‘Iconoclast’ & ‘Icon’ Of The Year
As the new year begins The Iconoclast reveals its choices of the BEST and WORST for 2009. Both are U.S. Senators. The BEST (Iconoclast) of 2009 is Sen. Bernie Sanders while the WORST (Icon) is a key destroyer of America, Sen. Joe Lieberman.
The Best & The Worst
As the new year begins The Iconoclast reveals its choices of the BEST and WORST for 2009. Both are U.S. Senators. The BEST (Iconoclast) of 2009 is Sen. Bernie Sanders while the WORST (Icon) is a key destroyer of America, Sen. Joe Lieberman.
Iconoclast Of The Year
Sen. Bernie Sanders
The only person in the U.S. Senate who owns his own soul…
… is Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Just ask Al Franken.
Name an issue, and Sen. Sanders has steadfastly stood by the side of the little guy.
We will name two: the financial crisis and health care reform.
To bring accountability to the Federal Reserve and Wall Street, Sen. Sanders has repeatedly screamed, No! to the renomination of Dr. Ben Bernanke because Dr. Bernanke has demonstrated that he is entirely unfit to be the head of the Fed.
“Perhaps more than anyone else in the world, Chairman Bernanke was in a position to diagnose and correct the impending financial disaster that was taking place right in front of him, said Sen. Sanders.
Dr. Bernanke admitted there was a problem with respect to the $8 trillion housing bubble last year only when the damage was done, like a pyromaniac firefighter admiring his own morbid work.
Yet, Sen. Sanders is the only U.S. senator since to consistently call for Dr. Bernanke’s immediate removal.
“We need a new chairman. We need somebody who is going to pay attention to small- and medium-sized business, somebody who is going to do everything he or she can to grow our economy and create decent paying jobs, somebody who is going to protect consumers against outrageously high interest rates on their credit cards, and somebody who is going to stand up for ordinary people,” Sen. Sanders said.
“I am going to do my best to see that Mr. Bernankes nomination is defeated [next year],” he stressed.
Then, there’s universal health care, an issue where Sen. Sanders also showed true guts this year.
On behalf of the millions of U.S. citizens, Sen. Sanders introduced to the U.S. Senate legislation to implement a single-payer health care finance system in the United States.
This attempt at essentially expanding the federal government’s Medicare program shot ripples through Capitol Hill.
As expected, the hardliners in both parties, especially the Republicans, railroaded his amendment; still, the independent from Vermont got his punches in on the Senate floor.
But, most importantly, Sen. Sanders held out for a more humane health care bill than just a bailout for insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
During this time, he won $10 billion for community health centers across the country to provide primary care to 25 million Americans in 10,000 communities.
“We are talking about a revolution in primary care here,” Sen. Sanders told The Burlington Free Press.
While battling the forces of greed and their demonic casino capitalism ideology, Sen. Sanders has operated without seeking glory, glam, or gizmos.
Just goodwill and grit not only for his own constituency but the entire nation.
For his heroic acts of selflessness this year, he has earned our genuine thanks.
Icon Of The Year
Sen. Joe Lieberman
“What good fortune for governments that the people do not think.” — Adolph Hitler
Joe Lieberman is the kind of Jew that Hitler had in mind.
Tasteless commentary? Of course. We are the Iconoclast, remember.
But the Führer‘s fury (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BChrer) was directed by the silly paranoia that Judaism is founded on acquisition of personal wealth and aggrandizement through political machination over national or humanitarian interests.
Much like Hitler himself or the 21st Century Republican Party.*
It’s as though he knew Joe Lieberman.
Why would Lieberman oppose reform of the Health for Wealth status quo?
Could it have anything to do with his wife’s associations in the pharmaceutical industry?
With his own funding from the insurance industry to finance a failing political career reborn as “independent?”
To be sure, the state of Conartistcut is run by the insurance industry, and we would never be so naïve as to suggest that any politician would not be run by the wealth of his constituency.
Such a statesman would be rare as the one who defied the potent Massachusetts medical establishment for decades.
That Lieberman would abandon the national interest in favor of political survival would be forgivable in lesser man.
But let’s consider the rest of the Lieberman licentiousness:
* Could we ever forget Iraq? Lieberman couldn’t. Even when the curtain fell away from the Weapons of Oz, Iraqis, who suffered no less in vicious democracy than vicious dictatorship, continued to bleed from rationalizations that were none of our business. And the Senator from Connecticut continues his Middle East policy rationalizations that smack of thinly disguised Zionism.
* And then there’s that devilish capital gains tax dodge that Liberman loves. All that, and his complaint that health reform is overly expensive, too!
* And who among us could forget the waterboy for the Bush bailout?
* He supported a presidential candidate who opposes Lieberman’s own support of abortion access, environmental protection and, oh yeah, health industry regulation.
And what has all this gotten Lieberman?
The revulsion of his constituency, a population more than two-thirds supportive of a government-run insurance company, and the eventual loss of his seat, if the polls are to be believed.
It is one thing to manipulate government to favor one’s own political fortunes.
It is ludicrously iconic to do so and lose.
*If there is any doubt of the GOP’s occupation by fascist forces, consider the revelation that the Tea Party Express funneled 64 percent of tea baggers’ contributions into the coffers of Republican operatives Russo, Marsh, and Associates, which originally created the sham PAC.
