Donald Rilea's Blog (13)

Just read this, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/64518.html, and found myself disturbed and appalled by what the IDF military rabbinate, if the allegations made in this article are indeed true, chose to distribute to Israeli soldiers before they went into action in Gaza.



Mind you, whether the motivation and rhetoric is religiously-based or not matters one whit to me. Not at all. One can be a thorough-going secularist and come up with similar logic and rhetoric to justify whatever… Continue

To-day marks the 30th anniversary of the Jonestown Massacre, in which a little over 900 people, who were members of the San Francisco-based People's Temple, either committed suicide by drinking a cynanide-laced, imitation Kool-Aid brand soft drink called Flavor-Aid, were injected with poison, or were shot by members of the People's Temple security force at the settlement in western Guyana, at the behest of the church's leader, the Reverend Jim Jones.



The settlement had been… Continue

Earlier this afternoon, I posted a trio of links about various and sundry anti-Prop 8 protests to be found, both nationally and in the Las Vegas and Reno areas.



Well, I left the house and headed over to where the protest was going to be held, only to find out that they are scheduled for to-morrow afternoon, not to-day.



This, some of you may already know.



To them, and to the rest of you out there, I wish to apologise, because it was my stupid misunderstanding of… Continue

Here are a trio of links, which I got from a People For The American Way e-mail this afternoon, to Join The Impact!!! web-pages for info about anti-Proposition 8 protests being held nation-wide to-day.



The first is to the national page, http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/?t=anon, where one can click on the name of one's state or other territory to be taken to the appropriate page for more information on where and when these protests are taking place in one's area.



The… Continue

Received a graciously critical reply to the message enclosed along with the Courage Campaign Repeal Prop 8 link I sent out this afternoon from an old and dear friend of mine, who justifiably criticised the use of certain nasty terms in it, as well as its loose grip on the facts regarding civil unions and its pedantic tone.



Have already apologised to her in my reply to her message, and promised that I would send out a similar apology to you all as soon as I was done with my reply to… Continue

This is the text, very slightly edited for blog form, of a message I included along with a link to the Courage Campaign's Repeal Prop 8 petition web-page link, and sent to some friends of mine of who live in California this afternoon.



Have already signed the petition, though, since am a Nevadan, have scant confidence that it will qualify to be placed on the petition, and rightfully so.



Nonetheless, I think that, by sending the link to them, and by including the message to… Continue

If you happen to have a Facebook account, please head on over to the following link below to sign a petition urging that the presidential debates be opened up to any and all viable presidential candidates in future elections, not just the Republican and Democratic ones.



Why is this important???



Because, one of the best ways of strengthening and deepening our democracy here in the US, is to ensure that the American people get to see and hear from as wide a range of… Continue

In the aftermath of Obama's victory last night, I have the following things to say: the first being-OUTSTANDING!!!!



This is a victory that was long in coming, and not just for Obama's supporters, Democrats, and their sympathisers, but for the vast majority of the American people, who are lower-middle-class, working-class and poor, and who have generally been either ignored, used as pawns, or lied to in this country for much of its history.



That said, one thing to remember… Continue

That's right. It's Election Day in these fifty United States, plus Puerto Rico and the various territories associated with the US.



So, if you're eligible to vote, and haven't already done so, especially in those parts of the US like my home state of Nevada, where one can vote early(which I did on Thursday last), go do it to-day.



Don't procrastinate about this. MAKE the time and take the trouble to vote, because of the importance of this particular election's out-come to… Continue

Just wanted to let y'all know really fast that, while I was out walking around my neighbourhood with a neighbour of mine, she happened to espy a long line of people extending out of the Albertson's supermarket at the intersection of Bonanza and Lamb, here in North-East Las Vegas.



When she inquired as to what they were doing, I guessed that they were turning out to vote in the current election.



After I parted from my neighbour a few minutes later, I went across the street… Continue

Originally wrote this as a comment to the last essay-lette I wrote on this topic, and posted to a blog on my page at I-Power. The commentator left three YouTube videos featuring Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, as well as a couple of text comments indicating that he agreed with Mr. Wurzelbacher.



Well, saw the last of those video comments, an interview he gave the Toledo Blade after the last Presidential debate, and, to be blunt, Mr. Wurzelbacher didn't say anything in it, that… Continue

This is a Yahoo News article on the 6 year-old boy who was snatched from his East Las Vegas home two days ago.



Please re-post as widely as you can, and, if you know where he is and his current circumstances, please contact the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department sooner than quickest.



He shouldn't have to suffer for the mistakes and crimes of his grandfather.



Thank you for your kind attention and be seeing… Continue

Was just thinking about Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, and how his interaction with Obama was used in last night's Presidential debate.



Frankly, it disgusted me then, and it disgusts me now, because Joe the Plumber, Joe Six-Pack, and all the other Regular Joes out there are quite commonly used by right-wing politicians to advance a kind of right-wing populist ideology and rhetoric that superficially advances lower-middle-class and working-class people, but, when it comes… Continue