Politics Plus

Although I fully support the position that Israel has the right to exist, secure and at peace, within her own borders, I have frequently posted in opposition to Israel, because, in my view, the Netanyahu government had done everything humanly possible to prevent peace in the middle east and prevent Palestinians from having the right to exist, secure and at peace, within their own borders.  Today, I am reminded that my opposition is to Israel’s government, not Israel’s people, who like foolish Americans have done, elected a Republican-like regime out of fear.  Many now regret it.

Thousands of Israelis marched in Tel Aviv at the weekend in the biggest demonstration for years to protest against a series of attacks on civil and human rights organisations and a rise in anti-Arab sentiment.

Under the banner of the "Democratic Camp", a coalition of organisations and prominent individuals, the marchers heard speakers lambast the Israeli government, singling out the rightwing foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who is seen as threatening Israel’s democracy.

But there was also strong criticism of the Labour party for being a partner in Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition government. Labour had allowed "the existence of the most racist coalition in the history of Israel", Nitzan Horowitz, a member of the Knesset for the leftwing Meretz party, told the crowd. "No member of the Labour party can claim to have clean hands. You are members of the most extreme government … For what have you betrayed your principles? For a few ministers’ chairs?"

The organisers of the march and rally hoped it would signal the beginning of the revival of Israel’s left and a fightback against the dominance of the right. Around 20,000 people attended the rally according to the organisers; the police said there were 10,000 present.

The galvanising issue was the recent approval by the Knesset of a bill to set up a parliamentary investigation into the funding of civil and human rights groups. It has been seen by opponents across the political spectrum as a fundamental attack on democracy and reminiscent of a McCarthyite witch-hunt.

Following the vote, the opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, said an evil wind was blowing across Israel. Some in the crowd on Saturday evening held placards saying "Investigate me too".

Speakers at the rally cited other recent moves including a call by rabbis to ban Jews from selling or renting property to Arabs, a parliamentary vote in favour of a "loyalty oath" to be taken by new Israeli citizens, and the jailing of the activist Jonathan Pollack after taking part in a bicycle protest… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <The Guardian>

I stand in solidarity with the protestors, with special empathy, because I know how difficult an infestation of Lieberman can be.  Whether 10,000 or 20,000, that is an impressive demonstration in a country that size, and I hope it helped shame labour away from the Republican Likud regime.

The Republican Party is an equal opportunity enterprise.  If any group opposes their agenda to eliminate the middle class and establish one party rule, they will turn the full weight of their bigotry on that group and, if it happens to be a racial minority, they have plenty of racism to go around.

Maine’s tea party-backed Gov. Paul LePage (R) has gone from telling President Obama to “go to hell [Faux Noise delinked]” to telling the NAACP to “kiss my butt,” after the storied civil rights organization criticized LePage for declining invitations to attend events honoring Martin Luther King Day. The NAACP had invited LePage to events in Portland and Bangor, but a spokesman for the governor said he “already has personal and professional commitments scheduled for Monday.” “We don’t want to misinterpret his intention, but the message we’re getting is that we’re not welcome and we’re not part of the Maine he’s preparing to lead,” said local NAACP state director Rachel Talbot Ross. LePage fired back at the group’s chiding, telling WGME News 13 that the NAACP is just a “special interest group” that can “kiss my butt”…

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Now I’m not claiming that LaPage has a particular hatred for black people.  I trust he’s equally bigoted against Latinos, Native Americans, LGBT people, and anyone else who refuses to goose-step with him.

A Ohio Republican made a major mistake.  He actually held a Town Hall meeting that was not pre-stocked with supporters to cheer on his assault on America.  As a result he got a taste of some authentic grass roots activism.  One senior citizen not only shows us what a Town Hall meeting, without Republican astro-turf, can be, but serves as an example to us all with a question we should all be asking.  “Where is the Republican plan?”

Guess what happens when a congressional town meeting audience isn’t created by the Koch brothers or fueled by Fox News? There’s a different kind of confrontation. Here’s what happened at a meeting earlier this week at Ohio’s Walsh University, with GOP Rep. Jim Renacci (OH)…

 

…An informed constituency is a beautiful thing, and those are pretty good questions for the Congressman, and for all Republicans. "There’s a lot of things that took effect that help seniors. Once you repeal it, what happens to all that? And what are you going to replace it? Why don’t you make a replacement plan before you repeal it so we can look at it?"

As more people derive more benefit from the provisions that have kicked in–no denials for children because of pre-existing conditions, savings for Medicare recipients, adult children being able to stay on their parents’ plans, incentives for small businesses to provide benefits–more people are going to be asking the same question: what’s the Republican plan?  [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Don’t get me wrong.  The HCR we passed has some major problems, but the solution is to fix the problems, not trash the plan altogether, or if we are going to trash the plan altogether, trash it together with implementing something better, like Medicare for all.  Republicans do have a plan for health care.  They just don’t want us to know what it is, but we can see it in action by looking at Jan Brewer’s treatment of Medicaid patients needing organ transplants.  That is RepubliCare in action.