What Gaza fighting taught Israel about possible war with Iran

Jim Hollander / EPA

An Israeli soldier from the Home Front Command comforts and plays with a boy in an air raid shelter in the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon on November 19. Many people in this border town close to the Gaza Strip stayed close to the shelters, and even spent most the day inside.

7
hours
ago

By Martin Fletcher, NBC News

News analysis

ASHKELON, Israel -- Israel's warplanes and Iron Dome anti-rocket missiles have been facing south for eight days, but their message was heard loud and clear to the north -- by leaders in Iran and Lebanon. The fighting against Hamas in Gaza, carried out by mostly missiles and planes, can be seen as a war game for what could happen if Israel moved to take out Iran's nuclear program, a much larger action that could result in both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran firing rockets toward Tel Aviv.

And violent as it has been, one Israeli general described Hamas, when comparing its might to Hezbollah and Iran, as a rain drop in a storm.

In other words, there's worse to come if Israel attacks Iran, much worse.

Israel declares mission accomplished, Hamas claims victory

So, what, if any, lessons did Israel learn that can be applied to Iran?

Homefront
The most obvious concerns the endurance of Israel's "homefront," which is simply a military, dehumanizing term for "the people." Verdict: good.

There were almost no complaints by the people that they had to spend so long in bomb shelters. Southern towns like Ofakim, Ashkelon, Beer Sheva and even Ashdod closer to the center were attacked about a 150 times each in seven days. That means the people rushed to their shelters as the sirens wailed on average 21 times a day.

Shops and stores are reopening and a semblance of normalcy is returning to Gaza's streets after a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas is put into effect. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports from Gaza.

Yet despite the discomfort and fear, most people did not call for an end to Israel's assault on Gaza. They wanted it to last as long as necessary to stop all rockets from Gaza in the future.

Iron Dome
The Iron Dome, Israel's home-made anti-rocket missile system, Israel's key defense against rockets from Gaza prevented carnage. Verdict: Very good with an official hit rate of 84 percent.

Israeli officials say over 900 rockets have been fired at the country in the past 6-days. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

According to Israeli army figures, Islamist militants in Gaza fired 1,506 rockets at Israel in eight days. Eight hundred and seventy-five fell harmlessly into open areas like fields and the sea. The Iron Dome is programmed to let those alone and to intercept only rockets that would hit urban areas.

Iron Dome intercepted 421 rockets and 58 rockets actually got through, killing three civilians and wounding about 100 more, mostly lightly.

How Israel's 'Iron Dome' intercepts incoming rockets in Gaza conflict

Shelters
The small number of casualties was because a few people did not use Israel's second defense layer, the bomb shelters. Verdict: Very good.

Nobody in a shelter was hurt. The three killed did not do as they were advised and stood on their balcony watching the action. A rocket shot right through the window, splattering them against the walls. 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

But while the world has been watching the war in the south, the threat from the north is much bigger. Israeli intelligence sources say Hamas and partners in Gaza had 10,000 rockets. Hezbollah in South Lebanon has between 100,000 and 200,000, including longer range rockets that carry heavier explosive warheads, according to Israeli military analysts.

The Iron Dome could be effective against several fired at the same time and even a dozen or two, but if hundreds of long-range rockets are fired, for instance, at Israel's largest population center Tel Aviv, it is guaranteed that many would get through, causing havoc, heavy damage and possibly loss of life.

Israel needs America
How long could the homefront, or the people, withstand such an onslaught, especially if compounded by rockets from Iran?

The answer is not clear, but what is clear is that such an attack from Lebanon would provoke instant and massive Israeli retaliation.

That leads to another lesson, or rather byproduct, of the assault on Hamas -- Hamas may already be eliminated from the equation of a post-Iran strike. Would Hamas fight for Iran after the punishment it received in the past week and the depletion of its rocket supply and rocket-manufacturing ability? Nobody knows.

Slideshow: Israel, Gaza violence escalates

Mohammed Salem / Reuters

Two sides exchange deadly airstrikes, rocket attacks.

Shot dead, dragged through the streets: The fate of an alleged spy in GazaMore likely is that Islamic Jihad, which is armed, trained and financed by Tehran, would fire its rockets at Israel, even if Hamas tried to stop them. So another lesson for Israel: Take out Islamic Jihad in Gaza -- and that could lead to conflict with Hamas anyway.

But as political and military leaders here analyze the results and lessons of the past week, the clearest lesson is probably this, and it is hardly new: Israel needs the United States.

It was President Barack Obama who insisted on a cease-fire, who called Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi three times in 24 hours, and who had several calls with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, shepherding both through the difficult process of reaching an agreement.

Americans tied to Israel caught in the chaos of Gaza conflict

The fact is, Israel could not have carried out an invasion of Gaza without Washington's support. And as Obama made clear in his talks with Netanyahu, the United States prefers no ground invasion. And Israel agreed.

So at the moment, Israel has Western support for latest action in Gaza. This support would evaporate if it decided unilaterally to invade Gaza. 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

If the cease-fire holds for 24 hours, Israel will start talking about lifting border control on Gaza. In the meantime, Israeli ground troops remain mobilized in case Hamas resumes rocket attacks from Gaza. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

But if newly re-elected Obama says the same about an attack on Iran, only more forcibly, will Israel agree again?

