Commenter Profile

Total number of comments: 5980 (since 2009-08-03 02:01:29)

DICKERSON3870

Georgia Tech, B.S. / Mercer U., J.D.

Website: http://www.facebook.com/jlewisdickerson

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  • California congresswoman: 'Some would call that apartheid'
    • DICKERSON3870 March 5, 2012 at 11:53 am

      RE: “This is the heart of Israel and I don’t see a future for the state if you take the heart out.” ~ deranged settler

      FROM "GONE WITH THE WIND" (1939):

      TAKEN OUT OF CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER & CONTEXT
      Gerald O'Hara: Do you mean to tell me, Katie Scarlett O'Hara, that Tara, that land doesn't mean anything to you? Why, land is the only thing in the world worth workin' for, worth fightin' for, worth dyin' for, because it's the only thing that lasts.
      Gerald O'Hara: It will come to you, this love of the land. There's no gettin' away from it if you're Irish.
      Rhett Butler: Why, all we have is cotton and slaves and arrogance.
      Scarlett: I can't let Tara go. I won't let it go while there's a breath left in my body.
      Rhett Butler: Don't give yourself airs, Scarlett.
      Mammy: It ain't fittin'... it ain't fittin'. It jes' ain't fittin'... It ain't fittin'.
      SOURCE - link to imdb.com

      P.S. INTRODUCING MY NEW AVATAR, NUTTYYAHOO by DonkeyHotey (JPEG) - link to google.com

  • This could be World War 3-- and we're talking less than the parties to a friendly divorce
    • DICKERSON3870 March 5, 2012 at 2:28 pm

      CHRIS HEDGES, 3/05/12: (excerpt)...The Israeli poet Aharon Shabtai, in his poem “Rypin,” translated by Peter Cole, examined what power, force and self-worship do to compassion, justice and human decency. Rypin was the Polish town his father escaped from during the pogroms.

      These creatures in helmets and khakis,
      I say to myself, aren’t Jews,
      In the truest sense of the word. A Jew
      Doesn’t dress himself up with weapons like jewelry,
      Doesn’t believe in the barrel of a gun aimed at a target,
      But in the thumb of the child who was shot at—
      In the house through which he comes and goes,
      Not in the charge that blows it apart.
      The coarse soul and iron first
      He scorns by nature.
      He lifts his eyes not to the officer, or the soldier
      With his finger on the trigger—but to justice,
      And he cries out for compassion.
      Therefore, he won’t steal land from its people
      And will not starve them in camps.
      The voice calling for expulsion
      Is heard from the hoarse throat of the oppressor—
      A sure sign that the Jew has entered a foreign country
      And, like Umberto Saba, gone into hiding within his own city.
      Because of voices like these, father
      At age sixteen, with your family, you fled Rypin;
      Now here Rypin is your son.

      SOURCE - link to commondreams.org

      P.S. INTRODUCING MY NEW AVATAR, "NUTTYYAHOO" by DonkeyHotey (JPEG) - link to google.com

    • DICKERSON3870 March 5, 2012 at 11:10 am

      P.S. RE: "We let fears, not facts, govern our decisions." ~ Rabbi Knopf

      MY CONTRIBUTION: "Sticks and stones may break our bones, but facts will never sway us." ~ Neocon Creed

      P.P.S. INTRODUCING MY NEW AVATAR, NUTTYYAHOO by DonkeyHotey (JPEG) - link to google.com

    • DICKERSON3870 March 5, 2012 at 11:06 am with 3 replies

      RE: “This could be World War 3– and we’re talking less than the parties to a friendly divorce” ~ Weiss

      SEE: Would God want Israel to attack Iran? ~ By (Rabbi) Michael Knopf, Haaretz, 3/04/12

      (excerpt). . . With the American war in Iraq still fresh in our collective memory, Judaism’s standards for just wars become especially poignant. A decade ago, Bush Administration officials began calling for military action against Saddam Hussein. They contended that Hussein had secret weapons stockpiles, was producing weapons of mass destruction, and was supplying weapons to terrorists. Given Hussein’s belligerent attitude toward the West, his defiance of the international community, and his track record of brutality at home and abroad, these pieces of evidence were, at the time, offered to prove a clear and imminent threat to the U.S.
      So the U.S. invaded, igniting a nearly ten-year war that reportedly resulted in more than 150,000 deaths. Only amid the rubble and corpses did we discover that most, if not all, of the arguments in favor of the war were false. We let fears, not facts, govern our decisions. Our goal was to save innocent lives; we took many, instead.
      The Talmud teaches that, in 586 BCE, Judea was destroyed not because its defenses were too weak, but because the Jews were indifferent about shedding blood (Shabbat 33a). Let us pray that history does not repeat itself.

      ENTIRE COMMENTARY - link to haaretz.com

    • DICKERSON3870 March 5, 2012 at 10:34 am

      RE: "A couple of panelists described an attack on Iran as possibly leading to world war" ~ Weiss

      MY COMMENT: Please help Tikkun/NSP run the following ad in major American newspapers.

      No Mr. Netanyahu, No President Obama:
      No War on Iran and No First Strike

      Some who have signed this ad believe that the best path for homeland security is through rejecting the old-fashioned “domination strategy” to get your way...

      ...Click HERE to see a draft of how this ad would look in the newspaper.

      If you would like to help Tikkun/NSP run this ad, please make a donation.
      TO DONATE -       link to salsa.democracyinaction.org
      TIKKUN WEBSITE - link to tikkun.org
      NSP WEBSITE - link to spiritualprogressives.org

      P.S. Nuttyyahoo JPEG - link to google.com

  • Young activist disrupts AIPAC panel about 'Israel on Campus'
    • DICKERSON3870 March 4, 2012 at 9:49 pm

      RE: "A separate group of Jewish activists...went inside the AIPAC conference and gave interviews to journalists, in which they stressed that AIPAC doesn't represent the majority of American Jews who oppose war with Iran..." ~ From Young, Jewish and Proud

      FOR INSTANCE:

      Please help Tikkun/NSP run the following ad in major American newspapers.

      No Mr. Netanyahu, No President Obama:
      No War on Iran and No First Strike

      Some who have signed this ad believe that the best path for homeland security is through rejecting the old-fashioned “domination strategy” to get your way...

      ...Click HERE to see a draft of how this ad would look in the newspaper.

      If you would like to help Tikkun/NSP run this ad, please make a donation.
      TO DONATE -       link to salsa.democracyinaction.org
      TIKKUN/NSP WEBSITE - link to tikkun.org

  • The counter lobby: Occupy AIPAC to press Congress on war with Iran, US military aid to Israel
    • DICKERSON3870 March 4, 2012 at 10:29 pm

      RE: "The [Lieberman-Graham] resolution is a blank check for war," Occupy AIPAC states. "By moving the goalposts for war, and ruling out diplomatic alternatives to war, this resolution could be used by the current or future president as justification for war without further Congressional authorization."

      FROM TIKKUN/NSP:

      Please help Tikkun/NSP run the following ad in major American newspapers.

      No Mr. Netanyahu, No President Obama:
      No War on Iran and No First Strike

      Some who have signed this ad believe that the best path for homeland security is through rejecting the old-fashioned “domination strategy” to get your way...

      ...Click HERE to see a draft of how this ad would look in the newspaper.

      If you would like to help Tikkun/NSP run this ad, please make a donation.
      TO DONATE -       link to salsa.democracyinaction.org
      TIKKUN WEBSITE - link to tikkun.org

  • Ahmed Moor in WaPo: Harvard One State conference 'informed by the uncontroversial view that all people are created equal'
    • DICKERSON3870 March 4, 2012 at 12:50 pm

      P.P.P.P.S. Threads by This Will Destroy You on This Will Destroy You, 2008 (VIDEO, 05:42) - link to youtube.com

    • DICKERSON3870 March 3, 2012 at 2:08 pm

      P.P.P.S. Pop Will Eat Itself, Ich Bin Ein Auslander (VIDEO, 04:10) - link to youtube.com

    • DICKERSON3870 March 3, 2012 at 1:41 pm with 2 replies

      P.P.S.
      Saxon Shore, How We Conquered the Western World on Horseback [VIDEO, 03:52] - link to youtube.com

      Zoë Keating, Legions (War) [VIDEO, 09:49] - link to youtube.com

      We Insist, by Zoë Keating on One Cello x 16: Natoma (2005) [VIDEO, 03:47] - link to youtube.com

    • DICKERSON3870 March 3, 2012 at 1:11 pm

      P.S. Requiem for a Dream, 2000, UR, 102 minutes
      A widow's growing dependence on amphetamines and a self-help television show parallels the struggles of her heroin-addicted son and his girlfriend and friend in Darren Aronofsky's bleak drama.
      Cast: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, Christopher McDonald, Louise Lasser, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Janet Sarno, Keith David, Sean Gullette, Ben Shenkman
      Director: Darren Aronofsky
      Genres: Dramas, Independent Movies, Dramas based on a book, Independent Dramas, Dramas based on contemporary literature
      This movie is: Violent, Emotional, Controversial, Dark, Gritty, Mind-bending
      Netflix Availability: DVD and Blu-ray
      NETFLIX LISTING - link to movies.netflix.com
      REQUIEM FOR A DREAM TRAILER HD HQ - best scenes of a movie (VIDEO, 03:32) - link to youtube.com

    • DICKERSON3870 March 3, 2012 at 12:53 pm with 4 replies

      RE: "oh my, another shattered dream?" ~ yourstruly

      A LATE WINTER AFTERNOON'S MUSICAL INTERLUDE, brought to you courtesy of the makers of new Ziocaine Xtreme®: It's guaran-damn-teed to blow your effing mind!™
      Requiem For A Dream / Music composed by Clint Mansell, performed by the Kronos Quartet. / From the soundtrack for Darren Aronofsky's second film. (VIDEO, 05:21) - link to youtube.com

  • Nine 'Shalit exchange' political prisoners re-arrested in February
    • DICKERSON3870 March 3, 2012 at 11:57 am

      RE: "Must read report by Gareth Porter about who was likely behind the anti-Israel bombs in India and Thailand." ~ Les

      ALSO SEE: Convoluted fuse to Bangkok bombs, by Anthony Davis, Asia Times, Feb 23 2012

      (excerpt) . . . A third alternative that merits close attention centers on the MeK. At various levels, there are grounds which might support the theory of an independent MeK operation in Bangkok, Delhi and Tbilisi. Strategically, the organization has ample motive. The successful assassination of Israeli diplomats would at the least serve to further isolate the Iranian government at a critical juncture. At most, it might provide the impetus to push Israel into an attack on Iran that would destabilize or even topple the regime, a result MeK has no chance of achieving itself. Operationally, the hand of MeK or allied opposition elements also provides an explanation for the otherwise puzzling blunders displayed in mid-February. It can be safely assumed that a small number of Iranian opposition elements has been recruited, trained and deployed by Israeli and/or US intelligence services in the covert war against Iran’s nuclear program. However, MeK remains a larger and largely uncharted group without access to specialized training. It is also worth noting that for an opposition group to commit poorly-trained and supported personnel openly using Iranian travel documents would pose no real risk of blow-back: In the event of failure or fiasco, the simple fact that the operatives were Iranian would serve well enough to implicate the Tehran regime in the eyes of an already skeptical world...

      SOURCE - link to niqnaq.wordpress.com

    • DICKERSON3870 March 3, 2012 at 11:34 am

      RE: "Nine ‘Shalit exchange’ political prisoners re-arrested in
      February" ~ Deger

      SOMEWHAT AKIN TO JOSEF K’s PREDICAMENT IN KAFKA’S “THE TRIAL”:

      …after months of trial postponement, Joseph K goes to court painter Titorelli to ask for advice. He is told to hope for little. He might get definite acquittal, ostensible acquittal, or indefinite postponement. No one is ever really acquitted, but sometimes cases can be extended indefinitely.
      Titorelli: “You see, in definite acquittal, all the documents are annulled. But with ostensible acquittal, your whole dossier continues to circulate. Up to the higher courts, down to the lower ones, up again, down. These oscillations and peregrinations, you just can’t figure ‘em.”
      Joseph K: “No use in trying either, I suppose.”
      Titorelli: “Not a hope. Why, I’ve known cases of an acquitted man coming home from the court and finding the cops waiting there to arrest him all over again. But then, of course, theoretically it’s always possible to get another ostensible acquittal.”
      Joseph K: “The second acquittal wouldn’t be final either.”
      Titorelli: “It’s automatically followed by the third arrest. The third acquittal, by the fourth arrest. The fourth...”

