Like many other supporters of the pro-Israel, pro-peace group J Street, I was disappointed to read last week the news that George Soros has been a major financial supporter of the group. To be clear, I wasn't disappointed that the group is receiving support from Soros, just that they hadn't been up front about it.
For the rodeo clowns of the American right, George Soros has become the 00's version of the UN's black helicopters, a symbol of dark conspiracies that help conservatives explain to themselves why the world isn't as they desperately wish it were. For his critics, his generous support of democratic reform in former Communist Eastern Europe counts for little when he brings those same values to bear on his giving here in the United States. The organization I work for, the Center for American Progress, is one of many that have benefited financially from Soros' devotion to a more just, progressive, and open society.
Soros' criticism of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its reflexive support for Israel's worst excesses have also made him a deeply suspect figure among many in the conservative pro-Israel community. This suspicion arises as much out of concern that AIPAC's prerogatives in Congress might be constrained by greater scrutiny (as former AIPAC official Steven Rosen put it before he was indicted, "A lobby is like a night flower. It thrives in the dark and withers in the light") as out of genuine concern for Israel's well-being.
That the indignation over George Soros is overblown is demonstrated by the fact that some of those attacking J Street have had no problem making use of his money. For example, former Weekly Standard blogger Michael Goldfarb, one of J Street's most obsessive critics, is now a vice-president at the lobbying firm Orion Strategies. As Salon's Justin Elliott discovered last week, Orion Strategies has received funds from Soros' Open Society Policy Center.
The current round of attacks on J Street, then, are about what the attacks on J Street have always been about: The arrogant presumption of hawkish pro-Israel conservatives that there can be only one acceptable pro-Israel position in Washington, a rubber stamp for whatever the Israeli government wants at any given moment, regardless of the actual consequences for the Palestinians, for the region, or for U.S. interests. The individuals and organizations mounting and funding these attacks make no secret of their hostility to the peace process, or of their antipathy toward Palestinian rights. (The neoconservative Emergency Committee for Israel, an organization created specifically to fight J Street, only recently endorsed the two-state solution after being shamed into it by J Street's Jeremy Ben-Ami.)
This is a critical moment for Israel, for the Palestinians, and for U.S. leadership in the Middle East. As I noted in a recent report on the difficult political issues at play in the negotiations, there is a growing belief among both Israelis and Palestinians that the possibility of a two-state solution is slipping away. It's easy -- and, given the state of negotiations, on a knife's edge over Israel's refusal to extend its settlement moratorium and amid some of the worst unrest in East Jerusalem in years, probably not incorrect -- to be pessimistic about the prospects for a peace deal in the near future. But it's a testament to the centrality of this conflict to a number of other U.S. challenges in the region, and the strong national security consensus around the reality of those linkages, that President Obama has chosen to put his political and diplomatic capital, and America's, behind such an effort right now.
J Street was created to ensure that this effort receives the American political support required to succeed. They have been and will continue to be, denounced by those who mistakenly believe that the Middle East status quo is sustainable. But for those of us who know that it is not, and who believe that an agreement leading to the creation of an independent Palestinian state living alongside a safe and secure Israel is in the best interests of Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans, J Street has been, and will continue to be, an indispensable voice.
For months now, Jim Garlow has been telling anyone who will listen that they need to read the book "Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem" by Jay W. Richards because it perfectly explains how economic issues should be handled from a biblical perspective. He even dedicated a segment during the first Pray and Act webcast to promoting the book and its ideas:
If we have 535 people in Washington, DC - House and Senate - who are voting through laws that cause grandchildren and great-grandchildren of yours yet unborn to be saddled with a debt they cannot handle, that is called thievery.
There's a law against stealing: Thou shalt not steal. We have no right to steal from future generations. So the whole economic issue is a biblical issue.
Debt like we have in America is immoral. It is wrong. There should be a screaming up. This could cause a suffocation and a complete destruction of all we hold dear. The taxation is becoming oppressive.
