Raving Lunatics On Parade

Sadly, both quotes are in relation to Israel and showcase a blatant disregard for history, facts, or logic.

For Ron Paul, this should be expected.



Paul's choice of words is quite deliberate. It's a purposeful means to undermine Israel's right to exist - to expropriate the terms relating to the Holocaust and demeans the very history of the Holocaust and the founding of Israel. He's far from the first and wont be the last to do so. But we should rightfully slam him for every utterance.

There are no concentration camps in Gaza or Israel. Israel is not acting like the Nazis, but that's the imagery that Paul hopes to invoke when he makes these asinine statements.

In doing so, he's feeding the pro-terrorist propagandists and plays right into the hands of the Islamists around the world.

If that level of insanity is insufficient, Helen Thomas tops him - if that's even possible.



She wants Jews to go back to Germany and Poland and give Palestine back to the Palestinians.

For Helen Thomas, well, this too should be expected, even as she's the leading luminary and senior correspondent on the White House watch. She's been out of touch with reality for so long that one has to suspect that the crypt keeper unwraps her from her coffin on a daily basis and wheels her into the WH conference room to appear.

The fact is that Israel was created because those Germans sought to eliminate the very existence of Jews from the planet - via concentration and death camps. Hamas now seeks to do the same thing and wishes it had the capability to finish the job started by the Nazis. So too do the Iranians. Islamists throughout the world do so as well.

Harry Potter Magically Appears As New Lego Video Game

Combining two of my favorite things - Lego and the Harry Potter franchise, the video games come out this month chronicling the first four years that Harry spent at Hogwarts.

Palestinian Sympathizers Prepare Another Blockade Run

The pro-Palestinian sympathizers aren't in this to provide humanitarian relief to Gazans, but rather want the blockade lifted so that Hamas can do what it has always sought to do - have the means to wage war against Israel's existence. The flotilla's organizers admit as much:

In World War II, with full international legality, the United States blockaded Germany and Japan. And during the October 1962 missile crisis, we blockaded ("quarantined") Cuba. Arms-bearing Russian ships headed to Cuba turned back because the Soviets knew that the U.S. Navy would either board them or sink them. Yet Israel is accused of international criminality for doing precisely what John Kennedy did: impose a naval blockade to prevent a hostile state from acquiring lethal weaponry.

Oh, but weren't the Gaza-bound ships on a mission of humanitarian relief? No. Otherwise they would have accepted Israel's offer to bring their supplies to an Israeli port, be inspected for military materiel and have the rest trucked by Israel into Gaza -- as every week 10,000 tons of food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies are sent by Israel to Gaza.

Why was the offer refused? Because, as organizer Greta Berlin admitted, the flotilla was not about humanitarian relief but about breaking the blockade, i.e., ending Israel's inspection regime, which would mean unlimited shipping into Gaza and thus the unlimited arming of Hamas.

Israel has already twice intercepted ships laden with Iranian arms destined for Hezbollah and Gaza. What country would allow that?

Another group of ships is apparently heading to run the blockade, and there are unconfirmed reports from a propaganda outfit that one of the ships the MV Rachel Corrie, has lost contact - claiming that the ship has been sabotaged by Israel.

UPDATE:
The Telegraph provides a mixed message on the whereabouts of the Corrie (which was named for a pro-Palestinian activist who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer while protecting Palestinian terror tunnels from being destroyed. Pro Palestinian groups claim that they lost contact, but the report goes on to say:

The Free Gaza Movement said that it assumed Israel must have sabotaged systems on board the ship, whose passengers include a Nobel Peace Prize winner and a former UN assistant secretary-general.

As a result they plan to pull it back to port and pack it with celebrities and journalists, in a direct challenge to Israel.

The cargo ship, laden with building supplies, cement, medical and educational equipment and wheelchairs as well as Irish and Malaysian activists, set off on Saturday despite warnings from Israel that it would halt any attempt to break the blockade.

So, now potential mechanical trouble with a ship that was launched in 1967 (that's more than 40 years old) is treated as Israel sabotaging the boat and its attempt to run a lawful blockade of Gaza. Gotcha.

The ship is apparently still in contact with someone on board if the Free Gaza activists are planning to pull it back to port and pack it with celebrities and journalists.

Moreover, losing contact could have simply been because the ship was hastily put to sea without the necessary equipment or crew. In fact, earlier this year, a considerable amount of navigational equipment was stolen from the ship while it was in port in Ireland. The report seems to indicate that the ship is seaworthy.

Still, this is nothing more than another propaganda attempt to attack Israel and its lawful right to protect itself from Hamas.

UPDATE:
As a reminder - the blockade runners aren't about providing humanitarian aid. They're about running the blockade so that Hamas can resupply with weapons.

The organizers behind the MV Corrie and the other ships refused a deal brokered by the Irish govt to have the ships sail to Ashdod where their cargoes would be transferred to Gaza.

