Uh-oh. Barack Obama has just chalked up a big strike against himself as far as I'm concerned.
Illinois Senator and presidential hopeful Barack Obama made his obligatory speech to one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the United States, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070302/20070302005632.html . I say "obligatory" because all politicians (of any political stripe) hoping to gain favor in Washington has to assure this group that they are sufficiently behind anything the Israeli government does, and Obama said everything he was supposed to say.
The problem with this is not that AIPAC requires the complete obedience of American politicians to the whims of the Israeli government, but that they require complete obedience to the most reactionary, right-wing forces operating in Israel, namely the Likud party. Any questioning of Israel's policies by American officials is risky, as former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney can attest to.
I had hoped the Obama would have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the pressure that groups like AIPAC apply to America's officials, but alas, he is turning out to be just as weak-kneed as all the other politicians who fear political retribution more than the moral certainty of standing up for what is right. Obama has greatly damaged his right to claim any connection to progressive ideas and intentions. What a shame.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Saturday, February 24, 2007
oblongata 4
(wishing only that you wanted me...
I know what's inside ya
they can feel it so can we
I'm standing beside ya
listening to a symphony.
Love getting major
beside the cool waters, still...
You know I can save ya
so lemme tell ya how I feel
You don't have to lie to me
I'll be everything and all that you want me to be
Look at my life and you'll see me
spending each day hopelessly
wishing only that you wanted me...
Purple satin gown
weighing heavy on my mind
Hoping the day'll come
a day when you'll take time
To look at the feelings
making butterflies inside
I know I can save ya
So lemme tell you what's on my mind...
You don't have to lie to me
I'll be everything and all that you want me to be
Loving you is my fantasy
spending each day in a dream
wishing only that you wanted me...
I know what's inside ya
they can feel it so can we
I'm standing beside ya
listening to a symphony.
Love getting major
beside the cool waters, still...
You know I can save ya
so lemme tell ya how I feel
You don't have to lie to me
I'll be everything and all that you want me to be
Look at my life and you'll see me
spending each day hopelessly
wishing only that you wanted me...
Purple satin gown
weighing heavy on my mind
Hoping the day'll come
a day when you'll take time
To look at the feelings
making butterflies inside
I know I can save ya
So lemme tell you what's on my mind...
You don't have to lie to me
I'll be everything and all that you want me to be
Loving you is my fantasy
spending each day in a dream
wishing only that you wanted me...
Monday, February 12, 2007
obama's "wasted"
During a speech this past Sunday (2/11/07), Barack Obama told his audience, while speaking about why he never supported the Iraqi war debacle, that the US troops' lives had been "wasted". Reliably, the speaking heads on television immediately began questioning whether he should apologize for using the term "wasted" (as opposed to using something like "lost"). Why should using the word "wasted" arouse anger in some, so much so that they'd request an apology (which Obama ended up providing)? Perhaps because using the word "wasted" emphasizes the unnecessary nature of this war on Iraq and Afghanistan? Maybe "wasted" would sound too insensitive for Gold Star Families?
Obama was speaking off the top of his head and heart (i.e., without script), and he said what he was thinking. He let his true feelings show only to be pushed into apologizing after realizing that as a presidential candidate, he has to make sure he's not offending anyone. How refreshing it would've been if he'd refused to apologize and commenced to explain to those questioning him why he said it! I find Obama's quickness to apologize and not defend his words bothersome, and he will quickly lose the respect of the people if he continues to back down and play it safe.
As far as the war is concerned, those American soldiers' lives were and are being "wasted". There are many pitiful souls out there in the US who still believe that US troops in Iraq are "defending our freedom". Well, this may be true if your defintion of "freedom" is "maintenance of Western/white supremacy" (which is what the war in Iraq is all about, in a big nutshell). Bush and his neo-con buddies were willing to toss the dice, wagering on the lives of young white, Black, Latino, and Asian men and women, and not winch when any of the chips were lost and removed from the table. The soldiers aren't thought of as fellow human beings who have families, friends, and loved-ones, but as a mass of fighters ready to die at their flimsy whims. They are viewed as breathing automatons in a three-dimensional game by Bush and his regime, sent off to do what they're told.
