Barack Obama and Israel

The ascent of Barack Obama from state senator in Illinois to a leading contender for the Presidential nomination in the span of just a few years is remarkable. Especially in light of a noticeably unremarkable record -- a near-blank slate of few accomplishments and numerous missed votes.

However, in one area of foreign policy that concerns millions of Americans, he does have a record and it is a particularly troubling one. For all supporters of the America-Israel relationship there is enough information beyond the glare of the klieg lights to give one pause. In contrast to his canned speeches filled with "poetry" and uplifting aphorisms and delivered in a commanding way, behind the campaign faOade lies a disquieting pattern of behavior.

One seemingly consistent them running throughout Barack Obama's career is his comfort with aligning himself with people who are anti-Israel advocates. This ease around Israel animus has taken various forms. As Obama has continued his political ascent, he has moved up the prestige scale in terms of his associates. Early on in his career he chose a church headed by a former Black Muslim who is a harsh anti-Israel advocate and who may be seen as tinged with anti-Semitism. This church is a member of a denomination whose governing body has taken a series of anti-Israel actions.

As his political fortunes and ambition climbed, he found support from George Soros, multibillionaire promoter of groups that have been consistently harsh and biased critics of the American-Israel relationship. Obama's soothing and inspiring oratory sometimes vanishes when he talks of the Middle East. Indeed, his off-the-cuff remarks have been uniformly taken by supporters of Israel as signs that the inner Obama does not truly support Israel despite what his canned speeches and essays may contain.

Now that Obama has become a leading Presidential candidate, he has assembled a body of foreign policy advisers who signal that a President Obama would likely have an approach towards Israel radically at odds with those of previous Presidents (both Republican and Democrat). A group of experts collected by the Israeli liberal newspaper Haaretz deemed him to be the candidate likely to be least supportive of Israel. He is the candidate most favored by the Arab-American community.

Much more here

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Against the Trend, U.S. Births Way Up: "Bucking the trend in many other wealthy industrialized nations, the United States seems to be experiencing a baby boomlet, reporting the largest number of children born in 45 years. The nearly 4.3 million births in 2006 were mostly due to a bigger population, especially a growing number of Hispanics. That group accounted for nearly one-quarter of all U.S. births. But non-Hispanic white women and other racial and ethnic groups were having more babies, too. An Associated Press review of birth numbers dating to 1909 found the total number of U.S. births was the highest since 1961, near the end of the baby boom. An examination of global data also shows that the United States has a higher fertility rate than every country in continental Europe, as well as Australia, Canada and Japan. Fertility levels in those countries have been lower than the U.S. rate for several years, although some are on the rise, most notably in France." [The French births are mostly to Muslims]

Mitt Romney Vows to Save Buggy Whip, Chamber Pot Industries: "Following on the heels of his promise to save the auto industry in Michigan and the textile industry in South Carolina, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has pledged to save the buggy whip and chamber pot industries, as well as increase the number of professionals in the bloodletting industry. "The buggy whip, chamber pot, and bloodletting industries can only thrive if Washington is an engaged partner and not a disinterested partner," Romney said. "If I'm president of this country, I will roll up my sleeves in the first 100 days I'm in office, and I will personally bring together industry, labor, Congressional, and state leaders and together we will develop a plan to rebuild America's covered wagon, copper crapper, and bleeder industries," promised Romney." (Satire)

Another Hollywood distortion: "A group of retired US drug enforcement agents have sued Hollywood studio NBC Universal, saying the Russell Crowe movie American Gangster falsely makes them out to be villains. The lawsuit claims the movie defamed hundreds of Drug Enforcement Agency agents and New York City police officers by claiming that heroin trafficker Frank Lucas, played by actor Denzel Washington, collaborated with prosecutors, leading "to the convictions of three-quarters of New York City's Drug Enforcement Agency". Lucas became a government informant after his conviction in 1975, and his tips led to prosecutions of several drug dealers. According to the lawsuit, no DEA agents or New York City police officers were ever convicted as a result of Lucas's tips. "This is absolutely off the wall," said Dominic Amorosa, a prosecutor in the federal case against Lucas in 1975 and now representing the DEA agents. Mr Amorosa said the filmmakers unfairly blackened the reputation of agents who risked their lives to put away Lucas and other drug felons in the 70s and 80s. "I don't know what these people were thinking, but they are going to pay for it," he said."

Airport screening ludicrous in Australia too: "The company responsible for security at Brisbane's airports has failed two Federal Government weapons tests in the past three weeks, casting a further cloud on safety levels at the international and domestic terminals. Transport Department inspectors slipped two knives past screeners working for contractor ISS Security as part of random checks on anti-terror measures in the nation's airports. The failures come amid controversy over security at Brisbane's airports after a former Australian Federal Police officer and six former ISS employees revealed regular and unreported security breaches. The concerns included two knives being found on passengers who had already passed through security checkpoints before boarding flights and broad failures of screeners to monitor passengers and baggage. More current and former ISS workers came forward to detail concerns, revealing how Transport Department inspectors had recently slipped knives in a backpack and a briefcase past screeners. They followed another failed random test in the second half of last year."

Congress caves in on defence bill: "The House on Wednesday passed a new defense policy bill that includes a pay raise for troops. President Bush had rejected an earlier version of the legislation because he said it would expose the Iraqi government to expensive lawsuits. The new bill, which passed 369-46, would let Bush grant Iraq immunity under the provision, which otherwise guarantees that U.S. victims of state-sponsored abuse can sue foreign governments in court. Iraqi officials objected to the measure because they said it would have subjected Baghdad to high-dollar payouts in damages from the Saddam Hussein era. The administration now supports the bill, said White House spokesman Tony Fratto"

There is a new lot of postings by Chris Brand just up -- on his usual vastly "incorrect" themes of race and IQ.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, EYE ON BRITAIN and TELSTRA/BIGPOND.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here and here.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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