The Gallup Poll is mimicked on a small sample, based on the circle of humans I encounter and dialogue with on a daily basis. Whenever the other shoe drops, it will be over the fact that US taxpayers of federal, local, county, school district, and municipal taxes can't make the math work of what the US dollar can buy. It can't buy enough to be maintained locally, as I see the shock and horror of fixed incomes being shredded with little left over... Always more for the "safety" part of the budget, if you break down your local taxes.
But THIS... blood draining horror decision of fighter jets, genocide and using it to go into Syria again, when we occupy 1/3 of it with our basis... THIS is the story I'm waiting to see unfold to the masses. Also, everyone I've asked to guess how much debt the "greatest country" in the world has cannot get their mind around that $37 TRILLION... Can't see it...Right now, it's a mixed salad of cognitive dissonance with stone cold silence dressing.
With humility, I will share with you an email I sent to the clergy of the church in Keene,NH where I sing...As context, the town and especially the church prides itself on being the hometown/parish for Jonathan Daniels, a civil rights martyr who was murdered in Hayneville, Alabama in 1965...I predict that Bushnell's courageous martyrdom will be monumental......Similarly in the paradigm shift, we have State Department/and other officials resigning in protest....This is indeed a paradigm shift; the tipping point, per this email, will be when the churches take a stand. Of further note, Daniels' has at a minimum a Wikipedia page online and one can find Munther Isaac interviews/sermons through youtube....Long live Palestine!
Dear xxxx,
Taize chants as beautiful embellishments to the simplified Lenten rituals so common to ‘cradle Episcopalians’ contrasts to the absence of addressing moral crises, and most importantly that facing us after October 7. It’s as if the church, the one that celebrates Jonathan Daniels as its martyr, and emphasizes using the right pronouns is saying pay no attention to the genocide currently ongoing in Palestine. Well, I for one have been paying attention and these are a few of the signs I’ve noticed in the past week:
· Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s refusal to meet with Reverand Dr. Munther Isaac, the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. Though the Guardian reported in early March that Welby had apologized and planned to meet with Isacc this week, there is no record that I can find of such a meeting having taken place.
· On February 25, USAF Airman Aaron Bushnell’s self-immolation in front of the Israeli Embassy, Washington, DC galvanized the anti-imperialism movement in the US and global opposition to Western colonialism and oppression….Islamic Information has just reported that in Bushnell’s will, he left all his money to Palestinian Relief Fund
· International Court of Justice (ICJ) legal proceedings are recognizing Israeli violations of international law as codified in the 1949 Geneva Conventions which the US and Israel have botg signed. Specifically
o On 26 January 2024 the ICJ ruled that there was probable cause that Israel had committed and is committing genocide and ruled that Israel should take immediate action to prevent genocide
o 19 – 28 February ICJ hearings on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine land and testimonies to the ICJ by more than 50 countries and international groups providing
§ Evidence of Israel’s denial of Palestinian self-determination and human rights going back 75 years
§ Conclusions that Palestinians have the right to self-defense, to include violence, to resist the occupation
· Israel’s ongoing blockade of Gaza is resulting in the population’s dependence on food aid and bringing about the final stages of malnourishment and starvation
o The ‘flour massacre’ on 29 February when Israeli forces shot more than 800 Palestinian men, women and children (killing more than 100) while they waited in lines and or retrieved food aid
The Israeli occupation of Palestine ongoing since the 1940s and continuing to the present has been marked by displacement, dispossession, and systemic discrimination and denial of self-determination and human rights. This occupation contrasts between the idealized image of Israel and its grim reality. Yet, the actions of this church are turning a blind eye to the repercussions from their blind allegiance to a notion of a 'religious Israel' and their interpretation of Christian faith. This perpetuates the deception that their alliance is honorable or holds spiritual significance. While the forthcoming presentation of Dr. Christine Shepardson is an attempt for St. James to address this crisis, understanding this region’s ancient history distracts from its political realities. The children of Gaza are dieing of malnutrition at levels that surpass those experienced by countries occupied by Germany during World War II. The Israeli belligerence cannot even be considered a war, it is in fact a one-sided slaughter. This stark contradiction can no longer be denied to the extent the church is becoming complicit in a Gaza genocide.
I will leave you with the words of Rev. Munther Isaac spoken in early January 2024. “true peace-making demands that we take sides and this is the time that we act by our moral and ethical standards”……”history will hold you accountable.”
