You can’t claim that liberals and other statists aren’t industrious. They are tirelessly diligent in their quest to find more ways to infringe upon or abridge our freedoms.
Many of our freedoms are embodied in the Bill of Rights, and have been regularly targeted for amendment or excision, from gun ownership, to freedom of assembly (or association), to freedom of speech vis-à-vis criticizing Islam and campaign finance law restrictions. No right today is sacrosanct or beyond the government’s wish to curtail or abolish.
Only just recently, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), in the wake of his defeat at the Cliven Bundy Ranch in Nevada, introduced a bill to abridge political speech. Breitbart’s Big Government reported on May 18th:
On May 15, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on June 3 on amending the U.S. Constitution to limit political speech. If ultimately adopted, it would mark the first time in American history that a constitutional amendment rescinded a freedom listed as among the fundamental rights of the American people.
The proposed amendment was introduced by Sen. Tom Udall (D-CO) as S.J.R. 19 and if ratified would become the Twenty-Eighth Amendment. It provides in part that “Congress shall have power to regulate the raising and spending of money and in-kind equivalents with respect [to] the Federal elections … [and] State elections.” The proposed amendment includes a provision that “Nothing in this article shall be construed to grant Congress the power to abridge the freedom of the press.” So Breitbart News, The New York Times, and the mainstream media would be able to say whatever they want, but citizens and citizen groups such as the National Rifle Association could not.
It seems like Harry Reid and his cronies have been reading retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens’s book, Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution, which I reviewed in “Justice Stevens’s Liberty-Destroying Amendments,” in three parts, the relevant Part here. Stevens recommended adding another amendment that would accomplish Reid’s purposes and vitiate any freedom of speech protections. I wrote:
Stevens writes that there is nothing to fear from his proposed amendment:
“A constitutional amendment authorizing Congress and the states to place “reasonable” limitations on campaign expenditures would allow corporations to make public announcements of their views but would prohibit them from engaging in the kind of repetitive and excessive advocacy that the candidates typically employ. It would also repudiate both the holding and the reasoning in the Citizens United case, giving corporations an unlimited right to spend their shareholders’ money in election campaigns.” (p. 78)
Do the shareholders want a corporation to spend their money advocating issues? To Stevens, their wishes are irrelevant. Do individuals who encounter “repetitive and excessive” advocacy mind such encounters? That’s irrelevant, too. Of course, those on the opposite side of an issue might mind it, but, like Muslims who object to critical things being said and written about Islam, they can just ignore it. Speech, written, oral, or visually, after all, is not a form of physical aggression or force. But Stevens doesn’t want the champions of big government and incremental socialism to be subjected to limitations on “hate speech” that he wishes to impose on financed counter-arguments. Democrats should be free to repeat their “excessive” and “repetitive” messages over and over again. It’s the other guy who must be shut up. Stevens’s suggested amendment, which requires force or the threat of force, reads:
“Neither the First Amendment nor any other provision of this Constitution shall be construed to prohibit the Congress or any state from imposing reasonable limits on the amount of money that candidates for public office, or their supporters, may spend in election campaigns.” (p. 79
The Price of Oslo – 933 Billion Shekels ($250 million US Dollars) and Counting
Jewish Leadership faction of Likud is shocked to find that failed ‘peace’ attempt cost twice as much as previously thought.
The failed attempt at regional peacemaking known as the Oslo Process has cost the state of Israel over 900 billion shekels – more than $250 billion – since 1993, and the costs keeps rising, according to a study by the Likud party’s Jewish Leadership faction, which is headed by MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud-Beytenu).
By comparison, the total state budget for 2014 has been set at about 400 billion shekels, or about $115 billion.
The numbers came as a shock to the researchers, who recently gave a much lower estimate of the total financial costs of the botched endeavor.
Jewish Leadership’s report on the study’s results note that the same amount of money would have sufficed for ensuring that 3.5 million Arabs receive the same income that they currently enjoy, for a period of 50 years, in exchange for voluntary repatriation to Arab countries.
Instead of turning Gaza, Judea and Samaria into arms depots and terror hotspots, Israel should apply its sovereignty to all of these areas, settle them, make them flourish, and adopt a policy of reducing the size of the Arab population and isolating it.
