Finally, Monday is here – I thought that damn weekend would never end. Now if these next five days will just hurry up and get over with.
You have to wonder if Israel is actually trying to make Hizbollah look good. Killing civilians in the age of the Internet and satellite TV (it’s one thing to kill kids and terrified families hiding in basements when you can just deny it, but to do it when video and photos can make it around the planet instantaneously just doesn’t make for a popular war) doesn’t seem like a good plan, and it certainly hasn’t made Israel any more secure, if the record number of rockets hitting Israel yesterday is any indication. And if there’s any truth to the reports that the US is egging Israel on in all of this (and I don’t see much reason to doubt it), well, here’s a suggestion for Ehud Olmert: whatever George W. Bush says, do the exact fucking opposite. Anybody who couldn’t find oil in Bharain, traded Sammy Sosa, and has fucked up everything he’s ever touched (including eating pretzels, fer chrissakes) is not then man to be taking advice from. Capice there, Ehud?
On the bright side, Pamela Anderson married Kid Rock, so there should be a new “honeymoon” video on the ‘net in a few days.
Well, at least it’s almost August. Hopefully the world will be a little safer with Bush in Crawford. I hear the Texas DEC has been busy stocking the “ranch” with brush.
Happy Monday.
Well, we had our 21st murder of the month here yesterday. Also had some people open fire at a school in Prince George’s county, and some woman for some reason went over to visit the boyfriend she had a restraining order on, and he doused her with gasoline and set her on fire. That’s less than a year after another guy (who had a restraining order vacated by an asshole judge who just retired rather than face misconduct charges) went to his ex-girlfriend’s place of employment, doused her with gasoline, chased her down the street, and set her on fire.
Oh, and I missed dubya’s big t-ball game on the south lawn of the White House yesterday. Bummer.
The WSJ Middle East News Tracker
http://tinyurl.com/epu8o
:?::?::?::?::?::yawn::yawn::yawn::joe::joe::joe::shock::rant1::barf::yuck:
Michael Schiavo’s diary over at Daily Kos.
:joe:Good Morning, Peeps!:billcat:
Well, well, well, so Jimmy McCain is joining the Marines. 18 years old. Daddy is “a little nervous”. Well, you have to do what you believe in. How many other children of pro-war Republicans are joining up to fight Daddy’s wars? Hey, George P , Jebby , Noelle, Babs and Jenna when are you going to fight your daddies’ wars?
Fat chance. There are are a few Republicans with honor and most without. Disgusting. We’d be better off with Klingons :growl: running the country.
Oh, and by the way, I didn’t know that “After his early graduation, Bush married the first and only woman he had ever dated, Columba Garnica Gallo, on February 23, 1974. Their three children, all adopted from the Gladney Center[2] in Fort Worth, TX [3], are George P. (recently married), John E. “Jeb”, Jr. and Noelle.”:omg: Was he shooting blanks or is he one of those closet Republican gays?:rofl2: Was he at the White House when Jimmy/Jeff visited, oh those many nights:hubba::omg:? Woo hoo — 😮
Well, I suppose I shouldn’t bother my Beautiful Mind with such things:evil::eek::omg:
Clarification: The part I didn’t know was that all three kids were adopted and there’s nothing wrong with that. I just thought they were the biological children of Jeb & Columba.:doh:
I never thought I’d be saying this during July going into August, but…
come to Florida, where the weather is cooler than it is where you are now. :omg:
(Despite the hot air being blown about by the Repig candidates for governor.)
Yeah, Kev, DC is kissing me off with a freakin’ heat wave for my last week here. Damn place is built on a swamp, too, so it’s like having a wet sponge underneath you all the time, as if the heat wasn’t bad enough. Definitely makes for a nasty case of the droopy drawers.
Of course, y’all got that hot, hot Republican candidate for Senate, ad it don’t get any hotter than that.
#4 — Holy Joe would have kept the tube in:yuck::barf:
Like I said yesterday, don’t wanna wish anything bad on anyone, but if he ever finds himself in a persistent vegitative state & has to depend on a G-tube for nutrition, I hope it keeps clogging up on him:fu:
:fu:hypocrite:no:
OK, Cardinal :priest: what’s my penance?
We’ll work that out on Friday night. :hubba:
pj, you must be getting some of the hot weather that melina mentioned in one of her posts yesterday. whew. hope you don’t have an electricity blackout this week. when you get home friday, you won’t necessarily be much cooler there (for various reasons).
Woke up, the temp was 82. It only got up to 95 today. :yinyang:
pj, do you have to fly home? watch out, the air marshalls have a quota to fill.
Air Marshals Place Innocents on Secret Watch List
slashdot
The Israeli air force carried out strikes Monday in southern Lebanon despite an agreement to halt raids for 48 hours after nearly 60 Lebanese civilians were killed in an Israeli bombing, the army said.
The airstrikes near the village of Taibe were meant to protect ground forces operating in the area and were not targeting anyone or anything specific, the army said.
Israeli naval ships fired on a Lebanese army post on the main southern coastal road killed a soldier and wounded three at Qasmiyeh, north of the port city of Tyre, security sources said.
