To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (2896 ) 5/15/2003 7:32:12 PM From: 2MAR$ Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 6945 Yes , in a way the Jews have found their messiah ...and so have many others sucking at the teat and stealing from the purse of the USA. The sustainability of human populations in the ME is quite in doubt for me at this time , given the growing populations and limited resources . Without oil and western technology , all would be completely different, and there would be only the "myth" of the holy land , some archaelogical sites and colorful natives selling rugs in bazzaars with fanciful religions to encourage tourism. The ME has been tortured before 2000 to 4000 yrs ago by this mythos of a supernaturally endowed , uniquely favored group . Ah but that is the plight of all the tribes over there isn't it ? They all believe they are the source of God's truth , and we have quite a few of these here as well. The only Kleptocracy in the ME i'm not sure is accurate , but the usurping of some supreme being for one's own nationalistic cause , is , I agree is rather transparent . Jews have paid a heavy price for this in the past , and do so again. Membership in this uniquely favored tribe is by being born of a Jewish mother as more recently defined , but all these separations of groups by such ancient tribal fairytales will soon die out as it has in America ...some day. In one way , Jesus of Nazereth was "democratizing" God when he spoke " "I and the Father are one " , and he was crucified by his fellow chosen ones for saying this . You'll find a similar event happening over in Islam when they crucified the Moslem mystic Hallaj 900yrs later ...for saying the same thing . From a religious POV , there has been an ongoing battle raging between the rational deism & and agnosticism that began with some of our own founding fathers and in Europe , reliance on science of discovery & the separation of Church and state . Leaving God into the hands of the individual's own deliberations , and the tyrannical Theocracies that linger on from the middle ages into todays resurgence of fundamentalism , that is a reactionary movement to the zionist movement (and marxism) , and increasing hopelessness and insurmountable challenges in the third world to adapt to the demanding competitiveness of the 21rst century realities. But all orthodoxy's are born of the same rigid fanaticism , Jews have much in common with their Islamic and many Christian brothers running around claiming God as their champion. But the Jews were fortunate to suck off the teat of the Moors in Spain once before who gave them sanctuary , so you can't blame them for learning which ways to survive and who's teat to suck off of in any given age. As a tribe adapting for it's own survival and a collective... they have been quite effective . God has very little to do with any of it , but simple human nature and tribalism and survival does. Yet Capitalism can be a tyranny like no other too...Mother Earth will sort it out later , when global warming really starts to kick in , and the changing landscape of global economics also undergoes some major shiftings too. But democracy is key to all survival , for that's where the real innovation begins, though once upon a time long ago , it was the call to Allah , that gave the world most of it's advances . It will get sorted out , and the USA has been for all practical purposes today the Jewish Messiah.