Alexander Zaitchik, AlterNet • see more in NEWS & ANALYSIS
Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza has pushed to the fore with ferocity one of the great campaign debates of 2008: How will Barack Obama approach the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? The president-elect has stated repeatedly that achieving a final settlement will be an administration priority, but beyond that oft-expressed campaign commitment swirls a constellation of increasingly urgent unkowns. Will he choose a Mideast envoy with at least a shred of credibility on both sides? Will he negotiate with Hamas? Will he spend the needed political capital to revive the rotting corpse of the peace process? Is resuscitation even possible?
Normally, a very constricted beltway political wisdom on Israel, as embodied by AIPAC, would set and guard the parameters of the debate over these questions. But the landscape of organized Jewish political power in America is changing. Even as John Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt were coming under heavy fire for their 2006 analysis of the traditional American Israel Lobby, a liberal pro-Israel countermovement was forming in utero. Today, that movement is not only walking and talking, it is mounting a vigorous challenge to the dominance of traditional groups like AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League. Together with a growing number of voices within the foreign policy community, it is pushing Obama to initiate a strong and fresh approach to the region during his busy first 100 days. Read the rest of this entry ?
In the last segment, I described as briefly as possible the inherent difficulty in working for an extremely low wage, maintaining a long-distance relationship, and saving up to move to another country at the same time.
My fiancee and I began doing the paperwork necessary for me to move to Buenos Aires and to live and work legally in Argentina. While I started working on getting my passport, she called the immigration office to find out what procedure we had to go through for me to become a permanent resident after we married. All I needed, she was informed, were my passport, birth certificate, a clean criminal record, and, of course, a little money for the paperwork (the equivalent of about $100).
I had never lived outside of Kansas, so the proper organization to turn to for my certified criminal record search was the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI). Luckily, I was able to get a copy of my birth certificate from my parents, who I don’t have the best relationship with and asking for favors is kind of a slow process, but it wasn’t too much trouble. I sent the paperwork for the criminal record search (along with the $30 money order) and turned my attention toward getting my passport. Read the rest of this entry ?
In the proud tradition of carriage mechanic William Howard Russell, gas lamp repairman Stephen Crane, and pipe-fitter David Halberstam, Pajamas Media* is sending unlicensed plumber Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher to Gaza as a war correspondent. As the Pajama party notes, Joe the Plumber “shook up America” and “he’s ready to do it again.” Mr. Wurzelbacher has promised to bring back stories from “Average Joes” (assuming said Joes are named Shlomo and Isaac, and not Mohammad or Abdul).
Naturally, the liberal media is up in arms over Joe the Plumber’s ascension to the ranks of Ernest Hemingway, but Wurzelbacher doesn’t care. How much different could being in shit differ from being in the shit?
Besides, Joe’s got a secret journalism savior that even Edward R. Murrow himself couldn’t top. As the-Plumber-turned-the-Reporter told his fellow scoops, “Being a Christian, I’m pretty well protected by God, I believe.”
On Thursday, January 15, at 9:30 a.m., the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its confirmation hearing for Attorney General nominee Eric Holder. If the Senators are willing to work together and to listen to those of us who elected them, the questioning might go something like this:
Mr. Holder, is the water torture, often now referred to as “waterboarding”, torture? Are beatings torture? Are electric shocks torture? Is hanging someone by their wrists torture? What about the combined and repetitive use of sleep deprivation, subjection to temperature extremes and stress positions, threatening with dogs, and sexual humiliation — is that torture?
What about employing any of the techniques we’ve discussed until the result is death: up until the point where it becomes murder is such activity torture? Is it cruel? Is it inhuman? Is it degrading?
Does our Bill of Rights ban cruel and unusual punishment? Does the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ban both torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment? Under Article VI of our Constitution is the UDHR the supreme law of the land? Does the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War ban violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture, as well as outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment? Under Article VI of our Constitution are the Geneva Conventions the supreme law of the land? Does the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ban torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment? Does the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment require that the United States work to prevent all forms of torture? Are these last two treaties the supreme law of the land? Does Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 2340A ban torture and conspiracy to torture? Read the rest of this entry ?
Pressed on some of the foreign policy missteps and shortcomings of the Bush administration, Dick Cheney, even with just days to go in his time in public office, pleaded for more time.
Asked by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer why President Bush had been unable to “capture or kill [Osama] bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No. 2 al Qaeda leader,” the vice president replied:
Well, we’ve got a few days left yet, Wolf.
He later expanded his answer, arguing that bin Laden’s reclusion in the hills of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border had greatly limited his effectiveness as a terrorist leader.
“My guess is at this point he’s operating in an area that’s very difficult, very hard to get to, that he’s not an effective leader at this stage,” said Cheney. “He can’t really engage his organization without coming out of whatever hole he’s hiding in. And the key thing for us, even if we got bin Laden tomorrow, is to take down his organization. And that’s what we’ve been actively doing.” Read the rest of this entry ?
“If we don’t act swiftly and boldly,” declared President-elect Barack Obama in his latest weekly address, “we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to double-digit unemployment.” If you ask me, he was understating the case.
