RUTHFULLY YOURS

While Israelis are fighting and dying, families huddling in bomb shelters and soldiers going off to face death, the men and women in suits and power suits moving through the great halls of diplomacy are using them as pawns in a larger game.

During the Cold War, Israel was a pawn in a larger struggle between the US and the USSR. Now it is back to being a counter in a larger game.

Israel’s function within the great halls of diplomacy was always as a lever on the Arab states. It was not an end, but a means of moving them one way or another. When the Arab states drifted into the Soviet orbit, the “Special Relationship” was born. The relationship accomplished its goal once Egypt was pried out of the Soviet orbit. It has lingered on because of the emotional and cultural ties of Israel and the US.

Now Obama is using Israel as a lever to push Egypt back into the Islamist camp. Egypt’s rejection of the Muslim Brotherhood broke the Arab Spring. Political Islam, which seemed to be on the ascendance, is back to being a freak show represented by terrorists and Turkey’s mad mustachioed dictator.

Egypt was where Obama went to begin the Arab Spring. Egypt is still his target. Israel is just the lever.

The reason Israel was never allowed to truly win any wars was because it was being used as a lever. By being a “good lever” during the Cold War, it could damage Egypt enough that the latter would come to the negotiating table overseen by the US and move back into the Western sphere of influence.

Israel couldn’t be allowed to win a big enough victory because then there would nothing to negotiate. Likewise, Israel wouldn’t be allowed to keep what it won because then there would be no reason for Egypt to come to the negotiating table. Sometimes Israel would even be expected to lose, as in the Yom Kippur War, to force it to come to the negotiating table.

Swap Egypt for the PLO and that’s how the disastrous peace process happened. Then swap the PLO for Hamas and that is where we are now.

Obama’s initial support for Israel’s war on Hamas was only to the extent necessary to bring the terrorist group to the negotiating table. And then once Hamas comes to the negotiating table, the White House will back its demands against Israel in exchange for getting the Brotherhood on board with its agenda.

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

Primary: August 26, 2014

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

Pat Leahy (D) Next Election in 2016.
Bernie Sanders (I) Next Election in 2018.

Not sure of your district? Click here to find out

US HOUSE OF REP LOGO

At Large:
Peter Welch (D) Incumbent

http://www.welchforcongress.com/ http://www.welch.house.gov/#dialog

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

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

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTHCARE “Access to quality, affordable health care for every American is long overdue. The Affordable Care Act will bring peace of mind to millions of working Americans and their families, take decisions about health care coverage out of the hands of insurance companies, expand cost effective preventive services, and improve health care coverage for seniors.” Congressman Welch:

Expanded nationwide a pioneering Vermont health care model that rewards health care providers for improved patient outcomes rather than the number of procedures performed;
Introduced legislation to save taxpayers and seniors $160 billion through the negotiation of lower prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients;
Strongly supports a woman’s right to choose and access to preventive health care services for women; and
Founded the bipartisan Affordable Medicines Caucus, a coalition of House members working to lower prescription drug prices.

ENERGY Voted against construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline without limiting amendments. Congressman Welch:

Is the nationally recognized champion in Congress of energy efficiency investments that create good manufacturing jobs, cut energy bills and improve the environment;
Supports federal investments and incentives to create a 21st century green energy economy; and
Opposes taxpayer subsidies for the oil, nuclear and ethanol industries.

Mark Donka (R) Challenger

http://www.markdonkaforvt.com/

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

HEALTHCARE From the second President Obama forced through a 2,300 page law that no one read with back room deals and not a single Republican vote, ObamaCare became partisan government at its worst – intrusive, expensive and ineffective. Mark will fight to repeal this disastrous piece of legislation and put patients back in control of their own healthcare. To boot, Congress was given an exception from participating. Peter Welch does not have Obamacare, why should you?

BORDER SECURITY AND IMMIGRATION The latest assault on our southern border is another clear sign that this administration is incapable of dealing with or anticipating problems that are a direct threat to our national security. Every scandal or situation appears to surprise them. In Congress, he’ll fight to lock down our borders and will continue to oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants. We encourage all who want the promise of the American dream to come to the United State, but there is a legal manner in which to do so. Congress tried amnesty once in 1986!! We need better solutions not empty promises and do-overs at the taxpayers’ expense.

ENERGY It’s time for an all-of-the-above energy policy which embraces our domestic resources, peels back the overreach of the EPA and approves the Keystone XL pipeline. We need to continue to experiment with the aid of technology.

