Saturday, December 26, 2015
"It's a Wonderful Life" -- A Wonderful Timeless Film
Turning the channels on Christmas Eve and/or Christmas day can be an unrewarding endeavor. The channels are dedicated to a great deal of silliness, infomercials and repeats of news stories seen over and over again.
As luck would have it, though, I tuned onto a film that, yes, I have seen many times before but this time I looked upon it with different, perhaps, more mature eyes. To be honest, there are times when I have not been happy with my life, not happy with the difficulties of aging, losing so many I love and surely not happy I contracted a malady at 5 years of age which no one in this nation, thankfully, need suffer from again. I am glad for them, of course, but honesty must be spoken as I admit I wish I were born a mere six months after a vaccine for my malady was produced. When I kvetch (Yiddish for complain) about it I was told by one wise person in my life that I really should view James Stewart over again as George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life" and that it might teach me the essence of what is so valuable about my own life. On Christmas Eve “It’s a Wonderful Life" was shown again.
The film speaks to people – really most people – whether one is a believer in a supreme being or not. George Bailey, ready for suicide as his life’s events spin out of his control and is ready to jump off a bridge into icy waters below. Ultimately, he is shown by Clarence, his guardian angel, why he should not cease to exist and what life would have been like had he never existed at all; had he not even been born.
George Bailey's life, despite its overwhelmingly disastrous turn of events, counts. Yes, disbelief must be suspended but if one does suspend it the film teaches us that lesson. Most all lives count because in each life a person touches others in good ways one might never have imagined. The metaphor of a pebble thrown into a lake creating ripples far off from its point of origin is apropos. It says you mean something and you change lives – hopefully for the better – simply by your existence.
“It's a Wonderful Life” is a wonderful timeless film that has a message, I think, for many of us whether we get the things in life we wanted, and most especially, if we do not.
Friday, December 25, 2015
The Real Attack on the Spirit of Christmas -- 2015
Fabulous article by Mr. Creamer. I could not have said it better myself.
here or http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/the-real-attack-on-the-sp_b_8876954.html
here or http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/the-real-attack-on-the-sp_b_8876954.html
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Of Light and Love
The Winter Solstice is upon us which means from this day forward the days of light begin to get longer, imperceptibly at first, and then fully observable as the winter months of cold progress toward the warmth of spring.
The holidays we as a nation celebrate at this time -- the Jews celebrating Hanukkah, the festival of lights, and Christians celebrating Christmas honoring the birth of one who is said to have brought light, love and peace into an otherwise harsh Roman-ruled world. One Muslim author, Huma Qureshi, writes “this is a time of getting together with friends and family, something festive and bright to cheer up the winter drear. When it came to Christmas, as Muslim children, we always knew that Jesus was our prophet too, which justified, in some way, our enthusiasm for the season.” The atheists among us celebrate the winter solstice marking it a time to return to that light, rebirth and its metaphor of hope.
Whether it is the love of one person or the love for humanity and the earth that sustains us all, or the return of light from the sun, this season is or should be about the better angels of man's sometimes savage nature.
The itinerant preacher, Elmer Gantry, in the film that bears his name says "Love is the morning and the evening star." In Corinthians 13:4-8 it says "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” and in Corinthians it is said too: of faith hope and love that the greatest of these is love.”
Love is, indeed, as the song says, a many splendored thing. The contemporary vocalist supreme, Adele, sings of love with a maturity that betrays her age. She sings of it and life’s experience with soft strength, with pathos and a melodious female voice as beautiful as the famous male tenor Andrea Bocelli. She and he sing so movingly it evokes tears of happiness as well the sadness of life’s dichotomy. I believe it is the basis of their, now, near universal appeal.
In "The Thornbirds" Colleen McCollough, its author, says:
“There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to out carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain. Each of us has within us something that just won’t be denied. Something to which we are driven even though it makes us scream aloud to die.”
Man understands the brevity of life and the death that stalks all of us but we pursue it anyway. It is the reason we continue with the hope that a better world is just around the corner within reach.
