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May 16th, 2008
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Documents link wind farm foes to energy firm
Filing revised as alliance calls it a mistake
A new lobbying firm for the group opposing a wind farm off Cape Cod filed a federal document last month reporting that its work for the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound is partially funded and shaped by an international energy conglomerate.
The disclosure represents the first documented financial connection between the group opposing the wind farm and Oxbow Corp., which mines and markets energy and commodities, including coal, natural gas, and petroleum.
The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound immediately decried the filing as a mistake, and the lobbying firm later amended it in the US Senate Office of Public Records to eliminate the reference to Oxbow.--MORE--
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is asking FBI head Robert Mueller to explain why the feds sought records from the Internet Archive, a digital library, using a controversial administrative subpoena known as a National Security Letter, which is intended for a communications service providers.
The Internet Archive, a digital library of the web and media, beat the November 26 NSL with the help of attorneys at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union. In April, the FBI agreed to withdraw the request for records on a Internet Archive user and lift the gag order that typically attaches to such requests.
The six senators sent Mueller a letter Thursday, asking him to explain what happened and to find out if the FBI reported the incident to an oversight board as a possible violation of federal law.
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Les Gelb of the Council on Foreign Relations: McCain gave a speech that was "almost in La La Land." There is absolutely no basis for McCain's optimism on ending the war by 2013 with his strategy.
Hypocrisy on Hamas
McCain Was for Talking Before He Was Against It
By James P. Rubin
Friday, May 16, 2008; A19
If the recent exchanges between President Bush, Barack Obama and John McCain on Hamas and terrorism are a preview of the general election, we are in for an ugly six months. Despite his reputation in the media as a charming maverick, McCain has shown that he is also happy to use Nixon-style dirty campaign tactics. By charging recently that Hamas is rooting for an Obama victory, McCain tried to use guilt by association to suggest that Obama is weak on national security and won't stand up to terrorist organizations, or that, as Richard Nixon might have put it, Obama is soft on Israel.
President Bush picked up this theme yesterday. Without naming Obama during his speech last night to Israel's Knesset, Bush suggested that Democrats want to "negotiate with terrorists" while Republicans want to fight terrorists.
The Obama campaign was right to criticize the president for his remarks and for engaging in partisan politics while overseas. Many presidents have said things abroad that could be construed as violating this unwritten rule of American politics. But it is hard to remember any president abusing the prestige of his office in as crude a way as Bush did yesterday. Charging your opponents with appeasement and likening them to Neville Chamberlain in the Knesset is a brutal blow. It is bad enough that Republicans use the politics of personal destruction here at home, but to deploy that kind of political weapon at an occasion as solemn as an American president addressing the parliament of a friendly government marks a new low.
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Palestinians are increasingly rejecting the crumbs of a two-state solution in favour of justice for all in a single state, Palestine, writes Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah
As Israel ostentatiously celebrates the passage of 60 years since its creation in Palestine in 1948, more than nine million Palestinians at home and in exile are commemorating the Nakba, the violent seizure of their ancestral homeland by Zionist Jews and the dispossession, expulsion and dispersion of the bulk of Palestinians to the four corners of the globe.
This year, activities are taking place in many parts of the world where Palestinian refugees and expatriates reside, dreaming of and awaiting a return to their homeland that appears nowhere on the horizon of political reality.
Palestinians, irrespective of their political affiliations, are not only reasserting the legal and moral status of their right to return to the homes and villages from which they were expelled at gunpoint, or otherwise made to flee 60 years ago, but are also emphasising to all who will listen, including their own leaders, that the right of return remains -- and will always be -- the heart, soul and centrepiece of the Palestinian issue.
