With U.S. President Barack Obama's arrival in Israel on Wednesday, public pressure for Jonathan Pollard's release has gained momentum in Israel and worldwide.
At the receiving line ceremony at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Wednesday, Housing Minister Uri Ariel (Habayit Hayehudi) and Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat (Likud) took advantage of their face time with the U.S. president to ask him to free Pollard from federal prison.
"Please free Pollard," Ariel said to the president; Obama replied, "Great to see you."
"Thank you for coming to Israel. We really appreciate your visit. On behalf of the citizens of Israel, I ask you not to forget our brother Jonathan Pollard," Livnat said to the US president.
Dozens of Jerusalemites participated in the "Go to your window" campaign, in which they hung posters from their balconies and windows welcoming the president and asking him to free Pollard.
At the same time, a long list of notables in recent days have signed the petition to free Pollard. Among those who signed were university presidents, former U.S. ambassadors to Israel and more than 30 mayors.
The massive mobilization on Pollard's behalf did not stop at Israel's borders. Thirty American Jewish organizations on Wednesday called on Obama to free Pollard to mark 10,000 days in American prison, which takes place on April 8.
Meanwhile, students from three universities who were invited to Obama's speech today at Jerusalem's International Convention Center, approached Esther Pollard and the Justice for Jonathan Pollard Committee and said they plan to carry out protest gestures during the event. Esther Pollard told the students that she appreciates the thought, but to please refrain from protesting the president’s speech.
Shortly after Pollard began working at NIC/TF-168, he met Aviem Sella, an Israeli Air Force combat veteran who was at the time a graduate student at New York University, on leave from his position as a colonel in order to gain a master’s degree in computer science. Pollard told Sella that he worked for U.S. naval intelligence, told him of specific incidents where U.S. intelligence was withholding information from Israel, and offered himself as a spy. Though Sella had wondered whether Pollard was part of an FBI sting operation to recruit an Israeli, he ended up believing him. Sella then phoned his air force intelligence commander in Tel Aviv for further instructions, and the call was switched to the air force chief of staff. Sella was ordered to develop a contact with Pollard.
Within a few days, in June 1984, Pollard started passing classified information to Sella and received, in exchange, $10,000 cash and a very expensive diamond and sapphire ring, which Pollard later used to propose marriage to his girlfriend Anne. He also agreed to receive $1,500 per month for further espionage.
Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigator Ronald Olive has alleged that Pollard passed classified information to South Africa,[26] and attempted, through a third party, to sell classified information to Pakistan on multiple occasions.
Pollard also stole classified documents related to China on behalf of his wife, who used the information to advance her personal business interests and kept them around the house, where they were discovered by investigating authorities when Pollard’s espionage activity came to light.
There is a truly wonderful fictional and perhaps somewhat truthful dialogue between Odysseus and some others where he smiles, makes nice, and wins the argument. This is about a major decision that is afoot.
I can't remember where I read that wonderful piece and couldn't find it now, and would get criticized if I posted it, as using some other material, and being 'trite'.
Big Sis Refuses To Answer Congress On Bullet Purchases...
Speaking at CPAC with Infowars and We Are Change reporter, Luke Rudkowski, Congressman Timothy Huelscamp revealed this week that the Department of Homeland Security has refused to answer questions from “multiple” members of Congress regarding its recent purchase of huge amounts of weapons and ammunition.
Addressing an enthusiastic crowd of more than 2,000, Mr. Obama offered a fervent, unsparing case for why a peace agreement was both morally just and in Israel’s self-interest. Younger Israelis, Mr. Obama said, should empathize with their Palestinian neighbors living under occupation — or, as he put it, “look at the world through their eyes.”
None of your reading ever piqued your curiosity to look at things through the eyes of others? Have you ever travelled out of the country?
The charter states that "our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious" and calls for the eventual creation of an Islamic state in Palestine, in place of Israel and the Palestinian Territories,[1] and the obliteration or dissolution of Israel.[2][3] The charter also states that Hamas is humanistic, and tolerant of other religions as long as they do not block Hamas's efforts.[4] The Charter adds that "renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion" of Islam.[5]
Yes I traveled all over Europe back in the day, and didn't think much of it.
Never went to Israel, but want to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas_Covenant
Have you ever read the Koran?
The charter also states that Hamas is humanistic, and tolerant of other religions as long as they do not block Hamas's efforts
A couple of Israeli friends have wanted me to visit but I have not made the time. I am sure that israel is very lovely. My Egyptian friends have also invited me but that has never been convenient either. Two of the most intelligent and beautiful woman that I ever dated were from Jordan and Iran. All of them, at a cocktail party, would enjoy each other’s company.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday his visit to Israel was meant to be a reassuring one. He is here to make it clear to Israelis that America stands behind them and will ensure their security, even though the neighborhood has become tougher.
What President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to hear was Obama making a firm commitment to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and to cushion the shock waves that could result from Syria’s disintegration.
