August 10, 06
I turned off the news today as soon as I got enough particulars about liquid explosives. I have something to say before I hear one more comment from anyone.
| Say away. This is Rantburg. You can say what you want. We'll say what we want. |
The day after 9/11, I wondered what our government had done to garner such wrath.
| I guess we all react differently. I had no such thoughts. But ask yourself if your Mom or your Grampaw had similar thoughts on 12/8/1941. Y'see, it doesn't matter what we'd done, but what they did. Once you're in a fight, you stop asking yourself why you're in it and start asking yourself how you can win it. |
A year after 9/11, I met an Iraqi who said the US had treated the Arab nations with disparaty. No Country names were mentioned. I wanted details. He smiled and politely refused.
| The perceived disparity is that we usually end up siding with Israel, which is a democracy where they don't cut people's heads off and nobody has to worry about the Jewish street rising up and tearing people limb from limb. |
Six months later, I met an Iraqi who told me a story of how policemen had gone out of their way to be of service to him, simply because of his ways. He said the moral to his story is that anything can happen when people come together.
| The other moral is that policemen can be polite and helpful. They usually only get all nasty when you when you break laws or skirt the edge of breaking laws. But the idea of people "coming together" is one that's over-used. You can "come together" all you want with your local Aryan Nations anus, and he's still going to be an anus. All the cultural exchanges that took place between Germany and Italy and the rest of the world in the 1930s didn't stop the carnage of the 1040s. Ribbentrop and Molotov, in fact, had formally "come together" — they had a piece of paper, with an official seal and everything, and they still ended up with the Eastern Front. |
I met some Lebanese at their church less than a year ago and fell in love with their food, their coffee, their dance, and their family values.
| But that's apropos of what? Most of the Lebs I know are perfectly nice people, most of them, I believe, Maronite Christians. But I'm also fond of Brazilians, Mexicans, and Samoans as groups, secure in the knowledge that no matter how much I like them as a group there are still some really nasty Brazilians, Mexicans, and probably Samoans. The fact that I enjoy spending time with Brazilians and Mexicans doesn't mean I favor the Brazilian or Mexican governments, and often means I don't. |
Last month, a man from Syria said that Israel had 6,000 Lebanese prisoners, some women and children; and Hezbollah was the equivalent of the freedom fighters of Europe in the 2nd World War. I’ve read “A Man Called Intrepid.” The parallel between Hezbollah and the CIA doesn’t escape me.
| Among those 6000 prisoners are some murderers and intended murderers. Some may be women. I doubt greatly that any of them are children. I don't have the same doubts about prisoners in Syria, however. |
IÂ’m tired of being frightened to speak my mind because it concerns National Security. I love my Nation. No one is going to stop me from loving my Nation, either.
| You're always free to speak your mind. It's usually a good idea to think before doing so, and an even better idea to think some concepts through. You can ask yourself why such and such an action might be taken, even though it's inconvenient or not something you particularly like. |
Terrorism is not limited by venue, nor is godliness. ItÂ’s a choice, every time, no matter the circumstance. These days IÂ’m getting pretty good at identifying motivations behind choices and IÂ’m going to speak my mind. If someone in this Nation has to stand up and take the punch for dissenting views, okay. Punch me, but no one can hide the truth for long.
When I was a little girl, my Mom told me she could trace her lineage back to King David. I was raised more kosher than anyone else I knew. And I love monotheism because One God provides for all people, equally. As for Israel, well, let man try to rebuild what God has put asunder, but the last 50 years, whether US Citizens know it or not, have been adequate example of how and why not to.
