On Capitol Hill, Democratic leaders say they’re open to paring down a healthcare reform bill in order to sway “conservative” Democrats who’ve threatened to oppose the measure that would create a government-run public insurance option. We speak with progressive Democrat, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). A House committee recently approved his amendment that would allow individual states to adopt a single-payer system. [includes rush transcript]... http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/21/as_obama_continues_push_for_healthcare
A new group in Racine, WI is attracting international attention. After the first week in existence, Yes We Can Racine has already been featured on National Public Radio and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Yes We Can Racine is an organization and an online community for action, information and conversation. We are taking the organizing principles of the Campaign for Change and applying them to local issues. At Yes We Can Racine we take action in four ways:
Israel 'occupies' no Arab territoryNov 18, 2008 19:32 Updated Nov 19, 2008 10:03
Israel 'occupies' no Arab territories
By LOUIS RENE BERES
In urgent matters of national survival and geopolitics, words matter. The still generally unchallenged language referring provocatively to an Israeli "Occupation" always overlooks the pertinent and incontestable history of the West Bank (Judea/Samaria) and Gaza.
A topographical map of Israel, delineating the 1967 borders. Photo: Courtesy Perhaps the most evident omission concerns the unwitting manner in which these "Territories" fell into Israel's hands in the first place.
It is simply and widely disregarded that "occupation" followed the multi-state Arab aggression of 1967 - one never disguised by Egypt, Syria or Jordan. A sovereign state of Palestine did not exist before 1967 or 1948. Nor was a state of Palestine ever promised by UN Security Council Resolution 242. Contrary to popular understanding, a state of Palestine has never existed. Never. Even as a nonstate legal entity, "Palestine" ceased to exist in 1948, when Great Britain relinquished its League of Nations mandate. During the 1948-49 Israeli War of Independence (a war of survival fought because the entire Arab world had rejected the authoritative United Nations resolution creating a Jewish state), the West Bank and Gaza came under the illegal control of Jordan and Egypt respectively. These Arab conquests did not put an end to an already-existing state or to an ongoing trust territory.
What these aggressions did accomplish was the effective prevention, sui generis, of a state of Palestine. The original hopes for Palestine were dashed, therefore, not by the new Jewish state or by its supporters, but by the Arab states, especially Jordan and Egypt. LET US return to an earlier history. From the Biblical Period (ca. 1350 BCE to 586 BCE) to the British Mandate (1918 - 1948), the land named by the Romans after the ancient Philistines was controlled only by non-Palestinian elements. Significantly, however, a continuous chain of Jewish possession of the land was legally recognized after World War I, at the San Remo Peace Conference of April 1920.
There, a binding treaty was signed in which Great Britain was given mandatory authority over "Palestine" (the area had been ruled by the Ottoman Turks since 1516) to prepare it to become the "national home for the Jewish People." Palestine, according to the Treaty, comprised territories encompassing what are now the states of Jordan and Israel, including the West Bank and Gaza. Present-day Israel comprises only 22 percent of Palestine as defined and ratified at the San Remo Peace Conference. In 1922, Great Britain unilaterally and without any lawful authority split off 78 percent of the lands promised to the Jews - all of Palestine east of the Jordan River - and gave it to Abdullah, the non-Palestinian son of the Sharif of Mecca. Eastern Palestine now took the name Transjordan, which it retained until April 1949, when it was renamed as Jordan. From the moment of its creation, Transjordan was closed to all Jewish migration and settlement, a clear betrayal of the British promise in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, and a patent contravention of its Mandatory obligations under international law.
On July 20, 1951, a Palestinian Arab assassinated King Abdullah for the latter's hostility to Palestinian aspirations and concerns. Regarding these aspirations, Jordan's "moderate" King Hussein - 19 years later, during September 1970 - brutally murdered thousands of defenseless Palestinians under his jurisdiction. IN 1947, several years prior to Abdullah's killing, the newly-formed United Nations, rather than designate the entire land west of the Jordan River as the long-promised Jewish national homeland, enacted a second partition. Curiously, considering that this second fission again gave complete advantage to Arab interests, Jewish leaders accepted the painful judgment. The Arab states did not. On May 15, 1948, exactly 24 hours after the State of Israel came into existence, Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League, declared to a tiny new country founded upon the ashes of the Holocaust: "This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre." This unambiguous declaration has been at the very heart of all subsequent Arab orientations toward Israel, including those of "moderate" Fatah. Even by the strict legal standards of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Arab actions and attitudes toward the microscopic Jewish state in their midst has remained patently genocidal. For some reason, this persistence has repeatedly been made to appear benign.
IN 1967, almost 20 years after Israel's entry into the community of nations, the Jewish state, as a result of its unexpected military victory over Arab aggressor states, gained unintended control over the West Bank and Gaza. Although the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war is codified in the UN Charter, there existed no authoritative sovereign to whom the Territories could be "returned." Israel could hardly have been expected to transfer them back to Jordan and Egypt, which had exercised unauthorized and terribly cruel control since the Arab-initiated war of "extermination" in 1948-49. Moreover, the idea of Palestinian "self-determination" had only just begun to emerge after the Six Day War, and - significantly - had not even been included in UN Security Council Resolution 242, which was adopted on November 22, 1967. For their part, the Arab states convened a summit in Khartoum in August 1967, concluding: "No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it...."
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed three years earlier, in 1964, before there were any "Israeli Occupied Territories." Exactly what was it, therefore, that the PLO sought to "liberate" between 1964 and 1967? This question should now be raised in connection with the US-sponsored "Road Map To Peace in the Middle East," a twisted cartography leading to "Palestine."
THIS HAS been a very brief account of essential historic reasons why the so-called "Palestinian Territories" are not occupied by Israel. Several other equally valid reasons stem from Israel's inherent legal right to security and self-defense. International law is not a suicide pact. Because a Palestinian state would severely threaten the very existence of Israel - a fact that remains altogether unhidden in Arab media and governments - the Jewish State is under no binding obligation to end a falsely alleged "Occupation."
No state can ever be required to accept complicity in its own dismemberment and annihilation. Both Israel and the United States will soon have new leadership. Neither Jerusalem nor Washington should be deceived by the so-called "Road Map To Peace in the Middle East," a twisted bit of highway that makes entirely inaccurate claims about "Palestinian Territories" and "Israeli Occupation."
For substantially documented reasons of history and national security, it is imperative that a twenty-third Arab state never be carved out of the still-living body of Israel. A topographical map of Israel, delineating the 1967 borders. Photo: Courtesy If anyone should still have doubts about Palestinian intentions, they need look only to former Prime Minister Sharon's "disengagement" from Gaza, an area that is now used by Hamas to stage rocket attacks upon Israeli noncombatants, and by al-Qaeda to mount future terrorist operations against American cities. The writer, a professor of International Law at Purdue University, is the author of many books and articles dealing with military affairs and international law.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404769705&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull T
..... Contact: http://Alex.Karoub@gmail.com
WHO IS THAT GUY BARACK OBAMA? HE IS US.We have made historic headway by together pointing our nation in the right directions. After decades, we have America focused on the issues of fundamental importance. Now, each of us acting in concert can together move our country to lead the world to the fruitfulness of moral goodness. I have no doubts about my abilities and the abilities of fellow Americans to work smart and hard to achieve these goals.Barack Obama has the visions, leadership, and integrity for us to correct and redirect our country to once again lead the world for the fruitions of good. Let's closely listen, learn, and move forward based on that which we know deep inside is good and which we can validate with our hearts. I hope that those who had but a few reasons to support Obama, look further into the other issues more deeply. I found the more I explored, studied, and listened to Obama the more I found us in agreement. The couple of issues that I did not have depth of knowledge of, quickly became obvious in need. This was unusual for me since I have always refused to be any kind of a follower, and still am not. I find Obama to be a deep thinker who is articulate and inspirational; and, of most fundamental importance, Obama makes excellent moral sense.Hopefully, our country has learned lessons from the past of mistakenly following leadership blindly, as was done with Nixon and Bush. There are leaders who are simply in it for themselves and will cater to individuals or groups in order to grab for their own benefit. Corrupt and bad leaders hide at all levels. This is especially true in city government as well as county and state government. The corrupt deals of politicians need to be exposed, and those responsible need to be weeded out in the coming local elections. Others need to be investigated by law enforcement and be prosecuted for illegal dealings; for deals they often make for their hidden personal agendas. Let’s look at the bad experiences of the past as bitter medicines, let’s eliminate the need for such bad medicine in the future. Let us use what we know is good to go forward.I believe we have chosen wisely, not by greed and not by misguided retaliatory anger. I believe this time our country has chosen with open eyes, with each of us listening and examining our choice of leadership closely, driven and validated by our hearts.I hope we can continue to make our efforts even more inclusive (in many more ways than I touch on here). Far right republicans will be stubborn to change, but we will need to include them to change if we are to succeed. Sure a few more will leave our country, but that is not the American way. No, we really don't need their false fronts of power, money, insider knowledge, or other trappings that they have taught many to 'respect?'. Let's recruit as many as we can, that's the American way, evolving and changing together as one nation. Try to be understanding as we move forward; by better understanding each as individuals and people with various desires and needs we will find ways to reach out with friendship and have them join our causes of good.Be on the lookout, and root out bad leadership in government and business. Do not be intimidated by those who use the false fronts of power and give a false sense of security in order to lead. Be extra leery of those who say or imply ‘Trust me’; those who give a sense that they somehow omnipotently know better. No longer will Americans be dazzled by phony displays of brilliance or baffled by baloney. There are government aristocrats and business leaders who still believe in the old adage of: “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle em with bullshit”. We can embrace complexity by demanding true, fundamental, and understandable explanations. We can root out falsehoods by not accepting double speak. We as Americans know how to grow ourselves by first believing in ourselves. Don’t be a follower. Don’t be a follower of followers.However, when we find leaders who are good; a leader that thinks, speaks, and acts from their heart; one that is honest, has integrity, and leads by sincere examples; then we need to in a big way, join them, support them, and promote their causes of good. From much research, investigation, and scrutiny, I believe Barack Obama is such a person. I hope we search for and find many more who are similar, who we can add to service at all levels of government. We need to add/replace leaders in business with ones that have honesty, integrity, and show quality in leadership. We need more people in leadership roles who are moral, like Barack Obama.Remember, we are not fighting a battle, we are the artisans and sculptors of the future for ourselves and generations to come. Rarely do societies have opportunities to make such dramatic moves forward as we now have in this opportunity of today. Take pride and practice in being inclusive as we stride forward. In moving forward, create opportunity not only for yourself, but also for all. Hope is a wonderful thing to behold; but without opportunity, hope can become but a dream never achievable. We can, will, and must, create opportunity.In the coming year I hope that we do not lose our spiritedness, but instead continue to build and make headway. I hope we all continue our campaign for change in government and business. We will succeed in moving forward once again, it will take much effort and good oversight on the part of each of us. We will make great strides in the months and years ahead in order to achieve the fruitions of good. Let's keep our enthusiasm progressing through these coming toughest of times. Let us use the light of goodness and love to motivate us with historic momentum.I have chosen Barack Obama because he best represents my deepest beliefs in America. Please take time to read the issues that Barack Obama has published on this website. Also, give your attention to see how he leads us to move our nation forward in the time ahead. Most importantly, be part of America's great future, participate in the greatness that together we will make. Participate!We will each and all flourish, if we think, speak, and act, by using the love in our hearts.
Your reply is welcome. Contact: Alex.Karoub@gmail.com
Here is a link to: 'Watch Obsession' - Website
America is at War Though we would like to think differently, there really are evil people who spend all their time thinking and planning the destruction of American men, women and children. While Christians and Jews are primary targets, these very bad terrorists do not discriminate in their desire to kill and destroy anyone who does not believe as they do. For our enemy, this is a cultural war, this is a religious war, this is a necessary war. Radical, militant Muslims have declared war on America.
https://www.watchobsession.org/
Below is an e-mail written to AARP asking for help with a predatory lending incident.
If I find interest I will post the the original e-mail written to ARRP and the original response.
Hi June,Thank you for the AARP response for my request for help. The response only supports my concerns. If AARP were truly effective the "Housing Crisis" would not have taken place. After the fact response is typical of "Status Quo" groups. Proactive programs prevent these types of maglignant disease. AARP seems to be "part of the problem" not part of the solution.With all the monies taken in by AARP, spending it in after the fact programs and not having enough attornies, futher shows the true mission of AARP-making money for the salaries of those emplyed by AARP, not really in helping the retired.I have requested help from P&A for the disabled. Hopefully they are not corrupt.Dittmar WulffDNC
WHAT IF IT WASN’T THE ISLAMIC LOBBY THAT CONTROLS? What if it was not Islamo Arab [oil] lobby that sucks you to the bone and controls all international bodies? * We wouldn’t have been sending so many billions (in gas money) to those that hate us (no matter what we do). * The UN would finally start doing something, stopping the Arab genocide in the Sudan for starters… * The UN would have less bigoted anti-Israel obsessive “condemnations”. * US & EU could breath a little... * Anti American bashing wouldn’t be a “fashionable” feature. * War on terror would be easier.
* Oppressive totalitarian Islamic Republic of Iran wouldn’t get their ultimate weapon to destroy the world. * Islamic militants’ crimes against humanity wouldn’t be “justified” as “victim-hood”.
The 'Israel Lobby' MythBy George P. Shultz Posted September 9, 2007 Israel is a free, democratic, open, and relentlessly self-analytical place. To hear harsh criticism of Israel's policies and leaders, listen to the Israelis. So questioning Israel for its actions is legitimate, but lies are something else. Throughout human history, they have been used not only to vilify but to establish a basis for cruel and inhuman acts. The catalog of lies about Jews is long and astonishingly crude, matched only by the suffering that has followed their promulgation.Defaming the Jews by disputing their rightful place among the peoples of the world has been a long-running, well-documented, and disgraceful series of episodes across history. Again and again a time has come when legitimate criticism slips across an invisible line into what might be called the "badlands," a place where those who should be regarded as worthy adversaries in debate are turned into scapegoats, targets, all-purpose objects of blame.In America, we protect all speech, even the most hurtful lies. We allow a virtual free-for-all by which laws are adopted, enforced, and interpreted. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent yearly to influence this process; thousands of groups vie for influence. Among these are Jewish groups that have come under renewed criticism for being part of an all-powerful "Israel lobby," most notably in a book published this week by Profs. Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer.Jewish groups are influential. They also largely agree that the United States should support Israel. But the notion that they have anything like a uniform agenda and that U.S. policy in Israel and the Middle East is the result of this influence is simply wrong.One choice. Some critics seem overly impressed with the way of thinking that says to itself, "Since there is a huge Arab Islamic world out there with all the oil, and it is opposed to this tiny little Israel with no natural resources, then realistically the United States has to be on the Arab side and against Israel on every issue, and since this isn't the case, there must be some underhanded Jewish plot at work." This is a conspiracy theory, pure and simple.Another tried and true method for damaging the well-being and security of the Jewish people and the State of Israel is a dangerously false analogy. Witness former President Jimmy Carter's book Palestine—Peace Not Apartheid. Here the association on the one hand is between Israel's existentially threatened position and the measures it has taken to protect its population from terrorist attacks, driven by an ideology bent on the complete eradication of the State of Israel, and, on the other, the racist oppression of South Africa's black population by the white Boer regime.The tendency of mind that lies behind such repulsive analogies remains and is reinforced by the former president's views, spread across his book, which come down on the anti-Israel side of every case. These false analogies stir up and lend legitimacy to more widely based movements that take the same dangerous direction.Anyone who thinks that Jewish groups constitute a homogeneous "lobby" ought to spend some time dealing with them. For example, my decision to open a dialogue with Yasser Arafat after he met certain conditions evoked a wide spectrum of responses from the government of Israel, its political parties, and American Jewish groups who weighed in on one side or the other. Other examples in which the United States rejected Israel's view of an issue, or the view of the American Jewish community, include the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia and President Reagan's decision to go to the cemetery at Bitburg, Germany.The United States supports Israel not because of favoritism based on political pressure or influence but because the American people, and their leaders, say that supporting Israel is politically sound and morally just.We are a great nation. Mostly, we make good decisions. We are not babes in the woods. We act in our own interests. And when we mistakenly conclude from time to time—as we will—that an action or policy is in America's interest, we must take responsibility for the mistake.So, on every level, those who blame Israel and its Jewish supporters for U.S. policies they do not support are wrong. They are wrong because, to begin with, support for Israel is in our best interests. They are also wrong because Israel and its supporters have the right to try to influence U.S. policy. And they are wrong because the U.S. government is responsible for the policies it adopts, not any other state or any of the myriad lobbies and groups that battle daily—sometimes with lies—to win America's support.George Shultz was secretary of state from 1982 to 1989. This is excerpted from his introduction to The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control by Abraham Foxman (Palgrave Macmillan).
Israel is a free, democratic, open, and relentlessly self-analytical place. To hear harsh criticism of Israel's policies and leaders, listen to the Israelis. So questioning Israel for its actions is legitimate, but lies are something else. Throughout human history, they have been used not only to vilify but to establish a basis for cruel and inhuman acts. The catalog of lies about Jews is long and astonishingly crude, matched only by the suffering that has followed their promulgation.
Defaming the Jews by disputing their rightful place among the peoples of the world has been a long-running, well-documented, and disgraceful series of episodes across history. Again and again a time has come when legitimate criticism slips across an invisible line into what might be called the "badlands," a place where those who should be regarded as worthy adversaries in debate are turned into scapegoats, targets, all-purpose objects of blame.
In America, we protect all speech, even the most hurtful lies. We allow a virtual free-for-all by which laws are adopted, enforced, and interpreted. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent yearly to influence this process; thousands of groups vie for influence. Among these are Jewish groups that have come under renewed criticism for being part of an all-powerful "Israel lobby," most notably in a book published this week by Profs. Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer.
Jewish groups are influential. They also largely agree that the United States should support Israel. But the notion that they have anything like a uniform agenda and that U.S. policy in Israel and the Middle East is the result of this influence is simply wrong.
One choice. Some critics seem overly impressed with the way of thinking that says to itself, "Since there is a huge Arab Islamic world out there with all the oil, and it is opposed to this tiny little Israel with no natural resources, then realistically the United States has to be on the Arab side and against Israel on every issue, and since this isn't the case, there must be some underhanded Jewish plot at work." This is a conspiracy theory, pure and simple.
Another tried and true method for damaging the well-being and security of the Jewish people and the State of Israel is a dangerously false analogy. Witness former President Jimmy Carter's book Palestine—Peace Not Apartheid. Here the association on the one hand is between Israel's existentially threatened position and the measures it has taken to protect its population from terrorist attacks, driven by an ideology bent on the complete eradication of the State of Israel, and, on the other, the racist oppression of South Africa's black population by the white Boer regime.
The tendency of mind that lies behind such repulsive analogies remains and is reinforced by the former president's views, spread across his book, which come down on the anti-Israel side of every case. These false analogies stir up and lend legitimacy to more widely based movements that take the same dangerous direction.
Anyone who thinks that Jewish groups constitute a homogeneous "lobby" ought to spend some time dealing with them. For example, my decision to open a dialogue with Yasser Arafat after he met certain conditions evoked a wide spectrum of responses from the government of Israel, its political parties, and American Jewish groups who weighed in on one side or the other. Other examples in which the United States rejected Israel's view of an issue, or the view of the American Jewish community, include the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia and President Reagan's decision to go to the cemetery at Bitburg, Germany.
The United States supports Israel not because of favoritism based on political pressure or influence but because the American people, and their leaders, say that supporting Israel is politically sound and morally just.
We are a great nation. Mostly, we make good decisions. We are not babes in the woods. We act in our own interests. And when we mistakenly conclude from time to time—as we will—that an action or policy is in America's interest, we must take responsibility for the mistake.
So, on every level, those who blame Israel and its Jewish supporters for U.S. policies they do not support are wrong. They are wrong because, to begin with, support for Israel is in our best interests. They are also wrong because Israel and its supporters have the right to try to influence U.S. policy. And they are wrong because the U.S. government is responsible for the policies it adopts, not any other state or any of the myriad lobbies and groups that battle daily—sometimes with lies—to win America's support.
George Shultz was secretary of state from 1982 to 1989. This is excerpted from his introduction to The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control by Abraham Foxman (Palgrave Macmillan).
It seems John McCain's ever increasing list of criticisms about Obama just keeps reflecting back at him. Even the media is finally coming around to see the hypocrisy of most of McCain's attacks. Here's just a small sample...
So, to recap, if McCain is elected, I predict...
There's the new slogan -- "A vote for McCain is a vote for THE END OF THE WORLD". I see the commericial now, will the REM song in the background (with persmission of course -- RIGHT JOHNNY!). And McCain calls Obama "The One" AKA Antichrist. More hypocrisy!
****Today's blog was "catharsis" for me. If you were offended, sorry. Unless you were a Republican or rich, wealthy, or well-connected -- then -- TOO DAMN BAD!!!
******UPDATE********
I just read some interesting history I was unaware of. Go to Google or Wikipedia and plug in "Keating Five Scandal" and learn something new about our buddy Johnny McCain. Why this has not come up in the media, I have no idea.
Warning: The danger of portraying the Islamic "Palestinians" aggressors as "victims", the genocidal thugs as "poor innocent"
Not only is it untrue to talk about those Islamists ['Palestinian' or Iranian leadership and it's Hezbollah global Mahdi army * * * * * *] seeking to annihilate the Jews as if they have some "political issue" or "resistance", but it's simply extremely dangerous, as Islamic fascism uses the 'Palestinian victim hood' myth as an excuse to hit.
Please do not help Jihad by justifying mass murder of the innocent!
* if you are unaware of the tricks [like using human shields, etc.] radical Islamists [Arab 'Palestinians' * * or Hezbollah *] are using in order to make sure that their kids die so that Israel gets tarnished, get informed, but don't bash Israel the real victim.
* Ever wanted how desperate they are for you to see them as "victims" that they will bring about their own children's death? Why do you think do they have the custom of shooting out of densely populated civilian areas, firing behind their kids' little shoulders or hiding under women's skirts? *, *, *, *, ** If you don't know that the Arab 'Palestinians' are no more a generation or two away from Arab settlers, immigrated into Israel 'Palestine' * , check out the facts but don't keep buying 'Palestinian' lies as if they are "natives for thousands of years".
* If you don't know that the Arab racists started massacring the Jews in Israel - 'Palestine' already at the turn of the century *, *, study the history of the region instead of copying 'Palestinian' propaganda as if the 'problem started in 1948'.
* If you really believe the images & stories coming out of 'Palestinian' sources as "fascts", than you don't know about Pallywood *, *, * booming industry.
* If you fail to see that the goliath Arab Muslim world controls the international decisive organizations such as the U.N. * * and others via oil, economic power and terror tactics, ask yourself the constant persecution of racist boycotts and "condemnations" on anything Israel does to defend itself from murderers terrorists, comparing all that to the silence on 'Palestinians', leadership, teachers, imams and parents crimes on their own people in leading them to a radical Jihad death cult.
* Why is it still a PC to sing that song: 'oh those poor Palestinians' [thus 'make their day' for ruthless terrorists]? When will we see the mainstream (biased *) irresponsible media finally recognize that: the Muslim 'Palestinians' have no one but themselves to blame for their self destructive, self inflicted wounds,since 1948 *, and still recenly *, * by choosing 'victim-hood' status over advancement, bigotry over recognition of the 'non Muslims', 'non Arabs' Israelis to exist, teaching their kids *, [The Indoctrination of Palestinian Children to Seek Death] hatred instead of peace & harmony, Death; Suicide & Genocide - how to die and murder instead of how to live?
* If you don't know about the Arab lobby control over policy, be surprised how the Goliath Arab Muslim lobby is powerful. *, *, *, *, *, *
* If you thought it's just a small minority that is so evil among 'Palestinian' Atab Muslims, think again, Friday, February 16, 2007 NEC 12-15 February Poll: 75% of Palestinians do not think that Israel has the right to exist, Poll: Most Palestinians think Hamas should not recognize Israel ...[19/09/06], Fatah leaders appeared on TV praying in the mosques even when the sermons delivered preached genocide. Islamic education was given prominence in the PA's school system... FATAH'S RELIGIOUS pretense was so successful that it Islamicized its own people, especially Palestinian youth. In a March 2005 poll, 70 percent of Palestinians preferred Islamic law, Shari'a, to the laws of the PA parliament. Less than a year later, in January 2006, Hamas completed its journey from a fringe movement to the Prime Minister's Office. The push by Arafat and Abbas to make religion a dominant motivation behind the war with Israel had been more "successful" than they could have anticipated.Yes, it's mainstream and majority of Islamo Arab "Palestinians" that is so terrible!
* If you don't know that the Islamo Arab coward attackers [of little heroic Israel] always called to annihilate Jews ['Itbach al Yahud' * - their slogan since the 1920's, 'throwing them into the sea' - in the Arab Israeli wars *, 'wiping off' *, *, *, *, *, *, *] than you don't know the first thing Israel is 'fighting for', survival of course.
