Fuck its silent in here.......

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

DPD...

When Texas Gov. Rick Perry visited Iraq in July, Michael says he told him about the problem. According to Michael, Perry called May and put lawyers in touch with the Clauers' attorney, but couldn't do much to alleviate the situation. (Perry's office didn't respond to calls seeking comment.)

I guess Governor of Texas really is no more than a figurehead position (as I've always heard) if Perry has no means of intervening on behalf of a soldier whose home was sold out from under him through fraud or incompetence:

There are a bevy of laws that are supposed to protect servicemembers from losing their homes or jobs while they're on active duty, including the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). The homeowners' association's lawyer filed an affidavit wrongly claiming that neither of the Clauers was on active duty, says Barbara Hale, the couple's lawyer. Hale is seeking to have the court reverse the foreclosure and declare it "null and void," she says.

[morpheus]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/opinion/27einhorn.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

Great?

At what level of government debt and future commitments does government default go from being unthinkable to inevitable, and how does our government think about that risk?

I recently posed this question to one of the president's senior economic advisers. He answered that the government is different from financial institutions because it can print money, and statistically the United States is not as bad off as some other countries. For an investor, these responses do not inspire confidence.

He went on to say that the government needs to focus on jobs now, because without an economic recovery, the rest does not matter. It's a valid point, but an insufficient excuse for holding off on addressing the long-term structural deficit. If we are going to spend more now, it is imperative that we lay out a credible plan to avoid falling into a debt trap. Even using the administration's optimistic 10-year forecast, it is clear that we will have problematic deficits for the next decade, which ends just as our commitments to baby boomers accelerate.

[flannj]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/opinion/27einhorn.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

Great?

He went on to say that the government needs to focus on jobs now, because without an economic recovery, the rest does not matter. It's a valid point, but an insufficient excuse for holding off on addressing the long-term structural deficit. If we are going to spend more now, it is imperative that we lay out a credible plan to avoid falling into a debt trap. Even using the administration's optimistic 10-year forecast, it is clear that we will have problematic deficits for the next decade, which ends just as our commitments to baby boomers accelerate.

Tiresome and predictable CFiHP ranting about boomers starts in...

[CBStew]

too good to not share:


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_en2308

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

A timely read given the latest from the Levant...

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/jun/10/failure-american-jewish-establishment/?pagination=false

[R-V]

A timely read given the latest from the Levant...

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/jun/10/failure-american-jewish-establishment/?pagination=false

Joe Biden wants to know what's the big deal about this whole flotilla thing.

If nothing else, it should be fun and entertaining to watch an American Vice-President provide a full-throated defense of Israel's absolute right to kill Americans. And then watching the bobbleheads in the media agree.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

A timely read given the latest from the Levant...

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/jun/10/failure-american-jewish-establishment/?pagination=false

Joe Biden wants to know what's the big deal about this whole flotilla thing.

If nothing else, it should be fun and entertaining to watch an American Vice-President provide a full-throated defense of Israel's absolute right to kill Americans. And then watching the bobbleheads in the media agree.

Biden: Yes, we know that, but they could have easily brought it in here and we'd get it through. And so now the question is what do we do? Well, we had made it clear, the President of the United States has spoken three times, yesterday with Bibi, or the day before yesterday, he's spoken once yesterday with a guy that I have spent a fair amount of time with, with Prime Minister Erdogan in Turkey; the Turks, we passed a resolution in the UN saying we need a transparent and open investigation of what happened. It looks like things are...

Rose: International investigation?

Biden: Well, an investigation run by the Israelis, but we're open to international participation, just like the investigation run on the sunken sub in – off the coast of Korea. That was run by South Korea, but the international community joined in that investigation. And so that is very possible here as well. I might add by the way for all those who say the Israelis, you know, you know, you can't trust them, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled today that every one of the people on those ships had to be released immediately.

South Korea investigated a hostile act by the Norks against a South Korean vessel.

Israel is investigating their own hostile act against a Turkish vessel.

Same thing, right?

[R-V]

A timely read given the latest from the Levant...

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/jun/10/failure-american-jewish-establishment/?pagination=false

Joe Biden wants to know what's the big deal about this whole flotilla thing.

If nothing else, it should be fun and entertaining to watch an American Vice-President provide a full-throated defense of Israel's absolute right to kill Americans. And then watching the bobbleheads in the media agree.

Biden: Yes, we know that, but they could have easily brought it in here and we'd get it through. And so now the question is what do we do? Well, we had made it clear, the President of the United States has spoken three times, yesterday with Bibi, or the day before yesterday, he's spoken once yesterday with a guy that I have spent a fair amount of time with, with Prime Minister Erdogan in Turkey; the Turks, we passed a resolution in the UN saying we need a transparent and open investigation of what happened. It looks like things are...

Rose: International investigation?

Biden: Well, an investigation run by the Israelis, but we're open to international participation, just like the investigation run on the sunken sub in – off the coast of Korea. That was run by South Korea, but the international community joined in that investigation. And so that is very possible here as well. I might add by the way for all those who say the Israelis, you know, you know, you can't trust them, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled today that every one of the people on those ships had to be released immediately.

South Korea investigated a hostile act by the Norks against a South Korean vessel.

Israel is investigating their own hostile act against a Turkish vessel.

Same thing, right?

Barney Frank has also invoked North Korea in trying to justify this whole clusterfuck:

Frank: By the way, I don't remember quite so much worldwide outrage when the North Koreans sank a South Korean submarine and 46 people were killed. There are people much more upset about Israel in a much more ambiguous situation...

So now we're holding North Korea and Israel to the same standards? The reflexive defense by our political class of any action taken by Israel is amazing.

[Wheezer]

So now we're holding North Korea and Israel to the same standards? The reflexive defense by our political class of any action taken by Israel is amazing.

At least Jonathan Pollard is still in the clink.

[Dr. Nguyen Van Falk]

At least Jonathan Pollard is still in the clink.

Apparently that's exactly the problem...

http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2010/060210.htm

When Yosaif HaTzadik's brothers found themselves in deep trouble in Eygpt, they did not hesitate to do a little soul-searching and immediately recognized that they had sinned by ignoring their brother Yosaif when he cried out to them from the pit into which they had thrown him.

The great rabbis of this generation (including Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, the greatest Kabbalist alive today) have identified Jonathan Pollard as the Yosaif HaTzadik of our generation. (See statement by Rabbi Eliyahu, shlita.)

As long as Pollard continues to rot in an American prison, largely forgotten by the Jewish People, and while successive governments of Israel try to ignore him to death, we will have no blessing. (See J4JP release "Did You Know?" for details.)

...

... No blessing means no triumphs. No blessing means no victory. No blessing is what keeps Shalit in Gaza. No blessing is what produces disaster after disaster in this country. Unless we wake up, we are headed for even bigger trouble...

... It is important to keep waking people up to the fact that we have neglected the mitzvah of pidyan shvuyim for Pollard for 25 years and that HaShem in His kindness has been holding back His divine anger. Yosaif HaTzadik of our generation is crying out to us from the pit, it is time to hear him! At very very least, time for every Yid to daven for Pollard! At very least time for awareness of our responsibilty to Pollard and to Heaven on this issue!

I guess that means we'll be waiting until at least late 2015 for peace to come to the Levant.

[MikeC]

So was Israel justified in doing what they did?

[Gilgamesh]

So was Israel justified in doing what they did?

Shooting an American citizen four times in the head and once in the chest?

No.  Not at all.

[Chuck to Chuck]

So was Israel justified in doing what they did?

Shooting an American citizen four times in the head and once in the chest?

No.  Not at all.

Yeah.  It's that black and white.

[Yeti]

So was Israel justified in doing what they did?

Shooting an American citizen four times in the head and once in the chest?

No.  Not at all.

Yeah.  It's that black and white.

Hate crime?

[powen01]

So was Israel justified in doing what they did?

I don't think either side holds a particularly high moral ground in any of these issues.