Former US Congresswoman Cindy McKinney was among a group of people trying to get humanitarian aid to Gaza by boat without going through Israeli checkpoints first. The navy warned, then stopped and boarded their boat.
The anti-Israel lobby is working overtime and is pressuring the Obama administartion to pressure Israel into more concessions.
Why do they refuse to work with Israel in handing over supplies?
It comes down to public relations and making Israel look bad in the world press.
For the “Free Gaza” movement, mission accomplished – thanks to a willing media.
Growing up, one of my favorite music groups was the English rock band Pink Floyd. When I was about 6 years old, they released an album called “Wish you were here” after one of their tracks on the LP as they are called in the business (or were back then).
The song goes like this:
So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,
blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have you found? The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
It seems that the crisis mentality driven by politics, years of easy credit and western lifestyles has made too many so eager to trade their rights, freedoms, and liberty in order to avert conflict, unemployment and economic downturn. In other words, too often we’ll trade our freedom for stability.
There is no real way to guarantee employment, good health or longevity in life. Prosperity can be fleeting, success can be followed by more failures. The most healthy among us could drop dead suddenly or be hit by a bus. Anybody (including very hope-inspiring Presidents) who tells you otherwise is either a liar or a fool (or quite possibly both).
During the last 7 out of the 8 years George W Bush was President of the USA, we were subjected to daily diatribes about how he had made a mess of the world, trampled the US Constitution and ruined the reputation of the USA in the eyes of the world on his misguided mission to “protect us” from what critics said was impossible to defend (i.e. terrorism as some sort of “thing” in and of itself).
Perhaps they were right.
Bush was indeed wrong to not make his war on “terror” a war on al_Quaeda and any organizations that used “terrorism” as a primary vehicle to induce “change”.
He should have asked, no – DEMANDED – an official declaration of war from the US Congress. Instead, he took the easier way out and allowed for the b.s. resolution that authorized the use of force… yada, yada, yada. We all know the rest.
He was also criticized for taking too much power and putting it into the hands of the department of “Homeland Security”. They were making terrorist watch lists and issuing alerts and the like and no one seemed to know what they were really doing and to whom.
Bush’s plans to enable a computer system to analyze phone records without a warrant on persons in the US made many uneasy and there were calls for his impeachment by the far left.
There are no such calls for Obama’s removal – yet.
He has amassed more power than Bush and in a much shorter time period under far less of an “emergency” (aka the financial meltdown of 2008/2009).
The automobile industry is either directly or indirectly under his control (GM & Chrysler C-Level staff dare not oppose him or face a pink slip), the banks (especially those who took TARP money by government force or not) are desperately attempting to extricate themselves from the grip of government micro-management by committee, energy companies are on notice that they had better go green with their buddies in auto manufacturing and health care industry participants are all uneasily waiting to see what he has in store for the “grand” remaking of their livelihoods.
Lost on everybody is the fact that the US Constitution does not grant him (nor his cohorts running Congress) the power to do any of this (even if he says it is all for our own good).
Obama tells us that we must trade our heroes for ghosts (FDR, Stalin), our “walk on part” in a war for a lead role in a cage (stop war and start Obama-Care). Freedom is never free – it is priceless. Change requires that you prepare for those changes. Obama will have you stripped of that responsibility in lieu of a government nanny.
Nanny Guv will oversee your health care (to make sure it is cheap enough – and free enough, and most of all – not your responsibility anymore), your automobiles (to see that they are “green enough”), your banks, your power company, and finally YOU.
YOU will be compelled to lead a better life (in the eyes of Obama). YOU will keep your home warmer in summer and cooler in winter so that you don’t use too much energy (as determined by Obama). Coal plants will give way to windmills (hot ashes for trees, hot air for a “cool breeze”). YOU will retrofit your home to be more environmentally friendly and YOU will eat the foods that are deemed appropriate by his highness.
The helping hand of the state run US media will make us all, Comfortably Numb.
Don’t forget – he will also be watching a list of “terror suspects” in case they want to buy a gun. He will decide who still has rights under the 2nd amendment. Isn’t that special?
It may be 2009, but it feels more like 1984.
President Reagan, Pink Floyd is on like 3, a “Mr. Floyd” is on line 3,
An Iranian envoy in Mexico spoke to the press yesterday and made some salient points. He was asked about the election of course and he said that there is no evidence of fraud. He is right – not that there was no fraud, just that the press has no evidence to support their claims.
There were tens of thousand of people counting the 40 million or so ballots.
Also -
Ahmadinejad’s overwhelming victory was no surprise, Ghadiri said, noting that a poll published in the United States three weeks before the June 12 elections showed Ahmadinejad with a commanding lead. “Why don’t you show that?” he asked.
Yes – why don’t they?
He also speculated that the CIA or another agency like it could have perpetrated the shooting of Neda Agha-Soltan, which was caught on video and sent around the world on the Internet. He is right. A well placed shot like that could help spur more riots and instability in Iran. There is no proof, but just like the alleged fraud and the assumed victory for the challenger. That hasn’t stopped the world from following the protesters day and night.
Obama could very well benefit if a more “moderate” faction took hold in Iran – especially after his much acclaimed speech. The US President puts much faith in words and diplomacy over force. This could be a helpful “push” to help make his speech seem like a tipping point for the Iranian people, especially the young women there.
Alas, there is no proof of such speculation and it would be irresponsible to make such a charge. Neda Agha-Soltan was shot in cold blood by someone. It has been speculated that a member of the Basij militia was apprehended and shouted that he did not want to kill her. Then astonishingly, the crowd let him go.
It is doubtful that we will ever know who killed her or why exactly.
Back to the Iranian Ambassador to Mexico:
The envoy also was pressed on the issue of restrictions on the media there. Press people are now heavily restricted and have been arrested in some cases. This is where it gets interesting. Ambassador Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri said that the press has been omitting reports of the mass rallies for Ahmadinejad and further, omitted reports of protesters becoming rioters who burned banks and buses and attacking other people. The foreign press only shows the response to the protests/riots.
He may be right. The press has an interest in the protesters rather than in the incumbent government leadership there.
It is not unlike Israel, minding its own business and taking rocket attack after attack, along with suicide bombings for months or years on end. Then one day, they say that they have had enough and respond with force. Then and only then do the CNN, al-Jazzera and BBC reporters start their video streams to the world.
Obama wants congress to lead and to withhold their fears. They are to blindly follow his orders and pass the so called clean energy bill this summer.
He knows it is an uphill battle and he wants to cash in while the good vibes keep rolling in from the press. He called it a “jobs” bill.
That is true. It will be a jobs killing bill. The jobs created will be small compared to the jobs lost and the wealth sapped up by higher taxes and energy prices.
The ideology of the more liberal “dreamers” of the early 20th century inadvertently led to the fascist dictatorships that made misery of the civilized world. Now, the cycle returns. This time, the dreamers are filled with hope for change. The ignorant masses never cracked their history books long enough to read about the brave dreamers of Russia who toppled a Czar only to replace him with a system that lead directly to Stalin. Stalin was even more brutal than the Czar and led to as much or more misery.
The German people were tired of the Kaiser’s quests and went much more socialist in their ideology. The rise of the National Socialist Party of Germany and the push by the dreamers of that era to talk their way out of conflicts (instead of fighting) allowed Hitler to commandeer that nation and to the deaths of tens of millions of people.
What will the dreamers of this century accomplish? Their dreams are even bigger and more peaceful. They aim to remake just about everything and industry. They even want to remake the laws of physics and economics, not to mention human nature itself.
If the relationship between the intent of the ideological dreamers is inversely proportional to the outcome – oy vey! We are in for troubles of apocalyptic proportions.
Emergency responders were called to his residence and found Michael Jackson not breathing yesterday afternoon. They performed CPR and took him to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. Preliminary reports say his suffered cardiac arrest.
Jackson was preparing for a big tour of Europe and was rehearsing in Los Angeles. The youngest of the Jackson 5, he became the King of Pop in the 1980s and was honored by then President Ronald Reagan.
By the 1990s he had descended into scandal and became reclusive. His bizarre behavior and child-like persona did little to help him to deal with charges of child molestation at his “Never land” Ranch.
Reportedly in debt to the tune of $500 million, he was making a comeback of sorts and had sold out many dates on his upcoming European tour.
Toxicology tests will help determine if narcotics he was taking for multiple fractures suffered while performing played a role in his death.
Posted by Russ Goldstein 
Posted by Russ Goldstein 
Posted by Russ Goldstein 
The German people were tired of the Kaiser’s quests and went much more socialist in their ideology. The rise of the National Socialist Party of Germany and the push by the dreamers of that era to talk their way out of conflicts (instead of fighting) allowed Hitler to commandeer that nation and to the deaths of tens of millions of people.
