Why Isn’t the World More Thankful to Israel?

My old pal David Gerstman over at Legal Insurrection asks the question...check it out and see what you think. And he doesn't really even touch on all of the Israeli discoveries and innovations that have helped humanity from this tiny country the size of New Jersey.

A Unique Happy Hanukkah From Israel's Technion

Israel's Technion is one of the most advanced scientific seats of learning in the entire world. And here, we have some talented students from the Technion's Schulich Faculty of Chemistry cooking up a version of 'Maoz Tzur', (Rock of Ages) created in the lab.

Cute! Chag Hanukkah Sameach.

חנוכה - בפקולטה לכימיה בטכניון יצרו גירסה מיוחדת באמצעות כלי מעבדה.
ר מעוז צו

Obama Okays Iran's Obtaining Nuclear Weapons

President Obama's nuclear deal that apparently isn't a nuclear deal just got a lot worse.

If you've been following this, the Iranians declared on Monday, November 26th that President Obama was lying about the details of what had been agreed to in Geneva in his statement on Saturday and that the 'facts sheet' on the deal was invalid.

“What has been released by the website of the White House as a fact sheet is a one-sided interpretation of the agreed text in Geneva and some of the explanations and words in the sheet contradict the text of the Joint Plan of Action, and this fact sheet has unfortunately been translated and released in the name of the Geneva agreement by certain media, which is not true,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham told the Iranian press on Tuesday. (Monday, here in America).

Afkham and and the Iranians said that the White House “modified” key details of the deal and released their own version of the agreement in the fact sheet.

According to the Iranians, the deal isn't even a deal yet, but a proposed deal in spite of what our president and his team told the nation Saturday.

Iranian officials say that the White House is misleading the public about the details of the interim nuclear agreement reached over the weekend in Geneva, and that the multi-page fact sheet containing details of the agreement released by the White Hoiuse and the substance of President Obama's speech Saturday are invalid”.

“What has been released by the website of the White House as a fact sheet is a one-sided interpretation of the agreed text in Geneva and some of the explanations and words in the sheet contradict the text of the Joint Plan of Action, and this fact sheet has unfortunately been translated and released in the name of the Geneva agreement by certain media, which is not true,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said.

Afkham and other Iranian officials said that the White House “modified” key details of the deal and released their own version of the agreement in the fact sheet.

For instance, they say Iran’s right to enrich uranium, the key component for developing nuclear weapons, is fully recognized under the draft released by Iran.

“This comprehensive solution would enable Iran to fully enjoy its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes under the relevant articles of the NPT in conformity with its obligations therein,” the agreement reads, according to a copy released to Iran's official government media.

“This comprehensive solution would involve a mutually defined enrichment programme with practical limits and transparency measures to ensure the peaceful nature of the programme,” the Iranian draft reads.

And Iran's 20% enriched uranium, 90% of the way toward weaponization? Half of it is going to be used as 'working stock' to manufacture nuclear fuel, so nothing changes. The rest, according to the Iranians is going to be diluted to 5%. Except Iran has no capacity to dilute it, refuses to ship any of its enriched uranium out of Iran, we have no idea exactly how much 20% enriched uranium Iran has and there is ample time for them to hide it before any inspections commence. And even if Iran did have the capacity to dilute any of their 20% enriched uranium, reconverting it back into material suitable for further enriching to weapons-grade levels only takes a few weeks at most.

Of course, as the Iranians point out in their version of the fact sheet, with respect to the final step and any steps in between, "the standard principle that 'nothing is agreed until everything is agreed' applies."

The Iranians also are pretty much limiting any spot IAEA inspections to Fordow and Natanz. And again, remember that those inspections won't take place for at least three months, thanks to a deal Iran concluded with the IAEA on the sidelines of Geneva.

Even more problematical, the clock on the six moth so-called interim agreement hasn't even started ticking yet, according to the Iranians.And it won't start until "everything is agreed" , as the Iranian draft says.

Meanwhile the sanctions have already been ended to all intents and purposes and will not be reimposed in spite of assurances to the contrary. And the Ayatollahs already have received $12.6 billion in cash from oil revenues and frozen assets, in spite of the fact that there isn't really a deal.

And if it turns out there isn't one as the Ayatollahs keep changing the terms an dmoving the goal posts, Iran is simply going to keep that money.

Even a rank amateur with an IQ with a fighting chance of two digits likely knows enough to keep his money in hand until a deal is concluded.It's a wonder Secretary Kerry returned with his pants and shoes still on.

More to the point, our president and his team have just thrown a lifeline to an evil regime that brutalizes its own people and is one of the main supporters of Islamic terrorism against the West...in exchange for absolutely nothing except the privilege of talking to them.

And it gets even worse. The Iranians refused outright to stop working on their heavy water plant at Arak, which has no peacetime application, and the Obama Administration has signed off on it:

Meanwhile, the US has declared their support for the Iranian to "continue building" their nuclear reactor in Arak. The support is based on terms which prevent Tehran from producing nuclear fuel, or using the heavy water reactor; however, these cannot be constantly monitored, experts claim.

Arak has been a main point of contention between the powers in the context of the agreement; no final conclusion has been reached yet, according to Ma'ariv. Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif stated that while he supports the deal, he will nonetheless continue to facilitate building of the Arak reactor.

The nuclear fuel being produced at Arak can be used to produce plutonium, essentially a second route to weaponization.It has no other peacetime application.

Aa if to emphasize this,Brigadier General Hossein Salami, the lieutenant commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard, announced major advances in Iran's ballistic missile technology.

You might recall, at this point what Israeli spokesman Mark Regev had to say to Jake Tapper over at CNN last week, that the U.S. is not a disinterested party here: "The Iranians are building intercontinental ballistic missiles. They're not building them for us. They already have missiles that can hit Israel. They are building them for you."

And our president had the absolute gall,the nerve to go on television last Saturday and tell the nation about what a wonderful agreement we had signed with Iran, something that was touted as a major breakthrough in Pravda-on-the-Hudson and by all the usual suspects.

It's obvious by now that our president has no intention of stopping Iran from achieving nuclear weapons, and as we learn that the president's Iranian-born consigliere Valerie Jarret has been conducting secret, back channel negotiations with Iran for the past year, it's evident that this has been his policy for quite some time, whatever he's said publicly.

And in view of his previous assurances to Iran that the U.S. will not retaliate against Iran as long as the Iranians do not attack any U.S. facilities, the subtext of this is pretty obvious. This is President Obama's way of ultimately distancing America from Israel, something he's been working towards since he first took office.

Nor, of course, will it end with the Jews.

Winston Churchill's response to the 1938 Munich agreement come to mind: "You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war."

This president's willingness to sacrifice our country's security and one of its most valuable allies for his own personal prejudices and domestic political gain just made that outcome a lot more likely.

 

The Council Has Spoken!! This Weeks' Watcher's Council Results

Alea iacta est...the Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and we have the results for this week's Watcher's Council match up.

