one is thinking about blowing up a city or contemplating that your going to have to kill someone or that you might be killed, though that is always in the back of your mind, no, your thought and emotions are focused on those that you are leaving behind, will they be OK? Will you ever see them again? You aren't thinking about the politics behind the war, because you have no say, you are focused on your family. The day that I left was one of the hardest things that I ever had to do, I held on to my wife as long as I could and then sat on the bus watching my two children play on the loading docks completely oblivious of what was going on around them. I had grown men, tell me later that my kids brought tears to their eyes because it reminded them of just what we were leaving behind.
One other thing you must understand, all of us , at that time, believed what we had been told. Most Americans did and still do. When I made my recording, I had just come back from a patrol up near the Iraq border and I was tired. I had been sick from a 2 week case of dysentery and I had just recently been informed that I was going to be with one of the first units going in when it started. Yes I knew the potential of going to war when I signed, but the reality of it didn't really hit me until that moment and, as I stated earlier, I had all I could do to control myself long enough to get a clear message to my wife and children. Until you have been in this position you don't have the right to pass judgement on me or anyone else who has had to do the same. Your against the war? Great you have that right, and I agree with you. You don't want to thank me for my service, that too is your right and it is one I will defend, but you do not have the right to make judgement calls and insult us just because you disagree with the governments wars.
Just like the folks from Star gate Atlantis we had a mission to accomplish and just like them we were in a real life, life and death struggle. We are not a bunch of "heroes" we are simply people just like you that have dreams and that missed their families and wanted nothing more then to be with them. So before you pass judgement on me or anyone else, put yourself in our place and then decide with clearer eyes what kind of people we are. Military personnel shouldn't be your target, those that decide what to do with them should be.
I was reminded of this just recently while watching "Star Gate Atlantis" with my family the other night. In this particular episode the "Wraith" ,creatures who make Vampires look down right friendly, are about to attack them with such an overwhelming force that they decide to send as much information back to Earth as they can through a compressed micro burst through the star gate. They lack enough power to go through themselves, but they could spare just enough to send messages. So during the course of the episode they showed various people recording their messages while they were waiting to become the latest feeding ground for the wraith. I did find it kind of odd at just how calm they were while they were doing it and one man actually spent his time sending a formal complaint against the leader of the expedition! For my part when my time came to do the very same thing, just before the war in Iraq started, I had all I could do not to cry, never mind complain about my commanding officer. I missed my family badly and just like our intrepid heroes I thought this would likely be the last time I got to speak to them.
The reason I bring this up is because of an article that I read a few days ago, written by a Laurence M. Vance on the Alex Jones web site. Normally I don't write about others articles though I may comment from time to time and generally I get a lot of good information from the Alex Jones page, but this particular article kind of rubbed me the wrong way.
The title of the article was entitled "Thank you for your service?" and was really an article doing little more then showing his arrogance and his real ignorance about what it is to serve in the military. His overall opinion is that he doesn't believe that any of us should thank our military for their service because everything that they are doing, in his enlightened opinion of course, is patently wrong and is not worthy of any kind of praise.
As I have clearly stated before, I don't think that we should be in Iraq or Afghanistan or any other place that we are currently involved in, but I only came to this conclusion after actually serving in the military and going to Iraq. I spent probably 3 or 4 years after my return, reading everything that I could find about all that was going on behind the scenes, before I was finally convinced that this was wrong and we had all been lied to.
Where Mr. Vance shows his ignorance and his arrogance in the way he speaks of your average troops. His opinion would suggest that all of us that were in were nothing but murderous war mongers who really enjoy the idea of killing people, and who were essentially too stupid to stand up and say no to all this madness and none of us are worthy of thanking.
Let me make this very clear to anyone who agrees with him , you have that right and I would fight to defend your right to your opinion, in fact he can have his opinion and I will respect that opinion, though I disagree with him, because this is a part of our rights and freedoms, but let me, as respectfully as I know how, speak of where I disagree.
When you enlist in the military you essentially sign away all your rights. You swear to defend the Constitution and obey orders from those that are above you and that is about where your freedom ends. Everything that you do from the moment you enter boot camp until the day you are discharged is regulated by military life and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Even the lives of your spouse and children are controlled, to a lesser degree, and you do not have the luxury of disobeying orders, unless they are in clear violation of the UCMJ or are morally wrong. I agree that you can't just go out and shoot civilians or rape and pillage villages just for the sheer fun of it and I also understand that there are some morons out there who do those things regardless, but you can't blame all that on your average soldier or Marine. Most are honorable men and women who believe that they are doing the right thing by serving their country, where ever they are sent.