Russo, Marsh operative Joe Wierzbicki got an additional $16,000, and $8,500 went to partner Sal Russo, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
And what pinko propagandist dug all this up? That would be TPMmuckraker, which also provided us with this, complete with unique spelling and grammar, from “Birther” and dentist and lawyer Orly Taitz, fresh from a failed Obama birth certificate lawsuit, resplendent with accusations of suborning perjury and falsified documents:
Seeing targeted destruction of our economy, our security, dissipation of American jobs, massive corruption in the Government, Congress Department of Justice and Judiciary, it might be time to start rallies and protests using our second amendment right to bear arms and organise (SIC) in militias.
Sieg und Heil.
Tea, anyone?
Christmas Bomber Is An Israeli Agent — Attention FBI/DoD
A wide array of intelligence agencies and professionals believe that a terror attack on the homeland is likely in the wake of the “Christmas Bomber” attempt to blow up Flight 253 in Detroit. Insiders say that Israel was responsible for the failed plot, and had planned to use it in order to provoke the United States into a conflict in Yemen, occupied Palestine and Iran. This would likely draw in Pakistan and India, which both (like Israel) have nuclear arsenals. Thereafter it’s possible that nuclear powers Russia and China could be drawn in along with the U.S.
TEXAS, 1/3/10 — A wide array of intelligence agencies and professionals believe that a terror attack on the homeland is likely in the wake of the “Christmas Bomber” attempt to blow up Flight 253 in Detroit. Insiders say that Israel was responsible for the failed plot, and had planned to use it in order to provoke the United States into a conflict in Yemen, occupied Palestine and Iran. This would likely draw in Pakistan and India, which both (like Israel) have nuclear arsenals. Thereafter it’s possible that nuclear powers Russia and China could be drawn in along with the U.S.
The FBI has been investigating congressional leaders Rep. Jane Harman and House leader Nancy Pelosi in espionage with AIPAC for Israel. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, an Israeli military veteran whose father was part of the Israeli terrorist Irgun organization, is under suspicion as well. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may be under investigation, too. A month ago she announced the engagement of her daughter Chelsea to the son of the Jewish Mezvinsky congressional family, including former Congressman Edward M. Mezvinsky, convicted of swindling in 2002.
Washington leadership seems to have colluded with Israel to distract national attention during Christmas Week with the passage and signing of the $666 billion military budget and renewal of the Patriot Act. On Christmas Eve they used on the Health Care Act, and Israel simultaneously announced a worldwide recall of its ambassadors — for the first time ever — for war plans in Jerusalem:
First-ever Heads of Missions Conference at the MFA
Israel Ministry of Foreign Missions, 12/24/2009
The attempted Christmas Day bombing is similar to the nearly-successful 1967 attack on the USS Liberty. Then as now, Israel had problems with its Muslim neighbors, and thought that a merciless attack on a USA target would be an excellent way to bring us into a war for them:
New revelations in attack on American spy ship
Chicago Tribune, 9/27/2009
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/eedition/chi-liberty_tuesoct02,0,43090.story>
The willingness of the U.S. media to keep last week’s historic worldwide war planning conference secret from the American people, from the Christmas Eve announcement to the New Year’s Eve conclusion, demonstrates why media monopoly under Jewish control should be outlawed. LA Times Jewish columnist Joel Stein made that clear in his courageous essay of year ago, published on the eve of Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip:
How Jewish is Hollywood?
LA Times, 12/19/2008
<http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-stein19-2008dec19,0,4676183.column>
The choice of Christmas Day to initiate a U.S. attack is an obvious sign of anti-Christian feeling by the leadership of the Jewish nation and their U.S. collaborators. The timing of all of this is unlikely to be Islamic, since Jesus is revered as a great prophet in Islam.
The Christmas Week military budget of $666 billion ($636 billion now, and $30 billion later) is an anti-Christian signal, as is the use of the former Gitmo inmate 333 (half of 666) to attempt the mass murder of the Christian US/UK passengers on Flight 253.
This “666” number-of-the-beast coding is emblematic of what St. John called “the synagogue of Satan” in Revelations. This kind of numerology has no meaning to Islam or the Koran. It is a major element in Jewish Kabbalah, though, as illustrated by the New York Jewish community’s highly suspicious selection of 9/11 for the dedication date of its Museum of Jewish Heritage in 1997:
New York City’s Memorial to the Holocaust
Archives of Rudolph W. Giuliani, 9/12/1997
<http://nyc.gov/html/rwg/html/97/me970912.html>
Captain Eric H. May, a disabled veteran, is a former U.S. Army military intelligence officer and Desert Storm volunteer. A former NBC editorial writer, his essays have been published worldwide, from the Wall Street Journal to Military Intelligence Magazine. In 1996 he interviewed to become speechwriter for Texas governor George W. Bush. In 2003 he began the Ghost Troop cyber militia with his best friend, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy Chase Untermeyer, who served as one of May’s staff officers even after being appointed US Ambassador to Qatar. For a photo of them together, refer to the Captain May Archive: <http://www.spiritone.com/~ghosttroop/Archives.htm>
Hawaii Citizens Stop Mandatory Vaccinations
The citizens of Hawaii stopped mandatory vaccinations here on First Amendment grounds last month.
HILO, Hawaii — The citizens of Hawaii stopped mandatory vaccinations here on First Amendment grounds last month.
The County of Hawaii directors voted 7-to-1 in favor of a resolution overriding Department of Health officials’ rules.
Citizens now can be exempt from vaccinations by their own choice.