I got the impression that here was a man who could be relied upon when he had given his word - Neville Chamberlain on Adolf Hitler, 1938

I spoke personally with President Rouhani of Iran earlier this fall. Secretary Kerry has met multiple times with Iran’s Foreign Minister..Today, that diplomacy opened up a new path toward a world that is more secure. - Barack Obama announcing his new agreement with Iran, 11/23/13

If he being young and unskillful seeks to gamble for silver and gold; Take his money my son, praising Allah, the fool was made to be sold! - Hafez, Persian poet, Divān, 1365 (est)



This week's winner, Joshuapundit's Israel, Obama And Iran - When The Rubber Meets The Road is my reaction to President Obama's announcement of a deal with Iran on their illegal nuclear program...which we now learn, according to the Iranians, isn't a deal yet at all in spite of what the president and Secretary Kerry had to say. Like ObamaCare, the president apparently lied to knowingly to the American people once again, and the more we find out about this the worst it becomes, even worse than when I wrote this. Here's a slice:

By now the full details of the West's capitulation in Geneva has become known. And what the West agreed to was staggering.

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton, someone who knows a great deal about nuclear proliferation and about Iran called it an abject surrender.He's entirely correct.

As I pointed out earlier, the new agreement de facto recognizes Iran's right to enrich uranium, something that is going to have huge implications as other countries who signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty are going to claim the same right themselves. And like Iran, they are going to refuse to sign the additional protocols of the NPT, which allow for snap inspections.

The United States and other Western nations have never conceded a 'right' to enrich uranium, for the every simple reason that it is perfectly possible to have a nuclear energy program that also allows for medical uses without it. Canada, for example, is one nation among many that uses nuclear energy without enrichment. Enrichment is only vital if the desired result is the ability to eventually manufacture nuclear weapons.

That's also why there were numerous UN resolutions calling specifically for Iran to cease enrichment and allow inspections, and why the sanctions were implemented in the first place, after years of attempts at 'diplomacy'.

That's all been thrown by the wayside now. It took years to even implement any sanctions. Thanks to President Obama and his willing helpers at Geneva, that's not going to happen again, even if Iran is caught violating this new agreement.India, China and South Korea among other countries want additional imports of Iranian oil, and EU countries want to open up the floodgates to trading with the Ayatollahs.The sanctions are history. And Iran knows this very well.

Among other things, this legitimizes an evil, fascist regime that brutalizes its own people and is probably the biggest financier and enabler of Islamic terrorism in the world. And the West is disgracefully aiding and abetting the regime, not only by giving them a clear path to achieve nuclear weapons but by giving them blood money in the amount of $7 billion and probably much more in frozen assets in the bargain.

Aside from this, the other loopholes in the new agreement are extraordinary.

While Secretary Kerry preens and bloviates about verification, the IAEA inspections have already been delayed for three months by agreement with Iran in exchange for absolutely nothing on Teheran's part. In that time period, the Iranians can move, hide and conceal pretty much anything, as well as strengthening their facilities against attack.

And while the agreement calls for IAEA inspections at Fordow and Natanz, these facilities are pretty much under satellite surveillance anyway. The Iranian military base at Parchin where weapons test are suspected to have occurred is not part of the agreement, nor is Iran required to reveal any secret nuclear facilities they may have or allow them to be inspected. The IAEA has received quite a bit of information from Iranian dissidents about possible secret nuclear sites, but there is no followup or right for the IAEA to conduct on site investigations in the new agreement.

Also, just as there is absolutely nothing in the new agreement stopping the Iranians from continuing to enrich uranium, there's nothing stopping them from developing and improving their ballistic missiles, warhead technology or other nuclear related weaponization like nuclear triggers.

Abject surrender pretty much covers it. And the fact that the almost frenzied efforts to make any kind of deal were very likely done to take the spotlight off of the dismal failure of ObamaCare and the president's rapidly falling approval ratings makes it even more craven.


A lot more at the link.

In our non-Council Category, the winner was former UN ambassador and nuclear proliferation expert John Bolton's piece in the Weekly Standard, Abject Surrender by the United States submitted by The Political Commentator. If reading it doesn't get you seriously concerned about who's leading this country and what they're doing....do read it.

Ok then, here are this week's results. Only Simply Jews was unable to vote this week,but was not subject to the usual 2/3 vote penalty.

Council Winners

• *First place with 4 1/3 votes!Joshuapundit-Israel, Obama And Iran - When The Rubber Meets The Road


• Second place with 2 votes –Liberty's Spirit – Willful Blindness of Jewish-Americans and the Wishful Thinking of Israeli-Jews


• Third place with 12/3 votes – Bookworm Room-Ladies and gentlemen, this isn’t appeasement — it’s worse than that *UPDATED*


• Fourth place *t* with 1 1/3 votes –The Right Planet – Progressive Racism


• Fourth place *t* with 1 1/3 votes –The Razor – Bullying Has Far Reaching Consequences


• Fifth place with 1 vote – VA Right! - If Obamacare Were Auto Insurance – Explaining the Failures in More Familiar Terms


• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room – One Giant Leap Towards War


• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Nice Deb – When Is Obama Going To Publicly Condemn The Knock-Out Game?

Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote –
• The Glittering Eye -Thinking About the Agreement With Iran


• Seventh place with 1/3 vote –The Mellow Jihadi – Getting Hammered with the Admiral

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 votes! – The Weekly Standard -Abject Surrender by the United States submitted by The Political Commentator


• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Timon Dias/Gatestone Institute – European Anti-Semitism and the Fear of Muslims submitted by Joshuapundit


• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Ace Of Spades HQ – Mark Halperin: Gee, I Guess You're Right, I Guess Maybe The Media Didn't Really Vet Obamacare to the Extent It Vetted, Say, Joe the Plumber submitted by The Watcher


• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes -Mark Steyn/NRO – Knockouts High and Low submitted by The Noisy Room


• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes -Big Jolly Politics – Houston Mayor Annise Parker playing a dangerous game submitted by Rhymes with Right


• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes -Clay Shirky –Healthcare.gov and the Gulf Between Planning and Reality submitted by The Razor


• Fourth place with 1 vote-Ron Fournier/National Journal -Obama'’s Image Machine: Monopolistic Propaganda Funded by You submitted by Nice Deb


• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes -William Kristol/Weekly Standard – No Deal submitted by Liberty's Spirit


• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes -Hot Air – Uh oh: Another ObamaCare “success” story turns sour for White House submitted by VA Right!


• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes -Weekly Standard/Lee Smith -Kerry says "no daylight" submitted by Bookworm Room


• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes -John Allen Gay/ The National Interest – Interpreting the New Iran Deal submitted by The Glittering Eye


• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Sile In Portales – Dark Day submitted by The Mellow Jihadi



• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Council on Foreign Relations Backgrounder – Pakistan's New Generation of Terrorists submitted by GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD


• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Bill Whittle – The Hammer Of Reality submitted by The Watcher

See you next week! Don't forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week's Watcher's Forum, as the Council and their invited special guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day with short takes and weigh in...don't you dare miss it. And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.....'cause we're cool like that!

Some Thanksgiving Morsels for Your Enjoyment

First, here's George Washington's original Thanksgiving proclamation, from 1789:

 Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty G-d, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

Amen to that. And of course, here's a classic, Rush Limbaugh's 'The Real Story of Thanksgiving', and antidote to th ePC garbage that passes for education in our public schools. Listen to this one with your kids:



Enjoy!

