Daily News Digest (by Duane Shank)
the latest news on Budget, Sentencing, Iran, Iraq, Gaza, Russia, Climate change, Presidential election, Canada, Church shooting and Selected Op-Eds.
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Budget. House Democrats Pull Budget Offer "A Democratic deal to give President Bush some war funding in exchange for additional domestic spending appeared to collapse after House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.) accused Republicans of bargaining in bad faith." 'No deal' on spending on Hill "Capitol Hill Democrats' plan to pass long-stalled spending bills before the Christmas break by coupling it with emergency war funds unraveled as the White House and congressional Republicans held firm on budget limits." Democrat May Scuttle Spending Bill "Efforts to pass a massive compromise federal spending bill stalled as a top House Democrat threatened to abandon the measure, accusing the White House and congressional Republicans of failing to bargain in good faith." Democrats Postpone Vote on Domestic Spending"A Congressional plan to head off a potential federal government shutdown stalled and threatened to fall apart because of Republican opposition and Democratic frustration over a persistent spending impasse."
Sentencing. Justices Reinforce Leeway on Sentences "The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that federal judges are not bound by federal guidelines calling for tougher penalties for those who sell crack rather than powder cocaine," Supreme Court permits flexible drug sentencing "In a closely watched 7-2 ruling that temporarily united conservatives, centrists and liberals on the bench, the court ruled that trial judges can impose less severe punishment than federal sentencing guidelines call for." Justices Restore Judges' Control Over Sentencing "One decision was particularly emphatic in saying judges are free to disagree with guidelines that call for much longer sentences for offenses involving crack cocaine than for crimes involving an equivalent amount of cocaine in powdered form."
Iran. New U.N. Iran Resolution Considered "A draft U.N. resolution on Iran circulating among the world's major powers calls for new sanctions against the elite Quds Force and a top Iranian bank as well as "restraint" and "vigilance" on the supply, sale or transfer of arms to Iran," Draft U.N. Sanctions Aimed at Iran "Adraft plan for new United Nations sanctions against Iran would punish a branch of the Iranian armed forces and one of the nation's largest banks, despite last week's U.S. re-evaluation of Iran's nuclear weapons intentions," Israelis Brief Top U.S. Official on Iran Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made an unusual visit to Israel and got a polite earful about Israel's gloomy assessment of Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Iraq. Security Pact on Iraq Would Set U.S. Exit "Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that a new security agreement with the United States would set a time limit on the presence of American troops, adding that the government's eventual goal is to do without any foreign forces on its soil."
Gaza. Israeli tanks push deep into Gaza "Israeli tanks and bulldozers have moved deep into the southern Gaza Strip in the biggest incursion into the territory in months." Israeli Tanks, Bulldozers Move Into Gaza "Israeli tanks and bulldozers backed by attack aircraft moved into the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing four militants in the widest operation in the territory since Islamic Hamas forces wrested control in June."
Russia. Putin anoints deputy PM as heir "President Vladimir Putin ended months of speculation yesterday by naming Dmitry Medvedev, a 42-year-old economic liberal, as his preferred candidate to win Russia's presidential election next year." Putin Backs Deputy Prime Minister as Successor "Mr. Putin's selection of Mr. Medvedev, 42, makes him the overwhelming favorite to win the presidency in March and suggests that Mr. Putin is seeking to retain influence by turning his office over to someone he can readily steer from behind the scenes."
Climate change. Gore Accepts Nobel Prize With Call for Bold Action "Former vice president Al Gore, accepting his Nobel Peace Prize, called on the United States and China, the world's two largest polluters, "to make the boldest moves" on climate change "or stand accountable before history for their failure to act." 'Make peace with the planet,' Al Gore urges "The earth has a fever," he said, adding that the world every day pumps 70 million tonnes of global-warming pollution — above all, carbon dioxide — into the atmosphere. Instead of a "nuclear winter" warned of by scientists a few decades ago, the planet now faces a "carbon summer", he said." Greenland ice melts at record rate, scientists find "Rising temperatures caused ice to melt in Greenland at a record rate this year, climate scientists reported Monday."
Presidential election. Independent groups poised to play big role in presidential race"With wide-open nomination contests in both parties, 2008 is shaping up to be the most expensive White House race in history. But a constellation of new and existing independent political action committees, nonprofits, and so-called 527 organizations - many of which are unencumbered by the contribution limits that candidates must follow - are poised to play a greater role than ever before."
Canada. Poll highlights unease over U.S. foreign policy "A typical Canadian feels that the country's proudest moment was a decision not to go to war in Iraq, that its foreign policy is too heavily influenced by the United States, that we are fighting in Afghanistan mainly at the behest of Washington and that climate change and the rich-poor gap are a bigger threat to world security than terrorism or weapons of mass destruction."
Church shooting. Gunman Planned to Kill More, Officials Say "A heavily armed man who killed four young people at a missionary training center and a church Sunday apparently intended to gun down many more victims before he was shot by a church security guard," Guard saved untold lives, Colorado authorities say "The security officer stopped gunman Matthew Murray, who killed four in a 12-hour rampage at two religious facilities."
Op-Eds.
The Split-Level Politics of Immigration (E. J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post) "This contest points to an important but little-noticed disconnect between how immigration is likely to play in the 2008 congressional elections and how it will affect the presidential campaign. A Latino backlash against the Republicans could hurt their nominee for president, even as a backlash against illegal immigration could help some Republicans running for Congress."
The Postwar Election(David Brooks, New York Times) "The world still has its problems, but it no longer seems to be building toward some larger crisis. The atmosphere of fear and conflict has at least temporarily abated. With the change in conditions, the election of 2008 is beginning to feel like a postwar election. American voters are coming out of the shells constructed after Sept. 11th and are looking for a new normalcy. They're looking for something entirely different."
