Here’s a link to the story.

Supposedly, some lawyers were half-joking that not abiding my the Constitution exactly, by not stating the exact words for the oath of office, there is a doubt, or question, that he is truly and officially the President of the United States. So, they did a “do-over”.

When I heard this, I seriously gave out a burst of laughter saying “So, now they actually care about what the Constitution says!”.

In the United States, the oath of office for the President of the United States is specified in the U.S. Constitution (Article II, Section 1):

• I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

When was the last time that actually happened?

Ever since FDR proclaimed that the Constitution was “quaint” and written in the “horse and buggy era,” congress has enacted and the president has signed laws that criminalized political speech, suspended habeas corpus, compelled support for illegal wars, allowed the government to spy on Americans without a search warrant, used taxpayer dollars to shore up failing private banks, etc, etc, and etc. This quick note could be a 100 page book of lists.

All of this legislation — merely the tip of an unconstitutional Big Government iceberg — is so obviously in conflict with the plain words of the Constitution that one wonders how Congress and the President gets away with it – day after day after day.

But, when they are concerned about the legitimacy of themselves in power, THEN what the Constitution says all of the sudden means something to them.  Sure is convenient that they can pick and choose when to apply the Constitution and when they don’t have to.

It’s so sad, it’s almost hilarious…

Take some standard American-English slang as example:

• When someone is “tripping”, it doesn’t mean they are falling, it means they are overreacting.
• When something is “bad”, sometimes it means it is really quite good.
• When someone says “I have no cabbage”, it means they don’t have any money, not that they don’t have any of their most favorite vegetable.

When foreigners come here after studying their “English”, they may be able to translate every word perfectly, yet they may have no idea what the heck we are talking about! It is not a stretch then to acknowledge that when we hear statements or sayings in other languages, that similar misinterpretations can happen quite easily? … and most likely without us even realizing that we have made a mistake in translation?

I turn this discussion now to the Arab world, and more specifically the Israel-Gaza conflict. I am not of Arab descent, but I do have a friend who is. I asked him this question one day late last year. When the media shows angry demonstrators in the Middle East, they state they are chanting “Death to America”, or “Death to Israel”, or “Death to this person.” or “Death to that person.” …are they really calling for their death and destruction? I mean the media typically portrays the protesters in the Middle East as blood-thirsty power-hungry radicals. Seems a little extreme to me. I have to believe that the majority of people are just like you and me, just trying to live their lives…

He told me this… Yeah it’s not that bad. It really means more like “Down With” or “End Of” or “!@#& You”– stuff like that. The Arabic word for death is such a varied word that it’s not really comparable to the English word ‘death’. When a taxi driver cuts you off” over there, he’ll mumble, “Death to taxi drivers!” under his breath, just like we’d mumble (or even yell) some anger or profanity of our own. I mean he doesn’t really want all taxi drivers killed. Just like we don’t want all of our kids to suffer eternal damnation when we say “Damn Kids!”

When I heard this, I was utterly shocked because the majority of people in this country are being completely mislead on the veracity of these demonstrations. These people are just ticked off because they are angry about something that is happening to them or their world. We are taking it as they are blood-thirsty radicals who want “us” “killed or destroyed”. What a calamity! How can the media, or US Government, not know this? Why would they not give you this little tidbit in the reporting? Seems like it is intentional to some degree… Don’t you think?

The right-wing war-mongering media in this country want you to believe that the Palestinians will do nothing to stop at the total destruction of Israel – and they use statements like “Death to Israel” to back up their rhetoric. Since most people in this country don’t understand the figure of speech over their, they say “Yeah, you’re right, look at what they are saying – we have to defend Israel”.

One of the other points that they re-iterate is that the Palestinians do not and will not acknowledge the “existence of Israel”, and that we can’t let the Palestinians be free or have arms because they want Israel off the map. The right-wing war-mongering media in this country want you to accept the fact that if they don’t acknowledge the existence of Israel, then they want it destroyed, so we must destroy them before they destroy Israel. Or, they can’t have true peace until they acknowledge the existence of Israel.

