The 51st State (er.... star)

I've always liked Israel. I don't know if it started with Bible teachings from my Dad, or the way they polished off the Egyptian army in a week back in 60-something, ... or maybe the way they got pummeled immediately after becoming a nation and still wiped out 6 Arab armies all by their lonesome. The ultimate underdog, I thought. Their whole weight on history loomed large on me. Hell; were it not for Herzl and the original Zionists Israel could have easily been in a patch of land in northern Argentina. Imagine the geopolitics of that,... Imagine the Jews in the middle of South American Countries instead of Arab countries,... but I digress.

What happened to the "little engine that could" that it lost the world's empathy beginning with their incursion into southern Lebanon back in the early 80's?... We did, we happened. We have created a defacto mini America in the middle of the Arab cauldron for the past 70 years. You can blame the Britts and the U.N. for putting the package together in 1947, but to think the U.S. did not have their spices in that soup is naive. For better of for worse, Israel is our Frankenstein. A strange amalgamation of holy ethos and a Judeo-Christian fulcrum point coupled with Nuclear capability, Democratic-styled Governance and American protection.

I've been reading up a lot on the history of Israel. Not because of the last few weeks of conflict with Lebanon, but because this is the best reality history show in the planet. I love high drama, and for my money this is the real thing. No matter the book I pick up, from one linking them to evil, to another taking the Palestinian side, to another claiming Israel is responsible for the very semblance of "stability" in the region..... their history is the most compelling read in my entire library right now. My conclusion?...

Israel is our 51st state. It is more of a State than Hawaii or Alaska. Maybe not technically but tell me if either of those two non-continental states has more political clout than Israel. Their military might is the envy of everybody with the exception of the U.S., China, Russia and possibly England. Counting the best trained reservists in the world, they can amass a 600,000-strong army in 1 week and mobilize it to any part of their diminutive State. Their military General Staff are all West Point trained. Their fighter pilots have ten-fold the amount of flight time ours do, they get head of the line application status for the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and are considered the best dog-fighters in the world, period. They have a half-billion dollar war reserve stock (in-country) in case the U.S. ever needs it, they get more than 6 billion dollars a year in military assistance (this does not count other non-military aid). Their intelligencia (Mossad) may be old school but there is a reason its methods and "successes" are the envy of the CIA and NSA. The capitol flow from Jewish sympathizers around the world is staggering with investments in the hundreds of billions. Little Israel may be tiny in square miles, but this beast of a micro-nation has talons that reach far and wider than its physical assets reflect. They are mini-"us". They even have rap music, McDonalds, draft dodgers and colored condoms. (...Now if we could only get the NFL to give them a franchise...... the "Tel-Aviv Ark-Angels" or something)

Back in the day when my Dad told me all those Bible bedtime stories I took them in with a grain of salt. Even at age ten I was quite pragmatic and not afraid of religious theories or teachings. Funny thing though,... I've been reading the books of prophecies lately. Even in their most narrow interpretation, -and with a cynical brain-, the stamp of Israel in the "latter days" is something undeniable, albeit possibly circumstantial. It will be interesting and fascinating to follow the events before us. Many movies will be made, songs written and books penned about this little Heaven-State in the middle of Hell on earth.

We should just add that star to the stars and stripes and move along with making Puerto Rico the 52nd. The more the merrier.... or we can just give Alaska back to Russia and Hawaii to the Islanders. It won't make a damn difference to our pockets; welfare states for welfare states,.. in one form or another....