Resolution 237-09 demands that State and Federal legislators in Hawaii “amend vaccine laws to include medical, religious, and philosophical exemptions from any vaccine program.”
The vote is seen as a stand for health freedom against Big Pharma’s attempts at imposing its will without regard to human safety.
The defense came after months of state and federal officials’ efforts to persuade the public on the safety of the H1N1 vaccine this fall.
However, the vaccine was hurried into production and distribution without solid science backing its safety and efficacy for the population.
Consumer Reports found in a poll that a majority of medical doctors and about 70 percent of parents doubted the need for the vaccines and refused to recommend them.
Among the top fears for the vaccine cited by the County Council was mercury, an ingredient linked to neurodevelopmental and behavioral disorders in children, though denied by health officials.
Those in opposition to the resolution reportedly failed to defend their views at the County meeting.
Wall Street Bankers Declare War On Glass-Steagall Act
Wall Street have declared war against Congress for attempting to re-implement the Glass-Steagall Act, according to Bloomberg News last week.
NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. — Wall Street have declared war against Congress for attempting to re-implement the Glass-Steagall Act, according to Bloomberg News last week.
But Wall Street bankers say the opposite.
“Congress is at war with Wall Street,” Lyle Gramley, a former board member of the Federal Reserve, told Bloomberg.
However, earlier this month, Sen. Chris Dodd tabled the bill that would return parts of the original Glass-Steagall Act because of lack of support in Congress.
According to House Rep. Maurice Hinchey though, not enough has been done to reign in Wall Street. He wrote in a recent column:
“Today, just four huge financial institutions hold half the mortgages in America, issue nearly two-thirds of credit cards, and control about 40 percent of all bank deposits in the U.S. In addition, the face value of over-the-counter derivatives at commercial banks has grown to $290 trillion, 95 percent of which are held at just five financial institutions. We cannot allow the security of the American economy to rest in the hands of so few institutions.”
The Act would separate investment banking services from commercial services, as it had from 1933 to when it was repealed in 1999.
In effect, the four “too-big-to-fail” banks would be broken up if Glass-Steagall became federal law again.
“The impact on Wall Street would be severe,” Wayne Abernathy, a vice president at the American Bankers Association, told Bloomberg.
H. Rodgin Cohen, a corporate lawyer who helped dismantle Glass-Steagall, told Bloomberg that say the Act’s re-introduction would do little to protect Americans from a financial disaster like last year’s.
Cohen suggested that federal regulators supervise the system better and strengthen capital requirements.
Eight Afghan Children Dead After U.S. Bombing
Eight school children in eastern Afghanistan died after the U.S. bombing run, according to Afghanistan’s president last week.
KABUL, Afghanistan — Eight school children in eastern Afghanistan died after the U.S. bombing run, according to Afghanistan’s president last week.
The bombing occurred in the Kunar province that borders Pakistan.
“President [Hamid] Karzai strongly condemns the operation which caused civilian deaths and has appointed a delegation to investigate the incident,” his statement to the press said.
Included in the death toll are also two other civilians, the statement said, adding that more causualties might surface during an investiation.
NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) initially reported having no operations in the Kunar province.
However, an anonymous official told AFP that U.S. special forces that are operating there have been exterminating Taliban.
U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates promised earlier this month that Afghanstani civilian deaths would be kept to a minimum.
This promise came after troops killed six civilians during an ISAF operation in Laghman province.
Report: Drug Kingpin’s Death Sparks Job Opening
The killing of Mexican drug lord Beltran Leyva was hailed by drug prohibition advocates last week.
MEXICO CITY, Mexico — The killing of Mexican drug lord Beltran Leyva was hailed by drug prohibition advocates last week.
But the Mexican government’s violent “victory” was also seen as a very epic failure.
“What they’re really doing is advertising a job opening, because that’s what they’ve created: A fantastic business opportunity,” wrote Neill Franklin of AlterNet.
Franklin noted that drug lord Joaquin Guzman is worth an estimated $1 billion, according to Forbes Magazine’s world’s richest people list of 2009.
“It’s taken [Mexican President Felipe] Calderón’s military three years, 45,000 troops and the lives of 14,000 people to “take down” someone with this high-ranking status in the drug war. Is this a way to measure success?” Franklin added.
Leyva and his bodyguards were in a shootout with Mexican authorities on foot and in U.S.-gifted heliocopters for 90 minutes before they were killed in the raid.
Overall it is estimated that the illegal drug industry produces $500 billion a year for organized crime.
Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan told CBS’s Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation in April the drug legailzation debate must be made based on the industry’s dynamics.
“You have to bring demand down and one way to do it is to move in that direction [towards legalization],” Sarukhan told Schieffer.
Scientists: Antibody Destroys Prostate Cancer
An antibody has been found to destroy prostate cancer cells in mice, according to researchers.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An antibody has been found to destroy prostate cancer cells in mice, according to researchers.
The F77 antibody’s features are detailed in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).
F77 connected to mice tissue infected by primarily prostate cancer in 97 percent of the cases, the study said.
Moverover, F77 “…effectively prevented tumor outgrowth,” it said.
At the same time, the antibody spared normal tissue and other tissues with tumor problems.
The study was conducted by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania.
Prostate cancer kills half a million men each year worldwide.
Iran Nuke Document Fabricated, Says Former CIA Official
The Times of London’s document supposedly outlining an Iranian plan to test a component of a nuclear weapon was forged according to a former CIA counterterrorism official.
