Worthington’s World

An article in the London Review of Books (23 Mar. 2006) on “The Israel Lobby” by John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Steven Walt, dean of the Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government has caused a great deal of contention from the pro-Israel crowd, and has been described as “anti-Semitic’. A follow-up essay by Michael Massing in The New York Review (June 8, 2006) points out some omissions but on the whole supports “The Israel Lobby”; closing with a statement: “Despite its many flaws, their essay has performed a very useful service in forcing into the open a subject that has for too long remained taboo”.

An essay in the Baltimore Sun (7 May 2006) by Norman Solomon, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy entitled “Opening the debate on Israel”. Mr. Solomon, a Jew, quotes the authors of “The Israel Lobby” as saying “that one of the consequences of the Israel Lobby activity is that United States has become de facto enabler of Israel expansion in the occupied territories, making it complicit in the crimes perpetrated against the Palestinians.”. Mr. Solomon suggests that the relationship between Washington and Israel must be debated without “Anti-Semitic” labeling.

The Israel Lobby is a loose coalition of individuals and organizations who actively steer US foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction. It is dominated by the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The World Jewish Congress and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations also play major roles. The Lobby includes prominent Christian evangelicals like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Gary Bauer, and Tom DeLay, who believe that Israel’s rebirth is necessary for the fulfillment of biblical prophesy. Neo-conservatives such as Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Elliot Abrams, John Bolton, Douglas Feith, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and William Kristol, are also staunch supporters of Israel.

Among the media with very definite pro-Israel bias are the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Times, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard and The U.S,News and World Report. All have much wealth behind them. Groups within the Lobby have put pressure on particular academics and universities. The use of the term ‘anti-Semitism’ is one of their powerful weapons.

Israel’s immoral and continued encroachment on Palestinian land is the typical acquisitive behavior giving rise to “anti-Semitism” that Jews get so upset about. In fact the forced removal of Palestinians from their own property, which may have been in the family for generations can only be described as theft. One of God’s Ten Commandments directed to Moses states: ”You shall not steal” (Exodus 19:20). The Palestinians were a peaceful agrarian people. They have been transformed into a nation of beggars, refugees, exiles and second-class citizens of Israel who has partitioned off Palestine into ghettoes behind barriers and checkpoints. The people are now without adequate food and medicines. The Prime Mister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, indicates that he is going to unilaterally draw Israel’s border keeping Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.

PALESTINE TO DATE

Arabs and Jews arose from the same primitive desert culture. Israelite tribes entered Palestine before the end of the late Bronze Age. There were in the area a number of Semitic groupings: the Hyksos, Amorites, Canaanites as well as Egyptians of the 12th dynasty. The Israelites’ monotheistic faith and stern code of ethics set them apart from their neighbors. The Mosaic tradition of the covenant between Yahweh and Israel also bound the tribes together. In mid-10th century BC Solomon finished the Temple at Jerusalem and fortified Megiddo.

The trials and tribulations of the Israelites are recorded in the Bible, Roman history and the archeological record.

In 1516 when Palestine came under rule of the Ottoman sultan the population was about 90 per cent Arab, some families having dwelled there for some thirteen hundred years. It remained under Turkish rule for about four centuries. During this period Palestine was opened to Western influences. Christian missionaries established many schools and European powers established consulates in Jerusalem and the port cities. In the 19th century the Ottomans encouraged the development of private property and agricultural production for the world market. There were increased foreign settlements including those by Jews.

In the late 19th century the Palestinian Arabs shared in a general Arab renaissance. Arab newspapers reveal a strong Arab nationalism and opposition to Zionist expansion. The population of Palestine in 1914 was about 690,000 (535,000 Muslims: 60,000 Christians, most of whom were Arabs; and 85,000 Jews). In World War I the Arabs supported the Allied powers against the Ottomans and afterwards sought statehood. However, in 1917 Britain, France and Russia internationalized Palestine and Arthur Balfour, the British secretary of state for foreign affairs, addressed a letter to Lord Rothschild expressing agreement for the establishment in Palestine of a national home for Jews. This is the “Balfour Declaration” which contained a sentence: “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”

In 1920 the principal Allied Powers approved the Balfour Declaration whereby a part of Palestine was to be the national home for all Jews from throughout the world and Sir Herbert Samuel, a Zionist, was appointed high commissioner. He opened a land registry whereby unsophisticated and ignorant Palestinian farmers were short-changed. Twenty-three Arab villages and huge estates passed into Zionist hands. Later Winston Churchill, as Colonial Secretary, stated that His Majesty’s Government had no aim of creating a Jewish Palestine, just a Jewish Homeland. For twenty-six years Palestine was governed by Great Britain on a mandate from the League of Nations.

In February 1947 Great Britain dumped the problem on the United Nations who partitioned Palestine and in 1948 David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel to be an independent state.

