It is not ''Djinns'' silly! When Philosophy dies and wisdom disappears, stupid 'Djinns' appear from the vacuum of mind!

Always worth reading, Iqbal.Latif gives us more food for thought.

In Defense of Israel

This started out as a comment on a Newsvine seed. Some of the "usual suspects" had derailed the thread, seeking to de-legitimize Israel with claims that "these Jews are not real Jews" , citing the Bible and various anti-Isreali websites. and that "Zionist Jews stole Palestine from its native people". This is where I stand. This is my rebuttal. With reference to the Bible and the Torah, the first five books are nearly identical, allowing for translation, and are largely books of history, religion and law. The history, religion and law of the descendants of Abraham through Jacob(Israel). The Hebrews. Jews. Now you guys are telling me they "died out" and that this was all co-opted by some obscure caucasian tribe? That these people are in no way related to the Jews of the Old Testament? Puh-leeze. A study cited elsewhere on this thread stated something to the effect that mitochondrial DNA from four Jewish women from southern Europe was present in a very large percentage of Ashkenazi Jews was immediately dismissed as proganda solely because it's authors are "Zionists" and Jews, to boot. Don't you think it remotely possible that a whole lot more than just four Jewish women were historically present in southern Europe, ca. 2K years ago? Trader's wives, slaves, what have you? Sure, many lines would have died out, plagues and wars and pogroms, but some would quite likely have survived. Healthy women had lots of kids back then, and remember, every child of a Jewish mother is a Jew as they reckon lineage through the mother. Take into account intermarriage, children of trysts, children of rape (sorry ladies, I had to) over the course of 2000 years and there would be marked changes to the overall genome but the mDNA shows continuity. I say that the study is every bit as valid as y'all say it's not. Why should these people, a people who have historically been fucked with for well over two thousand years, whose travails are recorded not only in their own records but in those of Ancient Egypt, Greece, Persia, Rome, and the Mongols*(did i leave...)Oh, THE FUCKING NAZIS and the COMMIES, not to mention the various Sons of the fuckin' Prophet, why should the sons and daughters of Israel be denied a home? Why can they NOT have that one place in the world where they, as a people with deep, documented historical connection to the land, could be safe from persecution by those who governed them? Why? You got something against Jews? Or is it just "Zionist" Jews? You gonna tell me that they stole the land? I say it was stolen from them by Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Arabs; I might be leavin' some out. The Turks were the only ones who even tried to make it right by allowing Jewish immigrants to purchase large tracts of land from those pashas and sheikhs-- political "administrators" whose income was paid by the locals who lived, farmed and herded on that land (see "tax-farming") --whose lands were grants from the Caliph, the Sultans, Khans and their more trusted and/or popular subordinates, reverting to said Exalted Poobahs in the event of said pashas' disfavor or death. I reckon the Turks kept records, no doubt the Jewish immigrants did, and the administrators of the British Mandate as well. Is it that you have a problem with property rights? With defending one's ethnicity, culture, religion? With defending one's own life, the lives of one's family, and one's property from those avowed to one's utter destruction? As I have cited in the linked thread (above), when the Jewish immigrants to the region declared their independence and sovreignty, they did so only over that portion of the land set aside for them in the partition plan set forth in UN Res. 181, the "Two State Solution" which was rejected by every Arab nation but still passed by the rest of the General Assembly and the Security Council, thus carrying the force of international law. Only after the armies of the Arab League attacked them did the newly fledged Israelis seize any more land; land seen by them as necessary to their defense and subsequent survival. Will you shout, "what of Stern, Lehi, and Haganah? What of these TERRORISTS?!?" I shout back, "what of the nameless bands of Arabs attacking kibbutzim; assaulting, KILLING, destroying?!? What of these TERRORISTS?!?" Were there evil deeds done? Yes, on BOTH sides. I am willing to admit that, ARE YOU? Will you say "What about the IDF targeting civilian non-combatants?" Will you cry "Indiscriminate bombing and shelling"? I will say that Goldstone has unequivocally recanted those portions of his now-infamous "report" regarding such libels. I say that, in the face of warnings by the IDF, Arab non-combatants are being killed because either they are too stupid to get out of the line of fire, or that they are more frightened of Hamas and Hezbollah than they are of the IDF, or that they support the continuation of war with the State of Israel to the point that they willingly sacrifice their lives for a propaganda "victory". It is war, you know. The fait accompli is that Israel has won it's wars. All of them, so far. I'd say that sixty-three years of successfully defending their lives and homes further legitimizes Israel's claim to the land and its right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people. If the Arabs of Palestine wish the killing to stop, they must first look to themselves.
* - BTW, the Mongols treated the Jews better than anyone else, having a long-standing tradition of religious tolerance coming straight from Genghiz Khan himself. At least until the westernmost offshoots became thoroughly Islamic.

An Old Grunt's Musings

From where I stand, hidden among the mass of humanity, much can be seen. Most of what I see disheartens me. I see ordinary folk getting squeezed by the powers-that-be to the point of despair. I see those in positions of power and authority abusing said power in petty and mean-spirited ways. I hear politicians squawking about "conservative" this or "liberal" that, when anyone with a grain of sense knows that the pols are merely posturing for votes to perpetuate their own personal power; not that they care about the desires of their respective constituencies or the rest of our nation. I see so-called "grass-roots" groups like the T.E.A. Party, which is anything but "grass roots", which are bought and paid for by persons and groups who have a vision of America which is a far cry from the visions of our founders.

I'll be blunt. The United States is "circling the drain", people. We need a new plan, as the conventional wisdom has failed us. We need a new plan, a realistic plan. One that actually addresses the problems we face as a nation and as a species. We need to find among us leaders of real integrity. Men and women who are brutally honest with us. Leaders who will not fall to the temptations of those who seek to perpetuate the status quo, or worse, drag us into some new feudalism. Leaders who answer to us, We The People. Most of all we need ourselves, every damned man and woman old enough and smart enough to understand the writing on the wall, to take action and not stop until we achieve the results we desire.

Transparency is the new buzzword in government. We all know that this is bullshit, like so many other buzzwords before. If you want real transparency in government, take away the Congress' privilege of self-examination. The fact that no member of Congress may be charged with a crime by any other body but Congress makes for a "fox guarding the henhouse" scenario. Not good for anyone but the "fox".

See ya when I get back from the bush again.