And so we must strive for this world of love and light no matter how dark it seems, no matter how different we all are from one another and no matter how difficult that love is to pursue. There is something worthwhile for which to strive as our eyes open to a new day and we, most of us, no matter our station in life and no matter our difficulty are happy our eyes open to see that light again.
I wish all of you happy holidays no matter which one you celebrate and hope for a better day just around the corner bringing us not only light and love but peace!
The holidays we as a nation celebrate at this time -- the Jews celebrating Hanukkah, the festival of lights, and Christians celebrating Christmas honoring the birth of one who is said to have brought light, love and peace into an otherwise harsh Roman-ruled world. One Muslim author, Huma Qureshi, writes “this is a time of getting together with friends and family, something festive and bright to cheer up the winter drear. When it came to Christmas, as Muslim children, we always knew that Jesus was our prophet too, which justified, in some way, our enthusiasm for the season.” The atheists among us celebrate the winter solstice marking it a time to return to that light, rebirth and its metaphor of hope.
Whether it is the love of one person or the love for humanity and the earth that sustains us all, or the return of light from the sun, this season is or should be about the better angels of man's sometimes savage nature.
The itinerant preacher, Elmer Gantry, in the film that bears his name says "Love is the morning and the evening star." In Corinthians 13:4-8 it says "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” and in Corinthians it is said too: of faith hope and love that the greatest of these is love.”
Love is, indeed, as the song says, a many splendored thing. The contemporary vocalist supreme, Adele, sings of love with a maturity that betrays her age. She sings of it and life’s experience with soft strength, with pathos and a melodious female voice as beautiful as the famous male tenor Andrea Bocelli. She and he sing so movingly it evokes tears of happiness as well the sadness of life’s dichotomy. I believe it is the basis of their, now, near universal appeal.
In "The Thornbirds" Colleen McCollough, its author, says:
“There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to out carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain. Each of us has within us something that just won’t be denied. Something to which we are driven even though it makes us scream aloud to die.”
Man understands the brevity of life and the death that stalks all of us but we pursue it anyway. It is the reason we continue with the hope that a better world is just around the corner within reach.
And so we must strive for this world of love and light no matter how dark it seems, no matter how different we all are from one another and no matter how difficult that love is to pursue. There is something worthwhile for which to strive as our eyes open to a new day and we, most of us, no matter our station in life and no matter our difficulty are happy our eyes open to see that light again.
I wish all of you happy holidays no matter which one you celebrate and hope for a better day just around the corner bringing us not only light and love but peace!
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Letter to Rachel Maddow -- Fabulous on Flint
Rachel, yet again you bring home the point to me why we as progressives watch your program faithfully and appreciate the humanitarian impact of your brave voice. Reporting the lead issue in Flint, Michigan as a result of the evil machinations of Republican Governor Snyder shows exactly how low the Republican Party can go and how unethical that Party can be.
When I say you are saving lives I mean it. You are saving lives by the myriad of especially Republican misbehaviors you have exposed over the years.
I know it is your 7th year at MSNBC. My wish for the future is many many more than 7 more in the driver's seat at one of the few progressive networks on the air.
I and I am sure those in Flint owe you a debt of gratitude. I appreciate your voice and I love your articulate commentary night after night year after year. I wish you many more of them!
Monday, December 21, 2015
Russian Warplanes Allegedly Kill Scores In Syrian City
The link to the story: here or http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/russian-warplanes-allegedly-kill-scores-in-syrian-city_56774072e4b06fa6887dc33d#comments
A blogger writes: For those folks in the GOP who were OK with carpet bombing and very probably and frankly, deliberate, deaths of innocent civilians, and this includes our pal Trump, take a long hard look. This is what that policy looks like - a little... now let's see what the blow back looks like - for there will be blow back...
That blogger was correct and I said: So this is who Trump praises? Have to bomb families he says...ooops seems like it's the wrong families. Bombing to prop up Assad?
