Stating Clearly That I Am NOT A Bigot

Today on Facebook, Bob Schneider posted a picture of a map of Antarctica, and suggested that this would be an idea place to offer the Palestinians a permanent homeland.

           Now in the past, Bob and I have been able to hold civilized conversations, even though we are very different in our political views and in our beliefs about areas of foreign policy. Many times we have been able to disagree with civility. I actually went so far as to consider him a friend. Today, Bob called me a bigot and a “cross-burner,” and banned me from his page. (I suspect that particular name was intended to compare me to the Ku Klux Klan, and I can imagine no greater insult to my person and spirit than that). He also blocked the thread from me so that I cannot quote myself, but here is what I said, in a nutshell:

             I told Bob that I thought his observation was unfair. I said that while I understand the point of view of Israelis, that not all Palestinians should be painted with the same brush and called terrorists. I said there are Israelis for peace, and there are Palestinians for peace. I pointed out that there have been Palestinians in the land called Israel for thousands of years, and that they both trace their lineage back to Abraham. I also said that it pained me to think that the Israelis would do to the Palestinians what white settlers did to the Native Americans, taking all the best of the land and leaving the non-arable bits for the survivors.

             At no point did I say I was anti-Israeli, because I’m not. I disagree with their government’s policies which treat all Palestinians as terrorists, when in fact the terrorists are not the majority. I also disagree with Palestinian terrorists, as I believe any form of violence against others is wrong. At no point did I say anything remotely implying that I am against Jews or the Israeli people. I am never one to blame an entire people for the actions of a few or the actions of their governments.

             I said that the Palestinian farmers had been pushed off their land. Bob said they were pushed nowhere. I was told I did not know my history. The fact is, I know my history quite well, and I know that Israel was created by the British government for the Jewish people, and that the Zionists created a phrase for this based on the work of Scottish clergyman Alexander Keith in 1843, “A Land without a People for a People without a Land” (Muir, 2008). The permanent solution for Israel was solidified in writing with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Please note that I found the following text on a Jewish library archive:

Balfour Declaration (Balfour, 1917).

The British government decided to endorse the establishment of a Jewish home in Palestine. After discussions within the cabinet and consultations with Jewish leaders, the decision was made public in a letter from British Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild. The contents of this letter became known as the Balfour Declaration.

Foreign Office
November 2nd, 1917

Dear Lord Rothschild,

I have much pleasure in conveying to you. on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet

His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

Yours,
Arthur James Balfour 

          Note that Balfour clearly stated the Crown’s position that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine…”

          I also know, and it is clearly mapped throughout the history of modern Israel, that the country has extended its borders far beyond what was originally provided, and are still doing so. This past April, Human Rights Watch provided a picture of what is happening in Israel/Palestine today (Human Rights Watch, 2012):

Human Rights Watch investigated one of the areas affected by both the permit and coordination systems, a group of eight villages with around 30,000 residents known as the Biddu enclave, which the barrier surrounds on three sides. The barrier has cut off Palestinian farmers there from 50 percent of their farmlands and 70 percent of their grazing lands, on which their livelihood depends, according to residents and United Nations reports.

 This report goes on to say:

 The International Court of Justice ruled in 2004 that the route of the barrier is illegal where it crosses into and encroaches on the occupied Palestinian territories, including in and around East Jerusalem. It said the barrier route was not justified by security concerns and contributed to violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by impeding Palestinians’ freedom of movement, destroying property, and contributing to unlawful Israeli settlement practices.

          Bob, I know my history. And even with this knowledge, I will not say that I am anti-Israeli. The people who have settled there since the early 1900’s have made a life for themselves, and generations of Jewish people have been born there. I would no more move them to some other place than I would see Palestinians moved; they both call this land home. It would be as inhumane to displace generations of Israelis as it has been to displace the Palestinians. This is not bigotry on my part. Saying Palestinians should be relocated to Antarctica is much more a sign of bigotry than I showed in my post today.

           My post has been so thoroughly removed from my ability to see it that I cannot prove what I said to anyone. I can only hope that the people who know me trust that I am offering the truth here. I never said anything to imply bigotry against the Israeli people. I pointed out the truth of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian farmland. I stated that it is unfair to paint an entire people with the label of genocide, which is how Bob views the Palestinians. I am aware that Palestinian terrorists exist to eliminate Israel, and I abhor their mission.

