I think Baal was worshiped in Babylon, now Iraq.
_________________________________________________________________
Isaac Asimov
“Don't you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don't you believe in
telepathy? — in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle? — in life after
death?
No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.
One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of unrelieved negation, burst
out "Don't you believe in anything?"
Yes", I said. "I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement,
and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how
wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous
something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.”
― Isaac Asimov
On 10/27/2018 3:54 PM, Evan Reese wrote:
That's interesting. I wonder if the ancient Palestinians were those who worshipped Baal instead of Jehovah. I don't recall if Baal worship was ever completely eliminated. If it wasn't, then that might be where the split occured.
Evan
-----Original Message----- From: Roger Loran Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2018 3:23 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ; Miriam Vieni
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: We Must Stop Helping Saudi Arabia in Yemen
Not only have Palestinians been living on that land for centuries, but
apparently they have since before they were Arabs. These anthropologists
who compare populations of people around the world by testing their DNA
and then figure out how long it has been since they diverged have made
an interesting discovery. It seems that the DNA of the Palestinians most
closely match the DNA of the native Jews. So much so that if it was
anywhere else in the world they would be the same people. The match is
much closer than it is between Palestinians and other Arabs. What is the
explanation? The best one that can be thought of is that the ancestors
of Palestinians were Jews who converted.
_________________________________________________________________
Isaac Asimov
“Don't you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don't you believe in telepathy? — in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle? — in life after death?
No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.
One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of unrelieved negation, burst out "Don't you believe in anything?"
Yes", I said. "I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.”
― Isaac Asimov
On 10/26/2018 4:24 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
Bob,
I remember when I, too, thought it was good to give Israel weapons so that
it could defend itself. That was back when I felt that Israel certainly had
the right to be a homeland for Jews because of what centuries of
anti-semitism and then Nazi Germany had done to us. I believed that as did
my family and Bernie Sanders and Noam Chomsky. I really did think, as we
were told back then, that the Palestinians who, by the way were never called
Palestinians, only Arabs, should just go to some other Arab country and
leave the land to the Jews who would take better care of it than they, the
Arabs had. That's what we Jews said and believed. It never occurred to me
that Palestinians were people who had been living on their land for
centuries, had farms and cities, grew olive and fig trees and orange trees,
and had traditions. I never question if just because others had been
treating us, the Jews, abominably for centuries, that maybe we didn't have a
right to dispossess another people in order to gain a sense of security. I
don't think that I will ever recover from my guilt for this cultural self
centeredness and emotional blindness.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Bob Hachey
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2018 8:29 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: We Must Stop Helping Saudi Arabia in Yemen
Hi Miriam and all,
I say good for you Bernie, better late than never. Seems to me that we
create lots of bad situations when we sell and give weapons to others. Yes,
there was a time when I could argue that giving weapons to Isreal was
justified as they were being attacked by their neighbors who were much
stronger; but that was many years ago. I hate this whole idea of "the enemy
of our enemy is our friend." It got us in trouble in the cold War days and
it keeps doing the same. By the way, I don't think any Iranians have smashed
hijacked planes into American buildings.
This is the price we pay for having weapons as one of our top exports, not
something to be proud of by any means. I can't stop thinking about that John
Denver song I share here a logn time ago, "what are we Making Weapons for.
Some Americans argue that it is our weapons that help make America great. I
believe, in many ways, these weapons diminish any greatness we may claim to
have.
Bob Hachey
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2018 9:03 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] We Must Stop Helping Saudi Arabia in Yemen
We Must Stop Helping Saudi Arabia in Yemen By Bernie Sanders, The New York
Times
25 October 18
Congress needs to step in to end our complicity in the kingdom's human
rights abuses.
The likely assassination of the Saudi critic and Washington Post journalist
Jamal Khashoggi underscores how urgent it has become for the United States
to redefine our relationship with Saudi Arabia, and to show that the Saudis
do not have a blank check to continue violating human rights.
