Recently writing to a friend, I was told that an old mutual acquaintance was learning an obscure South Asian Language, a Dialect really, in order to speak to a young man, Ram Bomjon, of whom the most extreme claims are being made, all the way up to asserting that this is the Second Coming of Christ, the Matraiya Buddha, God on Earth.
What I know of the Young Man is that several years ago he seemed to sincerely to wish to go out into the Jungle and meditate for 6 years uninterruptedly, but couldn’t really stick to his plan. He was bitten by snakes several times, and now entertains a serious phobia of them, tooting about this big sword, and has retreated back to Civilization, now meditating in a nice cozy cellar. Now that he is Famous he now breaks his Constant Meditation in order to give Speeches on local holidays. A recurring theme of his Speeches is that people should try to be more quiet because he finds it so difficult to meditate while people are making so much noise. But perhaps that is a faulty translation.
Initial claims for this Ram Bomjon which did the most to garner Fame was that he was living a continual fast, not eating at all, living only by the Grace of God. But then those who listen and look closely found that this was only a pretense… witnesses were chased away at dinner time, and witnesses saw him always casually picking and munching away on jungle salads. Those of Little Faith were disillusioned and disenchanted. After all, many young men have expressed the wish to Meditate, and then meditated sporadically, and fasted now and then, all without pretending to be God on Earth. When this Young Man was found to be patently Un-Special, it is bazaar that he is still treated as though he were, well, still, Divinity Incarnate. It is as though Spirituality must take second place to Deceptive Public Relations Practices. If one had ever once CLAIMED to be God for five minutes, and it had ever been considered even vaguely plausible, then it seems to be taken as Un-sportsman-like that anybody should ask for the least little Good Reason to suppose one should continue so.
I guess there is the underlying assumption that the Truth of it all depends upon all the Faith that it IS true. I suppose people think that the least Doubt will jinx the matter. People forget that Jesus did everything he did in the face of tremendous onslaughts of Doubt. A Real God will not be afraid of a Question Mark.
Anyway, what the Guru Movements throughout the 20th Century have shown us is that Guru Organizations can make a lot of money, even if they register as Charitable Organizations. You see, those who manage to worm into such Organizations can be put on Salary, and with so much Unemployment in the World, a Paycheck is a Paycheck.
So we should naturally suppose that where a Guru pops up, natural economic forces will exert themselves so that Organizations soon follow.
Yes, I suppose there is also such a thing as Spiritual Pride… to be God’s Right Hand Man.
Oh, the Acquaintance I speak of is in fact in Partnership with Owners of a Ram Bomjon Webpage. Very tightly run outfit. I was banned the very moment I expressed my first doubt. These People definitely want the Stock Price of Ram Bomjon to go up, and will not tolerate the least murmur… or whatever it is that I do. In fact, banning the likes of myself probably was seen as a Special Mark of Faith and Loyalty… whoever Fired the Gun against the Heretic took a step up in the Organization. Probably it was my Acquaintance that arranged to give me the Ax. No one is ever told about how such things come about… one simply finds one can no longer sign on. And the Intolerant Bigots never need to worry of any unpleasant confrontations. Curtailment of Freedom of Speech comes like a Stab in the Back. But it would be beneath me to bear a grudge, wouldn’t it?
Well, but back to their Viewpoint…with so many Partners sitting equally, how could an aspiring young Apostle break the tie and climb to the Top of the Ladder? As in the case of my old acquaintance, as I had mentioned, he or she (I never could figure out which) put forward the claim that he or she was making every effort to learn the obscure local dialect of the God Boy, the Buddha Boy, the Who-Ever. He or She has gone to Nepal with the expectation that there will be an Interview and a Discussion with this Adolescent God.
One wonders if this is all sincere. A Skeptic might wonder whether there even NEEDS to be an Interview, to serve the purpose of my Acquaintance. He or She can come back telling any Story, and who could possibly ever know the Difference? What if anybody asks if a Tape had been made, capturing the moment? Well, the easy answer is to say that the Guru’s attendants asked that all such gadgetry be left outside. Yeah, sure… sounds very plausible. Indeed, I know a great many people who had gone to the Far East, Guru-hopping, so to speak. In most cases people don’t get Interviews. With thousands of people milling about, and Gurus in great love with their own privacy and comfort, a fraction of a percent of people ever get a private word with the Holy of Holies.
But what of somebody who crosses the Globe with the express purpose of some Empowering Interview. To make such a Gamble to become a Big Respected Group Leader and then NOT getting an interview… that would really be a Big Risk. But young people are not afraid of Big Risks, and my young acquaintance is, well, young. Well, there is Bribery, but more on that later.
But the Language Learning makes me wonder. Is this Sincere or just more Smoke. I myself have studied languages. Yes, one can learn enough to be polite, to catch a bus, to get a room, and to order food. But to discuss Spirituality, Theology, and the Problems of Life!? Particularly when the language involved is a Local Dialect, some Provincial Patois. Such languages are chuck full of colloquialisms and slang – almost nothing is spoken of directly but everything is a local saying, some locally understood metaphor. Of have my doubts as to whether anybody, with even the best intentions, can find sufficient Study Materials to master such a backwoods Dialect for such desired intentions. But my young Acquaintance may simply be unaware of such complexities. In any case, already my Acquaintance is already being granted the respect of due to an Expert… without yet even having successfully hailed the first local Taxi. Shouldn’t we first wait to see whether this ‘Expert’ can even whistle in Nepalese, let alone discuss the most subtle intricacies of how many Angels reside on the head of a pin.
However, language aside, that is, even if one spoke the same Mother Tongue as some such Super Guru, then what would one say anyway? I’ve done some Guru-Hopping myself, and never could decide upon anything particularly clever. To ask of anything Universal and Metaphysical, well, the problem then would revolve upon understanding the Answer. I take for granted that I ALREADY understand what I am capable of understanding – formulating the Question implies that I would have a good idea what the Answer would be. And why ask a Question if one already knows the Answer? As for what I didn’t know – there the problem would come in even putting together a coherent question. And if one could finally ask about what one did not already understand, then the problem would be in understanding the Answer. Oh, yes, well, one could ask Personal Questions and ask for Personal Favors… but meeting with some Universal Being in order to deal merely with some small Particular issue of comfort and convenience, well, that seems too grubby to admit to. I am honestly ashamed of People who had visited Gurus to speak only of mundane details of Material Life.
Oh, I have an example. Once, sitting in a Group Interview with a rather famous Guru, he explained, using a Metaphor, about how the World and Dualism were Qualified, and that the Divine was Unqualified. It was all quite Easy philosophy for me and I had seen it all before at least a hundred times. He used the metaphor of Cloth and Thread, that the World and Duality were the Cloth, and that God was the Thread. Form and Substance, blah blah blah. I think I probably had to stifle a yawn. Well, when the Interview was over and the Leader of the Group held a meeting to discuss what was Said, she explained that the Guru told them that while the World offered thread on every occasion and in all places, God was the perfect cloth and the product of the best fabrication and sewing. You see, she got it completely backwards. She was Qualifying God (well don’t most Ignorant People Quality God?).
Anyway, so what good is asking questions if one can’t understand the answers… or for that matter, to ask questions if one is already quite comfortable with all these Philosophies and Doctrines, and anything really NEW might only rock the boat?
So I have always just given these Gurus my polite greeting and then waited to see if they had anything to say to me… appointing me Leader of this or that Branch Office, with salary, of course. But, as it were, Polite Greeting were always answered with Polite Greetings. But, after all, this may have been very fortunate for me.
