Not Just Bush's Fault

Wow, this is actually the second helping of this post as this morning's venture seems to have been lost. The disasterous war in the Middle East (sorry, let me clarify - the NEW one, the one that Israel has probably wanted now for years) is sad to see. The Israeli military is scrupulously pulverizing hundreds of innocent Lebanese civilians while targeting Hezbollah. Hezbollah strategically placed its headquarters on the first floors of apartment and commercial buildings. People are dying, others' lives are being ruined and both sides are perfectly happy not caring. The White House says it's not a war just yet while Newt Gingrich wants to rally the troops by wanting to see the conflicts in the Middle East as World War III. The Bush Administration's complacency and lack of forceful voice or action speaks volumes about the American-made weapons killing people (whom, ironically, are Christian, if you know your Lebanese geography) who have nothing to do with terrorism. God right now is watching more of his children kill themselves in the name of nationalism and yet what will be done in the name of spiritual rebuilding? Ecclesiastes is ultimately a lamentation as the poet for Solomon sees that life consists of as much killing and war as it does peace and rebuilding. I'm not sure which aspect is more focussed upon. To see the photograph on CNN of three Lebanese boys crying in a hospital (all under the age of four) is heart-rending as the chances of them growing up wanting to see Israel exist is probably now shrinking. God help us all.

I actually wanted to briefly discuss Israel but got sidetracked...what I meant to say is that this most recent catastrophe in the Middle East and Bush's disastrous performance at the latest G-8 summit (not to mention the flubbing of both North Korea and Iran) goes to show just how much of a failure the policies of neoconservative thought really are. "Neocons are really liberals who have been mugged" is the conventional wisdom. Bullshit, I say, as neocons' faith in their own belief system at the expense of other sytems shows their naivete and absolute stupidity. Exporting democracy and Christianity with the barrel of a gun failed nine hundred years ago as well as five hundred years ago; what makes the neocons think they can just wiggle their noses and make Middle Easterners democratic capitalists? Skepticism aside, it takes years and generations for ideas to take root in society. Notice that two thousand years ago, how Jews and Romans by the billions were converting to Christianity around 33 A.D.? Nope; it kind of took over three hundred years for the Roman Empire to become officially Christian and it was completed by someone who didn't even live in the region. Russians don't seem too terribly concerned with V. Putin's autocratic ways in Russia. Why not? How much experience with representative democracy with checks and balances have those people had in their thousand-year existence? Five years? I'm not saying that just because the trains run on time that a leader should be able to execute whatever he so chooses but institutions, like societies, are organic. Grafts don't take hold immediately. The Marshall Plan, in its arguable partial successes, took years to carry out and that was probably the most successful export of American modeling and influence in modern times. Also notice what has happened to the chicken hawk neocons who unleashed the failed Iraq War - where are they now? Are they still leading the charge in the free world for region-wide revolution and change or are they back to making money for large western corporations at the expense of the environment and about five billion other people?
I will sleep tight knowing that George Bush remembered his Constitution today by actually following it. He vetoed a bill instead of writing disclaimers or, more often than not, just ignoring the damn piece of paper. He actually followed the system of checks and balances today and vetoed a bill. Unfortunately, this bill would have probably saved the lives of countless millions of people worldwide by allowing scientists to work with stem cells in creating cures for terminal diseases and organ harvesting. I hope that when W. dies, God says, "congrats, George. Are you aware that in my name you actually killed an exponentially larger number of people than you protected? Here's your meal ticket to a much warmer seat. And, by the way, you should have listened to your worldly father by NOT invading Baghdad, dork. Now get out of here".

On a couple of better notes; I found out today that EVERY one of my students passed the U.S. AP test. Yes, I will sleep well tonight.

Just picked up Dylan and The Band's Basement Tapes. Authenticity aside, just how much timeless and incredible music came out of those six men? Also picked up the Hendrix Woodstock and Derek Trucks Band dvds. Drop what you're doing and buy them all. Now.