Only connect...

MIK

This revelation helps explain why NGOs operating in Israel are so terrified of a bill proposed that would require, as I understand it, that they reveal the sources of their funding. It leads one to believe that their fear is that the funding source leads back to one man, the execrable Mr. Soros.

By the way, Melanie, I have heard nothing further about that bill which is pending in the Knesset. Do you know anything about it.

EDDIE

what happens if someone immensely rich develops some form of cognitive dysfunction?

Oflife

That bullet list above sounds lik the UK, in particular 5 onwards! (With a little help from the EU...)

Gilbert Belwether

"one subversive, anti-western, anti-Israel movement after another: drug legalisation, Moveon.org, Human Rights Watch"

This just made my day. Keep it up, Melanie - you're priceless. Stephen Colbert couldn't have done it better.

Seriously, though, someone must stop this sinister tycoon and shadowy international puppeteer who uses his billions to undermine Western civilization by legalizing pot and promoting socialized medicine.

No, sorry, still can't keep a straight face.

John Holland

Yes, the agendas listed are more or less left-wing. Soros uses his money to promote them.

Many wealthy Americans use their money to promote a right-wing agenda.

Can someone explain to me why the former is sinister subversion and the latter is democracy in action?

I mean, "promoting socialised medicine"? Has your definition of US democracy reached the stage where that is an undemocratic, semi-terrorist activity?

Mark

"George Soros, who funds a slew of organisations which are in the business of undermining western civilisation."

"opposing the death penalty in all circumstances"

"promoting socialized medicine in the United States"

"promoting the election of leftist political candidates throughout the United States"

I live in the UK support the continued abolition of the Death penalty, support the National health Service and vote labour which is some way to the left of any Leftist mainstream US politician I know of.
Therefore I am partially "in the business of undermining western civilisation."

Thanks for clearing things up for me

just Louise

Unfortunately, a J-Street type organisation is being set up in the UK by Jewish lefties.
This expose has come in timely fashion!

Jerry

"Too fat? The cash-starved NHS might not treat you
Peter Pallot asks whether the Government should take a tougher line on those who do not look after their health."

"NHS bosses’ plans to slash thousands of jobs"

"GPs could hand care pathways to charities"

"CANCER patients in Wales are being denied access to a potentially life-changing drug which has been approved for use on the NHS, a charity has claimed.

Myeloma UK has said fewer patients are being prescribed the drug Mozobil since it was approved for use in Wales than before the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group (AWMSG) said yes in March."

These are outtakes from today's news headlines about the National Health Service. People seem satisfied with NHS service until they are not satisfied. Then how do they survive? Your socialized system is benevolent in intent but not in execution. Punishment by government should be reserved for criminals, not sick people.

Dai of Edinburgh

No wonder this kind of disfigured and dangerous leftist mindset can be defined in terms of a pathological illness rather than a rational ideology. The dispicable likes of Soros should be put in a straitjacket and isolated.

My name is Harry Palmer 1965

I was just thinking about the Blues brothers and john belushi who was albanian, "I'll sell you my Mother I'll sell you my sister" or the albanian in the ipcress file "wellcome to the land of my forefathers - you are in albania"
George was very keen on serbian guilt as was Ms Kandic with their fake film of serbs shooting innocent civilians

Jez

I saw this on Glenn Beck about 4 months ago.

The Leftist agenda;

Always undermines, damages- then it leaves.

Adam B.

Gilbert, maybe you'll laugh on the other side of your face when you discover that Human Rights Watch had a Nazi fetishist in charge of examining Israel. Even the founder of the group, Robert Bernstein, quit, saying that it had become an obsessive anti-Israel mouthpiece.

But no doubt you agree with its endless Israel bashing, and Soros' promotion of such sentiments, so keep laughing.

Laugh real hard.

Adam B.

J street has been utterly discredited. It has several high profile Arab backers from not so peaceful or democratic states. Wonder why.

mark

" I saw this on Glenn Beck about 4 months ago"

Thislink
http://mediamatters.org/research/200910130061. Gives an interesting set of Beckisms. Please read.

He is Gallowayesque figure on the American right and as such should be taken no more seriously than our George.

Perhaps he also believes that opposition to death penalty is part of the plot to destroy western civilisation as well.

