No more. I've had enough. Just enough

[Skidmore]

I don't want us to get sucked into any more wars in the Middle East, and I think that is what Israel wants to happen. We need to get out of Afghanistan too. We need to come home and fix this nation. I've had enough of worrying about what others need for their nations while we have people who need assistance here at home. Insist that there be a solution for the the Israeli-Palestinean conflicts which removes Christian evangelicals from the formula.

I've had a belly full of militarism. Cut the defense budget and do away with excess weaponry. Reduce the national nuclear weaponry. The world does not need us lecturing it when we are not destroying our own arsenals.

If you practice a religion, keep it within your home and place of worship. You have chosen to be part of a group and not everyone agrees with you. Your theology does not need to become our law. Don't point fingers at Islamic theologies while trying to establish your own Christian state.

Congress, get your act together. Dems, that means you too. Quit trying to pit us against one another and, people, quit letting them use you. If the legislators won't rein in greedy thieves or regulate them, let's create industries and systems outside of the system. Npthing says we have to participate. After all, isn't consumerism all about choice?

Leave me alone. Don't need cameras or any other technology to track my whereabouts. If you need me for something, mail me a letter. I try not to get in anyone else's space so stay out of mine.

I have a lot of diffuse anxiety around these issues today but not enough to jump on the Rand Paul clown car. Just too much happening and nothing being resolved.

[liberal N proud]

1. Same here and I am skeptical of any of the rhetoric about the mid-east.

No there were not WMD's so I am not sure that Iran is going to destroy Israel or that Syria is using chemical warfare.

Not until there is definitive proof and that it is a legitimate threat!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

5. Even then...

During the Iran Iraq war they were lobbing chemical weapons at each other and that wasn't even front page news, much less a case to do a general freakout and invade.

BTW: What's the GOAL of such an invasion? Is it to kill everyone so they will go away so we won't be afraid?

[liberal N proud]

7. I always thought the real reason for the invasion was OIL!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. Just before we invaded Saddam was talking about going off the petro-dollar.

[liberal N proud]

9. Yep

[ThomThom]

57. and look now the Euro is almost dead

interesting?
Did we help?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

66. It wasn't long ago when everyone was talking about the rise of the Euro over the Dollar.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. The real real reason was corporate welfare for defence contractors and their fat cats. nt

[llmart]

2. I had enough a very long time ago.....

I honestly do not believe we have the will in this country to take back our country. I wish I could be more optimistic, but I'm not. I've lived many decades now and I just always come to the conclusion that the beginning of the end came when Reagan was elected. We stopped caring about one another and were told to start caring more about the labels on our clothing and how big our houses were and what we were driving.

There are an awful lot of people who are sitting at their computers posting things they don't like about the way our country is going and yet no initiative to actually get up and DO something. The only time I allowed myself a little bit of optimism was when the Occupy movement began. That was heartening to me, but what happened to it?

[Blanks]

15. It is still around. It still isn't in the news, but there's a forum here.

[llmart]

37. But that's part of my point...

There's a "forum". If we're going to be honest here, what really does a "forum" on DU accomplish? It's preaching to the choir.

We just can't seem to sustain anything for long in this country. We're an entire country with ADD. Our attention span is about 15 minutes then it's on to the next thing.

I honestly don't know what the solutions are any more. I don't know how we can even sustain the outrage when the system is so rigged against us. We can't even get a G.D. assault weapons ban and all the outrage in this country over Sandy Hook has accomplished nothing because our politicians, both Dem and Repukes are afraid to take on the NRA.

I guess now we'll just all sit here and hold our breaths until the 2014 elections to see if we even have the will to get rid of these paid for dinosaurs.

I'm very pessimistic.

[Blanks]

40. We have an elaborate communication system.

Look at how soon after the printing press was invented before the dark ages ended (it still took a while, but it had gone on for quite a while).

We just haven't figured out how to capitalize on this enhanced ability to communicate.

The camping in parks part of occupy didn't endear the movement to everyone; it had to evolve in order to get more support.

I'm not real encouraged, but if we all got pissed off about the same thing we could bring about change. Especially if we had a coordinated action; we're just not there yet. It was quite a few years after the Boston tea party before the beginning of the revolutionary war. It takes a while for a movement to define itself.

