Hamas didn't win the elections, Fatah did, because really there were only two people voting, the US and Israel. Fatah is who the US supports and is propping up, so in the eyes of the US and Israel that is who won, regardless of who the people voted for. Elections don't matter in occupied states with little to no sovereignty, it is nothing but a dog and pony show to placate the populations of the occupiers and give the illusion of "peacefully spreading democracy abroad will fighting against the suicide bombing Islamofascists".

We only support democracies that play ball regarding our national interests. If the party that cozies up to the US wins an election it is all over the MSM. We throw up our hands and sing songs about how wonderful democracy is and how wonderful the US is for spreading it across the globe.

However, if a democracy refuses to "play by the rules" we call them "bad guys", demonize them with propaganda, make claims of rigged elections, etc. Then we secretly send in the CIA with all of its dope money and stolen Japanese gold to secure arms that are used to train and supply some sympathetic chumps to overthrow the "bad guys". Then we prop up a brutal strongman or a puppet regime (who plays ball of course) with the expected condition that we will give them little to no sovereignty and let the multinational corporations and private mercenary armies loot the country and the US treasury. These are mercs who destroy things like $75,000 trucks instead of changing the oil because they didn't have any oil filters. Then if the strongman wins "elections" it is once again time for praise and lullabies. And we wonder why we have blowback and spending is out of control?

Welcome to the neocon vision of preventive war. The US and Israeli war industries make profit, and will continue to profit, off of the situation in Palestine. The military industrial complex, staffed by a lot of former high level military, has connections and influence when it comes to calling the shots. After all, war is a racket.

They really just prefer to use it as a wedge issue.

Because that is all it is, divide and conquer politics. "The People" think they can change abortion yet it appears that the people have no say so on the war? Why would abortion (or any other issue) be any different?

Pundits on the left and right bicker over what the establishment considers a non-issue like abortion (regarding its imperial agenda), while the real issues that lie at the root of the disconnect between public opinion and the "national interest" are blathered about but not addressed, are apparently out of the hands of the people since public opinion is not being reflected in Washington, and have "bipartisan support" and strong lobbies, e.g. Pelosi sacking Congressional approval before a strike on Iran and the house bringing us closer to striking Iran by passing H. Con. Res. 21 with a vote of 411 to 2.

I wish the religious right would go back in time to when they were interested in helping the poor and influencing society through the use of the gospel only, and not through nonsense like the "Moral Majority". Jesus didn't seem like much of a lobbyist, especially when it came to playing ball with the establishment.

But by all means, let the religious right pretend like abortion is an issue and that they can actually change anything. It helps the big dawgs at the top by distracting supporters away from real issues, like how Straussian neoconservatives and the families of high ranking Nazi officials hijacked the Republican party to bring never ending war and lies, all while they champion the preventive war agenda of an out of control executive, his VP, and all of their disgusting little special planning minions (one of whom will probably scoot away with a pardon any time now). "The Party of Life" indeed, as long as it is American life on American soil.

Ghouliani's campaign (all the way down to how he can even call himself a "Conservative" or a "Republican") should be an indicator that abortion is really a non-issue, but it makes for some emotional political theater. Abortion is only to be used as a tool to swoon the useful idiots on the religious right. From their debate answers, I am willing to bet that most of the Republican candidates wouldn't even know how to start the process of overturning Roe v. Wade even if they were elected.

The neoliberal political agenda of the elites that control the narrow American political spectrum dictated long ago that abortion is ok. It is a shame that the people Brownback was attempting to score cheap points think that abortion is still a real issue.

The only issues that matter are the imperial doctrine of "preventive war" and middle east foreign policy. With H. Con. Res. 21 passing 411 to 2, it appears that the message from Congress to the warmongers regarding Iran is "Full Steam Ahead" and for the people not to expect the war drums to stop anytime soon, no matter what party controls Congress or sits on the imperial throne.