Derek BLADES

On its official website, J Street describes itself in these words: "The organization gives political voice to mainstream American Jews and other supporters of Israel who, informed by their progressive and Jewish values, believe that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is essential to Israel’s survival as the national home of the Jewish people and as a vibrant democracy."

I don't know why people always feel obliged to describe Israel's democracy as vibrant but that is a minor squabble. J Street’s aims are thoroughly laudable and there is no reason for shock/horror that George Soros, Jewish himself and a person of much worldly wisdom, turns about to be a supporter.

The "great Eli Lake's" feat of investigative journalism hardly deserves a mention. As a scoop it falls into the dog-bites-man category. It would have been more surprising if it had turned out that Mr Soros was not supporting groups like J Street which work for genuine peace and prosperity for the Israel Palestine area, based not on the forced of arms but on respect for the rights of both Arabs and Jews.

Derek BLADES

The answer to MIK's enquiry is that Zeev Elkin's Knesset bill to require NGO's to publish details of foreign funding has been quietly shelved by wiser heads in the Coalition. They realised that digging too deeply into sources of funds for settler programs would have been embarrassing. There is some pretty nasty stuff lurking beneath those particular stones.

Roy

Things are starting to add up!!

Steve Bronfman

The chief rabbis' really need to start excommunicating Soros, Goldstone, Finklestein etc

elixelx

Derek, J-Street categorically DENIED having received any funds from Soros until Lake found the smoking cheques? can you explain WHY any organisation would DENY the participation of their biggest donor....?
Oh! Wait! That donor wants to remain anonymous because he is Jewish, and that would taint the organisation denying him!
What a credulous nincompoop you are to believe that Soros or Ben-Ami are altruistic do-gooders rather than shameless anti-Jews!
These guys meet you, shake your hand, crush your bones and then fall to their knees screaming that you are hurting them!
Oh! Yes! Soros and Ben-Ami, brothers in victimhood!

Mr Melrose

Steve Bronfman said:

'The chief rabbis' really need to start excommunicating Soros, Goldstone, Finklestein etc'

Dead right Steve . God forbid that anyone would have slightly different views to an entrenched right wing establishment on any given subject.

PS As a general point, can anyone explain why the free-thinking, rationalist right-wing libertarians (of which there are more than a few contributors to this blog, I would have thought)have such narrow parameters when it comes to towing the party line?

PPS Moderator I was having a go (mainly)at the attached ramblings of Mr Berliner (just read it) rather than our esteemed leader, so I'm surprised it got cut.

Harold

Why devote time to this trivia? There are lobby groups that disagree with your favourite lobby groups. Would it not be better to devote some time and reflection to the UN (boo, hiss) report on extra-judicial killing by the IDF on the Mavi Marmora - evidence for which is forensic not merely eye-witness accounts by the biased or confused. And to the alleged IDF victim of butchery whose entrails were spilled, but who appears to have disappeared, if he existed.

Grumpy the Zionist

Ever wonder why the 'useful idiots' of this world - some Jewish, some rich - sometimes both,find it absolutely neccessary to do what hamas/hizbolah/islamic jihad/muslim brotherhood and their big daddy iran are intent on viz the destruction of the State of Israel
These individuals (soros,goldstone,finkelstein to name a few), would find it very difficult to trot out an anti Saudi/Iranian/Syrian/UAE etc (again to name a few)line, from the wellcoming enviorens of Riyad/Tehran/Damascus/etc
Short shrift or a bullet behind the ear would be their payment for a job well done
Also got to wonder why we very rarely hear any anti islamist rhetoric from any of the brothers (muslim) in the west - talking down these groups/sponsors of terrorism.
Very few - and largely not believable when it happens.
The barbarians are at the gates of Vienna and the appeasers and their willing cohorts are aiding and abetting their cause,all in the name of politically correct/left leaning/marxist idiologies

gotta wonder at the sourcing/financing of many of these individuals/groups
Smart man once said - just follow the money

Dixon

"Derek BLADES
September 29th, 2010 4:00am
The answer to MIK's enquiry is that Zeev Elkin's Knesset bill to require NGO's to publish details of foreign funding has been quietly shelved by wiser heads in the Coalition. They realised that digging too deeply into sources of funds for settler programs would have been embarrassing. There is some pretty nasty stuff lurking beneath those particular stones."

