Displaying the most recent of 90908 posts written by

Ruth King

ROB ESHMAN AND HIS ENDORSEMENT OF SAUL ALINSKY: SHARI GOODMAN ****

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/rob-eshman-and-his-endorsement-of-saul-alinsky?f=puball

Following what must have been an onslaught of protest from the American public, Rob Eshman issued the following statement to serve as an apology for a vile cartoon comparing Tea Partiers with Islamic terrorists in the Oct. 11th edition of the Los Angeles Journal. While defending cartoonist Steve Greenberg he stated

“”At the same time, we are especially sensitive to the impression many have that the cartoon somehow trivializes the horrific, real suffering wrought by Islamic terrorists. That is clearly not Greenberg’s intention– and I offer my apology to anyone who sees the cartoon exclusively in that light. I agree that even in the context of a political cartoon, this one was insensitive, and I apologize to those we have offended.”

He further stated:

“The Jewish Journal, meanwhile, is committed to presenting a multiplicity of thoughtful voices on issues that matter to all Americans. We are guided not by what are perceived as narrow ‘Jewish’ interests, but by the larger Jewish value of vigorous debate leading to mutual understanding. Satire is part of that debate.”

Clearly, Eshman does not comprehend the message. We are offended not only because it trivializes the suffering of those wrought by Islamic terrorism, but because it also equates the mission of Tea Partiers with the mission of terrorists. And for all his protestation, the Jewish Journal under Eshman’s watch has not been a forum for a multiplicity of voices. Instead it has served as a Leftist indoctrination arm of the values held dear by Marxists, Communists, and today’s term de jour, Progressives.

Similar to many Jewish newspapers across the country, the voice is primarily of the Left and its influence upon Jewish life is dismal. The recent 2013 Pew Research Center reports that only 40% of American Jews believe that G-d gave the land of Israel to Jews as compared to 82% among white Evangelicals who believe the same.

ALAN CARUBA: WHO IS HEATHER ZICHAL?

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/who-is-heather-zichal

The news on Monday, October 7th, included a notice that Heather Zichal would be leaving her White House job as Obama’s “top adviser on environmental and climate issues.” And I asked myself who is Heather Zichal?

In fact, Ms. Zichal had served in an advisory position for five years. In her current position, she replaced the “climate and energy czar”, Carol Browner, who left in March 2011. Browner had formerly been the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency where she did her best to impose some of the most draconian environmental policies; a task taken up by Lisa Jackson until she recently stepped down and was replaced by Gina McCarthy. It says a lot about this agency that during the government shutdown, it furloughed 93% of its employees as “non-essential.”

In July Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) penned a Wall Street Journal’s commentary, “The EPA’s Game of Secret Science”, noting “As the Environmental Protection Agency moves forward with some of the most costly regulations in history, there needs to be greater transparency about the claimed benefits from these actions. Unfortunately, President Obama and the EPA have been unwilling to reveal to the American people the data they use to justify their multibillion-dollar regulatory agenda.” Rep. Smith is chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

JANINE TURNER: IN DEFENSE OF TED CRUZ (AMEN! RSK)

Ted Cruz – The Paul Revere of American Medical Care http://pjmedia.com/blog/ted-cruz-the-paul-revere-of-american-medical-care/?print=1 Liberal networks rejoiced about the end of the recent government shutdown, singing the praises of Obama. They salivated, licking their chops, as they hunted Republicans spear in hand. The conservative networks, with debt clock displayed, worried about the consequences of the bill that re-opened […]

DANIEL GREENFIELD: THE WEEK THAT WAS PART 2

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/ Weatherman Terrorist Bill Ayers tells Bill de Blasio to be Proud of Supporting Marxist Terrorists PRIDE, PREJUDICE AND PEDOPHILIA 11-Year-Old Child Bride Debates Muslim Cleric Who Supports Child Rape THREE TIMES IT’S SHARIA In June, the Muslim rapists of a 15-year-old girl were sentenced to community service in Sweden. Yesterday I discussed the case […]

DANIEL GREENFIELD: THE WEEK THAT WAS PART ONE

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/ SPECIFICALLY SPECIFIC CORPSES “I want at least 1,000 to 2,000 to die in one day,”  Shahawar Siraj told an NYPD informant. The Pakistani illegal alien and Muslim bookstore employee was discussing his plans to kill as many New Yorkers as possible. “I’m going to f___ this country very bad.” Under Bill de Blasio, the […]

OBAMA THE AGITATOR ON THE GLAZOV GANG

Obama The Agitator — on The Glazov Gang
Kai Chen, Karen Kenny and John Duffy dissect how the Radical-in-Chief stirs division and hate.
http://frontpagemag.com/2013/frontpagemag-com/obama-the-agitator-on-the-glazov-gang/

WES PRUDEN: AND NOW THE BLAME GAME

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/18/pruden-and-now-the-blame-game/

The blame game begins, and the usual suspects are shooting into their own ranks. If you think you can’t hit your own feet, you aim at the toes of someone else.

