Twelfth Bough

i run my own damn think tank

Archive for category Language & Meaning

sending people off into the tall weeds

Sep 27

Posted by A. Peasant in Big Pharma, Flu psyop, Language & Meaning, Media | No Comments

Problem: TPTB put some bad ingredients, such as squalene, in their swine flu vaccine and word has gotten out to the people not to take the vaccine.

They have to do something. They cannot simply pretend that nothing has happened. How do they address this problem?

This is what they do. They have a doctor on Fox News. As soon as the conversation turns toward the danger in the vaccine, the host, whoever that clown is, interrupts the doctor and starts talking about …….thimerosal.

Is thimerosal bad? Yes it is. But of course, many people already know about thimerosal because it has been long associated with autism and the MMR vaccine. Thimerosal is an old controversy. For years doctors have been shooing parents concerns away about thimerosal even though the government recently conceded a vaccine-autism case in federal court.

If you were watching Fox News and started looking into thimerosal, however, thinking it has something to do with the swine flu vaccine, you would be off in the weeds far far away from discovering anything about squalene.

There. That was easy. You simply conclude that one out of four doctors is an idiot.

samson prepares to die - updated

Sep 12

Posted by A. Peasant in Hasbara, Iran, Israel, Language & Meaning, Nuclear Weapons, Unreality | No Comments

http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c37_a16707/News/National.html

All this spin so artfully applied does not change reality.

Several hundred Jewish leaders from around the country will spill into Washington on Thursday for a “national leadership advocacy day on Iran” that many hope will spark a genuine grass-roots movement akin to the Soviet Jewry movement of the 1980s.

Spill into Washington….. like milk and honey.

National leadership advocacy day on Iran…. we should all follow our wise Jewish leaders.

Hope…spark…genuine grass roots movement…. it’s all good, isn’t it?

And while one ostensible goal of the fly-in is to press for new sanctions legislation pending in Congress, there is a broader, unspoken purpose: to ensure strong official U.S. support if Israel feels compelled to use military force to damage Iran’s nuclear program.

Aha. So the “ostensible” goal is to press for sanctions, but the real reason, the unspoken purpose (which even though it remains unspoken can be written about because there’s no shame in it whatsoever but then again it’s good to try to at least *look* reasonable) is to make sure that elected leaders of the American people fall right in line “if Israel feels compelled to use military force to damage Iran’s nuclear program.”

Israel’s glass feelings…so very fragile. So easily scratched or shattered. So precious. Israel cannot be expected to behave like a mature member of the international community, subject to rigorous rules of logic and reason, expected to compromise and negotiate in good faith. No. Israel is special, more special than anyone else as we are constantly reminded. Chosen. And so if Israel has any uncomfortable feelings, we must cater to and indulge them lest we incur the wrath of “God,” and if some number of people have to die — whether they be Palestinians or Lebanese, Iraqis or Afghanis, Russians or Syrians or Iranians or Europeans or Africans or Americans, innocent or not, anyone may be called — to assuage Israel’s feelings, then we all have a duty, apparently, to overlook such unfortunate sacrifices and provide strong support and comfort to our best friend in her endless hour of need and persecution. And all these smiling Jewish people have spilled into Washington to helpfully remind our brave elected leaders of same.

Beneath the surface, this week’s action is “designed to impress upon people in Washington that somebody has to deal with the problem — and that all the moves up until this point have clearly not addressed the problem in a satisfactory way,” said Shoshana Bryen, senior director for security policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). “The Jews aren’t coming here to ask the administration to bomb Iran, but I also don’t think they’re coming here specifically asking for sanctions, either, because we know sanctions haven’t worked. What we’re left with is that they’re preparing the ground so that no matter what happens, nobody can say they weren’t warned.”

So we should be grateful that “the Jews” give us fair warning that they *will* rope us into another war, if they feel like it. And by the way we had better not complain, having been graciously warned in advance.

Can’t you see they have NO CHOICE?!

“As a community, we are taking an overall approach,” said Mark Levin, executive director of NCSJ, a group focused on Eastern European human rights. Levin is coordinating the Washington event. “Sanctions are one important mechanism. We recognize that there has to be greater support from other countries, but what is the alternative? To throw up our hands and say Iran will be a nuclear nation, with all that implies?”

