JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel announced plans Wednesday to build more than 1,500 homes in Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, dealing a setback to newly relaunched peace efforts hours after it had freed a group of long-serving Palestinian prisoners.
The construction plans drew angry condemnations from Palestinian officials, who accused Israel of undermining the U.S.-led talks by expanding settlements on the lands where they hope to establish an independent state. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon also condemned the Israeli decision, and Washington said it would not create a “positive environment” for the negotiations.
Israel had freed the 26 Palestinian prisoners as part of a U.S.-brokered agreement to restart the talks. The construction was meant to blunt anger over the release of the prisoners, all of whom had been convicted of murder in the deaths of Israelis.
Israel’s Interior Ministry said 1,500 apartments would be built in Ramat Shlomo, a large settlement in east Jerusalem, the section of the holy city claimed by the Palestinians as their capital. It also announced plans for archaeology and tourism projects near the Old City, home to Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy sites.
Israel first announced the Ramat Shlomo plan in 2010 during a visit to Israel by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, sparking a diplomatic rift with Washington that took months to mend. Wednesday’s decision is the final approval needed, and construction can begin immediately, officials said.
Ofir Akunis, a lawmaker from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, said construction also had been approved for several West Bank settlements.
“The building in Judea and Samaria will continue and be intensified,” said Akunis, using the biblical term for the West Bank.
In addition, he told parliament that Netanyahu had given orders to “advance plans” for more than 2,000 homes in a longer list of settlements across the West Bank.
While these projects still need additional bureaucratic approvals, they are especially provocative because several of the settlements are deep inside the West Bank and almost certainly would have to be dismantled as part of a peace deal.
Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state.
The Palestinians, along with virtually all of the international community, consider the settlements to be illegal or illegitimate.
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the settlement plans, saying they were “destructive to the peace efforts and will only lead to more tensions.”
“It’s a message to the international community that Israel is a state that doesn’t abide by international law and continues to put obstacles in the way of peace,” he said.
If Israel really wants peace with the Palestinians; maybe, just maybe they should stop with the acts of provocation. Next you hear some idiot Zionist bemoaning the fact that the Palestinians keep picking on Israel, please show them this, and tell them to please shut up.
How is it that people that make up only 2% of the population of the United States of America can be so controlling over Christian Businesses, American Banking, American Politics — liberal and Conservative, and our entire entertainment industry? It just does not make sense.
(RNS) Hanukkah comes early this year. But it apparently never comes to Hobby Lobby.
The national craft store owned by conservative billionaire Steve Green seemingly refuses to carry merchandise related to Hanukkah because of Green’s “Christian values,” and some Jews are taking offense.
“I will never set foot in a Hobby Lobby. Ever.” wrote Ken Berwitz, the New Jersey blogger who brought the Hobby Lobby Hanukkah flap to light in a Friday (Sept. 27) blog post.
Berwitz’s outrage has spread to other bloggers who are taking Hobby Lobby to task as a store that courts the general public, but refuses to stock anything related to Judaism — even in communities with significant Jewish populations.
“If they want to sell all over the nation then they must include all people within that nation,” wrote a Jewish visual artist named Abbey on a blog post entitled “Is Hobby Lobby Anti-Semitic?”
Of course, the vultures are coming out of the woodwork to take their swipes at the so-called “Intolerant Christian”. See here, here, here, and here. I will make a accusation: This is nothing more than a left winged Jewish attack against a Conservative Christian business, who refused to bow down to President Barack Obama’s stupid Nationalized healthcare plan. Obama figured out a way to get this guy and he called on some left-wing Jewish friend of his to do the job. Sad part is, some right-wing Jews got in on the act as well.
Of course, Hobby Lobby’s President fearing his company might be picketed or boycotted by these idiot pukes, issued the following statement:
UPDATE 10/4/13 10:15am: Hobby Lobby President Steve Green has issued the following statement on behalf of the company:
We sincerely apologize for any employee comments that may have offended anyone, especially our Jewish customers and friends. Comments like these do not reflect the feelings of our family or Hobby Lobby. Our family has a deep respect for the Jewish faith and those who hold its traditions dear. We’re proud contributors to Yad Vashem, as well as to other museums and synagogues in Israel and the United States. We are investigating this matter and absolutely do not tolerate discrimination at our company or our stores. We do not have any policies that discriminate; in fact, we have policies that specifically prohibit discrimination. We have previously carried merchandise in our stores related to Jewish holidays. We select the items we sell in our stores based on customer demand. We are working with our buyers to re-evaluate our holiday items and what we will carry in the future.
This is my problem: I just do not see why ANY business of any sort should have to apologize for its owner’s Christian values, to ANYONE. I agree, what the employee said, was mildly offensive. But, this idea that the owner of the company has to grovel before these pukes is an outrage! 😡
Now, had this been my company? This is the statement I would have put out:
Hobby Lobby is owned by a born again Christian. A Born again Christian who happens to know that the Jews of the Bible arrested Jesus of Nazareth; They charged him with false charges, brought him before a rigged trial, of which they could not even agree on the accusations — and then ordered him crucified.
Because of the knowledge of this fact; Hobby Lobby does not sell items for Jewish holidays. This is still the United States of America, and if a business owner chooses not to cater, suck up to or kiss the ass of a protected minority, that is his business. Hobby Lobby is a multi-billion dollar company and I am sure we will not miss the business of a group of people, who make up 2% of the population of the United States of America.
DANA BASH: You all talked about children with cancer unable to go to clinical trials. The House is presumably going to pass a bill that funds at least the NIH. Given what you’ve said, will you at least pass that? And if not, aren’t you playing the same political games that Republicans are?
HARRY REID: Listen, Sen. Durbin explained that very well, and he did it here, did it on the floor earlier, as did Senator Schumer. What right did they have to pick and choose what part of government is going to be funded? It’s obvious what’s going on here. You talk about reckless and irresponsible. Wow. What this is all about is Obamacare. They are obsessed. I don’t know what other word I can use. They’re obsessed with this Obamacare. It’s working now and it will continue to work and people will love it more than they do now by far. So they have no right to pick and choose.
BASH: But if you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it?
REID: Why would we want to do that? I have 1,100 people at Nellis Air Force base that are sitting home. They have a few problems of their own. This is — to have someone of your intelligence to suggest such a thing maybe means you’re irresponsible and reckless –
BASH: I’m just asking a question.
Right about now; if I were anything closely related to the Democratic Party — leadership, strategist or whatever — I would be ordering a double of some very strong liquor. The Democrats will never, ever live that one down; ever.
Now for what this mental midget did: (via Florida Today)
Attorneys for a man who police said shot three people at the culmination of a neighborhood feud have filed a motion demanding a jury determine whether William T. Woodward’s murder charges should be dismissed under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
The motion says Woodward had been the target of a variety of threats and “exercised his right under Florida law to defend himself and his family that night.”
“It’s probably best that you don’t make threats against people, they may take you seriously,” said Robert Berry, an attorney representing Woodward.
Officials say Woodward snuck up on a Labor Day barbecue and opened fire at about 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 3, 2012. Police arrived and found Gary Lee Hembree, Roger Picior and Bruce Timothy Blake all had been shot. Hembree and Picior died of their injuries. Blake, who was hit 11 times, survived.
Woodward, 44, is accused of two counts of first-degree felony murder and attempted first-degree felony murder.
Before the incident, police had responded numerous times to the ongoing dispute, according to a release. Woodward and Hembree went to court to discuss the dispute before Judge John D. Moxley. Moxley did not issue an injunction.
The motion filed by Woodward’s attorneys says in the hours prior to the shooting, all three men were yelling at Woodward and that this type of behavior had been ongoing for over a month.
In the hours before the shooting, the men called him names, and said “Come on boys. We’re going to get him. We’re going to get him, all three of us.”
Florida law allows people to use deadly force to protect against “imminent death or…prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony.”
Basically, what happened was this: This dude snuck up on these people in full Military fatigues and opened fire on a family and some friends —- while they were eating. The only thing this slime ball piece of crap needs to be doing, is to become the resident “pivot man” at the prison circle jerk. 😡
and that ain’t the worst of it, there is this too:
Woodward’s attorneys argue that an attack could have been expected based on the words of his neighbors. They go on to mention the “Bush Doctrine,” a concept that justifies a pre-emptive attack based on the need to defend from a threat.
The “Bush Doctrine”?!?!? WOW. Just…wow. 😯
Of course, there is this:
Melbourne attorney Kepler Funk said it was “valid” that Woodward would want an independent jury to make this decision rather than a judge, but felt it was unlikely the court would convene one for this pretrial hearing.
“It’s novel for sure, and I’m all for thinking outside the box, so I commend him for that,” he said. “I don’t know the court’s going to grant the motion though.”
In other words, this idiot has a snowball’s chance in hell in getting his case thrown out. I do not give a flying flip what someone is doing to you; teasing you, calling your momma a hoe or whatever — you cannot just sneak up on someone and empty a clip on them. That is not how it works. What works is IGNORING the persons doing this or MOVE!
I swear, I am seriously starting to wonder about people in society today! 🙄
While many Americans were tuned into news coverage of the massive damage from tornadoes ravaging the state of Oklahoma, Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse took to the Senate floor to rail against his Republican colleagues for denying the theory of anthropogenic global warming.
Whitehouse spent 15 minutes chastising GOP senators and justified his remarks by alluding to states that seek federal assistance in the wake of natural disasters.
“So, you may have a question for me,” Whitehouse said. “Why do you care? Why do you, Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, care if we Republicans run off the climate cliff like a bunch of proverbial lemmings and disgrace ourselves? I’ll tell you why. We’re stuck in this together. We are stuck in this together. When cyclones tear up Oklahoma and hurricanes swamp Alabama and wildfires scorch Texas, you come to us, the rest of the country, for billions of dollars to recover. And the damage that your polluters and deniers are doing doesn’t just hit Oklahoma and Alabama and Texas. It hits Rhode Island with floods and storms. It hits Oregon with acidified seas, it hits Montana with dying forests. So, like it or not, we’re in this together.”
Unlike some bloggers who claim to be Independent, I point out when both sides do stupid stuff like this; because it is sick and wrong to exploit a tragic event like this for one’s political agenda. For the record, I do not totally deny climate change; I just happen to think that the science in incomplete and that the whole climate change movement became radically politicized, which I believe personally is harmful. I believe that science is a great thing; but science with a political agenda is dangerous, like unto Nazi propaganda or Soviet propaganda.
The tornado damage near Oklahoma City is still being assessed and the death toll is expected to rise, but already Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., says he will insist that any federal disaster aid be paid for with cuts elsewhere.
CQ Roll Call reporter Jennifer Scholtes wrote for CQ.com Monday evening that Coburn said he would “absolutely” demand offsets for any federal aid that Congress provides.
Coburn added, Scholtes wrote, that it is too early to guess at a damage toll but that he knows for certain he will fight to make sure disaster funding that the federal government contributes is paid for. It’s a position he has taken repeatedly during his career when Congress debates emergency funding for disaster aid.
Scholtes points out that Coburn was one of 36 Republican senators who voted against disaster funding for Superstorm Sandy in January.
However, there are many things that have come up since then, which I simply cannot defend.
They are:
The IRS targeting Jewish groups. – I mean, honestly, what the hell were the IRS and Obama’s people thinking when they let this one happen?
IRS targeting Conservative groups in Washington and Elsewhere. — Did they not know that this would be exposed?
DOJ going after the AP – This is borderline Watergate, so says a watergate player. — Again, what the hell were these people thinking?
My friends, the “Giving the benefit of the doubt” of the President and his Administration by this writer and blogger are over. There is no doubt in my mind that the Obama administration; much like the Administration of George W. Bush, became consumed with a lust for power and abused and exploited the office of President of the United States and the instruments of Governmental office for political purposes.
The Democrats have screwed themselves out of ever winning an election; for like oh, maybe the next 2 major election cycles. This is the sad part, Obama and his Administration promised Americans that he would be a clean break from the policies and practices of President George W. Bush and his Administration and sadly, it turns out that Obama and his Administration are just as bad; if not even worse. As I wrote before, it is sad ending to a Presidency that offered so much to give; but ended up delivering little or nothing at all, in the realm of change.
It is going to be a long, hot, nasty, political summer for America, Americans, Black Liberal Americans and for Washington D.C.. I just hope that cool heads prevail. But, I really do fear the worst in yet to come.
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