Letter to a friend

Hi Tim,

Good to hear from you.

>Hi Dan, Thanks for the maps; what is the source? I noticed a drastic change in both
>maps of 1947. Why do you suppose this is?

The maps were a post that a friend put up. I only opened it cause you had mentioned Israel the other day in your writing. I don't pay to much attention to them myself, (no tv right now or time for it). To answer your question though, I'd say that Israel is trying to oust the other group and take all the land. Not unlike the Europeans who came and took this land from the Indians. I guess I can't blame them for trying to fight back, but they don't have a chance. Israel has all the big guns, we supplied them.

>I have been searching all day for the best way to answer you about why the United States >gives Israel so much support. From a strictly political point, Israel is a friend of The >United States.

Strategically speaking being friends with Israel is in our interest. Having a piece of dirt over there loaded up with our nuclear weapons keeps the rest of the region on egg shells. It reminds them who's oil it really is. Please excuse the mildly sarcastic over tones.

>Other than that, there is much history that is very complicated to present to you without >knowing your religious (if any) background. Knowing if you are Christian, Atheist, or
>other, will help me find terms that will help me give a deeper explanation to you. Let me >know if you don't mind.

It's sorta like Santa Claus. I grew up indoctrinated into the christian religion, but as I've grown older I see how the camp fire stories that developed into belief systems have done more harm than good. Sure there are those that develop a sense of security through them and some sick puppies do good because they fear what will happen if they don't. (I call them sick because doing good should be its own reward, being motivated by fear is a sad old belief). Maybe there was a time long ago when people needed something to fear to be kept in line, or at least the ones in search of control found the pen stronger than the sword. At any rate in this day and age we can't afford to have our minds off in some supernatural afterlife as we walk through this world like zombies leaving a trail of destruction we hope to be forgiven for.

>On the MSN screen I entered History of Israel and hit search. Two items of interest,
>among the thousands, are history of Israel: 1947 U.N. Partition Proposal and especially >Hamas: information from answers.com/topic/hamas dedicated to the destruction of
>Israel
>There is more there than you will want to read but many things to choose from.

I haven't yet checked it out. This isn't a subject I've been real interested in, but if this is something that your interested in and would like to have conversations about I will take some time and read through it.

>Three years ago, Israel removed itself from Gaza and ordered its people out of there.
>Source: Jan. 5th., Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News.
>Hamas threw out the Treaty with Israel and started firing missiles some time ago. Under
>the circumstances, Israel has been patient. Hamas has inserted itself within the
>Palestine people and are basically trying to shield themselves with innocent people.
>Israel has taken action to bring this to an end. War is never a good thing for those not >involved in the actual front line fighting and those on the line also suffer. Israel wants to >eradicate Hamas, not the Palestine people. They have come to terms with leaving Gaza.

As with all media I think it's important to look at things from many angles and perspectives in order to get a clear view of the whole picture. Most main stream news puts a bend on the story to make "our team" always right. OH, I'm looking down at your next paragraph and I couldn't have said it better.

>When our military kills civilians, it is called collateral damage. (sorry, the italics was on
>and I didn't realize it) I guess the term is meant to excuse the action but that doesn't
>make it any different than saying "killed".

In our news you hear about our 4,000 some soldiers killed, you don't hear about the estimated 1,500,000 Iraqis we killed. The news always downplays those loses and discredits those that bring it up. For wars sake they have to, if the sheep new that we are the terrorist it might upset their sleep.

>I am opposed to war and yet find it a necessary evil. You are free today, to live in a van
>and travel, to make choices about what you do and where you go, because of war. Men
>and women died so you can make your decisions. I wish war never existed but it has no
>end in site. Much of the world has been against Israel since it re-established itself as
>a .nation and took back its lands. Jews seemed to be hated and persecuted just
>because they are Jews. Spend some time reading up on Adolf Hitler and his approach; it
>all ties together. The United States exists because settlers (newcomers) of this land
>bound together and took it. Israel is fighting to protect its very existence; just as we still
>do.

War has been good for the economy and the development of new synthetics and processes. We owe much of our chemicals and destructive compounds to the engineers of WWII. We were the only modern industrialized nation that survived the war without being bombed into the stone age. We owe much of our nations wealth to being the only one capable of resupplying the world with what it needed after the war. Not only that but the baby boom kept every sector invigorated with growth for years. Everyone needed everything and there was lots to do keeping everyone supplied, life was good. One of many unfortunate lessons supposedly learned during that time was war was good for the economy.

>Dan, give a little thought why you are no longer required to register with Selective Service >when you become 18yrs. old and be drafted into war to fight and risk your life "for your >country" when you are 19 yrs. old. It is because of war. You have reaped its benefit and
>have not done anything to warrant it. That's just the way it is. That is because someone
>else died to give you this freedom and others are dying daily for you. In my opinion, dying
>for your country is bunk. Dead is dead and no euphemism can change it. I prefer the
>motto of "make love, not war" as I previously said. It was on CNN that Israel is currently >drafting up troops to fight. They still need to draft people as they are a young, struggling, >nation as compared to us. I still say "I'll stop shooting at you if you stop shooting at
>me".

I did actually have to register with selective services when I turned 18. I agree with you that the draft was ended through war. Politically people like Mike Gravel and others fought their war to end the draft through the congress and senate. Thousands of young people and college students across the country and stood up to the old thinkers in government and violently protested the meaningless war in Vietnam and the draft. Your generation stood up to authority and changed things. The government now fears that kind up uprising from the young people. Ending the draft was a logical next step to keep the masses from caring too much about future conflict. It really is just a slight of hand though, they removed the draft but hired plenty of private contractors to conduct our recent oil war. I here they made good money too like $100,000 a year. With either a draft or heavy tax burden they've figured out how to keep the pressure on the young people, it's just not as in your face as it once was. I do like the "make love not war" motto. I don't like the saying "make babies not bombs" the destructive force is the same.

>I know that I haven't given a proper answer to you and I am open to adding more if I have >more information. I am also aware that offering my own personal feelings on war are not
>of significance when it comes to the subject of war. It's just that the subjects of war and
>Israel are very complicated issues. Maps and the United Nations don't provide a complete >story or full history.

I agree, at the end of the day all these little make believe lines that we draw on paper and call countries doesn't really matter. With all our technology and know how, our supposed superiority over the planet many people are still suffering everyday, the planet keeps getting slapped and abused a little more everyday, and the future for generations to come looks a little worse everyday.

>Kindly ask Sonja if she found Prussia on a current world map.

I will tell her.

>I like Latin because it does not change. >Send me your thoughts...and feelings, on this.

Well Tim, I feel like there is no reason that people should still be hungry in the world. People around the world should have adequit medical care. We should all be happy. We should be living in peace and unity together here on Earth, and we don't need some asshole or group of asshole to run it. There is no place left to move to to get away from the assholes, there is no more undiscovered land further west. There's no other planets to inhabit, we can't ship half the population to the moon. The more we expand the greater burden we put on the planet and it's resources. I hope we figure this out as a group before it's too late.

Big hugs,
Dano >TTYL,>Tim