You should go to a military base and watch as a unit is about to be deployed to see if you can figure out what is going on in the minds of those that are leaving, and their families. No one is thinking about blowing up a city or contemplating that your going to have to kill someone or that you might be killed, though that is always in the back of your mind, no, your thought and emotions are focused on those that you are leaving behind, will they be OK? Will you ever see them again? You aren't thinking about the politics behind the war, because you have no say, you are focused on your family. The day that I left was one of the hardest things that I ever had to do, I held on to my wife as long as I could and then sat on the bus watching my two children play on the loading docks completely oblivious of what was going on around them. I had grown men, tell me later that my kids brought tears to their eyes because it reminded them of just what we were leaving behind.
One other thing you must understand, all of us , at that time, believed what we had been told. Most Americans did and still do. When I made my recording, I had just come back from a patrol up near the Iraq border and I was tired. I had been sick from a 2 week case of dysentery and I had just recently been informed that I was going to be with one of the first units going in when it started. Yes I knew the potential of going to war when I signed, but the reality of it didn't really hit me until that moment and, as I stated earlier, I had all I could do to control myself long enough to get a clear message to my wife and children. Until you have been in this position you don't have the right to pass judgement on me or anyone else who has had to do the same. Your against the war? Great you have that right, and I agree with you. You don't want to thank me for my service, that too is your right and it is one I will defend, but you do not have the right to make judgement calls and insult us just because you disagree with the governments wars.
Just like the folks from Star gate Atlantis we had a mission to accomplish and just like them we were in a real life, life and death struggle. We are not a bunch of "heroes" we are simply people just like you that have dreams and that missed their families and wanted nothing more then to be with them. So before you pass judgement on me or anyone else, put yourself in our place and then decide with clearer eyes what kind of people we are. Military personnel shouldn't be your target, those that decide what to do with them should be.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
What Is Family?
What is family? Is it a matter of blood and genetics, or is it something more then that, perhaps something that not as definable as DNA ?
I think this would depend on how you define "family". The dictionary defines family as "A fundamental social group in society consisting of esp. of a man and woman and their offspring. A group of people sharing a common ancestry or all the members of a household under one roof."
I have some problems with that definition, first it's out of date. I believe that any couple, straight or gay can quite successfully be a family, whether or not the kids are biological or adopted. Just being a part of an ethnic group doesn't work either because I have had the pleasure of extreme prejudice based on my name and in the reverse because I didn't look quite right to bear that name. I have lived under a roof with people who I wouldn't claim as family if they were the only ones to have me! So the question "what is family" still remains.
I posted this question on Facebook to see what kind of thoughts that others might have and the answers were not surprising. Basically the belief is that a family consists of two people who are raising children that they love. There was one gentleman who suggested that this could only be achieved if one was a mom as in female and the other was a dad as in male. I disagree with this notion. First of all I personally know Gay couples that are raising children and are doing a wonderful job at it, far better then the raising that I had, and I know of single moms and dads who are doing the best that they can with what they have. Yes, they have problems as well, but show me a family that doesn't. I am not saying that straight people cant raise children properly, what I am saying though is that that is not the only viable option. Children need parents that are going to love them and nurture them, discipline them when needed and love on them continuously.
What did surprise me was the people that weren't mentioned. Grandparent's , Aunts , Uncles or even cousins. Then there are those who are not related at all yet they are loved as family.Those were actually some of the kinds of people that I was looking for in the answers, so I changed the question a bit and asked "who outside of your immediate spouse and children do you see as family?" The overall response to that was the idea that it was a group of people with shared experience, who love and nurture one another through good times and bad.
I remember, when I was real young, there was a man and wife who sort of adopted me and my brother and we called them Aunt Dawn and Uncle Frank. They were not actually related to us in any way but I didn't know or understand that when I was that young, but I do remember going to school with their real nieces and nephews and being teased about it and being informed that they were not my family. I was devastated by the news, but then aunt Dawn sat me down on her lap and explained to me that though I wasn't related to her she was my aunt because she loved me as her own. I have never forgot that. There was another woman who, particularly in my teenage years, took me under her wing and treated me as her own son and helped during some very tough times. None of these people were in anyway related to me , yet they were more then blood , they were family as it is meant to be.
