Tomislav Josic,
Committee for the defence of Croatian Vukovar
Photo: Patrik Macek/Pixsell

The Croatian parliament had July 15 decided to hand the sensitive matter of whether or not to hold a referendum against the use of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet on state offices in the city of Vukovar to the Constitutional Court.

Referendum supporters say that Cyrillic symbolically represents the utter terror and the horror inflicted upon innocent Croats in Vukovar as they went about seceding from communist Yugoslavia, seeking through democratic peaceful processes their freedom and democracy. The government (whose political predecessors, although a minority, did not want to secede from communist Yugoslavia) evidently has little or no empathy with the suffering of the Croatian people at the hands of Serb aggressor has after months of the parliamentary committee’s dragging out signature verifications objected to the referendum, calling it uncivilized and in violation of the country’s international obligations. It…

Daily Kos

There is no lower bound on modern so-called conservatism. It’s not going to happen.

As an example, [Fox & Friends] aired two emergency calls from Spanish speakers each identified on-screen as “Immigrant.” In the first, a distressed male requests emergency assistance for his cousin, whom the man described as “turning blue.” Another call featured a man and woman explaining to the 911 operator that they have not had access to water in three days.[Host Brian Kilmeade] asked the deputy, “So those calls, you have to respond to, even though for the most part, when you get there you realize, they’re not even American citizens?”

As we watch the nice network host very grumpily contemplate the injury that must be being inflicted on America due to various non-citizens not breathing or slowly dying of thirst on our dime, keep in mind that is a contingent of viewers out there…

it seems to me that today, we are all expected to BECOME.  We strive to BECOME rich, successful, happy, young,  thin,  carb-less, important, famous, beautiful…well, the list is never-ending, but you know what I mean.  It’s as if who and what we are, is no longer enough.  We are told, by the media and by those around us, that we should never stop BECOMING.  The funny thing is: once we finish one list, another one magically appears…because the truth of the matter is; there’s always another list.  A lot of us don’t even realize that while we are busy putting all of our energy into BECOMING, we aren’t  living in the present moment and are, in fact,  missing out on our everyday lives.

Sometimes we are so involved in BECOMING that we don’t recognize the fact that we have actually BECOME the thing we hoped to be.  Relationships fade and…

The clouds are racing,

tumbling across the big sky;

driven by swirling north-westers

that sweep down the mountains,

driving the rain 

that fills the dams,

raises the water level,

but floods many houses

in the poorer areas

of the Cape Flats,

bringing despair, hardship and loss.

Still the people await the rains

with anticipation, 

as it is part of their 

spiritual upbringing,

as it is for me,

as I sit typing hoping for more,

yet fearing it too,

as the poem grows

and the spirits catch the wind

flying towards a new understanding

and the hope of peace and love.