It is premature to assess whether Peres and Netanyahu were satisfied by the promises made by the visitor, who asked for time for diplomatic negotiations with Iran and demanded that Syrian President Bashar Assad guard his chemical weapons.
The visit comes at a time when the United States is withdrawing from its deep involvement in the Middle East, amid the growing fear of Israel and other regional allies that America will abandon them to radical Islamic forces.
America entered the region with all its might, as its dependence on oil imports increased. But following the development of new oil and natural gas production methods in North America, the United States is gradually freeing itself of reliance on external energy sources.
In a few years it will become an oil exporter. The Middle East is still important, but it is less vital than it was a decade or two ago.
America has tired of the wars in the Middle East that consumed its resources and robbed its attention in the past decade, without resulting in a decisive victory. Obama has already pulled the U.S. Army out of Iraq, and will take it out of Afghanistan this term. The old regional order, with its reliance on secular military dictatorships and pro-American monarchies, has collapsed under the revolutions of the Arab Spring and the strengthening of the region’s Islamic movements.
The United States has discovered it cannot control these upheavals, and it doesn’t want to get involved in civil wars like the one in Syria. It prefers to stand by and see who wins.
Ariel Sharon was the first Israeli Prime Minister to cop to the knowledge that to maintain Israel as a "Jewish-Democratic" Country there had to be a "Two-State Solution."
I started re-reading The Iliad this afternoon (I try to do that every 55 years, or so.) :)
I had forgotten how much fun those old Greek/Roman Gods were.
Times must have been awfully rough during the death of the Empire for the Romans to have thrown off such a delightful bunch for the humorless, hellfire-driven, cults of Abraham.
Jove sat for a while silent, and without a word, but Thetis still kept firm hold of his knees, and besought him a second time. "Incline your head," said she, "and promise me surely, or else deny me- for you have nothing to fear- that I may learn how greatly you disdain me."
At this Jove was much troubled and answered, "I shall have trouble if you set me quarrelling with Juno, for she will provoke me with her taunting speeches; even now she is always railing at me before the other gods and accusing me of giving aid to the Trojans. Go back now, lest she should find out. I will consider the matter, and will bring it about as wish. See, I incline my head that you believe me. This is the most solemn that I can give to any god. I never recall my word, or deceive, or fail to do what I say, when I have nodded my head."
As he spoke the son of Saturn bowed his dark brows, and the ambrosial locks swayed on his immortal head, till vast Olympus reeled.
When the pair had thus laid their plans, they parted- Jove to his house, while the goddess quitted the splendour of Olympus, and plunged into the depths of the sea. The gods rose from their seats, before the coming of their sire. Not one of them dared to remain sitting, but all stood up as he came among them. There, then, he took his seat. But Juno, when she saw him, knew that he and the old merman's daughter, silver-footed Thetis, had been hatching mischief, so she at once began to upbraid him. "Trickster," she cried, "which of the gods have you been taking into your counsels now? You are always settling matters in secret behind my back, and have never yet told me, if you could help it, one word of your intentions."
"Juno," replied the sire of gods and men, "you must not expect to be informed of all my counsels. You are my wife, but you would find it hard to understand them. When it is proper for you to hear, there is no one, god or man, who will be told sooner, but when I mean to keep a matter to myself, you must not pry nor ask questions."
"Dread son of Saturn," answered Juno, "what are you talking about? I? Pry and ask questions? Never. I let you have your own way in everything. Still, I have a strong misgiving that the old merman's daughter Thetis has been talking you over, for she was with you and had hold of your knees this self-same morning. I believe, therefore, that you have been promising her to give glory to Achilles, and to kill much people at the ships of the Achaeans."
"Wife," said Jove, "I can do nothing but you suspect me and find it out. You will take nothing by it, for . . . . .
It is a really tough situation. How can you maintain some kind of community where one group is pledged to exterminate the other? And the other group could really care less for the former?
A problem is, the west bank, even with Gaza included, is not much really of a state. I don't see how it can ever be. They cannot support themselves on olives. Gaza might make it only on gambling and tourism, but they are not going that way, like Lebanon when back when it was worth something. What they are into now is making copies of Iranian missiles to fire into Israel. The west bank is hopeless, the leaders always putting the money from the UN and the US in Swiss accounts. Ms. Arafat is very rich. I think she lives in Paris, France now, with nearly a billion.
The Arabs in Gaza and the west bank have been used by the other Arab states around to harass Israel for decades now.
I guess my father had a little wisdom when he said, 'some problems have no solution'.
"I was about to write a press release to congratulate Cape Wind for getting their approval," says Jim Suydam, press secretary of the Texas General Land Office, "and let them know when they're done jumping through hoops up there they can come build off the Texas Coast."
