Comments on: Election Results: Racism Rising http://southjerusalem.com/2009/02/election-results-racism-rising/ A Progressive, Skeptical Blog on Israel, Judaism, Culture, Politics, and Literature Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:35:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: John Sterns http://southjerusalem.com/2009/02/election-results-racism-rising/comment-page-1/#comment-7130 John Sterns Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:04:44 +0000 http://southjerusalem.com/?p=907#comment-7130 Correction - I should have said "constitution", not "citizenship". Cherokees and others were recognized in the Constitution as dependent nations sovereign in their own territories as negotiated by the federal government. But that's wordy. ;-) Correction – I should have said “constitution”, not “citizenship”. Cherokees and others were recognized in the Constitution as dependent nations sovereign in their own territories as negotiated by the federal government.

But that’s wordy. ;-)

]]> By: John Sterns http://southjerusalem.com/2009/02/election-results-racism-rising/comment-page-1/#comment-7125 John Sterns Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:43:34 +0000 http://southjerusalem.com/?p=907#comment-7125 I find the "just say no" reference interesting. 27 years after the "Just Say No" campaign, more people are dying in the Mexican drug wars than the 2006 and 2008 IDF operations combined ( http://projects.latimes.com/mexico-drug-war/#/its-a-war ). One element in the bloodshed is U.S. arms being taken across the border into Mexico - something you might want to think about before getting too excited about the U.S. offer to help with smuggling on the Egyptian border. There are limits to controlling smuggling, just as there are limits to the "new security environment" of massive retribution as a deterrent to further rockets. It worries me that Lieberman might want to be like our American President Andrew Jackson. Jackson was popular, a genuine war hero, had a lot of great ideas and put many of them into practice. The people loved him so much some were afraid of him being the American Bonaparte. He also orchestrated the Indian Removal Act, and conducted a 19th century version of ethnic cleansing in the South in full and public defiance of our Supreme Court. Many of those removed had helped Jackson secure the nation's borders in the Creek Indian civil wars and War of 1812 - loyalty and citizenship in end were not enough to prevent their coerced removal to what is now Oklahoma. Whites were able to have the whole of Georgia for themselves, and in the process white land speculators made a good profit. Today President Jackson is on the $20 bill. Lincoln, emancipator of slaves, preserver of the Union, is of course on the $5 bill. On the other hand, "Lincoln is one of the world’s most written-about men, along with Napoleon and Jesus, with 16,000 books on him written since his death in 1865 ..." http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13108714 In the end, freeing the slaves, preserving the union, and offering a post conflict vision of reconciliation earned him a more prominent place in our nation's psyche. Is a unity government that offers peace negotiations without false hopes or appeasement such a bad idea? Can President Shimon Peres take the unprecedented step of calling upon both winners to form a coalition? Remind us of the founders belief that a Jewish state and pluralistic democracy can still coexist. I find the “just say no” reference interesting.

27 years after the “Just Say No” campaign, more people are dying in the Mexican drug wars than the 2006 and 2008 IDF operations combined ( http://projects.latimes.com/mexico-drug-war/#/its-a-war ). One element in the bloodshed is U.S. arms being taken across the border into Mexico – something you might want to think about before getting too excited about the U.S. offer to help with smuggling on the Egyptian border. There are limits to controlling smuggling, just as there are limits to the “new security environment” of massive retribution as a deterrent to further rockets.

It worries me that Lieberman might want to be like our American President Andrew Jackson. Jackson was popular, a genuine war hero, had a lot of great ideas and put many of them into practice. The people loved him so much some were afraid of him being the American Bonaparte. He also orchestrated the Indian Removal Act, and conducted a 19th century version of ethnic cleansing in the South in full and public defiance of our Supreme Court. Many of those removed had helped Jackson secure the nation’s borders in the Creek Indian civil wars and War of 1812 – loyalty and citizenship in end were not enough to prevent their coerced removal to what is now Oklahoma. Whites were able to have the whole of Georgia for themselves, and in the process white land speculators made a good profit.

Today President Jackson is on the $20 bill.

