Politics

How strange it must be to live in Kansas. Their Board of Education seems to be in constant flux, and, more to the point does not seem to be focussed on education. The latest from the elections for the illustrious Kansas Board of Education is here at the New York Times; Evolution Opponents Lose Kansas Board Majority

Yes, evolution is causing a stir again. The issue just won’t go away. Let’s say it clearly: evolutionary theory is accepted, it is established as the bedrock of biology. There are tons of details that scientists argue about, but no one other than right wing religious kooks say that evolution is wrong. It isn’t. Nowhere else in the world does this become a political issue. But here in America the religious extremists are so powerful that they don’t want our children to learn good solid science. Evolution is the most important scientific idea ever articulated. Ever. Einstein does even come close in his impact. Darwin and his ideas have had and will have a more profound impact than Einstein could ever dream of. And yet America allows these religious fools to stop our kids learning.

The ignorance of Americans is a legend abroad: a vast majority of Americans don’t realize that we and our ape relatives are decended from a common ancestor. The science is irrefutable. The tests have been run time and time again.

The religious nutcases say that evolution is “only” a theory. As if that is a problem. All science is “only” a theory. Do they say that about gravity? About thermodynamics? About chemistry? Do they say that water being made of hydrogen and oxygen is “just a theory”? No. No they don’t. So why do they think it’s important to tag evolution that way? Because they cannot stomach the fact that evolution drives a coach and horses through their biblical teachings about the creation of life. They cannot come to terms with the error of their ways. So they want to darg us all back to the dark ages by suppressing the truth.

That’s they way of the Taliban. It’s also the way of the Kansas Board of Education.

Fundamentalists all stink.

Let me see if I get this right: Israel is trying to dislodge and disarm Hezbollah. It says it has to do this because Lebanon failed to do the job, thus allowing Hezbollah to continue to raid Israel. OK. So let’s arm Lebanon to the teeth with tanks, planes and lots of those precision guided bombs that seem regularly to be mistakenly guided. Hmmmm. Wait a bit. Wouldn’t that mean that Lebanon becomes a bigger threat to Israel than Hezbollah is? Especially if the democratically elected leadership of Lebanon turned out to be anti-Israel. Let’s say as a result of the carnage Israel “has the right” to inflict on civilians those civilians turn around and elect a government intent on revenge [revenge being a mid-east favorite]. Then what?

So maybe, just maybe, Israel really doesn’t want a strong Lebanon. It really wants to be able to control the territory of its neighbors and to be surrounded by weak, poor, nations who can never represent a threat. Israel does not want a strong Syria, a strong Palestine, a strong Egypt, or a strong Lebanon. It wants to lord it over the area.

Some things never change.

This is the New York Times editorial today: A Right Way to Help Israel

First let’s just agree that the Times gets it right by saying that America gains nothing, and risks losing a lot, by staying on the sidelines. George Bush long ago decided to avoid getting involved in the Israeli/Palestinian dispute. A decision that by all accounts astonished Colin Powell who ran the State Department back then. The decision was made after no discussion and on the basis of a few minutes of observation of the mess in the Palestinian camps. Bush is reputed to have said that having one side beat up the other sometimes “clarifies things”. So his sit back and let Israel devestate Lebanon policy is meely a continuation of the attitude he formed back in 2001.

And it’s wrong. In fact it’s incredibly stupid. By allowing the Israelis to exact revenge on a scale way out of proportion to the original “crime” Bush lays down a precedent: he says that proportion is of no consequence. Al Qaeda no doubt will note that. As will Hamas and Hezbollah. The bush policy is also dumb. Every day for two weeks now the average “arab on the street” has seen Israel pound, maim, and mutilate in a biblical orgy of revenge. And the US has aided and abetted by making sure there was no quick call for a ceasefire, and by sending more bombs. America has declared unequivocally that it sides with Israel against any and all Arabs.

And this makes the US safer how? This unrelenting bias towards Israel is in our interests, how? They send us just how much oil?

The failure of international talks to get a cease fire in the Middle east has been taken by the Israelis as tacit support for an expansion of their attacks on Lebanon. The New York Times has a report here: Israel Debates Strategy Shift After Truce Talks Fail

The problem with this is that it does not tie well with what actually happened. It is now clear, retrospectively, that Condi had no intention at all of getting a peace. The American view seems to be that Israel should continue to pummel Lebanon for as long as it wants. The apparent purpose is to weaken Hezbollah, but also to punish Lebanon for not having controlled or disarmed Hezbollah. They also want to sanitize, or demolish, the swathe of Lebaonon that abuts the Israeli border.

By adopting this policy America has abandoned any vestige or pretence of being a broker for peace. It now is inextricably tied to Israel. Not that this is a surprise, but at least in years gone by the Americans tried to look as if they cared about a balanced policy. Now they don’t.

No wonder the Islamic extremists have a hold on the imagination of the average “Arabian in the street”.

Sidney Blumenthal has an excellent article in Salon about American Mid East policy [if there is any]. Here it is: Domino diplomacy | Salon

Now this is scary. The problem I have with a “domiono” scenario such as this, is that it places the desired end result at such a distance from any immediate action. Rather than bringing what moral and military force it has left to bear, the US leaves it to proxies, or proxies of proxies, to do its work for it.

Here’s an idea: maybe the US should tell the Israelis to stop. Now. If they don’t then we should withdraw our aid. If they still don’t then we should stop vetoing the UN’s efforts to get the Israelis to obey any of the international laws that they have been flouting for years.

Here’s another idea: we should stop thinking of the middle east as a playground for half baked right wing christian nut job think tank inspired ideas. Those ideas have failed. Totally. People are dying because Bush and his regime have no touch with reality. Iraqis are dying at the rate of five an hour. The US is withdrawing troops from outlying regions to beef up security in Baghdad. And we are told that we won this thing?

Bush is so incompetent I doubt if he could ride a bike without training wheels. Come on think about it: have we ever seen him alone out there?

Meanwhile Lebanon burns and we are told its all their own fault. Rubbish.