Cruise ships to Gaza: Netanyahu opens the Strip to tourism? Yeah right.

In a historically unprecedented move recently, Israel's militant neo-con prime minister Bibi Netanyahu claims to have relaxed his iron grip on Gaza and has cordially invited tourists to visit this bombed-out, violently occupied and haunted place. According to Netanyahu, at last there's been a major breakthrough in the subjugated and occupied Gaza Strip! It has now been officially designated as a hot new tourist destination. Yeah right.

In a recent televised conversation with Mike Huckabee on Fox News, Bibi stated that, while he would never allow armed vessels to arrive in Gaza, he would definitely welcome cruise ships. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7mKEBAMRTA&feature=watch_response

Despite multiple well-documented neutral inspections by international peace-keepers stating that last year's non-violent human aid flotilla to Gaza was not carrying weapons, Netanyahu still claims that the flotilla had actually been armed to the teeth. Bibi then went on to bravely compare himself to John F. Kennedy, stopping armed vessels from arriving in Gaza in the same heroic manner that Kennedy had stopped Soviet missiles from going to Cuba. Yeah right.

"People claim that they want to free Gaza, to be able to import goods," Netanyahu went on to say. "Well, they can. Basically, you can import anything to Gaza! It's completely open." Yeah right.

"Hamas is trying to smuggle in weapons, rockets. We are willing to let you bring in anything but weapons. We don't care if they bring in love boats, cruise ships, tourists, we're okay with that." Yeah right.

According to Bibi, if Princess Cruises or Royal Caribbean or even Norwegian Cruise Lines want to send "Love Boats" to Gaza, he is okay with that. Yeah right.

Has Netanyahu taken a page from the Republican/Democrat corporatist playbook here -- wherein it is not only morally correct but NECESSARY to lie to the public? Or did the American corporatists learn this mendacious technique from Bibi? Or, as highly-esteemed senior Israeli journalist Uri Avnery suggested recently, have they both been taking their pages from the Joseph Goebbels playbook? http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1311959069/

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Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238806637&sr=1-2

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"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters

The Greatest Generation speaks up: "Hands off our Social Security!"

Why does the White House and Congress seem so hell-bent on killing off what is left of America's "Greatest Generation" -- by making cuts to the Social Security payments that we depend upon to stay alive?

I consider myself to be a junior member of the Greatest Generation and I am truly pissed off that "Death Panel" legislators in Washington who are probably too young to have even served in Vietnam -- let alone in World War II -- can be monstrous enough to even consider shutting down Social Security's lifeline to all the veterans who fought in that great war to keep the world safe from corporate control of government (as Mussolini once described National Socialism), and also drastically cut payments to women and children who bravely manned up the Home Front while our soldiers were away fighting Nazis.

Mine is also the last generation to have been raised without television.

And now folks on TV are telling us that, for the sake of balancing the federal budget, we must now give up the Social Security that we all worked so hard for, stop making a fuss, forget our proud legacy of service, die quietly and go peacefully into that great good night. Screw that.

My father fought the Nazis. My mother manned the Home Front. I helped plant our freaking victory garden, had my own personal ration book and collected scrap metal in my little red wagon all throughout World War II. We all put our shoulders to the wheel during World War II and then we worked our arses off for our Social Security benefits after that.

And now some generation raised on the Flintstones is now telling us that THEY are going to cut our Social Security? Screw that.

And now I'm spending at least two hours a day watching TV -- and another eight hours a day on the internet. That's ten or more hours a day that I used to spend HAVING A LIFE. And I bet most of you spend even more time watching TV than that. In fact, do any of you ever even turn the damn thing off?

And what has all this boob-tube-watching gotten us? Nothing. We're losing our homes, we're losing our jobs, we're watching our grandchildren get forced into poverty by a system that wants us to become dumb and uneducated and in debt. Now young Americans are supposed to suffer under the burden of school-loan debt for the rest of their lives just for wanting to go to college and better themselves? When a college education doesn't even matter any more anyway? Screw that too.

Just keep your dirty little corporatist hands off my Social Security, Washington DC.

I don't know where all of you modern DC corporatists were during World War II. You probably weren't even born yet. But if you cut Social Security, then you may find yourself right in the middle of the next war against National Socialism (aka corporatism) -- even if the heroic survivors of World War II have to go out and start it ourselves.

