RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/312830/culture-does-matter-mitt-romney

During my recent trip to Israel, I had suggested that the choices a society makes about its culture play a role in creating prosperity, and that the significant disparity between Israeli and Palestinian living standards was powerfully influenced by it. In some quarters, that comment became the subject of controversy.

But what exactly accounts for prosperity if not culture? In the case of the United States, it is a particular kind of culture that has made us the greatest economic power in the history of the earth. Many significant features come to mind: our work ethic, our appreciation for education, our willingness to take risks, our commitment to honor and oath, our family orientation, our devotion to a purpose greater than ourselves, our patriotism. But one feature of our culture that propels the American economy stands out above all others: freedom. The American economy is fueled by freedom. Free people and their free enterprises are what drive our economic vitality.

The Founding Fathers wrote that we are endowed by our Creator with the freedom to pursue happiness. In the America they designed, we would have economic freedom, just as we would have political and religious freedom. Here, we would not be limited by the circumstance of birth nor directed by the supposedly informed hand of government. We would be free to pursue happiness as we wish. Economic freedom is the only force that has consistently succeeded in lifting people out of poverty. It is the only principle that has ever created sustained prosperity. It is why our economy rose to rival those of the world’s leading powers — and has long since surpassed them all.

The linkage between freedom and economic development has a universal applicability. One only has to look at the contrast between East and West Germany, and between North and South Korea for the starkest demonstrations of the meaning of freedom and the absence of freedom.

Israel is also a telling example. Like the United States, the state of Israel has a culture that is based upon individual freedom and the rule of law. It is a democracy that has embraced liberty, both political and economic. This embrace has created conditions that have enabled innovators and entrepreneurs to make the desert bloom. In the face of improbable odds, Israel today is a world leader in fields ranging from medicine to information technology.

As the case of Israel makes plain, building a free society is not a simple task. Rather, it is struggle demanding constant courage and sacrifice. Even here in the United States, which from our inception as a nation has been blessed with freedom, we faced monumental challenges in harmonizing our ideals with our institutions. We fought a bloody civil war against slavery and it took a nonviolent civil-rights movement to bring political and social equality to all Americans. In these epic struggles we changed our “culture” and vastly improved it.

I have just returned from a trip abroad. I visited three lands — Israel, Poland, and Great Britain — which are defined by their respective struggles for freedom. I met with some of the greatest heroes of those struggles. I am always glad to return to American soil. On this occasion, I am only strengthened in my conviction that the pursuit of happiness is not an American right alone. Israelis, Palestinians, Poles, Russians, Iranians, Americans, all human beings deserve to enjoy the blessings of a culture of freedom and opportunity.

http://q4j-middle-east.com

“Mecca and Medina are the Arabs’ and Islam’s two holy cities. Jerusalem never was an Arab or Islamic capital, and there never, ever, ever was a separate Arab/Muslim entity of “Palestine” anywhere in the land of the Jews.”

I was watching Fox News’ Bill Hemmer’s interview of veteran journalist Marvin Kalb the other day.

Unlike some other well-known Hebrew journalists, who specialize in taking Israel to task (especially Israeli leaders who do not sing the American State Department tune nor prostrate themselves low enough to others’ “no friends, just interests” expectations ) while too often treating Arab issues and guests with kid gloves, I don’t recall Kalb being of this same ilk. I can’t remember him pulling the same, oft-repeated, duplicitous nauseating shtick of Larry King, Mike Wallace, Wolf Blitzer, or their fellow dhimmi colleagues at places such as NPR, for example.

Hence my disappointment at Kalb’s response to Hemmer’s question regarding Governor Romney’s comments regarding Jerusalem.

Mitt, like other candidates before him, had endorsed Israel’s position that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, and therefore feels that the American embassy should be located there–not Tel Aviv.

While the essence of what Kalb said was true (the worst of Realpolitik at play), hearing him (or any Jew) say it still enraged me. They were words I would have expected coming out of the mouths of Larry King, The New York Times’ Tom Friedman, or the “Progressive” media’s numerous other stick-it-to-the-Jews members of the Tribe. Somehow I had hoped Marvin was cut from something better, like say Phylum Chordata…something with a backbone. And, perhaps, he yet is. Maybe it just came out the wrong way.

But, when asked about the Jerusalem issue, Kalb immediately shot back something very much like the following…

“Israel calls Jerusalem its capital–not the United States (nor the United States State Department).”

http://spectator.org/archives/2012/07/31/my-israeli-roots/print

David Hornik added this in a note:

“I know about Bikel’s unfortunate attitude toward Israelis living in Judea and Samaria but didn’t include it in my article because it would have led too far afield; the article is of a poetic kind and couldn’t be manipulated.”

HOW GREAT THAT THE VERY TALENTED BIKEL INSPIRED ONE OF ISRAEL’S BEST JOURNALISTS TO MOVE THERE….BUT BIKEL HAS ALSO SIGNED ON TO THE ARTISTS AND PERFORMERS WHO BOYCOTT THE SETTLEMENTS AND REFUSED TO PERFORM IN ARIEL…IN HIS OWN WORDS: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/flashpoint/2010/10/and-theodore-bikel-responds.html

” Arefusal to cross into or perform in the territories constitutes nothing more than a declaration of conscience by Israeli artists whose stand I applaud.In my mind the city of Ariel is a thorn in Israel’s side and a serious obstacle to peace. A majority of Israelis share this view, even if the Prime Minister does not. Yes, I believe in the peace process and in the two-state solutions. Peace – even an uneasy peace – is preferable to a constant state of belligerence, which is what we have now and will continue to have unless the parties become serious. That will involve a serious resolve by the Palestinans to abandon violence toward Israelis and punish those who resort to it. It will also involve dismantling the settlements by Israel, as painful as this might appear to some.I am a Zionist, an ardent supporter of Israel, its defender when I deem Israel to be right and its critic when I deem it to be wrong.I am not, and have never been, in favor of boycotting Israel. Ariel and the settlements are another matter; their very existence is inimical to Israel.”

AND DAVID HORNIK’S COLUMN:

My American youth wouldn’t particularly have “predicted” that I would make aliyah (move to Israel) as an adult.

True, there were certain factors that could conduce in that direction. My parents were refugees from the Nazis, having fled Vienna as teenagers with their families in the fall of 1938. They conveyed that Jewish identity was important; we stayed home for the solemn holidays, did special things for the joyous ones. Bringing customs of another religion into the home — as some American Jews were already doing back then for Christmas — would have been out of the question.

But, on the other hand, both of my parents were from very secular backgrounds, and Jewish culture in our lives was meager compared to the immediacy and richness of American culture. I didn’t know that Friday night and Saturday were the Jewish Sabbath. I did gain a deep-seated sense that Jewish identity was important; but I was less clear on why it was important — knowing little about the Jewish people’s history, religion, literature, and so on.

A notable exception, an irruption of rich Jewishness into my predominantly American life, occurred when I was — I believe — six. It came in the form of a birthday present my father bought for my mother: the record Folk Songs of Israel by Theodore Bikel.

http://blogs.jpost.com/print/3656

I am constantly incensed that most of the International Community appears unconcerned about (or ignorant of) Israel’s efforts on behalf of the “other” members of its society. So here is a selection of recent news events that you can ever so politely thrust into the hands of anyone criticising the morality of the Jewish State.

Israel – there’s no “other” place like it.

I’ll begin with the Palestinian Arabs. Most people are unaware that each and every week Israel delivers over 28,000 tons of merchandise [2] into Gaza. In fact it was 39,009 tons last week [3]. The truth is that thousands of Gaza’s medical patients are treated in Israeli hospitals [4], whilst the terrorist mini-state is still firing rockets and mortars [5] at Israeli civilians. And on the small scale, Israel’s Civil Administration financed a summer camp [6] for 24 Palestinian Arab children suffering from cancer. These included kids from Gaza who, along with their parents, spent four days of fun in the Jordan Park. The park is run by the JNF, which ironically is boycotted by the BDS groups.

