WHOM CAN WE TRUST?

It is about to be spring but someone forgot to mention it to Mother Nature.  In the Northeast, the six inches of snow struck a feeling of deja vu.  There is something about that kind of unpleasant repeat calling for action (like shoveling snow) that just weighs one down with the added overload of information.

It is unclear to me whether we are finally hearing about the lies of G W Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and the others that seem not to care or feel any responsibility for the hundreds of thousands of lives lost because of them and, worse, the 32,000 maimed for life military personnel returned to the US while our Republican house majority is making their lives uselessly miserable for them and their families so they can continue to have the backing of the powers that pay them campaign funds, or some other equally shameful impetus.

When people have such little human empathy for their fellow men, they are viewed suspiciously as sociopaths.  The same can be said about CEOs of huge corporations whose salaries have expanded three hundredfold while minimum wage remains just that, as little as they can get away with paying.  More people should be educated in the signs and symptoms to look for in people not to be trusted.  It amazes me constantly that people seem so little able to put together people's behaviors and character as somehow not being connected.  Not so, my friends.  How people behave and judgements they make definitely indicates what you may except from them in other situations.  Romney's taped talk to his $50,000 a plate contributors tells much about his pleasure at telling about the conditions of young women in his factories in China.

Would he want one of his granddaughters to work in such conditions.  He likely would never consider it because his family is so moneyed that such conditions would never occur.  How did he think he could be President when he is hiding his money off shore to save his taxes so that the poor people (now the former middle class) can pay it all while he build 5 story elevators for his cars.

At last, we have been hearing media admits they were not doing their job when the Iraq Was was being pushed through.  I hope they will realize they are not supposed to run the country but simply hold elected  politicians to truth and their jobs being honestly and competently performed.  In today's world that seems to be more to ask from them than for which they have prepared.

JUST HOW MUCH ARE WE BEING ASKED TO FORGET?

The tragedy of modern war is not so much that young men die but that they die fighting each other, instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals. -Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (1927-1989)

We can even amend that quote because in today's wars, it is not only young men fighting young men. Today, young and older women and men, many of whom are parents, don't die fighting each other but die when women and children are strapped with bomb vests, and nothing is clear as to who is fighting for what. The war in Iraq was started by a group of men, none of whom had ever served in a military, and none of whom were trained in military strategy. They were bullies in political circles who played their war games as though they were playing hand held electronic, computer games with graphics they read out on the media occasionally. The media played along with their denial and showed no returning dead in flag draped caskets, few weeping family members and friends grieving. They even manufactured lies as they did about the patriotic football player killed by 'friendly' fire.

There has been much said about the abuse of power in these men but none have ever had to face the nation with their truth. Not only have they not had to own up to their deceits, publicly, Cheney is still allowed to be on the television news as though he remains credible. We, the insignificant little people of America are left wondering about our governmental system and its ability to protect us in any way...not from the horrors beyond our borders but from those ruthless and conscienceless in major public offices.

As the years go on, it is not in my nature to look for revenge, but it is a hope of mine that American children will not have to read in their history books one day that this generation left so much for them to clean up but with no lessons or skills with which to do it.

Dare I hope that the insults to us all allowed to be carried out during the last Administration, will just be allowed to fade away from the tears and perspiration the rest of us shed to try to make the effect of their evils right again?

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

As though we need any more information to demonstrate how little Americans know about the middle eastern cultures, an article appeared today in BBC News.

Last Updated: Monday, 3 March 2008, 16:57 GMT

Iranian to pay 124,000-rose dowry

An Iranian court has ordered a man to give his wife the 124,000 roses that he promised in her dowry, after she filed a complaint to claim it, reports say. The husband said he could only afford to give five roses a day. The woman said she was claiming the dowry because her "very stingy husband" would not even pay for a cup of coffee, according to the E'temad newspaper. The court has seized the man's flat until he produces all of the roses. Under Iranian law, a woman can claim her dowry, or mahr, at any time during a marriage or when getting divorced. The gift becomes the property of the wife to do whatever she likes with. It is required in order for the marriage contract and the marriage itself to be valid. You may read the rest of the article, if you wish. "Culture, a shared set of traditions, belief systems, and behaviors, is shaped by history, religion, ethnic identity, language, and nationality, among other factors. The Middle East consists of approximately 20 countries, with many different religions and a variety of ethnic and linguistic groups. Given this diversity, we should not be surprised to find a multitude of different cultures coexisting in the region." Far fewer Americans would have been killed and maimed, lives ruined as well as those of their children and loved ones, had the Administration used good sense in learning who they were out to conquer. In the greedy rush to gain control of the oil in Iraq (that was supposed to pay for the war, according to Wolfowitz His current profile , to anyone who is aware of his past judgments, does not look as good as his rhetoric) destroyed far more than they could have gained. The unprepared planners would have us believe they 'saved' us rather than destroying our country's reputation, economy, trust in leadership, infrastructure, educational resources, and other necessities here in the US. It is difficult to comprehend that there are still those in the US who haven't noticed that the Emperor wears no clothes. Will the great nation we once could be proud of ever return to its former state? The patient is too ill to recover in my lifetime, I fear.