Thursday, July 26, 2007

Today a group of door to door Evangelists interrupted my work. I am not one given to rudeness, but I was annoyed. When I told them I wasn’t interested and tried to close the door they persisted. I told them if there was a God would he or she have made the two-legged killer called man? Would he or she have religionists all over the globe goading people to kill each other because only their religion is the right one?
Their stock answer is always; "God has a Plan."
It was shortly after lunch and I had just turned off the noon news. The five lead stories on the news were, " Family crushed." It was about two crazies who entered the home of a well-known physician and killed his wife and two daughters after raping them. Before leaving they set fire to the home. Then in order we heard about a body that was cut up and put in a barrel to float down the river, a truck driver who raped and left a women for dead, two knifings and one shooting. All that and we haven’t even gotten to the Iraq body count. Many times they just toss that in at the end of the news. If you are still there you may rejoice to hear that we killed 37 bad guys and only lost two of ours. Turner Broadcasting has decided to "go local" with all of their major news outlets and news rooms are nothing but men listening to police scanners and sending crews out to cover the mayhem.
With each idiotic war a spell is cast on the population. Today we must hate the unshaven Muslims who are worst then the Communists. The Communists didn’t believe in God, but these Muslims believe in the wrong God. They are out to kill us all in the name of the wrong God. They are called extremists. We are bombing them and we are shooting them and we are starving them in their land, but THEY are the extremists. We always seem to find masters of sorcery to lead us into these death traps.
Oh yes, what was I working on when they interrupted me. Tisha B’Av In Israel.
Tisha B’Av is the last day of mourning the destruction of the first and second Temples, both of which were destroyed by the Babylonians and the Romans. During the time of fasting and not washing, other tragedies that befell the Jewish people are remembered including the King of Spain declaring in 1492 that no Jew will ever walk on Spanish soil again. Israelis celebrate that they now are free.
At that time in Spain Father Tomas de Torquemada believed that as long as the Jews remained in Spain, they would influence the tens of thousands of recent Jewish converts to Christianity King Ferdinand and Isabella would not deny the church Many Spaniards gained financially from the tragedy as Jews had to sell their homes and businesses at very low prices. Dominican priests actively encouraged Jews to convert to Christianity and thereby gain salvation both in this world and the next. You see, God had a plan.
I can remember when I felt a sort of ancestral visceral pride in Israel, but that was when I related to a state that was created on socialistic stanchions. What has it become? We see a mall built right in front of the old city that Israel has "Liberated." Corruption and crime are out of control led by the Sorcerers. Ex presidents escape jail time for charges of sexual harassment and indecent acts. Others in the circle of the sorcerers like Omir Sharon son of the former Prime Minister, Naomi Blumenthal convicted of Bribery had her sentence commuted. All this while Israeli jails are bulging with innocent people whose only crime is they resented their temple and homes being destroyed by the Israelis. We hear about the starvation and terrible poverty in Gaza, but Jews are hesitant to admit that extensive poverty in Israel is shameful for many reasons, One it are constantly fund raising and no one knows where the money goes. When American tax payers who are sending Israel 3 to 6 billion dollars a year ask where does the money go we are told it is none of our business, but the real shame is the poverty being suffered by the elderly Holocaust victims. Those who touched the conscience of the world and were chiefly responsible for the creation of the state are powerless and poor.
The so-called Jewish State is nothing of the kind if you use the word Jewish to describe a religion. The battle goes on between the orthodox who are right in saying Israel was created as a Jewish state and they say if you abandon that you have no more rational for taking someone else’s home and land. You can no longer claim that God gave you the land. They insist on more religion in schools and a close adherence to Jewish law. The majority rejects them, but the majority must cling to the rational that God gave them the land.
Religionists are appalled at the corruption that gives developers the right to turn the so-called Holy Land into Long Island. The pollution of the rivers, the clogged and dangerous roads and the ever present swingers with their gambling casinos and legal houses of prostitution makes the religionist warn, History will show Israel died an early death by its own hand.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Revival

The first demonstration that I can remember was when my mother took me to the New York waterfront to join her labor group. We carried signs asking the President to stop sending scrap Iron and other war materials to Japan. It was shortly after Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany.
Since my discharge from the Navy in December of 1945 and the time spent with college and bar hopping, it seems my life was one long battle. Progressive Party, Korean War, Civil rights, Vietnam War, Zionism, and all stops in between. Would I trade it for a life of security in my little cubby at the insurance company? No, but I hold no malice toward those that seek that security. Most of them are good family people and are needed just as farmers and carpenters and others are needed, but my genes were bent in another direction.
The following essays are a synopsis of an activist’s quest for truth. I have always held the belief that Secretary Dag Hammarskjold so beautifully articulated, "In our era the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action."
David Truskoff

The years go by and the struggle is endless.
Sometimes it all seems so senseless.
Demonstrations, marches, tear gas and jail,
Ten days the judge says and you can’t make bail.
School chums wonder what made you who you are.
And how can you make the payment on the new car?
They patronize and admit that you are right,
But, they, "can’t afford" to get into the fight.
"How long," King asked, "not long he answered"
The audience repeated, "not long, not long"
and I knew that I was where I belong.
The empire is crumbling, but it’s a good thing
because the mendacious are frightened, panic has set in.
Will I have to share they wonder. What will tomorrow bring?
Peace and freedom for all, the whole world will sing.
Was it all worth it? fighters for justice may ask,
No problem for me to answer, You bet your ass.
David Truskoff