THE COOLNESS FACTOR IN AMERICAN POLITICS

VDH - 5/2012:

No one has suggested that Hollywood lower movie-ticket prices by asking Johnny Depp or Jennifer Lopez to walk away with $10 or $20 million less a year. Steve Jobs found ways to dodge taxes comparable to those deployed by any Wall Street fatcat, but he was iPad cool, and so his iPhone billions were exempt from the Occupy nonsense. Cool capitalists are immune from the neo-Marxist critique of capitalism — a racket that $40 billion–rich Warren Buffett learned late in life, but well enough, with the “Buffett Rule.” 

We simply don’t mind that Google and Amazon rake in billions, but we despise Exxon and Archer Daniels Midland for doing the same. It is not that we need social networking and Internet searches more than food and fuel, but rather that we have the impression that cool zillionaires in flipflops are good while uncool ones in wingtips are quite bad. 

... What, then, exactly, is this cool that allows you to earn whatever you like without censure, and then to spend it as you please without fear of public scorn? 

...  In general, to win exemption from the left-wing critique of America, the affluent must construct cool identities as far distant as possible from the white Christian heterosexual male, who is most culpable for creating our present affluence from ill-gotten gains. The multimillionaire Elizabeth Warren and her husband make nearly $1 million a year. They live in a home beyond the reach of 99 percent of America. 

And she may well have plagiarized and been dishonest about her own heritage. No matter — Warren washed away both her privilege and her sins by reinventing herself as a “Cherokee” who fights Wall Street oppressors. 

...  Cool is now America’s holy grail that allows the elite and the rich not just to pursue and enjoy nice things, but to damn others who do the same.  

I WROTE ABOUT IT HERE - IN 2009:

SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2009 

THE "COOL" LEFT-WING - why it got that way (and what must be done about it!) 

Because their aim is to take over society, for decades, the Left has cultivated "coolness".
The Left has used every mass media tool and trick in the book to make youths associate left-wing policies with "coolness".
It's cool to be subversive, anti-establishment, pacifist, "green", anti-American, anti-Puritanical, anti-Founding Fathers, anti-nuclear - anti-"nuclear FAMILY", anti-religion, anti-"big business", anti-talk radio, anti-hunting, anti-NASCAR - and so on.
The Left's desire to be associated with young, attractive and popular ACTORS and MUSICIANS -- (not the sharpest folks or most educated folks in the world, GENERALLY!) -- is a clever marketing TRICK.
And the Left uses the converse, too - caricaturing people on the right as dumb oafs: SNL's depiction of Palin, the entertainment industry's and MSM's depiction of Dubya, and Reagan before that.
The point being to reinforce the idea that leftness is smartness/chicness/COOLNESS and rightness is dumbness/oafishness.
The truth is the left-wing ideas have NOT helped humanity ANYWHERE as well as right-wing ideas have: China had 40 years of Mao-ness and it was an awful impoverished era; it only took 2 decades of A LITTLE rightness (a little free market capitalism) for China to go from starving poverty to fat affluence; 300 MILLION people were lifted pout of poverty by "right-wing" policies. Comparing North and South Korea leads to the same conclusion. Ditto East/commie Europe (from 1945-1989) and Western Europe. And everywhere else you want to compare: freer more 'right-wing" societies offer their people better living standards, longer healthier lives - AND MORE LIBERTY - it's a win-win-win! ((No coincidence here: prosperity is a by-product of liberty!)
All the chic and cool tools and toys of the modern world are the products of right-wing policies: compare Soviet cars to Detroit's of the same era; commies cars sucked; Detroit's were cool --- (and as bad as Detroit's were, they were better than Moscow's!).
I think the way out of this is manifold:

UNTIL WE MAKE CONSERVATIVE COOL, WE WILL HAVE A HARD TIME WINNING THE YOUTH, AND WITHOUT THEM ELECTIONS ARE TOUGH TO WIN THESE DAYS.

WILL OBAMA RELEASE THE "BLIND SHEIK"?

Matthew Boyle at Big Peace reports of concerns that Obama will fulfill Egyptian overlord Mohammed Morsi's demand to release Omar Abdul Rahman:

The new chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee is urging President Barack Obama to stand strong against new demands from Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Morsi is calling for the release of convicted terrorist Omar Abdul Rahman.

“I urge the Obama administration to stand firm against pleas from Egypt to free Omar Abdel Rahman,” Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, the new chairman of the powerful House committee, said in a Tuesday statement. “Releasing a terrorist who plotted against the United States and has American blood on his hands would be seen as a sign of weakness throughout the Muslim extremist world and will only serve to embolden our enemies who continue to plot against us."

Correct. The US shouldn't even be leading relations with Egypt with the kind of fiends running it now in the form of the Muslim Brotherhood.

