In the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Former President Jimmy Carter’s new book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” is igniting controversy for its allegation that Israel practices a form of apartheid.

As a South African and former anti-apartheid advocate who visits the Palestinian territories regularly to assess the human rights situation for the U.N. Human Rights Council, the comparison to South African apartheid is of special interest to me.

On the face of it, the two regimes are very different. Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial discrimination that the white minority in South Africa employed to maintain power over the black majority. It was characterized by the denial of political rights to blacks, the fragmentation of the country into white areas and black areas (called Bantustans) and by the imposition on blacks of restrictive measures designed to achieve white superiority, racial separation and white security.

The “pass system,” which sought to prevent the free movement of blacks and to restrict their entry to the cities, was rigorously enforced. Blacks were forcibly “relocated,” and they were denied access to most public amenities and to many forms of employment. The system was enforced by a brutal security apparatus in which torture played a significant role.

The Palestinian territories — East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza — have been under Israeli military occupation since 1967. Although military occupation is tolerated and regulated by international law, it is considered an undesirable regime that should be ended as soon as possible. The United Nations for nearly 40 years has condemned Israel’s military occupation, together with colonialism and apartheid, as contrary to the international public order.

In principle, the purpose of military occupation is different from that of apartheid. It is not designed as a long-term oppressive regime but as an interim measure that maintains law and order in a territory following an armed conflict and pending a peace settlement. But this is not the nature of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Since 1967 Israel has imposed its control over the Palestinian territories in the manner of a colonizing power, under the guise of occupation. It has permanently seized the territories’ most desirable parts — the holy sites in East Jerusalem, Hebron and Bethlehem and the fertile agricultural lands along the western border and in the Jordan Valley — and settled its own Jewish “colonists” throughout the land.

Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories has many features of colonization. At the same time it has many of the worst characteristics of apartheid. The West Bank has been fragmented into three areas — north (Jenin and Nablus), center (Ramallah) and south (Hebron) — which increasingly resemble the Bantustans of South Africa.

Restrictions on freedom of movement imposed by a rigid permit system enforced by some 520 checkpoints and roadblocks resemble, but in severity go well beyond, apartheid’s “pass system.” And the security apparatus is reminiscent of that of apartheid, with more than 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons and frequent allegations of torture and cruel treatment.

Many aspects of Israel’s occupation surpass those of the apartheid regime. Israel’s large-scale destruction of Palestinian homes, leveling of agricultural lands, military incursions and targeted assassinations of Palestinians far exceed any similar practices in apartheid South Africa. No wall was ever built to separate blacks and whites.

Following the worldwide anti-apartheid movement, one might expect a similarly concerted international effort united in opposition to Israel’s abhorrent treatment of the Palestinians. Instead one finds an international community divided between the West and the rest of the world. The Security Council is prevented from taking action because of the U.S. veto and European Union abstinence. And the United States and the European Union, acting in collusion with the United Nations and the Russian Federation, have in effect imposed economic sanctions on the Palestinian people for having, by democratic means, elected a government deemed unacceptable to Israel and the West. Forgotten is the commitment to putting an end to occupation, colonization and apartheid.

In these circumstances, the United States should not be surprised if the rest of the world begins to lose faith in its commitment to human rights. Some Americans — rightly — complain that other countries are unconcerned about Sudan’s violence-torn Darfur region and similar situations in the world. But while the United States itself maintains a double standard with respect to Palestine it cannot expect cooperation from others in the struggle for human rights.

Newly elected Senator from VA Jim Webb was at a White House reception where photos with the president were being taken. Webb, not being a Bush Fan, totally statemented the President. Here’s a link to a Washington Post article on the subject which, though in complete, corroborates that this did actually take place. The following is conversation I had about the incident with a friend of mine.

