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http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/110449/judaism-central-sacrifice?print=1
Judaism’s Central Sacrifice

Yoram Hazony’s new book bases Judaism on a naturalistic reading of the Bible, but it’s a stretch

As co-founder and now a senior fellow of the Shalem Center, a leading Zionist think tank in Jerusalem, Yoram Hazony has sought a bridge between secular nationalism and Jewish religion. His latest book [1], The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, claims to find it, in a naturalistic reading of the Hebrew Scriptures that allows the sacred texts of the Jewish people to do double duty: They can be read as revelation by the religious, Hazony argues, or by the secular as a guide to personal virtue and national prowess. The question is whether this shidduch between God’s word and natural law is a union of two besherts or a shotgun wedding that leaves both parties miserable.

Hazony seems to think of Mosaic law as an afterthought to natural law—the former “is indeed held to be the key to a just and prosperous life” in the biblical narrative, but that is only because “it is so much in conformity with the natural law that even from the perspective of the shepherd, who examines its strictures from the outside, it can be accepted and obeyed.” Like the late political philosopher Leo Strauss, Hazony draws a bright line between faith and reason. But Hazony abhors Strauss because he is competing for the same side of the street. Faith, he argues, is for the Christians. His book, on the other hand, “is the first direct and sustained argument in favor of approaching the Hebrew Scriptures as works of reason.”

Hazony contends that an ethical philosophy founded in natural law is embedded in the Tanakh’s historical narrative, requiring no recourse to supernatural revelation. This stems from what he calls “shepherd’s ethics”—that is, “the vantage point of an outsider” who “owes nothing and has committed to nothing that cannot be reconsidered in light of one’s own independent judgment as to what is really right.” Inherent in the life the shepherd, he avers, is a virtue that distinguishes nomads from farmers and city-dwellers: Abel from Cain, the Abram of Ur from the nomad Abraham of Canaan, Joseph the shepherd from Joseph the minister of Pharaoh, and so on.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443409904577619043372332290.html

Tuesday brought the news that “No Easy Day,” a firsthand account of the 2011 raid on the Osama bin Laden compound written by a former Navy SEAL and due to be published on Sept. 11, had been discovered already on sale in a bookshop. Its contents are being widely discussed, the publisher has moved up publication to Sept. 4—and the brouhaha over the appropriateness of Matt Bissonnette’s writing the book is only going to increase.

Please, spare us the outrage, or at least most of it. The U.S. Special Operations Command has expressed indignation about “No Easy Day,” which will be published under the nom de plume Mark Owen, even though Mr. Bissonnette’s bid for anonymity has been foiled. If the author violated his classified nondisclosure agreement, he must accept the consequences. Submitting the book for pre-approval would have avoided investigation by the Pentagon, which is currently checking the manuscript.

But to label this book as an unprecedented breach of security reflects a confused understanding of an equally confused policy. Mr. Bissonnette has joined a tradition of SEAL best sellers. While the U.S. Army Delta force remains the silent service, over a decade of war the SEALs have garnered extraordinary publicity.

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A scene from ‘Act of Valor’ (2012), an action-drama starring active-duty Navy SEALs.

During World War II, President Truman complained that the Marines had a public relations man in every squad. But even we Marines had to rely on John Wayne for our Hollywood fame. Earlier this year saw the release of the action movie “Act of Valor,” a box-office success ($80 million so far) starring active-duty SEALs and developed with the organization’s thorough input.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/08/30/Mexican-police-attacked-CIA-officers–ambush-likely–sources

Reuters) – Mexican federal police shot and wounded two CIA operatives last week, security sources said, in an apparently deliberate attack that could hurt U.S.-Mexico cooperation in their war against drug cartels.

The two experienced officers were just south of the capital on their way to a Mexican Marine base on Friday, working with local authorities on a training mission, when federal police riddled their armored van bearing diplomatic plates with bullets.

The men, traveling with a Mexican Marine captain, were wounded and taken to a hospital for treatment, though their injuries were not life-threatening. Their vehicle’s tires and rear windshield were shot out.