The Irish Foreign Minister, Dr. Michael Martin announced on Friday night that an agreement had been reached with Israel, whereby the Rachel Corrie would proceed to Ashdod where its contents would be checked, unloaded and shipped to Gaza under observation by representatives of the activists, the UN and the Irish government. The activists rejected this offer, continuing to insist on sailing to Gaza and breaking the Israeli blockade, but also stated (according to the Irish FM) that they would not resist the IDF, should it decide to board the ship.

The ship is expected to close in on Gaza Saturday morning. It's the second attempt this week by the Free Gaza Movement to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza as well as its closure of that area's land passages to all but humanitarian aid.

Unemployment Figures Show Serious Troubles Remain For US Economy

While most economists consider the unemployment rates to be a lagging indicator of economic vitality, today's government figures show that the economy is in serious trouble.

There's no other way to spin it. Economists had been expecting that more than 500,000 jobs would be created for May. The number was 431,000. If that wasn't bad enough, nearly all of those jobs were temporary census jobs, meaning that there was no growth in the private sector. The economy has to grow by hundreds of thousands of jobs each month just to continue at the ongoing moribund level.

US employers added 431,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls in May, but 411,000 of those were temporary census workers. The private sector added just 41,000 jobs: Manufacturing, temporary help and mining added jobs, while construction declined. That number was also well short of the more than 500,000 economists had expected. The unemployment rate, however, fell to 9.7 percent from 9.9 percent in April.

"This number is extremely disappointing," said Todd Schoenberger, managing director at LandColt trading. However, he said, it should come as no surprise. "Considering first time jobless claims have been inching higher over the past four weeks ... and GDP came in at a lackluster 3%, American companies are going to be reluctant to hire."

Unemployment rates wont be coming down anytime soon.

UPDATE:
CNN posts this all as rosy news, reporting that the 431,000 jobs marks the largest increase in 10 years. Considering that these are temporary jobs, once the census is completed, all those jobs disappear. They aren't permanent jobs.

The spin is furious over how to show that the economy is improving despite paltry employment figures, but with a bad labor market, businesses aren't going to hire, they aren't going to expand, and the ongoing mess in the real estate sector isn't going to improve because people will not be in a position to buy or sell homes or remodel.

The Rebuilding of Ground Zero, Part 102

UPDATE: I posted this and didn't notice the date - from October 2008 - my apologies:

The Port Authority says that its timeline to build the major components of the WTC 9/11 Memorial are on track to be open by the 10th anniversary - just over a year away - if things go as planned.

Instead of being delayed until 2013 or 2014, the World Trade Center memorial — or at least important elements of its plaza — can be opened on Sept. 11, 2011, the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said on Thursday.

But in what is supposed to be the most realistic timetable and budget [Text] ever presented publicly for the rebuilding of ground zero, the authority’s executive director, Christopher O. Ward, was careful to note that even that date was not so much a guarantee as it was a reasonably confident projection, based on hard facts but also on the assumption that many things will go right from this day forward.

“This report allows us to say with certainty what we’re building, who’s building it, when it will be built and for how much,” Mr. Ward told the authority’s board of commissioners at a morning meeting.

However, that doesn't mean that all is well. To complete the memorial, the Port Authority and the MTA are going to have to suspend service on the 1 Line that runs through the heart of Ground Zero for several weeks so as to complete work on underpinning the subway line. PATH will also see sporadic weekend closures to get critical work done.

Under the new timetable:

* The National September 11 Memorial and Museum, including the underground exhibition galleries could be completed by the first quarter of 2013, though it might be delayed until the second quarter. Much of the above-ground plaza will be ready by the third or fourth quarter of 2011. The authority did not release a budget figure for this project, but it is understood to be $610 million; $530 for the plaza and the galleries, $80 for an above-ground entrance pavilion.
* The World Trade Center Transportation Hub could be completed in the fourth quarter of 2013, though it might stretch out to the second quarter of 2014. The cost is now estimated at $3.2 billion, 50 percent higher than the original budget. When it was announced in 2004, officials said the hub, which is principally a PATH terminal, would open in 2009.
* One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, will be completed sometime between the first and fourth quarters of 2013, five years later than originally planned, at a budget of $3.1 billion, or about three times the original estimate.
* The underground Vehicle Security Center, a series of checkpoints, ramps and roadways serving the cars and trucks coming to the trade center, can be completed in the first quarter of 2012, but no later than the third quarter of 2012. Its current cost, $633 million, is almost one-third higher than the original estimate.
* The recreation of Greenwich Street, which was eliminated by the original trade center, will be completed as early as the second quarter of 2012 or as late as the fourth quarter, at a cost of $281 million, which is under the transportation hub budget.

Currently, the Freedom Tower stands at around 250 feet - or about 1/8th its ultimate height of 1,776 feet.

The former Deutsche Bank building still must be deconstructed and the demolition proceeds at a glacial pace. The pace of building Fiterman Hall isn't much faster, and the pace of construction at 4WTC, which is diagonally across from the Freedom Tower, has slowed down.

