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Israel’s predicament by Bret Stephens.
What is Israel’s predicament? It is this: It is surrounded on nearly all sides by enemies who are aggressively committed to its destruction. And too many people who call themselves its friends are only ambivalently committed to its security.
Consider the month that Israel has just had:
• On Aug. 18, eight Israelis were killed in a sophisticated cross-border ambush near the frontier with Egypt.
• From Aug. 18-24, some 200 large-caliber, factory-made rockets and mortars were fired at Israel from Gaza. …
… No democracy in the world today lies under a darker shadow of existential dread than Israel. And the events of the past month ought to demonstrate that Israel’s dread is not of shadows only. Israel’s efforts to allay the enmity of its enemies or mollify the scorn of its critics have failed. But is it too much to ask its friends for support—this time, for once, without cavil or reservation?
Spengler catches Arabs being Arabs.
Now Egypt has banned the export of palm fronds, whose ritual use is central to the observance of the Jewish Feast of Sukkoth (Tabernacles). Most American Jews ignore this holiday, one of the three pilgrimage festivals (along with Passover and Shavuot) for which all the men of ancient Israel came to Jerusalem. For observant Jews, though, Sukkoth recreates the liturgy of the Temple and embodies our hope for its restoration. According to press accounts, the Egyptian Agriculture Ministry gave no reason for the ban. Israel is sourcing palm fronds elsewhere.
The reason for Egypt’s ban is obvious: the Islamists who are taking Egypt over by stages hate Judaism–not just the Jewish State, and not just the Jewish people, but the religion itself. By extension, they hate Christianity.
As I explain in my new book How Civilizations Die (and Why Islam Is Dying, Too), Islam asserts the Election of the Arabs in opposition to the Election of Israel. The Jewish religion itself is an affront to Islam, except, of course, when the Arabs can chant, “The Jews are our dogs,” permitting them to practice Judaism under conditions of humiliation and oppression. This silly, petty, pointless act of religious hatred speaks volumes about the character of the new Egyptian regime and the devolution of Egyptian society.
Jonathan Tobin says the coming UN disaster is Obama’s fault. Pickerhead thinks its the fault of the fools who voted for him.
For many liberal pundits, the blame for the circus that will unfold this week at the UN with the start of a debate over Palestinian statehood is to be assigned to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu whom they wrongly claim has obstructed peace talks. Others are inclined, with more justice, to put the onus for the problem on Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas whose pursuit of UN recognition of statehood without first making peace with Israel is seen as both futile and counter-productive to the end that he claims to seek.
But the lion’s share of the blame ought to fall on President Obama. Though peace talks were stalled when he took office in January 2009, the deterioration of a relatively stable standoff into the volatile situation that exists today is due in no small measure to the blunders that the president’s team has committed over the past 32 months. Though friends of Israel will rightly give Obama credit for sticking to his word and vetoing the Palestinian resolution — a stand that will be undertaken as much if not more in defense of U.S. interests than those of the Jewish state — the diplomatic disaster that is about to be played out is the fruit of his own misjudgments. …
Speaking of fools who voted for Obama, here’s Ed Koch and why, now, he’s gonna keep Barack’s feet to the fire.
When Gov. Cuomo announced there would be a special election in the 9th Congressional District to replace Anthony Weiner, I gave public voice to an idea that had been percolating in my head for some time. As everyone now knows, I wound up strongly supporting the candidacy of Bob Turner, who last week won the seat in a hotly contested race.
I want to explain why I did what I did, so there’s no misunderstanding of my intentions, or of my future plans. I hope President Obama gets the message that’s been sent. If he does — and if he announces, for example, that an attack by Turkey (which is heading toward war with Israel) or an attack by Egypt (which allowed the mob to occupy the Israeli embassy and threaten Israeli diplomats) would be seen as an attack upon the United States — I’d be happy to support him and even campaign in Florida on his behalf in 2012.
But if he doesn’t read the tea leaves and change his position, you can be certain I will continue to bang my drum. I will campaign against him not only in New York, but in other parts of the country next year. I’ll be loud and clear about what I believe. There are many Floridians who are concerned about the Obama administration’s treatment of Israel, and Florida will be crucial to the President’s reelection. …
Peter Schiff testified before Congress on how the government could create jobs. His testimony is here.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking member, and all distinguished members of this panel. Thank you for inviting me here today to offer my opinions as to how the government can help the American economy recover from the worst crisis in living memory.
Despite the understandable human tendency to help others, government spending cannot be a net creator of jobs. Indeed many efforts currently under consideration by the Administration and Congress will actively destroy jobs. These initiatives must stop. While it is easy to see how a deficit-financed government program can lead to the creation of a specific job, it is much harder to see how other jobs are destroyed by the diversion of capital and resources. It is also difficult to see how the bigger budget deficits sap the economy of vitality, destroying jobs in the process.
In a free market jobs are created by profit seeking businesses with access to capital. Unfortunately Government taxes and regulation diminish profits, and deficit spending and artificially low interest rates inhibit capital formation. As a result unemployment remains high, and will likely continue to rise until policies are reversed.
It is my belief that a dollar of deficit spending does more damage to job creation than a dollar of taxes. That is because taxes (particularly those targeting the middle or lower income groups) have their greatest impact on spending, while deficits more directly impact savings and investment. Contrary to the beliefs held by many professional economists spending does not make an economy grow. Savings and investment are far more determinative. Any program that diverts capital into consumption and away from savings and investment will diminish future economic growth and job creation.
Creating jobs is easy for government, but all jobs are not equal. Paying people to dig ditches and fill them up does society no good. On balance these “jobs” diminish the economy by wasting scarce land, labor and capital. We do not want jobs for the sake of work, but for the goods and services they produce. As it has a printing press, the government could mandate employment for all, as did the Soviet Union. But if these jobs are not productive, and government jobs rarely are, society is no better for it. …
New Geography drills down into the Texas job numbers.
Texas Governor Rick Perry entered the Republican presidential nomination race bragging about the job creation record of Texas during his term as his primary pitch to a nation starved for jobs. This triggered a flurry of debate on whether or not Texas is really all Perry claims for it. But while there is certainly nuance in numbers, and Texas doesn’t win on every single measure, on the whole it seems indisputable that Texas did very, very well during the 2000s.
This may or may not be the doing of Perry. Nor are the national struggles clearly the fault of Obama. The man at the top always reaps the credit for the blame for what happens on his watch, but the realities of the modern economy are quite complex and there’s only so much influence a governor or president has – and that usually comes with a lag. Nevertheless, the Texas story can’t simply be discounted.
Let’s take a look at the top level data. While reviewing, keep in mind that the data for the US as a whole actually includes Texas. If you stripped the Texas data out of the US total, the comparisons would generally get even better for the Lone Star State. …
Corner Post on how Michelle shakes down White House visitors.