Obama will not speak until his masters' give him leave to do so, and when he does make a statement it shall go something like this: "While the death of innocents is an unfortunate occurrence, Hamas must be destroyed at all costs. Israel has America's blessing to do whatever it feels is necessary to protect itself."

Actually this is about "perfect" timing for a dramatic increase in violence in the near, middle, and far east, b/c we know the war profiteers are just salivating at all of the money Obama promises to spend on infrastructure development in the American "homeland".

Who wants to waste time and money trying to provide our children an industriously peaceful future when there is so much money to be made increasing present violent destruction!

Peace

Beyond the Obama art
is the art of the initial
action and reaction of the big bang
and through it of the universal evolutionary play
and of all its heirarchical systems within
in terms of FOUR BASIC FORCES OR INTERACTIONS

Obama, nay, even the species of Man as a whole
is merely on the tip of the iceberg
of the universal evolutionary scheme
Tip does not lead the iceberg where it will
though it may seem to be so
It is the iceberg stupid!

To understand the details
read the book Self-Designed Universe
which the same Iceberg thought it fit
to be writ through me
as dedicatedly and thoroughly as now you read
Anurag Sagar and The Phenomenon of Man

Because some day soon the first will look like a
book for the cultural children as compared to this
while the later as woefully lacking in detail
though correct in its general theme
as mere saying 'water flows from high to low'
lacks without mentioning gravity.

Indeed, it is all play in cycles from
being to becoming to back to being and so on
with the being part housed in Eternity
beyond it as well
while the becoming part giving birth
to time and all its dichotmous and vile play

Indeed, overall House can also be called 'God'
or Consciosuness-as-such or this and that an so on
even Nature, even Universe if a difference is made
by calling the evovling universe with small 'u'
but beyond this there is really no need to use any religious words or symbols
So much for Anurag Sagar, or of its being for cultural children

So far as The Phenomenon of Man is concerned
Now it should be clear from where the Evolutionary push comes from
in terms of science, or at least in terms of its philosophy
or what gives the consequent universe the myriad forms it bears
and what takes it to point Omega and why
For there is no mystery it is simple physics
of four basic forces or interactions
once it takes off from big bang and then
when and why it reaches is inevitable end
though with the seed of a new big bang

Impromptu, Harb

With advance apologies should anyone feel offended in some way.

Hey Harb!

It's about The Unseen Iceberg and it's about TIME

you let that cold hearted slab of freezing unconsciousness

speak through your lips by making your hand type slavishly.

How poetic it looks to me this morning. Good Show!

.

Hey DK!

I don't pretend to speak intelligently or with political correctness on this matter.

What matters is that matter itself is not free to do as it chooses.

The PLO seems to be asking for it, and the Israeli forces are wont to comply.

The Bush Adm. slapped the other cheek of Hamas and told them to cut it out.

Quit...simply quit tempting your life-long enemy to play the payback game.

They are into overkill, no matter the game, no matter the rules.

Why do the Israeli's refuse to finish the job while they still have Bush's support?

To think that Obama can come in, say the right thing, and make this all go away

is most ridiculous. Moving targets make this war a sport.

Intramural conflicts are kept at bay during the game,

but not during meaningless practice sessions. Someone blew the whistle,

and then stepped off the field to watch their prediction unfold.

Texas Hold 'em it is, and the cards are stacked by the dealer's undertaker.

In continuation of #2:

Here is an introduction to Anurag Sagar from
http://www.geocities.com/anulbird/anuragintro2.htm
And here are the operative lines
suitably revised for brevity's sake

Time gets lose from the realm of Eternity
and creates its own kingdom
and enslavenes it with its stringent rules
in an never-ending closed-circuit universe

It would have gone on for ever if
Eternity were not in love with the products of time
and would not interfere in its working from time to time
to recall it back to Itself.

And here is a story from Self-Designed Universe
for, for once I thought that rather than give all in dry prose
perhaps a story once a while
will soothe taught nerves of readers

Find in it how we begin from Eternity (Oneness)
develop various forms and modes of consciousness
(compare them with four modes of incarnations of Anurag Sagar
as also of four modes of life of The Phenomenon of Man
and know how it is because of four basic forces or interactions)
and how in developing the consciousness of man
we go farthest from the consciousness of One or God
and finally how because our "King-Father" loves us
He saves us at the nick of time
so that we can now again reach back to Him swiftly
all in terms of FOUR BASIC FORCES OR INTERACTIONS

So here is the story from Self-Designed Universe. Some clarifications have been given in brackets by me here and are not part of the book)
**********
Lastly, as I promised, we may wind up the answer with a parable which I hope would further clear the whole question of consciousness – even of both kinds.

A certain prince lived in a state called Oneness with his king-father. One day the king-father put before him an interesting proposition. He told him that he will make him the king of the state of Oneness if he would successfully travel through four specially built towns named Gravitown, Electrotown, Strongtown and Weaktown (named after four basic forces of gravity, electromagneitc force, strong force and weak force by me) and come back to stake his claim. He warned him that each of the first three towns will be more labyrinthine than the previous one, and it will be only the last, the fourth one which may be of some help to him.

The prince agreed, thanked the king-father and embarked on the proposed journey (here our - or of all lives or systems - journey in time begins). He did not face much difficulty in passing through the first two towns – the Gravitown and Electrotown (the towns in which we are yet plants and naimals as and on the scale of species). But he found himself overwhelmed by the intricacies involved in the construction of the third one, the Strong town (here we began to become Man). This town seemed more inside than outside, more full of virtual mazes than actual, more full of illusive mazes than real (it is because now we are more persons of minds 'inside us' than of bodies). He at once knew that he will have to study it thoroughly to get out. Brilliant as he was in his college days, he put himself on the job of learning all the facts about the town with complete confidence(tries to understand his mind and in the process creates a whole world in terms of his mind and gets lost in it).

Soon he was lost even to himself so to say in the study of the town, more so because the town’s intricacies so fascinated him.

Anyway, after a certain time he had studied it so thoroughly that he knew it inside-out so to say. He became conscious of every actual and virtual aspect of it, even every actual and virtual brick used in its construction. He became sort of a specialist of this town. He thought there was left really nothing more in it for him to know.

But alas! While he had thus reached the peak of knowledge of this town, peak of awareness, consciousness of this Strong town (as science or intellect now seems to think), wow be to his thorough absorption into its study - to the point of almost losing himself as we said above - he forgot his original state of Oneness, and needless to say, his promise to return to it to stake his claim.

He may well have remained lost in it for ever were his king-father, knowing his plight, not to sent his messenger by the name of Time to gently pick him up during his sleep or perhaps during one of his losing fits so to say, to catapult him into the next town, the Weaktown. From where because he could see the boundaries of the state of Oneness once again (it is because of the way the weak forces is carried), he could come to remember it again. And of course, his promise to return to it to stake his claim.

Needless to add, from there onwards it was again a smooth journey for him (now he has gone beyond intellect, to the level of what we may call intelligence/intuition/wisdom). All he had to do was to shed his so-called knowledge/consciousness of the previous town and only keep his attention now fixed on the state of Oneness soon to be reached.

So that is that dear reader! Our usual knowledge, usual consciousness is like the knowledge of only the towns. In this we can be no different from computers. It is only the consciousness of the original state of Oneness, from which we began and to which we are bound to return, which can and will give it its meaning.

This is consciousness-as-such, this is consciousness of Mosc (Matter of spiritual category as I think at the end of the day it too is but a transformed part of Matter, those interested can even consider all Matter a transformed form of Spirit, the wtory will remain the smae), or rather Mosc itself!

In this book we will remain mainly concerned with this consciousness.

***********

Thanks for reading

Harb

Hi DK and Everyone,

Hamas rules Gaza and their citizens suffer greatly under their leadership. Considering that their people lack the most basic needs, one would think this leadership would come up with something besides "rocket launchings" into Israel as a strategy to care for their citizens, but, no, rockets it is, even though the known Israeli response will be exactly what it is, military atttacks. So, Hamas decideds to feed it's rocket addiction rather than it's citizens while also begging military strikes from Israel to inflict more suffering and loss.

If Hamas can "launch rockets" daily it is a safe bet that they can come up with another plan, one that actually serves the needs of their citizens.

Hamas and their citizens are the only ones who can really end this conflict, they have complete control over the way they choose deal with Israel and so far it's "all rocket launchings."

