(I just decided to reverse the order that I post things and put it newest items at top)
Thanks to the upbringing I had, I now have an opinion on EVERYTHING (actually, most people have opinions on everything, I just happen to be one of those few who like to state theirs aloud). I try to make informed opinions, but often have too little information. That of course does not stop me from having an opinion, just simply from having a useful one.
There is so much to say........
Where to begin......
(03/20/02)
I am, OFFICIALLY, a radical extremist.
An explination to follow (or preceed) as soon as I can write it.
(12/07/01)
FEAR
In contrast to my last rant (see below) this one is not uplifting. I am frightened. Thats the only way to put it. Not in the quaking with fear beneathe the covers, curled in a fetal position, calling for mommy type manner. Rather in a sense of forboding, de-ja-vu, Orwellian, glance over my shoulder manner. Which is to say, I think America is in trouble.
Our lovely President, Bush Warmonger son-of Bush Warmonger, has put a very dangerouse man in the position of Attorney General. That is Mr. Ashcroft. Mr. Ashcroft is a red blooded, freedom loving, God fearing American who has been favorably compaired to Senator McCarthy of McCarthy era, House Un-American Activities Commitee and blacklist fame. So, knowing that a President, who won his position in a very questionable manner (first president ever to be put in office by the supreme court instead of the general public vote) is having his actions and policies defended by an Attourney General who is not exactly a paragon of virtue.
[I will now take a moment to explain my view of Mr. Ashcroft. Fisrt off I must say that i respect him even though i don't like him. He is an extremely capable, smart, driven and unswerving man with strong beliefs who is willing to go to any means to uphold them. I dislike him because he is willing to go to seemingly ANY means to uphold HIS beliefs. For instance, it seems that Mr. Ahscroft delibrately misrepredented (a polite way of saying that he basically lied. It was a lie of gross omission, but a lie all the same) the facts of Judge Ronnie White's career in order to waylay Judge White's confirmation as a Federal Judge. Mr. Ahscroft has been quoted as saying "They say you can't legislate morality. Well, you certainly can." John Ashcroft, Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1998. The problem with that statement is that much f what he would call morality is bound up in what the rest of us call religion, and America has a carefully stated separation of church and state. An example would be his beliefs on abortion rights. His beliefs, as stated in his attempted amendmant of the constitution to outlaw abortion, are so extreme they do not allow for birth control pills, IUDs and abortions for rape and incest victims. He opposed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and was the sole dissenting voice against the continuing resolution to keep the federal government open. All of these are varifiable facts, I am not railing against the man from a lack of understanding, but rather from a solid fact based foundation. I find it odd that the USDOJ Bio for Ashcroft says that he worked to safeguard the rights of crime victims, but his voting record does not seem to hold this up as noted by all the other websites on him that I found. It goes on to say that he sat on the Judiciary Committee, but does not say that he was responsable for holding up the confirmation of many minority and female judges, some for as long as two years. The Bio also points out that he chaired the Constitution Subcommittee. It does not say however that he tried to amend the Constitution seven times in six years, and even tried to pass legisaltion that would make it easier to ammend the Constitution. All in all, I did not find any pro-Ashcroft web sites, except of course the USDOJ Bio for him. Below are the web sites I did find:
This is the most unbiased site I could find:
http://www.issues2000.org/Senate/John_Ashcroft.htm
And the USDOJ Bio site is here:
http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/ashcroftbio.html
And here are the other sites I used as background for my quotes:
http://www.opposeashcroft.com/ashcroft.phtml
http://prorev.com/ashcroft.htm
I know that this is not a wide set of views, but I did a Google search and came up with no pro-Ashcroft sites to reference, which should tell you something right there.
Our Government is pretty darn good. It has checks and balances so that power is not rooted too much in any one person or office. Occasionally it gets kinda out of wack. Depending on how out of wack it is, the event required to bring it back in line varies in size. The slower the buildup of 'out-of-wackness' the larger the event required to bring it back in line. Each step towards out-of-wack seems logical or necesary at the time it was made, but in retrospect, it was il-advised.
This tirade was brought on by watching Nightline last night (Dec. 6th)on ABC. I wish I could quote the show directly but I did not tape it and do not have the money to buy the transcript (though I think it is a good thing that the ABC online store already has the transcript and tape available for sale). The show was about John Ashcroft testifying before the Judiciary Committee about Pres. Bush's recent executive order to allow millitary tribunals and other constitutionally questionable anti-terrorism measures. Two important things were said by two important people.
The First is that ashcroft said that (this is not a direct quote because I don't have the transcript, I will get a direct quote when I can) the tribunals are neccesary and anyone who promotes fear in America in regards to the anti-terrorist measures is un-american and working for the terrorists to kill the American Ideal. That translates, when you look at it, to a very fammiliar (McCarthy era) statement.