My post: ALL foreign forces should be out of there to let these people sort out those whom they want in power. One drop more of American blood should not be spilled and those especially Republicrats who want to go in and make the sand red should be willing to put their own lives on the line!
A blogger writes: For those folks in the GOP who were OK with carpet bombing and very probably and frankly, deliberate, deaths of innocent civilians, and this includes our pal Trump, take a long hard look. This is what that policy looks like - a little... now let's see what the blow back looks like - for there will be blow back...
That blogger was correct and I said: So this is who Trump praises? Have to bomb families he says...ooops seems like it's the wrong families. Bombing to prop up Assad?
My post: ALL foreign forces should be out of there to let these people sort out those whom they want in power. One drop more of American blood should not be spilled and those especially Republicrats who want to go in and make the sand red should be willing to put their own lives on the line!
Saturday, December 19, 2015
The Mystery of the Jews -- Part II a better narration
Thanks to my cousin who is a gifted academic of history I was presented with a much more rational analysis for the success of the Jewish people from the Babylonian exile to the Herculean obstacles of exile and near extermination. I thought what he said was an infinitely better analysis than the Youtube presented because he concentrated not on Biblical stories, myths and a few quotes from the famous but the actual history of both the ancient and modern world. I thought it interesting.
I paraphrase him: As with so many ancient histories embellishment too often rules. The most glaring error in the narrative presented in the Youtube was the Jewish population, pegging it at 10 million in 500 BCE (before the common era.) This was just a few decades after the Jewish exile to Babylonia when many perished in their futile attempt to defend their homeland. Then, just thirty years previous to this count, Persia invaded Babylon and the Jews were decimated since many males had been drafted, Jewish women were often raped and many subsequently were killed. I believe that population original figure to be more than quadruple what many scholars would perhaps agree upon.
If one strips away many Biblical myths and other embellishments, Jewish accomplishments were surprisingly predictable.
During the Roman experience Jews were segregated both by their own choice and that of the Romans. Most importantly and perhaps the pivotal rationale for Jewish academic accomplish was that the rabbis of Babylon demanded Jews become literate. They were the only group that a) could read and b) had scrolls that documented, in part, Jewish history. No other group had this advantage, and that, I believe is the root of Jewish academic and other success.
When Christianity arrived in the 4th century, the great majority of Europeans were illiterate, and the Church later decided to enshrine their ignorance into law. In both Matthew and Mark, the verse about being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle that for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven the church made sure that their alliance with the aristocracy would serve both parties at the expense of the unwashed and ignorant masses.
In the seventh century, with the rise of Islam, the Jews of Arabia and North Africa fared exceptionally well, earning the title of "The People of the Book." This singular skill fostered an immutable spirit of inquiry which, in turn, made the Jewish people the only group of certifiable intellectuals in the otherwise barren landscape of ignorance. Is it any wonder that Jews were sought after by the nobility, beseeching them to become their engineers, architects, tax collectors, accountants, scribes, historians, etc?
The only learning available to the Christian minority was through the clergy, otherwise one was doomed to serfdom (unless of course one had the good fortune to be a noble.)
However, Jewish success helped spread antisemitism, and, within three centuries, European monarchs eyed Jewish wealth with jealous eyes and began their expulsions and confiscations of property owned by Jews. It became easy for the church to mark the Jew as 'the other', making Jews fair game to be maimed, killed and, most importantly, dispossessed.
Europe was hell but North Africa and Spain (the Caliphate) were a Jewish gilded home. While Europe languished in endless wars and so many popes had decimated the population by sending them on six different crusades, the plague and institutional quagmire, Jews flourished, attending the only real universities worthy of the name.
Genghis Khan brought his hordes into Europe and the papacy decided they could no longer afford to pursue crushing the infidels in the Holy Land.
The history of the Renaissance will bring the Jewish people through to modernity and the near annihilation of a people now numbering around 14 million or 0.2% of the world's population. Anti-Semitism will continue into our present time. Part III will be the Jew of the Renaissance to the modern world.
