http://ideologicalcriminal.ballistichelmet.org this is your bhlog Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:36:00 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Bob Woodward's The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006--2008 is an intimate tour of the sausage factory that ground out the "surge" strategy for Iraq. The process is grotesque, as are the inevitable excretions being tended to now by the Obama administration. This book is surely a portrait ... http://ideologicalcriminal.ballistichelmet.org/2009/08/06/woodward-war-within/ Saree Makdisi, a professor of English at UCLA, spent nearly an hour being interviewed on the Jan 28 KPFA Voices of the Middle East and North Africa. Makdisi's latest book is Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation. He notes in the preface: Simple word choices both express---and more importantly---generate political effects.  ... http://ideologicalcriminal.ballistichelmet.org/2009/01/30/makdisi-on-language-and-truth/ Chomsky, Kfoury, and Shawki: Justice for Gaza, low quality audio from the Jan 21 teach-in hosted by the Emergency Gaza Coalition at the Palestine Cultural Center in Boston. Update: Video on YouTube (of Chomsky only). http://ideologicalcriminal.ballistichelmet.org/2009/01/21/chomsky-kfoury-and-shawki-justice-for-gaza/ Buried on the bottom of page A11 next to a nearly full page ad in today's New York Times, "Olmert Says He Made Rice Change Vote": Ehud Olmert of Israel said Monday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been forced to abstain from a United Nations resolution on Gaza that ... http://ideologicalcriminal.ballistichelmet.org/2009/01/13/olmert-dictating-us-policy/ The Israeli Supreme Court ruled in October of 2005 (after 3 years of deferments) that the IDF's use of human shields was illegal (LA Times, Oct 7, 2005).  Despite the ruling, incidents of abuse have been reported since (The Guardian, March 9, 2007).  Now Amnesty International is charging the IDF ... http://ideologicalcriminal.ballistichelmet.org/2009/01/12/human-shields-international-law-and-the-us-media/ On January 7, 2009, the IDF shelled the UN-run Al-Fakhura school in Gaza (BBC), killing at least 43, and wounding dozens more (Al Jazeera English).  Robert Fisk, that same day, wrote in The Independent: So once again, Israel has opened the gates of hell to the Palestinians. Forty civilian refugees dead ... http://ideologicalcriminal.ballistichelmet.org/2009/01/11/fisks-predictions/ Noam Chomsky spoke recently on the topic of “What Next? The Elections, the Economy, and the World”, hosted by Encuentro 5. The talk was picked up by DN!.  The full transcript is below.  All linked material has been added by me. Well, let’s begin with the elections. The word that rolls off ... http://ideologicalcriminal.ballistichelmet.org/2009/01/11/chomsky-at-encuentro-5/ Andrew Sullivan, one of the most influential men in the blogosphere, recently wrote a couple posts about the events in Gaza.  Note the changing semantics. When Hamas broke it, it was a "ceasefire"---giving Israel "the higher moral ground". Some Truths for Now (02 Jan 2009 01:50 pm) Hamas also was the first to ... http://ideologicalcriminal.ballistichelmet.org/2009/01/10/sullivan-mutable-semantics/ The Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee organized a Silent Funeral Procession to mourn those killed in Gaza during the last two weeks. See photos here. http://ideologicalcriminal.ballistichelmet.org/2009/01/10/funeral-procession-for-gaza/ This is from Harry Mairson on the "concerned list" at Brandeis: The Gaza bombing has brought a war of words even to this mailing list.  I judge the Israeli attack as barbaric, disproportionate, an egregious violation of the Geneva conventions, and the most recent horrific episode in the ongoing collective punishment ... http://ideologicalcriminal.ballistichelmet.org/2009/01/01/bomb-palestinian-universities/