Saturday, October 27, 2012
The Miracle Continues...Walk Tall Israel
1.Taking aim at cancer: Israeli-Danish team finds a new way to zap malignant cells
According to a series of experiments by a team at the Ariel University Center, the treatment significantly limits damage to healthy cells, to the point where doctors are able to “turn up the heat” on cancerous cells and destroy them far more effectively. The results of this very early-stage research has meant that the project has already received funding from several foundations, including the Carlsberg Foundation and Denmark’s Fraenkel Foundation, which supports research in cardiology and cancer treatment. Read more: http://www.timesofisrael.com/taking-aim-at-cancer-israeli-danish-team-finds-a-new-way-to-zap-malignant-cells/
2.It's the what that matters, not the why
Guy Seeman: When asked the question, “Why does Israel spend thousands a month on Haiti?” I find myself at a loss of words. The same question could be asked when we talk about Nepal, El Salvador, Malawi, Chad, East Timor and so on. The number of countries with Israeli development teams in 2011 was approximately 110. For a country with only 7.7 million inhabitants and a GDP of 242 billion dollars, that is quite impressive.
COMMENT: I'm impressed!
3.Israeli Innovation Hopes To Make Water Drinkable In Africa
In a world where freshwater resources are becoming increasingly scarce, Israel–a country that is two-thirds arid–has become a leader in developing the necessary technology for making salt water potable. The Israeli desalination company, IDE Technologies, which has been in operation for more than 40 years, has made many advances in desalination technology, installing over 400 desalination plants in 40 countries including the Caribbean Islands and United States. IDE Technologies has also won major contracts with Cyprus, India and Australia, and last year with China.
4."Reuters": Israel to mass produce cardboard bicycles
The durable bicycle, will have no metals parts and retail for $20.
Izhar Gafni, 50, an Israeli inventor, amateur cyclist and expert in designing automated mass-production lines is the man behind the revolutionary idea. He told "Reuters" that after much trial and error, his latest prototype has now proven itself and mass production will begin in a few months. Read more: http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000790238&fid=1725
5. TAU-led project maps out first brain ‘atlas’
The healthy brains of 120 living people – not members of the Knesset, but other Israelis and some Europeans – have been scanned with a magnetic resonance instrument (MRI) to build the world’s first “atlas” of the microstructure of white matter. Led by Prof. Yaniv Assaf of Tel Aviv University’s neurobiology department and the Sagol School of Neuroscience, the CONNECT project could eventually help identify the first signs of neurological and psychiatric diseases at an early stage in life so they could be treated early on. Read more: http://www.jpost.com/Health/Article.aspx?id=288131
COMMENT: The MRI would probably self destruct if requested to map The brains of Ahminedjad and the Mullahs of Iran.
6.Traitor or Hero? Christian Arab in IDF Makes History
On Wednesday night, a twenty year old Christian Arab is set to make history, as she becomes the first female Arab commander of an IDF combat unit. Mona Abdo, who grew up in Haifa, but now lives in Kiryat Haim, will take her place at the graduation ceremony for the IDF commanders training course, where surrounded by family and fellow Jewish Israeli soldiers, she will become a commander in Caracal, the first of her sector to ever accomplish something of this magnitude. Read more: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/161039#.UIxEt7TYfHg
COMMENT: Any bets you wont see or hear of this on CNN!
7. Russia protects Israel from UNESCO condemnations
Russia’s envoy to the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) intervened on Wednesday to defer voting on a series of condemnations of Israel.
UNESCO was due to vote on five resolutions condemning Israel proposed by Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Syria. Read more: http://www.timesofisrael.com/russia-protects-israel-from-unesco-condemnations/
COMMENT: It's worth noting the slow movement by Russia towards Israel after the visit by Putin earlier this year.
Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point - C.S. Lewis
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
The Miracle Continues...Walk Tall Israel
1. Israeli wins World Food Prize for 1st time in history
The World Food Prize Foundation, in the presence of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, announced Prof. Hillel as this year’s winner of the World Food Prize at a ceremony in Washington. Established in 1987 by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Norman Borlaug, the $250,000 prize recognizes “individuals who have contributed landmark achievements in increasing the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.” Read more http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=273671
2. Foreign direct investment in Israel doubles
According to the UN World Investment Report, investment in Israel totaled $11.37 billion in 2011, 106% more than in 2010. COMMENT: The numbers speak for themselves. Must be all that cash that was intended for Egypt and Syria.
3.IAI signs 2 Italian contracts for $932m
IAI will supply the Italian Air Force with two G-550 Gulfstream airborne early warning planes and an observation satellite. IAI president & CEO Joseph Weiss said, "Italy is an important European country and we are proud of strengthening our relationship with it. The Airborne Early Warning aircraft and the observation satellite are two of IAI's strategic products. Beyond the financial and occupational aspects, this deal represents a significant collaboration with the European industry."
4.Honeywell awarded $735m Israeli jet trainer engine contract
Honeywell Inc. (NYSE: HON) has announced that it has been awarded a $735 million contract by Israel's Ministry of Defense for jet trainer engines, through its unit International Turbine Engine Company LLC, a joint venture with Aerospace Industrial Development Corp.
COMMENT: Looks like Israel is a full partner in this partnership.
5.Majors vie for stake in Leviathan gas field
Avner Oil, Delek Drilling, and Ratio say they have offers from leading international gas companies for up to 30% of their rights in the field. Market sources believe that French oil major Total SA and Russia's Gazprom JSC are in a race to acquire rights to Leviathan, which is the largest natural gas discovery of the past decade. Gazprom's interest in Leviathan would be to prevent competition to its own hold on the European natural gas market.
COMMENT: We wonder how the Palestinian arabs are viewing these developments.
6. S&P affirms Israel's rating
International credit rating agency Standard and Poor's has affirmed its foreign currency sovereign credit ratings on Israel at A+/A-1, and its local currency ratings at AA-/A-1+, with a stable outlook. In its announcement, S&P said, "The Israeli economy continues to generate solid economic growth and enjoy a net external asset position, even though the current account has temporarily turned negative. The stable outlook reflects our view that there is sufficient political will to prevent a sizable increase in the government's debt burden, and that major security risks will be contained."
COMMENT: Israel continues upwards and outwards. On the other hand, though..Israel's enemies....At the bottom of the barrel....big time!
7. IAI in $958m Indian UAV upgrade deal
The Indian media reports Israel Aerospace Industries will upgrade Searcher and Heron UAVs for the Indian armed forces. Collaboration between the Indian armed services and IAI has greatly expanded in recent years. Deals include a $1.4 billion contract signed two years ago for the supply of Barak ship defence missiles and other systems. IAI refused to respond to the report.
COMMENT: How the world has changed over the last decades. Anybody remember Arafat at the UN, gun at hip and holding up the olive branch, threatening..."dont let the olive branch fall from my hand". So where is Arafat today? And where is Israel!
Things are only impossible until they're not - Jan-Luc Picard
Thursday, September 27, 2012
The Peanut Gallery
Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.
1. Intelligence sources are now confirming that the Obama administration knew from day one that that the deadly attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was an act of terror. White House officials, including President Obama, have held to the explanation that the attack was a 'spontaneous action.' PG: What does that say about this incumbent president? Clearly his priorities are Obama first, Obama second and Obama third.
2.A chill is wafting over France’s business class as Mr. Hollande, the country’s first Socialist president since François Mitterrand in the 1980s, presses a manifesto of patriotism to “pay extra tax to get the country back on its feet again.” The 75 percent tax proposal, which Parliament plans to take up in September, is ostensibly aimed at bolstering French finances as Europe’s long-running debt crisis intensifies. PG: Another Greece, Spain and Italy. The French will be leaving in droves...or maybe just their money.
3.Al Qaeda is alive and well...even strengthening. The attack on the US embassy in Benghazi is symbolic of this administration's disintegrating foreign policy. Benghazi was the centre of opposition to Ghadaffi and NATO's HQ in the overthrow of Ghadaffi. In spite of Obama's attempt to portray this as a demonstration gone wrong, intelligence sources now say this was a well planned attack. PG: The irony of all this is that Nato created a no-fly zone on the basis of Human rights etc. and Libya has turned into a hotbed of armed gangs, salafist thugs and tribal wars.
4.Daniel Pipes: Fleming Rose, a newspaper editor, created the greatest crisis for Denmark since World War II by publishing twelve Muhammad cartoons. Florida pastor Terry Jones caused panic for American commanders in Afghanistan by threatening to burn a Koran. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula and friends prompted a crisis in U.S. relations with Egypt with an amateurish video, Innocence of Muslims. By publishing vulgar pictures of Muhammad, French weekly Charlie Hebdo is causing the French government temporarily to shut down diplomatic missions in twenty countries. Plans by the German satirical magazine Titanic to publish attacks on Muhammad have likewise caused German missions to be closed. PG: US withdrawal from Iraq, withdrawal plans from Afghanistan and western weakness over Iran are creating a vacuum in the area that will bring Islamic Jihad to the shores of Europe, Canada and the US.
5.Tax returns for 2011 set to be released today by Mitt and Ann Romney reveal that they gave away a higher percentage of their income to others than did Barack and Michelle Obama, when both taxes and charity are taken into account. The evidence suggests that Romney not only had nothing to hide, but had been more than generous with his money.
6. Fouad Ajami: The anti-American protests that broke upon 20 nations this past week must be reckoned a grand personal failure for Barack Obama, and a case of hubris undone.No American president before this one had proclaimed such intimacy with a world that stretches from Morocco to Indonesia. From the start of his administration, Mr. Obama put forth his own biography as a bridge to those aggrieved nations. He would be a "different president," he promised, and the years he lived among Muslims would acquit him—and thus America itself. He was the un-Bush. PG: Fouad Ajami was a CNN analyst and guest during the outbreak of the arab spring. He no longer is called upon. It is an unwelcome scenario to tell the truth on CNN.
7. WSJ: "Unacceptable" is a word the Administration often uses about behavior it doesn't like but isn't prepared to do much to stop: Think massacres in Syria, warfare in Sudan, mob violence against our embassies—or a nuclear Iran. Now add to the list the nonfeasance of an Iraqi government that calculates it has more to lose from confronting the mullahs than it does from rejecting entreaties from erstwhile friends in Washington. PG: Showing B Obama the finger is now a world wide fashion.
8.China is slowly but surely slipping into a recession. This year the Shanghai stock market has given a lower return than the the Greek stock Exchange. The global village is in danger of sliding into the precipice. This has to be closely watched.
9.A Carson City, Nev., recluse whose body was found in his home at least a month after he died left only $200 in his bank account. But as Walter Samaszko Jr.'s house was being cleared for sale, officials made a surprise discovery: gold bars and coins valued at $7 million. "Nobody had any clue he was hoarding the gold," Carson City Clerk-Recorder Alan Glover told the Las Vegas Sun, adding it was found stored in boxes in the house and garage.
There are some people that if they dont know, you cant tell 'em - Louis Armstrong
1. Intelligence sources are now confirming that the Obama administration knew from day one that that the deadly attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was an act of terror. White House officials, including President Obama, have held to the explanation that the attack was a 'spontaneous action.' PG: What does that say about this incumbent president? Clearly his priorities are Obama first, Obama second and Obama third.
2.A chill is wafting over France’s business class as Mr. Hollande, the country’s first Socialist president since François Mitterrand in the 1980s, presses a manifesto of patriotism to “pay extra tax to get the country back on its feet again.” The 75 percent tax proposal, which Parliament plans to take up in September, is ostensibly aimed at bolstering French finances as Europe’s long-running debt crisis intensifies. PG: Another Greece, Spain and Italy. The French will be leaving in droves...or maybe just their money.
3.Al Qaeda is alive and well...even strengthening. The attack on the US embassy in Benghazi is symbolic of this administration's disintegrating foreign policy. Benghazi was the centre of opposition to Ghadaffi and NATO's HQ in the overthrow of Ghadaffi. In spite of Obama's attempt to portray this as a demonstration gone wrong, intelligence sources now say this was a well planned attack. PG: The irony of all this is that Nato created a no-fly zone on the basis of Human rights etc. and Libya has turned into a hotbed of armed gangs, salafist thugs and tribal wars.
4.Daniel Pipes: Fleming Rose, a newspaper editor, created the greatest crisis for Denmark since World War II by publishing twelve Muhammad cartoons. Florida pastor Terry Jones caused panic for American commanders in Afghanistan by threatening to burn a Koran. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula and friends prompted a crisis in U.S. relations with Egypt with an amateurish video, Innocence of Muslims. By publishing vulgar pictures of Muhammad, French weekly Charlie Hebdo is causing the French government temporarily to shut down diplomatic missions in twenty countries. Plans by the German satirical magazine Titanic to publish attacks on Muhammad have likewise caused German missions to be closed. PG: US withdrawal from Iraq, withdrawal plans from Afghanistan and western weakness over Iran are creating a vacuum in the area that will bring Islamic Jihad to the shores of Europe, Canada and the US.
5.Tax returns for 2011 set to be released today by Mitt and Ann Romney reveal that they gave away a higher percentage of their income to others than did Barack and Michelle Obama, when both taxes and charity are taken into account. The evidence suggests that Romney not only had nothing to hide, but had been more than generous with his money.
6. Fouad Ajami: The anti-American protests that broke upon 20 nations this past week must be reckoned a grand personal failure for Barack Obama, and a case of hubris undone.No American president before this one had proclaimed such intimacy with a world that stretches from Morocco to Indonesia. From the start of his administration, Mr. Obama put forth his own biography as a bridge to those aggrieved nations. He would be a "different president," he promised, and the years he lived among Muslims would acquit him—and thus America itself. He was the un-Bush. PG: Fouad Ajami was a CNN analyst and guest during the outbreak of the arab spring. He no longer is called upon. It is an unwelcome scenario to tell the truth on CNN.
7. WSJ: "Unacceptable" is a word the Administration often uses about behavior it doesn't like but isn't prepared to do much to stop: Think massacres in Syria, warfare in Sudan, mob violence against our embassies—or a nuclear Iran. Now add to the list the nonfeasance of an Iraqi government that calculates it has more to lose from confronting the mullahs than it does from rejecting entreaties from erstwhile friends in Washington. PG: Showing B Obama the finger is now a world wide fashion.
8.China is slowly but surely slipping into a recession. This year the Shanghai stock market has given a lower return than the the Greek stock Exchange. The global village is in danger of sliding into the precipice. This has to be closely watched.
9.A Carson City, Nev., recluse whose body was found in his home at least a month after he died left only $200 in his bank account. But as Walter Samaszko Jr.'s house was being cleared for sale, officials made a surprise discovery: gold bars and coins valued at $7 million. "Nobody had any clue he was hoarding the gold," Carson City Clerk-Recorder Alan Glover told the Las Vegas Sun, adding it was found stored in boxes in the house and garage.
There are some people that if they dont know, you cant tell 'em - Louis Armstrong
Thursday, August 2, 2012
The Peanut Gallery
Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.
1. Anybody who believes that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, visited Israel to honour a statue of some Russian unknown, must be pretty naive. After he departed, nearly all his entourage stayed behind to negotiate gas and oil deals, arms purchases and other unnamed contracts. This follows the visits by senior government officials from India and China, and a military delegation of generals from Brazil. PG: It looks like Moses did choose the correct destination for the Tribes of Israel.
2. More and more Americans are giving up their US citizenship, apparently for tax reasons. The latest is Eduardo Saverin of Facebook and former Clinton supporter, Denise Rich. PG: A side effect of government and the policy of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
3.The New York Times has fallen on hard times. Their stock has fallen by about 70% over the last few years and their readership is shrinking. Similar to CNN. A comment in the Jerusalem Post: "At least the NYT is consistent. In the 1930s they buried stories about Kristallnacht and the coming Shoah. They opposed Israel's independence and supported the British policy of preventing survivors reaching Palestinian shores. They called for retreat from Sinai in 1956, restraint on June 4th, 1967, and a cease-fire when Israel was routing Egypt's army in the Yom Kippur War. Let the NYT be dam*ed and let us hope that no Israeli "leader" ever listens to them."
4.The case of Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani doctor imprisoned after helping the CIA track Usama bin Laden, hasn't fallen by the wayside just yet. Sen. Rand Paul claims to have enough support to force a vote on the Senate floor later this month on a bill stripping Pakistan of U.S. aid unless Afridi is released. PG: If anyone needed more conviction that Barack Obama cares only about his re-election, and that he only has moral fibre when the concern is himself....this is it.
5.The Democratic leader of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Monday that the White House appears to be responsible for some leaks of classified information.
"I think the White House has to understand that some of this is coming from their ranks," Sen. Dianne Feinstein told a World Affairs Council forum. PG: The worst kept secret in Washington. As if Obama has no idea who is doing this. He's the only one who benefits.
6.As thick as thieves. Egypt's Mursi has put Hamas's Mashaal on an equal footing with heads of state, thus granting legitimacy not only to the Hamas leader but to its entire movement. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, has also been officially invited to the Presidential Palace in Cairo. PG: Another Obama human rights success.
7. As the US economy stalls, the Fed is getting closer to an official QE3. The only question is whether it will be before or after November. PG: We wonder what they are hoping to achieve? Maybe to hold up a flagging economy until elections, in the hope that the politicians will come with an economic plan, sooner rather than later. The other question one needs to ponder: What happens if the stock market reacts negatively to QE 3. This would be the final straw. We advise caution. Not much ammunition left.
8.CLIC: Saudi Arabia does not have any Israeli checkpoints, walls, or soldiers patrolling their borders. Instead it has oil sloshing up from the ground to the tune of one-fifth of the world's petroleum reserves. So how does one explain the fact that the IMF puts Saudi Arabia 13 spots behind Israel when it comes to GDP. The World Bank puts it 8 places behind Israel. The only Muslim countries with a better GDP Per Capita rating than Israel are small monarchies drowning in oil. PG: If Muslims fail in the West Bank, then Israeli checkpoints are to blame. If they fail in Canada, Australia and Europe, then racism is to blame. But if they fail in Pakistan, Somalia and Saudi Arabia-who is to blame?
9.Check this out: http://gawker.com/5930003/ Aly Reisman parents watching their daughter at the Olympics....Marvellous!
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
Albert Einstein
1. Anybody who believes that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, visited Israel to honour a statue of some Russian unknown, must be pretty naive. After he departed, nearly all his entourage stayed behind to negotiate gas and oil deals, arms purchases and other unnamed contracts. This follows the visits by senior government officials from India and China, and a military delegation of generals from Brazil. PG: It looks like Moses did choose the correct destination for the Tribes of Israel.
2. More and more Americans are giving up their US citizenship, apparently for tax reasons. The latest is Eduardo Saverin of Facebook and former Clinton supporter, Denise Rich. PG: A side effect of government and the policy of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
3.The New York Times has fallen on hard times. Their stock has fallen by about 70% over the last few years and their readership is shrinking. Similar to CNN. A comment in the Jerusalem Post: "At least the NYT is consistent. In the 1930s they buried stories about Kristallnacht and the coming Shoah. They opposed Israel's independence and supported the British policy of preventing survivors reaching Palestinian shores. They called for retreat from Sinai in 1956, restraint on June 4th, 1967, and a cease-fire when Israel was routing Egypt's army in the Yom Kippur War. Let the NYT be dam*ed and let us hope that no Israeli "leader" ever listens to them."
4.The case of Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani doctor imprisoned after helping the CIA track Usama bin Laden, hasn't fallen by the wayside just yet. Sen. Rand Paul claims to have enough support to force a vote on the Senate floor later this month on a bill stripping Pakistan of U.S. aid unless Afridi is released. PG: If anyone needed more conviction that Barack Obama cares only about his re-election, and that he only has moral fibre when the concern is himself....this is it.
5.The Democratic leader of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Monday that the White House appears to be responsible for some leaks of classified information.
"I think the White House has to understand that some of this is coming from their ranks," Sen. Dianne Feinstein told a World Affairs Council forum. PG: The worst kept secret in Washington. As if Obama has no idea who is doing this. He's the only one who benefits.
6.As thick as thieves. Egypt's Mursi has put Hamas's Mashaal on an equal footing with heads of state, thus granting legitimacy not only to the Hamas leader but to its entire movement. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, has also been officially invited to the Presidential Palace in Cairo. PG: Another Obama human rights success.
7. As the US economy stalls, the Fed is getting closer to an official QE3. The only question is whether it will be before or after November. PG: We wonder what they are hoping to achieve? Maybe to hold up a flagging economy until elections, in the hope that the politicians will come with an economic plan, sooner rather than later. The other question one needs to ponder: What happens if the stock market reacts negatively to QE 3. This would be the final straw. We advise caution. Not much ammunition left.
8.CLIC: Saudi Arabia does not have any Israeli checkpoints, walls, or soldiers patrolling their borders. Instead it has oil sloshing up from the ground to the tune of one-fifth of the world's petroleum reserves. So how does one explain the fact that the IMF puts Saudi Arabia 13 spots behind Israel when it comes to GDP. The World Bank puts it 8 places behind Israel. The only Muslim countries with a better GDP Per Capita rating than Israel are small monarchies drowning in oil. PG: If Muslims fail in the West Bank, then Israeli checkpoints are to blame. If they fail in Canada, Australia and Europe, then racism is to blame. But if they fail in Pakistan, Somalia and Saudi Arabia-who is to blame?
9.Check this out: http://gawker.com/5930003/ Aly Reisman parents watching their daughter at the Olympics....Marvellous!
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
Albert Einstein
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
The Peanut Gallery
Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.
1.Please look at the following economic statistics. Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, New Jersey and Iowa all have strongly improving employment rates and job growth. All these States have cut taxes, trimmed state budgets and regulations, and, in some cases, challenged labor unions. All these states are led by Republican Governors. PG: No amount of spin can change these facts.
2.Robert Wood, acting head of the US mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency, also told the IAEA's 35-nation board that Iran had produced enough low-enriched uranium for several nuclear weapons if refined further to high levels. "Iran has actually accelerated its production of low-enriched uranium," Wood said, according to a copy of his statement. "There appears no immediate peaceful need for such stockpiles or for such an acceleration of the program, and we would note that this quantity of low-enriched uranium is enough for several nuclear weapons if further enriched to higher levels." PG: Obama appears to have his head in the clouds.
3.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on June 7 condemned a reported mass killing near Hama and said that Syrian President Bashar al Assad needs to step down from power and leave Syria, Reuters reported. The United States will work with all members of the U.N. Security Council, Clinton said, on a conference over Syria's future. The conference would have to start with the premise that democratic government would replace al Assad, she said, adding that "we are disgusted by what we are seeing." PG: Clearly Hillary hasn't learned a thing from her blundering boss. Closer to the truth might be that the Clinton Foundation is supported by Saudi funds and it is a major Saudi interest to see Assad go. Democracy? Really? After all that has happened.....
4.The US and Israel have agreed to boost their cooperation in the field of cyber warfare, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported Thursday. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Counter-Terrorism Bureau Director Eitan Ben David met on Tuesday with Ambassador-at-Large Dan Benjamin, who heads the State Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism. The officials agreed that cyber experts from both countries would meet regularly. PG: The world will never be the same again. Brainpower emanating from free economies will lead the way.
5. Governor Scott Walker shocked the Dems and Peggy Noonan in the WSJ says: Down the road there will be fewer contracts in which you work for, say, 23 years for a city, then retire with full salary and free health care for the rest of your life—paid for by taxpayers who cannot afford such plans for themselves, and who sometimes have no pension at all. The big meaning of Wisconsin is that a public injustice is in the process of being righted because a public mood is changing. PG: Never a truer word.
6.PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii – The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said Monday the Navy will be sending its most advanced vessels and aircraft to the Asia-Pacific region as it builds up its presence by assigning most of its fleet there. Adm. Cecil Haney said a policy recently outlined by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to deploy 60 percent of the Navy's ships fleet to the Pacific by 2020 is about capabilities as well as quantity. PG: We find the move out of the Middle East and into the Asia-pacific region to be a major indicator of where US priorities will lie in the not too distant future. And it's not energy related!
7.Hong Kong should review its U.S. dollar peg and consider linking its currency to the renminbi, according to Joseph Yam, former head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Mr. Yam, who ran Hong Kong’s de facto central bank for 16 years until 2009, is the most influential person to suggest such a move. Ending the U.S. dollar peg after nearly three decades would be hugely symbolic as a sign of China’s increasing economic dominance in Asia. PG: Sign of the times.
8.Greeks pulled their cash out of the banks and stocked up with food ahead of a cliffhanger election on Sunday that many fear will result in the country being forced out of the euro. Bankers said up to 800 million euros ($1 billion) were leaving major banks daily and retailers said some of the money was being used to buy pasta and canned goods, as fears of returning to the drachma were fanned by rumors that a radical leftist leader may win the election. PG: Ladies and gentlemen, this is what European social democracy has led to. One must be really naive to think that Barak Obama is any different.
9.The California congressman who's made the plight of jailed Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi a personal cause said Monday he's concerned the case has fallen off the radar screen -- and that without U.S. intervention, the man credited with helping track Usama bin Laden will be left to "suffer in a dungeon." Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., was among the many U.S. officials outraged last month after Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison. PG: We have news for you congresswoman, As far as Obama is concerned, Afridi has served his election purpose and can be left to rot in a dungeon. The man was outed by a leak to the NY Times...one of the many leaks that the White House denies they sourced.
10.When you see the X-ray, you cannot help but cringe and hope something like this never, ever, happens to you. A three-foot long steel shaft with stainless steel tips, shot from a spear-gun, perfectly stuck in a teenager’s skull, entering one inch above his right eye, through his brain, and exiting the back of his head. Read more http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/06/19/florida-teen-survives-spear-through-head/?test=latestnews
Demagogue definition: A leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace.
1.Please look at the following economic statistics. Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, New Jersey and Iowa all have strongly improving employment rates and job growth. All these States have cut taxes, trimmed state budgets and regulations, and, in some cases, challenged labor unions. All these states are led by Republican Governors. PG: No amount of spin can change these facts.
2.Robert Wood, acting head of the US mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency, also told the IAEA's 35-nation board that Iran had produced enough low-enriched uranium for several nuclear weapons if refined further to high levels. "Iran has actually accelerated its production of low-enriched uranium," Wood said, according to a copy of his statement. "There appears no immediate peaceful need for such stockpiles or for such an acceleration of the program, and we would note that this quantity of low-enriched uranium is enough for several nuclear weapons if further enriched to higher levels." PG: Obama appears to have his head in the clouds.
3.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on June 7 condemned a reported mass killing near Hama and said that Syrian President Bashar al Assad needs to step down from power and leave Syria, Reuters reported. The United States will work with all members of the U.N. Security Council, Clinton said, on a conference over Syria's future. The conference would have to start with the premise that democratic government would replace al Assad, she said, adding that "we are disgusted by what we are seeing." PG: Clearly Hillary hasn't learned a thing from her blundering boss. Closer to the truth might be that the Clinton Foundation is supported by Saudi funds and it is a major Saudi interest to see Assad go. Democracy? Really? After all that has happened.....
4.The US and Israel have agreed to boost their cooperation in the field of cyber warfare, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported Thursday. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Counter-Terrorism Bureau Director Eitan Ben David met on Tuesday with Ambassador-at-Large Dan Benjamin, who heads the State Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism. The officials agreed that cyber experts from both countries would meet regularly. PG: The world will never be the same again. Brainpower emanating from free economies will lead the way.
5. Governor Scott Walker shocked the Dems and Peggy Noonan in the WSJ says: Down the road there will be fewer contracts in which you work for, say, 23 years for a city, then retire with full salary and free health care for the rest of your life—paid for by taxpayers who cannot afford such plans for themselves, and who sometimes have no pension at all. The big meaning of Wisconsin is that a public injustice is in the process of being righted because a public mood is changing. PG: Never a truer word.
6.PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii – The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet said Monday the Navy will be sending its most advanced vessels and aircraft to the Asia-Pacific region as it builds up its presence by assigning most of its fleet there. Adm. Cecil Haney said a policy recently outlined by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to deploy 60 percent of the Navy's ships fleet to the Pacific by 2020 is about capabilities as well as quantity. PG: We find the move out of the Middle East and into the Asia-pacific region to be a major indicator of where US priorities will lie in the not too distant future. And it's not energy related!
7.Hong Kong should review its U.S. dollar peg and consider linking its currency to the renminbi, according to Joseph Yam, former head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Mr. Yam, who ran Hong Kong’s de facto central bank for 16 years until 2009, is the most influential person to suggest such a move. Ending the U.S. dollar peg after nearly three decades would be hugely symbolic as a sign of China’s increasing economic dominance in Asia. PG: Sign of the times.
8.Greeks pulled their cash out of the banks and stocked up with food ahead of a cliffhanger election on Sunday that many fear will result in the country being forced out of the euro. Bankers said up to 800 million euros ($1 billion) were leaving major banks daily and retailers said some of the money was being used to buy pasta and canned goods, as fears of returning to the drachma were fanned by rumors that a radical leftist leader may win the election. PG: Ladies and gentlemen, this is what European social democracy has led to. One must be really naive to think that Barak Obama is any different.
9.The California congressman who's made the plight of jailed Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi a personal cause said Monday he's concerned the case has fallen off the radar screen -- and that without U.S. intervention, the man credited with helping track Usama bin Laden will be left to "suffer in a dungeon." Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., was among the many U.S. officials outraged last month after Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison. PG: We have news for you congresswoman, As far as Obama is concerned, Afridi has served his election purpose and can be left to rot in a dungeon. The man was outed by a leak to the NY Times...one of the many leaks that the White House denies they sourced.
10.When you see the X-ray, you cannot help but cringe and hope something like this never, ever, happens to you. A three-foot long steel shaft with stainless steel tips, shot from a spear-gun, perfectly stuck in a teenager’s skull, entering one inch above his right eye, through his brain, and exiting the back of his head. Read more http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/06/19/florida-teen-survives-spear-through-head/?test=latestnews
Demagogue definition: A leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace.
Friday, June 8, 2012
The Nightmare
If you love your children, think hard and long about this president. Long after we leave this planet, they and their children will inherit his legacy.
Another four years of this president, is surely humankind's biggest political nightmare. The inventory of mismanagement is so long, one wonders where to start and how to prioritize the list. Where does one start first? Obama the world citizen, Obama the economic leader or Obama the con artist? Another question that jumps to mind is how does somebody with no track record, zero achievement and armed with a disarming smile and a gift of the gab become president of the US? Really, has Hollywood become so much part of the US psyche that millions of Americans were duped into thinking that an amateur with no credentials could run the worlds most powerful country?
Lets begin with achievements on the foreign policy front. The arab spring immediately jumps to mind. In less time than it takes to say "Jack Robinson!"this President chose his leftist version of human rights and democracy, and threw US Ally Mubarak under the bus. The consequence of this action has left tens of thousands homeless and dead as civil wars and uprisings pepper the Middle East. We are now looking at a new Muslim Brotherhood dominated Middle east. All the beautiful prose about democracy and change on CNN has disappeared. Next "achievement"was the liberation of Libya and the death of that "monster" Gaddafi. Today Libya is a lawless no man's land controlled by groups of armed thugs. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood controlled parliament recently passed a law allowing men to have "parting" sex with their dead wives for up to six hours. The same parliament lowered the minimum age of marriage to 14. In Syria today, besides the usual run of the mill massacres of women and kids we are witnessing the latest Islamic fashion... "rape trucks" where young women are gang raped by groups of soldiers and opposition forces.
As for national security, one would think Obama pulled the trigger on Bin Laden. The only bi-partisan survivor in US politics today is the national security apparatus. Dating back to the killing of bin Laden, the administration’s intelligence apparatus has been leaking like a sieve and always on stories that cast Obama as a kind of warrior king. Since then, the leaks on national security have been so over the top that Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., at a press conference lamenting a cascade of national security leaks: “This has to stop. When people say they don't want to work with the United States because they can't trust us to keep a secret, that's serious.” As the election gets closer, we hear details of "kill Lists" and the "Stuxnet" computer virus in Iran. Now special prosecutors have been appointed to investigate leaks that are placing loyal and brave American lives in danger. Its clear who benefits from these leaks. It's not the national security apparatus, not the Republicans and definitely not the American people.
Picture the "man of vision" Barack Obama, standing before the cameras. First he raises his head to the right. Then to the left. And then, looking down his nose like some ancient messiah, makes some wondrous philosophical statement that leaves us dumbfounded. This is followed by that marvellous white toothed smile and everybody thinks "what a nice man!" Folks, how many times can one be played by this charlatan? He and his secretary of state Clinton have spent the last 3+ years arrogantly lecturing the Russians and Chinese on human rights. Its not what they say, but how they say it. Now these folks are giving him the finger. Same story with the US congress. (For the record, The Dems had control of both the house and the senate for two full years). And one might enquire why this is all happening? Its simple. They look at the figures and understand how badly the US economy has been mismanaged.
One does not have to be a rocket scientist to understand the figures. In the US today, it takes about $105 of debt to create $100 dollars of GDP. And now this economic genius wants to create even more debt to support Wall Street and the banks (Yep! Believe it or not). Imagine a collapsing stock market in an election year. Of course he spins it by telling all that he is caring for the underdog. What BS! The figures speak for themselves. The National Debt has now increased more during President Obama's three years and five months in office than it did during 8 years of the George W. Bush presidency.
As part of his "Win the Future" program, Mr. Obama called for "taking responsibility for our deficits, by cutting wasteful, excessive spending wherever we find it." If Mr. Obama wins re-election, and his budget projections prove accurate, the National Debt will top $20 trillion in 2016, the final year of his second term. If GDP grows at an annual rate of 3%, it will take $120 of debt to create $100 dollars of GDP. (similar to Italy). More simply put, a household that earns $100,000 will need loans of $120,000 to support that income. Bottom line, the US is heading into bankruptcy and the American dream is becoming a nightmare.
And who is it that supports this president, besides the super elitist left media and the occupy stoners? His largest support base are the public sector unions. Let's take the average municipal worker in Wisconsin. These folks can retire after 25 years of service and continue to receive full salary and healthcare for the rest of their lives. Millions of parasites swarming all over the US economy and sucking the life out of hard working families and their children. Almost 50% of US citizens don't pay federal income taxes while Obama campaigns for the other 50% to pay their fair share. The Greek socialists would be proud of these figures.
In conclusion, its clear to anyone with an inkling of common sense that all this man cares about is re-election. If he is elected for four more years, extinguish the lights. The nightmare will quickly metamorphose into reality.
There is hardly any mental misery worse than that of having our own serious phrases, our own rooted beliefs, caricatured by a charlatan or a hireling - George Eliot
Another four years of this president, is surely humankind's biggest political nightmare. The inventory of mismanagement is so long, one wonders where to start and how to prioritize the list. Where does one start first? Obama the world citizen, Obama the economic leader or Obama the con artist? Another question that jumps to mind is how does somebody with no track record, zero achievement and armed with a disarming smile and a gift of the gab become president of the US? Really, has Hollywood become so much part of the US psyche that millions of Americans were duped into thinking that an amateur with no credentials could run the worlds most powerful country?
Lets begin with achievements on the foreign policy front. The arab spring immediately jumps to mind. In less time than it takes to say "Jack Robinson!"this President chose his leftist version of human rights and democracy, and threw US Ally Mubarak under the bus. The consequence of this action has left tens of thousands homeless and dead as civil wars and uprisings pepper the Middle East. We are now looking at a new Muslim Brotherhood dominated Middle east. All the beautiful prose about democracy and change on CNN has disappeared. Next "achievement"was the liberation of Libya and the death of that "monster" Gaddafi. Today Libya is a lawless no man's land controlled by groups of armed thugs. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood controlled parliament recently passed a law allowing men to have "parting" sex with their dead wives for up to six hours. The same parliament lowered the minimum age of marriage to 14. In Syria today, besides the usual run of the mill massacres of women and kids we are witnessing the latest Islamic fashion... "rape trucks" where young women are gang raped by groups of soldiers and opposition forces.
As for national security, one would think Obama pulled the trigger on Bin Laden. The only bi-partisan survivor in US politics today is the national security apparatus. Dating back to the killing of bin Laden, the administration’s intelligence apparatus has been leaking like a sieve and always on stories that cast Obama as a kind of warrior king. Since then, the leaks on national security have been so over the top that Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., at a press conference lamenting a cascade of national security leaks: “This has to stop. When people say they don't want to work with the United States because they can't trust us to keep a secret, that's serious.” As the election gets closer, we hear details of "kill Lists" and the "Stuxnet" computer virus in Iran. Now special prosecutors have been appointed to investigate leaks that are placing loyal and brave American lives in danger. Its clear who benefits from these leaks. It's not the national security apparatus, not the Republicans and definitely not the American people.
Picture the "man of vision" Barack Obama, standing before the cameras. First he raises his head to the right. Then to the left. And then, looking down his nose like some ancient messiah, makes some wondrous philosophical statement that leaves us dumbfounded. This is followed by that marvellous white toothed smile and everybody thinks "what a nice man!" Folks, how many times can one be played by this charlatan? He and his secretary of state Clinton have spent the last 3+ years arrogantly lecturing the Russians and Chinese on human rights. Its not what they say, but how they say it. Now these folks are giving him the finger. Same story with the US congress. (For the record, The Dems had control of both the house and the senate for two full years). And one might enquire why this is all happening? Its simple. They look at the figures and understand how badly the US economy has been mismanaged.
One does not have to be a rocket scientist to understand the figures. In the US today, it takes about $105 of debt to create $100 dollars of GDP. And now this economic genius wants to create even more debt to support Wall Street and the banks (Yep! Believe it or not). Imagine a collapsing stock market in an election year. Of course he spins it by telling all that he is caring for the underdog. What BS! The figures speak for themselves. The National Debt has now increased more during President Obama's three years and five months in office than it did during 8 years of the George W. Bush presidency.
As part of his "Win the Future" program, Mr. Obama called for "taking responsibility for our deficits, by cutting wasteful, excessive spending wherever we find it." If Mr. Obama wins re-election, and his budget projections prove accurate, the National Debt will top $20 trillion in 2016, the final year of his second term. If GDP grows at an annual rate of 3%, it will take $120 of debt to create $100 dollars of GDP. (similar to Italy). More simply put, a household that earns $100,000 will need loans of $120,000 to support that income. Bottom line, the US is heading into bankruptcy and the American dream is becoming a nightmare.
And who is it that supports this president, besides the super elitist left media and the occupy stoners? His largest support base are the public sector unions. Let's take the average municipal worker in Wisconsin. These folks can retire after 25 years of service and continue to receive full salary and healthcare for the rest of their lives. Millions of parasites swarming all over the US economy and sucking the life out of hard working families and their children. Almost 50% of US citizens don't pay federal income taxes while Obama campaigns for the other 50% to pay their fair share. The Greek socialists would be proud of these figures.
In conclusion, its clear to anyone with an inkling of common sense that all this man cares about is re-election. If he is elected for four more years, extinguish the lights. The nightmare will quickly metamorphose into reality.
There is hardly any mental misery worse than that of having our own serious phrases, our own rooted beliefs, caricatured by a charlatan or a hireling - George Eliot
Friday, June 1, 2012
The Peanut Gallery
Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.
1. President Obama keeps talking about victory in Afghanistan. What victory? In fact he is claiming credit for the withdrawal of US forces and ending the conflict.The facts are as follows. When Obama took office there were 33000 troops in Afghanistan. He increased that threefold to over 100,000 troops and recently announced the withdrawal of 30,000 troops. PG: Is there any doubt that when US troops come home, the Taliban will claim the victory and the country. What a waste of life and money.
2.The French housing market would be the next bubble to pop if the European Central Bank increases interest rates, or if markets begin to perceive the same fundamental weaknesses in France as they currently do in Spain, analysts at Danske Bank wrote in a market note. House prices saw only a minor fall during the financial crisis, and in 2009 they started rising again, to reach new all-time highs in the third quarter of 2011 – up 121 percent since 2000, with prices in Paris rising at the fastest pace.
3.EGYPTIAN husbands will soon be legally allowed to have sex with their dead wives - for up to six hours after their death. The controversial new law is part of a raft of measures being introduced by the Islamist-dominated parliament. It will also see the minimum age of marriage lowered to 14 and the ridding of women's rights of getting education and employment. PG: This will be part of the Obama legacy. He is directly responsible for this lunacy. Mubarak knew what he was dealing with!
4.China's Watergate -- A top Chinese official is accused of wiretapping the president of China. The man who was thought to be the future president of China has been caught red-handed in a crime: wire-tapping the president of China. Along with this crime up to $180 billion is missing, and it is thought that there is a connection. China is the only dictatorship without one man (the dictator) in charge. China is ruled by a collection of dictators, and therein lies a problem -- fierce and deadly competition.
5.Five men were arrested April 30 in connection with a plot to destroy a bridge outside of Cleveland, Ohio. The men were charged with conspiracy and attempted use of explosive material to damage physical property affecting interstate commerce. The suspects are anarchists who were noticed and approached by an FBI informant during an Occupy protest in Cleveland on Oct. 21, 2011. PG: The Occupy movement has turned into a cover for anarchists and stoners. If the unemployment picture does not improve, we could be witnessing an upswing in the cycle of violence. Needless to say, we all know who these parasites will be voting for come election time!
6.Iran's ambassador to the UN has lodged a complaint against Israel at the Security Council on Friday, slamming Defense Minister Ehud Barak and other Israeli officials for remarks about a potential strike on the Islamic Republic. From Iran's official FARS news agency: Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi said threats and pressures cannot deter Iran from its revolutionary causes and ideals, and stressed that the Iranian nation will remain committed to the full annihilation of the Zionist regime of Israel to the end. PG: Dead silence from Barak Hussein Obama, even while it is clear that Iran has reached the required enrichment percentage.
7.Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a law aimed at keeping the state's courts or government agencies from basing decisions on Islamic or other foreign legal codes, and a national Muslim group's spokesman said Friday that a court challenge is likely. PG: Good man Brownback! Sharia law is not religion. Its a political way of life. In fact its a straightforward challenge to western freedoms.
8.U.S. job growth slowed sharply in May, a sign of a sputtering recovery that may increase pressure on the Federal Reserve to prop up the economy. The unemployment rate, ticked higher by one-tenth of a percentage point to 8.2%, the first increase since June 2011. "This is what a jobless recovery looks like," said Nomura Securities economist Jeffrey Greenberg. The U-6 rate ((more truthful) is at 14.8%. The Euro-zone unemployment is at 11%. PG: In case the left has not worked it out, business creates employment, governments create unemployment.
9.While the world is sitting on an economic powder keg, President Obama and his Hollywood advisors are campaigning for Gay rights and free contraception. This guy is so out of his depth, its frightening. Even more frightening is that about 45% of the US still support him.
10.TOKYO – It must have been a wild ride. Japanese media say a Harley-Davidson motorcycle lost in last year's tsunami has washed up on a Canadian island about 4,000 miles away. "This is unmistakably mine. It's miraculous," Yokoyama told Nippon TV when shown photos of the motorcycle. Yokoyama lost three members of his family in the March 11, 2011, tsunami, and is now living in temporary housing in Miyagi prefecture (state).
Life is a shipwreck, so don't forget to sing in the lifeboats-Voltaire
1. President Obama keeps talking about victory in Afghanistan. What victory? In fact he is claiming credit for the withdrawal of US forces and ending the conflict.The facts are as follows. When Obama took office there were 33000 troops in Afghanistan. He increased that threefold to over 100,000 troops and recently announced the withdrawal of 30,000 troops. PG: Is there any doubt that when US troops come home, the Taliban will claim the victory and the country. What a waste of life and money.
2.The French housing market would be the next bubble to pop if the European Central Bank increases interest rates, or if markets begin to perceive the same fundamental weaknesses in France as they currently do in Spain, analysts at Danske Bank wrote in a market note. House prices saw only a minor fall during the financial crisis, and in 2009 they started rising again, to reach new all-time highs in the third quarter of 2011 – up 121 percent since 2000, with prices in Paris rising at the fastest pace.
3.EGYPTIAN husbands will soon be legally allowed to have sex with their dead wives - for up to six hours after their death. The controversial new law is part of a raft of measures being introduced by the Islamist-dominated parliament. It will also see the minimum age of marriage lowered to 14 and the ridding of women's rights of getting education and employment. PG: This will be part of the Obama legacy. He is directly responsible for this lunacy. Mubarak knew what he was dealing with!
4.China's Watergate -- A top Chinese official is accused of wiretapping the president of China. The man who was thought to be the future president of China has been caught red-handed in a crime: wire-tapping the president of China. Along with this crime up to $180 billion is missing, and it is thought that there is a connection. China is the only dictatorship without one man (the dictator) in charge. China is ruled by a collection of dictators, and therein lies a problem -- fierce and deadly competition.
5.Five men were arrested April 30 in connection with a plot to destroy a bridge outside of Cleveland, Ohio. The men were charged with conspiracy and attempted use of explosive material to damage physical property affecting interstate commerce. The suspects are anarchists who were noticed and approached by an FBI informant during an Occupy protest in Cleveland on Oct. 21, 2011. PG: The Occupy movement has turned into a cover for anarchists and stoners. If the unemployment picture does not improve, we could be witnessing an upswing in the cycle of violence. Needless to say, we all know who these parasites will be voting for come election time!
6.Iran's ambassador to the UN has lodged a complaint against Israel at the Security Council on Friday, slamming Defense Minister Ehud Barak and other Israeli officials for remarks about a potential strike on the Islamic Republic. From Iran's official FARS news agency: Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi said threats and pressures cannot deter Iran from its revolutionary causes and ideals, and stressed that the Iranian nation will remain committed to the full annihilation of the Zionist regime of Israel to the end. PG: Dead silence from Barak Hussein Obama, even while it is clear that Iran has reached the required enrichment percentage.
7.Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a law aimed at keeping the state's courts or government agencies from basing decisions on Islamic or other foreign legal codes, and a national Muslim group's spokesman said Friday that a court challenge is likely. PG: Good man Brownback! Sharia law is not religion. Its a political way of life. In fact its a straightforward challenge to western freedoms.
