Gaza Nightmares, Undocumented Cats, Arizona Torpedoes Itself, Life Discovered on Titan, and Other News of the Week
Another week, and once again I didn’t get around to explaining how the Universe created itself. I know, I know, it’s an important topic, but I got all distracted by aliens and lost cities and such, such is life. Or such is my life, I guess most people don’t get distracted by aliens all that often. Speaking of aliens, a brief comment on the new law passed in Arizona. I don’t comment on things like immigration too often because it’s a hot button issue. By that I mean people feel very strongly about their positions on the topic, and for the most part are simply not interested in rational discussion. This tendency of course is wildly encouraged by both politicians and religious leaders, because when you’re running a con, the last thing you need is for your victims to think rationally about issues. I suppose I could even expand this thinking into a post someday when I feel like being called names by people still operating under the fantasy that the Pope or the President gives a hoot about the common man.
Moving right along, this Arizona law is stupid. It’s stupid for at many reasons. For one it does nothing to address the issue, people risk their lives and families to sneak in the country, because local cops are now looking for them isn’t going to make a bit of a difference. And the tiny number of illegal immigrants this rounds up isn’t going to make a whit of a difference either. It’s also going to cost Arizona cold hard cash, both due to tourist and convention cancellations. And lastly, having illegal immigrants being afraid of the local police … is stupid. It means that they will both be victimized by criminals, and more importantly, they will be afraid to call the police when they witness a crime. Yeah, let’s turn the illegal immigrant population into a haven for criminals, that’s a good idea. Yes, illegal immigration is a serious problem, but this law makes about as much sense as trying to put out a fire with a flamethrower.
The Gaza thing. Sigh. Piracy, murder, and kidnapping on the high seas, and our government tunes a blind eye. An American is shot dead with multiple gunshots to the head by Israeli commandos, and apparently our official policy is “we don’t give a shit.” If Iran or North Korea had attacked a flotilla on the open seas like this, the USA would be bombing them already. If anyone needed more proof that the our government is Israel’s bitch, this is it. And this wasn’t an accident, apparently Israel bent over backwards to do this in the most illegal and violent way possible. What’s the word for “stupid” in Hebrew? It was either amazingly dumb, or they were trying to hurt their standing with other nations, hurt their standing with moderate Muslims worldwide, and encourage terrorists and violent extremists. Even sadder, it’s entirely possible that this is exactly what they were trying to do, in order to force some sort of war or crisis that will allow them to ethnically cleanse the occupied territories once and for all. Moses wept.
In other warmongering news, the sabre rattling in Korea continues. Not much else to say other than the usual. The idea that the Cheonan sinking was a North Korean attack is becoming more doubtful all the time, but you’d never know that in the American press. And the fact that the South Korean government’s official policy towards the North is hostility and confrontation. Guess what North Korea’s officially policy is, has been for years? Peaceful co-existence. North Korea, like Iran, has tried the past decade to be a responsible player in the international community. Despite, in both cases, endless confrontation and double dealing on the part of the USA. Again, our comic book, government propaganda sycophantic press in the USA never mentions this. Yes, I know, they have terrible human rights records, as do many of America’s staunch “allies,” obviously our government doesn’t give a tinker’s damn about human rights. Once again I am reminded of what a Russian visitor said about the US media some years ago, to paraphrase: “It’s amazing, in the Soviet Union we had to shoot people to get the press to spout government propaganda, yet here in the USA the press does it voluntarily!”
Sigh. In science news, life may have been discovered on Titan. Turns out Mars may have been even warmer and wetter in the past than was thought. Another impact has been spotted on Jupiter, the second in less than a year. It was once thought that such impacts on Jupiter were very rare, it’s now becoming clear that the Solar System is a much more dynamic place than was thought just a decade ago. And part of this knowledge has been gained by legions of enthusiastic amateurs. It’s nice to know that there’s branches of science where amateurs can still make important contributions. I myself have thousand of pages of notes on the evil behaviours of housecats, but alas every one I have documented so far has proved to be incredibly common.
Have a great weekend everyone.
(The above image is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It’s not being used for profit, it’s, well, peripherally related to the post, and its use here in no way interferes with the copyright holder’s commercial use of the image, arguably the opposite. Credit and copyright: WarNet.ws It’s a mysterious Russian (I think) site. I chose it because I thought it was funny. Funny is good as the “Summer of Rage” begins.)
Doug's Darkworld 
Would you be interested in expanding more on the evidence that North Korea is unlikely to have sunken the ship? I didn’t see any links in the post, and a cursory scan of international news sources didn’t bring anything to that effect. Not disagreeing here, just curious.
Also, I’m curious as to what your basis is for the North Korea as “trying to be a responsible player” on the world stage. If you had said that their government had done a better job of securing its interests based on the hand it was dealt than the American government had been at securing its own interests based on its own hand, I’d certainly agree with you there.
Certainly the gov’ts of NK and Iran were a lot cagier than Saddam, who was foolish enough to disarm and let weapons inspectors in, practically laying out the red carpet for an invasion. Both governments seem to be much more rational actors in their own self-interest than the hair-trigger, half-insane personas they’ve cultivated and used to great effect in their dealings with the USA.
Nonetheless, it seems disingenuous to quote the Russian visitor about the US press toeing the government party line, in the same paragraph in which you’re giving Kim Jong Il a pat on the back for his “official policy” of “peaceful co-existence.”
Chris
June 4, 2010 at 9:35 am
There’s a link in the sidebar about the sinking of the Cheonan. I’ll post links sometime on how the USA sabotaged the nuclear agreements with North Korea, but their official policy with South Korea is “peaceful coexistence.” And the new Kim hasn’t engaged in the sorts of blatant crap like kidnapping people off beaches in Japan and assassination attempts his predecessor engaged in. I will grant you that claiming North Korea is trying to be a “responsible player on the world stage” is an overstatement, mea culpa. And I wasn’t trying to cpompare America’s press to North Korea’s propaganda bureau disguised as press, I was pointing out the the press in the USA had devolved considerably and noticeably since the Vietnam war, when the press properly took American government pronouncements with a grain of salt. Today’s mainstream media in the USA seems to be simply regurgitating White House talking points uncritically, this bodes ill for a free republic. Thanks for the reasoned comments, I am always happy to debate my positions, and have been known to change my mind when presented with reasonable argument. I’m writing a blog, not foreign policy papers, and there’s no doubt I sometimes exaggerate or state my case poorly and it’s misunderstood. I’ve even been wrong before. —Doug
unitedcats
June 4, 2010 at 11:12 am
I don’t see the reasons for Nk to sink that ship, and I think it was a bomb planted by the Salvor.
peace
pyrodin
June 4, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Methinks perhaps you should read some more about the flotilla. All the sources I’ve read agree on several things: the boat that had the issue may have had al-Qaeda fighters on board; the Israeli troops initially boarded the ship using paintball guns as crowd control; and the Israeli troops were attacked by a mob when they boarded the last ship, and only after this did they use deadly force.
Tom Dickson-Hunt
June 4, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Uh huh, and the Israelis were able to determine that A-Qaeda members were on board … how? That along is a huge red flag that this is a propaganda version, not reality. And of course ignores the fact that Israel’s attack on Turkish flagged vessels in International waters is a crime in and of itself. And in any event, i’m familiar with the israeli version of every event , it’s always some variation of: “we had to slaughter a whole bunch of people because they started it.” Forgive me, but sounds like a load of hogsswallow to me. — Doug
unitedcats
June 4, 2010 at 2:20 pm
A decent overview of the international-law bit: http://nicedoggie.net/index.php/archives/1189
The source is rather virulently non-objective, but his interpretation of the law seems reasonable.
Al-Q members on board was not a rationale for attacking; it would have been discovered after taking over the ship.
Attack in international waters: see the link
Israel didn’t kill that many people. It’s not reasonable to call it a ‘slaughter’. And it is reasonable to plead ‘they started it’ when the circumstances are “they attacked soldiers boarding a boat”. Sorry, but if you attack armed soldiers who are boarding your ship, they are going to use deadly force. I guarantee that any force of soldiers would do the same.
Tom Dickson-Hunt
June 4, 2010 at 10:25 pm
“Israel didn’t kill that many people. It’s not reasonable to call it a ‘slaughter’. ”
Wow.. 9 people is not a slaughter.. you must get your talking points from AIPAC. Your statement is SICK.
This attack was another sick act of a sick country.
REMEMBER THE SLAUGHTER OF THE U.S.S. LIBERTY !
John Galt
June 5, 2010 at 7:07 am
The killing of nine people out of a mob attacking soldiers with pipes is NOT ALL THAT SURPRISING. I reiterate, ANY MILITARY FORCE WOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME. Going after Israel specifically is disingenuous.
USS Liberty: It appears that that issue a.) was a mistake, b.) was during wartime, c.) was fully compensated by Israel, and d.) was resolved in its entirety about twenty-three years ago. Irrelevant much?
Tom Dickson-Hunt
June 5, 2010 at 9:40 am
The Tom hunt’s or huntzigger’s or whatever your name is, have a law for themselves and one for everyone else. “you die, unfortunate, we die, terror, slaughter, genocide, murder…”
the jig is up.
