Archive for December 2008
Silence is complicity!
at 11:30 a.m., more than 50 fighter jets and attack helicopters swept into Gazan airspace and dropped more than 100 bombs on 50 targets. . . . Thirty minutes later, a second wave of 60 jets and helicopters struck at 60 targets . . . More than 170 targets were hit by IAF aircraft throughout the day. At least 230 Gazans were killed and over 780 were wounded . . .
- Jerusalem Post, 26 December, 2008
I will play music and celebrate what the Israeli air force is doing.
- Ofer Shmerling, an Israeli civil defense official in Al-Jazeera Television
…
The bodies of two girls, aged four and 11, who were killed in an Israeli air strike in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip Strip December 30, 2008.
Palestinians carry the body of 4-year-old Lama Hamdan during her funeral in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip December 30, 2008.
Palestinians bury the body of 4-year-old Lama Hamdan at Beit Hanoun cemetery in the northern Gaza Strip December 30, 2008.
Palestinians mourn beside the bodies of three children in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip December 29, 2008.
Three Palestinian children from the Balosha family, of five who were all killed in the same Israeli missile strike, are seen in the morgue before their burial at Kamal Edwan hopsital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008
Palestinian children from the Balosha family, who were all killed in the same Israeli missile strike, are seen in the morgue before their burial at Kamal Edwan hopsital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008.
Palestinian women mourn over the bodies of three Palestinian children from the Balosha family, of five who were all killed in the same Israeli missile strike, in the morgue before their burial at Kamal Edwan hopsital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008.
A Palestinian man buries the body of 4-year-old Dena Balosha at Beit Lahiya cemetery in the northern Gaza Strip December 29, 2008.
A Palestinian man carries the body of his 4-year-old daughter Dena Balosha during the funeral for her and her four sisters in Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip December 29, 2008.
A Palestinian mourner shouts as he lifts the body of a child from the Balosha family, of which three children and two teenagers, were killed in an Israeli missile strike,durng their funeral in the Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008.
A Palestinian man buries the body of 5-year-old Sodqi al-Absi in Rafah cemetery in the southern Gaza Strip December 29, 2008.
A Palestinian mourner carries the body of 4-year-old Dena Balosha, foreground, one of five members of the same family including three children and two teenagers who were killed in an Israeli missile strike, during their funeral in the Jebaliya refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008
The father of Palestinian Dena Balosha, 4, left, one of five members of the same family including three children and two teenagers who were killed in an Israeli missile strike, carries her body during their funeral in the Jebaliya refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008.
bedroom of 5 killed girls
Samera Baalusha (34) carries her surving child Mohamad (15 months) while she waits to see the body of her daughter Jawaher Baalusha (aged 4) during the funeral held for her and four of her sisters who were killed in an Israeli missile strike, on December 29, 2008 in the Jebaliya refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip
In this image taken from APTN video, Palestinian men carry two injured children into hospital after Israeli aircraft struck Hamas security compounds across Gaza in Gaza City on Saturday Dec. 27, 2008.
A wounded Palestinian boy is carried by his father following an Israel air strike in Gaza December 28, 2008.
A Palestinian boy is carried to al-Shifa hospital following an Israel air strike in Gaza December 28, 2008
A Palestinian security force officer carries a wounded girl into the emergency room at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008.
A Palestinian girl wounded in an Israeli missile strike is carried into the emergency area at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008.
A Palestinian man carries his wounded child to the treatment room of Kamal Edwan hospital following an Israeli missile strike in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008.
A wounded Palestinian boy is carried by his father at a hospital in Gaza City following an Israeli air strike
Children Wounded – Image by Watan News Agency
Shifa hospital ICU: a six year old down’s syndrom with brain trauma
Courtesy: uruknet.info
…
It’s another 9/11 every single hour, every minute around here, and tomorrow is always a new day of mourning, always identical to the previous one. You notice the helicopters and airplanes constantly overhead, you see a flash, but you’re already a goner and it’s too late to take flight. There are no bunkers against the bombs in the Strip and no place is really safe. I can’t contact my friends in Rafah, not even those who live North of Gaza City, hopefully because the phone lines are overloaded. Hopefully. I haven’t slept in 60 hours, and same goes for every Gazan.
We’ve got so used to the carnage of the Middle East that we don’t care any more – providing we don’t offend the Israelis. It’s not clear how many of the Gaza dead are civilians, but the response of the Bush administration, not to mention the pusillanimous reaction of Gordon Brown, reaffirm for Arabs what they have known for decades: however they struggle against their antagonists, the West will take Israel’s side. As usual, the bloodbath was the fault of the Arabs – who, as we all know, only understand force.
