Anti-Semitism and the War in Lebanon

Iraqi prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki was recently called an anti-Semite for referring to Israel as the aggressor in the war in Lebanon. Of course, I don't know how he feels about Jews, but why is anyone who doesn't support the murder of hundreds of civilians in Lebanon by the Israelis considered and anti-Semite?

I support Israel, and I believe they have the right to defend themselves. I believe that they have the right to act militarily in support of their soverenty and security. The thing is, the destruction of Lebanon only hurts Israeli security. First of all, by destroying the Lebanese infrastructure and undermining their democracy, they are just begging for Hezbollah or another foreign supported, anti-Israeli group to seize power. Second, and more importantly, Hezbollah was created to resist the Israeli occupation of Lebanon, and in very much the same way, this latest violence will surely sway the next generation if not to Hezbollah, then to some other anti-Israeli militant group.

Israeli and Lebanese Children

The following pictures of Israeli children signing shells intended for Lebanon were taken on July 17 in northern Israel.




The event was not officially organized by the IDF, but they did not "condone or condemn the incident." [link] According to the article, the messages include a Star of David and the message "From Israel with Love."

And now, Lebanese children receiving their message:






source: AP

Reagan Youth

Reagan youth was a punk band from the 80's who toured with bands like Dead Kennedys and Bad Brains. The name comes from the Hitler Youth, comparing Reagan and the religious right to hate groups.

I was doing a search to find out more about Reagan Youth, as they are associated with some of my favorite bands, when I came across this article [link]. It was written in 2004 after Reagan died, and is about how he supposedly "inspired a generation of youth." From the article:

"Some of these people belong to a generation I've always called "the Reagan youth." We were the kids who fell in between the baby boomers and the Gen-X crowd. We believed in hard work; we loved our country; we were part of the Reagan Revolution. Just as John F. Kennedy had a major impact on the youth during his presidency, Reagan's leadership gave rise to a generation of young conservatives."

Apparantly she didn't realize the origin of the term.

A Republican Plan for Left-Over Embryos

As you certainly already know, Bush used his first veto to block a bill to fund embryonic stem cell research on embryos that are left over from fertility clinics.

Since we can't fund research on these embryos, what should be done with them? If they really are "human life" as Republicans claim, then it is immoral to discard them. That is why the funding that would have been used for stem cell research needs to be immediately diverted to a massive federal program to grow all of these embryos into fully developed human infants. Of course, Republicans don't believe in federal programs to support these infants after they crawl out of their test tubes and inherit original sin, so at this point, they must all be immediately released onto the street. If they starve to death, well, that's just because they are too lazy to go out and get a job. Undoubtedly, many of these infants will turn to crime, and so it will certainly be necessary to lower the minimum age that a person can be executed to 10 months. If these infants can't learn to live in society without committing crimes by the age of 10 months, well, they are just bad eggs, and don't deserve to live.

"What Not To Watch"

"In These Times" has a great article about fashion shows - called, cleverly, "What Not To Watch." [link].

I have been complaining for years about the show "What Not To Wear" on TLC (which used to be "The Learning Channel" until they had to change the name because they replaced all of the "learning" with shows that serve no purpose other than to advocate for materialism).

Of such materialsm promoting shows, there are none worse than "What Not To Wear." The show takes people that they consider unfashionable and ridicule them until they give up their individuality and agree to look like everyone else. The lead female "fashion expert" is very fond of telling people that they should be arrested for going out in public dressed as they do before they give in and conform.

To me, I think the central theme of the show is about destroying any individuality that people may have that is not condusive to selling products. Wearing clothes that are a little old or outdated means that you are not fulfilling the responsibility that you have as a consumer to purchase whatever crap that the companies tell you to purchase.

Entrenched Oligarchy

Chicago is a city that is openly hostile to the Bush administration.

They are overwhelmingly Democrat. They passed a resolution in opposition to invading Iraq. White Sox coach Ozzie Guillen refused a meeting at the White House after they won the World Series (he said it was because of a family conflict, but I find it hard to believe that Bush's anti-Chavez rhetoric had nothing to do with it, as Guillen is from Venezuela). Bush is so despised that in running for governor, the worst thing that Blagojevich can say about his opponent is that she is a Bush supporter.

And yet, for some reason, Bush is welcomed here with open arms. Where are the massive demonstrations that have greeted Bush in European visits?

My theory is that it's for the same reason that the Democrats in congress don't really attack Bush on his great many illegal abuses of power. It's that at least on some level, they realize that they are all members of an entrenched oligarchy, deeply dependent on the survival of the status quo.* While they may disagree on many more trivial issues, they all agree that their power depends on keeping the discourse "civil," i.e. no one can call into question the legitimacy of the system as a whole. Political enemies are not real enemies because they all support the American way - global hegemony.



*The phrase "entrenched oligarchy, deeply dependent on the survival of the status quo" was paraphrased from a piece on the Daily Show a few years ago about the White House Correspondents Dinner. In that case, the entrenched oligarchy was not the Democratic and Republican parties, but rather the government and the mainstream news media as a whole.