Most of you will have already seen the news that the VA Medical Centers have been given complete responsibility for preventing spread of the Ebola pandemic to the US. The White House issued the statement Tuesday that, “the facilities are in place all over the nation and are under utilized. Recent new attention to possibly funding the VA Medical Centers and providing physicians who have not had their licenses to practice medicine suspended yet provides a solution to two problems. And a possible solution to a lot of others.”
Workers in VA Medical Centers are numerous and if Ebola or some other contagion doesn’t prevent it, many will enjoy Federal retirement benefits within twenty years. Potential fiscal saving spinoffs for giving Ebola to the VA are enormous.
We humans, we Americans are chock-full of opinions. Most we’ve had for ages, decades, and we can’t actually identify when we came to adopt them, can’t support them with anything deeper than gut feel. Mostly it doesn’t matter because nobody cares anyway.
But the opinions we choose reflect the health of our souls. In a real sense our opinions are who we are. Occasionally it’s worth distancing ourselves from them and the ego attachments we form to them. Just to find out whether our opinions have any connection to anything inside the real world.
Old Jules
Why Can’t Americans See the Obvious Truth?
Jimmy Carter unveils truth about Israel
An honest Israeli Jew tells the Real Truth about Israel
An Israeli intelligence service cop cultivates a relationship with a kid living near one of the Israeli settlements and nurtures it. Reason being to create an informant to betray the people who live around him.
The cop might actually kid himself it’s about friendship, that he cares what happens to the kid. He seems to at times. But when discussing it with his bosses in cophood he has to deny it, has to claim it’s about using the kid.
And use him he does. The kid’s brother is a serious player in trying to discourage Israel’s expansion outside its boundaries. He’s killing people in East Jerusalem. The Israeli cops want him badly and eventually the cop uses information provided by the kid to trap the brother inside a building and execute him.
Bethlehem 2013 NR99 minutes An informant for Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence service, Palestinian Sanfur is torn when his brother becomes an agency target. More Info Starring: Tsahi Halevi, Shadi Mar’i Director: Yuval Adler
Unsurprisingly the kid gets pissed, but his involvement with the cop gets him on a hit list among the Arabs for collaborating. He’s offered a possible pardon if he kills the cop.
Your average, “Eek, there’s a nigger in the White House!” patriot never has to ask himself any moral questions, any ethical questions. All he’s got to do is run around in increasingly smaller circles squealing and waving the flag anytime someone points at a war somewhere. “Support the troops!” is about as complicated as it gets. “Stand with Israel,” doesn’t even need saying. Bought and paid for politicians have already taken care of Israel.
But you’ve got to admit those Israeli human beings and those Palestine human beings should be finding themselves with serious questions about what they are doing. Which they probably aren’t.
If you’re a non-Jew living next door to Israel in Palestine you can watch Israel stealing it, piece-by-piece, house-by-house. They’ll come right out and tell you God gave it to them. Some people will inevitably fight back. And those will be labelled terrorists.
If you’re an Israeli and you believe God gave you the keys to the land outside the boundaries set by International Law and the United Nations, anything goes. Duplicity, manipulation, torture, force, bullying, lies. Because you are motivated by the higher good. By the fact that trumps all the others: God gave you anything you want in Israel and Palestine. All you’re doing is taking what’s rightfully yours.
Back when she was still Princess Elizabeth the US magazines had a love affair with her. We kids in Portales, NM, saw pictures of her looking her best and didn’t think she looked all that great, for a princess. A bit horse-faced, we thought. And the kid, prince Charles with his snooty little spoiled brat look. We hated his guts.
Didn’t much care who knew it, either.
Law law law. The British still had themselves thinking maybe it was an empire in those days. Didn’t take a lot of the reign of Liz to put that thought out of the minds of anyone with an eye to see. No Victoria, our Liz.
So here she is today, maybe still alive and in the catbird seat. Been there longer than Victoria. Hasn’t been poisoned or strangled by either of her offspring. And actually managed to win one war during her watch.
