Reader Rob Browne sent along this interesting update on the Congressional letter to Hillary Clinton on rebuilding Gaza. First Browne points out that there are 62 signatories, not 60, as Reps continue to sign on. The latest are Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) and Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ-08). Browne writes about Pascrell:
What I find interesting is that this is the first time I can remember Rep. Pascrell signing onto something like this letter. I don't know if that is important in the big picture, but I thought you might like to know this bit of anecdotal information.
Very interesting. Pascrell, 72, is a representative who went from defending Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard in 1997 to saying this on the house of the floor earlier this month:
Military action will not result in an enduring resolution of these long simmering tensions. It is only through diplomacy and a strengthening of the Israeli Palestinian reconciliation process that a sustainable two state solution will be achieved. The violence must stop and the healing process begin, before more civilians are hurt and more lives are destroyed.
That's the story of one of the 62, demographic and constituency change, what are the others? Although we would hope that Congress would be moved by the incredible bloodshed and damage Israel wrought with US weapons and tax dollars, we know this isn't the case.
There are many theories to explain why Congress acts the way it does towards Israel. Yet we know there is always one definite way to influence our representatives: through their pocketbooks . Towards this end Browne has set up a page on the website ActBlue where you can show your support for the Congresspeople who have signed this letter. The page is called "A Dream of Peace: Justice and Equality for the People of Israel and Palestine" and in five days it has raised $3,380.
(Adam Horowitz)
[Weiss comments: My loving mother was born in Paterson. Also: Pascrell's wisdom about military action is absolutely and specifically the Lesson of Iraq. It demonstrates that all that bloodshed and waste and horror was not completely in vain: that it has imparted some wisdom to American leaders about the political character of terrorism.]
I don't agree with sending money to congresspersons. Send it for aid to Gaza. How much money do they need to defend secure seats in Congress? When you look at the amount that AIPAC gives, does that really buy agreement? Nobody ever compares it to how much is raised in general, and how much is really needed. If anything, it's public criticism that scares them. Our job should be to make sure that it can't be used in that way. That takes organization and expression, not money. It will also need to be connected to Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. Obama is nowhere near this, to say the least. Khe Sanh?? U.S. exceptionalism and triumphalism carries on.
I notice a recent influx of snarky pro-Israel comentators on this blog. Could it have to do with this news:
Pro-Israel media: Bloggers join media war
Some 1,000 new immigrants and foreign-language-speaking Jews volunteer to army of bloggers set up by Absorption Ministry and Foreign Ministry with the stated objective of flooding blogs with pro-Israel opinions.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3663679,00.html
Paterson is also the birthplace of NJ's Senator Frank Lautenberg. Given that Lautenberg was born in 1924, his Paterson origin reflects the demographics of three generations ago, when the silk magnates still lived on the patrician Eastside.
Now Paterson is heavily Latin American, Middle Eastern and Caribbean (as evidenced by the jerk chicken stores on 10th Avenue). So Pascrell presumably is reflecting the thinking of his constituents, many of whom woould consider themselves economic underdogs, and thus identify with Gaza's underdog status.
Speaking of Lautenberg, there ought to be a Senate version of that House letter. And I'll bet Frankie won't sign. At age 85, and a multimillionaire (despite having lost a bit of it to Bernie Madoff), he need not give a damn. He's NJ's answer to Strom Thurmond, LOL.
Congress sends billions to Israel because it comes back to them as campaign contributions. The bloodshed is a bonus.
I like the concept of financially rewarding those members of Congress willing to stick their necks out for Palestinian rights, given that traditionally there has been no campaign contribution upside to doing so — and it is actually a liability given Zionist efforts to target those candidates who want to treat Palestinians as human beings.
On quibble: why isn’t Ron Paul on the list? He was one of only FIVE members of Congress to oppose House Resolution 24, which endorsed Israel as a specifically Jewish state, and basically gave it free reign to bomb the Gaza Palestinians to whatever extent it saw fit. He made an articulate statement AGAINST it on the floor.
