Thursday, 25 September 2008
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
some recent pics of mine.......
As we get ready to celebrate Eid El Fitir..
Here Diets are a no no ....eat your heart out :-)
Funny thing is that its the first time they bloomed all five together saw it as a message to the number of children I have ...my only real treasures...
flowers bloom to nurture us and give us hope....
Here Diets are a no no ....eat your heart out :-)
Funny thing is that its the first time they bloomed all five together saw it as a message to the number of children I have ...my only real treasures...
flowers bloom to nurture us and give us hope....
Thursday, 18 September 2008
I'm a little confused......
Let me see if I have this straight.....
* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.' Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you're a quintessential American story.
* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.
* Graduate from Harvard Law School and you are unstable. Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.
* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voterregistration drive that registers 150,000 new vot ers, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches,you're not a real Christian. If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society. If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's s chool system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.
* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now?
* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.' Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you're a quintessential American story.
* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.
* Graduate from Harvard Law School and you are unstable. Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.
* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voterregistration drive that registers 150,000 new vot ers, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches,you're not a real Christian. If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society. If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's s chool system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.
* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now?
Monday, 15 September 2008
Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts
An interesting read........
By Robert Pigott
Religious affairs correspondent, BBC News
A Lebanese man reads the Koran
The scholars say they are returning to the original values of Islam
Turkey is preparing to publish a document that represents a revolutionary reinterpretation of Islam - and a controversial and radical modernisation of the religion.
The country's powerful Department of Religious Affairs has commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred text in Islam after the Koran.
The Hadith is a collection of thousands of sayings reputed to come from the Prophet Muhammad.
As such, it is the principal guide for Muslims in interpreting the Koran and the source of the vast majority of Islamic law, or Sharia.
This is kind of akin to the Christian Reformation. Not exactly the same, but... it's changing the theological foundations of [the] religion
Fadi Hakura,
Turkey expert, Chatham House
Islam series: Modern roles
But the Turkish state has come to see the Hadith as having an often negative influence on a society it is in a hurry to modernise, and believes it responsible for obscuring the original values of Islam.
It says that a significant number of the sayings were never uttered by Muhammad, and even some that were need now to be reinterpreted.
'Reformation'
Commentators say the very theology of Islam is being reinterpreted in order to effect a radical renewal of the religion.
Its supporters say the spirit of logic and reason inherent in Islam at its foundation 1,400 years ago are being rediscovered. Some believe it could represent the beginning of a reformation in the religion.
Some messages ban women from travelling without their husband's permission... But this isn't a religious ban. It came about because it simply wasn't safe for a woman to travel alone
Prof Mehmet Gormez,
Hadith expert,
Department of Religious Affairs
Turkish officials have been reticent about the revision of the Hadith until now, aware of the controversy it is likely to cause among traditionalist Muslims, but they have spoken to the BBC about the project, and their ambitious aims for it.
The forensic examination of the Hadiths has taken place in Ankara University's School of Theology.
Fr Felix Koerner, a Christian theologian who has observed the project, says some of the sayings - also known individually as "hadiths" - can be shown to have been invented hundreds of years after the Prophet Muhammad died, to serve the purposes of contemporary society.
"Unfortunately you can even justify through alleged hadiths, the Muslim - or pseudo-Muslim - practice of female genital mutilation," he says.
"You can find messages which say 'that is what the Prophet ordered us to do'. But you can show historically how they came into being, as influences from other cultures, that were then projected onto Islamic tradition."
HAVE YOUR SAY
Many Hadiths relate to life in the Middle East 1,400 years ago and are no longer relevant
Brian, London
Send us your comments
The argument is that Islamic tradition has been gradually hijacked by various - often conservative - cultures, seeking to use the religion for various forms of social control.
Leaders of the Hadith project say successive generations have embellished the text, attributing their political aims to the Prophet Muhammad himself.
Revolutionary
Turkey is intent on sweeping away that "cultural baggage" and returning to a form of Islam it claims accords with its original values and those of the Prophet.
An Iranian woman walks past a large Koran
Women are re-examining their portrayal in the scriptures
But this is where the revolutionary nature of the work becomes apparent. Even some sayings accepted as being genuinely spoken by Muhammad have been altered and reinterpreted.
Prof Mehmet Gormez, a senior official in the Department of Religious Affairs and an expert on the Hadith, gives a telling example.
"There are some messages that ban women from travelling for three days or more without their husband's permission and they are genuine.
"But this isn't a religious ban. It came about because in the Prophet's time it simply wasn't safe for a woman to travel alone like that. But as time has passed, people have made permanent what was only supposed to be a temporary ban for safety reasons."
The project justifies such bold interference in the 1,400-year-old content of the Hadith by rigorous academic research.
Prof Gormez points out that in another speech, the Prophet said "he longed for the day when a woman might travel long distances alone".
So, he argues, it is clear what the Prophet's goal was.
Original spirit
Yet, until now, the ban has remained in the text, and helps to restrict the free movement of some Muslim women to this day.
