COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Thursday, September 10, 2015

“It is human nature to seek revenge in the face of relentless suffering. You can’t expect an unhealthy person to think logically.” ― Izzeldin Abuelaish, I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity


Gaza doctor Tarek Loubani creates 3D printed stethoscopes to alleviate medical supply shortages caused by blockade

Tests show that the stethoscope is as affective as leading models




A doctor in the Gaza Strip who was faced with the fallout of an eight-year blockade in the territory has taken matters into his own hands and created a low-cost stethoscope with a 3D printer.
The crossings between Gaza and the borders of Israel and Egypt were blocked eight years ago, after Hamas seized power in the region.
The blockade has been blamed for damaging Gaza’s economy, casting its 1.8 million citizens into poverty, and creating a shortage of vital supplies.
Dr Tarek Loubani, a Palestinain-Canadian doctor from London, Ontario, was confronted with the scarcity of equipment in the region during an eight-day war between Israel and Palestinian militants in 2012, when he was working at Shifa - Gaza City’s main hospital.
The 34-year-old decided he would tackle shortages by designing his own equipment, after medics at the facility were forced to cope to with two stethoscopes as wounded Palestinians flooded into the emergency room.

READ MORE: 
DR IN GAZA WORKING TO PRODUCE STETHOSCOPE FOR 30 CENTS
SPLINT MADE BY 3D PRINTER USED TO SAVE BABY’S LIFE
3D PRINTED HEART SAVES BABY’S LIFE AS MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY LEAPS AHEAD
3D PRINTED SKULL REPLACEMENT IMPLANTED FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER
The first in what he hopes will be a line of 3D-printed medical supplies produced by his open-source organisation the Glia Project, Dr Loubani said the stethoscope can be made for just $2.50 (£1.62).
Doctors who have tested out the equipment have said it is as effective as stethoscopes by leading brands, despite being a fraction of the price.
Audio tests have also shown that the Glia stethoscope was on par with the leading model on the market, the Littmann Cardiology III.
Dr Loubani said the shortage of medical supplies in the territory “is something that I think we can translate from a big problem to a big win for us in Gaza.”
He added that he plans to produce the devices locally “so they meet local need and so that they are not dependent of the political winds of the Israelis and of the donor community.”

A PARTIAL LIST OF ITEMS THAT ISRAEL BANS FROM GAZA


GISHA.org

Prohibited Items*
sage
cardamom
cumin
coriander
ginger
jam
halva
vinegar
nutmeg
chocolate
fruit preserves
seeds and nuts
biscuits and sweets
potato chips
gas for soft drinks
dried fruit
fresh meat
plaster
tar
wood for construction cement
iron
glucose
industrial salt plastic/glass/metal containers industrial margarine
tarpaulin sheets for huts fabric (for clothing)
flavor and smell enhancers fishing rods 
various fishing nets
buoys
ropes for fishing
nylon nets for greenhouses
hatcheries and spare parts for hatcheries spare parts for tractors

dairies for cowsheds irrigation pipe systems ropes to tie greenhouses planters for saplings heaters for chicken farms musical instruments
size A4 paper
writing implements
notebooks
newspapers
toys
razors
sewing machines and spare parts heaters
horses
donkeys
goats
cattle
chicks
 
_______________________________________


Gaza: Under Israel's tight grip

By Michael Jansen, Sept 8, 2015, DHNS

Without urgent action to reverse accelerated “de-development,” Gaza may become uninhabitable by 2020 as a result of Israel's military operations and economic siege and blockade, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has warned in a report on the occupied Palestinian territories.

The organisation states that during the 2014 conflict, half a million people were displaced and 20,000 Palestinian homes, 148 schools, 15 hospitals and 45 primary health centres were destroyed or severely damaged. Gaza’s only power station, electricity lines, agricultural wells, factories, businesses and desalination plant were damaged too.

The cost of the conflict to the agricultural sector alone is estimated at $550 million. The report states, “Three Israeli military operations in the past six years, in addition to eight years of economic blockade, have ravaged the already debilitated infrastructure of Gaza, shattered its productive base, and left no time for meaningful reconstruction or economic recovery.”

Gazans are worse off than they have been for the last two decades. UNCTAD warns that unless the blockade is lifted, “donor aid...will not reverse the ongoing de-development and impoverishment.”

Before the 2014 conflict - which was far more devastating than the 2009 and 2012 wars - Israel’s blockade had “inflicted large-scale destruction on Gaza's local economy, productive assets and infrastructure.” Acute shortages of water, electricity, and fuel impacted the strip’s economic sectors as well as households. The electricity supply, essential for advancement, met less than 40 per cent of demand.

Since the imposition of the 2007 blockade, exports from Gaza have been “almost completely banned, imports and transfers of cash restricted and the most basic humanitarian goods suspended,” the UNCTAD wrote. Last summer’s war, “impacted an already paralysed economy at a time when...conditions” had fallen to the lowest level since Israel occupied the strip in 1967.

During the past year, Gaza’s GDP has shrunk by 15 per cent, unemployment has soared to 44 per cent, the highest recorded level, and “de-development” has been accelerated. The Gazans are more impoverished than they were before the [1993] Oslo Accords which were meant to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and more deprived than their compatriots in the West Bank “who are subject to significant but comparatively less destruction.”

Military operations and “economic siege” have “eliminated what was left of the middle class, sending almost all of the population into destitution and dependence on international humanitarian aid.” Food insecurity affects 72 per cent of households, forcing the majority into dependency on humanitarian aid to meet basic needs. The number of Palestinian refugees who rely entirely on UN rations has ballooned from 72,000 in 2000 to 8,68,000 in May 2014.

A report, entitled, “Education Under Fire”, issued by the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, reveals that 13 million children in West Asia and North Africa are deprived of schooling by conflict and political upheaval. In Gaza, during the 51 day 2014 war, 551 Palestinian children were killed and 3,370 wounded. When the 2014-15 school year began, half a million children were unable  to return to school for several weeks because of damage inflicted on schools. The conflict “left deep scars in the psyche of children and their caregivers.”

Oslo accord
The UN has predicted that the population of the narrow coastal strip, with an area of 360 square kilometres, will be 2.1 million by 2020 and the population density will reach 5,800 people per square kilometre.

In 1993, Palestinians reached the Oslo Accord with Israel, gained limited self-rule and launched infrastructure construction and development projects. Gazan farmers exported flowers and seasonal fruit and vegetables to Europe, Gaza’s entrepreneurs built new hotels on the beachfront and set up factories on the border with Israel to manufacture clothing and other goods. Between 1998-2000, there were daily flights on small Palestinian commercial aircraft to Gaza’s international airport. There was hope that Gaza could become a tourist destination and an economic hub: self-supporting.

The honeymoon between Palestinians and Israelis ended in September 2000 when the second Palestinian uprising erupted due to Israel’s refusal to implement the Oslo accord and colonisation of land Palestinians demanded for their state. Since then Israel has used “security” as the pretext for restricting movement of people and goods into and out of Gaza, stated Israel’s Gesha peace group.

After Israel’s 2005 withdrawal of soldiers and settlers, it remained in full control of Gaza’s access by air, land and sea. Bet-ween 2007-10, Israel permitted into Gaza only those goods considered “vital for the survival of the civilian population” – shoes, paper, coffee, tea, and construction materials were banned. Ga-zans dug tunnels under the str-ip’s border with Egypt and brought in essential supplies, commercial goods, fuel and arms.
In 2010, Israel eased restrictions somewhat. But since 2013, Egypt has destroyed most of the tunnels, depriving Gazans of food, medicine, cement, and consumer items. Trapped between the hard regimes of Israel and Egypt, Gaza’s economy is declining, 1.8 million Gazans are suffering.

49 comments:

  1. Bullshit.

    Propaganda.

    Horse Crap.

    But to be fair, Israel bans Iranian Rockets in the Gaza Strip and somehow they can manage to import 80,000 of those....

    Once again you prove you are nothing but a propagandist for a terrorist enclave.

    Name one thing that has actually helped one child that you have done that lives in gaza?

    Here is a picture of Gaza that Deuce will never show you...

    just google it.

    mansions of gaza

    Then let's talk about it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. google

      swimming pools of gaza

      select images

      Delete
    2. shopping in gaza

      google it, select images.

      Delete
    3. guns in gaza

      google it, select images.

      Delete
    4. hotels in gaza

      google it, select images.

      Delete
    5. Deuce and his "boy who cried wolf" syndrome

      all to often..

      Delete
    6. of course Hamas has a multi BILLON dollar budget..

      tunnels in gaza

      google it, select images

      Delete
    7. of course when the Gazans do import cattle this is what they do to them...

      http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/dec/12/cattle-abuse-gaza-video

      LOL

      Delete
  3. Of course since Deuce doesn't want you to understand what bullshit he posts..

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127600204

    NPR, the right wing pro Israel channel, does an interview that explains..

    ReplyDelete
  4. Replies
    1. So you as an occupier of native american lands are a fascist?

      Delete
  5. Replies
    1. You live on other people's lands.

      You are an occupier, just ask La Raza.

      So you are a practicer of hatred.

      Delete
  6. Occupation is a blight on the human condition.
    The question is now answered, no NPR explanations are required

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then give your rich river bottom grazing land back to the Native Americans.

      I'm signing out for a while, it isn't worth it.....

      Delete
    2. Where have we heard that before?

      Delete
    3. Jack, how can you live with yourself? You occupy Native American's lands.

      My suggestion?

      Place that Glock in your mouth and pull the trigger, do humanity a blessing..

      Delete
    4. You are warned:

      Harassment and bullying content on Blogger

      Blogger strongly believes in freedom of speech. We believe that having a variety of perspectives is an important part of what makes blogs such an exciting and diverse medium. With that said, there are certain types of content that are not allowed on Blogger. While Blogger values and safeguards personal commentary, material that seeks to single-out another person for threat of serious harm or malicious attack is not allowed on Blogger.

      If you found a blog that violates our policy, please use the form below to report it to our team. Please submit each blog only once. While we don't reply to individual reports, we will review every submission as soon as possible and take action as necessary.
      Please provide the URL of the blog in question (e.g. http://example.com). *
      Where is the information located on the blog?
      (e.g. post dated May 1st, 2005, in the user's profile, etc.) *

      Delete
    5. I have saved and deleted your other two harassments on this post.

      Get lost. Your type is not wanted here.

      Delete
  7. I'm watching those Syrian Refugees on TV. Those aren't people looking for a welfare check. Any country would be lucky to have a few of them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We should take 4 million of them. We need an entire human asset class that is motivated and has seen the destruction of war other than on a video game. We broke it. We own it.

      The only long range solution to the endless war is public financing of elections. I doubt many of these people would be dumb enough to vote Republican, They have a great story to tell and we owe them. Big time.

      Delete
    2. Then why did they not stop in Turkey or Greece?

      Oh that's right, Germany is the place with the BEST welfare benefits.

      But that's ok, arabs refugees settling in europe by the millions !

      Guess that evens the score for a few hundred thousand european jews...

      Next.

      Delete
  8. Statement by the President

    Today, the Senate took an historic step forward and voted to enable the United States to work with our international partners to enable the implementation of the comprehensive, long-term deal that will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. This vote is a victory for diplomacy, for American national security, and for the safety and security of the world. For nearly two years, we negotiated from a position of strength to reach an agreement that meets our core objectives. Since we concluded these negotiations, we have had the most consequential national security debate since the decision to invade Iraq more than a decade ago. Over the last several weeks, the more members studied the details of this deal, the more they came out in support. Today, I am heartened that so many Senators judged this deal on the merits, and am gratified by the strong support of lawmakers and citizens alike. Going forward, we will turn to the critical work of implementing and verifying this deal so that Iran cannot pursue a nuclear weapon, while pursuing a foreign policy that leaves our country - and the world - a safer place.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Verifying this deal ?

    Heh

    Iran verifies itself.....


    In Hillary Campaign news -


    O'KEEFE STRIKES AGAIN: Undercover Video Shows Hillary Campaign 'Breaking Election Law'...

    Staffers laugh, brag about violations...

    'Whatever you can get away with, just do it'...

    'Ask for forgiveness, not for permission'...



    Campaign Collapsing; Backdrop Of Stage Falls Down...

    VIDEO...

    Ellen Lectures: As Woman You Are Held to Different Standard... Watchdog opened 'criminal' Huma probe, but DOJ passed... Drudge



    I love hammering away at Hillary....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Say, wasn't the ask forgiveness, not permission guy that Bernie Ward fellow from KGO ? Whatever became of him ?

      Delete
    2. That's my major complaint with the 'deal'.......no effective verification.......Iran can do anything it wants, basically.....

      Delete
  10. 1,000 ?

    10,000 ?

    65,000 and that just a beginning......



    Obama Mulls Resettling Thousands of Syrian 'Refugees'
    Terrorist-linked CAIR calls on the administration to "bring them here."
    September 9, 2015
    Arnold Ahlert
    184

    The Obama administration is reportedly considering exacerbating a crisis largely of its own making. Following the immigration onslaught in Europe that has generated graphic images, including a 3-year-old Syrian boy washing up dead on a Turkish beach, thousands of migrants trapped in a Budapest train station, and 71 dead discovered in a truck abandoned on an Austrian roadway, Obama administration officials are considering the possibility of allowing more Syrian immigrants into the United States. "The administration is actively considering a range of approaches to be more responsive to the global refugee crisis, including with regard to refugee resettlement," said Peter Boogaard, a spokesman for the White House's National Security Council. "We are also in regular contact with countries in the Middle East and Europe who have been greatly impacted by the increased refugee flows."

    A video campaign entitled “Bring Them Here” has been launched by the St. Louis branch of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an un-indicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case that garnered several convictions for providing support to the terrorist group Hamas. CAIR spokesman Faizan Syed likens the effort to St. Louis’s acceptance of refugees from Bosnia back in the 90s and insists that Syrian refugees would provide the same economic uplift to the city their Bosnian counterparts did.

    Back in the real world House Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) is urging the kind of caution that ought to be applied to any group of people coming from one of the world’s foremost terror hotspots. “We’re a compassionate nation and this is a tragic situation, but I also have to be concerned as Chairman of Homeland Security about the safety of Americans in this country. And the concern that I have and that the FBI testified to is that we don’t really have the proper databases on these individuals to vet them passed and to assure we’re not allowing terrorists to come into this country," he explained. “And until I have that assurance, I cannot support a program that could potentially bring jihadists into the United States.”

    Unsurprisingly, Democrats take the opposite view. In May, 14 senators, led by Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), urged the president to “significantly increase" the number of Syrians from the less than 1,000 the U.S. has accepted so far to a staggering level of 65,000 asylees. In a letter sent to Obama the senators wrote the United States "traditionally accepts at least 50 percent of resettlement cases from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). However, we have accepted only approximately 700 refugees since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, an unacceptably low number.” Yet they also admit the United States "is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees."...............

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/260065/obama-mulls-resettling-thousands-syrian-refugees-arnold-ahlert

    ReplyDelete
  11. Replies
    1. .

      They also voted to allow the Palestinian flag to 'fly' at the UN.

      .

      Delete
    2. And why wouldn't they - half the membership seems to be Moslem......

      I'm surprised they haven't voted to make the Israeli flag 'flee' the UN.

      Delete
    3. No matter, there still is no nation called "palestine".

      It's fiction.

      Delete

  12. In praise of monarchy
    By Michael Barone (@michaelbarone) • 9/9/15 5:00 PM

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/in-praise-of-monarchy/article/2571691

    ReplyDelete
  13. How many times have the Fakistinians declared a state? 3 or 4 times...

    Flying a flag?

    Hysterical.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fact is the Fakistinians, represented by the Hamas on one side and the Fatah on the other?

      Are about to go ISIS on each other...

      The good news?

      I got popcorn

      Delete
  14. I FOUND THE MISSING LINK - THE FOUNTAIN HEAD OF FACTS OFTEN REPEATED ON THIS VERY BLOG

    Settler group publishes anti-Palestinian children’s book titled ‘Occupation Shmuccupation’

    Israel/Palestine Ben Norton on September 10, 2015

    An illustration from the book, which reads: (man on right) "Hey Jamil, need help with the olive harvest?" (man on left) "Don't bother, why get in trouble with the left-wing organizations?"

    CREDIT: Shlomi Charka / YNet

    “Occupation Shmuccupation” is the name of a new children’s book published by the Yesha Council, a right-wing Israeli settler organization. The illustrated propaganda book teaches Israeli kids that “there is no such thing as the State of Palestine” and that “there is no solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” It also blames “price tag” attacks—in which Israeli extremists attack Palestinians or Palestinian homes, property, and/or crops, such as olive trees—on “internal conflicts between the Arabs over land,” that is to say on Palestinians themselves.

    - See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/#sthash.Rdo64vC3.dpuf

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have found Wio’s library source: ‘Occupation Shmuccupation’

      LOL

      Delete
    2. Jewish Telegraphic Agency story: ‘Jimmy Carter’s cancer is God’s punishment for his behavior toward Jews’

      For some Jews (and evangelical Christians), the cause apparently is obvious. No, it’s not his genetic makeup, or the spread of a mass from his liver to his brain. It’s divine punishment for his behavior toward the Jews.

      Not so fast, writes Rabbi Benjamin Blech on Aish.com, the website of Orthodox Jewish outreach organization Aish HaTorah: “Don’t presume to know that his illness is a result of his anti-Semitic views.”

      - See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/09/carters-punishment-newspaper#sthash.cPxMLnOr.dpuf

      Delete
    3. Billy Carter was struck down by the Lord Budweiser, master of his universe, as a warning to Bud drinkers everywhere.

      Delete
  15. You really want someone, say me, to go to the trouble of publishing 'Palestinian' propaganda against Jews ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Instead of the trouble, I'll remind of Martha Gellhorn.

      Delete
  16. Thus, all four measures point to the next Democratic nominee losing by between 4.2 and 5.6 points, with the metric that has been the most historically reliable suggesting a loss of 4.8 points. No matter how you slice it, the Democratic nominee is facing an uphill battle in 2016 to succeed this president, whose commitment to steering America in a radically leftward direction has relied on the raw and often extra-legal exertion of power and the defiance of public opinion, rather than on winning people over and building consensus.

    The price that Obama will likely pay for his longstanding refusal to reflect what James Madison called “the cool and deliberate sense of the community,” which (Madison wrote) “in all free governments” will “ultimately prevail,” will be to have the presidency join the House and Senate as Republican-held institutions just eight years after all three were firmly in Democratic hands. Thanks to Obama, whichever Republican presidential candidate manages to prevail over the large stable of GOP competitors should be more than strong enough to beat the Democratic nominee. Indeed, the smart money is on the Republican nominee winning in style, likely with more than 300 electoral votes.


    What Will Obama's Unpopularity Mean for 2016?

    By Jeffrey H. Anderson - September 11, 2015

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/09/11/what_will_obamas_unpopularity_mean_for_2016_128046.html


    What all this means is that the Democrats better get really good at stuffing ballot boxes this time around.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Let the GOP freak show keep deluding itself.


    House Republicans pushed Friday toward votes challenging President Barack Obama over the Iran nuclear deal even though the Senate has already preserved the accord.

    Senate action on Thursday all but guaranteed that any legislation disapproving of the deal will never reach Obama's desk. Moreover, House Democrats late Thursday announced there are now 146 members of the House who have publicly voiced their support of the deal — enough to uphold a presidential veto even if any GOP legislation against the deal could get through.

    After statements on the floor recognizing the Sept. 11 anniversary of the 2001 terror attacks, Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, blasted the international agreement, which gives Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for imposing restraints on its nuclear program. The House is to vote later Friday on whether to approve of the nuclear deal.

    "This isn't just a bad deal," Royce said. "It's disastrous deal. It's a disaster for the United States. It's a disaster for our allies and friends in the region, including Israel. ... We got permanent sanctions relief for the Iranian regime — relief that's going to go into their military — in exchange for temporary constraints on Iran's nuclear program."

    Michigan Rep. John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, criticized as a politically motivated attack on Obama a measure to suspend until Jan. 21, 2017 — a day after a new president is sworn into office — Obama's authority to waive, suspend or reduce sanctions on Iran.

    "This is not a serious attempt to legislate. Quite simply, it's a political attack on the president of the United States and an attempt to derail a good deal that is in the best interest of our nation," Conyers said.

    ReplyDelete