RUTHFULLY YOURS

I saw “The Death of Klinghoffer” at BAM many years ago and exited, as many did, before the intermission. To paraphrase the humorist Edgar Wilson Nye who said of Wagner “ the music is better than it sounds.”( That quote is often inaccurately attributed to Mark Twain).

There is a last act to this musical felony committed by composer John Adams.

Leon Klinghoffer’s widow, Marilyn, filed a lawsuit against the PLO when she returned from the hijacking, but died before the litigation. The Klinghoffer sisters continued with the lawsuit, where former United States Attorney General, Ramsey Clark, the PLO’s lawyer argued that the PLO was a de-facto state and therefore immune from prosecution under international law. The PLO was one of the wealthiest terrorist groups in the world, funded by virtually all the oil producing states, but had no property or accounts in this country. The Klinghoffer sisters persevered and pressed the $1.5 billion dollar lawsuit which was settled for an “undisclosed” sum before it reached the courts in 1991.
According to reports, an “undisclosed “ sum from the “undisclosed” settlement with the PLO was given to the Anti-Defamation League for the Leon and Marilyn Klinghoffer Memorial Foundation .

The question hangs in the air…..using money from the PLO to combat terrorism? The PLO continued its murderous rampage against civilians- in wheelchairs and baby strollers, undeterred by their loss in the lawsuit.
The ADL and the Klinghoffers have mounted opposition to the opera “The Death of Klinghoffer.” I applaud all the efforts against the opera, particularly those of patrons like my friend Leonard Weiss who will withhold funds from the Metropolitan Opera.

This, however, from the ADL webist in June 2014 is bizarre:

http://www.adl.org/israel-international/israel-middle-east/content/backgroundersarticles/the-klinghoffer-family-reacts-to-death-of-klinghoffer-opera.htmlhttp:/www.adl.org/israel-international/israel-middle-east/content/backgroundersarticles/the-klinghoffer-family-reacts-to-death-of-klinghoffer-opera.html#.U7aTYI1OWUm

“While the opera is highly problematic and has a strong anti-Israel bias, it is not anti-Semitic. A scene which was featured in the premier of the opera in 1991, in which some of the Jewish characters exhibited stereotypical behavior, was removed by the composer, and to ADL’s knowledge, has not been featured in any production since that time. Some have charged the version of the opera currently being performed with anti-Semitism based on the language used by one of its characters. In Act 2, Scene 1, the character of “Rambo,” the terrorist who subsequently shoots Leon Klinghoffer, sings an aria in which he taunts Leon, saying:
You are always complaining
Of your suffering
But wherever poor men
Are gathered they can
Find Jews getting fat.
You know how to cheat
The simple, exploit
The virgin, pollute
Where you have exploited
Defame those you cheated,
And break your own law
With idolatry.
America
Is one big Jew….

We do not view this openly articulated animus toward Jews as promoting anti-Semitism, rather it exposes Rambo and the hijacker’s entrenched and destructive anti-Semitism. This is akin to characters in other plays or movies (for example Nazi characters) whose anti-Semitism is part of their character and part of the plot’s development. In such cases, the character is anti-Semitic but the play or film is not. ”

Huh?rsk

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/oklahoma-2014-candidates-for-congress-where-they-stand?f=puball

To see the actual voting records of all incumbents on other issues such as Foreign Policy, Second Amendment Issues, Homeland Security, and other issues as well as their rankings by special interest groups please use the links followed by two stars (**).

U.S. Senate

Jim Inhofe (R) Incumbent

http://www.jiminhofe.com/home/ http://www.inhofe.senate.gov/

http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/james_inhofe.htm**

Rated -2 by AAI, indicating anti-Arab anti-Palestine voting record. (May 2012)

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTHCARE Healthcare Medical decisions belong between a patient and their doctors – not a government bureaucrat. While reforms are needed to reign in ever increasing healthcare costs, a government take-over is not the answer. Senator Inhofe is committed to repealing and replacing President Obama’s healthcare law. Principles of reform must improve the quality of coverage and care while reducing costs. Any reforms that take away patient choice while giving control to the government will devastate the quality of patient care. Additionally, federally administered programs like Medicare and Medicaid must be reformed to address costs and gaps in coverage.

IMMIGRATION Senator Inhofe has long supported immigration reform that makes border security a priority. He has insisted on immigration solutions that do not grant amnesty, shortcut the naturalization process, or ignore our nation’s laws by rewarding illegal activity. Senator Inhofe has repeatedly authored legislation that would make English the official language of the United States. He has stood up to the federal bureaucracies and defended the rights of states, especially those on the border, to protect themselves, their citizens, and their property from those that enter the country illegally.

