Today is Election Day and I Have Not Yet Voted…
But I will. Really I will. I am one of the disparaged “undecided” voters, but I still have a few hours to get my ballot in. You, dear reader, have probably already voted, so it is too late for me to try to influence your decisions. So this issue of BogNews are election day reflections. Here is my dilemma: the candidates for two main political parties — one of whom will surely win — are a choice between, on one side, a pseudo-fascist/racist/sexist/moron, and on the other side someone comfortably complicit in a genocidal mass murder. What’s an old boy in the belly of the beast to do?
Not that the big orangeman does not share a willingness to support the billions in US death subsidies comparable to our national treasures being provided by the Biden/Harris funding. Indeed, Trump has enthusiastically encouraged Netanyahu to “finish the job” of the murderous ethnic cleansing current in Palestine. After all, Bibi’s god-son, Jared Kushner, has a burning desire for the re-development of Gaza in his own gaudy self-image. River to the Sea Condos on beachfront property anyone? (Apparently the billions the little bastard has received from his buddies in the House of Saud is not enough for him).
No, my choice is not between Trump or Harris, but between Harris and Jill Stein, the Green Party Presidential candidate who much more closely reflects my own political perspectives. Secondly, I am very much opposed to the two party duopoly I often support third party efforts (including Libertarian) to help democratize our shitty political system. But this year is a tough one. Trump is always a tough one.
Mae West once remarked that when she is forced to choose between the lessor of evils she likes to pick the ones she hasn’t done in a while. The last time I voted third party in national elections was for Ralph Nader, and never regretted it, especially after the Hawaiian filled his cabinet with Wall Street grifters and bailed out all the crooks who profited from the 2008 economic scam. During Obama’s reign I used to wear a baseball cap that said: “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted For Nader.” I actually had some Democrat come up to me in a public place and demand that I take “that damn hat off!” My response was to stand up and say: “why don’t you come over here and try to take it off my head.” He didn’t. He is very lucky.
I have been thinking of all the arrogant self-righteous Democrats like my hat-hater challenger especially if, god forbid, Trump wins today. I suspect one reason for such an outcome is exactly that superior attitude the D’s often display to those they consider the “deplorable’s.” Of course, like when Hillary lost, the D’s will blame any loss not on their own deficiencies but on “the others.” They will blame their failures on the Green Party, or Arabs, or men, or the left in general, or our county’s perennial favorite enemies: the Russians. They won’t blame their own lack of transparency in the ordination of Harris without a single D vote, or her eye-popping flip-flops on fracking or medicare for all. No, it will be the fault of the others. Lenny Bruce would so perceptively mimic the phony liberals of his time: “I’m so liberal, and tolerant , and understanding, I just can’t understand or tolerate anyone who is not as liberal and tolerant and understanding as I am.”
Soon after the October 7th “prison break” by the occupied I had an encounter with a local Democratic Party operative on the issue of Gaza who was basically claiming that anything Israel did was justified because of the “beheading of babies in ovens” and the “systematic rapes” that Hamas supposedly committed on October 7th. I just suggested to this person that some of those claims are being questioned and offered to send info on the subject which was rejected and instead I was accused of being a “holocaust denier”! Since those early days the stories of beheading and bodies in ovens and mass rapes have all been proven to be lies or lacking in evidence, but their intention — to stoke the crazy hatred for revenge against all Palestinians — was a very successful manufacture of consent for genocide by Israel against a virtually defenseless people. In the meantime REAL mass rape is going on in Israel prisons against Palestinians while the Israeli’s actually protest against charging any crimes of the rapist jailers! While we send billions more over…
On the other hand, I had a friend who was a Trump supporter who I really loved to debate with. He is basically an intelligent man, well educated, and an immigrant to this country that has treated him well. Now he hates immigrants coming to this country, but that is the least of his contradictions. I went to his house after Trump had made his famous remarks about injecting bleach and lights to fight covid and my friends response was to insist that Trump was only “kidding.” As his computer was right in front of us and I asked him to access the Youtube snippet of the press conference. I wanted to know that we had watched the same thing and, if so, after viewing it together to have him then look at me and still say, with a straight face, he Trump was just joking. He refused to let me access the video or and refused to watch it at all. I continued to push for us to observe it together and he would not budge. It was then I knew that I was not dealing with a rational or objective mind, but a mindless cult. I told him that, unfortunately, I was not qualified to de-program people trapped in a cult and we have not talked since.
