Israel deserves respect in global forums
The Australian
HOW ironic that the report by former South African judge Richard Goldstone and others, accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza, was presented to the UN at the same session that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again denied the Holocaust while proclaiming that Israel should be wiped off the face of the map. While Iran is building a nuclear bomb to use against Israel, the UN does nothing, thus guaranteeing Israel must act to ensure its survival. When it does the world will rush to condemn.
It is more than 60 years since Israel’s founding and we are no closer to peace in the Middle East.
Take the recent Gaza conflict. Israel, it was said, would never surrender Gaza while Ariel Sharon was prime minister. When he did, he was attacked for doing it unilaterally. Hamas’s response was to slaughter its fellow Arabs in Fatah and pour thousands of rockets into Israel. There was a strange silence from the Western media.
After 10,000 rockets, Israel decided enough was enough. In the resulting war, about 1300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died. The media’s response: the rockets weren’t accurate, they didn’t kill many Israelis and Israel’s response was disproportionate.
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When asked by an interviewer whether that was the case, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu replied, “Would you prefer more Israelis had died?” None raised the proportionality of the Allies during the London Blitz, when 76,000 British civilians died.
Arthur “Bomber” Harris, commander-in -chief of bomber command , “proportionately” flattened German cities, killing more than 600,000 Germans. In the Pacific War, 1700 US civilians were killed, mostly at Pearl Harbor, while Australia lost 700 in Darwin. The response was to “proportionately” bomb Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki: 580,000 Japanese perished.
The approach of Israel in the Gaza conflict was highlighted in a speech to the UN on October 16. “Mr President, based on my knowledge and experience I can say this: during Operation Cast Lead the Israeli forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare. Israel did so while facing an army that deliberately positioned its military capability behind the human shield of the civilian population. The IDF took extraordinary measures to give Gaza civilians notice of targeted areas, dropping over two million leaflets and making over 100,000 phone calls. War is chaos and full of mistakes. But mistakes are not war crimes.”
The speaker? The Israeli ambassador? An Israeli general? An Israeli politician or a rabid Zionist? No, it was Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan. What a different picture from that which appeared in the international media. Many Western journalists covering the Gaza conflict should hang their heads in shame.
The greatest myth about the Arab-Israeli conflict is that Israel is the root cause of all the problems in the Middle East. An examination of the numbers killed in other conflicts in the region since Israel was founded in 1948 shows a different picture. They include Algeria: war of independence 600,000; civil war, 100,000. Sudan: first civil war (1955-72), 500,000; second civil war (1983-), 1.9 million; Darfur, 600,000. Iraq: Iraq-Iran war, 1.5 million; Saddam Hussein purges, one million. Lebanon: civil war (1975-90), 130,000. Afghanistan: Soviet invasion (1979-90), 1.5 million; civil war, 100,000. Somalia: civil war (1977-), 500,000. Jordan: 25,000. Chad: 30,000. Syria: 20,000. Turkey: 20,000. Yemen: 130,000. Total: 8.525 million. This compares with the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1948: about 85,000.
Individual anti-Semitism is one thing but the anti-Semitism of international organisations such as the UN is quite another. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which once had a reputation for integrity, have lost credibility due to anti-Israel bias.
The founder of Human Rights Watch and its chairman from 1978-98 has just resigned because he can no longer tolerate its bias against Israel.
One organisation, Freedom House, has maintained its reputation for objectivity. Formed in 1941 with the support of the Roosevelts to fight Nazism, it has maintained its integrity, monitoring political rights and civil liberties throughout the world.
Since 1973 its annual assessment of freedom has ranked every country according to whether it has free and fair elections, cultural and religious freedom, freedom from corruption, freedom of association and the press, the rule of law and all the freedoms enjoyed in modern democracies.
Among the 89 countries ranked by Freedom House as free are Australia, Britain, theUS, New Zealand, France, Germany and Israel. Not one Arab country is in the free category.
Has there been any campaign to have any Arab countries boycotted or delegitimised?
The worst of them are thuggish nations that massacre and oppress millions of their own people and are never called to account.
Why? Because they are a large voting bloc in international forums and they have resources the West badly needs.
Too often the democracies either abstain or vote with African, Asian and Middle Eastern blocs that constitute almost half the numbers in the UN because of trade or reciprocity. It’s easy to vote with the bullies because Israel has only one vote.
