kpete
kpete's JournalNaomi Wolf Read The Bible & It "Blew Her Mind" - But Not For The Usual Stated Reasons...
Okay, so I was challenged below: "Read the Bible! God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people."
So....I may get crucified for this but I have started to say it -- most recently (terrified, trembling) to warm welcome in a synagogue in LA: Actually if you read Genesis Exodus and Deuteronomy in Hebrew -- as I do -- you see that God did not "give" Israel to the Jews/Israelites. We as Jews are raised with the creed that "God gave us the land of Israel" in Genesis -- and that ethnically 'we are the chosen people." But actually -- and I could not believe my eyes when I saw this, I checked my reading with major scholars and they confirmed it -- actually God's "covenant" in Genesis, exodus and Deuteronomy with the Jewish people is NOT ABOUT AN ETHNICITY AND NOT ABOUT A CONTRACT. IT IS ABOUT A WAY OF BEHAVING.
Again and again in the "covenant" language He never says: "I will give you, ethnic Israelites, the land of Israel." Rather He says something far more radical - far more subversive -- far more Godlike in my view. He says: IF you visit those imprisoned...act mercifully to the widow and the orphan...welcome the stranger in your midst...tend the sick...do justice and love mercy ....and perform various other tasks...THEN YOU WILL BE MY PEOPLE AND THIS LAND WILL BE YOUR LAND. So "my people" is not ethnic -- it is transactional. We are God's people not by birth but by a way of behaving, that is ethical, kind and just. And we STOP being "God's people" when we are not ethical, kind and just. And ANYONE who is ethical, kind and just is, according to God in Genesis, "God's people." And the "contract" to "give" us Israel is conditional -- we can live in God's land IF we are "God's people" in this way -- just, merciful, compassionate. AND -- it never ever says, it is ONLY your land. Even when passages spell out geographical "boundaries" as if God does such a thing, it never says this is exclusively your land. It never says I will give this land JUST to you. Remember these were homeless nomads who had left slavery in Egypt and were wandering around in the desert; at most these passages say, settle here, but they do not say, settle here exclusively. Indeed again and again it talks about welcoming "zarim" -- translated as "strangers" but can also be translated as "people/tribes who are not you" -- in your midst. Blew my mind, hope it blows yours.
https://www.facebook.com/naomi.wolf.author/posts/10152548360004476?fref=nf
"I love your country": Rep Clawson Mistakes U.S. Officials For Indian Nationals, Awkwardness Ensues
Nisha Biswal and Arun Kumar are Indian-Americans who serve as assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs and assistant secretary and director general of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service, respectively.
Clawson, who succeeded former Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.), continued on by heaping praise upon India while addressing Biswal and Kumar, apparently unaware of his confusion.
"I'm familiar with your country; I love your country," the freshman congressman said. "Anything I can do to make the relationship with India better, I'm willing and enthusiastic about doing so."
"Just as your capital is welcome here to produce good-paying jobs in the U.S., I'd like our capital to be welcome there," he added. "I ask cooperation and commitment and priority from your government in so doing. Can I have that?"
Video & More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/25/curt-clawson-indian-officials_n_5622078.html
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/07/25/exclusive_freshman_congressman_mistakes_senior_government_officials_for_foreigners
The Inspiring Work Being Done To Show What Jesus Would Do At The Border
The Inspiring Work Being Done To Show What Jesus Would Do At The BorderBY JACK JENKINS POSTED ON JULY 24, 2014 AT 10:18 AM UPDATED: JULY 24, 2014 AT 11:50 AM
Children’s clothing set aside for young immigrants. Donations come a range of sources, but especially from faith groups.
“We helped 200 people that first night,” Pimentel said. “They are our brothers and sisters that are in need. They come into our country, and they find themselves in a terrible state. They need to take a shower and they need time to eat. The children are very dehydrated. You cannot help but help them.
They need care, and they need love.”
You cannot help but help them. They need care, and they need love.
The operation has grown significantly over the past month, due in part to increased media coverage of the crisis. The county pitched in and provided mobile tents to the church, so they can offer temporary shelter for immigrants who want to sleep. Massive donations of supplies from outside groups have started pouring in. Other worshipping communities from a variety of religious traditions are also sending workers to help, and now dozens of volunteers scuttle back and forth across the busy space at any given time, each sporting sea-green vests with “Catholic Charities” scrawled across the back.
Their work is ultimately about providing simple hospitality. Families arrive at Sacred Heart in waves — two groups in the morning, two or three more in the afternoon. Each family is assigned a sponsor who accompanies them throughout their stay. They are given a hot meal — usually soup, water, and Pedialyte for nutrients — while their sponsor searches through the piles of clothes and shoes to find things that fit them. The raw number of immigrants varies per day, reaching as high as 277 on “big days” and bottoming out just below 100 on “little days.” More than 3,500 people have been helped since the station was erected last month, 1,000 more were assisted by a sister operation set up in nearby Brownsville, Texas. Depending on when their bus leaves, families stay at the center for anywhere between half an hour and half a day, just long enough to shower, rest, and process what they’ve been through.
