Sunday, October 04, 2009

Singers Demand Beck Retract His Endorsement


On his morning radio show faux news commentator and hate-peddler Glenn Beck waxed enthusiastic about his love for the musical group, "Muse".
Before he finished praising the group their manager called up his show and asked that he retract his recommendation.
Understandable.
Beck's commendation is like a kiss of death for anyone wishing to reach an adult audience with an IQ over 50.

MFBSR

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Still Learning: Change on Pro-Choice/Pro-Life Stance

Still Learning: Change on Pro-Choice/Pro-Life Stance


sunday, august 16, 2009

Change on Pro-Choice/Pro-Life Stance

I had a heated and very stupid, time-wasting Twitter argument with three men last week about the Pro-Choice debate. They told me about when life begins in their opinion. They told me that in all circumstances abortion was the ultimate evil and always wrong. I pointed out that while many women share their so called "pro-life" stance, they rarely use those arguments or argue as strongly. I feel that denying abortion is a man's way of continuing to control women. They called me names. They threatened me with God and hellfire. No one used any statistics, just a lot of yelling and a great deal of Bible thumping preaching. To argue was pointless on both sides. It fell apart when they quoted scripture to me and I said that was not the word of God, that was a man's interpretation of the word of God. Man cannot resist putting his own privately held opinion in anything he writes. I believe the scriptures are as flawed as the man interpreting them for good or evil.

I was raised Catholic. Being against abortion is a natural thing for Catholics. I am also a nurse. The other thing you should know about me is that I do believe in God but when my husband was killed in Iraq, God and I came to an understanding. I will take care of me and the people I love and he will go on letting every good thing happen and every bad thing happen and allow all of us to argue about whose God is bigger, stronger, more powerful and the true God. He will even let us kill each other over it. I will respect Him. I will appreciate the world He gave us to live in. I will also appreciate that there is no divine intervention. He is just sitting back watching to see how WE decide to use the gifts he gave us. He isn't going to butt in. He isn't going to save anybody. He is just watching. He gave us the tools, we just need to use them...wisely.

I have been on a medical mission in Guatemala. This is my second summer. I have seen women ravaged by pregnancy after pregnancy until their children die or they die. The Church does not allow contraception so from the onset of puberty in the lowest socioeconomic areas the women are almost constantly pregnant. Abortion is illegal. The women do not regain their health between pregnancies. The average wage is $1 a day per family. There is not enough food to eat. The children born from ensuing pregnancies are weaker, smaller, with more disabilities, more developmental issues than the first born. Many of these children die. Many of the mothers die. In this place, as in so many, the women and children bear the burden of poverty to a greater extent then the men.

Many women know they cannot handle one more child and so they seek the services of the village abortionist. Sometimes it is successful but more often than not the cervix, uterus and the bowel are pierced. The result is sterility or very often death from infection and sepsis. It is a horrible way to die.

I started reading about what it was like in America before women could exercise choice over their own health, their own bodies. It was much as I am seeing here. Then I read about Dr. Tiller so I read about late term abortions and the horror stories from the so-called pro-life side.

Sometimes things just go wrong. President Reagan put into law during his term that medical teams must use any measures at their disposal to save the life of an infant born alive. Well, today we did that. A baby was born alive to a 20 year old mother with three children. This baby was horribly wrong. It was born with spina bifida, and you can Google that and a cleft palate that extended up her face. She essentially had a cleft face. We did everything we could and she survived several hours in terrible pain. She died anyway in spite of our best efforts. The mother will never give birth again. She was in labor over 24 hours and the baby was breech completely obliterating the cervix and womb. The entire team was touched by what we witnessed. I know I have been changed forever.

With the diagnostic tools available to us in the US this child's condition would have been seen during normal pre-natal visits. But these abnormalities would not have been seen until late in the second tri-mester (late term abortion). An abortion would have been suggested as an option. It would need to be done skillfully so that the mother could bear another child. That is a choice the parents would have to make. An informed choice.

For me, I don't want to turn the clock back to back alleys and coat hanger abortions. I believe in education, contraception, counseling, parental permission, wait times, and CHOICE. I am pretty sure God gave me the intelligence and the ability to learn from experience and that he hopes we will continue to use the tools he gave us to help as much as we can. Sometimes that tool is abortion, used wisely.
 

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Still Learning: Transformation

Still Learning: Transformation



To much hate. Too much shooting at the hip before finding out what is really going on.

The following post was written by A nurse who is caring for the poor in Guatemala.
She doesn't just talk and debate.
She goes out into the mud and grime and tries to save the lives of little children.
She was, until two days ago, a registered Republican.
Her husband was killed four years ago in Iraq.
She is tired of being lied to by her government.
So am I.
I do have much respect for my conservative friends, but they listen only to one side of issues, and that side is not honest.
That side is not patriotic.
That side lost the war in Afganistan because they went to Iraq for whatever reason, take your pick as to the reasons, I've heard them all.
I have heard Bush and Cheney change their stories repeatedly over the years as to why we went there, and why some of our most valued young died in a war that has no real end or even realistic goals.
When we leave Iraq, if we do, you know, and I know what is going to happen.
Another radical Islamic enemy.
Worse in every way than they were before we quit Afganistan, WHICH WE WERE WINNING, and now are losing.
I am not thrilled with the Administration's overall performance, particularly in regards to Israel, but there is much more to the story than some, apparently, are even aware of.
Because they only listen to one side.
Cat Estanol lost her Husband in the Iraq fiasco, Bruce.
If you consider yourself a thoughtful American, and you honor our soldiers, and their families, listen to her story.




In my heart and in my mind I know I cannot find peace with my husband's death in Iraq until I fully understand why he was there and simply, why did he die? What was the point? Was there a point? Did my President lie to me, to us? Why did this have to happen? Why am I still here without my husband? Was his death as pointless as I sometimes believe?

Grief is a powerful thing. At the time he died, people would say things to me like "It's a process." No, it's not. It has been 4 years and I am not "over" it or “through” it or whatever you want to say. He is here with me in my heart and in my mind every minute of every day awake or asleep. No, I have NOT learned to live with it. No, time does not heal. I get stuck on the Why? part of his death. Why is he dead? He was shot. He was shot 21 times with assault rifles. His Captain said that it was over quickly and he was gone before he fell to the ground. I like to think that he didn't have time to think, to be scared or worried. In my heart and in my mind I know I cannot find peace with his death until I fully understand why he was there and simply, why did he die? What was the point? Was there a point? Did my President lie to me, to us? Why did this have to happen? Why am I still here without my husband? Was his death as pointless as I sometimes believe?

People say things to me like “he died to keep us all free.” No, he didn’t. He served our country to keep us all free, but he died because he was sent to Iraq. That’s not the same thing. He was one in a long line of military men in his family, father, grandfathers, uncles, and now brothers. I am proud of him. I am proud of what he did. I am proud that he made a conscious decision to serve his country and that he served honorably. It is some solace that he was killed while he was trying to help someone, not kill someone. He had a good heart. What he was asked to do must have been killing him inside but he did it because it was his duty.

What I am not proud of is the fact that I believe that we, Americans, were manipulated into a conflict and that he was killed to advance the theories of a few egotistic men as they saw the US as a benevolent superpower deciding which regimes get to stay in power and which must fall so that we may maintain our superiority. Men with Napoleonic complexes, most of whom never served in any military capacity, career politicians, who want to rule the world, and still want to, by advancing what they say are conservative principles. I am a conservative but those principals they have outlined are not my principles.

Would it be easier, would it be safer for America if by sheer military strength all other nations in the world followed our example of democracy and western thinking and did as we wanted? Yes, of course. Should we strive to bend others to our will? No. It is wrong and I believe immoral, not to mention unlikely. We have a hard enough time running the US, let alone the world.

I am quite certain that what led us into Iraq was a perfect storm of a nation shattering event, powerful men positioned in influential places and a weak President that could be convinced to follow their position. Many things point to a group called PNAC or Project for the New American Century. I read the website and things started to fall in place for me. I don’t believe in the things they believe. I do feel that my husband died for their beliefs, not to keep the America free. This blog is not about a conspiracy theory. It is about how my beliefs have been shaken to their core and changed forever.

When I turned 18 I registered to vote. I registered as a Republican. I was raised Republican. I was raised hearing Rush Limbaugh play on my mother's radio every day. I have been active in the Republican party forever. I volunteered and worked. I attended meetings, distributed flyers, registered people to vote. I was active in the Republican Party on campus when I was in college.

I married and my husband went into the Marines, a family tradition. He enlisted after college because he knew it would not be his career but wanted to serve just not as an officer. He was sent to Iraq and was killed only 5 months in to his tour. He and I discussed the war and his responsibility to do as our President asked. He didn't agree with the war, and this was in 2004, but he honored our President and went to serve.

