Thursday, April 20, 2006
In Which the Author Rambles on a bit ....
Mahut Bakalli
A fairly detailed article
Another Take on The Constant Gardener?
I had to try for another source on this story, I hope this link works. Blogger not having the bugs worked out on just using that link icon is VERY user unfriendly, and I wish their tech support was actually REACHABLE, I promise I'd be nice about it!
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HAM353238.htm
Just copy and paste that sorry for the inconvenience but damn I can't take this any more! I want to throttle someone for having to deal with HTML when supposedly one could just link the story with the icon in the little tool bar.
Croatia signs agreement not to sue U.S. for warcrimes
Rest of US Croatia Treaty Story
There was some discussion of this in BiH which really fought signing such a treaty. Croatia held out a long time. I think it's an unfair treaty to other countries. I understand the American point of view, anyone who remembers the U2 incident can! No nation wants their soldiers tried for war crimes, at the same time, as recent events have shown, any soldier is vulnerable to commiting such deeds.
Not enough is taught to children about revenge, and how to assess what is proportional. It might be the Christian discomfort with the subject and that favorite out of context court 'Vengence is Mine saith the Lord' Seriously, why is vengence alone the Lords, when it is through us His people that works of charity are done? I think if people were given some character education very young about what is and is not appropriate for given levels of misdeed, thenmaybe there would be more understanding of what is legitimate retaliation and what goes over the reasonable bounds.
It's up there with not talking frankly with one's children about sex. I had a hard time doing that as a mother, but my own mother's example of frankness on this subject kept me from getting into worse difficulties than I did. There are mistakes I did not make, and there are mistakes my children didn't make because I spoke frankly with both of them about what is and is not a good idea, and about ECONOMIC realities of how their lives would suck if they prematurely became parents. The problem is that the human body is programmed for a scarcity environment, where every single child contributed to the survival of it's community, whether hunter gatherer or low-tech, subsistance agriculturalist. We are wired for conditions which don't exist for most of us anymore. If you approach the subject of sex with the acknolegment that it is in fact cruel to force postponment of marriage and children far beyond biological readiness for economic reasons, in other words acknowlege that this is not an easy thing, you make a good start in helping children avoid bad situations in their teens.
The same goes for vengence. Most parents do not talk with children about war and it's consequences nearly well enough. Even very religious parents fail in this vital duty. The Bible, and the Koran both have a lot to offer as discussion points for this subject.
In fact the Bible is full of examples of what I would call disproportionate revenge, vilages where all men over a certain age were killed, the women and girls enslaved and the animals taken others where not even the animals were spared. I call these the 'ethnic cleansing' parts of the Bible. Think of it, the Canaanites and the Philistines were in fact ethnically cleansed. The Samaritans were despised and discriminated against. One of Jesus' most powerful parables, the story of the Good Samaritan isn't just about helping people, it's also a message about the evil of discrimination!
I always respected the priests and ministers of my acquaintanace who frankly discussed these portions of the Bible, and one female rabbi I heard discuss this touchy subject. These people kept me from deciding to just be an atheist or agnostic!
I have rather little use for organized religion, but I do think people need some kind of rules that work for them, that they won't just chuck in a crisis.
Scripture works as a jumping off point for this sort of discussion, and that's why it survives even in this wired age.
Net tightens around Mladic
Serbia was an important cocain distribution point
EU faces Balkans terror risk
I have to complement the political cartoonist here
A fairly detailed article
Another Take on The Constant Gardener?
I had to try for another source on this story, I hope this link works. Blogger not having the bugs worked out on just using that link icon is VERY user unfriendly, and I wish their tech support was actually REACHABLE, I promise I'd be nice about it!
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HAM353238.htm
Just copy and paste that sorry for the inconvenience but damn I can't take this any more! I want to throttle someone for having to deal with HTML when supposedly one could just link the story with the icon in the little tool bar.
