The evacuation of Israeli Settlers from The Gaza Strip seems to be moving a little more smoothly than anticipated, according to various Israeli military personnel, though there has been more than a little violence in response to the pullout. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made a plea to the settlers to blame him for the evacuation, not to take it out on the soldiers and police personnel who are merely doing their jobs, rightly saying that things are tough and stressful enough for them as it is. The soldiers and police involved in the evacuation have apparently(no excessive force complaints have been made public at this time) both professional and sympathetic in carrying out what has to be an utterly distasteful task.

Last update - 14:51 17/08/2005

PM to settlers: Don’t hurt troops over disengagement, hurt me

By Haaretz Service and agencies

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, beseeching settlers to blame him, not soldiers, for the diasengagement, Wednesday called the images of Gaza settlers being removed from their homes “heartbreaking,” and praised the restraint of both settlers and soldiers. Sharon appealed to opponents of the disengagement to avoid physical and verbal confrontation with the security forces. “I want to truly appeal to everyone, not to attack the police, the women and men soldiers and police . Don’t blame them. Don’t make it hard on them. Don’t hurt them, hurt me.”                                           There are some excellent links within the article. As far as some of the ads go, remember that Haaretz is Israel’s answer to the New York Times.         -”it’s Bush’s fault!”

Some of the more tragic occurences thus far have included this and this, and Israeli media seems to have skipped lightly over a couple of attacks by Palestinians that fortunately resulted in no injuries.

There is good streaming coverage of all military related aspects of the evacuation at the IDF’s website.

And of course, lurking in the background, is the specter of consequences for this entire foolish, unprecedented submission by the Israeli government to terrorism. 

If things hold up and violence does not accellerate, at least the Israelis will show the Palestinians that they are still one people, that this dumb move on the part of their government, despite uprooting so many Jews from their homes, will not drive a wedge between them that the terrorists can exploit.

In today’s Jewish World Review, John Stossel has an amusing commentary on the grim realities of food labelling.

None of the food companies that used the deceptive labels would talk to me about this, which is too bad because I’d love to know how an olive company came up with 1.5 olives as its serving size. A jar of smaller olives, which lists 14 as a serving, seems a lot more honest. Who would ever eat 1.5 olives? The folks we talked to at the mall wouldn’t. “What, are you going to throw away half of it?” one woman asked.

Read the column here.

This was, of course, to be expected, people are people and when their own government evicts them from their homes in order to give their land away to people who have been murdering their friends and family… There were bound to be dissenters who would resort to violence.

I can’t say I approve, nor can I say I disapprove. I know how disgusted I felt, here in San Francisco back when we invaded Iraq, watching hundreds of complete and total assholes blocking major street intersections in protest so that no vehicles… including ambulances… could get through. Throwing newspaper vending machines across streets, shattering store windows… I don’t know what it feels like to be in the position those evictees are in, but I can well imagine. I would be seething. In a previous post about the then pending Jewish evacuation of the Gaza Strip, I referred to it as Enemy Domain, which about sums it up.

But right or wrong, it’s unfortunate and it would be better if the Israeli Government reneged on the deal. It would be fine, the Palestinians have made a science of reneging on agreements they’ve made with Israel and there does, after all, come a time to draw the line.

I say ‘unfortunate’ because I think that there’s a strong chance things could accellerate to the point where Israeli police and soldiers clash with civilians, I say the Knesset should renege because should the settlers decide to take a stand, that clash between uniformed and non-uniformed Jews will not only provide amusement for the Palestinians, it will also send them a message that their terrorism has done far more than simply gain them territory, it has also violently divided the Israelis. The MSM will be sure to juice things up by assembling footage of isolated violent events into a package that depicts widespread chaos and massive government brutality and countries like France that have dreamed of an end to Israel will point to the video as an example of Israel’s “brutish, bullying, fiendish nature” or some such poppycock, “which has been directed toward the oppression of these poor, peaceful Palestinians whose land they stole.”

Meanwhile,

Settler leaders’ pledges for a non-violent resistance lasted only several minutes after the Sunday midnight closure of Kissufim Crossing. Hundreds of anti-disengagement youth attacked an IDF jeep outside of Neveh Dekalim, the largest settlement in Gush Katif.

Witnesses reported that the teens ransacked the contents of the jeep and burned it by the side of the road. Less than a half an hour later, they punctured the tires of an army vehicle. The vehicle’s crew reportedly remained inside, surrounded by rioters.

…. A group of approximately 500 youth marched out of the settlement west toward the Mor Bridge, in the direction of the Kissufim crossing leading out of Gush Katif. The youths jammed rods into the joints of the bridge and set down bent nails in order to shred tires of IDF troops coming to aid the disengagement.

Violence against IDF forces was not exclusive to Gaza - an IDF officer was wounded late Sunday night in northern Samaria during a clash between anti-pullout activists and soldiers who had put up roadblocks around settlements due to be evacuated.

My take is that this is a no-win. Sharon will stick to his guns, a lot of people will resist and the inevitable will occur. When the smoke clears, the only winners will be Fatah and Hamas.

A heartening WSJ editorial(today’s Opinion Journal) called EUROPE TOUGHENS UP: How do you say “Patriot Act” in Italian and German? talks about the Eurofolks finally wising up to the realities of Islamofascist terror.

Mr. Blair is once again playing a leading role in the war on terror and, unlike in the Iraq war, most of Europe appears ready to follow this time. From Spain, which suffered the March 11, 2004, train bombings in Madrid, to less likely targets such as Sweden, the Continent finally is waking up to the universal and very real threat that terror poses. France, for all its objections to the Iraq war, already has some of Europe’s toughest anti-terror laws.

It’s about damn time!

Worries of an imminent attack are particularly acute in Italy. A recent poll by the daily Corriere della Sera found that more than 80% of Italians believe that terrorists could strike within months. Since the London attacks, Rome has granted to the military search powers that previously were reserved for police. It has broadened law enforcement’s scope by doubling, to 24 hours, the amount of time suspects can be detained and by making telephone and Internet records more accessible to investigators, among other measures. Police will spend more time carrying out raids against terror suspects–authorities made 200-plus raids in one week shortly after July 7–and will keep closer tabs on suspicious mosques.

Italians who think their vulnerability is the result of their participation in the Iraq war should look no further than Germany, which opposed the war yet feels compelled to step up its security. Interior Minister Otto Schily has been outspoken about his belief that Islamic terrorists are at war not just with the U.S. and its allies in Iraq but with Western society in general. Mr. Schily has called for increased search and detention powers in cases involving terror suspects who are known to be a threat but who haven’t yet committed a crime.

While the Euro Countries have their unfair share(like we do) of liberals who will naturally rail against their governments taking any really definitive action to defend them, we must hope that those leaders who weren’t born with spines grow some and do what has to be done, like George Bush and Tony Blair have and are, despite the inevitable suicidal whining from the left.

With Europe in the game at last, the terrorists will find themselves with many less safe havens in which to coordinate operations, take some R & R, spread their hate and preach their intolerance for all that is not Islamic.

Good.

I believe that one of the things that divides the left from the right in this country can be summed up using this old adage:

Give a man a fish, you’ll feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, you’ll feed him for life.

The Democrats, who have shown themselves to be more cosmetically oriented, would fall into the first category of belief. “The problem’s been dealt with for today, we’ll worry about it some more tomorrow when it comes back. At least we can tell the voters we’ve addressed it.” Another benefit: The guy will have to depend on the Democrats, forever, if he wants his daily fish.

The bottom line, of course, will be that the government will have to buy fish every day to feed the man, and eventually the amount of money spent on fish will leave a dent in the federal coffers. No sweat, they can recover the expenditure by raising taxes. Yahoooo!

The Republicans, on the other hand, are easily in the second category. “Let’s solve the problem once and for all, and move on.”

The guy is catching his own fish now, he’s self sufficient: He doesn’t depend on the government to feed him. He can be proud that he is standing on his own two feet, and thanks to the money the government is saving on fish, they don’t need to raise taxes– “Heck, we can even cut ‘em some more!”

But the simile doesn’t stop there, apply it to the Global War On Terror, including our presence and our activities in Iraq.

The left, true to form, is again thinking in the now, American soldiers are dying, get them out of there! Iraq was none of our business, no WMD, Saddam didn’t bomb the WTC, blah, blah, blah…

The right is, as usual, thinking long term.

I completely agreed with George Bush when he said that the best way to bring about world peace is to spread democracy, because in democracies such things as education and opportunity become available to everyone, not just the inner circle of a king, royal family or dictator. People who had given up all hope of ever having a good life are suddenly face to face with the possibility of realizing their dreams because they have a say in how their country is run. In Iraq, school attendance has multiplied exponentially, the people are elated as they exercise the freedom of speech they’d previously only heard rumors about and they are enthusiastically doing their parts to make their country prosper for the good of all. By remaining in Iraq and helping them as we are, we are giving them the opportunity to establish a working democracy rather than another Taliban or a group of warring religious factions. We need to stay the course, remain in Iraq until they are completely able to both defend and govern themselves as a nation.

The easiest young people to recruit as terrorists/suicide bombers are those who have little or nothing to look forward to, anyway. They live miserable existences and are bombarded with hatred and talk of jihad by their spiritual leaders.

If young Mohammed is doing well, his future looking bright,  how likely is he to throw it all away to blow himself up along with a few people he’s never met?

And in democracy exists the opportunity for the exchange of ideas, for people to have better access to the foundations of one anothers’ beliefs. They talk, they debate, and tell me, with the odd exception of some psychotic like Timothy McVeigh or Unibomber, how often do we free people in democratic countries blow one another up over our political differences? I can’t say I’ve never met a liberal I didn’t develop a nasty urge to snatch up by the neck and… but I don’t, we talk, we don’t, whatever, but we don’t kill each other.

The GWOT could conceivably go on forever, in fact we could eventually become prisoners of our own security measures as attacks increase, the terrorist armies ever growing.

Or  we take the only realistic course of action to prevent that: eliminate their recruitment pool. The only way to do that is to spread democracy in the region that spawns terrorists, which is what we are doing. The deaths of a few soldiers now, as tragic as it may be, can well spare the lives of hundreds, more likely thousands of times as many American civilians over the long haul, and that is what a military force is for.

Once again,

Democrats: Short term, cosmetic solutions.

Republicans: Long term, tangible solutions.  

Sounds about right to me…

Julia Gorin has an interesting review and commentary in JWR on Ed Klein’s book The Truth About Hillary, which alludes to an alarming personality disorder on Hillary’s part that could only be called scary when one considers the concept of Bubba’s missus as a possible DNC nominee in the 2008(or any other) Presidential election.

The column is here.

For the psycho-broad species, every move, every word, every interaction with a fellow human being is a calculation, a strategic play, a means to an end. Every day is an exercise in manipulating and controlling others with whom her professional future is entwined, the objective being to make it to the next day. (Klein notes that Hillary’s loathing of the media stems from her inability to control them.) When such a woman is given that first opportunity by a hapless employer, mentor or public, a day can turn into a month, can turn into a year, can turn into a career—until she becomes unstoppable even though she was out of her league from the start.

I don’t always look for peoples’ motivations when I decide how I feel about them, I’m more concerned with their actions and how their actions impact others. I’ve always thought Hillary and Hubby were evil, and that was that, I was never all that interested in the details of their sordid existence, though I was proven right during the latter half of Clinton 1’s second term. You could very nearly imagine having Hill & Bill(sorry, back then it was Bill & Hill, and Monica) settle the personal differences that no doubt sprung up in the Residence back then– “You got caught, you lamebrain!” — on Jerry Springer, who enjoys the sort of background that would bond him instantly with our former President.

I may buy this book purely for entertainment purposes, however, due solely to having had my curiosity piqed by reading the review.  

Tomorrow is the official day for commencement of the Gaza Strip evacuation by Israelis, and the two principal Palestinian political parties are turning it into a circus, vying for control of the “spoils” of terrorism in a country whose parliamentary majority is so desperate for an end to terrorism that they’re grasping at the nonexistant straws of the Palestinians’ “word.”

Which word that is, I have no idea, because both Fatah(the Palestinian Authority’s party) and Hamas are not only arguing over whose terrorism was more responsible for the Likud party breaking an Israeli precedent and kowtowing to terrorists, but they’re also both promising more of the same(terrorism, that is) with their boasts that they’ve only just begun and will have control over all Israel before they’re done.