| Okay. You're Jewish. I'm not. I can trace my ancestry back to my grandaddy on both sides. I take it you don't approve of Israel's existence, perhaps on religious grounds. If now was then and Balfour came to me to ask what I thought of his declaration, I'd tell him it was a bad idea: it created a state based on religion, even as the world was becoming secular. It would have brought to my mind a state ruled by rabbis, in much the same manner Pakistan is today ruled by holy men. But now isn't then, and Balfour didn't ask me, and the rabbis don't rule Israel. It's pretty much a secular state. Without being surrounded by bloodthirsty Arabs on every side, it'd probably be moderately prosperous and not particularly powerful, knd of like Greece without the pom-poms. But it is surrounded by bloodthirsty Arabs, who've tried many times in the past to destroy it and continue trying to this day. In biblical times, they Hebrews spent a lot of time bringing the Philistines under control. "Philistines" is the Arabic world for "Paleostinians." Since Israel is an accomplished fact, I'm not in favor of dismantling it. Since they run a nice, mostly secular democracy and the local Philistines are fond of howling and car swarming and exploding without warning, I favor the Jews over the Arabs. I buy the bit about making the desert bloom. And I buy the bit about rivers of blood and pushing the Jews into the sea. |
None of that is my point.
My point is for terrorists, freedom fighters and world leaders, alike. My point is that God does the reckoning. ItÂ’s people, drunk on perceived power, who make the mistake of trying to fulfill the role of God, mustering faith that God will honor their judgments out of their own egos.
| God's will — assuming He exists in the form you think he does — doesn't manifest itself very clearly, not even to terrorists, freedumb fighters and world leaders. Usually God's will is interpreted by holy men, and that civilized world is fighting against an interpretation that we think is manifestly wrong. And evil. You can't sit on your hands and expect God to provide. 'Tis a bromide that he helps those who help themselves. But if you were agnostic, like me, then you'd look at the West, where we have stability and individual liberty which, coupled with hard work, lead to our prosperity, and you'd look at the enemy, who thrives on instability, who regards individual liberty as an abomination, and where God takes care of the maintenance, and you'd come to the conclusion that maybe it would be a good idea to try and protect our civilizaiton from their lack thereof. |
Of course, people like that have excuses for why they crossed the line and took on more responsibility than they had capability for. Sometimes the excuse is a flimsy as, “This is where my party loyalties led me.” Sometimes it’s anger and frustration over inequity and oppression.
| We aren't the one oppressing the denizens of the Muddle East. It's their own governments who do it. |
Let’s see, popularity, monetary gain, political loyalty, or mankind – which is worthy of one’s soul?
| My soul's not for sale. I have little concern of my nation's lack of popularity among the turban and automatic weapons set, and not much more concern over the way we're seen in Europe or in China. Doing what's right is much more important that being popular. Monetary gain? It's commerce, much of it international, that gives you a roof over your head and a full belly. Political loyalty's wrapped up with the idea of party, in which men and women argue with each other over which is the correct course for the nation to follow. Somehow in the course of all that argument a rough concensus is reached, with competing interests balanced, and then people vote over which of the parties has made the better dead. Mankind? The concept covers all of humankind, from the Esquimeaux in the north to the Indians who may still inhabit Tierra del Fuego for all I know. It's a generalized concept, just like party loyalty. Within humanity there are many, probably most who just want to get on with their lives, to raise families, thrive, and eventually die peacefully, their children and grandchildren at their bedsides. Mixed in among the many there are the few who're truly evil. I, personally, hate the evil men and what they do, but it doesn't seem like you're much concerned about them. Perhaps you should read up on them. |
If you think judging your own soul is not appropriate in the arena of national security, politics, and civic-mindedness, I urge you, for your own good, consider the souls that have recently returned to God; and consider what God must think of you now. Did you do your part for peace or Country? Which leads to God and which leads to messes like WWIII?
| I don't know, and from your tone, you're not sure either. You're posing poorly formed questions with no apparent answer. Suppose that God and messes like WWIII are in the same direction? My personal feeling, since I don't talk to God, is that He wants us to take steps necessary for self-preservation. And I have the feeling that God wants us to fight Evil — capital letter, bat wings and smell of brimstone — where it rears its ugly head. Not to fight Evil is to stand by in the fight between God and Satan. Take a side, lass! |
The problems I see are either greed-based or fear-based; and it all can be resolved, if people are willing to let go of fear, greed, and vengeance.
| But if they're not, then you just have to kill enough of them until the remainder do. Think it out. |
ItÂ’s our job, as citizens of our Country, to speak up when our government isnÂ’t representing us. And when itÂ’s the world thatÂ’s affecting us, itÂ’s even more imperative that we speak frankly and with peace.
