Time to get out of Dodge...I mean Gaza

It is a bit disheartening to see the conflict going on between Iraelis in Gaza -- especially in a Synagogue. But I figure it IS time for Israel to get out of "occupied" lands and give the Palestinians a chance at their own homeland. Plus, it really would start to eliminate the militant "excuses" for fighting with the Israeli's. Once the Palestinians get their "nation", there should be no excuses for the terrorist attacks. Seems to me with the disengagement plan, Sharon is eliminating the excuses. And, its not as if the settlers are simply being evicted with no compensation.

On that note, I was wondering if the settlers were getting anything out of this. Well, according to CNN, each family will get $250k - $500k as compensation and delays in moving could cost them at least some of that. I'm sure Palestinians weren't compensated when they were evicted from their homelands. The kicker is that Israel wants us to give them $2.2 billion dollars for this. And, we'll likely give it to them. Let's just keep increasing that deficit.

Is it really worth living somewhere if you face the constant threat of being killed? Certainly there is emotion over historic/religious implications of the land but at some point, somebody has to make the sacrifice for greater noble cause. That is, a chance at peace and coexistence in that area. To many people on both sides have died. And this one is worth it.

President missed an opportunity

Seems to me that the President missed an opportunity with Cindy Sheehan down in Texas. So what else is new? The furor seem to be building in Crawford and my take is it could have been somewhat averted had the president taken advantage of a "marketing" opportunity. He could have met with her for a few minutes and I'm sure they could come up with some "noble" cause for being in Iraq. Given the president's shrinking approval rating, it may have helped a bit to show his "compassion". In even a small token of acknowledgement, that may well have been the end of it. Hey, you got your meeting now go home. Now it appears to be developing into something bigger. Or will it. Only time will tell.

On the noble cause piece. I am sure supporters of the war can come up with all sorts of noble causes for us being in Iraq. But we have plenty of them here which are no doubt being ignored for Iraq. We are spending billions of dollars we don't have. But the key point in this thought is that just because the administration has its noble causes on this (which we still have yet to hear), it is not necessarily OUR noble cause to deal with.

While I'm not really a supporter of this administration, I do try to be objective about things. To his credit, I did see a blurb where the president at least acknowledged her right to do what she's doing. Thank God for the constitution. By George (no pun intended), he may have actually read those parts. You know, the one's that speak about "free speach" and the "right to peaceful assembly"?