The Americans troops who have died in Iraq did so for a regime possessing no honor whatsoever, men less than the sludge flowing through the sewer of a major metropolis. These dead soldier's gave their lives to make the lives of the ones still living worse, destroying the stability of the whole region, throwing it into complete and utter chaos. Their lives were indeed, "wasted". I just wish Barack Obama would have stuck by his guns (and if he doesn't have any "guns", he'd better find some; he'll need them when the race heats up).
Obama was speaking off the top of his head and heart (i.e., without script), and he said what he was thinking. He let his true feelings show only to be pushed into apologizing after realizing that as a presidential candidate, he has to make sure he's not offending anyone. How refreshing it would've been if he'd refused to apologize and commenced to explain to those questioning him why he said it! I find Obama's quickness to apologize and not defend his words bothersome, and he will quickly lose the respect of the people if he continues to back down and play it safe.
As far as the war is concerned, those American soldiers' lives were and are being "wasted". There are many pitiful souls out there in the US who still believe that US troops in Iraq are "defending our freedom". Well, this may be true if your defintion of "freedom" is "maintenance of Western/white supremacy" (which is what the war in Iraq is all about, in a big nutshell). Bush and his neo-con buddies were willing to toss the dice, wagering on the lives of young white, Black, Latino, and Asian men and women, and not winch when any of the chips were lost and removed from the table. The soldiers aren't thought of as fellow human beings who have families, friends, and loved-ones, but as a mass of fighters ready to die at their flimsy whims. They are viewed as breathing automatons in a three-dimensional game by Bush and his regime, sent off to do what they're told.
The Americans troops who have died in Iraq did so for a regime possessing no honor whatsoever, men less than the sludge flowing through the sewer of a major metropolis. These dead soldier's gave their lives to make the lives of the ones still living worse, destroying the stability of the whole region, throwing it into complete and utter chaos. Their lives were indeed, "wasted". I just wish Barack Obama would have stuck by his guns (and if he doesn't have any "guns", he'd better find some; he'll need them when the race heats up).
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
on santa claus, jesus & thangs
I, like many children who are raised in the United States, grew up with parents who taught me that every December, a rotund, hirsute white guy in a red jumpsuit was going to come by our house and give me gifts for being a good little Me all year. This jolly white guy not only wore some of the hippest threads since the 70s, he also pimped around the globe in a sleigh pulled by flying deer! Dag! Santa Claus was the man back in the day! Who can forget the unbearable anticipation of Christmas eve, the wishes that the night would go by as fast as it could so you could tear into the G.I. Joe (with kung-fu grip) and the BMX bike you couldn't wait to bust your ass on?
I guess it was fun while the fantasy lasted, but like all children, I began to question the possibility that Santa couldn't really deliver toys to every Christian child in the world in one night; it just didn't add up anymore. Learning that my parents were actually tricking me into believing in this guy (and fearing him, literally praying to God that I would make fall asleep before I was caught awake) made me seriously begin to question what other things I was told in life that just didn't add up.
Then came the church and the bible. Church for me was one of those things you did because you had to, plain and simple. I remember watching Charlton Heston in Cecil B. DeMille's "Ten Commandments" coming 'round the mountain every Easter bearing two stone tablets etched with the Commandments of God (God actually wrote them with a fiery stylus, according to the movie) to give to the lost people he led from the evil, godless and spiteful Pharoah. I watched a burning bush speaking, water turned to blood, wooden staves transform into slithering serpents, whole bodies of water parting, so on and so on. Now, the part of my brain that wanted to still believe this all was possible tried to justify it. "Maybe humans were so new back in those days, God had to interfere personally, all the time, to help them out." Then I wondered why God had stopped doing such things when it was obvious even at that age that we needed some divine intervention in this cruel world...
