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Nothing yetIn the penumbraYep, it's startingDefinitely busyA serious bite takenAs good as it getsGood night everyone!
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On April 5, 1986 a bomb exploded in a West Berlin disco, La Belle, killing two American servicemen and a Turkish woman and wounding 200 others. The United States obtained cable transcripts from Libyan agents in East Germany involved in the attack. Ten days later 66 American jets launched a bombing raid on Libya
President Reagan made a TV address to the American people two hours after the attack. In it he said : "When our citizens are attacked or abused anywhere in the world on the direct orders of hostile regimes, we will respond so long as I'm in this office."
Last week 22 years after President Reagan stood up to Gadhafi and the terrorists the State Department announced that the United States is paying reparations to Libya for that bombing raid:
Libya to receive reparations for Reagan air strike Country will be paid 'settlement' for U.S. retaliation after terrorist attack By Chelsea Schilling WorldNetDaily
Despite 189 American lives lost in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, the U.S. settled all lawsuits against Libya for terrorist killings and restored diplomatic relations with the country today ? with reparations to be paid to Libya.
President Ronald Reagan ordered air strikes on Tripoli and Benghazi on April 15, 1986, after Libyan terrorists planted 6 pounds of plastic explosives packed with shrapnel on the dance floor of La Belle discotheque in Berlin, killing three people ? including two U.S. soldiers ? and maiming 200 others.
Two years later, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded in a terrorist attack by a Libyan intelligence agent. The blast killed 268 people from 21 countries, including 189 Americans. U.S. families filed 26 lawsuits against Libya for the 1988 bombing of the plane en route to New York from London.
The Bush administration began to consider restoring a relationship with the country in 2003 after Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi promised to end production of weapons of mass destruction, halt terrorist activities and reimburse U.S. families of victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and other terrorist bombings. Following its pledge, U.N., U.S. and European sanctions were lifted, Libya was taken off the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism and the country was granted membership in the U.N. Security Council.
An agreement required Libya to complete $2.7 billion in payments it had said it would provide to the families of victims. According to Associated Press reports, a senior Libyan government official claims there were also three lawsuits filed on behalf of Libyan citizens in response to Reagan's air strikes ? attacks that Libya says killed 41 of its people and Gadhafi's adopted daughter.
Susan Cohen, mother of a 20-year-old woman killed in the Pan Am Flight 103, expressed outrage upon hearing news of the U.S.-Libya settlement.
"Gadhafi is an absolute horror," Cohen told WND. "He has done many, many terrible things. He blew up the French plane, and he blew up the American plane. And what does the Bush administration do? The Bush administration is far more on the side of the Libyans than it is as far as the victims of terrorism go, though it talks a good line about caring about terrorism. If they can make friends with Moammar Gadhafi because they want his oil, then that tells you where they stand."
Cohen said she cannot understand why the U.S. would reimburse Libyans for Reagan's air strikes ? attacks that were a result of Gadhafi's bombing of the disco. She believes the U.S. pushed for diplomatic relations because the agreement could result in more contracts for American oil companies.
"I think this is absolutely horrible," she said. "It's really sickening, and it's really dirty. They are being very private and secretive about it."
While Libya has given $8 million of the $10 million it owed to many of the 268 families involved in the Pan Am explosion, it had refused to pay $2 million because of a disagreement with the U.S. about reciprocal obligations.
Nicole Thompson, a State Department spokeswoman, told WND, "The settlement goes to both sides. The settlement is for outstanding claims on the part of Libya as well as the United States."
When asked whether the U.S. will make payments to Libya, Thompson responded, "Yes."
An Associated Press report reveals that foreign companies conducting business in Libya ? including U.S. companies ? will begin paying into a fund to award damages to both Libyan and American claimants.
When WND asked the State Department spokeswoman if oil companies would have any part in paying reparations, she said, "I don't have any information on that, but it has been established. I have no information on what the financial agreement will be or the financial compensation that will be paid."
While Thompson said Libyans will receive a settlement as part of the agreement, she declined to reveal the source of the money.
"None of this will be U.S. government funding," she said.
The State Department has provided little information about the agreement. It issued a short press release stating only the following:
The United States and Libya concluded a comprehensive claims settlement agreement on August 14 in Tripoli. Both parties welcomed the establishment of a process to provide fair compensation for their respective nationals, and thereby turn their focus to the future of their bilateral relationship. They also underscored the benefits an expansion of ties would provide for both countries as well as for the American and Libyan peoples.