The research, which was led by Jewish Leadership’s R&D Head, Michael Fuah, examined nine fields of expenditure and tallied up what it said were the minimal costs of the Oslo process to date, as follows:
New York
On a cold wet day in April, a small crowd of protesters stood outside the United Jewish Appeal-Federation headquarters in New York to oppose the inclusion of anti-Israel groups in the Celebrate Israel parade. This year is the 50th anniversary of the parade, one of the most prominent displays of American support for Israel.
On June 1, around 30,000 people are expected to march down Fifth Avenue. It is a vibrant affirmation of Jewish unity. Except when it isnt. Over the past few years, the parade has become a source of friction as pro-Israel activists have objected to the participation of groups involved with the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement. Thats the pernicious global campaign that calls for governments and businesses to wage diplomatic and economic warfare against Israel. The BDS movement speaks the language of nonviolence and human rights, but seeks Israels destruction.
The protesters against the participation of BDS groups in the parade are led by Richard Allen, an accidental gadfly, a businessman who says he never considered political action until he joined the Manhattan Jewish Community Center (JCC) to use its gym. Its supposed to be an apolitical gathering placeHebrew classes and bake sales and jewelry-making workshops. Instead, Allen would walk through the lobby and see groups that supported BDS setting up tables, distributing flyers, and giving lectures.
The JCC were not just letting them debate, he says. They were hosting them. Since the JCC runs largely on donated money, he says, Its using Jewish communal dollars to push BDS in the community. The JCC was trying to legitimize a movement that wants to delegitimize Israel.
So Allen formed a group called JCC Watch, dedicated to calling out anti-Israel extremism that tries to pass itself off as part of the Jewish mainstream. Allen has had some successeshes gotten links to BDS groups, like Adalah (thats Arabic for Justice) and the Mossawa Center, removed from the JCCs website. His group has picketed events hosting supporters of the BDS movement, Roger Waters and Alice Walker, at the 92nd Street Y.
And I havent seen any BDS in the lobby of the JCC lately, either, he says. Theyve koshered themselves up a little bit. His next goal: get the pro-BDS groups kicked out of the Celebrate Israel parade.
Theoretically, this should be no problem. The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), the parades host committee (which is funded by the UJA-Federation), says that BDS groups are not allowed to march in the parade. The thing is, JCC Watch and the parade committee disagree on what it means to be a pro-BDS group. The groups that have raised the hackles of Allen and his supporters are the New Israel Fund, Partners for a Progressive Israel, and BTselem, which insist that they are not supporters of the BDS movement. Theyll even condemn it.
But these groups have ties to groups that are full-fledged members of the BDS movement, andheres the sticking pointthey support boycotts of Israeli products that are manufactured in the West Bank. They argue, passionately, that theres a difference between full-on BDS and targeted boycotts of products like SodaStream, whose factory is located in an Israeli town just over the Green Line, or 1949 armistice line.
We do not ourselves support the boycotts, but we dont exclude groups that support the boycott of settlement products from our funding, says Naomi Paiss, the New Israel Funds vice president for public affairs. Its not our job to do that.
People on the hard left and the hard right both try and conflate these two for their own purposes, she says, but we profoundly disagree.
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/mississippi-2014-candidates-for-congress-where-they-stand
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
Roger Wicker (R) Next election in 2018
Thad Cochran (R) Incumbent
http://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/ http://thadformississippi.com/issues/
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Thad_Cochran.htm**
•Rated 0 by AAI, indicating a mixed Arab/Palestine voting record. (May 2012)
ISSUES
GOVERNMENT OVERREACH Thad has opposed the Obama Administration’s efforts to limit gun rights; he opposed the Wall Street bank bailout; he opposed the President’s bloated and ineffective stimulus package of 2009; he opposed Obamacare; and he has consistently voted against the Administrations’ failed immigration proposals. Thad cosponsored legislation that would prevent the IRS from targeting individuals because of their political beliefs, and Thad supports legislation to restore the Tenth Amendment, sending power back to the states. Thad has introduced legislation to prevent overregulation of family farms by the EPA. He recently worked successfully to stop overregulation of family farms by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
ENERGY The United States can enjoy a secure and affordable energy supply. Thad believes in an all-of-the-above policy to harness our nation’s energy resources. He has supported efforts to expand offshore oil and gas development, and to return a portion of federal offshore revenues to the states for natural resource conservation and other purposes. Thad opposes President Obama’s delay in approving the Keystone XL Pipeline. A recent report by Obama’s own State Department concluded that the pipeline would support over 42,000 jobs, during construction and beyond. It is time to create these jobs and make the U.S. more energy independent. Thad is committed to supporting common sense energy policies.
