Signs of the Times News for Wed, 07 Jan 2009

SOTT Focus / Best of the Web

Best of the Web: Unprecedented Numbers of Americans Question Israel's Actions in Gaza

Max Blumenthal
Huffington Post
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:14 UTC

Almost as soon as the first Israeli missile struck the Gaza Strip, a veteran cheering squad suited up to support the home team. "Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life," Charles Krauthammer claimed in the Washington Post. Echoing Krauthammer, Alan Dershowitz called the Israeli attack on Gaza, "Perfectly 'Proportionate.'" And in the New York Times, Israeli historian Benny Morris described his country's airstrikes as "highly efficient."

While the cheerleaders testified to the superior moral fiber of their team, the Palestinian civilian death toll mounted. Israeli missiles tore at least fifteen Palestinian police cadets to shreds at a graduation ceremony, blew twelve worshipers to pieces (including six children) while they left evening prayers at a mosque, flattened the elite American International School, killed five sisters while they slept in their beds, and liquidated 9 women and children in order to kill a single Hamas leader. So far, Israeli forces have killed at least 500 Gazans and wounded some two thousand, including hundreds of children. Yesterday, the IDF blanketed parts of Gaza with white phosphorus, a chemical weapon Saddam Hussein once deployed against Kurdish rebels.

"It was Israel at its best," Yossi Klein Halevi declared in the New Republic.

Best of the Web: President-Elect Obama,You Must NOT Be Silent!

Linda Milazzo
OpEdNews
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:26 UTC

I don't believe in god. I never have. I don't believe in religions. I study them, but I don't practice them. I try to understand them to be sensitive to the beliefs and traditions of others, and to attempt to appreciate the motivations behind religious thought and deed. But they are irrelevant to living my life.

Long ago as a freshman at CUNY's Queens College I was introduced to Taoism. Taoism began in ancient China as a religion, then morphed into a dogma free/deity free philosophy. Since my late teens I've tried hard to apply MY understanding of my Tao to my life. I have the freedom to choose my own path and not judge the paths of others. But since I have freedom of opinion, I fall prey to judge. I try not to. But I do.

Through the Tao, I'm both a peacemaker and a warrior since Taoism couples with the art of self-defense. I understand my right to protect myself when needed, and to protect the defenseless when they need me. Since I'm by nature protective, it suits my sensibilities to aid the weak, where I fancy myself absurdly as inordinately strong.

Best of the Web: The Other Side of the Story!

Palestinian Mothers
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:38 UTC

We have heard the Palestinian side of the story, as you can see from the images below:

SOTT Focus: "It's a Wrap"

Donald Hunt
SOTT.net
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:43 UTC

Last year's Markets

Note: Since we do the numbers weekly, we will be taking Friday, January 2nd as the end of 2008, and, since there was a lot of change in the markets last Friday, our year-end numbers will differ from those using December 31 as the last day of the year.

Gold closed the year at $876.80 and ounce, up 4.0% from $842.70 for the year and 4.3% from $840.80 for the quarter. Oil closed at $46.35 a barrel Friday, down 51.8% from $96.16 for the year and 50.2% from $93.10 for the quarter. The gold/oil ratio closed at 18.92 Friday, up 116.0% from 8.76 for the year and 109.5% from 9.03 for the quarter. The dollar closed at 0.7183 euros Friday, up 5.7% from 0.6795 euros for the year and down 1.0% from 0.7255 for the quarter. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Friday at 9,034.69 down 32.4% from 13,365.87 for the year and 12.5% from 10,325.38 for the quarter. The yield on the ten-year U.S. Treasury note closed at 2.37 Friday, down 41.8% from for the year 4.07 and 34.2% from 3.60 for the quarter.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:29 UTC

© Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images
Israeli artillery shells explode with a chemical agent designed to create smokescreen for ground forces (which also burns to the bone).

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) today called on the United States Government; including members of Congress, and the international community; including the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to investigate Israel's reported use of White Phosphorus in its ongoing attack on Gaza. According to the United Nations Israel's overwhelming attacks on Gaza, now in their tenth day, have thus far killed 540 people, 30% of whom are civilians, and injured over 2,750 people; including over 1,000 children. Among those killed today was a family of seven from Shati refugee camp, who were killed by Israeli navy shelling. Three siblings from one family, as well as a girl and her grandfather, also died in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza during Israeli artillery shelling.

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