March 21, 2008
For Me,…
…life of late has been a bit crowded where time is concerned. I’ve been dividing my time between a work project and a commitment I made to help someone out in the maintenance of his own business (no compensation to speak of, more in the nature of a favor), and it hasn’t left me much time to post. I manage to make my rounds in the blogosphere, but only have limited time to comment. This will shortly change — I’m beginning to think I was born with a shoestring schedule or the like, considering that I’m trying really hard to be semi-retired.
I commented recently to a friend, while we were listening to Katrina & The Waves’ Going Down To Liverpool (to do nothing) that I had come to Chicago to do precisely that, only it hasn’t yet worked out as such.
That said, I took some time out earlier to watch a DVD of Live Free Or Die Hard, and must say that I found it profoundly entertaining. The Die Hard series is among the few whose sequels are worth watching, and a third one that qualifies thus is worth remarking upon.
Non-stop action (though the stunt scenes are a bit unbelievable when applied to “real life” probabilities), a plot based on something that I’m not entirely unsure couldn’t happen given the criminal minds that seem to migrate into the field of computer hacking and, as a welcome change, an F.B.I. deputy director who is portrayed by Hollywood as a competent, dedicated law enforcement official rather than the usual corrupt, criminal mastermind the left coast film liberals enjoy portraying.
Okay, having gotten that bit out of the way…
Anyone who visits this blog with any regularity knows how I feel about John McCain being the next President of the United States (Tancredo or Thompson, one of you guys get your ass back here, right now, or send Mitt!).
While I know where Ann and Rush are coming from — let Hillary preside over the coming four year disaster, so a Democrat will have been on watch — I’ve finally come to terms with the distasteful fact that I’ll have to pull the lever for the RINO — he’ll be the lesser of two evils in the general election, albeit not by much, though I won’t donate a dime to his campaign. Let Russ Feingold or La Raza make a donation in my name if it strikes their fancies.
As I said before, I despise the thought of having to choose between the measles or the mumps, but there it is…
But I didn’t come here to rehash things I’ve already posted. I came here to talk about one aspect of a McCain Presidency that actually gives the Arizona guy a checkbox in the positive column, at least for me, as a Jew: His stance on Israel.
Yesterday, I got into a debate with a new friend, one who is a kindred spirit from a political point of view rather than a shiftless liberal, over the concept of negotiating with Arabs. He firmly believes that as far back as the Golda Meir administration, Israel could have struck an equitable deal with Egypt and, as a result, the Arabs in general, in the way of establishing peace in the Middle East.
While his points were good from the usual optimistic humanist viewpoint, they were delivered from the perspective of western thinking — that everyone shares our outlook on life, reasonableness and can, as a result, be negotiated with. My own point that Muslims are 180 degrees different in that respect from us didn’t seem to register. What I couldn’t get across was that when you’ve “negotiated” agreements with an entity more than half a dozen times and while you honor your side of the deal every time while the other party ignores theirs, you have to realize, finally, that it’s pointless to enter into further negotiations.
Especially when each time, you make major life and death concessions that give the other side major strategic advantages that afford them ever increasing, indelible opportunities to destroy you, all your issue and all you stand for.
Elements of his side of the debate cited the massive proportion of Arabs to Israelis with the factors of Iran (he believes that Iran could beat Israel in a war, I believe that given a free hand to conduct such a war utilizing all their capabilities without politically motivated restriction, Israel could kick Ahmadmanjihad’s butt) and Hezbollah mandate negotiation in the interests of Israel’s survival.
How many times does Israel have to “negotiate” away land and release terrorists from prison before it sinks home that dealing with the Arabs is a one way street? When Israel is down to one square mile of sovereign territory, all incarcerated terrorists have been freed and “Palestinians” are hailing down rockets on that tiny, crowded acreage, will our leaders continue to press for “negotiations”?
But as usual, I digress.
Back on topic (have I actually been there yet, to begin with?), McCain’s statements regarding the Israeli-”Palestinian” situation are right on point. My debating “opponent” was right when he said that McCain is a true friend of Israel.
The success of Hamas and Hizbollah in the Middle East is not only a danger for Israel, but also a threat to US national interests, said John McCain, the US Republican presidential candidate.
“If Hamas/Hizbollah succeeds here, they are going to succeed everywhere, not only in the Middle East, but everywhere. Israel isn’t the only enemy,” Mr McCain said in an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post.
“They are dedicated to the extinction of everything that the US, Israel and the West believe and stand for. So America does have an interest in what happens here, far above and beyond our alliance with the State of Israel.”
The American who will almost certainly be the next POTUS actually grasps the reality of the situation.
“I really think that we should understand that the US and Israel are partners. Israel is not a client of the United States,” he said. “If you are partners, then you don’t dictate what you think the terms of the survival of a nation should be.”
If only our last several administrations had been bestowed with such clear insights into the Israeli-Arab situation…
http://hardastarboard.mu.nu/wp-trackback.php?p=798
March 21st, 2008 at 11:19 pm
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
March 22nd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Good choice my friend. Even two inabashed years of Hillary or Obama would bring more distruction to this nation than we could ever cover from. Socialist programs that will NEVER bee reveresed and a completely desimated military with an enemy who only recognizes strength. Agree 100% or not McCain will not destroy the military, he will apoint conservative Judges and we will NOT have Universal Health Care among other Socialist programs.
I would rather fight McCain 30% of the time than Hillary/Obama 1005 of the time.
Happy Easter my friend!