Thad has spent his entire career making Mississippi a leader in energy independence. He has worked to bring investments in power generation throughout the state and has enabled Mississippi universities to conduct cutting-edge research in energy innovation. Over 22,000 Mississippi jobs are directly attributable to our energy assets, but more jobs are needed. Reliable and abundant energy sources are good for Americans because they help lower electric bills and prices at the pump. Diverse, affordable energy sources also are critical to attracting high skilled manufacturing and technology companies.
He is staunchly opposed to a “carbon tax” and sees it as a sure job killer, particularly in states like Mississippi that are growing manufacturing jobs. Thad has supported legislation to block EPA overregulation of American industry and energy providers. Thad will continue to fight for an all-of-the-above energy policy that is fair to the American consumer.
HEALTHCARE Thad continues to fight against Obamacare. He has voted to oppose, defund or repeal Obamacare’s overreach 102 times on the Senate. In 2013, Thad cosponsored the Obamacare Repeal Act authored by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). Thad believes that Obamacare denies healthcare choice, stifles economic mobility and costs American jobs. In fact, a February Congressional Budget Office report confirms that Obamacare is reducing American jobs.
Thad also cosponsored legislation that would prevent taxpayer-funded bailouts of health insurance companies at the Obama Administration’s discretion, as permitted under Obamacare. Beyond the cost of these bailouts, these payments would likely end up being one more smokescreen to hide just how harmful and costly this ill-conceived law is turning out to be. Thad believes that lawmakers must go back to the drawing board and draft legislation that will work better for all Americans and actually reduce the cost of healthcare services without spending billions of taxpayer dollars to support these failing policies. The White House’s delay of the employer mandate past the 2014 elections is a sign that employers are responding to Obamacare’s mandates exactly as critics have contended: by cutting back on workers and hours. More recently, we learned that Medicare is being raided to pay for Obamacare. Seniors could lose access to the doctors they liked and were told they could keep. The President has shown he isn’t afraid to cherry-pick which parts of the law he delays, so he should stop these harmful cuts to Medicare.
Thad believes healthcare decisions are best made by families, not bureaucrats in Washington. That’s why he has made sure Mississippians have access to high quality care and transformative research. Thad forced the National Institutes of Health to stop putting Mississippi at the back of the pack and advocated a greater focus on Mississippi academic research partnerships. Today, doctors and researchers at the Guyton Research Complex headquartered in Jackson work with other world-class institutions to find cures for diseases affecting thousands of Mississippians.
IMMIGRATION Thad has consistently voted against inadequate immigration legislation. He even voted against his friend Ronald Reagan’s amnesty bill in 1986. In fact, he is one of three Senators in history to vote against every comprehensive immigration reform bill that sought to provide amnesty to those who have entered our country illegally (1986, 2006, 2007, 2013). Thad has voted against all legislation that would allow a process to grant legal status to illegal immigrants now in the United States. Thad realizes the importance of guest worker policy improvements that would benefit agriculture, seafood, high-tech and other industries in Mississippi and other states. However, as a member and first chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that secures our borders, Thad knows better than almost anyone that before solving the nation’s border security or law enforcement problems, we must not consider a path toward citizenship for those here illegally. Thad believes that the United States needs to improve its legal immigration policies and consistently enforce laws already on the books so that we remain globally competitive.
Travis Childers (D) Challenger
http://childersforsenate.com/
U.S. CONGRESS
District 1
Alan Nunnelee (R) Incumbent
https://nunnelee.house.gov/ http://www.nunneleeforcongress.com/
http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Alan_Nunnelee.htm**
•Rated -4 by AAI, indicating a anti-Arab anti-Palestine voting record. (May 2012)
ISSUES
ENERGY People in Mississippi are suffering because of the extreme policies of the Obama Administration. New technologies are making it possible to recover vast reserves of natural gas and shale oil all across America. Sadly, the President continues to drag his feet on American energy production because he is beholden to an environmentalist fringe that is hostile to energy development.
