The EU statement, issued in Brussels after a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers on Friday, declared that a “return to the status quo prior to the latest conflict is not an option.”
Israel is pleased with the EU’s call for disarming Hamas. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said, “Israel welcomes the [EU] ministers’ repeated calls for the terrorist organizations in Gaza to disarm.”
“A commitment to the principle of demilitarization, which will be implemented by an effective monitoring mechanism, will ensure that the situation changes fundamentally,” Palmor added.
On the other hand, the two top US Administration officials – President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry – have made it clear that disarming Gaza is not a priority. Asked if the Obama Administration endorses the Israeli demand to disarm Hamas, a top National Security official said only that “one would hope” that “some form of demilitarization” would be a result of a ceasefire. And Kerry didn’t even go that far; all he said was, “All of the issues of Gaza would be on the table.”
The Senate, on the other hand, has been outspoken about the need to disarm Hamas. It has not passed any formal resolutions to this effect, but many Senators have gone on record in favor of making this an integral feature of any ceasefire.
On Thursday, the day before the EU statement, US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf spent several long minutes attempting to reconcile the Administration’s “review” of munitions deliveries to Israel and the “no change” in the general policy towards Israel. Specifically, she said, “Given the crisis in Gaza, it’s natural that agencies take additional care to review deliveries as part of an interagency process. That is by no means unusual and, again, does not indicate any change in policy.”
She then said this was not actually a “review,” but rather “taking a second look.”
Challenged as to the purpose of a “second look” if there was no policy change, she again called it a review, then later changed it to “looking again,” etc.
Back and forth the point was belabored; one reporter asked, “If you’re undertaking a review with a lowercase ‘r’, or a second look or – again, whatever you want to call it – that that would stand to reason that perhaps at the end of that look that you might make some kind of policy change.”
Harf negated this, and so on and so forth, until finally one impatient correspondent asked, “Can we go to Ukraine, please?”
@ mar55:
@ Max:
Terrible news: http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/4-year-old-israeli-boy-killed-by-hamas-gaza-rocket/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=4-year-old-israeli-boy-killed-by-hamas-gaza-rocket
Max Said:
Max Said:
Life is NOT longer in Sweden and Canada !!!!!!! Sweetness It just seems longer!!!!!!!!!!
Max Said:
That Mr. Maple Leaf is complete balderdash.
mar55 Said:
TX’s family , on his Mother’s side, has a genetic disposition to throw blood clots.
Max Said:
I have Canadian ex-pats for neighbors [horsemen] they tell a different story.
@ yamit82:
yamit82: Could you look at the facts of the tax base for this country. What percentage of the taxes are paid by that 1%?
Let me know when you find the neswer.
@ Max:
I’m glad you are happy with the medical system in Canada. Next time I encounter a Canadian in a hospital’s waiting room I will ask why is it the need to come here for an operation. Last I heard A couple was here because if they waited until they could see an specialist the husband would be dead. We have people coming here for treatment from Austria, Sweden and even a Hungarian. It must be for the horrible results obtained in this horrible medical system. Denied service? That is a LIE.
@ honeybee:
Honeybee, it seems we have had the same experience with the medical system of the US. My family has always been covered by the medical insurance my husband’s work place did provide. We always had the best doctors and never we had to pay anything.
Bernard Ross: The first thing you do when you need medical care. You do not go to the clinics where the care they offer is similar to a factory’s assembly line. You can get emergency care at any hospital emergency room. However, before any operation you must research the surgeon’s infection rate. This is a matter of public record. The same as the hospital. A tendon it is easy to reattach on a relative young person but it can become a night mare if it gets infected. Presently we have many antibiotic resistant bacterium in the States including the retrovirus HIV. It is imperative for anyone who needs any surgical procedure to research the hospital’s infection rate.
For knees or hips replacement the blood clots is standard procedure to treat by preventible administering blood thinners for a period of time to avoid them. Checking the blood twice a week until the danger has passed.
If in the US it is a good bet to look for a hospital associated with a medical school. Where the professors are the head of the departments and have the latest innovations in treatments and knowledge.
mar55 Said:
Isn’t that special.
Aren’t you lucky?
And aren’t all the others unlucky?
In Canada we don’t worry about it, we don’t even think about it. It’s a done deal before we go – no one is going to profiteer on it or deny a single person.
In America you don’t just get denied payment , you get denied services without the scratch.
@ yamit82:
yamit82: Could you look at the facts of the tax base for this country. What percentage of the taxes are paid by that 1%?
Let me know when you find the answer.
@ honeybee:
I’m going to use this as a link to be able to post the continuation of the answer about the unions.