For truth and justice sake and for survival against terrorism - Do not play into Islamofascism's propaganda hands.
Ultimately it's for anyone's survival too - * ,*, *, *, *, (Hamas reiterates goal of world domination by Islam - annihilation, ) totalitarian Islamification of everyone else.
From a positive perspective there are excellent lessons to be learned from the past seven years.
If we allow corporations to be left totally unchecked their greed will rob us blind; and our environment, and lives, will be put in further jeopardy!
If we allow the Military Industrial Complex to influence our foreign policy we will continue to be at war!
If we allow any branch of government, Judicial, Legislative or Executive, to go unchecked we will continue to lose our civil liberties!
If we allow politics to subvert our Justice Department; to exert undue influence on our scientific community; and to muzzle the voice of dissent within the government, we will lose our Democracy!
Dear Senator Obama,
I have contributed to your campaign on more than one occasion and will continue to do so as I believe you are true on the inside as you appear on the outside. You have my vote and that will not change. However ...
While I understand that "any" presidential candidate that hopes in any way to win the presidential race, would have to pay homage to AIPAC and the Israeli lobby. American politics runs through Tel-Aviv, they say. And although I don't like it, I learned to live with it and accept it. It is disgraceful, but that what we have become.
Having said that, however, I am very disappointed with the latest news. You, Senator Obama, delivered a speech to AIPAC promising that America will always stay behind Israel, despite its follies and disregard for international law. You even went further by promising that Jerusalem will never be divided again and will be the capital of Israel in its wholesome, ignoring with that the aspirations and hopes of the Palestinian people, whose sole crime is that they were ignorant of the schemes of world powers before, during, and after WWII.
I ask you, haven't they suffered enough? how much do they have to pay before we rise to the moment and admit our part in the genocide that we, the west, have inflicted on these people, their children, and grandchildren?
Senator, Obama, you more than anyone else in American politics, should know, and I beleive you do know, that the promise of a single Jerusalem within the state of Israel, is in itself a humiliation to us Americans and a "multi-"step back from our current policies on the middle east, where we as a country and to this date, have not recognized Israel's occupation of the 1967 Palestinian lands. Israeli's themselves will tell you that they have came to conclusion and resigned to the fact that no peace in the middle east will ever be viable without having East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Yet here we go and be "more royal than the king". And what hurts most is that it comes from you Senator Obama, a man I admire and believe him to be is the future of this country.
Senator Obama, I don't have to tell you that guaranteeing Israel's security is far different from trampling over the rights of the Palestinian people. If this speech were to have come from Mrs. Clinton, I would not have been surprised, in fact I would have expected it. But from you ... !!!
I truly to my core believed you to be, and still do, an honest man who was serious about change and hope. Let us not kill the hopes of an aspiring nation and suffering people who cannot defend themselves. Let us once again be the defenders of freedom and justice in this world, not the enforces of tyrany as George W. would have us believe.
Your supporter,
Samir Kablaoui
DEAR MR.OBAMA,
FORMERLY DISAFFECTED BY POLITICS, AND ESPECIALLY BY THE INFLUENCE OF SMALL, BUT POWERFULLY DOMINANT GROUPS IN WASHINGTON, I HAVE NOT PARTICIPATED IN POLITICS SINCE VOTING FOR BILL CLINTON IN 1992, THOUGH I HAVE ALWAYS STAYED ATTUNED TO WHAT IS HAPPENING IN MY COUNTRY AND THE WORLD.
YOU HAVE SAID THAT ONE OF THE CORNERSTONES OF YOUR CANDIDACY IS REINING IN THE POWER OF LOBBYISTS AND SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS IN WASHINGTON. YOU SOUNDED CONVINCING AND HONEST, AND INDEED I WAS INSPIRED BY YOU, SO I WHOLEHEARTEDLY SUPPORTED YOUR CAPMPAIGN IN VARIOUS WAYS, PROMOTED YOU AS ¨NOT JUST ANOTHER POLITICIAN¨ TO OTHERS, AND WAS EXUBERANT WHEN YOU FINALLY CLINCHED THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION LAST NIGHT, THOUGH I HAD STILL HAD SOME RESERVATIONS.
BUT THEN THIS MORNING I TURNED ON CNN AND SAW THAT THE VERY FIRST THING YOU DID ON THE VERY FIRST MORNING AFTER OFFICIALLY BECOMING THE NOMINEE WAS TO SPEAK AT THE AIPAC CONFERENCE AND DECLARE YOUR UNDYNG LOYALTY TO ISRAEL AND TO AN ¨UNDIVIDED JERUSALEM¨ AS THE CAPITAL OF THE JEWISH STATE, ALTHOUGH NOT EVEN WASHINGTON´S POWER THUS FAR HAS BEEN ABLE TO GET THE UN TO RECOGNIZE JERUSALEM AS THE CAPITAL OF ISRAEL.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT THE VERY FIRST THING THAT A PROFESSED ANTI-LOBBYIST DOES AFTER WINNING THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION IS PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO A FOREIGN POWER AT THE CONFERENCE OF THE MOST POWERFUL LOBBY IN THE AMERICA?
MR. OBAMA, ON YOUR BLOG PAGE TODAY, YOU EVEN PUT YUR VISIT TO THE LOBBY AHEAD OF THE OTHER ARTICLES CONCERNING YOUR HISTORIC WIN.
WHOM DO YOU SERVE FIRST, SIR? THE PEOPLE?
BY DECALRING THAT A ¨UNIFIED¨ JERUSALEM MUST BE THE CAPITAL OF THE JEWISH STATE, YOU HAVE DECLARED NULL THE AGREEMENT FOR PEACE THAT ALL ARAB GROUPS, INCLUDING EVEN HAMAS, HAVE AGREED TO - A RECOGNITION OF ISRAEL WITHIN THE PRE-1967 BORDERS. (IN A TIME MAGAZINE ARTICE, IMPARTIALLY ENTITLED ¨THE SPOILER,¨ KHALED MESHAAL AGREED TO THIS.)
CONCERNING JERUSLAEM, ISRAELI, ARAB, AMERICAN, AND INDEPENDENT SOURCES HAVE ALL CONFIRMED THAT THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE 1967 SIX DAY WAR AND THE WAR ITSELF, IN WHICH ISRAEL TOOK CONTROL OVER EAST JERUSALEM (AS WELL AS THE GAZA STRIP, THE GOLAN HEIGHTS, AND OTHER STRATEGIC AREAS) WERE INTENTIONALLY INSTIGATED BY ISRAEL IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE EXACTLY WHAT THEY DID ACHIEVE: CONTROL OVER THOSE STRATEGIC AREAS THROUGH DISHONEST ATTEMPTS TO MAKE THE ARABS APPEAR TO BE THE AGGRESSORS AND OUTRIGHT OFFENSIVE WARFARE.
For example, on Nov. 13, 1966, ISRAEL ATTACKED THE JORDANIAN ADMINISTERED WEST BANK SUPPOSEDLY IN RESPONSE TO A MINE THAT ISRAELI SOLDIERS HIT ON A BORDER PATROL ON NOV. 11. But Special Assistant to LBJ, Walt Rostow, wrote to the president "retaliation is not the point in this case. This 3000-man raid with tanks and planes was out of all proportion to the provocation and was aimed at the wrong target...(The Israelis) wrecked a good system of tacit cooperation between Hussein (the Jordanian king) and the Israelis... Israel's attack increases the pressure on him to counterattack not only from the more radical Arab governments and from the Palestinians in Jordan but also from the Army...They've set back progress toward a long term accommodation with the Arabs...¨
DOES THIS SOUND LIKE ANY OTHER WARS WHICH MAY HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN RECENT YEARS?
Syria also had repeatedly complained to the UN Security Council about aggressive Israeli violations of agreements and border intrusions which seemed to be intentionally provocative. In 1976, Moshe Dayan, the Israeli defense minister at that time, said, ¨I know how at least 80 percent of the clashes there started... It went this way: We would send a tractor to plow some area where it wasn't possible to do anything, in the demilitarized area, and knew in advance that the Syrians would start to shoot. If they didn't shoot, we would tell the tractor to advance farther, until in the end the Syrians would get annoyed and shoot. And then we would use artillery and later the air force also, and that's how it was...¨
DEAR MR.OBAMA, WE KNOW THAT BOTH JOHN MCCAIN AND HILARY CLINTON WERE ALSO PLEDGING THEIR ALLEGIANCE TO THIS POWERFUL LOBBY AND ITS CAUSES AT THE SAME TIME AS YOU DID, AND WE KNOW OF THE POLITICAL RAMIFICATIONS IF YOU HAD NOT ALSO DONE SO IMMEDIATELY.
HOWEVER, YOUR TRIP THERE REMINDS ME OF THE FRENCH PRESIDENT SARKOZY´S IMMEDIATE VISIT TO A FRENCH BILLIONIARE FOLLOWING HIS ELECTORAL VICTORY.
¨POWER TO THE PEOPLE?¨
WE ARE PAINFULLY AWARE OF THE NATURE OF POLITICS.
IN YOUR INTERVIEW IN THE ATLANTIC MAGAZINE, AFTER STATING THAT JUSTICE IS ON THE SIDE OF THE ZIONIST CAUSE, YOU SAID, ¨I MYSELF AM A POLITICIAN AND I AM AWARE THAT WE DO NOT ALWAYS ACT WITH JUSTICE UPPERMOST IN OUR MINDS.¨
WE ARE ALSO PAINFULLY AWARE THAT A GROUP PURPORTING TO REPRESENT 1.7% OF THE U.S. POPULATION, AND DEDICATED TO DEFENDING WHAT THEY SEE AS THE INTERESTS OF A SMALL FOREIGN NATION OF SEVEN MILLION PEOPLE, HAS THE POWER TO EFFECTIVELY VOID THE CANDIDACY OF ANY U.S. POLITICIAN AT A NATIONAL LEVEL, UP TO THE SUPPOSEDLY HIGHEST OFFICE IN THE LAND.
WE ARE ALSO AWARE THAT MEMEBERS OF THIS 1.7% OF THE U.S. POPULATION CONTROL AT LEAST 20% OF THE COUNTRY´S WEALTH AND LEADS AT LEAST 80% OF THE MAJOR MEDIA OUTLETS IN THE NATION.
IT SEEMS, SIR, THAT THERE IS ONE LOBBY WHOSE INFLUENCE YOU WILL NOT ONLY NOT BE CHALLENGING, BUT INSTEAD ACQUIESCING TO, DESPITE YOUR OFT REPEATED CRIES OF ¨CHANGE¨ AND PUBLICLY PROFESSED ANTI-LOBBYIST STANCE.
WE ALSO KNOW THAT AT THIS TIME, WITHOUT THIS HYPOCRISY, YOU WOULD HAVE NO CHANCE TO BE PRESIDENT. WE UNDERSTAND AND SYMPATHIZE WITH YOUR POSITION.
INTENTIONAL DECEIT, LAND GRABS, AND OFFENSIVE WARARE, AS WE ALL KNOW, HAVE ALL BEEN A HALLMARK OF ISRAEL´S POLICIES RIGHT FROM THE NATURE OF ITS VERY CREATION THROUGH TO THE BUILDING OF THE ¨WALL OF SEPARATION¨ AND BEYOND.
I AM NOT ARAB OR MUSLIM, BUT SIMPLY A LOVER OF TRUTH AND JUSTICE.
SO I ASK YOU SIR, IN TRUTH, IS THIS JUSTICE?
OUR HEARTS EVERYWHERE CRY OUT FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE.
BUT WE UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE NO CHOICE...
REGRETTABLY, ALTHOUGH AT THIS TIME YOUR HANDS ARE TIED, I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO BRING ABOUT THE ACTUAL ¨BIG CHANGES¨ ON WHICH YOU ARE BASING YOUR PLATFORM, AT LEAST NOT IN REGARDS TO THIS ISSUE OF TRUTH AND JUSTICE, AND NOT TO OTHER MAJOR ONES.
THERE IS ONE LOBBY, THE MOST POWERFUL ONE IN THE UNITED STATES, THAT WILL CONTINUE TO DICTATE TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, JUSTLY OR NOT.
AND ALTHOUGH YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY WIN THE PRESIDENCY WITHOUT BEING POLITICALLY PRACTICAL AT THIS TIME, UNFORTUNATELY I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT, EVEN AFTER YOU ARE ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, YOU WILL HAVE WITHIN YOU EITHER THE HONOR OR THE STRENGTH OF WILL TO EVEN RESIST THE POWER OF THIS LOBBY AND TO BRING THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES BACK UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY REMAIN THE SAME...
I STILL BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE THE BEST CANDIDATE FOR THE JOB, BUT TRUTH AND JUSTICE WILL ONLY GO SO FAR UNDER YOU. SO REGRETTABLY I AM WITHDRAWING MY SUPPORT FOR YOU AND YOUR CAMPAIGN AND RATHER FOCUSING MY ENERGIES ON CREATIVE AND PEACEFUL MEANS OF PURSUING TRUTH AND JUSTICE FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND ALL THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD.
ALTHOUGH THE LOSS AND CONTINUED DISAFFECTION OF PEOPLE LIKE ME WILL SEEM TO BE NECESSARY CASUALTIES IN THE WAR FOR THE WHITE HOUSE, I DO BELIEVE THAT AS MARTIN LUTHER KING REPEATED, ¨THE ARC OF THE MORAL UNIVERSE IS LONG, BUT IT BENDS TOWARDS JUSTICE.¨
KIND REGARDS TO YOU SIR,
DARREN THOMAS
GRATITUDEHEALSANDOPENSTHEDOOR@GOOGLEMAIL.COM
Mr. Obama appears to not rule out that he sees nuclear energy as part of the mix that we require to reduce our dependence on oil. It is a missed opportunity for any politician to shine and start a debate about multiple issues:
With less than 2% of US population, Jewish-Americans are a small minority in our country. Yet, as far back as 1950s, American foreign policy has been obsessed with promoting Israeli interests in the Middle East, impacting all Americans. It's one thing to support Israel's sovereignty and security. It's quite another to see some of the most critical foreign policy decisions in 20th and early 21st century influenced by the powerful pro-Israel lobby.
As my nickname suggests, I stand for world peace. Since the mid 1950s, one conflict is still raging. It is still raging because no country in the region takes US seriously as a party interested in negotiating a "fair" peace agreement. Our policymakers' pro-Israeli bias leads to more division, more violence. It is absolutely critical that our next President takes a neutral approach to this conflict, truly looking to resolve the differences. Peace between Palestine and Israel will be a major step towards a more peaceful Middle East, not to mention a significant win in the war against Muslim extremists.
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt published "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy" in 2007. The book was based on their controversial paper published by Harvard University. It details a number of foreign policy issues US is facing due to its biased policy towards Israel. More importantly, it discusses how a more balanced US policy in this region would benefit our country's interests and national security.
