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The world stands out on either side
No wider than the heart is wide;
Above the world is stretched the sky, -
No higher than the soul is high.
The heart can push the sea and land
Farther away on either hand;
The soul can split the sky in two,
And let the face of God shine through.
But East and West will pinch the heart
That can not keep them pushed apart;
And he whose soul is flat -- the sky
Will cave in on him by and by.
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950) - from Renascence.
I don’t usually rant here on the home page about the U.S. government and the Iraq War, but before going on a month-long trip to Europe I can’t help saying a few words about how much it bugs me. There are several articles by others on the same subject (See Table of Contents) but I’ll say my piece anyway.
As faithful readers know, opposition to the Bush war has been our position from the beginning, not because we are prescient but because elementary common sense as well as a minimal sense of history indicated that a military incursion into the Middle East could only result in disaster. John LeCarré said so in 2002 (see article). He’s “only” a novelist, but obviously one who knows more about the region and its people than the American politicians who are responsible for the death and maiming of hundreds of thousands in Afghanistan and Iraq – and which is still going on. Rumsfeld and Rove are out, but that still leaves Bush, Cheney and Rice. How can it be that after committing so many “crimes and misdemeanors” and continuously lying to Congress and the American people they are still in office instead of in jail where they belong? Those people are worse than psychopaths, yes, worse, because they are sane, educated and intelligent. A psychopath can’t help what he does. What they obviously lack is the ability to think rationally and a minimum of moral capacity. They only thing they do not lack is will – which has morphed into stubborn stupidity.
This doesn’t say much for the people who voted them into power and who now do nothing to take it away from them. Okay, they were hoodwinked into electing them, but now only the intellectually and ethically blind cannot see that they should not be permitted to keep their hands on the Armageddon button an instant longer. Where are the People? Sure, a few thousand occasionally turn out to demonstrate, but the country has about 300 million. Where are the rest? A million people demanding impeachment in Washington would do the job – but they ain’t there. Students apparently couldn’t care less, because unlike the Vietnam War they can’t be drafted – yet. Therefore their parents and other relatives are only vaguely concerned.
Who then are many thousands of troops (why “troops” and not soldiers?) who actually volunteered? The politicians fall all over themselves in praise for “our brave troops who are doing a great job”. They are youths, almost children, who were tricked into believing the lie of patriotism; or, simply kids who wanted to make something brave and interesting of themselves. Yes, they saw too many movies and played too many violent video games. (I can understand why young innocents join the military; I did it myself many, many moons ago. I was lucky. There was a war going one but I was sent somewhere else.)
I haven’t mentioned the Bush administration’s other sins, such as ignoring global warming for the benefit of their industrial supporters or Katrina, corruption, etc., etc. – you know about them. But the most urgent necessary correction is the war.
I’d rather see Saddam Hussein than Bush as president of the U.S. Oh, but he’s dead, isn’t he. Bin Laden? No, that’s going too far. The current candidates won’t say a word about impeachment, probably because they think it would hurt their chances in 2008. Barak Obama as much as said on the Jon Daily Show that the election campaign is just another show in which nobody dares tell the truth – except him of course. I wish Al Gore would step up soon, late but thus having avoided much of the lie time. Let him tell the truth. Unfortunately if he did he’d likely lose the election.
The only ones who can get rid of Bush & Co. are the People. And it should be now – 16 more months of chaos, inefficiency, blood and gore (no pun intended) is too long a time for the world to wait. Continue
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Table of Contents
Education
A Brief History of Alternative Education
Ron Miller
Fiction
The Moonlighter
Frank Thomas Smith
Folly on Cold Stone
Gaither Stewart
The Man Who Would Be King
Rudyard Kipling
1984 - Part 2 Chap. 8 & 9
George Orwell
Science
& Philosophy
The
Cosmological Principles
Cosmology and Models-Chapter 9
Konrad
Rudnicki
Why I Am a Spiritualist
Valdemar W. Setzer
Anthroposophy
On The Meaning
of
Life - I
Rudolf Steiner
The Story of My
Life - 18
Rudolf Steiner
Poetry
The Suicide
Renascence
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Book Reviews
Cosmos and Psyche:
Intimations of a New World View
by Richard Tarnas
Ashville
by Gaither Stewart
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