http://ruleofreason.blogspot.com/2014/02/obamas-new-thoughtcrime.html The quotations below say it all: Fox News February 11th: THOUGHT POLICE: FIRMS MUST SWEAR OBAMACARE NOT A FACTOR IN FIRINGS Is the latest delay of ObamaCare regulations politically motivated? Consider what administration officials announcing the new exemption for medium-sized employers had to say about firms that might fire workers to get under […]
http://www.andrewbostom.org/blog/2010/08/16/uriel-heyd-on-turkeys-re-islamization-circa-1968-over-four-decades-ahead-of-todays-vacuous-analysts/
Since the recent Mavi Marmara flotilla affair—facilitated, and perhaps even orchestrated by the Turkish government—we have been inundated with excruciatingly belated, if not downright delinquent hand-wringing assessments by so-called “expert analysts” of Turkey. These “experts” lament what they view as Turkey’s “precipitous” return to Islamic fundamentalism under the current Erdogan-led AKP regime—as if this dangerous phenomenon emerged suddenly and fully formed from the head of Zeus al-Zawahiri.
A sobering, highly informed corrective to this cacophony of ill-informed Johnny and Janey-Come –Lately “learned analyst” voices was provided by the Israeli scholar of Ottoman and Republican Turkey, Professor Uriel Heyd (1913-1968)—just over forty-two years ago!
First, a brief biography of Heyd, derived from Professor Gabriel Baer’s opening tribute and Preface (pp. 5-6) to Heyd’s “Revival of Islam in Modern Turkey,” The Magnes Press, Jerusalem, 1968, pp. 5-27, and Professor Aharon Layish’s, “Uriel Heyd’s Contribution to the Study of the Legal, Religious, Cultural, and Political History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey,” Bulletin of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1982, pp. 35-54.
Born Uriel Heydt on July 26, 1913, in Cologne, Germany, Heyd learned Hebrew in secondary school, and subsequently Arabic, Turkish, and Persian. He also studied law and economics, before ultimately focusing on oriental studies. Immigrating to Palestine in 1934, Heyd studied Islamic culture, Arabic language and literature, as well as the history of Palestine at Hebrew University under the tutelage of Professors G. Weil, L.A. Meyer, and the great scholar of Muslim-Jewish relations, S.D. Goitein. Upon graduation, Heyd continued his studies by learning Turkish in Istanbul (1939/40), subsequently joining the Middle East Department of the Jewish Agency for Palestine in 1943. Transferred to the Agency’s London office, Heyd completed a seminal analysis of the influential Turkish nationalist Ziya Gokalp (which was accepted as a PhD thesis by Hebrew University), while also studying Old and Middle Persian, Old Turkish, and Urdu at The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in the University of London. At SOAS, in addition, Heyd researched Ottoman diplomatic institutions and history under the renowned Ottomanist Professor Paul Wittek. Before joining the Hebrew University faculty in 1951, Heyd, between 1948 and 1950 served as a diplomat at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, and the Israeli Legation in Akara, Turkey. At Hebrew University, Heyd ascended rapidly within the Department of the History of the Muslim Countries, which he would direct for some years, becoming the Eliyahu Elath Chair of the History of the Muslim Peoples in 1968, shortly before his sudden death May 13, 1968.
Heyd’s scholarly pursuits were broad, encompassing Ottoman history (including diplomatic history) and legal institutions, the mid-19th century Tanzimat reforms of the Ottoman Empire, and more generally, how Islamic religious and cultural institutions reacted to the processes of Westernization and secularization, particularly within the late Ottoman Empire, and modern Republican Turkey.
Abba Eban provided this assessment of Heyd’s contributions as both a scholar and diplomat during a eulogy delivered 30 days after Heyd’s death:
http://www.city-journal.org/2014/eon0213dj.html
Newtown, Connecticut, where the tragic massacre of children occurred had one of the finest psychiatric hospitals in the Northeast. It was closed during the deinstitutionalization movement.So was the nearby hospital in Wingdale, New York. In both hospitals the residents were treated kindly, given work, gardens to cultivate, and outdoor facilities. This column is an excellent reminder of the need to revisit our outdated and dangerous notions that the mentally ill can always take care of themselves….rsk
Two trade associations representing New York’s community-based mental-health industry—Mental Health America (MHA) and the New York State Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS)—are eyeing the money Albany spends on inpatient psychiatric care and lobbying the Cuomo administration to close its state-run psychiatric hospitals. In January, New York governor Andrew Cuomo issued a partial reprieve to three of the nine state psychiatric hospitals he previously slated for closure. But the governor is moving ahead with plans to close other state psychiatric hospitals, which will force hundreds of seriously mentally ill patients into jails, shelters, prisons, and morgues. This will come at a high cost to taxpayers and put the public, the police, and the patients themselves at considerable risk. Just as Governor Cuomo would never cede control of tax policy to banking interests, he should not cede control of mental health policy to the mental-health industry. The hospitals should remain open.
Unlike community-based programs, psychiatric hospitals cater to those who need inpatient services, cannot survive safely in the community, or who refuse treatment. New York currently has about 4,000 state psychiatric hospital beds—roughly 27 per 100,000 New Yorkers, down from 600 per 100,000 in 1955. To meet the generally accepted minimum standard of 50 beds for every 100,000 people in a state, New York needs at least 3,000 more psychiatric beds. As a result of the shortage, at least 9,000 mentally ill New Yorkers are currently incarcerated and thousands are homeless. Closing hospitals and losing even more beds will only make the problem worse.
http://www.jrnyquist.com/
Commentary of 10 February 2014
Imagine a time traveler from 2014, fallen from the sky in a space capsule, taken into custody by the FBI on February 10, 1964. The time traveler is brought to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover for interrogation. But Hoover finds the time-traveler’s story to be the most egregious nonsense he has ever heard. From Hoover’s perspective the time-traveler is obviously perpetrating a hoax, and nobody in Washington would judge any differently; for according to the time traveler America (in the future) will be led by a black man with an Arabic name mentored (as a youth) by a suspected Communist subversive named Frank Marshall Davis, whose file Hoover would dig out and read with the certain knowledge that no such person could mentor an American president.