The actual unions have been infiltrated by reds or socialists and new elements who care only for themselves. They buy our politicians to vote not with what is best for the country but what is best for them. The hell with America. With the advent of the new emigration the quality of our workers has declined. Many workers do not have the same skills as in the past but come with the idea that they can teach the American something. So accordingly we should learn from them. Where else in the world the do union bosses become millionaires? Why union organizing has failed in so many companies they have tried to unionize? We still have in NYC Chinatown sweatshops that have their employees working 12 or in some cases even 18 hours a day with their doors and windows locked. When they know an inspector is coming to check the place they unlock their doors. Many of these people have families who have paid someone thousands of dollars to bring them to this country illegally. They must work at whatever wages they offer them in order to pay their families the money they paid for bringing them to this country. If the fire department raids the places where they live (several to a small room) taking turns to sleep in the same bed at different times. They are left homeless. What we need more than unions is honest politicians. To finish, one more example of what the new emigration means. Fallowing is a true story.
In a Philadelphia hospital, a surgeon from Egypt had been left with a patient who had brain surgery. Surgery of the brain produces lots of bleeding. The surgeon who had done the surgery left him with the patient with specific instructions to administer a drug to stop the bleeding and saw him up.
When the surgeon came back he found the patient in pain and still bleeding. He also found he had been sawed up with silk thread. Naturally he was furious. He asked the Egyptian why he had not administered the medicine to stop the bleeding and why he had sawed the patient with silk thread. To be continued…
@ honeybee:
Honeybee, every single time I have been to the doctor or needed an operation, the insurance has paid in full for the entire procedure. Had the same experience as TX.
@ Max:
Four yrs. ago he had his second knee replaced, developed blood clots in the lungs, and a severe infection of the wound site. In and out of the hospital and Dr. office all summer long. After that came months of PT. He is still kicking and able to live comfortably.
honeybee Said:
Then it hasn’t been serious enough to cost the insurers money. When you find out how ruthless and murderous your doctors and insurers are , he will be on his way to the graveyard.
There is only one G_d in America and his name is corporate profit.
BTW Canada is # 12 in life expectancy while America is # 35, so Canadians live longer.
Sweden is #9 , – even those obtuse Islamofascist enablers have more sense than Americans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy
yamit82 Said:
Had a dog [ Australian Shepard] like that from ARK., went crazy at sent of a minority. He also hated men.
yamit82 Said:
Or teeth !!!!!!!!!!
yamit82 Said:
Jamie, the cute red-headed anchor on the morning show is married to a Navy Seal. She is expecting any time now. Her husband has fulfilled his only purpose and is no longer need except to pay the bills.
yamit82 Said:
Thanks to men such as yourself I have been spared. In all sincerity, Thank You.
Max Said:
Poor Ol ‘TX has been seriously ” busted up ” more then once and has NEVER been denied insurance claim. Last time it cost a “pretty penny ” to get him in the saddle again. Now he has got himself into poison Ivy or some such thing and is covered with a bright red rash. Off to the Doc. He’s 6’6″ and 265 lbs. and it’s a horrible sight to behold.
bernard ross Said:
No, no , there’s something wrong there. The situation is like you are watching a guy get beaten up and you are saying
“Gee – this guy seems to be in poor health.” The accurate statement is both the economy and the repression are spiraling upwards.
Well you have my answer. Some parts are conspiratorial – certainly many agreements or truths are kept secret.
However, it simply unnecessary. They have the power to control what people think about and how they think about it ..essentially to-engineer consent so they have no need to hide much.
I thought you were openly a conspiracy theorist – I mean what else is secret USA forces working with Islamic Terrorists all over the world but secret.
Secret is as secret does.
Conspiracy theorists are not necessarily wrong – often one just never knows, sometimes it’s the best possible explanation is a world of obfuscation – even part of what Ted B. think seems to be directed that way – but but your theories don’t seem to be that levelheaded or objective -especially seem to have some deep personal, sort of unrelated, emotional motivation..
honeybee Said:
It isn’t your stuff,it belongs to the elite they have stolen it from you. Actually there is enough for you and the illegals and another planet left over.
What you describe is the lack of government services not the provision of it.It’s pathetic you don’t know the difference. Compared to USA , health services in Canada , UK and even Cuba are like Utopia – Americans have been so thoroughly brainwashed by their greedy rulers they don’t even know what is possible.
These services are the cost of running the country , they must be paid for by the profits of the country – the elite wants those all of these profits so they propagandize against their expenditure.
…
When TX has something seriously wrong with him it will be “claim denied” because it is too expensive for them, or they simply don’t provide that service because there isn’t enough profit in it.
