Reader Tips

Dad, why is there tea in the harbour?

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSTRE4BU53T20081231?sp=true

A prelude to sharia law in the UK ?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jan/02/justice-respect-agenda-public

I don't watch CBC a lot, but I do particularly like their "At Issue" panel. Tonight they had the panel answering questions from Canadians -- it was a colossally disappointing panel -- weird questions, like "do we have any recourse when Prime Ministers lie?" or "Why can't we have a Prime Minister elected from all of Parliament?" Not only were the questions tepid and leading nowhere, I also view this as a missed opportunity. Where were questions like: "How will Ignatieff's leadership differ from Dion's, specifically with respect to Parliament?" "What is the longer term prognosis (politically and generally in the public sphere) for concern re global warming? or "What in your view was the key reason the Conservatives failed to get a majority in the last election, and is it likely any party will get a majority any time soon?" There were so many possibilities for interesting questions that might generate informative answers. I can't decide if CBC just does not know how to pick relevant and engaging questions, or if maybe viewers didn't submit interesting questions -- I did not because I don't watch regularly, so maybe this is a commentary on the brain dead who are still watching CBC. I don't think this is a partisan issue at all -- I expect the media to be biased -- but would prefer if it could also manage "interesting."

A tribute to that immortal bard; Robbie Burns

Another thoughtful piece about our men and women who serve from Christie Blatchford:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090101.BLATCH01/TPStory/National/columnists

...canada no longer exists according to google

www.ggogle.ca

Invalid URL
The requested URL "/", is invalid.

Reference #9.17081160.1230875534.0

10:53 pm mst

...stupid keyboard :-)

www.google.ca

...ah all is well, found canada 10:57pm

Tomax you had me worried for a minute. You see I've been watching The Twilight Zone marathon all day and... well... after 9 hours it can have a certain effect on a person. ;)

"5 Snippets You Might Have Missed" about the Israel-Gaza conflict. Must read.

http://backspin.typepad.com/backspin/2009/01/5-snippets-you-might-have-missed.html

On the topic of Israel vs. Hamas, radio talkshow host, Dennis Prager, captured several of my own thoughts here. A few seconds after the window opens, move the slider to 2:00.

He especially focused on the extremely biased way the media is reporting on the events in the Middle East.

Why hasn't the Harper-led party (I won't mislabel them as 'Conservatives') a single member who is the moral equivalent of Dalton Camp?

Is there no one with the intellectual or moral courage to expose Harper and his cabal for the traitors to *Canadian* (I use the adjective advisedly) conservatism that they are?

Is there no one with the intellectual or moral courage to expose Harper
and his cabal for the traitors to *Canadian* (I use the adjective advisedly) conservatism that they are?

Not around here.

"NASA's Hansen to Obama: Use Global Warming to Redistribute Wealth"
...-

"29 December 2008

Michelle and Barack Obama
Chicago and Washington, D.C.
United States of America

Dear Michelle and Barack,

We write to you as fellow parents concerned about the Earth that will be inherited by our children, grandchildren, and those yet to be born.

Barack has spoken of ‘a planet in peril’ and noted that actions needed to stem climate change have other merits. However, the nature of the chosen actions will be of crucial importance.

We apologize for the length of this letter. But your personal attention to these ‘details’ could make all the difference in what surely will be the most important matter of our times. [...]

James and Anniek Hansen
Pennsylvania
United States of America"
...-

"Climate realists around the world have contended for years that the real goal of alarmists such as Nobel Laureate Al Gore and his followers is to use the fear of man-made global warming to redistribute wealth.

On Monday, one of Gore's leading scientific resources, Goddard Institute for Space Studies chief James Hansen, sent a letter to Barack and Michelle Obama specifically urging the president-elect to enact a tax on carbon emissions that would take money from higher-income Americans and distribute the proceeds to the less fortunate.

The eco-socialism cat was let out of the bag on page five of a PDF Hansen published at Columbia University's website on December 29 (emphasis added, h/t Britain's Guardian, file photo):"
http://tinyurl.com/8g3e25 (newsbusters)

Gaia is dead:

>>> "Professor James Lovelock, a geo-scientist and author of the Gaia hypothesis, in which the Earth is a quasi-living organism, is one of those who is less optimistic. He believes that a plan B is urgently needed."
...-

"Climate scientists: it's time for 'Plan B'

Poll of international experts by The Independent reveals consensus that CO2 cuts have failed – and their growing support for technological intervention

An emergency "Plan B" using the latest technology is needed to save the world from dangerous climate change, according to a poll of leading scientists carried out by The Independent. The collective international failure to curb the growing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has meant that an alternative to merely curbing emissions may become necessary."
http://tinyurl.com/9uh9rk (independent)

Kimball uses Vit's "delectation*"? Such a beautiful, delightful word.
Now, what is the meaning of "classical music"? Is Wilf Carter's yodelling delectable classical music?