          I have Palestinian friends, both Muslim and Christian. Most of them have come to the United States to remove themselves from the violence. They want what we all want: to live in peace, to raise our families, to live. If they wanted to stay and be terrorists, they certainly could have done so. One of my dear friends, a Christian Palestinian, told me that in spite of how he was treated growing up in East Jerusalem, he did not hate Israelis as much as he felt sorry that there could be no peace, and that he was labeled as a terrorist when he was only a schoolboy.

           I also have Jewish friends, and we’ve never spoken of anything but peace. We try to find the things we agree on rather than the things we don’t. Under our nationalities, our religions, and our politics, we are all people, and we all want to be allowed  just to live.

           Let me say this again, just so everyone understands: I AM NOT A BIGOT. I do not hate anyone, or wish any group of people to be removed from the earth. I believe that the God I worship loves us all, and that He proved it by His ultimate sacrifice. I believe in peace, and I believe that there is no honor in violence of any kind, or in prejudice of any kind.

I forgive Bob, for in his fervor for his people, he is blinded to those who would tell a truth he cannot bear to hear. 

 Lord Have Mercy  †

My Resources:

Balfour, A. (1917). Balfour Declaration.

Human Rights Watch. (2012, April 5). Israel: Palestinians Cut Off From Farmlands. Retrieved from Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/04/05/israel-palestinians-cut-farmlands

Muir, D. (2008, Spring ). A Land without a People for a People without a Land. Middle East Quarterly, 55-62.

 

I keep hearing …

I keep hearing all the outrage over the healthcare bill. People are angry that ONE PERCENT of the population will probably have to pay a penalty if they can afford health insurance and refuse to purchase it. So here’s why I’m confused…

Cars Are More Valuable Than People?

Forty-eight states have mandatory car insurance. This was instituted because those without were not holding up their end of the costs, and those who had car insurance were paying high premiums to take care of the repairs the uninsured should have covered. If I am pulled over in the State of Colorado without insurance, I am going to pay a $500 fine (a penalty, not a tax). If I’m pulled over again, the fine goes up to $1000 and a 4-month suspension of my license. A third violation brings on another $1000 fine and an 8-month suspension, and the possibility of community service as a sentence. So this is how we protect our cars and our fellow drivers and passengers. We don’t like it, but if we want to drive, there it is.

In the meantime, the emergency rooms are full of people who go there because they don’t have health insurance. Most of those people don’t qualify for Medicaid, and most of them can’t afford health insurance, or their employers don’t offer it to them at any price. I’ve had any number of employers over the years that didn’t provide insurance even if I paid for it. Who ultimately pays for the emergency room costs? In many cases, the hospitals themselves, which is why, with record numbers of patients, you still see hospitals laying off personnel – they simply don’t fit in the budget because so many people never pay their emergency room bills. I find it hard to believe that the majority of Americans would rather protect their cars than their lives. Yet I heard no cries of doom when mandatory car insurance was implemented across most of the country. I cannot recall ever hearing that the penalty for driving without insurance was a “tax.” It’s a penalty, it’s a fine, but it’s not a tax. Why is a penalty for living without health insurance called a tax? Oh yeah, because instead of collecting it in court the way the DMV does, the penalty will be added to your tax return. Guess what? If you don’t pay your student loans, they keep your tax return until it equals what you owe. Precedent has thus been set.

New Healthcare Plan ROBS MEDICARE!?!

I have Medicare. Sounds like I have health coverage, right? Well not so much. I have only Part A, which pays only for hospitalization. If I want Part B, it will cost me $218 a month. That doesn’t sound bad to those of you who pay twice that and more for insurance, but then again, I receive Disability of $900 a month; once I pay my day-to-day living expenses, that $218 doesn’t exist. I am prescribed seven different medications, and fortunately most of those fall under the $4 generic plan offered by many pharmacies. If I paid for Medicare drug coverage, it would be considerably higher than what I pay for generics now, and Medicare might choose to tell me that any one of those was not covered. The new healthcare plan takes some money from Medicare and puts it into the new system, where as far as I can see, it will serve me better than what I had under Medicare alone. So from my point of view, if the new plan takes money from Medicare but makes it easier for me to obtain ALL the health coverage I need outside of hospitals, this is a blessing, not a curse. And certainly it is not a robbery.

