RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://swtotd.blogspot.com/

“We get what we deserve” is a common phrase that describes everything that happens to us, from the behavior of our children, to the money we make, to the political leaders we elect. The concept comes from Luke, writing in the New Testament, “…for we receive the due reward of our deeds.” That phrase – not the Biblical one, but that which has become common usage – should have special meaning for the 76% of New York City residents who did not bother to go to the polls last November 4th. Recent polls suggest that even the few that did go to the polls may be having second thoughts.

The press declared Bill de Blasio’s victory a “landslide,” in that he won about 72% of the votes cast. The new Mayor took it as a mandate, just as did his fellow populist Democrat in the White House in 2008. The fact is, though, turnout in New York City was a record low, the lowest since “mid-20th Century,” according to the New York Times. His Republican opponent was the competent, but uninspiring Joseph Lhota. A 24% turnout meant that only 17% of New York’s eligible voters actually cast their ballots for him, hardly a mandate; though an early endorsement from President Obama made him comfortable in saying, “I won!”

The problem with ideologues, as we have learned from President Obama, is that their “hope and change” prevents then from focusing on practical problems. In their desire to see things as they wish them to be, they ignore the world as it is. People who walk with their heads in the clouds cannot avoid stepping into puddles. In his first few weeks, Mr. de Blasio has stepped into a lot of puddles. Early on, his SUV was seen speeding and failing to stop at two stop signs, when there was no emergency. A day or so later a NY Post photographer caught him jaywalking across a Brooklyn street. Neither offense was unduly serious, except that just days before he had proposed traffic safety initiatives. His attitude was typically elitist: ‘do as I say, not as I do.’

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=7783

International relations and ‘marit ayin’

When Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon criticized the United States in a speech he delivered on Monday at Tel Aviv University, he must have known that serious backlash would follow. After all, this was not his first rodeo with the White House and State Department.

Earlier this month, when asked in an interview on Channel 2’s “Meet the Press” whether he considered U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to be an “honest broker,” Ya’alon hesitated. “That’s something we will have to see during the course of the negotiations,” he said.

Two months ago, Ya’alon accused Kerry of “acting out of misplaced obsession and messianic fervor.” When this statement, which had been made in private, was leaked, Ya’alon got into a lot of hot water at home and abroad, and immediately issued a public apology.

His words this week were no more minced.

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Into-the-Fray-Shimon-Netanyahu-or-Binyamin-Peres-346075
Anyone watching portions of the PM’s AIPAC address might have been excused for thinking Bibi had morphed into Peres. But worse, much worse, was still to come.

By virtue of our natural and historic right and on the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, [we] hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.

– Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948

I think it’s a mistake for some people to be raising it again and again as the critical decider of their attitude toward the possibility of a [Palestinian] state, and peace.

– John Kerry on Binyamin Netanyahu’s insistence on public recognition by the Palestinians of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, March 14

The “Jewish state” question is hard for many non-Israelis to understand… But for Netanyahu and his followers, the question is essential. Arab leaders have never conceded that a non-Arab state can hold a permanent place in the Middle East… Until they do so, there will be no real peace, because Palestinians will keep pressing to weaken and eventually eliminate Israel’s Jewish majority.

– Jackson Diehl, “Obama’s Middle East fallacy” – The Washington Post, March 17.

In last week’s column, I warned that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s continued capitulation to concessionary demands has proven dysfunctional and counter-productive, and has not created any understanding of Israel’s position, but rather a stimulus for additional demands.

As if on cue…

Readers will recall, I wrote: “Once exposed, his weakness precipitated mounting pressures to give way again and again. And each time he did, rather than receiving commendation for his ‘moderation,’ all Netanyahu got was continuing condemnation for not complying with the next emerging demand.”

And then, as if on cue, just as the column was submitted, the next demand emerged, along with incipient condemnation for his refusal to comply.

This resounding affirmation of the accuracy of my assessment-cum-prognosis was provided courtesy of none other than US Secretary of State John Kerry, with his demand that Israel forgo its eminently reasonable insistence that the Palestinians publicly acknowledge the very raison d’etre of its establishment – to be the nation-state of the Jewish people.

Since compliance with this new demand would in effect largely nullify much of the rationale for Israel’s continued existence, the very fact that it is now being raised should be cause for grave concern for Israel and its supporters in the US.

After all, to mollify the Obama administration, Netanyahu has over the past five years consented to a series of previously inconceivable concessions, despite expressing prior unequivocal opposition to them, frequently excoriating political rivals for contemplating similar concessions in the past.

http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/52303#CurDomainURL#/blog.cfm

On the very day that tax evader and renegade oil speculator Marc Rich died on June 26, 2013 in Lucerne, Switzerland, Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Rich was pardoned on the very last day of former President Clinton’s second term in January 2001 in a series of pardons shepherded by current US Attorney General Eric Holder. President Clinton had been entreated by Rich’s, ex-wife, Denise, a major Democrat fundraiser, aided by representations from ADL director, Abe Foxman, who was reported to have earned a large fee for facilitating the pardon. Despite Marc Rich engaging in back door oil deals with the late Saddam Hussein, the apartheid South African government and the Palestinian Authority, President Clinton had signed off. He has subsequently rued granting Rich’s pardon.

Judicial Watch finally received the results of the FOIA request and published the redacted copy on its website, yesterday. Reading it, one can only surmise whether this might prove to be a problem for several people; former US Ambassador to Israel during the Clinton era, Martin Indyk and then Israeli Foreign Minister, now President , Shimon Peres.and possibly ex-Mossad head, Efraim Halevy.

Peres assumed the Israeli Premiership after PM Rabin’s tragic assassination by an Israeli extremist in November 1995.The period referenced in the Judicial Watch post followed the arrival back of the PLO-Fatah under the late Yassir Arafat in furtherance of the ill-fated Oslo Accords signed in September 1993 at the White House under Clinton’s auspices. Arafat became the first President of the PA and, in 1996 began a series of attacks on Israeli joint patrols in the disputed territories the period of a near decade long Palestinian violence against Israel. Indyk is currently Secretary Kerry’s Special Envoy facilitating negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on a purported final status agreement. This redacted cable could be problematic for Hillary Clinton’s possible candidacy for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2016?

http://acdemocracy.org/obama-kerry-deny-recognition-of-israel-as-jewish-state/
On March 20, 2013, in Jerusalem, President Obama recognized Israel as the Jewish State. Moreover, he insisted the ”Palestinians must recognize that Israel will be a Jewish state, and that Israelis have the right to insist upon their security.” He repeated this statement the following day, saying, “let me just reiterate that a central element of a lasting peace

must be a strong and secure Jewish state, where Israel’s security concerns are met, alongside a sovereign and independent Palestinian state.”

In Jerusalem, in December 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry stated:

“And I join with President Obama in expressing to the people of Israel our deep, deep commitment to the security of Israel and to the need to find a peace that recognizes Israel as a Jewish state, recognizes Israel as a country that can defend itself by itself, and that is an important principle with which the prime minister and the President and I are in agreement.”

Exactly a year later Obama is denying Israel’s right to be recognized as a Jewish State. During his March 20 meeting with PA president Mahmoud Abbas, President Obama omitted talking about the Israeli recognition requirement in favor of stressing security concerns.

Solicitors told how to draw up Sharia-style wills penalising widows and non-believers

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10716844/Islamic-law-is-adopted-by-British-legal-chiefs.html

Islamic law is to be effectively enshrined in the British legal system for the first time under guidelines for solicitors on drawing up “Sharia compliant” wills.

Under ground-breaking guidance, produced by The Law Society, High Street solicitors will be able to write Islamic wills that deny women an equal share of inheritances and exclude unbelievers altogether.

The documents, which would be recognised by Britain’s courts, will also prevent children born out of wedlock – and even those who have been adopted – from being counted as legitimate heirs.

Anyone married in a church, or in a civil ceremony, could be excluded from succession under Sharia principles, which recognise only Muslim weddings for inheritance purposes.

Nicholas Fluck, president of The Law Society, said the guidance would promote “good practice” in applying Islamic principles in the British legal system.

http://www.mideastoutpost.com/archives/dreams-of-the-wicked-sons-father-yitzhak-ben-ami.html

In the summer of 1982 Yitzhak Ben-Ami published his memoir of the Irgun Years of Wrath, Days of Glory, a chronicle of the struggle, in the 1920s and 1930s, by the Zionist Revisionists and the Irgun Zvai Leumi (the movement of Jabotinsky and Begin) to get Jews from Europe to Palestine and then to fight the British and the Arabs for independence.

