Cut it again, Sam

A beautiful summer day has vanished in bits and pieces - garden work, house work, editing work, two hours with dear handyman John looking at what has to be fixed. A long talk with Peter, who used to own The  Beatles' Store in Toronto, about possible places for my book. And, of course, sitting looking at the garden. I may turn into a black-eyed Susan.

In the meantime, the world is flaming again, heartbreaking, devastating. Here's an excerpt from an article by Joyce McMillan in The Scotsman about the cancellation of an Israeli play at the Edinburg Festival:

As the veteran British-Jewish politician Gerald Kaufman pointed out in a hugely authoritative speech in the House of Commons this week, the existence of anti-Semitism, and the fact of what happened during the Holocaust, does not provide one shred of moral justification for what is now being done to the children of Gaza in the name of the Israeli state... 

Behind all of this there is the horror of watching a nation armed with great military power embarking on what must be, by any rational measure, a course of suicidal self-destruction, stoking up and strengthening with every massive explosion in densely-populated Gaza the very forces of rage and vengeance that will threaten its future survival, and the peace of the entire Middle East...

At the end of his Commons speech, Gerald Kaufman dismissed the current Israeli leadership as “not only war criminals, but fools”; it’s a harsh judgment, but one increasingly difficult to dispute.

I do not dispute it. When something angers you, even justifiably, try your best regardless of the consequences to smash it and everything around it to bits - I would expect more maturity from Eli, and he has just turned two. 

My friend Juliet, in Paris, sent me this link to the Disasters Emergency Committee. Donating does not make you anti-Semitic. It makes you human. 

The DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee) brings 13 leading UK aid charities together in times of crisis:  Action Aid, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Islamic Relief, Oxfam, Plan UK, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision; all collectively raising money to reach those in need quickly.

GAZA CRISIS APPEAL – Over 200,000 people have fled their homes – they urgently need food, water, shelter and medical care.  Here’s how you can help -

http://www.dec.org.uk/

On the CBC news this evening, there was a piece about a new radio station in Calgary that plays shortened versions of hit parade songs - 1 1/2 minutes or 2 minutes and then on to the next. Because people now can't listen to one song for 3 or 4 minutes without getting bored, is the theory. It's time to move to a desert island.