A good example of the “group-think” that has infected the two parties is to look at the reaction by both D’s and R’s when the Israeli Prime Minister (and established international war criminal) spoke to the U.S. Congress. Netanyahu got more standing ovations than anyone in U.S. history, including our own presidents and even Winston Churchill after WWII. With the exception of one Democratic representative (Rashida Tlaib) and one anti-war Republican (Thomas Massie) the bulk of them seem all paid off by Raytheon or AIPAC. Democrats and Republicans, same shit, different piles.
The problem with not voting for Harris is obvious: the Green Party is not going to win, so voting for Stein could tip the balance to a Trump victory. Voting for the lessor of two evils is still voting for evil. Yet the Democrats offer a smidgen more hope in possibly restoring reproductive rights for woman (to codify the law, which they never did before). Then again, some feel the Republicans might withdraw us sooner from our (losing) proxy war with Russia in Ukraine in which we are currently playing with (nuclear) fire. Trump might pull NATO back, cut a deal with Putin by giving him a buffer zone on his border, and end some bloodshed there. Maybe.
But neither party will stop the U.S. war against the Palestinians. Without a ceasefire, there will not be any restrictions to the continued Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Neither side is likely to stop the bombing Yemen or Syria or Iraq (why do we still have troops there?). And the Iranians? Who can forget John McCains rendition of “bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran…” I mean, Israel has a right to defend itself, right?
Neither party wants to rescind the sanctions against Venezuela or Cuba, throwing them further into poverty, which will only heighten our border “crisis” — a humanitarian crisis that we have fostered on ourselves and others. Further proof of the vested R & D collaboration was the recent immigration plan, endorsed by both “sides” and considered a throwback to Trumps own policies. The only thing that prevented from implementation because Trump told the GOP to oppose it so he, rather than the D’s, could use the issue in the election and claiming, somewhat correctly, that they were stealing his ideas. Does it get any more cynical than this?
However, some smart people came up with a scheme for people like me who live in a swing state and who support the Green Party but don’t want to see Trump win. It is being supported by some Palestine solidarity folk, and Ruwa Romman, the state representative from Georgia who was denied an opportunity to address the Democratic National Convention (even though she was endorsing Harris).
It is called “Swap Your Vote” and it works purely on trust: I pledge to vote for Harris in Arizona (which can “swing” either way) and a person in a solid blue state (like California) votes for whatever third party I prefer (in my case it would be Stein). They point to the 2000 election as an example: Gore lost to Bush by a few hundred votes in Florida to a much smaller number than was cast for Green Party candidate Nader. If enough people had “swapped” for the Florida votes we may have avoided the disaster of the Bush administration. This deal also helps keep the Green Party viable and on the ballot.
At this point I have a few more hours to make the decision, but its time. No matter who wins in this fiasco, I think we are in for some interesting times ahead. And remember the words of the great Emma Goldman:
“IF ELECTIONS REALLY MATTERED, THEY WOULD MAKE THEM ILLEGAL.”
Bog
Although probably too late, Info on Vote Swap (hurry you may have time!):
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Following is the third (and final) installment of my exchange with a BogNews reader regarding Israel and Palestine. The discussion has inspired others to write me, which I hope to share with readers in the near future.
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11. Wed, May 8, 2024
Hi Scott,
Well. We both have a lot to be angry about, don’t we?
It does amaze me that, here we are in 2024, and human beings really haven’t evolved much from the days of cave people and clubs, except that our clubs have become more powerful and deadly. And, as regards our social interactions with one another, we have more in common with ants than any other species.
I do keep thinking about Ireland. How did the people of Ireland overcome their hatred for one another and work together to find solutions?
How might the experience in Ireland inform how Israelis and Palestinians could work together going forward? Certainly there are both Israelis and Palestinians who are working towards peace, its just that their voices have been overwhelmed by the voices of anger and war.
Best of luck to them and to everyone else,
R
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12. May 8,2024
I accept your concession!
Thanks for helping clarify things.
13. May 11, 2024
To R
Is that it? I thought we were going to continue to dialog. (I was only kidding about your “concession”). Anyway, although you did not answer many of my questions, I would like to follow up on a few important points you made.
You said that my writings “reinforces centuries old Anti Jewish stereotypes, troupes an caricatures” but you site no specific examples, other than that the language I use supposedly describes “the only Jewish nation in the world that paints a false and damaging picture, or portrait of Israel as a monolithic entity, that is ‘violent, colonist, unjust, racist, apartheid, illegally stole land.”
