Rita Will Be the Proof

Hurricane Rita has just left the Florida keys, and is drawing a bead on the Texas Gulf Coast. She may or may not actually make landfall in Texas, but wherever she hits is going to take a hard blow. The forecasters expect her to be a Category 4 by the time she comes ashore. Katrina was reported to be a Category 4 at the time she came in.

Our government's response to this new hurricane is going to be a critical test. If our government can respond effectively (like it should have with Katrina), then we'll show ourselves to be the USA everyone expects us to be. But, if we don't or can't, we'll show ourselves to be the failed state that I'm afraid we are.

This past weekend I wondered how we would respond to the long expected "Big One" in Los Angeles, if it happened this month. I'm afraid we'd be stretched too thin with Iraq, Katrina, and an earthquake in Southern California. Well, it looks like the test is going to happen, but it will be another hurricane.

I may just be voicing my normal pessimism. I hope I am! But, I'm afraid that my expectations are pretty accurate.
- posted by Marcos @ 8:40 PM (0) comments

 
"It Is the Biggest Joke-Free Zone in Literature"

What is the speaker referrring to? The Quran. Who is the speaker? Roger Scruton. He's a British Conservative with some interesting opinions. Generally, I'm no conservative, but this guy has some fascinating opinions. Mr. Scruton is "a writer and philosopher who lives in rural England."

Here's a link to an article he wrote in 2002 called "Religion of Peace?" Interesting that he wrote these things before the advent of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the bank bombings in Istanbul, the murder of Theo Van Gogh, the death threats against Hirsi Ali and Gert Wilders, Beslan, the downing of two Russian airliners, the July 7 attacks against London, and on and on...

Perhaps he's on to something.
- posted by Marcos @ 12:56 PM (2) comments

 
Shame

The world watches as the United States of America reveals itself for what it is...a failed state. Yes, we call places like Haiti and Liberia failed states. But, we have arrived at that point ourselves through our own neglect. That's all you can call it - neglect. We've neglected our ports, highways, waterways, pipelines, etc. We have sold it all for a military that itself goes around creating more failed states. Just look at Iraq.

Our government is made up of well meaning employees that are led by gang of kleptocrats. The honorable government employees who went to work for the government to protect the commonwealth can't help it if their leaders prevent them from acting in the public interest. The kleptocrats keep taking and taking from the reservoir of wealth created by common people to enrich themselves. Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, et al. are criminals of the first degree. They steal from the rest of us to conquer the world for an ideology that is corrupt. Lie to the people for their own good. That's the way they do it. Straussian cynicism. Welcome to the Neo-Con created world, where making congratulatory speeches to rich donors is more important than taking care of a national emergency.

After all, those folks in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans didn't donate money to the kleptocrats' misguided vision. No, those folks donated their own blood and breath. Those folks donated their sons and daughters to the Empire's military, while the Empire lets them drown in neglect - not even benign neglect like the late Sen. Moynihan talked about. No, this kind of neglect isn't benign at all - it's virulent and malicious. These kleptocrats are disgraceful, they're shameful. And I'm ashamed of them, because they won't be ashamed of themselves.

God save us from them. Amen.
- posted by Marcos @ 7:39 PM (1) comments

 
The Opposite of Everything Is True, Part 2

It just gets stranger and stranger. I highly recommend watching a BBC documentary called The Power of Nightmares. Sadly, much of what it says agrees with my previous idea that everything this regime in Washington does is cynically based on a lie, and they know it is. You can download the three istallments of the documentary here. I've watched all three and the case it makes is strong. The documentary was made after 9-11, 11-m, and before 7-7. It makes for a completely different perspective on just what happened in London last week.

Just how is it that the victims of the bombs have to be identified by fingerprints and DNA, because their IDs were destroyed by the fire, while the "suicide bombers" (supposedly those nearest the bombs) somehow had all of their identifying documents remain intact? I can only say, I don't know. But, given their track record, this bunch of politicians is not to be trusted.

