“The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people.”
— Noam Chomsky
The Continued War on The Poor:
The City of Tucson’s Sales Tax Proposal
Tucson voters will get to decide next March on how much more they will allow the city to tax our purchasing power with a proposed vote on a new sales tax. We urge all of you to VOTE NO on this new tax on the poor and working class.
Arizona lawmakers in Phoenix made one of the sharpest moves toward heightened tax on the poor when they overrode a public vote in favor of higher taxes on top earners and enacted tax cuts for the rich instead. This reversal moves Arizona from roughly the middle of the pack (27th) to one of the most regressive tax codes (13th) in the nation.
Sales and excise taxes are very regressive: Poor families pay almost seven times more as a share of their incomes in these taxes than the best-off families, and middle-income families pay almost five times the rate of the wealthy. Low income families pay 7 percent of their incomes in sales and excise taxes, middle-income families pay 4.8 percent, and the top 1 percent pay only 1 percent.
In terms of total taxation (sales, property, and income taxes) those who make less than $22,200 (the lowest 20% of the population) pay 11.8% in total taxes while the richest — those who make over $596,600 pay only 5%. The lowest earners also pay more in property taxes (3.7% compared to 1.6% for the richest). This war on the poor goes unabated.
Sales tax: from the Institute on Taxation and Economic policy:
See also: https://itep.org/whopays/arizona-who-pays-7th-edition/
On top of an already exacerbated war on the poor being inflicted on us by our state lawmakers in over-riding a vote of the people while implementing a disastrous flat income tax that drains hundreds of millions of tax dollars from our coffers (thanks to the f’in’ Koch Brothers), now our own city council wants to do the same by promoting another sales tax proposition. This new tax will be on top of the newly proposed RTA sales tax for transportation coming our way. It is also on top of the existing taxes that go to Rio Nuevo, whose proposed budget this year is over $16 million as indicated on their website:
While the Mayor and Council plan for this latest attack against the poor, they continue to give tax subsidies to the rich, mostly through their GPLET (Gov’t Lease Excise Tax): government property exemptions given to their chosen ones, allowing rich developers to avoid paying property taxes for a period of time. While the excuse given for this give-away initially started as a way to supposedly “revitalize” downtown Tucson — (that is, to drive poor and working people out of the area through gentrification) — who now really believes that downtown Tucson still needs taxpayer subsidies to survive? Rio Nuevo alone proudly lists how they have “successfully” utilized GPLETs for these projects:
1 S. Church
44 Broadway
117 N. 6th Avenue
AC Hotel
Bautista
Brings
Bungalow Block
Cadence
Caterpillar Headquarters
City Park
Congress Street Block
Corbett
DoubleTree Hotel at the TCC
Greyhound
Hilton Hotel at Cathedral Square
Indian Trading Post
Julian Drew Lofts
La Buhardilla Block
MSA Annex
Solot Block
Toole Avenue Restaurant
Zemam’s
Some of these businesses you might support, but why should any of them be exempt from property taxes? Do the Hilton or the DoubleTree really need taxpayer help to survive? And I won’t even get into Caterpillar except to suggest to look up what one of their machines did to Rachel Corrie, here: https://rachelcorriefoundation.org
And of course, no affordable housing was demanded for any of these projects in exchange for these taxpayer funded subsidies. And when these companies don’t pay any property taxes, guess who does? (Hint: check your mirror). When was the last time any resident had a reduction, much less an exemption, on their property tax? Yet the Mayor and Council keep giving away subsidies.
Recently the reporter Natalie Robbins writing for the Tucson Sentinel posted a surprisingly good article on the proposed sales tax entitled “Trojan horse for police funding” which can be found here:
As the Sentinel article articulated, while the city is promoting spo-called“community services” for this new $80 million dollar sales tax, only 17% will be allocated for affordable housing while over 65% of the revenue will go to law enforcement. Yet a recent survey conducted by the city showed that most people ranked first responders only sixth out of ten priorities, while affordable housing and decreasing poverty and more mental health services had much higher priorities for the voters than cops. But why should they start to listen to us now?
The Sentinel noted that median rent has gone up 40% in Tucson since 2017 while incomes have only gone up 4%. The number of unsheltered homeless has increase over 250% since 2018 (!) So no, you are not imagining things are getting worse: they are, drastically.