StiflyStiferson: Dude
thewisdomcube87: ?
StiflyStiferson: Jim Webb is a statement maker
StiflyStiferson: At this white house reception
StiflyStiferson: Where all the freshman senators were invited
StiflyStiferson: Webb refused a picture with the president
StiflyStiferson: and was trying to avoid the president
thewisdomcube87: sounds pretty immature to me
StiflyStiferson: Thats not immature
StiflyStiferson: He didnt want a picture of him smiling with the president floating around
StiflyStiferson: Webb said on the subject that he still has the utmost respect for the office
StiflyStiferson: Anyhow
StiflyStiferson: Bush finally caught up with him and asked “How’s you’re boy” referring to Webbs son whos a lance corporal in the marines. And Webbs said something like I wish he was home. Bush said dickishly “Thats not what I asked. How’s your boy?” Webb, who apparently was restraining the urge to to hit the president said “That between me and my son”
thewisdomcube87: sounds like Webb was being a dick to me
StiflyStiferson: I guess its tough for you to understand
thewisdomcube87: no…
StiflyStiferson: the distain
thewisdomcube87: I understand that Webb was trying to make a statement
StiflyStiferson: that people who’ve
StiflyStiferson: learned about bush
StiflyStiferson: feel towards the man
StiflyStiferson: I mean
thewisdomcube87: his son signed up for the military…not like he was drafted
StiflyStiferson: Thats far from the issue
StiflyStiferson: The issue is the mismanagment of his son’s service to his country
StiflyStiferson: But I mean
StiflyStiferson: If you loathed your leader
StiflyStiferson: Say you were in Nazi Germany
StiflyStiferson: and a bunch of the reichstag was taking picture with the furer
StiflyStiferson: You wouldnt take pictures with the asshole
thewisdomcube87: well
thewisdomcube87: if you tried to avoid hitler at something liek that you might have been killed
StiflyStiferson: not in the early years
thewisdomcube87: true
thewisdomcube87: I certainly wouldn’t want to take pictures with him
StiflyStiferson: When the reichstag was still you know in action
StiflyStiferson: Well when I said you werent understanding
thewisdomcube87: right, but I think the comparison between Bush and Hitler is silly
StiflyStiferson: I meant you werent considering it from the context of someone who loathes the president
StiflyStiferson: Well of coarse you do
StiflyStiferson: Because you have a pathological aversion to considering the simalarities
thewisdomcube87: you could compare anyone who has started a war to hitler if you wanted to I guess
thewisdomcube87: that doesn’t make it a valid comparison
StiflyStiferson: Bush isnt just starting a bullshit war to gain political support like hitler did. Bush is detaining people without trials like hitler did, Bush is torturing people like hitler did, we are hosting secret prsisons like hitler did, Bush has generated fear from the threat of a largely nameless and faceless group of people like hitler did and (though you dont believe this) Bush carried out a self inflicted attack on his country like hitler did.
StiflyStiferson: And true
StiflyStiferson: It has not reached the terrible hieght of Hitlers worst years
StiflyStiferson: But that does not aquit him of the comparison
StiflyStiferson: There is some tenet of conventional wisdom that precludes any comparison made to hitler. It is that way, I guess, due to some fear that hitlers atrocities will be taken more lightly because of a comparison to someone whose accomplished less evil. But that doesn’t mean the comparissons are any less valid
StiflyStiferson: But, returning to the issue, I dont know that Webb thinks of Bush as hitler. He at least thinks of him as the asshole who mislead his country into war-as the son of a bitch whos abuseing his son’s sacrifice for political reasons rather than defensive ones. And that, Im sure for any father or concerned citizen, is enough to propel the gesture of not takeing a photo from immature to symbolic
thewisdomcube87: word
StiflyStiferson: Really?
thewisdomcube87: lol
thewisdomcube87: I guess

My husband wants to take nude photos of his mom:

My husband has his own photography business. He does a lot of weddings, and the package sometimes includes some risqué or even nude photos of the bride that are intended for the groom eyes only (as far as we know). This hasn’t bothered me in the past. My husband says it is all in a day’s work, and I believe him.

A new development has thrown me for a loop. My mother-in-law is getting remarried, and she told us she wants my husband to take the full array of pictures as a wedding gift, including the “naughty” ones, as she puts it. Before I could object, my husband agreed to do it.

What´s more is not only am I still alive, but you can call me because I have a…

 Cell phone!!!  The most ridiculous annoyance of American Culture now lives in my right front pants pocket.  But it´s simple and functional and its prepaid so when you call me its frizzzzllleee.  Here´s the trick, if you want the number you must call my mother and ask for it…  I am not about to put it online for Jesus knows who to see.