SHAS RUNS A RACIST AD AGAINST RUSSIANS

In another embarrassing example of how the Shas party is giving themselves a bad name, they had a campaign ad broadcast that depicts both Russians and converts to Judaism very offensively:

A Shas TV campaign commercial which casts aspersions on the state conversion system has been labelled as “racist” by several politicians.

In the ad, a tall blonde woman named Marina, who is speaking Hebrew with a thick Russian accent, punctuated with phrases in Russian, dials “star conversion” on a fax machine while standing under a wedding canopy with her fiancé.

“Wait, you’re not Jewish?” her Sephardi-looking husband-to-be asks in surprise, as the reply fax rolls in.

“Now I am,” Marina responds happily. [...]

Seth Farber, an Orthodox rabbi and director of the religious rights lobbying group ITIM, also slammed the commercial and accused the party of hypocrisy. [...]

“This ad campaign is a slap in the face for immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Farber added, noting that “the Torah mentions 36 times the prohibition of denigrating converts” and calling on Yosef to ban the campaign. [...]

Renegade Shas MK and Am Shalem party leader Haim Amsalem also weighed in: “Shas's broadcast against converts is racist and is a direct continuation of their ugly and divisive sectarian campaign.”

It's bad enough that early leftists in Israel had a negative attitude towards Jews from Arabic lands. Now Shas is making things worse by launching one-dimensional attacks on Russians, making themselves look as bad as those early leftist politicians in the country. Why, back in 1999, they made offensive claims against Natan Sharaksky that he wanted the interior ministry so he could bring prostitutes into the country! Which was simply unacceptable language, and only makes them look like loose cannons. Coupled with their spoiled-child attitude, it's a very poor way to run a political campaign.

Update: while we're on the subject of Shas, The Jerusalem Post got a letter on Jan. 6 about Aryeh Deri's dhimmitude:

Sir, – Shas leader Arye Deri states that there should be an interim agreement with the (socalled) Palestinians, and immediately afterwards urges an Israeli withdrawal from parts of Judea and Samaria (“In ‘Post’ interview, Deri calls for long-term deal with Palestinians,” January 4). Perhaps he was incarcerated too long to realize that an interim agreement with your enemy ultimately becomes a permanent agreement.

On the one hand Deri says, “We aren’t nationalist,” and then states that God gave us this land. First, why isn’t he a nationalist? That’s what he and all of us should be. Second, if God gave us this land, who gave Deri the right to give it to others? His comment, “Our rabbis will decide what is best to do,” is particularly objectionable, as rabbis are supposed to decide halachic questions, not political or national questions, especially when it comes to relinquishing our holy land.

When Deri says they're not nationalist, it can also be construed as saying they're not Zionist, which is synonymous with patriotism. That's another very sad thing about Deri and Shas.

Update: Israel Hayom has a video available with their article of what Shas' advertisement is like and I find it very disgusting. It resorts to vulgar stereotypes, and has no place in our society.

Update 2: Shas has agreed to quit using the ad.

PROOF THAT SOON IT WILL BE ILLEGAL FOR A STRAIGHT MAN TO COMPLIMENT THE APPEARANCE OF AN ATTRACTIVE WOMAN

KATHERINE WEBB...
“If you’re a youngster in Alabama,
start getting the football out
and throw it around the backyard with Pop.”

NYTIMES: Musburger Under Fire For Remarks During Game

... comments made during the game by the ESPN play-by-play announcer Brent Musburger regarding the girlfriend of Alabama quarterback A J McCarron. In the first quarter, ESPN showed McCarron’s girlfriend, Katherine Webb, who was sitting near his parents. Musburger called the 23-year-old Webb, a former Miss Alabama, a “lovely lady” and “beautiful,” and said to his broadcast partner, Kirk Herbstreit, a former quarterback at Ohio State, “You quarterbacks get all the good-looking women.” 

“A J’s doing some things right,” Herbstreit replied. Musburger, 73, then said, “If you’re a youngster in Alabama, start getting the football out and throw it around the backyard with Pop.”

UNDER FIRE FOR THIS!?!?!

IS THERE NOTHING A HETERONORMATIVE MALE CAN SAY TO OR ABOUT A WOMAN ANYMORE THAT WON'T BE ATTACKED BY LIBS'N LEFTIES!?

IT'S PC RUN AMOK.

LIBS'N LEFTIES WANT TO TAKE AWAY MORE THAN OUR 2ND AMENDMENT RIGHTS.

THEY WANT TO CONTROL OUR VERY LIVES AND THOUGHTS AND WORDS.

IT'S FASCISM, PLAIN AND SIMPLE.

UPDATE: PUNDITARIAN ADDS (BUMPED FROM COMMENTS):


Punditarian said...