Job Killer?

Seems I’ve heard this before. If the minimum wage is increased, employers will lay off people in droves. No. If employers are meeting demand, they must have a given number of employees. The greedier members of our society will give those jobs to other countries so they don’t have to pay the minimum wage. Those folks won’t have to pay healthcare coverage, since their employees are not U.S. citizens. Employers who use U.S. workers must OFFER coverage. How much they pay, and how much they leave their employees to pay, is still up to them, just as it always was. No minimums. It is not the employers, but the employees who choose not to purchase the insurance, who will be penalized. The insurance offered by employers is group insurance, so the premiums are lower than for personal plans. This is an advantage to employees. They can choose not to pay these lower premiums and have no insurance at all, and then they will pay a fine – which goes to cover the costs of their poor choices when they end up in the hospital without any insurance. It helps the hospitals, which helps the hospital employees stay employed. And people who cannot afford insurance will now have something to offer doctors, instead of crowding up the emergency rooms for care they will never be able to pay for.

So, how is this program a disaster for our country? I think it’s mainly a disaster for people who don’t want to pay their fair share for the privilege of being Americans. We are told that our rights include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Life: in many cases, it cannot be maintained without decent healthcare. Good health should not be restricted to the privileged few who can afford it. 

Photo taken from Greene Opinion http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8GwAEPzJMRE/TtfUlapO8CI/AAAAAAAABAg/eTfk7ZwDEgE/s400/bread-lines-food-shortage-depression.jpg

Storybird – Artful storytelling

I had to share this, as it was shared by one of my classmates: Storybird – Artful storytelling. This is a great way to create stories with artwork in a collaborative setting where several people can work in virtual space to create online books. The library of published work is excellent, and even if you don’t choose to create a Storybird yourself, you should enjoy browsing the stories that others have created and published there.

Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël! Καλά Χριστούγεννα!

It’s Christmas Eve, and I realize it’s been over 2 months since I posted anything to my blog. It’s been an interesting and pivotal time in my life. I’ve been through a crisis of faith which was, for me, of epic proportions – and I’ve come out the other side with greater belief in God than I had before.

When you live in a house populated by unbelievers, it’s an easy step to start seeing the concept of God as part of a great superstition. When you watch people use religion for political or financial gain, it’s easy to understand why atheists see religion as an enemy of ordinary people. Every day I see people on TV and in the news who have used and hurt other people in the name of religion, and I see senseless war throughout the world, much of it stemming from religious difference and intolerance. Slowly, I slipped into this mindset that says religion is a tool of the unscrupulous and the last bastion of irrational, uneducated people. Eventually I realized that I had lost my faith. I didn’t think I believed any more.

Some weeks ago, I sat helpless as someone I love beyond all understanding reached a crisis of his own. On that night, I realized that I simply could not conceive of a life without Jesus in it. Without my faith to sustain me, I had nothing to hold on to. What do atheists do when they can’t pray? I don’t know. But I learned that night that I personally cannot live my life without prayer, and a belief that God is listening. I thank God that he listened to my prayer that night.

On this, the commemoration of Christ’s birth, I am here to say that, however irrational, superstitious, or unscientific it may be, I believe in Jesus. His life, death and Resurrection are not simply fairy tales to me. In my heart, and my soul, and my life, He is real, and He sustains me with His grace. My Orthodox faith follows in the footsteps of the first believers, and teaches me that it is in humble moments on my knees that I am the strongest, and that the greatest Love of all still holds me in His hands.

I pray (yes, really pray) that all of you reading this have a beautiful and love-filled holiday, whatever your belief may be. I pray that the Light of this season will touch all of you in some special way. And for all of my fellow Christians, know that I thank God for you each and every day, and I wish His greatest blessings upon all of you this Christmas and in the year to come.

 

My Christmas gift to you:

Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon Virgin Mother and Child

Holy Infant so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace

Douce nuit, sainte nuit !
Dans les cieux ! L’astre luit.
Le mystère annoncé s’accomplit.
Cet enfant sur la paille endormit,
C’est l’amour infini,
C’est l’amour infini !

 

Άγια νύχτα, σε προσμένουν, με χαρά οι Χριστιανοί

και με πίστη ανυμνούνε, το Θεό δοξολογούνε,

μ’ ένα στόμα, μια φωνή ναι με μια φωνή.

