Tag Archives: Israel

My Oh My, It’s Just Downright Scandalous: I Finally Discuss A Couple of President Obama’s Scandals

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

Interestingly enough, the most transparent and ethical administration in history has its fingers in a lot of unsavory pies.

In the January 2010 speech above, President Obama exclaimed he wouldn’t stop fighting to “rein in exploding deficits.” He also pledged to slice our deficit in half by the end of his first term. Has obviously has not met these promises. Rather, he fought the Republicans in Congress when they demanded spending cuts in exchange for the debt ceiling increase that he requested.

Of course, many logical people may legitimately perceive this as a disappointment rather than outright lie, however to conclude such about all the issues going on in the administration is not such an easy task.

One of the first Obama scandals to break into mainstream news was the Solydra loan guarantee and the company’s subsequent failure. In fact, the entire DOE Loan Guarantee Program now appears corrupt and troubled. The problem isn’t so much that the company failed and tax dollars were wasted (although that is bothersome), but the way the administration selected the companies to support with federal tax dollars. Standing in front of the Solyndra facility, Mitt Romney explained it better than I can:

An independent inspector general looked at this investment and concluded that the administration had steered money to friends and family – to campaign contributors. This building, this half a billion dollar taxpayer investment, represents a serious conflict of interest on the part of the president and his team.

It’s also a symbol of how the president thinks about free enterprise. Free enterprise to the president means taking money from the taxpayers and giving it freely to his friends.

Ok, but let’s chalk that up to an honest mistake and call the fact that the loan guarantees just so happened to go to campaign “bundlers” and donors a major coincidence, not wild corruption.

…And maybe it was in the spirit of fulfilling his promise to provide the most transparent administration in history that he revealed classified security information. You have probably heard that such information was leaked and both Republicans and some Democrats believe the Obama administration did so to bolster the president’s national security image. Of course, they deny it was their own doing. Israel is livid, as the leak including some of our ally’s security information regarding handling a potentially nuclear Iran.

Given their openness about security secrets, it is fascinating how well they’ve done to hide information regarding the very biggest scandal of the administration–The Fast and Furious gun running scandal. Attorney General Eric Holder is now on the verge of being held in contempt of Congress and is being called to resign. At least five Democrats will join Republicans in voting to hold the Attorney General in contempt (vote should be held on June 28th, same day as the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare). The President went so far as to use his executive privilege to shield some documents from being uncovered after Holder’s refusal to turn over the documents did not quell demands. This is only the first time that President Obama has used the privilege (Bush and Clinton used the privilege 14 and six times, respectively) and they argue that the information would jeopardize the safety of some agents. Others believe there is more to the story that is being hidden. There is much still unknown, but it seems odd that documents requested by Congress are well hidden while classified national security secrets are leaked.

I’m not so sure all of these scandals represent crookedness on the President’s behalf, but I do think it is enough to decry that he has failed in his promise to provide a transparent and ethical administration. Come to your own conclusions and please share in the comments!

As always, please subscribe to this blog by clicking the “Follow” button at the top of the right sidebar. If you don’t have a WordPress account, you’ll have to enter your email address. You can share your opinions in the comment section below or by tweeting to @Ryan_Kantor. Thanks for reading!

Drake University Hosts Thought Provoking Debate

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

on December 10th ABC broadcast a GOP debate from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. It was the first major debate with Gingrich as the front runner. Here are some key takeaways:

Mitt Romney defended himself on “Romneycare” when Rick Perry again claimed that Romney’s book said that he wanted the Massachusetts healthcare plan to be a model for the nation (implying at the federal level). Romney responded sternly (and awkwardly) by offering Rick Perry a $10,000 bet that he had in fact misquoted him. Romney then clarified the quote from his book which actually says that each state should consider such a plan, because they are the laboratories of Democracy. Mitt could not have made his opinion or past comments more clear, but he’ll probably continue to be asked about them, and the weird $10,000 bet offer may irk some Iowans come caucus time.

