Carl -

Classic


Dennis


Miller


I can't wait until Bill Maher starts again on August 25 . . . I'm sure we'll get a dose of 'Telling it like it is According To Bill Maher' at that time as well.

janimal - Dennis Miller, given the opportunity to look at it from the 'Arab' side - would probably be even MORE obnoxious. I'm personally not a huge fan of his - but he's known for shooting from the hip and saying whatever he feels like . . . just because he can.

From when I watched/listened to him do his gig on Monday Night Football in the states, I got the impression he likes only himself. It is the type of caustic and pseudo-intellectual humor that I find so prevalent nowadays. It took Howard Cosell to a new low (and without real knowledge of football - American style, I mean).

As for my own thoughts, with apologies to my Aunt, it is too complicated for me to clearly come down on one side or the other, except against hate and maiming and killing. I will say that, were I a woman, I would rather be born a Jew than an Arab.

People reared in the Judeo-Christian influence do feel a certain sympathy for the "plight" of the Jews. Yet, as we've discussed on the religious discussion pages, was it okay for the God of Israel to give this land to His people, and give them carte blanche to kill and or/displace the peoples already there?

And I'm afraid that in the West, the balancing thoughts on behalf of the Arab nations are, at core, more because of oil than concern for people.

Ultimately, we usually look to find scapegoats - Jesus, Hitler, Hussein.... Not suggesting these people were of equal stature or level of "goodness," but rather we seldom talk about addressing the issues that feed our divisions.

As for American culpability, I am an American, so I am biased - both for and against. And since I am aware of that, I choose not to jump on the bandwagon of those willing to cast more blame on us than there are macD burgers.

When I read that, I seriously thought I was reading a press release from the AWB (South African white supremacist group), only "Arabs" had replaced "kaffirs" and "Israelis" had replaced "whites".

To Dennis Miller's credit, though, he didn't say it. It was written by Joe Nobody on some third-rate provincial right wing rag.

See here;
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/overview.asp

It's still quite shocking that someone can get away with printing such racist drivel nowadays. Imagine if instead of Arabs, it said those things about blacks or jews. That would never fly.

I'd like to see whoever wrote that go to the West Bank and tell some family that has been bulldozed out of their home that they never existed to begin with, and that they are ficticious entities.

Really, folks, we have to learn to recognise agitprop, because there is a lot of it flying around nowadays.

My apologies, Captain. I did not check it out. I got spoiled, I guess. The things my daughter, biff, sends me - she checks out of snopes.

And my Aunt is fairly intelligent, so I assumed it was as stated, by him.

I certainly don't endorse the killing - on either side, by war or by terrorism.

And since I read so little of politcal harangue, looks like I need to leave this section to people more knowledgable and less naive than I.

Mea culpa.

don't worry about it - any contribution is a contribution.

it seems that now the israelis are not giving safe passage to the un, the red cross or the aid agencies. how much of this can they do before someone points out that they are being war criminals? or maybe it's ok for them to do it because they are the poor downtrodden israelis.

i hate any judgmental staement on any group of people, be it nationalism, racism, whatever. however, the israelis are pushing me to the limit. i'm finding it harder and harder to drwaw the line between israel and its government, and i really am starting to find it hard not to hate their guts. i try to be open and liberal, but sooner or later everyone finds their outter limits.

i saw the lebanes leader at an arab conference the other day in tears. how often have you seen a world leader in tears? and how much compassion is the world showing? absolutely none. if the boot wa s on the other foot and the lebanese and palestinians were doing this to israel, the world would be in uproar and pretty much destroy them for it.

i'm tired of seeing israel being treated with kidd gloves, when overall in the last 60 years they have been the agressor, and they have had the upper hand all the way. they've become a kind of personification of the brutality of the foreign policies of the uk and usa.

janimal - you responded to my thread on this. I'm sickened at the thought of the Israelis not giving safe passage to aid agencies/resources.

At this point - it's not political for me . . . it's moral. What they (Israel's Leadership) are doing is immoral. Enemy or not - there are human beings in distress that did not cause this conflict . . . The supplies are there and they need to reach these folks.

I feel the same way I did when the US had Hurricaine Kat hit last September. There is no reason for human beings in distress to be treated like wild animals.

The government is fair game, but don't criticise the citizenry there until you've walked a mile in their mocassins.

I have some relatives that live over there and it can be stressful to worry each day about whether your bus will be blown to bits or there'll be a suicide bomber down at the pizza shop or you'll get a katyuska in your living room.

It'll put anybody on edge I think.

That's really the problem over there: the escalation of violence only breeds more and more hate on either side. At this point, I think the current generation over there is pretty much a loss, they will always hate each other and there will never be peace.

We can only hope things calm down for the generation to come.

I think that is the problem now--there is no real right or wrong--as my old Grandmother used to say--"Its 6 of one and 1/2 dozen of the other!" I think the situation has disintegrated to the point that both sides are wrong--and so is any other nation (including the US) that isn't doing everything it can to stop the killing and bring all sides to some kind of a bargaining table.

"i hate any judgmental statement on any group of people"

"I'm tired of seeing israel being treated with kidd gloves, when overall in the last 60 years they have been the agressor"

That concludes today's lesson on lip service.

I hate anyone being judgmental except for me.

It always seems to be the ordinary folk ~ including the children ~ who have to suffer.