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Now This looks interesting: Surrounded: Palestinian Soldiers in the Israeli Military

The hilarious thing is that Amazon tossed it up while I was looking for books on sex workers and their rights.


Also this: Behind the Gates: Life, Security and the Pursuit of Happiness in Fortress America

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Lj looks prettyfucked. Were they su pposed to be down today

High Comedy!!!

You have GOT to read the latest update on the legal war between Norm Coleman and Al Franken over the Senate seat

The one song I can tolerate

Bon Iver "Blood Bank"

uuuuuh uuuuuh uuuh (4x)

Well I met you at the blood bank
We were looking at the bags
Wondering if any of the colors
Matched any of the names we knew on the tags

You said see look it that's yours
Stacked on top with your brothers
See how they resemble one anothers?
Even in their plastic little covers

And I said I know it well

That secret that you know
That you don't know how to tell
it f--ks with your honor
And it teases your head
But you know that its good girl
Cause its running you with red.

Then the snow started falling
We were stuck out in your car
You were rubbing both my hands
Chewing on a candy bar
you said ain't this just like the present
To be showing up like this
There's a moon waning crescent
we started to kiss

And I said I know it well

That secret that we know
That we don't know how to tell
I'm in love with your honor
I'm in love with your cheeks
what's that noise up the stairs baby
Is that Christmas morning

And I know it well (8x)

(no subject)

Reflections of War - 14 Feb 09 - Part 1

On December 27, 2008, Israel's already crippling siege on the neighbouring Gaza Strip escalated into a brutal war. Al Jazeera was the only global news network reporting from both inside Gaza and Israel for the entirity of the conflict. Throughout Ayman Mohyeldin and Sherine Tadros brought news of the human tragedy unfolding to living rooms throughout the English speaking world. They found themselves as vulnerable as the civilians of Gaza and now they give their full accounts of what it was really like to report that war.

Reflections of War - 14 Feb 09 - Part 2

Reflections of War - 14 Feb 09 - Part 3

Reflections of War - 14 Feb 09 - Part 4

Amnesty International: US, stop arms shipments to Israel; Hamas & Israel war crimes

Firedoglake:

Speaking on behalf of AI, Middle East and North Africa Programme Director Malcolm Smart issued a very direct appeal to the Obama administration:

'As the major supplier of weapons to Israel, the USA has a particular obligation to stop any supply that contributes to gross violations of the laws of war and of human rights.
'To a large extent, Israel's military offensive in Gaza was carried out with weapons, munitions and military equipment supplied by the USA and paid for with US taxpayers' money.
'The Obama administration should immediately suspend US military aid to Israel.'

The report also "called on the UN on Monday to launch an immediate investigation into allegations of war crimes by Israel and Hamas during the conflict last month."
Findings of the report - which can be downloaded here (pdf) - include :

Both Israel and Hamas used weapons supplied from abroad to carry out attacks on civilians - thus committing war crimes ...

In their summary of findings on Israeli actions, they note:

As the fighting ended in Gaza last month, Amnesty researchers found fragments and components from munitions used by the Israeli army - including many that are US-made - littering school playgrounds, and in hospitals and people's homes. They comprised artillery and tank shells (including 'flechettes'), remnants from Hellfire and other airborne missiles and large F-16 delivered bombs, as well as still-smouldering, highly incendiary 'white phosphorus' remains from US-made shells.
They also found remnants of a new type of missile, seemingly launched from unmanned 'drones', which explodes large numbers of tiny sharp-edged metal cubes, each between 2mm and 4mm square in size. These lethal, purpose-made shrapnel had penetrated thick metal doors and were embedded deep in concrete walls. They are clearly designed to maximise injury.
Palestinian civilians killed by the metal cubes weapon, says Amnesty, include a 13-year-old girl asleep in bed, two young women on their way to a shelter in search of safety, a 13-year-old boy on his bicycle, eight secondary school students waiting for a school bus, and an entire family sitting in the courtyard of their home.

Charges against Hamas and other Palestinian parties include:

Meanwhile, in southern Israel, Amnesty saw the remains of 'Qassam', Grad, and other indiscriminate rockets fired by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups against civilian areas. These unsophisticated weapons - smuggled into Gaza or constructed from components secretly brought in from abroad - cannot be aimed accurately and do not compare with Israeli weaponry, but have nevertheless caused several Israeli civilian deaths and injuries, and have damaged civilian property.MORE

Full report