Joe
June 5, 2010 at 9:52 am
Thanks for the comments, couldn’t ask for better examples of the fact that Israeli exceptionalism is the gold standard of exceptionalism! I’ll be able to get a whole blog post or more from this. Personally, I think I’ll believe what Israeli critics are saying:
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/israel-s-commando-complex-1.294206
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/i-too-did-not-speak-out-1.294208
Peace!
unitedcats
June 5, 2010 at 10:13 am
Meh. I do not know much about many of the things written about, and do not feel like spending the next few hours educating myself; so I can’t really comment on the issues that they raise. However, the first one feels like the kind of cheap armchair psychoanalysis that is rampant on both sides of any emotionally charged debate; it doesn’t seem like real argumentation. The second one loses my respect by default by comparing abuses not on the scale of genocide with the Nazis.
I suppose we’ll have to agree to disagree. I don’t feel like hanging around and being sniped at by pseudonyms. Always a pleasure to debate someone who is polite and can think though.
Thanks.
Tom Dickson-Hunt
June 5, 2010 at 1:00 pm
” I don’t feel like hanging around and being sniped at by pseudonyms.”
You dont like being sniped at with words, but think killing 9 innocents after boarding their boat like a pirate is OK?
One reality for zionists, and another reality for everyone else.. the world sees you for what you are.
And BTW, the Liberty sinking has never had its congressional investigation.. the survivors are still waiting… http://www.usslibertyveterans.org/
John Galt
June 6, 2010 at 6:38 am
One final observation:
Israel is the North Korea of the middle east.
John Galt
June 6, 2010 at 6:50 am
“I do not know much about many of the things written about, and do not feel like spending the next few hours educating myself”
If you don’t know anything and are unwilling to learn, why comment?
It’s like saying I dont like the theory of relativity, I don’t understand it and I’m not going to try to, we should use some “other” theory because I like it better.lol
Peace
pyrodin
June 7, 2010 at 6:24 am
Doug, I stumbled upon your site yesterday and was impressed with your commentary and deconstruction of the comments re “one shot two kills” issue.
BTW – there was/is a very simple non violent solution to take control of invading merchant ships. Gil Hoffman reported in the JPOST that a senior Israeli naval officer suggested it was a rather simple excercise to disable a ship’s propellor or rudder – game over.
My question is:
Why did Israeli (Zionist)leadership choose the Rambo option when a more sensible and non-violent approach would have done the trick?
I’ll leave that up to the reader to ponder.
However, this may give an indication into the mind set that planned and executed Israel’s recent massacre:
“Israel must be a like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother.” – Moshe Dayan.
Pemulwuy
June 7, 2010 at 6:59 am
Of course the problem with that, is that sooner or later people are going to get tired of having a mad dog as a neighbour. I go into some of these issues in my very next post, the context and thinking behind this incident is more interesting than the incident itself. Thanks for the thoughtful comment. — Doug
unitedcats
June 7, 2010 at 7:18 am
Doug, I would argue the starting point, which is also the finishing point regarding “their” thinking may have something to do with the following four words:
The will to power.
Having lived in apartheid South Africa and communist China, I have observed and been subject to the rules of a dictatorial regime; witnessed oppression, dehumanisation and punishment. I understand the rules (processes), though I must admit I felt more relaxed and safe in China than I ever did in SA.
From what I read there are striking similarities between Israel today and apartheid SA, especially in relation to security issues, the enforced master servant relationship and mindset of the powers that be.
Of course it is fear that drives a manic obsession with security resulting in a siege mentality that fosters ever increasing processes for the control and punishment of dissent.
In short a paradox where the security processes imposed deliver the opposite expectations, resulting in an uncontrollable self fulfilling vortex of conflict.
No nation large or small can survive such turmoil for long periods.
Sadly, if allowed to continue the dehumanisation process becomes a “natural” part of life – observing it is like watching someone with eczema scratching at scabs – after a while they do it quite unconsciously; it becomes a thoughtless habit.
Fortunately in SA the “arrogant Boer” eventually saw the writing on the wall; today in Israel the brutal right minority controlling the show have yet to wake up to the bleeding obvious.
South Africa of course made a choice, a reasonable (just) choice yet there is much to critise about the journey they have began.
Sadly after many years of both habitual and sometimes brutual dehumanisation it will take a long time for the trans-generational baggage to be discarded – the minds of children are the fertile growing fields for the fears and prejudices of their parent – but that’s another discussion.
Once again Doug well done.
Cheers mate.
A friend you haven’t met yet from a land down under.
Pemulwuy
June 8, 2010 at 12:42 am
[…] Domain under US copyright law. Credit: USN. I used it here because one of the comments on the previous post made me laugh, a commenter claimed that the attack on the Liberty wasn’t relevant to […]
Lost at Sea, Propaganda, Perceptions, and Reality; How to Win Every Battle and Still Lose the War « Doug’s Darkworld
June 7, 2010 at 7:50 am