“>link to MuslimsVoteRonPaul.com
As we're all saying, the press is the key and we have to force the news media to report the actual facts, rather than some a priori prejudice.
For more about American self-deceptive support of Zionism masquerading as news, see Alison Weirs's
"Fact-Checking the Ceasefire Breaches
Killing Palestinians Doesn't Count"
Not only Muslim, but Palestinian, and not only Palestinian, but disproportionately West Bank and Gazan, as opposed to (say) Golani or Carmeli Palestinians. As Palestinian as Dearborn is Iraqi (Christian, Assyrian, and Chaldean.) Mark LeVine once quipped in a moment of bleak humor that a TRULY genocidal Israel would have to nuke Paterson, NJ.
All Diaspora politics is local politics.
"Mark LeVine once quipped in a moment of bleak humor that a TRULY genocidal Israel would have to nuke Paterson, NJ."
All the more reason to immediately disarm Israel of its nukes…there likely will come a day when the Zionists will want to use them on Americans. Organized Jewry has a long history of eventually turning on its gentile benefactors viciously. It-just-doesn't-like-gentiles. Why is that so hard for some people to see?
What do you expect from a people who have written for 3 thousand years that the world is divided into two groups by G-D? And that it's a zero-sum game, except for PR purposes? Mamet brain, world pain.
SUSIE KNEEDLER?
Is this a joke being played on me? There's an OSU English professor by that name who is so despised by her colleagues (of whom I am one) that there are lots of jokes about blowing up buildings just to get rid of her.
Could it be?
LeVine was rather bitterly making the point that Diaspora Jews and Palestinians, despite the maximalist rhetoric, live rather well together, and that the rhetoric implies things that no sane person would ever contemplate, as a matter of course.
PHIL, FROM ABOVE: "It demonstrates that all that bloodshed and waste and horror was not completely in vain: that it has imparted some wisdom to American leaders about the political character of terrorism."
ME: Yes, and it has taught Americans an iddy biddy bit about geography!
"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography." – Ambrose Bierce
Why is that so hard for some people to see?
Posted by: Ed | January 29, 2009 at 01:07 PM
Because the pictures you show have too many proven lies. They see all right, right through your misbegotten picture.
Eurosabra: "Diaspora Jews and Palestinians, despite the maximalist rhetoric, live rather well together"
So what does that say about religious or dogmatic states of any stripe where the fighting never ceases, and whether the West should endorse any of them? Unless the US stops taking sides, the terrorism and fighting is bound to spill over into our borders. In fact, it already has. Witness 9/11. But the Israel lobby insists we must take sides. And the spineless two-party-regime rolls right over for it every time.
I don’t think reasonable Americans will object to the existence of a Jewish state any more than the existence of an Islamic one. But it’s unreasonable to demand they underwrite either, because that inevitably implicates us.
This is Libertarianism 101, which the Founders knew well, but succeeding generations seem totally ignorant of. I guess our contemporary “leaders” think they know better than the Founders.
@ chris berel,
I didn't say individual Jews don't like gentiles, I said organized Jewry doesn't. There's a difference. Something seems to click when you all get together in a claque. Maybe it's as simple as the mob mentality.
SUSIE KNEEDLER …. Posted by: necssarily anonymous in Columbus
Goodness me! that isn't just trolling, it's a full-blown, old-fashioned poison-pen letter!
SUSIE KNEEDLER?
Is this a joke being played on me? There's an OSU English professor by that name who is so despised by her colleagues (of whom I am one) that there are lots of jokes about blowing up buildings just to get rid of her.
Could it be?
If you truly are a colleague of Susie, put your cards on the table and give us your name. Susie uses her real name. Then we can talk about the situation in Palestine/Israel. If not, we'll assume you're a recent recruit to "the cause" intending to frighten. It won't work. If the "blowing up buildings" is any way a serious threat, you'll be prosecuted to the full extent. We have an often vicious "debate" on the issues here, but we don't engage in personal threats of violence.
Leave Susie alone.
Is being despised by an entire English Department an insult or a complement?