…
A senior Israeli political source said a ceasefire would only take effect once an international force had deployed.
The source added that Israel’s 48-hour suspension of aerial attacks did not include retaliation for any Hizbollah rocket strikes, the assassination of the Shi’ite group’s leaders or assistance to Israeli ground forces in southern Lebanon.
http://tinyurl.com/jyvus
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This is looking more like something heir Adolf would have done .. :jason::jason::jason::gate::omg:
The Iraqi parliament is going to pass a resolution supporting Hezbollah and Lebanon.. George Bush up your a* with a rubber hose..
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060731/D8J6TKLO0.html
==============================
Maybe they want the US to get so ticked off it leaves :hubba::hubba:
:hubba::hubba: The guy on C-span says kicking Hezbollah out of Lebanon would be like throwing all republicans out of the south .. why don’t we try..:banana::banana:
Most of the callers to WJ this morning are really well informed..They need to capture the GPS coordinates of the others.:rant1:
Millions of American men in the “prime of their lives” are unemployed by choice, according to a front page story set for Monday’s edition of The New York Times.
“Millions of men in the prime of their lives, between 30 and 55, have dropped out of regular work,” report Louis Uchitelle and David Leonhardt for The Times first article in its “New Gender Divide” series.
“They are turning down jobs they think are beneath them or are unable to find work for which they are qualified, even as an expanding economy offers opportunities to work,” the article continues.
Excerpts from the Times article:
#
Alan Beggerow has stopped looking for work. Laid off as a steelworker at 48, he taught math for a while at a community college. But when that ended, he could not find a job that, in his view, was neither demeaning nor underpaid.
So instead of heading to work, Beggerow, now 53, fills his days with diversions: playing the piano, reading histories and biographies, writing unpublished Western potboilers in the Louis L’Amour style — all activities once relegated to his spare time. He often stays up late and sleeps until 11 a.m.
“I have come to realize that my free time is worth a lot to me,” he said. To make ends meet, he has tapped the equity in his home through a $30,000 second mortgage, and he is drawing down the family’s savings, at the rate of $7,500 a year. About $60,000 is left. His wife’s income helps them scrape by. “If things really get tight,” Beggerow said, “I might have to take a low-wage job, but I don’t want to do that.”
Millions of men like Beggerow — men in the prime of their lives, between 30 and 55 — have dropped out of regular work. They are turning down jobs they think are beneath them or are unable to find work for which they are qualified.
About 13 percent of American men in this age group are not working, up from 5 percent in the late 1960s. The difference represents 4 million men who would be working today if the employment rate had remained where it was in the 1950s and ’60s.
#
http://tinyurl.com/lwgx8
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This story is true but the reasoning behind it is a lie..:jason::jason::gate::omg::yuck::rant1:
Its very demeaning for someone with a PHD in math or Physics to have to drive a cab or work for the city tending the flowers in the city parks .. Or standing in our Soup kitchen lines.. Rethugs need to be eliminated..:gate::omg::jason::jason::fist:
Hi-bye….on my way out….very hot and busy day today….have a great day
You know, Raging Granny, it has occurred to me more than once that while Jenna Bush is the image of her mother, Barbara Jr. does’t look like either of her parents. I wonder if BOTH Bush boys are shooting blanks — or if they’re BOTH gay. One would think that Good Christian Men like the Bush boys would be fruitful and multiply, wouldn’t one? :tongue::
Tipping Point?
Video: International Reports on Qana Massacre
[A note to readers: This news report, originally aired on CNN International, contains graphic images.]
http://tinyurl.com/k5pbg
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Amy Goodman still hasn’t appeared in her ski mask and carrying her assault rifle though.:jason::jason::jason:
I don’t know if it is just me but it seems our so called progressive media is turning away from the issues over these last three months.. First AAR’s morning programs became sports with some politics, then Maddow became Stephie light, Marvin has become a war monger with Springer and Shultz like qualities, and Hartman is talking about all the feel good things as Oregon heads down the road to TABOR. The demodorps obviously don’t represent the majority of the left, US foreign policy may get us all blown off the face of the earth and yet the attitude is that “we merely present the facts you decide”. I have to turn it off most of the time.. I would bet there are a lot of others doing the same and their rating are going into the toilet and they have no idea why..:yuck::shock::eek:
Senator Schumer: Bolton won’t face filibuster
RAW STORY
Published: Monday July 31, 2006
A leading Democrat senator said that a filibuster of President Bush’s controversial UN Ambassador John Bolton “is unlikely,” RAW STORY has learned.
http://tinyurl.com/ojemu
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Getting butt f*ed must be so enjoyable..:gate::omg::jason::jason:
Re #20
Hey, Brilliant —
I’ve observed that too — never could figure out who Babs Jr. looks like either and Jenna absolutely has Laura’s face. Wonder who the sperm donor was? Who knows how all of W’s partying affected his reproductive system? Might not have been his sperm that fertilized Laura’s eggs in the petri dish.:?:
So many mysteries abound in the universe:priest:
This family is such a living Soap Opera:eek:
The thought of a threesome with W, Jeb & Jimmy Jeff just cracks me up. :rofl2::doh::omg:
the republicans have a new loony tactic in trying to get their iraq-war supporting house members re-elected against democratic opponents who oppose the war. the republicans are trying to make social websites like myspace offlimits at public access terminals such as libraries and schools!
cnet news link
My first thought about Jim McCain joining the Marines was that it’s a political move to get his dad elected president, nothing more.
