Kucinich on Israel
January 8, 2009
Wow, The Osterley Times is really on a roll. They found a video of another of my political heroes, Dennis Kucinich, speaking out against the disproportionate force being employed by Israel in the Gaza conflict.
Israel has been denounced by the United Nations, The Red Cross, and Amnesty International, for attacking aid workers and failing to live up to their obligations to wounded civilians.
Israel and the Gaza Strip
January 7, 2009
I’ve changed my mind about talking about Israel. It needs to be said. I don’t plan on making a habit of it though.
CNN has come right out and said on live television that Israel broke the cease fire. Sources are listed here in another great video found over at The Osterley Times. President Carter also has come out with a similar statement in the Washington Post. The Times has been giving their full attention to the conflict in Gaza, with strong condemnation of Israel, which I can’t find much fault with. Neither side is innocent in this conflict, but I think it is clear that Israel is acting as an oppressor. They control the food, energy, medicine, and travel of those they have walled in, which includes both fighters and children, who they bomb nearly indiscriminately. They are a nuclear nation sending national military tanks and jets given to them by the U.S. into civilian areas to fight people who are using rocks and small rockets.
“If words are words, or death is death, or powder sends the ball, You spoke the words that sped the shot — the curse be on you all.” -Kipling
Israel is in violation of 35 UN Resolutions.
According to the international community, the Gaza strip is not Israeli land.
The U.S. has sent over 100 billion dollars in mostly military aid to Israel. That is $300 per U.S. Citizen, or $14,000 per Israeli.
According to U.S. law, “terrorism” means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents. If Israel weren’t recognized as a nation, Its acts would be those of terrorism. the U.S. doesn’t recognize Palestine’s right to exist, therefore, Any military action taken by Palestinians falls under the legal definition of terrorism. Israel uses this to their advantage in ways they couldn’t against another sovereign nation, which is the real reason any peace talks inevitably come to a screeching halt with each side demanding recognition as a nation.
Israel should be held accountable for every innocent death. That is what it is supposed to mean when you decide civilian losses are acceptable; that the situation is so dire that you will accept all repercussions and try to make amends, not to claim that it was OK because there were probably terrorists in the area. The Palestinians on the other hand should be treated as individuals, since their acts are not those of a nation’s military. Until we close Israel’s loopholes we will see no proportionality.
I think the primary problem is their near unconditional U.S. support. The nation status really is right at the heart of the problem. Make the people aware of why and suddenly the propaganda that was convincing begins to make them feel dirty.
Ron Paul on Gaza and the U.S. Economy
January 6, 2009
I’ve been pretty quiet about the conflicts around Israel. I don’t really want to get bogged down at the moment in a discussion that always ends up invoking Godwin’s law. I will go so far right now as to say that I agree with Ron Paul on the matter. He seems to be claiming that the U.S. knew weeks in advance that the attack was going to begin. I’m not surprised in a general sense if this is true, but I always figured if the whole of congress knew, it would have been leaked early.
He is right to be more worried about inflation than deflation. Deflation may be the current issue, and if nothing is done about that, we are likely in for a long drawn out recession, but the things they have set in motion will end up causing hyper-inflation in the end. I don’t mean to make deflation seem like a lesser threat; the problem is, deflation is a lot easier to counter than inflation, just print money. We have already printed more than enough to fix the problem, but the government and banks are still keeping it out of circulation. Sooner or later they will have pulled all the strings they can pull and then we will be at the mercy of what is left of the global free market. At that point, deflation won’t be the worry.
I found the video via The Osterley Times. They are a self described left wing blog, whatever that even means any more. The site focuses heavily on very current events, providing relevant commentary and video. If they can find common ground with Ron Paul, they are Ok by me.
Pat Buchanan
December 21, 2008
Pat is my favorite political commentator. I get a lot of flak for this. I don’t agree with a lot of what he says, but he has a solid perspective based an a mountain of knowledge. He often comes across as bigoted, which can be puzzling, since it seems to be mostly counter to the way he sees current reality. He is a paleoconservative and nationalist in the extreme. What is often mistaken for racism is a strong conviction that if you are in America, you should be an American first, including subscribing to what he sees as the socially conservative heritage and giving up other affiliations. Reality occasionally clashes with his faith-based convictions making it seem as if the man has two worldviews, each of which he argues with extreme conviction, but which are mutually exclusive. Maybe I’m just used to this because my dad seems to think the same way.
He is one of the core members of the McLaughlin Group, where every Friday he can be seen trying desperately to get a word in edgewise while enunciating all of his points with his signature chop (pictured). In the past he has been mostly in contention with Eleanor Clift, but recently the two seem to agree with each other more than they agree with the more centrist members of the group (I can identify with this). In a recent episode he coined the term Toyota Republicans to refer to the demographic of mostly southern workers at foreign car plants here in the U.S.
He is a very sharp 70 years young, and has a resume including a masters in Journalism from Columbia University, opposition speech writer and advisor to Nixon, white house communications advisor (85-87), and three time presidential candidate.
He coined the term ‘silent majority’
What impresses me most about him is that while he has a strong desire to turn the country towards Christianity, which he sees as its roots, he has an iron grip on the current reality and is able to predict how a complex political or social issue will play out with as great an accuracy if it is going against his goals as if it is moving towards them. He has biased opinions, but near impartial predictions.
Quotes:
“Whose moral code says we may interfere with a man’s right to be a practicing bigot, but must respect and protect his right to be a practicing sodomite?”
“There are only two groups that are beating the drums for war in The Middle East – the Israeli Defense Ministry and its amen corner in the United States.”
“We are thus in the position of having to borrow from Europe to defend Europe, of having to borrow from China and Japan to defend Chinese and Japanese access to Gulf oil, and of having to borrow from Arab emirs, sultans and monarchs to make Iraq safe for democracy. We borrow from the nations we defend so that we may continue to defend them. To question this is an unpardonable heresy called ‘isolationism.’”
“The village atheist has the right to be heard; he has no right to be heeded. While he has a right not to have his own children indoctrinated in what he believes are false and foolish teachings, he has no right to dictate what other children may be taught.”
“Neither Beltway party is going to drain this swamp, because to them it is not a swamp at all, but a projected wetland and their natural habitat”
Books:
Day of Reckoning: How Hubris, Ideology, and Greed Are Tearing America Apart
State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America
The Great Betrayal: How American Sovereignty and Social Justice Are Being Sacrificed to..
A Republic, Not an Empire: Reclaiming America’s Destiny
Conservative votes, liberal victories: Why the right has failed
Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?
Secular Right: Reality & Reason
December 2, 2008
I’d like to take a moment to welcome a new blog into the fray. Secular Right has several contributors, most of whom lean more towards the republican secular, rather than our brand of libertarian heathen. Still, I find it to be a thought provoking blog with a good conversation to offer, and Mod-willing I’ll be participating via comment and the occasional link from here. My main concern about the site is one of terminology. Language is extremely powerful in its ability to classify in a way that reorganizes the way the brain thinks. Limiting the political spectrum to two dimensions is what has put us in the straits we are in today. When we have only right, left, and center to describe a political ideology, we misrepresent the views of the majority of its members and create an us vs them psychology that leads to deadlock and animosity. To lump secular vs all of the various religions, environmentalism vs people-first, socialist vs free-market, progressive vs conservative, isolationist vs internationalist, etc. into a single two dimensional construct is counter productive to the conversation and demeans those who feel unrepresented by the two party system.