Thank you for this article. I read that the dust bowl was partly caused by the government paying farmers to raise crops on land that could only grow grass. Eventually, crops could no longer be raised on the land and the grass wasn't there to keep the soil in place.
What about the idea of writing in Bernie Sanders howtowriteinbernie.com ? If the top two candidates don’t get at least 270 electoral college votes, the new (more progressive) House of Representatives has to choose between the TOP 3 candidates voted for.
From Sydney J. Harris, Pieces of Eight, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982:
ON TERRORISM
Our sermonette today is on terrorism, and our text is taken from Exodus 20:5: "The sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the children.” This means, of course, the sins of the founding fathers as well as the physical fathers.
If you look around the world today — if you can bear to — you will see that everything we describe as terrorism comes from one source and one source only, no matter the geographical or political differences.
In Ireland, in Palestine, in Holland, in South Africa — it matters not where — the frightful acts of terrorism are all the result of the same thing: aggression, exploitation, and colonization of one people by another.
The English had no business in Ireland, and especially not the dirty business they engaged in for centuries. The Dutch had no business taking over the Spice Islands in the Pacific. The British and the Boers, like the French and the Portuguese and others, had no business taking over and carving up large sections of the African continent. As for Palestine, now Israel, it has had the most tragic history of all — overrun by a dozen different powers and religions, from the Romans and the Turks to the Egyptians, the Mamelukes, and the British.
All these accumulated sins of the centuries — and all, basically, the same sin of greed for other people's property — are finally being visited upon the children and the children's children. For if you examine the roots of each of the current conflicts in terrorist activities, you find that they are deeply entangled in the same historical injustice.
And the compounded tragedy today is that there is no simple black-and-white answer. Only zealots see right against wrong. The rest of us see it as two rights in collision, with no possibility of justice being done to both. This is the price the children pay for their fathers’ sins. Nothing we can do will wash out the past, make it clean again.
Terrorism is barbarous and prideful and unfair and most often counterproductive. But so is aggression, so is exploitation, so is colonization. We in the United States will continue to suffer for a long time for slavery, a short-run “benefit” that has turned into a long-run nightmare. We are paying a high price for our seizure of Puerto Rico, just as England is now suffering from its past colonial policies.
Terrorists are made, not born, and are heroes to themselves, willing to die to vindicate their cause. They can be killed, but there is no way to extinguish the past. All of us, innocent though we may feel, must suffer for the sins of our fathers, and the best we can do is to make sure we do not pass a similar dread inheritance to our own children.
Thank you for your comments on EU labeling. I have a question: why can't we move squatters out of their home one home at a time or one street at a time? The squatters could be moved out (people only) at night to ensure their safety. They would be moved to a safe area. Then the house would be secured legally. Then the squatters' possessions could be moved out to a secure location. The cost of this operation would be paid out of the 3 billion we send Israel each year. Do you think this could work? We could learn how best to do this as we empty the squatters houses.
One of Professor Ilan Pappé's talks on CD is being played on a local radio station [KPFA 94.1] as part of their fund drive. Professor Pappé talks about the history of Israel saying that Zionists colonized with the purpose of taking over all of Palestine. He talked about soldiers going from Palestine house to house in the middle 1940s forcing families to leave, then destroying their homes.
"Danny Muller focuses on disaster management and response in the Middle East and Haiti. He is a coordinator of public health and humanitarian aid efforts for the Middle East Children’s Alliance. He said today, “What can’t be seen or understood in the pictures and reporting coming out of Gaza is the long term impact the most recent Israeli assault is having on the young minds of children in Gaza."
We need a law forbidding support of countries (like Israel) who are killing/injuring children. We send billions of dollars to Israel every year. This support must be conditional.
The soldiers who recently killed Palestinian children have not been in the news in any meaningful way. I remember the news coverage of the woman who fired a gun at the ceiling to protect herself against an abusive husband. We got days of coverage of her in great detail.
Which Israeli soldiers , exactly, shot in cold blood the two Palestinian teenagers wearing backpacks, walking single file near a building (this was caught on film)? What do we know about the Israeli people who burnt a young Palestinian man to death? Which Israeli soldiers shot to death the young children playing on the beach? People who murder children should be brought before the International Court of Law.
Why aren't news corporations brought to account for deciding not to cover these murders? If a suit against them was filed and reached the Supreme Court, what would the Supreme Court's five Catholic men say?
Antics with Semanitics from Sydney J. Harris: "Our military makes "surprise sorties"; their military makes "terriorist raids." I am giving the matter "judicious consideration"; you are "overly deliberate"; he is "stalling." A "crisis" is any sudden development in international affairs that shows how shortsighted or pigheaded the foreign offices were; and "resolution" of the crisis is a mutually unsatisfactory agreement by which the foreign offices gain a respite until the next crisis. I am reasonable; those less reasonable are "too emotional," and those more reasonable are "too logical."
A seemingly very long time ago I felt hopeful because of Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy, to build the Democratic Party from the ground up in every single precinct, city, and state ...
If we formed these groups, I thought they would tackle such issues as the education of our children, and the problems with our commercial television stations and the ownership of much of our media by a single person or corporation. I still believe in neighborhood groups having the power to make change but it takes time and leadership.
Why there isn’t more burning outrage is due to a damaged education system, media propaganda and/or substituting fluff for content and now, with so many people out of work and out of savings – people have no time or energy to follow this and speak up.
