I have been traveling since 6 PM yesterday.

I arrived at my destination today, took a nap, dressed and went to a party. Had a nice time. It was good to be among people of like minds and appreciation.

I've been following the ceasefire and heard the count down yesterday and then the failure today. 

The Diplomatic efforts aren't finding resolve. Did anyone expect the ceasefire to hold? If one has to have a countdown to begin the ceasefire why would anyone expect for it to sustain? 

I haven't looked, but, I am assuming the body counts are escalating again for the Palestinians in multiples over what may be occurring for Israel. The Palestinians are like shooting fish in a barrel. They can't escape the bombs and bullets. 

The diplomatic dynamics are noble, but skewed. If I may?

Let's take this back to Clinton. 

What is different about this picture? 

There is an Israeli authority and there is a Palestinian authority and there is a USA authority. Now, Secretary Kerry is every bit as competent as those during the Clinton years, but, what is different today? 

Did Chairman Arafat speak for all Palestinians? Did he enforce the peace regardless of the extremists? He sure did. Now, he had detractors, such as The Sheik, but he was the leader of the Palestinian people. There was absolutely no other power that superseded his authority. He had lead the PLO for decades and no one dare questioned him. So, when he agreed to conditions with Israel it was as good as gold. Yassar Arafat was the man that stood up to the world, shook his fist and stated, "Israel will not cast my people from their land."

Arafat was a very scarey character. He and his people were strong and determined. They moved mountains. 

Today, the diplomats are trying to carry out agreements with a Palestinian authority, an Israeli authority, a member of Hamas that really has no authority but acts as the organization's spokesperson, an Egyptian authority and a USA authority.

Does anyone think this is going to work? It never will. Hamas isn't Abbas. They aren't Israel. They aren't the USA. They try to be a part of the larger picture, but, the leadership is far more diffuse than centralized and why? Because so many die and the battle continues with more and more novices all the time. 

Since the death of Yassar Arafat there has been much speculation and concern about his death. There is one report stating he died of radiation poisoning. Hamas doesn't trust anyone else. They have reasons, it isn't as though they lack their facts, position and agendas. They do. But, the world doesn't recognize that and Hamas does. 

Hamas wanted this cease fire, no one will tell me otherwise, but, while the spokesperson stated they would honor the cease fire the larger number of members of the group believed they were being tricked again. They WANTED ISRAEL TO LEAVE AND THE EMBARGO LIFTED. No one gave those demands brevity and bowed to Israel. Well the rest is history.  

In order to have Hamas begin to believe their agreements mean ANYTHING, they actually have to mean something other than 'go bury your dead, fix your buildings if you can and be sure to pick up some groceries for what is left of the family from humanitarian groups." I mean, for real?  

Hamas continues it STRUGGLE while they die and their children die because they seen no end to the struggle or to the deaths. 

When the world gets real. Hamas will get real. They want something they can believe in as a sustainable CHANGE in their circumstances, not just a brief reprieve to bury their dead. They have nothing to lose. I have said this before. Every time Israel carries out these atrocities against these people there are deaths and losses of land and privileges. The Gazans know NO GAINS from agreements. When is that going to change?

Israel is wrong in every sense of the word. I believe it more today than I ever have before. It continues to be more powerful and receives concessions when Hamas receives none. This is going to continue until all the fish in the barrel are dead and Israel can once again build settlements in Gaza.

Is war too hard? Doesn't seem to be, but, war against the people within the USA borders is simple. It is especially simple when it's helpless children.

The children didn't come armed.

Look, this is a no brainer. Mr. Ted "Metrosexual" Cruz is leading the house not the Speaker. All too obvious, right? Why? 

Cruz wants the Senate to swing while the House stays Republican after November. He is ruthless and doesn't care. If the House passes an extremist bill, it will satisfy the Tea Party and their financial backers. 

It goes like this, if the Republicans can't swing the Senate they can't impeach the President. What good is the lawsuit without the capacity to impeach the President and then the Vice President. 

Do Republicans lie? Yes, like rugs. When the House passes a bill and the US Senate rejects it, Cruz believes the Republicans can lie enough to state they did their jobs and helped the immigrants but it was the Senate that failed them.