He actually gave very sound advice. If you want to achieve what the quarterback has achieved, get out in the backyard - with your father - and start practicing! 

He suggests getting the kid back in the supervised care of concern of his father, and sublimate his initial desire by striving to excel and putting in the work what it takes to excel. 

I think that's what really infuriates the lefty liberals in the media. 

They'd have NO PROBLEM with a rapster lasciviously salivating over the woman, and announcing (think of Mike Tyson's comments about Governor Palin) the intention to rape her. 

That'd be artistic. 

But to actually suggest that a kid have a long-term goal that he can achieve by getting out there and practicing skills with his father - specifically male skills, to boot - that's anathema to them.

YES. EXACTLY.

A JUROR IN THE WEBERMAN CASE MAKES SOMETHING CLEAR

The New York Daily News quotes a juror in the case of child molestor Nechemya Weberman of the Satmar community making something clear to those pulling out anti-semitism cards on his conviction:

They convicted him because of the facts, not because of his religion.

A juror in the sexual abuse case pitting a teen accuser against Hasidic leader Nechemya Weberman said he broke the panel’s silence to refute the notion the jury returned a guity verdict out of anti-Semitic bias.

"It wasn't religion, it wasn't their background, it wasn't revenge," said the 42-year-old man, who asked not to be identified. "It was a young girl and an old man alone in a room."

There's just one minor flaw: the juror should also say it's not because of his race either. That could also come in helpful.

This was brought up because:

Weberman’s lawyer George Farkas had claimed after the conviction that Hasidic Jews do not have “the same shot with a jury as anyone else."

Oh, please. Let's also remember that Weberman's victim is as Jewish as he, which makes this a case of a Jew assaulting another Jew, thinking he can get away with it simply because he lives in an insular society and wasn't attacking an outsider. Which is offensive, and unfortunately, it's also a problem much more with Muslim communities.

Weberman awaits sentencing tomorrow, and I hope he gets sent to the slammer for a century, as the papers note is possible.

DID HAGEL STEAL THE ELECTION FOR OBAMA, AND IS HIS NOMINATION AS SECDEF PAYOFF?

Why else would Obama nominate a guy with no experience in the Pentagon, with no natural political constituency, who hasn't even got the confidence of our key allies.

Here's what makes me suspicious:

WIKI:

Although he [HAGEL] was pressured by some to run for Governor of Virginia, where he had lived for 20 years, in 1992 Hagel moved back to Nebraska to become president of the McCarthy Group, LLC, an investment banking firm.[19] He also served as a Chairman and was CEO of American Information Systems Inc. (AIS), later known as Election Systems & Software, a computerized voting machine manufacturer partly owned by McCarthy Group, LLC and the Omaha World-Herald company.[20][18] On March 15, 1995, Hagel resigned from the board of AIS as he intended to run for office.[21] Michael McCarthy, the parent company’s founder, was Hagel’s campaign treasurer.[22] Until at least 2003, he retained between $1 million and $5 million in stock in Election Systems & Software's parent company, the McCarthy Group.[23]

WERE HAGEL'S MACHINES THE ONES THAT GAVE 0% TO ROMNEY?

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW WHICH ED'S IN WHICH STATES USED HAGEL'S HIS MACHINES.

IT WOULD BE AN AMAZING "COINCIDENCE" IF HIS MACHINES WERE IN ED'S WHICH OBAMA TOOK BY OVER 90%.

I WONDER HOW MUCH OF THIS COMPANY FELLOW NEBRASKAN BUFFETT OWNS AND IF HE AND HAGEL ARE AS CHUMMY AS HE AND OBAMA ARE....

I'M SURE DAVID GREGORY'S PALS IN THE MSM WILL CHECK THIS OUT.... NOT!

THESE ARE INTERESTING TIMES...

WHILE ISLAMISTS HAVE ACCESS TO THE HIGHEST ECHELONS OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, THE EDL LEADER IS ARRESTED AND JAILED FOR 10 MONTHS

Tommy Robinson is arrested for using a false passport to get into the UA to spread the truth and help defend Western Civilization:

The leader of the English Defence League (EDL) has been jailed for ten months for illegally entering the US using someone else’s passport. 

Stephen Lennon, 30, pleaded guilty to possession of a false identity document with improper intention, contrary to the Identity Documents Act 2010.

Meanwhile, muslims with bad intentions are allowed into the  Obama White House and the soon to be Hagel Pentagon!

This is emblematic of Obama's direct aid to islamists the West's general dhimmitude.

It will lead to a disaster that will make 9/11 look like a picnic.