Maybe taking away the kids networking capabilities will piss them off enough to start getting their ass out into the streets protesting.
Okay, so I talked to the Sony people about my computer and they say I have to send it in to their service dept in San Diego. I’m wondering if I’ll be better off just finding someone around here to fix it or if it really is something the dealer needs to deal with. I can’t seem to get any kind of screen up at all.
Maybe taking away the kids networking capabilities will piss them off enough to start getting their ass out into the streets protesting.
good point, krista. :fist:
Cnick! :rofl2: And the women are all thinking “he’s prolly gay”
So maybe the poor guy sits home alone at night wondering why no one calls him.
My friend is pretty good looking. He’s filled out, like middle aged people do, so he’s not super hot
like when we both worked at Cosanti together years ago making bells for Paolo Soleri. But he’s pretty weird and knows a lot of weird people like Genesis P. and such.
Iran is a significant, respected player in the Middle East which is playing a stabilising role, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Monday.
“It was clear that we could never accept a destabilisation of Lebanon, which could lead to a destabilisation of the region,” Douste-Blazy said in Beirut.
“In the region there is of course a country such as Iran — a great country, a great people and a great civilisation which is respected and which plays a stabilising role in the region,” he told a news conference.
The United States blames Iran and Syria for destabilising the region by backing Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon who have been battling Israeli forces for nearly three weeks.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28816454.htm
=================================================
When push come to shove the world begins to take up sides.. France has a navy , an air force and ICBM’s
:eek::shock:
Republican Party revoked support for Harris Senate campaign
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.
As Gov. Jeb Bush was trying to get House Speaker Allan Bense into the U.S. Senate race, the Republican Party of Florida was trying to force Katherine Harris out.
Party Chairman Carole Jean Jordan bluntly told Harris in a May 7 letter that she couldn’t win and that the party wouldn’t support her campaign. The letter was also signed by national committeewoman Sharon Day and national committeeman Paul Senft.
“Katherine, though it causes us much anguish, we have determined that your campaign faces irreparable damage,” said the confidential letter, obtained Monday by The Associated Press. “We feel that we have no other choice but to revoke our support.”
The letter was written the day before Harris turned in paperwork to get her name on the Republican primary ballot for the seat held by Democrat Bill Nelson. Bense announced later that week that he would not enter the race despite the urging of Bush and others.
The Harris campaign didn’t immediately return a phone message seeking comment Monday.
http://tinyurl.com/n3ylt
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The rethugs just shot Cruella:smack:
:eek:The security council just voted sanctions against Iran..OPEC is not happy..better grease the bearings on your roller skates.:shock:
Posted on Mon, Jul. 31, 2006
Protestors block Mexico City traffic, tent city rises
By KEVIN DIAZ and DAVID OVALLE
Knight Ridder Newspapers
MEXICO CITY – Supporters of leftist presidential runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador turned a two-mile stretch of Mexico City’s main thoroughfare into a virtual tent city on Monday, blocking rush-hour traffic and grinding much of downtown to a halt.
City police made no attempt to interfere with the largely peaceful “permanent assembly,” which Lopez Obrador organized to press his demand for a recount in his narrow loss to conservative Felipe Calderon in the July 2 presidential elections.
Calderon’s camp accused Mexico City Mayor Alejandro Encinas of cooperating with the demonstrators and called for police to clear the demonstrators. But Encinas, a member of Lopez Obrador’s Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, called for calm as he sought negotiations with the protest organizers.
“We’re going to act with moderation and intelligence in confronting difficult times on the national political scene, with the understanding that this is a national problem, not just a problem for Mexico City,” he said.
(snip/…)
http://tinyurl.com/epjlu
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:banana::banana::banana::banana:
Chavez Vows To ‘Stand By Iran’
Anti-U.S. leaders Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad met in Tehran on Saturday, pledging mutual support for one another, state media reported.
Chavez’ two-day visit came as Iran faces renewed international criticism for its nuclear program and as a backer of Hezbollah guerrillas, engaged in fighting with Israel since they captured two Israeli soldiers July 12.
The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council on Friday reached a deal on a resolution that would give Iran until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions.
Following talks, Chavez pledged that his country would “stay by Iran at any time and under any condition,” state television reported.
http://tinyurl.com/kt3z7
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:omg:Lets see the number two exporter of oil to the SBR ( aka USA) is having a revolution and the the number three is standing by Iran..:eek::shock:
Election lawyer to file legal contest in California congressional race
Miriam Raftery
Published: Monday July 31, 2006
“Overall, this election was handled in such a way that we have no reason for confidence in the results,” famed election attorney Paul Lehto said of California’s 50th Congressional District special election between Francine Busby and Brian Bilbray.
In an exclusive interview with RAW STORY on Sunday, July 30, Lehto revealed plans to file a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court on Monday, July 31 against the County of San Diego, Registrar of Voters Mikel Haas, and Brian Bilbray. Bilbray, a Republican, was sworn into office with thousands of ballots still uncounted before the election was officially certified. According to the official machine count (tallied on Diebold optical scanners and touchscreens), Bilbray nosed out Busby by a 78,341 to 71,146 margin. Bilbray replaced Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who resigned after pleading guilty to bribery and is now serving a 10-year prison sentence
http://tinyurl.com/g5j7u
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:banana::banana::banana::banana:
From the WSJ
2:30 p.m.::eek: Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki arrived in Lebanon, in the first visit by an Iranian official to war-torn Lebanon since fighting broke out between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah guerrillas. Mr. Mottaki arrived over land from neighboring Syria, border officials said. He met Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, and planned to meet President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Fuad Saniora on Tuesday.:shock:
=============================================
Now what do you suspose he’s is up to ??:gate::omg:
Yeah, uh, Mr. Booze and I had a little falling out:barf:( Friday night, though, not Saturday), so I think I’ll back off for a while. Plus, I turn sorta stupid and make a fool of myself. You know, the usual routine that alc. causes. Anyway, Saturday was pretty fun, but I think I may have stayed out too late…Maybe.
Mr Booze is bad:eek::eek::shock::shock::smack:
Well, sometimes. :40:
I think I have to go. Catch ya later, Fred.
The top sources of US crude oil imports for May were Canada (1.868 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.576 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.457 million barrels per day), Venezuela (1.169 million barrels per day), and Nigeria (1.075 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Iraq (0.666 million barrels per day), Angola (0.379 million barrels per day), Algeria (0.350 million barrels per day), Russia (0.255 million barrels per day), and Ecuador (0.239 million barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 10.247 million barrels per day in May, which is an increase of 0.415 million barrels per day from April 2006.
Well big Eddy must be losing audience by the droves these last two weeks.. between his war mongering position on the war in the middle east and now the C-span expo on 911 his callers are throwing some great verbal bricks at him.:banana::banana::banana:
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the Syrian military on Monday to raise its readiness, pledging not to abandon support for Lebanese resistance against Israel.
“We are facing international circumstances and regional challenges that require caution, alert, readiness and preparedness,” Assad said.
“The barbaric war of annihilation the Israeli aggression is waging on our people in Lebanon and Palestine is increasing in ferocity,” Assad said in a written address on the occasion of the 61st anniversary of the foundation of the Syria Arab Army.
http://tinyurl.com/fdpae
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How long will it be before Putin puts his ICBM forces on a heightened state of alert.:eek::rant1:
NATIONAL | July 30, 2006
Disowning Conservative Politics, Evangelical Pastor Rattles Flock
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Upheaval at one megachurch reflects concern over the tendency to tie evangelical Christianity to the G.O.P.
It’s a good article but what caused me to groan a bit was the number of his congregants who walked out because they consider part of Christian duty to be “supporting the Republicans.”
These people still scare the bejeebies outta me. :omg:
Gin and Cream Soda!:40: At the U village. That’s all I’m saying.:doh:
I’ll try and hitch a ride to the library. see ya in a bit or something
I had the standard busy-as-hell weekend but I’m back now and want to share an amazing ice cream (sherbet?) recipe I made with wild blackberries that I collected on Friday on the way home from work. (I’ve found a Secret Blackberry Patch that I’ll be happy to share with others in the PDX area but it’s a bad place for the easily allergic…that’s an apology, Ol’ Zeb…)
Blackberry Buttermilk Sherbet
Serves 6
1 cup blackberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pour into ice cream maker and process until done.
This was awesome and eaten up in minutes when I took it to a friend’s house for dinner. Tonight I’m making a pie with the leftover berries. Tomorrow I’m going to gather more. It’s worth the scratches and scrapes. And it’s a nice way to get far away from reality, which I need every once in a while…
Just curious, but how is this behavior by detainees at Guantanamo Bay any different from the behavior of angry inmates in a non-military prison? Why does it merit a special report sent to the press by the Pentagon?
Gypsy, when are you going to take the Maronade Cavalcade :doh: to Seattle. And, have you got any other passengers for the show at Giggles in Sept.? :40: Alright, I think I have to go, but I’ll be back.
Ok, I think I’m drunk now…:omg:
Later!:billcat:
Hey, anybody make it to the Irvine Improv over the weekend? 39% of the visitors to this site came from Califonia last week – (CA is by far the weekly winner) over 1,100 CA visitors from 7/24 through 7/30. I realize CA is a big state, but surely somebody out there was close enough to Irive to get there.
If one of the lurkers made it to the show, don’t be shy, stop by and say hello. Everybody here (OK, almost everybody) is quite nice. We won’t bite (unless you ask nicely).
