As a card-carrying, if nonreligious, Member of the Tribe, I'm appalled by the spectacle of Willard Rmoney claiming the right to declare American policy towards Israel while on a money-grubbing trip overseas. The worst fears of those who believe that U.S. foreign policy is dictated by Israel were realized this weekend when Rmoney, doing the bidding not just of Bibi Netanyahu, but of Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire who has vowed to do whatever it takes to put his Mormon BFF in the White House, announced that not only would he move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, but that he'd be perfectly happy to look the other way while Israel unilaterally attacks Iran. NYT:

The speech, delivered at dusk overlooking the Old City, was short on policy prescriptions, as Mr. Romney tried to adhere to an unwritten code suggesting that candidates not criticize each other on foreign soil. But there were subtle differences between what he said — and how he said it — and the positions of his opponent.

While the Obama administration typically talks about stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Mr. Romney adopted the language of Israel’s leaders, who say Tehran must be prevented from even having the capability to develop one.

And while President Obama and his aides always acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself, they put an emphasis on sanctions and diplomacy; Dan Senor, Mr. Romney’s senior foreign policy aide, went further on Sunday, suggesting that Mr. Romney was ready to support a unilateral military strike by Israel.

“If Israel has to take action on its own,” Mr. Senor said in a briefing before the speech, “the governor would respect that decision.”

One of the things that makes me nuts about my people is that we are a highly intelligent bunch, but when it comes to Israel, we tend to lose our intelletive capacity and respond with the same reptilian brain that the right uses towards just about everything. I may think Israel is necessary because when push comes to shove, and things get bad enough, someone with power is going to stand up and blame the Jews. When criticism of Israel goes beyond people like Netanyahu and starts becoming a critique of the entire nation, my gut twists up. It's not an intellective response, but a visceral one. At least I recognize that.

So, despite all of Willard's appalling and inflammatory rhetoric, do most American Jews, who are still solidly behind Barack Obama. Gallup (no liberals they):

While Republicans may look favorably on Romney's visit to Israel, another group with keen interest in U.S.-Israeli relations -- Jewish Americans -- solidly backs Obama in the election.

Gallup Daily tracking from June 1-July 26 finds Jewish registered voters favoring Obama over Romney by 68% to 25%. That is essentially the same as Gallup's prior update on Jewish voting preferences.

Although one goal of Romney's Israel visit could be to attract greater support among Jewish voters in the U.S., Jewish Americans have been a traditionally strong Democratic group, so they are unlikely to become much more supportive of Romney regardless of the outcome of the trip.

I'm sure that Rmoney's rhetoric will play well on the West Bank and among American Evangelicals, who can't wait to sit on the couch and share a Coors and a plate of loaded nachos with Jesus while Jews who don't convert are tormented on Judgment Day. But last I looked, they were not voting in the U.S. election. Fortunately, most American Jews are like me and are capable of stringing two coherent thoughts together.

Labels: American Jewry, Israel, wingnuttia

And it's a damn good thing, too.

I've often wondered what will happen when the last of the eyewitnesses to the Holocaust dies off. There are still enough Holocaust deniers out there, and enough media capable of rewriting history, that it's possible that the genocide that took place in Germany in the WWII era will be forgotten, or worse, whitewashed. And in a world in which austerity is taking the place of plenty, and which scapegoating is already on the rise, one wonders how long it's going to take for populations to start blaming the Jews again...or does it even matter, since SOMEONE is going to be scapgoated. It's time that those who believe the Holocaust needs to be remembered start to set their sights on preventing genocide against ALL people.

Perhaps this is part of what young Jews in Israel are trying to do, during weeks of protests that have received little to no coverage in this country, probably because they fly in the face of the kind of rubber-stamping of Israeli policies that has characterized both US foreign policy and media coverage.

But there is something going on in Israel, and while I still have no hope for the future of our country, I think it's just possible that we can have hope for the future of that one.

Check out this photo diary at the Great Orange Satan from the protests. And then go about your day with these words from this speech given by Daphni Leef, a 27-year-old Israeli activist:

My generation grew up with the feeling that we were alone in the world. It’s us versus the TV screen. That the other is our enemy, that he is our competitor. We grew up with the feeling that we are in living in a race we have no chance of winning, that we mustn’t rely on anyone else. They taught us that it’s either you or him. That’s capitalism – unending competition. The fact that this generation – the loneliest and withdrawn generation – stood up and did something is nothing short of a miracle. The miracle of the summer of 2011. There you have it – everything that we thought, all they taught us – was wrong! What happened here was exactly what needed to happen.

We were closed up each of us in his own cycle, a cycle of dissatisfaction, of a feeling of absurdity. And suddenly we began to talk, and more importantly: We began to listen.

So they called us the extreme left. They tried to define us. How on earth do they know who I am? How do they know who you are? Where do they get the chutzpah? The best answer to their assertions came not from me of from my friends, it came from the tent camps that sprang up in Hatikva neighborhood, in Jesse Cohen, in Kiryat Gat, Kiryat Shmona, Modiin, Rahat, Kalansawa, Jerusalem, Haifa, Bet Shean, Yerucham, and in tens of other places. All of us, the whole country, realized that there is no right or left – we are all servants/we all serve.

They told us – go to the periphery towns. What a terrible and condescending thing to say. What is that – “go to the periphery”? It’s something you say as if – there, there are no people. That there is a wasteland. Silence. And you know what? How lucky it is that they sent us to the periphery. Because we discovered there what we already knew – that this country is full of beating hearts. I went there and found friends for life.

And anyway – what is that – “go to the periphery”? The State of Israel screwed over and continues to screw over its periphery systematically and methodically from the moment it was established. In education, health, infrastructure, housing, welfare, culture – to say “go to the periphery” is unprecedented hypocrisy. To talk of ‘periphery’ is to perpetuate the old discourse that cuts out human beings, that tells them: You are put aside. You are remote. Your needs are less important and your demands are worth less. This summer we proved to everyone that there is no such thing as periphery – we are all central! Every single one of us! We reduced the physical distance between us and we found out that it’s good that way, that we want to remain close. That they will no longer manage to distance us and to divide us.

And then came the security escalation. But even the missiles that fell did not ruin this protest. The opposite – they showed how strong and true it is. The fact that we didn’t fold then was, I’ve already said this, the most moving aspect of this protest. The time has come for the concept “Security Situation” to stop being a value and return to being what it is – a situation. And a situation that must change.

Missiles fell, and we were silent for a few days. We marched in silence. And then what did they say? They said that the protest was fading out. Instead of recognizing that it pained us that a million Israelis were living under the threat of missiles, that we were hurting for the people injured, killed, and whose houses were ruined. But instead of appreciated that we were with them, instead of seeing how our silence came from love, they said “the protest is fading out”. They tried to turn our solidarity into retreat.

The truth is, it was sad. How on earth does the government of Israel dare to make such an attempt of divide and rule? A government that abandoned its residents; that abandoned its elderly, its sick, its immigrants, its weak. How can is now come to us with such an assertion? Israeli governments have divided us for years, and when finally we come together, when we showed that we are not willing to carry on sitting in front of the TV, they said that we are not showing solidarity. We don’t show solidarity? Look at what’s going on here!

When they talk about security they come to protect human lives – how does that line up with the Israeli government’s policy of recklessness?

I’m 25 years old. What are my biggest memories of this country: the 2nd Lebanon War, the period of terrorism, friends who were killed then, the assassination of Rabin, Gilad Shalit. And that’s even without going into that I’m 3rd generation Holocaust survivor. This was my consciousness. Moments and memories laced with death, loss, pain, fear, and the feeling that everything is temporary.