"But at least he [Hume] placed the locus of value in long-term public judgment and delectation, not sticker price."
...-

"The art market bubble

On the folly of speculating on contemporary art

What’s the silliest thing you have heard in the past year or two? Take your time. Our candidate comes from Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art, who declared in 2007 that “the best art is the most expensive because the market is so smart.”

Now, we are great admirers of the wisdom of the market. But would even the most doctrinaire free-marketeer—one, anyway, not dazzled by the glitter of the contemporary art world—argue that market price determined aesthetic value? The philosopher David Hume famously argued that “durable appreciation,” not any intrinsic quality, ultimately provided the measure of artistic value. Whether Hume was correct is a matter of dispute. But at least he placed the locus of value in long-term public judgment and delectation, not sticker price."
http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/The-art-market-bubble-3978
...-
"*de·lec·ta·tion n. (dē'lěk-tā'shən)

1. Delight.
2. Enjoyment; pleasure.
[Middle English delectacioun, from Old French, from Latin dēlectātiō, dēlectātiōn-, from dēlectus, past participle of dēlectāre, to please; see delight.]" (dictcom)
...-

philboyd and stephen.

You're trying a little too hard to be clever. Ease up on the dope. Your mind will thank you.

MSM blabs on about MSM with its coven of experts:
"University of Toronto professor Andrew Clement", "Carleton University social psychologist George Pollard", "Former parliamentary bureau chief for CBC news Christopher Waddell, a financial and economics specialist now teaching at Carleton's journalism school,", "Mark Federman, until recently chief strategist at the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto," and "Chris Cobb".

Here is the paragraph which destroys any credibility which the MSM says the MSM has:

>>> "But the unprecedented use of social media by Barack Obama and his supporters during the U.S. presidential campaign proves how "mad-as-hell" people can use new communications tools to effect change."

The MSM created BO. BO is the MSM's bastard.
...-

"Doomsaying media made a mess of now-dire economic times: experts

Round-the-clock barrage of bad news does little but create 'climate of fear'"
http://tinyurl.com/89fkl7 (citizen)

Our glorious CBC played Gore's 'An inconvenient truth' last night. I didn't watch the trash but I d flip once and saw Trail Appliances and Rogers advertising, 2 companies to ignore in the future.

Gerry Nicholl's book :"Loyal to the Core: Stephen Harper, Me and the NCC" to be out in February will sell well to the Opposition. Sounds like fodder for them IMO.

Freedom Press is touting it as the most explosive Canadian political book for 2009. That sounds an awful lot like a book of anti-Harper scribblings.
It could also work for Harper, he didn't get to where he is now by imposing hard core ideology on the people.

If Gerry is unhappy that Mr Harper is not as "conservative" as he thinks he should be, he's taking a strange route to change. Playing into the hands of the desperate Opposition will not be helpful to conservatism. Kinsella probably has an advance copy already.

Why this book? Why this book now? Only Gerry can tell us. The media will be seeking his answer. He'll be their first darling for 2009.

"Oh God, Vaclav Klaus* will come next," & the MSM's "“Siberian Cold Front.”".
...-

"An Opportunity for Europe in 2009

Climate Activist Glues Himself to the Smiling Prime Minister at #10

Consider the conflicted UK, where the government is dominated by people who claim to be concerned above all else about CO2 emissions, and where the power industry warns that the country’s electricity and natural gas capacity may soon be inadequate to meet basic needs. Russia is currently threatening to cut off natural gas supplies to Europe. Climate vandals are welcomed to 10 Downing Street where they embarrass the Prime Minister, and formerly great newspapers like The Guardian demonize environmental activists for trying to protect the country’s scenic heritage from unsightly windmills. Dr. Hansen was recently welcomed as an expert witness for the defence of power plant damagers, and children block airport runways to stop vacationers from using airplanes - in the name of protecting of the climate.

The UK is currently in the grip of what the papers describe as a “Siberian Cold Front.” Solar insolation is close to zero this time of year at that latitude, so solar power is out of the question as a significant winter energy source. The light winds and freezing conditions make wind generated power minimally useful and unreliable. Coal, nuclear and natural gas are the only practical options to stay warm, yet the government appears too paralyzed by climate fears to move forward with the needed additions to the energy grid.
Britain is experiencing a seemingly irresolvable conflict in it’s collective belief system. Brits want to save the planet from global warming, and yet are faced with power shortages which may affect their livelihoods and ability to stay warm in a cold climate. The Church of England is wagering huge sums of cash on Al Gore’s understanding of the world. And as the New Year rings in with bitter cold, the Met Office warns of yet another hot year. The last “hot” day in London was July 27, 2006 when temperatures reached 30C (86F.) That was 889 days ago.
Can the great country which survived the Nazi Blitz overcome it’s own internal conflicts in 2009? I predict that England will pull herself together like she always has, but who will be the next Churchill to lead England out of it’s most clueless hour? Britain’s leadership hasn’t been this confused since Neville Chamberlain handed Czechoslovakia over to Hitler seventy years ago. Ironically, it may be current Czech President Vaclav Klaus who rescues Europe from themselves.
“Klaus wrote that it was futile to fight against phenomena like higher solar activity or the change of ocean currents”

Klaus assumed the EU Presidency today. Happy New Year to all."
http://tinyurl.com/8bozlu (watssup)
...-

*"A fiery Czech is poised to be the face of Europe"
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/25/europe/25klaus.php

stephen and philboyd, I think that you are making two indefensible assumptions.

