Sunday, July 31, 2011

Some 100 killed as Syria tanks storm city of Hama - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Over 124 people were killed Sunday in a fresh government crackdown on pro-democracy protesters across Syria, activists said.
At least 97 people were killed when the Syrian army stormed the flashpoint central city of Hama, activists told the German Press Agency.
"Hama is used to massacres by the Assad family, but we tell this tyrant the more you kill us the more we are determined to oust you," the activist, who requested anonymity, told the German Press Agency by phone.
In 1982, a government crackdown caused the deaths of up to 20,000 people in the city, when the town's Sunni population attempted to revolt against then president Hafez Assad's minority Alawite sect.
On Sunday, tanks stormed the city at dawn, shelling different neighborhoods. Electricity and water supplies to the main areas were cut before the attack began, said Omar Idlibi, a Syrian activist based in Lebanon.
Troops surrounded one of the major hospitals to prevent the wounded from reaching it. Over 100 people were injured in the attacks.
Read rest of article:
Some 100 killed as Syria tanks storm city of Hama - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Syria's 'secret doctors' risk their own lives - CNN.com

    "People refuse to go to government hospitals because they will be arrested and if they die we cannot take their body." He explains. Families, he claims can only collect the body of their loved ones after signing a document saying they were killed by armed gangs.
    There is graphic Video with an interview of the founder of the "Damascus Doctors" showing very injured people that were peacefully demonstrating for freedom when the military attacked.

    The Syrian government has consistently maintained that it does not target peaceful demonstrations, blaming the violence on armed gangs who infiltrated the demonstrators, with the intent to set up an Al Qaeda style Islamic caliphate in Syria.
    • Underground network of 60 medics call themselves the "Damascus Doctors"
    • They set up secret, hidden clinics in neighborhoods where demonstrations take place
    • People injured in demonstrations use the network for fear of arrest if they visit hospitals
    • Network has a Facebook page, their intent not only to save lives, but to expose regime's crimes

    Syria's 'secret doctors' risk their own lives - CNN.com

    Saturday, July 30, 2011

    When Israel's Polititians need their Citizens support they Move Aggressively into Military Campaigns and War.

    Netanyahu is facing dissent in a way that he never has before and the methods that have worked in the past  are not working. What will he do? According to Yossi Gurvitz - He may begin a major military operation or even bigger by going to war. Ehud Barak is in the U.S. again and it is not known why.
    It is worth noting that, contrary to myth, most of Israel’s wars were propagated by it, often for a political reason. The 1956 war was a conspiracy of Shimon Peres with two declining colonial powers, France and Britain. Prior to the 1967 war, the Americans asked for time for diplomacy, but the IDF was impatient to the point of a threatened putsch, and war broke out. The attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor took place several days before a general election, which was not a coincidence. The Lebanon War of 1982 needs no explanation. Shimon Peres went to Operation Grapes of Wrath in 1996, in order to win the coming elections; Being Shimon Peres, he managed to lose them by 0.4%, by shelling Qafr Qana and thereby convincing his Arab voters to stay home and not go the polls. In 2006, the IDF used a border incident – granted, a clear casus belli – in order to start a war intend to wipe the shame of defeat by Hizbullah in 2000. Needless to say, this did not work as planned. Cast Lead was the result of an Israeli wish for conflict, and rejection of Hamas’ attempt at prolonging the ceasefire. One needs a healthy dose of goodwill and bulk quantities of naiveté in order to believe it had nothing to do with the already-declared elections.
    Netanyahu’s next move: War?

    Friday, July 29, 2011

    Palestinians have to live on 50 litres of water a day while Israeli settlers enjoy the luxury of 280 litres.

    "Israeli officials destroy a water storage facility used by Palestinian farmers outside the West Bank village of Yatta, near the Israeli settlement of Sosia, in early June [EPA]"

     "Around three weeks ago on a late Tuesday morning, Israeli soldiers armed with a truck and a digger entered the Palestinian village of Amniyr and destroyed nine water tanks. One week later, Israeli forces demolished water wells and water pumps in the villages of Al-Nasaryah, Al-Akrabanyah and Beit Hassan in the Jordan Valley."

    There is nothing more essential to life than WATER!!!  Why destroy? How must the Palestinians that need this water feel?  What could they do?  This is just so inhumane and infuriating!!!  May God punish those that continue to do these kinds of punishments and those that do nothing, absolutely nothing!
     
    Read full article: Can water end the Arab-Israeli conflict? - Features - Al Jazeera English

    After Promising To Drive Disenfranchised Voters To The DMV, Gov. Nikki Haley Won’t Give Ride To 76-Year-Old Veteran

    "ThinkProgress reported earlier this month, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) promised to drive residents whose right to vote will be jeopordized by her new voter ID law to the DMV to help them obtain a photo license. “Find the people who say this is invading their rights and I will go take them to the DMV myself and help them,” Haley said in a local TV interview."  
    Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) apparently passed a law requiring a photo ID in order to vote, something I hear many states are considering. As Governor she is apparently out of touch with many in her state because
    "With 178,000 residents lacking proper IDs, ThinkProgress estimated it would take Haley over seven years to drive all those people to DMV, even if they carpooled. Considering that voter fraud, the problem voter ID laws are meant to address, is exceedingly rare to point of nonexistence, and the potential for disenfranchisement high, Haley’s office could have saved a lot time by merely leaving people’s right to vote unencumbered. 
     Full Article.:

    Why don't we take care of our Heroes!!!!


    Wednesday, July 27, 2011

    Tuesday, July 26, 2011

    How the Deficit Got This Big - NYTimes.com


    How did we get into this deficit?
    ...we got here — from healthy surpluses at the end of the Clinton era, and the promise of future surpluses, to nine straight years of deficits, including the $1.3 trillion shortfall in 2010. The answer is largely the Bush-era tax cuts, war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan, and recessions.































    A few lessons can be drawn from the numbers. First, the Bush tax cuts have had a huge damaging effect. If all of them expired as scheduled at the end of 2012, future deficits would be cut by about half, to sustainable levels. Second, a healthy budget requires a healthy economy; recessions wreak havoc by reducing tax revenue. Third, spending cuts alone will not close the gap. Taxes have to go up.
    Read full article at NYTimes.