(3/20/02)
Unfortionately my web page went down and I got distracted by life so i have no idea what the other important thing was. Sorry, I have to end this tirade here.
(11/27/01)
HOPE
I have found a ray of hope, the sad part is that i have the distinct feeling it was squashed just as it was blooming. I was reading the NY Times (as I am want to do from moment to moment) and they had an article about the subduing of Kunduz. In it the reporter speaks about his moment of contact with a captured Taliban soldier. I now quote:
Just a few feet away sat one of Mr. Abdullah's former comrades, Amonullah, a Taliban soldier who had been taken prisoner. His arms were bound behind him. A large crowd had gathered around Mr. Amonullah, and some were beginning to taunt him.
Sitting in the bed of a Northern Alliance truck, Mr. Amonullah explained that he had joined the Taliban at the urging of his religious teacher, one Mullah Agha, when he was a student in Ghazni years ago. The mullah, he said, urged him to wage a jihad against the heathens. The heathens, the mullah said, were near Kunduz.
"He told me to fight the nonbelievers," Mr. Amonullah said.
As the taunting grew louder and the truck prepared to take him to an uncertain fate, Mr. Amonullah said he had reconsidered the concept of jihad. "The Taliban are believers, and the Northern Alliance are believers," he said.
A few words on the evolution of his thinking followed: "Only I am a nonbeliever now, because I allowed myself to be tricked."
From A Deathly Peace Settles on Kunduz's Streets
By DEXTER FILKINS
New York Times
Nov 27, 2001
This man, Mr. Amonullah, seemed to start thinking for himself, an important step towards dismantling the control of fanatical leaders. Unfortunately he is now, if he is still alive, in a Northern Alliance prison. The conditions there are not going to make him believe that his captors are following the same Koran, the same religion, the same god that he believes in. Prison camps, even the ones run by Americans, are NOT places conducive to free thought. They are not even conducive to long life. I hope, in some bizarre twist of fate, that Mr. Amonullah becomes a leader for his people. I may be very wrong, but something in what he said, in that little bit, makes me think he can grasp the idea that blind allegiance is not what his people need.
Then again, I am often wrong about such things.
(10/26/01)
All right, a quick statement and then I get back to work.
America has declared war on terrorism! Nothing shall stand in the path of the enraged superpower. This is probably as it should be, but I ask, why is it that America can invade another country, walk all over the rights of American citizens (have you read the anti-terrorist bill? it very nearly invalidates the bill of rights) and totally ignore any rights of the citizens of the country they are attacking and yet still yell at Israel that its policies for dealing with terrorist attacks are too harsh?
I am not saying that America should not invade, or that it should not take extra precautions at home. I am saying that America should stop being such a hypocrite! The events of Sept 11th were horrible. In every way; In scale, location, form and brashness they were (and are) a true tragedy. The perpetrators must be found and held accountable. And those that helped, harbored, trained and fed them need to be punished as well. This cannot be allowed to happen again. But I ask, is the situation in Israel so different? Yes, the size of the individual attacks are smaller, but considerably more pervasive. Should Israel stand by and allow the murder of people eating lunch, going to malls, riding buses, and standing in line for night clubs just because retaliating is politically uncomfortable for America? America needs to draw the parallel between what it is now feeling, and what Israel has felt for decades. Israel has turned the other cheek for decades whenever America has asked it too, but now events are escalating. With the assassination of a member of the Israeli government, they no longer have the choice of saying "ok, but do it again and we will get angry!" Like America, it is time for Israel to take a stand against terrorism, a solid stand that won't be retracted before it can have an effect.
I will stop now before I really start ranting.
(09/12/01)
Yesterday the World Trade Center was destroyed. I have created a page about it. Please understand that my opinions are not what I am putting into this page, just a short synopses of what happened yesterday as I remember it today.
The page is here.
I have decided to add other info and other peoples writing on separate pages, each should be taken on its own basis. Those pages will be put up as soon as I can do so.
I also want to say thank you to the online world community. I have received statements of solidarity and condolences (I do not know anyone who died personally but am still greatly saddened and so those meant a lot to me) from many people on ICQ and AIM from around the world. The best thing to do now is give a donation to the American Red Cross, but like I said, their web site is down.
(09/13/01)
I spoke too soon. I am saddened and sorry to say that my parents next door neighbor, a fire fighter, father, and good man is missing. He went there with the rescue teams. I do not know if he was in the building or outside when it fell.
Today I have received more condolences from the ICQ community, and the RedCross web site is back up, so go there and give money so they can afford to help everyone who needs them.
A friend of mine has written her thoughts of today, that page is here and is worth reading. She makes a good point, because of the rule of six degrees of separation, EVERYONE in NY and possibly in America knows someone who is missing.
(09/16/01)
My friend Naomi had the following experience and wished to pass it on. (it is short so I am posting it here)
up until today while people around me were crying or praying, I could only
describe how I felt as being numb. but today I went to a store to buy some
creature comforts. and outside were some Boyscouts collecting donations.
they handed out papers with a list of things needed. water, clothing etc.
I walked in and looked over this list and decided to buy socks and men's
T-shirts to donate once I walked back outside. as I was picking which brand
and size I finally realized that maybe numb was the wrong way to describe
how I was feeling-disconnected-is a much more applicable description.
because as I placed those T-shirts (Hanes plain white men's size large) in
the box, I thought about the people who would be opening up these plastic
packages and pulling out a fresh, clean, white T-shirt to exchange for there
sweaty, dirty, sooty and most likely bloody ones. it was right then that I
became connected. I could picture a man-most likely a fireman-grabbing it
with his hands all cut up. he's tired, sore and covered in dust and pieces
of parts of a building that used to exist there. taking that shirt or water
bottle or any number of other things donated-so that he can continue to dig
to look for a body-dead or alive. and what little that T-shirt might mean in
the grand scheme, that was my way of hugging that sweaty, dirty, sooty guy
who hasn't given up.
that's really what I felt just from a silly bag of T-shirts.
Another friend of mine has put up a rather complete resource and remembrance page. It is very well done and should be looked at.
8/24/01
I HAVE AN OPINION
Actually I have several and most of them conflict.
But the opinion I wish to express at the moment is a sudden deeper understanding of cultural divides. I was reading about the conflict in Macedonia. I was thinking to myself, these people have nothing to fight about, they are all the same group, why don't they just admit it and get on with their lives. The world is hard enough without making harder by declaring war on your neighbor. Then I realized the same could be said about jews and arabs. Don't misunderstand. I am not about to become a pacifist and say we should give them all the land just to stop the war. But I do have a better understanding now of the reason the fighting is going on. For some unknown reason humans are still territorial. Even more than that, Humans have this giant fear of being wrong. Before all you women out there start blaming this on men, when was the last time you heard a woman actually admit she was wrong for meddling in someone else's personal life? Very rarely. There are exceptions, but there are also men who can empathize without trying to solve the problem, they too are exceptions (or gay?). Its rare but they are out there. Anyway back to the point. The point is that in most human cultures there is a stigma against being wrong or wronged. In some it is worse than others. I would like to say that the more 'advanced' the society the less that stigma holds sway, but that's not true. America is an advanced society by most standards, but being wrong is never good here. We make whole industries out of people trying not to be wrong. (its called game shows, a very large and growing section of the entertainment industry). While this does give us a bit of a competitive edge, it also makes us very touchy about being "wrong". For instance, GE is a very large company that recently was found to have done something wrong years ago. Rather than say "yes we did this wrong" and make amends, they are busy arguing about how wrong, and how liable they really are. Some would say its about money, and on some levels it is. But money is really just a score card in this country for who is wrong and who is right. OJ Simpson was declared criminally innocent (regardless of what the public might believe, that's what the courts decided) but in a civil court he was declared guilty and therefore had to pay up. Thus the score card, as read by the parents of the deceased, shows that they won, and OJ was wrong. So back to GE. They dumped huge amounts of PCBs into the Hudson river in years past. Everyone who has ever looked at PCBs knows they are no good for anything alive. GE was proven to have dumped them there. An honest company (would never have done it in the first place but that's neither here nor there) would stand up, say "I'm wrong, you caught me" and clean up the mess. Instead, GE has fought in court to say that the chemicals are safer left where they are, to say that while they might have put them there, they are not really wrong enough to have to clean them up. The reason for all this is that if they lose face to the public, then the public will also declare them wrong and take their money elsewhere. Thus money as score card. Regardless, I have gone far afield. To get way back to what I was saying. So lets look at say the IRA, they are angry, as far as I understand, at two things. One is the incursion f what they see to be a bad or fake version of their religion into their lands (except that the incursion happened centuries ago and now makes up nearly half the population). The other is that for years they were 'fighting for their freedon' which is an odd thing for them to be doing when they are technically part of the free world. Again I get far afield. I am not knowledgable enough to say who started what or who is fighting for what or what the answer is. I do know enough to say that the origins of this fight ar mostly lost in history and at this point they are fighting for the current fight because the other guys are fighting them and they want them to stop. As for the religion side, hey come on. These are people who are devoutly religious, who believe in a religion that says DO NOT KILL, DO NOT TORTURE, and THE MEEK SHALL INHERRIT THE EARTH (or dairy foods depending on whether or not you follow the Church of Monty Python). Both religions in question believe this. But they believe that their flavor of the religion is the more correct version. In fear that the other side is saying they are wrong, they have decided its better to bomb the hell out them, kill everyone in sight, hurt them, torture them, and be anything but meek. This makes perfect sense IF, and only IF, you believe that being wrong is worse than anything else in the world. Come to think of it, much of the "your wrong, I'm right" situations in the world are propegated and made worse by misuse of religion. If you have read Snow Crash by Niel Stephenson then you have a pretty good idea about some thoughts on the origins and misuse of religion (outlandish but good thoughts all the same.)
