Commenter Profile

Total number of comments: 357 (since 2009-09-02 15:06:24)

edwin

I'm a strategic national threat.

Showing comments 357 - 301
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  • On the sidewalk in Hamburg-- 'Hier wohnte'
  • Watching propaganda in a Missouri synagogue
    • edwin May 7, 2012 at 9:07 am with 1 replies

      Circumcision - a form of torture - usually practiced on newborns or children, is probably almost universal in Israel.

      The psychotic split between a country that tortures its infants and bans spanking is I suspect similar to the behaviour on one side of the wall versus the other.

    • edwin May 7, 2012 at 8:55 am

      You forgot the bit about "And you can't criticize us if we are not the worst because that would be anti-Semitic!"

  • 'Let go of two-state solution insanity' -- says Illinois congressman who supports transfer
  • Shmully and guilt
    • edwin April 28, 2012 at 9:22 am

      Keith - I don't think that you have disproved the notion of the Protocols are a best seller, and similarly, Tokyobk hasn't proven that they are.

      On such an issue I would like to see some real backing - including who is reading the Protocols. A certain number of readers, may well be Jews . It matters if the readership has shifted from Jews to Muslims, for example. There is a difference between those who are on the receiving end being racist against those who seek to oppress them, and Israel does what it can against all Muslims, it claims in the name of all Jews. The ongoing attempt at a war against Iran being an example.

      Of course, who is oppressed today, may be on the giving end tomorrow - just as has occurred to Jews under the racist philosophy of Zionism.

      There is a second part has not been discussed - and that is when evaluating the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, are Jews any less racist than Gentiles? Is this pamphlet unique? Are Jews better than that?

      You would think that after Nazi Germany there would be no Jews who supported Hitler.

      link to jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.ca

      There is also the feeling the love series by Max Blumenthal.

      link to maxblumenthal.com

      No matter how much we wish otherwise, there is no difference in the racism of Jews and everyone else. Neither more nor less, the Protocols of Zion not withstanding.

    • edwin April 27, 2012 at 10:11 am

      In itself a Jewish state is no more or less odd or improper than a Muslim or Arab one. Jews on a small piece of land that once housed Jewish communities throughout is not in itself an evil.

      I'm not sure how many people here would think that a Muslim state is proper or acceptable. I don't. Ultimately, a Muslim state must be willing to enforce religion, and marriage or it becomes a secular state with a Muslim majority, or in the long term, not even that. I believe in freedom of religion, and ultimately a Muslim state must deny this. I believe that religion is a personal, private activity. A Muslim state must deny this as well. There is no problem with Jews inside any country, but in context, that is not what you said.

      When you finish with "Jews on a small piece of land..." you are moving the goal posts and engaging in racism at the same time. Either Jews are just another religion or Judaism is "special" and should be treated differently than every other religion. I think that people anywhere in the world have the right to their own faith - Judaism included. That does not give them the moral right to move to another country. Nor does it make it acceptable to officiate on who is and is not a Jew.

      In my dreams there is a secular state that protects religious minorities and welcomes exiled refugees and welcomes Jews who want to be close to their holiest sites and the land that figures in all of our liturgy.

      I am glad that you wish to protect religious minorities, and would welcome exiled refugees. This is, in my mind, where we draw the line between civilized and barbarism. I think that this is the key to a non-violent future from the Jewish side of the conflict. Similarly, the stated goal of not expelling Jews from even occupied Palestine, is the Palestinian side of this - recognizing that it means more for the victim to say this than the oppressor.

      Still - you have a need to see Jews as "other". You did not say that you would welcome exiled refugees and welcome all those who want to be close to their holiest sites - Christians, Jews and Muslims. Ultimately, you must be willing, as the Catholic church tried to do with Christianity, decide who is worthy - who is a good Jew and who is not worthy, and who is a bad Jew. Ultimately, you resist freedom of religion, feeling that state privileges and penalties should be assigned based on religious belief. When privileges and penalties are applied to religious beliefs at the state level, there is no true freedom of religion.

    • edwin April 27, 2012 at 9:29 am

      I was interested in Aaron Levitt's comments and experiences with Chabad and Shabbat in Jerusalem.

      Reading Phil's post and hearing tokyobk's comments reminded me of the article.

      link to justiceforpalestine.blogspot.ca

  • Israeli police barricade and arrest activists attempting to commemorate the Nakba
    • edwin April 26, 2012 at 8:45 am

      2. What wud you rather – (i) live in an ethnocratic regime, able to protest, however imperfectly; or (ii) be shot, raped and tortured?

      Hmmm. There are a whole lot of Palestinians who are shot and tortured. Don't know any statistics about rape though. Israel actually has legalized torture - I think that makes it the only country in the world with torture legalized in some circumstances.

      The primary opening is the "necessity defense" which, under certain circumstances, exempts interrogators who employ illegal interrogation techniques, including physical violence, from criminal responsibility.

      link to stoptorture.org.il

      asherpat, I think that this is known as a false choice.

  • Fighting Jews-- then and now
  • Sequestering young people in religious/ethnic schools breeds alienation and hatred (Magid takes on Beinart)
    • edwin April 28, 2012 at 6:10 pm

      Jews for Jesus - Met one who studied under a Rabbi as part of a group for a while until the Rabbi kicked them out.

    • edwin April 28, 2012 at 5:56 pm

      Elliot/Johnrich: Religious Society of Friends (British style) has had a component of Jews for a very long time. The Religious Society of Friends, while Christian, does not have a creed. They also do not do conversion. Perhaps Christianity is stranger than you think.

      Perhaps you are borrowing trouble. Religions are not cast in stone. Religious beliefs are not cast in stone. People can be whatever they wish to be.

  • On anti-Semitism, war crimes, and old poets
    • edwin April 12, 2012 at 12:03 pm

      What is it with Gunter Grass and the SS?

      I understand that he was drafted into the SS, in a country where refusal to serve often led to death. Did he make a mistake or did he have little option - far less option than those who serve in the IDF.

  • StandWithUs manufactures boycott of Jewish deli in Olympia
    • edwin March 22, 2012 at 11:32 am

      So she has failed to do proper market research on what her customers want and is pissed because they aren't buying and because she must cater to their desires or suffer financial consequences.

      Knowing your customers is part of running a business. If your customers are critical of Israel and you bombard them with pro-Israeli messages, they will go somewhere else. If your customers are pro Israel and you bombard them with BDS messages, they will go somewhere else.

      Mixing politics and business is always a dicey proposition - a certain percentage of people are going to be pissed. That's just the way it goes - and scheduling StandWithUs is highly political.

      The time she is putting in to make a new business work sounds just about right. It sounds like she picked an excellent choice for type of food. Sounds like it was a big initial hit. Unfortunately, she missed the ambiance that her potential clientele wanted. It is not the fault of her clientele that she does not know what they want. It is also not the fault of her clientele that she does not wish to provide the ambiance that they want. Maybe she should have checked these things out before opening up her business - instead of whining about it now.

      One last comment - if it was an anti-Jewish sentiments - either boycott or otherwise - the initial success would not have been there.

  • Beinart's 'Zionist BDS' will only help entrench the occupation
    • edwin March 21, 2012 at 6:23 am

      Countries come and countries go, and in between times everyone thinks of these countries as being eternal and their existence ordained by god.

      No - Israel is not threatened by full ror- whatever the hell the borders of Israel are.

  • Rendell (of MSNBC and Friends of IDF) is under investigation for ties to Iranian terror group
    • edwin March 16, 2012 at 8:19 pm

      I think that technically Galloway wasn't banned - he was threatened with being banned and did not actually test the waters.

      Justice Mosley found that the government’s preliminary assessment of Mr. Galloway’s admissibility to Canada did not amount to a “decision” that could be reviewed by the Court and that a real determination could only be made if he actually attempts to enter the country. While the Court dismissed the application on this basis, Justice Mosley went on to criticize the government’s approach to this case, saying that if Mr. Galloway had shown up in Canada and a border officer was asked to determine his admissibility, the process followed by the government prior to his entry would have interfered with the officer’s ability to exercise his/her discretion and demonstrated a reasonable apprehension of bias. Justice Mosley also found that the government’s interpretation of the meaning of “member” of a terrorist organization, as applied to Mr. Galloway, was overly broad and that, had he found the preliminary assessment to be a reviewable decision, he would have found it unreasonable.

      link to ccla.org

  • Chair of DNC says: 'Israel is our rightful place... a place for us to go'
    • edwin March 17, 2012 at 9:52 am

      Sydnestel: I don't think I would be willing to say exactly what Quebecers want, though I have never lived in the province.