There's also violence against women within families, including sexual harassment... This does not exist in Islam... we have to explain that to them
Hulya Koc, a "vaize"
As part of its aggressive programme of renewal, Turkey has given theological training to 450 women, and appointed them as senior imams called "vaizes".
They have been given the task of explaining the original spirit of Islam to remote communities in Turkey's vast interior.
One of the women, Hulya Koc, looked out over a sea of headscarves at a town meeting in central Turkey and told the women of the equality, justice and human rights guaranteed by an accurate interpretation of the Koran - one guided and confirmed by the revised Hadith.
She says that, at the moment, Islam is being widely used to justify the violent suppression of women.
"There are honour killings," she explains.
"We hear that some women are being killed when they marry the wrong person or run away with someone they love.
"There's also violence against women within families, including sexual harassment by uncles and others. This does not exist in Islam... we have to explain that to them."
'New Islam'
According to Fadi Hakura, an expert on Turkey from Chatham House in London, Turkey is doing nothing less than recreating Islam - changing it from a religion whose rules must be obeyed, to one designed to serve the needs of people in a modern secular democracy.
He says that to achieve it, the state is fashioning a new Islam.
"This is kind of akin to the Christian Reformation," he says.
"Not exactly the same, but if you think, it's changing the theological foundations of [the] religion. "
Fadi Hakura believes that until now secularist Turkey has been intent on creating a new politics for Islam.
Now, he says, "they are trying to fashion a new Islam."
Significantly, the "Ankara School" of theologians working on the new Hadith have been using Western critical techniques and philosophy.
They have also taken an even bolder step - rejecting a long-established rule of Muslim scholars that later (and often more conservative) texts override earlier ones.
"You have to see them as a whole," says Fadi Hakura.
"You can't say, for example, that the verses of violence override the verses of peace. This is used a lot in the Middle East, this kind of ideology.
"I cannot impress enough how fundamental [this change] is."
By Robert Pigott
Religious affairs correspondent, BBC News
A Lebanese man reads the Koran
The scholars say they are returning to the original values of Islam
Turkey is preparing to publish a document that represents a revolutionary reinterpretation of Islam - and a controversial and radical modernisation of the religion.
The country's powerful Department of Religious Affairs has commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred text in Islam after the Koran.
The Hadith is a collection of thousands of sayings reputed to come from the Prophet Muhammad.
As such, it is the principal guide for Muslims in interpreting the Koran and the source of the vast majority of Islamic law, or Sharia.
This is kind of akin to the Christian Reformation. Not exactly the same, but... it's changing the theological foundations of [the] religion
Fadi Hakura,
Turkey expert, Chatham House
Islam series: Modern roles
But the Turkish state has come to see the Hadith as having an often negative influence on a society it is in a hurry to modernise, and believes it responsible for obscuring the original values of Islam.
It says that a significant number of the sayings were never uttered by Muhammad, and even some that were need now to be reinterpreted.
'Reformation'
Commentators say the very theology of Islam is being reinterpreted in order to effect a radical renewal of the religion.
Its supporters say the spirit of logic and reason inherent in Islam at its foundation 1,400 years ago are being rediscovered. Some believe it could represent the beginning of a reformation in the religion.
Some messages ban women from travelling without their husband's permission... But this isn't a religious ban. It came about because it simply wasn't safe for a woman to travel alone
Prof Mehmet Gormez,
Hadith expert,
Department of Religious Affairs
Turkish officials have been reticent about the revision of the Hadith until now, aware of the controversy it is likely to cause among traditionalist Muslims, but they have spoken to the BBC about the project, and their ambitious aims for it.
The forensic examination of the Hadiths has taken place in Ankara University's School of Theology.
Fr Felix Koerner, a Christian theologian who has observed the project, says some of the sayings - also known individually as "hadiths" - can be shown to have been invented hundreds of years after the Prophet Muhammad died, to serve the purposes of contemporary society.
"Unfortunately you can even justify through alleged hadiths, the Muslim - or pseudo-Muslim - practice of female genital mutilation," he says.
"You can find messages which say 'that is what the Prophet ordered us to do'. But you can show historically how they came into being, as influences from other cultures, that were then projected onto Islamic tradition."
HAVE YOUR SAY
Many Hadiths relate to life in the Middle East 1,400 years ago and are no longer relevant
Brian, London
Send us your comments
The argument is that Islamic tradition has been gradually hijacked by various - often conservative - cultures, seeking to use the religion for various forms of social control.
Leaders of the Hadith project say successive generations have embellished the text, attributing their political aims to the Prophet Muhammad himself.
Revolutionary
Turkey is intent on sweeping away that "cultural baggage" and returning to a form of Islam it claims accords with its original values and those of the Prophet.
An Iranian woman walks past a large Koran
Women are re-examining their portrayal in the scriptures
But this is where the revolutionary nature of the work becomes apparent. Even some sayings accepted as being genuinely spoken by Muhammad have been altered and reinterpreted.
Prof Mehmet Gormez, a senior official in the Department of Religious Affairs and an expert on the Hadith, gives a telling example.
