Thursday, April 27, 2006
Smoke Kills
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Such Extremes
Not that im very schooled and all but did not germany work with stuff to make so called super humans ??????
Friday, April 21, 2006
American Terrorist
Looking Up
We are obsessed with Stars.
References to stars litter our life: gold stars; shooting stars, I bumped my head and saw stars; superstar; star signs, mega-star; stars in our eyes; a twinkle in the eye; twinkle, twinkle little…
Yet at night we make light - light, light, we need more light – we make light of…
so much wasted light that we blot out the stars.
Perhaps it is not the dark that we are truly afraid of, but rather to stand under the night sky, without the glare of progress, and gaze up at the stars.
Is it because we are afraid of the insignificance of our species? Perhaps even more frightening, for those who wish for reasons, is the concept of some god, some force out there that, unlike us, is in control of things.
It’s a man thing, I guess, the need to control; to be in control.
Each star is a singularity, you cannot look at one and know them all. Contemplation of the sky requires patience. (Arcturus) There are those who gave and give the stars names – the names we hear are a chart of our rise. (Cassiopeiae) These names are a testament to how long we have been conscious beings. (BD+38° 3238 aka Vega) Capable of instilling meaning into symbols. (QZ Sagittarii) Names for the burning balls of flame that lie out there in the greater part of our environment.
Insignificant yes. But understanding this makes us less insignificant.
Surely there cannot be any greater gift than thought.
It is thought that makes us equals to the stars.
We are all stars.
This is probably one of the most positive things I've written.
I dedicate it to littlebitofsonshine.
To Pisces Iscariot
Im so honored bless you and thanks you .For you i share a poem i wrote a while back it is and allways will be close to me thoughts and heart .
The creator made Mother earth
and she grew,
When The Creator saw,
she was with form,
He Covered her with plants,
and all our creation here
to cover her with LOVE.
But human kind forgot our place
and desired to try and be Gods
and take over Mother Earth .
Now if you where The Creator,
What would you do
to protect your oldest LOVE????
instead of love and care for.
Would you choose a hatefull child
or the Mother of all this line ????
Who are we to think
we are the only Blessed line
or will be the last ????
Do you know most blessing happen when people work at helping others .Now if we helped feed and grow more plants and find alternate fuel would this make us the blessed line living in harmony with earth and all here ?? Just a question?
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Justice / Hypocrisy
This article by Kola Odetola posted on Global Echo asks the right questions.
For a view from the perspective of a white conscript involved in one of these 'operations' see my post What is it Good For?
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Education Tyranny
What is it with people who use their education as an excuse to belittle those who either a) do not conform to their world view or b) they think are beneath them? As if by understanding and using words like ‘paradigm’ they find themselves unable to understand their own arrogance and elitism. Ironically, many of them spout all sorts of righteous understanding about the state of the world, leading the unsuspecting newcomer to believe they have entered into enlightened dialogue.
It must be fun to lash out with self-gratifying bile, but to come even close to enlightenment you need to be clean – how can you claim moral high ground when your prejudice is hanging out? You need to shed the ‘isms’, starting with egotism and working your way through sexism; racism and bigotry (And I know bigotry isn’t an ‘ism’ smartarse).
At the risk of sounding preachy, it is important to realise that, rightly of wrongly, education is a privilege not afforded to everyone in equal measure (some not at all) and to use your education against those who you feel have a lesser education, is morally corrupt; ignorant and frankly reeks of class elitism.
Unfortunately education and a sharp wit do not necessarily equate to intelligence, if it did we would quite possibly be living in a far more progressive world where the many are not abused by the few; where education could be used to improve the situation rather than to climb some cliquey ladder while kicking those who you perceive to be on a lower rung.
Hey, I know that on the scale of world problems this may appear a small issue, but I believe that we need intelligent dialogue in our attempts to change the way things are going, and dialogue cannot be termed intelligent when it is laced with prejudice.
There are those out there that advertise themselves as serious commentators; going under names that invoke revolutionary thinking (my name is Che) and posting well informed analysis of current affairs. They even appear to adhere to some or other ideology. Fair enough, but a closer look reveals minds more interested in measuring penis length than stretching understanding.
Clever and witty comebacks are fine, as punctuation in any dialogue, but when they become the dialogue then all construction is lost and we fall into egotism and public masturbation. To those who wish to continue, please feel free to correct my punctuation and grammar. Prove me wrong.
Here in Mexico, a kinder and gentler nation which has preserved the great native secret of how people ought to live and let live among each other, a person who in arrogance acts rude and crude, is said to be "mal educado". That means “poorly educated”.
It does not refer to years of formal schooling, which can and often does show in rudeness and crudeness. Rather, it has to do with more important childhood lessons of social grace taught by one's mother. Diverting an arrogant's game by questioning "¿Y como está tu mama?", or "And, how is your mother?" can place a fix on what is really going on.
Tendency to diverge from a mother's teachings under cloak of cyber anonymity often causes wonder if this is a proper medium for encouraging social revolution. Too much shouting “Look at me”. Too little listening. Too much worship of status conferred through raping the world. Too many believing personal existence matters. Too many smart ones who’ve never used it to survive. Too many seeing difference in people rather than similarity. And all couched in words, empty words of little substance. Code words for "I", "me", "my", and "mine".
Everything started the day I was born. I had no mama, no papa. Nobody nurtured, pained, or worked for me. I knew all that had to be. Nobody built that world around me. It was just there. And I deserved every bit of it. I owe nothing to anyone. Why should I suffer from guilt of what passed before? Why should I pay for others older or with less because I made everything. I, me, my, mine.
Perhaps though, we can start from here, realizing everyone gets to where they will be from where they are.
I,m going out on a lemb saying this but im a me and you are a you but togther we are a us .We all have to breath the air we all have to have water we all have to find our me samness to finley have world peace but in doing so we have to rember we are all human.Be safe walk in peace allways Sonshine P.S. may we all be we's in our me'ness
Unfortunately, i am beginning to realise that the left is too busy sqabbling about who is the real left, the genuine left, the more left than left, to make a difference.
If things are to change it will have to come about by people in the middle: conservative liberal democrat tory labour - political affiliations no longer make any difference.
People on all sides seem to be pissed off with the way things are going.
People need to take back control of those who represent them. Bring pressure to bear on our governments, use economic power, shout, write, communicate your dissatifaction.
It's a slim chance but its worth taking.
Maybe Pisces, maybe. You might be right if democracy works. The view seems to depend on that. I personally don't know if such is so or what is or isn't "left" and have tendency to leave such labels and the various acys, ists, and isms alone to be expounded upon by others sharper or more interested than myself. The topic was considered in depth in a previous thread here, and I point you there. It was initiated last December and comes as close as any in exploring that in terms of this forum. It is titled "What's Left" and linked here.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Deja Vu - Again
He didn't end the war any more than did those less stupid and more sensitive of the US by protesting in the streets. But along with them, he helped that population's less crazy acquiesce and finally accept victory of the Vietnamese over American invaders. For that he received a Pulitzer prize and several other awards.
Hersh did not rest on those laurels. He let the world know of the "The Samson Option" that Israel was secretly stockpiling nuclear weapons. Hersh made lie of US bombing Sudan's pharmaceutical factory under pretense it was used for terrorist activity. That was before he broke the story of Abu Ghaib prison torture.
It is hard to believe most US political writers and the wish-they-were's of foreign fawners are so dumb as to believe the tripe they parrot in defense of US actions and societal attitudes. So, if not stupid, then consider them whores for whatever gain. Semour Hersh is not one of them. He stands tall as defining what is taught as the job of a journalist.
The crazies of US war interests are now glorying in process of soon enlarging their nightmare. But, this time those too timid in self interest to oppose will not be able to claim surprise or mouth justifying official reasons for barbarity to come. That's because the investigative reporting of Semour Hersh has penetrated the smoke screen one more time.
That is in a New Yorker magazine article which reveals US intentions and planning to very soon initiate a seemingly unavoidable and probable nuclear bombing war over Iran. You know something of that nature is coming because you've seen the preview of the last being repeated, embelished with a new title.
Now however, you get the details yet only guessed. The New Yorker story is long and detailed. Hersh does little tossing of opinion but a lot of backing what he's discovered. It is worth reading if for no other reason than you may miss what is soon to unfold. You could run short this time around on the luck required to survive and protest your next war.
When they came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
(Martin Niemöller)
Friday, April 07, 2006
US Military Murders
*
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi police have accused American troops of executing 11 people, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old infant, in the aftermath of a raid last Wednesday on a house about 60 miles north of Baghdad. The villagers were killed after American troops herded them into a single room of the house, according to a police document obtained by Knight Ridder Newspapers. The soldiers also burned three vehicles, killed the villagers'animals and blew up the house, the document said.
*
Accusations that U.S. troops have killed civilians are commonplace in Iraq, though most are judged later to be unfounded or exaggerated. Navy investigators announced last week that they were looking into whether Marines intentionally killed 15 Iraqi civilians - four of them women and five of them children - during fighting last November.But the report of the killings in the Abu Sifa area of Ishaqi, eight miles north of the city of Balad, is unusual because it originated with Iraqi police and because Iraqi police were willing to attach their names to it. The report, which also contained brief descriptions of other events in the area, was compiled by the Joint Coordination Center in Tikrit, a regional security center set up with United States military assistance. An Iraqi police colonel signed the report, which was based on communications from local police.
