A few days ago I posted a quote from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the most current situation in the Middle East.
If the Palestinians are not being beaten, there will be no negotiations. The aim is to increase the number of losses on the other side. Only after they’ve been battered, will we be able to conduct talks.
–Ariel Sharon, prime minister of Israel.
Well today Colin Powell has responded.
If you declare war against the Palestinians thinking that you can solve the problem by seeing how many Palestinians can be killed, I don’t know that that leads usanywhere.
– Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State.
Yesterday the U.S. also came out against a round of attacks by the Israeli’s that damaged a Palestinian school. Israel labels Palestine a terrorist nation because they attack civilians in markets and children riding in buses. But they came very close to that level in their last round of attacks.
Areil Sharon should be careful. His legacy could be how he got the international community, including the U.S., to lean against Israel. Does this signal the return of Netanyahu? Many may hope so.
Us Llamas, while all good friends, do spend a fair amount of time debating topics back and forth. One topic we land on from time to time is religion. My interest was peaked when I came across a copy of the American Religious Identification Survey.
According to the American Religious Identification Survey 2001, 14 percent of Americans (nearly 30 million people) say they belong to no religion at all. That’s up from 8 percent just ten years ago. That’s more than the total number of those identifying themselves as Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians. The report also noted that people who don’t identify themselves to a religion are also less inclined to pick a political party: 43 percent of these “non-subscribers” register as independents, compared with 30 percent of Catholics and 22 percent of Baptists.
That last part interested me the most. I wonder why those two items effect one another?
Speaking of religion, the Al Qaeda detainees being held in Cuba went on a hunger strike when guards interrupted one of the detainees who was praying. The guards said they were unaware the detainee was praying when they went into his cell. Almost a week later the hunger strike has all but ended. It seems the detainees realized that, well, they were all very hungry and the US guards didn’t care. Bring on the food.
Since we’re on the topic of religious zealots, let’s talk about PETA. Someday they will have to realize their tactics can be as objectionable as the behavior they are trying to stop. But now PETA is using some interesting advertising that help get the point across. This ad, and this one are as straight forward as they come. Not only does it get the point across, it makes me want to watch NYPD Blue.