12.03.2014
'There is no American Dream': Why one US professor believes the national ethos is an illusion and the country has the same level of social mobility as medieval England Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2854440/There-no-American-Dream-one-professor-believes-national-ethos-illusion-country-no-higher-rate-social-mobility-medieval-England.html#ixzz3Kr7tcZ29 Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
'There is no American Dream': Why one US professor believes the national ethos is an illusion and the country has the same level of social mobility as medieval England
12.02.2014
detail. followup. On my 13 month cancer scan last week they found that a spot in my lung they have been watching for a couple of years is growing. I'm headed to the hospital for a pre-op consultation, whatever that means. Oh, lol, I did not know there was a spot on my lungs, & I did not know they were watching it. I wonder if this is payback time for the carton of cigarettes that an elementary school friend of mine and I stole from a drug store and smoked in one afternoon.
On my 13 month cancer scan last week they found that a spot in my lung
they have been watching for a couple of years is growing. I'm headed to
the hospital for a pre-op consultation, whatever that means. Oh, lol, I
did not know there was a spot on my lungs, & I did not know they
were watching it. I wonder if this is payback time for the carton of
cigarettes that an elementary school friend of mine and I stole from a
drug store and smoked in one afternoon.
.... now on the bus back from the hostpital:
* They think it likely it is more of my colon cancer... in the lung now.
* Wise to take it out now... so I will. Three small incisions, they insert a camera, find it, snip it out. Tentatively scheduled for the 15th... after congress goes back to their holes... I don't want to miss time expressing my contempt for them on the hill this week and next. And I hate the holidays... our time of special worship of our addiction to stuff... we over-privileged.
* Over night in hosp recovering... maybe 2 nd nite.
* The liver DOES NOT GROW BACK! Huh? She showed me on the scan... the big cavaty, now filled with bowel... where the liver DOES NOT GROW BACK! LOL. Communication is NOT the strong suit of these folks.
.... now on the bus back from the hostpital:
* They think it likely it is more of my colon cancer... in the lung now.
* Wise to take it out now... so I will. Three small incisions, they insert a camera, find it, snip it out. Tentatively scheduled for the 15th... after congress goes back to their holes... I don't want to miss time expressing my contempt for them on the hill this week and next. And I hate the holidays... our time of special worship of our addiction to stuff... we over-privileged.
* Over night in hosp recovering... maybe 2 nd nite.
* The liver DOES NOT GROW BACK! Huh? She showed me on the scan... the big cavaty, now filled with bowel... where the liver DOES NOT GROW BACK! LOL. Communication is NOT the strong suit of these folks.
***** "I'd rather die... than do what Israelis are doing to the Palestinians," I told the earnest young Israeli that asked me at the White House, incredulous, "Wouldn't you do what we are if 'missiles' are raining down on you?" "I'd rather die, and have all my loved ones die, than to terrorize, torment, torture... millions of people so I could 'feel safe' on their land I'd stolen."
***** "I'd rather die... than do what Israelis are doing to the Palestinians," I told the earnest young Israeli that asked me at the White House, incredulous, "Wouldn't you do what we are if 'missiles' are raining down on you?" "I'd rather die, and have all my loved ones die, than to terrorize, torment, torture... millions of people so I could 'feel safe' on their land I'd stolen."
***** pic. "As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as they please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the outcome." Noam Chomsky
***** pic. "As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as they please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the outcome." Noam Chomsky
12.01.2014
11.30.2014
***** Central to my life experience, my professional training, my professional work, my study of activism, my practice of activism,... There is nothing more central in my life, there is nothing that I value more in my life then what Gandhi spoke of as truth force, holding on to the truth, after devoting one's life to discovering what it is, holding on to that truth no matter the personal cost. I believe that holding on to the truth, embodying it, and therefore making it present, particularly the truth of a human tragedy, is the surest way to penetrate even the strongest defenses. It is a very low probability proposition, but it is still the surest way. I can think of no clear example of this in my life than this brief video. http://jesusgodgoodetcnjay.blogspot.com/2014/11/wow-wowwwww-israeli-kids-watch.html
* Central to my life experience, my professional training, my professional work, my study of activism, my practice of activism,... There is nothing more central in my life, there is nothing that I value more in my life then what Gandhi spoke of as truth force, holding on to the truth, after devoting one's life to discovering what it is, holding on to that truth no matter the personal cost. I believe that holding on to the truth, embodying it, and therefore making it present, particularly the truth of a human tragedy, is the surest way to penetrate even the strongest defenses. It is a very low probability proposition, but it is still the surest way. I can think of no clear example of this in my life than this brief video. http://jesusgodgoodetcnjay.blogspot.com/2014/11/wow-wowwwww-israeli-kids-watch.html
posted from Bloggeroid
***** article. Anyone who bemoans the weakening of Americans should look at the hardy homeless. It takes tremendous strength to get through a day. I’m stronger, healthier and happier than ever. There’s more respect for a homeless woman out on the streets than there is in a warehouse for Amazon workers.
