Once again…to these folks in the various administrations it is all, as always about oil.

Some other info on Gaza:

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza from the International Red Cross:
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/palestine-news-130706

From others: http://www.dca.dk/sider_paa_hjemmesiden/where_we_work/middle_east/other_countries/facing_a_terrible_humanitarian_situation

Increased shelling by Israel into Gaza Strip:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=19386&Cr=palestin&Cr1;=

Summer camp delayed in Gaza:

http://www.mcc.org/news/news/2006/2006-06-30_gaza.html

The S.F. newspaper article on which this ignorant parody is based is a year old. The situation in Gaza is rather different now, a change which Courdry and Jon Stewart are either bizarrely unaware of or callously indifferent to. I rather doubt, in the midst of Israeli beach bombings that killed an entire family, that happy children are playing in the sun on the Gaza shore. The Jewish state’s military have killed nearly 170 people in Gaza in the last several months, not including those who have died for lack of food, water, medical care, or of madness and despair. For a chronology of recent events leading to the current disastrous state of affairs in Gaza, here is a place to start: http://www.counterpunch.org/lin07252006.html

This chronology, however, does not include the Israeli kidnapping in Gaza of a doctor and his brother, an event which preceded the capture of the Israeli soldier. http://www.chomsky.info/letters/20060719.htm

I agree with Amicusbriefs. We can’t just say things are going on over there, things that could never happen in the US.

Evangelicals in our country developed a video game where kids can kill ‘nonbelievers’ who refuse to convert to Christianity. Evangelicals also host concerts and camps to train American youth in the techniques of Christian terrorism. It is blindness to state that hate-training based on a particular religious belief only occurs “over there”. My God is better than your God. My God can beat up your God. Of the more than 800 divisions of Christianity, most practice exclusivism. Hatred of those who look and act differently is an equal-opportunity employer.

At a time when the captive people of Gaza are being denied food, water, electricity, medicine, and jobs, when their schools and homes are being bombed and bulldozed, when their malnourished, dehydrated, sickly children are being tormented during the day with the constant monitoring of drones and F-16s overhead and at night with sound bombs to keep them awake (as if they might sleep with the horror they live with anyway), all because they are not Jewish and have no place in the Jewish “democracy,” I find the very idea of this ignorant, racist parody in grotesquely poor taste. The soldiers of the Jewish state with their high-tech weapons have killed three times as many non-Jewish children in the last 19 months than the number of Israelis killed by Palestinian suicide bombers. Check out the figures on the site of the Israeli Center for Humen Rights, B’tselem, at http://www.btselem.org/English/. And if you want to educate yourself on the history of this Jew against non-Jew conflict—and clearly most of you need the education—if you want to understand why there are millions of non-Jewish refugees living in camps in Gaza, why some of them shoot off pathetic homemade rockets at Jewish towns built very close by on their own razed villages, where these impoverished, desperate, cornered non-Jewish people still have the legal right to their own land—and the legal right to defend it, I suggest you go to http://www.palestineremembered.com/ to learn about the history of the crimes being committed—against Muslims, Christians, and others—in the name of “the Jews,” and our “shared moral values.”

hey MOE the jews have been there just as long..but hey maybe i am wrong about that. muhammad warred with the jewish tribes,beheaded and enslaved them..

Actually, I’m pursuing Criminal Justice for children and troubled teens. I haven’t spewed this “crap” in any of my papers as of yet, but believe me I will. Never once did I say that I was right, only that I had an opinion about this whole mess.I called them MONSTERS because thats what this camp has them calling themselves, so how can you defend that. Yes they are prepareing themselves for war and yes they have it bad but so do other people all over the world. I think all this is a bunch of bull sh*t and to train their kids at such a young age is wrong in MY EYES and I’m sure in alot of others. I don’t think killing is right in any manner whether it be for morals or just because. I don’t think I’m “righteous” nor did I ever claim to be so before you go ranting and raving about me and my opinion, maybe you should read a little more into what I said. How many 8 year olds do you see us sending over there to kill people? We are not sending our “kids” over there. They are considered adults. We don’t have camps here teaching our kids to be killers or having them call themselves monsters. That is just wrong and I’m sure if you were able to ask some of the kids over there they would tell you the same thing (if they didnt feel that they would lose their life because of it). I feel for the kids and everyone else that is involved including you. I have to go but I will return again…..