With all that implies….

So, what *does* it imply, exactly?

Simply this: that Israel would no longer enjoy hegemony over the Middle East and by extension, the world. Iran threatens the balance of power. Or more accurately, the imbalance of power. In reality, Israel would prefer that the entire world balance uncomfortably, perilously, on the head of a pin for time immemorial rather than let power flow naturally among sovereign nations. That’s the real unspoken choice that they can’t face because it’s too horrible to contemplate, not being able to dictate and bully and commandeer the world’s resources at their capricious will. And in fact, there really is no choice. Israel and her smiling supporters do nothing but prolong the inevitable, for their ill-gotten power can not be sustained. Israel will go down.

The real choice facing the world is this: how many people will Israel be allowed to take down with them?

UPDATE:

Israel says “the time is now” for action, linking what Israel wants to the rest of the world
Haaretz: http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1114032.html

Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said “the time is now” for Israel and the world to act to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions, after world powers on Friday accepted Iran’s response to their offer of talks on the issue.

“The time is now,” Meridor told Reuters in an interview published Saturday. “There is no more time to waste, and that’s not only the Israeli perspective, it’s much more general.”

…He said Iran is a “special case” for his country because Iranian leaders say Israel is illegitimate and should not exist, Iran is boosting its military capabilities and is involved in international terrorism. However, he added that, “One should not close one’s eyes, but we are in a way fortunate that this is not only Israel’s problem.”

The minister said Iran would reach bomb-making potential before “the distant future,” but noted this was not the key issue facing the world.

“The trend is clear, and if you want to be an owner of nuclear weapons or have the capability of being a nuclear power it changes the balance of power,” he told Reuters.

And we can’t have that. This is about changing the balance of power. Here you have it, right from the Deputy Prime Minister’s mouth. Israel will start a war to prevent this change in the balance of power. That is the nature of the “threat” for which they expect many people to die.

And this is why the Iran war drums begin beating in Washington, in a big hurry they are, in spite of the fact that:

…Official U.S. intelligence estimates provide a far slower timeline. In February, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dennis Blair told Congress that Iran would be unable to produce highly enriched uranium (HEU) until at least 2013, and stated that there is “no evidence” that Iran had even made a decision to produce HEU.

…which just proves that this has nothing to do with Iran’s nuclear program.

Forward the damn email….OR ELSE!

Feb 7

Posted by Marlena in Israel, Language & Meaning, Symbolism, Unreality | 5 Comments

From my email…(this deeply disturbing picture was obviously not included)

In MEMORIAM - 63 YEARS LATER

Please read the little cartoon carefully, it’s powerful. Then read the comments at the end. [The cartoon was stripped by my email software. Oh dear. I can just imagine.]

I’m doing my small part by forwarding this message. I hope you’ll consider doing the same. [What? Am I supposed to feel guilty already? I haven't even read the damn thing yet.]

In Memoriam

It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. [And the Nakba. Don't forget the Nakba. That was 60 years ago, too.] This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the six million Jews, [Oh really? The number on the plaque at Auschwitz is 1.5 million.] 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians and 1,900 Catholic priests [Whatevs!! Please just notice the first item on the list.] who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned, starved and humiliated with the German and Russian Peoples looking the other way! [Yes, of course. The German and Russian people must be demonized, always and forever, world without end. It matters not that they themselves were suffering the depredations of war and starvation. They should have done something, just like we Americans have done so much to stop the suffering of the Iraqis and Afghanis and Palestinians. And Darfur. Right? Here we are, living in the most prosperous country in the world, not suffering the privations of war, and we have done WHAT, exactly, for these people? Oh that's right. We haven't done a damn thing except Look The Other Way, just like those damn Germans and Russians. Oopsie.]

Now, more than ever, with Iraq, Iran, and others, [How mysterious. What others? Do you mean like the Israelis slaughtering the Palestinians in a vicious display of genocide? That one???] claiming the Holocaust to be ‘a myth,’ [Just stay away from reading that plaque or doing any independent research, please, thanks, love ya.] it’s imperative to make sure the world never forgets, because there are others who would like to do it again. [Who shall remain nameless under the witness protection program of history, also known as corporate media.]