By the way – what’s all this fuss about water rights? Thanks to Israel, over 96% of Palestinian Arabs have mains water [7] – which is a whole lot more than the 10% who were connected when Jordan was supposedly looking after them.
Arab citizens of Israel now have their own television channel. After a four-month test period, the programming schedule of Hala TV, Israel’s first Arabic TV station [9], will broadcast 24 hours a day on satellite and cable. And another breath of fresh air has been provided with an Israeli government allocation of NIS 355 million [10] to improve the sewerage systems in Arab neighbourhoods across Israel. Congratulations go to Arza Haddad, the daughter of the late Head of the South Lebanese Army, Saad Haddad, who has just graduated from Israel’s Technion with a Masters degree in Aeronautics [11]. Arza fled to Israel from Lebanon in 1984.

Today, Israel has representatives” in Jordan assisting Syrian refugee children and infants [12] who have been injured in the Syrian military’s violent crackdown throughout the country. And here is some news that you are unlikely to here in the International press. Haifa mayor Yona Yahav confirmed on Al-Jazeera that the Israeli port of Haifa is a key trade route for Iraq [13]. Haifa is much more direct, cost-efficient and safer than the alternative – through the Persian Gulf.

You only need to visit any of Israel’s hospitals to see Jewish and Arab medical staff attending to Jewish and Arab patients in every department. “We are a team here, and there is no difference [14]”, said Palestinian Arab nurse Manar Igbarya at Hadassah-Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem. She said that she was accepted at the hospital because “all they cared about was how I do my job”. Further north, the Hospital for Nazareth celebrated its 150th anniversary. Now an Israel Government Hospital, childbirth educator Wendy Blumfield highlighted [15] that audience was Arab Moslem and Christian, Jewish secular and religious.

Israelis give more to charity [16] than any other country apart from the USA and there are over 26,000 charitable organisations [17] in the Jewish State. One of those is Yad Sarah [18], which provides equipment and support to the disabled, elderly, and housebound. Yad Sarah has just introduced an on-call communication service [19] that every Israeli can sign up to. When contacted, Yad Sarah’s volunteers see the caller’s health details and can provide advice, deal with emergencies or just engage in a comforting chat. Innovative Israeli non-profit organisation Tmura has contributed $6.3 million [20] to over 100 educational programs since it started ten years ago. Tmura’s revenue comes from Israeli start-ups who donate a few share options. These then become very valuable if the start-ups are taken over.

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3241/france-enemies-of-the-people

In France today, Muslim anti-Semitism is spreading. But as it is now Muslim and not coming from the “far right,” those who claim to fight anti-Semitism refuse to see it as anti-Semitic. How individuals become anti-Semitic criminals is explainable: When groups of human beings are defined as “enemies of the people,” their elimination becomes logical.

Seventy years ago, on July 17, 1942, the Velodrome d’hiver Roundup took place in Paris. It was the greatest mass arrest of Jews ever carried out on French soil, and one of the main mass-arrests of Jews in Europe during World War II .

It took fifty-one years before a commemoration was held in memory of this crime. And it took two more years for a President of the Republic, Jacques Chirac, to acknowledge France’s responsibility for this crime. The new French President, Francois Hollande, was even more explicit this year; he talked about a crime committed “in France, by France.” He added, most pointedly, that anti-Semitism is not an opinion but “an abjection”. At a time when anti-Semitism is in France again, and just four months ago in Toulouse the worst anti-Semitic crime to have been committed in France since World War II took place — the murder of three Jewish children and the father of two of them, by a French Islamist — these words are not enough. It is necessary to look deeper.

In fairness, France was not the only country in Europe to have been infected for centuries with anti-Semitism, but French authors have played a particularly important role in the formulation of racist theories and modern anti-Semitism.