I paraphrase him: As with so many ancient histories embellishment too often rules. The most glaring error in the narrative presented in the Youtube was the Jewish population, pegging it at 10 million in 500 BCE (before the common era.) This was just a few decades after the Jewish exile to Babylonia when many perished in their futile attempt to defend their homeland. Then, just thirty years previous to this count, Persia invaded Babylon and the Jews were decimated since many males had been drafted, Jewish women were often raped and many subsequently were killed. I believe that population original figure to be more than quadruple what many scholars would perhaps agree upon.
If one strips away many Biblical myths and other embellishments, Jewish accomplishments were surprisingly predictable.
During the Roman experience Jews were segregated both by their own choice and that of the Romans. Most importantly and perhaps the pivotal rationale for Jewish academic accomplish was that the rabbis of Babylon demanded Jews become literate. They were the only group that a) could read and b) had scrolls that documented, in part, Jewish history. No other group had this advantage, and that, I believe is the root of Jewish academic and other success.
When Christianity arrived in the 4th century, the great majority of Europeans were illiterate, and the Church later decided to enshrine their ignorance into law. In both Matthew and Mark, the verse about being easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle that for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven the church made sure that their alliance with the aristocracy would serve both parties at the expense of the unwashed and ignorant masses.
In the seventh century, with the rise of Islam, the Jews of Arabia and North Africa fared exceptionally well, earning the title of "The People of the Book." This singular skill fostered an immutable spirit of inquiry which, in turn, made the Jewish people the only group of certifiable intellectuals in the otherwise barren landscape of ignorance. Is it any wonder that Jews were sought after by the nobility, beseeching them to become their engineers, architects, tax collectors, accountants, scribes, historians, etc?
The only learning available to the Christian minority was through the clergy, otherwise one was doomed to serfdom (unless of course one had the good fortune to be a noble.)
However, Jewish success helped spread antisemitism, and, within three centuries, European monarchs eyed Jewish wealth with jealous eyes and began their expulsions and confiscations of property owned by Jews. It became easy for the church to mark the Jew as 'the other', making Jews fair game to be maimed, killed and, most importantly, dispossessed.
Europe was hell but North Africa and Spain (the Caliphate) were a Jewish gilded home. While Europe languished in endless wars and so many popes had decimated the population by sending them on six different crusades, the plague and institutional quagmire, Jews flourished, attending the only real universities worthy of the name.
Genghis Khan brought his hordes into Europe and the papacy decided they could no longer afford to pursue crushing the infidels in the Holy Land.
The history of the Renaissance will bring the Jewish people through to modernity and the near annihilation of a people now numbering around 14 million or 0.2% of the world's population. Anti-Semitism will continue into our present time. Part III will be the Jew of the Renaissance to the modern world.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
The Mystery of the Jews
I send this not to everyone on my list but to those who know me to be as egalitarian as it is possible for me to be. Those who know me know I do not select myself or my people, the Jews, for chosenness because it leaves out too many others who have been productive contributors to the humanitarian advancement of man despite great odds.
I would be lying, though, if I said there is not a secrete place in my heart for my people, the Jewish people, who remain remarkable for one important thing: survival and defiance of the odds against it for over 3000 years despite so many attempts at brutal eradication and extinction all over the globe.
It is in the spirit of that fact that I send a Youtube that was sent to me entitled "The Mystery of the Jews." Do I think there was divine intervention for the survival of the Jewish people and our so called chosenness by a God whom I do not know even exists? To that I say as Tevya in "Fiddler on the Roof" said: "Dear God why can't you choose someone else for a change?!" I post this video here or below which I will admit, though questioning and doubting much of the religiosity in it, still grabbed at my heart.
http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/the-most-fascinating-video-ever-made-about-the-jewish-people/
I would be lying, though, if I said there is not a secrete place in my heart for my people, the Jewish people, who remain remarkable for one important thing: survival and defiance of the odds against it for over 3000 years despite so many attempts at brutal eradication and extinction all over the globe.
It is in the spirit of that fact that I send a Youtube that was sent to me entitled "The Mystery of the Jews." Do I think there was divine intervention for the survival of the Jewish people and our so called chosenness by a God whom I do not know even exists? To that I say as Tevya in "Fiddler on the Roof" said: "Dear God why can't you choose someone else for a change?!" I post this video here or below which I will admit, though questioning and doubting much of the religiosity in it, still grabbed at my heart.
http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/the-most-fascinating-video-ever-made-about-the-jewish-people/
A Letter to a Friend
Hi Kayhed. I loved the sentiments in your letter "There should not be a place for hate" published in the "Framingham Patch" cited here or below T'were your thoughts heeded by all a more perfect world would result.
What you say I have adopted as my own set of principles. No matter what the threat, and admittedly there are many, I do not waiver from a humanitarian impulse. I must for what reputation does a human being leave if they are not for love, kindness, generosity and peace. All the major forces like Mohamed -- peace be on him, Jesus, and the Hebrew Bible contain many verses of peace. One must just look for them. The Hebrew Bible states "Be kind to the stranger because you were once strangers in a strange land." Biblical texts contain violence, too, if one seeks it out but there is kindness, goodness and love if one chooses those above hate, violence and chaos.
"The Talmud recounts that a Gentile once approached Hillel with the request that Hillel convert him to Judaism. This Gentile did not want to go through a lengthy regimen of learning, so he told Hillel; “I want you to teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot.” Hillel’s response endures as a lesson for the generations." Hillel taught “Do not do unto others that which you hate done unto yourself – that is the entire Torah. The rest is commentary, go and study it.” Cited here: https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/do-not-do-unto-others/
All religious texts contain elements of violence but it is up to others in each tradition to teach the opposite which can be found in those texts as well. I repeat, one must just look for them.
I do know that man does better when he/she learns to work with others. Violence and war beget more violence and more war so that culture never advances, indeed, never can advance.
I have dedicated my life in retirement to writing for humanitarian causes as I want that legacy even if it appears in only one small corner of the universe to stand for who I am and to help those I could.
We must press on no matter the set backs, no matter the difficulty and no matter the hate directed against us. Martin Luther King taught: “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”
I am with you!
Best,
Natalie
http://patch.com/massachusetts/framingham/letter-there-should-not-be-place-hate-usa-0
What you say I have adopted as my own set of principles. No matter what the threat, and admittedly there are many, I do not waiver from a humanitarian impulse. I must for what reputation does a human being leave if they are not for love, kindness, generosity and peace. All the major forces like Mohamed -- peace be on him, Jesus, and the Hebrew Bible contain many verses of peace. One must just look for them. The Hebrew Bible states "Be kind to the stranger because you were once strangers in a strange land." Biblical texts contain violence, too, if one seeks it out but there is kindness, goodness and love if one chooses those above hate, violence and chaos.
"The Talmud recounts that a Gentile once approached Hillel with the request that Hillel convert him to Judaism. This Gentile did not want to go through a lengthy regimen of learning, so he told Hillel; “I want you to teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot.” Hillel’s response endures as a lesson for the generations." Hillel taught “Do not do unto others that which you hate done unto yourself – that is the entire Torah. The rest is commentary, go and study it.” Cited here: https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/do-not-do-unto-others/
All religious texts contain elements of violence but it is up to others in each tradition to teach the opposite which can be found in those texts as well. I repeat, one must just look for them.
I do know that man does better when he/she learns to work with others. Violence and war beget more violence and more war so that culture never advances, indeed, never can advance.
I have dedicated my life in retirement to writing for humanitarian causes as I want that legacy even if it appears in only one small corner of the universe to stand for who I am and to help those I could.
We must press on no matter the set backs, no matter the difficulty and no matter the hate directed against us. Martin Luther King taught: “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”
I am with you!
Best,
Natalie
http://patch.com/massachusetts/framingham/letter-there-should-not-be-place-hate-usa-0
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Republican debate sum up in one word and one paragraph
One word summary of the Republicon so called "debate": Bellicose. Okay four words -- mean, cruel and unconstitutional.
