tertulia

Spain, Italy, France unveil Mid-East peace plan

nobody@vox.com(jgbustam) — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 23:08:24 -0500

Spain, Italy and France will launch a new Middle East peace plan, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Thursday, the BBC reported. .

"Peace between Israel and the Palestinians means to a large extent peace on the international scene," Zapatero said after talks with visiting French President Jacques Chirac.

He said the plan would be presented at an EU summit in December.

"We want to launch a joint initiative on the Middle East situation and push it through at European Union level, preferably with Germany and Britain,” the Spanish Prime Minister said.

"We cannot remain impassive in the face of the horror that continues to unfold before our eyes… Violence has reached a level of deterioration that requires determined, urgent action by the international community.”

The proposal would include an immediate ceasefire in the occupied Palestinian territories, an exchange of prisoners, an international peace conference on Middle East peace, and the resumption of peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

The three countries are also calling for the formation of a national unity Palestinian government, and the dispatch of a fact-finding mission to the region, Zapatero said.

For his part, Chirac said the European Union must act in the face of "the increasingly dramatic situation in the Middle East and in Palestine in particular."

"We are going to act jointly with the Spanish and Italian governments, with the co-operation of the EU... to try to initiate the indispensable moral and political reforms in the Middle East," he added.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, the Palestinians or the United States.

The two European leaders spoke amid fresh violence in the region.

Israel’s air force pounded Gaza overnight hours after the Israeli government vowed to expand its military operations in the coastal strip following a wave of Palestinian rocket attacks that killed an Israeli woman in the southern Israeli town of Sderot.

Israel often claims that the threat from Palestinian rocket attacks is the main reason for its bloody attacks in Gaza, where more than 400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed since an Israeli soldier was captured by Palestinian fighters in June.

More than 60% of Palestinians killed in Gaza were civilians and at least 20% minors, according to a recent report by the Physicians for Human Rights group.

The violence comes amid Palestinian political wrangling over the formation of a national unity government.

President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction and the ruling Hamas party have been deadlocked for months over the creation of a unity administration.

The U.S. and EU imposed crippling sanctions on the Palestinian government after Hamas took office in March in an effort to pressure the governing party to recognize Israel, give up anti-Israel attacks and accept past peace deals with the Jewish state.

The Western aid embargo causes widespread hardship in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

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Cut and Run, the Only Brave Thing to Do

nobody@vox.com(jgbustam) — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 23:31:19 -0500

Here is a loud and clear voice: We demand the Democrats listen to us and get out of Iraq now.!!

The responsibility to end this war now falls upon the Democrats. Congress controls the purse strings and the Constitution says only Congress can declare war. Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi now hold the power to put an end to this madness. Failure to do so will bring the wrath of the voters. We aren't kidding around, Democrats, and if you don't believe us, just go ahead and continue this war another month. We will fight you harder than we did the Republicans. The opening page of my website has a photo of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, each made up by a collage of photos of the American soldiers who have died in Bush's War. But it is now about to become the Bush/Democratic Party War unless swift action is taken.

This is what we demand:

1. Bring the troops home now. Not six months from now. NOW. Quit looking for a way to win. We can't win. We've lost. Sometimes you lose. This is one of those times. Be brave and admit it. [more]

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Science vs. religion

nobody@vox.com(jgbustam) — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 08:26:51 -0500

“Anything that we scientists can do to weaken the hold of religion should be done and may in the end be our greatest contribution to civilization.” Dr. Steven Weinberg

Finally, a convention of scientists to discuss the malefic influence of religion on the world: “I don’t know how many more engineers and architects need to fly planes into our buildings before we realize that this is not merely a matter of lack of education or economic despair,” said Sam Harris. [more]

Watch the proceedings of this conference in a series of videos. They are big and slow to download. I recommend you download them to your computer rather than play them directly. Slow process but immensely worth the effort. Get them here.