8.U.S. job growth slowed sharply in May, a sign of a sputtering recovery that may increase pressure on the Federal Reserve to prop up the economy. The unemployment rate, ticked higher by one-tenth of a percentage point to 8.2%, the first increase since June 2011. "This is what a jobless recovery looks like," said Nomura Securities economist Jeffrey Greenberg. The U-6 rate ((more truthful) is at 14.8%. The Euro-zone unemployment is at 11%. PG: In case the left has not worked it out, business creates employment, governments create unemployment.
9.While the world is sitting on an economic powder keg, President Obama and his Hollywood advisors are campaigning for Gay rights and free contraception. This guy is so out of his depth, its frightening. Even more frightening is that about 45% of the US still support him.
10.TOKYO – It must have been a wild ride. Japanese media say a Harley-Davidson motorcycle lost in last year's tsunami has washed up on a Canadian island about 4,000 miles away. "This is unmistakably mine. It's miraculous," Yokoyama told Nippon TV when shown photos of the motorcycle. Yokoyama lost three members of his family in the March 11, 2011, tsunami, and is now living in temporary housing in Miyagi prefecture (state).
Life is a shipwreck, so don't forget to sing in the lifeboats-Voltaire
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The Miracle Continues...Walk Tall Israel
1.JPMorgan Chase to buy Conduit stake for $100m
Yozma Venture Capital is in advanced talks to sell its remaining 7% stake in Internet tool company Conduit Ltd. to a leading investment bank for $100 million, three weeks after selling 2% of the company. The foreign bank is reportedly JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM). The deal gives Conduit a market cap of $1.3 billion.
2.Brainsway in breakthrough for depression treatment
Brainsway Ltd. today announced good results of its multicenter trial of its Deep TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) device for the treatment of severe depression. The treatment was found to be effective and safe, with no side effects. Brainsway has CE Mark for use of Deep TMS for the treatment of depression, manic-depression, and post traumatic stress syndrome. A few months ago, it obtained Israel Ministry of Health approval for use of the device for the treatment of depression, manic-depression, and schizophrenia. Brainsway's share price rose 38.2% by midday to NIS 27.80, giving a market cap of NIS 320 million.
3.Tourism hits all-time high
The Central Bureau of Statistics reported today that there were 752,000 tourist entries during the first quarter of 2012, an all-time high.
COMMENT: The headline says it all....Even the activists prefer Israel to Syria.
4.Druze professor appointed ambassador to New Zealand
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has appointed Druze Professor for Hebrew Literature Naim Araidi as Israel's ambassador to New Zealand, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday. This is the first time a member of the Druze community is appointed an ambassador in a political appointment.
5.Israeli students win int'l robotics competition
A team from the Savionim middle school in Yahud-Monosson on Sunday won first place in the First Lego League International Robotics Competition which was held in Orlando Florida. The Israeli team which calls itself "The Pink Eagles" and includes three boys and two girls, came out victorious against 64 teams from around the world. Read more http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4226084,00.html
6.Israeli innovation saves Romanian girl's life
After doctors in Romania gave up and declared there was no chance to cure a local seven year old girl, her mother was advised to go to Israel to treat the rare genetic flaw, which prevented her daughter’s body from producing blood cells. The gamble paid off and saved her daughter’s life. Read more http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4228036,00.html
7.Elbit Systems wins $160m contract in Europe
Elbit Systems Ltd. announced today that it has been awarded a contract worth approximately $160 million by a European customer, which it did not name, to supply unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The systems will be supplied over the next two years. Elbit Systems president and CEO Joseph (Yossi) Ackerman said, "More and more customers worldwide have come to the conclusion that Elbit Systems' UAS are the ultimate solution for their operational needs, following years of extensive operational experience accumulated in service with the Israeli Defense Forces, as well as additional world leading armed forces for their Air, Land and Special Forces."
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody - Bill Cosby
Yozma Venture Capital is in advanced talks to sell its remaining 7% stake in Internet tool company Conduit Ltd. to a leading investment bank for $100 million, three weeks after selling 2% of the company. The foreign bank is reportedly JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM). The deal gives Conduit a market cap of $1.3 billion.
2.Brainsway in breakthrough for depression treatment
3.Tourism hits all-time high
The Central Bureau of Statistics reported today that there were 752,000 tourist entries during the first quarter of 2012, an all-time high.
COMMENT: The headline says it all....Even the activists prefer Israel to Syria.
4.Druze professor appointed ambassador to New Zealand
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has appointed Druze Professor for Hebrew Literature Naim Araidi as Israel's ambassador to New Zealand, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday. This is the first time a member of the Druze community is appointed an ambassador in a political appointment.
5.Israeli students win int'l robotics competition
A team from the Savionim middle school in Yahud-Monosson on Sunday won first place in the First Lego League International Robotics Competition which was held in Orlando Florida. The Israeli team which calls itself "The Pink Eagles" and includes three boys and two girls, came out victorious against 64 teams from around the world. Read more http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4226084,00.html
6.Israeli innovation saves Romanian girl's life
After doctors in Romania gave up and declared there was no chance to cure a local seven year old girl, her mother was advised to go to Israel to treat the rare genetic flaw, which prevented her daughter’s body from producing blood cells. The gamble paid off and saved her daughter’s life. Read more http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4228036,00.html
7.Elbit Systems wins $160m contract in Europe
Elbit Systems Ltd. announced today that it has been awarded a contract worth approximately $160 million by a European customer, which it did not name, to supply unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The systems will be supplied over the next two years. Elbit Systems president and CEO Joseph (Yossi) Ackerman said, "More and more customers worldwide have come to the conclusion that Elbit Systems' UAS are the ultimate solution for their operational needs, following years of extensive operational experience accumulated in service with the Israeli Defense Forces, as well as additional world leading armed forces for their Air, Land and Special Forces."
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody - Bill Cosby
Saturday, April 28, 2012
WE ARE SYNONYMOUS
The Youtube speaks for itself. To the people of BDS: If we are anything to go by, you have found a terrible enemy. My father (Bless Him) used to say "Son, don't go looking for a fight. There will always be someone bigger and stronger than you!"
Please watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGbPL_FhKfY&feature=plcp&context=C4262d24VDvjVQa1PpcFNtOly8-BqlfVCCp-uzGdJX7Sj_OVk7EYU=
Please watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGbPL_FhKfY&feature=plcp&context=C4262d24VDvjVQa1PpcFNtOly8-BqlfVCCp-uzGdJX7Sj_OVk7EYU=
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
The Peanut Gallery
Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.
1.Islamic radicals in Germany have launched an unprecedented nationwide campaign to distribute 25 million copies of the Koran, translated into the German language, with the goal of placing one Koran into every household in Germany, free of charge. The mass proselytization campaign -- called Project "Read!" -- is being organized by dozens of Islamic Salafist groups located in cities and towns throughout Germany, as well as in Austria and in Switzerland.
Salafism is a branch of radical Islam, practiced in Saudi Arabia, that seeks to establish an Islamic empire (Caliphate) across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe -- and eventually the entire world. The Caliphate would be governed exclusively by Islamic Sharia law, which would apply both to Muslims and to non-Muslims. PG: And so the decline begins....It begins by appeasing a crocodile.
2.Relations between Iran and its northern neighbour Azerbaijan have also become strained, with each accusing the other of preparing “terrorist” actions. For example, last month Azerbaijan’s national security ministry said 22 Azerbaijani citizens had been arrested on suspicion of cooperating with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards “to commit terrorist acts against the US, Israeli and other Western states’ embassies and the embassies’ employees.” Tehran is also unhappy over Baku’s ties to Israel, and its purchase of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Israeli military weapons and equipment. ($1.6 Billion).
3.The Supreme Court signaled Wednesday that it might uphold a key element of Arizona's immigration law, as justices across the board suggested the state has a serious problem on its hands and should have some level of sovereignty to address illegal immigration. The justices strongly suggested Wednesday they are not buying the Obama administration's argument that the state exceeded its authority, with Chief Justice John Roberts at one point saying he doesn't think the federal government even wants to know how many illegal immigrants are in the country. PG: More supreme court trouble for Obama?
4.In November, California voters will have the chance to vote for or against capital punishment. Two months ago the state of Connecticut became the 17th state to abolish capital punishment. Since 1973, 46,586 murders have been committed in Connecticut. Of these only 66 have led to conviction. And only nine of the convicted have received the death penalty. PG: Why bother with any form of punishment?
5.The Palestinian Authority TV children's program The Best Home featured a child reciting a poem promoting Pan-Arabism. The poem, by an Egyptian writer, included the following words:
"Our enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail." PG: Two State solution? Speak to the hand.
6.Former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings brought destruction to the nations in which they occurred and that Yemen's own revolt cost the country billions of dollars in lost revenues, AP reported April 22. PG: From the horses mouth.
7.With little public attention, dozens of universities and law-enforcement agencies have been given approval by federal aviation regulators to use unmanned aircraft known as drones, according to documents obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests by an advocacy group. The more than 50 institutions that received approvals to operate remotely piloted aircraft are more varied than many outsiders and privacy experts previously knew. They include not only agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security but also smaller ones such as the police departments in North Little Rock, Ark., and Ogden, Utah, as well the University of North Dakota and Nicholls State University in Louisiana. PG: Big Brother....
8.A new company backed by two Google Inc. billionaires, film director James Cameron and other space exploration proponents is aiming high in the hunt for natural resources—with mining asteroids the possible target. The venture, called Planetary Resources Inc., revealed little in a press release this week except to say that it would "overlay two critical sectors—space exploration and natural resources—to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP" and "help ensure humanity's prosperity." The company is formally unveiling its plans at an event Tuesday in Seattle. PG: There were snickers when Newt Gingrich suggested something similar. Looks like he is not alone...
9.An infant born with six legs in Pakistan had four of his extra limbs successfully removed by doctors, the International Business Times reported. Baby boy Umar Farooq had been born with a rare genetic disorder called polymelia – a condition that affects only one in a million babies.
Polymelia is a condition in which an embryo starts as conjoined twins in the womb. One of the twins eventually disintegrates, leaving behind extra limbs that get attached to the remaining fetus.
10.Kulula Airlines, based in Johannesburg, is offering a free ticket for a man's fourth wife if the entire family flies together between the city and Cape Town. The ad reads, "Not only will you get a great deal on kulula.com flights for your first three wives, but your fourth wife will fly free, mahala, on the house." The stunt, which runs until April 30, coincides with South African president Jacob Zuma's marriage to his fourth wife over the weekend. Zuma has been married six times in total, but one of his wives committed suicide in 2000, and he divorced his second in 1998. PG: What a world we live in....
The hardest person to awaken is the one already awake - Tagalog Saying
1.Islamic radicals in Germany have launched an unprecedented nationwide campaign to distribute 25 million copies of the Koran, translated into the German language, with the goal of placing one Koran into every household in Germany, free of charge. The mass proselytization campaign -- called Project "Read!" -- is being organized by dozens of Islamic Salafist groups located in cities and towns throughout Germany, as well as in Austria and in Switzerland.
Salafism is a branch of radical Islam, practiced in Saudi Arabia, that seeks to establish an Islamic empire (Caliphate) across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe -- and eventually the entire world. The Caliphate would be governed exclusively by Islamic Sharia law, which would apply both to Muslims and to non-Muslims. PG: And so the decline begins....It begins by appeasing a crocodile.
2.Relations between Iran and its northern neighbour Azerbaijan have also become strained, with each accusing the other of preparing “terrorist” actions. For example, last month Azerbaijan’s national security ministry said 22 Azerbaijani citizens had been arrested on suspicion of cooperating with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards “to commit terrorist acts against the US, Israeli and other Western states’ embassies and the embassies’ employees.” Tehran is also unhappy over Baku’s ties to Israel, and its purchase of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Israeli military weapons and equipment. ($1.6 Billion).