11.29.2014
***** Israel Shahak's 'Jewish History, Jewish Religion,' I'm on my second reading of this professor from Tel Aviv University. By its core teaching, not Islam, but Judaism, is the religion of hate and terrorism. Much detail follows in this post. Please click link.
* To my fellow fighters for justice and freedom for Palestine: if you have not read and mastered the following book then you are profoundly disarmed in this fight for truth and justice. Just as you know it to be historical lie of genocidal proportions that Israel is the innocent party, and Palestine the guilty party, you may not know that at least as evil a lie is the notion that Islam is a religion of hate and that Judaism is nothing of the sort. Not the Torah, but the Talmud is the determinant of religious law for the Orthodox Jews and it requires such things as allowing all non Jews to die when otherwise they could be rescued from a disaster, and to mass murder every child man and woman Gentile, none Jew, if they might possibly be antagonistic to Jews; oh, and of course, to lie flatly about any such controversial laws to all non Jews. . Did I just say that every Jew follows these Orthodox, central, hateful, ragingly discriminatory, ragingly racist teachings? I say emphatically that many Jews practice the opposite, and reject this hateful teaching. But the right-wing Israeli government, from day one, has empowered, inflamed, and dispersed widely the hateful teachings at the core of the Jewish religion. And there are many in the Israeli military that are profound believers of this fanaticism. If you know this book to be in factual error, then please let me know. Otherwise, study it, master it, and with discipline, knowing that it absolutely does not apply to many many many Jews, then use the truth within this to fight for justice, freedom, and goodness for all. http://www.amazon.com/Jewish-History-Religion-Israel-Shahak/dp/074530818X
posted from Bloggeroid
Picture. When white Americans, the intellectual elite, respond with the same her, disgust, outrage, indignation... To the destruction of the social, emotional, and intellectual lives of the mass of American children of color, America will be worth saving, and capable thereof. Unlikely, but possible.
Much detail. Dialogue with a young friend regarding the violence in Ferguson Missouri vet so horrifying as, disgusts, outrages, and apalls this young friend...
* To a respected young friend who posted that no one should ever behave the way people are behaving in Ferguson Missouri I replied:
Wow. Totally, profoundly, disagree.
JFK, "Whoever would make unviolent revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable." The in-justice system in this country, that for people of color, and the not rich, has been unjust forever, and more so, every day... is an attack on democracy, the majority of Americans... and was supposed to be an alternative to violent revolution. Society, those in power, those on the sidelines, have chosen to allow this slanted system to get worse, and worse, and worse. The choose to 'hear' the poor, the people of color, less less and less. They have chosen for America to NOT BE THEIR COUNTRY. I lay the behavior at the feet of the whites, the privileged, those standing on the sidelines watching, or IGNORING, the bias, the injustice... year... after decade.... That's all I have to say.
* In reply to this my friend wrote at great length how she profoundly saw otherwise, in America, where other options, such as those that I utilize, are available.
* To this I replied:
Sister, I think we owe each other enough respect to acknowledge when we profoundly, totally, absolutely disagree. I owe you and give you that respect regardless of whether and when it terminates our relationship. I could say many many many many many things to what you have just written, but I will mention just a few. I believe you have 0 conception, 0, of what it means to be born black in this country, what it means to be born poor in this country, what it means to be a poor, uneducated, adult in this country, and what it means to be a black person in this country. 0. You seem to have zero understanding that there are two Americas. There have been two, there are two, and there may be two forever. There is an America for the white, educated, and and to a lesser degree the white uneducated. And there is an America for the rest of us. The so-called justice system, in fact, in truth, unless I am totally blind having been among the poor for almost a decade now and living among poor black people for years now, the so-called justice system has two functions, in fact, in truth, in daily practice, one is to protect the affluent and educated and white, and the other is to keep the rest of us from interfering with their lives. And the police, our men and women in uniform, are paid to do that, and they lose their jobs when they do not. And they are permitted to use, they are expected to use, whatever means, whatever force , what ever violation of civil rights they deem necessary and can get away with. Are there exceptions to this? Of course. The existence of an exception shows that there is a rule at work. You seem to have zero conception that there are two Americas. You seem to have zero conception of your white educated upwardly mobile privilege. I'm just speaking from the heart, as were you. Be well sister.