I believe that family is something that goes way beyond blood and is more defined by common bonds due to any number of situations or simply based on our love for others. My brother and I are family by all the things that I have suggested and we share blood as well. My cousin who lives in Maine is also one who I consider to be family for the same reasons. That is about where my list of blood relatives, short of my children of course, comes to an end. Out side of blood relations though I have many whom I consider to be family. I have a friend in Oklahoma, whom I consider to be a brother because we went to war together and I can tell you that war will bond you in a way that few other experiences will. I have many friends in Vermont that we have known for so long, done so much with, that I consider them to be family and I love their kids like they were my own. I have friends here in New Hampshire that we picked up our friendship like we had never parted, just as natural as you could want, they are family to me.
So here is my own definition of what family is or can be; Family can be almost any combination of people in a home or in a community that have a common bond of friendship, beliefs and love. It is not necessary that you agree with each other all the time, nor does it need to fit into one particular mold, nor do you need to believe the same. What is needed is the common thread of love and nurturing one another. It is as simple as that. But then that just my Simple Minded thought.
I think this would depend on how you define "family". The dictionary defines family as "A fundamental social group in society consisting of esp. of a man and woman and their offspring. A group of people sharing a common ancestry or all the members of a household under one roof."
I have some problems with that definition, first it's out of date. I believe that any couple, straight or gay can quite successfully be a family, whether or not the kids are biological or adopted. Just being a part of an ethnic group doesn't work either because I have had the pleasure of extreme prejudice based on my name and in the reverse because I didn't look quite right to bear that name. I have lived under a roof with people who I wouldn't claim as family if they were the only ones to have me! So the question "what is family" still remains.
I posted this question on Facebook to see what kind of thoughts that others might have and the answers were not surprising. Basically the belief is that a family consists of two people who are raising children that they love. There was one gentleman who suggested that this could only be achieved if one was a mom as in female and the other was a dad as in male. I disagree with this notion. First of all I personally know Gay couples that are raising children and are doing a wonderful job at it, far better then the raising that I had, and I know of single moms and dads who are doing the best that they can with what they have. Yes, they have problems as well, but show me a family that doesn't. I am not saying that straight people cant raise children properly, what I am saying though is that that is not the only viable option. Children need parents that are going to love them and nurture them, discipline them when needed and love on them continuously.
What did surprise me was the people that weren't mentioned. Grandparent's , Aunts , Uncles or even cousins. Then there are those who are not related at all yet they are loved as family.Those were actually some of the kinds of people that I was looking for in the answers, so I changed the question a bit and asked "who outside of your immediate spouse and children do you see as family?" The overall response to that was the idea that it was a group of people with shared experience, who love and nurture one another through good times and bad.
I remember, when I was real young, there was a man and wife who sort of adopted me and my brother and we called them Aunt Dawn and Uncle Frank. They were not actually related to us in any way but I didn't know or understand that when I was that young, but I do remember going to school with their real nieces and nephews and being teased about it and being informed that they were not my family. I was devastated by the news, but then aunt Dawn sat me down on her lap and explained to me that though I wasn't related to her she was my aunt because she loved me as her own. I have never forgot that. There was another woman who, particularly in my teenage years, took me under her wing and treated me as her own son and helped during some very tough times. None of these people were in anyway related to me , yet they were more then blood , they were family as it is meant to be.
I believe that family is something that goes way beyond blood and is more defined by common bonds due to any number of situations or simply based on our love for others. My brother and I are family by all the things that I have suggested and we share blood as well. My cousin who lives in Maine is also one who I consider to be family for the same reasons. That is about where my list of blood relatives, short of my children of course, comes to an end. Out side of blood relations though I have many whom I consider to be family. I have a friend in Oklahoma, whom I consider to be a brother because we went to war together and I can tell you that war will bond you in a way that few other experiences will. I have many friends in Vermont that we have known for so long, done so much with, that I consider them to be family and I love their kids like they were my own. I have friends here in New Hampshire that we picked up our friendship like we had never parted, just as natural as you could want, they are family to me.
So here is my own definition of what family is or can be; Family can be almost any combination of people in a home or in a community that have a common bond of friendship, beliefs and love. It is not necessary that you agree with each other all the time, nor does it need to fit into one particular mold, nor do you need to believe the same. What is needed is the common thread of love and nurturing one another. It is as simple as that. But then that just my Simple Minded thought.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Feeling like a W@#$%
Today I feel like a whore. Yes, I did say whore. I have often wondered what it was like to be used by others for their own gratification and satisfaction. Now I know.
