The Golden Rule

“Here is the Golden Rule of sound citizenship,
the first and greatest lesson in the study of politics:
You get the same order of criminality from any State
to which you give power to exercise it; and whatever
power you give the State to do things FOR you
carries with it the equivalent power to do things TO you."
-- Albert Jay Nock (1870-1945)

Anne Frank meets Mr. Mom

BAGHDAD — Abu Hassan took deep breaths of joy as he crossed the double-decker bridge spanning the Tigris River. The water below may have stunk of sewage. The air may have been choked with traffic fumes. It didn’t matter to Abu Hassan.

He was free after nearly a year hidden inside his house, the only place he had felt safe from the gunmen and killers who had taken over his neighborhood in south Baghdad.

Link

This man was in hiding because, as a Shiite, married to a Sunni, he feared death at the hands of the Sunnis who controlled his neighborhood.

If that’s not a civil war, I’m the man in the friggin moon.

tartuffe

tartuffe (tahr-TOOF) noun

A hypocrite who feigns virtue, especially in religious matters.

My word of the day e-mail for Friday. I just felt like sharing it; maybe it brings someone to mind.

presidential race isms

Mrs. Clinton thinks she’s been mistreated in this campaign, that much about it has been – or perhaps should have been – offensive to women.

“…when asked if she thinks this campaign has been racist, she says she does not. And she circles back to the sexism. “The manifestation of some of the sexism that has gone on in this campaign is somehow more respectable, or at least more accepted, and . . . there should be equal rejection of the sexism and the racism when it raises its ugly head,” she said. “It does seem as though the press at least is not as bothered by the incredible vitriol that has been engendered by the comments by people who are nothing but misogynists.” [Washington Post]

Well of course it’s been offensive to women. It’s been sexist to a point that’s embarrassing. But she thinks it hasn’t been racist? Baloney. If Clinton means not racist in the sense that nobody has stood up and yelled “The New President is a ni—-!” well maybe. But Obama’s race has been as much an issue as Clinton’s gender. And the mere fact that either has been an in issue – eight years into the 21st Century – is an abomination before God.

But come to think of it, I can’t really envision a situation in which two or more humans in the world could stand together, look at this presidential campaign, and not have some right to be offended. Because none of the real issues that effect humanity, or which touch on the true moral imperatives of America, have even been raised. As usual, it’s been all about US, while the Earth itself is crying out for an end to planetism.

One of these days, our leaders will put aside petty, stupid differences of all kinds and start focusing on the things that matter and effect us all. And we’ll tell the pundits to shut the hell up and go home so we can watch the news. Then maybe watching the sausage factory of political office-seeking grind on won’t be such a nauseating embarrassment.

New Bin Laden Message

What, no endorsement for president? I figured Osama’s next message would be a pitch for McCain.

“A hundred years, infidel asshat? That’s nothing. We can keep you tied up over here longer than that.”