MOHAMMED MORSI BUILDS UP ISLAM IN HIS RULING CABINET

Egypt's Islamist president makes sure he's well represented in the government cabinet (via Hot Air):

CAIRO — Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi rebuilt his cabinet Sunday, replacing 10 ministers and amplifying the Islamist presence in the government. The move, in which at least three Islamists were appointed to head major economic ministries, comes a day ahead of a planned visit by a top International Monetary Fund official to discuss an impending $4.8 billion loan.

Which will most likely be used for sharia banking. When Muslims are in charge of the money, it can only be expected that socialism will be cast upon the country and the poor will only get poorer.

EAST LONDON LINES FAWNS OVER NETUREI KARTA

East London Lines has written a puff piece all about the craziest Haredi movement of all, the Neturei Karta:

In an unassuming corner-house in the maze of terraces in Stamford Hill lives a man who, despite his sombre dress and quiet courtesy, knows how to make the headlines. On December 27th, to mark the third anniversary of attacks on Gaza, he joined others gathered outside London’s Israeli Embassy to protest against the acts – and the very existence – of the state of Israel.

He wishes to remain anonymous, but once inside the house introduces Rabbi Elhanan Beck, a small, serious man dressed in the same, sombre dress: a long black coat over formal clothing, sidelocks curling down from beneath a black fedora that hides his kippah. These two men are part of the Neturei Karta, an ultra-orthodox Jewish collective that actively opposes Zionism.

As conflict flared up again in Palestine and Israel last autumn, photographs began to circulate on social media and mainstream press of the burning of Israeli flags in Stamford Hill and elsewhere. Dismissed by some on Twitter as “heavily tokenized nutjobs” and embraced by others as “ethical activists”, there is a lot of confusion about what this strand of ultra-Orthodox Judaism stands for, and why.

Boy, this British site sure knows how to marginalize everybody with common sense. Here's where the representatives they spoke with mouthed off with some horrific mumbling:

“Zionism is a secular movement. Imagine if a group of people came along claiming to be Muslim, but they didn’t follow the Qu’ran, they didn’t pray, they didn’t believe in God. And they said they wanted to lead the Muslim people and speak for the Muslim people of the world. It would not be accepted.”

“Our religion has been hijacked. Neturei Karta is just a group of people who feel they have to publicize this.”

Oh, the religion's been hijacked alright - by Neturei Karta! And a lot Muslims do follow the Koran and its verses; it's fiends like Neturei Karta who don't follow the Torah. They blatantly call Zionism "secular", acting like it's some fabricated new-fangled movement/ideology, and they're not publicizing so much as violating the 10 Commandments like Thou Shalt Not Lie. That's what they're doing, whether they're willing to admit it or not. Here's some more of the horror-dialogue they spewed:

The two men reminisce about a man who, on the evening of Israeli Independence Day, walked into a café on Oldhill Street (a heavily Hasidic shopping street in Stamford Hill) with an Israeli flag. “People were crying, shouting, wanting to break his car” Rabbi Beck says, animatedly, “Hundreds of [Hasidic Jewish] people chased him out. Really, hundreds. These things are not welcome here”.

They describe the Israeli flag as “the most hated thing that any Jew can stand for” and Rabbi Beck, a teacher at an Orthodox Jewish school in the area explains that a few times a year the flags are burned, on the streets by adults, and in some schoolyards by supervised children. He says it is gestures like this that set them apart from other anti-Zionists in the community. “Burning a flag looks a bit too extreme. Even if they [other anti-Zionist, Orthodox Jews in Stamford Hill] agree with the principles behind it, they may not always agree with everything we do.”

The Neturei Karta make no bones about the fact that these rejections of Israel are on religious grounds, above any principles of politics or human rights.

“Every Jewish person should be horrified by what is happening. But I don’t want to give the wrong impression,” says Rabbi Beck, “We are here for human rights also, but mainly for religious reasons”. His companion adds, “Human rights are part of our religion. We have to be peace loving people. But this is about the desecration of God’s name.”

How low can they go? How repulsive can they be? How parrot-phrasing can they stoop to? Every sensible Jewish person should be horror-stricken at how they twist Judaism out of context like a poisoned pretzel. That's the desecration being committed in the name of the Lord our God. The Neturei Karta do not represent the Almighty at all, and are abusing the Torah with their repellant belief system that they contrived in all their hatred of Israel. Why are they even bothering to call themselves Jews if this is all they can think of taking as a lifestyle?

The same news site has also fawned over Lutfur Rahman, the Tower Hamlets overlord who's been busily turning the neigborhood he governs into an Islamic enclave. It shouldn't be too surprising they'd take any favorable position on Neturei Karta as well, since the movement has proven itself Islam's best ally in Jewish society, and given its support to Ahmedinejad.

15-YEAR-OLD SAUDI GIRL FLEES FROM 90-YEAR-OLD HUSBAND

Another case of bridemongering underaged girls in the House of Saud, and this one was understandably scared of the mouldy creep and managed to flee:

The unnamed husband is now suing her parents for recovery of the £10,750 dowry he paid to secure marriage to his child bride.

Newspaper reports in the conservative Islamic state said the girl had managed to secure herself in the marital bedroom before escaping two days later to her parents' home.

The groom told Al-Hayat newspaper that he suspected the groom and her parents had set out to swindle him of the 65,000 Saudi Riyals dowry.

"I feel that there is a conspiracy by her mother against me," he said. "I will go to court tomorrow and demand that her parents give me back my money."

However campaigners in Saudi Arabia have called on the authorities to intervene to ensure the girl in Jizan, a southern town near the border with Yemen, is not returned to the man.

Note that there seems to be a typo - that should be the bride and her parents. That aside, how pathetic that the mouldy bread loaf is complaining and making accusations against the girl and her parents when he should know better than to covet an underaged girl in the first place.

THE OPPOSITE OF RABBI OVADIA YOSEF: HIS SON YAAKOV

Unlike Shas's spiritual leader, his own son, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, who was expelled from the party in 1988 after he accused the leaders of corruption, takes a much different path than his irresponsible father, and the younger Yosef also favors the importance of pikuach nefesh:

A group of 350 rabbis is calling on all the parties to submit pledges to resist returning any part of Eretz Israel.

An announcement currently being distributed by 350 Israeli rabbis, calling on all parties to commit to never giving up any portion of Eretz Israel could be influencing the future of Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition maneuvers, should he end up, as predicted, at the role of Israel's next prime minister.

Members of the Rabbinical Congress "Pikuach Nefesh" (a principle in Jewish law that the preservation of human life overrides almost all other considerations) have called on all the political parties taking part in the January 22 elections to sign a clear statement in which they pledge to oppose in the Knesset and in government any proposal that includes withdrawal from the territories of Eretz Israel, and to refuse to sit in the government and the coalition should they be leading such moves.

In recent weeks, the rabbis have sent the text of these pledges to every party leader, asking for their signatures. [...]

In this context it is interesting to note that Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, eldest son of Rishon Lezion, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual mentor of Shas, has signed on to the call for anti-withdrawal party pledges, adding that the obligation to sign such a commitment applies especially to Torah observant political parties and individual MKs, based on the Shulchan Aruch, rabbinical Judaism's essential legal text.

Rabbi Yosef cited the Shulchan Aruch as saying it is a serious danger to even discuss the possibility of withdrawal from any part of Eretz Israel.

"There is neither a point nor a reason to oppose the word of God, this is the law," explained Rabbi Yosef. "Even a party that cares for the poor, for yeshivas, or for keeping the Sabbath – if there is reasonable suspicion that it would end up supporting withdrawal from parts of the Land of Israel – do not vote for them. Preservation of life overrides the entire Torah, plain and simple."

The Rabbinic Congress chairman, Rabbi Yosef Gerlitzki, explained that the rabbis have no connection to any particular party. "We present to the people of Israel the halachic position only. The law requires us as rabbis do so. The law says about endangering lives, the principle of 'the very asking is obscene' – meaning that one must immediately prioritize saving lives over other concerns."

The younger Yosef, unlike his father, is a man to admire for caring and understanding far more about his country and the dangers it faces than the older Yosef or anyone else in Shas does.

DON'T THEY CARE ABOUT THE DANGER THEIR COUNTRY FACES?

YnetNews reports that the Haredi parties like United Torah Judaism are threatening to join/support the left:

Shas may be offering Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a bear hug, but the other haredi parties are very unhappy with the Likud-Beiteinu alliance and are threatening to shift their support to the Left.

Both Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox newspapers, Hamodia and Yated Ne'eman, who represent the spectrum of United Torah Judaism, ran a nearly identical editorial this weekend, explicitly saying that the haredi party may join forces to form their own bloc in the next coalitional negotiations.

Both papers accused Netanyahu of hubris: "Netanyahu and his partners are guilty of hubris… (and) if they keep being so dismissive of their partner, the Likud-Beiteinu may find themselves facing blocs they have never seen before, when they come to form their coalition," Hamodia's editorial said. [...]

A united haredi bloc, the paper warned, "Could, for instance, strike a deal with Livni and Yachimovich and crown them prime ministers by rotation. There's nothing wrong with that."

Yated Ne'eman's editorial was nearly identical, saying that "Everything can change because the Likud is guilty of the sin of hubris."

The paper speculated about the possibility of a haredi-Left government, saying that "Such a coalition will not hurt us because it needs us… The level of incitement (against haredim) will also subside – as it always does when the Left-Center rules.

