which is pretty much israel's attitude. this guy on al jazeera literally just says, well sure they're suffering, but so what? we've had to put up with bombs that haven't killed anyone in over 6 months, so they should've been starved and frozen and dehydrated to the point that they need medical attention that gaza doesn't have medical supplies for. hey arabs, suck on that!
here's the deal. i'm about 80% sure that israel is going to demand that hamas be removed (or step down) from power. that's probably the goal. hamas getting elected to power in the last elections was the spark for this latest round of battleship. remember the world's reaction? aid money dried up, and israel decided to not hand over tax and customs money that even rightfully belonged to palestine, on the grounds that there's no way the dirty arabs would actually spend it on government. even though that was hamas' strong suit and the reason palestinians picked them in the elections. so mahmoud abbas tried to negotiate a compromise. but hamas felt it had been screwed, and maybe it had, and it wanted what it had won in the election, even if the rest of the world had no intention of letting them have it. so hamas took gaza and fatah took the west bank and the bush administration tried, at least for the cameras, to look like it would reward the good dog. but if you lock someone in a closet and tell them they're not getting food or water or a light bulb until they decide to give the closet to someone else, that shit out of luck soul will start figuring out how to get out of the closet to teach you some fucking manners.
but israel is going to insist on the removal of hamas from power, and total control of palestine for a party that lost the last round of elections. all because the poor saps actually thought a democratic election would be respected. what were they thinking? that palestinian elections were for palestine's benefit? only tikkun thinks that. israel has reserved for itself the right (based on what, i don't know- certainly not international law), to decide that palestinians picked wrong, according to israel's interests. israel is not even going to pretend, in that white man's burden way, to be acting in palestinians' interests when it decides who their leaders will be. which i could respect, if israel didn't act like it has the right to decide who will eat and drink water and get heating fuel and medical supplies based on how they voted. because when you do things that cause deaths to civilian populations because of their political choices, there's a word for that.
this bears saying, maybe even on american television once in a while: there is a group of people in that region, maybe even more than one, that is on its knees at the edge of an existential cliff. but it's not the israelis. and i'd appreciate it if marty peretz could get that thru his george bush cocksucking head. i am actually finally old enough to say that i've seen this before, whether it was late 2000's intifada, or the 2006 war in lebanon. the aerial bombardment and ground troops thing doesn't work. neither, for that matter do katyushas or qassams. but i think (assume) both parties know that by now. i think they're doing this because deep down, the governments (internationally recognized and otherwise) of that region know what the long term solution is, but it involves decisions that can be called political suicide. in the case of yitzahk rabin, it was putting an "assassinate me" sign on his back. you think arafat and abbas didn't learn something from that? you really think anyone from any country is going to take that kind of risk now? then you deserve the stupidity of the talking heads.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
the new low
what dicks. really? you're looking out for tax payers and saving america's auto industry? because it seems to this mere mortal that you're screwing these people (not necessarily in this order):
1- the taxpayers
2- the people who make america's cars
3- the auto industry in general
first of all, maybe the uaw could have caved. but i really don't want to live in a country where a union can be put over a barrel and sodomized with an open umbrella. and how the uaw can now suddenly just agree to shit without a member vote is way past me. it might just be that, instead, the republicans just don't fucking know how unions work.
but here's why these fucktards are screwing us, them, and the cars. they're screwing the taxpayers because a $14 billion loan is alot fucking better than the billions of dollars we'll have to pay in umemployment, food stamps, and medicaid. remember- it's not just the autoworkers. it's everyone who sells the autoworkers shit. it's their grocery stores, their hardware stores, their mortgage institutions, everyfuckingbody. that's alot more unemployed people at a time when anyone with working neurons in the u.s. government wants to desperately keep the jobs that george bush hasn't yet flushed down a toilet with his blow.
the human scumbuckets are also screwing the autoworkers. i love how these anti-centralized economy dickwads are now setting wage caps. call me crazy, but we haven't done that for private sector employees since nixon's price setting. these southern dixies have decided that this is truly the best moment to make belonging to a union useless. it relieves the pressure on the manufacturers in their states (mostly foreign car companies, mind you) to raise wages. manufacturers, i might add, that these mule-raping cross burners were more than happy to woo to their jurisdictions with so much cash (in the form of tax benefits, mostly) it was like toyota was a stripper and richard shelby was howard stern.
and the auto industry. now, as someone who doesn't own a car- which is a truly stupid thing to do in new york fucking city, i tolerate the auto industry because i've been able to drive a toyota prius once. and i drove around on business for three fucking days and went through maybe a 1/4 tank of gas. i liked that (btw, don't go for the full tank option when you have a hybrid- just get the option to only refill what you burned- and ALWAYS get the loss/damage waiver. that's another story). i don't understand our national desire to fucking drive everywhere, or to live in neighborhoods where that's the only option. that's always struck me as a sign of a true dumbass. but u.s. automakers do employ a shitload of people who i'd like to keep on their payrolls instead of on the dole. dealerships also employ a shitload of people. as well as the people who supply u.s. cars' parts. as well as everyone who does something for autoworkers that make union wages. and general clark may be right- maybe we should keep people manufacturing at u.s. owned plants- plants we may need during wartime. i don't know if our use of auto plants to make ww2 war shit can be redone for today's war shit. what i do know is that before the gm plant in janesville, wisconsin, closed, the people who worked there were proud of what they did. they were proud to own gm cars. in fact, old-time janesville residents made a point of owning gm cars. they were proud to work for a u.s. automaker. not because they hated japanese people, but because they were proud of what america could do. with the exception of homes, i don't know of any other manufactured product that people are so proud to make.
the u.s. auto industry doesn't have to die just because some senate republicans would like to help the foreign manufacturers currently working in their home states (until some other state lures them away). the auto industry had just secured some useful concessions from the uaw, freeing itself from future retiree burdens. what we need to do is remind the u.s. auto industry that if they're so near and dear to our hearts that we won't let them fail, then they need to feel the same for us. we need cars that emit less co2. we need cars that stop making smog. we need smaller cars. we need more buses. like the auto industry, we too are too big to fail. and it's u.s. automakers that would receive the help necessary to make the cars americans really need. i love hondas, but the u.s. government has no business giving honda money. that's for japan to do.
okay, maybe i'm being a little idealistic. maybe i have this idea in my head that u.s. automakers would be more interested in serving the general public than in manufacturing some highly profitable machine and creating consumer demand for it by convincing americans that they need tons of space and gadgets they'll never use. i know. but they're u.s. automakers- they fall under our jurisdiction. if we're going to be reminded that we need to help them out sporadically, we can remind them that they're supposed to act in america's interest, at least until the checks clear.
1- the taxpayers
2- the people who make america's cars
3- the auto industry in general
first of all, maybe the uaw could have caved. but i really don't want to live in a country where a union can be put over a barrel and sodomized with an open umbrella. and how the uaw can now suddenly just agree to shit without a member vote is way past me. it might just be that, instead, the republicans just don't fucking know how unions work.
but here's why these fucktards are screwing us, them, and the cars. they're screwing the taxpayers because a $14 billion loan is alot fucking better than the billions of dollars we'll have to pay in umemployment, food stamps, and medicaid. remember- it's not just the autoworkers. it's everyone who sells the autoworkers shit. it's their grocery stores, their hardware stores, their mortgage institutions, everyfuckingbody. that's alot more unemployed people at a time when anyone with working neurons in the u.s. government wants to desperately keep the jobs that george bush hasn't yet flushed down a toilet with his blow.
the human scumbuckets are also screwing the autoworkers. i love how these anti-centralized economy dickwads are now setting wage caps. call me crazy, but we haven't done that for private sector employees since nixon's price setting. these southern dixies have decided that this is truly the best moment to make belonging to a union useless. it relieves the pressure on the manufacturers in their states (mostly foreign car companies, mind you) to raise wages. manufacturers, i might add, that these mule-raping cross burners were more than happy to woo to their jurisdictions with so much cash (in the form of tax benefits, mostly) it was like toyota was a stripper and richard shelby was howard stern.
and the auto industry. now, as someone who doesn't own a car- which is a truly stupid thing to do in new york fucking city, i tolerate the auto industry because i've been able to drive a toyota prius once. and i drove around on business for three fucking days and went through maybe a 1/4 tank of gas. i liked that (btw, don't go for the full tank option when you have a hybrid- just get the option to only refill what you burned- and ALWAYS get the loss/damage waiver. that's another story). i don't understand our national desire to fucking drive everywhere, or to live in neighborhoods where that's the only option. that's always struck me as a sign of a true dumbass. but u.s. automakers do employ a shitload of people who i'd like to keep on their payrolls instead of on the dole. dealerships also employ a shitload of people. as well as the people who supply u.s. cars' parts. as well as everyone who does something for autoworkers that make union wages. and general clark may be right- maybe we should keep people manufacturing at u.s. owned plants- plants we may need during wartime. i don't know if our use of auto plants to make ww2 war shit can be redone for today's war shit. what i do know is that before the gm plant in janesville, wisconsin, closed, the people who worked there were proud of what they did. they were proud to own gm cars. in fact, old-time janesville residents made a point of owning gm cars. they were proud to work for a u.s. automaker. not because they hated japanese people, but because they were proud of what america could do. with the exception of homes, i don't know of any other manufactured product that people are so proud to make.