Clearly, our Mayor and Council believe that the best way to deal with the homeless is not to build more homes, but hire more cops to bust or harass the homeless and drug-addicted. They’re even going to purchase a “fixed wing aircraft” for TPD — as if the city can never over-militarize the police force enough. The armored tanks, tear gas and plastic bullets are apparently not sufficient to control us.
It will be interesting to see how council member Lane Santa Cruz votes on this, as she campaigned with a “Defund The Police” leader from Phoenix in her last election when she confronted the cops at a demonstration with the famous “Do you know who the fuck I am?” quote. There may not be a dumber left-wing slogan ever devised than “defund the police” (although maybe Earl Browder’s “Communism is 20th Century Americanism” would top it?) The cops need to be de-militarized, not de-funded. We need more cops doing community policing and less being trained, as they are, by the Israeli military on “crowd” control.
As a side note, the next Mayor and Council agenda includes money coming in from Indian gaming proceeds for community causes. One item for the Tucson Police Department includes $278,350 for “combatting Violent Crime.” The total amount going to the city from the tribes is $941,760 — which prompted one BogNews observer to ask “so why do we need another sales tax?”
The question is: do you trust this Mayor and Council with more money? The last significant voter approved boost in cash for them has been the tiny margin of support they received for their 300% salary boost. The vote was so close that any other political body would have done a recount, but not this group. They took the money and one of the first thing some of them did was to drastically cut back on their office hours. For example, Westside Ward 1 office hours are now 9am – 1 pm Tuesday through Friday, and noon – 7 pm on Mondays. That’s a cut back from the normal 40 hours a week to 22 hours a week. If we paid them more would they all just stay home all the time?
Lesson here: give them more money, and they work less. Don’t reward this behavior.
If you are a working class person struggling economically, as opposed to a developer or banker, the city wants to take more out of your pockets while giving more and more tax breaks to their rich friends. So if you want to pay more to the bureaucracy while the super rich will be paying less, vote yes on the city sales tax. You deserve it.
Some recent articles on the Tucson sales tax proposal:
The Arizona Republic revealed that “the top priority for Tucson residents was expanding mental health services, followed by investing in a mobile health and wellness unit.” That doesn’t sound like more cops to me.
The Arizona Daily Star: “The next steps are for the council to adopt a final spending plan to send to voters and a “Truth in Taxation” resolution to establish a citizen oversight commission to help “guide the program” over the next decade.” (Can you imagine the cronies they plan to put on that commission?)
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Dialog with a BogNews Reader: Part 2
The last issue of BogNews featured the first part of a dialogue with a concerned reader “R” over our coverage of the Israeli-U.S.war against the Palestinian people. If you missed it, you can find the issue at:
I should note here that these conversations happened several months ago, and a few substantial things have changed. This includes Biden getting the boot and the Kamala Harris coronation. As I said to my anonymous pen-pal back then, I would not be voting for Biden, but Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Now, with Kamala, I am now a non-committed voter unless this administration establishes a permanent ceasefire before the November election and then, and only then would I could consider a vote for Harris, but that looks outlook seems doubtful. And the genocide continues in Gaza, plus hundreds have been killed in the West Bank, and Israel has since bombed Iran and Syria with U.S. backing, and it looks like there will probably be an Israeli invasion of Lebanon, with an ever increasing possibility of a regional war with Iran, Turkey, and even Russia. Meanwhile, the U.S. media and politicians keep promoting the lie that Hamas committed systematic rape on October 7th without any evidence, while Palestinian men are raped by Israeli guards while riots against any persecution of these torturers is led by Israeli citizens. And it all goes almost unmentioned in our media.
Anyway, our dialogue has attracted some interest in our readers, as I also hope the second round of our discussion which took place last April and May will as well. The Bog reader “R” is in blue, and my comments are in green.
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April 29, 2024
Hi Scott,
I have to disagree with much of what you said today
Statement:
“The founders of Israel who set up “a Jewish state for the Jewish people” had the exact same sentiment that the pro-British “Loyalists” of northern Ireland.”
Rebuttal: Jewish people have 3,000 years of continuous history in Israel. You are parroting Hamas talking points to call Israel colonialist and settler. Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people, for 3,000 years.
Statement:
“They too thought of themselves as “the chosen ones.”
Rebuttal: Every people think of themselves as the chosen ones, because we are all chosen to play a role. Every person and every people is here for a reason, including Jewish people.
Statement:
“The 2,000 pound (American) bombs dropped indiscriminately by the Israeli forces on one of the highest population density regions earth seems like, well, GENOCIDE to most of the world.”
Rebuttal: Instead of investing in Gaza infrastructure, Hamas built tunnels and rockets, and created Hamas billionaires living in Qatar, disconnected from their own people. Genocide is what Hamas aims at Israel: witness the torture, killing, and kidnapping of innocents on October 7. Hamas could have released the hostages and surrendered on October 8, and Gaza would have been saved from war. But, that wouldn’t have been good for the Hamas image in Iran.
Ukraine: 500,000 people have died in Ukraine from Russia’s unproved war.
Syria: More than 600,000 people have died in Syria since Bashar Al-Assad started his war on his own people.
Statement:
“The Irish, like the Palestinians, like George Washington, like Nelson Mandela, also felt the need to use armed struggle against an occupying force.”
Rebuttal: Nelson Mandela was a non-violent lawyer for much of his opposition to apartheid. He attempted to blow up a power plant when he was arrested. This has nothing to do with suicide bombings of innocent people. Nelson Mandela worked with his white captors to craft a plan that worked for both blacks and whites. Hamas aims to wipe out Jewish people from the river to the sea, it’s in their Charter, they acted it out on October 7, and they refuse to renounce it.
Statement:
“You asked “who is providing financial support to the pro-Palestinian protesters, since it was observed that may [sic] of the tents at the Columbia University protest were purchased from the same supplier?”
Rebuttal: Take a look at this article: https://nypost.com/2024/04/26/us-news/nyc-anti-israel-protests-at-columbia-and-nyu-show-signs-of-foreign-assistance/
Statement:
“Anti-Semitism is real and is scary. But there is a world of difference between being anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish.”
Rebuttal: I disagree. This is a line from the Hamas playbook. Anti-Zionism is at its core Anti-Semitism. Read this: https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/anti-zionism
“When all the Jews in the Middle East were kicked out of the Arab countries after 1948, did Israel place them into refugee camps and forbid them to integrate into society, and tell them to wait for their return to their former countries? No, Israel welcomed them as full citizens.”
“I find all of this factually inaccurate, but perhaps you have information I that don’t and would really appreciate anything you could send to back up these statements.”
Rebuttal: You can start here: https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/the-expulsion-of-jews-from-arab-countries-and-iran–an-untold-history
Statement:
“Why should any of these countries be forced to accommodate a problem created by Israel?”
Rebuttal:
Two million Arab people live in Israel proper – they did not leave. Palestinians who left Israel are the only emigrant group never to be eventually allowed to live in their new countries as free citizens. For example, when the United States takes in Syrians, Afghanis, Vietnamese, etc., we did not put them into refugee camps, refuse them work permits, refuse them the right to obtain a job, vote, etc., and told them to wait for the day that they could be repatriated to be able to resume their lives. On the contrary, most of these refugees are now American citizens.
“Yasser Arafat rejected the plan for a two state solution in 2000.”
Rebuttal: Watch the Frontline special here: https://www.pbs.org/video/shattered-dreams-of-peace-the-road-to-oslo-spoc9i/
I see that you say nothing about my statements that Egypt should retake control of Gaza and Jordan should take control of the West Bank to protect the Palestinians militarily and provide them with economic opportunities. Gaza is about the size of Philadelphia. The West Bank is about the size of Delaware. Much better for the Palestinians to be aligned with Egypt and Jordan, two larger countries with more military and economic wherewithal.
Your turn.
Cheers,
R
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May 5, 2024
R:
It is been an overly busy time for me, so I apologize for the delay in response to your latest communication. You have given me much to read and think about, which is good as I (usually) like thinking (!) so I appreciate the exchange, but I think we hit a tough spot. You contested eight of my statements, and while I would like to address each, I think it perhaps it would be better to take them one at a time. The big philosophical questions we have both touched on regarding Zionism and Judaism and the historical relations with the Arab world is perhaps better left for our future exchanges which I certainly hope continue even as we disagree. Perhaps since we don’t know each other our disagreements will stay non-personal and keep on the issues.
