Showing posts with label Democrats. Show all posts

Friday, September 7, 2012

Israel Updates

Barak hints the US would join Israel in Iran strike
By GIL HOFFMAN
09/07/2012 02:03
"We share the challenge though our timetables are not the same," the defense minister says at a pre-Rosh Hashana political even.
Ehud Barak with US Adm. James A. Winnefeld

Ehud Barak with US Adm. James A. Winnefeld

PHOTO: ALON BASON/DEFENSE MINISTRY

Defense Minister Ehud Barak appeared to hint on Thursday night that he believed the United States would join Israel in a strike on Iran to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Speaking at a pre-Rosh Hashana toast for activists of his Independence Party at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds, Barak noted the meeting that he had earlier in the day with Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and said they dealt with all the developments in the region, but especially Iran.

“The State of Israel will make its decision about its future and its security alone, but the United States is our most important partner,” Barak said at the toast.

“[America’s] cooperation, intelligence-sharing and military support for Israel is extraordinary in its depth and its comprehensiveness, and I’m convinced that it will continue to be that way in every future test,” he said.

Barak, who received an update from Winnefeld on America’s preparedness for dealing with the issues in the region, praised the steps that America had taken to deal with a possible confrontation with Iran.

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=284189

Israel relents to let in 'infiltrators'

September 8, 2012

Ruth Pollard

An Israeli soldier stands near the border fence between Israel and Egypt as African would-be immigrants sit on the other side.

Left out … the Eritrean asylum seekers sit and wait by the border fence as an Israeli soldier watches from the other side. Photo: Reuters/Nir Elias

JERUSALEM: After leaving a group of about 20 Eritrean asylum seekers stranded in harsh conditions between Egypt and its border fence for seven days, Israel has softened its stance and allowed the two women and one child in the group to enter the country.

The others in the group agreed to ''go back the way they came'' to Egypt, a spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said.

''It is important that everyone understand that Israel is no longer a destination for infiltrators. We are determined to stop the flood of infiltrators that has been here,'' Mr Netanyahu said in a statement. ''We built this fence and it has already lowered the number of infiltrators by 90 per cent. We will intensify steps against those who employ illegal infiltrators and we will continue the effort to return infiltrators to their countries of origin.''

Government officials said the refugees agreed to the arrangement but representatives for the group could not be reached. The Israeli military has prevented aid groups from reaching the Eritreans to provide food, medical care and legal assistance.

Disappearing pro-Israel Democrats

12:06 PM, September 7, 2012 ι Abby W. Schachter

As we survey the outcomes of the Democratic National Convention, there are multiple signs that what may have once been a major force within the Democratic party -- the pro-Israel bloc -- is receding and perhaps even disappearing.

First, the Jerusalem-is-Israel's-capital debacle : Why were the words about the Democatic Party's views on Jerusalem changed in the first place? No one knows. Sen. Chuck Schumer, who describes himself as one of the most long-standing pro-Israel Democrats in existence told Charlie Rose that he had no idea why the platform language defining Jerusalem as Israel's capital was changed. But changed it was and then it took a phony-baloney declaration of the "aye have it" to change it back. But if you listen to the audio, it really doesn't sound like the folks in the convention hall want to reinstate the language about Jerusalem and it was only because President Obama had demanded to "fix" the problem that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had to go through the embarrassment and confusion of declaring the measure passed when obviously, the majority didn't want it passed.

Second, pro-Israel Democrats stayed away from the proceedings : Natalie Portman didn't appear as part of the celebrity Obama lovefest.

Third, pro-Israel liberals took notice that Israel is not a big seller among rank-and-file Democrats : Jeffrey Goldberg took to Twitter last night during President Obama's speech to observe that Israel just wasn't getting the love that he expected. And this while Obama himself made a apoor showing of his concern for Israel's security when he nearly ignore the Iranian threat.

Israel military says it strikes Gaza militants

By IBRAHIM BARZAK

AP / September 6, 2012

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military says soldiers and aircraft have hit Palestinian militants planting explosives along the border with Gaza.

The military said in a statement that it targeted a ‘‘terrorist squad’’ Thursday.

Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra says three men were killed. Gaza farmers at the scene say they wore military fatigues.

