Jefferson Corner

In today’s Asharqalwsat, the columnist Samir Atallah used a quote from the former Lebanese prime minister, and I might add a Sunni, a quote that made me stop to think about writing this posting. Dr. Salim Al-Hos, alumni of Indiana University, was quoted as saying that Lebanon is about lots of freedoms and little democracy. How can any one disagree with that?
Lebanese, like Israelis always brag about their “democracy” and how their respective countries are a light unto other nations. Well, let us not take such statements too seriously otherwise George Bush might get a new ideas about democracy at home, in the US.
The sad facts and in both cases, in Israel and Lebanon, are built around and are “designer” democracy where ethnicity and religious affiliation, sectarian loyalty are at the core of such democracies. We know about the Jewish State and its special and selective democracy, where generals, murderers and criminals rule the country just like a mafia. In Lebanon, it “families” that rule Lebanon and it is the sectarian affiliation that is the basis for such a state. How can both countries, in the 21st century meets the requirements of modern day democracy, where citizenship, its rights and privileges are not based on religious affiliations and ethnicity, but where citizens are equal in the eyes of the law irrespective of race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin.
In Israel non-Jews are thirds, perhaps tenth class citizens with rights and privileges are exclusive of Jews and where indigenous people, the “natives” Palestinians are at the mercy of the Jewish state every day of the week, with the possibilities of losing their property and land if not their lives to trigger happy and new Jewish immigrants.
Lebanon was and will always remain, a sectarian state, where citizenship and its rights and privileges are always defined by ‘religious affiliation” or “taifa”, not simply with the birthright. Where loyalties even among the most educated belong to the leadership of the “taifa” and not to the state. Lebanon is also most famous for its “families” like the Jumblat, Shamoun, Jemael, Arsalan, Asa’ad, Frenjeih and recently Harriri. So far Sayed Hassan Nasrallah and Nabih Berri did not try to build a ‘dynasty” where the mantle of power and authority is passed on from father to son irrespective of competence.
For a long time there was a collusion between the Maronite Christians and their Beiruti Sunnis where political and economic powers where shared between these two groups. The late Rafiq Al-Hariri changed all that being the son of Said and not Beirut. Lebanon is also the country, with the support of the late Hafiz Assad that appointed a criminal and mass murderer of Palestinians in Sabra and Shatilla as a minister. Also in Lebanon, leaders of militias responsible for the murder and killings of hundreds of thousands are the rulers and decision makers in the country, and where those responsible for the disappearance of tens of thousands roam free and are considered ‘socialites” invited to the best of restaurants and to national debates that determine the future of the nation.
Perhaps what Lebanon needs more of, is democracy to match its freedoms. Yes, there are lots of personal and social freedoms, but the most basic freedoms of all, the rights and privileges of citizens are dictated by old and rotten ideas of sectarian affiliations. Of course, unless and until such time, Lebanon gets over its “sectarian burden” Lebanon and its people will never be free and democratic. Of course Israel is a mental “Jewish” case and the only solution for Israel and its sectarian democracy is a one state solution, only then can the Jews reclaim the long stated phrase “a light unto other nations”. The only light now is the one coming from a tank and an F-16 killing and murdering people.

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In its November 6 issue, Time Magazine, not only had an interesting cover and story on George Bush dubbing him the Lone Ranger, but it also ran an even more interesting story “Home Truth” about America; its politics, religion, income, population and population distribution and of course immigration, the subject of local election in the town of Herndon, Virginia, out to get those “illegal and dangerous immigrants”.
What struck me most about Time’s article was a little chart, a column of people, profession and income. It listed names and professions and the amount of money it takes to make $1,000. This is how it goes; Howard Stern, the radio host makes $1,000 in 42 seconds while a policemen and a teacher make the same amount of money in 43 hours. A janitor, no doubt an immigrant and possibly cleaning Howard Stern’ office makes that the same amount in 103 hours or 2.57 weeks and is at risk of being thrown out of country.
