RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://www.jidaily.com/1152a?utm_source=Jewish+Ideas+Daily+Insider&utm_campaign=49d3668974-Insider&utm_medium=email

The Moby-Dick author sought spiritual connection on an 1857 Holy Land trip. He found dust and rocks instead.

Herman Melville, the popular writer of adventure stories, all but lost his readership with the publication of Moby-Dick; or The Whale. “Mr. Melville has survived his reputation,” one critic wrote in 1851 of the “imposing” novel, with its diatribes, tangents, and verbosity. “If he had been contented with writing one or two books, he might have been famous, but his vanity has destroyed all his chances for immortality, or even of a good name with his own generation.” While some reviewers recognized the greatness of Moby-Dick, it failed to achieve the success Melville had hoped for, selling only a scant 3,100 copies during his lifetime. “Though I wrote the Gospels in this century,” he lamented to his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne, “I shall die in the gutter.”

Melville never fully recovered from the disappointing response to Moby-Dick. In 1857, upon the suggestion of his wife, Melville set off to Europe and the Middle East in the hopes of finding some clarity, inspiration, and cheer. It was on this trip that Melville visited Jerusalem, a place that did not live up to the author’s high expectations. The journal Melville kept on his journey, along with Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land, the epic the trip helped shape, illustrate what a strange and mystifying place Jerusalem was for the 19th-century traveler. But Melville’s descriptions and reflections, his spiritual longing and ultimate disenchantment, also hint at the development of a remarkable relationship—that between the American tourist and the Holy Land.

http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=281871

FROM ONE OF MY MOST TRUSTED E-PALS…..I, like many others, think that Israel cannot rely on the U.S. Past experience, like the eve of the 1967 6-Day war was the same.Resupply of weapons and ammunition during the 1973 war happened only after Israel made drastic threats. Remember the nuclear alert during the war?My own worst fears are that the U.S. would aid the enemies of Israel under this administration. It already has in the promotion of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Mideast and within the U.S. The Bush administration also gave the Muslim Brotherhood (CAIR) unprecedented access to the inner workings of the U.S. Government.As most of you know, all this has been well documented. Jan

Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff reveals he and Israeli counterpart Benny Gantz in constant contact on Iran, admits “clocks ticking at different paces,” reach “different conclusions” from intelligence reports.

Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said on Sunday that Israel and the United States view the Iranian nuclear threat differently.

Speaking to reporters on his arrival to Afghanistan, Dempsey said that the US and Israel have a different interpretation of the same intelligence reports in regards to Iran’s nuclear program.

“Israel sees the Iranian threat more seriously than the US sees it, because a nuclear Iran poses a threat to Israel’s very existence,” Dempsey said.

“You can take two countries, give them the same intelligence and reach two different conclusions. I think that’s what’s happening here.”

He also acknowledged that he and his Israeli counterpart, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, regularly confer on Iran. “We speak at least once every two weeks, we compare intelligence reports, we discuss the security implications of the events in the region.”

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3292/egyptian-tears-quran

Instead of giving religious visas to Islamists who come to America to preach hate, the US should immediately declare that anyone who leaves Islam and is threatened should get a priority visa to the US. American embassies should, in fact, stop giving religious visas to those who are obviously Islamists: by doing so we are only breeding our own homegrown terrorists inside America.

Could this be the real Arab Spring? The Muslim world does not have to blame Pastor Terry Jones any more for burning the Quran or non-Muslims for desecrating it. They are now in shock over seeing a YouTube post of a young Egyptian man doing the unthinkable on camera: tearing up the Quran and putting it in the trash.

This is the summary translation of what he said:

“There it is, Allah’s book, this is the basic catastrophe. I don’t know what day it is of this disgusting month of Ramadan! You are making the tearing of the Quran such a big and dangerous thing.. it is instinctive to tear this book, those sons of b—-s- think they can threaten me and challenge me to tear the Quran, but I want to prove to them that they are nothing and what is the big deal in tearing this book?!! There it is (he starts tearing up the Quran) in the trash. Are you feeling better now?! You cannot touch a hair on my head! We keep blaming Hamas and Gaza, but it is not them, it is this son of a b —-h book that I am stepping on right now. That book is the source of all evil and the real catastrophe. There is nothing new here, it is not Omar Abdel Rahman, Abbud or all the others, it is this garbage that is causing us to run in a demonic circle that will never end.”

Although the young man’s worlds were very insulting, this is the same language that Muslims commentators use against him and against anyone who leaves Islam. The comments about this video are extremely violent, scary and vastly more insulting than anything this young man said in the video. This is the kind of language many Muslims use against any critique of Islam. I worry about this young man who seems to be living in Egypt. There have been hundreds of fatwas [religious edicts] calling for his death issued against him already: the responses to the video threaten him with, “I will kill you” and “I will cut your tongue, your ears, your arms and legs, as Mohammed would, and leave you for dead.”

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3293/egypt-rearming-sinai Secretary Panetta is talking about helping Egypt to do something forbidden by the Camp David Accords — bring large-scale forces into Sinai. Israel’s long term concern is whether Egypt will at some point remove the additional forces. Recent comments by Egyptian government officials suggest they will not. Egypt has moved forces into the Sinai […]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/08/19/niall-ferguson-on-why-barack-obama-needs-to-go.html
I was a good loser four years ago. “In the grand scheme of history,” I wrote the day after Barack Obama’s election as president, “four decades is not an especially long time. Yet in that brief period America has gone from the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. to the apotheosis of Barack Obama. You would not be human if you failed to acknowledge this as a cause for great rejoicing.”

Despite having been—full disclosure—an adviser to John McCain, I acknowledged his opponent’s remarkable qualities: his soaring oratory, his cool, hard-to-ruffle temperament, and his near faultless campaign organization.

Yet the question confronting the country nearly four years later is not who was the better candidate four years ago. It is whether the winner has delivered on his promises. And the sad truth is that he has not.

In his inaugural address, Obama promised “not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth.” He promised to “build the roads and bridges, the electric grids, and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.” He promised to “restore science to its rightful place and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost.” And he promised to “transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.” Unfortunately the president’s scorecard on every single one of those bold pledges is pitiful.

In an unguarded moment earlier this year, the president commented that the private sector of the economy was “doing fine.” Certainly, the stock market is well up (by 74 percent) relative to the close on Inauguration Day 2009. But the total number of private-sector jobs is still 4.3 million below the January 2008 peak. Meanwhile, since 2008, a staggering 3.6 million Americans have been added to Social Security’s disability insurance program. This is one of many ways unemployment is being concealed.

In his fiscal year 2010 budget—the first he presented—the president envisaged growth of 3.2 percent in 2010, 4.0 percent in 2011, 4.6 percent in 2012. The actual numbers were 2.4 percent in 2010 and 1.8 percent in 2011; few forecasters now expect it to be much above 2.3 percent this year.

Unemployment was supposed to be 6 percent by now. It has averaged 8.2 percent this year so far. Meanwhile real median annual household income has dropped more than 5 percent since June 2009. Nearly 110 million individuals received a welfare benefit in 2011, mostly Medicaid or food stamps.

Welcome to Obama’s America: nearly half the population is not represented on a taxable return—almost exactly the same proportion that lives in a household where at least one member receives some type of government benefit. We are becoming the 50–50 nation—half of us paying the taxes, the other half receiving the benefits.

And all this despite a far bigger hike in the federal debt than we were promised. According to the 2010 budget, the debt in public hands was supposed to fall in relation to GDP from 67 percent in 2010 to less than 66 percent this year. If only. By the end of this year, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will reach 70 percent of GDP. These figures significantly understate the debt problem, however. The ratio that matters is debt to revenue. That number has leapt upward from 165 percent in 2008 to 262 percent this year, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund. Among developed economies, only Ireland and Spain have seen a bigger deterioration.

http://www.juliagorin.com/wordpress/?p=2895

Out of nowhere, on Aug. 1st appeared a seemingly out-of-place news item in the UK Jewish Chronicle, delivering a stale and inaccurate bit of information concerning Alex Cvetkovic, the subject of my Algemeiner article this week:

Israel Approves Extradition of Serb Wanted for Srebrenica Massacre

An Israeli court has ruled that a Bosnian Serb should be extradited to face trial for war crimes during the Srebrenica massacre.