      PARTIAL SOURCE - link to imdb.com

  • Hana Shalabi vs Israel: Palestinian political prisoner on hunger strike against administrative detention
    • DICKERSON3870 March 2, 2012 at 10:05 pm

      RE: "This is Shalabi's second round of administrative detention; she was held without charge from 2009-2011 in Israeli administrative detention. Last October Shalabi was released through a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas." ~ Deger

      SOMEWHAT AKIN TO JOSEF K’s PREDICAMENT IN KAFKA’s “THE TRIAL”:

      …after months of trial postponement, Joseph K goes to court painter Titorelli to ask for advice. He is told to hope for little. He might get definite acquittal, ostensible acquittal, or indefinite postponement. No one is ever really acquitted, but sometimes cases can be extended indefinitely.
      Titorelli: “You see, in definite acquittal, all the documents are annulled. But with ostensible acquittal, your whole dossier continues to circulate. Up to the higher courts, down to the lower ones, up again, down. These oscillations and peregrinations, you just can’t figure ‘em.”
      Joseph K: “No use in trying either, I suppose.”
      Titorelli: “Not a hope. Why, I’ve known cases of an acquitted man coming home from the court and finding the cops waiting there to arrest him all over again. But then, of course, theoretically it’s always possible to get another ostensible acquittal.”
      Joseph K: “The second acquittal wouldn’t be final either.”
      Titorelli: “It’s automatically followed by the third arrest. The third acquittal, by the fourth arrest. The fourth...”

      PARTIAL SOURCE - link to imdb.com

  • If you name your group 'Emergency Committee for Israel,' do you get to call people bigots when they say you're an 'Israel Firster'?
    • DICKERSON3870 March 2, 2012 at 10:27 pm

      RE: "Alan Dershowitz...has gone on Fox News to push his
      campaign to have MJ Rosenberg fired by the liberal thinktank Media Matters..." ~ Weiss

      SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR MJ ROSENBERG!

      FACEBOOK
      M J Rosenberg
      Public Figure
      100 "likes"
      TO "LIKE" - link to facebook.com

      TWITTER
      Best way to tell Dershowitz to go to hell (1) picket his classroom or (2) tell your friends to follow MJ Rosenberg on twitter.
      MJ Rosenberg
      @MJayRosenberg
      TO FOLLOW - link to twitter.com

  • J Street's call for Iran diplomacy earns ire of Jewish establishment
    • DICKERSON3870 March 2, 2012 at 11:00 pm with 1 replies

      RE: Hoenlein said, “when you criticize the government of Israel, you have to consider the consequences.”

      MY RETORT: And when you act as an enabler to the psychopathic government of Israel, you also have to consider the consequences, Mr. Hoenlein!

  • The NDAA -- we are all Josef K now
    • DICKERSON3870 March 2, 2012 at 9:51 pm

      P.S. ALSO SEE: Israel Faces New Hunger Striker After Reneging on Prisoner Swap , by Jason Ditz, Antiwar.com, 2/23/12

      (excerpt) Israeli officials were likely hoping that their policy of detention without charges would stop being a topic of discussion after Khader Adnan ended his hunger strike earlier this week. A new striker has emerged, however, in the form of 29-year-old Hana al-Shalabi.
      Ms. Shalabi’s capture is nothing new. She was held in “administrative detention” for over two years without charges before being released in October as part of the Shalit prisoner swap. That lasted a couple of months, but Israel announced a new administrative detention for Shalabi late last week, still with no charge. . .

      SOURCE - link to news.antiwar.com

    • DICKERSON3870 March 2, 2012 at 9:40 pm with 1 replies

      RE: "The NDAA — we are all Josef K now" ~ Voskamp

      JOSEF K's PREDICAMENT IN KAFKA's "THE TRIAL":

      …after months of trial postponement, Joseph K goes to court painter Titorelli to ask for advice. He is told to hope for little. He might get definite acquittal, ostensible acquittal, or indefinite postponement. No one is ever really acquitted, but sometimes cases can be extended indefinitely.
      Titorelli: “You see, in definite acquittal, all the documents are annulled. But with ostensible acquittal, your whole dossier continues to circulate. Up to the higher courts, down to the lower ones, up again, down. These oscillations and peregrinations, you just can’t figure ‘em.”
      Joseph K: “No use in trying either, I suppose.”
      Titorelli: “Not a hope. Why, I’ve known cases of an acquitted man coming home from the court and finding the cops waiting there to arrest him all over again. But then, of course, theoretically it’s always possible to get another ostensible acquittal.”
      Joseph K: “The second acquittal wouldn’t be final either.”
      Titorelli: “It’s automatically followed by the third arrest. The third acquittal, by the fourth arrest. The fourth...”

      PARTIAL SOURCE - link to imdb.com

  • Consequences of an attack on Iran are no joke
    • DICKERSON3870 March 1, 2012 at 5:25 pm with 1 replies

      RE: "The ever-smirking Israeli Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, has calculated that the casualties of a war with Iran could be limited to fewer than 500." ~ Marsha Cohen

      ALSO SEE: Israel’s Defense Chief OK’s Hundreds of Israeli Deaths, By Ira Chernus, CommonDreams.org, 11/11/11

      (excerpt). . . An essential motive of Zionism from its beginning was a fierce desire to end the centuries of Jewish weakness, to show the world that Jews would no longer be pushed around, that they’d fight back and prove themselves tougher than their enemies. There was more to Zionism than that. But the “pride through strength” piece came to dominate the whole project. Hence the massive Israeli military machine with its nuclear arsenal.
      But you can’t prove that you’re stronger than your enemies unless you’ve also got enemies -- or at least believe you’ve got enemies -- to fight against. So there has to be a myth of Israel’s insecurity, fueled by an image of vicious anti-semites lurking somewhere out there, for Zionism to work. Since the 1979 Iranian revolution, Iran has gradually risen to the top of Israel oh-so-necessary enemies list. Iranophobia is rampant in Israel, as one Israeli scholar writes, because “Israel needs an existential threat."
      Anyone who has grown up in Israel, or in the U.S. Jewish community (as I did), and paid attention knows all
      this. . .

      ENTIRE COMMENTARY - link to commondreams.org

  • Journalists Mike Murphy of NBC and Donna Brazile of CNN to speak at conference promoting Iran war
  • The Israeli case for war in 'The New York Times'
    • DICKERSON3870 March 1, 2012 at 3:28 pm

      RE: "He gave a hostage to fortune...when he said that the U.S. was marching "lockstep" with Israel on Iran." ~ Bromwich

      FROM WIKIPEDIA: (excerpt) . . . Lockstep marching was a characteristic trait of American prisons of the 19th century.[2] "Inmates formed in single file, right hand on the shoulder of the man in front, left hand on the side; the convicts then stepped off in unison, raising the right foot high and shuffling with the left."[3] The reason for the shuffling step was the chain that connected the legs of a chain gang. . .
      SOURCE - link to en.wikipedia.org

      P.S. RE: "give hostage to fortune" ~ Bromwich
      WIKTIONARY:
      to give hostage to fortune - To take an action or make a statement that is risky because it could cause you trouble later.
      SOURCE - link to en.wiktionary.org
      ALSO SEE - link to phrases.org.uk

  • War on Drugs, War on Terror, War on the Poor
    • DICKERSON3870 March 4, 2012 at 11:20 pm with 2 replies

      P.S. SEE: Local police stockpile high-tech, combat-ready gear, By Andrew Becker, Center for Investigative Reporting, 12/21/11

      (excerpt) If terrorists ever target Fargo, N.D., the local police will be ready.
      In recent years, they have bought bomb-detection robots, digital communications equipment and Kevlar helmets, like those used by soldiers in foreign wars. For local siege situations requiring real firepower, police there can use a new $256,643 armored truck, complete with a rotating turret. Until that day, however, the menacing truck is mostly used for training runs and appearances at the annual Fargo picnic, where it’s been displayed near a children’s bounce house...

      ENTIRE ARTICLE - link to americaswarwithin.org

    • DICKERSON3870 March 1, 2012 at 2:57 pm with 3 replies

      RE: "Homeland Security grants totalled $34 billion, and went to such unlikely terrorism targets as Fargo, N.D..." ~ from above

      MY COMMENT: I would love to see what the Coen brothers could do with this in a sequel to their film Fargo (1996)!

      Fargo (1996) - link to imdb.com
      Fargo (Trailer) [VIDEO, 01:58] - link to youtube.com

    • DICKERSON3870 March 1, 2012 at 1:58 pm with 4 replies

      RE: "the Wars on Drugs and on Terror amount in essence to a single War: the big one, on the Poor. Mike Davis wrote a decade ago about the coming urban landscapes where states will control unemployed and disenfranchised masses of migrants with force." ~ Scott Long

      FOR INSTANCE: "Police 'Tank' Purchase Riles New Hampshire Town", by Radley Balko, HuffPo, 2/16/12

      (excerpt) "We're going to have our own tank."
      That's what Keene, N.H., Mayor Kendall Lane whispered to Councilman Mitch Greenwald during a December city council meeting.
      It's not quite a tank. But the quaint town of 23,000 -- scene of just two murders since 1999 -- had just accepted a $285,933 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to purchase a Bearcat, an eight-ton armored personnel vehicle made by Lenco Industries Inc...
      ...Since the 1990s, the Pentagon has made military equipment available to local police departments for free or at steep discounts. This, along with drug war-related policies, has spurred a trend toward a more militarized domestic police force in America. Law enforcement and elected officials have argued for years that better-armed, high-powered police departments are needed to fight the war on drugs.
      Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the war on terror has accelerated the trend toward militarization.       Homeland Security hands out anti-terrorism grants to cities and towns, many specifically to buy military-grade equipment from companies like Lenco. In December, the Center for Investigative Reporting reported that Homeland Security grants totalled $34 billion, and went to such unlikely terrorism targets as Fargo, N.D.; Fon du Lac, Wisc.; and Canyon County, Idaho...

      SOURCE - link to huffingtonpost.com

  • Dershowitz claims he 'exposed' CAP and Rosenberg, and calls out Barbra Streisand
    • DICKERSON3870 March 1, 2012 at 2:25 pm

      RE: "Once we exposed the Center, they really did the right thing, whereas Media Matters is unapologetic..." ~ Dershowitz

      MY COMMENT: I once visited 'Think Progress' on a daily basis, but I stopped doing so when CAP more or less capitulated to the neocons. 'Think Progress' is now a mere shadow of its former self. This is yet another example of Dershowitz and his pals "dumbing down" America in a desperate effort to keep us from knowing the truth about Likudnik Israel.

      ALSO SEE - Dear liberal American Jews: Please don’t betray Israel, by Dahlia Scheindlin, +972 Magazine, 2/14/12:

      (excerpts). . . After two weeks in America visiting family and friends, two observations struck me powerfully. First, the understanding that Israel is committing terrible deeds that are destroying itself and its neighbors, has penetrated among you…
      …On this trip, I was stunned to learn that now you don’t even really want to visit Israel because you can’t face what you’re increasingly coming to see as a brutal occupying entity flirting with fascist notions. . .
      …My second observation is that because of your fear – not of the goyim or the anti-Semites, but of yourselves! – you are keeping a low public profile. On this trip, I suddenly realized how naïve it was to imagine that J Street had sufficiently opened the door for anyone who cares critically for Israel to speak out. I underestimated how deep and terrible the intimidation has become and that one political lobby group is far from enough.
      I do understand: those of you who still call the Jewish community home, are afraid of the onslaught that you will receive from your (our) very own people. I hold no illusions about how vicious the attacks might be. We Jews, not the goyim, will call you the most painful names, will threaten in various ways to label you as beyond the pale of your people, should you voice your critique. You might be chastised in your professional community. You will be hit not only by shadowy bloggers but by the very cherished and established groups you have loyally, even automatically, supported over the years. The anger might come from your friends and it might even come from your family. . .
      . . . Here’s how that made me feel: abandoned, by the liberal Jews of America. You were swept away by Ruth Wisse’s thesis that liberals betrayed the Jewish cause by believing too much in rational universalism and failing to acknowledge the unique, everlasting threat of anti-Semitism…

      ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to 972mag.com

    • DICKERSON3870 March 1, 2012 at 1:39 pm with 1 replies

      RE: "We can't let people think there’s any inherent lack of progressiveness in Israel…" ~ Dershowitz

      THE VIEW OF AN ISRAELI: Israel’s bizarre decision to give up on education – and its future, by Ami Kaufman, +972 Magazine, 12/03/11

      (excerpts) Last week I came across a disturbing story, one of many recently, where Haredi school boys threw stones at secular Jewish school girls. [Because] The schoolgirls were singing. . .
      . . . what bothered me more about this particular incident was the age of the perpetrators. These were young boys or teenagers, already well versed on the issues of female singing and its dangers.
      What this incident shows more than anything else, is the education factor and how it will change this country. And it shows how incidents like the one above are going to happen again, and again and again.
      Much has been said on the demographics of the Haredi community and the pace at which it grows. But not many know of how huge an impact Haredi education already has on this state.
      These Haredi rock-throwing boys learn in a Haredi school.       That’s because there are four sectors to the Israeli education system: State, State-Religious, Arab, and ultra-Orthodox (Haredi). The major problem with this is that the level of study in the Arab and Haredi schools is much lower than in the state schools. And what makes the problem even worse, is that the level in the state schools themselves has never been lower. . .