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In the Galilee, Jonathan Cook hears how erasing all traces of Palestine and its people was the lynchpin of the Zionist agenda
Amin Mohamed Ali (Abu Arab), 73, is a refugee from the village of Saffuriya, three miles northwest of Nazareth. The village, home to 5,000 Palestinians, was one of the largest in the Galilee and among the first to be bombed from the air, according to Israeli historian Ilan Pappe. It was occupied on 16 July 1948. Most of its refugees ended up in Lebanon, but some fled to nearby Nazareth, where they established a neighbourhood, Safafra, named after their village. Abu Arab's home overlooks his family's former lands, now farmed by a Jewish community called Zippori. His old home was destroyed, now covered by a pine forest planted by the Jewish National Fund. He is one of the founders of the Saffuriya Cultural Association and organised this year's Nakba procession to Saffuriya.
"It started at Iftar, the meal breaking the fast at the end of the day during the holy month of Ramadan, when two Jewish planes flew overhead dropping bombs. We ran outside to see what was happening and, afraid the houses would collapse on us, fled into the fields and nearby caves to hide. We thought it would be over in a few minutes and we could return, but the attack lasted two hours. I later heard that three people were killed by the bombs.
"Some of the men had guns and they returned to the village while the rest of us stayed in the fields. I was with my father, who was sick, my mother, three brothers and a sister. Later, during the night, the armed men came back to tell us that Jewish soldiers were advancing from the west. We stayed out in the fields and by daybreak could see that the soldiers had taken over the village and were placing explosives in the houses. My father realised it was hopeless to stay and we fled north towards Lebanon to wait out the fighting and return when it was safe.
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Private investors shun US assets, data show outflow
Economic 'misery' more widespread
Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey May 2008; Inflation overtakes growth as No. 1 Stagflation fear; European investors seek refuge in Oil Sector
A Bubble That Broke the World: Lessons from the Great Depression Part IX. When Credit is Debt
Chase Wholesale Eliminates 2nd Mortgages
Who Are You Going To Believe: The Government or Your Thinner Wallet?
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 15/05/2008
The OECD's early warning signal is flashing clear signs of economic weakness across the world, with mounting evidence that China, India, and Brazil may soon succumb to the downturn.
A crowded street in Delhi: OECD warning as stagflation goes global
Rush hour: a crowded street in Delhi. There are fears that
India could soon succumb to the downturn
The closely-watched gauge -- known as the Composite Leading Indicators (CLI) -- has picked up a sharp deterioration in the eurozone in March, notably in Italy and France where the advance signals are falling even faster than in Britain. The measure tends to anticipate the industrial cycle by about six months.
While growth continues to power ahead in most emerging markets, rampant inflation is starting to damage business confidence. "The latest data point to a potential downturn in Brazil, China, and India," said the OECD, the club of rich nations.
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Bush hails Israelis as 'chosen people' but ignores Palestinians on 'catastrophe' day
May 15th, 2008
In January of last year, I wrote an op-ed in Haaretz suggesting that Israel ought to beware of riding in President Bush’s back seat, precisely because his Administration is pursuing a Middle East policy that is anything but sober. The “friendship” he offers is hardly likely to help Israel resolve any of its security dilemmas. And listening to what Bush said in his address to the Knesset, today, sobriety clearly remains a long way off: “Masada will never fall again,” he intoned, as in, “Remember the Alamo!” Having visited the iconic site at which Jewish Jihadists of yore are said to have committed mass suicide rather than surrender to the Romans, Bush was plainly moved to substitute war cries for serious policy. Long on the vacuous militancy that has characterized his entire tenure, Bush reprised the infantile posturing that compared talking to Hamas with appeasing the Nazis (uh, is that what Olmert is doing by negotiating a cease-fire with it via Egypt?), branding Iran the fount of global terrorism and warning that “Permitting the world’s leading sponsor of terror to possess the world’s deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations,” Bush told the Israeli parliament to mark its 60th birthday. “For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
Don’t talk to Hamas or Iran, don’t allow Iran to have nuclear weapons, etc. etc. But what exactly is he offering? Is he going to bomb Iran? And then what? There’s no policy here, just testoterone. And the fruits of his posturing, as we noted yesterday, are abundantly clear just across the border, in Lebanon, where Hizballah is able to run the game on its terms, helped, not hindered, by a Lebanese government following Bush’s confrontational lead. And let’s not even talk about Iraq, where Bush’s chief accomplishment has been an unprecedented empowering of Tehran.
Here’s what I wrote in Haaretz last year, it seems to be as relevant as ever:
by Jason Rosenbaum :: Filed Under Media Issues :: May 15th, 2008 @ 9:24 pm EST
The Senate just passed a "resolution of disapproval" nullifying the FCC's latest giveaway to big media companies!
Back in December, the FCC went against 99% of the comments submitted by members of the public and passed a rule allowing media companies to consolidate further:
The FCC voted to remove the “newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership” ban that prohibits one company from owning a broadcast station and the major daily newspaper in the same market. The resolution of disapproval (Senate Joint Resolution 28), introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), would nullify the FCC’s new rules if passed by Congress and signed by the president.
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Tehran ponders the spoils of victory
U.S. sees need for "tangible action" on Iran: Israel
Iran says US-backed group planned attack on Russian consulate
* Story Highlights
* Some reports say the shootings involved Iraqi troops
* Iraqi Interior Ministry official says five employees and a driver were shot
* Iran's state-run news agency blames the United States for the attack
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iranian Embassy employees and their driver were shot Thursday in a Baghdad incident that some reports said involved Iraqi troops.
An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said five employees of the Iranian Embassy were shot and wounded about 9 p.m. in Baghdad. The official said there had been conflicting reports about the shooting.
An Interior Ministry report said unidentified gunmen in northern Baghdad fired on two SUVs carrying the five employees and driver, who were transported to an Iraqi hospital.
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Real News Video: Palestinians commemorate al-Nakba--the catastrophe
Palestine Street - The Lost Bride (also see links to parts 2 -4)
Arab, Israeli students of the Hebrew University hold a protest commemorating the Nakba
Memory for forgetfulness
We remain
An irreducible fact
Nakba ongoing
Remembering the Nakba, 60 years later
Rare pics from Nakba
Last update - 02:35 16/05/2008
Israel protests UN chief Ban Ki-Moon's use of term 'nakba'
By Rotem Sela, TheMarker Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
The Israeli mission to the United Nations is seeking clarifications after an official communique released by Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's bureau made specific reference to the word "nakba," according to a report broadcast on Israel Radio early Friday morning.
The report said the UN chief telephoned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to express his solidarity with the Palestinians on the day they mark the "nakba," the Arabic word meaning "catastrophe" that is used in reference to the founding of the state of Israel.
Danny Carmon, Israel's deputy ambassador to the UN, told Israel Radio that the term "'nakba' is a tool of Arab propaganda used to undermine the legitimacy of the establishment of the State of Israel, and it must not be part of the lexicon of the UN."
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By David Alexander
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former presidential contender John Edwards said on Friday he would not be Democratic front-runner Barack Obama's running mate, but did not rule out taking a role in an Obama administration.
"Won't happen," Edwards told NBC's "Today" program when asked if he would be Obama's vice presidential pick. "This is not something I'm interested in."
Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004, dropped out of the presidential race in January after failing to win any early primaries. On Wednesday, he gave his coveted endorsement to Obama over rival Hillary Clinton.
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The failure of the Bush/Bandar/Olmert axis to ignite a prolonged shooting war between the Lebanese resistance forces and their hired guns Hariri and Jumblatt is a clear declaration to the world that the glorious neocon policies of Bush have been proven complete failures on the battlefield. Yet, he and Cheney keep pushing for new openings to ignite a new conflagration.
