Info on deaths in Lebanese town Qana

The moment Nadir read a report that a building struck by Isreal collapsed and killed a bunch of civillians, he knew with 100% certainty that the Isrealis had targetted civillians. Could emerging FACTS demonstrate a different reality? Could Isreal's army actually operate in the interest of Isreal, by attempting to minimize civillian casualties, in accordance with its official policies? Every military analysis I encounter stipulates that Isreal's position weakens by each civillian its military kills, whereas in contrast that Hezbollah and Hamas advance by succeeding in their stated goal of killing Isreali troops and civillians. Yet Nadir claims that Isreali troops target civillians, in violation of their own official intentions.

They only win when they fire from behind baby carriages

These Isreali civillians and soldiers are happy for muslims to live in their country with full rights to speach and religious practice, and nearly full citizenship rights. Only Iraqi muslims have more citizenship rights than muslims in Isreal, but Isreali muslims are of course safer. All the Irealis want is for people to stop trying to eradicate their country.

Hizballah Firing From UN Positions Every Day

29 July 2006:
There were two incidents of firing close to UNIFIL positions from the Israeli side in the area of Marwahin and Deir Mimess in the past 24 hours. At the same time, it was reported that Hezbollah fired from the vicinity of six UN positions at Tibnin (2), At Tiri, Beit Yahoun, and Alma Ash Shab (2). UNIFIL strongly protested all these incidents to the Israeli and Lebanese authorities respectively.

(The part about “strongly protesting” is a new addition to these reports.)

30 July 2006:
It was reported that Hezbollah fired rockets from the vicinity of three UN positions in the area of Tibnin, At Tiri and Brashit. They also fired small arms fire from the vicinity of two UN positions in the area of Alma Ash Shab and Al Duhayyra. UNIFIL strongly protested all these incidents to the Israeli and Lebanese authorities respectively.

31 July 2006:

Two tank rounds from the Israeli side impacted directly on a UNIFIL position in the general area of Hula yesterday afternoon, causing extensive material damage, including the ammunition shelter, but no casualties. One aerial bomb impacted in the vicinity of a UN position in the area of Alma Ash Shab yesterday morning, causing damage to the parameter wall. It was reported that Hezbollah fired rockets from the vicinity of this UNIFIL position prior to the aerial bombardment. Hezbollah also fired small arms fire from the vicinity of the same position. They also fired rockets from the vicinity of two UNIFIL positions in the area of Tibnin and At Tiri in the central sector. There was one more incident of firing from the Israeli side close to UNIFIL position in the area of Mays al Jabal, when 10 tank rounds impacted 100 meters from the UN position. UNIFIL strongly protested all these incidents to the Israeli and Lebanese authorities respectively.

Illegal Immigration Causes Polution

The illegal stream of Mexicans into the US creates a considerable amount of pollution along its path. Will this cause leftist to oppose illegal immigration? Afterall, leftists attempt to stop the actions of Americans organized into "businesses" which result in polution. No, leftists will not take this views. Although leftists believe that the US is evil and the ultimate cause of all problems in the world, and that Americans live in horrible circumstances that are getting worse every day, the believe that the US should be the only nation on earth (or in history), that opens its borders to all people and makes them instant citizens upon their request. If the US implimented this plan, Mexicans wouldn't create these paths of garbage, and would instead steam in at border crossings... right into the evil belly of the beast.

Celebrity Justice - Mel Gibson DWI

Rule: If you're going to drink, don't drive... unless you're a celebrity, or an off-duty cop. Here it appears that justice somehow is taking hold. I think drunk driving laws are generally too severe, ensnarling many safe-driving people behaving within normal civil bounds, into a very expensive hell. I also think that many cops intelligently impose these laws, letting many safe-driving people off the hook. But even I believe in applying these laws to people who are driving dangerously. Recently we have seen that one of the Kennedys got off the hook from star-struck cops responding to a dangerously driving celebrity. It appears that in this case with Gibson that if he had behaved civily to the cop he might have also gotten off the hook.

Anybody knows cops personally know that they on average they are more likely to drive drunk, and much less likely to get in trouble when pulled over drunk.

Again, I'm left shaking my head: The best I can say about our police is that in most other countries they are much, much worse.

No Rest for the Weary

"You know what? We feel really bad about mistakenly killing all those children yesterday. We're going to hold off on more massacres for 48 hours."

"PSYCHE!!! FOOLED YA AGAIN!!!"

"SUCKERS!!!!!!"

37 Children Dead: More "Mistakes" by Israel Using US-Made Guided Missles

Israeli airstrikes kill 60 civilians, including 37 children

Israel bombed this same location in 1996 and killed 100 civilians then. This was no mistake.

The Israelis sure are "mistakenly" killing a lot of civilians here, aren't they? You would think the US would have trained them how to use those precision laser-guided missles a little better. They must not have any idea how to use the targeting systems, right?

This war and the carnage are indefensible. Right-wing defense of these actions is disgusting and US encouragement of this destruction is unforgivable. The United States continues to reject calls for a cease fire.

This is cold blooded murder, not defense. Americans are accessories to murder. The blood of these children is on our hands.

Isreali Bombing of UN Post: Why?

According to this Canadian UN witness: "This has not been deliberate targeting, but rather due to tactical necessity."

From the article: "What that means is, in plain English, 'We've got Hezbollah fighters running around in our positions, taking our positions here and then using us for shields and then engaging the (Israeli Defence Forces)," he said. That would mean Hezbollah was purposely setting up near the UN post, he added. It's a tactic Maj.-Gen. MacKenzie, who was the first UN commander in Sarajevo during the Bosnia civil war, said he's seen in past international missions: Aside from UN posts, fighters would set up near hospitals, mosques and orphanages.

So, there guerrilla groups have a tactic of luring conventional forces into hitting structures that will create international outrage. I assume that Isrealli technology includes devices that detect incoming rounds and fires back at calculated sources. You can imagine Hezbohnazis cheering with victory when reports emerge showing that Isreal has hit such targets. It's at that point that the Nadirs of the world proclaim another outrage an an army that merely wants to end external attacks on its interrior.

I am changing my mind, though, in favor of resisting these traps. It may very well be true that Isreal loses fewer troops, civillians, and material resouces annually by accepting Hezboh/Hama-nazi attacks than by confronting them with invasions aiming to stamp them out.

Army Boots Gay Arabic Linguist

I note that gays have more rights -- much more rights -- in the US than in any nation ruled by Hezbolladists. But why can't our soldiers have the right to consensual sex? What a shame.

New Map of Beirut Plus Southern Suburbs Negates Claims of Mass Destruction

From Vital Perspective, here’s a map of the so-called “devastation” in Beirut: New Map of Beirut Plus Southern Suburbs Negates Claims of Mass Destruction.

From Democracy Now: Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Talks With Former US Diplomats

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is the leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Although the United States considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization, three former U.S. diplomats had a chance to meet with Nasrallah this past February in Lebanon. The diplomats were members of a delegation organized by the Council for the National Interest.

During the meeting, Nasrallah discussed Hezbollah’s strategy to free Lebanese prisoners being held in Israel. He also spoke about the origins of Hezbollah, and recounted an event that is back in the news this week—Israel’s bombing of a UN observation post in the southern Lebanese town of Qana in 1996 which killed 106 Lebanese refugees.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And this issue of using Israeli, capturing Israeli soldiers to, in essence, trade for Lebanese prisoners is not unheard of, actually. Didn’t Nasrallah negotiate a major prisoner release back in 2004?

EDWARD PECK: Yes, and the Palestinians and the Israelis and the Lebanese, Hezbollah and Israelis have negotiated prisoner exchanges before. As I think you're aware, the Israelis have been holding a number of Lebanese as prisoners that they kidnapped from Lebanon, which is one of the contentious issues that upsets the folks on the northern side of that border.

