Displaying posts published in

2014

YORAM ETTINGER: IS ISRAEL ISOLATED?

http://bit.ly/1ilhGNQ

According to Secretary John Kerry, “if we do not resolve the issues between Palestinians and Israelis; if we do not find a way to find peace; there will be an increasing isolation of Israel.”

However, a thorough examination of Israel’s international standing reveals an increasingly splendid global integration of the Jewish state – economically, technologically and scientifically – irrespective of the Palestinian issue.

Contrary to the Kerry school of thought – and based on a reality check – the Palestinian issue has never been a core cause shaping the Middle East, a crown-jewel of Arab policymakers or the crux of Israel’s relations with Arab countries and the international community. While diplomatic talk highlights the Palestinian issue, the diplomatic, commercial and industrial walk reveals that policy-makers and the international business community do not embrace Kerry’s “Palestine First” assessment and his “Isolation Warning/Threat.”

Thus, the Turkish Statistics Institute documented an expansion of the Turkey-Israel trade balance, despite the brutal anti-Israel ideology of President Erdogan. The Institute reports a 56% export increase, to Israel, during the first five months of 2013, compared with January-May, 2012, while the imports from Israel were increased by 22% during the same period. The Israel-Turkey trade balance was $3.4BN in 2008 and exceeded $4BN in 2012. Turkey’s requirements in the areas of industry, medicine, health, agriculture, irrigation, education, science, technology and defense – and Israel’s unique innovations in these areas – have prevailed over Erdogan’s anti-Western, anti-Israel and pro-Hamas Islamist orientation.

The London Financial Times reported: “in six hours of [Prime Minister Netanyahu’s] talks with the Chinese leadership, they spent roughly ten seconds on the Palestinian issue, while revealing an unquenchable thirst for Israeli technology.” Highlighting Israel’s intensified and diversified global integration, the China-Israel 2013 trade balance exceeded $10BN, providing a tailwind to the currently negotiated free trade agreement, and enhanced by Chinese investments in some fifty Israeli high tech companies. The Japan Times reported the growing Japanese interest in Israeli business opportunities, tripling the number of reviews of Israeli companies.

From Maosim and the Black Panthers to Conservatism — on The Glazov Gang

From Maosim and the Black Panthers to Conservatism — on The Glazov Gang
Film producer John Duffy shares his personal journey from communism to the belief in American freedom and liberty.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/frontpagemag-com/from-maosim-and-the-black-panthers-to-conservatism-on-the-glazov-gang/

Who Really Won the Cold War? By Diana West

http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/2798/Who-Really-Won-the-Cold-War.aspx
Whether the Cold War is back, it’s an apt moment to strike up a wider conversation about a couple of central questions from my book American Betrayal. Why did the West fail to claim an ideological or moral victory at the apparent end of the Cold War? Did the West really even win the Cold War?

If we go back in time and listen, we hear no consensus click over signs that an unalloyed U.S.-led triumph over communist ideology had taken place; nor do we find a sense of national thanksgiving for the forces of good – or, at least, for the forces of better – in their triumph over the forces of a non-abstract evil as manifested in Gulag or KGB or famine or purge history. “Mustn’t gloat” was about as joyous as the White House of Bush 41 ever got.

Was the official non-reaction due to that “crisis of confidence” we always hear about – specifically, that “politically correct” failure to believe in the worth of the West? I used to think exactly that and no more. The self-loathing West, failing to see anything of value in itself, was simply unable to take satisfaction, let alone pride, in the demise of its mass-murdering nemesis. “After all,” the PC catechism goes, “Who’s to say the Western system is ‘better’ than any other?”

But there is far more to it. At a certain point, it becomes clear that what we are looking at isn’t a West that fails to appreciate itself anymore, but rather a West that isn’t itself anymore. Decades of subversion by communist infiltrators and American traitors, collaborators and “useful idiots” have helped make sure of that. So, even if the military enemy went away after the dissolution of the USSR on Christmas Day 1991, our ideological enemy never even had to break step. Cold Warriors might have prevailed abroad, but America lost the ideological Cold War at home.

This helps explain why our college campuses are outposts of Marx, our centralizing government is increasingly invasive and dictatorial, and our culture is one of metastasizing decadence – the amoral conditions of “The Communist Manifesto” made manifest.

Indeed, to be “anti-Western” today, as some have noted, is to stand in opposition to the West’s rampant immorality, as Russian President Vladimir Putin pointedly claims to do. This is why, as Masha Gessen recently wrote in the Washington Post, Russians look at events in Ukraine and think “the West is literally taking over, and only Russian troops can stand between the Slavic country’s unsuspecting citizens and the homosexuals marching in from Brussels.”

ELECTIONS ARE COMING: FLORIDA 2014 PART ONE DISTRICTS 1- 13….SEE NOTE PLEASE

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/florida-part-i-of-ii-2014-candidates-for-congress-where-they-stand?f=must_reads

FAMILY SECURITY MATTERS HAS A NON PARTISAN LIST…JUST THE FACTS ABOUT ALL INCUMBENTS AND CHALLENGERS AND THEIR HOT BUTTON ISSUES. THIS IS MY OWN LIST WHICH INCLUDES MY PERSONAL CHOICES AND INFORMATION ON HOW THESE CANDIDATES ARE RATED BY THE ARAB AMERICAN INSTITUTE.

FLORIDA 2014- DISTRICTS 1-13

Filing Deadline (Federal Candidates): May 2, 2014

Please note that filing is still open for challengers.

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

Bill Nelson D) -Next Election in 2018.

Marco Rubio (R) – Next Election in 2016.

U.S. CONGRESS:

District 1

Jeff Miller (R ) Incumbent **

http://jeffmiller.house.gov/

http://www.ontheissues.org/FL/Jeff_Miller.htm **

http://jeffmiller.house.gov/issues/

Rated -5 by AAI, indicating a anti-Arab anti-Palestine voting record. (May 2012)

HOT BUTTON ISSUES

ENERGY

The time has come for our nation to develop a comprehensive energy policy that recognizes the importance of nuclear energy. Modern nuclear power plants are an incredibly safe, clean, and efficient way of generating electricity. Bringing more of these plants online would reduce our dependence on other sources of electricity and potentially save consumers millions of dollars. Our nation has several renewable energy sources at its disposal. I support an “all of the above” approach as a comprehensive energy solution.

Supports Keystone Pipeline

IMMIGRATION

Many of my colleagues in the House agree with this “enforcement first” approach, knowing full well that if we do not take steps to secure our border then other methods of addressing immigration will be useless. We were saddened to see the Senate not only consider amnesty provisions, but also provisions allowing citizenship for the nearly 12 million illegal immigrants currently residing within our borders. That misguided approach not only forgives criminals; it rewards them. I find this stance on illegal immigration both wrong and unacceptable, and will continue to fight for the House immigration reform bill and reject any provisions from the Senate or elsewhere that allow amnesty for illegal immigrants. The taxpayers of this nation deserve better, and it is my commitment to see that they receive it.

HEALTHCARE

Voted against Obamacare and for repeal

July 7, 2013

I believe that the Wall Street Journal’s findings are simply another reason to continue with the House-led efforts to repeal and defund Obamacare, and I will continue to work with my colleagues to achieve this goal.

John Krause (R) Challenger

http://krause4congress.com/

Travis Miller (R ) Challenger

Website in formation He was a candidate in 2010

James Bryan(D )Challenger

No current website

Bryan is the holder of two world records for parachuting, records which still hold today, and also is an expert with nuclear weapons. He has received over 30 combat decorations, including 3 purple hearts and saved over 200 lives.

