anotherlook

Forty-one Marines committed suicide last year; this is up from 33 in 2007 and is just about half of the 128 soldiers whose deaths have been ruled suicide. In 2007, there were 115 confirmed suicides among soldiers and the totals have been slowly increasing since 2005 when there were a total of 87 suicides confirmed.

These figures for 2008, indicates that out of 100,000 soldiers, approximately 20 will take their own life. Not only that but they are coming back with psychological problems, physical injuries and life long memories to carry with them for as long as they are on this earth.

If they entered the service at age 18 and serve four to six years, that puts them at 22 to 26 years old and from that age, the assumption is they still have a lot of life to live. Instead of living they are burden with the experiences brought on by war.

These statistics are alarming. These young kids are being sent, multiple times in some cases, to a war zone, they watch friends die or get injured, become injured themselves and they see the aftermath of the destruction they have created and then are expected to come back to “civilization” and blend in and leave the memories and the violence behind.

Does this increase in suicides among military personnel indicate that leaving those memories behind is not as easy as saying the words.

There was a time when boys were more or less raised to believe that serving your country was honorable and in fact was a requirement. A warrior was “manly” but phraseology in the world has changed and peace is more frequently spoken of, yet, this peace never comes and the mixed signals begin to wear on the consciousness of these brave kids, once the war is over or they are away from the battle.

How long do we ask our children to kill for our selfishness, our greed and our inability to get along as people joined by what should be a common bond - the bond of life, the bond of human beings?

I view war as a violent contradiction of why we are here on earth and the sooner we understand the importance of acceptance, even if we disagree, the sooner we will be able to achieve peace and stop the need to send our young into war zones which strip them physically, psychologically, spiritually and morally, changing who they are and what they can be.

Is the expectation too high for these children to “bounce back” after such an extraordinary experience such as war and death? Do they view themselves as weak if they experience post traumatic stress or any other psychological dysfunction after being in a war zone? Does this inhibit them from seeking the necessary help they need to become, once again, a functioning part of “civilization” or do we just not have the proper resources available to them.

Whatever the reason, support is the answer. The fact is our children are choosing to take their own lives and this is something that needs to be effectively dealt with to prevent such tragedies from happening.

And that’s the way I see it!!

This is something that needs to stop in the black communities; this insistence to commit crimes and illicit fear in the hearts and minds of society at large. Killing people, stealing and assault, makes people feel that war is happening right here at home. This makes no sense, the crimes are getting, more and more, violent and more and more senseless and it is not conducive to the establishment of peace.

Black Americans need to clean up their neighborhoods, their lives and their children because these very children are reflecting back at you and with the job that I have, I see a violent, disrespectful, foul mouthed “you” and it is disturbing and embarrassing to witness the levels of ugliness black youth display.

Now, in Raleigh, North Carolina, this 20-year old “wannabe thug” by the name of Larry Whitfield, with no prior record, decided to rob a bank, which did not work because the bank staff must have seen them carrying semiautomatic rifles and locked the security door as the men approached, leaving them stuck outside.

They fled but crashed their car on the interstate and in his efforts to get away he ran into a 79-year old woman’s house and literally scared her to death. Mary Parnell actually had a heart attack caused by the fear she was feeling in the presence of this uncontrolled, uninvited youth.

So he walks away with no money from the bank and ends up in jail for murder in the commission of a felony, along with the other charges, if convicted he could get life without possibility of parole, and his life is wasted from this day forward.

Now according to MSNBC news, this lady’s autopsy said, she had an enlarged heart, was overweight and had advanced liver disease, kidney disease, hypertension, heart disease and was a diabetic and this 20-year old is going to jail because the woman went into cardiac arrest after he broke into her home.

Yes, it’s been a long hard struggle, here in America, but now is not the time to give up or give in. Stop cursing, drinking and drugs, stop showing your kids the worst side of life, have some respect about yourself even when America does not have respect for you because what you are essentially doing is personifying the attitude that America has for you by creating these mini attitudes reflecting back at you.

