Membership in the Wright Pew

Let me get this straight.
Sen. Obama said that had his Pastor not been.... (contrite,sorry, apologetic,remorseful ) .we are not sure , because no person heard Wright say anything..he would have left the Church.
Let's look a drop deeper- had there been no news stories why would Obama after 20 years of listening to hate suddenly get agitated?
Sans the negative publicity, Michelle, the kids and the Senator would surely have been silent regarding such preaching.
How can one differentiate the person from the message? ie." Hitler was a good guy-only his message was warped-I could no more abandon him than the whole German people " might intone the average German of the 1938-45 era.
One good thing about Wright, he is a non-discriminatory bigot.His latest tapes show attacks on Italians in addition to Jews( who of course are to blame for 9/11 ,and for murdering blacks and are worse than Nazis etc, etc.)

Saudi "plans"

The Jerusalem Post has an interesting editorial regarding the call for interfaith dialogue by the House of Saud.This follows a meeting with the Pope by the Monarch.They welcome "followers of the Torah"---great......except one thing NO ZIONISTS welcome.In other words, an attempt to divide world Jewry from our roots and partnership with Israel.
You can be sure that your usual cast of " Jewish characters, activists,left-wing clergy , Neturei Karta etc.. will join in such a charade.
However as the JPost advocates, responsible Jewish leadership worldwide must work hand in hand with the Govt. of Israel on such a delicate project, and reject such an offer-we go (if we go) as JEWS -united in our support of Israel.
It is not from altruism that the Saudis act, but from a realization that "what goes around comes around."Their brand of Wahabbism with its hate and violence against non-Muslims is coming back in the form of attepts to overthrow the monarchy, and create an Islamic State like Iran or Afghanistan (circa the Taliban).
This offer, should not be seperated from the "Saudi Peace Plan" which is a take it-or leave it approach to Israeli surrender. It includes withdrawal to pre-'67 ,the right of return (the end of Israel),division of Jerusalem etc., and then the Arabs will RECOGNIZE Israel (not sign peace treaties, but simply say you have a right to exist).
No country enters peace( or any type) negotiations, gives in to their opponents demands, and afterwards TALKS.
Negotiations mean exactly that.The Syrians who want Golan withdrawal and then talk, and the Saudis have got to wake up and smell the coffee.
Until then ,they are a group of bad actors whose only desire is to destroy Israel,but at their pace.

It is never enough!

Defense Minister Barak has approved the transfer of 25 or so armored vehicle to the PA.They now want night goggles and more sophisticated weapons.
Why?
To help fight terrorism of course!
This is all about appeasing Sec. Rice who is determined to put more and more pressure on the Olmert govt.
She wants blockades and roadblocks lifted so that terrorists can easily slip in to create havoc.
Jewish life is cheap, as long as it will strengthen Abbas.
The real problem is twofold.
ABBAS COULD NOT SURVIVE IF iSRAEL WITHDREW from the West Bank.In addition, 80% of the Arab population on the West Bank support terror attacks on Jews.
Abbas is not prepared to make any concessions on Israel as a Jewish State,Jerusalem or the Right of Return.
But Olmert is weak also.Netanyahu is feeling his oats -calling for construction in the E-1 corridor between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem.He also blasted the Barak decision to give the armored cars.
Finally the pressure will once again be on Shas to withdraw from the coalition, as surely they are negotiating about Jerusalem which is the Shas red-line.
No matter how much Israel gives in ,it will never be enough for Rice or Abbas.

Commander-in-Chief

To listen to the talking heads, the problem with Hillary's description of her landing in Bosnia, undermines her " foreign policy experience" resume'.
I see it differently.
There are two different issues at work here.Firstly is her veracity.Did she lie? Beyond that, even if there were sniper fire in the area,how would that enhance her foreign policy experience?Running for cover is not exactly an exercise in policy or leadership .Simply, you are running to save your life-period.
As one who had my share of "red alerts" in Vietnam from RPG's (rocket propelled grenades) and mortars,I find that experience to be lacking in foreign policy leadership experience.
Over and above the fact that she fabricated the events, there is no independent evidence that as first lady she was anything more than a cheer-leader.She had no security clearance,attended no NSC briefings, and her role in Ireland appears to mimic her role in Bosnia.Indeed the one time she ventured into the public arena,she screwed up with Souha Arafat,and then denied she heard what everyone else heard.
On the other hand her opponent Senator Obama,has zero foreign policy experience.To my knowledge he has never visited Europe.He has been to Indonesia and Africa.His is an Afrocentric view of the world. His main interest is domestic, and it is hard to believe that we the American people would put our trust in a freshman Senator of such inadequate experience.
It is not really necessary for me to describe John McCain .Except for some way out left individuals, most voters realize the he is ready-DAY-1 to become our CIC.

The bloody battle / Peace?

The fight for the Dem. nomination gets meaner and meaner.While in principle,as a Republican I shoudn't object to the candidates bloodying themselves up, the whole process sems obscene to me.
How can millions of voters in Fla. and Mich be disenfranchised.In truth, Michigan was the brainchild of the Dem. Gov.,while Fla. ,was a bipartisan endeavor.The chief initiator of the move was a Democrat, and the party Chairman was enthusiastic about moving the date.Almost all Dem. members of the State House supported the bill to move the primary date.
In addition, Hillary never objected until recently when Chmn. Dean announced that the results would not count.Only now is she upset.The one argument she has is based on the electoral college math, which shows her winning the big states(NY, NJ, Calif,Texas etc)
Dick Morris, who writes about how Obama will not be hurt by Pastor Wright, has to be taken with a grain of salt.His main goal is to defeat Hillary.
But goin g back to the day to day insults ( Judas and McCarthy ) I find it sad that the level of rhetoric has descended so lo from a prospective Pres. nominee

Incidentally, I saw the new Pastor in the Obama Church.With all his jumping around and equating the attacks on Wright to a lynching, he will soon be a household word.


=====================================================================================

Cheney , Bush and Rice are travelling the ME pushing PEACE,but the facts on the ground smell of war.Hizbollah Syria appear to be mobilizing for some attack either in Israel or in Europe etc,and there is no letup in site of Gaza -based attacks.
The Annapolis meeting in retrospect was SIMPLY A PHOTO-OP.

Happy Purim / What about Obamas chidren?

Happy Purim to all my friends and readers.

Debbie Sclussel (Debbiesclussel.com )brought up an interesting and critical thought re: the Obama-Wright issue that I had not heard or thought of before.
Forget about whether Obama did or did not hear the vicious anti-American sermons.
However this is the Church that his two daughters have attended.Week after week listening to the harangues of black nationalism and anti-Americanism ,how does he expect them to turn out?Like Michelle, earning $220,000 based on a Harvard law degree,but ashamed to be an American?
It is no wonder Obama criticizes Fox for continuing to run the clips of Wright.Obama would like us to talk about who peeked at his passport application,and lets forget Wright.
Sorry this will go on as long as he remains a viable candidate, because he brought upon himself.

Selective Silence / Too Pro-- Israel

I thank my son Elli for blogging for me during the period I drove back from Florida,and awaited a new computer.

Abe Foxman the head of the ADL lives in Teaneck NJ.He is obviously a man that has strong feelings on the issues of the day.A number of years ago,he publicly left his Congregation because he felt that the Rabbis sermons were too right wing for him.It certainly was his perogative.No one should be forced to listen week after week to a religious figure that preaches in a manner that makes him or her uncomfortable.
It is beyond belief that Sen Obama attended Church for 20 years and never heard the vitriolic black nationalistic anti-American diatribes that we have seen on TV.How can a public figure running for President,try to give us this baloney that his Pastor's talks were merely a response to race relations in our country.
What does glee over 9/11 have to do with a making America stronger and free of discrimination?How can you explain away his friendship with Farakhan,and his visit to Quadaffi?No, the Rev. Wright is an out and out bigot.
Sen Obama didnn't atend this Church once a year.He didn't merely run across the Rev. at community events. Obamas was a strong financial supporter of Wright and his Church.He was his mentor.
Michelle Obama's comments about America come right from the Wright sermon-book.
Can a man attend 20 years of services, and miss every outrageous remark made in Church? Is it possible that never once in 20 years, fellow congregants did not discuss with Obama the wonderful "provocative" sermons of Wright.?
The talking heads of the left think that the Obama talk was the political address of the century.For me it was doubletalk ,that will doom his candidacy should he win the nomination.
The attempt to compare this with a singular event, meeting or endorsement by any cotroversial figure fails the smell test.
Wait for the 925s!

==================================================================================

The visit by Sen. John McCain to Sderot and his comments tell it all of his love and devotion to a strong Israel.
Sadly, we are our own worst enemies.Yussie Beilin attacked McCain for being too pro-Israel, and sounding like a Likudnik. Better,said MK Beilin ,he should be more even-handed and apply some pressure on Israel to compromise!

Obama's Speech

Elliot Ganchrow writes:

This will be my last blog as my Dad will be back online tomorrow.

Obama's speech is being hailed in most liberal quarters as the greatest thing since the Gettysburg Address. However, Obama still hasn't addressed the main issue: How does a United States Senator stay a member in a Church which is led by a vicious Anti-American, Anti-Semitic racist? How could he stay silent for 20 years in the face of such hatred? Until better answers are given by Obama to these questions, the issue will continue to fester. And just wait until the commercials featuring Rev. Wright begin. (For those who have not yet seen excerpts of Rev. Wright's sermons, I urge you to watch them on YouTube, especially Brian Ross' special report for ABC News which is also on YouTube).

Presidential Race Update/Jim Cramer

Elliot Ganchrow writes:

The longer the Democratic race goes and the more mud that is thrown by each campaign, the harder the general election becomes for the potential Democratic nominee. The latest polls shows a generic Democratic nominee leading a generic Republican by 13 points. Yet, when you replace the generic Democrat with either Hillary or Obama and the generic Republican with McCain, then the race becomes a deadheat. The more the public hears from Samantha Powers, Geraldine Ferraro, Jeremiah Wright etc. the less appeal the Democratic candidates have to the public. With the Pennsylvania primary still a month away and no clear answers on what to do with respect to Florida, it would seem things will only get uglier between the candidates.

______________________________________________
Check out the clip of Jim Cramer on YouTube from this past Tuesday in which he urges people to hold out onto their Bear Stearns stocks. He sure gave a lot of ammunition to those who question his stock picking ability.

Obama

Elliot Ganchrow writes:

When asked by Tim Russert about Louis Farrakhan's endorsement of him, Barack Obama responded as follows:
"You know, I have been very clear in my denunciation of Minister Farrakhan's anti-Semitic comments. I think that they are unacceptable and reprehensible. I did not solicit this support. He expressed pride in an African-American who seems to be bringing the country together. I obviously can't censor him, but it is not support that I sought. And we're not doing anything, I assure you, formally or informally with Minister Farrakhan."
When challenged with respect to outrageous, anti-american and anti-semitic statements made by his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, Obama issued a statement that said in part:
"The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church.
Let me repeat what I've said earlier. All of the statements that have been the subject of controversy are ones that I vehemently condemn. They in no way reflect my attitudes and directly contradict my profound love for this country."
One of the worst anti-semites in this country wants to associate himself with Obama and the best Obama can come up with is that he denounces his anti-semitic statements? Can you imagine a Southern white senator addressing an endorsement by David Duke by simply saying "I have been very clear in my denunciation of Mr. Duke's racist comments"? Such a politician would rightfully be attacked as being a racist for only condemning his statements and not condemning the man himself and his followers. As for his statement on Wright, does Obama want us to believe that he just found out about Wright's views? He never heard about Wright's statements on 9/11(partly blaming Israel)? Isn't his campaign premised partly on a theme of "words count"? Even if he just heard of Wright's views, can there ever be an excuse to stay associated with a Pastor with such atrocious viewpoints? Obama's statements on these issues have been woefully insufficient. The media needs to continue to press him on these issues, especially on the question as to why he has not yet renounced his membership in Wright's church.
As a side note, kudos to the Jewish Press for its fine coverage on Obama, especially with respect to the Wright issue. They reported on the issue weeks before the mainstream media began to ask questions.

