I've got an idea ! Vote once for every Palestinian innocent killed by the evil Israelis and double your vote for every Palestinian child clinging to their dead mother. For God's sake, please do not cast a vote for dead Israeli; they are filth.

Ach--you guys! Let's cast a vote for the dead on both sides. Because the sarcasm, Lb, just further misrepresents the reasonable middle.

And soon there won't be a middle left---Kristof nails it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/opinion/08kristof.html

The Gaza Boomerang
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF January 8, 2009
At a time when Israel is bombing Gaza to try to smash Hamas, it’s worth remembering that Israel itself helped nurture Hamas.

When Hamas was founded in 1987, Israel was mostly concerned with Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement and figured that a religious Palestinian organization would help undermine Fatah. Israel calculated that all those Muslim fundamentalists would spend their time praying in the mosques, so it cracked down on Fatah and allowed Hamas to rise as a counterforce.

What we’re seeing in the Middle East is the Boomerang Syndrome. Arab terrorism built support for right-wing Israeli politicians, who took harsh actions against Palestinians, who responded with more terrorism, and so on. Extremists on each side sustain the other, and the excessive Israeli ground assault in Gaza is likely to create more terrorists in the long run.
. . .

“This policy is not strengthening Israel,” notes Sari Bashi, the executive director of Gisha, an Israeli human rights group that works on Gaza issues. “The trauma that 1.5 million people have been undergoing in Gaza is going to have long-term effects for our ability to live together.
. . .

Israel’s strategy has been to make ordinary Palestinians suffer in hopes of creating ill will toward Hamas. That’s why, beginning in 2007, Israel cut back fuel shipments for Gaza utilities — and why today, in the aftermath of the bombings, 800,000 Gaza residents lack running water, Ms. Bashi said.

“The Israeli policy on Gaza has been marketed as a policy against Hamas, but in reality it’s a policy against a million-and-a-half people in Gaza,” she said.
. . .

My courageous Times colleague in Gaza, Taghreed el-Khodary, quoted a 37-year-old father weeping over the corpse of his 11-year-old daughter: “From now on, I am Hamas. I choose resistance.”
. . .

Aaron David Miller, a longtime Middle East peace negotiator for the United States, suggests in his excellent new book, “The Much Too Promised Land,” that presidents should offer Israel “love, but tough love.”

So, Mr. Obama, find your voice. Fall in tough love with Israel.

Posting such as above, using someone's real name, is despicable. And it is very damaging to Steve's blog.

Very rarely do I see posts that I feel should be removed, but posting using someone's real name is beyond the pale, even if the person named is a true scumbag, monster, or criminal. I hope whoever is doing it, reconsiders when tempted again, and that Steve removes the post using Peretz' name.

I agree with POA`s suggestion to remove that post.

Kristoff's article posted by rich describes the essence of Chutzpah:

The Israelis kill the Palestinians and destroy their lives and tell the Palestinians and the world that Hamas did it.

Only the people of The Chutzpah could think of that and righteously believe it; or are they just pulling our dumb goy leg and snickering up their sleeves. Is The Chutzpah really Jewish humor, an inside joke just to turn reality on its head and watch the goyim's brains convulse?

Be careful not to try to vote any sooner than the 24 hour limit. It seems to record the hit as a previous vote, and lengthen the time period. Had problems yesterday and the day before

I have been advised that many blogs are suffering hacking and posts similar to the above. Hard to control but obviously necessary.

POA,
We really do not know whether that is Marty Peretz posting that comment, so until we get a request from Marty to remove it, because it is not his, we have no standing to demand it's removal since it very well may be his thoughts and feelings. Let Marty speak for himself.

Why doesn't the Marty Peretz guy call himself something like "Marty Peretz's Conscience" or some such thing if they want to parody the thinking of the real Marty Peretz.

Try that Marty Smarty Pants Peretz if you are not really the real, actual, original Marty Peretz.

joyce

"We really do not know whether that is Marty Peretz posting that comment...."

Bullshit. Do you think we are idiots here?

What, you're telling us that Peretz posted first as "Light bulb"?

Stop posting using people's real names, you ignorant jackass.

WHO DO YOU BELIEVE?????

From the AIPAC website.....

"Israel Boosts Humanitarian Aid to Gaza"

"Israel continues to facilitate the transfer of aid to Gaza residents.
Israel will halt military operations each day for three hours to enable food and medicine to flow to Palestinians through a secure humanitarian corridor, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported. Israel has been facilitating the transfer of significant amounts of humanitarian supplies--some of which has been stolen from civilians by Hamas terrorists for their own use--during the course of its operation in the Gaza Strip, delivering over 10,000 tons of aid over the past week. Israel's humanitarian effort will also allow half-a-million liters of heavy duty diesel to pass through the Nahal Oz terminal, despite terror threats on the facility, and 60,000 liters of fuel will be transferred for the first time by truck via the Kerem Shalom crossing. On Tuesday, 57 trucks filled with humanitarian aid entered Gaza, with 80 shipments expected to arrive Wednesday. Israel also coordinated access for doctors and nurses to Gaza, and took steps to repair power lines and resume power supplies to Gaza City"

FROM AP NEWS....

UN halts Gaza aid shipments, cites Israeli attacks

From Associated Press
January 08, 2009 10:01 AM EST

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The United Nations says it is halting all aid deliveries to the besieged Gaza Strip. It is citing a series of Israeli attacks on U.N. staff and installations.

The announcement came shortly after the driver of a U.N. truck was killed by tank fire as he was headed to an Israeli border crossing to pick up an aid shipment.

The U.N. said the delivery had been coordinated with Israel. The Israeli army has not commented.

Spokesman Chris Gunness says aid shipments are being suspended until the safety of U.N. staff can be guaranteed.

Earlier this week, nearly 40 people were killed by Israeli mortar fire outside a U.N. school. Israel said its troops had come under fire by militants using the building for cover.

FROM BBC......

Israel accused over Gaza wounded

Thursday's Israeli bombardment was the heaviest so far
The Red Cross has accused Israel of failing to fulfil its obligation to help wounded civilians in Gaza.

ICRC staff found four weak and scared children beside their mothers' bodies in houses hit by shelling in Zeitoun.

The Israeli military has not yet responded to the accusation, but said it worked closely with aid groups so that civilians could get assistance.

Meanwhile the UN said it was suspending aid operations in Gaza because of the danger to staff from Israeli attacks.

"We have suspended our operations in Gaza until the Israeli authorities can guarantee our safety and security," said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the United Nations relief agency Unwra.

"Our installations have been hit, our workers have been killed in spite of the fact that the Israeli authorities have the co-ordinates of our facilities and that all our movements are co-ordinated with the Israeli army.

"It is with great regret that Unwra has been forced to make this difficult decision."

Earlier, Unwra said one person had been killed and two injured when a fork-lift truck on a UN aid mission came under Israeli tank fire at Gaza's Erez crossing.

The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded - neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded

Unwra said the delivery had been co-ordinated with Israel, the Associated Press news agency reports.

The Israeli army has not commented on that claim but has said it was looking into it.

The aid agencies' concerns come amid fears the conflict with Gaza militants may spread, with rockets fired on Israel from Lebanon.

At least three rockets were fired into northern Israel, prompting Israel to reply with artillery.

The incident followed Israel's heaviest bombardment so far on Gaza in nearly two weeks of conflict, with 60 air strikes targeting Hamas facilities.

Israeli forces observed a three-hour pause in fighting to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The first of what was promised to be a daily ceasefire - on Wednesday - allowed aid agencies into the territory for the first time in days.

Efforts have continued to broker a full ceasefire - a senior Israeli official is in Cairo to hear details of a plan put forward by Egypt and France.

A Hamas delegation is expected in the Egyptian capital at some stage for parallel "technical" talks, Egyptian diplomats said.

'Access denied'

The International Committee of the Red Cross accused Israel of failing in its international obligations after its staff were met with "shocking" scenes.

Aid workers had been denied access to the site for days, it added.

"This is a shocking incident," Pierre Wettach, ICRC head for Israel and the Palestinian territories said in a statement.

"The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded."

Correspondents say the criticism is unusually strong, coming from an agency considered to be neutral.

continues....

FROM AL JAZEERA....

Israel fires on UN Gaza convoy


Homes, mosques and government buildings have
been hit in the Israeli bombardment [AFP]

At least one Palestinian has been killed after a UN relief agency convoy came under fire from Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, officials say.

The attack took place on Thursday as the lorries travelled to the Erez crossing to pick up supplies that were to have been allowed in during a three-hour ceasefire.

Thursday's pause in the 13-day Israeli offensive to allow humanitarian aid into the strip was scheduled to last from 1pm (11:00 GMT) to 4pm (14:00 GMT).

The Israeli military said that it was checking reports of the incident.

John Ging, the head of the UN relief agency in Gaza, said that the casualties were Palestinian civilian contractors contracted to bring supplies from the crossing points.

"They were co-ordinating their movements with the Israelis, as they always do, only to find themselves being fired at from the ground troops," he told Al Jazeera.

"It has resulted tragically in the death of one and the injury of two others."

continues........

Due to time constraints this morning, I can't really give this post the attention it deserves. An internet search of international news media outlets makes the AIPAC website claims laughable, and expose them as blatant lies and propaganda.

It is still quite telling that Obama is still cited as "standing with Israel", and the website is stating that "several" of Obama's advisors have come out with statements supporting Israel. I repeatedly see posters lamenting that Obama is "silent" about the Gaza blood bath. But that is inaccurate, as it is obvious that the Obama camp is allowing AIPAC to claim Obama's support for Israel's actions. Obama IS NOT silent on this issue, he is speaking through AIPAC. It is cowardly, and hardly the action one would expect from someone promising change.

On CNN, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor admitted outright that Hamas did not fire mortars from within the UN school compound. (link below)

He was only able to say mortars were fired "from the vicinity." Once you catch on to his fudging, it's obvious the reality could be 'blocks away' as easily as 'next to'. So, there goes your theory, varanasi. Even Palmor can't bring himself to assert Hamas was within the school, or even in the compound, twisting his PR line as fast as he can with weasel-words "from within the vicinity" to mislead and confuse the issue. He just doesn't know.

Chris Gunness from the UN stated unequivocally there were no militants and no mortars launched from the school. The UN investigation interviewed eyewitnesses and UNRA is 99.9% sure NO Hamas militants were in the school. Palmor admitted any militants were at best 'in the vicinity', refusing to say any Gazan defenders were in the school compound. The IDF is showing old photos from another incident.

http://video.aol.com/partner/cnn/gaza-school-strike-disputed/world:2009:01:07:sweeney:gaza:school:debate/?icid=VIDURVNWS10

Also, note the apocryphal story that Palestinian defenders used a school as a shield. Palmor misrepresented that instance as well, which Gunness put to rest. It was a running battle, and students and teachers evacuated ahead of the fighting--so that mythical 'history' has been again discredited. All colonial rulers say that resistance fighters used civilians as shields--it's never been true.

Last update - 19:51 08/01/2009

U.S. Senate voices strong support for Israel's Gaza battle against Hamas

By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haarets Correspondent and Reuters

Tags: hamas, israel, israel news

The U.S. Senate voiced strong support on Thursday for Israel's battle against Hamas militants in Gaza, while urging a cease-fire that would prevent the Islmast militant group from launching any more rockets into Israel.

The chamber agreed on a voice vote to the non-binding resolution co-sponsored by Democratic and Republican party leaders in the chamber.

"When we pass this resolution, the United States Senate will strengthen our historic bond with the state of Israel, by reaffirming Israel's inalienable right to defend against attacks from Gaza, as well as our support for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said before the vote.

Noting that Israel was bent on halting Hamas rocket fire into its southern towns, Reid said: "I ask any of my colleagues to imagine that happening here in the United States. Rockets and mortars coming from Toronto in Canada, into Buffalo New York. How would we as a country react?"

Co-sponsor and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican said before the vote: "The Israelis ... are responding exactly the same way we would."

The House was expected to pass a similar resolution.

The Senate resolution encourages President George W. Bush "to work actively to support a durable, enforceable and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza as soon as possible that prevents Hamas from retaining or rebuilding the capability to launch rockets or mortars against Israel," Reid said.

It also expresses an "unwavering" commitment to Israel's welfare and recognizes its right to act in self defense to protect citizens against acts of terrorism, he said. "It allows for the long-term improvement of daily living conditions of the ordinary people of Gaza," he said.

?I spoke with Prime Minister Olmert last week and again expressed my understanding of and appreciation for the terrible situation that Israel has faced. Hamas has been firing rockets and mortars into Israel, killing and maiming innocent Israeli civilians, for more than eight years," added Reid.

Palestinians faced even grimmer conditions in Gaza on Thursday after a UN aid agency halted work, saying its staff was at risk from Israeli forces after two drivers were killed.

The reported Palestinian death toll in the 13-day-old conflict topped 700. At least 11 Israelis have been killed, eight of them soldiers, including four who were hit by "friendly fire."

C'mon, if the Israelis kill Palestinian schoolchildren and say they had to do it because Hamas was in the vicinity, don't you think the Palestinians are smart enough to figure out that it is actually the presence of Hamas that is killing their children and Israel is only defending itself and helping the Palestinians to get rid of Hamas so they can all live in peace!

Don't you get it? Don't be so blind, and give the Palestinians credit for at least knowing who is
the actual enemy of peace. Hamas !

Why would anyone think that?

Again, from Kristof:

"My courageous Times colleague in Gaza, Taghreed el-Khodary, quoted a 37-year-old father weeping over the corpse of his 11-year-old daughter: “From now on, I am Hamas. I choose resistance.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/opinion/08kristof.html

The Gaza Boomerang
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF January 8, 2009

At a time when Israel is bombing Gaza to try to smash Hamas, it’s worth remembering that Israel itself helped nurture Hamas.
. . .

Israel’s strategy has been to make ordinary Palestinians suffer in hopes of creating ill will toward Hamas. That’s why, beginning in 2007, Israel cut back fuel shipments for Gaza utilities — and why today, in the aftermath of the bombings, 800,000 Gaza residents lack running water, Ms. Bashi said.

“The Israeli policy on Gaza has been marketed as a policy against Hamas, but in reality it’s a policy against a million-and-a-half people in Gaza,” she said.

habib, think just a little bit. Israel drove Palestine into the arms of Hamas. Israel took out moderate forces--violently. Now they're unhappy b/c their methods angered the general population. This is a no-brainer.

Israel's bombing incites regional terrorism--

Schmidt: It is 3 Crises, Not One

Soren Schmidt writes in a guest op-ed for IC

"Analysis. The fighting in Gaza is closely linked to two other conflicts: Israel’s relationship with Syria and Iran’s role in the region. All three conflicts need to be solved in order to achieve peace."

"Israel’s attack on Hamas in Gaza has led to Syria breaking off the semi-official peace negotiations with Israel, the strengthening of Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s popularity, the weakening of the pro-western governments of Egypt and Jordan, and an upswing in recruits ready to join the many extremist groups in the Middle East."

http://www.juancole.com/2009/01/schmidt-it-is-3-crises-not-one.html

January 8, 2009

Hall of Mirrors

The Difficulty of Being an Informed American

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

The American print and TV media have never been very good.
These days they are horrible. If people intend to be informed,
they must turn to foreign news broadcasts, to Internet sites, to
foreign newspapers available on the Internet, or to alternative
newspapers that are springing up in various cities. A person
who sits in front of Murdoch’s Fox “News” or CNN or who reads
the New York Times is simply being brainwashed with
propaganda.

Before conservatives nod their heads in agreement, I’m not
referring to “the liberal media.” I mean the propaganda that
issues from the US government and the Israel Lobby.

It was neoconservative Bush regime propaganda fed to America
through Judith Miller and the New York Times and through
Murdoch’s Fox “News” that convinced Americans that they were
in danger from a small secular Arab country half way around the
globe called Iraq. It was the American media that convinced
Americans that getting rid of dangerous “weapons of mass
destruction,” weapons that did not exist in Iraq, would be a
cakewalk paid for by Iraqi oil revenues.

It is the same propagandistic American print and TV media that
have rationalized Bush’s illegal invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan
based on seven years of lies and deception.

It is the same media that today provids only Israeli propaganda
as “coverage” of the Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

It was the New York Times that spiked for one year the leaked
information from the National Security Agency that the Bush
regime, in violation of US law, was illegally spying on Americans
without warrants. The “liberal” New York Times agreed to
suppress the story so that Bush would not face reelection under
the cloud of his outlaw behavior.

Conservatives think the Washington Post is “liberal media”
despite the fact that the editorial and commentary pages are
controlled by neocons and their sympathizers.

During the run up to wars and during wars, the American press
has always been a propagandist for the government. The only
exceptions occurred during the later phases of the Vietnam war
and the Contra-Sandinista conflict in Central America. Karen de
Young and some others tried to honestly cover the Contras and
Sandinistas and were demonized by “patriots” taken in by the
government’s lies.

Conservatives still blame the “liberal” media for losing the
Vietnam war, when in fact all the media did was to provide some
truthful reports that opened some American eyes.

When the truth cuts against the position of the US government,
conservatives see it as “liberal.”

When propaganda supports the government’s lies, conservatives
see it as “patriotic.”

However, any resemblance to independent reporting
disappeared from the American media when the Democratic
regime of President Clinton allowed Murdoch and a small
handful of moguls to concentrate the American media in a few
corporate hands. That was the end of American reporting.

Journalists disappeared from media management and were
replaced by corporate advertising executives with an eye not to
offend any source of advertising revenue, and certainly not to
offend the government, which controls the broadcast licenses
that comprise the value of the mega-companies. Today
reporters write the stories that their masters want to hear, or
they are out. The function of editors is to make certain that no
uncomfortable information reaches the public.

The public is slowly catching on, and the print media is dying.
The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times
are all on the ropes.

Americans are still subjected to Fox “News” and CNN
propaganda piped into airport waiting rooms, doctors’ offices,
and exercise centers

People ask me where they can get reliable information. I tell
them that their goal cannot be reached without their
commitment of time.

People who have access to television services that provide
English language foreign broadcasts, such as Iran’s Press TV,
Russia Today, or Al Jazeera, can get get news and insights from
those parts of the world demonized by the US media.

The BBC World Service still reports facts while covering itself by
providing the views of the US, UK, and Israeli governments.

Both the Asia Times and Israeli newspapers, such as Haaretz can
be read online in English. There are other such newspapers, and
all of them provide information that Americans will never see in
their own media. Any American newspaper that was as truthful
about the Israeli government as Haaretz would be closed down.

The only US print source with which I am familiar in which some
honest reporting can be found on a regular basis is the
McClatchy papers.

Americans addicted to print media must turn to alternative
newspapers, which tend to be weekly or bi-weekly. However,
the news and commentary provided are often superb..

Alternative newspapers are often the children of people
motivated by a sense of justice and the love of truth. Such
people have become an endangered species in the American
“mainstream media.” The free press Americans have today is
online and in the alternative media.

The function of the “mainstream media” is to sell products and
to brainwash the audience for the government and interest
groups. By subscribing to it, Americans support their own
brainwashing.

Paul Craig Roberts was associate editor and columnist for the
Wall Street Journal, columnist for Business Week, and columnist
for the Scripps Howard Newspapers.

In Gaza, the Fighter Who Smiled at Death Abid Katib

By TAGHREED EL-KHODARY
Published: January 8, 2009

GAZA CITY — The emergency room in Shifa Hospital is never calm, but on Thursday, the 13th day of Israel’s assault on Gaza, this place of gore and despair was also a lesson in the way ordinary people are squeezed between suicidal fighters and a military behemoth.

Dr. Awni al-Jaru, 37, a surgeon at the hospital, rushed in from his home in the Toufah neighborhood in Gaza City dressed in his scrubs. But he came not to work. His head was bleeding, and his daughter’s jaw was broken.

He said Hamas militants next to his apartment building had fired mortar and rocket rounds. Israel fired back with enormous force, and his apartment was hit. His wife, Albina, originally from Ukraine, and his 1-year-old son were killed.

“My son has been turned into pieces,” he cried. “My wife was cut in half. I had to leave her body at home.” Because Albina was a foreigner, she could have left Gaza in recent days with her children. But, Dr. Jaru lamented, she refused, saying she would not leave her husband.

Within minutes, another car pulled up with four more patients.

One was a 21-year-old man with shrapnel in his left leg who demanded quick treatment. He turned out to be a militant with Islamic Jihad. He was smiling a big smile.

“Hurry, I must get back so I can keep fighting,” he told the doctors and anyone else who would listen.

He was told that there were more serious cases than his and that he needed to wait his turn. But he insisted. “We are fighting the Israelis,” he said. “When we fire we run, but they hit back so fast. We run into the houses to get away.” He continued smiling.

“Why are you so happy?” someone asked. “Look around you. Don’t you see the misery that you are helping to cause?”

A girl who looked about 18 was screaming from pain as a surgeon removed shrapnel from her leg. An elderly man was soaked in blood. A baby a few weeks old and slightly wounded was looking around helplessly. A man had a head injury, with parts of his brain coming out. He was on a stretcher, his family wailing at his side.

“Don’t you see that these people are hurting?” the militant was asked.

“But I am from the people, too,” he said, his smile incandescent. “They lost their loved ones as martyrs. They should be happy. I want to be a martyr, too.”

It may be a simplistic observation and thesis but it seems to me that Israel was born from and exists with a war economy.

It is very adept at funding acquisition and development of armaments and almost all advanced technologies especially communications hardware and software. Much of this due to the aliyah from the Soviet regime.

In effect Israel put on the mantel of the elite cold war power without a ripple noticed. In a short 25 year span it challenges Britain and France in arms sales for the number 4 spot. And is clearly the leader in software and hardware design, and read that as intelligence manipulation.

The recent downturn in the global economy should be a real threat to Israel's economy or 'an opportunity' if you want to use re-engineering terms.

You need only look at the dollar's climb since the prisoner quelling action has started to wonder if a lot of Israeli firms are better off than a couple of weeks ago.

There is a lovely opportunity for Israeli technology companies because they double end transactions rather easily. They are woven into the American military complex and benefit on the development, sale and purchase. American weapons are more and more designed and developed by Israeli firms.

War is good for the Israeli economy. It benefits the moderates in power in the upcoming election if the economy they are managing is chugging along.

Cynical but nothing else makes sense any longer.

thanks to POA, Paul Norheim and others who objected to the inappropriate post above, now about to be removed that said something awful and attributed it to another public figure. wrong.

it will be gone. Just got off plane from Geneva.

best, steve

Posted by Sandy

.. alternative newspapers that are springing up in various cities. A person who sits in front of Murdoch’s Fox “News” or CNN or who reads the New York Times is simply being brainwashed with propaganda.

Before conservatives nod their heads in agreement, I’m not referring to “the liberal media.” I mean the propaganda that issues from the US government and the Israel Lobby.'
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Righto.

I feel soooo vindicated!.....here six years later about everything I said about Israel and the media and the US congress.

Now who is going to take the next step and call out the US congress as Israeli occupied territory?
They are you know...owned lock stock and barrel by the zionist and their money men. They really are traitors..trite as that sounds...that is what they are.

Burn Congress to the Ground and Start Over.

Is this true?

Obama camp 'prepared to talk to Hamas'
Incoming administration will abandon Bush's isolation of Islamist group to initiate low-level diplomacy, say transition sources

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 January 2009 00.31 GMT
Article history

Someone needs to ask Reid if WE ARE OCCUPYING CANADA!!
How much are his AIPAC donations?

I'm watching Al-Jazeera only to see that Israel is still bombing Gaza even after the BINDING UN vote of 14-0 with you know who abstaining.

We are soooooo cursed.

Geneva....love that city....were you at the UN? I've been in and out of the Geneva airport many times in the 80's & 90's....free trcity transportastion must be new policy....sounds good...especially for a UN host city...