Re: My Letter to the SF Chronicle Cancelling My Subscription

Why stop there? I say everyone who doubts the credibility of the media ought to cancel all their subscriptions, cable TV, newspapers etc and write a letter telling the company why. Like,

90% of the news you report is useless infotainment, and in any case none of it ever really adds up or makes any sense, with gem ideas like "Saddam has to prove he doesn't have weapons of mass destruction". To paraphrase Sting, this is the kind of logic that ties your subscribers up and rapes them. Also, (in case of cable company) your company has a local monopoly, which I find abusive. Thus I am cancelling my subscription.

I remember when a Palestinian gunman broke into a civilian's house, disguised in an IDF uniform, broke into a little girl's bedroom, and shot her in the head.

The San Francisco chronicle called this cowardly murder "bold."

So I'd think it would be just the rag for Neo-Nazis morons like Wendi Campbell.

Your comment about the Palestinian terrorist incident is minute compared to the mega-terrorism the Israeli army and government inflicted on the Palestinian people. There is NO comparison. There is NO parity between the two.

Between the genocidal intentions of the Arab nations, the Germans, the Palestinians, and Jews trying to find a refuge from anti-Semitism

Occupying Palestine, denying its inhabitants the vote and many other things, and shooting them if they leave their homes is not “finding a refuge from anti-Semitism.” It’s both criminal and stupid. Some Palestinian Arabs also do criminal, stupid things. Israelis have been killing more Arabs than vice versa for many years. That’s just the mathematical reality. The Holocaust is not a never-expiring “get out of jail free” card for Israeli politicians any more than Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union justified what the Soviets did in Eastern Europe for the following 45 years. Being a victim is not a license to do your own crimes. It seems easy for Israeli politicians to understand this when the victim-criminals are Arabs.

Oh, the poor, poor Jews. They just want a little country to call home and find safe refuge. DUH! Jews are not poor, they are mega-rich, as a group. DUH! Any country little or big that is committing ethnic cleansing and persecuting others based on religion, race or sex, is going to be subject to intense criticism and more.

The way to find safe refuge is not to steal other people's land and kill people just because they're not Jewish.

The way to find peace is liberty, freedom, equality, and justice for all.

Get real! We the People don't think Jews are the Chosen People and above the Law or subject to another set of standards than everyone else. Jewish suffering is no more important than Palestinian suffering or anyone else's suffering. Get over yourselves already. No one likes greedy snobs who think they are better than everyone else.

"DUH! Jews are not poor, they are mega-rich, as a group. DUH!"

And where did you find this out? The Protocols of the Elders of Zion?

You're spreading blatant racism with this stereotype.

You know, American indians are getting mega rich too, with their casinos and all. Let's take away their reservations. What do they need their own land for?

There is little more pathetic or revulsive than a person trying to call valid criticism of Isreal's murderous policies in Palestine, "anti-semitism". I am sure genuine victims of predjudice - anti-semitic or otherwise - are turning in their graves.
Are you really brain-washed enough by your religion to believe rubbish like that or are we just supposed to be stupid?

Valid critisism like "all jews are rich"?
hahaha
It is sad to see that racism comes combined with such stupidness.

The nazi oppose israel the basis of naziism was opposition of jews. As to the legal basis what basis does your "law" have?

" the land only truly belongs to Palestinians."

Really? not to any of the jews? do i sense some racism here? as long as you have the right skin colour and the right religion you can be in palestine.. otherwise "go home"? is that what you believe?

So will you be kicking all of the black people out of america next? how about those asians?

you have obviously discounted the jews as there are more jews in "palestine"(israel+westbank+gaza) than muslims.

If Jews were a majority in western Palestine, why would they be afraid of a one-state resolution where everybody could vote in the same elections?

This whole conflict is about Israeli fear that integration and universal suffrage will make Jews a minority of the electorate and “destroy the Jewish state.”

