The Old New Egypt http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324063304578524991086919054.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopBucket A Cairo court on Tuesday sentenced 43 democratic activists to up to five years in prison. The charges include operating illegal nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and receiving foreign funds without permission. Egypt’s spiral down continues. Robert Becker of the National Democratic Institute is the only American citizen who remained in Egypt […]
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324063304578520952503319368.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
The first IG scandal started in 2009 with the shameless firing of Gerald Walpin….This entire issue of IGs is right out of the Hugo Chavez handbook- hiring “independent investigators” and firing them when they unveil inconvenient truhs about chicanery…..rsk
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124511811033017539.html
The White House Fires a Watchdog
The curious case of the inspector general and a Presidential ally.
The president was on notice at least by 2010 that the State Department was impaired by a lack of IG independence.
With so many scandals breaking in Washington, one may well ask: Where were all the inspectors general when these bad things—at the IRS, at Justice, and at State before, during and after Benghazi, for instance—were going on? Where were the presidential appointees who, since the Inspectors General Act of 1978, are meant to root out gross mismanagement, fraud and other abuses at their federal departments and agencies, or among those whom the agencies regulate? The sad truth is that in the Obama administration many of the most important IGs mandated by Congress simply are not in place.
For years, President Obama has neglected his duty to fill vacant inspector-general posts at the departments of State, Interior, Labor, Homeland Security and Defense and at the Agency for International Development. The president has nominated only two candidates to fill any of these six vacancies, and he subsequently withdrew both nominations. All told, an IG has been missing in action at each of those cabinet departments and the AID agency for between 18 months and five years.
At a time when American confidence in the integrity and transparency of the federal government has been shaken, inspectors general can help Washington get back to basic principles of accountability—but only if the IGs are properly appointed and allowed to do their jobs.
Although there are 73 inspectors general in the federal system, less than half fall into a category that indicates their special importance for the effective functioning of the government. The nomination of these IGs typically involves a collaborative process between the president and his cabinet secretaries. Congress has also mandated that each cabinet-level inspector general “shall be appointed by the president, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, or investigations.”
http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/2533/-Essentially-You-Are-Saying-That-ALL-of-Post-1930-American-Geo-Political-WWII-Cold-War-History-Is-a-Fiction.aspx I posted my three-hour interview with Brooks Agnew of X-Squared Radio at my Facebook page (yes, I have a Facebook page). I am now cross-posting them at this site (see links in letter below) after getting the following email from a listener. The letter is now logged in with other reader reader reactions to […]
www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
http://blogs.jpost.com/users/just-look-us-now
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Fixing the rarest of heart conditions. In only the second case in Israel in the last 30 years, a baby was born without a breastbone to protect its heart. Using 30-year-old medical notes, doctors at Haifa’s Rambam hospital removed deformed bones and re-assembled the baby’s chest. After one week, the infant was able to go home.
http://www.rambam.org.il/Home+Page/About+Us/News+and+Events/News+2013/A+30+Years+Old+Book+Teaches+Doctors+to+Perform+Surgery.htm
Technion scientists develop advanced biological computer. Using only bio-molecules (such as DNA and enzymes), scientists at the Israel’s Technion have constructed an advanced biological transducer – a computing machine capable of manipulating genetic codes – and used the output as new input for subsequent computations.
http://www.ats.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7848
A valve to fix faulty heart valves. (Thanks to NoCamels) 7-8 million people a year suffer blood leakage from their heart’s mitral valve. Now Israel’s MitrAssist is developing a valve implant that will to work in unison with the body’s own valve to prevent leakage and restore normal blood flow.
http://nocamels.com/2013/05/open-heart-surgery-may-soon-be-possible-for-people-with-mitral-regurgitation-disorder/
Israeli nanobots will change medicine. Founder of several biotech companies, Dr Ido Bachelet is also assistant professor in the faculty of Life Sciences and the Nano-Center at Bar Ilan University. He explains what computers the size of molecules can do inside the body. These tiny computers exist in Israel today.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000847295
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-5KLTonB3Pg
Dental implants give children confidence. Children with Ectodermal Dysplasia have no teeth. Doctors used to wait until the children grew up, but a new rehabilitative process at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem fits implants and dentures to 5 and 6 year-olds. It benefits the children’s appearance, eating and social interaction.
http://www.hadassah-med.com/about/news/hadassah-offers-comprehensive-care-for-children-missing-teeth.aspx
Doctors saves stroke victim. A medical miracle – a Haifa man suffered a massive stroke and had only a 10 per cent chance of survival. Doctors at Rambam Hospital operated even after they believed it was too late. Next morning, the man awoke from his coma with no brain damage and plans to dance at his wedding this summer.
http://www.rambam.org.il/Home+Page/About+Us/News+and+Events/News+2013/A+Medical+Miracle+Man+Wakes+from+Coma+after+Surgery.htm
One small step. Israel’s Re-Step has developed a “magic” shoe called “step of mind” that allows people with brain damage to re-learn how to walk. The first treatment cycle using the computerized shoe at Israel’s Reuth Medical Rehabilitation Center has improved the walking competence of 10 people with brain damage.