The Democrats have put their nasties on hold, better to celebrate their victory. Only yesterday, the Democrats in Congress were elbowing each other away from the microphones to see whose fangs could squirt the most poisonous venom. Barbara Boxer called the Republicans “domestic abusers.” Nancy Pelosi, having misplaced her meds, shouted “anarchist” and “bomb throwers” and “hijackers” at the likes of Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. Harry Reid said the Republicans were guilty of “economic treason,” whatever that is. He had to add the modifier lest he be called as a witness if Mr. Cruz is to now be put on trial for his life, “treason” being a serious crime. This morning, the Democrats are laying sloppy wet kisses on John Boehner and Mitch McConnell. They’ll learn later that love you pay for is expensive at any price.

John McCain, who has never recovered from the memory of how nice the boys on the bus treated him when he was trying to take down George W. in his first race for the White House. He has been trying to recover the love since, like a man trying to rekindle the romance with an ex-wife, couldn’t wait to say “I told you so.”

He told CNN that the public has been so traumatized by the Republican mischief that “we may still have some gridlock, maybe we’ll have continuing resolutions, [but] we’re not going to shut down the government again. I guarantee it.” Lindsey Graham, his reliable echo, is thought to still be working on his own gloat.

IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION FAILURE IS GROUNDS FOR PROMOTION…..WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/17/editorial-wheres-the-outrage/

President Obama has no concept of accountability. His minions know that no matter what they do, they’re never going to suffer consequences for their mistakes, no matter how grievous or embarrassing. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health and Human Services, presides over the biggest flop the Internet has seen since Al Gore invented it. White House press secretary Jay Carney says Mrs. Sebelius, despite spending $634 million on the Obamacare website disaster, still has the president’s “full confidence.”

Mr. Carney’s predecessor, Robert Gibbs, now that he no longer has to say things he doesn’t believe and can speak for himself, disagrees. Mr. Gibbs characterized the rollout of the health care takeover as “excruciatingly embarrassing.” He told MSNBC that it was “bungled badly.” Would-be Obamacare enrollees and curiosity-seekers alike have encountered technical malfunctions, including error messages and crashed pages, when they tried to log on to healthcare.gov. The initial “traffic jam” explanation — that it was simply the happy crush of eager enrollees all trying to sign up at once — was abandoned in the face of complaints that even attempts to log on in the wee hours of the morning failed.

The president likens the opening of the Obamacare exchanges to glitches that Apple encounters when it introduces a new operating system for its cellphones and electronic tablets. “I don’t remember anybody suggesting Apple should stop selling iPhones or iPads,” the president protested, “or threatening to shut down the company if they didn’t.”

STEPHEN DINAN: THE US DEBT JUMPS 328 BILLION…TOPS 17 TRILLION

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/18/us-debt-jumps-400-billion-tops-17-trillion-first-t/ U.S. debt jumped a record $328 billion on Thursday, the first day the federal government was able to borrow money under the deal President Obama and Congress sealed this week. The debt now equals $17.075 trillion, according to figures the Treasury Department posted online on Friday. The $328 billion increase shattered the previous high […]

THOMAS HIBBS: TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE

http://www.nationalreview.com/node/361535/print

“12 Years a Slave” is a 2013 British-American historical drama film based on the 1853 autobiography Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, a free black man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. in 1841 and sold into slavery.

In this film, we’re light-years away from the cartoonish violence of Django Unchained.

In his treatment of slavery in the American South in Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville contrasts modern with ancient slavery. While ancient slavery, he wrote, typically aimed to constrain only the body — to force the enslaved into servile work – modern slavery aims to entrap the mind. It “overturns the order of nature,” constituting what Tocqueville chillingly called “spiritualized despotism and violence.” That thesis is amply illustrated in the compelling new film from the London-born black director Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave, which boasts an all-star cast and a gripping story based on a mid-19th-century autobiography by a free black man, Solomon Northrup, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery.

A talented musician living in New York in 1841 with his family, Northrup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) accepts an attractive financial offer from a group of traveling performers. Without leaving word for his wife, who is away at the time, he travels with the group to Washington, D.C., where he awakens to find himself drugged and bound in chains. Severed from his previous life, he is given the name Platt, shipped off to Louisiana, and forced into slavery. Early on, Solomon, untrained in the ways of servitude, resists. He responds to his circumstances as one would hope any free individual would do, not just denying that he is a slave but also adding, “I will have satisfaction for this wrong.” That line might give viewers the false expectation of a revenge film — something 12 Years a Slave most definitely is not. It is rather a story of endurance, courage, and hope in the midst of grave injustice.

For his resistance, Solomon/Platt is given severe beatings and taunted with the not-so-rhetorical question, “Are you a slave?” Another slave warns him: “Tell no one who you are and tell no one you can read or write, unless you want to be a dead nigger.” The incompatibility between education and slavery is a leitmotif of 19th-century writing about slavery. Tocqueville notes it, as does Frederick Douglass, who concludes: “to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man.”

To survive, Solomon/Platt must not only avoid active resistance; he must also pretend to be what he is not, a contented slave. His path from freedom to slavery makes him a fitting vehicle for the communication of the evils of slavery to those who cannot imagine themselves as slaves. He begins where every ordinary free citizen begins. The focus of the film is on the dramatic contrast between, on the one hand, the expectation of an ordinary life rich with work, leisure, and family and, on the other, a nightmare condition of barbaric injustice. Ejiofor is magnificent as Solomon/Platt. He manages to accommodate himself, sometimes with great anguish, to his state of servitude without ever surrendering to it. He maintains his sense of dignity throughout, and his life is testimony to the possibility of transcendence in the midst of the most oppressive of conditions