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The state of America today is aptly represented by the foul-mouthed, ignorant, knuckle-dragging, Neanderthals so heavily indoctrinated by the Limbaugh’s and Beck’s of this country, who see fit to make abusive telephone threats to politicians not prepared to do their evil bidding.

Whatever one’s opinion of Bart Stupak (and the writer has an extremely low opinion of the man) he no more deserves to be subjected to this……

Congressman Stupak, you baby-killing mother f***er… I hope you bleed out your a**, got cancer and die, you mother f***er.^[1]

……than any other human being, in America or elsewhere.

The individuals responsible for such abuse (and there were many) are obviously unfit to be members of any civilized society. Many of us hold strong viewpoints on matters political, and it’s for that exact reason democracy was invented. When a minority, of which these people are members, uses threats of violence and intimidation to procure their wishes, democracy falls apart and fascism takes over.

The abortion debate in America is wildly out of control. It has lost any credibility as a worthy movement and has, instead, become no more than a tool of the far-right; a stick to beat the opposition.

Mainly due to the involvement of megalomaniac preachers whipping up fervor among TV congregations, and certain talk-radio jocks lying through their teeth to an already fanatical audience of brain-dead punters, the issue of abortion is only useful politically as a means to split America right down the middle.

Those who hold the reins of power in this nation have used similar tactics successfully for years. Hate is a far more virulent and effective power than love, and hate has been the means of pitting one American against the other politically for generations.

Regarded logically, whatever the pros and cons of the abortion (Pro-Life) debate, support for America’s preemptive wars, large scale assassination of innocent civilians, and the blood-lust of the death penalty – all viewed by many US citizens as perfectly acceptable occupations – negates utterly the arguments these same individuals continuously voice in favor of banning abortion.

Whether one favors abortion rights, or not, it is first and foremost a decision only properly to be made by women. In the 21st century, no man should dare to express so much as an opinion on the subject.

How often do we see men at Republican rallies, declaring, “I’m Pro-Life?” Probably, after a long conversation with their compatriots on how well the Iraq war is progressing, how many Taliban were killed last week, or “Thank God we executed that evil murdering bastard in Texas, yesterday.”

It’s doubtful men will lose the power to decide what women do with their own bodies, at anytime in the near future. They could at least learn not to differentiate, though, between human life and – human life. ‘Pro-Life’ should mean exactly that.

The health care bill recently passed by the US government will save lives. Personally, the writer would choose to preserve conscious, fully functioning, life outside the womb rather than give precedence to a small bunch of fetal cells lying deep within a woman’s uterus.

Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to understand how foul-mouthed, ignorant, knuckle-dragging, Neanderthals could find it difficult to reach that sort of decision.

^{[1] “Bart Stupak Received Threatening Messages for Health Care Vote” CBS News, March 26th 2010}

Filed under: Ugh and other noises

The media today is full of the spat between America and Israel; the falling out of two close friends who can’t quite agree on what’s right and what’s wrong.

In Britain, Finance Supremo Darling (yes, that truly is his name) sweats profusely over a budget that must grip the present economic crisis by the short and curlies, while wooing voters in a general election now only weeks away.

Here, in the land once known as ‘the colonies’, three babies suffocated last year while lying in faulty slings. A million of the products are now being recalled, as the media discovers the story and parents panic.

Still, it takes the heat off Toyota.

The ‘Healthcare Debate’ rumbles on, like a runaway hearse commandeered by a corpse refusing to lie down and be buried.

One matter not hitting the headlines in the media today is climate change. Since the ill-fated summit in Copenhagen, global warming is out of fashion. Humankind is way too involved in its own petty, irrelevant, problems to bother about such issues right now. Besides, it’s not like we’re being inundated by weather issues.

Climate change can wait until the Palestinians have their own state, the British economy is back on track, babies stop being suffocated, and Americans are all endowed with free healthcare.

There was, however, one climate change story to be discovered this morning, hidden well away at the back of the BBC website. It seems an island in the Bay of Bengal, approximately two miles square, has vanished.

South Talpetti Island, a couple of miles off the Bangladeshi/Indian coast, has fallen victim to rising global sea levels and no longer exists, except perhaps as a threat to navigation.^[1]

Maybe, after all, global warming isn’t prepared to wait until human beings solve all their other issues. Like the Bengal tiger it silently stalks its oblivious prey, and one day our petty squabbles and introspection could prove our undoing.

^{[1] “Disputed Bay of Bengal island ‘vanishes’ say scientists” BBC, March 24th 2010}

Filed under: What global warming?

The arrival in the US of that latest King of the Jews, Benyamin Netanyahu, has sent a thrill of anticipation through the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). He’s come all this way to address them and offer his support.

It’s AIPAC Week in America, folks!

Beginning this morning, 7,000 or so members will be descending on Washington, holding around 500 meetings designed to lobby (read, ‘bully’) Congress into maintaining that special, loving, relationship with all matters Israeli.

‘Bibi’ will, of course, be paying a courtesy visit to the White House. He’ll no doubt choose the most gracious of language to tell Barack Obama where he can stick his demand for the Israelis to stop building in East Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has recently changed his mind about a ‘Two State Solution’ in the Middle East. All his political life, he’s opposed the idea bitterly. Now, however, he’s in favor of granting the Palestinians a State of their own – well, almost.

‘Bibi’ is a ‘No’ man: NO right of return for Palestinian refugees; NO sharing of Jerusalem with the Palestinians; NO weapons of any kind in a new Palestinian state, and certainly NO military.

On his arrival in America he declared:

Jerusalem is not a settlement, it’s our capital.”^[1]

What’s wrong with Tel Aviv, then?

What Netanyahu is suggesting resembles more of a ghetto than an independent state. Isn’t that what the Palestinians have now?

Europe is presently decidedly cool towards its Middle East ally – so much so that an opinion piece in today’s Jerusalem Post stated:

Beyond assisting us to retain technological military superiority against bitter foes seeking our destruction, the US is the only power capable of preventing the dominant Islamic Conference and its acolytes – including the Europeans – from imposing international sanctions against us. Without the veto power of the US at the UN Security Council, we would already be facing extraordinary problems.”^[2]

The recent revelations concerning Mossad’s involvement in the assassination of Hamas leader, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in Dubai last month, and the supplying of cloned British and Irish passports to its operatives, has chilled the relationship between Israel and Europe considerably.

So much, in fact, that the British government, in keeping with its wimpish reputation, has today ordered the expulsion from the country of a minor Israeli diplomat.^[3]

It’s not known which diplomat is effected. Rumor has it the official second-in-command of urinal sanitization at the Israeli Embassy is the most likely candidate.

The US clings precariously to its favorite ally, urged on by the good Jewish ladies of AIPAC. President Barack Obama strives to resolve the Palestinian problem, battling with his own countrymen and women bitterly opposed to any Arab concessions following the shock and awe indoctrination meted out to them by the previous administration of George W Bush & Co, following 9/11.

This, of course, had nothing whatever to do with the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, in a collection of no-man’s lands that could be labeled, ‘Palestine’, life – of sorts – goes on.

^{[1] “Obama to hold talks with Netanyahu amid Jerusalem row” BBC, March 23rd 2010}

^{[2] “Netanyahu must get his act together – Isi Leibler” Jerusalem Post, March 22nd 2010}

^{[3] “Britain expels Israeli diplomat over Dubai passport row” BBC, March 23rd 2010}

Filed under: God’s chosen