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Medal of the week must be awarded to Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan……

……as the only member of the prestigious Davos Economic Forum with the courage to stand up and tell Israeli president, Shimon Peres, exactly what he thought of the recent Israeli butchery in Gaza.

Turkey has long been a supporter of Israel, but the recent atrocities committed by the Israeli Defense Force, coupled with assertions from Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, that Israeli soldiers would be protected from prosecution overseas for war crimes, proved too much for the Turkish prime minister, who walked out of the Davos conference after a heated exchange with the Israeli president.^[1][1a]

Well done, Mister Erdogan.

Meanwhile, the Western media is promoting the latest round of Iraqi elections as though that nation’s very existence depended on it. After months of “no news” Iraq, the prospect of promoting democracy has once more fanned the flames of media interest, in a desperate bid to further justify the violent Western intervention that tipped Iraq into civil war, and still results in a dozen daily deaths.

McClatchy’s Baghdad Bureau Chief, Leila Fadel, only yesterday wrote a gripping post on her blog, describing the murders of three Iraqi political candidates in one day, and a further two the previous day.^[2]

Ordinary Iraqis have little interest in these elections, knowing full well the politicians are only concerned with advancing their own positions. Years of Iraqi democracy have done nothing to improve the power supply, sewage treatment, drinking water availability, or anything else that might make the lives of Iraqis worth living again. All that’s increased in Iraq is inflation, with goods in the shops up to ten times more expensive since Saddam was deposed.

The people of Iraq and Gaza, however, this week suffered problems far less exacting than those of Switzerland, and the pensioners of Britain.

In the Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, the locals are fed up with naked ramblers hiking round their mountains, so have introduced fines for being out and about with a rucksack and a bare bottom.^[3]

Meanwhile, in Britain, pensioners in Hull, Yorkshire, are up in arms at the audacity of Icelanders who, learning that old Brits are suffering from an unusually hard winter, went on a knitting spree and produced hundreds of thick woolly pullovers as a charitable exercise in keeping old Brits warm.^[4]

Needless to say, the old Brits, with their usual antagonistic attitude to foreigners, shrugged off the gesture as condescending, with the response:

“Don’t they know we’ve got central heating?”

I’m so proud to be British.

Amazingly, the world continues to spin on its axis, as though nothing untoward is occurring.

^{[1] “Behind the Turkish Prime Minister’s Outburst at Davos” Time, January 30th 2009}

^{[1a] “Israeli PM in war crimes pledge” BBC, January 25th 2009}

^{[2] “Days Before Elections Three Candidates Die” Baghdad Observer, January 29th 2009}

^{[3] “Naked ramblers face Swiss fines” BBC, January 30th 2009}

^{[4] “Iceland appeal brings jumper aid (video)” BBC, January 30th 2009}

Filed under: Homo sapiens

US President Barack Obama was successful yesterday in getting the House of Representatives to support his economic stimulus package; a package that was watered down solely to obtain the approval of House Republicans.

Despite this, and the dire straits in which the economy flounders, the hundreds of thousands being thrown out of work, mature and long-standing businesses forced to close, not one Republican member voted in favor of the bill.

That fact alone tells us a great deal about America in general and the Republican Party, in particular.

Do the Republicans have any alternative suggestions for promoting economic recovery – apart, that is, from the hundreds of billions of tax payer’s dollars already donated to finance corporations?

There are, apparently, two suggestions. The first is: do nothing. This is logic based on the marketplace eventually self-righting after its capsize, and sailing on to better climes.

Obviously, there are no seafarers amongst Republican senators, or they’d know that no vessel is capable of self-righting and sailing on, without the benefit of a skipper at the helm.

Apparently, they don’t like the new skipper and are determined to mutiny.

The second option is one we’ve heard before, so many, many, times: cut taxes.

Let’s briefly examine both options.

To sit idly by and wait for better times to emerge from the fog of depression means a period of intense unemployment and financial hardship for a high proportion of Americans. The nation’s health will deteriorate drastically, as insurance payments dry up and folk can’t afford medical expenses, property prices will slump still further, and crime will rise dramatically.

There are a number of US citizens, however, who are sufficiently well-heeled to ride out the storm quite comfortably. Republican senators, and those they represent, are among that number.

This option carries an added bonus: with so many desperate for work, as jobs once more become available wages will drop; people will be willing to work for far less than before. Greater profits for the bosses, and a further tightening of the noose around the necks of employee’s unions, will result.

The beneficiaries? Republicans, and those they represent.

Okay, so let’s cut taxes instead.

Whose taxes do we cut? The ever-increasing numbers of unemployed don’t pay tax. The sick and handicapped don’t pay tax. The lowest paid workers don’t pay tax.

So, let’s cut the taxes of those who do – the wealthier of the middle classes, Republican senators, and those they represent.

God forbid America should turn into a welfare state. By definition, that means the nation has to look after its people. Not just those citizens who’ve realized their American Dream by climbing over the backs of others less fortunate than themselves – because that is how one’s American Dream is realized in the 21st century – but all those who may have helped make the dreams of others come true, without receiving any benefit themselves in return.

Republican senators don’t give a damn about them – the ‘ordinary’ people of this country – but they’re still flesh and blood, in need of medicine when they get sick, and food in their bellies, and a warm, secure roof over their heads at night.

Providing those things to the unfortunate and needy is what a welfare state is all about. Republican senators, and the wealthy parasites they represent, hate the very idea because they know they would have to give up some of their surplus riches to pay for it. They’re quick to sneer, and call it “Socialism”.

It’s why they hate government. The government is the only body in the land who can legally claim some of their money, in the form of taxation. Republicans are in government to prevent government.

One has only to look back over the last eight years to see what Republican government did for America: there was no investment in infrastructure, the environment, or in people. Every penny profit went straight into the pockets of the already wealthy and powerful – those same parasites Republicans represent.

For this reason alone, not one Republican was prepared to vote in favor of Obama’s bill to help put Americans back to work, and to modernize a country they and their pals have been sucking the lifeblood out of for decades.

As the new President, Barack Obama must quickly learn his first lesson. It’s one even the White House puppy should be aware of: if you pamper parasites, they’ll just make your life a misery.

It’s time to dust the flea powder around Washington.

Filed under: Got an itch, Obama?

There are virtually no animals left alive in Gaza zoo. It wasn’t much of a place before the Israeli soldiers came, but it was somewhere for the kids to go on a Sunday. God knows, there was little else for them to do, even before the war.

Apart from the zoo, the complex housed a children’s library, a playground, and a cultural center.

There was not a single person in this zoo. Just the animals. We all fled before they came. What purpose does it serve to walk around shooting animals and destroying the place?” ~ Gaza zookeeper Emad Jameel Qasim.

According to Gulfnews:^[1]

Inside the main building, soldiers defaced the walls, ripped out one of the toilets and removed all of the hard drives from the office computers. We asked him [Qasim] why they targeted the zoo. He laughs. “I don’t know. You have to go and ask the Israelis. This is a place where people come to relax and enjoy themselves. It’s not a place of politics.”

Most of the animals were shot at point blank range.

Presumably, to provide the Israeli military with a little amusement.

^{[1] “Israeli troops shot and killed zoo animals” Gulfnews, January 25th 2009
My thanks to “Gorilla’s Guides for the Gulfnews link.}

Filed under: Plumbing the depths