That was the Falklands War. Whupped Argentina all by themselves, those British did. Still had a whisper of a navy in those days. Lots of fireworks and generally a fairly safe war without any danger of contagion carrying it out of the ocean and onto places with Argentina firebombing London or vicee versee.
Put Britain down on record as the only civilized country in the world to win a war after 1918. A clear win, no illusions with the losers popping up as economic giants taking over the world marketplaces.
Hell, Liz was there when most of the shooting stopped in Northern Ireland. Might still be there when Mr. Scotland thumbs his nose at who? Henry was it? And tells the rest of the island to go piss up a rope. [After thinking on it while I showered I’m thinking it was Longshanks, Lackland, wossname, maybe Henry II. They all run together these days.]
Anyway, I’m just glad little Prince Charles with his snooty little short pants never got to be king. That was worth the price of admission, having to know something about what the damned British monarchy did or didn’t do anytime in my life.
Old Jules
Afterthought: I recall sometime during the 1980s the other kid, Andrew, I think, had a girlfriend who was a porn star, which I applauded. If he’d gotten to be king I mightn’t have minded knowing about it. Randy Andy they dubbed him at the time. If the bard had been reincarnated to see that he might have written a good tragedy about it.
Hi readers. She snuck out of the nursing home they put her in after they snagged her car and sold her house. When a movie begins with that there’s nothing much can be done to spoil the ending. I’d put it up beside Harry and Tonto, generally.
Redwood Highway, 2013PG-131hr 30m, You rated this movie: 5 , Itching to get out of her retirement community but estranged from her family, Marie uses her granddaughter’s wedding as an excuse to go on a walk.
Woman my age dons a backpack and hikes roughly 100 miles up the California coast dodging search and rescue, refusing rides and shooting molesters in the face with bear spray.
Seems more obvious every day that wossname, George Bush Sr. needed to stay the hell out of wars in the Middle East instead of waging them and giving himself a premature ejaculation. That Desert Storm I must have been the absolutely most senselessly waged war in US history even before he pulled out and splattered the proceeds across the belly of the whole region.
That would have been a good time to sigh and notice the cold war was over and bring the troops home from Korea, Europe, and all those pestholes across the world where they don’t speak English. George Bush was never any great shakes, but Desert Storm 1 followed by him not noticing the end of the cold war when the USSR ceased to exist defined him. He set the course as surely as it could be set to continue disastrous military spending and constant military adventures for the foreseeable future.
For this reason George Bush Senior qualifies as the worst president in US history until those who followed him.
There’s no need to go through the litany of tweedle-dums and tweedle-dees who came after GB Sr, identical to him in every respect aside from being lousier presidents. They all marched to his drum and carried the country into more endless wars and a bottomless pit of national debt directly resulting from military expenditures, wars, and foreign aid to bought-and-paid-for friends we only need for more wars and military adventures.
What else he didn’t do? He didn’t sit Israel down and insist they withdraw inside their International Boundaries as recognized by the UN and every other country in the world. On pain of losing what eventually became $130 billion in foreign aid from US taxpayers.
Because GB Sr., had he done what any responsible president should have done, could have ended the next generation of troubles we’re experiencing as a contributory factor, today.
The US, and the US Presidents are frequently accused of responsibility for not stopping what some Roosky strongman’s doing, or some Mexican from Syria, or Iraq, or Afghanistan does or doesn’t do. Or what some Chinaman from Japan, or Burma, or North Korea does or doesn’t do.
What a laugh! What a stupendous irony.
The only thing in the entire world a US President might control, might influence helpfully, is the slaughter between Palestinians and Israelis. The problem we helped create.
By insisting Israel return to inside its established boundaries and withdraw the settlements. Cease claiming lands assigned to others, cease claiming mineral rights offshore belonging to Palestinians.
The US Presidents love to toss around sanctions against, say, Russia, or Syria, or Iraq, anywhere. Except the one place they’d surely resolve the fundamental problem.
When people in Israel shout, “They don’t acknowledge we have the right to exist!” what they mean is, “They don’t acknowledged we have the right to take their lands designated for Palestine for our own!”
This series of duckwalking ducktalking clowns who’ve occupied the White House could probably have made two gestures to appear to be something other than the mediocre hopscotching puppets they were .