The reason that we have these kind of bad laws passing in our Congress is very simple: what percentage of the people making the laws are attending a church where the Bible is being taught? Let me go further though: if it's a small percentage that are there, let's just pick an arbitrary number - 10%, 15%, 20% - are attending a church where the Bible is being taught, let me ask you a question, how many of them are going to a church where biblical economics is being taught so the person who goes to make the laws has the moral foundation, the biblical background, to be able to vote through the right kind of laws? We have been silent and I believe the spirit of God is stirring something at a deep level.
Garlow brought it up again the second Pray and ACT webcast and preached a sermon on it at his church last weekend:
I preached then, and in four Sunday services, on a topic about which I had never taught: the biblical economic principles related to the current crushing national debt and the oppressive taxation. The Bible has much to say about civil governance (and how peace and tranquilly can be experienced in our communities) and has much more to say about the underpinnings to our national economic situations than I had previously anticipated. If you have the time or interest, you can hear it at http://www.skylinechurch.org/skyline/?page_id=26. And, as I have stated before, I commend Jay Richard’s exceptional book, Money, Greed and God to everyone.
To date, Garlow had pretty much been all alone in recommending the book and its teachings, but that looks like that is about to change as the Family Research Council has announced that they will be hosting an event featuring Richards and his book in December:
Jay Richards is a Senior Fellow of the Discovery Institute and a Contributing Editor of The American at the American Enterprise Institute. In recent years he has been a Visiting Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and a Research Fellow and Director of Acton Media at the Acton Institute.
He has written many academic articles, books, and popular essays on a wide variety of subjects. His most recent book is Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem.
I had resisted reading this because for a long time it seemed that only Garlow was recommending it, but now that it looks like it might be becoming a playbook for the movement, I guess I'll have to actually take a look at it.
Various <b>News</b> Tidbits - Lookout Landing
Various News Tidbits. ... Various News Tidbits. Tiny by Matthew on Oct 1, 2010 4:25 PM PDT in Miscellaneous � Tweet. 3 comments; Story-email Email; Printer Print. Even Felix's hugs are powerful � More photos » Elaine Thompson - AP ...
The WORCESTER PARK Blog, Surrey ¦: Sky <b>News</b>
"I came out of my front door this morning to see a VERY low flying BA jet passing over Trent Way - just seen on the news that it had to make an emergency landing after just 10 minutes. Never seen one that low even though we're used to ...
Haley Barbour Defends <b>News</b> Corp's Donations To RGA, Chamber Of <b>...</b>
The reports that News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, has given two separate million-dollar donations to conservative entities has sparked another wave of criticism over the cable company's editorial leanings.
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Various <b>News</b> Tidbits - Lookout Landing
Various News Tidbits. ... Various News Tidbits. Tiny by Matthew on Oct 1, 2010 4:25 PM PDT in Miscellaneous � Tweet. 3 comments; Story-email Email; Printer Print. Even Felix's hugs are powerful � More photos » Elaine Thompson - AP ...
The WORCESTER PARK Blog, Surrey ¦: Sky <b>News</b>
"I came out of my front door this morning to see a VERY low flying BA jet passing over Trent Way - just seen on the news that it had to make an emergency landing after just 10 minutes. Never seen one that low even though we're used to ...
Haley Barbour Defends <b>News</b> Corp's Donations To RGA, Chamber Of <b>...</b>
The reports that News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, has given two separate million-dollar donations to conservative entities has sparked another wave of criticism over the cable company's editorial leanings.
bench craft company rip off bench craft company rip off
Like many other supporters of the pro-Israel, pro-peace group J Street, I was disappointed to read last week the news that George Soros has been a major financial supporter of the group. To be clear, I wasn't disappointed that the group is receiving support from Soros, just that they hadn't been up front about it.
