RUTHFULLY YOURS

Renowned author Paul Theroux discusses why the philanthropy of Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Bono, and Jeffrey Sachs largely fails. Here’s what works.

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424053111903747504579185800700741812.html?mod=djemb_mag_h#printMode

The desire of distant outsiders to fix Africa may be heartfelt, but it is also age-old and even quaint. Curiously repetitive in nature, renewed and revised every decade or so, it is an impulse Charles Dickens described, in a wickedly accurate phrase, as “telescopic philanthropy.” That is, a focus from afar to uplift the continent: New York squinting compassionately at Nairobi.

Never have so many people, so many agencies, so many stratagems, so much money been deployed to improve Africa — and yet the majority of the movers are part-timers, merely dropping in, setting up a scheme in the much-mocked “the-safari-that-does-good” manner, then returning to their real lives, as hard-charging businessmen, Hollywood actors, benevolent billionaires, atoning ex-politicians, MacArthur geniuses, or rock stars in funny hats. It’s not hard to imagine the future tombstones of the Clintons and Bono and Gates, and many others bitten by the eleemosynary itch, chiseled with the words, Telescopic Philanthropist. The farther away the donors are, the shorter their visits (“Chelsea Clinton took time out of her 10-day humanitarian trip in Africa to meet some of the kids that her AIDS work is benefiting…”), and the more passionate their feelings.

http://www.nationalreview.com/node/365143/printIt’s been over six months since the IRS inspector general’s report was released, revealing that the agency had improperly targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny by withholding approval of what have traditionally been routine applications for organizations to operate as social-welfare organizations under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code. Despite assurances that both the FBI […]

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/365132/surrender-geneva-mark-steyn ‘Iran, U.S. Set to Establish Joint Chamber of Commerce within Month,” reports Agence-France Presse. Government official Abolfazi Hejazi tells the English-language newspaper Iran Daily that the Islamic Republic will shortly commence direct flights to America. Passenger jets, not ICBMs, one assumes — although, as with everything else, the details have yet to be worked out. Still, […]

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/365137/politics-not-soap-opera-andrew-c-mccarthy From health care to Iran, it’s grown far too serious for Clinton-era entertainment. The problem with the soap opera that is modern American politics is that politics is not soap opera. The object of the latter is entertainment through a daily, hokey maintenance of suspense. This necessarily requires the viewer’s suspension of disbelief, particularly […]

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Into-the-fray-Will-the-West-withstand-the-Obama-presidency-333440 I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles – principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of […]

Michael Makovsky should not be confused with David Makovsky who has joined the State Department….rsk

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/folly-fatuity-and-futility_769086.html#

The interim agreement that the United States and its partners cut with Iran last week stands as a centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. The Obama administration has walked away from a core objective of U.S. policy for two decades-preventing a nuclear Iran-thereby threatening fundamental regional and global interests. In accepting a partial pause in aspects of Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief, and in giving up on the insistence that Iran ultimately abandon its nuclear program, the Obama administration invites dire strategic consequences-an existential threat to Israel and our Arab allies, nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, a strengthening of the forces of radicalism and terrorism in the region, and a fundamental weakening of the U.S. position in the region and the world.
Congress and U.S. allies in the Middle East must make their own judgments of this deal and retain freedom of action. They may well be able to limit its damage. We encourage them to do so. But we’re also obliged to ask what the deal tells us about our president and his view of the world.

There’s an obvious comparison of Barack Obama to Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister who pursued a policy of appeasing Adolf Hitler, culminating in the Munich conference of 1938. There, Chamberlain and the French premier agreed to Hitler’s demand that Czechoslovakia should cede the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany to stave off a threatened German invasion, without the Czechs even being a party to the talks.

http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2013/11/iw-blog-fbi-stats-further-debunk-islamophobia-myth The FBI’s newly released hate crime statistics covering 2012 have once again thrown cold water on the tired narrative that American Muslims find themselves under siege from increasingly violent “Islamophobes.” The 2012 numbers reinforce the conclusion drawn by Islamist Watch’s previous analysis of post-9/11 (2002–11) FBI data: Muslims endure fewer hate crimes per capita […]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?autohide=1&v=AUfFdhIOoQM&autoplay=1&version=3&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fautohide%3D1%26version%3D3%26autoplay%3D1%26v%3DAUfFdhIOoQM&app=desktop

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com  http://blogs.jpost.com/users/just-look-us-now ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS   Israeli cured of essential tremor.  At Haifa’s Rambam hospital, the first Israeli has been cured of essential tremor using ExAblate Neuro – the non-invasive focused ultrasound treatment from Israel’s InSightec.  Also a recent BBC program featuring the treatment, but no mention of the name of the equipment, or that […]

THANKS TO MY BRILLIANT E-PAL JOAN SWIRSKY …AMERICAN MINUTE WITH BILL FEDERER…..RSK
On November 29, 1948, Democrat President Harry S Truman wrote to Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the first President of Israel:

“I remember well our conversations about the Negeb… I agree fully with your estimate of the importance of the area to Israel, and I deplore any attempt to take it away from Israel.

I had thought that my position would have been clear to all the world, particularly in the light of the specific wording of the Democratic Party platform.”

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001LmBdV0nqSrcbhx0jM_tRTKLmV1Cv1PxED6KTbYOEqymW7eHv7hle68FlenKroQbmnKQfYQZrC6ThyBkWCzXPHqmZ6T7ZH5mWGgcgUcnNpqWDMbsCa66fTpzerD2AAs3C479gQxRuSBKpwWJ3Va9Kby_xND40eEcH52glzfbwdrw1d8HHraN_OvqdabwVdpL7Bg_SgawA-Fs=
The 1948 Democrat Party Platform stated:

“President Truman, by granting immediate recognition to Israel, led the world in extending friendship and welcome to a people who have long sought and justly deserve freedom and independence.

We pledge full recognition to the State of Israel. We affirm our pride that the United States under the leadership of President Truman played a leading role in the adoption of the resolution of November 29, 1947, by the United Nations General Assembly for the creation of a Jewish State.

We approve the claims of the State of Israel to the boundaries set forth in the United Nations resolution of November 29th and consider that modifications thereof should be made only if fully acceptable to the State of Israel.

We look forward to the admission of the State of Israel to the United Nations and its full participation in the international community of nations.

We pledge appropriate aid to the State of Israel in developing its economy and resources. We favor the revision of the arms embargo to accord to the State of Israel the right of self-defense.”

President Truman concluded his letter to Israel’s President Dr. Chaim Weizmann, November 29, 1948:

“I have interpreted my re-election as a mandate…to carry out…the plank on Israel… In closing, I want to tell you how happy and impressed I have been at the remarkable progress made by the new State of Israel.”