Raindrops on My Head... Raindrops and Rainbow...

Today there is no music in my heart...
But, I am listening to the rain drops falling from above... and 
making my soil moist and happy...
Today I am lending an ear to nature... listening to the drops
and enjoying their playful game... I am listening to the drops 
from the sky... 
It is all gray above, but the rain drops are creating a rainbow
within and without... A rainbow of humanity coming together
and holding hands and helping each other...


I read that there was a fight in the Turkish parliament... I 
guess, the political class could not divide the plundered booty...
the 99% never agrees how to divide the booty among the Left, 
the Right, and the Middle... The Islamists want total and 
undisputed control of all... the booty, the press and all of the 
99%... 
The Turkish parliament is not civilized yet... they are not 
domesticated yet... and the howling will never stop... Turks will
 always want total control of Kurds and Christians...

***

The rain drops are creating their own music... a lullaby from 

the sky... I am not sure if God knows how to sing... but the rain 

drops are enchanting... The sky is gray, but the raindrops are 

dancing in a rainbow... Enchanting...

I read that the refugees in Europe are freezing... that they are 

not welcomed... 
In Switzerland the Muslims sued the government... They do not want to integrate... They want the schools to follow the Islamic code of dress and gender separation... They do not want boys and girls in the same swimming pool... The refugees want to be welcomed, but then they want their own laws and customs to prevail in Europe... 

The case was the latest to pit freedom of religion against the imperative of social integration, and to raise the question of whether — and how much — a government should accommodate the religious views of Muslim citizens and residents, many of them immigrants. The ruling could set an important precedent in other cases in which religious and secular values or norms come into conflict. The decision comes as Europe has been struggling to integrate migrants, many from majority-Muslim countries where religious and social mores, particularly around gender and sexuality, can be at odds with liberal and secular norms of the societies where they have sought refuge. A piece of the Berlin Wall in front of the European Court of Human Rights

They do not like the idea that Europe has Christian cultural 

roots... they want to be welcomed and then they want their own 

social norms to prevail...

I do not much comprehend their logic and reasoning...

***

There is no music in my heart today...So I listened to the 

raindrops.

They are lovely... enchanting... uplifting...

I ventured outside... Raindrops on my head... cooling my

 thoughts 

and guiding my steps towards nowhere...

Roaming to nowhere... Brilliant...! "Why everything must have 

a destination...?" The raindrops played their music and did not 

respond to me... 

I created a colorful rainbow from the raindrops...in the 

raindrops... with the raindrops... I got rid of what I read in the

morning...

I played with words again... 

***

Refugees... the globalization of homelessness...

Homelessness... the dictatorship of the 1% over the 99%...

Dictatorship... the alliance of the mainstream media and the 

political class and the 1%...

***

The rain amused me... treated me with its rainbow... My words surfed the rainbow... me 
I was playful... again, I was a child... once more...

The Turks left me free... The Islamists in Switzerland disappeared...

But the rainbow prevailed... and I played with words...

Refugees... the globalization of homelessness...

Homelessness... the dictatorship of the 1% over the 99%...

Dictatorship... the alliance of the mainstream media and the 

political class and the 1%...

I was happy again...

The Globalization of Homelessness... These are the Refugees...

Refugees... The Globalization of the Homeless

The refugees in Europe... In the winter... snow... cold and hunger...

Snow covered and hungry... This is the globalization of homelessness...

Caught up in wars and not welcomed in Europe and North America...

God's people... denying hospitality to the other half of God's people...

Unused and dilapidated warehouse... The wind blows through the holes...

The bone chilling nights...

The forsaken of the world...

War is not fun...

War kills... and maims... and creates refugees... 

Wars globalize the homeless...

The greed of the 1%... and the needs of the 99%...

The Homeless in New York...

Freezing in Boston... and hungry too...

These are not refugees from the Middle east and Africa... These are the homeless in New York and Boston and the freezing East Coast...
It is snowing and no where to go...
The homeless in North America...
People curled up around vents to warm themselves with the warm air from the subway...
Indeed, these are not refugees migrating from home to the unknown...
These are the homeless of North America...

The ferocious wind... and the roaring sea... tearing down the walls... and going right at the homeless...

These are the homeless of North America... The East Coast weather is brutally

cold and hunger... devastates the body...

