SS writes: I'll say it for Julie. *First of all, I suggest that you don't speak for others. Julie is perfectly capable of expressing her own opinions. You're an anti-semite. I won't beat around the bush. Your family credentials add a little surprise to the mix, but your words matter more. At every turn you've found a way to make Israel look bad. It's not Sharon or Olmert you've criticized -- as I've criticized Bush and the Republican government -- but Israel. Your views are not tempered with a larger perspective that your background and obvious intelligence would suggest you have. I'm disappointed that that's the case. I would like to learn from you. It's clear I can't. *If you think that criticizing Israel amounts to anti-semitism then probably indeed we haven't got too much to talk about. Yes, I do believe that Israel's violent and oppressive policies toward the Palestinians, the Lebanese, its own non-Jewish minorities etc. over the years are not due solely to personal failures of several politicians. People like Sharon and Olmert were elected for certain reasons, and they had reasons to formulate the political programs they did and to act as they did. I think that an analysis of Zionist ideology and the ways it has entrenched itself in Israel's political, military, and religious establishment, as well as in the organizations promoting Israel's interests abroad, is what is needed rather than just superficial criticisms of whoever happens to be the current prime minister. The US appalling foreign policies are also due to deeper structural problems of the American political system and even the American society rather than just the personality of the current President and no, I don't think that a Democrat victory in elections would change much. If you want to call me anti-semitic or anti-American on the grounds of these views I guess that you are entitled to do so, but I on my part am entitled to not take your opinions at all seriously. O.K. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html