Viruses of Thought

I think that humans are far more susceptible to ‘viruses of thought’ than may be realized.

The more that people compartmentalize their ‘allies’ and ‘enemies’, the easier it seems for the collective consciousness to breed hate and loathing for those who “are not on my side”. The less empathy that we allow ourselves as individuals, the more the virus grows in us all. The cure for the collective madness is to cultivate independent thought and care and concern for ALL of our fellow mankind. As hippy-dippy as that may sound- it makes a lot of sense on a psychological level.

How to combat this affliction? By open conversation, understanding and less going off the handle about our own beliefs. The path of peace- IS PEACE. Gandhi’s way is a lot harder than Patton’s. But in the end, it is the only way that will allow humans to evolve past the savagery and the simplistic animal butchery that has been our way of life for too long.

We are the enlightened.

Humans DO build more than we destroy, in the grand scheme. But those who make excuses for their own callous treachery to mankind bring us low daily. We have to stand tall in the face of their shallow reasonings; the petty justifications of their support for evil acts against their fellow man.

Ours IS a better way. Our only enemies are those who believe that there can never be peace because they are not at peace with themselves.

True Patriots fight FOR Freedom, not against it

80 year old Anti War Deacon arrested for t-shirt

They are arresting American citizens for t-shirts that offend warhawks. They are arresting preachers in America for calling for an end to the Iraq war. They are arresting eighty year old men who openly voice their opinion peacefully.

They are arresting American citizens for exercising free speech.

We are not free to oppose the warlike among us. We are not free to express morality in a country run by the immoral. We are not free to assemble peacefully when our opinion opposes that of the corporatists.

We are not free.

Those who are for the war can assemble, protest, and even assault the antiwar crowd and not be arrested. But if you dare stand up for the thousands of soldiers who are dying to make money for the military industrial complex, you will be spat upon, you will be accosted, you will be harrassed, you will be arrested by government officials.

I don't know who I despise more, the government who is taking away our American freedom, or the pathetic citizen scumbags who assault other Americans for speaking out FOR THE TROOPS.

I take heart that more and more christians are standing up for true christian beliefs and morality against the war. I pick christians out because the pro-war, pro-torture crowd, by and large, is made up of those who consider themselves christians.

Another Gathering of Eagles brownshirt story. This weak ass nazi gets "assaulted" by an 82 year old woman after verbally abusing her veteran husband. She kicks the dumbass in his dumb ass. I guess those Octagenarian peace activists are really dangerous, after all.

She got a $25 fine. Where can I send her my $25 for standing up to these nazis?

More American Patriots, veteran and otherwise:

Amnesty International teen protest

Winter Soldier

Iraq Vet: we need to leave Iraq immediately

Voices speak out (World Can't Wait)

Give me a link to your favorite American patriot who is working to end the war now, in the face of those who would steal our freedom...

BONUS LINK: Matt Taibbi on the Rev.Wright

They're still there, we're still here.

Polishifter posts about the antiwar protests at Huntington beach recently...
There's a lot of great pictures of patriotic Americans using their freedom to speak out.

How many more? lives, souls, dollars, years..?

And to those of you who have recently been championing Nader - A vote for Nader won't stop the war. It won't stop lives from being wasted in Iraq. The ONLY way to do that is to vote for whichever Democratic candidate ends up running for President and holding them to getting us out of Iraq. THIS ELECTION is it. War or No war? It's a simple enough choice to me.

Together at last!

George Bush is bringing together the Middle East ....

in their hate of George Bush.

Why can't Israeli Extremists get along with Palestinian Extremists? Well, at least they've got one thing in common.

If not us, who. If not now, when

This is actually a reply to one of my longtime detractors, a fellow Texan, Caveman. It is response to his canned reply to yesterdays' post:

Caveman said:
"Fade do you belive everything the terrorist say?"

Fade said:
No, I hate everything the neocons stand for.

Seriously, How in the hell do you separate one of these terrorists from the other? How do you separate the men who sponsors kidnapping and torture on noncombatants, who has ordered clusterbombs dropped in civilian areas, (Rumsfeld,Bush) from the men who sends teens into civilian areas strapped with a suicide bomb (Hamas leaders)?

Both are evil men who use others to sow seeds of destruction. Both groups' acts do not Protect their peoples nor secure their holdings. The Iraq "War" is NOT a war. The Israel/Palestinian situation is NOT a war. A war is a battle between two organized sides for control. There are many on both sides of each of those situations that want only peace. But we are infiltrated by terrorists like YOU, Caveman, on every side; men like you who SPONSOR terror, murder, violence, mayhem and help fan the flames of hate towards their own people.

Do you want to know what a terrorist thinks, Caveman? Look in the mirror. Everytime you say that we need to kill them all, everytime you say it's okay to kill their children, everytime you turn a blind eye to yet another dead Palestinian family - You are condoning Terrorist activities. I don't cringe in fear of those who want to kill me. I don't want to kill their family members or their kids, or their entire nation in retribution for the hate of a few. I rise above the shit that you are wallowing in. I Hold out my hand in TRUE peace, in True Humanity to those who desire peace- and luckily for us all- there are more of US than there are of you bloodthirsty bastards.

I look at my kids, and I do have fears- Fears that my kids will live in a world of hate because people are too damn stubborn to give up their hates and find common ground in their humanity. Maybe one day, you can put your own humanity before your hate. I hope for ALL of our sakes, that everyone of you out there that believes that terror,murder,and torture is the answer can do so for the world's sake. It starts with each of us.

If not us, who? If not now, when?
Murdering each other endlessly is not an answer.

Israel's hypocrisy knows no bounds

"I hold out my hand in peace to our Palestinian neighbours in the hope that it won't be returned empty." Ehud Olmert, Nov.2006

Olmert calls for peace with Palestine (from the BBC). Do his words mean anything?
Full Article

On October 30th, Olmert gave a speech to the Knesset in which he equated that all Palestinian victims over the last few months were terrorists. Over 300 Palestinians have been killed in the past four months by the aggressive actions of the IDF. Most of those were women and children.

If Olmert's appalling reaction to the Hezbollah conflict is any indication, his idea of holding out his hand in peace is simply to allow Palestinian leaders to kiss his ring. This is simply a ploy to mollify world opinion at the prompting of Bush, who is at his lowest point politically. If Israel continues their slash and burn method of the so-called peace process then pretty soon they will lose any credibility they once held. After Olmert's horrendous handling of the Lebanon situation, he doesn't have any political capital to spare either.

Olmert claimed that Lebanon was at fault for not disarming Hezbollah, and he began their pre-planned campaign to punish Hezbollah (and ALL of Lebanon- christians and non-Hezbollah be damned). Lebanon was a tragic mistake. And it gave the world, who had grown tired and forgetful of the atrocities committed against the Palestinians, fresh perspective of just how damned callous and destructive that Israel's policies are: 1,000 Lebanese civilians dead, $500 million dollars worth of damage, millions of dollars worth of missles spent bombing every possible target (including UN peacekeepers) and Israel still lost- having to draw back in defeat as Hezbollah proved a wilier foe than they imagined.

Peacemaking efforts ARE the answer. I just don't know how much of Olmert's "Peace" the middle east can take. He's a liar and like most of the "Kill them before they kill us" crowd, he's a violent, immoral fool who justifies the deaths of hundreds of children as a necessity that will eventually save Israeli lives.

He is wrong. Comparing the actions and words of Israel's ruling neocons with those of America's ruling neocons reveals that under such leadership any peace process has been disastrously hindered. Both governments' are now guilty of tyrannical atrocities that will NEVER promote any serious peace. And as the world recognizes this more and more, the opinion of both the United States and Israel plummet. It then becomes harder and harder to talk of peace believably or even implement diplomacy seriously.

A recent American visitor to Israel speaks of the hypocrisy:
A Vision of Peace, a Reality of Hypocrisy

Will Israel eventually become a victim of its own hate and aggression? Can Israelis who want to live in peace EVER take back their country from the far right wing radicals, who love nothing so much as spilling blood in the name of their country?

And, as an American, just how close to Israel's self-destructive behavior is the United States moving?

Related articles:

Israeli Responsiblity

Laying mines in Lebanon:

Previous blogs I have written about the Israeli/Palestine Conflict
House of the Rising Sons I: Palestine