“You can see the fatigue on their faces,” a volunteer working the front desk said. “But they also just seem grateful that someone is actually welcoming them. Sometimes they break down in tears because no one has welcomed them like that before.”
MORE:
http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2014/07/24/3463127/texas-border-religion/
Cartoon: The Gaza grip
?1406214856
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/24/1316341/-Cartoon-The-Gaza-grip
KS Repub state legislators NOT happy with Gov. Brownback - Endorse Democrat For Governor
A Strange Political Dustup Clouds Kansas Governor's Future
by JIM MCLEAN
July 24, 2014 6:05 AM ET
Paul Davis, third from left, the presumed Democratic nominee for Kansas governor, receives the endorsements of more than 100 current and former Republican politicians on July 15, 2014, in Topeka, Kan.
Kansas's Republican Gov. Sam Brownback is locked in an unexpectedly tough re-election battle for doing exactly what he said he would do – cut taxes.
Citing mounting evidence that those tax cuts are creating a budget crisis – not stimulating the Kansas economy as promised – some in the state's moderate Republican establishment recently did the unthinkable: endorse a Democrat for governor.
That's not only endangering Brownback's re-election hopes, it's also tarnishing his plans to turn one of the reddest of red states into a national model.
Sam Brownback left the U.S. Senate to run for governor intending to demonstrate he could use conservative policies to reverse decades of population and economic decline in his home state. He easily won the 2010 race, and immediately began implementing and promoting what he calls his red-state model.
MORE:
http://www.npr.org/2014/07/24/334481326/a-strange-political-dustup-clouds-kansas-governors-future
Runferyerlives!!!
QOTD: An American patriot
by digby
... or ignorant sociopath, you decide. This is William Gheen, head of the anti-immigrant group known as ALIPAC --- the group that exhorted its members to send used underwear to the border for the kids down there:
"And how do you put a price tag on a family, let’s say that’s been in the United States for 300 years, and four or five different members of that family have gone off to World War II and Korea and maybe World War I to fight for the American way of life, and then finally they get to their grandson that’s alive in the year 2020 who doesn’t get to go to the college of their choice because invaders have been brought in the country and put in those seats ahead of him. That child’s life, that negatively impacts that child’s ability to self-actualize, to be all they can be, impacted because the future has been stolen by this usurpation, this treason, this treachery from the highest levels of our own government right here in the United States of America."
"Once they get enough people in here to get the boat really sinking, and then they get the borders destroyed and they start taking up all the guns and we’ve got wave after wave of future illegal immigrants just pouring in, pouring in, pouring in, the existing stock of Americans are going to be so politically and economically buried under this wave, that it’s a weapon from which we can never recover."
MORE:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/qotd-american-patriot-or-ignorant.html
US Provides Israel the Weapons Used on Gaza
Wednesday, 23 July 2014 10:12
By Ken Klippenstein and Paul Gottinger, Truthout | News Analysis
The United States exported to Israel a substantial amount of the same types of weapons Israel is using to kill Gazans, a new analysis of US Census Bureau export data reveals. For example, in 2013, the United States sent Israel at least $196 million in parts for military airplanes and helicopters, a category that includes F-16 fighter jets and Apache helicopters, both of which Israel is currently using to attack Gazan homes, offices and farmland. Between January and May 2014, the United States had already exported $92 million in parts for military airplanes and helicopters.
The military airplanes and helicopters that the United States sent comprise the largest category, in dollar terms, of all weapons exports to Israel that are publicly available via the US Census Bureau (see charts).
Israel is the only country allowed to use its US military aid to build its domestic military industry, a privilege that includes developing indigenous weapons systems based on US designs and using US grants to purchase materials, as well as research and development, from Israeli firms. Additional US funds are spent on joint military research and production. Israel also enjoys "fast-track" status for weapons sales, meaning it can make deals directly with manufacturers in the US without having to go through the Pentagon.
The billions of dollars in US military aid to Israel have bought a stunning array of US weapons and military hardware for the IDF, including 226 F-16 fighter jets, more than 700 M-60 tanks, 6,000 armored personnel carriers, scores of transport planes, attack helicopters and utility and training aircraft, not to mention innumerable bombs and tactical missiles of all kinds.
http://truth-out.org/news/item/25109-us-provides-israel-the-weapons-used-on-gaza
Heh. For the Irony File: Putin signs law requiring mass storage of Russians’ personal internet data
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a law requiring Internet companies to store all personal data of Russian users at data centres in Russia, a move which could chill criticism on foreign social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
These companies, which do not have offices in Russia, have become a vital resource for opposition groups and refuse to hand over user data to governments.
The use of Russian data centres would make them and other Internet companies subject to Russian laws on government access to information.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/23/vladimir-putin-signs-law-requiring-mass-storage-of-russians-personal-internet-data/
Be careful which “news sources” you trust…
If you want to know what’s wrong with our “news” media these days-
PLEASE CLICK HERE: http://pleasecutthecrap.com/be-careful-which-news-sources-you-trust/
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