      The collapse of the Bloq during the last election tells us something important. From my distance I do not know if Quebecers are tried of sovereignty or tired of the issue of sovereignty.

      From the short term I can not say if Shingo is correct.Still I would be very reluctant to state that sovereignty as an issue is over for Quebec.

      It is worth noting that the campaign for sovereignty was tinged with racism -

      "It's true, it's true that we have been defeated, but basically by what? By money and ethnic votes, essentially. So all it means is that, in the next round, instead of being 60 or 61 per cent to vote YES, we will be 63 or 64 per cent and it will suffice.

      "C'est vrai, c'est vrai qu'on a été battus, au fond, par quoi ? Par l'argent puis des votes ethniques, essentiellement. Alors ça veut dire que la prochaine fois, au lieu d'être 60 ou 61 % à voter OUI on sera 63 ou 64 % et ça suffira.

      There are some very good historical reasons for french speaking people to desire separation. Still it is worth noting that the native vote was a jaw dropping 96% opposed. I think that nationalism and racism tend to go together.

      Rather than blaming the loss on immigrants, he should have blamed the loss on the incredibly bad relations Quebec has with its native communities.

      I think that one of the take-away lessons from Quebec is that "Nationalism is an infantile disease" as stated by Einstein. Israel is not immune.

    • edwin March 17, 2012 at 9:27 am

      When talking to Zionists it is complicated. Judaism becomes exactly what is needed at the moment morphing between religion, culture, ethnicity, race and whatever else as needed to make the argument of the moment.

      Ultimately, though, Judaism should be private, and not of anyone else's business - especially the state.

      but for secular jews ‘their culture’ is not judaism. secular people are not, for the most part, part of religious culture.

      Excellent use of a qualifier in there.

    • edwin March 16, 2012 at 9:02 am

      Shingo: Even the concept that nation states in general and borders in particular are problems is not allowed. We frame the debate in terms of "nations" because that is how field has been described to us. We don't have to, if we do not want to.

      As a person in Canada, does it bother me if an elected official is a dual citizen of France or the US? No. I don't believe in such knife edge distinctions. I don't accept the "enemy within" that is hidden in such distinctions. We are an international community these days and we need to break down nationalism not reinforce it. I'm not interested in the direction that the opposition to dual citizenship leads - to can a person who only has been in the country 2 generations be sufficiently loyal to run for state.

      Those who accept an illegitimate citizenship - such as Jewish nationality - I do mind very much, but I don't mind because they are dual citizens, but because they have chosen racism as an integral part of who they are. I mind in the same way as someone who believes in white power being elected in office. It is not a question of dual loyalties, they have bluntly stated that they do not represent all of their constituents.

      The chair of the DNC does not represent Palestinians in particular, and Muslims in general (recognizing that not all Palestinians are Christians). She prefers to be around her own kind. At one time the local white racists were handing out leaflets at subway stations expressing exactly that. It is not that she has dual loyalties. She does not. She has exactly one loyalty as far as I can see, and that is to the "Jewish Race" - and that is the problem. It is a problem whether she lives in Israel or in Florida. Her views are violent and she will leave a trail of violence behind her.

  • Reflections After the Harvard One State Conference
    • edwin March 14, 2012 at 8:44 am

      So you believe in the big Jewish conspiracy. Jews are a race and speak with one voice.

      So much for freedom of religion and so much for the right to marry as one chooses.

      So tell me - is a half jew really a Jew. How about a quarter Jew? How about an octoroon? How about a Jew who converts to Islam?

  • @IDFSpokesperson tweets inaccurate video and fake civilian casualty statistics
    • edwin March 13, 2012 at 10:41 am

      Your middle image is to small for some of us to read. You need to either make it bigger or to link it to a larger version.

