The entire scenario reeks of who is right and who is wrong:sadly one misses the whole point of the innocent people on both sides who just want to survive peacefully and go about enjoying the simple pleasures of life the most important of which is to get up in the morning and have a normal day at the place of work and return back to the loved ones.When will the world realise that life is very short and it is immaterial whether you are a jew or an arab or any one else for that mattar?I sicerly hope for a day when we can see both the jews and the arabs holding hands and working together for a common cause which is humanity.

listening to the Israeli PM speaking about how they had "degraded" (now there a word from the same stable that gave us colatteral damage") Hizbullah reminded my of Herman Goerring claiming that Britain had only a few fighters left in the Battle of Britain and then came 15/11 for the Luftwaffe. when you start to beleive your own propaganda you are in serious difficulty. the tactics of the terrorists/freedom fighters (choose your pick)are simply to suck the stronger force into a place where they cannot deploy their superior forces. it must be costing the USA a fortune supplying the Israeli Govt.

Sta,

Let me provide Alvin Tofler's quotation again, he wrote:

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.

In America we have what is known as Judicial Review. Judicial review is the power of a court to review a law or an official act of a government employee or agent for constitutionality or for the violation of basic principles of justice. In many jurisdictions, the court has the power to strike down that law, to overturn the executive act, or order a public official to act in a certain manner if it believes the law or act to be unconstitutional or to be contrary to law in a free and democratic society. In some, such as Scotland and also England, the power goes further, and it may be possible to strike down a decision simply because it ignored relevant and material facts. WIKEPEDIA.

Let's think about Judicial Review with respect to the decision that was voted upon in the United Nations General Assembly in 1947, which resulted in the establishment of Resolution 194, keeping in mind your interpretation of that decision and your apparent desire to have everyone to simply accept it. Was it a just decision? Were all of those who would be effected, fairly represented and involved in the decision, or did a group of nations simply force the creation of an unfair Resolution. The final vote tally was 33 yeas, 14 nays and 10 abstentions; hardly a mandate, would you agree?

Now let's think about many of the laws that were passed in the United States including Separate but Equal, Miscegenation and many more statutes that were voted into Law, that have been since overturned for being unconstitutional. For years, certain people were satisfied to accept the status quo and to insist that it was lawful to discriminate against minorities and women for example. However, as a learned person like you would know, there have been many Amendments made to the constitution, as well as Judicial Review by the Supreme Court and new laws passed by Congress in order to remedy the mistakes of the past.

Discriminatory laws and Resolutions should not simply be shoved down the throats of the victims, simply because, 'it is The Law, otherwise, we get what we are getting now in the Middle-East, just another reason for those groups to hate and annihilate each other. I would prefer to see my tax dollars going towards a solution, rather than to support one side by purchasing bombs!

Now let me pontificate (for real):

• Just because something does not effect a certain group, that group should not be so flippant about a matter that is effecting hundreds of millions of people in the world, and more importantly the people in the Middle-East who are effected on a daily basis by a poor and improper decision, in my view. I refer you to the British, who could explain some of the shenanigans that took place that resulted in the passage of Resolution 194. The British not only ridded themselves of the Middle-East, but Pakistan and India, nearly 1B people at the time.

• With respect to the U.N., granted the United Nations is not America (well maybe not), however, in the same spirit of Judicial Review in America, the U.N. could review a bad precedent, and take it back to the General Assembly in order to have something done about it. And if that does not work, I suspect that the Palestinians and all Muslims, Arabs and Persians have the same ability and right to ignore the United Nations and its resolutions, just as the United States and Israel have often been known to do.

• The U.N. Resolution was not passed with the good of all of the players involved, in mind. Where were the Arabs, Sta? Intellectual laziness contributed as much to discriminatory laws remaining on the books in America, much as racial hatred, bigotry and misogyny ever did! The 1947 resolution was a vote of convenience that satisfied the will of nations, who felt that they would not be effected by its outcomes.

Did you know that Mr. Lincoln and his Administration once considered deporting the black population of America to Panama, among other places? Thank God that never happened, and what happened in Palestine, as a result of the skewed vote in the U.N. should have never been allowed to stand either! There was also discussion about moving moving the European Jewish Diaspora to Ghana, I believe it was, and other places.

• From 70AD to 1948 there was no Jewish Homeland, although there were some Jews in Palestine just as there were Jews scattered all over the world. The U.N. partitioning plan resulted in the removal of over 700,000 Arabs from their homeland. Was that fair? Again, the U.N. Vote you might say, 'was a rush to judgment', and the Arabs and Palestinians are not just fighting as the West would have you to believe, just because they are terrorists.

It is time for you, our Leaders, all Semites, our policymakers, U.N. officials and others to heed the warning of Mr. Toffler, for it is time to unlearn and to relearn, otherwise there will be more of the same in the Middle-East, which may one day draw all of the nations of the world into the greatest conflagration, by humans, that has been known to man. It would appear that we are getting closer, day by day!

United Nations Resolution 194 was not passed with the good of all of the players involved, in mind. Where were the Arabs, Sta? If it were American law, believe me, it would be overturned, we would see to it, and their would be practices. Law and practices that have been shoved down the throats of the victims, even in America, should not remain on the books, and the disenfranchised should not simply accept a bad precedent just because 'it is the Law, in the Middle-East'.

What is your point Arkin. Your articles never have a point. You have a boyish like awe shucks to your writing when you talk about hezbollah and any arab terror group or individual as if you get some sick pleasure out of the fact that they are killing innocent people and hurting their own countries. Why is their commitment to military action somehow acceptable to you while Israel's and the US' somehow ill perceived.

IT IS TIME FOR THE PEOPLE OF USA TO STAND UP AND FORCE THEIR GOVERNMENT TO USE US RESOURCES TO SERVE THE INTERESTS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. THE AMERICAN RULING ELITE SEEM TO HAVE BEEN HIGH JACKED BY THE POWERFUL JEWISH LOBBY TO SERVE THE INTERESTS OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL. THREE BILLION DOLLORS PER ANNUM , THAT IS ONE FIFTH OF TOTAL US FORIEGN AID GOES TO ISRAEL, THAT IS IS ONE THE RICHEST NATION IN THE REGION.WHY IS US TAX PAYER FORCED TO BEAR THIS EXPENSE.
FURTHER THE US GOVERNMENT GIVES ALL THIS MONEY TO ISRAEL ONLY, AT THE BEGINNING OF EVERY YEAR, AND DOES NOT CALL FOR ANY DETAILS OF MANNER IT IS USED OR MISUSED. THIS SPECIAL TREATMENT IS RESERVED FOR ISRAEL ONLY. IT GIVES ISRAEL AN OPENING TO USE THE US FUNDS TO BUY INFLUENCE IN US POLITICS. JEWISH LOBBY IS POSSIBLE BENEFICIECRY OF SUCH REVERSE FLOW OF AID.
WHILE TRYING TO ALLIGN US POLICIES WITH THOSE OF ISRAEL, US IS LOOSING THE BATTLE OF WINNING THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF THE MUSLIM WORLD AND THIS UNDERMINING ITS OWN THE INTERESTS.

It was former New York City Mayor Ed Koch who once observed, "We're all entitled to our own opinions. We are not entitled to our own facts."

An essential fact which seems to have been forgotten in all of the rhetoric coming from or spoken about the Middle East is this: It was the United Nations which voted to establish two nations: the State of Israel and a Palestinian State.

Had the Arab world accepted the creation of these two states from the Mandated Territories once belonging to the Ottoman Empire, there would be no Middle East crisis today.

Since the legality of the existence of both nations is based upon the action of the UN, it is fair to conclude that either both nations have a right to exist or neither nation has a right to exist. It was, after all, a package deal.

The refusal of much of the Arab world to recognize the establishment of Israel--a nation so tiny that it would fit in America's Lake Superior--is the cause of the horrific suffering endured by all parties all of these years.

Isaac,

I have pointed out on this blog and in public on numerous occasions that the conflict could be traced all the way back to Abram and Hagar.

I have also pointed out that the angel of God, according to Hebrew Texts, actually spoke on more occasions with Hagar, than she did with the Virgin Mary.

By saying that, I hoped to add some balance to the Middle-East discussion, given that most Christians have an obvious leaning and bias towards the Jews against their half brothers.

I have found that information is one of the basis for which humans make decisions. Therefore it is helpful to have accurate information, although there is no gurantee that there will be a positive outcome even with good information.

The propaganda mills are operating overtime on the side of the Axis of Israel and the United States, given the most recent outbreak in the Middle-East, so someone needs to get the accurate information on the record. I do not know if the propaganda machine is operating on the other side.

At the end of the day, the other side must understand that most Westerns grew up with or were influenced by the Jewish texts and therfore the Jewish culture, and therefore most of the West, among other things, favor the Jews.

Just as a side note, even one of our most infamous hate groups, The Ku Klux Klan, hate Jews, however, they also invoke Jewish scriptures, use the cross as their symbol and they love, like many Americans do, to talk about Jesus.

Unfortunately, it woul appear that neither group does very much of what Jesus said to do. I assure you that if the American portion of the Axis, would do that, this matter would have been resolved a long time ago!

Where do I start, Hmm Israel
The situation might be more clear than u think, alas let me explain. the israelites
and to an extent their ancestor isaac ftaer of jacob and esau had allready had an alteration with his half brother ishmae, that is how old this conflict is 3000 plus years with the decendants slugging it out over most of that time what has cahnged in the last 2000 years ? Today we have a secular ruling entity that is claiming the land of israel as a right of ownership based on judeo/hebrew right. This is ludacris; the governing body and it's sort of democratric constitution makes no refernce to their religious ancesteral heritige so in a way the arabs have a point about taking away their land, apon they were at this point is history

When it comes to history EVERTHING is both realitive and subjective

Yaser Nawashi

I agree with you for in the American system of jurisprudence, we say that we believe that there must be truth, and in most courts at least a preponderance of the evidence.

Certainly there is some history, and cause and effect at work with what is going on in the Middle-East. It is easy for some to jump on the 'me too' bandwagon in the beginning of the 21st century, without knowing the historical precedents that contributed to the most recent conflict. For them it is also much easier to single-out and blame Hamas, Hezbollah and all of the Palestinians while excusing The Axis, Israel and the U.S.A., while ignoring all of the causes for this ongoing conflict that has been going on the Middle-East for years.

Additionally, some in the West have been exposed mostly to information by the Western Press, and they genuinely believe that Hezbollah was the precipitator of the most recent events.

If the U.S.A. and Israel have their way, along with using the media, history will be rewritten to show that the other side is completely at fault. Revisionist history, however, in this regard, is not unique to these two nations alone. However, these two nations seem to be more adept at it.

Having said that, there was a lot of dirty stuff done to the Palestinians 60 years before and up to the 1948 division of Palestine. Most Americans are not aware of that, and some would not care anyway.

If you are an American, you should know that we do not atone or apologize when we make mistakes and we do not believe that our friends should do so either. We would simply say to 'the weak' that they should not linger in the past. Ergo, the 700,000 Palestinians who were displaced from the Middle-East in 1948, to make and give way to the Jews and the Jewish Immigration, should, along with their posterity should simply get over it. Certainly the Americans said, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, ah lets just move on and get over it. H-bomb?

Ah there's more to it than just that I know, but as an African-American, we have been told many times to just get over it, i.e., the Free Boat Right and the opportunity to work for free in the Land of the Free. That latter was true, we did a lot for Free.

I continue to pray for and long for a new world order where there will be true justice. My own country's leaders are not committed to any other justice than, American Justice; America on top, America Rich and America, the moral arbitrageur of the Universe, decides.

If the Middle-Easterners feel bad, just listen to how we recently referred to our, 'Old Allies', they have also been served notice that unless they go along with our The Plutocracy in Washington, they are also expendable!

Just for the heck of it, it would mean compromising principles, but while the U.S.A. is in charge, perhaps the Arab and Muslim world should pretend to switch sides, and then we will give them some bombs!

Hello Rev...

You are right on yourself. I understand that we are born with certain innate characteristics and instincts. To speak and to walk are apparently instinctive, perhaps the desire to be destructive is also distinctive in some humanoids, or perhaps there is a bio-chemical imbalance of some kind.

Psychologists say that all of us were born with at least the emotions of anxiety, fear and rage.

I have never actually heard any of them say that we were born with the instinct to fight or to kill; however, I remember some experimentation that was being done in my school days, when they were looking for a sociopathic gene. Perhaps some humans have a sociopathic gene, and some are simply conditioned over time by their environments (including their governments or by watching too many John Wayne movies), for some reason some want to fight and kill and others do not, even under similar circumstances.

If our genetic structure is truly 98% the same as the high anthropoid, perhaps it is the 2% that is left over in some humans that is the problem. [Now, I just got in trouble with the church for saying that. Ah, the Bishop wouldn't read the blog anyway].

Perhaps the latter who grew up to be fighters were often picked on when they were small, and in order to compensate, they grew up carrying a big stick and daring anyone 'to make my day'.

Having said all of that, I see an overwhelming majority in the world who has learned to suppress instinct, heredity, personal choice and emotions when it can be harmful; and all of us have pretty much learned to expect differences and to somehow get along with other people.

John Dean's work on 'Conservatives Without Conscience', provides some excellent insight on typology. The data that was collected speaks unfavorably about many of the men in the current Administration who help to construct America's foreign policy.

Is the data skewed? Who knows, but what we see coming from the White House every day seems to suggest that the evidence is right on!

P.S. If you believe the Bible, God apparently believed that all kinds were redeemable, or why did he choose Murderers like Moses and King David, Womanizers like King David and others, Demagogues like Saul and Solomon and Nebuchadnezzar and others in his service?

People are redeemable, it is not just the killers that you have to watch out for, given that some who have never been on trial, are responsible for taking more lives than the Ted Bundy's of the world have.

It was stunning to see somewhat standing outside of Ted's prison, after he had been executed, which read 'Roast in Peace'. I'm really concerned about modern man. I suspect that we have missed a few steps in our own evolution! [Oops, evolution, well the Bishop won't read this either, so I can say it]

Peace!

Here is an excellent site for maps of the Israel assaults on Lebanon, either all or just roads, bridges and infrastructure. Where is the comparable maps for the rocket strikes in Israel?

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1096/3412/1600/lebanon_map_july12-Aug30.jpg

http://lebanonupdates.blogspot.com/2006/08/mapping-of-israeli-assault-transport.html

BOUGHT?

In fact only about 6% of the original land partitioned to Jews was bought by them, mostly from absentee landlords with dubious title. The rest they got this way:

"If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been Anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?"
David Ben Gurion
Quoted by Nahum Goldmann in Le Paraddoxe Juif (The Jewish Paradox), pp. 121-122

"We must expel Arabs and take their places."
DAVID BEN GURION, Prime Minister of Israel, 1937, Ben Gurion and the Palestine Arabs, Oxford University Press, 1985

"It is the duty of Israeli leaders to explain to public opinion, clearly and courageously, a certain number of facts that are forgotten with time. The first of these is that there is no Zionism, colonization or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation (stealing) of their lands." YORAM BAR PORATH, Yediot Aahronot, of 14
July 1972.

"Arab rejection was...based on the fact that, while the population of the Jewish state was to be [only half] Jewish with the Jews owning less than 10% of the Jewish state land area, the Jews were to be established as the ruling body - a settlement which no self-respecting people would accept without protest, to say the least...The action of the United Nations conflicted with the basic principles for which the world organization was established, namely, to uphold the right of all peoples to self-determination. By denying the Palestine Arabs, who formed the two-thirds majority of the country, the right to decide for themselves, the United Nations had violated its own charter." Sami Hadawi, "Bitter Harvest."

"While the Yishuv's leadership formally accepted the 1947 Partition Resolution, large sections of Israel's society - including Ben-Gurion - were opposed to or extremely unhappy with partition and from early on viewed the war as an ideal opportunity to expand the new state's borders beyond the UN earmarked partition boundaries and at the expense of the Palestinians." Israeli historian, Benny Morris, in "Tikkun", March/April 1998.

"Before the end of the mandate and, therefore before any possible intervention by Arab states, the Jews, taking advantage of their superior military preparation and organization, had occupied...most of the Arab cities in Palestine before May 15, 1948. Tiberias was occupied on April 19, 1948, Haifa on April 22, Jaffa on April 28, the Arab quarters in the New City of Jerusalem on April 30, Beisan on May 8, Safad on May 10 and Acre on May 14, 1948...In contrast, the Palestine Arabs did not seize any of the territories reserved for the Jewish state under the partition resolution." British author, Henry Cattan, "Palestine, The Arabs and Israel."

"Whole Arab cities--such as Jaffa, Acre, Lydda, Ramle, Baysan, and Maidal-- [in all] 338 towns and villages, and large parts of others, containing nearly a quarter of
all buildings standing in Israel during 1948, were taken over by new Jewish
immigrants. Ten thousand former Arab shops, businesses and stores were left
in Jewish hands as well as some 30,000 acres of groves that supplied at least
a quarter of the new state's scarce foreign currency earnings from citrus. Acquisition of this former Palestinian Arab property helped greatly to make the Jewish state economically viable and to speed up the early influx of refugees and immigrants from Europe."
Israeli magazine New Outlook, Sep 1969

And depite the claim often made that Israel attacked the Arab states in 1967 to preempt a planned attack on Israel, in fact the war was started with the express aim of enlarging Israel as these two quotes testify:

"I do not think Nasser wanted war. The two divisions he sent to The Sinai would not have been sufficient to launch an offensive war. He knew it and we knew it." Yitzhak Rabin, Israel's Chief of Staff in 1967, in Le Monde, 2/28/68

"Moshe Dayan, the celebrated commander who, as Defense Minister in 1967, gave the order to conquer the Golan...[said] many of the firefights with the Syrians were deliberately provoked by Israel, and the kibbutz residents who pressed the Government to take the Golan Heights did so less for security than for the farmland...[Dayan stated] 'They didn't even try to hide their greed for the land...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 further, 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...The Syrians, on the fourth day of the war, were not a threat to us.'" The New York Times, May 11, 1997

"Senator [J.William Fulbright] proposed in 1970 that America should guarantee Israel's security in a formal treaty, protecting her with armed forces if necessary. In return, Israel would retire to the borders of 1967. The UN Security Council would guarantee this arrangement, and thereby bring the Soviet Union - then a supplier of arms and political aid to the Arabs - into compliance. As Israeli troops were withdrawn from the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank they would be replaced by a UN peacekeeping force. Israel would agree to accept a certain number of Palestinians and the rest would be settled in a Palestinian state outside Israel.

"The plan drew favorable editorial support in the United States. The proposal, however, was flatly rejected by Israel. 'The whole affair disgusted Fulbright,' writes [his biographer Randall] Woods. 'The Israelis were not even willing to act in their own self-interest.'" Allan Brownfield in "Issues of the American Council for Judaism." Fall 1997

Yaser,

Interesting interpretation for the jews who BOUGHT the land from the arabs who were living there at the time.

I consider 2300 missles fired indiscriantely into Israel (and the West Bank) to be a terrorist activity.

Only democracies can falter? Terrorists play the "they made me do it" card, while calling out for islamic jihad in their mantra. Notice how this war is no longer about territory in Lebanon...Israel withdrew from Lebanon. Hezbollah is funded by Iran whose president calls out for islamic jihad, and who apparently has been harboring Al Queda, continues to strike Israel while Lebanon allows this terrorist regime to become incorporated into their government, denying it as a terrorist organization. A state within a state, with two militaries, with one firing on Israel, the other not "capable" of doing anything about it, and the UN just allowing it to happen.

The answer is simple...put down the weapons and there will be no more attacks. Stop teaching hatred and their may be a furture for peace. Until then, it will only be a battle for survival.

To understand this conflict I beleive that we need to find out the root of this violence. First, the Israeli people migrated to Palestine from all over the world and fought against the rightful owners of the land to gain ownership and they has continued to do the same thing.
If it was not for Hamas definding Gaza against the biggest terrorism organization in the world (Israel), Palestine would cease to exist. Hence, Hamas is the reaction not the action. same as Hezbollah.

you've hit on something important...

but have you noticed that most of our books and movies have a

good guy

and a

bad guy?

A hero and a villan?

We never get to see the arch criminal that Arnold Schwartzenegger is kicking around the kitchen as a child being kicked around the kitchen by an alcoholic father, while his mother shoots up in the next room, do we?

we are trained to fight battles, by our literature and theatre.

Where do criminals come from? Are they just born like our president, or through years of failure and not being able to meet other people's expectations, do they just snap and decide to sell a country out, to prove to dad, they that can be just as ruthless as say, Darth Cheney?

Do they just get used to doing the I could care less about you, but I sure love this baloney sandwich shuffle as they empty _your_ bank account and send _your_ children off to fight their battles, while they eat another baloney sandwiche?

yes, that is what is happening.

.

To understand this conflict I beleive that we need to find out the root of this violence. First, the Israeli people migrated to Palestine from all over the world and fought against the rightful owners of the land to gain ownership and they has continued to do the same thing.
If it was not for Hamas definding Gaza against the biggest terrorism organization in the world (Israel), Palestine would cease to exist. Hence, Hamas is the reaction not the action. same as Hezbollah.

Alvin Tofler

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. - Alvin Tofler

Isn't it amazing that post-modern man, with respect to engaging in killing, has not advanced one eon beyond primitive man, except for the materials that he uses to kill? The early australopithecines apparently used their hands, sticks and stones.

To kill a man, in my view is to assume that he is so diseased, unredeemable and a risk to others, that for the good of society, and to punish him for his misdeeds, that man must be put to sleep.

I still say that you cannot kill an idea by shooting or bombing. The fascist ideology, the Nazi ideology and every other ideology that man believed that he had once ridded the earth of, are all still here today.

And guess what, even in our time the PLO has apparently been replaced by Hezbollah, despite collusion by Israel and the United States? And if Hezbollah were to be destroyed by the West, ii would eventually be reconstituted and perhaps simply be called by another name like the A.R. which would stand for the Arab Republicans, or The Angry Arab Men. They could have a contract with Arabs, and have their Speaker, Newtrish Gingrarish, lead them
(-:.