Construction is moving ahead with the Freedom Tower, including the use of a cocoon safety system that wraps the uppermost floors during construction.

At the same time, two major real estate developers are duking it out for rights to manage and market the Freedom Tower - the same Tower that the Port Authority wrested control over from Larry Silverstein. It looks like Silverstein was right all along and that the Freedom Tower is a whole lot more valuable than the Port Authority thought (and quite a bit more expensive due to all the delays due to Port Authority foot-dragging).

Critics Complaining Israel Using Protesters Own Video As Proof

Cry me a river for the Foreign Press Association which is busy complaining that Israel is using the activists' own videos against them.

Israel's army has been using confiscated videos to justify its deadly raid against a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, and the Foreign Press Association wants it to stop.

The organization, which represents hundreds of journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, says the military seized video and equipment from dozens of reporters on board the main ship.

The FPA demanded Thursday that the military stop using the captured material without permission and identify the source of the video already released. The material appeared Wednesday on the army's YouTube site labeled as "captured."

The activists were busy preparing for a violent encounter with the Israelis on board the Mavi Marmara and made numerous videos in preparation for the flotilla of ships attempting to run the Israeli blockade.

The Israeli military boarded four other ships in the flotilla without incident. Only those on board the Mavi Marmara engaged in violence - attacking the Israelis who attempted to stop the ship without violence and with nonlethal paintball guns. When the Israelis were attacked with deadly force and with deadly intent did the Israelis resort to using deadly force.

Apparently the activists dislike the fact that their own propaganda is being used against them. The Foreign Press Association is busy providing cover, where none should exist.

Too bad.

Had the activists on board not engaged in violence, this situation would have ended without the loss of life, but that was never the intention of those on board the Mavi Marmara. They wanted a violent encounter to further their propaganda.

They thought they could win a propaganda coup, but now find that Israel is releasing all manner of video showing just what those activists were up to- and it was evil.

Meanwhile, Turks continue holding rallies in support of Hamas.

Tens of thousands gathered in Istanbul Thursday for prayers for activists killed in Israel's raid on aid ships bound for Gaza, condemning the Jewish state and shouting support for Hamas.

"Damn Israel! Israel is the angel of death!" chanted the crowd which overflowed the sprawling courtyard of the Fatih Mosque, waving Turkish and Palestinian flags.

The Turkish government sanctioned the flotilla that was intercepted by Israel and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan is moving squarely into the Iranian camp and Turkey is sliding towards Islamization after decades of pursuing a secularist agenda. Erdogan is content to move towards a cozier relationship with Iran because he sees Iran having greater longevity than US or Israeli commitments. Turkey isn't about challenging Israel's hegemony as commentator David Ignatius claims, it's about picking sides and choosing the Iranians over Israel and the West. Erdogan is busy spreading the Islamist agenda, and feeding the anti-Israel sentiment is a way to stay in power in the Middle East, particularly when Iran is leading the way on anti-Israel sentiment.

UPDATE:
Even some newscasters are wondering why their media outlets are running stories that are clearly biased in favor of terror groups:

I’m writing for some clarification about how we are supposed to cover the Gaza flotilla story. If we, as a news organization, are supposed to be acting as a public relations arm of Hamas, or Hezbollah, both internationally recognized terrorist organizations, or if we are supposed to be jumping on the bandwagon of 1930’s style anti-Semitism that’s presently sweeping much of the world, then we are doing a fine job. If we are supposed to be acting as a news organization that covers the story objectively, then our coverage is a travesty and an embarrassment.

I just finished watching XXXX’s piece on yesterday’s 5pm newscast, so I could better understand the grotesquely distorted and biased voice-over that ran on this morning’s show. XXXX interviewed former diplomat Edward Peck, who was onboard the “Gaza Flotilla,” without describing his views on the Middle East. Some perspective would have helped. Among other things, Peck spoke these words, later famously used by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright:”We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye…and now we are indignant, because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought back into our own front yards.”

Manhunt Underway in Chile For van der Sloot: UPDATE: Caught

Peruvian officials are getting assistance from Chilean law enforcement in hunting down Joran van der Sloot in connection with the murder of a 21-year-old woman, Stephany Flores, in a Lima hotel room.

Flores' body was found clothed, face down on the hotel room floor Wednesday, abrasions on her face and body, and signs of trauma, Peruvian Police Gen. Cesar Guardia said. An autopsy is in progress.

Van der Sloot was in Lima for a poker tournament, police said, and appears with Flores in a video at a casino. A hotel employee spotted the pair around 5 a.m.

"We have an interview with a worker at the hotel who says she saw this foreigner with the victim enter his room," said Guardia.

The police say van der Sloot fled the hotel, alone, four hours later.

Chilean authorities believe he is still in their country and are searching hotels in the tiny towns of its northern provinces.