If the Republicans are going to swing the Senate they will have failed their extremist base and the financial backers like the Kochs. If the Republicans fail to swing the Senate they will lose 2016. They know they will lose 2016. Why does anyone believe they even want elections in 2016 according to the USA Constitution as it stands? 

2014 is it. This is the election where the Republicans are suppose to land the big plan. Why would an extremist like Cruz cooperate with anyone to pass a bill that is viable in the Senate or even attempts to move away from his election money and voters? Cruz doesn't care about the country, Canada or the children crossing the border. Cruz cares about Cruz. The country be damned he is going to 'run game' the way he sees fit and the rest of the right wingers are anarchists anyway.

The press treats the Republicans like a legitimate party interested in the sovereign state of the USA and it's citizens. They don't. That isn't obvious?

They don't identify the USA as a country, they identify it as a power structure. They are fools enough to believe they can actually have control of it.

July 31, 2014
By Lisa Mascaro

House Speaker John A. Boehner (click here) was always expected to have trouble passing emergency funds for the crisis at the Southwestern border -- but Republican Sen. Ted Cruz made his job impossible.

Cruz, the hard-line Texas Republican, has been working behind the scenes to stir up conservative opposition to a House GOP plan to approve $659 million to secure the border and handle the flow of 57,000 migrant youths.

And it worked. Amid disarray, House GOP leaders canceled Thursday's vote after it was clear they did not have the votes....

The tunnels have been in existence from 2003 according to FOX News. So, why now?

July 30, 2014

This newspaper (click here) has long admired Israel and its beleaguered and resourceful people, who have suffered appalling provocation from enemies intent on wiping their country from the map.

Indeed, before anyone condemns them for acting against Hamas, we should consider how outraged we would be if our government stood by while neighbours rained rockets on our towns and villages.

But it is precisely because we have such high regard for Israel that we are so profoundly troubled by the scale of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s (below) bombardment of Gaza....

Eleven years of tunnels from Gaza to Israel now numbering 35 according to Israel and all of a sudden they are a threat to every Israeli. I don't think so. The tunnels are now a part of Israel's propaganda. 

It was obvious the tunnel toured by CNN were there for a long time. Eleven years and not one incident to back up the war into Gaza. 

Corrupt USA politics where money dictates policy and political PACS support war.

The reporting at FOX rarely mentions the Palestinian dead and whey they do it is as if the dead should have known better than to allow Hamas or any other organization to exist in Gaza. Gee whiz, the Gazans made a bad choice, now they die.

First Lady Michelle Obama will receive a great deal of support for her truthful agenda for Africa.

She is quite a lady. Why will she receive support? Because women and men in the USA understand the PROMISE of opportunity.

I am not African American, but, I am a woman. I grew up understanding a large Irish American family. I had forty first cousins of which about half are women. I came from a family of three children of which all three were women. My father was as engaged with our futures as much as if we were his sons and believe me he would loved to have raised a son.

But, the support didn't stop with my father. All the men in the family fully supported the women in pursuing a future that was self-sustaining and fulfilling, including, having a family.

Here is basically how it went. My grandparents on both side of the family were first generation Americans. They were laborers. Both my grandfathers worked in the mines. My maternal grandmother was busy with eleven children, but, my paternal grandmother worked at Barbizon Factory making ladies intimate apparel. (See left margin. Vintage go for upwards of $100.00 - The ILGWU - International Lady Garment Workers Union.) None had high school educations.

My parents and all their siblings graduated High School and worked after high school. The women who remained single worked for distinguished companies. The men found work as laborers in factories that was Wall Street. It was a time when manufacturing was still viable and most men worked in that capacity at some level. Some of the men went on to work in management with only a high school diploma. Imagine that. The big bucks.

Now, comes my generation. Everyone of my cousins and their spouses have a college education. There are all sorts of professionals in the family and most of the time any problem one is experiencing can be ironed out at a family reunion.

Why this phenomena? It's America. There is opportunity. When there is opportunity there is ambition. When there is ambition and personal satisfaction within that ambition there is support for women to achieve and exceed any expectation any stereotype dictates. When there is personal satisfaction, there is happiness because there is no reason not to be.

There is nothing unusual about my family. We just did what came natural and achieved to expectations set down by our elders. It was easy. The path was laid out by those that had a vision for our futures, but, the choice of path was left to us to decide where, in this American society, we would achieve the best and be happy.

This community member states, "There is still the matter of the murders!"

July 24, 2014

By Shelby Lin Erdman

CNN - The Department of Justice (click here) announced on Thursday it has reached an agreement with the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to address a "pattern or practice of excessive force" by the problem-plagued Albuquerque Police Department.

The DOJ said the city has agreed to allow an independent monitor and the courts to oversee reforms at the police department, along with community input and involvement.

According to a joint statement, the department and the city plan to implement reform in eight areas of concern: "use of force policies, interactions with individuals with mental illness and other disabilities, tactical units, training, internal investigations and civilian complaints, management and supervision, recruitment and selection of officers, and community engagement and oversight."
"This agreement marks an important step forward in addressing the unreasonable use of deadly force uncovered in our investigation into the Albuquerque Police Department," Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday....

Mayor de Blasio has the same problem as those in Albuquerque, New Mexico; the word is out on the street. New York Cops kill unarmed civilians. In Albuquerque it was that the Swat Team was called to handle homeless citizens, practice their best technique and don't leave evidence.

The FACT there are dead minority members of New York City due to police brutality the COMMUNITY is already anticipating death when a police officer approaches. See, that is what struck me as incredible when I realized James Boyd had been bargaining for THREE HOURS with the Swat Team to INSURE his own life. That simply was the height of police terrorism. The entire city was on alert to the FACT the APD were killers. They knew when a Police officer approached it was life and death. I think it is 24 innocent people are dead. Quite a killing spree if you ask me.

Mayor de Blasio has racked up one death that was exposed by the media and now a beating with attempted murder by drawing a gun. 

This is going to stop. This is going to stop in every city. Why? Because the communities are breaking up into "us and them." That is a very dangerous place for any police department and it causes an increase in tensions that results in civil unrest. 

Mayor de Blasio needs to say what this is and it is minority discrimination and racism. Why it exists is anyone's guess, but, there is that trend in the country about the shortened longevity of young black men. It ends and it ends now.

We are keeping count.

We need to clean house.

July 30, 2014
By Michael A. Memoli 

The House (click here) vote to sue President Obama is the first such legal challenge by a chamber of Congress against a president and a historic foray in the fight over constitutional checks and balances.

Wednesday’s nearly party-line vote followed a feisty floor debate and offered a fresh example of how the capital’s hyper-partisanship has led both parties into unprecedented territory, going to new and greater lengths to confront one another....

This is the ultimate expression of racism, especially when Dick Cheney is volunteering to be President Obama's defense attorney; not literally, but he may as well have volunteered for it.

The question to Rand Paul is incorrect.

Rand Paul is consistent. He is also a Libertarian and they are staunch supporters of private anything.

Senator Paul openly admits he believes private owners have the right to conduct their business as they please while he would advise discrimination and racism is bad business.

The question Senator Paul needs to answer is; "Given your point of view regarding private business in relation to the Civil Rights Act, do you believe the social repercussions are important to communities of minorities that experience the racism and discrimination by a privately owned business? And if you don't, then why not? And if you do, then isn't there a place for government in protecting citizens from those social repercussions?"

Robert McDonnell, as Virginia's governor, ran on high moral Christian content. It is fraud no matter which way you slice it.

His greatest strength is a plea bargain.

If the marriage was over, what is with the watch?

July 30, 2014
By Gary Robertson
RICHMOND Va. (Reuters) - Former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell (click here) and his wife were barely on speaking terms when they accepted $165,000 in gifts and loans from a vitamin company executive, defense attorneys said on Tuesday at the start of the pair's corruption trial....

Gun Regulation

There is no doubt the NRA and other gun organizations will be out in full force in 2014. 

I think there are valid talking points. 