  • Liberal American Jews are giving themselves permission to say goodbye
  • 'I refuse to join an army that has, since it was established, been engaged in dominating another nation': Interview with Israeli refuser Noam Gur
    • edwin March 13, 2012 at 2:05 pm

      /Let’s see – right of return./
      We are talking about Israeli citizens where would you want them to return to?

      The Nationality Law automatically grants citizenship to all Jews who have done so, and also to their spouses, children,s grandchildren, and all their spouses. This privilege is for Jews only. Palestinian Arabs can only get citizenship by birth, residence (after meetinga cumulative list of conditions) or naturalisation

      And so it goes on and on.

    • edwin March 13, 2012 at 10:28 am

      They are not alien neither inside nor outside.

      And yet you use the language of the colonial master. They are Palestinian.

      Inside they are in a weird situation due to split loyalties ,
      but nonetheless they have full rights by the law even though their situation and integration into Israeli society must be improved.

      Full rights: Let's see - right of return. Nope. I guess they don't have full rights.

      Military Service: Many government preferences and benefits in Israel are conditioned on performing military service. Whilst military service is technicallycompulsory for all citizens, by discretion the vast majority (90%) of Palestinian Arabs are not required to serve; whereas the majority of Jews do. As a consequence, they do not receive the wide range of benefits, including larger mortgages, partial exemptions from course fees, and preferences for public employment and housing. The discriminatory factor is that in many cases the link between the benefit offered and the requirment for military service is tenuous, often as in employment opportunities, and that government offices provide benefits beyond what is legislated. The most celebrated example of this was the level of state child benefits, which until 1997 were conditioned on military service, rather than more obvious socio-economic factors. The impression that this is a mechanism for privileging Jews is borne out by the fact that Jewish Yeshiva students, who like Arab citizens do not serve, are granted the benefits anyway, a policy which has been upheld by the courts.(6

      link to arabhra.org

      They have changed and became a lot more like the rest of the Israeli
      whether they want to admit it or not.

      Outside they are in an ongoing national conflict with us which is yet to be resolved.

      They, they, they - Somehow I think that "they" get the point. Palestinians are second class citizens whom you, and Israel society view as the "other" to the point where you can't even speak the word "Palestinian".

      You have taken up the white man's burden - as you have "changed" them for the better.

  • Israeli right wing's vision for West Bank annexation (to 'pull the rug out from under apartheid accusation')
    • edwin March 13, 2012 at 4:37 pm

      There is always the "demographic threat". Israel can never give equality to the Palestinians inside Israel because of it. There is no peace on the horizon because of it. Crimes must be committed and diversions to these crimes must be found.

  • ‏A letter from under attack
    • edwin March 11, 2012 at 9:39 am

      As with South Africa and as with the United Sates, we know what is required for peace.

      Separate is not equal. No special laws for Jews. Justice must no longer know what someone's ethnicity and religion is. Justice must be blind.

      Jews have the right to return - well the problem must be that Justice is unable to see who is and who is not a Jew.

      Israel is not the first country where the law carefully provided one set of rules for Jews and another set for other people. In each case the result has been horrendous abuses of human rights. You don't get peace when you have horrendous abuses of human rights.

  • Freedom Funnies: ‘You Can’t Just Continue’ Part II
    • edwin March 9, 2012 at 10:49 am

      I think that is in part a function of the internet. As a medium it promotes debate or conflict. Nuances are much better done face to face.

      Interestingly I kind of agree with both of you - the need to tone down the attacks, and the frustration Chaos expresses.

      In one sense I know that Chaos is wrong. It is possible to discourse with Israel's supporters - especially "liberal" Zionists. On the other hand it can be a project measured in years - and in a confrontational setting like this is just is not possible at all. So for all practical purposes I guess I fall into Chaos' camp. It is interesting that I often seem to find myself there. An yet I have found myself quite put off by the easy tendency to attack anyone.

      The one area that I've seen very little on in the Palestinian conflict is what drives the supporters of Israel. What do they believe, and how do they think.

      link to jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com

      provides some insite into what Chaos is saying - but I think that the comments

      DC: The right-wingers are more honest?

      GL: Exactly.

      should be a starting point, not an ending point. I don't think we understand what liberal Zionists believe and why they are less honest than the right wing. The right wing will never ever be in our camp, but the liberal Zionists... one would think that we should be able to reach out - but it is as if a wall is there.

      My impression is that liberal Zionists are in a crisis where they are trying to reconcile two mutually opposing philosophies that can not be reconciled. One is obviously Zionism and the other I think can be called liberalism - universal human rights centered on the individual with the individual more important than the state.

  • Friedman warns war could hurt American Jews
    • edwin March 7, 2012 at 12:05 pm

      It is always the way with the extreme right. The Republican party cares very little about regular Americans as well - and for all their posturing about soldiers, they care nothing about US soldiers as well.

  • A Palestinian student asks, 'Can I go on Birthright?'
    • edwin March 8, 2012 at 9:48 am

      Mayhem - I'm a bit confused here. I thought that there were several strains of Judaism. I wasn't aware that all Jews were the same and spoke with one voice. Jewish state? ... Really?

      I see you believe in punishing Palestinians because of their ethnicity. Do you think that the intransigent and recalcitrant nature is in their blood? Do you think I can judge all Jews based on your behaviour?

      There are a lot of anti-zionist Jews these days. I think that intransigent and recalcitrant may be quite good adjectives in describing them too. Perhaps we should punish all Jews for their intransigent and recalcitrant behavior because of the actions of the anti-zionist Jews.

      The issue is - are we talking about individuals or are we talking about races? You have framed the discussion in terms of the denial of the individual in favour of the group. Judiam is no longer an individual choice, but an obligation to the greater glory of the state. One true religion. One true state. One true people. Palestinians have no rights as individuals, but shall be judged and punished as a race, and more so - punished for failure to know their place amongst their betters.

  • Hasbarapocalypse at Ynet: 'Zionism will only cease being demonized when the West stops demonizing colonialism'
    • edwin March 7, 2012 at 7:19 am

      Holocaust is a long standing human activity. Possibly the first were the Neanderthal.

    • edwin March 6, 2012 at 4:55 pm

      Rafael Castro does not show up except for this article when searching YNET either. I found myself carefully checking to make sure that today wasn't April 1 as well.

      I guess that means I'll go Onion as well - though it is becoming more common for Onion articles to be indistinguishable from what can be found in other quality newspapers.

    • edwin March 6, 2012 at 4:34 pm

      I vote "Onion"

      I think I'm going to cry.

  • How Tony Judt broke with exclusivist ideology
  • California congresswoman: 'Some would call that apartheid'
    • edwin March 6, 2012 at 5:46 pm

      I'd hunt for the blog policy on comments. I think you will find it on the very first line in the center of your screen. It is labeled Comments Policy

      Hope that helps.

  • Scott Brown tries to score points on Elizabeth Warren by calling on Harvard to cancel One State conference this weekend
  • Responding to commenters on recent bannings
    • edwin March 2, 2012 at 9:54 am

      Let's add to the excuses for the Nakba - They made us do it.

    • edwin March 2, 2012 at 9:44 am

      I’M NOT SURPRISED that he’s friends with Witty.

      That is quite unfair and quite rude. I think you owe an apology for this.

      I would agree that Nakba denial gets at least a partial pass. I don't know what is moderated. Part of the problem, as I see it, is that Mondoweiss is in an impossible situation.

      It claims to oppose racism and support discussion between Zionism and anti-Zionists. Zionism is a philosophy that believes that Jews should have their own state. This leads to obvious questions of who is and who is not a Jew and how can we prevent Jews from marrying non Jews, or converting to other religions. It gets worse as Israel claims the right to speak for all Jews, and believes that Jews who marry out are doing the work of Hitler. In other words Zionism is a form of racism - the dividing of people into identifiable races, or other distinguishing groups that must be kept pure. On some level it is unavoidable for a Zionist to descend into racism and violence. If you believe that a Jewish state must exist, you must believe in the means to keep it that way - and that on some level that means violence. The most progressive Zionists engage in heavy denial in order to hold two diametrically opposing views in their heads at the same time.