ENERGY ” The Keystone XL Pipeline is the bellwether of energy policy today. It’s such a simple decision, but the President has wavered year after year. This posture should give the American people every bit of information they need about what the President really thinks about North America becoming energy independent and economically secure. He simply doesn’t want it to happen.” APRIL 29, 2014

American energy independence is not simply an economic issue. Energy independence is a matter of national security. Throughout my time in Washington, D.C. I have worked toward policies that encourage the U.S. to meet its energy needs domestically. This mean an “all the above” U.S. energy policy. We must continue to work to increase exploration and production of natural gas and oil, continuing the development and use of coal, along with the development of renewable sources of energy and further develop nuclear energy. As the former Chairman and Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, I have worked hard to build upon the environmental accomplishments of the past thirty years. Scientifically based, well thought-out environmental regulations can provide benefits to the American people. Unfortunately, however, many current environmental regulations are not grounded in science. As a result, they usually do harm and put undue restrictions upon the freedoms of many Americans. Additionally, poorly designed environmental regulations have been a large contributor to the energy problems we now face and have put an unnecessary drag on our overall economy. If we rethink environmental regulation, we could be in a better position in the future and find ourselves in a place where we can have far greater environmental protection, more reliable and diverse energy sources, a stronger national defense, and a stronger economy.

America does not need to be dependent upon foreign powers to meet our energy needs. We must open domestic sources of energy production in our Outer Continental Shelf, Alaska, and on federal lands, and I know it is possible to do this in an environmentally friendly way. Oklahoma plays a key role in America’s energy independence. The oil and natural gas industry that helped build our state years ago is experiencing a resurgence and contributes billion of dollars and thousands of jobs to our Oklahoma economy.
Matt Silverstein (D) Challenger

http://www.mattforoklahoma.com/

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

REAL EQUALITY FOR WOMEN Women are paid less than men for the same work and that must change. Matt is a husband, father of a two-year old daughter, and grew up in a household as the older brother to two younger sisters. He is an adamant fighter for women. Matt has pledged to support forward thinking policies that help level the field for women. He is also a strong advocate for the Violence Against Women’s Act, equality for women in the military, and overall women’s health issues. Congress should never turn a blind eye to inequality towards women and we should all support common sense efforts to help local officials address these inequalities. The first step is admitting they exist.

ENERGY Our approach to energy must put Oklahoma first. Matt won’t allow special interests to guide his energy policy and he won’t promote out of state resources over Oklahoma’s own resources.

Jim Inhofe embraces out of state coal. While he wants to pick winners and losers, Matt believes the free market should guide our energy policy. Oklahoma is in a unique position to lead on new energy as well as old and that is what we should be doing in a 21st Century economy. Oklahoma energy can and will lead our nation towards energy independence and away from the grasp of OPEC.

TAX REFORM Matt will support a tax system that makes sense for businesses and individuals alike. Our corporate taxes are among the highest in the world and that makes our businesses less competitive around the world. However, corporate tax loopholes reduce taxes for the biggest corporations while the entrepreneurs and small businesses that are creating new jobs are saddled with paying close to the full rate. Matt is determined to work towards a tax system that works for small businesses not Wall Street. Matt supports eliminating all special interest corporate tax loopholes and reducing the overall rate to 20 percent or less.
Tom Coburn (R)

Resigning in December 2014 – Special Election in November 2014
James Lankford (R)

Challenger presently U.S Congressman for Oklahoma District 5

http://jameslankford.com/ http://lankford.house.gov/

http://www.ontheissues.org/house/James_Lankford.htm**

Rated -4 by AAI, indicating anti-Arab anti-Palestine voting record. (May 2012)

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

ENERGY Voted for construction of the KeystoneXL Pipeline. As a nation, we currently spend over $2 billion a day importing over 42 percent of our oil from foreign countries. Some oil exporting nations are unfriendly towards the United States with unstable governments that control the supply and pricing of some of the largest oil reserves in the world. The United States is the top producer of natural gas in the world, and we should have the opportunity to responsibly sell our abundant resources to energy-hungry friendly nations and allies. According to a recently released study by the National Economic Research Associates (NERA), American natural gas production from 2012 to 2040 is predicted to increase overall by 39%. The NERA report concluded that the U.S. increase in GDP for exporting LNG could range from $1.5 billion in 2018 to $36 billion in 2038.

HEALTHCARE Repealing the Government Takeover of Health Care and Replacing with Patient-Oriented Solutions

JOBS AND ECONOMY America is at a crossroads and House Republicans are committed to taking every possible step to spur job creation and get our economy back on track so that Americans can do what they do best: create, innovate and lead.
Connie Johnson (D) Challenger

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

SENSIBLE REFORM OF OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM Oklahoma ranks number one in the world in female incarceration, and fourth in incarceration of men. These numbers are the result of the War on Drugs and its “tough on crime” and “mandatory minimums” legislation that is separating families and destroying neighborhoods and communities across Oklahoma and the country. Low-level drug offenders, primarily poor people and people of color, face wildly disproportionate prison sentences, at a cost to Oklahoma taxpayers of over $500 million per year. As an Oklahoma State Senator, Connie introduced a variety of sentencing reform measures, including eliminating “life without parole” as a possible punishment for drug offenses; eliminating three-strikes-you’re out sentencing for non-violent offenses; creating structured sentencing guidelines; decriminalizing marijuana; legalizing medical marijuana; and, establishing post-incarceration grace periods for court fees and restitution.