They spend so much time watching videos and listening to rap, intensifying the attitude and thinking that the world is like the music – which to an extent it is. My question is does the music portray what’s real in every American’s life or just the narrow world’s we live in as blacks.

Expand your minds and pass it on to your kids, search for the positive even when things are hard, recognize what others have sacrificed for your future in America and be grateful for the leap that has occurred. Yeah it has been a struggle but maybe not in vain but sometimes your actions make it hard to accept you or even want to be around you; it’s time we as black Americans take pride in who we are and stop all the violence that has become a way of life in our neighborhoods all across America.

You use the “n” word so much in your homes, your children come out in the real world and throw that word around, in mixed company, and people begin to think that it is an acceptable way to approach a black man and then you turn around and get mad because someone has called you out of your name.

You call your women a “b” and your sons begin to believe all women are “b”s and so they start showing young girls the disrespect that word evokes. You curse when in general conversation, thinking that makes you a man and your kids come out in the streets doing the same.

As for the women raising kids on their own, bring strange men around the kids you have at home. Sometimes these men talk to your daughters like they are grown and in turn your daughters come out in the world thinking they have some prize that all men want to own. It’s a sad state of affairs in our neighborhoods and homes. It’s time for a change and only you as parents can achieve this change.

Michael Jackson once said, “If you wanna make the world a better place take a look at yourself and make a “change” never were there truer words spoken.

And that’s the way I see it!!!

Give a fool a microphone and he will definitely show you how ignorant he is and Rush Limbaugh is a prime example of ignorance with a microphone. He is a study in what excesses will do to you in life. He has taken freedom of speech to a level of excess; sprouting whatever negativity he feels like and it does not even have to be based on truth, just what he wants to say in the moment.

He has become the spokesman for the Republican Party and a true reflection of where they have gone. The insane part to this is that people are listening to him, not only listening but believing in what he speaks. He is a study in division and divisiveness by the things he verbalizes, off the top of his ignorant head. I can not believe he actually gets paid to talk the insanity he spits out.

Sources have said that towards his mission of wanting to see Obama fail, he has encouraged his Republican Party members to oppose the stimulus plan because it would give Democrats an electoral advantage by creating new jobs. How could you wish for Obama to fail without taking all of America down with the failure.

He is representing the Republican Party and he is a fitting representative filled with nothing but division, negativity and excesses. He talks to excess, with no thought just words and the words are foolish, sarcastic and rude nothing but hot air. Similarly, that is what the Republican Party has been of late.

John McCain thought he could win the race for presidency, by putting Obama down, twisting his words and raising suspicions on his character. He felt strongly that because Obama was black all he had to do was engage (sorry I have to put it like this) white America, on divisions that have always happened in America, showing himself as a “good ol boy” by the camouflaged way he spoke his words of division.

Bush and his excesses ran the deficit up with his mindless spending on a war that we should not have even been in (and it’s too early to know whether it even did any good), his lack of foresight, the lies he told to achieve his goal of war in Iraq, excesses, excesses, excesses led us to where we are now.

The Republican’s excess in the criticisms of Palin, being the main reason for the failure of the Republicans in the election; not even facing the fact that it was the view of the excesses that turned people off and made them want change. The truth is, it was McCain who ruined the campaign, trying to drive wedges between people in the remarks that he made and choosing to spend all his time ridiculing Obama.

The Republican Party is showing time and again that they are not worthy, not fitting to be in charge and the ugliness that they have been keeping alive in some American people is coming to light with people like Rush Limbaugh showing just what an anything goes party they are. The Republican Party has shown that they would go to any means to achieve their end, as Bush did with the lies he told.

To the dissention they are showing to the American public in not wanting to pass the stimulus bill because they are not ready to relinquish control, the control they have had these last 8 years. Who are they to judge what economist say may work and stand strong in their partisan ways at the cost of the people they were put there to serve.