Not everybody was as lucky as myself. Those who donated heavily to the Cause, well, they attracted much more attention from the Guru, and if it was discerned that such people had even further Influence and had connections back Home, they would indeed be given Positions of Authority in the Organization. Yes, that could be considered good, if one were really a True Believer. But complications can arise. For instance, I have had many friends in the Sathya Sai Baba Organization… back in the 60s and 70s a most promising Organization, and many people joined up and moved up. Then the Scandals broke out. Sathya Sai Baba took on the Persona of some bloated old accused child molester, on numberless counts, and all kinds of accusations of fraud and deception coming out from everywhere. What can Leaders in such an Organization do? Admit they were duped all along and resign? But one builds one’s life around such things. One becomes financially and even emotionally invested. Some old friends of mine are still bowing down before that Tarnished God. Too old to start Guru Hopping again, I suppose.
And this brings to mind the old Adage that God is Within. Really. My best Religious Revelations had come to me during my own Dreams and Meditations. One of my earliest was when I found myself dreaming that I had found myself in the Ancient Cave of the Prophet Elijah, with soot covered rough hewn stone walls lit by candlelight, and then the Prophet came up behind me and spoke softly “Remember that Perfection consists in randominity and be not One Thing and be not the Other”.
Maybe that was not so much an injunction, or even advice, but a declaration of how it would work out to be for me. You see, I have never been able to fully agree with any of these Organizations, nor even to fully disagree. No particular Group had ever been able to fully encompass God, or give a full enough Vision of Divinity. But they all found at least some small bit. The only Guru I ever really agreed with was one that told me to keep up my research, but his Organization People… well, they were idiots.
Anyway, what can my Acquaintance really expect, going to Nepal to see a Teenager? No, I don’t know the Language, but I watched a video of last years Big Speech. He went on for close to an hour. People were walking out. People in the first rows were chatting with each other. The Hot Dog Vendors were doing brisk business. It was clear that nobody was listening. The Young Man was no overpowering Orator, no Captivating Speaker. I subsequently saw a ‘Translation’. The Translation could be read in a few minutes, which means that the Speech had been severely edited… or it was compiled by somebody who pretended to know the language but was too lazy to put something together that would take roughly an hour to read.
But will this year’s Big Speech be much different from last year’s? Indeed, if my good Acquaintance has really taken much pain in order to learn the Language, he or she might find she knows it better than our Inarticulate Young God. His or Her Contribution to World Divinity may be to correct God’s careless grammar and imprecise constructions.
Oh, it would not be the first time. There was one Famous Guru who had hired a University Professor of Sanskrit Philosophy to ‘edit’ and publish his speeches and personal essays. This Guru became famous for his erudition and good sense. Then the Professor quarreled with the Guru was fired and he was replaced as ‘Editor’ by a mere, well, Editor… a man who had run a small newspaper somewhere. Suddenly the Guru lost all his good sense and erudition. The jaded among us suspected that the Professor had never attended a single Speech but simply sat at home, next to the fire, and drew the Words of God out from his own Head… oh, with the generous help of his own well stocked Sanskrit Library.
Anyway, having learned the Language, even if just to recognize a trend or direction of the Speech, my dear Acquaintance may be sufficiently astute as to be able to detect whether or not the Published Translation is at all close to the Speech that is actually given. However, and this is the rub, what if it is not?
When a Faithful True Believer finds something amiss, what then? When a Partner with Stock in the Company uncovers the Fraud, what then?
The World if full of Hopeful Statistics. For instance, more than 75% of Catholic Seminary Students drop out of Seminary, I guess when they finally understand what ‘Saint’ Paul was really saying. That is to say that 75% of at least these Young Catholics have Intellectual and Spiritual Integrity strong enough to overcome their Emotional and Financial Investments.
So what about my Young Acquaintance. Will he or she come back with the Truth and Integrity. Or will we hear some reassuring Blah Blah Blah along with a shift-eyed and self-conscious appeal for membership fees and donations.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Abortion and Pet Ownership
Abortion and Pet Ownership
First, God is only concerned with Collective Life, that Huge Life Force, the Life of Everything. If God has any preference at all, it is for Life in Full Bloom. When a Human Fetus is indistinguishable from a Tadpole… well, why should anybody suppose God imposes any imaginary distinctions upon it. If we see only a tadpole, then God sees only a tadpole.
A tadpole is a tadpole. “Its not a Choice. It’s a Frog”.
Yes, Abortion is a problem. I would imagine it is upsetting to the women involved. Romantic people who cry watching movies should not have to withstand the nastiness of an Abortion.
Other Cultures had once used Infant Nose Pinching to control Population. The Midwife would take away the Healthy Baby and then come back only minutes later to inform the poor mother that the child had died in childbirth. Observing the Birth and Death Statistics from past Centuries, they are only explainable in terms of Nose Pinching. After all, it was a really compelling fact that many Fathers were entirely conscious that they could not afford any more children. SOMETHING had to be done. Well, if the mothers had known, this would have really been brutalizing to them.
The best thing we can all do is encourage the lavish use of Birth Control Methods. Obviate the Problem at its source. Nip it in the bud, so to speak.
But even Birth Control has a sad effect on the Sensitive Female Psyche. My recommendation?! Well, young women should get some nice cats or even a small dog and name it “Baby”. Yes, the Maternal Instinct is that easily diverted. One would think that anything as Momentous as the Maternal Instinct would need something as Momentous as a Real Baby to satisfy it, but, no.
Love is Love.
Oh, yes, Parents feel more obligation to a Baby. More Duty. More Responsibility. But the love a Woman has for a fine Cat… whether she cares to admit it or not… is just as intense as that for a Child, and just as satisfying… if her friends can only refrain from making her ashamed of it… calling her just a “Cat Lady”. If Society would only get on board and allow Pet Ownership to do its Thing, then we could finally get a handle on the Population Problem. Women would stop insisting upon having ‘pet’ babies, just to make them feel fulfilled and less bored with themselves. Such ‘babies’ will keep them busy for only a while but then they grow up and become nasty demanding adults, and go out and scourge the World. That Lady who supposes her own strident life of bickering protest is full vindication for her mother not getting an abortion… well, lead her to the Prisons, the Unemployment Lines, the Young Men who have to get blown up in Iraq and Afghanistan because they could find a Job. A useless and burdensome life is no justification for Anti-Abortion Policies, but rather a reason why something needs to be done. But we need not resort to extremes. Get a Cat!
First, God is only concerned with Collective Life, that Huge Life Force, the Life of Everything. If God has any preference at all, it is for Life in Full Bloom. When a Human Fetus is indistinguishable from a Tadpole… well, why should anybody suppose God imposes any imaginary distinctions upon it. If we see only a tadpole, then God sees only a tadpole.
A tadpole is a tadpole. “Its not a Choice. It’s a Frog”.
Yes, Abortion is a problem. I would imagine it is upsetting to the women involved. Romantic people who cry watching movies should not have to withstand the nastiness of an Abortion.
Other Cultures had once used Infant Nose Pinching to control Population. The Midwife would take away the Healthy Baby and then come back only minutes later to inform the poor mother that the child had died in childbirth. Observing the Birth and Death Statistics from past Centuries, they are only explainable in terms of Nose Pinching. After all, it was a really compelling fact that many Fathers were entirely conscious that they could not afford any more children. SOMETHING had to be done. Well, if the mothers had known, this would have really been brutalizing to them.