War creates refugees abroad and homeless at home...

Ban all wars... and live together...

GREED WITHOUT BORDERS...

I got tired of reading and wanted to take a walk...
The fresh air made me happy... The rain had stopped, but the drizzle caressed my face... The cool breeze played with the leaves... The oranges were dangling from branches like lanterns guiding my steps... The lemon trees were enchanting with their blossoms and perfume... The grapefruits were hardly resisting the invitation of the gravity...
But my thoughts were still on my readings... The experiments of swarming drones was irritating me... 
I was stuck in the purgatory of dueling tendencies of war and peace... I was reading that the refugees in Europe are stuck in the winder cold... The snow was making their lives even more miserable... Of course the wars in the Middle East were still raging...
Thou shall not kill... commanded the roar from the skies...
But,
No one listens... 

Global War Machine...
Human history is the history of wars... Human greed is the motivation for the wars...
The past few months the drone technology has advanced spectacularly...
The tests conducted by military show the advance of swarming drones which are launched from fighter planes...
Beautiful technology wasted on developing war machines...
Wonderful advancement... which maybe used for the benefit of the human race... 
But no... human greed wants the new technology to be part of the war machine of the 1% ruling elite...
The US military has launched 103 miniature swarming drones from a fighter jet during a test in California.

Of Course the other countries - Russia, China and the rest, are conducting the same kind of test as their military counterparts in North America...
Looking at the photos of the jets launching the drones brought back other images from other decades...
The Vietnam War still haunts my memory...The devastation of the country and the maiming of the people still fresh...
Globalized greed does not have consciousness... The profit motive dehumanizes the human race...
The million + million + another million + ... ad infinitum... It never stops... It never ends... and the greed for more leads us to wars...
The human history is the witness...

Vietnam in 1967... War is not a game... Killing is not fun... War does not solve anything... After all... "Blood begets blood..."

***

There is so much misery... famine and starvation... the raping of the rivers and lakes and the sea... The endangered wild life... and yet the governments of the 1% all over the world are engaged in spending more and more on war machines...

When will it end...?

Maybe you have an answer... I do not... !!!

***

Churches and Religion... as political tools...

Bells at Diyarbakır Armenian church to toll after 97 years (1915- 2012)

The church’s bell-tower was demolished in 1915, on the grounds that it was “higher than the minarets in the city.” 

But, the bell-tower of Diyarbakır’s Surp Giragos Armenian Church, a very important church for the Armenian community in the Middle East, is set to return to use after a 97-year interval, with a new bell made in Russia. 
The jubilation and processions were fantastic...
Armenians were returning to their roots... to their ancient homeland and were happy to share their feelings with the kurds who had facilitated all that...
The kurdish mayor had achieved a miracle... 




The church which was built in 1376 is located in the Fatihpaşa neighborhood in Diyarbakır’s Sur district, which is densely populated by Armenians. The title for the land the church is built on used to belong to Armenian community, and it served as a metropolitan until 1915. Regarded by art historians as the biggest church in the Middle East, the Surp Giragos Church covers 3,200 square meters and has a capacity of 3,000 people. Used as a command center for German officers during World War I, the church was then used as an apparel depot by state-owned Sümerbank until 1950.


The Armenians, who arrived in Diyarbakir, Turkey, to attend the reopening of, and first Holy Mass at, the city’s St. Giragos Armenian church, were surprised by the posters placed in Diyarbakir streets.   

Diyarbakir City Hall had placed posters that read “Welcome to Your Home,” in Armenian, together with the image of St. Giragos church. And the sign that reads “Welcome,” in Turkish, Kurdish, Assyrian, and Armenian, can still be seen in the city’s entrances, Armenian News-NEWS.am’s correspondent reported from Van, Turkey.               

Diyarbakir’s Deputy Mayor noted that, according to their information, around 2,000 Armenians have come to their city from different countries.      

But all this good will is halted now...

The Turkish Islamists and their government reoccupied repossessed  the church... The Islamist government of Turkey banished the Armenians again...
The genocide of Armenians continues... by demolishing their heritage and their culture from the land that they had lived on for centuries...

***

Human greed has no boundaries...

Things I saw... Physically... and Mentally...

Things I Saw Today...