That is a different issue. Israel's homefront and defensive shield give Israel's freedom to act, but the bit questions are, for how long? And against what strength enemy?

And critical will be this: Will Obama be for or against?

Martin Fletcher is the author of "The List", "Breaking News" and "Walking Israel".

Hordes of shoppers hit the stores on Black Friday

Black Friday frenzy starts Thanksgiving night

11/23/2012: Though Black Friday officially kicked off the holiday shopping season this morning, many shoppers were already bargain-hunting before Thanksgiving dinner had a chance to settle. CNBC’s Courtney Reagan reports from the Black Friday fren...

Hordes of shoppers descended on stores across the country in the ritual known as Black Friday after many major retailers moved their openings into Thanksgiving night.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, reported its best ever Black Friday events after opening at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. During the high traffic period from 8 p.m. through midnight, Wal-Mart processed nearly 10 million register transactions and almost 5,000 items per second.

"The early read is Wal-Mart’s been one of the clear winners," said R. J. Hottovy, a senior retail analyst at Morningstar. "The combination of expanded hours, aggressive pricing and guaranteed availability of some doorbuster deals are likely to pay off for the nation’s largest retailer." The retailer was the target of a broader campaign against the company's treatment of workers that is being waged by a union-backed group called OUR Walmart, which includes former and current workers. On Friday morning, about 250 protesters were marching outside a Walmart store in Woodlawn, Md.

People crowd the first floor of Macy's department store in New York on Friday, Nov. 23 after the store opened at midnight on Thursday to start the store's "Black Friday" shopping weekend.

For their part, retailers say they are giving shoppers what they want.Dave Tovar, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said that the discounter learned from shoppers that they want to start shopping right after Thanksgiving dinner. Then, they want to have time to go to bed before they wake up to head back out to the stores.

Still, Tovar said that Wal-Mart works to accommodate its workers' requests for different working hours. "We spent a lot of time talking to them, trying to figure out when would be the best time for our events," he said.

'I only shop for sales'
At the Mall of America, outside Minneapolis, shoppers thronged the stores to load up on goods early Friday but the situation was under control, NBC News’ Jay Gray reported.

Stores typically open in the wee hours of the morning on the day after Thanksgiving, named Black Friday because it is traditionally when they turn a profit for the year. However, these days, most retailers must be profitable year round.

But this year, stores such as Target and Toys R Us opened as early as Thanksgiving evening.

That led holiday shoppers to ask themselves a tough question: Deal with the crowds now or later?

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Macy’s CEO: We have ‘a record crowd’ today

11/23/2012: Terry Lundgren, chairman, president, and CEO of Macy’s, speaks from the store’s most famous location in Manhattan about what the retail giant expects from this year’s Black Friday sales.

About 11,000 shoppers were in lines wrapped around Macy's flagship store in New York City's Herald Square when it opened Thursday night.

Avoid early bird remorse: 10 Black Friday gadget do's and dont's

Joan Riedewald, a private aide for the elderly, and her four children ages 6 to 18, where among them. By the time they showed up at the department store, Riedewalde had already spent about $100 at Toys R Us and planned to spend another $500 at Macy's before heading to Old Navy.

"I only shop for sales," she said.

A few hours later at about 3:30 a.m. ET at a nearby Toys R Us in New York's Times Square, the scene was a bit calmer.

Elizabeth Garcia, 17, a sales rep from the city's Bronx borough, was shopping for toys for her three children ages three, five and seven. She said she specifically decided on the later shopping start to avoid the crowds on Thanksgiving. She believes that was the best decision: Last year, she almost got into a fight over a Tinker Bell couch. But this year was much calmer.

"This year I wasn't about to kill people," Garcia said.

Black Friday shopping: Where to score deals, freebies

11/23/2012: Shopping experts Mario Armstrong, Elizabeth Mayhew, and Bahar Takhtehchian reveal where you can find the best deals (and freebies!) this Black Friday on electronics, clothing, and more.

Retailers are hoping that the earlier openings will help boost sales this holiday season. It is unclear how many shoppers took advantage of the earlier openings.

But about 17 percent of shoppers said earlier this month that they planned to shop at stores that opened on Thanksgiving, according to an International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs survey of 1,000 consumers.

"I think it's better earlier. People are crazier later at midnight. And I get tired at midnight," Renee Ruhl, 52, a hotel worker, said at a Target in Orlando, Fla., where she was already heading back to her car with an air hockey game loaded in her shopping cart at 9:30 p.m., 2-1/2 hours before the chain opened last year.

Chris Dispenza of Vicksburg, Miss., tries to keep his daughter Jayde Dispenza, 8, awake as they wait to enter a Best Buy store in Jackson, Miss., Friday morning, Nov. 23. The Dispenzas waited in line for a couple of hours before entering the store after midnight.

Overall, it is estimated that sales on Black Friday will be up 3.8 percent to $11.4 billion this year.

Adding convenience
The earlier hours are an effort by stores to make shopping as convenient as possible for Americans, who they fear will not spend freely during the two-month holiday season in November and December because of economic uncertainty.

At the same time, Americans have grown more comfortable shopping on websites that offer cheap prices and the convenience of being able to buy something from smartphones, laptops and tablet computers just about anywhere.

'Watching the insanity' of Black Friday — on Thursday

That has put added pressure on brick-and-mortar stores, which can make up to 40 percent of their annual revenue during the holiday shopping season, to give consumers a compelling reason to leave their homes.

Shoppers wait in line for the 8 p.m. opening of the Times Square Toys R Us store in the lead-up to Black Friday in New York on Nov. 22.

Retailers have been trying everything they can to lure consumers into stores.

Some stores tested the earlier hours last year, but this year more retailers opened their doors late on Thanksgiving or earlier on Black Friday

At the Target on Elston Avenue on Chicago's Northwest side, known as one of the highest-volume Target stores in the entire chain, the $25 Dirt Devil vacuum that normally goes for $39.99 was gone, while there were still several large televisions. Items such as $2 towels were selling well, so were blankets, kids' slippers and pajamas.

Store team leader Lee Crum said that it looked like people who were there for the 9 p.m. event were staying longer.

Slideshow: Americans line up for Black Friday

"These are the folks that are Christmas shopping, you can see it's a family event," he said. "At midnight it was one person, coming in for one item."

In addition to expanding their hours, many retailers also are offering free layaways and shipping, matching the cheaper prices of online rivals and updating their mobile shopping apps with more information.

Best Buy employees participate in a group huddle as they prepare to open the store on Nov. 22 in Naples, Florida.

From turkey to the stores
Some holiday shoppers seemed to find stores' earlier hours appealing.

"I ate my turkey dinner and came right here," said Rasheed Ali, a 23-year-old student in New York City who bought a 50-inch Westinghouse TV for $349 and a Singer sewing machine for $50 at a Target in New York City's East Harlem neighborhood that opened at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving. "Then I'm going home and eating more."

"I think it should go back to Friday," he said. "It breaks up families. Just look at us -- our kids are with their grandparents and they should be with us on Thanksgiving, but we're here getting them a TV."
Mike Labounty, 34, Lyndonville, Vt., was shopping on Thursday night for 32-inch Emerson televisions and other items on sale at the Walmart in Littleton, N.H., with his partner, Darcy Mitchell.Not everybody was happy with Black Friday starting earlier.

NBC News contributor Martha C. White, Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Small businesses offer discounts on Saturday

11/23/2012: Today may be the biggest shopping day of the year, but you might want to reserve some money for small business Saturday, when locally owned shops will be offering holiday deals. American Express Chairman Ken Chenault and Karen Mills of...

The ghosts of Muranow: A journalist's mission to illuminate Poland's haunted past

Courtesy of Adam Galica

Photos of Jews who died during World War II adorn one of the few remaining buildings on Prozna Street in this picture taken during October of 2011 in Poland's Muranow district.

By Donald Snyder, NBC News Special Correspondent

Marianna Sowinska


Journalist Beata Chomatowska's new book, "Stacja Muranow," recounts the history of Muranow, a district in Warsaw where thousands of Jews were buried underneath the ruins of World War II.

When Polish journalist Beata Chomatowska walks the streets of Muranow, she can’t stop thinking about the horrible things that happened there.

“It’s a daily trauma,” she said.

Present-day Muranow, a district of Warsaw, Poland, is built on rubble and the remains of Jews who perished there during World War II, but many residents are ignorant of the area’s past.

So Chomatowska started a website to educate them called “Stacja Muranow,” which means “Muranow Stop.” And in October she published a book by the same name, chronicling the haunted past of the former Jewish ghetto.

“It’s a metaphor for Poland after the war, which largely erased the memory of its Jews,” said Chomatowska, 35, who is not Jewish but has long been fascinated by the history of Jews in Poland. A native of Krakow, she moved to Muranow in 2005 to start working at Rzeczpospolita (The Republic), a leading Polish newspaper, and was shocked by the silence and emptiness of her new neighborhood.

“How do people live in houses made of ghetto bricks?” she asked. “The houses looked artificial and so did the hills. It was scary.”

During World War II, the Germans packed 400,000 Jews into the 1.3 square-mile area that became known as the Warsaw Ghetto, where Muranow is located.

Some 300,000 Jews were deported to the killing center at Treblinka. The final deportation, on April 19, 1943, became the prearranged signal for an armed uprising against German forces. After the Jewish resistance was crushed on May 16, 1943, most of the remaining Jews were sent to death camps and the Germans razed the ghetto. Thousands were buried in the ruins. Many hid in cellars and were killed when the buildings were flattened.

Poland’s post-war communist rulers, who were faced with the challenge of building housing for its many citizens left homeless by the war, found the rubble of the ghetto too extensive to clear. Buildings were constructed on the ruins using bricks from the ghetto. Built on this rubble, the street levels are uneven and often hilly.

Handout

The ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto right after World War II.

Communist rulers touted Muranow as a utopia for workers and purposefully erased its Jewish history, leaving subsequent generations in the dark. In her book, Chomatowska tells the stories of some of the Jewish dead and laments the fact that most of today’s Muranow residents know little of the neighborhood’s history.

That is starting to change. Thirty residents have joined Chomatowska’s Muranow education project, meeting in an unfurnished office with no hint of the past. She’s particularly proud of one of the murals painted by members of the group in the entry way of an apartment building. It features prominent Jews who lived in Muranow before the war, such as the creator of Esperanto, Ludwik Zamenhoff, who hoped his universal language would unite people of different cultures.

Restoring memories of the Holocaust

In her book, which is in Polish, Chomatowska tells the stories of former Muranow residents such as Jakub Wisnia, a Warsaw Ghetto fighter who survived the Holocaust.

After researching Wisnia’s life, she described what he saw in August 1942 when Jews were being herded into trains destined for the Treblinka death camp.

One passage reads: “The streets of the ghetto were hell. Women wept. Children held their mothers tightly, and the men clenched their teeth nervously, looking for a moment when they could escape. Anyone who stepped out of line was beaten unconscious, or shot.”

Wisnia fought alongside fellow Jews during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising until the Germans arrested him and sentenced him to death. The Polish underground rescued him, and in August 1944, he joined Poles, Jews and non-Jews, in their abortive revolt against German rule. He avoided arrest by hiding in the city’s rubble for 108 days. He lived into his 80s, and was buried in Warsaw’s Jewish Cemetery in 1983.

‘Haunted’ by Muranow

The area’s tragic past have led to claims of ghosts and feelings of dread. For example, Audrey Mallet, a French researcher who wrote a paper on Muranow, said some current inhabitants fear that Jews will come back and kill them.

Holocaust historian Barbara Engelking moved out of Muranow because she said she was haunted by its past.

“It was not like living in a graveyard,” she said during an interview with NBC News at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw in October 2011. “It was like living with ghosts, and my research made them real.”

Muranow residents should not be mired in the past, Chomatowska says, but it should inform their view of the present.

Her book, centered on the oblivion surrounding Muranow, is about “how people forget,” she said. “And how the place doesn’t let them forget.”

To learn more about the book Stacja Muranow, please visit the publisher’s website:www.czarne.com.pl

Don Snyder, a veteran NBC News producer for more than 25 years, is a special correspondent for NBCNews.com.

Uploaded by bro2baseball on Jun 20, 2007
Documentary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. This is a ten minute video meant to give a very brief overview of the event. Research, video and sound editing, and narration by Israel Piedra.

Warsaw » Sightseeing » Jewish Warsaw

A Footbridge of Memory

One of the most recognisable images of the Warsaw Ghetto is that of the footbridge constructed over ul. Chłodna to connect the large and small ghettos.Read_on(No Comments)

I can still see their faces

The Holocaust and the subsequent destruction of Warsaw in WWII erased virtually all remnants of the bustling pre-war Jewish community’s presence in the city, but there is one place where it is still possible to sense this lost age. Read_on(No Comments)

Jewish Cemetery

A beautiful and poignant place to visit. The cemetery was originally founded in 1806 and currently houses around 250,000 tombs. Read_on(No Comments)

Jewish Historical Institute

A chilling recollection of Polish Jewry and the only institution in Poland focusing entirely on the study of the history and culture of the Polish Jews. Read_on(No Comments)

Jewish Museum

This place promises to be one of the city's biggest and best museums when it officially opens in December 2013 (temporary exhibits and a cinema will open this April). Read_on(2 Comments)

Miła 18

A grass mound and monument now marks the spot from where the Ghetto Uprising was lead. Note that while this is on Miła street it is not actually at number 18 - instead find it next to the office building at Miła 2. Read_on(No Comments)

Monument to the Ghetto Heroes

Designed by Natan Rappaport, the monument pays tribute to the heroes of the Ghetto Uprising of 1943. Found between (E-1) ul. Read_on(No Comments)

Nożyk Synagogue

Built between 1898 and 1902 in a neo-Romanesque style, this was the only Warsaw synagogue to survive the ravages of war. It was fully restored between 1977 and 1983. Read_on(No Comments)

Traces of the Ghetto

Following the Ghetto Uprising the whole area was levelled so few traces remain. If you duck into the courtyard at (E-3) ul.Read_on(No Comments)

Umschlagplatz

Found on ul. Stawki (E-1), close to the intersection with ul. Dzika, Umschlagplatz is a bleak, slightly disappointing monument marking the spot where around 300,000 Jews were loaded on cattle wagons bound for Treblinka.Read_on(No Comments)

Willy Brandt Statue

On December 7, 1970 images were flashed across the world of German Chancellor Willy Brandt knelt in pensive apology in front of Warsaw’s Monument to the Ghetto Heroes. Read_on(No Comments)

PSY

PSY (With Special Guest MC Hammer) - Gangnam

Style (Live 2012 American Music Awards)

Published on Nov 18, 2012 by joeyzolanski

PSY with Special Guest Performs "Gangnam Style"

Support this artist 

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING!

Published on Sep 27, 2012 by IamReggieBrown

www.ReggieBrownObamaImpersonator.com & www.DalilaAliRajah.com

Facebook Fan Page www.facebook.com/IamReggieBrown

Follow us on Twitter !!

"Obama" - @IamReggieBrown "Michelle" - @DalilaAliRajah Mitch- @DeanWinkleson

Directed by - Mitch Bisschop

Produced by Dalila Ali Rajah and Reggie Brown

The Best Obama Impersonators

Published on Sep 1, 2012 by whatsupelle

Hot Moms & Cute Babies dancing to the best toddle tune ever! MAKING OF:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B8z5S7Bs6I

Published on Aug 28, 2012 by Michelle FoodieFashionista

I interview K-Pop superstar PSY, and he teaches me how to do the horse riding dance from his hit song "Gangnam Style."

Despite my lack of coordination, he's not a bad teacher.

video footage courtesy of YG Family, SBS and MBC

www.facebook.com/michellewpark

www.twitter.com/michellewpark

Instagram: michellewpark

\

Published on Sep 16, 2012 by DoubleBondProduction

This is the 22nd Company spirit spot, created by DoubleBond Productions based on the song and music video, "Gangnam Style" by PSY. Get your t-shirt at http://www.trendingtees.net

Ron Paul: Petitions on secession raise 'worthwhile questions'
By Justin Sink - 11/19/12 03:49 PM ET


Former presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-Texas) said in a blog post Monday that secession protests launched in the wake of President Obama's reelection "raise a lot of worthwhile questions about the nature of our union."

Thousands of Americans have signed digital petitions — at least one from every state — on the White House's "We the People" petition website. The administration has promised a response to every petition on the site that collects at least 25,000 signatures within 30 days. At least seven states, including Texas, have hit that mark.

Paul, writing on his congressional website, conceded that he "wouldn't hold my breath" on states, including his own, actually moving to leave the union. But he argues that "secession is a deeply American principle" rooted in the country's Revolutionary War that sought independence from Great Britain.

"There is nothing treasonous or unpatriotic about wanting a federal government that is more responsive to the people it represents," Paul writes. "That is what our Revolutionary War was all about and today our own federal government is vastly overstepping its constitutional bounds with no signs of reform. In fact, the recent election only further entrenched the status quo."

Paul goes on to cite recent state-level efforts to legalize marijuana — and subsequent federal arrests — as an example of what "shouldn't happen in a free country."
"If the Feds refuse to accept that and continue to run roughshod over the people, at what point do we acknowledge that that is not freedom anymore?" Paul asks. "At what point should the people dissolve the political bands which have connected them with an increasingly tyrannical and oppressive federal government? And if people or states are not free to leave the United States as a last resort, can they really think of themselves as free?"

Paul concludes by arguing "if a people cannot secede from an oppressive government, they cannot truly be considered free."

But while the Texas congressman sees clear ability for states to secede, the legal actuality is considerably more murky. There is no constitutional mechanism by which states can leave the union, and the federal government responded forcibly when states attempted to secede during the Civil War.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia actually addressed the question in a letter obtained by The Wall Street Journal, in which the conservative justice said the "answer is clear."

"If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede," Scalia wrote.

The secession move also does not seem particularly popular among large swaths of the population. According to a YouGov poll released Friday, more than half of all Americans opposed seeing their state secede, with 42 percent strongly opposing the idea. Only 22 percent said they supported secession.


Secession: Are We Free To Go?  


Is all the recent talk of secession mere sour grapes over the election, or perhaps something deeper? Currently there are active petitions in support of secession for all 50 states, with Texas taking the lead in number of signatures. Texas has well over the number of signatures needed to generate a response from the administration, and while I wouldn't hold my breath on Texas actually seceding, I believe these petitions raise a lot of worthwhile questions about the nature of our union.

Is it treasonous to want to secede from the United States? Many think the question of secession was settled by our Civil War. On the contrary; the principles of self-governance and voluntary association are at the core of our founding. Clearly Thomas Jefferson believed secession was proper, albeit as a last resort. Writing to William Giles in 1825, he concluded that states:

"should separate from our companions only when the sole alternatives left, are the dissolution of our Union with them, or submission to a government without limitation of powers."

Keep in mind that the first and third paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence expressly contemplate the dissolution of a political union when the underlying government becomes tyrannical.

Do we have a "government without limitation of powers" yet? The Federal government kept the Union together through violence and force in the Civil War, but did might really make right?

Secession is a deeply American principle. This country was born through secession. Some felt it was treasonous to secede from England, but those "traitors" became our country's greatest patriots.

There is nothing treasonous or unpatriotic about wanting a federal government that is more responsive to the people it represents. That is what our Revolutionary War was all about and today our own federal government is vastly overstepping its constitutional bounds with no signs of reform. In fact, the recent election only further entrenched the status quo. If the possibility of secession is completely off the table there is nothing to stop the federal government from continuing to encroach on our liberties and no recourse for those who are sick and tired of it.

Consider the ballot measures that passed in Colorado and Washington state regarding marijuana laws. The people in those states have clearly indicated that they are ready to try something different where drug policy is concerned, yet they will still face a tremendous threat from the federal government. In California, the Feds have been arresting peaceful medical marijuana users and raiding dispensaries that state and local governments have sanctioned. This shouldn't happen in a free country.

It remains to be seen what will happen in states that are refusing to comply with the deeply unpopular mandates of Obamacare by not setting up healthcare exchanges. It appears the Federal government will not respect those decisions either.

In a free country, governments derive their power from the consent of the governed. When the people have very clearly withdrawn their consent for a law, the discussion should be over. If the Feds refuse to accept that and continue to run roughshod over the people, at what point do we acknowledge that that is not freedom anymore? At what point should the people dissolve the political bands which have connected them with an increasingly tyrannical and oppressive federal government? And if people or states are not free to leave the United States as a last resort, can they really think of themselves as free?