Most of the so called Republican "candidates" for the presidency want to protect the nation through bellicose lies, eternal force costing thousands more lives, millions more in cash and would keep this nation fighting that war, essentially, forever. "Enduring war depletes the fiscal reserves of a nation," the smartest analysis one blogger wrote. Carpet bombing a nation into submission making the sand glow in the desert while killing thousands of innocents is a war crime and does nothing to win hearts and minds of those a nation bombs. To the contrary it creates more enemies who desire to inflict more harm on this nation. That said the military must appear strong, capable, modern and repaired but that does not mean eternal war. Eternal war decays a fighting force. Yes, we live in a dangerous world BUT our perpetual war actions making great wealth for the war industry and the candidates for the presidency it supports make an even more dangerous world! Why Trump has the support he does I will never understand. He could not answer a question about particular policy and spouts the same sound bite blubber as he did when he first announced his candidacy. Carson who knows nothing either except perhaps brain surgery did not know what he was talking about comparing taking a tumor out of a child's brain to an army killing innocents. Both do not want it done, he thinks, but are glad in the end that it was. Perhaps the relatives of the innocent dead of those bombed into submission would say otherwise. Maybe Carson's brain needs a little help.
DEMOCRATS ANYONE? GET OUT THE VOTE FOR THEM AND SAVE LIVES MAYBE EVEN YOUR OWN!
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
5th Republican Debate -- a Portrait of Hate
Tonight's 5th Republican "Debate" will be the worst assembly of political Cretans vying for the highest office in the land in the nation's history and in our history there have been some doozies. It makes chills of horror run through one's spine to think any of them could step 2 feet near the Oval Office.
When George W. Bush looks good to you you know there is something amiss. The Party of Lincoln bears not an iota of similarity to those who will be the stage-standers at tonight's 5th Republican "debate." As a matter of fact Lincoln would today be a Democrat. The Party of Everett Dirckson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower is no more. Now the Republican Party is made up of Joe McCarthys, KKK members, American Nazis--Stormfront subscribers and the likes of a Steve Scalise Republican Majority Whip who spoke in front of a white supremacist gathering.
The Republican Party is a portrait of hate, exclusion, and unexceptional know nothings who would not have a humane thought in their body politic if you hit them over the head with it!
When George W. Bush looks good to you you know there is something amiss. The Party of Lincoln bears not an iota of similarity to those who will be the stage-standers at tonight's 5th Republican "debate." As a matter of fact Lincoln would today be a Democrat. The Party of Everett Dirckson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower is no more. Now the Republican Party is made up of Joe McCarthys, KKK members, American Nazis--Stormfront subscribers and the likes of a Steve Scalise Republican Majority Whip who spoke in front of a white supremacist gathering.
The Republican Party is a portrait of hate, exclusion, and unexceptional know nothings who would not have a humane thought in their body politic if you hit them over the head with it!
Monday, December 14, 2015
"Naked Among Wolves"--a Film Review
I have seen many films about the Holocaust since the
first documentary newsreel I viewed in a local movie theater at age 10. It showed Auschwitz and other concentration
camps liberated by the Allies at the end of WWII. I could not, then, understand the political
history of what I saw but I certainly understood the piles and piles of dead
bodies who would not experience another sunset, the piles of shoes which would not
walk another step, the piles of spectacles the eyes behind which would not see
another blue sky, or a loved one, or a mother, a father, a husband, a wife or even
see their own children. The children
were prepped by the Nazis for slaughter above all others because those Jewish
children after all would grow up to be adults whom they reasoned – Germans were
so good at reason — would continue to infect all of Europe. I knew enough to know that beast of human
history dedicated to exterminating the entire Jewish population of Europe could
have exterminated my family if my grandparents did not have the foresight to
leave their dastardly Russian pogrom-overrun home 1/2 century before.
What I did not see then in newsreels was what it was
like, what it actually was like, to experience a slaughter so barbaric, so
cruel and so sickening perpetrated by so called civilized human beings on an
unfathomable number of 6 – 10 million innocents reflected in the piles of
bodies I did actually see in newsreels which made this 10 year old child sick.
“Naked Among Wolves” was one of the most authentic
docudramas of that accursed time I have seen.
It was about life in the men’s cell block at Buchenwald. It was about men worked to death, tortured
for the slightest perceived indiscretion, shot simply waiting to die in the
filth of their excrement or hoping to live as Allied liberation drew near. They come upon a 4 year old Jewish boy hidden in
a suitcase by his father brought into their midst to save under the gravest most
life-threatening conditions. They try to
save him. You must watch the film to see
if they did.
I am of the opinion that one should not shield oneself
from this and that one must remember history if history is to have any meaning for
us at all.
When I was a young activist
against war I used to say the Holocaust had a purpose, that it was for
something higher and that this was perpetrated on so many for a lofty reason. As I aged and my political thought took shape I asked
where was God that so many innocent human beings were made to suffer for years in
dumb anguish. Now I say god was nowhere
as 6-10 million Jews seemingly died for nothing, that the Holocaust had no
meaning and no purpose. It was about
hatred of "the other." “Naked Among Wolves"
is a film I believe ALL should, especially in our time, see but suspect few
will. I cry useless tears hoping against
hope that human beings will change and that one group will not wipe out “the
other” so that, in time, we will not all perish from the earth.
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Something funny for a change!
Something absolutely funny hysterical for a change: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/will-ferrell-reprises-george-w-bush-role-saturday-night-live-n479211
 |
"I've made a big decision. I'm entering the race for president of the
United States of America," said Ferrell's Bush said in the show's cold
open.
| |
The "Problem" -- CNN Tapper's Interview with Trump
Again and again the media does NOT
follow up with the correct questions to Donald Trump's outrageous policy
statements. He is always talking about the "problem."
How about asking if Muslims in this country and outside of this country would rail against his policies? Would
those policies provoke violence and not stop it? I suggest his
policies will get people killed and it will NOT have the effect of
stopping the "problem" but will enhance it.
Trump wants to get at the "problem"
and find out what is causing the "problem." Why did not Tapper
introduce the issue of American foreign policy over decades causing the
"problem." Radicalized Muslims hate American boots on their soil. The
US has had thousands of boots on their soil and built hundreds of bases
which create the appearance of permanent occupation all over the Middle
East. Worse, and I aver the etiology of the "problem" began with a
Bush war based on lies against a sovereign nation that did nothing to us
and still worse exploded the Middle East into sectarian war complete
with the entrance of Al Qaeda and ISIS which were never before there.
How about asking Trump if his inane and impossible-to-implement solutions would make the "problem" worse!?
Would American boots on the ground for oil increase
the "problem" and would this nation asking what religion someone is
before entering the country increase that "problem" about which Trump is
inordinately concerned?
The mainstream media FAILS to ask
appropriate questions as if this nation is so innocent of fault for its
present day circumstance. Ask Trump how US foreign policy in the Middle
East has created the "problem." The media avoiding that question is the true political correctness over which boundaries it refuses to step.
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Free Stop Bigotry Sticker
Free Stop Bigotry Sticker
Wednesday, December 09, 2015
Monday, December 07, 2015
You ain't seen nothin yet
After the terrorist attack in Paris the true specter
of fascism is alive and well in France, a country which heretofore knew of it
and sent many to their deaths because of it.
Memory is directed to the 1940's French Vichy Regime sympathetic to
Hitler and the Nazis. The emergence in
these times of terror and fear is the appeal of extremist right wing
nationalism as represented in France by the National Front Party of Marine Le
Pen, usually on the right wing fringe, but now winning some regional elections
with its anti-immigrant message. (See
link here
and below.)
In the US the complexion of many ultra conservative
right wing red Republicans in local, state and federal legislatures is seen. Moreover and, in my
opinion, worse is the odious specter of the anti-immigrant nationalist Trump
capturing at least the Republican presidential nomination if not winning the
presidency itself. The Republican wing
in our nation knows little moderation now.