[NoMoreWarNow]

63. I understand your frustration but you can only do so much online.

And definitely there are so many things to be upset about.

The only way to really make a difference is to be more politically active, if possible, and support good liberals whenever possible. Volunteer or donate, whatever you can do helps.

[llmart]

69. I don't do anything online.....

politically speaking other than reading DU. That's not activism. That's just where I turn to for news and views any more. I came of age in the '60's and we made so much progress and caused so much of a ruckus that really did make a difference. We, too, had many, many major issues but we didn't let that deter us. You can address more than one issue at a time. Think women's rights movement, civil rights movement, anti-war movement - we took them all on en masse.

I volunteer in my community but not necessarily for political causes and of course I donate what I can afford to candidates I support, but as I said before, except for the Occupy movement, I don't see much else happening except for "liking" things on Facebook or "rec'ing" things on DU.

[Spartacus Maximus XL]

28. Amen, brother.

No way our pathetic citizenry cares enough to turn off Jersey Shore and goes out to the streets, where lies our onlyhope.

Until Bush and Cheney are arrested for war crimes, I will remain despondent.

[llmart]

38. Yep.

Jersey Shore, Honey Boo Boo, Dancing with the Stars, Duck something or other (I don't have cable and only hear about these stupid shows third hand). While the middle class is being screwed over five ways to Sunday, the middle class sits in their easy chairs watching endless hours of TV to numb themselves from their realities.

It's pitiful what we've become, but I felt that way when Bush was ensconced in the presidency by a crooked Supreme Court and we were told by the corporate media that we just had to live with it. Then the electorate decides to give him another 4 years. Who wouldn't be despondent?

[AndyTiedye]

79. We DID Go Out into the Streets. It Didn't Help

Protests used to work, until they were subjected to a near-total news blackout.

We can still protest, but nobody notices.

[llmart]

80. I know.

That's what's so discouraging to me.

[AndyTiedye]

83. People Aren't Doing Anything About it Because We Haven't Figured Out Anything We CAN Do About It

It is silly to blame it on people watching the Tee Vee instead of doing, uh, what did you want them to do?
Sit there being depressed?

People don't even watch TV as much as they used to. Overall ratings have been dropping for years.

[Skidmore]

86. The things which need to be done require legal authority

such as bringing to trial war criminals, war profiteers, and those who perpetrate the Ponzi schemes in the guise of financial markets. With the current mix of people charged with writing the law and making certain that it is enforced, this will not happen. The only recourse we have is to vote them out and replace them with someone willing to do the heavy lifting. Given the blatant attempts to render the power of the vote useless, we may not have elections to use in the future. The past three Congresses have been especially corrupt. Turn them all out. Start from scratch. Quit trying to find big names and big money to replace them with because you will get more of the same. I keep telling people that we need to go outside of the current system and make the rules with the sole goal in mind to break the corruption. The Teabaggers are doing something similar but their goal is to further entrench corruption.

[AndyTiedye]

82. The 2004 Election Was Stolen Too

Then the electorate decides to give him another 4 years.

No they didn't. Rove stole another election for him.

[CrispyQ]

52. I agree, it turned with Reagan.

Shame on the dems for distancing themselves from the word liberal just because a two bit actor poked fun at it. Instead, the dems should have proudly embraced the word & said, "Fuckin' A we're liberal & here's why!" Then they should have recited every point in the Joe Conservative essay. Instead, they distanced themselves from the word liberal & soon after, they abandoned liberal policies as well.

You cannot tell me that the dems do not know how important it is to frame the debate. Yet, the likes of George Lakoff are not on the dem payroll, which tells me, they don't want to frame the message. They are ok playing good cop/bad cop with the repubs toward the American people.

It is a disgusting mess & I don't know how much longer I will continue to vote for the lesser of two evils.

The people who can fix the mess are the very ones who are benefiting from the mess!

[ThomThom]

60. you are so right when you said

<<The people who can fix the mess are the very ones who are benefiting from the mess!>>

We need to get the rich to realize what they are doing and start using their wealth to turn this ship around.
Our congress people are not going to go against the money that put them where they are so we must convince the money to do the right thing. Stop writing your congress people and start sending messages to the people behind them and shame them into doing right. We need a list of the richest people and their companies and addresses.