      ENTIRE ARTICLE - link to 972mag.com

  • Just in time for Netanyahu visit, neocon ad in 'NYT' attacks MJ Rosenberg and CAP
    • DICKERSON3870 March 1, 2012 at 1:05 pm

      RE: "The ad attacks two Democratic Party-linked thinktanks... It names M.J. Rosenberg of Media Matters and says he is a bigot. Nothing could be further from the truth." ~ Weiss

      SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR MJ ROSENBERG!

      FACEBOOK
      M J Rosenberg
      Public Figure
      99 "likes"
      LIKE THIS - link to facebook.com

      TWITTER
      Best way to tell Dershowitz to go to hell (1) picket his classroom or (2) tell your friends to follow MJ Rosenberg on twitter.
      MJ Rosenberg
      @MJayRosenberg
      FOLLOW - link to twitter.com

    • DICKERSON3870 March 1, 2012 at 12:57 pm

      RE: "the New York Times today features a full page ad from neoconservatives saying that liberals must support Israel." ~ Weiss

      A CONTRARY VIEW FROM AN ISRAELI: Dear liberal American Jews: Please don’t betray Israel, by Dahlia Scheindlin, +972 Magazine, 2/14/12:

      (excerpts) . . . After two weeks in America visiting family and friends, two observations struck me powerfully. First, the understanding that Israel is committing terrible deeds that are destroying itself and its neighbors, has penetrated among you…
      …On this trip, I was stunned to learn that now you don’t even really want to visit Israel because you can’t face what you’re increasingly coming to see as a brutal occupying entity flirting with fascist notions. . .
      …My second observation is that because of your fear – not of the goyim or the anti-Semites, but of yourselves! – you are keeping a low public profile. On this trip, I suddenly realized how naïve it was to imagine that J Street had sufficiently opened the door for anyone who cares critically for Israel to speak out. I underestimated how deep and terrible the intimidation has become and that one political lobby group is far from enough.
      I do understand: those of you who still call the Jewish community home, are afraid of the onslaught that you will receive from your (our) very own people. I hold no illusions about how vicious the attacks might be. We Jews, not the goyim, will call you the most painful names, will threaten in various ways to label you as beyond the pale of your people, should you voice your critique. You might be chastised in your professional community. You will be hit not only by shadowy bloggers but by the very cherished and established groups you have loyally, even automatically, supported over the years. The anger might come from your friends and it might even come from your family. . .
      . . . Here’s how that made me feel: abandoned, by the liberal Jews of America. You were swept away by Ruth Wisse’s thesis that liberals betrayed the Jewish cause by believing too much in rational universalism and failing to acknowledge the unique, everlasting threat of anti-Semitism…

      ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to 972mag.com

  • ADL enlists city of Oakland to block Atzmon event
    • DICKERSON3870 March 1, 2012 at 2:39 pm

      ON YouTube (in 9 parts):
      Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud - link to youtube.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 28, 2012 at 1:58 pm with 3 replies

      P.S. NOT EXACTLY RELATED, BUT AN EXCELLENT FILM: Un Coeur en Hiver (A Heart in Winter), 1992, NR
      Stephane (Daniel Auteuil), the chief instrument builder in a violin shop, is so committed to his work that he barely notices the beautiful young violinist, Camille (Emmanuelle Beart), who's sharing a bed with his business partner, Maxime (Andre Dussollier). Problems arise, however, when she aims her passions at Stephane's cold heart. Sexual tension flares and fizzles in this subtle French drama from writer-director Claude Sautet.
      Netflix Availability: DVD
      NETFLIX LISTING - link to movies.netflix.com
      ON YouTube (in 9 parts) - link to youtube.com
      Un Coeur en Hiver/ A Heart in Winter - Trailer (VIDEO, 01:07) - link to youtube.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 28, 2012 at 12:43 pm with 4 replies

      RE: "the ADL's pose as an opponent of racism was particularly ironic because in 1993 the District of Attorney of San Francisco released 700 pages of documents implicating the organization in a vast spying and informing operation directed at critics not only of Israel but also of apartheid South Africa." ~ Sterling & Norr

      DAVID BYRNE SEZ: "Same as it ever was...Same as it ever was...Same as it ever was...Same as it ever was...
      Same as it ever was...Same as it ever was...Same as it ever was...
      Same as it ever was..."
      Talking Heads: Once In A Lifetime (VIDEO, 05:19) - link to youtube.com

      SCORE BY DAVID BYRNE; ACTING BY TITILLATING TILDA:
      Young Adam, 2004, R, 97 minutes
      A young drifter named Joe (Ewan McGregor) finds work on a barge that travels between Glasgow and Edinburgh. But when the corpse of a young woman is found floating in the river, is Joe really telling everything he knows? Making things even messier is the unspoken attraction that develops between Joe and Ella (Tilda Swinton), one of the barge's owners, in the barge's claustrophobic confines. Emily Mortimer and Peter Mullan co-star.
      Director: David Mackenzie
      Netflix Availability: DVD
      NETFLIX LISTING - link to movies.netflix.com
      Young Adam Theatrical Trailer (VIDEO, 02:06) - link to youtube.com

  • Dershowitz wants MJ Rosenberg fired for daring to stop Iran war push
    • DICKERSON3870 February 28, 2012 at 1:27 pm

      RE: "Alan Dershowitz has launched another headhunting/blacklisting campaign, this one aimed at journalist M.J. Rosenberg of the left-Dem shop, Media Matters." ~ Weiss

      SEE - Dear liberal American Jews: Please don’t betray Israel, by Dahlia Scheindlin, +972 Magazine, 2/14/12:

      (excerpts). . . After two weeks in America visiting family and friends, two observations struck me powerfully. First, the understanding that Israel is committing terrible deeds that are destroying itself and its neighbors, has penetrated among you…
      …On this trip, I was stunned to learn that now you don’t even really want to visit Israel because you can’t face what you’re increasingly coming to see as a brutal occupying entity flirting with fascist notions. . .
      …My second observation is that because of your fear – not of the goyim or the anti-Semites, but of yourselves! – you are keeping a low public profile. On this trip, I suddenly realized how naïve it was to imagine that J Street had sufficiently opened the door for anyone who cares critically for Israel to speak out. I underestimated how deep and terrible the intimidation has become and that one political lobby group is far from enough.
      I do understand: those of you who still call the Jewish community home, are afraid of the onslaught that you will receive from your (our) very own people. I hold no illusions about how vicious the attacks might be. We Jews, not the goyim, will call you the most painful names, will threaten in various ways to label you as beyond the pale of your people, should you voice your critique. You might be chastised in your professional community. You will be hit not only by shadowy bloggers but by the very cherished and established groups you have loyally, even automatically, supported over the years. The anger might come from your friends and it might even come from your family. . .
      …Here’s how that made me feel: abandoned, by the liberal Jews of America. You were swept away by Ruth Wisse’s thesis that liberals betrayed the Jewish cause by believing too much in rational universalism and failing to acknowledge the unique, everlasting threat of anti-Semitism…

      ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to 972mag.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 28, 2012 at 12:00 pm

      SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR MJ ROSENBERG!

      FACEBOOK
      M J Rosenberg
      Public Figure
      90 "likes"
      LIKE THIS - link to facebook.com

      TWITTER
      Best way to tell Dershowitz to go to hell (1) picket his classroom or (2) tell your friends to follow MJ Rosenberg on twitter.
      MJ Rosenberg
      @MJayRosenberg
      FOLLOW - link to twitter.com

  • Lobby's bedfellows: CAP's new PR outfit also worked for Sheldon Adelson's pet project
    • DICKERSON3870 February 28, 2012 at 11:44 am

      I once visited 'Think Progress' on a daily basis, but I stopped doing so when CAP more or less capitulated to the neocons. 'Think Progress' is now a mere shadow of its former self.

  • AP report: Federal counter-terror funds used for NYPD spying on Muslims
    • DICKERSON3870 February 27, 2012 at 7:33 pm

      RE: Tax dollars from the Department of Homeland Security's budget have been doled out to states for counter-terrorism programs over the past decade. ~ KANE

      YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK: "Police 'Tank' Purchase Riles New Hampshire Town", by Radley Balko, HuffPo, 2/16/12

      (excerpt) "We're going to have our own tank."
      That's what Keene, N.H., Mayor Kendall Lane whispered to Councilman Mitch Greenwald during a December city council meeting.
      It's not quite a tank. But the quaint town of 23,000 -- scene of just two murders since 1999 -- had just accepted a $285,933 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to purchase a Bearcat, an eight-ton armored personnel vehicle made by Lenco Industries Inc...

      SOURCE - link to huffingtonpost.com
      P.S. Hitch a ride on the Homeland Security gravy train!

  • Harvard student groups declare solidarity with activists at UNM
    • DICKERSON3870 February 26, 2012 at 4:16 pm

      RE: "While Palestine solidarity activists in the U.S. and U.K. have been the target of harassment and demonization for years, we note an escalating pattern of physical violence against them as well." ~ Harvard groups

      RICHARD SILVERSTEIN, 11/19/10: …Wrapped in an Israeli flag, San Francisco Voice for Israel/StandWithUs (SFVI/SWU) member Robin Dubner, an Oakland based attorney, pepper-sprayed two JVP members in the eyes and face...
      SOURCE - link to richardsilverstein.com

  • Surprise-- courageous Elizabeth Warren is craven on Israel lobby
    • DICKERSON3870 February 28, 2012 at 3:21 pm

      It is looking as though I will be voting for the Green Party (assuming that Obama does not have a shot at Georgia's electoral votes).

      JILL STEIN FOR PRESIDENT - link to jillstein.org

    • DICKERSON3870 February 26, 2012 at 3:56 pm with 2 replies

      RE: "Surprise– courageous Elizabeth Warren is craven on Israel
      lobby" ~ Weiss

      ALSO SEE: An Exchange with Rocky Anderson On Humanitarian Intervention, by John Walsh, Antiwar.com, 2/07/12

      (excerpt) A few days back I received an announcement from Rocky Anderson, announcing the platform of his newly formed Justice Party. Although social justice was mentioned prominently along with the desperate economic plight of many in the U.S., I was struck by the fact that the struggle against war was not prominently mentioned and the question of the U.S. Empire and overseas bases seemed to get no mention. “Human Rights,” an increasingly plastic category at least in the hands of the U.S. ruling elite, figures prominently in Anderson’s campaign literature and world view. I was further surprised that “High Road to Human Rights,” an organization founded by Anderson, counted on its board of advisers, Elie Wiesel, a defender of the Apartheid Israeli regime. On the other hand, Anderson was a staunch opponent of the war on Iraq and even the war on Libya, the latter because it lacked Congressional approval.
      I wondered about Anderson’s commitment to anti-interventionism and his view on “humanitarian” interventions, something that should be crystal clear from someone who is trying to appeal to progressives. The following email exchange resulted...

      ENTIRE ARTICLE - link to antiwar.com

  • Cornell group circulates petition 'refusing to collaborate' on Technion deal
  • The rebloviation of Jeffrey Wiesenfeld
    • DICKERSON3870 February 26, 2012 at 3:34 pm

      RE: "as likely as my moving into the Trump Tower penthouse tomorrow" ~ Weiss

      MY COMMENT: Well we're movin on up, To the east side. To a de-luxe Trump Tower penthouse in the sky! Movin on up. To the east side. We finally got a piece of the pie.

  • NJ Star-Ledger runs 'dual loyalty' charge against Rep. Rothman supporters
  • Jewish social justice groups add a day in Palestine to Israel tour
  • Israeli generals who oppose gungho Iran plans are afraid to speak out
    • DICKERSON3870 February 24, 2012 at 10:44 pm

      RE: "That’s why I sometimes refer to 'The Dissociative State of
      Israel'!" ~ me, above

      SEE: Left slams 'hallucinatory' West Bank annexation plan ~ by Moran Azulay, Ynet News, 2/23/12
      LINK - link to ynetnews.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 24, 2012 at 10:07 pm with 1 replies

      RE: "these pieces convey the irrationality of Israeli society, the paranoia and dissociation" ~ Weiss

      MY COMMENT: That's why I sometimes refer to "The Dissociative State of Israel"!
      Dissociation (psychology) - link to en.wikipedia.org

      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      RE: "Below are two pieces from Israel describing the siege mentality inside Israeli society and how those feelings of isolation have fed the determination to attack Iran." ~ Weiss

      ALSO SEE: Israel’s Defense Chief OK’s Hundreds of Israeli Deaths, By Ira Chernus, CommonDreams.org, 11/11/11

      (excerpt)...An essential motive of Zionism from its beginning was a fierce desire to end the centuries of Jewish weakness, to show the world that Jews would no longer be pushed around, that they’d fight back and prove themselves tougher than their enemies. There was more to Zionism than that. But the “pride through strength” piece came to dominate the whole project. Hence the massive Israeli military machine with its nuclear arsenal.
      But you can’t prove that you’re stronger than your enemies unless you’ve also got enemies -- or at least believe you’ve got enemies -- to fight against. So there has to be a myth of Israel’s insecurity, fueled by an image of vicious anti-semites lurking somewhere out there, for Zionism to work. Since the 1979 Iranian revolution, Iran has gradually risen to the top of Israel oh-so-necessary enemies list. Iranophobia is rampant in Israel, as one Israeli scholar writes, because “Israel needs an existential threat."
      Anyone who has grown up in Israel, or in the U.S. Jewish community (as I did), and paid attention knows all this...

      ENTIRE COMMENTARY - link to commondreams.org

  • Newark mayor and Yale president slam NYPD spying program
  • UC Irvine 11 protester is disinvited from 'TED'-linked speaker series
  • Sanity check on Iran
    • DICKERSON3870 February 23, 2012 at 2:28 pm

      RE: "from Rick Santorum to John McCain to Elliott Abrams to John Bolton, their defining characteristic is that they were equally apocalyptic about the threat from Iraq" ~ Beinart

      SEE: How the Power of Myth Keeps Us Mired in War, by Ira Chernus, TomDispatch.com, 01/20/11

      (excerpt) "...White Americans, going back to early colonial times, generally assigned the role of 'bad guys' to 'savages' lurking in the wilderness beyond the borders of our civilized land. Whether they were redskins, commies, terrorists, or the Taliban, the plot has always remained the same.
      Call it the myth of national security -- or, more accurately, national insecurity, since it always tells us who and what to fear.
      It’s been a mighty (and mighty effective) myth..."

      SOURCE – link to commondreams.org

      ALSO SEE: Israel’s Defense Chief OK’s Hundreds of Israeli Deaths, By Ira Chernus, CommonDreams.org, 11/11/11

      (excerpt)...An essential motive of Zionism from its beginning was a fierce desire to end the centuries of Jewish weakness, to show the world that Jews would no longer be pushed around, that they’d fight back and prove themselves tougher than their enemies. There was more to Zionism than that. But the “pride through strength” piece came to dominate the whole project. Hence the massive Israeli military machine with its nuclear arsenal.
      But you can’t prove that you’re stronger than your enemies unless you’ve also got enemies -- or at least believe you’ve got enemies -- to fight against. So there has to be a myth of Israel’s insecurity, fueled by an image of vicious anti-semites lurking somewhere out there, for Zionism to work. Since the 1979 Iranian revolution, Iran has gradually risen to the top of Israel oh-so-necessary enemies list. Iranophobia is rampant in Israel, as one Israeli scholar writes, because “Israel needs an existential threat."
      Anyone who has grown up in Israel, or in the U.S. Jewish community (as I did), and paid attention knows all this...

      ENTIRE COMMENTARY - link to commondreams.org

  • Who’s who behind the Olympia Food Co-op lawsuit
    • DICKERSON3870 February 22, 2012 at 3:33 pm

      RE: "People who are trying to come to an understanding don’t incessantly sue others, ya know?" ~ Crowther

      MY REPLY: Welcome to The Age of Lawfare. It's part of the "Iron Wall"!

      FROM WIKIPEDIA [Iron Wall (essay)]:

      (excerpt)...Jabotinsky argued that the Palestinians would not agree to a Jewish majority in Palestine, and that "Zionist colonisation must either stop, or else proceed regardless of the native population. Which means that it can proceed and develop only under the protection of a power that is independent of the native population – behind an iron wall, which the native population cannot breach."[1] The only solution to achieve peace and a Jewish state in the Land of Israel, he [Ze'ev Jabotinsky] argued, would be for Jews to unilaterally decide its borders and defend them with the strongest security possible...

      SOURCE - link to en.wikipedia.org
      ALSO: The Iron Wall, Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky, 1923 - link to mideastweb.org

  • Dog-bites-man story in NYT leads readers to say, tail wags dog
  • Assault on Beinart begins with poll claiming young American Jews love Israel
  • Foreign nationals willingly gave passports to Mossad
    • DICKERSON3870 February 22, 2012 at 11:02 am

      RE: "Well, think about it, what if Israel lost in 1967..." ~ Krauss

      QUESTION: Then why did Israel start the war?

      FROM WIKIPEDIA:

      The Six-Day War (Hebrew: מלחמת ששת הימים, Milhemet Sheshet Ha Yamim; Arabic: النكسة, an-Naksah, "The Setback," or حرب 1967, Ḥarb 1967, "War of 1967"), also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt (known at the time as the United Arab Republic), Jordan, and Syria. After a period of high tension between Israel and its neighbors, the war began on June 5 with Israel launching surprise air strikes against Arab forces.

      SOURCE - link to en.wikipedia.org

      ANSWER: It is all about maintaining the "Iron Wall" so that Israel can unilaterally decide its boundaries.

      FROM WIKIPEDIA [Iron Wall (essay)]:

      (excerpt)...Jabotinsky argued that the Palestinians would not agree to a Jewish majority in Palestine, and that "Zionist colonisation must either stop, or else proceed regardless of the native population. Which means that it can proceed and develop only under the protection of a power that is independent of the native population – behind an iron wall, which the native population cannot breach."[1] The only solution to achieve peace and a Jewish state in the Land of Israel, he [Ze'ev Jabotinsky] argued, would be for Jews to unilaterally decide its borders and defend them with the strongest security possible...

      SOURCE - link to en.wikipedia.org
      ALSO: The Iron Wall, Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky, 1923 - link to mideastweb.org

      AND SEE: The Dilemmas of Israeli Power, by Roger Cohen, New York Times Op-Ed, 2/13/12

      (excerpt)...Some of the most fascinating pages of “The Crisis of Zionism” [by Peter Beinart] trace the ideological backdrop to the bitter clash between Obama and Netanyahu. Beinart demonstrates the strong liberal Zionist influence of Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf on Obama during his Chicago years. Wolf hated the idea of “an Israel besieged by anti-Semites;” his teaching was “interfaith” and “integrationist.” It cleaved to the liberal roots of American Zionism and the ethical teachings of the prophets who, as expressed in Exodus, commanded Jews not to oppress strangers “having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.”
      The contrast with Netanyahu — raised in the Jabotinsky strain of Zionism by a father who viewed Arabs as “semi-barbaric” and rejected an “emasculating moralism” in favor of a new warrior breed of Jew...

      ENTIRE OP-ED - link to nytimes.com

  • 2013 US budget: 'difficult cuts' for Americans, jackpot for Israel
    • DICKERSON3870 February 21, 2012 at 10:35 pm

      RE: "Copy it and take it to any civic or town or social meeting you go to and share it with people." ~ American

      ALSO: Consider making a tax-deductible donation to the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. Your support is essential in the struggle to change U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine, and support human rights, equality and the implementation of international law.
      TO DONATE - link to endtheoccupation.org

      P.S. I make a modest monthly contribution as a member of the Olive Branch Club. - link to endtheoccupation.org

  • Write a letter of support and solidarity to Khader Adnan and his family
    • DICKERSON3870 February 17, 2012 at 3:32 pm

      RE: "I know your stories, I hear them from all around the world,
      I hear them from my mother. She tells me stories with tears in her eyes." ~ Kate from Ireland

      AN EXCELLENT FILM ON THE NATURE OF BEING A "CONSCIOUS PARIAH"*: "Hunger", 2008, NR, 96 minutes
      Acclaimed visual artist Steve McQueen makes his feature film debut with this gripping drama (and Independent Spirit Award Best Foreign Film contender) that depicts the events surrounding a hunger strike staged by a group of IRA prisoners during their 1981 incarceration in Britain's Prison Maze. Led by IRA volunteer-poet Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender), the strikers waged their six-week-long protest in an attempt to be acknowledged as political prisoners and to improve the prison's conditions.
      Netflix Availability: Streaming, DVD and Blu-ray
      NETFLIX LISTING - link to movies.netflix.com
      HUNGER Trailer (2008) - The Criterion Collection (VIDEO, 01:53) - link to youtube.com
      P.S. IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not watch this film anywhere near mealtime. To say the least, it does not "whet the appetite". At least, not for food! Also, a 'barf bag' might be advisable when viewing this film.

      * A RELATED FACEBOOK GROUP
      Name - Hannah Arendt: Integrity Personified
      Category - Common Interest, Beliefs & Causes
      Description - A group for individuals who greatly respect the legendary Hannah Arendt, and who admire the immense integrity her life epitomized. Oh, come, all ye "conscious pariahs", Joyful and triumphant! Oh, come ye, oh, come ye...
      LINK – link to facebook.com

  • "Four days in Ramallah through the lens of dehumanization" - remembering Anthony Shadid
    • DICKERSON3870 February 17, 2012 at 3:29 pm

      RE: "When I first visited the Middle East in 1988...I landed in the middle of the intifadah... The weapons of choice then for Palestinian youths were rocks, slingshots, and, as the conflict wore on, Molotov cocktails... When I returned in March, the constellation of those arms had changed... Skirmishes with stones and slingshots had been replaced by guerrilla operations against Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza, by ambushes of Jewish settlers seen by Palestinians as colonists, and by suicide bombs inside Israel..." ~ Shadid

      SEE: "Netanyahu: Stupid Like a Fox?", By Uri Avnery, Antiwar.com, 06/13/11

      (excerpt)..Last week, there was a repeat performance. The Palestinians all around Israel have declared June 5 “Naksa” Day, to commemorate the “Setback” of 1967, when Israel spectacularly defeated the armies of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, reinforced by elements from the Iraqi and Saudi armies.
      This time, the Israeli army was prepared. The fence was reinforced and an anti-tank ditch dug in front of it. When the demonstrators tried to reach the fence—again near Majdal Shams—they were shot by sharpshooters. Some 22 were killed, and many dozens were wounded. The Palestinians report that people trying to rescue the wounded and retrieve the dead were also shot and killed.
      No doubt this was a deliberate tactic decided upon in advance by the army command after the Naqba Day fiasco and approved by Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak. As was said quite openly, the Palestinians had to be taught a lesson they would not forget, so as to drive any idea of an unarmed mass action out of their minds.
      It is frighteningly reminiscent of events 10 years ago. After the first Intifada, in which stone-throwing youngsters and children won a moral victory       that led to the Oslo agreement, our army conducted exercises in anticipation of a second Intifada. This broke out after the political disaster of Camp David, and the army was ready.
      The new Intifada started with mass demonstrations of unarmed Palestinians. They were met by specially trained sharpshooters. Next to each sharpshooter stood an officer who pointed out the individuals who were to be shot because they looked like ringleaders: “The guy in the red shirt… Now the boy with the blue trousers…”
      The unarmed uprising broke down and was replaced by suicide bombers, roadside bombs, and other “terrorist” acts. With those our army was on familiar ground.
      I suspect very much that we are witnessing much the same thing once more. Again, specially trained sharpshooters are at work, directed by officers...

      SOURCE - link to original.antiwar.com

  • Right wing to Rudoren: Are you now, or have you ever been, a Zionist?
    • DICKERSON3870 February 16, 2012 at 7:45 pm

      RE: "Judi Rudoren continues to hold her ground against the right-wing onslaught against her" ~ A. Horowitz

      FROM Dahlia Scheindlin, +972 Magazine, 2/14/12:
      (excerpts)…After two weeks in America visiting family and friends, two observations struck me powerfully. First, the understanding that Israel is committing terrible deeds that are destroying itself and its neighbors, has penetrated among you…
      …On this trip, I was stunned to learn that now you don’t even really want to visit Israel because you can’t face what you’re increasingly coming to see as a brutal occupying entity flirting with fascist notions. . .
      …My second observation is that because of your fear – not of the goyim or the anti-Semites, but of yourselves! – you are keeping a low public profile. On this trip, I suddenly realized how naïve it was to imagine that J Street had sufficiently opened the door for anyone who cares critically for Israel to speak out. I underestimated how deep and terrible the intimidation has become and that one political lobby group is far from enough.
      I do understand: those of you who still call the Jewish community home, are afraid of the onslaught that you will receive from your (our) very own people. I hold no illusions about how vicious the attacks might be. We Jews, not the goyim, will call you the most painful names, will threaten in various ways to label you as beyond the pale of your people, should you voice your critique. You might be chastised in your professional community. You will be hit not only by shadowy bloggers but by the very cherished and established groups you have loyally, even automatically, supported over the years. The anger might come from your friends and it might even come from your family. . .
      …Here’s how that made me feel: abandoned, by the liberal Jews of America. You were swept away by Ruth Wisse’s thesis that liberals betrayed the Jewish cause by believing too much in rational universalism and failing to acknowledge the unique, everlasting threat of anti-Semitism…
      ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to 972mag.com

  • Pro-Israel handbook explains how to attack professors and ‘co-opt’ students of color
    • DICKERSON3870 February 16, 2012 at 7:33 pm

      RE: "[M]any students have brought gay Israelis to campus to discuss gay rights in the country..." ~ David Project "white paper"

      FROM WIKIPEDIA:

      (excerpts) The 2009 Tel Aviv gay centre shooting resulted in the deaths of two people and injuries to at least fifteen others at the Tel Aviv branch of the Israeli GLBT Association, at the "Bar-Noar" (Hebrew: בר-נוער‎, "Youth Bar"), on Nahmani Street in Tel Aviv, Israel, on 1 August 2009. A 26-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl were killed.[1][2] . . .
      . . . As of January 2012, the crime remains unsolved      … Two people were killed, and fifteen were wounded. The police had launched a search campaign to find the shooter, and in addition immediately closed most of the entertainment places for the gay community that operated during the same time of the shooting event, for fear of additional shooting.
      The gunman entered the building where a weekly event was being held (in the basement), shot in several directions and then fled on foot.[2][5][6] The building was frequented by gay teenagers who engage in social activities and listen to music.[6][11] The centre was small with one terrace; thus preventing anyone from escaping.[6] They instead hid under a bed and tables as shots were fired.[6][11] Israeli television said the crime scene was a “bloodbath”.[7]…
      . . . The shooter was masked, dressed in black and used a pistol to carry out his attack.[2][5][8][11][12] It is not believed his motive was related to nationalist terror but the exact motive is currently unclear.[2] The city’s gay community stated the killer had a homophobic motive while police have cautioned people that the attack may not have been a hate crime and that the motive remains unknown. . .

      SOURCE – link to en.wikipedia.org

  • In photos: PennBDS
    • DICKERSON3870 February 16, 2012 at 3:21 am

      RE: "Weiss is given a round of applause on being number one on the Anti-Defamation Leagues hateful list of the 'Five of the Most Anti-Israel
      Individuals.' " ~ photo caption

      A MID-WINTER'S MUSICAL INTERLUDE, courtesy of the makers of new Ziocaine Xtreme®: "It's guaranteed to make your head spin!"

      "...This is ground control to major Tom Phil, you've really made the grade
      And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
      Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare
      ~
      This is major Tom Phil to ground control, I'm stepping through the door
      And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
      And the stars look very different today
      Here am I sitting in a tin can far above the world
      Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing plenty I can do..." ~ Ziggy Stardust

      David Bowie, Space Oddity [VIDEO, 04:42] - link to youtube.com

  • Rudoren responds to the Twitter kerfuffle
    • DICKERSON3870 February 22, 2012 at 3:47 pm

      RE: "Dickerson, action was/is a high value in Fascist
      thought" ~ citizen

      SEE: Shaking the Kaleidoscope in Iran, By Lara Friedman, Foreign Policy, 2/21/12

      (excerpt) Discussion of military action against Iran is again taking center stage. It takes me back to a late September 2002 meeting, when I brought a former senior Israeli official to see the late Congressman Tom Lantos, then the ranking minority member of the House International Relations Committee. Our meeting focused on Iraq, with Lantos arguing passionately for pre-emptive U.S. military action against Saddam Hussein, who he compared to Hitler. Lantos dismissed out of hand our Israeli visitor's suggestion that a war might be destabilizing to the region and to Israel, telling us (and this is close to a direct quote):
      The Middle East is like a kaleidoscope. If you pick up a kaleidoscope and look through it, you don't see anything special. But if you shake the kaleidoscope and look through it again, you see something more beautiful than was there before.

      We were taken aback. One of the most powerful members of Congress -- a Holocaust survivor with unchallenged moral authority -- was saying, in effect, that the U.S. should wage war not to achieve a specific goal, but to shake things up, in the hopes that out of the chaos would emerge more attractive options...

      SOURCE - link to mideast.foreignpolicy.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 16, 2012 at 10:25 pm

      RE: "Hamburger helper, anyone?" ~ Citizen

      MY REPLY: No thanks, I'm very partial to Shake 'N Bake®! "And I helped!"™

      Shake n Bake commercial "And we helped!" (VIDEO, 00:30) - link to youtube.com
      1972 Shake 'n Bake Commercial with Judy Graubart (VIDEO, 00:31) - link to youtube.com
      Shake 'N Bake Taylor Momsen commercial (VIDEO, 00:31) - link to youtube.com
      Talladega Nights, "shake and bake" (VIDEO, 02:37) - link to youtube.com
      Yelawolf - Shake 'N' Bake (VIDEO, 04:06) - link to youtube.com

      P.S. RE: "And now we have our handful of complicit major media organs giving us 'all the news good for youse'." ~ Citizen

      AT THE BALLPARK: "Git ya beer here!" "Git ya beer here!" "Git ya beer here!" "Come on youse guys, get ya beer here!"

    • DICKERSON3870 February 15, 2012 at 8:04 pm

      RE: Ruth Wisse's dreaded "rational universalism"
      AN EXCELLENT FILM: "Welcome", 2009, NR, 105 minutes
      When authorities forbid young Kurdish refugee Bilal (Firat Ayverdi) from crossing the English Channel to reunite with his girlfriend in England, the 17-year-old resolves to swim to his love -- and finds an unlikely ally in the form of swim instructor Simon (Vincent Lindon). Facing an inevitable divorce from his wife (Audrey Dana), the middle-aged teacher takes the resolute youth under his wing in this stirring, beautifully acted French drama.
      Director: Philippe Lioret
      Language: French (English subtitles)
      Netflix availability: Streaming and DVD
      NETFLIX LISTING - link to movies.netflix.com
      "WELCOME", Official HD Trailer (VIDEO, 02:32) - link to youtube.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 15, 2012 at 7:38 pm with 1 replies

      RE: "the shame is that now matter how biased and openly manipulative the people who police the debate about Israel are…as this shows. It does work. It does put the fear into the people…" ~ iamuglow

      FROM Dahlia Scheindlin, +972 Magazine, 2/14/12:

      (excerpts)…After two weeks in America visiting family and friends, two
      observations struck me powerfully. First, the understanding that Israel is committing terrible deeds that are destroying itself and its neighbors, has penetrated among you…
      …On this trip, I was stunned to learn that now you don’t even really want to visit Israel because you can’t face what you’re increasingly coming to see as a brutal occupying entity flirting with fascist notions. . .
      …My second observation is that because of your fear – not of the goyim or the anti-Semites, but of yourselves! – you are keeping a low public profile. On this trip, I suddenly realized how naïve it was to imagine that J Street had sufficiently opened the door for anyone who cares critically for Israel to speak out. I underestimated how deep and terrible the intimidation has become and that one political lobby group is far from enough.
      I do understand: those of you who still call the Jewish community home, are afraid of the onslaught that you will receive from your (our) very own people. I hold no illusions about how vicious the attacks might be. We Jews, not the goyim, will call you the most painful names, will threaten in various ways to label you as beyond the pale of your people, should you voice your critique. You might be chastised in your professional community. You will be hit not only by shadowy bloggers but by the very cherished and established groups you have loyally, even automatically, supported over the years. The anger might come from your friends and it might even come from your family. . .
      …Here’s how that made me feel: abandoned, by the liberal Jews of America. You were swept away by Ruth Wisse’s thesis that liberals betrayed the Jewish cause by believing too much in rational universalism and failing to acknowledge the unique, everlasting threat of anti-Semitism…

      ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to 972mag.com

      P.S. TED RALL, 07/22/10: …Umberto Eco’s 1995 essay "Eternal Fascism" describes the cult of action for its own sake under fascist regimes and movements: “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”...
      ["Thinking"="rational universalism"="emasculation"! - J.L.D.]
      SOURCE – link to commondreams.org

    • DICKERSON3870 February 15, 2012 at 7:16 pm with 4 replies

      RE: "...did people see Roger Cohen’s wonderful book review of Beinart’s The Dilemmas of Israeli Power?" ~ pabelmont

      THE "MONEY SHOT" FROM The Dilemmas of Israeli Power, by Roger Cohen, New York Times Op-Ed, 2/13/12

      (excerpt)...Some of the most fascinating pages of “The Crisis of Zionism” [by Peter Beinart] trace the ideological backdrop to the bitter clash between Obama and Netanyahu. Beinart demonstrates the strong liberal Zionist influence of Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf on Obama during his Chicago years. Wolf hated the idea of “an Israel besieged by anti-Semites;” his teaching was “interfaith” and “integrationist.” It cleaved to the liberal roots of American Zionism and the ethical teachings of the prophets who, as expressed in Exodus, commanded Jews not to oppress strangers “having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.”
      The contrast with Netanyahu — raised in the Jabotinsky strain of Zionism by a father who viewed Arabs as “semi-barbaric” and rejected an “emasculating moralism” in favor of a new warrior breed of Jew — could scarcely be greater. . .

      ENTIRE OP-ED - link to nytimes.com

      P.S. FROM TED RALL, 07/22/10: …Umberto Eco’s 1995 essay "Eternal Fascism" describes the cult of action for its own sake under fascist regimes and movements: “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”…[I.e. "emasculating moralism"! - J.L.D.]
      SOURCE – link to commondreams.org

      P.P.S. Money shot - link to en.wikipedia.org

  • New 'NYT' bureau chief Jodi Rudoren faces outcry from Israel advocates over Twitter messages
    • DICKERSON3870 February 15, 2012 at 6:58 pm with 2 replies

      RE: "...ardent advocates for Israel are trying to suppress a discourse and worldview anathema to them. The furious tweets and articles directed at Rudoren are meant to intimidate her into thinking about the conflict through an Israeli prism. Any open discourse on this issue is a danger." ~ Alex Kane

      FROM Dahlia Scheindlin, +972 Magazine, 2/14/12:

      (excerpts)...After two weeks in America visiting family and friends, two
      observations struck me powerfully. First, the understanding that Israel is committing terrible deeds that are destroying itself and its neighbors, has penetrated among you...
      ...On this trip, I was stunned to learn that now you don’t even really want to visit Israel because you can’t face what you’re increasingly coming to see as a brutal occupying entity flirting with fascist notions...
      ...My second observation is that because of your fear – not of the goyim or the anti-Semites, but of yourselves! – you are keeping a low public profile. On this trip, I suddenly realized how naïve it was to imagine that J Street had sufficiently opened the door for anyone who cares critically for Israel to speak out. I underestimated how deep and terrible the intimidation has become and that one political lobby group is far from enough.
      I do understand: those of you who still call the Jewish community home, are afraid of the onslaught that you will receive from your (our) very own people. I hold no illusions about how vicious the attacks might be. We Jews, not the goyim, will call you the most painful names, will threaten in various ways to label you as beyond the pale of your people, should you voice your critique. You might be chastised in your professional community. You will be hit not only by shadowy bloggers but by the very cherished and established groups you have loyally, even automatically, supported over the years. The anger might come from your friends and it might even come from your family...
      ...Here’s how that made me feel: abandoned, by the liberal Jews of America. You were swept away by Ruth Wisse’s thesis that liberals betrayed the Jewish cause by believing too much in rational universalism and failing to acknowledge the unique, everlasting threat of anti-Semitism...

      SOURCE - link to 972mag.com

  • Israeli apartheid is never fit to print in the 'Times', only in 'Haaretz'
    • DICKERSON3870 February 15, 2012 at 5:28 pm

      RE: "Ariel is not just another 'location.' It is situated in occupied territory that is a focus of controversy both within Israeli society and in the international community." ~ Haaretz

      MY SNARK: Glory Be to Pastor John Hagee of San Antonio, Texas, one of Ariel's most generous benefactors!
      SEE: Worldwide Biblical Zionists, by Rachel Tabachnick, Talk To Action, 10/19/09
      LINK - link to talk2action.org

  • Khader Adnan on his 59th day, when Francis Hughes died
    • DICKERSON3870 February 14, 2012 at 7:13 pm

      RE: "Fifty-nine days was how long it took for Francis Hughes to succumb to his starvation and die. Hughes was one of ten Irish republican prisoners who died during the 1981 hunger strike, calling for the British government to recognize their status as political prisoners." ~ Phan Nguyen

      AN EXCELLENT FILM ON THE NATURE OF BEING A "CONSCIOUS PARIAH"*: "Hunger", 2008, NR, 96 minutes
      Acclaimed visual artist Steve McQueen makes his feature film debut with this gripping drama (and Independent Spirit Award Best Foreign Film contender) that depicts the events surrounding a hunger strike staged by a group of IRA prisoners during their 1981 incarceration in Britain's Prison Maze. Led by IRA volunteer-poet Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender), the strikers waged their six-week-long protest in an attempt to be acknowledged as political prisoners and to improve the prison's conditions.
      Netflix Availability: Streaming, DVD and Blu-ray
      NETFLIX LISTING - link to movies.netflix.com
      HUNGER Trailer (2008) - The Criterion Collection (VIDEO, 01:53) - link to youtube.com
      P.S. IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not watch this film anywhere near mealtime. To say the least, it does not "whet the appetite". At least, not for food! Also, a 'barf bag' might be advisable when viewing this film.

      * A RELATED FACEBOOK GROUP
      Name - Hannah Arendt: Integrity Personified
      Category - Common Interest, Beliefs & Causes
      Description - A group for individuals who greatly respect the legendary Hannah Arendt, and who admire the immense integrity her life epitomized. Oh, come, all ye "conscious pariahs", Joyful and triumphant! Oh, come ye, oh, come ye...
      LINK – link to facebook.com

  • AIPAC member identified as Abileah assailant during Netanyahu speech to Congress
    • DICKERSON3870 February 11, 2012 at 5:26 pm

      P.S. ANOTHER INSTANCE OF ATTORNEY IMPROPRIETY

      RICHARD SILVERSTEIN, 11/19/10: …Wrapped in an Israeli flag, San Francisco Voice for Israel/StandWithUs (SFVI/SWU) member Robin Dubner, an Oakland based attorney, pepper-sprayed two JVP members in the eyes and face...
      SOURCE - link to richardsilverstein.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 11, 2012 at 5:07 pm with 1 replies

      RE: "Mr. Shulster, a retired lawyer, admitted to assaulting Rae Abileah" ~ Annie Robbins

      MY COMMENT: Abileah should also file a complaint against him with the appropriate state's bar association (Oregon, I assume). Even if he is "retired", they might be willing to reprimand him. Disbarment is unlikely.
      Oregon State Bar - link to osbar.org

  • Judge delays ruling on Khader Adnan, now in his 56th day of hunger strike
    • DICKERSON3870 February 10, 2012 at 10:34 pm

      CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike risks dying: hospital, by Jihan Abdalla, Reuters, 2/09/12
      LINK - link to chicagotribune.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 10, 2012 at 10:28 pm with 1 replies

      PRESS TV (Iran) - Gazans go on hunger strike in solidarity with Khader Adnan , 02/11/12 [WITH VIDEO, 02:24]

      Dozens of Gazans went on a hunger strike and attended the Friday prayer sermon in front of the office of the International committee of the Red Cross in Gaza.

      The hunger strike is in solidarity with Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan who has been on a hunger strike in an Israeli jail for 55 days.

      Khader Adnan went on a hunger strike to protest his administrative detention, in which prisoners can be detained indefinitely without trial or charge.

      According to Israeli rights' group B'Tselem in 2011, there was a sharp increase in the number of Palestinian administrative detainees held by Israel, from 219 in January to 307 in December.

      Prisoners advocates have called on the international community to stop Israeli violations of prisoners' rights and save Khader Adnan from an imminent death.

      Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have warned that they will go on a hunger strike next Sunday unless Khader Adnan is released.

      According to prisoner advocacy groups there are at least 4500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, many without being charged or facing trial.

      LINK - link to presstv.com

      P.S. What about RT (Russia Today)? They should cover this.

  • The Israel Lobby on campus in Illinois: A challenge for BDS
    • DICKERSON3870 February 15, 2012 at 6:24 pm

      P.S. ALSO SEE: Did rightist NGO leader admit to being inspired by fascist thinkers? ~ by Yossi Gurvitz, +972 Magazine, 2/13/12

      (excerpts) Yesterday, the defense in the trial of Im Tirzu vs. the Facebook group “Im Tirzu – a fascist movement” presented its depositions. The plaintiff is the infamous right-wing group, the defendants are a group of leftist activists, the issue is libel. It began in 2010 when Ronen Shoval, chairman of Im Tirzu, sent the following email...
      ...Among the depositions by the defense is one by Tomer Persico, who is a researcher of religions and the writer of one of the most important blogs on the issue in Israel..
      ...In his deposition, Persico described a conversation with Shoval that took place a few months ago, as they were being interviewed by the paper Makor Rishon. In the recorded conversation, Persico told Shoval that he was surprised to see clear romantic German influences in a book by Shoval, and was surprised when the latter freely admitted it. Shoval said that “in my thesis, I dealt a lot with Ficthe, Schelling, Herder and George Sorel.” The latter is considered to be one of the inspirations of Italian fascism, and was fascinated by political violence: he praised Action Francaise, the nationalist movement which was a precursor of French fascism, he praised Mussolini – and Lenin, too. He was also an anti-Semite who spread the blood libel (though he was on the side of the angels in the Dreyfus Affair). This is, to say the least, a rather strange inspiration for the leader of a so-called neo-Zionist revival movement. Persico said he was “stunned.”
      Shoval, says Persico, claimed Persico was unkind in his review of his book, since when he used the ideas of Herder and Fichte about the organic nature of the volk, he was speaking metaphorically. Shoval said he didn’t put it quite that way in his book, since the purpose of the book “is to express ideas simplistically – I say, simplistically – ideas which are very deep… to make it clear to the multitude… the meaning of the word ‘Zionism’ today.” Persico claimed that such simplicity is dangerous and that it is typical of Im Tirzu’s activity; Shoval replied that “this is an issue of marketing strategies.”
      So, in the name of marketing strategies, Shoval is injecting volkist concepts into the Israeli mindset, concepts which originally – and he claims to know the original very well – have caused untold suffering both to the people they were injected into, to the minorities living among them, and to nearby nations...

      ENTIRE ARTICLE - link to 972mag.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 15, 2012 at 6:19 pm with 1 replies

      RE: “What that means for Americans is constant warfare on behalf of an extremely dangerous, racist and proto-fascist foreign country” ~ Rutherford

      ROGER COHEN, 2/13/12: "...Netanyahu — raised in the Jabotinsky strain of Zionism by a father who viewed Arabs as “semi-barbaric” and rejected an “emasculating moralism” in favor of a new warrior breed of Jew..."
      SOURCE - link to nytimes.com

      TED RALL, 07/22/10: …Umberto Eco’s 1995 essay "Eternal Fascism" describes the cult of action for its own sake under fascist regimes and movements: “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”…
      SOURCE – link to commondreams.org

      DAHLIA SCHEINDLIN, +972 Magazine, 2/14/12:

      (excerpts)...After two weeks in America visiting family and friends, two observations struck me powerfully. First, the understanding that Israel is committing terrible deeds that are destroying itself and its neighbors, has penetrated among you... ...On this trip, I was stunned to learn that now you don’t even really want to visit Israel because you can’t face what you’re increasingly coming to see as a brutal occupying entity flirting with fascist notions...
      ...Here’s how that made me feel: abandoned, by the liberal Jews of America. You were swept away by Ruth Wisse’s thesis that liberals betrayed the Jewish cause by believing too much in rational universalism and failing to acknowledge the unique, everlasting threat of anti-Semitism...

      SOURCE - link to 972mag.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 10, 2012 at 10:05 pm

      P.P.S. FROM THE AIPAC WEBSITE (undated):

      African American Political Leaders and Activists Visit Israel

      A group of African American politicians, consultants and activists arrived in Israel this week to participate in an American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF) Seminar. The group of 18 includes eight state and local elected officials and three appointed government officials, including the presidents of the city councils of Atlanta and Detroit. The other participants are all deeply involved in political and civic life in their communities, including five who are co-chairs for the DNC’s Generation44 fundraising initiative in their cities. A number of the seminar participants have already attended pro-Israel events in their communities and have shown interest in strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship. Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell and DeKalb County Commissioner Lee May passed Iranian divestment resolutions in their jurisdictions in 2009.

      SOURCE - link to aipac.org

    • DICKERSON3870 February 10, 2012 at 7:59 pm

      P.S. ALSO SEE: Sheriff Ortiz goes to Israel, by Eva Ruth Moravec, mysanantonio.com, 07/07/11

      (excerpts)...For one week last month, Bexar County Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz swapped his cowboy hat for a yarmulke as he visited Israel on an organized trip with other law enforcement leaders.
      “I’ve always had an interest in Israel,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “It was a great conference.”
      Ortiz joined 16 other sheriffs, police chiefs and organization heads, including Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland, on a week-long trip, courtesy of the Jewish Institute for National Security’s Law Enforcement Exchange Program...
      ...Ortiz said he was impressed by Israel Defense Force soldiers, who he said are trained as soldiers and as police officers.
      “If we ever deploy troops along the Texas border, they should have training in being a soldier and in law enforcement,” he said...
      ...The junket was Ortiz’s second organized trip to Israel: last year, Bexar County footed the bill to send him to an international conference on homeland security, he said...

      SOURCE - link to blog.mysanantonio.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 10, 2012 at 7:58 pm with 2 replies

      RE: “The Governor’s educational visit was part of a JUF initiative that, for the past two decades, has brought influential leaders to Israel.” ~ Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago

      MY COMMENT: I demand my "free" trip to Israel. Everyone else seems to be getting one, or two, or.......

      FOR INSTANCE, SEE: Israel trip an eye-opening experience for Jefferson chief, By Adina Solomon, onlineathens.com, 07/18/11

      This summer, Jefferson Police Chief Joe Wirthman went on a two-week trip 6,000 miles away, traveling across Israel with a delegation of state law enforcement officers as part of the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange.
      "It was an awesome trip," he said. "A trip of a lifetime."
      GILEE, which partners with Georgia State University, sends a different group of Georgia officers every summer to work with Israeli law enforcement and border control.
      Commerce Police Chief John Gaissert and University of Georgia Police Chief Jimmy Williamson also have gone in past years.
      The object of the program is to learn how Israeli police deal with terrorism every day...
      ...After his trip, Wirthman is trying to think one step ahead with the Jefferson Police Department, preparing for the type of threatening situations Israel faces 24 hours a day, he said.
      "Hopefully it'll never happen, but in this world, 'never' isn't a word," Wirthman said. "We're not invincible here."
      He's also witnessed how people live their daily lives with the constant menace of terrorism, he said.
      Wirthman met one man who sends each of his children on a different bus to school. In case one of the buses is bombed, only one of his three children will be harmed.
      "I don't know if I could raise my family under those conditions," said Wirthman, who has three kids of his own.
      And nobody in Israel grumbles about it, he said. Instead, they have a strong national pride many Americans had only after 9/11, he said..."

