SADdam's Trial by Ambush

"Supporters of war crimes trials say that they can improve healing after conflict and draw a line under the past - but like so much else in post-Saddam Iraq, his trial does not look as if it will achieve that lofty ambition. "

So- the Iraqi Appeals Court upheld the previous court's decicion to have former president Saddam Hussein sentenced to death. He is sentenced to die by hanging within the next 30 days. The United States applauded this result as a clear sign of the progress of freedom and justice in the former state of Iraq... And yet, Human Rights Watch has expressly condemned the proceedings of the entire trial, while both India and the European Union have urged the repealing of the death sentence for a more humane verdict on grounds of the execution's threat to stability and peace.


I never understood why it was we think that killing people solves things. Peace and Justice are obviously brought by condemning and sentencing to death the wrong while rewarding the right.... right? If you are the victor perhaps. The right is always what the winner says is right. The wrong is what the losers get... what they deserve.... right? War crime trials in the essence of Nuremberg are obviously far more advanced and better thought out than the Truth and Reconcilation Committee of the post-apartheid South Africa's attempt at justice...

Whatever happened to compassion and reconciliation and forgiveness and justice and peace and love and hope and joy and empathy and humanity? Ubuntu

I love the Empire's culture. It just makes sense. So do it. Its what feels right*.

Amerika, fuck yeah.



[*right is to be determined and judged by the victor, henceforth America the Strong shall judge right and wrong with an iron fist with the clarity of black and white. Therefore, if what you are doing feels right but is not right*, you and everything about you are wrong. Thank you.]

Merry Christmas

The Messiah is come to Earth this day. .









Salaam my friends.

Ishmael

"With Man gone, will there be hope for Gorilla?"

Daniel Quinn's book is one of the most thought provoking and challenging books that I have read in quite awhile. Not that the books I was required to read for my courses this past semester were not thought provoking, but when you are forced to have your thoughts provoked (so to say), it often occurs that they are less attentive than can be otherwise. I often find that when I read books for a class, my mind is subconsciously rebelling against the information and even wisdom that they are trying to give me through them. No matter how much I may agree with or enjoy or have an interest in the material, the stubborn rebellious part of my brain is saying, "I may want to read this, but I did not choose to do so at this particular point in time! Therefore, I will make it as if I have only half read it!" (which in many cases turns out true after the last page has been flipped.) Moving farther on.....After having finished it (Ishmael) about an hour ago, my mind is still trying to comprehend the vast amount of wisdom that seems to go so very strongly against everything we have ever been taught from pre-gradeschool. I will not go into it because I would not want to ruin it for those of you who have not yet read. I do, however, strongly recommend doing so. If I had any control over what you do whatsoever, I believe I would actually force you to read this book, and like doing it... even if this goes against what I said earlier about not wanting to learn something. Anyhow, This book holds precepts that may be (read almost without a doubt are) crucial to the survival of our very species. It at once gives you despair and hope. Of course, what would it matter if our own species was just one more that we knocked off the list of the living? How did we become such swaggering pretentious idiots to think that we deserve to rule the world?

Purpose: Justification: Motive: Worth

Certain members of my community have brought to my attention the fact that the weather is changing for the colder crisper snowier. Yes, I realize that I should have observed this fact on my own as it is relatively unavoidable if one ever has to step foot out of the dorm room we have so been blessed with to inhabit and sleep under the roof of. Perhaps I realized it subconsciously, because the darker the day, the less bright the mood- not in an 'oh life sucks' way, but in a 'perhaps there is more meaning to life, the universe and every(little)thing we do than we give it' kind of way and a 'why the ____ does everyone always walk around like they are having the time of their lives?' way. Not that I start to question my 'religious' views per say, but more that I begin to question the motives for all actions and beliefs and behaviors, specifically mine. For an example that doesn't really make sense or pertain to anything: this piece of art is not in this entry for any other fact than that I like looking at it. After that fact, I tend to analyze every small pointless (is it?) detail, such as my motives- did I want others to experience something that I thought was beautiful? or do I just want to look cultured and down with modern art? I hope thats not the motive. If it helps, I randomly found that picture online while looking at some political billboard artist documentary thingy. The fact I know it even exists is an accident. Or is it? This is what I mean. When the Bible points to the fact that G_D knows the number of every hair on our heads, is that supposed to point to G_D's omniscience or that G_D actually cares about every smallest detail in the things we do and our motives for our most seemingly insignificant actions? Is the way I (have not) organized my desk of any eternal significance, or any meaning at all in any run, long or short? At this point, I usually play donkey kong country, or write one of these confusing blogs, or run out and find the closest friend with a cigarette (usually thats me). What think thee oh brave reader of this confusion?