Come Together...
I was riding the bus...
There was a mom with her son in her lap... The baby dropped his toy... There were six people around her... I counted them in my frustration... Non of them offered help... 
The mom tried to reach the toy... had difficulties... 
They were in front of the bus... and few of us were clustered at the back...
An older lady, sitting in front of me stood up... walked to them from the back of the bus where we were... and picked the toy and returned it to the mom...
While returning our eyes met... and we smiled... It was my way of thanking the older lady... and also covering my frustration... 
The mom turned her head... sought for the older lady... and with a smile thanked her...

***

Another thing happened on the bus...

A woman was riding alone on the bus ... 

She had two bags with her...  In one of them she had a silvery windshield sun shade... She pulled it out... did not look around... and wrapped herself in it... from head to waist... and screened herself from everyone and continued the ride like that... 

She was covered still when I arrived to my destination and came down... 

***

Both vignettes stayed with me all day long... I could not shake them off... So I decided to share them with you... A wise person quoted once... "Blood flows slower than time. That's why habits are harder to form." 

The two vignettes recaptured the quotation... I thought of the mom and the kid... I though of the woman wrapped in the silvery visor... I thought about my friend and his quotation... I thought about my other friends... and the world...

... Then I read and projected a better tomorrow...
I read and contemplated...
I read about the billionaire who gave his money away... He said, after all...
You can only wear one pair of pants at a time...
So rob the people... robbing they even become CEO's and presidents... They establish an empire of "Greed Without Borders..." I guess that's GLOBALIZATION of GREED...
Others, like Chuck Feeney make the world a better place... They bring people together... 

I read about blood diamonds... and imagined all the rings... all the earrings dangling the diamonds soaked in blood... dripping blood... and then I asked, "Are people so UGLY that they need ornaments just like a Christmas tree...?"
After all;
Rebel and government groups fought brutally over diamond-rich territory in the north of the country and funded themselves by selling the stones to international buyers.

   

Looking for diamonds... sifting for diamonds... and then... EUREKA...! Here it is...!!! 

I wonder who's wearing that bloody diamond... now...!!!

... and then I read;

Chernobyl: Huge sliding arch to block radiation                                                                 is nearing completion 30 years after the nuclear                                                       disaster...

Ukraine is a good country...

I grew up tasting Ukrainian culture... I love the dances, the theater, the ballet... and the art...

Chernobyl is a disaster that haunts me... 

Imagine running away from radiation... Can that be...? How fast one should run... to beat the advancing radiation...?

Then my mind roamed to Hiroshima and Nagasaki...

I wondered back to Stalin and the Potato Famine... 

A huge dome will cover and trap the radiation...

 A view of the abandoned city of Pripyat near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine

The greed of the... and the suffering of the 99...

Imagine a world where people come together... Help 

each other... 

Merry Christmas... BE TRUE TO YOUR HEART and CONVICTIONS...

Reorienting ourselves...
Imagine...
After the commercialized glitter of the 25th... I with my Ukrainian and Armenian friends will celebrate Christmas on the 6th and 7th of January...
I always love this second chance... It is more spiritual and very reverent... 
I attend a concert... Ukrainian...Armenian... spiritual liturgy elevates my spirits and  listening to Gregorian Chants brings in PEACE to my heart... 
After the concert we follow the tradition... and drink lots and lots of vodka... we sing together... and dance...

We drink and sing and dance the night away...

Dancing the negativity away is a good way to lift the spirit... and usher in PEACE...
After all,

Pain is just weakness leaving our body...

That is, the discomfort of exertion means you're building 
muscle and discipline... The physical pain lifts the spirit and 
the vodka makes it that much easier...

Cheers... 

and,

Merry Christmas... more spiritual this time...

to 

ALL...

PEACE be with you...
***

Be true to your convictions... 

He is a famous designer in his country... But,

Government thugs attacked him in Istanbul airport... and when the police arrived... they arrested him for disturbing the peace... They took him to jail... where thousands of journalist are imprisoned... 

Their charge: Opposing the regime...

Barbaros Sansal is an outspoken critic of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party... A government which has thrown aside the constitution and jailed thousands of journalists and critics of the regime... The critics oppose the Islimization of the country... They want separation of religion and state... and respect of minorities and their freedoms... On New Year's Eve, he posted a video on his Twitter account angrily denouncing those out celebrating "while there is so much filth, vileness and poverty" in the country. He also spoke of "scores of journalists" jailed in Turkey as well as abused children, corruption and bribery.

***

Be true to your convictions... 

Rebecca Ferguson says she'll sing at Trump inauguration under one condition...

British pop singer Rebecca Ferguson says she has been invited to perform at Donald Trump's inauguration, but her response may not be the RSVP the President-elect's team were expecting. The former UK     X-Factor runner-up said she would only accept the invitation on the condition that she could perform "Strange Fruit" -- a song protesting racism in 1930s America, made famous by Billie Holiday.

                                                 ***

"Strange Fruit"

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze                                    

Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant South

The bulgin' eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burnin' flesh

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop

                                                                           Here is a strange and bitter crop

                                                                  

HAPPY 2017

I woke up and started the CD for HOLY MASS... 

It is a brand NEW year...

So,

A HAPPY and HEALTHY year to YOU and for ALL ...

I am sure after God toiled for everything and relaxed on the seventh day... God was bored in the afternoon and composed-created music... and Mozart's Mass is a follow up of that... While relaxed in the heavenly lull of the music... God dreamed of PEACE... and on the eight day God looked around and wished for WORLD PEACE... 

But since God had commissioned humanity with FREE WILL... was powerless to command PEACE on Earth...

It's us, our FREE WILL, which will create PEACE and HARMONY among ALL...

So,

Happy and Healthy NEW YEAR...

Let us SHARE...

and,

Let be PEACE in your heart all year round...

and,

Let there be PEACE on EARTH...

Imagine ALL the people... living in PEACE and HARMONY...

*************************************************** Enjoy the PIECE below... 

Let the magical act of kindness BE WITH YOU... 

***
"Annis is such a wonderful, kind and generous person and I wish everyone was like her..."

Image copyrightANNIS LINDKVIST

Image captionJimmy Fraser with Annis Lindkvist (L) and her sister Emma Ahlstrom in Sweden

An Edinburgh street beggar has told of the "incredible act of kindness" of two Swedish tourists who invited him to their home for Christmas.

Jimmy Fraser was begging on George Street when he was asked for directions by Annis Lindkvist and her sister Emma.

They struck up a friendship during their trip and swapped numbers before flying home to Sagmyra.

Mr Fraser told the BBC Scotland news website: "The next thing I knew I was on a plane to Sweden."

The 54-year-old said Mrs Lindkvist got him a passport and paid for his flights so he could spend a week over Christmas with her family.

Image copyrightANNIS LINDKVIST

Image captionMr Fraser spent a week in Sweden

Mr Fraser moved to Edinburgh 13 years ago after divorce left him homeless. He now lives in a flat.

He said the trip had been like a dream.

The former security guard and father-of-two, who is originally from Lanark, said: "It's weird, I know. I was begging on George Street and these two women came up to me and the next thing I knew I was in Sweden.

"People promise you things all the time on the street but they never materialise and friends said I shouldn't go in case I was hung, drawn and quartered when I got there.

"But I thought I'm going to go for it as its once-in-a- lifetime.

"On the plane I was so nervous and was worrying if they would be there waiting for me or if I would be shot.

"Instead it was a beautiful experience, the family was tremendous."

He added: "Annis is such a wonderful, kind and generous person and I wish everyone was like her.

"Being homeless is cold, lonely and depressing and you get a lot of abuse from people.

"This was an incredible act of kindness and I loved meeting Annis' friends, family and colleagues. I wish I was there now."

Image copyrightANNIS LINDKVIST

Image captionAnnis Lindkvist and Jimmy Fraser met after she asked him for directions while in Edinburgh

Mr Fraser flew out on 21 December and returned on 27 December. During the trip he was taken to an ice hockey match, Christmas markets, midnight mass and to meet all Mrs Lindkvist's family, friends and colleagues.

Mrs Lindkvist lives in the Swedish town of Sagmyra with her husband Daniel and three children, aged 13, eight and five.

The 37-year-old, who works in a retirement home for people with dementia, said she has been calling Mr Fraser every day since he returned to the capital.

She said: "I have never felt like this before for a homeless person. My mother was crying and crying when he left and my children have been asking every day when he is going to come back.

"There is a big place in my heart for him.

