Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Wow! Rockets.

There was this picture in the CNN.



Petros Karadjias, Associated Press
Rockets stored by Palestinian militants in a warehouse in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, burn after an Israeli airstrike on the building June 28, 2006

Looks to me more like a metal shop.





An Israeli soldier holds his ears as an Israeli mobile artillery unit fires a shell at the Gaza Strip from a stretch of farmland located near the Israeli Kibbutz Nahal Oz. Israel threatened to kill exiled Syrian-based leaders of the ruling Palestinian Hamas movement, blaming them for the kidnapping of a soldier by militants in the Gaza Strip.(AFP/David Furst)
In the article EU-Iran nuclear meeting postponed until after G8 there was this:

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett warned on Tuesday of the risk of being sucked into talks about talks.

"What I think there would be some concern about ... if we appeared that we were entering into a period of negotiation about negotiations," she told parliament.


I wonder if she feels the same about the Israel-Palestinian peace process. In 1993 you have Oslo Peace Accord the 10 years later you have "Road map for peace"

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

I just saved a lot of money switching to Geico!

According to the article: Medicaid recipients will need citizenship, as of July 1


- Tens of millions of low-income Americans will soon have to show their birth certificates or U.S. passports if they want to obtain health care through their state Medicaid programs.


Because by limiting the "potential" abuse of the system by the illegal immigrants

The provision will save federal taxpayers an estimated $220 million over the next five years, according to the
Congressional Budget Office.


How nice! Interesting comparison here

Thanks to the good folks in Washington DCm we the tax payers don't even need to Geico to "save a lot of money"

Sunday, June 04, 2006

CNN is at is again.

On the days that Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, says that "Our assessment is that there is no immediate threat," from Iranian nuclear program CNN's article in Bold letters says:

"As the former U.N. chief weapons inspector called Iran's nuclear program a threat to the entire world...."


The article talks about the former weapons inspector Hans Blix 's 225-page report to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the global nuclear arms race. It talks about the history of American aggression in the region since 1953 and talks about "a weapons-free zone." that include all countries in the region such as Israel. I suppose you can cherry pick sentences from the report and make your own conclusions.

As you might expect, there is no mention of the Dr Elbaradei and IAEA assessment of the facts in the article.


Today, June 4th, the headline reads: Iran warns U.S. on oil shipments Note what the article says:

The United States "should know that the slightest misbehavior on your part would endanger the region's energy security," he said. "You are not capable of guaranteeing energy security in this region."

Khameni did not specify what he meant by disruption or misbehavior.


The title of article seems to imply that Iran is threatening the oil shipments, but in reality is seems that it is saying that a war would have sever consequences for everyone. Is that a threat?

It gets more interesting...

But he said "we will not start a war. We have no intention of war with any government."

Khameni was speaking on the 17th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, who spearheaded the establishment of the Islamic republic in 1979.

Iran is embroiled in a standoff with the West over its nuclear ambitions.

The Islamic republic says it wants to pursue nuclear power for peaceful purposes, but the United States and the European Union believe it harbors aspirations to be armed with nuclear weapons.

Khameni -- who didn't mention the package of incentives for Iran to end its nuclear ambitions -- insisted that the country "is not pursuing a nuclear bomb. This is not true, and it is an absolute lie. We are not pursuing an atomic bomb. We have no plans that would require us to have a bomb. This is against Islamic principles. Building and maintaining a nuclear bomb costs a lot, and we do not need this. "

"We only aspire to building an Iran, which would secure the well-being of its people and serve as a model for other nations. We want to come out from under the humiliation of the last few centuries. This nation has power and dignity, but it has been denied us in the past partly by the betrayal of our own governments as well as by foreigners.

"We are no threat to anyone, but we are dedicated and committed to our national interests and aspirations, but if anyone wants to stop us, they will feel the wrath and anger of this nation."


This is followed by this paragraph

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad, however, has been taunting and rebuking Israel and the Jewish people. He said a few months ago that Israel should be wiped off the map. Iran regards Israel as a threat because of its reputed nuclear program and dislikes its treatment of Palestinians.



It is interesting in couple of aspects, notice that wipped off the map is no longer in quotes. I assume that this is due to the controversy over Dispute over Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments on Israel.

But regardless of what Ahmadinejad has said about his views on Israel where did Ahamadinejad rebuke the Jewish people?

The most telling to me is the sentence that says Iran "dislikes its treatment of Palestinians." Doesn't that then implies that CNN likes the treatment of Palestinians by Israel?