WASHINGTON, D.C — The Times of London’s document supposedly outlining an Iranian plan to test a component of a nuclear weapon was forged according to a former CIA counterterrorism official.
Philip Giraldi, a CIA operated until 1992, told IPS that the unnamed intelligence sources believe Israel fabricated the documents published on Dec. 14.
“The Rupert Murdoch chain has been used extensively to publish false intelligence from the Israelis and occasionally from the British government,” Giraldi said.
As a way to confirm the Iranian nuke story, the Times quoted “an Asian intelligence source” which is a term that indicates Israeli intelligence officials were at work, according to IPS.
Plus, the Times failed to disclose to origin of its two-page document.
Moreover, other evidence, such as its lack of state secrets’ confidenciality markings and general specificity, suggests that the document is a forgery, IPS said.
The references to past experiments to a “neutron initiator” also drew red flags since the IAEA found that Iran’s tests on Polonium-210 were consistent with its stated application to radio isotope batteries.
“The IAEA report said the issue of Polonium-210 – and thus the earlier suspicion of an Iranian interest in using it as a neutron initiator for a nuclear weapon – was now considered ‘no longer outstanding,’” IPS noted.
Lieberman: ‘Not Sure’ Suspect Met With al-Qaida
Sen. Joe Lieberman is “not sure” that a suspect accused of attempting to bomb a trans-Atlantic flight to Detroit met with al-Qaida. That’s what he told FoxNews last week.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sen. Joe Lieberman is “not sure” that a suspect accused of attempting to bomb a trans-Atlantic flight to Detroit met with al-Qaida.
That’s what he told FoxNews last week.
But his lack of facts has not deterred him from promoting an attack on Yemen, the African nation where the 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab said he met with supposed terrorists.
“Iraq was yesterday’s war, Afghanistan is today’s war,” Lieberman said. “If we don’t act preemptively, Yemen will be tomorrow’s war.”
Lieberman is the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and the Governmental Affairs Committee.
The bomb threat on Northwest Airlines was thwarted on Christmas Day.
Kucinich To Obama: Fire Generals
President Barack Obama should fire U.S. generals for speaking about military strategy on Afghanistan, said a former Democratic candidate for U.S. president.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Barack Obama should fire U.S. generals for speaking about military strategy on Afghanistan, said a former Democratic candidate for U.S. president.
Specifically, Rep. Dennis Kucinich told Russia Today that the generals should not have spoken publically while the president was thinking about the issue in secret.
“You know, generals are subordinate to the president who is the commander-in-chief. He’s the boss. And when generals start trying to suggest publicly what the president should do, they shouldn’t be generals anymore,” he said.
In any event, Kucinich said, Congress has the final authority to wage wars.
Earlier this year, Kucinich introduced a bill to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan.
On Dec. 1, Obama announced the escalation of U.S. occupation of Afghanistan by 30,000 troops.
A tentative withdraw start date was set at July 2011.
Free Can Be Expensive
My old cell phone died recently. We had been so happy together. It was a very simple phone, not like today’s “smart phones.” All I used it for was to make and receive calls and an occasional text message. It was perfect for me, so I took it with me to the phone store so I could show the salesperson what I wanted. Boy, was I living in a dream world.
My old cell phone died recently. We had been so happy together. It was a very simple phone, not like today’s “smart phones.” All I used it for was to make and receive calls and an occasional text message. It was perfect for me, so I took it with me to the phone store so I could show the salesperson what I wanted. Boy, was I living in a dream world.
I’m not going to say the name of the company. Let’s just say, it starts with an “A,” and ends with a “T & T.” Once inside the store, I had to put my name in a book of people waiting. It was like when you arrive at a crowded restaurant — except in the phone store, the dessert is a two-year contract. Finally, they called my name, and a salesperson greeted me. I showed him my old phone, and he held back a laugh. As he stared at it, I knew he was wondering if it ran on steam power. When I told him that I wanted a phone exactly like that one, he just shook his head. He said the model was no longer made. However, he added that I could get a pretty simple phone for free.
He showed me a phone that was selling for $50 with a $50 rebate. In other words, it was a free phone. It sounded great to me, except the phone didn’t look anything like my old phone. For one thing, there were no buttons to push. How was I supposed to call anyone? He explained that it had a “touch screen.” When he turned it on, it looked like a small computer screen.
I told him I wasn’t used to a touch screen, and he said that it was time for me to join the 21st Century. I don’t know why, it seems like most of my best times were spent in the 20th. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought it might be fun to have one of these new devices. Besides, there was always that free price tag.
He walked me back to the cash register. I was confused. I thought the thing was free. He reiterated that it was, but I would probably want some kind of case “to protect my investment.” (What investment? It’s supposed to be free). He showed me a case that he said was almost indestructible. He also thought it would be a good idea for me to have a cable to connect the phone to my computer so I could back up all my contacts in case I broke the phone. “I thought you said that case was indestructible,” I reminded him. “I said it was ‘almost indestructible.’ But you also could lose the phone, or someone could steal it. If you have everything backed up on your computer, you’ll have less to worry about.”
“Less to worry about?” I never worried about any of this stuff before I had a cell phone. And I didn’t have a case or cable for my old cell. But since I was joining this century, I said, “Okay.” Then there was another surprise: the sales tax on the phone. I couldn’t understand why I would have to pay tax on something that costs nothing, and he explained that it was the law. In fact, I didn’t just have to pay tax on the phone as if it cost me $50, I had to pay tax on the phone as if I had paid the regular retail price. So, including accessories and tax, the total for my new phone was $75. That’s how much a free phone costs.
