"We don't support this because it lacks vital elements" would probably get on the Factor but cut off right before the word 'because'.

Opposition to the Terrorist Surveillance Program is dismissed, unfairly, as not supporting terrorist surveillance. My impression is that J street was trying to avoid this easy dismissal. Instead of saying 'I don't support the TSP because... they might say...We support surveillance programs that are legal, constitutional, and specifically targeted to terrorist activity.

"...the cynical manipulation of the leftward drift of the mainstream media."

Uh, dude, are you living in the same universe as the rest of us? Ever actually read any of Glenn's posts? Like, any of them?

"I had not seen your post. I completely agree with your lofty goal of pointing out the myth of Osama and his band of merry men."

Thanks mate, but I might as well be pissing in the wind for all the good it does. It amazes me that educated people can still believe that, in the case of say the South Tower a jet flies into it. Then a mere 55 FUCKING MINUTES LATER!!!! the tower collapses after the top "FALLS" on the impact zone with such force that the tower shimmies to the ground, its frame having been weakened by fire in such a short time, doing the Wobbly Liquorice Watusi as it did so.

And that for the hard of comprehension, the same thing happened to the tower next door a short while later.

And then for an encore those dastardly Arabs managed to knock the eight ball that was WTC7 down the pocket later that afternoon off the same cue shot.

The Hustler had nothing on these guys.

I repsonded to you in the other thread.

No way Feingold voted for that.

Here is how it works:

Any time there is universal support for something in Congress, it is almost always a dumb idea.

E.g.

The iraq war, declaring Iran military a terrorist organization, the banking bailout, support for Israel's right to defend itself.

The unconditional support for Israel is based on institutional racism. It is augmented by religious undertones, which is what makes it so incredibly dangerous.

Come on---that's NOT what the article says...it is a single quote from someone who was not there. Clinton, who had every reason to tell the truth since his prestige was on the line, clearly blamed Arafat.

Still, it really doesn't matter. Everyone knows that the deal there was the deal today, since NOTHING ELSE WORKS. The Palestinians deserve a viable state, removal of all of the settlements that impede travel, an agreement on other land issues and a piece of Jerusalem, as well as some unblocked right of way from Gaza to the West Bank. I guarantee you that a sizable majority of Israelis would vote for that deal.

However, if the Arab response is No, No, No and lobs rockets from both South and North, again, what do you want Israel to do? If the answer is "go away," fine, but it will take a war to do that, and if Hamas starts a war, it is outrageous to demand that Israel not fight to win.

No way Feingold voted for that.

I wouldn't be so sure about that - he tends to be pretty supportive of most of what Israel does.

War of Choice: How Israel Manufactured the Gaza Escalation (see sig)

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/08-4

This appeared prominently in the NYT Op-Ed page:

January 8, 2009

Op-Ed Contributor

What You Don’t Know About Gaza

By RASHID KHALIDI

NEARLY everything you’ve been led to believe about Gaza is wrong. Below are a few essential points that seem to be missing from the conversation, much of which has taken place in the press, about Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip.

THE GAZANS Most of the people living in Gaza are not there by choice. The majority of the 1.5 million people crammed into the roughly 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip belong to families that came from towns and villages outside Gaza like Ashkelon and Beersheba. They were driven to Gaza by the Israeli Army in 1948.

THE OCCUPATION The Gazans have lived under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel is still widely considered to be an occupying power, even though it removed its troops and settlers from the strip in 2005. Israel still controls access to the area, imports and exports, and the movement of people in and out. Israel has control over Gaza’s air space and sea coast, and its forces enter the area at will. As the occupying power, Israel has the responsibility under the Fourth Geneva Convention to see to the welfare of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

THE BLOCKADE Israel’s blockade of the strip, with the support of the United States and the European Union, has grown increasingly stringent since Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006. Fuel, electricity, imports, exports and the movement of people in and out of the Strip have been slowly choked off, leading to life-threatening problems of sanitation, health, water supply and transportation.

The blockade has subjected many to unemployment, penury and malnutrition. This amounts to the collective punishment — with the tacit support of the United States — of a civilian population for exercising its democratic rights.

THE CEASE-FIRE Lifting the blockade, along with a cessation of rocket fire, was one of the key terms of the June cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. This accord led to a reduction in rockets fired from Gaza from hundreds in May and June to a total of less than 20 in the subsequent four months (according to Israeli government figures). The cease-fire broke down when Israeli forces launched major air and ground attacks in early November; six Hamas operatives were reported killed.

WAR CRIMES The targeting of civilians, whether by Hamas or by Israel, is potentially a war crime. Every human life is precious. But the numbers speak for themselves: Nearly 700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the conflict broke out at the end of last year. In contrast, there have been around a dozen Israelis killed, many of them soldiers. Negotiation is a much more effective way to deal with rockets and other forms of violence. This might have been able to happen had Israel fulfilled the terms of the June cease-fire and lifted its blockade of the Gaza Strip.

This war on the people of Gaza isn’t really about rockets. Nor is it about “restoring Israel’s deterrence,” as the Israeli press might have you believe. Far more revealing are the words of Moshe Yaalon, then the Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff, in 2002: “The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people.”

Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Arab studies at Columbia, is the author of the forthcoming “Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East."