What can be done?
First, Israel and its supporters must stop defending Israel for Israel has nothing to apologise for.
It is the criminal countries that should be on trial. Those where apostasy is a crime punishable by death and where slavery, female circumcision, honour killing, stoning to death of women for adultery and other abuses are common.
They are the ones that should be called to account.
The democracies should demand that those in the media, academic circles and trade unions now calling for boycotts of Israel be asked what they are doing about human rights abuses in such totalitarian regimes.
Israel is starting to fight back, verbally.
After a rant by Ahmadinejad at the UN on September 24, Israel’s Netanyahu responded: “Yesterday the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium.
“To those who refused to come here and to those who left this room in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity and you brought honour to your countries. But to those who gave this Holocaust-denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame? Have you no decency?
“A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies the murder of six million Jews took place and pledges to wipe out the Jewish state. What a disgrace. What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations.”
The UN is a disgrace and is only tolerated because there is no alternative. The Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association established to promote parliamentary democracy are useless. Few know they exist and fewer care.
In recent years attempts have been made to set up an international organisation for genuine democracies.
To belong to an organisation of this nature would be a badge of honour because it would exclude all those countries that are one-party states, military and theocratic dictatorships or feudal monarchies.
Eligibility for membership should be restricted to those members of the UN that are genuinely free. Using Freedom House’s rankings of the 193 UN members, only 89 would qualify.
The time has come for the world’s democracies to demand that every country has the same high standards of human rights they demand of Israel.
Only then will there be a genuine chance of peace in the Middle East.
This is an edited version of a speech to the Jewish National Fund in Adelaide on November 5. Barry Cohen was a minister in the Hawke Labor government.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/israel-deserves-respect-in-global-forums/story-e6frg6zo-1225800596844
Thanks Fran, Ronit and Ralph
Iranian cleric threatens to target TA
Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST
Iran will begin large-scale air defense war games Sunday aimed at protecting its nuclear facilities from possible attack, a senior military commander said Saturday, reflecting the country’s concern that Israel could make good on threats to strike militarily. The drill comes as a top clerical official renewed his threat to target “the heart of Tel Aviv” should Israel attack Iran.
The five-day drill will involve Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard and the regular army and will cover 230,000 square miles – or about 600,000 square kilometers – of central, western and southern Iran, said air force Gen. Ahmad Mighani.
As Iran has pressed forward with its nuclear program, Israel has repeatedly threatened military action to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. The US also has not ruled out military action should diplomacy fail to resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear activities.
Washington and its European allies suspect Iran aims to use a civilian nuclear program as cover to produce weapons, and Iran has effectively rejected a new UN proposal aimed at easing those concerns. Tehran denies any intention to make nuclear weapons and says it only wants to generate power.
The defense drill will involve an attack by airplanes representing a hypothetical enemy.
“Reconnaissance enemy planes will violate our air space and try to disrupt electronic and radar systems, identify sensitive facilities, take photos and … attack air defense sites,” Mighani said, according to a state TV report. “And our air defense system will confront the intruding planes.”
A planned key component of Iran’s air defenses, an anti-aircraft missile system from Russia, has yet to be delivered.
Mighani criticized Russia, saying the months-long delay in the S-300 missiles was apparently the result of Israeli pressure, not technical issues, as Moscow claims.
Israel and the United States have opposed the missile deal out of fear Iran could use the system to significantly boost defenses at its nuclear sites – including its main uranium enrichment plant at Natanz.
The representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the Guard, warned Saturday that Iranian missiles will target Tel Aviv should an Israeli missile land in Iran.
“If the enemy want to test its bad luck and fire a missile into Iran, before the dust settles, Iran’s ballistic missiles will target the heart of Tel Aviv,” Mojtaba Zolnour told the official IRNA news agency.
Iran and Israel are archenemies and anti-Israeli stance is a trademark for the hardline Guard. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has since 2005 often predicted demise for the Jewish state.
Israeli military and government officials refused to comment on the planned war games.
Iran restructured its military this year in an effort to improve its air defenses. The changes were seen as part of a broader focus on bolstering the military by Tehran, which has been concerned about the US military’s presence in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the Israeli threats to target its nuclear facilities.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered a new branch to be split off from the air force this year to deal specifically with threats to the country’s air space. Mighani was appointed to head the unit. The order rearranged the regular military into four branches – the ground force, the navy, the air force and the new air defense force.
