Happy 25th, Julia!

Will the Quantico Gate Become the USA's Tahrir Square?

Ellsberg was also arrested - along with scores of others - outside the White House on Friday:

Saradise Lost - Book 5 - Chapter 41: Queen Esther Visits Jerusalem on Purim - Her Devotees Rejoice

Sarah Palin flew from New Delhi to Tel Aviv late Saturday, and arrived in Jerusalem early Sunday, for the first day of Purim 2011. Wearing a gaudy Star-of-David necklace, she was given a tour of "the Western Wall and its adjacent tunnels. [She] will visit the Old City again on Monday, tour Gesthsemane and the Mount of Olives, and have dinner with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara at their official residence in Jerusalem."

World Likud chairman Danny Danon and Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz served as Palin’s tour guides on Sunday night. Palin was told that Jews were not allowed to pray openly on the Temple Mount and about the Arab riots that accompanied Netanyahu’s decision to authorize the creation of an exit from the Western Wall tunnels in 1996.

Rabinowitz said that Palin prayed at the point closest to the Holy of Holiesand left a note with a personal prayer. Unlike when then-presidential candidate Barack Obama visited the Western Wall in July 2008, no one removed her note from the wall and gave it to the press.

“She said that she absolutely supports Israel and that America is the biggest friend that Israel has,” Rabinowitz said.

When Rabinowitz shared the story of Purim with Palin, she told him it was especially meaningful to be at the Kotel on Purim.

Palin's closest devotees know about Purim. Some of them actually believe Palin is a present-day reincarnation of the Biblical Queen Esther:


At Palin's number one shrine, Conservatives4Palin, commenters were ecstatic about Palin's visit to the Holy Land:

God bless Sarah! She's doing the right things without the title or trappings of leadership, when those who have the title and trappings continue to do the wrong things! She is already my President!

and:

As I said before our beloved blessed Israel will have a strong and dedicated friend in the White House soon!!! :D
Sarah Palin 2012!!!
America's return to exceptionalism!!!

and:

At least the Palestinians are up front and open in their desire to destroy Israel unlike Obama and the Left who seek to destroy the GOP, the conservative movement and evangelical Christianity in America but are, using one of Obama's words, subterranean about it.

and:

Governor Palin looks incredibly beautiful in these photos. She is a beautiful person inside and out.

and:

Watched the video. Look at all the media taking pictures of her and Todd as they head to the van! And some people have the gall to say her star is fading? The papparazzi and photographers swarmed her like she was Princess Diana, for crying out loud!! "Fading", my foot! Mitt, Huck, Newt, T-Paw, MB, Mitch, and the rest of the gang could only beg to be treated as if they were this important.

and - from a CAP lover:

I aamm in a tizzy, goose bump.YES, YES and YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! May the LORD SHINE HIS BLESSINGS TO THE CHOSEN PEOPLE AND PEACE WILL REIGN SUPREME IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL.

and, finally:

Wearing a Star of David necklace??...You mean she's actually choosing sides and making a stand?! She's standing by a staunch ally and letting them know that their not alone?! This is over the top!

Never remember either Bush making a statement to Israel like this. If Israel's one of America's closest allies, you know Barry has a soft spot for their enemies...who does Sarah think she is anyway?! She's making me believe in that dated stuff called "Honor" and "Courage" again!

A trip to Israel by Palin was announced in December, but little detail was given before she actually showed up there. One question being asked is - Who's paying for it? A two-day stopover on returning from India probably isn't as expensive as it might have been under different circumstances. Her 2010 drive-by photo op to Haiti was paid for by Franklin Graham. He was busy this weekend predicting the end of the world, so this trip was probably paid for by SarahPAC. Other than meeting Likud Chairman Danon and PM Netanyahu, her visit appears to be mostly another, longer drive-by. She can't help but make an inane comment or two, though:

Palin, who was wearing a large Star of David, told Danon that she had flags of Israel “on my desk, in my home, all over the place” and that she would carry around a flag she bought in Israel.

I'll bet she didn't use that line in Haiti. Or India, eh?

Firedoglake Live Streaming the Quantico Protest on Bradley Manning's Treatment

firedoglake is live streaming the ongoing demonstrations outside Marine Base Quantico, where Army PFC Bradley Manning is being tortured, in the President's hope that a false confession might be extracted from the young man.



Video streaming by Ustream

There are other protests against Obama's torture of Manning this month and next. None seem to be scheduled in Alaska.

Here's the link to the times, dates and locations of other protests.

Here's a link to firedoglake's live coverage of today's Quantico action. [The live feed has been scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. ADT, but is not u yet. Perhaps the Obama administration has ordered it to be jammed, sort of like happens to protesters in Libya, Iran, Bahrein, China and Cuba. We'll see.]

image - (twolf @firedoglake) Protesters outside the White House yesterday:

Daniel Ellsberg, Kevin Zeese, Margaret Flowers, David Swanson, Medea Benjamin, Mike Malloy and over a hundred others were arrested in front of the White House today to protest President Obama’s torture of Bradley Manning.

Saradise Lost and Found - Chapter 17 - Will Todd Palin Ignore Bill Maher?

I got in trouble here last winter for conducting a poll asking whether or not readers considered the term "saint" or "slut" to be more appropriate to describe Sarah Palin. Saint lost by a wide margin. I learned a lot from the pushback from both random commenters and friends.

Comedian and Islamaphobe Bill Maher called Palin a "twat" on his show Friday.

Ouch!

My last interaction with Todd was late last summer, when I confronted him about having hosted James O'Keefe wannabee Robert Stacey McCain at his house for a few days.

Were I to bump into Todd today, I'd offer him help to go after Maher, who I increasingly despise.

Hopefully, the exchange won't happen (I assume Todd is in Israel with his wife).

Todd, Sarah, Bill - all of them are desperate celebrities.

Helen Thomas Interviewed About Her Forced Retirement and Ongoing Plans

Important Mat-Su Democrats Events Today and Next Sunday

This evening, the Mat-Su Democrats' March Egan Diner will feature local union leaders:

Turkey Red Restaurant in Palmer - 6:00 p.m.

Democrats invite the public to hear about future plans for Mat-Su unions. Featured Speakers from IBEW, AFL-CIO, CEA, MSEA. Optional: dinner, $25, including tip. You may also order wine, beer.

Next Sunday (March 27th) in Palmer - Katie Hurley's 90th Birthday:

Review of Bonfield vs. Gottstein Katz at the Bartlett Club Today

This week's Bartlett Democratic Club luncheon in Anchorage was devoted to an exchange between articulate advocates for Palestinian rights, on one hand, and the current government of Israel, on the other. The event was well managed by the Bartlett Club board and moderator Alex Newhall. It had none of the yelling or rancor that has characterized some of the luncheons there in the past that dealt with this extremely contentious issue.

Some were expecting Alaska's director of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee, David Gottstein, to represent the Israeli side in the exchange. Instead, we were treated to an employee of the Israeli government, performing that role.

Ora Miriam Katz is the Director of Government Affairs for the Consulate General of Israel's San Francisco office. A graduate of the University of California San Diego and Universitat Ben Gurion Ba-Negev, she stated right off that this is her first trip to Alaska, and that she is smitten by the beauty of our home. (I invited her to come up here in the summer.)

Opposing her, representing Alaska for Palestine, were Mark and Dawn Bonfield. Moderator Newhall had a club member flip a coin to see who went first. Katz won.

AIPAC director Gottstein or his staff might have done a better job prepping Katz for the ambience and physical setup of the luncheon site, held in the meeting room of the DeBarr Dennys. She struggled to get her visual aids make an impact - they were too small and too low to be seen.

Her remarks began with a typical glowing portrait of many of the things Israel is - a vibrant environment for aspects of what one can characterize as progressive thought - gays in the military, socialized medicine, equal rights in many areas for Jews, Muslims and Christians. In much of what she initially said, she was accurate. Israeli society deserves credit for what has been achieved in these areas.

Unfortunately, Ms. Katz then went on to state a number of falsehoods. One struck me as rather strange, and I thought she had merely misstated the case. But then she said it again. Katz claimed twice that over 1,000 Israelis were killed in March 2002, during the most awful month of the Second Intifada. The generally acknowledged figure of Israeli deaths during that month is between 130 and 135, which was bad enough.

Government Affairs Director Katz went on to misstate the percentage of West Bank lands the Israelis are willing to evacuate at the time of the creation of a Palestinian state. Her number, stated twice, was "over 98%." We've heard this number before. She also stated that if a settlement on settlements is reached, Israeli lands retained in the West Bank would be comparable to something "a bit larger than Anchorage." She provided no map.

Here's one.

The orange parts of the map are those occupied by settlements and Israeli military "withdrawals." They represent far more than less than 2% of the West Bank. They are also configured to strategically hobble any possible development of an independent Palestinian economy, should a Palestinian state actually emerge.

Katz also mischaracterized the current state of the ongoing Israeli investigation into the awful deaths last week of five members of a West Bank Israeli settler family, in the gated community of Itamar. She stated that "Fatah's El-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade has claimed responsibility for these hiduous murders." I questioned Ms. Katz about this after the talk, and she reiterated that view.

Again, this is not the case. Israeli authorities have imposed a gag order on the press there since Monday. Before the gag order, the group Katz accused of the killings denied involvement:

The military wing of the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah party, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, said Monday that its activists had no part in the slaying of five members of a settler family in Itamar on Friday night.

Commenting on the nature of the killings, in which five members of the Fogel family were stabbed to death, including a three-month-old baby, the brigades said they "oppose the targeting of civilians and killing of children no matter what the pretext may be."

The killings triggered settler outrage and an Israeli military manhunt in the northern West Bank, and were condemned by the Palestinian Authority. President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that the killings were "inhuman."

Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigades came under scrutiny after an offshoot with loose affiliation going by the "Imad Mughniyya Group" sent a statement to media outlets claiming to have carried out the attack, but details from the statement did not match statements from investigators. Members of the group in Gaza later denied any involvement.

As a representative of her government, Katz should be more careful with such words. I hope the killers are caught soon. And punished. But if Katz hasn't been informed about the state of the investigation before making such claims, the person prepping her needs to be fired.

I thought Miriam Katz's presentation was well done, overall. I could have written her lines for her - I know the drill. She almost seemed to be frustrated at having to spout the party line a couple of times, but that might have been my imagination. I keep hoping these bright, attractive and affable kids from Israel, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey and Libya might be able to find a new, peaceful road for the Mediterranean. Katz should be included in that group.

And so should Dawn and Mark Bonfield, though they live here, not on the Med. This couple have their schtick down. They even worked events from the past few days into their standup routine in ways that slipped way over the heads of most of the Bartlett Club folks. They're pro, and Katz picked up on it. I wish I had sat in the front, rather than the back of the room.

Dollar for dollar, Alaskans for Palestine got a lot more bang for their buck at Bartlett than did AIPAC or the San Francisco Consular office.

The format of this discussion on Israel and Palestine showed that the Bartlett Club wants to be able to schedule and discuss Middle East affairs rationally and in a constructive environment. It should have been given another 30 minutes, somehow. Or more.

image - Mark & Dawn Bonfield, Miriam Katz - PA

Bonfield Vs. Gottstein Today at the Bartlett Club

Today at noon, the Anchorage Bartlett Democratic Club will host an exchange between Mark and Dawn Bonfield, representing Alaskans for Palestine, and David Gottstein, the Alaska director of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee.

The Bonfields and Gottstein have presented at the Bartlett Club before, but not during the same time slot. The Bonfields are known for their engaging, often humorous presentations at which they play both sides of the contentions issues regarding continuing Israeli expansion in the occupied territories of the West Bank. Gottstein has presented twice at the Bartlet Club recently - once to counter an appearance by Alison Weir, director of the organization If Americans Knew, and once to counter the last appearance at the club by the Bonfields.

It should be noted here that yesterday the U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into anti-Semitism at the University of California Santa Cruz:

The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights will investigate charges of anti-Semitism at the University of California at Santa Cruz based on a complaint that the university ignored concerns that criticism of Israel was "creating a hostile climate for Jewish people on the campus."

You can read a letter from the Dept. of Ed announcing the investigation here. The move is the first such investigation since the Department announced last October that they were expanding federal anti-bullying guidelines to include religious groups with “shared ethnic characteristics.” Previously, the relevant civil rights statute, Title VI, did not explicitly cover religion. This was a move applauded by Israel supporters, such as the Zionist Organization of America, who saw it as a way to criminalize activism critical of Israel on campus.

The lecturer who brought the complaint is Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, who teaches Hebrew at the school. You can read Rossman-Benjamin's complaint to the Education Department here. Among the events she sites as examples of anti-Semitism on campus was a screening of the film Occupation 101 and another event called "Understanding Gaza." This event featured speakers from Jewish Voice for Peace which she characterizes as "an extreme and disreputable fringe of American Jewry." The Chronicle quotes her letter:

The anti-Israel discourse and behavior in classrooms and at departmentally and college-sponsored events at [Santa Cruz] is tantamount to institutional discrimination against Jewish students, which has resulted in their intellectual and emotional harassment and intimidation, and has adversely affected their educational experience at the university.

Reading over the complaint, it's hard to believe that anyone took it very seriously.

But the Obama administration has taken this complaint seriously.

Alaskans for Palestine, among its other community outreach activities, has shown a number of movies at UAA, which seek to inform people of the Palestinian viewpoint in the Israel-Palestine conflict. One of those is named specifically in the U.S. Department of Education's complaint - Occupation 101. It is an excellent film, and its authenticity has not been questioned. Will Alaskans for Palestine be sanctioned off of dampus, due to the California complaint?

Here's a clip from Occupation 101:

Another issue that has come up in discussion of this pending civil rights case has been that of people on campus or students feeling they have been intimidated at an event or classroom activity, because of their religion, ethnicity or heritage.

I've produced and/or hosted a lot of events at UAA - James L. Acord (three times), environmental trekkers Erin & Hig (three times), author Max Blumenthal, sculptor Peter Bevis, and others. One lecture I gave, along with Rabbi Josef Greenberg, back in 2004, resulted in outrageous harassment of one of the people who had come to hear us:

During the Q & A session after a lecture I gave at the University of Alaska Anchorage in April 2004, a young Palestinian American was booed by Jews and Christian Zioinists in the audience, merely for recounting his own observations from visiting relatives in the West Bank. When one of them shouted at the courageous young man “Shut the fuck up! You’re not even human!” several in the audience applauded, including a GOP member of the Alaska State Legislature [Rep. Bob Lynn] and the former treasurer of the Alaska GOP [Fred Agree]. I have it all on videotape. Others laughed and jeered at him when he was called a “raghead.”

Under the parameters being held to by the Department of Education complaint, it seems this incident would qualify as actionable. At the time, though, most of us who attended just took the bruises and outrages as part of the interaction one sees when contentious subjects are brought forward.

Hamsher Vs. Littlefield on Bradley Manning's Treatment