That is because you are brainwashed into thinking the israelis stoped the peace process.
the palistinians dont want a democracy they want a semi monarchy (I mean the people negotiating). the palistinians would be the foirst to reject a one state solution that is ownership of palestiney israel which is unacceptible to them haha you are to the right of the lukud party.
anyway all of that is acidemic as the peace process doesnt fail due to disputes over boarders it fails over the "right of return" issue.

I really wish Zionists would stop saying "Jewish democracy"--- ha ha ha.

AS IF there could be such a thing. That's like saying America must be a "Christian democracy" or a "White democracy"--- SORRY, a democracy that discriminates against others who are not of the same ethnic background or religious beliefs is simply NOT a true democracy. End of discussion.

Not in modern civilized society. Just dream on, Zionists. As usual, you love to reinvent the meaning of words to suit yourselves and live in your little bubble of denial that everyone else can see right through.

Don't you think it's about time you dropped the whole facade? Doesn't it get extremely tiresome to have to lie all the time? Wouldn't it be nice if you could just relax and accept the fact that Israel IS going to be transformed into a true secular democracy whether YOU like it or not? Because THAT is natural progress--- not your ethno-centric, bogus "we are The Chosen People" and we are above The Golden Rule bull. Stop pushing the envelope, because you are forcing us to use "tough love" on you, like it or not. We are not going to let you bring the whole world down with your paranoic, meglomaniac, greedy, arrogant, selfish, self-centered, sociopathic, racist endeavor to maintain a Jewish supremacist state in the Middle East. So you might as well start making the transformation into a TRUE democracy before we have to do it for you.

The guy 2 posts up said: "This whole conflict is about Israeli fear that integration and universal suffrage will make Jews a minority of the electorate and “destroy the Jewish state.”

I think he was being sarcastic, but he's RIGHT. THat is what this is about. And it's legit. And it's a valid goal for Israel to want to be very careful so they can't be wiped out. It used to be a realistic fear. Now, it's more of a fear of Israel's citizens continuing to have to suffer weekly terrorist attacks. And Palestinian land is directly next to Israel, and the West bank cuts deeply into Israel. It makes sense that if Palestinians spend 35 years being led by a guy like Arafat, that for 35 years Israel maintain military control. And if Palestinians can be led by actual normal sane leaders who don't dream of wiping Israel out and HONESTLY oppose palestinian terrorist groups, that's when Israel should share the power, and eventually allow a state to be formed.

Ironically, the ottoman empire didn't allow a palestinian state to be formed out of the west bank and gaza strip. Britain didn't make it happen. Then Egypt and Jordan controlled that land and didn't make it happen. Now Israel has controlled it, and Israel is the only entity to actually offer such a thing - in exchange for attacks being stopped. But for 35 years, attacks never stopped, and the dream of wiping Israel out has taken a long time to fade away, and in many top palestinian organizations, the dream is alive and well.

My suggestion is this. It is clear that Jews and the Palestinians cannot live together. And establishing Palestinian state in west bank and gaza will not make either side better off. For Israel, there is no guarantee that the Terrorist attacks will stop, and for the Palestinians there will be not enough room for their rapidly explanding population in a region that suffers from scarcity of resources, namely water. So what to do??? Resettlement. Israel will compensate each and every palestinian with more money than he or she will ever spend in a lifetime if the Palestinians move to an arranged place "Jordan, usa, europe" that way, both parties will be better of in the "human-rights" terms. Israel will be safer and the Palestinians can live their lives to the fullest in the Arab world, and can visit israel "or their ancestral home" whenever they want, even paid by israel while they are at it.

so what you are saying tom is that we are supposed to
take in this whole country?? and what happens when the bombings start here?
what do "we do"

that is totally preposterous

You are right, the Palestinians would be better of with their brethren in the Arab world. 22 countries to choose from, all paid by Israel.

The truth is, the current state of Jordan takes up about 80% of the territory that was called Palestine from 80 years ago to about 500 years ago.

Taking into account that arab countries ethnically cleansed themselves of their jews out of anger over israel, and almost all those jews had to flee to israel and live in israel today, in an ideal world palestinians, who essentially make up the population of Jordan, would have all wound up flocking to Jordan and given citizenship. After all the wars, Israel should have just permanently annexed the west bank and gaza strip, and booted everyone out of them in the exact same way arab countries booted out their jews.

Then, the problemw ould have been over already. Jordan would have more people, which it has plenty of room for, and israel would be a bit bigger, and no one would be "occupying" anyone.

Well, muslim syria still illegally occupies christian lebanon, for decade after decade, NOT because lebanon was messing with syria, but simply because syria is muslim and they wanted control of the christian country, but no one in the world seems to care about that....

>You are right, the Palestinians would be better of with their brethren in the Arab world. 22 countries to choose from, all paid by Israel.

You are advocating ethnic cleansing, a war crime..



>Taking into account that arab countries ethnically cleansed themselves of their jews

“They do it too” is not a valid excuse for committing a war crime.



>Well, muslim syria still illegally occupies christian lebanon,

(1.) Lebanon is not “Christian.” It part Christian and part Muslim.

(2.) “They do it too” is not a valid excuse for committing a war crime.

"(1.) Lebanon is not “Christian.” It part Christian and part Muslim."

You got that right. It was majority Christian until the civil war and afterwords. Lebanon is an excellent example of successful ethnic cleansing.

That's not true. The civil war was sparked, in part, by demographics. Lebanonese Muslims tend to have larger families than Lebanonese Christians. The fascist, heroing dealing Phalange used this statistic to panic many Lebanon Christians into supporting their ruthless quest for power. lebanonese Muslims resisted. That's how the Lebanonses civil war happened.

The muslims, Hizbollah, and Syria certainly gave the Christians a lesson in ruthlessness, that's for sure.

Otherwise, your revisionist version of history is complete crap. Syrian occupation out of Lebanon! Disarm Hizbollah now!

Why do you keep trying to change the subject? Don't you want us to discuss it? Why not? Be specific.

Discuss all you want, if it makes you feel better. Doesn't change what happened, and continues to happen under muslim military rule.

is what should concern the American taxpayer, because it is we who foot the bill. If we were financing what Syria does, then by all means, we should also focus on Syria. But we don't, so we wont.. We will continue to focus on Israel.

It's not just this issue that receives one sided reporting in the Chronicle. In fact, I find the entire mainstream US media takes a side to every story they report. I have to laugh at it all. I just came back from a month in Europe. It seems news media there are able to report the facts and leave the conclusion up to the reader/listener (isn't that what journalism is all about???) It makes me wonder what image people from other countries have of us based on our news media. This just adds to the mystique of America as the sociological and cultural backwater of the industrialized world.

http://www.freelebanon.org

Free Lebanon from Syrian occupation!!!!!!

up to the top

Davis Administration Fleeces Ratepayers
Energy Settlement Refunds

Everyone knew that the Davis Administration plan to send the Department of Water Resources to negotiate electricity contracts with the generators was like sending sheep to negotiate the dinner menu with the wolves. It comes as no surprise that in the end, California ratepayers were fleeced. Every cent of the $2.1 billion in settlement proceeds must be returned to the ratepayers as a small, but crucial compensation for that folly.
--Senator Bill Morrow

As a result of the energy crisis, Californians will be forced to repay $17.4 billion in energy bonds ($12 billion in principal and $5.4 billion in interest) and $43 billion in long-term contracts, which will be paid for through higher utility bills over the next 20 years. Recently, the Attorney General agreements with various energy companies totaling $2.1 billion in cash, reduction of future energy purchase prices through renegotiated contracts, and generation equipment. Settlement negotiations are taking place with several other market participants in an attempt to recover additional proceeds. The $2.1 billion in settlement proceeds does not include California's share of the approximately $3.3 billion in refunds pending at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC).

Shifting of Funds

With little legislative oversight, some of the $2.1 billion settlement funds have been allocated for solar panels on public schools, alternative energy programs, and other projects. While some funded projects may be worthy, they have little to do with providing direct ratepayer relief. Additionally, there is no assurance that these diverted funds will be spent on schools in those communities paying for the bonds.

