Caligula's Stalking Horse?

Mr. Margolis, writing in David Stockman's Corner,  has compared the US Congress' bizarre beatification of Mr. Netanyahu to the Roman Senate's clueless and cowardly embrace of Caligula's horse:
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/congress-groveling-before-bibi-worst-since-roman-senate-embraced-caligulas-horse/

Congress’ Groveling Before Bibi Worst Since Roman Senate Embraced Caligula’s Horse
by Eric Margolis • March 15, 2015

Be proud, America! You have the very best Congress that money can buy.

It’s no secret that many in the House and Senate have long been corrupted by money and special interests. The constant need to advertise on TV makes all politicians slaves of the money lenders and other big donors...

... One of the biggest outrages has been the way Wall Street money lenders swindled the public and wiped out the nation’s retirement savings – yet escaped all punishment thanks to their huge political contributions to Congress and the White House.

But then came the triumphant visit to Congress by Israel’s right wing prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Congress put on a truly revolting display of sycophancy, servility...  for Bibi that included 23 rapturous standing ovations.

This for a foreign leader who had come to insult and humiliate America’s president and drive the US into war with Iran.

Not since a groveling Roman Senate voted to approve Emperor Caligula’s favorite horse, Incitatus, as imperial consul has there been such a embarrassing spectacle...

I do not think he is comparing Mr. Netanyahu to a horse, nor his worth as a man to that of an animal; rather he is comparing the cravenness of Congress to the cravenness of the Roman Senate. (The Republicans in Congress are getting ready for their 2017 EOT [end-of-times].)
Furthermore, the Roman Senate merely approved the appointment of Caligula's horse, Incitatus, as a Consul.

What comes from the Congress in the way of settling the question of the Palestinian State?
Not much. Nothing, actually.
No one has yet told them what to think nor what to say.

If the West Bank remains occupied, if the Golan remains occupied, and if Netanyahu truly believes - as he has said recently - that ISIS is a real danger to the Palestinian Authority, thus preparing the way for a possible pre-emptive strike against that Authority for its own good...

then the lie of Democracy we may have lived since the late 1940s will be exposed.
Will we be able to live with it?

Secretary of State Clinton and Mr. Lieberman

Consider the following:
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-foreign-minister-calls-beheading-palestinians

... Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has taken his campaign of violent incitement against Palestinians to new extremes with a call for those disloyal to Israel to have their heads chopped off.

He also repeated his long-standing demands for expulsion of Palestinian citizens of Israel.

“Anyone who’s with us should be given everything – up to half the kingdom. Anyone who’s against us, there’s nothing to do – we should raise an axe and cut off his head; otherwise we won’t survive here,” Lieberman said at an election event Sunday, in reference to Palestinian citizens of Israel...

The future is filled with some interesting possibilities. There are some very bizarre possible time lines, and the edge between the hum-drum, the dystopian, and the millenial is blurring as we jump back and forth  between the exigencies of life.
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To Speech Or Not To Speech 4

Peace!

A little peace for West Bank,
A little peace for Golan;

A little peace for Gaza,
and to all a bisl shalom!


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note:
bisl shalom is how I would yiddishly say "a little peace", and pronounce "bisel SHA-lum" with emphasis on the first syllable, pronouncing the "a" as in "father",  and a short ending syllable

If anyone asks, the only people on my mind are Bibi and Mel Brooks.

To Speech Or Not To Speech 3

Peace!

A little peace for West Bank,
A little peace for Golan...

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To Speech Or Not To Speech 2

Peace!

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To Speech Or Not To Speech 1

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The Voice Of Palestinian Christians At Christmas

Zionist Christians’ war on the true meaning of Christmas
By Activestills
|Published December 17, 2014
http://972mag.com/zionist-christians-war-on-the-true-meaning-of-christmas/100211/

[note: 
Kairos is a group of Palestinian Chrsitians that issued "in Bethlehem in December 2009 of the Kairos Palestine document, full title of which is "A moment of truth: A word of faith, hope, and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering", a call by a number of Palestinian Christians to Christians around the world to help fight the Israeli occupation. (Wikipedia, "kairos")]

For the last two years, Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the largest Christian Zionist organization in the U.S., has sent email blasts urging their supporters to fight back against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement by buying Christmas ornaments “Made in Israel.” Or rather, by receiving these ornaments as a reward for a tax-deductible donation. One message urges supporters to “commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ with this symbolic ornament that was made in the land where Jesus was born.”
[...]
Jesus was born in occupied territory. At the time, it was occupied by the Romans. Today, the West Bank town of Bethlehem is virtually surrounded by the Israeli separation barrier, which if completed as planned will confiscate some 64 square kilometers of the governorate’s land as nearby Israeli settlements continue to expand in violation of international law. How dare CUFI mention “the land where Jesus was born” without recognizing the plight of the Palestinian Christians who’ve carried his tradition to the present day?