- The states with regulations can be the proving ground by statistics compared to that of other states that are wide open like Texas. There is a difference and we know it. 

- Americans owning guns are good people. They have their reasons. They also have to respect the rights of others. 

- Home invasion. This is a big deal among many communities. It is a reality Democrats can't ignore. There are good people capable of purchasing personal protection for their homes. I'll be frank here. The people in Red States that insist there is danger they need to protect from, they are absolutely correct. I know for a fact, the police response time in some of these states, cities, towns and communities is not quick enough no matter how much they practice. 

- Democrats need to demand studies regarding Home Invasion and the QUALITY of the homes this occurs with. The people that conduct Home Invasions kill. They care for no one and find a locked and alarmed home an easy target with or without occupants. So besides the USUAL reasons Americans state are important such as hunting, there is also a new reality in the year 2014 that is no joke. Home Invasion is real and to deny that is to INSURE American's fears will grow. 

- The government needs to react to community concerns. Where problems are life and death government needs to address them with studies and REAL solutions. When government solutions are lame or off target it losses legitimacy and increases the skepticism to governments ability to solve the problems of the country.

- There are few studies that I have seen whereby it is known how criminals obtain their weapons to begin to close those LOOPHOLES.

- Last point - Gun Background Checks are well accepted. 

A carrier without symptoms is not contagious.

The CDC should be conversing with the UK Department of Health and WHO to begin to derive a protocol regarding Ebola.

I trust the CDC and am confident anyone involved with the CDC and cutting edge hospitals such as John Hopkins are already up to speed on the disease.

No one wants to hear this, but, here again the airlines are going to find a loss of business. Airline passenger compartments are a closed and pressurized system. Jets also travel large distances in a short period of time, so the transportation of Ebola out of Africa is possible.

So far the isolation systems used regarding the people infected are mostly failing. There is a survival rate at this point of about 40%. The demographics of those alive should be evaluated. Young. Old. 20s. 30s. Where is the human body surviving this hemolytic disease. 

There are other hemolytic diseases, Ebola is NOT the first scientists have dealt with. Ebola may have different dynamics, but, it is not a stranger to medical science.

Hemolytic anemia (click here) is a disorder in which the red blood cells are destroyed faster than the bone marrow can produce them. The term for destruction of red blood cells is hemolysis. There are two types of hemolytic anemia, intrinsic and extrinsic:...

If the disease is not defeated in Africa and other areas of the world find the infection within their borders, I point to the isolation used by China when SARS was first discovered. It was a successful form of isolation within a hospital setting. At least it will be an excellent start.

July 30, 2014
By Kim Helmgaard and Doug Stanglin

In the United Kingdom, (click here) the Department of Health confirmed Wednesday that a man who flew into Birmingham airport recently from Nigeria via Paris was clear of the virus despite saying he felt feverish.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who chaired an emergency meeting Wednesday on Ebola with health experts, scientists and other ministers, said "the issue is about the possibility of somebody who has contracted the disease in Africa getting sick here."

"It is not about the disease spreading in the UK because frankly we have different standards of infection control procedure that would make that most unlikely," he told reporters, according to the BBC.

Two American medical missionaries working with Ebola patients in Liberia have been diagnosed with the virus.

Dr. Kent Brantly, 33, is medical director of the Ebola care center run by Samaritan's Purse on the outskirts of the Liberian capital of Monrovia, and Nancy Writebol had been disinfecting doctors and nurses working with Ebola patients.

A statement by the North Carolina-based group said both showed "slight improvement" in the past 24 hours but remain in serious condition....

...In Sierra Leone, Sheik Umar Khan, the doctor leading the fighting against the Ebola outbreak in that country, died from the virus on Tuesday, the country's chief medical officer said, the Daily Mail reports.

The best way at this point to limit the exposure of MEDICAL MISSIONS is to limit the people entering Africa. Medical missions need to think this through. If these are religious missions, the 'idea' God will protect them is not necessarily valid. The practices of anything other than PROFOUND AND PROVEN isolation and excellent practices WRITTEN by those of authority within the WHO is simply wrong. It is wrong to not place a life in the hands of any other authority than the WHO!