I say this in light of what has gone on, and is currently going on, in the government. Under President Bush thousands of us were sent off to fight in two wars. Under Obama our benefits are being threatened. We were used by Bush to benefit some major corporations and government personnel, all under the lie that it was for national security ,and we were used to make sure that he was re-elected. Under Obama we are being used as pawns by both parties to try and secure the next election by threatening to cut or eliminate our pay and benefits all the while blaming it on the other party for not budging. Yup I'm nothing but a whore, to be used by the powers that be to get what they want, more power.
My wife is looking for a job to try and help ease things, but,as you know, the economy is bad and jobs are scarce. Round and round we go.
So while they give their staffs millions in bonuses and drink $350 bottles of wine, I get to wonder if in the next month I'll be able to put food on the table or keep a roof over my head. Not a very pleasant thought.
Worse yet is that I don't think that enough people really understand what is at stake here. If they default, it could cause an economic meltdown all across the board, at least for the middle and lower class, not to mention what it can do to the world economy. If they raise taxes and cut benefits it will be the middle and lower classes that pay for it ( any taxes that are taken from the rich will be passed on to us as price increases and with less help for the poor, disaster) yet if they increase the debt ceiling you are just putting off the inevitable.
So what do we do? I haven't a clue. I take that back, I do have some ideas, but none that any one would seriously consider,especially those that are in power, simply because it wouldn't benefit them, so there is little point in saying anything more.
So today I am feeling like a whore, used up, and anticipating the biggest STD of my life, courtesy of the very government that sent me to war and helped put me in this position. Maybe it won't happen. Maybe they will come to some reasonable conclusion, but I won't hold my breath.
I say this in light of what has gone on, and is currently going on, in the government. Under President Bush thousands of us were sent off to fight in two wars. Under Obama our benefits are being threatened. We were used by Bush to benefit some major corporations and government personnel, all under the lie that it was for national security ,and we were used to make sure that he was re-elected. Under Obama we are being used as pawns by both parties to try and secure the next election by threatening to cut or eliminate our pay and benefits all the while blaming it on the other party for not budging. Yup I'm nothing but a whore, to be used by the powers that be to get what they want, more power.
My wife is looking for a job to try and help ease things, but,as you know, the economy is bad and jobs are scarce. Round and round we go.
So while they give their staffs millions in bonuses and drink $350 bottles of wine, I get to wonder if in the next month I'll be able to put food on the table or keep a roof over my head. Not a very pleasant thought.
Worse yet is that I don't think that enough people really understand what is at stake here. If they default, it could cause an economic meltdown all across the board, at least for the middle and lower class, not to mention what it can do to the world economy. If they raise taxes and cut benefits it will be the middle and lower classes that pay for it ( any taxes that are taken from the rich will be passed on to us as price increases and with less help for the poor, disaster) yet if they increase the debt ceiling you are just putting off the inevitable.
So what do we do? I haven't a clue. I take that back, I do have some ideas, but none that any one would seriously consider,especially those that are in power, simply because it wouldn't benefit them, so there is little point in saying anything more.
So today I am feeling like a whore, used up, and anticipating the biggest STD of my life, courtesy of the very government that sent me to war and helped put me in this position. Maybe it won't happen. Maybe they will come to some reasonable conclusion, but I won't hold my breath.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
The Constitution
Over the weekend I read a couple of articles suggesting that the Obama administration wanted to tighten gun controls via Executive order. Earlier this year I read where the supreme court had determined that you don't have a right to privacy and unreasonable search and seizure, that the police can enter your home without a warrant, go through all of your things and hold you indefinably, for no other reason then you might commit a crime. Combine all this with constitutional amendments violated by the Patriot act, which have been approved again, and you begin to see a picture of an imperial government that is only interested in endless war and squashing our liberties.
Now I know that some of you that are reading this believe that the government should regulate guns more or take them away all together.There are some who would say ,well if you have nothing to hide why should it matter that the police come into your house, or better yet, we haven't been attacked in the last 10 years or so, so the policies of the last two administrations are working.
If you are amongst those people let me ask you a question; do you read history? This song and dance has been done over and over again from the time of the Roman empire right up until now. You use fear of an outside entity that is going to do you great harm to get the people to give up their rights, with promises of protection, and then you slowly take their freedoms away. It's been done before and it is happening right now.