To begin with, I am sure we are both in agreement that Israel is not a “monolithic nation.” The remaining Palestinians of those who survived Israel’s expulsion of 750,000 native inhabitants at its creation in 1948 currently makes up about 2 million people, or 21% of the Israeli population. Secondly, the massive demonstrations by Israel citizens against the ultra-right Netanyahu government before October 7th clearly shows a diversity of opinion by the Israeli people (although, unfortunately, the vast majority support the war against the Palestinians). This war has not only killed tens of thousands of innocent people, but it has unfortunately kept Bibi out of jail (for now).
However, even though I did not specifically describe Israel as a “violent, colonist, unjust, racist, apartheid, illegally stole land” I believe those descriptions are certainly accurate. In fact, the stealing of Palestinian land and the expansion of illegal settlements is still going on today including in the West Bank (where hundreds have been killed, on top of almost 40,000 in Gaza). I believe Israel is in violation of international law and is committing war crimes on a regular basis. So does practically every other country in the world outside of Israel and the government of the United States.
You state that “Israel is a pluralistic democracy, the majority of its citizens originate from the Middle East and North African nations.” According to the Jewish Virtual Library, 3.3 million have immigrated to the country — almost half since 1990 — out of a population of 8 million. Over 70% of those born in Israel are “mostly from the second or third generation” and “nearly half of all Israeli Jews are descended from immigrants from the European Jewish diaspora.” Most Israeli’s are first or second generation immigrants, just as most Palestinians in Gaza are refugees from the very land Israeli settlers now dominate.
As for a “pluralistic democracy” many residents in Israel and the occupied territories would disagree — as would the many thousands of indigenous Arabs who were either killed or forcibly expelled from this “democracy” and are prohibited from returning to their land where they lived for generations. But anyone with a Jewish mother can leave their birthplace in Hoboken and become a citizen of Israel even if they have never been there before. This is why many people believe Israel is an ethno-nationalist state — “a Jewish state for a Jewish people… from the river to the sea.”
There are numerous investigations and reports that would also disagree with you assessment regarding so-called “Israeli democracy. Here are a few:
In a 2007 report, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine John Dugard wrote, “elements of the Israeli occupation constitute forms of colonialism and of apartheid, which are contrary to international law.”
March 2022, Michael Lynk, the UN’s Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, stating that Israel’s control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip amounts to apartheid, an “institutionalized regime of systematic racial oppression and discrimination.”
October 2022, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories: “The violations described in the present report expose the nature of the Israeli occupation, that of an intentionally acquisitive, segregationist and repressive regime designed to prevent the realization of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.”
2017 ESCWA Report, Rima Khalaf, then UN Under-Secretary General and ESCWA Executive Secretary, said the report “clearly and frankly concludes that Israel is a racist state that has established an apartheid system that persecutes the Palestinian people.”
July 2022,The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People stated, “By design, Israel’s 55-year occupation of Palestine has been used as a vehicle to serve and protect the interest of a Jewish State and its Jewish people, while subjugating Palestinians” to what “many stakeholders consider that this practice amounts to apartheid.”
In 2020, the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din found that Israeli treatment of the West Bank’s Palestinian population meets the definition of the crime of apartheid under Article 7 of the 2002 Rome Statute.
In January 2021, Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem issued a report outlining that led to the conclusion that “the bar for labeling the Israeli regime as apartheid has been met.” In presenting the report, B’Tselem Executive Director Hagai El-Ad said, “Israel is not a democracy that has a temporary occupation attached to it: it is one regime between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and we must look at the full picture and see it for what it is: apartheid.”
In April 2021, Human Rights Watch released a report accusing Israeli officials of the crimes of apartheid and persecution under international law and calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate “systematic discrimination” against Palestinians. Its report said that Israeli authorities “have dispossessed, confined, forcibly separated, and subjugated Palestinians by virtue of their identity to varying degrees of intensity” and that “in certain areas … these deprivations are so severe that they amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.”
February 2022, Amnesty International published a report, Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity, which stated that Israeli practices in Israel and the occupied territories amount to apartheid and that territorial fragmentation of the Palestinians “serves as a foundational element of the regime of oppression and domination.”
September 2022, representatives of Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch in Ramallah in referring to Israel’s outlawing of Palestinian NGOs, Amnesty International’s France director of campaigns Nathalie Godard said: “The repression of Palestinian civic space is part of the system of apartheid.”