Bush, Rice and Israel’s Hack Legions
The Triumph of Crackpot Realism
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN
The frayed threads anchoring the American government to reality have finally snapped, just at the moment radiologists are reporting that Americans are getting too fat to be x-rayed or shoved into any existing MRI tube.
The gamma rays can’t get through the blubber, same way actual conditions in the outside world bounces off the impenetrable dome of imbecility sheltering America’s political leadership.
Twenty-three years after one of America’s stupidest Presidents announced Star Wars, Reagan’s dream has come true. Behind ramparts guarded by a coalition of liars extending from Rupert Murdoch to the New York Times, from Bill O’Reilly to PBS, America is totally shielded from truth.
Here we have a Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who gazes at the rubble of Lebanon, 300,000 refugees being strafed with Israel’s cluster bombs, and squeaks happily that we are “witnessing the birth pangs of a new Middle East.”
Here we have a president, G. Bush, who urges Vladimir Putin to commence in Russia the same “institutional change” that is making Iraq a beacon of freedom and free expression. Not long after Bush extended this ludicrous invitation the UN relayed from Iraq’s Ministry of Health Iraq’s real casualty rate, which was running at least 100 a day, now probably twice that number. . .
http://www.counterpunch.org
Israel is systematically trying to destroy Lebanon as a functioning social and economic entity, cleanse the south and reoccupy up to the Litani River The head of Lebanon’s Industrial Association, Charles Arbid, told Agence France Presse on July 24 that Israel’s strategy is to destroy the whole chain of manufacturing, from production to distribution. Bridges, airports, roads, trucks, ports have been methodically attacked.
AC
Here is a good article on liberal pandering–Dean, Pelosi, Hillary, etal.–to the Israeli Lobby.
http://www.counterpunch.org/rogouski07312006.html
Ugh, Hillary, Schumer and Dean. Oh my. :paranoid::mad:
Murray Bookchin, RIP
Murray Bookchin, the visionary social theorist and activist, died during the early morning of Sunday, July 30th in his home in Burlington, Vermont. During a prolific career of writing, teaching and political activism that spanned half a century, Bookchin forged a new anti-authoritarian outlook rooted in ecology, dialectical philosophy and left libertarianism.
Brian Tokar
Has anyone mentioned Bookchin’s passing? When I worked for GreenPiss in 1992, some of us proposed asking Murray Bookchin to become the director of the organization. He was–or his thought was, rather– the cause of much debate among anarchists.
Hey, Travis! We haven’t gotten that organized yet. I have heard from Ol’ Zeb and he has expressed no preference for either date and the only other person I expected to hear from is Wan Wenxia and I haven’t heard her opinion yet. Are you thinking about meeting us there? Do you have a preference?
Is CitKahn around, or any of the other Seattle bloggers? We need to coordinate with them, too.
Just another person whose writings I’ll have to check out. Green Piss, eh?
Did Randi Rhodes just call Medea Benjamin “an upstart” who sometimes gets on her nerves? Why, Randi, because she is more radical than you? (Although Randi is doing a great job in dealing with the present war in the Middle East.)
Do you have ANY idea how difficult it is to convince a neo-con that I’m a liberal who doesn’t worship Hillary Clinton? :smack: It’s insane. They think we want her in the White House RIGHT NOW and we will stop at nothing to get her there. WHO STARTED THIS STORY? And, more importantly, how can we end it?
Two nations stand out above all others as notorious serial abusers of UN resolutions – the US and Israel. Over the last half century, the US has used its Security Council veto many dozens of times to prevent any resolutions from passing condemning Israel for its abusive or hostile actions or that were inimical to Israeli interests. It’s also voted against dozens of others overwhelmingly supported by the rest of the world in the UN General Assembly. By its actions and with 6% of the world’s population, the US has thus arrogantly ignored the will of nearly all the other 94% to support its client state even when Israel had committed war crimes or crimes against humanity the rest of the world demanded it be held to account for. In the words of one UK observer using a baseball analogy: “Only the USA could have a World Series and not invite the rest of the world.”
The Israeli record on UN resolutions over that same period is far worse. With full US support for its actions, it’s flagrantly and with little or no pretense routinely ignored over five dozen UN Resolutions condemning or censuring it for its actions against the Palestinians or other Arab people, deploring it for committing them, or demanding, calling on or urging the Jewish state to end them. Israel never did or intends to up to the present, including the mass slaughter and destruction it’s now inflicting on the people of Lebanon and the Palestinians in their Territories that Israel illegally occupies and attacks whenever it wishes. It does so with impunity using any contrived pretext it can get away with to deny the Palestinians any chance ever for a viable sovereign independent state and to avoid a political solution with them it won’t ever tolerate.
STEPHEN LENDMAN
Or unless we’re really drunk!:omg:
Hey, um, a Star Trek prop of the Starship Enteprise fell from the ceillng of the bar on Saturady night, and I started playing with it when some drunk guy started talking with Sblue and me. I thought it was kinda clever, ’cause that guy was spacin’ it. He tried to talk to me earlier that night and used the same exact lines- something about looking unusual and out of the ordinary:alc:Anyway, I’m kinda spacin’ it right now.