When I got home, I struggled with the phone and eventually figured out how to dial and receive calls. I didn’t learn how to check the stock market, how to watch an episode of “Yesterday’s Stars Who Have Lost A Lot Of Weight,” or how to make my ring tone sound like a chicken squawking. Not only was I uninterested in all the fancy features, but I figured that by the time I learned them, I’d need another new phone. With any luck, by then, I’ll be able to get a free phone for only a couple of hundred dollars.
(Lloyd Garver has written for many television shows, ranging from “Sesame Street” to “Family Ties” to “Home Improvement” to “Frasier.” He has also read many books, some of them in hardcover. He can be reached at lloydgarver@gmail.com. Check out his website at lloydgarver.com and his podcasts on iTunes.)
Buenos Aires’ Oldest Synagogue: The Worst And The Best
All of my life I have harbored a huge craving for any kind of food that contains both sugar and whipping cream — but over the years I’ve finally learned to fight the feeling. That stuff is bad for you. One cannot live on hot caramel sundaes and Tiramisu alone.
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com
All of my life I have harbored a huge craving for any kind of food that contains both sugar and whipping cream — but over the years I’ve finally learned to fight the feeling. That stuff is bad for you. One cannot live on hot caramel sundaes and Tiramisu alone.
I also have a huge craving for any type of spirituality — but that is a craving that I encourage. I keep thinking that if I go to enough holy places, meditate upside down long enough and/or read enough holy texts, that some of that spirituality will finally rub off on me and I will become an enlightened Good Person instead of the salty loner curmudgeon that I actually am.
So far no luck.
But I keep trying.
If the human race is ever going to evolve out of the shattered shards of pollution, greed and war that it so enthusiastically embraces right now, it is going to have to learn to spiritually evolve — and hopefully this evolution will start with each of us individuals evolving individually. Duh.
So whenever I get a chance to visit a church, mosque, shrine, temple or synagogue, I’m there — always hoping that something higher and better will somehow rub off on me. Hence my trip to the oldest synagogue in Buenos Aires the other day.
I’ve been to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and to various simple but dignified synagogues all the way from Esfahan, Iran, to Berkeley, California, but the Buenos Aires synagogue was more impressive and elaborate than most, even the one I visited in St. Petersburg. A member of the minyan gave me a very nice tour. Plus the temple also had a small museum and I got to learn more about the history of Jews in Argentina.
“Originally, there were no synagogues in Buenos Aires and minyans gathered in peoples’ homes or at the Recoleta cemetery,” said our guide. That’s the cemetery where Evita Peron is buried. “But in the middle of the 19th century, Baron Maurice de Hirsh, a French industrialist, became pained and horrified by the persecution of Jews in Russia, so he arranged for Russian Jews to immigrate to Argentina. He then founded many planned communities out in the countryside here.” Apparently these communities were like prototypes for the later Israeli kibbutzim.
“The Congregation Israelita de la Republica synagogue was originally constructed on this site in 1892, by Baron Hirsh’s widow Clara. It was rebuilt and rededicated again in 1932.”
I was awed and inspired by the tour.
But let’s get back to chatting about spirituality once again. Sure, religions have their illuminating aspects. But they also have their shadow sides too. For instance, some of the most vicious attacks on human beings while using religion as a red herring since the tragic destruction of Poland’s Warsaw Ghetto are now being committed in Gaza — by Israeli neo-cons who are using the Jewish religion as a smoke screen in order to torture, starve and kill. Yet the Jews that I met in Argentina are gentle and delightful people who would never even consider condoning such crimes in their name.
And there are also terrible, grim and horrible atrocities being committed across the planet right now — sometimes in the name of Christianity — by Americans in Washington who possess unlimited power. Yet the average American citizen, and the average American Christian too, is also someone who, when you meet him or her individually, are individual people who you like and respect — people who would shudder at the mere thought of shrouding innocent human babies with depleted uranium and white phosphorus.
Muslims are that way also. Take a look at the extreme difference between “Muslim” extremists as a group and the individual Muslims that I personally know and love.
What is it about mankind’s herd mentality that seems to be able to condone and justify almost anything — as long as it is done by a group? Or for a so-called religious cause.
“Snap out of it, Jane,” you might say. “Stop thinking about the worst aspects of spirituality and start thinking about the best.” Yes, well. The synagogue in Buenos Aires was very impressive — and I have the video to prove it too. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yMuoI5I7KI)
P.S: I really need to get off of my bottom right now and go do more stuff to try to save the world from violence and conflagration. And you do too.
P.P.S.: At this point, I’d like to read you a quote from Chagdud Tulku, a classically-trained Tibetan Buddhist lama. “Trying to change people by aggression and dominance is like trying to extinguish a fire by putting more wood on it. You’re just making it worse. If, instead, you take the pieces of wood off the fire one by one, the fire doesn’t have a source of energy and it will go out — the problem has been resolved. Aggression and dominance never work — they only cause escalation.”
Complicated Shopping
Grocery shopping is getting too complicated. There are simply too many options. Where before I might feel compelled to compare prices and ingredients on two or three brands, now there are sometimes a dozen. Even the generic or store brand option seems to provide two or three choices. So there I stand staring blankly into row upon row of products, trying my best to be an educated consumer. The young man stocking the shelves this evening as I pondered a veritable wall of tomato sauce asked if he could help me find something. “No thanks,” I said. I wish he could.
