DANIEL GREENFIELD: THE WEEK THAT WAS PART 2
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/
EVERYTHING YOU EXPECT IT TO BE
Obama’s Israel trip was everything you expected it to be. 40 pounds of flattery with a few ounces of poisonous substance.
In between all the scripted compliments about Israel, Obama pushed a diplomatic solution with Iran, concessions to terrorists and a softer line on Hamas. He hinted at having his own peace plan that he wanted to impose.
And after he left, he oversaw a phone call in which Netanyahu apologized to Turkey’s Islamist thug for the interception of a Turkish pro-Hamas boat on the way to Gaza and agreed to give its Islamist regime a role in Gaza.
It was a disgusting act of appeasement by a man who has become Israel’s own version of Bush.
Netanyahu gave Hamas a major victory by making the Shalit deal. He gave Islamist Turkey a major victory over Israel with his apology. He gave Islamist Egypt an earlier victory by calling off a ground operation.
While Netanyahu allowed Obama and Erdogan to push him around, he allowed Barak to demolish Jewish homes and in has decided now to declare war on Haredi Jews. And he presided over an election in which a left wing party became the dominant player in his coalition.
As a technocrat, Netanyahu has done a good job on the economy. But he’s been terrible on national defense, maintaining a status quo while repeatedly talking about how someone should do something on Iran. It may not have occurred to him that, that someone is him. It certainly won’t be Obama.
The real problem among Israeli conservatives, as among American conservatives, is a lack of leadership. When Netanyahu is the default choice, there is something very wrong with the process. Bennett showed some promise, but has been flailing since. Perhaps he’ll grow into it, but that is so long as he doesn’t turn out to be another Netanyahu.
After Begin and Shamir, the right needed a technocrat. It needed someone who could talk to foreign leaders and understand some of the bigger issues. But it also needs principles.
The Likud needs a post-Netanyahu plan and it doesn’t have one. (And no, not Feiglin. I mean a realistic electable plan.) Instead the country is tied up in the usual factitious politics with no end in sight. Haredi and Dati Leumi leaders shriek at each other as if the country’s biggest problem were girls schools. The left exploits social dicontents while the right has tried and failed to steal the Shinui vote by trying to draft the undraftable.
I am unfortunately reminded once again of the Second Temple and the eerily similar conflicts that tore it apart. Then as now, Israel fell because there was a lack of common consensus on maintaining a united country, instead of picking endless sectarian fights. But the fights are the only things that some people care about.
The Haredim want to impose their norms on the rest of the country. The left wants to impose its norms on the Haredim and on the Dati Leumi. The Dati Leumi want to impose their norms on the Haredim. And when enough houses are bulldozed and enough teenagers in black have been beaten up, when enough anarchists in red have paraded around, then perhaps history will repeat itself.
Israel’s subgroups have spent too much time fighting each other over cultural and religious differences and over government access and subsidies to stop. And the fight itself has become a political shortcut. Everyone is playing a zero sum game with a finite amount of money and power and running for office on a pledge to win the fight.
While houses are falling, there are celebrations because the Religious Ministry is “in our hands” or in someone else’s hands. And Netanyahu? No one cares what he does as long the ministries go to the right people.
FIRE IN THE SKY
When a bomb explosion ripped a hole in the cabin of the Boeing 747 he was piloting between Tokyo and Honolulu, Captain Roy Hawk said that his “job was to fly that plane to safety.” And he did.
The Pan Am Jumbo Ket was carrying 285 people on the “late flight” out of Tokyo.
In the rear of the plane, 16-year-old Toru Ozawa lay on his back in the aisle. His lower abdomen had been ripped open, his intestines seeping out. The explosion had also sheered off one of his legs. He called out for his mother and father; they watched in horror as he died.
On Aug. 11, 1982, Mohammed Rashed, a top 15 May lieutenant, boarded a flight from Baghdad to Tokyo along with his Austrian-born wife Christine Pinter and their child.
Before Rashed disembarked in Tokyo, he activated a bomb under the cushion of window seat 47K. Once on the ground, Rashed and his wife got off the plane, which continued to Honolulu. Ozawa, who was on vacation with his family, sat in Rashed’s seat.
While the FBI waited out Ibrahim, agents did manage eventually to arrest Rashed in 1998 after he was released from a Greek prison. The Jordanian pleaded guilty to bombing the 1982 Pan Am flight in December 2002
But now Rashed is being set loose after spending fairly little time in prison.
Roy Hawk, the Pan Am 830 pilot, said he’s never forgotten the carnage inside the plane. He was dismayed to learn of Rashed’s pending release.
“To tell you the truth, I never figured he’d be released,” Hawk said. “I just figured he’d be in prison the rest of his life, and that was it.”
Muslim Terrorist Who Detonated Bomb on Pan Am Flight 830 Freed from Prison
WHAT SWEET MUSIC THEY MAKE
I would speculate that this was a deliberate insult, except that the Palestinian anthem following it sounds almost as bad.
To be fair though, the Palestinian anthem, composed by a Greek leftist who grew up being taught that Jews drink blood, always sounds bad. Even at its best the Palestinian anthem sounds like the intro to a Broadway musical. At its worst it sounds like a drunken polka group trying to play a medley of old Nazi marching songs without being able to find the notes.
