Thought 4 the Week-End

Happ B-Day #Thoreau...if only all remembered this admonition as the #Gaza tragedy ensues: “There is no remedy for love but to love more.”

— Mike Pouraryan (@mikepouraryan) July 12, 2014

On the Eve of the Final between Argentina & Germany: A "Thought 4 the Day"

I was reflecting upon the sentiment expressed in the FIFA Theme Song that reminded us about how "we're one".    It seems as if as members of the human race we have to remember this and work to elevate a sense of peace, harmony and happiness & all:



Will we remember to be one?

VIew of the Week: Understand Israeli – Palestinian Apartheid In 11 Images

As the fighting escalates, there needs to be a better sense of all that has happened.   This is one reality that is unfortunately given virtually no attention in the Western Mainstream Media:

Understand Israeli – Palestinian Apartheid In 11 Images

The separation wall and the very nice road and the pathetic side is in and of itself telling as epitomized by the story of this Farmer who lost it all and the World stayed silent:

Post by Middle East Monitor.

On Our World: Some Brief "Mid-Week" Thoughts

It is not easy to be optimistic.    Today has seen the advent of another war between Israel and Hamas.  The scenes that were being shown as the injured were being brought into #Gaza hospitals was heart-breaking.   The impact on #Israelis is mostly psychological because #Israel will prevail in a shooting war as the war has begun:

#photooftheday Israelis watch as smoke rises after air strikes across the border in northern #Gaza, July 8 pic.twitter.com/49SjCEh1Ij

— Al-Monitor (@AlMonitor) July 9, 2014

One can't help but wonder if there is anything else actually left.   But, more importantly, one wonders if reason will prevail.   How many more people will have to die?

It is small comfort--but there is no choice but to remain hopeful as this "thought 4 the day" from Eleanor #Roosevelt reminds us all: 

 It is also up to us to insure that we constantly strive as agents of Agent as this from Joel Salatin reminds us all: 

“We must stop this incessant victimhood mentality. 
Somebody else will not fix things. 
Somebody else will not make me healthy. 
Somebody else will not make me happy. 
These things are my responsibility. 
Not the neighbor’s, 
not the government’s, 
not the church or the civic club.”
~ Joel Salatin

As we also need to underscore how we must always strive for justice and fairness always as Dr. King reminded us that:

Unlike 

Families of Slain #Israeli & #Palestinian Teens Turn to Each Other for Comfort: How Beautiful

All are on edge in #Israel and #Palestine.     The challenges on both sides are well known.  But, for today, I wanted to share this beautiful story  as The Mayor Of Jerusalem shared his thoughts too on his Facebook Page earlier:

Post by ‎Nir Barkat - ניר ברקת‎.

This was very beautiful--to me it was leadership in action.    I commend the Israeli Prime Minister for  meeting  with the father of the #Palestinian Youth that was burnt alive. I remain hopeful--there is no other reason not to be hopeful especially as Israeli Reserves have been called up, #Hamas Rockets have been landing in Southern #Israel and as the Israeli Right clamours for more direct action--especially as Israel just hit #Gaza.   I also was quite amused that Lieberman, the Foreign Minister, ended his alliance with the Israeli Prime Minister--it is quite opportunistic especially as the possibility of a third intifada is ever so within the realm of the possible if cooler heads do not prevail.     

As I assessed the continued fast moving developments, I could not help but wonder: Can reason prevail? Can the latest tragic deaths be a trigger for change?

Thought 4 the Week as the New Week Looms :-)

Enough said from the master :-)

View of the Week: Hard Truths....

ISIS's rampage is continuing throughout Iraq.   As we went to press, the horrific scenes of historic sites in Mosul being blown up by ISIS was horrific to watch.   This was as the so-called Caliph gave a sermon in Mosul telling Muslims that they had to pledge their allegiance to him.   The misery is bound to continue for quite some time as The Iraqi Army has just launched another assault on the hapless City of Falluja that has been under the Control of these thugs since late last year.  These thugs have undertaken an absolutely sophisticated public relations strategy of recruitment.  It was absolutely horrific when Sky News reported how two British Girls of Somali Origin somehow found their way to fight alongside ISIS in Syria.

As the old boundaries of Syria and Iraq are being redrawn and the people suffer in major ways, what is so unfortunate is how it seems the US Corporate Media seems to recycle the same cast of characters that did the "sell job" that are now again rehashing the old tired discredited arguments.    What was also quite amazing was how the Daily Beast reminded the World of the ugly colonial legacy that continues to haunt all even today as "Gertrude of Arabia" was the prime culprit--fascinating reading indeed.

 Jon Stewart again brought it out in a way that is absolutely hilarious--yet ever so true:




It is always amazing that at least one element of the US Corporate Media is able to lay out the real truth. As this has been going on, NBC News featured Tony Blair, the Former UK Prime Minister--and the Neo-Con's Neocon--again came out trying to be an expert on the Middle East.    It was amazing that NBC News even had the nerve to book this man.    This is as Fox did this as noted by the esteemed scholar Professor Dabashi: 

 Be very careful about what you read and learn about the current events in Iraq and Syria--like the outbreak of a deadly disease the sensational news of the so called ISIS, or ISIL, or Da'esh, or now "the Islamic State" conquering Iraq and Syria and planing "world domination in five years" banks heavily on a massive body of mis- and dis-information--here is where American and European disease of Islamophobia aids and abets in the propaganda machinery of the international gang of mercenaries that calls itself by those namesonal gang of mercenaries that calls itself by those names--take this map that both Fox News and ABC News have been disseminating as the plan of action for world domination by Da'esh--it turns out this map is actually the work of an infamous white American conspiracy theorist and has in fact originated "in part from a video game called Victoria 2." For details see here:http://mediamatters.org/mobile/blog/2014/07/03/why-is-the-media-taking-these-isis-world-domina/199984/199984.

The hard truths by Jon Stewart underscores the simple yet crucial fact:  there are no easy solutions.  That's the ultimate hard truth.

Excerpts  released to http://www.outsiderviews.com, 7/2014