So what the hell are these Israelis thinking?

Hamas and Fatah are having a real outing over there

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The militant group Hamas came out of hiding yesterday to hold a mass press conference, distributing the phone numbers of 34 multilingual spokesmen in a fight for press exposure as Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip this week.
    Among Palestinians, the struggle is between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority — both of which take credit for successfully pressuring Israel to evacuate 21 Gaza Strip settlements and four West Bank enclaves.
    Determined to win the airwaves, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday inaugurated a special Gaza-withdrawal press center, complete with live-feed points for TV crews, a 24-hour text messaging service for news updates, maps and free hats and T-shirts.

Free hats and T-shirts. Who knows, maybe some all-beef wieners on the grill, some non-alcoholic beer and some live music, a personal appearance by Miss Semtex 2005…

This is just too friggin’ much.

Have Jason Alexander, Rhea Perlman, Danny Devito, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, pictured at right, spent a tad too much time in the fantasy factory?

http://www.jewishworldreview.com |(KRT) JERUSALEM — After honing his skills as a vampire, international spy and the Grim Reaper, sex symbol Brad Pitt is joining a cadre of other Hollywood stars to tackle a project that no one has ever pulled off: making peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Read the rest, LOL!

Okay, so the man George Bush has nominated to replace Sandra Day O’Connor in the Court has previously been instrumental, on a pro bono basis, in the winning of a gay rights case at the Supreme Court(Romer vs Evans), and we now hear that he also did some work for Playboy, in their winning a case in 1999 vs the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

These are both liberal causes. 

So Judge Roberts’ nomination is now getting flak from the right.

The way I see it, we have two factions on this side of the aisle(the starboard side, of course). One consists of those who believe that, since we hold a no-nonsense majority in the Senate, we should put forth a hard core right winger ala Bob Dole and battle the left tooth and nail to get him/her approved. The other consists of those who are satisfied that Roberts will do the right thing(pun intended), and would prefer to see him confirmed without a dog and pony show from the left that might drag on for months, or longer.

John, as he did with many clients at the firm, was available for advice from time to time,” Corn-Revere told HUMAN EVENTS. “In this case, he helped with moot courts in preparing me for oral argument in the case at the Supreme Court.”

Corn-Revere, who left Hogan & Hartson in 2003 and is now a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine, said he worked with Roberts on at least two Federal Communications Commission cases during their time at Hogan & Hartson.

“I never had a sense that John’s work for any clients necessarily represented his own personal views,” Corn-Revere said. “He was being a professional and he was helping out colleagues.” He added, “Just like others in the firm, he was generally available for advice if something came up in his field.”

The liberals are already performing their “he’s a Bush nominee and therefore he’s evil” number without any real evidence that there’s anything wrong with the nominee from the left’s perspective, but that’s the liberals; Over the last few years, they’ve gotten over such hang-ups as self respect and personal pride and don’t mind looking stupid in front of the rest of the country. I seriously doubt that the Bush Administration will offer them a second nominee with gay rights and porn cases in his/her resume, so what’s their problem? Do they simply want to fight?

The conservatives who are criticising the nomination based on the two cases mentioned above(in neither case did he actually address the Court, he mainly helped behind the scenes as a sort of coach for those who did) should take a couple of things into account:

Judge Roberts is, first and foremost, an attorney. A dedicated lawyer(excluding those who work for the ACLU or make themselves rich by victimizing hospitals and other institutions gratuitously– hmmm, why does John Edwards suddenly come to mind?) believes that every case deserves the best legal representation it can get, on both sides.

 As far as his politics go, those demanding to examine documents from his Justice Department years provide as glowing an endorsement from a conservative point of view as we can hope for.

Speaking for myself, I’m behind the Roberts nomination all the way, and I believe it to be in the best interests of the entire country, with the exception of a small but loud minority of limited-agenda liberals, an unavoidable, gnat-like irritant we must live with.

The videos from this site, Patriot Files, are really cool when you can see them(there’s often a backlog of available bandwidth or whatever that is indicated by a notice to try again later). Awhile ago I linked to the Patton’s Ghost video. Check this one out.