Grocery shopping is getting too complicated. There are simply too many options. Where before I might feel compelled to compare prices and ingredients on two or three brands, now there are sometimes a dozen. Even the generic or store brand option seems to provide two or three choices. So there I stand staring blankly into row upon row of products, trying my best to be an educated consumer. The young man stocking the shelves this evening as I pondered a veritable wall of tomato sauce asked if he could help me find something. “No thanks,” I said. I wish he could.
The same thing happened as my eyes glazed over trying to choose canola oil. There must be five or six brands. And then there’s corn, vegetable, peanut, olive, etc. Zack asked me if there was any appreciable price difference even among one type, and I reported that surprisingly, there WAS. You can pay a little or a lot. That always makes me suspicious and forces me to check ingredients. That way I make certain I’m not buying something less healthy than I wanted. For instance, the other day, a company that manufacturers a certain well known chicken broth claimed on television that cheaper brands contain MSG — and their product doesn’t.
Health issues have helped narrow my choices in some areas, and I’m almost grateful. Deciding I might be lactose intolerant has left me with one option for ice cream, one option locally for sliced American cheese, three or four options for milk (only two if you count those that are more reasonably priced) — and NO options for other dairy products. This narrows the playing field considerably.
When my daughter visits, her allergy to gluten effectively rules out anything containing wheat flour or gluten. This can be very tricky. Gluten is hidden in many ingredients the same as MSG. There must be dozens of totally unnatural food names for gluten and MSG alone. They’re listed on thousands of products. This confusing practice can mask or hide ingredients that can, at the very least, cause days of discomfort for an allergic person. With more serious allergies, it can mean more serious reactions. In the interest of complete disclosure and just plain decency, why don’t companies clearly state when something contains milk, gluten, peanuts, shrimp, iodine, etc. (To be fair, many do this now.)
I figure that if I can’t understand what the ingredients ARE, it’s time to just buy fresh and start from scratch. Or prepare or eat something else. Simple is often better. Many people work so long and hard that they have no time for this type of cooking. Convenience foods abound. They just don’t often work for us although there are certainly exceptions). So our interest in healthy food limits us in other ways. I long ago gave up most processed foods and mixes, opting for fresh from scratch whenever possible. I gave up caffeine. I don’t like artificial ingredients if I can avoid them. Rather than have sugar-free sodas, I’ll opt for water. I’ve been trying to eat healthy all my life within reasonable parameters. Fresh, canned or frozen? What’s the difference in cost and quality? Processed meat with nitrates occasionally — or not? What about convenience? This further complicates my trip to the market.
Price considerations limit me as well. Most of us are on a budget and must be sensible in our choices. I’d rather have prime beef or lobster than hamburger, but I won’t be tossing those first two in my cart every week. And of course our individual taste preferences narrow choices on other items. Sometimes we simply prefer one brand’s taste over another. Everyone has a favorite cereal or chocolate candy or whatever. And don’t get me started on pet food. Have you ever seen so many brands and options for dogs and cats? I know I get that “deer in the headlights” look when I shop for cat foods especially. Cats are the most finicky creatures on earth. It’s as if they KNOW we can shop for hundreds of different taste treats if they turn up their noses at whatever we plopped in their bowl.
Being the antique enthusiast that I am (and having inherited so many old things that “just seem right” into our ancient farm house), I noticed a prime example of marketing change over the last fifty or so years. In our kitchen hangs a very old metal “shopping list.” There are magnets to place beside each listed item, such as eggs, milk, meat, cheese, butter, detergent, etc. There are only thirty-six items. It’s wonderful that we live in such a land of plenty that we have so very many choices. But are they really all necessary? Or are all the choices unnecessarily complicating — even more — our already too complicated lives? And if we could do without so many choices, perhaps I could negotiate the supermarket in less than an hour!
(Gene Ellis, Ed.D is a Bosque County resident who returned to the family farm after years of living in New Orleans, New York, and Florida. She is an artist who holds a doctoral degree from New York University and is writing a book about the minor catastrophes of life.)
Why Have A Congress At All If It Ignores Our Needs
In Detroit unemployment is reaching a staggering 50 percent. The unemployment rate in other states also is escalating dramatically. Still, our Congress does little to resolve the issue.
In Detroit unemployment is reaching a staggering 50 percent. The unemployment rate in other states also is escalating dramatically. Still, our Congress does little to resolve the issue.
Congress has lost its way. It does NOT act in the best interests of the American community. Congress has driven a wedge between itself and American citizens.
It should be in everyone’s interest to create jobs. It makes no sense that President Obama and Congress continue to ignore the problem. Maybe it is merely the ongoing inertia of our Congress? [rhetorical] Or maybe there are more devious underlying issues?
Our Congress only acts on behalf of wealthy campaign contributors. As far as legislators are concerned, the rest of us continue to suffer as long as their wealthy special interests have been placated.
Up until now our Congress has ignored our needs. There are no new jobs being developed and implemented.
Prolonged Unemployment Rages On — Why?
How hard is it to provide jobs to those American citizens who need and want them?
It would be simple enough to issue tax reduction incentives to businesses who wish to expand their enterprises by providing jobs to unemployed Americans.
Equally, it is easy for the government to develop federal jobs to build, repair, and maintain our depreciating infrastructures, e.g., bridges, tunnels, highways, dams, etc.
So, why are the President and Congress opting to do nothing? Why continue massive unemployment throughout the nation?
Apparently, the first priority of our Congress is to placate the needs and whims of wealthy special interests who contribute huge campaign dollars.
The unemployed need to contact President Obama and their Congressional representatives and demand jobs. It is the number 1 priority of this nation to ensure that every American has work.
Bottom-line is that there is no reason for the continuing high unemployment throughout the U.S. Congress can and should start the chain of events that will cure the massive unemployment problem. Americans must demand Congress to resolve it.
The only thing Americans can do is for all the unemployed to rise up like a giant Tsunami and demand Congress to resolve the unemployment issue. Phone calls, letters, emails! And keep on banging down the doors until it is dealt with. There is no other way.
(Peter Stern, a former director of information services, university professor and public school administrator, is a disabled Vietnam veteran who lives in Driftwood, Texas.)
Don’t Forget The Cat When Taking Down The Christmas Tree
Packing up the Christmas decorations is never easy. Not only because it means the official end of the holiday season, but also because it means it’s time to pry the cat out of the Christmas tree.
Packing up the Christmas decorations is never easy. Not only because it means the official end of the holiday season, but also because it means it’s time to pry the cat out of the Christmas tree.
What makes this process especially difficult is sap. You see, it’s not until after spending the better part of December attached to the mid-section of our tree that our cat realizes she can no longer retract her claws.
A few years ago, this actually resulted in a front page story in the Weekly World News under the headline:
Holiday tree sprouts cat tumor!
It’s not like we haven’t tried to keep this tragedy from happening. In fact, we’ve even taken our cat to a pet psychologist, thinking that maybe she suffers from a traumatic experience that is somehow triggered by the site of Christmas trees — such as an unresolved conflict with a strand of tinsel.
After six weeks of therapy (equal to eight years in cat time), the only thing the doctor was able to tell us for certain was that our cat had been Shirley MacLaine in a previous life, which, according to him, isn’t all that unusual.
In short: He had no explanation for her behavior.
This, of course, led to my own — admittedly less scientific — diagnosis:
Our cat is crazy.
This forced us to take drastic measures this year in hopes of avoiding another appearance in the tabloids. To achieve this, we came up with the idea of spraying our entire tree with WD-40. Initially, this seemed to be the answer as we watched our cat slide down the trunk and into the water bowl. But as we soon discovered, while WD-40 kept our cat out of the tree, it also kept any ornaments from staying on for more than six seconds.
This left us with a handful of desperate ideas, such as moving one of our stereo speakers under the tree and playing “Dogs Barking Jingle Bells” 24 hours a day.
That idea was dropped pretty quickly.
After six barks, to be exact.
We also toyed with the idea of decorating a dogwood tree, the logic being that a cat wouldn’t go near a tree with the word “dog” in its name. That suggestion was nixed after my eight-year-old daughter pointed out I’d first have to teach our cat to read.
What all of this is leading up to is something you’ve probably already guessed, which is that, once again, the Christmas tree in our living room will remain there until it is completely brown and withered, and the sap has weakened enough that our cat can safely be detached.
In the meantime, we have already begun planning for next year, when we’ll try to coax our cat to move high enough on the tree that we can use her as a top ornament.
(You can write to Ned Hickson at nhickson@thesiusdlawnews.com, or at the Siuslaw News at P.O. Box 10, Florence, and OR 97439)
Book Review: ‘The President Of War’ Book Of Poetry Earns ‘Must Read’ Status
It is said that the winners of war write history. Not so for President George W. Bush since his so-called “war on terror” was an epic failure.
Such was the theme of Elizabeth Gerteiny’s book of verse “The President of War, and the Cowards, Villians, and Fools Behind Him: An Unfolding Record of the George W. Bush Administration 2001-2009 In Verse.”
Indeed, in 170 pages, the Connecticut poet painstakingly recounts eight long years’ worth of events that most frustrated her with regard to the Republican president’s decade in the White House.
Each individual poem is relatively short and exhibits simple rhyme schemes and styles, which call to mind “drinking songs” sung in pubs of a 18th-century America in revolution.
Take, for example, the refrain from her “Tony, Tony, What a Phoney” poem about White House spokesperson Tony Snow: “Tony, Tony, What a phoney / All you spout is pure baloney.”
Certainly, this stylistic resemblance, as well as to that of a Beastie Boys’ hip-hop rhyme, is a mere coinicidence; Gerteiny’s intention seems more sobering, though the anger remains congruent.
Preceding each poem tends to a rather lengthy introduction, explaining the context in which the verse flows by date of the event. For the eight lines of verse in “So Many Documents Lie Hidden,” Gerteiny set aside seven paragraphs of exposition about Daniel Ellsberg (the publisher of the Pentagon Papers) and his fear that Bush would launch an attack on Iran when the president left office.
Gerteiny’s success lies in distilling the anger most Americans citizens feel toward the ex-president; its top failure is not capturing each and every event, though to do so would certainly wreck the writer and clutter the volume.
Besides, it is indeed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that Bush will be remembered in the end, not necessarily Bush’s push for the United Arab Emirates to operate a U.S. port or his attempt at privatizing Social Security.
But this is not to say that Gerteiny has no fun nor lack of attention to details, such as when she incorporates Bush’s use of nicknames such as “Pooty Putin” to describe the (supposedly) former leader of Russia.