In March 2022, the International Commission of Jurists said it “strongly condemns Israel’s laws, policies and practices of racial segregation, persecution and apartheid against the indigenous Palestinian population in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
Many others have also spoken out about the lack of democracy in Israel, including:
In August 2023, more than 1,500 U.S., Israeli, Jewish, and Palestinian academics and public figures signed an open letter stating that Israel operates “a regime of apartheid” and calling on U.S. Jewish groups to speak out against the occupation in Palestine.
June 2022 the Catalan Parliament passed a resolution that “Israel commits the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people.”
February 2023, the mayor of Barcelona cut ties with Israeli institutions “due to its ‘apartheid policy towards Palestinians.”
2022, the Assembly of the African Union passed a resolution calling for the dismantlement of Israeli apartheid in the State of Palestine and recommended boycotting “the Israeli colonial system and illegal settlements to end apartheid.”
July 2022, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said that Israel should be considered “an apartheid state.”
June 2022, the U.S. Presbyterian Church passed a resolution stating that “Israel’s laws, policies and practices regarding the Palestinian people fulfill the international legal definition of apartheid.”
July 2023, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) adopted a resolution stating “that many of the laws, policies and practices of the State of Israel meet the definition of apartheid as defined in international law.”
The Anglican Church of Southern Africa passed a resolution on 27 September 2023 declaring Israel an apartheid state.
August 2023 open letter signed by more than 2,000 U.S., Israeli, Jewish and Palestinian academics and public figures stated that Israel operates “a regime of apartheid.” Signatories included Israeli historian Benny Morris, former Jewish Agency head Avraham Burg, and Israeli American Holocaust expert Omer Bartov,
There are more, (like the South African or Nicaraguan cases brought before the International Court of Justice) but I think you get the picture:
Do you believe that all of these organizations, countries, churches, and individuals “reinforcing centuries old anti-Jewish stereotypes” and “fostering anti-Jewish attitudes” as you accused me?
Except for the American and Israeli government, nobody in the world seems to accept your contention that “more than 2 million Arab people in Israel share all the same rights as everyone else.” Just the opposite.
As for your criticism that I did not mention the atrocities of October 7th, you are correct. However, I totally disagree with your contention that “Hamas started this war.” This war against Palestinians did not start on October 7th — it started in 1948 and will continue until Palestinians have their own state they have been promised since. The only ones who seem to be opposed to a two-state solution seems to be Bibi and his neo-fascist chorts who keep promoting illegal settlements making it impossible to even define Israeli boundaries.
You stated “Hamas has rejected a cease fire proposal that as a starting point, that would stop the war for six weeks.” I realize your statement was made before Hamas accepted a peace proposal recently. But let me be clear here: I am certainly not a supporter of Hamas, but what insurgent group in this situation would agree to only a six week or temporary ceasefire? So Israel can get the hostages back before they resume their mass killing the rest of the civilian population? What a joke. Hamas may be evil, but they are not stupid. The hostages will be released when there is a permanent negotiated ceasefire — that is if the Israeli’s don’t kill them all first (see: “The Hannibal Directive” for more details).
Likewise your statement that “Hamas has controlled Gaza since 2005” is totally incorrect. That was the last time an election was held which Hamas won (no more elections after that!) but Israel has controlled the air, land, and sea in the area of Gaza. Israel has controlled how much food was allowed in, how much water was provided, what medical items can enter, and who can go where, with repressive restrictions on all travel by Palestinians. How had Hamas, which has actually been financed and propped up by Bibi, been in charge?
You asked me to imagine “living in a country were October 7th occurred, and seeing your relatives, friends, and neighbors killed, tortured, and taken hostage. What would be your response?” I guess I would first try to understand why such things would happen. (Maybe forcibly occupying someone else’s land might give me a hint?). If I emigrated there, I might want to consider going back home. I don’t think my reaction would be to obliterate every woman and child who happen to be of the same nationality as the perpetrators.
So I would ask you the same question: if your relatives, friends, and neighbors were killed, tortured, exiled, and taken hostage for 75 years or confined to what is described as an “open-air concentration camp” my entire life by an occupying force who thought they were “the chosen people from God” in justification — what would your reaction be?
I will await your response, that is, if you have not actually given up and conceded to my positions! (Don’t let the force of my arguments discourage you!).
Sincerely,
Scott Egan
There were not further responses from R.
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Casa Maria Thanksgiving Benefit Show
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Sat, Nov 9, 5:30 PM
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from the bog 