Sympathy for the conflict has lost it's charm outside the MidEast itself.

have a wonderful day, ruth

Fear not little ones...for in just a few days the Chosen One will ascend to his throne...

He will calm the raging sea, he will speak with a golden tongue...and everywhere men shall be blessed. The Middle East will become a bastion of love, peace and Harmony...

All Americans will awake with a freshly minted $100 bill on their pillow...with the promise of more to follow...

Valdmir Putin will become a bowl of jello, perfectly malleable to the will of our Saviour..

Achmadinawhomever will see the world as a place of light and beauty.... queers will be welcome in Iran...

And all around middle earth...we shall all..the dispossessed, the rich, the dwarves and the elves, join hands and sing Kum Ba Ya!

And that's all before noon...

That afternoon...he solves the issue of global warming...and the Dow hits 20000!

Obama...where art thou....

Awesome Harb!

He-he: I hear you Norm! Did you get a chance to hear President Ahmadinejad's Christmas message (I thought it was pretty cool!)?!?

Or are you thinking we should not listen to anybody with "mad" in their name . . .

har har har

“Considering that their people lack the most basic needs, one would think this leadership would come up with something besides ‘rocket launchings’…”

Maybe we should take a look at how in our own countries many people lack the most basic needs. We know manufacturing weapons and selling them to anybody will make some of us rich but won’t get us non-violence anywhere.

“A visitor from outer space – the legendary intelligent extraterrestrial – dipping down and inquiring what we are all about and finding such prodigies of human inventiveness and such enormous fractions of our wealth devoted not just to the means of war but to the means of massive destructions – such a being would surely deduce that our prospects are not very good and perhaps go on to some other, more promising world.”

Hey “brother” Craig, you make more sense than most here!

"Hey “brother” Craig, you make more sense than most here!"

Brother Craig, do we now have to start worrying? :)

Moshiah Now!!!!

Thanks Keith for you Holiday wishes. How was the ham Skins?

I have been consuming copious amounts of potatoe pancakes aka Latkes during this Hanukah Season. Maybe a few more candles have to be lit, bring in the light.

Joy to the world and let's hope that President Obama doesn't get too annoyed with the press that it hampers his decision making abilities. Did he expect any different?

Cheers,

Steve

Empyrius pretty well nailed it right off the bat.

Obama is not in control of America's Israel-Palestine policy, and could not have become President if he didn't pledge loyalty to AIPAC (recall his little presentation to them, and also Hillary's accompanying statement that Obama is a "true friend of Israel.") If you are not loyal to AIPAC, you can't be President in America. End of story on that.

On the other side, Hamas, being a rather loose confederation of groups that do everything from provide soup and clothes to training insurgents, is also not in control of all its people. Some Hamas leaders will try to work for peace, but others will arm and fight. There's probably no one person or even no single council that controls all activity that is related to Hamas. So saying "Hamas should do this or that" is unhelpful.

"Kill more of them than they kill of us" is neither a sustainable nor winning strategy for Israel. They are simply, uncontrollably locked into a cycle of revenge and tit-for-tat that they are completely unable to break out of.

Neither Hamas, Israel, nor Obama is in control or knows how to resolve the situation.

I'm holding out for the hope that one day eventually all sides will become so sick of carrying the burden of simply, meaninglessly, killing each other and give up on it, simply because they don't know what else to do.

The peace process is always hijacked by the warhawks on both sides, who in turn always suffer setbacks because the war itself is unsustainable and never resolves the conflict.

I think they are bound in an unresolvable death-lock.

America can't help them because we have poisoned any peace-maker role we have by already declaring ourselves to have taken sides in the conflict.

The UN has been unable to solve the crises as well.

These are supposedly the "Holy Lands."

They sure need their God's help now.

Has anyone considered that this is a diversion meant to de-stress the relationship between India and Pakistan, which had become even more fractured and dangerous after Pakistan began denying that Kasab is Pakistani? Not only are India and Pakistan both nuclear powers, but Pakistan's recently increased intransigency threatened the US goal of getting Afghanistan-located terrorist sourcing and training under control.

These issues are more serious, from a global perspective, than a temporary ramping-up of Israeli-Palistinean conflict.

