Breaking: Shalit deal breakthrough

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Word out of Israel today is that Gilad Shalit will be released from Gaza in November.

A deal for the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit has been worked out with Hamas, reports in Israeli media and Arab satellite television station Al-Arabiya said Tuesday night. The government is to meet Tuesday night, and sources said that the government is expected to approve the deal.

Official details have not yet been released, but reports say that Israel will release at least 1,000 terrorists in exchange for Shalit. Israel has also agreed to ease demands on where the terrorists will be released to. Israel reportedly agreed to allow at least some of the terrorists to return to their families in Judea and Samaria; previously Israel had demanded that most of the terrorists be sent to Gaza, or deported. The deal is set to take place in November, or possibly even before.

The Shalit family declined to comment on the reports. Reports in Israeli media Tuesday night said that the family had received several additional “signs of life” that were not reported to the public, the latest about two years ago.

Israel's government declined to comment, but a spokesperson in the Prime Minister's office said that “a short-term window of opportunity has opened to bring Gilad home.” A report on a Hamas-affiliated TV station said that Hamas Gaza head Khaled Mashaal would release details of the deal later Tuesday night.

Israel Radio reported that the inner cabinet met Monday night to discuss the deal, and members of the military and defense establishment were invited to present their opinions on the deal, especially the release of terrorists to areas within Judea and Samaria. Ministers reportedly discussed each of the terrorists to be released, and where Israel would demand they be sent. One minister, quoted anonymously on Israel Radio said that the deal was not necessarily the best Israel could have gotten, but that “we all feel it is time to bring Gilad home.”

Source

Israel is releasing 1,000 murderers and will get Shalit back.  There is no proof that Gilad Shalit is alive and I believe that all the Israelis will receive is a dead body.

Leo is gone now but his story is still alive

Originally posted here.

My Uncle Leo was quite the story teller. If the story was sad he made your eyes water. If funny you laughed. Of course all his stories came from real-life experiences. I don’t remember a whole lot about Leo during my early years for he moved his family to California while I grew up in Massachusetts. It wasn’t until I joined the Air Force that I was to get to know him like an uncle should be known.

He told me stories about my mom and dad that I had never realized but shed some light as to why I was brought up in an orphanage.

My first get-to-know-my-uncle time was when I was on my way to Alaska in 1963. I spent a few days with him while en-route to my new duty station. We had a great time while he showed me all around his place of work. He worked for MGM studios in those days as a night watchman and taking me around the studio back-lots in that army jeep (used on the TV series Combat) was as memorable as memories can be. And yes, he told me a few stories.

A few more visits over the years as I passed through California from one military assignment to another got to be almost as if the Air Force was playing family reunion as a part of my transfer orders. There was the week my family and I stayed while on our way to Okinawa with a repeat of the same on our way back from the Pacific. Just to mention that ocean brought more stories from Uncle Leo…you see he spent a lot of time there in WW II.

Then it was around 1973 while stationed in Texas that the Air Force would send me TDY (Air Force lingo for Temporary Duty) to Southern California…I guess the reason for the TDY is not important here, but just in case you’re interested, it was to buy dogs for the military working dog program. Yeah, it was great! Right down the road (so to speak) from my Uncle Leo’s place was Fort MacArthur where all the preliminary physicals and qualification testing was accomplished before the dogs were inducted into the service. But that’s another story…for it was during this visit that Leo told the story that led me to tell this story.

I’m not sure what it was that perked his memory but he began this story by lighting up a cigarette (and yes, he was a heavy smoker…the old Lucky Strikes without the filter). He was somewhere out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean being transferred to another island during some of the heaviest fighting of WW II. Now Leo can only tell this part like Leo can and I cannot re-enact the inflection of his voice. He describes the situation where he sees a grown man on his knees reciting some prayer while a torpedo is headed straight for the ship. Most everyone thought it would be their last day on earth…except Leo. He lights a cigarette and nonchalantly walks to the ship’s stern and flicks his ashes over the torpedo that passes harmlessly below curvature of the hull and disappears.

