Beyond the Cusp

June 22, 2015

Some Misperceptions of the Arab Israeli Conflict

Filed under: 2012 Elections,24/7 News Reporting,Absolutism,Administration,Alexander the Great,Amalekites,Anwar Sadat,Apocalypse,Appease Islamic Interests,Appeasement,Arab Appeasement,Arab League,Arab World,Arabs,Babylon,Blood Libel,Britain,Cabinet,Calaphate,Canada,Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper,Civilization,Communism,Conflict Avoidnce,Court Order,Coverup,Crusades,Czarist Russia,David Cameron,Democrat,Domestic NGOs,Dutch Parliament,Egypt,Europe,European Council,European Governments,European Pressure,European Union,Executive Order,Foreign Aid,Foreign Funding,Foreign Minister,Foreign Minister Baird,Foreign NGOs,Gamal Abdel Nasser,Gaza,Geert Wilders,Government,Hamas,Hamas Charter,Hate,Hezballah,History,Hitler,House of Representatives,Inquisition,Internal Pressures,International Politics,Intifada,Islam,Islam,Islamic Pressure,Israel,Israeli Capital City,Israeli Interests,Jerusalem,Jewish Heritage,Jewish State,Jews,Jihad,Jim Bridenstine,John Bolton,Jordan River,Judea,Leftist Pressures,Mainstream Media,Media,Media Bias,Mediterranean Sea,Middle East,Muslim Expansionism,Muslim World,Muslims,Myth,Nasrallah,Nazi,Nazi,NGO,Non Binding Resolution,Oklahoma,Ottoman Empire,Palestinian,Palestinian Authority,Palestinian Pressures,Peace Process,Persians,Pogroms,Politicized Findings,Politics,President Obama,Prime Minister,Promised Land,Response to Muslim Takeover,Roman Empire,Samaria,Saudi Arabian Pressure,Secular Interests,Sinai Peninsula,State Department,United Nations,United Nations Presures,United States,United States Pressure,Victims,War of Independence,World Pressures,Zionism,Zionist — qwertster @ 2:33 AM
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Back in the earlier and more innocent days of the State of Israel the world had little trouble discerning the main problem the Arab nations and the vast majority of their peoples have with Israel, the fact that it existed. This was made all the more obvious by their near constant threats to destroy Israel and drive the Jews into the sea. This was easy for most people, especially those in the western world, to figure out as numerous Arab spokespeople went out of their way to stress this point at every opportunity, and none more so than Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser and PLO leader Yasser Arafat. It was common perception until 1967 at the earliest and by the end of 1973 at the latest for many to realize that the Jews were not going to be overrun by any combination of Arab nations. The near outright victory in the Six Day War in June of 1967 in what many have thought would be the war that destroyed tiny little Israel as the numbers favored the Arab militaries by at least fifty-to-one and many thought even higher odds may have begun the perception of Israeli superiority. After the initial surprise attack having been launched in the Yom Kippur War it was again commonly thought that Israel was being overrun, that too led many to even begin mourning the death of Israel, even if a bit prematurely. Israel again turned the tide of battle once again. These two conflicts changed the perception of Israel as that small little country precariously clinging to life at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea located in the midst of the core of the Arab world and the midst of those who most wished to destroy Israel and her citizens and seemingly had the military might to do so. That misconception was dispelled and was replaced with an equally erroneous expectation of Israel as the hegemonic power of the Middle East.

 

This perception was further enhanced by Israeli actions which themselves purported an enormous amount of pride and self-confidence. And why not walk proud and sound loud when one had vanquished their main and most immediate foes even after a surprise attack which many saw as the final Arab victory when initially the Arab forces had broken the Israeli defensive lines and were advancing towards Israel herself. Had it not been for the distance provided Israel by still holding the Sinai Peninsula having yet to return them upon making peace with Egypt, Israel would have easily been overrun and her Jews likely slaughtered. With the Sinai Peninsula Israel was afforded the time to gather her reserves and turn the tide which then led to immediate demands that the fighting be halted as Israel was now advancing on Cairo, Damascus and Alexandria and to completely routing her Arab foes in Egypt and Syria. During this period the Egyptian armies were under the command from Gamal Abdel Nasser’s successor, Anwar Sadat. It was the eventual routing of the Egyptian military which cinched the mind of Anwar Sadat to seek a peace with Israel as there appeared no other route, especially militarily, to regain the lost lands of the Sinai Peninsula which Israel hung out in total as an enticement for peace. This peace came about being signed in 1979 and taking effect in January of 1980. This was the reason given for the eventual assassination by a member of the Muslim Brotherhood of Anwar Sadat.