"There are some messages that ban women from travelling for three days or more without their husband's permission and they are genuine.
"But this isn't a religious ban. It came about because in the Prophet's time it simply wasn't safe for a woman to travel alone like that. But as time has passed, people have made permanent what was only supposed to be a temporary ban for safety reasons."
The project justifies such bold interference in the 1,400-year-old content of the Hadith by rigorous academic research.
Prof Gormez points out that in another speech, the Prophet said "he longed for the day when a woman might travel long distances alone".
So, he argues, it is clear what the Prophet's goal was.
Original spirit
Yet, until now, the ban has remained in the text, and helps to restrict the free movement of some Muslim women to this day.
There's also violence against women within families, including sexual harassment... This does not exist in Islam... we have to explain that to them
Hulya Koc, a "vaize"
As part of its aggressive programme of renewal, Turkey has given theological training to 450 women, and appointed them as senior imams called "vaizes".
They have been given the task of explaining the original spirit of Islam to remote communities in Turkey's vast interior.
One of the women, Hulya Koc, looked out over a sea of headscarves at a town meeting in central Turkey and told the women of the equality, justice and human rights guaranteed by an accurate interpretation of the Koran - one guided and confirmed by the revised Hadith.
She says that, at the moment, Islam is being widely used to justify the violent suppression of women.
"There are honour killings," she explains.
"We hear that some women are being killed when they marry the wrong person or run away with someone they love.
"There's also violence against women within families, including sexual harassment by uncles and others. This does not exist in Islam... we have to explain that to them."
'New Islam'
According to Fadi Hakura, an expert on Turkey from Chatham House in London, Turkey is doing nothing less than recreating Islam - changing it from a religion whose rules must be obeyed, to one designed to serve the needs of people in a modern secular democracy.
He says that to achieve it, the state is fashioning a new Islam.
"This is kind of akin to the Christian Reformation," he says.
"Not exactly the same, but if you think, it's changing the theological foundations of [the] religion. "
Fadi Hakura believes that until now secularist Turkey has been intent on creating a new politics for Islam.
Now, he says, "they are trying to fashion a new Islam."
Significantly, the "Ankara School" of theologians working on the new Hadith have been using Western critical techniques and philosophy.
They have also taken an even bolder step - rejecting a long-established rule of Muslim scholars that later (and often more conservative) texts override earlier ones.
"You have to see them as a whole," says Fadi Hakura.
"You can't say, for example, that the verses of violence override the verses of peace. This is used a lot in the Middle East, this kind of ideology.
"I cannot impress enough how fundamental [this change] is."
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Fitna vs Ijtihadists
From a dear friend comes this interesting article .......
“And among men are those who purchase idle HADITH (tales) without knowledge to mislead (men) from the Path of God, and make a mockery of it (God’s Path)” [Quran, Luqman (31): 6]
http://www.free-minds.org/articles/hadith/hadithhistory.htm
Warning: The article has stirred controversy amongst the muslims. The Ahl-e-Hadith labelled it "Fitna" and the "Ijtihadists" called it "lifting the fog from minds and souls". You decide!
“And among men are those who purchase idle HADITH (tales) without knowledge to mislead (men) from the Path of God, and make a mockery of it (God’s Path)” [Quran, Luqman (31): 6]
http://www.free-minds.org/articles/hadith/hadithhistory.htm
Warning: The article has stirred controversy amongst the muslims. The Ahl-e-Hadith labelled it "Fitna" and the "Ijtihadists" called it "lifting the fog from minds and souls". You decide!
War With Russia Is On The Agenda
Sent to me by a friend -and would like to share with you all...
By Paul Craig Roberts
Thinking about the massive failure of the US media to report truthfully is sobering. The United States, bristling with nuclear weapons and pursuing a policy of world hegemony, has a population that is kept in the dark--indeed brainwashed--about the most important and most dangerous events of our time.
The power of the Israel Lobby is an important component of keeping Americans in the dark. Recently I watched a documentary that demonstrates the control that the Israel Lobby exercises over Americans’ view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The documentary is available here.
As a result of the US media’s one-sided coverage, few Americans are aware that for decades Israel has been ethnically cleansing Palestinians from their homes and lands under protection of America’s veto in the United Nations. Instead, the dispossessed Palestinians are portrayed as mindless terrorists who attack innocent Israel.
If one reads Israeli newspapers, such as Haaretz, or publications from Israeli organizations, such as the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, one gets a radically different view of the situation than the propagandistic version delivered by US media and evangelical pulpits.
Most Americans know of the 2000 attack by Muslim terrorists on the USS Cole in Aden harbor that resulted in 17 dead and 39 wounded American sailors. But few have heard of Israel’s 1967 attack on the USS Liberty that left 34 American sailors dead and 174 wounded. Pressured by the Israel Lobby, President Johnson ordered Admiral McCain, father of the Republican presidential nominee, to cover up the attack. To this day there never has been a congressional investigation.