Oppressed Palestinian People Too Busy Training Suicide Bombers to Train Musicians
AND NOW LIBERALISM’S WORK IS DONE
Brown University Helping Students Fight Gay Feelings Toward White People
A group of Brown University students appear to be preparing an on-campus workshop in which “queer” participants will separate by race to work past their sexual attraction to Caucasians.
If You Like Your Doctor, You Can See Him at The Same Time as 12 Other Patients
Soda-Obsessed Mayor of Illiterate City to Convene Climate Change Summit in World’s Rape Capital
Department of Education “Kids Zone” Features Communist Quote from Mao
“Whoever refuses to study these problems seriously and carefully is no Marxist. Complacency is the enemy of study. We cannot really learn anything until we rid ourselves of complacency. Our attitude towards ourselves should be “to be insatiable in learning” and towards others “to be tireless in teaching”.
… remember kids, if you want to grow up to be a good Marxist, you have to study.
Head of San Francisco Human Rights Commission Claims Iran is More LGBT Friendly than America
Libya Repays Bernard-Henri Levy’s Support by Banning Him for Being Jewish
Islamic Law Allows Husbands to Divorce their Wives on Facebook
Chris Christie Complains Black Democratic Speaker is Blocking Bill That Would Help Black Families, Accused of Racism
Public School Administration Grew 7X Faster than Students and 2X Faster than Teachers
FLYING HORSE ARCHEOLOGY HARDEST HIT
For those who are fans of imaginary archeology, the Muslim claim to Jerusalem is based on the “night journey” that Mohammed took on a flying horse from Mecca to Jerusalem.
Muslims seized the holiest site in Judaism, planted a mosque on the site but Muslim vandalism isn’t just limited to other people’s holy sites. Islamists are notorious for destroying even Muslim shrines. That is how Wahhabism began. It’s what Salafis are now doing in Libya and Mali.
And now the Saudi royal family has destroyed a whole bunch of Islamic heritage sites… including the column from which Mohammed supposedly took off on his flying horse from Mecca.
Saudi Arabia Tears Down Column Marking Muslim Claim to Jerusalem
A VOICE OF REASON ON WHAT THE REPUBLICANS SHOULD DO
Should the Republicans evolve on gay marriage or amnesty? Is that going to save the party? Or how about doing what the GOP failed to do in a whole bunch of elections and go Reagan by focusing on bread and butter issues for ordinary voters.
I’m not endorsing everything in this proposal, but it’s far more sensible than most of the GOP makeovers.
The economic decline of the past few years has led to a rising number of “1099 Moms” or “Etsy Earners” – women who’ve started home businesses or found contracting work to make ends meet and to stay engaged in their careers in the longterm, recognizing they’ll have to go back to full-time work as soon as they are able. The overall 1099 portion of the economy has grown dramatically – Houston alone has seen about a 12% increase since 2009. What are some ways conservatives could approach reaching these women and other work-from-home professionals?
Here are five general approaches to policy areas that can serve as a starting point for crafting an Etsy Earner agenda.
TAXES: Start with a push to end the massive tax penalties on self-employed work. Self-employed Etsy Earners pay 15.3% out of pocket on payroll taxes, and are penalized if they don’t cut a check every 3 months (rather than having it deducted out of your count, and your employer paying half of it). To add insult to injury, those who are married also suffer from a dramatic marriage penalty: they are taxed at their spouse’s marginal rate even if they’re making a fraction of what he earns.
A DRONE BY ANY OTHER NAME
Sen. Leahy may be interested to know that Lt. Gen. David Deptula, USAF (Ret.), the first general in charge of Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, has also pointed out the inaccuracy of the term “drones”:
The critics don’t understand the reality of “drone” operations, nor do they comprehend that our adversaries are most certainly conducting an aggressive perception management campaign on this issue – a very effective one if the recent hysteria over RPA [(Remotely Piloted Aircraft)] use is a measure of effectiveness. In military parlance, a “drone” is a flying target.
The media like to use it because it is only one word and they don’t have to explain what a “Remotely Piloted Aircraft” is. But the word “drone” connotes a degree of autonomy that RPAs simply do not possess. It takes over 200 people to operate a MQ-1 Predator or MQ-9 Reaper RPA orbit for 24 hours. This little-known fact among the RPA naysayers is one of the reasons that the use of “drones” allows for more ethical oversight than any other weapon. Drones allow us significantly greater control, oversight, and review before a shot is fired than occurs using manned aircraft or other operations conducted by soldiers, sailors, airmen or Marines.
GREENING THE NEGEV?
The Argan tree
is a very special tree- it has roots that can reach 70 meters (about 210 feet!) into the earth. One of the oldest trees on this planet, it is called “the tree of life” in its native Morocco. It has very specific cultivation needs that are identical with our conditions here in the town of Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev desert.
Besides being a great ecological boon, this tree has been only recently discovered by the West and the market prices reflect the value of its product: precious argan oil.
Argan of the Negev
is a pilot project. We have received a parcel of land in the Negev desert outside of the town of Mitzpe Ramon in Israel. This land was used for military training but is being converted to agriculture. A real example of turning swords into plowshares!
For more information see Argan of the Negev
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