War Against Islamic Crusade

The Islamic Crusade comprises several groups, some Sunni and other Shia. It has sponsors such as the Baath party (and previously, the Soviets) in Syria, and previously in Iraq, who share some goals, such as striking the US and Isreal. Sometimes these various groups fight each other, but they always find time and resources to fight the US and Isreal.

Perhaps the US and Isreal should have continued with their previous policies of tolerating dozens of annual deaths each year, and occassional big splashes like 911, and just wait for the appeal of civilization to finally win over the populace, as it did in Northern Ireland. Today I'm about 60% certain that Isreal should not have invaded Lebanon. Nadir thinks Isreal invaded soley because of the two captured soldiers, rather than as a response to a total means of conduct over the past several years. Nadir also thinks that the Isrealis are targetting civillians, UN officials, and reporters, which I find perposterous, as well as his assumption that Isreal poses any threat to Lebanon except to squash the threats in Lebanon against Isreal.

However, at this point I think that Isreal has made a political and military mistake by invading Lebanon. Before the invasion, the islamic retards in southern Lebanon had a civilization to their south and a growing civilization to their north. Over years I believe that the appeals of these civilizations would have had a better chance of eliminating Islamic retardation than an Isreali invasion, which both feeds islamic retardation, and destroys the Lebanese civilization that was finally growing. If Isreal could have simply tollerated a dozen or so annual deaths and hostage-taking each year along its northern border, I believe that successive generations of muslims in that area would have turned away from retardation and embraced civilization.

This represents a shift in my view, and I'm not 100% convinced of it.

The US and UN Relationship: Is a Divorce on the Horizon?

"Many of us in the United States will welcome this acknowledgement by the international community that the US is and has been guilty of numerous human rights violations for years. Unfortunately, the report comes at a time when US ruling parties are becoming increasingly frustrated with the United Nations."

On The Road to Fascism

In his new book, "Conservatives Without Conscience," John Dean, the White House lawyer who famously helped blow the whistle on the Watergate scandal, says the country has returned to an "imperial presidency" that is putting the United States and the world at risk.

"Are we on the road to fascism?" he writes. "Clearly, we are not on that road yet. But it would not take much more misguided authoritarian leadership, or thoughtless following of such leaders, to find ourselves there."

I disagree. The government's illegal espionage aimed at American citizens, rampant electoral fraud and voter intimidation, wars of aggression in the Middle East, and covert actions to overthrow democratically elected governments in Haiti and Venezuela, indicate that we have turned the corner of the onramp, and are sailing down the freeway of fascism at breakneck speed.

We're cruising through Authoritarian Alley and are just a few clicks away from Totalitarian Township.

Israel Extends Middle Finger to UN Over Murder of Observers and Peacekeeping Force

Israel continues its disregard for the international community by refusing to investigate the bombing of a UN observatory and ignoring calls for a peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

Meanwhile the Zionists call up 30,000 reservists in preparation for a ground invasion of Lebanon and escalation of the conflict.

It is clear that Israel has no intention of stopping the violence anytime soon.

House Push to Raise Minimum Wage Led By?? Republicans????

Facing a difficult battle in Mid-term elections where GOP tyranny and incompetence are creating more problems for the party than the challenge of largely inept Democrats, Republican lawmakers seem poised to reverse their earlier stand against a minimum wage hike.

"Whether people like it or not, we need to go ahead with it," said Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., who supports the idea. "There's a general agreement among Republicans (opposing the raise) that "maybe we don't like it much, but we need to move forward with it just for political reasons."

Inflation has eroded the minimum wage's buying power to the lowest level in about 50 years. Yet lawmakers have won cost-of-living wage increases totaling about $35,000 over that time. So House GOP leaders are bowing to the inevitable on the increase.

The proposed raise to a still anemic $7.25 would come over two years - plenty of time for oil companies and inflation to further impoverish already struggling American workers who face weakening unions, downsizing and increased offshoring.

This report comes on the heels of a Chicago city council resolution Wednesday that would require "big box" retailers to pay around $10.00 an hour - substantially more than the Illinois minimum wage of $6.50. A possible Daley Dynasty veto looms over this measure, however.

So it is apparant that appealing to a sense of moral conscience doesn't work with Republicans, but political pressure certainly does. And the GOP would take the credit for the increase which may or may not help them overcome the ravages of war in November.

Dem0crats, are you taking notes?

Whites Voting Keith Butler for US Senate

White Republicans are racist.
Black Republicans are "sell-outs".
Whites who vote for a black Republican over a white Democrat are... what?
And what is it that these racists/sell-outs want? They want blacks to have low incomes, poor education, and the the other ingrediants that lead to criminal life? Whites in the subburbs want Detroit to be a deteriorating ghost town? What is that blacks in the subburbs want?
If the subburbs are racists, why do tens of thousans of blacks from Detroit flee there for their safety and prosperity?
If the US is racist, how do so many non-white groups out-peform whites?

Nadir, please help me with the logic here. I used to could answer these questions back when I was a brave, truth-know'n leftist. But now I've forgotton how to answer these questions.

The Republicans will lose ZERO white votes by nominating Keith Butler (but they're still racist!); the democrats will lose some black votes to him.

Isreali Targetting of Civillians... Via Phone Calls

Here's the army that Nadir claims targets civillians (with a thousand high-precision, high-explosive rockets, that've only killed 300 civillians). They call Gaza household to inform the occupants to evacuate as they will will be bombing, as they consider the occupants to be Hamas. So they evacuate. Then the Isreali army calls back to appologize, they had made a mistake, and will not be bombing afterall.

Hitler, The Mufti Of Jerusalem And Modern Islamo Nazism

Who you callin' a Nazi?!

CIA/Mossad Front Group Declares Holy War on Israel

The timing was damn near perfect on this one. And no surprise at all since this "terror organization" was founded with CIA funds.

Neocons Slinger and Paul Hue will claim this is grounds for an escalation of preemptive civilian murder.

I claim it is more CIA/Mossad disinformation and trickery.

Even Handkerchief-head Negro Williams Urges Israeli Restraint

From Armstrong Williams:

Israel has been and always will be a special ally of the United States. As allies we have a responsibility to stand with each other during crisis, and more importantly restrain each other when one oversteps boundaries. By holding its tongue while Israel kills hundreds of innocents in its pursuit of Hezbollah, the U.S. confirms the Muslim world's perception that we value some lives more than others. Furthermore, we undermine our own ambitions to bring democracy to the Middle East.

America holds itself to a high moral standard, and we demand no less from our allies. There are occasions when I believe the Bush administration has overstepped traditional moral boundaries, and as a patriot, I speak out, hoping my words reverberate in our leaders' conscious.

Truth Out: Plame, Wilson, Iraq, Niger, Nuke

(Nadir and Tom: Have you guys ever changed your mind about one of your conclusions? Or have you adhered to the same set of beliefs for the past 20 years?)

"The twin allegations of a false story exposed by Wilson and then of a state-run vendetta undertaken against him and the lady wife who dispatched him on the mission—are in irretrievable ruins. The truth is the exact polar opposite. The original Niger connection was both authentic and important, and Wilson's utter failure to grasp it or even examine it was not enough to make Karl Rove even turn over in bed. All the work of the supposed 'outing' was inadvertently performed by Wilson's admirer Robert Novak. ... it is high time that [the facts] received one-millionth of the attention that the 'Plamegate' farce has garnered.

"In February 1999 one of Saddam Hussein's chief nuclear goons paid a visit to Niger, but his identity was not noticed by Joseph Wilson, nor emphasized in his [oral] 'report' to the CIA, nor mentioned at all in his later memoir. British intelligence picked up the news of the Zahawie visit from French and Italian sources and passed it on to Washington."

The only written report that Joe Wilson filed was his NYT op-ed piece. It appears that his "investigation" was cursory and non-serious. His conclusion cannot constitute the final word on the matter... or even an authoritative one. One can make a plausable case that *he* outed his own wife (to the extent that she was "outed" at all), whereas facts now preclude any reasonable assertion that Bushies did. And we can't any longer take seriously Wilson's conclusion about Iraqi-Niger Nuke deals based on his unpaid weekend trip to Niger.

How neutral is the United Nations?

How neutral is the United Nations in the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict?
A picture is worth a thousand words.

This picture is featured on page 155 of Jed Babbin's 2004 book, Inside the Assylum. This a photo taken around January, 2004, at a facility on the Lebanese-Israeli border, not too far from near a town called Metullah.

http://radioblogger.com/images/un-hezbollah.jpg

The United Nations flag is flying a couple of feet away from the Hezbollah flag. Now I do not believe Israel intentionally targeted U.N. earlier today. But if the U.N. has personnel sharing facilities with Hezbollah, how can Israel possibly be blamed? Precision weapons can do a lot, but they can't only blow up the Hezbollah side of the building.

I'm also told this isn't the only place where the two flags fly side by side. How can anyone expect the U.N. to broker or keep the peace? How can anyone believe the U.N. has not already taken sides once you see a picture like this? Kofi Annan can give us his righteous anger about the errant attack this morning all he wants, but maybe if his people weren't so closely associated with terrorists, they wouldn't get hurt.

http://radioblogger.com/#001773

Canada's PM doubts Israeli bombing of UN outpost deliberate

Stephen Harper delivers a rebuke to UN chief Kofi Annan:

OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper said an Israeli attack on a UN outpost that killed four, including a Canadian, was a “terrible tragedy” but not likely deliberate.

At the same time, he questioned why the UN had manned the outpost in Lebanon near the Israeli border as bombs exploded all around.

“We want to find out why this United Nations post was attacked and also why it remained manned during what is now, more or less, a war during obvious danger to these individuals,” he told reporters.

Asked about UN head Kofi Annan’s statement suggesting Israel had targeted the outpost, Harper said: “I certainly doubt that to be the case.”

Canadian General: UN Observer Post Used By Hizballah

Retired Canadian Major General Lewis Mackenzie was interviewed on CBC radio, and had some very interesting news about the UN observer post hit by Israeli shells; the Canadian peacekeeper killed there had previously emailed Mackenzie telling him that Hizballah was using their post as cover.

The entire interview is a breath of fresh air:

"We received emails from him a few days ago, and he was describing the fact that he was taking fire within, in one case, three meters of his position for tactical necessity, not being targeted. Now that’s veiled speech in the military. What he was telling us was Hezbollah soldiers were all over his position and the IDF were targeting them. And that’s a favorite trick by people who don’t have representation in the UN. They use the UN as shields knowing that they can’t be punished for it."

Bush "Signing Statements" Violate Law

I aggree. If Bush wants a new law, submit it to congressional approval; if he opposes a law they pass, veto it; if they override his veto, well, he's out of otions.

Hizballah Firing from Vicinity of UN Positions

There’s an amazing amount of press coverage of Israel’s airstrike on a UN observer post yesterday, but today’s UNIFIL press release (PDF) contains some information you aren’t hearing about on the nightly news.

Another UN position of the Ghanaian battalion in the area of Marwahin in the western sector was also directly hit by one mortar round from the Hezbollah side last night. The round did not explode, and there were no casualties or material damage. Another 5 incidents of firing close to UN positions from the Israeli side were reported yesterday. It was also reported that Hezbollah fired from the vicinity of four UN positions at Alma ash Shab, Tibnin, Brashit, and At Tiri. All UNIFIL positions remain occupied and maintained by the troops.

I'd say that puts a fly or two in the "Israel intentionally targeted U.N. peace-keeping (what an oxymoron) forces" ointment.

Adrea Yates Not Guilty Of Drowning Her 5 Children In The Bathtub by Reason of Insanity

The only insanity here is the verdict itself. What a sick joke our legal system has become.

Our Willful Blindness in Lebanon

Bush could stop Israel in its tracks with a snap of his fingers. But why would he? Israel is doing his bidding.

The U.S. Arms Export Control Act stipulates that foreign countries receiving weapons from the United States must use them solely for defensive purposes or to maintain internal security. During the last major Israeli incursion into Lebanon, in 1981, the Reagan administration cut off U.S. military aid and arms deliveries for 10 weeks while it investigated whether Israel was using weapons for "defensive purposes."

Last week, both houses of Congress, mindful of the importance of retaining Jewish votes and campaign contributions, passed resolutions stating that Israel was acting in self-defense. The vote in the Senate was unanimous; the House vote was 410 to 8. Walking in lockstep with Bush, neither resolution calls for a ceasefire. The Senate resolution praises Israel for its "restraint" and the House resolution "welcomes Israel's continued efforts to prevent civilian casualties."

U.S.-provided Israeli bombs have killed nearly 400 Lebanese, of whom the overwhelming majority were innocent civilians. The bombing has displaced half a million people and caused an estimated $1 billion in damage.

After Israel ordered people in southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes, several vehicles filled with evacuating Lebanese civilians were bombed by the Israeli military.

US Blocking Immediate Cease-Fire…Heavy Casualties Mounting…

Let me ask you right-wingnuts this question:

Why is it in the US's interest to block a cease fire?

This action is only strengthening Hezbollah and opposition to the US-Israeli position. It is weakening the Lebanese government which is needed to counter Hezbollah.

If the goal really is to weaken Hezbollah's miltary, they will fail. Forcing Hezbollah to revert to guerrilla warfare instead of conventional fighting plays to Israel's weaknesses and to Hezbollah's strengths.

If the goal is peace and stability... well, we know that isn't the goal. Otherwise, they would be promoting a cease fire, not blocking it.

I know it will be hard, but try not to answer the question as right-wing ideologues. Think about it from a tactical standpoint. How in the hell do these tactics make sense unless the goal is greater destabilization of the Middle East and the escalation of World War III?

Zbig Brzezinski: Israel's Actions in Lebanon Essentially Amount to "the Killing of Hostages"

Brzezinski stated: "I hate to say this but I will say it. I think what the Israelis are doing today for example in Lebanon is in effect, in effect -- maybe not in intent -- the killing of hostages. The killing of hostages."

"Because when you kill 300 people, 400 people, who have nothing to do with the provocations Hezbollah staged, but you do it in effect deliberately by being indifferent to the scale of collateral damage, you're killing hostages in the hope of intimidating those that you want to intimidate. And more likely than not you will not intimidate them. You'll simply outrage them and make them into permanent enemies with the number of such enemies increasing."

Duke Cops, Rasists Or Just Bullies?

The local police officers involved in investigating the Duke rape case have gotten themselves into trouble now, with charges of racism. The allegation sounds very plausable based on my life experiances, and I believe every word of it (until proven otherwise):

Six off-duty cops (including the two lead investigators of the Duke rape hoax; five are white, one is black) gather at a sports bar and get smashed. A cook (he's black) goes out back on a break, just as the officers leave. One of the exiting cars (containing two of the honkey cops) peels out, and the cook hollers out playful encouragement ("You go! Yee Who!"). The asshole cops inside (both of course well past the legal drinking limit) hear this, and misinterpret it as an insult, flip around, drive over to the cook, and shout, "Fuck you, nigger!". The cook responds, "Fuck you, cracker!". The drunk-driving cracker cops jump out and challange the cook to a fight. The other four cops swarm in, and all gang up on the cook, who falls to the ground and protects himself from harm. The cops rush away, and as they do the cook asks the black cop, "What's up?", and the black cop says, "They're drunk. I just work with them."

My take: These cops would have done the same thing to a white cook, though they would have found a different ugly thing to say to him; black cops would have done the same thing, and probably used same words; had the cook been Chinese or Indian, black or white cops would have done the same thing, and both used the same racial slur associated with those groups. Cops have a much higher than average incidence of bully behavior, many of them act like street gang members, and the only thing good I can say about them is that most don't act this way, and on balance they are better than any other police force in human history (some current European forces perhaps perhaps act even better).

I think that this will figure into the phony rape case in that they will have some of the investigatory officers testifying that use of a racial slur does not neccessarily indicate racism.

Israel's Act of War Against the World

By intentionally attacking UN troops and killing international soldiers, Israel has effectively committed an act of war against the world.

UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon contacted Israeli troops 10 times before an Israeli bomb killed four of them, an initial UN report says.

The post was hit by a precision-guided missile after six hours of shelling, diplomats familiar with the probe say.

So Israel knowingly attacked and killed UN troops just as they knowingly shot at a Fox News corespondent two weeks ago.

Israel is the very definition and embodiment of a rogue state. They have no regard for international law as evidenced by their practice of constantly ignoring UN Security Council resolutions. Now they commit an act of open warfare against the United Nations, Austria, Canada, China and Finland.

You apologists for Israel will no doubt find some way to excuse these attrocities and downplay their significance, but these acts of war underscore the fact that Israel is a criminal regime that believes its "chosen people" are above international law and above the rest of us.

What name would you use to describe a criminal, fascist, self-proclaimed "master race" besides "Nazi"?

Lebanese Blog: Hizballah's Filthy Methods

Here's a post at a blog that bills itself as “personal views and opinions of Lebanese Forces members:” Hizbullah’s Filthy Methods.

For the past 11 days, we have seen Israel bomb all sorts of targets and i am sure most of us were wondering why would Israel bomb a certain factory or a truck or a construction yard or a truck ..

If we can for a moment turn off all those local and international channels who have nothing to do but show little children killed and bodies and touch the viewer to a certain degree that ll blind him, and think about the reasons behind those hits.

From a military point of view, you have a full equiped army, ranked in the top 5 armies in the world against a guerrilla with absolutly no info on its fighters, weapons , locations.

Even though the Israeli army is way superior in terms of weapons and technology and numbers than Hizbullah, its war must be a very cautious and tactical one since its fighting a guerilla.
We ve seen Israel for example hitting a factory for tissues in a small village in the South. It appeared that Hizbullah guys operate using trucks, meaning they move around with a missile in a truck, park nearby a factory for ex and shoot the rocket and flee. The origin of the rocket being the factory, Israelies respond by hitting it.

A witness for a similar action urged on TV the Hizbullah fighters to stop coming into his village to shoot rockets and then run away since the village is being destroyed.

Same for the truck that was carrying civilians and that became very suspicious when it was not allowed to enter the UN offices.

Fighting a guerrilla is very hard and knowing that they could shoot from anywhere, we should expect hits on unusual places.

Innocent people r dying, this is true but i believe the way Hizbullah is operating and its filthy methods in infilitrating villages and using them as launch positions is causing all those casualties.
Of course Israelies have hit bridges recklessly during the day killing innocent civilians passing on the bridge, but its war and you always have victims.

On the other hand, the one hitting civilians randomly and threatening innocent lifes r the Hizbullah launching rockets with no direction whatsoever. I ve seen rockets land on balconies, small cafes, walls ... anything but military targets.

Finally, i heard that Hizbullah has accepted that the government negociates on the prisoners fate today, therefore i hope that they realized they havent achieved anything but destroy themselves politically and militarily and most of all destroy Lebanon and ruin its economy for the next 5 years.

Even the BBC notices it: BBC Admits Many Lebanese Casualties are Terrorists.

(IsraelNN.com) The British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) has admitted that many of the victims of Israeli retaliation in Lebanon are terrorists and not innocent civilians. A BBC reporter said he saw Hizbullah terrorists using a private home and added, “It is difficult to quantify who is a terrorist and who is a civilian.”

Be Careful How You Use The "N" Word

On 7-12-06 Nadir said...

Hezbollah is not Hamas, though they may be allies. The Zionist Nazis in control of the Israeli government have been looking for an excuse to continue their war against Lebanon where they have frequently fired missiles and led smaller scale attacks since withdrawing forces 20 years ago.

The apocalypse is upon us.

Nazis, huh? Hmmm, okay. What exactly would you call this I wonder? The f*cking Boy Scouts?

Echoes of Nazism in Tyre

Hundreds of Hizballah propaganda photographs are emanating from the city of Tyre, Lebanon: Tyre.

But here’s what was happening in Tyre last August, in a photo from TIME Magazine’s Inside Hizballah slideshow.



Maybe it's just me, Nadir, but you might want to consider being a little more careful and selective about dropping the "N' word from now on.

Anti-Semitism? It's All A Karl Rove Plot

“I came to the conclusion that the hostile comments about Israel on these liberal blogs are not coming from true liberals. Most of the anti-Semitism comes from racism and most of the racism I have experienced has come from the far right, not the left.

“So my conclusion is that the bloggers who violently hate Israel and see it in black and white terms are not really liberals. They may even be anti-Semites, but they are not representative of the liberal community that was so active in achieving racial and ethnic equality. It is a contradiction for a true liberal to be an anti-Semite.

Furthermore, I would not put it past the right wing to flood the liberal blogs with hateful criticisms of Israel to advance a perception that liberals are anti-Israel or anti-Semitic. And I see Karl Rove’s fingerprints all over this.”


Now I've heard everything. What an imbicile.

Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah: I Told Lebanese Political Leaders We Would Abduct Israeli Soldiers

They knew and they did nothing.

Bloody Conquest? Subjugation? Cultural Imperialism? Slavery?

Ah, when Iraqis has the world's most advanced civilization. What a wonderful time that was, before the dreadful honkies came around and ruined everything.

How different are Christian and Islamic fundamentalists?

Please excuse this post from a liberal website. I don't want to be accused of being narrow-minded...

In the post linked above, Alternet blogger Joshua Holland debates the comments of a self-professed "Christian fundamentalist" in a discussion that echoes conversations from Reformed Leftist:

The commenter wants us to judge other fundamentalist ideologies according to their violent minorities but not his or her own. Our guest isn't violent, but the KKK, Eric Rudolph (who bombed abortion clinics, gay bars and the Atlanta Olympics), the Lambs of God (violent abortion opponents who have shot doctors), Timothy McVeigh and a host of other groups -- terrorists -- are inspired by Christian beliefs. According to this commenter, they don't count (or they don't exist). Same with the flip-side: hundreds of millions of Muslims -- millions of whom would qualify as "fundamentalists" -- are peaceful, but they don't count either; Islamic fundies are terrorists -- whether peaceful or not -- and Christian fundies are simply following the word of God.

Is it any wonder things are so screwed up?

I contend that hypocrisy is the cornerstone of Western conservative ideology whether the discussion is economics, foreign policy, race or religion.

"Our side is in the right no matter how many civilians are killed, and no matter how many people are impoverished. The other side is not only wrong because they disagree with us, but are damned for all of eternity if they don't adhere to our principles."

How Many Civilians Do You Have to Kill Before You Become a Terrorist?

"Are Israel's enemies not allowed to fight at all? If they have to audacity to challenge Israel in any way, do they automatically become terrorists? Is arguing with Israel also an act of terrorism? These days I wouldn't be surprised. I imagine they'll call it verbal terrorism. Sorry, I didn't mean to give them any ideas.

"Why is Israel allowed to take bold and aggressive military action (let alone the US) and no one is allowed to respond? If anyone has the nerve to fight back -- terrorists!

"I wonder how many of us would be "terrorists" if we were attacked and occupied by a foreign country?"

Gay Parade Invades Lebannon?

An Isreali gay parade got cancelled due to the Isreali-Hezbollah war. This is really a missed opportunity. If Isreal's military really wanted to harm the neadrathal HezbollahKKKers, the generals should have just sent a parade of gays through their areas. This might even have gotten leftists in the US and Europe to say something negative against Hezbollah, once their brave soldiers started attacking the men for being gay.

Does Peace Always Beget Peace? Is War Never the Answer?

I remember during my leftist days, "peace" was a means to itself. Yet I notice now that all the anti-US peaceniks don't require "peace" for everybody. They admire Hezbollah, Hamas, and the various anti-democrats in Iraq; those people are "freedom fighters" seeking "independance." The peaceniks do not demand that those anti-democrats practice "peace", only those whom they fire upon. But is "peace" always the best route forward?

Guns Don't Save Lives, People With Guns Do

Not sure exactly where I stand on the gun control issue. But I have become certain that my previous liberal certainty on this issue is full of holes. Here's a story where a guy with a gun in his car uses it to rescue unarmed victims from a knief-wielding madman.

Sistani calls for end to violence...

...but not for a US exit NOW! Why not? Why does this Muslim Iraqi cleric not direct his criticism at US troops and that cursed George Bush? Why does he not blame Bush and the US military for all the problems? Why does he ask for the waring factions to stop tyring to kill and exact revenge, as a pre-requisite for the US leaving? Please explain this to me, Tom and Nadir. Why does he blame non-US forces for that Shiite mosque bombing?

Sixstringer pointed out the other day that if Hezbollah and Hamas threw all of their weapons into the ocean and stopped all acts of violence, all Isrealis would cease their violence as well, and the borders of Isreal would not budge a single inch. In contrast, if the Isrealis tossed all their weapons into the ocean, the Hezbollah and Hamas forces with launch Total War, and Isreal would evaporate in a sea of destruction and blood.

In Iraq, if the US troops left NOW!, would violence end? Would people there have freedom to speak and practice religion any way that they liked? No. But what if all the non-US forces stopped their violence and destruction. Would the US military continue firing any weapons?

New Orleans: Rebuild Your Own Levees?

US Federal and State Govt agencies have in the past produced some wonderful creations. The Hoover Dam comes to mind. But then there's the New Orleans levees, and now Boston's Big Dig. Here one of my libertarian economist heroes proposes that the Fedl govt is even worse than local govts. But he doesn't explain how the fedl govt produced the magnificently successful Hoover Dam, or how the the local Boston govt wasted so much on the Big Dig. I don't know what the answer is.

Police Kill Unarmed Man; Nobody Protests

Here's a guy who went nuts, and wouldn't comply with police directives to submit to arrest. They shot him dead. I think the police made an unethical choice, a choice that I think should be illegal. However, nobody protested the guy's death, not even his family. I wonder why. (Actually, I don't wonder; I'm pretty sure I know why nobody -- such as Nadir -- has loudly protested, and why nobody's even heard of this incident which occured two years ago in the Detroit metro area.)

Bush killed Martin Luther King!

So, do you want the president to speak to your convention, or not? In his speach to the NAACP, he mentioned his visit to the Lorraine Motel a few weeks back, the cite of MLK's assassination. This prompted one woman to expose herself as a loud mouthed dim wit:

"You guys killed him -- you better say that," a woman shouted from the audience.

Yes, lady, George W. Bush -- and some other" guys" (who? all white people alive today?)! -- killed Martin Luther King. Now, some nice men in white jump suites are going to take you to a special place, where you can relax (and maybe learn some manners, at the very least, and maybe some history and logic)...

Voting Rights Violations?

This is why the NAACP wants to extend the Voting Rights Act? To prevent states from requiring photo IDs at voting booths? Isn't this one of the best ways to prevent fraud? In what way are black folks special that a photo ID requirement will block them from voting?

Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America

Executive Summary

Americans have long maintained that a man’s home is his castle and that he has the right to defend it from unlawful intruders. Unfortunately, that right may be disappearing. Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.

These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they’re sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom were guilty of only misdemeanors. The raids terrorize innocents when police mistakenly target the wrong residence. And they have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries, not only of drug offenders, but also of police officers, children, bystanders, and innocent suspects.

This paper presents a history and overview of the issue of paramilitary drug raids, provides an extensive catalogue of abuses and mistaken raids, and offers recommendations for reform.

Botched Paramilitary Police Raids: An Interactive Map

America's Black Brewer Wins NYT Wheat Beer Tasting

As best I can tell, the US has one black brewmaster, Garret Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery. He's my favorite food writer, and pehaps the world's most effective beer advocate. Here his brewery's Wheat wins a New York Times tasting. He's triumphed in his field. I think he's happy, and certainly successful.

Myths About Vietnam War

Raised as a leftist, of course I learned that the Vietnam war represented only a US military rape of a distant land. I have not yet completely reversed my original view; it does not appear that any of the US-supported Vietnam leaders were democratic or libertarian. But something certainly is wrong with my original view:

- The commie victors proved themselves to be cruel totalitarians;
- Many Vietnamese (a million?) fled those victors to live successfully and prosperously in the US and nations that supported the US effort there;
- The contrasting outcomes of North Korea (where the US lost) and South Korea (where the US won) which were not apparent the, have become apparent now, and show that at least in the case of South Korea, US military victory on Asian soil leads to the trioka of freedom, democracy, and prosperity.

This essay, about Holliwood war films, includes this claim, which certainly contradicts everything I believed about US troops in Vietnam:

"Vietnam vets -- people who actually served in combat in Vietnam -- are less likely to have psychiatric problems, less likely to have drug problems, less likely to have committed suicide, and have a higher median income than people of comparable socio-economic backgrounds who did not serve in Vietnam."

Jews Against Zionism & Isreal

Very interesting: Some Jews totally reject Zionism and Isreal. I have heard that the PLO had some Jews...

Smiles in the World's 150th Happiest Nation

Why are these men smiling? They are black men, yet they lack Nadir's official US-imposed dour disposition (not that I ever see Nadir without a smile). These black men grew up in a time in the US when black men really had something to complain about: they lacked full citizenship due to their so-called "race." They even participated in the battle against that circumstance, such as when they insisted on eating in the whites-only officer's mess in Alabama during their famous training.

They served as Tuskeggee Airmen in WWII, on behalf of a nation that at the time misused them. And here they are, smiling, even as they recite the Pledge of Alligiance... to a nation that, at their birth, disrespected them, but -- thanks to their own actions -- no longer does. Compare the situation a young black man finds himself today in Alabama, compared to when these guys were training for WWII: they could not vote, speak or associate freely, or live or work where they wanted, avail themselves of all public services, etc. Lynching was a real possibility for voilating those strictures. Now compare today's Alabama with the rights and prospects of most blacks anywhere else in the world, including Africa. Hence the immigration patterns that we see. And the the smiles on these mens' faces. Imagine the opportunities that their grand children and great grand children have, if they will only avail themselves via constructive choices.

The End of the L'Affaire Plame

The accusations never made sense in the first place; nobody would have even noticed the supposed "outing" burried in a Robert Novak column had it not been for the instantaneous, loud, showy, incessent objections... that made their way to the cover of Vanity Fair. If indeed there was any security benefit to protecting Valarie Plame's status as a CIA employee, why did her husband put that at risk by making a public specticle of the job she got for him? Why did all the Bush-haters use the opportunity to splash her name, image, and employment status accross all the media? Why did she snap-up the oppurtunity to pose for mazgazine spreads? How many dangerous persons (if there were any) learned of her name and employment only from this showing response, but not from the original op-ed parlor discussion?

Does their behavior following Novak's column indicate people obsessed with secrecy? Or obsessed with self-promotion and attacking Bush?