WOMEN’S ISSUES Ensuring Equal Pay for Equal Work As our U.S. Senator, Connie will work to close the wage gap between women and men in our state and nation. She’ll fight to ensure equal pay for equal work. Today, while women are 50.5 percent of Oklahoma’s population, they still only make 77 cents on the dollar compared to their male counterparts. Connie supports the Violence Against Women Act in the U.S. Senate. Oklahoma ranks third in the nation in deaths from spousal/partner abuse. Women who experience violence, emotional and sexual trauma, unintended pregnancy, and witness violence early in life are more likely to be incarcerated during their lifetimes.

Protecting Women’s Reproductive Rights

IMPROVING HEALTH CARE REFORM As our U.S. Senator, Connie will work to improve health care reform that provides access to care for all hardworking Oklahomans. She’ll fight for effective cost controls that reign in spiraling prescription drug and hospital costs. Even though Oklahoma is not participating in the Affordable Care Act-refusing to expand Medicaid or to create state health insurance exchanges-Oklahomans still benefit from key provisions in the ACA that Connie supports.

IMMIGRATION REFORM Immigrants in the U.S. have always encouraged innovation and helped spur economic growth. Connie supports immigration reform that paves the way for college graduates with international backgrounds to remain legally in our country after they graduate.

Connie also supports the Dream Act. Every high school student-including young Oklahomans whose parents are undocumented-should have access to affordable college education that helps them become skilled, productive, civic-minded citizens. It’s not these young people’s fault that they were born to parents who are here illegally. We do not visit the sins of the fathers upon the children.

District 1
Jim Bridenstine (R) Incumbent

http://www.jimbridenstine.com/ http://bridenstine.house.gov/

http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Jim_Bridenstine.htm**

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTHCARE Obamacare – America has the world’s finest doctors, hospitals, and medical innovations, but all that is in jeopardy because of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. I truly believe that Obamacare is the most significant domestic policy issue of our time, and stopping it is one of my top priorities in Congress.

While Obamacare was supposed to bring down the cost of health insurance, the average premium for a family has risen by more than $3,000 since it was signed into law.
President Barack Obama has repeatedly promised that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it” under Obamacare, but the Congressional Budget Office now estimates that 7,000,000 Americans will lose access to their employer-based health insurance as a result of the law.
Because the most stringent regulations apply to businesses with over 50 employees, many employers are already laying off staff and/or reducing work hours to avoid the exorbitant expenses and compliance requirements of Obamacare.
Despite assurances to the contrary during debate over the law, new insurance mandates coming out of Washington threaten fundamental freedoms by requiring employers to cover services that directly conflict with their moral and religious principles.

Obamacare will be hugely expensive to each of us as consumers of healthcare. On top of that, the government will hire 16,500 new IRS agents to administer and enforce the provisions of the program. They will be charged with enforcing the mandate that citizens buy insurance, while many constitutional scholars believe that forcing citizens to buy any product is unconstitutional. The fact of the recent revelations of IRS corruption only reinforces the suspicion that compliance waivers granted to companies are politically motivated. Equal application of the law does not apply to Obamacare.

Putting a stop to Obamacare is one of my top priorities in Congress. That is why I co-sponsored and voted for H.R. 45, which passed in the House on May 16, 2013, and if enacted into law, would repeal Obamacare in its entirety.

ENERGY Supports construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline without limiting amendments. Most of America’s energy needs are met with fossil fuels. Coal has long been the fuel of choice for electric generation. Since early in the first term, the Obama administration has targeted the coal industry, and the EPA has steadily tightened regulations. This is bad policy. Burdensome regulations on coal use directly increases the cost of electricity. Since low-income families spend a larger portion of their income on utilities, this is especially hard on the poorest Americans, but it hits everyone and increases costs for everything people consume.

For even more fundamental, constitutional reasons, I oppose EPA policy and regulatory efforts to penalize coal use. It is entirely inappropriate for any federal agency to circumvent the separation of powers by trying to achieve by regulation what would never pass Congress as legislation.

IMMIGRATION Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the authority “To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization.” The immigration system does need reform, and it is the right and responsibility of Congress to do so. Border security must be a precondition to any comprehensive immigration reform. In order to fix our broken immigration system, we must start by securing the border and doing a better job of tracking guest workers. If these problems are not corrected first, a future Congress will be forced to deal with the same immigration problems we have today. Additionally, border security and guest worker tracking can’t just be a promise from the President but must have real “teeth” and credibility. I support enhancing our border security by extending and reinforcing physical barriers along the southern border, augmented with sufficient surveillance assets to alert authorities of illegal entries. I also support increasing our response capability. Once the border has been secured, we can begin to discuss meaningful reforms, but it is important that we focus on policies that will actually begin to solve the problem. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 demonstrates that simply giving citizenship to illegal aliens will not slow or stop illegal immigration so long as the border is unsecured and guest workers are not tracked. In fact, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS), the number of illegal aliens living in the United States has risen from about 3.2 million in 1986 to 11.1 million in 2011. Indeed, the mere discussion of this kind of “reform” only serves as a powerful incentive to accelerate illegal entries.