- - -

I personally deplore Israel's action against the people in the Gaza Strip. Just as Hamas can do a better job of leading its people peacefully and productively, so can Israel do a better job of relating positively to its neighbors, if it really wants permanent change to peace, instead of the same old blame game pressure politics that's been going on since the 1960's, which has not worked in all that time, and in fact has served to only grind the Israeli position of being contra everyone even deeper into the stone of the region.

The full translation of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Christmas message. (Thank you, Guardian News and Media Limited 2008)
.
.
"In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful. Upon the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, Son of Mary, the Word of God, the Messenger of mercy, I would like to congratulate the followers of Abrahamic faiths, especially the followers of Jesus Christ, and the people of Britain.The Almighty created the universe for human beings and human beings for Himself. He created every human being with the ability to reach the heights of perfection. He called on man to make every effort to live a good life in this world and to work to achieve his everlasting life. On this difficult and challenging journey of man from dust to the divine, He did not leave humanity to its own devices. He chose from those He created the most excellent as His Prophets to guide humanity. All Prophets called for the worship of God, for love and brotherhood, for the establishment of justice and for love in human society. Jesus, the Son of Mary, is the standard-bearer of justice, of love for our fellow human beings, of the fight against tyranny, discrimination and injustice.All the problems that have bedevilled humanity throughout the ages came about because humanity followed an evil path and disregarded the message of the Prophets.Now as human society faces a myriad of problems and a succession of complex crises, the root causes can be found in humanity's rejection of that message, in particular the indifference of some governments and powers towards the teachings of the divine Prophets, especially those of Jesus Christ.The crises in society, the family, morality, politics, security and the economy which have made life hard for humanity and continue to put great pressure on all nations have come about because the Prophets have been forgotten, the Almighty has been forgotten and some leaders are estranged from God.If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly He would stand with the people in opposition to bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers.If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly He would hoist the banner of justice and love for humanity to oppose warmongers, occupiers, terrorists and bullies the world over.If Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly He would fight against the tyrannical policies of prevailing global economic and political systems, as He did in His lifetime.The solution to today's problems is a return to the call of the divine Prophets. The solution to these crises is to follow the Prophets - they were sent by the Almighty for the good of humanity.Today, the general will of nations is calling for fundamental change. This is now taking place. Demands for change, demands for transformation, demands for a return to human values are fast becoming the foremost demands of the nations of the world.The response to these demands must be real and true. The prerequisite to this change is a change in goals, intentions and directions. If tyrannical goals are repackaged in an attractive and deceptive package and imposed on nations again, the people, awakened, will stand up against them.Fortunately, today, as crises and despair multiply, a wave of hope is gathering momentum. Hope for a brighter future and hope for the establishment of justice, hope for real peace, hope for finding virtuous and pious rulers who love the people and want to serve them – and this is what the Almighty has promised.We believe Jesus Christ will return, together with one of the children of the revered Messenger of Islam and will lead the world to love, brotherhood and justice.The responsibility of all followers of Christ and Abrahamic faiths is to prepare the way for the fulfilment of this divine promise and the arrival of that joyful, shining and wonderful age.I hope that the collective will of nations will unite in the not too distant future and with the grace of the Almighty Lord, that shining age will come to rule the earth.Once again, I congratulate one and all on the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. I pray for the New Year to be a year of happiness, prosperity, peace and brotherhood for humanity. I wish you every success and happiness."

Let's not expect dear President Obama to be all things to all people. He is only ONE person. But he IS our leader. And He is almost universally respected and admired in this country, and abroad people are predisposed to like him in a way that no other U.S. leader has ever inspired. A man of brilliant intellect and kind heart, he will do the very best job anyone could do under the circumstances. I do not expect Miracles from ANY person. The miracles will come when Obama moves our own hearts and the hearts of people from other countries to feel more kindly toward each toward all others. Maybe he will be able to initiate a thaw that will suddenly melt cold hearts, melt hardened hearts, fill pepople with the desire to help and trust others. Maybe the thaw will produce a rising water level in a parched world, spiritually parched world, and all boats will be lifted, not just a few select boats. I love seeing his picture with people from other nations. The world is beginning to see that the United Sates is not The West but instead is a Great Melting Pot where people from EVERYWHERE live together in harmony. Our next president is not IN this for Ego. He has realistic expectations. So Should We! The bulk of the energy toward good chganges must come from the CITIZENS! No doubt Obama will have to spout the party line in many instances, simply in order to retain power and influence. We must bear with that and hope that the overall result through the years is brilliant and kind and enlightened as Obama himself.

