Again and again, news sources in the US are pro-Israel

Yahoo! News posted a long and detailed article about the return of the bodies of 2 dead Israeli soldiers from Lebanon in exchange for the five Hezbollah militants freed by Israel. News is news I understand that. What I don't understand is why does Yahoo! News take the time to report in so much detail the names of the Israeli soldiers and the names of everyone of their family members. They just stopped short of mentioning every friend that they ever had and who their elementary school English teacher was! By the way, you can read the report in detail here.

On the flip side of the coin, there is no mention of who the 5 so-called Hezbollah militants are. They remained nameless and faceless! Don’t these men have families, wives, children, parents, or any surviving siblings? Why did they join Hezbollah? Why and when were they captured by Israel? Time and time again, the news media deliberately does this when reporting news from Palestine. The news media does the same whenever there are any fatal clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians; Israeli losses are magnified and names and faces are associated with them, while Palestinian men, women and children are mentioned in passing as a statistic, and as if they are just a casualty of war who do not matter because it's almost as if they are not real human-beings who have families and friends who feel sorrow when they lose a loved one, and pain and anguish when they don't know the fate of their loved one, and joy when they reunite..

Christian license plate in South Carolina

I heard this on SIRIUS; South Carolina is going to be issuing a new Christian license plate called the “I Believe” license plate with a cross in front of a stained-glass window. It's great! It's a vanity plate, which you should be allowed to have if that's your fancy. Frankly, it doesn't bother me one bit. I can't wait for the Playboy and Bay Watch vanity plates and maybe some baseball and football themes!

What bothers me is that if you are a Muslim or a Jew in South Carolina and let's say you wanted a vanity plate displaying the star of David or the Muslim star and crescent you can pay $4000 and you can have the symbol of your choice, however, you are not allowed to have any words on it such as “Allah is great” or “Mazal Tov”.

It’s nice to see the state of South Carolina is taking yet another big step back to the dark ages. And they wonder why people make fun of the south!

Iraq is "seeking" help to develop oil, BBC reports

I saw this on the BBC website and I had to friggin laugh - Iraq "seeking" help to develop their oil, huh! And guess who is going to run for the rescue.. Halliburton will probably be on top of the list!

According to the report, the so-called Iraqi government is very interesetd in producing more oil but there is a slight problem, they are unable to do so because billions of dollars are needed to modernize the infrastructure. Again, here come the usual suspects to the rescue. Of course, the money needed to upgrade the infrastructure will be paid for by the Iraqis in the form of debt meaning that Iraq will probably owe the US free oil for another 100 years.

Isn't it obvious? This is one last effort to ensure that US companies who are making billions of dollars off of the war in Iraq continue to make billions more, even after the US administration changes in November. This will also guarantee a US presence in Iraq for at least another decade or so. The American public cannot be too thrilled to hear this. We have already learned that even with Suadi Arabia pumping more oil, and with the Iraqi oil production at its highest since the US invasion - gas prices have continued to sky-rocket so this is just another lie in order for US companies to gain more control over Iraqi oil.

Why do US politicians feel that they have to kiss Israeli ass??

Before Obama even was 100% sure whether he was the democratic party nominee, the talk was about the speech that he would give in front of AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and how he needs to assure AIPAC of his commitment to Israel and the Zionist cause. What the hell?? How on earth is Israel so essential in determining the destiny of US politicians and how the ‘f’ did Israel become so intertwined in US politics? Last time I checked, we were going to be electing the president of the United States in November, not the president or prime minister of Israel! Why does every politician – in order to have a serious shot at the white house - have to pay homage to Israel? Did I fall asleep for a hundred years and woke up in a new era where Israel is the super power? Am I the only one who noticed how much more open (and openly anti-Palestinian) the emphasis on Israel has been in this election? Does anyone else see this? Is it because the Israeli lobby is afraid of Obama? Is the Israeli lobby so unsure about the man’s true intentions towards Israel? Zionists don’t you worry – neither Obama nor McCain can go against the most powerful, most influential, and most corrupt lobby for any cause in the entire world. They may pretend to show some resistance to your pressures but that’s about all they can do. Pretend.

Israel Denies Exit Visas to Palestinian Fulbright Scholars

"The U.S. State Department has withdrawn the prestigious Fulbright grant from seven Palestinian students who live in the Gaza Strip because Israel will not give these students exit visas to leave the country". This latest injustice was reported by Jewish Voice for Peace (www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org). Click on one of the links above and read the whole article.

What do you think? Should Israel ban these students from pursuing their academic ambitions using Hamas and anti-terrorism as an excuse? Who should interfere if anyone? Should the US apply pressure on Israel to grant visas to these students? Is it right for the US to apply pressure on Israel? Should the Israelis care what the international community thinks when it comes to the safety and security of the state of Israel?