So I have a better idea. Why don't we just throw the whole constitution out. Why waste out time picking at all of the amendments, why don't we just get rid of them all and start over as some have suggested that we should?
I could give you a list of reasons why we should actually honor and follow the constitution, but why bother? Our government and president certainly don't follow it and it's been that way for the past decade or more, and most of the people in this country have never read it.So lets get rid of it. Worse yet are our students in high schools and colleges around this country are being taught that it is an obsolete document , written by a bunch of rich white guys, that it needs to change with the times.
Sad. These men that wrote it were not just students of history they lived it.These men were educated and they knew what they were doing when the wrote the constitution and signed the declaration of independence. All of them paid a heavy price for it, and now they are mocked or ridiculed.
So explain to me, if some of the more enlightened would,why you would want to give up your God given rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Governments historically have taken those things away from their people. Why would you want to give up your right to be secure in your person against illegal search and seizure? Why would you want to give up the right to free speech and expression,religion or the right to keep and bear arms,( one of Hitlers greatest moves was to disarm the populace) more importantly, just who are you going to trust to change it? Who would you want to be our moral compass in a time of mass government corruption? When their only real interest is their own pockets or the large corporations that control them.
What we have works quite well when we actually use it so why change it or allow it to be trampled on?
I'm not an educated man, but I have studied history and religion and I can tell you that what we are allowing to happen to our constitution and our nation will be our down fall if we don't put an end to the violations . Rather then abolish the constitution, we simply need to go back to actually using it.
Now I know that some of you that are reading this believe that the government should regulate guns more or take them away all together.There are some who would say ,well if you have nothing to hide why should it matter that the police come into your house, or better yet, we haven't been attacked in the last 10 years or so, so the policies of the last two administrations are working.
If you are amongst those people let me ask you a question; do you read history? This song and dance has been done over and over again from the time of the Roman empire right up until now. You use fear of an outside entity that is going to do you great harm to get the people to give up their rights, with promises of protection, and then you slowly take their freedoms away. It's been done before and it is happening right now.
So I have a better idea. Why don't we just throw the whole constitution out. Why waste out time picking at all of the amendments, why don't we just get rid of them all and start over as some have suggested that we should?
I could give you a list of reasons why we should actually honor and follow the constitution, but why bother? Our government and president certainly don't follow it and it's been that way for the past decade or more, and most of the people in this country have never read it.So lets get rid of it. Worse yet are our students in high schools and colleges around this country are being taught that it is an obsolete document , written by a bunch of rich white guys, that it needs to change with the times.
Sad. These men that wrote it were not just students of history they lived it.These men were educated and they knew what they were doing when the wrote the constitution and signed the declaration of independence. All of them paid a heavy price for it, and now they are mocked or ridiculed.
So explain to me, if some of the more enlightened would,why you would want to give up your God given rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Governments historically have taken those things away from their people. Why would you want to give up your right to be secure in your person against illegal search and seizure? Why would you want to give up the right to free speech and expression,religion or the right to keep and bear arms,( one of Hitlers greatest moves was to disarm the populace) more importantly, just who are you going to trust to change it? Who would you want to be our moral compass in a time of mass government corruption? When their only real interest is their own pockets or the large corporations that control them.
What we have works quite well when we actually use it so why change it or allow it to be trampled on?
I'm not an educated man, but I have studied history and religion and I can tell you that what we are allowing to happen to our constitution and our nation will be our down fall if we don't put an end to the violations . Rather then abolish the constitution, we simply need to go back to actually using it.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Welcome to Simple Minded
Welcome to Simple Minded. This is, quite literally ,going to be a blog featuring what I consider to be blunt, and to the point, simple minded solutions to complex issues.You may love it or hate it or think I am dumber then a rock, that choice is yours, but please feel free to comment or give your own simple thoughts on complex issues and maybe our simple minds can make a difference.
Today my simple solution is for the troubled economy. Once again we are told that while there is some sort of recovery going on ( not terribly sure as to where unless it's to banks ,politicians and wall street ) the unemployment rate has gone up to 9.2%. Meanwhile the powers that be are trying to figure out just how to fix this mess and make themselves look good at the same time, forgetting ,of course, that they are the ones to blame in the first place! So here goes my my "Simple Minded" idea's.
First end all our wars and close all our bases around the world and bring the troops home. Yes this would take some time and some effort but it would save us a huge amount of money and get us out of pointless wars.