More than that with all I have witnessed them do over the past eight years, I don’t trust them or believe them because they have shown me what they are capable of and what they will deny in the face of truth. Yes, Rush Limbaugh is the perfect spokesman for the Republican Party, all who can’t handle truth or change and It’s very disconcerting what I see in his eyes.

And that’s the way I see it!!

Mahatma Gandhi once said “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

Paul Boese once said, “Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.”

Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, a moral thinker, novelist and philosopher once said, “Let us forgive each other – only then will we live in peace.”

I say forgiveness is a powerful vehicle needed to move forward towards the goal of peace. Forgiveness helps you to move past what has been and takes you to a place where old wounds begin to heal. It opens up the avenues of communications, to your heart and your soul; it allows you to see things from a clearer perspective but most importantly, forgiveness is for the benefit of the forgiver as opposed to the person being forgiven.

For all you people who doubted change would come, based on Obama’s choices for his cabinet, I say open your eyes and see, your ears to hear the changes that Obama is attempting to inspire not only here in America but across the world. Indeed, with the same old people, attitudes may change with the leadership of the man.

Never have I seen a president attempt to settle the problems in the world with conversations and a worldwide view of an extended hand of welcome. For me, Obama’s approach to the crisis in the Middle East, with Muslims all over the world, is fresh and a study in human nature which I can not wait to see how it works out.

Communication is so very important. The way he is talking in simple terms; “America is not your enemy”, then taking steps to prove this point, may be effective in taking the first steps towards a reconciliation of spirits not only with Americans and the Muslims of the world but with people everywhere.

Towards this end, an unconfirmed rumor has it that Russia may have halted a plan to retaliate, in the anger brought on my George W. Bush, with his push to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic.

While the White House has not made any decision to change this policy, since according to the Bush administration these systems were needed to protect from potential missile strikes by “rogue states” such as Iran and North Korea, Russia may have halted it’s plan to retaliate against the proposed missile defense shield by rethinking the threat to station its own missiles near Europe’s borders.

These are outstanding accomplishments. It may take a moment for Muslims and others as well, to extent a hand of welcoming back to Obama but at least Obama is putting what is important out on the wind and it is blowing around the world and possibly affecting other nations. I love it!!

This has never happened before and the simplistic nature of the conversation should touch the hearts of all involved. The leaders may attempt to keep the chaos going but, over time, people are going to see them for what they really are. People who just want to keep things going, for no reason, even when peace is offered, are not going to be respected for long.

When I think about how long I have waited to hear these words, open, honest, real, how I’ve wondered how those words would be accepted in the world, I thank the Lord that Obama was elected.

His ability to be able to state, in truth, that he knows Muslim people to be decent with the same goals we all have based on his “associations” with them in the past, humanizing them in the eyes of non-believers, is a powerful thing.

It brings a level of understanding to the table. I’m sure on some levels, some Americans are getting a little nervous about this “association” Obama has claimed with Muslim people, but for me this just could work - maybe not all at once but over time, definitely so.

When I think of what Obama is putting out there, on the wind, in terms of peace I can almost feel that I may live to see a change in the world towards that all elusive state of being, called peace. I look forward to the change I feel is in the making and my prayers are with Obama as he has the courage and wisdom to put this change into motion.

May Peace and Wisdom remain in your heart President Obama and though I am on my way out of this life, having more days behind me than in front of me, I will leave behind children and grandchildren that will, hopefully, benefit from the changes you are setting in motion today and I truly thank you for the effort.

And that’s the way I see it!!!

I am moved by the visual of the inauguration of President Obama and the speech he gave that day. I realize, as I view the masses of people of different ages, shades and beliefs, the struggle it took to be at the point we are now, with race relations.

As I watch the news and see Obama executing his job, I see the pause Obama takes with each new task he undertakes, how people stand, when he enters a room, a pause of reflection, his signature on a document, a pause in realizing a dream, a pause to feel the power and to reflect with pride on his accomplishment.

