Friday Afternoon Roundup - Olmert, Obama, Osama and the Islamofunds

Olmert is out and he's been replaced by a female Olmert clone, Livni, set to carry on the same destructive policies, but rating higher in the polls thanks to general public apathy and a corrupt left wing media. And despite Olmert's official resignation, the Olmert mess is far from over.

See Caroline Glick at the Jerusalem Post

Olmert did not actually resign from office in the normal sense of the term. That is, he's not planning to leave office any time soon. What Olmert did was force Israel into a long period of governmental instability.

According to the elections law, when a prime minister announces his resignation, his government is immediately transformed into a transition government that will remain in power until either Olmert's successor forms a governing coalition or until the winner of the next general election forms a governing coalition. If Olmert's successor forms a new governing coalition after the September 17 primary, Israelis won't go to the polls until March 2010. But if Olmert's replacement as Kadima head is unable to form a coalition, Israel will have a general election by March 2009 at the latest. In the latter scenario, Olmert's transition government will remain in power until the winners of that election form a governing coalition. And that could take up to three more months.

So far from leaving office anytime soon, Olmert will remain in power at least three more months, and perhaps for as long as 10 months.

In the interim, and in light of the intensifying security crisis with Iran, a caretaker government could have been formed that would have encompassed all willing Zionist parties represented in the Knesset. If such a government were formed, Israel could have attacked Iran's nuclear installations with the full backing of the Knesset and the people. The political cost of such a vital operation would have been borne equally by all of Israel's political leaders and so, in a sense, it would have been borne by no one. Under such circumstances, Israel's political leaders would have been able to concern themselves only with Israel's survival as they made their best decisions on how to prevent the ayatollahs from acquiring nuclear weapons.

But rather than enable Israel to unite in the face of a threat to its existence, Olmert opted for continued instability, continued uncertainly and a continuation of the polarized status quo that leaves him in office and leaves Israel strategically hamstrung at the hands of a governing coalition that the nation does not want and does not trust. And this situation could easily last for nearly a year.

...

OLMERT'S PATENT lack of shame is not the only reason that Israel's best interests haven't factored into Olmert's calculations. By placing his personal interests above the national interest, Olmert was loyally reflecting the character of his party. Winning and maintaining power for power's sake, irrespective of the national interest and ideological principles, were the purposes for which Kadima was founded by Ariel Sharon.

Sharon founded Kadima as a self-consciously post-ideological party. And as Kadima's first elected prime minister, Olmert is Israel's first post-ideological premier.

Olmert and Kadima are the direct consequences of Sharon's decision to turn his back on his party, and on the ideology that brought him into office in 2003 in favor of clinging to power for power's sake. To remain in office amidst two serious criminal probes, Sharon betrayed his ideological camp and Israel's national security interests. This he did by implementing the discredited radical leftist policy championed by Israel's media and legal fraternity of withdrawing all Israeli military personnel and civilians from the Gaza Strip and transferring control of the area to Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror control.

Sharon, Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and their political consultants presented Kadima's rejection of ideology as its chief selling point. By not being committed to either left-wing or right-wing ideals, they assured us that Kadima would always do the right thing for the country.

But the opposite occurred. Without the benefit of ideology to guide them, Kadima's leaders have been led by nothing more than their personal interests. And their primary interest is not to do what is best for the country irrespective of ideology. Their primary interest is to maintain and expand their power for as long as possible.

These are excerpts from a larger article and like all of Glick's articles are worth reading for those who want to understand what's going on in Israel today.

In the United States, Obama's return comes with a tarnished halo as the McCain campaign begins to fight back and make its presence known, albeit a bit clumsily. Mocking the media's obsession with Obama and his celebrity status is all well and good, but McCain is going to have to nail down the issues because with the media campaigning on Obama's side, it will be all too easy for a negative campaign to favor Obama.

As was proven in the Democratic primaries, Obama is quite good at standing back and letting his people do the dirty work. It will of course happen anyway, if there's one thing we can expect from Obama it's dirty politics. Dirty politics as usual.