I totally agree on the issue of religion being absolutism,

It’s funny how fanatics of the chirstian faith are happy to see that world war three is possibly approaching….What better way to end it, then for Jesus to come back and save all “christians”...the problem with religion is that everyone thinks theres is the right one…and with their doctrines, books and teachings, justification is often seen as being okay when viewed through religion…(any religion)

Broiler’s comment 16116 is right on the mark.  To better understand Islam I bought the Qu’ran and forced myself to carefully read the whole thing.  What a tedious read.  Bottom-line, Islam is an utterly intolerant, unforgiving, and vindictive hate-generating religion.  More and more, I’m convinced that Muslims are truly nuts.

War and misery and havoc over religious causes will continue till the end of mankind.  And the irony is that man created God, because in reality he does not exist.  I just wish all believers had 5 minutes after they died to realize they were wrong all along… before they slip into the oblivion they were in before they were born.

God bless.

Just to let you guys know, there have been violent schisms in every religion there is. The Sunni/Shiite infighting is nothing new. Roman Catholics persecuted Gnostics and protestants for hundreds of years. Jewish zealots murdered thousands of Jews with different views concerning Roman occupation. Using children is nothing new either. Boys as young as ten and twelve have been used in war regularly. Children have been part of the war effort of numerous civilizations throughout history. So get the hell off of your moral high horse and accept that your ancestors probably did the same thing. Especially you, Broiler. Next time, try not to clump millions of people into a bigoted stereotype that’s been beaten into your head by Fox News.

Hey Broiler
I agree with you being an atheist and all. This is clearly a religious conflict, not territorial. And they’re fighting about a fictional character. The UN put the Jews in that part of the world knowing the arabs would be pissed and the Muslims don’t wanna co-exist with Israel because anybody who is not a muslim must be killed or converted and if they happen to take other muslims with them “its ok since they’re going to paradise anyway”. They’re all crazy.

well you know what i think…? i think the palestenians have every right to deffend themselves. It is there land and they have ocuppied it long before the damn jews knew it existed. and those “monsters”, are all religious kids taught to fight for there freedom and human rights. palestanian kids are getting killed for absolutley no reason. the isralie army is the most prejudice and unknowlagable “army there is. When you kill kids as young as 3 months old, you have just proved that human life means nothing to you . Why kill the children. They do not own any weapons! They dont launch any rockets! they have no reason to be Blown up! This all happen to the palestinians then What do they say about us ?
they Say We are the terrorists… lovley isnt it… i cant go on im giving myself a heart attack.

“Comment #16116 by Broiler”:

Your comments are well put, Broiler.

One of the reasons that I’m an agnostic is because of the absolutism of religions and the resulting damage to mankind. Actions taken in the name of religion have done more to devastate the human race throughout history than any natural causes.

Wake up! There is no such thing as a moderate Muslim.  Their holy book does not allow it.  If you’re not with them, and I mean in lock step (read as Shiite vs Sunni), you’re an infidel dog.  They will exterminate each other for minor differences in religious interpretation.  Their book does not allow for you go your way, I’ll go mine.  There is no way to ignore the harsh parts of the text and only read the “love thy neighbor” parts.  There is no “love thy neighbor” part!  Not unless he is in lock step.  Any Muslim that tells you different is not a Muslim.

In 1948 the world felt ashamed for what was done to the Jews during the war and granted them a free pass to live in what was for a long time (not in biblical terms) an Arab neighborhood.  And what to our eyes should appear?  The Arabs don’t like you doing that.  (It’s a lot like every Mexican migrating to the US.  Ironic, eh?)  Was that a plan or what?  The entire world has been paying for it since 1948.

It’s like the old Dave Mason song goes: “There ain’t no good guy, there ain’t no bad guy. There’s only you and me and we just disagree!”  The only problem is there is no second verse, they just continue disagreeing.

You’ve got the Hezbollah kidnapping two Israeli soldiers just to tweak Israeli noses and then the Israelis react, in a manner they’ve learned works over 50+ years, by bombing the sh*t out of the nose tweakers.  Then the Lebanese government says “hey that’s not us, it’s Hezbollah, we can’t control them.”  Are they with them, are they against them, are they clandestinely one in the same, who the flip knows?  All I know is that the Lebanese are saying “uncle” and Hezbollah is still tweaking noses and the Israelis are still playing “time machine” with the Lebanese infrastructure and population.  Remember, the world thought it was a good decision to put the Jews back in this part of town!

Both sides deserve to be pissed.  On top of that, some 50+ years after the world mixed this maniacal martini, we’ve finally come to realize that one team of players doesn’t even care if they lose because they’re going to paradise with 70 virgins.  Just imagine the commercial: “Hey Hasan, now that the Garden of Eden is a bomb crater, what are you going to do?” “I’m going to Paradise!”  What the hell, let’s all go, I hear it’s pay one price weekend!  I just hope they’ve got enough virgins.

P.S.  There is only one thing that anyone can say that might one day put an end to this insanity.  I’ll say it here because the world leaders that know the truth and have known for generations wont tell you.  They don’t want you to know they know.  “You are all wrong, you’ve followed a path to nowhere, there is no god!”  It pisses you off, I know it did me, but that’s the fact.  There is no one god of all these differing delusions, there is no god.  There will be no one there to reward the righteous and punish the sinners.  We are doing that for ourselves.  Bush knows, Clinton, knows, Reagan knew.  Most of the world leaders know.  The Pope and even Arab leaders know, don’t kid yourself.  Who was the last Arab leader to kill himself for the cause?  Religion is the tool for controlling your players.  God bless the leaders.

when israelis stop treating palestinians like dogs is when i’ll be able to treat this as satire

Comment #16084 by Kimberly Warden on 8/01 at 11:16 am
>I have been doing a report on Hamas for my terrorism class in college. I dont see how it is that anyone could train their children to be such heartless MONSTERS as they say. I have a son that is 8 and many family members that range from the ages of newborns-17 years old and just knowing that the children im reading about are the ones that are going to be fighting for their country doing all these GOD awful acts when my son will be hurts me deeply. Wheres the love and comfort 8-12 year olds (and all the ages for that matter)should be getting from their parents and peers.
Instead of these training camps for cultural hatred, maybe they should do camps for love and peace to keep these kids out of the sewers.  Please let me know of any other news on Hamas before 8/7/06 because that is when my report is due. (and dates there after because I would love to be updated) Maybe one day all this will change and the world will be a better place. (A girl can always dream cant she???)
——

I strongly suggest you drop out while you can, if you’re pursuing a poli-sci degree. Do you spew this kind of crap in your papers? I suspect you’re in communications or education though, from the liberal use of caps lock.

Look at it this way—right or wrong, these people aren’t sitting their children in front of a big chalk board that says “Today’s Lesson: Being totally evil, and killing some folks for fun.” These people are in the middle of a war, what they believe to be a war for their home against an impossible enemy. There’s no tangible moral difference between shooting a civilian with a gun, or blowing them up with a cruise missile and strapping a bomb to your chest. If you think there’s a huge moral difference between killing civilians intentionally and considering them “acceptable losses”, you’re probably fooling yourself—and we’ve made our kids kill more non-combatant civilians in Iraq than Hesbullah and Hamas can ever dream (it takes a whole lot of stray rockets and suicide bombers to hit the 50,000 mark, sister).

So before you rant about monsters, take a look at the monsters next door. We’re teaching our kids to kill for abstract ideals just like they are—just like everyone does in every war. Does that make them right? Absolutely not. But it doesn’t make you righteous.

I have been doing a report on Hamas for my terrorism class in college. I dont see how it is that anyone could train their children to be such heartless MONSTERS as they say. I have a son that is 8 and many family members that range from the ages of newborns-17 years old and just knowing that the children im reading about are the ones that are going to be fighting for their country doing all these GOD awful acts when my son will be hurts me deeply. Wheres the love and comfort 8-12 year olds (and all the ages for that matter)should be getting from their parents and peers.
Instead of these training camps for cultural hatred, maybe they should do camps for love and peace to keep these kids out of the sewers.  Please let me know of any other news on Hamas before 8/7/06 because that is when my report is due. (and dates there after because I would love to be updated) Maybe one day all this will change and the world will be a better place. (A girl can always dream cant she???)

Glad you found space at the very end of the post to note that Courdry also mentioned the Israeli girl writing her name, “Daniele”—with a missile for the “i”—on a Lebanese-bound missile.

Fair and balanced, I suppose . . . Would’ve been nice to have seen indication of both sides being panned in the title, though.