Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 6:25PM 
Pam Dewey has given us another installment of her series on the True Believers in The Camping movement in Titanic Denial part II. It is a very thoughtful and in depth piece.
Friday, June 17, 2011 at 6:00AM I had a discussion on Facebook last month about Israel. I was not satisfied with that discussion. It is difficult to put my thoughts down in writing, so I thought I would try again when I ran across an open letter by Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek fame. He drew an interesting analogy from Star Trek, season 3 episode 14, "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"
The BBC summarizes the letter:
"But the antagonists were keenly aware of their differences --one man was white on the right side, the other was black on the right side. And they were prepared to battle to the death to defend the memory of their people who died from the atrocities committed by the other."
The actor goes on that he does not mean "to belittle the very real issues that divide Israelis and Palestinians." However, he says, the fictitious scenario shows that "myth can be a snare... The two sides need our help to evade the snare and search for a way to compromise.”
Nimoy proposes compromise in the conflict with two states that share Jerusalem as the capital. (The full text of his letter is here.)
While Nimoy has no more credibility than any other Jewish actor, what is interesting to me is what he did not say, but is strongly implied by the analogy "Spock" chose. Here is Wikipedia's description of the end of the episode.
Once the Ariannus mission is completed, Bele takes control of the Enterprise again, but this time he deactivates the auto-destruct in the process and sends the ship to Cheron. Once there, the two aliens find the planet's population completely wiped out by a global war fueled by insane racial hatred. Both Lokai and Bele stare silently at the destruction on the monitor and realize they are the only ones left of their race (or, as they see it, their races).
Instead of calling a truce, the two beings begin to blame each other for the destruction of the planet and a physical brawl ensues. As the two aliens fight, their innate powers radiate, cloaking them with an energy aura that threatens to damage the ship. With no other choice, Kirk sadly allows the two aliens to chase each other down to their obliterated world to decide their own fates, consumed by their now self-perpetuating mutual hate.
What Nimoy did not say is that the hatred the two races shared destroyed their world. This is why I have said on many forums that Israel is doomed. Those on the left blame Israel; those on the right the Palestinians. I see faults on both sides, but to be frank I see less fault on the Israeli side. But I see no reason to be like the crew of the Enterprise who, in the episode, chose sides. Many say that Israel cannot be defeated because God is on their side. But if you believe the prophets of the Bible, God destroyed Israel in 722 BC; God destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC; God destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. I see no reason that God will not allow, or even cause Israel to be destroyed today.
Two nuclear bombs and Israel is gone. Since Israel has 250 nuclear weapons with nuclear material provided by America, this would not be a happy outcome. Like Samson of old, who destroyed the Temple of Dagon and died with its many worshipers, so Israel would retaliate in like manner. If you wonder why America supports Israel, these nuclear weapons are enough reason all by themselves. While I do not believe the apocalyptic scenarios peddled by the survivalists, this one scenario gives me pause. I wish that the Israelis and Palestinians would live long and prosper, together--unless they wish to live in a nuclear wasteland. Anything else is highly illogical.
Politics Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 11:00AM There are riots all over the economically troubled areas of the Eurozone, but for some reason it is not being covered by the media. Here is Russia Today's Max Keiser's coverage:
For more videos click here.
Because our financial system is highly leveraged with debt, a major default like Greece will hit the banks hard. If the defaults spread to other Eurozone countries like Portugal, or God forbid Spain, then most European banks will be broke.
From Bloomberg:
Greece could have a contagion effect,” ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio said yesterday. “That’s the reason why we are against any sort of default with haircuts and any form of private-sector event that could lead to a credit event or a rating event.”
The euro has fallen more than 2 percent in the past two days, to $1.4090 at noon in Frankfurt, and the cost of protecting corporate bonds soared to the highest level since January, with credit-default swaps anticipating about a 74 percent chance that Greece won’t pay its debts.
There is a lack of an united front on the debt issue:
Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said yesterday that senior bondholders should share in the losses of Anglo Irish Bank Corp. and Irish Nationwide Building Society, reversing a policy of protecting owners of senior securities. The ECB is against imposing losses on investors. President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Feb. 7 that haircuts aren’t part of a plan to reduce Ireland’s debt load.
Will the European Central Bank be able to stop the debt crisis?
[Positive Dennis]
There is more discussion of the riots in Canada because the Canucks lost than about the riots in Greece.
[Positive Dennis]
Looks like the news is finally talking about Greece again, after weeks of rioting.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 6:00AM I do not want to turn this blog into a Conrad Black fan site, but he had another excellent column this week. While the column was about Republican presidential candidates, this paragraph leaped off the page:
The entire world is gape-mouthed at how, as a sorbet after its brilliant and almost bloodless victory in the Cold War, the United States has run over and off the cliff of debt, been swindled by the Chinese, been played for an idiot by OPEC, carried the European and Japanese luxury-goods industries on its back like a bipartisan donkey, outsourced 40 million jobs while admitting 15 million illegal and vocationally unskilled immigrants, created the greatest financial bonfire in history by papering itself in trillions of dollars of worthless real-estate-backed debt (certified as investment grade by Wall Street and by the rating agencies that have now put the U.S. on credit watch), and immolated itself like a disgruntled Burmese monk or Tunisian dissident.
When you have gangrene, some form of surgery is needed. So the presidential race next year is important. But if neither party realizes that surgery is needed, the patient will die. Right now, no candidate but Ron Paul or maybe Gary Johnson realizes this, and neither will be the nominee. This whole situation reminds me of the lyrics to a Bob Dylan song:
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
...
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'
