http://israel21c.org/environment/pushing-back-the-desert-with-ancient-wisdom Israel’s Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research shows farmers in many countries how to use a 2,000-year-old water retention method. Prof. Pedro Berliner at Wadi Mashash, one of the areas in the Negev Desert using the updated ancient system for conserving floodwater. Ancient Jewish prayers still recited today include special mention of dew in […]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/20/muslims-accused-planned-jews-attack
A Muslim couple were assembling components of a home-made bomb to attack Jewish neighbourhoods after becoming radicalised by al-Qaida propaganda on the internet, a court heard on Wednesday.Mohammed Sajid Khan, 33, and his wife, Shasta, 38, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, bought substances and equipment from supermarkets to assemble an improvised explosive device to launch a terrorist attack after carrying out visits to potential Jewish targets in Manchester, the city’s crown court heard.
Bobbie Cheema, the prosecutor, at Manchester crown court, said: “Perhaps it can be summarised this way: it was jihad at home. Between them they acquired substances, common or garden, that can be purchased in supermarkets, equipment and information of use that would help them to make explosives, and began the process of assembling an improvised explosive device.”
The couple also carried out “multiple reconnaissance” trips to Jewish areas of Salford or Manchester, it was alleged.
Behind their “apparent normality of daily life”, Khan, an unemployed car valeter, and his wife, a hairdresser, planned to carry out “jihad at home”, Cheema told the court.
The couple were only stopped by chance after a minor domestic row led to police being called to their home in Oldham.
Shasta decided to inform the police after her brother told officers went to the house: “I think he’s a home-grown terrorist.”
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/103576/the-cold-wars-arab-spring?all=1 Stolen Kremlin records show how the Soviets, including Gorbachev, created many of today’s Middle East conflicts The dominant narrative of modern Middle East history emphasizes the depredations visited upon the region by European colonization and accepts as a truism that the former colonial powers prioritized the protection of their material interests—in oil, above all—above […]
Islamic Radicalization in America — on The Glazov Gang
by Frontpagemag.com
Dr. Nancy Bonus, Eric Allen Bell and Karla Moxley battle it out on the extent of the danger we face.
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/06/21/islamic-radicalization-in-america-on-the-glazov-gang/
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3122/women-rights-arab-spring In a propaganda trap doubtlessly intended to cripple one politically – like so many others of its kind, such as “racist” – if a woman speaks in ways expected of a woman she is considered an inadequate leader; if she speaks in ways expected of a leader she is considered an inadequate woman. If […]
G-20 Speed Dating in Los Cabos
The obstacles to global growth are clear and need to be addressed in national capitals, not a resort town.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303703004577474390989961840.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#top
With global growth precariously slow, the two-day G-20 summit this week—the diplomatic equivalent of speed dating—did little but drain more money from deeply indebted nations. Greece’s Sunday election strongly endorsing the euro did more to promote global economic growth than anything that happened in Los Cabos.
Despite the announcement of the “Los Cabos Growth and Jobs Action Plan,” which mostly commits Europe’s struggling economies to still more government control, Group of 20 leaders have fundamental disagreements on practically every key economic topic—high taxes or low, larger or smaller central bank bond portfolios, more government or less.
The clearest decisions that came out of the summit promoted governments, not private sectors, pointing to even more deficit spending, an IMF expansion led by China and another expensive G-20 meeting next year in Russia. The outcome raises fundamental doubts about the G-20’s value in furthering free markets, strong private economies and global living standards.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/303523/executive-privilege-congress-andrew-c-mccarthy
As you would expect, my buddy Shannen provides an excellent outline of the law of executive privilege. I do not take issue with what he explains, because it very accurately conveys the privilege as it has evolved over time. My dispute is with the underlying assumptions about the privilege, particularly with respect to the “deliberative process” aspect of it, which, as Shannen observes, rests on less solid footing than the “presidential communications” aspect.
Just as there are two species of executive privilege, so there are two species of governance within the executive branch. The first involves the president’s constitutional duties. These are broadly laid out in Article II. They involve powers of the presidency that derive directly from the Constitution. Congress may not repeal, reduce, or subject them to regulation or “oversight” that thwarts the president’s ability to carry them out.