*
The case involves a U.S. raid conducted, according to the official U.S. account, in response to a tip that a member of al-Qaida in Iraq was at the house. Neighbors, interviewed by a special correspondent for Knight Ridder, agreed that the al-Qaida member was at the house. They said he was visiting the home's owner, a relative. The neighbors said the homeowner was a schoolteacher. According to police, military and eyewitness accounts, U.S. forces approached the house at around 2:30 a.m. and a firefight ensued. By all accounts, in addition to exchanging gunfire with someone inside the house, U.S. troops were supported by helicopter gunships, which fired on the house. But the accounts differ on what took place after the firefight.According to the U.S. account, the house collapsed because of the heavy fire. When U.S. forces searched the rubble they found one man, the al-Qaida suspect, alive. He was arrested. They also found a dead man they believed to be connected to al-Qaida, two dead women and a dead child. But the report filed by the Joint Coordination Center, which was based on a report filed by local police, said U.S. forces entered the house while itwas still standing."The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 persons, including five children, four women and two men," the report said. "Then they bombed the house, burned three vehicles and killed their animals.
"The report identified the dead by name, giving their ages. The two men killed were 22 and 28. Of the women, two were 22 years old, one was 30 and one was 75. Two of the children were 5 years old, two were 3, and the fifth was 6 months old, the document said. A special correspondent in Ishaqi, said autopsies at the hospital in Tikrit "revealed that all the victims had bullet shots in the head and all bodies were handcuffed." Ibraheem Hirat Khalaf, whose brother Faiz owned the house and was among the dead, said he watched and heard the assault from his home 100 yards away. He said that U.S. troops used six missiles from helicopters to destroy the house as they were leaving.Abu Hijran, 38, and a neighbor, said those in the house were liked and respected, though the wanted al-Qaida member was not as well known.Rasheed Thair, an employee of Ishaqi, said that the town was in a state of shock over the killings. "Everyone attended the funeral," he said. "We want the Americans to give an explanation for this horrible crime which took the smile and the dream of a spring night from 11 people, and destroyed even the simple toys of children."
Ba Rong, Ba Chi
The primary problem of established religions' preferred behavior listings is that, though they sound nice, they don't seem to work very well. More modern attempts also have shortcomings. Mao's little red book has a lot of good stuff but is just too long except for waving in processions. Those which sneak through Che's diary and Fidel's speeches are too restricted in distribution. Contemporary political blabbering in reference to constitutions and laws are universally regarded as bull shit by any with brains who struggle to get through life with minimal hindrance.
Now we have a new set called "Ba Rong, Ba Chi", the eight honors and disgraces, which were recently put forth by Chinese Chairman Hu Jintao. They are concise and said in original language to have a nice memory enhancing poetic effect when put to music. For myself, aside from apparent gratuitous ruler gifting of the nation loving and law abiding stuff, they appear to take in the necessary for a decent society.
-- Love the country; do it no harm.
-- Serve the people; never betray them.
-- Follow science; discard superstition.
-- Be diligent; not indolent.
-- Be united, help each other; make no gains at other's expense.
-- Be honest and trustworthy; do not spend ethics for profits.
-- Be disciplined and law-abiding; not chaotic and lawless.
-- Live plainly, work hard; do not wallow in luxuries and pleasures.
Hu is on the way to visit Bush. I doubt the concepts will transfer.
Out of all the pick and choose with rules and regulations and guides, this one sounds like it would do. Short and simple, as it should be. Bushes business of America would not last overnight if he had to go by any of them. Good knowledge from China.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Viva Chavez!
Venezuela takes back oil fields
Venezuela has been trying to tighten its grip on the oil industryVenezuela has taken control of two oil fields operated by French firm Total and Italy's Eni.
The government said it had taken the step after failing to agree a deal with the two firms which would give it a majority stake in new ventures.
President Hugo Chavez has been working to strengthen state control over oil production in the country.
So far, 16 oil firms have agreed to change their operations into joint ventures with state oil firm PDVSA.
US based Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and Spain's Repsol are among the companies that signed the agreement on Friday.
In an interview on state television, Minister Rafael Ramirez said the government took over the fields operated by Total and Eni on Saturday.
"We are waiting for a resolution with these operators after they exhausted the possibility of entering into the mixed companies," Mr Ramirez added.
Legal action?
Total's Jusepin field produces about 30,000 barrels of oil a day, while Eni's Dacion field produces almost 60,000 barrels per day (bpd).
Eni has vowed to fight the takeover which it declared illegal
.
"Eni believes that this action by PDVSA is a violation of Eni's contractual rights," it said in a statement.
The company added it was considering possible legal action and would be seeking compensation.
Total confirmed its oil field had been taken over, but declined further comment
.
Tighter controls
Last year, Mr Chavez declared 32 oil exploration deals in the country illegal - prompting the change to the contracts.
PDVSA officials had voiced fears that the previous agreements were disguised attempts to privatise the country's oil industry.
However, some oil firms have refused to sign new deals, arguing that they have pumped millions into operations in Venezuela, and now may not see any return on their investment.
Venezuela is currently the world's number five crude oil exporter.
The government has been tightening its grip on the oil sector to raise additional funds to fight poverty in the country.
As well as demanding firms give up majority control of their Venezuelan oil ventures, the government is also demanding firms pay more taxes.
Last month, BP was slapped with a back tax bill of $61.4m (£35m) covering 2001 to 2004.
