Saturn, Dubya, and the Middle East
For people interested in SETI, the finding from the Cassini mission that one of Saturn's moons may have pockets of liquid water is pretty exciting news. That gives us one more site to check out for the possibility of life elsewhere in our solar system. I've always found it highly unlikely that humanity is the only life in the Universe, or even the only intelligent life. It seems as if that would be a tremendous waste of space. Our understanding of biology and chemistry seem to indicate that the development of life is possible if conditions are right and one cannot make a convincing argument that in all of the Universe, Earth is the only place which has those conditions.
If we do find other places that can support life, the question that comes up in my mind, of course, is if we could send Bush there. I am trying to figure out why exactly he seems so eager to sell our ports to the United Arab Emirates. Since conservatives tend to put a pretty high value on American sovereignty, it seems rather strange. Then again, there's many ways in which you could reasonably argue that Bush is not a true conservative at all. After all, conservatives also tend to value civil liberties and limited government. As Senator Chuck Hagel (a Republican from Nebraska) has pointed out, Bush has presided over the largest growth of government in our history and possibly in the history of mankind.
Israeli acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seems to be another logical candidate to ship off somewhere. It seems that he is now laying out as part of his campaign a plan to determine Israel's final borders. How he plans to do that without negotiating a settlement with the Palestinians is beyond me. That combined with Israel's bizarre insistence that is has no partner with whom to negotiate seems to indicate that Israel is not all that interested in a fair and just peace. Frankly, the Israelis are getting on my nerves lately. I've always been rather pro-Israel and very vehement about then need for groups such as Hamas to cease terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. I still think that the terrorist attacks need to stop, but Israel's behavior of late is quickly going beyond what can be called reasonable.
I also have a problem with the American government supposedly wanting to encourage democracy and yet only when people elect governments that the U.S. happens to like. Yes, I understand that Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization, but nonetheless they were duly elected by a Palestinian population utterly fed up with the corruption and lack of progress toward a Palestinian state that has been the legacy of Fatah. Numerous polls show that the reason for the Hamas victory was because it was the only respected alternative to Fatah corruption and that most Palestinians reject the extreme elements in Hamas' charter and want a two-state negotiated peace. Polls also show that the vast majority of Palestinians support Abu Mazen as Palestinian president, thus further demonstrating the absurdity of Israel's "We don't have a partner" whining. Israel's partner is who it has always been: the Palestine Liberation Organization which is the recognized and legitimate representative of all of th Palestinian people.
I even read one article in which a member of Fatah was quoted as saying he wished for a return to the days of Arafat because Arafat never allowed Hamas on the ballot. Right...because barring your opposition from the ballot is such an open and democratic action. It seems to me that this recent election might have actually shown the Palestinians understand democracy very well indeed. If we are really serious about putting a democratic and prosperous Arab state in the Middle East, we should be pushing hard for a Palestinian state. The Arabs who truly want democracy and to embrace the west are not the Iraqis, but the Palestinians. I do not see how rejecting them serves any constructive purpose. I'll probably write more on all of this another time.
If we do find other places that can support life, the question that comes up in my mind, of course, is if we could send Bush there. I am trying to figure out why exactly he seems so eager to sell our ports to the United Arab Emirates. Since conservatives tend to put a pretty high value on American sovereignty, it seems rather strange. Then again, there's many ways in which you could reasonably argue that Bush is not a true conservative at all. After all, conservatives also tend to value civil liberties and limited government. As Senator Chuck Hagel (a Republican from Nebraska) has pointed out, Bush has presided over the largest growth of government in our history and possibly in the history of mankind.
Israeli acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seems to be another logical candidate to ship off somewhere. It seems that he is now laying out as part of his campaign a plan to determine Israel's final borders. How he plans to do that without negotiating a settlement with the Palestinians is beyond me. That combined with Israel's bizarre insistence that is has no partner with whom to negotiate seems to indicate that Israel is not all that interested in a fair and just peace. Frankly, the Israelis are getting on my nerves lately. I've always been rather pro-Israel and very vehement about then need for groups such as Hamas to cease terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. I still think that the terrorist attacks need to stop, but Israel's behavior of late is quickly going beyond what can be called reasonable.
I also have a problem with the American government supposedly wanting to encourage democracy and yet only when people elect governments that the U.S. happens to like. Yes, I understand that Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization, but nonetheless they were duly elected by a Palestinian population utterly fed up with the corruption and lack of progress toward a Palestinian state that has been the legacy of Fatah. Numerous polls show that the reason for the Hamas victory was because it was the only respected alternative to Fatah corruption and that most Palestinians reject the extreme elements in Hamas' charter and want a two-state negotiated peace. Polls also show that the vast majority of Palestinians support Abu Mazen as Palestinian president, thus further demonstrating the absurdity of Israel's "We don't have a partner" whining. Israel's partner is who it has always been: the Palestine Liberation Organization which is the recognized and legitimate representative of all of th Palestinian people.
I even read one article in which a member of Fatah was quoted as saying he wished for a return to the days of Arafat because Arafat never allowed Hamas on the ballot. Right...because barring your opposition from the ballot is such an open and democratic action. It seems to me that this recent election might have actually shown the Palestinians understand democracy very well indeed. If we are really serious about putting a democratic and prosperous Arab state in the Middle East, we should be pushing hard for a Palestinian state. The Arabs who truly want democracy and to embrace the west are not the Iraqis, but the Palestinians. I do not see how rejecting them serves any constructive purpose. I'll probably write more on all of this another time.