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September 2012

THE REAL STORY: THE SIMPSON BOWLES COMMISSION AND PAUL RYAN

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443864204577623332790836376.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

One of the many ways Paul Ryan scandalized the media-political class in his Tampa convention speech was to criticize President Obama for walking away from the report of his own 2010 deficit commission co-chaired by Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson.

How dare the upstart Republican blister Mr. Obama when Mr. Ryan himself refused to endorse the final product! Mr. Ryan even had the impudence to say that Mr. Obama “did exactly nothing” as a result of Simpson-Bowles or Mr. Ryan’s own budget proposals or any others, “nothing except to dodge and demagogue the issue.”

Media elites are now using this to absolve Mr. Obama and suggest that Simpson-Bowles would have succeeded if not for the all-powerful House Budget Chairman. This rewrites history, so allow us to remind readers what really happened to the Obama deficit commission.
***

Mr. Obama created the panel in February 2010, without a trace of irony, after he had raised federal spending to post-World War II highs. His political goal was to blunt attacks on his overspending, while also trying to lure Republicans into becoming tax collectors for his agenda in the name of a balanced budget. Mr. Simpson is the kind of Republican who had fallen for this in the past.

So it was a pleasant surprise when Messrs. Simpson and Bowles instead endorsed a more efficient and competitive tax code. Their draft swapped fewer brackets and lower rates for fewer loopholes and “tax expenditures.” The appeal for Democrats is that tax revenue would grow with a faster-growing economy, and Republicans would have to accept a net tax increase reaching 21% of GDP. That’s far higher than the historic average between 18% and 19% and above the modern high of 20.9% in 1944.

The political myth is that Mr. Ryan was the spoiler because he’s an anti-tax purist. His real objection at the time was that the Simpson-Bowles Democrats refused to offer an equal trade on spending. Their non-negotiable demand was that ObamaCare was off the table and there could be no structural reforms in Medicare and Medicaid.

How is that a real compromise? Everyone agrees that Medicare and Medicaid are growing too fast for revenues to keep up. Mr. Obama himself told the 2010 House GOP retreat that “The major driver of our long-term liabilities, everybody here knows, is Medicare and Medicaid and our health-care spending. Nothing comes close.” The fiscal reality is that if health care is off the table, then the only possible not-so-grand bargain is permanent tax increases that chase an explosion of federal spending.

THE AMERICAN HOSTAGE IN HAVANA:Mauricio Claver-Carone

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443324404577594870481241852.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Since December 2009, American development worker Alan Gross has been imprisoned by the Castro regime for trying to help Cuba’s Jewish community connect to the Internet. For that Mr. Gross—who was in Cuba as a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development—was arrested, convicted in a sham trial and sentenced to 15 years.

The White House and State Department have repeatedly called for Alan Gross’s “immediate release.” The Gross family’s legal team urged the family to keep a low profile, thinking it could negotiate his release. (The family ended that representation earlier this year.)

But Fidel and Raúl Castro don’t typically react to discretion and haven’t felt much U.S. pressure on this case. Even after Mr. Gross was seized, the administration sought rapprochement with Havana and continued talks in 2010 and 2011. It also has continued to ease U.S. sanctions on Cuba.

Mr. Gross’s sister, Bonnie Rubinstein, recently led a protest in front of the Cuban Interests Section—a de facto embassy—in Washington, D.C., seeking her brother’s release. She feels “he’s being ignored” and says, “Alan does not want to be forgotten. He doesn’t want to be left there. He wants people to know about him.”

It’s easy to understand her concern. In April 2009, the Obama administration eliminated all restrictions on Cuban-American travel and remittances to Cuba, which became the centerpiece of our nation’s new “Cuba policy.” Those actions predated Mr. Gross’s arrest. However, after Mr. Gross was seized in December of that year and throughout 2010, while he was being held without trial, the administration took various steps that, collectively, seem incomprehensible.

DID YOU KNOW?SEN. DICK DURBIN…THE MAN WHO INTRODUCED OBAMA AT THE DNC ONCE LIKENED U.S. TROOPS TO NAZIS? JAMES TARANTO’S RECAP

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444273704577637430305876586.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

In 2005, as we noted at the time, Durbin took to the floor of the Senate and said this:

When you read some of the graphic descriptions of what has occurred here [in the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba]–I almost hesitate to put them in the [Congressional] Record, and yet they have to be added to this debate. Let me read to you what one FBI agent saw. And I quote from his report:

“On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold. . . .. On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.”

If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime–Pol Pot or others–that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

The comparison is wildly over the top; using uncomfortable temperatures and loud music to extract intelligence from terrorists is in no way comparable to mass murder and torture of dissidents and other innocent people. As we wrote at the time: “We are fighting an enemy that murdered 3,000 innocent people on American soil 3½ years ago and would murder millions more if given the chance–and according to Dick Durbin, our soldiers are the Nazis.”