Hey, I say Feingold for pres. But that’s just me.
Gypsy, it was awesome, a couple of weeks ago a bunch of “liberals who do NOT support Hillary” protested in front of her home up here in Chappaqua, New York, near where I live. It was on the local news, people saying they knew she supported the war in Iraq. I wish that particular protest would have gotten more play in the broader media. But it was still a cool protest to see.
The exaggerated Israeli response, together with circumstantial evidence, suggests that Israel used the Hamas/Hizbollah incidents as pretexts to pursue a much wider and long planned security agenda directed at Palestine and Lebanon, and beyond this, as an opportunity for a political restructuring of the entire region in partnership with the United States. In this regard, as George W. Bush’s comments at the St. Petersburg G-8 summit emphasized, the real responsibility for the anti-Israeli incidents should be associated with Syria and Iran given their support of Hamas and Hizbollah. It does require a deep reading of international relations to recall that both right wing Israeli opinion and the neoconservative worldview that has dominated American foreign policy during the Bush presidency advances a vision of world order based upon a comprehensive political restructuring of the Middle East, starting with ‘regime change’ in Iraq.
What Israel is undertaking is a change of tactics with respect to the pursuit of this regional vision. The initial plan seems to have been based on a decisive military and political victory in Iraq followed by an essentially diplomatic campaign to exert major pressure on other problematic governments in the region, relying on The Greater Middle East Project of ‘democratization’ to do the heavy lifting without further military action. Instead what has occurred has been failure and frustration in Iraq, which has turned into an American quagmire, but more seriously, a consistent set of electoral outcomes throughout the region that have discredited a political approach to the regional vision embraced by Washington and Tel Aviv with the goal of achieving compliant Arab governments that are passive with respect to Palestinian aspirations, and accepting of American hegemony. These geopolitical disappointments began to be revealed in the Iraqi sequence of elections, which even under conditions of the American occupation and a hostile resistance, produced clear victories for Islamic political forces and stinging repudiations of the sort of compliant secularists that Washington backed. Similar outcomes, with less dramatic results, were evident in elections held in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which together with the election of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad as President of Iran, apparently sent a clear message that the more democratic the political process, the more likely it was to produce an anti-American, anti-Israeli leadership. The Hamas victory in the January elections in the Palestiinian Territories culminated this disillusionment with the democratic path to security, as envisioned by Israel and the United States, for the region.
RICHARD FALK
Feingold toes the Israel must defend itself line as much as Hillary does.
Says who!:mad:
Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
On the Hezbollah Attacks on Israel
July 14, 2006
“I stand firmly with the people of Israel and their government as they defend themselves against these outrageous attacks. The kidnapping of Israeli soldiers and missile attacks against Israeli citizens are unacceptable and cannot be tolerated. The first steps toward establishing peace must begin with the unconditional and immediate return of the kidnapped Israeli soldiers. Lebanon, Syria, Iran and countries throughout the region must also condemn the actions of Hezbollah, Hamas, and other groups committed to blocking the peace process and must take strong actions to return stability to the region immediately.”
How “nuanced” can you get?
So fuckin’ what? They’re terrorist orginizations!!!
Russ Feingold’s shot for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination is fundamentally based upon one thing: His vote against the Iraq War. Oh, there are other reasons for progressive Democrats to support Russ Feingold for President, but his opposition to the Iraq War is the thing that makes him stand out from the pack of other Democratic contenders, and attracts the support of progressive Democratic activists.
Now, the Russ Feingold for President movement is hitting a roadbump. In reaction to the expansion of conflict in the Middle East through the exchange of missile fire by Israel and Hizbollah fighters hanging out in Lebanon, Russ Feingold has joined George W. Bush in choosing sides in the war, aligning himself without reservation with Israel.
On Friday, July 14, commenting on the war between Israel and Hizbollah, and the bombing of Lebanon, Senator Feingold said, “I stand firmly with the people of Israel and their government as they defend themselves against these outrageous attacks. The kidnapping of Israeli soldiers and missile attacks against Israeli citizens are unacceptable and cannot be tolerated.”
I have no argument with Feingold’s claim that kidnapping and missile attacks against Israeli citizens are unacceptable, but why does Feingold fall silent when it comes to the huge number of civilians killed in Israel’s missile attacks against Lebanon? As J. Clifford pointed out this morning, 92.7 percent of the people killed by Israel’s attacks into Lebanon so far have been civilians. Does Russ Feingold believe that these attacks are acceptable? Does he believe that these attacks can be tolerated?
Antiwar activists in the Democratic Party are paying attention to how the prospective Democratic candidates for President are dealing with this rapidly growing crisis. So far, Russ Feingold gets a failing grade. This is no time for the American government to be choosing sides. Both Hizbollah and Israel are engaging in outrageous behavior. American support for Israel’s slaughter of innocents in Lebanon will make it all the more difficult for us to stabilize Iraq and end that war without disaster.