There was no major Middle-East crisis before the onslaught of immigration sanctioned by Great Britain during its mandate. Since the 19th century both Zionists and Palestinian Arab nationalists have claimed the territory west of the Jordan River. However, it was the “Arab Revolt of 1936-39” that was the first sustained violent uprising by Palestinian Arabs in more than a century; and it has been worsening ever since.

The violence in Palestine plus US endeavors to force “democracy” throughout the Middle East, in order to safeguard our oil needs, has inflamed Islam and jeopardized not only US security but the security of much of the rest of the world.

Mearsheimer and Walt contend that the centerpiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its support of Israel’s expanded illegal settlements on Palestinian territory which makes the US complicit in the crimes perpetrated against the Palestinians. For no good reason the United States has subsidized Israel from early on. Since 1973 Israel has received military and economic support of over $140 billion in US tax-payer’s funds. The Congress is for the most part composed of shallow persons not concerned about the philosophical aspects of their behavior as long as they get their money for reelection. They have also turned a blind eye to Israel’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. By adopting Israel as a favored nation we have antagonized the Muslim world and exacerbated our terrorist problem.

Actually Islam does not have a deep hatred for the US except for our continuing endeavors to westernize their customs. As for example in 1953 when the US supported the Shah of Iran’s forces and abetted the overthrow of Mosaddeq, the Premier. The Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was brutally forcing western ways upon Iran was finally ousted in 1979 in a revolution led by Ruhollah Khomeini. America’s relations with Iran were at an all-time low and have not improved since. It was at this time that the American Embassy staff were held hostage. The US has had no diplomatic relations with Iran since then.

At present the Bush Administration, at the behest of Israel, considers Iran to be a threat to world peace, but more important, a threat to Israel and to our oil supply. This is because Iran appears to be interested in becoming a nuclear power like its neighbor Israel. Actually, Iran has waged no war of aggression for over a century unlike China and North Korea who are also are developing atomic weaponry. Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made noises about how Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth, which is more or less is the wish of most Muslim countries. He also has expressed concern at the US support of unrest by minority ethnic separatist groups who account for about half of the country’s 68 million population. Such covert activity has been acknowledged by the Pentagon as preparation for a possible preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The US again very openly seeks a regime change to one that is more in accord with our needs.

Backing Israel has complicated America’s relations with the Arab world as shown by the unmitigated hatred displayed by a large portion of occupied Iraq as well as Islam throughout the world. Israel is not of strategic value since their airbase facilities are not available to us, nor is it a loyal ally. According to the General Accounting Office Israel conducts the most aggressive espionage activities against the US of any ally.
Today Israel is the strongest military power in the Middle East.

With US backing Israel has become the dominant power in the region. Israeli settlements proliferated throughout the land, taking over the homes and farms that had been in Palestinian families for centuries. Whereas the Israelis were well armed with tanks and bulldozers, thanks to US taxpayers, the Palestinians only had stones and explosives for suicide attacks. The Israeli militia were provided with truncheons to break the arms of youths throwing stones.

Life magazine (September 29,1967) states that since the founding of Israel, two million Arabs have been displaced from Palestine to live in squalor in fifty-four refugee camps. It also states: “There can be no peace settlement between Israel and the Arab countries until the plight of the refugees has been solved.” Nearly 40 years later, the situation has only changed for the worse.

See also The Tragedy of Zionism by Bernard Avishai (1985), Arab and Jew by David K. Shipler (1986), and Baylis Thomas’ How Israel Was Won. A Concise History of the Arab-Israel Conflict (1999), A History of Modern Palestine; One Land, Two Peoplesby Ilan Pappe (2004).

Mearsheimer and Walt indicate that Palestinians resort to terrorism because they have no other way of fighting for their land. It should be remembered that in the twenties and thirties Zionists were also terrorists. (The Stern gang comes to mind.) Ehud Barak, former Israeli prime minister, once admitted, that had he been born a Palestinian, he ‘would have joined a terrorist organization’.

Critics of Israel are also accused of questioning Israel’s right to exist. This is a very good question indeed since the land was appropriated without Palestinian consent. However, most Zionists and Christian evangelicals actually believe that God promised the land to Abraham and his descendents some 3000 years ago (Gen. 12:7) to have forever. Those that do not really believe in such nonsense use it as an excuse for Israel’s expansionist behavior.

It continues to amaze me that so many people, not just Jews, believe that some three thousand years ago God promised the “holy land” to the Jews, his “chosen people”. To those who accept the Bible as the literal word of God, try reading “The Revelation” (John’s Vision of Christ) in the New Saint James Version of the Holy Bible. It is fantasy about dragons and beasts and rivers of blood and God with a sharp sword coming out of his mouth (Rev19:15). The “New Jerusalem” is described: her light like a precious stone and her construction of solid gold. It requires a lot of faith to believe such nonsense is the literal word of God and not just unintelligible metaphor, as is taught by Evangelicals like Jerry Falwell and his Liberty University. Even more amazing is its acceptance by over sixty percent of Americans including, not surprisingly, our obviously mentally impaired President.

Mearsheimer and Walt describe steps leading to our involvement in Iraq, which they suggest was at the behest of Israel, just as the Israel Lobby and Neoconservatives are currently advocating a surprise nuclear attack on Iran. This should never be an option, because as they point out neither Israel nor the US could be blackmailed by a neighbor of Israel having nuclear armament as the blackmailer could not carry out the threat without suffering overwhelming retaliation. The same holds true for other nations with nuclear weapons. Consider the fact that US has lived with a nuclear Soviet Union when we were bitter enemies since the mid-forties. Also Israel, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea have nuclear weaponry which we have learned to live with.

Mearsheimer and Walt assert: “Thanks to the Lobby, the United States has become the de facto enabler of Israeli expansion in the Occupied Territories, making it complicit in the crimes perpetrated against the Palestinians. This situation undercuts Washington’s efforts to promote democracy abroad and is hypocritical when it presses other states to respect human rights. US efforts to limit nuclear proliferation appear equally hypocritical given its willingness to accept Israel’s nuclear arsenal, which only encourages Iran and others to seek a similar capability”.

Ehud Olmert, the current Israeli prime minister, addressed a joint session of Congress on May 24th and spoke of a “dark and gathering storm casting its shadow over the world”, comparing Iran’s nuclear ambitions with slavery and the Soviet gulags. He described Iran as an existential threat. On numerous occasions he received standing ovations from our enthusiastic Congress.

The President talks with Jesus Christ and God, His Father. He eschews mainstream religion for fringe cults like that of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson. According to Ted Rall in The Progressive Populist (May 15-19,2006) Bush told the Palestinian prime minister in 2003 that “God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, then He told me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East.” We should all pray that he doesn’t get a call from God to attack Iran!In two wars Bush has killed over 2500 American soldiers and untold thousands of Afghan and Iraqi civilians. Both nations are chaotic messes filled with sectarian hate and loathing for America. Amnesty International argues that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld be tried as war criminals. I agree.

George w. Bush has created the largest deficit in history, ($7.5 trillion) and alienated most of the world’s nations. World terrorism has increased while Bush is simultaneously destroying our American Democracy in the name of “national security”!

America must wake up to the fact that President Bush is a ridiculous man who thinks God made him president to save us from our sinning and aborting ways, as well as to democratize and “set free” all the people in the world from the tyranny of their governments. Once an alcoholic, Episcopalian playboy he is now a moralistic born-again Christian of the Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson variety. He is a creationist who advocates teaching school children “intelligent design”, a variant of creationism, alongside of evolution thus eroding the distinction between the two. In fact his administration seems to be thoroughly anti-science and threatens to undermine US leadership in science and technology.

Actually, it is no longer al Quaeda who poses the greatest threat to this country. It is George W. Bush and his administration!

Elizabeth Drew in The New York Review (June 22,2006) reveals how Bush has upset the balance of power among the three branches of government provided for in the Constitution. Laws made by Congress are supposed to be faithfully executed by the President. But by using a little known device called a “signing statement” Bush can unobserved, nullify any law or execute it as he sees fit. The signing statements are placed in the Federal Register which is rarely read.

This secret and contemptuous treatment of Congress came to light this year when he signed a bill containing the McCain amendment which places restrictions on the use of torture of prisoners. After signing the bill in the standard Rose Garden ritual, he later essentially cancelled it. As commander in chief he claims that he can do anything he wants, even to the barbaric torture of prisoners in arbitrary contravention of the civilized world’s code of behavior. It is no wonder that the world scorns our hypocritical concerns for civil rights. Use of this device explains why President Bush has no need for his veto power. We no longer have a government of checks and balances; we have a government of arbitrary rule by one man who converses with God, a King in deed, if not by name.

The seriousness of the situation becomes evident when it is realized that actually George W. Bush is a mere figurehead, a dummy like Charlie McCarthy. Cheney, Rumsfeld and a small cabal of Neoconservatives including Rove, Wolfowitz and Feith are the real power behind the throne. They are the dreamers of an American Empire and Iran is next on their list. (See Andrew Bacevich’s review of Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq by Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor in the London Review of Books. 8 June 2006)
Thanks to the very influential Israel Lobby (See separate commentary below) it appears that Iran is to be the target of our next liberating mission; it will be our prized trophy! Its central location and abundant untapped oil makes it invaluable for our global mission.

In a grim article in The New Yorker (April 17,2006) Seymour Hersh stated that a high-ranking diplomat told him that all systems are in place for a preemptive nuclear strike at Iran. The Bush Administration believes that only by controlling the hearts and minds of Iran can the real issue of who is going to control the Middle East and its oil be settled, of course necessitating more regime change. It would appear that the nuclear issue can be used in the same way that weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was used as an excuse to invade Iraq. Teams of American undercover combat troops are already in Iran collecting targeting data. Millitary planning is premised on the belief that a sustained bombing attack will cause the people to overthrow the government. and greet us as liberators as they were supposed to do in Iraq.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran is able to enrich uranium and perhaps to make a bomb within 5 – 10 years.
According to the Financial Times of May 1 2006, reports are emerging of US contingency planning to bomb Iran’s nuclear installations using nuclear bombs that can penetrate deep underground. The mullahs are delighted. Most Iranians support their country’s right to such technology. The paper indicates that Iran should reassure the world of its peaceful intentions and in turn US should guarantee that it would not attack.

