RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324769704579008842298142568.html?mod=opinion_newsreel
A Primer on Japan for Caroline Kennedy by Michael Auslin
President Obama’s choice as ambassador may find herself dealing with a Beijing-Tokyo military confrontation.

THE IGNORANCE AND LACK OF EXPERIENCE SHE DISPLAYED WHEN SHE MADE A SHORT RUN FOR NEW YORK SENATOR DOES NOT AUGUR WELL FOR A ROLE IN A FOREIGN POLICY HOT SPOT….RSK

Having the most famous name in American politics hasn’t spared Caroline Kennedy criticism over her nomination to be the next U.S. ambassador to Japan. Writers from across the political spectrum have questioned her qualifications or decried her selection as evidence of celebrity and fundraising power trumping substance in today’s Washington.

Ms. Kennedy’s nomination will undoubtedly be approved by the Senate, but she would help silence her critics by showing at her confirmation hearings that she understands that Japan faces a turning point in the coming years, as does the United States in Asia.

First, Japan appears to be ending a 20-year cycle of political realignment. High hopes for a viable two-party system seem not to have come to fruition. Japanese voters apparently prefer giving one party control over both houses of the Diet. The Liberal Democratic Party, which ruled Japan largely uninterrupted from 1955 to 2009, has been returned to power by an electorate disillusioned with the incompetence and unfulfilled promises of the Democratic Party of Japan. If LDP Prime Minister Shinzo Abe similarly fails to deliver economic growth and reform, Japanese voters may well settle for a permanently fragmented political system, as in Italy, thereby never reaching a truly stable realignment.

Second, Japan is at its most critical juncture for economic reform since the bursting of its bubble in 1990. Two-plus decades of stimulus spending, export-oriented strategy and regulatory tinkering have neither produced sustained growth nor ended the threat of deflation. Since taking office in December, Prime Minister Abe has embarked on a fiscal stimulus and monetary expansion policy that has given a short-term boost to the economy. Now Mr. Abe must deliver meaningful structural reform to stimulate growth, reduce regulation, and free up the labor market. If he fails, there may be no hope for serious reform that will revitalize Japan.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324769704579008453713889352.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop Hollywood and the academic left have made the late Marxist historian more influential than ever. Upon the death of the Marxist-inspired historian Howard Zinn in 2010, eulogies rang out from coast to coast calling him a heroic champion of the unsung masses. In Indiana, then-Gov. Mitch Daniels refused to join the chorus and instead […]

http://www.jpost.com/Experts/Core-roots-of-Palestinian-terrorism-322793?prmusr=QoR5kIqu4WyeD5SRWpRi8pxfw3ddyUFz7cewOJ0aE9pGLHkRyZwIHNGaMAzTOnKQ Jerusalem will soon have to confirm its final Road Map decisions on “peace.” Then, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will need to determine whether the still-fractionated Palestinian side is willing and able to overcome some of its deepest cultural roots. Without such a determination, any formal agreement could be perilous. Here, insight requires memory. Before […]

http://www.rightwingnews.com/column-2/race-fatigue/

After gavel-to-gavel coverage of the George Zimmerman trial, I need a break. After all the post-verdict anger, lamentations and inane discussions about what it is to be a black man in America, I’m exhausted.

After watching President Obama liken himself to Trayvon Martin, I’ve had enough.

All this talk about race seems intentionally shortsighted and disingenuous. It simply implicates whites and infantilizes the black man. And those needing to hear straight talk the most are shortchanged by the soulless profiteers of the racial grievance industry.

I’m tired of Trayvon Martin being compared to Emmett Till — which, by extension, projects a racial ethos similar to that of 1955 upon contemporary America. Martin was no Till, period.

Martin was not some kind of martyr. Please, already.

I’m tired of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. being photoshopped into a hoodie. This is nothing short of repulsive, and it denigrates the memory of Dr. King’s contribution to racial justice.

http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/08/12/kerry-and-his-court-jews/ In an effort to secure support for his newly launched “peace process,” Secretary of State John Kerry met last Thursday evening with a selected group of American Jewish leaders. Like Rabbi Stephen Wise before them, who tacitly consented to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s determination to do nothing to rescue European Jews from the Holocaust, […]

http://nsroundtable.org/

Jaws may not be the only one salivating as you splash.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, a cousin of the piranha reported to go after swimmer’s testicles has been found in coastal waters between Sweden and Denmark. And fish experts are warning locals to stay aware — in order to stay whole.

“Keep your swimwear on if you’re bathing in the Sound these days — maybe there are more out there!” Henrik Carl, a fish expert at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, told Swedish news site The Local.

‘Keep your swimwear on if you’re bathing in the Sound these days …’

– Henrik Carl, a fish expert at the Natural History Museum of Denmark

“They bite because they’re hungry, and testicles sit nicely in their mouth,” Carl added.

Yikes!

http://www.timesofisrael.com/iron-dome-intercepts-rockets-bound-for-eilat/ Al-Qaeda-linked group targeted by reported Israeli drone strike claims responsibility for attack, says ‘Jews will pay the price’ The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted a Grad rocket bound for the southern Israeli city of Eilat overnight Monday. It was Iron Dome’s first successful interception since the battery’s recent deployment in the area. Warning […]

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/vladimir-tismaneanu/betrayed-illusions-the-left-and-the-jews/ Almost sixty-one years ago, in November 1952, in Prague, the former secretary general of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, a diehard, fanatic Stalinist, Rudolf Slansky, and 13 other prominent communists, mostly Jewish, were sentenced to death for alleged treason and Zionist conspiracy.  At the same time, Stalin’s terminal paranoia led to the execution of the […]

http://jewishworldreview.com/0813/pjohnson.php3#.UgoHsUbD-Uk   A superpower with an emergency strike force, big airlift capacity and air superiority is always tempted to intervene in the internal affairs of Third World countries. It looks so simple, especially for the U.S., which has a hyperactive media, noisy democratic institutions that clamor for “human rights” and a long tradition of intervention […]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324769704579009192424814878.html#articleTabs%3Darticle   Palestinian Heroes Releasing murderers will not advance the peace process.   South Africa has Nelson Mandela, Poland has John Paul II, and Burma has Aung San Suu Kyi: Though the measure isn’t exact, one way to judge a nation is by looking at its heroes. So what does it say about a prospective […]