Russ Feingold’s antiwar credibility took a nosedive this weekend. He ought to know better than to join President Bush as a cheerleader for Israel’s attack.
Irregular Times post
Hi all, has Sean checked in yet today? I couldn’t get back to the blog yesterday, and I’ve been asking – are there any other SF people here, I’d love to meet you!:cool:
:omg::omg::omg: Are you really that ignorant?
Oh, good EFFING grief! All due respect to Medea Benjamin, whom I admire and appreciate greatly, but did she actually think she stood a snowball’s chance in hell of getting her point across when she did this interview? At least she was smart enough to wait until O’Liely was away so she didn’t have his brand of schoolboy bullying to contend with.
:fustrate::fustrate::fustrate::fustrate::fustrate:
What the fuck are you talking about, NickiRose? You just copy other peoples shit and tell other people they’re ignorant. Fuck that!
Go stand on 6 AVE!
Where is John Elliot? Is Majority Report past tense?
Susan Joy, do you get the same feeling I do that there is some percentage in keeping the bulk of Americans believing that the left wing is in love with Hillary? Like Rove or his equivalent has something really damaging on her that he’s planning to pop out with at the last minute and somehow use it to totally destroy any hope of the left to field a viable Presidential candidate?
I’m not creative or sneaky enough to figure out what’s going on but it sure as hell feels like something is going on with this.
At least I am not an ignorant fuck like …. Stop slandering me and do some reading. Read some of the articles I have published, too.
I’m sorry! Just post more stuff, and all sit on my hands. Don’t get upset, man.
All right, kids, everyone sit down and take a deep breath and…:knit:
Oh, never mind. Your way is fun, too. (I have to get outta here and pick up some pictures and get home and bake a pie and stuff so ….. carry on, sheeple.)
😳 Hmmmm.
I’m cool now.
I’m trying not to be a sheep! 🙁
Hey buddy!:alc:
sblueheron! Is this Sbluefox? ‘Cause I’m a little :tinfoil: right now. If so; hey, what’s up?
I’m feeling kinda crappy is what and I should be way down the road but feeling- well depressed I guess.
I have to make some phone calls. And yeah I changed my handle a bit.
Um, I’m kinda running out of time. I have like five mins. left
Um, it’s your username, I think.
So, your driving somewhere tonight? Where?
Hey –
Catch you later?
Maybe Portland
Yeah, I guess. I’ll call sometime. Cool?
Oh, thanks for dinner and the B’day card. I’m still pissed that I left the card at the restaurant:mad:
Hey Travis, don’t let Nicki bully you. You didn’t slander anyone, you just made an observation.
1 min 30 sec and counting down.
So T Bill should get a wireless router with DSL as well. Then you could use the laptop- it’s not dead by the way. It just passed out.
Bye Travis, I’m gone too. Don’t know when I’ll be able to get back online. Computer down, 🙁
Hey K- Keep in touch if you can
Okay, done house sitting. Everything is back in place and clean. Animals fed. Hmmm, what else……
This is my boss’ house so I have to make sure I’ve covered everything.:paranoid:
If people don’t want me posting information here, just let me know.
I like your articles Nicki.
Kristapea :love::gate: Good Journeys
drop by a library every now and then and send a message.
(I use to at one time, too. Be Well …and I have unlimited calling:wink: — …if ever …:wink:)
Thanks Druid! Pray that I get my computer fixed soon.My house is so silent and dark w/o the computer!
Hey NickiRose-
We appreciate all your efforts- Just sometimes not clear who you are pissed at. But, understandably, you are pissed as we all are or should be.
We are not your enemies here.
Any plans to come to Seattle to one or all of the shows?
We could all stand on the freeway together or hang a Wake up Sheeple sign.
Greetings ALL,
Sir NickiRose, I too like yours and Fred’s and MANY other articles.
I am working and a touch of Lurking
…and letting Sens know that by their Actions they will either lose this state or keep us as one…so far they are causing the divide.
Now I have to think of other things to do. This is wierd. What did I used to do before I got a computer?? I can’t remember!
I think it is very inconsiderate of Sam to get sick on his vacation.. The day Putin and Bush have a stare down I will bet the entire AAR staff is sick.:eek::yuck::fustrate:
I can’t even listen to AAR except for in my car because everything I listened to was on the computer! :holla: My mom sent me a crank radio but it doesn’t work and I have to send it back.
I also appreciate Nicki’s postings about the historical aspects of the israel Palestinian situation..In light of all the propaganda we have been fed for the last 20 years we need to keep reviewing the history of what has transpired there.:banana::banana:
Travis, call bar:!: They usually have a drawer so card SHOULD be around a bit longer. Then a great waitress will just send it (I was at one time). Or you might have to send a few bucks (in check or whatever) to cover post or cost. Good Luck 😉
Maybe I will just get out of the house and go see if Travis’ card is at the restaurant.
I fucking can’t stand it when people are cut off from this blog for whatever reason.
And Fred I agree about Nicki’s posts re- the situation in Palestine.
We are not getting this view from AAR or NPR.