Jim was a weapons test manager for a major weapons program for the Department of Defense and the United States Army Tactical Nuclear Weapons Program. He is a master parachutist, master gunner and heavy weapons expert. He helped train then 2nd Lieutenant David Petraeus, from 1975 through 1977 and later built a trucking business in Arizona.

District 2

Steve Southerland (R ) Incumbent **

http://southerland.house.gov/

http://southerland.house.gov/index.cfm/on-the-issues

http://www.ontheissues.org/FL/Steve_Southerland.htm **

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

Opposed Arms Treaty that limits gun trade to Israel & Taiwan. (Nov 2012)

RUTHIE BLUM: NEGOTIATING TO THE DEATH

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=7959

Negotiating to the death

During a nine-hour meeting Wednesday between Israeli and Palestinian chief negotiators Tzipi Livni and Saeb Erekat, the atmosphere turned so ugly that U.S. Special Envoy Martin Indyk had to intervene. Apparently, even Livni — who is almost as obsessed as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry with the pointless process — lost her cool.

And it’s no wonder. Erekat shouted at her that he doesn’t work for the Israelis. “We’ll see you in court at The Hague,” he threatened.

This was a major slap in Livni’s face, since she has been doing her best to work for the Palestinians. So she also issued an ultimatum. Hers was that if the Palestinians did not start playing fairly, there would be a breakdown in negotiations. As though this would be some kind of penalty to a party that has no interest in peace talks, let alone in the concept of independent statehood alongside Israel. Destroying the Jewish state that it refuses to recognize is still its ultimate goal.

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall during that exchange. Watching Indyk rush in to soothe tempers and prevent Erekat from storming off and putting the final nail in the coffin of Kerry’s Nobel Peace Prize would have made for great comedy. But tragedy is never far behind, as is evident in Kerry’s attitude and Palestinian behavior.

While the secretary of state was expressing his frustration with “both sides” for not being able to reach an agreement, and calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to exhibit “leadership,” Abbas was busy seeking membership in U.N. bodies.

Abbas seems to be the only player fully aware that neither Kerry’s efforts nor Netanyahu’s concessions have been part of an actual negotiation towards “two states for two peoples.” He knows it has all been for the purpose of persuading him to agree just to come to the proverbial table. Milking this for all it is worth, he keeps upping the ante.

This is why Netanyahu announced that the fourth batch of prisoner releases (a euphemism for the freeing of bloodthirsty terrorists from Israeli jails) would not go through as scheduled. Since the first three releases only served to strengthen Palestinian intransigence and endanger Israeli civilians, it would have been political suicide for Netanyahu to execute another one.

ALAN CARUBA: HARD TIMES THAT NEED HARD ANSWERS

http://www.ruthfullyyours.com/wp-admin/post-new.php

I am paying more for everything these days and this is brought home to me every time I go to the supermarket and contemplate buying anything from an avocado to a London broil. I can’t imagine what it must be like to feed a family with two or three children.

I never imagined living in a nation where an 18-year-old girl would move out of her parent’s home and then sue them to pay for her college tuition and other support. A judge put an end to that nonsense.

I often feel like I am drowning in nonsense. I delete upwards of eighty emails I receive every day because they tell me that I am going to receive millions of dollars from people I do not know, offer dubious business propositions, loans, or they are from companies in foreign countries whose language I neither read, nor speak.

The news media deluged me with constant speculation and rumor about a missing Malaysian jet liner that is likely at the bottom of the Indian ocean and not likely to be found for years, if ever. I feel sorry for the passengers, but this occurred while Russia’s Putin was breaking a whole bunch of treaties to reclaim Crimea.

What the media has not told you is that the Ukraine has been run by a seriously corrupt group of people who routinely plundered it and that, in taking over the Crimea, Putin has taken on a new financial burden and a region that receives its power from the Ukraine. So, while he has secured control of the Russian naval ports and some military installations, he has also added to Russia’s cost of operation when its economy is not that strong to begin with. The likelihood that he would invade Lithuania, Estonia, and Moldova is small and, in fact, he has spurred a sleepy NATO and European Union to gear up militarily.