The first is your assumption that the Conservativism that YOU desire is the same as that desired by not only ALL Conservatives in Canada but also by the non-Conservatives in Canada.

The second is your assumption that a Prime Minister of Canada can and must act as a Sovereign, i.e., someone who can make things happen only on the basis of his ordering it to happen. Democracies, fortunately, don't operate that way; dictatorships, unfortunately, do.

A government of a country such as Canada which, due to its history of being sheltered by both Britain and the USA, and its economic status as being heavily dependent on the US economy, operates as a centralist system. It takes few risks, its population prefer dependence on government rather than self-independence and so on.

You can have a government that is slooooowly moving out of this dependent infrastructure and more towards risk-taking, entrepreneurship, smaller government - but, this has to be slow.
Evolutionary adaptation is preferred to revolutionary apocalyptic change.

Oh, and there's no such thing as 'treason' against an ideology.

Exactly tranio, exactly. I have had my own personal boycott of certain products advertised and advocated others do the same for the past 25 years. The power of advertising is great but the power of advertising with no sales in return far greater, you stop advertising there. When talking about this subject here at SDA a few weeks ago someone suggested I start a boycott list, if I had the time I would, great idea. SOMEONE? With times getting tough and advertising dollars becoming scarce it’s an idea whose time has come, even more so if you let the advertiser know what’s happening.

ET, Philboyd and stehen are referring to their idiotic view of conservatism - mean spirited, dismantling ALL government, anything unlike the virtuous socialism of NDP and cronyism of Liberals.

They wish Harper was "conservative," so their leftie friends could get elected power, given they failed at seizing it.

It's almost as funny as Lawrence Martine opining in G&M today when Harper will go. Let's see, he is poised to win CPC majority, now the comfort zone for Canadians after witnessing the power play by Layton et al.

Oh, yeah he's on the way out because he's a traitor to conservatism. Sorry, but the phlosopher king isn't going to save the "progressives," given Canadians don't vote for pompous windbags.

Philboyd and stephen are surely bonging way too early in the day

Global Warming is supposed to kill millions and millions of people.

Sounds like a self correcting problem to me.

I will do my part and go raise my thermostat a couple of degrees.

(PDF warning) Samuel Chan, Sentinels of Afghan Democracy: The Afghan National Army

Since the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in 2001 and the subsequent fall of the Taliban, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has made great strides towards democracy: a written constitution, a popularly elected president, a representative parliament, a supreme court, and numerous nation-building institutions. However, many parts of the country remain restive, especially the southern and eastern provinces bordering Pakistan. Even as the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) tackles a determined and resurgent Taliban, the long-term stability of Afghanistan rests on the shoulders of its security apparatus -- an integral component of which is the Afghan National Army (ANA) -- in light of constant Taliban reminders that "the Americans may have all the wristwatches, but we have all the time."...

While the world gets duped by the poor Palestinians again, let's not forget the monsters and sexual deviants that they are:

"Arafat's Massacre of Damour"

Do you not remember Damour Lebanon. Let me remind you. Arafat and the PLO plunged Lebanon into "massacres, rape, mutilation, rampages of looting and killings. Out of a population of 3.2 million, some 40,000 or more people had been killed, 100,000 wounded, 5,000 permanently maimed

In January of 1976, the destruction of Damour, a town of some 25,000 was completed by the PLO within two weeks. "The priest of Damour, Father Mansour Labaky desperately trying to save people of the town telephoned Kamal Jumblat [one of the Lebanese leaders], in whose parliamentary constituency Damour lay. 'Father, Jumblat said, 'I can do nothing for you, because it depends on Yasser Arafat' " . All efforts were useless. In the morning following the first night of invasion, when more than fifty people were massacred, Father Labaky "despite the shelling managed to get to the one house, to bring out some corpses. An entire family had been killed, the Canan family, four children all dead, and the mother, the father, and the grandfather. The mother was still hugging one of the children. And she was pregnant

The eyes of the children were gone and their limbs were cut off. No legs and no arms" (123). In total, 582 people were massacred in the storming of Damour. Father Labaky went with the Red Cross to bury them. "Many of the bodies had been dismembered, so they had to count the heads to number the dead. Three of the men they found had had their genitals cut off and stuffed in their mouths"

Azmi Zrayir, the PLO Member, an organizer of the terrorist attack in March, 1975 on the Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv in which seven people were killed and eleven wounded, was remembered in Lebanon as "a thief, a murderer, a rapist and a torturer." Being a PLO headquarters commander in Tyre, "he formed a football team into which he conscripted teenage children. The players were forced to gratify Zrayir's sexual appetites. He debauched both girls and boys. At least one child who defied him was shot dead" (144).

ibloga.blogspot.com

Great read: "A Real Cease-Fire Needed in Gaza" by Charles Krauthammer @

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/01/a_real_ceasefire_needed_in_gaz.html

Everywhere I look I see appeasement—at the expense, often the sacrifice, and sometimes even the supreme sacrifice, of the responsible, principled ones in favour of irresponsible, unprincipled, and sometimes, plain evil opportunists. How long will this madness go on?