My growing interest in science and nature didn't help my disbelief at all during this time. I fancied picking up bugs and looking at them up close, mixing things from the medicine cabinet I probably shouldn't have been mixing, and looking at things under the little plastic microscope my parents (oops, Santa!) gave us one Christmas. I knew pretty damn well back then that a male and female of every living organism on earth could not fit into an Ark to ride out the big tsunami. Just ain't gonna happen. I couldn't believe that a lot of the grown-ups around actually believed in this stuff, but it was clear to me that they did. From reading Greek and Roman mythology in school (where the hell were the Asian and African mythologies in these textbooks?), it was clear to me back then that there were people who always believed fantastical beings were intimately involved in shaping our lives. There never seemed to be a dime's worth of difference between Zeus and Jehovah to me.
Somewhere along the way, people agreed to forget the fact that the stories in the bible were indeed fantastical, improbable and impossible. They lost sight of the fact that these stories, like Aesop's fables, weren't supposed to be logical and real, they were supposed to teach a lesson, allegories on life and how to live it right. The bible became literal, with people believing that in the center of the earth lived countless cursed souls boiling in hot magma (true, if you got to the center of the earth) with a horned overseer prodding them to work harder at whatever their evil work happens to be. Sad, but true. I've grown comfortable with the fact that I'm an atheist at this point in my life, and I'll gladly explain this to anyone should they ask me about going to church or some other religious setting. Religion is a personal thing, and different things work for different people.
I can't tell anyone else what to pray to or not to pray to, just like I can't tell someone what types of food to put in their own bodies. But militant, in-your-face Christians beware: I will gladly rip into your beliefs if you try to force them on me (since most of them assume you haven't carefully and meticulously thought out your decisions on how you want to live your life). I have little patience for proselytizers of any sort, and I've got a pocket full of bombast for those who want to try it!
(Wait a second, lemme turn down the TV. Some Witnesses of Jehovah are approaching my door...)
I guess it was fun while the fantasy lasted, but like all children, I began to question the possibility that Santa couldn't really deliver toys to every Christian child in the world in one night; it just didn't add up anymore. Learning that my parents were actually tricking me into believing in this guy (and fearing him, literally praying to God that I would make fall asleep before I was caught awake) made me seriously begin to question what other things I was told in life that just didn't add up.
Then came the church and the bible. Church for me was one of those things you did because you had to, plain and simple. I remember watching Charlton Heston in Cecil B. DeMille's "Ten Commandments" coming 'round the mountain every Easter bearing two stone tablets etched with the Commandments of God (God actually wrote them with a fiery stylus, according to the movie) to give to the lost people he led from the evil, godless and spiteful Pharoah. I watched a burning bush speaking, water turned to blood, wooden staves transform into slithering serpents, whole bodies of water parting, so on and so on. Now, the part of my brain that wanted to still believe this all was possible tried to justify it. "Maybe humans were so new back in those days, God had to interfere personally, all the time, to help them out." Then I wondered why God had stopped doing such things when it was obvious even at that age that we needed some divine intervention in this cruel world...
My growing interest in science and nature didn't help my disbelief at all during this time. I fancied picking up bugs and looking at them up close, mixing things from the medicine cabinet I probably shouldn't have been mixing, and looking at things under the little plastic microscope my parents (oops, Santa!) gave us one Christmas. I knew pretty damn well back then that a male and female of every living organism on earth could not fit into an Ark to ride out the big tsunami. Just ain't gonna happen. I couldn't believe that a lot of the grown-ups around actually believed in this stuff, but it was clear to me that they did. From reading Greek and Roman mythology in school (where the hell were the Asian and African mythologies in these textbooks?), it was clear to me back then that there were people who always believed fantastical beings were intimately involved in shaping our lives. There never seemed to be a dime's worth of difference between Zeus and Jehovah to me.
Somewhere along the way, people agreed to forget the fact that the stories in the bible were indeed fantastical, improbable and impossible. They lost sight of the fact that these stories, like Aesop's fables, weren't supposed to be logical and real, they were supposed to teach a lesson, allegories on life and how to live it right. The bible became literal, with people believing that in the center of the earth lived countless cursed souls boiling in hot magma (true, if you got to the center of the earth) with a horned overseer prodding them to work harder at whatever their evil work happens to be. Sad, but true. I've grown comfortable with the fact that I'm an atheist at this point in my life, and I'll gladly explain this to anyone should they ask me about going to church or some other religious setting. Religion is a personal thing, and different things work for different people.