A U.S. military strike would strengthen Iran’s determination to have nuclear capability; it would inflame the Middle East and the global Muslim population, crippling U.S. security, economic and strategic interests worldwide.

The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has stated that Iran’s policy was working in the framework of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The disastrous consequences of Bush taking action against Iran include escalation of military action (with no troops available to escalate), oil pricing shocks, increased terrorism , worsening insurgency in Iraq, weakening of the Nonproliferation treaty, a stronger Ahmadinejad and increased international isolation. According to the National Academy of Sciences an atomic attack on Iran would incinerate more than a million civilians and create a cancer producing area larger than that of Chernoble.

On the other hand: according to political analysts an attack on Iran would head off the danger of a Democratic win in November and would offer Bush a way to head off impeachment when Congress becomes more Democratic in the 2006 elections.

In The New Republic (May 8, 2006) TRB asserts that the Hawks, who are for the U.S. making a preemptive strike on Iran, must show that if Iran gets a nuclear weapon it cannot be deterred from using it or transferring it to terrorists. “Where is the evidence that the mullahs seek martyrdom so fervently that they would risk the one thing that most regimes value above all else: survival?”

Actually, the Persians have not launched a war of aggression since the 16th century and there is no reason to believe Iran has aggressive intentions now. Only Israel will be upset at having her nuclear capabilities balanced. If Israel does not attack Iran there is no reason for Iran to attack Israel. In either case, both countries would be destroyed which they are well aware of. Most likely WWIII would ensue and planet Earth with its fauna and flora would be rendered unrecognizable
Iranians are not Arabs. They are Farsi-speaking Shiite Persians that have long been bitter enemies of Iraq. The population is relatively unified and nationalistic. Iran is about 4 times as large as Iraq and its territory just as rugged. It would be very stupid to start a ground war of aggression against Iran. The fact that they are developing nuclear capabilities is no indication that they are a threat to World peace. After all, Israel and Pakistan have atom bombs which they have not used. The Iranian people support their country’s right to both technology and deterrence. In view of Israel’s nuclear capability it is unreasonable that Iran cannot likewise have protection.

Matthew Rothschild in The Progressive (May 2006) states that Bush prefers military action to diplomacy. In March 2006 the Administration issued a new national security strategy which pinpoints Iran as being our most dangerous foe. Where is the evidence? The US at the behest of the Israel Lobby is making all the threatening noises. We have called upon Iran to renounce its nuclear program and open up its political system and afford freedom for its people. Unless Iran accedes to our wishes, the Administration claims it justification for a preemptive strike. What unmitigated gall!

Paul Craig Roberts in The American Conservative (May 8, 2006) states that the U.S. lacks sufficient conventional capability to prevail in any war it starts in Iran. He states further: “The Bush administration has committed America to a foreign policy that means years of wars and likely pre-emptive U.S. nuclear attacks against other countries.”

The Bush administration, with the support of both political parties, preaches democracy to the world while ignoring it at home. Roberts also points out that the primacy that the neoconservatives are seeking over the world will prevail over American people as well.

WESTERN CIVILISATION is undergoing deep changes. Having a soul and believing in God is no longer of central importance. What is important is personal responsibility. Optimism and belief in human goodness are essential to building a better world. Because superstition and mumbo-jumbo abound, we must not give up our trust in rationality and science. In order to meet the future it is essential to avert ecological suicide and learn to live with fewer finite resources. If we do not require truly responsible individualism from our leaders and ourselves civilization is doomed. The greatest threat to society is the decline in “liberalism” and the increased power of the neoconservative movement.

PREFACE: Worthington’s World is libertarian. I believe that people should be free autonomous directors of their own lives, constrained only by laws of a duly elected libertarian government.
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George W. Bush, formerly a heavy drinking carouser who once publicly called Al Hunt, Washington bureau chief for the Wall St. Journal, who was dining with his wife, television correspondent Judy Woodruff and their four-year-old son in a Dallas Mexican restaurant “a no good fucking son of a bitch” (Christopher Andersen’s George and Laura: Portrait of an American Marriage, (Pg. 142), 2002, Harper Collins, N.Y.), was called upon by God to be President.

The redeemed sinner now speaks the language of the evangelicals. Under God’s guidance he has created much misery for the country: not only by enmeshing us in a foolish and wholly unnecessary war of aggression and stirring up a hornet’s nest of terrorists, but also by some of his outrageous political ploys. His inflated self-confidence in his own hunches that he believes come from God, has resulted in unrestrained spending while lowering taxes for the wealthy. These policies will eventually come home to roost. Of course, since Bush believes the Bible to be literally true, perhaps he knows that Christ will return before then.