At the demonstration in Afula I saw a sign: “For 31 days I have been proud to be Israeli”. I stand before you and I am now proud to be an Israeli for 7 weeks. I feel we are together building here our self-worth as a society. To say “I deserve” means that someone else also deserves, that we deserve. This summer brought with it many good moments and memories – of hope, of change, fraternity, listening.

A discourse of life has been created. It’s the most important awakening there has been here. We are not here just to survive, we are here in order to live. We are not here just because we have nowhere else. We are here because we want to be here. We choose to be here, we choose to be in a good place, in a just society, we want to live in society as a society – not as a collection of lonely individuals who each sit in front of one box, the TV, and once every four years put a slip in another box – the polling box.

We are here, not because we have no other land. We are here because this is the land we want. Without our even noticing, people have begun to return from abroad, suddenly there’s a feeling that something’s happening here that mustn’t be missed.

My generation has failed. I'm not sure why we failed. Perhaps there just weren't enough of us who were like the kids in the streets in Israel this summer. Yes, we succeeded in changing public opinion about the Vietnam War, but back then there wasn't 24-hour cable news owned by organizations who saw their job as carrying water for entrenched political and corporate interests instead of reporting what was happening in the streets. I'm not sure that the protests of the late 1960's and early 1970's would have any influence today. After all, a half-million people marched in New York City in 2002 in opposition to the proposed war in Iraq and no one covered it. It wasn't perceived as being any kind of a movement opposed to the war.

We fought for reproductive self-determination for women, and now find today's reproductive-age women staring down the barrel of criminalization of miscarriage. Did we grow up? Give up? Just get tired of fighting the same battles over and over and over again? Did we get sidetracked by fringe causes and forget the Big Picture? Or did we just get beaten down by a system that gave us Ronald Reagan and his heirs, and an "opposition" party that gave lip service to opposition but then refused to frame a compelling opposing argument, so that today it mewls and cries and then refuses to take a stand?

Can movements make a difference? A movement of American middle-class kids ultimately could not, perhaps because despite the media coverage, there were more of us in plaid pants and Izod shirts attending Young Americans for Freedom meetings than antiwar groups all along. Or perhaps we were just too soft, coming from suburban homes with two cars and TVs and parent-paid college, to be in it for the long haul (though some of us have at least been trying for the last forty years).

Young people in Israel have grown up in a war zone. And as we approach the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which promise to give us tons of George Bush revisionism and a return to those halcyon days when Americans wanted war and fell behind what turned out to be a horrifically bloodthirsty regime in our own country, and people in flyover states once again worrying about Scary Swarthy Men bombing the local Denny's, I wonder if children who actually grew up where bombings take place very day are going to be able to handle the hard work of effecting change. We've heard a lot about this summer of protest in the Muslim states in the Middle East, but very little about the one in the nation that's supposed to be our ally.

The activists who took to the streets in Tel Aviv started out acting in their own self interest, in a protest over housing costs, But movements like this tend to take on a character of their own, and this one has demonstrated growing dissatisfaction with the insane, "doing the same thing and expecting a different result" actions of their government. The last sizable movement for change in this country could not, in the end, make what progress we made stick, and we have ended up with a sick, corrupt, dysfunctional country that is beyond repair. We can hope that the result in Israel is different.

Labels: Israel, mass movements, youth

In the nearly two years since Barack Obama took office, we've seen a nonstop litany of wingnuts whipping their minions into a frenzy about a socialist far-left agenda.

Here we have a President who has not closed Guantanamo Bay, who has expanded the war in Afghanistan, who didn't fight for even a public health care option, let along single-payer, who dickers with DADT in the hope that he can get outta Dodge before he has to deal with his own "icky feelings" about Teh Gays, and who seems willing to gut Social Security and Medicare in the hope that it will make Republicans play nice. Oh, and he's also been called a secret Muslim terrorist who's an enemy to Israel, which probably explains what is likely to be his next "Nixon Goes to China" moment:

In June 2010 Congress strengthened the sanctions against Iran, with even more severe penalties against foreign companies. The Obama administration has been rapidly expanding US offensive capacity in the African island of Diego Garcia, claimed by Britain, which had expelled the population so that the US could build the massive base it uses for attacks in the Central Command area. The Navy reports sending a submarine tender to the island to service nuclear-powered guided-missile submarines with Tomahawk missiles, which can carry nuclear warheads. Each submarine is reported to have the striking power of a typical carrier battle group. According to a US Navy cargo manifest obtained by the Sunday Herald (Glasgow), the substantial military equipment Obama has dispatched includes 387 "bunker busters" used for blasting hardened underground structures. Planning for these "massive ordnance penetrators," the most powerful bombs in the arsenal short of nuclear weapons, was initiated in the Bush administration, but languished. On taking office, Obama immediately accelerated the plans, and they are to be deployed several years ahead of schedule, aiming specifically at Iran.

"They are gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran," according to Dan Plesch, director of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at the University of London. "US bombers and long range missiles are ready today to destroy 10,000 targets in Iran in a few hours," he said. "The firepower of US forces has quadrupled since 2003," accelerating under Obama.

The Arab press reports that an American fleet (with an Israeli vessel) passed through the Suez Canal on the way to the Persian Gulf, where its task is "to implement the sanctions against Iran and supervise the ships going to and from Iran." British and Israeli media report that Saudi Arabia is providing a corridor for Israeli bombing of Iran (denied by Saudi Arabia). On his return from Afghanistan to reassure NATO allies that the US will stay the course after the replacement of General McChrystal by his superior, General Petraeus, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen visited Israel to meet IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and senior military staff along with intelligence and planning units, continuing the annual strategic dialogue between Israel and the U.S. The meeting focused "on the preparation by both Israel and the U.S. for the possibility of a nuclear capable Iran," according to Haaretz, which reports further that Mullen emphasized that "I always try to see challenges from Israeli perspective." Mullen and Ashkenazi are in regular contact on a secure line.

Guess what, Mr. Obama. The Republicans will STILL hate you. And so will everyone else.

Labels: Barack Obama, capitulation, insanity, Iran attack, Israel, war hawks

There's always been this nasty stereotype of the crafty, cunning, sneaky Jew. I never knew where this came from, because as someone who's from parents who were self-styled Jewish intellectuals, it always seemed that we wore our intelligence on our sleeve. So it's hard to fathom, how even as paranoid as Bibi Netanyahu is, he could be so fucking stupid as to not figure out that if you're going to attack a ship from one of your few Muslim ally states in the Middle East, they're going to get pissed off:

The women wore veils. The men donned green Hamas headbands with swirling Arabic script. They gathered by the thousands in a sunny, working-class plaza in Istanbul, bellowing: "Damn Israel!"

The Saturday demonstration seemed incongruous with the image Turkey has long had in the West as a secular friend of Israel and the United States.

But in recent days, public anger has flared over Israel's bloody seizure of a Turkish-flagged aid ship headed to the Gaza Strip, which is under an Israeli blockade. The incident occurred as Turkey has been strengthening ties with Muslim governments in the region -- becoming more vocally pro-Palestinian and trying to head off new U.N. sanctions on Iran.

That has prompted worried speculation at home and abroad: Is Turkey turning away from the West?

The article goes on to take a more reassuring tone about the Turkish government, but if faced with relentless anti-Israel demonstrations in the streets, how long is it going to take before the pro-western secular government is overthrown? And THEN what happens?

American policy has always been staunchly pro-Israel on the grounds that Israel is our only truly reliable ally in the Middle East. But how much of an ally is a country that insists on behaving like a lone wolf? Israel's paranoia may be justified by the fact that there are those who want it wiped off the map, but I'd like someone to tell me just how sixty-plus years of this has done anything to stop that threat.

I know that there are many American Jews who will support everything the Israeli government decides to do, right or wrong. And they vote. And politicians, particularly Democratic ones, are terrified of losing that vote, particularly to a party whose tubthumping for Israel is based on the apocalyptic delusions of their own religious fanatical base. You'd think that American Jews would be smart enough to know that the so-called pro-Israel sentiment of the Christofascist Zombie Brigade isn't based on love for the Jews, but on the promise of being able to sit on the couch with Jesus, chowing down on nachos and watching unconverted Jews burn. But Israel is such a blind spot that sometimes Israel policy drives everything.

If poor little Israel can't survive without American support and money, don't you think we ought to have some input in how it conducts itself as part of the world community?

Labels: Christofascist Zombie Brigade, futility, insanity, Israel

Considering how peppy and alert the Israelis have proven to be regarding the dangerous peace activists, perhaps we ought to hire them to intercept the oil spill off the Gulf Coast. After all, if they could intercept seven ships well outside their 68 mile exclusion zone, they should've had no problem stopping an oil slick that began only 40 miles from Louisiana. All we have to do is convert New Orleans' mostly Baptist residents to Judaism and Israel will be there in a flash.

There's another showdown brewing off the coast of Gaza between the Rachel Corrie MV, the sole ship in the flotilla that was carrying 10 tons of aid to the Palestinians, and the US-funded Israeli terrorist network. Undeterred and more determined than ever, the ship carrying Malaysian and Irish aid workers are moving their way toward the Gaza strip in defiance of Israel's brutal and possibly even illegal embargo of relief supplies.

And in spite of nearly universal international condemnation, the Israeli terrorists have vowed to be even more brutal when they intercept the Rachel Corrie. Meanwhile, Turkey has promised to dispatch two more aid ships to Palestine except this time, they'll be accompanied by Turkish naval vessels.

We now know the Israeli Marines who rappelled onto the boats like wouldbe ninjas began firing on the flotilla and the hands aboard it even before they boarded. We know that the Israelis disabled the communications satellite, thereby jamming cell phones and preventing the besieged aid workers from calling for help.

We now know that 19 aid workers (not one or two or nine, but 19) were murdered and at least 60 were injured in the predawn invasion of the flotilla in which six ships and several hundreds of men, women and children were apprehended and taken hostage to Ashdod. During their detention, the prisoners complained that they were denied food, water, sleep and even bathroom facilities.

Yet to hear the "liberal" media talk about it, Jewish journalists like Joshua Mitnick and Amy Teibel have described Israel's release of their hostages as "expelling" and "deporting" the "activists".

In fact, Teibel even engages in a daring bit of revisionist history by informing us that "Hamas militants violently seized power in June 2007", not that they were lawfully elected during Palestine's elections. Oy vey. No pro-Israel bias there, folks.

What Mitnick and Teibel fail to adequately explain is how it's possible to deport from Israel hundreds of aid workers who were on their way not to Israel but the Gaza Strip on a humanitarian aid mission and were apprehended more than 68 miles from Israel's shores (well outside the exclusion zone, in international waters) and forcibly held in detention facilities. As of now, despite the release of hundreds of prisoners, well over 100 aid workers remain behind bars simply for trying to do the right thing by countering Israeli thuggery and genocide.

We could do the right thing and support the Turkish navy and help the aid workers by dispatching our own naval vessels. But of course Obama won't do that because the out-of-control Zionist zombies running the Knesset will consider that an act of war. It's an unspoken rule in Washington: Israel dictates our foreign policy in the Middle East, always has and always will. It's a classic case of the pint-sized bully, overcompensating for prior abuse, running the playground.

However, the Turks are one of Israel's few Muslim allies yet they've shown the intestinal fortitude to get their military involved. Many nationalities were represented in the flotilla and we also had our own people on board. In fact, one of them was Ann Wright, a former US diplomat.

To give you an idea of how insane Israel is, even the equally draconian Egyptian government, they of the torture palaces, actually relaxed their embargo and had briefly opened their borders to Palestinians wishing to flee or seek medical aid. Here's a partial list of some the relief supplies banned by Israel (It seems to be anything beginning with the letter "C"): Coriander. Coffee. Chocolate.

And Cement.

According to David Frum, cement has been rightfully banned because it could be used to (gasp) make bunkers (presumably the coffee would keep them up all night making those evil bunkers and the coriander and chocolate would make it a tastier, more pleasant experience). And we all know that the Palestinians shouldn't have any cause to fear their Israeli friends, don't we?

Labels: blockade, Gaza, Israel, Rachel Corrie MV, Turkey

Jon Stewart explains it all for you (swallow coffee before playing):

Labels: Israel

When even the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, a reliable outpost of wingnuttia, says Israel is committing war crimes, they and the knee-jerkers here at home ought to listen:

Israel's current assault on the Gaza Strip cannot be justified by self-defense. Rather, it involves serious violations of international law, including war crimes. Senior Israeli political and military leaders may bear personal liability for their offenses, and they could be prosecuted by an international tribunal, or by nations practicing universal jurisdiction over grave international crimes. Hamas fighters have also violated the laws of warfare, but their misdeeds do not justify Israel's acts.

The United Nations charter preserved the customary right of a state to retaliate against an "armed attack" from another state. The right has evolved to cover nonstate actors operating beyond the borders of the state claiming self-defense, and arguably would apply to Hamas. However, an armed attack involves serious violations of the peace. Minor border skirmishes are common, and if all were considered armed attacks, states could easily exploit them -- as surrounding facts are often murky and unverifiable -- to launch wars of aggression. That is exactly what Israel seems to be currently attempting.

This is another reason why the incoming Obama administration's reluctance to examine and prosecute Bush Administration officials for their own crimes is so troubling -- and so dangerous. If the United States sets the example that war crimes may be permitted with impunity by refusing to investigate and prosecute, we have ZERO moral authority in dealing with the madness that is going on between the Israelis and the Palestinians right now.

Labels: Israel

I think no matter how lapsed you are, how assimilated, how little respect you have for Judaism as a religion or skepticism you have about Israel, when push comes to shove, if you ever had the slightest bit of Jewish identity, there is something in your gut that makes you Jewish forever. You can be a practicing Buddhist. You can be a Wiccan. You can believe that Israel does itself no good when it elects right-wing warmongers and practices atrocities against the Palestinians. But at the end of the day, your gut knows you are Jewish.

And that is why this video turned me into a little blog of jello on the floor:

Labels: Barack Obama, Israel

Before you get all into a lather and call me an anti-Semite, let me be quite clear: I am a member of the tribe, so I get to write this.

Would you people please stop this idiocy about worrying about whether Barack Obama is "good for Israel"? You're making us all look like morons:

At the Aberdeen Golf and Country Club on Sunday, the fountains were burbling, the man-made lakes were shining, and Shirley Weitz and Ruth Grossman were debating why Jews in this gated neighborhood of airy retirement homes feel so much trepidation about Senator Barack Obama.

[snip]

“The people here, liberal people, will not vote for Obama because of his attitude towards Israel,” Ms. Weitz, 83, said, lingering over brunch.

“They’re going to vote for McCain,” she said.

Ms. Grossman, 80, agreed with her friend’s conclusion, but not her reasoning.

“They’ll pick on the minister thing, they’ll pick on the wife, but the major issue is color,” she said, quietly fingering a coffee cup. Ms. Grossman said she was thinking of voting for Mr. Obama, who is leading in the delegate count for the nomination, as was Ms. Weitz.

But Ms. Grossman does not tell the neighbors. “I keep my mouth shut,” she said.

On Thursday, Mr. Obama will court Jewish voters with an appearance at a synagogue in Boca Raton, Fla. A longtime Democratic constituency with a consistently high turnout rate, Jews are important to his general election hopes, particularly in New York, which he expects to win; in California and New Jersey, which he must keep out of Republican hands; and, most crucially, here in Florida, where Jews make up around 5 percent of voters.

This is the most haunted state on the electoral college map for Democrats, the one they lost by hundreds of votes and a Supreme Court decision in 2000, and again in 2004.

“The fate of the world for the next four years,” mused Rabbi Ruvi New as his Sunday morning Kabbalah & Coffee class dispersed in East Boca Raton.

“It’s all going to boil down to a few old Jews in Century Village,” he added, referring to a nearby retirement community.

[snip]

Because Mr. Obama is relatively new on the national stage, his résumé of Senate votes in support of Israel is short, as is his list of high-profile visits to synagogues and delis. So far, his overtures to Jews have been limited; aside from a few speeches and interviews, he has left most of it to surrogates.

American Jews hold two competing views of Mr. Obama, said Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington. First, there is Obama the scholar, the social justice advocate, the defender of Israel with a close feel for Jewish concerns garnered through decades of intimate friendships. In this version, Mr. Obama’s race is an asset, Rabbi Saperstein said.

The second version is defined by the controversy over his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., worries about Mr. Obama’s past associations and questions about his support for Israel and his patriotism.

“It’s too early to know how they will play out,” Rabbi Saperstein said.

Alan M. Dershowitz, a professor at Harvard Law School, said he had been deluged with questions from Jews about the race, especially about what to think of Mr. Obama. “I have gotten hundreds of e-mails asking me, ‘Who should we vote for?’ ” he said. Mr. Dershowitz, who supports Mrs. Clinton, says he tells voters that Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton and Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, are all pro-Israel and to reject false personal attacks on Mr. Obama.

Because of a dispute over moving the date of the state’s primary, Mr. Obama and the other Democratic candidates did not campaign in Florida. In his absence, novel and exotic rumors about Mr. Obama have flourished. Among many older Jews, and some younger ones, as well, he has become a conduit for Jewish anxiety about Israel, Iran, anti-Semitism and race.

Mr. Obama is Arab, Jack Stern’s friends told him in Aventura. (He’s not.)

He is a part of Chicago’s large Palestinian community, suspects Mindy Chotiner of Delray. (Wrong again.)

Mr. Wright is the godfather of Mr. Obama’s children, asserted Violet Darling in Boca Raton. (No, he’s not.)

Al Qaeda is backing him, said Helena Lefkowicz of Fort Lauderdale (Incorrect.)

Michelle Obama has proven so hostile and argumentative that the campaign is keeping her silent, said Joyce Rozen of Pompano Beach. (Mrs. Obama campaigns frequently, drawing crowds in her own right.)

Mr. Obama might fill his administration with followers of Louis Farrakhan, worried Sherry Ziegler. (Extremely unlikely, given his denunciation of Mr. Farrakhan.)

South Florida is “the most concentrated area in the country in terms of misinformation” about Mr. Obama, said Representative Robert Wexler, Democrat of Florida, the co-chairman of the Obama campaign in the state. His surrogates can put these fears to rest, Mr. Wexler said, by simply repeating the facts about Mr. Obama — his correct biography, his support for Israel, his positions on other important issues.

But the resistance toward Mr. Obama appears to be rooted in something more than factual misperception; even those with an accurate understanding of Mr. Obama share the hesitations. In dozens of interviews, South Florida Jews questioned his commitment to Israel — even some who knew he earns high marks from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which lobbies the United States government on behalf of Israel.

I can't even begin to tell you how angry this makes me. It's one thing when people who don't have a lot of education and who don't have access to sources of news other than Fox News refuse to consult any part of their brain other than the reptilian one. But I know who these "few old Jews in Century Village" are. My grandmother was an old Jew in Century Village and I spent four days with her in the early 1980's. These are not stupid people. These are not people who don't know where to get information. This is willful fucking ignorance.

My mother isn't an old Jew in Century Village, but she's an old Jew in North Carolina. She's been to Israel, she loves Israel, and she voted for Barack Obama. So don't tell me that these people don't have access to the same information she does.

So who are these people going to vote for? John McCain, who's "proud" of his endorsement from a so-called "pastor" who thinks God Himself sent Hitler to move the Jews to Israel?



Come on, people! The deal has always been that we may not be athletic, but we're smart. Don't take that away from us.

Labels: American Jewry, Barack Obama, idiocy, Israel

His grandfather, Prescott Bush:

George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany.

The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism.

His business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy.

The evidence has also prompted one former US Nazi war crimes prosecutor to argue that the late senator's action should have been grounds for prosecution for giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

The debate over Prescott Bush's behaviour has been bubbling under the surface for some time. There has been a steady internet chatter about the "Bush/Nazi" connection, much of it inaccurate and unfair. But the new documents, many of which were only declassified last year, show that even after America had entered the war and when there was already significant information about the Nazis' plans and policies, he worked for and profited from companies closely involved with the very German businesses that financed Hitler's rise to power. It has also been suggested that the money he made from these dealings helped to establish the Bush family fortune and set up its political dynasty.

Yes, folks, the Bush family money comes from the blood of the very annihilated Jews the memory of whom the state of Israel is supposed to honor. When George W. Bush goes to his "ranch", it's with Nazi money. When he holds a big wedding for his daughter, it's with Nazi money. When he vacations at the family compound in Kennebunkport, it's with Nazi money.

You want to talk about appeasing Hitler? Bring it on, motherfuckers.

Labels: George W. Bush, Israel

Cernig makes an interesting point about Captain Codpiece's speech before the Knesset yesterday. The conventional wisdom, even offered by Keith Olbermann last night, is that it was Bush injecting himself into the presidential race while speaking in another country. But Cernig thinks it's about something else:

Most American pundits want to see Bush's remarks as an attack on Barrack Obama but folks - it's not always about your country and your political races. For one thing, as Brian Katulis adroitly notes, if negotiating is appeasement then the Bush administration has done an awful lot of appeasement itself over the last seven years. And Brian doesn't even mention working with Sunni Awakening members in Iraq who not too long ago were terrorists attacking US forces! For another, if Bush's remarks were really intended to help John McCain, the latter wouldn't go shooting himself in the foot like this:

“Yes, there have been appeasers in the past, and the president is exactly right, and one of them is Neville Chamberlain,'’ Mr. McCain told reporters on his campaign bus after a speech in Columbus, Ohio. “I believe that it’s not an accident that our hostages came home from Iran when President Reagan was president of the United States. He didn’t sit down in a negotiation with the religious extremists in Iran, he made it very clear that those hostages were coming home.'’

Need I say that "Iran-Contra" and "appeasement" really do belong in the same sentence together?

[snip]

Bush, in his speech to the Knesset, signalled clearly that his administration will quietly support Israel if it decided to take direct action against Iran - as it did recently against Syria. It's worth noting that any Israeli attack on Iran would almost certainly have to transit Iraqi airspace.

It's no wonder that there are people in this country still muttering about the Jewish Lobby and the 12 Jewish bankers and Jew Jew Jew Jew Jew, when it often seems as if Israel is, in terms of Washington policy, not an ally like any other ally, but some kind of 51st superstate whose interests and needs (and paranoia) must by definition override all other foreign policy considerations.

It may be amusing to watch Tweety (who I notice is back to being Tweety again after correcting his recent red dyejob; perhaps he read He Who Must Not Be Mentioned and decided that he'd rather be Tweety than Gossamer after all) eviscerate the histrionic Kevin James (the radio idiot, not the stand-up comic) on national television (h/t):



...but leaving aside the fact that James seems to actually HAVE spent the last six years hiding under the bed with a roll of duct tape in one hand and a package of plastic sheeting in the other (and you'd also figure a pipeful of crack in his mouth, based on his demeanor), the level of hysteria on the right over poor, pitiful Israel -- the Hillary Clinton of nations in its ability to kick just about anyone's ass from here to Sunday when crossed, but which more useful to some people as a damsel in distress -- is profoundly disturbing.

Barack Obama's loyalty to this country is constantly questioned. I have even been asked by a friend whether I truly believe he's loyal to our country -- and the fact that she no longer wants to discuss the election with me means her wingnut friends sending her e-mails about how he's a secret Muslim terrorist have won that particular battle of the mind. His loyalty is questioned because of his funny name, the color of his skin, his African father and his hippie mother, and his ability to hold two thoughts in his head in the same time and see colors other than -- no pun intended -- black and white.

But lately it seems his loyalty to Israel is also constantly being questioned, because he doesn't follow the Official U.S. Line of Everything Israel Does Is By Definition Virtuous and Right -- a line that has done nothing to resolve the conflict in the area and which is an assumption that we grant to no other ally in the world. But more disturbingly, it seems as if pledging unquestioning loyalty oaths to Israel is a prerequisite for the presidency, in the eyes of the Republican Party.

It isn't about appealing to Jewish voters, either, though I'm sure that's part of it. But in a recent poll, only 23% of Jewish voters in the U.S. cited Israel as a top issue and fully 40% of Jewish voters regarded Israel as "extreme" -- a smaller percentage than regarded Iran, Hamas, or Hezbollah as extreme, but given the assumption that Israel trumps all in the minds of Jewish voters, it would seem that this No Questioning Israel litmus test is perhaps just a bit unreasonable.

Of course even as I write, Pat Buchanan is on Morning Joe insisting that Israel IS the most important thing on the minds of Jewish voters, so once again, it seems there is a disconnect between what's actually happening and what pundits say are happening.

Every four years we go through this assiduous courting of "The Jewish Vote", as if a group of the kind of polyglot, squabbling people that American Jews are, can ever be lumped together into one group. This year it seems to be even more ferocious, here at the intersection of Bonb Iran Lane Avenue and He's Really a Musliim Terrorist Lane.

Labels: Israel

If some guy named Sean O'Malley or Worthington J. Graham were to ask this, it would be tantamount to muttering conspiracies about Jewish bankers and the Rothschilds. But since it's Glenn Greenwald, a Member of the Tribe, it's worth reading his inquiry about why it is that American politicians are expected to swear an oath of loyalty to Israel in a way they aren't required to for any other American ally.

The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg conducted what he's calling an "interview" with Barack Obama regarding Israel, but it sounded much more like an inquisition. Goldberg repeatedly demanded that Obama swear his devotion to Israel and affirm prevailing orthodoxies ("I'm curious to hear you talk about the Zionist idea. Do you believe that it has justice on its side?"; "Go to the kishke question, the gut question: the idea that if Jews know that you love them, then you can say whatever you want about Israel, but if we don't know you –- Jim Baker, Zbigniew Brzezinski –- then everything is suspect. There seems to be in some quarters, in Florida and other places, a sense that you don’t feel Jewish worry the way a senator from New York would feel it"; "Do you think that Israel is a drag on America's reputation overseas?"; "If you become President, will you denounce settlements publicly?"). Afterwards, Goldberg pronounced himself satisfied: "Obama expressed -- in twelve different ways -- his support for Israel to me."

Marty Peretz, after a telephone conversation with Obama devoted primarily to Israel, similarly clears Obama of any suspicions of disloyalty, approvingly noting that Obama "recognizes" that Israeli settlements of the West Bank are not "the core problem" for the conflict with the Palestinians (to Peretz, such settlements "are very much a side-issue"). Peretz further decrees that Obama's "exhilarating experience with American Jews and with their bonds to the dream and realities of Israel" was evident in both Goldberg's interview and in Obama's call with Peretz.

Isn't it bad enough that Obama's loyalty to THIS country has been questioned because he doesn't like to equate the wearing of a fifty-cent flag pin made in China to love of country? Do we have to make him swear fealty to Israel too? Especially when Obama has a commanding lead over McCain among Jewish voters anyway? Who set up the Zionist punditocracy as the Arbiter of Jewish Acceptability?

Labels: Barack Obama, Israel

Forget for a moment that McCain is running on "I will have a plan" and that you should just vote for him without knowing anything about what his "plans" are. What he said here, in saying this:



...is that the ONLY reason for our involvement in the Middle East is oil. Just oil. Nothing about "protecting our strongest ally in that region", nothing about Israel. So tell all your elderly Jewish relatives who think that John McCain would somehow be better for Israel than that schvartze (sic) with the funny name to wake the hell up. And while you're at it, remind them that their current favorite, Sen. Clinton, is trying to emulate Sen. McCain every step of the way.

Israel is nothing but a political cudgel for these people. Ironically, even the apocalyptic lunatics like Hagee and Dobson are more "friends of Israel" than these people, because at least they NEED Israel for their dreams of being raptured home to Jesus can come true. For people like John McCain, who despite his protestations of Baptistry, is as secular a man as you're going to find in the Republican party, Israel need not outlive its political usefulness by even one second.

(h/t)

Labels: Israel, John McCain, Middle East, oil

Hillary Clinton is starting to sound as batshit crazy as McCain:

"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," Clinton said. "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."

The interview runs on Good Morning America Tuesday morning.

Come on, Pennsylvania...don't screw this up. Some of us don't relish the thought of global thermonuclear war perpetrated by either a guy with anger management issues or a woman who has to prove she can be just as warlike as the craziest guys are. And some of us who are Jews really don't want to take the blame for $500/barrel oil, either.

UPDATE: One of our commenters has chastised me for not mentioning that Clinton's remarks were in response to a question about what she would do if Iran nuked Israel. Aside from the fact that the question was clearly designed to put into the heads of viewers that Iran does, in fact, have nuclear weapons at the present time, I stand my view that even speculating about this in an interview, especially as a bid for Jewish votes, is batshit crazy.

Clinton "clarified" her remarks on Countdown last night:

OLBERMANN: You mentioned the oil suppliers and that obviously leads us into something else that really flew by during the debate that seemed awfully important. In that debate you were asked about a hypothetical Iranian attack on Israel and your hypothetical response as commander in chief and you said, let me read the quote exactly, “I think that we should be looking to create an umbrella of deterrence that goes much further than Israel. Of course I would make it clear to the Iranians that an attack on Israel would include massive retaliation from the United States but I would do the same with other countries in the region.”

Can you clarify since there was no follow-up to that which hypothetical Middle East conflicts would incur massive retaliation by this country and what constitutes massive retaliation?

CLINTON: Well, what we were talking about was the potential for a nuclear attack by Iran. If Iran does achieve what appears to be its continuing goal of obtaining nuclear weapons — and I think deterrence has not been effectively used in recent times. We used it very well during the Cold War when we had a bipolar world — and what I think the president should do and what our policy should be is to make it very clear to the Iranians that they would be risking massive retaliation were they to launch a nuclear attack on Israel.

In addition, if Iran were to become a nuclear power it could set off an arms race that would be incredibly dangerous and destabilizing because the countries in the region are not going to want Iran to be the only nuclear power so I could imagine that they would be rushing to obtain nuclear weapons themselves.

In order to forestall that, creating some kind of a security agreement where we said, no, you do not need to acquire nuclear weapons if you were the subject of an unprovoked nuclear attack by Iran, the United States and hopefully our NATO allies would respond to that as well.

It is a theory that some people have been looking at because there is a fear that if Iran, which I hope we can prevent, becoming a nuclear power, but if they were to become one some people worry that they are not deterrable, that they somehow have a different mindset and a worldview that might very well lead the leadership to be willing to become martyrs.

I don’t buy that but I think we have to test it and one of the ways of testing it is to make it very clear that we are not going to permit them, if we can prevent them, from becoming a nuclear power. But were they to become one, their use of nuclear weapons against Israel would provoke a nuclear response from the United States, which personally I believe would prevent it from happening and that we would try to help the other countries that might be intimidated and bulled into submission by Iran because they were a nuclear power, avoid that state by creating this new security umbrella.

Ben Smith at Politico reports that Harold Wolfson had said earlier that she wasn't referring to nuclear weapons when she referred to "massive retaliation", but she made damn clear last night that she was.

This puts her firmly into the neocon camp, where the interests, or the perceived interests of Israel trump everything. Given that Russia would be likely to side with Iran in such a conflict, it's a setup for the return of Mutually Assured Destruction, a Dr. Strangelove scenario of horrific proportions. And I still don't think the American people are going to be willing to risk this for Israel.

And I don't want to see any comments calling me an anti-Semite, either. The soil of Poland is littered with the gassed and incinerated ashes of my relatives.

Labels: Hillary Clinton, insanity, Israel

Why can't we discuss Israel? because its a big pain in the ass, thats why.
Greetings from the hell pit that my life has been lately, and my recovery day from the wonderful bar mitzvah yesterday of a fantastic kid who I have watched grow into a really great person. It was touching and funny and I really enjoyed it. But because I'm somewhat of a "negative" person or something, (I prefer a sort of Woody Allen before-the-fall, neurotic-ish, realist, NYC, outlook...thats not all that negative is it?) My perception of things is always about what is happening between the lines, inside the message, and I agonize so much about all this organized religion stuff. But this temple and rabbi always get me because the Israel issue is BIG...and that sticks in my craw a little...and why? Because the ideas that are swirling around this community and this country, and what people end up feeling and acting on regarding the hardest issues that we face these days involve a sort of stark fear..

Liberals pussyfoot around this issue because its such a sensitive spot and it seems to hit every soft spot of emotion and fear possible. The passion involved makes it impossible to argue it, much less fight a war over it. In dealing with something that inevitably leads to religious issues, I've found that its best to not set foot in that taboo land of god.How could I possibly understand faith? Its something that I lack, for better or worse...except for a faith in nature and certain people...far fewer these days and ever dwindling. I also don't know as much as I should about the political details of the holy land, probably, because I reject the idea of religious war and I don't believe that any god that exists gives a shit about land and temples or shrines and governing entities deciding who gets what . I think that if there is a test to being human and gaining entrance into whatever heaven might be, and if its in the scriptures or written in the skies, it must concern how easily a soul is able to let go of these earthly things, and understand that there is no control over anything, much less who gets the rights to one holy place or another. It also must be somewhat about how we treat our worst enemy and the weakest among us...right? And something about looking within and questioning our motives and the societal standards and rules set up around those motives.

If we can't see ourselves in every person out there and have empathy for the struggles of others, then what good is it if we own the ground that god's son walked on? Its only a piece of dirt...how does that compare to a life? Or is life really that cheap?
The human animal has always migrated, and there have always been wars, along with barbaric behavior, in order to gain control of whatever the Spice resource of the time is.
Today at part 1 of the epic bar mitzvah, of the guy with the turtle above, sorta like a young man now, I saw a bunch of people that I've known for more years than I can remember passing me by. And again I was in that pew wondering about what goes into this wonderful community thing that unfortunately also includes giving up a certain amount of logic and reason and accepting the feeling of a very definite line of separation between these people and...others outside of this place. These are the chosen people, after all. I'm not denying that. I think its good to have a well developed ego and feeling about purpose in this life, but what of the rest of us...the...er...left behind...what about us?
Who was I and how did I get through all of everything for all of these years? Who are these young adults and how did they get so big? The boys were shrugging off their mothers fixing their hair or patting their shoulders; the girls were in little cliques and talking in code, holding their phones, and flipping that young shiny hair around. Its all so young and fertile and...scary....because the time really did fly by like nothing. But still, we've all been busy, busy, so its not yet porch and rocking chair time. We still have weddings to go through and grandchildren too, I suppose (though I have been notified by my young alien that he intends to give me NO grandchildren....whatever...I'm beyond trying to reason with the creature until he is at least 18...because he knows everything! And he can see the future!)

During all of that hugging of people I hadn't seen in so long, and measuring all the kids against my vaguely changing self, (at least I hope I'm not changing as fast as they are,) the "liberal-politics-blogger" and how is it going thing came up over and over...to which I had to explain that I've been away and so crazy busy, etc...and that this blog of not much content, is not what I do usually, and all that...yeah, not much posting going on lately....
Along came a dad who I guess I have known since nursery school in the little schoolhouse up the road, and we have met the family again since Will has joined the son in a different school. I was talking about blogging, with some friends, and especially a friend who started a business/bakery that makes snacks for kids with food allergies, and who is adding a blog to her site, when dad piped in that he is a friend of Joe Lieberman and worked on his campaign and has been involved in politics himself. Silence. Should I go there?
Don't do it Melina! Don't jump! But, you know me....
"I have to say...well, you must know... that Joe is not my favorite person in the world, though I would like to talk to him, if I can find him."
So, my friend with the food allergy site glazed over and moved on to say hello to other friends. My other friend just sat there glazed and unbelieving that I was actually going there, and looking to the side for escape possibilities. I bit:
"I actually was just in Chicago with Ned Lamont. I worked on his campaign. I LOVE him! I hope he runs again for anything."
And then I went on to say that I know that Joe has a great voting record, and that he has been not so bad for us. But the problem is that he thinks that his skewed view of the Iraq war is compelling enough, against the views of all the experts and in siding with a view that only George Bush and Barney the dog support anymore, to tear the Democratic party apart, not respect our wishes, and threaten over and over to take his vote to the republican side. This goes against what his constituents want and we have made that clear. The majority of us don't want him to be doing what he's doing, and yet he keeps speaking out in favor of the war...at the same time speaking to us in a condesending, paternalistic fashion, which makes clear that he believes that we are children who dont know our own minds.
I then took a breath.
To which he said: "Well then, how do you feel about Israel?"
Hmmm...How do I feel about Israel?
I was trying to say that it was complicated and that I don't believe in war for land...that perhaps it has a strategic purpose in the Middle east, and that I really don't know enough about all the details to speak on some of these issues....
And, fuck it, I'm a PC liberal...and we don't talk about this subject.
But heres the rub: Joementum Lieberman uses the psychology of fear about the Holocaust/Israel, and it somehow bleeds into a line about Iraq and Iran, and how the Middle East is "gonna blow up," and how unsafe we are. I felt myself mouthing that "be afraid, be very afraid..." line....That mushroom soup with the puff pastry mushroom floating on top could soon be a mushroom cloud!