Essentially the elite works the population to death – when people are thoroughly broken beyond repair , no longer of any use, and fully removed of their assets the elite discards these humans into the rubbish heap or graveyard.
Insurance makes money by denying services not providing them – the whole concepts of insurance companies in health is exploitative and murderous. it’s simply a cost that must be paid – period.
honeybee Said:
Took her to the park tonight to run with a few friends of hers till an Arab sudenly showed and she went nuts barking non stop till I leashed her and took her home. great dog I made a good choice but found out she isn’t a what I thought breed wise. She is a white Labrador Retriever.
honeybee Said:
Aim for the whites in their eyes
honeybee Said:
Explain pls.
honeybee Said:
Ever see what a 2 ton bomb does to it’s victims?
Dead is dead and beheading is far less painful than other means. We all have a psychological fear and revulsion of beheading but believe me it’s no worse and probably more humane than many other modern means of dispatching intended victims.
Two hundred thousand Syrians killed in the last couple of years many more violent and repulsive than beheading some say we killed or murdered almost a million Iraqis in the post 9/11 bombing and invasion of Iraq. The beheading of Journalists Berg and Pearl are still images that most people relate to the American war on terror.
Those guys know what they are doing and fear is as effective as some military divisions, beheading is their manner of using psychological warfare. It works. Why do most people fear Ebola virus and not the common flu when the flu is a more prolific killer than Ebola.
@ yamit82:
– Hey there soldier, what you’re oppinion of the be-heading.
@ bernard ross:
He was to accepting. Odd
@ bernard ross:
“Who Rules America”
Historical context
Numerous studies show that the wealth distribution has been concentrated throughout American history, with the top 1% already owning 40-50% in large port cities like Boston, New York, and Charleston in the 1800s. (But it wasn’t as bad in the 18th and 19th centuries as it is now, as summarized in a 2012 article in The Atlantic.) The wealth distribution was fairly stable over the course of the 20th century, although there were small declines in the aftermath of the New Deal and World II, when most people were working and could save a little money. There were progressive income tax rates, too, which took some money from the rich to help with government services.
Then there was a further decline, or flattening, in the 1970s, but this time in good part due to a fall in stock prices, meaning that the rich lost some of the value in their stocks. By the late 1980s, however, the wealth distribution was almost as concentrated as it had been in 1929, when the top 1% had 44.2% of all wealth. It has continued to edge up since that time, with a slight decline from 1998 to 2001, before the economy crashed in the late 2000s and little people got pushed down again.
Here are some dramatic facts that sum up how the wealth distribution became even more concentrated between 1983 and 2004, in good part due to the tax cuts for the wealthy and the defeat of labor unions: Of all the new financial wealth created by the American economy in that 21-year-period, fully 42% of it went to the top 1%. A whopping 94% went to the top 20%, which of course means that the bottom 80% received only 6% of all the new financial wealth generated in the United States during the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s (Wolff, 2007).
The rest of the world
Thanks to a 2006 study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research — using statistics for the year 2000 — we now have information on the wealth distribution for the world as a whole, which can be compared to the United States and other well-off countries. The authors of the report admit that the quality of the information available on many countries is very spotty and probably off by several percentage points, but they compensate for this problem with very sophisticated statistical methods and the use of different sets of data. With those caveats in mind, we can still safely say that the top 10% of the world’s adults control about 85% of global household wealth — defined very broadly as all assets (not just financial assets), minus debts. That compares with a figure of 69.8% for the top 10% for the United States. The only industrialized democracy with a higher concentration of wealth in the top 10% than the United States is Switzerland at 71.3%. For the figures for several other Northern European countries and Canada, all of which are based on high-quality data Read More
@ honeybee:
yes, I agree. the whole thing just did not feel real to me(although I never saw the video and never read the whole story) The things you mentioned and his odd letter or statement which sounded political and anti american. It is odd if you believe you are getting your head chopped off to be concerned about the things he wrote.
Max Said:
I did, as I said it is a downward spiraling economy for the majority of the people.
Max Said:
not a statement, a question.
Max Said:
did not label you a conspiracy theorist as you have me in the past. Rather is aske you if you thought it was a conspiracy; its a valid question considering your comments.
Max Said:
I agree as I also agree that disinformation is prolific.
@ bernard ross:
The manner in which he accepted his execution, like the Religious martyrs I read about in Reformation history.