For the rodeo clowns of the American right, George Soros has become the 00's version of the UN's black helicopters, a symbol of dark conspiracies that help conservatives explain to themselves why the world isn't as they desperately wish it were. For his critics, his generous support of democratic reform in former Communist Eastern Europe counts for little when he brings those same values to bear on his giving here in the United States. The organization I work for, the Center for American Progress, is one of many that have benefited financially from Soros' devotion to a more just, progressive, and open society.
Soros' criticism of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its reflexive support for Israel's worst excesses have also made him a deeply suspect figure among many in the conservative pro-Israel community. This suspicion arises as much out of concern that AIPAC's prerogatives in Congress might be constrained by greater scrutiny (as former AIPAC official Steven Rosen put it before he was indicted, "A lobby is like a night flower. It thrives in the dark and withers in the light") as out of genuine concern for Israel's well-being.
That the indignation over George Soros is overblown is demonstrated by the fact that some of those attacking J Street have had no problem making use of his money. For example, former Weekly Standard blogger Michael Goldfarb, one of J Street's most obsessive critics, is now a vice-president at the lobbying firm Orion Strategies. As Salon's Justin Elliott discovered last week, Orion Strategies has received funds from Soros' Open Society Policy Center.
The current round of attacks on J Street, then, are about what the attacks on J Street have always been about: The arrogant presumption of hawkish pro-Israel conservatives that there can be only one acceptable pro-Israel position in Washington, a rubber stamp for whatever the Israeli government wants at any given moment, regardless of the actual consequences for the Palestinians, for the region, or for U.S. interests. The individuals and organizations mounting and funding these attacks make no secret of their hostility to the peace process, or of their antipathy toward Palestinian rights. (The neoconservative Emergency Committee for Israel, an organization created specifically to fight J Street, only recently endorsed the two-state solution after being shamed into it by J Street's Jeremy Ben-Ami.)
This is a critical moment for Israel, for the Palestinians, and for U.S. leadership in the Middle East. As I noted in a recent report on the difficult political issues at play in the negotiations, there is a growing belief among both Israelis and Palestinians that the possibility of a two-state solution is slipping away. It's easy -- and, given the state of negotiations, on a knife's edge over Israel's refusal to extend its settlement moratorium and amid some of the worst unrest in East Jerusalem in years, probably not incorrect -- to be pessimistic about the prospects for a peace deal in the near future. But it's a testament to the centrality of this conflict to a number of other U.S. challenges in the region, and the strong national security consensus around the reality of those linkages, that President Obama has chosen to put his political and diplomatic capital, and America's, behind such an effort right now.
J Street was created to ensure that this effort receives the American political support required to succeed. They have been and will continue to be, denounced by those who mistakenly believe that the Middle East status quo is sustainable. But for those of us who know that it is not, and who believe that an agreement leading to the creation of an independent Palestinian state living alongside a safe and secure Israel is in the best interests of Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans, J Street has been, and will continue to be, an indispensable voice.
For months now, Jim Garlow has been telling anyone who will listen that they need to read the book "Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem" by Jay W. Richards because it perfectly explains how economic issues should be handled from a biblical perspective. He even dedicated a segment during the first Pray and Act webcast to promoting the book and its ideas:
If we have 535 people in Washington, DC - House and Senate - who are voting through laws that cause grandchildren and great-grandchildren of yours yet unborn to be saddled with a debt they cannot handle, that is called thievery.
There's a law against stealing: Thou shalt not steal. We have no right to steal from future generations. So the whole economic issue is a biblical issue.
Debt like we have in America is immoral. It is wrong. There should be a screaming up. This could cause a suffocation and a complete destruction of all we hold dear. The taxation is becoming oppressive.
The reason that we have these kind of bad laws passing in our Congress is very simple: what percentage of the people making the laws are attending a church where the Bible is being taught? Let me go further though: if it's a small percentage that are there, let's just pick an arbitrary number - 10%, 15%, 20% - are attending a church where the Bible is being taught, let me ask you a question, how many of them are going to a church where biblical economics is being taught so the person who goes to make the laws has the moral foundation, the biblical background, to be able to vote through the right kind of laws? We have been silent and I believe the spirit of God is stirring something at a deep level.