If a people cannot secede from an oppressive government, they cannot truly be considered free.

The Hamas Charter (The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement)

TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2012

We hear about the Hamas Charter quite often... but we only see an occasional extract from it. I though it might be useful to post the whole document: The Hamas Charter

It is a tough read, but worth it! I understand that florid language is part of Arab culture... but still! There are bits that are hard to believe, like Article 19, line 4:

All this is utterly serious and no jest, for those who are fighters do not jest.

Here are a few other extracts that I found significant:

• "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it" (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory). -- Foreword
• Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious. It needs all sincere efforts. It is a step that inevitably should be followed by other steps. The Movement is but one squadron that should be supported by more and more squadrons from this vast Arab and Islamic world, until the enemy is vanquished and Allah's victory is realised. -- Introduction
• The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. -- Article 2
• The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:
• "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Muslim). -- Article 7, line 6
• Nationalism, from the point of view of the Islamic Resistance Movement, is part of the religious creed. Nothing in nationalism is more significant or deeper than in the case when an enemy should tread Muslim land. Resisting and quelling the enemy become the individual duty of every Muslim, male or female. A woman can go out to fight the enemy without her husband's permission, and so does the slave: without his master's permission. -- Article 12, line 1
• Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. -- Article 13, line 1
• Now and then the call goes out for the convening of an international conference to look for ways of solving the (Palestinian) question. Some accept, others reject the idea, for this or other reason, with one stipulation or more for consent to convening the conference and participating in it. Knowing the parties constituting the conference, their past and present attitudes towards Muslim problems, the Islamic Resistance Movement does not consider these conferences capable of realising the demands, restoring the rights or doing justice to the oppressed. These conferences are only ways of setting the infidels in the land of the Muslims as arbitraters. When did the infidels do justice to the believers? -- Article 13, line 2
• There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. -- Article 13, line 4
• It is necessary to follow Islamic orientation in educating the Islamic generations in our region by teaching the religious duties, comprehensive study of the Koran, the study of the Prophet's Sunna, and learning about Islamic history and heritage from their authentic sources. -- Article 16, line 1
• The Muslim woman has a role no less important than that of the Muslim man in the battle of liberation. She is the maker of men. Her role in guiding and educating the new generations is great. The enemies have realised the importance of her role. They consider that if they are able to direct and bring her up they way they wish, far from Islam, they would have won the battle. That is why you find them giving these attempts constant attention through information campaigns, films, and the school curriculum, using for that purpose their lackeys who are infiltrated through Zionist organizations under various names and shapes, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, espionage groups and others, which are all nothing more than cells of subversion and saboteurs. -- Article 17, line 1
• Woman in the home of the fighting family, whether she is a mother or a sister, plays the most important role in looking after the family, rearing the children and embuing them with moral values and thoughts derived from Islam. She has to teach them to perform the religious duties in preparation for the role of fighting awaiting them. That is why it is necessary to pay great attention to schools and the curriculum followed in educating Muslim girls, so that they would grow up to be good mothers, aware of their role in the battle of liberation. -- Article 18, line 1
• For a long time, the enemies have been planning, skillfully and with precision, for the achievement of what they have attained. ... They strived to amass great and substantive material wealth which they devoted to the realisation of their dream. With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests. With their money they were able to control imperialistic countries and instigate them to colonize many countries in order to enable them to exploit their resources and spread corruption there. -- Article 22, line 1
• Secularism completely contradicts religious ideology. Attitudes, conduct and decisions stem from ideologies.
• That is why, with all our appreciation for The Palestinian Liberation Organization - and what it can develop into - and without belittling its role in the Arab-Israeli conflict, we are unable to exchange the present or future Islamic Palestine with the secular idea. -- Article 27, lines 3-4
• The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion. It does not refrain from resorting to all methods, using all evil and contemptible ways to achieve its end. It relies greatly in its infiltration and espionage operations on the secret organizations it gave rise to, such as the Freemasons, The Rotary and Lions clubs, and other sabotage groups. All these organizations, whether secret or open, work in the interest of Zionism and according to its instructions. They aim at undermining societies, destroying values, corrupting consciences, deteriorating character and annihilating Islam. It is behind the drug trade and alcoholism in all its kinds so as to facilitate its control and expansion. -- Article 28, line 1
• The Islamic Resistance Movement consider itself to be the spearhead of the circle of struggle with world Zionism and a step on the road. The Movement adds its efforts to the efforts of all those who are active in the Palestinian arena. Arab and Islamic Peoples should augment by further steps on their part; Islamic groupings all over the Arab world should also do the same, since all of these are the best-equipped for the future role in the fight with the warmongering Jews. -- Article 32, line 6
• The Islamic Resistance Movement views seriously the defeat of the Crusaders at the hands of Salah ad-Din al-Ayyubi and the rescuing of Palestine from their hands, as well as the defeat of the Tatars at Ein Galot, breaking their power at the hands of Qataz and Al-Dhaher Bivers and saving the Arab world from the Tatar onslaught which aimed at the destruction of every meaning of human civilization. The Movement draws lessons and examples from all this. -- Article 35, line 1

February 2010

Hamas Charter

Don't let what's about to happen on December 3rd be the beginning of the end for today's free and open Internet!
Tue Nov 20, 2012 6:43 PM EST

Today I received the following email message:

Vint Cerf

Gregg, you asked us to keep you updated on Internet legislation and initiatives.