I thank you for providing your references to back up your numerous contentions because I believe (and hope) that we both have an interest in not only on what our positions are on these matters, but WHY we believe as we do. In that regard it really helps to know where we each get our information in order to form our opinions.
Of the eight rebuttals on my positions you list, seven of your references are from the World Jewish Congress and one was from the N.Y. Post which was published in regards to the current student protests sweeping our country. Because of the explosive situation we are witnessing in campuses throughout the country (I am sure we are both acutely watching the horror that is going on at the U of A — and elsewhere) perhaps we could address this point first.
I had asked you to back up your questioning about “who is providing financial support to the pro-Palestinian protesters, since it was observed that may [sic] of the tents at the Columbia University protest were purchased from the same supplier?” In your rebuttal you cited this article:
This is from an April 26th article from the New York Post headlined:
“Signs of foreign assistance emerge in Columbia, NYU unrest: Anti-Israel agitators.”
Before analyzing the article, I must admit that I am a bit surprised that someone like you who identifies himself as a liberal Democrat would use Rupert Murdoch’s rag to justify anything. The N.Y. Post, the preferred paper of Donald Trump (it endorsed him), has been described as “no longer merely a journalistic problem. It is a social problem — a force for evil.” (according to the Columbia Journalism Review). Furthermore:
“The Post has been accused of contorting its news coverage to suit Murdoch’s business needs, in particular avoiding subjects which could be unflattering to the government of the People’s Republic of China, where Murdoch has invested heavily in satellite television.”
“In a 2004 survey conducted by Pace University, the Post was rated the least-credible major news outlet in New York, and the only news outlet to receive more responses calling it “not credible” than credible (44% not credible to 39% credible).”
{sources: Columbia Journalism Review, volume 18, number 5 (Jan/Feb 1980), pp. 22–23. James Barron and Campbell Robertson (May 19, 2007). “Page Six, Staple of Gossip, Reports on Its Own Tale”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved May 19, 2007. Jonathan Trichter (June 16, 2004). “Tabloids, Broadsheets, and Broadcast News” (PDF). Pace Poll Survey Research Study. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 23, 2004. Retrieved June 7, 2007.}
It should be no surprise then (it certainly wasn’t for me) to find their journalism pitifully wanting on the student protest issue. Yet even the N.Y. Post gets it right on occasion (they revealed that the Hunter Biden computer scandal was real and not a Russian disinformation campaign) so let us look at their article about foreign instigation.
The article was written by Danielle Wallace for Fox News (how could they ever be biased?) starts lying in the first sentence by saying the protests are “broiling with antisemitism.” Like the rest of the piece, this accusation is resolutely proclaimed without a shred of evidence to back up this obvious falsehood. All they would have to do is interview any of the numerous Jewish student protestors to know the truth, or contact Jewish Voices for Peace or If Not Now, or watch a YouTube of Aaron Mate or Katie Harper or Max Blumenthal or Naomi Klein, or a host of other anti-zionist Jews to see the fallacy of the anti-semitism accusations. There are Muslims, Jews, Christians and others who are together conducting Jewish religious services during the protests like the “street seders.”
This anti-semitism smear is a purposeful weaponization of the term and intentionally inflating opposition to Israeli policies as being synonymous with anti-Jewish bigotry. Thankfully, this nonsense is not working anymore either with American youth or with hardly anyone else in the world outside of the U.S. and some countries in Europe.
The N.Y. Post article does not only blur the distinction between the political ideology of Zionism and the religious principles of the Jewish religion, it also perpetuates the slander that some foreign power is directing all of these protests. Again, it provides absolutely no proof of these dangerous and despicable lies — falsehoods that could provoke violence in itself. The article goes on:
“I think there is good reason to suspect that there is foreign assistance and coordination that’s fueling the campus protests,” says Dr. Jay Greene, a senior research fellow at the Center for Education Policy at the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.
Well, if the Heritage Foundation “thinks” (?)” that there is “good reason” to believe the Boggyman is on campus, who needs any stinkin’ proof of it? I mean it isn’t like the foundation has done anything objectionable, like spent millions to block voting rights, right?