I realize there are many religious practices around the world and they all have their success stories, however, this disease is too dangerous to dismiss the practice of excellent isolation. Other religious practices can be accommodated outside the practice of isolation to enhance the emotional status of those infected, however, any practice that compromises isolation should never be accommodated. No sabotaging the systems that have worked and/or continue to work.

I am confident one of the aspects of this microbe the CDC and WHO will be looking at is any species mutation. Mutation can also inhibit the spread of the disease, it does not always mean the microb has gotten worse.

I am also wondering what co-morbidities the victims may have had INCLUDING other infections and/or disease. Africa also has a large AIDS/HIV population. People with healthy immune systems have died, but, is EBOLA creating an internal body environment that ALLOWS the OPPORTUNITY of other disease that contributes to the hemolytic qualities and/or death. 

There are just some things I can't let go by. While I am on the topic of "Great Leaders with Guns," kindly note the resemblance.

Why did Perry demand the National Guard? I told you so.

They are illegally conducting their activities. They are acting as law enforcement without being deputized or taking orders from a sheriff. Will any Governor do anything about them? No. Why? Because they are afraid of them. These militias were on the border long before Perry played 'Great Leader with a Gun' and asking for National Guard.

The National Guard has a task before them. They need to clean the border of illegally conducted militias. How does anyone know they aren't assisting the drug cartels? Are they the drug cartels?

What is the difference between Honduras and the USA southern border? Nothing.

July 28, 2014

By Kolten Parker

San Antonio (click here) - Militia groups along the Texas border have grown to more than 10 active "teams" from El Paso to the Rio Grande Valley, despite warnings from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and state lawmakers.

More than 30 photos showing dozens of members carrying semiautomatic rifles and wearing masks, camouflage and tactical gear obtained by the San Antonio Express-News provide a first glimpse of the militias. The armed individuals are seen posing at campsites, walking along the Rio Grande River, speaking with Border Patrol agents and pointing rifles and pistols out of frame....

This is ridiculous. It has to be taken to the world courts.

Shells hit UN school in Gaza, kill 15 (click here)

Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli tank shells slammed into a crowded U.N. school sheltering Gazans displaced by fighting on Wednesday, killing 15 and wounding 90 after tearing through the walls of two classrooms, a spokesman for a U.N. aid agency and a health official said.
The Israeli military said mortar shells had been fired from near the school, and that soldiers fired back.

Later Wednesday, the Israeli military declared a four-hour humanitarian cease-fire in parts of Gaza beginning at 3:00 p.m. Hamas had no immediate comment.

Israel has lost credibility and legitimacy. There are strong alternatives to killing Palestinians. The best alternative is to set the borders to Palestine and allow the Palestinian Authority to actually be an authority. These outcomes to Palestine is due to more than a decade of belligerence by Israel than settle the borders and begin a sustained peace.

If the Palestinian borders were established and a strong central government was already in place, not even the tunnels would exist and Palestine would have an economy that would provide services to their citizens and increase their comfort. When Palestinians don't live in fear for their lives the 'idea' hostilities is necessary will be gone.

I don't care what Israel states about other extremist groups within Gaza are firing these rockets. If the Palestinian Authority existed and mattered, the danger to Palestinians of other extremists would not be tolerated and global powers would be assisting their defeat. Due to Palestine's tentative existence the danger to the citizens exist not only by Israel's aggression, but, by other violence of other extremist groups.  

Palestinians live in chaos and threat of death on a daily basis. This is NOT what any support by the USA was suppose to be about. 

Oh no Wall Street welfare is coming to an end. Raising the minimum wage is evil.

Oh no, economic sanctions is going to cause problems.

July 30, 2014
By Investing.com

...The data (click here) showed personal consumption grew 2.5% in the three months ended June 30, above expectations for a 1.9% gain, and up from 1.2% in the preceding quarter. Consumer spending typically accounts for nearly 70% of U.S. economic growth....

4%.

I could have a full time occupation keeping up with Israel's fabrications.