So not only are they resorting to victimology again, they're implying that only when a left-wing government is incumbent, everything's fine...for them. Although it does hint at how most negative leanings towards Haredim by the left only have what to do with how they'd back a right wing government, and the leftist politicians aren't really bothered by their own demands for accommodations and ridiculous gender separation. Despite what's said at the beginning, Shas isn't and hasn't supported the right at all times, nor have they been very respectable of it either. And they aren't very supportive of wider requests that they share the burdens of responsibility in this country either, as their opposition to military service has shown.

Also, note the irony of how the Haredi parties may not be particularly bothered about supporting a woman for prime minister if she's willing to back their demands. That's hypocrisy in motion alright.

The Haredi parties are a disgrace if they're willing to betray their own country for personal gain. This is exactly why they deserve to sit in an opposition instead of a coalition.

Update: and while we're on the subject of Shas and military, look at what rabbi Ovadia Yosef's just said lately:

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, said that in order to prevent Haredi yeshiva students from being forced into military or national service, they may have no choice but to leave the country.

“God forbid, we will be compelled to leave the land of Israel…in order to free the yeshiva students” from being drafted, Yosef said during a sermon last week.

Yosef added that “we are surrounded by haters… by enemies… by evildoers who despise the Torah.” He blasted Israeli politicians who call for the drafting of ultra-Orthodox young men. ”When will [our yeshiva students] be great scholars if they are drafted into the military?”

Boy, what a dishonorable man Yosef is. How do they expect there to be a safe environment for anyone to study Torah if nobody guards the country from enemies like the Islamofascists? Including Iran? If they really do take this seriously and emigrate, it will not only send a strong signal of disloyalty to their own country, it will also suggest Yosef is trying to encourage his own variation on the Satmar.

Saying that adherents of the Torah are “in grave danger,” Yosef said that in the upcoming Israeli elections, slated for January 22, voters must “open [their] heart[s] and vote for the ultra-Orthodox parties” in order to prevent the enlistment of yeshiva students.

The rabbi further warned of the consequences awaiting anyone who voted for a nonreligious party.

“On Judgment Day, God will accuse them, saying, ‘You abandoned my Torah in the hands of the evildoers… who hate the Torah,” he said.

I guess that means that if I'm the kind of person who doesn't wear a kippa most of the time, I'm filthy too, right? What's almost hilarious here is how he won't even distinguish between right and left here, and a secular rightist must not be any different to him than a secular leftist, no matter how respectable a rightist is to religious customs in contrast with a leftist. Message to Yosef: I'm not the most religiously observant person around and I LOVE the Torah. That's why I support Zionism, and it shocks me how some Haredi communities - especially Satmar and Neturei Karta - have rejected that part of the Torah (and come to think of it, pretty much everything else). And that Yosef would imply that it's literally forbidden to vote for another party no matter how good their platform is contemptuous in the extreme.

Fortunately, however:

Not all ultra-Orthodox Israelis agree with Yosef’s stance against equal service for all citizens. On Sunday, dozens of ultra-Orthodox arrived at the headquarters of the National Service Administration in Jerusalem to enlist in the national service corps.

According to a Government Press Office statement, over 2,000 ultra-Orthodox men currently serve in the civil service corps, and of the men who have served to date, some 85 percent were afterward successfully integrated in the workforce.

And the army has special learning classes in their bases, even for Torah studies. Maybe Yosef should consider that the army can make a better man out of its employees, even when it comes to Torah studies.

WHAT REAGAN SAID IN 1994 ABOUT THE 1980'S IS TRUE NOW ABOUT THE FIRST 8 YEARS OF THIS CENTURY

February 3, 1994 -- Republican National Convention Annual Gala

"Our friends in the other party will never forgive us for our success, and are doing everything in their power to rewrite history. Listening to the liberals, you'd think that the 1980's were the worst period since the Great Depression, filled with suffering and despair. I don't know about you, but I'm getting awfully tired of the whining voices from the White House these days. They're claiming there was a decade of greed and neglect, but you and I know better than that. We were there."

LIBERAL POLICIES CAUSED THE BUBBLE AND THE CRASH.

AND LIBERAL POLICES TO THE TENTH POWER - WHICH IS WHAT OBAMA IS PURSUING - WILL NOT FIX THINGS.

OBAMA WILL COMPLETE HIS TRANSFORMATION OF OUR DEFENSE INSTITUTIONS INTO PRO-ISLAMIST OUTPOSTS: BRENNAN TO JOIN HAGEL AND KERRY

UNREAL:

US President Barack Obama is to nominate John Brennan as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, White House officials have said. If confirmed, Mr Brennan will replace Gen David Petraeus, who resigned last year after admitting to an affair. Chuck Hagel is to be put forward as the president's next defense secretary, replacing Leon Panetta. Both appointments are expected to be formally announced later on Monday and must be confirmed by the Senate.

BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA WILL PUT TWO MORE PRO-ISLAMISM PIECES OF CRAP AT OUR TWO MOST IMPORTANT DEFENSE ORGANIZATIONS.

ADD THIS TO THE TRAITOROUS PRO-ASSAD SCUMBAG KERRY AT STATE AND WHAT HAVE WE GOT!?

IF YOU LOVE THE WEST AND WANT IT DEFENDED FROM ISLAMISM, THEN YOU MUST SEE THESE THREE APPOINTMENTS AS TRAITOROUS.

22 minutes of unpleasant truth (video)

VERY SAD: OBAMA HAS DECIDED ON CHUCK HAGEL FOR PENTAGON

This was surely no surprise, but Obama looks to be choosing the awful Chuck Hagel as a defense secretary. As Jonathan Tobin says, this is bound to send a signal to Iran that they don't have much to worry about.

ARYEH DERI DRAWS CRITICISM FROM THE RIGHT

Following Deri's suspicious comments from last week, some on the right have now become critical of him, and are warning why it'd be ill-advised to vote for Shas:

"It must be clear to everyone that in the Shas leadership there are voices pushing the party to the Leftist bloc," said Likud MK Danny Dannon. "That is why nationalist camp voters must strengthen Likud-Beytenu and not vote for satellite parties."

MK Uri Ariel, who is second on Naftali Bennett's Bayit Yehudi list, said that anyone who remembers that Deri was "a senior partner in the Oslo disaster that led to thousands of casualties" must not vote for Shas.

"Deri is sending Shas back to the days of Oslo," warned Strong Israel MK Aryeh Eldad. "With Deri, it is hard to say what he is more: Corrupt or left-wing extremist. His diplomatic agenda could once again drown Israel in a sea of blood. Those who know that the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel must know that voting for Shas could help Israel's enemies and result in the heart of our homeland being given to the Arabs."

Deri is a very bad choice for a politician and whatever he says cannot be taken at face value.

ARYEH DERI THE DHIMMI

The Shas leader who was convicted of corruption years before has let it be known he hasn't changed much, if at all, on his otherwise leftist postions. He tries to sound like a Zionist, but his willingness to negotiate with a terrorist organization ruins everything:

Arye Deri, one of the three chairmen of the Shas Party, revealed dovish views on the peace process in an interview with The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, calling for a long-term interim agreement with the Palestinian Authority.

Support for an interim agreement in which Israel would withdraw from parts of the West Bank without evacuating settlements has come in the past from politicians on the Center-Left, including Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz, but never from the leader of a party that for many years was considered right-wing.

“Shas is not Right or Left,” Deri said. “We ask rabbis what to do and we go by what they say. We aren’t nationalist. We believe Israel is ours because God gave it to us. I don’t believe I am an occupier. Our rabbis will decide what is best to do to avoid blood being spilled.”

When asked if Shas mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef regretted having the party abstain from voting on the Oslo Accords in 1993, Deri said Yosef has written that the accord did not prove itself and led to terrorist attacks. He said Yosef currently does not believe there is a partner on the Palestinian side for negotiations.

“The rabbi believes we should not pursue a final-status agreement,” Deri said. “He is in favor of pursuing longterm interim agreements as long as they do not endanger Israelis. That would be the best. Then we can get to see how they turn out. The advantage of long-term interim agreements is that they can be stopped and changed if they don’t work.”

I'm sorry, but there's every chance they will endanger Israelis and so long as Islam is taught to those Arabs in Judea/Samaria by the PLO, that'll only ensure long term hatemongering and danger.

Shas was seen as more moderate when it was led by Deri and abstained on the Oslo Accord vote. When he was succeeded by Eli Yishai, the party moved to the Right.

Until now it was unclear whether the party would moderate its message on diplomatic issues with Deri’s return, but he made clear that it would.

“I am not ready to live without hope,” Deri said. “We must consider what it means to annex 2 million Palestinians and control their education, health and welfare. The Israeli economy cannot bear that and I am not prepared to do that.”

Okay, what's the big idea here? Any society that's going to raise itself on hateful ideologies, including the belief that honor murders are acceptable, cannot be entrusted with their own "education". And what does he mean by control their health and welfare, exactly? There's something very wrongheaded about that part. I thought the idea was to offer them a chance at both earning their living and building their own local economies honestly. Health systems too. Given that his party was in charge of the welfare ministry, you'd think he'd want to help out with stuff like that. Clearly, he doesn't. He's basically a dhimmi, and with criminal convictions to his record, that's one more reason why he doesn't deserve any sensible person's vote.

