Monday, May 26, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Addendum to Commandment 2
The oppressed also include blacks, minorities, people of color, gays, the disabled and people of different religions. Give them all equal rights.
New Commandments
New Commandments
Here are some more commandments that we can ignore:
1. Heal the sick. All over the world. Not just America.
2. Free the oppressed. In Tibet, Burma, Palestine, America and all over the world. Free women too. Give them equal rights.
3. Help the poor. All over the world and in America too.
4. Protect the unborn.
5. Take care of the earth. All of God's art.
6. Have mercy on all. Including prisoners and criminals. No more torture or inhumane treatment of any kind. No capital punishment. We are all murderers and criminals. For example, most Americans killed 600,000 Iraqis over a lie.
7. Do justice to all. Including the weak and powerless. Including the victims of crime.
8. Try to be fair. Find the correct balance between mercy and justice.
9. Try to find the correct balance. In all things.
10. Be nonviolent. Violence should be the very last resort. Currently it is not and never has been. Maybe it was a last resort in World War II. But it was the harsh reparations after World War I that eventually led to World War II. Follow the examples of Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Aung Sung Su Chi and Corozone Aquino.
Here are some more commandments that we can ignore:
1. Heal the sick. All over the world. Not just America.
2. Free the oppressed. In Tibet, Burma, Palestine, America and all over the world. Free women too. Give them equal rights.
3. Help the poor. All over the world and in America too.
4. Protect the unborn.
5. Take care of the earth. All of God's art.
6. Have mercy on all. Including prisoners and criminals. No more torture or inhumane treatment of any kind. No capital punishment. We are all murderers and criminals. For example, most Americans killed 600,000 Iraqis over a lie.
7. Do justice to all. Including the weak and powerless. Including the victims of crime.
8. Try to be fair. Find the correct balance between mercy and justice.
9. Try to find the correct balance. In all things.
10. Be nonviolent. Violence should be the very last resort. Currently it is not and never has been. Maybe it was a last resort in World War II. But it was the harsh reparations after World War I that eventually led to World War II. Follow the examples of Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Aung Sung Su Chi and Corozone Aquino.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Independence Day?
Is Israel really independent?
It depends on the United States for $3-5 billion a year. It depends on the vast majority of Jewish voters in New York and Florida to keep getting that money.
Israel's economy depends on it's security and it's security depends on the Palestinians and how angry they feel about the pogrom committed against them in 1948, and the more gradual pogrom against them over the last 60 years.
And the Israelis are dependent upon the hatred exhibited by the Jewish settlers. Polls show that most Israelis want to abandon the settlements if it will bring peace and security. But the settlers are intransigent and apparently they have a lot of influence on the Israeli government since the settlements are not only not decreasing, they are still increasing.
The settlers also are the force behind various Israeli terrorist groups that you don't hear much or anything about in the US corporate media; groups such as Kahane Chai, the Jewish Defense League, Kach and the Committee for Safe Streets.
Israel is very much dependent on our corporate media to keep the American taxpayers ignorant about these terrorist groups, and ignorant about the terrorist groups that were instrumental in the formation of Israel in 1948; terrorist groups such as the Stern Gang and the Irgun. Some would also include the Haganah which was a much larger militia than the Stern and Irgun gangsters.
I believe it was Haganah that planned the bombing and sinking of a boat full of Jewish civilians who were trying to leave Palestine. I guess the terrorists wanted to make the point that ALL Jews need to stick together in Palestine, IN ISRAEL. At that time it was called Palestine.
Apparently there were some leaders in Haganah who were against the bombing of this civilian vessel. But there are also some Muslim terrorists who are against targeting Iraqi civilian collaborators.
In those pre-Israel days, Zionists were dependent on terrorists like these because they did not have US tanks and F-15s as they do now. In fact, to this day, Israel must face the reality that their creation could not have happened without Zionist terrorists. Israel would not be a Jewish state without these terrorists ethnically cleansing the Palestinians from Palestine.
The Israelis are dependent on this negative legacy. They have to cover it up and deny it and rationalize it.
An abuser cannot be trully emotionally independent until he or she makes amends to their victim. The abuser must do this in order to forgive themselves. Until repentence this ugly mark hangs around the neck of the abuser. It creates an inner, self-directed, subconscious hostility that the abuser cannot get free from.
It also creates a negative karma that haunts the abuser. When things go wrong, deep inside the abuser wonders if the negative happening is a result of their negative actions. This self-doubt can cause the abuser to make poor decisions, like Israel's decision to bomb civilians in Lebanon.
Unrepentence inhibits the spiritual growth of an individual and a nation.
But from a less abstract perspective, there are hawks in Israel I suspect who would like to be less dependent on money from America. They realize this money inhibits Israeli policy. For example, if Israel kills too many Palestinian children the money from America might be cut off. Although America does not often tell Israel what to do there have been times when American presidents have stood up to the Israeli lobby. Like when the first and wiser President Bush told Israel to slow down the building of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. And I think Israel had to comply with his wishes, at least to a certain extent.
And now the current, not wise President Bush realizes finally that he needs to make a peace deal between Israel and Palestine if he wants to save his legacy and his failed occupation of Iraq. This puts further contraints on Israel whether they admit it or not.
The Israeli hawks hate this predicament they are in. A state at war has to have a lot of money. And Israel has always been a state in a state of war. And it always will be until it practices the art of repentence, something which does not look very likely at this point.
Which means it will probably never be independent of American taxpayers. It will always be a welfare state. Are welfare recipients independent?