Ben-Ami was a founder of The American Friends for Jewish Palestine in 1939 and from 1946 to 1948 was executive Director of “The American League for a Free Palestine.”

Yitzhak Ben-Ami and I were friends. Our children attended the same schools–Collegiate and Princeton University. His article, reprinted below, appeared in 1983 in The Collegiate Review published by the Collegiate School in New York. It was written after the Lebanon War and the killing of Arabs by Arabs in the Sabra Shatilla Camp in Lebanon occasioned a tsunami of criticism of Israel. Although Ariel Sharon ultimately cleared his name in a suit brought against Time Magazine for accusing him of responsibility for those attacks, the floodgates had opened and pusillanimous Jews joined the chorus in condemning Israel even before the self-imposed investigation by Israel’s highest court had studied all the evidence.

Yitzhak Ben-Ami died in 1984. His daughter Deborah Benami-Rahm chairs the Yitzhak Ben-Ami Memorial Colloquium on Rescue from the Holocaust founded by the Wyman Institute.

Although we were not close, I know three things about him: He despised fools; he reserved particular enmity for the “beautiful” Jews who attacked and harmed Israel; and he loved his son Jeremy very much and held great hopes for him. Once, when we met in Princeton, he told me how proud he was that a member of his family was studying at Princeton. As he put it “We’ve come a long way from Grodno.”

For Yitzhak Ben Ami his son’s betrayal of his hopes would have been a tragedy. For his son is not only a fool but maliciously devotes his energies to attacking Israel through the vicious organization he co-founded, J Street. Even its shabby pretense of supporting some Platonic ideal of a “beautiful Israel” has crumbled as co-founder Daniel Levy has openly declared he believes the creation of Israel “an act that was wrong.” J Street’s duplicity, on its funding as well as its goals, has appalled even some of the “beautiful people” whom his father despised.

Jeremy Ben Ami personifies what renowned playwright and author David Mamet has called “The Wicked Son.” The wicked son is filled with the self-hatred of the Jew estranged from his heritage: at some level he identifies as a Jew, but he disparages Israel with words and deeds that gratify enemies.

The “New” Israel Versus The “Beautiful” Israel By Yitzhak Ben-Ami

An intense ideological split is dividing the Jewish communities of Israel, Western Europe and the United States. On the one side are the so-called proponents of the beautiful Israel. Why “beautiful?” As adherents of Ahad Ha’am and Zionist Socialism, they maintain that the first priority of the renascent Hebrew nation is the quality of life, one that is motivated by high ethics and ideals. In pursuit of this goal, they impose upon themselves a double standard that requires them to be better than others in order that they may become “a light unto nations.”

On the other side are the followers of Theodor Herzl and Ze’ev Jabotinsky. Menachem Begin, the Prime Minister of Israel, is their representative today. The standard that is good enough for the democratic world is good enough for Israel so far as they are concerned. To them, and to me, dedicated as we are to the ethics of our heritage and prophets, the survival of the nation–today or decades ago, comes first.

Following is my rebuttal to my Rabbi who, on the holiest night of the Jewish year, attacked the concept of “survival at any cost” before his congregation.

http://freebeacon.com/j-street-endorses-palestinian-refusal-to-recognize-israel-as-jewish-state/

Jeremy Ben- Ami is a venal jerk who has roken the Fourth Commandment ” Honor they mother and father” repeatedly. His late father Yitzhak Ben-Ami, was my friend- a true Zionist, a member of the Irgun and a “passenger” on the Altalena.

In a development that is not sending shockwaves through the pro-Israel community, the “pro-Israel, pro-peace” advocacy group J Street has declared its support for the Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

In a statement posted on the group’s website, executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami says that to “keep moving forward, both [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] now need to give a little.”

Netanyahu, he says, must drop his insistence that Abbas recognize Israel as a Jewish State because “it is simply unrealistic and unreasonable to expect any Palestinian leader to consent” to such a demand.

Ben-Ami never goes on to say what Abbas “needs to give.”

http://sarahhonig.com/2014/03/23/that-dinner-cancellation/

Just about the only semi-newsworthy report to have emerged out of the latest round in Vienna of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear project is the fact that Iranian foreign minister Muhammad Zarif had cancelled a dinner date with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Viewed against the presumed big picture this is a negligible item, bordering on preoccupation with idle incidentals. Yet, as such, it’s highly significant. It almost goes to show that there’s really no big picture. Supposed talks with Iran continue sporadically and constitute the pretext for alleviating sanctions on the rogue regime’s nuclear ambitions. But in effect, nothing is happening.