They could have brought the troops home and sliced the military budget to something approaching what other countries have.
They could have forced Israel back inside its borders and bribed Palestine to accept things as they are with foreign aid akin to what Israel receives.
But I suppose imagination is too much to hope for in a duckwalking ducktalking politician.
Old Jules
Who’s Profiting From Israel’s Offensive in Gaza
Israeli Military Torturing Palestinian Children ~viewer discretion~
How the Jews Treat Christians in Israel – It’s Serious!
Israel’s New Racism: The Persecution of African Migrants in the Holy Land
THE TRUTH HURTS JEWS ADMIT THEY ARE NOT THE JEWS OF THE BIBLE
Shlomo Sand: Challenging notions of a Jewish People
Israelis: What do you think of settlers forcing Palestinians out of their homes in East Jerusalem?
Based on the acclaimed novel by Judy Blume. Following her father’s murder, a teenager goes to stay with relatives in New Mexico and falls in love. Takes place mostly around Los Alamos and Santa Fe. More just a story of adapting to pain and loss. Of growing old enough to learn that most of the adventure hurts somewhere.
Reminded me a lot of the years I lived in Santa Fe, and the scene on the Rez was strikingly similar to a Christmas celebration my lady friend of the time, Amy Nevitt took me to at Jemez Pueblo in the home of friends.
If I didn’t miss New Mexico so much I think I’d have hated it. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Fairly lousy movie except for the scenery.
More Library Mail Art Project came in while Jeanne was off doing whatever people do when they’re climbing Mount Ranier and wasting their lives away in boredom from not being home with the cats. Old Jules
We had several great submissions while I was on vacation, so let’s catch up with more mail art!
First, from Suzlee Ibrahim in Malaysia. I’ll show both sides of the card because I think stamps, postmarks, and air mail stickers are also interesting! Thank you, Suzlee.
Next, our youngest contributor, Elizabeth Schwartz, age 9. This one is postmarked San Francisco. Nice work, Elizabeth, thank you for participating! If any other children are interested in sending their art, we would love to see it!
The next one is titled “Book Love” and is from Jill Wiggins, in Austin, Texas. Thank you so much, Jill, and thank you for your description of your process in the message!
Our next artist is Consuelo Debiagi from Campinas, Brazil. Lieratura Literatura. The encaustic technique, using wax, will take a polish to preserve the shine. It’s lovely to see in person. Thank you, Consuelo!
Most of you probably are aware that as soon as human beings discovered, sometime during the 1700s, I think, that they were Homo sapiens, they figured out they needed a dictionary to find out what they were. When they discovered they are wise and judgemental by definition, they immediately began wondering what they thought about.
The question was a tough one. Mostly humans seemed to think they’d like a little something to eat. Or they thought they’d like another brewsky, or they thought they were horny. Sometimes, particularly during the winter months Homo sapiens thought it was cold and some even thought they’d like something to wrap around themselves to get warmer.
But otherwise Homo sapiens sapiens were less obvious about what they were thinking and discovering the nature of it eluded scientists. Until psychology, then Facebook came along to allow them to publicly display what they were thinking.
“I think [name a celebrity] is awesome!”
“I think those [name a sports team] are awesome!”
“I think [name a consumer item] is awesome.”
“I think mean people suck!”
“I think I need a raise in pay!”
“I think the boss sucks!”
Researchers confirm that 98.7 percent of homo sapiens thought are either among these, or are within the same family of concepts.
74 years old, a resident of Leavenworth, KS, in an apartment located on the VA campus. Partnered with a black shorthaired cat named Mister Midnight. (1943-2020)
Since April, 2020, this blog is maintained by Jeanne Kasten (See "About" page for further information).
https://sofarfromheaven.com/2020/04/21/au-revoir-old-jules-jack-purcell/
I’m sharing it with you because there’s almost no likelihood you’ll believe it. This lunatic asylum I call my life has so many unexpected twists and turns I won’t even try to guess where it’s going. I’d suggest you try to find some laughs here. You won’t find wisdom. Good luck.
So Far From Heaven 