discuss, debate, decide ...

Gaza Views, First hand report of conditions in Gaza -- Part IV

This is the final post of the four part series by Felice Gelman who writes about her recent trip to Gaza under the pen name rosahill. Here are links to the first three posts from her diary. Here are links to the first three posts, Part I, Part II,  Part III.


Sunday, June 7, 2009



A Detailed Account of the Impact of Israel's Attack


Our meeting with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights is the best orientation to the impact of the Israeli attack. PCHR meticulously documents everything, and deals quite fearlessly with both internal and external violations of human rights.

PCHR estimates that, during the Israeli attacks, 2,500 tons of explosives were dropped on Gaza. That equals 3 kilos of explosives per meter. (They have a massive display of weapons fragments in their office, with all too many bearing indications that they were made in the USA).

The State of California Issues IOU's in Place of $s: State Budget Crisis

 



 hat tip  Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco


For the first time since the Great Depression (with a brief exception in 1992)  California, state finance officials will begin issuing IOUs today to meet its $24-billion budget shortfall.These will go to local governments, vendors, taxpayers and college students receiving state financial aid. State workers will face more unpaid leave days and Counties that administer social services also would not get paid, nor would taxpayers who are still expecting refunds.


Were California an independent nation it's economy would rank in the top ten globally and now it is bankrupt, and it is not the only US state economy in deep trouble. It's economy accounts for 12 percent of US domestic product and has the largest retail consumption in the country.


Connecticut Man1's picture

Lieberman Campaign Lies on Healthcare Reform

Via Paul Bass of the New Haven Independent, Joe Lieberman has taken his strongest stance yet in support of doing nothing honest in healthcare reform:

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman has a bipartisan group of senators ready to help pass health care reform — minus a government-run insurance plan.  

During a New Haven stop to support overall reform, Connecticut’s independent fourth-term senator gave his strongest statement to date opposing Democrats’ and President Obama’s call for a “public option” health care plan.

The problem with his faux idea of bipartisan solutions in opposition to a public option? This is something that he had campaigned on in the past:

From tparty at MLN:

Open Thread -- Treason and Sedition, Fox News Edition

YouTube: 

Michael Scheuer Calls For Osama to Attack: Glenn Beck and Fox News Air It

Three days before the Fourth of July -- a holiday celebrating our nation's Independence Day -- and the reich-wing has stepped up the drumbeat toward insurrection, treason and sedition. Hat-tip to MinistryOfTruth of DailyKos

Every Republican member of Congress should be immediately called upon to voice their opinion on this outrage, on the record and in public.

Every right-wing pundit and "strategist" -- particularly those like Karl Rove, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh -- should have to weigh in, publicly and on the record.

This is the ultimate incitement of domestic and foreign actions by active enemies during a time of war: it is treasonous, it is seditious, it is wrong on so many levels.  In light of all the troops who have fought in our name and to protect our nation "over there" so that we could never again be attacked over here, this unrejected statement made by Schaeur on Fox News is the ultimate slap in their faces.

It is the ultimate in dishonor.

It is the ultimate un-American sentiment.

It is beyond fathomable.

Check out the diary by Ministry of Truth for action items, and get involved now -- before another Timothy McVeigh, James W. Von Brunn, Eric Robert Rudolph, Dan White, James Earl Ray, Lee Harvey Oswald or Scott Roeder.

Let's put the words of Mike Malloy to the test: do Republicans really want our nation to fail? Do Republicans really want us to bear the brunt of another 9-11 or Oklahoma City bombing?

They're worse than useless. These are terrorists. These are domestic terrorists. They want the country to fail, for God’s sake. They want exactly what anyone who attacked this country on September 11, 2001 wanted. The real internal terrorists are the Republicans, I mean, isn't that clear?

Those are the words attributed to Mr. Malloy; they ring too true, now. Let's put the Republicans in Congress to the real test, and see if they live up to their hype, or to their actions.  And in the meantime, let's ask the FCC and Secret Service to pay Fox and friends a little visit.

Connecticut Man1's picture

Obama Townhall NOW: National Discussion on Health Care Reform

Via the White House Blog:

On Saturday the President posted a video asking for your questions on health care reform. In just a few days, we’ve gotten hundreds of submissions. The questions spanned the ideological spectrum, and ranged from heart-breaking and personal to almost wonkishly policy-focused.
 
Today’s the day where the President will get to answer some of the best submissions. 
 
But even if you didn't get a chance to submit a video question, the opportunities to participate have just begun.  Watch, discuss, and engage through our Facebook live-stream chat application, watch and drop us comments at WhiteHouse.gov/live, or take part in the conversation on Twitter using hashtag #WHHCQ.
 
