Thru Other Eyes

War Games

Yesterday I read about a new weapons system Israel is deploying on the border with Gaza. Although I find any weapons system repugnant, this one made me especially stop and think about what happens when war becomes like a game.

According to Ynetnews, an Israeli news website from Yedioth:

"IDF deploys new anti-terror system around Gaza

"Army upgrades its capabilities in the Gaza region: New system combines camera, machine gun and enables IDF troops stationed in operations room to identify and fire at terrorists without risking themselves...

"The systems, which are equipped with a camera and a machine gun, enable soldiers to watch any activity that takes place near the fence and if necessary to fire at the push of a button. The new system will soon be officially declared "operational."

"We will be able to distinguish between terrorists and innocent civilians," another military official said."

There's just something about this new weapons system

Five Years Iraq

For me today, the only appropriate way to pause on the fifth anniversary, this fifth memorial for the war in Iraq is to have my thoughts with all those who have lost and given their lives in this war. So many lives and so many futures lost; it is a heavy burden we bear.

As I look at all the events around us today: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, other trouble spots where war is waging, the elections in the USA, I think about our individual responsibility as citizens of democracies. Especially the responsibility we create when we send boys and girls, men and women, off to die and to kill.

Death of darkness, death of night,
Let me feel the warmth of your blinding light.
Heroes one, Heroes all.
They felt the haunting of Gabriel’s call.

You couldn't have died for sins unknown.
Perhaps for a sin I must call my own?
Why did we send you, did we do what’s right?
Whose war was this you left to fight?

Forgive me my brother, my mother, my father,
Forgive me my lover, my sister, my daughter and son,
Forgive me my silence, the love that I squandered,
I hold onto your pain, for I’ve let you down.

~ Thru Other Eyes

The Madness of King George

Over the last weeks we have been treated to the spectacle of a President who is increasingly out of touch with reality and for whatever reason is less and less inhibited about showing it.

 

First we had George as the dancing bear outside the Oval Office as he waited to endorse John McCain.

Last Friday, we had the President telling the Economic Club of New York, "I'm coming to you as an optimistic fellow," exactly at the time that Bear Stearns' stock price was nose-diving and behind the scenes efforts were underway for JP Morgan to buy the once venerable bank for 7 cents on the dollar in an effort to stave off further bank collapses. Not since the 1930's had such a government guaranteed deal been necessary; but George was optimistic.

The most insightful and revolting look into Bush's emotional and intellectual state came on Thursday in a videoconference the President held with American military reconstruction teams in Afghanistan. 

The Real Dish On Geraldine Ferraro's Comments

When I saw the web video of Geraldine Ferraro's performance last night on NBC I couldn't believe her indignation at the turn of events stemming from her Obama comments. Was it feigned or was it truly felt? Who knows. What ticked me off the most was her misleading and self-serving explanation of the comments' background and context.

If you have ten minutes to spare and are interested in a complete picture of her comments, their background and context then you should really check out this commentary from Keith Olbermann.

Our Brave Vets Speak Out - We Should Listen

Today marks the start of Iraq Veterans Against the War's 'Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan' event in Washington, D.C. You can follow the proceedings via the Web.

Inspired by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War's original Winter Soldier Investigation of 1971, Iraq Veterans Against the War are holding a similar event this weekend in Washington, D.C.

Regardless of how one feels about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan it is fundamentally important to respect those who have chosen in good conscious to serve their country in this way. Too many have paid the ultimate price with their lives and too many have come home as physically and psychologically shattered men and women.

The very least we can do is to listen to these courageous men and women who are bravely stepping forward to bear witness to the true horrors of the wars we have sent them to fight in.

From IVAW's website:

Hillary, why do you make it so hard to love you?

I had to check out the dictionary just to make sure. I didn’t want to give anyone a bad rap they don’t deserve. Sadly enough disingenuous, calculating and deceitful do define Hillary even at her best.

Should we judge a politician by relative politician standards? “Oh, he or she is not so bad; many are far worse.” “Hey, that’s part and parcel of being in politics.” “What do you expect? He or she is only a politician.”

Or should we judge a politician

STOP THE INSANITY!

Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

~ Albert Einstein

Take a look at life over the cuckoo's nest and you too will get the feeling that the patients are running the asylum.....

Doublethink for Dummies

In 1949, the author George Orwell introduced the word ‘doublethink’ into the English language. As they say, ‘you’ve come a long way baby’ since then. After almost sixty years of refinement and further development, doublethink has become a fascinating phenomenon in social, psychological and political thought and action.

George Orwell introduced the word and concept of doublethink into the English vocabulary in his seminal 1949 classic entitled 1984. Doublethink, as described by one of the characters in the book is: “To know and not to know… to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them.”

Pre-schoolers and young children