[llmart]

70. Agreed!

I happen to think words/language/semantics ARE important. Yes, they were able to taint the word liberal and liberals started to shy away from the word just because of the connotation the Repukes gave it instead of embracing it. They did the same thing with the word "feminist" until women who agreed with feminist stances would be afraid to call themselves feminist.

I proudly call myself a feminist and have since I was 17 years old and first started reading feminist literature. I'll be damned if I'll let the likes of Rush and Reagan and anyone else intimidate me.

[HappyMe]

3. k&r

I have had it myself. I feel kind of burned out.

[pacalo]

4. You said it well & I agree 99%.

Regardless of what Rand Paul's stance is on this, there is no way in hell that he represents me.

[GeoWilliam750]

6. Completely agree

Yet for the powers that be, it seems that the greatest existential threat is the absence of an existential threat.

[BlueJazz]

10. You've been reading my mind...and I like it !!

[santamargarita]

11. How bad does it have to get before the people rise up?

[Janecita]

50. It will never happen in this country

Americans are too apathetic and easy to brain wash. All you have to say is "freedom, support our troops and we are good and they are evil" and most of us eat it up and follow like zombies. In other countries, universities breed revolutionaries, in the US they breed drunken frat boys and girls gone wild.😪

[CrispyQ]

53. I agree.

And as long as the banksters extend just enough credit, (which we pay for with our tax dollars), so they can go out & buy a few toys & maybe even have a weekend get-away or two, they will be placated. I would like to go out in my community & randomly ask people on the street, "Do you know what the TPP is & what impact it will have on your life?" I will bet that at least one person will think it's some kind of new toilet paper. No shit.

[santamargarita]

59. You make a good point. The media dumbing down

of America and government propaganda has done it's job.

[llmart]

75. +1

Good point. Yes, the universities used to be places where young people were thought to question things and learn about the world, not just a place where you took only courses that would get you into whatever the latest hot career field was. Now the only emphasis is on "go into something where you can make a lot of money". I know. I worked at a law school and they were turning them out like hotcakes whether there were jobs for them or not.

Let's not forget that drunken frat boys can become President too!

[AndyTiedye]

81. The People are Too Divided and Isolated from One Another to Do That

The rapeuglycons spew out all that hate for a reason.

So instead as each individual reaches the end of his rope, he reaches for a gun.
If his neighbors and family are lucky, he shoots himself.
If they are not so lucky, he shoots people at random until the police close in, then shoots himself.

Not that revolutions have come out that well lately, nearly all recent ones have resulted in theocracies.
The Dominionists are waiting for a chance to install one here.

[asjr]

12. I'm tired of our country having to play Superman. Everyone seems

to think we can go into another country and bail them out. If another Republican rants on and on about Benghazi--think McCain and Graham, I will scream. There are no grownups in D.C.

[just1voice]

13. We live in an era of corruption

There's one quick thing that could be done about too, the Justice Department could put a few war criminals on trial for conspiracy to commit war via a WMD propaganda conspiracy and a violation of the 1996 War Crimes Act by setting up torture camps.

It's not going to happen though, we all must just suffer the consequences of losing all faith in our government and it's leaders. They don't care about you or me, just our money.

[zeemike]

19. Yep....

"They don't care about you or me, just our money."

[ThomThom]

61. so stop giving them money, call them out

I have begun.

[frankieallen]

14. Israel doesn't need our help. They have a very tough military and plenty of weapons.

[pscot]

16. Thank you

We're trying to police the world and we can't get our shit together here at home. We have serious business that needs taking care of. The country is in trouble; indeed, the Planet is in trouble.

[olddots]

17. RIght ON !

a lousy old term but RIGHT ON !! war is not and never has been the answer .

[madfloridian]

20. I agree on every count, skidmore.

I just posted about Arne's dept of ed being sued by EPIC for invading the privacy of students.

It's gone that far, yes. So far that Rupert Murdoch who is in disgrace elsewhere was given over 12 million to invade students privacy with the help of Bill Gates.

And when I post about that and stuff like it, more and more people block me from their view here. Went up 2 more yesterday to 17. Guess this will mean at least 18.

[haikugal]

30. Keep at it girl....

you have my support, these things are important. I can only come to one conclusion...we're under attack from within. Call me what you want but that's what it feels like to me. We need to stay informed and stay on track.