Now I may not have given the torpedo story much justice but let’s fast forward to October 1, 2011. In the town where I live they have what is called Claybank Jamboree every first Saturday in October. One of the vendors on display in the town’s square was distributing free books. When a book was handed to me I didn’t pay too much attention to the title until I reached home later in the day. It’s a religious book and I’m not a huge reader of denominational conditionings…my religious beliefs are pretty much set at my age. But then again I wasn’t going to let a book go to waste…so I began reading “Psalm 91 God’s Shield of Protection”. Not a catchy title that I’d be looking for at a book store but here’s what it said right there in chapter one:

“…a situation in which a U.S. Navy boy from Texas found himself. Running spiritually to his secret place is most likely what saved his ship from disaster. He and his mother had agreed to repeat Psalm 91 each day at a given time, to add agreement to his protection covenant. He later told of a time when his ship was under attack from the air and from an enemy submarine at the same time. All battle stations on the ship were in operation when the sub came within firing range and loosed a torpedo directly toward them. At that moment the young man realized it was the exact time that his mother would be saying Psalm 91, so he began quoting the psalm just as the torpedo wake appeared, headed directly toward their battleship. Then, when it was just a short distance away, it suddenly swerved, passing the stern and disappearing.”

Leo is gone now but his story is still alive...

By Norman E. Hooben

Eric Holder Repeats His Lies

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://gary fouse.blogspot.com


Embattled Attorney General Eric Holder has sent an angry letter to Congress in which he defends his testimony of May 3, 2011, in which he stated that he had first heard of Operation Fast and Furious" a few weeks previous".

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/07/holder-challenges-fast-and-furious-allegations-in-scathing-letter-to-congress/?test=latestnews


This letter flies in the face of certain facts. We know that e-mails recently released show that Holder was getting memos on Fast and Furious as far back as July 2010. Holder and his defenders can treat these memos and nothing more than everyday minutia, like, say, company picnic notices, but that hardly seems credible given the nature of this operation and its consequences. One of the consequences occurred in December 2010 when Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in a gunfight in which one of the Fast and Furious weapons was recovered. Yet, Holder claimed under oath on May 3, 2011 that he had first heard of Fast and Furious "probably a few weeks previous".

Then, in February 2011, ICE agents Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila were shot by Mexican gang members in Mexico. Zapata died from his wounds. Again, Fast and Furious weapons were recovered from the scene. Yet, on May 3, Holder told Congress under oath that he had first heard of Fast and Furious "probably a few weeks previous".

A few weeks or a few months?

I suppose Holder could always raise in his defense that Janet Napolitano, head of Homeland Security, which oversees the Border Patrol and ICE, was never bothering to jump up and down on Holder's desk demanding answers as to why her agents were being shot and killed by weapons linked to this Justice Department fiasco of an operation. That she has not done so, privately or publicly, is to her everlasting shame. But that only makes her an accomplice to Holder's cover-up.

In addition, Holder is no claiming that a similar operation was conducted under the Bush administration. There is a difference; a controlled delivery, under which contraband is allowed to proceed to its intended recipient under surveillance resulting in arrests and seizure, is accepted law enforcement procedure. Show me where that operation allowed guns to "walk" into Mexico and disappear without any arrest or seizure. If that was the case, I would condemn that as well.

Eric Holder and anyone else in DOJ involved in this mess have no business being in federal law enforcement. Holder has been a scourge to the DOJ ever since the Clinton administration when he greased the skids for the notorious Clinton pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich.

Perjury is serious business-especially when committed by the chief law enforcement officer in the land.

RIP Steve Jobs

By Findalis

Steve Jobs, co-founder, chairman, and former chief executive officer of Apple Inc died today at the age of 56.

Apple said founder Steve Jobs has died, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday.

In August, the legendary chief executive officer of Apple Inc., resigned and the company named Tim Cook, its previous chief operating officer, to the post.

