HEY HEY HEY! Ding A Ling Dave, you sounded really good on that bell.
I call New York the schizophrenic city, with its many rival boroughs divided into antagonistic elements. It's a tribal identity thing.
I must be getting old, things have changed so much, I saw this blog today, and it reminded me of how I was as a young 20 year old soldier, full of shit and vinegar. It was 1973, and dead or alive, most of my rock music heroes were all legends. Then along comes scruffy looking Bruce, and his motley looking gang that looked like a bunch of junkies, rummies and bums. I said to myself, these guys are at the end of their road they'll never make it to the top. Danny Federici was so clean he looked out of place. Funny, he seemed so clean cut, he looked like he was kidnapped from playing at some one's bar mitzvaha party. Hell what did I know? Back then we were still praying that the Beatles would come back together It was not until I got out of the army, that I began to really appreciate the Boss, and his crew.

What Am I ?

Until a wonderful Forrest sprite came along and shook me out of the tree; that I have been lodged so comfortably oh these many years. I was content to keep most of my spiritual thoughts on my other blog. There was a good reason for keeping this blog more secular. Few people have the interest, or the courage to discuss anything of a spiritual nature, and as I already have one dead blog, why make two? Ah, but your G-d takes second place to no one! I will have to figure out a way to give Him a front row seat, and not frighten away all my friends at the same time. I am not religious, and like my hero Abraham I believe in G-d, and view all the major religions of the world at least in part, as pagan. Yet because G-d is sovereign , and even though He is known worldwide by many names; He has no need of our dogma or religion. Adonai our G-d is free to deal with the hearts of all His children, He understands and accommodates our primitive needs, no matter what kind of costume we try to put on Him. We should "instead of being subject to the limits of the Western mindset which dichotomizes things, values, etc, take advantage and assurance that seeming disparities are not disparities, but part of a larger synthesis of thought. Faith & works are part of a renewal of the heart. Torah is about renewing our hearts – all the promises rely on our hearts being renewed. Hence, Torah is not so much a religion, but a change of state, a change of being. The good deeds are not so much works, they are also faith, as they are part of emunah – Hebrew for “faith” which denotes that we “support G-d” and have “firm actions.” Faith is not so much a hope, but a certainty and way of living – what I can do to support the will of G-d."

The Tibetan Uprising Continues

The Rape of Tibet:
A shattered historical identity, a culture being savagely destroyed

In 1959 Tibet lost its freedom: outnumbered and poorly armed, the Tibetan army was crushed after a few days of an unsuccessful uprising. Thousands were killed. Everything was destroyed. Monks were crucified and many were buried, or burned alive, children forced to kill their own parents The famine forced the people to escape. This was the method used by the communist despots: make them go hungry, weaken them and divide them. Secretly and silently the Tibetans were eliminated. Chinese propaganda discredited the peaceful monks then as it does today.

In 2008, Tibetans around the world commemorated the 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.


THE NEW YORK TIMES
Wednesday, April 2, 2008

"Tibet, the high-altitude Himalayan plateau associated in popular memory with meditation and Buddhist serenity, has been the scene of periodic strife ever since it was seized militarily by China in 1951. The country's former ruler, the Dalai Lama, has led a government in exile whose bitter relations with China's Communist Party has boiled over from time to time in protests or fighting.

Sporadic talks between China and the Dalai Lama’s representatives have produced no results, and Beijing continues to condemn him as a “splittist” determined to severe the region’s ties to China. In the past, the Dalai Lama has said that he accepts Chinese rule, but that Tibetans need greater autonomy to practice their religion.

A new round of disturbances broke out beginning on March 10, 2008, the anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. The protests turned violent, and were described as the largest since 1989. Those ended in a bloody clash with Chinese security forces and the imposition of martial law."

FREEDOM FIRST
by Major Geneal (Retd) Eustace D'Souza:


That the Chinese are most sensitive to any criticism of their hold on Tibet, their human rights record and other illegal activities as, for instance, using it as a dumping ground for nuclear waste, is too well known to deserve recall. When such issues were raised with a nine member high powered Chinese delegation at a seminar held recently in the University town of Manipal in Karnataka, the reaction of the delegation, when issues relating to Tibet was raised, invariably drew violent reactions of protest. The rape of Tibet, its age-old culture and its people continue, judging from the number of ethnic Tibetans who escape to India. Their stories record vividly the grossest violation of human rights and Chinese sensitivity to any such references drawing strong protests.

When our Mumbai Tibetans held a silent and non-violent hunger strike during the visit of Zhu Rongji, the Mumbai police were explicit in prohibiting any demonstrations in areas being visited by the Chinese Premier. However they were permitted to hold a hunger strike on Azad Maidan where about 200 Tibetan protestors and their Indian friends participated. In his brief address to the protestors, this writer stressed the need never to give up hope. He drew attention to the Tibetan flag with the rising sun as a sign of hope: the sun was not setting but rising. Decrying the fact that the free west chose to keep silent on the rape of Tibet, this writer suggested that the only way to stimulate the involvement of the West in their freedom struggle was to discover oil in Tibet!

Singin' In The Rain

What I will soon be doing, or may be doing as you are reading this.
I got my rubbers, and I'm ready to go!

For you Dave:
And in those days, there were giants!