The only real success of the Bush doctrine has been its ability to inspire unlimited volunteers. The success of this possibly unanticipated side effect can be measured directly from the numbers of committed mujahid who are enlisting to oppose it. The plan has been to violently intimidate large civilian populations into submission and to inspire all the angry young men who would dare to take-up arms, to resist and to seek revenge upon the invading American forces. In this way, potential resisters are purposely flushed-out from the civilian populations. The ease of recruitment for the guerilla struggles that rise to meet the occupation is a fairly accurate indicator that this political doctrine has been successfully sown. The power of the doctrine to inspire the will to resist has proven to be greater than its ability to intimidate would-be resisters.
The US terror war is a two-step killing process. Wherever the process goes forward in the Middle East, it is the same – the military action is introduced directly by the US, or through mercenary/proxy forces, intending to cause violent reactions. The reaction is as important as the initial action. Once an actual insurrection is inspired, American forces can focus their superior firepower upon the actual resisters, the ”terrorists.” American agents stir the cauldron, American forces pick-off whatever rises to the top.
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Lies of Aggression
A plan for Iran
J’lem Sources Believe U.S. Could Hit Iran this Year"
Hanan Awarekeh
16/05/2008 Israeli daily Haaretz said Friday Israeli Army Radio reported that sources in Jerusalem believe that the U.S. administration could carry out an operation against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime over the next year.
Officials in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said the possibility was discussed in closed talks between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. President George Bush, during the latter's visit to the Zionist entity this week. The officials said that Bush wants to deal with Iran on a root level, to weed out the negative influence aiding resistance groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, the radio said.
Meanwhile, senior officials in Jerusalem said Thursday that Israel is fully satisfied with the results of Bush's visit, including policy on Iran's nuclear program. "In talks with the president of the United States during his visit it was made clear that Bush's statements on the subject of Iran's nuclear
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The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday defeated legislation that would have funded the war in Iraq for another year, in a surprise move that the Senate could overturn.
House Republicans Collapse on Iraq
by Matt Stoller
Thu May 15, 2008 at 17:47
Today, about 100 House Republicans refused to vote for more war funding, voting 'present'. They are trying to hand off the war to the Democrats, but even Democrats were able to increase their 'no' vote number on funding from 141 to 149; the bill failed. In a separate bill, Republicans also voted against timelines, for torture, and accountability for military contractors, including various elements of a Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq. This bill passed with 227 votes; last year, it passed with only 218 votes, for a gain of 9.
Finally the GI bill passed with overwhelming margin of 256 votes in the House, including 32 Republicans. It included a war surtax of one half of one percent on people making over $500k a year to pay for the GI bill, at the behest of Blue Dogs. This might actually be the most remarkable piece of the votes today; conservative Democrats agreeing to raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for educational benefits for veterans. Bill Foster and Don Cazayoux both voted well on the new GI Bill and on the Responsible Plan bill with timelines, but were 'yes' votes on war funding. So yes, they are conservative, and I expect Childers to be conservative as well. Still, the MS-01, the IL-14 special election result, and the LA-06 special election result - all red seats picked off by Democrats - are devastating Republican discipline in the House.
This war is going to end because it is politically unsustainable. The Senate is going to add the funding back in and the House will make sure the money goes to the war, but recognize how big a deal this is. The Republicans in the House and the Senate are going to utterly collapse this fall, and Democrats will have a mandate to end the war. It's something Obama has promised to do, and now the political logic there is undeniable. The question is whether there will be residual troops in the country, and that is where we can have an impact.
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At the time of writing, 357 architectural and engineering professionals have signed a petition which directly challenges the National Institute of Standards & Training's official finding that the destruction of these massive buildings was caused solely by structural damage from the impact of jet airliners and the resulting fires.
The petition, demanding of Congress a truly independent investigation, states, in part:
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Israel protests UN chief Ban Ki-Moon's use of term 'nakba'
The Nakba is our Holocaust
'May You Live In Interesting Times'
To the Heart
Resisting the Nakba
The viciousness of Israel is testament to its knowing that Palestinians will always remain steadfast and defeat its past and present attempts to erase them, writes Joseph Massad
One of the most difficult things to grasp in the modern history of Palestine and the Palestinians is the meaning of the Nakba. Is the Nakba to be seen as a discrete event that took place and ended in 1948, or is it something else? What are the political stakes in reifying the Nakba as a past event, in commemorating it annually, in bowing before its awesome symbolism? What are the effects of making the Nakba a finite historical episode that one bemoans but must ultimately accept as a fact of history?
I will suggest to you that there is much at stake in all of this, in rendering the Nakba an event of the past, a fact on the ground that one cannot but accept, admit, and finally transcend; indeed that in order to move forward, one must leave the Nakba behind. Some have even suggested that if Israel acknowledges and apologises for the Nakba, the Palestinians would forgive and forget, and the effects of the Nakba would be relegated to historical commemorations, not unlike the one we are having this year.
In my view, the Nakba is none of these things, and the attempt to make this year the 60th anniversary of the Nakba's life and death is a grave error. The Nakba is in fact much older than 60 years and it is still with us, pulsating with life and coursing through history by piling up more calamities upon the Palestinian people. I hold that the Nakba is a historical epoch that is 127 years old and is ongoing. The year 1881 is the date when Jewish colonisation of Palestine started and, as everyone knows, it has never ended. Much as the world would like to present Palestinians as living in a post-Nakba period, I insist that we live thoroughly in Nakba times. What we are doing this year is not an act of commemorating but an act of witnessing the ongoing Nakba that continues to destroy Palestine and the Palestinians. I submit, therefore, that this year is not the 60th anniversary of the Nakba at all, but rather one more year of enduring its brutality; that the history of the Nakba has never been a history of the past but decidedly a history of the present.
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Saudis see no reason to raise oil production now
Bush's defense secretary proposes "incentives" and dialogue to "engage" Iran. Who's the appeaser?
Bush to press Saudi king on oil prices and Iran
Fri May 16, 2008 6:47am EDT
(Corrects to make clear Bush has not landed yet)
By Matt Spetalnick
RIYADH, May 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush headed towards Saudi Arabia on Friday to renew his appeal to help tame record oil prices and shore up Arab support for his efforts to contain Iran's growing influence.
As Bush flew into Riyadh, the White House said the United States, the world's largest energy consumer, had agreed to help protect the oil resources of the world's top oil exporter and help it in developing peaceful nuclear energy.
"The United States and Saudi Arabia have agreed to cooperate in safeguarding the kingdom's energy resources by protecting key infrastructure, enhancing Saudi border security, and meeting (its) expanding energy needs," a White House statement said.
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Frogs for Genetic Privacy
by ACLU
Thu May 01, 2008 at 11:51:41 AM PDT
By Noam Biale, Advocacy Coordinator for the ACLU Technology and Liberty Program
The struggle to fortify privacy rights in America is often like the proverbial frog trying to escape from a well: two steps forward then one step back – or maybe it’s V.I. Lenin’s slightly more Sisyphean formulation: one step forward, two steps back. Case in point for the last few weeks: genetic privacy.
First, a step forward: Last week the Senate passed the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, known affectionately as GINA. This important piece of legislation bars employers and health insurance companies from discriminating against applicants based on their genetic code. Scientists are rapidly identifying new predictors for disease in our DNA, yet people have been legitimately nervous about undergoing genetic testing without assurances that this information would not be used to deny them health coverage. GINA creates real, albeit limited, protections that will allow patients to seek critical medical information freely.
The fact that it took Congress more than a decade to pass this no-brainer of a bill (it passed the House 420-3 and the Senate 95-0) should not diminish the major victory that passage of GINA represents for privacy and patients’ rights. The House approved the Senate’s version today with only one dissenter (Ron Paul, if you're curious), and then the bill will go to President Bush, who has indicated he will sign it.
