Jews don't get a free pass. Sorry.

such a comment harks back to pernicious stereotype that Jews are stingy and want things for free. disgusting.

: P

karr(sic),

You crack me up! :)

What u can understand is what is happening now.

A good ass whipping oo, axhole.

Israel is finally delivering it now.

You are obviously some little schmuck kid on a computer firing away with your little turd-grams.

Why don't you join the Jihad you little schmuck?

U could join that spoiled brat from Marin who is now somebody's butt buddy in jail , dude.

Your heros would gladly strap a suicide belt on to you, my dear little girleyboy.

Israel isn't attacking Gaza, they are attacking Hamas terrorists who are hiding behind human shields in Gaza.

If the US was going after a large underground group of rocket-launching, cop-killing domestic terrorists like an army of Timothy McVeighs, the government would use whatever overwhelming force they thought necessary, no matter the loss of innocent life. The US going after domestic terrorists in Nevada, for example, wouldn't be accused of bombing Nevada, they'd be said to be bombing terrorists hiding in Nevada.

I know you want to fight me. You feel my stink. I get it, baby.

Someone asked, away back somewhere in the thread, about whether any federal legislator had spoken out about the plight of the helpless Palestinians in Gaza.

Someone did, sort of, in addition to the five humane and courageous House members who voted no on the Resolution on Friday.

That someone is a blusterer who never seems to find a principled vote - or a principled stand that would rock the boat - to go with his occasionally-principled words. But, nevertheless, he spoke up - sort of - by submitting this statement to the Congressional Record:

Patrick Leahy, Vermont Democrat, 1/8/2009:

Mr. President, S. Res. 10, the resolution that was adopted today reaffirming U.S. support for Israel, is factually accurate. No one here doubts our commitment to Israel's security or Israel's right to defend itself from Hamas rocket attacks. But the resolution, unfortunately, presents an incomplete response to the situation in Gaza.

-snip-

For its part, Israel used the cease-fire to pressure Hamas through a blockade that, in the absence of a long-term strategy, has caused extreme hardship for the Palestinian people collectively in Gaza but done nothing to change Hamas's militant policies.

-snip-

This latest escalation, with bombs falling and tank artillery striking in heavily populated areas where civilians--more than half of whom are children--have no means of escape, obviously and tangibly is providing ammunition to extremists, inside and outside of Gaza. And in doing so it increases the dangers to both soldiers and civilians--Israeli and Palestinian--and of miring Israel in an open-ended mission in Gaza resulting in far more destruction and loss of innocent life than we have seen so far. Ultimately, extremism is what has hindered a political resolution that ends this conflict with two secure states living side by side.

-snip-

But beyond that, history has shown that absent an inclusive, diplomatic process that effectively addresses the core interests of both Israelis and Palestinians, the cycle of violence will continue. Preconditions are an obstacle to that process in the Middle East as much as they were for another seemingly intractable conflict, in Northern Ireland.

Others have asked these questions, which are worth repeating: Does the Gaza war improve Israel's long-term, or even short-term, security? Was it realistic and in Israel's long-term interests to expect Hamas to accept Israel in advance of negotiations, rather than push for a total cessation of the use of violence and blockade, followed by negotiations? Was it realistic to expect the ceasefire to hold while Gaza remained under siege, rife with hunger, illness, joblessness, and hopelessness, and while construction of settlements continued, and even accelerated, in the West Bank?

-snip-

In particular our image in predominantly Muslim countries has been affected by the failure to advance a credible strategy to help resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict. This has pronounced and obvious implications for our security, for Israel's security, and for the entire Middle East region.

- Patrick Leahy, United States Senator

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2009_record&page=S182&position=all

Here's someone who had the conviction to speak his words aloud on the House floor, in the face of a mob of paid-to-be-closed minds:

Dennis Kucinich, Ohio Democrat, 1/7/2009:

The children of Palestinians and the children of Israel both deserve life. But the lives of the children of Gaza are cynically discounted as human shields. Massacres are being rationalized. Israel's "moral high ground" in Gaza, a growing pile of small bones in a graveyard.

The administration knows Israel is using U.S. weapons, paid for by U.S. taxpayers, with disproportionate force, creating a collective punishment of Gazans, assuring an escalation of conflict, clear violations of the Arms Export Control Act.

Israel was given U.S. weapons on condition they would not be used for aggression or escalation. This outgoing administration must finally stand for the rule of law, not the rule of force.

- Dennis Kucinich, United States Representative

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2009_record&page=H40&position=all

And here's one of those professional closed minds, giving powerful donors to the Two Parties what they want to hear (which new DSCC Party fundraising chief Robert Menendez of New Jersey joined enthusiastically in doing the next day):

Eliot Engel, New York Democrat, 1/7/2009:

Many of us on the Foreign Affairs Committee this morning met with the Israeli ambassador and we saw a tape where Israel takes great precaution to try to prevent civilian casualties. But what Hamas does is it builds its bomb factories and it builds its terror weapons in the heart of the densely populated areas of Gaza and uses its own people as human shields. And so when the Israelis destroy these missile-making and bomb-making terror factories, innocent civilians very unfortunately get killed. But it is the Palestinians that support Hamas. It's the Hamas organization that is responsible for these killings.

-snip-

We ought to note that Israel pulled out of Gaza several years ago and left Gaza to the Palestinians. And what did it get in return? It got missiles fired on its citizens in Syrot and other places in return for Israel leaving Gaza. The Palestinians used to say, well, it's the occupation, that's what drives everything. What occupation is there in Gaza? There is none. Israel has left Gaza. And the people of Gaza could have built a democratic government living in peace with its neighbors; instead, they chose to embrace terrorism and try to kill as many Israelis as they can.

- Eliot Engel, United States Representative

I want to re-emphasize bystander's closing point, and note that giving voice and a respectful audience to the anguish of the Arab/Muslim world over the plight of the effectively-powerless people of Gaza (suffering at the hands of a nuclear power and its superpower nuclear ally) would be humanizing for every single person on earth.

Whether or not the American electorate is, or isn't, antisemitic will be irrelevant when prejudicial patterns are overcome (or, effectively hidden) by genuine secular humanitarian concerns. - bystander