RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://pjmedia.com/spengler/2012/02/27/thank-heaven-for-little-ghouls/

“As for Gen. James R. Clapper, Obama’s director of national intelligence who told the Senate Intelligence Committee last week that Iran has not yet tried to build a nuclear bomb, there is a special circle of Hell for those who respond to the question, “How much is 2 + 2?,” with “How much do you want it to be?” And Gen. David Petraeus, Obama’s director of Central Intelligence, not long ago lionized by many conservatives, went along with the charade. That inspires the following variation on an old joke:

Two priests are attending a seminar at a Washington, D.C., hotel, and by accident find themselves in the wrong conference room. It’s an AIPAC seminar, not a Church function. They excuse themselves after a minute and leave. Father Kelly says to Father O’Malley, “Do you know, Father O’Malley, I never knew that the Jews spoke Latin among themselves. I don’t know what it means, but they kept repeating, petraeus fuctus.”

Really interesting wars, Cardinal Richelieu informs me in a dream-sequence recounted in this morning’s “Spengler” essay at Asia Times Online, because they kill off the fathers, and then the sons. Richelieu presided over what we call the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), which reduced the population of Central Europe by about two-fifths, although there have been numerous others, including the Peloponnesian War and 1914 to 1945. Richelieu ” looked rather like the portrait by Phillipe de Champaigne, but sounded like Maurice Chevalier.”‘

http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/2882/china-middle-east Perhaps China’s position is shakier than it appears. China’s most dramatic 21st century Middle Eastern political move so far was its decision on February 4, 2012, to join Russia in vetoing an exceptionally mild and toothless UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria’s Assad regime for its ongoing repression of the Syrian people. It was […]

http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/2886/france-halal

The halal issue is about more than just meat.

A French television documentary has revealed that all of the slaughterhouses in the greater Paris metropolitan area are now producing all of their meat in accordance with Islamic Sharia law.The exposé broadcast by France 2 television also alleged that much of the religiously slaughtered meat known as halal is not labeled as such and is entering the general food chain, where it is being unwittingly consumed by the non-Muslim population.

The revelation has sparked political controversy in France, where Islam and the question of Muslim immigration has become a central issue in the presidential campaign.

Halal, which in Arabic means lawful or legal, is a term designating any object or action that is permissible according to Sharia law. In the context of food, halal meat is derived from animals slaughtered by hand according to methods stipulated in Islamic religious texts.

One such halal method, called dhabihah, consists of making a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife on the neck that cuts the jugular vein, leaving the animal to bleed to death. Much of the controversy involving halal stems from the fact that Sharia law bans the practice of stunning the animals before they are slaughtered. Pre-slaughter stunning renders the animals unconscious and thus is said to lessen pain.

Not surprisingly, far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has turned the halal controversy into a campaign issue. Speaking to supporters at a February 18-19 congress of her National Front party in the northern city of Lille, Le Pen said: “All the abattoirs in the Paris region sell halal meat without exception. They have succumbed to the rules of a minority. We have reason to be disgusted.”

Scott Ritter, Underage Girls and Iraq — on The Glazov Gang
by Frontpagemag.com
Andrew Klavan, Evan Sayet and Eric Allen Bell battle it out on Frontpage’s television program.

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/02/28/scott-ritter-underage-girls-and-iraq-on-the-glazov-gang/

http://www.prudenpolitics.com/index.php/pruden/full_column/the_ignorance_of_rick_santorum

There’s a tiny priest living in Rick Santorum’s trim, toned body, struggling to get out. The rogue priest escaped Sunday and said foolish things.The candidate most admired for plain speech made it plain and clear that he doesn’t believe in the wall between church and state and doesn’t think much of John F. Kennedy for saying he did.

“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,” he told ABC News. “The idea that church can have no influence or involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country.”
This should cook his goose with conservatives (and everybody else), Catholic and Protestant alike, but it probably won’t. Many voters are as ignorant as Rick Santorum about the plain meaning of the First Amendment. Mr. Santorum, no doubt listening to his inner rogue, says the First Amendment’s guarantee of “the free exercise of religion means bringing everybody, people of faith and no faith, into the public square.”

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/02/28/bill-maher-says-jesus-christ-was-palestinia

Christians the world over are going to be thrilled to know that Jesus was a Palestinian.

At least that’s what HBO’s Bill Maher told CNN’s Piers Morgan Monday evening in a discussion about Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow (video follows with transcript and commentary):

BILL MAHER: You are allowed to have your opinion. You’re allowed to have your opinion that a Palestinian 2000 years ago walked on water and did magic tricks and he was really still his own father and all that stuff. That’s fine. You can have whatever opinion you want, and the fact that a billion other people believe it gives you a lot of strength and credence. But I also have the opinion that that’s ridiculous, that it’s anachronistic, this is the 21st century.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/02/27/team-obama-continues-to-support-un-hypocrisy-on-human-rights/print#ixzz1ncV3rgoV On Monday the UN opens two major human rights meetings, the annual session of its top women’s rights body, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York, and a month-long session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Lecturing Americans about human rights protection from the UN-provided podium will be CSW […]

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/a-police-commissioner-kelly-nypd-safe-article-1.1028917?print Despite some controversial tactics, Police Commisioner Ray Kelly and the NYPD have kept the city safe – and he doesn’t have to apologize to anyone.  They came over from Jersey 19 years ago in a yellow Ryder van that had a bomb in it, some of them from a walk-in mosque over a store […]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/27/israel-wont-warn-us-befor_n_1305601.html?1330398253&icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D139005

WASHINGTON — Israeli officials say they won’t warn the U.S. if they decide to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, according to one U.S. intelligence official familiar with the discussions. The pronouncement, delivered in a series of private, top-level conversations, sets a tense tone ahead of meetings in the coming days at the White House and Capitol Hill.

Israeli officials said that if they eventually decide a strike is necessary, they would keep the Americans in the dark to decrease the likelihood that the U.S. would be held responsible for failing to stop Israel’s potential attack. The U.S. has been working with the Israelis for months to persuade them that an attack would be only a temporary setback to Iran’s nuclear program.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak delivered the message to a series of top-level U.S. visitors to the country, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House national security adviser and the director of national intelligence, and top U.S. lawmakers, all trying to close the trust gap between Israel and the U.S. over how to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Netanyahu delivered the same message to all the Americans who have traveled to Israel for talks, the U.S. official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive strategic negotiations.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment, and the Pentagon and Office of Director of National Intelligence declined to comment, as did the Israeli Embassy.

MARCH 2012 OUTPOST
http://www.mideastoutpost.com/

Editor: Rael Jean Isaac
Editorial Board: Ruth King, Rita Kramer

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The Treason of the Intellectuals: Ruth King
http://www.mideastoutpost.com/archives/the-treason-of-the-intellectuals-ruth-king.html
I assiduously avoid Holocaust metaphors when discussing Israel’s case for two reasons. First, Zionism is not a response to the genocide of World War II. In fact had Zionism been successful, millions of Europe’s Jewry could have been saved. Second, the Arabs and their propaganda machines have, with considerable success, promoted the canard that […]Full Story »
From the Editor: Rael Jean Isaac
http://www.mideastoutpost.com/archives/from-the-editor-rael-jean-isaac-16.html
Name that Zionist Haifa University professor Steven Plaut offers a quiz: Can you name the Zionist who said the following? “Those good Jews brought civilization and peace to the Arab Muslims, and they dispersed gold and prosperity over Palestine without damage to anyone or taking anything by force. Despite this, the Muslims declared holy […]Full Story »
Why Myanmar…But Not Judea? Gerald Honigman
http://www.mideastoutpost.com/archives/why-myanmar-but-not-judea-gerald-honigman.html
Why Myanmar…But Not Judea? Why Sri Lanka, but not Samaria? Why not Rhodesia, but the “West Bank?” It’s admirable (don’t you think ?) when a people throws off the legacy of imperial oppression to embrace their new freedom. The very renaming of nations themselves has often been a reflection of this wonderful development. Admirable, […]Full Story »
The Romance of Gush Etzion: Aryeh Tepper
http://www.mideastoutpost.com/archives/the-romance-of-gush-etzion-aryeh-tepper.html
AFSI will be running a series on the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Those who live in them are Israel’s most courageous and patriotic citizens, not “occupiers” but people with the faith and determination to recreate Jewish communities in the land of their forefathers who “settled” there millennia ago. We are giving them the voice denied them in an overwhelming hostile media (shockingly, in Israel as well) which depicts them as zealots, fanatics and chief barriers to peace.

The return of the Jewish people to their homeland succeeded thanks to the extraordinary tenacity of pioneering individuals who, in a dangerous environment, created new communities from scratch. One such community, or rather series of communities, is the Etzion district—in Hebrew, Gush Etzion—located along the ancient mountain route between Jerusalem and Hebron. The first three communities built by Jewish settlers were completely destroyed by Arabs. The fourth still stands today.
Full Story »
Post-Mubarak Egypt: The Dark Side of Islamic Utopia Robert S. Wistrich
http://www.mideastoutpost.com/archives/post-mubarak-egypt-the-dark-side-of-islamic-utopia-robert-s-wistrich.html
The Muslim Brotherhood [Ikhwan al-Muslimim], along with the more radical Salafi Islamists, has turned out to be the overwhelming victor in the first two rounds of the democratic elections currently taking place in post-Mubarak Egypt. In Egypt, the two largest Islamist parties won about 75 percent of the votes in the second round of […]Full Story »
Adib Shishakli And Shukri Al Quwatli: Sarah Honig
http://www.mideastoutpost.com/archives/adib-shishakli-and-shukri-al-quwatli-sarah-honig.html
Forgotten is our peculiar urban folklore, yesteryear’s spontaneous fun of small Israeli kids rapidly rolling off their tongues the names of assorted Syrian tyrants. This singsong accompanied sidewalk games and was a staple of silly summertime tongue-twister contests. Nobody then remotely believed that riots and havoc in neighboring autocracies could betoken the rise of […]
AFSI SPRING TRIP TO JUDEA AND SAMARIA APRIL 22 TO MAY 1, 2012
You are Invited to Join AFSI on our Spring Chizuk Trip To Judea And Samaria – April 22 to May 1, 2012 See the AFSI website for reports and photos of past trips. The cost of the trip is $1800 per person, double occupancy. Single occupancy is available