Oh wait, they have:
“Rightwing group pours millions in ‘dark money’ into US voter suppression bid”
Yes, while Fox and the N.Y. Post admit that don’t have any “hard evidence to prove this” and acknowledging the truth is “still fuzzy” — still we should be scared, very scared! Why? Because they claim that there are “signs…” ooooohhh… SIGNS!
What are these ominous signs of foreign interference? Why many of these protestors have “common tents!” Yes! The tents all look similar! And, even though there is no proof, they “suspect” that all the tents were all purchased — together! A coordinated attack on our higher educational institutions grass lawns. I mean it is bad enough that the Russians could be hiding under our beds — but now we have to fret over terrorists under our tents!!! Of course, since receiving your response I have been looking at all the student protests from Columbia to UCLA and have not seen any similar tents. Just the opposite.
Another piece of “proof” they submit in “suspecting” of foreign assistance is that some of the protesters use “the same talking points that Hamas and Hezbollah leaders make.” These actual common talking points are never revealed of course, so we can assume that anyone who chants “Free Palestine” or “Ceasefire Now” is a foreign agent or terrorist. As is anyone who chants “from the river to the sea” unless they are members of the Likud Party and talking about greater Israel. I guess it’s ok to call for a single ethno-nationalist state for the whole region if it is your side exclaiming it.
OH NO, there is more — also something else that smacks of foreign intervention! Apparently there is a YouTube video in circulation of a seminar put on by some Columbia students that featured a representative of Palestinian prisoner support group who “the Israeli government” links to a terrorist organization. Foreign interference!
That’s it. That is all the evidence presented of this ominous foreign infiltration of all the student protests sweeping the country. Thousands of U.S. students are risking expulsion, suspensions, and — in the case of the University of Arizona being hit and potentially killed by a lethal rubber bullet — because they are being controlled by a foreign power inducing them to risk losing everything: their education and their present and future employment. And they are doing it all for a free tent. Sure, that must be it.
It couldn’t possibly be because these kids just don’t like to see poor people mass murdered and starved to death with our own tax money. No, it’s gotta be the tents!
Yes, it must be a foreign power that causes these protests as Fox News and Bibi proclaims. But which foreign adversary is behind these ominous developments like this Terrible Tricky Terrorist Tent conspiracy? Well, we can always blame it on the hated Russians, since they aren’t very preoccupied with anything else lately, right? Maybe it is the big evil China, who will want to occupy our campuses — perhaps to keep them hostage in exchange for Taiwan? (They can take ASU but never the U.A. ya bastards!) Or it could probably be Iran or some Arabs somewhere: who probably have an inside deal on some good tents.
So before we go into all the deeper issues — we need to have a baseline check of reality. If articles like this are what we are going to argue over I wonder how serious we are going to be. I see no point in spending time trying to refute the lies of Fox News and Rupert Murdoch and Bibi Netanyahu. Surely we can rise above the nonsense?
What do you think about the use of rubber bullets against student protests? What do you think about the violence used by pro-Israeli mobs in attacking peaceful protesters at UCLA? What do you think about many of these police being trained by the Israeli Defense Forces?
What do you think about the new “anti-semitism” law passed by the U.S. Congress, soon to be introduced in the Senate and signed by Genocide Joe, that would make it illegal to chant “from the river to the sea” if it is done in support of Palestinian rights, but legal if said by a Likud supporter?
I look forward to your thoughts.
Scott
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May 5, 2024
Hi Scott,
Thanks for your email. You are absolutely right, a lot has happened in the past week. You bring up interesting information about the New York Post, that I wasn’t aware of.
And, you are right, there wasn’t that much in the article, was there? I concede your point about it, how about that! We are back to agreeing about something.
And, I agree with you that the use of pepper spray and rubber bullets by the police at the U of A was insane. See, I’m not that extreme!
I appreciate you being willing to continue our dialog. How many of us are actually having this dialog right now?
I really don’t know who started the violence at UCLA, its hard for me to tell.
I don’t know that much about the antisemitism bill in Congress. I will say one thing: I think that chanting “From the River to the Sea” is a call for Jewish genocide. What else would it be? Don’t you agree with that? Don’t you agree that a reasonable partner for peace would not attempt to kill, kidnap, or sexually abuse every single Jewish person they could find, including women and children, such as Hamas displayed on October 7? Don’t you consider it a mistaken tactic? After all, wouldn’t Hamas have a much better chance for obtaining peace if Israelis didn’t find that Hamas was intending on killing, raping, and/or kidnapping every single one of them if they were given the chance?
Sinwar supposedly has 15 hostages surrounding him in a tunnel. Do you really think that Hamas will ever agree to give up the hostages peacefully, even if it were to start the process towards peace? Or is it simply a delaying tactic, and the hostages will never be released?
I hope you will watch the Frontline documentary about how close the Israelis and Palestinians were to creating peace at one time, that I included in my last email. It’s certainly not a pro-Israel documentary, but it has a lot of information that people have forgotten.
Beyond all of that, I think we are living in precarious times in our country. In six months, voters could decide to elect a person who attempted to convince a mob to overthrow the government of the United States, in a word, committed treason in the most heinous sense, imperiling the lives of the Vice President and all of Congress, to support a lie. And, this possible vote to elect Trump is not theoretical, but a very real possibility. And, if he wins, this could be the last real election held in this country, with in any event, substantial effects on attempts to avert climate change, the privacy rights of women and everyone, the use of the police and the military to go after protesters and immigrants, the rights and prospects of minorities, and the list goes on. Trump, like Nixon in 1968, is presenting himself as a law and order candidate. Disrupting speeches by Democratic candidates, and especially, disrupting the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, could play into the scenario that America is in chaos and needs a strong leader (Trump), don’t you agree? Or, is electing Trump really the aim of the protesters? Since Russia supports Trump, is trying to militarily overrun an independent Ukraine, supports Iran, supports Hezbollah, supports Hamas, it all could make a very nice package, don’t you think? Well, they do say that politics makes strange bedfellows, and I’m sorry if you don’t like those words, so mainly, I’m curious if you agree that electing Trump in November might be a bad idea for our country. Thoughts?
Cheers,
R
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May 6, 2024
R:
Well it is good to know that we can agree on some important things! While the terrorist tent conspiracy is just farcical, the media narrative still talks of scary “outside agitators” to disparage the sincere motivations of the students. I am glad that we agree it was “insane” for the police to use pepper spray and rubber bullets against the UA students — but it might be worse than that. It may have been crazy but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t intentional. With all the recent scandal at the UA you would think they would be more circumspect and avoid inflicting violence on their own students, but the university leadership seems both dumb and corrupt.
But we again basically agree on the basics, so I am glad for that.
OK, we now have some points of significant difference, which I have solidified into three points from your last communique.
Question 1. You claim that “that chanting ‘From the River to the Sea’ is a call for Jewish genocide. What else would it be?”
I hate to answer your question with a question, but is it also a call for genocide when Israelis use the very same phrase but apply it to themselves?
The 1977 manifesto of the Israeli Likud Party says:
”Between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.”
Doesn’t this also then constitute a call for genocide in your mind? If not, what is your definition of a double standard?
Similar wording is used by Benjamin Netanyahu: he even went to the U.N. and showed it on a map to the world, no Palestinian territory only “Greater Israel” from the river to the sea. Yet some countries —LIKE OURS — are trying to criminalize Palestinian use of the phrase, but not if the Israelis say the same thing. Do you think the phrase should be criminalized based on who uses it, where it is prohibited by one nationality to use but not another? What other “hate” words or slogans are to be banned by our government? Has the 1st Amendment been abolished without notice?
My question to you is: If someone thinks the Israel state is somehow illegitimate, does that person not have the right to say that? Where does the banning of words we don’t like actually lead? “Hate” speech is still supposed to be protected speech. Remember when the ACLU defended the rights of Nazis to publicly march on our streets? Will we now be creating the Thought Control Police to decide what “hate” is to be criminalized based on who uses it?
Question 2: You ask: “Don’t you agree that a reasonable partner for peace would not attempt to kill, kidnap, or sexually abuse every single Jewish person they could find, including women and children, such as Hamas displayed on October 7?”
Another question in response to your question again! What do you think the I.D.F. is doing but attempting to kill every single Palestinian person that they can to starve, shoot, or bomb, whether they be in hospitals, universities, neighborhoods or even waiting on bread lines? We are approaching 40,000 dead Palestinians, most of whom are women and children. Does this seem like a “reasonable” reaction to the atrocity of October 7th to you? How many more innocent civilians must be annihilated to satisfy this blood lust? Or must every Palestinian be wiped off the face of the earth? Or do you, like the Israeli Defense Minister believe that “there are no innocents in Gaza”?
In regard to your question, I also need to mention here that there are thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisons without trial or even formal charges against them: isn’t that a form of state sponsored “kidnaping”? And while we often hear of sexual abuse of Israeli woman (often exaggerated, like on October 7th) our media never highlights the numerous instances of sexual abuse inflicted on Palestinian women by Israeli soldiers and settlers. What of the men arrested by the IDF and stripped to their underwear and paraded in front of cameras (in violation of international law). Where is the outrage for all of these people — that is, if they are actually considered people (or “animals” as another Israeli official proclaimed:
As for “reasonable partners for peace” I note today’s news headline:
“Hamas accepts Gaza cease-fire … Israel launches strikes in Rafah”
As reported: “Hamas announced its acceptance Monday of an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the deal did not meet its ‘core demands’ and that it was pushing ahead with an assault on the southern Gaza town of Rafah.”
Who looks more reasonable here?
Similarly you ask “wouldn’t Hamas have a much better chance for obtaining peace if Israelis didn’t find that Hamas was intending on killing, raping, and/or kidnapping every single one of them if they were given the chance?” to which I would ask you to replace “Hamas” with “IDF” and ask you the same question.
Question 2: You ask: “Do you really think that Hamas will ever agree to give up the hostages peacefully, even if it were to start the process towards peace?”
Hamas has just agreed to freeing the hostages if Israel agrees to a permanent cease-fire. But it is Netanyahu and his band of right-wing lunatics who fear any resolution to the conflict. For Bibi “peace” will see him thrown out of office and probably into jail (on corruption charges and his primary responsibility for security failures on the 7th). Did you see the massive rally against him yesterday by thousands of Israelis who claim he doesn’t care about peace or the hostages? Why are we propping up this tyrant when even the Israelis want to get rid of him? As for the safety of hostages, did you not see when the IDF killed three Jewish hostages as they were trying to surrender, even holding white flags?
There is also a question about the implementation of the IDF “Hannibal Protocol.” Israeli newspapers have reported that the IDF was issued the directive during the Hamas-led attack to prevent “at all costs” the abduction of Israeli civilians or soldiers, which some believe lead to the death of a large number of Israeli hostages on that fateful day.
Peace is not what is being advocated by the Israeli government, only the unconditional surrender of Hamas. That is not going to happen, so the total obliteration of Hamas seems to be Israel’s “final solution.” But it is not a solution and it won’t be final.
Again I turn the question back to you: why would Hamas agree to any temporary ceasefire when Israel’s genocidal bombardment will likely resume right after Hamas releases the hostages? Any ceasefire needs to be permanent with guarantees insured through international authority. The U.N. created this situation, they should take some responsibility to correcting it by enforcing a peace deal. Unfortunately, the U.S. would probably veto any peace deal. We have Raytheon stock to protect after all.
I again compare this to the British vs Irish struggle: until both sides acknowledge that they cannot totally wipe out the other there can be no peace. And after six months of saturation bombing in an attempt to totally destroy Hamas it is clear that the Israelis have failed. Hamas is still operational as their recent missile attacks attest. And every single person in Gaza and the West Bank who survives this vicious onslaught will join whatever resistance exists (after they bury their blown-up or starved family members).
Question 3 (finally): you state:
“Trump, like Nixon in 1968, is presenting himself as a law and order candidate. Disrupting speeches by Democratic candidates, and especially, disrupting the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, could play into the scenario that America is in chaos and needs a strong leader (Trump), don’t you agree? Or, is electing Trump really the aim of the protesters?”
I do see many similarities to 1968. I see the Democratic Party making the same mistakes that Hubert Humphrey made in supporting Johnson’s war in Vietnam. If you are a Palestinian who is currently starving to death or watching your child die from U.S. bombs it doesn’t make any difference to them who wins our election. Biden has lost the youth vote, the Arab vote, and most of the progressive votes. I think he blew it, but we will know in six months. But blaming peace protesters for their failure is ludicrous.
I will again turn the question back to you: could the Democratic Party have picked anyone worse than Joe Biden to run for President? I voted for him last time because Trump made me sick to my stomach, but I will not be voting for Genocide Joe now. If the choice is between an orange wanna-be neo-fascist or a mass murderer, I am going to refuse to take that choice.
The great May West once said that when she picks the lessor of two evils she will pick the one she hasn’t tried before! I think that works for me, so I am going with the only Jewish person running for President: Jill Stein of the Green Party (not because she is Jewish of course). Watching her get arrested and roughed up at a campus peace rally by cops sealed it for me. As George Orwell said, when he sees someone getting beat up on the street by cops he instinctively knows whose side he is on. Now I’m on hers.
When Trump beat the feckless Hillary Clinton (after rigging the Primary against Bernie Sanders — another Jewish candidate I supported!) the Democrats blamed the left for their failure to convince the American people to vote for their widely disliked candidate. They will do the same if they lose this time, blaming others if Trump wins again, and they will be wrong again. Everyone else is to blame — this should be the motto for the Democratic Party.
There’s me two cents. Your turn.
Scott
PS: By the way, Putin says he supports Biden over Trump. Just sayin….
The third & final installment of this exchange will be in next month’s BogNews.
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CITY CACA: A reminder from our friends at T.R.R.G.:
Corridor Redevelopment. The city continues to move forward with plans to dramatically increase the density along Tucson’s corridors. This would impact every road that surrounds your neighborhoods, from arterials like Speedway, to collectors, like Columbus Boulevard. While this has been represented as facilitating affordable housing, NO affordable housing REQUIREMENTS will be part of these code changes, as the state prohibits cities from requiring affordable units. Instead, it is part of a “trickle-down” concept, hoping that more luxury units will flood the market and drive down the value of surrounding properties. You can get more information about the project at https://corridors.tucsonaz.gov/
This process continues to be rushed through and needs scrutiny by all residents, as the impact to our neighborhoods will be lasting and possibly irreversible. Current plans are for staff to have a draft of the proposed code changes available for public viewing sometime in October.
Plan Tucson. Plan Tucson is now officially in Phase 3. Planning and Development Services Department (PDSD) staff are in the process of writing the draft of the 2025 Plan. Despite numerous meetings and surveys, it appears that many of our concerns have not been incorporated into the new plan. Most recently, we expressed concerns that the draft did not appear to comply with Arizona’s statutory requirements, and we suggested the city review the draft to ensure that proposed policies are clear, concise and deliverable.
Even though state statutes require a Neighborhood Preservation and Revitalization element, our concern is that neighborhoods and neighborhood issues are almost entirely lacking in any of the Goals and Policies that we have reviewed to date. To read about the update, you can go to the City’s website at https://www.plantucson.org/.
If you want to see the state statues that pertain to General Plans, you can find that here.
If you want to see an example of a General Plan that meets the statutory requirements, Tempe’s 2050 plan is a good model. You can access that at
We received notice that all of the Plan Tucson meetings, which were scheduled to begin this month, have been postponed. We will notify you once we receive a new meeting schedule.
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BARRIO HOLLYWOOD 1st FRIDAY LOCAL OPEN MIC SHOWCASE
Come and enjoy yourself at the monthly Barrio Hollywood musician showcase where you can eat, drink, and be merrily entertained by a diverse group of creative musicians, AND ALWAYS FREE ADMISSION. The next event will be:
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4TH at the El Rio Golf Course CORBETT’S CANTINA, located at 1400 W. Speedway. Music starts at 6 pm, and there is a full bar and a hot grill! First round on me, to whomever first mentions this to me at the bar!
“May the winds of fortune sail you, may you sail a gentle sea,
may it always be the other guy who says this drink’s on me.”
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BogNews is the “soul’ responsibility of Scott D. Egan (The Bogman). If you do not wish to receive any more issues of BogNews please respond with an “unsubscribe” to sejonesegan@aol.com
EL RIO BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE!
from the bog 