Israel To Build 700 Apartments In East Jerusalem

No country on earth has it's capital questioned by another country. NOT ONE.

Jerusalem was never a capital of any country in history except for Israel.

Jerusalem will never again be a divided city.

When Jordan controlled the eastern portion of the city after the war in 1948 they did not build. They did not care for the rights and protections of its citizens or make the religious sites open to world. In fact it was the opposite. Synagogues were demolished.

As for the Palestinians, the PLO which was created in Egypt BEFORE Israel reclaimed east Jerusalem, didn't much care for Jerusalem either.....that is, until after the Six Day War when Israel captured and unified the city. Then it all of a sudden became a convenient rallying cry. The Palestinians have no claim whatsoever to the city and we should stop placating their baseless demands. Let's bring the expectations down to reality and then maybe we will be able to get something done.

Jerusalem will stay united. It will stay free. Jerusalem will stay the eternal capital of Israel.
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Leadership, Obama Style, and the Looming Losses in 2010: Pretty Speeches, Compromised Values, and the Quest for the Lowest Common Denominator

This article is probably the best one I've read and I'm a voracious reader.

I was a supporter of Obama's after the primaries but was always wondering if he would have the guts to follow through on the rhetoric. I know that Obama didn't run on saving the country from the worst recession since the Great Depression. However, considering the state we were in after Jan. 10, can anyone honestly claim that this is the best we could have done?

"With Bush, I couldn't stand his speeches because I knew he meant what he said. I knew he was going to follow through with one ignorant, dangerous, or misguided policy after another. With Obama, I can't stand them because I realize he doesn't mean what he says -- or if he does, he just doesn't have the fire in his belly to follow through."

Unfortunately, a truer statement has not been heard.
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Reid's Gifts To Nelson And Landrieu Push Snowe Further Away

"I just think that, in all fairness to all parts of the country, I think it is important that the policy be equitable" So said Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME). In other words she didn't get what she was extorting from Reid for her support of the health care bill.

As a friend of mine says constantly "there are two kinds of politicians in this country Demicrooks and Republicrooks .

To paraphrase Al Pacino in A Scent Of A Woman: 'you're bums, the lot of ya. And Mary (Landrieu), Ben (Nelson), Joe (Leiberman), wherever you are out there, F*(K YOU TOO!
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Israel: British Arrest Warrant For Tzipi Livni Threatens Ties

You know why many conflicts don't get resolved? It's the same reason that climate debates don't get resolved; the press' belief that there is always right on both sides and therefore there must be a middle ground. Its akin to giving equal air time to those who say the earth is flat to those who have science and facts on their side.

In the Arab Israeli conflict the press is basically giving the Arabs' (or Palestinians' in this case) terrorism a moral equivalence to Israel defending itself and retaliating to numerous attacks.

"BOTH countries" are not committing war-crimes. Israel doesn't !!target!!! civilians while Hamas and Hezbollah do exactly that. "BOTH countries" !!are not!! held accountable for their atrocious conduct. Accountability is strictly reserved for Israel's actions while the Palestinians always seem to get a pass b/c of their position. I put "BOTH countries" in quotes because as of today "Palestine" is not a recognized state, fyi.
About Israel
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Israel: British Arrest Warrant For Tzipi Livni Threatens Ties

Israel was taking a beating by rockets fired from Gaza - land that was unilaterally given up by Israel to the Palestinians. The land was supposed to be a launching pad for the nascent Palestinian state. Instead they used it as a launching pad to bomb civilian communities in neighboring Israel. This continued for EIGHT years without the world community saying a thing!

Imagine what would have happend had they actually built their state and show the world they intended to live as a peaceful member of the world community.

Israel was perfectly justified in retaliating for those attacks. None of us would have put up with our own governments' inaction for so long.

We need to start holding the Palestinians up to a higher standard if they want to join the world community. They can't get a free pass every time and then blame everything on Israel. Grow up and take some responsibility for yourselves!!
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Dean: Senate Bill Is 'Real Reform,' A Needed Antidote To GOP Propaganda

While I have been a critic of Obama since he took office (not strong or engaged enough on issues), I have to say that this health care "compromise" isn't the worst that could happen (we obviously could have done better had Obama actually put more political capital into it from the beginning though).

In order to get true health care reform passed the administration should have kept the issue as simple as possible, e.g. "Midicare for everyone" should have been the call to arms. This would have been so simple for people to understand that it would have been a much easier fight to fight. By allowing a Medicare buy in at 55 we are VERY slowly getting to where we want to be; a public plan for everyone (now if only we could do away with the "buy in" as well...).

We all must realize that Medicare IS a public plan, plain and simple. Now what we have to do is lobby to keep pushing the goalposts so that it encompasses everyone from cradle to grave. Sure, our taxes will go up but since we won't have to pay for health insurance anymore almost everyone will end up ahead. If you're not ahead then congrats! That means you're in the very top tax bracket. I'm not saying that 'tongue in cheek'. I aspire to the top tax bracket just like everyone else.
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Bailout Watchdog: Obama Foreclosure Plan Inadequate, New Direction Needed

I love Elizabeth Warren. She's doing exactly what she was brought in to do. That being said, however, why are we looking to keep the housing bubble inflated? Instead we need to CONTROL the deflation of the housing bubble.

The people who loaned money, knowing that the loan would never be able to be paid off, should be arrested for fraud or extreme negligence. The people who took those loans, that were misled or lied to, should get some assistance but that doesn't mean they should get to keep a house they had no business buying in the first place.

There were many responsible people who, because of the housing bubble, were priced out of buying a home. If all we do is focus on trying to keep people from losing their homes and therefore keep housing prices from coming down to their proper level then all were accomplishing is keeping the housing bubble artificially inflated and keeping real buyers from being able to afford to buy a home.

Where there was fraud or criminal negligence, let the government assist/prosecute.

Where there wasn't, let the market do it's thing. The responsible people in this country deserve a shot at a home and shouldn't be punished for being responsible and NOT taking out an irresponsible mortgage!
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America Without a Middle Class

POST #1 While you can't blame the administration for getting us into this mess we should absolutely blame them for doing a poor job of getting us out. Obama needs to hire a Wall St. trader who knows that you first ask for everything and then start negotiating. That way you have a chance of getting something close to what you really want. This isn't rocket science just common sense. Don't be so naive and think others will feel so contrite that they just give up. Instead this administration asked (meekly, I might add) for what they wanted and then had even that negotiated away.

They did a poor job.

This was Obama's 9/11 on a worldwide economic scale. He has to learn what "landslide" & "mandate" actually means.

He could have said "Medicare for all" - very nice and simple and by using that as a starting point for negotiations, he would have gotten MUCH more then the paltry bill they're talking about now.

As for the banks there is almost too much that could/should have been done to go over, but here's a short list of what they should have done:

(cont.)
About The Recession
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America Without a Middle Class

POST #2

(cont.)

1) Nationalize the zombie banks and then sell them back out to the public when the market recovers (like Sweden in 1992). This would have dealt with most of the issues that we're dealing with right now, i.e. bonuses divorced from reality, updating lending standards, restructuring the mortgages (which I think is totally wrong if they were legal and did not mislead the borrower - those borrowers deserve to go under. It would also have the benefit of having the housing market come down more and let people who were responsible a chance to afford a home!

2) Transaction tax on Wall St. It would have a negligible effect on investors but would curb speculation that only helps those institutions pad their pockets but adds little else to the overall economy (unless you still believe in trickle down) Oh, did I forget to mention that it would bring in over $150 BILLION PER YEAR, according to the CBO, to help fund the bailouts of Wall St that helped create this mess. I say "helped" b/c the public has to take responsibility for their role in taking out bad loans and the gov't their part in destroying meaningful regulation over the years.

The list could go on and on. The Obama administration has let a great opportunity slip away through timidity and weakness. Let's hope that that is not his lasting legacy.
About The Recession
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Ahmadinejad: Iran Will Enrich Uranium Even More

Who exactly is going to attack Israel "unmercifully at GREAT loss of life and limb, particularly in the Tel Aviv area and Ben Gurion Airport. Dimona.." if they take out Iran's nuclear capability? Also "Iran with ten nuclear bombs is not a threat - it is a nuclear stalemate"?! Really? Iran has already stated their intentions to wipe Israel off the map. What makes you think there would be a stalemate? Are you relying on Iran NOT following through on their threats? Its a dangerous game you're playing...­..with someone else's life! Very courageous of you.

Don't let Iran get nukes!
About Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
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Ahmadinejad: Iran Will Enrich Uranium Even More

There is no country in the world, nuke power or not, that brazenly supports terrorist groups and and the same time also calls for another country's destruction. Sometimes you can't just hope that the leaders of a country are merely speaking in hyperbole.

We have to act and not allow Iran to have nukes.

Everyone is allowed to own a knife too but if someone says "I'm going to get a knife and then I'm going to kill you", you don't wait until he's standing over you with a knife to say STOP!!

Sorry. But the second Iran called for the destruction of another country, they lost their right to have nukes.
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EU Draft Document On Division Of Jerusalem

Why do people keep on believing that if the Palestinians are given everything they want that they will then live in peace? In 2000 Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza. The Palestinians were given exactly what they wanted. 'Judenrein' or "Cleansed of Jews"!

There wasn't a Jew, a soldier and outpost left...not­hing. Everything was withdrawn.

How did the Palestinians respond?

Did they build roads, schools, sanitation, industry,.­..? Nope. They were given more than they had ever gotten from anyone else. The Brits never gave them as much under the British Mandate. The Egyptians never gave them a thing. The Jordanians too (Black September anyone?)

So what did they do? They looted everything that was given to them by the international community (remember the hot houses among other things?) that was meant to give them a start and then they used Gaza to launch rockets at Israel.

Why should Israel keep on giving land when they get no assurances of peace?

No one trusts peacekeepers anyway.

Until the Palestinians can prove they can rule their own people -and it is their responsibility to do so- then Israel must not give up land, a tangible asset, for peace, a non-tangible promise.
About Israel
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EU Draft Document On Division Of Jerusalem

While we're at it why don't we add all other hot spots all over the world that have seen much more death and destruction than all the Arab/Israeli wars COMBINED!



How about Darfur? Chad? Tibet? Kurdistan? This list could go on and on and all of them would have more need than Palestinians, who have rejected innumerable peace offers over the years.



As Abba Eban (a noted dove) once said about the Arabs: They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.



Besides, the UN couldn't 'administer' a coat check. They are a joke.
About Israel
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EU Draft Document On Division Of Jerusalem

Comparing the ghettos of Warsaw under the Nazis to anything the Palestinians are dealing with is a common tactic by either the willfully uninformed, uneducated or plain anti-Semites. There is no comparison. NONE.



Also, I guess you don't really know the story about Solomon do you. Solomon THREATENED to split the baby in order to find the true mother. Then the baby was handed over to its rightful owner. NOT SPLIT. Today Israel is the one saying that Jerusalem will never again be undivided while the Palestinians are saying 'split the baby'. So I ask you....wha­t do you think Solomon would do??



How do you feel about the government­.....or to put it in your words "the world family" deciding what you can keep of your own backyard?
About Israel
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