I can't tell anyone else what to pray to or not to pray to, just like I can't tell someone what types of food to put in their own bodies. But militant, in-your-face Christians beware: I will gladly rip into your beliefs if you try to force them on me (since most of them assume you haven't carefully and meticulously thought out your decisions on how you want to live your life). I have little patience for proselytizers of any sort, and I've got a pocket full of bombast for those who want to try it!
(Wait a second, lemme turn down the TV. Some Witnesses of Jehovah are approaching my door...)
Sunday, January 21, 2007
targeting civilians
I was recently watching C-SPAN's television show "Book TV" and the featured guest was Steve Emerson. He was hyping his book "Jihad Incorporated" and taking questions from viewers. He was describing evidence he had encountered suggesting that radical Islamic groups have military-style compounds set up all across rural America, that Palestine-based groups like Hamas were setting up operations to be carried out on American soil, etc. One of his callers brought up the fact that, like Hamas, the state of Israel deliberately targets civilians in Palestine and most openly in Israel's 2006 summer invasion of Lebanon. Emerson claimed that Israel does not deliberately target civilians, but any reading of current events says otherwise.
As described by one of the world's most respected organizations on human rights (Human Rights Watch, http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/02/lebano13902.htm), Israel was constantly targetting civilians during their invasion of Lebanon (an invasion which was supposed to crush Hezbollah once and for all, but only ended up as an embarassing defeat for Israel's legendary military machine). Israel so commonly targets Palestinian civilians that the deaths occur in the double digits on a daily basis, yet they get away with it by claiming that their intended targets (usually some generic "terrorist leader", who can be anyone they say it is at any time) are hiding behind human shields, effectively forcing the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to kill innocents in their pursuits. I guess it's too much to ask why Israeli forces don't hesitate at all to fire into crowds when they're only after one of two of them.
Outgoing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan dutifully condemned Israel for its targetting of Lebanese civilians and their deliberate bombing of a UN headquarters (which resulted in four deaths of UN personnel), and he was predictably scolded by the Zionist Organization of America (http://www.zoa.org/2006/08/zoa_criticizes_30.htm) for his request that Israel respect human rights.
Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad are branded "terrorist" groups because they target civilians at times and they admit that they do. Israel targets civilians but is not condemned as a terrorist state because they say they don't not target civilians, and the West takes them at their word. Maybe if Islamic groups started claiming, like Israel, that they do not deliberately target civilians they can be taken off the US governments list of terrorist groups? Israel literally gets away with cold-blooded murder at their whim and I guess the US thinks that is just fine...
As described by one of the world's most respected organizations on human rights (Human Rights Watch, http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/02/lebano13902.htm), Israel was constantly targetting civilians during their invasion of Lebanon (an invasion which was supposed to crush Hezbollah once and for all, but only ended up as an embarassing defeat for Israel's legendary military machine). Israel so commonly targets Palestinian civilians that the deaths occur in the double digits on a daily basis, yet they get away with it by claiming that their intended targets (usually some generic "terrorist leader", who can be anyone they say it is at any time) are hiding behind human shields, effectively forcing the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to kill innocents in their pursuits. I guess it's too much to ask why Israeli forces don't hesitate at all to fire into crowds when they're only after one of two of them.
Outgoing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan dutifully condemned Israel for its targetting of Lebanese civilians and their deliberate bombing of a UN headquarters (which resulted in four deaths of UN personnel), and he was predictably scolded by the Zionist Organization of America (http://www.zoa.org/2006/08/zoa_criticizes_30.htm) for his request that Israel respect human rights.
Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad are branded "terrorist" groups because they target civilians at times and they admit that they do. Israel targets civilians but is not condemned as a terrorist state because they say they don't not target civilians, and the West takes them at their word. Maybe if Islamic groups started claiming, like Israel, that they do not deliberately target civilians they can be taken off the US governments list of terrorist groups? Israel literally gets away with cold-blooded murder at their whim and I guess the US thinks that is just fine...