More recently, according to the Associated Press, he is asking God to guide him in repairing the damage done by Katrina. Since Katrina was part of God’s intelligent design, it seems unlikely that God will get involved. As catastrophes go, Katrina was trivial compared to the Bush administration. This disaster has led to thousands of deaths and destroyed lives, hardly a trivial event. It would appear that the “intelligent” designer must have had some bad days! In any event it is inexplicable why the American public would elect such a stupid man to be President.

The scariest situation which puts the whole world at risk of a nuclear melt-down, is that vice president Cheney’s office requested that the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) plan for a massive nuclear air assault on Iran in event of another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the U.S. Note the sentence: “As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran being actually involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States.” (The above is from an article by Robert C. Koehler in Liberal Opinion Week, Sept. 14, 2005, taken from the Aug 1 issue of The American Conservative)

I have previously presented widely accepted scientific evidence* indicating that humans and all living organisms are molecular aggregates interacting with other components of the surrounding biosphere in which we are imbedded.

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* Cascading Universe, The Integration of Science and Religion by Charles C. Worthington, 2004, Dorrance Publishing Co. Pittsburgh, PA 15222

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I also hypothesized that the concept of an almighty god or gods that has been held by all human tribes throughout the world from the earliest man is a product of evolution. In primitive societies (and also some modern ones) individuals not accepting the preaching of tribal leaders and shamen claiming to have an “in” with god were ostracized or killed resulting in the evolution of brains with neural networks receptive to being controlled by charismatic leaders and religious dogma. Such is the case today where rational individualism is for the most part frowned upon.Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene, New Edition, (Oxford University Press, 1989) indicates that the idea of God arose in the meme pool at the dawn of civilization.

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Memes are cognitive units of cultural inheritance, ideas that leap from brain to brain as genes are transmitted in the gene pool from body to body.

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The survival value of the god meme results from its great psychological appeal. (pg. 193)
A recent book by Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb, Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenic, Behavioral and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life. (Bradford Books, 2005) further supports this hypothesis.

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Epigenesis: a process by which genetic information, as modified by environmental influences, is translated into the substance and behavior of an organism. Jablonka and Lamb restrict this definition to that of specialized cell differentiation during the formation of organs; for example: liver cells. Religious concepts, memes, are products of the symbolic inheritance system. (Chap.6)

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The mechanistic philosophy I espouse is essentially that of many thinkers: Soren Kierkgaard, David Hume, Sir Francis Crick, Paul and Patricia Churchland, John R. Searle and most scientists throughout the world. Current neuroscience discoveries all support a reductionist view of life. Brain scans show without a doubt that neuronal activity is responsible for thought processes. By stimulating neurons in particular areas of the cortex with an inserted electrode distinctive thoughts may be experienced. Though the jump from biochemical activity in the brain to self-awareness and behavior is not understood as yet there is absolutely no evidence of spiritual intervention or that of a “soul” operating contrary to natural laws.
The concept that all thought processes, which constitute our stream of consciousness, are in a state of constant flux creating a new universe for each of us at every instant is difficult to comprehend, particularly when it entails an illusory free-will. (Rather than off-handedly relegating this thesis to “tommy-rot” if the reader will stop and think about his/her thoughts as they pop into mind it will become evident that one does not control one’s thinking. You are your thoughts!). This concept is dealt with more extensively in my book: Cascading Universe*.
A recent and boring paper entitled: “How to Reconcile Physicalism and Antireductionism about Biology” by Alex Rosenberg and D.M. Kaplan in Philosophy of Science, (vol.72, 2005, pgs 43-6 , presents philosophical views of this subject. These authors assert that “biology relies on a theory that is not reducible to more fundamental physical theory.”(pg.47). Their claim is based upon the assertion that the Principle of Natural Selection (PNS) is an underived law about biological systems and is emergent from purely physical processes and thus reconcilable with antireductionism.(pg.67). This concept is empirically incorrect.
Their final paragraph: “And perhaps most importantly, physicalist philosophers of biology will be free to treat the theory of natural selection as a body of nomological generalizations that really vindicate Dobzhansky’s dictum that nothing makes sense in biology (including molecular biology) except against the background of evolution.” **
** It would appear that the paper by Rosenberg and Kaplan is much blather about nothing. It is beyond me why so many verbose philosophers use esoteric words in convoluted sentences! I suppose that it has to do with appearing scholarly.That said, my message pertains to our demoralized disintegrating society. This phenomenon relates to the widespread enfeeblement of mentality attributable mainly to indiscriminant copulating and a misguided humanitarian cosseting of human life sparked by the religious notion that human life is sacred. The dysgenic propagation of the cerebrally incompetent is a problem that civilized society is unwilling to cope with. However, resolved it will be! Former civilizations have unraveled with civil strife and chaos, ours will do likewise. Our demise will be much more devastating since modern man has available means not only to kill one another but to blot out all life on Earth. Forget not: humanity is as nothing in the universe as it pursues its course into eternity.
Another very pertinent factor is the depletion of natural resources. According to James H. Kunstler in The Long Emergency – Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century, (Atlantic Monthly Press, N.Y. 2005) America is sleepwalking into turbulent times just ahead as the millions of years of stored energy in the form of oil, coal and natural gas are used up. He describes what living will be like when there is no electricity and transportation and recommends living in a small rural village as offering the best chance for survival. His treatment of the social consequences is far more benign than I would project taking into consideration the plight of poor, densely-packed city-dwellers trapped without food, electricity, amenities or governance. Granted, there is little we can or will do about it. Praying to God is not going to help. Our best bet is recognizing reality and being self-reliant or “Prime Movers” to use Ayn Rand’s terminology in Atlas Shrugged for those people with the courage and ability to survive. Her moral code is that man is an end in himself and not to be subjected to exploitation by others.
Ayn Rand, who will always be associated with Libertarianism, in her last novel, Atlas Shrugged, describes the destruction of a society dominated by a government of parasitical bureaucrats who expropriate private means of production at the expense of the creative geniuses who built such facilities. They excuse such theft by claiming the needs of society must come first. They assert it evil to be a success since that implies strength at the expense of the weak. By their reckoning all “private property”, purchased or inherited is held only at the whim of the government. It should be noted that in our crowded United States today the illegal use of eminent domain is becoming more and more prevalent. Municipalities are taking over private property for additional shopping areas and private usage. Our bureaucratic government with its dictum that all people are of equal ability is tending toward that of Rand’s book.
Her philosophy was that one should live as a moral responsible individual for one’s own self-interest, with one’s own perception of reality and happiness. She indicates that morality is the judgment to distinguish right from wrong, vision to see the truth and have the courage to act upon it. She stresses further, that no one has the right to a product of another man’s labor.It has been said that libertarianism is a soulless philosophy that promotes radical individualism at the expense of traditional Christian American ideals and that relegates religion to ones’ persona. I wholeheartedly agree and am all for it!

