idrankwhat

According to the Ramallah-based Mandela Institute for Human Rights, there are 9,600 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails and detention centers, among them 130 Palestinian women. Defense for Children International puts the number of Palestinian children in Israeli custody at 388.

You running for office? You've got my vote.

Lots and lots of practice. The sad part is not that they lie but that the press is so lousy that they don't catch them and call them on those lies. It happens every once in a while but it's rare.

I was reading Paul Rieckhoff's book "Chasing Ghosts" last night. During his time in Iraq he and his men really went out of their way to try to win over the children. From having his relatives send them school supplies to paying teachers out of their own pockets, giving the kids soccer balls, candy, sitting in their classrooms and answering their questions, he really put a lot of effort into helping the next generation of Iraqis. As he put it, before there will be peace in Iraq the adults are going to have to die of old age first. Their history of conflict and oppression seems to make the adults incapable of making a transition towards peace. Iraq's future is its children. The same concept could be applied to the Israeli/Arab issue. The problem is that by actively teaching your children to hate and devalue the life of another people you will do nothing but guarantee that this conflict will never come to a peaceful conclusion.

Thanks for posting those pics. While I know I come off a bit abrasive and one sided on this issue it's only because I want the whole story to be told. These help. Sadly, hatred is learned and there are apparently plenty of people willing to teach.

This is true. Many in the region have called for the extinction of Israel and that's completely unacceptable. But if Israel would pull back to it's borders and then allow international troops to come in and help (which has been offered but declined) then Israel would have shown that they're seriously interested in peace by putting the ball squarely in the anti-Israel community's court. But they don't do that, they continue to occupy land that is not theirs and pre-emptively and disproportionately defend themselves. That, in my mind, makes them no better than their adversaries. And as a side bar regarding Israel's "concessions" I just read that when Israel pulled out of (most of) Lebanon last time they promised to provide maps for the 140,000 mines that they left behind. They haven't done that yet. Nice.

Not likely any time soon. Hopefully the internet will continue to provide ready access to numerous points of view. For a perspective you won't get through the US media, give this site a shot. I'm not by any means trying to say that this is THE source for information but just ANOTHER source. http://electronicintifada.net

Will one of them be hand delivered

Pull back to WITHIN my legal borders. Illegally occupying land outside your borders and then giving a little bit of it back is not really making a concession.

Yes, I'd better work out some more before practising engine-out landings in the Mooney. Just dive to get up a good head of steam, level off into ground effect and it'll never land

Yea, I wonder what the "specific word" list that triggers the recorders consists of. Bomb Bush Bush + idiot Jihad Halliburton Cheeseburger Cheeseburger + Al K. Duh Vote for Kerry Ashcroft is a p@$$! DNC I'm going The And or maybe just "Hello". I'll trust my government when it ceases to exist.

I pretty much agree with this entire sentiment and it saddens me that as a US taxpayer that I'm helping to fund this behavior and that my leadership is taking an active part in the death and destruction. I also however agree with miked10270 in that both sides are behaving irresponsibly. This incursion will do nothing but bolster support for Hamas and Hezbollah in the same manner that our invasion of Iraq has been an effective recruiting tool for al-Qaeda.