Here is where I stand on several specific issues related to any legislative reform of our immigration laws: ·

I will vote “no” on any bill that is not given sufficient time for reading, deliberating, and vetting. Immigration reform must not be passed in the same secretive, rushed, and frenzied manner as Obamacare. Members of Congress must not shirk transparent discussions.
Immigration reform starts with accountable border security that includes regular audits and oversight from Congress.
We cannot reward people who broke our laws. The punishment must be proportional to the crime. It must be neither weak nor excessive.

No challenger

District 2

Markwayne Mullin (R) Incumbent

http://www.mullinforcongress.com/ http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Markwayne_Mullin.htm**

http://mullin.house.gov/

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

IMMIGRATION America always has been, and always will be, the land of freedom and opportunity. Any solution to our broken immigration system must contain strong border protection provisions, and must not allow amnesty. We cannot reward those who break our laws by giving them amnesty. We must also find a way to protect ourselves from dangerous criminals who enter this country and to ensure the safety net programs for legal U.S. Citizens are not used by non-Americans.
It is also critical that the immigration laws already on the books are enforced, not ignored for political reasons.

HEALTHCARE I have voted numerous times to delay, defund or repeal the budget-busting government-run health care known as Obamacare. This terrible law imposes more mandates, new taxes and it is costing jobs. A recent Congressional Budget Office report estimates that Obamacare will cause Americans to work fewer hours, enough to equal 2 million fewer jobs in 2017, estimated to rise to the equivalent of 2.5 million jobs in 2024. Furthermore, it jeopardizes Oklahoma’s rural hospitals, which are already struggling. Instead of more government intervention in our personal healthcare decisions, I favor reforms that are market-based and patient centered and which actually solve some of the problems in our health care system – not create an entirely new system with layer upon layer of new problems.

ENERGY America is rich in natural resources, but the federal government makes it difficult and expensive to tap into these resources. Instead, we are beholden to countries that don’t always have America’s best interests in mind. The President’s climate action plan and “War on Coal” will only cost Americans more money and kill jobs. That “War on Coal” is already being felt here in Oklahoma. I have repeatedly called on the President to finally permit the northern leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline. For over five years, this Administration and its liberal supporters have stood in the way of the good jobs and economic boost that this northern leg will have. I believe the government needs to get out of the way and allow us to access and use these natural resources to make America more energy independent while keeping energy costs down.
Earl Everett (D) Challenger

http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/local/x1535565437/Retired-educator-seeks-to-serve-in-Congress

District 3

Frank Lucas (R) Incumbent

http://www.frankdlucas.com/ http://lucas.house.gov/

http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Frank_Dean_Lucas.htm**

Rated -2 by AAI, indicating anti-Arab anti-Palestine voting record. (May 2012)

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

ENERGY Voted for construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline without limiting amendments. I support an “all of the above” energy agenda that can create new American jobs, decrease our dependence on foreign oil, and promote efficient usage of energy here at home. –

HEALTHCARE We need real health care reform in this country that lowers costs, maintains options, reduces the uninsured population, and expand access. –

IMMIGRATION I am working to see our borders secured and our immigration laws enforced, allowing legal immigration and naturalization.
Frankie Robbins (D) Challenger No website

District 4

Tom Cole (R) Incumbent

http://www.tomcoleforcongress.com/ http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Tom_Cole.htm**

Rated -2 by AAI, indicating anti-Arab anti-Palestine voting record. (May 2012)

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTH CARE Our country’s health care system needs reform. As your Representative I will fight for patient centered improvements that reduce cost, allow flexibility, and protect America’s most vulnerable citizens. Obamacare – I strongly oppose the so-called Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

IMMIGRATION America is a land of immigrants, and we are also a nation of laws. Those laws must be enforced in order to secure our borders and stop the flood of illegal immigration.

TAXES I support the simplification of our nation’s tax code and common sense proposals to make tax collection fair and efficient for America’s workers. I support making the Bush tax cuts permanent.

DEBT Our national debt is unsustainable. Families have to live within a budget and Congress should too. I am fighting to root out wasteful, duplicative, and unnecessary spending and return us to balanced budgets.

ENERGY I support developing all of our nation’s energy resources and becoming energy independent while reducing dependence on foreign oil. I support the Keystone XL Pipeline and increased production of oil and natural gas.
Bert Smith (D) Challenger

http://bertsmith4congress.com/

In 1997, I retired as a Lieutenant Colonel after 28 years in the U S Army Reserve. In 1971-72, I flew in combat in the Republic of Vietnam as a helicopter pilot, lift section leader, and assistant S2 with the 3/17 Air Cavalry Squadron. My military career included being honor graduate of my Infantry Officer Basic Class, five years with the 96th MTC, graduation from the Army’s Command and General Staff College, and 10 years as an Admissions Field Representative for the United States Military Academy at West Point.

