Disqus - Latest Comments for CathyStripeLester

Re: 'We're surprised by the volume of patients in Gaza'

catlest — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 11:56:51 -0000

Who started abusing whom, and when? Israel started it when they invaded Palestine, killing people, kicking them out of their homes and taking over farms and businesses. They've kept up the abuse over the decades -- look at the historical record -- and lied about Palestinians. So Palestinians want to fight back? Actually that's what Israel wants; it gives them the excuse to massacre thousands more and totally destroy the area.

Re: 'We're surprised by the volume of patients in Gaza'

catlest — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 11:53:41 -0000

I hate to say it, but Hamas is far more caring than Israel. The injuries this doctor is talking about are caused by Israel, NOT Hamas, not Iran, not any other Muslims. Also, the captives who are being released testify: Israelis torture, starve and sexually abuse Palestinians. Hamas shares their food with Israeli hostages and they don't torture or sexually abuse them.

Re: SUN: A War with Iran Would Be Terrible and Take Many Young American and Iranian Lives

catlest — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 10:59:52 -0000

Iranians want a regime change, but they do NOT want someone else to change their government for
them, any more than you would want someone else to change your underwear for you.

In fact, Iran was gradually getting regime change, becoming more and more moderate, and with the nuclear
deal, it looked as if that would continue, because of the good publicity
Rouhani was getting. Now the moderates in Iran are losing influence.
The USA blathers on about human rights, women's rights, etc., but our
actions are actually putting those things at risk.

Re: SUN: A War with Iran Would Be Terrible and Take Many Young American and Iranian Lives

catlest — Mon, 29 Jul 2019 10:58:20 -0000

There's another factor: After the fall of the Shah, lots of Iranians left their country. A lot of them live in Europe and the USA, and they have caused almost no trouble. However, they have family back in Iran. Bombing Iran would result in loads of civilian casualties. We may call it "collateral damage" as if those lives didn't count, but Iranians are very family-oriented. To them, those lives would count BIGLY. The first Iranian grandmother to get killed would unleash domestic terror plots. Plus American interests and American citizens in Europe would be in danger.

Re: Notes from the Classroom: On Teaching Translation - Words Without Borders

catlest — Sat, 27 Jul 2019 12:57:00 -0000

I've been fascinated with how translations can make a huge difference ever since High School, when I read two versions of "Queen of Spades." In one version, it said something like, he was an eccentric old fellow, but the other said, "He was a queer old stick." Blew my mind! At the time I couldn't understand why no one else seemed enthusiastic over translations, so I'm delighted to hear it's becoming a recognized study!

Re: WCMU Flint, Mich. Will go Dark After FCC Auction

catlest — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 02:53:36 -0000

Yeah, I too got roped in to becoming a "monthly sustainer." And I live in a rural area, which doesn't get other PBS stations. And guess what, I just canceled my monthly contribution.

Re: New Report Exposes Thousands of Illegal Votes from 2016 Election

catlest — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 16:13:33 -0000

I approve of clearing the swamp. But I'd like some evidence that he's actually doing it...

Re: New Report Exposes Thousands of Illegal Votes from 2016 Election

catlest — Sat, 29 Jul 2017 21:56:30 -0000

This study is probably relying on something called the Interstate Crosscheck Lists. The Republicans use these lists to take legitimate voters off the voters' rolls. They work by finding people with the same name in two states, and then presuming they're the same people, and then disqualifying both. If this sounds too simple-minded to believe, check out reports by an investigative journalist named Greg Palast, who has been gathering info on this for several years. The use of these lists is true fraud, but won't lshow up on the Commission's report -- how do you identify votes that weren't cast because people went to the polls and were told they weren't registered any more?

Re: Protesters heckle pastor during opening prayer at Republican town hall meeting

catlest — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 22:23:20 -0000

I happened to be at the meeting (in the video, I can spot my son standing at the back, but I'm too short to show up). I can tell you that many Christians were unhappy with the prayer just because we thought it was inappropriate for a political meeting meeting. Most political meetings do NOT start with a prayer. Others could have accepted a brief blessing but they were irritated that it wasn't a general non-denominational prayer. Not all of us are Baptists, y'know!
Part of the problem with religion and politics is that when politicians identify themselves with a particular religion, then they're sort of taking a stand that opposing them is opposing God's will. NOT what God intended when he blessed our land with freedom and democracy.

Re: How James Mattis Could Bust Our Political Correctness About Islam

catlest — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 14:18:46 -0000

Lebanese Christians and Muslims got along well until the civil war (largely fomented by Israel). But the Christians haven't been forced out, on the whole. Most of them are still living there. People in Lebanon who WANT to be repatriated are the huge number of displaced Syrians who are living in refugee camps. Those Syrians, and the Lebanese Muslims, hate ISIS, by the way.

Re: How James Mattis Could Bust Our Political Correctness About Islam

catlest — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 12:32:29 -0000

The Palestinians didn't set out to "conquer" Lebanon. They were perfectly content to be living at home in Palestine until the Israelis forced them out. Personally I believe the Israeli action was an act of war. But of course they're our allies, so we can't accuse them of THAT...

Re: How James Mattis Could Bust Our Political Correctness About Islam

catlest — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 12:25:59 -0000

Actually, I'd put the number of peaceable Muslims much higher than 70%. It's a common misperception that the ones who aren't acting are "silently encouraging" but more often they're silently disapproving. Another misconception is that mosques encourage violence, but actually the vast majority of mosques do the opposite. There has even been research that shows that Muslim youth who go to established mosques are LESS likely to become radicalized. The problem is that some self-proclaimed "Imams" set up radical store-front mosques and pull in disaffected youths. Established mosques are aware of this but they can't do a lot to stop it.

As for gays being killed, again the problem is not that someone goes to church and then goes out to kill themselves a gay guy, it's that a lot of angry males may not have a strong church affiliation but they just hate gays. So when one gets murdered (and plenty of gays do get murdered and/or beaten up), it can be by a nominal "Christian" but nothing to do with a preacher.

You're right that a lot of Muslims speak out against the terrorists. In some cases, like the case of refugees, they themselves are victims of ISIS or other radicals. I think the voices of those who DO speak out could be heard better if our media gave as much attention to them as they do to some of our far-out politicians.

Re: Iranian Opposition, Rights Experts Call for Syrian, Iranian Leaders to be Brought to Justice

catlest — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 13:39:59 -0000

NCRI is a front for the MEK, a violent pro-Iraq group that has been classified as a terrorist group in the past. Their agenda is to get the USA into a war with Iran, so that we can topple Iran's regime and put themselves, the MEK, in power. Unfortunately, they talk about democracy and human rights but they're even more extremist than the current Iranian regime. They have carried out numerous atrocities in Iran and are universally loathed by the Iranians. The USA should not support them in any way. However, they have given big donations to a lot of congress critters, so they're getting a hearing in the US congress these days.

Re: How James Mattis Could Bust Our Political Correctness About Islam

catlest — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 16:13:30 -0000

Ah, yes, Lebanon. It used to be evenly split between Christians and Muslims, until the state of Israel evicted hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Now the Muslims are in the majority. But they didn't exactly "conquer" it. We have to be able to look at consequences down the road, and that's why free and accurate discussions are so valuable.

Re: How James Mattis Could Bust Our Political Correctness About Islam

catlest — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 13:41:53 -0000

Muslims haven't conquered any non-Mulsim countries in the past 100 years. Anyhow, expel them from all their countries... to where? The moon? All the other countries are occupied.

Re: How James Mattis Could Bust Our Political Correctness About Islam

catlest — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 13:33:49 -0000

Thanks for your perceptive message. I'd like to add that part of the reason our current government doesn't like to talk about "extremist Islam" or "islamism" is exactly because the average American doesn't see any difference between extremism and "Islam" in general. Then they wind up blaming all Muslims for the acts of a few. And that SO undermines our efforts to keep the moderate Muslims on our side.

Re: Gen. Boykin: Radical Muslims 'Are Going to Infiltrate Every Element of Our Society, Including the Church'

catlest — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 22:19:34 -0000

Thanks, Mahmoud.

Re: Gen. Boykin: Radical Muslims 'Are Going to Infiltrate Every Element of Our Society, Including the Church'

catlest — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 21:51:12 -0000

I worked in the Middle East, including in Iran and Saudi Arabia, for 12 years and never saw any so-called "days of anger". Sorry, but I think this is something someone made up.

Re: Gen. Boykin: Radical Muslims 'Are Going to Infiltrate Every Element of Our Society, Including the Church'

catlest — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 21:42:58 -0000

Nur al-Masih Ben Haq, why are you posting such vitriolic -- and ignorant -- attacks against Muslims under a Muslim-sounding name? I lthink you're imitating General Boykin's idea, posing as a Muslim in order to attack them.

Re: Gen. Boykin: Radical Muslims 'Are Going to Infiltrate Every Element of Our Society, Including the Church'

catlest — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 21:39:18 -0000

You're talking about Saudi Arabia I presume? With its cozy ties to the GOP, which tried to ditch Trump?

Re: Gen. Boykin: Radical Muslims 'Are Going to Infiltrate Every Element of Our Society, Including the Church'

catlest — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 21:37:44 -0000

Try reading the book of Joshua. Then read some of the history of Christianity, in which the various popes and kings sent out armies to convert pagan Europeans. You have heard of the Crusades, too? Something people forget was that there were crusades against Eruopean pagans. Of course the Spanish and Portuguese in Sough and Central America converted the Indians by war and violence.

Re: Leaked Email: Israeli Officials See Obama as ‘Weak,’ ‘Pro-Muslim,’ ‘Anti-Israel’

catlest — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 16:08:08 -0000

Poor little Israel! They told us to attack Iran, and nasty big USA stood up to them and made a peace deal instead! So they call us weak? Har, har, har.

Re: Is America Losing 'The Iran Wars'?

catlest — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 15:54:00 -0000

If American business interests would take a cool look at Iran instead of getting hysterical, they might notice that: 1. Iran is a nation of businesspeople. 2. Iran's population is young and pro-American. 3. They love US products and want to import them. (I visited there a few years ago and noticed a ton of US-imitation but made-in-China things for sale. However, people told me they really wanted "the real thing" -- and this isn't just aircraft parts, but everything from powdered juice mix to Barbie dolls.) Europe is already taking advantage of this -- I'm irritated that our American businesspeople are holding us back and dragging their feet.

Right now Iranian hard-liners are cracking down on the Iranian people because they're afraid of losing power. All the signs point to increasing influence of the Iranian moderates who really want to do business with the rest of the world and don't give two hoots about having nukes. The more we empower that sector, the more we undermine the hard-liners. It isn't going to happen overnight, but if we can avoid knee-jerk phobic reactions and get to understand how they really think, we actually do have a good chance of bringing Iran into the community of nations.

Destabilization: Iran mainly sponsors Shi'as who are defending themselves against Sunnis and/or Zionist interests. Compare with what Saudi Arabia sponsors: Wahhabi super-fundamentalist schools that created the Taliban, leading to Al-Qaeda and ISIS. I'd say the Saudis are a much bigger destabilizer than Iran.

Two years ago we had Israel trying to bully us into attacking Iran. Or letting Israel attack Iran, in which case the USA would have got the blame and suffered as a result. Our own Congress (a large part of them) was eager to "take on Iran." Considering that Iran has a much larger population than Iraq, and is relatively unified, unlike the Shi'a-Sunni-Kurdish split in Iraq, any war with Iran would have been a nightmare, as many of our own military leaders ponted out (though not many of the war hawks listened to them). Thanks to Obama we managed to hold off the war hawks and get a deal whereby Iran is not allowed to have nuclear weapons, EVER.

Now, you can't do a "deal" and just take without giving. We said we'd lift sanctions. So far Iran has kept ltheir part of the bargain but the USA has dragged their feet on the sanctions. Still, with the sanctions even partly lifted, Iran is set to become a strong economic power in the Middle East. They were that before the Revolution, so who's surprised they could again? Tom Friedmann once pointed out that nations that have McDonalds have never attacked each other because they have too many economic interests in common. Come on, US businessmen!

Re: House lawmakers call on Obama administration to oppose Iran joining global trade body

catlest — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 14:29:32 -0000

The USA wants to "normalize" Iran and "bring it into the community of nations." History shows that when countries do business with each other they're far, far less likely to attack each other. Are we in the USA advocating two opposite things here, by wanting Iran to be part of the civilized trading world but not wanting them to join the WTO? Or is it just a few dumb congress critters who think the USA should only demand, not bargain with anyone? P.S. Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly the world's biggest sponsor of terror, since the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and ISIS came directly from their fundamentalist Wahhabi influence.

Re: Will the Middle East Ever Be Secular?

catlest — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 18:17:18 -0000

Totally beside the point. I agree, the 9-11 attackers were abhorrant fanatics who wouldn't listen to anybody, but they were rogue agents, and this article is talking about governments of whole countries.