Having Durbin introduce the president at a support-the-troops-themed convention seems as odd as running John Kerry, who began his career slandering fellow veterans, as a “war hero.” Though to his credit, Durbin “offered a tearful apology” several days after his reductio ad Hitlerum, as the Washington Post noted. Kerry has yet to apologize, more than 40 years on.

JACK CASHILL: TIME TO ASK OBAMA ABOUT THAT SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/09/time_to_ask_obama_abut_his_social_security_number.html I have been communicating with the intrepid Ohio private investigator, Susan Daniels, for some time. A few weeks ago, I got to meet Daniels. She is smart and sincere, and she understands her subject matter thoroughly. The left-wing “rebuttals” of her data, to this point, have ranged from the inept to the absurd. More […]

500 Lashes, Death by Stoning: Women in Islam by Khaled Abu Toameh…..See note please

Yes Ms. Fluke….these are the people that you idol President Obama bowed to….rsk

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3326/islam-lashes-stoning-women

Saudi authorities have sentenced Najla Yehya Wafa, a 35-year-old Egyptian woman, to 500 lashes. Her family says she was arrested after a business dispute with a Saudi Princess. Leila Jamul, a 23-year-old Sudanese woman, was sentenced last July to death by stoning for adultery. She is being held in prison, meanwhile, with her six-month-old baby.

A Pakistani girl and an Egyptian woman have become the latest victims of Muslim extremists who hide behind Islam’s Sharia laws.

In countries where Sharia laws are enforced, women have often found themselves subjected to various forms of persecution and intimidation.

In the first case, Rimsha Masih, a 14-year-old , mentally damaged, Christian girl from a poor suburb outside Islamabad, Pakistan, was arrested two weeks ago after her neighbors complained that she had burned documents containing verses from the Quran.

This is a “crime” punishable by life sentence in Pakistan. Rimsha was arrested after a local Muslim community leader and his followers exerted pressure on the Pakistani authorities to take action against her.

24/7 NEWS AND BUZZ

http://times247.com/

Iran, say hello to Israel’s electromagnetic friend
The Times of Israel
Sunday, September 9, 2012
News
Israel could destroy Iran’s electric network with a specially designed electromagnetic bomb in the event of a military conflict between the countries, The Sunday Times reported on Sunday. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz263fdz4gz

IMF director warns world of U.S. fiscal cliff
U.S. tax increases and spending cuts…
Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz263en9FpJ
Hustler publisher offers $1m for Romney records
CNN
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Blogs
The publisher of Hustler magazine, Larry Flynt, is offering the sum of $1 million for the skinny on GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s financials, the magazine announced. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz263f8MSgu

RICHARD GREENFIELD: DISTURBING TRENDS AT FOX NEWS…..SEE NOTE PLEASE

The Saudis bought a stake at News corps : http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2011/07/11/saudi-investor-alwaleed-news-corps-news-of-the-world-was-a-rotten-apple/

“With the share price of News Corp. falling, Rupert Murdoch should be glad for the support of one of his largest investors: Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The billionaire nephew of the Saudi king owns about 7% of News Corp. shares through his Saudi-listed investment vehicle Kingdom Holding. This makes Alwaleed the second largest shareholder after the Murdoch family.”

The Jewish Press, 9/9/2012

Disturbing Trends At Fox News By: N. Richard Greenfield

“Fair and Balanced” is fast becoming more slogan than operating system at Fox News, and nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the way Israel is increasingly being treated and the extent to which anti-Semitism is tolerated as part of the cable channel’s conversation.

Here are a few examples:

● For some time, Fox has been using Michael Scheuer as a commentator. Bill O’Reilly is most responsible for this, but Judge Anthony Napolitano also made Scheuer a regular. This pompous “head of the Bin Laden Desk” at the CIA foams at the mouth whenever he can steer the conversation to Israel.

In his book Marching Toward Hell, Scheuer gives us that nasty bit of anti-Semitic trope that “the war in Iraq…was instigated by U.S. citizen Israel-firsters and their evangelical Christian allies.”

His subliminal theme is that Israel exerts undue influence on U.S. foreign policy through a network of powerful lobbies, organizations and large political donors. Scheuer is ever ready to blame Israel and by extension its American supporters for all that is wrong in the Middle East – and Fox gives him platform to do that.

● Before Scheuer, O’Reilly’s “stand up guy” was Al Sharpton, who in 1991 referred to Jews in Crown Heig

AMERICAN VETS FIND SOLACE, BONDING AND HEALING IN ISRAEL…..THIS IS A WONDERFUL STORY

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/IsraelExperience/Heroes-to-heroes-9-Sep-2012.htm?DisplayMode=print

By Avigayil Kadesh

On August 30, a West Point graduate and an Iraq war veteran arrived with a group of American veterans for a 10-day tour of Israel to help them deal with post-traumatic stress resulting from their combat experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It may seem counterintuitive to bring soldiers from a land at peace to find healing in a land still seeking peace. But it makes perfect sense to Judy Schaffer, founder of Heroes to Heroes. And she has the amazing results of her organization’s first sponsored trip to Israel, in September 2011, to prove it.