One place we can start is by ending United States support for the war in
Yemen. Not only has this war created a humanitarian disaster in one of the
world's poorest countries, but also American involvement in this war has not
been authorized by Congress and is therefore unconstitutional.
In March 2015, a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates started a war against Yemen's Houthi rebels. Since then, many
thousands of civilians have been killed and many more have lost their homes.
Millions are now at the risk of the most severe famine in more than 100
years, according to the United Nations. The chaos in Yemen has also provided
fertile ground for extremist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, and
created new opportunities for intervention by Iran.
The United States is deeply engaged in this war. We are providing bombs the
Saudi-led coalition is using, we are refueling their planes before they drop
those bombs, and we are assisting with intelligence.
In far too many cases, the bomb's targets have been civilian ones. In one of
the more horrible recent instances, an American-made bomb obliterated a
school bus full of young boys, killing dozens and wounding many more. A CNN
report found evidence that American weapons have been used in a string of
such deadly attacks on civilians since the war began.
Yet last month, responding to congressional concerns, Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo officially certified to Congress - and Secretary of Defense
James Mattis affirmed - that the Saudis and Emiratis are making "every
effort to reduce the risk of civilian casualties."
The data refute these claims. According to the independent monitoring group
Yemen Data Project, between March 2015 and March 2018, more than 30 percent
of the Saudi-led coalition's targets have been nonmilitary. According to the
Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project, civilian deaths in one
region increased by more than 160 percent over the summer from earlier in
the year.
People inside the administration understand these facts. Several days after
Mr. Pompeo issued the certification, The Wall Street Journal reported that
he had overruled the State Department's own regional and military experts,
siding instead with members of his legislative affairs staff who argued that
not certifying could endanger United States arms sales to the Saudis and
Emiratis. President Trump himself echoed this logic when asked about the
murder of Mr. Khashoggi, claiming that the Saudis are spending "$110
billion" on military equipment.
It gets worse. The Intercept reported that a former lobbyist for the arms
manufacturer Raytheon, which stands to make billions of dollars from those
sales, leads Mr. Pompeo's legislative affairs staff.
The administration defends our engagement in Yemen by overstating Iranian
support for the Houthi rebels. But the fact is that the relationship between
Iran and the Houthis has only strengthened with the intensification of the
war. The war is creating the very problem the administration claims to want
to solve.
The war is also undermining the broader effort against violent extremists. A
2016 State Department report found that the conflict between Saudi-led
forces and the Houthi insurgents had helped Al Qaeda and the Islamic State's
Yemen branch "deepen their inroads across much of the country." As the head
of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, said in a recent
interview, "The winners are the extremist groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS."
Above and beyond the catastrophe that this war has created, there is the
fact that American engagement there has not been authorized by Congress, and
is therefore unconstitutional. Article I of the Constitution clearly states
that it is Congress, not the president, that has the power to declare war.
Over many years, Congress has allowed that power to ebb. That must change.
In February, along with two of my colleagues, Mike Lee, Republican of Utah,
and Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, I introduced Senate Joint
Resolution 54, calling on the president to withdraw from the Saudi-led war
in Yemen. We did this for two reasons. The first is that the war is a
strategic and moral disaster for the United States. The second is that the
time is long overdue for Congress to reassert authority over matters of war.
The Senate voted 55 to 44 to delay consideration of the resolution. Since
then, this crisis has only worsened and our complicity become even greater.
Next month, I intend to bring that resolution back to the floor. We will be
adding more co-sponsors, and colleagues in the House have offered a similar
measure. The brutal murder of Mr. Khashoggi demands that we make clear that
United States support for Saudi Arabia is not unconditional.
I very much hope that Congress will act, that we will finally take seriously
our congressional duty, end our support for the carnage in Yemen, and send
the message that human lives are worth more than profits for arms
manufacturers.
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