The Land of the Living Dead

One almost felt sorry for George W. Bush as he made his, thankfully, last state of the union address to congress and a smattering of the American people.
I say almost, because the damage he has done to this country causes anger to overwhelm feelings of pity.
He didn’t speak about the record budget deficits, or the historically high trade deficit, in fact, he spoke of nothing that seemed to have any connection to reality.
I though it was rather humorous however that he did mention the fact that charitable contributions are higher than ever, and not make the connection that these contributions are necessary since the republican administration has driven vast numbers of Americans into poverty
Poor Nancy Pelosi seemed barely able to restrain her self from bursting out in laughter on several occasions, as Bush smirked and stumbled through an altogether uninspiring speech.
Cheney, sitting to the right of Speaker Pelosi looked stupefyingly bored.
Why not?
The ideas and the words are his, he’s heard them a million times.
As he talked about the successes in Iraq, one kept thinking, we could have defeated the terrorists in Afghanistan, where we had the support of the world.
We didn’t have to kill them in Iraq, Saddam was doing that.
Iraq was a secular country, look at photos from the days when Saddam was in power.
Women wore dresses and pantsuits.
Now they wear burkas..
Only a fool would believe that Iraq is not going to continue the present trend of Islamization.
Our presence in Iraq has insured another terrorist country, similar to our good friends, the Saudis, whose citizens, we should not forget, murdered thousands of Americans.
Many people think Bush is an idiot.
Perhaps its because he says that the Palestinians are working towards peace with Israel.
Everyone else in the world knows that Palestinians are bombing Israel daily.
They have launched thousands of bombs onto Israeli neighborhoods since they were given control of Gaza and they overwhelmingly voted, into power, Hamas, whose stated purpose is to destroy Israel.
Bush wants to arm the Saudis, who are technically at war with Israel.
Maybe he is an idiot.
I think he’s just a liar.
He didn’t mention homelessness, of course.
Why would he?
What would he say?
“I successfully ignored that problem? What jobs I didn’t help ship overseas I helped staff with illegal aliens?”
As he left the podium, he placed a mask-like smile on his face.
He bore an eerie resemblance to Bela Lugosi at that moment.
Welcome to the land of the living dead.

Real American's don't Torture People

Last week, three members, including the founder, of the Islamic Terrorist front group, Care International Inc, were convicted of fraud and Federal tax evasion.
This really is a milestone, and a positive sign that the fight against these criminals can be successful and LEGAL.
The Justice Department charged three former Care International leaders with making false statements, tax code violations and conspiracy to defraud the government.
"Today's verdict is a milestone in our efforts against those who conceal their support for extremist causes behind the veil of humanitarianism," Kenneth L. Weinstein, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement.
Prosecutors presented evidence alleging that the group obtained tax deductible donations to support "mujahadeen" fighters overseas. The Justice Department also detailed meetings between Monla and Afghan warlord Gulbadeen Hekmatyar, who has been designated as a global terrorist by the State Department.
Prosecutors also alleged that the group was an outgrowth and successor to the Al-Kifah Refugee Center, which had been accused of ties to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing These criminals will be serving hard time. Interestingly, none were tortured to secure the convictions. At IsraelAmerica we take the position that terrorism needs to be fought, hard. We also take the position that their needs to be a moral difference between us and those we oppose, a difference more significant than just our religion. America and Israel have always had similar moral views, views based on equality and justice, and fairness. We do not torture people. One can always make the expediency argument, “If we torture people, we can save lives.” Some countries do torture people; they probably save lives and reduce crime by doing so. China executes some drug dealers. Our friends the Saudis, cut off a man’s hands for stealing a loaf of bread. Torture works.
We now realize that Iraq was a major mistake.
It will cost over a trillion dollars, has fueled terrorism, and has been made worse by the blundering of the current administration in Washington.
In Afghanistan, we had the support of the world.
If we sent more troops, NATO sent more troops.
In Iraq we have earned the world, and the Iraqi people’s enmity.
We replaced one dictator with an even more brutal and repressive group of killers.
The Republicans say that it’s fine if the Iraqi war last a hundred years.
Millions of American citizens live in the street, children go hungry and 40 million Americans have no health care, but all that can wait a hundred years to be addressed as long as Blackwater, Haliburton and the wealthiest families in America can profit over warfare.
It’s time for the American Government to be returned to the ideals which made us a great country, a moral country, a country that at one time was a beacon to the world.