The failure of the American media is again evident in the coverage of the Georgian-Russian conflict. The US media presented the conflict as a Russian invasion of Georgia, whereas in actual fact the American and Israeli trained and equipped Georgian military launched a sneak attack to kill and to drive the Russian population out of South Ossetia, a separatist province.
Russian peacekeepers, together with Georgian ones, had been stationed in South Ossetia since the early 1990s. On orders from Mikheil Saakashvili, the American puppet "president" of Georgia, the Georgian peacekeepers turned their weapons on the unsuspecting Russian peacekeepers and murdered them.
This action by Saakashvili, elected with money from the neoconservative National Endowment for Democracy, an election-rigging tool of US hegemony, was a war crime. In truth, the Russians should have hung Saakashvili, as he is far more guilty than was Saddam Hussein. But it is Russia, not Saakashvili, that the US media has demonized.
Americans have become perfect subjects for George Orwell’s Big Brother. They sit stupidly in front of the TV news or the New York Times or Washington Post and absorb the lies fed to them. What is wrong with Americans? Why do they put up with it? Are Americans the nation of sheep that Judge Andrew P. Napolitano says they are? Americans flaunt "freedom and democracy" and live under a Ministry of Propaganda.
Two decades ago, President Reagan reached agreement with Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev to end the dangerous cold war. But every one of Reagan’s successors has sought to pick a new fight with Russia. In violation of the agreement, NATO has been taken to Russia’s borders, and the US is determined to put former constituent parts of Russia herself into NATO. In an effort to neutralize Russia’s nuclear deterrent and compromise her independence, the US is putting anti-ballistic missile bases on Russia’s borders.
The gratuitously aggressive US military policy toward Russia will lead to nuclear war. I am confident that if Americans elect John McCain, or the Republicans steal another presidential election, there will be nuclear war in the second decade of the 21st century. The neocon lies, propaganda, macho flag-waving, and use of US foreign policy in the interests of a few military-security firms, oil companies, and Israel are all leading in that direction.
The November election is perhaps the last chance to avoid nuclear war. But the opportunity might already have been missed. The Republicans have chosen as their candidate one of the most ignorant warmongers alive. The Democrats’ choice was between one of the most divisive women in America and a man of mixed race with a funny name. Considering American’s taste for war, the Democratic candidate could fail to defeat the GOP war candidate.
Many Americans will vote against Obama because he is black. Why does mixed ancestry confer the black label? If America’s population was predominantly black, would Obama be considered white?
Race and propaganda are more likely to determine the outcome of the November election than any awareness or consideration of real issues by voters.
The real issues are suffocated by the media. The American middle class is being destroyed by jobs offshoring and work visas for foreigners, while the incomes of the super rich are soaring. The US dollar’s reserve currency status is eroded. The US is massively in debt at home and abroad. Health insurance is unaffordable for the vast majority of the population. Injured veterans are being nickeled and dimed, while Halliburton’s profits escalate. Americans are losing their homes, while the US government bails out banks. Wars with Iran, Russia, and China are being planned in order to secure US hegemony.
Americans no longer have a government that is for the people and by the people. They have a government for and by special interests and an insane ideology.
But Americans have war, which lets them take out all their frustrations, resentments, and disappointments on "Muslim terrorists" and "Russian aggressors." Few Americans are disturbed that 1.25 million Iraqis and an unknown number of Afghans have died as a result of American invasions based on Bush regime lies and deceptions. Even Americans, like Senator Biden, Obama’s selection for vice president, who understand that the wars are based on lies, still want the US to win. So, it was all a mistake and a deception, but let’s win anyway and keep on killing.
I know people who still complain that the US did not nuke North Vietnam. When I ask why Vietnam should have been nuked, they reply, "if we had nuked them we would have won."
What would America have won? The answer is world loathing and the loss of the cold war.
For many Americans, war is like a sports contest in which they take vicarious pleasure and cheer on their side to victory. Millions of Americans are still bitter that "the liberal media" and war protesters caused America to lose the Vietnam war, and they are determined that this won’t happen again. These Americans have no realization that there was no more reason for the US to be fighting in Vietnam 40 years ago than to be fighting today in Iraq and Afghanistan or tomorrow in Iran.
Obama, if elected, is no guarantee against nuclear war. Obama has shown that he is as much under the Israel Lobby’s thumb as McCain. Obama’s foreign affairs advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, is not a neocon, but he was born in Warsaw, Poland, and has the Pole’s animosity toward Russia. The Bush administration has already changed US war doctrine to permit preemptive nuclear attack. With the US government determined to ring Russia with puppet states and military bases, war is inevitable.
Presidential appointees face confirmation in the Senate. Any of Obama’s appointees who might be out of step with plans for US and Israeli hegemony could expect opposition from large corporations and the Israel Lobby. There is no assurance that an Obama administration would not be positioned on "the issues" by the same special interests that have positioned the Bush administration.
Americans are filled with hubris, not with knowledge. They have no awareness of the calamity that their government’s pursuit of hegemony is bringing to themselves and to life on earth.