This murder took place five years to the day following the infamous murder of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. No one was ever charged in that murder, and her body was never recovered. Here, there is considerable forensic evidence and the body is in the hands of the medical examiner.

To clarify something I wrote yesterday, this report spells out where Flores was found:

In Lima, police Gen. Cesar Guardia said at a news conference that the slain woman was found Wednesday in a room at a hotel where van der Sloot had been staying and that she had been seen with the suspect early Sunday, when she was killed.

UPDATE:
Van der Sloot was apprehended by Chilean police in Santiago, Chile:

The suspect, Joran van der Sloot, was escorted by three police officers as he was taken from a dark vehicle into a police office in downtown Santiago, Chile. He made no comment as he entered, walking calmly and without handcuffs as journalists shouted his name. It was not immediately clear where he was picked up.

In Lima, police Gen. Cesar Guardia said the slain woman was found Wednesday in a room at a hotel where van der Sloot had been staying and that she had been seen with the suspect early Sunday, when she was killed.

The killing happened exactly five years after the May 30, 2005, disappearance of Holloway during a high school trip in Aruba, a Dutch Caribbean island where van der Sloot's late father was a prominent judge.

Prosecutors said van der Sloot is still their main suspect in the case even though he was never charged.

Guardia said the 22-year-old Dutchman was in Peru for a poker tournament and appears with the dead woman in a video taken at a Lima casino early Sunday. The two were later seen entering the hotel by one of its employees about 5 a.m. and the Dutchman departed alone about four hours later, he said.

"We have an interview with a worker at the hotel who says she saw this foreigner with the victim enter his room,'' said Guardia.

UPDATE:
The hits keep on coming. Van der Sloot is now being charged in Alabama for trying to extort $250,000 in return for revealing the location of Natalee Holloway.

Are you kidding me?

At the Starting Gate: Rebidding For the Aqueduct Casino Underway

Some are familiar faces, but all six bidders are seeking to capture the golden ring of holding the rights to build and operate a new casino at Aqueduct race track in Queens.

Six prospective bidders have furnished the state Division of Lottery $1 million required to be considered for the bidding on rights to build and operate an Aqueduct Race Track racino, including two new groups not seen in past competitions but well-known nevertheless.

Genting New York LLC, the majority owner of Empire Resorts, has joined the fray. Chief Executive Lim Kok Thay has been quoted that his company has been eyeing opportunities in the United States. Genting acquired a majority of Monticello Raceway last year. It is a huge Malaysia-based casino operator.

Also on the list of potential bidders is Empire City Casino-Yonkers Raceway. The group is tied to the Rooney family, which runs the state’s biggest racino at Yonkers Raceway, and also is long-time owners of the PIttsburgh Steelers.

Others are Clairvest Group, which was the financial arm of Aqueduct Entertainment Group. AEG had won the last bid although it was later disqualified by Lottery. Other repeat entrants are Delaware North & Saratoga Gaming and Raceway, Penn National and SL Green Realty.

Delaware North won a bid two years ago, but wouldn’t come up with the $370 million winning bid.

The bids are due after a conference June 8, and a minimum down payment of $300 million is required by Lottery. The $1 million required already is returnable should any of the teams bow out.

Gov. Paterson needs the money - the $300 million to help close the massive state deficits, and had figured on the prior round of bidding and the winning bid in his budget scenarios. When the last round of bidding resulted in all kinds of allegations of corruption and criminality, the money never appeared. Indeed, the first round of bidding (we're now on the third attempt) resulted in a bid where the winning couldn't come up with the $370 million.

Ump Admits Blowing Call That Would Have Resulted In Perfect Game

The 2010 MLB baseball season has already seen two perfect games. Tonight, we came within one out of a third perfect game. That would have been the first time since 1880 that such an event had occurred.

Actually, it should have been the third perfect game.

An umpire blew the call at first base, and that meant that Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga lost his bid for a perfect game Wednesday night with two outs in the ninth inning. Jim Joyce admits he blew the call.

First baseman Miguel Cabrera cleanly fielded Jason Donald’s grounder to his right and made an accurate throw to Galarraga covering the bag. The ball was there in time, and all of Comerica Park was ready to celebrate the 3-0 win over Cleveland, until Joyce emphatically signaled safe.

The veteran ump regretted it.
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“I just cost that kid a perfect game,” Joyce said. “I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay.”

“It was the biggest call of my career,” said Joyce, who became a full-time major league umpire in 1989.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland immediately argued the call and was joined by several of his players after the final out. Galarraga was trying to pitch the third perfect game in the majors this season.

The video clearly shows that Galarraga made the play by a full step.

Instead, Galarraga gets credited for a 1-hitter.

He lost his bit of history.

UPDATE 6/3:
Video embedded:


Also, both Galarraga and Joyce appear to be class acts and the whole incident reveals alot about the character of both.

Holloway Suspect van der Sloot Wanted for Murder By Peruvian Authorities

Five years to the day after Natalee Holloway disappeared from the face of the earth in Aruba, one of the prime suspects is now being sought in the murder of a Peruvian woman.

Chief of detectives Col. Miguel Canlla said police are seeking Joran van der Sloot, 22, in the Sunday killing of 21-year-old Stephany Tatiana Flores in a Lima hotel.

El Comercio newspaper in Lima reported that the girl was stabbed, according to police. She is the daughter of a businessman and race car driver, Ricardo Flores.

The girl's father, Ricardo Flores, said van der Sloot appears with her in video taken at a Lima casino early Sunday.

Police say they are seeking to confirm van der Sloot's identity with the Dutch Embassy.

Police told El Comercio that she had been seen going out in recent days with van der Sloot. He reportedly arrived in Peru on May 14 from Colombia and left the country on Monday bound for Chile, according to RPP.com in Peru, citing immigration officials. Interpol has been notified to assist in the search. Canlla says Peru is asking Chilean authorities for help in the case.

The victim's body was found in a hotel room in the República de Panamá Avenue in the Miraflores district.

Now, all of this could be a coincidence. After all, he's notorious because of the connections to the Holloway case.

It could be a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and with the wrong hotel room.

It could be a witch hunt and the authorities are out to get him.

Or, he really did commit this murder and can't get out of the criminal act the way he did in the Holloway case because the evidence is far stronger here.

I'm going with that last option, primarily because the woman was found in a room registered to van der Sloot and there's video of the two of them together the previous night.

He's got some serious explaining to do - and why he happens to be the focus of not one but two murder investigations occurring five years apart - to the day (as noted by anonymous emailer).

"Peace Activists" Show True Colors

You just can't make this stuff up. The folks on board the ships attempting to run the Israeli blockade were intent on creating a bloody encounter with the Israeli forces, and were quite busy in their preparations:



Just because they didn't have modern weapons to do so doesn't mean that they didn't have deadly intent or the intention to create a bloody encounter specifically for propaganda purposes. They still managed to fire stun grenades (which can kill or cause serious injury). Those who were passing out the weapons and those who were accepting those weapons knew what they were doing and why they were doing so. Some were even prepared to die in order to maximize the propaganda against Israel and undermine Israel's legitimate blockade of Hamas and Gaza.

Still, all these videos and statements of intent by those involved in the flotilla will not dissuade Hamas' supporters or the anti-Israel gang out there because they will not stop until Israel is put in its place (and for Hamas that means eliminated).

Israeli Prime Minister Netenyahu is correct in noting the ongoing international hypocrisy over the incident.

Moreover, the aid that was intercepted by Israel from the flotilla and brought to Ashdod was rejected by Hamas as so much more propaganda:

"We refuse to receive the humanitarian aid until all those who were detained aboard the ships are released," said Ahmed Kurd, Minister for Social Welfare in the Hamas government said. "We also insist that the equipment be delivered in its entirety."

Kurd said that Israel's decision to allow a number of wheelchairs to be delivered to the Gaza Strip was a "deception," claiming that the batteries that operate them had been removed, making them useless.

The Hamas minister said that Israel's decision to send some of the aid that was seized aboard the ships to the Gaza Strip was designed to divert attention from the "massacre".

Hamas has every intention in thwarting the disposition of the humanitarian aid because it wants the blockade lifted so that it can further its own agenda of conflict with Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel is busy attempting to deport hundreds of protesters captured in the blockade operation, and some of those being deported aren't going quietly. In fact, they're rioting and assaulting the Israeli security forces escorting them to the airport. At the same time, Turkish officials who came to Israel to oversee the conditions of those Turkish individuals awaiting deportation had only good things to say about Israel's treatment.

NYS GOP Makes Its Choice

New York Republicans have made their choice for their gubernatorial candidate. It will be Rick Lazio.

Rick Lazio was picked at the convention over Dem turned GOPer (and still registered Dem) Steve Levy. Tea Party hack-crackpot Carl Paladino was a distant third, garnering 8% of votes (nearly all from Erie County). A latecomer to the party, Myers Mermel, a real estate consultant, got 4%.

Lazio was selected on the second round of balloting after no candidate got the required 50% on the first ballot.

Paladino still figures to make this interesting by forcing primary races in September by petitioning to get on ballots around NYS.

Of course, the GOP candidate, who ever it was, faces an uphill battle against Andrew Cuomo, who is more than likely going to be the next governor of New York.

The only one who can possibly beat Cuomo is Cuomo himself if he makes unforced errors - which he's done in the past. Cuomo's done well thus far because he's been pretty quiet (for him). He's let others do the talking and the foot-insertion has been kept to a minimum.

Cuomo is a smart guy, but has a tendency to annoy the wrong people, which has gotten him into trouble before.

Still, I don't think Lazio or Levy or anyone else the GOP puts up has much of a chance in NYS. Cuomo has the name recognition and is seen as a guy who might be able to clean things up in Albany (of course, the same was said about Spitzer before his fall).

NYC UFT Gets One Right

After watching the battering that the NJEA has taken over demanding that they keep their raises and avoid any layoffs or any kind of work rule changes that might actually result in cost savings to municipalities in New Jersey, it looks like the NYC UFT has figured out that it might be better to save the jobs that the union currently has than fight the City for raises because of the city's precarious financial situation.

City teachers and principals will go without raises for the next two years so the city can avert laying off 4,400 teachers, Mayor Bloomberg announced Wednesday morning.

The decision to halt the 2 % raises came about because the Education Department faces a $750 million budget gap due to massive state cuts to education funding.

"Laying off thousands of teachers is simply not the answer. It would devastate the school system and erase much of the great progress we've made," Bloomberg said in a statement.

The layoffs would have been the first to hit teachers in three decades.

Class sizes would have risen by three to five students per classroom, the administration had predicted. And seniority rules would have meant the most recently hired teachers would have been the first to go.

Most city workers have gotten annual 4% raises recently, and teachers' pay has risen by 43% since 2002. The teachers contract, however, expired in October, which gives Mayor Bloomberg the ability to withdraw pay increases unilaterally.

"This was not an ideal decision, and it certainly does not solve all of our budget issues," said the mayor. "In our conversation this morning, [teachers union president] Michael Mulgrew and I agreed that we would go together to Albany and Washington to press our case to restore more education funding."

The UFT going along with this for the next two years. That gives the city some breathing space, but expect the union to make back the raises in two years time when they will likely get retroactive raises to compensate for the lost wage hikes.

Moreover, the issue isn't that there is insufficient education funding, but rather that the City and State are essentially bankrupt - they don't have enough money to cover their bills, and there is only so much money to go around for essential services.

The financial disasters in Albany and the City has required politicians to focus on priorities, and so far Mayor Bloomberg has managed to do so - the Albany legislature and Gov. Paterson are looking at ways of passing the buck.

Gov. Paterson's Plan B: Let The Next Governor Lay Off State Workers

After a federal court rejected Gov. David Paterson's attempt to furlough state workers in order to close a massive state deficit, the New York Democrat looked about for a plan B.

He found it.

It's called passing the buck to the next governor. He figures that the solution for the current financial mess is to start firing state workers beginning in January 2011, when the next governor takes office but that is due in large part to deals made with various unions.

The reason for the delay: the hazy legal status of the "memorandum of understanding" his administration signed last summer with two of the largest state worker unions, CSEA and PEF. The agreement included a no-layoffs pledge through 2010 in exchange for the unions' support for a Tier V pension plan.

The unions argue the memo is a binding agreement; Paterson contends the state fiscal crisis and looming $9.2 billion deficit justifies amending it.

"I don't think the memorandum of understanding is one that could not be changed because of events not within the contemplation of the parties," Paterson said Tuesday at a Manhattan news conference, using legal phrasing appropriate to his recent dealings with union leaders.

"Everybody was saying that the economy would change by the third quarter of 2009. That didn't happen," Paterson said. " ... Obviously if the situation got worse, we would look at perhaps speeding up the (layoff) plan and challenging the memorandum of understanding. But the reality is right now it takes a long period of time to schedule the layoffs, so I want it ready to go on Jan. 1 so that the next governor has this option, should the next governor choose to use it."

Paterson's executive budget proposal included $250 million in state work force cuts. The larger public workers unions have adamantly resisted concessions talks. Instead, union leaders offered suggestions for less overtime and cutting non-union consultants under state contract.

The unions refuse to recognize the financial reality of the state's situation and continue to demand their cut regardless of how much it hurts the state's financial future.

Apparently $9 billion in deficits is not sufficient to get the unions to come to the table - or get the courts to realize that we are indeed talking about a financial emergency that requires furloughs to avoid major layoffs.

Now, we've got a situation where there are not only no furloughs, but no layoffs for the foreseeable future. That means that the state can't close the budget deficit through workplace efficiencies - leaving the door open to more tax hikes and fees to close the gaping deficit.

Don't Believe the Hamas Hype

Hamas and their supporters would love for people to think that Gazans are starving to death and that Israel is fully responsible for the situation.



While pro-Palestinian demonstrations are busy calling for Israel's destruction, freeing Palestine from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River and making equivalencies between Nazism and Israel's actions to defend itself from terrorism, the truth, and the facts, are quite different.

Not that any of this should come as a surprise to people who follow the propaganda war between Israel and its enemies.

Here's a few photos from yesterday's demonstrations outside the UN. At other demonstrations, the Israel=Nazi imagery is all too prevalent.

But let's get to the crux of this most recent confrontation. Hamas claims that they need to break the blockade to let humanitarian aid pass and to prevent a humanitarian crisis.

Hamas wouldn't want you to see that there aren't any food shortages. Food is actually quite plentiful, and there's even a Gilad Shalit sighting. Shalit is still held by Hamas without access to humanitarian relief groups contrary to international law.

Most meat and produce is readily available in Gaza despite the Israeli blockade (smuggling is playing a role), but some produce that is being grown in Gaza can't be exported and is therefore being fed to animals or goes to waste.

That's right - stuff that is being grown as food for export can't - so it's either being fed to animals or goes to waste - not exactly the situation if you have a starving populace. The country has sufficient food that it can contemplate export.

And while the captions claim that power shortages are the result of Israel not letting power and oil through, the truth is a little more complicated. People are looking to buy power generators because Hamas has let the infrastructure go to crap. Gazans are looking to spend money to buy white goods like washers and dryers and refrigerators.

That's not exactly something people do when they're struggling to feed themselves on a daily basis.

That's not something people need when they have no money and you can't exactly smuggle those kinds of items into Gaza via smuggling tunnels.

The situation in Gaza is of Hamas' own creation. The terror group came to power violently and retains an iron grip on Gaza all while indoctrinating another generation of Palestinians to hate Israel with all their might.

Dozens of passengers on board the ships intercepted by Israel on May 31 were members of international jihad groups, but the concern is that the Turkish Navy will accompany the next run against Israel's blockade.

Messy Osprey Landing On Staten Island Injures 10

The US Marine Corps uses the Osprey tilt-wing aircraft to ferry Marines into battle, but they can be quite tricky to operate. The Marines were on Staten Island at Clove Lake Park near the Lake House showing off the aircraft as part of the Memorial Day commemorations when one of the Ospreys caused tree limbs to shatter and go flying injuring 10 people in the process:

Hamas Got What It Wanted From Flotilla; And It Wasn't Humanitarian Aid

The flotilla of boats that were attempting to break Israel's blockade of Gaza was never about providing humanitarian aid to Gaza, but to create an incident around which Hamas could rally support and anti-Israel propaganda for use going forward.

The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday condemned acts which resulted in the loss of civilian lives on ships carrying pro-Palestinian campaigners and aid to Gaza, and called for an impartial investigation into Israel's deadly raid.

In a statement, the Security Council also called for the immediate release of hundreds of international activists and the six ships being held by Israel.

Anti-Israel protests erupted on Tuesday in Gaza and across South East Asia. There were also demonstrations in Israel - both for and against military action.

The U.N. statement said at least 10 people died — previously nine were thought to have been killed — after Israeli troops boarded Turkish-backed aid ships bound for Gaza, sparking outcry across the world.

The Security Council had met in emergency session on the situation, with most members of the 15-nation body calling for a thorough investigation.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told lawmakers in the Parliament Tuesday that "this bloody massacre by Israel on ships that were taking humanitarian aid to Gaza deserves every kind of curse."

Hamas succeeded on that point as thugs on board those ships attacked Israeli soldiers hoping to turn back those ships with nonlethal force and assaulted those soldiers with all manner of weapons in the process. Israeli soldiers finally had no choice but to use deadly force to protect themselves from the onslaught by the thugs on board.

Israel and Egypt have been blockading Gaza because the terror group Hamas remains in charge and has repeatedly siphoned off humanitarian aid for its own purposes. Gaza isn't wanting for food or other basics; those are found in abundance. What is lacking are the materials that Hamas can use to build weapons and tunnels and other terror infrastructure for use in their ongoing war with Israel.

The flotilla raid was just the latest skirmish, and Hamas has apparently gotten the upper hand in the propaganda war. The UN and Hamas supporters around the world are crying for Israeli blood and demands that the blockade be ended. The demands for investigations will only escalate, even though videos taken during the raids show that Israeli forces showed tremendous restraint and only after thugs on board began seriously assaulting those Israeli soldiers that the Israelis defended themselves with deadly force.

Turkey is playing their role in supporting Hamas by not only enabling the flotilla to travel from Turkey to attempt a run against Israel's blockade, but is pushing the Iran-Syria axis line despite having close ties to Israel for years.

Meanwhile, Egypt has lifted its portion of the blockade following the raid. At the same time, Israeli forces killed two terrorists in a firefight as they attempted to infiltrate Israel from Gaza.

And the kassams have again been fired into Israel.

Where's the world's condemnations of these ongoing terror attacks against Israel?

UPDATE:
And who should be behind organizing the flotilla? A group seeking peaceful coexistence with Israel? Hardly.

Lets party? With AK-47s? Looks real peaceful. This was one of the organizers, and he clearly doesn't look like he was intent on peace with Israel, but to provoke and create an international incident.

UPDATE:
This report has more information on the background of one of the groups involved in organizing the flotilla - and their connections with international jihadi terror organizations and terror plots.

Gaza’s markets are full of produce, thousands of tons of supplies are travelling into Gaza every week through the Israeli-controlled border crossings, and there is no starvation or humanitarian crisis. It was always obvious that the flotilla was not the humanitarian exercise it was said to be. Here is footage of the IDF offering to dock the Marmara -- the main flotilla ship -- at Ashdod and transfer its supplies and being told ‘Negative, negative, our destination is Gaza’.