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Escondido and others have it wrong on immigration

nobody@vox.com(jgbustam) — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 11:23:12 -0500

By Ruben Navarrette Jr.,

Sunday, November 19, 2006

SAN DIEGO -- Warning: This column takes issue with a half-baked “solution” and thus will likely elicit angry letters accusing the author of ``supporting illegal immigration.'' And since the author is Mexican-American, some readers may charge that he is ``trying to bring over relatives.'' There are those who claim the in-vogue idea of municipalities banning landlords from renting to illegal immigrants is cruel, inhumane and heavy-handed. But, for me, the real problem with such bans is that they're dishonest, misdirected, and destined to fail.

-- Dishonest because these measures -- approved by officials in Escondido, Calif., Hazleton, Pa., and, last week, Farmers Branch, Texas -- feed this notion of an invasion, as if the good people of City X or Town Y were minding their own business and, suddenly, off in the distance, comes an army of Mexican immigrants. It couldn't be that these ``good people'' are hiring illegal immigrants or excusing those who hire them.

Get it right. This is a self-inflicted wound. Illegal immigrants aren't invading. They've been invited. I used to live near Farmers Branch, and now I live near Escondido. I've had it with folks in these places playing dumb as to how their cities got to this point, as if they haven't been riding this tiger for the last decade while enjoying a robust economy and the comforts provided by cheap immigrant labor.

In fact, while the city councils in Escondido and Hazleton put in place fines for employers, officials in Farmers Branch tabled such a provision. What? The Farmers Branch City Council spoke so eloquently about fending off the scourge of illegal immigration, but then gave employers a free ride. Que paso? Employers aren't as easy to pick on as illegal immigrants -- not if you're a politician in North Texas who has to raise money to further your political aspirations.

-- Misdirected because these measures try to enforce immigration law by

targeting landlords who rent to folks who turn out to be illegal immigrants. I'll be darned if I can figure how squeezing landlords helps enhance border security. If people have a problem with illegal immigration, let them target it head-on -- not nibble around the edges with housing bans.

I'm also at a loss to understand how another provision of these loco ordinances -- declaring English the official language of cities and towns -- helps curb illegal immigration. What it does is make plain that, for many Americans, this debate is about cultural displacement -- the fear that, with Spanish becoming more prevalent, those who speak English will become less relevant. Immigration restrictionists hate being called racists, and they resent those who confuse legal and illegal immigrants. So what do they do? They support efforts to make

English the official language of City X or Town Y. And thus they promote racism and the blurring of the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants.

Official English laws are anti-foreigner, plain and simple. And, it doesn't matter if the foreigner in question came legally or illegally. All that matters is that they speak a language other than English. Similar laws in the late 19th century were aimed at German immigrants. The fact that those immigrants came legally did little to quell the passions of the nativists of that era.

-- Destined to fail because landlords, renters and employers are not likely to change their ways so easily. Renters who live in mixed families where some members are illegal and others have documents may simply start registering apartments under the name of those who are in the country legally. Those who do leave a town because of a ban may simply move to a neighboring town, which won't do much to curb illegal immigration. Meanwhile, landlords and employers determined not to lose money may just get sneakier and take their chances at not getting caught, since enforcement will be erratic at best. In the end, voters in City X or Town Y will be left with only a feel-good impression that they took a stand against illegal immigration. Nothing of substance will have been accomplished.

These vengeful local communities got one thing right. They are the problem, and they can and should be part of the solution. But this approach creates more problems than it solves.

Now let me have it. ``Supporting illegal immigration.'' Blah, blah. ``Trying to bring over relatives.'' Blah, blah.

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Money brings self-reliance, selfishness, study says

nobody@vox.com(jgbustam) — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 16:16:07 -0500

A team of psychologists has discovered why money can't buy happiness.

Pictures of dollar bills, fantasies of wealth and even wads of Monopoly money arouse feelings of self-sufficiency that result in selfish and often anti-social behavior, according to a study published yesterday in the journal Science.

"The mere presence of money changes people," said Kathleen Vohs, a professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota and lead author of the study. [more]

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George Carlin's View on Aging

nobody@vox.com(jgbustam) — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 11:04:14 -0500

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

"How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

"How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . . You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50

And your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90's, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92."

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!"

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

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First, Re-Open the Libraries

nobody@vox.com(jgbustam) — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 20:32:07 -0500

By Kelpie Wilson
t r u t h o u t | Columnist

Wednesday 15 November 2006

It never got down to actual book-burning, but the Republican choke-hold on government would clearly have taken us there. In August, under the guise of fiscal responsibility, the Bush Environmental Protection Agency began closing most of its research libraries, both to the public and to its own staff.

The EPA's professional staff objected strongly, insisting that closing the libraries would hamstring them in their jobs. In a letter to Congress protesting the closures, public employees said, "We believe that this budget cut is just one of many Bush administration initiatives to reduce the effectiveness of the US Environmental Protection Agency, and to continue to demoralize its employees."

The EPA's precipitous move to close the libraries was based on a $2 million cut in Bush's proposed $8 billion EPA budget for 2007. EPA bureaucrats did not wait to see if Congress might restore the funds or shift budget priorities in order to save the libraries; it acted immediately to box up documents for deep storage, and shut the doors. [more]

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Class Struggle

nobody@vox.com(jgbustam) — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 11:16:45 -0500

American workers have a chance to be heard.

by JIM WEBB
Wednesday, November 15, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST

The most important--and unfortunately the least debated--issue in politics today is our society's steady drift toward a class-based system, the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th century. America's top tier has grown infinitely richer and more removed over the past 25 years. It is not unfair to say that they are literally living in a different country. Few among them send their children to public schools; fewer still send their loved ones to fight our wars. They own most of our stocks, making the stock market an unreliable indicator of the economic health of working people. The top 1% now takes in an astounding 16% of national income, up from 8% in 1980. The tax codes protect them, just as they protect corporate America, through a vast system of loopholes.

[more]

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A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives

nobody@vox.com(jgbustam) — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 08:28:14 -0500

A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives

November 14th, 2006

To My Conservative Brothers and Sisters,

I know you are dismayed and disheartened at the results of last week's election. You're worried that the country is heading toward a very bad place you don't want it to go. Your 12-year Republican Revolution has ended with so much yet to do, so many promises left unfulfilled. You are in a funk, and I understand.

Well, cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power -- and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.

Thus, here is our Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives:

Dear Conservatives and Republicans,

I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:

1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.

2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift.

3. We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.

4. When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.

5. When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we'll make sure those advances are available to you and your family, too.

6. Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water.

7. Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.

8. We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.

9. We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we would protect ours.

10. When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you -- and your employees -- that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage, too.

11. We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs ("Blessed are the poor," "Blessed are the peacemakers," "Love your enemies," "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," and "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn't just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism -- starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.

12. We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich. We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead of the people. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side FIRST. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our party goes astray. Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.

I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are every bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one. Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans -- and for the rest of the world.

Signed,

Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
(Click here to sign the pledge)
www.michaelmoore.com

P.S. Please feel free to pass this on.

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Baltimore New possible atraction

nobody@vox.com(jgbustam) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:54:04 -0500

Fid-harborsaratoga_forrestal

Fid-harbor500

Newport R.I. has two aircraft carriers at the Naval Station. The Navy is thinking about sinking one for a new barrier reef somewhere off the East Coast.
Baltimore could get the Forrestal and use it as a great tourist attraction at the foot of the former Allied Signal area which is being prepared for development by the Struever Bros. development company.
It could also be used as a landing field for helicopter tours and perhaps even small private planes (Cessnas and the like), giving the harbor a huge attraction for pilots all along the East Coast of the US.
Baltimore needs a major attraction to get put on the map. A combination of great architecture at the Allied Signal 85 acre lot and the Forrestal may achieve such attraction.
Something to consider. Thanks to Larry Montgomery for thinking out of the box.

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