Aleksandar Cvetkovic is wanted for his involvement in the 1995 atrocity, which saw more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys killed by the Serbian Republic Army.
…
Cvetkovic has a Jewish wife and gained Israeli citizenship after he moved to the country five years ago.

But in January the 42-year-old was arrested following an extradition request from the Bosnia and Herzegovina government. He has until the end of the month to appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court.

Small things first: Serbian Republic Army? It’s actually the Bosnian-Serb Army. And it’s “Serb Republic,” not Serbian Republic, which would imply that something is of or within Serbia.

Stranger, though, was this outdated update suddenly appearing at this time. Observe the last line: “But in January the 42-year-old was arrested…He has until the end of the month to appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court.”

The January that Cvetkovic was arrested in was January 2011. And it was after his August 2011 hearing that he had “until the end of the month to appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court.” As we know, his appeal is already in progress, and the Supreme Court is poised to rule on it.

Knowing now that whoever is behind this Jewish Chronicle lacks basic journalistic skills, I was intrigued and looked found and found the following Aug. 2nd article:

The Muslims Who Admire Israel

There are not many Muslim politicians in the world who openly admire Israel. In fact, Emir Suljagic, an author and former member of the Bosnian Social Democratic party, may just be in a minority of one.

To understand why, one word helps above all others: survival. Mr Suljagic evaded death during the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in July 1992 thanks to a piece of good fortune that echoes many near-miss tales from the Holocaust.

Well the first reason he may have evaded it in 1992 is that the supposed massacre didn’t happen until 1995. So again, these people can’t even get the year right. And notice that no editor or reader caught the error. One merely had to go back to the previous inaccurate article — from just the day before — and compare years, as that one did have “1995.”

When he was 17, he fled the ethnic cleansing taking place in the Drina Valley and took refuge in Srebrenica. As the town fell to Serb forces and the round-up of Bosniaks began, Mr Suljagic encountered none other than the Serb general, Ratko Mladic.

Mladic asked Mr Suljagic who he was, upon which he produced his identity card. The general looked at the card and let him go, only because was a UN-employed translator.

Yes, let’s take Mr. Suljagic at his assumption that this was the “only” reason Mladic didn’t just snuff him out right there. (Though one wonders what the reasons are for the thousands of other Muslims Mladic didn’t kill. They couldn’t all have been 17-year-old translators.)

Israel – Barbarians at the Gate “This election does not just involve America… it involves the free world. The Islamic barbarians are at the gates of Israel and the clock is ticking towards war. Something that I very much fear Obama and the Progressives want, and soon. We must get rid of Obama and the […]

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
http://blogs.jpost.com/users/just-look-us-now

In the 19th August 2012 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

· Israeli scientists have made another major discovery on the road to eradicating cancer.
· Israeli humanitarian aid receives more recognition at the United Nations.
· Help for autistic children who need a cuddle but can’t bare anyone to touch them.
· Israeli software can build a picture of a criminal from unmatched DNA found at the crime scene.
· Curiosity – the Mars rover – had an Israeli check-up prior to take-off.
· For my birthday treat, I can’t decide between Cirque du Soleil and the Dancing Camel brewery.
· This week marked the 5th anniversary of our immigration to this amazing country.

· My latest JPost descriptive summary “How does Israel do it?”
You will not have seen this before as the JPost blog site was unavailable for most of last week
Please vote for it by clicking on the right most star at the end of the article.

