Israel and Gaza Conflict

Outside observers like myself or you will probably never understand the conflict going on between Israel and Gaza simply because we do not live with the stress of two people not wanting to ever be neighbors. There is an extreme sense of hate between these people and yet when it comes to living and working they rely on not just one another business wise but also as people trying to earn a living and cohabitate. Then you toss in extremist opinions and outside influence that feeds weapons to both sides and you have one hell of a time bomb that someone will set off.

At times like these I wonder how the conflict between England and Northern Ireland would have ended up if people with weapons of mass destruction would have supplied both sides just to see how the weapons work. What is the kill factor on this missile? How does this weapon work? I’m not saying that people are experimenting where the fire is the hottest but it does make one wonder how the weapons that the people of Gaza are getting hold of to launch into Israel? These kinds of weapons do not grow on trees!

I grew up with a father that hated the English so bad he went to his grave with that hate instilled. He never met anyone from England or Great Britain, but he hated them anyway. That hatred was instilled in him from the time he was a child here in the United States by his own father. His father was a fighter in Ireland in the early 1900’s against the English and I can’t be sure of what acts he committed out of his hate but he immigrated to the United States the same year the Titanic sank. It was that or be caught and hanged. The hate managed to make the swim across the Atlantic. I thank God that my mother was not party to that same hatred and broke the cycle of unquestionable hate. Mind you, I am still very proud of my Irish heritage but that is a post for another day.

Personally, I am proud of my Irish heritage but I am more proud of the Irish back in my families homeland that managed to find peace. It isn’t something that can be stuffed down your throat, you have to want it, believe in it, and make it happen. The two sides in Northern Ireland found a common ground, worked out a treaty for long term peace, worked on that peace, are living that peace. Bombs are not going off killing innocent people, and troops are not forced to shoot to defend themselves against angry mobs. People and children are living a peace and surviving to smile and love another day. That is the desire that the people of Gaza and Israel need to come to realization with.

No outside influence can demand peace for Israel or the people of Gaza. It has to come from within and if it does not, then they will continue to war against one another. Neither Israel or Gaza is innocent in this latest altercation and battle. Each side sees their own reason for the fight but each side will fill graves because of the idiocy of pride. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth will only go so far till everyone is blind and toothless but nobody is listening in the Middle East. Thus the battle continues full of hate.

It takes guts to fight, but it takes a stronger virtue to find peace. That virtue is within reach but they have to face the fact that no amount of graves will end this war between them.

I pray for peace between Israel and the Gaza Strip people. And yet I know that is truly up to them. No amount of diplomacy can end it till someone takes their damn fingers off of a trigger on a gun or missile.

Just if you were wondering, I am pro Israel for defending itself.

Papamoka

Stand Up to the Hate Merchants and End Their Reign of Terror

Hello Papamoka Bloggers - I would like to praise how Joy Behar courageously called out Bill O'Reilly on The View Wednesday - she pretty much called him a hate-filled devil. GO JOY! It takes a lot of guts to stand up to that giant a-hole, but she did it.

Joy, if you read this, I love you for doing it. Bill O'Reilly is nothing but a lying, racist, bully. He is a hate merchant. They make money preaching hate and sewing division wherever possible. We need to point out what they really are, whenever possible, and scream it to everyone willing to listen.

Fox is paying that human excrement $10 million over four more years to spew hatred. I can't believe we have to put up with creeps like him. Let's see, who are the other hate merchants who need to be thinned from the herd, as they say on the Stephanie Miller Show? Let's go with that evil triumvirate: the bully O'Reilly, the repetitious monkey Hannity, and the idiot Glenn Beck.

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Between them they spew enough hate-filled-bile to fill a swimming pool daily. They are the worst of the worst in my opinion, but feel free to suggest others. Oh yes, let's not forget Anne - the hit man - Coulter. She's one of the worst.

Anyway, kudos to the woman who tried to make a citizen's arrest of Karl Rove in San Francisco yesterday, to Joy Behar for confronting O'Reilly with his evil deeds, and to all of us who stand up to the despicable people that make up the extreme, hate-filled right.

I know some of you will think I'm too harsh, but I don't agree. I come from the Keith Olbermann school of "call it like it is," and they need to be called out.

Btw, let's not forget their loyal fans. They are the pathetic masses that support the evil-doers. We probably should call them out too. I often tell a good friend of mine who loves those shows how he's a "good little soldier" for the hate mongers. He just laughs it off. Don't worry, I'll keep doing it until it sinks in.

People like O'Reilly are hurting this nation and our society. They teach hate and intolerance to adults and children, and they should be shut down. We shouldn't marginalize them. We should make it so that they can't harm any of us, anymore.

So, do a good deed, and call them what they are if you ever see them in person. Call them the soulless, wretched scum that they are. Wow, I feel better now. :)

Michael Boh
Papamoka's Left Coast Contributor
from Our Rants & Raves Blog

For Our Own Humanity, We Must Remember Shaun Dykes

Hello Papamoka Bloggers - I know it involves a crowd overseas, but I still think it's important for us to remember just how cruel people can get, especially when they gather and act like a mob. This is a stark and painful follow-up to my comments on last week's hateful campaign crowds, and just how horribly wrong things can go when they get out of hand. Like I said, people can die.

In the UK last week 17 year old Shaun Dykes threw himself off the roof of a shopping center in Derby, England, after a crowd gathered below and goaded him into jumping while chanting anti-gay obscenities. Shaun stood on the building roof for three hours contemplating killing himself. Eyewitness Alasdair Kay told the BBC's Today, "We could hear people shouting 'jump fag' followed by a stream of expletives. They weren't all just young people, some were middle-aged. To be honest with you I was sickened."

