Here We Go Again

Israel vs. Palestine

The Palestinian Radical Militant group Hamas has declared an end to it's 6 month cease fire with Israel in the Gaza Strip. Hamas issued a statement saying Israel had not "respected" the truce, while Israel said in it's own statement that militants "had chosen violence over truth". The truce, brokered by Egypt began June 19th. Rocket fire from Palestine and military operations and blockades from Israel were never completely halted.

Israel is in an election cycle and tough talks from politicians will do little to ease Palestinian fears of the bad times ahead. Hamas and other militant groups make no qualms when it comes to their intentions of fighting til the end. They still strive for martyrdom and destruction of Israel. Hamas was voted into power by the people. While the democratically elected Israeli government has wide support as well. It seems like the only ones who want a truly peaceful solution are outsiders and the voice-less victims on both sides. 

I try to understand what is going on with these two countries. I have taken a special interest in this particular conflict for years now. I don't claim to be an expert but I do pay attention. At different times I've felt different ways and I can't truly pick a side. Some things are clear to me though. 

I do feel Israel has the upper-hand in the situation. They receive support from the US both financial and technological. If Israel truly wanted to wipe the Palestinians off the map they have the ability and that trump card is a strong weapon. 

The Palestinian resistance does need a better plan. Firing rockets at Israeli population centers, or suicide bombings, or tractor attacks are dirty tactics. Many will argue that they have no choice but to fight the best they can, but they have to understand how little support these methods of attack garner from the international community.

It's hard to even start a piece like this, there are contradictions at every sentence. I know if I were a Palestinian I would want to strike out at Israel in any way I could. And if I were an Israeli I'd want to protect mine and my family's lives any way I could. It's been such a historically disputed area for soooooo long that religion is used as history. Judaism and Islam are both 100% right in their own eyes.

I think it is obvious for many people that this has less and less to do with any faith, ideology, or anything practical anymore. Basically this whole thing has turned into a power struggle driven by fear, anger and most of all revenge on both sides. 

WHAT DO EWE THINK?

So This Thing Can Fly Right?

There have been a high number of non-fatal plane incidents this past week. All of them happened at take-off which is always my most nervous part of flying. For those of you who haven't heard let me re-cap.

Passengers were exposed to fumes from de-icing fluid in Seattle on Dec. 24th. The passengers were exposed to the irritating fumes for 45 minutes before they de-boarded the plane. 26 people were treated and 7 went to the hospital (all 5 crew members took the trip to the hospital, duh I know I woulda went too).

On Christmas eve in Chicago 2 American Airlines flights had emergencies. Flight 1544 an MD-80 on it's way to Reagan International Airport just outside of DC, carrying 54 passengers and 5 crew skidded off the runway when it hit an icy patch while taxi-ing. Part of the plane ended up on the grass and the passengers had to leave the plane via the staircase and be bussed back to the terminal for  another flight. No-one was hurt.

Later the same day, again at O'Hare airport and another American Airlines MD-80 had a scarier incident 3 minutes into the flight. This plane had 76 passengers heading to Saint Louis. About 15 miles south of the airport there was a loud bang. The plane tilted and shuddered and the pilot announced that the right engine had blown and they would turn around and make an emergency landing back at O'Hare. Again no-one was hurt.

Worst of all (pictured above) on Dec 20th a Continental Airlines jet in Denver Colorado veered off of the runway at take-off. This incident was probably the scariest to experience since it included an explosion with fireball, at least the feeling of the plane leaving the ground, a physically jolting crash, the plane cracking open, stampede towards emergency exits, falling luggage, and fire in the cabin! Somebody screamed the plane was going to explode since leaking fuel caught fire. 38 people were injured mostly suffering bruises and broken bones.  

I figure there will be some law-suits coming out of the real crash and maybe the de-icing incident. I wonder how that will play-out. If I was in a plane that literally crashed and caught fire and all, I doubt I'd be getting on another plane for a long time. Everyone involved in these incidents should be pretty thankful that they are ok. I have a flight next week and I will be pumping my headphones trying to distract myself when it comes time to taxi and take-off. If I don't make it to the other side tell the babies Estacio Villa was the most professional you'd ever known.

What do EWE think?

So how about this, not 24 hours after I post this another plane slides off a Chicago runway! This time at Midway Airport a Southwest Airlines Plane, carrying 98 people on their way to L.A. The plane became stuck in snow on the shoulder of the taxi-way on it's way to a runway for take-off. Passengers were bused to the terminal for another flight.

Now, What do EWE think?

You're Never Supposed to Go Full Retard

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich... yesterday morning most people in the world didn't know a thing about this imbecile. Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges. He and his chief of staff John Harris each stand accused of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and a count of solicitation of bribery. This fool replaced disgraced Illinois Governor George Ryan who is currently in prison! He came into office promising to "end business as usual". Well we can see how that went.

This idiot was trying his best to sell off Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate Seat. He was already under investigation and for some reason didn't think the feds were smart enough to tap his phone while he rattled of a string of "fucks" and "shits" while saying shit as stupid as "They're not willing to give me anything except appreciation" in reference to Obama's preference for an as yet unnamed candidate. Or check out this little jewel, "Unless I get something real good for [Senate Candidate 1], shit, I'll just send myself, you know what I'm saying." 

I'm not even gonna start naming names as far as Illinois politics and a long history of corruption. How could this idiot not have seen this coming? Does he not realize Obama's whole platform was about ending this type of corruption? I think any Illinois politician with an ounce of smarts should have been jumping at the opportunity to help bring Dick-face McGee [Blagojevich] down. this was a chance to earn major points on an international stage. I hope somebody was smart enough to benefit from this. I was gonna talk a lot of shit about Jesse Jackson Jr. in this space cause he's been implicated as one of the candidates (Senate Candidate 5) who is discussed in this scandal, but I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt until more facts come out. If he was part of this his career is done too... along with his families legacy when you factor in his father saying he wanted to cut Barack's nuts off (on Fox News no less!!!).

Johnson Shagwell put me on to the picture I used above, all I can say is that pic is worth more than a thousand words. We need to target those Rats on the real. Another point Shagwell made is doesn't Blagojevich just look like a snitch anyway... I wouldn't trust that face to re-lace my shoes. How did he get elected, twice?

I remember my father and my uncle talking shit about politicians when I was younger. I was impressed by my brother cause he had gotten a job working for a Chicago Alderman. I didn't have a real understanding of what the alderman did or why I should be impressed but I figured it was a good thing. My father and my uncle both were completely unimpressed and told my brother that he could work for the guy at his comic shop, but not to even think about doing anything political for the dude. They understood that Illinois and specifically Chicago politics were a pit of quicksand. 

What do EWE think?

sidebar:

Chicago is famously known as the Windy City.

Contrary to popular belief this is not cause it's 

sooooo windy out there (which it is).

Chicago earned that name in reference to the way

early 19th century politicians ran their mouths

spewing one empty promise after another.

- The were a bunch of wind-bags.

Obviously Overdue

So here we are gettin to mid-December and I have not even commented on the news story of the year. Yes we all know who won the election. Obama is on his way to being the president of these United States. I watched the result coverage at a friend's apt in Manhattan. We were both surprised by all the yelling and carrying on that we could hear from the streets and neighboring apartments. I was happy but I just didn't feel the need to be out there cheering and all. I guess I'm a cynic to the bone cause even this historic event couldn't get me as excited as I thought I'd be. I feel like this guy has such a huge challenge ahead of him. I should probably rephrase that into we all have such a huge challenge in front of us. If I didn't pay attention to the rest of the news for the past year and a half I think I would have been able to share in the elation. Our country is in such a hole right now that people who believe he can fix all this by himself are kidding themselves. I think it was much easier for Bush to flush the underwear down the toilet than it's gonna be for Obama to get into the pipes and pull them out. 

These unemployment numbers are ridiculous, along with our budget and these financial bailouts. The whole big 3 issue is still out there and so is the stock market and so on and so forth. I do know that our government and media sell fear so I don't wanna take the whole bait, but there are some serious problems out there.

As far as the impact of having Obama as president... I think it will be a great look for the youth. To be honest I always knew we could/would have a Black president. I did figure he would be younger than me though. the reason I knew it would happen is because of Harold Washington. If a Black man could be the mayor of Chicago way back then, of course we'd eventually have a Black president. I think it's great for this country to have a role model who is so different from the celebrities and athletes we are used to idolizing in this country. It truly was about damn time somebody stepped up into the political arena who doesn't seem like all the rest of em. That being said he is still a politician and I have to be wary until we get a chance to see what he's really all about. Let's hope he can be most of what he promises to be.

WHAT DO EWE THINK?