Thursday, January 4, 2007
hangman's noose
Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq, was hanged recently. None but his closest associates, family members, and local supporters probably felt pity for the guy, but it is clear that justice was not served in any way with the rushed and botched hanging.
Members of the Bush regime were complicit in all of Hussein's most crimes, particularly those during the eight year war of aggression against Iran (which had just thrown out its own US backed dictator in favor of Khomenei and Islamic rule). The US shipped items to Iraq which were of "dual use", knowing full well that Hussein could and would use these items as chemical and biological agents. As long as he was using WMD against America's enemies, his atrocities were accepted. You'll notice that Hussein was not hanged for using chemical weapons on the Iranians or the Kurds, but for having 148 Shiites killed when an attempt was made on his life. If the US was interested in real justice, they would've made Hussein stand trial in the Hague, before the international community so that all of his atrocities could've been brought to light. This was not the intention of the kangaroo courts in Iraq which were "Iraqi" in name only.
If Hussein had been allowed to stand trial in the Hague (away from the farcical charade put on by the US in Iraq), American complicity in Hussein's crimes would've been made public (even though they are widely known and acknowledged by many) and American officials would've been forced to testify and face the possibility of incarceration. Convicting Hussein of the slaughter of the Shiites was a convenient way for the Americans to avoid drawing unwanted attention on themselves and their approval of Hussein's murderous tactics during the 80s.
Hussein killed a lot of people and was punished for it, but it only stands to reason that the ones who provided him support should also face punishment. The day of judgment for the American fascists is coming (see "way of the dinosaur" below).
Then there was the immense PR disaster which was Hussein's execution. Masked executioners led a dignified and calm-looking Saddam to the gallows while some of the witnesses began taunting him by shouting "Muqtada!". American officials immediately began trying to distance themselves from this fiasco, knowing full well that everyone in the world could see US fingerprints on everything in the execution chamber, knowing full well that the videotaped proceedings (via a cell phone camera) would do nothing to improve the political climate of a land we've made a total mess of and have no hope of repairing. The Bush regime has Sick Cheney as its main gunner, and he's continually shooting them in their collective feet.
Members of the Bush regime were complicit in all of Hussein's most crimes, particularly those during the eight year war of aggression against Iran (which had just thrown out its own US backed dictator in favor of Khomenei and Islamic rule). The US shipped items to Iraq which were of "dual use", knowing full well that Hussein could and would use these items as chemical and biological agents. As long as he was using WMD against America's enemies, his atrocities were accepted. You'll notice that Hussein was not hanged for using chemical weapons on the Iranians or the Kurds, but for having 148 Shiites killed when an attempt was made on his life. If the US was interested in real justice, they would've made Hussein stand trial in the Hague, before the international community so that all of his atrocities could've been brought to light. This was not the intention of the kangaroo courts in Iraq which were "Iraqi" in name only.
If Hussein had been allowed to stand trial in the Hague (away from the farcical charade put on by the US in Iraq), American complicity in Hussein's crimes would've been made public (even though they are widely known and acknowledged by many) and American officials would've been forced to testify and face the possibility of incarceration. Convicting Hussein of the slaughter of the Shiites was a convenient way for the Americans to avoid drawing unwanted attention on themselves and their approval of Hussein's murderous tactics during the 80s.
Hussein killed a lot of people and was punished for it, but it only stands to reason that the ones who provided him support should also face punishment. The day of judgment for the American fascists is coming (see "way of the dinosaur" below).
Then there was the immense PR disaster which was Hussein's execution. Masked executioners led a dignified and calm-looking Saddam to the gallows while some of the witnesses began taunting him by shouting "Muqtada!". American officials immediately began trying to distance themselves from this fiasco, knowing full well that everyone in the world could see US fingerprints on everything in the execution chamber, knowing full well that the videotaped proceedings (via a cell phone camera) would do nothing to improve the political climate of a land we've made a total mess of and have no hope of repairing. The Bush regime has Sick Cheney as its main gunner, and he's continually shooting them in their collective feet.
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