Thank you for this article. I read that the dust bowl was partly caused by the government paying farmers to raise crops on land that could only grow grass. Eventually, crops could no longer be raised on the land and the grass wasn't there to keep the soil in place.
What about the idea of writing in Bernie Sanders howtowriteinbernie.com ? If the top two candidates don’t get at least 270 electoral college votes, the new (more progressive) House of Representatives has to choose between the TOP 3 candidates voted for.
My piano teacher when describing some composers used to say "Empty trucks make the most noise".
From Sydney J. Harris, Pieces of Eight, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982:
ON TERRORISM
Our sermonette today is on terrorism, and our text is taken from Exodus 20:5: "The sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the children.” This means, of course, the sins of the founding fathers as well as the physical fathers.
If you look around the world today — if you can bear to — you will see that everything we describe as terrorism comes from one source and one source only, no matter the geographical or political differences.
In Ireland, in Palestine, in Holland, in South Africa — it matters not where — the frightful acts of terrorism are all the result of the same thing: aggression, exploitation, and colonization of one people by another.
The English had no business in Ireland, and especially not the dirty business they engaged in for centuries. The Dutch had no business taking over the Spice Islands in the Pacific. The British and the Boers, like the French and the Portuguese and others, had no business taking over and carving up large sections of the African continent. As for Palestine, now Israel, it has had the most tragic history of all — overrun by a dozen different powers and religions, from the Romans and the Turks to the Egyptians, the Mamelukes, and the British.
All these accumulated sins of the centuries — and all, basically, the same sin of greed for other people's property — are finally being visited upon the children and the children's children. For if you examine the roots of each of the current conflicts in terrorist activities, you find that they are deeply entangled in the same historical injustice.
And the compounded tragedy today is that there is no simple black-and-white answer. Only zealots see right against wrong. The rest of us see it as two rights in collision, with no possibility of justice being done to both. This is the price the children pay for their fathers’ sins. Nothing we can do will wash out the past, make it clean again.
Terrorism is barbarous and prideful and unfair and most often counterproductive. But so is aggression, so is exploitation, so is colonization. We in the United States will continue to suffer for a long time for slavery, a short-run “benefit” that has turned into a long-run nightmare. We are paying a high price for our seizure of Puerto Rico, just as England is now suffering from its past colonial policies.
Terrorists are made, not born, and are heroes to themselves, willing to die to vindicate their cause. They can be killed, but there is no way to extinguish the past. All of us, innocent though we may feel, must suffer for the sins of our fathers, and the best we can do is to make sure we do not pass a similar dread inheritance to our own children.
Thank you for your comments on EU labeling. I have a question: why can't we move squatters out of their home one home at a time or one street at a time? The squatters could be moved out (people only) at night to ensure their safety. They would be moved to a safe area. Then the house would be secured legally. Then the squatters' possessions could be moved out to a secure location. The cost of this operation would be paid out of the 3 billion we send Israel each year. Do you think this could work? We could learn how best to do this as we empty the squatters houses.
One of Professor Ilan Pappé's talks on CD is being played on a local radio station [KPFA 94.1] as part of their fund drive. Professor Pappé talks about the history of Israel saying that Zionists colonized with the purpose of taking over all of Palestine. He talked about soldiers going from Palestine house to house in the middle 1940s forcing families to leave, then destroying their homes.
"Danny Muller focuses on disaster management and response in the Middle East and Haiti. He is a coordinator of public health and humanitarian aid efforts for the Middle East Children’s Alliance. He said today, “What can’t be seen or understood in the pictures and reporting coming out of Gaza is the long term impact the most recent Israeli assault is having on the young minds of children in Gaza."
We need a law forbidding support of countries (like Israel) who are killing/injuring children. We send billions of dollars to Israel every year. This support must be conditional.
The soldiers who recently killed Palestinian children have not been in the news in any meaningful way. I remember the news coverage of the woman who fired a gun at the ceiling to protect herself against an abusive husband. We got days of coverage of her in great detail.
Which Israeli soldiers , exactly, shot in cold blood the two Palestinian teenagers wearing backpacks, walking single file near a building (this was caught on film)? What do we know about the Israeli people who burnt a young Palestinian man to death? Which Israeli soldiers shot to death the young children playing on the beach? People who murder children should be brought before the International Court of Law.
Why aren't news corporations brought to account for deciding not to cover these murders? If a suit against them was filed and reached the Supreme Court, what would the Supreme Court's five Catholic men say?
Antics with Semanitics from Sydney J. Harris: "Our military makes "surprise sorties"; their military makes "terriorist raids." I am giving the matter "judicious consideration"; you are "overly deliberate"; he is "stalling." A "crisis" is any sudden development in international affairs that shows how shortsighted or pigheaded the foreign offices were; and "resolution" of the crisis is a mutually unsatisfactory agreement by which the foreign offices gain a respite until the next crisis. I am reasonable; those less reasonable are "too emotional," and those more reasonable are "too logical."
What does international law say about China and Tibet?
A seemingly very long time ago I felt hopeful because of Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy, to build the Democratic Party from the ground up in every single precinct, city, and state ...
If we formed these groups, I thought they would tackle such issues as the education of our children, and the problems with our commercial television stations and the ownership of much of our media by a single person or corporation. I still believe in neighborhood groups having the power to make change but it takes time and leadership.
Why there isn’t more burning outrage is due to a damaged education system, media propaganda and/or substituting fluff for content and now, with so many people out of work and out of savings – people have no time or energy to follow this and speak up.