@ bernard ross:
I thought his parents reaction was odd. Their lack of anger. I thought some of his tweets were pro-Islamic and anti-Israel.
honeybee Said:
me too, what sounded odd to you?
bernard ross Said:
One can only hope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yankee boy
honeybee Said:
the GOP did that with the charter schools,they want to do the same with same with medicare etc. and SS. when its over we will be back in the 1800’s
honeybee Said:
the GOP did that with the charter schools,they want to do the same with same with medicare etc. and SS. whe its over we will be back in the 1800’s
Max Said:
TX says you’re correct, that’s why the illegals are coming, to get our stuff for free.
yamit82 Said:
TX says don’t go at night, cause you won’t be able to see your targets.
honeybee Said:
Thoroughly mind-washed.
Meanwhile , back at the ranch – the elite have taken everything from you, the wealth, your birthright, your future – even that illusion you call Texas . Nothing belongs to you, everything belongs to them.
You have no idea of what could be, you have no idea of the wealth that is denied you and everyone else, – you have never seen freedom from economic fascism
Max Said:
What makes you think we have to go all the way to MO. to lead minority miscreants.
Max Said:
Sweetness, Bless your lil’ol heart but have you watchin the border crisis or the rioting in Ferguson??????????? Who you want to wait for health care in clinic with those folks??????????? Not this Cowgirl. I don’t care to deal with bureaucrats, like the S.O.B.s who run the driver licenses office, when I have the flu.
yamit82 Said:
They are being led by Republicans agitators from Texas in an Anti-Obama plot.
I’s Civil War 2.0 or Civil War Re-imagined.
yamit82 Said:
Glad to hear this, it is reassuring. How is my Dagmar. She has a very coy look in the pic. you posted.
Things in Ferguson have quieted as there is nothing left to steal. Your cure for rioting would not be acceptable in the PC USA although there are many I know [ TX] who advocate it as a deterrent.
honeybee Said:
Oh you have been mind-washed by elite propaganda. That propaganda comes straight form the power elite. They make you afraid of the government bureaucracies so they can continue to exploit and profiteer off you.
It seem everybody in America is someone else’s sock-puppet.
And instead today they got and even worse oppression from the New World rulers.
yamit82 Said:
I am so glad you’re OK, I would like to ask what happen, but will refrain. Fox is on about the man who was be-headed, but the whole affair sound some what odd to me, but then I am a bit perverse. You’re favorite anchor Jamie is on maternity leave, seems the Seal complete the mission before the Rangers were able.
@ honeybee:
Still alive, I think??? Had a close one today, found out about it long after the fact. The SOB are trying to kill me. Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!
If I were the police in Fergy MO. I would set up a few 50 cal machine guns and mow the lawn…. Those black scum are being coddled like misbehaving retards.
With all the real problems going on in the world what’s your Fox News obsessed with????
The new American Bogeyman ISIS is total BS. They have between 10,000-20,000 fighters no air-force and fighting and occupying mostly open flat desert terrain. No place to hide, no mountains, or caves to hide and protect them. They can be eradicated by air power efficiently and permanently, without the need for boots on the ground. They are a threat as long as they are not confronted with sufficient force.
Their threat is over rated militarily and can be eliminated with not too much effort and cost.
bernard ross Said:
Wow, I live there too. I think the young go to the big city to pursue careers as drug addicts and the such – don’t blame them not much else is left open to them.
I spent some time in China a few years back where “mom and pop stores were the norm just like the 1960’s – it is a much preferable system for everyone. However even there “modernization” and corporatization is taking place with the same destructive effect.
@ yamit82:
Israeli health care: http://blog.camera.org/archives/2014/08/wheres_the_coverage_als_patien_1.html
Max Said:
Well said !!!!!!!! At last !!!!!!!!!!
bernard ross Said:
They don’t ,this is why you are still confused. They interact but are separate. For instance the wealth owners borrow money to make profits but the debt is put on the public while they only take the profits. The “poetry” is in the mass media where the economy of the 5 percent wealth holders (the people ) is presented as the total economy by “economic analysts” who are of course have their salaries paid by the wealth owners.
Really? How can you discuss anything at all without referring to the other economy as well?
That statement is just pure ignorance or some kind of denial for political purpose. Economic fascism makes all other forms of freedom irrelevant and non-existent. Economic fascism is increasing to the point of absolutism. It’s open knowledge there are few secrets about it. The information is just hidden in plain sight and the public kept compliant by means of propaganda. One such form of propaganda is disinformation – such as labeling honest economic analysts as conspiracy theorists.
..
Most politics is presented deceitfully in that is is presented as having ideological motivations instead of economic. For instance the war on Israel is ultimately for material gain. It’s a salaried career for Hamas officers with a promise of big material gains if successful. It’s terrorism as a career path.
It’s not much different than any conqueror of the past promising his troops loot and booty.