The absurdity of America's expectations of Israel

Okay, I've absolutely had it. With my own co-progressives no less. America's growing rift with Israel is based on the grossest absurdities.

The following are the FACTS. Facts, people, VERIFIABLE FACTS.

(1) When it was formed Israel never prevented an indigenous Palestinian from becoming a citizen, participating in the democratic process, or even holding elected office. The Palestinians could have been a political majority and taken over Israel peacefully already, bearing children to VOTE instead of to MURDER. I doubt that they would have been as open-armed to the displaced Jews who settled there.

(2) Instead of embracing citizenship, MANY but NOT ALL indigenous Palestinians decided to abandon their lands, flee to other other countries, such as Jordan, which never offered them citizenship and forced them into refugee camps, some of which are still operating to this day. The worst massacre of Palestinians were killed in such a refugee camp in Jordan by Jordanians. The Palestinians who chose to accept citizenship in Israel did not lose their homes and land. Those that did, did so with the expectation that they would return as VICTORS after joining other Arab nations in seeking to overrun Israel in the war. Their gamble did not pay off. The never returned to their homes or claimed citizenship.

(3) There is no faction of Palestinian leadership that has EVER renounced their position that Israel lacks legitimate sovereignty or the PLO's stated position of driving the Israelis into the sea. There simply is NO possibility of peace for Israel no matter what olive branch it extends.

(4) Prior concessions by Israel, such as land for peace, has been met with a middle finger for the most part. Not a month has passed since those concessions that an Israeli citizen has not been killed by Palestinian terror, organized and otherwise. Missiles being launched into Israeli neighborhoods from Palestinian administered territories, suicide bombers, etc. should have undermined international confidence that the Palestinians will allow for peace regardless of the concessions made by Israel.

(5) The Palestinians are incapable of ensuring that any concession will result in Peace. Even if the leadership and the populace would be amenable to peace, the leadership is incapable of controlling those who, through a lifetime of indoctrination, would strap explosives onto their children to kill Jews. The outside funding for the continued indoctrination and weapons supply far overshadows any control asserted by democratic process.

(6) The United State's current position on the issue is nothing short of a death knell for the State of Israel. After Israel, it will be us. Anyone who thinks otherwise must have forgotten what happened on September 11, 2001. Though the VOLUNTARILY DISPLACED Palestinians have been used as a lightening rod to raise funds for terror, the destruction of the State of Israel is not the goal of those who fund them. Their goal is the destruction of western civilization and the imposition of Islamic rule. Israel is merely a buffer between the modern world and the Islamic world.

(7) Israel has had nuclear weapons for decades and has had the power to genocide the voluntarily displaced Palestinians for as long. They haven't used any weapons of mass destruction EVER (if you are going to object by mentioning white phosporous, look it up and congratulate yourself after realizing that you are a victim of false propaganda, white phosphorous is neither a chemical weapon nor a weapon of mass destruction.) On the other, there is no need to speculate what the Palestinians (or the Iranians for that matter) would do if they had the capacity to reach a high capacity weapon into a dense population area. They do it every chance they get with every weapon they have access to.

In conclusion, make sure you're on the right side before you open your mouth.

The Bone has been Thrown.

I was right again.
Sometimes I sicken myself with my powers of political prognostication.
My last post was, "Throw 'em a bone..." The Republicans are squarely defeated and need only to save a little face.
Over the weekend (because Congress always reads my posts) they came to the same conclusion.We can throw them a bone.
John McCain (no pal of mine) said it in almost the exact same words this morning:
"The Democrats, I think, by doing negotiations now, are doing the right thing," McCain said. "Because you really don't want to crow over a victory. They know they're going to win. They know that. But we need to try to get an agreement that gives some something for the Republicans."
My post suggested to delay the fines for the individual mandate briefly. Not the mandate itself, just the fines.
The actual plan proposed by the Senate (but probably doomed to failure in the House) is even more trifling a concession than what I proposed. To wit, the Senate negotiators proposed:

• reopening the government through Jan. 15 (no winner); 
• extending the debt limit until Feb. 15 (no winner);
• appoint representatives for a budget conference (win/win); 
• delay of a reinsurance tax to benefit unions (advantage Democrats);
• income verification for Obamacare exchanges (advantage Republicans, sort of, since the income verification is already basically there, just not handled through the exchange. Quite literally a "for show" concession only.)

As I reflected in my last post, if the House rejects this "compromise" the Republicans therein will appear to be intransigent, irrational, and hell-bent on destroying the economy. If the House approves it, they will have a very difficult PR job to not appear to be pussies. 

My advice to the GOP would be that they don't even try to convince the God-Guns-Gays element of the party that compromise was the right thing to do since that would be a fool's errand. They should reinforce the traditional notion that the Republican party is about millionaires and billionaires and corporations, all of whom know that the acceptance of defeat was in their best interest and send a message to the Tea Party that they are little more than an annoying little fly on the party's shoulder.

Peace.

Throw Boehner a Bone and say, "Fetch, bitch".

Throw them a bone:

Its time to throw them a bone. The last shovel of dirt on the grave of the GOP would be "pity concession." The "bigger man" theory would hold that it is now the prerogative of the Democratic Party to accept that fact that it is completely dominant--that it can end the impasse with a temporary concession with the confidence that both houses and the presidency will be in democratic control in 13 months. If we kill the opposition, we look evil and one-party governments are inherently evil. If we let them save a modicum of face and continue to exist as a minority party, everyone wins.

Fetch, bitch:

The offer of a "pity concession" is a win-win for democrats. If the Republicans reject it, they look like the intransigent ones. If they accept it, they look weak. The Democrats have nothing to lose and everything to win. The more offensively picayune the concession the better. How about something like putting off the fines for not having insurance under the ACA for six months instead of suspending the whole program? Let them chase their tails over that. A second benefit of the extending the implementation of the fines (which is already over a year away) is that, if there is any part of the Republican narrative to be believed, it is the sloppy roll-out of the exchanges. Accordingly, there is now a principled reason for the Democrats to delay the fines without looking like they have merely given into extortion.

Please remember the following:
(1) I love politics; and
(2) I'm (almost) always right.

Peace.