This e-mail is intended to reach 40 million people worldwide! [Why's that? Is it for the 40 years in the desert? The 40 days of Lent? What's the symbolic value of 40 million? Is it just a big-ass round number to throw around to shut up all those Holocaust (TM) Deniars? "Oh yeah? Well we organized 40 million people around the world to pass on our email chain! So there!"]

Join us and be a link in the memorial chain and help us distribute it around the world.

Please send this e-mail to 10 people you know and ask them to continue thememorial chain.
Please don’t just delete it. [Oh! Oopsie! Too late.]

It will a only take you a minute to pass this along. Thanks! [Wrong number. Click.]

“No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” [That's a scriptural neener neener neener.]


I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. Revelations 3:9 [And so is this.]

Dedication to the Truth At All Costs

Feb 6

Posted by Marlena in Injustice, Israel, Language & Meaning, Religion | 6 Comments

People squeal and screech when other people have the nerve to resist their sacred narratives. But there is one, and only one, question that must be answered in the face of these outbursts: IS IT TRUE? Naturally, this annoying insistence on the truth only makes the squealing and screeching louder.

Truth comes before justice. We will not have any justice until we have the truth, so digging out and exposing the truth must be the primary concern for all those who claim to want peace and justice.

Here George Galloway outlines the TRUTH that Britian had no right to give the Palestinian’s land to the Jews. He then goes on to answer another caller, who hangs the entire rationalization for Britian creating the State of Israel on the Holocaust. George Galloway then gives a little history lesson in which the Holocaust is blamed on the anti-Semitism of the Christian world. So the Muslims are now being punished for the crimes of the Christians, which is TRUE.

Which is all well and good, I suppose, as long as you stick to the Holocaust narrative, which George Galloway does, because then you can lay the blame for everything on Christians, and that keeps them in their place. But now, here we have this tremendous stink over the Holocaust narrative. This is quite a disaster because, you see, if that story falls apart, then the entire construct of the modern world (who is “good” and who is “bad” and who “deserves” what) comes unglued.

This explains why the Pope’s decision to reinstate Bishop Williamson is so very upsetting to World Jewry, as most wonderfully explained by Truth is Beauty. WHY is it so dangerous to question the Holocaust? WHY does it generate such screeching and squealing?

 

On Jan. 28, the pope said he felt “full and indisputable solidarity” with Jews, and warned against any denial of the full horror of the Nazi genocide.

Bishop Williamson, in order to be admitted to episcopal functions within the church, will have to take his distance, in an absolutely unequivocal and public fashion, from his position on the Shoah, which the Holy Father was not aware of when the excommunication was lifted,” the statement said. The Shoah is the Hebrew term for the Holocaust.

Jewish groups welcomed the Vatican statement, saying it satisfied their key demand.

“This was the sign the Jewish world has been waiting for,” said Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress.

 

Yes, this is the sign the Jewish world has been waiting for, but what exactly does this “sign” really mean? It means that in the post-Vatican II Church, the “Shoah” has replaced the Crucifixion as the central event in history. And do you notice the subtle switcheroo here? Now, instead of the central tenet of the Christian faith pertaining to the murder of the Christ by Jews, the new central tenet refers to the murder of Jews by Christians! This should come as no surprise to those who understand what really lies at the heart of the problem. At its core, this is a spiritual battle that’s being waged above our heads. It’s Christ vs. anti-Christ, and each of us must choose a side.

Aha. The Christians must remain the villians, a la the Holocaust, because the organization of modern world hangs on this very assumption. If the Holocaust did not happen as we were told, and to take it a step further, if Christians actually have some legitimate grievances against “The Jews,” then the whole thing unravels like a cheap sweater, doesn’t it. And we can’t have that.

The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) appears to be the group of Catholics willing to go “all the way,” as it were, with the TRUTH. So you will hear lots of screeching and squealing about them. But for anyone who claims to want peace and justice, first we must have the TRUTH. And the TRUTH would be based on FACTS. So rather than making a big noise about what they say, let us ascertain the FACTS of these various matters and ask, IS IT TRUE?