In reverse, the US, Israel, and the EU haven’t recognized Hamas as the duly elected government. Why don’t they say anything about that? We work tirelessly for years to have free elections in Gaza, then when they do, and they elect someone “we” don’t like, we won’t work with them. The world has abandoned the Palestinians. Doesn’t it seem odd to you that no one is crying out that “We” don’t recognize them? But everyone is in a tizzy that Hamas won’t recognize Israel. What a double standard!

Besides, how can they acknowledge Israel in it’s current form anyway? I mean Israel occupies Gaza, then they leave but essentially imprison and ruin Gaza with the blockade, and then attack them because some freedom fighters shoot some rockets in retaliation for their imprisonment. Once the Israeli state stops bullying the Palestinians, I’m sure they will recognize them. Once we recognize them, they will return the favor.

Don’t take the rhetoric that these statements mean that they do everything they can until Israel is destroyed. Don’t accept everything you hear at face value. All the Palestinian people want is to be their own country in Peace on land that is respected as theirs. Tell everyone you can. They need your support.

We know that the responses by Israel are unbalanced, where thousands of Palestinians are injured and hundreds killed for less than 10 Isrealis killed. We know that countries can live side by side – even if they hate each other – without murder, war, and conflict. For this stuff to happen, there has to be provoking by one side.

Well, I finally came across the facts why there is this problem. Isreal has been provoking Gaza ever since they left. They have blockaded the country completely. They have essentially imprisoned the entire population of Gaza. It is no wonder that a few rockets are fired whenever they can. The Palestinians are literally dying to be free. Finally, their message is being heard. Please Listen!

For the complete report, please go to this link:
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/downloads/oxfam_gaza_lowres.pdf
Here are the highlights…

The current situation in Gaza is man-made, completely avoidable and, with the necessary political will, can also be reversed.

An Imprisoned Population

Isreal has blockaded Gaza. Gaza is now an Imprisoned Population. Blocking movement almost completely from air, land, sea, and by foot. Movement in and out of Gaza is all but impossible and supplies of food and water, sewage treatment, and basic healthcare are only sporatically available. As a result of the blockade and collapse of the economy, there is little money to buy food and limited food to buy.

Economic Collapse

The Gaza economy is no longer on the brink of collapse – it has collapsed. In the last 6 months, the majority of private businesses have shut down and 95% of Gaza’s industrial operations are suspended due to the ban on imported raw materials and the block on exports.

In June 2007, there were 748 truckloads of exports leaving Gaza for Israel and other countries. A month later there were none.

On top of the strangulation of the Gaza economy, the economic interdependence that once existed between Israel and Gaza is also being destroyed. In September 2000, just before the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifada and the escalation of violence on both sides, some 24,000 Palestinians crossed out of Gaza everyday to work in Israel. Today that figure is zero.

Failing to Deliver Security

This humanitarian crisis is a direct result of a blockade, which is an on-going collective punishment of ordinary men, women and children and is illegal under international law. Isolation and poverty are breeding increasing levels of violence for which both Palestinians and Israelis are paying the price.

The blockade, in response to indiscriminate rocket attacks into Israel, constitutes a reprisal against a civilian population and is forbidden by international humanitarian law.

Peace will not be achieved by locking 1.5 million people into a prison of spiralling poverty and misery.

Failure to end the policy of isolation will only continue the cycle of increasing poverty and extremism in Gaza rather than bring an end to it.

Israel has the right and duty to defend itself against indiscriminate rocket attacks against its civilian population, but the current policy fails to provide Israel with increased security and has led to increasing polarisation. As the head of UNRWA has pointed out,

‘Hungry, unhealthy, angry communities do not make good partners for peace.’

Please write your Senator or Representative to inform them of this tragedy. The US must stop supporting these horrific violations of humanitarian law. Have them come up with a plan that ends the blockade and live peacefully next to each other. It can be done!

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml