GERALDO IS ARAFAT'S APOLOGIST

Via Mediaite and Hot Air, we see the disgusting sight of cruddy news anchor turned (un)aspiring politician Geraldo Rivera defending the indefensible: the PLO's late dictator. And this man, pay careful attention, intends to run for senator in the tri-state area on a Republican ticket.

Anyone who votes for such an atrocious man has got to be out of their minds. I never found him very interesting as a talk show host or a news anchor, and he'd make just as bad - possible worse - a politician.

VERY STUPID OF BIBI: HE APOLOGIZED TO ERDOGAN FOR MAVI MARMARA DEATHS

In what was apparently a gesture for Obama's sake, Netanyahu called up Turkish premier Erdogan to apologize for the 9 deaths on the flotilla a few years ago:

In a dramatic development that occurred just as US President Barack Obama was leaving the country, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan for the first time since the Israeli prime minister took power in 2009.

Netanyahu voiced regret for the loss of life in the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, apologizing for any mistakes that led to the death of nine Turkish activists. Breaking a three-year deadlock, the two agreed to normalize relations.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed an apology to the Turkish people for any error that may have led to the loss of life, and agreed to complete the agreement for compensation," the statement said.

The conversation was facilitated by US President Barack Obama, taking place during Obama's prolonged meeting with Netanyahu on Friday afternoon. [...]

Erdogan had told Denmark’s Politiken newspaper that he would not take back his comments from several weeks ago that Zionism was a crime against humanity. He did, however, try to explain them as a misunderstanding.“My several statements openly condemning anti-Semitism clearly display my position on this issue. In this context, I stand behind my remarks in Vienna,” said Erdogan in the interview, which was published Wednesday.

What statements condemning hatred did he make? I don't think he's ever made any.

As Ben Shapiro reminds:

[...] The Marmara passengers resisted by beating Israeli troops with iron bars and knives. Nine activists were killed in the ensuing chaos. Even the United Nations found that the blockade by Israel was legal. Turkish attempts to break the Israeli blockade were clearly in violation of international law.

But President Obama, seeking to inject himself into a dispute on behalf of Islamists everywhere, told Netanyahu to call up Erdogan. Netanyahu reportedly told Erdogan that the State of Israel regretted the loss of life and that any loss of life was unintentional. Meanwhile, Erdogan said that he “valued centuries-long strong friendship and cooperation between the Turkish and Jewish nations.” He did not say that he valued friendship with the Jewish state.

What Netanyahu's done - all for Obama's sake - is extremely irresponsible and will not avail Israel's relations with Turkey for long. All it does is encourage Erdogan and company to think they can exploit Israel as they please. This is a very grave error on Netanyahu's part, something he could have avoided, and sadly, he didn't.

Update: Avigdor Lieberman's slammed Netanyahu for his act of dhimmitude:

In response, Lieberman said in a statement, “Anyone who saw the photos taken on the Mavi Marmara understands beyond any doubt that IDF soldiers acted in self-defense against the activists of the IHH organization, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Europe.

"Such an apology harms IDF soldiers' motivation and their willingness to go out on future missions, and strengthens the radical elements in the region,” said the former Foreign Minister.

"Worse still is the fact that the apology also affects Israel’s uncompromising struggle for righteousness, morality and for the morality of its soldiers," Lieberman said, adding that he appreciates the good relations that existed for many years between the Jewish people and the Turkish people, but the current leadership in Turkey under Erdogan is solely responsible for the deterioration of relations between the two countries.

“Erdogan’s tirades against Israel whenever possible, starting with the attack on President Peres in 2009 at the Davos conference and until his statement a few weeks ago that Zionism is racism and a crime against humanity, along with his refusal to apologize for this statement, violate the dignity and status of Israel in the region and the entire world,” concluded Lieberman.

Netanyahu has only resulted in serious embarrassment. Is it any wonder the Likud didn't do very well in the last election?

Update 2: one of Bayit Yehudi's MKs has responded too:

"And yet, Israel does not have the privilege to apologize for its soldiers actions, when they acted in accordance with the principles of the IDF's ethical code and its definition of 'the purity of arms.' The apology amounts to a knife-stab in the back of the IDF's combat soldiers and commanders. It sends a grave message to our soldiers, 'we don't have your backs.' As a soldier and commander in all sectors of warfare I can testify that government backing is critical for the soldier at the front."

The apology to Turkey will cause more damage than good, the new MK said. "What is more, it constitutes a dangerous precedent that will encourage anti-Zionist organizations to continue [operating] the mechanism of delegitimizing Israel in general and the IDF in particular."

Netanyahu has done a grave disservice to the army. I think I know where his next apology should go to.

NOAA RAINFALL DATA "WILDLY WRONG"

IF THEY CAN'T MEASURE RAINFALL - AND THIS STUDY PROVES THEY CANNOT - THEN HOW CAN ANYONE BELIEVE THEIR OTHER ANALYSES?

WE SHOULDN'T.

AND REMEMBER: EPA BASES A LOT OF THEIR REG'S ON NOAA.

AND NOTE THIS:

THE CO2PHOBIC CROWD ERRORS NEVER EVER GO IN THE DIRECTION OF MAKING CO2 SEEM LESS THREATENING. 

• PLEASE RECALL THEIR "POLAR BEARS ARE VANISHING!" DATA 
• AND THE RECENT "GREENLAND IS MELTING!" DATA 
• AND THEIR "HOCKEY STICK" 
• AND THE RECENT MARCOTT REPORT 
• AND ALL OF HANNSEN'S PREDICTIONS 

HAVE ALL BEEN PROVEN TO BE TRUMPED-UP, PHONY, LIE-FILLED, DISTORTIONS AND TOTALLY, COMPLETELY WILDLY INACCURATE BULLSH*T.

WHICH MEANS THEIR ERRORS AREN'T RANDOM - IF THEY WERE RANDOM THEN ONCE IN A WHILE THEY MIGHT SHOW CO2 MIGHT BE LESS OF THREAT. 

THIS PROVES THAT THEY ARE BIASED AND DELIBERATELY TWISTING THE DATA FOR POLITICAL REASONS.

IOW: THE CO2PHOBIC ALARMIST CAMP SHOULD NOT BE TRUSTED.

• BECAUSE THEIR POLICIES HAVE RAISED THE COST OF ENERGY GLOBALLY...

• ... AND REDUCED THE AMOUNT OF INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT GLOBALLY,

• THE CLIMATE CHANGE COMPLEX -

• COMPRISED OF LEFT-WING ACADEMICS, REGULATION-LOVING BUREAUCRATS AND LIBERAL POLITICIANS WHO FAVOR SOCIALISTIC POLICIES -

• IS THE SECOND GREATEST THREAT TO WESTERN CIVILIZATION - RIGHT AFTER GLOBAL JIHAD.

THOUGH THEY PROBABLY THINK OF THEMSELVES AS DO-GOODERS AND THOUGH THEY PROBABLY SEE THEIR DELIBERATE LIES AS ULTIMATELY FORGIVABLE (BECAUSE THEY SERVE "THE COMMON GOOD"), THE CLIMATE CHANGE COMPLEX IS ACTUALLY A REGRESSIVE FORCE:

THE POLICES OF THE CO2PHOBIC CLIMATE CHANGE COMPLEX HAVE PREVENTED THE THIRD WORLD FROM DEVELOPING INDUSTRIALLY AND THIS IS KEEPING POOR PEOPLE POOR.

IF WE WANT TO END GLOBAL POVERTY, THEN WE HAVE TO DEMOLISH THE CLIMATE CHANGE COMPLEX.

TWO POPES MEET FOR FIRST TIME EVER!

REAL STORY HERE.

GREAT: SENATE ENDS 4 YEARS OF DERELICTION OF DUTY BY PASSING A BUDGET - $1TRILLION IN NEW TAXES

Senate passes first budget in four years 

Plan calls for nearly $1 trillion in new taxes over the next decade and only modest reductions in government spending, setting the stage for talks with the GOP-controlled House.

A TRILLION IN NEW TAXES HERE. A TRILLION A NEW TAXES THERE. PRETTY SOON, YOU'RE TALKING REAL TAXES.

TODAY'S EDUCATION SYSTEM AND MARXISM

From Conservative Hideout 2.0:

How the State Standards are Indoctrinating our Youth with Marxist Views on the Great Depression

For many long years conservatives have failed badly in teaching the lessons of the Great Depression, instead deferring to the liberals and accepting their ‘lessons’ as the reality of the situation. The damage from years and years of learning the wrong lessons from the Great Depression is that today our nation is replicating the same sorts of policies that led to and lengthened the Depression and it is questionable whether or not there are enough around still educated in different lessons to implement different policies that will lead our nation to greater success and liberty and prosperity.

In 2004, the State of Michigan adopted a revised set of social studies standards- the high school’s standards are called the High School Content Expectations. These HSCE’s are intended to establish what every high school student that graduates from Michigan should know by the time they graduate...

A specific example of material included in this indoctrination program:

...7.1.3 covers “The New Deal,” and according to the state guidelines which all teachers follow which all students learn, students are to take away from this time period several lessons. First, students are supposed to learn that the federal government has a responsibility to protect the environment and should do so by violating the Constitution (TVA) and taking control over formally private business activities- yet this is a judgement and not a history lesson and should not be pushed in public schools. Second, students are supposed to learn that the national government is supposed to be meeting challenges of unemployment by creating jobs, as if a political system designed to protect people’s liberty and property can exist in a nation where the government takes wealth from one group and redistributes it to another and creates businesses in competition to private companies. Students are supposed to learn how the Supreme Court then was wrong in striking down these unconstitutional attempts to twist our nation from a republic into a fascist dictatorship, and that opponents of the New Deal were just heartless and evil businessman who wanted to continue making a buck like the Marxists teach. Finally, students are to learn the consequences of the New Deal, which are listed as “promoting workers’ rights, development of Social Security program, and banking and financial regulation, conservation practices, crop subsidies”- all good consequences and not a single bad consequence listed. Nowhere is it mentioned that the Great Depression was in reality several recessions, all caused by these policies, and that our nation didn’t recover from the Depression until FDR died and many of his policies were rejected and repealed in the 1950′s....

Much more HERE.

Find out what is being taught in our nation's classrooms.  No wonder the parasites are proliferating!

UKIP POISED TO BREAK THROUGH

The UK Independence Party will be "actively targeting" Labour supporters in upcoming local elections in England and Wales, its leader says. 

Nigel Farage will tell activists at their spring conference later that the party has an appeal beyond disaffected Conservative voters.
He is expected to focus on what he sees as the impact of immigration in working-class communities. 

He is also due to voice his criticism of recent press regulation changes.

I THINK WITH THE EURO COLLAPSING AND IMMIGRATION PROBLEMS EXPLODING AND THE ANTI-LIBERTARIANISM OF THE 3 MAJOR PARTIES.... THE UKIP NOW HAS A CHANCE TO WIN BIG.

FINGERS CROSSED...

HMMM: ITALY'S THREE MAIN PARTIES REFUSE TO COMPROMISE AND FORM A GOVERNMENT ...

.... AND NOT A RETHUGLICAN OR TEA PARTIER OR NEOCON IN SIGHT.

I THINK THIS PROVES THAT BLAMING INTRANSIGENCE ON THE RIGHT-WING, (WHICH IS WHAT THE LEFT IS CONSTANTLY  SAYING), IS BS - EVERYWHERE.

I THINK WE'VE ACTUALLY REACHED A POINT WHERE COMPROMISE IS NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE BECAUSE WE ARE AT SUCH A  CRITICAL FORK IN THE ROAD:

THE LEFT WANTS TO "DOUBLE-DOWN" ON THE SOCIALISTIC POLICIES WHICH HAVE DRIVEN CYPRUS AND ITALY AND SPAIN AND PORTUGAL AND IRELAND AND OTHER EU "NATIONS" TO THE BRINK.

THE RIGHT WANTS TO STOP AND REVERSE COURSE.

THE FAILURE TO CHANGE COURSE - OR EVEN SLOW THE SOCIALISTIC PROGRAMS DOWN A LITTLE- WILL LEAD US ALL OVER THE BRINK.

AND SOONER THAN YOU THINK!

SIGH.

AND I DO MEAN US ALL - AS IN THE EU AND THE USA AND JAPAN AND CHINA AND INDIA.... NO COUNTRY WILL BE UNTOUCHED.

THE GLOBAL NATURE OF THIS IMPENDING CATASTROPHE SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO CONVINCE THE STATISTS/SOCIALIST/LEFTISTS THAT IT HAS ABSOFREAKIN NOTHING TO DO WITH THE "BUSH TAX CUTS" OR BUSH'S "2 UNFUNDED WARS" OR "GOP DEREGULATION".

IT'S THE SOCIALISM, STUPID!

SIGH.

IF SOCIALISM WORKED THEN THE USSR AND RED CHINA AND ZIMBABWE AND NORTH KOREA AND CUBA WOULD BE WONDERFUL PLACES TO LIVE INSTEAD OF SH*T TO BE FLUSHED DOWN THE TOILET OF HISTORY.

SO... WHY THEN HAS SOCIALISM PERSISTED?

SIMPLE:

DEMAGOGUERY:

POLITICIANS PROMISE THE MASSES THEY CAN KEEP THEIR STATE-DISTRIBUTED GOODIES, AND EVEN GET MORE GOODIES,  BECAUSE THEY WILL MAKE THE OTHER GUY PAY.

AND - SINCE MOST PEOPLE ARE NOW ON ONE TYPE OF DOLE OR ANOTHER - MOST PEOPLE BELIEVE THEM.

SIGH.

OOOOOOOPS!: CLIMATE ALARMISTS FORCED TO ADMIT THEIR "GREENLAND IS MELTING!" INTERPRETATION OF THE RAW DATA WAS ALL WRONG!

WUWT:

Greenland ice melt overestimated due to satellite data algorithm issue
This is an interesting admission: 

The melt extent algorithm used by Greenland Ice Sheet Today has been overestimating the melt extent, and as a result, daily images posted on this site in February and March may have indicated melt where none occurred. 

This makes you wonder what other kinds of issues remain undetected in the satellite data.NSIDC has had to issue corrections in the past, when it was pointed out that their data and reality didn’t match. –  

From NSIDC:  

An early spring re-calibration for melt detection 

The algorithm for the Greenland Ice Sheet Today daily melt extent has been revised to account for unusually warm winter snow layers and residual meltwater deep in the snow. Meltwater from last summer’s intense melt season did not completely re-freeze through at least mid December.  

The adjusted algorithm shows greatly reduced melt extent for early 2013. This much lower extent is more consistent with available weather and climate records.

IOW: AGW = TFBS.

TFBS = TOTAL EFFIN BULLSH*T.

OBAMA COMES AND GOES WITHOUT PLEASING ANYONE

The part that's sad but rather predictable was when he himself called for 2-state solutions. It's interesting that Jonathan Tobin says both the left and right could be wrong about Obama's speech. But honestly, I think it can be said that the conservative side is right to be let down that he would condone such a thing.

It should be noted that in Ramallah, the Muslim crowds called for RPGs while he was here, so we know who the real side is that's uninterested in peace.

BRRRRRRR!: HEAVY SPRING SNOW IN THE UK!

MORE PROOF THAT ANTHROPOGENIC GLOBAL WARMING - AKA "CLIMATE CHANGE" - IS BULL:

Heavy snow is causing disruption to transport and schools across the UK, with heavy rainfall bringing flooding to the south-west of England. 

Rescue teams are searching for a woman at a house which partially collapsed after a landslip in Looe, Cornwall. There are 14 flood warnings in the South West, with Met Office warnings for snow covering much of the UK. More than 1,000 schools around the UK are closed and 37,500 properties in Northern Ireland are without power. 