MILITARY In Congress, supporting our soldiers in the field and veterans at home will continue to be one of his top priorities. The top priority of the Constitution is to protect the United States of America. President Obama continues vacant promises. He knew about the VA issues in 2007, acknowledging his intentions to take care of our vets. He did nothing. It’s time to remove the do-nothing crowd from Washington. His bizarre West Point speech was given an appropriate chilling response from the core of our next generation heroes. Another guidepost indicating how out of touch this administration is.

SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL Amidst the turmoil in the Middle East stands Israel as a true friend to America and our best ally in the region. The recent nuclear “treaty” President Obama and John Kerry negotiated with Iran highlights the erosion of our once unbreakable alliance with Israel. In Congress, Mark will call for a renewed American commitment to our trusted ally. President Obama’s abysmal Foreign Policy has the world mocking the US and utterly confused in its global role.
Don Nolte (R) Challenger

http://www.nolte-for-us-house-vt-2014.com/
Donald Russell (R) Challenger

https://www.donaldrussellforuscongress.com/

NRA life member since 1997

Also a member of: ​gun owners of Vermont, gun owners of America

Les Feldick ministries, international fellowship of Christians and Jews,

The veterans of foreign wars, the American legion

Disabled American veterans ,paralyzed vets of America

The Heritage foundation, Marine Toys For Tots

Vermont sheriffs’ assoc. The Humane Society

English As Official Language

Matthew Andrews (Liberty Union) Challenger

https://www.facebook.com/peopleunite
Cris Ericson (I) Challenger

http://vermontnews.livejournal.com/
Randall Meyer (I) Challenger

No website
Jerry Trudell (I) Challenger

No website

Read more: Family Security Matters http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/vermont-2014-candidates-for-congress-where-they-stand?f=puball#ixzz392jaFOu6
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Two months ago during a regular visit to PJ Media I viewed a very short piece about a scientific study on a species of fish from vastly different locations having an identical complex mechanism that the scientist concluded was yet another proof of Darwinian evolution. The PJ Media author (couldn’t find – only remember the point) countered that the scientist’s evidence, rather than pointing to evolution, logically undercut such a conclusion and in fact was supportive of intelligent design, a theory holding that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process. My light bulb went off. Twenty years ago I read a short book on ID. The logic of the theory and examples were so overwhelming for me that I abruptly switched from agnostic to deist. Then, satisfied I could continue to avoid organized religion without guilt, I went on with my life, until that visit to PJ Media. Why was a political site making snarky with a scientific dispute? To quote Vince Lombardi, I thought “what the hell is going out here?” Well let me tell you….

The scientific community overwhelming views humanity as materialist happenstance, attributing nothing exceptional to humans. The universe, galaxy, solar system, earth and everything on it came into existence by an undirected random process they say. These materialists fancy themselves as slowly but surely answering all the origins of universe and life questions. Believers in the super natural can’t get on their bus. Not only are their gods false, but dangerous to scientific progress.

According to a 2013 survey of National Academy of Science members, 93% were self-described atheists. The Academy is the most prestigious American scientific body with 2,200 elected members. That 7% are not atheists is alarming to Neil de Grasse Tyson, an astrophysicist, popular for hosting PBS’s Cosmos and the public face of science in America. He is a very frequent guest on many pop-culture programs (especially Bill Maher), taking delight in mocking religion and making clear the harm religious belief has on science. The March 2014 reboot of Cosmos had an introduction by Obama that featured Carl Sagan’s “the cosmos is all that is, or ever will be” – materialism through-and-through.

As I delved into the ID story it became apparent that science,the systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and reliably applied, is no longer an accurate explanation. It has become a powerful force in the progressive movement, based on dogma and intolerance to marginalize and mock anything that may be edging toward different conclusions when viewing the same scientific evidence, especially ID theory.

The old story about the deadly scorpion and the frog has been adapted to the current situation in the Middle East.

In the original fable, the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across a river, but the frog is afraid of being stung. The scorpion manages to convince the frog by arguing that, if he were to sting the frog while being carried across water, both would sink and drown. Convinced by the scorpion’s logic, the frog embarks across the river with the scorpion on his back — only to be stung halfway across.

As both scorpion and frog descend to their deaths, the frog asks the scorpion why he stung him.

“Because that’s my nature — and this is the Middle East,” replies the scorpion in the new iteration of the story.

Sadly, the most recent war between Hamas and Israel reflects the moral of the story.

Hamas persists in its incessant rocket war against Israel, even firing a missile at the precise moment a hard-negotiated five-hour ceasefire came to an end. Hamas must certainly realize that it cannot win this war. It is outmatched and alone, virtually isolated from its Arab allies. Egypt, in fact, may be more inclined to see Hamas decimated than to lift a finger in support.

Yet it is the nature of Hamas to commit these senseless acts of terror — and after all, this is the Middle East.

The leadership of Hamas has lost its already tenuous connection to reality, forcing upon Israel and the rest of the civilized world a question that looms like a dark cloud over the horizon: how to cope with a nation-state that has given itself over to its own suicide?

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/blog/detail/israeli-woman-recounts-harrowing-experiences-living-on-the-gaza-border

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqonroORsSA

On Friday, writing about the four-hour detention by US Customs & Border Protection of a troop of Iowa boy scouts, I put it this way:

American life is bifurcating into the undocumented and the overdocumented. On the southern border, the bazillions of US laws are meaningless – proof of identity, medical tests, none of it matters. And the less it matters on the Rio Grande the more the zealots on the 49th Parallel will take apart your car if they think you’ve got a Kinder egg in there. Anyone who thinks that attitude can be confined to the border and not work its way deep into the rest of American life is deluded.

Thirteen years ago, I opposed the creation of the “Department of Homeland Security” – on the classic Thatcherite ground that if you create a bureaucracy to deal with a problem you’ll never be rid of it. I had expected the usual “mission creep” but that term barely covers what’s happened in the last decade. There is no “homeland security”: At the southern border, the homeland is wide open, and ICE and the Border Patrol, which (like CBP) are both part of DHS, are actively colluding in homeland insecurity.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security “agents” busy themselves raiding the Foxy Lady strip club in Brockton, Massachusetts, because the foxy ladies were giving away knock-off Red Sox or Patriots merchandise with every two lap dances, and dispatching six vehicles to a home in Statesville, North Carolina to seize an imported Land Rover that doesn’t meet EPA emissions standards.

In September 2001, the then Attorney-General, John Ashcroft, rationalized the new Homeland Security apparatus as follows: “There is absolutely no guarantee that these safeguards would have avoided the September 11th occurrence,” he said. “We do know that, without them, the occurrence took place.” And so, without Homeland Security “agents” whiling away their work days checking out exotic dancers or climbing into the full Robocop to terrorize a couple of suburban car collectors, another occurrence could easily occur, couldn’t it?

On the other hand, whatever’s occurring at that wide-open southern border doesn’t pose any risk of additional occurrences occurring, does it? So don’t worry about it.

There is a pattern here. As I wrote here three months ago:

In the Second World War, when the Japanese took Singapore and inflicted what Churchill called the most ignominious defeat in British military history, it was famously said of the colony’s ill-prepared defenses that the guns were pointing the wrong way. In America today, the guns seem to be pointing the wrong way.

House Republicans have released a Lois Lerner email exchange from November 2012 that “clearly demonstrates why Ms. Lerner not only targeted conservatives, but denied such groups their rights to due process and equal protection under the law,” wrote House Ways and Means Committee Chair Dave Camp (R-MI) in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The emails were part of additional evidence the Committee turned over to the Justice Department (DOJ) to support a thorough investigation of the IRS’s criminal behavior. “While the Committee has not seen an evidence of a serious investigation by your Department, it is my sincere hope that in light of this new strong evidence that you immediately begin aggressively investigating this matter or appoint a special counsel. The failure to do so will only further erode public trust in not only the IRS, but the Department as well,” Camp warned.

The emails are indeed damning, and they were sent by Blackberry while Lerner was apparently traveling in Great Britain. Lerner begins an exchange with a personal associate who did not work at the IRS, during which the former director of the Exempt Organizations Unit makes no effort to hide her contempt.

Lerner begins this part of the exchange by saying she overheard some women say America was bankrupt and “going down the tubes.” The friend replies, “You should hear the whacko wing of the GOP. The US is through; too many foreigners sucking the teat; time to hunker down buy ammo and food, and prepare for the end. The right wing radio shows are scary to listen to.” Lerner responds, “Great. Maybe we are through if there are that many assholes.” The friend replies, “And I’m talking about the hosts of the show. The callers are rabid.” Lerner responds, “So we don’t have to worry about aliens terRorists (sic). It’s our own crazies that will take us down.”

Camp is using this information to make the case that Lerner’s bias is self-apparent, and that the DOJ should get more involved in reviewing her, along with the IRS. He also reiterated his contention that Holder has yet to make a determined effort to do so. “Despite the serious investigation and evidence this Committee has undertaken into the IRS’s targeting of individuals for their beliefs, there is no indication that DOJ is taking this matter seriously,” he said in a statement. “In light of this new information, I hope DOJ will aggressively pursue this case and finally appoint a special counsel, so the full truth can be revealed and justice is served.”