The best thing we can all do is encourage the lavish use of Birth Control Methods. Obviate the Problem at its source. Nip it in the bud, so to speak.
But even Birth Control has a sad effect on the Sensitive Female Psyche. My recommendation?! Well, young women should get some nice cats or even a small dog and name it “Baby”. Yes, the Maternal Instinct is that easily diverted. One would think that anything as Momentous as the Maternal Instinct would need something as Momentous as a Real Baby to satisfy it, but, no.
Love is Love.
Oh, yes, Parents feel more obligation to a Baby. More Duty. More Responsibility. But the love a Woman has for a fine Cat… whether she cares to admit it or not… is just as intense as that for a Child, and just as satisfying… if her friends can only refrain from making her ashamed of it… calling her just a “Cat Lady”. If Society would only get on board and allow Pet Ownership to do its Thing, then we could finally get a handle on the Population Problem. Women would stop insisting upon having ‘pet’ babies, just to make them feel fulfilled and less bored with themselves. Such ‘babies’ will keep them busy for only a while but then they grow up and become nasty demanding adults, and go out and scourge the World. That Lady who supposes her own strident life of bickering protest is full vindication for her mother not getting an abortion… well, lead her to the Prisons, the Unemployment Lines, the Young Men who have to get blown up in Iraq and Afghanistan because they could find a Job. A useless and burdensome life is no justification for Anti-Abortion Policies, but rather a reason why something needs to be done. But we need not resort to extremes. Get a Cat!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Talking to God, Learning the Language of Ram Bomjon
Recently writing to a friend, I was told that an old mutual acquaintance was learning an obscure South Asian Language, a Dialect really, in order to speak to a young man, Ram Bomjon, of whom the most extreme claims are being made, all the way up to asserting that this is the Second Coming of Christ, the Matraiya Buddha, God on Earth.
What I know of the Young Man is that several years ago he seemed to sincerely to wish to go out into the Jungle and meditate for 6 years uninterruptedly, but couldn’t really stick to his plan. He was bitten by snakes several times, and now entertains a serious phobia of them, tooting about this big sword, and has retreated back to Civilization, now meditating in a nice cozy cellar. Now that he is Famous he now breaks his Constant Meditation in order to give Speeches on local holidays. A recurring theme of his Speeches is that people should try to be more quiet because he finds it so difficult to meditate while people are making so much noise. But perhaps that is a faulty translation.
Initial claims for this Ram Bomjon which did the most to garner Fame was that he was living a continual fast, not eating at all, living only by the Grace of God. But then those who listen and look closely found that this was only a pretense… witnesses were chased away at dinner time, and witnesses saw him always casually picking and munching away on jungle salads. Those of Little Faith were disillusioned and disenchanted. After all, many young men have expressed the wish to Meditate, and then meditated sporadically, and fasted now and then, all without pretending to be God on Earth. When this Young Man was found to be patently Un-Special, it is bazaar that he is still treated as though he were, well, still, Divinity Incarnate. It is as though Spirituality must take second place to Deceptive Public Relations Practices. If one had ever once CLAIMED to be God for five minutes, and it had ever been considered even vaguely plausible, then it seems to be taken as Un-sportsman-like that anybody should ask for the least little Good Reason to suppose one should continue so.
I guess there is the underlying assumption that the Truth of it all depends upon all the Faith that it IS true. I suppose people think that the least Doubt will jinx the matter. People forget that Jesus did everything he did in the face of tremendous onslaughts of Doubt. A Real God will not be afraid of a Question Mark.
Anyway, what the Guru Movements throughout the 20th Century have shown us is that Guru Organizations can make a lot of money, even if they register as Charitable Organizations. You see, those who manage to worm into such Organizations can be put on Salary, and with so much Unemployment in the World, a Paycheck is a Paycheck.
So we should naturally suppose that where a Guru pops up, natural economic forces will exert themselves so that Organizations soon follow.
Yes, I suppose there is also such a thing as Spiritual Pride… to be God’s Right Hand Man.
Oh, the Acquaintance I speak of is in fact in Partnership with Owners of a Ram Bomjon Webpage. Very tightly run outfit. I was banned the very moment I expressed my first doubt. These People definitely want the Stock Price of Ram Bomjon to go up, and will not tolerate the least murmur… or whatever it is that I do. In fact, banning the likes of myself probably was seen as a Special Mark of Faith and Loyalty… whoever Fired the Gun against the Heretic took a step up in the Organization. Probably it was my Acquaintance that arranged to give me the Ax. No one is ever told about how such things come about… one simply finds one can no longer sign on. And the Intolerant Bigots never need to worry of any unpleasant confrontations. Curtailment of Freedom of Speech comes like a Stab in the Back. But it would be beneath me to bear a grudge, wouldn’t it?
Well, but back to their Viewpoint…with so many Partners sitting equally, how could an aspiring young Apostle break the tie and climb to the Top of the Ladder? As in the case of my old acquaintance, as I had mentioned, he or she (I never could figure out which) put forward the claim that he or she was making every effort to learn the obscure local dialect of the God Boy, the Buddha Boy, the Who-Ever. He or She has gone to Nepal with the expectation that there will be an Interview and a Discussion with this Adolescent God.
One wonders if this is all sincere. A Skeptic might wonder whether there even NEEDS to be an Interview, to serve the purpose of my Acquaintance. He or She can come back telling any Story, and who could possibly ever know the Difference? What if anybody asks if a Tape had been made, capturing the moment? Well, the easy answer is to say that the Guru’s attendants asked that all such gadgetry be left outside. Yeah, sure… sounds very plausible. Indeed, I know a great many people who had gone to the Far East, Guru-hopping, so to speak. In most cases people don’t get Interviews. With thousands of people milling about, and Gurus in great love with their own privacy and comfort, a fraction of a percent of people ever get a private word with the Holy of Holies.
But what of somebody who crosses the Globe with the express purpose of some Empowering Interview. To make such a Gamble to become a Big Respected Group Leader and then NOT getting an interview… that would really be a Big Risk. But young people are not afraid of Big Risks, and my young acquaintance is, well, young. Well, there is Bribery, but more on that later.
But the Language Learning makes me wonder. Is this Sincere or just more Smoke. I myself have studied languages. Yes, one can learn enough to be polite, to catch a bus, to get a room, and to order food. But to discuss Spirituality, Theology, and the Problems of Life!? Particularly when the language involved is a Local Dialect, some Provincial Patois. Such languages are chuck full of colloquialisms and slang – almost nothing is spoken of directly but everything is a local saying, some locally understood metaphor. Of have my doubts as to whether anybody, with even the best intentions, can find sufficient Study Materials to master such a backwoods Dialect for such desired intentions. But my young Acquaintance may simply be unaware of such complexities. In any case, already my Acquaintance is already being granted the respect of due to an Expert… without yet even having successfully hailed the first local Taxi. Shouldn’t we first wait to see whether this ‘Expert’ can even whistle in Nepalese, let alone discuss the most subtle intricacies of how many Angels reside on the head of a pin.
However, language aside, that is, even if one spoke the same Mother Tongue as some such Super Guru, then what would one say anyway? I’ve done some Guru-Hopping myself, and never could decide upon anything particularly clever. To ask of anything Universal and Metaphysical, well, the problem then would revolve upon understanding the Answer. I take for granted that I ALREADY understand what I am capable of understanding – formulating the Question implies that I would have a good idea what the Answer would be. And why ask a Question if one already knows the Answer? As for what I didn’t know – there the problem would come in even putting together a coherent question. And if one could finally ask about what one did not already understand, then the problem would be in understanding the Answer. Oh, yes, well, one could ask Personal Questions and ask for Personal Favors… but meeting with some Universal Being in order to deal merely with some small Particular issue of comfort and convenience, well, that seems too grubby to admit to. I am honestly ashamed of People who had visited Gurus to speak only of mundane details of Material Life.
