Yesterday, President Obama participated in a conference call with about 1,000 rabbis in anticipation of the High Holy Days next month—and the sermons the rabbis will give. The purpose of the call was, apparently, to urge the rabbis to support ObamaCare, or something like it, from the pulpit. Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun Times writes that the call was left off the Obama schedule—an interesting note, she writes, on “Obama White House selective transparency.” Jodi Kantor of the New York Times cites a participant’s tweet that the president told the rabbis “I am going to need your help.” The call was a joint effort of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), the Rabbinical Assembly, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, coordinated by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. The URJ invitation read, in part, as follows: This year, the debate over health care reform dominates public discourse, and the conference call will explore the Jewish textual and historical imperative for universal, affordable health care. We are pleased to announce that President Barack Obama will participate in a High Holy Day conference call exclusively for rabbis. . . . This call can provide valuable information when you decide to preach on this issue whether on the High Holy Days, during the August 28-30 national health care sermon weekend (more info at FaithforHealth.org), or whenever is appropriate for you. A rabbinic student who received the URJ invitation and participated in the call sent me an e-mail about it that read, in part: President Obama spoke for about 20 minutes, then got off the call and we listened to three other rabbis who had prepared discussions about “helpful” Torah and Talmud texts, and how to craft a “non-political” (that is, pro-Democratic Party but wouldn’t be able to get into legal trouble) sermon. . . . • Pres Obama urged us explicitly to discuss healthcare reform in our high holiday sermons. He said repeatedly, “I need your help in getting this information across.” My personal feeling is that it is an abuse of the pulpit to propagate a specific political agenda in that venue. . . . • The issue was always framed as: we need to care about healthcare reform. And too many people don’t care about it. Our job as rabbis is, apparently, to urge people to care about it. My points would be: (1) of course everyone cares about healthcare reform; we just don’t agree how to fix it; (2) to stand in front of a congregation and imply that members of the congregation do not currently care about the health and treatment of their fellow Americans is insulting and self-aggrandizing. . . . • Pres Obama repeatedly said that there “are fears” that people who currently have healthcare would lose it, but that’s not the case—that under this bill, you can keep whatever health insurance you currently have. That doesn’t match up with what I’ve read about this bill. But whatever. In any case, I can’t see how this information would be something that rabbis should be saying from the bimah. . . . The URJ invitation to the call with Obama ended with this suggestion: Health care reform is a critical issue for all of us. . . . [We] hope you will . . . urge your congregants to contact their elected officials in support of health care reform this year. Imagine if FOX had done this! And these people want to run healthcare?? Also see this and this... Not exactly a surprise.. from a life sentence for killing 270 people, on 'compassionate grounds'. One more reason to support capital punishment. More on Lockerbie. Obama, paraphrasing Lyndon Johnson 'if I've lost the Washington Post, I've lost middle America.'
Friday, August 21, 2009
Iran Names Internationally Wanted Terrorist As Defense Minister
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Talk about your closed fist...Ahmad Vahidi, nominated Thursday by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to serve as Iran's defense minister, is a suspected international terrorist sought by Interpol in connection with a deadly 1994 attack on a Jewish community center in Argentina. {...}
Interpol, the international police agency based in Lyon, France, placed Mr. Vahidi and four other Iranian officials on its most-wanted list in 2007 at the request of Argentine prosecutors, who say the men played a role in planning the July 1994 attack on the seven-story community center in Buenos Aires.
The bombing, which killed 85 people, is thought to have been carried out by members of Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia and political party with close links to Iran.
Kenneth Katzman, a senior analyst on Iraq and Iran at the Congressional Research Service, said that Mr. Vahidi is also suspected of having played a role in a 1996 attack on the U.S. Air Force barracks in Saudi Arabia known as Khobar Towers.
I think Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs are sending us a pretty clear signal here.And meanwhile the centrifuges are spinning and an Iranian nuke is only six months to a year off.
Your move, Mr. President...and I doubt that a nifty speech delivered in your signature baritone by you and TOTUS is going to help much.Thursday, August 20, 2009
Lockerbie Bomber Freed - And Returns To A Hero's Welcome In Libya
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Libyan who was convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 was freed today, by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.
It took years to track him down and try him, so he had served only eight years of a life sentence.
MacAskill's rationale for freeing al-Megrahi was 'compassionate grounds' because he's reportedly dying of prostate cancer. MacAskill felt al-Megrahi should be allowed to be with his family before dying....a luxury his victims weren't allowed.
The vast majority of the Lockerbie victims were Americans. When al-Megrahi was finally captured, the US wanted him extradited and tried here, but the Brits put up a fuss because they were afraid this creature might be subjected to the death penalty.So an international agreement was made allowing him to be tried and sentenced under British law, with the proviso that he would serve out his entire sentence in Scotland and not be eligible for early release. The Scots essentially flushed that agreement down the toilet without be overridden by the British government.
al-Megrahi was found guilty and appealed his conviction twice. He agreed to drop further appeals in exchange for his Get Out of Jail Free card.
MacAskill admitted he thought al-Megrahi was guilty, but said that "outrage cannot and should not be a basis of who we are, the values we seek to uphold and the faith and beliefs that we seek to live by."
Actually he's simply wrong. Outrage at inhumane acts and making an example of the perpetrators is exactly the values we ought to uphold - because it causes future perpetrators to think twice before they act.
Not doing so ensures that others will seek to emulate people like al-Megrahi. Especially when he's greeted enthusiastically by the folks at home as a jihadi hero.
In an interesting contrast, many of Lockerbie's British victims believe al-Megrahi was innocent, while almost all the American think he was guilty.
Susan Cohen, of Cape May Court House, NJ, whose 20-year-old daughter, Theodora, was murdered in the bombing put it pretty well, I thought: "I think it's appalling, disgusting and so sickening I can hardly find words to describe it. This isn't about compassionate release. This is part of give-Gadhafi-what-he-wants-so-we-can-have-the-oil."
She's certainly right about that part. British Petroleum is prominent among the companies already investing in Libya and working with Khadaffi.Obama Leans On Rabbis To Push Obamacare - During High Holy Day Services
September and October are the occasion of the two holiest and most important days in the Jewish religion. Rosh Hashana is the new year that signals the start of the Days of Awe and a spiritual rebirth and re-examination signaled by the blowing of the Shofar that leads, ten days later, to Yom Kippur, the Day of atonement. These are referred to as High Holy Days, when even largely secular and non-observant Jews who normally don't attend go to synagogues to focus on their spiritual well being, repent of their sins,and learn Torah. It's not a day devoted to secular concerns or politics.
It's also the time Barack Hussein Obama wants Rabbis to lean on their congregations to be good Democrats, call their congressmen and shill for Obamacare:
I have to wonder at the Rabbis that agreed to participate in this.Given, they're Reform and Reconstructionist, which puts them solidly on the Left to far Left of the Jewish spectrum, but no matter what their political views are, you would think even they recognize this for what it is- blatant disrespect for both the religion they claim to profess and its practitioners.
Obviously a number of them are so consumed and twisted with self-disgust or flattered to be talking to Obama that they're unable to recognize an anti-Semitic insult when it's blatantly thrown in their faces.
Only a president with a cynical and essentially hostile view of Jews and Judaism would have been comfortable with the bitter sham of muscling Jewish clergymen to profane the most sacred Holy days of their religion just to score political points for him and his administration. It's beyond despicable.
It's the equivalent of pushing Left-leaning Christian clergy to preach abortion rights during their Easter Sermons.
So, let's recap - to date, we've seen President Obama appoint or attempt to appoint a number of 'anti-Zionists' to his administration, work to prohibit Jews from building homes in their own country, fund genocidal groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to unapologetic anti-Semites.
Now, as President Obama's Jew hating spiritual mentor Jeremiah Wright might say,we're seeing the chickens come home to roost.It's not just those pesky Zionists anymore, just as I warned many times.
How much crap will Obama's Jewish supporters eat before they start noticing the smell and the taste? When will they admit to what a horrible mistake they've made?
Selah.Today's Must Reads...
Here are today's must read links. See something interesting out there? Send me anything you want me to review for this section atRmill2k@msn.com
Friday, 21 August 2009
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