What’s Up? 06/02/10

It’s another gorgeous day in the meadow. Alas I remain indoors, afraid to step out and be assaulted by the bug that bites me and leaves me itching for a week.

In ten years I’ve never been able to see a bug on my skin, and thereafter find that as the site of intense itching. I assume it is a mosquito, but never feel any bite from the critter and thus have no clue. But  a full week of itching ensues.

I’ve tried every manner of itch cream and calomine lotion I can find. Nothing works but temporarily. I am fine, and then brush against it and it flares up again. I cannot locate my OFF and so am indoors until I can get to the store tomorrow. Then it’s full coverage from head to foot for all of June. By July it seems whatever it is moves on.

Feeling sorry for me? Good! That makes me feel better.

***

A good editorial from the NYTimes on Sister Margaret McBride, excommunicated for signing off on an abortion in Phoenix. All those pedophile priests of course were NEVER excommunicated.

I confess to not knowing as much as I should about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This set of essays I think help us to work our way through a complicated history. Thanks of course to 3quarksdaily. (Do you think I’m over using this site or what?)

Just me, but since BP has asked for any suggestions in plugging that leak? I’d skip the tennis balls and tires, and send down some Rethugs ( I have a whole list I could give them of unnecessary air-users up top here). All that hot air might do the trick ya know. Just sayin’. It’s the patriotic thing to do doncha think? And the GOP prides itself on being patriotic.

Scientific American has a fascinating post on Michaelangelo and the Sistene Chapel. Seems that the great artist and renaissance man was quite the anatomist, and left some fine illustrations buried in the ceiling painting. Such work is now being described by Ian Suk and Raphael Tamargo, both experts in the field of neuroanatomy from Johns Hopkins. Some interesting speculation as to what it all means.

Mystical Seeker has some valuable insights into tolerance in our world today. It never fails to thrill me to see that bloggers read one another, read other articles, and new ideas sprout. Some thoughtful ideas here.

Who doesn’t believe in the big bang? Oh, your usual suspects, southern Republicans. What is it about these people that they are so fearful of reality?

Something like 70-80% of all Americans support repeal of DODT in the military. The right has raised new arguments every day it seems. First, it would increase gay rape, then we have to worry about tainted “gay blood,” then it would destroy military chaplains “rights” but the newest one is the best–It will enrage Muslims who will try to kill more of us. Right Wing Watch has to story.

If you like your news tart and saucy, then you better try out Black Magpie Theory. Brought to us by OKJimm!

Is Sarah Palin entitled to call herself a feminist? Do words mean anything? A terrific must read post at Jezebel!

If you need an attitude adjustment, and we all do from time to time, Atticus at StatesofMindz, has 21 “If’s” you might want to think about.

Hope you find a thing or two that strikes your fancy here.

Missing the Point

Last night we watched a documentary made in 1986, in fact it won an academy award in that year for best documentary. The film is called Broken Rainbow, and it deals with the Hopi and Navajo peoples of Arizona and what was done to them by the government of the United States.

It is but an old story of abuse, one that is well known throughout the mainland of the United States. Our treatment of native peoples from start to finish has been one of utterly mind numbing abuse and horror.

What was shocking in this documentary was that the final insults occurred well within my lifetime, in fact I was in my thirties when it happened, and honestly, and with great shame, I confess I had no idea.

It’s the old story quite frankly of greed. We are reminded but again that as we rail against the confounding greed for greed’s sake that exists in Merika today on the part of mega corporations and insanely wealthy individuals, that such has always been the case. “Let them eat cake!” Marie Antoinette intoned, ( of course she didn’t really say it, but nobody knows who did) if you have any doubt about how long humanity has ignored the poor in favor of their favorite pet entertainments. And of course the courts of Herod the Great, of Ptolemy and so on provide all the evidence required.

