She has defrauded the public by lying about the fact that she is actively advancing the cause of Jerusalem's partition. She has defrauded her political colleagues by crafting "grand compromises" she knows will never be implemented. She is defrauding the public by using a fraudulent electorate to catapult her way into the prime minister's office. And she does all of this while deceiving us into believing that she is competent to lead.
She tells us that the cease-fire with Hizbullah she crafted which paved the way for the Iranian proxy's takeover of Lebanon was a diplomatic success. She tells us that we have no option of victory over our enemies and the best we can do is beg others to defend us. And she tells us we should give her the reins of power because she tells us the truth.
The public is powerless today to do anything in the face of Livni's and Kadima's trampling of our democratic system and open contempt for our national interests. It can only be hoped that whenever elections are eventually held, we will punish them for what they have done.
Correction: The public is not powerless to do anything. But the combination of Muslims plus Leftist power brokers makes this very difficult to achieve through legal means.
Assuming this is true, it simply disqualifies Obama from any public trust:
WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.
According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July.
"He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington," Zebari said in an interview.
Natan Sharansky again proves the wisdom of his shift to Israel's leading think tank. Again, he provides the strategic direction forward (which will certainly be picked up by McCain/Palin):
As the free world tries to formulate an effective response to Russia's recent incursion into Georgia, policymakers might want to consider how we got to this point. The situation in Georgia is the culmination of a failed post-Cold War policy toward Russia. Central to this failure has been ignoring the inherent connection between internal freedom and external aggression. As democracy was rolled back within Russia, the world abandoned an approach that had been so effective during the later stages of the Cold War, when relations with the Kremlin were linked to the expansion of freedom inside the Soviet Union.
If the root of the problem is to be addressed, the focus must return to the matter of democracy within Russia itself. The threat to Georgia, Russia's other democratic neighbors and America ultimately arises from a lack of democracy within Russia. Changing that should be the focus of statecraft today - if we want to ensure that the Kremlin poses no threat to peace tomorrow.
ISLAMIC law has been officially adopted in Britain, with sharia courts given powers to rule on Muslim civil cases.
The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence. Rulings issued by a network of five sharia courts are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through the county courts or High Court. Previously, the rulings of sharia courts in Britain could not be enforced, and depended on voluntary compliance among Muslims.
It has now emerged that sharia courts with these powers have been set up in London, Birmingham, Bradford and Manchester with the network’s headquarters in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Two more courts are being planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi, whose Muslim Arbitration Tribunal runs the courts, said he had taken advantage of a clause in the Arbitration Act 1996.
In Governor Sarah Palin's first media interview since her nomination, Charles Gibson has insisted on forcing Sarah Palin to defend something she did not say:
GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, "Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God." Are we fighting a holy war?
PALIN: You know, I don't know if that was my exact quote.
GIBSON: Exact words.
The problem is that her full statement simply asked people to pray for soldiers to do the right thing and for US leaders to do God's will in general when sending out soldiers:
"Pray for our military. He is going to be deployed in September to Iraq. Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending them [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God, that is what we have to make sure that we are praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."
Her grammar in the extemporaneous speech is clearer to understand in the actual video (at 3:23):
Back to the Gibson interview:
PALIN: But the reference there is a repeat of Abraham Lincoln's words when he said -- first, he suggested never presume to know what God's will is, and I would never presume to know God's will or to speak God's words.
But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that's a repeat in my comments, was let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God's side.
Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right
It is clear from the original video that this is exactly what she meant. The interview continues:
GIBSON: I take your point about Lincoln's words, but you went on and said, "There is a plan and it is God's plan."
This is another dowdification. Here is what she actually said:
...that is what we have to make sure that we are praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan
Back to the interview:
PALIN: I believe that there is a plan for this world and that plan for this world is for good. I believe that there is great hope and great potential for every country to be able to live and be protected with inalienable rights that I believe are God-given, Charlie, and I believe that those are the rights to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
That, in my world view, is a grand -- the grand plan.
GIBSON: But then are you sending your son on a task that is from God?
