Appeasement

Mitt Romney accused President Obama of appeasement of America’s enemies. Immediately we think of Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler prior to the start of WWII. Britain and France pursued a policy of appeasement in the hope that Hitler would not drag Europe into another world war. It was the surrender of Sudeten to Germany from Czechoslovakia. We all know how that ended. The start of the war is generally held to be September 1, 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland.

The facts do not support the Romney accusation.

1. Obama increased the number of troops in Afghanistan from 30,000 to 100,000 in his first year in office. While a draw down has started the forces are still larger than 30,000.

2. Many high-profile Al-Qaeda leaders have been killed. Among them are Osama bin-Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki.

3. As recently as Wednesday of this week a U.S. spy drone crash landed in Iran.

4. The United States will be deploying 2,500 military personnel to the north coast of Australia as a message to China that they do not control the Western Pacific region.

5. There has been no draw down of American troops anywhere in the Far East. Nor has there been any withdrawal of forces from any nation in the world.

6. The United States did turn back an effort by Palestinians to gain nationhood status in the U.N.

7. The United States provided the military power that removed Muammar Gaddafi from power in Libya.

The real problem is that Mitt Romney seems to believe that if he repeats a lie enough times it will be believed. Barack Obama should not waste a moment of time defending his decisions in foreign affairs.

Lack of Presidential Leadership

The Keystone XL oil pipeline extension was proposed in 2008. The build application was filed in the beginning of 2009. On November 10, 2011 President Obama announced “the decision on the pipeline permit would be delayed until at least 2013, pending further environmental review.”

The Obama administration’s top health official, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, on Wednesday overruled the Food and Drug commissioner to block the Plan B emergency contraceptive pill from becoming available to young teens without a prescription. When President Obama lifted federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research early in his administration, he set a markedly different tone from that of the Bush years, declaring that scientific decisions should be “based on facts, not ideology.”

Deficit reduction committees and proposals have been numerous during the Obama administration:

– The Super Committee of 12 required a mere majority but could not persuade anyone to change sides.

– Republican Alan Simpson, a former U.S. senator from Wyoming, and Democrat Erskine Bowles, a former chief of staff to President Clinton, chaired the president’s bipartisan deficit commission that voted 11-7 last December in favor of a plan to save $4 trillion over 10 years. Unfortunately, a supermajority of 14 votes was needed to move the package to Congress.

– Rep. Paul Ryan (R) has proposed the Roadmap for America’s Future, which is a series of budgetary reforms. His January 2010 version of the plan includes partial privatization of Social Security, the transition of Medicare to a voucher system, discretionary spending cuts and freezes, and tax reform. It was considered too radical by members of both political parties.

What do all of these issues have in common? The president has been absent. No one knows what his ideas are. We all know that he has judiciously avoided taking a position. All evidence of a lack of leadership.

The Fourth Branch of American Government

This is the reason we need to defend America’s free press.

Sometimes called the “fourth estate”; the press has become the real watchdog that helps ensure the government really does the people’s will.

Just two weeks ago there was an item on 60 Minutes about a proposed law titled the Stock Act. The proposed law would outlaw the right of congressmen and senators the right to legally act on insider information that would send the rest of us to jail. The law was originally introduced in the 109th session of the House of Representatives on Mar. 28, 2006 by Brian Baird (D-WA) but it received no support at all until it was part of the television program on November 13, 2011. As of December 2, 2011, it has 153 co-sponsors. This never would have happened without the reporting on television.

Last night Steve Kroft, again on 60 Minutes, interviewed two people who were fired from big financial companies (one from Countrywide Mortgage and one from Citi-Group) because they tried to intervene in fraudulent activities.

It was the Los Angeles Times that provided the expose revealing the theft of city funds from the small city of Bell, California. That has resulted in criminal charge against the city manager and city council members.

Between 1972 and 1976, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, reporting for the Washington Post, emerged as two of the most famous journalists in the Watergate affair that ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Pakistani model Veena Malik’s nude photo causes fury

This article appeared in the Toronto Canada newspaper, Toronto Star.