Our turn to laugh: Dont say, the settlers are secretly funded by...er, Jews, I mean "Zionists"...or
are they secretly funded by, uh, lets guess "Stormfront" or some other anti-Semitic group.WOW! They could even be secretly funded by Saudi Arabia to create a cassus bellus. Got to be something there they want to keep secret...Protocols of The Elders of Zion and all that!

Just hard to imagine sensibly what?

Mr Melrose

Moderator - The wonderful Michael Berliner needs some more air time. Mel highlighted the following for comment:

Mr Berliner, according to Mel,'explained' some quotes of David M Graber:

'"Human happiness (is) not as important as a wild and healthy planet...Until such time as Homo sapiens should decide to rejoin nature, some of us can only hope for the right virus to come along."(David M Graber) ..Such is the naked essence of environmentalism: it mourns the death of one whale or tree but actually welcomes the death of billions of people. A more malevolent, man-hating philosophy is unimaginable.'

So then, seriously. David M Graber. Worse than Pol Pot? worse than Hitler? Does Mel seriously think a National Park Ranger (as DMG was/is)is part of a force for unprecedented global genocide?

Obviously not, so why lend any backing at all to that loopy view?

And, obviously, having to state the bleeding obvious, people need a healthy planet and 'environment' survive.

It is where we all live,and why would anyone want to live in an unhealthy environment?

(NB I think that Mr Berliner assumes that total freedom for the modern industrial process will allow himself and his useful associates (and/or family) to live in a jolly nice 'environment', while out of sight any unpleasantness will simply take care of itself)

It is also true that people need a wild planet.

I realise I'm probably asking the wrong group here, but hands up who have been on holiday to somewhere 'wild'?

Well, a lot of hands there. So why spend your limited holidays in 'the wild' at a cost of $1000's?

And...

Anyone like going to the park at weekends? Or the mountains?

Any plants in the office? Why?

Keen on gardening? Like to eat outside in the summer?

People like wild places, or try to create them in their neighbourhood/gardens etc.

Also

Ask your kids if they think coral reefs or forests or swamps and their attendant wildlife have any 'value' or not(hang on, forget that! 99% of teachers are eco-commies and will have indoctrinated our offspring in their evil ways. Ignore your kids!)

Finally

A similar question to the last post(if it got through).

Why do (once they can afford it) the free thinking, liberty loving anti-environmentalists buy a place in the country, fishing rights on a good River or a cabin in the woods?

Perhaps we should ask Mr Berliner.

Jez

Hi mark.

As an opinion, a very weak- yet exceptionally provocative and unpleasant statement from you there.

He supports Israel and is a Neo-Con.

Tell me please; How out of touch, mark?

Mr Melrose

Harrold

I wouldn't call it trivia... The Discover the Networks 'List of Shame' seems to demonise just about everything remotely to the left of Christine O'Donnell.

PS The IDF 'entrails' victim story has gone cold. It certainly caused a stir at the time - There even a suggestion of cannibalism from one poster on here, I seem to remember! (That's by the communist army of the undead aboard the terrorist flotilla BTW, not the IDF!!)

Perhaps Dixon can help_ He's up on his military stuff.

Harold

Mr Melrose
September 29th, 2010 3:33pm

You are quite right. It was wrong of me to say this is trivial. Bullying dissenters into silence is a serious thing. In the past it has had serious consequences. It is curious for a self-proclaimed liberal to join in such baying, bullying and baiting.

On the IDF wounded: I know there are journalists who work on the assumption that a smear works: the dirt sticks, the rebuttal goes unnoticed, journalistic ethics (not necessarily an oxymoron) be damned. I do not think Melanie Phillips such a muckraker. When she takes the time to press her source for evidence, she will print a correction.

mark

Hi Jez.

I'm sorry you found my comments nasty.

In answer to your question "How out of touch Mark?"

I did not say and do not believe that Beck is out of touch. On the contrary he is very much in touch with current events and is a highly skilled journalist who gets his message across to a very particular audience.

Neither did the link I posted highlight his neo conservatism or support for Israel. Instead it highlighted his continuing campaign of slurring the Democrats and Obama in particular by linking them to the Nazis and the holocaust.