Tavis is obviously conflicted in his views of what constitutes a terrorist group and what constitutes a freedom fighter..Americans may soon have to figure that out for themselves. If we get nuked Rethugs may become “game”.. Unfortunately cockroaches have an uncanny ability to survive under the most adverse conditions.:eek::crap::rant1:
Ha! My boss isn’t coming back til tomorrow!:banana: Maybe I’ll hang out a bit longer seeing as she has :40: all over the house and I have none in mine.
Still looking for Sean, guess he hasn’t been here yet. I like most everything everyone posts here, even if I don’t always agree with what’s posted. But I seem to agree with most of what you post here, Nicki, so count me as another who wants you to stay. I for one don’t have the time to read every link in every article, and having posted some long stuff myself lately, I try to remember how pressed for time, or maybe just not up for reading long wonky articles, any of us can be at given time. Which may or may not account for said ignorance on anyone’s part here, including my own, no matter how much I read. Of course, age and experience have their virtues – when you’ve seen the same dirty tricks dozens of times over several decades, it’s exasperating to see people falling for the lies yet again. I try to remember, there’s a new crop of several million slate-clean 18 year olds every year, trying to make sense out of this mess. And the learning curve seems to get steeper and steeper. That said, after Lamont’s stroking the Jewish constituency :jerk: the other day, and the fact that he’s yet another millionaire saying he’s going to reform the state, I am still wondering (maybe I missed if anyone addressed this yesterday after I had to leave), isn’t there anyone, someone, more to the left running against Lieberman as well? Or are the electorate once again going to veer back to the ‘good’ cops, same as always, and expect a different result than the last few decades? Oh, hey, wait, Lieberman is in that ‘good’ cop party too, fancy that! 👿 So where’s that leave Dem-supporters :spank: Takin’ it up the ass, once again. When will people get over looking to the Dems to ‘save’ us? And Hezbollah and Hamas are terrorist organizations, yup. Absolutely. The way the Warsaw Ghetto resisters were. More power to ’em RIGHT NOW (channeling Mike Malloy’s voice, though he might not agree with my sentiment).:fist:
Ok, I guess Sean decided trolling for chicks in Oakland is more fun than meeting a blog buddy face to face. Or he was unable to ditch the trailer on the truck.
Train wreck in Kevin’s neighborhod.
http://tinyurl.com/lwvru
=============================
A typical chain found at True Value will work as well.
It is historically accurate that Fascist states once established have typically only ended because of a war they LOST. We are losing in Afghanistan and in Iraq but I would hate to lose a war with Iran.. because Putin and HU would be the victors there.. and in 20,000 years or so they can come back and discover America again and start over.
Did Travis sign off?
Nicki- for god’s sake, dont be so rude!!
Your articles are obviously of interest to some here, but there are just so many and you know that its best to post a few paragraphs and then a link to the source.
Alot of us get Truthout etc….so it is just a rehash.
But if travis is right there on any one point is not the point…we are supposedly a community and no one should be abusive and calling names.
Alot of people are confused, and if you try to shut others down because you have no patience to explain what you actually believe is tru rather than to keep throwing aticles, what are you accomplishing?
There is intelligence and then there is emotinal intelligence that has to do with dealing and communicating with other people…one means nothing without the other!
ex- did you try paging him on the AOL IM?…you can send a page to his cell phone with that. He is under seaniesean5 on instant messenger…..
Ex- also, I am in CT and am also a NY-er and a supporter of Lamont. If you want to see what Ive written about Lamont look on ripcoco which is linked up above on the right of this page.
I think that we have to get Joe out and that the removal of this DINO will send am essage to the rest of them that they are the next to go. They work for us and if they keep doign what theyre doing they wont have jobs.
I dont think we should stop until all the bad dems are gone too….
As far as anyone to the left of Ned…Ha! Ha! Ha!
Ned only ran because he was alarmed and spent his own money trying to find a good candidate…Weiker, who is old, said he would run if no one could be found…and after an extensive search Ned was the only person he could find…No one wants to run against Joe because he is soentrenched with both sides and who would dare? Well, Ned dared, and he is a regular and straight Dem…and hes got a really great chance to take this race.
Its not so much this particular race as it is a window into what it looks like for the future…like, we’re gonna take back lots of seats..
and then the real work starts because the damage done is so great that its gonna take years….and then not to forget in 4-6 years to hold all dems and repugs responsible for everythign theyve said and done!
We got to tie this administration up in the attic for the next couple of years….Im worried that we just might be seeing that mushroom cloud in the not too distant future, and not too far away from our own backyard either.
Is Sam sick? I was so excited and careening around the highway down by the city, and then it said, “the best of”…
Jesus I miss Marc Maron’s show…..what the fuck is the matter with AAR?
Im gonna get a couple of books from audible….that Fiasco one, if its out….Al did 1.5 hours with the author today. really fascinating.
I even bought a CD at Starbucks….its Sheryl Crow’s musical influenes…she is not always my favorite but I like her musical influences…..
Lamont is the guest on Colbert tonight….just in case any of you are up…