For example, let us determine the answers to these questions, just for starters:

  • IS IT TRUE that the gas chambers cannot be proven?
  • IS IT TRUE that the six million cannot be proven?
  • IS IT TRUE that the Talmud is a vile and racist document specifically allowing for the abuse, cheating, and murder of Christians and all non-Jews?
  • IS IT TRUE that Freemasonry is Jewish?
  • IS IT TRUE that the Mossad and Israeli dual-nationals have infiltrated all levels of the US government?
  • IS IT TRUE that the Federal Reserve is owned by Jewish families?

And so on and so forth. The hysteria surrounding all these questions is beside the point. The hysteria exists precisely because if these things are TRUE, then JUSTICE would demand dismantling many precious narratives, and the State of Israel, and the fiat banking system, and…well…you see the problem. There’s quite a lot at stake.

The Cryptic Predictions

Oct 21

Posted by Marlena in Corruption & Crime, Language & Meaning, Symbolism | No Comments

Joe Biden has made some interesting remarks about upcoming challenges certain to face a new Obama administration.

“Mark my words,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

“I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate,” Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. “And he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you - not financially to help him - we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.”

Not only will the next administration have to deal with foreign affairs issues, Biden warned, but also with the current economic crisis.

“Gird your loins,” Biden told the crowd. “We’re gonna win with your help, God willing, we’re gonna win, but this is not gonna be an easy ride. This president, the next president, is gonna be left with the most significant task. It’s like cleaning the Augean stables, man. This is more than just, this is more than – think about it, literally, think about it – this is more than just a capital crisis, this is more than just markets. This is a systemic problem we have with this economy.”

OK. So. I would really, really like to believe Obama is the real deal, but this has been made very difficult by his kowtowing to the usual suspects. Of course I realize the way the game works (where you have to say certain things to stay in the game); but I also realize that too many layers of subterfuge exist for any mere mortal to defend against. In the end, one cannot assume anything.

I mean, whose ass exactly is he blowing smoke into?

For instance, here someone assumes that Obama is definitely a NWO tool who cannot be trusted. They say he is blowing smoke up our asses. This is possible. One can easily find many arguments along these lines made by very intelligent people. On the other hand, many of the sites putting forth such arguments, although not all, are themselves credibly accused of being NWO-controlled sites, meaning they exist to blow smoke up asses. So take it from where it comes. It all gets very murky very quickly, and this is by design. God forbid people receive honest, clear information. They might make a good choice for themselves.

Maybe Obama is blowing smoke up their asses, making them think he will be the good little NWO puppet leader — brainwashed, MK Ultra’d, whatever it takes. That remains a distinct possibility.

I respect Les Vis, who has always been brutally honest with readers, and he has this to say:

You can find the inauguration speech that I wrote for Obama in the archives or you can google it. Here’s the sticky wicket… here’s the catch 22 (I will actually conclude with this). Obama might be for real and he might not. I don’t know… do I? No… I don’t know but… there are a few things anyone who is for real has to do. Here are those things and if you don’t do them you are a whore. You are a nasty, nasty perversion because it’s not just you getting screwed but all the people who believed in you get screwed too. That’s what it is so let’s call it what it is. Let’s not mince words. Mince is for pies. …

Here is what you have to do. You have to abolish the Federal Reserve. You have to cut Israel loose… period. Neither of these entities are your friends. In fact, they are your worst enemies and they are the same thing, so to speak. You have to double the taxes paid by the top ten per cent earners in America and you have to reduce the middle class taxes by the same degree. When I say ‘middle class’, I mean from 50 to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars…. No way have people making 250,000 got any breaks coming whatsoever. You have to put the death tax back in action. You have to tell the AMA-Pharmaceutical combine and the insurance industry to “fuck off!” and you have to grant Americans the same universal health coverage that much of the rest of the world has.

…I can understand why a candidate for the highest orifice would have to dissimulate or dissemble. You have to lie to get into office, that’s a given. However… once you get into office you are either, fearless and true or you are a whore. And if you are fearless and true it will get you shot. That is the Catch 22. Study your history and see if you can connect the dots on who got shot and why.

We all know some big things will happen in the immediate future. We know a lot of it will be bad. We do not know how much of it will be good, if any. We hope for the best.

