buttamimi comments

Israeli tank fire killed up to 40 Palestinians at a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip today, medical sources reported.

The images coming out of Gaza will only increase the terroist threat, worldwide.

AT LEAST 14 more Palestinian children were killed in the Gaza Strip yesterday, 5th, as the misery and terror of civilians trapped by the Israeli bombardment intensified.

This invasion and killings of innocent men, women and children by Israel goes well beyond the borders of Gaza. The images are being broadcast throughout the world. It will increase the level of terroism throughout the world. Many cannot understand why Israel did not target the sites where the actual rockets were coming from. In this day and age, surely the technology is out there to carry out surgical strikes against an enemy. Could it be that the actions of George Bush's preemptive strike against Iraq has set the stage for Israel to use indiscriminate attacks in Gaza, which result in many, many innocent civillians being slaughtered?

The economic depression will dominate the news, both in Japan and abroad. Because of Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip and and the killing of hundreds of innocent people, terroism will increase worldwide. Obama will be able to 'change' very little. Oh, Hanshin Tigers will become 2009 champions.

United Nations (PTI) : In an unusually sharp criticism of Israel, the UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT has described its deadly air strikes on Gaza Strip as commission of "wanton aggression by a very powerful state" and said the world body needs to take a firm action if it does not want to be "rightly accused of complicity by omission."

"I call on all Member States, as well as officials and every relevant organ of the United Nations system, to move expeditiously not only to condemn Israel's serious violations, but to develop new approaches to providing real protection for the Palestinian people," Miguel d'Escoto said.

The Israeli air strikes which killed nearly 230 people, he said, represent "severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war."

The violations, the UNGA President said, include collective punishment of the entire 1.5 million people for action of a few militants, targeting civilians and disproportionate military response.

Terming the air strikes as the commission of "wanton aggression by a very powerful state", he said they were aimed at civilian areas in one of the most crowded stretches of land in the world, certainly the most densely populated area of the Middle East.

The air strikes, d'Escoto said, have not only destroyed every police and security office of the Gaza Strip's "elected government," but have killed and injured hundreds of civilians.

"At least one strike reportedly hit groups of students attempting to find transportation home from the university," he said and reminded all member states that the UN continues to be bound to an independent obligation to protect any civilian population facing massive violations of international humanitarian law regardless of what country may be responsible for those violations.

D'Escoto said time has come for the world body to take firm action if it does not want to be "rightly accused of complicity by omission."

It seems, USARonin, that 'you can't handle the truth.'

U.S. military aid to Israel has a dramatic effect on Israel's policies towards the Palestinians. It has increasingly been used not to pay for defense but to finance the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. It keeps Israel from facing the difficult but necessary challenges of building a more democratic society, and encourages solving deep-rooted problems by military rather than peaceful and more effective means.

It is a wanton act of collective punishment that is depriving the Palestinians of food, electricity, water, money, access to the outside world ... and sleep. Israel has been sending jets flying over Gaza at night triggering sonic booms, traumatizing children. “I want nobody to sleep at night in Gaza,” declared Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, words suitable for Israel’s tombstone.

I agree with Sensei258. 'If kids came to your house every day and threw rocks through the windows, wouldn't you want the police to go to their house and make them stop?' Exactly! Latest: The occupation forces entered Gaza in several places at approximately 9 PM, while continuing their shelling and targeting of Palestinians from air and sea, killing and wounding still more Palestinians people while their ground forces prevent ambulances and medical personnel from reaching the victims. All Israeli (and US-made) weapons are being used in this invasion, including massive bombs. The occupation forces have bombed the small remaining oil supply used for power in Gaza, cutting 85% of electricity in Gaza and creating massive clouds of thick, toxic smoke.

I agree with Mr. George Bush. If only those naughty Hamas rocketeers would just stop launching their rockets into Israel which, by the way, have killed over three people, then Israel would cease their bombardment of Gaza, which has so far killed over 400 people and destroyed the infrastructure, leading to a humanitarian disaster.

In the real world we are jostled around by conflicting realities. Work; money, neighbors, health, relationships and self-worth. Going into a monestry is like going into a spiritual health farm: Fixing and toning-up the spiirtual biceps. Maybe it's a good idea to do it once a year. But, unless you are one of the lucky ones who has found the right niche in society, say making prayer beads for a living, then life's realities will eat into the benefits gained from the spiritual retreat. Nonetheless, it's always a good idea to get away from reality for a while and clense the spirits.

