Lebanon, an often praised semi-Democratic free market paradise, has stated publicly that IT DOES NOT have the military capacity to throw Hamas out. They would like nothing more than to throw them out. Hamas caps 2 ( yes 2) Israeli soldiers and Israel responds by destroying the infrastructure of a country that is being held hostage. It destroys its airport, roads, blows up their plants, and so far has killed about a hundred people, most of them civilians and they will probably be bombing more infrastructure today. As far as I know Hamas does Not control the Beirut airport or it does not control the roads leading out of Lebanon. Terrorism by state? Nah... The middle east is about to blow up.

OOops, I meant Hezbollah and not Hamas. I get my Islamist nut cases mixed up sometime.

True, Bush implicitly lauded Israel's military effort:
(From NYTimes) Mr. Bush “believes the Israelis have the right to protect themselves, and that in doing so they should limit as much as possible so-called collateral damage, not only to facilities but also to human lives,’’

But one of the worse outcomes of the Bush administration is his sponsorship of a world-wide culture of war, hatred, and vengence. This is exhibited by the mimicry or adoption of such loaded phrases into world administrators' lexicon (read: anti-terror rhetoric that smacks of popularity, like the school bully):
(again from NYTimes) Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, also focused on Syria and Iran, calling them “a new axis of evil.’’

Gillerman's mimicry is intentional. Israel is borrowing Bush's rhetoric to make the point that the U.S. is in no position to insist that Israel stand down. This is a bad situation.

All I can say about Cheney, Rove, and Libby being sued is ... ah hah hah hah hah! And after C/R/L lose all their money, the Plame's are giving the money to charity, just to frost thier cookies even more!

If you can't tell the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas, Seme, and the separate situations surrounding each group, do you really think you're in a position to offer intelligent commentary?

More word on the I-90 rail line is that it'd be 15 (FIFTEEN) years before such a rail line would be functional.

To bad I ain't allowed (in Washington) to place bets over internet, hell, state patrol or someone might just show up on my door step if I even looked up the odds...

How long until Cheney (who has a legal precedent) and Rove (who the administration pretends is an elected official) has some low-level Gonzales lacky step in to "stay" the case on the grounds that a civil suit against an elected offical needs to wait until after they are out of office?

Sound Transit needs to forthrightly state how much in taxes it plans on collecting to bring on line the system promised to voters in 1996. Then we can accurately guage the merits of this ST2 planning.

The system promised in 1996 includes, and is not limited to, the recently shortened and station-reduced light rail project. ST told the voters in 1996 in the disclosure materials there would be $1.9 billion in taxes collected to implement the system. Conspicuously absent from anything ST has disclosed since 2000 is an updated estimate of how much in taxes it plans on collecting to implement what it promised in 1996. People we have in our community a big-time deceitful government, and there is nothing wrong with a liberal calling BS on a government that is not accountable EVEN IF RON SIMS AND GREG NICKELS ARE BASICALLY IN CHARGE.

AE
The Hamas and Hezbollah mix up was corrected immediately. Duh! Are you saying that Israel did not bomb Lebanese infrastructure? Destroyed the airport? Killed civilians? Are you saying that Hezbollah did not kidnap 2 Israeli soldiers? What are you saying?

The point is Lebanon would love to throw Hezbollah out and by destroying its infrastructure and killing civilians, Israel is helping make Hezbollah even bigger than it already is.

If pointing out a typo/error, which was immediately corrected is the best you can do than…

I want and like rail. But running it through downtown Bellevue and to Redmond where I am sure approximately 5 Microsoft workers will give up their cars for a ride seems ridiculous. I'm certain the Bel Square Nordy shoppers will be hopping right on as well. This regional transit crap seems to be doing very little here in the city to relieve congestion. Then again, Nickels was spineless on the Monorail- why should this be any different. Oh, and by the way the pothole on my street had to have been made by an Iranian bomb... I'll arrange for the Mayor a photo op if he'll come fix my street's pothole...

Seattle needs many trains going in all directions in the city. the facts are that the first line needs to be built somewhere, and it will take awhile. but the sooner we start, the sooner we'll have trains. This city needs to grow up and get over whining about how hard and imperfect the process of building rapid transit will be. shut up and build the trains! if we had stuck with the monorail, we would be at least halfway to a green (or whatever color that was) line by now.

Interesting thread going on here. Lots of stuff to chew on, and lots of people pretending to know what they're talking about. Let me add my completely ignorant predictions to the pot.

Seattle voters, a very progressive bunch when it comes to transportation, will approve the light rail project. Eastside voters, who have shown themselves to be ass-backwards in regard to transportation will not. Nickels will find a way to force it through. Seattle and environs will have a working public transit system by 2020.

Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame are quickly running out of public sympathy. Now that Fitzgerald has acquitted Rove, this lawsuit smells like a book promotion. However, it won't stop the administration from over reacting. Like Milosevic, Pinochet, and Ken Lay, Wilson and Plame will die suddenly before their court case comes to a conclusion.

Israel is bombing Hezbollah into submission. They are about to lose power altogether in Lebanon. Syria is poised to move in and re-establish their control. Israel will stop the attacks as Syria applies more pressure. This time, however, Iran holds the strings, and this whole move signals an attempt by Iran to take over power in Lebanon, Syria and pretty soon, Iraq. The U.S. will do something very stupid and violent just before the November elections. Maybe a nuke strike in Iran? The Republicans will retain control of both the house and the senate. A massive car bomb will level an entire city block in Detroit.

Oil will go up to $200 a barrel. Fighting will spread to Egypt and Turkey before the end of the year. Israel is toast.

another prediction - GD finds something else to do and stops posting.

Wrong!

Israel is our ally and is right to fight back. George Bush is not setting Israel's military policy, it's the other way around, America is following Israel's lead in the Middle East. Israel will attack Iran so the United States doesn't have to (we'll just supply the weapons.) And check out The Stranger article about the awesome draft that the Israel military uses to fill it's ranks.

The United States is learning a lot from Israel about how to run interrogations, and how to proceed in the Middle East. The Stanger article was correct in stating we should have a draft like Israel does.

Most of all misguided Americans like Rachel Corrie, who work with terrorist groups need to be exposed. The Stranger's anti-Rachel Corrie coverage has been a valuble antidote to anti-Israel coverage in other Seattle papers. The Stranger went out on a limb with their pro-war stand, and is now going out on a limb to stand firmly with Israel. Many Jews in Seattle recognize your courage.

We love Eli's Jew-Fro posting too! The Stranger is the best newspaper for Seattle's Jewish community.

Let's see - choose light rail, where the energy cost to move people is one-tenth that of a car, and the global warming emissions are a fraction that of BRT - or choose BRT that will be stolen for service in underpopulated suburbs where noone will use it.

I vote light rail. NEXT!

Joshes, Elis and others,
You don't do the Jewish community any favors by treating 'Israel' and 'Jews' as if they were one and the same thing. The Jews are a religion and/or a racial grouping with a long and wonderful history of thoughtfulness, social activism, and the most progressive political thinking of any religious group.

Israel on the other hand is a political entity which has been mired in warfare since the day it was founded. The heroes of Israel are terrorists like Ben Gurion or warriors like Moshe Dayan. It's the pyschopaths like Ahmadinejad who talk about Jews and Israel as if they were same thing. They're not. You can be a good Jew and firmly believe that the state of Israel has a violent history of militaristic over-reaction and horror. As I do.

Rachel Corrie, bless her heart, may have been misguided but at least she was genuinely working for peace and justice. She died trying to stop violence and preserve the homes of poor people. She was no terrorist and you betray an ugly ideology by calling her that.

Another Josh,

Re: "Joshes, Elis and others"
Eli hasn't posted here. Nor has he said anything to conflate Israel and Jews. Nor have I (Josh Feit.)

Eli does have a Jewish name, though.

@ Josh: So we have Israel to blame for GW's stupid war in Iraq? We're learning a lot from Israel about how to conduct interrogations and "proceed" (ie, fight) in the Middle East? Yeah, it's worked REAL well for Israel, huh? They're a bastion of peace, now.

While nutjob extremist Muslims shoulder most of the blame for violence in the Mideast, Israel has a slice or two of blame pie it needs to eat as well.

Of course you're right, Josh Feit. I was reacting to comments by Josh and Anne (who brought Eli into the conversation.)

The Stranger is pretty even-handed when it comes to politics, Jews, war, pretty much everything except local theater, and you're to be praised for that.

But it makes me very nervous to see the Israel=Jews fallacy brought up, even if it's just by your readers.

Light rail to Bellevue will do nothing to improve global warming. Take away a quarter of china's high sulphur coal fired electricity generators, then MAYBE global warming will be slowed. The CO2 emissions light rail to Bellevue would eliminate over the course of a year are a miniscule amount of the CO2 emissions released every hour worldwide. Light rail is not going to slow down the degredation of the ecosystem locally or nationally. Stop saying it will, it makes you look foolish.

If you want to do something about improving air quality locally, have the state condemn the most-polluting 1% of vehicles that are tested each year. They contribute a grossly disproportionate amount of hydrocarbon pollutants to our air. The market value of those cars (that is, the cost to acquire)would be nominal. That's an efficient way to cut down air pollution, not spending literally untold billions more for a system of only marginal social utility.

Sorry, but it's not just Republicans who are incapable of being objective peacemakers between Israel and Palestine. If the Congress were entirely controlled by Dems, you still couldn't move a single piece of legislation critical of Israel's illegal settlements or war on civilians (retribution against terrorists). Not with the Dem leadership we currently have, anyway.

Was This House Worth Her Life?

Was the title of The Stranger Article on Rachel Corrie. Rachel Corried died for a dentist's house. The article also pointed out the terrorist groups Rachel collaborated with. The Stranger was the only local paper with the courage to expose Corrie.

Many American Jews do believe in Israel and many Jews in Seattle want to support Israel. Jews=Israel is true for many people, local Jews included. Shalom

Just a point, Fitzgerald did NOT acquit Karl Rove. He just declined to file an indictment.

He's still guilty.

Eli had an awesome Jew-Fro too! Cute.

The Stranger is the only Seattle paper covering the local Jew-Fro scene. #:-)

I love when the Zionist nutbags come out to complain about having to kill so many muslim nutbags (and anyone standing nearby). And dancing with delight on Rachel Corrie's grave sure wins people over. Trust me, Josh, the other Josh is right. You don't want to associate Israel with being representative of Judaism any more than a Muslim would want Iran to be representative of all of Islam. In other words, criticism of Israeli policy/tactics/etc. is not = criticism of Judaism. Israel is one of the most violent states that ever existed and like the bully with no friends would be wise to look in the mirror when wondering why ALL of their neighbors hate them. (I would level the exact same criticism at the US)

Of course, in response to this comment the IDF will probably bomb the shit out of my house and all my neighbors too!

The other posters are right, we don't want people to associate Israel with being Jewish. Israel is one of the most violent states that ever existed. That violence has nothing to do with religion.

Israel really has nothing to do with Judaism. We don't want the average American to start connecting the Jewish people to Israel. The two are completely seperate.

Please stop associating Israel and Jews. It's not helping Seattle's Jewish community.

Looks like a good game of Eschaton is ready to start in the Middle East. What fun.

Bullcrap. Israel has no need to apologize for her actions, and is being judged to a standard FAR harsher than any other country. Only self-hating Jews would think otherwise. Also, note that there are 1.5M Israeli Arabs, who enjoy full voting rights, and one of the highest standards of living in the Middle East. And they too are getting blown apart by Hamas terrorist bombs.
Haifa and Tiberias both have large Arab populations that are getting hit by Hezbollah rockets as we speak.

Lets see.
What would we in the US do if terrorists started attacking us, say, by blowing up a building? Oh...yeah. That sounds familiar. I think our reaction was to invade TWO countries (one of them legitimately). And as for the tired, pathetic arguement of the "occupation", tell it to the Native Americans, or any of the myriad other conquered nations in world history. What utter hypocracy for us to judge Israel, who treated the native Arab population far, FAR better than we ever did for Native Americans here. To the victor goes the spoils. In NO other war in history has the victorious party ever, EVER given up land for peace. And, how does Israel get rewarded for this?

We can clearly see that Muslim Arabs, like most tribal cultures, only seem to understand force. The violence ALWAYS intensifies whenever Israel shows signs of perceived weakness. The last bloody intifada started when Israel WITHDREW from Lebanon. The recent violence started when Israel WITHDREW from Gaza. Bin Laden and his fuckheads started plotting against the West after the Soviet Union WITHDREW from Afghanistan. Any withdrawal, or gesture towards peace is viewed as weakness by the "Arab street".
What did the Palestinian Arabs do after Israel WITHDREW from Gaza? With their first democratic elections? They voted in the fuckhead terrorists, Hamas who caused them such grief and suffering.
Now, they shall reap what they sow.

Oh, and as for Rachel Corrie? Tragic, but sorry, she won the Darwin award, going into a war zone, hanging out with terrorists, and then lying down in front of a 12ft high bulldozer. Perhaps she would have been safer in Tel Aviv at the time, protecting the hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians getting blown apart on buses and street cafes

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