Paul Craig Roberts [email him] was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He was awarded the Legion of Honor by French President Francois Mitterrand. He is the author of Supply-Side Revolution : An Insider's Account of Policymaking in Washington; Alienation and the Soviet Economy and Meltdown: Inside the Soviet Economy, and is the co-author with Lawrence M. Stratton of The Tyranny of Good Intentions : How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice. Click here for Peter Brimelow’s Forbes Magazine interview with Roberts about the recent epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Paul Craig Roberts
Thinking about the massive failure of the US media to report truthfully is sobering. The United States, bristling with nuclear weapons and pursuing a policy of world hegemony, has a population that is kept in the dark--indeed brainwashed--about the most important and most dangerous events of our time.
The power of the Israel Lobby is an important component of keeping Americans in the dark. Recently I watched a documentary that demonstrates the control that the Israel Lobby exercises over Americans’ view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The documentary is available here.
As a result of the US media’s one-sided coverage, few Americans are aware that for decades Israel has been ethnically cleansing Palestinians from their homes and lands under protection of America’s veto in the United Nations. Instead, the dispossessed Palestinians are portrayed as mindless terrorists who attack innocent Israel.
If one reads Israeli newspapers, such as Haaretz, or publications from Israeli organizations, such as the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, one gets a radically different view of the situation than the propagandistic version delivered by US media and evangelical pulpits.
Most Americans know of the 2000 attack by Muslim terrorists on the USS Cole in Aden harbor that resulted in 17 dead and 39 wounded American sailors. But few have heard of Israel’s 1967 attack on the USS Liberty that left 34 American sailors dead and 174 wounded. Pressured by the Israel Lobby, President Johnson ordered Admiral McCain, father of the Republican presidential nominee, to cover up the attack. To this day there never has been a congressional investigation.
The failure of the American media is again evident in the coverage of the Georgian-Russian conflict. The US media presented the conflict as a Russian invasion of Georgia, whereas in actual fact the American and Israeli trained and equipped Georgian military launched a sneak attack to kill and to drive the Russian population out of South Ossetia, a separatist province.
Russian peacekeepers, together with Georgian ones, had been stationed in South Ossetia since the early 1990s. On orders from Mikheil Saakashvili, the American puppet "president" of Georgia, the Georgian peacekeepers turned their weapons on the unsuspecting Russian peacekeepers and murdered them.
This action by Saakashvili, elected with money from the neoconservative National Endowment for Democracy, an election-rigging tool of US hegemony, was a war crime. In truth, the Russians should have hung Saakashvili, as he is far more guilty than was Saddam Hussein. But it is Russia, not Saakashvili, that the US media has demonized.
Americans have become perfect subjects for George Orwell’s Big Brother. They sit stupidly in front of the TV news or the New York Times or Washington Post and absorb the lies fed to them. What is wrong with Americans? Why do they put up with it? Are Americans the nation of sheep that Judge Andrew P. Napolitano says they are? Americans flaunt "freedom and democracy" and live under a Ministry of Propaganda.
Two decades ago, President Reagan reached agreement with Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev to end the dangerous cold war. But every one of Reagan’s successors has sought to pick a new fight with Russia. In violation of the agreement, NATO has been taken to Russia’s borders, and the US is determined to put former constituent parts of Russia herself into NATO. In an effort to neutralize Russia’s nuclear deterrent and compromise her independence, the US is putting anti-ballistic missile bases on Russia’s borders.
The gratuitously aggressive US military policy toward Russia will lead to nuclear war. I am confident that if Americans elect John McCain, or the Republicans steal another presidential election, there will be nuclear war in the second decade of the 21st century. The neocon lies, propaganda, macho flag-waving, and use of US foreign policy in the interests of a few military-security firms, oil companies, and Israel are all leading in that direction.
The November election is perhaps the last chance to avoid nuclear war. But the opportunity might already have been missed. The Republicans have chosen as their candidate one of the most ignorant warmongers alive. The Democrats’ choice was between one of the most divisive women in America and a man of mixed race with a funny name. Considering American’s taste for war, the Democratic candidate could fail to defeat the GOP war candidate.
Many Americans will vote against Obama because he is black. Why does mixed ancestry confer the black label? If America’s population was predominantly black, would Obama be considered white?
Race and propaganda are more likely to determine the outcome of the November election than any awareness or consideration of real issues by voters.
The real issues are suffocated by the media. The American middle class is being destroyed by jobs offshoring and work visas for foreigners, while the incomes of the super rich are soaring. The US dollar’s reserve currency status is eroded. The US is massively in debt at home and abroad. Health insurance is unaffordable for the vast majority of the population. Injured veterans are being nickeled and dimed, while Halliburton’s profits escalate. Americans are losing their homes, while the US government bails out banks. Wars with Iran, Russia, and China are being planned in order to secure US hegemony.
Americans no longer have a government that is for the people and by the people. They have a government for and by special interests and an insane ideology.