Of course all of us have heard of Howard Stern or even at one time or another watched his show late at night. But for someone to make that kind of money, $1,000, in 42 seconds is simply a telling a bout America and its core priorities. It takes Dr. Phil McGraw 2 minutes and 42 seconds to make a $1,000 and it takes an average doctor attending patients in a hospital or clinics 13 hours and 5 minutes to make the same amount of money that Dr. Phil makes telling people what they want to hear.
Howard Stern is the host of the Howard Stern Show on the subscription fee based Sirius Satellite Radio. He moved there on January 9, 2006 and his show is broadcast 4 times/week one week and 5 times/week another week.
Mr. Stern knew how to “outrage” America and how to insult its core sensibilities and laugh all the way to the bank. His show is all about things “outrageous” outrageous racial and sexual slurs and insults, and of course “outrageous” in the kind of people who appear o the show. That is where Americans seems not bothered with such payments.
With that kind of income disparity, it seems clear that America and its people put premium on outrageous things and do not give much value or don’t give a damn about critical services such as teaching, police and fire protection and of course medical services. It is hard to believe that our own teachers, policemen and firemen, the key elements in providing protection and education to our own families, children and homes are not thought of much and in most cases live on borrowed money and credit cards to make ends meet. I do not understand why we, in a county like Fairfax, perhaps the richest county in the US do not pay teachers, policemen and firemen, the average medium income for the county. What is wrong with policemen or firemen who put their lives on the line every day to make $80,000 or $100,000? I see nothing wrong with that. However I do see a lot wrong with someone like Howard Stern making $1,000 every 42 seconds only because he insults our sensibilities. It seems we always reward such TV and radio personalities for being outrageous and we do not reward our policemen, firemen and teachers because they are courageous and provide us with critical services. That is one reason why I do not subscribe to Sirius Radio, as I do not wish to contribute any money toward an ever-increasing income of someone like Howard Stern, but will be very happy to add few hundred dollars to my taxes to reward our own policemen, firemen and teachers in Fairfax County and across America. It is time to vote our dollars and recognition to those who deserve it and not to those who insult us.

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Couple of days ago, the French Socialist Party, the last of Europe true socialist parties selected Segolene Royal as its candidate for next year French presidential election.
The selection of Segolene Royal by the 6,000 delegates over the former French prime minister Laurent Fabius and the former French economic minister Dominique Strauss-Khan means the French Socialist Party is serious about challenging and winning the next presidential over the presumed front runner and the candidate of the right, Nicolas Sarkozsy.
The French Socialist Party could not have done better and could not have selected a better candidate than Segolene Royal, who in her speech recognized the fact that France has changed and that France today is one of color, of diversity, and one where all French nationals regardless of their origin are French and are entitled the full right of citizenship, and that means the chance for a decent life and a chance for a good education.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian immigrant and a French mother was in Washington couple of weeks ago, giving support to the Republican Party and to George Bush and his NeoCons in their war in Iraq, in their war on terrorism and in their war in Islam. Nicholas Sarkozy who is presumed the front-runner over Dominique de Villepin, the French Prime Minister is the present minister of interior with responsibilities for domestic policies including police, immigration and of course opportunities for sons and daughters of immigrants like him. While other immigrants are left to rot by the French domestic policies, someone like Sarkozy was able to become minister of interior and lead the war against immigrants and immigration, and his strength within the right.
The French Socialist Party with Ms. Royal as its candidate will have a good a chance of winning the election if it is able to convince the majority of French that France did change and that France can regain its economic health and reform without sacrificing its ideals and freedoms. Ms. Royal is offering the French a clear choice between the agenda of the French left and that of the French right.
The US Democratic Party must offer US voters clear and distinct programs from that of the Republican Party. It is too bad that the Democratic Party since Bill Clinton was unable to come up with a clear agenda for America, not only failed to challenge Republican of their presumed monopoly over national and security issues, but gave up its rights to challenge George Bush and his Tel-Aviv mafia over their fraud and lies and reasons for going to war in Iraq. Worst yet, it was unable, for the last two election to chose other than “too stiff” Al Gore and “too pompous and stuffy” John Kerry and could not offer smart candidates and programs to challenge George Bush and his agenda of recreating a new American in his image and in the image of his NeoCons.
Perhaps the Democratic Party can learn something from the French and offer us voters a candidate with clear lines of black and white. We are too tired of too many gray lines in our domestic and international policies. The Democratic Party failed American when it voted with George Bush knowing that he, Dick Chaney and the Tel-Aviv mafia lied all the way to the war in Iraq. The Democratic Party needs a candidate like Ms. Royal who is offering the French a clear choice between left and right, making sure there is nothing to be ashamed of in being on the left and being a liberal.

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Last update - 09:39 12/11/2006
No one is guilty in Israel
By Gideon Levy
Nineteen inhabitants of Beit Hanun were killed with malice aforethought. There is no other way of describing the circumstances of their killing. Someone who throws burning matches into a forest can’t claim he didn’t mean to set it on fire, and anyone who bombards residential neighborhoods with artillery can’t claim he didn’t mean to kill innocent inhabitants. Therefore it takes considerable gall and cynicism to dare to claim that the Israel Defense Forces did not intend to kill inhabitants of Beit Hanun. Even if there was a glitch in the balancing of the aiming mechanism or in a component of the radar, a mistake in the input of the data or a human error, the overwhelming, crucial, shocking fact is that the IDF bombards helpless civilians. Even shells that are supposedly aimed 200 meters from houses, into “open areas,” are intended to kill, and they do kill. In this respect, nothing new happened on Wednesday morning in Gaza: The IDF has been behaving like this for months now. But this isn’t just a matter of “the IDF,” “the government” or “Israel” bearing the responsibility. It must be said explicitly: The blame rests directly on people who hold official positions, flesh-and-blood human beings, and they must pay the price of their criminal responsibility for needless killing. Attorney Avigdor Klagsbald caused the death of a woman and her child without anyone imagining that he intended to hit them, but nevertheless he is sitting in prison. And what about the killers of women and children in Beit Hanun? Will they all be absolved? Will no one be tried? Will no one even be reprimanded and shunned? GOC Southern Command Yoav Galant will say with exasperating coolness that apparently there was “a problem with the battery’s targeting apparatus,” without moving a facial muscle, and will that be enough? Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh will say, “The IDF is militarily responsible, but not morally responsible,” and will he thus exculpate himself? And who will bear the responsibility for the renewal of the terror attacks? Only Hamas? Who will be accused of the tumble in Israel’s status and its depiction as a violent, leper state, and who will be judged for the danger that hovers over world Jewry in the wake of the IDF’s acts? The electronic component that went on the blink in the radar? No one is guilty in Israel. There is never anyone guilty in Israel. The prime minister who is responsible for the brutal policy toward the Palestinians, the defense minister who knew about and approved the bombardments, the chief of staff, the chief of command and the commander of the division who gave the orders to bombard - not one of them is guilty. They will continue with the work of killing as though nothing has happened: The sun shone, the system flourished and the ritual slaughterer slaughtered. They will continue to pursue the routine of their daily lives, accepted in society like anyone else, and remain in their posts despite the blood on their hands. A few hours after the disaster, while the Gaza Strip was still enveloped in sorrow and deep in shock, the air force was already hastening to carry out another targeted killing, an arrogant demonstration of just how much this disaster does not concern us. Israel after the disaster was split: There were those who did their duty and “expressed sorrow,” like the prime minister and the defense minister, and there were those who hastened with appalling insensitivity to cast the responsibility onto the Palestinians, like the “moderate” foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, and the deputy defense minister from the Labor Party, Sneh. The silent majority did not bother to emerge from its yawning indifference. The entertainment shows on television continued to make people