Part of this is just Joementum talking points , and there is a pretty big fear of the middle east, in general, going round. What it would mean to us if it "blew-up," which seems pretty selfish somehow, because if it blows up (and I think that this rhetoric line involves wars and civil war and Iran taking over Iraq and becoming that much more powerful,) but mostly what it comes down to for many, many people is this myth that Joe is somehow holding Israel together all by himself.
And we don't talk about Israel...or do we?
Supporting Israel is to honor the fallen Holocaust victims. I hear this alot.

I finally said to the woman next to me (a very smart woman, I should add,) that America is NOT deserting Israel no matter what any of us think. And she said that she was not so sure. She said that some of the women at her synagogues had said to her that if Obama got in they were worried about America's continued support of Israel...and also said that if he was the nominee, even as vice, that they would vote republican! Republican!!

She didn't say that she felt that way, but I was sort of plunged into another reality, almost a splash of cold water, shaking my head to try to wake up...
I was tired...it was a long day...and I couldn't see any of this ending well or helping anyone come to any great conclusion. So, I ended the long night of part 2, disco party/sit down dinner, by talking to a friend's husband who I had never had a chance to really talk to...and we had alot in common and he was fun to talk to...so there...I had to flee to a sympathetic and agreeing listener...and talk tech, agreement politics, and recovery.

OK, here is my point: Do I know enough about Israel? No...not enough to know the ins and outs of the legal wrangling. But, I really don't believe in war, especially in the name of "god," whatever that means anymore.
What I really don't believe in, is American children being taught that they are in danger of another genocide and so they should always know that they are really wedded to another country that they are supporting from afar. I think that American children need to be raised American, and that they have to know that if there is another attempted genocide, we will all stand up and say NO! This would presumably be part of the superior American education system that is teaching decision making and philosophy and ethics...oh, wait a minute...never mind....

To this, I've heard " Well, they didnt stand up and say NO last time, did they?"
But you know, genocides have been going on since the beginning of time and even more recently since the Holocaust, and there is even one right now in Darfur. Why is it that the Jewish genocide was worse, and deserving of a country of its own?
At one point the dad said that (well, you're a Jew, right? ...No, my mom isn't, so I'm not, Oh...) hadn't I ever experienced antisemitism?...
Uh-Oh.... there I was with a black kid who lives part of the time in the "inner city," such-as-it-is, of my town, and please don't tell me that antisemitism is worse than the racism that people of color experience all the time. They can't even hide their difference...so don't tell me that you are saying that this piece of the barbaric human experience is any more poignant and deserving of a separate state than that; not for the antisemitism reason anyway. Its all bad and its all the very vilest of human nature to attack those who don't look like them, worship like them, live like them...fill in the blank....is Israel purely about reparations?
As I looked around the synagogue that morning, I noted that there was but one girl of color, a light skinned African-American girl. Why is that? Why is it that no black people can afford to live around here? Someone actually said to me that there are no black Jews, to which I said, ...um...NO?!

And anyway, this synagogue experience is supposed to be all about welcoming anyone in the community who wants to drop in for services and a bite. Its really quite nice and welcoming with kids running around and people whispering and shuffling. Its like a microcosm of real life minus racial diversity and plus a cantor. The rabbi is a cool guy who is a rabid Red Sox fan, and often uses baseball metaphors to make his point. It's just unfortunate that the mass transit system here is totally unreliable and on the weekends its worse...so its not like many people of color are walking down the street. No, they tend to be pretty much corralled down by I-95 where they were put in the first place.

The thing is that this sort of racism is still a huge problem here in America; and its your America where you need to direct some of your attention... because this meddling in the middle east in order to ensure the safety of Israel ,(and the oil...don't forget the oil,) and something about terraists, is only making us less and less safe here...and more and more fearful of people who look different and live differently than we do.

Call it a series of strategic military outposts, call it our need for oil, call it anything, but don't call it anti-semitism or say that its your real country. Your actual country is here under your feet, until you move over there and take citizenship or dual citizenship. Most people I know wouldn't think of moving there permanently, but they have this blind support thing going on. Its a nice place to visit and it makes them feel closer to God, so who am I to question?

I am all for that actually. Faith is a fantastic thing.... But how many people do you want to have died in a civil war in a country that will never right itself until we are out of there, and how many kids should die to protect a country that was created as a deal with a people who needed or wanted a land of their own...? Here is where I don't know enough...
My big question of the night was : And how will you all get there when the next holocaust comes? Airlift? Ship?...whats the plan?

In desperation, the dad parried with a "But If we pull out of Iraq, it will be carnage."
Thrust: "If we stay its carnage."

"God wants us to have Israel...no shit...its in the Torah."
"God wrote that?"
"Yes!"
"On paper?...they didnt have paper back then. On leaves? On rock? God told man??"

So man, in his imperfection, has translated what he heard in his head??? And a zillion years later we are still living by those rules? Oh please....I was saying something about metaphor and the study of theology and the guy wanted to know exactly-which-scrolls-and-bibles-I-have-read...so as to...you know...argue them with me, point by point...but I was finished already when we were talking about how the thing came into being in the first place...there IS no argument past that on the content...is there? Its a matter of faith..which I don't possess....sorry...Its really tragic for me, I know...
See, at this point I start to go all Marc Maron, internally. I want to assure you all out there that this was in no way loud, and it happened over a 12 hour period of time, in that certain people were seeking me out to finish, and I was ducking...here was a full grown man, and a hall full of people for that matter, who, at the root of this whole thing, believe in a theory that relates back to a story told to man by a being who is rather invisible and who flies...then the man wrote it down...miracles...more magic...and here we are!

I'm not putting down anyone's belief because I know it brings comfort, but its at moments like this that I know that I am one of those Sun God folks...In that early man worshiped the sun because it was a tangible thing that they could see and it gave them food, warmth, and light; that makes sense to me. In the same way, I am in awe of the nature that I am surrounded with, and the unplanned way that grandpa has kept this place somewhere between wild and falling down, has given me a real respect for how the forest can send its tentacles into your walls and take your house down very quickly, just as a buck (deer, not my dog, Buck,) will stand outside my back door and stomp his hoove at me rather than run away.
Is that a physical ecological cycle or is it magic made possible by god?

Whatever gives anyone comfort in this world is a good thing, just don't use it to launch wars on my dime and with the kids from my country, unless there is really, really good reason...and Im sorry, there just isn't enough reason here.
Just like anything else, we are supposedly learning in our religious practice, and it goes in cycles that could be hearkened to the political cycle. So, If you elect the cowboy who you would like to have a beer with; if you dumb down education; if you don't care enough to get up from the couch during Who Wants to be a Millionaire, (at least to turn on Olbermann or Jon Stewart so you can learn something,) then this is what you get. If you raise your children to think that they are of an embattled people who are always in danger, you might not like what you get ultimately. Its all an experiment in human psychology because this holocaust stuff is pretty new in the scheme of things. In a hundred years everything will be different and if the planet still exists they will surely look back on this little episode as nothing more than insanity that gripped a powerful nation and caused many deaths/did alot of damage before things swung back the other way. So what does it matter anyway> Am I making some big point or something by just being there and being the one who people talk to about this stuff?