When they get busted they either try to retroactively change the laws, intimidate the leaker /publisher or they just say "oh yea, sorry about that. Won't happen again, we promise". Case in point. CALIFORNIA Terror database tracks UC protests U.S. agent reported on '05 rallies against military recruitment - Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, July 19, 2006 A federal Department of Homeland Security agent passed along information about student protests against military recruiters at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, landing the demonstrations on a database tracking foreign terrorism, according to government documents released Tuesday. The documents were released by the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a Freedom of Information Act request on behalf of student groups that protested against recruiters who visited their campuses in April 2005. The students were angry when they turned up in the database of a Pentagon program called Threat and Local Observation Notice, or TALON, which the government started in 2003 as a way to collect data that could help stop terrorist attacks. Officials have acknowledged that the reports on protests should not have been included. In the Santa Cruz and Berkeley reports, the source of information was listed as an agent for Homeland Security's Federal Protective Service. The reports were filed by the 902nd Military Intelligence Group, the Army's largest counterespionage unit. "This raises questions about whether the Department of Homeland Security tasked somebody to gather information about anti-war activities," said Mark Schlosberg, police practices policy director for the ACLU's Northern California office. Dennis O'Connor, a spokesman for the Federal Protective Service, said his agency protects 9,000 federal sites. Agents disseminate publicly available information about protests, he said, but do not investigate them or their organizers, spy on them or try to hinder them. He said he did not know how the information ended up in the terror database. "If we're not aware of what's going on around us, we can't do our job effectively," he said. "Even if a protest is going to be peaceful, we have to be aware of it." The reports say the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Francisco had been briefed on the protests. FBI spokeswoman LaRae Quy said the agency had taken no action related to the protests. The report on the Berkeley protest said the Homeland Security agent received an e-mail on April 18, 2005, announcing a "counter-recruitment" and civil disobedience action three days later, when recruiters would be at a career fair. In a section titled "Agent Notes," the report states, "There is a strong potential for a confrontation at this protest given the strong support for anti-war protests and movements in the past." NBC News revealed the database in December. The Pentagon acknowledged that the protest reports should not have been included in the database, which now has more than 13,000 entries. The reports "have been removed," Pentagon spokesman Greg Hicks said Tuesday. Schlosberg said the ACLU is seeking further information. In the documents released Tuesday, the government blacked out the source of the e-mails to the Homeland Security agent. E-mail Demian Bulwa at dbulwa@sfchronicle.com. Page B - 10 URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/19/BAGT6K1K621.DTL ©2006 San Francisco Chronicle

That's a mighty dangerous idea to let swim around your head for very long. See below: “Our nation, this most powerful, wealthy, and dominant people on the face of planet Earth, shall shine on for millennia to come.” -Pericles, the ruler during the Golden Age of Ancient Athens “Under God’s watch, we shall conquer and never fall!” -Emperor Constantine of Rome “We French are the most populous of Europe, the most wealthy, and possess an army that has brought us virtually the whole of the continent! Viva la France! Our great nation will prosper forever as the most powerful nation on Earth.” -Napoleon From the book cover of my next read: From ancient Rome to the British Empire, Phillips demonstrates that every world-dominating power has been brought down by an overlapping set of problems: a foolish combination of global overreach, militant religion, diminishing resources, and ballooning debt.

Don't give Rove any ideas! We can't afford it! Actually, that sounds more like Gonzalesspeak.

Curious. How can DC be considered "blue" if they can't vote?

Yea, and they're all really bad ideas on so many different levels. I can't decide if I should address it from the international law approach or one dealing with arrogant imperialism, economic catastrophy, human rights, national security, or simple minded shortsightedness, holy crap. I was particularly taken aback by the notion of bombing Iran's infrastructure as a warning to all other oil producing nations that they'd better do what we tell them or we'll bomb the shit out of them. I wonder which country Jesus would bomb first. Let's hope this very scary person doesn't work for the PNAC.

No, because the US has a tendency to veto most resolutions against Israel so they have to be worded precisely in order to pass. Taking that into consideration, I wonder how may resolutions there would be against Israel if the US didn't use the veto so often?

(this is the same organization that has regimes like North Korea and Cuba in its so-called "human rights" conferences). mh . I'm willing to bet you weren't trying to validate my point about US hypocrisy, but you just did.

Simple, the US administration has no problem with hypocrisy and double standards. Sad.

If you have any room for cynicism you can insert my favorite names for the parties in power. Republicrats and Demoblicans. There's really not that much difference between the two parties. Both are beholden to the real party in power, the corporate lobby.

Never stopped the post but I have added post script salutations to Ashcroft and Gonzales in some heated posts. No knocks on the door yet but I'm sure my name's on some list, probably called "generally harmless editorial writer but smash him if he ever runs for public office"

Just so ya know, I like this Anvil better. The opinions are expressed thoroughly and for the most part, respectfully. Cheers.

To say that I disagree with this would be an vast understatement. But I'll leave it at that.

you mean like they tried to do in gaza? oh wait, that didn't lead to peace and quiet there... Maybe if the targeted killing of Hamas leadership (and the occasional bystander) had ceased then it would have been a step in the right direction. Looked to me like there never was a cease fire. Still, Israel won't let international peacekeepers in to help out will they? I heard an interview with an ex-Israeli commander yesterday. Sounds like they were looking for a reason to attack Hezbollah for about six years so that they could remove their missiles in Lebanon. That might explain why this incursion appeared so planned. Israel is not interested in peace unless it is completely under their terms. And I'm ashamed of our government for enabling this bloody incursion. As far as I'm concerned the US is a state sponsor of terrorism. Maybe our next administration will actually try to help negotiate peace. I can only hope.