Am I the only one who sees this coming???

I'm going to go out on a limb and say what surely others must also be seeing: the invasion of Gaza is glaringly obvious as a sham. The whole point of the invasion is only marginally about rockets and Hamas and Israel's security.

Israel is calling everyone's bluff, not because they think everyone is bluffing, but because they want the game to move ahead. They have begun World War III.

They're tired of posturing and chest-beating. They need an excuse to attack proto-nuclear Iran, and this is the most plausible. They know that there's a whole host of nations who will be unable to avoid getting involved as it spirals out of control, and they're OK with that.

And there are so many countries who are equally well waiting for an excuse to start dogpiling each other. This is going to be like a barroom brawl on a colossal scale. It's going to make both WWI and WWII look like wii.
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Government...of the people...

As is often the case, the very night I wrote my last post, I stumbled across a bible verse that was singularly appropriate:

Hear me, ye men of Sichem, so may God hear you.

The trees went to anoint a king over them: and they said to the olive tree: Reign thou over us.

And it answered: Can I leave my fatness, which both gods and men make use of, to come to be promoted among the trees?

And the trees said to the fig tree: Come thou and reign over us.

And it answered them: Can I leave my sweetness, and my delicious fruits, and go to be promoted among the other trees?

And the trees said to the vine: Come thou and reign over us.

And it answered them: Can I forsake my wine, that cheereth God and men, and be promoted among the other trees?

And all the trees said to the bramble: Come thou and reign over us.

And it answered them: If indeed you mean to make me king, come ye and rest under my shadow: but if you mean it not, let fire come out from the bramble, and devour the cedars of Libanus.

Now therefore if you have done well, and without sin in appointing Abimelech king over you, and have dealt well with Jerobaal, and with his house, and have made a suitable return for the benefits of him who fought for you,…rejoice ye this day in Abimelech, and may he rejoice in you. But if unjustly: let fire come out from him, and consume the inhabitants of Sichem, and the town of Mello: and let fire come out from the men of Sichem, and from the town of Mello, and devour Abimelech.

(Judges 9:7-20)

(Abimelech was one of the sons of Gideon (also called Jerubaal), who convinced his fellow Sichemites to appoint him as their ruler when Gideon died. In doing so, he killed all seventy of his half-brothers…except Jotham, the one who spoke the above words before escaping.

Jotham's curse indeed came true: Abimelech decimated Sichem, and in the process got a millstone dropped on his head…by a woman.)

The noble and upright—the olive, the fig and the vine--are those who form the bedrock of society. Their greatest gift is not in wielding power over others, but in producing good fruit.

But the brambles, producers of no good or useful thing, in whose flourishing these others languish, are quite content to usurp and to subdue.

Our elections have presented us with no olives, no figs, no vines. Again and again, we are forced to choose from among the brambles. And we can only expect that these brambles will fulfill their destiny of bringing about their own destruction while consuming even the great cedars of Lebanon. And we have chosen them.

We have chosen them…

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Government? What Government?

Mr. Smith went to Washington, but Nixon still got caught with his hands in the cookie jar. Both the Richard Daleys were/are so crooked, it’s amazing they don’t walk sideways. Clinton endured impeachment hearings for his shenanigans, Gore took his election to the Supreme Court. California has the ability to put referendums on the ballot, but not the backbone to enforce the will of the people. Now Al Frankenstein is making a monster of himself in Minnesota, and the Scarecrow Governor Blago--who hasn’t got a brain--has Brer Rabbit Rush trying to cram Aunt Jemima Burris down our throats.

So my question is…

…does anyone actually have the slightest faith in our government anymore???

If so, WHY?????

govern—a verb

1. to exercise authority over; to control and direct the making and administration of policy in

2. to control the actions or conduct of; to hold in check

There are a few other meanings, but these two are the ones which concern us. Is it possible for the first to have any real meaning if the second is ignored?

How can one govern a country (or state, or city) if one cannot govern oneself?

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