Individualism necessarily follows my belief that every living organism is a world unto itself. The life of all animals, (humans are certainly animals) constitutes a stream of biochemical reactions to ambient stimuli. From a rational point of view, as I explain in Cascading Universe?, it could not be otherwise. Thus all values are self-centered and each is responsible for their own behavior. One of society’s problems is making people realize that each is responsible for his/her actions and holding them to it.
Radical individualism could never take hold given our feeblemindedness as indicated by the widespread belief in God, not as an unknown force that set off the Big Bang, but a father-figure to whom one turns for help and forgiveness; not just here in the West but throughout the world. The intensity of belief in Allah by Muslims has resulted in much savage warfare.
God, if there is one, certainly is not the loving heavenly father proclaimed in Christian doctrine. This is evidenced by wars, plagues and the overall unhappy, poverty-stricken state of the world with its natural and man-made calamities, such as racial cleansing and tsumanies, that wipe out millions of innocent people. It might be noted here that according to my doctrine every feature and activity in the universe is due to the nature of the particles of energy of which it is composed. For further insight see Cascading Universe*.

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What pageantry when Pope Paul John II , God’s viceroy on Earth, died! Millions of people gathered in Rome to mourn his demise although actually they should have been celebrating his entrance into Heaven to sit with God. (I often wonder about Heaven. It must be densely populated; on the other hand maybe God shall only admit those who humble themselves before him and the weeping statues of the mother of Jesus.)
Cardinals in their theatrical costumes and with pomp and ceremony put on their act: kissing the sarcophagus, praying to God for advice and parading around the Vatican preparing to elect a new Holy Father. As this is being written Benedict XVI has been selected. (Unfortunately, it is said that he is conservative and will carry out the short-sighted agenda of John Paul II)
It was good theater. Pope John Paul II, in spite of his inconsistency about the sanctity of life and the millions of deaths he caused by his edict against condoms and birth control, provided charismatic leadership for some 1.1 billion devout Catholics, his flock. With such a large following, many of the world’s politicians paid him heed. President and Mrs Bush knelt in obeisance at the coffin. It is to these simple-minded people, along with most of mankind, embarked as it is on an emotional journey to certain destruction, that I address in this commentary.
Charismatic preachers of religion, any religion, with their dogmatic cant about speaking for God, a loving heavenly Father who cherishes each and everyone of us, are without question mostly responsible for the sorry state we find ourselves in today. The clergy, even the televangelists, are but ignorant specimens of humanity and possibly sincerely believe in their message, as far fetched as it is. After all they are, just as we all are, products of neural networks and part and parcel of the throbbing, integrated universe.
With all my commentaries and writing it is my aim to point out the absurd and greedy behavior of society in hopes of making it more rational and to eliminate overwhelming government. Each individual should be responsible for their own life and in no way be dependent upon society. As I have stated elsewhere: Man is not his brother’s keeper.
Why should a reader accept my conjectures as valid? Primarily because they take into account the realities of the world with all of its baseness. The great minds of the past all sought understanding based upon the realities of their worlds. During the Enlightment, a period beginning in the seventeenth century our civilization really blossomed forth. Dick Taverne in The March of Unreason (Oxford University Press 2005) presents an excellent over-view of the development of our society up to the present.
At the heart of our perceptions is the matter of “truth”.
(For more on “truth”, which depends upon the beholder, see page 8 of Cascading Universe)?Unfortunately, most religious people, which represent a large majority of the population, seem to be cerebrally incompetent and thus blindly accept without question the nonsense that “the men of God” spew forth. The fact that religion is infiltrating our no-brain bureaucratic government is of great concern. Our idiotic president who claims to be in close contact with God, in rejecting support of stem cell research stated: “The use of federal dollars to destroy life is something I simply do not support.” It should be noted that stem cell research may prove very valuable in saving human life. Furthermore only frozen embryos would be used which otherwise will be tossed down the drain. All the while billions of federal dollars are being spent to destroy life in Baghdad in an elective war started by Bush at the behest of God. A war against a small country that presented no threat to us.
One of the more discouraging characteristics of current social trends is the lowering of educational standards whereby children with persistent learning disabilities are catered to with special education at the expense of gifted children who will be our future leaders. It is sheer stupidity to foist academia on students lacking intellectual interests.
Our children should be encouraged to emulate our illustrious pioneer forefathers who were individualists with powerful creative minds and productive energy, who took pride in self-reliance and living by their own efforts. They did not expect society to take care of them.
The major problem facing our nation today and the reason libertarianism is an impossible dream are the increasing hordes of feeble-minded whiners who possess no ability, live as parasites, multiply like rabbits, and expect others to pay their bills. They are taking over the land like a cancer, contributing nothing and diluting our original pioneering American spirit.

ADDENDUM

In view of the catastrophic anti-American decision of the Supreme Court (23 June ’05) to allow a government to confiscate private property I would suggest that the Connecticut Minutemen, organized at the behest of the Continental Congress on 18 July 1775 to fight tyranny, be mobilized to defend the private property that the City of New London Plans to seize.

Thus far President Bush is responsible for over 1300 U.S. soldiers killed and in excess of 10,000 wounded. He absurdly claims that they are bravely dying for their country. What twaddle! They are fighting for Bush’s ego and the Neoconservative drive for empire.To really believe that poor, trade-embargoed Iraq with its tin-horn dictator would attack the United States is idiotic. To use 9/11 as an excuse for war with Iraq, which our silly President does, is immoral. He declared war on terrorism but has done nothing to stem its roots.

Yes, he has probably heightened our national security but the hate directed toward us by the Muslim world is unabated and it will remain so until we stop supporting Israeli expropriation of Palestinian territory.

IS SUPPORTING ISRAELI AGGRESSION REALLY WORTH THE LIVES OF OUR SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN?

The United States incursion into Iraq is a prime example of the Machiavellian neoconservative doctrine: a foreign policy directed toward world dominance based upon a unilateral preemptive use of force without regard for diplomacy and multilateral organizations. Actually our chance to establish a “Pax Americana” was in 1945 when we alone had nuclear capability. However, we are not a war-like nation and sought world peace in the United Nations which neoconservatives disdain. Perhaps we were naïve and hoped for too much. At least it gave the international community a forum to air problems and endeavor to keep peace. Its sanctions kept Saddam Hussein at bay for twelve years and certainly prevented him from being a threat.President Bush is intellectually mediocre. From the beginning of his presidency, according to ex-staff personnel, he was angling for an excuse to go to war with Iraq. He had early on surrounded himself with Machiavellian neoconservatives and after 9/11, with international acquiescence, went after terrorists in Afghanistan where the al-Qaeda terrorist network was supposed to be headquartered. But as Rumsfeld said, Afghanistan, had no good bombing targets. So the war on terrorism turned into a war on Iraq to the consternation of all our major allies except Great Britain. Although ostensibly we are fighting to establish an Iraqi democracy, we are actually fighting to get a U.S. foothold in Arabia to enthrall the nation and control their valuable oil resources. Our original target, terrorists, are still active as indicated by the heightened danger alert today (2 Aug.) for downtown N.Y. and Washington, D.C.

Neoconservatism is amoral. It is also an excellent example of man’s inborn hunger for recognition and power. As I indicate in Cascading Universe.* this is a genetic trait in all cerebral animals, a product of Darwinian evolution. The concept of right and wrong plays a very limited, illusory role in basic physiological drives. Michael Ledeen in Machiavelli on Modern Leadership states that the bloody-mindedness of world leaders and would-be leaders –“derives from ambition and human ambition is unlimited, both that of individuals and the institutions they create.” Ledeen, still following Machiavelli in The War Against the Terror Masters, extols leadership and stresses the importance of winning. He praises “Creative destruction — both within our own society and abroad.”