District 5

James Lankford (R) Candidate for US Senate in 2014

No decisive winners: There will be a runoff on August 26
Patrice Douglas (R) Challenger

http://www.patricedouglas.com/

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTHCARE As a proud mother of two boys, I understand the importance of a health-care system that empowers and protects the trusted doctor-patient relationship. Bureaucrats in Washington should not control Oklahoma families’ medical decisions. Patient care must be our primary goal.

We MUST REPEAL ObamaCare. Let’s work together and find free market-based and patient-centered solutions that will increase accessibility, lower costs and promote cutting-edge research that save, improve and enhance lives without raising taxes, rationing care or increasing government control.

IMMIGRATION I oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants. America must protect and secure its borders to ensure the financial and personal safety of all Americans. The failure of the federal government to enforce our immigration laws leaves taxpayers with higher costs in health care, education and public safety. I strongly support a solid employment verification system that encourages companies to hire legal workers, and provides stiff prosecution for those who employ illegal workers.

JOBS AND ECONOMY Oklahoma’s small businesses power our economy and create jobs. Let’s find solutions to reduce our national debt, balance the budget and keep America prosperous so small businesses can once again flourish without the threat of job-killing regulations and higher taxes. In my experience, I believe Oklahoma small businesses won’t be able to start hiring again until Washington gets off their backs. We do not need the federal government to create jobs; we can create an atmosphere that encourages entrepreneurship and small business growth with a sensible tax system and little government interference.
Steve Russell (R) Challenger

http://www.vets4victory.com/

The unit LTC Steve Russell (Ret) commanded was a central player in the hunt and Capture of Saddam Hussein. LTC Russell speaks across the US and Canada, rallying the American public to support the troops with victory, not just words. LTC Russell retired from the US Army after serving 21 years in Airborne, Light and Mechanized assignments in the Arctic, the desert, the Pacific, in Europe and in the Continental United States. He served more than 7 years overseas and has deployed operationally to Kosovo, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.

During Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, LTC Russell commanded the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry ‘Regulars’ and conducted combat in Tikrit, Iraq from the spring of 2003 to the spring of 2004. His battalion was broadly covered during the first year of the war by CNN, FOX NEWS, ABC, NBC, CBS, TIME MAGAZINE, Associated Press and Reuters. His unit was a central player in the hunt and capture of Saddam Hussein and has been featured in Discovery’s ‘Ace in the Hole’ and BBC Panorama’s ‘Saddam on the Run’ documentaries. He is described by the media as “an officer who never misses a chance to be on patrol with his unit. Russell is of average height, wiry and doesn’t seem imposing. Yet, he impresses you as a natural leader. He’s got the earnestness and intensity of a missionary.”

LTC Russell is highly decorated, having received the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device and Oak Leaf Cluster, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge and the Valorous Unit Award.
Tom Guild (D) Challenger

http://www.guildforcongress.com/

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

UNIONS I support the right to organize, collective bargaining and minimum wage laws. I oppose “Right to Work,” attacks on Unions and the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts for the Wealthy.

HEALTHCARE Providing health care to American families is a moral issue. Democrats have just extended health coverage by passing health care reform that extends protection to 32 million additional Americans. It makes denial of coverage on the basis of preexisting conditions a thing of the past, prohibits sex discrimination that charges women more for their health care premiums and forbids insurers from placing lifetime dollar limits on policies. It is devastating for the American people to have their health insurance premiums increase by 30, 40 or even 50 percent or more each year. Cost controls put in place by the new law will reduce premiums, and provide income based subsidies to assist all families in paying for their health insurance. It is simply unacceptable that 12,000 Americans a day lose their coverage; the new law eliminates cancellation for illness or pre-existing conditions. It was not acceptable that businesses had to choose between failure and providing their employees with health care protection. The new law provides subsidies to support small business in doing the right thing and insuring all their employees.​

WOMEN I am running for Congress to help ensure that every woman is treated fairly in her life. Whether on the job, making health decisions, raising children or in her every day affairs. “All Women Deserve a Voice in Washington!”

GLBT I support equal rights for all. I support the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” I support equality for all and I do not believe it should be legal to fire someone solely based on sexual orientation.
Al McAffrey (D) Challenger

http://www.almcaffrey.com/

Read more: Family Security Matters http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/oklahoma-2014-candidates-for-congress-where-they-stand?f=puball#ixzz36s66PjIb
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Efraim Karsh is professor of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies at King’s College London, a senior researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and at the Middle East Forum, and the author most recently of Palestine Betrayed (Yale, 2010).
The Uses of Lydda
How a confusing urban battle between two sides was transformed into a one-sided massacre of helpless victims.

In “What Happened at Lydda,” Martin Kramer has performed a signal service by putting to rest the canard of an Israeli massacre of Palestinian Arab civilians in that city in July 1948. The charge has been most recently circulated by Ari Shavit in his best-selling My Promised Land. But Lydda is hardly the only instance of such allegations at the time of the founding of the Jewish state—or, for that matter, long afterward. As Kramer suggests at the outset of his investigation, “time and again over the decades, Israeli soldiers have stood accused of just such wanton killing when in fact they were doing what every soldier is trained to do: fire on an armed enemy, especially when that enemy is firing at him.”

Indeed. In late 1947, a violent Arab attempt was made to prevent the creation of a Jewish state in line with November’s UN partition resolution. No sooner had the Haganah rebuffed it than it was accused of scores of nonexistent massacres. The same happened in the run-up to the establishment of the state in May 1948 and the ensuing war launched by the Arab nations to destroy it. The fall of the city of Haifa in April 1948 gave rise to totally false claims of a large-scale slaughter that circulated throughout the Middle East and reached Western capitals. Similarly false rumors were spread after the fall of Tiberias (April 18), during the battle of Safed (in early May), and in Jaffa, where in late April the mayor fabricated a massacre of “hundreds of Arab men and women.” Accounts of a massacre at Deir Yasin (April 9), where some 100 people died, were especially lurid, featuring supposed hammer-and-sickle tattoos on the arms of Jewish fighters and fictitious charges of havoc and rape.

In later years, Palestinians and supporters of the Palestinian cause have even invented retroactive atrocities, unknown to anyone at the time of their supposed occurrence. A notable instance is the “Tantura massacre” of May 1948, an event glaringly absent from contemporary Palestinian Arab historiography of the war. And this is not to mention more recent trumped-up allegations of atrocities committed by Israel in, most notoriously, Jenin (2002) and Gaza (2009).

It is into this crowded field that the prominent Israeli journalist Ari Shavit has stepped. “In 30 minutes, at high noon, more than 200 civilians are killed,” Shavit writes dramatically; “Zionism carries out a massacre in the city of Lydda.” But as Kramer conclusively shows, it is likelier that there was no massacre: only casualties of war, killed or wounded in the fierce fighting between the small Israeli force in the city and the numerically superior force of local Arab fighters supplemented by Transjordanian troops and armored vehicles.

‘NOT MY BOSS’S BUSINESS,” screamed several protest signs outside the U.S. Supreme Court, as the Hobby Lobby case was argued on March 25 and decided last Monday morning. Another placard hollered: “HEY SUPREME COURT — NO BOSSES IN MY BEDROOM.”

The first slogan belongs to NARAL Pro-Choice America, previously called the National Abortion Rights Action League. NARAL has lost the courage of its convictions. While it once proudly preached abortion rights, NARAL now peddles “choice,” without saying what, precisely, will be chosen. Perhaps the choice is NARAL itself.

In any case, these banners are laughable in one sense and laudable in another.

The accidental comedy involves demonstrators who want birth control to be none of their bosses’ business — until the bill arrives. Then it suddenly becomes their bosses’ business to purchase whatever contraception these protesters want. This includes drugs and devices that may kill human beings soon after conception. And, if bosses refuse to finance such birth-control methods, the federal government will force them to do so and fight them all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if they disobey.

So, to be clear: Bosses should stay the hell out of America’s bedrooms — except to deliver contraceptives at no cost to their employees, especially when Uncle Sam so orders.

Thankfully, the Supremes excused from this unconstitutional contraceptive mandate Hobby Lobby and other companies closely held by pious owners. This odious rule is yet another reason to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Indeed, crushing Obamacare and its relentless edicts could give the “Not my boss’s business” crowd precisely what their posters demand.

This brouhaha exists because most Americans get group medical insurance through their employers. Consequently, it is the boss’s business to decide whether to cover birth control, mental-health or substance-abuse treatment, and even pills for erections. The protesters are right: Why should bosses control such intimate details of workers’ lives?

The answer is to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a robust market for individual health insurance. Companies simply could pay their staffers to purchase whatever health plans satisfy their needs and wants. Employees who prefer insurance that includes birth control could buy it. Those who neither want nor need contraceptives could choose plans without it.

It doesn’t make national headlines, but the city’s level of violence is tragic.
For most of the country, July Fourth weekend means hot dogs, fireworks, and relaxing time with family. In certain neighborhoods in Chicago, it means something very different.

For the second year running, Chicago saw a spate of violence over the long holiday weekend that would generate headlines if it happened in Kabul.

“It’s Groundhog Day here in Chicago” is how police superintendent Garry McCarthy put it. This year, the tally of shame was more than 80 people shot and 14 killed. Last year, a slightly longer July Fourth weekend (the holiday fell on a Thursday) saw 75 people shot and 12 fatalities.

The astonishing numbers underline how Chicago, despite recent progress on crime, is still a byword for gunplay and urban chaos. It is a city where life, at least among young men living in the most dangerous neighborhoods, is cheap.