BBC forecasters said the snow would cause travel disruption across northern parts of the UK on Friday, with some 20cm-40cm (8in-16in) falling in places. Atrocious conditions can be expected on high ground, they said. 

Roads in northern parts of Wales, the Midlands into the Pennines, southern Scotland and Northern Ireland would be the worst affected, while gale force winds would blow snow and drifts across trans-Pennine routes, they added.

IOW: AGW = TFBS!

THE ALARMISTS WILL TELL YOU THIS "ABERRATION" IS ALSO A RESULT OF MAN-MADE CO2.

ALL THIS RATIONALIZATION REALLY PROVES IS THAT THERE FAITH IN AGW IS NOT SUSCEPTIBLE TO REALITY BECAUSE IT'S UNFALSIFIABLE.

HOW ISLAMIC TERROR IS ORGANISED...

It has long been the practice of  "insurgent,  or revolutionary"   political organisations to be comprised of political and military units.  This was true, for example,  of the IRA and Sinn Fein. 

Nowhere is this organisational structure more prevalent than among Islamic Terror organisations.  The benefit of this kind of organisation is that it permits the poltical wing access to money and media exposure, and allows it  to position itself,  thru lies and spin, as it deems fit, all the while remaining legally isolated from the crimes commited by its military wing.  It even affords the political wing the opportunity to deny any ability to exert command and control over the military wing.  For example Hamas has the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.  The PLO has the al-Aqsa brigades.  

The Muslim Brotherhood,   "who disseminated Hitler's Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion widely in Arab translation... "created a military wing called the secret apparatus".

Does anyone know the current name of the military wing of Muslim Brotherhood?  Today, the Muslim Bortherhood is a transnational political organisation..and one of it's military wings is the transnational terror group al Qaeda.

GUN CONTROL THE ANSWER?

Sadly,3 persons are reported killed by gunfire at the Quantico Marine base. I suppose the only way to protect the marines is to take away their weapons - no?

MAN WHO OPENED FIRE AT DARK KNIGHT RISES SCREENING CONVERTS TO ISLAM

I don't expect any of the comics news sites to pick up on this, but the ogre who committed 12 murders at the Colorado screening for Christopher Nolan's 3rd Batman movie has converted to Islam. From the UK Daily Mail (via Jihad Watch and Atlas Shrugs):

James Holmes, the gunman behind the Dark Knight massacre in Colorado last July, has reportedly turned Muslim and prays five times a day.

The killer showed off a lengthy, thick beard during a court appearance earlier this month, and a prison source has claimed it is a symbol of his new-found faith.

The source said Holmes has turned to Islam as a way of justifying his horrific murder spree in an Aurora, Colorado cinema on July 20 which left 12 people dead and 58 people wounded.

'He has brainwashed himself into believing he was on his own personal jihad and that his victims were infidels,' a prison source told the National Enquirer.

He now prays five times a day, sticks to a strict Muslim diet and spends hours each day studying the Qur'an [...]

They say the Muslim inmates at the prison where he's kept are "upset" about it, but then, can they possibly explain verses like Sura 9:5, which says, "slay the polytheists wherever you find them"? Hence, their defenses sound more like taqqiya (deception). I looked at a few comics sites like CBR, but so far, they haven't said anything about this, and we can't expect them to.

WHO'S BETTER FUNDED, THE ALARMISTS OR THE SKEPTICS/"DENIERS"?

THE ALARMISTS GET WAY MORE FUNDING.

(WELL, YOU DON'T THINK ALL THOSE ALARMIST PROFESSORS ARE WORKING FOR FREE, DO YOU!?!? THEY AL GET HUGE SALARIES AND TONS OF GRANTS. THE SKEPTICS GET RELATIVELY LITTLE FUNDING FROM THE CLIMATE GRANTORS.)

FOLLOW THE MONEY.

THE ALARMIST'S MONEY COMES FROM STATISTS  - AND COINCIDENTALLY... ALARMISM STRENGTHENS THE STATE.

