Out of Lewis Carroll

This is truly Through the Looking Glass--the whole untenable position taken by apologists for Israel--It's the Palestinians' fault; it's Hamas's fault; it's [fill-in-the-blank with anyone but Israeli policy]. So are the dead babies at fault here? Are the dead mothers and fathers and children at fault? I don't think so. Look at it: the death and destruction going on in Gaza is caused by the Israeli military. No one else. Don't look away. Is this what you like supporting? The Jews are killing innocent people by the hundreds. How to stop it? Just stop. Hamas is not killing babies. It's totally within the power of the Israeli government to Just Stop It. No more dead innocents--except those who die because they live in Gaza--but Israel can stop that too by allowing more supplies in. I am overcome with the horror of it all.

point of contention

They keep saying that America was "kept safe" by the still-current administration since 2001, so therefore whatever tactics they used worked, so we mustn't even dream of prosecuting them for such details as rendition, torture, wiretapping etc. However they forget that more than 4,000 Americans did die during this period, in the wars they started, many more than were killed on 9/11. So how does all that compute? Arrest, indict, prosecute and send to jail--all these hideous co-conspirators such as Cheney, Bush, Feith and so on--is my advice.

The Horrors of Gaza

There's no way to say anything bad enough about Israel's War on Gaza. Four little children lying near their mothers' dead bodies, too weak to get up? And Israel's response to the civilian carnage is to say that Hamas is using civilians as human shields? But if they know that, then how can they attack? Are they totally mad, at long last? These people do not act as Jews are supposed to act, to put it mildly. They don't act as humans are supposed to act. They've turned into monsters. And to what end? Do they really think all this killing will make Israel safer? If so, they're stupid as well. When have tactics like this ever worked? Never in history. It simply makes more of the civilian population side with Hamas, when they're attacked by Israelis. Somehow (I suppose because they want to believe it) the Israels expect complicated, sophisticated judgment and behavior from a Palestinian populace that is being brutalized by Israeli forces. It's never worked before; it won't work now. They're crazy, hideously cruel and grotesque, in their actions and their thinking.

I didn't believe it possible

"Still, it seems to me true that the financial big shots haven’t been treated nearly as roughly in Congress or in the media as the auto executives, who have done nothing remotely as irresponsible as their Wall Street counterparts." So said William Kristol, of all people, in his Times column today. He goes on to speak in favor of the UAW too, pointing out correctly, that the biggest part of their cost is benefits for retirees (which I add is not an expense for newer, foreign car makers here), not wages for current workers and he's the first person I've seen mention that after all wages only account for TEN PERCENT of a car's costs!

Proving once again that people are so complicated.

Surprise! Repugs' evil helped Dems win

“Without Bush and Cheney and Rove, the Democrats couldn’t have done what they did” in 2006 or 2008, observed David Rohde, a political scientist at Duke University.

This from a story in the Times this morning. Christ, what idiocy! It's like saying Without an opponent, you can't win an election. Bush and Cheney and Rove are the Republican Party--obviously that's what Obama was running against. And I hope he'll remember that and ignore all this "it's a center-right country" bull. The people finally learned what center right is and showed in the election that they don't like it. Now we need Constitutional, Progressive government so badly.

Just saying...

A lot of fundamentalist Republicans seem to be really crazy; I mean to the point of being scary; buying up guns and threatening people. Just threatening them with words so far maybe, but their kind of words can be utterly frightening, one learns from reading right-wing comments on left-wing blogs (the only kind I read). They have such hideous, crazy, cruel fantasties AND they don't ever know how to spell.

So I ask, Is there any way to influence the more rational leaders of the Republican Party to try to educate their followers about "real Americans"? Like, "Hey guys, the real Americans are all the citizens who can vote, and they've just shown who and what [to some extent] they're for. If we want to start winning again, we just might have to change our line." I know I'm dreaming, but how about the Repugs changing so much that they're to the left of the Dems and offering a real choice? And all those crazies will just be left out in the cold (with their guns, but still...). Some might even change their craziness to a different point of view. Just saying.

bloggingheads on the Times

Who ARE these people? Well, I know they're two academics, but come on. Will Obama "fall captive to liberal interest groups and the Democratic Congress?" Please. First of all, liberal interest groups are The People. Second, these particular people put him in office (by voting for him); I sure hope he does what they expect, things like a stimulus package for the economy, getting us out of Iraq, closing Guantanamo, universal health care, restoring the Constitution and all the other things I've left out but we know what they are. That's why Obama was elected: to reverse the course the Bushies put us on. I pray nightly (to the Unseen, perhaps) that he will remain our "captive" in that sense. Oh I wish the Times allowed comments to these stupid videos.