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January 11th, 2009:

A Second Look: Israeli forces advance deep into Gaza urban areas

Jan 11th, 2009
by Tom.
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via Israeli forces advance deep into Gaza urban areas.

IBRAHIM BARZAK and CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA | January 11, 2009 05:51 PM EST | AP

Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel had made progress in its objectives in the Gaza offensive but was not finished yet.

“Israel is nearing the goals that it set for itself,” Olmert said. “However, further patience, determination and effort are necessary in order to achieve those goals in a way that will change the security reality in the south.”

While Olmert’s comment signaled no immediate end to the offensive, it indicated that Israel is wary of an open-ended conflict with an unclear agenda. Israel wants to end years of rocket attacks by Hamas on its southern population, a complex goal that could require Egyptian or international help in shutting off routes to smuggle weapons into Gaza from Egypt.

Hamas, in turn, demands that Israel open Gaza’s blockaded borders as part of any halt to the fighting. Such a measure would relieve economic pressure on the destitute territory but also strengthen Hamas’s control of Gaza, an odious prospect for Israelis who fear a halt to the fighting will just give Hamas another opportunity to re-arm.

Try this. Why not get Egypt in on the negotiation to stop smuggling of rockets from THEIR COUNTRY. Let Egypt make a commitment to seek out and arrest those making the illegal arms deals. Hamas demands that the blockaded borders be opened for humanitarian aid to flow in, and maybe their commerce can begin. Israel is fearful that Hamas will re-arm and they probably will, but that may be the price of peace. I have to repeat that the only party in this able to set this situation right, really right meaning autonomy for the Palestinians is Israel. The outcome of this terrible situation is on their shoulders.

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A Second Look: Rachel Maddow On “Daily Show”: “Insulted,” “Embarrassed” By Bush, MSNBC Compared To Munsters

Jan 11th, 2009
by Tom.
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via Rachel Maddow On “Daily Show”: “Insulted,” “Embarrassed” By Bush, MSNBC Compared To Munsters.

Rachel Maddow appeared on “The Daily Show” Wednesday night, where she and Jon Stewart discussed the MSNBC family, President-Elect Obama’s policy knowledge, and George Bush’s Blair House snub of the incoming First Family.

You gotta love her. She is soooooo Americana with her whip-crack intelligence, geeky glasses, sweet personality, yet underneath the surface she is someone with gravitas, someone to debate with much caution. Watch out for that steel-trap brain of hers.

The two then discussed Maddow’s debates with Pat Buchanan (Grandpa Munster in Stewart’s analogy) and her interviews with Barack Obama, who she described as “a policy dork.”

“I don’t necessarily agree with him on everything on policy, but I want him to care,” she said of the President-Elect, adding that Bill Clinton’s policy-obsession was one of his most endearing traits as President.

“I know this is a small thing,” Maddow then said, “but I’m insulted as an American, and a little bit embarrassed as an American, that a guy whose salary I pay, President Bush, has decided that the First Family can’t stay in the Presidential guest house.”

It is time that we all complained about the current president being sophomoric, petty, and a snot.

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A Second Look: Obama Leaves Door Open To Investigating Bush, But Wants To “Look Forward”

Jan 11th, 2009
by Tom.
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via Obama Leaves Door Open To Investigating Bush, But Wants To “Look Forward”.

by:  Sam Stein, stein@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting From DC, January 11, 2009

This is from an interview today on This Week With George Stephanopoulos. The President-elect was asked the question from Change.gov that has bubbled to be the most popular question on the “Open for Questions” segment of the website.

President Obama:

President-elect Obama

“We’re still evaluating how we’re going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions, and so forth,” said Obama. “And obviously we’re going to look at past practices. And I don’t believe that anybody is above the law. On the other hand, I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards. And part of my job is to make sure that for example at the CIA, you’ve got extraordinarily talented people who are working very hard to keep Americans safe. I don’t want them to suddenly feel like they’ve got to spend all their time looking over their shoulders and lawyering up.”

You know what? This is the same thing that happened with Nixon and Reagan. People were screaming for justice, then phhhht, it fizzles out. We as a country have a very bad record on justice at high levels.

There was political will to impeach Clinton (for lying about a crime that wasn’t a crime) from the right-wing nut-jobs, but it was the right-wing only and they screamed loud enough to be heard in all seven corners of hell. Now, there is political will from the left to see that Bush is jailed, after all, he confessed to committing crimes but I have to ask the same question that Gingrich and other propaganda spreaders asked during the Clinton impeachment; where’s the outrage?

I’ve been torn on this old question ever since I, and millions of other people, thought of it right after the 2006 elections, mulled it over and blogged incessantly about it to the point of staleness, and after all that the question I have is this: are Americans ready to stomach the months of all-Bush-crime-all-the-time coverage from the MSM?

Yes you say? Really? Then if that’s the case you’d better get prepared for more controversy and argument and round-the-clock news pressure on Obama than any new President deserves. To choose this path is to put CHANGE on the back burner.

This is a unique moment in history. We have a chance to have a 21st century government that spreads even wider the tent called “American Values” to include all Americans, red or blue, who choose to be a part of something better.  American values like equal pay for equal work, civil equality for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, a new set of workers rights to enable them to rise from the dung heap of poverty to a life that we all dream of attaining,  all this and more is within our grasp right now, the urgent now. We can have this or we can plunge ourselves into a vat of melting hope called “justice is served” all for the little tickle of gratification we get when we think of Bush behind bars. Is it worth it?

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