The more I leave - the more they pull me back in! Politics again - and this time I am pissed.

I'll keep it short.
(Edit: fuck it. I won't)

Why are we in Iraq?
Shell posts record profit - $3 million per minute . There is your answer.

Israeli Chief Rabbi calls for ethnic cleansing;

In an interview in English with the British weekly The Jewish News, the chief rabbi also said that while peaceable Muslims should be allowed to pray in Jerusalem mosques, they should recognize that Jerusalem belongs to the Jews. Muslims have Mecca and Medina, he was quoted as saying, adding that "you don't need a third place."

Metzger called for Britain, the European Union and the United States to assist in the construction of a Palestinian state in Egypt's Sinai Desert.

According to Metzger, the plan would be to "take all the poor people from Gaza to move them to a wonderful new modern country with trains buses cars, like in Arizona - we are now in a generation where you can take a desert and build a city. This will be a solution for the poor people - they will have a nice county, and we shall have our country and we shall live in peace."

Since congressmen are in the pockets of AIPAC and are beholden to it (or scared of its power to criticize and mount smear campaigns), when can we expect American Marines to go into Palestine to resettle (read - ethnically cleanse) Palestinians for Israel? Perhaps right after we attack and bomb Iran, and before people in America start to question what the American interest is in attacking Iran in the first place...

You only think I am kidding.

Meanwhile, at RawStory.com: Obama's Israel support questioned (Original article in politico.com)

Oh snap! That boy ain't supportive enough of Israel. Next thing you know, as president, he will make foreign policy decisions that are good for America. The horror! He... Must... Be... Stopped!

Lets see,

Jewish leaders and groups are wary of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) recent rhetoric on the Middle East conflict, according to an article in Monday's Politico.

Obama has sparked concern among Jewish leaders over phrases and remarks not agreeable to Israel's most aggressive supporters.

So what is sooooooo frightening to Israelis about Obama? Continuing with article (bold emphasis mine):

"His attack on cynicism, and another line about the 'cycle of violence' struck hard-line supporters of Israel as suggesting that the Israeli and Palestinian sides are equally to blame – something Obama himself has rejected in other, prepared remarks," writes Politico columnist Ben Smith. "Phrases like 'cycle of violence' and – worse still – pledges to be 'even-handed' are freighted with meaning in that context, and a second-hand report in January from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in January that Obama had once pledged to be 'even-handed' suggested to some Jewish critics that he was taking the Palestinian side."

Jesus fucking Christ!
Calling a conflict which is going on from 1948 to 2008 a "cycle of violence" - that is verboten!

Obama is not cynical enough... another minus for the "darkie".

Obama trying to be even handed - that is unacceptable to Israelis. Fairness, it seems, is dangerous to Israel. How dare Obama try to be fair and not cynical! Because, you see, in America, if a politician does not say that it is all right for the IDF to beat the crap out of Palestinian women and children with a rubber truncheon, and tries to be fair, even handed to both sides in that conflict - that candidate is an anti semite.

"Obama fails to understand the totalitarian politics and sensibilities of the folks over there, who are not well meaning,' said E.J. Kessler, a New York Post editor who’s a longtime observer of American-Jewish politics" writes Smith. "'His approach will appeal to a lot of lefty Jews, but it won’t appeal to the serious players,' she said, referring to the better-organized and better funded groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Council, AIPAC

Yeah, Obama fails to understand the totalitarian sensibilities of the folks in Israel. Go to thesaurus.com and look up the word "totalitarian". What are the synonyms? That's right - undemocratic...despotic....fascist....nazi...

Obama is not Nazi enough for Israeli people. Simple.

And because he is one of the few democratic senators who are not nazi and fascist in his outlook on foreign affairs, and mutters and mumbles something about fairness and even handedness... He is a danger. Must be smeared.

Didn't he get the memo? How dare he not follow the AIPAC written script, like all the rest of the candidates?

Obama's Iraq War position and its implications for dealing with Iran further complicate his relationship with pro-Israel activists, writes Smith.

Now that is too much. You see, Obama was and is against the Iraq War. And he is even stupid enough to question the logic of United States attacking Iran now. Iran has no WMD. Iran does have a nuclear power program, and might get nuclear weapons in say 10 years. You know which country does have nuclear weapons in the Middle East now?

Well, I might just vote for this guy because I for one admire his idea of "being fair" and "even handedness" in the Middle East. We need a president now who will be accepted by both Israelis and Palestinians as fair, one who will work for peace, try to smooth over differences and ... and...

Wait....

What's that?

Ah, he did get the memo?

Never mind. For a minute there I thought that I lived in a normal democracy.
Onward christian soldiers (read - goyim idiots) to Iran...

Bonus Material:
So which mainstream progressive blog is tackling the issue of the influence of AIPAC in American politics? Its stranglehold of debate in the US about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? The Stephen M. Walt and John J. Mearsheimer 'The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy'; is that covered in a mainstream "progressive" blog?

No.

It is a non-issue for so called progressives, democrats and their ilk. It is a 300 pound gorilla in the room which no one notices. Crooks and Liars, Thinkprogress, DailyKos- none of them will touch it with a ten foot pole. Go ahead - google it. Prove me wrong.

Anyway, I am off. My rage is spent. I wish both Israelis and Palestinians and everybody on this fucking planet, a safe, sane, prosperous year. Back to work tomorrow, today watching Gangland on History Channel. What can I do.

I am just a guy in front of a keyboard.