strategic ally. nice dodge.
You've posted that before. I even watched it. Is there a point you'd like to make in your own words? We're none of us mind readers.
I think you get the point, just playing dumb.
Let's move on...
crofl "Jew Lobby". Are those the new waiting areas proposed under Obamacare?
Where did you go on your last European tour?
it doesn't exist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_..._United_States
Formal lobby
The formal component of the Israel lobby consists of organized lobby groups, political action committees (PACs), think tanks and media watchdog groups. The Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks all lobbies and PACs, describes the ‘background’ of those ‘Pro-Israel’ as, “A nationwide network of local political action committees, generally named after the region their donors come from, supplies much of the pro-Israel money in US politics. Additional funds also come from individuals who bundle contributions to candidates favored by the PACs. The donors' unified goal is to build stronger US-Israel relations and to support Israel in its negotiations and armed conflicts with its Arab neighbors.”[25]Informal lobby
Support for Israel is strong among American Christians of all denominations.[21] Informal Christian support for Israel includes a broad range varieties support for Israel ranging from the programming and news coverage on the Christian Broadcasting Network and the Christian Television Network to the more informal support of the annual Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem.[22]
Informal lobbying also includes the activities of Jewish groups. Some scholars view Jewish lobbying on behalf of Israel as one of many examples of a US ethnic group lobbying on behalf of an ethnic homeland,[23] which has met with a degree of success largely because Israel is strongly supported by a far larger and more influential Christian movement that shares its goals.[24] In a 2006 article in the London Review of Books, Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt wrote:A summary of pro-Israel campaign donations for the period of 1990–2008 collected by Center for Responsive Politics indicates current totals and a general increase in proportional donations to the US Republican party since 1996.[45] The Washington Post summarized the Center for Responsive Politics' 1990–2006 data and concluded that "Pro-Israel interests have contributed $56.8 million in individual, group and soft money donations to federal candidates and party committees since 1990."[46] In contrast, Arab-Americans and Muslim PACs contributed slightly less than $800,000 during the same (1990–2006) period.[47]
J.J. Goldberg wrote in his 1994 book Jewish Power that 45% of the Democratic Party’s fundraising and 25% of that for the Republican Party came from Jewish-funded Political Action Committees.[48] Richard Cohen, a columnist for the Washington Post, updated those figures in 2006 citing figures of 60% and 35% respectively for the Democratic and Republican Parties. According to the Washington Post, Democratic presidential candidates depend on Jewish sources for 60% of money from private sources.[49]
that's an Israel lobby. subtle difference, for some.
We all get the point, you do nothing but.
Given the fact that Israel is a Jewish semi-theocracy, the terms Jew/Jewish/Israeli are interchangeable.
did you have a point about historical Jewish support for the Democratic party? voting for Dems and against its own apparent self-interest, allegedly?
yawn
Outside of Israel, for non-citizens? I disagree. Please speak for yourself.
what's the matter with Kansas?
THAT is an absolutely ignorant thing to say. I lived there for a year as a consultant. I have never been in a more secular/atheistic country. But why would I expect anything from you that wasn't bent? You tell us all about yourself, right up front:
One genuine accomplishment in Che Guevara's life: the mass-murder of defenseless men and boys. At everything else Che Guevara failed abysmally, even comically.
Upon arriving in Havana on January of 1959 after an utterly bogus guerrilla war, Che Guevara immediately recognized the moat around Havana's La Cabana fortress as a handy-dandy execution pit. Hitler's SS had to dig them. Here Che Guevara had one ready made.
His favorite tool in the struggle for free education and health care was a shot to the back of the victim’s head. According to the authoritative "Black Book of Communism," Castro and Che’s firing squads riddled 14,000 bound and gagged freedom-fighters. Many (perhaps most) of their murder victims were boys in their late-teens and early 20s. Some were even younger.
Carlos Machado and his twin brother Ramon were 15 when they spat in the face of their communist executioners and died singing their national anthem as lustily as they cursed Che Guevara's Internationale.