Garlow brought it up again the second Pray and ACT webcast and preached a sermon on it at his church last weekend:
I preached then, and in four Sunday services, on a topic about which I had never taught: the biblical economic principles related to the current crushing national debt and the oppressive taxation. The Bible has much to say about civil governance (and how peace and tranquilly can be experienced in our communities) and has much more to say about the underpinnings to our national economic situations than I had previously anticipated. If you have the time or interest, you can hear it at http://www.skylinechurch.org/skyline/?page_id=26. And, as I have stated before, I commend Jay Richard’s exceptional book, Money, Greed and God to everyone.
To date, Garlow had pretty much been all alone in recommending the book and its teachings, but that looks like that is about to change as the Family Research Council has announced that they will be hosting an event featuring Richards and his book in December:
Jay Richards is a Senior Fellow of the Discovery Institute and a Contributing Editor of The American at the American Enterprise Institute. In recent years he has been a Visiting Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and a Research Fellow and Director of Acton Media at the Acton Institute.
He has written many academic articles, books, and popular essays on a wide variety of subjects. His most recent book is Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem.
I had resisted reading this because for a long time it seemed that only Garlow was recommending it, but now that it looks like it might be becoming a playbook for the movement, I guess I'll have to actually take a look at it.
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Various <b>News</b> Tidbits - Lookout Landing
Various News Tidbits. ... Various News Tidbits. Tiny by Matthew on Oct 1, 2010 4:25 PM PDT in Miscellaneous � Tweet. 3 comments; Story-email Email; Printer Print. Even Felix's hugs are powerful � More photos » Elaine Thompson - AP ...
The WORCESTER PARK Blog, Surrey ¦: Sky <b>News</b>
"I came out of my front door this morning to see a VERY low flying BA jet passing over Trent Way - just seen on the news that it had to make an emergency landing after just 10 minutes. Never seen one that low even though we're used to ...
Haley Barbour Defends <b>News</b> Corp's Donations To RGA, Chamber Of <b>...</b>
The reports that News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, has given two separate million-dollar donations to conservative entities has sparked another wave of criticism over the cable company's editorial leanings.
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Various <b>News</b> Tidbits - Lookout Landing
Various News Tidbits. ... Various News Tidbits. Tiny by Matthew on Oct 1, 2010 4:25 PM PDT in Miscellaneous � Tweet. 3 comments; Story-email Email; Printer Print. Even Felix's hugs are powerful � More photos » Elaine Thompson - AP ...
The WORCESTER PARK Blog, Surrey ¦: Sky <b>News</b>
"I came out of my front door this morning to see a VERY low flying BA jet passing over Trent Way - just seen on the news that it had to make an emergency landing after just 10 minutes. Never seen one that low even though we're used to ...
Haley Barbour Defends <b>News</b> Corp's Donations To RGA, Chamber Of <b>...</b>
The reports that News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, has given two separate million-dollar donations to conservative entities has sparked another wave of criticism over the cable company's editorial leanings.
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Various <b>News</b> Tidbits - Lookout Landing
Various News Tidbits. ... Various News Tidbits. Tiny by Matthew on Oct 1, 2010 4:25 PM PDT in Miscellaneous � Tweet. 3 comments; Story-email Email; Printer Print. Even Felix's hugs are powerful � More photos » Elaine Thompson - AP ...
The WORCESTER PARK Blog, Surrey ¦: Sky <b>News</b>
"I came out of my front door this morning to see a VERY low flying BA jet passing over Trent Way - just seen on the news that it had to make an emergency landing after just 10 minutes. Never seen one that low even though we're used to ...
Haley Barbour Defends <b>News</b> Corp's Donations To RGA, Chamber Of <b>...</b>
The reports that News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, has given two separate million-dollar donations to conservative entities has sparked another wave of criticism over the cable company's editorial leanings.
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