 

There are some, especially military historians, who believed at that time that this was an Israeli blunder as she could have retained at least half of the Sinai Peninsula retaining her mountainous midsection and the mountain passes allowing for greater tactical depth. Such a retention would also have set a precedent for Israel retaining lands gained in 1967 and defended in 1973, something considered normal and actually expected by most of the world. Israel, on the other hand, felt that little sacrifice was to be too excessive to make for peace. Still, it was this sacrifice which has long been used as the main argument that Israel realized that her conquest of the lands from her 1967 Six Day War to be illegal and thus imperative for them to be forfeit. Jordan proved to be the one who insisted Israel retain the lands that she retained after the war of 1948-9 knowing full well that those lands of Judea and Samaria and that Jordan had renamed West Bank to remove the obvious claim which Israel possessed over the lands. Jordanian annexation was refused by the entire world even to include the Arab League and its members with only Britain and Pakistan recognizing the annexation.

 

There has been a long period of time since the hot warfare erupted almost as if on a time schedule between the Arab world and Israel. This has permitted a sea of changes in the perceptions of the conflict and by that in the expectations for making peace. Forgotten is the peace with Egypt where the entirety of the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt but that Egypt surrendered the lands she occupied and proved so by never annexing or incorporating them into Egypt, namely the Gaza Strip. After making peace with Egypt the Gaza Strip was returned unto Israeli rule as had been the default condition at the beginning of the war for Jewish genocide against the nascent state of Israel starting officially on May 15, 1948 and ending almost a year and a half later. The next to make peace was Jordan who also returned those lands she had occupied since the end of hostilities in that same war against Israel, returning to the originally drawn border between the two, intended to be the Jordan River. It was subsequent to this peace treaty that Jordan then backed the claim that there existed some state known as Palestine that had rightful claim to those lands of the West Bank and that Jordan had ruled over these lands illegally and that Israel was now obliged to give up the lands for the formation of Palestine. This was an enormous hoax by which the Arab League using Yasser Arafat’s PLO terror group to make a spurious claim of another Arab nation, the twenty-third, and claiming that Israel was occupying that nation’s actual homelands. Check history in 1967 before June and find Palestine on a map existing from any modern time before June of 1967 which has any reference to a nation known as Palestine. Unfortunately, the education system, the media, the European nations, the United Nations, the European Union, the Arab League and much of the remainder of the world even including the United States State Department all now support this fiction and the youth who were born after about 1960 have grown up much of their lives and all of their adult lives under this misconception that Israel stole through the 1967 war the lands destroying the nation of Palestine and that the area referred to as the West Bank replacing the names for the lands historically of Judea and Samaria, a substitution made by Jordan when she annexed these lands in 1950 leading to her being the occupying power of Israeli territory and never of anything named Palestine. Palestine is a fabrication meant to take land from Israel, and there is where the deceptions grow deeper still.

 

The deceptions grow deeper the more one connects the dots, dots being obscured by what are some very skilled and practiced deceivers who have funding beyond imaginations. Foremost amongst the deceptions is that all the Palestinians desire is their small homelands returned to them. Do not believe me then perhaps you can believe a member of the PLO executive committee. Zahir Muhsein. You see, way back on March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here’s what he said:

“The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct “Palestinian people” to oppose Zionism.
For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.”

 

Don’t want to believe me? I understand, but would you believe Wikipedia or Daniel Pipes or Wikiquote or simply use the search engine of your choice and query, Zahir Muhsein Dutch newspaper Trouw.

 