The blood-splattering has its own routine. Yes, Hamas provoked Israel’s anger, just as Israel provoked Hamas’s anger, which was provoked by Israel, which was provoked by Hamas, which … See what I mean? Hamas fires rockets at Israel, Israel bombs Hamas, Hamas fires more rockets and Israel bombs again and … Got it? And we demand security for Israel – rightly – but overlook this massive and utterly disproportionate slaughter by Israel. It was Madeleine Albright who once said that Israel was “under siege” – as if Palestinian tanks were in the streets of Tel Aviv.
Yes, Israel deserves security. But these bloodbaths will not bring it. Not since 1948 have air raids protected Israel. Israel has bombed Lebanon thousands of times since 1975 and not one has eliminated “terrorism”. So what was the reaction last night? The Israelis threaten ground attacks. Hamas waits for another battle. Our Western politicians crouch in their funk holes. And somewhere to the east – in a cave? a basement? on a mountainside? – a well-known man in a turban smiles.
Pinter sums it up in a speech he had dreams of writing for President George W. Bush:
“God is good. God is great. God is good. My God is good. Bin Laden’s God is bad. His is a bad God. Saddam’s God was bad, except he didn’t have one. He was a barbarian. We are not barbarians. We don’t chop people’s heads off. We believe in freedom. So does God. I am not a barbarian. I am the democratically elected leader of a freedom-loving democracy. We are a compassionate society. We give compassionate electrocution and compassionate lethal injection. We are a great nation. I am not a dictator. He is. I am not a barbarian. He is. And he is. They all are. I possess moral authority. You see this fist? This is my moral authority. And don’t you forget it.”
If only our ears could hear, this is the speech we have been hearing from Israel for 60 years.
The Bush Shoe aka WMD!
Well, the whole world knows Muntazer al Zaidi hurling shoes at Respected US president George W. Bush, the outgoing president of the mighty US empire, the savior of the world, the greatest exporter of democracy. if you missed it, watch the video above. Zaidi hurled the shoes shouting, “This is a farewell kiss, you dog!This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.” Zaidi was working a correspondent for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt.
At last, George Bush won his argument. He has indeed found the Weapons of Mass Destruction(WMD), after years and years of search.ie., a pair of shoes. It was not visible for the eyes of UN Monitoring group or for the international media but was waiting for four long years in the feets of Zaidi. May we all fight for Bush to get him the Nobel Prize this year for the discovery for which he took so much pain in his ass for years.
But see the reaction of this ungrateful world…Television news stations throughout Iraq repeatedly showed footage of the incident, and newspapers carried headline stories. In Baghdad’s Shiite slum of Sadr City, supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for protests against Bush and demanded the release of the Zaidi.
But wait, what we hear next? The Model 271 shoes that were hurled, now better known as “The Bush Shoe” has created a sensation in the market.“We’ve been selling these shoes for years but, thanks to Bush, orders are flying in like crazy. We’ve even hired an agency to look at television advertising,” says Ramazan Baydan, the owner of the Istanbul-based Baydan Shoe Company which produced the model. Baydan has recruited an additional 100 staff to meet orders for 300,000 pairs of Model 271, more than four times the shoe’s normal annual sale, following an outpouring of support for Zaidi’s act, ‘The Guardian’ reported.
Orders have come mainly from the US and Britain, and from neighbouring Muslim countries, he said. Around 120,000 pairs have been ordered from Iraq, while a US company has placed a request for 18,000. A British firm is said to have offered to serve as European distributor for the shoes, which have been on the market since 1999 and sell at around 28 pounds in Turkey. A sharp rise in orders has been recorded in Syria, Egypt and Iran, where the shoemaker ’s federation has offered to provide Zaidi and family with a lifetime’s supply of shoes. And, to meet the mood of the marketplace, Baydan is planning to rename the model “Bush Shoe” or “Bye-Bye Bush”.
And that’s not all. Mohamed Makhafa, a retired school teacher from Saudi Arabia has something to offer on his part. Heoffered to pay USD 10 million for the pair of shoes.“It is more precious than all my property. I will bequeath it to my children and display it in a museum and call it the Medal of Freedom,” Makhafa told AlArabiya.net. uh..uh..
The face blackened authorities came up with an apology letter from Zaidi. Uday al-Zeid, Brother of Muntazer al Zaidi bombarded the veracity of the letter. He told The Associated Press that the letter was written against his brother’s will because of torture during detention that included being doused with cold water while naked. “He told me that he has no regret because of what he done and said that he would do it again if time went back,” Uday said by telephone. He had visited Muntazer in jail a day before and saw more-severe injuries, including a missing tooth and burns on his ears made by cigarettes.
Well, a cool-headed Bush had only this much to say showing his teeth.“It was a size 10. So what if I guy threw his shoe at me?” His wife, Laura Bush, has much humor sense than him. she said she wasn’t amused at the incident. “So it is — as bad as the incident is, in my view, it is a sign that Iraqis feel a lot freer to express themselves,” she said. Commentators to her remarks are not so polite. Like one Mr. Joe Jackson, who says, “Who cares what this woman has to say anyway. Paris Hilton makes more sense.” Just go through other comments, thank god, Laura won’t be reading them.