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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Programs Which the Government Claims Are Aimed At Foreign Enemies are being Used Against American Citizens within the United States
The U.S. government has repeatedly claimed that it was launching aggressive programs solely at foreign enemies, and then launched them at American citizens. For example:
- In 2002, the Pentagon announced that it was considering spreading false propaganda in the foreign press. However, the military has spread propaganda within the U.S. in an operation so aggressive that one participant, a military analyst, called it "psyops on steroids"
- For many years, the government has claimed that it was only spying on foreigners. But it is now clear that the government is massively spying on American citizen's home and cellphone calls, email and internet usage, credit card and other financial transactions, and just about every other facet of our personal lives
- The Patriot Act is supposed to be aimed at stopping America-hating terrorists. Instead, it is being used to prosecute acts having nothing to do with terrorism, and to harass normal, law-abiding Americans
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Reham Alhelsi - What about the children of Palestine?
Just a few quotes gleaned from a web search (all linked to their source sites):
“Nayef Abu Snaima says his 14-year-old cousin Jihad had been sitting on the edge of an olive grove talking animatedly to him about what he would do when he grew up when he was killed instantly by an Israeli shell.”
“After all, who among us is not moved by endless images of dead babies sheathed in blood, body parts hanging by a shred of gristle, with the blank stare of eternity glazing their eyes? What ‘civilized”‘ person secure in their happy world of languid summer days, mall festivals brimming with second-rate food and third rate crafts, concerts on the lawn with wine and traveling minstrels, could not want this distant tribal slaughter to stop, stop, stop this very instant?”
“…the critical element remains the very low value put upon Afghan civilian lives by U.S. military planners and the political elite, as clearly revealed by U.S. willingness to bomb heavily populated regions.”
“…the number of dead … caused by the U.N sanctions that started with Bush I, and continued under President Bill Clinton, whose Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, once described the effects of the sanctions on Iraq’s children as ‘worth it.’”
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Getting Back to Glass
Hey, there is PLENTY of SAND out there!!!!
How much more evidence do you need to convince you this government doesn't give a damn about you -- or your children -- Amurkns?
"FDA defends safety of baby bottle chemical"
"by Will Dunham, Reuters | May 15, 2008
WASHINGTON - The US Food and Drug Administration yesterday said that it sees no reason to tell consumers to stop using products such as baby bottles made with a controversial chemical found in many plastic items.
Norris Alderson, the FDA's associate commissioner for science, said that although the regulatory agency is reviewing safety concerns about the chemical bisphenol A, or BPA, "a large body of available evidence" shows that products such as liquid or food containers made with it are safe.
In testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Alderson also defended the FDA's reliance on two industry-funded studies in determining that products containing BPA are safe. Several studies have found a variety of health problems in laboratory animals exposed to BPA.
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EX-BIG WAS DUE ON GRILL
By FREDRIC U. DICKER and BRENDAN SCOTT
INTRIGUE: Gary Berwick, who was linked to former State Police honchos Daniel Wiese (left) and Preston Felton, was found hanging in the garage of his home in the Orange County town of New Windsor.
INTRIGUE: Gary Berwick, who was linked to former State Police honchos Daniel Wiese (left) and Preston Felton, was found hanging in the garage of his home in the Orange County town of New Windsor.
May 16, 2008 -- ALBANY - A former top State Police official slated to be questioned in the political Dirty Tricks probe committed suicide yesterday at his upstate home, officials said last night.
Retired State Police Inspector Gary Berwick, the last head of former Gov. George Pataki's security detail and a one-time key adviser to now-fired acting State Police Superintendent Preston Felton, was found hanging from a rope in his garage in New Windsor, Orange County, by his 12-year-old daughter.
A source close to Berwick told The Post last night that the longtime trooper had expressed "concern in recent weeks about Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's investigation" of alleged political espionage by renegade State Police members.
