The Gaza attacks

After following the slaughter of the Palestinian people in Gaza and reading the BBC news post dated "Saturday, 1 March 2008" entitled " New Israeli raids on Gaza kill 32"; I had to post the following comments to the BBC. However, since I know these comments will be lost in a digital trash can, I will post them here lest a few more people get to read it.

More often than not the BBC is thought to be a liberal news broadcasting company. However, in today's world an independent news casting corporation does not exist. For the average reader it may not be apparent how biased the news reporting - especially choice of words - is. However, a closer look into the article gives you a better understanding. I personally loved what the table subsection, listing a group of events as headlines had to say:

Just below (in blue) is a pasted text version of the table:

ISRAEL-HAMAS ATTACKS

Saturday:

At least 32 Palestinians killed in overnight raids

Friday:

Ashkelon activates warning system after rocket hits

Thursday:

Four Palestinian children and seven militants killed

Wednesday:

Six-month-old Palestinian boy and six militants killed

Israeli civilian killed in Sderot

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While below is the comment letter written to the BBC
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What a ludicrous account of events. The language used in this post are appalling. "More than 60 Palestinians and one Israeli have been killed in the violence since Wednesday.". Would it be more appropriate to say "More than 60 Palestinians have died while only one Israeli was killed since Wednesday?" Isn't that closer to the facts on the ground?

It is also amazing how amongst all the casualties listed they are either classified as children or Militants? Are there no non-militant Palestinian adults living in Gaza at all? Has the strip been evacuated from all Palestinian residents and replaced with militants over night while the BBC was sleeping?

I love this one:
" ISRAEL-HAMAS ATTACKS " table of of events lists last week's events as they "escalate". It seems Friday was the bloodiest, and I quote "Friday:
Ashkelon activates warning system after rocket hits
". My heart shivers knowing that the warning system was activated.

It seems that Europe has once again turned a blind eye on yet another Holocaust. You are the BBC I am sure you know about the statements made by the senior Israeli defense official. Regardless if you chose not to publish.

Finally, I have no doubt these comments will never be seen by anyone's eyes but your staff. Never the less I have a conscience and therefore have a duty towards the Palestinian victims.

Turtles Can Fly ....

I just finished watching "Turtles can fly" and I wish I have something intelligent to say. But I really don't. Its just a sad movie which makes you wonder how many such children in the world do live such lives. Its a movie worth watching, though I was hoping it would have a more political view. Maybe stir some thought and soul searching. It does show you that there is injustice/cruelty in the world. However, it really doesn't point a finger to anyone or anything. At least nothing that I was able to pick up. There might be a slight finger pointing when they mention that the mines in the mine field are US made or Italian made. Of course there is also a short scene about Saddam's crimes in Halabache . Maybe that was the purpose. Not to point fingers. Maybe the point is to say that we are all responsible. That these are the effects of war whomever is waging it. I was talking to two Red Cross workers last night and the past few weeks. All these conversations make me feel helpless and hopeless. If an organization such as the Red Cross hasn't been able to stop bloodshed and cruelty in this world, how can one person do that? Sure, the answer is not to quit. I have no doubt that changing one person's life is worth the effort. But still ... world poverty, wars, an inhumanity will always be there.

I seem to think that if everything on earth was transparent , like why is the U.S waging war on Iraq or Afghanistan, then no one will stand behind the Bush regime, Jewish Lobby, Arms industry and Oil tycoons. They will be standing on their own in one corner and the rest of the world on the other. But "Complete" - My Red Cross worker friend , thinks otherwise.

Who sparks the tension?

I have mentioned several times in previous posts and do so regularly during political conversation the importance of timing in world events and politics. News Media often give the impression that world events are separate incidents and are usually disconnected from each other. With some exceptions of course, like some action-reaction reports. An example of the exception can be the "War on terrorism" as a reaction to 9/11. While on the other hand an example of disconnected events is Bush winning the elections and then 9/11 attacks.

What I mean to suggest is that 9/11 did not just happen to fall in Bush and the new Con's laps. Iraq was well on the Agenda and 9/11 was the perfect excuse. Is it just coincidence? I don't believe in coincidence. I don't believe that a super power like the US just sits back and waits for things to fall on its lap. Therefore, timing is crucial for understanding world events.

Without going into more detail I will leave you with several questions:

Is it coincidence that there is internal tension between Iraqis now? While there are tensions between the Lebanese? OK, how about tensions between the Palestinians at the same time? Is it coincidence that all these tensions were sparked by a series of violent incidents? A person killed here, and another one there? An explosion here, and another one there?

I don't believe in coincidence.

Saddam's Death Sentence

So finally the death sentence for Saddam has come to pass. I will not discuss the ignorant Arab reaction to it, its legitimacy, nor the politics behind the timings. I am here to propose an alternative death sentence for Saddam, please choose your favorite:

A- Drop him off by helicopter in an undisclosed location and let Iraqis have their way with him

B- Put him in a titanium sealed cage in a public square permitting things like tomatoes,slippers and spit to be hauled but nothing lethal.

C- Put him in a bulletproof glass cage below ground level permitting people to urinate on the porous glass cage eventually filling it up enough for Saddam to drown in it.

D- None of the above, please provide your own preferred method using the comment section.


In conclusion, there is nothing that we can do to Saddam that will bring back the people he killed, nor the injustice he created. Yet death by hanging is not enough for a man like him. I do apologize if this post sounds immature or vulgar. However the intent is to engage the Iraqi and non-Iraqi reaction to the sentence. If you think that Saddam has been wronged, please comment and tell us why.

Conspiracy Theorist

Yet Again! This Conspiracy Theorist (myself) is uttering nonsense. I was reading not too long ago about the European mission to the moon. This gave me (and all other free thinkers) more ammunition to challenge the Apollo Moon landings.

WHAT? Some may ask. "What are you uttering this time? What about the moon landing? I mean surely Iraq, Afghanistan, even September 11th we can understand. What does the moon landing have to do with all of this? You are truly a conspiracy theorist with a lot of time on your hands".

Yes Dear reader, the moon landing might have just been another lie. The US. Government has had experience in lying prior to Iraq 2003 , believe it or not.

Actually I started reading about the Moon landing right before I started this Blog. It dawned on me back then to what extent deception has been fabricated in the past.

So what am I talking about now? Well, I simply will suggest to the reader that the Moon landings never occurred. At least no Man has ever done that. The reasons for my doubt:

- The technology back in 1961 (When Kennedy announced intent to land on the man) to 1969 when Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong was supposed to have landed on the moon , simply was not adequate. As a matter of fact it is probably not adequate now to do so either.

- The track record of other US missions during the space race was worse than the Soviet's in terms of disasters.

- The Politics involved and secrecy till this day.

- Other reasons and incidents that raise a question mark, like the deaths of many of the Apollo personal.

Of course most people who read this post will not feel compelled to believe anything. That is simply because I don't intend to present any argument yet. At this time all I am suggesting to the reader is to consider the possibility, do some research, and then come back later and read my next Moon Landing post.

For now I will leave you with this quote from the BBC and then a question to ponder:

""So far in Europe we have demonstrated landing on a body with an atmosphere successfully, on Titan, and there are several reasons for the failure we had on Mars.

"On the Moon there is no atmosphere; you need a fully controlled landing, so your orbital velocity has to be reduced with a chemical engine. At the moment we do not have all this technology completely available in Europe, so this is what has to be developed."

How can the U.S approximately 40 years ago was able to send a man to the moon during the height/towards the end of the Vietnam war (suggesting expenditure) while Europe during peace time armed with 40 years worth of Technology only managed to Crash a probe on the moon?

The alleged computer on board Apollo 11 had 32k of memory, not enough to run any meaningful program to calculate and analyze data to help the Pilot balance the Lunar Module upon Landing and take off. Which means that the pilot would have had to do that manually. Only there is no atmosphere(air) on the moon to support Avionics. In other words nothing a pilot has learnt on Earth really applies on the Moon. Nor would any aircraft on earth work on the Moon.

Globe and Mail Comment Section

This is why we have a war in Lebanon

This Averbach fellow writes "Marlee H. #2 - not that I think anyone on this post can have their minds changed but Israel first started dropping notices of their intent on villages at the very begining of the war. Perhaps you remember the pictures of the residents, (all young males), ripping them up in contempt. Now frankly if I were a member of Hezbollah I too would have ripped up those messages in contempt to show how macho I was. The difference between me and them is that I would have sent my family and especially my children away instead of using them as sheilds." in response to Marlee's comments "Mr. Moderator, perhaps you can post this message, not sure why mine aren't getting posted - is it because I'm against the dropping of bombs, and I'm not sounding pro-Israel as the media would like us all to be? Thank Goodness Israel is dropping more leaflets to let people know they're going to be dropping more bombs.....shame the people can't go anywhere though, given the devastation of their bombs in the area. Also nice to see that they are planning to bomb the only road left for people to get out, this madness has got to stop. This supposedly is to keep Hezbollah from getting more missiles, perhaps then we should ensure the US can't get any more ammunition through to Israel to make the playing fields fair. And for all those worried about nuclear warheads coming from Iran, this is what the government wants us to believe when in actual fact Israel has 200 nuclear warheads at its disposal already, let's hope the US Government doesn't authorise Israel to use them "

Look at the text in red. This is why we have a war. Because such outrageous accusations made about the Lebanese people (whom some of you know as Hizbollah instead) as if they are not human. If Israel comes to terms with the fact that Non-Israelis are humans too, we would not have a war.

So Hizbolla do not love their children now do they? Of course not!!! They are not humans. How can you be a human being if you are fighting the Israelis?
HOW?

An Open letter to Harper

The open letter below was written by some of the members of Shalom-Salaam Montreal, an Arab-Jewish dialogue group in Montreal to which I belong.

The Globe and Mail published it yesterday and it is available as a petition at the link below. I encourage you to sign it along with the 2,450 others who already did and ask people to sign as well.

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/me2006

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July 24, 2006

Shame on you, Mr. Harper

The Globe and Mail

The deliberate targeting by the Israeli army of civilian dwellings, cars and food convoys, the destruction of roads and civilian infrastructure, and the consequent death of hundreds of civilians is not a justified self-defence, nor does it constitute a moderate response, Mr. Harper.

"This is unequivocally a war of choice," wrote Israeli columnist Gideon Levy, a choice to destroy any political force that resists its occupation of Arab lands.

The idea that this is self-defence or a response to aggression is naive or cynical.

It is not fair. On July 18, you claimed that violence is not the solution. Why doesn't this apply to Israeli violence? Are you comparing the capture of two soldiers with the destruction of a whole country? After all, Israel also has several captured Lebanese, not to mention the 9,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails, including members of the Palestinian parliament. Would this be a reason to destroy Israel? Do you realize the depth of your bias, Mr. Harper?

It is not self-defence. The crisis did not begin with the capture of two Israeli soldiers. It is part of the larger Middle East conflict. It started with the expulsion of two-thirds of the Palestinian population in 1948, and it was exacerbated in the 1967 war when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza.

"An underlying reason that years of U.S. diplomacy have failed and violence in the Middle East persists is that some Israeli leaders continue to create facts by building settlements in occupied territory," wrote former U.S. president Jimmy Carter in 2000. The violence that we witness today is a result of Israel's desire to enforce its occupation. It is not self-defence.

Supporting it is not Canadian. We, Canadians from diverse backgrounds -- including Jews and Israeli Canadians, Arab Canadians, English and French Canadians, and immigrants -- are outraged at your blind support for a policy of aggression that has resulted in the death of hundreds of civilians and massive destruction.

Your government's position is not fostering peace in the region nor Canada's reputation as an honest broker.

We demand that the government of Canada stop supporting Israeli violence, the destructive power of which is far more lethal than the combined violence used by militant non-state groups.

We demand that Canada adopt an objective position, based on international law as well as Canada's historical reputation as a peacemaker -- fostering a Canadian tradition of independent thought and action regarding international diplomacy -- as opposed to support for an unjustified war and a brutal occupation.

This letter was initiated by members of Shalom-Salaam, a Jewish-Arab Montreal dialogue group and has been signed by more than 2000 others. The authors include:

• Abby Lippman
• Caroyln Shaffer
• Rachad Antonius
• Ehab Lotayef
• Jihad Bahlis
• A. Maeser Lemieux
• Ronit Yarosky
• Stephen Block
• Nada Sefian