PS: Spend too much time in front of your computer? Here's a simple way to keep back pain from piling up -- just snag a buddy to help cover your back (literally). And you can also cover theirs in return: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgNbvJ0AN0M

In this video, I used only one hand to demonstrate this technique because I had to use the other one to hold the freaking camera -- but do try this using both hands, one on each side of your spine.

PPS: And what's the matter with Berkeley too? It's not just our national priorities that seem to have lost their way these days. Local priorities are also at risk. For instance, the Berkeley city council just cut all kinds of programs for lower-income folks recently -- but will keep paying out large entitlements that benefit those who already have benefits coming out of their ears.

Berkeley used to be the home town of choice for all kinds of artists, writers and visionaries. Not any more. People like Jack Kerouac, Philip K. Dick, Mario Savio, Tre Cool, George Takei, Whoopi Goldberg, Allen Ginsberg, Richard Prior, Gregory Peck, Jimmi Hendrix and the 21 Nobel Peace Prize winners who lived here and made their creative contributions to America back in the day, probably couldn't even afford to live here any more. Heck, even Patti Heart probably couldn't afford to live here any more!

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Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238806637&sr=1-2

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"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters

Murdoch's War: Recent death notices from Iraq

Press Release 20110715-01, July 15, 2011: U.S. service member killed in southern Iraq. United States Forces Iraq PAO: BAGHDAD - A U.S. service member was killed Friday while conducting operations in southern Iraq. http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/.

Press Release 20110710-01, July 10, 2011: U.S. service member killed in southern Iraq. United States Forces - Iraq PAO: BAGHDAD - A U.S. service member was killed Sunday in southern Iraq. http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/.

Press Release 20110708-01, July 8, 2011: Two U.S. service members killed in Iraq. United States Forces - Iraq PAO: BAGHDAD - Two U.S. service members were killed Thursday while conducting operations in central Iraq. http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/.

RELEASE No. 20110630-01, June 30, 2011: Three U.S. service members killed in southern Iraq. United States Forces - Iraq PAO: BAGHDAD - Three U.S. service members were killed Wednesday in southern Iraq. http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/.

Press Release 20110627-01, June 27, 2011: U.S. service member dies in Iraq. United States Forces - Iraq PAO: BAGHDAD - A U.S. service member died Sunday in a non-hostile incident in southern Iraq. http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/.

Press Release 20110614-01, June 14, 2011: Two U.S. service members killed in Iraq. United States Forces - Iraq PAO: BAGHDAD - Two U.S. service members were killed yesterday while conducting operations in southern Iraq. http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/.

Press Release 20110608-01, June 8, 2011: U.S. service member killed in Iraq. United States Forces - Iraq PAO: BAGHDAD - A U.S. service member was killed Wednesday while conducting operations in southern Iraq. http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/.

And the list goes on....

Rupert Murdoch, a corporatist, was highly instrumental in conning America into starting this disastrous war on Iraq -- both by using his news outlets to get George W. Bush into office and by hyping the war itself. And this war is still going on, despite what we're currently being told.

American soldiers are still paying the ultimate price for one man's hubris and greed.

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Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238806637&sr=1-2

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"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters

Dontcha hate it when corporatists pretend to be Christians, Jews & Muslims?

Hey! All you guys with the billion-dollar bank accounts! Don't you know that religions were founded on the principle of enriching the human spirit -- not on enriching your own personal wealth. Rich men can't fit through the eye of a needle. End of story. Period. God, I hate people who use religion as a means to get rich.

Would greedy bastards like Bush, Perry, Bachmann, Palin, Boener -- or even Obama -- ever be able to pass the Jesus test? Hardly. The Sermon on the Mount went right over their heads. Corporatists pretending to be Christians? That's pathetic.

And what if Abraham or Moses came back to visit us earthlings today? They would both kick Netanyahu's butt! "Read your Talmud!" they'd yell at him. Corporatists pretending to be Jews? That's pathetic.

Would Mohammed approve of the Saudis bombing Bahrainian Muslims for fun and profit? Or Sunnis and Shias killing each other by the thousands because of oil disputes? Not on your life! Corporatists pretending to be Muslims? That's pathetic.

It says "Under God" in our Pledge of Allegiance. Do you ever see God approving of the resource wars that are now being conducted in His (or Her) name? Hardly. Do you ever see God approving of cutting Social Security to old folks and essentially giving them a death sentence so that the Pentagon can afford even more million-dollar drones to allow them to kill even more women and children? Dudes, get a grip.

And speaking of our Pledge of Allegiance, it also says, "With Liberty and Justice for all". I can't see that happening right now in America either, can you?