In his letter to Holder, Camp reveals that the Committee also discovered that Lerner used her personal email account for official business “including confidential return information” and noted that the DOJ could use its resources to discover “whether there was unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information in violation of the law.” Camp further refers to an email dated February 22, 2012, in which Lerner contacted an IT professional about a “Virus on Home PC,’” further indicating she kept work info on her home computer, “some of which may have been lost.” Lerner speculates that her computer may have been hacked “because my password was too simple,” raising additional concerns that taxpayer information may have been leaked.

This week’s Glazov Gang was joined by Dr. Anna Geifman,a scholar who has taught in the History Dept. at Boston University for over 20 years and is now senior researcher at the Dept. of Political Studies at the University of Bar Ilan in Israel. Her latest book is Death Orders: The Vanguard of Modern Terrorism in Revolutionary Russia.

Dr. Geifman joined the show to discuss Life in Israel Under Siege, sharing life in Jerusalem during a state of war — and what it means to confront a death cult. She also discusses Why Death Cultures Target Children, Why The World Must Accept the Reality of Good and Evil, Similarities Between Bolshevik Terror and Hamas, and much, much more:

It was four years ago this month, that the President signed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, better known as Dodd-Frank. Wall Street doesn’t appear particularly reformed and consumers remain at risk, now more from predatory politicians than overly aggressive bankers. Worse, the bill never addressed the role played by politicians, or the part played by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in forcing a lowering of mortgage underwriting standards, in order to meet government housing policies. It ignores the maxim that the threat of financial loss, including bankruptcy, remains the best retardant against reckless behavior.

More accurately, the bill is known as the “Lawyers’ and Consultants’ [read, lobbyists] Full Employment Act of 2010.” At 2,300 pages, with another estimated 14,000 pages of regulation, the bill created a maze for banks’ compliance departments and a boon for the lawyers necessary to guide the banks through its over-reaching tentacles. NPR reporter Gary Rivlin wrote that the financial industry has spent more than $1 billion on hundreds of lobbyists trying to chip away at the bill’s regulations. Patrick McHenry of CNN estimates that Dodd-Frank has imposed $21.8 billion in compliance costs and its regulations require 60 million hours of paper work. A single example of the latter was pointed out by Peter Wallinson a few days ago in the Wall Street Journal: J.P. Morgan Chase plans to hire 3,000 more compliance officers this year, to supplement the 7,000 added last year. At the same time, they announced the firing of 5,000 people – a swap of the non-productive for the productive.

The purpose of the legislation was to promote the financial stability of the United States by improving accountability and transparency, two traits disagreeable to lawyers who prefer chaos to simplicity and obfuscation to clarity. It was supposed to protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts for banks “too big to fail, and it was designed to protect consumers from abusive financial practices and products.

Has it accomplished these goals? Financially, the U.S. is more stable, at least for the moment. But that may simply be a natural and rational reaction of businesses and people who have had a near-death experience. The near-collapse of the financial system in 2008 was enough, as we used to say in New Hampshire, to scare the “bejesus” out of one. It would have been odd if borrowers and lenders had not become more cautious. I suspect they still are. Keep in mind, a near-collapse of an entire financial system is extremely rare. Regardless, consumer debt remains a problem. A recent study by the Urban Institute suggests that one in three adults with a credit history – 77 million people – are so far behind in their debt payments that their accounts are now “in collections.” As the French would say, plus ça change, plus la meme chose.

Republican lawmakers in the nation’s capital are racing against the legislative clock to approve measures aimed at cleaning up the border mess that President Obama created and preventing him from issuing unilateral decrees making it much, much worse.

The Obama administration is threatening to plunge the nation into a dire constitutional crisis after Labor Day by using executive orders to grant a huge amnesty to millions of illegal aliens now in the United States. Of course, in the American system of government, Congress, not the president, is supposed to make laws. Congress has repeatedly refused to grant the amnesties that Obama seeks, but the president refuses to take no for an answer, pressing on regardless of the casualties he inflicts on the country.

There is no indication Obama is backing off.

After meeting with Obama at the White House, leftist congressman Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) again predicted the president would go forward with a massive immigration amnesty.

“I believe the president of the United States is going to act broadly and generously,” Gutiérrez said Tuesday on MSNBC when describing the White House visit that took place Friday. “That’s my belief. He didn’t say that to me but that’s what I believe he’s going to do.”

A giddy Gutiérrez said last week that the Obama administration could unilaterally provide legal status to as many as 5 million illegals.

But an amnesty fiat by the president would violate the U.S. Constitution and the separation of powers doctrine and is clearly “an impeachable offense,” according to commentator Charles Krauthammer.

Although Krauthammer doesn’t support efforts to impeach Obama which he refers to as “political suicide,” he said that unilaterally granting work permits and legal status to millions of illegal aliens would be “clearly lawless and it would be biggest domestic overreach of a president in memory.”