Kyrie eleison.

irwin daisy, I think that your relentless hatred of all things Arab and Muslim has moved you out of the realm of reason and into fiction.

Whenever anyone moves into the Universal and begins to assert that ALL (Palestinians or Islamists or Jews or Christians or..) are such and such, then, this statement has moved into fiction. The Universal does not exist in this world; only the non-universal or particular exists. The Third Reich assumptions about Jews were as blatantly fictional and vicious as are yours about Arabs, Palestinians and Muslims.

Palestinians are not 'monsters and sexual deviants' and your example of particular situations (taken from a singular point-of-view blog) does not translate to the Universal where you can, with any truth, declare that (ALL )Palestinians are such and such.

Please note that when the word 'all' is absent from the noun, the assumption is that 'all' is part of it. eg. 'Swans are white' is assumed to mean 'all swans are white'.

It might be helpful if, instead of asserting your claims as universal truths, you would insert the phrase "I think that'. This confines your comments to your own views rather than a universal.

ChrisinMB "after 9 hours it can have a certain effect on a person."

...where's that music coming from?

Rod, is that you?

MSM say, "The War, in a Sense, Is Over."

MSM will not/cannot say, The war is over.
For the MSM it's "the Day After".

Hear it here: ""The war has ended," said Heidar al-Abboudi, a street merchant."

But, the MSM cannot let go of their own guilt.
...-

"In Iraq, the Day After"
http://tinyurl.com/8pwfbl (wapo)

Wanna waste 2-3 minutes? Look here for "The monstrous conceit of modern economics" by a purveyor of the monstrous intellectual conceit known in academia as "political economy". The conceit is hosted by TO RedStar, a monstrous conceit of left liberalism.
Conceit is analogous to deceit.
...-

"Robert Skidelsky is professor emeritus of political economy at Warwick University"
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/560449

...anyone know where Chobot, Alberta is?

CNN is saying a meteor fell there thousands of years ago, one of 6 places in North America.

But I can't find it on Google earth, or Alberta map.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/01/02/comet.diamonds/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

The other sites studied were in Bull Creek, Oklahoma; Gainey, Michigan and Topper, South Carolina, as well as Lake Hind, Manitoba; and Chobot, in the Canadian province of Alberta.

Al Jazeera poll: Do you think Israel’s air strikes on the Gaza Strip are justified?

84.43% - yes

http://www.aljazeera.com/vote/vote.php?voteid=401&sr=1

lookout, I usually like Charles Krauthammer's views but I disagree with this post.

For a start, his statement that the handover of Gaza in 2005 ended the 'occupation, military control and settlers' ignores that this handover was municipal governance only and most certainly didn't end the occupation or military control.

The Israeli economic sanctions of the last few years which include its withholding of tax revenues in the area (which Israel collects - hardly a definition of an unoccupied territory!!), restrictions of goods in and out, prohibiting all exports, allowing input goods only enough to prevent a crisis, plus its control of resources, the border, the sealine, the airspace meant that this was hardly a free and unoccupied territory and the population there could not develop a viable economy. With the blockade, they've been reduced to susenance living. Egypt, thinking that Israel's real agenda is to get Egypt to incorporate the Gaza population and even land, has sealed its borders as well.

Furthermore, he ignores that the Palestinian goal is not for Gaza alone but for a Palestinian state as outlined in the UN documents of 1948 - and this includes the West Bank, which Israel is settling.

As I said, there are some who wonder if the long term plan of Israel is to get Egypt to take over Gaza, and for Israel to settle the West Bank so that its Palestinian population leaves for other lands (Jordan, Syria, etc). But, if we take the current notion that the Palestinian want/still think it viable for a separate Palestinian state, then how can this be achieved/

And, he ignores that the rocket attacks, amateur as they are, have killed only 20 Israelis since 2001. Road accidents do more harm.

What puzzles me is what do 'we in the West' think ought to be the 'proper reaction' of a people who were moved from their farms and homes which they had held, farmed, paid taxes on for centuries, been promised by the international community of a homeland, and deprived of this homeland for a generation. What ought to be the proper reaction? Nothing? Passiveness? Acceptance?

When a Palestinian farmer in the West Bank sees his land taken for a settlement, has his olive trees destroyed in the night by the settlers, has the road blocked by soldiers so that he can't get to a market...tell me, what ought to be his reaction? Remember, he's focused only on his farm, his living - and it's being taken from him. What ought to be his reaction?

And I again suggest that it is an error to merge the Israeli-Palestinian land conflict with the Islamic fascist agenda of take-over of the West.

Seems to me the professional apologists in the tank for the Cons are getting testy.