Shameless Plug for My Father: On the topic of Mitt Romney and healthcare, Dr. Keith Kantor, is working with the Romney campaign in a limited context to provide information about how to lower healthcare costs by promoting all natural food with a Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel. Details here, be sure to check it out.

Newt Gingrich got an opportunity to reexplain his position on illegal immigration, clearly stating that he is not for amnesty, but rather a realistic plan in which people who have been living in the country for years upon years can receive residency (not citizenship). Decisions would be made on a local level with his plan. He refuses to support a plan where families who have been living in America, paying taxes, have children and grandchildren who live here, and are part of communities, and churches will be hunted down and deported. Good for Newt for saying something that may not be politically savvy in terms of gaining numbers in the polls, but is honest. Of course, he’d  quickly admit that it’ll all moot until the border is secured.

The real high point of the debate came when Newt Gingrich stood by his past comments regarding the Palestinians. Previously he stated,

“We’ve had an invented Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs, and were historically part of the Arab community, and they had a chance to go many places. And for a variety of political reasons we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940s, and I think it’s tragic.”

He explained that the Palestinian argument for land is based on historical falsehood, and that the term “Palestinian” is a relatively new word that began being used after the creation of Israel. Romney argued that Gingrich should be more careful of what he says as his comments could cause “tumult,” and further claimed that he would exercise “sobriety” in his comments if he was to become President. Newt didn’t back off his comments, explaining that Palestinian textbooks teach hate towards the Jews. Michele Bachmann waffled on standing fully behind Gingrich, but did spend some time talking how her experience seeing the hatred written in their elementary school textbook, quoting one textbook that used murdering Jews as an example in a children’s arithmetic problem.

Did anything else really stand out to you? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

As always, please subscribe to this blog by clicking the “Follow” button at the top of the right sidebar. If you don’t have a WordPress account, you’ll have to enter your email address. Thanks for reading!

Why Does Obama Detest Israel?

Posted on by Ryan Kantor

I don’t think I’m pulling an Uncle Leo when I say Obama doesn’t support Israel at all! You’ve probably heard that President Obama has visions of a peaceful Middle East centered around Israel giving their Palestinian adversaries a significant chunk of land and moving back to their 1967 borders. Maybe concession and unrealistic optimism are cornerstones of his foreign policy.

It’s not as if things were peaceful with those borders in 1967 when PLO guerrilla activity (aka Terrorism), the closing of the Suez Canal, and the movement of Iraqi and Egyptian troops sparked the Six Day War. It was that war that led to Israel taking Palestinian land as a security buffer.

It wasn’t that long ago that terrorists in Lebanon were firing missiles into the northern Israeli city of Haifa. When Israel responded with military action many said they overreacted. Really? Terrorists attack and you want them to respond with restraint?

It boggles my mind that Obama views the Palestinians, a group highly (and accurately) associated with vicious terrorist groups, Hamas and the PLO, as a reasonable group that can be negotiated with in good faith. This goes back to the debate during the 2008 election when Obama said he was willing to negotiate with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu told Obama that “peace based on illusions” will fail quickly, and he couldn’t be more right. When powerful people in the Middle East like Ahmadinejad deny the holocaust and dedicate their country to destroying the “Great Satan” (USA) and the “Little Satan” (Israel), Israel can’t realistically expect peace, and they certainly can’t give away land for it. Let’s remember that fighting between Israel neighbors started way back in the times of the old testament and the diaspora, where the Jewish people were scattered, is chronicled in the book of Ezekiel of the Old Testament.

As long as the education system in the Arab world teaches intolerance to their children, as long as hatred triumphs love, as long as killing one’s self in order to harm others is glorified, as long as blame overshadows accountability (maybe the protests in the region are a sign that this pillar of evil is crumbling) there will never be lasting peace in the Middle East. Obama is extremely naive if he truly believes otherwise. GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney said it best when he said Obama “threw Israel under the bus.”

As always, please subscribe to this blog by clicking the “Follow” button at the top of the right sidebar. If you don’t have a WordPress account, you’ll have to enter your email address. You can share your opinions in the comment section below or by tweeting to @Ryan_Kantor. Thanks for reading!