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From Friday's Globe and Mail
May 16, 2008 at 4:38 AM EDT
VANCOUVER — Robert Dziekanski's mother accused the police of looking for "dirt" on her son by travelling to his native Poland for background information on the newcomer to Canada who died last fall after being tasered by police at Vancouver International Airport.
The head of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, which is conducting an investigation in the case, has described the April 12 to 17 trip by four officers as a routine measure aimed at gathering background on the victim as police conduct a sweeping investigation into the incident. That probe could lead to charges against the officers involved.
But Zofia Cisowski, speaking to reporters yesterday after appearing before the provincial Braidwood inquiry into police taser use, said she was skeptical about the foreign trip.
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST May. 15, 2008
The IDF plans to escalate its operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after US President George W. Bush leaves Israel on Friday, senior defense officials said Thursday.
At the same time, Israel is continuing its dialogue with Egypt over the cease-fire proposal that Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman presented in Jerusalem earlier this week and which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is said to be leaning toward accepting.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak is scheduled to travel to Sharm e-Sheikh next week to participate in the World Economic Forum and to hold talks with Suleiman and possibly President Hosni Mubarak regarding the proposal, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Olmert is scheduled to visit Egypt for talks with Mubarak the following week.
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Child labor, a forgotten childhood under poverty
By Afif Sarhan, IOL Correspondent
"Life here [orphanage]isn’t easy and most people working at this place are cruel with children," Ra’ad said.
BAGHDAD — Fadel Mohammad Ra’ad, 10, is one of thousands of children who have lost their parents to the endless violence that has been gripping Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion.
"My parents were killed in an explosion at the center of Baghdad last year, leaving me and my sister to no one," the kid told IslamOnline.net in a Baghdad orphanage.
"I have relatives but all of them have refused to take us in," he added choking at the memory.
"We were forced to work to survive."
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When we see how Zionist ideology is used and the purposes it serves in Israel, America and Germany, we can obtain a better understanding of the deplorable situation in each case and perhaps some improvements.
Theodor Herzl, the leading ideologist and organizer of the Zionist movement, wrote in his book Der Judenstaat which was published in 1895: “No nation in history has had to endure such struggles and suffering as ours … because of old prejudices lying deep down in the soul/minds (Gemüt) of all other nations … And the longer it takes before they appear the more ferocious they break out. Our only hope for escaping the persecutors is a state for a Jewish nation.”1
Herzl’s assertion about the unique suffering of Jews and the prejudices of all other nations cannot be empirically confirmed, but that was not his concern. His interpretation of Jewish history was likely to convince many Jews and encourage them to take part in the struggle for a state. Many others would pay lip service to the ideology because they shared Herzl´s goal. The first task for the movement was to convince Jews that they were a nation and hinder the assimilation that was underway. The leaders of the movement came out strongly for the colonization of Palestine, a beautiful country where the inhabitants were to a considerable extent well-off and could rest their claim to the land on the fact that it had been inhabited by Arabs for more than 1000 years. Herzl and the later leaders of the movement asserted that all or almost all of the indigenous people would have to leave their country.
Speaking before an audience in Watertown, South Dakota, Barack Obama responded to President Bush's extreme attacks yesterday.
Israel's 60th anniversary
As Western leaders mark the rogue state of Israel's 60th birthday with a back-slapping show of friendship, what exactly is there to celebrate?
Please download and / or circulate this handy reminder of 60 years of Israeli racism, ethnic cleansing and oppression, and 90 years of betrayal by Britain and the West.
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By Ryan Grim
May 15, 2008
(The Politico) Just off the House floor today, the Crypt overheard House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers tell two other people: "We're closing in on Rove. Someone's got to kick his ass."
Asked a few minutes later for a more official explanation, Conyers told us that Rove has a week to appear before his committee. If he doesn't, said Conyers, "We'll do what any self-respecting committee would do. We'd hold him in contempt. Either that or go and have him arrested."
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One of Israel's top journalists and commentators Nahum Barnea writes in his column at Yediot Aharanot today about how Israelis view