A bona fide coward, Guevara died whipering "Don't Shoot! I'm Che! I'm worth to you more alive than dead!" This sniveling shout was heard by the two Bolivian soldiers when they confronted Che and his guerrilla charge Willi. Che immediately dropped his fully loaded weapons and started his whimpering. (That's two Bolivian soldiers against two armed guerrillas, by the way.)
BTW - "Jew" isn't a pejorative, except in the small minds of some bigots. They call themselves Jews. "Jewish" is typically used in relation to religion, but not always. There are lots of non-Jew Israelis. The Bedouin communities are all over the country, for instance. And, just to be clear, Israeli Jews are incredibly tolerant of non-Jew Arabs in the country. There is a mosque in downtown Tel Aviv that was falling apart. The Jews paid to have it restored for them. They don't, as many would have you believe, knock down mosques or even talk mean to them. Most of the residents said things like, "You have to see their side of things." The local Arabs never said anything close to that.
The Jews are constantly working outside, cleaning their houses and yards, and keeping them up. The Arabs? Not so much. Consequently, the Jewish quarter in Jerusalem is pristine and attractive. The Arab quarter is a crap-hole. And it's not a matter of money, no matter what the people like Che tell you. It's a matter of effort and lifestyle choice. I could give a few hundred more examples (like the difference between Israel and Jordan), but I won't take all day. It's enough to say that the propaganda you read doesn't meet the reality. And the people spreading the propaganda don't give a .
Let's face the facts, Israel is a semi-theocracy
Between Stockholm and Tehran, Israel of 2009, with its many religious attributes, is closer to Tehran.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition...eocracy-1.2438
The storm over remarks made by Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman is in many respects a tempest in a teapot, which has for a long time taken on holier aspects than it seems. Neeman wants Torah law, or in other words, he wants Israel to be a country governed by Jewish religious law, halakha. In any event, Israel is already a semi-theocracy. The Israelis who were frightened by the minister's remarks and who love viewing their country as liberal, Western and secular are forgetting that our life here is more religious, traditional and halakhic than we are prepared to admit.
Between Stockholm and Tehran, Israel of 2009 is much closer to Tehran. From birth to death, from cir cision to funeral, from the establishment of the state to the establishment of the last of the illegal outposts in the West Bank - we are operating in the shadow of the commandments of religion. We should be honest with ourselves and admit it already: The country is too religious. Neeman just wanted to take this one step further, something one can and must come out against; but the religious-nationalist campaign began a long time ago, and it is still going strong.
It begins, of course, with the fact of our presence here. Among other things, it is based on theological reasoning. Abraham the Patriarch was here, so we are, too. He bought the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, so we, too, are in Palestinian Hebron. People who are entirely secular also cite religious and biblical explanations for the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. We can't even say whether Judaism is a religion or a nationality - and in any event, there is no other country in the Western world where religion has its holy iron grip on the state as it does in Israel.
Let's admit that we live in a country with many religious and halakhic attributes. Let's remove the concocted secularist guise with which we have wrapped ourselves. Shocked by Neeman's remarks? They are not so far removed from the reality of our lives. Israel is not what you thought. It's definitely not what we try to present to ourselves and the rest of the world.
10 Ways AIPAC Undermines Democracy at Home and in the Middle East
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is one of the most powerful lobby organizations in the country. On March 4-6, AIPAC will be holding its annual policy conference in Washington DC. The speakers include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Barack Obama, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Republican candidate Newt Gingrich and a host of other powerful politicians.
AIPAC has tremendous clout but its influence has been disastrous for U.S. foreign policy and U.S. democracy. Here are ten reasons why AIPAC is so dangerous.
1. AIPAC is lobbying Congress to promote a military confrontation with Iran. AIPAC – like the Israeli government – is demanding that the U.S. attack Iran militarily to prevent Iran from having the technological capacity to produce nuclear weapons, even though U.S. officials say Iran isn’t trying to build a weapon (and even though Israel has hundreds of undeclared nuclear weapons). AIPAC has successfully lobbied the U.S. government to adopt crippling economic sanctions on Iran, including trying to cut off Iran’s oil exports, despite the fact that these sanctions raise the price of gas and threaten the U.S. economy.
2. AIPAC promotes Israeli policies that are in direct opposition to international law. These include the establishment of colonies (settlements) in the Occupied West Bank and the confiscation of Palestinian land in its construction of the 26-foot high concrete “separation barrier” running through the West Bank. The support of these illegal practices makes to impossible to achieve a solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict.
3. AIPAC’s call for unconditional support for the Israeli government threatens our national security. The United States’ one-sided support of Israel, demanded by AIPAC, has significantly increased anti-American sentiment throughout the Middle East, thus endangering our troops and sowing the seeds of more possible terrorist attacks against us. Gen. David Petraeus on March 16, 2010 admitted that the U.S./Palestine conflict “foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel.” He also said that “Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples in the [region] and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger to mobilize support.”
4. AIPAC undermines American support for democracy movements in the Arab world. AIPAC looks at the entire Arab world through the lens of Israeli government interests, not the democratic aspirations of the Arab people. It has therefore supported corrupt, repressive regimes that are friendly to the Israeli government, such as Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. Events now unfolding in the Middle East should convince U.S. policy-makers of the need to break from AIPAC’s grip and instead support democratic forces in the Arab world.
5. AIPAC makes the U.S. a pariah at the UN. AIPAC describes the UN as a body hostile to the State of Israel and has pressured the U.S. government to oppose resolutions calling Israel to account. Since 1972, the US has vetoed 44 UN Security Council resolutions condemning Israel’s actions against the Palestinians. President Obama continues that policy. Under Obama, the US vetoed UN censure of the savage Israeli assault on Gaza in January 2009 in which about 1400 Palestinians were killed; a 2011 resolution calling for a halt to the illegal Israeli West Bank settlements even though this was stated U.S. policy; a 2011 resolution calling for Israel to cease obstructing the work of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees; and another resolution calling for an end to illegal Israeli settlement building in East Jerusalem and the occupied Golan Heights.
6. AIPAC attacks politicians who question unconditional support of Israel. AIPAC demands that Congress to rubber stamp legislation drafted by AIPAC staff. It keeps a record of how members of Congress vote and this record is used by donors to make contributions to the politicians who score well. Members of Congress who fail to support AIPAC legislation have been targeted for defeat in re-election bids. These include Senators Adlai Stevenson III and Charles H. Percy, and Representatives Paul Findley, Pete McCloskey, Cynthia McKinney, and Earl F. Hilliard. AIPAC’s overwhelmingly disproportionate influence on Congress subverts our democratic system.
7. AIPAC attempts to silence all criticism of Israel by labeling critics as “anti-Semitic,” “de-legitimizers” or “self-hating Jews.” Journalists, think tanks, students and professors have been accused of anti-Semitism for merely taking stands critical of Israeli government policies. These attacks stifle the critical discussions and debates that are at the heart of democratic policy-making. The recent attacks on staffers at the Center for American Progress is but one example of AIPAC efforts to crush all dissent.
8. AIPAC feeds U.S. government officials a distorted view of the Israel/Palestine conflict. AIPAC takes U.S. representatives on sugar-coated trips to Israel. In 2011, AIPAC took one out of very five members of Congress—and many of their spouses—on a free junket to Israel to see precisely what the Israeli government wanted them to see. It is illegal for lobby groups to take Congresspeople on trips, but AIPAC gets around the law by creating a bogus educational group, AIEF, to “organize” the trips for them. AIEF has the same office address as AIPAC and the same staff. These trips help cement the ties between AIPAC and Congress, furthering their undue influence.
9. AIPAC lobbies for billions of U.S. taxdollars to go to Israel instead of rebuilding America. While our country is reeling from a prolonged financial crisis, AIPAC is pushing for no cuts in military funds for Israel, a wealthy nation. With communities across the nation slashing budgets for teachers, firefighters and police, AIPAC pushes for over $3 billion a year to Israel.
10. Money to Israel takes funds from world’s poor. Israel has the 24th largest economy in the world, but thanks to AIPAC, it gets more U.S. taxdollars than any other country. At a time when the foreign aid budget is being slashed, keeping the lion’s share of foreign assistance for Israel meaning taking funds from critical programs to feed, provide shelter and offer emergency assistance to the world’s poorest people.
The bottom line is that AIPAC, which is a de facto agent for a foreign government, has influence on U.S. policy out of all proportion to the number of Americans who support its policies. When a small group like this has disproportionate power, that hurts everyone—including Israelis and American Jews.
From stopping a catastrophic war with Iran to finally solving the Israel/Palestine conflict, an essential starting point is breaking AIPAC’s grip on U.S. policy.
www.alternet.org/module/printversion/154353
...
Last edited by boutons_deux; 02-29-2012 at 08:38 PM.
You're quoting another socialist asshole like yourself, who thinks that any religion is too much religion. Of course he is going to see things the same way you do. The percentage of people in Israel who would support adopting Torah law is infinitesimal. In fact, the idea of it actually happening is laughable. But there are always people who would like to stamp out any vestige of religious speech. Your heroes.
I lived there and saw things first hand. The only thing you know is the group-think crap you read. The fact that one asshole writes an article is supposed to override reality? Maybe in your world - not in mine.
Heh... Che is out there right now researching. When he finds out that the guy he quoted is, in fact, a socialist asshole who believes that any religion is too much religion, he'll have to take a different approach. A direct rebuttal won't be possible, so he'll have to resort to distraction and deflection. The oblique approach. With any luck he will craft his response without reading this, and I will look positively psychic.
For those of you who are more objective - let me assure you. Isreal is so far from Tehran, and their religious oligarchy, that is is silly to even think in those terms.
The non-Jew Arabs who live in Israel claim that they were settled in Jerusalem, and that it was their capital, long before the Jews ever arrived there - in spite of overwhelming archeological evidence. Che would scream if someone was ignoring archaeology to, say, dispute evolution. But in this case, he will overlook it.
See, the Mexicans do own California and Texas...check the archaeology!The non-Jew Arabs who live in Israel claim that they were settled in Jerusalem, and that it was their capital, long before the Jews ever arrived there - in spite of overwhelming archeological evidence. Che would scream if someone was ignoring archaeology to, say, dispute evolution. But in this case, he will overlook it.
but Netanyahu and Ahmedinejad are nearly indistinguishable...Isreal is so far from Tehran
Israel's Haaretz and Israel Hayom newspapers reported Wednesday that Netanyahu wants Obama to deliver an explicit military threat to Iran in a joint statement to be issued after the meeting.Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...#ixzz1nqNb8ZymIsraeli officials have told the U.S. it will not give any warning of an impending attack
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...#ixzz1nqNLslBQ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad"Israel's regime will be wiped off the map"
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archive....php?ref=fpblgIf you listen to the on-going political conversation in Washington, Israelis hate President Obama and are pining for a Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney to take the White House, destroy Iran and generally make the world a happy place again. But a new poll paints a very different picture.
For starters, the poll shows that when it comes to the coming presidential election itself Jewish Israelis prefer President Obama to all four of the remaining Republican candidates. Mitt Romney gets closest — Obama 32%, Romney 29%. Santorum does the worst — Obama 34%, Santorum 21%.
Ironically (or perhaps not ironically — who knows?), when the poll was opened up to all Israelis (i.e., Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs), Mitt ties Obama.
As you can see, the poll found very high numbers of undecideds, which you’d expect when talking about the leadership of another country. But the really interesting data comes on the question of an attack on Iran — particularly the level of support if it’s done without the sign-off of the United States.
Here’s the breakdown.
19% of Jewish Israelis support a strike against Iran even without the backing of the United States.
42% say they support only if there is US support for the move.
32% say they don’t support it under any cir stances.
The poll was conducted by Shibley Telhami, Brookings Nonresident Senior Fellow and the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland. The poll itself is online here.
Even those who don't claim that, say that Jerusalem belongs to them. They seem to have a mentality that once any of their kind was someplace, it belongs to them.
So why do you think Oregon belongs to your kind?
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