As I read the language used by Biden, I can tell you what my heart wants to hear. Whether this is purely wishful thinking on my part or whether it touches upon some version of reality via the collective consciousness, that I cannot say. You’ve heard about the secret dog whistles that politicians use with the religious right? Biden’s remarks pass through my consciousness this way:

“Mark my words, it will not be six months before the world [which Jesus Christ was not of - IMPORTANT - just saying Obama is on the side opposing 'the world', not that he is more special than other human beings] tests Barack Obama like they [the people of the world, who do not belong to Jesus Christ] did John Kennedy [the last American president who confronted the Zionist bankers, and who was assassinated for his insubordination. You can not love both God and money.]. The world is looking. [They see that they cannot easily derail or steal the election.] We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, [an artificial, manufactured crisis] to test the mettle of this guy.”

“I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate… And he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you - not financially to help him [Money, the tool of the Zionist bankers, is not the tool or weapon that counts for this battle. We have to use other powers. Powers of persuasion, powers that come from being a person of good standing in your community. Powers of integrity.] - we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.” [People will be very confused, as they have been brainwashed into believing so much crap for so many years.]

“Gird your loins. [biblical allusion] We’re gonna win with your help, God willing, we’re gonna win, but this is not gonna be an easy ride. This president, the next president, is gonna be left with the most significant task. It’s like cleaning the Augean stables, man. [Who refers to people as cattle? Who owns the most cattle? Who owns the American people and has left us to rot in filth? Just so. There is your answer.] This is more than just, this is more than – think about it, literally, think about it – this is more than just a capital crisis, this is more than just markets. This is a systemic problem we have with this economy.”

“You literally can see what these kids are up against, our kids in that region. The place is crawling with al Qaeda. And it’s real.” [Al Qaeda = CIA; CIA = Wall St; Wall St = Zionist bankers]

“We do not have the military capacity, nor have we ever, quite frankly, in the last 20 years, to dictate outcomes. It’s so much more important than that. It’s so much more complicated than that. And Barack gets it.”

[Do you get it?]

On Memorial Day, let us actually remember

May 23

Posted by Marlena in Citizenship, Language & Meaning, Military, Symbolism | No Comments

Like many schools across America, one of my children’s schools had a Memorial Day concert today. They do this every year, and I’ve been to the last few. Usually I find these events very jingoistic, and I sort of dread them because my view of this country is, shall we say, nuanced. I love America, but in a very disappointed sort of way. It’s like having a once beautiful, intelligent and wonderful mother turn into a sleazy alcoholic or something. Watching little kids sing love songs to her? Well, it’s tough.

But I have to say, this year was a little different. The kids were the same, but the adults seemed different to me. I swear there was a grim determination underneath all the polite applause. People love this country. They understand. They know we are living tragedy on a national scale. And I think the sword, the terrible swift sword has begun to pierce them, and they feel a pain that cannot be named. But it hurts, and it hurts deeply.

I expect things to get much, much worse before they get better; but today, for the first time in a very long time, I swear I felt an undercurrent of resolve in my fellow Americans. I have to tell you, it was a beautiful thing. Maybe I imagined the whole thing, but I hope not.

I hope this Memorial Day we will remember what all the fine words we hear and read actually mean. Not the Orwellian meanings, but the true meanings.

This thing is a Thneed

May 9

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Iraq, Israel, Language & Meaning, Media, Military, Psychology | No Comments

One way guilty people stall for time is by talking. They just keep talking. It doesn’t have to make any sense. The main point is to keep talking and be sure to say things that ’sound good’. Here’s a good example of how Israel does it (and go read the whole thing - it’s scathing).

“Crying and shooting” is the term used in Israeli political discourse to describe those Israelis who agonize over what they are doing to the Palestinians, but carry on doing it anyway. It’s a way for Israelis to feel better about themselves, by reasserting their liberal, progressive and humanitarian values, even as they carry out illiberal, regressive and murderous actions… Bradley Burston wants you to know how bad he feels that his army keeps killing innocent Palestinians, but he doesn’t really want to take responsibility for the killings any more than the blame-shifting Israelis he criticizes in his article. He wants you to know he feels terrible about dead children - even the dead children of his enemy, see how liberal he is! - but he also wants you to believe that their deaths are essentially inadvertent, because the Israeli army never intentionally targets non-combatants.