An Israeli airstrike the night before killed four Palestinian militants as they were preparing to fire rockets at nearby southern cities, the military said.

Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers have observed an unwritten truce since a short war more than three years ago that Israel said aimed to stop Palestinian rocket strikes. Palestinian attacks have continued but at a much lower rate.

The rockets often trigger Israeli airstrikes. Israel says it holds Hamas responsible for the attacks.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middle-east/2012/09/06/israel-military-says-strikes-gaza-militants/ozJdMIWJ3bnmlm2hUrzmgK/story.html

US-Israel duel over Iran

(Reuters) / 7 September 2012

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blew up at the US ambassador last month because he was “at wits’ end” over what he sees as the Obama administration’s lack of clarity on Iran’s nuclear programme, a US congressman who was at the meeting said.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a Republican, made his first public comments about the late August meeting in Israel in an interview with Michigan’s WJR radio on Tuesday.

“Right now the Israelis don’t believe that this administration is serious when they say all options are on the table, and more importantly neither do the Iranians. That’s why the programme is progressing,” Rogers said. Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful energy purposes.

Israel is facing growing international pressure not to unilaterally attack Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and the United States has made clear it opposes any such strike. Rogers said if the US does not show Israel more clarity on where it draws “red lines” on Iran’s nuclear programme, then Israel might conduct a strike. “If I were betting my house today, I would guess that they probably will do it if we don’t have a change in more clear red lines from the United States,” he said.

A spokesman for Israel’s embassy in Washington declined to comment. The State Department would not comment on private diplomatic meetings but spokesman Edgar Vasquez said: “We have a rock solid relationship and an ironclad commitment to Israel.” The spat between Netanyahu and US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro appears to confirm a deep chasm over how to deal with Iran, which the two allies have tried to play down publicly.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2012/September/middleeast_September78.xml&section=middleeast&col=

Canada closes Iran embassy, set to oust diplomats
By REUTERS, JPOST.COM STAFFLAST UPDATED: 09/07/2012 18:20

Citing nuclear program, hostility towards Israel, Canadian FM Baird calls Iran biggest threat to global peace; Netanyahu praises move.
Canada's John Baird

PHOTO: REUTERS/MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY

OTTAWA - Canada has closed its embassy in Iran and will expel all remaining Iranian diplomats in Canada within five days, Foreign Minister John Baird said on Friday, denouncing Tehran as the biggest threat to global security.

Baird cited Iran's nuclear program, its hostility towards Israel and Iranian military assistance to the government of President Bashar Assad Syria, which is locked in civil war with rebels.

"Canada views the government of Iran as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today," Baird said in a statement, accusing Iran of showing blatant disregard for the safety of foreign diplomats.

"Under the circumstances, Canada can no longer maintain a diplomatic presence in Iran ... Diplomatic relations between Canada and Iran have been suspended," he said.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday welcomed Canada's decision to expel the Iranian ambassador from Ottawa and to close the Canadian embassy in Tehran.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Attacking "Stay-At-Home Moms"? Stay-at-home moms are worth $112,000, study says...

Hilary Beth Rosen, an American lobbyist and Democratic pundit has made a HUGE mistake by saying that stay-at-home moms don't know what it's like to work, or that they don't have a job and therefore don't work. Firstly, listen to the words from the mouth of Hilary Rosen...

Insulting? Absolutely! In fact, it brings question to the reality that Hilary Rosen lives in. Is SHE in touch with the real lives of the American people? What makes her an expert on whether or not women who stay-at-home as mothers actually "work" or have a "job"?

Take a look at the article below...

Ann Romney flap: Stay-at-home moms are worth $112,000, study says

We all know a mother's work is never done. Salary.com -- a salary compensation website -- puts a price tag on it. (Salary.com / April 13, 2012)

By Rene Lynch

April 13, 2012, 12:39 p.m.

Ann Romney didn't draw a salary when she was a stay-at-home mom raising five boys. But if she had, she'd have pulled in more than $112,000 a year in today's dollars, suggests a popular new study.

Each year, Salary.com asks thousands of stay-at-home moms to complete a detailed survey about how they spend their days managing a household and raising children. The popular website dedicated to salary compensation issues then puts a price tag on all that cooking, cleaning, chauffeuring, laundry-doing ....

This year's study says the average stay-at-home mom's compensation would total $112,962 a year. (Romney would probably earn more because she was raising a larger-than-usual family of five boys.)

If you've tuned into media pundits this week, you'd think that the country is actually debating the value of a stay-at-home mom's work after Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen put her foot in her mouth by saying Ann Romney "never worked a day in her life" because she stayed home raising the five kids she shares with Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

"That's laughable," said Aaron Gouevia, a content manager at Salary.com. "Moms absolutely have value. They work -- and work a lot."

Meanwhile, Ann Crittenden, author of "The Price of Motherhood," said she was especially saddened that a woman set off the controversy pitting working women against stay-at-home moms. "Women can't seem to stop being judgmental of each other, which is a tragedy because 'divided you shall be conquered,'" she told The Times.

Attacked: Ann Romney, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and has beaten breast cancer, argued she has experienced hard work bringing up her sons

Crittenden said she believes Rosen actually does value stay-at-home moms, but that her poorly chosen words suggested otherwise.

Nonetheless, the flap speaks to the disjointed attitude Americans have toward stay-at-home moms, Crittenden said. By turns, stay-at-home moms are put on a pedestal for doing the "world's most important job" and then they are derided for "just" taking care of the kids.

Crittenden suggested that instead of bickering over Rosen's comments, Republicans and Democrats can show their support for stay-at-home moms by making it easier for women to choose that route. (For many women, forgoing that salary is simply not an option.)

Campaigning: Mitt and Ann Romney, pictured on March 20 in Schaumburg, Illinois, were criticised for having a warped understanding of women's economic concerns

But there was one bright spot in this week's controversy, author Leslie Morgan Steiner told The Times.

"Six years ago, when I was writing 'Mommy Wars,' moms understood in two seconds what the book was about. But when I told men I was researching a book on tensions between working and stay-at-home moms, they would say, 'Huh, could you write a whole book about THAT?'

"Today, men I've talked to and men responding to the comments online seem equally incensed that anyone would suggest that raising five children is not 'work,' " she said. "We've come a long way in the mommy wars if men now fully understand how very hard motherhood is."

SOURCE: LA TIMES
SECOND SOURCE: DAILY MAIL

Would Hilary Rosen Have Criticized Stay-at-Home Dads as Never Having Worked?

It's good that Hilary Rosen apologized for her comments that Ann Romney, who chose to be a stay-at-home mom to raise her five boys, had 'never worked a day in her life.' It took a day for Rosen to finally acknowledge that her comments were unhelpful, but she finally said, "I apologize to Ann Romney and anyone else who was offended."

Now, I am opposed to the culture of offense where people look to be offended by some public comment. We all need to chill a little and stop pouncing on each other. People can express their opinions without it always leading to a culture war. But Rosen's comments are different and I'm saying that not as someone running for Congress but as someone who has counseled thousands of women, many of them stay-at-home moms.

Too many have told me that they already feel inferior. Their husbands get to go out of the house and have a change of scenery. They get paid for their work and therefore often feel more appreciated and have greater control of the family's finances and spending. Many stay-at-home moms still have to ask their husbands for money or are degradingly given allowances for the families needs, something I have always railed against. With rare exceptions, a couple's money should be equally pooled, as should most things in marriage. But too many husbands feel that they are the breadwinners and their wives have not earned their share of the family income. So why should they have equal say in how it is spent?

Not that Rosen doesn't have any validity to her points, either. Indeed, she is correct. Many moms would choose to be at home, but they can't. The family is desperate for the second income. But even so, Rosen's unnecessarily demeaning comments against stay-at-home mothers -- and I'm happy to believe her that she never intended her remarks to be insulting -- reinforce a negative stereotype that mothers who are at home are not pulling their weight or earning their fair share.

Let's turn the tables for a moment. There is a growing movement on the part of husbands to be stay-at-home dads while their wives go out and earn the bacon (I apologize for the deep offense I have now no doubt caused my Jewish readers). A 2008 US Census publication puts the number of married fathers who work in the home as their children's primary caregivers at approximately 140,000. Now, would Rosen have said the same thing about these men, that they never worked a single day in their lives, or would she, as have so many others, praised them for their maternal role in putting their children first? Would she have lauded their ability to get beyond the traditional macho-man role and prioritizing their family even before their careers? So if Rosen is going to rail against a war against women, then let's agree that a gender bias that praises men who put their kids first but punishes women for the same is an unfair assault in that battle.

For the record, I am actually an advocate of women having a profession even when they are near full-time mothers. It constitutes advice I often give unhappy wives who come to me for counseling. Get out of the house more and develop your career. If you don't need the money, volunteer for charity.

My wife and I are blessed with nine children. But my wife has always worked alongside me in everything I have done. And I have raised my six daughters to do all the things that I have done with my boys.

Women are the equal of men in all ability and professionalism and I believe in encouraging our daughters to be both moms and professionals, simply because human beings seek the dignity that comes with both.

We acknowledge, on the one hand, that we are links in a higher chain of existence and raise our children to continue that chain. But in addition, we are people in our own right and seek the maximum development of our individualism irrespective of our position in a family.

Still, this is my opinion. Others may disagree. And that's the whole point of the need for Rosen's apology. Rosen is a political consultant with two kids. G-d bless her. It's beautiful that she has chosen to do both. But it is not for her to judge other people's choices. Besides, if Rosen had had five kids rather than two -- and Mormons, like Jews, have large families -- she might have found it slightly more challenging to sustain her career.

The point is that everyone contributes in their own way, and it's time for us to all stop assailing and judging each other. Not only is it important to reverse the culture of taking offense, it's also important to curb a culture that gives it, too.

SOURCE: HUFFINGTON POST

IN ADDITION TO THE ABOVE, HERE IS SOME INFORMATION THAT MANY OF YOU MAY BE LOOKING FOR IN RELATIONSHIP TO THE ROMNEYS...

Ann Romney's Career Choice: 'No Nannies' For Mother, Says Source

By HOWARD KOPLOWITZ: Subscribe to Howard's

April 12, 2012 6:05 PM EDT

Ann Romney had the means to hire help in raising her five sons, but she went about it the way the average American mother would -- with no assistance at all.

According to a source familiar with the family, Ann Romney did not tap into her family's vast wealth in raising Tagg, Matt, Josh, Ben and Craig while Mitt toiled away at the Boston Consulting Group and Bain Capital in the 1970s and 1980s.

Enlarge

(Photo: Facebook)
Ann Romney had the means to hire help in raising her five children, but she went about rearing the kids the way the average American would - with no assistance at all.

"No nannies," said the source, who requested anonymity.

A poster on the liberal website Daily Kos speculated that Ann Romney had help raising the kids, claiming the Romneys had five housekeepers in 2010.

"If they had that much help in 2010 it is hard to imagine that Ann Romney raised her 5 children without any outside assistance, wouldn't you agree?" Daily Kos user jbiggs asked.

But the poster posed the question without offering any evidence to back up his assertion.

Romney's days as a housewife have been scrutinized since Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen said Wednesday night on CNN that Romney "has never worked a day in her life."

Romney and stay-at-home moms everywhere took offense to Rosen's remarks for suggesting raising children wasn't work.

"I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work," Ann Romney tweeted.

Rosen has since apologized for her comment, but she also said Romney had the luxury of staying home when the average American mother today can't afford to do so.

"@AnnDRomney I am raising children too. But most young American women HAVE to BOTH earn a living AND raise children. You know that don't u?" Rosen tweeted.

Rosen issued a statement in which she referring to the so-called "war on women" that Democrats say Republicans have waged this election cycle.

"I apologize to Ann Romney and anyone else who was offended," Rosen said. "Let's declare peace in this phony war and go back to focus on the substance."

Rosen's remarks were condemned on both sides of the aisle, including Democrats with strong ties to President Barack Obama.

"I could not disagree with Hilary Rosen any more strongly," tweeted Obama 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina. "Her comments were wrong and family should be off limits. She should apologize."

"Also Disappointed in Hilary Rosen's comments about Ann Romney," tweeted Obama senior adviser David Axelrod. "They were inappropriate and offensive."

"Hilary Rosen was wrong about Ann Romney & I hope she will say so...," tweeted Joe Trippi, the pundit who managed Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign.

SOURCE: IB TIMES

THERE YOU HAVE IT. ENOUGH SAID.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

U.S. Government Shutdown?

Government shutdown threat looms over budget fight

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