Hitchy asks: "What was the CIA thinking of, sending a partisan amateur to investigate his own friends at the suggestion of his wife?" Good question.

The lefty view -- the the Bushies retaliated against the honorable, and truth-telling Wilson by endangering his wife and ruining her career -- makes sense *only* if the wife's security and career did depend on secrecy, and if the Bush leakers knew this. The Bushie view -- that they retaliated against a previously unknown partisan critic who was bloating his importance by associating himself with the adminstration by exposing his assignment as deriving from nepotism, not from the administration's confidence in his expertise -- makes sense regardless of Plame's secrecy status. In other words, Wilson's appointment was political, and once he used it to make a political point, his political adversaries had a strong and logical motive for exposing the political nature of his appointment. But so did political analysts, like Novak.

Is Europe waking up?

"Europe, in short, is beginning to wake up to the Iranian threat and its terrorist aspects. Shortly after this crisis began, hard-headed European analysts such as the Daily Telegraph's Con Coughlin pointed out that Iran had almost certainly orchestrated this crisis to distract attention at the G-8 and the U.N. from its nuclear progress and wider ambitions. The sudden outbreak of realism at the G-8 suggests that Bush, Blair, Chirac, Germany's Angela Merkel and even Putin share Coughlin's analysis. Maybe they even hope that Israel will reduce their problems by saving Lebanon from Hezbollah rule and Iranian manipulation. They should.

Does this mean an end to the anti-Israel orthodoxy of European politics? Probably not. But it may be the beginning of the end."

Bush, the Great Liberator?

"To autocratic regional despots, the rush to vote by millions of trapped, terrorized and occupied Iraqis was a closure to tired arguments. The despots have never held an honest-to-God election, and now this embarrassing model sits there, across the border, in a major Arab nation.

"In one fell swoop, this upset has brought to a halt years of despots' arrogant posturing toward Iraqis or hiding of domestic shortcomings behind missteps of the Americans and Israelis in Iraq and Palestine. Iraqis today stand like a phoenix amid the rubble of mediocre governance and corrupt autocracies.

"As for the ruled, what can be gleaned from a quick harvest of views are early signs of separating profound dislikes of President Bush and his Middle East policies from the man's ability to deliver to their Iraqi Arab brethren a home run on human rights. It's like damn G.W. Bush, but, with a wink, also long live G.W. Bush."

Arab hope for Bush's Adventure

Many Arabs have grown tired of the ignorant, bearded preachers who stiffle freedom and bring violence into their lives. Maybe theire welcome downfall will come from the war they've picked against "the west".

Arabs Applauding Bush

What? All Arabs don't oppose Bush's adventure in Iraq?

"And while many Arab democrats have been struggling for years, there is a keen sense of irony that a passionately Christian American president who has supported Israel, invaded an Arab country and presided over an occupation marred by violence might actually make a positive difference in the Muslim world. It has people here citing the Koranic verse that speaks of a catastrophe that bears good fruits."

Youssef Ibrahim: Arab Majority May Not Stay Forever Silent

"Yes, world, there is a silent Arab majority that believes that seventh-century Islam is not fit for 21st-century challenges. That women do not have to look like walking black tents. That men do not have to wear beards and robes, act like lunatics, and run around blowing themselves up in order to enjoy 72 virgins in paradise. And that secular laws, not Islamic Shariah, should rule our day-to-day lives.

And yes, we, the silent Arab majority, do not believe that writers, secular or otherwise, should be killed or banned for expressing their views. Or that the rest of our creative elite - from moviemakers to playwrights, actors, painters, sculptors, and fashion models - should be vetted by Neanderthal Muslim imams who have never read a book in their dim, miserable lives.

Nor do we believe that little men with head wraps and disheveled beards can run amok in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq making decisions on our behalf, dragging us to war whenever they please, confiscating our rights to be adults, and flogging us for not praying five times a day or even for not believing in God.

More important, we are not silent any longer."

Read it all. It's well worth it.

Patty Buch's Scathing Hezbollah Critique

Nadir's favorite foriegn policy writer, Pat Buchannon, makes some compelling points (as always within an outstanding essay):

"Already, Bush is ranting about Syria being behind the Hezbollah capture of the Israeli soldiers. But where is the proof? Who is whispering in his ear? The same people who told him Iraq was maybe months away from an atom bomb, that an invasion would be a "cakewalk," that he would be Churchill, that U.S. troops would be greeted with candy and flowers, that democracy would break out across the region, that Palestinians and Israelis would then sit down and make peace? How much must America pay for the education of this man?"

Critique of Bush's Terror War

This writer makes a good case against everything Bush is doing. But she could be wrong: sometimes the way forward takes us through a period of great distress. Certainly the transformation of my house from ersatz lunk-headed traditional to clean modern organization has involved periods of drastic destruction and disarray.

Oddball western "Jubal", neo-western "The Misfits"

Caught this seldom-seen gem over the weekend: "Jubal", about the straying wife of a cattle rancher. Amazing. Consider the cast: Ernest Borgnine (trusting cuckhold rancher), Glenn Ford (sincere drifter given a chance), Rod Sterling (kinieving bully ranchhand), and Charles Bronson (slick sidekick). The hot hoochie wife is a knockout. You've never seen a western like this, and I can certainly understand how 1950s Americans passed it by.

Also caught, "The Misfits", a real stunner, directed by John Huston, written by legendary playwright Arthur Miller, and staring a cast you won't believe made a film together: Clark Gable (in perhaps is only gritty film), Marolyn Monroe, Eli Wallach, and Montgomery Clift. The film is worthy of this collection. Its a neo-western, like Hud.

Racists Torment Negro League Booster

Here's a guy getting "tormented" on Detroit's Wayne State University campus for wearing Negro League T-shirts. He's stopped daring to wear them. I certainly consider this to be a case of naked racism.

Who is Going to Stand Against Israel's Atrocities?

An Israeli air raid has killed at least 13 Lebanese civilians who were fleeing southern border areas.

Women and children were among those killed when the convoy was hit.

Chirac warns of 'African flood'

French President Jacques Chirac has warned that Africans "will flood the world" unless more is done to develop the continent's economy.

How unfortunate for the West that:

• centuries after Europe drained Africa of its youngest and strongest men and women during the slave trade
• a century and a half after Europe raped and murdered the remaining African women, men, children and elderly to carve up and colonize the continent
• After decades of neocolonial corruption and oppression, and the theft of the world's richest land mass' natural resources,
  

"ignorant, lazy, black jackasses" may have to search for jobs in the very nations where the profits of their foreparents' labor is housed.

I feel so much sympathy...

Happiness in the 150th Happiest Country, Part 2

Rep. Lewis Recounts His Experience To Urge Renewal Of The Voting Rights Act: "I Was Beaten, I Had A Concussion...I Almost Died"...

How many other supposedly democratic countries require its citizens to fight for protection in the voting process nearly 140 years after the right to vote was supposedly extended?

The struggle in the House could also be listed as a Racist Hate Crime story in that the only debate should have been over expansion of Voting Rights protections to all 50 states, and to make the provisions permanent.

If the Senate lets this pass (and Bush signs the bill without issuing a presidential signing statement that reinstitutes slavery), we'll have to go through this again in 25 years!

Can't you see how happy I am?

U.S. Government Increasingly Blocking Entry at the Border Because of Ideology, ACLU Says

Although the documents are heavily redacted, the records suggest that the government used the ideological exclusion provision to exclude from the country, among others, an Italian woman residing in Colombia, a mother and daughter residing in Canada, a businessman from Venezuela, and a woman from Costa Rica. The names of the individuals have been redacted.

The ideological exclusion provision permits the government to exclude anyone from the country who, in the government’s view, "endorses or espouses" terrorism or "persuades others" to support terrorism. While the provision is nominally directed at terrorism, the government appears to be using the provision to censor and manipulate debate, said the ACLU.

I hope I can get back into the country after my vacation...

GOPpers Oppose Coffin Ads

I think that these Repos should shut up and permit the democrats and other war critics to express themselves as they wish. I am one Bush war supporter who believes that the domestic opponents have good points... and may even have the most effective perspective. But even if I didn't, we really must let our socio-political opponents express themselves without taking offense.

Athletic "Scholarships" (wink, wink) inevitably demean scholarship

At Auburn, people enrolled as students got to take phoney classes to boost their GPAs... because they could play football really, really well. I think even Nadir agrees with me that inter-scholastic athletic competions must cease, so that schools and students can focus on education.

Why do these athletes even need to go to college? We education snobs admire non-scholarly fields. We just don't want either fields diluted by inclusion of the other.

Happiness in the 150th Happiest Country

Ask this Tuskegee Airman about happiness in the US. My favorite part of his story is aster retiring from the US Air Force (fighter pilot in Korea and Vietnam), he builds his own sailboat and travels in it to the Panama canal.

World's Happiest Country Study Comes Out, US Is No. 150...

The tiny South Pacific Ocean archipelago of Vanuatu is the happiest country on Earth, according to a study published measuring people's wellbeing and their impact on the environment.

"Don't tell too many people, please," said Marke Lowen of Vanuatu Online, the republic's online newspaper.

"People are generally happy here because they are very satisfied with very little," he told The Guardian.

"This is not a consumer-driven society. Life here is about community and family and goodwill to other people. It's a place where you don't worry too much."

Death by Dropped Ceiling

Since becoming an obsessed modern home designer I have learned many urgent tenents of sensible living, such as: molding is evil; carpet is the devil; cabinets are coffins. The news headlines confirm my righteous conclusions. The other day a woman in Boston died from a falling dropped-ceiling (yet another source of domestic oppression) panel unneccessarily employed (all dropped-ceilings are worse than whatever they hide!) in the "Big Dig." Not since that famous attorney's wife got beaten to death by a strip of crown molding (the culprit could plead insanity induced by bad taste!) last year have the evils of popular American home decor come into such clear focus (http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20051024_spilbor.html).

Less is more! Less, dammit, less!

Illegal Aliens kill millions over eight-year spree

Here's an interesting piece from a fellow blogger, neighbor and aquaintence of mine here in Ferndale, Tom Gagne:

"This is the danger of projecting today's moral perspectives on people from times past. What they did then wasn't considered objectionable by their contemporaries. Prior to Western Culture (specifically Christians) thinking slavery was abominable and the 150 years it took to abolish the slave trade, all nations and all people traditionally (and without a second thought) made slaves of other nations and people."

Palistinian's Elected Govt Attacks Isreal

Palistinians attempting to learn algebra, expand businesses, and upgrade their houses must be very excited and pleased that the brave Hamas soldiers (from Gaza; Hezbollah soldiers from Lebenon) are attacking Isreal. No progress until all past wrongs are rectified! Universal justice for all! Power to the people! If only all the jews would just kill themselves, these Palistinians would obviously create a free, florishing, prosperous civilization.

Concurrently, Isrealis must relish the pay0ff of their most recent land consession. For their next act, Isrealis should TEAR DOWN THAT WALL!

Detroit Cuts (Some) Property Taxes

Currupt, embarrassing Detroit mayor Kilpatrick has successfully pushed to extend residential housing tax breaks to existing neighborhoods (not just new housing). It's not as much as it should be (33% instead of 50%), it lasts only 12 years (instead of forever), and affects only some neighborhoods. But it's real, and I will assume that he sought more, but had to compromise with those who lack an understanding of economics... such as the writer of this article, who asserts that "Detroit already loses millions of dollars" from tax breaks for the new houses.

Novak Reveals Source of Plame's Employment

Rove's Original Source: Joe Wilson's Who's Who Entry.
Confirmed to Novak (who broached the subject) by: Yes, by Rove, but also by... a CIA Public Relations Officer!

"I learned Valerie Plame's name from Joe Wilson's entry in 'Who's Who in America'... I considered his wife's role in initiating Wilson's mission to be a previously undisclosed part of an important news story. I reported it on that basis."

That's some clever conspiracy by Bush officials to "out" a secret CIA agent, upsetting millions of US leftists, owing to their passionate devotion to preserving CIA secrets and their secret operations.

My Mom Is Not a Whore! Take That!

Imagine a world where people whose moms get called whores respond in ways that don't horrify their moms. In such a world, maybe France would have won the world cup. The answer, of course, is to render these fightin' words meaningless via casual use.

Portillo: We Must Call It Islamic Terror

An article from the Times Online UK. Hardly a "conservative" publication.

By Nadir's definition I guess Michael Portillo would be considered a "Muslim Hater". I call him a realist who sees things as they really are.

Religion Of Pieces

Oh, those wacky Muslims:

At Least 20 Dead In Bombay Train Blasts

"All of India's major cities were reportedly on high alert following the attacks, which came hours after a series of grenade attacks by Islamic extremists (vanilla-fied AP code word for "terrorists") killed eight people in the main city of India's part of Kashmir."

And to think, if only we'd pull out of Iraq and Israel out of Gaza (oh wait, they already did that) this wouldn't have happened.

Iraqi Government Puppets Struggle Against US Colonial Masters

Iraq will ask the United Nations to end immunity from local law for U.S. troops, the government said on Monday, as the U.S. military named five soldiers charged in a rape-murder case that has outraged Iraqis.

"Analysts say it is improbable the United States would ever make its troops answerable to Iraq's chaotic judicial system."

...A chaotic judicial system set up by the US itself!!

Paul Hue's argument that the Iraqi elections are a victory for democracy rings as hollow as his skull. His contradictory statement that Americans "know" the new Iraqi government is not sovereign confirms his schizophrenic ideology.

"The day before handing formal sovereignty back to Iraqis in June 2004, the U.S. occupation authority issued a decree giving its troops immunity from Iraqi law. That remains in force and is confirmed by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1546 on Iraq."

The new Iraqi puppets will have no more success appealing to a US-controled UN Security Council than the old Iraqi puppet (Hussein) did. The impotence of an Iraqi government that can't even protect its children from lawless US aggression is the fire that fuels the rage of the insurgency.

The only way the puppets will acheive legitimacy in the eyes of their people will be if they thrown the Americans out of the country. The question is will they be able to acheive this before civil war destroys the nation.

US citizens could make this easier for the Iraqis by forcing its own government to abandon this illegal colonial occupation, and by prosecuting all of its war criminals from the lowest private to the commander-in-chief.

Why Conservatives Can't Govern

Search hard enough and you might find a pundit who believes what George W. Bush believes, which is that history will redeem his administration. [Two of them are contributors here...]

But from just about everyone else, on the right as vehemently as on the left, the verdict has been rolling in: This administration, if not the worst in American history, will soon find itself in the final four. Even those who appeal to history's ultimate judgment halfheartedly acknowledge as much. One seeks tomorrow's vindication only in the context of today's dismal performance.

Through all these laments there pulsates a sense of desperation: A conservative president and an even more conservative Congress must be repudiated to enable genuine conservatism to survive. Sure, the Bush administration has failed, all these voices proclaim. But that is because Bush and his Republican allies in Congress borrowed big government and foreign-policy idealism from the left. The ideas of Woodrow Wilson and John Maynard Keynes, from their point of view, have always been flawed. George W. Bush and Tom DeLay just prove it one more time.

Contemporary conservatism is a walking contradiction. Unable to shrink government but unwilling to improve it, conservatives attempt to split the difference, expanding government for political gain, but always in ways that validate their disregard for the very thing they are expanding. The end result is not just bigger government, but more incompetent government.