3.The Supreme Court signaled Wednesday that it might uphold a key element of Arizona's immigration law, as justices across the board suggested the state has a serious problem on its hands and should have some level of sovereignty to address illegal immigration. The justices strongly suggested Wednesday they are not buying the Obama administration's argument that the state exceeded its authority, with Chief Justice John Roberts at one point saying he doesn't think the federal government even wants to know how many illegal immigrants are in the country. PG: More supreme court trouble for Obama?
4.In November, California voters will have the chance to vote for or against capital punishment. Two months ago the state of Connecticut became the 17th state to abolish capital punishment. Since 1973, 46,586 murders have been committed in Connecticut. Of these only 66 have led to conviction. And only nine of the convicted have received the death penalty. PG: Why bother with any form of punishment?
5.The Palestinian Authority TV children's program The Best Home featured a child reciting a poem promoting Pan-Arabism. The poem, by an Egyptian writer, included the following words:
"Our enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail." PG: Two State solution? Speak to the hand.
7.With little public attention, dozens of universities and law-enforcement agencies have been given approval by federal aviation regulators to use unmanned aircraft known as drones, according to documents obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests by an advocacy group. The more than 50 institutions that received approvals to operate remotely piloted aircraft are more varied than many outsiders and privacy experts previously knew. They include not only agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security but also smaller ones such as the police departments in North Little Rock, Ark., and Ogden, Utah, as well the University of North Dakota and Nicholls State University in Louisiana. PG: Big Brother....
8.A new company backed by two Google Inc. billionaires, film director James Cameron and other space exploration proponents is aiming high in the hunt for natural resources—with mining asteroids the possible target. The venture, called Planetary Resources Inc., revealed little in a press release this week except to say that it would "overlay two critical sectors—space exploration and natural resources—to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP" and "help ensure humanity's prosperity." The company is formally unveiling its plans at an event Tuesday in Seattle. PG: There were snickers when Newt Gingrich suggested something similar. Looks like he is not alone...
9.An infant born with six legs in Pakistan had four of his extra limbs successfully removed by doctors, the International Business Times reported. Baby boy Umar Farooq had been born with a rare genetic disorder called polymelia – a condition that affects only one in a million babies.
Polymelia is a condition in which an embryo starts as conjoined twins in the womb. One of the twins eventually disintegrates, leaving behind extra limbs that get attached to the remaining fetus.
10.Kulula Airlines, based in Johannesburg, is offering a free ticket for a man's fourth wife if the entire family flies together between the city and Cape Town. The ad reads, "Not only will you get a great deal on kulula.com flights for your first three wives, but your fourth wife will fly free, mahala, on the house." The stunt, which runs until April 30, coincides with South African president Jacob Zuma's marriage to his fourth wife over the weekend. Zuma has been married six times in total, but one of his wives committed suicide in 2000, and he divorced his second in 1998. PG: What a world we live in....
The hardest person to awaken is the one already awake - Tagalog Saying
Monday, April 9, 2012
Preposterous Predictions
This blog is for fun. If 7 out of 10 predictions turn out to be correct, credit will go to the Peanut Gallery who constantly make unscientific forecasts.
1.Employment stats in the US will not improve this year. Obama will be a one term president, to be replaced by default. The Peanut Gallery predicts that whoever opposes Obama will be the next president.
2.Europe will slide into recession as their debt bubble grows. The continent is unable to compete with the emerging economies, and will struggle to prevent the Islamic influence from spreading. Expect economic unrest as the masses take to the streets. The beginning of the end for the European experiment in social democracy. Sorry folks, but socialism only works in good times and only for limited periods of time.
3.The Arab Spring (who remembers them?) will be confirmed as another non-event created by the western media. We will witness the birth of the Muslim Brotherhood as the dominant political force in the Middle East with the salafists snapping at their heels. Democracy takes generations and education to develop into a force. Neither of these is a priority in the Arab world.
4.Word for word what the Peanut Gallery wrote exactly a year ago "The Egyptian Military have no intention of relinquishing control of Egypt, with or without elections. They own 40% of the economic assets in Egypt, and it would be comparable to Obama announcing he won't be running for a second term." We stand by this analysis. We further stand by the analysis that the removal of Mubarak was a military coup, compounded by the ineptness of an American president's belief that Egyptians were Americans wearing different clothing.
5.The Iran - Israel crisis is a smokescreen for a much larger confrontation developing between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. The US and Europe supporting the Sunni side while Russia backs the Shiites. The main battleground between the two sides will be in Syria. Regardless of how many cease-fires the UN arranges, the fighting will continue as Islam, in these regions, does not know or understand the word "compromise".
6.Oil will become just another commodity as natural gas and other alternatives replaces it as the major source of energy. Natural gas infrastructure enabling the easy transport and storage of LNG will dictate the economic priorities of most nations as fracking and other hi-tech methods of gas production develop. Their will be a massive over-supply of natural gas undermining the importance of oil. Consequently, political winds of change will sweep the planet.
7.Climate change is and will continue to play a part, creating unrest, shortages and trickle of refugees. This trickle will eventually become a river and then a flood as humanity in these areas look for alternatives. The water line is sinking in Yemen, Bahrein, Qatar, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and The Sudan amongst others. The countries that have oil can buy their water. The others all appear to be involved in civil wars....
8. An intended consequence of the above, is that American forces will slowly abandon the Middle East and concentrate on Asia and South America, the countries where the next economic upswing is still in its infancy. The protection of trade routes is the top priority for the US economic establishment. More than 90% of commercial goods between continents do so by container ship. Fifty percent of these traverse the South China Sea. Expect to hear more about this area.
9.The forgotten people, who once assumed they were the centre of the universe, The Palestinians arabs, will continue to be forgotten, just as Israel will continue to grow in strength. The arabs of Judea and Samaria will cast their eyes in the direction of Jordan as an alternative. The rest of the world, sick and tired of the deceit and lies, will turn to the real problems of survival.
10. And finally, the greatest country to live, on the planet, Canada, will continue to prosper. Only 35 million inhabitants, enough food, water, land and raw materials for all and then some, are the envy of the planet. They will be partnered by well positioned Australia.
Please read http://inctruth.blogspot.ca/2011/04/preposterous-predictions.html from last year.
Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values - Don Ward
1.Employment stats in the US will not improve this year. Obama will be a one term president, to be replaced by default. The Peanut Gallery predicts that whoever opposes Obama will be the next president.
2.Europe will slide into recession as their debt bubble grows. The continent is unable to compete with the emerging economies, and will struggle to prevent the Islamic influence from spreading. Expect economic unrest as the masses take to the streets. The beginning of the end for the European experiment in social democracy. Sorry folks, but socialism only works in good times and only for limited periods of time.
3.The Arab Spring (who remembers them?) will be confirmed as another non-event created by the western media. We will witness the birth of the Muslim Brotherhood as the dominant political force in the Middle East with the salafists snapping at their heels. Democracy takes generations and education to develop into a force. Neither of these is a priority in the Arab world.
4.Word for word what the Peanut Gallery wrote exactly a year ago "The Egyptian Military have no intention of relinquishing control of Egypt, with or without elections. They own 40% of the economic assets in Egypt, and it would be comparable to Obama announcing he won't be running for a second term." We stand by this analysis. We further stand by the analysis that the removal of Mubarak was a military coup, compounded by the ineptness of an American president's belief that Egyptians were Americans wearing different clothing.
5.The Iran - Israel crisis is a smokescreen for a much larger confrontation developing between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. The US and Europe supporting the Sunni side while Russia backs the Shiites. The main battleground between the two sides will be in Syria. Regardless of how many cease-fires the UN arranges, the fighting will continue as Islam, in these regions, does not know or understand the word "compromise".
6.Oil will become just another commodity as natural gas and other alternatives replaces it as the major source of energy. Natural gas infrastructure enabling the easy transport and storage of LNG will dictate the economic priorities of most nations as fracking and other hi-tech methods of gas production develop. Their will be a massive over-supply of natural gas undermining the importance of oil. Consequently, political winds of change will sweep the planet.
7.Climate change is and will continue to play a part, creating unrest, shortages and trickle of refugees. This trickle will eventually become a river and then a flood as humanity in these areas look for alternatives. The water line is sinking in Yemen, Bahrein, Qatar, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and The Sudan amongst others. The countries that have oil can buy their water. The others all appear to be involved in civil wars....
8. An intended consequence of the above, is that American forces will slowly abandon the Middle East and concentrate on Asia and South America, the countries where the next economic upswing is still in its infancy. The protection of trade routes is the top priority for the US economic establishment. More than 90% of commercial goods between continents do so by container ship. Fifty percent of these traverse the South China Sea. Expect to hear more about this area.
9.The forgotten people, who once assumed they were the centre of the universe, The Palestinians arabs, will continue to be forgotten, just as Israel will continue to grow in strength. The arabs of Judea and Samaria will cast their eyes in the direction of Jordan as an alternative. The rest of the world, sick and tired of the deceit and lies, will turn to the real problems of survival.
10. And finally, the greatest country to live, on the planet, Canada, will continue to prosper. Only 35 million inhabitants, enough food, water, land and raw materials for all and then some, are the envy of the planet. They will be partnered by well positioned Australia.
Please read http://inctruth.blogspot.ca/2011/04/preposterous-predictions.html from last year.
Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values - Don Ward
Thursday, April 5, 2012
The Peanut Gallery
Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.
1.Germany is not making any dramatic shifts in its relationships, but is searching for alternative relationships. The most important alternative is Russia, which supplies energy to Germany. Russia also needs German technology and can use German entrepreneurial energy. Germany, with a declining population and a growing aversion to immigration, is looking for low labor cost locations for factories. Russia’s population is also declining, but even so has surplus labor that is unemployed or more often underemployed. Theirs is not a potential relationship, but an existing and intensifying one. Its ties with Russia may not replace Germany’s bond with the European Union, but a cornerstone relationship could develop between Russia and Berlin.
2. Saudi Arabia appears to be caught between a rock and a hard place. In the eastern provinces of this monarchy, the shiites continue their protests, supported by covert Iranian influences . But now in the Sunni south (forgive the pun) unrelated demonstrations are taking place by forces tiring of Salafist Islamic extremism. Women's groups demanding more privileges and younger generation students pushing for more political influence have taken to the streets. Add to that, the monarchists visible discomfort created by the continued political emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood as a political force. PG: Its raining. Lets see how the gulf monarchies avoid getting wet.
3.Russia and India will begin trading in domestic currencies in three years, Vladimir Dimitriev, the chairman of Russia's VEB bank, said March 29, Reuters reported. Dimitriev said Russia is considering trading in domestic currencies with BRIC partners. PG: this is an economic development of revolutionary proportions. What they are doing is taking the US Dollar out of the equation. Today all International transactions are transacted in USD and this is where dollar strength is centred. The party will begin when the debt comes due.
4.In the next five years, a total of $5.9 trillion in US debt will come due. The average rate of interest on the US debt is 2.2%. The average maturity on the Treasury's marketable debt is 62.8 months. The interest expense on US publicly held debt is $454 billion. The US is compounding themselves into eternity. What happens if or when interest rates rise, which they will? PG: And all Obama cares about, is his re-election. Anybody who deludes themselves otherwise, deserves what they get if he is re-elected.
5.The Indian Ocean is the world's energy interstate, across which passes crude oil and natural gas from the Arabian Peninsula and Iranian Plateau to the burgeoning, middle-class urban networks of East Asia. Though we live in a jet and information age, 90 percent of all commercial goods that travel from one continent to another do so by container ship, and half of those goods in terms of global tonnage -- and one-third in terms of monetary value -- traverse the South China Sea, which connects the Indian Ocean with the Western Pacific. Moreover, the supposedly energy-rich South China Sea is the economic hub of world commerce, where international sea routes coalesce. And it is the U.S. Navy and Air Force, more than any other institutions, that have kept those sea lines of communication secure, thus allowing for post-Cold War globalization in the first place. This is the real public good that the United States provides the world. PG: This is what makes the world go round. Not Trayvon Martin or whether contraception is paid for by government.
6.Today, for a Jewish person to buy a home or property in Judea, Samaria or Jerusalem, from an Arab, is a very complicated procedure. Under the Palestinian Authority, capital punishment is the accepted policy for those who sell property to Jews. Before the deal can become public, the Arab seller needs to relocate to another country, where he will be safe from assassins from his own community. PG: In any other non-arab country this would be a normal, unnoticed deal. The left wing media are outraged...that a Jew would have the audacity of buying from an Arab....
7. New York City police were Sunday investigating an "Occupy Wall Street" protester who made threats on Twitter about killing police as hundreds clashed the previous day with cops at Zuccotti Park. "We won't make a difference if we don't kill a cop or 2," Twitter user "Smackema1" posted about 11:40pm. PG: The truth is that these occupiers don't represent 99% or anybody else.
People who are resting on their laurels are wearing them on the wrong end - Malcolm Kushner
1.Germany is not making any dramatic shifts in its relationships, but is searching for alternative relationships. The most important alternative is Russia, which supplies energy to Germany. Russia also needs German technology and can use German entrepreneurial energy. Germany, with a declining population and a growing aversion to immigration, is looking for low labor cost locations for factories. Russia’s population is also declining, but even so has surplus labor that is unemployed or more often underemployed. Theirs is not a potential relationship, but an existing and intensifying one. Its ties with Russia may not replace Germany’s bond with the European Union, but a cornerstone relationship could develop between Russia and Berlin.
2. Saudi Arabia appears to be caught between a rock and a hard place. In the eastern provinces of this monarchy, the shiites continue their protests, supported by covert Iranian influences . But now in the Sunni south (forgive the pun) unrelated demonstrations are taking place by forces tiring of Salafist Islamic extremism. Women's groups demanding more privileges and younger generation students pushing for more political influence have taken to the streets. Add to that, the monarchists visible discomfort created by the continued political emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood as a political force. PG: Its raining. Lets see how the gulf monarchies avoid getting wet.
3.Russia and India will begin trading in domestic currencies in three years, Vladimir Dimitriev, the chairman of Russia's VEB bank, said March 29, Reuters reported. Dimitriev said Russia is considering trading in domestic currencies with BRIC partners. PG: this is an economic development of revolutionary proportions. What they are doing is taking the US Dollar out of the equation. Today all International transactions are transacted in USD and this is where dollar strength is centred. The party will begin when the debt comes due.
4.In the next five years, a total of $5.9 trillion in US debt will come due. The average rate of interest on the US debt is 2.2%. The average maturity on the Treasury's marketable debt is 62.8 months. The interest expense on US publicly held debt is $454 billion. The US is compounding themselves into eternity. What happens if or when interest rates rise, which they will? PG: And all Obama cares about, is his re-election. Anybody who deludes themselves otherwise, deserves what they get if he is re-elected.
5.The Indian Ocean is the world's energy interstate, across which passes crude oil and natural gas from the Arabian Peninsula and Iranian Plateau to the burgeoning, middle-class urban networks of East Asia. Though we live in a jet and information age, 90 percent of all commercial goods that travel from one continent to another do so by container ship, and half of those goods in terms of global tonnage -- and one-third in terms of monetary value -- traverse the South China Sea, which connects the Indian Ocean with the Western Pacific. Moreover, the supposedly energy-rich South China Sea is the economic hub of world commerce, where international sea routes coalesce. And it is the U.S. Navy and Air Force, more than any other institutions, that have kept those sea lines of communication secure, thus allowing for post-Cold War globalization in the first place. This is the real public good that the United States provides the world. PG: This is what makes the world go round. Not Trayvon Martin or whether contraception is paid for by government.
6.Today, for a Jewish person to buy a home or property in Judea, Samaria or Jerusalem, from an Arab, is a very complicated procedure. Under the Palestinian Authority, capital punishment is the accepted policy for those who sell property to Jews. Before the deal can become public, the Arab seller needs to relocate to another country, where he will be safe from assassins from his own community. PG: In any other non-arab country this would be a normal, unnoticed deal. The left wing media are outraged...that a Jew would have the audacity of buying from an Arab....
7. New York City police were Sunday investigating an "Occupy Wall Street" protester who made threats on Twitter about killing police as hundreds clashed the previous day with cops at Zuccotti Park. "We won't make a difference if we don't kill a cop or 2," Twitter user "Smackema1" posted about 11:40pm. PG: The truth is that these occupiers don't represent 99% or anybody else.
People who are resting on their laurels are wearing them on the wrong end - Malcolm Kushner
Friday, March 30, 2012
The Miracle Continues... Walk Tall Israel
While the planet appears to be sliding backwards, Israel continues to inspire, and it appears that nothing can stop the forward movement. Let them march on Jerusalem. Israel marches on and holds up a shining light for humanity to follow.
1."India and Israel are ideal partners"
"In an era of rapid urban growth, there is great potential in cooperation between Israel and India, since Israel is a very urbanized country with a strong urban infrastructure," Indian Minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath told "Globes" in an exclusive interview, during a visit to Israel to promote joint projects. http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000732024&fid=1124
2.IAF, Polish Air Force hold joint exercise
Fighter pilots from the Israeli and Polish air forces will on Thursday complete a week of joint exercises which were held nine years after the Israeli air force held a flyby over Auschwitz. The cooperation is the first of its kind between the two military forces and it included such tasks as mock attacks and interceptions where the sides took turns as attacker and defender.
COMMENT: Recently Israel and Italy combined air drills. Looks like Israel is being integrated into NATO, despite Turkish objections.
3.Intel, GE Healthcare set up joint Israel tech centre
Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC) and GE Healthcare have set up a joint technology evaluation laboratory in Israel. The new lab is located at GE Healthcare premises in Tirat Carmel, close to Intel Israel's R&D center at Haifa's Matam High-Tech Park. Managers and employees from both companies will work together to align and optimize their products, such as Intel's microprocessors and GE Healthcare's ultrasound diagnostic imaging systems.
4.Sony targets Israeli medical technologies
Sources inform ''Globes'' that Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE; TSE: 6758) is actively seeking to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Israeli medical technologies. The company has established a team to review the Israeli market to seek out companies for investment or acquisition. The team has already held intensive meetings with Israeli venture capital funds and companies. This is the first time that Sony has operated in such a manner and if the process is successful, the company's acquired or in the investment portfolio may form the basis for a Sony development center in Israel.
5.Telefonica to set up start up incubator in Israel
Sources inform ''Globes'' that Spanish telecommunications giant Telefónica SA is due to set up a start up incubator in Israel. The company has a positive history in Israel, including a good return on its investment in Amobee Inc., which was sold a few weeks ago for over $300 million. Headquartered in Madrid, Telefonica's collaborators in Israel include Amdocs Ltd. and several telecommunications start-ups. Telefonica is the world's third-largest telecommunications carrier, with 306 million subscribers, two-thirds of whom are in Latin America.
6.Palestinian and Israeli Farmers Participate in Joint Conference for Improvement of Gazan Economy
On March 2012, more than 30,000 farmers from all over the world attended the 26th agricultural exhibition in Tel-Aviv. A delegation from the Gaza Strip was among the participants. During the exhibition, the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) also arranged training workshops for the Palestinian farmers.
7.Israeli Device Takes the Thirst Out of War Zones
Supplying water in battle zones is expensive and sometimes deadly. Armies around the world spend millions of dollars transporting water to thirsty troops on the front lines, often under extremely dangerous conditions. Arye Kohavi: "Convoys are attacked during the water transportation and we can produce the water on spot where it's needed, we are saving all the logistic footprint of bringing the water." Arye Kohavi, the CEO of Israeli tech firm Water-Gen says instead of transporting water into conflict zones - he has developed a portable device that can simply make it out of air. Check out video www.scientificamerican.com/video.cfm?id=israeli-device-takes-the-2012-03-07
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain.
— Author Unknown
1."India and Israel are ideal partners"
"In an era of rapid urban growth, there is great potential in cooperation between Israel and India, since Israel is a very urbanized country with a strong urban infrastructure," Indian Minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath told "Globes" in an exclusive interview, during a visit to Israel to promote joint projects. http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000732024&fid=1124
2.IAF, Polish Air Force hold joint exercise
Fighter pilots from the Israeli and Polish air forces will on Thursday complete a week of joint exercises which were held nine years after the Israeli air force held a flyby over Auschwitz. The cooperation is the first of its kind between the two military forces and it included such tasks as mock attacks and interceptions where the sides took turns as attacker and defender.
COMMENT: Recently Israel and Italy combined air drills. Looks like Israel is being integrated into NATO, despite Turkish objections.
3.Intel, GE Healthcare set up joint Israel tech centre
Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC) and GE Healthcare have set up a joint technology evaluation laboratory in Israel. The new lab is located at GE Healthcare premises in Tirat Carmel, close to Intel Israel's R&D center at Haifa's Matam High-Tech Park. Managers and employees from both companies will work together to align and optimize their products, such as Intel's microprocessors and GE Healthcare's ultrasound diagnostic imaging systems.
4.Sony targets Israeli medical technologies
Sources inform ''Globes'' that Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE; TSE: 6758) is actively seeking to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Israeli medical technologies. The company has established a team to review the Israeli market to seek out companies for investment or acquisition. The team has already held intensive meetings with Israeli venture capital funds and companies. This is the first time that Sony has operated in such a manner and if the process is successful, the company's acquired or in the investment portfolio may form the basis for a Sony development center in Israel.
5.Telefonica to set up start up incubator in Israel
Sources inform ''Globes'' that Spanish telecommunications giant Telefónica SA is due to set up a start up incubator in Israel. The company has a positive history in Israel, including a good return on its investment in Amobee Inc., which was sold a few weeks ago for over $300 million. Headquartered in Madrid, Telefonica's collaborators in Israel include Amdocs Ltd. and several telecommunications start-ups. Telefonica is the world's third-largest telecommunications carrier, with 306 million subscribers, two-thirds of whom are in Latin America.
6.Palestinian and Israeli Farmers Participate in Joint Conference for Improvement of Gazan Economy
On March 2012, more than 30,000 farmers from all over the world attended the 26th agricultural exhibition in Tel-Aviv. A delegation from the Gaza Strip was among the participants. During the exhibition, the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) also arranged training workshops for the Palestinian farmers.
7.Israeli Device Takes the Thirst Out of War Zones
Supplying water in battle zones is expensive and sometimes deadly. Armies around the world spend millions of dollars transporting water to thirsty troops on the front lines, often under extremely dangerous conditions. Arye Kohavi: "Convoys are attacked during the water transportation and we can produce the water on spot where it's needed, we are saving all the logistic footprint of bringing the water." Arye Kohavi, the CEO of Israeli tech firm Water-Gen says instead of transporting water into conflict zones - he has developed a portable device that can simply make it out of air. Check out video www.scientificamerican.com/video.cfm?id=israeli-device-takes-the-2012-03-07
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain.
— Author Unknown
Monday, March 19, 2012
When Irish Eyes are Smiling
My friend Bill says "As long as one candle burns in the darkness, the truth will not be extinguished". One of those candles is Irishman Nicky Larkin. Nicky arrived in Israel to make a pro-palestinian film. These are the results.
