Believe It or Not, I Just Felt A Moment Of Sympathy For President Obama

Just heard over the local ABC News: In an interview with Barbara Walters for a holiday edition of 20/20, President Obama and his spouse were just interviewed.

The president's response to being asked who he would be if he could be anyone else was to pass. Michelle Obama? She said she'd want to be their dog Bo,because in her words, "He has a great life."

When asked if he had any complaints about his spouse, the president said he had none. Michelle Obama? She reportedly said her list was too big to mention!



Petulant, back stabbing and perpetually dissatisfied, even when living off the fat of the land. Can you imagine being married to someone like that and waking up next to them in the morning?

Yes, I admit it. I actually had a moment of sympathy for President Obama then and there.

Besides, he gave me a great laugh with his reported answer to Ol' Bawbwa when she asked him if he ever lied. His reported response? Only to family and close associates!

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

Israel AG Won't Prosecute Arab MK, Leftists Who Took Part In Mami Marmara Flotilla

Israel's Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced today that the Government of Israel will not seek to prosecute MK Hanin Zouabi (Balad) and other leftists who took part in the Gaza flotilla in 2010.

Zouabi and others were aboard the Mami Mamara in 2010 along IHH members who prepared an ambush and attacked the IDF Naval Commandos who boarded the ship after it attempted to break the Gaza blockade and refused to sail to the Israeli port of Ashdod to have its cargo checked.

Three of the commandos were invalided out of the service because of injuries they suffered during the attack.

This is the equivalent of our own government's refusal to prosecute Code Pink after they cheerfully gave over $600,000 to the people who were shooting at our troops in Fallujah.

There is no real rationale for this kind of decision whatsoever, unless the Israeli government is afraid of being attacked by the usual suspects for prosecuting a treasonous Arab politician who unfortunately has Israeli citizenship.

It's simply a green light for even more egregious acts.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

Federal Judge Blocks S. Carolina's Illegal Imigration Law

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ruled in favor today on granting an injunction sought by the Department of Justice to block South Carolina's new laws on illegal immigration, which were set to go into effect January 1t 2012.

The new law requires law enforcement to check the status of anyone they detain or stop in th ecourse of regular police business and have reasonable cause to suspect is in the country illegally.

Gergel also denied the state's request that he suspend all court hearings on the case until the U.S.Supreme Court rules on the Justice Department's suit against Arizona's similar law. That decision is expected in six months or less.

Judge Gergel is an Obama appointee, supported by RINO Lindsay Graham.

Of course.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

How Democrats Gamed 'Non-Partisan' Redistricting To Steal Seats In California

A fascinating article. Hey, if you can't legitimately win election's there are other ways.Here's a slice:

This spring, a group of California Democrats gathered at a modern, airy office building just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. The meeting was House members only — no aides allowed — and the mission was seemingly impossible.

In previous years, the party had used its perennial control of California’s state Legislature to draw district maps that protected Democratic incumbents. But in 2010, California voters put redistricting in the hands of a citizens’ commission where decisions would be guided by public testimony and open debate.

The question facing House Democrats as they met to contemplate the state’s new realities was delicate: How could they influence an avowedly nonpartisan process? Alexis Marks, a House aide who invited members to the meeting, warned the representatives that secrecy was paramount. “Never say anything AT ALL about redistricting — no speculation, no predictions, NOTHING,” Marks wrote in an email. “Anything can come back to haunt you.”

In the weeks that followed, party leaders came up with a plan. Working with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — a national arm of the party that provides money and support to Democratic candidates — members were told to begin “strategizing about potential future district lines," according to another email.

The citizens’ commission had pledged to create districts based on testimony from the communities themselves, not from parties or statewide political players. To get around that, Democrats surreptitiously enlisted local voters, elected officials, labor unions and community groups to testify in support of configurations that coincided with the party’s interests.

When they appeared before the commission, those groups identified themselves as ordinary Californians and did not disclose their ties to the party. One woman who purported to represent the Asian community of the San Gabriel Valley was actually a lobbyist who grew up in rural Idaho, and lives in Sacramento.

In one instance, party operatives invented a local group to advocate for the Democrats’ map.

California’s Democratic representatives got much of what they wanted from the 2010 redistricting cycle, especially in the northern part of the state. “Every member of the Northern California Democratic Caucus has a ticket back to DC,” said one enthusiastic memo written as the process was winding down. “This is a huge accomplishment that should be celebrated by advocates throughout the region.”

Statewide, Democrats had been expected to gain at most a seat or two as a result of redistricting. But an internal party projection says that the Democrats will likely pick up six or seven seats in a state where the party’s voter registrations have grown only marginally.

“Very little of this is due to demographic shifts,” said Professor Doug Johnson at the Rose Institute in Los Angeles. Republican areas actually had higher growth than Democratic ones. “By the numbers, Republicans should have held at least the same number of seats, but they lost.”

As part of a national look at redistricting, ProPublica reconstructed the Democrats’ stealth success in California, drawing on internal memos, emails, interviews with participants and map analysis. What emerges is a portrait of skilled political professionals armed with modern mapping software and detailed voter information who managed to replicate the results of the smoked-filled rooms of old.

The losers in this once-a-decade reshaping of the electoral map, experts say, were the state’s voters. The intent of the citizens’ commission was to directly link a lawmaker’s political fate to the will of his or her constituents. But as ProPublica’s review makes clear, Democratic incumbents are once again insulated from the will of the electorate.

Read the rest here to find out exactly how this was done...hopefully this will end up as a learning experience in other states.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

The Payroll Tax Issue, Simply Explained

With all the verbiage and posturing going on,(a deliberate attempt to obscure things by the democrats and their media allies, as far as I'm concerned) I think a simple and direct explanation of this issue is in order.

The legislation in question actually has three components. Needless to say, the president and the Democrats are only talking about one of them.

The first one, the one that's getting all the attention is a payroll tax holiday extension for an additional two months.

The second part is completing the Keystone Pipeline to carry 700,000 barrels of crude per day from the Canadian oil sands in Alberta to refineries in Port Arthur, Texas. This would provide an estimated 20,000 American jobs and lower prices at the pump.The president, of course, says he'll veto it, citing global warming and environmental issues.

The third part involves another Federal extension of unemployment benefits.

A number of Republicans in the Senate stupidly approved a bill that would extend the payroll tax for another two months, allow President Obama the leeway to approve the pipeline construction at his discretion, (which means it won't happen) and provides funding for another federal unemployment extension.

The GOP-dominated House refused to go along with this, as Speaker Boehner showed some courage for a change. The House wants a compromise that would extend the payroll tax holiday for an entire year,would force President Obama to veto the Pipeline bill, and allow the extension of unemployment benefits.

The President and the Democrats have so far refused to sit down and negotiate any of this. The last thing the president and his allies want, aside from lower gas prices is a long term tax cut, both of which provide less revenues for President Obama's domestic agenda.

The House Republicans made a huge PR error in not making the pipeline the sticking point rather than the payroll tax holiday. Instead, they should have compared the jobs and the savings at the pump to the estimated $40 per paycheck a family of four with a $50,000 income would save (about $160 total) as compared to the jobs and the more permanent lowering of gas prices, goods and services. To make it even simpler, they could have upped the ante and said "President Obama wants to save you about $160 for two months. We want to save you $1,040 by extending the tax holiday for a full year, plus the benefit of lower gas prices at the pump. Which would you rather have?"

That's what's going on,in a nutshell.I'm frankly amazed that the GOP leadership can't explain that for some reason.

Perhaps they ought to hire me in some capacity.

UPDATE, 2:00PM PST : I see where the House Republican leadership caved in completely. Idiots. And gutless ones at that.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

Los Angeles: Mayor Calls For Millions In Budget Cuts To Offset Costs Of Occupy LA

Los Angeles Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa has instructed city agencies to estimate costs incurred by the Occupy L.A. protesters, and said that budget cuts will likely be necessary to absorb the high costs.

Among other expense, the park in front of City Hall was completely destroyed. Repairs to the lawn are likely to exceed $400,000, and the cost for police to evict the Occupy L.A. encampment/trash dump came to over $700,000.

Expenses for removing the graffiti and obscenities from the marble walls of City Hall and the park trees and the cost of draining 3,000 gallons of water from what amounted to a small swamp in a catch basin and treating it for hazardous materials is still to be estimated. Hauling away over 30 tons of trash and debris will cost the city over $500,000 alone.Then there's the cost of incarcerating and trying those protesters who refused to leave.

It was Mayor Villaraigosa and the Democrat dominated L.A. City Council who welcomed Occupy LA,passed a resolution applauding what they were doing and allowed them to break the city's laws with impunity for two months. They only could be bothered to do anything about it when the encampment because an actual health hazard.

And now, they expect the citizens of Los Angeles to pay for their malfeasance an dereliction of the job they were elected to do.

Not only are they unworthy of staying in office, but they ought to be made to pay for cleaning up the mess they made out of their own pockets.

Simply disgraceful.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

Federal Court Ruling: Iran and Hezbollah Helped Al-Qaeda in 9/11 Attacks

In a long awaited decision, Federal Judge George Daniels in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York ruled that Iran and its Lebanese terrorist proxy Hezbollah, had joint responsibility with al-Qaeda for the 9/11 attacks.

The ruling in the cases of Havlish, et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran, et al., and Bingham, et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran, et al. was in response to lawsuits filed by families of 9/11 victims.

As I mentioned previously, this is by no means new or even previously unknown material. The 9/11 Commission stated in its report that there was "strong evidence that Iran facilitated the transit of Al Qaeda members into and out of Afghanistan before 9/11, and that some of these were future 9/11 hijackers." There's more than just 'strong evidence' that Iran allowed members of al-Qaeda into Iran after we invaded their stronghold in Afghanistan. That's exactly how so many of them got to Iraq so easily via Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran.

On page 240 of the Commission’s final report, it mentions a “senior Hezbollah operative” accompanied some of the future 9/11 hijackers on their final airline flights into and out of Afghanistan, Iran, and Lebanon.