Maybe because it needs to be done so often, and for so many reasons. Never to worry, you'll be able to rationalize higher taxes and the introduction of a carbon tax from the Cons - mayve they can call it the 'Green Shift'

Calgary Herald
Published: Friday, January 02, 2009

According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, changes effective Jan. 1 will see many Canadian workers and their employers pay up to $188 more in payroll deductions. Happy New Year! It's the steepest annual increase in more than half a decade, driven by a hike in the maximum insurable earnings level for employment insurance and Canada Pension Plan contributions....It's a sneaky way of raising taxes at a time when Canadians are looking for relief.

Conservatives reject advice, say no to carbon tax
Mike De Souza, The Ottawa Citizen; with files from Edmonton Journal
Published: Tuesday, January 08, 2008
The Harper government yesterday rejected an advisory panel's recommendation to implement a carbon tax while its rivals opened the door to the idea in response to advice that the levy could lead the way to deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from Canada.

"Cap-and-trade is a huge tax hidden in a bureaucratic labyrinth of opaque permit transactions"

Canada to push climate agreement with Obama government
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 5, 2008 | 9:47
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Cannon said cutting greenhouse gases is a priority issue and will be communicated as such to the incoming Obama administration. "We will be able to tackle this file on the North American level — on a continental level," he said.

"Over the coming weeks I know my colleague Jim Prentice, minister of the environment, will be active on that file. I see that in a positive light."

"The cap-and-trade approach would be a significant departure from the Harper government's focus on emissions intensity reduction"

The cons and bureaucrats have been whacking off for 2 years - on your dime. Suckers.

But Harper (PMSH??) cut our taxes - and brought down the GST by 2% points - that's gotta more than offset this hike, no?

No.

Payroll taxes to wipe out income tax cuts in 2009

This is the largest single hike in payroll taxes since 2002. It will be only slightly offset by decreases in income tax exemptions. These decreases will save most taxpayers roughly $39 in 2009.
"How can the government justify increasing EI premiums with the massive, multi-year, multibillion-dollar surpluses in the EI fund?" asked director Scott Hennig. "EI premiums should be falling, not rising."

September 27, 2007 at 9:40 PM EST
Harper pledges $725-million in tax cuts
Rebate would put about $35 in each Canadian's pocket as federal surplus swells to $13.8-billion amid rampant election speculation
TORONTO — The Harper government announced it ran a larger-than-expected budget surplus of nearly $14-billion last fiscal year and immediately pledged to return $725-million of this to voters as tax break

Hurray for PM Harper and MinFin Flaherty.
More, and faster.
Break the libsuckers' hearts.
...-

"Biggest tax break since RRSPs? Who knew!

Tax-free savings accounts prompts Pape's new book"
http://www.financialpost.com/news/story.html?id=1130415

Tories pounce on Liberal carbon tax

James Cowan, National Post Published: Monday, May 12, 2008 TORONTO -- The Conservative government's pre-emptive strike on Liberal support for a carbon tax intensified Monday as Jim Flaherty, the Finance Minister, warned a business audience the proposal would be disastrous for the Canadian economy.

Blogosphere pummels Carbon Tax, Mum on Cap and Trade
While Canadian bloggers voiced strong opinions both in favour and opposed to Stephane Dion’s Carbon tax, the blogosphere was nearly silent on Ontario and Quebec’s new cap and trade initiative. A sample of blogs posting on both topics (from May 28-June 3rd) found that only 20% of bloggers voiced opinions (10% in favour, 10% opposed) on the cap and trade initiative. Conversely, 80% of bloggers voiced opinions on a carbon tax, 50% opposed and only 30% in favour. (see chart below)

In short, the research found that discussions about the cap and trade initiative were far more partisan than policy based...

http://www.infoscapelab.ca/index.php?q=img_assist/popup/429

Hmm. If no one says anything, maybe it doesn't exist.

Naw 8-D A Brand New Conservative Carbon Tax is speeding on its' way, thanks to Jim Prentice the Red. And the partisans can now confidently say that yes dearest, CO2 is a pollutant. We Cons knew it all along.

Thank you, and remember your taxes are due before long. Postdated cheques are preferable.

The natural end result of socialism, the ideology of the Separatist Coalition of Liberal Dionky-Iggy, Taliban Jack Layton-NDP, and communist DuceppeBloc.

>>> "while Western NGOs inadvertently prop up a pernicious regime".
Not inadvertently; these "Western NGOs" are human parasites feeding/gorging on socialism's human misery and death.
Cannibals are NGOs.
...-

"Fletcher: Only a military invasion can save Zimbabwe

Long after you leave Zimbabwe images linger in the mind, harrowing and ineradicable. An emaciated old woman making “soup” from weeds for her orphaned grandchildren; desperate parents foraging in the bush for a handful of desiccated berries; young men defying crocodiles to catch a handful of tiny fish in the Zambezi; the corpses of cholera victims trussed up in black plastic sheeting; the ubiquitous and debilitated Aids victims; perfunctory funerals in Harare’s cemetery while, all around, fresh graves are dug.

The pathetic attempts to grow vegetables on scraps of common land; the queues desperate to withdraw a few pennies from banks before their money loses all its value; the listlessness and despair of a crushed and broken people, the anguish of priests, doctors and aid workers overwhelmed by this tsunami of suffering…

There are other images, too. Of once bountiful farms plundered then abandoned by Robert Mugabe’s cronies, fields vanishing beneath the encroaching bush; of Zanu (PF) fat cats and their playboy offspring speeding around Harare in sleek Mercedes, or stuffing themselves in restaurants; of opponents beaten, tortured and killed; of Mr Mugabe and his profligate wife holed up in their heavily guarded estate, oblivious to the misery of their people, while Western NGOs inadvertently prop up a pernicious regime by providing the rudimentary services - food, water, healthcare - the failed state can no longer deliver."
http://jacksnewswatch.com/2009/01/02/fletcher-only-a-military-invasion-can-save-zimbabwe/

"irwin daisy, I think that your relentless hatred of all things Arab and Muslim has moved you out of the realm of reason and into fiction."

Well, ET, I think that your relentless support of the genocidal Islamist cause, tacticly masquerading as the Palestinian cause, has likewise, moved you out of reason, some time ago.

And since you so casually insert the Third Reich with it's more than insinuated insult, how about Hitler's Mufti, Muhammed Amin al-Hussein, of Palestine?

Your abiding support of Palestinians and their history may suggest another motivation.

Certainly not all Palestinians are blood lusting, sexual deviants and you're right, I should not have implied 'all.' However, an ideological cess pool like that, that indoctrinates its school children into hate at the earliest age, produces more than it's fair share - as historical evidence, like the article cited, proves once again.

Certainly a 'blood lust and sexual deviancy' connection is made between "Arafat's Massacre of Damour" and the most recent Islamic massacre at Mumbai. It's their M/O, throughout history.

The so-called Palestinian cause and the Islamist cause are one and the same. The same foundationally violent ideology, providing the same racism, tactics, atrocities and end goal.

ET, WRT Israel/Palestine, your sins of omission surprise me. You speak of "only" 20 people being killed by indiscrimate rocket attacks, that, well, pale in comparison to present IDF military action.

Really? So, closing down schools and commerce, indefinitely, along with just a few people getting blown up, is just a minor nuisance? I guess digging tunnels to mine soldiers, building up arms, and an unrelenting resolve to destroy Israel are also insignificant?

C'mon ET. When will Hamas and their ilk reject their hatred of Jews and Israel. You cannot seriously expect Israel to hand over total sovereignty to a "nation" that seeks only war with Israel.

Do you honestly believe Israel should revert to pre 1968, or even 1948, borders, without some guarantee of peaceful coexistence? Would you expect that any other nation accept this?

If Israel completely withdrew from disputed territories, are you honestly arguing there would be peace? No, IMO, there would be resultant war, of the unrelenting and total type, not action as now against Hamas military targets, albeit with civilian casualties.

Until the Palestinian leadership renounces violence, stops indoctrinating their people into a culture of hatred, and enters into honest, good faith negotiations with the recognized state of Israel, peace is impossible.

So, rightly or wrongly, Israel responds to threats, and yes in quite a heavy handed manner. Why? Well partly because the world never bothers to notice when Israel is subjected to rocket attacks, suicide bomings and an ongoing campaign to destroy their state.

No, only when Israel responds with military action do we hear cries of disproportionality (no such military term BTW; or should Israel launch rocket attacks on civilians in Gaza?), or cries for a ceasefire, which essentially facilitate rearming and preparing for future attacks.

WRT Israel, ET, your arguments lack the thoughtfulness you have displayed on many other subjects. Your extremely insensitive remarks about vehicle accidents killing more Israelis than Palestinian rocket attacks is very surprising, coming from a clearly intelligent person.

You must be aware that the vast majority of Arabs in Israel, which includes many Palestinians, enjoy the same rights as Jews there, and live in peaceful coexistence in that state. Yet, you seem content to excuse the actions of radical Islamists (yes, agreed not AQ, but certainly allied with Iran), as having no other choice. They certainly do have another choice, join their Arab brethren in Israel by living, like them, in peace.

You empathize well with the plight of the Palestinians, yet offer no such comfort to the Israelis, who have been subjected to harrassment and attacks from the moment of their inception as a country. There are many parties to this tragedy that you seem unwilling to recognize.

Why?

Connecticut Lawmaker Petitions for Newspaper Bailout

Thursday, January 01, 2009
Following the government's billion dollar bailout to the automobile and financial sectors, a Connecticut lawmaker is petitioning to save the local newspaper, Reuters reported.

Frank Nicastro, who represents Connecticut's 79th assembly district, is asking the state government to do something to salvage The Bristol Press, a paper that may fold within days, along with The Herald. The papers' publisher, Journal Register, is in danger of being crushed under millions of dollars in debt, and can't afford to keep them open.