Ed asks a very good question to Eurosabra. If Jews and Palestinians can get along in the diaspora, doesn't this suggest something's wrong back in the lands where they don't? Seems both need white gentiles to get them over the hump. Interesting, considering Judaism and Islam rule over there, not Christian or secular Christian people.
Is being despised by an entire English Department an insult or a complement?
:-)
The West had its religious wars for centuries, perhaps the last gasps of which took place in the 20th Century as wars of secular doctrine. Having been through the Laundromat of Western civilization, organized Jewry had supposedly learned along with Westerners the folly of the enterprise. It turns out it learned nothing, or learned all of the wrong lessons, perhaps because of its inward-looking, closed-society identity. Whatever the case, it’s now trying to drag the West back into religious wars, and gentile American useful idiots of both Left and Right are going right along — primarily Christian Zionists and Judeophile liberals who also apparently learned nothing, or are incapable of learning, mouth-breathers that they are.
If Susie's colleagues in her English Department cant even spell "necssarily" then maybe levelling the department and starting the hiring process all over again is it's only hope.
Agree with Dan. (Sorry not my real name.)
I count about 45 Congress people on the site, which means Ron Paul has done more on behalf of the Palestinians lately than at least 41 of them. So what gives? Is it because he’s a conservative libertarian? That’s chintzy, and lame.
I think it probably is Ed. As you well know, he's a strict constitutionalist, and won't sign off on anything he feels unconstitutionally funnels money from citizens to government to god knows where. If citizens got together to do it themselves, I'm sure he would applaud it and contribute. He just doesn't want such things done through government.
On a personal note, I struggle with this Libertarianism/Leftism tug within me everyday. I love the personal freedom, extremely limited government philosophy of libertarianism, but I struggle with completely embracing it given what we've evolved to (devolved?) as a country at this point. I'm sort of a hybrid of both philosophies, and of course philosophy doesn't mean much in the "real world" anyway, so I do my best to evaluate each situation individually and act on it.
Needless to say, it can be quite exhausting.
"I arise in the morning torn between the desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."
I wanted to thank Adam for this post and his link to our ActBlue fundraising page.
I just wanted to send some notes to everyone here.
1) I have updated the ActBlue page to reflect the information concerning all the signatories of the 1/28/09 "Dear Colleague" letter
2) I believe Ed had a question regarding the exclusion of Ron Paul on the fundraising site. The ActBlue fundraising site for Democratic candidates. The one exception seems to be Bernie Sanders (I-VT) since he is on the political left. They do not include Joe Lieberman (I-CT).
3) Since our campaign is a single-issue one, we would certainly appreciate supportive votes from either side of the aisle. If there is a comparable fundraising site from the Republicans, please forward the information.
4)According to my notes, the most supportive Republicans have been Steve Buyer (IN-04), Darrell Issa (CA-49), Howard Coble (NC-06), and Zach Wamp (TN-03). The "NO" vote on HR 34 was the first supportive measure on the I/P conflict during the 110th and 111th Congress for Ron Paul.
5)I contacted Rep. Paul's office today concerning HR 34 and the "Dear Colleague" letter. One of his Legislative Aides stated that he voted "NO" on HR 34 since he does not believe in taking sides with this conflict. He refused to sign the "Dear Collegue" letter since he does not believe in the UN and does not believe in the US Government giving any moneys to a UN Agency. (I believe this information is in line with one of the above comments).
6) Lastly, I wanted to address the thoughtful comments from David at the beginning of this list. As a community organizer, I agree with you that sending aid to the people of Gaza is incredibly important and necessary. I also, agree that there is power and influence in public criticism, whether it comes from rallies, vigils, protests, blogs, boycotts, etc. However, working within the political system is another valuable part of the overall community organizing stategy.
Each person who works to fight injustice has a different set of interests. It is our job to find different options for people to get involved and move the overall campaign forward. I believe the victory in the Democratic Primaries and the General Election for Barack Obama reflects the variety of ways for people to become involved in a campaign.
Once again, I thank you all for your comments and suggestions. If you are comfortable with the fundraising idea, please visit our page at
Thank you Rob. I'm checking out the ActBlue website now.