And while I'm at it, I'd also suggest reading an article called The Myth of Islamic Fundamentalism.
- posted by Marcos @ 9:52 PM (0) comments

 
The Opposite of Everything Is True

A few years ago I read a book about denial by William H. Crisman. It's the kind of denial involved with substance abuse and its effects on people. The title of the book was The Opposite of Everything Is True. The premise is that if an alcoholic's lips are moving, he's lying. Likewise, many of the people living with an alcoholic lie all the time without really knowing it.

That title came to mind this week when I read the news about our current administration in Washington. Let me just name a few things that brought this topic to mind. The Pentagon admitted this week that yes there was desecration of the Quran at Guantanamo, just like Newsweek said there was. The same administration that reacted so indignantly about the weekly magazine having gotten its story wrong. It was wrong all right, but only in the smallest of details. Instead of flushing the Quran down a toilet, the guards kicked it and put urine on it. Somehow, I fail to see much difference.

The Pat Tillman story finally came to light. He wasn't killed by enemy fire in a battle. He was killed by friendly fire. The Pentagon not only lied about the circumstances of his death, but they tried to force the Tillman family to go along with the false story. Did the President's Press Secretary indignantly demand that the Pentagon be punished, like it did with Newsweek? No, he didn't. Why was our own media in the U.S. so quiet about it? Have they sold themselves out to the administration for access?

Jessica Lynch's capture was another of the Pentagon's fabrications. She didn't go down firing like we were told. Her "rescue" filmed through night vision goggles had all the makings of a Hollywood feature film. However, the truth according to doctors at the hospital that was raided was that there were no Iraqi forces anywhere to be found there. We were treated to nothing but the Pentagon's "cinema unverite."

The President continually tells us that there is a crisis with Social Security and that his private accounts will head that off. First, the private accounts won't help the solvency of Social Security, and second, there's not a real crisis. He's just lying again.

This week we found out who Deep Throat was/is, and his revelation was all the more poignant because we so badly need a new Deep Throat. This administration is worse than Nixon's. Nixon tried to cover up a minor burglary. George W. Bush took us to war on a lie, and his people have continued to distort the truth ever since. If the U.S. House of Representatives can vote article of impeachment against Richard Nixon for Watergate, and if it can do the same to Bill Clinton for ejaculating on a blue dress, then surely they can vote articles of impeachment against George W. Bush for taking our country to war on false pretences. Sometimes, it seems the bigger the lie, the better chance you have of getting away with it.

We have reached a point in America that we are like the citizens of the old Soviet Union. The knew perfectly well that their government never told them the truth. The came to understand that you never believe whatever was printed in the media. That kind of cynicism led the Soviet government to pretend to tell the truth, and the Soviet pretended to believe them. I believe that's where we are right now. There is nothing reliable coming out of our government, and there is no watchdog media to hold them accountable. The whole system has been corrupted.

So, what do we do at this point? William Crisman's solution was to quit lying about what's happened, and to quit believing the lies of others. I would say it's time we really acknowledged that The Opposite of Everything Is True.
- posted by Marcos @ 8:31 PM (0) comments

 
Idolatry?

Most religions have something to say about idolatry - and it's not something good. Generally, they condemn the worship of something that's not deity. The Abrahamic religions take a particularly strong position against idolatry. Perhaps, that's because monotheism's primary (some might say only) belief is that there is one God. One God and only one God. God has no equal, plain and simple. Any attempt to make images of God blasphemes the religion. Judaism and Islam are especially rooted in this position. Christianity, of course, is monotheistic, but worship of Jesus Christ adds a little softening to radical monotheism.

Islam's beginning was a critique of Christianity's erring path away from true monotheism. Islam holds that God has no equal, period. Any attempt to put something on a par with God is shirk. Shirk comes into being when the faithful fail to uphold tawhid. Which brings me to the point of this post. Is the rioting and unrest across the Muslim world in protest of the desecration of the Quran idolatry? The facts of the Newsweek story about interrogators at the U.S. base in Guantanamo having desecrated the Quran now fall into question. But, whether the report is true or false, the fact remains that Muslims went on rampages, incited by their Imams in some instances, because of the reported desecration of the Quran. Many press photos show protesters carrying Qurans above their heads, as if the book itself were worthy of worship.

Doesn't that amount to idolatry? Doesn't what they did add up to idolatry? If nothing can be on a par with God, then not even the revelation that God gave to Mohammad can be. I am not a Muslim, but I disapprove of idolatry as much as they do. I feel I'm pretty good at spotting idolatry when it comes into my view, no matter the source. I would appreciate knowing how this veneration of the Quran is not idolatry, if someone would kindly tell me. After all, Allahu Akhbar says God is Great. It mentions nothing else.
- posted by Marcos @ 6:18 PM (2) comments

 
The Pope As Eva Peron

In the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Evita, the character Che plays a central role. He is the one that adds some balance to the mass misery that the people of Argentina throw themselves into after her death. Che's character is there to point out all the things she did that weren't so wonderful. I'd like to take that role on here with regard to Pope John Paul II.

John Paul II certainly did contribute to the demise of Communism in Poland and across Eastern Europe. It could be said that he contributed mightily to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Although, the US press has already claimed that mighty feat for Ronald Reagan. Truth be told, the Soviet Union may have collapsed under its own weight without either of them, but who knows?

John Paul II is the one who refused to budge on contraceptives. There are very few Catholics in the developed world who would adhere to his doctrine. But, what about the rest of the world? There may be many reasons people have for not using contraceptives in the developing world, but one among them is that it's against Church doctrine. He even denies the use of condoms when they are a relatively effective way to prevent the spread of AIDS. So tightly bound to outdated ideas was this Pope that he actually had one of his Bishops recant his statement saying that condoms would be a good way to prevent the spread of AIDS. Even worse, the Vatican helped promote one of the Bishops in his campaign to say that since condoms didn't prevent the spread of AIDS 100% that promoting their use was just promoting AIDS. He was really saying that it's better to go without a condom than to use one and have the false expectation that one is safe. Would that same Bishop also say that using medication for diabetes is misleading just because it doesn't work for 100% of diabetics?

John Paul II presided over a Church that refused to support Liberation Theologians throughout the world. Yet, at the same time went about co-opting their message with a watered-down version of promoting the honor of work. There is certainly value in honoring workers and the downtrodden, but to actually cut off Liberation Theologians at the knees does not advance the cause of the downtrodden. Jesus didn't get the death penalty from Pontius Pilate because he went around honoring the poor, he was killed because he advocated a revolutionary way of living that didn't placate the powerful. Can we say the same of John Paul II?

John Paul II steadfastly refused to consider the possibility of women priests. This coming at a time when priests are in short supply across the US and Europe. In this day and age that is downright stupid! Women have proven themselves capable of any kind of work, and if honoring work is of value, then allowing women the chance to work as priests is only prudent. The Catholic Church is becoming more and more irrelevant in the West, and a large part of that has to do with a shortage of priests at the local level. Might the Church be one of those institutions that collapses of its own weight, because it denies fully half of its membership the opportunity to support it as full-fledged members of it?

John Paul II presided over an organization that sheltered, hid, and protected pedophiles in its own ranks. If anything is sin in its barest sense, it is this! The scandal of the pass few years is not the first time any of this came to light. These practices have been going on for years. They didn't reach the level of the past 4-5 years, but they've been there for at least 25 years. All this happened under John Paul II. There is no way that he and the Vatican leaders were ignorant of these problems. When the stories first came out 25+ years ago, why didn't they commit to a complete investigation? Did they not do so out of a concern for money and image? If so, such efforts to cover up crimes are inexcusable and should be prosecuted. In fact, Bernard Law, former Bishop in Boston where more than one pedophile predator operated, was brought to the Vatican after he was forced to resign. Is that the kind of action that brings about justice? I don't think so. I believe it was the height of hypocrisy.

Let's put some balance in the next few days of this spectacle that will be John Paul II's funeral. Like Che said cynically in Evita, "when they're ringing your curtain down, demand to be buried like Eva Peron!" May he rest in peace.
- posted by Marcos @ 7:09 PM (0) comments