Clipmarks | abailart's 'annapolis' clips

When "NO" isn't rape!

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 23:37:27 GMT

clipped by: smagnolia
clipper's remarks: I find this repulsive, archaic and sad.

Court: Woman Can't Say No After Start Of Sex

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- An appellate court said Maryland's rape law is clear -- no doesn't mean no when it follows a yes and intercourse has begun.

A three-judge panel of the Court of Special Appeals Monday threw out a rape conviction saying that a trial judge in Montgomery County erred when he refused to answer the jury's question on that very point.

The appeals court said that when the jury asked the trial judge if a woman could withdraw her consent after the start of sex, the jury should have been told she could not. The ruling said the law is not ambiguous and is a tenet of common-law.

The decision startled activists who believe people have the right to say no at any time. Jennifer Pollitt Hill of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault called the law "insulting and dangerous."

Montgomery Delegate Jean Cryor said the Women's Caucus of the General Assembly would likely examine the decision during the next legislative session.

Tags: rape, law, court, maryland

Jews against Zionism

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:18:56 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: I have clipped this not to promote a point of view but to offer those who care to know the many strands of perspectives on Israel an opportunity to go and look at some sites that explain that by no means all Jews support the state of Israel or its Zionist ideology.

Clip Source: www.nkusa.org

March 21, 2008:

Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews in London and New York burn the Zionist flag on Purim.

March 15, 2008 London, England:

Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews in London rallied and demonstrated in protest of the ongoing siege of Gaza

March 18, 2008, New York City

Orthodox Jews join other organizations in protest against the recent horrific atrocities in GAZA and to protest the "Friends of the Israeli Defense Force" dinner.

January 26, 2008, London, Washington, New York:

Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews in London, New York and Washington DC demonstrated in protest of the atrocities in Gaza.....

November 27, 2007, Annapolis, MD:

Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews demonstrated outside the US Naval Academy in Annapolis during the Mid-East Peace Talks Conference

November 2007, Palestine:

Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews joined Palestinian protestors demonstrating against the Zionist demolition of homes.

Clip Source: www.jewsnotzionists.org

Jewish anti-Zionism is not restricted exclusively to the well know Jewish anti-Zionist movements such as Satma

Tags: israel, jewish anti-zionism

Cigarette Tax Burnout

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:55:36 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks:

In New York City and State, tobacco taxes have been raised so many times that the retail cost can exceed $9 a pack -- about double the national average. Few budget-savvy smokers in the Big Apple pay that tax. Patrick Fleenor, an expert on tobacco taxes at the Tax Foundation, estimates that there is "now a 75% gap between cigarette sales in the city and cigarette consumption." In other words, three out of four cigarettes are bought elsewhere or are contraband.

In New Jersey, about 40% of the Marlboros and Virginia Slims that are lit up escape the $2.57-a-pack tax. In Washington State, evasion was so rampant that the legislature decided in 2005 to lower the 75% tax on cigars and other tobacco products as a way to raise revenue and help state retailers.

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

Politicians in Annapolis are scratching their heads wondering what happened to all those chain smokers who were supposed to help balance Maryland's budget. Last year the legislature doubled the cigarette tax to $2 a pack to pay for expanded health-care coverage. Eight months later, cigarette sales have plunged 25% and the state is in fiscal distress again.

As House Majority Leader Kumar Barve put it, fewer people smoking is "a good thing." Yes, except that Maryland may be losing retail sales more than smokers. Residents of Maryland's Washington suburbs can shop in nearby Virginia, where the tax is only 30 cents a pack, and save at least $15 per carton.

The Maryland pols are so afraid this is true that they've made it a crime for residents to carry two packs of cigarettes that weren't purchased in the state.

Out-of-state purchases, tax-free Internet sales and a cigarette black market are booming.

Tags: taxes, government, tobacco

Religious Right in Israel Pray for God to Oust 'foreigners'

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 08:05:27 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Another factor to be taken account of.

Clip Source: www.haaretz.com

Thousands of people led by former chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu gathered on Monday night near the Western Wall and prayed. They did not pray to heal the sick, nor for the soldiers' safety. They did not beg forgiveness for their sins, nor did they take oaths. They gathered near the remnants of the Temple to ask for God's help in causing failure at the Annapolis summit.