Sister, I think we owe each other enough respect to acknowledge when we profoundly, totally, absolutely disagree. I owe you and give you that respect regardless of whether and when it terminates our relationship. I could say many many many many many things to what you have just written, but I will mention just a few. I believe you have 0 conception, 0, of what it means to be born black in this country, what it means to be born poor in this country, what it means to be a poor, uneducated, adult in this country, and what it means to be a black person in this country. 0. You seem to have zero understanding that there are two Americas. There have been two, there are two, and there may be two forever. There is an America for the white, educated, and and to a lesser degree the white uneducated. And there is an America for the rest of us. The so-called justice system, in fact, in truth, unless I am totally blind having been among the poor for almost a decade now and living among poor black people for years now, the so-called justice system has two functions, in fact, in truth, in daily practice, one is to protect the affluent and educated and white, and the other is to keep the rest of us from interfering with their lives. And the police, our men and women in uniform, are paid to do that, and they lose their jobs when they do not. And they are permitted to use, they are expected to use, whatever means, whatever force , what ever violation of civil rights they deem necessary and can get away with. Are there exceptions to this? Of course. The existence of an exception shows that there is a rule at work. You seem to have zero conception that there are two Americas. You seem to have zero conception of your white educated upwardly mobile privilege. I'm just speaking from the heart, as were you. Be well sister.
There is not one America. There are at least two. If everyone was born in your America Lizzie, your educational system all being white, all being attractive, all being educated, all being born in a community trained to moral standards, the way that the legal system treats you, the way that the educational system treats you, the way that the police system treats you, the way that the medical system treats you , the way that bystanders would treat you ... Then I would tend to agree with your statements above. But this is not the America that exists
I am NOT trying to pile on here, but there are two additional points that you're writing brings to my mind. One is your extremely correct mention of the role of the media. Among the more insightful articles on Ferguson that have caught my eye are several that have mentioned that arson, loading, vandalism, is the voice of the voiceless, it is what the voiceless the ignored, the overlooked, the unheard do. The other is your mention of such extraordinary souls as Alice Paul. Whatever horror, outrage, indignation, disgust, disdain... You feel toward the small minority of Ferguson protesters is came compared to what was felt toward, spat at, beaten into... The likes of Alice Paul in her day. One final thought, sorry, Gandhi is understood as the father of nonviolent action, and rightly so. He is almost universally misunderstood as being against violence. This is categorically incorrect. He was categorically against cowardice, against inaction in the face of injustice. For him that was the cardinal sin, cowardice, in action in the face of injustice, let alone decades and centuries of injustice such as our black brothers and sisters have received and receive hourly in this country . Unforgivable is cowardice and injustice in the view of Gandhi. . He said that he strongly preferred, and highly recommended, nonviolent action. But he demanded of people that if they did not have within them the ability to respond nonviolently, they were to respond in the only ways that they knew, and if that meant violence, then it was their duty to be violet.
Wow. Totally, profoundly, disagree.
JFK, "Whoever would make unviolent revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable." The in-justice system in this country, that for people of color, and the not rich, has been unjust forever, and more so, every day... is an attack on democracy, the majority of Americans... and was supposed to be an alternative to violent revolution. Society, those in power, those on the sidelines, have chosen to allow this slanted system to get worse, and worse, and worse. The choose to 'hear' the poor, the people of color, less less and less. They have chosen for America to NOT BE THEIR COUNTRY. I lay the behavior at the feet of the whites, the privileged, those standing on the sidelines watching, or IGNORING, the bias, the injustice... year... after decade.... That's all I have to say.
* In reply to this my friend wrote at great length how she profoundly saw otherwise, in America, where other options, such as those that I utilize, are available.
* To this I replied:
Sister, I think we owe each other enough respect to acknowledge when we profoundly, totally, absolutely disagree. I owe you and give you that respect regardless of whether and when it terminates our relationship. I could say many many many many many things to what you have just written, but I will mention just a few. I believe you have 0 conception, 0, of what it means to be born black in this country, what it means to be born poor in this country, what it means to be a poor, uneducated, adult in this country, and what it means to be a black person in this country. 0. You seem to have zero understanding that there are two Americas. There have been two, there are two, and there may be two forever. There is an America for the white, educated, and and to a lesser degree the white uneducated. And there is an America for the rest of us. The so-called justice system, in fact, in truth, unless I am totally blind having been among the poor for almost a decade now and living among poor black people for years now, the so-called justice system has two functions, in fact, in truth, in daily practice, one is to protect the affluent and educated and white, and the other is to keep the rest of us from interfering with their lives. And the police, our men and women in uniform, are paid to do that, and they lose their jobs when they do not. And they are permitted to use, they are expected to use, whatever means, whatever force , what ever violation of civil rights they deem necessary and can get away with. Are there exceptions to this? Of course. The existence of an exception shows that there is a rule at work. You seem to have zero conception that there are two Americas. You seem to have zero conception of your white educated upwardly mobile privilege. I'm just speaking from the heart, as were you. Be well sister.
Sister, I think we owe each other enough respect to acknowledge when we profoundly, totally, absolutely disagree. I owe you and give you that respect regardless of whether and when it terminates our relationship. I could say many many many many many things to what you have just written, but I will mention just a few. I believe you have 0 conception, 0, of what it means to be born black in this country, what it means to be born poor in this country, what it means to be a poor, uneducated, adult in this country, and what it means to be a black person in this country. 0. You seem to have zero understanding that there are two Americas. There have been two, there are two, and there may be two forever. There is an America for the white, educated, and and to a lesser degree the white uneducated. And there is an America for the rest of us. The so-called justice system, in fact, in truth, unless I am totally blind having been among the poor for almost a decade now and living among poor black people for years now, the so-called justice system has two functions, in fact, in truth, in daily practice, one is to protect the affluent and educated and white, and the other is to keep the rest of us from interfering with their lives. And the police, our men and women in uniform, are paid to do that, and they lose their jobs when they do not. And they are permitted to use, they are expected to use, whatever means, whatever force , what ever violation of civil rights they deem necessary and can get away with. Are there exceptions to this? Of course. The existence of an exception shows that there is a rule at work. You seem to have zero conception that there are two Americas. You seem to have zero conception of your white educated upwardly mobile privilege. I'm just speaking from the heart, as were you. Be well sister.
There is not one America. There are at least two. If everyone was born in your America Lizzie, your educational system all being white, all being attractive, all being educated, all being born in a community trained to moral standards, the way that the legal system treats you, the way that the educational system treats you, the way that the police system treats you, the way that the medical system treats you , the way that bystanders would treat you ... Then I would tend to agree with your statements above. But this is not the America that exists
I am NOT trying to pile on here, but there are two additional points that you're writing brings to my mind. One is your extremely correct mention of the role of the media. Among the more insightful articles on Ferguson that have caught my eye are several that have mentioned that arson, loading, vandalism, is the voice of the voiceless, it is what the voiceless the ignored, the overlooked, the unheard do. The other is your mention of such extraordinary souls as Alice Paul. Whatever horror, outrage, indignation, disgust, disdain... You feel toward the small minority of Ferguson protesters is came compared to what was felt toward, spat at, beaten into... The likes of Alice Paul in her day. One final thought, sorry, Gandhi is understood as the father of nonviolent action, and rightly so. He is almost universally misunderstood as being against violence. This is categorically incorrect. He was categorically against cowardice, against inaction in the face of injustice. For him that was the cardinal sin, cowardice, in action in the face of injustice, let alone decades and centuries of injustice such as our black brothers and sisters have received and receive hourly in this country . Unforgivable is cowardice and injustice in the view of Gandhi. . He said that he strongly preferred, and highly recommended, nonviolent action. But he demanded of people that if they did not have within them the ability to respond nonviolently, they were to respond in the only ways that they knew, and if that meant violence, then it was their duty to be violet.
posted from Bloggeroid
11.28.2014
nd. Friends fighting for Palestine: PLEASE, let's ALWAYS refer to Israel's attacks by WHAT THEY ARE: "TERRORISM." Yes????????? Please??????? They have SET the definition, and they, and they ALONE FULFILL the definition. We must do what we can to reframe the dialog, media... and replace ISRAEL'S LIES with Palestine's TRUTH.
Friends fighting for Palestine: PLEASE, let's ALWAYS refer to Israel's attacks by WHAT THEY ARE: "TERRORISM." Yes????????? Please??????? They have SET the definition, and they, and they ALONE FULFILL the definition. We must do what we can to reframe the dialog, media... and replace ISRAEL'S LIES with Palestine's TRUTH.
nd. I go in for a pre-op consultation on Tuesday regarding the growth in my lung, detected in last week's cancer scan.
I go in for a pre-op consultation on Tuesday regarding the growth in my lung, detected in last week's cancer scan.
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