Titus North for Congress

(June 14, 2009) The "disputed" election in Iran and the "major policy address" by Israeli PM Netenyahu dominated the headlines this weekend, and neither portend well for the immediate future in the Middle East. I must admit that I become suspicious about the report I heard on the BBC last week about a surge in the popularity of President Ahmadinejad's main rival according to a poll reportedly conducted by the Iranian government itself. The BBC did not describe the polling method or give any other details.

In 1971 Richard Nixon famously proclaimed that "we are all Keynesians now." That statement was made in the context of a slowing economy, and Nixon, believing that a recession was responsible for his razor-thin loss to John Kennedy in the 1960 election, was ready to give up his traditional fiscal conservatism and engage in deficit spending in order to boost the economy and improve his re-election chances the following year. Ironically, by 1971 true Keynesianism was already dead in the United States.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEsohIRQYW8

(Forward: This essay is intended to make the case that Hamas, as imperfect as it may be, is the erroneously and unjustly vilified, and that this vilification helps to make possible the current genocide against the people of Gaza. It also provides information from mainstream news sources which demonstrate that since winning elections three years ago, Hamas has actually acted with more restraint and been more reasonable that either the U.S. or Israeli governments.)

The case for Hamas

Dozens of legal scholars have signed a letter condemning the Israeli attack on Gaza. It is important and welcome; however, at the same time in reinforces certain misconceptions and double standards. The full text of the letter can be seen below or at the Times On-line website. I want to dissect this letter to show how short it falls of reality and justice. Let me sum up the letter's main points:

- The Hamas rockets do not entitle Israel to invoke self defense because of their "scale and effect."

Immediately: The United States government must immediately send the U.S. Agency for International Development directly into Gaza. The Americans would be unarmed but would supply massive amounts of food and medicine for immediate relief and could finance and direct long-term reconstruction. If the Israelis want to keep their border with Gaza sealed, they could do so, but there should be no toleration of Israeli control over Gaza's coastline or airspace.

I know this article has a provocative title, but Israel has fallen into the moral abyss and has taken our Congress with it. This is no time for niceties. People were being killed even as Mike Doyle joined with virtually the entire U.S. Congress in affirming Israel's right to use countless billions of dollars worth of armaments Congress has given them to defend themselves against the homemade weapons of the victims of their ethnic cleansing project. No matter that the use of these weapons is a violation of not just international law but U.S. laws as well.