Greenwald writes: "As I've written many times before, 'terrorism' is, and from the start was designed to be, almost entirely devoid of discernible meaning. It's a fear-mongering slogan, lacking any consistent application, intended to end rational debate and justify virtually any conduct by those who apply the term."
Glenn Greenwald. (photo: Salon)
Terrorism in the Israeli Attack on Gaza
29 July 14
�
s I�ve written many times before, �terrorism� is, and from the start was designed to be, almost entirely devoid of discernible meaning. It�s a fear-mongering slogan, lacking any consistent application, intended to end rational debate and justify virtually any conduct by those who apply the term. But to the extent it means anything beyond that, it typically refers to the killing of civilians as a means of furthering political or military goals.
Below are two charts reflecting the deaths of civilians, soldiers and �militants� in both Gaza and Israel since the July 8 Israeli attack began. The statistics used are unduly generous toward Israel, since �militants� in Gaza are often nothing more than residents who take up arms to defend their homes against an invading and occupying army. Even with that generous interpretation, these numbers, standing alone, tell a powerful story:
If you landed on earth from another planet this week, knowing nothing other than the most common use of the word �terrorism,� which side do you think would most frequently be referred to as �terrorists�?
Often, the most vivid illustration of the criminality of this attack comes not from data but from isolated stories. Yesterday, for instance, �in Khan Younis, five members of the Najjar family, which lost 21 people in a previous strike, were killed.� Meanwhile, �in the Al Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, an airstrike from an F-16 killed the mayor, Anis Abu Shamala, and four others in his home, some of whom had taken refuge there from intense artillery shelling nearby.�
At the same time, the Israeli government�s messaging machine quickly switched from hyping rocket attacks, which were causing relatively little damage, to featuring what it began calling �terror tunnels�. The U.S. media dutifully followed suit, with CNN anchor (and former AIPAC employee) Wolf Blitzer touring a �terror tunnel� led around by the IDF and his flashlight, while the New York Times� Jodi Rudoren did the same in an article headlined �Tunnels Lead Right to the Heart of Israeli Fear,� quoting �Israeli military officials�, �an Israeli military spokesman�, and �Israeli experts�. But a separate article in the NYT highlighted how these �terror tunnels� are actually used:
The strikes during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr came after the latest humanitarian halt to hostilities was punctured by attacks on both sides, culminating in the most deadly incursion yet by Palestinian militants through an underground tunnel from Gaza into Israel.
Colonel Lerner said Tuesday that between four and eight gunmen had burst from the tunnel near a military watchtower near the border and killed five soldiers in an adjacent building with antitank missiles.
In American media discourse, when Palestinians overwhelmingly kill soldiers (95% of the Israeli death toll) who are part of an army that is blockading, occupying, invading, and indiscriminately bombing them and killing their children by the hundreds, that is �terrorism�; when Israelis use massive, brutal force against a trapped civilian population, overwhelmingly killing innocent men, women and children (at least 75% of the Palestinian death toll), with clear intentions to kill civilians (see point 3), that is noble �self-defense.� That demonstrates how skewed U.S. discourse is in favor of Israel, as well as the purely manipulative, propagandistic nature of the term �terrorists.�
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Big business does not worry about all of the rules with $500 to $10,000 fines that government keeps passing. The government knows that they cannot pick a small fight with Ford or Exxon and win, but they can scar the shit out of Al's bakery if he doesn't have MSDS forms on hand for his floor wax.
The last two years are the first time since WWII that small business closings are now exceeding startups by larger numbers every month. This does not bode well forth future.
Thank you.
Kenneth Parker
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/20/obama.goldman.donations/
So GS is a good start on proof.
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katehicks/2011/10/12/by_the_numbers_who_did_wall_street_buy_in_2008
You are obviously blinded and blinkered if you consider Dr. Reich to be Right-Wing apologist OR smug.
We get several trolls who fit that description on this site and they invariably -with but one or two exceptions- dash in from the shadowy sidelines, hurl an insult at rational voices and dash back again without ant backup, rhyme nor reason and never respond to any challenges from readers or posters.
So who "authored" the article from which you culled y'r opinion; Santa McClause?
Ah -well now you explained it.
I think I wasn't the only one to be confused though.
OK -'nuff said; thanks.
http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/06/24/1pct_of_the_1pct/
The much repeated argument that the wealthy favor Republicans is bunk when one looks at the numbers.
Have you forgotten Boehner and McYertles' conference with the bankers where they promised to let them write their own legislation in return for financial support?
--- Yes, very true. They would rather destroy themselves financially than let go of their prejudices, hatreds and ideological biases. I've seen examples of it here in Central Florida where they turn away 'undesirable' customers and vote for political representatives who not only despise them but constantly vote against the best interests of the small business community. I marvel at it; like a wolf biting itself to death.
That is not to say that change is impossible, though. There is some diversity among small business owners, and the more progressive participants will have some amount of influence in their various organizations, etc. And small business owners are like the rest of us: Some will have gay sons; some will have daughters who marry undocumented immigrants; and the cultural views will change when the realities are close to home.
But I agree that the realignment will not magically happen when all the small business owners suddenly have a moment of enlightenment about the economic self-interest realities. That is overly optimistic.
