Imagine?

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try, No hell below us, Above us only sky,

Imagine all the people living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,

Imagine all the people living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions, I wonder if you can, No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man,

Imagine all the people Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

Writen by: John Lennon © Bag productions inc.

Go ahead. Be as naive as you like. Imagine. Imagine your silly head off. How far have we got since 1980 when John Lennon died? A long way. A long way backwards, that is.

Imagine no religion? No hell? No heaven?
Yeah, right. Nothing to kill and die for.
Americans can't imagine life without Church. Americans can't imagine separation of Church and State any more than separation of State and Sport.
Or separation of Church and Sport, especially war, the Sport of Kings.

Freedom from religion can't be imagined, right, Pat?

With the exception of Buddhism, religions are excellent reasons for war. Could war be possible without religion? Imagine no religion and nothing to kill or die for? Imagine no Major Barbara and no Mr. Undershaft. What a terrible thought. Right, Bill?

This fellow, Bill Allen, was at Pearl Harbor in 1941. He thought that the reasons for the war in the Pacific were faked. From the beginning. And by the time he finally got to Tokyo in 1945, he said that he could see that he had been right. Asked to describe the war in the Pacific he used one word, "Pathetic."

Now That Japan Is Cool, Its Fiction Seeks U.S. Fans
March 15, 2004 By Motoko Rich, New York Times
"In his small office on Park Avenue South, Ioannis Mentzas is surrounded by more than 1,000 books, nearly all in Japanese. Most, he said, aren't worth translating for an American audience. It is his task - his obligation, his burden - to pick the few that are. Mr. Mentzas said that as editorial director of Vertical Inc., a tiny publishing house dedicated to translating contemporary Japanese fiction into English, he tried to find novels that 'should appeal to readers who are not necessarily interested in Japan.' It is not lost on him that Japan is increasingly viewed as a source of hip culture, fueled by the popularity of anime, Japanese fashion and even the independent film 'Lost in Translation,' the story of two lost souls in neon-lighted Tokyo, which won its director and writer, Sofia Coppola, a screenwriting Oscar. 'Japan has become a brand in terms of good storytelling and cool stuff, and I think that can carry over into literature,' Mr. Mentzas said recently, his smudged glasses and battered sneakers betraying his former incarnation as a doctoral candidate in English and comparative literature at Columbia University.'
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