A dozen federal police officers detained and questioned over the attack have been ordered held in custody for 40 days. In initial statements to federal prosecutors, they claimed they confused the Americans for criminals.

However, witnesses who saw the shooting at a bend in the road outside the small town of Tres Marias told Reuters the gunmen were dressed in plain clothes and pursued the Americans firing from unmarked cars and on foot — a classic style of gangland hits in Mexico.

“We had no idea at all they were police. They looked like criminals,” said one woman who witnessed the incident but asked not to be named for fear of repercussions.

A Mexican government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the evidence suggested gang members and corrupt police had carried out the attack before other police arrived at the scene and prevented the men being killed.

“This was not an accident,” the official said.

Witnesses said the CIA driver made impressive evasive maneuvers which likely saved the lives of those inside the car, and they believe they heard hundreds of bullets fired, estimating the incident lasted around six minutes.

The Mexican official said the vehicle was chased for about 4 km (2.5 miles) before it was halted, and that shell casings from AK-47s, which are not used by Mexican police and are a weapon of choice for drug cartel members, were found at the scene.

A total of four vehicles were involved in the incident, though only the shot-up van was found at the scene, the official added. One of the vehicles identified by eyewitnesses has been linked to other crimes, the official said.

Tres Marias is close to the city of Cuernavaca, a popular weekend retreat for Mexico City residents that has been badly hit by drug violence in recent years. In 2009, Mexican Marines shot dead leading cartel boss Arturo Beltran Leyva, alias “The Beard,” in Cuernavaca in an operation based on information from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

His brother and fellow drug boss, Hector Beltran Leyva, is thought by some security experts to be at large nearby.

The Mexican official said the rise in criminal activity in the area was very likely being abetted by corrupt police.

“The police here have been heavily infiltrated by organized crime,” said a local man, who declined to be identified.

American and Mexican officials are still investigating the incident and Mexican Attorney General Marisela Morales said on Wednesday that an ambush was one possible explanation.

U.S. officials in diplomatic vehicles went over the scene of the shooting on Wednesday, taking fresh evidence under the protection of Mexican Marines.

A separate Mexican official close to the investigation who asked not to be identified said the CIA officers were within a few miles of the Marine base when they were shot at.

The CIA declined to comment on the incident.

One U.S. official familiar with inquiries into the incident said there are a “whole lot of unanswered questions” and that dealings between the United States and Mexico could be seriously affected if Washington concludes a major cover-up is going on.

DELIBERATE AMBUSH?

Mexico’s police have been plagued by corruption and officers working for hire for cartels in recent years, amid a surge in violence that poses a major challenge for incoming President Enrique Pena Nieto, who is due to take office in December.

Roadside shootings have been a feature of the violence that has overshadowed President Felipe Calderon’s six years in office. Gangs have been known to set up fake military checkpoints to ambush rivals.

Last year, two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were shot by hitmen on a major Mexican highway. One of the agents died.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/29/inside-the-ring-iraq-backing-iran/

Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government, led by President Nouri al-Maliki, continues to align itself more closely with neighboring Iran.

According to U.S. defense officials, including one who recently returned from Iraq, Mr. Maliki recently shifted a large number of Sunni-dominated Iraqi troop units near Syria away from the border and replaced them with Shiite troops.

The reason: Iraq’s government is preparing for the exit of Iranian paramilitary units from Syria that have been seeking to prop up President Bashar Assad’s regime. Beset by a growing number of high-level defections, the Assad regime is said to be on its last legs.

The Iraqi units near Syria are expected to form a secure corridor into the southern part of Iraq and into Iran for the retreating Iranian troops.

Intelligence reports from the region indicate that members of the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s regime also are fleeing Syria and returning to Iraq, raising new fears of anti-government terrorist attacks in Iraq.

Mr. Maliki in July announced that Iraqis in Syria could return to Iraq, including Baathists but excluded those involved in crimes.

According to reports from the region, Iraqi intelligence has been checking the passports of those arriving from Syria at Baghdad International Airport against a list of 300 people wanted by the government.

Additionally, in Kirkuk, police on July 24 arrested an al Qaeda terrorist who had entered Iraq from Syria. And five former Saddam regime leaders entered Iraq from Syria around the same time and were planning to finance suicide bombings in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, according to Iraqi press reports.

