Uh, what if...

While burglarizing home,
teenage burglar stops
to warm baby’s bottle.

Uh, yea, but, like, what if…Tomorrow the Senate is going to vote on the health care bill. It does seem like Democrats are going to be united enough to prevent Republicans from killing the bill before it gets to the floor. I confess I do not like this process, nor do I like the way our political system operates through bribery, threats, and what-have-you. Apparently, in order to get the vote of the Senator from New Orleans they had to promise her 100 million dollars specifically earmarked for Louisiana health care. Like, health care for the rest of the nation isn’t a worthy enough goal in its own right? In order to get Ben Nelson’s vote they had to promise not to rescind some special priviledge the Insurance companies have. Who knows what they must have promised Joe Lieberman or others. This is the way our political system operates, even on issues of absolutely compelling public interest such as health care? Actually, I know it is, but I still think it is a terrible way of doing business, and I don’t find it to be entirely satisfactory. But what I really wonder about is what happens if something goes wrong. That is, Harry Reid supposedly counts the votes and when he thinks he has them, he goes ahead and has his Senators vote. But the count seems to be very precise at 60 votes (as far as I know). What if one of these Senators changes his or her mind at the last moment? Or what if one or two become ill and cannot be present for the vote? Or, what if one of them suddenly goes crazy and votes against the bill, thus killing it? Should I worry about this? I don’t know if I should, but I do. This is mostly because I suspect that many of our Senators (and Congresspersons) are crazy to begin with. I am partly saved in this fear by the fact that the ones I think are the most crazy are Republicans who are not going to vote for the bill anyway. But it still makes me nervous and I will not breath easily until it’s over. Of course this vote only means they will then eventually consider voting for real. What a way to run a railroad!

Well, Silly Sarah, the quitter, has made another stupid mistake. In Indiana she left everyone alphabetically from the N’s on down standing outside in the rain for hours only to fail to get their signed copies of her book, even though with their special wristbands they were supposedly guaranteed an autographed copy. Some of them were understandably upset and there were a lot of boo’s as she left. Naturally she blamed the organizers rather than herself. But I suppose her ardent supporters will never admit she is little more than a mindless twit trying to make big bucks off John McCain’s terrible mistake.

Where does a 2000 pound alligator sleep? Anywhere he wants.

What does a small nation with only about 7.5 million citizens, that exists mainly because of the sufferance of others, do? Anything it wants.

And what does it do when its major ally and financial supporter tells it to stop building settlements in the interest of peace? Nothing.

I find the situation with Israel and the Palestinians absolutely incomprehensible. This tiny, blatantly racist, greedy nation, in existence only since 1948, has done nothing for all these years except lie, steal, procrastinate, and thumb their nose at the rest of the world, and no one apparently will do anything about it. President Obama, the leader of the most powerful nation on earth, and the nation that provides virtually unlimited funds to Israel, asks them to stop building settlements in the interest of peace and they just refuse. He does nothing about it. I believe that Obama himself probably would like to insist they stop, but realizes that, politically, he is basically impotent. The United States does the bidding of Israel, not vice versa, and has for so long it has become established policy. No matter what Israel does, no matter how racist, genocidal, illegal, or outrageous, the U.S. always lines up on their side. Is it any wonder the Palestinians and other Arabs do not believe we are honest brokers? If we cannot insist they stop the settlements there will obviously be no peace in the Middle East, ever. This will be fine with the Israelis because they obviously do not want peace. Peace would mean they would have to give up some land and water and recognize the Palestinians are equal human beings, something I am beginning to believe they are incapable of doing.

There is some talk now about the Palestinians unilaterally declaring themselves a nation, as it has become apparent Israel is not acting in good faith with respect to a two state solution. I’m all in favor of this. The Israelis should be in favor of it also, because if they are not, they will ultimately become a minority in their own country. The Palestinians will become the majority fairly quickly and apartheid will not work for very long. Similarly, the much-vaunted Israeli nuclear arsenal will be of no help whatsoever. It might threaten Arab neighbors (although I think even this is doubtful) but they will not be able to drop any on the Palestinian majority living with them. Forget the Iranians, the biggest threat to Israel is Israel itself.

LKBIQ:
Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.
Benjamin Disraeli

TILT:
Friedrich Engels was opposed to the institution of marriage which he believed was unnatural and unjust.