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Comments
RE GAZA:
Gaza is an open air prison for 1.5 million human beings.
After evacuating the illegal settlers from Gaza in 2005, most all the colonists were resettled in other illegal settlements in the West Bank.
Israel never gave up total control of all access to Gaza by land, sea, and air; thus Gaza remained occupied.
International law demands that occupation is to be temporary-40 years is NOT and that the occupiers are to supply all the needs for the occupied.
The continuing U.S.-Israeli boycott and isolation of Gaza that has turned the Gaza Strip into a humanitarian disaster, a huge Israeli-controlled prison with what the World Bank calculates at 87% of Gazans living below the poverty line.
In 1987, the Arabs living in the territories occupied by Israel ever since the 6-Day war began a series of riots known as the Intifada/Rising Up and casting off.
Independent from PLO leadership, fundamentalist Islamic militants founded the Hamas movement.
The more hopeless people become, the greater the pull towards fundamentalism and violence becomes.
Hamas was formed from the Mujama movement, which had been a political party with no military ambitions and had been encouraged by Israel as a means of countering the influence of the PLO.
Hamas has a 'military' wing or wings that engages in terrorist acts and a 'civilian' wing that provides social services in the refugee camps.
Hamas would not even exist if Israel was not a military occupier.
Israel successively assassinated its leaders, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Sheikh Ahmed Rantissi, forcing the leadership to go underground.
In January of 2006, during a clean and transparent and democratic election, Hamas candidates swept to victory in Palestinian elections, overcoming the corrupt Fatah which has become another layer of the occupation.
Phyllis Bennis, a Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies and author of "Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer" wrote:
"Israel is the occupying power, maintaining its occupation of Palestinian land in violation of scores of UN resolutions calling for an immediate end to the occupation of all of the West Bank, all of Gaza and all of occupied East Jerusalem.
"Israel is required to abide by – not to negotiate, but to abide by – all the obligations the Geneva conventions and other international laws impose on occupying powers, including the absolute prohibition of settlements, prohibition against collective punishments, and more.
"The Palestinians are the occupied population, whose protection is the primary obligation of the occupying power and the international community.
"In 1988 Palestinians made the historic (though largely forgotten) compromise when they gave up their claim to and recognized Israel as a state in 78% of historic Palestine (when even the UN Partition Agreement only assigned Israel 55%).
"...the continuing U.S.-Israeli boycott and isolation of Gaza that has turned the Gaza Strip into a humanitarian disaster, a huge Israeli-controlled prison with what the World Bank calculates at 87% of Gazans living below the poverty line."
"Israel is a not a democracy but is an Ethnocracy, meaning a country run and controlled by a national group with some democratic elements but set up with Jews in control and structured to keep them in control.”-American Israeli, Jeff Halper, Founder and Coordinator of ICAHD/Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and a Noble Peace Prize Nominee for 2006, to this civilian journalist during one of my 5 trips to Israel Palestine since June 2005.
Jeff Halper also said:
“Missing from Israel’s security framing is the very fact of occupation, which Israel both denies exists…and that “security” requires Israel control over the entire country…rendering impossible a just peace based on human rights, international law, reconciliation.”
“The Israeli government simply does not want to take responsibility and the USA government ignores the situation."
“Israel has no constitution but has a Declaration of Independence which promised that Israel would abide by conditions and UN resolutions. They have not fulfilled the agreement which was the basis of their independence.”
“Tony Blair said 70% of all the conflicts in the world can be traced back to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. What gives us hope is that as this conflict worsens maybe Europe will figure out that American policies are against their interests and intervene...This conflict impacts the global community and especially everyone in the USA."
“If we do fix this conflict it would be a tremendous step forward in global reconciliation...This whole issue is based on Human Rights and it is a global issue requiring global intervention."
“It has been said that the Israeli’s do not love this land, they just want to possess it."
"There have been three stages to make this occupation permanent. The first was to establish the facts on the ground; the settlements.
"There are ½ million Israeli’s and four million Palestinians here. They have been forced into Bantustan; truncated mini states; prison states.
"It is apartheid and Bush and Hillary are both willing collaborators.
"In 1977, Sharon came in with a mandate, money and resources to make the Israeli presence in the West Bank irreversible. The second stage began in April 2004 when America approved the Apartheid/Convergence/Realignment Plan and eight settlement blocs.
"This is just like South Africa! The Bush Sharon letter exchange guaranteed that the USA considers the settlements non-negotiable. The Convergence Plan and The Wall create the borders and that is what defines Bantustans. Congress ratified the Bush plan and only Senator Byrd of West Virginia voted no and nine House Representatives.
“Israel has set up a matrix of control; a thick web of settlements guaranteed to make the occupation permanent by establishing facts on the ground.
"Israel denies there is an occupation, so everything is reduced to terrorism. It is our job to insist upon the human rights issue, for occupied people have International Law on their side.”
"Israel is not a democracy, it is an ethnocracy: full rights to Jews, but not Palestinians.”
"Do you know why Israel does not want to become America’s 51st state? Because then they would only have two senators!"
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http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Posted by: eileen fleming | December 11, 2007 3:15 PM
Yes, Israel is an occupying power. Not sure Gaza is really occupied these days. But does anybody remember that people in Gaza are lobbing shells into Israel, and occasionally killing people? If bombs were falling into Detroit from Windsor, Ontario, I bet most Americans would support retaliation measures a lot tougher than what the Israelis are currently using.
Posted by: Marian Neudel | December 11, 2007 7:34 PM
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