THE HEADLINES

Demographic realities in Israel. (Newscom/Christian Science Monitor

TIME TO HIT THE BACK PEDAL: DEMOGRAPHIC REALITIES WILL HAVE TO BE RECOGNIZED IN MIDDLE EAST PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.

(Antiwar.com)

While mainstream media continue to report that President Obama will not “back down” on his speech Thursday defining the pre-1967 boundaries of Israel as the “starting point” of negotiations, he appears before an Israel-friendly crowd at A.I.P.A.C. and, to the applause of the group and approval of Israel PM Netanyahu, the President “clarifies” that he didn’t mean literally a return of Israeli borders to that point in history, and “demographic realities” (that is, Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories) must be considered in “adjustments” to the new realities of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

NO BACK-DOWN:

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DRUG WAR IN MEXICO: GOOD INTENTIONS SLOWED TO A CRAWL.

(Houston Chronicle)

The Merida Initiative of the U.S. government was launched in 2008 with the intention to help Mexico with surveillance equipment and other resources in its fight against the drug cartels. In what might be described (in the most charitable terms) as a problem in bureaucratic inefficiency, the State Department reports that scarcely more than half the available funding has been spent. Although the flow of Mexican drugs to the U.S. has been somewhat diminished, this is cold comfort to Mexicans who live with the daily violence of the cartels as citizens continue to see severed heads inside duffel bags.

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AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS CONTINUES TO SUPPORT OVERSEAS MILITARISM AS CONDITION OF U.S. SCHOOLS DETERIORATES.

(Truthout)

Stephen Zunes reviews the long history of “militarism” of the AFT, going back to the days of its being headed by Albert Shanker. The union’s ability to face current challenges to public schools in the form of movements toward privatization and further dominance of corporatist approaches to school administration is impeded by a regressive foreign policy stance that alienates a growing number of its own more progressive members.

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WELFARE BENEFITS: AS MORE IS NEEDED, LESS IS GIVEN.

(Mother Jones)

As “temporary assistance” to the poor (formerly called welfare) is more in demand as the economy sputters and more Americans are falling into poverty, states are slashing their actual payments to the needy, in some states as few as 10% of them actually getting assistance. This situation is the result of the “welfare reform” of the era of the Clinton presidency, conversion from a program of “entitlement” that automatically increases support payments along with inflation, to a “block grant” system that sets a given level of assistance over a period of time without regard to inflation. Now Republicans in Congress are suggesting the conversion of Medicaid as well to the block grant mechanism that will ensure further erosion of the real income of the needy.

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“WE BUY GOLD”: HOW DO YOU GET RID OF SNIPE SIGNS? PEMBROKE PINES FL HAS AN IDEA.

(Orlando Sentinel)

Snipe signs are those notices posted on government right-of-way areas—on light poles, retainer walls, metal sticks, etc.—advertising various products and services. Many consider these signs unsightly graffiti but are at a loss to control their postings. A city in south Florida thinks it may have a solution by defining snipes as litter and issuing code enforcement citations for those caught posting them.

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Quote of the day…

By definition, it means that the parties themselves – Israelis and Palestinians – will negotiate a border that is different than the one that existed on June 4, 1967, It allows the parties themselves to account for the changes that have taken place over the last 44 years. It allows the parties themselves to take account of those changes, including the new demographic realities on the ground, and the needs of both sides.

President Barack Obama, in a speech to American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) 3 days after a speech saying the 1967 borders of Israel existing before the invasions of Palestinian-occupied territories must be the “starting point” of peace negotiations.

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