Allspace in a Notshall

Here is Christopher Moore talking about his newest book, Fool.

Here’s the new Economist cartoon from KAL. Thought it was a great visual representation of what Obama will be facing minutes after his inauguration in a few days.

Jan. 17th KAL Economist Cartoon

I’ve watched every main speech he has given and have thoroughly enjoyed them–especially the speech given at the Democratic National Convention. This inauguration speech of his should be pretty damn good. There is supposedly an estimation of over 2 million people attending this in person and all tickets to it were sold out in a minute. Some tickets have actually been priced at over $20,000.

I really hope that Obama is able to accomplish something good in the next four years, which shouldn’t be too hard I would think, given his precedent.  I believe his top priority is a two-fold tie, that of the lifting the American economy out of it’s depression as well as restoring America’s image in the world through better foreign relations.  It could be argued that a few of America’s problems could be solved if just the latter of the two were immediately improved.  But these will be easier said than done and I think that many people will became very upset with Obama and quickly.  It will be virtually impossible to satisfy everyone’s perceived top priorities, but he really can’t do any worse than the previous 8 years…right?

I think it’s impossible to determine how much slack the American public should allow him given everything he must deal with.  I  say we give Obama one year to see some lasting and meaningful results.  Anything earlier than that I don’t believe is realistic and any longer than that is not holding him accountable for the importance placed on his shoulders.

Certainly an impossible task he’s been given and I don’t envy him in the least.

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I wanted to make a post that wasn’t mired down in one-sided religious wars and post something fun, so here ya go.

I’m a huge fan of Christopher Moore. He writes some of the funniest material one can read. I just checked his site and he has a new book coming out, titled Fool. Should be great because it’s got an interesting premise. Ripped shamelessly from Amazon:

Here’s the Cliff Notes you wished you’d had for King Lear—the mad royal, his devious daughters, rhyming ghosts and a castle full of hot intrigue—in a cheeky and ribald romp that both channels and chides the Bard and all Fate’s bastards. It’s 1288, and the king’s fool, Pocket, and his dimwit apprentice, Drool, set out to clean up the mess Lear has made of his kingdom, his family and his fortune—only to discover the truth about their own heritage. There’s more murder, mayhem, mistaken identities and scene changes than you can remember, but bestselling Moore (You Suck) turns things on their head with an edgy 21st-century perspective that makes the story line as sharp, surly and slick as a game of Grand Theft Auto. Moore confesses he borrows from at least a dozen of the Bard’s plays for this buffet of tragedy, comedy and medieval porn action. It’s a manic, masterly mix—winning, wild and something today’s groundlings will applaud. (Feb.)

Sounds hilarious. I’ve read close to all of Moore’s book and they’ve all been great. I’m currently finishing up his book Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings, and although not as good as Lamb (I don’t think he’ll write a better novel), it’s still a great read.

You can read the first chapter of Fool on Moore’s blog here.

He’s also going on tour to promote the book.  You can get a list of the dates here.

I’m having a hard time deciding whether or not I agree with what Israel is doing. I hear the words “preemptive strike” and “self-defense”, but to me this operation smacks of going way beyond what is considered a justifiable retaliation and defense for rather inaccurate rocket attacks on small Israeli towns. On the one hand, I can completely see the need to defend your own nation from these attacks, but from almost everything I’ve seen and read, this entire mission seems to be what I continually read on the various news sites as “disproportionate”. At last check 550 Palestinians have been killed and 2500 wounded.  Which is not surprising in the least, really, considering that the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas in the world.  I believe there are 1.5 million people on a piece of land 7 miles wide and 25 miles long.   Israel surely does not think that the civilian casualties will be kept to a minimum…do they?

I don’t know what Israel expects to with this operation, I really don’t. This seems like a microcosm of the War on Terrorism. Yes, sure, Israel is destroying the infrastructure and leadership of the Hamas regime, but at what cost and for how long? They can’t seriously think that this mission will eradicate the regime that is “for the people and by the people”. Yes, Hamas was democratically elected by the people of Palestine, if you did not know. To me, this seems like an attack on a people rather than a regime.

And what infuriates me even further is the amount of lies and propaganda coming from various news sources that Israel is doing the right thing and being perfectly okay with how their achieving their objectives. Take this article from The Huffington Post for example:

Almost as soon as the first Israeli missile struck the Gaza Strip, a veteran cheering squad suited up to support the home team. “Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life,” Charles Krauthammer claimed in the Washington Post. Echoing Krauthammer, Alan Dershowitz called the Israeli attack on Gaza, “Perfectly ‘Proportionate.’” And in the New York Times, Israeli historian Benny Morris described his country’s airstrikes as “highly efficient.”

By New Year’s Day, Israel’s cheering squad had turned the opinion pages of major American newspapers into their own personal romper room. Of all the editorial contributions published by the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times since the Israel’s war on Gaza began, to my knowledge only one offered a skeptical view of the assault. But that editorial, by Israeli novelist David Grossman, contained not a single word about the Palestinian casualties of IDF attacks. Even while calling for a cease fire, Grossman promised, “We can always start shooting again.”

Or how about the fact that Israel has barred any foreign journalist from entering the Gaza Strip?

Or that Israel is using white phosphorus bombs to screen their troops’ movements?

Or, how I offhandedly remarked in my last post, that Israel is using cluster bombs? Just like they did in 2006 in their war with Hezbollah!

Note that not all clusterbombs explode on impact but stay ready to explode where they lay.

I’ll end with a link to this article, which you should probably all read:  “‘We’re wading in death, blood and amputees. Pass it on – shout it out’”

I’m going to post a few videos, mainly from LiveLeak talking about the escalating conflict in Gaza. Israel has now entered into the Gaza Strip via the ground and according to latest reports, has split the Strip into three isolated zones. The humanitarian part of the crisis is escalating as well.

As usual, some viewer discretion might be needed.

Gaza Divided Into Three:

CNN’s Christiane Amanpour talks about how much support there is for Israel’s offensive into Gaza:

From BBC News, is that clusterbombing at the beginning?:

Israel Bombing Gaza Tunnels to Egypt:

Longer update coming later…