Oh, I have an example. Once, sitting in a Group Interview with a rather famous Guru, he explained, using a Metaphor, about how the World and Dualism were Qualified, and that the Divine was Unqualified. It was all quite Easy philosophy for me and I had seen it all before at least a hundred times. He used the metaphor of Cloth and Thread, that the World and Duality were the Cloth, and that God was the Thread. Form and Substance, blah blah blah. I think I probably had to stifle a yawn. Well, when the Interview was over and the Leader of the Group held a meeting to discuss what was Said, she explained that the Guru told them that while the World offered thread on every occasion and in all places, God was the perfect cloth and the product of the best fabrication and sewing. You see, she got it completely backwards. She was Qualifying God (well don’t most Ignorant People Quality God?).
Anyway, so what good is asking questions if one can’t understand the answers… or for that matter, to ask questions if one is already quite comfortable with all these Philosophies and Doctrines, and anything really NEW might only rock the boat?
So I have always just given these Gurus my polite greeting and then waited to see if they had anything to say to me… appointing me Leader of this or that Branch Office, with salary, of course. But, as it were, Polite Greeting were always answered with Polite Greetings. But, after all, this may have been very fortunate for me.
Not everybody was as lucky as myself. Those who donated heavily to the Cause, well, they attracted much more attention from the Guru, and if it was discerned that such people had even further Influence and had connections back Home, they would indeed be given Positions of Authority in the Organization. Yes, that could be considered good, if one were really a True Believer. But complications can arise. For instance, I have had many friends in the Sathya Sai Baba Organization… back in the 60s and 70s a most promising Organization, and many people joined up and moved up. Then the Scandals broke out. Sathya Sai Baba took on the Persona of some bloated old accused child molester, on numberless counts, and all kinds of accusations of fraud and deception coming out from everywhere. What can Leaders in such an Organization do? Admit they were duped all along and resign? But one builds one’s life around such things. One becomes financially and even emotionally invested. Some old friends of mine are still bowing down before that Tarnished God. Too old to start Guru Hopping again, I suppose.
And this brings to mind the old Adage that God is Within. Really. My best Religious Revelations had come to me during my own Dreams and Meditations. One of my earliest was when I found myself dreaming that I had found myself in the Ancient Cave of the Prophet Elijah, with soot covered rough hewn stone walls lit by candlelight, and then the Prophet came up behind me and spoke softly “Remember that Perfection consists in randominity and be not One Thing and be not the Other”.
Maybe that was not so much an injunction, or even advice, but a declaration of how it would work out to be for me. You see, I have never been able to fully agree with any of these Organizations, nor even to fully disagree. No particular Group had ever been able to fully encompass God, or give a full enough Vision of Divinity. But they all found at least some small bit. The only Guru I ever really agreed with was one that told me to keep up my research, but his Organization People… well, they were idiots.
Anyway, what can my Acquaintance really expect, going to Nepal to see a Teenager? No, I don’t know the Language, but I watched a video of last years Big Speech. He went on for close to an hour. People were walking out. People in the first rows were chatting with each other. The Hot Dog Vendors were doing brisk business. It was clear that nobody was listening. The Young Man was no overpowering Orator, no Captivating Speaker. I subsequently saw a ‘Translation’. The Translation could be read in a few minutes, which means that the Speech had been severely edited… or it was compiled by somebody who pretended to know the language but was too lazy to put something together that would take roughly an hour to read.
But will this year’s Big Speech be much different from last year’s? Indeed, if my good Acquaintance has really taken much pain in order to learn the Language, he or she might find she knows it better than our Inarticulate Young God. His or Her Contribution to World Divinity may be to correct God’s careless grammar and imprecise constructions.
Oh, it would not be the first time. There was one Famous Guru who had hired a University Professor of Sanskrit Philosophy to ‘edit’ and publish his speeches and personal essays. This Guru became famous for his erudition and good sense. Then the Professor quarreled with the Guru was fired and he was replaced as ‘Editor’ by a mere, well, Editor… a man who had run a small newspaper somewhere. Suddenly the Guru lost all his good sense and erudition. The jaded among us suspected that the Professor had never attended a single Speech but simply sat at home, next to the fire, and drew the Words of God out from his own Head… oh, with the generous help of his own well stocked Sanskrit Library.
Anyway, having learned the Language, even if just to recognize a trend or direction of the Speech, my dear Acquaintance may be sufficiently astute as to be able to detect whether or not the Published Translation is at all close to the Speech that is actually given. However, and this is the rub, what if it is not?
When a Faithful True Believer finds something amiss, what then? When a Partner with Stock in the Company uncovers the Fraud, what then?
The World if full of Hopeful Statistics. For instance, more than 75% of Catholic Seminary Students drop out of Seminary, I guess when they finally understand what ‘Saint’ Paul was really saying. That is to say that 75% of at least these Young Catholics have Intellectual and Spiritual Integrity strong enough to overcome their Emotional and Financial Investments.
So what about my Young Acquaintance. Will he or she come back with the Truth and Integrity. Or will we hear some reassuring Blah Blah Blah along with a shift-eyed and self-conscious appeal for membership fees and donations.
What I know of the Young Man is that several years ago he seemed to sincerely to wish to go out into the Jungle and meditate for 6 years uninterruptedly, but couldn’t really stick to his plan. He was bitten by snakes several times, and now entertains a serious phobia of them, tooting about this big sword, and has retreated back to Civilization, now meditating in a nice cozy cellar. Now that he is Famous he now breaks his Constant Meditation in order to give Speeches on local holidays. A recurring theme of his Speeches is that people should try to be more quiet because he finds it so difficult to meditate while people are making so much noise. But perhaps that is a faulty translation.
Initial claims for this Ram Bomjon which did the most to garner Fame was that he was living a continual fast, not eating at all, living only by the Grace of God. But then those who listen and look closely found that this was only a pretense… witnesses were chased away at dinner time, and witnesses saw him always casually picking and munching away on jungle salads. Those of Little Faith were disillusioned and disenchanted. After all, many young men have expressed the wish to Meditate, and then meditated sporadically, and fasted now and then, all without pretending to be God on Earth. When this Young Man was found to be patently Un-Special, it is bazaar that he is still treated as though he were, well, still, Divinity Incarnate. It is as though Spirituality must take second place to Deceptive Public Relations Practices. If one had ever once CLAIMED to be God for five minutes, and it had ever been considered even vaguely plausible, then it seems to be taken as Un-sportsman-like that anybody should ask for the least little Good Reason to suppose one should continue so.
I guess there is the underlying assumption that the Truth of it all depends upon all the Faith that it IS true. I suppose people think that the least Doubt will jinx the matter. People forget that Jesus did everything he did in the face of tremendous onslaughts of Doubt. A Real God will not be afraid of a Question Mark.
Anyway, what the Guru Movements throughout the 20th Century have shown us is that Guru Organizations can make a lot of money, even if they register as Charitable Organizations. You see, those who manage to worm into such Organizations can be put on Salary, and with so much Unemployment in the World, a Paycheck is a Paycheck.