I recently signed on to Twitter and then everything changed. Everything. What I thought was the GOP no longer exists as far as I can tell. My Republicans Party no longer exist. They have been replaced by a bunch of rude, disrespectful, and yes - crazy people. The hatred and invectives spewed daily by conservatives on Twitter has completely altered my feeling about the party. I agree with NOTHING that is being said. I have started unfollowing everyone who says hateful and disrespectful things. If you are sporting the "Joker" avatar made to look like President Obama - that's an automatic Block. I don't like the way people demean others and the President. I don't like how they malign everything that comes out of the administration. I don't like how these people make Americans looks unruly, uneducated and uninformed. I don't like what is happening.

President Obama is our President. He deserves our respect as did President Bush. I never joined in the Bush-bashing that went on during the last years of his administration. I rarely agreed with him but I always showed respect and I always listened to what he had to say, respectfully. It is interesting to note that during the Bush administration, anyone who disagreed with them was labeled a traitor, lacking patriotism.

The way people talk about President Obama and his administration is unpatriotic, it is disrespectful, it is wrong. He is our President and we are in as much jeopardy at this moment as we were the day after 9/11, it is just in a different form. The GOP habit of scaring Americans into compliance has just worn thin for me. All I read is lies and distortion coming from the Right. They are yelling nonsensical talking points to stop all forward movement. I find I cannot get behind a Party that conducts itself the way I have seen the GOP act especially in the past 6 months. I believe the driving force is just plain racism. They cannot believe our President is African-American and so everything he says, everything he does is wrong. Everything. This needs to stop. I am so afraid, so very afraid if this hate-mongering doesn't stop, someone will be killed. I don't want any more killing. What I am most afraid of is that our President will be killed. It seems to me that is the point of all this. Agitate a crazy person who will get rid of what the GOP sees as a problem. It is what I hear in every word Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck or Michelle Malkin speak.

This nonsense we are seeing now from both sides needs to stop. Both parties are equally corrupt and there is very little substantive debate about anything anymore in our politics. It's all name-calling, outlandish insults and demonetization of the other side as all that is wrong in America. Rush is a hypocritical blowhard who most likely doesn't believe the majority of what he says-it's an entertainment program after all, not news or insightful analysis, as is the case with most talk radio.

I have resigned from the Republican Party. I have resigned as a volunteer in my district. I re-registered as an Independent and it was not a decision I made lightly. Do I hold the Bush Administration responsible for my husband's unnecessary death? Yes I do. Do I trust the GOP? No I don't. Do I want to be a part of the direction they are headed? No. I quit.





Monday, July 13, 2009

Shadow Stroking

It was the third and final match between Richard Felix and I. Richard’s father was the Battalion Chief of the Dept, They couldn't be more different, however. Chief Felix bore a remarkable resemblance to Humphrey Bogart, he was gruff and straightforward, inclined to growling, sneering, and shouting. Richard was mild tempered and looked like a statue of David.All the women I’d ever seen him around fell in love with him. Including my girls, Mary 10, and Michele, 8.He was dark, but his profile really was perfect. Richard was extremely athletic, his brother was state Tennis Champ, and Richard was his hitting partner.

I was thirty, Richard was 25, he started off his banter by saying, "Well, Old man, This may be the end for you. I am young, and strong, you are old." It was typical monsoon weather. Richard and I kept up a friendly dialogue while we played. For Richard, this was a revenge match. I'd beat him last time, and I won the last couple of points in a way he didn't feel right about.

It was 15 love, I was serving.I powered the serve into the ad court and Richard blocked it back to my forehand.I hit a hard forehand return which only cleared the net by a couple of inches, but was deep anyway, landing just in front of Richard's feet.He slammed it back at my left side, wide.I lunged and felt an incredible pain shooting up from my left foot.I fell on the green cement grasping my foot and moaning.

I'll have to finish the story later.



This is a lesson on shadow stroking, practice for those players that want to retain or refine their play while they are injured.


I did these drills with what turned out to be a torn ligament.

  • Take your racket and stand near your bed or wheelchair.
  • Imagine a tennis ball is coming at you and practice your strokes.
  • Check to see that you are using the proper grip.
  • Practice forehands, checking to see if your follow through is correct.
  • If you are able, bend you knees for imaginary low shots and practice turning your body and uncoiling into the shot, imagining the ball has landed just in from of you and you hit it at waist height.
  • Practice your backhand.
  • If the ball is struck properly the face of the racket will be perpendicular to the net at contact.
  • Practice your serve, (if the ceiling is high enough).
  • Practice releasing the ball rather than tossing it.
  • Practice coordinating the serve with the toss.
  • Don't hit the ball if you are indoors.
  • Halt your service motion at the top of the stroke.

All of these actions create engrams, also known as muscle memory.

The better your technique is here, the better it will be on the court.

Although you cannot keep human emotion completely under control, and you are aware, during a match, where you are, the trends of the competition, how important different points are to you and your opponent, I always tell students, "Concentrate on your technique. Watch the ball. Try to hit each shot a little better, a little more effectively. Players make errors when they are thinking about their opponent, of thinking ahead to the next game or set."

Injury can be a blessing, it allows us to dissect our techniques and perfect them without the distraction of an opponent.



Saturday, July 04, 2009

Obama: Born In The USA


It seems like a red herring to most Americans, but here's the birth certificate.
A more important issue is when is the President going to move on freeing American's imprisoned in North Korea.
When is he going to call on Hamas criminals to release Gilad Shalit?

The link below answers any questions re: Obama's Birt Certificate.


Friday, July 03, 2009

Tweets for Gilad Shalit



by Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) A community organization has started a grassroots campaign to push the issue of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit's captivity to top of the Internet world using the Twitter social networking mini-blog site.

Tweeters -- as Twitter users refer to themselves -- will use the hashtag #Gilad to remind the world that Shalit's condition and whereabouts remain unknown after three years in the hands of the Hamas terrorists who kidnapped him. A hashtag is a label that Tweeters add to their messages to categorize them and make them more accessible and popular.


A similar worldwide campaign to pass around word of the civil upheaval taking place following disputed recent presidential elections in Iran has been extremely successful. Numerous Iran-related hashtags have been pushed to the top of the search list on Twitter, which is being used by activists around the world to alert others in real-time to alert others of events as they unfold.

Iran as inspiration
Many mainstream media began to take greater notice of the Internet application in the wake of the events in Iran, especially in view of the fact that foreign journalists have been completely banned by the Iranian government from reporting events on the streets of the riot-wracked Islamic nation.

Shalit supporters are now hoping for similar success in raising the world's awareness of the soldier's captivity as he continues to languish in terrorists' hands.

Several thousand bloggers have already begun spreading the word on the worldwide web, with a post that was begun by one of the two key organizers of the campaign, @ASoldiersMother. Her Tweet, as it went out on social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, read: "We MUST get #Gilad to the top on Thursday! Spread it using RT (re-Tweet, which means to forward the message –ed.), Facebook, LinkedIn – email. Please Thursday remember #Gilad!"

Shalit was abducted on June 25, 2006 by a team of terrorists during a cross-border attack on an IDF outpost near the Kerem Shalom crossing outside Gaza.

The Hamas terrorists who have been holding him hostage have allowed no one to see or contact him, including representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It is impossible to know whether Shalit is even alive, although Israeli officials have stressed they believe he still is.

"Mention Gilad in school"
Organizers of the #Gilad campaign have asked people who are members on the Twitter network to "please post about Gilad and use the hashtags #Gilad - our goal is to get Gilad to the top of the Trend Tracker. This has been very effective with the Iranian protesters, gaining them tremendous international attention on all major media. Please, let's do the same for Gilad - this Thursday! Tweet for Gilad! You can follow me at @ASoldiersMother or write to me and I can send you an avatar (picture to use on Twitter) that says FREE GILAD - we are asking people to change their avatar for Thursday (one day) for Gilad."

For those outside Israel, the group has urged people in the United States to "please write, phone, or fax your representatives. Elsewhere in the world? Please do the same with your leaders."

Those who are on Facebook or LinkedIn are being asked to email their contacts. "Thursday must be Gilad Awareness Day!" stressed the group. Teachers were asked to "mention Gilad in school. Have your children write letters to government leaders and to Gilad's family."

Others were urged to write to media as well as their local Red Cross office ("ask them what they are doing to see Gilad") and to call in to radio shows and local news programs.





Monday, June 29, 2009

פריז

Still Learning: Frustrated with my party

Still Learning: Frustrated with my party

This is a perceptive article by a great writer.
At a time when the country needs to unite, she points out some of the problems that some on the right are propigating.

Palestinian Leaders Prefer Advocating--Even When They're Not Practicing--Terrorist Violence

June 26, 2009


Volcanoes are classified historically as active, dormant, and dead. The second group is merely inactive at present but could blow any time. As a terrorist organization, Fatah, the leading group in the Palestinian Authority (PA) which supplies nearly all of its leaders, is dormant, not dead.

The unfortunate reality is that the ideology that favors the total destruction of Israel as a higher priority than getting an independent Palestinian state is still dominant; all the mechanisms of terrorism are still in place; incitement goes on daily. It’s a very good thing that these are not active and it is important to try to keep them that way. But the real PA and Fatah are far from the diplomatists’ dreams and the journalists’ description of the group as “moderate.”

This is a problem not only because it blocks any hope of a negotiated peace, but it also ensures the group’s ineffectiveness. While Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is a pretty genuine moderate, he is also rather alone in that category.

What can Fatah and the PA offer better than Hamas? In theory, the answer is a simple one: a dedication to obtaining a state, living in peace, raising living standards, and providing West Bank Palestinians (the ones it rules) with a better life than Gaza Strip Palestinians (the ones Hamas rules).

There are, however, daily reminders by these same leaders--Fayyad excepted--that this is not the primary focus of Fatah and the PA. An interesting video is provided by the valuable and accurate Palestinian Media Watch group that illustrates this reality rather effectively.

The televised show was put on by Fatah in order to demonstrate why it is better than Hamas. With top Fatah and PA officials prominently seated in the audience, the event is a mock debate in which Fatah “proves” it is better than Hamas. How? By getting Western aid? By having better schools? By holding out the likelihood of a Palestinian state where refugees can be resettled?

No. By more effectively killing Israelis.

Here’s the transcript of the key section:

Fatah student taunts Hamas: "Since Hamas seized power, we haven't heard of any martyrdom operation [suicide-bombing]."

Hamas teacher: "It's called 'fighter's rest.'"

Fatah student: "A Hamas fighter needs rest, but a Fatah fighter doesn't need rest?!"

Hamas teacher: "Every fighter has the right to rest."

Fatah student: "Why is it that when Fatah stops fighting, you [Hamas] say they're cowards, but when Hamas stops fighting, you say it's 'fighters' rest'?"

Hamas teacher: "I don't know much about resistance [terror] and fighters..."

Fatah student: "The first shot was fired by the PLO; the first Jihad was carried out by the PLO [audience applauds], with all the other factions - but Hamas always opposed.

Hamas student: "What do you say about Hamas having kidnapped the [Israeli] soldier Shalit [still held hostage - Ed.]?"

Hamas teacher: "Ahaaa!"

Student: "By Allah, it's good."

Hamas student: "Did Fatah ever capture a soldier?!"

Fatah student: "It was the [other] brigades who captured him [Shalit] and sold him to you [Hamas]. It's a deal that you [Hamas] made for your own benefit, not for the [Palestinian] people's benefit. [Applause]

Fatah student: Remember, in Ramallah the [PA-Fatah] police arrested two soldiers - have you forgotten, teacher?!"

And what happened in Ramallah? Two unarmed Israeli reservists who were driving got lost, wandered into Ramallah, were taken into custody by the PA police, and then turned over to a mob which tore them apart and murdered them in cold blood.

This is one of the greatest achievements Fatah offers to prove its superiority.

The other main Fatah point is that Hamas is "chicken" because it no longer fires as many rockets and mortars at Israel as it did before the attack. Of course, Fatah can't win on that point either since it wasn't firing any at all. And of course the implication is that Hamas should prove it is macho and an appropriate leader for the Palestinians by attacking Israel more.

Aside from the extremism and anti-peace views this approach indicates it is simply a losing argument for Fatah and the PA. Hamas can easily out-terrorism Fatah. If that is the criterion there is no doubt who will win in this competition.

Here is the problem with the argument, so often heard, that Fatah and the PA are "moderate," often accompanied by the speaker saying, "If I were them...." or "If they were smart...."

Well, if Fatah and the PA were led by Western Europeans or Obama supporters we would indeed be better off. They'd say: All Hamas can offer is more decades of bloodshed, whereas we can get Western support, get a state really fast, resettle all the refugees there, get billions of dollars in compensation money, raise living standards, and end the violence.

But they never say that to their constituents. Why? Because that isn't their set of priorities.

For Fatah and the PA the competition in violence and martyrdom, the seeking after total victory, the refusal to make concession or compromise isn't only an immoral argument, it is also an inevitably losing one against both Israel and Hamas.

It is, however, the policy they prefer because this is what the vast majority of them believes in and they also fear that if they were to adopt a real moderate policy they'd lose popular support. To debate the latter point is most interesting--the Fatah/PA leaders may not be right to think that--but those doing such debate are outsiders. The actual leaders know what they themselves think and will do.


readmore »»

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Forty-Eight Hours of Reality



By Barry Rubin*

June 16, 2009

http://www.gloria-center.org/blog/2009/06/forty-eight-hours.html


In the Middle East the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry because reality steps in.

President Barack Obama based his policy of engaging with Iran on the idea that while President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a wild man, Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei was a closet moderate, or at least a pragmatist.
Now all can see that Ahmadinejad and Khamenei are wedded, together at last. Khamenei is so set on Ahmadinejad’s character and policy that he risked the regime’s internal and external credibility and stability in order to reassure his reelection.

Pro-Ahmadinejad forces are now talking about this event as a “third revolution,” following on the 1979 Islamist takeover and then seizure of the U.S. embassy and the holding of all their as hostages. In other words, this is an even more radical rebirth of the movement, but this time with nuclear weapons.
Reality: 1, Obama policy: 0

Then comes the Palestinian reaction to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech which accepts immediate negotiations and a Palestinian state at the end of the process, if an agreement can be made.
What did Obama say in Cairo? First, he said that the Palestinians, have “suffered in pursuit of a homeland” for more than 60 years. Second, he insisted that “the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable.”

As I pointed out at the time, the first statement was a misrepresentation of history, the second a false picture of the present.

Now if Obama was right, the Palestinians should be eager for a state. So if Netanyahu calls on them to recognize Israel as a Jewish state—what do they care if they are accepting to live alongside it permanently?—and have their own state. Yes, that state would be “demilitarized,” I prefer the word “unmilitarized,” but all that means is that they would have the same security forces that they do now. And in proportional terms, the Palestinian Authority (PA) already has more men in uniform compared to the overall population, than any state on the planet.

So here’s Obama’s solution: an independent Palestinian state, Muslim and Arab, according to the PA’s constitution for that country, next to a Jewish state.

But how does the PA’s leader—who is always referred to as “moderate” in the Western media and is more moderate than any other Palestinian leader (it’s all relative)—react?

Nabil Abu Rdainah, spokesman for PA leader Abbas, said Netanyahu’s speech "torpedoes all peace initiatives in the region." Another top PA leader, Yasser Abed Rabbo, said that recognizing Israel's Jewish character would force Palestinians "to become part of the global Zionist movement".

Think carefully about what Rabbo said. Very carefully. The Zionist movement advocates a Jewish state, Israel, exists. But the PA leadership—the top “official” leadership, the most moderate people in the Palestinian movement—are still not reconciled to Israel’s existence.

Sure, there might be a country there but not a Jewish state, in their thinking. But if it isn’t a Jewish state, why call it Israel? They have another name for the future state they have in mind for Israel to become: Palestine.

How does even the BBC, famous for its anti-Israel bias, explain this? “The Palestinians say they and their millions of descendants have the right to return to Israel - which would mean an end to its Jewish majority - but Israel has consistently rebuffed that demand.”

And Abbas is well-known as a fervent advocate of this “right of return.” So Netanyahu is right: the core of the issue is the refusal to accept Israel’s existence as Israel, not a Palestinian “pursuit of a homeland” or “intolerable situation.”

Ladies and gentleman, the facts are before you.

Iran’s regime is irreconcilable. It seeks to become the main regional power. It doesn’t want conciliation with America, it wants America’s defeat.

The Palestinian movement as presently constituted is irreconcilable. It wants to destroy Israel, not live alongside it. The movement prefers to sustain the conflict for decades rather than make a stable peace.

President Obama and everyone else, take heed and act accordingly. You already have two strikes against you and we're just getting started.



* Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), with Walter Laqueur (Viking-Penguin); the paperback edition of The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan); A Chronological History of Terrorism, with Judy Colp Rubin, (Sharpe); and The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley). To read and subscribe to MERIA, GLORIA articles, or to order books, go to http://www.gloria-center.org
The Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center
Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, P.O. Box 167, Herzliya, 46150, Israel
info@gloria-center.org- Phone: +972-9-960