Towards a global perspective . . .

I recently sent around an article with the title “UnHolyCost”.   I love puns, so I was really quite pleased with my term.  I thought it was pretty clever.  But, other’s didn’t see it that way, and I soon received a rejection notice, saying that the title of the article makes me sound like a ‘Holocaust Denier’.    The note went on to say that if I changed the title, my article would be considered.  Well, I don’t take these things personally.   It is no secret I have  trouble being consistently politically correct.

In this light, I have changed the title and resubmitted, as requested.  I’m not a  ‘Holocaust Denier’.  I just want to live in the present.  When I wrote the title, I was angry.   The piece was probably improved by removing a secondary and incomplete thread.  That particular title wasn’t necessary to it’s meaning.  The details of the story sounded like some HOLOCAUST  stories I have heard, but  it wasn’t necessary to mention it.  The story stands alone.

However, Read the rest of this entry »

I saw a performance by Gilad Atzmon a few days ago, and he really has something interesting to say.   A disaffected, anti-Zionist, ex-Israeli, he speaks not only for Palestinian rights, but for a reasonable assumption that no one is ‘chosen’ and all people should have equal rights.  As an ex-Israeli citizen, he critiques Israeli policy and Zionist culture in a way that is quite shocking by standards in the  US,  not that he doesn’t get some serious heat for his stance.

Gilad is a popular Saxophone player and Jazz Artist in the UK, and his music is most enjoyable.   You can sample his work on Amazon and iTunes.     He’s also written a couple of novels that I can’t say much about because I haven’t read them.  However, he has a great website, which I highly recommend.  It is linked in on the sidebar.

I saw the film “Men Who Stare at Goats” yesterday evening.    I really enjoyed he film, which harks back to a time that was hopeful and happy for some of us.    It was fun and well acted, with big stars making fun of the kind of aggressive parody of masculinity that the military models and idealizes in it’s training practices, and also of the new age practices that were popularized during the 70s, and which have since been commercialized and regimented in various social sciences.    It was silly.  And, it  is based on a true story, which shows that the world is bigger than it seems sometimes.

The film is based on true events during the 70s when the military had experimental units investigating the paranormal and new age trainings that proclaimed to enhance ordinary humans capacity to perform and to empower individuals in unique ways.   They really did want to produce ‘super soldiers’.   Read the rest of this entry »

I found this interesting article on a website called PRNewswire that looked like it was on the up and up – though the website was a little fishy.  The title was: US Government asked to Regulate AIPAC as a Foreign Agent of the Israeli Government.   It begins as follows:

“The US Department of Justice has been formally asked to begin regulating the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as the foreign agent of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  A 392 page legal filing presented by a four person IRmep delegation in a two hour meeting with top officials of the Internal Security Section . . .”

Too good to be true, I thought, and after all, who or what is IRmep?   A quick search on Google turned up a site that said IRmep is one guy who needs a maid.  Hey, don’t they all?   As the previous complaint said, the IRmep website is a blog, put up by a young man named Grant Smith.  Read the rest of this entry »