Recycled rhetoric to the rescue!

Doesn’t it feel like Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin is being groomed to be a politician a little too late? I mean, she’s only an election and a heart-beat away from being the leader of the free world.  Shouldn’t she have this shit down already, or, at least grant a proper interview.

What’s with these lame-ass pre-formulated spoon fed one-liners?

U.S. Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin told the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC on Tuesday that she would “work to expand and deepen the strategic partnership between U.S. and Israel,” the group’s spokesman told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Palin spent Tuesday in her hotel suite with campaign aides working on her speech at the Republican Convention scheduled for Wednesday. Sources familiar with her schedule said that she also had a private session with Jewish Senator Joe Lieberman.

I’m ready to hear a real speech from Mrs. Alaska outside parties comfort zone (or People magazine). Bring it, lady. We’re all waiting.

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During a visit with Lebanese officials, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas officially affirms the right of Palestinians to return to their traditional homeland in Israel.

On a related note, I’m officially affirming my right to drink amaretto stone sours while driving 100 MPH on the Kennedy Expressway while doing lines of coke off my dashboard.

What’s that you say? Nothing I say actually means shit? Maybe Abbas and I have more in common than I thought.

Abbas said all Palestinians should have the right to return home.

When it comes to armed Palestinian factions, however, Abbas said he supports any decisions the Lebanese government makes on how to deal with militants outside refugee camps.

Abbas spoke to reporters Thursday in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.

About 400,000 Palestinian refugees and their descendants live in a dozen refugee camps in Lebanon, which were set up when Israel was created in 1948.

Many Lebanese also oppose the permanent resettlement of Palestinian refugees, fearing they would tip the country’s delicate sectarian balance.

Glad that problem’s taken care of.  Now where’s my refill?

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Remember that Austrian guy who locked his daughter in a basement for 24 years?  This story is sorta like that only the children were locked in an underground cave…. in the Holy Land….  and with less vacationing in Thailand:

Nablus – Ma’an – Police in the West Bank city of Hebron arrested a man for allegedly imprisoning his son and daughter, who are now in their thirties, in two caves for over 20 years.

Police said they found the siblings in the adjoining caves during a security sweep for drugs and weapons dealers.

Only one passage leads to the two caves, which lack light and ventilation.

The siblings were taken for medical and psychological treatment.

Preliminary investigations show that the suspect was a widower who remarried. He and his wife told the police that the children were mentally disabled, and they locked them away to “avoid embarrassment.”

On Monday police announced that arrests had been made in a similar case, where a man chained and tortured his maid and young daughter in Bethlehem.

Plato would be so proud.

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….absolutely nothing besides ungratefulness:

Muhammas Hussein was waiting for his nephew Fayez, who has been jailed for five years. “It’s hard to say we are happy,” he said. “It’s true we are satisfied with Fayez’s release, but it’s hard to say that this move is even a drop in the sea, because it’s much less.

“What are 200 prisoners out of more than 10,000? I don’t know how they can talk about a gesture? What gesture? Where is the gesture?”

This is exactly why peace negotiations are describe as far from possible.

Did I mention that two of the Palestinian men released today were serving life sentences for murder?

Said al-Atba was convicted for his part in a 1977 explosion in Petah Tikva’s market that killed Russian immigrant Tzila Galili, 54, who had made aliya four years earlier. The longest-held Palestinian prisoner, Atba had been convicted of bomb-making, planting explosives, illegal military training and membership in a illegal organization.

Muhammad Abu Ali had been jailed for life for the fatal shooting of 20-year-old yeshiva student Joshua Saloma, a newly arrived Danish immigrant, in Hebron in 1980. He was later convicted of killing a Palestinian in jail whom he had accused of collaborating with Israel.

I can’t see how any of the prisioner releases will be worthwhile in the end.  As long as Hamas is in control of Palestine, peace negotians will never conclude and Olmert will continue to go down in history as the most damning Israeli Prime Minister ever.

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It’s like trying to resuscitate an already vegetative corps:

The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority will receive a financial boost from Saudi Arabia to help Prime Minister Salam Fayyad pay public sector salaries, Palestinian officials said on Saturday.

“The Saudi finance minister told the Palestinian Authority that the decision was made to transfer $100 million,” said Palestinian Information Minister Riyad al-Malki.

Malki said the money was part of pledges made to the Palestinian Authority at a donors conference in Paris in December and expected the transfer to arrive in the coming days.

Fayyad has struggled in recent months to pay government workers because many Arab donors have not met their financial commitments.

Maybe because the Arab donors are smart enough not to actually donate money to the palsyated Hamas government.  Pledging money is one thing (It’s great for public relations.  Arab brotherhood and all), but actually GIVING them the money??

Speaking of Arab support of Palestine, the ever dubious DEBKA file “military source” suggests a mainly Egyptian military force of 3,000 will be pledged to “assist” the impoverished Palestine:

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that a new 11-point scheme, just developed by Saudi King Abdullah and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, provides for the bulk of the 3,000-strong force to be Egyptian. The plan would effectively restore Egypt’s pre-1967 domination of the Gaza Strip.

It will be presented to Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak when he visits Mubarak’s summer palace in Alexandria, Tuesday, Aug. 26.

In 1967, (The Six Day War as dubbed by Israel) Egypt had complete control over the Gaza strip during it’s war with Israel.  Are they suggesting a “softer” occupation in conjunction with Israeli and Saudi support?

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Don’t all countries want their children to have swastika tattoos? I miss the days of candy cigarettes and toy machine guns. Now you want to deprive me of my swastikas?

Parents who bought candies for their children at the Super-Pharm drugstore chain in Tel Aviv were surprised to discover swastika-decorated tattoo stickers inside.

The sweets came from Holland but received a hechsher (a kosher approval) from the Chief Rabbinate and have a Super-Pharm sticker on their wrapping. Children who bought the raspberry-flavored sour stick candies received tattoos inside, some of which were imprinted with swastikas and skulls.

As mentioned, these are imported candies, but the packaging promises in Hebrew that a gift can be found inside.

….and they received a kosher approval stamp from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel!

The ultimate faux pas?

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Today, August 21st, marks the birthday of two of the greatest minds our generation has ever seen. Let’s take a moment to observe the importance of their births and reflect on how different the world would be without them:

[pic] Israel President Shimon Peres and Ms. Missive

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Two men get married. Two men have a child.  Two men divorce.  One of the men kidnaps the child and flees to Israel?  (Insert record scratch here.)

The first ever kidnapping of a gay married couple’s child happened just a few weeks ago in New York.  In a unusual turn of events,  the estranged ex-husband dragged the kid all the way to Israel.

The father and child were found in Jerusalem five days ago and the child returned to his (other) father in New York.  Strangely, the news made little splash in either American or Israeli news sources:

Israeli police found 23-month-old Jedidiah Hyett-Glazer in Jerusalem and returned him to his legal father, Josh Glazer, of Manhattan.

“It’s the most wonderful feeling in the world to have him back,” Glazer said by phone from Israel. “I was really so happy to see he was OK and well. He was a little dirty and hadn’t been bathed, but none of that mattered.

Glazer’s ex-partner, Eric Hyett, was not immediately arrested. Authorities in Israel were still mulling whether to take him into custody and return him to New York to face charges of custodial interference, said Glazer’s lawyer, Sam Ferrara.

That’s it?  The man stole a baby and took him to Israel and they’re still “mulling” over taking him into custody?  What are the legal boundries in a situation like this?  Are there restrictions on the Israeli police from arresting Americans?  If so, does anyone else see a major gaping bull-shit loop hole here that needs plugging?

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It sends a message to capture even more Israeli soldiers.

When Olmert decided to exchange several high profile Lebanese prisoners for two deceased Israeli soldiers, I was shocked.  His heart was in the right place but we’re not dealing with the usual suspects here.  It reveals the Israeli Achilles’ heal.  At the end of August, Olmert will do it again but this time releasing 150 Palestinian prisoners.

This news item from Palestine is EXACTLY why I think Olmert’s decision is fatally wrong:

PRC rehearses kidnapping of IDF soldier

The Salah al-Din Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), conducted an exercise in Beit Hanoun on Saturday in which it rehearsed a raid of an IDF base and the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier.

PRC spokesman Abu Abir told Ynet that the drill was aimed at sending a message that “if the Israelis don’t resolve the Palestinian prisoners issue soon and contemplate attacking Gaza, the Palestinian resistance is prepared to not only defend the Strip but also take the initiative and kidnap more soldiers who will never see the light of day unless a prisoner exchange deal is signed.”

It’s a veritable gold mine for the Palestinians.  Capture Israeli soldiers and be rewarded.

To ad insult to injury, the PRC spokesman added:

According to Abu Abir, some 50 PRC members took part in the drill, adding that the gunmen who portrayed the kidnapped IDF soldier “looked very much like Gilad Shalit”.

You’re poking the lion with that one, Mr. Abir.

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A letter written by one of three Palestinian Fulbright students who had their U.S. student visas canceled last week was printed in the San Diego Union-Tribune yesterday.

Fidaa Abed, who was anticipating a Masters Degree in Computer Science from UC San Diego, writes:

Last week, I landed in Washington, D.C., brimming with optimism. Upon arrival, I was whisked into a separate room. An American official informed me that he had just received information about me that he could not reveal. However, it required him to put me on the next plane home. I was shocked. And I was taken aback at the cruelty of snatching away my educational dreams at the last possible moment.

I’d like to mention that four other Gaza Fulbright students passed their security clearances and are currently studying in the United States.  Why Fidaa Abed didn’t pass still hasn’t been revealed but it should be noted that it wasn’t a blanket decision to block ALL of the Palestinian Fulbright scholars from attending American universities.

Who does Mr. Abed blame?

Israel tightened economic restrictions in 2006 following the election victory of Hamas. Hoping to weaken Hamas, Israel has gradually tightened restrictions on freedom of goods and people from the Gaza Strip to the outside world, maintaining a near total blockade on some 1.5 million Palestinian civilians for more than a year.

Thankfully, I have received support from people around the world. Journalists have wanted to hear my story. The American officials who saw me in Amman and Jerusalem upon my return were friendly and seemed embarrassed by my predicament.

Despite my treatment, I know that most Americans are kind people who mean well. What happened to me runs contrary to the good will exhibited by the American people. Israeli policies that relegate Palestinians in Gaza to prison-like conditions and Palestinians in the West Bank to an apartheid-like existence do not advance the cause of peace. The United States should use its tremendous sway with Israel to advance the cause of freedom and equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis alike.

According to Mr. Abed, the United States is under the thumb of Israel and the reason he was declined a visa was simply because Israel didn’t like the glisten in his eyes.

Stop pulling at my heart strings, fella.  The truth will be revealed all in due time.

Continue reading complete letter here.

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