Mistress of the World

"The world may politically, as well as geographically, be divided into four parts.... Unhappily for the other three, Europe, by her arms and by her negotiations, by force and by fraud, has in different degrees extended her dominion over them all. Africa, Asia, and America have successively felt her domination. The superiority she has long maintained has tempted her to plume herself as the mistress of the world, and to consider the rest of mankind as created for her benefit. Men admired as profound philosophers have in direct terms attributed to her inhabitants a physical superiority and have gravely asserted that all animals, and with them the human species, degenerate in America—that even dogs cease to bark after having breathed awhile in our atmosphere. Facts have too long supported these arrogant pretensions of the European. It belongs to us to vindicate the honor of the human race, and to teach that assuming brother moderation. Let Americans disdain to be the instruments of European greatness! Let the thirteen States, bound together in a strict and indissoluble Union, concur in erecting one great American system superior to the control of all transatlantic force or influence and able to dictate the terms of the connection between the old and the new world!"

The above was written back when our present constitution was being debated. It is the last paragraph from "Federalist #11" by Alexander Hamilton.

How times change! How situations reverse themselves! This was written about Europe (and particularly about Great Britain probably) but how much it now describes the foreign policy of the United States today! Read this part again: "... tempted her to plume herself as the mistress of the world, and to consider the rest of mankind as created for her benefit."

People, we've got to change.

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

—Gandhi

Situation Hopeless

4 DEAD AS KORAN PROTESTS RAGE

(NEWSER) – At least four people were killed and dozens wounded today as protests over the burning of copies of the Koran at Bagram Air Force Base swept across Afghanistan. Police shot and killed two demonstrators outside of Bagram, and one each in Logar Province and Kabul, Reuters reports. In the capital, 21 people, including 11 police, were wounded, as protesters threw stones, smashed vehicles and windows, and set fire to a housing compound where American contractors live.

The US embassy tweeted that it was "on lockdown; all travel suspended. Please, everyone, be safe out there." Protesters were heard crying, "Long live Mullah Omar!" referring to the Taliban leader, and "Death to America! Death to Karzai!" The outrage wasn't limited to the streets, either; parliament passed a resolution demanding the Koran burners be punished, and several lawmakers shouted "death to America!" inside the chamber. A senior military official tells the Washington Post that the Korans had been removed from the base's prison library because they had radical messages scrawled in them.

Editorial comment: Once again, it is well past the time the U.S. should get out of Afghanistan.

1. We furnished our enemies, who we have captured and imprisoned, a library. This is located, probably, between the cafeteria and the soccer field. In that library we placed several Korans. This is because our enemies are very devout and need to read the Koran while they are locked up. They only want to kill us, after all, because their religion tells them they ought to kill us.

2. Some of these prisoners, devoutly, I'm sure, wrote fanatical things all over these Koran library copies. Death to America and what have you. The ignorant American jailers tossed the defiled Korans (Kori?) in the trash. When will we learn? - Should have probably gave them to a cleric for disposal. Or something.

3. The trash gets taken out and burned.

4. Muslim janitors on the American payroll note that in the fire are Korans burning. Americans rush to take them out of the fire, burning hands in process. But edges of pages are clearly burned. Muslim janitor employees, of course, feel it their duty to tell their friends and neighbors what the infidels have done. All hell breaks loose, so to speak. And it continues. Four dead as of this writing. See attached picture of Muslims with mouths open shaking fists and carrying signs. Flags will doubtless be burned. You've seen this picture, or one just like it, a thousand times since we've been in Afghanistan. Is this a rational response of a civilized people to what happened? Why am I the only one who thinks these people are irrational barbarians? I know, I know, it's only a few million who are doing these things. The rest of the Muslim world is very peaceful and rational. (And that's the truth, btw.)

5. Question: why would we want to spend billions to build schools and new roads and bridges and work to improve women's rights in Afghanistan, and pay the salaries of Afghan government employees? Is there anyone left out there who still thinks these people will start to love us? Thank us? Stop wanting to kill us? Really?

Go home, America.

Lincoln and Kennedy: Coincidence? I don't think so.

I read the following information on a flyer I got from a printing company, so I hold much stock in its truth. I'm sure you (collective) believe also that coincidences come to us from a supernatural tarot-like world, and we would be silly not to take them to heart and ponder their significance.

•Lincoln was elected President in 1860. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

• Both were shot on a Friday, in front of their wives.

• Both were shot from behind in the head.

• Both of their successors were named Johnson, both southern Democrats, both had served in the Senate.

• Andrew Johnson was born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson was born in 1908.

• John Wilkes Booth was born in 1839 and Lee Harvey Oswald was born in 1939. Both had three names. But then, don't we all.

[Give me just a moment to compose myself, please. My fingers are trembling with the astonishing metaphysical awesomeness of these facts.] Ok.

• Both Presidential wives had lost children while in the White House. (It's a pretty big place.)

• Oh. Through death, they meant. That's more somber.

• Lincoln's secretary, named Kennedy, advised him not to go to the theater.

• Kennedy's secretary, named Lincoln, advised him not to go to Dallas [citation needed.]

• The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain 7 letters.

• The names Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson each contain 13 letters.

• The names John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald each contain 15 letters.

• "I" comes before "E" except after "C".

• The words "printers" and "bullshit" each contain 8 letters.

• Both assassins were killed before being brought to trial.

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Well, that's all the official coincidences the printer listed on his handout. During my quiet meditation of the supernatural, a few more occurred to me. Shall I share? I shall.

• Lincoln had 10 fingers. Kennedy had 10 toes.

• Both men later had their faces stamped into coins.

• Lincoln ended a war. Kennedy started a war.

• Lincoln's father made moonshine in Kentucky. Kennedy's father bootlegged from Canada.

• "Fords Theater" and "Big Limousine" each have 12 letters.

• "Derringer" and "Big Mauser" each have 9 letters**.

• Lincoln's wife was named Mary. Kennedy's wife once had a horse named Mary. [citation needed]

• "A bedroom in house across the street" has 30 letters. "Dallas Parkland Memorial Hospital" has 30 letters.

This is scary, isn't it?

Some say there is not a divine hand in our daily lives. Now we know better.

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**Note: Mannlicher-Carcano rifle has about 17 letters, and therefore "Mauser" was substituted in order to match "Derringer." This substitution is (coincidentally) known as poetic license.

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Here is an absolutely true coincidental (I think) fact that I know is true because I have been there and pressed my nose against the glass: both the chair that Lincoln was sitting in and the Limousine that Kennedy was riding in are now in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan. (I don't count the "Ford" part as another coincidence, not being superstitious.)

Religion and Politics

They say you should never talk about religion or politics if you don't want to start an argument. I certainly wouldn't want to do that. I hope the previous post wasn't too religious to blog about.

All you need is love

Shall we dance? Hugs for Hugo from Armidimijab
Syrian President Smedly Assad tries to pull back from what he knows is coming. "No, no, my pretty, " says the little dictator, flicking his tongue in anticipation.

Happy Groundhog Day

May your shadow not be seen today. Or his. Or whatever.