I believe in my heart that Obama has the people at heart, yet I see him with a lot of pride for the accomplishment and I hope that does not go to his head because reality is, men who run for positions like that are full of ego, need for power, love of control…

That being said, I’d like to share this. After all my years in the world I’m finding it hard to recognize that there have only been two people speaking, that my spirit has really felt, who sends chills through my body, as my spirit is awakened, just to hear their voice. With simply the sound of the voice, I come alive with a unity of spirit, mind and body, and my hope is revived.

Those two voices are Martin Luther King and Barack Obama. The speech Martin Luther King is famous for, “I have a Dream” - I don’t care how many times I hear it, every time the chills come and the spirit is awakened and I know the words are most relevant to what really needs to be done.

I was in the world when the dream was being created in the hearts and minds of people, people who where both black and white, unified in the belief that black people be treated as human beings, as Americans. I know the struggle, I’ve felt what it felt like, I’ve cried from the pain of it and I see where it has taken us, but slowly we are arriving at the destination - I had lost faith.

During that time racism had begun to be seen for what it was, by a few white liberals as they were called, I just saw them as whites with a heart that had been touched by the reality of what, we as blacks, had been through from slavery to freedom, segregation and rudeness, to forced integration in a time that people where not ready for integration, to a slow acceptance culminating in the very real election of Senator Barack Obama, President of the United States - it has been a struggle.

Barack Obama talking change when change means different things to different people but the inclusiveness he offers seems to bring a thread of unity from many different directions. He is doing what he can do while we wait out Congress to see what they will allow or come up with on the economy but there is an abundance of push back as they analyze some small things that they feel do not seem to fit.

Blagojevich has stated that part of what they are hanging him out for, is the fact that he side-stepped some legislation, after consulting with an attorney, to help secure medical coverage for people who had none, or something like that. He claims that in so doing, he is being accused of a crime. Is transparency being used as a tool to show how Congress acts in relationship to passage of legislation that would be more “for the people?”

Those voices of Martin Luther King and Barack Obama tend to touch spirits with their words which makes me think and truly feel that their are more and more people with spirit to be touched and that’s appealing to my senses even though I know that Obama was voted in for different reasons it does not take away the raw emotion I have witnessed in some people

When I hear black men say they can truly mean it, when they look their children in the eye and tell them, they can be anything they want to be, in America, I can feel the pride that father has and see him believing in the dream, as well, my spirit is moved and it’s all because you the masses have joined forces to accomplish this great deed.

I am so, so glad to see this, more than that I feel honored that I have witnessed this historic memory. The feelings are so real and raw that they bring tears to my eyes. My spirit is awakened and I feel a renewal of life and I know that united all people have a fair chance and when the symbol of a fair chance presents itself through the collective efforts of the strong majority, the potential for change is in the making.

Democrats and Republican’s are a basic line of color drawn, between the people here in America, a polite way of drawing color/class lines between the people, that needs to end as well.

Now the people who have kept dissention handy, always making their presents known by the crazy things they do, trying desperately to cling to how it was, not so very long ago, too closed off from what is real and in their faces; too closed off with hate and ego to see the lessons unfolding, right before their very eyes. The lesson of freedom, what freedom means, what hope looks like, so they stay in the past, using the same symbols of the past, ropes with nooses, violence in the streets like, the case of Oscar Grant, in an attempt to cause chaos. Maybe that is why I have a hard time getting into the head of a racist - there is nothing there but hate and ego, nothing relevant to human existence.

Getting into the mind of a militant I can do because at least there is something there, some real emotion, a cause, a shared experience, loss, revenge, and then hate.

In the mind of a racist all there is hate and ego. A hate based on nothing significant and an ego that needs to have someone below them, in order to feel good about themselves, be it someone that was handed to him (in the case of slavery) or someone they invent, Hispanics, Jewish, gays, anybody will do, as long as there is a noticeable differences, and where there is difference, there is justification in the narrow space of the existence of a racist mind; only this difference is what is needed, to breed the ugliness they allow to consume them.

And that’s the way I see it!!

Now that the swearing in is over, the rigorous task of campaigning culminating in Obama being sworn in as President of the United States; this swearing in symbolizing the unified cry of a majority voice, which is of the people, in the land that I love. That majority has spoken, bringing about a change I never expected to happen, yet we are faced with the undercurrent of what it used to be, in ways that are slamming the consciousness of American’s with the brutality and sick mentality of what America really is even though the election of Obama shows the possibilities of what it could be.

Three young blacks shot by cops bringing in the New Year. A noose found on an employee’s desk. A mayor resigns from his office based on the threats made by Klansmen. Nothing’s really changed and across the water in another land, that hate is brewing and being directed back at American’s who have so successfully cultivated hate in the past. It is hard for me to get inside the mind of a person like a racist or people like the ones who are members of al-Qaeda.

Let us not stand in the wave of stagnation, but move on in unity and understanding, to create the dream that is written in the constitution which was created for the benefit of guidance by our forefathers. While the basic concept of the constitution is a collaboration of those in power, philosophically looking at their beliefs based on their religious knowledge, brought on by reading the Bible and other studies of human nature. The times they lived in dictated a passive inclusiveness that was woefully misinterpreted by the masses.

My forefathers, who in spite of their existence, in a land of brutality and servitude, sparked a deeper awareness in the hearts and minds of their owners by the strength of their character and their acceptance of their bondage, who were still able to take pride and comfort in who they were regardless of who they were viewed as. That constitution was written with the knowledge of what was to come and even though, we as black Americans were an afterthought in writing, it is understandable based on the lying that took place at that time.

During the time the constitution was written, things where different, there was a different mindset with white America. They had convinced themselves for so long that black people where not human because our differences were so apparent, by the color of our skins and the texture of our hair, it was easy for them to believe that we were less than human beings and their voices on this matter were made believable by the noise of constant chatter which was used to convince the masses of this very fabrication.

Yet, there were those who came to see that we were just as human as them but in their collective minds, to admit to this was also to admit to themselves who they really were to have believed in the lie; they were forced to view themselves in a light that told their very souls that they were not the good Christians they had convinced themselves they were.

This is a hard pill to swallow when you convince yourself that you are this good, Christian person yet you have behaviors, cruelty and brutality, that are in stark contrast to the way you view yourself.

All my life I have tried to understand the heart of a racist and the belief one man can have that he is somehow better than another. I believe that the most vicious slave owner was really aware of this fact, which caused conflict inside themselves, which turned them bitter with the knowledge not of who I was, as their slave, but who they were, as a people. Their anger at us was their anger at themselves misdirected onto the ones that made them view themselves in a light that was unpleasant.

When you look at yourself and you don’t like what you see, sometimes you play the blame game and it is easier to convince yourself, if you seal it with the lies that you tell yourself, in justification of your deeds. Despite what I have been through in this life, I am not a racist. Collectively, I may have some reservations about whites because repeatedly they have shown me who they are, but on an individual bases, I treat people, like people until they show me who they really are.

Keeping the hate alive, passing it on from generation to generation based on nothing but the lies they tell themselves and the lies they tell their children. In the divisiveness they cling to in their hearts, which have been so cold, I pity them. While I will never understand their commitment to hate so old and intense, all that is left for me to do is pity them.

I see that they demonstrate so clear, the fear that when they look at me, they see just who they are, and what led us here. Even as they revel in the division that they embrace so tightly, making them truly believe that they are better than me when in reality, it is you who is the sinner.

And that’s the way I see it!!!

Psychopath – A person who lacks emotional intelligence, expert in manipulating others by playing on their emotions; they need relationships but see people in terms of how they can be used. They feel little or no regret, and little or no remorse – except when they are caught, but the remorse stems from being caught and not for the crimes committed. A psychopath can have high verbal intelligence but lacking in emotional intelligence, which is usually narcissistic.