Jobs wrote in a letter to the board that "if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come."

"I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it," Jobs said at the time. "And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role."

Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant two years ago. He reportedly appeared at the iPad 2 launch in March and the annual developers' conference in June, The Journal reported. But he appeared thin at both events.

Jobs is credited with being the mind behind the iPhone, iPad and other devices that turned Apple into one of the world's most powerful companies.

Source

Apple changed the world.  That is not just a saying.  His Apple Computers gave the average person the idea that they can own a computer for their home too.  He changed the way we listened to music, talked on the phone, read a book and communicated with the whole world.

In fact, without Steve Jobs our world would be a poorer one.

G-d bless the man and be with his family.

P.S:  Now all your Apple appliances will shut down in memory.

Obama: This Guy Doesn't Like Us

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk


Back in the 1990s, as I was nearing retirement from DEA, we had an administrator (head of the agency or director) named Tom Constantine. He was appointed administrator out of the New York State Police. When he left the State Police, they reportedly held a retirement party for him, a party to which he was not invited. As administrator of DEA, Constantine presided over an agency with poor morale. The reason for the poor morale? Constantine. It seems that Constantine brought with him an unfavorable attitude about federal law enforcement agents. Reports said that he often told his underlings at DEA Hqs, "You feds......." (fill in the blank.)

Shortly before I retired, I was having a few drinks with a DEA colleague who had attended a meeting between Constantine and a few ordinary agents who were on TDY in HQs. I asked him what his impression of Constantine was. His answer?

"He doesn't like us."

I think the same can be said at this point about President Obama. He doesn't like us. Not all of us, of course, but a significant part of the population of this country. In truth, we should have figured this out a long time ago.

Was it when we first heard about Reverend Jeremiah Wright, he of "God damn America fame"? Obama spent 20 years sitting in Wright's church, yet claimed never to have heard him condemn this country.

Was it when we learned of his association with William Ayres and Bernadine Dohrn?

Was it when we learned of the influence on Obama of Frank Marshall Davis and Saul Alinsky?

Was it when we read his two autobiographies, written before he even became famous? Should we have seen a red flag when he wrote of identifying more with the black father who abandoned him than the white mother and grandparents who raised him?

Was it when Michelle Obama told a campaign audience that America in the 21st century was a really mean country or when she said that she was proud of her country for the first time in her life-because her husband was running for president?

Was it when we came to know Joe the Plumber, when Obama told him that he wanted to "spread the wealth around"?

Was it when we realized that he had no idea of how to hold his hand over his heart when reciting the Pledge of Alliance or the National Anthem was playing?

Was it when he started apologizing for America during his overseas trips?

Was it when he showed utter contempt for Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu during a White House visit?

Was it when, after becoming President, he accused the Cambridge, Massachusetts police of acting stupidly when they arrested Henry Louis Gates?

Was it when he started appointing radicals like Van Jones to positions in his government?

Was it when he made Eric Holder attorney general or in any of the instances in the succeeding 3 years that Holder made it plain that he was running a race-based, radical Justice Department?

Was it during the last 9-11 ceremony in New York when he and Michelle appeared to be treating the flag-folding ceremony with contempt?

This is man who we had hoped would bring us together-even if we had voted against him. In contrast, he has driven us further apart. He has widened the divide between whites and blacks, conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats. He blames our problems on anyone he can other than himself. He does not understand what drives Americans to love their country and to respect our traditions. He has no great appreciation for the capitalist system, free enterprise, and the inalienable right for people to keep what they earn. That is because he is a socialist-if not an out and out Marxist.

How ironic that in less than one generation after the collapse of the Soviet Union and their satellites in Eastern Europe, we have a president that has more in common with that failed ideology than he does with the system that made America the winner of the Cold War.

President Obama doesn't like us.

It Is NOT Your Money!

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Could be screamed at every person in Congress, the President, etc.  But this time I am screaming it at Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen and the Fakistinian people.

The United States Congress reportedly blocked the transfer of $200 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority in what a Palestinian official called "collective punishment" for the PA's bid for membership in the United Nations, UK daily The Independent reported on Saturday.

The unconfirmed report says that an unpublicized block on the transfer of funds, less than one third of the aid sent to the PA annually, has been in place since August.

The United States is opposed to the Palestinian bid to seek full UN membership and has vowed to veto such a move in the Security Council.

PA spokesman Ghassan Khatib told The Independent that cutting aid to the PA is "unjustified. These are mainly humanitarian and development projects - it is another kind of collective punishment which is going to harm the needs of the public without making any positive contribution."

In mid September, the US House Foreign Affairs Committee began debating cutting off US aid to the Palestinian Authority for breaking ranks with the American-brokered peace process. In her opening statement, Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), credited former President George H.W. Bush in 1989 with “stop[ping] dead in its tracks” attempts by former Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat to seek recognition from various UN agencies after statehood was declared a year before. Ros-Lehtinen called upon President Obama to do the same in 2011 “to stop Abu Mazen’s [PA President Abbas] dangerous unilateral scheme” by suspending funds to any UN agency “that granted membership or any upgraded status to the PA.”

In July, a key Congressional committee considered a foreign aid bill that threatened funding to the Palestinian Authority and Lebanon, and would codify in law the George W. Bush letter to Ariel Sharon.

The bill, drawn up by Ros-Lehtinen, would also end by 2014 the president’s ability to waive the law that requires him to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as well as mandate that official American documents list Jerusalem as part of Israel. The State Department would also have to report on its diplomatic activities on behalf of Israel to end efforts at isolating it.

Furthermore, it conditions aid to the PA on its recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and ending all anti-Israel incitement in state-owned media, among other measures; while aid to Lebanon includes a stipulation that no member of Hezbollah serve in the government.

Source

Americans are the most generous people on the planet Earth.  When a disaster strikes it is the generosity of the average American that sends millions of dollars to help those affected.  The US government has given trillions of dollars to various nations to help them grow, prosper and expand into viable democracies.

But the PA forgets one little fact:

It is not the funds of the PA.  This is money that belongs to the citizens of the United States.  If those citizens (through their representatives) decide that they do not wish to fund terrorists, then they will withhold the funds.

I suggest that the PA ask Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Libya, etc...for the funds they need.

Who is "Getting Soft", Mr President?

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com


So President Obama thinks we are getting soft, does he?


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-29/obama-pushes-for-jobs-plan-during-2-swing-state-tv-interviews.html

And perhaps a bit of malaise too?

If we are getting soft, it is because many Americans have bought into Obama's ideal of a socialistic society with bailouts and extended unemployment benefits, union give-a-aways and such designed to increase the dependence of people on Big Government.

In Obama's world view, everyone would be dependent on central government to provide the basic necessities of life and more. Those who have succeeded through their own talents and hard work are excoriated as being rich and selfish people who need to pay more taxes so wealth can be evenly distributed to others.

We have already seen this in Europe, haven't we? In Western Europe, ever since the end of the Second World War, Europeans have built a socialist society built around vacations every August and protected by American military might. Meanwhile, Eastern Europeans lived under the thumb of big central governments, while said governments lived under the thumb of Moscow. Both experiments failed miserably as the Western Europeans are just learning.

A few years ago, a German friend told me that the old, stereotyped fleissige Deutscher (industrious, diligent German) was a thing of the past. That is what socialism has accomplished.

That is also what Obama's ideal world view is doing to America. Do you see what is happening to American can-do and initiative? That is what Obama is working to make a thing of the past. What's the point of being industrious, diligent or having initiative if government is going to provide you with everything and take away any "excess" money you make?

Aside from the obvious example of our military, what is the biggest force that is not getting soft? That would be the much excoriated Tea Party that the Obamanites love to condemn.

Obama's latest statement is another example of how he refuses to accept any blame for his actions. He blames others. He blames the opposition.

He blames us.