Month: January 2009

Oy, Ctd.

Goldberg quibbles with Daniel Levy:

Palestinians interested in a two-state solution would have viewed the withdrawal in 2005 as a first, important step toward independence. They would have used the billions in aid money that flowed to Gaza to build schools and hospitals and roads and farms on the abandoned land of the Jewish settlements. But they turned those ruined settlements into rocket launching pads. Sharon was wrong to pull out of Gaza without extracting concessions from the Palestinians, and he should have done it in the framework of a negotiation, but that doesn’t change the fact that he gave the Palestinians of Gaza what they said they wanted. 

What We Cannot See

Israel’s refusal to allow the international press into Gaza means we don’t have the best sense of what is actually going on there. But this glimpse is very troubling:

The statement said a team of four Palestine Red Crescent ambulances accompanied by Red Cross representatives made its way to Zeitoun Wednesday where it “found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all, there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses.”

Rockets From Lebanon

Abu Muqawama believes Hezbollah:

a) I honestly do not believe that Hizballah has an interest in sparking an Israeli counter-attack (just yet) through an action of their own.

b) If this was Hizballah, I would think it would be a little more spectacular than three to four rockets.

c) This has happened before. Some rogue Palestinian group or Sunni group will manage to launch a few rockets into Israel. Hizballah will get a case of the red ass because, hey, resistance along the Blue Line is their territory — and theirs alone. And as long as the Israelis play it cool, no one else gets hurt.

Totten adds: "CNN suggests they were fired by Palestinians, not by Hezbollah, and I’m guessing they’re right."

The Gay Agenda

Jeffrey Toobin profiles Barney Frank:

Frank is uncharacteristically hopeful about the future, including gay rights. “We’re going to do three things in Congress,” he told me. “First, a hate-crimes bill—that shouldn’t be too hard. Next, employment discrimination. We almost got that through before, but now we can win even if we add transgender protections, which we are going to do. And finally, after the troops get home from Iraq, gays in the military. The time has come.”

I’d take Barney seriously. It’s the same agenda as in 1988, and the Human Rights Campaign will ensure that their 20-year-long priorities are taken in order. And not-too-fast either, or the reason for their existence – and the sources of their funding – might dry up. Soldiers can wait; couples should focus on the state level. Pragmatically speaking, it seems dumb to fight this, although I’m against all hate crimes laws and believe that ENDA will mostly be a symbolic piece of legislation.

One small prediction: now the Dems are back in power, the political divisions among the gays will probably widen. That was one unintended consequence of the Bush years: he united the right and left of the gay world into a seamless whole. Now: we get to fight again about our competing visions for a gay future. Back to the 90s we go …  I look forward to becoming the most annoying conservative on gay lists soon.