Then there is that reputed grassroots effort which goes by the name of BDS and has infected unbelievable campuses of colleges and universities in the West and untold numbers of mainstream media types and politicians around the world, yet probably less than 10% know the actual origins and financial support for the entirety of the BDS movement. The BDS movement originated as the Arab boycott and at some point it was thought that this boycott could be taken to the international audience and that the world was ready to join with this idea. Imagine the shock when the BDS movement did not catch on like wildfire. So it was turned over to be managed out of Ramallah by the PLO’s successor, the Palestinian Authority or PA. The PA would invest hundreds of thousands of dollars and eventually hundreds of millions of dollars and who even knows the full extent of the monies now invested in the BDS movement which is still primarily supported out of the PA budget but hidden under Fatah or the PLO or any number of different entities such that it is never discovered except as being amongst the information propaganda efforts. The monies used by the BDS movement is distributed through a system of channels through which everything flows as cash money, no bank accounts or other such traceable revenue streams, it is an all cash business and as such numerous people have been greatly enriched personally by the BDS cash flow. The BDS is sold in the Western World as a boycott of items from Israel which has some connection to the West Bank and never as a boycott of Israel itself. That is a deception as the BDS movement is designed by the PA and PLO to continue, as stated honestly in the literature, until Israel has been removed from all of their occupied Palestinian lands, code words for that chant you hear so often at rallies for the Palestinian cause, “From the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea; Palestine must be free.” There is no differentiation between inside and outside the Green Line; the BDS movement is designed to destroy all of Israel. The leadership of the BDS movement mostly serves double duty as they also organize the Israel Apartheid Week (or month) on campuses across the Western World once again to vilify all of Israel. Most of these efforts were launched at the first two Durban Conferences which were titled as “The United Nations World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance,” one of the greatest misnomers in the history of deceptions. The conference broke down into a few separate items with one subject serving as the overriding target covered though there was also mention about reparations for slavery mostly to be paid by the United States and European powers and none to be paid by Middle Eastern and Asian nations. By and large the conference became a bash Israel fest to such a point that Canada joined the United States and Israel in quitting the first conference and not returning for subsequent conferences as they appeared to be simply updates and devising new tactics in the war against Israel.

 

The BDS movement lies and hypocrisies are just the tip of the iceberg. The proof has been easy to see if one just opens their eyes. Numerous of the store assaults, something often used against supermarkets or department stores, are not delicate surgical procedures, they are slash and burn procedures. They are riotous assaults where participants storm through the victimized location knocking over displays and showing a general disrespect for property all in the guise of BDS. They storm throughout the store seeking any items which are made by specific companies as well as any items marked as being produced by Israel without the slightest concern for whether they were manufactured or grown within the Green Line or in the disputed territories. There is little if any surgical precision or even the remotest attention to nuanced targeting, they are simply slash and burn of all items Israel and any mistake, well, it was an honest mistake and doesn’t Israel deserve the additional monetary price being paid. The sad item is that it is the store owner paying that price and actually their insurance provider. The truth is that the eventual price tag falls to the consumer as they will pay the increased price eventually.

 

But all that does not matter because the truth is in the message and that message is that Israel is an evil occupation force which stole Palestinian Lands during the war in 1948-9. Wait, I hear many of you calling out, don’t you mean in 1967? I mean 1967 as much as the Arabs and their stooges mean 1967 and I mean starting with the war that went officially hot in 1948 just as they mean 1948 and finally I mean to infer that this war started in 1922 with the first Arab anti-Jew pogrom just as they see this as a continuation of the 1922 riots and do not plan on stopping until the Jew has been entirely erased from all of their lands from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea just as many Arab nations drove the Jews from their soil by the middle of the 1950s possibly keeping a few remnants just as back before the 1960s numerous companies had the ‘company Jew’ which proved they were not guilty of anti-Semitism. The Hamas Charter goes the additional step of demanding that all of Israel be liberated from the Jew and then the world be cleansed of the Jew and only after that does the final conversions begins to take place. Once again we see one group telling the truth that what they plan to start with the Jew will end with all others once the Jew has been eradicated. Then there was the desire stated by Hezballah leader Nasrallah who hoped that all the Jews from every corner of the globe would make their way back to Israel so that his terrorist armies would not be required to search all over the globe to eradicate the last Jews as they would all be gathered in Israel. What is frightening is that Nasrallah might just get his way as far as religiously observant Jews outside of a small number of super-religious Jews who will refuse to leave until the Messiah gives them a hand written gold-leaf embossed personal invitation on perfumed stationary before they will even debate if the Messiah is the real deal. In the meantime I am simply trying to figure out how to get my daughter and grandchildren to make Aliyah.

 

The lies and deceits are deep beyond imagination. There are those who when speaking of Jews and Israel will come out, this has been done by a number of Iranian Imams and leaders as well as other Islamic Holocaust deniers who in a single breath will proclaim that there never was a holocaust and the Jews invented it and Allah willing there will be another Holocaust this time perpetrated by the Arabs or Muslims. Others have denied the Holocaust only to turn and claim they are dedicated to finishing what Adolph Hitler began. Abbas has made a perfectly valid statement knowing full well that the World and especially the political and media worlds will misinterpret what he meant and he can continue in his duplicitous stratagems. His comment is that he simply desires to claim his rightful 22% of the lands and then he will be satisfied, and in that he is speaking the truth. But the Western politicians and media will interpret this as meaning that all he wants are the lands of Judea and Samaria and then some even add in Gaza which places the error on the other end. You see there is only one measurement of lands that comes out almost within a few square meters of being exactly 22% and only one. When one takes Judea and Samaria compared to the entirety one finds that to be just a smidgeon above 21% and if then adding in Gaza the amount climbs to just short of 23%. But if one takes the British Mandate and subtracts the almost exactly 78% of the lands which constitute Jordan that leaves 22.06% of the lands not taken to form Jordan thus making all of Israel including Judea, Samaria (West Bank), Gaza and everything within the Green Line it is basically Abbas’s 22% plain and simple. People argue that I am splitting hairs and if I am it is only because I have seen not only Mahmoud Abbas be accurate to that degree of fault, especially when using a fuzzily and hazily defined set of terms to misdirect a willfully-blind media, but to lead easily doped hypocritical politicians and the rest of the useful idiots out in the world.

 

There has recently begun a very troubling and, though not at all unexpected, disconcerting set of events which has shown a growing tendency for those who are anti-Israel and anti-Zionist to also add a new feather to their bonnet which is an ancient feather which some have claimed is the feather representing the most ancient of hatreds, anti-Semitism. This had been manifest originally by the rampaging hooligans who destroyed anything labeled made in Israel and then blamed Israel for not denoting which merchandise was occupied-lands-free. This has now spread just that one next step to a bigger circle to include Jews as a guilty party by inference of possibly supporting Israel. Before going further into this, please allow us to predict the next and undeniably obvious incrimination to include another select and hated group to the list of guilty of the sin of Israel and that will be Evangelicals followed subsequently by conservatives of almost any stripe which is not anti-Semitic in nature to begin with. The worrying part in all of this has been the indoctrination of the youth, in particular those impressionable students in the colleges and universities and now starting to be brought into the classrooms of the high schools and lower grades as well. The problem with this is that today’s college, and especially high school, students are the leaders and shapers of society tomorrow (tomorrow = one to two decades but this is already well on its way so say five to ten years). The other fronts which are being implemented through intervention have been prison populations and the unions, especially teachers’ unions.

 

The BDS and anti-Israel and anti-Zionist leadership have already largely taken over the steering and defining of one of the United States two major political parties and in many European nations taken a grasp on many if not all political parties. One is guaranteed to find these views supported by the Communists, the Fascists, the Socialists and the leftist human rights guarantors. The conservatives are not completely above these influences but do tend to be the less confused and fooled. If we look around the Western World we find the staunchest supporters of Israel on the right of the political spectrum. Let’s talk first about the conservatives and leftists where they are most easily to differentiate, the two main political parties in the United States. The few Democrats who remain strong supporters of Israel are also the moderates and almost squeezed from the Democrat roles. One of the most conservative of the Republican hopefuls for the ticket for President in 2016 is Ted Cruz who is about as pro-Israel as they come as are many of his supporters. Some other true conservatives who fall heavily on the side of Israel and some even willing to claim that Israel is at the forefront of this culture war and the real leader of the Western World are former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, former Florida United States Congressman and retired U.S. Army Colonel Alan West, and current District One Representative in Oklahoma Jim Bridenstine. The reality struck home to those paying attention, a select few and you know who you are (our readers of course, the informed few), during the 2012 Democrat convention. There was a motion on the floor before the delegates which was to restore to the platform faith in G0d and support for Jerusalem to be the recognized capital of Israel. They called for a voice vote and it failed so the shocked chair restates the motion more deliberately and it is voice vote refused once again, and finally, after a quick consult from a ranking member, call for the vote again not hearing much in the way of a change, simply pronounced the motion adopted and moved on to a somewhat disturbed and perturbed hall. To watch the profound and shocking train of events for yourself see below or click for the YouTube video.

 

 

Other examples exist headed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and British Prime Minister David Cameron with other notable supporters such as Geert Wilders who is a Minister in the Dutch Parliament. Unfortunately, supporting Israel is beginning to become a difficult position to hold through much of Europe and the rise in anti-Semitism is one of the lagging indicators. A direct relationship can be drawn between the drop in support for Israel and a coming increase in anti-Semitism. The rising anti-Semitism takes a number of different paths and like water it finds the paths of least resistance initially and then builds until it has the powers of tsunami and then comes the horrific and heinous results which if left unchecked anti-Semitism inevitable leads to. The proof of this is written throughout the over three-millennia of Jewish history from the Egyptian enslavement to the Babylonian exile to the eventual dark times under Persia to Greece, Rome, to Muslim and Crusader treachery alike to Muslims across North Africa and in the Middle East to European Kings and Barons to the Inquisition to the pogroms of the Czars and the Caliphs of the Ottomans and their lessor officials to the Nazis and the Communists to the current day Islamists and the coming waves of hatreds which now appear on the verge of cascading across the world from numerous equally volatile sources leading to potentially unprecedented levels with previously uncharted ramifications. Where the current spiral of hatreds will end or even if it will have an end is beyond any mortal perceptive intellect. One might ponder as to where are the prophets when one needs their guidance more than ever as threats and ravenous beasts rage at the gates and the barbarians have already found entrance ahead of the dark and ominous clouds on the horizon. One might hope that the threat of a previously unknown and apocalyptic storm perched on the horizon waiting for the sunrise simply to burst from its moorings and dissolve the sunlight into the pitched darkness of the darkest night and winds howling like the midnight wolves hungering for fresh meat leaving even the sane screaming against the thought of what the next precious hours of history may unfold quaking in fear of the unknown horrors now imagined. Is this our time, is this our destiny, is this the end of ends.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

May 23, 2013

Aid Seeking Oklahoma Republican Reps Denied Hurricane Sandy Aid

There will be factual but misleading commentary and quotations in the coming week condemning the elected Congressional representatives from Oklahoma for accepting Federal assistance in the recovery from the EF-5 tornado that utterly destroyed much of the small Oklahoma town of Moore. These statements will claim that those Oklahoma politicians who had voted down the initial $50 Billion aid package to assist the Hurricane Sandy victims in New York and the Northeast when it was before Congress are now being simply greedy in expecting funds for the recovery from the tornado. The main targets will be these conservative Republicans; Senator Tom Coburn, Senator James M. Inhofe, Representative Jim Bridenstine, Representative Markwayne Mullin, and Representative James Lankford. Both Representative Frank Lucas and Representative Tom Cole will be free from blame as they supported this legislation, well, they may receive a pass now but come the next election this vote may be used against them for supporting such massive unnecessary pork included in this legislation. And it is the included pork spending which makes the blame game unprincipled and purely a political witch hunt in an attempt to gain political points by disregarding the actual truth.

The legislation which allocated generous funding to assist and enable full recovery from much of the damages incurred during Hurricane Sandy still did not utilize even half of the $50 Billion. The greater part of these funds went to numerous projects or to supplement existing programs which had absolutely nothing to do with hurricane Sandy. Many of the expenditures went to numerous states and locations untouched by Hurricane Sandy and even to some which have never been touched by any hurricane in recorded history. These were the expenditures which the Oklahomans in the House of Representatives and the Senate voted against and they had made their positions very clear back in Oklahoma. Furthermore, there is not going to even be a vote on relief aid for the tornado that struck Moore, Oklahoma as FEMA has a surplus of funds at this point and all outlays will fall well within already allocated emergency funds set aside for just such emergencies. The difference for Hurricane Sandy was in order to fund the repairs after that disaster had to come from spending above and beyond allocated spending thus the discussion was to allocate supplemental spending. This is a normal situation which has happened before and will happen again in the future simply because some years storm and other emergency disaster recovery allocations are less than budgeted and other years it will exceed allocated spending. The evil which is hidden in the example of Hurricane Sandy was the practice of attaching additional spending for pet items, most often funding items within a Senator or Representatives State or District, often to reward major financial supporters of their campaigns, to legislation which is obviously necessary such as emergency spending, defense budgets, and other pressing or popular legislations thus guaranteed to pass. This is a convenient and efficient way of hiding what is in reality unnecessary expenditures from discussion, debate, or media coverage while guaranteeing passage and allocation of these somewhat nefarious spending items which would suffer defeat and embarrassment if their sponsors were to submit legislation solely for the approval of such expenditures.

The hiding of pork and pet project spending within unrelated legislation is an old trick of the political class but has, like so many other underhanded and circuitous measures, exploded over the last fifty years. There is another legislative misdirection used by politicians by which they pass legislation for items which they are fully aware that should they support it straight out they would be pounded come the next election as their constituents would hold their feet to the fire for supporting something the voters would find undesirable, odious even. What is done is there are three versions of the legislation presented for consideration, each one worded just sufficiently different to make each one appear to be different. This can be accomplished by changing technical terms or making less direct references within the bill such that it is a difference without a difference. Then our Representatives and Senators can vote against at least one variation while they agree on which one will be passed, maybe all three will be passed and still allow any who need to have cover for opposing the legislation is also met. Another misdirection used was a favorite of retired Texas Representative Ron Paul who would add copious amounts of pork to guaranteed to pass comfortably legislation and then he would make a grand pontification denouncing all the pork in said piece of legislation and, after demanding a roll call vote, proudly vote against the legislation into which he had placed the pork for his district. When his reelection campaign was hitting the home stretch he could wave his vote against a bill containing pork for his own district as dyed in the wool anti-pork purist despite knowing full well that the pork would safely pass and his district receive the largess he intended for them. Representative Ron Paul was one of the most successful practitioners of this method of deceit.

These are simply a pair of ways our Senators and Representatives mislead and outright lie to us and still manage to do every dirty little trick necessary in order to build government and spend all of the citizens’ tax monies to buy the votes to keep them in their cushy jobs in Washington or each state capital. There is one method which will never see the light of day unless “We the People” demand that such be made into law, or better yet, made into a constitutional Amendment. What is necessary to end these practices is single item legislation requirement where each piece of legislation must state exactly the measure or condition it will address and then every article, addendum, and amendment must be justified as to how it addresses the defined subject of the legislation. Such constricting rules will never be imposed by our elected representatives because such would end much of their little games and secrets through which they enrich their big money supporters and even often find channels that put more cash directly into their own wallets. Single item legislative requirement would not be the end and cure-all but it would be a solid step towards curbing runaway spending which we currently suffer from in almost immeasurable amounts. Once we have corralled the spendaholics in our government, perhaps then things will become easier to observe, then further steps towards honest and forthright political service can be demanded and excesses finally be rendered to the past. Everybody is allowed to dream and sometimes that first step, the dream, can lead to actual achievements. Truth be told, if you never dream it, you will never achieve it, so let’s get the dreams started and the necessary changes introduced into the discussion.

Beyond the Cusp

February 27, 2013

Republican Lack of Discipline Exposed by Hagel Confirmation

Filed under: 1949 Armistice Line,1967 Borders,2012 Elections,Administration,Afghanistan,Ahmadinejad,Anti-Israel,Anti-Zionist,Appointment,Arabs,Ayatollah Khamenei,Borders,Boycott,Building Freeze,Cabinet,Checkpoints,Checks and Balances,Chuck Hagel,CIA Chief,Cloture,Coalition,Condemning Israel,Congress,Consequences,Conservatives,Constitutional Government,Constitutionalist,Debate,Democracy,Democracy,Democrat,Disengagement,Divestment,Economic Sanctions,Europe,Extreme Leftist,Extreme Right,Fatah,Fatah Charter,Fayyad,FBI,Federal Government,Filibuster,Foreign Policy,Gaza,Gaza Blockade,Golan Heights,Government,Green Line,Hamas,Hamas Charter,Hezballah,History,Ineffective Sanctions,Intifada,Iran,Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps,Iraq,Islam,Islamic Jihad,Israel,Israeli Capital City,James Inhofe,Jerusalem,Jewish Heritage,Jewish Home,Jewish Leadership,Jewish State,Jews,Jihad,Judea,Judean Hills,Kotel,Land for Peace,Mahmoud Abbas,Middle East,Missile Research,Muslim Brotherhood,Muslims,Neglection of Duty,Netanyahu,Nuclear Program,Nuclear Research,Nuclear Sites,Nuclear Weapons,Obama,Oklahoma,Old City,Oslo Accords,P5+1,Palestinian,Palestinian Authority,Palestinian Legislative Committee,Palestinian Security Force,Parchin,Parliamentary Government,Partition Plan,Peace Process,PLO,PLO Charter,Politics,Pre-Conditions,President,President Obama,Prisoner Release,Prisoners,Protect Citizenry,Protests,Qom,Rafah Crossing,Recognize Israel,Refugee Camp,Refugees,Response to Terrorism,Right of Return,Rock Throwing,Rocket Attacks,Samaria,Sanctions,Secretary of Defense,Secretary of State,Senate,Senate Armed Services Committee,Senate Majority Leader,Separation Barrier,Settlements,Smuggling Tunnels,Submission,Suicide Bomber,Syria,Temple Mount,Terror,Tom Coburn,Two State Solution,United States,United States Constitution,Uranium Enrichment,Uranium Enrichment,Vote,Warhead Development,West Bank,Western Wall,Zionism,Zionist — qwertster @ 2:11 PM
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There is a theory throughout the free world that on certain votes party discipline is expected. Such examples abound in the Parliaments in Europe, Israel, Japan, Australia, Canada and any we may have omitted. It has often been on display within the United States Congress, but almost exclusively by the Democrat legislators and almost never, actually might be never, from the Republican side of the aisle. The nomination by President Obama of former Senator Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense was problematic even before his dreadful performance at his confirmation hearings. As positions go in a President’s Cabinet, Secretary of State, CIA Chief, Chief of the FBI are the few of the positions which rival Secretary of Defense in their importance. This makes the ability to answer questions competently and without overly long hesitations very crucial. Mr. Hagel’s performance left loads to be desired. He not only stumbled on answering questions but also had to correct answers he had given after conferring with handlers sent to aid him in his responses. The United States does not need or desire a Secretary of Defense who is less prepared to answer vital questions than the average Senator would be. Even if this had been the only problem with the Hagel appointment it still would have been worthy of greater objection than was displayed.

But there were already other questions and difficulties posed by Senator Hagel’s previous statements concerning the United States staunchest Middle East ally Israel and his lack of resolve shown towards the Iranian nuclear program as well as his soft approach to such terrorist groups denoted as such by the State Department as Hamas and Hezballah. When one additionally inspects Senator Hagel’s voting record his appointment becomes all the more troublesome. Add in his flippant disregard for many such votes and his snide remark that there was no evidence that any of his votes ever did any damage to Israel which though technically true, it is not for want of trying on Hagel’s behalf and solely due to the fact that Hagel’s vote was among the minority and the vast majority of his fellow Senators supported the United State’s ally Israel. The final nail in the coffin for the Hagel appointment should have come when at least one Republican Senator decided to filibuster the nomination and requested his fellow Republicans support his efforts. Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma even wrote a letter asking as much and despite being given the support of a number of fellow Republican Senators; the party supported his efforts only through one cloture vote stalling the confirmation over one little weekend.

After supporting the Senator Inhofe intent to filibuster on a Friday vote, Senator Reid, the Majority Leader of the Senate, was assured by numerous Republicans that they would no longer support any further Republican efforts to filibuster and delay a confirmation vote. What makes the whole cloture vote fold by Republican Senators so disheartening is when the actual vote came to confirm the Hagel appointment as Secretary of Defense, the final vote was insufficient to have overcome the filibuster by a fair margin of 58-41, two votes short of cloture if the Senators had voted their up or down vote during the cloture vote. Despite the four Senators from the Republican side of the aisle who voted to approve the Hagel nomination, the cloture vote of 71-27 reveals that an additional thirteen Republican Senators voted to end the filibuster by their own party than eventually supported the nomination. The question which those whose Senators voted for cloture despite opposing the nomination must be asked is why, knowing that a vote for cloture guaranteed the nomination, did they ignore the sole path to resist this atrocious appointment and fold to the demands of President Obama, Senator Reid and the Democrats? Are they that afraid to stand strong for their beliefs and only vote their conscience when it will not make a difference and when their vote matters simply fold under even the slightest of pressures from the Democrats? What are they afraid of, missing out on some brie and red wine luncheons in the Capital Building or some other social affairs? If they are unable of standing when their votes matter, perhaps they should be replaced. If your Senator was among the four that voted for Hagel, well, at least they were consistent and voted their minds. But if your Senator is among the thirteen who voted for cloture thus guaranteeing a confirmation which they then voted against, you may wish to replace the worms you currently have as the next choice could not be worse. Maybe you can find a real Republican Senatorial candidate to run against the worm in the next primary and send a real conservative Constitutionalist Senator to Washington. Would that be too much to ask? My Senator, he was the one who first stated intent to filibuster and the other supported him and is known as Senator No. I am glad you asked.

Beyond the Cusp

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