Second cut congresses pay and benefits. I see no reason why they should be paid huge amounts of money in pay and benefits simply because they work in DC. Make them live on the same kind of income as the rest of us receive and the same kind of benefits. When their time is done their pay and benefits are done.
Third end all the redundancy and massive bureaucracy in both the Federal government and the state governments. There should be no reason for so many layers of bureaucrats all doing the same job and all getting paid to do that same job.
Fourth tighten up the rules as to just who qualifies for assistance. Just because someone is an addict shouldn't qualify them for benefits. I know disabled vets who served their country who have to do handstands practically to get any help and yet someone can go in as an "addict" and get assistance. Doesn't seem right to me. But what would be better would be that we as Americans go back to the idea of helping our neighbors then there wouldn't be such an issue.
Fifth, stop being dependent on other countries for resources that we have here in our country. We don't need foreign oil, we have it right here in our own country. Don't talk to me about endangering the environment, nature adapts despite the things that we do. More importantly if we loose our sovereignty to a nation such as China because we cant take care of ourselves, they will utterly destroy our environment. We have the technology to do this right, lets use it and put the OPEC thugs in their place. Did I mention natural gas and clean coal??
Sixth, get out of the way of the private sector and let them create the jobs that are needed. You want jobs? Stop all the regulations and in short order you will create a multitude of jobs. Just consider for a minute,what might happen if the government got out of the way and allowed us to drill for oil ( just as an example ) and build refineries right here in this country with out all the red tape. Yes make sure that said companies are using the right equipment and the best technology available, but quit regulating absolutely every aspect of it to the point of where it's no longer feasible to do it, and you would literally create thousands of jobs overnight and in less then 10 years we wouldn't be dependent on anyone else.
I know that these are just a small number of ideas and I also understand that most of them are politically incorrect on one side of the aisle or the other, but honestly I don't care. If we don't get this economy under control, and soon, we are all going to pay a very heavy price for it and that fact knows no political boundaries.
Today my simple solution is for the troubled economy. Once again we are told that while there is some sort of recovery going on ( not terribly sure as to where unless it's to banks ,politicians and wall street ) the unemployment rate has gone up to 9.2%. Meanwhile the powers that be are trying to figure out just how to fix this mess and make themselves look good at the same time, forgetting ,of course, that they are the ones to blame in the first place! So here goes my my "Simple Minded" idea's.
First end all our wars and close all our bases around the world and bring the troops home. Yes this would take some time and some effort but it would save us a huge amount of money and get us out of pointless wars.
Second cut congresses pay and benefits. I see no reason why they should be paid huge amounts of money in pay and benefits simply because they work in DC. Make them live on the same kind of income as the rest of us receive and the same kind of benefits. When their time is done their pay and benefits are done.
Third end all the redundancy and massive bureaucracy in both the Federal government and the state governments. There should be no reason for so many layers of bureaucrats all doing the same job and all getting paid to do that same job.
Fourth tighten up the rules as to just who qualifies for assistance. Just because someone is an addict shouldn't qualify them for benefits. I know disabled vets who served their country who have to do handstands practically to get any help and yet someone can go in as an "addict" and get assistance. Doesn't seem right to me. But what would be better would be that we as Americans go back to the idea of helping our neighbors then there wouldn't be such an issue.
Fifth, stop being dependent on other countries for resources that we have here in our country. We don't need foreign oil, we have it right here in our own country. Don't talk to me about endangering the environment, nature adapts despite the things that we do. More importantly if we loose our sovereignty to a nation such as China because we cant take care of ourselves, they will utterly destroy our environment. We have the technology to do this right, lets use it and put the OPEC thugs in their place. Did I mention natural gas and clean coal??
Sixth, get out of the way of the private sector and let them create the jobs that are needed. You want jobs? Stop all the regulations and in short order you will create a multitude of jobs. Just consider for a minute,what might happen if the government got out of the way and allowed us to drill for oil ( just as an example ) and build refineries right here in this country with out all the red tape. Yes make sure that said companies are using the right equipment and the best technology available, but quit regulating absolutely every aspect of it to the point of where it's no longer feasible to do it, and you would literally create thousands of jobs overnight and in less then 10 years we wouldn't be dependent on anyone else.
I know that these are just a small number of ideas and I also understand that most of them are politically incorrect on one side of the aisle or the other, but honestly I don't care. If we don't get this economy under control, and soon, we are all going to pay a very heavy price for it and that fact knows no political boundaries.
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