The fact that Podhoretz and his progeny and fellow travelers are not shunned like David Duke is, says a great deal about our culture.

But the march to war with Iran continues. As I mentioned in the previous thread, the House just passed a bill calling for the U.N. to charge Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=11171

Ahmadinejad is a horrible genocide inciting person for calling for the dissolution of the Israeli state. But Bush, Sharon, Olmert (and Podhoretz) can call for regime change, invade sovereign nations, and kill hundreds of thousands of innocent bystanders without a peep. And we think they "hate us for our freedoms".

Since the only two in the House who objected to the bill were Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, neither of whom has a hope in hell of being president or even having much power, I fear we have a long horrible way to go before we finally wake up and start facing reality. In my glummer moods (this being one), I see war with Iran, a nasty terror strike in our "homeland" and further draconian police state in our future.

If they are that careless with the lives of their own people, what care have they for Israelis? The answer is, none at all.

If I've been paying attention, this is one of those false If/Then analogies.

And wouldn't that describe George Bush using American soldiers for a totally bogus war in Iraq? 14 of them died just in the last 48 hours. For abso-f*cking-lutely nothing, (she said, betraying her age). What kind of care for the lives of your people is that?

Shooter, I don't believe Iran is a threat to Israel, except in the sense that a powerful Iran balances Israel's nukes, which obviously Israel wouldn't like.

But, say you're right and Iran is a threat to Israel. Would you explain to me why that means the U.S. has to pre-emptively attack Iran? Why should I, a nice (or not) Swedish Baptist girl from N.J. (who's become a Quaker) pay either with my taxes or my children's lives, to protect Israel? I'm not bashing Israel, I just really and truly don't understand why it should be the center of my existence, as an American. Can you explain this to me?

How wonderful! Be sure to tell her that there are many of us out here who admire her and are grateful for her honesty (and sense of humor). In a land full of grey people slinking in the corners, she's a vivid standup woman. Yay, HT!

And thanks to Glenn, and the suggesters (the doo-wop group?) for coming up with it.

P.S. Anon, glad to hear that SomeNYGuy isn't the only one afraid of your masculinity. Ah get the vapours everah tahm y'all post, you big strong thang, you. (Oh, and of course I LOVE Ward Churchill)

your getting quite an education

Fortunately, not like the one you got, dear anonymous.

I grew up in a very ethnically diverse neighborhood in the 60s. Senior year in high school, a classroom discussion got going, in which an African-American kid offered the opinion that the problem with Native Americans (of whom there were quite a few in our school) was that they were congenitally lazy. I raised my hand and agreed with him, and added that I thought that blacks were good dancers but inferior intellectually. He got absolutely furious with me. When I pointed out that he was being the proverbial pot calling the kettle black, he said: "No, the difference is Indians really ARE lazy. But YOU are a racist." He just couldn't see.

Krauthammer and the neo-cons are like that kid. They can't see their own humanity in The Other. Me=Good, You=Bad. Why? Because.

Collective punishment of Czechs, Poles, Jews by Germans in WWII = Bad

Collective punishment of Palestinians in Israel = Good

Why? Because.

Perhaps if someone stuffed tiberius on a plane, sent him to Gaza, and THEN had him beaten up? Would it be fair then?...

It would unfair to the Palestinians.

If you want to read about life for Palestinians, I can recommend two Israeli writers:

Ran Ha Cohen -- http://antiwar.com/hacohen/

and Uri Avnery -- http://www.antiwar.com/avnery/

Reading their columns (do check out the archives) would be an eye opener for most Americans. Some might even care. I can't read too many of the stories without feeling faint.

And Scooter and RealName, we are paying already for what's going on in Gaza/West Bank. We're paying in subsidies to the Israelis, in payoffs to the Pals, and in blowback. Not to mention, part of the reason we're in Iraq is because of the inability to settle the Pal/Israeli conflict.

How would you propose allying with the Sunni if is trumpeted that the US just killed a bunch of Sunni? The same goes for the Shia. That is the whole of Iraq right there. Isn't trying to cause the least offense to the people we are trying to help a good thing?

-- shooter242

Kinda reminds me of how it was a "good thing" to put goggles on Padilla when he was brought out of his cell so he couldn't "blink code" to his terrorist buddies. Similar logic.

Which people are we trying to "help" in Iraq now? I've gotten confused. And who are we fighting? And how do we tell the difference? For that matter, how do we tell when we've "won"?

But I can see how labeling all "bad guys" as Al Qaida does simplify matters. Guess those dang Iranian fighters we were hearing so much about are now Al Qaida as well -- clever fellows, pretending to be Sunnis. But you know them dark skinned middle easterners, tricky little bowl-beating savages.