Kujt t'ia prishësh, kujt t'ia ndreqësh?!

Në një faqe të forumit Respublica lexova disa fjalë me mend nga Faik Konica dërguar një shqiptari që donte dhe ai të botonte gazetë.

Duke mos dashur të kopjoj gjithë tekstin e Konicës, për të mos përsëritur pa leje pak a shumë përmbajtjen e artikullit tek Respublica, ju ftoj të ndiqni lidhjen e mësipërme për ta lexuar.

«Të desha ty...»

Të desha ty dhe ndoshta prapë,

S'do të ndjej të tillë dashuri

Por nuk dua që shpirti im i ngratë,

Të të trishtojë e dashur përsëri.

Të desha fort, në heshtje, në vetmi,

Në drithma xhelozie vuajta shumë

Po Zotit çdo ditë i lutem tani,

Një tjetër të të dojë, si të desha unë.

A. S. PUSHKIN

Përktheu: Aleko BALLAURI

Racism is Alive and Well

And on that note: Haley Barbour can kiss goodbye his chances of becoming the Republican candidate for President in 2010, and of being elected to any office at the national level... thanks to Rachel Maddow.

On DADT

In light of the ongoing debate and in expectance of the vote on Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell tomorrow, here are a few pithy thoughts on this policy and why I think it has become such a shameful debate that needs to end with the repeal of DADT.

Last night I watched a woman fierily—though not convincingly, of course—argue that, upon entering the army, the individual signs away his or her rights to be an individual. While this may be true in the sense that the army and the furthering of its goals and duties ought to become that individual's priority, it is entirely untrue that the same individual loses or ought to lose his identity.

Individuality is not tantamount to identity. On the contrary, individuality is a much more dynamic and visible dimension that is a mere extension of a more unchanging identity. Being gay, lesbian, or any other [prefix]sexual is precisely a component of that identity, much to the chagrin of many religious leaders, and despite the erroneous thoughts of many across the country and the world who think that sexuality is a choice. Moreover, demanding that non-heterosexual members of the army keep their sexuality a secret or else they lose their job, is undue burden on them because there is no equivalent demand being made of heterosexual individuals. And, while the army may be primarily oriented around the goals it aims to accomplish, it is inevitably a social place, as well, and those social aspects are invaluable in humanizing soldiers to one another and thereby contributing to unit cohesion and bravery in times of distress.

Another argument I hear around, and especially by old coots in Congress, is that the aforementioned unit cohesion will suffer; that the fact that soldiers live in close quarters will be aggravated by someone's identifying him/herself as gay/lesbian. This, I find to be the most despicable and faulty argument. I find it faulty because it assumes that there is universal and overt bigotry in the armed forces, and, while I am not naïve enough to believe that the opposite is the case, I also do not fail to recognize that the feeling of comradeship and allegiance to their duty, as well as the shared experiences of the soldiers concerned, create a respect for human life and a regard for one another that overrides their apprehensions about a 'homosexual' in their midst.

At the same time, I find this argument despicable and disgusting because it is a masked reiteration of the 'gays want to do any guy around' argument. I use the male substantives here, because they are more often than their female counterparts accused of promiscuity, of inability to control their hormones and sexual urges, and of an indiscriminate desire to sleep with men. In other words, it equates gays to bum sex. This is absolutely offensive to gays; naturally to the gay men suffering the detrimental effects of DADT, but also to every gay man in this country who has to sit in front of the television and hear elected officials such as McCain and à la McCain reduce them to an urge to sodomize any male around. It is a spit in the face of every gay individual who sees him/herself as a productive and equal member of this society and country of ours, but finds him/herself being regarded and portrayed unidimensionally as an unnatural, aberrant mutant worthy of the bigotry and stigma s/he gets in our society at large, or even legitimately through the enforcement of anachronistic and bigoted legislation like DADT.

Too much money has been wasted schooling and training individuals, only to then undertake measures to remove them from the position for which they were trained, once their homosexuality has become known. It has been going on for seventeen years too many and it is high time that our elected officials vote in accordance with the times in which we live and with the gaping need for new recruitment in our armed forces. And although it may be too late for those perpetuating the aforementioned tired arguments like John McCain, others in his party and among the Democrats can still be on the progressive, sensible, good side of history and vote to repeal DADT on Saturday.