"The media is a vitally important part of America," Nicastro said, particularly local papers that cover news ignored by big papers and television and radio stations.

But, relying on the government has raised ethical questions for the press, whose role has been to operate without government influence and media experts predict that 2009 will be the year that newspapers will "die" in wake of the financial meltdown.

Former Miami Herald Editor Tom Fiedler says that a democracy has an obligation to preserve a free press.

"I truly believe that no democracy can remain healthy without an equally healthy press," said Fiedler, now dean of Boston University's College of Communication. "Thus it is in democracy's interest to support the press in the same sense that the human being doesn't hesitate to take medicine when his or her health is threatened."

irwin daisy, I find your assertion of my 'relentless support of the genocidal Islamist cause' extremely offensive. I've made it abundantly clear how important it is to separate the I-P conflict from the Islamic fascist or Al Qaeda agenda, and also made it clear that I don't support the latter. Therefore your claim that I do is extremely offensive and insulting.

The fact that you merge the two is, I claim, a profound error. You do not acknowledge the different historical developments of each, the causal force of tribalist structures within an industrial economy in the states of Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt - which is the basic cause of Islamic fascism...and the very different causal force of loss of land, farms, homes, and a generation of occuptation, of the Palestinian.

Nor do you acknowledge the different agendas of each; the Palestinians want their own land; Al Qaeda/Islamic fascism wants the supreme control of the West and particularly, of the Arab countries..and moved into a pre-industrial economic and political mode.

Again, your claim that I merge the two and support Islamic fascism is extremely insulting. It's you who is making that error.

shamrock - when Israel ceases settling the West Bank, hands it over entirely to the Palestinians, and, assists it in setting up a democracy, and economic filiations, then - the anger will dissipate.

The reason for the 'war' is this failure to recognize the rights of Palestinians to a state, the settling of the land of that proposed state, and the occupation and resultant hardships on the peoples living within it.

I've asked many times - how do you expect a people to react, when they see their homes and farms destroyed, when they see the land presumably set aside for them taken up by the settlers, and they are forbidden to go on that land, ...how do you expect them to react? The expectation of 'peace', 'no anger' that you and others exhort is, to me, astonishing. Why shouldn't the Palestinians be angry when they are kicked off their farms, denied equal water rights for their farms, not allowed to travel on main highways, barred from markets and etc?

The first step to set up a peaceful co-existence has to be taken by Israel. Stop settling the West Bank; remove the settlers; acknowledge the right of Palestinians to their own state. Israel refuses any of these three steps. Then, end the occupation; work with the Palestinians to help them set up a democracy (as the US did in Iraq); and enable and establish close economic links, necessary because of the land base, water rights etc.

How can Israel enter into 'good faith' negotiations when it is even now settling the West Bank? How can it enter into 'good faith' interactions when it even now refuses to recognize that the Palestinians have a right to a nation?

Rocket attacks that have killed 20 since 2001. I'm insensitive? What about the settling of the West Bank, the turfing off of Palestinians from their homes, the violent destruction of farms by the settlers. The world doesn't hear about this either.

The fact that the Arabs in Israel, who are designated as citizens, are theoretically defined as equal (and this is disputed but this is not the place to debate this)..has nothing to do with the Palestinians OUTSIDE of Israel - other than to acknowledge that Israel insists on maintaining a Jewish majority in the actual state of Israel - which is its right to so insist.

The people in the occupied territories can't live 'in peace with Israel' because they have no rights as citizens or nationals. They can't even collect their own taxes!

No, I do NOT equate the Palestinian anger at their loss of land, no state, occupation, economic sanctions, behaviour of the settlers and so on - with Islamic fascism! The two have completely different causes and goals. What stuns me is how so many people in the west conveniently merge the two, and blithly ignore the realities of the Palestinians - and expect these people to do NOTHING, not even feel any anger, when they see their farms and lands destroyed and settled by others.

I keep asking people here - how do you expect a people to react when they see their farms taken from them, settled by others - and find themselves barred from entry into their old lands, barred from the markets, prevented from working..no-one says a word about this. Don't you think they might, just might, feel angry? Don't you ever think that such anger might be justified?

My 'abiding support' of the Palestinians rests only on equality of treatment; that you had a population living in an area, owning land, homes and farms, which territory was then allotted to another people, by a higher authority, the UN - and these same people were to be allotted a separate territory - by the name of Palestine. That's all.

As for indoctrination, that is on both sides; the settlers teach that the land is theirs by virtue of their being designated by God as 'The Chosen People' and that God gave them the land and that no-one else has the right to that land. That's as much an indoctrination as that of the Palestinians.

All I asked of you, irwin daisy, was to insert the phrase 'in my opinion' into your posts, rather than making universal claims about people.

And shamrock, I see no need to empathize with the plight of Israel because I believe that the key cause is their occupation, settling of the lands, economic sanctions against Gaza and refusal to recognize a Palestinian state.