Alien life will be discovered on another planet. Peace will breakout in the middle east after it is discovered that the bible is a work of fiction.

To stop posting on sites like this. Well, that didn't last long. Ah, well. I still have five more resolutions on the go.

Terrorist organizations terrorize and murder people. Given that, Israel is a far bigger terrorist organization than Hamas, if the victims of state sponsored terrorism are counted.

Well, well, well. A ceasefire. Then what? A continued blockade by Israel of the Gaza strip? No medical aid allowed in? Continued control of the air space over Gaza? Continued control of the sea around Gaza? Continued Israeli control of the borders? Continued military aid and technology from the USA? Continued Israeli nuclear weaponry research? The situation in Gaza is the worst it has been since the Israeli occupation of 1967.

How ironic this all is. People salughtering each other in the heart of the most religious area on earth. Still, I guess the incumbants believe that there is a better place awaiting them after it is all over.

Shame on Israel: The five Palestinian sisters were fast asleep when a night-time Israeli airstrike hit the next-door mosque in Gaza. One of the walls collapsed on to their small asbestos-roofed home and they were all killed in their beds. The eldest sister, Tahrir, was 17 years old, the youngest, Jawaher, just four.

Leaders Lie, Civillian Die.--Robert Fisk, Independent: We've got so used to the carnage of the Middle East that we don't care any more – providing we don't offend the Israelis. It's not clear how many of the Gaza dead are civilians, but the response of the Bush administration, not to mention the pusillanimous reaction of Gordon Brown, reaffirm for Arabs what they have known for decades: however they struggle against their antagonists, the West will take Israel's side. As usual, the bloodbath was the fault of the Arabs – who, as we all know, only understand force.

Ever since 1948, we've been hearing this balderdash from the Israelis – just as Arab nationalists and then Arab Islamists have been peddling their own lies: that the Zionist "death wagon" will be overthrown, that all Jerusalem will be "liberated". And always Mr Bush Snr or Mr Clinton or Mr Bush Jnr or Mr Blair or Mr Brown have called upon both sides to exercise "restraint" – as if the Palestinians and the Israelis both have F-18s and Merkava tanks and field artillery. Hamas's home-made rockets have killed just 20 Israelis in eight years, but a day-long blitz by Israeli aircraft that kills almost 300 Palestinians is just par for the course.

The blood-splattering has its own routine. Yes, Hamas provoked Israel's anger, just as Israel provoked Hamas's anger, which was provoked by Israel, which was provoked by Hamas, which ... See what I mean? Hamas fires rockets at Israel, Israel bombs Hamas, Hamas fires more rockets and Israel bombs again and ... Got it? And we demand security for Israel – rightly – but overlook this massive and utterly disproportionate slaughter by Israel. It was Madeleine Albright who once said that Israel was "under siege" – as if Palestinian tanks were in the streets of Tel Aviv.

By last night, the exchange rate stood at 296 Palestinians dead for one dead Israeli. Back in 2006, it was 10 Lebanese dead for one Israeli dead. This weekend was the most inflationary exchange rate in a single day since – the 1973 Middle East War? The 1967 Six Day War? The 1956 Suez War? The 1948 Independence/Nakba War? It's obscene, a gruesome game – which Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defence Minister, unconsciously admitted when he spoke this weekend to Fox TV. "Our intention is to totally change the rules of the game," Barak said.

Exactly. Only the "rules" of the game don't change. This is a further slippage on the Arab-Israeli exchanges, a percentage slide more awesome than Wall Street's crashing shares, though of not much interest in the US which – let us remember – made the F-18s and the Hellfire missiles which the Bush administration pleads with Israel to use sparingly.

Quite a lot of the dead this weekend appear to have been Hamas members, but what is it supposed to solve? Is Hamas going to say: "Wow, this blitz is awesome – we'd better recognise the state of Israel, fall in line with the Palestinian Authority, lay down our weapons and pray we are taken prisoner and locked up indefinitely and support a new American 'peace process' in the Middle East!" Is that what the Israelis and the Americans and Gordon Brown think Hamas is going to do?

