The People Preventing Uninsured Americans from getting Health Insurance

This Daily Kos post reveals the people preventing so many Americans from gaining health insurance.

A Sign of US Economic Recovery

Daily Kos notes that initial unemployment claims have gone down to pre-Great Recession levels for the first time.

Assad Outsources Repression to Hezbollah; Syria will be Hezbollah's Downfall

After reading Brown Moses' blog it appears that Assad has outsourced the suppression of free Quseir to Hezbollah. He posts evidence that suggests only Hezbollah fighters have been sent to suppress free Quseir.

I cannot see how this can end well for Hezbollah. They might be able to conquer free Quseir but how can Assad expect them to suppress free Syrians everywhere? How far is this going to go. The Hezbollah fighters have been sent into foreign territory to fight the people who live there. Contrary to Assadite propaganda over 90% of anti-Assad fighters are Syrians. 

I feel very sorry for the Hezbollah fighters. Many of them joined to protect their own community of Shiites within Lebanon from rival armed militias and to 'resist' Israel. Instead they have been sent to crush a popular uprising in a neighboring Muslim majority country because it's dictatorial government has lost control of the situation and needs to be bailed out by the blood, sweat and tears of Hezbollah. Assad will still fall. 

Assad's Thugs Massacre 62 at Ras al-Nabaa, Baniyas

As reported by Al Arabiya, citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, it is now sadly known that Assad's thugs have murdered at least 62 people at Ras al-Nabaa, Baniyas.

The Observatory blamed the killings on the National Defense Forces (NDF), a new paramilitary group made up mostly of fighters from minorities that back Assad.
Trained and often directed by the military, the NDF describes itself as a reserve force for the army. The group has taken over the regionalized role of more informal Alawite militias known as shabbiha, which were accused of previous massacres of Sunnis.

May justice swiftly pursue those responsible for this massacre.

[Update (20 May): The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights now says 145 were murdered by pro-Assad thugs in this massacre. "145 civilians (34 children, 40 women, 71 men) killed in the Banias massacre". May justice swiftly pursue the murderers.]

Assad Uses Chemical Weapons: FSA, Britain and France

When I first heard that Assad's forces were alleged to have used chemical weapons I tended to dismiss it. I thought such a thing would be impossible for the Assad regime to commit. But as reports about the incidents continued to be discussed I am now reluctantly convinced that Assad is now using chemical weapons against his own people.

It is true, the Assad regime will do anything to stay in power. They do not care about the people. Only maintaining their power.

Free Syrian Army general: ‘Clear proof chemical weapons used’

(CNN)

The chief of staff for the Free Syrian Army said he can confirm that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons in the Syrian cities of Homs, Aleppo and Otaiba, outside Damascus. “We took some samples of the soil and of blood. The injured people were observed by doctors and the samples were tested and it was very clear that the regime used chemical weapons,” General Salim Idriss told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday. Idriss said his doctors gave the samples to “observers” of the civil war in Syria, but refused to name which groups.

Both Britain and France now say soil samples indicate “some use of chemical weapons.”

 On Monday, the head of Israel’s military intelligence, Brigadier General Itai Brun, said that Israeli assessment shows the Syrian regime has used deadly chemical weapons against armed rebels on a number of occasions in the past few months. The type of chemical weapons was likely sarin, as well as neutralizing and non-lethal chemical weapons, according to Brun.

1200 Year Old Minaret in Daraa al Balad Destroyed by Assad's Forces

A precious minaret has been destroyed by Assad's forces. The Assad regime has proven itself no better than the Al Qaeda militants who destroyed the tombs of Timbuktu or the Taliban who destroyed the giant Buddha.

The Minaret of Omari Mosque, built by Omar Ibn Khattab & home to the first anti-regime protests in Syria, was destroyed by the Assad Regime Alawite and Shiite Artillery and Tank forces today in another grotesque genocidal hate crime against the Syrian people and the Syrian Sunni Muslim majority population. Al-Omari Mosque is the birthplace of the Syrian uprising, setting of the first freedom song, first funeral and first field hospital - On March 18 2011, our first martyrs were killed by Assad forces during a peaceful protest that emerged from the Omari Mosque.
Syria - Assad Destroys 8th Century Omari Mosque Minaret in Daraa Al Balad 4-13-13 Depraved Dictator Destroying Nation
Is a building worth more than the lives of people? No. But this building was a powerful symbol of Daraa and the birthplace of the Syrian Revolution. It was also one of the oldest mosques in the world, dating back to the early 8th Century. Therefore it breaks our hearts to see the destruction of the minaret of the Omari mosque in Daraa al-Balad today after being repeatedly targeted by Assad's forces. (text copied from Syrian Uprising 2011 Information Center - see http://suic2011.wordpress.com/author/...

Massacre at Jdaidet al-Fadl, FSA Resists Hezbollah in Qusayr

It was sad to hear that Assad's murderers have conducted yet another massacre at Jdaidet al-Fadl, near Damascus, killing over 100 people at least, mostly civilians. The US government has condemned this latest atrocity at Jdaidet al-Fadl brought about by the Assad regime.

In other news it would appear that Assad is now trying to conquer the liberated Syrians of Qusayr. And he has even got Hezbollah in on the act trying to seize Qusayr. It does not appear to be going very well. (FSA reportedly kills 18 Hezbollah fighters in Syrian city of Qusayr.)

I feel very sorry for those Hezbollah soldiers. No doubt many of them joined thinking they were going to fight Israel, and in times past Hezbollah did indeed do that. But now they are being cynically used to bail Assad out of the mess he has gotten himself into. Assad is responsible for this catastrophic situation by letting his so called 'security' forces murder thousands of peaceful protesters forcing them to take up arms in a desperate attempt to protect themselves.

May peace soon come to Syria and may Bashar al-Assad pay for his many crimes.

Update: It seems the death toll for the massacre is more like 479.

From Syria's Bright Future (Emphasis mine.) :

566 martyrs were recorded in Syria yesterday with at least 479 of them in the Jdaidet Artouz massacre, and the numbers are rising with the discovery of more bodies.

The LCC said: "After clashes between the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and regime forces, and despite the FSA’s withdrawal to save civilian lives, the regime mobilized large numbers from its 4th Division, Republican Guard, Lebanese Hezbollah, and shabbiha militias from the Somarieh barracks to storm the city and attack civilians. Many of the casualties were women, children, and elderly persons. Some victims were slaughtered; others were shot. The corpses were set on fire near positions controlled by the regime’s 100th Regiment. These regime forces also launched an indiscriminate arrest campaign, which affected a large number of people who were trying to bury the martyrs of the massacre."

Many women and children were among those killed over the last few days in a south-west suburb of Damascus, according to an activists from the city.

Speaking to the Guardian via Skype, Susan Ahmad, spokeswoman for the Revolutionary Council in Damascus, said:

"Today in the morning, we discovered seven bodies killed in a building. These people were displaced [from the nearby suburbs of] Darayaa and Moadamyeh to Jdaidet al-Fadel seeking a safer place, but they unfortunately they got killed there by Assad’s forces.

We documented the names of all the dead bodies. The number is rising to almost 400. Every day we discover more and more dead bodies.

They [Assad’s forces] are acting like mad people. After slaughtering people, they burn the bodies.

It is not a civil war, actually it’s genocide. The Free Syrian Army was there because they are everywhere. They were already there but they were not active.

Why did Assad’s forces attacked Jdaidet al-Fadel now? They did so because for months they have been trying to storm Darayaa and Moadamyeh, but in vain. So they wanted to something to prove they are still in control and to lift their soldiers’ spirits up. So they went to that little village and started shelling it. After that they said ‘the Free Syrian Army are there. The Free Syria Army are terrorists so please leave the area or we are going to shell the whole area’. That’s what happen. After the Free Syrian Army withdrew snipers spread everywhere. They shot children just because they came close to windows. How can Assad’s forces say that they are fighting terrorists? Most of the dead people are civilians, and they were killed after the Free Syria Army withdrew."

Ahmad claimed several southern and eastern Damascus suburbs were under rebel control, but opposition forces have yet to penetrate the centre of the city.

"My neighbourhood [in northern Damscus] is under the control of Assad’s forces. We don’t have the Free Syrian Army here and still they shell it every other day.

Assad’s forces are determined to kill more people and never give up. I’m afraid that the worst is still to come, because there is nothing serious yet inside Damascus. The big battle hasn’t started yet."