[Code Pink panties, of course]I'm convinced that if there is one project we in Left Blogsylvania can take on, it's the silencing of the AIPAC/Schumer/Lieberman cartel and the moral blindness it represents. I don't have to link Greenwald for most of you, but here.
Defeating Lieberman should be fairly easy since most of Connecticut hates him now. Schumer has picked up where Hillary left off, and as I've said before, it's clear that her rabid right wingertude on Israel was written for the New York stage exclusively. Her new role isn't as Broadway's tragic heroine failing in the Middle East, as her predecessor played, but a delightful East End romp as Ambassador to Australia and Environs, which suits her just fine (and I'm being completely sincere when I say good on her).
There should be just as much outrage over the continual gang rape of common sense foreign policy, and our excommunication from all hope for peace, as there is over a nine-year-old pregnant Catholic girl south of the border. Meet the stepfathers: IT'S THEIR FAULT.
Oh look, two old Jewish guys have outdated "Israel right or wrong" attitudes. Absolutely it's generational. Gay rights is generational, too, and it's widely acknowledged by thinking people that in less than two generations gay rights won't be a big issue. I hope by that time there's a new generation of Jewish-American politicians who understand that a state of perpetual warfare is NOT good for Israel, it's merely good for Israeli hardliners who love winning elections which, in a parlimentary system, are always just around the corner.
Speaking of generational warfare, there aren't enough Jewish babies in the world to serve in the Israeli army against the Anschluß (yeah, I said it) of Palestinian octomoms who have no "standard of living" to protect via small family size. I predict apartheid. I also predict time will run out on apartheid. That ought to scare some sense into the current cartel, but I have no hope, none whatsoever, for AIPAC kool-aid junkies. It's the saddest thing in the world that they aren't ex-communicated from the halls of power for their vicious crimes against humanity, peace, and political common sense. The end.
The Octomom Anschluß. That's just some damned fine writing there, is what that is.
ReplyDeletePalestinian Octomom? That sounds like Israeli demographic warfare rhetoric to me. Descending to that level of argumentation implies adopting the validity of the premise.
ReplyDeleteNo, Oskar, but thanks for the feedback. I don't see it that way at all, but I do believe demography is destiny and there is no more validity to holding on to a piece of land because God gave it to you and your people alone, when you're outnumbered 12 to one, and there is no validity for counting nuclear weapons as validating your Biblical rights in the face of those numbers. I know I'm preaching to the choir here on the wrongness of Israeli hardliners.
ReplyDeleteBirth rates are a very important factor in what's going on in that region, and the fear of the Palestinian womb, as a friend wrote in, is really leading to some kinda crazy on the hardliner side of things. You can't ignore that and have an accurate picture of the situation. I wouldn't consider discussing it in this manner, however, if I didn't think that demographic piece of the puzzle wasn't already long over. Anyone who thinks they can win that 'womb war' is blind to the numbers and right down there in hell with the genetic warfare types of the 20s and 30s. I'm completely with you on that, Oskar.
Thanks again.
Also one other clarification: The some kinda crazy includes devaluing Palestinian lives because "there are so many of them compared to us." Pathetic and disgusting and uncivilized coming from what purports to be the modern democratic nation in the region.
ReplyDeleteI gotta stop writing about this or my day is over. Thanks again.
This is a great post. Thank you. I have been writing about my Palestinian middle daughter. If I can get her to tell me again how her family was forced from their family home and lands in Jerusalem to Lebanon, then fled to Jordan where the live well comparatively speaking as second class citizens. Next summer I'm going home with her to visit with her real parents who have visited me often. They are the most generous, lovely, sweet, inclusive, non judgmental people I have ever know. I'm honored to be part of their family. And, no doubt, because of our relationship, I am on a watch list.
ReplyDeleteSchumer is a decent dude. It's just that he's terrified of AIPAC and what he perceives as their power of New York State electoral politics. If he could be convinced that New York's Jewish voters are receptive to a balanced approach to Israel issues, I am convinced he would be totally on board with that.
ReplyDelete[Disclaimer: I have met Schumer a few times and had what I consider to be honest discussions with him.]
There are lots of reason to boot Schumer. Like his trying to keep the preferential tax treatment for hedge fund managers--wouldn't you like to be taxed at 15%. Long and short, he needs to go. As a New Yorker, I vow to vote for any decent candidate who runs against him.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting post and timely.
ReplyDeleteIf there was any doubt as to who is running America with respect to Middle East policy, it was dispelled this week by AIPAC's unseemly interference in a high level appointment by Dennis Blair, the U.S. Director of national intelligence. General Blair wanted to appoint Charles Freeman to a senior intelligence post.
The problem: Freeman has been critical of Israel in the past and was unacceptable to AIPAC.
Schumer, Lieberman and others lobbied the White House and Congress against the appointment and Freeman was forced to withdraw.
Freeman has suggested that Israel's own policies are driving that country to the edge of a cliff for a fatal fall.
Perhaps the next step will be the surreptitious introduction of birth control substances into aid packages destined for Gaza and The West Bank.
No American civilian administration is capable of withstanding AIPAC's influence. So it seems that American foreign policy will continue to be controlled by them for the foreseeable future.
BG -
ReplyDeleteI've long maintained that all US foreign policy is essentially run by AIPAC. If you think about it for a moment, just about everything we do is somehow or another in support of Israel, from fighting their wars for them to giving them cover when they have their own missions (using our tax-payer provided weapons, no less).
The Brits really screwed the pooch when they divvied up the middle east, but I'm not sure that there could ever have been any other outcome.
Regards,
Tengrain
There's a bit of a myth surrounding America's pro-Israel stance and the U.S. electoral process. It involves the canard that a presidential candidate can't win New York without the Jewish vote...in the same way that the Irish allegedly influence the vote in Ma.
ReplyDeleteTruman fell victim to that myth in 1947, when he threw American weight behind the Palestine partition vote prior to the election; then in 1948 he pulled back from the pro-Israel stance and advocated a trusteeship. He failed, however and ever since then it has been "Israel right or wrong".
It's highly problematical for a sovereign nation to permit a foreign government to have such a profound influence on policy. It's really a n0-win situation.
Thank you, BG, for a great non-rant rant on the power of AIPAC's moral blindness (and PinNYC and Ten's comment too).
ReplyDeleteI've always been amazed that more people didn't come out and voice this opinion - which is only common sense - clearly before. But it's not going to win many seats in Congress is it? We miss you James Abzourek!
But just mention Israel's foreign aid program to your congressman and most
likely you'll get the canned response. "Israel is our strategic asset in the
Middle East." You'll know that answer was bought and paid for. As former
Senator James Abzourek once pointed out, to call Israel a strategic asset in
the Middle East is like thanking the arsonist for calling the fire
department that put the fire out.
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.arabic/browse_thread/thread/052eb816adbe2b9f?pli=1