Saturday, October 8, 2011

An Open Letter to ECI

Posted by Nowhere Man

To: The Powers-That-Be at Emergency Committee for Israel
Re: Queensborough Bridge Not For Israel Billboard.

I recently came across your billboard as I was heading into Manhattan, showing a picture of President Obama shaking hands with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas with the caption, "Telling Jews They Can't Build in Jerusalem. Not Pro-Israel."

The people of Israel are also divided on the building of more settlements on the West Bank. Do you consider them to be traitors or just simply not friends of their own country? Why is it that a President of the United States isn't considered a friend of Israel unless he kowtows to every single Israeli right wing policy? If your friends disagree with something you do or say, are they no longer your friends? President Obama didn't say anything critical, although he should have, about Israel's massacre of 1,500 Palestinians in the Gaza conflict, did he?

Did I miss something or has President Obama stopped sending Israel $3 billion a year in aid? Newsweek is reporting that President Obama sold Israel bunker-buster bombs in 2009 - something even former President Bush wouldn't do - and yet it is Obama that isn't a friend of Israel?

The real injustice is that the Arab Spring has dramatically changed the Middle East but the US is impotent to try to forge broad relationships with these new governments because as always, the President and his State Department are the marionettes of Israel and are not allowed to freely conduct broad relationships with other Arabs and Muslims... you know,the people who "attacked" us. Your billboard is so pathetically disingenuous that it reminds me of the propaganda the Nazis used to hide the truth. What Israel is doing to the Palestinians is no different from the apartheid that was practiced in South Africa. I would also appreciate it if for once you'd let us be free to conduct our own independent foreign policy without the typical smears and maliciously intended misinformation.

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Alexander Bolton: Reid Triggers ‘Nuclear Option’ to Change Senate Rules, End Repeat Filibusters

President Obama's Weekly Address - October 8, 2011

Making Your Voice Heard on the American Jobs Act

Friday, October 7, 2011

Picture of the Day

At the Occupy Wall Street protest.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Sarah Palin Not Running

No links. No news. No surprise.

I could have told you Sarah Palin wasn't running for the nomination a year and a half ago. The only reason she chose to make her announcement was because she saw all the attention NJ Governor Chris Christie was attracting when he decided to have a press conference to state the same thing he's been saying for a year now. And as we all know by now, whether it be Christie or Michele Bachmann or Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin is so goddamn shallow she can't stand not being the center of attention.

Palin's not running?! ...Yawn....

Blame Yourself

Outsourcing doesn't matter. The greatest recession since the Great Depression doesn't matter. The Too Big To Fail Banks who played Las Vegas with our money and lost it all, than had to be bailed out with taxpayer money doesn't matter. Herman Cain, who is running for President of the United States, thinks if you lost your job, and can't get ahead, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Herman Cain: "I don’t have facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration. Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself! [...] It is not a person’s fault if they succeeded, it is a person’s fault if they failed."


A word of advice to Herman Cain: if you don't have facts to back something up, then keep your mouth shut.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Steve Jobs Dies at 56

Chicago TribuneCUPERTINO, Calif. -- Apple announced Wednesday that former Apple CEO Steve Jobs has died.
...In January, Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor, took his second medical leave of absence in two years, raising serious questions about his health and the leadership of a company.
Jobs, 56, has been instrumental in turning Apple into the dominant producer of portable music players, a leader in the smart phone business and, with the iPad, the inventor of a new category of modern tablet computers.
Jobs is now looking down from his iCloud and observing how he changed the world.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Moment of Zen

...from last night's Daily Show.

Christie Not Running

Chris Christie is having a press conference at 1pm to announce that he is not running for the Republican nomination for the presidential race. In other words, he's making news by announcing what he's been saying for the last twelve months.



Now let's give Christie a little credit. Even though sources say he was reconsidering his position after hearing the outcry of voters who aren't satisfied with any of the eight current nominees, he was smart enough to realize that even if he were ready to be president, he's nowhere near ready organizationally to run a national campaign.

The question will soon shift to who will the voters clamor for as their next flavor of the week?

Monday, October 3, 2011

Rick Perry and "Niggerhead"

Is Rick Perry a racist? He doesn't seem to be from what those who know him are saying. Was he a little more than insensitive in this situation? Absolutely, especially for a public servant.

WaPo: "In the early years of his political career, Rick Perry began hosting fellow lawmakers, friends and supporters at his family’s secluded West Texas hunting camp, a place known by the name painted in block letters across a large, flat rock standing upright at its gated entrance.
'Niggerhead,' it read."
Here's the insensitivity:
"...the name of this particular parcel did not change for years after it became associated with Rick Perry, first as a private citizen, then as a state official and finally as Texas governor. Some locals still call it that. As recently as this summer, the slablike rock — lying flat, the name still faintly visible beneath a coat of white paint — remained by the gated entrance to the camp."
Perry has a record showing he is not a racist, naming African-American justices and staff members during his tenure as Governor, but in trying to avoid the subject because it's not politically convenient at the current time shows he's more interested in damage control than having the courage to address this issue head on.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

More Like This, Please

President Obama: “We don’t believe in the kind of smallness that says it’s OK for a stage full of political leaders — one of whom could end up being the President of the United States — being silent when an American soldier is booed. We don’t believe in that. We don’t believe in standing silent when that happens. We don't believe in them being silent since. You want to be commander-in-chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it’s not politically convenient."

 
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