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Curious, since McCain will do everything Ken (above) thinks is great..how come the far right loathes him?
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Ken –
That’s my major concern: that either of the two Democrats in the running would push agendas dangerous to our form of government that would become permanent, in the meantime opening us up to serious security threats from Islamic quarters.
While not my first choice or even my third, McCain wouldn’t run away with himself trying to change America into a socialist country while, at the same time, he would show common sense where our national security is concerned.
BB –
While McCain will deliver on certain key conservative issues (such as homeland security/war on terror, wielding the veto pen on the reckless spending we’ve seen over the last several years and standing up to the Democrats re their socialized medicine agendas), he is too far off the mark on other issues that are important to conservatives.
This is why, while he is certainly not the MSM’s choice for POTUS, he was their choice for Republican nominee. Hedging their bets, they knew that he would be more acceptable to the left, as President, than any of his more conservative primaries opponents.
March 22nd, 2008 at 11:19 pm
sigh..I feel your pain!..too bad we dont have a candidate we can truly be
proud of..sigh…well..its all in Gods hands my friend!:)
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:57 am
Angel –
Yes, it is (sigh x 1000!).
McCain is a shoo-in for POTUS.
Unfortunate, but he’s a better choice (lesser of evils, anyway) than what the Democrats will offer up.
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Actually, while McCain is far from my ideal president, he is far preferable to both Hitlery and the Obamination. Every difference between him and those two comes out in his favor.
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Shoprat –
Hitlery and the Obamination
Perfectly defined, and why John McRino is the guy to vote for. I’m gonna clench my teeth, along with certain muscles beginning in “sphinc”, while I vote for the man, and pray with all my heart that once he is elected, he remembers at least in part what it means to be an American…
March 28th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Speaking of Hamas…Would your “church,” if you fellowship with one, put on it’s bulletin board hateful articles from the anti-semitic, terrorist group Hamas? Barack Obama’s CURRENT church, Trinity United Church of Christ, did just that.
We just found out in the last 48 hours that Wright, while giving a eulogy in 2007, said that “(Jesus’) enemies had their opinion about Him… The Italians for the most part looked down their garlic noses at the Galileans.”
Now comes a report by NBC News that while Wright was in charge at Obama’s CURRENT church, reprinted anti-Israel writings, including one column by none other than Hamas leader, Mousa Abu Marzook, appeared on the bulletin board there.
The column by the Hamas leader, Mousa Abu Marzook, asked: “Why should any Palestinian recognise the monstrous crimes carried out by Israel’s founders and continued by its deformed modern apartheid state?”
The question becomes one of judgment, character, integrity, honesty and intelligence.
If I were to believe Obama’s defense that he didn’t, and still doesn’t, know what was, and still is, going on at his church for 20 years, then, in my opinion, he must not be very observant nor intelligent, and does not possess sensible judgement. Therefore he cannot be qualified to be the POTUS, in my opinion. If I do NOT believe Obama, then his integrity, character and honesty is woefully insufficient to be the POTUS, in my opinion.
Obama went to Harvard Law School (they don’t let just anybody in), where he became the first African-American president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude in 1991. Now do you think he is NOT aware of what his church and ex-pastor are all about? Be AFRAID! Be VERY AFRAID!
Barack Obama’s political FRAUD against the American People continues…
Read the rest of this article here…
http://777denny.wordpress.com/2008/03/28/barack-obama-reverend-wright-trinity-united-church-of-christ-and-hamas/
March 28th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Denny –
Welcome!
I’d hate to be a Democrat just now, stuck between the choices of voting for Billary or Obama. This just illustrates the extent to which the far left, aided by the MSM, has taken over their party. Party loyalty notwithstanding, it’s difficult for me to imagine how anybody with any kind of sense could actually defend the choice to vote for either one.
Having said that, McCain, despite his being my extreme default candidate, can boast one trait that neither of his potential opponents can: Honesty. We know up-front, take it or leave it, what we can expect if we elect him.
Today’s Democrats demonstrate their complete lack of anything pro-active to offer the American people by basing their campaigns solely upon attacking the Republicans and Republican policies without providing any tangible alternatives to that which they condemn. What abstracts they do offer invite the usual confused bureaucratic goatf**k that goes hand in glove with liberals’ attempts to replace our successful market-based, free republic with a disfunctional socialist government. They also lie shamelessly and, when caught out in their lies, claim that they were “misconstrued”. This alone shows how little they respect the intelligence of the voters.
Hillary has proven herself (re such samples as her statements about Chelsea jogging past the WTC on 9/11 and of she herself being under fire when arriving in Bosnia) to be a pathological liar. Obama’s claims that, though he has been a faithful member of Wright’s congregation for two decades, he somehow managed to miss every one of the myriad anti-America, anti-Israel, pro-terrorism and anti-white sermons delivered by that bigoted piece of filth over all those years speaks for itself.
It does not speak very well, however, for the intelligence or respect for honesty of anyone who votes for either of the two.
March 29th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Thanks for welcoming me.
I do basically concur with your comments.
March 29th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Denny –
You are majorly welcome here at Hard Astarboard.
I’ve also had you blogrolled for quite some time and believe your site is a major asset to the right thinking element of the Blogosphere.
I’ve been kinda-sorta swamped for some time with work projects that have denied me the time to contribute to numerous threads I would have liked to contribute to (instead reading without sacrificing the time to comment in order to cover more ground), but I have made some resolutions to that effect — I don’t need the work as much as I prefer to spend time in the Blogosphere, so you will be hearing more from me shortly.