Another session of imaginary haggling comes and goes and all that’s left to tell is the fact that Ashton was denied the pleasure of dining with Zarif. The cancellation is her punishment for having, according to the Iranians, “breached protocol” by having hobnobbed with opposition representatives on her recent trip to Tehran. There she effusively tried to curry favor with the powers-that-be and even demonstratively donned a striking black headscarf to both cause no offense and to overenthusiastically ingratiate herself.

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/alaska-2014-candidates-for-congress-where-they-stand?f=must_reads#ixzz3CBffiVDt

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 (**).
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U.S. Senate

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Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) – Next Election 2016

Senator Mark Begich (D) Incumbent

http://www.begich.senate.gov/public/
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Mark_Begich.htm **
ISSUES: http://www.begich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/issues
HOT BUTTON ISSUES
ECONOMY/JOBS/ENVIRONMENT
Voted For the Keystone Pipeline in March 2013
ALASKA RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Sen. Begich is working to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil and provide safe, secure and reliable sources of energy by responsibly developing ANWR, NPR-A and North Slope OCS for Alaska&…
As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Begich is actively pushing the Department of Defense on the need to identify and develop new sources of rare earth materials needed for weapon systems.
One of the biggest hurdles is federal permitting. Senator Begich has pushed federal agencies to streamline and coordinate their permitting processes to give developers a clearer path forward with reasonable requirements.
HOMELAND SECURITY AND IMMIGRATION
In 2013, Begich became chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Management, Intergovernmental Relations and the District of Columbia. As chairman of this new subcommittee, working alongside Ranking Member Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Begich oversees agencies and programs critical not just to Alaska but also around the country:
The Federal Emergency Management Administration, including preparation, response, mitigation, and recovery from disasters; Relief funding and efforts for flooding, fisheries and other disaster declarations;
Coordination between the Department of Homeland Security and states, localities, and first responders to prevent and respond to disasters and terrorism; Financial assistance programs related to resilience, disaster prevention, relief and mitigation.
HEALTHCARE
Senator Begich voted for historic health care legislation that achieves the goals he has long supported. The new health care law ensures Alaskans and all Americans will have access to more affordable and reliable health care.

Dan Sullivan (R) Challenger
http://www.sullivan2014.com/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Search&utm_term=Sullivan4Senate&utm_content=Fought for Alaska&utm_campaign=brand
Alaska’s Attorney General and Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, his accomplishments have focused on protecting Alaskans, promoting energy security and economic opportunity, and fighting against federal government overreach.
HOT BUTTON ISSUES
HEALTHCARE
Promoting Affordable Healthcare while Fighting ObamaCare
Access to affordable and quality healthcare is an extremely important issue to Alaskans, and it is critical for policy makers to achieve that goal. At the same time, we must revive our national economy and rein in the trillions of dollars of deficits that the Obama Administration has run over the past five years.
President Obama and Senator Begich have fundamentally changed the American healthcare system for the worse through ObamaCare. Now, as a result of Begich’s decision to cast the deciding vote for ObamaCare, Alaskans are losing their healthcare and facing skyrocketing premiums.
ObamaCare spends trillions of dollars we don’t have, while commandeering one-sixth of our nation’s economy. It also hurts Alaskans by raising taxes on them, escalating insurance premiums, forcing employers to drop coverage and putting the government in between them and their doctor.
As Alaska’s Attorney General, Dan sued to stop ObamaCare. He will continue that fight as your U.S. Senator. It is time to repeal and replace ObamaCare and empower Alaskans to make their own healthcare decisions, not the federal government.
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Promoting Responsible Development of Alaska’s Resources
Given Alaska’s world-class resource base and strategic global location, our natural resource potential can lead America into a new era of economic prosperity. As Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, Dan defended the state’s economic interests and worked with the private sector to maximize Alaska’s full economic potential. His work has focused on getting big things done for Alaska, and when necessary, aggressively fighting back against those who try to shutdown or delay economic opportunities for our citizens.
We must take a proactive, results-based strategy to Washington by tackling energy issues at the federal level and capitalizing on the enormous opportunity for development here in Alaska and throughout the rest of the country.
ECONOMY AND FEDERAL OVERREACH
As both Alaska’s Attorney General and as Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, Dan has fought the Obama Administration’s dramatic expansion of the federal government into our lives.
The President Obama-Mark Begich agenda undermines Alaska and America’s future. Dan will make rolling back their agenda his number one priority as Alaska’s U.S. Senator.
Many talk about fighting the Obama Administration, but Dan has been in the arena taking action against this unprecedented overreach.
From taking Alaska’s fight against ObamaCare to the U.S. Supreme Court to challenging the abusive authority of the Environmental Protection Agency, Dan has fought the Obama Administration every step of the way. Remember, the states created the federal government, not vice versa.
CUTTING RED TAPE
Strong economic growth begins with reducing bureaucratic red tape, which is having crippling effects on job growth and small businesses across the country.
Overregulation is an issue that affects Alaskans and Americans every day, particularly in regard to permitting for responsible resource development projects, both small and large. Investors eyeing projects in Alaska and the Lower 48 hesitate to get involved because of the high risk for permitting delays and litigation. And when the Obama Administration discourages those investments and jobs through regulatory burdens, energy and mineral investment opportunities are lost to nations with substandard environmental regulations.
As Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, Dan instituted a comprehensive strategy to reduce red tape and make the state’s permitting system more efficient, timely and certain. As a result, his department reduced a backlog of 2,500 state permits by 40 percent. The Alaska Legislature also passed numerous statutory changes to further improve the state’s permitting system while protecting the environment. This kind of leadership and experience in cutting red tape is needed in Washington.

