Happy New Year, Occupied France!

Watching Casablanca, I am often struck and intrigued by the casual interaction of Captain Renault and Major Strasser, the “powers that be” in unoccupied France and their off-hand discussions with “Richard Blane, American,” about invasion and occupation. In today’s terms, Rick’s Café would be located in the Gaza Strip, just inside the boundaries, and Israeli soldiers would be the Gestapo while the bartenders would be pleasantly amusing and paunchy or sexually frustrated Palestinians just trying to make a buck.

The air strike would set off air warning sirens, and the planes leaving for Lisbon would probably make it to Cairo, or Frankfurt, where they escapees would then “Wait. And wait. And wait.” The fictional occupation makes for a great backdrop in the movie, but the real occupation makes for a horrible New Year’s Eve. And unlike the Bush White House, or apparently the incoming Obama Administration, I don’t find either side to be innocent. Yes, this round of violence was set off by the rocket attacks Hamas launched into southern Israel. But the “right of Israel to defend herself” has long since been exceeded. And unlike Yitzak Rabin’s breaking the arms of Arab troops rather than kill them in the Six Day War, there is no mercy and no quarter being given (or sought) from either side.

As I would not expect Iraqi nationalists to be reveling with the American occupation force in Baghdad, I don’t expect the Palestinians to be welcoming of the occupying Israelis. But pursuing the destruction of the Palestinian State, which is what this latest round of air strikes and prepared ground invasions apparently is, with the tacit approval of the United States is like the Dole Company complaining that the natives were getting out of hand because they protested the removal of the native Hawaiian queen. It is a ridiculous claim that is supported by nothing but one-sided speculation irrespective of the “facts on the ground.” Like Casablanca, which used the Nazi invasion of western Europe as a backdrop but dealt only tangentially with the reality, the invasion, occupation, and wholesale slaughter of Palestinians by Israel cannot be called self defense.

And for President-elect Obama, who is correct in asserting that there is only one President at a time, he needs to be a little more realistic – He is that President. And there won’t be any walk off into the mist while the credits role.

No peace in Gaza till Hamas rockets stop

U.N. Secretary General: ‘Not enough has been done in Gaza’

Israel rebuffs calls for 48-hour truce in Gaza

Obama leadership rates high as Bush’s after 9/11

Airstrike kills highest-ranking Hamas leader yet

Iraqis take control of Baghdad’s ‘Green Zone’

Bush blames Hamas for Gaza conflict

Down the Memory Hole*

In the beginning of this election cycle, people said John McCain’s memory was bad.  Turns out it’s the American public who’s getting amnesia.  Since the introduction of his running mate, McCain has:

jumped in the polls;

all of the sudden he’s campaigning for change;

his long experience isn’t his strong suit;

christian conservative pundits who’ve for years been about women staying at home are now feminists;

the invasion of Iraq is being “won” thanks to the surge;

the government should bail out fannie mae and freddie mac;

the economy isn’t in a shambles, it’s a “mental” recession;

McCain didn’t vote with President Bush more than 9 of every 10 times in 2007;

he didn’t shift from hating President Bushes tax cuts (which disproportionately benefit the few wealthy citizens and large businesses) to wanting them permanent; . . . (take a breath here)

he didn’t rush to judgement about “the Russian Empire” and Georgia after Karl Rove vacationed there (and ignored a summons to appear before Congress) to stir things up;

he didn’t flip-flop on offshore drilling;

he didn’t criticize his running-mate for pork-barrel spending;

he didn’t crash five planes before being shot down in Vietnam;

he didn’t cheat on his first wife before leaving her for an heiress;

he didn’t evade the “cone of silence” at the Saddleback Civil Forum or hear the questions;

he didn’t sing “Bomb, bomb, bomb/Bomb, bomb, Iran!”;

he hasn’t voted eleven times against veteran’s benefits in the last two years because good benefits might “encourage more of them to leave the army,”

. . . and these are off the top of my head.

Barack Obama is running for President of the United States.  He’s running to improve the lives of middle and lower economic classes of Americans; he’s running to stimulate the economy and small businesses; he’s running to insure that all Americans have access to healthcare; he’s running to redeploy our military to actually protect the United States and pursue our enemies; he’s running to reposition the economic burden so that the wealthy 5% are paying their commensurate share like the average 95%; and to restore the United States’ good name, image and relationships around the world.  

He’s running against John McCain.  John McCain is running for President of the United States.  He’s running on a platform that (as of this post, since he changes so often) benefits the wealthy, benefits large businesses, keeps our military extended in unnecessary engagements, further alienates the world community, etc.

We need to remember what the issues are in this election.  Arianna Huffington put it clearly today:

Just look at what’s being discussed just 57 days before the election. Is it the highest unemployment rate in five years? The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? The suicide bombing yesterday in Iraq that killed six people and wounded 54 — in the same market where last month a bomb killed 28 people and wounded 72? That the political reconciliation that was supposedly the point of “the surge” is nowhere near happening? That Iraq’s Shiite government is now rounding up the American-backed Sunni leaders of the Awakening? That the reason 8,000 soldiers may be leaving Iraq soon is so more can be deployed to Afghanistan where the Taliban is steadily retaking the country?

Climb up out of the hole.  Take a look around.  As Larry Fishburne said at the end of School Daze, “WAKE UP!”

Sarah Palin: A Trojan Moose Concealing Four More Years of George Bush

*I took the title for this post from Chapter 10 of James Loewen’s book, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong.  Chapter 10′s subtitle is “The Disappearance of the Recent Past.”  He discusses the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, and the subsequent misdirection, obfuscation, distortions and lies President Bush and his administration used as a pretext to invade Iraq while failing to bring to justice those responsible for the attack.  I highly recommend reading it, because his citations and insights are impeccable, and they are necessary to recall in vivid detail as we approach this election.