It's almost ironic that some of the best work being done against Obama is actually coming from the Democratic side of the aisle, rather than conservatives who all too often wind up being split into the "I don't support McCain and don't give a damn who wins" and the "I suppose McCain is better than Obama" camps.

Via Atlas Shrugs at No Quarter a great letter from a Democratic fundraiser that expresses the growing unease with Obama

Dear Andy,

So you want to know what is taking me so long to “get on board”? Let me try to answer with some discussion of what my 25 years on Wall Street and the Hedge Fund community have taught me, and what insights I can share in order to explain my stance.

After years of stepping in land mines, I learned to read people and situations. I had no choice - my listening skills were honed, my gut fine-tuned. I picked up on what was and was not said, and I always paid close attention to the cast of characters. The actions of a management team always told me more than anything they ever said. If they were bailing out, so was I. If the head of sales left unexpectedly, alarm bells went of.

The fact that I became successful is not what made me proud. It was how I did it. My soul is intact. It was the self-imposed rules and standards that I adhered to. I believed in a win, win, and still do. My investors always came first. I never screwed anyone over. I made plenty of mistakes, but I always owned them, never blaming others. I treated everyone fairly and with respect, believing everyone has
something to offer. I always tried to do the right thing.

So what does this have to do with me not falling in line and
supporting Obama? Well everything as you can see.

Andy, if I worked and served the people in the 13th District in Chicago, I would have known all of the players. And to win that district, would I have gamed the system to run unopposed? Tony Rezko would not have had a seat at my table. Either Obama is a fool and is blind to what should have been obvious, or someone like Tony is fine by Obama’s standards. The guy is a dirtball. And a dirtball would not be part of my circle, certainly not my inner circle. I would rather not be elected than associate with someone like Rezko.

I would not choose Rev. Wright, Rev. Meeks, or Father Plager as my spiritual mentors, not for political reasons or any other reason. Again, he is either blind or an opportunist. Would I be hanging out with Mr. Ayers? Would you? Would you refuse to be photographed with Gavin Newsom? There is a pattern with this guy - he manipulates; and for him the ends justify the means. He lacks character.

Getting not one bill passed in the first 6 years of his career in not inspiring. Having Emil Jones hand him the ball 26 times on the one-yard line in order to make Obama a United States Senator does not cut it either. What deals he made, he did to benefit no one but himself. He never worked long enough in either Senate to help the people who elected him. Andy, I could never imagine you taking credit for legislation someone else slaved over. Starting in his community organizing days he claimed sole responsibility for other people’s accomplishments all for the purpose to boosting his career.

In terms of the campaign itself, I had the opportunity to witness his methods up close. During the primaries I was in 6 states, 2 of which had caucuses; it was not clean. El Paso was a joke with the Obama campaign stealing the caucus packets, locking supporters out - Intimidation 101, 102 and 103. Fair elections do not seem to be a priority in my birth state. No other machine exists from the days of Boss Tweed, but Chicago’s. How many elected officials are in jail?They are the joke of the nation. It is called the Chicago machine for good reason.

It was clear that what I saw and experienced was not a fluke or isolated incidents, but coordinated, deliberate and arrogant. I got to see him and his organization for who he is and what it is - not inspiring, to say the least. Not something I would have, in business, endorsed in any way. In fact, I would most likely have reported them to the appropriate regulators.

Andy, I have consistently found you to be a compassionate person, but more importantly you have always put your money where your mouth is. Does it not bother you that a guy like Obama can serve a poor district and give away a paltry $1000 to charity? He only stepped up his giving when he decided to run for President and he knew his charitable giving would be made public. How could anyone see that much misery and not try to personally do something about it?

Please, show me something this guy ever did that was not done in a calculated fashion to create and advance his own personal narrative? Something selfless, perhaps, just because it was the right thing to do.

Every person I have talked to who worked at the Law Review at Harvard with him, or in the latter part of his career, said the same thing: he was arrogant and self-centered. One person laughed, saying Obama wanted to be King of the World, that he was always running for something, never staying in one place long enough to amass accomplishments or be held accountable.