Few other European countries have seen the publication of a major newspaper devoted almost entirely to inciting hatred against Jews. Before Der Stürmer was published by Julius Streicher in Germany under Adolf Hitler, France was where Edouard Drumont published La libre parole (the Free Speech), from November 1892 to June 1924; hardly any page of La libre parole was devoted to anything but inciting hatred against Jews.

No viscerally anti-Semitic book has enjoyed the success of La France juive (Jewish France); written by the same Edouard Drumont; published in 1886; continually reprinted until 1938, and since 1986, available again in bookshops.

The Spring of Islamic Fundamentalism by Georgy Gounev

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3240/spring-islamic-fundamentalism
Islam at the Olympics
“Rid the Streets of Evil”

by Shiraz Maher

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3237/islam-olympics

http://pjmedia.com/andrewmccarthy/2012/08/01/islamic-democracy-does-not-make-statesmen-out-of-terrorists-or-politics-out-of-jihad/?print=1 The Obama administration will not explain how it came to issue a visa to Hani Nour Eldin, a known member of the Egyptian terrorist organization Ga’amat al-Islamia, the Islamic Group (IG). The explanation is not forthcoming because what it portends is even more sinister than this one infuriating incident. To call the IG a […]

http://times247.com/

Crime spree by non-deported illegal immigrants
The Washington Times
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
News
The Obama administration released illegal immigrants who went on to commit more crimes, including charges of 19 murders, 3 attempted murders and 142 sex crimes, the House Judiciary Committee said in a report Tuesday. Read more…

The Washington Times
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
News
The Obama administration released illegal immigrants who went on to commit more crimes, including charges of 19 murders, 3 attempted murders and 142 sex crimes, the House Judiciary Committee said in a report Tuesday. Read more…
Morsi says letter to Peres for peace is fake
Israel National News
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
News
Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi’s office has denied he sent a letter to President Shimon Peres indicating he wanted to work for peace in the Middle East. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz22IW0jV00
Reid spreads rumors about Romney taxes
Washington Free Beacon
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
News
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid alleged that Mitt Romney paid no taxes for more than a decade—and that his father, the long deceased George Romney, would be embarrassed by his own son. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz22IWakkLw

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/31/the-statehouse-not-white-house-should-lead-on-heal/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS

The full title of what most call Obamacare is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The irony is it neither protects patients nor is it affordable. In fact, PPACA is a misguided budget-buster that falls short of real health care reform, undermines state solvency and subverts individual liberty. For those reasons, Utah is in no rush to adopt any Medicaid expansion and will continue to pursue pragmatic, principle-based reforms, regardless of elections or Congress‘ partisan balance.

Of course, we care about better health and an improved system, but it’s breathtaking that in order to comply with the individual mandate for insurance, just covering Utahns presently eligible for Medicaid but not yet enrolled will cost the state $940 million the first decade and $1.88 billion the next decade. Then the Medicaid expansion tacks on an additional $240 million the first decade, and $480 million the next. In other words, even if Utah does nothing, Obamacare will completely unravel our state’s uniquely positive financial outlook.

Utah has defined a clear vision for health care: We will pioneer health care innovation and reform, harnessing the power of collective efforts and market principles as we become the healthiest people in the nation. Our efforts include solutions for low-income, uninsured and vulnerable populations.

But in contrast to federal solutions, the philosophical framework for Utah’s vision is personal responsibility. Reform must align incentives and empower people to make better choices — and reward them when they do. Most importantly, reform must reinforce basic principles of free markets — principles like flexibility and certainty. PPACA stifles both.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/NH02Dj03.html Bill Gross is half right about equities By Spengler PIMCO managing director Bill Gross got the financial world’s undivided attention with his “stocks are dead” pronouncement July 31. There is some truth to the statement: expected returns are declining across all markets. But the market does not look at returns, but rather risk-adjusted returns. […]