I guess that it was the Joementum thing that really got me. Here it is mathematically:

If Joe=Security for Israel=Security for the Middle East=keep the Iraq War Going=Bomb Iran=Vote Republican for SECURITY..because you should be afraid, very afraid...well, something is wrong....because the whole things equals that we are LESS FUCKING SECURE!! And no one can deny that; not even Joe.

Will the American people go for it again? I don't know. Some of this stuff is knee jerk with this crowd, but there is a whole world out there, and especially in the inner city who are wondering what Joe has done for them. Because, let me tell you, the all-children-in-Connecticut-have-health-insurance line is bullshit. Most of them may have something, but no one accepts it except for some downtown clinics, and you have to be a Rhodes Scholar with alot of time on your hands to get something like an operation approved...unless you go to the emergency room...and even then, you can be billed later if its not pre approved. But at least the hospital has a deal with the Husky plan and there is someone there who has gone to school to know how to deal with this stuff. And I would like to hear Joe speak to the unregulated utilities, and the public housing...the list goes on, folks...lets get Chris Shays in here too...he rides around on this magic carpet just as much as Joe....

One more thing, and this is for Ned Lamont who is one of my heroes, and who I would gladly support again: Two families were standing and talking and laughing about how proud they were of their kids getting involved in Joe's campaign and really working hard at rallies and with the signs, yelling. And I said, (I am such a kill-joy...they must just cringe when they see me coming...)
You know, where I go in the inner city, Joe sent big vans down and he hired black kids for $60-80 per day...sometimes a 12 hour shift...to wear a Joe T-shirt and be transported to rallies (often Ned Lamont rallies,) and cause a commotion and raise hell. I saw a bunch of them running up and down Greenwich Avenue. I also saw some of them instructed to push their way to the front of a crowd when Weicker was giving a speech for Lamont, and hold signs for Joe in front of the TV cameras. In doing that they also pushed and stepped on some pretty old and feeble people, not to mention ME. Now I am pretty strong and tall, but some of these kids were huge and more than a little menacing!

The thing that I found totally outrageous is that Joe's campaign was paying these kids money to support a cause that they didn't know about at all. I asked them if they knew what Joe stood for, and the few that I spoke with didn't, nor did they care, they just needed the job.
But the rub is that these kids live in a complex where very few people can get ahead in Lieberman's Connecticut. If the utilities are unpaid they are cut off. The utility companies have a 3 strikes, non negotiable policy these days. Once they cut off the utilities, the project starts eviction proceedings because its in the lease that utilities must remain on or the tenant will be evicted. If a tenant falls behind even one payment on their utilities they lose the option to pay by the budget plan, and they start getting hit with huge bills...and let me tell you from my side of town, these utility companies need some sort of regulation because they have a monopoly, no matter how much lip service they pay to offering an alternative...its not happening...and they keep raising rates. This cluster housing is a shining star that Joe and his people hold up as Connecticut's great advancement in helping the poor, but they give people an apartment a shoddily constructed house that looks nice form the outside but is made literally of plastic and they adjust the rent according to the income of the tenants, the lack of jobs and whatever is going on...BUT, the offer little help in the way of helping people understand how to balance a budget, how to have a checking account, how to pay bills, and they have no way of helping all of the families that need help when it comes with the utilities. The one social worker who helps the 230+ families in this complex works through a community center that is funded privately by one donor who saw a need and made this a permanent fixture. But I'm not seeing the city government stepping in regarding the fact that this one social worker cant possibly help everyone in the complex, and that the utilities have adopted a zero tolerance policy. I also see things like the supermarket being moved a couple of miles away, across the street from another big new supermarket...city planning at its best...and that the free WiFi provided to all of downtown stops at the edge of this community, so few people have access to the Internet unless they go to the community center. One emergency, one Dr bill, one mistake, and its over...

It is these kids who will eventually have to join the military for a signing bonus in order to bail their family out, bail themselves out, or just survive...

This is Joe's war...and they didn't even know that they were supporting the war by earning those few bucks wearing a T-shirt and handing out fliers.
I found that more perverted than any wide stance or page scandal. $60 or $80 a day doesn't go far, and neither does and additional 25 grand signing bonus when you think that someone could maybe go to college and earn a lifetime's worth of income....and that is nothing compared to what these lives might be worth if they had hope for the future beyond throwing themselves to the military because there are no jobs, and anyway, who can make it on minimum wage?

How much is a kid from the inner city worth these days? Apparently not much to Joe Lieberman and the people who he is scamming with the fear card.
So Joe is keeping us safe using these children...and its not working, but lets throw some more bodies in there just to see if we can turn it around against all odds...using these very children. But hey, they got a free T-shirt.

So, maybe they hate me, or just roll their eyes when I come around. maybe I HAVE to talk about this stuff because I cant do that "oh it's just to stressful for little me" thing. I don't see where politics stops and life begins. At what point do we get in our SUV's and drive away from the problems? I can't, because the people who are struggling to get by in this world, whether they have learned to work the system so are scam artists, or are honestly trying to get ahead, are all part of our society and all a product of the programs that we have created and canceled, for better or worse. So, there is no way to just go on with life and say "no talking politics tonight because its just too much for me" These people are us...aren't they? Couldn't each one be our brother or sister?...thats how we have to look at this.
What else is there?

Cross Posted From RIPCoco

Labels: Iran, Iraq, Israel, Joe Lieberman

Is this what we're supporting with our blind support of Israel?

The other day I was waiting for a bus in downtown Jerusalem. I was in the bustling orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of Mea Sharim and the bus stop was extremely crowded.

When the Number 40 bus arrived, the most curious thing happened. Husbands left heavily pregnant wives or spouses struggling with prams and pushchairs to fend for themselves as they and all other male passengers got on at the front of the bus.

Women moved towards the rear door to get on at the back.

When on the bus, I tried to buck the system, moving my way towards the driver but was pushed back towards the other women.

These are what orthodox Jews call "modesty buses".

The separation system operates on 30 public bus routes across Israel.

The authorities here say the arrangement is voluntary, but in practice, as I found out, there is not much choice involved.

'Abuse and threats'

Naomi Regen is one of a group of women now taking the separation bus system to court. She is an orthodox Jew herself.

"I wasn't trying to start a revolution, all I wanted to do was get home," she tells me.

"I was in downtown Jerusalem and I saw a bus going straight to my neighbourhood and I got on and sat down, in a single seat behind the driver.

"It was a completely empty bus, and all of a sudden, some men started getting on, ultra-orthodox men. They told me I was not allowed to sit there, I had to go to the back of the bus."

Not only is the segregation system discriminatory, says Ms Regen, but it can also be dangerous, she says, for those like her who ignore it.

"I said to him look, if you bring me a code of Jewish law and show me where it's written that I have to sit at the back of the bus I'll move.

"And he tried to gain support from the rest of the passengers and I underwent a half-hour of pure hell - abuse, humiliation, threats, even physical intimidation."

[snip]

One man told me that if some people wanted segregation buses they should pay a private company to provide them.

Another told me that in a society that is democratic and where the buses are subsidised by the government, a minority's concerns should not override those of the majority.

But Shlomo Rosenstein disagrees. He is a city councillor in Jerusalem where a large proportion of Israel's segregation lines operate.

"This really is about positive discrimination, in women's favour. Our religion says there should be no public contact between men and women, this modesty barrier must not be broken."

So tell me how this differs from the Islamic treatment of women that the lunatics on the right who are of the Hebraic persuasion (*cough* Debbie Schlussel *cough*) rail against?

And does anyone else think that "modesty buses" sounds just a bit too much like "purity balls"?

(h/t: Cernig)

Labels: fundamentalism, Israel, misogyny