I just don’t know what to think about this who U.S. attorneys firing scandal.  On the surface it seems like yet another example of the Bush administrations willingness to sink to the lowest level in order to achieve their goals.  I’m sure we’ll hear more. 

I wonder how the president must be feeling these days, or if he even cares.  After six years of blank check governing and a Congress willing to look the other way in order to secure power, the president must be getting sick of the constant bright light on his current and past decisions.  Not that I really care.

So, I sat down last night to watch one of my favorite TV shows, Boston Legal.  This show is often political and even when I don’t agree with the political viewpoint I always enjoy the hilarity that ensues.  This is probably the best work William Shatner has ever done.  However, last night the politics just annoyed me because a good chunk of the show was spent chastising Shatner’s character, Denny Crane, because he dared criticize Israeli political decisions, in this case the invasion of Lebanon.  Denny’s girlfriend tells him that Israel is a country the size of New Jersey surrounded by people who hate the very fact that she exists, so no you can’t criticize Israel and if you do you’re an anti-Semite.  Later in the show, as Denny and Alan (always played hilariously by James Spader) sit down for their usual end-0f-show cigar, Alan tells Denny that he has a Jewish friend who says that Jews often debate the politics of Israel, but they don’t feel non-Jews have the right to do the same.

Attitudes like this just piss me off!  First of all it belittles the word anti-Semite to equate criticism of Israel with hatred of the Jewish state and all Jews.  It belittles the millions of people who died in Hitler’s ovens.  It belittles the thousands of Jews who lost their lives in the Warsaw Ghettos.  It belittles the millions of Jews throughout history who lost their lives or saw their livelihoods ruined due to European pogroms.  It is one thing to criticize Israeli political decisions because you don’t believe the state of Israel should even exist, that’s anti-Semitism; it’s another to intellectually discuss the pros and cons of Israeli politics, which can sometimes be very self-destructive.  Just because Israel is surrounded by enemies doesn’t mean it’s exempt from making mistakes and having someone call them on those mistakes.  To say otherwise is un-democratic and, damn it, un-American.  It’s like saying I can’t discuss racism because I’m not a minority.  It’s like saying I can’t discuss women’s issues because I have a penis.  That’s kind of thinking is just backwards and unproductive.