So how about we get rid of all of the bombs and killer machine guns, missiles, planes and missiles, and use that portion of our brains that typically lies dormant?

We need to find a new one to resolve our problems. Bombs, missiles, tanks, airplanes...those are only one of the options for modern man to consider. Well, if he is modern after all. Are there any sentient beings at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

It would appear that some men's primal instincts with regard to sex and violence remain the same as Proconsul's were!

Hello People, | Permalink

welcome to understanding your world,

Right now, we have a royal family, or suite of royal families that are trying to push for world dominance and escape government notice. There are even some countries that are willing to use their military, and intelligence operations to benefit their royals....

That is olde stuffe. What hasn't truly happened is a benevolent, socialistic, democratic, semi-capitalistic society emerging to work with the peoples of the world in an

ecologically sound way.

Now, mind you, ecology means on some level that all of the niches serve a particular purpose, that makes sense _FORTHESYSTEM_

not for a particular part of the ecology...a group, or single organism....

From an engineering standpoint, we have piracy rampant within the ranks of the so-called free world.

We have the MILITARY_INDUSTRIAL_COMPLEX, a money making, money oriented portion of the extended government family, making decisions for the Executive Branch. We have an Executive Branch that is not acting in the best interests of the country that it purports to serve but acting in the best interests of the ruling families, some of whom are not even from the United States.

We are _not_ operating as a soveriegn nation, we_are_acting as the tool of a few rich people....not all of them United States Citizens.

Raising minimum wage, being linked to estate tax abolishment...how benevolent is that managment of resources? How benevolent is it of the congress to increase the medicare burden on fixed income peoples' by $30/month/subscriber to pay for their containment of scarce resources...known as the Iraq occupation?

Look, we don't need oil, and are not threatened by a lack of it, unless you're an oil sellor, a B P or a C h e v r o n or an E X X O N or an investor in those companies and others ...._THEY_ don't want an alternative, or alternatives to be developed because _they_ want to make top dollar...we could be driving electric cars if corporate forces hadn't decided to intervene. HEY, if cars start, "running on water," or fuel cells, from a comment in the movie "Syriana"....the need to control or dominate the middle east _IMMEDIATELY_ ceases to exist.

That is not what this administration, E x x o n, B P, C h e v r o n and whoever else is playing you, the citizens of the world and United States want.

FIND an alternative to oil, and arrest the families that are using the United States Military as their personal tool.... You are not getting paid to be personal tools of the faunt le roi' s of the world.

An Engineer, doesn't waste his or her time backing a favorite product or group, they get the job done by doing it effeciently, with whatever is at hand....an engineer would require that alternatives were found long in advance of the end of a particular resource to avoid being jacked around by market prices....

NSA spying to jerk the market? maybe, you should look into it, without oversight you may be betting against a company that can't lose.

You can not run a country efficiently, if you don't take into account the effect of globalization on the citizens of the United States and other countries. The current administration and congress, is only looking at globalizations impact from their personal level, which is corporate....people are as expendable as passing an it's okay to _illegally_ immigrate law....or drop $932 Billion in estate taxes over a three year period.......how yah going to pay for dah war when all yoh companies is overseas....sell Montana to China? Shure if you don't care about the people.

These pikers, are a bunch of sociopathic mommas' boyz that want to get drunk, steal, lie and mandate raises and benefits for themselves as they destory the lives of ordinary citizens as a way of doing business.

There are ways to stop this, most of them involve telling the truth. I suggest, you the media, start doing what I _have_ been doing which is using plainspeech to address what is going on so that the average citizen can

_get_it_

for example: apparently with the finding of 500 or so old chemcial warheads and using the administrations phrase, WMD's the republicans have convinced the public that WMD's did exist. Washpos' Weisman, spoke of this in his Friday column.........why is this continued seeding of the American media with disinformation okay? We called it lying when I was growing up, has something changed? morality? what morality? certainly not in congress or the executive branch

Do that and we'll arrive at a globalized economy that doesn't turn eveyone but the elite into peasants....otherwise, what you're calling globalization looks to me like the United States inviting third world standards into the United States as _the_ standard.

This congress and president doesn't obey or adhere to the same standards of responsibility that the ordinary citizenship does. That has to change. Any ordinary worker in DC and the Metro area is more likely to be cleared than not....we shouldn't have people passing laws that can't get clearances and don't obey the laws that they foist on the rest of us...

Minimum wage tied to the elimination of the Estate tax, land of the rich and gullible....

they don't trade their rights away for three beans, but for hatred disguised as "family values," controlling weak minded people with homophobia... and using gawd as a whhipppp....can you say infested with satan?

Bush's convenient little war in Lebanon.
I'm most certain he's hoping this will last till the Nov. elections to shield the American public from the his other little war in Iraq, you remember the "slam dunk" war. And yes many of you are correct, the main stream media his bit into it hook, line, and sinker, just as they did WMD's in Iraq.

How history repeats itself. Bush Sr. encouraged the Iraqi Shiites to rebel against Sadam, in the first Gulf War, for democracy, but did not support them while Sadam slaughtered them by the hundreds of thousands. That lack of support cost us the hearts and souls of most of the Iraqi people, we pay the price today with American blood. Now Bush Jr. encourages the Lebanese to throw the Syrians out in the name of spreading democracy to the Middle East. Then Bush Jr. sits back while the Israeli's bomb them into the Stone Age, killing terrorist and innocents alike and shows no interest in stopping the destruction. I fear we have lost all friendly ties to Lebanon and to the Lebanese people we have become the new Syrians with the help of the Israeli's. And with his pledged support to Israel what is tomorrow going to be for America Blood?

"
Ben Caspit, an Israeli journalist wrote this proposed speech for Prime Minister Olmert:

July 31, 2006
Ladies and gentlemen, leaders of the world. I, the Prime Minister of Israel, am speaking to you from Jerusalem in the face of the terrible pictures from Kfar Kana. Any human heart, wherever it is, must sicken and recoil at the sight of such pictures. There are no words of comfort that can mitigate the enormity of this tragedy. Still, I am looking you straight in the eye and telling you that the State of Israel will continue its military campaign in Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces will continue to attack targets from which missiles and Katyusha rockets are fired at hospitals, old age homes and kindergartens in Israel. I have instructed the security forces and the IDF to continue to hunt for the Katyusha stockpiles and launch sites from which these savages are bombarding the State of Israel.

We will not hesitate, we will not apologize and we will not back off. If they continue to launch missiles into Israel from Kfar Kana, we will continue to bomb Kfar Kana. Today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Here, there and everywhere. The children of Kfar Kana could now be sleeping peacefully in their homes, unmolested, had the agents of the devil not taken over their land and turned the lives of our children into hell.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time you understood: the Jewish state will no longer be trampled upon. We will no longer allow anyone to exploit population centers in order to bomb our citizens. No one will be able to hide anymore behind women and children in order to kill our women and children. This anarchy is over. You can condemn us, you can boycott us, you can stop visiting us and, if necessary, we will stop visiting you.

Today I am serving as the voice of six million bombarded Israeli citizens who serve as the voice of six million murdered Jews who were melted down to dust and ashes by savages in Europe. In both cases, those responsible for these evil acts were, and are, barbarians devoid of all humanity, who set themselves one simple goal: to wipe the Jewish race off the face of the earth, as Adolph Hitler said, or to wipe the State of Israel off the map, as Mahmoud Ahmedinjad proclaims.

And you - just as you did not take those words seriously then, you are ignoring them again now. And that, ladies and gentlemen, leaders of the world, will not happen again. Never again will we wait for bombs that never came to hit the gas chambers. Never again will we wait for salvation that never arrives. Now we have our own air force. The Jewish people are now capable of standing up to those who seek their destruction - those people will no longer be able to hide behind women and children. They will no longer be able to evade their responsibility.

Every place from which a Katyusha is fired into the State of Israel will be a legitimate target for us to attack. This must be stated clearly and publicly, once and for all. You are welcome to judge us, to ostracize us, to boycott us and to vilify us. But to kill us? Absolutely not.

Four months ago I was elected by hundreds of thousands of citizens to the office of Prime Minister of the government of Israel, on the basis of my plan for unilaterally withdrawing from 90 percent of the areas of Judea and Samaria, the birth place and cradle of the Jewish people; to end most of the occupation and to enable the Palestinian people to turn over a new leaf and to calm things down until conditions are ripe for attaining a permanent settlement between us.

The Prime Minister who preceded me, Ariel Sharon, made a full withdrawal from the Gaza Strip back to the international border, and gave the Palestinians there a chance to build a new reality for themselves. The Prime Minister who preceded him, Ehud Barak, ended the lengthy Israeli presence in Lebanon and pulled the IDF back to the international border, leaving the land of the cedars to flourish, develop and establish its democracy and its economy.

What did the State of Israel get in exchange for all of this? Did we win even one minute of quiet? Was our hand, outstretched in peace, met with a handshake of encouragement? Ehud Barak's peace initiative at Camp David let loose on us a wave of suicide bombers who smashed and blew to pieces over 1,000 citizens, men, women and children. I don't remember you being so enraged then. Maybe that happened because we did not allow TV close-ups of the dismembered body parts of the Israeli youngsters at the Dolphinarium? Or of the shattered lives of the people butchered while celebrating the Passover seder at the Park Hotel in Netanya? What can you do - that's the way we are. We don't wave body parts at the camera. We grieve quietly.

We do not dance on the roofs at the sight of the bodies of our enemy's children - we express genuine sorrow and regret. That is the monstrous behavior of our enemies. Now they have risen up against us. Tomorrow they will rise up against you. You are already familiar with the murderous taste of this terror. And you will taste more.

And Ariel Sharon's withdrawal from Gaza. What did it get us? A barrage of Kassem missiles fired at peaceful settlements and the kidnapping of soldiers. Then too, I don't recall you reacting with such alarm. And for six years, the withdrawal from Lebanon has drawn the vituperation and crimes of a dangerous, extremist Iranian agent, who took over an entire country in the name of religious fanaticism and is trying to take Israel hostage on his way to Jerusalem - and from there to Paris and London.

An enormous terrorist infrastructure has been established by Iran on our border, threatening our citizens, growing stronger before our very eyes, awaiting the moment when the land of the Ayatollahs becomes a nuclear power in order to bring us to our knees. And make no mistake - we won't go down alone. You, the leaders of the free and enlightened world, will go down along with us.

So today, here and now, I am putting an end to this parade of hypocrisy. I don't recall such a wave of reaction in the face of the 100 citizens killed every single day in Iraq. Sunnis kill Shiites who kill Sunnis, and all of them kill Americans - and the world remains silent. And I am hard pressed to recall a similar reaction when the Russians destroyed entire villages and burned down large cities in order to repress the revolt in Chechnya. And when NATO bombed Kosovo for almost three months and crushed the civilian population - then you also kept silent. What is it about us, the Jews, the minority, the persecuted, that arouses this cosmic sense of justice in you? What do we have that all the others don't?

In a loud clear voice, looking you straight in the eye, I stand before you openly and I will not apologize. I will not capitulate. I will not whine. This is a battle for our freedom. For our humanity. For the right to lead normal lives within our recognized, legitimate borders. It is also your battle. I pray and I believe that now you will understand that. Because if you don't, you may regret it later, when it's too late."

The righteousness of this war which is for self-defence and the survival of Israel and all civilized, democratic, christian and non-secular countries, is very true. We should all wake up to the pan-Islamic ambition/agenda of the muslim extremist groups/countries, like Hezbollah and Iran. We should help Israel , instead of condemning them, for they are not only fighting for their own survival, but they are also fighting for us. Remember, that Hezbollah, Iran, Hamas and others of the same kind, are out to destroy Israel or annihilate or kick the Jewish people out their land. They will not be satisfied until all the Jews give up all the land to them - this is their real agenda. They always initiate the killings/violence by terrorist acts and when Israel hits back, they resort to complaining about the damage to their homes and deaths to their civilians to all TV stations, newspapers of the world and whine/complain of 'Israeli aggression/violence/genocide". They justify and cover up their hidden agenda to destroy/kill Israel/Israelites to make them leave and give all the land together to them, by calling their own terrorist acts as "acts of resistance" against Israeli occupation. In short , they want the Israelites to give up all the land to them and leave, move to Europe, as Iran's president had declared to the world

Olmert's speech, as posted by Howard on August 2, 10:53 am., on the righteousness of this war which is for self-defence and the survival of Israel and all civilized, democratic, christian and non-secular countries, is very true. We should all wake up to the pan-Islamic ambition/agenda of the muslim extremist groups/countries, like Hezbollah and Iran. We should help Israel , instead of condemning them, for they are not only fighting for their own survival, but they are also fighting for us. Remember, that Hezbollah, Iran, Hamas and others of the same kind, are out to destroy Israel or annihilate or kick the Jewish people out their land. They will not be satisfied until all the Jews give up all the land to them - this is their real agenda. They always initiate the killings/violence by terrorist acts and when Israel hits back, they resort to complaining about the damage to their homes and deaths to their civilians to all TV stations, newspapers of the world and whine/complain of 'Israeli aggression/violence/genocide". They justify and cover up their hidden agenda to destroy/kill Israel/Israelites to make them leave and give all the land together to them, by calling their own terrorist acts as "acts of resistance" against Israeli occupation. In short , they want the Israelites to give up all the land to them and leave, move to Europe, as Iran's president had declared to the world

Alvin Tofler

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. - Alvin Tofler

Isn't it amazing that post-modern man, with respect to engaging in killing, has not advanced one eon beyond primitive man, except for the materials that he uses to kill? The early australopithecines apparently used their hands, sticks and stones.

To kill a man, in my view is to assume that he is so diseased, unredeemable and a risk to others, that for the good of society, and to punish him for his misdeeds, that man must be put to sleep.

I still say that you cannot kill an idea by shooting or bombing. The fascist ideology, the Nazi ideology and every other ideology that man believed that he had once ridded the earth of, are all still here today.

And guess what, even in our time the PLO has apparently been replaced by Hezbollah, despite collusion by Israel and the United States? And if Hezbollah were to be destroyed by the West, ii would eventually be reconstituted and perhaps simply be called by another name like the A.R. which would stand for the Arab Republicans, the latter, or The Angry Arab Men. They could have a contract with Arabs, and have their Speaker, Newtrish Gingrarish, to lead them(-:.

So how about we get rid of all of the bombs and killer machine guns, missiles, planes and missiles, and use that portion of our brains that typically lies dormant?

We need to find a new one to resolve our problems. Bombs, missiles, tanks, airplanes...those are only one of the options for modern man to consider. Well, if he is modern after all. Are there any sentient beings at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

It would appear that some men's primal instincts with regard to sex and violence remain the same as Proconsul's were!

American Terrorvision!

Isn't it wonderful how our government keeps us all shielded from the carnage and the realities of war that has been taking place in Iraq?

And isn't it ironic, or has anyone noticed that the same kind of coverage is not coming out of Iraq by the American Media!

I wonder, can we get an accounting of how many missles, rockets, bombs, bullets...and lives that have been destroyed in Iraq?

Could it be that our side did not want the world and Americans to have the same reaction to Iraq, that it is having to what is going on in Lebanon? I thought that it was the Russians, who suppressed the Media. Americans need to see some of the babies and children who have been blown apart as a result of the American occuptation!

Wolf Blitzer was somewhat comical on his evening news show yesterday when he asked that a rocket blast be replayed, so that we could all hear it go, BOOM!!!

We are spending too much money on weapons, weapon systems and munitions, borrowed money that could be better spent to truly spread peace, minus our own extreme ideologies, around the world.

I hate to sound negative so often, but patriotism, does not preclude being honest. I suspect that we could multiply, exponentially, all of what has been fired, shot or dropped by Israel, in comparison to what the U.S.A. has dropped, fired and shot in Iraq.

The Revolution, at least in Palestine, is being Televised!

American Terrorvision!

Isn't it wonderful how our government keeps us all shielded from the carnage and the realities of war that has been taking place in the Iran?

Isn't it ironic, or has anyone noticed that the same kind of coverage is not allowed in Iraq!

Can we get an accounting of how many missles, rockets, bombs, bullets...and lives that have been destroyed in Iraq?

Could it be that our side did not want the world to have the same reaction to Iraq, that it is having to what is going on in Lebanon? I thought that it was the Russians, who suppressed the Media.

Wolf Blitzer was somewhat comical on his evening news show yesterday when he asked that a rocket blast be replayed, so that we could all hear it go, BOOM!!!

We are spending too much money on weapons, weapon systems and munitions, borrowed money that could be better spent to truly spread peace, minus our own extreme ideologies, around the world.

