RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/3795/conference_on_bds_campaign_against_israel_to_be_held_in_london
Conference on BDS campaign against Israel to be held in London
Birbeck College will host this week a major international academic conference focused on the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel

The University of London’s Birbeck College will host this week a major international academic conference looking at the issue of boycotts, with a focus on the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, reports the Jerusalem Post.

Hosted by the Pears Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism at Birkbeck, in conjunction with the International Consortium for Research on Anti-Semitism and Racism, the event will span three days and will bring together an array of speakers. A number of Israeli academics will be present, as will Dr. John Chalcraft of the London School of Economics – a major supporter of the BDS movement.

“Boycotts have been a longstanding form of protest. By addressing this history from the eighteenth century to the present, the conference will break new ground,” Prof. David Feldman, director of the Pears Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism at Birkbeck, told The Jerusalem Poston Sunday.

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/3490/which_presidents_are_right_about_government_washington_and_jefferson_or_wilson_and_obama

Which presidents are right about government, Washington and Jefferson or Wilson and Obama?

When I became interested in public policy, I thought Jimmy Carter was the epitome of a bad President. But as I began to learn economics, I realised that Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson also were terrible and belong in the Hall of Fame of bad Presidents.

And the more I studied economics and public policy, I learned that Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt were two peas in a failed big-government pod and deserve membership in that Hall of Fame too.

Or I guess we should call it a Hall of Shame. Whatever we call it, I’m now at the point where I realise that Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt are the charter members. Why? Well, because they were the first Presidents to reflect the progressive ideology.

More specifically, they shared the ideology of the progressive movement, which saw a powerful and activist central government as a force for good – a radical departure from the views of America’s Founding Fathers, who hoped that the Constitution would protect people by keeping government very small.

Not surprisingly, Barack Obama is in that “progressive” tradition, even to the point of attacking the views of the Founding Fathers in a recent speech at Ohio State University.

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/3787/alicia_keys_face_slaps_anti_israel_bigotry

Hatred is defeated by art, as the brilliant Alicia Keys refuses to boycott the Jewish state

One of America’s greatest musical and artistic talents, Alicia Keys, has shown the kind of moral and artistic integrity that is so sadly lacking among some of her more excitable contemporaries, (not to say clichéd windbags unable to break free from fashionable anti-intellectual prejudice against the Jewish state).

As the World Jewish Congress (WJC) is highlighting today, Ms Keys has refused to bow to pressure from characters such as Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd fame, and Alice Walker, a Pulitzer prize winning writer.

In response to a call to boycott Israel by cancelling a July 4 concert in Tel Aviv, the singer, song-writer, and actress said: “I look forward to my first visit to Israel. Music is a universal language that is meant to unify audiences in peace and love, and that is the spirit of our show.”

How could one disagree? Well, one could disagree if, instead of “peace and love”, one’s primary motivation was hatred and lies.

If people such as Waters and Walker can provide a better explanation for their calls they are quite welcome to explain them here on The Commentator. Indeed, I’ll go one better: why don’t Waters and Walker let me interview them about their behaviour? Surely they wouldn’t turn down a right to reply so as better to give their own version of events. (Would any reader care to ask them?)

Meanwhile, it’s Friday, which means people are going to be beheaded today in Saudi Arabia; it’s Friday in Syria, which means men, women and children will be slaughtered to protect the Assad despotism; and it’s Friday like any other Friday in much of the rest of the world where hundreds of millions live under oppressive regimes.

But why not just ignore all that and boycott Israel, one of the most advanced democracies in the world?

Alicia Keys has explained why not, and that’s a great reason for writing to thank her for her decency, and for going out and buying one of her records today.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324520904578549751455158588.html The search for a “moderate” Iranian leader has beguiled every American President since the revolution of 1979. No such creature has ever been found. But the hunt for the unicorn seems destined to begin again with the breathless reporting that Iranians have elected 64-year-old cleric Hassan Rohani as their next president. Mr. Rohani surprised […]

http://www.ruthfullyyours.com/ How does one define a nation? That is truly the fundamental question of amnesty. The libertarian argument in favor of amnesty comes down to the question of whether nations even necessary at all. If the only characteristic that matters is freedom then borders and the other vestiges of nationhood only interfere with the flow […]

  The Israel theme runs throughout…the hero, film-maker Gil Gilels, in order to pay off his gambling debts, is in a life or death dilemma to produce an anti-Israel/anti-Semitic film for a billionaire anti-Semite. There is much more going on and I certainly can’t give out the ending. Read it…..rsk   In his usual hard-edged […]

http://spectator.org/archives/2013/06/17/foreign-policy-as-farce Obama and Syria — this dog ain’t wagging. The Obama administration has reached the unenviable stage in which it’s almost impossible to determine where one scandal ends and another begins. The most recent case in point is President Obama’s decision to kinda sorta intervene in the Syrian civil war that is now in its […]

http://acdemocracy.org/?utm_source=Clueless+Harming+the+U.S.+Without+%26+Within&utm_campaign=ACD%2FEWI+BLOG&utm_medium=email

Introduction

Imagine, the White House and Iran’s president-elect agree. Both congratulated the Iranian people on their determination to participate in the “political process” of the purported election.

President Bashar al-Assad also voiced his approval, congratulating Hasan Rohani for gaining “the trust of millions of the brotherly Iranian people.” In a televised address following his victory, Rohani “thanked the Iranian people for their huge turnout” in the election, and called on the West to respect Iran.

It didn’t take long for the White House to assure Rohani that “we respect the vote of the Iranian people,” praising their “determination to act to shape their future.”

Iran’s official voters turnout of 72.7% is still smaller than the 100% turnout in North Korea, or 90% in Cuba. But like them, the “political process” and “election” that the White House praised was staged. Each “candidate” played the role scripted by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was quoted saying, “Recently I have heard that a U.S. security official has said they do not accept this election. OK, the hell with you.” Nevertheless, the administration announced, yet again, it was “ready to engage the Iranian government.” Administration officials on Sunday talk shows described Rohani as a “moderate” and a “reformer.” Yet, he has never claimed to be either.

http://eastasiaintel.com/swiss-educated-kim-places-top-priority-to-building-luxury-ski-resort/ STARVING CITIZENS DO NEED DISTRACTION….RSK Swiss-educated Kim places top priority to building luxury ski resort North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un at the Masik Pass Skiing Ground under construction by the Korean People’s Army. /Rodong Sinmun

http://www.worldtribune.com/?utm_source=Clueless+Harming+the+U.S.+Without+%26+Within&utm_campaign=ACD%2FEWI+BLOG&utm_medium=email One of the more bizarre aspects of the current deluge of Washington scandals is that their very numbers permit President Barack Obama to finesse and continue to play a role as No. 1 Observer and chief political fundraiser.   The almost weekly additions to news of the Administration’s dereliction of duty and corruption diffuse […]