The same media has managed to largely ignore the lies the President and his former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, told about the killing of a U.S. ambassador and three security personnel in Benghazi, Libya. It has largely ignored the corruption of the Internal Revenue Service by politicizing it into an instrument to deter Tea Party and patriot groups from being granted the same non-profit status that liberal groups routinely receive. There were other scandals such as Fast and Furious in which guns were provided to Mexican drug cartels that then were used to kill a U.S. Border Patrol agent and countless Mexicans.

MORE FRAUDULENT SCIENCE FROM THE EPA: PAUL DRIESSEN

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/more-fraudulent-science-from-epa?f=puball

The Obama Environmental Protection Agency recently slashed the maximum allowable sulfur content in gasoline from 30 parts per million to 10 ppm. The agency claims its new “Tier 3” rule will bring $7 billion to $19 billion in annual health benefits by 2030. “These standards are a win for public health, a win for our environment and a win for our pocketbooks,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy insists.

It’s all hokum. Like all too many rules emanating from EPA these days, the gasoline regulations are a case study in how America’s economy, jobs, living standards, health and welfare are being pummeled by secretive, deceptive, and indeed fraudulent and corrupt government practices.

Since the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, America’s cars have eliminated some 99% of pollutants that once came out of tailpipes, notes air quality expert Joel Schwartz. Since 2004, under Tier 2 rules, refiners have reduced sulfur in gasoline from an average of 300 ppm to 30 ppm – a 90% drop, on top of pre-2004 reductions. In addition, because newer cars start out cleaner and stay cleaner throughout their lives, fleet turnover is reducing emissions by 8 to10 percent per year, steadily improving air quality.

The net result, says a 2012 Environ International study, is that ground-level ozone concentrations will fall even more dramatically by 2022. Volatile organic pollutants will plummet by 62%, carbon monoxide by 51% and nitrous oxides by 80% – beyond reductions already achieved between 1970 and 2004.

EPA (which once promised to be ultra-transparent) claims its rules will add less than a penny per gallon to gasoline prices; but it won’t say how it arrived at that estimate. Industry sources say the Tier 3 rules will require $10 billion in upfront capital expenditures, an additional $2.4 billion in annual compliance expenses, significant increases in refinery energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, an extra 5-9 cents per gallon in manufacturing costs, which will certainly hit consumers at the pump.

But regardless of their ultimate cost, the rules will reduce monthly ozone levels by just 1.2 parts per billion during rush hour, says Environ. That’s equivalent to 12 cents out of $100 million or 1.2 seconds out of 32,000 years. These minuscule improvements could not even have been measured by equipment existing a couple decades ago. Their contribution to improved human health will be essentially zero.

Syracuse Islamic Group Gets OK to Strip Empty Catholic Church of its Crosses and Turn it Into a Mosque Carol Kuruvila

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/islamic-group-strip-catholic-church-crosses-article-1.1744922
The North Side Learning Center is planning to rent out the former Holy Trinity Catholic Church as a mosque. Since Islam prohibits followers from worshipping idols or symbols, the crosses that were placed on the church’s steeples will be removed.

A Muslim group received approval on Thursday from Syracuse city officials to remove six crosses from a century-old Catholic church that is being turned into a mosque.

Syracuse’s Landmark Preservation Board approved the North Side Learning Center’s request to make changes to the architecture of the former Holy Trinity Catholic Church — but not before it drew the ire of several residents.

More than 200 people signed an online petition asking the board to stop the group from taking down the Christian symbols and installing a 6-foot chain-link fence, citing the building’s history.

Donald Law, whose great-great-grandfather helped build the church after immigrating from Germany, was upset about the decision.