In today's world based on corporate greed, it's not all about God -- or Jesus or Abraham or Mohammed either. It's all about money. It's all about worshiping the Golden Calf -- and then calling it religion.

Don't any of you corporatists EVER talk to me about religion ever again. Talk to God about that. And I would love to hear God's reply. "Go to Hell!"

PS: I bet that if you added up all the human beings that corproratists have killed since the end of World War II (that famous war fought to make the world safe from corporatists!), you might find that corporatists have been responsible for more deaths than Stalin, Hitler and Mao combined.

Hard to believe at first but then if you count in the various resource wars in sub-Saharan Africa, Vietnam, Korea, East Timor, Afghanistan, Sudan, Libya, Iraq and Central and South America plus various other wars for oil and all the monetary fund victims dying of drought, slave wages and/or starvation from Somalia to Haiti to the DRC, and the disastrous War on Drugs plus all the deadly stunts pulled by both Bushes, Johnson, NAFTA, Clinton, Kissinger, Obama, Reagan, etc., I'd be very interested in the results.

But at least Hitler, Stalin and Mao didn't claim to do all their killing in the name of religion.

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Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238806637&sr=1-2

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"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters

Clean air: You'll know it when you see it

According to recent articles that have been published in such various sources as Counterpunch, NucNews, the Huffington Post and Fox News, there's been a noticeable spike in infant mortality in the Pacific northwest since the nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima began last March. Not only that but there are approximately 600 coal-fired power plants now operating in America that are pumping out pollution that is slowly but surely destroying a whole lot of people's lungs. Plus we still have to deal with old-fashioned vehicle-produced smog. Clean air is getting harder and harder to find!

But I found some.

I happened to stumble across a very small pocket of clean air while visiting the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in Minneapolis recently, over in Wirth Park. I had gone to Minneapolis in order to attend the 2011 Netroots Nation convention for progressive bloggers, and one of the convention's features was a "Day of Service" which involved getting conference participants away from their keyboards and actually luring us out into the local wildflower garden to pull weeds. I want to pull weeds! I'll try anything once.

Well, the garden turned out to be more than just a garden. It was also a forest, a wetland, a bog and a bird sanctuary. "Look!" cried one bird-watching blogger. "There's an Indigo Bunting!" A what?

And as we walked deeper into the woodland, that's where I found it -- actual, real, honest-to-goodness clean air. Not even manufactured or bottled. This was the real stuff. Trust me. You will know it when you see it. It smelled wonderful. I was in awe.

Suddenly, I wanted this stuff! I want MORE of this magical stuff. I lusted after more of this wonderful stuff. I wanted to own it, to love it, to take it home with me in my suitcase. Clean air is amazing, better than fine wine or drugs.

When I got back home, I bought an air purifier/ionizer online -- but it wasn't the same.

People in Minneapolis go out and buy all kinds of things at the Mall of America -- but what I want to buy more than anything is this wonderful rejuvenating taste of clean air. More than a new Mercedes or a wardrobe to die for, I want this! I've finally become a Material Girl -- lusting after clean air.

PS: Also at Netroots Nation 2011, they showed us a preview of a new movie featuring Robert Kennedy Jr, called "The Last Mountain". Check it out if you get a chance. Here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8WpxjwxGns.

People who live in the forests of West Virginia are currently having all their clean air destroyed by greedy and heartless coal corporations -- one mountaintop at a time. 500 mountains have been destroyed in West Virginia so far. That's a hecka lot of clean air that we'll never see again.

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Want something good to read? Buy my book! "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips for Touring Today's Middle East," available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_title_1. It's like if Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain and/or Janet Evanovich went to war.

I also wrote a book about going on Hajj (also included as a chapter in "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket," but this book is cheaper -- but it's worth buying them both!) My book on the Hajj is so outstanding that I bet even Christian fundamentalists will love it! Please buy it here: http://www.amazon.com/Mecca-Hajj-Lessons-Islamic-School/dp/0978615700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238806637&sr=1-2

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"Imagine a world where EVERY child is wanted, nurtured, protected and loved: World peace in one generation!" You can now buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for parents and teachers. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters



"Life is a competition. The winners are the ones who do the most good deeds." You can also buy T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, truckers' caps, baby gear and/or teddy bears with this logo printed on them. They make great gifts, especially for those of us who are still idealists in these troubled times. To purchase, just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/StillTWaters