The Neo-con’s American Empire can never come to pass because U.S. citizens are not interested in sending their youth to die in a war of outright aggression when there is no apparent threat. In former times, forceful leaders, kings, emperors or dictators seeking glory were able to assemble armies to extend boundaries and enhance national pride. In those days people were more easily made to serve because they were under the thumb of a government that stressed “patriotism” above intellectual development and a citizen’s well-being and his striving for a better life. Today people are more educated and independent. In the U.S. government is supposed to serve the people, not the people serve the government. As I stress in Cascading Universe, each individual is a world unto himself; civilizations are merely interacting, commingling aggregates of the atoms that constitute man.

Society is a product of personal interactions of constantly changing neural networks of individual brains; thus human affairs are never static. The increase of population and the accompanying broader knowledge add to the complexities of interpersonal relationships and make possible a greater realization of oneself as an individual rather than just as a pawn of the state. At present, with a more catholic and educated population, the call to arms necessary for a militant, unilateral and forceful promotion of American democracy throughout the world with no imminent threat is doomed to fail. Even in Iraq where American prestige is at stake the war became very unpopular when it became apparent that our aggression was wholly unnecessary and started primarily to satisfy Bush’s desire to be a “war president” as well as his desire to initiate the first step in the Neoconservative drive for U.S. world hegemony. In fact, there is considerable popular support for curtailing the useless killing of our soldiers and calling it quits.

It is hard to imagine how our government, knowing what they did, could order military reservists, hardworking American volunteers to give up their families and livelihood to war against a small insignificant nation that presented no threat to us. It is evident that we were blindsided by conniving neo-conservatives embedded in the present administration, taking advantage of the horrendous 9/11 attack to further their own aims.

Leo Strauss, a German Jewish émigré and a professor at the University of Chicago until his death in 1973, provided the intellectual support for neoconservatism. He preached that religion is the opium of the people and that those in power (like President Bush et al) should invent noble lies and pious frauds when necessary to keep the people enthralled.

The neoconservative movement was initiated by Irving Kristol in the late 1960s. Kristol, a New York Jewish intellectual was originally a Trotskyite who later switched to the right.

Neoconservatives are empire builders who scorn social science as being anti-business and left-wing. Hard science is also shunted aside when it conflicts with big business, particularly with respect to water and air pollution, saving the forestland, and global warming. Bush staunchly supports far-right religious doctrine as his opposition to stem-cell research and abortion would suggest. Neoconservatives whole-heartedly support Israel, not only as a Jewish homeland but as an important ally in the Near East.

Essentially, neocons believe that the United States should use its dominant power to unilaterally promote its values throughout the world. They are deeply immersed in the current Bush administration as the following roster indicates:

Vice President Richard Cheney
The vice president’s Chief of Staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz
Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith
Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice
National Security Council Senior Director Elliot Abrams
Key Advisor Richard Perle

Also: Richard Armitage, Paul Bremer, Donald Kagan, Zalmey Khalilzad, William Kristol, Michael Ledeen, Bernard Lewis, Martin Peretz, Peter Rodman, Leon Wieseltrier, David Wurmser, Dov Zakheim, and many others.

The Neo-conservative network includes The American Enterprise Institute, The Heritage Foundation, The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, Center for Security Policy, Hudson Institute and the Project for the New American Century.

They consider the Middle East to be a region of great importance to us because of its energy resources; and Israel, a vital interest. The Palestinians are considered to be of no account and can be justifiably enclosed in a little state under the control of Israel.

The Neo-conservatives envisage American power throughout the world, advocating the use of force as an end in itself.

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Tyrannical Arabian theocracies will eventually succumb to more democratic societies as their citizens become more sophisticated and come to realize how down-trodden they are. New, less repressive social ideas will eventually take hold as they did in Europe several hundred years ago.

With regard to the present situation wherein Bush has bamboozled the public to support a war of aggression into Iraq, it should be obvious that we can not base foreign policy on lies and arbitrary decision making notwithstanding his Machiavellian cabinet. It behooves us to set an example as trading partners for everyone’s benefit rather than try to impose reform by destructive militancy à la Machiavelli.

SOURCES

Bush League Diplomacy, Craig R. Eisendrath and Melvin A. Goodman, 2004 Prometheus Books, Amherst, N.Y.

Machiavelli on Modern Leadership, Michael A. Ledeen, 1999 St Martin’s Press, New York, N.Y.

The War Against the Terror Masters, Michael A. Ledeen, 2002 St. Martin’s , Press, New York, N.Y.

America Alone, Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke, 2004 Cambridge Univ. Press, New York, N.Y.

Imperial Hubris, Anonymous, 2004 Brassey’s Inc. Dulles, Va.

Resurrecting Empire, Rashid Khaldi, 2004, Beacon Press, Boston, Mass.

Cascading Universe, Charles C. Worthington, 2004, Dorrance Publishing co. Pittsburgh, Penn.

Leo Strauss and the Grand Inquisitor, Shadia B. Drury, free inquiry, June/July 2004