It should also be noted that in the afterward, Gerteiny saves a special drop of venom (or is it acceptance?) for political pundits’ work:
“Always undaunted; so it goes; / The only thing that’s sure / Is pundits and politicos / Together will endure.”
The President of War, and the Cowards, Villians, and Fools behind Him: An Unfolding Record of the George W. Bush Administration 2001-2009 In Verse
Poems By Elizabeth Gerteiny
170pp
List price: $19.99
ISBN13 Hardcover 978-1-4415-2471-3
ISBN13 Softcover 978-1-4415-2470-6
Published by Xlibris
Call 888-795-795-4274 ex. 7876
Order online at www.xlibris.com, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com.
Today’s Cackle Berry — Two Jokes
Christopher Columbus sailed for India…landed in the Bahamas…and said he discovered America.
If he were alive today, he would be working for the post office.
**********
A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.
The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.
The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.
The little girl said, ‘When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah.’
The teacher asked, ‘What if Jonah went to hell?’
The little girl replied, ‘Then you ask him.’
Raider Quantrill Arrested For North Texas Crimes
A party at a Sherman dance hall on Dec. 31, 1863, ended in a drunken brawl as everyone in attendance, all members of Quantrill’s Raiders, welcomed the New Year by beating each other senseless.
A party at a Sherman dance hall on Dec. 31, 1863, ended in a drunken brawl as everyone in attendance, all members of Quantrill’s Raiders, welcomed the New Year by beating each other senseless.
Leaving Lawrence, Kansas in ashes, Col. William Clarke Quantrill decided to lie low in Texas for the winter. On a creek north of Sherman, hundreds of miles from his old haunts, he ordered his 300 Rebel irregulars to make camp. The marauders passed the time by tormenting North Texans and fighting among themselves.
The 26-year-old ex-teacher supposedly started out with honorable intentions. During the early months of the Civil War, he rallied Missouri farmers to resist frequent attacks from the Jayhawkers in neighboring Kansas.
Northern authorities only made matters worse in 1862 by branding the sodbusters as outlaws subject to on-the-spot execution. Strengthened by a sudden influx of vengeful volunteers, Quantrill drove the Yankees from Independence, Missouri, an impressive feat that won him a commission as a Confederate captain.
The schoolmaster’s style of no-quarter combat attracted a cast of bloodthirsty characters. Cole Younger and the James brothers, Jesse and Frank, represented Missouri youths eager to settle the score with Union soldiers, while others like Little Archie Clement, who collected the scalps of fallen foes, were homicidal maniacs plain and simple. The rest were common criminals with no cause other than plunder.
Failing to find the elusive guerrillas, Northern troops seized their wives, mothers, and sisters. The innocent citizens of Lawrence, Kansas, paid dearly for this blunder in August 1863, when Quantrill put the town to the torch and massacred 150 men, women, and children.
That fall at his headquarters in Bonham, Brigadier General Henry McCulloch learned of the raiders’ arrival. Familiar with their dubious deeds, he protested to his superior “certainly we cannot as a Christian people sanction a savage, inhuman warfare in which men are shot down like dogs.”
But Gen. Edmund Kirby-Smith did not share his subordinate’s low opinion of the Quantrill crowd, which he contended was composed of “bold, fearless men” and “the very best class of Missourians.” He encouraged McCulloch to make the most of their special talents by sending them after the many deserters hiding in North Texas.
The Texan reluctantly obeyed against his better judgment and was not surprised by the results. The trigger-happy raiders were proficient at hunting down deserters but even better at finding an excuse for filling them with lead. Few lived long enough to return to active duty.
The New Year’s Eve melee underscored the conflicts festering within the Quantrill ranks. The Lawrence slaughter gnawed at the conscience of a small minority, and many more had given the South up for lost after the defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. But by far the most common complaint concerned the allegedly unfair distribution of their ill-gotten gains.
A rash of murders and robberies in January 1864 was blamed on the incorrigibles and again prompted McCulloch to write Kirby-Smith. Swearing the Missourians were “but one shade better than highwaymen,” he argued the guerrillas “regard the life of a man less than you would a sheep-killing dog.”
By the time the Texan had sufficient evidence to call the colonel on the carpet, petty squabbles and defections had reduced the band to less than a hundred. When Quantrill set foot in Bonham, he was promptly arrested for the recent crime wave.
However, as McCulloch took a dinner break, the resourceful prisoner escaped from his hotel-room cell. Quantrill assembled his remaining riders, hurriedly broke camp and left Texas for good.
Less than a year later, the colonel was replaced at gunpoint by an ambitious underling. But with his blood-curdling reputation, Quantrill had no trouble starting over from scratch. Determined to prove he was not over the hill, he dreamed up his most daring deed to date.
On his way to Washington in April 1865 to kill President Abraham Lincoln, Quantrill heard he had been upstaged by John Wilkes Booth. Gravely wounded the next month in a Kentucky skirmish, he lingered three weeks before finally dying.
At the request of his mother, Quantrill’s body was exhumed 22 years later. Before a second burial in his native Ohio, a family friend auctioned off several of his infamous bones to the highest bidder.
In the 1940s his missing skull was finally traced to a college fraternity, which used the relic in its initiation rites. The ghoulish postscript seemed strangely fitting for William Clarke Quantrill, believed by many to have lost his head while still alive and kicking!
(Bartee Haile welcomes your comments, questions and suggestions at haile@pdq.net or P.O. Box 152, Friendswood, TX 77549. And come on by www.twith.com for a visit!)
