CAMERA : Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting
So much has happened since the beginning of this momentous year 2012 , the year in which some forecasters say the world will end, on 21st December to be precise.
But some of the same kinds of people had already moved to Jerusalem in expectation of welcoming Jesus of Nazareth back home at the start of the 2000 Millennium.
The optimists who pray, “World without end, Amen” are confident that he will return before the world is blown up or goes up in flames.
Good News: It’s the Chinese New Year too, the year of the Dragon (good luck) and we wish all our friends in China & worldwide, a year of Good Health, Happiness and Prosperity.
In the US the selection process of party leader is quite different from the various systems by which a party leader is chosen in Sweden – in the US the on-going campaign is from state to state, with the whole world watching the process called the primaries which goes on for a couple of months. A serious consideration is money: must have the cash-flow to advertise on TV and to buy all those flags, balloons, buntings and confetti. Just now Newt Gingrich’s fire-power has given him the upper-hand in South Carolina but Romney and the sun should be smiling over Florida, the next port of call. If the sun does not smile down on him then it should be a downcast and dejected Romney that doesn’t take Florida. As an Obama supporter yours truly will be happier if Romney takes Florida because the ferocious Gingrich ( a cross between the British bulldog & a rottweiler, a little larger than medium sized) would give Brother Obama a tougher time in the presidential debates. A flustered Romney will bluster and blush and rant on about “taking his country back” about “Great America“ etc. etc. and that’s where his buck stops. I have great difficult imagining him as the next president of the United States of America – and if he gets angry or blows up during the final debates, then he will only have himself to blame.
I’m reminded of Joel Osteen’s little story at the start of one of his latest preachments: A new pastor has just got to town, doesn’t know his way around, asks a boy who is passing by, “Son, can you please show me the way to the post office?”
The boy shows him the way, the pastor tells the boy, “ Son, I’m the new pastor in town, come to the service on Sunday and I’ll show you how to get to heaven!”
The boy tells him, “You don’t even know the way to the post office and you’re telling me you can show me the way to heaven?”
Ditto, Romney who probably knows the way to the post office and thinks that just because he can run his little company (by hook and not by crook) that qualifies him to be the CEO of the United States of America. That that’s all it takes. That and perhaps a little inspiration from Joseph Smith (not to be confused with Adam Smith)
US politics is compounded by issues which spell out American values : views on sex, marriage, religion, gay rights, same sex marriage, abortion, not to mention the economy, colour and race, and foreign affairs
However, it seems to me that the Republican party has already made a significant pre-emptive strike in its bid to capture the support of the Jewish lobby with this smart move and although Brother Obama & the Democrats still have some options open as to how to take care of Iran just before the elections, I think that they will have to improve upon this latest spiel by the Republicans:
“ The Republican National Committee passed a resolution rejecting a two state solution. This is the key paragraph;
- BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the members of this body support Israel in their natural and God-given right of self-governance and self-defense upon their own lands, recognizing that Israel is neither an attacking force nor an occupier of the lands of others; and that peace can be afforded the region only through a united Israel governed under one law for all people.”
This takes some looking into : The GOP formally supports a one-state plan
Meanwhile, back home in Sweden, as one my savvy friends – a Lefty – tells me, the Social Democrat Party is “a Party that has been on the decline since the assassination of Olof Palme.”. I try to reassure him, tell him that I’m sure that he’ll agree with me that it was certainly on the ascendancy during the reign of the great Göran Persson, “He who decides Everything” and that by the way the Great Göran is going to be honoured in the Great Synagogue of Stockholm on Thursday.
The great Göran was responsible for giving out this – to be taught in Swedish Schools: Tell ye your children…
On Thursday 26th January there will be a special Memorial Service for victims of the Holocaust
It’s unbearable excitement and expectation as Sweden waits for the announcement of who is to be the new leader of the Social Democrats – Sweden’s biggest and most organised political party.
It’s expected that the announcement will be made on Friday and the media already agog will then go haywire over the weekend. The media (press and TV) has already gone haywire and the on-going Social Democrat deliberations is prime news. The front-liners are now household names as all eyes, all attention is on the Social Democrat party and speculations about who it will be, who will wear the crown has been raised almost to the level of prophecy by the political pundits and nondescript commentators alike. They all hope that they are right. The ruling Alliance has a wait-and-see attitude. They’re not saying much. Ponytail Chief Anders Borg the doctor of the Swedish economy and The Alliance are sitting tight. It’s really not their business who the Social Democrats choose, but should a young, dynamic leader pop up, it should be some cause for concern, especially since the director of the World bank says that it’s make or break for the EU’s economy and Europe could be heading for a deep recession. The main issue in Europe and the US will continue to be it’s the economy stupid and should the economy ever take even a slight down-turn we would then have the Social Democrats on fire and preaching from their pulpits the gospel of Social Welfare – preaching as powerfully as I heard Göran Persson preach on the 1st of May at Norra Bantorget during his last days as Sweden’s Prime Minister.
Leading the Social Democrats is a challenging job and one that has to be done under the full glare of the media’s publicity lights during all of 2012, 2013, 2014 – election year….
They have their pros and cons: Margot Wallström, Sven-Erik Österberg, Pär Nuder, Mikael Damberg,Thomas Östros, Thomas Bodström, but the new leader could well turn out to be none of the aforementioned, and if it’s untainted new blood that they are after there’s still Stefan Löfven, Veronica Palm and other young, worthy & capable ones who have no skeletons in the cupboard. The conservative press must be holding their breath and praying, getting ready with their knives and forks to go on the attack/rampage again as they did with the chubby Håkan Juholt. They probably did not like his moustache because it reminded them of Stalin.
Events have been rapid fast forward since Håkan Juholt’s dramatic resignation – why – he was only elected party chairman ten moths ago, some five months after the Social Democrats last elections disaster and then too, there was considerable excitement about the Social Democrats extraordinary congress convened to review their lack of elections success and to choose a new party leader capable of leading the party back to election glory in 2014.
The news is constantly being updated at The Local , sometimes, several times a day. On Friday the media will be ablaze with the revelation of who is the New Redeemer of Social Democracy in Sweden….
That’s orderly and smooth running, wonderful Sweden for you. No political violence, at least not physical violence, although some of the hurt inflicted by the vicious witch-hunts conducted by the press could be more than physical in their overall effect……..that’s Sweden for you, non-violent, legalistic, law abiding…..
This morning’s
Today’s star article from the Swedish press: “A Developed mixed economy is the answer to the global crisis” (By Bror Perjus)
LIE #10
The only hope for peace is a single, bi-national state, eliminating the Jewish State of Israel.
The One-State solution, promoted by academics, is a non-starter because it would eliminate the Jewish homeland. However, the current pressures on Israel are equally dangerous. In effect, the world is demanding that Israel, the size of New Jersey, shrink further by accepting a Three-State solution: a PA state on the West Bank and a Hamas terrorist state controlling 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza. All this, as Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, stockpiles 50,000 rockets, threatening northern and central Israel’s main population centers.
In 2010, most Middle East experts believe that the only hope for enduring peace is two states with defined final borders. But too many diplomats, pundits, academics and church leaders ignore the fact that current polls show that while most Israelis favor a Two-State solution, most Palestinians continue to oppose it.
http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=5958687
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