| Frankly, yes. With peace, not necessarily. Peace at any price isn't worth anything. Ask Neville Chamberlain. Maybe they can bring it up for debate at the League of Nations. |
I want our Country to stop trying to do what others have failed to do: build and maintain power over other Countries. It wonÂ’t work. It never has. ItÂ’s always temporary. Empires always fall. The citizens donÂ’t want it. ItÂ’s too expensive and usury to serve the people.
| Our country's not an Empire. If it was, our tributary states would send us... ummm... tribute. The best we can come up with for Imperial dominions are Puerto Rico and American Samoa. Maybe Guam. Rather uniquely in history, we're a powerful nation without an empire. If we give our advice to other nations, it's because we want them to be as prosperous and happy as we are. |
I turned off the news because itÂ’s biased. I donÂ’t care whatÂ’s riding on that bias, because I already know that bias is a product of ungodly behavior. ItÂ’s the fruition of misrepresentation. ItÂ’s a form of control.
| I'm on vacation right now, but usually I don't turn the news off. I realize that there will be biases in any news that I read or listen to. That's why I consume news from as many different sources as I can. The hard part comes in knowing which news to discount and where to look for the actual nuggets of truth. Just as revealing are the biases themselves; they reveal as much about the societies producing them as the news itself does in many cases. If you don't follow the news, then you'll be ignorant and you'll have no standing to discuss events in the world. Your own preferences — biases, we might call them — don't amount to anything without facts to back them up. |
I canÂ’t stop the control trips of people, but I do know that no matter which warrior, no matter the battle, itÂ’s the heart and mind where victory begins. God says to win your battles with love (or else they are not won.)
| I'm not at all sure where he says that. He also says to smite the Midianites and such. When Joshua fit the battle of Jericho he didn't do it with a guitar and a smile. |
If you can not do that, I know from experience, you have not given God, or Allah, enough thought; nor have you given your battle or your enemy enough thought.
| I'm not convinced you've given enough thought to the battle, the enemy, or God or Allah enough thought. I think you're just chock full of opinions and wishes that the world would be one way or the other, but because you don't listen to the news you don't have enough of a factual standing to leave the subjective for the objective world. |
What a shame, to traipse all over the world, upholding bullies as righteous; holding your will over situations where peopleÂ’s lives are being taken from them; claiming God as your personal property and tool to use as you will on countless lives.
| What a thrill, to go traipsing all over the world, to meet people of different cultures on a human level, respecting them as human beings with all their magnificent shortcomings and foibles. What grand adventure, to move goods across the globe to show up on young girls' breakfast tables with no damage. How noble, to fight and perchance to die in a worldwide battle against the forces of Evil. |
Who could possibly expect God to honor the disrespect both sides of this conflict have used as weapons in a man-made war? Have you even thought about it? Do you think for one instant that you will not be judged for your own judgments?
| Do you doubt that God will look upon you and see you attempting to remain neutral, a disinterested party, in a war against the minions of Satan? Do you truly believe that the men chopping heads off and splashing acid on women and burning schools and throwing hand grenades at people at bus stops are anything other than the minions of absolute evil? |
Surely you are smart enough to realize that you canÂ’t do whatever your ego demands and still have GodÂ’s ear when it comes to forgiveness, no matter how much pressure you're under. No, itÂ’s more like Isaiah said: repent, or be left to the reprobateness of your own mind. For some of us, those who should be guilt-ridden but donÂ’t have the guts to check their own souls, that reprobateness is insurmountable unless you change your mind. Please change your mind. ItÂ’s your prerogative to do so.
| And what shall we change our minds to do, Leslie? You've not given us any guidance, other than a desire for a group hug. |
I beg you, for yourself, for the people you will be responsible for killing, for GodÂ’s love of the whole world: Stop, think, pray, repent and love, instead. And then, God will do what God does, without taking the skin off your back.
| Until you can come up with something a little more definite than that, I'll stick with fighting evil. |
My sincerest respect to all; even those who have gone too far. It's not too late to change your mind.
Leslie Sutton |