When I listen to Casey Anthony, she is the personification of a psychopathic personality. She is self-absorbed, selfish and egotistical. She is a liar who is displaying a total failure to accept responsibility for her own actions. Just watching her, I have no doubt in my mind that she is guilty. Her lack of concern for the fact that her daughter is dead is surreal, bizarre even.

Some studies show that there may be a genetic influence that creates a psychopathic personality. The behavior of Casey’s mother is one of an enabler. Adult psychopaths do not benefit from traditional counseling therapy and may in fact offend again. The brain of a psychopath may function and process information differently from those of non-psychopaths, however highly intelligent psychopaths can run companies. Functioning psychopathic personalities are much more common than most of us realize.

Other traits of a psychopath include, a callous/lack of empathy, poor behavioral controls, impulsivity, promiscuous sexual behavior, parasitic lifestyle, shallow emotional responses, all of these traits have been displayed by Casey Anthony. There are usually early behavioral problems that, I can believe, where justified in other ways by her mother, which kept the behavior going until the tragic murder of her daughter Caylee and even now the mother is taking part in the attempted cover-up. This, to me, signals the genetic link; and now Casey’s father was found after going missing, in a hotel room after telling family members he wanted to go join Caylee. Was he in any way instrumental in the development of a psychopath?

Casey’s behavior from the beginning has been suspect, dating, getting tattooed, lying attempts at manipulation, showing no real emotion about the disappearance of her daughter, or eventually the discovery of the baby’s body. It’s all about her, Casey, and she gets upset that no one understands the situation she is in, that she is being punished and she simply does not understand why.

She is a scary but informative display of a psychopathic personality in action. While I am very interested to see how this case turns out, based on the theory that most adult psychopaths do not benefit from therapy, she needs to do life with no possibility of parole, if after all the evidence is reviewed she is found guilty. And I say that in that manner because, the law states you are innocent until proven guilty. In my mind she is guilty just because of her actions since Caylee went “missing”.

And that’s the way I see it!!!

It’s amazing to me when I watch reporters at press conferences ask the same question someone else has asked – just worded differently. It’s also amazing what the word “transparency” means to them as it relates to the way the government does business.

There are so many reporters, are they the voice of the people, actually feeling that because Obama did not allow them in to watch and film his second swearing in, that this small deed indicated, on some level, hypocrisy towards transparency. That is so petty to me especially in comparison to the things that really do need to be transparent in government. You take the time to get hung up on insignificant things, you miss the important things and that’s how Bush got away with so much.

Reporters act like, they do not know that everything the “President” does or wishes to do, involves a process. Any legislation has to be approved. He may be President but he does not have total and definitive power, otherwise this would not be a democracy but a dictatorship. He proposes an idea, communications begin, a decision is ultimately made and it is enacted. It’s called “The Process”. Every agency, job situation, has a process what’s so hard to understand about that?

Another thing, divisiveness has been part of the “way things are done” in this country for so long, one President is going to have a hard time breaking that basic concept. I’m not just talking about white/black, but it’s divisive in terms of democrats/republic, left/right, conservative/liberal, rich/poor these are just some of the divisions that have been around since the Constitution was written, since the beginning of time.

Nothing has really changed since that time and one man can only do so much. You can not legislate, the hearts and minds of people intent on doing business in the same manner as they have been doing business. Change comes by planning steps to take, a determined spirit, true intent and a willingness to make the necessary sacrifices. Are we there yet?

There are entirely too many means to partake in divisions within our very phraseology to wipe away the concept of divisiveness. Yet, we as a people have jumped on the phraseology, of this time, without really looking at the steps that are truly needed to reach that goal to eliminate divisiveness in the way we do business.

Not only that, with people like Rush Limbaugh sprouting negativity and clinging to the divisiveness of the republican versus democrats, to his millions of listeners and Jay Z spreading it in his concerts, that is viewed by millions, the divide will continue always, because in the division, it is easier to lie to yourself and your ego that you are somehow better than, that which you are against.

I do not even like rap, too harsh for me, but at least that rap was not based on the lies that Limbaugh is spreading. It may be a little harsh and raw the way Jay Z put it, that’s what rap does, but in the words, is the pride that he was feeling at the fact of what it is.