JIM HORN: TERRORISTS INTIMIDATE THE GOP

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/terrorists-intimidate-gop

The Moslem Brotherhood’s Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has unleashed a sustained assault on the Republican Party regarding curbing Republican activities in educating Americans in the arena of American politics. This action is consistent with the Moslem Brotherhood’s efforts to suppress the First Amendment rights of free speech, the freedom to speak, and the freedom for others to hear.

The GOP must ignore these bullying jihadi (the holy war against our Constitution) attempts at intimidation aimed at silencing (killing the messengers) America’s important Republican organizations. This is what a patriotic, Constitution supporting organization must do – work tirelessly to protect the Constitution of the United States from all enemies both DOMESTIC and foreign. CAIR is a domestic enemy created by Hamas terrorists (three of five of the CAIR founders have been imprisoned and/or deported based on terrorism convictions)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has identified CAIR as a criminal enterprise and has ceased participating in many activities with CAIR. CAIR is not much different than the Mafia. [A book, MOSLEM MAFIA, goes into great detail about CAIR’s criminal activities.]

CAIR is an unindicted (meaning there was not sufficient evidence to lead to a conviction) co-conspirator in the Holy Land Trial where CAIR played a lead role in raising funds, laundering the money, and transferring that money by illegal means to Palestinian terrorist groups. CAIR was founded by Islamist Palestinians using money provided to them by covert (illegal) means. Of the five founders of CAIR, three have been sent to prison on terrorist convictions and/or have been deported from the United States.

CAIR is one of many front organizations operating under the control of the Moslem Brotherhood whose chief objective is to replace our Constitution with Islamic Sharia law (and to turn us into a Moslem governed nation such as Pakistan, Gaza, Egypt, etc., where misery, poverty, fear, and hatred rule.) Chief among the objectives of these domestic enemies is to undermine and to cancel out the First Amendment to the Constitution – freedom of assembly and freedom of speech.

Within the American Moslem community, CAIR has notoriously taught Moslems to NOT cooperate with any elements of US law enforcement without a representative of CAIR present to lie for them, etc.

Political discourse is essential to our liberty and the GOP has a long, successful history of playing a major leading role in American politics and should not be silenced by any organization for any reason.

It is imperative that the GOP and all of its affiliates avoid falling for this jihadi operation utilizing these tactics of CAIR (and others) to compel the GOP to become submissive servants of the colonizers (Islam) regarding disseminating truths and facts about political Islam. Political Islam is the most significant existential threat to the USA.

Deportation Is Up, or Down It Depends on What You Mean by “Deportation.” By Mark Krikorian

http://www.nationalreview.com/node/375038/print

It’s not often you get a public official to speak this frankly: “If you are a run-of-the-mill immigrant here illegally, your odds of getting deported are close to zero.” That was John Sandweg, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement until a few weeks ago, speaking to the Los Angeles Times earlier this week.

His observation helps explain the apparent conflict between the deportation claims of the Obama administration and those of its critics. In a nutshell, immigration officials have been ordered to essentially ignore illegal aliens in the interior of the country (whose removal is what people think of when they hear “deportations”) and instead are increasingly counting as deportations the return of people arrested at the border.

This strategy was driven by the need to claim “record deportations” as proof of the administration’s bona fides regarding enforcement while at the same time disturbing the illegal-alien population as little as possible. Such a claim is seen as imperative to getting an omnibus amnesty-plus-more-immigration bill past skeptics in Congress.

Ironically, the very open-borders forces pushing that amnesty have taken the administration press releases at face value and are now rebelling. Obama has been attacked as the deporter-in-chief, and the coalition demanding a halt to all deportations plans nationwide protests tomorrow marking what they estimate to be the 2 millionth deportation under his administration.

However, as my colleague Jessica Vaughan first reported a year ago, deportations resulting from interior enforcement (as opposed to border arrests) declined some 40 percent over the past two years. More than half the deportations in 2012 came from Border Patrol arrests.