FriendBurst Blog

This blog was brought to you by the letter “P”!

and a little help from Super Grover.

I’ll start with some petitions you might be interested in:

A call for international action to get China off the backs of self-imolating Tibetan monks.

A call to European leaders to make sure any bailouts go toward helping the people instead of padding CEO bonuses.

In support of OWS.

A bid to keep Rupert Murdoch from monopolizing new in Australia.

A call for recognition of the Palestinian state’s new path toward peace.

In related news the state of Palestine has just been admitted to UNESCO.  The final vote tally was 107 nations in favor and 14 against.  As you could guess, the USA and Israel were very, very against the resolution.  The funny thing was, they couldn’t really articulate exactly why it would be a bad thing.

Below is an excerpt of AP’s Matthew Lee’s questioning of Victoria Nunland over the reasoning behind the US’s outrage over the decision.

MATTHEW LEE: Going back to what you said in your opening, you said that this was—is regrettable, premature, and undermines our shared goal. Whose shared goal? Who shares this goal of the only 13 other countries that voted with you?

VICTORIA NULAND: Countries all over the international system share the goal of a Palestinian state in secure borders.

MATTHEW LEE: Why would they possibly do something—well, how could they possibly do something that you say is so horrible and detrimental to that process? How can they—how can you still count them—count on them as sharing this goal?

VICTORIA NULAND: You’ll have to speak to them about why they made the decision that they made. We considered that this was, as I said, regrettable, premature, and undermines the prospect of getting where we want to go. And that’s what we’re concerned about.

MATTHEW LEE: OK. And how does it undermine—exactly how does it undermine the prospect of where you want to go?

VICTORIA NULAND: The concern is that it creates tensions when all of us should be concerting our efforts to get the parties back to the table.

MATTHEW LEE: OK, the only tensions that it creates—the only thing it does is it upsets Israel, and it triggers this law that you said—that will require you to stop funding UNESCO. Is there anything else? There’s nothing that changes on the ground, is there?

VICTORIA NULAND: Our concern is that this could exacerbate the environment, which we are trying to work through so that the parties will get back to the table.

MATTHEW LEE: How exactly does it exacerbate the environment, if it changes nothing on the ground, unlike, say, construction of settlements? It changes nothing on the ground. It gives Palestine membership in UNESCO, which was a body that the U.S. was so unconcerned about for many years that it just wasn’t even a member.

VICTORIA NULAND: Well, I think you know that this administration is committed to UNESCO, rejoined UNESCO—

MATTHEW LEE: Right.

VICTORIA NULAND: —wants to see UNESCO’s work go forward—

MATTHEW LEE: Well, actually, it was the last administration that rejoined UNESCO, not this one. But I need—I need to have some kind of clarity on how this undermines the peace process, other than the fact that it upsets Israel.

VICTORIA NULAND: Again, we are trying to get both of these parties back to the table. That’s what we’ve been doing all along. That was the basis for the President’s speech in May, basis of the diplomacy that the Quartet did through the summer, the basis of the statement that the Quartet came out with in September. So, in that context, we have been trying to improve the relationship between these parties, improve the environment between them, and we are concerned that we exacerbate tensions with this. And it makes it harder to get the parties back to the table.

MATTHEW LEE: Since the talks broke off last September until today, how many times have they met together, with all your effort?

VICTORIA NULAND: How many times have the parties met?

MATTHEW LEE: Yes.

VICTORIA NULAND: I think you know the answer to that question.

MATTHEW LEE: Correct.

Here’s the entire video of the Democracy Now report.  I highly recommend it.  Well, I highly recommend just about anything Democracy Now puts out:

I can’t help but think this new inclusion of Palestine would help the peace process as it would be an official show of dedication to the national community on their part.  If anything it would encourage them to avoid any violence out of an effort to maintain respect on the national stage and save face.

On a lighter note, one of the best things about living in the south, aside from the crawfish, is having constant access to boiled peanuts.

Here’s  pic of a farmer’s market down this way.  As you can see, they’ve got the boiler set up for maximum peanut freshness.  They come in both regular and cajun flavor.  The regular is pretty good.  I’ve never had cajun flavored peanuts, nor could I verify if they actually taste like cajuns.

Check out that 50lbs of red potatoes for $20 deal.  It’s a pretty sweet deal but I can’t see using that many potatoes before they go bad.  Although it would be a pretty good deal to split up between a couple folks. Hmmmm…puts me in the mood for potato salad.