Στης Βηθλεέμ, ελάτε όλοι, τα βουνά τα ιερά

και μ’ ευλάβεια μεγάλη, ‘κει που άγιο φως προβάλλει,

προσκυνήστε με χαρά ναι με μια χαρά.

Η ψυχή μας φτερουγίζει πέρα στ’ άγια τα βουνά

όπου ψάλλουν οι Αγγέλοι απ’ τα ουράνια θεία μέρη

στο Σωτήρα “Ωσαννά!” ψάλλουν “Ωσαννά!”

I want the cool McMansion down the hill from me…

Columbus_Day_Cartoon.jpg 320×224.

A brain thingy

 

 

 

 

 

 

You know me and my love for brainy things! I really really want this… can’t have it, but it’s way cool.

I think I’m getting weirder because Halloween is so close! LOL!

pink brain bag by bakingwithmedusa on Etsy.

A Rant about Human Cargo

 

One of the topics I read about this week in class had to do with an instructional model called Human Performance Technology. Something about that name just set something off in me, about how corporations (and sometimes even small businesses) have come to think of the people who work for them as commodities, like raw materials. 

There was a time that you worked for someone, and they considered you an important part of their company. My dad was a good plumber, and when a contractor would hear that he was looking for work, he’d be called up right away. People knew each other by their names, not just CEO and Employee. 

Along the way things became more formal. Instead of talking to the boss about an issue, you went to the Personnel Office. At least we were still considered “Persons.” But there was a go-between now who shielded the boss from getting to know us. I should have seen in coming when I stopped being a Secretary and became an Administrative Professional, or worse, a Project Coordinator. Nothing about what I did day to day had changed– just my title. And one day the Personnel Office was gone, replaced by the Human Resource Office.

There it was — I’d look in MS Project and discover that Resources had nothing to do with pipes and equipment. Resources were people. Like raw materials, we were just another cog in the machine. A resource. 

During my MBA, I didn’t study about Human Resource Management. Further dehumanizing the employees, we were now taught Human CAPITAL Management. We’re Capital. We’re also ready cash, as seen  by the massive layoffs the companies will enact in an effort to see that quick no-longer-need-to-spend-it money is retained in the coffers. 

You might notice here a little irony. While the corporations of the world were busy replacing us with offshore workers who would accept any meager wage, jobs here became more scarce. And like any commodity, the supply and demand rules apply. Corporations don’t have a lot of open spaces, and we have a lot of unemployed people. So we will accept any level of dehumanization, because it’s a job. And we’re just stuff. We’re just part of the stuff that makes other stuff. And since our particular kind of stuff is so widely available, the bidding for our time continues to go down. 

Americans will continue to be out of work and struggling to hang on to the jobs they do have, as long as the notion that we are Capital is maintained. Workers offshore will continue to be exploited for the same reason. We’re all just part of something more important — the corporate bottom line.

Ok, rant over for today. 

Of course these women need jobs too. I don't argue that point. But they shouldn't be treated like commodities any more than we should.

 

I am a human being. Not Capital.

Well now I understand…

I often wonder, when I hear politicians say that the American People want this or that, where they get their information. This morning Lynn Cheney cleared it up for me. She and the former VP are on The View. Lynn was asked if it bothers her when people say things that are not at all nice about her husband and the former administration’s policies. She answered that the way they deal with this is to only read the blogs of the people who like them.

WELL! No wonder they think the American People approve of everything they do. If you only look to the people who agree with you for affirmation of your point of view, you’re bound to lose touch with what the REST of the people think. But hey, you’ll get a really great self-esteem boost by constantly looking into the magic mirror that makes you look the best, right? 

Ok, my political rant is over for now… back to your regular activities now!

Handy stuff from The Rapid eLearning Blog

I had to laugh when I saw this — how many times have I used a puzzle piece to represent the connection of ideas? Ok, I get it, no more puzzles… too cliche! Enjoy the article — lots of good e-learning tips there (link is below).

These Simple Tips Will Help You Build the Right E-Learning » The Rapid eLearning Blog.

I’ll never look at my eBooks the same…

 

 

 

We have lost the inventor of the eBook and founder of Project Gutenberg. May his memory live on each time we read in pixel-ink.

Michael S. Hart – Gutenberg.