Show me a tunnel that has caused death or kidnapping to Israel. There aren't any, yet, these tunnels are the most deadly weapon the world has seen. There is no evidence Israel can provide any court they had reason to invade Gaza and the tunnels are a convenient way of fabricating hate of Palestine. Every Palestinian is Hamas, you know.

July 25, 2014
By Gerald DeGroot

...Such conclusions (click here) are vast exaggerations, of course, but tunnels do exert significant emotive power. In more than 2,000 years of warfare, tunnels may have mattered more for their impact on the psychology of the combatants — both aggressors and defenders — than for their battlefield results....

According to this article in the Washington Post there is the POTENTIAL for tunnels to be dangerous. I have to believe Israel has video and proof of the existence of the tunnels. They did discover them. Those tunnels have existed a long time. They didn't spring up overnight and quite frankly the one shown on CNN was intended to last. I have very little doubt the Gazans were using them to move goods in and out of Gaza. I don't believe they were exclusively militarized tunnels for the purpose of war. 
No matter what talking head generals say about how dangerous tunnels are to attempt to close, it is a lie. More fabrication. Do you want to know how to empty a tunnel? I'll show you.

This the Bluefield Tunnel (click here) in West Virginia a few days ago. It isn't that difficult to make anyone evacuate a tunnel. And this tunnel has ventilation. Tear gas anyone?
Now I fully expect the talking head generals to instill fear of 'partial' tunnels not yet completed in Israel. Watch and see. It's coming. Partial tunnels were never a problem until now. Either Israel knows what it is doing or it doesn't. It has no valid reason to kill hundreds and thousands of innocent people. Palestine needs their own ability to monitor extremists in their lands. 
Any excuse is not a good excuse to kill Palestinians and enter Gaza. Hunting through every neighborhood in Gaza while turning night into day is not what I would call a knowledgeable reason to war.
Israel offers no proof for their war and there in lies the reason for fabrications. There needs to be a ceasefire immediately.

The aid going to Palestine is primarily into the West Bank and does in no way support war.

American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) (click here) advances the well-being of people in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon and Jordan....

There is every reason to believe whatever was being built in Gaza is being destroyed. No matter where one looks as to any Non-profit connected to Palestine there is always implications they are arming Hamas. Humanitarian aid is exactly that. There is no humanitarian aid that would have access to weapons systems or rockets. When organizations seek to promote kindness to Gaza that should never automatically implicate them in terrorism. 

If Israel is enjoying organizations that supports it's soldier, I would expect aid to Palestine be above reproach.

A USA Non-profit actually raises money for war?

Now (click here) that the ground operation has begun, we need to show Israel's soldiers we have their backs. As the brave IDF soldiers destroy terror tunnels and root out Hamas from Gaza, let's show them the support they have from around the world. Friends of the IDF is in Israel supplying the IDF soldiers on the frontlines with snack packages, toiletry kits, and undergarment kits. Let's help keep their mind focused on the battles and not their well being needs.

Well being needs, huh? 

It is only the ground based missile that is the problem, huh?

Look SURFACE to SURFACE is the problem here, not simply whether it is at sea or on land. These missiles fly under the radar and can be controlled WHILE IN FLIGHT.

I am sure BOTH Gorbachev and Reagan are rolling over in their graves right now at the deception by all parties to the treaty.

There is no defense from them. By bringing up Russia's tests beginning in 2008 under Bush (The man with the 3 page ABM document.) the USA is attempting to hide it's own military programs that place Americans at risk simply by having them on Earth. 

I might add, the only way USA intermediate and short range missiles can reach Russia is if it launched from naval ships. There is no intermediate or short range missiles that can reach the Russia from within USA borders.

The distance of these missiles is approximately 300 to 3500 miles. The distance from California to Russia is roughly 5000 miles. This argument against Russia can easily be said about the USA as well. 

February 4, 2014
By Zachary Keck

The U.S. Navy (click here) is looking into developing a submarine-launched hypersonic missile as part of its conventional prompt global strike (CPGS) program.

According to an Inside Defense article, the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs office is soliciting proposals for “two-year industry trade studies to flesh out technology options and architecture for an intermediate-range conventional prompt global strike weapon.”