The increasing terrorist threat comes against the backdrop of a little-noticed campaign of targeted assassinations of middle-level government officials in Iraq.

A U.S. official said the Obama administration and the Pentagon have ignored the increasing threats in Iraq since the pullout of U.S. forces from the country in December. “I don’t think the Pentagon wants anything to do with Iraq anymore,” the official said.

An Iraqi Embassy official had no immediate comment.

N. Korea’s deceptive flood figures

North Korea’s communist regime recently issued inflated figures for rainfall and casualties from rains and flooding in order to obtain foreign aid, according to a Western diplomatic official.

An analysis of weather events since June in North Korea revealed that rainfall and flooding were less severe than that which occurred during floods in 2011 and 1995.

The North Koreans claimed severe damage. According to official state media: A total of 169 people died, 400 others went missing and more than 200,000 were left homeless in recent flooding.

However, an analysis of weather patterns in the region contradicts Pyongyang’s rain and flood claims. It found that severe drought in May and June was eased by the rain, rather than it causing massive damage.

Heavy rains in July also were shorter in duration and produced lower rainfall totals than heavy rains in 2011 and 1995. Yet Pyongyang reported three times the casualties, which the diplomatic official said was “drastically” overstated.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears not to have visited the flood-damaged regions. Instead, he was reported to have visited a North Korean amusement park during the floods.

Also, his order to repair flood damage came 10 days after the flooding, a indication the rainfalls did not produce a major natural disaster.

Reports from North Koreans living outside the country also stated that Mr. Kim issued special orders to officials in late July to exaggerate casualties from the floods as a way to extract more aid from the international community.

International inspectors who traveled to North Korea could not confirm the high casualty totals claimed by the government.

Said one diplomat: “North Korea is squandering enormous amounts of money on pointless projects,” including weapons of mass destruction and construction of a palace for the embalmed bodies of past leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, along with a large amusement park.

Foreign aid sent to help flood-damaged regions in North Korea has had “negatives effects,” such as allowing the communist regime to avoid having to build costly flood-prevention measures, the diplomat said. As a result, North Koreans continue to fall victim to recurring floods.

“The international community must be discreet in providing support to the North Korean regime,” giving aid only when the regime’s efforts to cope with floodwaters have failed and it is left with no other option but to seek emergency assistance, the diplomat said. “That way the international community will help North Korea to enhance its ability to manage natural disasters.”

Poland moving away from U.S.

The Obama administration’s conciliatory policies toward Russia on missile defense are prompting one NATO ally to rethink its reliance on the United States.

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski announced Aug. 15 that Poland must replace its aging Soviet air and missile defenses with a “Polish shield” that will be part of NATO missile defenses.

Reports from Poland said Mr. Komorowski’s announcement represents a strategic shift from the U.S. in the aftermath of the Obama administration’s 2009 decision to cancel a long-range interceptor base in Poland as part of its “reset” policy of seeking closer ties to Moscow.

Polish military analyst Artur Bilski wrote recently that Poland’s plan for its own missile defense was prompted by President Obama’s overheard conversation in April with then-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. Mr. Obama promised the Russian leader that he would have “more flexibility” to negotiate a missile defense agreement after he is re-elected.

The comment was widely interpreted by congressional Republicans as plans for further concessions to the Russians, who are demanding legally binding restrictions on U.S. missile defenses in Europe, a position so far rejected by the United States.

A U.S. defense official said another problem for the Poles on missile defense has been the head of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, whose leadership style has alienated allies in Europe and Asia who are seeking to cooperate with the U.S. in building missile defenses.

GOP defense platform

The Republican Party platform made public this week highlights a return to Reagan administration defense policies that called for “peace through strength.”

Passing the torch: Ryan connects with Gen X
CNN
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
News
Passing the torch: Ryan connects with Gen X
With Paul Ryan, 42, holding down the No. 2 spot, the ticket hopes to strengthen his Generation X demographic ahead and broaden the campaign’s appeal to a wealth of younger voters. During his speech, Ryan spoke directly to young voters’ economic concerns. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz251jj4i8i
Dem’s ‘war-on-women’ attack based on myths
U.S. News
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Commentary
Dem’s ‘war-on-women’ attack based on myths
In 2010, Republicans won the women’s vote over Democrats by 49 percent to 48 percent, exit polls showed. Ever since, the Democratic political strategy has been to make female voters, who comprise more than half the electorate, their No. 1 target. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz251jqRBK2
Martinez talks about political conversion
Weekly Standard
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Blogs
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez grew up, like most New Mexicans of Hispanic descent, a Democrat. Her telling of her conversion to the Republican party was aimed less at the GOP delegates seated before and more to those Hispanic Democrats and independents watching at home. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz251k01kcX
Ryan’s speech unites GOP faithful and Tea Party
Fox News
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Commentary
If any political speech at the GOP convention can bring together Tea Partiers, independents and the Republican faithful, Rep. Paul Ryan’s was it. Ryan drew a clear connection between fiscal responsibility in government and economic opportunity for the nation. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz251kG4nhL

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/jamie-glazov/its-a-girl-%e2%80%93-the-three-deadliest-words-in-the-world/print/

It’s a Girl – The Three Deadliest Words in the World

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Evan Grae Davis, the founder of Shadowline Films. From the Aral Sea disaster in Eastern Europe to poverty in Africa to social transformation among tribal groups of South America, Evan has traveled the globe with camera in hand for 16 years. He has dedicated his career to advocating for social justice through writing and directing short documentaries and educational videos championing the cause of the poor and exploited. He draws from his experience and passion as he lends leadership to Shadowline Films, a team of filmmakers who share a common concern for the critical issues of our time. It’s a Girl is his first feature-length documentary.

FP: Evan Grae Davis, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Tell us about your new film, It’s a Girl.

Davis: Thanks Jamie.

In India, China and many other parts of the world today, girls are killed, aborted and abandoned simply because they are girls. The United Nations estimates as many as 200 million girls are missing in the world today because of this so-called “gendercide.” Girls who survive infancy are often subject to neglect, and many grow up to face extreme violence and even death at the hands of their own husbands or other family members.

Shot on location in India and China, It’s a Girl reveals the issue. It asks why this is happening, and why so little is being done to save girls and women. The film tells the stories of abandoned and trafficked girls, of women who suffer extreme dowry-related violence, of brave mothers fighting to save their daughters’ lives, and of other mothers who would kill for a son. Global experts and grassroots activists put the stories in context and advocate different paths towards change, while collectively lamenting the lack of any truly effective action against this injustice.

FP: Why is there a war against girls?

Davis: The war against girls is rooted in centuries-old tradition and sustained by deeply ingrained cultural mores that say women are less valuable than men. In nations like India and China, only sons can inherit wealth, carry on the family name, and perform last rites for their parents upon their death. Sons also care for their parents in old age. Daughters, once married, join their husband’s family and are no longer considered a member of their parents’ family. In addition, in India, the family of girls must pay an expensive dowry of property and money to the husband’s family upon marriage. These practices, in combination with government policies in China which restrict families to one or two children, accelerate the elimination of girls. Girls are often aborted, killed immediately after birth, or abandoned. Those women who do live past childhood, are often subjected to abuse and neglect.

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/laura-l-rubenfeld/democrats-embrace-siraj-wahhaj-supporter-of-cop-killer-al-qaeda-and-hamas-1/

In just a few days, the Democratic National Convention “Kick off events”week will include its first ever “Jumah (gathering) at the DNC” – three Islam-centered events beginning with a Friday prayer and sermon, an evening Islamic banquet and an all day Islamic festival.

Many of the individuals scheduled to speak during the DNC week have extremely spurious backgrounds, including support for Al Qaeda and the U.S. State Department designated terrorist organization, HAMAS. Brooklyn-based Imam Siraj Wahhaj will headline the Muslim portion of the convention.

This is part two of an in-depth study of a man who will have the ear of thousands planning to attend the DNC Convention, thanks to Debbie Wasserman Schultz’ DNC. [To see Part I, click here]

Wahhaj Supports Islamic Extremism in Sudan

Hassan Al-Turabi was the leader of the National Islamic Front (NIF) political party in Sudan In the 1980’s. [i] It was then that shari’ah law was implemented nationwide to Muslim and non-Muslim people alike. The criminal code was changed to include such barbaric punishments as cross amputation (cutting off the left hand and right foot), stoning, flogging, and death sentences for apostasy and blasphemy. The prominent Islam reformer, Mahmoud Mohammed Taha (“Taha”) was executed in 1981 for apostasy. [ii] Siraj Wahhaj supports Al-Turabi’s draconian shari’ah as it was enforced. In one sermon at his mosque, Wahhaj proclaimed “I would cut off the hands of my own daughter (if she stole) because Allah stands for Justice.” [iii]

Sudan became a safe-haven for terrorists i.e. Osama Bin Laden and HAMAS, under Al- Turabi, And in 1993, after the World Trade Center bombing, Sudan was named by the U.S. State Department as a state sponsor of terror. [iv]

Siraj Wahhaj made these statements at the time Sudan was listed as a state sponsor of terror:

May Allah bless Sudan…these are people who want to establish the Shari’ah, establish Quran, and Sunnah, they want to establish the religion and therefore hated by the government of the U.S.A…I’m not going to make you comfortable because our book, the book we believe in, is not Dale Carnegie’s, How to Win Friends and Influence People; But it’s the Quran.

Wahhaj Joins ISNA in Support for HAMAS and the National Islamic Front (NIF)

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) calls itself the largest Islamic organization in the U.S.. The leaders of two terror groups Sami Al-Arian – Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Mousa Abu Marzook- HAMAS “helped establish” ISNA in 1981.[v]

Wahhaj became a member of the ISNA Advisory Council in 1987. 10 years later, HAMAS leader, Mousa Abu Marzook who had been deported from Jordan for his terror related activities[vi], wrote a thank you to many organizations in The Washington Report Middle East Affairs (WRMEA) for their support of him.. One of the organizations he thanked was ISNA. It was at that time, Wahhaj was ISNA Vice President, having been named to that position the same year, in 1997. [vii]

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/laura-l-rubenfeld/democrats-embrace-siraj-wahhaj-supporter-of-cop-killer-al-qaeda-and-hamas/ Democrats Embrace Siraj Wahhaj: Supporter of Cop-Killer, Al Qaeda and Hamas Posted By Laura L. Rubenfeld On August 29, 2012 @ 12:25 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 61 Comments In just a few days, the Democratic National Convention “kick off events” week will include its first ever “Jumah (Arabic for gathering) at the DNC” […]

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/frontpagemag-com/rage-against-the-useful-idiots-on-the-brewster-gang/print/

On this week’s Glazov Gang, Susan Olsen, Dwight Schultz and Susanne Reyto gathered to discuss Rage Against The Useful Idiots. Below are all three parts of a three part series.

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/

With the next four years at stake, the only topic of conversation is the Race Card. The left plays the Race Card and then accuses the right of playing the Race Card. There are dogwhistles in the air that only white middle-aged pundits can hear and arguments over whose diverse lineup truly represents the philosophy of the future and whose is just shameless tokenism.
The media madhouse insists that a half-black man who went from the Illinois State Senate to the White House in 5 years is proof that we are a racist country and that Southern Europeans whose ancestors moved to this continent are an oppressed racial minority. Arguing with this insanity is a sure way to get called a racist. Ignoring this insanity means being charged with privilege. Privilege being the ungodly power to ignore someone else’s assertion that privilege through victimization should begin and end every single discussion on every topic, up to and including the moon landing.

The Democratic Party and its media affiliates have become a party of trolls who only know how to hijack every discussion with an obsessive insistence that every issue can be boiled down to race and that the difference between the two parties is that one of them is racist and the other has good taste in fonts.

It’s hard to know what the Democratic Party stands for anymore. All we know is that it is against racism. Never before has an entire election been run around a single negative issue that has absolutely nothing to do with the actual challenges facing the country. Instead we have the national spectacle of members of minority groups being pitted against each other by two parties to prove which of them is less racist.