Happy Sunday-Monday

Happy Sunday, (Or Monday) Church-goers and rational individuals alike. I recently read of the appalling, needless death of a 31 year old woman in Ireland who died after being denied an obviously medically-necessary abortion. After all, the hospital employed "good Christians," who couldn't comply with the emergency procedure that might have spared her life. The doctors or administrators, or whoever it was who decided, notified her that "Ireland is a Catholic country." And that's all they wrote. Except that, to their credit, Irishmen and women have been outraged by this outrage, and have been protesting in droves. I'm tempted to think that each and every Catholic county on this planet is a living hell. Tell me I'm wrong. But the same applies to officially Protestant countries, or even unofficially Protestant ones like USA. And I don't mean to single out the papacy or the Lutherans. Israel is an officially Jewish nation, also a hell on Earth, probably for its Jews and certainly for the Arabs whose lives it controls. Iran, a Muslim nation that demonstrates what an Islamic hell is for its citizens. Hinduism has shown itself to be an awful inferno, at least for its hundreds of millions of "untouchables." I favor the idea of a secular nation, if we must have nations at all, which seems to be the case, if we are to live any kind of 21st Century life style. You know, one with roads, bridges, water treatment plants, etc. In the meantime, Humanity should evolve beyond the need for all these barbaric, anachronistic religions, ASAP. I'd say those countries without an official religion, or those that only pay lip-service to a religion, are better. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Holland, Finland, all come to mind. Even a few larger European countries, like present-day Germany. Canada id no doubt the best in North America, though the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, oddly enough, gives a big shout-out to Christianity. Costa Rica is probably the best in all of Latin America, whether or not it's officially Catholic. And Bhutan is probably the best in all Asia; it appears to be at least semi-officially Buddhist, which I've always tried, rightly or wrongly, to view as being more a philosophy than a religion. None of those European countries, BTW, are anywhere near perfect, but all surpass the united States on a wide variety of socio-economic indicators. Hell, come to think of it, so does Slovakia, at least with respect to its health-care. Oops, went way, way off on a tangent. Wel, while I'm at it, I forgot to mention Venezuela, and all those other Latin countries that are trending socialist. They have a hell of legacy of poverty, inequality and violence, but at least they're trying to improve, with apparent considerable success. Jesus saves at CitiBank.

Regarding that cop who killed "Paulie..."

Now that a week and more has passed since a Madison cop gunned down a slightly built and unarmed Paul Heenan on S. Baldwin St., I feel amply justified in commenting at length. Whatever his purported offense - and all indications are that it was no more than a case of accidentally entering someone else's apartment - Mr. Heenan was shot THREE times. So I'm glad to see some people in Williamson-Marquette are livid. Mad enough to respond in some other fashion besides holding a prayer vigil that sought, among its various aims, the well-being of the officer who killed "Paulie," as he was known to his friends (I never knew him). I have been reading some of the letters to the editor in the State Journal; at least one described this as cold-blooded murder, and I'm inclined to agree. Chief Noble Wray seems bent on imposing a whitewash. But the officer who killed this young man has a very questionable record, and was "disciplined" in 2001 for firing his service weapon at an automobile fleeing from the Lake Street Parking ramp, in a very crowded part of town. That's how I see it. I was beginning to wonder if everyone in Williamson-Marquette has overdosed on New Agey touchy-feely-ism. Reassuring, to know that others besides me think this calls for, at the very least, a multi-million dollar lawsuit.

About that nasty business of Israeli-imposed "Apartheid"

have just about had it with Israel, a land that is totally alien to me, yet which I am nonetheless supposed to identify with, SOMEHOW. If the Israeli People can't get their government to realize it must relate to the surrounding environment in a civilized fashion, that is THEIR folly. A folly, by the way, that we as "Americans" should be able to comprehend all too well. But I am NOT an Israeli, and I'm quite sick and tired of trying to address this endless conflict, an apparently insoluble problem. What can I do, beyond advocating that country be cast adrift? It's long past time to quit sending the $4 Billion the US sends annually in military aid to Israel. But just as assuredly, we here in the USA must cease and desist in OUR militarist, imperialist ventures. Haven't I said this all before, repeatedly? Yes. Sorry, that's the best I can do. If I were an idealist and a fool, I'd say Germany should step up to the plate - if any region of the world owes the "Jewish People" recompense, it is Germany. But that is an evident absurdity. That will never happen. In the meantime, Palestine bleeds. What on earth does the Israeli government hope to accomplish, repeating the same savage mistakes, again and again? I apologize for not being remotely able to propose a reasonable solution - it's really, regrettably not in my nature to know what that solution might be.

WHEW! (Nov 7, 2012)

Dear Planet Earth: Whew. Harboring no illusions about Obama and Biden, I have no shame for voting against Romney and Ryan. I trust that we here in the USA can achieve at least a few basic, progressive goals during the next few years. I'm very much obliged to you all for bearing with us Yanks and our ridiculous and obscenely extravagant "election" for so many months. Glad our alleged "democracy in action" is all over, for now:) Hopefully last night's abject failure to steal Election 2012 represents the death spasm of the GOP, a party which has shown itself utterly incapapble of reaching out to Blacks, Hispanics, gays, women and really, just about everybody else. The GOP only represents rich white oligarchs, and the worst kind of extreme fundamentalist christians. We are better off without the Republican Party; may it rest in pieces!

A Worthwhile Idea re: Global Climate Change

Actually a worthwhile idea, considering global climate change is liable to increase the frequency and intensity of Sandy-level events. There is a similar flood barrier located at the Thames Estuary in England; it can be moved into place to stop storm surges from the North Sea. Of course, reducing greenhouse gas emissions world-wide would also be a good move. But I think, due to political and economic controversy, at least here in USA, something like this would be more realistically attainable at the present time: http://newyork.newsday.com/news/experts-nyc-sea-barrier-could-have-stopped-surge-1.4175935 http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/services/climate-services/uk/ukcp/impacts/barrier

"Hold your nose and vote Obama in 2012"

A reminder, that I'll make even at the risk of being labelled an Obama apologist - we could do WORSE domestically. Take, for instance, the misleading GOP accusations that seem to describe Obama's administration as having exclusively and grossly increased the national debt. In fact, Republican Ronald Reagan was the first US president to push that debt over one trillion dollars. Democrat Bill Clinton was the last president to balance the budget and leave this country with a budget surplus, which the Republican Bush regime promptly squandered on two wars funded, so to speak, on a credit card. There was also Bush's exorbitant boon to the pharmaceutical industry known as Medicare Part D. Ultimately, George W. Bush racked up more red ink - at least five trillion dollars worth - than all his predecessors COMBINED. Bush and Cheney also managed to destroy the American economy in the process, as anyone who remembers the stock market crash of September 2008 is forced to concede. True, Obama hasn't done everything right by any estimation, but at least his administration helped save the US automotive sector. And don't forget, the much-criticized TARP program was begun by Bush/Cheney. In all fairness, Obama sure as hell was handed one unenviable financial situation by the previous Neocon regime. We could do worse, and under Romney/Ryan, we surely would. As if all that isn't reason enough, Romney proposed about a year ago that we should privatize disaster relief efforts; imagine how that would have affected the response to Hurricane Sandy. Not good, not good... http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/18-ways-mitt-romney-is-just-like-george-w-bush-20121018 "Romney's tax-cut math just doesn't add up. The last time America took a faith-based plunge on this kind of tax policy, Bush turned a $5 trillion projected surplus into $5 trillion in new debt." http://www.holdyournoseandvoteobama2012.com/