BBC reports that Derbyshire's Chief Constable Mick Creedon confirmed that members of the public encouraged the teenager to kill himself. Some filmed the event and posted it on the Internet. Pictures of him standing on top of the railings before his death even appeared in the newspaper the Daily Mail.

Up to 300 people gathered below where Shaun was perched on a railing. Some sources say that some observers, incredibly, allowed their children to watch. "Whilst we are very used to dealing with incidents like this, this was unusual with members of the public videoing, taking photographs and even shouting for Shaun to jump," Creedon said.

His teacher Rob Howard said that he was an openly gay student and that many of the kids “goaded him to jump" for that reason. The Bishop of Derby, the Rev. Dr. Alastair Redfern, added: “I’m horrified. I hope these people feel deeply ashamed. Here was a very troubled person crying out for help.”

After three hours and plenty of loud shouts of "jump fag" from the crowd, Shaun jumped the 60 feet to his death. It is reported that Shaun left a suicide note and was upset after the break-up of a relationship. His friends say that he was a great guy who "always had a smile on his face."

The whole story disgusts me, especially reading about how the crowd wasn't questioned or charged. The authorities just let the hate-mongering accomplices go free. The police said it was because the crowd was too large. I say it was because they didn't care enough. Crowds, like bullies, often get away with harm, or murder. Society should not tolerate hate, from individuals or crowds.

I am horrified, but not surprised. I've almost been a victim of crowd related violence myself after I tried to help somebody being threatened and abused. People didn't come to my defense against the bullies; they joined in the bullying. We were lucky to get out of there with only a few scratches and light punches.

I think that's what happens when people gather and allow hate to consume them. Who knows, it might be from a dark place completely unrelated. Perhaps they're expressing their anger at the world, or their disappointment in their own lives? Who knows, but the bottom line is they can't seem to stop themselves from taking it out on innocent people. They seem to lose touch with those very important parts of our social humanity: empathy, sympathy and compassion. It's like they become animals or something.

Shaun died partly because of his own pain, but also because of society's willingness to tolerate the hate that ultimately taunted him to his death. Our leaders need to always remind us that we are responsible for controlling our own anger, and for taking care of each other.

We should never channel - individually or as a crowd - any hate or anger in a destructive way. As I said on my earlier crowd-related post, people can get seriously hurt or die when crowds are allowed to erupt into verbal and physical violence. That crowd below Shaun should have been dispersed. The police failed to do their job.

We are each our brother's keeper. We are all responsible for our society's actions. We must demand civility and security for ourselves and those vulnerable among us. I would like to convey my personal condolences and prayers for Shaun, his family and friends. I hope they can find peace.

Finally, I urge you take action and sign an online tribute to Shaun here to show them we care. I also urge you to join good government organizations that fight against hate and violence. Feel free to email me if you want my personal suggestions.

Michael Boh

Papamoka's West Coast Contributor

from Our Rants & Raves Blog

Obama Horse Whipping McCain in Electoral Votes

Over at Real Clear Politics they have a state by state tabulation of polls on how each state is going to vote and Obama is beating the crap out of McCain. Granted there are still some states that are in the toss up category but as time passes folks and polls will change. As of today, RCP has 153 solid Electoral College votes for Obama and 99 solid votes for McCain. Eleven states are in a toss up category with 137 votes in play. What is surprising is the number of states that President Bush won that are now going for Obama or leaning just a tad for McCain.

I honestly believe that one of the things that is swinging what was once a die hard red state to a thinking about going blue state is the simple fact that Barack Obama is selling hope and not fear. Who in their right winged mind would have voted for Ronald Reagan if he ran his Presidential campaign on fear? He ran his campaign on pride and a simple belief that America is the greatest land on Earth! Ronald Reagan was the great communicator and in the same breath and thought, so is Barack Obama. America is in a time of turmoil, we just have not hit rock bottom yet. Our banking institutions are in crisis, our housing market is busted, and our military is based on calling our sons and daughters up for their third and fourth and even fifth or sixth tour of duty in Iraq. Our nation is in trouble and in times of trouble, we need real leaders that can bring us all together under one flag, not divide us as the last eight years has proven. America needs a new Sherriff in the White House and just as well in the Congress. When you stand back and look at what America can be, and the future that each political candidate on both sides of the aisle is painting then the choice for your vote should be as plain as can be. One is looking at a one hundred year war and the other is looking at diplomacy and working together to solve so many problems our world faces.

All across the world people fight for freedom but don’t understand what it really means. When you think of freedom you have to think of something as delicate as a flower. It is the ultimate form of beauty to the person looking at it as it should be on the plant it came from. When you pick that flower the beauty is short lived as the pedals slowly die without the nutrients it needed from its roots to propagate the species. Freedom is something you have to appreciate and cultivate to make sure it survives the winter. In the end, no matter how much the bull dozers of progress trample the seeds of freedom they grow and flower once more.

Right now in our lifetime we as a people have an opportunity to see flowers and freedom as we have never seen them before. An opportunity to view freedom in its greatest bloom and that only happens when we choose a leader that is looking at all of our people and not just one side of the flower bed. Ronald Reagan gave birth to pride in America in his Presidency because he believed in the American people. He nurtured the pride and stood guard over it like a dotting parent and the result was a newborn belief in America that still stands today. Only Barack Obama can rebuild the pride in our nation from the damage done by the Bush prodigal son. Obama is not selling fear or hate in his message to America, he is telling all of us that we can be one people once more with a common goal. Freedom. Something our founding fathers granted us all as a people in the Constitution. Not some of us, not half of us, but all of us as a people.

Freedom, that is as American as Apple Pie!

Papamoka