I'm sure the United States had a good reason for killing eight Syrian civilians. Besides, Syria's got no business wanting to take Golan Heights back from Israel. How dare anyone attempt to split God's designated land?
I have been wondering for weeks what military stunt might be pulled at the last minute, inspired by a desperate Republican party. McCain's real material advantage (since it's just too hard to spin the abortion issue as an imminent national threat) is his military "experience," and the only way left to galvanize a gullible American public right before the election is to present a situation requiring a war-monger's instincts.
Even if we have to pick a fight.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Capitalism
At the same time as I have been whining that the United States is becoming socialist, I'm in the middle of listening to Kinzer's audiobook "Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq." I'm nearly inclined at this point to say, "Capitalism is great in theory, but bad in practice." The examples of governments toppled, budding democracies quashed, visionary leaders imprisoned, dictators installed, and corporate interests defended at gunpoint are just too much for my sensibilities to bear. Can capitalism motivate without leading to the - yes, imperialistic - tendencies our country has demonstrated in its near-genocidal pursuit of growth and prosperity?
I have spent years being disgusted with the idea of collectivism, with the thought that those who do not work might be rewarded as well as those who do. Even as I say it now, the concept still repulses me. But pouring into a small country with guns because its native inhabitants decide they don't want to let a fruit company swallow up all their land, spinning the act as being in the name of "educating" or "enlightening" a "backward" population, and calling them communist, or saying their "souls" need to be saved, in order to make the operation more palatable to the American people - this is just too much for me to swallow.
I'm trying to imagine a childhood spent with this book, rather than the claptrap whitewash schoolbook publishers spew - with the knowledge of what my country has been willing to do in order to maintain for me this standard of living. Imagine not growing up with the vision of America as better, more noble, more principle-driven than other countries. Imagine knowing beyond any doubt that we aren't any different from any other society in history, when it comes to our willingness to lie to ourselves about true motivations.
I'm angry that I've been misled, and I'm also angry that what I saw as some sort of pure, unblemished drive for achievement and progress has been turned into a typical schoolyard bullying contest. I'm appalled that both guns and money are routinely used to extort the commodities our hungry nation has wanted for the last hundred years, at the expense of innocent lives.
I am grateful that I live in a place where books like this can be published and disseminated. And yes, I know that this happens in capitalist regimes where a bookstore is free to make a profit and doesn't have to answer to the central authorities as to what ideas are permissible. But I'm simply mortified with the way our country's exerted its will in the financial department. Present circumstances don't mollify me at all.
I don't have an easy answer for what system is best anymore. No system seems to work well when thugs are making the choices. Is there a way to be rid of thugs?
I have spent years being disgusted with the idea of collectivism, with the thought that those who do not work might be rewarded as well as those who do. Even as I say it now, the concept still repulses me. But pouring into a small country with guns because its native inhabitants decide they don't want to let a fruit company swallow up all their land, spinning the act as being in the name of "educating" or "enlightening" a "backward" population, and calling them communist, or saying their "souls" need to be saved, in order to make the operation more palatable to the American people - this is just too much for me to swallow.
I'm trying to imagine a childhood spent with this book, rather than the claptrap whitewash schoolbook publishers spew - with the knowledge of what my country has been willing to do in order to maintain for me this standard of living. Imagine not growing up with the vision of America as better, more noble, more principle-driven than other countries. Imagine knowing beyond any doubt that we aren't any different from any other society in history, when it comes to our willingness to lie to ourselves about true motivations.
I'm angry that I've been misled, and I'm also angry that what I saw as some sort of pure, unblemished drive for achievement and progress has been turned into a typical schoolyard bullying contest. I'm appalled that both guns and money are routinely used to extort the commodities our hungry nation has wanted for the last hundred years, at the expense of innocent lives.
I am grateful that I live in a place where books like this can be published and disseminated. And yes, I know that this happens in capitalist regimes where a bookstore is free to make a profit and doesn't have to answer to the central authorities as to what ideas are permissible. But I'm simply mortified with the way our country's exerted its will in the financial department. Present circumstances don't mollify me at all.
I don't have an easy answer for what system is best anymore. No system seems to work well when thugs are making the choices. Is there a way to be rid of thugs?
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Irony meter breaks!
Riots as a result of a Palestinian man driving in Israel on Yom Kippur? Isn't it convenient to have a religion double as an ethnic identity, so that any time a religious act is questioned, the perpetrator gets to be called a racist? Given the world's inherent respect for religious behaviors and beliefs as completely outside the realm of critical analysis, almost anything can be whitewashed.
Day of Atonement? I hope it occurs to those people to atone for this.
Day of Atonement? I hope it occurs to those people to atone for this.