http://www.americanfriendsofreuth.org/reuth-launches-innovative-method-for-rehabilitation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OUmgViA2D0Y
An all-round endoscopic success. I reported in January that Israel’s Peer Medical merged with EndoChoice of Atlanta, USA. Now the combined company has released “The Fuse” –a next generation endoscope for examining the colon. It has two cameras providing a 330-degree view to detect more cancerous polyps quicker.
http://www.rambam.org.il/Home+Page/About+Us/News+and+Events/News+2013/The+Israeli+Fuse+Extends+Life.htm
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Fruit and veg stay fresh for a year. At Israel’s Volcani Center, Potatoes sprayed with spearmint oil are not sprouting for months; Granny Smith apples deprived of oxygen stay fresh for over a year. Tomatoes are flourishing despite being infected with the common yellow leaf virus.
http://www.themedialine.org/news/print_news_detail.asp?NewsID=37720
Fill her up – Israeli style. Israel’s Gasngo has developed technology solutions to enable authorized drivers to refuel without having to use a credit card or perform a cash transaction. A Radio Frequency (RFID) tag on the vehicle is read by the pump’s nozzle. The solution has been installed in more than 3,000 gas stations.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000847169&fid=1725
Piecing together the fragments. In the basement of Tel Aviv University, a network of 100 computers is running a sophisticated artificial intelligence program to re-assemble the 157,514 fragments from the Cairo genizah. The pieces from documents dating from the 9th to 19th centuries should be matched by June 25.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/world/middleeast/computers-piecing-together-jigsaw-of-jewish-lore.html
Science on the streets. Visit Rehovot on June19th to hear top Weizmann lecturers at the 4th annual “Beer, Science and Good Spirits” event. In local bars and cafes you can learn about secrets of the universe, curing cancer, growing body parts, quantum computing, the origins of life etc. over a glass of beer, wine or coffee.
http://israel21c.org/news/weizmann-scientists-take-their-lectures-to-the-streets/
Israel’s scientists of tomorrow. Once a week, 76 excelling and gifted students from Haifa’s Hebrew Reali School visit Haifa’s Science Museum (MadaTech) to crack codes, discover the secrets of chemistry, engage in mathematical thinking, construct robots and explore the world of space. They conduct their own in-depth research, develop problem-solving strategies and strengthen their critical thinking, originality and creativity.
http://www.madatech.co.il/Pages/MenuItemPage.aspx?ContentItem=2342
Sorek desalination plant comes on stream. Starting this month, the new Sorek desalination plant will provide up to 26,000 cubic meters – or nearly 7 million gallons – of drinking water every hour. When it is at full capacity, it will be the largest desalination plant of its kind in the world.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/with-desalination-a-once-unthinkable-water-surplus-is-possible/
A bumper crop of Israeli olives – in India. The Israeli firm Indolive is helping farmers to grow olives in the Rajasthan – a desert state with complex soil conditions in the west of India.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-indian-israeli-olive-agribusiness-experiment/
Swedish prize for Israeli water company. Israel’s Netafim, the pioneer of drip irrigation and the world’s largest irrigation company, has been named the 2013 Stockholm Industry Water Award laureate. The award committee said, “Netafim’s remarkable achievements, helping farmers across the world to ‘grow more with less’, are directly contributing to a more water and food secure world.”
http://www.netafim.com/news-item/154609
http://www.greenprophet.com/2013/05/netafim-drip-irrigation-stockholm-industry-water-award/
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/06/04/the-palestinian-popular-violent-resistance/ Americans have become accustomed to each new presidential administration trying its hand at forcing a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Repeating the same mistakes, administration in administration out, the latest effort marks several steps backwards in strategy and tactics. For more than twenty years, the U.S. and Europe have tried to […]
http://www.city-journal.org/2013/eon0603cb.html The Turkish prime minister may have miscalculated with his brutal crackdown As I began to write this, at 4:00 AM on May 31, protests against Turkish police—prompted by their crackdown on demonstrators opposing the demolition of Taksim Square’s Gezi Park—were spreading from the heart of Istanbul to the entire country. As of today, […]
http://www.gloria-center.org/category/meria-journal-meria-journal/ Why has the U.S. government called certain Islamic groups supporters of terror in federal court, and then turned around and called these same organizations “moderates” and embraced them as outreach partners? In a number of cases from the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations, the leaders of these organizations (some of whom are now in […]
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/06/04/blowing-on-shimon-peress-candles/ Normally, I would not raise a big stink about Shimon Peres’s 90th birthday bash. When it comes to birthdays, I salute that great Western Jewish tradition that loves to celebrate at least twice a year by the Jewish lunar date AND the Western calendar. Whether you go from right to left or left […]
The Left and its satellites in the media found a horrid case of “Israeli apartheid” in recent days. It is in “Superland.” http://frontpagemag.com/2013/steven-plaut/apartheid-amusement-park/ Superland is Israel’s closest thing to Knott’s Berry Farm or similar amusement parks with digestion-challenging roller coasters to be found on other continents. You can read about it here. The park suddenly […]
Manipulating International Law as Part of Anti-Israeli “Lawfare” Vol. 13, No. 16 2 June 2013 Israel’s record of compliance with international law is remarkably strong. In a long series of decisions, the Israeli High Court has ordered the Israeli government, army, and security services to change policies that, in the court’s view, were in violation […]