How To Flush Obamacare Talking Points The White House Designed To Ruin Your Thanksgiving

 

If any further proof were needed how lacking in common decency the Obama Administration is, be aware that thanks to the White House and Organizing for Action, some of your guests have been instructed to come to your family Thanksgiving dinner armed with talking points and told to 'get in their faces' about the ObamaCare fiasco.

I can't think of anything more contemptible, but since it might happen, the Federalist's Ben Domenech has thoughtfully provided us with some easy to use rebuttals to shut the robots up, hopefully. Here's a slice:

President Obama has done a lot of things I dislike, but ruining Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner is a bit much. And to let him be clear: that’s exactly what he’s doing. Instead of letting families argue about perfectly reasonable things to discuss over holiday dinners – such as when Mike Shanahan should be fired, which Bound 2 parody is the best, and whether Miley Cyrus should be launched into the sun for the good of humanity – the president wants to insist on inserting his priorities into family gatherings across the country. “I understand you worked hard to brine this bird, but let’s refocus on what matters: why you haven’t signed up at healthcare.gov yet. Did you hear it’s getting much better? Don’t talk about the Iron Bowl or Aunt Jenny’s wedding, let’s turn this conversation back to what really matters: avoiding a death spiral and ensuring stability in the insurance market!”

We’ve certainly come very far from an era when people of different political mind were urged to set aside their differences and come together for a meal and football and gather round the hearth in peace. Instead we’re in the era of “argue with your neighbors, get in their face”. {...}

What’s more, now that these insufferable partisans in the administration have distributed their talkers, you’re a lot more likely to hear any one of these ten statements at tomorrow’s dinner, to which I am now obligated to offer a prebuttal. And yes, Mr. President, I hate you for making me write this.


1) Healthcare.gov may suck, but state exchanges are performing really well.

No, most of them aren’t. They’re way behind, too. Exchanges such as those in Oregon, Colorado, Maryland, Vermont, Hawaii, and other states which have led the charge in implementation have fallen flat on their faces. Oregon, which had total buy-in at all levels of the state and no political opposition to speak of, has signed up exactly zero people. And while states like California, Connecticut, and Kentucky have had better success, the vast majority of signups in the state exchanges are within Medicaid, not private insurance – in part because the eligibility is easier to determine. But that has negative outcomes as well, as those with private insurance are now required to go on Medicaid – such as this woman in Washington state.

2) The website’s problem is demand and once the front-end problems are fixed, it’ll work great.

No, it’s not – in fact, the website couldn’t even handle 500 visitors without problems according to internal documents from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, released in hearings last week (the all-caps emails are the best ones). The real problem with the website at this point isn’t capacity at all: it’s the extremely delayed back-end – major portions of which apparently haven’t even been built yet – which are supposed to hand off people to the actual insurers they select, and handle the payments for plans (the point at which people are actually “enrolled”). Collecting these premiums and making sure insurers get them has always been the heaviest lift under Obamacare, and the lack of these systems is far more problematic than just the front-end frustrations of delays and glitches. It’s along the lines of having an Expedia-like site that “works” because you can select your flight, but doesn’t actually have the capability for sellers to charge you, or reserve your ticket. Which is, let’s face it, kind of key. There is no public deadline for these remaining critical fixes, and they’ve already missed their first deadline for the front-end.

3) Only a few young and healthy people will pay more – for most people, they will keep their plans or have something better.

No, actually, premiums are going up just about everywhere, and for most people. In 41 states, premiums in the individual market are going up by an average of 41%. 

Only eight states – generally those with the most heavily regulated markets – will see premium reductions ranging between 3% and 40%. But according to The Manhattan Institute’s analysis, for those who have it bad, it’s really bad: the eight worst states are seeing huge premium hikes, including Nevada (+179%), New Mexico (+142%), Arkansas (+138%), North Carolina (+136%), Vermont (+117%), Georgia (+92%), South Dakota (+77%), and Nebraska (+74%). While the young and healthy get the brunt of these increases, the older folks aren’t exempt, either – and even if their premiums don’t increase that much, it’s likely they’ll see larger deductibles and narrower networks.

4) The pre-Obamacare health insurance market was a “free market” full of “junk” insurance plans, which screwed people over and dropped their insurance when they got sick.

No, this simply isn’t true. The American health insurance system prior to Obamacare was in some senses the worst of both worlds: one torn between single payer and third party payer, where while most of the care offered was superior to the rest of the world, the chief problem was explosive growth in costs… because no one cares what something costs when someone else is paying for it (in this case, your employer or the government). No one in their right mind would describe a reality in which the government holds so much market sway, and in which consumers have near-zero price transparency, as a free market system. And as for screwing over people who got sick: it’s been illegal for insurers in the employer market to drop people who get sick since 1997 (thanks, HIPAA!). This means the problem only applies to the individual market (10% of private health insurance), where people were dropped less than 4/10ths of 1% of the time, typically after an appeals process. You really want to argue we needed to disrupt the entire marketplace to solve a problem which impacted such a small portion of the population? It would’ve been cheaper to just hand them all a check for higher-subsidized coverage… such as those offered through high risk pools, the type states like Maryland and New Hampshire are trying to keep open since their exchanges are broken. Oh, and if you’re in the employer market and feel left out by all this disruption, don’t worry – you’re next.

Much more at the link .


Maybe print out a copy for your own use, just in case.

Happy Thanksgiving, and may your turkeys be confined to the oven and the serving platter, not sitting as 'guests' at your table or in your living room.

Hanukkah..The Festival Of Lights And Freedom

Tonight marks the first night of Hannukah, the Festival of Lights .

While many of you may be familiar with the story of the Miracle of the Oil, what is frequently overlooked is that Hannukah celebrates another miracle - the miracle of a group of farmers and tradesman utterly defeating the professional armies of the Seleucid Empire, a victory for freedom that belongs to all of us alike, Jew and Gentile.

Hanukkah celebrates one of the important miracles in Jewish history and reminds us of the triumph of faith. It takes place every year,usually in mid to late December, but this year it coincides with the American Thanksgiving, something that won't occur again for something like 70,000 years. While its date varies if you go by the western calendar, in the Hebrew calendar Hanukkah always falls on the 25th day of Kislev.

Hanukkah celebrates the victorious Jewish war for independence in the second century B.C. E. The story is told in the First Book of Maccabees, and retold in the Second Book of Maccabees. A contemporary military history of the war can be found in Battles of the Bible, coauthored by Chaim Herzog and Mordechai Gichon.

After his death, Alexander the Great's empire broke into several parts, and Israel was under the control of the Seleucid empire, based in Syria. Israel had lived peacefully under the Persian Empire and under the Ptolemic empire (of Egypt), both which tolerated Judaism; but the Seleucid Emperor Antiochus Epiphanes was an arrogant, bigoted Hellenizer, who attempted to force the Jews to abandon their religion and to adopt the Seleucid's Greek customs and worship,which included idolatry.

There were those Jews who considered themselves `modern' and `assimilated' who were willing to go along with this, even to the extent of having surgical operations to reverse circumcision.

Others did not, and they were prosecuted vigorously and brutalized by the Seleucid Greeks.

The start of the Maccabean Revolt sprang from a single spontaneous act of resistance. In the foothills village of Modiin in 167BCE, a Greek army unit set up an altar, and ordered the local Jewish rabbi, Mattathias, to sacrifice a pig and eat it. He refused, as did his five sons. When a Jewish collaborator came forward to offer the sacrifice, a furious Mattathias "ran and killed him on the spot, killed the king's officer who was forcing them to sacrifice, and tore down the altar" (1 Mac. 2:15-25).

Mattathias, his sons and their followers then headed for the Judean hills, to launch a guerrilla war. They were farmers who had no military training,fighting a professional army. There had not been a Jewish army since Babylon had destroyed the Judean kingdom four centuries before. Their only weapons were farming tools and whatever simple weapons they could construct, such as maces or slings. During this first year, Mattathias died, and his middle son Judah took over command as his successor.

Nicknamed "the hammer" ("Maccabee," in Hebrew), Judah constructed a guerrilla army that staged daring nighttime raids on the Greek outposts, then melted back into the countryside. His successes attracted more supporters, and the revolt spread.

The war went on for 25 years, one of the most singular wars for independence in history. The miracle, perhaps is that it was fought at all, let alone won.

The Seleucids and Antiochus sent huge, well equipped armies into Israel to subdue the Jews. They were all defeated, at odds that seem miraculous even today. Judah Maccabee turned out to be a tactical genius, using unheard of tactics, leading the Greek phalanxes into the hills where they could not maneuver and destroying them.

To give you an idea of how essential the Jewish heartland of Judea and Samaria was and is to Israel's survival then and now, the map below shows where the major battles of the war took place.(hat tip, Carl) Click on it to enlarge it:



One thing that is seldom mentioned about the war is the fact that a significant part of it took place against the Hellenized, `modern',`assimilated' Jewish traitors I mentioned earlier, who were more than willing abandon the Jewish way of life and supported their Seleucid masters against their fellow Jews.

As Ecclesiastes famously said in the Megillot, there's nothing new under the sun.

In 164 BCE, the Jews defeated a force commanded by the Viceroy Lysias that outnumbered them two to one. That battle took place six miles north of Hebron, near the Jewish fortress of Beth-zur. The victory allowed Judah and his army to retake Jerusalem.

When they entered Jerusalem, Judah and his followers entered the Holy Temple on the Temple Mount. The Temple had been wrecked and horribly desecrated, with profanities scrawled on the walls and the Ark by the Seleucids.

The Maccabees built a new altar. When the time came to light the N'er Tamid, the Eternal Light of the Temple, the Jews could find only one sanctified jar of oil marked with the seal of the High Priest. It was only enough to last one evening. On the 25th of Kislev, in the year 164 BCE,the lamp was lit with this small jar of oil and, miraculously, stayed lit for eight days, until more oil suitable for the temple was made. The eight days of Hanukkah celebrate that miracle, as well as the divine intervention that had led the Jews to amazing victories over well-equipped professional armies far superior in numbers. "Therefore, carrying ivy-wreathed wants and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purifying of his own holy place" (2 Mac. 10:7).

The war itself continued. In 160 BCE, near modern-day Ramallah, Judah was killed, but Judah's brother Jonathan, and then his brother Simon took command of the Jewish army, finally winning complete independence in 142 BCE. At last, "All the people sat under their own vines and fig trees, and there was none to make them afraid" (1 Mac. 14:12).

The War of the Maccabees was the first war ever fought for religious freedom. Somehow, a group of farmers with no military training who refused to bow to their oppressors defeated a mighty empire and its immense standing armies. There seems to be no plausible explanation for the victory of the Jews except that it was a miracle.

Towards the end of the war, Antiochus and the Seleucids became so obsessed with defeating the Isrselites that they sacked their own cities and sold their own citizens into slavery to get money to pursue the war against the Jews.

Hanukkah reminds us that with G-d's help, victory over evil is assured and no miracle is impossible. Modern Israel and the survival of the Jewish people against all odds are proof of that.


Symbols in Hanukkah

Aside from the Hanukkiah (candlesticks), the other great symbol of Hanukkah are those small spinning tops known as dreidels.













The four letters which appear on the four corners of a dreidel allude to the miracle of Hanukkah. They spell out: Nes (N-miracle), Gadol (G-great), Haya (H-happened) and Sham (S-there, meaning in Israel). Or, `a great miracle happened there.'

Indeed it did.

Chag Sameach! Happy Hanukkah!

Watcher's Council Nominations - Peace In Our Time Edition

Ah, Thanksgiving..or more accurately this year, an interesting occurrence called Thanksnukkah, as Thanksgiving and Hannukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights and miracles overlap in a rare convergence that won't happen again for some 70,000 years or so, thanks to Judaism's lunar calender. The culinary possibilities are endless...latkes with pumpkin fillings, you name it. But for some interesting ideas for your Thanksgiving meal, I've provided a little something for you, an automatic Thanksgiving menu generator. Try it, it's fun, even if someone still has to do the actual cooking.

Our president is involved in the festivities as well, giving generously to our new Iranian friends and engaging in the old tradition of giving a presidential pardon to two turkeys. This years' recipients of the president's full pardon are named Holder and Sebelius.

I may have gotten some of the details on that last part just a bit wrong...I think.

In any event, we here at the Council wish all of you a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving, and Chag Hannukah Sameach to those of you whom celebrate it.

And of course, a special Thanksgiving wish to those members of our American family whom are spending the holidays away from home and their families and protecting the rest of us so that we can fully enjoy our holiday in peace and freedom with our loved ones. You are not forgotten,believe me.

Welcome to the Watcher's Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the 'sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

This week, Ask Marion, The Pirate's Cove, Right Truth and Daphne Anson took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status with some great articles.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address ( which won't be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category. Then return the favor  by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week when it comes out Wednesday morning

Simple, no?

It's a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

So, let's see what we have this week....

Council Submissions

• Liberty's Spirit – Willful Blindness of Jewish-Americans and the Wishful Thinking of Israeli-Jews


• The Noisy Room – One Giant Leap Towards War


• The Political Commentator – Obama's Iran Deal Guarantees a Nuclear Iran!


• The Mellow Jihadi – Getting Hammered with the Admiral


• Joshuapundit-Israel, Obama And Iran - When The Rubber Meets The Road


• GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD – Grand Strategy Passé?


• The Colossus of Rhodey – The Narrative^TM a.k.a. Delusion


• The Right Planet – Progressive Racism


• Nice Deb – When Is Obama Going To Publicly Condemn The Knock-Out Game?


• Bookworm Room – Ladies and gentlemen, this isn’t appeasement — it’s worse than that *UPDATED*


• VA Right! - If Obamacare Were Auto Insurance – Explaining the Failures in More Familiar Terms


• Rhymes With Right – Harry Reid And Senate Dems Engage In "Unconstitutional Abuse Of Power"


• The Glittering Eye -Thinking About the Agreement With Iran


• The Razor – Bullying Has Far Reaching Consequences

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion - Obama Thanksgiving Disgrace


• The Pirate's Cove - HuffPo Writer Really Hates Thanksgiving


• Right Truth - Thanksgiving Time 2013


• Daphne Anson - Israel's Ambassador Taub Looks On The Sunni Side Of The Iran Deal

Non-Council Submissions

• William Kristol/Weekly Standard – No Deal submitted by Liberty's Spirit


• Mark Steyn/NRO – Knockouts High and Low submitted by The Noisy Room


• The Weekly Standard -Abject Surrender by the United States submitted by The Political Commentator


• Sile In Portales – Dark Day submitted by The Mellow Jihadi


• Timon Dias/Gatestone Institute – European Anti-Semitism and the Fear of Muslims submitted by Joshuapundit


• Council on Foreign Relations Backgrounder – Pakistan's New Generation of Terrorists submitted by GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD


• Open Market.Org – Disregard Toxic Advice on Turkey Day submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey


• Free Republic – The Pilgrims’ Short Lived Experiment in Communism submitted by The Right Planet


• Ron Fournier/National Journal -Obama'’s Image Machine: Monopolistic Propaganda Funded by You submitted by Nice Deb


• Weekly Standard/Lee Smith -Kerry says "no daylight" submitted by Bookworm Room


• Hot Air – Uh oh: Another ObamaCare “success” story turns sour for White House submitted by VA Right!


• Big Jolly Politics – Houston Mayor Annise Parker playing a dangerous game submitted by Rhymes with Right


• John Allen Gay/ The National Interest – Interpreting the New Iran Deal submitted by The Glittering Eye


• Clay Shirky –Healthcare.gov and the Gulf Between Planning and Reality submitted by The Razor


• Bill Whittle – The Hammer Of Reality submitted by The Watcher


• Ace Of Spades HQ – Mark Halperin: Gee, I Guess You're Right, I Guess Maybe The Media Didn't Really Vet Obamacare to the Extent It Vetted, Say, Joe the Plumber submitted by Watcher

Enjoy! And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..'cause we're cool like that!

Meanwhile, Back In Afghanistan..Here's The Latest

While our eyes are focused on the ObamaCare debacle and the horrendous capitulation in Iran, the war in AfPak goes on, winding down to President Obama's per-ordained end game.

Except now, he wants to change the rules.

Relationships between Afghan President Karzai and the Obama White House could best be described as shaky and not particularly pleasant. At this point, we're essentially reduced to parsing surrender terms for a more or less easy exit, thanks to President Obama's set in stone withdrawal date of 2014, which always meant that all the Taliban had to do was wait us out.

President Obama and his team are trying to achieve two things here. The first is to buy a little peace from the Taliban until we skedaddle, which President Obama recently did by giving Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif another $1.6 billion in 'aid'. Sharif (known in Pakistan as 'Mr. Ten Percent' because of his kleptocrat ways) will pocket some of the swag and give some of it to the Taliban as a sort of exit fee.

The second, goodness knows why, is a security agreement with the Karzai government that would allow a small contingent of 10-15,000 U.S. soldiers to stay in the country after 2014 as a security force, a commitment of around $2 billion per year or so not counting baksheesh to Pakistan for allowing us to resupply them overland via the Pakistani port of Karachi and the Torkhum pass, something which is presently running us about $7 billion or so. And not counting any aid we give to Afghanistan.

The deal as proposed by the U.S. mandates that American troops and personnel will not be subject to what passes for law in Afghanistan, or to any Afghan taxes. The same applies to any U.S. companies doing business there.

Karzai insisted on a letter of apology from the president to the Afghan people 'acknowledging mistakes'. Karzai isn't talking about what was actually in the letter but if you believe Secretary of State John Kerry and the version of the letter the Afghans posted online, there was no apology, merely the outline of the proposed deal and language along the lines of "Many of my countrymen and women have given their lives or been seriously wounded in the pursuit of protecting Afghans, and we honor the enormous sacrifices they have made, side by side with Afghans."

Of course, a number of those Americans who gave their lives were actually murdered, in some cases by the every Afghans they had trained, to the point where joint patrols have been suspended but the ever optimistic Secretary Kerry had this to say about the American role in Afghanistan after 2014:

"It is entirely train, equip and assist. There is no combat role for United States forces, and the bilateral security agreement is a way to try to clarify for Afghans and for United States military forces exactly what the rules are with respect to that ongoing relationship."

Wonderful.

The proposed agreement satisfies Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s demand for an end to controversial raids by explicitly stating that U.S. forces will no longer be allowed to enter Afghan homes, no matter what.

Of course, there's also baksheesh at stake...an additional $8 billion for Afghanistan security forces and what are called 'development projects', AKA nation building. In case you're counting, we're up to a commitment of around $17 billion plus if you also count baksheesh to Pakistan ( $7 billion) and money to deploy 10-15,000 U.S. troops ( between $1.5 and $2 billion). Oh, and let's also add in another $7 billion in equipment the Pentagon says it's going to destroy or just abandon partly because of the terrain and partly because of the fast approaching deadline, because they say it would cost more to ship it out of AfPak than it's worth. In my family, our share of that $7 billion amounts to around $100.

Karzai originally stonewalled, insisting that the proposed agreement should be signed by his successor after elections, scheduled for April 5 of 2014. Then he insisted that the agreement had to be sent to the Loya Jirga, the Afghan council of tribal chiefs and elders, about 2,500 people.

Of course, when the Loya Jirga saw all that money at stake, they promptly ratified the agreement and urged Karzai to sign it.

Karzai is still on the fence about the matter. He refuses to sign unless his further demands are met; peace talks with the Taliban the release all 17 Afghan jihadis being held in Guantanamo Bay.

Let's remind ourselves, by the way, that Karzai was deliberately humiliated by President Obama back in 2009 because he was thought to be 'Bush's man'. So President Obama and accused him of voter fraud and stealing an election (the irony is murderous) and pushed for Abdullah Abdullah as president. Of course, being half-Tajik, Abdullah Abdullah knew the Pathans would never except him, so he bowed out in favor of Karzai during the process...and Karzai, who never forgot or forgave the insult has no reason to make things easier on President Obama now.

OK, now let's analyze what's going on here.

The rationale for our troops staying here is that they're going to train and build up yet another Muslim army financed by the American taxpayers. And our troops going to act as 'advisers' with a combat role in spite of Secretary Kerry's horse manure. We wouldn't need 10-15,000 soldiers there as 'trainers' otherwise and could cut that force by 75% if all they were doing is training a friendly ally.

But the point is that the Afghans aren't our allies, a lot of them don't mind being ruled by the Taliban and they don't care for foreigners at all...although they do like our money.

Someone else who likes our money - the taxpayer's money, that is - are the various well connected companies who are going to get the contracts from the Obama White House to build that Muslim army and for all those nation building 'development' projects.

That's what this is all about, and Hamid Karzhai, along with his brother is already a multimillionaire thanks to our intervention in Afghanistan. He's just holding out for some severance pay. He'll go along with the agreement once he gets it, and will likely be gone as soon as the elections are over.

The ones who will be stuck there are our troops, doomed to try to defend themselves under even more restrictive Rules of Engagement than before, surrounded by enemies open and covert.

But wait, I hear you say. Don't we have to maintain a presence there in order to make sure Afghanistan doesn't become a failed state and a haven of al-Qaeda and other terrorists? Don't we need to train the Afghans to fight the Taliban?

No, I don;t think so. For one thing,there are already plenty of failed states out there that are havens of terrorism. Taken a look at Pakistan lately? Aside from that, al-Qaeda, thanks to President Obama's assassination of Osama bin-Laden and the ascendency of his second and command,ex-Muslim Brotherhood leader Ayman Zawahiri have largely relocated to the Arab world, to places like Libya,Syria and Iraq, among other places. And as I mentioned,there are quite a few Afghans who like the Taliban and their 7th century worldview a lot more than they like ferenghis in their midst.

And of course,there's also this question that no one wants to answer. Why spend billions we don't have to train and equip Muslim armies who are just as likely as not to take those same weapons and use them against us given the chance? Especially when budget cuts are hurting and curtailing our own military?

I think the answer to that question is pretty obvious, but I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

And as for Afghanistan, it was a bad idea to go there in the first place. One genius of a president decided it was a great idea to send an army and billions in equipment into a landlocked country surrounded by hostile territory.And another genius of a president decided to double down to make up for shooting his mouth off during a presidential campaign about 'the good war'...after letting our enemies know exactly how long they had to wait before we retreated.

It's high time we left, and the sooner the better. And that's particularly true given whom our current commander-in-chief is.

Geert Wilders: "Let us Raise a Flag of Truth and Liberation"

Geert Wilders is a Dutch politician, and the leader of the PVV (Partij voor de Vrijheid, Party for Freedom) in The Netherlands.Nine years ago, because of his criticisms of Islam and jihad in his home country, he was forced to essentially go into hiding and live under permanent guard. In honor of that occasion, He's started a new project, showcased by my friends over at Gates of Vienna. Here's a slice:

Nine years ago this month, in November 2004, policemen wearing bullet proof vests and carrying machine guns picked me up at my home and drove me to a safe place. This happened two days after the filmmaker and Islam-critic Theo van Gogh was murdered by an Islamic assassin in broad daylight on an Amsterdam street. The police brought me to safety because Islamic criminals had threatened to kill me, too. Because I, too, spoke the truth about Islam, the biggest threat to our freedom and our civilization.

Since that ominous date, nine years ago, I have been forced to live under constant police protection. I have lived in army barracks, prisons and safe houses. The threats continue to this day and have deprived me of my privacy and my freedom.

But I will continue to speak. The flag of Saudi Arabia proudly proclaims the Shahada or the Islamic declaration of faith: “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”

And Wilder's new project? Ah, you'll have to go here to find out.

Harry Reid Changes His Tune On Iran Sanctions Bill

 

Last week Democrat Senate Majority leader Harry Reid said that he  would  “ support” a bill that would tighten the sanctions. “The Senate must be prepared to move forward with a new bipartisan Iran sanctions bill, when the Senate returns after Thanksgiving recess. And I am committed to do so,” he said.

Ah well, he's received his orders from the White House and today is a different day. Now, Senator Reid is saying the Senate will act only “if we need to do stronger sanctions.”

Reid's fellow Democrats Chuck Schumer and Bob Menendez were outraged at what occurred in Geneva this weekend and are attempting to drum up support for new sanctions legislation .What Harry Reid is telling us here is that President Obama won;t be subjected to the political embarrassment of having to veto the bill - Reid will just use his powers as leader to table it.

Quite a piece of work, that Harry Reid.

A New Trend? The Banning Of Mosques

 

Two items of interest...mosques are being banned in Moscow, and in the predominantly Christian south African country of Angola in an effort to curtail the spread of Islam.

In Moscow, the mayor, Sergei Sobyanin has banned the construction of any new mosques in the city beyond the four that already exist.

The mayor claims that the mosques are chiefly used by migrant workers from Central Asia who do not have residence permits, and that building more mosques would just increase their number.He claimed that between 60 and 70 percent of Muslim worshipers are migrants. "We cannot provide for all comers. I think it's not necessary," Sobyanin said.

There are 2 million legal Muslim residents in Moscow currently, and none of the four existing mosques can accommodate more than 10,000 people.So this is obviously an attempt to restrict th eamount of Muslims in Moscow and suppress the practice of Islam.

There is apparently one more mosque in the middle of construction, but Mayor Sobyanin made it clear that there will be no more."No new building permits will be issued. I think that's enough mosques for Moscow,” Sobyanin told Russian daily newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.

This is noteworthy considering the simmering tension between Muslims and non-Muslims in Russia, which has a 400-year-old history. Something like 70% of births among native Russians end in abortion, and th emain segment of the population that is growing is Muslim. The demographic changes have already led to violence between Muslim and non-Muslims in the military and ethnic clashes throughout Russia. Mayor Sobyanin would almost certainly justify his ban on mosques on those grounds.

In Angola, there's a different variation of the same thing going on. Angola is not only banning the construction of any mosques, it is demolishing the existing ones.

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said Sunday "this is the final end of Islamic influence in our country."

Angola's ban was first announced last Friday, when Angolan Minister of Culture, Rosa Cruz e Silva said "the process of legalization of Islam has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human rights, their mosques would be closed until further notice."

India Today reports Silva's statement was made at the 6th Commission of the Angolan National Assembly, and that the ban includes orders to demolish mosques in the country.
Silva reportedly said the ban was necessary since Islam is "contradictory to the customs of Angola culture."

Angola's population of 16 million is predominantly Christian, with only 80,000-90,000 Muslims, the majority of whom are migrants from West Africa and families of Lebanese origin, according to the US State Department.

The crackdown on Islam comes as Christians in the Middle East are being forced from Muslim countries.

This is obviously a de facto attempt to ban the organized practice of Islam in Angola. Given the violence that seems to be inherent in many countries once the percentage of Muslim residents reaches a certain percentage, it will be intersting to see whether this becomes a growing trend.

Israel, Obama And Iran - When The Rubber Meets The Road

By now the full details of the West's capitulation in Geneva has become known. And what the West agreed to was staggering.

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton, someone who knows a great deal about nuclear proliferation and about Iran called it an abject surrender.He's entirely correct.

As I pointed out earlier, the new agreement de facto recognizes Iran's right to enrich uranium, something that is going to have huge implications as other countries who signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty are going to claim the same right themselves. And like Iran, they are going to refuse to sign the additional protocols of the NPT, which allow for snap inspections.

The United States and other Western nations have never conceded a 'right' to enrich uranium, for the every simple reason that it is perfectly possible to have a nuclear energy program that also  allows for medical uses without it. Canada, for example, is one nation among many that uses nuclear energy without enrichment. Enrichment is only vital if the desired result is the ability to eventually manufacture nuclear weapons.

That's also why there were numerous UN resolutions calling specifically for Iran to cease enrichment and allow inspections, and why the sanctions were implemented in the first place, after years of attempts at 'diplomacy'.

That's all been thrown by the wayside now. It took years to even implement any sanctions. Thanks to President Obama and his willing helpers at Geneva, that's not going to happen again, even if Iran is caught violating this new agreement.India, China and South Korea among other countries want additional imports of Iranian oil, and EU countries want to open up the floodgates to trading with the Ayatollahs.The sanctions are history. And Iran knows this very well.

Among other things, this legitimizes an evil, fascist regime that brutalizes its own people and is probably the biggest financier and enabler of Islamic terrorism in the world. And the West is disgracefully aiding and abetting the regime, not only by giving them a clear path to achieve nuclear weapons but by giving them blood money in the amount of $7 billion and probably much more in frozen assets in the bargain.

 

Aside from this, the other loopholes in the new agreement are extraordinary.

While Secretary Kerry preens and bloviates about verification, the IAEA inspections have already been delayed for three months by agreement with Iran in exchange for absolutely nothing on Teheran's part. In that time period, the Iranians can move, hide and conceal pretty much anything, as well as strengthening their facilities against attack.

And while the agreement calls for IAEA inspections at Fordow and Natanz, these facilities are pretty much under satellite surveillance anyway. The Iranian military base at Parchin where weapons test are suspected to have occurred is not part of the agreement, nor is Iran required to reveal any secret nuclear facilities they may have or allow them to be inspected. The IAEA has received quite a bit of information from Iranian dissidents about possible secret nuclear sites, but there is no followup or right for the IAEA to conduct on site investigations in the new agreement.

Also, just as there is absolutely nothing in the new agreement stopping the Iranians from continuing to enrich uranium, there's nothing stopping them from developing and improving their ballistic missiles, warhead technology or other nuclear related weaponization like nuclear triggers.

Abject surrender pretty much covers it. And the fact that the almost frenzied efforts to make any kind of deal were very likely done to take the spotlight off of the dismal failure of ObamaCare and the president's rapidly falling approval ratings makes it even more craven.

Democrat Senators Chuck Schumer and Robert Menendez, horrified by what just occurred in Geneva, are attempting to drum up support for new sanctions legislation . That's all very well, but rest assured that President Obama will veto it.

So what can we expect in the near term?

The Iranians, quite correctly are calling this a major victory. And why not? They lose nothing, not enrichment, not a single facility and the sanctions, whatever nonsense the president and our clueless secretary of state might tell you are dead and gone forever:



Expect the Iranians not to blatantly make a point of breaking the agreement, but to do what they have done to date - to obfuscate, to lie, to hide, to delay, to covertly enrich uranium to weapons grade, to continue to work towards nuclear weapons...and to continue to strengthen their nuclear sites against attack. One day, we'll simply wake up to headlines about a successful nuclear test. We've already seen this once before, with North Korea.

Countries within striking distance of Iran that already have nascent nuclear programs like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey can be expected to rush to get nukes as fast as they can, leading to a new Middle East arms race.

Expect President Obama to milk this as much as he can for domestic politics, aided and abetted by his media minions and the pro-Iran lobby. In fact, that's already started, from the usual suspects.

You can also expect President Obama to lean very heavily on the Israelis, repeating the same threats he's used previously to keep them from defending themselves against what amounts to an existential threat. That's already started as well.

And to add insult to injury, apparently the Obama Administration was negotiating on a back channel basis for the last six months without briefing the Israelis, using Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and President Obama's own consigliere, Iranian born Valerie Jarrett, who has been in direct contact for over a year with former foreign minister and current head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi. In other words, the Geneva Agreement was worked out before hand, and Netanyahu was simply presented with a done deal once the details were worked out.Meanwhile he was gamed to 'let the work continue'.

Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu, as always, came up with some appropriate rhetoric, saying "What was achieved last night in Geneva is not a historic agreement; it is a historic mistake," he said. "Today the world has become a much more dangerous place because the most dangerous regime in the world has taken a significant step toward attaining the most dangerous weapon in the world."

Now, he has to figure out what to do next.

Netanyahu was elected by his fellow Israelis with the idea that he could protect the country against Iran. He's failed at that task so far. He should have taken out Iran's nukes a long time ago, but he simply lacked the will to do it and directly buck the Obama Administration. The Israelis, thanks to Netanyahu's dithering, are faced with a choice between a bad option and a worse one.

The Israelis, the Saudis and the Gulf states have found a degree of rapprochement, based on the old Middle East dictum that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. That will be helpful, but only to a degree.

While the Israelis definitely have the capacity to attack Iran and take out its nuke sites, the job is going to be infinitely harder than it would have been 3 years ago. And on some sites, like Fordow, they may have to use tactical nukes to do it. An attack on Iran at this juncture is going to involve a major break with the Obama White House, something President Obama intended all along from the day he took office in 2009. In fact, there's on report out there that President Obama has actually told Israel and the Saudis that the U.S. maintains and controls radar capabilities over the skies of Iran and that no strike can be launched without the permission of the Obama administration. Or in other words, President Obama is telling them that he would warn the Iranians of any incoming attack. The source of this is somewhat questionable, but given this president's animus towards Israel, it seems entirely credible. It sounds like exactly what President Obama would say and do.

If the Israelis attack now, they can expect to pay a price politically, with President Obama letting his anti-Israel UN ambassador Samantha Power lead the charge.

That's the bad option.

The worse option, unfortunately, is to do nothing.A nuclear armed Iran would put Israel's survival on a knife edge. The threats now coming from the Ayatollahs would have real weight, and make it impossible for Israel to exist as a normal country. A nuclear armed Iran will give Hamas and Hezbollah protection that will allow them to carry out terrorist attacks with impunity.Foreign investments, trade, business start-ups and immigration to Israel would all suffer severely, and many Israelis might actually emigrate themselves. And one fine day, the Ayatollah Khamenei or his successor is going to wake up and say 'today's the day' and the Israelis will find themselves under nuclear attack, either from Iran or from Iran's proxy, Hezbollah.

Israel's second strike capability would exact a heavy price, but the death and destruction in the small country would be unimaginable. All too imaginable would be the empty words of condemnation for Iran from the UN and President Obama..followed by dead silence.

And by the way, this is not just Israel's problem. Such things never stop with just the Jews. As Israeli spokesperson Mark Regev said the other day to America and the Europeans, "The Iranians are building intercontinental ballistic missiles. They're not building them for us. They already have missiles that can hit Israel. They are building them for you."

He's right about that.

This is where the rubber hits the road. The Israelis have been hung out to dry, just like what was left of Czechoslovakia was after Munich. They are entirely alone, and they now understand, if they didn't before, that President Obama's talk about not allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons is worth nothing. Israel will have to decide themselves between that bad and worse option. Either way, they're going to be demonized and maligned for defending their right to exist. If they do decide to defend themselves, I hope they're also smart enough to make a point of taking out Iran's oil infrastructure while they're about it.

That would pretty much trash the various expert opinions that an Israeli strike would only set Iran back a year or two. Without oil, the Ayatollahs aren't going to be able to afford these dangerous toys anymore, and China, Russia and the EU's interest in Iran would quickly evaporate.

Forum:What Is Your Reaction To Harry Reid's Using the Nuclear Option To End Filibusters?

Every week on Monday morning , the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day,  the culture or simply day to day living. This week's question:  What Is Your Reaction To  Harry Reid's Using  the Nuclear Option To End Filibusters?


The Razor: My reaction? The Democrats are stupider than I thought. And here I thought the GOP were the ones on the short bus...

I’m all for it since I fully expect the Republicans to retake the Senate in next year’s elections. It will also make it much easier to stop the practice of “Borking” Supreme Court nominees.
The key is for the Republicans to not let their hissy fits overshadow the news of the continuing scandals and the debacle of Obamacare.

The GOP must use these to take back the Senate, and when it does, the Democrats will be kicking themselves for making the minority weaker.

Like the suicide bombing attacks on Hezbollah headquarters in Beirut this week, it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of *sshats.

GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD  : As Frankly Unctuous spake in WaPo - It's like a totally naked power grab.

Stymied on judicial nominees, the Donkie party is justified somewhat in their grief that rowdy GOPers and on again/off again allied Tea Party cats are queering the mix. Totally unjustified though in their brazen move to kill fillibusteringness.

Most likely, as Sen. Charles E. "Sarah Palin was right about Death Panels" Grassley LOLed before Thursday’s vote, “When we have the majority, when we have a Republican president, we put more people like Scalia on the court.”

Changing Senate rules have a long long range: The Democratic action sets a precedent that a future Republican majority will use to change procedures when it gets into a political jam, rather than negotiate with Democrats. The logical outcome is a Senate operating more like the House, with no rights for the minority, no reason for debate and no incentive to cooperate.

Now, that may not be a bad thing. Though, if cats dig that action - look how the House is currently doing for a counterargument.

As devious as ancient politicians are - Sen Reid will prob change the rules back on the last hour of the last session of any future lame duck session he may hold as Senate Majority cat.

 Liberty's Spirit: The "nuclear option" used by the Democrats turns 200 years of precedent on its head. Of course when the GOP was in power they were openly contemplating the same nuclear option due to some very similar complaints that the Democrats just voiced: "the rights of the minority party are a messy and unwieldy side-effect of our Constitution;" "gridlock, the political class complains prevents Washington DC's business from being done." Our modern political class seems to conveniently forget that "gridlock" was exactly the intent and purpose of the framers if the parties did not get along and learn to compromise. The DNC, as if on cue, hypocritically railed against this usurpation of power when the GOP was the party in power.

It is important to remember that there is no Constitutional requirement that judges, other than the Supreme Court, be approved by an advice and consent vote level. The only judges mentioned in the Constitution are SCOTUS. The entire federal judicial system was set up later by Congress in The Judiciary Acts (1789 and 1801). So the Senate has every right to change its procedures in electing judges to the federal bench. If it chooses to, the Senate powers that be, can rid itself of the filibuster as well. It is simply a classless and unbecoming tactic to take, but par for the course as far as the Obama administration is concerned.

The truth of the matter is that the DNC believes that in the midterms they are going to be decimated. This would mean that a Republican controlled Congress will be able to pass legislation to overturn what Obama and Reid have put into place during their control of the White House and both Houses of Congress, most notably Obamacare. By stacking the court system it is the belief of the Democrats that they will be able to forestall the destruction of the socialist-statist economy that they have been able to put into place. What they think they cannot achieve through democratic elections, and legislation, the Democrats are planning to achieve by the use of activist judges that do not adhere to the meaning and purpose of the US Constitution. It is a blantant power grab, reminiscent of fascist politicians, unbecoming of our democratic traditions.

The Noisy Room:It showcases the lawlessness of the Obama Administration and the absolute contempt they have for the time-honored practice that judicial appointments required supermajorities. In an oft-denied soft dictatorship, there are no rules but the rules that the current political tyrant says there are. And so it goes in America's halls of power these days. Welcome to the banana republic of Amerika.

Procedures are supposed to remain in force unless a two-thirds supermajority votes to change them. It has been that way for over 200 years, but no more. A 52–48 all-Democrat majority voted to change the rules in a Progressive frenzy and a monumental power grab and voila! Obama can now stack the courts to his Marxist content. What it means is there are no longer three branches of government. The Executive, Legislative and Judicial are now controlled by the President for all intents and purposes. All he is lacking is a House majority and he may get that. Even if Obama doesn't steal that piece of the pie, he will force himself and his hateful desires on America despite any and all protestations.

As we have seen over and over again by Obama and his minions and sycophants, the Constitution and the Republic mean nothing to them. Obama on a whim says what is legal and what is not; what is just and what is not; who benefits and who suffers. Isn't that what all dictators do?

What do I think of the Nuclear Option? It's radioactive poisoning of the American government and it is to die for.

 The Independent Sentinel: Using the nuclear option for judicial nominees can't be underestimated. The Democrats and Obama will reshape the fundamental structure of our Republic. They will bring Progressive Democrats closer to realizing their dream of almost limitless executive power.

What is happening right now, before our eyes, is that the president, with the help of his minions in the Senate, is seizing power from Congress for the Executive Branch.

An overly powerful Executive can operate lawlessly, without restraint. The purpose of Congress is to provide checks and balances.

The Senate gave Mr. Obama almost limitless power to appoint anyone he wants to the courts when they invoked the nuclear option and assigned that power to him with only 51 votes.

They employed the nuclear option only for judicial nominees so far but they will likely use it for Supreme Court justice nominees and for legislation, at a future date. There is nothing to stop them.

They can fill the courts with leftists – Progressives.

Thanks to the powers granted to Mr. Obama by the Senate, the shaping of the IPAB, the Independent Payment Advisory Board for Medicare, is now, solely the province of the king, I mean the president.

IPAB will determine what healthcare seniors receive and IPAB will ration care.

Obama, with his new powers, can put the most radical people on the board. He can put eugenicists on if he chooses. He can put an Ezekiel Emanuel on the board. Ezekiel, if you remember, wants most care directed at people ages 15 to 40 years because of their usefulness to society. There are no moral guidelines for Ezekiel, there are age guidelines.

The IPAB, or the Death Panel, will be comprised of 15 political appointees who will decide the payments to be made to doctors and hospitals for Medicare patients.

Democrats wrote into the Obamacare law that 60 votes was a critical threshold in the Senate but now they are dispensing it.

IPAB is completely unaccountable.

Another lie by Mr. Obama is that IPAB can’t ration care. IPAB can cut anything it wants as much as it wants. It is unregulated by Congress. There is no oversight. It can pass any rules it wants concerning Obamacare, in other words, it can legislate, and Congress can’t stop them. It is a rogue government within a government.

The nuclear option was one more very serious power grab.


 The Glittering Eye: I think the move is imprudent. It won't have an appreciable effect on appointments-they haven't changed senators' power to use "holds" to prevent nominees from coming up for votes. The most that will happen is that will aggravate an already angry and unfriendly situation.

I'm not even sure why Sen. Reid felt the need to make this move. I can only speculate that he was under tremendous pressure to do something. This is the something.


Well, there you have it.

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.

It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere, and you won’t want to miss it.

And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that, y'know?