the u.s. auto industry doesn't have to die just because some senate republicans would like to help the foreign manufacturers currently working in their home states (until some other state lures them away). the auto industry had just secured some useful concessions from the uaw, freeing itself from future retiree burdens. what we need to do is remind the u.s. auto industry that if they're so near and dear to our hearts that we won't let them fail, then they need to feel the same for us. we need cars that emit less co2. we need cars that stop making smog. we need smaller cars. we need more buses. like the auto industry, we too are too big to fail. and it's u.s. automakers that would receive the help necessary to make the cars americans really need. i love hondas, but the u.s. government has no business giving honda money. that's for japan to do.
okay, maybe i'm being a little idealistic. maybe i have this idea in my head that u.s. automakers would be more interested in serving the general public than in manufacturing some highly profitable machine and creating consumer demand for it by convincing americans that they need tons of space and gadgets they'll never use. i know. but they're u.s. automakers- they fall under our jurisdiction. if we're going to be reminded that we need to help them out sporadically, we can remind them that they're supposed to act in america's interest, at least until the checks clear.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
so they're collateral damage, right?
if you are related to these people, just go read something else. this will justifiably piss you off. but it needs to be said. so just keep browsing.
well, turns out we do body counts after all. they just have to be american bodies. will the military treat these people like the afghanis they killed in august? will we hear that this family was from the animal liberation front? will we hear that the number three is an inflated number, because the san diego locals aren't entirely reliable (or able to count)? will their deaths be tragic, but necessary for our freedoms?
no. the military will compensate the families, and maybe even spank the motherfucker who decided "fuck this shit" before ejecting to leave his plane to crash into civilians. the military will fall all over itself redressing this shit. first of all, because san diego is a major major military town. don't believe me? fuckin' go there. second, san diego is not a war zone, so alot of "journalists" will have access to the locals. third, and maybe most important, the locals speak the same language as the "journalists", and the viewers, and will most likely be the same skin color and religion as the "journalists" and the viewers. don't think that matters? then wtf rock have you been living under? the big one in australia? fuckin' figures.
this will be a goddamned tragedy that the military swears it will take all steps to prevent from ever, ever, happening again. everyone will go on about how sorry the pilot was that he might have hurt someone, and how this really cuts him up, and he can't sleep at night, and fucking so on. there will be no denials of a single goddamn detail, or a single goddamned denial of how fucked up it is that a military plane's pilot can just abandon an f-18 without first making sure it won't hit someone else. there will be no comparison to when the military purposely fires on civilian areas, killing dozens, and claiming it's all okay 'cause they got a few taliban, who had some nerve hiding somewhere difficult to just bomb without killing others. the military will not claim that fighting terrorists trumps your ability to live out the day in your own home. nope.
since no one, no one, else will call these deaths the proper u.s. military name for them, i will: they're collateral damage. freebies. gimmes. people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time (without even knowing it) and paid for it with their lives. people who had the nerve to think they were safe and deserved to be. people who thought staying out of trouble meant it wouldn't crash into the house. if only we really applied this definition, we might rethink how often we use it.
well, turns out we do body counts after all. they just have to be american bodies. will the military treat these people like the afghanis they killed in august? will we hear that this family was from the animal liberation front? will we hear that the number three is an inflated number, because the san diego locals aren't entirely reliable (or able to count)? will their deaths be tragic, but necessary for our freedoms?
no. the military will compensate the families, and maybe even spank the motherfucker who decided "fuck this shit" before ejecting to leave his plane to crash into civilians. the military will fall all over itself redressing this shit. first of all, because san diego is a major major military town. don't believe me? fuckin' go there. second, san diego is not a war zone, so alot of "journalists" will have access to the locals. third, and maybe most important, the locals speak the same language as the "journalists", and the viewers, and will most likely be the same skin color and religion as the "journalists" and the viewers. don't think that matters? then wtf rock have you been living under? the big one in australia? fuckin' figures.
this will be a goddamned tragedy that the military swears it will take all steps to prevent from ever, ever, happening again. everyone will go on about how sorry the pilot was that he might have hurt someone, and how this really cuts him up, and he can't sleep at night, and fucking so on. there will be no denials of a single goddamn detail, or a single goddamned denial of how fucked up it is that a military plane's pilot can just abandon an f-18 without first making sure it won't hit someone else. there will be no comparison to when the military purposely fires on civilian areas, killing dozens, and claiming it's all okay 'cause they got a few taliban, who had some nerve hiding somewhere difficult to just bomb without killing others. the military will not claim that fighting terrorists trumps your ability to live out the day in your own home. nope.
since no one, no one, else will call these deaths the proper u.s. military name for them, i will: they're collateral damage. freebies. gimmes. people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time (without even knowing it) and paid for it with their lives. people who had the nerve to think they were safe and deserved to be. people who thought staying out of trouble meant it wouldn't crash into the house. if only we really applied this definition, we might rethink how often we use it.
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