JIHAD IN SERBIA: BOSNIAN MUSLIMS DESTROY ORTHODOX MONASTERY

The real perpetrators of the war in the Balkans have struck again (Hat tip: Jihad Watch):

Belgrade: Albanians last night completely destroyed the monastery “Assumption of the Virgin” in southern Serbia. Monastery of the Assumption of Virgin” [sic] which is located in the vicinity of Vladicin Han was vandalized last night. The door was smashed, and the entire interior were broken. The money from the candle sales and other item inside the monastery is stolen, and all the icons were smashed. Mother Paraskeva (62 years old) confirmed this information. She was very upset fear for her safety. “I’m afraid they will come back, but I’m not going anywhere. I’m here alone and old, but let them come, someone has to defend, “said Paraskeva.

“There’s nothing left, this is terrible! The whole world stood up on his feet because of a cartoon of Muhammad, but when all monasteries and churches destroyed, no one responds,” she added.Asked whether he knows who could have done this, Paraskeva replied that everything is known, but that no one will be interested in this case.

“Albanians from Kosovo were organized with the intention of coming to destroy the Serbian monasteries in this area! This is not the first time something like this happens. Last year on Good Friday they attacked me, I did not have a stick, who knows if I managed to defend myself, “said the visibly shaken Paraskeva.

“Albanians from Kosovo are organized and planned to come and destroy Serbian monasteries in this area. This is not the 1st time something like this happens. Last year on Good Friday they attacked me. If I didn-t [sic] have my stick, I would hardly protect myself.

Some very good points are made here, and it shows how truly, the so-called professors of democracy in this world are not.

BRILLIANT SONG ABOUT THE REPREHENSIBLE CLIFF DEAL BY CHARLES OSGOOD

A HAPPY NEW YEAR SONG TO CONGRESS.

[SUNG TO THE TUNE OF "CALL ME IRRESPONSIBLE"]

The Osgood File.

We're past the cliff now - sort of dangling over it. In a moment, a song to Congress...

((( BREAK )))

( Osgood on Keyboard )

Call them irresponsible.
Isn't it demonstrable?
Throw in great self-righteousness, too.
Do their foolish alibis bore you?
Well, it doesn't matter -
they'll just ignore you.

It's all so political -
and so hypocritical.
Nothing they have to say seems true.
Their motives, we've long suspected,
are getting re-elected 
to those seats where they've sat.
And they're very good at that.

In no mood concessional,
membership Congressional
might just buy us a moon of blue.
As what we're entitled to, 
someone will have to pay -
maybe your kids and mine someday.

Call that indefensible - 
even reprehensible.
Maybe they're in the mode
to kick the can down the road.

That's what is being said,
so watch out for that road ahead.

The Osgood File. This is Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network.

LISTEN TO HIM SING IT HERE.

KERRY'S FORMER AIDE - JOHN KIRIAKOU - IS FIRST EX-CIA OFFICER TO FACE PRISON FOR LEAKING

NYTIMES:

On Jan. 25, Mr. Kiriakou is scheduled to be sentenced to 30 months in prison as part of a plea deal in which he admitted violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act by e-mailing the name of a covert C.I.A. officer to a freelance reporter, who did not publish it. The law was passed in 1982, aimed at radical publications that deliberately sought to out undercover agents, exposing their secret work and endangering their lives. 

In more than six decades of fraught interaction between the agency and the news media, John Kiriakou is the first current or former C.I.A. officer to be convicted of disclosing classified information to a reporter.

JUST WHO IS KIRIAKOU?

Wiki: 

Following Senator John Kerry's (D-MA) ascension to the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2009, Kiriakou became the Committee's senior investigator, focusing on the Middle East, international terrorism, piracy, and counter-narcotics issues.[8]

THE THE NEXT SEC OF STATE - A FORMER COLLABORATOR OF THE VIETCONG, WHO CALLED THE US SOLDIERS "WAR CRIMINALS" AND LIED ABOUT HIS PURPLE HEARTS - ALSO HAD AN AIDE WHO REALLY LEAKED THE NAME OF A COVERT OPERATOR.

KERRY SHOULD BE GRILLED ABOUT THIS DURING HIS CONFIRMATION HEARINGS.

IF CONFIRMED, WE ARE REALLY IN FOR SOME ROUGH TIMES.

USA'S EURO MOMENT: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS THE ECONOMIST AND ISNTAPUNDIT BY THREE DAYS

AT GLENN'S TODAY:

THE ECONOMIST: America’s European moment: The troubling similarities between the fiscal mismanagement in Washington and the mess in the euro zone. In America, we’ve got the worst political class in our history. Which means it’s kind of like Europe’s is all the time . . . .

AT TAB THREE DAYS AGO.