It's indifference, it's the death of hope. 80 years ago Jabotinsky said something very elegant and very simple.

A) We're coming

B) We can live together or not

C) It's up to you (Arabs) to decide that

D) If we can't live together then we have to live absolutely apart

(-The Iron Wall)

Nothing I have seen or heard in almost 50 years has led me to believe that was incorrect. Nothing I have seen or heard in the last 35 years has led me to believe that Palestinians understand, want or are able to actuall negotiate any form of settlement whatsoever. They have one tack: "Give me everything instantly now" Knowing full well that that's a nonstarter because they feel that making zero progress leaves them better off than making slow progress towards anything less than 100% victory. The problem with that approach is that it generally only applies when you deal from a position of strength. Otherwise it's a path to destruction. So while the PA and Hamas whine and scream that nothing short of 100% repatriation of every Palestinian worldwide, to Israel is their deal breaker, they understand that they might as well be asking for solid gold unicorns. It's not meant to be taken seriously. It's meant to continue the do-nothingism.

And for the record, what's going on in the wild west that is Gaza is exactly what we said would happen. Gaza will eventually become its own 'statelet' apart from the West Bank. An ungovernable anarchic rockyard. This is why the Egyptians were thrilled to lose it in 67. It took care of their "Palestinian Problem" for them. It was the single best social welfare/management program the Egyptians pulled off. They just cut lose a million of their least popular people who were culturally and ethnically not Egyptian at all.

And oh - yesterday 8 more rockets flew into Israel from Gaza. Of course most of them don't do much but I'm reasonably sure you wouldn't put up with it either. Israel is a small country, about the size of NJ. A rocket with a 5 mile range is half the width of the country at its narrowest point. Now multply that by 15 or 1600, the number of rockets sent into Israel from Gaza since the Jewish abandonment of Gaza. Individually? No big deal. Neither is the regular tide of drive bys in the worst American neighborhoods either. Your chance of getting killed is rather low. I really don't understand what the hell those people are complaining about or even why we send cops in to maintain order.

That of course was sarcasm which is something most of you are blind to.

Like or not that's a fairly crisp outline of the ethics in the story, up to a point, if one looks at it from a purely nonreligious modern 'sociological' perspective. And like it or not Darfur is a darling catastrophe. Sometimes it gets attention usually it doesn't. Depends on the whimsy of Progressives here in the west.

So it's not about torture and abuse or what happens to those miserables, it's about how you feel about having that label hung on you. Well as long as we agree on that. I'm fine with that. Hey there's misery all over the world every day. I don't want my name attached to it. It just puts us at odds with NGO's that protest the mere existence of things like that.

You know it's dead. Dead. Dead. Or as Stuart Scott said yesterday of a long fly ball to deep right field "Tro som D's on dat B"

Yeah rap is dead.

Weird mortgages are not the sole purvue of the lower middle class. I know LOTS of middle class and upper middle class professionals who, because of where they chose to live, and by chose I mean entire counties, can't get into a house on terms more rational than these no money down trick loans. Sorry but unless your class struggle argument purports to exclude everyone with a household income below 150,000 then don't complain about all the people who live in Cary, NC or North Raleigh, a big part of Guilford county, and so on. It's a symbiotic problem: easy money drives up the prices which makes ever easier money a necessity. Unless of course you're willing to see whole towns get depopulated. So it's not a class struggle thing. What is a class struggle thing in part is credit cards, but that's another question.

blah blah blah how is it you can defend cannibalism and child rape blah blah blah. That kind of thing. Which makes it hard to take you very seriously.

FWIW Desmond Tutu is a huge supporter of gay rights but that was only after denying that his own dying son had AIDS. And if you'd like to discuss ZA politics, that would be great. I lived there. Today the ZA government is officially in favor of and supports the governments of

Zimbabwe

Sudan

Burma

Iran

Syria

Not in SPITE of their human rights abuses but essentially BECAUSE of them. They see only 'revolutionary movements' and will support any bunch of ruthless tyrants to that end. So I wouldn't take official pronouncements about human rights from ZA very seriously at all.

As far as Barenboim is concerned? Who cares? He holds concerts in Palestine and intentionally plays Wagner in Israel BECAUSE he knows it's inflammatory to Jews. He has said that openly more than once. It's being being a shit-stirrer.