Yes, let's remember Hamas's cynicism, the cynicism of all armed Islamist groups. Their need for Muslim martyrs is as crucial to them as Israel's need to create them. The lesson Israel thinks it is teaching – come to heel or we will crush you – is not the lesson Hamas is learning. Hamas needs violence to emphasise the oppression of the Palestinians – and relies on Israel to provide it. A few rockets into Israel and Israel obliges.

Not a whimper from Tony Blair, the peace envoy to the Middle East who's never been to Gaza in his current incarnation. Not a bloody word.

We hear the usual Israeli line. General Yaakov Amidror, the former head of the Israeli army's "research and assessment division" announced that "no country in the world would allow its citizens to be made the target of rocket attacks without taking vigorous steps to defend them". Quite so. But when the IRA were firing mortars over the border into Northern Ireland, when their guerrillas were crossing from the Republic to attack police stations and Protestants, did Britain unleash the RAF on the Irish Republic? Did the RAF bomb churches and tankers and police stations and zap 300 civilians to teach the Irish a lesson? No, it did not. Because the world would have seen it as criminal behaviour. We didn't want to lower ourselves to the IRA's level.

Yes, Israel deserves security. But these bloodbaths will not bring it. Not since 1948 have air raids protected Israel. Israel has bombed Lebanon thousands of times since 1975 and not one has eliminated "terrorism". So what was the reaction last night? The Israelis threaten ground attacks. Hamas waits for another battle. Our Western politicians crouch in their funk holes. And somewhere to the east – in a cave? a basement? on a mountainside? – a well-known man in a turban smiles.

'The scale and ferocity of Israel's attacks came as a shock to many but tensions had been building after the expiry on 18 December of a ceasefire. Hamas had offered to renew the ceasefire if Israel reopened Gaza's border crossings. The strip had been sealed by Israel in an Economic Siege aimed at toppling Hamas. The blockade has brought the territory near Economic Collapse.'--The Independent.

The killing fields virtually belong to Israel.: 'According to the Oslo Accords, Israel retains control of air space, territorial waters, offshore maritime access, the population registry, entry of foreigners, imports and exports as well as the tax system.'--Wikipedia.

The latest murderous onslaught will, in all probability, lead to all-out war and a new wave of suicide bombings.

I guess this is the icing on the cake for George Bush's foreign policy.

I read all the health articles I come across. I don't put ketchup on my French Fries. I put away my own futon. I use the escalator when the elevator is full. I stand up on the train to work. I lift pints in the pub after work. I stand up when I have a shower. I try not to eat more than two bags of chips while watching TV. I take out my own futon before bed and neatly place it on the tatami.

What a Dick Cheney is. The reason the car companies are in trouble is that Bush and Cheney allowed unregulated banks and finance companies to rape the economy and leave mountains of debt. At the same time both Bush and Cheney were spending billions scratching around in the middle east looking for WMDs which did not exist. What a joke! No wonder Bush is the most despised President in American history.

It started in the U.S: 'Credit cards got their start in the United States just before the beginning of World War I. Department stores began the practice of issuing dog-tag style metal plates to their favorite customers. By 1924 gas credit cards appeared on the scene, the first cards that could be used at merchants all over the country. This was an important advance, because as automobiles became more common so did traveling, and a gas card that was not accepted away from home had limited value. Indeed, the increasing mobility of the average person is one very important reason that credit cards have exploded with popularity. For example, a merchant in California night not accept a personal check from a customer but would take an American Express or MasterCard without hesitation.'

A bit on the side is nothing new. Apparently, Prince Charles had more than one bit on the side. President Clinton, infamously, had a bit on the side. The late president of France, Mitterand, had an illigitimate child with a bit on the side. In fact, it seems less than normal not to have a bit on the side. I suspect that President Bush may be an excepttion to the norm.

I would take a Subway sandwich any day over a Mcdonald's quarter pounder enhanced by a fake sales campaign.

The Big Whopper! Let's face it, Maccas have been caught with their pants down. The people were paid 1,000 yen an hour to swallow the lie. They were recruited on the internet by a recruitment company called Full Cast. In the recruitment blurb, it was stated that they wanted people to work near Shinsaibashi Eki. It did not state that they would be lining-up to take part in a fake hamburger binge.

Good to see old customs surviving in Japan. This would be impossible in the U.S. or the U.K; as people are too obese to be able to sit on stools that size.