When the time traveler explains that the leading social question of 2014 will be gay marriage, Hoover might readily ask, “Does NASA think this is funny, to play a practical joke on the FBI?” Neither would Hoover credit the time traveler’s claim that the national debt will be more than $17 trillion in 2014, or that Venezuela and Nicaragua will have been quietly taken over by Fidel Castro’s friends, that Zimbabwe, Angola, South Africa and the Congo will be in the hands of African Communists, that North Korea will possess nuclear weapons. None of this would be believable. None of it makes any sense to someone living in 1964.
When the time traveler finally reports that the United States will be reduced to a state of manufacturing inferiority to Red China, there would be an end to the interview. What self-respecting American official (in 1964) would allow himself to be abused so insolently?
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=7373
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may be having domestic troubles, but two places where he is popular are Iran and the Gaza Strip.
Indeed, at the end of January, Erdogan went to the Islamic Republic to meet with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani. The purpose of his visit was twofold: to bolster trade and energy cooperation between the two countries, and to discuss differences over Syria.
By his own account, Erdogan has been hoping “for the removal of all sanctions on Iran. Turkey has so far done its best in that regard and will continue to do so.”
No surprise, then, that a few bilateral business deals were sealed between Ankara and Tehran during Erdogan’s short stay.
That was two weeks ago.
This week, Erdogan was hailed by Hamas for his “noble position” on making a diplomatic reconciliation with Israel conditional on a complete lift of its naval blockade of Gaza. He also said that relations with Israel could not be normalized until a final agreement on compensation to the families of the Mavi Marmara “victims” was signed.
It’s a nice tradition….we honor Presidents and holidays commemorate Veterans, Labor, suffering and victory, trees and harvest and here is a day to appreciate the ones you love.
My absolute favorite Valentine Day’s song which says it all about enduring love is:
“I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” is a song from the 1956 musical My Fair Lady, with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. If it applies just change the word her to him…..rsk
I’ve grown accustomed to her face.
She almost makes the day begin.
I’ve grown accustomed to the tune that
She whistles night and noon.
Her smiles, her frowns,
Her ups, her downs
Are second nature to me now;
Like breathing out and breathing in.
I was serenely independent and content before we met;
Surely I could always be that way again-
And yet
I’ve grown accustomed to her look;
Accustomed to her voice;
Accustomed to her face
But I’m so used to hear her say
“Good morning” ev’ry day.
Her joys, her woes,
Her highs, her lows,
Are second nature to me now;
Like breathing out and breathing in.
I’m very grateful she’s a woman
And so easy to forget;
Rather like a habit
One can always break-
And yet,
I’ve grown accustomed to the trace
Of something in the air;
Accustomed to her face.
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/mid-sochi-munich-anew No, not the terrorism; it’s NBC’s propaganda…. At NRO ace reporter John Fund collects depressing examples of NBC toadying up to Russia & Vladimir Putin. NBC’s contemptible conduct evokes not the terrorism that irremediably scarred the 1972 Munich Games, but instead another shameful episode, which Fund cites: British pre-WW-II prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s infamous […]
http://pjmedia.com/blog/yearly-climate-spending-10x-more-than-un-estimate-for-ending-world-hunger/?print=1 The United Nations estimates it would cost $30 billion a year [1] to end world hunger. That sounds like a lot, but the world spent more than ten times that amount in 2012 on global warming mitigation, according to a recent Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) study [2]. And the UN says the world needs […]
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/davidhornik/friends-tell-israel-take-risks-endanger-yourself/print/
Why must the Jewish State make “dangerous” concessions for peace?
THESE SO CALLED FRIENDS WANT TO FEEL COMFY AND PREEN AT THEIR DINNER PARTIES AND LUNCHES WITHOUT THE DISCOMFORT OF DEFENDING THE HARSH REALITIES OF SURVIVAL FOR ISRAEL….A POX ON THEM….AND DAVID HORNIK IS ONE OF THE FEW ISRAELI JOURNALISTS THAT DELIVERS THE MESSAGE…..RSK
Since 2014 began there’s been a spike in rocket firings from Gaza at Israel—over 30 rockets in six weeks. They have either landed in open fields or been downed by Israel’s Iron Dome system. Israel has responded with some pinpoint strikes on military targets and individual terrorists.
Among other things, having a rocket fall on your country about three out of every four days—in a period considered relatively quiet—is not conducive to optimism about a purported peace process. A poll late last month found 71% of Israelis “not believing” that the current Israeli-Palestinians talks, initiated and relentlessly driven by Secretary of State John Kerry, will “lead to peace.” A grand total of 7% “strongly believed” they will.
According to chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, the sides have already stopped talking to each other and are “negotiating” only with Kerry. The sides, Kerry says himself, would not even have to agree to the framework deal he is now trying to concoct—but the pious hope is that it would get them talking to each other again.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/frontpagemag-com/secular-palestinian-leader-calls-out-john-kerry-on-peace-plan-on-the-glazov-gang/print/
This week’s Glazov Gang was joined by Mudar Zahran, a leader of Palestinians in Jordan who has been living in exile in the UK since 2010, compares Israel’s and Jordan’s treatment of the Palestinians and expresses some taboo truths.
He also calls out John Kerry on his “peace plan” for the Mideast and asks why a U.S. Secretary of State is threatening Israel to commit suicide:
