Maggie's Farm

What is so brave about what Obama did? OMG, he angered a potential source of funds...That's like a hooker turning away from a dangerous looking john, no heroism, just sensible...But don't call it principled.

Nobody should legitimize terrorists. But then our nation has a pretty shakey record on supporting "legitimate" regimes that brutalize their subjects...

Who wouldn't thrill to the story of brave Israelis carving out a homeland? Other than those unfortunates displaced by their activities, as their ancestors were displaced by the Biblical people of God. History is unkind to losers....

But U.S. interests (as opposed to valued personal relationships) should never be driven by the interests of any foreign nation, no matter how beloved. Doesn't matter if it's Britain, Israel, China, Timbuktu... I fear for our democratic process when any lobbying organization for a foreign nation can go on witchhunts against US political figures.

It's not anything against Israel. My friends who have served in the Israeli Army could wup Soros but good...And let it be known that I have no admiration for Soros. It's the principle of keep foreign lobbyists' paws out of our political processes...

The Middle East is a cesspool. We shouldn't be on anyone's side. God help us, for example, if our American troops ever adopted the effective but vicioius methods of the Israelis in combatting insurgents...THem and the white South African police guardians of apartheid... We should view the strife ridden Middle East the way a good shrink views a viciously battling but unable to separate married couple. Both want the house and the loyalty of the kids and the support of outside observers. All the virtuous outsider can do and still maintain his equanimity is to try to referee disputes to minimize damage, offer what guidance will be listened to, and remember that his kids' college tuition needs to be paid so just collect the fee. The resources are what matter. The local people are beyond help.

Yup. Agree. But more upsetting is the disgust conscientous children develop for the misuse of the law, growing up around greedy liability suits and criminals getting off on technicalities, The kid came back livid from AP govt and a discussion of how a carful of stoned teenagers got off when the arresting officer explained that what had made him pull them over was smelling dope from their car. They definitely had the stuff in the car but it was deemed an illegal search when the young officer could not later distinguish smell of dope from other burning substances. Whatever happened to following a hunch? My kid felt that
virtuous people have little to fear from allowing police searches on reasonable suspicions, and that evidence obtained unlawfully should still be allowed. Our legal system chiefly benefits lawyers and criminal, she felt.

Loved the Al Gore thing, a welcome distraction from endlessly loading and checking out some new Bible Study software (bought to beef up the anemic Sunday school curriculum my church spends so much money on)...

I wondered about this quote, tho "But Al Gore, in being the very principle of emptiness itself, cannot be evil, for he is also what annihilates even nothingness, what annihilates good but also the absence of good."

Seems to me, emptiness is evil. (No, I am not justifying a cluttered house, that's from a mental disorder) To return to Gore, that which annihilates the good, is evil. But I would probably have flunked Philosophy, and always loathed Systematic Theology. Think it's a girl thing (Ouch! just wacked by my non-sexist daughter!)

Am still so staggered by the arrant hypocrisy of Gore and Edwards, telling everyone to live frugally and with a light environmental footprint, while they pork out....

When a skinny vegetarian Buddhist monk speaks about peace, loving your enemy, overcoming one's angry impulses and resisting materialism, I listen. They walk the walk, even if I feel spiritually inadequate to follow their path.

Yo, Bird Dog, Venerable Editor and General Dogsbody:

the link for the minority journalism story takes one to Google email...Nobody but a moron would use Gmail, anyway. They admit to word searching every email and targetting you with spam based on your interests. What more do they do with your info that they do not admit to? A story on the AOL scandal last year and other egs of our mail and internet searches being recorded and mined would be interesting...

Tho pointless warning people to be discreet...the people I email the most would never get to letters I sent them snail mail. 98% of our paper mail is junk, and it takes ages to find the bills, and the rare letter from an aged relative amongst the trash...

Perhaps one answer might be for friends to exchange coded USB keys and then be able to send truly private messages? My boring rants would be of no use to anyone, of course, but I would still be embarassed if someone besides the intended recipients read them...yet the desire to communicate with loved ones wins out over caution...

Jacoby's article didn't. Sure, I feel sorry for the nursing infants deprived of their mothers. But to say that because the illegal immigration problem is so huge that we should throw our hands up in despair and accept it, is contemptible. You don't have to be Joseph Stalin to move millions, and it is a cheap shot for Jacoby to say that only his methods could solve the problem.

The lawbreaking that regular citizens indulge in, speeding on highways) because speed limits are too low (or because it's just too darn much fun to go fast, is not comparable to the lawbreaking of people who sneak in across a border, hide out, forge papers, work undercover, avoid paying tax, demanding and usually receiving benefits from taxes paid by law-abiding US citizens, sending kids to schools that they do not support, getting free medical care, Social Security, etc. while native born Americans who have to pay taxes and buy their medical care can't afford to work for as little an hour as illegal workers who live in the cash economy.

Thanks, LM. Don't remember you upsetting me in any way...Good analogy on Israel. I tend to blather in person or on the computer, without much editing or restraint...

I just think that the advocates for Israel are so much more persuasive and congenial to most of us, that it sometimes distracts us from the fact that our policies in the region require a certain detachment (at least occasionally) from either side.

Point taken, BL. Did you read those loathsome Gandhi quotes on the Jews from WW2 ? Now must try to sleep despite literally fevered brain. Making me more verbose and illogical than usual. Wonder what the economic burden of the common cold is?