I hate to sound negative so often, but patriotism, does not preclude being honest. I suspect that we could multiply, exponentially, all of what has been fired, shot or dropped by Israel, in comparison to what the U.S.A. has dropped, fired and shot in Iraq.

The Revolution, at least in Palestine, is being Televised!

CNN reported that Hizbullah will not accept any cease fire as long as Israeli troops are in Southern Lebanon. It looks like this fight will continue for the foreseeable future.
Remembering the Marine Barracks attack, I believe a peacekeeping force between these people is a bad idea. The "peacekeepers" would evetually come under attack by one of the warring parties. It is past time they worked out their problems for themselves on the battlefield or the peace table. This nonsense has been going on sice 1948, and it is way past time it was settled. You can't give these people a brain, and America and, the West generally, need to stay out of their arguements. Democrat or Republican, Americans don't have a clue about the Middle East. Our foreign policy should not be at the mercy of other peoples stupidity. We need to get out as soon as possible.

The Israelis appear to be as ruthless a government as had ever existed. While the Islamic governments (any and all) are more repressive, they are incompetent on a good day. Only Israel combines viciousness and competence, and only Israel is our client.

Perhaps the creation of Israel in the area of Palestine was a mistake afterall. We should have put the Jewish State in Germany's Ruhr valley, where they could have helped us to defend against the Soviets.

William

Looks like a great deal of raw data on levels that can't be built into much of a picture.

I think the key measures are:

- Hezbollah's rockets and missiles "estimated at 12,000 of various types" and

- "Hezbollah's active fighting force [is]between 2,000 and 3,000 men, 250 to 300 of whom Israel says it has killed."

This suggests Hezbollah still has at least 80% of its mean with over 10,000 rockets and missiles to fire. It thereefore seems that Hezbollah retains its key fighting assets.

Any Peacekeeping force could not control such a Hezbollah force any sustained period.

If Israel is advocating such a Peacekeeping force then Israel is expecting this force to fail as I have predicted in detail in my blog at http://spyingbadthings.blogspot.com

Once the Peacekeepers have failed Israel can "justify" hardline tactics (bombing) against Iran (the main source of the rockets).

Pete

If Military Security is the Answer...

The U.S.A. or someone needs to better arm Hezbollah and the Lebanese.

In my opinion, Military Progress or Military Excess may represent a modicum of Security for a while, however, all of the antecedents are still in place, and none of them have been addressed. It just a matter of time until all of the shooting will start up again for neither side has changed or given one inch. All of the fighting and murder has simply resulted in more angered and hatred from rival to rival. I do not believe that any of the parents will sleep any better tonight, well may on Israel's side they will, particularly in those cities that are farther away from the Lebanese border. The problem is still there!

Some one on TV last night said, Cease Fire, simply means a time to re-arm! I would add to that, a time to regroup.

Lets face it all of the other factors are still in place, including both East and West extremism. Also radical religion, each side's philosophical arguments, nationalism, influence and interference by the Axis of Iran, Syria and the United States are all still in place. And most important, the problem of territory and statehood has not been addressed at all.

If I were in Lebanon, I would sleep with the light on tonight and for the next thousand years!

Arkin, forgive me but you sound as though you are reporting a bloody football game replete with individual stasticis on yardage gained, complete and incomplete passes and an unmistakable implication as to who is "winning" this game.

Well, no one is winning. There are no winners and losers here. Only a counting of human beings who died, bridges, homes, and basic infrastructure destroyed and an uncountable number of "martyrs" to be avenged by the next crop of terrorists who will surely sprout up out of this recent planting of deadly seedlings.

I hear similar renditions from the wretched partisans on talk radio who have never been anywhere near a shooting war in their lives and who confine their martial valor to the blasting houses of their air conditioned broadcast boots. Again for them it is akin to a sporting event with partisans on both sides egging on their particular teams with no thought, no compassion and no sympathy whatever for the poor, innocent people who are largely the ones paying for this conflict with their lives, homes and fortunes.

Frankly, I am sick to death of it all. After all the dust is settled, after all of the burpy, inane alalysis is complete and after all of the wind is exhaled from all of the various windbags throughout the punditocracy, little will have changed because each "team" in this game sees the other side as "evil".

That is a convenient, all-purpose explanation that suits the intellectually lazy partisans who eschew the truly hard work of a peacemaker.

From Human Rights Watch:

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' Human Rights Watch researchers found numerous cases in which the IDF launched artillery and air attacks with limited or dubious military objectives but excessive civilian cost. In many cases, Israeli forces struck an area with no apparent military target. In some instances, Israeli forces appear to have deliberately targeted civilians.

In one case, an Israeli air strike on July 13 destroyed the home of a cleric known to have sympathy for Hezbollah but who was not known to have taken any active part in the hostilities. Even if the IDF considered him a legitimate target (and Human Rights Watch has no evidence that he was), the strike killed him, his wife, their 10 children and the family's Sri Lankan maid.

On July 16, an Israeli aircraft fired on a civilian home in the village of Aitaroun, killing 11 members of the al-Akhrass family, among them seven Canadian-Lebanese dual nationals who were vacationing in the village when the war began. Human Rights Watch independently interviewed three villagers who vigorously denied that the family had any connection to Hezbollah. Among the victims were children aged one, three, five and seven.

The Israeli government has blamed Hezbollah for the high civilian casualty toll in Lebanon, insisting that Hezbollah fighters have hidden themselves and their weapons among the civilian population. However, in none of the cases of civilian deaths documented in the report is there evidence to suggest that Hezbollah was operating in or around the area during or prior to the attack. '
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