Newscasters have been making the distinction all along, people in general have been making the distinction, not that an American was voted in but that an African American was voted into Presidency. I heard that phrase so many times I had to re-evaluate who I was. However, my bottom line is with it billed in those terms, divisiveness is apparent and enforced.

Obama can get the ball bouncing, which he is attempting to do, but “we the people” have to carry it to the hoop. Are you ready to do your part or will it be “business as usual”?

That’s the way I see it!!!

Choosing the sex of your planned child and manipulating Mother Nature seems to be catching on. The new technology was originally designed to screen an embryo for the purpose of identifying embryos that carry serious often fatal, genetic diseases. However these days, it is being used for something very different.

One line has been crossed with this new technology already, what else will come of it. Is it 100% safe to control the flow of nature in determining what sex will be prominent in the world?

The procedure requires that even, fertile couples go through in-vitro fertilization, where a woman’s eggs are fertilized with the man’s sperm in a lab dish to create embryos. Three days later a straw is used to extract one cell from each of the embryos. This specific cell tells whether the embryo is a boy or girl. Doctors then implant only the embryos that the parent wants (girl or boy).

While it is expensive, and pregnancy is not guaranteed, the request for the procedure is on the rise. How far will we go to get everything we want, how and when we want it? At what cost to mankind as we know it? Where will this lead? Will one sex be gradually phased out except for the purpose of reproduction? This sounds like something out of a science fiction movie and truth be told, even in the movies those experiments never work out to well. That’s a scary thought to me.

Maybe I am missing something or letting my imagination run wild but for me that sounds like too much control and manipulation of things that should have a natural flow. Just how far will this manipulation go? I’m not sure this will have a good end in the long run.

And that’s the way I see it!!

As a result of the attack on Gaza, independent surveyors assessing the damages have estimated that nearly $2 billion in assets have been destroyed. This includes 4,100 homes, about 1,500 factories and workshops, 20 mosques, 31 security compounds and 10 water or sewage lines, leaving behind shattered glass and mounds of rubble littering city streets and not to mention the lives lost.

On Sunday, both sides ceased fire. In the aftermath of the attack, 1,300 Palestinians were killed along with 13 Israelis yet, Hamas rulers, triumphant at having survived the assault, planned victory rallies amid the ruins as the last Israel ground troops are expected to pull out of Gaza today, just hours before the inauguration of President-elect Obama.

Obviously, Israel’s objective was not completely met, even though scoring a decisive battleground victory with the murder of 1,300 people, if you can call that victory, I call it murder one, carried out with malicious forethought.

Hamas claims its own victory, in that it managed to withstand the intense Israeli assault and fired hundreds of rockets into the Jewish state throughout the fighting.

Both claiming bragging rights like teenagers, how immature; with the lives of those 1,300 and the sorrow left behind, they are both claiming victory when neither really won.

According to Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas official, “With full trust and full confidence, I say the Palestinian people and the heroic resistance have won this battle. Hamas today is stronger than any other time before. The loser is the occupation.”

Some observers from Israel have stated that the tightly knit Hamas organization remains largely intact, even after the Israeli assault on fighters and weapons stores.

What was the point of this massacre? Israel claims the attack was an effort to force Gaza militants to halt their rocket fire on southern Israel and to cripple arms-smuggling operations. The fighting stopped before Israel achieved those aims and right before the transition of power in the United States.

My question is did Israel stage that attack under the watchful eye of her strongest ally, George Bush, for the purpose of some last minute revenge before the transition of power took place here in America. Will there be a transition of power between Israel and Gaza?

There was more to this attack than Israel is saying hovever, no justification can be effective or realistic with the 1,300 lives taken in Gaza while Israel only lost 13 people. Dead is dead, anyway you look at it, but the disproportion in the numbers is a telling story, as is, Israel’s justification for this vicious attack.

And that’s the way I see it!!