So we should naturally suppose that where a Guru pops up, natural economic forces will exert themselves so that Organizations soon follow.
Yes, I suppose there is also such a thing as Spiritual Pride… to be God’s Right Hand Man.
Oh, the Acquaintance I speak of is in fact in Partnership with Owners of a Ram Bomjon Webpage. Very tightly run outfit. I was banned the very moment I expressed my first doubt. These People definitely want the Stock Price of Ram Bomjon to go up, and will not tolerate the least murmur… or whatever it is that I do. In fact, banning the likes of myself probably was seen as a Special Mark of Faith and Loyalty… whoever Fired the Gun against the Heretic took a step up in the Organization. Probably it was my Acquaintance that arranged to give me the Ax. No one is ever told about how such things come about… one simply finds one can no longer sign on. And the Intolerant Bigots never need to worry of any unpleasant confrontations. Curtailment of Freedom of Speech comes like a Stab in the Back. But it would be beneath me to bear a grudge, wouldn’t it?
Well, but back to their Viewpoint…with so many Partners sitting equally, how could an aspiring young Apostle break the tie and climb to the Top of the Ladder? As in the case of my old acquaintance, as I had mentioned, he or she (I never could figure out which) put forward the claim that he or she was making every effort to learn the obscure local dialect of the God Boy, the Buddha Boy, the Who-Ever. He or She has gone to Nepal with the expectation that there will be an Interview and a Discussion with this Adolescent God.
One wonders if this is all sincere. A Skeptic might wonder whether there even NEEDS to be an Interview, to serve the purpose of my Acquaintance. He or She can come back telling any Story, and who could possibly ever know the Difference? What if anybody asks if a Tape had been made, capturing the moment? Well, the easy answer is to say that the Guru’s attendants asked that all such gadgetry be left outside. Yeah, sure… sounds very plausible. Indeed, I know a great many people who had gone to the Far East, Guru-hopping, so to speak. In most cases people don’t get Interviews. With thousands of people milling about, and Gurus in great love with their own privacy and comfort, a fraction of a percent of people ever get a private word with the Holy of Holies.
But what of somebody who crosses the Globe with the express purpose of some Empowering Interview. To make such a Gamble to become a Big Respected Group Leader and then NOT getting an interview… that would really be a Big Risk. But young people are not afraid of Big Risks, and my young acquaintance is, well, young. Well, there is Bribery, but more on that later.
But the Language Learning makes me wonder. Is this Sincere or just more Smoke. I myself have studied languages. Yes, one can learn enough to be polite, to catch a bus, to get a room, and to order food. But to discuss Spirituality, Theology, and the Problems of Life!? Particularly when the language involved is a Local Dialect, some Provincial Patois. Such languages are chuck full of colloquialisms and slang – almost nothing is spoken of directly but everything is a local saying, some locally understood metaphor. Of have my doubts as to whether anybody, with even the best intentions, can find sufficient Study Materials to master such a backwoods Dialect for such desired intentions. But my young Acquaintance may simply be unaware of such complexities. In any case, already my Acquaintance is already being granted the respect of due to an Expert… without yet even having successfully hailed the first local Taxi. Shouldn’t we first wait to see whether this ‘Expert’ can even whistle in Nepalese, let alone discuss the most subtle intricacies of how many Angels reside on the head of a pin.
However, language aside, that is, even if one spoke the same Mother Tongue as some such Super Guru, then what would one say anyway? I’ve done some Guru-Hopping myself, and never could decide upon anything particularly clever. To ask of anything Universal and Metaphysical, well, the problem then would revolve upon understanding the Answer. I take for granted that I ALREADY understand what I am capable of understanding – formulating the Question implies that I would have a good idea what the Answer would be. And why ask a Question if one already knows the Answer? As for what I didn’t know – there the problem would come in even putting together a coherent question. And if one could finally ask about what one did not already understand, then the problem would be in understanding the Answer. Oh, yes, well, one could ask Personal Questions and ask for Personal Favors… but meeting with some Universal Being in order to deal merely with some small Particular issue of comfort and convenience, well, that seems too grubby to admit to. I am honestly ashamed of People who had visited Gurus to speak only of mundane details of Material Life.
Oh, I have an example. Once, sitting in a Group Interview with a rather famous Guru, he explained, using a Metaphor, about how the World and Dualism were Qualified, and that the Divine was Unqualified. It was all quite Easy philosophy for me and I had seen it all before at least a hundred times. He used the metaphor of Cloth and Thread, that the World and Duality were the Cloth, and that God was the Thread. Form and Substance, blah blah blah. I think I probably had to stifle a yawn. Well, when the Interview was over and the Leader of the Group held a meeting to discuss what was Said, she explained that the Guru told them that while the World offered thread on every occasion and in all places, God was the perfect cloth and the product of the best fabrication and sewing. You see, she got it completely backwards. She was Qualifying God (well don’t most Ignorant People Quality God?).
Anyway, so what good is asking questions if one can’t understand the answers… or for that matter, to ask questions if one is already quite comfortable with all these Philosophies and Doctrines, and anything really NEW might only rock the boat?
So I have always just given these Gurus my polite greeting and then waited to see if they had anything to say to me… appointing me Leader of this or that Branch Office, with salary, of course. But, as it were, Polite Greeting were always answered with Polite Greetings. But, after all, this may have been very fortunate for me.
Not everybody was as lucky as myself. Those who donated heavily to the Cause, well, they attracted much more attention from the Guru, and if it was discerned that such people had even further Influence and had connections back Home, they would indeed be given Positions of Authority in the Organization. Yes, that could be considered good, if one were really a True Believer. But complications can arise. For instance, I have had many friends in the Sathya Sai Baba Organization… back in the 60s and 70s a most promising Organization, and many people joined up and moved up. Then the Scandals broke out. Sathya Sai Baba took on the Persona of some bloated old accused child molester, on numberless counts, and all kinds of accusations of fraud and deception coming out from everywhere. What can Leaders in such an Organization do? Admit they were duped all along and resign? But one builds one’s life around such things. One becomes financially and even emotionally invested. Some old friends of mine are still bowing down before that Tarnished God. Too old to start Guru Hopping again, I suppose.
And this brings to mind the old Adage that God is Within. Really. My best Religious Revelations had come to me during my own Dreams and Meditations. One of my earliest was when I found myself dreaming that I had found myself in the Ancient Cave of the Prophet Elijah, with soot covered rough hewn stone walls lit by candlelight, and then the Prophet came up behind me and spoke softly “Remember that Perfection consists in randominity and be not One Thing and be not the Other”.
Maybe that was not so much an injunction, or even advice, but a declaration of how it would work out to be for me. You see, I have never been able to fully agree with any of these Organizations, nor even to fully disagree. No particular Group had ever been able to fully encompass God, or give a full enough Vision of Divinity. But they all found at least some small bit. The only Guru I ever really agreed with was one that told me to keep up my research, but his Organization People… well, they were idiots.
Anyway, what can my Acquaintance really expect, going to Nepal to see a Teenager? No, I don’t know the Language, but I watched a video of last years Big Speech. He went on for close to an hour. People were walking out. People in the first rows were chatting with each other. The Hot Dog Vendors were doing brisk business. It was clear that nobody was listening. The Young Man was no overpowering Orator, no Captivating Speaker. I subsequently saw a ‘Translation’. The Translation could be read in a few minutes, which means that the Speech had been severely edited… or it was compiled by somebody who pretended to know the language but was too lazy to put something together that would take roughly an hour to read.