As for Islamic fascism, I've also maintained that most Arab states (and the fascists) don't give a damn about the Palestinians. There are hierarchies in the Arab population - people are mistaken to consider All Arabs are Arabs; there are deep tribal differences of esteem, and the Palestinians are viewed as 'scum'. A key problem in the I-P conflit, besides the behaviour of Israel to the land base, is that the Islamic fascists don't want a free and democratic Palestinian state in their midst. They've taken over much of this I-P conflict (again, DON'T merge the two!) to use for their own benefit of keeping the area unstable.

I've said all of this before...and know that almost no-one on this blog agrees with my perspective. But, no-one has been able to provide any facts (I'm not interested in fiction) to convince me to change my mind. And - I find it fascinating how so many here refuse to even think about the anger that has to be felt by Palestinians, when they see their lands taken and settled by others. Instead, we insist that they not be angry...incredible.

OK, ET I tried, but no joy. You seem willing to ignore the anti-Semitic hatred of the Arab world, which attacked Israel from day one, before any settlements, before Islamic fascism and corrupt tyrants like Yasser Arafat co-opted the Palestinian struggle.

Like I said, you are an otherwise intelligent person who has lost perspective on this issue. I am amazed you can actually argue that dismantling settlements, or never having set them up in the first place, would "dissipate" anger. I consider that a breathtakingly naive statement. OTOH, it is only my opinion.

Where are the Palestinian overtures to peace? How about accepting municipal government, in good faith, to start road to peace and ultimate Palestinian sovereignty?

Face it ET, Israel will not relent until they have a recognition of their right to exist along with a reasonable guarantee of security. The argument that unilateral Israeli withdrawal from all disputed territories will result in peace flies in the face of common sense and history. Israel has made concessions you refuse to recognize, and are still attacked. What concessions have the Palestinian leadership made? This is the essense of the goodwill required for peace. Your essential argument seems to be that 0 - 99% of what Palestinians demand is not good enough, promotes hatred and therefore war, but going to 100% will result in peace for all. It simply doesn't make sense.

The obvious issue is that no side, in the present circumstances, is willing to stop fighting, to cease this endless cycle of violence. You act as if only the Israelis need to act, that Palestinians are victims only, and not perpretrators.

That attitude, even if it is correct (IMO it's fatally wrong thinking), consigns this region to endless fighting. It gives hotheads on both sides ample reason to continue military action against the other.

Like I said, I tried ET, but your receiver is off the hook on this one.

ET,

You picked this fight with equally insulting assertions and innuendo.

"I've made it abundantly clear how important it is to separate the I-P conflict from the Islamic fascist or Al Qaeda agenda,"

You may have made it clear that that's what you think, but it's hardly reality.

The Palestinian cause is the Islamist cause, whether they all like it or not. Otherwise, the majority would reject Hamas, not to mention the Islamic ideological foundations for Jew hatred.

If the Islamic ideology, in all its retrograde racism, foundational violence and hatred were removed from the conflict, I'm sure a rational means of settlement could be arrived at and accepted.

As it stands, that will not happen. The Palestinians are becoming more rabidly Islamic, supported as they are by the 'holy' words and commands of Allah and his prophet. Also supported by the growing and increasingly rabid crowds of Islamists spouting their hatred in every city throughout the west.

The next generation is being taught at their mother's breast, in school and in the mosque right now. These are Islamists first and 'Palestinians' second.

Interesting OpEd in the Citizen today by Barry Rubin re the the conflict in the Middle East. http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/Arab+Israeli+conflict+over/1133234/story.html .

To Baghdad? From Europe? Direct flight over the Gaza Strip?
It's George's fault.
...-

"Europe-Baghdad flights resume after 18 years

THE first passenger flight from Europe in 18 years has landed at Baghdad airport. The Swedish charter flight resumed air links between Iraq and Europe for the first time since the United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraq after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2157795/posts

no, irwin daisy, I have said nothing to insult you; all I asked was that you make it clear that your comments about Islam and Palestine, reflect your own opinion and are not 'the truth'.

You wrote back telling me that I support Islamic fascism, despite my constant arguments outlining the history of this fascism and my obvious rejection of it (the West has to fight it; Bush was right to push it back into the ME). You haven't apologized or withdrawn your characterization of me as a supporter of Islamic fascism.

shamrock - what concessions has Israel made? The Gaza strip is worthless as an economic base; it's primarily a housing strip. The Palestinians Fatah government recognized Israel; Hamas didn't. But Hamas was democratically elected, not for its anti-Israel stance but because of its social assistance versus the corruption of Fatah. Israel has never recognized the right of a Palestinian state.

No, I don't agree that accepting municipal governance would lead to an eventual Israeli acceptance of a national governance; the situation would more likely become static, with a situation of 'two unequal solitudes' within one nation of Israel.

Yes, I think that Israel ought to make concessions, and that includes not settling the West Bank.

Again, so far, not one person has answered my question as to what do you think the Palestinians ought to feel, and how should they behave, when they see their farms, their lands, stripped from them and settled by others? Not one person has addressed this issue. Instead, I get comments that assert that this anger is almost genetic. Not one person has addressed this issue. Why not?