Resolution Calls For Putting Consumers First

I’ve co-authored Senate Concurrent Resolution 30 (SCR 30) that requests that energy-related refunds ordered by FERC, or settlement agreements negotiated by the Attorney General, the Governor, or any other agent of the state, should be used solely to provide relief to ratepayers forced to bear high electricity rates associated with the 2000-2001 energy crisis.

On July 8, 2003, SCR 30 passed the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee.

Letter to the Budget Committee

Recognizing the lack of legislative oversight over recent settlement funds, the budget committee drafted language, which attempts to limit the ability to bypass the legislative process. The proposed energy trailer bill language contained in AB 1756 fails to ensure that the direct restitution of ratepayers is the state's number one priority. Under the proposed statutory language, non-monetary settlement funds can be diverted to projects other than the repayment of debt or the reduction of utility rates. The language also does not address the diversion of funds from previous settlement agreements, nor does it apply to FERC-ordered settlements.

Members of the Senate Republican Caucus recently sent a letter to the Joint Budget Committee stating, in part:

We, the undersigned members of the Legislature, urge you to reconsider the trailer bill language adopted last week addressing the disposition of energy settlement funds. Although the proposed Government Code section 16429 provides the Legislature with oversight of energy settlement funds, it does not specify the beneficiaries of the settlement proceeds nor does it apply to settlement proceeds already allocated by the Attorney General.

Settlement Details

To date, the most significant agreements reached include:

Constellation

Rollback of future electricity purchase costs [renegotiations of long-term energy contracts]
$2.5 million [$1.25 million - deposited into the Alternative Energy Account for solar retrofits; $1.25 million to the AG]
Calpine Settlement Agreement

Rollback of future electricity purchase costs [renegotiations of long-term energy contracts]
$6 million [$ 1.5 million-Solar retrofit program; $4.5-Attorney General]
Williams Settlement

The Williams Settlement Agreement is valued at approximately $430 million. Settlement funds will be provided through electricity contract renegotiations, electricity purchase price reductions, cash and equipment.

$140 million of the cash settlement will be disbursed through 2010. The first major allocation will be as follows:

$2 million to the Energy Oversight Board for costs;
$2.75 million to the Attorney General for costs;
$2.75 million to the California PUC for costs;
$8.085 million to the Alternate Energy Retrofit at the Power Authority for the retrofit of schools and public buildings.
$4 million to a fund to be created in the California Power Authority for costs associated with citing and installation of the LM 6000 obtained through this settlement;
$1 million to the City of Oakland to promote alternative energy production or improved energy efficiency in the county;
$1 million to the City of Santa Clara to promote alternative energy production or improved energy efficiency in the county;
$1 million to Contra Costa County to promote alternative energy production or improved energy efficiency in the county;
$2.1 million to California Water Districts restricted to the construction of energy efficiency and/or reduction of pollution associated with the consumption of energy;
El Paso Settlement Agreement (June 2003)

Total of $1.625 billion Settlement Agreement in cash, long-term contract reductions, and natural gas. The proceeds will be allocated as follows:

El Paso will provide $1.5 billion in cash and non-monetary consideration. CPUC will determine how most of the ratepayer reimbursement will be allocated.
$600 million initial installment
$900 million over 15 years to 20 years
El Paso will make 3,290 million cubic feet per day of firm pipeline capacity to California.
$2 million [El Paso Executive compensation]
$125 million [Reduction of long-term Energy Contracts]
$92 million to the states of Oregon, Washington and Nevada.
(Settlement Information Source: Attorney General web-site)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Senator Morrow:
Senator.Morrow [at] sen.ca.gov

Capitol Office: Carlsbad Office: San Juan Capistrano Office:
State Capitol, Room 4048 2755 Jefferson St., #101 27126-A Paseo Espada, #1621
Sacramento, CA 95814 Carlsbad, CA 92008 San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
Phone: (916) 445-3731 Phone: (760) 434-7930 Phone: (949) 489-9838
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