Nicky Larkin: Israel is a refuge, but a refuge under siege
Through making a film about the Israeli-Arab conflict, artist Nicky Larkin found his allegiances swaying
I used to hate Israel. I used to think the Left was always right. Not any more. Now I loathe Palestinian terrorists. Now I see why Israel has to be hard. Now I see the Left can be Right -- as in right-wing. So why did I change my mind so completely?
Strangely, it began with my anger at Israel's incursion into Gaza in December 2008 which left over 1,200 Palestinians dead, compared to only 13 Israelis. I was so angered by this massacre I posed in the striped scarf of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation for an art show catalogue.
Shortly after posing in that PLO scarf, I applied for funding from the Irish Arts Council to make a film in Israel and Palestine. I wanted to talk to these soldiers, to challenge their actions -- and challenge the Israeli citizens who supported them.
I spent seven weeks in the area, dividing my time evenly between Israel and the West Bank. I started in Israel. The locals were suspicious. We were Irish -- from a country which is one of Israel's chief critics -- and we were filmmakers. We were the enemy.
Then I crossed over into the West Bank. Suddenly, being Irish wasn't a problem. Provo graffiti adorned The Wall. Bethlehem was Las Vegas for Jesus-freaks -- neon crucifixes punctuated by posters of martyrs.
These martyrs followed us throughout the West Bank. They watched from lamp-posts and walls wherever we went. Like Jesus in the old Sacred Heart pictures.
But the more I felt the martyrs watching me, the more confused I became. After all, the Palestinian mantra was one of "non-violent resistance". It was their motto, repeated over and over like responses at a Catholic mass.
Yet when I interviewed Hind Khoury, a former Palestinian government member, she sat forward angrily in her chair as she refused to condemn the actions of the suicide bombers. She was all aggression.
This aggression continued in Hebron, where I witnessed swastikas on a wall. As I set up my camera, an Israeli soldier shouted down from his rooftop position. A few months previously I might have ignored him as my political enemy. But now I stopped to talk. He only talked about Taybeh, the local Palestinian beer.
Back in Tel Aviv in the summer of 2011, I began to listen more closely to the Israeli side. I remember one conversation in Shenkin Street -- Tel Aviv's most fashionable quarter, a street where everybody looks as if they went to art college. I was outside a cafe interviewing a former soldier.
He talked slowly about his time in Gaza. He spoke about 20 Arab teenagers filled with ecstasy tablets and sent running towards the base he'd patrolled. Each strapped with a bomb and carrying a hand-held detonator.
The pills in their bloodstream meant they felt no pain. Only a headshot would take them down.
Conversations like this are normal in Tel Aviv. I began to experience the sense of isolation Israelis feel. An isolation that began in the ghettos of Europe and ended in Auschwitz.
Israel is a refuge -- but a refuge under siege, a refuge where rockets rain death from the skies. And as I made the effort to empathise, to look at the world through their eyes. I began a new intellectual journey. One that would not be welcome back home.
The problem began when I resolved to come back with a film that showed both sides of the coin. Actually there are many more than two. Which is why my film is called Forty Shades of Grey. But only one side was wanted back in Dublin. My peers expected me to come back with an attack on Israel. No grey areas were acceptable.
An Irish artist is supposed to sign boycotts, wear a PLO scarf, and remonstrate loudly about The Occupation. But it's not just artists who are supposed to hate Israel. Being anti-Israel is supposed to be part of our Irish identity, the same way we are supposed to resent the English.
But hating Israel is not part of my personal national identity. Neither is hating the English. I hold an Irish passport, but nowhere upon this document does it say I am a republican, or a Palestinian.
My Irish passport says I was born in 1983 in Offaly. The Northern Troubles were something Anne Doyle talked to my parents about on the nine o'clock News. I just wanted to watch Father Ted.
So I was frustrated to see Provo graffiti on the wall in the West Bank. I felt the same frustration emerge when I noticed the missing 'E' in a "Free Palestin" graffiti on a wall in Cork. I am also frustrated by the anti-Israel activists' attitude to freedom of speech.
Free speech must work both ways. But back in Dublin, whenever I speak up for Israel, the Fiachras and Fionas look at me aghast, as if I'd pissed on their paninis.
This one-way freedom of speech spurs false information. The Boycott Israel brigade is a prime example. They pressurised Irish supermarkets to remove all Israeli produce from their shelves -- a move that directly affected the Palestinian farmers who produce most of their fruit and vegetables under the Israeli brand.
But worst of all, this boycott mentality is affecting artists. In August 2010, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign got 216 Irish artists to sign a pledge undertaking to boycott the Israeli state. As an artist I have friends on this list -- or at least I had.
I would like to challenge my friends about their support for this boycott. What do these armchair sermonisers know about Israel? Could they name three Israeli cities, or the main Israeli industries?
But I have more important questions for Irish artists. What happened to the notion of the artist as a free thinking individual? Why have Irish artists surrendered to group-think on Israel? Could it be due to something as crude as career-advancement?
Artistic leadership comes from the top. Aosdana, Ireland's State-sponsored affiliation of creative artists, has also signed the boycott. Aosdana is a big player. Its members populate Arts Council funding panels.
Some artists could assume that if their name is on the same boycott sheet as the people assessing their applications, it can hardly hurt their chances. No doubt Aosdana would dispute this assumption. But the perception of a preconceived position on Israel is hard to avoid.
Looking back now over all I have learnt, I wonder if the problem is a lot simpler.
Perhaps our problem is not with Israel, but with our own over-stretched sense of importance -- a sense of moral superiority disproportional to the importance of our little country?
Any artist worth his or her salt should be ready to change their mind on receipt of fresh information. So I would urge every one of those 216 Irish artists who pledged to boycott the Israeli state to spend some time in Israel and Palestine. Maybe when you come home you will bin your scarf. I did.
Nicky Larkin's 'Forty Shades of Grey' will premiere in Dublin in May;
We welcome you Nicky to our world of truth and integrity. The more people who light candles, the brighter the light will be.
Nicky Larkin: Israel is a refuge, but a refuge under siege
Through making a film about the Israeli-Arab conflict, artist Nicky Larkin found his allegiances swaying
I used to hate Israel. I used to think the Left was always right. Not any more. Now I loathe Palestinian terrorists. Now I see why Israel has to be hard. Now I see the Left can be Right -- as in right-wing. So why did I change my mind so completely?
Strangely, it began with my anger at Israel's incursion into Gaza in December 2008 which left over 1,200 Palestinians dead, compared to only 13 Israelis. I was so angered by this massacre I posed in the striped scarf of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation for an art show catalogue.
Shortly after posing in that PLO scarf, I applied for funding from the Irish Arts Council to make a film in Israel and Palestine. I wanted to talk to these soldiers, to challenge their actions -- and challenge the Israeli citizens who supported them.
I spent seven weeks in the area, dividing my time evenly between Israel and the West Bank. I started in Israel. The locals were suspicious. We were Irish -- from a country which is one of Israel's chief critics -- and we were filmmakers. We were the enemy.
Then I crossed over into the West Bank. Suddenly, being Irish wasn't a problem. Provo graffiti adorned The Wall. Bethlehem was Las Vegas for Jesus-freaks -- neon crucifixes punctuated by posters of martyrs.
These martyrs followed us throughout the West Bank. They watched from lamp-posts and walls wherever we went. Like Jesus in the old Sacred Heart pictures.
But the more I felt the martyrs watching me, the more confused I became. After all, the Palestinian mantra was one of "non-violent resistance". It was their motto, repeated over and over like responses at a Catholic mass.
Yet when I interviewed Hind Khoury, a former Palestinian government member, she sat forward angrily in her chair as she refused to condemn the actions of the suicide bombers. She was all aggression.
This aggression continued in Hebron, where I witnessed swastikas on a wall. As I set up my camera, an Israeli soldier shouted down from his rooftop position. A few months previously I might have ignored him as my political enemy. But now I stopped to talk. He only talked about Taybeh, the local Palestinian beer.
Back in Tel Aviv in the summer of 2011, I began to listen more closely to the Israeli side. I remember one conversation in Shenkin Street -- Tel Aviv's most fashionable quarter, a street where everybody looks as if they went to art college. I was outside a cafe interviewing a former soldier.
He talked slowly about his time in Gaza. He spoke about 20 Arab teenagers filled with ecstasy tablets and sent running towards the base he'd patrolled. Each strapped with a bomb and carrying a hand-held detonator.
The pills in their bloodstream meant they felt no pain. Only a headshot would take them down.
Conversations like this are normal in Tel Aviv. I began to experience the sense of isolation Israelis feel. An isolation that began in the ghettos of Europe and ended in Auschwitz.
Israel is a refuge -- but a refuge under siege, a refuge where rockets rain death from the skies. And as I made the effort to empathise, to look at the world through their eyes. I began a new intellectual journey. One that would not be welcome back home.
The problem began when I resolved to come back with a film that showed both sides of the coin. Actually there are many more than two. Which is why my film is called Forty Shades of Grey. But only one side was wanted back in Dublin. My peers expected me to come back with an attack on Israel. No grey areas were acceptable.
An Irish artist is supposed to sign boycotts, wear a PLO scarf, and remonstrate loudly about The Occupation. But it's not just artists who are supposed to hate Israel. Being anti-Israel is supposed to be part of our Irish identity, the same way we are supposed to resent the English.
But hating Israel is not part of my personal national identity. Neither is hating the English. I hold an Irish passport, but nowhere upon this document does it say I am a republican, or a Palestinian.
My Irish passport says I was born in 1983 in Offaly. The Northern Troubles were something Anne Doyle talked to my parents about on the nine o'clock News. I just wanted to watch Father Ted.
So I was frustrated to see Provo graffiti on the wall in the West Bank. I felt the same frustration emerge when I noticed the missing 'E' in a "Free Palestin" graffiti on a wall in Cork. I am also frustrated by the anti-Israel activists' attitude to freedom of speech.
Free speech must work both ways. But back in Dublin, whenever I speak up for Israel, the Fiachras and Fionas look at me aghast, as if I'd pissed on their paninis.
This one-way freedom of speech spurs false information. The Boycott Israel brigade is a prime example. They pressurised Irish supermarkets to remove all Israeli produce from their shelves -- a move that directly affected the Palestinian farmers who produce most of their fruit and vegetables under the Israeli brand.
But worst of all, this boycott mentality is affecting artists. In August 2010, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign got 216 Irish artists to sign a pledge undertaking to boycott the Israeli state. As an artist I have friends on this list -- or at least I had.
I would like to challenge my friends about their support for this boycott. What do these armchair sermonisers know about Israel? Could they name three Israeli cities, or the main Israeli industries?
But I have more important questions for Irish artists. What happened to the notion of the artist as a free thinking individual? Why have Irish artists surrendered to group-think on Israel? Could it be due to something as crude as career-advancement?
Artistic leadership comes from the top. Aosdana, Ireland's State-sponsored affiliation of creative artists, has also signed the boycott. Aosdana is a big player. Its members populate Arts Council funding panels.
Some artists could assume that if their name is on the same boycott sheet as the people assessing their applications, it can hardly hurt their chances. No doubt Aosdana would dispute this assumption. But the perception of a preconceived position on Israel is hard to avoid.
Looking back now over all I have learnt, I wonder if the problem is a lot simpler.
Perhaps our problem is not with Israel, but with our own over-stretched sense of importance -- a sense of moral superiority disproportional to the importance of our little country?
Any artist worth his or her salt should be ready to change their mind on receipt of fresh information. So I would urge every one of those 216 Irish artists who pledged to boycott the Israeli state to spend some time in Israel and Palestine. Maybe when you come home you will bin your scarf. I did.
Nicky Larkin's 'Forty Shades of Grey' will premiere in Dublin in May;
We welcome you Nicky to our world of truth and integrity. The more people who light candles, the brighter the light will be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)