But will this year’s Big Speech be much different from last year’s? Indeed, if my good Acquaintance has really taken much pain in order to learn the Language, he or she might find she knows it better than our Inarticulate Young God. His or Her Contribution to World Divinity may be to correct God’s careless grammar and imprecise constructions.
Oh, it would not be the first time. There was one Famous Guru who had hired a University Professor of Sanskrit Philosophy to ‘edit’ and publish his speeches and personal essays. This Guru became famous for his erudition and good sense. Then the Professor quarreled with the Guru was fired and he was replaced as ‘Editor’ by a mere, well, Editor… a man who had run a small newspaper somewhere. Suddenly the Guru lost all his good sense and erudition. The jaded among us suspected that the Professor had never attended a single Speech but simply sat at home, next to the fire, and drew the Words of God out from his own Head… oh, with the generous help of his own well stocked Sanskrit Library.
Anyway, having learned the Language, even if just to recognize a trend or direction of the Speech, my dear Acquaintance may be sufficiently astute as to be able to detect whether or not the Published Translation is at all close to the Speech that is actually given. However, and this is the rub, what if it is not?
When a Faithful True Believer finds something amiss, what then? When a Partner with Stock in the Company uncovers the Fraud, what then?
The World if full of Hopeful Statistics. For instance, more than 75% of Catholic Seminary Students drop out of Seminary, I guess when they finally understand what ‘Saint’ Paul was really saying. That is to say that 75% of at least these Young Catholics have Intellectual and Spiritual Integrity strong enough to overcome their Emotional and Financial Investments.
So what about my Young Acquaintance. Will he or she come back with the Truth and Integrity. Or will we hear some reassuring Blah Blah Blah along with a shift-eyed and self-conscious appeal for membership fees and donations.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Education In America – One Child One Dollar
In politics the Democratic Ideal has been briefly expressed in the pithy phrase “One Man, One Vote”.
Education in America is deplorable, that is, except for the Wealthiest of Communities. You see, schools in America are funded from Property Taxes. So it is that Rich Communities have good education, but wherever land values fall beneath a certain level, well, Education in that Community simply is not paid for, beyond that certain level. Rich Communities have schools with marble floors and a computer on every desk. Poor schools are shut down for hygiene problems half the time and the students don’t even get individualized books. They go home told to study for tests but don’t even have the books to study from.
Amazingly, although this biased and unequal means of funding has been challenged time and time again in the Courts, the Judges, probably all good Country Club Members and Protestants, have ruled that it is only Good and Proper that Poor Children should go to Poor Schools. Huh!?
Oh, and it has always been consistently denied that the Republican Party has deliberately plotted to keep the Schools dysfunctional because studies have proven that Stupid People vote Republican.
Anyway, in our coming Brave New World of Obamanomics, I am sure that Education Reform will come into discussion. First, they should decide to toss out all those Corrupt Judges who ruled in favor of the most heinous and unfair policies designed to monopolize Privilege to the existing Privileged Communities. Oh, it’s a favorite Doctrine among Protestants, that the Rich are the Elect and that the Elect are the Rich … after Sinning was made Forgivable with the Doctrine of Salvation, the next Doctrinal step was to figure out a way Sinning itself could be turned to a Profit. Anyway, these Judges need to go. The Politics of Protecting Entrenched Privilege needs to go to.
Moving on, my first thoughts would be to say that every State should educate all children equally. But then we only expand the Problem, of having Rich States with Good Schools and Poor States with Poor Schools. So, really, Education needs to be Nationalized, with the Federal Government picking up the expenses of All Education Everywhere. Also, we need to understand that the existence of Private Schools to a huge degree shields Rich People from any anxiety at all in regards to the condition of Public Education. And these Rich People are the most Politically Influential. Perhaps Private Schools should be banned, or Nationalized, to be set aside for Students of proven Merit. If the Rich and Powerful were threatened with the possibility that their children would have to have the Same Education as other children, then maybe they, with all their Power and Influence, could do something positive, for a change.
Oh, the same Argument works for Medical Care. While Rich People can buy their own Health Care, while they can have their own 4 Star Doctors in Private Clinics, again, with the most lavish marble floors, they will hardly care at all for the Collective Health Care allotted out to the Common people, what we can call “Cracked Tile Floor Coverage”.
Incidentally, in a Society funded by a Progressive Tax, good Education makes good Economic sense. A Highly Educated Society will be a more affluent Society, paying more taxes, thus paying, again and again and again, for the Education it had received. But Bad Education only sends children to adult Prison, and that is only a black hole expense.
By making Education equal for all, we not only become equal. We become better.
Education in America is deplorable, that is, except for the Wealthiest of Communities. You see, schools in America are funded from Property Taxes. So it is that Rich Communities have good education, but wherever land values fall beneath a certain level, well, Education in that Community simply is not paid for, beyond that certain level. Rich Communities have schools with marble floors and a computer on every desk. Poor schools are shut down for hygiene problems half the time and the students don’t even get individualized books. They go home told to study for tests but don’t even have the books to study from.
Amazingly, although this biased and unequal means of funding has been challenged time and time again in the Courts, the Judges, probably all good Country Club Members and Protestants, have ruled that it is only Good and Proper that Poor Children should go to Poor Schools. Huh!?
Oh, and it has always been consistently denied that the Republican Party has deliberately plotted to keep the Schools dysfunctional because studies have proven that Stupid People vote Republican.
Anyway, in our coming Brave New World of Obamanomics, I am sure that Education Reform will come into discussion. First, they should decide to toss out all those Corrupt Judges who ruled in favor of the most heinous and unfair policies designed to monopolize Privilege to the existing Privileged Communities. Oh, it’s a favorite Doctrine among Protestants, that the Rich are the Elect and that the Elect are the Rich … after Sinning was made Forgivable with the Doctrine of Salvation, the next Doctrinal step was to figure out a way Sinning itself could be turned to a Profit. Anyway, these Judges need to go. The Politics of Protecting Entrenched Privilege needs to go to.
Moving on, my first thoughts would be to say that every State should educate all children equally. But then we only expand the Problem, of having Rich States with Good Schools and Poor States with Poor Schools. So, really, Education needs to be Nationalized, with the Federal Government picking up the expenses of All Education Everywhere. Also, we need to understand that the existence of Private Schools to a huge degree shields Rich People from any anxiety at all in regards to the condition of Public Education. And these Rich People are the most Politically Influential. Perhaps Private Schools should be banned, or Nationalized, to be set aside for Students of proven Merit. If the Rich and Powerful were threatened with the possibility that their children would have to have the Same Education as other children, then maybe they, with all their Power and Influence, could do something positive, for a change.
Oh, the same Argument works for Medical Care. While Rich People can buy their own Health Care, while they can have their own 4 Star Doctors in Private Clinics, again, with the most lavish marble floors, they will hardly care at all for the Collective Health Care allotted out to the Common people, what we can call “Cracked Tile Floor Coverage”.
Incidentally, in a Society funded by a Progressive Tax, good Education makes good Economic sense. A Highly Educated Society will be a more affluent Society, paying more taxes, thus paying, again and again and again, for the Education it had received. But Bad Education only sends children to adult Prison, and that is only a black hole expense.
By making Education equal for all, we not only become equal. We become better.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Obama Beat Them Black and Blue!
Obama Beat Them Black and Blue
It had puzzled many Political Analysts that Obama had campaigned so strenuously in States he was practically certain to lose. But as the results came in I began to see a very compelling reason. You see, although Obama had a huge lead in the Electoral College allocations, his lead in the Popular Vote was, at least at the very the start of things, only marginal. As the evening went on it became noticeable that even in decidedly Red States, the vote was still close, indicating that it was certain that more than just Urban Blacks had come out to vote for Obama. Obama’s Victory was as much Blue as Black.
It may be the case that Obama had campaigned to keep it close in the Red States so as to forestall the embarrassment of Winning the Electoral College while being behind with the Popular Vote, something that would come to haunt him when he would come to Washington to claim some kind of Mandate to Act.
The true genius of this strategy was that Obama somehow anticipated that he would be able to change some very White Minds in some very Red States. And the payoff of the strategy is that he was able to come in with a healthy margin in the Popular Vote, which he would not have had except for the fact that he took such surprising pains for it.
Clearly President Elect Obama is a skilled and discerning Creature of Politics. I suspect the World will be continually dazzled over the next Obama Years to come.
It had puzzled many Political Analysts that Obama had campaigned so strenuously in States he was practically certain to lose. But as the results came in I began to see a very compelling reason. You see, although Obama had a huge lead in the Electoral College allocations, his lead in the Popular Vote was, at least at the very the start of things, only marginal. As the evening went on it became noticeable that even in decidedly Red States, the vote was still close, indicating that it was certain that more than just Urban Blacks had come out to vote for Obama. Obama’s Victory was as much Blue as Black.
It may be the case that Obama had campaigned to keep it close in the Red States so as to forestall the embarrassment of Winning the Electoral College while being behind with the Popular Vote, something that would come to haunt him when he would come to Washington to claim some kind of Mandate to Act.
The true genius of this strategy was that Obama somehow anticipated that he would be able to change some very White Minds in some very Red States. And the payoff of the strategy is that he was able to come in with a healthy margin in the Popular Vote, which he would not have had except for the fact that he took such surprising pains for it.
Clearly President Elect Obama is a skilled and discerning Creature of Politics. I suspect the World will be continually dazzled over the next Obama Years to come.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The October Surprise, the Syrian Attack
The October Surprise, the Syrian Attack
Was that it? That is what I thought in regards to that stupidly provocative attack on Syrian Territory. Yes, the Syrians did react in all the grand proportion that one could expect. But, unlike what should happen in any really consequential October Surprise, both Candidates were able to quite ignore it.
I suppose the Real Plan had been to violate Syrian Territory but then to kill an actual Documented Big Time Terrorist. Well, they say they killed the Terrorist, but probably what was not planned was the imbecility of the idiot Commandos who left a large pile of dead women and children. From what the Reports say, the Commandos shot at anything that moved. Several of the Helicopters landed, but a few remained circling over head, and they had machine-gunners at the doors that also shot at anything that moved. The Americans say they did not use Missiles because they wanted to contain civilian casualties. But apparently nobody had inquired into Modern Commando Training, or at least into what their Combat Culture has rendered into their habitual behavior. It sounds terribly uncharitable, but they are the worst cowards, only concerned for their own safety. They simply find it better to use their quick reaction time to shoot first without the slightest hesitation, and so they are always gunning down women and children even before they can fully realize they are not Terrorists with guns. I suppose they save a fraction of a second in not having to wait to define the threat of their targets. It was a heartless and cowardly training decision they made to incrementally keep down their own casualties by a percent or two. So it is that the Syrian Raid piled up a stack of dead women and children. It is so nice that the Pride of American Soldiery takes such pains to assure their own safety.
The Problem is that the People who planned that Raid obviously did not know what Operational Behavior of these Men was going to be. Maybe orders were given, but the Orders ignored. Apparently there are no consequences for These Men in the Modern Military… they do whatever they please… the Holy Sainted Military in Time of War. The bastards can do no wrong. Anyway, the People Who Planned this Raid should have used their Own Men – trusted Agents. Don’t send cowardly boys to do a Man’s job. It all came off as amateurish.
But this made for a miserable October Surprise. How was John McCain supposed to jump on a Bandwagon of shooting women and children. Yes, he is a Republican, but he is hoping for some Undecideds. I suppose McCain was supposed to point out that Obama would want to ‘talk’ with the Syrians. But, now, after the event, it does seem that talk would be in order.
It turns out that earlier this year Lower Level Diplomats had arranged a Deal whereby Syria would commit scarce resources to police that very long border. Their only request in return, to seal the deal, was that America make an announcement that Syria was no longer one of America’s declared enemies. America refused. America wants the Political Convenience of having so many Enemies (any Enemy of Israel is an Enemy of ours…) while still hoping for friendly give and takes… without having to give anything.
All this is not secret. Had this October Surprise really instigated any discussion it would have soon been apparent that the Republican’s had a deal to seal that border but let it go simply because they did not want to “Shake Hands” with the Syrians on camera.
If Obama can be just one-tenth more reasonable than that then he should be President.
And whoever thought of this particular October Surprise – that entire Agency needs to be disbanded and the people, well, exiled. What a combination – deadly dangerous and profoundly stupid.
Was that it? That is what I thought in regards to that stupidly provocative attack on Syrian Territory. Yes, the Syrians did react in all the grand proportion that one could expect. But, unlike what should happen in any really consequential October Surprise, both Candidates were able to quite ignore it.
I suppose the Real Plan had been to violate Syrian Territory but then to kill an actual Documented Big Time Terrorist. Well, they say they killed the Terrorist, but probably what was not planned was the imbecility of the idiot Commandos who left a large pile of dead women and children. From what the Reports say, the Commandos shot at anything that moved. Several of the Helicopters landed, but a few remained circling over head, and they had machine-gunners at the doors that also shot at anything that moved. The Americans say they did not use Missiles because they wanted to contain civilian casualties. But apparently nobody had inquired into Modern Commando Training, or at least into what their Combat Culture has rendered into their habitual behavior. It sounds terribly uncharitable, but they are the worst cowards, only concerned for their own safety. They simply find it better to use their quick reaction time to shoot first without the slightest hesitation, and so they are always gunning down women and children even before they can fully realize they are not Terrorists with guns. I suppose they save a fraction of a second in not having to wait to define the threat of their targets. It was a heartless and cowardly training decision they made to incrementally keep down their own casualties by a percent or two. So it is that the Syrian Raid piled up a stack of dead women and children. It is so nice that the Pride of American Soldiery takes such pains to assure their own safety.
The Problem is that the People who planned that Raid obviously did not know what Operational Behavior of these Men was going to be. Maybe orders were given, but the Orders ignored. Apparently there are no consequences for These Men in the Modern Military… they do whatever they please… the Holy Sainted Military in Time of War. The bastards can do no wrong. Anyway, the People Who Planned this Raid should have used their Own Men – trusted Agents. Don’t send cowardly boys to do a Man’s job. It all came off as amateurish.
But this made for a miserable October Surprise. How was John McCain supposed to jump on a Bandwagon of shooting women and children. Yes, he is a Republican, but he is hoping for some Undecideds. I suppose McCain was supposed to point out that Obama would want to ‘talk’ with the Syrians. But, now, after the event, it does seem that talk would be in order.
It turns out that earlier this year Lower Level Diplomats had arranged a Deal whereby Syria would commit scarce resources to police that very long border. Their only request in return, to seal the deal, was that America make an announcement that Syria was no longer one of America’s declared enemies. America refused. America wants the Political Convenience of having so many Enemies (any Enemy of Israel is an Enemy of ours…) while still hoping for friendly give and takes… without having to give anything.