Keep it up!!!

[madfloridian]

45. It really is discouraging.

[dreamnightwind]

72. Don't get too discouraged

your posts about these issues are invaluable. The corporate supporters on here are part of the Party, and, unfortunately, they pretty much represent the positions of our elected reps. So just look at them as examples of what we're up against more generally in this country, and increasingly, throughout the world.

[madfloridian]

76. When I look back a few years...

I realize that was me. I never thought about issues or whether they were right or wrong...I was just a Democrat. A loyal one. Then came the Iraq invasion, then the cuts to the safety nets, and now the last 4 years the harm to public education. So I am evolving to the point that I don't know what 2014 brings.

Nice words, thanks.

[ReRe]

47. Honey, if they blocked you...

...first, they are not real Democrats, and second, you don't need them anyway. Forget about 'em. They are lost in their own little worlds. They don't give a shite about the kids in this country. Maybe they are disgruntled kids themselves. Please please put them out of your mind and keep doing what you're doing. Have you seen how many new members we have every day?
You're not losing anything when those losers block you. You hear? Alright. Now carry on!

[blackspade]

62. You always have a thumbs up from me.

[uponit7771]

21. +1

[Egalitarian Thug]

22. K&R I sympathize and mostly agree.

The whole I/P -> ME thing is a mess we helped to make, so I think we do have an obligation to help clean it up, but we didn't make this mess on our own and I think it's past time we demanded that the other factions, nations and corporations alike, seriously contribute to this effort.

[arely staircase]

23. coolest thing i have read today

right on

[nikto]

24. To our moneyed Elites...

War is a candy store.

War is a sugar-daddy.

War is Xmas morning.

War is a very tall milk shake.

War is a honeypot.

War is an ATM.

War is a RACKET.



Until this changes, there will be war.

[Spartacus Maximus XL]

25. I don't recall wrtting this post but I must have.

Because this is exactly my thoughts!!

[trof]

26. K&R Go bro!

[Andy Stanton]

27. We're all fed up

Or else we wouldn't be reading DU.
But keep in mind that for every person who thinks like a DU'er there are probably 10 who worship at the altar of Faux News.
There's a limit on how much we can realistically expect the country's policies to change for the better.

[LuvNewcastle]

29. I guess we'd better start protesting now, because

I believe it's going to happen. It will probably happen when we get the troops out of Afghanistan, except for the bases over there, of course. We've been gradually setting up for it all this time, attacking countries in the area, building bases. If we attack Iran, however, there's a good chance that it will set off a world war. Russia and China are not going to like it.

[valerief]

33. Cuz the millions and millions protesting before really stopped the war.

There's only one way to stop a war and I'm not allowed to say it here.

[LuvNewcastle]

35. I agree.

[valerief]

36. I get sooooo angry. I want to throttle every person who takes a mercenary job or who enlists

in the military. To friggin' protect the likes of Jamie Dimon and people who own him? No friggin' way.

[LuvNewcastle]

39. I think that military healthcare and benefits should be paid for by

the corporations. They're the ones who benefit from all the carnage. And those in the armed forces need to be disabused of the notion that they're fighting for America's freedom.

[Skidmore]

49. I do too, and mercenaries should be

paid on the same scale as active military. For hire should not be a step up in pay grade. Actually, I'd like to see these for-hires put out of business and a little less gunslinger mentality in defense. People should not be encouraged to go to war for pay. If you want to stand a military, require service.

[CrispyQ]

78. Outstanding post.

I think that military healthcare and benefits should be paid for by the corporations. They're the ones who benefit from all the carnage. And those in the armed forces need to be disabused of the notion that they're fighting for America's freedom.

Americans need to wake up before the MIC squanders every last thing of value.

A Brief History of U.S. Interventions:
1945 to the Present

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/US_Interventions_WBlumZ.html

by William Blum
Z magazine , June 1999

snip...

The engine of American foreign policy has been fueled not by a devotion to any kind of morality, but rather by the necessity to serve other imperatives, which can be summarized as follows:

> making the world safe for American corporations;

> enhancing the financial statements of defense contractors at home who have contributed generously to members of congress;

> preventing the rise of any society that might serve as a successful example of an alternative to the capitalist model;

> extending political and economic hegemony over as wide an area as possible, as befits a "great power."

This in the name of fighting a supposed moral crusade against what cold warriors convinced themselves, and the American people, was the existence of an evil International Communist Conspiracy, which in fact never existed, evil or not.

The United States carried out extremely serious interventions into more than 70 nations in this period.

~more uncomfortable truth at link

And an interesting aside:

The Author Who Got A Big Boost From bin Laden
January 21, 2006

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/20/AR2006012001971.html

snip...

Twenty-four hours after Osama bin Laden told the world that the American people should read the work of a little-known Washington historian, William Blum was still adjusting.

Blum, who at 72 is accustomed to laboring in relative left-wing obscurity, checked his emotions and pronounced himself shocked and, well, pleased.

"This is almost as good as being an Oprah book," he said yesterday between telephone calls from the world media and bites of a bagel. "I'm glad." Overnight, his 2000 work, "Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower," had become an Osama book.

snip...

From Blum's end of the conversations, you could tell the reporters were expecting him to express some kind of discomfort, remorse, maybe even shame. Blum refused to acknowledge feelings he did not have.

~more at link

[jimlup]

31. I hate to say it but

I think you may be a voice crying in the wilderness. Still I am glad that you are doing it. I agree...

[valerief]

32. There's definitely going to be another war. That's what the "no debt crisis" shit

is all about.

[Butterbean]

34. Well THAT was awesome. Well said. n/t

[MinneapolisMatt]

41. Excellent.

[RagAss]

42. You are not alone.

[ProgressiveJarhead]

43. Palestinians

They are from all over the ME and became known formally as Palestinians after 1967. Jews living in the area before statehood and who never left we're also Palestinians. Israel (as you refer to blindly) is made up of people and they have a government. You lump them into one category as if the people are not individuals. That would be like saying the US wanted war because Bushco did. That is in keeping with the double standard that is applied to Israel. They have reason to fear because the crap that North Korea said about the US last week is a daily thing there.

The US needs to be involved if there is to be a two state solution so the Palestinians can finally have their own nation after rejecting it in 1948. They need to speak for themselves and the US should help them once they get their own no shit state. They should not rely on the Arab nations for help because they could care less and they only make matters worse. A Palestinian state would eventually mean peace because the trump card would be gone. That is a worthy cause and the US should support it for humanitarian reasons.

The Palestinians have a right to self determination no matter what government they choose. The Christian fundamentalists need to STFU and stay out of it. Palestinians are human beings and not religious pawns for born again bone heads. Their suffering is real and their needs are real and pressing. As with people in the US, they have people who say stupid shit.

I knew a few Palestinians in college and they were not vicious anti-Semites at all. Leaders sound war drums and make money and political points off of conflict here in the US. The same is true there.

You need to stop referring to Israel as if everyone there is in agreement about what the government does. Does the US want war? All of the US? No. They don't. Who is the US? The people or the government? When the US invaded Iraq for bullshit reasons that means you did by your thinking. Shit is much more complex than you think it is.

[Skidmore]

48. JI essentially agree with you on most points.

And I am not so naive that I don't understand the complexity of the history and dynamics on the ground. What I object to is that our government appears to be content to limit its contributions to the process to be manipulated by those with religious agendas here. Complexities aside, the window dressing of policy is a simple fact. I support a state for the Palestinian people without question.

[blkmusclmachine]

44. Change You Can Believe In.

[Phillip McCleod]

46. seems like a lot sad faces out there but keep one thing in mind..

..we *did* re-elect barack obama to take on precisely these issues.. the foreign policy war standing issues and they are huge because they're built into the massive bureaucracy controlled for decades by the rummy-cheney cabal that used dubby to play geopolitics.

it's not going to be easy to root 'em out, and that's not o's style anyhow what we can expect is to get a handful of big things that we wanted and a more stable and prosperous nation in 2016. that he's still focused on domestic issues like gun control doesn't bely the fact that he's also already making big structural changes, ie to the drone program by taking it out of the hands of the cia.

take heart, but keep the heat on..

..oh, and i did all the occupy talk. why not but plz can we get rid of general assemblies in favor of a slightly more vertical model?

[bowens43]

51. I'm with you.

[reflection]

54. I feel exactly as you do, and I think a lot of other people do also. n/t

[xiamiam]

55. what can we do?

stop being suckers..tell the truth and stop defending this administrations foreign policy and assault on civil liberties..stop framing the debate in terms of repubs and dems ..obamas track record is grotesque yet i'm still supposed to stomach photo ops as if I believed he is not part of the problem...demand the war on terror be defined beyond some broad brush indefinable unknown...and ridicule those who use it as an excuse...stand up or we're history

[McCamy Taylor]

56. "Israel" does not want it. The U.S., the oil companies and their lackeys in Israel want it.

Quite sure that the Israeli people do not want this war any more than the US people want it.

[Skidmore]

64. It's time for Israelis to stand up and quit electing people whose sole agenda is to keep a state of

fear and warmongering going.

[blackspade]

58. I feel the same way.

I keep hoping that the crazy train will run out of fuel before it runs off the rails and fucks us all.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

65. Believe me, I feel your pain

I had opportunities to emigrate (for academic jobs) when I was younger. I can't even remember why I didn't take them. If I had to do it over again, I'd take the one in Norway or the one in Japan.

[jerfro]

67. OK, BUT........

I am total agreement, but once again let's not forget the medias role. Even though people with the slight bit of intelligence will seek information outside the major media outlets, the majority of our DUMBED-DOWN populace, the result of THREE generations of no increased spending and innovation in EDUCATION will believe what the corporate media is feeding them. SO......there have been some valiant attempts at protest, but until there is a reduction of narcissistic attitudes amongst the 30-50 year olds...we will continue down the present path. There needs to be some serious revolution i.e. campaign financing; corporate banking regulations; infra-structure repair, to name a few.

[uselessobot]

68. If our leaders do not want war they could always stop military aid to Israel

but that is not happening they will make sure that Israel gets their US made toys to kill non Israelis.

Our elected leaders want WAR as long as their families don't have to get involved they will vote for it.

In 2016 Malia Obama will be eligible for military service however her parents can allow her to join as early as 2015 will she be join the US military for the great adventure of spreading the peace as a global force of good or will she stay out of the military in safety with the rest of the 1% cheerleading for war?

As far as I am concerned any leader who wants war needs to send their kids FIRST.

[Skidmore]

71. Wonder if you were just as willing for the Bush girls or the Cheney girls

to contribute to war efforts?

[uselessobot]

73. Yup the spawn of the Bushes and Cheneys should have been the first boots on the ground in Iraq.

If it were up to me everyone in Congress who votes for war kids needs to be in the first wave of the attack.

Any other questions?

[Uncle Joe]

74. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Skidmore.

[midnight]

77. Its the corporations that are using our military as their international police force... We need to

stop socializing their way of doing business... Feingold had it right when he said take control of the purse strings to these runaway corporations and this war will stop....

[Jasana]

84. NO. NO. NO.

Someone explain to our shithead leaders that NO does not mean YES. K&R.

[Zorra]

85. Bravo, Skidmore. Agreed. Thanks.

Last edited Fri Mar 22, 2013, 11:12 AM - Edit history (1)

On edit: Only thing is, I don't think Israel really wants to engage in a full blown war with the Arab world. Israel is surrounded by Arab nations now existing in a condition of controlled hostility toward Israel.

The name "Custer" comes to mind; IMO, major war with the Arab world would be suicidal for Israel.

[AndyTiedye]

87. That is Why They Want to Make the U.S. Do It For Them

[Zorra]

88. I don't think it really matters what PM Netanyahu believes about America, in the long run.

Israel is in a terribly tenuous situation, and the US can't simply blow the entire Arab world to kingdom come to protect Israel. Israel is totally surrounded by hostiles. In my humble opinion, the Israelis would be wise to wall themselves off even than they already have, and not attempt to expand borders anymore. It's simply too dangerous; those days are over ~ there's too many people in the world now

Maybe we could move some Israelis. if they desire, to West Texas or Nevada, and give them some land with rez sovereignty status. Maybe Canada could help out too. That may sound crazy at this time, but no one has come up with a better solution yet, as far as I can tell, and the clock is ticking. Israel is a total Catch 22, relations between Israel and the Arab world do not appear likely to ever change significantly. I understand that Israel has religious, sentimental, and other ties to its historical homeland, but barring a major miracle...an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...

I'm just sayin'....