Starting December 3, the world's governments will meet behind closed doors to discuss the future of the internet. Some governments want to use this meeting to increase censorship and regulate the Internet.

Learn more about what’s at stake at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU):  http://www.google.com/takeaction

A free and open world depends on a free and open Internet. And a free and open Internet depends on you.

Vint Cerf

Google

And so, I did (as I did the earlier version, once before... but, what the heck)...

...and here's what I wrote in the "add your voice" field:

The United States (US) has more freedom of speech than any other country; and it's seen on the Internet, like nowhere else. In the meantime, countries with less freedom of speech -- some of them engaging in outright censorship -- obviously have a far less-free Internet.

Right-winged Republican conservatives, in the US would love to censor the Internet; to control who has has access to what information on it; and to charge extra money to access certain parts of it. Witness what AT&T and other Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have tried to do over the years; what they are planning to do regarding peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing starting next month (December 2012); and what they would do if they could pursuant to their International Telecommunications Union (ITU) activities, if they could.

My fear is that once those from the US get into a room, behind closed doors, with those from other countries where censorship is normative, those in the US who want effectively the same, and who get caught-up in that pro-censorship echo chamber, will feel bolstered.

The Internet must be and remain free, open and uncensored... no matter what. And that's coming from a person who has been seriously defamed and personally harmed, online, because of the horrible (and false, of course) things that those impacted by his activism have, over the years, written about him online... all of it either anonymously or pseudonymously.

In 1995, I wrote a piece for the Time-Warner "Pathfinder" website, which was picked-up by many other news organizations, and which has since been cited in other articles and even a masters thesis or two, wherein I advocated for no anonymity on the web; wherein I stated my belief that all persons who post anything online should do so using their real names, and so should be identifiable. That way, I argued, they could be held accountable for their online words and activities. If I had gotten my way, then, yes, it would have been far easier for me to track down those who've defamed me...

...but I've since come to the conclusion that I'd also, by then, be living in an unlivable world where government -- and, worse, business -- can control otherwise-free speech. When I wrote that 1995 piece, I was angry and emotional because I had been so defamed; and the worldwide web part of the Internet was new, then, so I hadn't really considered the long-term impact and consequences of there being no online anonymity.

I have, since, however, reconsidered; taken a giant step back. I have, with subsequent years' additional experience, and the widom gained therefrom, come to the inescapable and admittedly-sometimes-painful conclusion that I was dead wrong, back in 1995: Dead wrong! There absolutely must be online anonymity, and pseudonymity, whether or not any of us like it. Without the ability to anonymously and/or pseudonymously do things such as we all remember from "US History" courses like "pamphleteering" and "the posting of bills" on trees and barnsides in 18th century, our great nation, as we know it today, would simply not exist. The free expression of ideas -- all ideas, whether or not popular; and especially if they're things the government would prefer weren't expressed -- is part of the very means by which this great nation was formed. That same nation will not survive if the modern version of the means by which today's equivalent of pamphleteering and the posting of bills happens -- today's Internet -- is, in any manner, impeded.

The positive results over the past two decades speak for themselves...

We've seen no end of that imperative in our own time: witness the so-called "Arab Spring," for examploe, starting in December of 2010; and through which no small number of oppressive and even brutal and rights-suppressing and previously-untoppleable middle-eastern regimes have, indeed, been toppled. Social media, texting, and emails -- among other things; and largely via the Internet -- played hugely pivotal roles in those movements and their ultimate outcomes. Note that it is always the government in danger of being overthrown that wanted to stifle the Internet. China's doing it, with increasing both frequency and effectiveness, even as you're reading these words.

The horrible, game-changing, and facially-wrong 2010 " Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" ruling, by a conservative US Supreme Court, found, in effect, that corporations are the same as people; and, so, have the same rights to free speech during such as elections as regular human citizens and voters. As predicted after that ruling, the uber-rich on the far-Right plowed literally billions of dollars into the campaigns of the candidates whom they wanted to win in the both 2010 mid-term election, and the 2012 general election. Republicans in the US, though, just suffered a defeat, in the 2012 re-election of Democrat President Obama to a second term, as well as the both election and re-election of House and Senate Democrats whom Republicans were virtually certai would win. Said defeat both took them by surprise, and they're still licking their wounds and now playing the blame game over it. Essential to understand about it all, though, is that it was, in large measure, the organizing and fund-raising by Democrats, using the Internet, that helped Obama, et al, to win.

Through such as Wikipedia, Bartlebys, and far too many other similar websites to here mention, literally billions of worldwide Internet users are able to obtain encyclopedic and literary information -- completely for free -- which, prior to the Internet, they tended to only be able to find by means which cost them money. As far back as 1996, in a consultative report to a south suburban Chicago elementary school district, I wrote (though quoting others, I need to make clear) that the Internet -- the public "worldwide web" part of which was but two years old at that point -- would become the great equalizer for poor and underfunded school districts across America because it would permit student access to learning and reference materials previously available only by their paying for expensive printed-on-paper volumes which said districts simply could not afford. Poor schools, I wrote, would be able to access, for free, the very same information, online, that rich schools could afford to purchase on paper. As Alex Maskovyak wrote, "[the Internet] flattens the world, removes boundaries, and empowers individuals." 

