Boker tov, Boulder!tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-560812009-11-16T13:43:04-05:00"Peace is generally good in itself, but it is never the highest good unless it comes as the handmaid of righteousness; and it becomes a very evil thing if it serves merely as a mask for cowardice and sloth, or as an instrument to further the ends of despotism or anarchy." --Teddy Roosevelt, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910.TypePadJ Street in bed with Iran, Soros the tie that bindstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451bc4a69e2012875a95bc3970c2009-11-16T13:43:04-05:002009-11-16T14:15:07-05:00NIAC and J Street: Lobbying and Lying NIAC and J Street might seem at first an odd alliance. J Street is "pro-peace, pro-Israel" and NIAC is pro-engagement, pro-Iran. But J Street isn't all that pro-Israel, and NIAC will take any allies it can find in the fight against sanctions, so few and far between are such organizations in Washington. J Street director Jeremy Ben-Ami co-authored an op-ed with NIAC chief Trita Parsi making the (extremely unpopular in the Jewish community) argument against sanctions. J Street invited Parsi to speak at their conference last month. And the two groups have together...Yaelhttp://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2009/11/j-street-in-bed-with-iran-soros-the-tie-that-binds.htmlTear down this HOPE!tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451bc4a69e20120a6a5891b970b2009-11-16T08:40:48-05:002009-11-16T08:54:20-05:00Officially a Republic Syria is under Emergency Law since 1963... Here's Syrian President Assad in April '08, as per the Guardian: Assad told Qatar's al-Watan newspaper that.... there would be no secret talks with Israel. Instead, the preliminary stages of talks would be held with Turkey as a go-between. He suggested there would be no direct negotiations with the Jewish state until a new US president takes office. Assad said the US was the only party qualified to sponsor any direct talks, but said the Bush administration "does not have the vision or will for the peace process. It does...Yaelhttp://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2009/11/tear-down-this-hope.htmlA Shiur on Unemploymenttag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451bc4a69e2012875a79e32970c2009-11-16T07:29:15-05:002009-11-16T08:01:09-05:00Yesterday I saw Norman Podhoretz on CSPAN's BookTV, talking about his new book, Why Are Jews Liberal? It must have been part of this show from the Miami Book Fair; see also his talk at the Harvard Club. Anyway, I had never seen him "in person" before and I was deeply touched by him. Whatever quality -or constellation of qualities- it is that he personsifies, well, it's what made me want to be a Jew. It's not that I want to copy an individual, or necessarily do what someone else does, but when you witness a person such as him...Yaelhttp://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2009/11/a-shiur-on-unemployment.htmlChurchill proposed that the Nuremberg defendants be summarily shottag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451bc4a69e2012875a4a85b970c2009-11-15T12:15:51-05:002009-11-15T12:15:51-05:00The next time someone calls me a racist war-mongering teabag I think I'll tell them, quite rightly, that I am merely following in the tradition of Winston Churchill (you'll have to read it all), but that is not my point here. Trying KSM: WHY? Part 2 Speaking at a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania last year during the campaign, Barack Obama addressed the Supreme Court's Boumediene decision granting Guantanamo detainees the right to challenge their confinement through habeas corpus proceedings in federal court. Obama asserted that the "principle of habeas corpus, that a state can't just hold you for any...Yaelhttp://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2009/11/churchill-proposed-that-the-nuremberg-defendants-be-summarily-shot.htmlQuote of the Year /or/ Carafano's unwarranted optimismtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451bc4a69e20120a6a1f038970b2009-11-15T10:00:43-05:002009-11-15T10:12:15-05:00Back in March: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has an explanation about why she never mentioned the word "terrorism" during her first testimony on Capitol Hill. Napolitano tells the German news site Spiegel Online that while she presumes there is always a threat from terrorism: "I referred to "man-caused" disasters. That is perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur." James Carafano, senior research fellow at the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation says: "By deliberately trying not to...Yaelhttp://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2009/11/quote-of-the-year-or-carafanos-unwarranted-optimism.htmlEver hear of David Coleman Headley?tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451bc4a69e2012875a41e59970c2009-11-15T09:15:01-05:002009-11-15T09:18:02-05:00I didn't think so. I hadn't either until I came across this at Jew PI: (Ynet) ... American and Indian authorities are questioning an American citizen of Pakistani descent on suspicion of involvement in last year's Mumbai terror attacks. Indian media reported on Sunday that the suspect pretended to be Jewish, stayed at the Chabad center and prepared the ground for the lethal attack. David Coleman Headly (49) was arrested last month at Chicago's O'Hare Airport while on his way to Philadelphia, and from there to Pakistan. The American Federal Bureau of Investigations suspected he was involved in a plot...Yaelhttp://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2009/11/ever-hear-of-david-coleman-headley.htmlNobama. No more.tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451bc4a69e20120a6a18a27970b2009-11-15T07:50:11-05:002009-11-15T08:41:13-05:00I was talking to DeDo last night and was very struck by something she said. We on the Right, especially conservative bloggers, are unconsciously complicit in the celebration of the head of state. Even as we rant and rail against the White House, we invoke the name of the presi-messiah at least as often as anyone on the Left, maybe even more so. By our constant concentration on the man and with our endless repetition of his name, we too are feeding the monstrosity of his celebrity status. -------------------- NB: When I googled "President Bush" (president for 8 years and...Yaelhttp://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2009/11/nobama-no-more.htmlAntisemitic in Austria? Surely not.tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451bc4a69e2012875a37f24970c2009-11-15T05:09:33-05:002009-11-15T05:09:33-05:00JPost via Atlas: Israeli fencer Daria Strelnikov won the gold medal at the cadet's fencing world championship in Austria Saturday night. However, as the 14-year-old athlete stood at the podium waiting to hear the Israeli national anthem, she was greeted by a disturbing quiet. Strelnikov and a fellow teammate on the podium decided to fill in the silence by singing Hatikva themselves. They were joined by their coach, and other supporting voices in the crowd. "A disturbing quiet." Now where have we heard that before? Shavua tov.Yaelhttp://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2009/11/antisemitic-in-austria-surely-not.htmlFOR THE FIRST TIME ... I AM ASHAMED OF MY COUNTRYtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451bc4a69e20128759a0782970c2009-11-13T15:52:30-05:002009-11-13T15:52:30-05:00There are lots of reasons to be ashamed of Obama's America. This is just one of the more recent. Nov. 12, 2009 Caroline Glick , THE JERUSALEM POST Once again, US President Barack Obama has demonstrated his intention of "putting light" between America and Israel. His hostility toward Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during the latter's visit to Washington this week was breathtaking. It isn't every day that you can see an American president leaving the prime minister of an allied government twisting in the wind for weeks before deciding to grant him an audience at the White House. It isn't...Yaelhttp://bokertov.typepad.com/btb/2009/11/for-the-first-time-i-am-ashamed-of-my-country.html