There are neo cons who manage to express their views without such diatribes. I can assure you that it is equally possible to support Israel without resorting to Beck's extreme and divisive rhetoric.

You may of course agree with the statements made by Beck highlighted in the link. In which case I fully understand why you may have seen my posting as provocative and nasty.

MC

Subversive? Human Rights Watch? really?!

The man funds Human Rights and Democratic campaigns and that makes him anti-Western.

I've joined the dots. It says you're a nutter.

Harold

There is something slightly comic a bit the list of shock horror items in the leftist agenda - socialised medicine! Presumably, private medicine is the only ideologically acceptable. Who benefits? For those with money, it is hellishly expensive. For those without, it is deadly. But the health care companies and insurance industry make billions. What joy that there is consensus in British politics to eliminate socialised medicine and introduce the private sector, idealogically pure and inefficient. At least it addresses the problem of the surplus population.

mark

MC and Harold

Whilst I agree that the "list of shock horror items on the leftist agenda"is laughable I'm not sure that MP is "a nutter". The list she has given is a simple cut and paste job from the "Discover the Networks" site. I doubt she regards the NHS or the continued abolition of the Death Penalty in Europe as endangering the west. I think she did not check what she was pasting over to her blog.
I might be wrong of course and I'm sure we could have a civilised disagreement over this.

Mel any chance of getting back to us on that one?

Harold

mark
September 30th, 2010 1:39pm

Could I just make clear that, although righteous indignation at the list of causes cited is ridiculous, I did not call Melanie Phillips a nutter.

Mark

Harold

No but MC did. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression by lumping you together

Jez

Oh mark,

flying on, not a counter comment to touch you.

x

John Holland

Jez- I do enjoy the way supporters of vitriolic cheerleaders of the American right, such as Glen "Is Obama A Muslim/Nazi?" Beck get so terribly hurt by even the slightest criticism of their heroes.

What EXACTLY was it about Mark's pretty mild comments did you find so "nasty"? Beck, that poor, delicate flower, must even now be sobbing quietly into his lace hanky. Either that, or bellowing his relentless tirade of misinformation as usual.

Grumpy- "Follow the money"- yes, very true. You might find, though (shock horror) that it might lead either way. Or are you one of those who believe the neocons are a little poor band of folks fighting a world ruled by the stratospherically wealthy (not to mention evil) forces of The Left.

Harold

Mark,

Other bloggers engage in debate. Not this one. There will be no "getting back to us".

Jez

*YAWN*

x

mark

Harold, sadly I'm inclined to agree. But I'd love us to be proved wrong.

That having been said MP is bang on the money on her next thread and I was happy to say so.

John Holland

Jez- I think I might be in love with you. Any chance of a picture?
PS; Next time you hear of something Glen Beck says, please let us know.

Jez

Sorry John, i'm married.

But yes, yes i certainly will....

well i'll try anyway.

What'y say Mel... Can i?

mark

John Holland

"PS; Next time you hear of something Glen Beck says, please let us know."

I watched Beck last night, 10.00pm on SKY. He has now decided that Obama is not a racist, neither is he a traditional marxist leninist. Obama it seems was brought up by anti-colonialists and liberation theologians. His Mother shared these views and therefore sent him to live in Hawaii to remove him from his step father who was a capitalist.

Because of this and the fact that his Grandfather was imprisoned by the British during the Mau-Mau rsings he has a deep seated hatred of the colonialist powers including his own country.

This, according to Mr. Beck, accounts for why he returned a statue of Winston Churchill to the British government, agreed the release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber on humaitarian grounds and wishes to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
I have to confess I only watched the first 30 minutes, hope this helps.

John Holland

Jez; you've broken my heart.
Mark; thankyou. It's always good to hear serious, intellegent political analysis, it's the bedrock of a functioning democracy. Without Fox, where would we go for this sort of sophisticated debate?
Though to be fair, by the standards of some of the tea-party faithful, that's pretty reasonable stuff. Half of them seem to think he manages to be simultaneously a Marxist and neo-Nazi.

Jez

Please don't fret John, there's plenty more fish in the sea.

mark, many thanks.... you've answered John's question for me.

I like Glen Beck.