'Second Amendment Remedies'

Ever wonder why Sharron Angle got questioned repeatedly on her supposed 'Second Amendment remedies?' Wonder no longer: because this is one of those Second Amendment remedies, and a reason why we have a problem in this country with the Second Amendment and the way in which it is interpreted, enforced, and defended. If the individuals responsible for our schools—and I do include here those idiots in Texas and elsewhere in the country who fight science with the Bible—are not safe, where are we safe in this country? What's to stop one of my bitter or resentful students from doing the same thing?

WARNING: The video contains real guns being shot at people.

It's the Numbers, Stupid!

The chart below highlights the amount that will be saved by each income bracket indicated under the Democratic-proposed, the Republican-proposed, and the Obama-Republican plans separately.

And you wonder why liberals are angry? This country's elected officials have gone insane, starting with Obama at the top. I mean that.

No one in Washington, save for those twelve senators who voted against this plan, has the moral right to pretend to care about deficits and debts anymore. NO ONE! But they are all hypocrites so they will anyway, at the first chance they get.

Image Source

The World of Facebook

Image Source

Weise Worte

Ich spiele mechanisch weiter und denke an Isabelle und das, was sie gesagt hat, und dann an die Beschreibung der vorchristlichen Religionen, die ich gestern abend gelesen habe. Die Götter waren damals heiter in Griechenland, sie wandelten von Wolke zu Wolke, sie waren leicht schurkisch und immer treulos und wandelbar wie die Menschen, zu denen sie gehörten. Sie waren Verkörperungen und Übertreibungen des Lebens in seiner Fülle und Grausamkeit und Unbedenklichkeit und Schönheit. Isabelle hat recht: Der bleiche Mann über mir mit dem Bart und den blutigen Gliedern ist es nicht. Zweitausend Jahre, denke ich, zweitausend Jahre, und immer ist das Leben mit Lichtern, Brunstschreien, Tod und Verzückung um die Steinbauten gewirbelt, in denen die Abbilder des blassen Sterbenden aufgerichtet waren, düster, blutig, von Millionen von Bodendieks umgeben – und bleifarben ist der Schatten der Kirchen über den Ländern gewachsen und hat die Lebensfreude erdrosselt, er hat aus Eros, dem heiteren, eine heimliche, schmutzige, sündhafte Bettgeschichte gemacht und nichts vergeben, trotz aller Predigten über Liebe und Vergebung – denn wirklich vergeben heißt, den anderen zu bestätigen, wie er ist, nicht aber Buße zu verlangen und Gefolgschaft und Unterwerfung, bevor das Ego te absolvo ausgesprochen wird.

»«

Once again, I play mechanically and think about Isabelle and the descriptions of pre-Christian religions I read last night. Back then, the Gods in Greece used to be cheerful; they'd wander from people to people; they were slightly more villainous and treacherous and flighty, like the people to whom they belonged. They were embodiments and excesses of life in all its fullness and cruelty and harmlessness and beauty. Isabelle was right: the pale man above me with his beard and bloody limbs is none of this. 'Two thousand years! Two thousand years,' I think to myself, and life—swirled with lights, mad screams, death, and ecstasy—has always bumped against the stone buildings on which somber, bloody, and surrounded by thousand of Bodendieks, have stood the images of the dying man. And the leaden shadow of the church spread across countries and smothered their vitality; it transformed Eros, the cheerful god, into a secret, dirty, sinful bedroom story, and forgave nothing, despite all the sermons about love and forgiveness; for true forgiveness is to accept another as he is—not to demand his repentance and obedience and submission before pronouncing 'Ego te absolvo.'

Erich Maria REMARQUE

Der Schwarze Obelisk

Ugly Stuff

This is the ugliest, most repulsive thing I have seen in a while.

Here is an an American citizen—and what's more one who is risking his life so that your ass and mine and that of every member of Congress does not have to—having to hide his face and use a pseudonym out of fear of being persecuted—legitimately persecuted—by the system we have allowed to shamefully persist for seventeen years to the detriment of real human beings.

I'm borderline anti-militaristic and I am saying this.