AND,..... WHY IS THE U.S. SO SUPPORTIVE OF ISRAEL BEYOND THE BOUNDS OF FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE??
The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a resolution upgrading Palestine to a "non-member observer state," from a "non-member observer entity."
Before the vote and in front of the assembly, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said this was the body's "last chance to save the two-state solution."
He said despite all the violence and Israeli "aggressions" and its "occupation," Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority have insisted on harmony and have looked at the "U.N. as a beacon of hope."
"We did not come here seeking to delegitimize a state established years ago, and that is Israel. Rather we came to affirm the legitimacy of a state that must now achieve its independence and that is Palestine," Abbas said.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas after he spoke to the United Nations General Assembly.
"The moment has come for the world to say clearly: enough of aggression, enough with settlements and occupation," Abbas said.
Exactly 65 years after the General Assembly convened at Lake Success, N.Y., voted to divide Palestine between a Jewish state and an Arab one, the same body voted — 138-9, with 41 abstentions — in favor of recognizing the State of Palestine.
The United States and Israel, which suffered a stinging diplomatic setback, voted against the measure, while France and Spain voted in favor.
This vote gives Palestinians the same status as the Vatican, but perhaps more importantly, it gives Palestinians access to other U.N. bodies like the International Criminal Court, where Palestinians could launch complaints against Israel.
The United States has repeatedly said that this was not the right way toward a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"This resolution is not going to take [Palestinians] closer to statehood," Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said in a briefing yesterday. "It does nothing to get them closer to statehood, and it may actually make the environment more difficult."
The resolution reaffirms the "the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to their independent State of Palestine," and also declares the Palestine Liberation Organization the "representative of the Palestinian people."
The PLO and its leader, Abbas, control the West Bank, but not the Gaza Strip, which is under the control of Hamas. As The New York Times explains it, the credibility of Abbas and his Palestinian Authority has suffered, especially after the recent eight-day Israeli assault on Gaza.
"That shift in sentiment is one reason that some Western countries give for backing the United Nations resolution, to strengthen Mr. Abbas and his more moderate colleagues in their contest with Hamas," the Times explained.
Israel, which has had a relationship with Abbas but does not talk to Hamas directly, said it would take action against the Palestinian Authority in response to this vote.
Israel's UN Ambassador Ron Prosor addresses the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.
"I can only say that our response will be proportionate to what is ultimately a fundamental violation by the Palestinians of signed agreements," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told NPR's Philip Reeves. "I mean they committed to solving all outstanding issues through negotiations. And by going to the U.N., they are doing the opposite."
Nuland said yesterday that the Obama administration was trying to get Congress to release money reserved for the Palestinian Authority, but the resolution doesn't "make it any easier."
The Israeli ambassador to the U.N., Ron Prosor, said in a speech before the General Assembly that the resolution "raises expectations that cannot be met."
Israel wants peace, he said, while Palestinians are "avoiding it." This resolution, he said, meant the Palestinians were "turning their backs on peace."
"No decision of the U.N. can break the 4,000-year bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel," Prosor said.
As the vote took place, the celebrations that started earlier today in Ramallah continued into the early morning.
Are you sick and tired of our government screwing us while they smile in our faces? We have elevated our "representatives" to an elite stature in our society. But,.. do they serve us? Not unless you can grease their pockets with the by products of corporate greed. Capitalism is the new world order. It neither recognizes your rights, nor your laws. What it does recognize is our ability to pay for it all. Are you sick of it? So am I! I invite you to comment. You never know, it might be heard.
What do you think?
Join the rant..... What do you think?... Put your view out here for everyone to see. We're all in this together. Contact me at firemansforge@hughes.net, and speak up...
Your sarcasm can set you free.....
"IN A TIME OF UNIVERSAL DECEIT, TELLING THE TRUTH IS A REVOLUTIONARY ACT." - GEORGE ORWELL
Friday, November 30, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? You have the power to do what?
President Obama states he can kill me if he wants to.... W.T.F.??
http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6570&track=DP
It's astonishing, but he claims that he has the power to assasinate people all over the globe -- including Americans -- with no due process.
"Due process" can be a trial, or a missile through your roof.
[I think I'd prefer a trial, if you don't mind, Mr. President.]
President Obama told CNN this week that he can kill Americans or non-Americans, the difference being that with Americans their killing amounts to their Constitutionally guaranteed due process.
CNN asked Obama how he chooses names for his kill list, but he declined to say. Obama claimed that there are checks on his power, pointing only to checks by his own subordinates, not by courts, not by Congress, and not by the public -- which he reassures with vague statements that amount to "trust me."
Obama claimed that his preference is to capture people rather than to kill them. This does not fit with cases like that of Tariq Khan, a 16-year-old killed by drone strike following his participation in a conference at which he could have easily been captured. It does not fit with the lack of criminal charges against virtually any of the people killed.
Obama claimed that he avoids killing civilians, yet careful research has documented large numbers of civilians killed, including this week in Yemen.
Due process is not, as comedian Stephen Colbert pointed out, just some process that you do.
[I never thought I'd miss Richard Nixon, but this shit is getting scary. Come on Mr. President..... Really? Does this sound like a story that's been played before,...
or is it just me?]
[When did the power of life and death get granted to the President of the United States? Have we become so decadent that we can dictate who lives, and who dies in our world, without fear of retribution by law? President Obama is not the first to believe he has this power. The names of Hitler, and Musolini are the first to come to my mind.]
( RootsAction is an independent online force endorsed by Jim Hightower, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Daniel Ellsberg, Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Klein, Bill Fletcher Jr., Laura Flanders, former U.S. Senator James Abourezk, Coleen Rowley, and many others.)
Background:
Bureau of Investigative Journalism: Holding the US to account for civilian drone deaths in Yemen
Bureau of Investigative Journalism: U.S. Secret Wars in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia
Washington Post: U.S. Drone Targets in Yemen Raise Questions
New York Times: Secret 'Kill List' Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will
[Interjections of a hopefully sane nature added by Mike Staples]As reported by Charlie Turner of "Demand Progress. Org"
(Demand Progress has teamed up with ....The RootsAction.org team to call President Obama to account.)You can sign a petition to ask President Obama to uphold the rule of law, at...
http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6570&track=DP
It's astonishing, but he claims that he has the power to assasinate people all over the globe -- including Americans -- with no due process.
"Due process" can be a trial, or a missile through your roof.
[I think I'd prefer a trial, if you don't mind, Mr. President.]
President Obama told CNN this week that he can kill Americans or non-Americans, the difference being that with Americans their killing amounts to their Constitutionally guaranteed due process.
CNN asked Obama how he chooses names for his kill list, but he declined to say. Obama claimed that there are checks on his power, pointing only to checks by his own subordinates, not by courts, not by Congress, and not by the public -- which he reassures with vague statements that amount to "trust me."
Obama claimed that his preference is to capture people rather than to kill them. This does not fit with cases like that of Tariq Khan, a 16-year-old killed by drone strike following his participation in a conference at which he could have easily been captured. It does not fit with the lack of criminal charges against virtually any of the people killed.
Obama claimed that he avoids killing civilians, yet careful research has documented large numbers of civilians killed, including this week in Yemen.
Due process is not, as comedian Stephen Colbert pointed out, just some process that you do.
[I never thought I'd miss Richard Nixon, but this shit is getting scary. Come on Mr. President..... Really? Does this sound like a story that's been played before,...
or is it just me?]
[When did the power of life and death get granted to the President of the United States? Have we become so decadent that we can dictate who lives, and who dies in our world, without fear of retribution by law? President Obama is not the first to believe he has this power. The names of Hitler, and Musolini are the first to come to my mind.]
( RootsAction is an independent online force endorsed by Jim Hightower, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Daniel Ellsberg, Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Klein, Bill Fletcher Jr., Laura Flanders, former U.S. Senator James Abourezk, Coleen Rowley, and many others.)
Background:
Bureau of Investigative Journalism: Holding the US to account for civilian drone deaths in Yemen
Bureau of Investigative Journalism: U.S. Secret Wars in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia
Washington Post: U.S. Drone Targets in Yemen Raise Questions
New York Times: Secret 'Kill List' Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will
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