Some questions

I heard an interesting radio show about a rather controversial subject tonight and listened to a large part of it. It was about modern Zionism.  There were several guests, learned people who expressed their ideas of the definition of Zionism.  Obviously, there was quite a bit of talk about the existence and placement of the Arab Palestinians and their relation to the state of Israel and how Zionism was related to the Palestinians as a people.  It was quite an interesting show and very informative, but did not address one issue that I would like to address here. 
After reading about, listening to, and watching much on Zionism (that is, modern Zionism), I feel it's time for me to express some of my own thoughts about the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and Zionism.
It seems to me that many people consider themselves 'secular Zionists', as one guest on the radio show today said that he was a secular Jew and distressingly secular.  By secular Zionist I mean they have no, at least overt, religious reason for supporting Zionism, or a return of the Jewish people to the land of Palestine, and formation of a Jewish state.  They want the Jews to have their own state for purely political reasons, so that they can, as one guest said, self-determine.
The problem to me with what these secular Zionists are saying, is that I don't believe them.  I also don't believe that Benjamin Netanyahu, from what I have seen, from his actions, is simply a secular Zionist either.  It is my feeling, and I could be wrong, that many of these people, are what I refer to as Apocalyptic Zionists.  That is, they want to rebuild the temple of David, and they want to expel the Palestinians from Israel entirely, so that they can bring about the coming of the Messiah, thereby bringing about the Apocalypse, or end of this current age.  I have found in my researching on Zionism that there seems to be a growing number of Christians that want this same thing.  They want the Jews to rebuild the temple, expel the Palestinians, and to provoke extremist Muslims into attacking Israel; thus bringing about the battle of Armageddon and the apocalypse.  This is why they are continually picking a fight with extremist Muslims.
The problem with this is that many extremist Muslims want the same thing.  I read a very interesting article, which can be found here:
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/
that supports my feeling that many extremist Muslims want the same things their Christian and Jewish counterparts want also -- they want the apocalypse.  The only difference is that they believe Muslims will be rewarded after the apocalypse.  But then, it's true of these apocalyptic Zionists and their Christian counterparts as well.  It seems that each group wants the apocalypse, but that they believe their respective group will be rewarded after the apocalypse.
I guess time will only tell how much political clout these Muslim, Christian and Jewish groups have, but it is interesting that these groups do seem to be growing.  They may only be fringe now, but they may be mainstream sooner than we would like.
If anyone has any thoughts on this topic, I would greatly appreciate you leaving your comments.

Someone had to say it

This post may be controversial for anyone who has heard of this story, but it is 5:06 am and I am still up from yesterday, so I finally had to say it. Jian Ghomeshi may be innocent.  I have seen and heard, as have many Canadians, too much of Jian Ghomeshi's private life since the story broke. These are things I really did not want to know and things which, I don't believe, anyone has a right to know. This is private information.
For those of you who may read this blog post and not be acquainted with the story I am referring to, I will summarize. Jian Ghomeshi was fired from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), where he hosted the immensely popular radio show 'Q', for participating in private sexual behavior which the CBC termed unbecoming of a CBC presenter. After he was fired, a plethora of women came out of nowhere and said they had been sexually assaulted by him.
All of this, with not one shred of proven evidence. This is what scares me. Jian Ghomeshi's life is, for all intents and purposes, now over. And no one has gone to court. And nothing has been definitively proven. I advise anyone reading this post to view some of the material online (and there is a ton of it) regarding this story and read it, listen to it, or watch it bearing in mind that NOTHING HAS BEEN PROVEN
It truly frightens me when I see a witch-hunt of this magnitude and scale, and see someone's life ruined by gossip, hearsay and unproven claims. For all I know, Ghomeshi may be guilty, and if so, he should face jail time. But what is the difference between this witch-hunt and the Salem witch trials of the 1600's? Gripped by a terrible fever, the citizens of Salem were responsible for many people's deaths. What is different between that fever and the fever displayed in the Ghomeshi case?  I implore people to remember -- anyone can be destroyed in this manner. Are any of us safe?
And what happened to innocent until proven guilty?  Because of the sensitive nature of this case, many people have been gripped by feverish emotion because of it. But shouldn't we try to always let our reason guide us?  Shouldn't we let definitive proof, presented in a court of law, guide us?  We have yet to see the outcome of this case.  Maybe then, we should make our decisions.

Some thoughts

This entry, my first blog entry ever, is a tough one. There are a lot of things I'd like to say.
I'll start with the bad news. Among many horrible things going on in the world, granted, it's not that terrible. But for people that love hockey, it's freaking bad. Of course, most of these people live in places other than the United States. Canada, Russia, Finland, etc. are hotbeds of ice hockey and have been for a long time.  Enter to this once fine game a man named Gary Bettman. Now Gary wanted expansion teams. Being the commissioner of the NHL, of course, he got his wish.  The NHL has gotten more and more merchandized and corporate-oriented. Since his tenure as commissioner there have been three lockouts.  That is, no hockey.  And now this year, 2014, he must be smiling and knowing that his work has paid off. Los Angeles and New York will be in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time ever.  The two biggest markets in hockey. And guess what, no one outside of Los Angeles and New York will be watching.  And guess what again -- the biggest hockey-watching populace on this continent, Canada, will not have anyone interested.  And merchandizing will win.  The playoff structure has been changed to resemble the NBA, and, what can you say, it's a sad day for true fans of hockey.  And so, we watch the KHL and minor league games. Because the NHL is dead.  RIP NHL.

Now to some good news, a sort of new birth. For me. I will be moving two weeks from today, on June 15. And the place I've found is one block from where I live now. So, a new beginning, in the same neighbourhood. And for this, I am both glad and thankful.  The journey continues.  This will be my 11th move in the greater Vancouver area (since coming here in 1999, this includes my move here to Vancouver). So I've moved a lot.  I feel a bit like a wanderer at this point, but, what can you do?  The journey continues.