Terrorists Breach Wall

As tens of thousands of Palestinians clambered back and forth between the Gaza strip and Egypt today, details emerged of the operation that brought down the border wall.
Hamas, which took control of the coastal territory last June after a stand-off with Fatah, has denied that its men set off the explosions that brought down as much as two-thirds of the 12-km wall in the early hours.

But a Hamas border guard interviewed by The Times at the border admitted that the Islamist group was responsible and had been involved for months in slicing through the heavy metal wall using oxy-acetylene cutting torches.

That meant that when the explosive charges were set off in 17 different locations between midnight and 1am the 40ft wall came tumbling down, leaving it lying like a broken concertina down the middle of no-man's land as an estimated 350,000 Gazans flooded into Egypt.

Democrats Oppose Bush Arms sale to Arabs

The Democrats are opposing the Republican Plan to sell weapons to one of the most prolific sponsors of arab terror in the region, Saudi Arabia, the country which sent most of the 911 killers to America to murder our citizens.
It seems that when it comes to profits or fighting terror, Republicans choose profit.
At least 50 percent of the budget of Hamas comes from Saudi Arabia and [they have] funneled more than $4 billion to finance terrorism in the territories since 2000.

A group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives is renewing objections to any sale of sophisticated U.S. precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia. VOA's Dan Robinson reports, 51 Democrats and one Republican have signed on so far to a resolution disapproving of the proposed transaction, which is part of a larger $20 billion military sale to Saudi Arabia and Gulf states aimed at countering threats from Iran.

While leaders say they hope to attract support from minority Republicans across the political aisle, the signature campaign for the resolution is mostly an effort by Democrats in the House.


Rep. Anthony Weiner,(D-NY) (left) and Robert Wexler (D-FL)
The two men behind it, Florida congressmen Robert Wexler and New York representative Anthony Weiner, first signaled their intentions last year after the Bush administration communicated its plans for the military sale.

Under provisions of a 1976 law covering arms exports, Congress may reject any large sale if there is enough backing to do so.

Representative Weiner points to times in the past when Congress was able to block or reduce the size and scope of arms deals for Saudi Arabia, and renews assertions that Saudi Arabia has not done enough to help the U.S. with everything from oil prices to counter-terrorism efforts and Middle East peace.

"If it is somehow to create a more stable environment in the Middle East we have seen that there could not be a more volatile time to be introducing high-technology weapons into that part of the world. If we have learned nothing about our experience in Iraq recently is that very often people we perceive as being our allies one day we arm and they turn out to be our enemies further down the road," he said.


Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit
Congressman Wexler says that on a number of fronts, the sale of the bombs, called JDAM for Joint Direct Attack Munitions, would not be in U.S. interests. "Will this arms sale increase democracy in the Middle East, will it increase democracy in Saudi Arabia? No. Will this arms sale increase the opportunity for the advancement of human rights in Saudi Arabia [and] in the broader Middle East? No. Will this arms sale increase stability in the Middle East, in the Gulf states? No," he said.

Wexler describes as ludicrous the suggestion that the JDAM Saudi Arabia will help increase security for Israel, in the face of an Iran the Bush administration maintains has been seeking nuclear weapons.

The administration says steps will be taken to ensure that the weapons for Saudi Arabia would not pose a threat to Israel or weaken Israel's qualitative regional military advantage.

Wexler objects to what he calls Bush administration attempts to couple the question of U.S. military support for Israel with arms sales to Saudi Arabia. "I am offended deeply that the administration would couple anything to do with Saudi Arabia, which is non-Democratic nation that ignores and violates the most basic elements of human rights, to Israel which is a Democratic nation, a stalwart ally of the U.S., which is a model of human rights in the region," he said.