Or as President Obama wrote, "[the Internet] is perhaps the most open network in history, and we have to keep it that way."

Through what is coming to be known as "massive open online courses," or MOOCs, Internet users from around the globe are able to take college-level courses completely for free; and using, in effect, "crowd sourcing" as a means of prioritizing student questions so that professors can better both structure lectures and respond to inquiries. This not only educates more students, and better, but also deprives especially the egregiously overcharging, unethically/illegally-recruiting/funding, and sub-standard-coursework-delivering for-profit colleges and universities of their ill-gotten gain, and obscene profits. In places like India, Africa, and both in other countries and on other continents where affordable quality higher-education is simply not an option, MOOCs are proving a godsend.

All of what I've described in the previous five paragraphs -- only a tiny fraction of the good wrought by today's Internet -- nevertheless means that oppressive and free-speech-suppressing either governments or businesses are harmed by the completely legal actions/activities of those whom they want to control, and from whom they want to profit. It is no wonder, then, that such as they are behind the movement to control and limit and censor and charge more for the Internet.

Notice that I wrote "legal actions/activites" in the immediately-previous paragraph. Nothing that I'm here writing argues for the freedom of criminals and those who break civil law to have their unfettered way online. Remember, though, that behind every illegal online/virtual act is an actor in the off-line/real world; and we, as a society -- both nationally, and internationally -- must not take the easy route to suppressing their real-world illegal activity by committing wholesale suppression of the Internet... any more than we should suppress anyone's right to speak freely in the public square, or to simply talk on the telephone. We must stop criminals the way we have always stopped them: using good, old-fashioned, lawful law-enforcement tactics and procedures in the real/off-line world, only lawfully using the Internet, through the lawful use of subpoena power and warrants, as a mere means; and not, instead, effectively throwing-out the baby with the bathwater, as the old saying goes, by implementing broad Internet restrictions that will, in the name of more easily stopping illegality, also irretrievably chill free speech and other now-lawful Internet use.

In that same vein, we must also ensure that laws are not enacted which suddenly make illegal the very free speech, and what are now the lawful Internet activities, that we currently enjoy. So doing will then empower those on the Right (and far worse) who read such as my argument in the immediately-previous paragraph to then misleadingly claim that their Internet suppression is "lawful," just as advocated by my likes. Do not be fooled, though. The dispassionate and objective definitions of words like "freedom" and "liberty" never change; only what the oppressor would have you believe those things mean, does. Read George Orwell's "1984" for examples of where such as that would surely lead.


"Where liberty dwells, there is my country."
- Benjamin Franklin

I want those who have anonymously and pseudonymously defamed me online to be held accountable. They have manifestly harmed me, in quantifiable ways, in the off-line/real world. However, limiting and/or impeding the Internet in any manner -- even if it makes it easier for me to bring to justice those who have so harmed me -- is simply not worth the manifest harm it will do to the world and its ability to freely communicate and do amazing things online in more, and increasingly-more-exciting, ways with each passing day. Today's Internet, like yesteryear's plain ol' free spoken speech -- and the pamphleteering and posting of bills that accompanied it -- comes with manifold pains and inconveniences; but it must still never be restricted.

As has many times been attributed to Voltaire, but as cannot be found anywhere in his works and so may well have been conjured by Evelyn Beatrice Hall, writing under the pseudonym S.G. Tallentyre in her 1906 Voltaire biography entitled, "The Friends of Voltaire," the famous old quote most often used to convey the very essence of the importance of free speech has never been more profoundly appropriate as now, with respect to today's Internet: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Those, usually of big corporation or oppressive and free-speech-hating government -- who tend to nearly always be to the socio-political and theological Right, ranging from mere conservativsm all the way to downright facism -- abhor Tallentyre-as-Voltaire's famous words. They will, if we don't stop them, put an end to the free and open Internet as we now know it. And so we must stop them.

Vint Cerf, one of the co-founders, literally, of the forerunner of what we now know as today's Internet; and also the founder of, and evangelist for, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), wrote, today, in an email about this subject which invites everyone to take action by taking the pledge to which this is a comment, the truer-words-never-spoken following: "A free and open world depends on a free and open Internet. And a free and open Internet depends on you."

Please read, learn and watch the video; then pledge your support for the free and open Internet at:
https://www.google.com/takeaction/?utm_campaign=112012freeandopen

Thank you.




Gregg L. DesElms
895 Jackson St., #319
Napa CA 94559-1321

1-877-383-5148 (toll-free voice)
(206) 984-1288 (fax)

gregg at greggdeselms dot com (email)

Tell the world's governments you support a free and open web! Add Your Voice to Keep the Internet #freeandopen

Just as we celebrate freedom, we need to celebrate the tools that support freedom. Take the Free & Open Internet pledge.


SEE ALSO: Click here. (Free & Open Web and Net Neutrality Google search results)

SEE ALSO: https://plus.google.com/+googleplus/posts/gE3Tw3K3jjf