Palestinians hold a Catholic mass as a weekly nonviolent witness against the Israeli separation wall in the West Bank village of Beit Jala, September 7, 2012. If completed as planned, the wall would cut off the Cremisan monastery from the Beit Jala community, blocking access to one of the Bethlehem area’s last remaining green spaces, and a source of employment for area residents. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

When groups like CUFI do make a rare mention of Palestinian Christians, it is often to paint them as victims of Islamist persecution. This despite polls showing that Palestinian Christians overwhelmingly cite the Israeli occupation as the primary challenge in their lives.
[…]
In their Christmas email, CUFI claims that BDS supporters are: “Israel haters” who are “hoping you’ll not know that the freest Arabs in the Middle East are the Arab citizens of the Jewish State of Israel.”

While denying the persistent discrimination faced by Palestinian citizens of Israel and entirely ignoring the injustices faced by those living in the occupied territories, they also ignore fellow Christians. Some 3,000 Palestinian Christians, including the heads of 13 historic Holy Land denominations signed the Kairos Palestine Document, which calls for: “boycott and disinvestment as tools of nonviolence for justice, peace and security for all.”

Unlike the straw man “haters” of CUFI’s rhetoric, Kairos Palestine’s call for BDS is rooted in values of liberating love: “These advocacy campaigns must be carried out with courage, openly and sincerely proclaiming that their object is not revenge but rather to put an end to the existing evil, liberating both the perpetrators and the victims of injustice.”
[…]
If only groups like CUFI reflected the best teachings of their faith as clearly. Instead, they have made an idol of the modern state of Israel. They may mention Jesus every now and then, but they rarely quote him. Benjamin Netanyahu gets a lot more airtime. “Netanyahu” even returns more than twice as many search results as “Jesus” when searching their web site.

I was not surprised to learn — from the extremely conservative Christian magazine Charisma of all sources — that CUFI’s executive director, David Brog, is “said to run CUFI like a political campaign.” The report goes on to say that, “[o]ne by one, the higher-profile Christian leaders who helped [John] Hagee start CUFI are dropping off as the organization becomes more focused on political lobbying.”

Unfortunately, CUFI and similar groups have convinced many Americans that “blessing Israel” means rubber-stamping every policy of its increasingly right-wing governments. This includes a message filled with military imagery to “stand with Israel” during last summer’s assault on Gaza, with talking points like, “Israel must not be condemned for doing what any responsible government would do to protect its citizens from terror.” Another message demands, “[t]ell President Obama to stop blocking weapons to Israel!” And yet another email cites 64 Israeli soldiers killed and describes a CUFI-sponsored solidarity visit by pastors to Jerusalem, Sderot and Mt. Herzl. None of these messages even mention the 2,200 Palestinians killed in Gaza, most of them civilians.
[…]
One need not be a Christian to recognize that Christmas celebrates the arrival of the Jesus who preached, “blessed are the peacemakers”, “love your enemies”, compassion for “the least of these,” and who taught his followers to pursue “justice and the love of God.” But as a Christian, I am compelled to question the priorities of fellow believers who have placed loyalty to the government of Israel above the life, teachings and example of Jesus.

A Palestinian pastor friend put it this way: “my biggest challenge with Christian Zionism is that it doesn’t promote peace and it ignores justice.”

Where is the Jesus of sacrificial love, peace and justice for all amid the Israeli and American flag-waving and military imagery? I therefore suggest that we stop calling such groups Christian Zionists and instead use the term Zionist Christians, to more accurately reflect their priorities.
The Kairos Document offers a sharply contrasting vision of concern for all life, but will U.S. Christians listen to their Palestinian sisters and brothers?

Through our love, we will overcome injustices and establish foundations for a new society both for us and for our opponents. Our future and their future are one. … We call on the people of Israel to be our partners in peace and not in the cycle of interminable violence...

Politics is momentary; the Holy is forever.
Mixing them together makes the Holy seems transient, while Politics and Power emerges as an eternal object of idolatry.

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The War of Eternal Dibs on The West Bank

Are we in a war?

What war? Does it have a name? Will Congress ever resume their role in declaring war?

Our entanglements in the Middle East are a slap in the face of George Washington.
Our support of Netanyahu and his "eternal dibs" on Palestinian territory is a contravention against the principles of the people who founded this country.

The Drang nach Osten of Netanyahu into lands east of Jerusalem will be our downfall.

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Israel's Moral High Ground

If you have to claim the high ground, you've already lost it. Obviously, this applies to more people than Israel, but Israel has always had a place of affection in my heart. It is the same reason I have always bashed the USA; never bashing the good "stuff", just the immoral trivialities they love to engage in. Israel will now have its own Bush Administration: Netanyahu!

They say that an addict will have to hit rock bottom, before they can begin to be cured. Rock bottom; interesting concept. Have we seen any of that around here lately?

Then the left and progressives will come back, and re-build on the destruction left by the right wing (note: I always say "conservative" to mean intelligent people, right-wing refers to the present day herd of donkeys.)

pix: Hadar Naim

inspiration: fugitive peace