“They expected a place a little like Iraq or Afghanistan, but they found paradise in many ways,” says Schaffer.

“A major comfort for them was that so many Israelis are veterans, and one of them said to US Ambassador Dan Schapiro that they felt more at home here than in the US. While in the United States soldiers are a minority — and many are a [racial] minority of a minority — here they could speak to almost anyone in the street, including therapists, and be understood. They could talk about things that happened in Iraq and Afghanistan with Israelis and have it validated that they’re not crazy. It exorcised some of their ghosts,” says Schaffer.

The New Jersey mother of two, who earns a living in radio advertising, always had a soft spot for men in uniform.

“My father was a World War II vet, and my grandfathers both fought in World War I and my uncle in Korea,” she relates. “My father worked for Jewish War Veterans and volunteered to take wounded vets to baseball games and other events. After he passed away in 2001, I wanted to do something to honor him and carry on what he was doing.”

More requests than they can handle

The opportunity arose in 2009, when Schaffer went with the New York Fire Department to throw holiday parties for wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

“When I spoke with our soldiers, every single one said, ‘I want to get back to my unit.’ They miss their buddies and they don’t want to heal alone. It haunted me.”

Several weeks later she was on plane to Israel and began chatting with her seatmate about Israel’s services for wounded veterans. She was astonished to hear about the many programs available, and did more research. Soon she knew that her mission would be to bring wounded vets to Israel for a dose of practical ideas and emotional inspiration.

“That’s how Heroes to Heroes was born,” Schaffer says. “I hired a law firm to get 501(c)(3) [tax-exempt] status and I networked, called in favors and went one-on-one to donors, which I still do.” Her board of directors includes veterans from the first trip, as well as business people concerned about veterans affairs. “I happen to be Jewish, but most people on my board are not,” she notes.

Backed by some government funding, Heroes to Heroes gets recommendations for participants from the armed services and the US Veterans Administration. “There is tremendous need, and we get more requests than we can handle. We are running one team a year now, but looking to expand to about five teams a year,” says Schaffer.

A bonding experience

Heroes To Heroes Journey to Israel is designed to educate, motivate and stimulate discussion and bonding between eight to 14 American disabled veterans and five Israeli peers, as a springboard for emotional and spiritual healing during and after the experience.

“I didn’t want to put people on a plane, show them some politics and historical sites, and come home,” says Schaffer. “They’re not Jewish, so it’s not Birthright. I just wanted them to begin to heal.”

The trips include talks on global terrorism and how to keep it from US borders; experiencing Israel’s holy sites; practical meetings with disabled Israeli veterans who have become business leaders; fostering relationships between American and Israeli veterans built on support and post-war experiences; and visiting Israeli facilities for disabled veterans. This year’s group met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 3. He told them, “This is a very moving moment for me because you’re the soldiers of the greatest force for freedom in history. We share the same experiences. We’ve defended the same values and we face the same threats.”

Schaffer says the 2011 group fell in love with the IDF Disabled Veterans organization’s Beit Halochem sports centers. “A couple of them would like to get commitments to build a facility like that in New York, because there are a lot of gyms but no place for them to exercise, socialize and be active. Most of them sit at home and wait for opportunities when someone is doing something for wounded veterans.”

Last year’s group of 10 also sailed with Etgarim (Challenges), which offers recreational and competitive sports training for Israelis with disabilities. “Many of them were able to sleep deeply for the first time on that boat, and that was a real highlight in their healing — realizing they are able to sleep,” Schaffer says. “Most of them don’t.”

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin hosted the vets last year at the Parliament building in Jerusalem, along with members of Knesset including Yaakov (Katzeleh) Katz, himself a disabled veteran. While in the capital city, they visited Israel’s 9/11 memorial.

ISRAEL’S INFORMATION RECORDING SYSTEMS IN U.S. PLANES CAUSE UPROAR IN OMAN AND A SNIT IN U.S.

http://www.israeldefense.com/?CategoryID=483&ArticleID=1633

Oman air force acquired F-16 fighters with information recording systems by the Israeli company RADA installed onboard them. The US TEAC did not like this, and sent a harsh memo to senior Oman air force officials.

The installation of Israeli-produced recording equipment onboard the F-16 fighters that Oman acquired from the US resulted in harsh reactions by the US company TEA. Information recording systems produced by the Israeli company RADA was installed onboard 12 of the F-16 fighters that Oman acquired.

A memo issued by TEAC to Oman’s air force stated that it was surprised to discover that Israeli systems were installed onboard F-16 fighters, including those previously acquired by Oman, instead of its own information receivers.

AMAZING ISRAEL: FIRST PATIENT WITH ALS (LOU GEHRIG DISEASE) POSSIBLY CURED BY ISRAELI DRUG….EZRIEL GELBFISH

Orthodox Rabbi May be First ALS Patient Cured by Israeli Drug Haredi leader Rabbi Refoel Shmulevitz, a victim of the motor neuron disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), may be the first known patient cured of ALS, which he was diagnosed with two years ago. ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrigs’ disease after the iconic […]