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Guns, Germs, and Stealing Land

Mr. Mitt Romney tried to credit Jared Diamond's book--"Guns, Germs, and Steel"--to explain why the Israeli's are richer than the Palestinians.  Mr. Mitt said it was their culture.  Mr. Mitt did not say that the Israelis have more guns than the Palestinians, and that they control much of what happens in Palestine.


I can understand why Mr. Romney had trouble reading Jared Diamond's book:  it is a book filled with big words and bigger ideas.  In fact, Mr. Diamond says he doubts that Mr. Romney actually read the book:  "That is so different from what my book actually says that I have to doubt whether Mr. Romney read it," he wrote in the New York Times.  


Mr. Romney said it was the culture of Israel that was so superior.  Mr. Diamond's book says that what is often attributed to culture rests on the influences of geography; on environmental differences which are amplified by positive feedback loops.  It is obvious that both Israelis and Palestinians share a geography.  The Israelis have better guns.  What is happening in Israel and Palestine has very little to do with the thesis of Diamond's book.  It has a lot to do with World War II racism and politics, and the power of European nations versus Middle Eastern Semites.    


Mr. Romney says he does not know much about horse dancing, and that he wasn't going to watch his wife's horse dance (I know:  it isn't dancing), but I will bet he knows more about horse dancing than he does about Israel and Palestine and Jared Diamond.  He as already said he knows quite a bit about automobile racing because some of his best friends own racing teams.  


I can hardly wait for Mr. Mitt to explain why white people in American are richer than black people.  Or why tall people are better pro basketball players than short people.  Or maybe why rich people should have a lower tax rate than poor people.  Maybe, how Barack Obama, before he was born, arranged to be born in Kenya and telegraph his birth announcement to Hawaii so that someday he could be President of the United States.  What a kid!  

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