The report said that the competition was part of the Defense Department’s “fiscal year 2014 plan to investigate a launcher, missile and glide body for a weapon with potential game-changing capabilities.” Top among these CPGS capabilities is to develop precision-guided ballistic missiles that can reach any point on the globe within an hour’s time.

Inside Defense went on to say that the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs office was interested in awarding one or two thirteen-month contracts, each of which would be worth $5 million and be eligible for a one year extension. The statement announcing the competition did caution that: “The industrial effort in this procurement is not intended to be a system-level development of a specific CPGS solution; instead, it is a technical trade study to evaluate technology options and compare the performance and technology cost considerations of these options.”...

The origins of the expression Human Shields was during WWII

The German Luftwaffe was supposed to have placed captured Royal Air Force and USA Air Forces in special POW camps in large German cities to prevent bombing raids. The most famous use of the expression Human Shields was during the Persian Gulf War in 1990. Saddam Hussein detained Western citizens by the hundreds to deter attacks.

It wasn't until the Taliban in 2005-6 that women and children were used as human shields. This method is illegal in 1 - 4th Geneva Conventions.

Israel itself has been accused of using detained Palestinians as human shields.

November 10, 2010
By Hanan Greenberg

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz (click here) on Tuesday demanded that the High Court review a ruling it issued last Thursday in which it declared that the 'human shield' procedure employed by the IDF when detaining Palestinian terror suspects is illegal and violates international law.

Sources at the Ministry of Defense said that Mofaz’ comments are not an attempt to subvert the Court’s decision, adding that the defense minister intends to use democratic means to revoke the ruling.

According to defense officials, the Israel Defense Forces made use of the ‘human shield’ procedure on 1,200 occasions over the last five years, and only on one occasion did a Palestinian civilian get hurt.

An 18-year-old Palestinian was killed in 2002 during one such operation....

The Geneva Conventions completely prohibits the deaths of innocent people not engaged in war and unarmed. The 'idea' of human shields until the Taliban has been the use of detained/POWs persons to give any attacks by the enemy pause. This 'strain' of human shields that Israel refers to is outside any standard definition of the military initiative. Israel states the people of Gaza are all human shields because rockets are buried in the streets. Hamas does not use schools and hospitals as stations of combat.

The entire idea an entire nation of people are used as human shields is bizarre. It doesn't hold water. The population of Gaza as of 2014 is slightly more than 1.8 million people. Currently, the approximately 180,000 have taken shelter at UN refugee camps. That hardly lends to any possibility for people to be voluntary human shields. That is bizarre. The Gazans obviously has enough freedom of movement to seek shelter where it exists. Not only are they moving freely to find shelter, they seek it. That means if there were bomb shelters for the people they would go to them to prevent their own deaths and that of their families.

This is some of the worst human rights violations I have witnessed. To think a country such as Israel can simply reek death on unprotected populations is unthinkable, yet it is happening. How did the USA and Europe ever allow this to become such a horror?

The West is suppose to be an ally to Israel, not a partner in the death of innocent people. In realizing the deaths of children that exists I can no longer consent to this human tragedy. It has to end and the Palestinians have to have a homeland with it's own sovereign borders.

The USA Police Policy is starting to look like that of USA military policy in Iraq and Afghanistan. Oops, we're sorry. The money should help.

July 28, 2014
By Hal Dardick
Clout Street

City Hall (click here) would pay out $1.2 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the mother of a high school basketball player shot by police four years ago, under a proposal to be considered this week by the Chicago City Council.

Corey Harris Jr. was 17 in September 2009, when he died of a gunshot wound to the back following a short police chase. Harris, the father of an infant daughter, played basketball at Dyett High School, where he was a junior.

He was shot by an off-duty officer near 69th Street and Eberhart Avenue in the Park Manor neighborhood in the wake of a shooting incident about a block and a half away. Police at the time said Harris was seen firing a gun before the chase started.

But according to the family’s lawsuit, Harris was with other students near Dyett when Officer Darren Wright “wildly fired a series of shots at the teenagers.” Harris was unarmed and posed no threat to the officer when he was shot, according to the suit....