Congressman at Large
Don Young (R) Incumbent
http://donyoung.house.gov/
http://www.ontheissues.org/house/don_young.htm **
HOT BUTTON ISSUES
http://donyoung.house.gov/issues/
ECONOMY/JOBS/ENVIRONMENT
We must remove harmful government regulations and unnecessary litigation, and begin to develop a comprehensive plan for Alaska’s energy future. Alaska’s energy and economic futures are mutually dependant, because cheap energy brings with it increased industry and jobs. However, in Alaska, we have significant challenges that many in the Lower 48 do not face such as transportation costs and the lack of a widespread electrical grid. Fortunately, Alaska has more energy potential than anywhere else in the U.S.
Our state is diverse, and a one-size-fits-all approach will not work, but certainly regional approaches to Alaska’s energy needs should be pursued. For example, Southeast should never have to burn another gallon of diesel fuel. With the immense hydro potential, we should focus our efforts on a Southeast intertie. Also, the Aleutians have tremendous wind and geothermal potential that has yet to be harnessed to its full potential. An in-state gas-line will allow North Slope gas to supplement Cook Inlet, and allow Anchorage to continue to grow, while also providing Fairbanks with the advantages of cheap natural gas that Anchorage has been solely enjoying for decades. In my view, critical to this plan is a mechanism to separate some natural gas, or a product of natural gas, such as propane, to be packaged in containers and barged to serve the needs of the villages in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region. An incremental regional approach is going to be the key to Alaska’s energy future.
HEALTHCARE
I have voted over 40 times to repeal Obamacare. At the same time I am engaging in constant dialogue with my colleagues to find a better way forward in healthcare reform. We as lawmakers must reexamine falling Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement rates and find ways, where fiscally possible, to shift these cost cuts to areas that do not provide to irreplaceable services. We must decrease individuals’ use of health services later in life by improving our healthcare habits and preventative health outreach earlier in life. This should involve empowering states and localities, folks who know what their town needs, with innovative ways to engage youth and educate them on the importance of regular screenings and healthy lifestyle habits.
DEFENSE
It is vital that we provide the best training possible to our men and women in the military. The Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex (JPARC) has the potential to be the premier training grounds for all branches of our military. From the immense air and land space to the water along Alaska’s vast coastline, our troops can work together in joint training operations and prepare for real world war scenarios. It is important, however, that the military not infringe unreasonably on the air and land used by Alaskans to fly to towns and villages, hunt, and enjoy the other outdoor activities for which Alaska is known. The military in Alaska has always been strongly supported by Alaskans across, and I hope that military leaders will take the concerns of Alaskans into consideration as they expand their use of the JPARC facilities.

Forrest Dunbar(D) Challenger
http://www.forrestforalaska.com/