ASIF SHAHZAD, Associated Press

ISLAMABAD — A Pakistani actress who posed in the nude for an Indian magazine with the initials of Pakistan’s feared and powerful intelligence agency on her arm has triggered fury across this conservative nation.

Veena Malik’s photo on the website of FHM India, in advance of its publication in the magazine’s December issue, has been lighting up social network websites since earlier this week.

Many here anticipate a backlash, as nationalists and Islamists regularly stage rallies against anything they deem an insult to Islam or to the national honor. India and Pakistan have fought three wars, and the Inter-Services Intelligence agency or ISI has been accused of sponsoring terrorist attacks inside India.

Malik has broken Pakistani religious and national taboos in the past. She is a target for conservative ire and a heroine to some Pakistani liberals.

Conservative cleric Maulana Abdul Qawi declared on Aaj TV on Saturday that her latest venture into controversy was a “shame for all Muslims.”

In an interview with Pakistani Geo television broadcast Saturday, however, Malik said the nude photo was published in violation of her agreement with FHM India and she was considering legal action against the magazine.

Malik acknowledged having been photographed for a “bold but not nude shot.” She said the editor of the magazine had promised that he would cover most of the photo with the ISI initials.

The photo was intended to poke fun at the Indian fear of Pakistani spies, she said, adding “whatever happens (in India), people say ISI is behind that.”

Magazine editor Kabeer Sharma said Malik had given full consent for the shoot and the picture.

“We have all the record(s),” he told the Pakistani television station. “Veena was very excited about that ISI idea.”

Zubair Khan, a 40-year-old shopkeeper in the northwestern city of Peshawar, agreed, saying the photo had given rival India another opportunity to insult Pakistan.

“She has earned a bad name for the entire Pakistan nation,” he said.

Others questioned the authenticity of the photo.

“It seems to be an Indian attempt to malign Pakistan by faking her nude pics, or she might have done it to get a cheap publicity,” said Lubna Khalid, 38, a housewife in the southern port city of Karachi.

Twitter commentator Umair Javed however called on Pakistanis to “make copies of the picture and bury it in your backyard. This way, our grandkids will know there were some amongst us who lived free!”

Asked by reporters whether Pakistan would “pursue the matter” legally, the country’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Saturday, “First, let us see whether it is real or fake.”

Malik does most of her work in India. The entertainment sector there is booming, while Pakistan’s is moribund. Her ties to Pakistan’s archrival have landed her in controversy in the past.

During a much-publicized talk show appearance early this year, she lashed out her nemesis Abdul Qawi, who criticized her for having a scripted love affair with an Indian actor on an Indian reality show.

“What is your problem with me?” an angry Malik demanded of the scholar, who had accused her of insulting Islam.

Finally Good News About Our Economy

I tried helping retail establishments in my area. I told my wife she should buy the clothes she has delayed purchasing. That will cost a few hundred dollars. Then I went into Best Buy on Black Friday and ordered a new 50 inch television.

Not only was Black Friday a banner day for total sales but the unemployment rate dropped to 8.6% for November. This is the lowest unemployment rate in two and a half years.

The higher sales even over flowed into car and light truck sales. A local Ford dealer that claims to be the biggest sales company in the country, Galpin Ford, reported that their sales over the Thanksgiving Day weekend were five times the number of vehicles sold in 2010. Look at these extraordinary national sales figures.

U.S.car and light truck sales for top 10 automakers

	Nov. sales	Pctg. Change from Nov.’10	Year-to-date sales	2011 share
GM	180,402	+7.0%	2,269,446	19.7%
Ford	166,441	+13.3%	1,933,654	16.8%
Toyota	137,960	+6.7%	1,466,530	12.7%
Chrysler	107,172	+44.5%	1,231,095	10.7%
Nissan	85,182	+19.4%	941,607	8.2%
Honda	83,925	-6.4%	1,042,055	9.0%
Hyundai	49,610	+21.8%	594,926	5.2%
Volkswagen	38,283	+28%	398,654	3.5%
Kia	37,007	+39.1%	442,102	3.8%
Mercedes-Benz	28,257	+46.7%	239,006	2.1%
Industry total	994,721	+13.9%	11,534,206	100%

Source: Autodata from Los Angeles Times

Obviously no one knows if the optimism will continue but this sort of behavior is contagious.