An example of the President prioritizing his environmentalist base over helping ease pain at the pump is the indefensible decision to block the Keystone XL Pipeline. This project would increase the share of our energy supply coming from Canada and the United States, thus reducing our dependence on less stable and more hostile regions of the world. In short, the Keystone XL project would create both infrastructure and high paying energy sector jobs, as well as improve our energy security.
Our domestic energy supplies will help lower gas prices over the long term and are a boon to our economy and our national security. We must continue to fight for responsible development of our natural resources.
IMMIGRATION We should first and foremost secure the borders and enforce existing laws. We also need to start dealing with the magnet that draws people here and that is the jobs. I have successfully fought for language to be included in spending bills that bans any federal agency funded by the bill from hiring an employee that has not been cleared through E-Verify, a program that allows employers to ensure a person applying for a job is in the country legally.
HEALTHCARE We need to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in order to clear the way for patient centered health care reform. Here is how we can do it:
1. Individuals and families should be able to keep the same insurance when they change jobs.
2. Insurance should not be restricted by state lines.
3. Self employed individuals and families should be able to join a group plan and enjoy the same tax advantages as corporations.
4. Insurance companies should not be allowed to drop individuals or families because of illness.
5. Small businesses should be able to purchase coverage at similar rates as large corporations and government agencies.
6. Medical bills should be more transparent and easier to understand.
7. We must pass comprehensive tort reform.
8. Elected officials should not have special coverage.
Ron Dickey (D) Challenger
https://twitter.com/Dickey4MS/media
District 2
Bennie Thompson (D) Incumbent
•Rated 0 by AAI, indicating a mixed Arab/Palestine voting record. (May 2012)
http://benniethompson.house.gov/ http://www.ontheissues.org/house/bennie_thompson.htm**
ISSUES
HEALTHCARE Mississippi continues to face tremendous challenges as we confront our health care needs. In fact, all twenty-three counties in the Second District are medically under-served and many citizens are unable to afford health coverage. To help address these challenges Democrats introduce the Affordable Care Act of 2010 to improve the quality of health care and insurance coverage for 315,000 residents. The law extends coverage to 95,000 uninsured residents and allows 16,500 residents with preexisting conditions to obtain coverage just in Mississippi’s Second District alone.
In the first few days of the 112thCongress, with less than eight hours of debate, The House of Representatives voted to chip away at a concrete policy that took more than eighteen months to put together. With the people of the Second District in mind, Congressman Thompson cast a vote against a repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT Voted against the Keystone XL Pipeline without limiting amendments. Protecting the environment is vital to guarding the health of all Americans, particularly our children. Congressman Thompson are fighting for cleaner air, cleaner water, and preservation of our natural resources, understanding that what we do today has an impact on future generations of Americans. We stand up for fair policies that protect America’s environment while allowing for economic opportunity-priorities that can work together.
To create the next generation of clean energy jobs, make our nation more secure and reduce the pollution that causes global warming, Congressman Thompson and Congressional Democrats are committed to investing in our nation’s clean energy future. By investing in renewable sources of energy and funding research on the next clean technology breakthroughs, Democrats are fighting to not only increase our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil, but create jobs right here in America.
District 3
Gregg Harper (R) Incumbent
http://www.greggharper.ms/ http://harper.house.gov/
http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Gregg_Harper.htm**
•Rated -3 by AAI, indicating a anti-Arab anti-Palestine voting record. (May 2012)
ISSUES
CUTTING SPENDING Apr 10, 2014 eNewsletters There’s no question: Spending is out of control under the Obama administration. From the failed stimulus to the ballooning cost of ObamaCare, this White House continues to spend money we just don’t have. But House Republicans have a plan to balance the budget and grow the economy. It’s called the Path to Prosperity. And the plan repeals ObamaCare, provides a fairer tax code, and cuts $5.1 trillion over the next decade – targeting wasteful Washington spending and reforming government programs driving the nation’s debt.
ENERGY Voted in Favor of the Keystone XL Pipeline without limiting amendments. “America should embrace an all-of-the-above energy strategy that harnesses new technologies and increases domestic energy production from oil, natural gas, renewables, clean coal technology and nuclear power.”
Congressman Gregg Harper believes that Congress must advance ideas that stabilize fuel prices and build a steady supply of American energy, which leads to good-paying energy industry jobs.
HEALTHCARE “The so-called ‘Affordable Care Act’ is nothing short of politics above economics. I support health initiatives that protect the patient-doctor relationship and lower health care premiums through increased competition and choice.”
Instead of advancing a bill that focuses on access to care, protects the patient-doctor relationship and lowers health care premiums through increased competition and choice, the president signed a $1.7 trillion law that raids $764 billion from Medicare and raises taxes over $1 trillion. This figure is the result of 21 tax increases contained in ObamaCare, more than half of which impact everyone regardless of income level.
IMMIGRATION “Congress must establish control of the border and take steps to ensure that our current immigration laws are being enforced properly.”
Congressman Gregg Harper understands that it is illegal to be in the United States without proper documentation, and those who are here illegally should have to face consequences. Amnesty for illegal aliens is unacceptable.
Doug Magee (D) Challenger
http://ballotpedia.org/Doug_Magee
District 4
Steven Palazzo (R) Incumbent
https://palazzo.house.gov/ http://www.palazzoforcongress.com/#!prettyPhoto
http://www.ontheissues.org/house/Steven_Palazzo.htm**
•Rated -4 by AAI, indicating anti-Arab anti-Palestine voting record. (May 2012)
ISSUES
HEALTHCARE One of the biggest concerns I hear from my constituents is how terrible Obamacare is for them and their families. That is why I have voted to repeal, replace, delay, defund, and dismantle this law. I will vote another 40 times to do it until it is off the books for good. I’ve also introduced and received a tremendous amount of support for a constitutional amendment to rip the heart out of Obamacare. My “Right to Refuse” legislation is simple – it prevents Congress from enacting taxes that punish you for refusing to purchase a good or service like healthcare. This common
sense solution would solve the impending Obamacare crisis once and for all. Below are just a handful of the problems we’ve seen with Obamacare.
Increases Healthcare Costs – The primary goal of Obamacare was to make healthcare more affordable, and it doesn’t even do that, it actually makes healthcare more expensive for most Americans. Even Medicare’s Chief Actuary said that Obamacare does not keep cost down.
Causes Insurance Premiums to Rise – In an already sluggish economy, the last thing we need to do is force Americans to fork out more money for their healthcare, and that is exactly what Obamacare does. It has been estimated that Obamacare will cause between 1% and 9% increase in premiums. This means that most American families will have to fork out on average $2,100 more for health insurance, and in most cases they are getting less coverage than what they have now.
Hurts Quality of Healthcare Obamacare has been so catastrophic to the healthcare industry to the point that a large percentage of physicians will completely stop practicing medicine, thus making the doctor shortage worsen, leading to a more limited access to healthcare and longer waits for patients.
Adds nearly $570,000,000,000 in Tax Hikes Most of these tax hikes are going to fall on the backs of Middle Class Americans and Small businesses. Adds Over $500,000,000,000 to the National Debt
Need I say more?
ENERGY Voted for construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline without limiting amendments. An energy independent United States of America is one of my top priorities in Congress. Our country must cut back on its reliance on foreign oil, and to do this, we must increase the domestic production of energy, including oil, natural gas, and clean coal.
Green energy technologies may have promise in the future, but they are still being developed and remain costly. I do not believe in picking winners and losers in the marketplace by providing millions of taxpayer dollars to unproven industries. Now-bankrupt companies like Solyndra have shown that handing out taxpayer funds for these technologies is both unwise and ultimately, unsuccessful.
By increasing domestic production of energy, we can lower our dependence on Middle Eastern oil and create high-paying American jobs. In the 112th Congress, the House of Representatives passed dozens of bills that would reduce regulations on the energy industry and help stimulate such job creation: http://www.majorityleader.gov/jobstracker. In the 113th Congress, I remain committed to American energy independence.
DEFENSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY In 1988, I enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves and was proud to serve with the 3rd Force Recon in the Persian Gulf War spending time in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. In 1997, I enlisted in the MS National Guard where I currently still serve. Most recently, I spent a year supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom at Mobilization Center Camp Shelby. I have also had opportunities to visit our soldiers serving overseas during my time in Congress.
I believe that one of my first obligations in upholding the United States Constitution to ensure we provide for a strong national defense.
House Majority Whip: ‘I Can Lend My Voice’ on C-130’s
Posted in Press Releases on April 23, 2014
Palazzo Raises Readiness Issues With Air Force Plan to Move Planes
Posted in the News on April 10, 2014
Palazzo Advocates for Funding for Additional Amphibious Ship
Posted in Press Releases on April 8, 2014
Palazzo Pushes for Commitment to U.S. Maritime Industry
Posted in Press Releases on April 2, 2014
· Palazzo Welcomes Contract for Seventh Cutter to be Built in Pascagoula
Posted in Press Releases on April 1, 2014
Matt Moore (D) Challenger
https://www.facebook.com/mattmoore4ms
Read more: Family Security Matters http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/mississippi-2014-candidates-for-congress-where-they-stand#ixzz32XLiis00
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/eliminating-nigerias-islamist-poison
Once again the global spotlight shines on an al Qaeda-inspired attack in Africa. This time it involves the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls from a Christian enclave in northern Nigeria by a band of Boko Haram jihadists who threaten to sell them as slaves or to use them for ransom. It evoked global outrage, but it is only one in a series of violent events in this tinderbox nation, where slavery and piracy still exist.
The kidnapping prompted the United States, Great Britain, France, Nigeria and others to meet recently in Paris for a “Security in Nigeria Summit,” where participants agreed on measures intended to tame the terrorist group and bring about the safe return of the victims. If not properly managed, the situation could easily turn into another Libyan-type calamity.
Boko Haram (aka Nigerian Taliban) is a violent Sunni Muslim extremist group with ties to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. It mostly operates in the predominantly Muslim northern part of the country. The U.S. State Department estimates its numbers at a few thousand. Its prime goals include the establishment of an Islamic state and dispensing punishment to those who seek a non-Muslim education. The group uses violence to impose Shariah law on the population and is responsible for thousands of killings.
Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan (a Christian who succeeded a Muslim as president), stated that Boko Haram members and sympathizers have infiltrated the government, military and Cabinet. He’s likely right, since half of Nigeria’s 177 million people (about 88.5 million, making it Africa’s most Muslim-populated country) claim Islam as their faith.
The international focus on the recent schoolgirl kidnapping masks some of Nigeria’s other enormous problems. The U.S. State Department’s 2013 human-trafficking report reveals Nigeria is still a source, transit and destination country for modern-day slavery. Its genesis is traceable to more than 1,000 years ago, when Islam spread into the region and Muslim profiteers began shipping indigenous Africans to trans-Sahara slave markets.
In 2013, Nigeria surpassed Somalia as the most active place for pirates, with attacks on oil rigs, cargo ships and fishing boats for ransom soaring largely because the international community focused more on Somali pirates, and also because Nigeria’s navy and its maritime police are too weak to protect offshore waters.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni is losing her grip. Though her arch party rival, disgraced former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, is now out of her way for good, there is another political figure threatening to put a wrench in her relevance: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Livni may be a government minister with a heavy-duty portfolio, but the only real job she cares about is the one that she envisioned would culminate in a three-way handshake on the White House lawn, and perhaps a shared Nobel Prize with her partner in fantasy, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Indeed, it is as chief Israeli negotiator for peace talks with the Palestinians that she is best known, both at home and abroad. And it is this capacity that she has been as tireless as she is tiresome in her pursuit of a “two-state solution.”
Unfortunately for her, Abbas is not on the same page. While his playing a game of hard to get may have earned her nearly as many frequent flier miles as Kerry, it has not been conducive to her efforts to persuade the Israeli public that a peace treaty with the PA is possible. Other than with Hamas, that is.
As more and more evidence emerges that Abbas is no more interested in making a deal with Israel than his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, Livni and her peace-camp compatriots respond by putting the onus on Israel.
This takes two forms: one is to criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for announcing that housing expansion in Jerusalem will continue, claiming that it is a provocation that causes Abbas to resort to violent rhetoric; the other is to warn that Israel cannot remain both Jewish and democratic unless a Palestinian state is established.