THE ALARMIST-STATIST COMPLEX IS MORE THREATENING TO OUR WAY OF LIFE THAN THE CONGRESSIONAL-MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX IKE WARNED US ABOUT IN HIS FAREWELL SPEECH.

THE ONLY COMPLEX MORE THREATENING TO OUR WAY OF LIFE IS THE GOVERNMENT UNION-POLITICIAN COMPLEX.

HMMM: THESE PHOTOS ADD TO THE THEORY THAT OBAMA HATES JUDEO-CHRISTIANITY AND LOVES ISLAM AND ARAFAT

FROM HOFT.

MAN MADE CLIMATE CHANGE EXPLAINED: "... a theory that predicts nothing in advance but "predicts" everything in retrospect"

ACE: "a theory that predicts nothing in advance but "predicts" everything in retrospect."

BRET STEPHENS BUYS INTO FALSE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST JONATHAN POLLARD

Bret Stephens seems to have turned against the Israeli right with an op-ed that's hostile to Jonathan Pollard without even providing exact proof Pollard was what Stephens claims. Specifically, Stephens says:

Regarding the Israeli interest: It does not help Israel to make a hero of a compulsive liar and braggart, fond of cocaine, who violated his oaths, spied on his country, inflicted damage that took billions of dollars to repair, accepted payment for his spying, jeopardized Israel's relationship with its closest ally, failed to show remorse at the time of his sentencing, made himself into Exhibit A of every anti-Semitic conspiracy nut, and then had the chutzpah to call himself a martyr to the Jewish people.

Query to Stephens: can you present any official police/medical records that state and prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Pollard was addicted to cocaine? If not, then I'm not sure what he's trying to prove, other than that he's become a very stupid, poorly educated man. Not that drug addiction in itself is a reason to keep Pollard jailed, but by furthering these accusations, Stephens has stooped to just what he speaks of: conspiracies. He admitted to his offenses in a plea bargain, which he lost because of the late Caspar Weinberger's machinations.

The Jerusalem Post's said in Pollard's favor:

Bolstering the outpouring of support for Pollard’s release, a recently declassified 1987 CIA damage assessment puts the lie to American allegations that have been used for over a quarter of a century to justify Pollard’s continued incarceration.

If so, then why is Stephens resorting to such a dumb defense for keeping Pollard in prison? I've lost respect for him.

The National Post and Baltimore Sun have also published op-eds and a correspondent to the latter supports the position in Pollard's favor too. It's very sad how incredibly divisive a subject this has become, and how even some so-called conservatives buy into what was said years ago about Pollard so much, they're willing to stoop to propaganda for the sake of defending the position for keeping Pollard in jail. Why can't they admit that on a subject like this, it's possible that mistakes were made?

ROCKET ATTACK TAKES PLACE WHILE OBAMA MAKES HIS VISIT

Courtesy of a group whose status the disgusting AP Wire won't even be fully honest about:

JERUSALEM (AP) - Palestinian militants in Gaza fired two rockets on Thursday at southern Israel, on the second day of President Barack Obama's visit to the region, Israeli police said.

One of the rockets exploded in the courtyard of a house in the border town of Sderot early in the morning, causing damage but no injuries, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. The other landed in an open field.

Obama was miles away in Jerusalem at the time, preparing to visit the Israel Museum. Later in the day he is due to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

As a presidential candidate in 2008, Obama visited Sderot, which is frequently targeted by rocket attacks from the nearby Gaza Strip. The militant Islamic group Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007 after ousting the rival Palestinian Fatah group in bloody street fighting. Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, led by Abbas, now govern part of the West Bank only.

"We will be closely watching Palestinian President Abbas today to see if he condemns these attacks from Gaza against Israeli civilians," a senior Israeli government official in Jerusalem said after the attack.

They may admit that the Hamas are Islamic, but they don't call them terrorists.

But what does it matter if Abbas "condemns" the attack? It's only bound to be taqqiya.

Update: here's more on the subject at Commentary.

GLOBAL WARMING ALERT!!!!

For the first time since 1965, when the tradition began, the Motorcycle Tour up the Coast Road to open Bakken - the worlds Oldest Amusement Park - has been canceled. Our sources tell us the  Police are afraid  the aggressive driving habits  of middle aged bikers would tear up the streets and leave the IMF with intolerable repair bills, because the asphalt is "almost liquid after years of Global Warming."

UPDATE: Actually the Viking ride is being cancelled for the first time in one thousand and 48 years because of cold snowy weather.   Back to you Al...

THE OPPOSITION TO BAR REFAELI TAKING PART IN A PR CAMPAIGN: THE RIGHTS AND WRONGS ABOUT IT

The IDF staff is mad because the foreign ministry's hired supermodel Bar Refaeli for a PR campaign for Israel, because she'd dodged the draft, and, according to rabbi Shmuley Boteach, when talking about a crummy advertisement of hers broadcast during the Super Bowl, she later said, “I don't regret not enlisting, because it paid off big time. That's just the way it is, celebrities have other needs.”

Okay, that was a stupid thing to say, and she may have told it to GQ's Italian branch. If she'd said that she didn't feel she could handle the job well, that would have been a lot more honest and respectable. What I want to know now, is just where she stands politically today, because she made a morally equivalent statement a couple of months ago during the IDF's operation in Gaza, for which she was slammed. That's a legitimate argument to make about the color of her character, which sure doesn't seem very bright. Based on that, I can understand why the IDF is upset, so here's my query: has she changed since? It's uneasy to tell.

On the other hand, here's a most unsuitable reason to object to hiring her:

Haredi students objected on the basis that she does not represent the Israeli public because she had a high-profile relationship with the non-Jewish actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

What?!? Is this serious? That is a textbook example of how NOT to protest her employment, and smacks of racism, while at the same time hinting at the absurdly homogenous belief system the Haredis employ. Besides, what if DiCaprio agreed to convert to Judaism if they married? Leading a relationship with a non-Jew in itself isn't a problem, it's the color of character for both lady and gent in said relation that is. Besides, I have a cousin who married a woman of Irish-American background who'd converted to Judaism several years ago, and by leading the kind of protest those Haredi students are, they are in effect insulting my relatives in my extended family.

The question is just where does Refaeli stand on Israel's safety, for example, and whether she buys into the propaganda and lies that claim there was ever a "palestinian people" of Arabic/Islamic background, because Golda Meir didn't. She has voiced her support for Jonathan Pollard being released, so that's one plus. But she's still got a lot to clear up with the Israeli public, and I'd think it best she did so, and soon. As for those dumb Haredi students who have a problem with a Jewish woman having an affair with a non-Jewish man (and no doubt, even with a Jewish man having an affair with a non-Jewish woman), I'd suggest they clean up their act and focus on the real matters: does she respect her country in spite of not serving in the army, or has she changed her attitude since? That's what we need to know.

And the IDF might also want to consider that if they have a problem with someone like her evading the draft, they should also have one with Haredis who do the same, because I'm not so sure they ever made that argument like they should've.

OBAMA SNUBBING AMERICAN-ISRAELI TERROR VICTIMS

The same one who's willing to meet with reps from MPAC was not willing to do the same when it comes to Israelis (via Israel Matzav and Front Page Magazine):

In anticipation of President Obama’s visit to the region, Bauer and other American victims of Arab Palestinian terror sent a letter to Thomas Goldberger of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.

They asked that the State Department pass on to those in charge of Obama’s visit a simple, three-point message: (1) utilize the American anti-terrorism laws to prosecute terrorists who have wounded and killed Americans, (2) make it clear to the Palestinian Authority that any American financial aid will be cut off if the PA is found to be complicit in acts of terrorism that harm American citizens, and (3) insist that no more Arab Palestinian terrorists with American blood on their hands be released by Israel.

The answer to this message, like the earlier one in which Bauer asked that he and other American victims of terror be granted an audience with President Obama, has been silence.

Truly disgraceful. We have to hope that Netanyahu and anyone else who's attending the dinner Obama's having at the president's manor will bring along representatives of the victims' families to meet with him.