You have probably heard that the Republicans are going ballistic EVEN the rancid Limbaugh thought he would have a stroke. When commenting on the political ad of the president that shows a man who was ruined by Bain, lost his job and health care. His wife became ill, did not have healthcare and ultimately died because of it. Bain essentially took the man's company, loaded it with debt and bankrupted it.
Fast forward to several hours ago. When Romney's campaign worker was asked about the ad and the worker losing his wife because Romney sank the company ultimately getting rid of health care and thereby essentially killing his wife. She blew it BIG time. She said well, if that worker lived in Massachusetts she would have HAD healthcare. Really really? WOW you have got to be kidding. Romney's campaign said that??? So I guess Romenycare aka Obamacare aka the Affordable Care Act is a good thing! NOT exactly the message Romney wanted to convey.
Bring Romneybot on. He suffers from a bad case of foot in mouth disease. Wonder if there is a health care plan to treat it!
LOL. This was a GOOD day!
Yet another reason we MUST re-elect the president and Elizabeth Warren to the US Senate!!
Wednesday, August 08, 2012
ONE MORE THING Re: Hiroshima
There are always other sides to an issue.
I have read accounts that said Hiroshima and Nagasaki WERE of military and strategic significance in that it is where Japan warships and weaponry were made. I have also read that even after Hiroshima Japan would not surrender and that it took Nagaski and the order of the Emperor to finally prevail. I do not know the truth of this.
We KNOW history is told by the winners. Just why did Japan do something so ill conceived as the bombing of Pearl Harbor? I have read accounts that said Japan wanted to stop the US in its tracks from stopping their ultimate goal which was riveted on China. While US attentions were fixed on Hitler's Europe they thought a sneak attack would work.
Where is the truth? I do not know. I only know when I view the picture of the child with her facial skin burned off from radiation of an exploded nuclear device it makes me sad and in truth it makes me want to throw up! Can one IMAGINE how it made these innocents feel?
There is truth too, though, let no man or country mistake, the US is seething with violence and will not rest until an attack on it is met with utter brute force on a perpetrator. The US is huge and it's power is devastating. There is NOTHING the US will not do to protect itself and there is nearly nothing it will not do to retain power and economic dominance even if that economic power is among only the 1%
It is a dangerous world and the US is NOT the only dangerous country in it. It simply happens for now to possess the most devastating and destructive weaponry on planet earth. So far I would rather be here than anywhere else BUT others are climbing that weapons ladder of "success" quickly. Something must be done to save our planet and us FAST or there will be nothing left to save.
I have read accounts that said Hiroshima and Nagasaki WERE of military and strategic significance in that it is where Japan warships and weaponry were made. I have also read that even after Hiroshima Japan would not surrender and that it took Nagaski and the order of the Emperor to finally prevail. I do not know the truth of this.
We KNOW history is told by the winners. Just why did Japan do something so ill conceived as the bombing of Pearl Harbor? I have read accounts that said Japan wanted to stop the US in its tracks from stopping their ultimate goal which was riveted on China. While US attentions were fixed on Hitler's Europe they thought a sneak attack would work.
Where is the truth? I do not know. I only know when I view the picture of the child with her facial skin burned off from radiation of an exploded nuclear device it makes me sad and in truth it makes me want to throw up! Can one IMAGINE how it made these innocents feel?
There is truth too, though, let no man or country mistake, the US is seething with violence and will not rest until an attack on it is met with utter brute force on a perpetrator. The US is huge and it's power is devastating. There is NOTHING the US will not do to protect itself and there is nearly nothing it will not do to retain power and economic dominance even if that economic power is among only the 1%
It is a dangerous world and the US is NOT the only dangerous country in it. It simply happens for now to possess the most devastating and destructive weaponry on planet earth. So far I would rather be here than anywhere else BUT others are climbing that weapons ladder of "success" quickly. Something must be done to save our planet and us FAST or there will be nothing left to save.
The Rumor is it is Ryan for Romney VP -- The Ruination of the Middle Class
The Rumor is it will be Paul Ryan who will be Romney’s choice for vice-president. Paul Ryan's budget would be the final undoing of the middle class which has been decimated by Republican economic policies for decades. It has nearly ruined a nation and even the world. The truth of his budget will not THIS TIME be lost in a Republican web sown of easy listening. It is my opinion that this is the worst of the three Romney could choose for vice-president because, in no small part, Ryan is young and could over time reintroduce the most destructive policies that have been responsible for over 30 years of an economic sewer and the near ruination of the middle class. Yes, Clinton was mixed in with those polices but NOT the way Republicans were. Ryan/Romney are the embodiment of the destruction of the nation as we once knew it.
FDR put in place a role for government to help its people when needed. Social Security and then Medicare which followed two decades later did that. If you are retired and your 401K has been either obliterated or significantly reduced then YOU DEPEND on Social Security and Medicare. These are life saving programs and the Republicans, America, are coming for it. They want it ALL and want the market to rule it. What could possibly go wrong with putting YOUR ENTIRE FUTURE in the hands of Wall Street? These political foxes do not give one care about most of you! They care about the1%'s accumulation of wealth.
In the final analysis it really does not matter who the Republicans put up for VP. This Republican ticket is a ticket to suicide for the middle class and I suspect you will NOT be duped this time by the easily absorbed intoxicants of Republican mantras. The Republican Party has become the TRUE death panels whether in their aggressive war policies OR their 1% economic gifts to the 1% wealthiest in this nation and you should NEVER forget it.
FDR put in place a role for government to help its people when needed. Social Security and then Medicare which followed two decades later did that. If you are retired and your 401K has been either obliterated or significantly reduced then YOU DEPEND on Social Security and Medicare. These are life saving programs and the Republicans, America, are coming for it. They want it ALL and want the market to rule it. What could possibly go wrong with putting YOUR ENTIRE FUTURE in the hands of Wall Street? These political foxes do not give one care about most of you! They care about the1%'s accumulation of wealth.
In the final analysis it really does not matter who the Republicans put up for VP. This Republican ticket is a ticket to suicide for the middle class and I suspect you will NOT be duped this time by the easily absorbed intoxicants of Republican mantras. The Republican Party has become the TRUE death panels whether in their aggressive war policies OR their 1% economic gifts to the 1% wealthiest in this nation and you should NEVER forget it.
Tuesday, August 07, 2012
The Worship of Science--Rethinking our Deepest Truths
This is one of the most gorgeously written pieces I have ever read and perhaps is one of the most disturbing. These are issues on which we must NOT turn our backs. It is necessary to think on it. It made me rethink my own worship of science. Perhaps it will make you think about your deepest truths as well. Click here or below.
http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/12823-the-science-of-genocide
The Most Amazing Two Minutes you will EVER spend!
A little unnecessary background but I'm going to give it anyway -- A relative of mine who happens to be one of the most brilliant humans I have ever met on planet earth and probably the nicest person whom I have ever had the pleasure to know sent me a YouTube. He would hate my bragging about him but I cannot help it he is that nice -- and if one will allow me a bit of lookism he is handsome too. He is a graduate of Harvard undergraduate and Harvard Medical. Are we proud of him in our family -- yes, deliriously so.
I sent out recently a Chomsky article on the impact of Hiroshima and he sent me the following short 2 minute rendition of the beginning of life, the emergence of man, the rise of culture, learning, science and more.
You will never see another video that is more riveting. I urge you to watch this here or below and be amazed. Do NOT forget to use sound. It is truly a wonder! If you find it as amazing as I you will need to revisit it two or three times perhaps stopping to see each important frame. ENJOY! p.s. do not stop if the screen goes dark for a second as there is more and the pauses are necessary as the age of evolutionary development proceeds.
http://marcbrecy.perso.neuf.fr/history.html
Go and Sin No More -- Understanding the Violence of the American Extremist Right
The piece below is MOST excellent and is entitled "White Terrorism at Oak Creek: The Paranoid Style in American Violence" by Prof. Juan Cole. It should be required reading for students everywhere in this country OR simply passed out on a street corner for everyone to learn.
The voices of reasoned intellect are always a joy to behold. I love receiving Prof. Cole’s (University of Michigan Professor of Middle Eastern and American politics) “Informed Comment” pasted below and find it, more often than not, a breath of fresh air in the polluted stream that is the American politics of this ever-more-increasingly-dangerous country!
His first piece on diversity in NASA's control room is illuminating and shows that wonderful things happen when we all work together.
The Second Piece "White Terrorism at Oak Creek" ... [the Sikh Temple slaughter] attempts to understand the virulence and violence that is the American extremist right, how it is nourished by those in mainstream power and even appears in the Republican candidacy for the presidency in the form of Mitt Romney. It is bone chilling indeed.
What have we become and where are we going? There is a violence in our land and its roots run deeply in the American soul and psyche perhaps from the very beginning. Read to understand who we have become and then go, sin no more and teach the multitudes that love is stronger than hate!
Informed Comment
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- On Human unity and the “Curiosity” NASA Control Room
- White Terrorism at Oak Creek: The Paranoid Style in American Violence
- 58 Murders by firearms a year in Britain, 8,775 in US (Oak Creek Reprint Edn.)
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Posted: 06 Aug 2012 11:41 AM PDT
In this video of the NASA control room during the landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars, I don’t see only one race or gender. I see human beings of various shades and cultures and both sexes, collaborating in a project far beyond the atmosphere of our home planet. (3:13 in is the explosion of delight). In fact, the control room reminded me a little of the 1966 deck of the Star Trek Enterprise, and I’m sure Gene Rodenberry would be jumping up and down for joy along with them.
We humans have common achievements every day. No technology we use in our daily life has been developed by only one sort of human being. The medical procedures and inventions that save our lives are invented by all kinds of people, and the physicians who deploy them are likewise diverse.
Why can’t we erupt in joy together more often, as that control room did, in celebration of the wonder of human beings’ achievement of unprecedented insights into our universe?
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Posted: 06 Aug 2012 06:06 AM PDT
We still have only rumors about Wade Michael Page, the gunman who walked into a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin near Milwaukee and opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon (weapons that should be illegal) on men women and children beginning to gather for a day of worship, singing and feasting. He killed 6 Americans and critically wounded 3 others, including a Wisconsin policeman kneeling to help one of the Sikh victims. Others were more lightly wounded and went to ordinary hospitals rather than to the trauma unit.
Page is said to have served in the military, discharged for misconduct in 1998.
He likely thought he was targeting American Muslims. He operated in an atmosphere of virulent hate speech against American Muslims. A discourse of Islamophobia has plagued the United States in the past decade, pushed by unscrupulous bigots in public life and by entire media organizations such as Fox Cable News and other media properties of billionaire yellow press lord Rupert Murdoch. Among them is also Rush Limbaugh, who, incredibly, is still broadcast to US soldiers abroad.
Among the hatemongers are Frank Gaffney, and his acolyte Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn), Rep. Peter King (R-NY) Daniel Pipes, James Woolsey, Robert Spencer, Steve Emerson, John Bolton, and sometimes Rudi Giuliani, Mike Huckabee and others, most associated with the Republican Party. The push for hate speech against American Muslims is funded by a small group of billionaires through their foundations. Some of the Muslim-haters are connected to the US arms industry and are hoping for profits from further wars in the Middle East. Others are Israel-firster fanatics. Others are looking for a bogey man to scare Americans with, so as to convince them to vote against their interests, as they used Communism during the Cold War to convince ordinary Americans to give up their constitutional rights.
It is legitimate to criticize Muslim organizations and parties, and to work against violent groups like al-Qaeda. But al-Qaeda is a tiny fringe religious-nationalist movement; far fewer Muslims have been involved in it than white southerners have been involved in the Ku Klux Klan. Nevertheless, American politicians at least implicitly attempted to tar all Muslims with its brush. Like anti-Semitism, racist anti-Muslim discourse has illegitimate properties. It shouldn’t be acceptable to attribute to Muslims a vast general conspiracy. It shouldn’t be acceptable to assert that they are all dishonest and lying about their real beliefs. It shouldn’t be acceptable to lie and allege that they believe in casually murdering non-Muslims. Their religious law, or sharia, shouldn’t be demonized more than the Talmud or Roman Catholic canon law. It shouldn’t be acceptable to accuse them all of waging jihad or holy war.
Since many in the hate-the-Muslims network are closely associated with the campaign of Mitt Romney, reporters should ask Romney again whether he is willing to repudiate this kind of hate speech.
As in Norway, where the Muslim-hating network (fostered also by hateful web sites like “Gates of Vienna,” “Elders of Ziyon,” and a host of others) deeply influenced mass murderer Anders Breivik, so in the United States the purveying of a negative image of Muslims predictably has resulted in violence. In Norway, Breivik targeted what he called liberals soft on the alleged Muslim menace. In the US, Wade targeted people he thought looked like Muslims, the Sikhs. (Actually I don’t know any American Muslims who wear turbans, as observant Sikh men do, but Hollywood stereotypes die hard). As always, hatemongering never only affects the objects of hatred. It distorts and wounds the people who promote it, and it usually spills over onto society in general. Neoconservative anti-Muslim bigots are usually indirectly also promoting anti-Semitism in the long term.
Did Michele Bachmann, Peter King, Daniel Pipes and the others cause the Wisconsin shootings? No. Did they create an intellectual and cultural atmosphere that naturalized such violence against the supposed Other? Well, Bachmann publicly alleged that a minor aide to Hillary Clinton of Pakistani heritage is at the center of a vast infiltration of the American government by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. You decide.
The image emerging of Page is emblematic of America in the past decade and a half. We are a violent country infested by dangerous semi-automatic weapons. Not only do we have far more murders, and especially murders by firearm, than other societies with advanced economies, but we launch far more wars than other such countries, and spend more than the next 20 advanced countries combined on our war industry. The mindset of frontier warriors taming the encircling savages, which goes back to early American history and, later, the legends of the Old West, informs both domestic attitudes and foreign policy. George W. Bush actually talked about the “romance” of fighting the Pushtuns of Afghanistan.
The US mass media suspected that the shooter actually intended to massacre Muslims, and some unfortunately referred to the temple attendees as “innocent,” as though a mosque congregation would not have been equally innocent.
Sikhism is a north Indian religion that began with ecstatic worship of a generally monotheistic sort some 500 years ago in India. It is an independent religion whose adherents say its scriptures are divinely revealed. As a historian I’m bound to say that it grows out of the cultural mix of Hinduism, Bhakti (ecstatic popular worship), and Sufi Islam (Muslim mysticism) of Mughal India in the early modern period). It is specially associated with the Punjab region of India (and what is now Pakistan). Sikhs say there are some half a million adherents in the United States, though sociologists assert that the figure is more like 100,000. Sikhs are just wonderful people, and a person’s heart is shredded at the idea of this horrible atrocity committed against them.
Sikhs have all too often been targeted by perpetrators of hate crimes in the US.
The characteristics rumored of the shooter mirror the worst of America in the Bush era and after. The Muslim-hating political discourse, already discussed, was pioneered by Karl Rove in 2006.
As for a mistaken target, the United States government attacked Iraq in 2003 after an insidious propaganda campaign that falsely attributed the September 11, 2001 attacks to the government of Saddam Hussein (a conspiracy theory pushed with special ferocity by then Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, other Neoconservatives tied to the Israeli right wing, and by vice president Dick Cheney). There was never any credible evidence linking Iraq to 9/11 and I said so repeatedly and publicly in 2002 and early 2003. In fact, al-Qaeda was fostered in the 1980s by the United States and its regional allies as a way of pushing the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan.
Paranoid “revenge” on Iraq to the extent that some US soldiers in the illegal invasion actually wore pictures of the Twin Towers, the building destroyed by the al-Qaeda hijackers, on their backpacks. I showed in myEngaging the Muslim World that in fact Saddam Hussein was afraid of al-Qaeda and had put out an all points bulletin for a suspected al-Qaeda operative who was rumored to be in Iraq in summer of 2002.
The crazed US invasion of Iraq set off social turmoil that has left tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead and the country still a basket case nine years later. Thousands of Americans were plunged into a quixotic attempt to occupy an Arab Muslim country, forced in many cases into acts of brutality against Iraqi civilians that continue to haunt them. Large numbers of Americans who served in Iraq suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. As the fruitless war ground on, the US army became desperate for recruits, and allegedly increasingly let in members of biker gangs and criminal elements, latter-day Pages. It is horrible to contemplate that our own government, which is terrified of a few Occupy Wall Street hippies, happily gave advanced weapons training and battlefield experience to criminals and white supremacists so as to put down the Iraqi resistance to foreign occupation.
The violence, hatred, paranoia and racism that courses in the subterranean depths of the American psyche has played out on the world stage in the past decade, but also in countless small acts of bigotry and maliciousness at home, as with Rep. Peter King’s hearings on the alleged radicalization of the American Muslim community (an IRA supporter himself, has he had any hearings on the radicalization of white people?) and the campaigns by Evangelical politicians to condemn Muslim canon law or sharia or to prevent Muslims from building mosques and worshiping freely.
That we are all victims of this campaign of hate is eloquently underlined by what happened at Oak Creek.
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Posted: 05 Aug 2012 09:05 PM PDT
Updated
Number of Murders, United States, 2010: 12,996
Number of Murders, Britain, 2011*: 638
(Since Britain’s population is 1/5 that of US, this is equivalent to 3,095 US murders)
Number of Murders by crossbow in Britain, 2011*: 2 (equivalent to 10 US murders).
For more on murder by firearms in Britain, see the BBC.
The international comparisons show conclusively that fewer gun owners per capita produce not only fewer murders by firearm, but fewer murders per capita over all. In the case of Britain, firearms murders are 30 times fewer than in the US per capita.
Do hunters really need semi-automatic AR-15 assault weapons? Is that how they roll in deer season? TheUS public doesn’t think so.
*British crime statistics are September to September, so 2011 is actually 2010-2011.
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Monday, August 06, 2012
Seeking Peace -- A Letter to the Sikh Commnity
To the people of the Sikh community in Ashland and elsewhere, our hearts are with you at this very sad time. As a Jewish person, my brethren and I are no stranger to senseless violence committed by those whose ignorance is a blight upon this nation.
Please know the one who committed this senseless act of violence and murder against those sitting in prayer at the Temple in Wisconsin is in a distinct minority and that the majority stand with you and we mourn together. I offer my heartfelt hope after the initial period of grief your community and ALL of our communities stand stronger collectively for a more peaceful and loving world.
Please know the one who committed this senseless act of violence and murder against those sitting in prayer at the Temple in Wisconsin is in a distinct minority and that the majority stand with you and we mourn together. I offer my heartfelt hope after the initial period of grief your community and ALL of our communities stand stronger collectively for a more peaceful and loving world.
Saturday, August 04, 2012
In Hiroshima's Shadow" -- A chilling article by Noam Chomsky
In Hiroshima's Shadow is an excellent article written by Noam Chomsky here or below . We would do well to read it and heed its sober contents.
What can one say to this oh so disturbing article. The word I use is chilling. I expect man will at some point because he is simply dying to (forgive the pun) drop another nuclear device. The first time against Japan the US had the edge. No one really would challenge its power BUT now that is not the case.
Man stares into the abyss and I wonder how long he can hold out before jumping off this suicidal cliff!
http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/266-32/12778-in-hiroshimas-shadow#addcomments
What can one say to this oh so disturbing article. The word I use is chilling. I expect man will at some point because he is simply dying to (forgive the pun) drop another nuclear device. The first time against Japan the US had the edge. No one really would challenge its power BUT now that is not the case.
Man stares into the abyss and I wonder how long he can hold out before jumping off this suicidal cliff!
http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion2/266-32/12778-in-hiroshimas-shadow#addcomments
A Stroke of Magic
Sometimes in my zeal to write an opinion quickly syntax suffers. Zealotry, too, should never prevail but passion sadly, at times, rules. Mea culpa; colloquially my bad! I wrote to the News later what I thought was a better constructed, more thoughtful but still rather humorous opinion about Chick-Fil-A in reality a serious-to-the-lives-of-many subject.
Lest the marriage equality deniers get anyone depressed here is a bit of levity. I agree with Mr. Boriskin's August 3, 2012 letters to the editor opinion in the "Metro West News." The mayors of the various cities who voiced their opposition to Chick-Fil-A did not deny these peddlers of hate anything. They too were simply voicing an opinion and stated as such albeit after they thought about First Amendment issues.
Just as the owner of Chick-Fil-A has the right to voice his opinion so do the various mayors who oppose Chick-Fil-A and, in reality did not stop it from selling its unhealthful wares.
It seems Chick-Fil-A is surviving just fine. Oh by the way for all the protesters of Chik-Fil-A spewing their hate fear not. These people who are chewing down Chick-Fil-A by the bag full of grease will be deceased or disabled in no time flat as Chick-Fil-STROKE works its magic.
Lest the marriage equality deniers get anyone depressed here is a bit of levity. I agree with Mr. Boriskin's August 3, 2012 letters to the editor opinion in the "Metro West News." The mayors of the various cities who voiced their opposition to Chick-Fil-A did not deny these peddlers of hate anything. They too were simply voicing an opinion and stated as such albeit after they thought about First Amendment issues.
Just as the owner of Chick-Fil-A has the right to voice his opinion so do the various mayors who oppose Chick-Fil-A and, in reality did not stop it from selling its unhealthful wares.
It seems Chick-Fil-A is surviving just fine. Oh by the way for all the protesters of Chik-Fil-A spewing their hate fear not. These people who are chewing down Chick-Fil-A by the bag full of grease will be deceased or disabled in no time flat as Chick-Fil-STROKE works its magic.
Friday, August 03, 2012
What's the Matter with Kansas and the Rest of the Nation
Mr. Leonard wrote the most descriptive analysis of what is the matter with Kansas and the rest of the nation for that matter that I have read in his article in Salon entitled "Our Chick-Fil-A Economy." I post it here and below. He is PRECISELY on point.
Now, what in nature's name do we do about it? May I advocate for liberal northern secession?
TAKE THE TEA PARTY DOWN!
I was just sent the link below and it should be sent to everyone you know . The ONLY way we can TRULY win is to take down the Tea Party in Congress POST HASTE! Many have NO idea what the Tea Party is about. The Democratic Party should be dedicated to taking them ALL down in the House and PREVENT them from taking the Senate! Click here or below:
Here are more ways to help us deliver a knockout blow to the worst Tea Party extremists in Congress: Learn more about the ten Tea Party extremists we’re going after:
http://act.credoaction.com/take_down/the-ten.html?rc=ie_actblue_confemail
Help us spread the word about the CREDO SuperPAC and tell your friends about our campaign to make these members of Congress pay for their extremism:
http://act.credoaction.com/take_down/share.html?rc=ie_actblue_confemail
Here are more ways to help us deliver a knockout blow to the worst Tea Party extremists in Congress: Learn more about the ten Tea Party extremists we’re going after:
http://act.credoaction.com/take_down/the-ten.html?rc=ie_actblue_confemail
Help us spread the word about the CREDO SuperPAC and tell your friends about our campaign to make these members of Congress pay for their extremism:
http://act.credoaction.com/take_down/share.html?rc=ie_actblue_confemail
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
Larger Than My Life
A great man to me, Gore Vidal, died today and I am sad. I am sad as I always am when genius dies no matter how old. He was 86, a curmudgeon and, for many, not their cup of tea but he was mine. He was because his critical analysis of culture and his mantra of question everything is my motto. He was a man of towering brillance, a man of letters to whom few, in our age, can compare.
His works are many, varied and legendary. A few of his famous writings include: Williwaw, The City and the Pillar, Julian, Myra Breckinridge, Washington DC, Burr, Myron, Lincoln, Empire, The Best Man, An Evening with Richard Nixon, The American Presidency, Perpetual War For Perpetual Peace, Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta; Screenplays: I Accuse, Ben Hur, Suddenly, Last Summer, The Best Man, Is Paris Burning?, Caligula to name a few.
Vidal suffered fools badly. He had little patience for the brutality of nations and especially for the stupidity of the men who run them. He was born into American royalty and he knew the best and the brightest because he was among them. He was liberal in politics waxing more left and cynical as he aged and so he eschewed many politicos, the rich and the famous who hit our TV and silver screen. He was adversarial to many including a life-long estrangement from the late William F. Buckley, the conservative icon. I viewed the actual 1960's debate that forever finished their conversation. Vidal called Buckley a "crypto Nazi." He possibly was extreme in his appellation of Buckley as such but I, then, secretly agreed!
Three men have died recently whom I held on my too-big-to-fail intellectual giants’ pedestal. Some think my folly is that I raise some humans to god-like status. Maybe I do only because I cannot match their intelligence, wit and accomplishments. I miss Howard Zinn, I miss Christopher Hitchens and now I will miss Gore Vidal. I miss all those committed to the development of intellect and rational thought. The pedestal on which I placed them in my psychic scheme was large because they were larger than my life ever was or could be and I will, as long as I live, envy their intelligence and mourn their loss.
I enclose an MSNBC link to his biography here and below. A list of his works can be found at Wiki link below and here.
http://todayentertainment.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/08/01/13060511-celebrated-author-playwright-gore-vidal-dies-at-86?threadId=3531888&commentId=68500949#c68500949
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gore_Vidal
His works are many, varied and legendary. A few of his famous writings include: Williwaw, The City and the Pillar, Julian, Myra Breckinridge, Washington DC, Burr, Myron, Lincoln, Empire, The Best Man, An Evening with Richard Nixon, The American Presidency, Perpetual War For Perpetual Peace, Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta; Screenplays: I Accuse, Ben Hur, Suddenly, Last Summer, The Best Man, Is Paris Burning?, Caligula to name a few.
Vidal suffered fools badly. He had little patience for the brutality of nations and especially for the stupidity of the men who run them. He was born into American royalty and he knew the best and the brightest because he was among them. He was liberal in politics waxing more left and cynical as he aged and so he eschewed many politicos, the rich and the famous who hit our TV and silver screen. He was adversarial to many including a life-long estrangement from the late William F. Buckley, the conservative icon. I viewed the actual 1960's debate that forever finished their conversation. Vidal called Buckley a "crypto Nazi." He possibly was extreme in his appellation of Buckley as such but I, then, secretly agreed!
Three men have died recently whom I held on my too-big-to-fail intellectual giants’ pedestal. Some think my folly is that I raise some humans to god-like status. Maybe I do only because I cannot match their intelligence, wit and accomplishments. I miss Howard Zinn, I miss Christopher Hitchens and now I will miss Gore Vidal. I miss all those committed to the development of intellect and rational thought. The pedestal on which I placed them in my psychic scheme was large because they were larger than my life ever was or could be and I will, as long as I live, envy their intelligence and mourn their loss.
I enclose an MSNBC link to his biography here and below. A list of his works can be found at Wiki link below and here.
http://todayentertainment.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/08/01/13060511-celebrated-author-playwright-gore-vidal-dies-at-86?threadId=3531888&commentId=68500949#c68500949
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gore_Vidal
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
The Threat Mitt Romney Posed
Does anyone in that insane Republican Party realize the poisonous words that came out of the Romnebot's mouth in Israel did more to undue DECADES of hard work by Democrats AND Republicans (before they turned extreme) administrations alike? Romney was egregiously wrong to say what he did. He in essence told the Israeli opposition that they were inferior and that Jews made it economically because of culture implying that Palestinian culture was less good. Romney forgot the world was listening.
Romney did more to HURT Israel than 10 presidents did to HELP it. He hurt the Israeli cause by failing to take account of the opposition's argument and its feelings. Any good mediator NEVER insults one of the parties but tries to work with ALL parties to gain a result. This guy is either insane or he is kissing Sheldon Buyout Adelson's rings and on bended knee wanting and accepting Sheldon Adelson's MILLIONS won through Nevada casino gambling enterprises. By the way Sheldon Adelson is being federally investigated under The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which bars American companies from paying foreign officials (in this case people in Macau, China) to "affect or influence any act or decision" for business gain.
I am Jewish and I support Israel. I love that country and I do NOT want to, by my words, help destroy it. The Arab world is in tumult. Anger is a razor edge sharp. How many numbers of people compose the Arab world AND the Palestinian people? MANY MORE THAN ISRAEL. Israel MUST negotiate not only because of the Jewish people's small numbers but because it is guess what -- THE RIGHT THING TO DO. Perhaps the Palestinians are not doing well because they are suffering from crippling sanctions and relegated in essence to ghettos.
That empty suit Romney has to SHUT UP! He does more to hurt the cause of the Jewish people than he could ever do to help. The orthodox Jewish cause is NOT the cause of Israel. My Israeli brethren better get smart. It takes two to tango and one does NOT make peace by insulting one's opposition. One ONLY makes war. Are Romney's sons going to fight the next Middle East war? Is America going to join the US in how many wars 1, 5, 10 if Romney is elected? Who will pay for it in blood and money? You can bet it will not be Romney's sons. It WILL be the sons and daughters of those who are NOT part of the 1% wealthiest in this nation.
Middle East negotiations take CAREFUL, well planned, well thought out prescient, soft statements that do not inflame but cause all sides to realize each has some points. People want to be understood and acknowledged. Romney served ONLY to anger Israel’s enemies and put Israel at great risk. Moreover, Obama has been supportive and good to Israel while not ignoring in negotiation the plight of the Palestinians.
If you want your children and grandchildren to live with economic stability and foreign policy prudence our president can give us both if the mean, ruinous, destructive and even treasonous Republican Party would truly think of country first instead of last.
We MUST put country first and Re-elect the president and elect Elizabeth Warren the great to the US Senate!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Israel, Romney, Life and Death
Many possibly have heard Willard Mitt Romney's pandering speech in Israel. Among many insults to Israel's enemies Romney thought it would be such a good idea to declare Jerusalem as Israel's capital. They must have simply loved hearing that in Gaza and around the Arab world.
Romney also indicated that he surely would support a military strike on Iran if Israel deems it necessary. Now that surely WILL stop the Iranians in their tracks in pursuit of a nuclear weapon -- NOT. The world knows that Israel already possesses nuclear weaponry why did the idiot of prescient foreign policy ever think he could threaten his way into perfecting a Middle East peace through violent means? With how many wars in the Middle East would Americans love to be associated -- one, two, three, four or MORE -- paid for on the credit card? Could the US destabilize the Middle East any more than it already has? Could the US kill and displace hundreds of thousands of humanity yet again? Could the US throw itself into yet another war as if the ones George Bush loved killed 4000 of our best and lifetime wounded thousands of others were not enough!
Some neoCONS cannot wait to use a nuclear device on Iran to beat Iran to the punch (so to speak.) I hope there is no wind or rain on the day they use one as radiation just may blow back on the entire Middle East itself including my beloved Israel where relatives about whom I happen to care, live.
Romney is DISGUSTING in every single unethical way known to man. I am Jewish and I love Israel. I SURELY do hope American Jews continue as they always have to support the Democrat Barack Obama. I believe sincerely that they will. Jews as a group supported the president in numbers second only to African Americans. Barack Obama without the bluster of heated rhetoric continues to show his unequivocal support of the Jewish state.
Romney's speech was as usual pandering to the lowest sort of common denominator to get the votes of the Evangelicals and one-issue Jews GUARANTEED NOT to promote peace but to ensure war if GOD FORBID A TRILLION TIMES that jerk Romney is elected. I loathe the man Romney more than I even did George Bush. Now that is going some. I hope and trust my Jewish brethren feel as I do IF they want the Israel to continue to exist!
Romney is a shameless bastard who knows no ethics but his own which is whatever it takes to get the POTUS seal behind the podium from which he would love to speak.
Yet another reason, as if we needed any more, to re-elect the president and Elizabeth Warren to the US Senate. It is a matter, literally, of the life and death of you and your children that we do!
Romney also indicated that he surely would support a military strike on Iran if Israel deems it necessary. Now that surely WILL stop the Iranians in their tracks in pursuit of a nuclear weapon -- NOT. The world knows that Israel already possesses nuclear weaponry why did the idiot of prescient foreign policy ever think he could threaten his way into perfecting a Middle East peace through violent means? With how many wars in the Middle East would Americans love to be associated -- one, two, three, four or MORE -- paid for on the credit card? Could the US destabilize the Middle East any more than it already has? Could the US kill and displace hundreds of thousands of humanity yet again? Could the US throw itself into yet another war as if the ones George Bush loved killed 4000 of our best and lifetime wounded thousands of others were not enough!
Some neoCONS cannot wait to use a nuclear device on Iran to beat Iran to the punch (so to speak.) I hope there is no wind or rain on the day they use one as radiation just may blow back on the entire Middle East itself including my beloved Israel where relatives about whom I happen to care, live.
Romney is DISGUSTING in every single unethical way known to man. I am Jewish and I love Israel. I SURELY do hope American Jews continue as they always have to support the Democrat Barack Obama. I believe sincerely that they will. Jews as a group supported the president in numbers second only to African Americans. Barack Obama without the bluster of heated rhetoric continues to show his unequivocal support of the Jewish state.
Romney's speech was as usual pandering to the lowest sort of common denominator to get the votes of the Evangelicals and one-issue Jews GUARANTEED NOT to promote peace but to ensure war if GOD FORBID A TRILLION TIMES that jerk Romney is elected. I loathe the man Romney more than I even did George Bush. Now that is going some. I hope and trust my Jewish brethren feel as I do IF they want the Israel to continue to exist!
Romney is a shameless bastard who knows no ethics but his own which is whatever it takes to get the POTUS seal behind the podium from which he would love to speak.
Yet another reason, as if we needed any more, to re-elect the president and Elizabeth Warren to the US Senate. It is a matter, literally, of the life and death of you and your children that we do!
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Unafraid to Fillet a Chicken
Chick-Fil-A has the right as a corporation to say whatever it wants with respect to any issue. Recently its CEO has come out strongly against gay marriage and, of course, hypocritically, pro God. We who value civil liberties know its right to say that is what free speech is all about. One may not like the content of speech but one, in a democratic society, must, as the French philosopher Voltaire said, “… defend to the death your right to say it.”
Having said that, I did dash a note to Mayor Menino containing high praise for what he said. He said “There is no place for discrimination on Boston’s Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it. I urge you to back out of your plans to locate in Boston.”
I also blogged on Facebook to boycott Chick-Fil-A. I did so because espousing those beliefs not only is noxious but also creates a threatening atmosphere for those minorities against whom the hateful speech is directed. As long as Chick-Fil-A does not discriminate in hiring or create a hostile atmosphere for those who are “perceived” to be gay, it stands within its legally correct boundaries. Want to bet that Chick-Fil-A has rejected employment to someone whom they thought or knew was gay? If someone said they were against equal rights for African Americans and thought the 1965 Civil Rights Act was wrong how likely would it be that they would refuse to hire an African American? I aver it would be very likely.
Being gay is much harder to discern but one can at times discern it. I would NOT bet the house on the fact that Chick-Fil-A with its backward views would not discriminate in hiring a homosexual, would you?
I suppose the mayor had no right to say Chick-Fil-A cannot set up a business in their city but we are within our rights to boycott a business that espouses malodorous prejudicial views. Yes, Nazis can march in Skokie and I do NOT have to like it BUT I do not have to remain silent against it either. I applaud Mayor Menino’s statement. Those who have felt the sting of anti-gay sentiment know that it is one short step from advocating anti gay views to acting on anti gay views.
In this instance, I thank the few mayors that do support the civil rights of everyone and who are particularly sensitive to a group that has suffered the slings and arrows of Biblical nonsense for millennia. I am Jewish and a part of the people who WROTE the Biblical text of Leviticus. Anti-gay groups use its terrorizing words as justification to assault this minority and deprive it of its Constitutional rights. Moreover, the Biblical statement against homosexuality has served to do nothing but make a huge number of people feel terrible about themselves and even suicidal because of it. It is one reason, among many, I have turned my back on the ritual of the faith into which I was born. Shame on that man-made anti-science Biblical text which creates a Chick-Fil-A in the first place. Am I angry? YOU BET I AM and I am not ashamed to say it.
Having said that, I did dash a note to Mayor Menino containing high praise for what he said. He said “There is no place for discrimination on Boston’s Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it. I urge you to back out of your plans to locate in Boston.”
I also blogged on Facebook to boycott Chick-Fil-A. I did so because espousing those beliefs not only is noxious but also creates a threatening atmosphere for those minorities against whom the hateful speech is directed. As long as Chick-Fil-A does not discriminate in hiring or create a hostile atmosphere for those who are “perceived” to be gay, it stands within its legally correct boundaries. Want to bet that Chick-Fil-A has rejected employment to someone whom they thought or knew was gay? If someone said they were against equal rights for African Americans and thought the 1965 Civil Rights Act was wrong how likely would it be that they would refuse to hire an African American? I aver it would be very likely.
Being gay is much harder to discern but one can at times discern it. I would NOT bet the house on the fact that Chick-Fil-A with its backward views would not discriminate in hiring a homosexual, would you?
I suppose the mayor had no right to say Chick-Fil-A cannot set up a business in their city but we are within our rights to boycott a business that espouses malodorous prejudicial views. Yes, Nazis can march in Skokie and I do NOT have to like it BUT I do not have to remain silent against it either. I applaud Mayor Menino’s statement. Those who have felt the sting of anti-gay sentiment know that it is one short step from advocating anti gay views to acting on anti gay views.
In this instance, I thank the few mayors that do support the civil rights of everyone and who are particularly sensitive to a group that has suffered the slings and arrows of Biblical nonsense for millennia. I am Jewish and a part of the people who WROTE the Biblical text of Leviticus. Anti-gay groups use its terrorizing words as justification to assault this minority and deprive it of its Constitutional rights. Moreover, the Biblical statement against homosexuality has served to do nothing but make a huge number of people feel terrible about themselves and even suicidal because of it. It is one reason, among many, I have turned my back on the ritual of the faith into which I was born. Shame on that man-made anti-science Biblical text which creates a Chick-Fil-A in the first place. Am I angry? YOU BET I AM and I am not ashamed to say it.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Yet another Fact Sheet: Advancing Israel's Security and Supporting
Feel free to forward!
THE WHITE HOUSEOffice of the Press SecretaryFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJuly 27, 2012Fact Sheet: Advancing Israel's Security and Supporting Peace“Our commitment to the security of Israel is rock solid. And as I've said to the Prime Minister in every single one of our meetings, the United States will always have Israel's back when it comes to Israel's security. This is a bond that is based not only on our mutual security interests and economic interests, but is also based on common values and the incredible people-to-people contacts that we have between our two countries.”President Barack Obama
March 5, 2012The President has strengthened Israel’s security in tangible and concrete ways.· On July 27, 2012 the President signed the “United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012”, which strengthens Israel’s qualitative military edge. The bill expressed bipartisan Congressional support for Administration initiatives that deepen U.S. defense and security cooperation with Israel, to include providing Israel with financial and technological assistance to produce defensive systems to counter the threat of rockets and missiles; access to U.S. manufactured defense equipment and excess defense articles; and increased opportunities to train with U.S. military forces.· Despite tough fiscal times, the President fought for and secured full funding for Israel in FY 2012, including $3 billion in Foreign Military Financing – the largest amount of funding for Israel in U.S. history.· The President secured an additional $205 million in FY 2011 to help produce an Israeli-developed short-range rocket defense system called Iron Dome, which has helped defend Israeli communities against rocket attacks by successfully striking rockets as they are fired at Israeli civilians.· In July 2012, President Obama provided an additional $70 million to Israel to ensure that Israel could maximize its production of the Iron Dome system for 2012. Over the next three years, the Administration intends to request additional funding for Iron Dome, based on an annual assessment of Israeli security requirements against an evolving threat.· Israeli forces now benefit from regular joint exercises and training opportunities, access to advanced U.S. military hardware, emergency stockpiles, and favorable terms for the acquisition of equipment.· Prime Minister Netanyahu told the AIPAC conference on May 23, 2012, that “Yesterday President Obama spoke about his ironclad commitment to Israel's security. He rightly said that our security cooperation is unprecedented… And he has backed those words with deeds.”· In a July 25, 2012, speech to the Israeli National Security College, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said, “The security ties between us and the current administration are at the highest level they have ever been. The administration is consistently strengthening the depths of Israel’s security abilities. The decision to expand the Iron Dome system with U.S. financial backing is yet another expression of this deep connection and commitment.”The President has galvanized the international community to put more pressure on the Iranian regime than ever before.· President Obama has been clear that the United States is determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He has backed up this commitment with tangible steps to increase pressure substantially on the Iranian regime and raise the costs of its defiance of the international community.· With President Obama’s leadership, the United States gained the support of Russia, China, and other nations to pass United Nations Security Council resolution 1929, creating the most comprehensive and biting international sanctions regime the Iranian government has ever faced. This resolution imposes restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities, ballistic missile program, conventional military exports to Iran, Iranian banks and financial transactions, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.· The Obama Administration also worked with allies such as the European Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Canada, and others to adopt additional national measures to increase pressure on the Iranian regime, including in the financial, banking, insurance, transportation, and energy sectors. Iran is now virtually cut off from large parts of the international financial system and we are working aggressively to isolate Iran even further.· In addition to multilateral sanctions, President Obama worked with Congress to pass in 2010 the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act, which strengthens existing U.S. sanctions, and makes it harder for the Iranian government to buy refined petroleum and the goods it needs to modernize its oil and gas sector. Already, close to $60 billion in energy-related projects in Iran have been put on hold or discontinued.· More recently, the Administration worked with Congress to develop Section 1245 of the National Defense Authorization Act, which makes sanctionable a host of transactions involving the Central Bank of Iran.· The United States has worked closely with partners during the first half of 2012 to secure their cooperation with these sanctions, resulting in the significant reduction of purchases of oil from all of Iran’s major oil trading partners. For instance, the European Union has put in place a full embargo on Iranian oil. The impact on Iran has been severe, with perhaps as much as 1 million barrels per day in sales revenue taken away from Iran, at the cost of billions per month.· International companies are increasingly recognizing the risks of doing business with Iran and are abandoning existing business opportunities, declining to take advantage of new ones, and scaling back any existing relationships. This trend has been replicated across a broad range of industries. Examples of companies withdrawing from business with Iran include: Shell, Total, ENI, Statoil, Repsol, Lukoil, Kia, Toyota, Siemens, and foreign subsidiaries of U.S. firms such as GE, Honeywell, and Caterpillar.· The Obama Administration is working to develop more sanctions to further isolate and increase the pressure on the Iranian regime. The President signed two new Executive Orders in April 2012 that addressed human rights violations and sanctions evasion, and we continue to look for new ways to expand our authorities and strengthen our implementation of existing ones to ensure that Iran understands that its failure to comply with its international obligations will have ever intensifying consequences.The President has stood with Israel in times of crisis.· The President personally intervened to help avert catastrophe when a violent mob stormed the Israeli Embassy in Cairo. Afterwards, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said of the President: “I requested his assistance at a decisive—I would even say fateful—moment. He said he would do everything possible, and this is what he did. He activated all of the United States’ means and influence — which are certainly considerable. I believe we owe him a special debt of gratitude.”The President has made clear that Israel cannot be expected to negotiate with Hamas, a terrorist group sworn to its destruction.· In his speech in Cairo and elsewhere, the President has consistently demanded that Hamas accept Israel’s right to exist, reject violence, and adhere to all existing agreements before it can play a role in achieving Middle East peace.· The President has spoken out forcefully to condemn Hamas attacks against Israelis. He has made clear that “it is a sign neither of courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That’s not how moral authority is claimed; that’s how it is surrendered.” At the United Nations, he emphasized that “the slaughter of innocent Israelis is not resistance – it’s injustice.”The President has forcefully opposed unbalanced and biased actions against Israel in the Security Council, the UN General Assembly, and across the UN system.· The President has consistently opposed attempts to shortcut the peace process through resolutions at the United Nations. When an effort was made to insert the Security Council into matters that should be resolved through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, we vetoed it. In his September 21, 2011 address to the United Nations General Assembly, the President said “I am convinced that there is no short cut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades. Peace is hard work. Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the United Nations -- if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. Ultimately, it is the Israelis and the Palestinians who must live side by side. Ultimately, it is the Israelis and the Palestinians -- not us –- who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them: on borders and on security, on refugees and Jerusalem.”· When the UN General Assembly voted for a commemoration in September 2011 of the original 2001 Durban conference, we voted against it and announced we would not participate. When the Goldstone Report was released, we stood up strongly for Israel’s right to defend itself.The President has called on all sides – Arabs, Palestinians, and Israelis alike – to do their part to help achieve Middle East peace.· In Cairo, the President said that Arab states must recognize that they too have responsibilities to move towards peace, including by fostering a culture of peace. He said clearly that “threatening Israel with destruction – or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews – is deeply wrong,” and that denying the Holocaust is “baseless, ignorant, and hateful.”
· In his May 19, 2011 speech, President Obama emphasized that a peace agreement must meet the needs of both sides, including by: ending the conflict and resolving all claims, achieving the goal of two states for two peoples with Israel as a Jewish state and homeland for the Jewish people, achieving secure and recognized borders for both sides, and devising robust security arrangements that will not leave Israel vulnerable.
Mayor Menino's Courageous Stand
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for your courageous stand for equality against the noxious views of Chik-Fill-A with respect to equal rights for gay people. I know many many others who want to thank you too and give their support.
I and many others I know would NEVER step one foot into that revolting business and now even think twice about the Bruins's player who voiced his support for it. That is dismaying. When people who depend upon the public for their livelihood spew statements of hate and inequality they not only hurt themselves but they hurt the enterprises with which they are associated.
We stand by you 100%. You are in good company; the company of patriots who take seriously the watchwords of our nation: Liberty and justice for all. There should be NO exceptions to this rule and you have done many who have come before you, who have shed blood for that liberty, proud.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!
To My Jewish Brethern Especially
The Republican Party has been trying to spew lies against the president to Jews hoping they will turn around the Jewish vote, always Democratic, and vote Republican. God forbid perish the thought. That will NEVER happen. Jews have always voted Democratic and this November will be NO exception. Right wing extremists have traditionally been most anti-Semitic until recently when they have twisted their own anti-Jewish rhetoric to fit into SOME religious fanatical fundamentalist thought; wolves in sheep's clothing perhaps?
When other Jewish compatriots fear that Obama is a secretly plotting against Israel put on your rational hat and think again. I ask you to read the following if you want to see the truth about Obama's EXCELLENT relationship with Israel and how other presidents whom one would think would work for Israel, in reality, worked against Israeli interests. I offer the following reasons that were sent to me by a Jewish friend why anyone -- especially Jews -- should not even consider voting Republican.
Brethren, relations between Israel and the United States are warmer under President Obama than under previous administrations, yet we hear that the President has a "Jewish problem." The problem is not Obama, but us: In only three years, we've lost historic perspective. We're criticizing Obama for what would have gone unnoticed in other administrations.
Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger threatened to "reassess" America 's relationship with Israel . Obama has declared that America 's bond with Israel is "unbreakable," and Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak credited Obama for the strongest relationship between the two countries ever.
Ronald Reagan suspended arms shipments to Israel and supported a UN resolution criticizing Israel for bombing Iraq 's nuclear reactor. Obama secretly sold Israel the bunker busting bombs it requested during the Bush administration and cast the only UN veto of his administration against the one-sided anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution on settlements. (And I might add Ronald Reagan went to Bitburg, Germany to lay a wreath commemorating German solder dead!)
George W. Bush pressured Israel to allow Hamas to participate in Gaza elections and made little progress in stopping Iran 's march toward nuclear weapons. Obama has not negotiated with Hamas. He has mobilized the international community to impose the toughest sanctions ever against Iran and flat-out declared that that he will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, saying no options are off the table.
Obama's pro-Israel accomplishments compare favorably with any Republican president. Yet we keep complaining.
We say he hasn't visited Israel as president, forgetting that Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are the only two presidents who visited Israel during their first terms in office. George W. Bush did not visit Israel until his seventh year as president. Ronald Reagan never visited in his entire life. Obama went to Israel as recently as 2006 and 2008.
We complain that the Obama administration criticizes Israel 's settlement policy, forgetting that every administration since 1967 has criticized Israel 's settlement policy. But unlike George H.W. Bush, Obama never threatened to withhold U.S. aid to Israel because of settlement activity; instead, Obama has taken U.S. financial assistance to Israel to record levels.
We complain about imagined slights to Prime Minister Netanyahu, forgetting that when the chips were down, Obama came through for Israel and Netanyahu. When Israel asked for help fighting the Carmel forest fires, President Obama's response was "get Israel whatever it needs. Now."
In September 2011, when the late-night call came from Israel to Obama asking for help in rescuing the Israelis trapped in the Egyptian embassy, Netanyahu himself called it a "decisive and fateful moment," recalling that Obama "said 'I will do everything I can.' And he did."
The list goes on and on. Obama opposed the Goldstone Report, stood with Israel against the Gaza flotilla, boycotted Durban II and Durban III, and successfully derailed Palestinian attempts to unilaterally declare statehood at the UN. He's done more than any president to thwart Iran 's nuclear ambitions.
Yet despite the facts, despite the historic perspective, it's almost as if some of us want Obama to be anti-Israel because that would validate our worst fears. Attacking Obama on Israel is like attacking John Kerry on his personal military record. The Swift Boat campaign worked because Kerry and his supporters were too slow to take it seriously and fight fiction with facts. The result was four more years of George W. Bush.
Maybe it's our nature to complain. But President Obama's words and deeds prove that he is not only a strong friend of Israel, but that he is willing to stand up for Israel publicly and behind the scenes. That's what matters, and that's why most Jews will again vote for Obama in 2012.
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