“The long arm of the Israelis reaches directly into the US via an active and well-funded lobby, which reflexively defends the actions of the Israeli government and seeks to discredit the Palestinian cause in every venue. Up until recently it was impossible to say this without being called all sorts of nasty names. More recently, however, while the nastiness has if anything escalated, the smear brigade is less successful at driving their opponents to the margins of public discourse. Objective reality — otherwise known as the truth — matters. Dead US soldiers whose demise could have been prevented matter greatly — and that somber reality can be masked by propaganda and ’spin’ only so long.” (03/17/10)