      ENTIRE ARTICLE - link to onlineathens.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 10, 2012 at 7:53 pm with 6 replies

      RE: "A biased and discriminatory political agenda, dictated and limited by Israeli state interests and U.S. hegemonic interests in the region, is thus inevitably part and parcel of such academic agreements.The public university and its scholarly and scientific reputation is commandeered and exploited by the Israel Lobby in order to serve and legitimize that agenda." ~ David Green

      ALSO SEE: The Trial of Israel’s Campus Critics, by David Theo Goldberg and Saree Makdisi, Tikkun Magazine, September/October 2009

      (excerpt)…It is an extraordinary fact that no fewer than thirty-three distinct organizations - including AIPAC, the Zionist Organization of America, the American Jewish Congress, and the Jewish National Fund - are gathered together today as members or affiliates of the Israel on Campus Coalition. The coalition is an overwhelmingly powerful presence on American college campuses for which there is simply no equivalent on the Palestinian or Arab side. Its self-proclaimed mission is not merely to monitor our colleges and universities. That, after all, is the commitment of Campus Watch, which was started by pro-Israel activists in 2002. It is, rather (and in its own words), to generate “a pro-active, pro-Israel agenda on campus.”
      There is, accordingly, disproportionate and unbalanced intervention on campuses across the country by a coalition of well-funded organizations, who have no time for — and even less interest in — the niceties of intellectual exchange and academic process. Insinuation, accusation, and defamation have become the weapons of first resort to respond to argument and criticism directed at Israeli policies. As far as these outside pressure groups (and their campus representatives) are concerned, the intellectual and academic price that the scholarly community pays as a result of this kind of intervention amounts to little more than collateral damage...

      ENTIRE ARTICLE - link to tikkun.org

  • Hasbara PennBDS wrap-up: Pro-Israel students are ignorant
    • DICKERSON3870 February 10, 2012 at 7:14 pm

      RE: "while pro-Israel students may be ignorant, at least they are successful at sticking together" ~ Deger article

      MY COMMENT: Ignorance breeds a herd mentality! Always has. Always will.

  • After 55 days of hunger strike MSM finally reports on Khader Adnan
    • DICKERSON3870 February 10, 2012 at 10:55 pm

      RE: "It appears that there is now no way out for Adnan. His hunger strike
      now is just 13 days short of the duration of Irish republican Bobby Sands's strike." ~ Allison Deger

      ON THE NATURE OF BEING A "CONSCIOUS PARIAH"*:
      "Hunger", 2008, NR, 96 minutes
      Acclaimed visual artist Steve McQueen makes his feature film debut with this gripping drama (and Independent Spirit Award Best Foreign Film contender) that depicts the events surrounding a hunger strike staged by a group of IRA prisoners during their 1981 incarceration in Britain's Prison Maze. Led by IRA volunteer-poet Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender), the strikers waged their six-week-long protest in an attempt to be acknowledged as political prisoners and to improve the prison's conditions.
      Netflix Availability: Streaming, DVD and Blu-ray
      NETFLIX LISTING - link to movies.netflix.com
      HUNGER Trailer (2008) - The Criterion Collection (VIDEO, 01:53) - link to youtube.com
      P.S. IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not watch this film anywhere near mealtime. To say the least, it does not "whet the appetite". At least, not for food! Also, a 'barf bag' might be advisable when viewing this film.

      * A RELATED FACEBOOK GROUP
      Name - Hannah Arendt: Integrity Personified
      Category - Common Interest, Beliefs & Causes
      Description - A group for individuals who greatly respect the legendary Hannah Arendt, and who admire the immense integrity her life epitomized. Oh, come, all ye "conscious pariahs", Joyful and triumphant! Oh, come ye, oh, come ye...
      LINK – link to facebook.com

  • Coalition of Syrian artists: Resistance liberates the imagination from slavery
  • 'Commentary' covers its eyes and makes Palestinians disappear
    • DICKERSON3870 February 8, 2012 at 6:03 pm

      RE: "This is a must read in terms of setting a new tone of fanatical discourse. It's almost unbelievable, but then again, it is what we've come to expect from Commentary Magazine." ~ Annie Robbins

      As I have mentioned countless times, Commentary (the magazine, website, etc.) reminds me of Heaven's Gate (the cult)!!!

  • A lull on this site
  • Khader Adnan, political prisoner held without charges, is near death after 53 days of hunger strike
    • DICKERSON3870 February 7, 2012 at 11:44 pm

      SAMPLE

      RE: Palestinian political prisoner Khader Adnan

      Dear (salutation)

      I am writing to urge that Palestinian political prisoner Khader Adnan, currently on a hunger strike exceeding fifty days, be immediately and unconditionally released.

      Khader Adnan is a victim of torture and abuse. He is being held without charge or trial and under secret evidence. It is the eighth time that Israel has imprisoned Mr. Adnan without charge or trial, where he joins over 280 fellow Palestinian prisoners in administrative detention.

      Khader Adnan's life - and the lives of thousands of Palestinian prisoners- are precious to me and to people around the world. The eyes of the world are on the case of Khader Adnan, and the government of Israel is fully responsible for his health and his life.

      Administrative detention violates the right to a fair trial as recognized in the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. It is a practice that is used to silence Palestinians without ever exposing the reality of such actions to the light of day - even in the rigged military court systems.

      Furthermore, I join with Palestinian prisoners to demand an end to the use not only of administrative detention, but also the use of isolation and solitary confinement and torture, both of which have been used against Khader Adnan and numerous other Palestinian prisoners.

      Khader Adnan's valiant hunger strike is a cry for freedom that has been heard around the world. He must be released immediately and without condition.

      Sincerely,

      PLEASE SEND APPEALS TO:
      Military Judge Advocate General
      Brigadier General Danny Efroni
      6 David Elazar Street
      Hakirya, Tel Aviv,
      Israel
      Fax: +972 3 569 4526
      Email: avimn@idf.gov.il

      Salutation: Dear Judge Advocate
      General
      Commander of the IDF – West Bank
      Major-General Avi Mizrahi
      GOC Central Command
      Military Post 01149
      Battalion 877
      Israel Defense Forces,
      Israel
      Fax: +972 2 530 5724
      Email: avimn@idf.gov.il
      Salutation: Dear Major-General AviMizrahi

      And copies to:
      Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence
      Ehud Barak
      Ministry of Defence
      37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya
      Tel Aviv 61909,
      Israel
      Fax: +972 3 69 16940 / 62757
      Email: ehudb@knesset.gov.il
      Salutation: Dear Minister

      Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.

      WASHINGTON (Embassy)
      3514 INTERNATIONAL DR. N.W.
      WASHINGTON D.C. 20008
      Email: INFO@WASHINGTON.MFA.GOV.IL

      Israeli Mission to the United Nations - New York
      NEW YORK/U.N (Delegation)
      800 SECOND AVENUE
      NEW YORK U.N 10017
      Email: INFO@NEWYORK.MFA.GOV.IL

    • DICKERSON3870 February 7, 2012 at 10:15 pm

      RE: "It appears that there is now no way out for Adnan. His hunger strike
      now is just 13 days short of the duration of Irish republican Bobby Sands's strike." ~ Deger

      ON THE NATURE OF BEING A "CONSCIOUS PARIAH"*:
      "Hunger", 2008, NR, 96 minutes
      Acclaimed visual artist Steve McQueen makes his feature film debut with this gripping drama (and Independent Spirit Award Best Foreign Film contender) that depicts the events surrounding a hunger strike staged by a group of IRA prisoners during their 1981 incarceration in Britain's Prison Maze. Led by IRA volunteer-poet Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender), the strikers waged their six-week-long protest in an attempt to be acknowledged as political prisoners and to improve the prison's conditions.
      Netflix Availability: Streaming, DVD and Blu-ray
      NETFLIX LISTING - link to movies.netflix.com
      HUNGER Trailer (2008) - The Criterion Collection (VIDEO, 01:53) - link to youtube.com
      P.S. IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not watch this film anywhere near mealtime. To say the least, it does not "whet the appetite". At least, not for food! Also, a 'barf bag' might be advisable when viewing this film.

      * A RELATED FACEBOOK GROUP
      Name - Hannah Arendt: Integrity Personified
      Category - Common Interest, Beliefs & Causes
      Description - A group for individuals who greatly respect the legendary Hannah Arendt, and who admire the immense integrity her life epitomized. Oh, come, all ye "conscious pariahs", Joyful and triumphant! Oh, come ye, oh, come ye...
      LINK – link to facebook.com

  • Jewish substitution and the white gaze
    • DICKERSON3870 February 7, 2012 at 9:53 pm with 1 replies

      RE: “My mother was once a fairly intelligent, well-informed individual who could think for herself. But, after years of watching Fox News, her head is now full of mush." - me, above

      SEE: The Right's Stupidity Spreads, Enabled by a Too-Polite Left ~ by George Monbiot, The Guardian, 2/06/12

      (excerpts)...we have been too polite to mention the Canadian study published last month in the journal 'Psychological Science', which revealed that people with conservative beliefs are likely to be of low intelligence....
      ...It is by no means the first such paper. There is plenty of research showing that low general intelligence in childhood predicts greater prejudice towards people of different ethnicity or sexuality in adulthood. Open-mindedness, flexibility, trust in other people: all these require certain cognitive abilities. Understanding and accepting others – particularly "different" others – requires an enhanced capacity for abstract thinking.
      But, drawing on a sample size of several thousand, correcting for both education and socioeconomic status, the new study looks embarrassingly robust. Importantly, it shows that prejudice tends not to arise directly from low intelligence but from the conservative ideologies to which people of low intelligence are drawn. Conservative ideology is the "critical pathway" from low intelligence to racism. Those with low cognitive abilities [like many "seniors"] are attracted to "rightwing ideologies that promote coherence and order" and "emphasise the maintenance of the status quo". Even for someone not yet renowned for liberal reticence, this feels hard to write.
      This is not to suggest that all conservatives are stupid. There are some very clever people in government, advising politicians, running thinktanks and writing for newspapers, who have acquired power and influence by promoting rightwing ideologies.
      But what we now see among their parties – however intelligent their guiding spirits may be – is the abandonment of any pretence of high-minded conservatism. On both sides of the Atlantic, conservative strategists have discovered that there is no pool so shallow that several million people won't drown in it. Whether they are promoting the idea that Barack Obama was not born in the US, that man-made climate change is an eco-fascist-communist-anarchist conspiracy, or that the deficit results from the greed of the poor, they now appeal to the basest, stupidest impulses, and find that it does them no harm in the polls. . .

      ENTIRE COMMENTARY - link to commondreams.org

    • DICKERSON3870 February 7, 2012 at 5:44 pm

      P.S. LOUDON'S OFFSPRING
      Rufus Wainwright: Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk (VIDEO, 04:42) - link to youtube.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 7, 2012 at 5:22 pm with 1 replies

      P.S. To borrow from Loudon Wainwright III (circa 1975): "Sweet nothings, they sho' mean nothing to me!"
      MP3 sample - link to amazon.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 7, 2012 at 4:48 pm with 5 replies

      RE: "the incident shows how backward my community is, how sunk. I love my mother. I want to help that community redeem itself." ~ Weiss

      MY COMMENT: My mother was once a fairly intelligent, well-informed individual who could think for herself. But, after years of watching Fox News, her head is now full of mush.
      A couple of years ago I got tired of hearing Fox News talking points about Israel and many other topics issue from her mouth as though she was some kind of twisted "Chatty Cathy" (VIDEO, 01:18). Consequently, I no longer have any contact with her. In essence, we have said our goodbyes.
      Never, ever, again!

    • DICKERSON3870 February 7, 2012 at 4:19 pm

      RE: "I said that it was essential that Americans learn about the Nakba, it was great old/new news essential to an understanding of the refugees..." ~ Weiss

      MY COMMENT: It is not just Americans who need to learn about the Nakba in order to understand the Palestinian refugees!

      SEE: Why Did Palestinian Refugees Come to Lebanon? ~ by Franklin Lamb, Counterpunch, 1/06/12

      (excerpts) During a workshop at the American University of Beirut last year on the subject of the right to work and to purchase a home for Palestinian refugees, a young business major from the Christian village of Bikerki posed a question that surprised some in the audience: “Why if Palestinian don’t like it in Lebanon do they not go home? Why did they even bother coming here in the first place?”
      “Caroline” was not being antagonistic. Many of the younger Lebanese population are taught in private and religious schools by the various sects using a curriculum including subjects that are heavily politicized and skewed, none more than modern Lebanese history...
      ...The current fate of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, living for decades in inhumane conditions worse that any refugees on earth, is primarily the fault and responsibility of those who stole their lands and ethnically cleaned them during the 1948 Nakba. Additionally, the Palestinian refugees’ abject existence is the responsibility of those who have egregiously nurtured the nineteenth century Zionist colonial enterprise with aid and weapons while averting their eyes from the Palestinians Right of Return and the international responsibility to implement international law including many UN Security Council Resolutions 242, 338 and UNGAR 194. In addition to the United States and Europe, responsibility attaches to much of the World community.
      They were forced out of 531 villages and 11 cities in Palestine as part of a series of detailed and meticulous ethnic cleansing campaigns...

      ENTIRE ARTICLE - link to counterpunch.org

  • How Sarah Schulman managed to get 'Pinkwashing' into the New York Times
    • DICKERSON3870 February 6, 2012 at 2:35 pm

      RE: "Schulman said that on January 24, the NYT ran this AP report saying that Tel Aviv is a great gay destination-- 'a plant' for the Israeli government, a 'piece that had never been factchecked... rife with factual inaccuracies'."

      FROM WIKIPEDIA:

      (excerpts) The 2009 Tel Aviv gay centre shooting resulted in the deaths of two people and injuries to at least fifteen others at the Tel Aviv branch of the Israeli GLBT Association, at the "Bar-Noar" (Hebrew: בר-נוער‎, "Youth Bar"), on Nahmani Street in Tel Aviv, Israel, on 1 August 2009. A 26-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl were killed.[1][2]...
      . . . As of January 2012, the crime remains unsolved… Two people were killed, and fifteen were wounded. The police had launched a search campaign to find the shooter, and in addition immediately closed most of the entertainment places for the gay community that operated during the same time of the shooting event, for fear of additional shooting.
      The gunman entered the building where a weekly event was being held (in the basement), shot in several directions and then fled on foot.[2][5][6] The building was frequented by gay teenagers who engage in social activities and listen to music.[6][11] The centre was small with one terrace; thus preventing anyone from escaping.[6] They instead hid under a bed and tables as shots were fired.[6][11] Israeli television said the crime scene was a “bloodbath”.[7]…
      . . . The shooter was masked, dressed in black and used a pistol to carry out his attack.[2][5][8][11][12] It is not believed his motive was related to nationalist terror but the exact motive is currently unclear.[2] The city’s gay community stated the killer had a homophobic motive while police have cautioned people that the attack may not have been a hate crime and that the motive remains unknown. . .

      SOURCE – link to en.wikipedia.org

  • Would you buy a used metaphor from this warmonger? (Niall Ferguson's 'creative destruction' echoes Rice's 'birth-pangs')
    • DICKERSON3870 February 14, 2012 at 5:51 pm

      P.S. RE: "…Umberto Eco’s 1995 essay “Eternal Fascism” describes the cult of action for its own sake under fascist regimes and movements: 'Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation'.…" ~ Ted Rall (from above)

      ROGER COHEN, 2/13/12: "...Netanyahu — raised in the Jabotinsky strain of Zionism by a father who viewed Arabs as “semi-barbaric” and rejected an “emasculating moralism” in favor of a new warrior breed of Jew..."
      SOURCE - link to nytimes.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 8, 2012 at 6:38 pm

      I love it when Mussolini's son (mothered by Ida Dalser) does the hilarious impersonation of his father!
      Incidentally, Netanyahu has always reminded me a bit of
      Il Duce ("The Leader"). They are both such obtuse blockheads.

    • DICKERSON3870 February 6, 2012 at 6:49 pm with 2 replies

      RE: “The Futurist Manifesto [in pre-WWI Italy] had declared, ‘We will glorify war — the world’s only hygiene — militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for woman‘.” ~ iamuglow

      NETFLIX: Vincere, 2009, NR, 124 minutes
      Ida Dalser (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) falls for young Benito Mussolini (Filippo Timi) in Milan and sells everything she has to help the future dictator fund his newspaper, Popolo d'Italia. But when World War I separates the newly wedded couple, Mussolini marries another woman. Ida demands to retain her rights as Mussolini's wife and the mother of his son, but the Fascists have other plans for the dictator's dark secret in this gripping biopic.
      Director: Marco Bellocchio
      Language: Italian (English subtitles)
      Netflix Availability: Streaming and DVD
      NETFLIX LISTING - link to movies.netflix.com
      Vincere, Official Trailer (VIDEO, 02:00) - link to youtube.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 6, 2012 at 6:32 pm with 1 replies

      RE: "The Futurist Manifesto [in pre-WWI Italy] had declared, 'We will glorify war — the world’s only hygiene — militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for woman'.” ~ iamuglow

      FROM TED RALL, 07/22/10: …Umberto Eco’s 1995 essay "Eternal Fascism" describes the cult of action for its own sake under fascist regimes and movements: “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”…
      SOURCE – link to commondreams.org

    • DICKERSON3870 February 6, 2012 at 5:52 pm

      P.S. NETFLIX: The Power of Nightmares, 2004, NR, 3 discs
      Given the impact of 9/11 and with media sensationalism at an all-time high, this three-part documentary explores the use of fear for political gain. The first, "Baby It's Cold Outside," examines historical aspects of international threats. "The Phantom Victory" looks at how two disparate groups, radical Islamists and neo-conservatives, apply similar tactics. And "The Shadows in the Cave" begs the question, "Is organized terrorism an illusion?"
      Netflix Availability: DVD (3 discs)
      NETFLIX LISTING - link to movies.netflix.com
      The Power of Nightmares Trailer (VIDEO, 04:00) - link to youtube.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 6, 2012 at 5:31 pm with 3 replies

      RE: "Adam Curtis’ brilliant The Power of Nightmares that takes on the Neocons and Islamists." ~ MRW

      VIDEOS: The Power of Nightmares on YouTube in 3 episodes

      Part 1: "Baby It's Cold Outside"
      The first part of the series explains the origin of Islamism and Neo-Conservatism. It shows Egyptian civil servant Sayyid Qutb, depicted as the founder of modern Islamist thought, visiting the U.S. to learn about the education system, but becoming disgusted with what he saw as a corruption of morals and virtues in western society through individualism. When he returns to Egypt, he is disturbed by westernisation under Gamal Abdel Nasser...
      ...At the same time in the United States, a group of disillusioned liberals, including Irving Kristol and Paul Wolfowitz, look to the political thinking of Leo Strauss after the perceived failure of President Johnson's "Great Society". They come to the conclusion that the emphasis on individual liberty was the undoing of the plan. They envisioned restructuring America by uniting the American people against a common evil, and set about creating a mythical enemy. These factions, the Neo-Conservatives, came to power under the Reagan administration, with their allies Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, and work to unite the United States in fear of the Soviet Union. The Neo-Conservatives allege the Soviet Union is not following the terms of disarmament between the two countries, and, with the investigation of "Team B", they accumulate a case to prove this with dubious evidence and methods. President Reagan is convinced nonetheless.
      Part 1 - Baby It's Cold Outside (VIDEO, 59:12) - link to youtube.com

      Part 2: "The Phantom Victory"
      In the second episode, Islamist factions, rapidly falling under the more radical influence of Zawahiri and his rich Saudi acolyte Osama bin Laden, join the Neo-Conservative-influenced Reagan Administration to combat the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan...
      ...The Neo-Conservatives, with their conservative Christian allies, attempt to demonise Clinton throughout his presidency with various real and fabricated stories of corruption and immorality....
      Part 2 - The Phantom Victory (VIDEO, 59:13) - link to youtube.com

      Part 3: "The Shadows in the Cave"
      The final episode addresses the actual rise of al-Qaeda. Curtis argues that, after their failed revolutions, bin Laden and Zawahiri had little or no popular support...
      ...With the September 11th attacks, Neo-Conservatives in the new Republican government of George W. Bush use this created concept of an organisation to justify another crusade against a new evil enemy, leading to the launch of the War on Terrorism.
      After the American invasion of Afghanistan fails to uproot the alleged terrorist network, the Neo-Conservatives focus inwards, searching unsuccessfully for terrorist sleeper cells in America. They then extend the war on "terror" to a war against general perceived evils with the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The ideas and tactics also spread to the United Kingdom where Tony Blair uses the threat of terrorism to give him a new moral authority. The repercussions of the Neo-Conservative strategy are also explored with an investigation of indefinitely-detained terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay, many allegedly taken on the word of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance without actual investigation on the part of the United States military, and other forms of "preemption" against non-existent and unlikely threats made simply on the grounds that the parties involved could later become a threat. Curtis also makes a specific attempt to allay fears of a dirty bomb attack, and concludes by reassuring viewers that politicians will eventually have to concede that some threats are exaggerated and others altogether devoid of reality. "In an age when all the grand ideas have lost credibility, fear of a phantom enemy is all the politicians have left to maintain their power."
      Part 3 - The Shadows in the Cave (VIDEO, 59:47) - link to youtube.com

  • Abunimah highlights 'turning point' boycott conference
    • DICKERSON3870 February 6, 2012 at 3:01 pm

      RE: “Struggles for equality benefit from each other.” ~ Adam Akkad

      NETFLIX: Nowhere in Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika), 2001, R, 141 minutes
      Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, a Jewish couple and their young daughter emigrate from Germany to Kenya to escape the Nazis, and are forced to come to terms with a new life on an unfamiliar continent. Not all members of the family are happy with this drastic change -- but going home isn't an option. Based on Stefanie Zweig's autobiographical novel, director Caroline Link's epic drama won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
      Language: German (English subtitles)
      Netflix Availability: Streaming and DVD
      NETFIX LISTING - link to movies.netflix.com
      Nowhere In Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika) [TRAILER, 02:18] - link to youtube.com

  • Occupy Oakland's landslide BDS endorsement
    • DICKERSON3870 February 4, 2012 at 3:54 pm

      P.S. ALSO SEE: Sheriff Ortiz goes to Israel, by Eva Ruth Moravec, mysanantonio.com, 07/07/11

      (excerpts)...For one week last month, Bexar County Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz swapped his cowboy hat for a yarmulke as he visited Israel on an organized trip with other law enforcement leaders.
      “I’ve always had an interest in Israel,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “It was a great conference.”
      Ortiz joined 16 other sheriffs, police chiefs and organization heads, including Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland, on a week-long trip, courtesy of the Jewish Institute for National Security’s Law Enforcement Exchange Program...
      ...Ortiz said he was impressed by Israel Defense Force soldiers, who he said are trained as soldiers and as police officers.
      “If we ever deploy troops along the Texas border, they should have training in being a soldier and in law enforcement,” he said...
      ...The junket was Ortiz’s second organized trip to Israel: last year, Bexar County footed the bill to send him to an international conference on homeland security, he said...

      SOURCE - link to blog.mysanantonio.com

    • DICKERSON3870 February 4, 2012 at 3:53 pm with 1 replies

      RE: "...occupiers listened attentively as Khouri and two others discussed the 'intimate relationship,' between local law enforcement and the Israeli
      military." ~ Deger

      FOR INSTANCE, SEE: Israel trip an eye-opening experience for Jefferson chief, By Adina Solomon, onlineathens.com, 07/18/11

      This summer, Jefferson Police Chief Joe Wirthman went on a two-week trip 6,000 miles away, traveling across Israel with a delegation of state law enforcement officers as part of the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange.
      "It was an awesome trip," he said. "A trip of a lifetime."
      GILEE, which partners with Georgia State University, sends a different group of Georgia officers every summer to work with Israeli law enforcement and border control.
      Commerce Police Chief John Gaissert and University of Georgia Police Chief Jimmy Williamson also have gone in past years.
      The object of the program is to learn how Israeli police deal with terrorism every day...
      ...After his trip, Wirthman is trying to think one step ahead with the Jefferson Police Department, preparing for the type of threatening situations Israel faces 24 hours a day, he said.
      "Hopefully it'll never happen, but in this world, 'never' isn't a word," Wirthman said. "We're not invincible here."
      He's also witnessed how people live their daily lives with the constant menace of terrorism, he said.
      Wirthman met one man who sends each of his children on a different bus to school. In case one of the buses is bombed, only one of his three children will be harmed.
      "I don't know if I could raise my family under those conditions," said Wirthman, who has three kids of his own.
      And nobody in Israel grumbles about it, he said. Instead, they have a strong national pride many Americans had only after 9/11, he said..."

      ENTIRE ARTICLE - link to onlineathens.com

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