The early Zionists helped bring about the Balfour Declaration which led to the eventual creation of Israel and the theft of Palestinian land. But the intentions of the Zionists were good. They believed Israel would become an independent state, a lighthouse that would show the world that Jews are not evil and in this way end anti-semitism. There was one very wealthy Zionist (whose name I don't recall at this time) who demanded that they put some wording in the declaration that respected the rights of the Palestinians. They did put somethinglike that in there and then the Zionists ignored it once they set foot on Palestinian soil. This one wealthy and righteous Zionist was prophetic. For the terrible way the Zionists have treated the Palestinians has worked against the stated and positive goal of the early Zionists.
Instead of decreasing anti-semitism, the state of Israel--the welfare state of Israel--has actually increased anti-semitism, in my opinion. The one thing that decreased anti-semitism was the Holocaust unfortunately.
A mature and independent people, a grown-up nation, would have used that empathy created by the Holocaust to do good and positive things, to bring good out of evil.
It is my hope that Israel will some day grow up and do just that. I am not holding my breath though.
It depends on the United States for $3-5 billion a year. It depends on the vast majority of Jewish voters in New York and Florida to keep getting that money.
Israel's economy depends on it's security and it's security depends on the Palestinians and how angry they feel about the pogrom committed against them in 1948, and the more gradual pogrom against them over the last 60 years.
And the Israelis are dependent upon the hatred exhibited by the Jewish settlers. Polls show that most Israelis want to abandon the settlements if it will bring peace and security. But the settlers are intransigent and apparently they have a lot of influence on the Israeli government since the settlements are not only not decreasing, they are still increasing.
The settlers also are the force behind various Israeli terrorist groups that you don't hear much or anything about in the US corporate media; groups such as Kahane Chai, the Jewish Defense League, Kach and the Committee for Safe Streets.
Israel is very much dependent on our corporate media to keep the American taxpayers ignorant about these terrorist groups, and ignorant about the terrorist groups that were instrumental in the formation of Israel in 1948; terrorist groups such as the Stern Gang and the Irgun. Some would also include the Haganah which was a much larger militia than the Stern and Irgun gangsters.
I believe it was Haganah that planned the bombing and sinking of a boat full of Jewish civilians who were trying to leave Palestine. I guess the terrorists wanted to make the point that ALL Jews need to stick together in Palestine, IN ISRAEL. At that time it was called Palestine.
Apparently there were some leaders in Haganah who were against the bombing of this civilian vessel. But there are also some Muslim terrorists who are against targeting Iraqi civilian collaborators.
In those pre-Israel days, Zionists were dependent on terrorists like these because they did not have US tanks and F-15s as they do now. In fact, to this day, Israel must face the reality that their creation could not have happened without Zionist terrorists. Israel would not be a Jewish state without these terrorists ethnically cleansing the Palestinians from Palestine.
The Israelis are dependent on this negative legacy. They have to cover it up and deny it and rationalize it.
An abuser cannot be trully emotionally independent until he or she makes amends to their victim. The abuser must do this in order to forgive themselves. Until repentence this ugly mark hangs around the neck of the abuser. It creates an inner, self-directed, subconscious hostility that the abuser cannot get free from.
It also creates a negative karma that haunts the abuser. When things go wrong, deep inside the abuser wonders if the negative happening is a result of their negative actions. This self-doubt can cause the abuser to make poor decisions, like Israel's decision to bomb civilians in Lebanon.
Unrepentence inhibits the spiritual growth of an individual and a nation.
But from a less abstract perspective, there are hawks in Israel I suspect who would like to be less dependent on money from America. They realize this money inhibits Israeli policy. For example, if Israel kills too many Palestinian children the money from America might be cut off. Although America does not often tell Israel what to do there have been times when American presidents have stood up to the Israeli lobby. Like when the first and wiser President Bush told Israel to slow down the building of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. And I think Israel had to comply with his wishes, at least to a certain extent.
And now the current, not wise President Bush realizes finally that he needs to make a peace deal between Israel and Palestine if he wants to save his legacy and his failed occupation of Iraq. This puts further contraints on Israel whether they admit it or not.
The Israeli hawks hate this predicament they are in. A state at war has to have a lot of money. And Israel has always been a state in a state of war. And it always will be until it practices the art of repentence, something which does not look very likely at this point.
Which means it will probably never be independent of American taxpayers. It will always be a welfare state. Are welfare recipients independent?
The early Zionists helped bring about the Balfour Declaration which led to the eventual creation of Israel and the theft of Palestinian land. But the intentions of the Zionists were good. They believed Israel would become an independent state, a lighthouse that would show the world that Jews are not evil and in this way end anti-semitism. There was one very wealthy Zionist (whose name I don't recall at this time) who demanded that they put some wording in the declaration that respected the rights of the Palestinians. They did put somethinglike that in there and then the Zionists ignored it once they set foot on Palestinian soil. This one wealthy and righteous Zionist was prophetic. For the terrible way the Zionists have treated the Palestinians has worked against the stated and positive goal of the early Zionists.
Instead of decreasing anti-semitism, the state of Israel--the welfare state of Israel--has actually increased anti-semitism, in my opinion. The one thing that decreased anti-semitism was the Holocaust unfortunately.
A mature and independent people, a grown-up nation, would have used that empathy created by the Holocaust to do good and positive things, to bring good out of evil.
It is my hope that Israel will some day grow up and do just that. I am not holding my breath though.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)