laugh, and one of the radio stations even broadcast, in a demonstrable lack of taste, Sarit Hadad’s song “You’re a Big Gun.” Mourning, of course, did not descend on Israel, and there was not even a single manifestation of genuine participation in the sorrow. It did not occur to Israel to promise compensation to the families and it did not provide help, apart from transferring some of the wounded to hospitals in Israel. We provided more aid to the victims of the earthquake in Mexico, even though there we didn’t have a hand in the disaster. For the most part, the media were not very disturbed by the killing and devoted less attention to it than to the Gay Pride parade. A day or two after the disaster it was totally forgotten and other affairs are filling our lives. But it is impossible just to go on to the next item on the agenda. This disaster is not an act of God. There are people who are clearly responsible for it, and they must be brought to justice. The fact that the International Court of Justice in The Hague still looks very far from Israel, and the various “Halutzes” and “Galants” can still move around freely in the world, because in Israel they forgive nearly everything, does not mean that war crimes are not being committed here. The IDF may well be a big gun, but an army that is responsible for needless killing in such large dimensions, as in recent months in Lebanon and in Gaza, is a failed and dangerous army that must urgently be repaired. The Defense Forces are not only killing Arabs for no reason, they are also directly endangering Israel’s security, disgracing it in the world and embroiling it again and again. The heedless and arrogant reaction to such deeds contains a dangerous moral message. If it is possible to dismiss mass killing with a wealth of technical excuses, and not take any drastic measure against those who are truly guilty of it, then Israel is saying that, as far as it is concerned, nothing happened apart from the faulty component in the radar system or the glitch in balancing the sights. But what happened at Beit Hanun, what happened in Israel on the day after and what is continuing to happen in Gaza day after day is a far more frightening distortion than the calibrating of a gun sight.
Editor note: this article appeared in Haaretz, the Israeli paper. No US paper and no US editor dare to write what this paper publish.

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For over 50 years, the Arabs are convinced that only the US can solve the Arab-Israeli conflicts. The same is true of so many Palestinian- Americans who share the views that the US is very much interested in peace in the Middle East and convinced that the US is interested in settling once and for all the Arab-Israeli conflict. I am one of those who disagree with all of this non-sense and who sees the US not only a party to the conflict on the side of Israel but share in the daily crimes committed by Israel toward the Palestinian people and recently the Lebanese.
The recent veto by the US of a draft resolution holding Israel responsible for the massacre of so many innocent civilians in Beit Hanoun and the more than 38 vetoes in support of Israel, its crimes and its continued occupation should leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that the US is, was never interested in peace in the Middle East, and in fact the US is one of the promoters and sponsors of all of the conflicts between the Arabs and Israel and could not, even if it wants to, due to domestic political reasons, sponsor any efforts that could lead to real peace between Israel and the Palestinians and between Israel and the Arabs.
US foreign policies from the days of Lyndon Johnson to Bush Jr., was always against the Arab interests even as they pursue genuine peace with Israel. And it is not all because of the influence of the Israeli/Jewish lobby, which has something to do with it, but long established policy directives that want to keep the Middle East a source of conflict and instability drive US policies in the Middle East. Other wise the US is perhaps in the best position to push for and demand an immediate halt to the violence and conflict and can in no time organize a world conference between Israel and the Arab countries and push for a total and comprehensive solution to the Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab conflict.
The recent veto can only demonstrate that this Bush administration lacks any sense of moral values, and even devoid of any of its often-pronounced Judea-Christian values. How can a cold-blooded murder of innocent people of an entire family be justified? Even criminal Israel admitted the killings and murder in Beit Hanoun to be a technical mistake, yet Ms. Rice and Mr. Bush could never see any thing wrong with killing and murder of innocent Palestinian and could not see any thing wrong with killing of innocent Arabs. To Bush and Rice, the only good Arab is a dead Arab. This is the same Ms. Rice who not too long ago stood up and spoke at the annual conference of the American Task Force for Palestine and gave its commitments to do something about the daily crimes committed by Israel and who promised to work toward peace. It seem that peace is one defined by death.