The first offshore production wind turbine in the U.S. will likely be erected this summer off the coast of Galveston, Texas, and operational by fall, says Herman Schellstede, the chief technology officer of Coastal Point Energy LLC. Formerly called Wind Energy Systems Technology (W.E.S.T. LLC), the company holds leases to five tracts of submerged land in the Gulf of Mexico, totaling 84,000 acres. A second company, Baryonyx, holds leases to two more tracts.
Texas has unique coastal sovereignty. Because of a stipulation made when the Texas republic joined the United States in 1845, its boundary extends 10.3 miles from the coast. Wind companies interested in building projects up to that distance from the shore need only sign a lease with the Texas General Land Office—and it's an eager leaser. "The future of offshore wind power in the U.S. is right
Read more: Texas to Cape Wind - Offshore Wind Turbines Energy - Popular Mechanics
With this she caught hold of Sthenelus and lifted him off the chariot on to the ground. In a second he was on the ground, whereupon the goddess mounted the car and placed herself by the side of Diomed. The oaken axle groaned aloud under the burden of the awful goddess and the hero; Pallas Minerva took the whip and reins, and drove straight at Mars. He was in the act of stripping huge Periphas, son of Ochesius and bravest of the Aetolians. Bloody Mars was stripping him of his armour, and Minerva donned the helmet of Hades, that he might not see her; when, therefore, he saw Diomed, he made straight for him and let Periphas lie where he had fallen. As soon as they were at close quarters he let fly with his bronze spear over the reins and yoke, thinking to take Diomed's life, but Minerva caught the spear in her hand and made it fly harmlessly over the chariot. Diomed then threw, and Pallas Minerva drove the spear into the pit of Mars's stomach where his under-girdle went round him. There Diomed wounded him, tearing his fair flesh and then drawing his spear out again. Mars roared as loudly as nine or ten thousand men in the thick of a fight, and the Achaeans and Trojans were struck with panic, so terrible was the cry he raised.
As a dark cloud in the sky when it comes on to blow after heat, even so did Diomed son of Tydeus see Mars ascend into the broad heavens. With all speed he reached high Olympus, home of the gods, and in great pain sat down beside Jove the son of Saturn. He showed Jove the immortal blood that was flowing from his wound, and spoke piteously, saying, "Father Jove, are you not angered by such doings? We gods are continually suffering in the most cruel manner at one another's hands while helping mortals; and we all owe you a grudge for having begotten that mad termagant of a daughter, who is always committing outrage of some kind. We other gods must all do as you bid us, but her you neither scold nor punish; you encourage her because the pestilent creature is your daughter. See how she has been inciting proud Diomed to vent his rage on the immortal gods. First he went up to the Cyprian and wounded her in the hand near her wrist, and then he sprang upon me too as though he were a god. Had I not run for it I must either have lain there for long enough in torments among the ghastly corpes, or have been eaten alive with spears till I had no more strength left in me."
Jove looked angrily at him and said, "Do not come whining here, Sir Facing-bothways. I hate you worst of all the gods in Olympus, for you are ever fighting and making mischief. You have the intolerable and stubborn spirit of your mother Juno: it is all I can do to manage her, and it is her doing that you are now in this plight: still, I cannot let you remain longer in such great pain; you are my own off-spring, and it was by me that your mother conceived you; if, however, you had been the son of any other god, you are so destructive that by this time you should have been lying lower than the Titans."
He then bade Paeeon heal him, whereon Paeeon spread pain-killing herbs upon his wound and cured him, for he was not of mortal mould. As the juice of the fig-tree curdles milk, and thickens it in a moment though it is liquid, even so instantly did Paeeon cure fierce Mars. Then Hebe washed him, and clothed him in goodly raiment, and he took his seat by his father Jove all glorious to behold.
If you ever needed evidence as to how man created the notion of gods, you could not pick a better example than the two posts from Rufus. Every human society has similar literature and lore. The evolutionary process of slaughter of hundreds of millions to decide on the one true god, all human designed, with the attributes to favor the authors.
What's up with these gods is many have so many human attributes. The Greeks were good that way, and went about it in a playful way. Gods riding around in chariots for instance. Even in this case with a Chauffeur . These gods seem quite human. They were popular expressions.
The Greeks were really for the human.
"I don't care a fig for Zeus. Let him to as he pleases"
However, studying conservation is only one aspect of a rather involved process. Whether you are a complete beginner or a scratch player, if you follow this simple formula, I guarantee you will improve the way you play golf. Alternatively, you can conduct this quiz with one person volunteering as a quiz master.
Obama to Israelis: Put yourselves in the Palestinians’ shoes posted at 5:01 pm on March 21, 2013 by Allahpundit
In his remarks today he pictured an Arab world, and a Palestinian political system, yearning for peace with Israel through negotiated compromises. This ignores the vast ocean of anti-Semitism in the Arab world, and the inculcation of hatred of Jews and Israel in generation after generation of Arabs—including Palestinians. And it ignores the rising tide of Islamism in the region, which threatens to engulf all those political figures who would really like a compromise peace. The Arab world Obama described is a place far more desirous of, and far closer to, peace with Israel than the one Israelis actually see around them.