New York State Republicans

Elliot Ganchrow writes:

When I woke up on Monday morning, my plan was to write a blog with respect to the implosion of the Republican Party in New York State. The Spitzer scandal broke as I was preparing it and I took two days to follow the scandal and to think over how the political landscape in New York has changed. It has changed but I am not sure it benefits the Republicans all that much. The Republicans in New York have been running on empty for a while. Toward the end of the Pataki administration it became clear that the Republicans had abandoned their conservative ideals and began their drift toward liberalism. It hasn't helped that our recent Republican nominees for statewide office have been absolute disasters. The big Republican hope during the last election cycle was Jeanine Pirro. Jeanine Pirro? After she couldn't find Page 10of her announcement speech, she decided to drop her bid for the Senate and run for Attorney General. In that race she drew less than 40% of the vote. It couldn't have helped that her husband was a convicted felon. The Democratic incumbent for state comptroller was Alan Hevesi, who was under investigation for corruption. He still won election (although he resigned before taking the oath of office for his second term). The Republicans do not have a single statewide officeholder, are in the minority in the Assembly and are hanging on for dear life in the State Senate. Even more disconcerting, there does not appear to be a rising star on the horizon to help the Republican Party in the near future. Will Spitzer's resignation help the Republicans? Probably not, since they are replacing the much reviled Spitzer, who had a disasterous first year in office with the likable David Patterson. Patterson comes into office with the advantage of an uplifting life story and of being perceived as Spitzer's opposite. It appears that if the Republicans want to turn things around they will have to do two things immediately: 1. Return to conservative principles (i.e. taxes and spending) especially in the State Senate where they control and 2. Begin a campaign to recruit the next generation of young Republicans to run for local office especially in areas that were once Republican but are no longer so (i.e. Nassau and Suffolk).

Baruch Dayan Haemeth-

Our community is so small! Yesterday morning I learned that my machateniste's (my daughters mother-in-law) brothers grandson Avraham Moses, of blessed memory, was one of the young men slain at the massacre at Mercaz Harav.Then today I found that an old friend from Yeshiva College from Detroit,Larry Halpert similarly lost a young student.
It is never wise to strike out in anger.Hoewever everyone should read the WSJ op-ed today by Daniel Doron entitled "Israel's No-win Strategy".
Sadly ,very sadly I must now admit Rabbi Meir Kahane zt'l was right.There is no room for those who refuse to accept Israel as a Jewish State,and truly desire to live in peace.
EACH WAR,AND EACH DECADE HAS TAUGHT THAT ONLY OVERWHELMING FORCE AND VICTORY WILL STOP ARAB TERRORISM.They will never love you, but you will live without rockets rainning down on your homes.
Sadly the Govt. is paralyzed,and until Shas smells the truth, nothing will change.

A nasty battle / How can anyone support a Palestinian State?

The Dem. contest is getting real nasty.Obama has asked some very legitimate questions
1-define your "experience"-what did you do? did you have a security clearance(NO!)?,or was it all social?
2-Why will you not release your income tax returns?
3-Why will you not expedite the release of the official records of your White House meetings,and calender?

To accuse Obama of acting like Ken Starr is out of line.(not that I have anything against Starr-but to Clintonites----)

She asks ;
1-What is your experience that qualifies you other than a smooth tongue?
2-Why will you not be forthright on Rezko?
3-Are you fooling the voters in blasting Nafta?
4-You talk about working across the aisle with Democrats-Could you document one such instance?

There are other issues of course-however with the Texas Caucuses,and Florida/Michigan possibly headed to court,it may not be very pretty for the next few months.

John McCain should use this time wisely.Not only to organize and raise funds,but to delve into economic theory and practicality.There are many great minds out there, who can postulate a conservative approach to our economy, that voters will identfy with..


=====================================================================================

Look at the dancing in Gaza- are these humans , or vicious criminals who long to see Jewish blood spilled?
Those who talk of a 2-State solution, mean to divide Jerusalem-easier for terrorists to reach places like the Yeshiva and create mayhem.
Abbas (Abu Mazen) is only a terrorist in Italian suits.He was Arafat's inelllectual partner,and has never accepted Israel as a Jewish State,nor renounced the so-called "Right of Return".
Those like Bush/Rice and the do-gooders of the JCPA (Jewish Council for Public Affairs) are dreaming if they believe that a 2-State solution will work.Much Jewish blood will be spilled until Israel wakes up, and destroys Hamas,Islamic Jihad and Fatah.

A Rube Goldberg

There are those who long for a Democratic Party takeover of the WH and Senate.If we look at what to expect,let us focus on Texas,and how the party leadership constructed an election.
A real Rube Goldberg approach to populism. Three million people come out to vote,and the at nite yuppies,people with no children people who love politics etc.,can vote again in an unstructured caucus ,that has one third or so of the weight of the general primary vote.So, 50,000 people can almost negate the power of millions.
The long lines at the caucus, with people not knowing what to do ,is surely not the best face of democracy.Different districts have more weight in delegates than others.
What ever happened to -one man -one vote?
Then again look at the record of the Congress.The voters threw out the GOP two years ago,because they had abandoned their pledge to serve our country.They forgot about smaller govt.,lower taxes and clean govt.
The Dem. leadership had an opportunity to craft bi-partisan legislation and really tackle corruption,earmarks and so on.What the Reid-Pelosi team gave us was sad. To contemplate that this is what we have to look forward to in a Dem led Congress is less than appealing.

Tony Rezko

The trial of Tony Rezko is beginning in Chicago.A significant amount of donations to Obama's campaigns somehow linked to Rezko efforts, were donated by Obama to charity.
I decided to Google Rezko,and the Obama connection in many areas comes up.
I advise anyone interested to do likewise.Certainly many questions will come up in your mind-the most obvious is -why has the press sort of given him a pass on this?
There is one concern that is repeated frequently.Namely, that Obama will not allow himself to be grilled by the Chicago press corps, who know the most about this case.

It surely will not go away,and as this campaign gets tighter, the questions re: the Obama record will be more closely scrutinized.The flap today over NAFTA and the Canadian Govt. ,is one example.

It would appear the the fifth estate,suddenly is waking up to the realization that they have not really vetted Obama in the way they usually do a presidential candidate.Perhaps his teflon protective gear will suffice, but then again perhaps not.If so, it will be an interesting period.

Innocent civilians / The Race ? /Stay put Hillary !

In WWII how many innocent Germans were killed in the carpet bombing of Dresden?
The decision to drop two Atomic Bombs on Japan caused the deaths and permanent maiming of untold civilians.
Yet,perhaps a million GI casualties and deaths were avoided by the latter,and the war in Europe brought to a speedier conclusion by the former.
President Truman was hailed for his courage im going ahead with the two strikes..
Innocent civilian casualties are an unfortunate byproduct of war.This is especially true, when :

In violation of the Geneva accords,the enemy does not wear uniforms.
In violation of these accords,the enemy places their rockets and artillary within civilian homes.
When the civilian population aids and abets the combatatants by hiding them and their arms.

Thus it is strange to read that Defense Minister Barak is calling a meeting with the Justice Ministry to determine whether the IDF can target civilian areas from whence the rockets are fired.

If the answer is in the negative,then I believe these geniuses should award medals to the Hamas supporters for outsmarting the Israelis!
In the meantime, who protects Sderot? Ashkelon? and eventually all of Israel?

======================================================================

I just finished reading a wonderful political novel THE RACE, by Richard North Patterson.
Written some time ago, the political machinations in this fictitious Presidential race,is so close to the reality of our current situation,that it makes for exciting reading.

===============================================================

It is amazing that so many of the left wing media, are urging Hillary to back down.Most probably, the results on Wed. will not look too much different than Mon.There is still Pennsylvania to go, and she is leading there.
Having won NY,Calif,NJ,and probably Ohio she still has a claim to see what happens on the floor to Fla and Michigan.
I can understand the Obama people,but its not over until the fat lady sings!