Saturday, April 24, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Chuck Schumer Criticizes Obama For His Handling Of Israel
Schumer had the following to say:
I told the President, I told Rahm Emanuel and others in the administration that I thought the policy they took to try to bring about negotiations is counter-productive, because when you give the Palestinians hope that the United States will do its negotiating for them, they are not going to sit down and talk. Palestinians don’t really believe in a state of Israel, they, unlike a majority of Israelis, who have come to the conclusion that they can live with a 2-state solution to be determined by the parties, the majority of Palestinians are still very reluctant, and they need to be pushed to get there. If the U.S. says certain things and takes certain stands the Palestinians say, “Why should we negotiate?”…
Israel apologized and when Biden left, and Biden is the best friend of Israel in the administration everything was fine. But then what happened is the next day Hillary Clinton called up Netanyahu and talked very tough to him, and worse they made it pubic through this spokesperson, a guy named Crowley. And Crowley said something I have never heard before, which is, the relationship of Israel and the United States depends on the pace of the negotiations. That is terrible. That is the dagger because the relationship is much deeper than the disagreements on negotiations, and most Americans—Democrat, Republican, Jew, non-Jew–would feel that…
When George Schultz wanted to sell (couldn’t hear) to Saudi Arabia? Every administration has this idea to talk tough to Israel and make nice to the Arabs and the Palestinians and that’s the way to bring about peace. It’s counter-productive, it’s actually the opposite. The only way the Palestinians will sit down and talk is if they know Israel and the United States are as close as could be. And each administration learns it. Schultz had to learn it and Reagan had to learn it. Clinton did it in the early years and later became a very good friend of Israel. George Bush the first did it and never got over it, (SEGAL laughing muffles SCHUMER). We are at a crucial moment here and I am hopeful that administration will see the right way to go. I am working on it.
To listen for yourself visit http://www.nachumsegal.com/readBlognew.cfm?blog=57554.
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Arizona Signs Immigration Enforcement Bill
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The Washington Post reports that "Gov. Jan Brewer ignored criticism from President Barack Obama on Friday and signed into law a bill supporters said would take handcuffs off police in dealing with illegal immigration in Arizona, the nation's gateway for human and drug smuggling... The legislation, sent to the Republican governor by the GOP-led Legislature, makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally. It also requires local police officers to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal immigrants, allows lawsuits against government agencies that hinder enforcement of immigration laws, and make it illegal to hire illegal immigrants for day labor or knowingly transport them... Arizona has an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants, and its harsh, remote desert serves as the corridor for the majority of illegal immigrants and drugs moving north into the U.S. from Mexico."
Here's Obama's reaction:
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Jon Stewart's Response To The Threats Against South Park For The Mohammed Episodes
The only problem is that he gives Comedy Central itself a free pass for caving into the Islamist threats and censoring the episode.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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Thursday, April 22, 2010
Comedy Central Censors Episode Referencing Mohammed
Fox News reports that "Comedy Central bleeped out all references to the Prophet Muhammad in Wednesday night's episode of the animated show 'South Park.' The episode was a continuation of last week's episode which depicted the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit. A radical Muslim website threatened the show's creators following that episode. Comedy Central confirmed to FoxNews.com that it had censored the show, and that the episode was not available on its website. In addition to bleeping the words 'Prophet Muhammad,' the show also covered the character with a large block labeled 'Censored.'"
The New York Times reports that the “South Park” creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, have issued a statement in response to Comedy Central’s decision to alter an episode after a Muslim group’s warning: "In the 14 years we’ve been doing South Park we have never done a show that we couldn’t stand behind. We delivered our version of the show to Comedy Central and they made a determination to alter the episode. It wasn’t some meta-joke on our part. Comedy Central added the bleeps. In fact, Kyle’s customary final speech was about intimidation and fear. It didn’t mention Muhammad at all but it got bleeped too. We’ll be back next week with a whole new show about something completely different and we’ll see what happens to it."
A South Park episode airs satirizing intimidation that results in censorship. Comedy Central is intimidated and censors the episode. A South Park airs episode satirizing the fear of threats of Islamic violence in response to depictions of Mohammed. Muslims respond with threats of violence in response to South Park episode depicting Mohammed. Does anyone not see how ironic this all is?
The episode was about celebrities that have been mocked in South Park's past episodes trying to steal Mohammed's special power that forbids him from being mocked. It is nothing short of disgusting that Comedy Central would itself make the show's point a reality on their station, and on South Park itself which is known for making fun of absolutely everybody and everything else without censorship.
Comedy Central recently had this on the Sarah Silverman program: http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=307703&title=festive-holocaust-memorial. Is it possible some Jews might be offended? Then why was it not censored? Might it have anything to do with the fact that Jews are not threatening to go around and kill people for comedy they disagree with?
Shameful.
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Blagojevich Moves To Subpoena Obama
CBS reports that the defense team for deposed Gov. Rod Blagojevich has moved to subpoena President Barack Obama to testify at Blagojevich's corruption trial. Blagojevich has pleaded not guilty to charges that accuse him of scheming to sell or trade the Senate seat left vacant by Obama's election as president. The motion filed Thursday says Obama was interviewed for two hours by prosecutors and FBI agents regarding the Blagojevich case, and the defense filed a motion asking for all transcripts, notes and reports from that interview. But the defense never received the documents, the motion said.
"President Obama has direct knowledge to allegations made in the indictment. In addition, President Obama's public statements contradict other witness statements, specifically those made by labor union official and Senate Candidate B," the motion said.
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Goldman's Chief Executive Met With White House 4 Times As They Were Being Investigated By The SEC
McClatchy reports that while "Goldman Sachs' lawyers negotiated with the Securities and Exchange Commission over potentially explosive civil fraud charges, Goldman's chief executive visited the White House at least four times. White House logs show that Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein traveled to Washington for at least two events with President Barack Obama, whose 2008 presidential campaign received $994,795 in donations from Goldman's political action committee, its employees and their relatives. He also met twice with Obama's top economic adviser, Larry Summers." Further, "Goldman is retaining former Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig as a member of its legal team. In addition, when he worked as an investment banker in Chicago a decade ago, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel advised one client who also retained Goldman as an adviser on the same $8.2 billion deal. Goldman's connections to the White House and the Obama administration are raising eyebrows at a time when Washington and Wall Street are dueling over how to overhaul regulation of the financial world."
Lawrence Jacobs, a University of Minnesota political scientist, said that "almost everything that the White House has done has been haunted by the personnel and the money of Goldman . . . as well as the suspicion that the White House, particularly early on, was pulling its punches out of deference to Goldman and its war chest."
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UK Bans Western Wall From Israel Tourism Ads On The Grounds That The Western Wall Is "Occupied Territory"
Honest Reporting reports that "a ruling by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority has taken things to new heights of absurdity. The ASA dealt with a complaint concerning an Israel Government Tourist Office advert that 'the photograph featured for Jerusalem was of East Jerusalem" and therefore "the ad misleadingly implied that East Jerusalem was part of the state of Israel.'... Nonetheless, the ASA upheld the complaint, judging that the ad had breached rules on truthfulness... Despite the fact that the final status of Jerusalem has yet to be determined through any negotiations between the involved parties, the ASA has, without the aid of international lawyers or politicians, come to its own decision - Israel is 'not to imply that places in the Occupied Territories were part of the State of Israel.'... The bottom line - Israel can no longer feature Jerusalem's Old City, including the Western Wall, as part of its tourist advertising campaigns in the UK."
The Israeli Tourism Ministry responded, saying that "the ad provided basic, accurate information to a prospective UK traveller who wanted to know what to expect in Israel. They maintained that it was entirely accurate to assert that a visitor to Israel could visit Jerusalem as part of a short visit. Furthermore, they believed that, had the ad omitted a reference to a visit to the city of Jerusalem, it would have been incorrect and potentially misleading."
Israel's Tourism Minister also responded:
"These statements join the list of repeated attempts by anti-Israel organizations to discredit Israel's standing using absurd claims. The ministry will continue to promote marketing and advertising campaigns that make use of historic and religious sites in order to increase tourism to Israel. Jerusalem and its many religious and historic sites is Israel's central tourism anchor that draws millions of tourists of all religions every year, regardless of political views. The Tourism Ministry brands Israel as the Holy Land with Jerusalem at its heart, which beyond being the City of Peace, is the united capital of Israel. It is obvious to any thinking person that the Western Wall is one of Israel's inalienable assets and as such it will continue to appear in the ministry's campaigns. Just as nobody would dare interfere in the discretion of British state authorities on the matter of marketing Britain, the attempt to do so to Israel is illegitimate and non-negotiable."
Honest Reporting went into Jerusalem's Old City, seeking out confused tourists to find out which country they thought they were in, and here were the responses:
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Netanyahu To Obama: Israel Will Continue To Build In Jerusalem
The AP reports that aides "to Israel's prime minister said Thursday that he has officially rejected President Barack Obama's demand to suspend all construction in contested east Jerusalem, a move that threatens to entrench a year-old deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. The aides said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered his government's position to Obama over the weekend, ahead of the scheduled arrival later Thursday of the U.S. president's special Mideast envoy, George Mitchell. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the contact between the two leaders was private. Washington had put Mitchell's shuttle diplomacy on hold for more than a month as it awaited a reply from Israel. Aides to Netanyahu provided no information on whether the Israeli leader had offered any other concessions to the Palestinians in an effort to restart the long-stalled talks."
Why is it that the United States government begins its dealiings with the issue by assuming that it is Israel that must continue to make concessions just to "restart" direct or even indirect talks with the Mahmoud Abbas. Why is the Palestinian Authority expected to make no concessions? Has Israel not conceded enough already? It withdrew every soldier and settler from Gaze in 2005, and what good did that do? The Islamoterrorists in Gaza kept sending rockets into Israel. Israel needs to make no concessions. Israel is in the position of strength and it Israel is not served in any way by making more concession. Any negotiations if they are to take place should continue with the assumption that Israel need not concede on anything unless they recieve a reasonable concession in return.
"It is just impossible and unacceptable that people try to impress us that we should limit construction in Jerusalem," Benny Begin, a senior Cabinet minister, told foreign reporters and diplomats Thursday. "Jews and Arabs can live throughout the city. This policy will be retained."
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Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Obama Now Saying He Is Open To The Value Added Tax
The AP reports that "President Barack Obama suggested Wednesday that a new value-added tax on Americans is still on the table, seeming to show more openness to the idea than his aides have expressed in recent days... After Obama adviser Paul Volcker recently raised the prospect of a value-added tax, or VAT, the Senate voted 85-13 last week for a nonbinding 'sense of the Senate' resolution that calls the such a tax 'a massive tax increase that will cripple families on fixed income and only further push back America's economic recovery.'" The VAT is an intrusive tax kept hidden from the consumers, but that severely impacts consumers, by taxing the "value added" at each stage of production of certain commodities. Tweet
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Salon Editor Unable To Name A Single Extreme voices On The Left
To see the video clip for yourself from "Morning Joe" visit http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/checker.aspx?v=XdSU8znzVr. Tweet
GOP Seeking SEC Records On Goldman Sachs And Any Communications With White House Or Members Of Congress
Politico reports that "Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight committee, is demanding a slew of documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission, asserting that the timing of civil charges against Goldman Sachs raises 'serious questions about the commission’s independence and impartiality.' Issa’s letter, addressed to SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro and signed by eight other House Republicans, asks whether the commission had any contact about the case, prior to its public release, with White House aides, Democratic Party committee officials, or members of Congress or their staff."
“[W]e are concerned that politics have unduly influenced the decision and timing of the commission’s controversial enforcement action against Goldman,” Issa writes. He implied that the timing was a bit too convenient, saying President Barack Obama’s push on Wall Street reform “neatly coincided with the commission’s announcement of the suit.” The letter is also signed by Republican Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Jason Chaffetz of Utah, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, Dan Burton of Indiana, John Mica of Florida, Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri, Aaron Schock of Illinois and Anh “Joseph” Cao of Louisiana.
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Supreme Court Overturns Federal Law Prohibiting Videos That Depict Animal Cruelty
The Washington Post reports that the "Supreme Court struck down a federal law Tuesday aimed at banning videos depicting graphic violence against animals, saying that it violates the constitutional right to free speech. Chief Justice John J. Roberts Jr., writing for an eight-member majority, said the law was overly broad and not allowed by the First Amendment. He rejected the government’s argument that whether certain categories of speech deserve constitutional protection depends on balancing the value of the speech against its societal costs. 'The First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech does not extend only to categories of speech that survive an ad hoc balancing of relative social costs and benefits,' Roberts wrote. 'The First Amendment itself reflects a judgment by the American people that the benefits of its restrictions on the Government outweigh the costs. Our Constitution forecloses any attempt to revise that judgment simply on the basis that some speech is not worth it.' The law was enacted in 1999 to forbid sales of so-called 'crush videos,' which appeal to a certain sexual fetish by depicting the torture of animals or showing them being crushed to death by women with stiletto heels or their bare feet. But the government has not prosecuted such a case. Instead, the case before the court, United States v. Stevens, came from Robert Stevens of Pittsville, Va., who was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison for videos he made about pit bull fighting."
Justice Samuel Alito was the sole dissenter, arguing that the "First Amendment protects freedom of speech, but it most certainly does not protect violent criminal conduct, even if engaged in for expressive purposes.”
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Monday, April 19, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
New York Times: Defense Secretary Gates Says In Secret Memo That U.S. Lacks A Policy To Thwart Iran From Obtaining Nuclear Weapons
The New York Times reports that several "officials said the highly classified analysis, written in January to President Obama’s national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, touched off an intense effort inside the Pentagon, the White House and the intelligence agencies to develop new options for Mr. Obama. They include a revised set of military alternatives, still under development, to be considered should diplomacy and sanctions fail to force Iran to change course… Pressed on the administration’s ambiguous phrases until now about how close the United States was willing to allow Iran’s program to proceed, a senior administration official described last week in somewhat clearer terms that there was a line Iran would not be permitted to cross. The official said that the United States would ensure that Iran would not 'acquire a nuclear capability,' a step Tehran could get to well before it developed a sophisticated weapon. 'That includes the ability to have a breakout,' he said, using the term nuclear specialists apply to a country that suddenly renounces the nonproliferation treaty and uses its technology to build a small arsenal… Mr. Gates’s memo appears to reflect concerns in the upper echelons of the Pentagon and the military that the White House did not have a well-prepared series of alternatives in place in case all the diplomatic steps finally failed." Tweet
White Supremacists March In Downtown Los Angeles
To see the video news report visit http://cbs2.com/video/?cid=211. Tweet
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