That is why I agree the “presidential communications” aspect of executive privilege is the stronger one — and why, for example, I argued that Congress had no power to compel Karl Rove to testify during the controversy over fired U.S. attorneys. Karl was a senior advisor to President Bush, a member of the White House staff whose position was not subject to Senate confirmation or otherwise dependent on Congress. He served at the pleasure of the president to facilitate the performance of the president’s constitutional duties. In this sense, he was an appendage of Pres. Bush, and Congress could no more compel him to testify than compel the president. The president is a peer, not a subordinate, of Congress; Congress does not have the power to demand testimony from the president or his confidants — at least not on matters that involve presidential communications in the execution of the president’s constitutional duties.
http://pjmedia.com/andrewmccarthy/2012/06/20/the-plot-thickens-obama-asserts-executive-privilege-to-block-fast-furious-disclosures/
The Obama administration has a narrative about Fast & Furious. The Wall Street Journal obligingly reported it this morning, as follows:
The gun-walking tactics in Fast and Furious turned up in earlier ATF cases, during the Bush administration. When they were uncovered by Justice officials in the Obama administration, a top Justice official raised concerns with ATF officials, according to Justice documents released last year. But the officials never alerted Mr. Holder, didn’t do enough to prevent similar cases and weren’t aware the operation was under way until months later, according to Justice documents.
Mr. Holder, in a letter last week to Mr. Issa, said, “The record in this matter reflects that until allegations about the inappropriate tactics used in Fast and Furious were made public, department leadership was unaware of those tactics.”
There are a variety of reasons to be skeptical of this version of events. To name only two:
(a) there were wiretaps in the F&F investigation, and when the government seeks a wiretap, federal law requires it to explain what investigative tactics have been used in the case, an explanation that is vetted by top DOJ officials because the government cannot apply for the wiretap without the approval of the attorney general or his designee (a high Justice Department official) — it seems highly unlikely, assuming DOJ complied with wiretap law, that top Justice Department officials did not know about the gun-walking tactic until late in the game; and
(b) the gun-walking tactic — which in F&F involved providing well over a thousand firearms to violent criminals — was shocking, and it is hard to believe that if “Justice officials” knew enough to raise their concerns with the ATF brass, they failed to alert Attorney General Holder or follow through to make sure ATF and the U.S. attorney’s office — both arms of the Justice Department — stopped the tactic.
Candidate, candidates, everywhere you look. They need to confront real issues not just bash Obama and the Dems. So much in our country needs repair.
Here is a terrific suggestion from a brilliant e-pal Harold Weinstein:
“And while you are at it, do away with the idea that every child has to have a college degree in order to succeed. Trade schools might prove to be a quicker way to prosperity without the burden of those student loans.”
Right Now 24|7
French TV: Al Qaeda suspect holding hostages in bank
Associated Press
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Breaking_news
A French police official says a man has taken hostages in a bank in the southern city of Toulouse and fired a shot. French television station BFM says the man claims to be linked to al Qaeda. Read more…
Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz1yKiL0Jax
Green job numbers based on models, not data
CNSNews.com
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
News
Green job numbers based on models, not data
An Obama administration green jobs grant program that spent $11 billion lacks a verifiable job-counting system and likely created only a fraction of the jobs it claims, according to a staff report by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Read more…
Palins go reality: Todd and Bristol on TV series
Newser
AM I THE ONLY ONE TIRED OF THE PALINS?….RSK
Blogs
Palins go reality: Todd and Bristol on TV series
The Palins are fast becoming America’s first family of reality TV. On the same day Bristol Palin’s new reality show made its debut, NBC announced that father Todd will be taking part in a military-themed competition series Stars Earn Stripes. Read more…
Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz1yKi1PMFp
icans’ confidence in public schools hits new low
Gallup
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
News
Americans’ confidence in public schools is down five percentage points from last year, with 29% expressing “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in them. Read more…
‘Color Purple’ author refuses Hebrew edition’s release
Associated Press
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
News
Writer Alice Walker says an Israeli publisher can’t release a new Hebrew edition of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Color Purple,” because of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people. Read more…
Florida lawmaker sees anti-U.N. bill gaining support
Sunshine State News
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
News
Expect a bill that shelters private property in Florida from takeover by a United Nations-led world government effort, Senate President-designate Don Gaetz said Tuesday. And expect that bill to receive favorable support. Read more…
Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz1yKia352i