Atlas (via Debbie Schlussel )meanwhile has more on the Islamofunds coming in to the Obama campaign, from the tens of thousands of dollars coming in from Hamas ruled Gaza

Debbie herself continues to cover the case of Osama's Al Queda pal Mohammed Salim Al-Churbaji whose son is an Obama fundraiser

Al-Churbaji worked for Abdullah Azzam--Osama Bin Laden's spiritual guru--and Bin Laden in their organization which was the forerunner to Al-Qaeda. Through Global Relief Foundation, he helped export jihad around the world, including in America. As I also told you, Al-Churbaji's son, Mohammed Salim Al-Churbaji a/k/a Salim Al-Churbaji, testified that he is a fundraiser for Barack Hussein Obama. He is also a University of Michigan student.

Meanwhile the New Centrist has the latest Honest Reporting report with the expected grim figures

• 82 percent of headlines that introduced articles describing Israeli military operations were written in a direct style in which the words “Israel” or “Israeli Forces” (or a similar phrase) were the subject. In the majority of these cases, no details were given as to whether the casualties were combatants or civilians. An example of this type of headline ran in the Times on January 4, 2008: “Israeli Forces Kill 9 in Gaza.”
• Only 20 percent of headlines that introduced articles describing Palestinian attacks named the group responsible. Most of these headlines were written in a passive, less direct style that removes responsibility of the attack from those who caused it. An example of this type of headline ran on May 13, 2008: “Rocket Fired from Gaza Kills Woman in Southern Israel.”
• 75 percent of the photographs that could be objectively determined as drawing sympathy for one side or the other in the conflict favored the Palestinians. Palestinian casualties of Israeli military operations and pictures of civilians dealing with shortages in Gaza dominated Times coverage during the time period studied.

Lemon Lime Moon writes on Obama Outrage

"It's a leap, electing a 46-year-old black guy named Barack Obama."said Barack Hussein Obama. And he said it because he sees himself not as an American but as a black man and only as a black man. He can't seem to see anything else try as he might and I believe he hates himself for it. Sad really.

When a person talks about something incessantly it usually indicates that they are having a major problem with it inside themselves.

It seems that an awful lot of things "done" to Barack Hussein Obama are done by him and his staff in manufactured outrages.Don't they believe they can win without the pity vote?

The Jerusalem Post reports that two of the seals of Tzedekiah's ministers have been found. Not exactly a good omen for those who know their Jewish history.

Mina Fenton 's work in bringing Orthodox groups together against obscenity, trying to forge a Dati Leumi and Haredi alliance.

At IsraPundit, Bill Levinson uncovers more ugliness at the Obama blogs

Finally Debbie Schlussel reports on the disturbing case of a Jewish model in New York disfgured by a Muslim attacker with a track record of similar attacks who only received 30 days in jail

Like I keep asking, why the heck are we allowing so many Muslims--with their extremist values and violent tendencies (especially toward women)--into this country? Then, they get to reproduce like rabbits and spread the cancer, so that there's no chance of remission for America.

The latest example is Samir Dervisevic--son of Muslim immigrants from the former Yugoslavia--who has a problem with women and has now been arrested and charged twice for violent attacks on women.

His attack on Jewish model, Liskula Cohen, left her face forever disfigured and her once-thriving modeling career down the tubes. Would you want this guy working as your doorman?

The Manhattan doorman charged with hurling glasses at a woman's face at the Hudson Hotel served a month in jail for horribly disfiguring a top model by smashing a bottle across her cheek at a posh club last year.

Dervisevic was arrested outside the club. He pleaded guilty in October, and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years' probation, according to court records.

Last Friday, he was arrested again, this time for allegedly whipping three glasses into a woman's face at the Hudson Hotel. He claimed the woman and her seven friends attacked him in the bar's VIP section after he bumped into one of them, his lawyer said.

But the women told police that Dervisevic went "berserk" and hurled the glasses unprovoked. He was charged with felony assault.