Link-o-rama

I've just been promoted (anyone who knows what I do for a living will pity me immediately) and have spent the last few days training for my new position, so have had little time for bloggera.

Just a few links to interesting stories I've come across recently:

This is a Salon piece about a youth group in Israel working to give teenagers a voice.

Several young PYALARA members actually say the group has helped stop them from becoming suicide bombers. "I want to tell you honestly that I thought about [becoming a suicide bomber]," says Lana Kamleh, 16, of Jerusalem, who has worked for the Youth Times, PYALARA's newspaper that is distributed throughout Gaza and the West Bank, and appeared on Palestine TV on PYALARA news programs.

If the only outlet for rage a seriously pissed-off teenager has is a group of psychos with an explosive belt in their hands, what do you think will happen? Israel should be funding programs like these. I have yet to hear any Palestinian teenager quoted as saying "You know, demolishing my home, keeping me inside 24 hours a day, and shooting at me when I go outside really kept me from wanting to become a suicide bomber." But maybe that's just the liberal-controlled media at work.

It makes no sense to say you're fighing terrorism when you have more terrorists when you're done than you had when you started.

On a decidedly lighter note, No More Mister Nice Blog makes an excellent point about the "increase of violence in today's music". You should hear some of those Opera guys talk about smackin their ho's!

Also, Ha'aretz writes about protests to Israeli plans to demolish a Palestinian low-income housing project.

The project, which was launched about 10 years ago, was meant to provide low-income housing for young Greek Orthodox families in Beit Sahour, a predominantly Christian town of 13,000, according to Suzan Sahori, a spokeswoman for Beit Sahour.

Sahori said a new Israeli road meant to speed settlers past Palestinian towns is being built behind the apartment complex.

That's all for now. I know I haven't written anything about North Korea yet, or "The Sniper". But I might later. I dunno.