GG: "what possible legitimate rationale is there for the U.S. Congress to act in unison to involve itself in Israel's war so emphatically"

What is it? WHY have Israel's interests been made into the US's interests?

I have NEVER seen a good answer to that.

TPM's Elana Schor today wrote: "We're looking into whether any senator was bold enough to decline to co-sponsor the measure."--GG

I tried to look for the voting information and was unable to find it. Maybe pow wow can tell us where to find it.

I often read your posts. They are really excellent. I think you are fairly new at UT, and may have missed the UT Truther wars.

At Salon in general, and of course Kos (we are in the "reality based" community) HuffPo and many other liberal sites, any discussion questioning the official story is pretty much verboten, they seem to think it affects their credibility.

In fact some months ago Glenn specifically asked his crew not to indulge in such talk. His position, and I am sure he will correct me if I am wrong, is that he doesn't want his blog to be tarred, however unfairly, as a place for the "tinfoil hat crowd". In that he is probably correct. Don't get me wrong, I am a truther and have the scars to prove it. Here at Salon, you can laugh and jeer at the Warren Commission, and no one believes in the Gulf of Tonkin lie anymore, but for some reason, otherwise rational people -- who will debate endlessly about anything, will foam at the mouth and shut you down for discussing this.

I have asked Glenn to do a piece on this, but again, probably wisely, he has refrained. Salon itself has done a number of what to me were some rather cursory and biased hit pieces on krazy 911 konspiracies; have a look and despair in your swim against the tide of the "sane".

The rest of the world is increasingly horrified by the carnage Israel is inflicting on trapped Gazans and is crying out for a cease fire. America, meanwhile, the only country who could realistically make Israel stop, is conveying its "unequivocal and steadfast support for Israel's right to self-defense".

Do Americans have no shame?

In fact some months ago Glenn specifically asked his crew not to indulge in such talk. His position, and I am sure he will correct me if I am wrong, is that he doesn't want his blog to be tarred, however unfairly, as a place for the "tinfoil hat crowd".

This is totally false. I said no such thing. Given that I allow, and don't delete, comments questioning the 9/11 events, it's obviously not the case -- as you self-pityingly claim -- that it is "verboten" here.

I have asked in the past that those wishing to endlessly debate the various 9/11 theories not use my comment section to do so, since all it does is crowd out discussions of the issues that I write about. But I've never told anyone they can't express their views here on that subject and most certainly never said that I want to avoid having my blog be criticized for having people here who do so.

As I've said before, my views on the matter are quite similar to Noam Chomsky's:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzGd0t8v-d4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoDqDvbgeXM&feature=related

If one considers all the many, many problems facing the United States and the world, it is easy to conclude that the world has simply gone mad. There were incredible problems when I was in college in the 1960's, for instance: Cold War, Vietnam War, social upheaval, Watergate, Kent State, 1967 Israeli War, domestic bombings, Black Panthers, Weathermen, SDS, etc., but there were rational persons in and out of government, a still-functioning moral compass in the nation, a respect for the US Constitution and the rule of law, etc. ad infinitum. Those days now seem almost placid.

These days it seems as though we are all caught up in a massive maelstrom of insanity. We are ruled by fools and madmen and criminals and cowards. As Jesus forwarned of this generation: "...On the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and waves roaring; men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth..."

Just when you think it can't get any worse...WHAM! We are about to be overtaken by cataclysmic events of Biblical proportion. All these things are just the precurser to horrific times coming.

Glenn...I really don't want to take this debate to the creation of Israel or 1967, when Israel reacted to overt acts of war by Egypt (shutting down UN posts and massing at the border and blockading Israeli ports) by attacking what then was part of Egypt and conquering the West Bank and Gaza. However, your comments seem to reflect a complete absence of historical reality. After the Israeli victory, Israel offered return of all Palestinian territories (of course, not called that at the time) in return for peace. The response was the famous Kartoum Resolution, better known as the Three No's:

NO peace with Israel

NO recognition of Israel

NO negotiations with Israel

Even after Camp David, and the return of Sinai, Egypt refused to take back Gaza, leaving the problem for Israel. I agree with you about President Carter and deem him the most visionary President of the modern era (as an aside, can you imagine if his vision of energy independence had been heard?)--but the fact is that Israel HAS offered what is the only viable settlement of the Palestine dispute. If you recall, Israelis and Palestinians were working on joint ventures and preparing for peace---and Arafat called for the First Intifada.

So the question is Glenn, what do you want the Israelis to do? If the Palestinians agree to the Taba terms, we can have peace today. Hamas doesn't want peace--peace means irrelevancy to them. If Hamas starts a war, Israel either takes it, or fights back. And don't give me Geneva--Hamas is not subject to that convention and doesn't follow it either. The only other choice is to WIN the war. That is horrible to the population, but the population chose Hamas.

There must be peace. There must be a partner for peace.