The Hopi and Navajo were moved around as needed throughout the 1880′s, treaties written and broken at a whim. Mostly they were left to a goodly section of Arizona, felt fit for nothing, and they continued living as they always had, as herders and farmers. They took care of themselves.

Then of course things changed. Why? Because oil, natural gas, minerals and coal were found. And then they had to go. By creating “tribal councils” that rubber stamped “contracts,” they gave away all the rights to their land, receiving of the four, in no case more than 3.5 cents on the TON of the resources carried away to fuel Merika’s greed. This all happened folks in the 1970′s! And Morris Udall sits in his chair, and says, “hey, what’s the big deal? People have always had to give up homes for a new highway! This just makes them Americans like everyone else!” Yeah right.

As I said, the destruction of sacred lands, the forced removal of native peoples, and the subsequent internment of them, always on land deemed worthless, started at the beginning of this country and has continued unabated. The last changes of the reservation boundaries in Arizona,  occurred in 1996.

But I have to ask myself. Didn’t the Puritans suffer persecution in England which caused their flight to the Netherlands and then to Plymouth? Didn’t the Anglicans who settled in Virginia suffer at the hands historically of Bloody Mary? Didn’t the Irish suffer at the hands of the English? Hadn’t most of the French suffered at the hands of Inquisitors, English, and others? Is not all of European history one huge conflict of one side mistreating and taking from the other? The sides change, the winners change, but all remained the same.

We learned apparently the lesson that might makes right. We learned that to the winner goes the spoils. But having been the victim of all this at an earlier or later date, did no one question whether taking what belongs not to you is not a good thing?

All of America is made up of those who came to these shores because they were mistreated by somebody. Whether they were victims of feudal systems, or victims of conquerors, or simply of land that would not sustain a vigorous life, people came here for relief.

Yet, upon arriving, they took to enslaving, and removing anyone who stood in their way to grab the brass ring. They did it, all of them alike, with apparently no second thought, no shame, no question that they were taking things that belonged to others.

Nobody it seemed, except perhaps when they were first arrived and were extremely vulnerable, said, “may we live among you and will you share with us enough so that we can live?” As soon as we felt powerful enough, we ordered them off “our land”. Sometimes it was done in the name of God.

I just wonder where comes this mental ability to not feel guilty? We are taught today surely that stealing is a crime. People suffered for stealing it seems as far back in history as we have written record. Yet, when done in systematically, whether singularly or as a group, it is somehow okay. Land theft is somehow different when done on a massive scale.

We argued with Canada over land, perhaps neither of us having any “rights” since native people were there first, we stole land right and left from every tribe we came across, perhaps because they had no word for land ownership being that it was sacred and owned by God. Perhaps we thought they didn’t care then. We stole it from Mexico and the Spanish, who if anything were at least there first. The Mexicans surely, and the Spanish before these new things called “Americans.”

Why do we not respect the rights of others? Why have we, victimized historically with being taken advantage of, having our homes taken, our land, stand so ready and willing to do the same to those we encountered on this continent. (And of course we continued that policy in Alaska and in Hawaii as well.)

I’m just askin’ the question. I don’t know the answer.

Just sayin’.

**

You can read a review of Broken Rainbow here.

You can watch a DVD video here. The film is nearly 2 hours long.

It’s Time to Lose ‘I Didn’t Choose’ (to be Transgender) (via Matt Kailey)

A new feature on WordPress allows us to do auto-transfers of blog posts we like (one’s supported by WordPress only) directly, without having to cut and paste and link up. This is simply an important post on language and the LGBT community.

I'm pro-choice, but in this case, I'm not talking about a woman's right to choose. I'm talking about my right to choose, and my right not to be a victim of my birth. I just finished watching a new indie gay and lesbian film that had an interesting premise, but I felt like I was back in the '70s, with the word "homosexual" being thrown around all the time, even by the gay and lesbian characters, and this little gem coming from one of the young les … Read More

via Matt Kailey