The event will begin around 1:15 EDT:
 
 
We'll not only be monitoring all of those conversations closely during the event and looking for ways to incorporate your feedback into the conversation, but following up after the event in the coming days to get to as many questions as possible from the ones the President couldn't get to, and to address follow-up questions to his answers there.
Watch it live:

Connecticut Man1's picture

Private Insurance Begins Its Propaganda War

As if it wasn’t bad enough that private, for-profit insurance routinely makes its money by getting between us and our doctor, now they want to get between us and real health care reform.  They’ve put a Web site to advocate for keeping things exactly as they are, thank you very much, and they're not afraid to cherry-pick facts like they cherry-pick customers.  The propaganda war has begun.

UN begins probe into Bhutto killing; Pakistan to determine ultimate culpability

__________

"...Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them..."
      -- I. Scooter Libby to Judith Miller,
        September, 2005
__________

From an AFP News Brief on France24.com comes this news:

__________

UN begins probe into Bhutto killing

A UN commission appointed to investigate the assassination of Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto began work on Wednesday, a spokesman said.

The panel, which has a six-month mandate, is being led by the Chilean ambassador to the United Nations, Heraldo Munoz, and includes an Indonesian ex-attorney general and an Irish former police official.
__________

Good news for the potential for justice, but only if the investigation can get through to the roots of the problem. Deadeye Dick may not have anything to worry about, but -- perhaps fortunately for the rest of us -- the Aspens may not actually turn in clusters, but they are all connected at their roots:

Do Something NOW About DADT President Obama !

YouTube: 

Just a day after the grandiose invitation only meet and greet over cocktails at the White House with LGBT "leaders" and President Obama to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Stonewall, comes word that on Tuesday a military board in Syracuse, NY has recommended Lt. Dan Choi be fired from his position with the Army National Guard in violation of DADT. Lt. Choi is a founding member of Knights Out and spokeperson for the group of LGBT West Point graduates.

Gaza Views, First hand report of conditions in Gaza -- Part III

About Me




Felice Gelman

I am a member of the Wespac Middle East Committee and part of a group of four delegations under the umbrella of CODEPINK invited to Gaza by the UN Relief and Works Agency. This trip is a follow-on to a March CODEPINK Gaza trip which I participated in

Rafah -- Survival Strategies for Palestinians


The first morning in Gaza, we returned from Gaza City to Rafah to spend time at the Lifemakers Center – the children’s center Fida Qishta and her sister Faten founded. Our drivers took the coastal road – a real treat. Absolutely no traffic, beautiful seascapes most of the way. Even here, however, there was plenty of evidence of destruction… the occasional large home destroyed, factories, workshops, and farm buildings flattened. Also, near Deir Balah, you cross a bridge over Gaza’s open sewer (the parts for the sewage treatment plant have been held at the border forever). Raw sewage must be pumped untreated into the sea, polluting all the coastal waters.

FINALLY! Minnesota court rules Democrat Al Franken won Senate seat -- UPDATE

Rule of law triumphs in Minnesota.


The State Supreme Court has ruled in his favor by 5 to 0. This means that almost certainly Governor Pawlenty will certify him. AND IT ONLY TOOK HOW MANY DAYS????



Norman Coleman has conceded. Here a link to the NY Times story,

 

Nick Benton's Corner: Sanford, Ensign & 'Defense of Marriage'

Published with permission from Nicholas Benton, owner/editor of the Falls Church News Press.


Sanford, Ensign & 'Defense of Marriage'


by Nicholas Benton


The utter hypocrisy of right-wing Republicans who've done everything in their power to disenfranchise and deny marital and other rights to lesbians and gays jumped out of the headlines again yesterday when South Carolina's Republican Gov. Mark Sanford was caught having an extra-marital affair, and was forced to confess.


Sanford's revelations followed by exactly a week a near-identical confession from another right wing Republican, U.S. Sen. John Ensign of Nevada


Connecticut Man1's picture

Hey Joe...

Where ya goin' with that healthcare lobbyist's money in your hand?

Nice ad. Joe needs a nice warm cup of shut the buck up.

A Matter of Trust - Mexico's July 5 Legislative Elections

 



A Three Part Series   Part 1


In the wake of Felipe Calderon’s surprising electoral win over Andrés Manual Lopez-Obrador in 2006 Presidential Elections, demonstrators protesting alleged election fraud occupied the center of Mexico City from July through December.  On three occasions, crowds of over one million were reported.   Image:  Erasmo Lopez


A Fairness Doctrine for Healthcare?

I have been following the healthcare reform debate with increasing fear that this opportunity to produce meaningful change in the way healthcare is paid for in this country will be squandered.  Considering that this is the first real chance of making serious change since Harry Truman was President, it would be reasonable to guess that if we pass this one up, it will be decades before we have another such chance.  


jimstaro's picture

"HE KEPT US SAFE"

THE DECLINE OF AMERICAN CHARACTER

THE "CRINGING WIMP" GENERATION


For years we hear little else, "But he kept us safe." The "but" refers to bankrupting the country, stealing elections, suspending Constitutional Rights, poisoning the air and water and turning the country over to racketeers from oil, drug, insurance and crooked financial services..........

Syndicate content