This morning Ilene Cohen passed along an insight that John Roberts, the Supreme Court Chief Justice, has entered a political no-man’s-land since he sided with the Obama administration on health care, to the rage of conservatives. In an interview with Nina Totenberg on NPR, Judge Richard Posner (no liberal) suggested that the fallout could have longer-term effects on Roberts:
I wrote to Cohen:
Isn’t the Totenberg quote exactly applicable to Peter Beinart? He is being spat out by even liberal Zionists now for a centrist position. I believe religious adhesion is deeper than liberal/conservative adhesion, but really — who are Beinart’s friends? the pack of lunatics?
Cohen wrote back:
Absolutely. I think that Brad Burston, in Israel, is close to falling, whereas Carlo Strenger is moving deeper into the apologetics. Did you see the latest, amazing and very weird piece by Eric Yoffie–that had the Presbyterians been voting a week later (after release of the Edmond Levy report), they’d have voted to divest. Yoffie:
“after about 3 years [of dialogue with Presbyterians five years ago] , our conversations petered out, in some measure because statements on matters of theology and politics being prepared elsewhere in the Church were far less reasonable and measured than what we were hearing; we had a sense that one-sided, pro-Palestinian voices were setting the tone in other forums and that our conversations were carrying little weight. As a result, I thought it likely that in the long term, prospects for avoiding a Presbyterian divestment resolution were bleak.”
Of course, Yoffie cares only about how Israel looks, but it’s interesting to see how aware he is that the landscape is shifting big time. Even Jeffrey Goldberg has a problem (not so much that he’s troubled, but he knows that trouble lies ahead). Only the very right wing Shmuel Rosner thinks that (or at least argues that) the latest Jewish polls are all good news, that kids are with Israel like never before.
With everything going on with little Israel these days–very negative PR overseas, social protest heating up, coalition woes, haredi draft problems, BDS, the Levy committee concluding that there is no occupation, the reports criticizing the 2006 Lebanon War and the attack on the Mavi Marmara (have I left anything out?)–I’m sure that Netanyahu is shvitzing.
“I think that Brad Burston, in Israel, is close to falling”
It does look it. Goldberg would be an amazing convert. Damascene. Maybe it happened on the same road….
Goldberg isn’t a convert and never will be. Goldberg just knows PR much better than the Dersh. Goldberg understands that you need to throw these bones to the left from time to time to mainstain a standing in the crowd, in order to keep being able to restrain them and protect Israel.
But whenever there is actually something concrete, Goldberg always takes the side of the defender of Apartheid and defends Israel to the bitter end, whatever it has done.
As for Yoffie: he isn’t turning. He is merely complaining about the deterioration of the conversation against Likud’s favour. But all of us already knew that.
Why do we not hear about proven conservatives who have become radical Leftists?
Don’t you have a book burning to go to?
Gosh, wouldn’t the ‘conservative’ Israeli position be the ’67 borders, instead of this radical expansion into the occupied territories.
RE: “I’m sure that Netanyahu is shvitzing.” ~ Ilene Cohen
MY COMMENT: I have my doubts. Kings pride themselves on not breaking a sweat.
• SEE: “Netanyahu’s ‘King David’ Complex”, By Paul R. Pillar, Consortium News, 4/02/12
ENTIRE COMMENTARY – link to consortiumnews.com
• ALSO SEE – “Bibi: Israel Will Raise ‘David’s Sword’ Against Iran”, by Richard Silverstein, Tikun Olam, 9/28/11
LINK – link to richardsilverstein.com
• AND NOTE: Apparently Perle, Feith, the Wurmsers, etc. were aware of Netanyahu’s ‘King David’ Complex because they referred to “Securing the Realm” in the title of the 1996 manifesto (“A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm!”) that they prepared for Netanyahu!
• AND FROM WIKIPEDIA [Delusion]:
SOURCE – link to en.wikipedia.org
P.S. FOR THE YIDDISH IMPAIRED (like myself)!
URBAN DICTIONARY: shvitzing
Yiddish?, When an older Jewish person is involved in anything that would cause slight or heavy perspiration/ sweating.
1. “Open a window, I’m shvitzing”
2. “oy, with all this shlepping, shvitzing is inevitable”
3.”I don’t work out. Who wants with all the shvitzing”
WIKTIONARY: shvitz
Etymology
From Yiddish שוויצן (shvitsn).