"I had had my doubts about it but I sat up late one night when he was here and spoke to him about it. I could have been a killer just like he could have been but I just had a feeling in my stomach that he was a really nice person.

"We give money to charity every month but we have never done anything like this before.

"There were friends and family who thought I was really crazy but I just opened my home to him and said everything that is ours was his too."

Mrs Lindkvist said she had invited Mr Fraser back for Easter and described him as "part of the family now".

The Supreme Court... and Ignorance at the Top...

The Supreme Court decision... Clarence Thomas and the Movie Confirmation...

        

  Death row inmate Timothy Tyrone Foster ...and   Justice Clarence Thomas

The dead sentence is inhumane and against the God's law... "Thou shall NOT kill..." and ignorance in the higher up... is dangerous... 
After all,
Who knows what will happen if ignorant arrogance, Donald Trump is at the top...!!!!!!!

The Supreme Court ruled Monday morning in favor of a death row inmate in a case concerning race discrimination in jury selection...        

Timothy Tyrone Foster, an African-American, is on death row in Georgia for the 1987 murder of an elderly white woman, Queen Madge White. The jury that convicted him was all white. Twenty years after his sentence his attorneys obtained notes the prosecution team took while it was engaged in picking a jury, including marking potential jurors who were black had a "b" written by their name.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion...

"The focus on race in the prosecution's file plainly demonstrates a concerted effort to keep black prospective jurors off the jury." 

The decision came down 7-1 in favour of the inmate... and reiterated that jurors cannot be struck because of race... and ironically,Justice Clarence Thomas, the only black voice on the Supreme Court, was the only dissenting voice...         And, I remembered the movie that I saw few days ago... 

Confirmation...                                          

The movie is focussed on the spectacle that unfolded over several days when Ms. Anita Hill, portrayed by Kerry Washington, sat as a witness in the stately Senate Caucus Room and in very salacious detail accused Mr.Thomas, played by Wendell 

Pierce, of sexual harassment... A rapt television audience of tens of millions Americans heard Anita Hill describe a workplace environment that included talk of oral sex and a pubic hair on a Coke... and references to Thomas being black and having a long-big penis... and persistent pressure for dating and sex...

Long Dong Silver is a retired porn star... and He gained new fame when Anita Hill testified that Clarence Thomas had mentioned to her that he was a viewer of Long Dong Silver films...

But,

Clarence Thomas, in a very astute and smart move, struck back by declaring that he was being subjected to a “high-tech lynching” referring to his being black...
Clarence Thomas struck to his guns... to his "Long Dong Silver..." and accused the senate for "high-tech lynching..." despite the fact that Anita Hill was black too...

The movie exposes how the Republican allies of Clarence Thomas accused Anita Hill of psychological disorders... That she has imagined things and that she desired to have sex with Clarence Thomas... They portrayed Anita Hill as a psycho... and lunatic... and a sick person having sexual fantasies...
The Democrats... kept quiet... not even a single sentence in defense of Anita Hill... 

The Senate Committee was chaired by chaired by Joe Byden... who has portrayed himself as the champion of the downtrodden and liberal and progressive...
But he and his democratic buddies kept quiet white the others were ripping Anita Hill with "Long Dong Silvers..."
It was pathetic to see a group of all male senators sexually abusing a female witness... Just because she had dared to accuse one of their own with sexual harassment and they ganged up to make ALL Anita Hills realize that they, the males, have the upper hand... That they, females, if they want to work and rise up the ranks, they have to submit to the sexual whims... of their male bosses...  
The all-male senate committee was transparent in their male chauvinism and pathetic in their impotent masturbation... 

Kerry Washington as Anita Hill in the movie Confirmation... is scared and afraid of the powerful male club... the Senate Committee... 
   
Kerry-Anita swearing "to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth..." and Senator Hatch... waving The Exorcist and accusing Anita Hill of sexual fantasies and psychosis... and NO one came to the defense of Anita Hill... The male chauvinist senate committee ganged up on her and all the females... They wanted to PUT the ladies in their place... scared Anita Hill...
  
The Democrats... John Mitchell, Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy... succumbed to the accusation of "High-tech lynching..." and kept quiet... John Mitchell even refused to meet with female senators who wanted to have a chat with him... and defend Anita Hill...

***

I suggest that you make time and see the movie on HBO... It is educational... and also it is a good movie...