Yeah brother Shmuel (Samuel) I am sorry if I often sound “anti-Israel”, I don’t know, I guess I have just come to expect more from the chosen people, but as I look at the failure I am, that other people, nations, what have you, fall short of my expectations just shows that we all yet have a lot of work to do, most especially myself.

I want to be the change I want to see in the world, if I could find a way to monetarily support myself at the same time that would sure help my spiritual well-being (or does spiritual well-being economically reward one: har har har). God-forsaken capitalism anyway!!!!!

Anyway. This is a tragic way to bring in the New Year! Meet the new boss, same as the old boss . . .

Moshiah now indeed! The problem is is that I do not think our Savior will be an actual physical being descending from the sky; I believe our salvation will come from the unifying Spirit within us all. If some dude tried setting himself up as king of the world we would kill him thinking he is the Antichrist, when actually we are the Antichrist (the IMF/world bank is the beast, and “selfishness brings out our collective best” is the false prophet, and of course America is the Babylonian Whore :) :) :)). And I am sure our respective interpretations of the major prophets and the Apocalypse of St. John are quite dissimilar.

Boy it sure would be cool if we could surprise God would it not!

Peace

Hi Skep, hi everyone:

The attacks on the Gaza Strip is appalling, horrifying and inexcusable and shows, yet again, how far we are from reaching the plateau of maturity as a species. We must end this culture of violence, war and hatred and learn to coexist in peace; or we are ominously doomed as arrogant, implacable, self-important custodians of the pale blue dot we call home.

The following are some thoughts left for us by one of the greatest who ever lived:

“While almost anyone is taught that the Earth is a sphere with all of us somehow glued to it by gravity, the reality of our circumstance did not really begin to sink in until the famous frame-filling Apollo photograph of the whole Earth--the one taken by Apollo 17 astronauts on the last journey of humans to the Moon.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of the other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group. Initially our loyalties were to ourselves and our immediate family, next, to bands of wandering hunter-gatherers, then to tribes, small settlements, city-states, nations.” Dr. Carl Sagan.

P.S.: A Plague implanted on the Moon by the Apollo 11 crew and signed by Richard Nixon reads:"We came in peace for all mankind."

Can we at least adopt this as our cultural ethos here on earth?

It is good to see that we can still have a reasonable and polite exchange of opinions here without some “Dummkopf” guessing display IDs and throwing insults in the wrong direction.

It’s good to hear from you Ron, welcome back.

Here is a thought for 2008 that may help us recognise reality better.

Every single person living today who has a desire to seek knowledge, enlightenment and peace can indulge his or her mind in an intellectual exercise that will find answers to some of the most intriguing questions that bothered great minds of the past. Questions like “why are we here” or “how did consciousness evolve”?

Before Darwin just about everybody believed in God, there was no explanation about our existence except a supernatural one. Charles then gave us a reductionistic mechanism that answers how we evolved. Evolutionary biology has since confirmed his basic theory as fact.

The question is, why do so many people choose to stay ignorant (ignorant of the fundamentals of a given art or branch of knowledge) when they have a choice not to be?

A discussion of Darwin is appropriate to this thread? A discussion of missing members is appropriate to this thread? Does every piece of clothing fit every occasion?

If you call others out, or impose your views on subject B within the context of a thread about subject A, how does that support discussion?

These are rhetorical questions, no answers expected.

In the usual process, the U.S. government, media here -- and most liberal bloggers and progressive politicians -- are silent or playing down questions about whether Israel overreacted in its massive air strikes on Gaza, while the foreign press, and even Haaretz in Israel, carries more balanced accounts.

Anyone who cares should consult the respected Haaretz site: http://www.haaretz.com/ often, if for no other reason than to learn that criticism of Israeli military actions are usually more heated inside that country than in the USA. You may recall the lockstep support (in the U.S.) for Israeli's invasion of southern Lebanon, which included the use of U.S.-made cluster bombs. That invasion turned out to be a genuine fiasco.

If the response during the invasion is any guide, top liberal bloggers will, by and large, respond to the current assault by saying, "Not my issue...don't know enough to comment."

One analysis at Haaretz: "A million and a half human beings, most of them downcast and desperate refugees, live in the conditions of a giant jail, fertile ground for another round of bloodletting. The fact that Hamas may have gone too far with its rockets is not the justification of the Israeli policy for the past few decades, for which it justly merits an Iraqi shoe to the face."

Another opinion piece in Haaretz -- titled, "Neighborhood Bully Strikes Again" -- by Gideon Levy: "Israel embarked yesterday on yet another unnecessary, ill-fated war. On July 16, 2006, four days after the start of the Second Lebanon War, I wrote: 'Every neighborhood has one, a loud-mouthed bully who shouldn't be provoked into anger... Not that the bully's not right - someone did harm him. But the reaction, what a reaction!' Two and a half years later, these words repeat themselves, to our horror, with chilling precision. Within the span of a few hours on a Saturday afternoon, the IDF sowed death and destruction on a scale that the Qassam rockets never approached in all their years, and Operation 'Cast Lead' is only in its infancy."

Also from Haaretz, Zvi Barel writes: "Six months ago Israel asked and received a cease-fire from Hamas. It unilaterally violated it when it blew up a tunnel, while still asking Egypt to get the Islamic group to hold its fire." Yet the U.S. media refers that only Hamas violated the ceasefire.

Another columnist there, Yossi Sarid, writes: "I can only hope that this time, for a change, we will know when to stop. This war must be described from the get-go as a war 'to be on the safe side,' rather than of necessity, and it is still unclear whether the last missile fired will be fired by us or by them."

Amira Hass, the paper's correspondent in Gaza, reports: "There are many corpses and wounded, every moment another casualty is added to the list of the dead, and there is no more room in the morgue. Relatives search among the bodies and the wounded in order to bring the dead quickly to burial. A mother whose three school-age children were killed, and are piled one on top of the other in the morgue, screams and then cries, screams again and then is silent."

From the lead Haaretz editorial: "[T]he inherent desire for retribution does not necessarily have to blind us to the view from the day after....Israel's violation of the lull in November expedited the deterioration that gave birth to the war of yesterday. But even if this continues for many days and even weeks, it will end in an agreement, or at least an understanding similar to that reached last June."

The Independent, a major daily in London has an eyewitness account, ending with: "These bombs were launched by Israel, as we had known they would be. The world watched the situation simmer then boil over, but did nothing. There are some who believe that hell is divided into different classes. The ordinary people of Gaza have long been caught in the tormenting underworld. Now, if the world does not heed what has happened here, our situation will worsen. We will be trapped in the first class of hell."

A McClatchy dispatch quotes Daniel Levy, a political analyst in Israel who once served as an adviser to Ehud Barak, who is leading the military campaign against Hamas: "I don't see how this ends well, even if, in two weeks time, it looks like it ends well."

Haaretz has posted this from another columnist, Tom Segev: "[T]he assault on Gaza does not first and foremost demand moral condemnation - it demands a few historical reminders. Both the justification given for it and the chosen targets are a replay of the same basic assumptions that have proven wrong time after time. Yet Israel still pulls them out of its hat again and again, in one war after another."

And this from another columnist, Akiva Eldar: "The tremendous population density in the Gaza Strip does not allow a "surgical operation" over an extended period that would minimize damage to civilian populations. The difficult images from the Strip will soon replace those of the damage inflicted by Qassam rockets in the western Negev. The scale of losses, which works in 'favor' of the Palestinians, will return Israel to the role of Goliath."

The New York Times has, for two days, not played down Israel's actions towards the Gaza Strip and Hamas. Their pictorial content is as immediate and heart-breaking as their coverage of 26/11 was. The tone of their headlines and articles tells of implicit disapproval of Israel's actions -- for example, "Casualties Rise as Israel Strikes on Gaza Persist" and the lede for that story, "Israeli airstrikes against Hamas facilities in Gaza continued, the toll rising to nearly 300 in Israel’s most severe campaign against Palestinian militants in decades...".

All the friends and relatives I spoke with today spontaneously expressed anger and disappointment at Israel's actions, comparing the unjustness of it to the US invasion of Iraq. One of my sisters said it was like going after ants with sledgehammers.