Could Bush Be Prosecuted for War Crimes?

A Nuremberg chief prosecutor says there is a case for trying Bush for the 'supreme crime against humanity, an illegal war of aggression against a sovereign nation.'

Interviewed from his home in New York, Ferencz laid out a simple summary of the case:

"The United Nations charter has a provision which was agreed to by the United States formulated by the United States in fact, after World War II. Its says that from now on, no nation can use armed force without the permission of the U.N. Security Council. They can use force in connection with self-defense, but a country can't use force in anticipation of self-defense. Regarding Iraq, the last Security Council resolution essentially said, 'Look, send the weapons inspectors out to Iraq, have them come back and tell us what they've found -- then we'll figure out what we're going to do. The U.S. was impatient, and decided to invade Iraq -- which was all pre-arranged of course. So, the United States went to war, in violation of the charter."

It's that simple. Ferencz called the invasion a "clear breach of law," and dismissed the Bush administration's legal defense that previous U.N. Security Council resolutions dating back to the first Gulf War justified an invasion in 2003. Ferencz notes that the first Bush president believed that the United States didn't have a U.N. mandate to go into Iraq and take out Saddam Hussein; that authorization was simply to eject Hussein from Kuwait. Ferencz asked, "So how do we get authorization more than a decade later to finish the job? The arguments made to defend this are not persuasive."

Time to End Affirmative Action for Ho's?

By every measure, chicks are out-performing men at universities:
- Higher enrollment rate
- Higher graduation rate
- Higher GPAs.
- Faster graduation
- Higher rate of obtaining graduate degrees.

Does this mean that Affirmative Action works? Then why do blacks still lag? Why do other non-whites who don't qualify for AA exceed whites in all these measures? Is it time for AA for men?

$15,000/yr per Student, Not Enough?

In DC, the government K-12 school system ("public" schools) get $15,000 per student per year. The average class size is just 15, much lower than the national average. Result: awful. DC govt school students perform horribly (even as these same students produce world-class results on the various sports fields). Is is possible that for $15,000 parents could get a better deal from private schools? Yes, we're talking "vouchers." Why not? Could private schools do any worse? Could the hypothetical negative affect on the govt schools cause *them* to do any worse?

Prediction: In order to hold onto black votes, the democrats will eventually have to support vouchers. Even some govt school teachers themselves are going to start supporting vouchers... for themselves! So that their own kids can attend decent schools.

Why's North Korea Now Not What Iraq Was Then?

Whatever happened to Bush's pre-emptive war doctrine?

There are three major differences between North Korea today and Iraq in 2003:

1. North Korea has no oil.
   
2. North Korea may actually have weapons of mass destruction.
3. The US already has a military presence on the Korean peninsula, so it doesn't need the strategic location.

I think the White House reaction to these missile tests exposes the true motives behind the imperial invasion of Iraq.

American Dream, American Nightmare

The greatness of the United States is unique—and not a model to be exported by narrow-minded nationalists.

Orwell wrote that nationalism is partly “the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects.” He said it’s not to be confused with patriotism, which Orwell defined as “devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force upon other people.”

No Worse than US Fundimentalists

Many of my lefty friends (well, I suppose that all my friends with political views are lefties) have claimed that the mulsim KKKers are "no worse" than US christian fundimentalists; some even claim that the US christian freaks are even *worse* than the islami-KKKers. This article reports that some Samali islamici retards killed two people for watching the world cup soccer game on TV -- a banned activity. I bet those dead muslim soccar fans would have prefered to live under fundimentalist George Bush than under the the Samoli islami-KKKers.

"Anybody want to kill a nigger?"

Finally, some real anti-black racism: organized violence to rid neighborhoods of blacks, by killing them on sight. According to the article, these anti-black racists aim to "fight the 'infestation' of blacks in Highland Park with a systematic terror campaign designed to run them out of the neighborhood."

Patriotism and the Fourth of July by Howard Zinn

In celebration of the Fourth of July there will be many speeches about the young people who "died for their country." But those who gave their lives did not, as they were led to believe, die for their country; they died for their government. The distinction between country and government is at the heart of the Declaration of Independence, which will be referred to again and again on July 4, but without attention to its meaning.

C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden

Were they ever actually looking for him in the first place? If so, why did they let his family members leave the country on Sept. 11?

This also brings to mind the story of John O'Neill, former FBI counterterror cheif in charge of the Bin Laden investigation, who resigned from a 32 year stint in the Bureau to head security at the World Trade Center. Apparently he died in the fatal attacks on 911. Learn more about him here.

The US government's inability (unwillingness?) to capture Bush family friend and former (current?) CIA asset Bin Laden raises quite a few questions. Some believe he is already dead. Regardless, the FBI admits there is no hard evidence linking Bin Laden to the 911 attacks.

Whatever the case may be, it is obvious that his capture hasn't been a top priority for the Bush regime or the US intelligence community. So why are we still talking about him?

If gay sex caused global warming...

... might Bush and his "base" be a bit more interested in it? (Global warming, that is, not gay sex--a topic for which these folks have a seemingly bottomless fascination.) The question is taken up by the above-linked LA Times op-ed by a Harvard psychologist.

Rivals Declare Victory in Mexican Election

Rivals Declare Victory As Mexican Presidential Race Awaits Hand Count

Two bitter rivals declared themselves winners of Mexico's extraordinarily close presidential race despite election officials saying official results wouldn't be ready for days sparking cries of fraud from supporters and fears of violence.

Mexicans Elect Another Free Marketeer

Mexicans should brace for more immigrants from the south (especially those with leftist govts), even as Mexicans continue immigrating nothward, towards even freer markets.

Democrats Abandon RFK's Courage

At the height of apartheid in South Africa and the civil rights movement at home, Kennedy forcefully gave his case for supporting human rights declaring, "We must recognize the full human equality of all of our people before God, before the law, and in the councils of government. We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous, although it is; not because of the laws of God command it, although they do... We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do."

[Current] Democrats are unwilling to educate voters and take on conservative myths that human rights and social justice amount to undeserved handouts. Human rights only ensure equal access to the minimum level of support and freedom an individual needs to live their lives with dignity. Admitting that our fellow men and women deserve to live with dignity is not a renunciation of personal responsibility.

Global Warming? And if so, caused by what?

This MIT climatology prof refutes Al Gore's conclusions and claims, including his assessment that "the debate is settled."

The Declaration of Independence: how far we have fallen

With much of "flag wavin', beer guzzlin', jee-zus fearin' Murka" getting ready to shoot off some fireworks, eat some grilled meat and get all dressed up in red, white and blue to show how much they support the troops and love this country, I was thinking about the document that we really should be celebrating, or at least remembering this weekend.

And in reading the text of the Declaration of Independence it is both sad to see how far this country has gone astray from the principles contained in the Declaration of Independence and how the authors of that document would cringe to see what has happened to the country and freedoms (not "freedomTM") they fought so hard for. At the same time, it is amusing (in a sick twisted way) to see how ignorant that `Murka is when they blindly salute the flag and spew their vile hate.

After you read the article, don't forget to click on the familiar face to the right...

Scott Ritter: Three Iraq Myths That Won't Quit

Registered Republican Scott Ritter served as chief U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 until his resignation in 1998. He is the author of, most recently, "Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the U.N. and Overthrow Saddam Hussein" (Nation Books, 2005).

It is hard sometimes to know what is real and what is fiction when it comes to the news out of Iraq. America is in its "silly season," the summer months leading up to a national election, and the media is going full speed ahead in exploiting its primacy in the news arena by substituting responsible reporting with headline-grabbing entertainment.

So, as America closes in on the end of June and the celebration of the 230th year of our nation's birth, I thought I would pen a short primer on three myths on Iraq to keep an eye out for as we "debate" the various issues pertaining to our third year of war in that country.