This is the first Programmer Craig comment I sort-of-agree with.

That would be so much more cool, if I knew who you were

I consider myself a liberal, not a leftist…

I don’t know what the word “liberal” means, teh way you use it, then. I’m a libertarian. Libertarians used to be called “liberals” before socialists started calling themselves “liberal”. It’s all very confusing, I know, but I’m not aware of a third concept of “liberal” in the United States. You mean you believe in individual rights and are consequently socially liberal? People on the left are “socially liberal” but without the belief in individual rights. They believe in governmental rights, and rights for the elite. That’s what makes them socialists, rather than true liberals.

but I know plenty of leftists who also believe in capitalism and democracy

Really? Because, I don’t know any at all. Are you sure they are leftists? If so, are you sure they aren’t lying to you about liking democracy and capitalism?

(and socialism has become somewhat like fascism in that there’s no decent commonly shared definition anymore that allows us to usefully discuss what is and isn’t socialism).

That’s because American socialists have been spending a lot of time and effort over the last 50 years trying to obfuscate what their true political philosophies are. By calling themselves “liberal”, for instance. Socialism is in fact the very opposite of liberalism.

Socialists believe the good of the society as a whole comes first, and that government is the rightful caretaker (babysitter) of the people. Liberals (real ones) believe the good of the individual comes first, and that government powers need to be kept in check, in order to prevent unwarranted and unwanted intrusion into the lives of the people.

Which of those two do your “leftist” friends believe in?

By the way, there is another category of people that are sometimes confused with leftists. Anarchists. An anarchist is very similar to a liberal, except that where liberals believe government is a necessary evil, anarchists don’t believe government is necessary at all.

Simply look up the wikipedia entry for ‘neoconservative’ and read the first few paragraphs if you’d like to correct that premise.

That isn’t necessary. The first time I voted for President was Reagan’s second term, in 1984. No neocons of substance around, on the ground, back then. I don’t need to read a wiki link to tell me that.

The rest of what you wrote stands up decently.

Thanks

No comparison.

Arab society welcomes death – the death of Jews in particular – and it always has.

My point is that military law is different from civilian law. This is true in most countries including the United States. The penalties are almost always lesser in these sorts of cases. Bottom line is that the soldier was given punishment. A punishment that a Palestinian counter-part wouldn’t receive if the roles were reversed.

And I think you need to take notice that it was an ISRAELI news source that you linked to in your blog post (Ynet). It was Israel who announced the story. There was no cover-up. No one tried to sugar coat it. Don’t even get me started on the Palestinian media in comparison.