Congressman Weiner urges President Bush to look again at the sale, asserting that Saudi Arabia has done little to pressure Iran, and continues to lag on counter-terrorism steps. "Repeatedly, and on and on, we have seen Saudi Arabia be the source of exporting more and more terrorism. If the idea is that this is the face of the moderate Arab world, then simply moderate is not enough and President Bush needs to understand," he said.

So far, the only Republican to add his signature to the Democratic-sponsored is North Carolina's Walter Jones, who has been virtually alone among Republicans in criticizing President Bush's policy in Iraq.

Bush is trusting the free market to assure that the weapons don't get into the hands of terrorists.

The War Against Israel

The Palestinians of the Gaza Strip have been at war with Israel for years. The Jews of Gaza are gone, but the war continues. On Sunday, another volley of mortars fell on Israeli communities, pretty much unnoticed by all but the Israeli press.

Eight mortar shells were fired Sunday from the northern Gaza Strip towards the western Negev. Two of the mortars hit the community of Netiv Haasara, and the rest landed in open areas.

One of the mortars fell between two houses, causing damage. Moira Dror’s daughter lives in one of the houses, which was hit by shrapnel. “She left one or two minutes before the mortar hit the house,” she said.

The second building hit was the house of a woman and her two children. Luckily, they were not at home during the strike.

“We have a lot of luck or miracles,” Dror added. “We live about 200 meters (656 feet) from (the northern Gaza Strip town of) Beit Hanoun. As opposed to Qassam rockets, which have an alert system, we try to listen to the mortars being launched and manage run to the bomb shelters. But that only happens when the window is open and it’s very quiet. Today we didn’t hear it. It was very quick, and fell right next to us.

The Palestinians recently resumed the firing of mortar shells at Netiv Haasara, hitting only the southern part of the community, particularly one street.

Kassam rockets are fired on a near-daily basis, especially when dignitaries are in town. But the news organizations denigrate the severity of the attacks by labeling them “crude, homemade rockets” and pointing out that “only” 12 people have been killed by kassams in the years that the terrorists have been firing them. As if that really matters to the people in Sderot, or in any of the other towns that have been hit by kassams and mortars.

The New York Times’ Steve Erlanger has finally noticed the harm done to Sderot. But still, he makes sure that he skews the stats to make things seem less deadly:

Sderot, a working-class town of mainly North African immigrants less than two miles from Gaza, has been hit over the past four years with some 2,000 rockets of improving range and explosive power — 22 in the last eight days. Eight Sderot civilians have been killed by the rockets; Razi has seen 15 therapists.

There have been twelve deaths from kassam rockets. Three of them were children under the age of five. But Erlanger finds it necessary to define the deaths in Sderot as “civilian” deaths—as if the death of a soldier by a rocket fired in an undeclared war is any less important.

But already quiet, with the population down unofficially to perhaps 17,000 from 24,000, the people of Sderot live in a most un-Israeli hush, so they can hear the alerts. The vendor in the market who sits on a stool and yells out the prices of his cheap underwear has been told to stop using a megaphone. People sleep with the heating system off and a window open on the coldest night. There is no Muzak in the grocery store, and people keep their car windows open and their radios and televisions on low volume, even in the town’s few bars or pubs.

They take quick showers, afraid to miss an alert, no longer sleep in upstairs bedrooms and avoid public places at what are considered peak Qassam times. And when the alert sounds, people drop everything, including their unpaid groceries in the aisles, costing Daniel Dahan more than $100 a day, he said. He owns Super Dahan, the grocery his father started. They run to one of the square concrete shelters, known as betonadas, after the word for cement, that increasingly dot the town. Then they pull out their phones, to check on their children.

“What kind of life is this, when you can’t even make your home safe for your children?” Ms. Sasson asked.

A good question. Hamas provided the answer in 2006:

“We have decided to make Sderot a ghost town,” said a spokesman for Hamas who gave his name as Abu Ubeideh. “We are not going to stop launching our rockets until they leave.”

They’ve made a quarter of the townspeople leave. Because Israel isn’t fighting the undeclared war to the best of her abilities. The world won’t let her.












http://www.yourish.com/2008/01/14/4246