ya, now is very much the time. Wish I was a women too to show up to the local one here in Dallas.

Most of the branches let men join as well. You could always start a vigil.

That sentence didn't make a a lot of emotional sense.

And I'm afraid I'll have to skip a class on Thursday because I have way too much errands to do in here and I want to be home (parents home) at Thursday night. Sister will be coming on Friday morning, and I ain't gonna miss a second of her.

Sister will be coming on Friday morning, and I ain't gonna miss a second of her.

Damn straight.

I have to say, I'm having difficulty understanding how Tzipi Livni can defend the assertion that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

I'm also having difficulty understanding how Ehud Olmert can possibly claim to be treating the civilian population of Gaza with a silk glove.

I am at a loss to understand how the Israeli government thinks that by bombing the terrorized and ghettoized Gazan civilians in the process of obliterating the democratically-elected Hamas government they are going to make themselves safer or more accepted in the region.

Even if they go ahead and kill all the non-Jewish people in the Palestinian territories, and leave the land strewn with corpses just to be super dooper certain that no secret Hamas supporters are lurking anywhere in the rubble, this will not create peace or security. Not in Israel, and not in the wider world.

I mean, that seems like such a no-brainer that that, surely, can't be their cunning plan. But I cannot see any evidence of an actual plan, other than "bomb the fuckers into submission" - a plan notable for its lack of cunning.

Dialogue. Dialogue and compromise is surely to God the only way they're going to make any progress. Treating one another like human beings deserving dignity and compassion will not magically make hardliners into fluffy bunnies overnight, but failing to do so will CERTAINLY leave everyone fucked.

t / StatesTheObvious Girl

I'm having difficulty understanding how Tzipi Livni can defend the assertion that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

You're not the only one.

how Ehud Olmert can possibly claim to be treating the civilian population of Gaza with a silk glove.

Oh, that's only because Israel didn't nuke the Strip yet. You know, everything is relative.

I am at a loss to understand how the Israeli government thinks that by bombing the terrorized and ghettoized Gazan civilians in the process of obliterating the democratically-elected Hamas government they are going to make themselves safer or more accepted in the region.

Well, to be fair, not all thinks so: But enough are, which is a problem. The idea is to exhaust the Strip, until either Hamas will surrender or until the Gazans will kick them out.

this will not create peace or security.

Right. Only my government (I didn't vote for these people. I swear) thinks that it will bring quiet to Israel for "a long period of time". It seems like a reason to kill a lot of people, apparently.

Dialogue. Dialogue and compromise is surely to God the only way they're going to make any progress. Treating one another like human beings deserving dignity and compassion will not magically make hardliners into fluffy bunnies overnight, but failing to do so will CERTAINLY leave everyone fucked.

THIS. So much. But none of the sides is willing to accept the other's fucking right to exist at the moment. Which reminds me I must take an epistemology class, because I all "wtf?" at this approach.

It's not that I support the operation, or the killing, or the occupation, or any of this - but in realistic pro-Israeli opinion (because well, I'm kind of fond of living in this country) - right now, this has to go on. Because if it'll stop right now, we're back on where we were 2 weeks ago, just with a lot more dead and wounded and distraction. So. If you're doing something, even if I have no idea what it is you're trying to do, achieve something AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE, and then start talking.

IMHO.

Vortex, welcome home!

Shir, I'm so sorry. Stupid governments on both side hurting lots of innocent people. Hang in there and vent as needed.

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Hello, Insomnia, my old "friend." FTR, I haven't missed you one bit, and your timing with the whole having to get up in four hours is really not ideal. Go away now please before I do something rash like...like... Okay, probably nothing more dramatic than whine and possibly weep like a girl for a bit.

I wonder if this has anything to do with why LJ has been slower than molasses of late.

I wonder if the LJ owners are planning on just letting the service atrophy or if they're hiring Russian or other, non-US engineers to replace the ones that just got sacked.

I wonder if the LJ owners are planning on just letting the service atrophy or if they're hiring Russian or other, non-US engineers to replace the ones that just got sacked.

Well, that's distressing.

::hugs Shir::

I can't imagine how hard it is to go through this day by day. You're in my thoughts, and Nilly, too.

Because if it'll stop right now, we're back on where we were 2 weeks ago, just with a lot more dead and wounded and distraction.

Shir, I don't know. A bad policy is a bad policy, and walking away from it can't make things worse, even if it means walking away from a ground invasion that is already underway. Asking someone to be the last one to die for a mistake is horrible, but it is just as horrible a month from now as it would be today.