Mighani now oversees radar, military intelligence gathering equipment and anti-aircraft missile units.
In related news, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency said his nation needs enriched uranium to power some 200 hospitals and insisted “guarantees” were needed before they could consider a storage deal with Turkey.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh said in an interview with Der Spiegel published Saturday that Iran desperately needed more uranium to produce isotopes for medical purposes.
Soltanieh was also quoted as saying Teheran would not allow Turkey to temporarily store its enriched uranium unless there were guarantees it would receive fuel in exchange.
His comments come a day after representatives of six world powers urged Iran to accept a UN plan aimed at delaying its ability to build a nuclear weapon.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1258705152357&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
IAF jets bomb Gaza targets in retaliation for weekend Kassam
GREER FAY CASHMAN and HERB KEINON , THE JERUSALEM POST
IAF aircraft bombed two Hamas weapons plants in northern and central Gaza Strip overnight Saturday, as well as an arms smuggling tunnel in the southern Strip. According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Office, the attack was in response to the Kassam rocket launched at Israel on Saturday morning.
Palestinian sources said five people were wounded in the attack.
On Saturday morning, a Kassam rocket fired from Gaza hit the Sha’ar Hanegev region, causing no casualties or damage.
Israel reacted with little enthusiasm to reports on Saturday that Hamas had reached an agreement with other terrorist groups in Gaza to stop firing rockets at the western Negev.
Hamas’s interior minister, Fathi Hamad, told reporters the decision had been made to avoid IDF reactions, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
Hamad added, however, that if Israel sent soldiers into the Strip, the armed groups would be given “free rein to respond.”
In response, an official in the Prime Minister’s Office said Hamas would “be judged by its actions, not its words.”
Under the agreement, rockets will only be fired in retaliation for Israeli aggression, Hamad said.
The Hamas official also told reporters that the aim of the agreement was to “enable people to rebuild” after Operation Cast Lead last winter.
The announcement came as President Shimon Peres prepared to go to Cairo on Sunday for a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, expected to focus on the diplomatic process with the Palestinians, Iran and kidnapped soldier St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit.
Peres met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday to discuss the trip.
Officials in the Prime Minister’s Office said the visit was completely coordinated, and described Peres as a “national asset” who had a close working relationship with Mubarak.
The officials deflected questions about whether the fact that Peres was going to Egypt, rather than Netanyahu, reflected any difficulties in the relationship between the two leaders, saying that Netanyahu had already gone to Egypt twice since taking office in late March.
The Jerusalem Municipal Planning Committee’s recent decision to approve construction of some 900 new homes in the Gilo neighborhood is also expected to come up in the discussions, as Egypt has joined the international chorus opposing the move.
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki last week termed the decision to go ahead with the construction “provocative” and said it was deplorable and deserved condemnation.
Regarding the diplomatic process, both Peres and Mubarak have expressed hope that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is currently visiting South America, will remain in office and resume peace negotiations.
Speaking on Saturday in Salvador De Bahia in the presence of Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, Abbas said, “Our people want peace for our children and the Israeli children to live without fear, and look forward to the day when we can live without ugly occupation.”
Peres returned on Wednesday from visits to Brazil and Argentina and has two more overseas trips scheduled before the end of January, to Sweden and Germany.
In related news, jailed Tanzim leader and Fatah Central Committee member Marwan Barghouti urged Abbas and the Palestinian factions to lead a “popular resistance” to stop Israel’s settlement construction and “Judaizing” activities.
“I have always called for creatively combining negotiations with resistance and political, diplomatic and popular activism,” Israel Radio quoted Barghouti on Saturday as telling the PA’s Al-Hayat al-Jadida newspaper.
“I warned against relying exclusively on negotiations, but some were late to discover this,” he said.
In a message transmitted via his lawyer from the Israeli prison where he has been incarcerated for seven years since being convicted of five murders, Barghouti said there was no Israeli peace partner.
He made similar remarks in October, when he warned that the circumstances that had led to the second intifada still existed, and called on the Palestinians to conduct a “peaceful resistance” campaign.
At the time, the Tanzim leader said that “whoever thinks it’s possible to make peace with the current Israeli government is being delusional.”
Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1258705152850&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
What can you say? What can you do?…tonight our government will sell out these brave men and push us ever closer to a Marxist society…
International Pictures of the Year
Here are two very touching photos honored this year
First Place :
First Place
Todd Heisler The Rocky Mountain News
When 2nd Lt. James Cathey’s body arrived at the Reno Airport , Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac.
During the arrival of another Marine’s casket last year at Denver International Airport , Major Steve Beck described the scene as so powerful: ‘See the people in the windows? They sat right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what’s going through their minds, knowing that they’re on the plane that brought him home,’ he said ‘They will remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They’re going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should.’
Second Place
Second Place
Todd Heisler The Rocky Mountain News
The night before the burial of her husband’s body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of ‘Cat,’ and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept. ‘I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it,’ she said. ‘I think that’s what he would have wanted’
Is Charlie Rangel the Most Corrupt Representative Ever?
Unbridled Corruption and A Mockery of Congressional Leadership
By Dennis Jones Friday, November 20, 2009
Charlie Rangel was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 1970 and is now serving his 20th term. He was appointed Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in January 2007, elevating him to be one of the most powerful men in politics. It is incomprehensible, given Rep. Rangel’s widely reported tax problems, that he could chair the House Ways and Means Committee that is responsible for corporate income taxes, excise taxes, estate taxes, gift taxes and other miscellaneous taxes. There has been a pattern of unethical behavior, flaunting of House rules, improper use of his position and self-serving decisions that span his entire career.
Over the past 30 years there have been 28 instances in which he failed to report acquiring, owning or disposing of assets on required disclosure forms. The House Ethics Committee has been working on its investigation of Rangel for over a year and has expanded its investigation on three separate occasions. The Ethics Committee has reviewed and analyzed over 12,000 pages of documents and issued nearly 150 subpoenas on the taxpayers dime. Representative Rangel has even asked the committee to investigate himself and hired forensic accountants to investigate his own books and records in some sort of warped and detached rationalization that he is investigating someone else.
Here are some of the most prominent highlights of Mr. Rangel’s ethical, moral and legal lapses under investigation:
Mr. Rangel’s ethical, moral and legal lapses under investigation
Mr. Rangel rented four rent-stabilized apartments, 16M, 16N, 16P, and 10U, in one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in Harlem, Lenox Terrace. He claimed three of the four as personal residences and used the fourth, 10U as a campaign office profiting from the combined total of under-market rent of approximately $30,000 per year. While it is not unlawful for tenants to have more than one rent-stabilized apartment it is extremely rare and, using one as a campaign and political action committee raises federal election law issues because the committee did not pay fair market rent. Also, since lodging falls under the House’s definition of “gifts” by failing to pay market rent on his apartments, Mr. Rangel may have violated House gift rules. The National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Committee regarding the rent subsidies and Mr. Rangel himself asked the FEC to render an opinion on its legality.
Rep. Rangel pushed through $1.9 million of public funds for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York which includes an office for him and a presidential-style library for his official papers. He violated House rules by soliciting funds for this project on congressional stationery. Mr. Rangel sought contributions from businesses that have interests before the committee that he leads in a clear conflict of interest. He has also faced criticism for the project since naming a facility after an incumbent politician might tempt that politician to funnel public money to it rather than more worthy causes. In another incident also involving his pet project, Mr. Rangel reversed his former political stance of taxing the wealthy and closing tax loopholes for businesses to receive personal gain. Instead of pushing to eliminate the loopholes as was customary for him, he fought to preserve a tax loophole that benefited an oil-drilling company whose CEO was pledging $1 million for his project. Mr. Rangel prevailed and the tax shelter was preserved saving the company, Nabors industries an estimated tens of millions of dollars annually and depriving the federal treasury of over a billion dollars in revenues over a ten year period. Federal law prohibits public officials from directly or indirectly demanding, seeking, receiving, accepting or agreeing to accept anything of value in return for being influenced in the performance of an official act. In addition to the million dollar pledge from Nabors CEO Eugene M. Isenberg for his Center for Public Service at City College, Mr. Isenberg wrote a $100,000 check to City College during the same time period that Mr. Rangel was working to leave Nabors’ tax shelter intact.
For 20 years Mr. Rangel has owned a 3 bedroom, 3 bath beachfront villa in the Dominican Republic located on the Caribbean Sea at the Punta Cana Hotel. Boasting a panoramic ocean view and reportedly one of the most popular casitas in one of the island’s best resorts, it commonly rents for between $500 a night in the low season and $1,100 a night between November and April. However, Mr. Rangel failed to report any rental income for 2006, 2007 and from 1996 to 2000 on his personal financial disclosure statements. The disclosure is a sworn statement and intentionally filing a false report is a felony that carries a possible five-year prison sentence. After first denying receiving any rental income in 2006 & 2007, Rangel’s lawyer reported that the property had earned over $75,000 in rental income that he failed to report on his federal or state tax returns. New York state law classifies filing a false return a felony punishable by up to four years in prison but typically prosecutions are rare and instead the taxpayer is fined 20% of the back taxes owed. Under federal law it also a felony to willfully evade payment of taxes or file a false return with possible prison sentences and fines of up to $100,000. Rep. Rangel used an interest-free mortgage to purchase the property granted to him by the resort development company whose principal happened to have also contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Mr. Rangel’s campaigns. Rangel did not report the forgiven interest as required by House rules, nor did he report it to the IRS and State of New York on his tax returns. He has subsequently filed amended returns and paid $10,800 in back taxes.
Mr. Rangel traveled to the island of St. Maarten in the Caribbean in November 2008 with four other members to attend a conference sponsored by the Carib News Foundation. There is evidence that the trip was paid for by major US corporations led by Citigroup, yet another violation of House Rules.
Rep. Rangel’s financial disclosure forms failed to disclose all of his assets and unearned income at least 28 times in clear violation of House rules. He accumulated from $239,026 to $831,000 in assets that were not listed in disclosure forms despite House rules that require members to list the purchase or sale of any assets. In some instances, Mr. Rangel listed assets without acquisition dates. His 2006 disclosure form notes 13 mutual funds with values from $54,013 to $286,000 without any acquisition date. Other problems Mr. Rangel has had with the disclosure form include detailing dispositions of assets; investments valued in 2004 at $95,004 to $250,000 were later omitted in future filings with no record of their sale or disposition. Moreover, no royalties or advances from Mr. Rangel’s 2007 book, “And I Haven’t Had a Bad Day Since” have been reported on his filings.
Mr. Rangel stored his 1972 Mercedes in a House parking space valued at $290 per month for several years and never reported the imputed income to the IRS. Also, since the vehicle was unlicensed and without a valid parking permit, its storage was a violation of House rules.
Gross negligence, incompetence, breach of fiduciary duty, and terrible judgment
If Mr. Rangel were the CEO of any public company in America, he would have been summarily fired for gross negligence, incompetence, breach of fiduciary duty, and terrible judgment. And, given the nature of the violations, had his severance agreement revoked and possibly faced criminal prosecution. But, as is obvious by now, Congress has a much lower ethical standard than private enterprise and the rules and laws that apply to us don’t seem to apply to the public servants in Congress. Madame Pelosi and Rep. Rangel continue to brush aside calls from both the left and the right for his resignation allowing self serving interests to take priority over integrity, honor and ethical conduct.
OBAMA HAS NO SHAME…WHAT A CREEP!…
Dangerous Obama Targets Sarah Palin
Dirty lowdown gangsta-style politics of personal destruction. Welcome to hope and change, America. The new America is all about fear and loathing.
Obama’s hatred of the good for being the good manifests itself in his latest. Palin is everything O ain’t. Quintessentially American and proud and patriotic and good. Beware, evildoers. You will not win. Sarah has something Obama and his brown shirts can’t touch – heart and soul.
Organzing for America, aka mybarackobama.com, is Obama’s old campaign website, blighted with Jew hatred and Israel bashing, still allowed to run unchecked.
Organizing for America, a fundraising arm of the DNC, sent an email to supporters today in an attempt to raise $500,000 off her assertion this fall that Democratic health care bills would create panels of government bureaucrats to decide end-of-life care.
“It’s dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term ‘Death Panels’– and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists. Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform,” reads the email from Organizing for America national director Mitch Stewart.
The email asks Obama supporters to donate $5 to “help push back against Sarah Palin and her allies.”
Here’s the full email:
Right now, Sarah Palin is on a highly publicized, nationwide book tour, attacking President Obama and his plan for health reform at every turn.
It’s dangerous. Remember, this is the person who coined the term “Death Panels” — and opened the flood gates for months of false attacks by special interests and partisan extremists.
Whatever lie comes next will be widely covered by the media, then constantly echoed by right-wing attack groups and others who are trying to defeat reform.
As we approach the final sprint on health reform, we can’t afford more deception and delay. We need to be ready for anything — and have the resources to respond with ads, events, and calls to Congress when the attacks come.
So we’re setting a big goal: $500,000 in the next week to help push back against Sarah Palin and her allies. Please chip in $5 to help reach our goal.
Earlier this month, Palin publicly said that she hopes health reform will be “dead on arrival.” And since then, she’s been working fiercely toward that goal.
On Tuesday, Palin went on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show where she outrageously — and falsely — suggested that Americans could “face jail time as punishment” if they don’t buy insurance.
Palin has many more interviews scheduled on Hannity and other conservative shows in the next few weeks, with more platforms to go after the President. As soon as she does, the rest of our opponents will likely parrot those attacks.
We need to be prepared. And we’re counting on you help. Can you chip in $5?
Thanks,
Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America
Jihad versus American Values – Mutually Exclusive
Write a short essay of your research and thoughts on quintessential American Values (e.g. unique and/or foundational ideals, beliefs, rights of American civilization)
One way to indentify them, and to draw antithetical comparisons to PC perversions, is to consider some philosophical dichotomies, such as:
1) Individual vs. Group (tribes, races, classes, factions, orgs., etc.)
2) Peace vs. Coercion
3) Liberty vs. Government
4) Truth vs. Fantasy
5) Utopia vs. Reality
6) Freedom vs. Dependence
7) Self-defense vs. Submission
Sovereignty vs. Slavery
9) Rule of Law vs. Lawlessness (anarchy)
10) Private Property vs. Entitlement (grand larceny)
Some examples of American Values which come to mind:
i) Individual Sovereignty – No man is subject to a (earthly) King except himself.
ii) Government gains/maintains its legitimacy and authority by the Consent of the Governed.
iii) Government’s first priority is to ensure Security for its Citizens by vigorously protecting their Rights, and by providing them Protection from Harm.
iv) All men are created Equal (by their Creator).
v) Natural Law is recognized and codified into Law.
vi) Natural Rights which flow from natural law are inalienable by men.
vii) Republicanism is the best form of government (yet conceived) with the rule of law, democratic processes, and the separation of powers at its core.
viii) Human Life is sacred.
ix) No human life shall be enslaved/coerced to serve another.
x) Private Property rights shall be inviolable, since the fruits of one’s labor represent an extension of one’s Life, by the free exercise of one’s sovereign resources.
xi) Freedom of Speech, especially of criticizing one’s own government without recrimination, is essential and inviolable.
xii) All Sovereignty lies with, and is inherent in, the People. Governments may be formed, or reformed, by the People delegating certain enumerated and limited authority to act as their agent. E.g. The U.S. Constitution.
When it Comes to Iran, President Obama Won’t Hear “No” For an Answer
Barry Rubin
Question: What does Iran have to do to get across the fact that it isn’t making a deal on its nuclear program?
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton says she doesn’t consider the Iranian foreign minister’s statement that they aren’t making the deal to be “the final word.” The Obama Administration will give Tehran a few more chances—and probably a few more months—to stall in order to race ahead in their atom bomb program and to build up ways of overcoming any sanctions that are some day applied. Indeed, the United States and five other powers are holding still another meeting to, in the words of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana’s spokeswoman “review the latest developments on the Iran nuclear issue.” But since no one is concluding Iran is saying no, they won’t take one step toward higher sanctions.
Higher sanctions, you might remember, were supposed to come about in September 2009 under the Obama Administration’s own original time table. You know when the deadline was for the multi-year European negotiations with Iran was? September 2007.
Now at the earliest sanctions probably wouldn’t come before, what, March 2010? Victory for the Iran regime.
Another great power statement says that Iran has “not responded positively” to the plan, “We are disappointed by the lack of follow-up,” and “Iran has not engaged in an intensified dialogue and in particular has not accepted to have a new meeting.”
I think Iran is trying to tell you something, guys. But since it isn’t in writing yet, well, they claim they can’t do anything. And of course the Iranian regime will–with U.S. government cooperation–draw this out as long as possible.
Memo to world leaders: Do you think they might be stalling for time?
Note something important here. It isn’t as if the minute they declare that Iran rejects any compromise or serious negotiations there will be stronger sanctions. Oh, no. At that point, the United States and Europeans will start meeting to figure out what sanctions to put on. Of course, they will disagree, the Russians and Chinese will water it down. The plan is also to bring in the entire EU which means, for example, that Spain or Sweden could slow down the process or force a reduction in the planned pressures on Tehran.
Now what is the president of the United States’s response to all this? Hold onto your syntax:
“Iran has taken weeks now and has not shown its willingness to say yes to this proposal…and so as a consequence we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences.”
Can you imagine what would have been said if President George W. Bush, that fumblemouthed clown so unlike the brilliant articulate Obama had said “the importance of having consequences”? What does that phrase mean? Translation: I refuse to threaten Iran. I am reluctant to put on sanctions. I don’t want to admit that engagement has failed. Where’s the teleprompter?”
Now a new voice has been added asking for Obama to take tough action. that of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, international spokesman for Iran’s main opposition movement. He urged Obama to increase public support for Iranian dissidents and stop the regime from getting nuclear weapons.
Recall that Obama’s claim that a tougher stance would hurt the opposition was a major reason for him refusing to condemn the election theft, speak out forcibly against the repression, and hit the regime harder. Well, obviously that’s untrue.
But even Makhmalbaf, former campaign spokesman for presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, thinks the regime won’t make a deal because, in his words, “If they agree not to pursue a nuclear bomb and start negotiations, they will lose their supporters. Definitely dialogue is better than war. … But can you continue your dialogue without any results?”
Answer: Apparently yes.
Now here’s where it gets really disgusting.
In 1983, 241 U.S. servicemen were killed in the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in an operation backed by Iran and Syria, carried out by Hizballah and other Iranian agents. Two yars ago, a federal court ruled that Iran was indeed responsible and ordered that Tehran pay $2.65 billion in damages to families of those killed.
The Justice Department is arguing that implementing the decision “can have significant, detrimental impact on our foreign relations, as well as the reciprocal treatment of the United States and its extensive overseas property holdings.”
Really? What is Iran going to do, seize the U.S. embassy and hold everyone hostage? Oh, they already did that. Support terrorist attacks against Americans in Iraq. Oh, they are doing that, too. Hold anti-American rallies and call the United States “the Great Satan?” Oh, too late.
What this Administration doesn’t understand is the value of pressure, leverage, credibility, and lots of other diplomatic techniques. What it should do is: let the court decision be implemented and put on sanctions now. That would be a much better situation:
–Under more pressure the likelihood of its slowing down the program and bargaining will increase. Sure, they won’t really make a deal but at least they will be more scared and cautious.
–If sanctions are increased, Iran’s ability to move ahead quickly with the program and its other aggressive designs will be weakened.
–Seeing the West being tougher and the United States showing some real leadership, Arab and other states will take heart and will resist more themselves. Otherwise, they will rush–as is already happening–to appease Iran.
Otherwise, the U.S. government will just go on holding “discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences.” Unfortunately, for Iran Obama’s policy has no consequences.
Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan).
Oh, My The Ilumminati Have Us
Question for the Big Bangers, “Who created the first two protons?” Al Gore might be a reasonable answer for the Climate Change types, but it’s not good enough for me.
Steve
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World’s largest atom smasher is restarted
By Associated Press
Saturday, November 21, 2009
GENEVA — Scientists switched on the world’s largest atom smasher Friday night for the first time since the $10 billion machine suffered a spectacular failure more than a year ago.
It took a year of repairs before beams of protons circulated in the Large Hadron Collider for the first time since it was heavily damaged by an electrical fault.
Circulation of the beams was a significant leap forward. The European Organization for Nuclear Research has taken the restart of the collider step by step to avoid further setbacks as it moves toward new scientific experiments — probably starting in January — regarding the makeup of matter and the universe.
Progress on restarting the machine, on the border between Switzerland and France, went faster than expected Friday evening and the first beam started circulating in a clockwise direction around the machine about 10 p.m., said James Gillies, spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
The scientists have started preparing to circulate another beam in the opposite direction within the coming hours, Gillies said.
“We’ve still got some way to go before physics can begin, but with this milestone we’re well on the way,” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer.
With great fanfare, CERN circulated its first beams Sept. 10, 2008. But the machine was sidetracked nine days later when a badly soldered electrical splice overheated and set off a chain of damage to massive superconducting magnets and other parts of the collider, in a 17-mile circular tunnel under the Swiss-French border.