Lincoln, emancipator of slaves, preserver of the Union, is of course on the $5 bill. On the other hand, “Lincoln is one of the world’s most written-about men, along with Napoleon and Jesus, with 16,000 books on him written since his death in 1865 …” http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13108714

In the end, freeing the slaves, preserving the union, and offering a post conflict vision of reconciliation earned him a more prominent place in our nation’s psyche.

Is a unity government that offers peace negotiations without false hopes or appeasement such a bad idea? Can President Shimon Peres take the unprecedented step of calling upon both winners to form a coalition? Remind us of the founders belief that a Jewish state and pluralistic democracy can still coexist.

]]> By: The Other Alan http://southjerusalem.com/2009/02/election-results-racism-rising/comment-page-1/#comment-7117 The Other Alan Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:27:40 +0000 http://southjerusalem.com/?p=907#comment-7117 For all your politically correct posturing, we should remember that you too are an immigrant come to Israel to feast on the dispossession of the Palestinians. So your appetite isn't as voracious as Lieberman's, or you get indigestion a bit sooner, but all in all you're two peas in the same ideological pod. For all your politically correct posturing, we should remember that you too are an immigrant come to Israel to feast on the dispossession of the Palestinians. So your appetite isn’t as voracious as Lieberman’s, or you get indigestion a bit sooner, but all in all you’re two peas in the same ideological pod.

]]> By: Lauren Albright http://southjerusalem.com/2009/02/election-results-racism-rising/comment-page-1/#comment-7056 Lauren Albright Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:53:06 +0000 http://southjerusalem.com/?p=907#comment-7056 Arab MK's in Israel are allowed to commit treasonous acts that in any other country they would be arrested for, and Arabs are more racist to their own people, especially black Muslims, than any other population out there. Between that and the intractability of the so called "moderate PA" which shows Israel not existing on any maps, to make any kind of reasonable peace overtures, and you want to critisize the Jews who actually voted for a party who may actually "Just say no" to terrorism and appeasement? You are simply eating well from the hand of the Arab propoganda machine; the Arab world, who has had all the resources to have solved this whole situation long ago and has not, because Israel is too convenient of a scape goat, loves people like you who perpetuate their myths and bring more anti-Semitism into the world. Arab MK’s in Israel are allowed to commit treasonous acts that in any other country they would be arrested for, and Arabs are more racist to their own people, especially black Muslims, than any other population out there. Between that and the intractability of the so called “moderate PA” which shows Israel not existing on any maps, to make any kind of reasonable peace overtures, and you want to critisize the Jews who actually voted for a party who may actually “Just say no” to terrorism and appeasement? You are simply eating well from the hand of the Arab propoganda machine; the Arab world, who has had all the resources to have solved this whole situation long ago and has not, because Israel is too convenient of a scape goat, loves people like you who perpetuate their myths and bring more anti-Semitism into the world.

]]> By: David J. Balan http://southjerusalem.com/2009/02/election-results-racism-rising/comment-page-1/#comment-7055 David J. Balan Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:21:15 +0000 http://southjerusalem.com/?p=907#comment-7055 Lieberman is awful. But I can't understand why so many people consider him to be worse than the religious parties. His ideas on religious and personal freedom issues are actually pretty good, and his ideas regarding the Palestinians are very bad but much less bad than those of the religious parties and probably even better than those of the Likud. Even his attitude towards Israeli Arabs is probably no worse than those of the religious parties, though it's true that only he is making discrimination against them a top-priority part of his platform. The bottom line, it seems to me, is that he is the best of a bunch of bad, illiberal alternatives, and he represents the only possible way that Livni can get to be the head of a stable government and exploit the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for peace that is Barack Obama's presidency. Lieberman is awful. But I can’t understand why so many people consider him to be worse than the religious parties. His ideas on religious and personal freedom issues are actually pretty good, and his ideas regarding the Palestinians are very bad but much less bad than those of the religious parties and probably even better than those of the Likud. Even his attitude towards Israeli Arabs is probably no worse than those of the religious parties, though it’s true that only he is making discrimination against them a top-priority part of his platform.

The bottom line, it seems to me, is that he is the best of a bunch of bad, illiberal alternatives, and he represents the only possible way that Livni can get to be the head of a stable government and exploit the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for peace that is Barack Obama’s presidency.

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