The fact is that recent economic numbers have been terrifying, not just in the United States but around the world. Manufacturing, in particular, is plunging everywhere. Banks aren’t lending; businesses and consumers aren’t spending. Let’s not mince words: This looks an awful lot like the beginning of a second Great Depression.
So will we “act swiftly and boldly” enough to stop that from happening? We’ll soon find out. Read the rest of this entry ?
Human rights groups have expressed concern that a highly flammable weapon used by Israel could be causing additional casualties among civilians in Gaza. Al Jazeera’s Tom Ackerman examines the controversy surrounding white phosphorus munitions.
Rick Warren joins Chuck Colson and other Christian right activists to oppose funding condom distribution in Africa
Once hailed by Time magazine as “America’s Pastor,” California mega-church leader and bestselling author of The Purpose Driven Life Rick Warren now finds himself on the defensive. President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of Warren to deliver the inaugural prayer has generated intense scrutiny of the pastor’s beliefs on social issues, from his vocal support for Prop 8, a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage in California, to his comparison of homosexuality to pedophilia, incest and bestiality. Many of Obama’s supporters have demanded that he withdraw the invitation.
Warren’s defense against charges of intolerance ultimately depends upon his ace card: his heavily publicized crusade against AIDS in Africa. Obama senior advisor David Axelrod cited Warren’s work in Africa as one of “the things on which [Obama and Warren] agree” on the December 28 episode of Meet the Press. Warren may be opposed to gay rights and abortion, the thinking goes, but he tells evangelicals it is their God-given duty to battle one of the greatest pandemics in history. What could be wrong with that?
But since the Warren inauguration controversy erupted, the nature of work against AIDS in Africa has gone unexamined. Warren has not been particularly forthcoming to those who have attempted to look into it. His website contains scant information about the results of his program. However, an investigation into Warren’s involvement in Africa reveals a web of alliances with right-wing clergymen who have sidelined science-based approaches to combating AIDS in favor of abstinence-only education. More disturbingly, Warren’s allies have rolled back key elements of one of the continent’s most successful initiative, the so-called ABC program in Uganda. Stephen Lewis, the United Nations’ special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, told the New York Times their activism is “resulting in great damage and undoubtedly will cause significant numbers of infections which should never have occurred.” Read the rest of this entry ?
from THE ONION • see all posts in HUMOR
Today Now! welcomes adventurer and balloonist Trent Montague, who is determined to steer the conversation to the horrors of horse abuse.
A friend once described his sexual appetites this way: “A hungry junkyard dog is more fun than a poodle.” He’s going to be one happy puppy after he reads my five predictions for sex in 2009:
1. You’re going to have a lot more of it.
The recession that hit your pocket will tickle your crotch. Call it Recession Sex. If you’re coupled, you’re going to spend more time at home and at some point that TV’s gotta be turned off. The nesting impulse will increase your resting pulse. That’s the good news. The bad? As discretionary income goes down, indiscretions go up. Oops. If you’re single, you’ll have the time but not the money to fritter away at bars. You won’t wait for the last-call yard sale so you’ll probably lower the bar to increase your odds.
2. You’re going to see a lot more of it.
Larry Flynt once said, “There are two kinds of people who oppose porn. Those who don’t know what they’re talking about and those who don’t know what they’re missing.” Well, ain’t nobody missing it anymore. It’s everywhere. The mainstreaming of porn in art, fashion, and media is turning adult videos into a sort of Zen koan: No matter where you go, there it is.
3. You’re going to be paying a lot less for it.
Nobody’s going to put call girls in a higher tax bracket this year. With a tanking economy, streetwalkers, pole dancers and gold diggers alike are going to have to give it up for less. So are the online dating sites, as they compete with free sites like Plentyoffish.com, Okcupid.com, and DateHookUp.com. It’s like they’ve been working a corner for years and now some hussy’s going to do the job for free. Oh, my.
You might blow a lot of things up for porn but it won’t be your budget. You don’t have to buy it anymore. Hell, you don’t even have to rent it. You just have to point your browser to free sites like Youporn.com and xtube.com, where amateurs and pros upload unstoppable watchables. Offline piracy, illegal downloads and free video sharing sites are going to make dinosaurs out of adult video studios. If they don’t figure out how to compete with “FREE” soon, their last movie is gonna be about their profits–Gone With The Girdle.
4. You’re going to be doing it with things that are smarter than you.
Safe sex is not a padded headboard, but it is programmable. Take the SaSi vibrator. It’s a sort of iTunes dildo–it remembers your favorite vibrations so you can play them later. Make it go left, right and a little to the side and it’ll ‘record’ the vibrational combinations, releasing you from, well, all that hard work.
5. You’re going to see videos of strangers before you do it with them.
Online dating sites have already introduced relevant searching methods, instant messaging, and mobile phone access to pictures and profiles. What’s next? Videos. They’ll get rid of flakes that use fake pictures, serving as a kind of Venus Lie Trap. Watch AOL’s beta test of love.com, the first to bundle Instant Messenger, audio and video into a traditional dating site.
My bottom line prediction for sex in 2009: The No Pants Dance craze will sweep the nation.
On Thursday, January 15, at 9:30 a.m., the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its confirmation hearing for Attorney General nominee Eric Holder. If the Senators are willing to work together and to listen to those of us who elected them, the questioning might go something like this:
