Sen. Kit Bond

It may be and end of an era in Missouri politics. Reports say the U.S. Senator and former governor Kit Bond may not be seeking re-election in 2010, leaving the door open for candidates from both sides in a campaign that starts… NOW!

According to reports, Israel said today that while an Egyptian-French proposal for a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip looked promising, more conditions must be met before an end to the 12-day conflict can be achieved. At least 630 Palestinians and nine Israelis have been killed so far.

This week’s event, sponsored by the Jewish Federation of St. Louis and the Jewish Community Relations Council will start at 7:00 PM at the Jewish Community Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive.

No packages, backpacks, signs on sticks, etc. will be allowed into the event. For more information contact the Jewish Community Relations Council at 314-442-3871.

When: Thursday, January 1st from 4-6pm

Where: Corner of Lindell and Grand, St. Louis, MO

According to organizers, members of the Instead of War Coalition plan to raise awareness everyday until the current military action stops.

So far over 400 people — almost all Palestinians — have been killed and over 2,000 wounded in Gaza over the past five days in a series of Israeli attacks. The Coalition points out that the weapons responsible for the causalities made by and paid for by the U.S.  “We are committed to asking for an immediate cease-fire and an end to the inhumane siege and blockade of Gaza,” say protest organizers in a press release.

The Instead of War Coalition had a vigil on Sunday evening with over 200 participants. According to IWC, an estimated 120 people gathered on Monday in front of Senator Kit Bond’s office and 100 on Wednesday in front of Congressman Russ Carnahan’s office “calling for the Senator to commit to funds for Israel’s aggressive military campaign.”

From the press release:

These cold-blooded killings come on top of an Israeli imposed siege on Gaza designed to strangle the life of the Palestinians living there, by denying them adequate fuel, food, medical supplies and power. It is unmistakable that Israel carried out these attacks with F16 fighter jets and missiles provided by the taxpayers of this country. From 2001-2006, the United States transferred to Israel more than $200 million worth of spare parts to fly its fleet of F16’s. In July 2008, the United States gave Israel 186 million gallons of JP-8 aviation jet fuel. Last year, the United States signed a $1.3 billion contract with Raytheon to transfer to Israel thousands of TOW, Hellfire, and “bunker buster” missiles.

In short, Israel’s lethal attack on the Gaza Strip could not have happened without the active political and military support of the United States. Israel is scheduled to receive 670 million dollars in military aid from the United States in 2009. Missouri’s Congressional leaders must stop funding Israel’s aggressive military campaign in Palestine.

Al-Qaida just pissed off a whole bunch of black folks.

The AP reports Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri insulted President-Elect Barack Obama in the terror group’s first reaction to his election, calling him a demeaning racial term implying that the president-elect is a black American who does the bidding of whites.

The message appeared chiefly aimed at persuading Muslims and Arabs that Obama does not represent a change in U.S. policies. Al-Zawahri said in the message, which appeared on militant Web sites Wednesday, that Obama is “the direct opposite of honorable black Americans” like Malcolm X, the 1960s African-American rights leader.

Al-Zawahri also called Obama — along with secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice — “house negroes.”

Speaking in Arabic, al-Zawahri uses the term “abeed al-beit,” which literally translates as “house slaves.” But al-Qaida supplied English subtitles of his speech that included the translation as “house negroes.”

Click here to view the embedded video.The message also includes old footage of speeches by Malcolm X in which he explains the term, saying black slaves who worked in their white masters’ house were more servile than those who worked in the fields. Malcolm X used the term to criticize black leaders he accused of not standing up to whites.

Oh — no — he — didn’t!

Anger aside for a moment, I believe Al-Qaida’s leaders are realizing what Obama’s election means to the world’s response to their group. They are seeing the crowds of people cheering in the towns, villages and neighborhoods that have long been sources of new recruits for their mission.

They recognize that President Bush and his cowboy diplomacy — which has actually helped Al-Qaida convince young Muslim men around the globe that America is an anti-Muslim nation — they recognize that the cowboy is about to exit the White House and the guy that is replacing him actually had to combat anti-Muslim prejudice to become our new leader.

Those anti-Muslim comments from McCain-Palin supporters were carried all over Middle Eastern television, so the people in those areas know full well what Barack Hussein Obama had to overcome — and the classy manner in which he did overcome — and that inspires them… more than Al-Qaeda’s message of hate.

They know that Obama’s style of inclusion and cooperation means it will not be America alone fighting Al-Qaida and their message of hate and terror.

Obama understands something that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and the bunch never did. This is a war, not over land and geography, but over the hearts and minds of the young, restless, poor, and well-armed men living in the Third World.

This is a war over who can inspire. And I’ll put my money on America led by Barack Hussein Obama over Al-Zawahri and Bin Laden any day.

“We are seeing a potential meltdown in the auto industry, with consequences that could directly impact millions of American workers and cause further devastation to our economy,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor.

But The White House says making the financial-rescue package available to automakers isn’t politically possible. “There aren’t the votes in the Senate” to pass the Democratic plan, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said yesterday.

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC are seeking aid as industry-wide sales have plummeted to a 17-year low. GM this month said it lost $4.2 billion in the third quarter and almost $73 billion since the end of 2004. The largest U.S. automaker said it may not have enough cash to get through the year. Ford lost $2.98 billion in the third quarter as sales fell 22 percent.

An estimated 2.5 million jobs could be loss if the auto industry collapses, including 1.4 million people in industries not directly tied to manufacturing, according to a Nov. 4 study by the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A collapse of General Motors would cost the government $200 billion in aid to states and extended unemployment benefits, said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts.

So what should we do?