PALIN: I don't know if the task is from God, Charlie. What I know is that my son has made a decision. I am so proud of his independent and strong decision he has made, what he decided to do and serving for the right reasons and serving something greater than himself and not choosing a real easy path where he could be more comfortable and certainly safer.
There is nothing radical about this sentiment at all--not only is it a fundamental element of mainstream Christianity, it is an ecumenical sentiment--Jewish theology relies on this concept as well. Here, for example, is an excerpt from the Talmud (Ethics of the Fathers):
Do His will as if it was your will
Update: This is really funny. Excerpts from the Gibson clip are now posted on ABC's Internet site. First of all, the clip of Palin speaking is actually spliced into the Gibson interview and it shows Gibson's quote to be a dowdification! Gibson pulled his misinformation from the original AP story that distorted the text. However, the video clip of her speech has been cut off before the key element (shown in bold below):
"Pray for our military. He is going to be deployed in September to Iraq. Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending them [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God, that is what we have to make sure that we are praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."
Palin is simply asking churchgoers to pray that US leaders make the right choices, as opposed to a declarative statement that the Iraq war is "God's will."
In order to help publicize this correction of the record, please click the Digg button below.
A close reading of the Gibson interview shows that she has made what may be the strongest pro-Israel statements ever by a potential American leader:
GIBSON: Let me turn to Iran. Do you consider a nuclear Iran to be an existential threat to Israel?
PALIN: I believe that under the leadership of Ahmadinejad, nuclear weapons in the hands of his government are extremely dangerous to everyone on this globe, yes.
Here, Palin expresses the entire point of this blog--that the war against Israel is really a part of the war on the free world.
GIBSON: So what should we do about a nuclear Iran? John McCain said the only thing worse than a war with Iran would be a nuclear Iran. John Abizaid said we may have to live with a nuclear Iran. Who's right?
PALIN: No, no. I agree with John McCain that nuclear weapons in the hands of those who would seek to destroy our allies, in this case, we're talking about Israel, we're talking about Ahmadinejad's comment about Israel being the "stinking corpse, should be wiped off the face of the earth," that's atrocious. That's unacceptable.
Here Palin is presenting the best quote she can in order to get listeners to side with Israel against those who hate her.
GIBSON: So what do you do about a nuclear Iran?
PALIN: We have got to make sure that these weapons of mass destruction, that nuclear weapons are not given to those hands of Ahmadinejad, not that he would use them, but that he would allow terrorists to be able to use them. So we have got to put the pressure on Iran and we have got to count on our allies to help us, diplomatic pressure.
GIBSON: But, Governor, we've threatened greater sanctions against Iran for a long time. It hasn't done any good. It hasn't stemmed their nuclear program.
PALIN: We need to pursue those and we need to implement those. We cannot back off. We cannot just concede that, oh, gee, maybe they're going to have nuclear weapons, what can we do about it. No way, not Americans. We do not have to stand for that.
GIBSON: What if Israel decided it felt threatened and needed to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities?
PALIN: Well, first, we are friends with Israel and I don't think that we should second guess the measures that Israel has to take to defend themselves and for their security.
GIBSON: So if we wouldn't second guess it and they decided they needed to do it because Iran was an existential threat, we would cooperative or agree with that.
PALIN: I don't think we can second guess what Israel has to do to secure its nation.
GIBSON: So if it felt necessary, if it felt the need to defend itself by taking out Iranian nuclear facilities, that would be all right.
PALIN: We cannot second guess the steps that Israel has to take to defend itself.
Over and over, Palin offers Israel carte blanche in doing what it needs to do to defend itself and for its security. If she is serious, this overturns much of current American policy in terms of pressuring Israel to dismantle checkpoints and to make "goodwill gesture" releases of jihadist prisoners. All of these undermine Israel's security. Do not be distracted by the fact that she said this in response to questions about a nuclear Iran. Her answers are categorical principles, not specific.
More importantly, this logically overturns the long-standing American policies of pressuring Israel to relinquish land for peace, and to stop settlement activity. Israel has historically argued that this territory have a vital security role, a contention that Palin should logically not second-guess.
Furthermore, Palin drew about as strong a line as a national politician has ever made in opposing the Global Jihad:
SARAH PALIN: In order to stop Islamic extremists, those terrorists who would seek to destroy America and our allies, we must do whatever it takes, and we must not blink, Charlie, in making those tough decisions of where we go and even who we target.
I'll believe it when I see it. In the meantime it's a race against time as announcements are made of last-minute Olmert giveaways of Israeli land:
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday reiterated his pledge to step down immediately after Kadima chooses a successor next week, dispelling speculation he will try to linger in office.
With the primary set for Wednesday, the announcement means that the new Kadima leader could find him or herself racing to form a new government in as little as a week.
Olmert, who is battling corruption investigations, announced in July that he would resign after Kadima chose a new leader. But some felt he was vague about the timing of his exit, raising speculation that he might delay it.
Addressing a Kadima Party meeting at Kfar Hamaccabiah in Ramat Gan on Thursday night, the prime minister said he did not intend to delay his resignation.
"As I have said before, immediately after the selection of a new chairman of Kadima, I plan to resign and recommend to the president to pick the new head of the party to form a government," he said.
Olmert, however, must remain premier while his successor tries to form a new coalition, a process that could take weeks. If the new Kadima leader fails, and no other party leader is deemed capable of forming a government, it would force a general election a year and a half ahead of schedule.
Coalition negotiations could last until next spring, and Olmert would remain in office as head of a transitional government until then.
Thirty paragraphs into this story is quite a large admission:
"The [Obama] campaign is beginning to look like other campaigns,” said a former top strategist for past Democratic presidential campaigns, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Obama is struggling with working-class whites just like John Kerry, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Michael Dukakis did, and Walter Mondale. He’s struggling with voters in the border-state South. And he’s struggling with an enormous wind at his back, a hatred for George Bush and a mainstream media that is little short of a chorus for his campaign."
Why should Israel-supporters be thrilled at the ascension of Sarah Palin? For the same reason that readers felt after learning that Odysseus was to return home after twenty years of exile.
There have been innumerable revelations that the American-supported Mahmoud Abbas is an ardent proponent of jihad terrorism.
Leftists tend to cheer anti-Israel behavior as a strike against American power. Liberals tend to feign ignorance in the name of the "greater good" of ending the "immoral occupation" and in appeasing the Muslim World. Liberal Republicans tend to to see no evil as well, seeing the sacrifice of Israel as a useful appeasement of the powerful Muslim World in the service of America's greater interests.
Only conservatives and evangelical Christians understand the battle against Israel as part of the Global Jihad that threatens the free world. Sarah Palin is a member of both ideological camps.
There is about as much chance that Palin will tolerate the insanity of America paying to prop for the Palestinian jihad as there was that Odysseus would invite the execrable suitors to Date My Ex:
Palestinian Authority (Fatah) TV is using the universally beloved characters of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet in an attempt to create a Disney-like studio -- while teaching children to glorify a mass murderer whose victims included 12 children. In a new official PA TV studio built for a Ramadan children's program, the smiling images of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pooh and Piglet are the backdrop for a TV quiz that this week venerated a notorious terrorist.
The female terrorist, Dalal Mughrabi, participated in the murders of 12 children and 25 adults in a 1978 bus attack in Israel. In this quiz, Mughrabi is idolized as the "beloved bride, daughter of Jaffa, jasmine flower," while figures of Mickey and Minnie Mouse are prominent in the background -- as if it were a Disney program.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God."
The problem is that her full statement simply asked people to pray for soldiers to do the right thing and for US leaders to do God's will in general when sending out soldiers:
"Pray for our military. He is going to be deployed in September to Iraq. Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending them [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God, that is what we have to make sure that we are praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."
Her grammar in the extemporaneous speech is clearer to understand in the actual video (at 3:23):
The AP (et al) distorted the statement by changing it to an independent declaration ("our leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God") when really it's clear that she is saying "Pray that our leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God" and to pray that the leaders' plan is aligned with God's wishes.
There is nothing radical about this sentiment at all--it is a fundamental element of mainstream Christian and Jewish theology. In secular terms, the concept is also a truism--it's important to do the right things, not just to do things right.
-Palin did not cut funding for special needs education in Alaska by 62 percent. She didn’t cut it at all. In fact, she tripled per-pupil funding over just three years.
-She did not demand that books be banned from the Wasilla library. Some of the books on a widely circulated list were not even in print at the time. The librarian has said Palin asked a "What if?" question, but the librarian continued in her job through most of Palin's first term.
-She was never a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, a group that wants Alaskans to vote on whether they wish to secede from the United States. She’s been registered as a Republican since May 1982.
-Palin never endorsed or supported Pat Buchanan for president. She once wore a Buchanan button as a "courtesy" when he visited Wasilla, but shortly afterward she was appointed to co-chair of the campaign of Steve Forbes in the state.
-Palin has not pushed for teaching creationism in Alaska's schools. She has said that students should be allowed to "debate both sides" of the evolution question, but she also said creationism "doesn't have to be part of the curriculum."
Three Jewish teens were attacked by a group of Muslim African immigrants in Paris on Saturday evening, a French police spokeswoman said Sunday.
The Jewish teens, ages 17 and 18, who have been identified as Dan Nebet, Kevin Bitan and David Boaziz, are leaders of the Bnei Akiva youth group in Paris' 19th District.
Thiery Nebet, Dan's father, told Haaretz over the phone that according to what his son had said, as they were walking down the street, "Four or five Arabs of African origin started to throw walnuts at Kevin. When he went up to them to ask them why they did it, they surrounded him and knocked him down. Kevin and David moved in and very quickly more Arabs joined in and started to beat the three with their fists and with chains."
The Jewish teens were hospitalized, one with a broken nose and jaw and all three with bruises, and filed a police report after their release. Police opened an investigation and are looking for the Muslim teenagers allegedly responsible for the attacks.
According to the chairman of the Jewish Students Union in France, Raphael Haddad, barrages of stones were thrown at the three teens during the attack. Haddad also said the incident occured on Petit Street in the 19th District, not far from where a 17-yeaar-old Jewish youth was attacked and seriously injured by immigrants on June 21.
The attack is one of a long series of racial attacks in Europe in general and in France in particular. France has Western Europe's largest population of both Jews and Muslims.
When pollsters want to inflate the prospects of Democratic candidates, they don't report the responses of likely voters only. Because that changes the results dramatically:
The Republican National Convention has given John McCain and his party a significant boost, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken over the weekend shows, as running mate Sarah Palin helps close an “enthusiasm gap” that has dogged the GOP all year.
McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by 50%-46% among registered voters, the Republican’s biggest advantage since January and a turnaround from the USA TODAY poll taken just before the convention opened in St. Paul. ...
In the new poll, taken Friday through Sunday, McCain leads Obama by 54%-44% among those seen as most likely to vote.
In this case, the differential is probably understated because conservative turnout is likely going to set records given the enthusiasm over Sarah Palin.
The key demographic: 20-point shift towards McCain among white women in one month McCain is leading among white women 53 percent to 41 percent (ABC poll). Credit Palin.
...."She had an Israeli flag, of all the things, mounted on her office wall, and I have that on film" he said. "I was very surprised to see that and when I asked her about it, she said that she loves Israel and the she had friends who visited the country and brought her the flag."
The rest of the article has more on Palin, including confirmation that she seems to be largely guileless. Which is why she never thought of parlaying her closet Zionism into political advantage.
U.S. ground forces crossed the border from Afghanistan and attacked suspected al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan on Wednesday as part of an aggressive new strategy to kill or capture Osama bin Laden before President Bush leaves office, U.S. officials said. "I know the hunt is on; they're pulling out all the stops," said a Defense Department official with knowledge of the situation. "They want to find bin Laden before the president leaves office and ensure that al-Qaeda will not attack the U.S. during the upcoming elections." The attack, mounted by U.S. commandos backed by helicopter gunships, took place in South Waziristan, a tribal area that has become a safe haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. Bin Laden and his No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, are thought to be hiding there. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry called the raid "a grave provocation" and "a gross violation of Pakistan's territory."
The mystery has been solved--the reason Sarah Palin displayed an Israeli flag in her Alaska governor's office is that she loves the country: