Only Astro has morals

I am watching an episode of "The Jetsons" where they use special glasses to predict racetrack results to win $200,000. I haven't watched this show much lately, but I am saddened at how morally corrupt George and Jane have become. How will they raise Judy and Elroy without basic principles. Get this: they don't even get in trouble -- the gag is that the IRS (Interspace Revenue Service) took most of their ill-gained earnings.

I had to turn the channel when some agents were watching them, it gave me the creeps. ...but Tyler made me turn it back.

I was watching cartoons because Arafat hijacked the news. Well, sort of. Every news channel is broadcasting events after his burial. This guy is truly an enigma. He founded a terrorist group bent on the creation of a Palestinian state at the destruction of Israel. He eventually gains control of the P.L.O. which invents airplane hijacking, but it also is the ONLY voice of the Palestinians that anyone is willing to listen to. He wins the Nobel Peace prize basically for two things: a handshake, and not appearing to call for the death of 5 million people for a few months. For the first time in decades, Israel seems to be run by someone not entirely driven by hatred, and actually proposing the removal of the most outrageous settlements. And Arafat, probably criminally insane for the last 10 years, seems to think that nothing less than the death of every Israeli would be suitable.

So, I guess the world will be interested in seeing who becomes the voice of the Palestinian Authority. Remember that a "Palestinian" is not an ethnic designation, but purely geographic. They are mostly Arabs caught in the wrong area, controlled by Israeli forces in areas gained after provocation. (I don't have a problem with Israel seizing land after the whole region attacked in 1967. But settling "pioneers" into those areas is an inappropriate use of civilians for militaristic purposes. They should have just held the land as a bartering tool to give back after negotiations.) A Palestinian could also be a Christian (lots of them, in fact), and even a Jew, occasionally.

If you are trying to gage my feelings on this issue based on my writing, good luck. I hold no one harmless in this situation. The fact that the Palestinians would knowingly use a person like Arafat as their only voice shows desperation. A desperation that should be acknowledged. (I do think the issuing of a Nobel prize is a travesty, though. Who could ever look at that as reasonable again.)

--gh