Obama urged Israelis to push their own government toward peace: “Speaking as a politician, I can promise you this: political leaders will not take risks if the people do not demand that they do. You must create the change that you want to see.” This may be taken as a swipe at the new Israeli government or at Netanyahu, but even if it is not he is again addressing it to the wrong audience. Israelis cannot “create the change they want to see” in the hearts of Palestinians, Egyptians, and other Arabs. “Now is the time for the Arab World to take steps toward normalized relations with Israel,” Obama said. And he is right, but does anyone want to take bets on how likely that is?
"The investigative report was a bipartisan one, and it was issued under the name of John McCain, the ranking Republican on the committee, as well as Levin. In his opening statement at yesterday’s hearing, McCain criticized “top officials” at JPMorgan for permitting the bank’s traders to breach its risk limits, and he singled out Dimon for describing the furor over the Whale’s losses as a “tempest in a teapot.” “The truth of the matter is that six billion dollars, some of which is federally insured, is an inexcusable amount of money to be gambled away on risky bets,” McCain said. And he went on: ““Let me be clear: JPMorgan completely disregarded risk limits and stonewalled federal regulators.”
As long as JPMorgan’s share price doesn’t suffer too much—yesterday it closed down about a dollar—Dimon can probably survive being excoriated in Congress. But with the Justice Department eager to show it isn’t a Wall Street patsy, the prospect of criminal charges can’t be dismissed. Over the coming weeks, the bank’s high-priced lawyers will be desperately trying to persuade the feds that Ina Drew was right when she suggested that any deliberate deception, if there was some, was confined to Chase’s London office. For Dimon, the former golden boy, everything depends on this story holding up.
ON March 17, 1969, President Richard M. Nixon began a secret bombing campaign in Cambodia, sending B-52 bombers over the border from South Vietnam. This episode, largely buried in history, resurfaced recently in an unexpected place: the Obama administration’s “white paper” justifying targeted killings of Americans suspected of involvement in terrorism.
President Obama is reportedly considering moving control of the drone program from the Central Intelligence Agency to the Defense Department, as questions about the program’s legality continue to be asked. But this shift would do nothing to confer legitimacy to the drone strikes. The legitimacy problem comes from the secrecy itself — not which entity secretly does the killing. Secrecy has been used to hide presidential overreach — as the Cambodia example shows.
On Page 4 of the unclassified 16-page “white paper,” Justice Department lawyers tried to refute the argument that international law does not support extending armed conflict outside a battlefield. They cited as historical authority a speech given May 28, 1970, by John R. Stevenson, then the top lawyer for the State Department, following the United States’ invasion of Cambodia.
You have to admit, he handled that perfectly.
ReplyDeleteSuch a nice young man. What bright teeth he has!
DeleteOne would not think he would be the only man to vote to kill children who have survived abortions by leaving them unattended in a 'comfort room'.
What nice facial expressions! What an interaction with the crowd!
Such a nice young man, and what bright teeth he has!
bob
The heckling was about freeing Pollard:
ReplyDeleteWith U.S. President Barack Obama's arrival in Israel on Wednesday, public pressure for Jonathan Pollard's release has gained momentum in Israel and worldwide.
At the receiving line ceremony at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Wednesday, Housing Minister Uri Ariel (Habayit Hayehudi) and Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat (Likud) took advantage of their face time with the U.S. president to ask him to free Pollard from federal prison.
"Please free Pollard," Ariel said to the president; Obama replied, "Great to see you."
"Thank you for coming to Israel. We really appreciate your visit. On behalf of the citizens of Israel, I ask you not to forget our brother Jonathan Pollard," Livnat said to the US president.
Dozens of Jerusalemites participated in the "Go to your window" campaign, in which they hung posters from their balconies and windows welcoming the president and asking him to free Pollard.
At the same time, a long list of notables in recent days have signed the petition to free Pollard. Among those who signed were university presidents, former U.S. ambassadors to Israel and more than 30 mayors.
The massive mobilization on Pollard's behalf did not stop at Israel's borders. Thirty American Jewish organizations on Wednesday called on Obama to free Pollard to mark 10,000 days in American prison, which takes place on April 8.
Meanwhile, students from three universities who were invited to Obama's speech today at Jerusalem's International Convention Center, approached Esther Pollard and the Justice for Jonathan Pollard Committee and said they plan to carry out protest gestures during the event. Esther Pollard told the students that she appreciates the thought, but to please refrain from protesting the president’s speech.
Shortly after Pollard began working at NIC/TF-168, he met Aviem Sella, an Israeli Air Force combat veteran who was at the time a graduate student at New York University, on leave from his position as a colonel in order to gain a master’s degree in computer science. Pollard told Sella that he worked for U.S. naval intelligence, told him of specific incidents where U.S. intelligence was withholding information from Israel, and offered himself as a spy. Though Sella had wondered whether Pollard was part of an FBI sting operation to recruit an Israeli, he ended up believing him. Sella then phoned his air force intelligence commander in Tel Aviv for further instructions, and the call was switched to the air force chief of staff. Sella was ordered to develop a contact with Pollard.
ReplyDeleteWithin a few days, in June 1984, Pollard started passing classified information to Sella and received, in exchange, $10,000 cash and a very expensive diamond and sapphire ring, which Pollard later used to propose marriage to his girlfriend Anne. He also agreed to receive $1,500 per month for further espionage.
Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigator Ronald Olive has alleged that Pollard passed classified information to South Africa,[26] and attempted, through a third party, to sell classified information to Pakistan on multiple occasions.
Pollard also stole classified documents related to China on behalf of his wife, who used the information to advance her personal business interests and kept them around the house, where they were discovered by investigating authorities when Pollard’s espionage activity came to light.
I lost my lunch and my pill.
ReplyDeleteHe's still, and will always be, an Affirmative Action Disaster.
He handled it well.
ReplyDeleteBut I am not buying.
Never.
There is a truly wonderful fictional and perhaps somewhat truthful dialogue between Odysseus and some others where he smiles, makes nice, and wins the argument. This is about a major decision that is afoot.
I can't remember where I read that wonderful piece and couldn't find it now, and would get criticized if I posted it, as using some other material, and being 'trite'.
Obama has his skills.
With Doug, I am not impressed.
bob
:)
meaning really
:(
Clod Hopping Asshole!
DeleteMeanwhile I read on Drudge -
ReplyDelete'HOMELAND' TO SCAN EMAILS, MONITOR WEB TRAFFIC
This is exactly what Quirk has been warning us about.
Thankfully my email is down, and I don't think I will put it back up.
A message nailed to a tree my be better these days.
Here in the land of freedom, things are getting scary.
bob
He's having a pretty good trip.
ReplyDeleteHis longest standing ovation (he received many) was when he talked about his earlier meeting with a group of Palestinian kids.
ReplyDeleteDid any have suicide vests on?
Deletebob
Of course, it's in the Genes, as well as the "Culture."
Delete
ReplyDeleteBig Sis Refuses To Answer Congress On Bullet Purchases...
Speaking at CPAC with Infowars and We Are Change reporter, Luke Rudkowski, Congressman Timothy Huelscamp revealed this week that the Department of Homeland Security has refused to answer questions from “multiple” members of Congress regarding its recent purchase of huge amounts of weapons and ammunition.
http://www.infowars.com/big-sis-refuses-to-answer-congress-on-ammo-purchases/
You voted for it, Rufus.
bob
You actually voted for that.
ReplyDeleteThere may be a bullet with 'bob' on it.
Even though I spend my time at the library, and doing dishes, and tending the cat.
Thanks,
bob
I can't recall if Quirk warned us about the bullets.
DeleteHe may have, though.
bob
When does Quick get his BJ, Bob?
DeleteAddressing an enthusiastic crowd of more than 2,000, Mr. Obama offered a fervent, unsparing case for why a peace agreement was both morally just and in Israel’s self-interest. Younger Israelis, Mr. Obama said, should empathize with their Palestinian neighbors living under occupation — or, as he put it, “look at the world through their eyes.”
ReplyDeleteNone of your reading ever piqued your curiosity to look at things through the eyes of others? Have you ever travelled out of the country?
Have you ever visited Israel?
DeleteHave you ever read the Hamas Charter?
DeleteThe charter states that "our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious" and calls for the eventual creation of an Islamic state in Palestine, in place of Israel and the Palestinian Territories,[1] and the obliteration or dissolution of Israel.[2][3] The charter also states that Hamas is humanistic, and tolerant of other religions as long as they do not block Hamas's efforts.[4] The Charter adds that "renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion" of Islam.[5]
Yes I traveled all over Europe back in the day, and didn't think much of it.
Never went to Israel, but want to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas_Covenant
Have you ever read the Koran?
The charter also states that Hamas is humanistic, and tolerant of other religions as long as they do not block Hamas's efforts
smile here
bob
Come on, Deuce, they say outright they want kill all the Jews, and you are telling us....exactly....what?
DeleteAnd asking for the information on my passport.
Give us a break.
bob
A couple of Israeli friends have wanted me to visit but I have not made the time. I am sure that israel is very lovely. My Egyptian friends have also invited me but that has never been convenient either. Two of the most intelligent and beautiful woman that I ever dated were from Jordan and Iran. All of them, at a cocktail party, would enjoy each other’s company.
DeleteHitler was a Prince to Dogs.
Delete
ReplyDeleteU.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday his visit to Israel was meant to be a reassuring one. He is here to make it clear to Israelis that America stands behind them and will ensure their security, even though the neighborhood has become tougher.
What President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to hear was Obama making a firm commitment to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and to cushion the shock waves that could result from Syria’s disintegration.
It is premature to assess whether Peres and Netanyahu were satisfied by the promises made by the visitor, who asked for time for diplomatic negotiations with Iran and demanded that Syrian President Bashar Assad guard his chemical weapons.
The visit comes at a time when the United States is withdrawing from its deep involvement in the Middle East, amid the growing fear of Israel and other regional allies that America will abandon them to radical Islamic forces.
America entered the region with all its might, as its dependence on oil imports increased. But following the development of new oil and natural gas production methods in North America, the United States is gradually freeing itself of reliance on external energy sources.
In a few years it will become an oil exporter. The Middle East is still important, but it is less vital than it was a decade or two ago.
America has tired of the wars in the Middle East that consumed its resources and robbed its attention in the past decade, without resulting in a decisive victory. Obama has already pulled the U.S. Army out of Iraq, and will take it out of Afghanistan this term. The old regional order, with its reliance on secular military dictatorships and pro-American monarchies, has collapsed under the revolutions of the Arab Spring and the strengthening of the region’s Islamic movements.
The United States has discovered it cannot control these upheavals, and it doesn’t want to get involved in civil wars like the one in Syria. It prefers to stand by and see who wins.
the obliteration or dissolution of Israel
ReplyDeleteaka
Partners for Peace
:)
:(
bob
Obliteration is a lovely word, not at all trite.
Deletebob
Ariel Sharon was the first Israeli Prime Minister to cop to the knowledge that to maintain Israel as a "Jewish-Democratic" Country there had to be a "Two-State Solution."
ReplyDeleteI started re-reading The Iliad this afternoon (I try to do that every 55 years, or so.) :)
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten how much fun those old Greek/Roman Gods were.
Times must have been awfully rough during the death of the Empire for the Romans to have thrown off such a delightful bunch for the humorless, hellfire-driven, cults of Abraham.
Jove sat for a while silent, and without a word, but Thetis still kept firm hold of his knees, and besought him a second time. "Incline your head," said she, "and promise me surely, or else deny me- for you have nothing to fear- that I may learn how greatly you disdain me."
DeleteAt this Jove was much troubled and answered, "I shall have trouble if you set me quarrelling with Juno, for she will provoke me with her taunting speeches; even now she is always railing at me before the other gods and accusing me of giving aid to the Trojans. Go back now, lest she should find out. I will consider the matter, and will bring it about as wish. See, I incline my head that you believe me. This is the most solemn that I can give to any god. I never recall my word, or deceive, or fail to do what I say, when I have nodded my head."
As he spoke the son of Saturn bowed his dark brows, and the ambrosial locks swayed on his immortal head, till vast Olympus reeled.
When the pair had thus laid their plans, they parted- Jove to his house, while the goddess quitted the splendour of Olympus, and plunged into the depths of the sea. The gods rose from their seats, before the coming of their sire. Not one of them dared to remain sitting, but all stood up as he came among them. There, then, he took his seat. But Juno, when she saw him, knew that he and the old merman's daughter, silver-footed Thetis, had been hatching mischief, so she at once began to upbraid him. "Trickster," she cried, "which of the gods have you been taking into your counsels now? You are always settling matters in secret behind my back, and have never yet told me, if you could help it, one word of your intentions."
"Juno," replied the sire of gods and men, "you must not expect to be informed of all my counsels. You are my wife, but you would find it hard to understand them. When it is proper for you to hear, there is no one, god or man, who will be told sooner, but when I mean to keep a matter to myself, you must not pry nor ask questions."
"Dread son of Saturn," answered Juno, "what are you talking about? I? Pry and ask questions? Never. I let you have your own way in everything. Still, I have a strong misgiving that the old merman's daughter Thetis has been talking you over, for she was with you and had hold of your knees this self-same morning. I believe, therefore, that you have been promising her to give glory to Achilles, and to kill much people at the ships of the Achaeans."
"Wife," said Jove, "I can do nothing but you suspect me and find it out. You will take nothing by it, for . . . . .
Any man who has ever been caught between a daughter and A second wife will smile, and feel not quite so alone. :)
DeleteSchadenfreude :)
:):):):
Deletebob
Handcuff the Wife,
DeleteFree the Daughter.
For the Children.
Or in this case, Child.
It is a really tough situation. How can you maintain some kind of community where one group is pledged to exterminate the other? And the other group could really care less for the former?
ReplyDeleteA problem is, the west bank, even with Gaza included, is not much really of a state. I don't see how it can ever be. They cannot support themselves on olives. Gaza might make it only on gambling and tourism, but they are not going that way, like Lebanon when back when it was worth something. What they are into now is making copies of Iranian missiles to fire into Israel. The west bank is hopeless, the leaders always putting the money from the UN and the US in Swiss accounts. Ms. Arafat is very rich. I think she lives in Paris, France now, with nearly a billion.
The Arabs in Gaza and the west bank have been used by the other Arab states around to harass Israel for decades now.
I guess my father had a little wisdom when he said, 'some problems have no solution'.
bob
the arabs of gaza should be reunited with their brethren of the sinai.
DeleteAs for the west bank arabs? Try cutting of UN/US sponsored welfare and watch the population disappear.
"I was about to write a press release to congratulate Cape Wind for getting their approval," says Jim Suydam, press secretary of the Texas General Land Office, "and let them know when they're done jumping through hoops up there they can come build off the Texas Coast."
ReplyDeleteThe first offshore production wind turbine in the U.S. will likely be erected this summer off the coast of Galveston, Texas, and operational by fall, says Herman Schellstede, the chief technology officer of Coastal Point Energy LLC. Formerly called Wind Energy Systems Technology (W.E.S.T. LLC), the company holds leases to five tracts of submerged land in the Gulf of Mexico, totaling 84,000 acres. A second company, Baryonyx, holds leases to two more tracts.
Texas has unique coastal sovereignty. Because of a stipulation made when the Texas republic joined the United States in 1845, its boundary extends 10.3 miles from the coast. Wind companies interested in building projects up to that distance from the shore need only sign a lease with the Texas General Land Office—and it's an eager leaser. "The future of offshore wind power in the U.S. is right
Read more: Texas to Cape Wind - Offshore Wind Turbines Energy - Popular Mechanics
With this she caught hold of Sthenelus and lifted him off the chariot on to the ground. In a second he was on the ground, whereupon the goddess mounted the car and placed herself by the side of Diomed. The oaken axle groaned aloud under the burden of the awful goddess and the hero; Pallas Minerva took the whip and reins, and drove straight at Mars. He was in the act of stripping huge Periphas, son of Ochesius and bravest of the Aetolians. Bloody Mars was stripping him of his armour, and Minerva donned the helmet of Hades, that he might not see her; when, therefore, he saw Diomed, he made straight for him and let Periphas lie where he had fallen. As soon as they were at close quarters he let fly with his bronze spear over the reins and yoke, thinking to take Diomed's life, but Minerva caught the spear in her hand and made it fly harmlessly over the chariot. Diomed then threw, and Pallas Minerva drove the spear into the pit of Mars's stomach where his under-girdle went round him. There Diomed wounded him, tearing his fair flesh and then drawing his spear out again. Mars roared as loudly as nine or ten thousand men in the thick of a fight, and the Achaeans and Trojans were struck with panic, so terrible was the cry he raised.
ReplyDeleteAs a dark cloud in the sky when it comes on to blow after heat, even so did Diomed son of Tydeus see Mars ascend into the broad heavens. With all speed he reached high Olympus, home of the gods, and in great pain sat down beside Jove the son of Saturn. He showed Jove the immortal blood that was flowing from his wound, and spoke piteously, saying, "Father Jove, are you not angered by such doings? We gods are continually suffering in the most cruel manner at one another's hands while helping mortals; and we all owe you a grudge for having begotten that mad termagant of a daughter, who is always committing outrage of some kind. We other gods must all do as you bid us, but her you neither scold nor punish; you encourage her because the pestilent creature is your daughter. See how she has been inciting proud Diomed to vent his rage on the immortal gods. First he went up to the Cyprian and wounded her in the hand near her wrist, and then he sprang upon me too as though he were a god. Had I not run for it I must either have lain there for long enough in torments among the ghastly corpes, or have been eaten alive with spears till I had no more strength left in me."
Jove looked angrily at him and said, "Do not come whining here, Sir Facing-bothways. I hate you worst of all the gods in Olympus, for you are ever fighting and making mischief. You have the intolerable and stubborn spirit of your mother Juno: it is all I can do to manage her, and it is her doing that you are now in this plight: still, I cannot let you remain longer in such great pain; you are my own off-spring, and it was by me that your mother conceived you; if, however, you had been the son of any other god, you are so destructive that by this time you should have been lying lower than the Titans."
He then bade Paeeon heal him, whereon Paeeon spread pain-killing herbs upon his wound and cured him, for he was not of mortal mould. As the juice of the fig-tree curdles milk, and thickens it in a moment though it is liquid, even so instantly did Paeeon cure fierce Mars. Then Hebe washed him, and clothed him in goodly raiment, and he took his seat by his father Jove all glorious to behold.
Ha! And all you Liberarians have to worry about is the gummint.
DeleteWhat if you looked up and saw Mars getting ready to go all, er . . . . . . . . Martian on your ass?
DeleteNever get in a fist fight with a goddess.
Deletebob
And if you do, have the god Pharmacy with you.
Deletebob
If you ever needed evidence as to how man created the notion of gods, you could not pick a better example than the two posts from Rufus. Every human society has similar literature and lore. The evolutionary process of slaughter of hundreds of millions to decide on the one true god, all human designed, with the attributes to favor the authors.
DeleteWhat's up with these gods is many have so many human attributes. The Greeks were good that way, and went about it in a playful way. Gods riding around in chariots for instance. Even in this case with a Chauffeur . These gods seem quite human. They were popular expressions.
DeleteThe Greeks were really for the human.
"I don't care a fig for Zeus. Let him to as he pleases"
But can't recall which Greek writer wrote that.
bob
However, studying conservation is only one aspect of a rather involved process.
ReplyDeleteWhether you are a complete beginner or a scratch player, if
you follow this simple formula, I guarantee you will
improve the way you play golf. Alternatively, you
can conduct this quiz with one person volunteering as a quiz master.
my site omerta city of gangsters - dayphohamta.unblog.fr
ASH
DeleteI guarantee you will
improve the way you play golf.
ReplyDeleteObama to Israelis: Put yourselves in the Palestinians’ shoes
posted at 5:01 pm on March 21, 2013 by Allahpundit
In his remarks today he pictured an Arab world, and a Palestinian political system, yearning for peace with Israel through negotiated compromises. This ignores the vast ocean of anti-Semitism in the Arab world, and the inculcation of hatred of Jews and Israel in generation after generation of Arabs—including Palestinians. And it ignores the rising tide of Islamism in the region, which threatens to engulf all those political figures who would really like a compromise peace. The Arab world Obama described is a place far more desirous of, and far closer to, peace with Israel than the one Israelis actually see around them.
Obama urged Israelis to push their own government toward peace: “Speaking as a politician, I can promise you this: political leaders will not take risks if the people do not demand that they do. You must create the change that you want to see.” This may be taken as a swipe at the new Israeli government or at Netanyahu, but even if it is not he is again addressing it to the wrong audience. Israelis cannot “create the change they want to see” in the hearts of Palestinians, Egyptians, and other Arabs. “Now is the time for the Arab World to take steps toward normalized relations with Israel,” Obama said. And he is right, but does anyone want to take bets on how likely that is?
Not me, not after 1400 years.
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/03/21/obama-to-israelis-put-yourselves-in-the-palestinians-shoes/
" a Palestinian political system, yearning for peace with Israel"
:):(
The Hamas Charter calls for the extermination of the Jews, their 'obliteration'.
I don't know if that is the best translation but we all know it is close enough.
Ask Quirk for details. He is better at language than I It may be simply trite.
What a nice young sunni man, and such white teeth.
bob
Don’t you have a wolf to kill?
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ReplyDelete"Ask Quirk for details. He is better at language than I."
ReplyDelete---
Who isn't?
I will apologize to Quirk for you for the left handed compliment.
Crazy fucks run good and bad.
ReplyDeleteI should Know:
"The investigative report was a bipartisan one, and it was issued under the name of John McCain, the ranking Republican on the committee, as well as Levin. In his opening statement at yesterday’s hearing, McCain criticized “top officials” at JPMorgan for permitting the bank’s traders to breach its risk limits, and he singled out Dimon for describing the furor over the Whale’s losses as a “tempest in a teapot.” “The truth of the matter is that six billion dollars, some of which is federally insured, is an inexcusable amount of money to be gambled away on risky bets,” McCain said. And he went on: ““Let me be clear: JPMorgan completely disregarded risk limits and stonewalled federal regulators.”
As long as JPMorgan’s share price doesn’t suffer too much—yesterday it closed down about a dollar—Dimon can probably survive being excoriated in Congress. But with the Justice Department eager to show it isn’t a Wall Street patsy, the prospect of criminal charges can’t be dismissed. Over the coming weeks, the bank’s high-priced lawyers will be desperately trying to persuade the feds that Ina Drew was right when she suggested that any deliberate deception, if there was some, was confined to Chase’s London office. For Dimon, the former golden boy, everything depends on this story holding up.
Obama’s Nixonian Precedent
ReplyDeleteON March 17, 1969, President Richard M. Nixon began a secret bombing campaign in Cambodia, sending B-52 bombers over the border from South Vietnam. This episode, largely buried in history, resurfaced recently in an unexpected place: the Obama administration’s “white paper” justifying targeted killings of Americans suspected of involvement in terrorism.
President Obama is reportedly considering moving control of the drone program from the Central Intelligence Agency to the Defense Department, as questions about the program’s legality continue to be asked. But this shift would do nothing to confer legitimacy to the drone strikes. The legitimacy problem comes from the secrecy itself — not which entity secretly does the killing. Secrecy has been used to hide presidential overreach — as the Cambodia example shows.
On Page 4 of the unclassified 16-page “white paper,” Justice Department lawyers tried to refute the argument that international law does not support extending armed conflict outside a battlefield. They cited as historical authority a speech given May 28, 1970, by John R. Stevenson, then the top lawyer for the State Department, following the United States’ invasion of Cambodia.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete