:: Diary of an Aging Protester ::

:: 5.03.2003 ::

Another One Bites the Dust
Israeli soldiers killed another journalist in the occupied territories. One more in a series of devastating murders of both activists and journalists in the past few months. As reported in The Independent UK

Mr Miller is the third foreigner to be killed or seriously wounded in Rafah in recent weeks. Tom Hurndall, 21, a peace activist from north London, is still in a coma after being shot in the head by Israeli troops three weeks ago.Witnesses said that he was shot by an Israeli soldier stationed in a military watchtower as he stooped to pick up a Palestinian girl.

And an American, Rachel Corrie, 23, also a peace activist, was killed on 16 March when she was run over by a bulldozer which she was trying to prevent from demolishing a Palestinian house. In the West Bank another American peace activist, Brian Avery, 24, was shot in the face in the town of Jenin on 5 April.

It scares me that the US condones such behavior; there is never any condemnation by the admin. despite its supposed promotion of palestinian statehood in the upcoming sequel to Bombing Baghdad known as the Road Map to Peace, but always a finger wagging at the latest suicide bomber. The tide is turning, indeed. The paranoia that the Israel military cultivates through its intense terror campaigns results in an anything goes mentality. I can see this same anxiety beginning to infiltrate american military personnel in Iraq--last week 20 people were killed in Fujula for demonstrating against US presence in an elementary school. Accusations that they (the demonstraters) fired first was suspect since no soldiers were injured. So were these perps just bad shots or did stone-throwing children set the the US troops off? It's amazing to me that stone throwers get shot dead in the West Bank...all the time. We're not talking Uzis, or AK-47s, but stones.
:: posted by Doreen on 4:20 PM [+] ::
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Update on Me
I've been out of commission, not blogging for a week, and instead picking up the odds and ends of the semester, going out and socializing a bit, and trying to quell an illness of some kind--have been very very tired, achy, icky. Burn-out maybe? I still have some grading to do over the weekend and then I'll be done. In the meantime, I worked today cleaning houses. Since my original employment gig teaching pre-college classes at Emory tanked, cleaning houses will be my bread and butter until fall semester starts up. For some reason, this menial work is rather comforting, demanding careful concentration on the one hand but unlike teaching and scholarly work, I can be emotionally detached.. And Johnny, who I'll be working for, is pretty fun and laidback. And most importantly I get to see how people live, where they live, and how they furnish their homes--a favorite pastime of mine. Funny enough, both of the places we cleaned yesterday were heavy on the manly accoutrements: the condo's owner was a middle-aged gay guy, and the house in VA/HI was a young straight couple, but being from the south (I assume), their homes were fitted out in very sporty motifs. In one, a stuffed pheasant attached to a wall, in the other portraits of english hunting scenes in the other; in one, antiquarian books on guns; in the other, heavy oak furniture, and pillows galore. As Johnny said, for all his manliness, he can't keep the queer out of him. Just look at all these pillows!
:: posted by Doreen on 6:21 PM [+] ::
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A Carnival Ride
I just want to say that seeing Bush in his little fighter pilot outfit on board the USS Abraham LIncoln really made me sick to my stomch. Here is a man that views war as some carnival ride, some thrill that he's never experienced since he jumped ship back during Vietnam when he could've done the Real Thing. Now he's acting as if he's some veteran who's paid his dues, walking on board with his smug smile, pleased that he didn't vomit on the crash landing said to be part of the experience of being on an aircraft carrier. Who the hell is he kidding? I just couldn't watch it.Oh well, not all is right, Mr. Bush. Not all is right with the world as you say it is. War on terror: Has the tide turned?
:: posted by Doreen on 6:07 PM [+] ::
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