Indians do not lag behind. After all our honourable prime minister Dr.Manmohan Singh during his visit to US declared “Indians love Bush”. Abdul Rahman of Chennai couldn’t find Bush in person to express his love and had to express it to the embassy building. He was arrested for throwing his pair of shoes at US embassy at Chennai. Weapons of Mass Destruction spreading from Baghdad to Chennai!! God Save US! Dr.Rudhran also expressed his love. Comrades of People’s Art and Literary Association, Tamilnadu expressed their love by distributing sweets to public!!
Well,
Happy New Year America!
Colorful Words!
Vincent Vangogh, who spoke in colors in flying colors, also wrote poignant letters to his Brother Theo which has been archived in Web Exhibits. A Website aesthetically designed, technically innovative, categorized and search enabled is a feast for art lovers.
Some quotes from his letters are given below.
I don’t know whether you can understand that one may make a poem only by arranging colours, in the same way that you can say comforting things in music.
As far as I understand it, we of course agree perfectly about black in nature. Absolute black does not really exist. But like white, it is present in almost every colour, and forms the endless variety of greys, – different in tone and strength. So that in nature one really sees nothing else but those tones or shades.
I am completely absorbed in the laws of colours. If only they had taught us them in our youth! But it is the fate of most people that by a kind of fatality one has to seek for light a long time. For, that the laws of colour which Delacroix was the first to use, like Newton did for gravitation, and like Stephenson did for steam – that those laws of colours are a ray of light – is absolutely certain.
Also check, Vangogh Gallery to know his bio and to skim through his paintings.
Winter Soldier
Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan featured testimony from U.S. veterans who served in those occupations, giving an accurate account of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground.This four-day event brought together veterans from across the country to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan – and present video and photographic evidence.
Watch the chilling testimony of Micheal prysner below who served in Iraq.
At Last we see there are voices of conscience still alive in US.
True Lies!
Arnab Goswami: Self-confessed rat
image courtesy: indiantelevision.com
We may try to understand, or refuse to do so, contributing to the likelihood that much worse lies ahead.
-Noam Chomsky in a short article that he wrote immediately after 9/11, on 12th September 2001
…Arnab Goswami, anchorperson of Times Now television, has stepped up to the plate. He has taken to naming, demonizing, and openly heckling people who have dared to question the integrity of the police and armed forces.
My name and the name of the well-known lawyer Prashant Bhushan have come up several times. At one point, while interviewing a former police officer, Arnab Goswami turned to the camera: “Arundhati Roy and Prashant Bhushan,” he said. “I hope you are watching this. We think you are disgusting.”
-Arundhati Roy, The Monster In The Mirror
What a simple one liner that was? We think you are disgusting. Arundhati Roy continues what does it mean.
For a TV anchor to do this in an atmosphere as charged and as frenzied as the one that prevails today amounts to incitement, as well as threat, and would probably in different circumstances have cost a journalist his or her job.
So, according to a man aspiring to be the next prime minister of India, and another who is the public face of a mainstream TV channel, citizens have no right to raise questions about the police.
But you know what, if am gonna forward Roy’s Article, i doubt how many will actually read. They will complain about its length. Arundhati Roy had to spent 10 long painstaking years in Bastis and streets of this country from sardar sarovar dam villages to nandigram to kashmir, where television cameras do not enter, to sense the pulse of the vast, voiceless people and come up with her opinions in long essays which is a mix of history and literary quality. If am not exaggareting, quite equal to volumes of marxian polemics.
But how easy it is for Arnab? We think you are disgusting.
why the contradiction?
why truth looks long and tiresome while lie is always short and easy to understand?
With the growing jingoistic hysteria and Times now acting like the mouthpiece of Organiser (Official Magazine of RSS), the atmospehere tells you something. It’s not going to be easy to speak the truth. It will cost you. not only that. Very less are willing to hear. assimilate and understand.
As you can see in the comments section to the Roy’s Article, many have angrily reverted back shouting, “What is your point finally Madam?” and in similar fashions. Her remarks are not only confusing but disturbing to them. They are not able to stand trouble makers like Roy and Prashant Bhushan, who has also written a magnificent yet laborious long piece. The same irate voices echo from the Television sets of Times now and from the editors table of India Today Magazine who cry ” Why and How we must fight now. “
Now this is where Fascism starts in its full phase.
The Voice is intolerant, loud and clear.
“Enough is enough.
Stop your non-sense. What I speak is the only truth.”
Convenient.
Simple.
easy to understand.
No Explanation Business.
We think you are disgusting.
But dudes, It happens. Truth is tough to understand and accept. There is no other choice.
I have given the Links of the Articles of Roy, Bhushan and Annie zaidi(yet another stinking person) below. pls spend time on reading them and ponder. The Links are dedicated to one and only self-styled au savior of this country, Mr. Arnab Goswami.