Friday, October 3, 2008
No change I can see
I'm back on the fence after the Vice Presidential debate. It's a combination of several things. First of all, when I heard Biden follow up his very Democrat-worthy comments about gay rights with a blatant statement against gay marriage, I lost track of how this party differs anymore from the Republican party on social issues. And this followed immediately after my first sense of Palin ekeing out a tiny bit of her own opinion, for once, actually offering a greater sense of open-mindedness on "alternative relationships" than I expected of this purportedly dyed-in-the-wool social conservative.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I do think that it's possible Palin has her own opinions and will be allowed to express them at some point. Furthermore, I think it's possible she might change her mind about some things.
That being said, she was unable to address most questions directly without veering off into a platitude about McCain or some permutation of "Alaska," "energy independence," and "corporate greed." And her inability or refusal to discuss her lack of experience or to name a single example of a position she has ever changed her mind on was deeply disturbing.
Biden is well-grounded and apparently well-respected for his foreign policy. Palin gives at least a sense of flexibility that I don't hear from McCain, but what good is it in a Vice President? The prospect of her being President is still too frightening to consider, although I'm less terrified of it than I was.
The bottom line is that I can't tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans, not even on the issues that used to divide them. McCain talks fiscal conservatism while Palin goes on about the corruption of Wall Street with the gusto of a Greenie. She's talking "infrastructure" and "cutting spending" in the very same breath. Biden caves to the anti-gay-marriage crowd, and Obama won't give a very straightforward answer about abortion, presumably because he doesn't want to alienate the Religious Right. And worst of all, both parties persist in making statements of unequivocal support for Israel, regardless of the methods our "great friend and ally in the Middle East" employs to devour ever-increasing amounts of Palestinian land in the name of their Divine Empire.
It's all the same garbage from both camps, I'm afraid. I know that Obama has strong views on foreign policy that I respect, but I think our political system has made it impossible for him to stick to them and still have a chance of being elected.
The country is a juggernaut of superstitious, reactionary people terrified of any kind of change. The change we need? Nobody seems to have it to offer.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I do think that it's possible Palin has her own opinions and will be allowed to express them at some point. Furthermore, I think it's possible she might change her mind about some things.
That being said, she was unable to address most questions directly without veering off into a platitude about McCain or some permutation of "Alaska," "energy independence," and "corporate greed." And her inability or refusal to discuss her lack of experience or to name a single example of a position she has ever changed her mind on was deeply disturbing.
Biden is well-grounded and apparently well-respected for his foreign policy. Palin gives at least a sense of flexibility that I don't hear from McCain, but what good is it in a Vice President? The prospect of her being President is still too frightening to consider, although I'm less terrified of it than I was.
The bottom line is that I can't tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans, not even on the issues that used to divide them. McCain talks fiscal conservatism while Palin goes on about the corruption of Wall Street with the gusto of a Greenie. She's talking "infrastructure" and "cutting spending" in the very same breath. Biden caves to the anti-gay-marriage crowd, and Obama won't give a very straightforward answer about abortion, presumably because he doesn't want to alienate the Religious Right. And worst of all, both parties persist in making statements of unequivocal support for Israel, regardless of the methods our "great friend and ally in the Middle East" employs to devour ever-increasing amounts of Palestinian land in the name of their Divine Empire.
It's all the same garbage from both camps, I'm afraid. I know that Obama has strong views on foreign policy that I respect, but I think our political system has made it impossible for him to stick to them and still have a chance of being elected.
The country is a juggernaut of superstitious, reactionary people terrified of any kind of change. The change we need? Nobody seems to have it to offer.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Palin, no mere tactic
The Republican party has not traditionally championed women's rights. The simple positions of "pro-lifery" (woman as receptacle) and "marriage is between one man and one woman" (woman as subservient) demonstrate this. Their feat in finding a candidate who so enthusiastically and cheerfully embraces these points of view was astounding.
People keep asking, though: couldn't they find someone more qualified as a Vice Presidential nominee?
I think not. Palin exemplifies everything the Republican party admires about womankind. Perky, yet insubstantial. Gorgeous, but dull and repetitive. Seemingly important, but - when it comes down to it - in second place.
On the surface, her nomination does indeed seem to epitomize the failure of strategy over tactics in this political party which would keep women, at least, in the Dark Ages. But in the long run she will vindicate their views. Even by going out in a spectacular failure, she will continue to represent all that is good about women, in their eyes. Warm, inspiring, and always one step behind.
People keep asking, though: couldn't they find someone more qualified as a Vice Presidential nominee?
I think not. Palin exemplifies everything the Republican party admires about womankind. Perky, yet insubstantial. Gorgeous, but dull and repetitive. Seemingly important, but - when it comes down to it - in second place.
On the surface, her nomination does indeed seem to epitomize the failure of strategy over tactics in this political party which would keep women, at least, in the Dark Ages. But in the long run she will vindicate their views. Even by going out in a spectacular failure, she will continue to represent all that is good about women, in their eyes. Warm, inspiring, and always one step behind.
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