Besouled Bodies: Embodied Souls

I wrote the first exam of my sophomore year this early winter -yet strangely warm- afternoon. T'was on the subject of Theology more or less. 'Wrote', however, is more than likely too strong a word for what I did- I merely filled in 100 more oval than circular bubbles with a number 2 pencil probably darker than they needed to be and almost never within the provided lines as suggested in the instructions. Nonetheless, complete it I did, and thus came to an end my first theology class.

[Here is where I should stop to tell the reader: the last blog thingamugum I wrote in, namely xanga, could rarely be understood by even my most intimate of friends, for it tended not to follow the rules of grammar... or straight thinking.... or anything at all resembling clear and logical thought, really. So, I thought to myself, perhaps with a clean slate on this here 'Lo! and Behold!' page, that I would begin by expelling those previous doubts of my hidden intellect and true genius and write with such clarity and style so as to wow and astound my audience- maybe even use a thesaurus to put a new twist on old words in order to sound what they call 'fresh'. But, my friends (I realize that you may be somewhat shocked at this quite sudden change in our relationship status: from mere 'reader' to 'audience' to 'friend'- however, please remain calm, I may not even mean it, although i would like to think that if you care what I think enough to have read this far that we may consider each other as more than enemies), what good are lies? I do not often make sense to myself, why should I make sense to the rest of Creation? I therefore came to the conclusion not to be what I am not, or write what I do not necessarily think, or even spellcheck this bitch. Or, apparently, curb my swearing habit. (Actually, I probably will spellcheck this, as I would at least like you to know the words I am writing, even if you fail to comprehend their meaning.) On that fine note and the warning that confusion may prevail at the end of thine reading, read on, oh brave soul!]

Perhaps the most interesting and thought-provoking wisdom that I gained from said Theology class this semester has been a truly Biblical understanding of what the 'soul' is. This is especially due to the fact (to some more suprisingly than others) that most churches, and Christians in general, are blatantly wrong on the issue. To most western christians, as they will tell you, the soul is that part of oneself that is immortal and eternal; it is the essence of who we 'really' are that continues to carry on after our bodies have died and decomposed. It is the more important part of the dyadic human, composed of body and soul. It is the part that deserves the most attention (and therefore gets it from most churches) and really the thing that Jesus came to save and restore. This exegesis is especially comforting to those who do not like their physical bodies and like the excuse that the 'real them' is not their body but their soul. We have even come to mix and match the word for soul with personality, as if it is the realest and most naked and pure form of that non-physical entity: the Image of G_D given to humanity alone.

And yet, if realized in its original meaning and the very essence of the word, Soul is given to the animals as well, for 'all' it is is the breath of life given by G_D to all living things. It is what keeps us alive, the G_Dbreath that sustains our bodily existence. Thus the animals have been given this 'soul' as well. You cannot save someone's soul, just as an animal cannot make a confession of faith and have its soul saved (as if your confession is what saved you anyways... but more on that at a later time when i feel like taking on most people's doctrine of salvation) . When you die, you are utterly and completely dead, your breath of life (read soul) is no longer. It is not without the power of G_D that you, in your bodily entirety, will ever live again, be raised to life and experience a life after death. The hope in one's soul for that is a hope in power that one dos not have and does not exist. So then, what should the Christian community focus on in order to 'save' people? In the words of Gutherie,

"The biblical answer is that we should be concerned about neither bodies nor souls but about human beings– people... What kind of ambassadors for Christ wold we be if we said in effect, ' G_D loves you- but of course G-D only cares about saving your soul. G_D is not interested in whether you are hungry, poor, sick, homeless overworked, and underpaid. All that is unimportant.'"

Well, of course we wouldn't be representing Jesus at all. I especially like this doctrine of the soul as it points to the importance of social justice and caring for the oppressed. Manytimes I feel that it is the emphasis on the 'saving of the soul' that so often overlooks the physical conditions of those it is trying to reach. Lets try and give them truly good news.
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This entry is way too long. I apologize. AND I forgot to use spellcheck.
love,
me