In their prayers, those gathered sought help in countering any threat to divide the land, and their rabbis published a statement saying that "there is a strict religious ban on giving parts of the Land of Israel to foreigners,

It is one thing to bargain over security arrangements and the border, and an entirely different thing to fight for our forefathers' claims to the entire country based on religious texts. The approach of the people who met Monday near the Western Wall is a recipe for endless bloodletting

Tags: israel, annapolis, mideast peace, fundamentalist judaeism

Middle East documents

Mon, 19 May 2008 22:33:51 GMT

clipped by: Johanna_G

Clip Source: www.bitterlemons-international.org

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, November 29, 1947

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194, December 11, 1948

Fourth Geneva Convention October 21, 1950

Peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, March 26, 1979

Brussels Declaration: Give peace a chance--Women speak out of May 1-5, 1989

The Declaration of Principles ("Oslo Accords") of September 13, 1993

The Jerusalem Link (between Bat Shalom and the Jerusalem Center for Women) of August 2, 1996

The "Clinton proposal" of January 7, 2001

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1397, March 12, 2002

Resolution of the Arab League Summit on March 27 & 28, 2002

The Bush Plan of 2002, June 24, 2002

The Ayalon-Nusseibeh Plan signed on July 27, 2002

The published Quartet "roadmap" of April 30, 2003

The Geneva accord

October 20, 2003

The International Court of Justice decision on "Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory," July 9, 2004

The Annapolis Declaration of November 27, 2007

Tags: middle east, israel, palestine, egypt, jordan, un resolutions, geneva convention, brussels declaration, oslo accords, arab league

Records show McCain was NO Hero

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:46:29 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Here's some readin for all you hero worshippers to chew on. See the truth about this war criminal for once. Even as he was bein shot down he made sure he delivered his bombs on the people of Vietnam ...and got a medal for it. urrrrg.

Clip Source: www.pensitoreview.com

Do internet news sites and blogs go over the top in questioning John McCain’s
military record? It seems that more and more groups are questioning whether or
not his record is worthy of the praise he’s receiving:

McCain’s military record is fair game The War Secrets Sen. John McCain Hides

FACT SHEET: Military record of John Sidney McCain III

McCain’s Military Record Shows He Is Unfit To Be President

McCain’s Secret, Questionable Record

Flummoxed By Vietnam Vet, McCain Falsely Claims He ‘Received Every Awars…

McCain’s military record

Is McCain’s War Record Fair Game?

Does John McCain’s Military Record Really Qualify Him to Be President?

McCain’s Spotty Military Record Is Declared Off the Table - And Obama Appears to Accede

Clip Source: enewsreference.wordpress.com

Analysis: Privilege and Arrogance, McCain's Annapolis Years

John McCain's Military Record

ASSASSINATION of P.M. pays; TERRORISM pays in Israel

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 12:35:05 GMT

clipped by: righthand

Clip Source: www.haaretz.com

web

Yigal Amir's thousands of sons By Haaretz Editorial

38 percent of the religious public view Yigal Amir as a hero. The Rabin legacy is in fact the anti-Rabin legacy

the legacy will be updated to become an anti-Olmert legacy

The rally in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square was a protest against Amir and his growing status

the problem is not Amir's biological son, but rather his spiritual sons, who walk among us by the thousands

Most will make do with prayers hoping the talks fail; a minority might resort to violence, bolstered by Amir's success.

The preoccupation of the media with the assassin and not the assassin's legacy blinds the public to the real danger.

You cannot preach democracy to those who scorn it, and who consider the land of Israel more important.

wisdom certainly does not reside with one side or the other. We should and must debate Annapolis like Oslo

as long as common ground exists between those involved in the debate, including a desire to reach an end to the conflict with our neighbors

Tags: rabin, assassination, religion, israel

Palestine and Israel's Right to Exist

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:27:21 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Hopefully an eventual outcome of Annapolis, even if little is achieved, will be more on the move to removes the lingering denial of Israel's legitimate existence.

Clip Source: www.haaretz.com

My heart goes out to the Palestinians. Not only because their entire world has become one of despair, immobility, bloodshed, disillusionment, crumbling infrastructure, crumbling history, crumbling horizons

Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the Palestine Liberation Organization, declared Monday that the Palestinians will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

What matters is whether the Palestinians can live alongside a state which happens to be Jewish in character.

Most Jewish Israelis

accept the idea of an independent Palestinian state, in which the dominant religion will certainly be Islam.

Never mind the fact that leftists the world over can live with the concept of explicitly Muslim states teaching the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and other explicitly anti-Semitic texts, while arguing that the very idea of a Jewish state implies and, in fact, compels racism against non-Jews.

Palestinians are either going to have a state alongside a Jewish state, or they can choose to have no state

Tags: hamas, israel, palestine, plo

Whose Road Map? US Dismissed UN242 in 2004

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:17:11 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.zmag.org

The missing piece, the crucial document that subverts any viable two-state solution, a factor in Israel's strategic considerations mentioned by Olmert as an aside only a few days ago, is Bush's letter of April, 2004, to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon. This little-noticed document fundamentally changed the parameters of what is to be discussed in any "peace process" and what Israel's obligations are under the road map.

The essence of the Bush letter, which was subsequently ratified by the House of Representatives by a vote of 407-9 and by the Senate by 95-1, is the following passage: "In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949."

t Bush fatally but knowingly undermined UN Resolution 242, the very basis of the two-state solution since 1967 and of his own road map initiative,

Tags: un242, green kine, palstine, israel, annapolis

Iran tests new ballistic missle

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:25:43 GMT

clipped by: topsailangler

Clip Source: www.google.com

Iran tested a newly developed ballistic missile on the day of Annapolis conference, Channel 10 News reported Wednesday.

The missile has a range of 2,000 kilometers, and is capable of reaching Israel, US Army bases in the Middle East and eastern European cities, including Moscow

The peaceful, non trouble-making, stabilizing Iranians are building longer range missiles, hmmmm wonder what for? I mean our reliably clueless intel apparatus has just assured us they are not working on nuke weapons, so shouldn't be a problem. HA!

Tags: iran, military, missile

Palestinian TV erases Israel from map

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:19:30 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: littlegreenfootballs.com

Palestinian Authority TV Erases Israel from Map

The day after Annapolis, Palestinian Authority Television shows viewers a world without Israel.

Video here. (Windows Media format.)

Tags: palestine, tv, media, israel, politics

McCain's Annapolis class rank? 894 out of 899

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:19:57 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: This is breaking new ground: he could be the first President from the bottom of his class. [By comparison, Obama's rank at Harvard Law: 1]

Clip Source: www.236.com

What do you call the person who graduates fifth from the bottom of his class at Annapolis? The Republican Party nominee for President. That's right. Senator John McCain actually graduated 894th out of 899 middies at the Naval Academy. Only five other crew cuts achieved less than John McCain did in his class at Annapolis.

Tags: mccain, obama, elections

Al Jazeera interviews Tony Blair

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:41:27 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: who is special envoy to the Middle East for UN, US, EU and Russia

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

In an exclusive interview, Tony Blair, the special envoy to the Middle East for the Quartet of the UN, US, EU and Russia tells Al Jazeera that in order to bring peace to the region more help is needed to get the Palestinians in a position where they can build the institutions of their own state

He also argues that the difference between Annapolis and previous peace conferences is that the entire international community, including Israel, now see a two-state solution as a priority

Al Jazeera: Can you please put us in the picture of your tour in the region - what are you planning to do after Annapolis and before Paris?

Q: However, giving assistance is one thing and whether or not it is reaching all Palestinians is something else... is that not so?

Q: You are talking about assistance with billions of dollars and those living in Gaza do not have clean water to drink, they do not have electricity, they do not have ambulances and their life is really difficult

Will peace cost me my home? Any Mideast pact must give Palestinians the right to return home

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 17:25:02 GMT

clipped by: Rasmus
clipper's remarks: Ghada Ageel is a third-generation Palestinian refugee. She grew up in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza and teaches Middle Eastern politics at the University of Exeter in Britain.

Clip Source: onlinejournal.com

For two years, I have been unable to return to my home in Gaza. In 2006, I was stranded in the Sinai with my two small children, unable to get through the closed border from Egypt into Gaza. It is perhaps madness to want to enter such a prison, but it is where my family and loved ones live. I eventually gave up. Last summer, I tried and failed again.

it is fundamentally racist to believe that I would pose a threat to Israel if I were to move back to my family's village (which I would do if I were given the option). The notion of a Jewish state that must always retain a Jewish character -- so that people of other ethnicities can be barred from living in their ancestral homes and minority groups are treated as second-class citizens -- is frighteningly similar to the apartheid state of South Africa, where different ethnic groups were treated unequally under law.

Tags: annapolis, refugees, palestinians

Why McCain would be a mediocre president

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:39:57 GMT

clipped by: boniface
clipper's remarks: A lot more McCain failures listed on the article.

Clip Source: www.marketwatch.com

It's not a given that Republican candidate has the right stuff

Is McCain fit to lead America?

That question hasn't been asked, nor has it been answered.

A careful look at McCain's biography shows that he isn't prepared for the job. His resume is much thinner than most people think.

Like the current occupant of the White House, McCain got his first career breaks from the connections and money of his family, not from hard work.

The son and grandson of Navy admirals, he attended Annapolis where he did poorly. Nevertheless, he was commissioned as a pilot, where he performed poorly, crashing three planes before he failed to evade a North Vietnamese missile that destroyed his plane. McCain spent more than five years in a prison camp.

McCain hasn't accomplished much in the Senate. Even his own campaign doesn't trumpet his successes, probably because the few victories he's had still rankle Republicans.