• Noun
shvitz (countable and uncountable; plural shvitzes)
1. Sweat.
2. A traditional Jewish steambath of Eastern European origin.
• Verb
1. shvitz (third-person singular simple present shvitzes, present participle shvitzing, simple past and past participle shvitzed)
(intransitive) To sweat.
The Yiddish impaired, like myself, will also find succor (which is the singular of sukkoth) at The Gantseh Megillah
Thanks. That is indeed considerable succor. I added The Gantseh Megillah to my “references” bookmarks.
“shvitzing” is derived from the German verb “schwitzen”
The neocons are our misfortune.
Securing the realm… didn’t Bibi reject this neocon opus? Was curious W a neocon? or just Paul Wolfowitz? Now there is a really died-in-the-wool zionist, neocon, Israeli firster if there every was one! Didn’t Wolfie marry a Muslim? Doesn’t manner, with a Jewish name, he’ll be on the David Duke hit parade of Yiddish names till kingdom come…. Rummie and W… not so much. What is that Phil?
RE: “Even Rabbi Yoffie sees the ground is shifting rapidly” ~ Weiss
King James Bible (Cambridge Edition)
Matthew, Chapter 7:
P.S. Lookout y’all, I’m “a quotin’ scripture”! But for the life of me I just couldn’t resist.
HONK, HONK: Move the hell over John Hagee, and git yo’ dadgum double-wide derrière outta my way! ‘Cause I’m a comin’ through, dagnabbit!!!
• The Wallflowers: For the life of me (unplugged studio) [VIDEO, 04:08] – link to youtube.com
• Kylie Minogue: Get Outta My Way [VIDEO, 03:54] – link to youtube.com
P.S. This very nice film is a bit like those of Pedro Almodóvar (but without the “gender bending”).
Caramel, 2007, PG, 1hr 35m
A Lebanese beauty salon is the setting for this romantic comedy about five women and the various troubles they face, with director Nadine Labaki leading the cast as the shop’s owner, Layale, who’s heartbroken from a foundering affair.
Language: Lebanese (with English subtitles)
Netflix Listing – link to movies.netflix.com
Netflix Streaming Details: (Available until 7/17/12)
Internet Movie Database – link to imdb.com
Caramel Trailer [VIDEO, 01:46] – link to youtube.com
“This very nice film is a bit like those of Pedro Almodóvar (but without the “gender bending”).
Caramel, 2007, PG, 1hr 35m
A Lebanese beauty salon is the setting for this romantic comedy about five women and the various troubles they face…”
Definitely. I tend to be skeptical about Levantine movies — they often get praised when they are just not that good. But I thought I’d give this a go.
But this one is good — and the girls will watch it. My wife liked it, and immediately recommended it to my daughter.
It has an ideological value, of course. We’ve reached the point where anything that represents Arabs as people has an ideological value.
A bit OT, but an interesting article in the Grauniad.
link to guardian.co.uk
Caramel was on TV the other night.
“Language: Lebanese (with English subtitles”
Actually, it sounded a bit like Arabic to me. Not much, but a bit.
That’s not too surprising. Wikipedia refers to ‘Lebanese’ as ‘Lebanese Arabic.’
It could have sounded a lot different. I was once listening to a pair of parents conversing in some foreign language at my daughter’s school. What is that? Hungarian? What?
It turned out to be Spanish — only as spoken by actual Spaniards (of whatever region). Apparently, I’m just used to American Hispanic inflexions, accents, etc.
Shmuel Rosner…
I remember him. Yes, he is a Zionist. He stands out though: as I recall, he wasn’t an idiot or compulsively dishonest. You could actually get through some of his prose without gagging.
“He is being spat out by even liberal Zionists now for a centrist position.” Demonstrates that “liberal” and “zionist” are in direct oppostion at the roots
Dickerson, King Bibi certainly seems like he has delusions of grandeur like Adolf. What’s next an Enabling Act? Be worried. Be very worried.
“Dickerson, King Bibi certainly seems like he has delusions of grandeur like Adolf. What’s next an Enabling Act? Be worried. Be very worried.”
I don’t think so. Bibi strikes me as just your basic political climber.
That doesn’t mean that he couldn’t get us all killed, of course. But he’s not a megalomaniac. He’s just a completely amoral opportunist, telling the folks back home what they want to hear. If he thought agreeing to withdraw to the 1947 Partition Line would win him votes, he’d withdraw to the1947 Partition Line.
The problem, of course, is that withdrawing to the 1947 Partition Line wouldn’t win him votes. On the other hand, bombing Iran — or getting us to bomb Iran — would. What’s wrong isn’t Bibi — it’s his constituency.