Basically, the IDF has gotten away with murdering thousands of Palestinians since 2001 just by saying some variation of ‘We didn’t mean it. Gee, we really feel bad. It’s too bad the terrorists insist on hiding themselves among the civilian population and using people as human shields. You people really should do something about that before someone gets hur—oops! Too late. When are you people going to learn? (shaking head in exasperation)’

Now another approach, popular in the US, is to just stick a bunch of fancy-sounding words together in various swirly patterns that dazzle and hypnotize Americans, especially when delivered by serious men in crisp uniforms adorned with lots of colorful pins and patches. It goes down like candy. For example:

Petraeus ‘rule book’ prioritizes “security and task sharing as a means of empowering civilians and prompting national reconciliation.”

A thing of beauty, no? Who could be against that? But watch how this morphs under examination:

‘Security’ is elusive because what the US Commander considers ‘security’ is the free movement of US troops and collaborators based on the insecurity of the colonized Iraqi majority. They continue to subject the civilian Iraqis to arbitrary house-to-house searches, break-ins and humiliating searches and arrests.

While the death toll of civilians declined from ‘hundreds a day’ to ‘hundreds a week’, it demonstrated Petraeus’ failure to achieve his most elementary goal. ‘Task Sharing’ as defined by Petraeus and his officers is a euphemism for Iraqi collaboration in ‘administrating’ his orders. ‘Sharing’ involves a highly asymmetrical relation of power: the US orders and the Iraqis comply. Petraeus defines the ‘task’ as informing on insurgents. The Iraqi population is supposed to provide ‘information’ on their families, friends and compatriots, in other words betray their own people. The concept sounded more feasible in his manual than in practice. US troops still are ambushed on a daily basis and insurgents, operating among the population, bomb their armored carriers.

‘Empowering civilians’, another prominent concept in Petraeus’ manual, assumed that those who ‘empower’ give up power to the ‘others’. In other words, that the US military cedes territory, security, financial resource management and allocation to a colonized people or to the local armed forces. During his 18 months in command, it is the ‘empowered’ people who protect and support insurgents and oppose the US occupation and its puppet regime. In fact what Commander Petraeus really meant was ‘empowering’ a small minority of civilians who were willing collaborators of an occupying army. They were frequently the deadly target of the insurgents. The civilian minority ‘empowered’ by the Petraeus formula requires heavy US military protection to withstand retaliation. In practice no neighborhood civilian collaborators have been delegated real power and those who were delegated authority, are dead, hiding or secretly allied with the resistance.

Petraeus’ goal of ‘national reconciliation’ has been a total failure. The Iraqi regime is paralyzed into squabbling sects and warlords. Reconciliation between warring parties is not on the horizon. What Petraeus fails to recognize, but even his puppet allies publicly state, is that US colonization of Iraq is a blatant denial of the conditions for reconciliation. Commander Petraeus and his army and the dictates of the Zionist White House play off the warring parties undermining any negotiation toward ‘conciliation’. Like all preceding colonial commanders, Petraeus fails to recognize that Iraqi popular sovereignty is the essential precondition for national reconciliation and stability. Military imposed ‘reconciliation’ among warring collaborator groups with no legitimacy among the Iraqi electorate has been a disaster.

For more on how this works in real time, for example what’s happening in Sadr City, read this.

You see, it’s all about how we use language. Do you remember The Lorax? When the Once-ler chopped down the first Truffula tree and knitted his first Thneed, he defended it thus to the Lorax:

I’m being quite useful. This thing is a Thneed. A Thneed’s a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need! It’s a shirt. It’s a sock. It’s a glove. It’s a hat. But it has other uses. Yes, far beyond that. You can use it for carpets. For pillows! For sheets! Or curtains! Or covers for bicycle seats!”

The Lorax said, “Sir! You are crazy with greed. There is no one on earth who would buy that fool Thneed!”

But the very next minute I proved he was wrong. For, just at that minute, a chap came along, and he thought that the Thneed I had knitted was great. He happily bought it for three ninety-eight.

I laughed at the Lorax, “You poor stupid guy! You never can tell what some people will buy.”

Yeah you poor stupid goy, I mean guy.