Croatia signs agreement not to sue U.S. for warcrimes
Rest of US Croatia Treaty Story
There was some discussion of this in BiH which really fought signing such a treaty. Croatia held out a long time. I think it's an unfair treaty to other countries. I understand the American point of view, anyone who remembers the U2 incident can! No nation wants their soldiers tried for war crimes, at the same time, as recent events have shown, any soldier is vulnerable to commiting such deeds.
Not enough is taught to children about revenge, and how to assess what is proportional. It might be the Christian discomfort with the subject and that favorite out of context court 'Vengence is Mine saith the Lord' Seriously, why is vengence alone the Lords, when it is through us His people that works of charity are done? I think if people were given some character education very young about what is and is not appropriate for given levels of misdeed, thenmaybe there would be more understanding of what is legitimate retaliation and what goes over the reasonable bounds.
It's up there with not talking frankly with one's children about sex. I had a hard time doing that as a mother, but my own mother's example of frankness on this subject kept me from getting into worse difficulties than I did. There are mistakes I did not make, and there are mistakes my children didn't make because I spoke frankly with both of them about what is and is not a good idea, and about ECONOMIC realities of how their lives would suck if they prematurely became parents. The problem is that the human body is programmed for a scarcity environment, where every single child contributed to the survival of it's community, whether hunter gatherer or low-tech, subsistance agriculturalist. We are wired for conditions which don't exist for most of us anymore. If you approach the subject of sex with the acknolegment that it is in fact cruel to force postponment of marriage and children far beyond biological readiness for economic reasons, in other words acknowlege that this is not an easy thing, you make a good start in helping children avoid bad situations in their teens.
The same goes for vengence. Most parents do not talk with children about war and it's consequences nearly well enough. Even very religious parents fail in this vital duty. The Bible, and the Koran both have a lot to offer as discussion points for this subject.
In fact the Bible is full of examples of what I would call disproportionate revenge, vilages where all men over a certain age were killed, the women and girls enslaved and the animals taken others where not even the animals were spared. I call these the 'ethnic cleansing' parts of the Bible. Think of it, the Canaanites and the Philistines were in fact ethnically cleansed. The Samaritans were despised and discriminated against. One of Jesus' most powerful parables, the story of the Good Samaritan isn't just about helping people, it's also a message about the evil of discrimination!
I always respected the priests and ministers of my acquaintanace who frankly discussed these portions of the Bible, and one female rabbi I heard discuss this touchy subject. These people kept me from deciding to just be an atheist or agnostic!
I have rather little use for organized religion, but I do think people need some kind of rules that work for them, that they won't just chuck in a crisis.
Scripture works as a jumping off point for this sort of discussion, and that's why it survives even in this wired age.
Net tightens around Mladic
Serbia was an important cocain distribution point
EU faces Balkans terror risk
I have to complement the political cartoonist here
# posted by Katja R. @ 8:30 AM 
Comments:
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I don't like the bi lateral treaties myself Owen! I think that it's important to have a way that a neutral party can try people who commit war crimes.
You are right that it doesn't make the U.S. any better than Serbia.
Still the argumetn in it's fundamentals is important, how do we resolve sovereignty issues vs international standards for proper conduct? That is a tough question.
You are right that it doesn't make the U.S. any better than Serbia.
Still the argumetn in it's fundamentals is important, how do we resolve sovereignty issues vs international standards for proper conduct? That is a tough question.
Oh Owen, I committed herbicide up close and personal in my front yard, with impunity in full view of the public. Theres a LOT of herbicide committed in my neighborhood, and yes herbicide by hand WAS refered to in the article! :)
I think part of the sovereignty thing with Americans is we fought you British so hard for our independance and once people do that, they do not give it up easily. Britain in turn ran a huge empire, and I think ironically it taught British people the value of sovereignty.
Not to say there is no place for international co:operation, I think things like the Geneva Conventions, and laws against war crimes protect people in general so much that you are right, sometimes there are worthy trade-offs.
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Not to say there is no place for international co:operation, I think things like the Geneva Conventions, and laws against war crimes protect people in general so much that you are right, sometimes there are worthy trade-offs.
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