The US is always covering up for Israel and always covering up for the daily crimes committed by Israel and its criminal army, and always find a way not only to provide international cover for such crimes, but fund it as well. We as taxpayers pay for all of the bombs and weapons that kill Palestinians and killed Lebanese. Someone like the ex-senator from Virginia, George Allen gave Tel-Aviv more than $30 BIILION, tens time the money he voted to give to his state of Virginia.
One day all of this will catch up with Israeli leaders, and US who will sooner than later will have to face international tribunals for the daily international crimes committed by Israel and its defense forces. For those who think the US is an honest broker should take notice and recognize once and for all that the US is not only a party to the conflict in the Middle East but is a partner in the daily crimes committed by Israel and its army, crimes committed on a daily basis in Gaza and in the West Bank.

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I have to admit, my entire family and I were so very happy with the Republican loss of both the House of Representative and the Senate and above all were very excited in particular with the loss of George Allen and the election of Jim Webb to the US Senate.
Yes, this past election was a referendum on George Bush and his policies of war on America, his war terrorism and his war on Iraq that his “Tel-Aviv” mafia got us in.
The election of George Bush was a declared war by the NeoCons and the evangelicals against American and all that it stood for. The election of George Bush in the first place was a war on a healthy and substantial budget surplus, which he and his friends squander on their own foolish adventure and it is nothing but a declaration of war on middle class American and the millions of taxpayers. George Bush chose greedy corporate American over his own people and we all know where did the hundreds of Billions of dollars left over from Bill Clinton went. It went to companies that took American for a ride and took the taxpayers for a ride.
The NeoCons declared war on America and its democratic values and tried to justify the erosion and suspensions of civil liberties and justified torture and abuse and murder of prisoners in the name of fighting terrorism and in the name of national securities. American, which was the most loved country during the Clinton years, became the most hated country during George Bush and Dick Chaney’s years. The NeoCons for their own personal and ideological gains which has nothing to do with the national interest of the US and it has every thing to do with “Tel-Aviv” made sure that George Bush followed their own path to self destruction and the war on Iraq, which was originally planned by Bibi and his Likkudist boys in Washington back in 1992-3 was a way to secure Israel and put American in grave danger. The war on Iraq did not provide the American people with more security, in fact it added a lot to our insecurity, and added a great deal to the resentment of America by so many people around the world.
The election loss of George Bush, his Republican Party, all of NeoCons and evangelical Zionists-Christians was a declaration of independence by the American people and a declaration and commitment to the moral and democratic values that made the US such a great country, admired for its democratic principals and more admired for its protections of civil and constitutional rights. The Republican Revolution was no less of a revolution than that of Hitler National Socialism and its war on the German people.
The Republican lost not because the Democrats put forward clear alternatives and put forward a clear plans to undo the damage done by George Bush in his 6 years in office, but because the American people no longer bought the lies of the White House and its political strategists. This election was a vindication that American will always be that great country with great values and principals and will always be the leader of the free and democratic world. Bush, Chaney, Rumsfled, Rice, Bolton, Faith, Edelman, Perle, Wolfowitz, Frumm, Robertson, Faldwell and all of the NeoCons are nothing but an exception to the rule and that American will always manage to make a self correction and bring back the country to the middle. Let us hope the Democrat will have the backbones to offer clear alternatives to George Bush and his NeoCons and offer a program of investing in American and its people and that exporting democracies is a good thing, when it is done by examples and not by B-52’s or F-16’s. Yes, there is so much good well out there for America and we hope the Democrats will make a good use of it. It is the good well of the people of the world that is the best guarantees for our security. The war in Iraq and Afghanistan proves the limited use and benefits of weapons and wars.

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