Isn’t That Special

May 8

Posted by Marlena in Israel, Language & Meaning, Psychology, Religion | No Comments

Most people enjoy feeling special on their special day, their birthday. Personally, I think people over the age of ten should not be expecting birthday parties, but I digress…

Then there are the people who act like every day is their special day. Actually, they’re just special. And when birthday time comes around, everyone had better bow low in humble gratitude that we’ve been graced with these special people.

JERUSALEM - The Jewish people are marking the 60th anniversary of their national rebirth, the founding of Israel, today with the usual military flyovers, flag buntings, and televised reminiscences of aging pioneers.

But another form of celebration is planned, and its sponsors believe it says something about the national character: a three-day conference of some of the best minds from around the world on some of the biggest challenges facing humankind - and especially the Jews - in the coming decades.

Special character.

Given the guest list, the topics are naturally big and ambitious, including the shift in global power from West to East (and south), nuclear proliferation, and climate change. But much of the focus will also be on topics closer to home such as Islamic extremism, the rise of Iran, and sovereignty in Jerusalem.

In fact, what are billed as global challenges - terrorism, Iran - seem to be somehow especially Jewish and Israeli ones. The organizers say this is not coincidental or unusual and point as an example to Hitler, who posed an enormous threat to the world but focused particularly on the Jews.

Special challenges.

“Cataclysms always seem to affect Jews first,” remarked Stuart E. Eizenstat, a senior official in the Clinton and Carter administrations who wrote an essay that forms a basis for the conference. “Go back to the Black Plague. It was not a Jewish issue, but it had particular impact on Jews because they were blamed for it.”

Special victims.

Missing from the conference will be any serious Arab representation. Political and intellectual leaders from Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinian areas have been invited, but none has confirmed partly because simultaneously the Arab world will be marking Israel’s 60th anniversary as a catastrophe known as “Nakba Day,” which will involve their own conferences and demonstrations. The organizers in Jerusalem are still hoping a few will come.

Arabs: Not Special. Plus, they’re busy talking about that (air quotes) Nakba thing.

Peres said the idea for him was to bring thoughtful Jews and non-Jews together in the perhaps idle hope of “making the Jews more worldly and making the world more Jewish.”

Special. Making others special is admittedly an idle pursuit, but at least they can better recognize and appreciate those who are special.

One significant development of recent years that will be discussed is the shift in the relationship between Israel and diaspora Jewry. For decades, Israel was the needy child depending on contributions and support from abroad as it struggled to survive.

Special needs.

Today, Israel’s Jewish population of 5.5 million is the world’s largest, just ahead of that of the United States, which is slowly declining through low birth rate and intermarriage. Israel has become the center of Jewish life and is increasingly being asked to act like the older brother to Jewish communities elsewhere.

Special responsibilities.

Must we all acknowledge that Israel and the Jewish people are more special than any other country or people? What if we don’t? Does the refusal to believe this make somebody (air quotes) anti-semitic?

Whatever. I do not believe that Israel or the Jewish people are any more special than anybody else. I take people as I find them, and I resent the expectation that I believe elitist nonsense. And by the way, I resent it from wherever and whenever it comes: from people with money, from people with power, from people with influence, from fashionistas to celebrities…whatever. Israel and Jewish people are hardly the only group that takes group pride a little too far. It’s a hyped-up world we’re living in. Far too many people believe their own hype.

It doesn’t matter how nice your house is, what your religion, what car you drive, how much money you make, what your job title is, how plush your office, how great your wardrobe, how tragic your back-story. It doesn’t matter. What matters is how you treat people. That’s all that matters.

I leave you with a story from my boss, a Jewish guy named Jesus, whom I adore.

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” “Which ones?” the man inquired. Jesus replied, ” ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’“ “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. Matthew 19:16-30

When I say she lies like other people breathe…

May 1

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Injustice, Israel, Language & Meaning, Stupidity, Unreality | No Comments

I am not kidding.

There’s so much to deconstruct in Condi Rice’s remarks to the American Jewish Committee, and I hope to get to some of that tomorrow. I don’t think my stomach can handle it at the moment. For now, I will just address this nugget:

I still remember my first time visiting Israel: It felt like coming home to a place that I had never been. And every time I return, and as I look upon the land where Israelis have made the desert literally bloom, and as I drive past the aging hulks of Israeli tanks, which recall the dear cost that generations of Israeli patriots have paid for their nation’s survival, as I see all of these things, it is clear to me that a confident Israel can achieve things that many think impossible.

