The Janitor in the Vatican

WHO???????

WHO OWNS YOUR KNOWLEDGE???????

WHO???????

CAN YOU TELL ME???????

THE IRREFUTABLE LESSON...

If you cannot see what is happening in Iraq, if you cannot see a failure, right in front of your face, then what value do YOU have?

Right now, mothers cry. There is unspeakable horror upon this land.

For what?

You tell me.

When you find an answer.....inform me.....

When you can explain this to children...then please, tell me how........

But if you can stand in front of a child, and explain this needless effort, this horrible waste, this worst of everything....this present madness, ongoing, without even an explanation.......or even a believable attempt at explaining why our blood soaks the desert........then tell me.....

I am lost. I need a leader. Do you?

Is your life worth a drop of oil?

When you can answer that......

Then let me know.......educate me......tell me what to say......

Tell me what children are supposed to think.....

It may come as a surprise to a lot of you....but they DO think.........

Do you???????

The Price of Quagmire

This morning, 8:00 AM EST Yasser Arafat returned to Ramallah, the former "Chairman's" Jewish enforced home and political headquarters.  A crowd estimated at well over a milllion, reflecting a multiplicity of politicized energy, anger and grief  surrounded his casket like a human sea, making progress to the gravesite agonizingly slow. Arafat is not going silently into the fading light. Collective Palestinian emotions, held constantly in check by Israeli troops cannot be silenced on this day.

Oceans of humanity, expressing rage and despair against Israel are not unususal in this land. There is obvious  political meaning to this event (some of the "grief" obviously staged by savy, media conscious Palestinians); a message  and a warning Israelis know well. They are watching this extrordinary scene too, and worry about the political consequenses.

The central  issue surrounding Arafat's death is the creation of a Palestinian state. However, there are many questions to answer. Who will lead the Palestinians? Who will reflect the credibility, stature, and charisma necessary to unite various Palestinian terrorist and political splinter groups (something even Arafat rarely did)? Who will be acceptable to Israeli leaders (not to mention their right wing "bitter enders"), the Jordanians (themselves holding six hundred thousand Palestinians in a political, stateless limbo, the Egyptians, Saudis, the West (themselves factionalized), and even the Chinese?

In reality, a quick solution does not exist. Nor can any Palestinian "leader" on the present horizon assume so multivariant a politial role. Even if the Palestininans unite and bring their chips to the bargining table; will the Jews? Will other Islamic nations (with agendas of their own)  contribute the necessary capital to build a national infrastructure? Can a nation be built on the cheap? Will Americans support footing the cost? Can America effectively contribute to the creation of a Palestinian state without inviting more terrorism,  while it systematically decimates another Islamic country?

No.

Arafat is gone. The worms have him now (and, perhaps Allah). The war in Iraq grinds on, becomming what every thinking person knew it would be, an endless civil war waged by partisans ranging from criminal gangs to Iraqi patriots. The Americans started that war, not Arafat. The Americans risk the destabalization of the entire "Middle East", not Arafat. The Americans invaded a soverign country without proveable provocation, or the legal sanction of the international community; not Arafat.

None of these facts make Arafat a saint. However,  they do prove he was a player in a game he understood better than America. At this moment, the "President" of Iraq worries about members of his family. They are hostages to insurgents. His daughter in law is eight months pregneant. Would it not make a powerful video if these animals first decapitated her, then cut the fetus from her belly, holding it before the camera, disproving again, American claims of success? What will occur, regionally, when America follows the elusive, currently Iraqi insurgency into Iran? Will this event increase American influence, or further isolate them from the rest of the world?

What is really going on in Afghanistan? Why is there so little media coverage of our military activity in THAT country? What have we done there? Why are American's kept uninformed?

It is one thing to pursue the enemies of the United States.

It is quite another to delberately waste the lives of American soldiers on an unworkable foreign policy of improvisation.

   

The Desert Has Soaked Up More Blood Than We Will Ever Shed.....

Apparently, last night (finally!), those who matter,  struck a deal (among them, the wife of Yasser Arafat, his wife, the Jews, The "Formal Palestinian Authority (Government), various Palestinian "gangsterrrorist", the Americans, the Jordanians, the Egyptians, the British, the French, the Germans, the Chinese, and everyone else standing to lose or gain from the exit of the only completely recognizable, authoritative voice the Palestinian people ever knew. Arafat died last night. It is hard to believe the void. Who and what fills it, effects seriously, the lives of thousands of American soldiers, currently practicing  a type of war made famous by W. T. Sherman in 1864 to 1865 in the American Civil War. A scorched earth policy of economic and cultural destruction against a prostrate people. In another twisted irony, in Iraq,  a reconstruction period will follow, only after every single city, town, and village is "neutralized", "gangsterrorism" reduced, and innocent citizens, totally dependent upon either unilateral American humanitarian assistance, or (if our government has any brains at all), the international community (NATO and the United Nations) replaces American political and military unilateralism (the fact the British and a host of lesser countries, members of a trumped up "coalition" by the Bush Administration, represent little.). In time, we will welcome an international coalition of stability. This will occur, because Americans will finally demand it. They will tire of watching, every night, their sons and daughters at risk, dying, kidnapped, tortured, and humiliated. Americans will tire of the role of "bad guy", whether they know it now or not. A role eventually infecting their souls, their sense of justice, and a unique, delusional morality, at odds with the wholesale destruction of a country that never existed; not in the "traditional " sense.

Thus, in light of the death of Arafat, and the "tar baby" America created in Iraq, ironically, the conditions necessary  for the eventuality of a future Palestinian State exist. Historically, political goals, individual profit, national economic needs, and the concepts of Colonialism and Imperialism, explain (at least to "academics") why the "Middle East" is such a thorn in the side of the world. Terrorism is practiced by those who feel  wronged. However, to the West, it is cowardly and immoral. As immoral as the American international crime of  invading of a soverign country (do not look for political innocence here, you will not find it). Within the parameters of the present military and political situation in Iraq, is it beyond possibility to contemplate American policy as unworkable, and misguided?  Terrorism is the by product of historical ignorance; Americans guiltier than most.

Is societal ignorance by the only empire left upon the planet make Americans intrinsically evil?

No. As much as Americans think themselves different from the rest of the world, they are not.

Any casual reader of history remembers war and its effects in the last two centuries. No Palestinian, Iraqi, or any other "Middle Eastern" country devastated over half the world, or ever launched a nuclear weapon. Western and Far Eastern nations accomplished that.

Why?

For reasons of their own. In some cases (as in World War II) sociopathic behavior begged (and the "hangover of 19th century nationalistic aggrandizement) war to relieve societal madness (How many of you remember Hitler?). However, the overwhelming majority of military conflicts occured over the accumulation of wealth, geopolitical advatage (leading to increased wealth and international influence), and the dictates of national self interest. Millions of men, women and children (especially children) died because of a national or psychoticindividual, "wanting".

The real reasons we invaded Iraq, and why the "West" is interested in the "Middle East" at all, is Western "wantings". In this case, oil, a need to regain a false sense of security (In honesty, when has America ever been truly secure?), and a prepositioning of American power in the region before percieved Chinese expansionism overtakes American military capabilities (unless nuclear weapons become justifiable). The reason unknown geopolitical power planners, the men and women, in American intelligence services, certain universities, think tanks, and Presidential Administrations, exist, is for a future American response to what is around the next bend in history. Planning is not a science or a moral flaw. It is often misguided, and vulnerable to unforeseen events. However, its necessity is inarguable.

The world is full of bullies with the power to halt the advance of civilization.

However, Arafat does not belong in that category. He labored long to deliver an identity to a people Americans normally, historically support (but, in the case of the Palestinians,  never gave a damn about);  people lacking basic human rights, economic potential, national identity, and the freedom to be their cultural selves. Arafat's legacy is painted in blood, but the Israelis are no less innocent; their expansionist desires no different than Saddam's invasion of Kuwait, or Hitler's invasion of Poland ("Lebensraum"), are straight forward historic facts, not Islamic propaganda.

Arafat did not trust the Jews (who can blame him?). Equally, the Jews, feeling besieged, surrounded by bellicose and hostile sounding Islamic nations, reacted according to the instincts of perceived national survival.

Thus, the cycle of mistrust, aggression and counter aggression lasted over over a century, until this day, and probably beyond,  for a multiplicity of political and economic reasons (it is even rumored that water, not petroleum, is the real "prize"). Both Jews and Palestinians, rife with internal political dissension and extremism, must overcome the past, as surely as America must create an international  presence in Iraq; to reduce the probability of generational hatred of the West, to allow the reemergence of Islamic cultural contributions to world civilization, to contribute to regional stability, to reduce the proliferation of "gangsterrorism"  (have we learned nothing from the fall of the "Towers"?), and to create a equitable system of global economics, where no nation, no peoples (once again, especially the children!), are left behind.

A list of dreams?

Yes.

But does the "Homeland Security Act", forbid dreaming?

For those reasons (dreams), Arafat's death may be more advantageous for the entire region, than his living insistance  for a Palestinian homeland.

Moreover, true stability in the "Middle East", a stated American goal, cannot be achieved, until that desire becomes a reality.

   

Why A Palestinian State is an Absolute Necessity

As of this writing, Arafat is on life support in a Paris hospital. The same country always playing both ends (the Jews, the Palestinians) against the "Middle Eastern" middle. French tecchnology represents a considerable amount of the Israeli nuclear capability. The escalation of Zionist military power dates to the fifties. Israel felt itself (with considerable justification; the threat of "Pan Arabism", an idea, politicized by Egypt's President Nasser and his political "vehicle", the "Bath Party", but never supported by the rulers of ANY  political majorities within Arab countries, even the relatively economicic British influence upon an unstable Jordan), surrounded by hostile Islamic countries (a workable definition of the term, "Islamic countries", is endlessly debateable) threatened from all sides, even the "victorious ' WWII Allies, (regardless their relatively quick recognition of the new Israeli state). The immigration of Jews from Europe brought a new, cosmopolitan attitude to Israel, an urban attitude, forged from the "Holocaust", explaining their deep seeded need to defend boundaries accepted by no one but themselves.

Certainly, Egypt did not accept the growing Israeli state, nor did Jordan, or Syria. What Americans forget, is the fact of Israeli expansion in the late fifties (after the "Suez Affair", 1954-55, the reduction of British influence [the "official end of the British Empire"], and growing American hegemony, within an overarching construct of the Cold War. The Middle East took a back seat while nuclear proliferation obsessed the "Superpowers" (the United States and Russia).

Uh oh, (so much for background) they just pulled the plug on him (11:10 EST). So, now comes Islamic veneration and American spin. Now comes the Monday morning quarterbacking, the instant experts, the encapsulated judegements and explanations.But the people who actually know the history, should, perhaps think a bit. These days, saying the wrong thing lands you in jail.

Tomorrow is a better day to finish an opinion upon, for good or ill, a prime mover of international politics in the 20th and 21st Centuries.

Where to Bury the Father of a Future Country

At this moment, Yasir Arafat is (was) on life support. Strange, how I am surprised that he nears (or has met) death. In my life, his name is as familiar as any world leader, as any famous athelete, actor, or an other kind of world staged personality. He is a force, a presence, consistent to his goals; an unwavering symbol for a people as lost and homeless as a people can be.

Arafat's fame is dichotomous. Some think him a blood dripping terrorist, others view him as an inplacable fighter for the rights, identity, and redemption of the Palestinian people. Historians will deal with that problem.  Death always followed him. Death  underscored his existence; and the former existence of thousands of Jews and Palestinians. They died because of the priorities of larger, more powerful nations, of Zionist ambitions, of geopolitical necessities, of ghosts as old as Imperial Rome, and as new as our recently reelected President. They died wanting what everyone else in the so called "Middle East" (a convenient geographical term of reference to Americans)wanted (and got); a slice of the pie, a place to call their own, an identity symbolized by law, economic progress, and security. There is nothing terribly strange about those desires. Men like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Thomas Paine, James Madison, and  Alexander Hamilton, started real trouble too. Those men fought for what they believed. They were intense, defiant, and willing to wage war to create a different version of society. In fact, if present day technology existed in the late 18th century, is it impossible to disregard the possibility that jet planes would have been used as weapons against England? Flown perhaps, straight into the heart of Buckingham Palace, or the Parliament?

Think about that.

Today's terrorist (even that word has relative meaning) is often tomorrow's hero. History is so changeable, so maleable. Arafat is surely a murder, an assassin, a scourge to the Jews, a royal pain to the Americans, the Russians, the Germans, the British, the French, and to any other country trying to rule the middle of the world; a "middle" as culturaly different, and politically chaotic as, say, America was during the years 1860 to 1865.

The "problem" of the Palestinians (whatever SHALL we do with them?) is exacerbated by the ambitions of Zionist knowing the dwindling regional supply of water for their country is nearly as important as their security. They are as diligent in keep "their" land, as Arafat is (was) to acquire some of it; as diligent to kill Palestenians as Arafat is (was) to kill Jews.

This never ending violence became such a familiar, repeating cycle, that the "Average American"grew weary of hearing   about it. They know (and never cared to know) as much about Zionist expansion as they do about Islamic culture.Nothing, plus nothing, equals nothing. For decades they read this story or that, conerning another (and another, and another ) "terrorist act" like the box scores of a baseball game.

Until a beautiful morning in September 2002.

Then, it all came into focus.

Then, it cost American blood.

Eventually, this country will realize how utterly insupportable (and impossible) our political goals in Iraq are. They will tire of  body bags comming home. They will ask why all of this is necessary, why the Jews are so opposed to a people wanting what the Americans wanted, over two hundred years ago. If Arafat's successors are clever, the two issues will become linked. Perhaps American frustration will lead, eventually, to a Palestinian state. Consider the irony of America demanding the wish fulfillment of the world's most famous, and longest living "terrorist"?

But what of Arafat? How will History judge him?

A murderer, a terrorist, or someone on the level of George Washington?

Strangely, he spent a large portion of his life on airplanes, because he had nowhere to go. The Jews made sure that almost no place was safe for him, for very long.  Such was the revenge of Zion. They always wanted (want) him dead; arguably, with good reason. Arguably, because they knew(know) he represented (represents) a collective Zionist injustice; a fact they could not (cannot), or would not (will not) admit. 

Whatever the reasons, the Jews finally (or almost finally) have their way.

Arafat will never see Palastine as a nation state, will never see a day without war. He was (is) an enigma, surrounded by an ideal, and complicit to a seemingly never ending cycle of violence and death.

But in time, he will be recognized as the "Father of Palastine".

But where (and when) is he to be buried?  That question might bring us all to our senses.

   

ELECTION NIGHT: The Darkness Triumphant

Well....I was wrong.....(happy now?)

A night beginning with hope, faded into a national failure....

George W. Bush is a pigmy....an embarassment......

He is a liar, lacks vision, is insincere about anything save the wealthy class, cares little for the elderly, or the international reputation of this country as a civilized nation, and is a fraud in his support against the expanding crisis in American education.

He not only lied about leaving no child "behind", he left YOU behind....

Now, there seems nothing to stop him, or his criminal international policy....

But, at the time of this post, this "man" is the choice of the majority of the American people.....

I am a loyal American.......

And believe it or not, a proud veteran.......

I will support the OFFICE of the Presidency.....

But never this President......

Not as long as he ignores the sufferings, dreams, hopes, and very real needs of the great majority of his fellow citizens.......

God, I hope i am wrong, there is still a slight chance for Kerry....

It is almost comical that it all boils down to a filthy hole like Cleveland, Ohio....

Think of it, Cleveland, as the arbiter of the world!!!!!

However, the tea leaves are not smiling.....

And neither am I......

And neither will you.....

In four more years......

Apparently, the crisis in the lack of critical thinking in America, runs deeper than students....

It extends to those Americans of voting age.....

To those who voted for an impostor.......

To voters; shallow, vapid, and unable to see beyond the end of their collective front porches......

Their is a price to pay for this mistake......

Best Regards,

ookrana

ELECTION NIGHT: The Worst Man In The World.......

Well, our illegal "President" sits in "the Residence" of the White House. Yet what I see in his eyes, is fear.
The fear that all of the preperations for obviating the will of America can still come a cropper.

There is no word from California.

Ohio will go to Kerry; as will Pennsylvania.

Florida will be asked to leave the Union, because of it's inability to find a SINGLE honest election official.
The networks will have a ratings bonanza. Advertisers will collect great , unimagined revenue; and.................................................................
after tonight, anyone thinking this country is not a certified plutocracy is a moron.

Will someone define "democracy"to me?

Is there a single thinking person in this country who believes that all of this "muddying of the water" was not preplanned? That armies of lawyers were not preplaced for EXACTLY this scenario?

An international war criminal now makes war upon his own country; making mockery of it's most profound illusion.

Is there a difference between losing your head in Iraq, and losing your mind in America?

The sun will rise, again and again, before this "thief" is discovered for what he is, and, more importantly, who and for what he represents......

I hope the Iraqi's are watching. I hope they are amused. They are intelligent people. They know all about the methods of a tyrrant..........

Do we????

ookrana

THE ELECTION: A Night of Long Knives....Ohio, and the Young

It is just after 8:00 EST. The phrase of the night is "too close to call". Which means that certain states are breaking for Kerry.

An example: Ohio. More college students registered to vote in this, the so called pivital state, than in any other state in America; fully 13% more than the national average.

In North Carolina, in my land, a formerly "safe" state for the President is "too close to call". Again, elevated numbers of young voters and a growing population irritating "Yankees" ( Im kidding....well, maybe .....) make the White House squirm.

Very soon, Ohio will go to Kerry.

Why?

Because college kids do not believe in the President, his policies, and know an out right liar when they hear one. Those voices, screaming their willingness to redefine patriotism....

America, even at this early moment, whispers......"change".

Just a second ago, my state went for the President. Oh well, some things never change.

What fun, this is......

ookrana

THE ELECTION: A Night of Long Knives...

Now begins the waiting. The sun, passing slowly over this country, begins to leave shadows as it dims in the west.

Election night, the great moment of American renewal begins; right now!!!!

Our national pundits claim Ohio is the key to the whole contest. However, as of 7:00 PM EST, Florida, once considered a safe state for the President, is already in doubt. If that is true, the country is in for a long, dramatic night.

Already, claims and counter claims of voter irregularities pass back and forth, like opposing artillery.

In the "real" West, the cowboys, yahoos, and mormons, historically resentful of just about everything in the world, have staked early claims for the President. But they do not matter, and never have.

For Bush, Kerry, and America, this night may become endless.

ookrana