I can't say "enjoy," because the story is too sad.
From the comments:
This video is entered in the American Jewish Committee Video Competition for Israel's 60th anniversary, http://my.israel.org/contest/ You can comment, rate and eventually vote on the entered videos.
The US Navy is sending three warships to the eastern Mediterranean Sea in a show of strength during a period of tensions with Syria and political uncertainty in Lebanon.
Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters the deployment should not be viewed as threatening or in response to events in any single country in that volatile region.
"This is an area that is important to us, the eastern Med," he said when asked about news reports of the ship movements. "It's a group of ships that will operate in the vicinity there for a while," adding that "it isn't meant to send any stronger signals than that, but it does signal that we're engaged, we're going to be in the vicinity and that's a very, very important part of the world." (complete article)
Israel is under attack. The cities the Arabs have been bombing are all pre-1967. Olmert and his cohorts are incapable of defending Israel and defeating our enemies. In another two weeks, it will be Shabbat Zachor, when G-d reminds us to totally annihilate Amalek. It is read in the "tune" of every Jewish ethnic group to make sure that we all understand that it is our personal individual responsibility to destroy every last iota of Amalek, when and wherever we are.
Shabbat Shalom U'Mevorach!
May You Have a Peaceful and Blessed Sabbath
...The speech was meant to reassure pro-Israel supporters, but should also raise concerns about Senator Obama. He did make a series of comforting comments regarding Israel (e.g., a commitment to the security of Israel, his goal to work towards peace while recognizing Israel has its enemies, and that our relationship is based on shared values and shared history). The reliably pro-Obama JTA website provides a rundown of his speech...
...Senator Obama characterizes those who have concerns about policies he might follow as President as being Likud-supporters. This has been a charge propagated by the fiercest opponents of Israel, who have often slipped into conspiracy theories regarding American supporters of Israel. (Try googling Likudnik and "dual loyalty" or "conspiracy theory"; Likudnik has become a term of opprobrium. As David Berstein notes, "Likudnik has gradually become a general anti-Semitic term for Jews whose opinions one does not like."
One wishes Senator Obama would be bit more sensitive going forward when he uses such a term. After all, the Likud Party has not been in power for years, and Americans should feel free to express their concerns without being characterized as that party's supporters, with its suggestion of dual loyalty. The suggestion that supporters of Israel who express their concerns are subscribers to the view of the Likud Party of Israel is simply not grounded. After all, supporters of Hillary Clinton have also expressed qualms regarding Senator Obama's views of Israel. Are they supporters of Likud, too?
Haaretz columnist Shmuel Rosner raises an additional reason to have qualms. Will a President Obama be supportive of an Israel headed by a Prime Minster who hails from the Likud party? Does this statement by Senator Obama risk interfering with Israeli politics?...
However, regarding the possibility of an offensive in the Gaza Strip, Olmert said: "I do not recall speaking even once about a ground operation in the Strip." (complete article here)In the end, just like in his previous war, it will be our soldiers and civilians who will suffer the most. He is continuing the miss-guided, perverse morality which claims that we must protect enemy civilians more than our own civilians and soldiers.
Women's Organizations, I'm Not Coming
by Nadia Matar...And so, I want to tell this band of women: Forget about me. I'm not coming to your demonstrations. You can come looking for me and my friends. If you find us, then we will ask you: Now you wake up? Because you are convinced that Moshe Katzav committed rape and got off lightly?
Where were you until now? Where were you when the High Court of Justice allowed the state to commit gang rape against our brothers and sisters from Gush Katif and northern Samaria? The gang rape called the "disengagement." Why didn't you take a stand with us in the demonstrations under the slogan: "Disengagement Criminals to Trial"? Where were you when entire families were destroyed, physically, psychologically and financially, because of the rape of the expulsion?
Where were you after the Amona pogrom, when hundreds of police officers fell like Cossacks on youth, boys and girls, and delivered murderous blows, pushed and beat them, while severely violating the modesty of Jewish girls, without being punished for this? Where were you when male police officers, against standing regulations, physically dragged off women and girls at Amona? Did you raise "your voice"? Did you participate in demonstrations and marches against the "law enforcement" system that defended the pogromist - and, yes, sexually abusive - police officers?... (read it all)
1-A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.I don't trust "just anyone's" opinion of what's kosher, and when it comes to American politics and Israel, I trust Craig Karpel and not this Robert Wexler. Wexler is an ambitious American politician. He also has a very peculiar "sense of humor" and was recently involved in a scandal, due his poor judgement. Read this from Wikipedia:
2-A person whom one knows; an acquaintance.
3-A person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade.
4-One who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause, or movement: friends of the clean air movement.
On the July 20, 2006 episode of The Colbert Report, during an interview for the segment Better Know a District, Wexler jovially went along with Stephen Colbert's idea of making fake statements that, if he were campaigning in a contested election, would effectively end his career. Led by Stephen Colbert, he jokingly responded with the following statements (see video):
“I enjoy cocaine because... it's a fun thing to do.
I enjoy the company of prostitutes for the following reasons: ... because it's a fun thing to do. Much like cocaine. If you combine the two together, it's probably even more fun.”
UN expert: Palestinian terror 'inevitable consequence' of occupation
Livni: Israel will defend its sovereign borders
"Israel will defend its territory and prevent an infiltration of its sovereign borders," acting Prime Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday in a joint statement issued evening before ...Full story
Well, it's obvious that she's black first and American second.
Now, they're always asking Jews about loyalty. So if Michelle and hubby really relate to their black identity as #1, then there's a loyalty problem if he really wants to be pres...
US's Condoleezza Rice has her finger in too many dangerous stews.
I think it's hormonal. She may be known for her great legs, unlike Madeline Albright, who should have learned how to sit more primly.
Rice's biological clock has long run out, so it's no surprise that she's trying to compensate by being midwife for all sorts of "countries."
Its failure to control rampaging crowds that set fire Thursday to part of the United States Embassy compound in Belgrade, and attacked several other embassies, is a shocking and unacceptable abdication of responsibility. complete article
What does that say for the Israeli Government, which hasn't destroyed the Arab terrorist network thereby condemning innocent Israeli citizens to daily kassam rocket attacks? The bombardment started eight years ago.
I'd say that "shocking and unacceptable abdication of responsibility" is a very accurate way of describing the behavior and policies of all of the Israeli Government ever since the Gaza Arabs began shooting rockets at Sderot, Ashkelon and parts of the Negev.
It looks like Hillary will have to make do as Senator.
I have this feeling that if she had dumped Bill, showed warm and true human emotion, other than ambition and dependence, she would still be the front-runner. There's something very manufactured, calculated, plastic about her.
Now, can Obama be elected? Would middle-America go for him? I don't think so. He also seems manufactured. His standard speech about "change" reminds me of the writing exercise I did in college. We had to write a cliche` of a politician's speech. I wrote:
"I want what you want."
To be human, he must reveal something about himself, what it is like to have been raised as he was raised, in different societies and religions. All we know is that as a bi-racial, he identifies with his black side.
McCain seems most human.
No, I don't vote in US elections. Let's see how my predictions go.
2. McCain Considering Condi for VP?For those Democrats who don't want either Obama or Hillary:
One rumor rife in political circles is that likely Republican presidential nominee John McCain might choose Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as his running mate.
On the Feb. 11 broadcast of “Larry King Live,” host King interviewed another African-American woman, Barack Obama’s wife Michelle, and said, “I arrived in Washington today from New York . . . and the first thing you hear is rumors. And one of the rumors is that if McCain is the nominee, he might choose Condoleezza Rice as a running mate.”
Said Obama, “I hadn’t heard that.”
The Condi talk “is just a rumor, folks,” King said. “This is Washington — it thrives on it. You live here, you know it’s right.”
Obama: “I don’t live here.”
Rice was also named as a possible GOP running mate on a recent “Charlie Rose” show on PBS, when Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention said he would like to see a Vice President Condoleezza Rice.
1. Al Gore Could Be Compromise Candidate
Don’t count Al Gore completely out of the presidential picture just yet.
That’s the view from across the pond at The Telegraph in Britain, which outlines a scenario that could put the avowed non-candidate at the head of the Democratic ticket.
Saying the momentum has shifted to Barack Obama after a string of primary and caucus victories, Obama’s chief strategist David Axelrod told The Telegraph, “We closed a 20-point gap in the national polls in the last two weeks. The more people are exposed to his message, the better he does.”
But he added: “We are up against the Clinton machine. We are the perpetual underdog and will be throughout this process. We’re ready to go all the way to the convention.”
The Clinton camp reportedly believes that if Obama doesn’t deliver a knock-out blow before the March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio, Hillary could win those races and regain the momentum, with many superdelegates uniting behind her to preserve party unity.
That could lead to bitter battles at the Democratic convention in August, “which could even end with Al Gore, the former vice president, emerging as a compromise candidate,” according to The Telegraph.
A Clinton source told the paper: “There’s a 5 percent chance of that happening, but that’s 5 percent too high.”
The picture says it all.
Well, what does he mean by "iron dome?"
Can it be something like this?
I keep feeling like we're living in the Theater of the Absurd, but honestly, it's no joking matter.
Israelis wouldn't go for giant city-like space stations, since it would be too hard to visit or host relatives. How would the bubbies send weekly gefilte fish or the savtot the tradtional Shabbat kubbe?
"The focus of the trial [against the Bayit Leumi] was to differentiate between protests," prosecutor Dan Bahat said. "The [Jerusalem Magistrates] court concluded that the aim of the [Bayit Leumi road-blocking] demonstration was not a protest but to foil a government policy. Sderot residents also blocked roads during their protest but their aim was to focus public attention to their plight. The aim of the respondents was to silence the state and to physically prevent the implementation of the Disengagement."
The three respondents -- Shai Malka, Adiel Sharabi and Ariel Vangrover deemed the leaders of the National Home [Bayit Leumi] movement -- were acquitted of sedition and incitement against the government for planning a mass road-blocking in May 2005.
Jerusalem Magistrates Court Judge Rachel Shalev-Gertal ruled on Sept. 2007 to acquit the three on the grounds of selective prosecution. The state prosecution appealed the decision.
"We are asking for the annulment of the selective prosecution [decision]. If there's a conviction, we want imprisonment," Bahat said on Feb. 12 at the Jerusalem District Court."
Bahat said the protest campaign was planned solely by the three defendants -- in contrast to Jewish settlement leaders who sought to avoid unrest*. Bahat said the highway shutdown plan, a method often used by Israeli labor unions, marked a revolt against the government. (*emphasis mine)
Sderot residents can put away the protest tent in Jerusalem: The political leadership has already decided to embark on a wide-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip. However, preparations have not yet been completed, which is why the operation is delayed.
...If that hasn't made you ill enough, read this:
2. A drastic reduction of rocket and mortar fire as quickly as possible.
3. Destruction of most military infrastructure, arms arsenal, and means of production...
4. Blocking the Philadelphi Route in a manner which would curb, by at least 60%, smuggling into and out of the Strip.
5. Avoiding, as much as is possible, harming Palestinian civilians who are not involved in the fighting, and the prevention of a humanitarian crisis.
The strategic objectives are as follows: 1. Removing Hamas from power and establishing a stable Palestinian regime in the Gaza Strip, with international monitoring and assistance.
2. Demilitarizing the Strip for an extended period of time in terms of rockets and the infrastructure to produce such weapons.
3. Effective Israeli security and monitoring for years to come of crossings into the Strip, including Philadelphi (either independently or through an agreement with the Palestinians, the Egyptians, and international monitoring parties.)
In order to achieve this ambitious list of objectives, or at least most of it, Israel must secure the "operational environment." Simply put, Israel must create, in advance, international understanding and backing for the Gaza campaign and elicit the willingness (of NATO or other international parties) to by party to the agreement to follow in its wake, which would enable the IDF to exit Gaza. This matter is an important component in the preparations ahead of the campaign.
NEWSWEEK: Why did you write this new book?
Michael Scheuer: Because I think our country is in trouble. The enemy we are facing, Osama bin Laden and the movement he heads, is much more dangerous than anyone gives him credit for. Much smarter, much more talented, and now increasingly recruiting a new generation that's better educated, not just in school terms but in operational and especially technological ways. We defeated the swashbucklers. The Errol Flynns of the jihad are gone; they're about to go on trial in Guantánamo. Now we have the gray-suited fellows who are quiet, don't draw attention to themselves, but are tremendously savvy.
Have we underestimated Osama bin Laden?
I think there is tremendous racism in our response to bin Laden. He wears a beard and a robe and lives in a cave. (I doubt that's true, by the way. It's the made-for-Hollywood version.) So we dismiss him. But it is just extraordinary to treat your enemy as an idiot, especially when you are losing two wars to him, and when our director of national intelligence is warning that Al Qaeda is rebuilt, refitted and stronger than ever. (for complete article click here)
…is no more. As they write at BackSpin, may he rest in pieces!
Lets just hope this animal's name is blotted out forever.
