Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said he would uproot 10 rogue Jewish outposts in the West Bank Sunday, setting the stage for possible confrontations with militant settlers.
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This could lead to civil war
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Categories: Middle East -
What’s with the Democratic Party and its supporters?
I see sites like these: Media Whores Online, or (on a smaller scale) leftyblog; which seem to think of themselves as the left side of the political spectrum, but what they really stand for is the Democratic party. By the standards of any real politics, the Democrats are a centrist party. In most western countries, many of their positions are center-right:
- lack of support for universal healthcare
- support of the death penalty
- feeble support of gay rights and reproductive rights
- problematic on church/state separation
- supportive of massive military spending
These people think the Green Party and Ralph Nader are the enemy as much as the GOP. After what I’ve seen in the last couple of years, I’m not sure I can vote for the Democratic politicians that “represent” me. In the last presidential election, I got to watch Joseph Lieberman state, “the Constitution promises freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. We are after all not just another nation, but ‘one nation under God.’ ” He also said that morality was impossible without religion. These are not the statements of a “liberal” political party — they are those of a religious party.
I see Richard Gephardt saying that, with the new threat of global terrorism, the United States must be “ready to strike, not just deter.”
I see the USA Patriot Act pass 356-66 in the House, and 98-1 in the Senate.
I see the Senate unanimously approve a resolution sponsored by its Democratic and Republican leaders that expressed support for the reference to God in the Pledge of Allegiance. The statement by the DNC chairman says: “Today’s decision by the Federal Appeals Court is unfortunate. The pledge of allegiance is a reflection of the values of America and have been an important, patriotic tradition for more than a century. I trust that the judicial process will ultimately overturn this wrong-headed decision.”
I see the Democratic party support the failure that is the War on Drugs.
I see the Democratic party support abortion, but not public funding. They believe the “right to choose” is for those who can afford such a right. They don’t seem to have a problem with my tax dollars going for plenty of things I don’t approve of.
As a gay man, I find it laughable that anyone could vote for the Republican party, but “they’re not as bad as the GOP” is not a good enough reason for me to vote for the Democrats. They must earn my vote — they do not have a “right” to it. Given the ways the party has acquiesced as the Bush administration has shredded the Bill of Rights since 9/11, I will not vote for a Democratic candidate again unless I see a fundamental change in their behavior.
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Categories: Politics -
Kate Clinton on marriage
The fabulous Kate Clinton has a column on marriage — Veiled Threats. Homos as weapons of destruction?
On May 15, 2002, six members of the House of Representatives introduced a proposed constitutional amendment that says, “marriage shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.” Don’t throw your rice pudding at me until I finish telling you why I’m all for this prenuptial agreement. Hint: my “We Don’t Want Your Stinkin’ Marriage” campaign never caught on.
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As if heterosexuals all by themselves were not completely capable of degrading marriage through divorce, pricey annulments, child abuse, domestic violence. Straight people have been doing the aerial bombing of marriage for quite some time. Now gay people are the robot drones sent in to do the hand-to-hand combat and mop up operations in the Canna caves?
As if homosexuals were that powerful. Although, come to think of it, we have been recently credited with the destruction of the US Catholic Church through bouts of “ecclesiastic flamboyance.” Sidebar: you just wish sometimes that the Church protected children as much as they protect fetuses.
Add to our degradation of same-old-sex marriage, our devastation of the military and it should become clear to someone – hullo, Donald Rumsfeld – that we are an underused weapon of capital M and small m, mass destruction. We’re a veritable Triple Crown: The Priestness, The Breeder’s Cup, The Kandahar Derby.
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Categories: Queer -
FAZ English edition shuts down
How depressing! I’ve been relying on the English version of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for news of Germany, and in general, a view from “the continent” of world news. They’ve decided it no longer makes economic sense to publish it, so yesterday was the last day.
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Categories: General -
Freud
Courtesy of The Guardian, a guide to Sigmund Freud on the web. This one’s for Gabriella, daughter of a psychoanalyst.
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Categories: Culture -
Now that’s riot gear
My friends Charles and Ray (not to be confused with Charles Ray) took some rather interesting pictures (scroll down to the bottom) of riot police in Vienna preparing for a rightist march.
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Categories: Pretty -
Column on Zionism
Ha’aretz has a good column by Ze’ev Sternhell on the original basis for Zionism — “an answer to an existential danger that threatened the Jewish people during the first half of the 20th century” — and the danger of having it become mere colonialism regarding the lands siezed in 1967.
For everyone who talks about how the Arabs teach their children to hate Jews, we should also remember what’s happening in the settlements:
Indeed, this fanatical nationalism, which is brutal not out of necessity but out of deliberate choice and rational decision, is already beginning to sprout noxious weeds that arouse disgust. I am referring to the settler mentality in its latest manifestation in the form of letters that students at schools in the territories wrote to fighters in Operation Defensive Shield. These children did not ask the soldiers to wipe out terror and strike at the terrorists, but “to kill as many Arabs as possible.” One asked: “For me, kill at least 10”; another made an even simpler suggestion: “Ignore the laws and spray them.”
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Categories: Middle East -
Sexy Israelis
Interesting item from my web statistics…
Given that I’m very unhappy about the behavior of Israel towards the Palestinians and the Occupied Territories, it’s funny that my site shows up first on a Google search of sexy israelis.
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Categories: General -
A happy story
The NY Times has a beautiful story about “The Castle” — a new 59-bed center on the western edge of Harlem, run by the Fortune Society. They are a pretty fabulous organization that provides services to people that have served time in jail to help them re-join society. I heard about them after they helped the brother of a friend, and I highly recommend supporting them.
The place is the first of its kind in the country to accept men and women leaving prison with no strings attached, its owners say — the jobless, the homeless, drug addicts and AIDS patients, those with no family or no prospects, those with nowhere else to go.
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“We’ve known for years that housing was a desperate need,” said JoAnne Page, the executive director of the Fortune Society, an inmate advocacy group that owns and operates the Castle. “People are coming home, and the question is whether they’ll come as a resource or a risk.”
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Now, the neo-Gothic facade has been restored and the rooms are furnished with captain’s beds and blond wood dressers. Pass-card locks have been installed on every door. The interior color scheme is a palette of whites and soft, pale greens. It was selected by an expert in feng shui, the Chinese art of design.
“We tried to do this beautiful because beautiful matters,” Ms. Page said. “Beautiful tells people they matter.”
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Categories: NYC -
Cover of 4’33 results in fee request
Mike Batt, a British composer and producer, heard from the royalties police after doing a “cover” of John Cage’s 4’33". Story courtesy of The Blackwood Channel.
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Categories: Culture