The Gallup Poll is mimicked on a small sample, based on the circle of humans I encounter and dialogue with on a daily basis. Whenever the other shoe drops, it will be over the fact that US taxpayers of federal, local, county, school district, and municipal taxes can't make the math work of what the US dollar can buy. It can't buy enough to be maintained locally, as I see the shock and horror of fixed incomes being shredded with little left over... Always more for the "safety" part of the budget, if you break down your local taxes.
But THIS... blood draining horror decision of fighter jets, genocide and using it to go into Syria again, when we occupy 1/3 of it with our basis... THIS is the story I'm waiting to see unfold to the masses. Also, everyone I've asked to guess how much debt the "greatest country" in the world has cannot get their mind around that $37 TRILLION... Can't see it...Right now, it's a mixed salad of cognitive dissonance with stone cold silence dressing.
Thanks, let's hope this keeps trending as such. I suppose world opinion of the outlaw US empire is declining as well.
Good.
With humility, I will share with you an email I sent to the clergy of the church in Keene,NH where I sing...As context, the town and especially the church prides itself on being the hometown/parish for Jonathan Daniels, a civil rights martyr who was murdered in Hayneville, Alabama in 1965...I predict that Bushnell's courageous martyrdom will be monumental......Similarly in the paradigm shift, we have State Department/and other officials resigning in protest....This is indeed a paradigm shift; the tipping point, per this email, will be when the churches take a stand. Of further note, Daniels' has at a minimum a Wikipedia page online and one can find Munther Isaac interviews/sermons through youtube....Long live Palestine!
Dear xxxx,
Taize chants as beautiful embellishments to the simplified Lenten rituals so common to ‘cradle Episcopalians’ contrasts to the absence of addressing moral crises, and most importantly that facing us after October 7. It’s as if the church, the one that celebrates Jonathan Daniels as its martyr, and emphasizes using the right pronouns is saying pay no attention to the genocide currently ongoing in Palestine. Well, I for one have been paying attention and these are a few of the signs I’ve noticed in the past week:
· Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s refusal to meet with Reverand Dr. Munther Isaac, the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. Though the Guardian reported in early March that Welby had apologized and planned to meet with Isacc this week, there is no record that I can find of such a meeting having taken place.
· On February 25, USAF Airman Aaron Bushnell’s self-immolation in front of the Israeli Embassy, Washington, DC galvanized the anti-imperialism movement in the US and global opposition to Western colonialism and oppression….Islamic Information has just reported that in Bushnell’s will, he left all his money to Palestinian Relief Fund
· International Court of Justice (ICJ) legal proceedings are recognizing Israeli violations of international law as codified in the 1949 Geneva Conventions which the US and Israel have botg signed. Specifically
o On 26 January 2024 the ICJ ruled that there was probable cause that Israel had committed and is committing genocide and ruled that Israel should take immediate action to prevent genocide
o 19 – 28 February ICJ hearings on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine land and testimonies to the ICJ by more than 50 countries and international groups providing
§ Evidence of Israel’s denial of Palestinian self-determination and human rights going back 75 years
§ Conclusions that Palestinians have the right to self-defense, to include violence, to resist the occupation
· Israel’s ongoing blockade of Gaza is resulting in the population’s dependence on food aid and bringing about the final stages of malnourishment and starvation
o The ‘flour massacre’ on 29 February when Israeli forces shot more than 800 Palestinian men, women and children (killing more than 100) while they waited in lines and or retrieved food aid
The Israeli occupation of Palestine ongoing since the 1940s and continuing to the present has been marked by displacement, dispossession, and systemic discrimination and denial of self-determination and human rights. This occupation contrasts between the idealized image of Israel and its grim reality. Yet, the actions of this church are turning a blind eye to the repercussions from their blind allegiance to a notion of a 'religious Israel' and their interpretation of Christian faith. This perpetuates the deception that their alliance is honorable or holds spiritual significance. While the forthcoming presentation of Dr. Christine Shepardson is an attempt for St. James to address this crisis, understanding this region’s ancient history distracts from its political realities. The children of Gaza are dieing of malnutrition at levels that surpass those experienced by countries occupied by Germany during World War II. The Israeli belligerence cannot even be considered a war, it is in fact a one-sided slaughter. This stark contradiction can no longer be denied to the extent the church is becoming complicit in a Gaza genocide.
I will leave you with the words of Rev. Munther Isaac spoken in early January 2024. “true peace-making demands that we take sides and this is the time that we act by our moral and ethical standards”……”history will hold you accountable.”
In peace,