When hard violent times erupt one can always count on
homo sapiens man to do the worst of all possible things and allow the mean,
cruel, mendacious anti-immigrant extreme nationalists to gain power and create
more violence. The authoritarian
personality emerges. Republican John
Dean of Watergate fame said: "True conservatism is cautious and prudent.
Authoritarianism is rash and radical. American democracy has benefited from
true conservatism, but authoritarianism offers potentially serious trouble for
any democracy.”
Go ahead, elect the extreme Republican right. I can assure you as bad as the violence is
now nationally and internationally if the anti-democratic extremist right gains
immense power in western civilization as Al Joson would say "You ain't
seen nothin yet!"
IT
WILL BE UP TO ALL OF US TO ENSURE THIS NOT HAPPEN. THE PERCENTAGES OF
THE REPUBLICAN EXTREME MAY SEEM GREAT BUT, IN TRUTH, IT IS NOT
REPRESENTATIVE OF THE LARGER MUCH LARGER NATION ITSELF. WE ARE THE
MAJORITY BUT WHOSE VOTE HAS BEEN CO-OPTED BY GERRYMANDERED DISTRICTS
DRAWN BY REPUBLICANS. IF THE VOTE WERE FAIR DEMOCRATS WOULD HOLD THE
LEGISLATURES EN MASSE. THE ONLY WAY THESE REPUBLICAN MALEVOLENTS WIN IS
FOR DEMOCRATS TO STAY HOME. DON'T! GET OUT THE DEMOCRATIC VOTE AND GET
TO THE POLLS BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY! AND OH YES, WATCH OUT FOR THE
FRAUDULENT REPUBLICAN CONTROLLED VOTING MACHINES THEY WILL STEAL YOUR VOTE IF THEY GET THE CHANCE.
Sunday, December 06, 2015
A Pic to Ponder
Send that around the web!
Snopes
says the picture is untrue. I do not know if Snopes is correct. If it
is I apologize which is MUCH more than Trump would do about any of his
plethora of lies.
Saturday, December 05, 2015
Strange Bedfellows
The fact that this nation invaded Iraq a country that did nothing to us and the fact that we have been involved in the heart of the fragmented Middle East with its sectarian warfare for 14 years because of it, refugees from those wars will seek asylum. The wars in which this nation involves itself produce refugees who seek safety from constant mayhem and death. The more this nation is involved in and making policy for foreign lands risking the fragmentation, dismemberment of populations and the constant war it engenders the more there will be refugees whom we have the moral obligation to help. There are and will be many Middle Eastern refugees because we are in that part of the globe involved in its eternal civil wars often the result of US foreign policy gigantic error.
Now we must worry about strict immigration policies for those refugees from those areas and worry about visas which provide free access to this country by those who were born here and the wives/husbands picked up along the way who obtain automatic citizenship through those marriages.
The fault dear Brutus said many times is not in the stars but in ourselves for our crushing Middle East policy over what else? -- OIL, money and the power it brings not to mention the evil side effects of climate change oil helps create. It is sickening.
I am NOT a Trump supporter but he is quite right when he says we are a nation that has been controlled by stupid people who cannot think more than 10 minutes ahead as to what the ramifications of its violent Middle East policy for a “new American century” will be.
My mother used to say “whichever way you make your bed that is how you will lie in it.” This nation’s policy makers made the bed and must lie in it. The problem is all of us must lie in the bed with them!
IF YOU THINK THE STATE OF THE WORLD IS BAD NOW JUST WAIT UNTIL A BULLY AND WARLIKE REPUBLICAN IS ELECTED PRESIDENT. AS AL JOLSON USED TO SAY: "YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN YET!" ELECT DEMOCRATS TO ALL POSITION OF POWER OR RISK THE END OF OUR NATION AS WE KNOW IT AND THE END OF THE PLANET ON WHICH WE ALL RESIDE. WE ARE, AS THE GREAT HELEN CALDICOTT, SAID ONE MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT!
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