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Using HIV to kill cancer cells. (Thanks to Israel21c) Scientists at the Hebrew University – Hadassah Medical School have discovered a peptide (small protein) derived from the HIV virus that interferes with a cell’s ability to repair itself. The peptide weakens cancer cells, making them more vulnerable to conventional therapies.
http://israel21c.org/health/hiv-peptide-packs-a-punch-for-cancer-treatment/

How to treat trauma victims. 26 doctors, nurses and hospital administrators from 20 countries arrived at Haifa’s Rambam Hospital to share its experience and know-how in treating trauma victims. Lectures, workshops, simulations and tours prepared attendees to build systems for treating mass-casualty victims.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/InnovativeIsrael/Learning_treat_trauma_victims_7-Aug-2012.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hxMlRsMismc

Muhamad Ali’s daughter visits Hadassah hospital. Rasheda Ali, daughter of the legendary Muhamad Ali, came to Hadassah Ein Kerem to see Professor Karussis’s stem cell work to treat brain diseases. Ms. Ali is a member of the advisory board of Israeli biotech Brainstorm. Her father suffers from Parkinson’s disease.
http://www.hadassah.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=keJNIWOvElH&b=5772823&ct=12095915&notoc=1

Three children receive donor organs. Just hours before a man was due to donate a lobe of his liver to his three-year-old nephew, a deceased donor was found and whose organs saved two further children. All three operations were performed at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva.
http://www.jpost.com/Health/Article.aspx?id=280776

Bioactive coating for brain instruments. Modern medicine is advancing so fast. Brain diseases are being treated using electrodes placed in the brain itself. Because the body reacts against invasive materials, Tel Aviv University scientists have developed a protein coating for the electrodes that fools the body’s immune system.
http://www.aftau.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=17021&news_iv_ctrl=-1

Jobless numbers on the rise in swing states
Unemployment rates rose in July from…
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Dem-turned-Republican Davis rallies for Ryan
Former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis s…
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Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz23zynKDK6
Morsi seen restoring Iran ties with trip to Tehran
Associated Press
Saturday, August 18, 2012
News
Morsi seen restoring Iran ties with trip to Tehran
Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi will attend a summit in Iran later this month, a presidential official said on Saturday, the first such trip for an Egyptian leader since relations with Tehran deteriorated decades ago. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz23zz2G8Ox

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/

The slogan under which Obama hopes to win the next four years is “Forward”. “Forward” is the quintessential progressive slogan, progressives being people who are so forward-thinking that they want to remake the 21st Century in line with their 19th Century ideas. Progressivism, like so many other flavors of futurism, is so new it’s old. It’s the world of tomorrow as imagined by men with top hats and full beards whose Twitter-wielding descendants are still shouting, “March Forward!” at us 150 years later.
The last century has represented a great love affair with the future. A hundred years of spring cleaning accompanied by the resounding cry, “Out with the old, in with the new.” Everyone was a progressive now. The one thing that all the participants in the Second World War had in common was that they were all dreaming of the future. A Thousand Year Reich, a United Nations or Communism: millions died for the sake of a wonderful future.

The Germans died for a Nazi superstate built out of Albert Speer’s monstrous concrete towers of babel, a technocratic revival of Mad King Ludwig’s castle building projects. The Russians died for collective agriculture and inspiring posters of grim workers hoeing the earth and electrifying the countryside. Everyone else died because they were either in the way of one vision or the other. Then they died so that a United Europe and a United Nations might usher in a better world.

The world of tomorrow has seen better days. The West is still in love with the future. If you doubt that, stop by an Apple Store and marvel at all the shiny surfaces. Try not to notice that the aesthetic is a retro futurism because even our future has become our past. Forty years after the Soviet Union tried to land a Mars rover and fifteen years since the first time we did it successfully, we landed a bigger and better rover on Mars. We may not be able to reach the ISS without taking a ride on Soviet Soyuz tubs, but the parts of NASA that aren’t dedicated to proving that science and technology are burning up the planet through Global Warming, can still execute an occasional engineering triumph.