DAILY NEWS -- AUGUST 17th, 2010

DAILY NEWS – AUGUST 17th, 2010

DATELINE: BELLY-UP TO THE MORAL BUFFET, PICKING AND CHOOSING – I have a newsflash for all of you. There is a huge disaster in Pakistan right now... a massive disaster that will be a disaster for years to come, and yet the world is sitting on its fucking hands. ‘Why?’ you might ask. Well, because of ignorance on our part, because we are content to assume that anyone in peril in the Middle East is getting what they deserve because they are all terrorists. For three weeks they have had rain. For the next week they will get more rain. They are dealing with no food, no homes, no potential for food in the future because their supplies of crop seeds is being destroyed and now... along with the starvation comes disease. People politely state that it is the time of year and people are not paying attention to the news, there are claims that perhaps it is because a flood is a slow-moving disaster or that it is in ‘the wrong time zone for coverage in North America’, and even the fact that no celebrities have embraced this disaster to help raise money, but we all know that is a colossal load of fucking crap. The reason for this is because of te bullshit rhetoric we have to listen to about terrorists and terrorism and so ‘why the hell should we help them’ is the reason they are getting virtually no aid. The truth of the matter is that because of our ignorance, our fear, our apparently conditioned response to be protectionist we are playing right into the terrorists hands, because they are dry, they are safe, and they have every intention of using this as a means to show the people in need that the Developed World gives a shit about nothing that does not line their pockets in some way. There is no benefit to helping Pakistan, we hate them, we want them all dead... that is the message that will be sent and perhaps we fucking deserve that message to be out there. These are people who are suffering, little children and babies who already have bloated bellies and wide eyes and arms as skinny as chopsticks, and we turn away from them. Perhaps by showing some compassion we could be doing more good in the long run, so that when one of those few little ones who actually manages to survives goes to pick up a gun, he might just stop and remember the help and love shown to him and his family in a time of need. These people need help, and they will need much more in the days, months and even years to follow. Now is not the time to play fucking games.

DATELINE: SPEAKING OF TERRORISTS – There has been much said about the building of a mosque in downtown New York near Ground Zero. I am not an expert on the lay of the land in Manhattan and readily admit to being a bit confused by the discussion of just where this mosque is to be located... ‘on’ ‘beside’, and ‘near’ have all been used, not that it really matters because the area is close enough and connected enough to the issue that it causes an issue. So based on the fact that the attacks of 9-11 were not a sovereignty/geography issue but rather the start of a war of ideologies, there should have been no room for this new issue to even have come up. But it has... and here is my problem. In the rhetoric being spewed by way too many mouths, calls for complete moratoriums on the building of all mosques in all of the US and people screaming and crying about the evils of a mosque, once again the terrorists become the winners. They don’t give a fucking rat’s ass about the mosque; they care only that it beautifully serves their purpose to divide people, to get them to reinforce their attitudes of hatred and intolerance, their hypocracy to once again cherry-pick which of the fucking amendments need to be taken seriously, and which ones are sort of ‘grey areas’, such as the freedom of religion. There are ways of dealing with this issues; THIS is not one of them. While I cansee there might be an educational value to having a mosque there, I can also fully appreciate the feelings of those who lived through a totally horrendous attack on their homes and their loved ones. The land should have been dedicated to the memory of those who perished and those who were blessed enough to make it out alive, and the land should have been used as a means to provide education regarding tolerance and understanding, because it was the total lack of this on the part of the terrorists that caused the attacks in the first place, and now the intolerance, hatred, fear and ignorance on our part keep the terrorist machine rolling. People, take a fucking step back and find a peaceful and understanding way to deal with this... because right now, no one on any side of this issue is being peaceful or understanding.

DATELINE: IN A STATE OF CONFUSION – That is where the doctors who have worked with Abdel Baset al-Megrahi are as they realize his release was based on medical findings... but not theirs. Al-Megrahi is that wonderful piece of excrement involved in the bomb that brought down a plane full of people over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. The doctors, two urologists, an oncologist and a senior doctor who all were involved in the treatment of al-Megrahi’s cancer have all stated they were not consulted regarding his condition or the prognosis prior to his release and return to Libya. However, in Andrew Fraser’s (the Scottish Prison Services’ director of health and care) report regarding the release of al-Megrahi, these doctors are implied and their names blacked out from public records. Fraser was the one who declared the prisoner to be suffering from terminal prostate cancer, citing the man could be dead in three months. Of course, it is just the bitch cynic in me that can’t help but wonder about the celebrated return of al-Megrahi to his homeland Libya, but perhaps I should just shut my fucking mouth and revel in the new increased flow of oil coming from there. It is wonderful to know that the lives of 270 innocent people was nothing more than a bargaining chip for BP to once again line its fucking pockets. Please don’t ever tell me that the oil companies are not running the fucking world.

DATELINE: IN A MORAL ABYSS, FUCKING THE TROOPS – In a classic story of how The Man is more than ready and willing to fuck over soldiers who are prepared to give their lives for said ‘Man’, statistics are now out that show thousands of soldiers were discharged for having ‘peronality disorders’ between 2001 and 2007. That number dropped by 75% when the military started to accept the disgnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which was a good thing... but what about the thousands who were out before that change in protocol? A personality disorder is defined as "deeply ingrained maladaptive pattern of behavior," which makes it a pre-existing condition and therefore not something that the soldiers can ever be compensated for. I guess my question would be ‘what the fuck was wrong with the people doing the screening of soldiers then, to allow this many people in with pre-existing mental health conditions and how can the people who made the determination to let them serve now be trusted to make a decision regarding their discharge?’ but that could just be the bitch in me. These young men and women put their fucking lives on the line every day. They deserve MUCH better. PTSD is recognized as a treatable condition that was caused by the extreme stresses of war, and as of 2008, when the issue of the discharges first came to light, reported cases of PTSD soared while the cases of discharge because of ‘personality disorder’ dropped substantially, yet the military can stand there with straight fucking faces and say there was no one misdiagnosed? Give me a fucking break! This is the military covering its ass at the expense, again, of troops who gave their all and are now stripped of their livelihood, the benefits, the chance of a future in any other field because of a terrible and WRONG diagnosis on their file, and hope. They deserve better, and its about time we started demanding it.

DATELINE: ON A SLOW BOAT, TAKING IN THE SCENERY AND MAKING A LONG OVERDUE STATEMENT -- She still has a long way to go, but 24-year-old Giorgia Boscolo has finally broken through a centuries-old barrier. She has been granted a gondolier's licence, making her the first female member of the goldoliers' guild in the ancient city of Venice. While it is a magnificent step, she is at this point only allowed to fill in for male gondoliers who are unable to make it to work. She cannot float her own boat... yet. I guess this puts the men in Venice slightly ahead of those in Iraq when it comes to their opinions of women.