hmm, must beak for lunch.
Ok, I'm back an hour or so later and have lost all train of thought. Re-reading....... Ah ok, religion and the "I'm not wrong!" syndrome. To make a VERY long story short, it takes a huge amount of willpower to calm down, step back and say "maybe I am wrong but I know how to fix it, like so...." And if religion is inolved (even or especially the SAME religion on both sides) it gets even worse. In terms of the Jews and Arabs, things can be easily worked out except for one small glitch. As long as the arabs are living in countries other than Israel, its relatively easy to declaire peace. This is because they have a well known line that they can point at and say "Cross this line and YOU will be WRONG, and then I get to be 'RIGHT' and kill you" and while that does not sound like an improvement, it is. It is an improvement because both sides say it, both sides believe it, and not wanting to be wrong, both sides (mostly) stick to it. But in the case of the PLO, they are fighting over the same piece of the land as the Jews and they have nowhere to fall back to. If they had somewhere to fall back to they could save face and claim 'rightness' and then walk back to their own land and defend their borders and anyone who crosses them is WRONG (and summarily killed). But they are not allowed into other arab nations (for reasons we will leave out here, see the earlier rant below) and therefore have taken to deciding that someone else is on their land. Israel is not blameless here, but at some point someone has to say, ok you have that, we have this - regardless of what WAS, this is what IS, now live with it. Unfortionately that would mean both sides are wrong and whoever gets up to say that is likely to get whacked in the head with BIG rocks from all sides.
Anyway the point to all this is that I now realise its not so much a fight for land, its a fight for the chance to be right, a mental situation that is near to impossable to gain from mere talking around a 'peace' table. If they were just fighting for land, a few thousand acres of land in Africa would have suficed for the Jews a hundred years ago (it didn't) or the PLO ten years ago (it didn't) or both today (it won't). Having this understanding brings me no closer to a solution (there are smarter people than I working on it, I know, but that does not mean I can't) but at least I am thinking in a better direction.
(08/??/01)
Ok, how about Israel. I have a deep love of Israel (thank you Aba) and as such it pains me to see what is happening there. This is a country made up of the best and brightest that the rest of the world did not want. And yet they cannot seem to get it together long enough to overcome a brutal enemy made up of all the people kicked out of the arab countries around it. (I am referring to the Palestinians, whose arab brothers, the very nations that should be helping them, have ignored, imprisoned, detained, and deported them.) I do not believe in genocide for ANY reason (ok maybe if its us or them, but I have yet to conceive of a situation that is truly us or them). That does not leave very many viable options. Israel cannot effectively block off the west bank. They cannot deport them to another country. (Like I said, their own brothers consider them to be the worst sort of scum and will not allow them within their borders. I can't really blame them. When Yasser Arafat was forced out of jordan, he went to Lebanon to continue his terrorist efforts against Israel. While there, in order to forward his own ends, he created a civil war that destroyed a beautiful, peaceful country. Why would anyone want such people on their sovereign soil?) Making peace with the Palestinians has not yet had any peaceful results (the current cease fire STARTED with the killing of 21 israeli teenagers outside of a night club). How do you make peace with someone who considers suicide bombings to be a useful bargaining tool? Worse, how do you make peace with someone who uses children as cannon fodder? And even if you remove Mr. Arafat from the peace negotiations, the PLO and the new nation known as Palestine have both refused to remove from their charters the stated goals of the destruction of Israel and the eradication of all Jews in the middle east. I can list the atrocities that have been committed or I can simply say, "these are not nice people."
Please do not misunderstand. I do not hold Israel to be innocent or blameless. They have committed crimes against Palestinians. Arabs living in israel do not have a fantastic life. However, Israel is not murdering innocent civilians. Not on an individual level and not on a wholesale level. Israel has tried to make peace, but it has not worked. Israel needs another option.
I have no idea what that option should be.
Ok, that's enough pontificating for one day.