It's now known beyond question that the “senior Hezbollah operative” was our old friend Imad Mugniyeh. You'll remember that he was not only a member of al-Qaeda but a founding member of Hezbollah and a former member of Yasser Arafat's Force 17. He was the commander of the operation that killed 247 marines in Beirut, the man who tortured to death Marine Colonel William Buckley,videotaped the proceedings and sent it to the White House, the liaison man in the Karina A arms shipment, which involved Iranian weapons sent to the PLO.

Mugniyah was the natural liaison man for the 9/11 hijackers as well,because he was one of the few people trusted by by all parties involved...Hezbollah, Iran and al-Qaeda.

The 9/11 commission urged further investigation at the time, but neither the Bush Administration or the Obama Administration ever saw fit to follow up.

As evidence given in the trials show, in addition to directing Mughniyah’s extensive involvement in recruiting, guiding, and training the hijackers, Iran provided vital material support to those hijackers by ordering its border and passport officials not to stamp their passports when they crossed Iranian territory. That meant they could enter the U.S. with clean passports, no questions asked.

This was probably what Saddam Hussein was talking about when he mentioned that he thought a strike on the U.S. was imminent, but that 'no ties to Iraq will be seen.' Given that the Iraqis had already gotten away with involvement in the first World Trade Center bombing ( and likely the Oklahoma City bombing), Saddam wasn't expecting anyone to draw a line to Iraq this time, especially since he may have known of or suspected Iran's involvement in the coming carnage.

Iranian assistance to al-Qaeda didn't stop with the 9/11 attacks, as you already know if you read this site. After Tora Bora, al-Qaeda's top leadership and a number of fighters were able to flee to safety in Iran aided and abetted by the regime, including Ayman Zawahiri and Osama bin-Laden. Many of the fighters ended up in Iraq and Afghanistan, while bin-Laden and Zawahri returned to Pakistan.

These and other details were revealed by declassified material that came out in the trial and 25 hours of sworn testimony (filed under seal) from three former Iranian intelligence officers, who described the direct participation of top Iranian government officials like current Iranian defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi as well as Imad Mughniyah's role.

The next step, since this is a civil trial, will likely be to obtain financial judgments, which may ultimately involve seeking reciprocation in European courts that recognize US judgments.

Of course, the real question to be answered is one I posed before, one some of us have been asking for a long time - exactly why did we go after Saddam Hussein and ignore the real threat in Iran? Especially since our government was made aware of Iran's complicity?

From the Iranian standpoint, they have to be astounded as well. They've taken over an American embassy with impunity, killed our soldiers, armed, trained and abetted our enemies and provided essential support for the worst terrorist strike on America's soil in our history.And these people are now actively seeking nuclear weapons via a rogue program.

Any of these actions are normally grounds for war. Yet the United States continues to attempt to 'engage' with the Iranians.

If I were them, I would assume that America was so petrified of Iran, so ineffectual and decadent that no accommodation with America was necessary and no attack or insult too insufferable to offer. I would hold America and its leaders beneath contempt.

That is likely how they regard us, and I certainly can see why.It will unfortunately make a violent confrontation at some point that much more likely.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

More Mystery Iran Disasters - Major Fire At Isfahan Refinery, Huge Blast At Revolutionary Guards Base

Iran is finally reporting on a major fire and explosion that took place yesterday at its Isfahan refinery, the second largest in the country.

According to the official account,a malfunction at the refinery caused a leakage of cooling water from its generators, causing a power outage and blackout.One pereson was reported killed.

The official story is that there was no explosion, and that fires were caused by workers burning off excess oil and gas in pipelines to prevent one from happening. However, Iranian dissidents reported a loud explosion at the refinery, and the fact that one person was killed would seem to support that.Various eye-witnesses reported seeing flames and thick smoke covering the area.

There was a major power outage as a result according to the Iranian Mehr news agency.

One of the Iranian regime's weak points is its refinery capacity. Major damage to a refinery like the one at Isfahan is going to have an impact not only in terms of capacity but in terms of the amount of refined fuel the regime is going to have to import, for which it has to pay in hard currency.

This isn't going to do the rial any good..it's dropped from an official rate of $1,300 hundred to the dollar to $1,500 to the dollar in a matter of weeks, and refined fuels trades are conducted in dollars.

Another reliable source of mine reported a major explosion at a Revolutionary Guards base in Kerman,the headquarters for the Guard’s operations in the East, near the Afghan border. No details yet,but I'm told it was quite a large blast.Probably just a coincidence, no?

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

Watcher's Council Nominations - Pierce The Darkness Edition

Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, freedom and victory is upon us again.Those who wish to find out a little more about what this holiday is about can visit here. A hearty Hag Hanukkah Sameach to those of you whom celebrate!

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.

This week's contest is humbly dedicated to those Americans spending the holidays serving overseas far from home.

Council News:

This week, Ask Marion, The Independent Sentinel, Maggie's Notebook and Capitalist Preservation took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status.

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, and return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week.

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

• The Colossus of Rhodey – Rick Perry's proposed constitutional amendments -- the good and the not-so-good



• The Political Commentator – Why was this man in Vienna for the OPEC meeting?



• The Noisy Room – Syria - The Tipping Point Into Hell



• Simply Jews – Hamas senior got lost in the tunnels



• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Ardennes Day



• Joshuapundit-An Open Letter To Rabbi Abe Foxman And The ADL



• Right Truth – Newt Romney vs Mitt Gingrich



• The Razor – Calling Out Attorney General Eric Holder



• Bookworm Room – Facts are stubborn things . . . but Leftist ideologues are even more stubborn



• The Right Planet – Bullies



• The Mellow Jihadi – President Obama Faces Possible Challenge from a Democrat?



• VA Right - The State of America Upon Leaving Iraq



• Rhymes With Right – A Segregationist Dog-Whistle In The Gingrich White Paper On The Judiciary



• The Glittering Eye -Some Products Are Too Bad to Stamp Out



• New Zeal – Arlington Texas Tea Party to Launch Online Newspaper

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion - Big Brother Alert: Your face and Movements are Being Tracked



• Maggie's Notebook - Ron Paul Panic Setting In? Gingrich Defies Gravity?



• The Independent Sentinel - Saying Merry Christmas Is Worse Than Killing Someone



• Capitalist Preservation - Ron Paul says accused traitor Bradley Manning is a hero

Non-Council Submissions

• Buckhorn Road – Bill of Rights eviscerated on their anniversary submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey



• The Brussels Journal -A Brief History of Liberty for the OWS Crowd submitted by The Political Commentator



• Michelle Malkin –Nancy Pelosi, Down and Dirty submitted by The Noisy Room



• The Contentious Centrist – Tango Hanukka submitted by Simply Jews



• The Last Stand – Ya Know... submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD



• Caroline Glick – Tom Friedman's Losing Battle submitted by Joshuapundit



• Sultan Knish -Mr. Islam's Blindfold and Machete submitted by Right Truth



• Powerline –The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel submitted by The Razor



• Danny Ayalon-The truth about the refugees: Israel Palestinian Conflict submitted by Bookworm Room



• The Daily Bell – Cultural Marxism: The Corruption of America submitted by The Right Planet



• Doug Ross –New EPA rule will cost each taxpaying American $280 submitted by The Mellow Jihadi



• Creeping Sharia – Washington parents say no to terror-linked CAIR's school lesson plans submitted by VA Right



• Urban Grounds – Heartbreaking Story (and pictures): Can You Help an Abused and Neglected Great Dane at PAWS of Austin? submitted by Rhymes with Right



• Joy McCain/The Conservatory – R.I.P Christopher Hitchens submitted by The Glittering Eye



• Iowahawk – Is This Hell, Or Is It Iowa? submitted by The Watcher



• Jon Hall/American Thinker – Voter Fraud for the Complete Idiot submitted by The Watcher

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

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

An Open Letter To Rabbi Abe Foxman And The ADL

I recently received the following fund raiser from the Anti-defamation League:



Dear Miller,

Just this past week, a Member of Congress was quoted referencing Nazi
propagandist Joseph Goebbels when discussing communication techniques of the Democratic Party.

We are truly living in troubled times when politicians feel they can benefit the national discourse with such vitriolic comparisons which insult the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust.

This was not the first time this has happened in this political season
and I fear it will not be the last time we hear such ignorant and spiteful
discourse between now and next November.

Help ADL speak out forcefully.

To me this raises three critical questions. Without the Anti-Defamation League, who would fiercely and relentlessly speak out against the trivialization of the Holocaust? Who would push back against the rising currents of anti-Semitism we’re seeing at home and around the world?

And without you, who would be there to fuel ADL’s vital work?

It was signed by the National Director, Rabbi Abe Foxman...and I felt it merited a reply:


Dear Rabbi Foxman,
I received your recent email with interest.

I realize that you and the ADL are very much involved in the Obama campaign,but are there no limits?

The fact is that Allen West, the member of Congress you mention is exactly correct when he compares the Soros-funded media machine and its adherents throughout the mainstream media as people Goebbels would be proud of, because they promulgate the Big Lie constantly when it
comes to Israel and the Jews. And by the way, he didn't mention the Holocaust, so your accusation that he trivialized it is simply untrue.

Do you realize that you are engaging in lashon hora, the defamation of a true friend of Israel and the Jews? Are you and your organization so wrapped up in the Democratic party that right and wrong simply have ceased to matter to you? Or did they not teach about lashon hora where you went to yeshiva?

Before he was in Congress, Colonel West stood with Israel and the Jews in Fort Lauderdale, Florida when pro-Hamas mobs attempted to spew their anti-Semitic bile on the streets. Where were you when that battle was being fought, Rabbi? How do you have the chutzpah to try and demonize this brave man? And to ask me for money to help fund it?

We now have the most anti-Israel administration in history sitting in the White House. Have you forgotten the way the Obama Administration has alreadytrashed previous agreements with Israel, told them they have no right to their religious shrines , threatened an aid cutoff, and instituted what amounts to a de facto arms embargo during the early part of his term?

Do you not recall his deliberate humiliation of Israel's democratically elected leader, and this president's deliberate attempt last May to ambush PM Netanyahu by demanding Israel retreat to what we both know are indefensible borders? Can you possibly defend any of this, or President Obama's non-action on Iran or his championing of the Muslim Brotherhood?

Can you really say honestly that you're unaware of this president's long time intimate association with Israel bashers and anti-semites? Can you imagine what a second term for this president might mean to Israel and the Jews? And you claim that you and the ADL are 'fighting anti-semitism'?

In fact, whether you realize it or not, you are aiding and abetting it, along with the AJC, most of the Council of Presidents and far too much of the self-styled Jewish leadership. This is exactly what occurred during the Shoah, Rabbi, and it's a story I'm sure you know well, although it's probably inconvenient and unpleasant for you to recall it.

I've met you personally at several functions, even had the opportunity to engage in several conversations with you. I'm appealing to the human being behind the title and facade to step into the light.

This goes beyond things like 'Republican' and 'Democrat' and deals with simple human decency and the survival of the Jewish people and Israel. I urge you to think about what you're doing, really think about it.

You could use name and your position do the right thing and truly defend the Jewish people and Israel. Or you can turn away, and try to justify it to your conscience.

Sincerely,
Rob Miller

By the way, Rabbi Foxman's e-mail is afoxman@adl.org

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

Hanukkah - The Festival Of Light And Freedom That Belongs to Us All

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, 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 in mid to late December. 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 victory Jewish war for independence in the second century BCE. The story is told in the First Book of Maccabees, and retold in the Second Book of Maccabees. A more 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 Macedonian Greek empire was split into several parts, and Israel was under the control of the Seleucid empire, a major world power then based in Syria and with territory that extended through Anatolia, modern Turkey. Israel had lived peacefully under both 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 Greek customs and worship.

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 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 well-equipped professional army. There had not been a Jewish army since Babylon had destroyed the Judean kingdom four centuries before. The only weapons the Maccabees had to fight with 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 built 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 and the very first one fought for religious freedom. The miracle, perhaps is that it was fought at all, let alone won.

The Seleucids and Antiochus sent huge 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 and luring the Greek phalanxes and war elephants into the hills where they could not maneuver to destroy 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. Click on it to enlarge it:



One thing that is seldom mentioned about the war today is the fact that a significant part of it took place against Hellenized, `modern',`assimilated' Jewish collaborators 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 personally commanded by the Viceroy Lysias that outnumbered them two to one. The battle took place six miles north of Hebron, near the Jewish fortress of Beth-zur, and that 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. They found the Temple wrecked and horribly desecrated, with obscenities scrawled on the walls and on the Holy Ark by the Seleucid occupiers.

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 without letup. 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 Jews 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 no matter how dark the times, the Light can prevail.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 the proof of that.


Symbols in Hanukkah

Aside from the Hanukkiah (eight pronged 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!

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

Joshuapundit Hoaxed!!

It doesn't happen often, but it happened this time! Jon Bon Jovi is thankfully not dead at all. My apologies!

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

Obama's Media Allies Break Out The Bogus 'Polls' Weapon

*Chuckle* Yes, the president's media allies are at it again.

There are two new polls out today showing a dramatic increase in President Obama's poll numbers...and they're similar enough in their results that I wouldn't be surprised if they were, you know. 'coordinated' to come up with the desired results...and headlines, of course.

The first one, from CNN, claims that "49% of Americans approve of the job Obama's doing in the White House, up five points from last month, with 48% saying they disapprove, down six points from mid-November."

When you look at the actual poll, it claims it was conducted December 16-18 with 1,015 adult Americans by telephone, over 90% with registered voters rather than likely voters. And the margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points, fairly large for such a small sample.

The poll gives no actual mechanics on who was asked and how they identified themselves, so cherry picking and oversampling of certain groups to get the desired numbers - like registered Democrats - is a given.it also includes a 'moderately approve' category, almost a given if the pollster's looking for manipulation room.

What it doesn't hide is that those who 'strongly approve' of President Obama's job performance has gone down over the past year from 30% to 26%, while those whom strongly disapprove has increased from 28% to 33%..and that's with the obvious cherry picking.

The second one, done by the Washington Post/ABC News was conducted by telephone December 15-18 2011, among what the WAPO calls a random national sample of 1,005 adults. It has a 3.5% plus or minus margin of error, again rather large for such a small sample. According to this poll, the president's approval rating in 49% versus a 47% disapproval rating.

The WAPO/ABC poll includes a 'somewhat' category. If we look at those who strongly approve of the president versus those who strongly disapprove, the number is 25% versus 34%.

Even more revealing is the mechanics of the poll, which the WAPO/ABC at least had the honesty to release. They oversampled Democrat by a mere 7%, admitting to polling 32% Democrats to 25% Republicans. The rest of the numbers were made up of 'independents', a very handy catch all for a pollster to make whatever he wanted out of the respondents.

Even more revealing is the breakdown of ideology. According to the poll, the respondents questioned are identified as 23% 'liberal', 36% 'conservative' and 37% 'moderate'. Since we already know that 'moderate' in dinosaur media speak means 'Republicans and others who aren't democrats but normally vote like Democrats', the poll sampling could be as much as 50% to 60% weighted towards the Left end of the spectrum!

Just to show you how doctored these two polls are, by comparison Gallup show the president over the same time period with a 43% approval rating versus a 50% disapproval rating. Rasmussen shows him slightly higher, at 47% approval to 51% disapproval..but with only 21% 'strongly approve' as opposed to 39% 'strongly disapprove'. That's very different, as Emily Latella used to say.

Yes, figures lie and liars figure, especially when it comes to polls. It's all in what you ask and whom you ask.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

Senator Tom Coburn Reveals How Your Tax Dollars Are Wasted...

Senator Tom Coburn, MD (R-OK) is one of my favorite senators, and one who is unfortunately keeping his word to his constituents and retiring after this term.

He just published a report about a number of ways your tax dollars are outright wasted, and he didn't even include the Obama's $4 million plus vacay in the most expensive hotel in Hawaii.

“Video games, robot dragons, Christmas trees, and magic museums. This is not a Christmas wish list, these are just some of the ways the federal government spent your tax dollars. Over the past 12 months, politicians argued, debated and lamented about how to reign in the federal government’s out of control spending. All the while, Washington was on a shopping binge, spending money we do not have on things we do not absolutely need. Instead of cutting wasteful spending, nearly $2.5 billion was added each day in 2011 to our national debt, which now exceeds $15 trillion,” Dr. Coburn said.

“Congress cannot even agree on a plan to pay for the costs of extending jobless benefits to the millions of Americans who are still out of work. Yet, thousands of millionaires are receiving unemployment benefits and billions of dollars of improper payments of unemployment insurance are being made to individuals with jobs and others who do not qualify. And remember those infamous bridges to nowhere in Alaska that became symbols of government waste years ago? The bridges were never built, yet the federal government still spent more than a million dollars just this year to pay for staff to promote one of the bridges.”


Here's a sampling:

• $75,000 to promote awareness about the role Michigan plays in producing Christmas trees & poinsettias.

• $15.3 million for one of the infamous Bridges to Nowhere in Alaska.

• $113,227 for video game preservation center in New York.

• $550,000 for a documentary about how rock music contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

• $48,700 for 2nd annual Hawaii Chocolate Festival, to promote Hawaii’s chocolate industry.

• $350,000 to support an International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy.

• $10 million for a remake of “Sesame Street” for Pakistan.

• $35 million allocated for political party conventions in 2012.

• $765,828 to subsidize “pancakes for yuppies” in the nation’s capital.

• $764,825 to study how college students use mobile devices for social networking.


You can read the entire report, aptly entitled "Wastebook 2011” here as a PDF.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

This Year's White House Xmas Tree Pays Homage to Obama, Not Jesus or Xmas

Speaking of Christmas, they're not, at least not on this year's official Christmas tree at the Capitol:

The 63-foot Sierra White Fir lighted at the U.S. Capitol Grounds on Dec. 6 as the official 2011 Capitol Christmas Tree includes a prominently displayed ornament paying homage to President Barack Obama, but includes no ornament readily visible to a person standing near the tree's base that uses the word “Christmas,” or includes an image of the Nativity, or bears the name or image of Jesus Christ.

On the north side of the tree--at a height of about 4 feet and easily visible to people standing near it---there is an ornament that says: “I ♥ President Obama.”

When asked whether the tree included any ornaments that mention or depict Christmas or the birth of Jesus, the office of the Architect of the Capitol, which is responsible for the tree, told CNSNews.com that it “does not have a policy nor any restrictions concerning the themes for the ornaments” that go on the tree.

According to the linked article, the Capitol Christmas Tree used to be a live tree planted on the grounds, but since 1968 has come from an irregular rotation of states—including West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont, and California. The state that sends the tree in also provides the ornaments it will bear.

This year's provider? California. Of course.

I can't even imagine what's on the White House Christmas tree....hopefully it's not condoms, dildos and other assorted sex toys like it was during the Clinton years.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

An Obama Christmas Carol

Ah, 'tis the season to celebrate all things Obama!

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

The State Of The GOP Race

In this most interesting of election years, the Republican race remains oddly unsettled.

With real unemployment (as opposed to the far less realistic 'official' U-3 unemployment rate) hovering at between 13& and 15% and the president's approval ratings in the low forties, 2012 was largely seen as the GOP's to lose.

Instead, we're seeing something far different as a large number of Republican voters - some estimates are as high as one third - remain dissatisfied with the GOP field as they view the debates and approach the Iowa caucus.

A major part of the sour flavor of the current race comes from the fact that many people who identify themselves as conservatives and Tea Party adherents don't feel like they have a real dog in the fight, especially since Sarah Palin decided not to run.

The race has come down various attempts to try to find a 'not-Romney' just as I predicted; each not-Romney has had their moment in the sun and been revealed as disappointingly less than perfect. Let's look at them in turn:

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann came into the race with solid Tea Party credentials. Given her intelligence, high principles and charisma, for awhile it appeared that she might be able to pick up a lot of Sarah Palin's support. Unfortunately, the fact that she's only been in public life for four years was underlined by a number of unfortunate gaffes and her own admission that she 'should have Googled Ed Rollins' before making the unforced error of hiring him as her campaign manager. Between that early false start and her remarks about an unidentified child getting cancer from a common vaccine, she may simply not be ready for prime time yet. Her results in Iowa are going to say a great deal about her future prospects.

Ex-Senator Rick Santorum brought conservative principles and character into to race and a decent knowledge of foreign policy and national security issues, but he's been handcuffed by two things; his 18 point loss for re-election in Pennsylvania has convinced a lot of people he would be unable to win against President Obama, and his insistence on talking about conservative social issues is not exactly what people want to hear just now.In addition, his persona and speaking style seem to lend itself to being overshadowed by the more high profile candidates. Unlike some of the others, he's never had his moment in the sun yet. His showing in Iowa is also going to say a great deal about his future prospects.

Former Governor and Ambassador John Huntsman - yes, he's in the race too - is actually perhaps a better candidate than some people realize. Not exactly a man with the 'conservative' label associated with him, he nevertheless has some common sense stands on economic matters and on foreign policy, particularly when it comes to China, where he served as our ambassador. However that service, performed at the behest of President Obama has hurt his candidacy, and it's been difficult for him to get traction.

Texas Governor Rick Perry originally seemed like the 'anyone but Romney' dream candidate. To some, I'm sure he still is. Not only did he seem to have a solid reputation as a conservative, but he was the longest serving governor in the US - and the one with by far the best record on job creation. He surged in the polls as soon as he got in the race.

And then, the debates happened.

Not only did they reveal a position on illegal aliens that was sharply at variance with most of the GOP base, but they revealed that he simply was lousy in a debate format period. Perry's failure to name three government departments he would shut down after thumping his chest and announcing it has to rank as one of the most embarrassing gaffes in political history.

While his last couple of outings have been somewhat better, the image of him as a gaffe-prone, fumbling, pro-illegal immigration candidate who might be severely challenged to beat Barack Obama is going to be difficult to erase.

Congressman Ron Paul remains the bête noire of the Republican Party, a paleo-conservative who appeals to what could best be characterized as the diminishing Pat Buchanan, isolationist America Firster wing of the Republican Party.

He holds the distinction of being the one Republican candidate certain to cause a massive Republican crossover vote in favor of President Obama. In fact, as I mentioned before, President Obama and his handlers realize it too, which I think accounts for the sudden respect Paul in getting from the Obama Administration's media allies as well as Paul's higher profile and financial clout.

Paul may actually win the Iowa caucus, which is not an actual primary but amounts to getting one's foot soldiers out into the January snow in sufficient numbers to dominate the caucus voting. He has a very slim chance of actually getting the GOP nomination, but I think there's an excellent chance he may surface as a third party candidate in an attempt to siphon off a few Republican votes.

I group Speaker Newt Gingrich and Governor Mitt Romney together because in many ways they belong together, aside from being the two presumptive front runners. Both are, essentially, big government types, albeit leaning towards the conservative side. Both are known for changing their views frequently on issues like global warming, cap and trade, various social conservative issues and mandated government run healthcare among others. Both have performed well enough in the debates to appear 'presidential'. Both would likely operate as Theodore Roosevelt-style Republicans rather than as conservatives.

Both Governor Romney and Speaker Gingrich have their own set of advantages and disadvantages.

Governor Romney has the executive experience of running a state Newt Gingrich lacks, Unfortunately, his signature achievement while governor of Massachusetts was state mandated healthcare, the direct ancestor of ObamaCare. The Massachusetts plan has been an abysmal failure, and Romney has continued to be associated with it because he's refused to plainly label it as such.

Governor Romney also has the executive experience of being a successful businessman who created jobs and wealth in the private sector. Even his missionary experience as a Mormon comes into play, where he performed with grit and determination amid difficult circumstances and rose to become the head of Mormon missionary activities in France.

Governor Romney also has the distinction, to my mind at least, of giving serious thought to international affairs and national security issues. And he's attracted a top notch group of A-list advisers in these matters because of it.

His main drawbacks? Aside from his association with the Massachusetts health plan, he has the problem of being known as the governor of a very left leaning Northeast blue state at a time when the GOP's strength is concentrated in the South, West and Midwest. His 'likeability ' factor remains in question, with Governor Romney still polling in the 20's among his own party in spite of months of campaigning. And because of his personal wealth, he's an ideal target for the sort of class warfare campaign President Obama will unleash. Nevertheless, as respectable conservative pundits like Ann Coulter have said, he might be the best thing going so far.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich has the advantage of being demonstrably bright and quick on his feet mentally. Many of his supporters associate him with his time as Speaker of the House during the Clinton Administration, the last time Big Government was actually shrunken a bit. Even before that , Gingrich and a few outspoken supporters challenged the status quo in Congress, and eventually delivered a GOP House majority in 1996 that forced changes in how things were done in Washington.

On the minus side,there are also people who remember the arrogant, impulsive, loose cannon side of Gingrich's persona as Speaker, including a number of people who worked with him in Congress. It's an open question as to whether that side of his mercurial personality has changed to the point he would be an effective president.

There's also Gingrich's rather colorful and complicated personal life and his long history as a Washington insider that are going to give a great many people pause when it comes to voting for him as president.

Frankly, there isn't anyone in the above list who has so far excited the Republican base. It remains to be seen if any of the above can overcome their drawbacks and rise above the field.

Not surprisingly, there have been more than a few noises abou tother candidates getting into the race. Because of the way this year's GOP primary schedule is set up, it's actually quite possible that a new candidate could jump in, as Sarah Palin pointed out.

For that matter, from a very different part of the political spectrum , no less than former Florida governor Jeb Bush sounded off with an article on conservatism that could very much be seen as a testing of the waters.

Politics, like nature in general abhors a vacuum. It remains to be seen if that vacuum gets filled from someone who's already in the ring or from someone new from out side it.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

An Excellent Interview With John Bolton

Bolton in excellent form, interviewed in Los Angeles by Stephen Wise Temple's Rabbi David Woznica. December 6, 2011. This is an hour-long video with Ambassador Bolton discussing Israel and Iran, the UN and a lot more.

Well worth the time spent.The sound is somewhat dodgy, so you'll have to turn it up a bit.

(Hat tip Carl)

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

Issa Investigating Sweetheart Loans To Congress - And A Flashback To Obama's Loan

Along with his investigation of a number of instances of Washington malfeasance, Re. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is now pulling the cover off of 'VIP' loans at rates and terms unavailable to the public made to influential members of Congress and their key staff members.

In a letter to Reps. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) and Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), the chairman and ranking member of the House Ethics Committee, Issa stated that he has evidence that four members of Congress got such loans via the now defunct Countrywide Financial in a program called in house by the name 'Friends of Angelo', named for Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide’s founder and former CEO. And that they may have transferred this 'benefit' to favored staff members:

“Documents reviewed by the Committee show that four current members of the U.S. House of Representatives received loans through this VIP program,” Issa said in his Dec. 16 letter to Bonner and Sanchez. “In accordance with this Committee’s policy to forward information relating to possible wrongdoing by Members of Congress to the appropriate ethics committee, I write to bring the existence of these loans to your attention.”

Issa added:”Between January 1996 and June 2008, Countrywide’s VIP unit gave discounted loans to employees of the federal government including the U.S. Congress… My staff is also aware of the possibility that loans with VIP-benefits were conferred to other Members, and serviced by a separate loan processing branch.”

House ethics rules require that lawmakers and staff may only accept “loans from banks and other financial institutions on terms generally available to the public.

While Issa didn't name the four legislators he had in mind, Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), the former chairman of Oversight and Government Reform, has already acknowledged that he got two loans through the 'Friends of Angelo' program. Which of course, he claims he was unaware of!

Two others likely on the list are ex-Senator Chris Dodd,(D-CT) AKA 'Mr. Financial Integrity' and retiring Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), both of whom got sweetheart loans through Countrywide and were casually 'investigated' a while back. Since Dod is already gone, that would leave two more sitting members of Congress Issa is talking about.

Of course, there's another person who got a sweetheart loan back when he was still a sitting senator - and it wasn't through Countrywide.

Yes, that would be the current occupant of the White House, Barack Obama, back when he closed the very interesting transaction he made to buy his Chicago mansion, apparently with the assistance of Tony Rezco...and a very helpful bank:

The freshman Democratic senator received a discount. He locked in an
interest rate of 5.625 percent on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, below the
average for such loans at the time in Chicago. The loan was unusually large,
known in banker lingo as a "super super jumbo." Obama paid no origination fee or
discount points, as some consumers do to reduce their interest rates.

The Obama campaign called the rate "consistent with Northern Trust policies, and it reflected the base rate set for that period discounted to address the competition for the account and other opportunities, such as personal financial services, that the relationship would bring to Northern Trust."

It was a pretty good investment on their part, since Northern Trust later received preferential treatment when it came to taxpayer provided stimulus funds after Barack Obama became president..some of which they spent in rather interesting ways. Other opportunities, indeed.

You'll remember the story on the Obama's Hyde Park mansion of course.

The Obamas apparently bought the place for $300,000 less than the $1.95 million asking price, right at the height of the real estate boom in 2006, something more than a little bit unusual in a seller's market with prices on the upswing.

Funny thing, on the same day the Obamas closed, the wife of Obama's chief fundraiser Tony Rezco closed on an adjoining side lot with the same owner for the full asking price of $625,000, which Tony Rezco's wife Rita later sold to the Obamas at a deep discount.

Odd that a developed property with a palatial house on it would sell for a deep discount in a seller's market while an undeveloped lot next door would go for full asking price.

Unless, of course, the seller received full asking price on the lot in exchange for discounting the price of the house, which would reduce the loan amount, down payment, and property taxes the new owner of the house would have to pay....

Chicago baby. I doubt Darrell Issa's going to be investigating that particular transaction.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!

North Korea's Kim Jong Il Is Dead

If only....no, Kim was no puppet but a real live fascist who delighted in brutalizing, raping and starving his own people.

He was 69 or 70 years old and according to the Norks, died of 'fatigue' during a train ride. Since they're just announcing it now, it could have happened pretty much any time this week.

Kim Jong Eun, the youngest of his three sons, is apparently going to carry on the family regime.

Buh-bye Kim Jong Il. Good riddance.

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!