And now we can see that the real purpose of this invasion -- backed by the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), a radical Islamic organization outlawed by Israel in 2008 for allegedly serving as a major component in Hamas’s global fund-raising machine -- was to incite a violent uprising in the Middle East and across the Islamic world. As I write, reports are coming in of Arab rioting in Jerusalem.

The notion – uncritically swallowed by the lazy, ignorant and bigoted BBC and other western media – that the flotilla organisers are ‘peace activists’ is simply ludicrous. This research by the Danish Institute for International Studies details the part played by the IHH in Islamist terror in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya. According to the French magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere testifying at the Seattle trial of would-be al Qaeda Millenium bomber Ahmed Ressamin, the IHH had played ‘[a]n important role’ in the al Qaeda Millenium bomb plot targeting Los Angeles airport. It was also involved in weapons trafficking, and played in addition a key role in galvanizing anti-Western sentiment among Turkish Muslims in the lead-up to the 2003 war in Iraq. ‘Peace activists’ these people most certainly are not.

UPDATE:
Despite protestations to the contrary, Israel is fully within its rights under international law to enforce the blockade to prevent Hamas from regrouping, rearming, or using materials obtained from ships running the blockade in its war against Israel's very existence.

Big Fish Watch: Al Qaeda Number 3; Osama's Brother In Law Killed?

If this can be confirmed, it's a real big fish. Al Qaeda's number 3 - and who happens to be Osama Bin Laden's brother in law, was allegedly killed in the Afghan-Pakistani border region.

Al-Qaida's number three — a co-founder of the terror network and Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law — has been killed in Pakistan's border area with Afghanistan, according to a statement attributed to the group that was posted on Islamist websites Monday.

The statement did not say how Shaykh Saeed, whose real name is Shaykh Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid, was killed nor did it identify a successor. Saeed was also al-Qaida's financial director.

One senior U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity told NBC News that Saeed was killed in an attack by a missile-carrying drone aircraft.

Another official said that "in terms of counterterrorism this would be a big victory," describing Saeed as "the group's chief operating officer, with a hand in everything from finances to operational planning. He was also the organization's prime conduit to Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri. He was key to al-Qaida's command and control."

How he was killed? It would appear to be a UAV airstrike.

Memorial Day 2010

While so many Americans are busy enjoying the weather, grilling and barbequing or watching major sporting events, we should remember what Memorial Day is all about.

Remember those who fought in defense of the nation and those who made the supreme sacrifice. Words cannot fully explain what these men and women have left behind - both in terms of the loss to their family and friends, and what a grateful nation has gained from defending the freedoms that many still take for granted despite being born from the blood, sweat, and tears of these men and women.



Taken at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial 3/2005.


Iwo Jima Memorial at night. Taken March 2005.

I've posted a number of clips showing some of our nation's finest soldiers, sailors, and Marines doing precision maneuvers with either their rifles or in their aircraft.



The US Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon



The US Navy Blue Angels



The US Air Force Thunderbirds



The US Army Silent Drill Team

So, while many of us sit back and enjoy the barbecues, the Indy 500, and other sporting events, take a few moments to remember all those who served and made it possible.

When "Peaceful" Activists Attack

Israel warned Hamas and their useful idiot supporters not to try running their blockade of Gaza, but a bunch of them did so anyways. Israel attempted boarding one of the boats, and the "peace" activists decided to not only attack the Israeli forces, but attempted to stab and club some of those Israelis to death.

With other Israeli soldiers being attacked, the Israeli commander on the scene authorized the use of force to protect their own soldiers, and several of these "peace" activists were killed.

What kind of "peace" activists carry all manner of knives, clubs, stun grenades, and fire bombs?

And Israel caught it all on tape.





Most of the world is going to focus on the deaths of these activists, but the fact is that Israel is well within its rights to sustain and thwart these activists from entering Gaza. Gaza isn't wanting for food or humanitarian aid despite Hamas propaganda to the contrary (and their demands that Israel ends the blockade). It is wanting for leadership that doesn't see the Gazans as cannon fodder and indoctrinates generations of Palestinians to hate Israel and seek its destruction.

The UN is busy demanding answers from Israel, but isn't bothered by the fact that Hamas remains fully in charge of Gaza and seeks Israel's destruction at every opportunity?

So, what does the NYT think of this? Their first inclination is to recall the Exodus incident? Are you kidding me? Israel is protecting itself from Hamas and their fellow travelers and supporters - and that's somehow akin to the British preventing Holocaust survivors from entering Mandate Palestine in 1947?

UPDATE:
The IDF has released images showing the weapons it captured on board the ship.

UPDATE:
These peace activists were busy recalling the Arab (and following Muslim) ethnic cleansing of the Jewish community in Khaibar.