Chicago’s killings can’t readily be interpreted through a racial prism, so they don’t provoke gales of outrage from the nation’s opinion-makers. Only very rarely do they become national causes, as in the heartbreaking case of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, shot to death shortly after performing at President Barack Obama’s inauguration last year.

Chicago saw its homicides soar from roughly 430 in 2011 to more than 500 in 2012, before it got them back down below 2011 levels last year, thanks to more-aggressive policing. They are running slightly lower again this year, although they are still higher than in New York City, even though Chicago is a third of the size.

Why is Chicago the nation’s murder capital? Its officials always want to talk about gun laws, and Superintendent McCarthy complained about their laxity after the latest shootings. This is bizarre, since Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, and has been slapped down in the courts for trampling on the Second Amendment in its zeal to make it all but impossible to own guns.

Chicago is a running illustration of the cliché that if you ban guns, only criminals will own them. Not surprisingly, if you are willing to shoot someone in a meaningless gang dispute, you are willing to disregard laws for the purchase and possession of firearms.

Gun laws are beside the point. The tony Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park could have the same laws as gun-friendly Vermont and it would still be extremely safe. What Chicago is suffering from is not a random citywide phenomenon, but a specific, highly concentrated one.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/7/court-orders-chicago-pay-nra-legal-fees/print/

Court orders Chicago to pay NRA’s legal fees

A federal court is ordering the city of Chicago to pay the National Rifle Association nearly $1 million in legal fees.

The NRA had challenged a Chicago law banning gun sales within the city limits that a federal court ruled unconstitutional in January.

Chicago also paid the NRA $600,000 in legal fees following the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2010 ruling that the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms applies to the states.

During last year’s budget negotiation meetings, President Barack Obama told House Speaker John Boehner, “We don’t have a spending problem.” When Boehner responded with “But, Mr. President, we have a very serious spending problem,” Obama replied, “I’m getting tired of hearing you say that.” In one sense, the president is right. What’s being called a spending problem is really a symptom of an unappreciated deep-seated national moral rot. Let’s examine it with a few questions.

Is it moral for Congress to forcibly use one person to serve the purposes of another? I believe that most Americans would pretend that to do so is offensive. Think about it this way. Suppose I saw a homeless, hungry elderly woman huddled on a heating grate in the dead of winter. To help the woman, I ask somebody for a $200 donation to help her out. If the person refuses, I then use intimidation, threats and coercion to take the person’s money. I then purchase food and shelter for the needy woman. My question to you: Have I committed a crime? I hope that most people would answer yes. It’s theft to take the property of one person to give to another.

Now comes the hard part. Would it be theft if I managed to get three people to agree that I should take the person’s money to help the woman? What if I got 100, 1 million or 300 million people to agree to take the person’s $200? Would it be theft then? What if instead of personally taking the person’s $200, I got together with other Americans and asked Congress to use Internal Revenue Service agents to take the person’s $200? The bottom-line question is: Does an act that’s clearly immoral when done privately become moral when it is done collectively and under the color of law? Put another way, does legality establish morality?

For most of our history, Congress did a far better job of limiting its activities to what was both moral and constitutional. As a result, federal spending was only 3 to 5 percent of the gross domestic product from our founding until the 1920s, in contrast with today’s 25 percent.

Close to three-quarters of today’s federal spending can be described as Congress taking the earnings of one American to give to another through thousands of handout programs, such as farm subsidies, business bailouts and welfare.

During earlier times, such spending was deemed unconstitutional and immoral. James Madison, the acknowledged father of our Constitution, said, “Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” In 1794, when Congress appropriated $15,000 to assist some French refugees, Madison stood on the floor of the House of Representatives to object, saying, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” Today’s Americans would crucify a politician expressing similar statements.

In September 2011, Asher Palmer, a United States citizen and his infant son were murdered when an Arab threw a rock at the car driven by Palmer. The rock pierced the vehicle’s windshield like a missile and shattered Asher’s skull at which point the vehicle careened out of control causing the death of both father and son. Despite the horrific nature of the crime and the fact that it involved a United States citizen, there was no condemnation by the White House and no expressions of condolences to the Israeli people.

On June 12, 2014 three Israeli teens, one of whom was an American citizen, were kidnapped and murdered by Arabs. It took the White House eighteen days to muster the courage to condemn the outrage and even then, the condemnation was qualified by perfunctory calls for “restraint.” Just imagine how the United States would have reacted to an atrocity that involved the harming of American citizens. The murder of four American military contractors in Fallujah in March 2004 prompted a major US invasion of that city. Calls for restraint from the White House are not only insulting; they represent the zenith of hypocrisy and moral morass.

On May 1, 2014 Shelly Dadon, a 20-year old Israeli was murdered by an Arab in central Galilee. She was stabbed 17 times by her Arab assailant and stood no chance. She was on her way to a job interview at a telecommunications company when the terrorist attack occurred. The White House reaction? Deafening silence.

The victims of these atrocities were Jewish and their attackers, Arabs. Their sole crime was their nationality, a circumstance of birth. They were not known to their attackers and did nothing to provoke them but that mattered not to those with the thirst for blood. All that mattered was that they were dhimmi Jews with the temerity to live productive lives in their ancestral homeland.

President Obama’s response to these and other terrorist attacks against Israelis is disquieting to say the least. However, when one considers his reaction to attacks by Jews against Arabs – a rarity – the disparity proves difficult to ignore.

The killing of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, a 16-year old Arab from Jerusalem, ostensibly at the hands of Jews, sparked an immediate White House condemnation and expressions of “condolences to the Palestinian people” even before the circumstances of his unfortunate death were ascertained. Similarly, the roughing up of a Palestinian stone thrower by Israeli police prompted the White House to note that it was “profoundly troubled” by his treatment. An Israeli girl who is stabbed 17 times by an Arab is greeted by stone-cold silence while a violent Arab provocateur who gets roughed up warrants expressions of concern from the White House. Clearly, there is something manifestly unjust here.

It is no secret that Obama maintains a visceral dislike for Israel. From the moment he took office, he never missed an opportunity to take a swipe at the only democracy in the Mideast and America’s only stable ally in the region. While the Mideast is in turmoil, Israel remains a beacon of stability yet, judging by his actions and words, that matters little to Obama.

The most enduring critique of Israel’s struggle against Islamic terrorism is the recurring accusation of “collective punishment.” Every time Israelis are murdered, the Jewish State is accused of punishing Muslims in the West Bank and Gaza for the actions of a few individuals.

Israel is fighting an enemy that insists on having all the advantages of a state and statelessness with none of the disadvantages. The PLO/Hamas unity government is a state when it wants something from the United Nations or the United States, but it’s not a state when it comes to taking responsibility. The Muslims who live in Gaza and the West Bank are considered citizens when it comes to having political rights, but not when it comes to taking responsibility for the consequences of their political decisions.

Their votes are to be taken seriously, but once those votes lead to war they are no longer responsible.

The Palestinian Authority is a state when it comes to its territorial claims, but not a state when it insists on open borders with Israel while claiming that any Israeli border security is a violation of its rights.

Terrorists routinely operate in such legal twilight zones, but the Palestinian Authority is unique in that it has all the structure of a state with none of the responsibilities of statehood. If Israel treats it as a state in response to acts of war, it is accused of collective punishment, even though the Palestinian Authority is the product of a collective political will and attacking it is not a collective punishment, but simply war.

When the Palestinian Authority unity government of Hamas and the PLO wants to go to the UN, it is said to represent the political will of a populace. But when Hamas attacks Israel, suddenly it’s not a collective act, but an individual crime. If Israel targets Hamas leaders, then it’s attacking political representatives. But if Israel blockades an area run by terrorists who claim to be a state, it’s accused of engaging in collective punishment. The terrorists claim political immunity as leaders of a collective and immunity from collective attack as individuals, rather than leaders and citizens of a political entity.

Critics of Israel not only want to have it both ways, they want to have it every single possible way that advantages the terrorists and disadvantages Israel, so that in every possible scenario Israel is wrong.

The paradox deepens when it comes to Israel.

While the Obama administration is painting the ongoing Iran nuclear talks in Vienna as a fluid process with flexibility on the table, Tehran is stressing that non-negotiables remain yet the U.S. is in the palm of its hand.

In an address [1] last week to mark Mining and Industry Day, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the sanctions eased by President Obama are demolished for good and cannot be rebuilt even if a deal is not struck 13 days from now — confirming the warnings of the president’s harshest Democratic critics in the Senate.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested in a meeting with senior officials today that the U.S. is keeping Israel from striking at Iranian facilities.

“The reason of the US’ prevention is that [it] does not see the attack affordable and we also strongly emphasize that a military attack on the Islamic Republic is not affordable for anyone,” Khamenei said, according to [2] Iran Press TV.

The ayatollah added that the “enemy’s hand is empty in both fields of sanctions and threats.”

He stressed that uranium enrichment remains a sticking point in negotiations with the P5+1, saying that Iran’s bottom line is an enrichment capacity of at least 190,000 Separative Work Units (SWUs) while the U.S. wants to limit the Islamic Republic to 10,000 SWUs.

Khamenei also said it would be “laughable” to consider shutting down the Fordow nuclear facility.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters last week that she wouldn’t go into specifics about “where the biggest gaps remain,” but stressed that the main issues are centrifuges, enrichment, the Arak heavy water reactor, and Fordow, an underground uranium enrichment facility near Qom.

A senior administration official said Thursday that the negotiations proceeding toward the July 20 deadline were “very intense” and centered around “a series of reasonable, verifiable, and we believe easily achievable measures that would ensure Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon and that its program is limited to exclusively peaceful purposes.”

Deputy Secretary William J. Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy R. Sherman, and National Security Adviser to the Vice President Jacob J. Sullivan led the delegation to Vienna at the beginning of the month.