A Kossack "Chilean Jew" ends his support of Israel:

Like davidminzer, I'm Jewish and descendant of holocaust survivors. Moreover, I've been a Zionist all of my life. I went to a Zionist school, I was active in Zionist youth groups. I've always been a fervent supporter of Israel as a refuge for Jews around the world who seek a place to exercise their traditions and embrace their identity in peace.

I sang the Israeli anthem in the train rails of Aushwitz-Birkenau and I pledged to fight every day of my life to make sure the savage crimes that had taken place there would never happen again. Every year I pledged: Never Again. Remember and Never forget.

Well, I haven't forgotten. And so to honor that pledge, to honor the memory of my family members who died in those death camps and because "there comes a time when silence is betrayal", today I finally and publicly end my support for the state of Israel.

I do this with great pain in my heart, but nonetheless with the overwhelming conviction that it is the only right thing to do. I was patient: I tolerated the destruction of the Oslo process by refusing to end or slow down the constant and criminal construction of settlements. I held my nose and stood my ground when Barak killed the final status negotiations at Taba 2001. I even remained loyal after Sharon's massacres in the West Bank, the brutal Annexation wall, the illegal "selective assassinations" and Olmert's war crimes in Lebanon.

I had to defend Israel and Israelis with my friends and others who demanded I be consistent with my progressive views and oppose a country that was responsible for horrible crimes against innocent human beings. "Israelis are scared, they are traumatized, you have to understand...", "Israel is responding to attacks on itself, tell me one other country that wouldn't respond when attacked...", I demanded understanding, I pleaded for a fair and comparative analysis.

ENOUGH. I'm done justifying crimes against humanity by a country that claims to be an illuminated western democracy. I'm done defending a country that is unwilling to grant self-determination to a neighboring people because it won't let go of a few settlements and divide a city. I'm done tolerating the slaughtering of innocent kids, the murderous and barbaric occupation of an impoverished people, the utter disregard for human life.

Fuck them.

If they think their daily peace of mind is worth the lives of hundreds of innocent people, Fuck them.

If they think the best way to go right now would be to vote for Natanyahu (who is so far winning in the polls), Fuck them.

If they won't bat an eye before keeping millions without electricity or water, before bombing civilian neighborhoods at exactly the time when kids are leaving schools, before breaking every standard of international law or moral decency, Fuck them.
It's time for every true progressive in this country and around the world to do the only thing that our consciences should allow us to do, the only thing that can keep us consistent with our supposed beliefs that human life is precious and that unnecessary violence is always criminal, barbarous and unacceptable. We must demand that Israel stop violence and immediately put an end to its colonialist military occupation of Palestine.

And until they do so, we must organize and do everything we can to make sure our money is not financing mass murder and oppression.
It is time for the progressive movement to demand immediate Divestment from Israel, just like we divested from other oppressive states like South Africa.

The only reason not to do so is willful hypocrisy.
And I don't know about you, but I'm done being a hypocrite.

Unnecessary murder of innocents is always wrong.
Selfish and unjustifiable occupation is always wrong.

Inaction in the face of massive suffering and injustice is always wrong.

It is thus our responsibility to make sure Obama and the rest of our leaders understand that this time we will be relentless, this time we mean business and this time we will honor our pledges.

NEVER AGAIN!

DIVEST NOW!

Peace
Salaam
Shalom

Update: Thanks for putting this on the Recommended list. Now, if we could only come together as a community and think of different ways to organize a divestment campaign and other ways of putting pressure on the Israeli government, that would be truly amazing. Please read this great diary[LINK] where different ways of supporting Gaza's population and organizing against Israeli occupation are presented.
Also, for those who are willing to work to pressure and lobby the American government to do something, please take a a look at this cool group[http://jstreet.org/]. Toda Raba le culam (Thank to all).

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/12/28/114432/83/489/677860

#2

The way you convey a message is amazing, the message would change whole scenario if understand, accepted and realize in way it should be realized. How stupid a man is with having assumption in his so called consciousness that he is the one who leading everything and in the end causing such problems to himself.

Thousands of people are killed in wars between israel-palestine, africa (congo), sri lanka and ltte, north eastern states and kasmir (india)and afganistan. i just hope it will be over and we will feel peace and truth around us in this world.