In other words, even if the PA is at fault — even if its aim is to destroy Israel, not to live alongside it in peace — Israel has to do anything and everything it can to delineate borders between the two peoples. This means, of course, that Israel has to evict and relocate massive numbers of Jews from their homes and put itself at existential risk, without receiving anything in return but bloodshed.
…So said Jay Carney about his aloof boss President Barack Obama on Sunday. Curiously, those were the same words used by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, in testimony before the Senate Veteran’s Affairs Committee last week. General Shinseki indicated he was mad at the allegation, that if “they are true, they’re completely unacceptable to me, to veterans.” If? Where has the General been? Come to think of it, Mr. Obama used the qualifier “if” when he spoke to reporters on Wednesday. Where’s the outrage!
This is an Administration supposedly led by the “smartest guy in the room” and is allegedly comprised of Washington’s version of Master’s of the Universe.” Yet, the whole crowd bears remarkable resemblance to Alfred E. Neuman who chose not to worry because he chose not to know. It is amazing how Mr. Obama has learned of each scandal from the press, whether Fast and Furious, the IRS, the NSA and now the VA. (The White House created the Benghazi cover-up, so Mr. Obama would have a hard time convincing people that he learned of that scandal from the press.) Like all Presidents, Mr. Obama is kept insulated, but, as President, he sets the ethical tone.
Problems at the VA did not originate under Mr. Obama, and he certainly did not just learn of them last month from CNN, as claimed. In 2008, his transition team was alerted to scheduling and wait-time problems, and Mr. Obama promised to improve conditions. On Tuesday, Fox News reported the American Legion found a 2010 memo from a top VA official referring to “inappropriate scheduling practices” as “gaming strategies.” In 2012, a “Wildly Important Goals” program was implemented at the VA, which assured veterans needing medical care they would receive an appointment within two weeks of a request. Since the stated goal could not be achieved, hospital administrators created a paper system that had veterans wait 6-20 weeks before their name would be entered as having requested an appointment. Once the calendar was freed up, the patients name was entered electronically into the queue, creating a record indicating that the actual appointment was within two weeks of having been requested. It was a scam that was unethical in its intent and dangerous to patients. Typical of this Administartion, the purpose was to high-light goals achieved regardless of means employed.
Israel’s tiny navy led the Western world into the naval missile age, and it hasn’t lost its capacity to innovate. In time, its saga is sure to embrace more chapters, but as the future has yet to unfold we must end our survey just as we began it—with mere glimpses.
[Read Part I here].
While Israel revamped its fleet, Egypt embarked on the so-called War of Attrition (1969-1970) with the intention of breaking Israeli morale by causing a steady stream of casualties through artillery actions along the Suez Canal. Notwithstanding its new equipment, Israel’s navy fulfilled its role in this conflict not with missile boats but with old-fashioned Palyam-style raids and Navy-IDF combined amphibious operations. Following its subpar performance in the Six Day War, Flotilla 13 had undergone a complete overhaul under the leadership of its new commander, Ze’ev Almog—a converted infantryman who had joined the naval commandos in 1954.1 Later to obtain a Master’s Degree at the U.S. Naval War College (1972) and to serve as Israel’s naval Commander-in-Chief (1979-1985), Almog was famous at this juncture for accosting senior officers, map in hand, with an unsolicited plan for a raid.2 Under his tutelage naval commandos were trained for combined diving activity/ground raiding and outfitted with specialized webbing gear appropriate for action on land and in the water. Thanks to Almog’s persistent lobbying, the new gear was finally put to use on June 21, 1969, when Flotilla 13 commandos swam a third of a mile from rubber dinghies and stormed ashore at Adibiyah, destroying an Egyptian monitoring station and inflicting heavy casualties. The attack, says Almog, “proved [Flotilla 13’s] ability to execute an infantry assault from the sea.”3
In July 1969, Flotilla 13 and the IDF’s special commando unit Sayeret Matkal undertook a combined operation against heavily garrisoned “Green Island” in the Gulf of Suez—a position so “unassailable” that its Egyptian defenders dubbed it the “Rock of Gibraltar.”4 The raid required twenty Flotilla 13 commandos to arrive simultaneously at the landing site after a half-mile swim—something that had never been done. To facilitate the task, the swimmers formed a “human centipede”—ten swimmers (swimming one behind the other) on one side of a central cord paired with ten swimmers on the other side. Each pair of swimmers was attached to the central cord by a contact rope to avoid separation from the group.5 Once ashore the commandos successfully secured the assigned “grip area,” from which the Sayeret Matkal commandos were to press forward to subdue all resistance. As the Sayeret Matkal force had not yet landed, however, the naval commandos pressed ahead with successful attacks on both flanks, with the unfortunate consequence that an Egyptian grenade felled two of their number.6
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/frontpagemag-com/holocaust-denial-assignments-for-american-children-on-the-glazov-gang/print/
This week’s Glazov Gang was joined by superstars Basil Hoffman, a Hollywood actor (“Rio, I Love You”), Ann-Marie Murrell, the National Director of PolitiChicks.tv and Ernie White, a Civil Rights Activist.
The Gang discussed Holocaust-Denial Assignments for American Children, analyzing how Stealth jihad and Jew-hate have now entered our public schools (starting at the 20:30 mark).
The discussion occurred with the context of The Cancer of Common Core, in which the guests discussed how Islam is a big investor in the Left’s new educational concept, how Mao’s Cultural Revolution has now reached America’s public schools, how individualism is being crushed in the new “raising of standards,” and much, much more:
Occasionally someone pranks an unwitting MSNBC panelist or a bunch of teenagers by asking them to name a single Hillary accomplishment. Even though Hillary has piled up more awards than Charles de Gaulle, nothing comes to mind. An editorial in the Chicago Tribune has the writer asking a group of Chicago leaders the same question about Obama’s foreign policy.
Silence follows.
Obama and Hillary don’t just suffer from a shortage of accomplishments. They’re also burdened with a surplus of failures. Benghazi worries so many Hillary supporters because there is nothing to balance it against. There is no, “But look at all the good she did.” Hillary didn’t do any good. She didn’t do much of anything except tour countries and pose for photos.
As a Secretary of State she made a perfectly adequate First Lady.
Obama talks the teleprompter talk, but when you look at the results they’re universally awful. Whether it’s the things that he only pretends to care about, like the VA, or the things he does care about, like Obamacare, after the splashy ribbon cutting ceremony comes the disastrous mess.
Like every other summer blockbuster, it’s great marketing for a terrible product. And just like the summer blockbuster, Obama’s policies are treated as disposables to be forgotten about. Scandal management consists of Obama making a serious face and promising to take this serious problem very seriously before heading out for a round of serious golfing.
Don’t cry for Hillary and don’t write off Obama. Achievement of the old kind is overrated. It’s not about how high your GPA is but how many politically correct extracurriculars you have. In politics, just like in college, diversity and style increasingly count for more than achievement.
Post-American politics are also post-achievement politics. The morality of progressivism is more important than the substance of progress.
From the Sociology major who keeps thinking that she should volunteer at a soup kitchen to the most powerful man in the country who keeps saying that he wishes he could do something about all these problems, the left thinks that wanting to do something is what makes you a good person. It doesn’t matter if what you’re doing does any good. It doesn’t matter if you succeed.
The politics of the left are narcissistic. Its members are less concerned with changing the world than with being good people by wanting to change the world. That’s what Obama received his premature Nobel Peace Prize for, not for what he did, but for what he talked about doing.
It’s not the things that Obama has done that the left loves him for. It’s his empty talk, his worthless words and his teleprompter visions.
There are two Obamas. One is the real politician. The other is the imaginary Obama of 2007; a figment of David Axelrod’s imagination layered over with bizarre art and visions that transformed him into a superhuman being of light before he ever set foot in the Oval Office.
This Obama can never fail because he doesn’t really exist. It’s this Obama who makes the public appearances on the front pages while the other Obama’s policies are discussed somewhere in the meatier parts of the paper. The imaginary Obama shows up on American Idol while the other Obama sends vets to cemeteries. And to millions of Americans, the imaginary Obama is more real than his destructive real life counterpart. The idea of Obama is more real than his policies.
The imaginary Obama has his counterpart in a reimagined Hillary.
