It is easy to feel horrifed at the images of Israeli planes hitting Gaza. But the context behind the attacks is that Gaza has been attacking Israeli civillians almost constantly since Israel withdrew from Gaza.

(House in Sderot hit by Qassem rocket, image from Bokertov.com)

(Injured woman in Sderot, image from BBC news)

I supported the withdrawal from Gaza. The dismatling of the illegal settlements in Gaza was a controversial move in Israel, but a necessary move. The withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza was also controversial, but necessary. Likud, the far right wing nut jobs of Israel, predicted that Israeli withdrawal from Gaza would result in increased attacks on Israel from Gaza.  read more »

I was thinking about the problem Republicans have with the economic effect of cutting capital gains taxes (wait, it gets more exciting soon). The basic effect is an oversupply of venture capital, which leads to a bubble -- the stock market bubble in the 20s, the tech bubble in the 90s, and the housing bubble in this decade. The bubble eventually bursts, and unless the rest of fiscal and monetary policy is sound, the economy is in trouble.

The key, it seemed to me, was to get rid of the oversupply of goods produced by putting all that venture capital to work. (Keep waiting; I'm getting close.) And what more obvious way to rid ourselves of excess goods than by war? War, after all, creates a constant demand for goods, which can be used to balance the excess supply, thus preventing the bubble that eventually bursts.

Then the light bulb went on (here it is) -- I wasn't the first to think of this. This theory was expressed fifty years ago in Orwell's classic book, 1984. I actually haven't read the book in at least 25 years, but the "writings of Emmanuel Goldstein" made such an impression 'way back when that they have stuck with me all those years.  read more »

The most ignored story off the day, ignored even on Daily Kos as the Edwards "scandal" hits, is the new war between Russia and Georgia. I don't know how much I can inform people about this, but it is the latest war in the trans-Caucus flashpoint that perhaps you remember includes Chechnya.

Today, Russian tanks invaded Georgia territory to support a break away Republican called South Ossetia. Georgia considered this an act of war and there is currently fierce fighting between Russian and Georgian forces within South Ossetia.  read more »

AfterDowningStreet.org has an amazing historical overview on why tomorrow there will be massive demonstrations and labor union strikes all across the country : 122 years of the 8 hour week and end of child labor, 5 years of "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq, 3 years since the discovery of the Downing Street Minutes, 2 years since the nation-wide immigration rallies of 2006, almost 2 years ago when Nanci Pelosi and Democrats in Congress and the Senate took the impeachment of George Bush for misleading the country to war, "off the table". Yet in one of the most mindboggling examples of the Bush Administration's information war against Americans, May 1st has been declared Loyalty Day.

And here's the thing : You and I know that when it comes down to it, the war against immigrants is a war against labor which is part of a larger attack from the only people who benefit from the other kind of corporate-led violence like the occupation of Iraq.

As my friend Roberto Lovato said earlier, paraphrasing ActUP, "Silence = Death". If you are like me, you hate marches but you go to them because you know that as a symbol of solidarity in dissent you need to go.

So dust off your walking shoes and get your arse to the streets and square tomorrow at 2 or 3pm.  read more »