Monday, March 2, 2009

I have been sick over the weekend and have not had much energy to write anything much, but here is something for people read and consider from Randal O'Toole in the US on light rail. He is one of the few voices that looks at the details and sees where a lot of the flaws have been in the US with transportation planning.

Also, there has been some coverage of this week being Israeli-Apartheid Week, and some mention by Terry Glavin - he is my constant hope of a rational and intelligent left, the sort of type that might make me consider supporting the left.

I read some of the stuff from IAF and shake my head. Last time I checked, Hamas has made Gaza a place where there is no space for anyone who does not agree with them. They seem to have managed to ethnically cleanse all the Palestinians that are Christian from Gaza.

I am wondering if the IAF people notice that Israel is the only country in the middle east where labour unions can freely exist, where there is freedom of speech, and where left wing parties can get elected? Did you know that if you do not include Iraq, the majority of freely elected Arabs in the middle east are elected in Israel? If Iraq can emerge as a democracy, then for the first time there will be some place outside of Israel in the Middle East where Arabs will be able to freely choose their leaders.

I have seen the wonderful spray painting here in Victoria calling for "Free Gaza" - I can go along with that. The people of Gaza need to be freed from the fascists in power in there. The people of the world need to unite and free the Palestinians from Hamas.

Final note on Gaza - the US is the main funder of the reconstruction. Nice of Obama to offer more money than anyone else, but to do so before there is an open civil society there is a simply a waste of money. Far right extremists have a globally bad record when it comes to spending money wisely. Hamas is fundamentally a corrupt organization - can anyone belief that they will not be taking most of the money for their personal benefit? Does anyone believe that Hamas will not use the US money to do whatever it can to exterminate Jews?

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