But Americans have war, which lets them take out all their frustrations, resentments, and disappointments on "Muslim terrorists" and "Russian aggressors." Few Americans are disturbed that 1.25 million Iraqis and an unknown number of Afghans have died as a result of American invasions based on Bush regime lies and deceptions. Even Americans, like Senator Biden, Obama’s selection for vice president, who understand that the wars are based on lies, still want the US to win. So, it was all a mistake and a deception, but let’s win anyway and keep on killing.
I know people who still complain that the US did not nuke North Vietnam. When I ask why Vietnam should have been nuked, they reply, "if we had nuked them we would have won."
What would America have won? The answer is world loathing and the loss of the cold war.
For many Americans, war is like a sports contest in which they take vicarious pleasure and cheer on their side to victory. Millions of Americans are still bitter that "the liberal media" and war protesters caused America to lose the Vietnam war, and they are determined that this won’t happen again. These Americans have no realization that there was no more reason for the US to be fighting in Vietnam 40 years ago than to be fighting today in Iraq and Afghanistan or tomorrow in Iran.
Obama, if elected, is no guarantee against nuclear war. Obama has shown that he is as much under the Israel Lobby’s thumb as McCain. Obama’s foreign affairs advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, is not a neocon, but he was born in Warsaw, Poland, and has the Pole’s animosity toward Russia. The Bush administration has already changed US war doctrine to permit preemptive nuclear attack. With the US government determined to ring Russia with puppet states and military bases, war is inevitable.
Presidential appointees face confirmation in the Senate. Any of Obama’s appointees who might be out of step with plans for US and Israeli hegemony could expect opposition from large corporations and the Israel Lobby. There is no assurance that an Obama administration would not be positioned on "the issues" by the same special interests that have positioned the Bush administration.
Americans are filled with hubris, not with knowledge. They have no awareness of the calamity that their government’s pursuit of hegemony is bringing to themselves and to life on earth.
Paul Craig Roberts [email him] was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He was awarded the Legion of Honor by French President Francois Mitterrand. He is the author of Supply-Side Revolution : An Insider's Account of Policymaking in Washington; Alienation and the Soviet Economy and Meltdown: Inside the Soviet Economy, and is the co-author with Lawrence M. Stratton of The Tyranny of Good Intentions : How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice. Click here for Peter Brimelow’s Forbes Magazine interview with Roberts about the recent epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 11 August 2008
Beliefs that stop us from being happy..........
Sorry a long post...you have been warned !
It's easy to think that being cheerful and optimistic is something that we can't control. But with the right attitude we can all have the power to feel better about ourselves and the way we live our lives.
All of us have days when we feel so fed up we can't help but wonder why everyone else seems happier than we do. That's when we start daydreaming about winning the lottery, but the truth is that putting more joy into our lives is about the changing way that we look at what we already have.
Studies show that people who think more positively are happier and healthier, and the good news according to Ben Renshaw, who helps run personal happiness courses, is that we all have the capacity to feel better, 'Happiness should be a normal state of mind,' he explains, 'But we let misconceptions get in the way and stop us feeling good. We can all be happier now.'
So what are we waiting for? As soon as we realize we're in control, we're already halfway to being happier. Look at the list of the most common myths that can spoil our joy and see if they are standing in our way.
1. I'll be happy tomorrow
It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking happiness will happen once you achieve your goals, but you end up concentrating so hard on how much better life could be that it stops you appreciating what you've got. And by placing endless conditions, it'll always be out of reach.
That's what happened to Gillian, 34. First, she was convinced that getting married would make her happy, then it was having a baby. She achieved all that but then felt she had to go back to work and get promoted, Even then, she had a nagging desire to achieve more.
What to do: Postponing happiness to a future date means you'll never enjoy it. You don't earn it by achieving lots of goals – by all means aspire to great things, but enjoy every minute along the way.
2. It won't last
Are you too afraid to let yourself be happy because you're frightened life will slap you in the face and bring you crashing down to earth again? Try as you might, you can't help believing that happiness is always temporary and that, when it disappears, you'll feel even more miserable than before. You need to realize that if you don't take a risk, you'll end up missing out.
Life is a gamble and you need to be bold and go for what you want. Just because you were hurt in a previous relationship or let down in another way, it doesn't mean the same thing will happen to you all over again.
What to do: Stop always expecting the worst to arrive, and try to think positively. Remember, it's better to have been happy for a short while than stuck in a familiar but depressing situation. You might as well enjoy the good times that you already have. If you don't, it won't stop the bad times from happening – what have you got to lose?
3. He has to change
Sue, a young mother of two, had convinced herself that if her husband Simon was a bit more ambitious in his career prospects, worked harder and secured a promotion, then she'd have everything and be proud of him.
But if, like Simon, your partner is perfectly content with his life and job the way they are, spending your life waiting for him to change is just setting yourself up to feel let down by him when he doesn't alter his life the way you would like him to.
What to do: Making your happiness conditional to what someone else does means you're avoiding taking responsibility for your own feelings and ambitions. It's much easier to blame others for the things you think are wrong with your life rather than doing something about it yourself.
Of course, it's only fair to expect your partner to do his fair share of the housework or to be more affectionate towards you, but you must decide whether this is an important change that could make your relationship better or whether you're just using it as an excuse.
It's important to realize that your happiness isn't dependant on others. Of course they can help but, ultimately, only you have control over your own feelings. If a partner or friend doesn't make you happy, you either have to learn to live with them or decide if you want them in your life at all.
4. I don't like myself
When you're unhappy it's so easy to think that every thing in your life is wrong. The only solution seems to be to make some drastic changes and give up your job, finish your relationship or move house to make a fresh start.
Perhaps you can't see the wood for the trees. If didn’t mind that you've put on a stone of weight and were happy with your body, maybe you wouldn't row, with your partner because nothing fits when you're getting ready for work. Is the fact that you don't like one thing about yourself putting extra pressure on the good things in your life?
What to do: Get right down to the basics and work out the real reason that's making you feel so down. Next, learn to like, respect and value yourself. For example, if you're unhappy about your job stand in front of a mirror each morning, smile and say out loud and confidently, 'I am good at what I do.' It can help put you in a more positive frame of mind and help you cope with a bad day at work. If you've tried everything and you still feel stuck in a miserable job and relationship, then it could be time to think about doing something drastic and walking away.
5. They owe me
Having a chip on your shoulder about how much praise and happiness you deserve from other people can have a negative effect, because if those expectations aren't fulfilled then you're setting yourself up to feel really disappointed.
If you become too obsessed with the idea of getting what you think you deserve out of life, you can also lose sight of how much you've been given. Janice, 30, was convinced her life had been difficult and because of that she deserved more success in her career. Although she had a high powered job, she still expected constant praise and got depressed if she didn't get it. Instead of feeling hard done by Janice needed to accept that life can be tough and she isn't owed something because of that. We all like to be appreciated, but don't make it a condition for your own happiness.
What to do: Change your expectations and accept that you aren't owed more than anyone else. Be your own best critic. You know you've done something well, so give yourself credit for it rather than searching for appreciation from other people.
6. I don't deserve it
One of the most common beliefs of all is that happiness is something you have to work hard for and earn – and many people feel that they don't deserve it. Being depressed all the time won't help you, though. Think how much easier it is to cheer up a friend who's down if your feeling positive.
What to do: Don't feel guilty about being happy. Remember that a good mood can actually be infectious and the better you feel, the easier it is to spread some of that joy around to your friends and family.
7. If I looked different
There's probably something about your appearance that you really don't like. Whether you think that your nose is too big and plastic surgery is the answer, or you're desperate to be two sizes slimmer, it's easy to think that by changing the way you look you would automatically make yourself happier.
However, unless you have a real obsession and need professional help to do something about it, insecurity about the way you look is often an excuse not to get on with the rest of your life.
If you need to lose weight but something's stopping you, maybe you need to ask yourself why. The truth might be that it's safer to hide behind those extra few pounds and blame your lack of self confidence on that rather than risk doing something about it and discovering that you still don't like yourself much.
What to do: it's important to put these ideas in your mind into proportion and stop giving yourself a hard time about the way you look. Remember that when it comes to looks and personality, nobody's perfect – so stop trying to be.
Are you making yourself miserable?
If you answer yes to one or more of the following questions, then you could be accidentally sabotaging your own happiness.
• Do you think that happiness is something that only ever really happens to other people?
• Are you convinced that there's so much you don't like about aspects of your life such as work, your love life or your figure, that the only solution is to change everything?
• Are you always hankering after things you don't have, such as a better job and more money, or being able to fit into a size 12?
• Do you constantly find yourself expecting the worst of all situations and do you often think that if something does go well for you then it's probably too good to be true?
It's easy to think that being cheerful and optimistic is something that we can't control. But with the right attitude we can all have the power to feel better about ourselves and the way we live our lives.
All of us have days when we feel so fed up we can't help but wonder why everyone else seems happier than we do. That's when we start daydreaming about winning the lottery, but the truth is that putting more joy into our lives is about the changing way that we look at what we already have.
Studies show that people who think more positively are happier and healthier, and the good news according to Ben Renshaw, who helps run personal happiness courses, is that we all have the capacity to feel better, 'Happiness should be a normal state of mind,' he explains, 'But we let misconceptions get in the way and stop us feeling good. We can all be happier now.'
So what are we waiting for? As soon as we realize we're in control, we're already halfway to being happier. Look at the list of the most common myths that can spoil our joy and see if they are standing in our way.
1. I'll be happy tomorrow
It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking happiness will happen once you achieve your goals, but you end up concentrating so hard on how much better life could be that it stops you appreciating what you've got. And by placing endless conditions, it'll always be out of reach.
That's what happened to Gillian, 34. First, she was convinced that getting married would make her happy, then it was having a baby. She achieved all that but then felt she had to go back to work and get promoted, Even then, she had a nagging desire to achieve more.
What to do: Postponing happiness to a future date means you'll never enjoy it. You don't earn it by achieving lots of goals – by all means aspire to great things, but enjoy every minute along the way.
2. It won't last
Are you too afraid to let yourself be happy because you're frightened life will slap you in the face and bring you crashing down to earth again? Try as you might, you can't help believing that happiness is always temporary and that, when it disappears, you'll feel even more miserable than before. You need to realize that if you don't take a risk, you'll end up missing out.
Life is a gamble and you need to be bold and go for what you want. Just because you were hurt in a previous relationship or let down in another way, it doesn't mean the same thing will happen to you all over again.
What to do: Stop always expecting the worst to arrive, and try to think positively. Remember, it's better to have been happy for a short while than stuck in a familiar but depressing situation. You might as well enjoy the good times that you already have. If you don't, it won't stop the bad times from happening – what have you got to lose?
3. He has to change
Sue, a young mother of two, had convinced herself that if her husband Simon was a bit more ambitious in his career prospects, worked harder and secured a promotion, then she'd have everything and be proud of him.
But if, like Simon, your partner is perfectly content with his life and job the way they are, spending your life waiting for him to change is just setting yourself up to feel let down by him when he doesn't alter his life the way you would like him to.
What to do: Making your happiness conditional to what someone else does means you're avoiding taking responsibility for your own feelings and ambitions. It's much easier to blame others for the things you think are wrong with your life rather than doing something about it yourself.
Of course, it's only fair to expect your partner to do his fair share of the housework or to be more affectionate towards you, but you must decide whether this is an important change that could make your relationship better or whether you're just using it as an excuse.
It's important to realize that your happiness isn't dependant on others. Of course they can help but, ultimately, only you have control over your own feelings. If a partner or friend doesn't make you happy, you either have to learn to live with them or decide if you want them in your life at all.
4. I don't like myself
When you're unhappy it's so easy to think that every thing in your life is wrong. The only solution seems to be to make some drastic changes and give up your job, finish your relationship or move house to make a fresh start.
Perhaps you can't see the wood for the trees. If didn’t mind that you've put on a stone of weight and were happy with your body, maybe you wouldn't row, with your partner because nothing fits when you're getting ready for work. Is the fact that you don't like one thing about yourself putting extra pressure on the good things in your life?
What to do: Get right down to the basics and work out the real reason that's making you feel so down. Next, learn to like, respect and value yourself. For example, if you're unhappy about your job stand in front of a mirror each morning, smile and say out loud and confidently, 'I am good at what I do.' It can help put you in a more positive frame of mind and help you cope with a bad day at work. If you've tried everything and you still feel stuck in a miserable job and relationship, then it could be time to think about doing something drastic and walking away.
5. They owe me
Having a chip on your shoulder about how much praise and happiness you deserve from other people can have a negative effect, because if those expectations aren't fulfilled then you're setting yourself up to feel really disappointed.
If you become too obsessed with the idea of getting what you think you deserve out of life, you can also lose sight of how much you've been given. Janice, 30, was convinced her life had been difficult and because of that she deserved more success in her career. Although she had a high powered job, she still expected constant praise and got depressed if she didn't get it. Instead of feeling hard done by Janice needed to accept that life can be tough and she isn't owed something because of that. We all like to be appreciated, but don't make it a condition for your own happiness.
What to do: Change your expectations and accept that you aren't owed more than anyone else. Be your own best critic. You know you've done something well, so give yourself credit for it rather than searching for appreciation from other people.
6. I don't deserve it
One of the most common beliefs of all is that happiness is something you have to work hard for and earn – and many people feel that they don't deserve it. Being depressed all the time won't help you, though. Think how much easier it is to cheer up a friend who's down if your feeling positive.
What to do: Don't feel guilty about being happy. Remember that a good mood can actually be infectious and the better you feel, the easier it is to spread some of that joy around to your friends and family.
7. If I looked different
There's probably something about your appearance that you really don't like. Whether you think that your nose is too big and plastic surgery is the answer, or you're desperate to be two sizes slimmer, it's easy to think that by changing the way you look you would automatically make yourself happier.
However, unless you have a real obsession and need professional help to do something about it, insecurity about the way you look is often an excuse not to get on with the rest of your life.
If you need to lose weight but something's stopping you, maybe you need to ask yourself why. The truth might be that it's safer to hide behind those extra few pounds and blame your lack of self confidence on that rather than risk doing something about it and discovering that you still don't like yourself much.
What to do: it's important to put these ideas in your mind into proportion and stop giving yourself a hard time about the way you look. Remember that when it comes to looks and personality, nobody's perfect – so stop trying to be.
Are you making yourself miserable?
If you answer yes to one or more of the following questions, then you could be accidentally sabotaging your own happiness.
• Do you think that happiness is something that only ever really happens to other people?
• Are you convinced that there's so much you don't like about aspects of your life such as work, your love life or your figure, that the only solution is to change everything?
• Are you always hankering after things you don't have, such as a better job and more money, or being able to fit into a size 12?
• Do you constantly find yourself expecting the worst of all situations and do you often think that if something does go well for you then it's probably too good to be true?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)