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Capital Hilton
Washington, DC
April 29, 2008

First of all, suck up much?

Second of all, confidence?!? Does she think a lack of confidence is Israel’s problem? It is to die laughing.

As usual, the truth is 180 degrees in the opposite direction. The Israelis need to try on some humility for a change. But of course, that’s not something Condi could recognize in a thousand million years, being the arrogant, haughty and smug little princess that she is.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

Settlers

Apr 24

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Citizenship, Injustice, Israel, Language & Meaning, Media | No Comments

I notice today a story about the Israeli settlers: Israelis Claim Secret Agreement with US.

A letter that President Bush personally delivered to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon four years ago has emerged as a significant obstacle to the president’s efforts to forge a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians during his last year in office.

Ehud Olmert, the current Israeli prime minister, said this week that Bush’s letter gave the Jewish state permission to expand the West Bank settlements that it hopes to retain in a final peace deal, even though Bush’s peace plan officially calls for a freeze of Israeli settlements across Palestinian territories on the West Bank. In an interview this week, Sharon’s chief of staff, Dov Weissglas, said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed this understanding in a secret agreement reached between Israel and the United States in the spring of 2005, just before Israel withdrew from Gaza.

U.S. officials say no such agreement exists, and in recent months Rice has publicly criticized even settlement expansion on the outskirts of Jerusalem, which Israel does not officially count as settlements. But as peace negotiations have stepped up in recent months, so has the pace of settlement construction, infuriating Palestinian officials, and Washington has taken no punitive action against Israel for its settlement efforts.

Israeli officials say they have clear guidance from Bush administration officials to continue building settlements, as long as it meets carefully negotiated criteria, even though those understandings appear to contradict U.S. policy.

Who are these people, the settlers?

The word settler has a nice, wholesome, Laura Ingalls Wilder feel to it, no? It’s a word that evokes the rugged individualism of those hardy souls who set off in covered wagons across the prairies, killing and displacing Native Americans heroically fighting off savage Indians as they set up their little towns and villages in the heartland. Oh, they were God-fearing people, our settlers, were they not? Or perhaps we think of the Pilgrims or the tragic souls who founded Jamestown, fleeing religious persecution and striking out on their holy errand to make a shining city on the hill. It’s all good, right? Who wouldn’t be proud to trace the family tree back to some quintessentially American settlers?

Settlers are by definition people who bravely go into the unknown, fighting off hostile natives as they valiantly fulfill their God-given calling to make ’something’ out of ‘nothing’.

Is that what the Israeli settlers are doing? Is that the narrative we’re being fed, subconsciously and overtly?

It’s not true. It occurs to me that good Americans might assume that they can relate to these people based on a vague historical narrative that we barely articulate. Some Israeli settlers might be lovely people. But you should know, my fellow Americans, that some of these settlers are absolutely despicable. They hate, and most disturbingly, they teach their children to hate from a very young age.

Please watch this video to see what I mean.

Do you understand? These settlers have gone into Palestinian areas and planted themselves. The spit on the Palestinians, verbally abuse them, throw rocks, even murder them, and the IDF soldiers do nothing. The settler children act like little monsters, obviously encouraged by their parents. The entire situation reeks of moral depravity. I have read that IDF soldiers consider some of the settlers pure evil — that’s how bad they are. The IDF! Not exactly a bunch of boyscouts.

Go to the main page and watch some more videos. It’s unbelievable. Watch Rt 443, night vigils, forced eviction, water shortage. This is the reality of the Occupation. This is the reality of settlements and the Occupation. This is the reality that you are not supposed to know, American Citizen, because when you understand this you must admit that this is wrong. So utterly, morally wrong. So incredibly offensive to decent people everywhere.

It’s easy to go about our lives while this outrage happens on the other side of the planet, but we need to wake up. American public opinion and American tax dollars and American leaders make this all possible. From now on when you read these sanitized stories about settlements, understand what that word really means. It’s a clever euphemism for a despicable policy, and it’s long past time to pull the plug on this bullshit.