All this is not secret. Had this October Surprise really instigated any discussion it would have soon been apparent that the Republican’s had a deal to seal that border but let it go simply because they did not want to “Shake Hands” with the Syrians on camera.
If Obama can be just one-tenth more reasonable than that then he should be President.
And whoever thought of this particular October Surprise – that entire Agency needs to be disbanded and the people, well, exiled. What a combination – deadly dangerous and profoundly stupid.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Paying for Wars Perpetuates War
Paying for Wars Perpetuates War
Years ago an AIDS Activist told me why they would never cure AIDS, or cancer for that matter. The Government gives out far too many Grants for the study of AIDS, and cancer. If anybody ever cured these diseases, the Money would stop. If anybody ever came across a cure, they’d hide it. Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Since then I have kept my ear out, listening for the whispers of conspiracy, and, sure enough, more than several Cures have been thrown away for the interest of maintaining the stream of Federal Grant Moneys. Don’t cure the sick Goose that gets such great health care benefits.
If the Government wants to help, they should offer a Prize for the Cure. They should buy the Fait Accompli. Instead they have institutionalized a process that will go on forever, if self interest has anything to do with it.
The United States has been giving Israel about 5 billion dollars a year since who know how long in order to defend itself. Well, with that kind of money coming in to ‘defend itself’, why would Israel ever see any interest in actually making Peace with its neighbors. Do a study. Ask a few questions. How many people in Israel depend on that 5 Billion dollars a year for their livelihood? I expect most of the people in Israel make a living on maintaining a state of War with the rest of the World. Peace is therefore completely impossible while Israel has anything at all to do with it. If Peace means National Poverty, they will keep their Prosperous War.
The same dynamic is developing in Taiwan. America is turning that little Island into a War Economy. Soon they won’t be able to live without menacing War. Isn’t anybody the least bit afraid that Mainland China won’t back down as the tensions are ratcheted up. Nobody is paying them to go along with this farce.
Now the United States is giving billions of Dollars to Mexico and Columbia in order to Fight the Drug War. Do we see a trend yet? These billions of dollars will represent far too large a proportion of their National Economies for anybody to do anything so rash as to actually bring the Drug War to a conclusion by actually arresting any of the principal parties.
Speaking of ‘Principal Parties’… might it not be more than a coincidence that Osama Bin Laden has not be captured or killed yet. Again, there is probably too much money to be made on this War on Terror to take a chance that that Public may fall out of love with it. It may lose focus if Bin Laden should ever be brought to justice, and all those Commandos now making their living shooting women and children would have to find honest work, and in such a recession as we have now!
Paying for War perpetuates War. President Eisenhower, who had been the Invading General of Europe, warned that every precaution should be taken against supporting and enlarging the Military Industrial Complex. Is that not exactly what America is doing by effectively making War the number one product of so many National Economies. What about America. With every economic sector having been ‘out-sourced’ the only vibrant businesses left in America are the Bomb Makers. With their Lobbyists paying off Politicians to sustain the Business of War, how can the People ever hope for Peace.
So don’t pay for War. Pay for Peace. Cut Israel off until they come up with a Peace Deal. If we want Mexico and Columbia to bottle up drugs, then offer money for Results, not endless activities and cats chasing their own tails, for money. For Taiwan, well, do we want a peaceful turnover of Power or do we want World War Three? The Billions of people already under Chinese Authority, well, they aren’t doing so bad, are they? It really isn’t worth destabilizing the whole world, with a War that could kill millions and spill over everywhere else, just so a handful of Taiwanese Billionaires can keep a low tax rate, is it? Oh, could it be that these Taiwanese Billionaires are paying Lobbyists to support American Politicians in their Pro-War Policies. Of course so! This is just one more reason why we must be so imaginative when we give reasons why Democracy is the Best Form of Government ever created by man… and why we must ignore every Civilization or Empire that ever institutionalized a Bureaucratic Meritocracy. That is, Government by honest Civil Service. The only people who complain about Government by honest Civil Service are just the kind of people who cause all the problems that need such Government in the first place.
Years ago an AIDS Activist told me why they would never cure AIDS, or cancer for that matter. The Government gives out far too many Grants for the study of AIDS, and cancer. If anybody ever cured these diseases, the Money would stop. If anybody ever came across a cure, they’d hide it. Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Since then I have kept my ear out, listening for the whispers of conspiracy, and, sure enough, more than several Cures have been thrown away for the interest of maintaining the stream of Federal Grant Moneys. Don’t cure the sick Goose that gets such great health care benefits.
If the Government wants to help, they should offer a Prize for the Cure. They should buy the Fait Accompli. Instead they have institutionalized a process that will go on forever, if self interest has anything to do with it.
The United States has been giving Israel about 5 billion dollars a year since who know how long in order to defend itself. Well, with that kind of money coming in to ‘defend itself’, why would Israel ever see any interest in actually making Peace with its neighbors. Do a study. Ask a few questions. How many people in Israel depend on that 5 Billion dollars a year for their livelihood? I expect most of the people in Israel make a living on maintaining a state of War with the rest of the World. Peace is therefore completely impossible while Israel has anything at all to do with it. If Peace means National Poverty, they will keep their Prosperous War.
The same dynamic is developing in Taiwan. America is turning that little Island into a War Economy. Soon they won’t be able to live without menacing War. Isn’t anybody the least bit afraid that Mainland China won’t back down as the tensions are ratcheted up. Nobody is paying them to go along with this farce.
Now the United States is giving billions of Dollars to Mexico and Columbia in order to Fight the Drug War. Do we see a trend yet? These billions of dollars will represent far too large a proportion of their National Economies for anybody to do anything so rash as to actually bring the Drug War to a conclusion by actually arresting any of the principal parties.
Speaking of ‘Principal Parties’… might it not be more than a coincidence that Osama Bin Laden has not be captured or killed yet. Again, there is probably too much money to be made on this War on Terror to take a chance that that Public may fall out of love with it. It may lose focus if Bin Laden should ever be brought to justice, and all those Commandos now making their living shooting women and children would have to find honest work, and in such a recession as we have now!
Paying for War perpetuates War. President Eisenhower, who had been the Invading General of Europe, warned that every precaution should be taken against supporting and enlarging the Military Industrial Complex. Is that not exactly what America is doing by effectively making War the number one product of so many National Economies. What about America. With every economic sector having been ‘out-sourced’ the only vibrant businesses left in America are the Bomb Makers. With their Lobbyists paying off Politicians to sustain the Business of War, how can the People ever hope for Peace.
So don’t pay for War. Pay for Peace. Cut Israel off until they come up with a Peace Deal. If we want Mexico and Columbia to bottle up drugs, then offer money for Results, not endless activities and cats chasing their own tails, for money. For Taiwan, well, do we want a peaceful turnover of Power or do we want World War Three? The Billions of people already under Chinese Authority, well, they aren’t doing so bad, are they? It really isn’t worth destabilizing the whole world, with a War that could kill millions and spill over everywhere else, just so a handful of Taiwanese Billionaires can keep a low tax rate, is it? Oh, could it be that these Taiwanese Billionaires are paying Lobbyists to support American Politicians in their Pro-War Policies. Of course so! This is just one more reason why we must be so imaginative when we give reasons why Democracy is the Best Form of Government ever created by man… and why we must ignore every Civilization or Empire that ever institutionalized a Bureaucratic Meritocracy. That is, Government by honest Civil Service. The only people who complain about Government by honest Civil Service are just the kind of people who cause all the problems that need such Government in the first place.
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