We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Words! Words! Words! The shackles that bind the US to Israel

by Sonja Karkar from Redress. 
As has happened innumerable times in the past, the reprimanding words of US emissaries and government officials are always quickly followed up with other words to reassure Israel of “the unbreakable bond” between the two countries, and more significantly, actions that belie the reprimands. In the midst of all the recent hoo-ha about chilling relations, a 210-million-dollar arms deal with Israel, paid for by US military aid, nevertheless went ahead with an estimated massive 3-billion-dollar F-35 warplane deal still in the offing.
Funny how, in contrast to any kind of health care legislation for the American people, there is never any debate about military and other billions of assistance to Israel. Such bills always sail through Congress without a murmur in the media.
 
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