      You can't have a non-racist discussion when one of the sides fairly explicitly supports a definition of Jew that for all practical purposes is a definition that divides people into separate races

      When it comes to the Nakba, Zionists don't have a lot of choices. 1. It did not occur. 2. Too bad we didn't finish the job properly or 3. So sad, too bad.

      Frankly, denial may be the best of a bad set of options. At least there is some minimal connection to the concept of right and wrong.

    • edwin March 1, 2012 at 3:42 pm

      Whom you have and whom you don't will set the tone of discussion or argument.

      RW would definitely set the tone towards argument. In my impression, there is more discussion with disagreement of course without him.

      Banning/not banning clearly sets the tone for what and how things are discussed. With RW, the blog changes considerably.

      We preserved Witty’s presence here over the years because he was a stand-in for American Zionist opinion

      Ultimately, the choice is yours as to how and what you wish your blog to be. I will not say one is better than the other, though I have my preferences.

      If you want discussion with less argument, then you probably have little choice but to moderate.

      I think that if there is fairly heavy moderation, it probably would in the long run help to actually remove a person's post and say why it was removed as part of the moderation process. Hopefully people would learn over time - as opposed to just complaining. Eventually, perhaps as people get a better feel for what is allowed, you may be able to move to a flagging process - trusting some users to flag comments that potentially cross the line - speeding up the moderating process by not requiring that all comments be moderated directly.

      While I haven't posted that many comments under the moderation process, I can't think of any that have been rejected - so I don't have a feel of how heavy the moderation process is.

  • Judge strikes down lawsuit against Olympia Co-op boycott of Israeli goods
  • MSNBC: Israel trains Iranian terror group to kill nuclear scientists
  • New York's Muslim community fights back against NYPD Islamophobia
    • edwin February 7, 2012 at 2:24 pm

      With $14.9 million, or about 80 percent of the NSGP [Homland Security Nonprofit Security Grant Program] allocations, going to Jewish institutions, Jewish groups across the country received security dollars disproportionate to their numbers in the general population.

      link to jstandard.com

  • Why Christian Zionism is nothing short of outright heresy
  • Contextualizing the Holocaust
  • Gorenberg says a one-state solution would produce another Lebanon
    • edwin November 12, 2011 at 3:32 pm

      Hostage: Turnabout is not fair play. I think that we should be trying for a state is more moral than Israel. It is not just more moral than Israel - that bar is so low as to be a complete embarrassment. It is a state that is much more moral than Israel.

      As far as NATO goes - be careful of what you ask for.

  • Ross's departure will hurt Obama's reelection hopes, Abrams explains
    • edwin November 11, 2011 at 10:34 am with 5 replies

      The reality is different. Christian Zionists are more than 1% of the electorate. Also, in the US support for Israel is, while cracking, truly impressive.

      To tie this in with your previous comment - the lobby is effectively working, along with the Republican Party to produce what looks to me like a classic fascist state. (link to w3.salemstate.edu

      In some ways, I believe that the issue isn't Zionism at all in the US elections. The fight is about the political future of the US and what type of political system the US will have. Zionism is a symbol of that alternative future, the best wedge issue of that system.

      Obama, in this sense, has already provided his adversaries key victories as you note. In fact, no matter what Obama does, it will never be enough because he is not a true believer. In this, by trying to placate the opposition, I think he has erred greatly.

  • Will calls for military confrontation with Iran develop their own momentum?
    • edwin November 8, 2011 at 8:56 am

      I haven't heard much about the possibility that Iran has biological weapons. Even with the assurance of Uri Avnery's Column this is still a very dangerous game. It could become the war that no one wanted.

  • Tom Friedman pushed Iraq war as 'radical liberal revolution' to 'install democracy in heart of Arab world'
  • Threatening letter to Obama on chilling Turkey is signed by 7 Jewish House members, says Peace Now
    • edwin November 6, 2011 at 4:44 pm

      Krauss:

      This is not a liberal country and it’s turning it’s face away from modernity at a brisk clip. If Jewish Americans see this, even if it is in part out of concern for Israel, then frankly they do us all a favour. And although it is true that Israel’s and America’s interests do not always intersect; they are still likely to do so more often as both are much more similar than an increasingly anti-democratic, islamist and repressing regime that is Turkey of today.

      I read what you wrote. You believe a Jewish and Christian theocracy is better than a Muslim one. The anti-democratic nature of Israel does not seem to bother you very much at all, neither does the US, but you are quite afraid of Turkey.

      Perhaps the problem comes from an inability to see problems within your favourite country while seeing the problems in countries you do not like in exquisite detail.

    • edwin November 6, 2011 at 10:22 am with 7 replies

      It's not that you are wrong about Turkey - I really don't know enough about the country - it's that you are wrong about Israel.

      Israel is how you describe Turkey. The democratic bus is grinding to a halt in Israel, and everyone is getting off the bus. Israel has found its stop, and it is none to pretty.

      Similar, the US now is in a situation where the Republican Party has contempt for democracy, and the Democratic Party really does not care much one way or the other. Of course Israel and American interests intersect.

      I hear you say that a Jewish theocracy and a Christian theocracy are better than a Muslim theocracy, and frankly you are wrong. Each one is worse than the others.

  • Occupy Wall Street responds to controversy over Gaza flotilla
    • edwin November 6, 2011 at 8:43 am

      Yes - that is what I was thinking too.

    • edwin November 6, 2011 at 8:39 am

      However, since we have grown very quickly as an organization, we have not been able to come to consensus on certain issues that are outside the scope of the original message of OWS, which has dealt with the American financial crisis, democracy and wealth inequality.

      OWS is developing a platform - a set of policies and demands! If you are in OWS because the environment is being destroyed by corporate greed, you are in the wrong movement. If you are in OWS because the military industrial complex has become just about the only tool in the US foreign policy kit and it is creating extreme poverty and death throughout the world and bankrupting the US, you are in the wrong movement.

      American Financial Crisis - yes this applies - current total "aid" to a first world country is approximately 140 billion and rising.

      Democracy - yes this applies - the money is being used to prevent democracy - one person one vote in Israel. Israel is the guiding light of the Republican party and its attempts at destroying democracy in the US.

      Wealth Inequality - Massive sums of money for wealthy heavily militarized countries at the expense of poor countries, and at the expense of health care for poor Americans. If the US were to give a $500 gift to the poorest 6 million or so Americans it would make a huge difference, instead of providing bullets and guns to a first world country that does not need the money.

      Say it like it is - freedom for everyone is just too hot to handle for OWS.

      Whether OWS likes it or not, the US as a country is part of the "1%" of countries. So are you going to stick it to the poorest of the poor in order to maintain your economic privileges? Is this issue outside OWS too? You really need to get a list of formal demands going so those who have incorrect demands can go somewhere else.

      [ ops - this is not a comment dirrected at witty ]

  • Flotilla controversy within Occupy Wall Street shows Palestine continues to be a fault line
  • Times readers respond to Goldstone
  • Germany takes a toy away from the spoiled child
    • edwin November 2, 2011 at 10:32 am with 4 replies

      Hey! What about Canada? We're being absolute pricks too! Isolate us.

      Damn. No body ever pays any attention to Canada.

      (and a big f-u to Dear Leader Steven Harper.)

  • Goldstone sugarcoats persecution to try to save Israel
    • edwin November 1, 2011 at 11:06 pm

      dimadok - I see you haven't bothered to provide a source for this "quote".

      Facts don’t even matter to these neoconservative war mongers.

      Why bother with facts when you can make up your own.

  • Romney promises to abdicate American foreign policy towards Israel . . . to Israel
    • edwin October 29, 2011 at 11:38 am

      Obama has screwed himself. He needed to provide an alternative to the Republican vision. Instead he pushed compromise. He needed to stand up for civil liberties and justice. Instead he counselled "look forward" and don't look back.

    • edwin October 29, 2011 at 11:28 am with 2 replies

      I don't think that there is much argument over whether the dog wags the tail or the tail wags the dog anymore.

      This obsequious behavour is actually embarrassing to watch.

      I would still be interested in if Noam Chompsky believes that the the dog wags the tail, why.

  • Oktoberfest in Palestine

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