In my 'umble opinion from experience, it's the Rotaries and other self-styled business associations who tend to club together smugly and circle their myopic wagons in any given community, yet who model themselves after the corporate lifestyle and tread what seems to be the safe, conformist non-creative path that has attracted them almost by rote to the Republican unscrupulous, ethically bereft "Winner-take-al l" mentality and are kidding themselves.
I hope that Dr. Reich is calling it right and that the last "Great recession" much of the residual effect which are still with us, has taught many of these types a bit of a lesson, even if the shock of discovering that their Wall Street and Banking casino-house heroes are rotten to the core beneath their patina of well-dressed, establishment-p retty respectability, like a shiny fruit that hung too long before it dropped off the tree or vine and splatted it's useless contents onto the ground
Her club sends money to places like Bhotechaur, Nepal, where they raised funds to build an amazing clinic, which we now get to totally rebuild after the quake. She led a trip to the Philippines called "Group Study Exchange", where young Oregonians got to meet their counterparts in that country. Then, Grants Pass Rotarians (including my wife and I) hosted six Philippinos here under GSE.
Rotary had one of the best exchange student programs I've ever heard of, too.
They've also raised vast sums of money to drill wells, install water systems, and get people cleaner burning wood stoves, to improve kids' lungs and reduce deforestation by reducing wood requirements.
I can't list all the good they do!
If there's any of the good ol' boy shit you refer to, I've certainly never gotten wind of it.
Please don't paint all Rotarians with the same broad brush!s
My apologies to y'r good wife -and I have warned others about that broad brush.
But I'm only writing from personal experience (including where I live now) and did mention "other self-styled business associations". The Portland Business Alliance is notorious in it's reactionary stances.
Still, glad I was wrong in a good cause and I appreciate you both calling me out and teaching me something concurrently.
It's a good laddie ye are!
--- Here where I live in the Deep South, I have watched small business suffer to the extent that most of Main Street stood as empty shells. I have also seen several in-town veterinarians, and also dentists who subscribed to the corporate meme go from clients six deep at the front counter to all lights off and one warm body receptionist. I have often thought it was some kind of a plot on the part of the corporations to get the small businesses to commit seppuku. I have often wondered how these small business people could continue in the downward spiral and stay the course. But I think they belong to these groups and are lead down the garden path with false praise and support to get exactly the result the corporations wanted. I can see this with the (human) doctors who all but trash their own practice and then the Regional Medical Centers swoop in, buy up their practice and put the doctors on salary. Now the doctors are owned and are obliged to do any rotten thing these Regional Medical Centers want. We've got one of these in the next town up and the doctors regularly pad their bills (and are a bunch of nasty wiseguys.) They think they are being hip, slick and kewl when actually they've slit their own throats and are happily ignorant and arrogant about it. (Sheesh, what's in the drinking water? Must be Kool-Aid!)
Sorry you're dealing with all that stuff, Westwinds.
--- When I first moved here, they were holding state hearings over some tax they were going to levy against the small business community. I watched for hours as small business owners came forward, flowing tears, begging them not to do it.
Well, needless to say, the folks out in Tallahassee did it to them, but then over the years, the small business owners have doubled down on their stay the course and have paid terrible prices for their choices. It's like they just cannot connect the dots between the Republicans and their own failed or failing businesses. But try and talk to them and they are as stubborn as any mule. I think the churches play a role in this with their "Satan is testing you" brainwashing, but because football and church are the only two outlets down here, they go with what they've been indoctrinated with down through the years. Watching things like this has brought me to the conclusion that religion taken too literally is just not a good thing.
Just like any other people, there are good and bad small businessmen.
--- Hold on a minute, Malcolm. Corvett-Bob has a valid point. I've seen it in action here myself. Maybe it's a regional thing but he's exactly correct. The small business people around here are into "put yourselves in charge of the mindless, unwashed masses" (Dale Carnegie 101) blindly following the corporate playbook and have so abused their client base that their parking lots are standing totally empty and, in some cases, they are working for someone else trying to keep their doors open. So, from what I've seen over the last decade of living here, Corvette-Bob is spot on.
And if ALL the small business people where you live are as you describe, that's pretty weird. Inbreeding, maybe? Clones?
--- Most of the people here come from strong English backgrounds and the English vote Conservative no matter how bad it gets because they are told the (R) support their values.
English society was built on the manorial system where you had your betters and then there was a cast system below. It's in place here, but with the exception that the Black residents are considered every bit as slaves today as back then; they believe that Cain slew Abel and was turned Black (Genesis 4: "set a mark upon" him so he would be recognized,) for his punishment and therefore Blacks need to be kept in their place.
They may not see themselves as Donald Trump but they admire the ultra wealthy and despise poor people. It's all a part of their Calvinist thinking that God rewards *good* people and punishes *bad* people with poverty. They see themselves as meting out God's punishments and feel totally justified in doing terrible things to others because of this. Example: A dentist will sabotage a person's teeth because they are a Liberal cum Socialist.
Please. There currently exist 30 million or so small businesses in the US. Another 20 million or so self employed.
We are to believe a few minuscule anecdotes even if true, condemns them all? This proposition is beyond silly. "They" are not some monolithic entity set up to oppose your political desires. Sheesh.
Meant for WestWinds.
Always works for me.
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2014/apr/16/jim-demint/not-many-times-more-democrats-sometimes-do-raise-m/