There are some things to be concerned about. First if we buy we do not save and that means less money for an emergency or retirement. Europe is in a financial mess and if it isn’t solved soon it will impact the United States.

Just for the month of December let’s all think positive and do positive things. It just might change our behavior and attitude in 2012.

A Letter From Israel

My name is Aron Adler.

I am 25 years old, was born in Brooklyn NY, and raised in Efrat Israel. Though very busy, I don’t view my life as unusual. Most of the time, I am just another Israeli citizen. During the day I work as a paramedic in Magen David Adom, Israel’s national EMS service. At night, I’m in my first year of law school. I got married this October and am starting a new chapter of life together with my wonderful wife Shulamit.

15-20 days out of every year, I’m called up to the Israeli army to do my reserve duty. I serve as a paramedic in an IDF paratrooper unit. My squad is made up of others like me; people living normal lives who step up to serve whenever responsibility calls. The oldest in my squad is 58, a father of four girls and grandfather of two; there are two bankers, one engineer, a holistic healer, and my 24 year old commander who is still trying to figure out what to do with his life. Most of the year we are just normal people living our lives, but for 15-20 days each year we are soldiers on the front lines preparing for a war that we hope we never have to fight.

This year, our reserve unit was stationed on the border between Israel, Egypt and the Gaza Strip in an area called “Kerem Shalom.” Above and beyond the “typical” things for which we train – war, terrorism, border infiltration, etc., – this year we were confronted by a new challenge. Several years ago, a trend started of African refugees crossing the Egyptian border from Sinai into Israel to seek asylum from the atrocities in Darfur.

What started out as a small number of men, women and children fleeing from the machetes of the Janjaweed and violent fundamentalists to seek a better life elsewhere, turned into an organized industry of human trafficking. In return for huge sums of money, sometimes entire life savings paid to Bedouin “guides,” these refugees are promised to be transported from Sudan, Eritrea, and other African countries through Egypt and the Sinai desert, into the safe haven of Israel.

We increasingly hear horror stories of the atrocities these refugees suffer on their way to freedom. They are subject to, and victims of, extortion, rape, murder, and even organ theft, their bodies left to rot in the desert. Then, if lucky, after surviving this gruesome experience whose prize is freedom, when only a barbed wire fence separates them from Israel and their goal, they must go through the final death run and try to evade the bullets of the Egyptian soldiers stationed along the border. Egypt’s soldiers are ordered to shoot to kill anyone trying to cross the border OUT of Egypt and into Israel. It’s an almost nightly event.

For those who finally get across the border, the first people they encounter are Israeli soldiers, people like me and those in my unit, who are tasked with a primary mission of defending the lives of the Israeli people. On one side of the border soldiers shoot to kill. On the other side, they know they will be treated with more respect than in any of the countries they crossed to get to this point.

The region where it all happens is highly sensitive and risky from a security point of view, an area stricken with terror at every turn. It’s just a few miles south of the place where Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. And yet the Israeli soldiers who are confronted with these refugees do it not with rifles aimed at them, but with a helping hand and an open heart. The refugees are taken to a nearby IDF base, given clean clothes, a hot drink, food and medical attention. They are finally safe.

Even though I live Israel and am aware through media reports of the events that take place on the Egyptian border, I never understood the intensity and complexity of the scenario until I experienced it myself.

In the course of the past few nights, I have witnessed much. At 9:00 PM last night, the first reports came in of gunfire heard from the Egyptian border. Minutes later, IDF scouts spotted small groups of people trying to get across the fence. In the period of about one hour, we picked up 13 men – cold, barefoot, dehydrated – some wearing nothing except underpants. Their bodies were covered with lacerations and other wounds. We gathered them in a room, gave them blankets, tea and treated their wounds. I don’t speak a word of their language, but the look on their faces said it all and reminded me once again why I am so proud to be a Jew and an Israeli. Sadly, it was later determined that the gunshots we heard were deadly, killing three others fleeing for their lives.

During the 350 days a year when I am not on active duty, when I am just another man trying to get by, the people tasked with doing this amazing job, this amazing deed, the people witnessing these events, are mostly young Israeli soldiers just out of high school, serving their compulsory time in the IDF, some only 18 years old.

The refugees flooding into Israel are a heavy burden on our small country. More than 100,000 refugees have fled this way, and hundreds more cross the border every month. The social, economic, and humanitarian issues created by this influx of refugees are immense. There are serious security consequences for Israel as well. This influx of African refugees poses a crisis for Israel. Israel has yet to come up with the solutions required to deal with this crisis effectively, balancing its’ sensitive social, economic, and security issues, at the same time striving to care for the refugees.

I don’t have the answers to these complex problems which desperately need to be resolved. I’m not writing these words with the intention of taking a political position or a tactical stand on the issue.

I am writing to tell you and the entire world what’s really happening down here on the Egyptian/Israeli border. And to tell you that despite all the serious problems created by this national crisis, these refugees have no reason to fear us. Because they know, as the entire world needs to know, that Israel has not shut its eyes to their suffering and pain. Israel has not looked the other way. The State of Israel has put politics aside to take the ethical and humane path as it has so often done before, in every instance of human suffering and natural disasters around the globe. We Jews know only too well about suffering and pain. The Jewish people have been there. We have been the refugees and the persecuted so many times, over thousands of years, all over the world.

Today, when African refugees flood our borders in search of freedom and better lives, and some for fear of their lives, it is particularly noteworthy how Israel deals with them, despite the enormous strain it puts on our country on so many levels. Our young and thriving Jewish people and country, built from the ashes of the Holocaust, do not turn their backs on humanity. Though I already knew that, this week I once again experienced it firsthand. I am overwhelmed with emotion and immensely proud to be a member of this nation.

With love of Israel,

Aron Adler, writing from the Israel/Gaza/Egyptian border.

Bloomberg’s Plan for World Domination

Illustration from Newsweek website by Radio

The November 28, 2011 edition of Newsweek has a six page spread on Michael Bloomberg’s media empire. It is an empire built on the income he earned with his company that provides specialized data to Wall Street traders and stock brokerage companies.

The spread attempts to frighten readers with the possibility that very soon Bloomberg L.P. will control so much of the American media that it will impact almost all of society. It is something on the order of Rupert Murdoch’s control of the media in the U.K. through his News Corporation. The Murdoch holdings include 20^th Century Fox and Fox Television.

The indictment is questioning the right of powerful, successful business men to enlarge their business empires. If we stop this from happening we turn our back on the right to become extraordinarily successful. It would be a strike against capitalism an free enterprise. Free enterprise is a core American value.

If we look at history we have seen the rise and fall of many businesses that appeared indomitable. There was a day when General Motors manufactured more than 60% of all the vehicles sold in the United States. Not too long ago we feared the rise of the Japanese model that would soon overtake the United States. AOL seemed to be a force that no other company could replicate. Ted Turner dominated cable television. The Washington Post was the owner of the very successful Newsweek magazine that is now a shadow of its former self. What ever happened to RCA and Zenith? McGraw-Hill founded Business Week magazine but it was on a path to death until Bloomberg bought the publication and has made it thrive.

Bloomberg L.P. is an honest business that is thriving in a down economy. It is thrilling to realize that some people can see the opportunities that others cannot. We should all celebrate Michael Bloomberg’s success and try to emulate his methodology.

P.S. I would have written this to Newsweek but there is no letters to the editor column.

It’s Not Easy Being a Republican Candidate

Just when it appeared that Newt Gingrich was the new best answer to Mitt Romney he tells tonight’s debate watchers that he favors legal residency for million of illegal aliens.

Mitt Romney was not alone in opposing legal status for those living in the shadows of our society. Interestingly Rick Perry, who shares the Gingrich solution for many illegal aliens, remained quiet on the subject. No wonder. His views brought down his standing in the public opinion polls.

So it will come as no surprise if Newt Gingrich experiences a similar decline in the polling.

With just six weeks until the Iowa caucus Mitt Romney is looking stronger and stronger. However, Mr. Gingrich is an excellent speaker and debater. Still, I believe Jon Huntsman is the most qualified. He is the smartest among the group. If I were a Republican I would be voting for him.