The U.S now plans to open an embassy in Tripoli, confirm a U.S. ambassador to Libya and grant Gadhafi's government immunity from more terror-related lawsuits, according to the Associated Press. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to visit Libya before the year's end.
"Condoleezza Rice is going to Libya to kiss Gadhafi's feet," Cohen said. "So this is what has come? He blew up an American plane. And I am supposed to have faith in the government of this country?"
U.S. diplomat David Welch delivered a personal letter from President George Bush to Gadhafi and signed the new agreement with Ahmed al-Fatouri, head of America affairs in Libya's Foreign Ministry.
"We went through a long path of negotiations until we reached this agreement," al-Fatouri said. "It opens new horizons for relations based on mutual respect. ... The agreement turns the page on the negative past forever."
However, Cohen doesn't share his sentiment.
"This is done after the murder of my innocent daughter and 270 people killed," she said. "Gadhafi was the one who was behind the attack on that disco, and Reagan responded. Does that mean the Republican administration is saying that Ronald Reagan and Gadhafi are equivalent terrorists?"
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Brigadier General (Res.) Gal Hirsch was the commander of Division 91 in the IDF. He resigned after the Almog Committee (which preceded Winograd) named him as responsible for the kidnapping of IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev at the outset of the Second Lebanon War in July 2006.When Hirsch left the IDF, he set up a company called Defensive Shield, which was providing training to
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Israel's Valentine's Day, Tu B'av has come and gone. I was greeted by lilies on my living room table. Traditionally- women dressed in white would frolic in the meadows and the handsome Jew boys would choose their future wives. These days, I'm not sure what happens. Once upon a time, it was marked by a party or two, but this year most of us seemed to sleep through the holiday. Except for this cat:
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Former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton appeared on al-Jazzeera this weekend. This is Part 2 of the two-part video. Watch Bolton rip the moonbat interviewer.
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by Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths
The Kotel, the holy remnant of the 2nd Beis Hamikdash, the Holy Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, is beautiful on motzie Shabbat (Saturday night, after Shabbos). It's busy but quiet, and the greater plaza area is also acting as a social meeting ground.
Chassidim are sharing Torah thoughts for the week, some tourists are planning the next holy site to visit, a few families have come to be together. A group of young men is in the back of the prayer area, singing and dancing. Some fathers are arriving with their sons in tow, the ladies section is busy.
As I looked up, I watched a Lunar eclipse! A sign of a moment of negative mazel for the Jewish people, the thought clashed with the quiet beauty of the moment. Jerusalem fell under a 3/4 Lunar eclipse, may Hashem have mercy (still in progress as I write this).
Mishpacha magazine, a nice Jewish religious magazine targeted at the frum community, had a major article this past week on a dream we shared here a few weeks ago, about an elderly rav who was a talmid (student) of the Chafetz Chaim, perhaps the last student of the Chafetz Chaim still alive, who had a dream of his teacher from so many years ago, specifically instructing him to inform everyone that the time of Moshiach is very close. Mishpacha interviewed the rav directly, who confirmed the story. Our occasional teen contributor Chavi pinged me on this, noting that the chassidic rebbe's and the sephardi mekubalim have been talking seriously about Moshiach and geulah for some time now. This is the first time, however, we see the Litvish world getting involved.
As the world moves into more risk and chaos, and America is about to suffer another monthly natural disaster, let us pray that Hashem brings us the geulah mamosh now, according to the kind path.
Free Home Delivery! - From Mystical Paths, MPaths.com.
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What went on in Georgia this past week was nothing short of naked aggression by the Russian bear. Unless you were following events very closely, you probably missed a lot of what happened this week. Caroline Glick has a great recap. The bottom line is that the Europeans negotiated Georgia's surrender of its territorial integrity and of the West's access to its pipelines - with American approval.
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This is what we're seeing over Jerusalem tonight--visible throughout Asia, Africa and some parts of Europe--but not north America. An absolutely awe-inspiring sight. Right after the end of Shabbat, the full moon lit up the whole sky...now the eclipse is fully visible over an exceptionally warm Jerusalem night.
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Palestine Press Agency reports:
A 17 years old young man was murdered yesterday in Nussayrat refugee camp central of Gaza strip on the background of a family dispute which arose again after years.
A legal source confirmed that Mo'az Monir Hamad died of wounds that he sustained after being hurled by a stone which hit his head following a family dispute in the camp.
Keep this story in mind next time you hear someone refer to the palestinian protests - which involve stones and other projectiles being thrown at IDF soldiers - as "peaceful" or "unarmed" demonstrations.
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It's been a bad week for cucumber-lovers in the Arab world.
And I mean lovers.
Besides the terrible killings inflicted by the fanatics on those who refuse to pledge allegiance to them, Al-Qa'eda has lost credibility for enforcing a series of rules imposing their way of thought on the most mundane aspects of everyday life.
They include a ban on women buying suggestively-shaped vegetables, according to one tribal leader in the western province of Anbar.
Sheikh Hameed al-Hayyes, a Sunni elder, told Reuters: "They even killed female goats because their private parts were not covered and their tails were pointed upward, which they said was haram.
"They regarded the cucumber as male and tomato as female. Women were not allowed to buy cucumbers, only men."
And the war on cucumbers has continued in the palestinian-controlled territories.
Palestinian security forces confiscated the property the Society for the Care of the Mother and Child, after breaking into the office.
Suhad Shahin, the head of the society, said in a telephone call with Ma'an that "members of the Palestinian public intelligence forces presented [themselves]at the complex at 12:30 at night."
Shahin said that everything in the office was confiscated, including furniture, computers, refrigerators with food stuff inside them.
The society uses the refrigerators and cooking equipment as a means of employment for women, they sell the food to earn money for women in need.
According to Shahin, even the pickles and turnovers that women from the society had made were confiscated by security forces.
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Ynetnews reports on the good sports in the Arab world.
"Here is the prepared report: Some athlete, in some field of sports, achieved what representatives from 22 Arab countries did not manage to achieve. However, thank God they are all members of Amr Moussa's Arab League and maybe that's their only life achievement, and for this we must be thankful."
These are the cynical words written by political journalist Nidhal Naisa in an article published on Friday in the London-based Arab internet site, Elaph.
If you thought Israelis were unhappy with the results of their Olympic team, it turns out that the Arab world is sourly accepting their achievements, or lack thereof. Similarly, they too have every excuse in the book prepared in advance.
However, before the excuses and criticisms, let's look at the achievements: A week has lapsed since the Olympics began and we have not yet reached the end of the track and field finals; Algeria, Morocco and another country or two are capable of winning a medal in these events.
The Arab states have thus far won three medals altogether.
These results have sparked differing responses from the Arab media outlets. There were those who completely ignored the Olympics, there were those who tried to explain the failure and others that responded with venomous sarcasm regarding the ability displayed by the Arab teams.
Nidhal Naisa was part of the last group. In an article titled, "The Arabs and Olympic Alienation," he wrote "The Arabs in general did not succeed, with Allah's help, to attain even one wooden or plastic medal; not even so that Arab nationalists and their cardboard parties would be able to boast about them in their election propaganda, on TV and on the radio as 'an important and huge Arab achievement,' so that they could convince people that they are 'like the rest of the world.'
"Yes, in the largest Olympics in the history of humankind, the Arabs, despite their intelligence services and their spies, didn't achieve a thing," the journalist wrote.
I fail to see how the Arabs' "intelligence services" and "spies" would be relevant to achieving Olympic success. After all, spying is not an Olympic event. Unless the writer had some other kind of Olympic "achievement" in mind.
Turning his attention to American swimmer Michael Phelps, Naisa wrote, "God help us, how did he turn into the most decorated athlete in Olympic history? He managed receiving his 11th gold medal and breaking all previous records as all the 'cursed' and 'piggish' news agencies affiliated with the 'athiest enemies of Allah' swarmed around him because they are obviously 'biased against the Arabs.'
"Despite the fact that this heretic, who should burn in hell, is not part of the best nation (the Arab nation), although he is not married to any of the naked American women, or to minors or girls?look at him!
I wonder how the Arab Press reacted to Mark Spitz, the son of monkeys and pigs, winning 7 gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games. Then again, they were probably too busy celebrating to notice.
In any event, I am really surprised how competitive the Arabs sound. I didn't think they cared so much about Olympic success.
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As Nancy Pelosi continues on her national book tour and Harry Reid is vacationing under the rock that he came out from, it is worthwhile to look at what the Congress has accomplished in 2008:
Of the 106 bills enacted since January, 94, or 89 percent were to name government buildings or lands, extend or make technical corrections to existing laws, or passed either by unanimous consent or with less than 10 dissenting votes. The accomplishments included "Frank Sinatra Day," National Plumbing Industry Week," and "National Day of the Cowboy." CAGW
I don't want to give the impression that congress has done absolutely nothing, Congress allocated tons of OUR money on stupid project for the next fiscal year. The below represents over $175 MILLION in congressional WASTE. It represents just a small FRACTION of the dollars that could best be used elsewhere IN OUR POCKETS. Maybe if we eliminated programs like we can fund an even DEEPER TAX CUT:
- Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) for $211,509 in olive fruit fly research in Paris, France.
- Representative John Murtha (D-Pa.) for $23 million for the National Drug Intelligence Center.
- Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) for $1,950,000 for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service. 54
- Montana Senators Max Baucus (D) and Jon Tester (D) for $148,950 for the Montana Sheep Institute.
- Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) for $344,540 for the city of Chicago GreenStreets Tree Planting Program.
- Representative Virgil Goode (R-Va.) for $98,000 to develop a walking tour of Boydton, Virginia.
- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for $196,000 for the renovation and transformation of the historic downtown Post Office in Las Vegas.
- $1.35 million by House appropriator Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) for the Rolls Royce solid oxide fuel systems development. Rolls Royce's automobiles sell at prices ranging from $250,000 to more than $400,000.
- $1,350,000 for planetarium costs: $900,000 by House appropriator Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), and Reps. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) and Danny Davis (D-Ill.) for planetarium equipment; $250,000 by House appropriator Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) for the Lakeview Museum Planetarium; and $200,000 by CJS Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) for the County College of Morris Planetarium.
- $500,000 by House Interior Subcommittee member Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) for methamphetamine prevention in the Mark Twain National Forest.
- $350,000 by Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), for the River Raisin Revolutionary War Battlefield. This battle took place in 1813, long after the Revolutionary War ended.
- $150,000 by House appropriator Michael Simpson (R-Idaho) for the Rexburg Historic Westwood Theater. "Although it is not on the National Register of Historic places, it is near the Madison County Courthouse which is on the Register."
- $175,000 by House appropriator Adam Schiff (D-Ca.), Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-Ca.), and Mary Bono (R-Ca.) for the Autry National Center for the American West, which "explores the experiences and perceptions of the diverse peoples of the American West," according to its website.
- $100,000 by House appropriator Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) for the Toledo GROWS High School Garden Learning Initiative, a "community gardening outreach program." According to their website, "Community gardens are safe, beautiful outdoor spaces on public or private lands, where neighbors meet to grow and care for vegetables, flowers and native plant species. The gardeners take initiative and responsibility for organizing, maintaining and managing the garden area."
- $11.58 million for a fitness center in Kingsville, Texas, added by Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Tex.). There is a private gym four miles away that costs $30 per month, with a $35 initiation fee. This $11.58 million could pay for the gym memberships of 29,300 service men and women for one year.
- $9.9 million added by Rep. John Spratt, Jr. (D-S.C.) for a physical fitness center at Shaw Air Force Base. There is a gym four miles away that charges $25 per month, with a $75 down payment. This $9.9 million could pay for the gym memberships of 26,400 service men and women for one year.
- $450,000 by Senator David Vitter (R-La.) to eliminate public corruption and reduce white collar crime;
- $400,000 by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for copper wire theft prevention in Las Vegas;
- $6.8 million added by Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.) for a chapel center at Fort Rucker, Alabama, which already has two separate chapels on its campus.
- $150,000 by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) for the American Ballet Theatre in New York for "educational activities." According to its website, "As of May 2008, over 65 donors have contributed a total of $28 million during the campaign's private drive."
- $150,000 by Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) for the Historic Mishler Theatre in Altoona, where the Holy Smoke Blues will be playing on August 15.
- $600,000 by House Energy and Water Appropriation Subcommittee member John Olver (D-Mass.) for the Wisdom Way Solar Village. The village has already received $1.89 million in loans from the state of Massachusetts. The project will consist of 20 homes with 11 of the homes sold to people of low income; seven will be sold to people of moderate income; and two are for individuals with disabilities. The combined state and federal subsidy comes out to $124,500 per home, which is not smart for the taxpayers.
- $5 million by House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee member Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) for construction in rural Idaho.
- $400,000 by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) for horseshoe crab research at Virginia Tech. According to a March 28, 2008 Richmond Times Dispatch article, "The horseshoe crab's blood is useful in intravenous medications and has cancer-fighting properties."This is a crabby case of corporate welfare; companies that need the research should pay for it.
- $17.5 million by Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) for renovations at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library.
- $300,000 by House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee member Dennis Rehberg (R-Mont.) for the Montana World Trade Center (MWTC). The organization's website says that it can "help your business realize international sales and expansion goals that would otherwise be unattainable." One MWTC grantee, the Missoula Children's Theatre, makes "overseas forays every year, visiting U.S. military bases and international schools, where they help students put
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