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it is quite likely that you have not heard of the most important developments this week in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the West Bank, while it has been "occupation as normal", there have been some events that together should be overshadowing Gaza, Gilad Shalit and Avigdor Lieberman.
First, there have been a large number of Israeli raids on Palestinian villages, with dozens of Palestinians abducted. These kinds of raids are, of course, commonplace for the occupied West Bank, but in recent days it appears the Israeli military has targeted sites of particularly strong Palestinian civil resistance to the separation wall.
For three consecutive days this week, Israeli forces invaded Jayyous, a village battling for survival as their agricultural land is lost to the wall and neighbouring Jewish colony.
On Monday, February 16th about 50 activists decided to take a trip to the Franklin Mills Mall right outside Philadelphia, PA to get their look at a new "store". "The Army Experience" (AEC), as it is called, built by the taxpayers to the tune of $12 million, attracts local kids to play video games, most of which are high tech simulations of combat situations.
The group was made up of members from all over the area. World Can't Wait from New York City and Philadelphia; Delaware Valley Veterans of America; Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW); Veterans for Peace from the Philadelphia area; CodePink Women for Peace; Granny Peace Brigade; and, the Brandywine Peace Center converged on the mall at about 10:30 AM, greeted by a heavier than usual security force.Only one month into his presidency, Barack Obama is finding himself confronting not only George W. Bush's left-behind crises but an array of influential enemies in the military, financial circles, the political world and the media – determined to thwart Obama's agenda for "change."
Though Obama has maintained his trademark equanimity in the face of this resistance, he appears to be sensing the rising tide of dangers around him.Others in the top 10, in descending order, were Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln, John McCain, John F. Kennedy, Chesley Sullenberger and Mother Teresa.
A surge of new protesters pushed their way past security guards and into the cafeteria about 9 p.m., according to students who were contacted on their cellphones. VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8GSar-dFTY
Everyone should be paying attention to the political/fiscal catastrophe now unfolding in California. Years of neglect, followed by economic disaster — and with all reasonable responses blocked by a fanatical, irrational minority.
This could be America next.
Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Barack Obama pledged $275 billion to cut mortgage payments for as many as 9 million struggling homeowners and enable Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to keep loan rates down....
The Australian paediatrician was named by the Smithsonian Institute as one of the most influential women in the world. She is a fervent anti-nuclear campaigner
WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder described the United States Wednesday as a nation of cowards on matters of race, saying most Americans avoid discussing awkward racial issues. In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.
"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," said Holder, nation's first black attorney general.
Do you pray for local, national and world leaders?
Pray this way for kings and all others who are in authority, so that we can live in peace and quietness, in godliness and dignity.
Prayers for kings and authorities
There is a reason Paul commands us to consistently pray for all of these people. The decisions they make have a direct, sometimes lasting, impact on our life. When the leaders of my country make good decisions, my life goes better. When the laws they pass are sound and just, my family sleeps better at night. When my church leaders make godly, spirit-directed decisions, my soul is in better hands. When my boss makes wise choices, the company grows and my job is secure. When my parents handle their affairs well and stay in God's will, I can depend on the counsel they give to be solid and sound. The strength of their character will affect our family for generations to come, so I fervently pray that God will grant them wisdom and godliness in all they say and do.
We pray for those in authority over us because it helps us live in "peace and quietness." And because it develops within us the traits of "godliness and dignity." In many ways these simple qualities sum up the whole of our Christian witness on earth.
We are called to be peaceful people—to be at peace with God, with our salvation, with our situation on earth, and with those around us. And we are to live holy and dignified lives—to put "aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light" (Romans 13:12). It is through consistent and deliberate prayer—for others, as well as ourselves—that these qualities are obtained.
adapted from Embracing Eternity by Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins and Frank M. Martin,, Tyndale House Publishers (2004), p 37
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In his first few weeks in office, sometime between celebratory bill signings and phone calls from foreign leaders, President Obama sat in the Oval Office for the most somber task of his presidency - penning letters to families of troops killed in combat.
"This was real, it was personal, it was so important to us," said Thya Merz, whose son Marine Lance Cpl. Julian Brennan was killed Jan. 24 in Afghanistan.
The letter was signed "Barack," Ms. Merz told The Washington Times.
"Not 'president,' just his first name, and it just felt like, OK, my son has been acknowledged," she said.
Mr. Obama personalizes each letter, asking staffers to gather details about the service member, such as their hometown and where they were stationed, a White House aide said. The letters are sent to parents and spouses, and sometimes children of the fallen troops.
The president writes the notes by hand, then the letters are typed before he adds his signature.
Mr. Obama wrote the first few letters for troops who died in Iraq and Afghanistan while George W. Bush was president, and has written at least a dozen more since taking office.
The president told NBC News that the duty falls to him, though he did not initiate the wars and opposed the invasion of Iraq. In those moments of signing the letters, he said, "you realize every decision you make counts."
The White House declined to release any of the private letters or the names of families who received them, but The Times spoke with some who shared the contents of their letters.
Cpl. Brennan, 25, was supporting combat operations in Afghanistan's Farah province when he was killed last month.
Ms. Merz said the president's letter to her family in honor of her son was "lovely" and added, "It is meaningful to have Julian's death noted personally by him."
Six weeks before Cpl. Brennan was deployed, the Brooklyn resident married his fiancee to make sure she would have benefits if he was killed abroad.
Ms. Merz said she and her son often talked about national service. Like the president, she opposed the war in Iraq. As for Afghanistan, she described herself as ambivalent, but said that she and her son came to an agreement that "if our nation was going to engage in military action, everybody should serve."
As a parent of someone in combat, she realized, "I no longer have the privilege of saying I don't agree and not paying attention to what our nation was doing," she said.
Ms. Merz said she was struck by the personal tone of Mr. Obama's letter, which arrived before the official correspondence from Congress, and she wasn't sure whether they were his words or those of a staffer.
When told by The Times that Mr. Obama writes the letters himself, she said the words became more powerful.
"It says to me that he, too, will be paying attention to more than just the numbers, but the real stories," Ms. Merz said.
"One of the things I felt committed to even though I didn't agree with our military ventures was reading the names of the troops killed as they were listed," she said. "I just need to think about these people as individuals, and I hope that as a nation we are doing that and seeing them as real sons and daughters."
She added that Cpl. Brennan was "just beginning to grasp the real life of the Afghanis around him, feeling very committed to the human side of what was happening in Afghanistan and Iraq."
Their last conversation was on Inauguration Day, four days before Cpl. Brennan was killed by a roadside bomb. Both supported Mr. Obama's election, but they spoke that day about the Afghan people, she said.
Ms. Merz said she had been considering making the trip from New York to Washington for the inaugural festivities, but "I'm glad I didn't. I was home to get my son's call."
"I am so glad the president is trying to do the right thing personally in terms of families and the soldiers," she said. "He has a monumental task in front of him."
As Mr. Obama adjusts to the traditions bestowed upon the president as commander in chief, the duty is far different from saluting the Marine standing next to his Marine One helicopter or getting used to people standing when he walks into the room.
The president said on NBC News that the letters serve as a reminder - "that you've got hundreds of thousands of people - around the world who are putting themselves in harm's way and you are the commander in chief."
The White House said copies of the letters are preserved for historical archives.
The aide described the letters as "very gracious" but would not share the text because of the sensitive and personal nature of their content. The letters mention that the president appreciates the service member's sacrifice.
While serving as a U.S. senator, Mr. Obama would send families of Illinois service members condolence letters and an American flag that had flown over the Capitol.
Some he would call personally.
Mr. Bush also sent personal letters to the families of every one of the more than 4,000 troops who have died in the two wars, he told The Times in an interview last year. He said he leaned on his wife, Laura, for support in the gut-wrenching task.
Mr. Bush also met privately with more than 500 families of troops killed in action and with more than 950 wounded veterans, said Carlton Carroll, a White House spokesman during the Bush administration.
"Everything you do matters," Mr. Obama told Fox News a few days after the NBC interview. "I'm now signing letters to the families of troops who have fallen in Iraq or Afghanistan.
"Every time you sign that, you are reminded that you have enormous responsibilities and so, that's why all of these debates - when I'm talking to Democrats or Republicans, one of the things I try to remind them and something I remind myself every single day is the only criteria for what I do should be - is it working for the American people?
"Because this job is too big, too important, to just want to occupy space," he said. "And if I've spent the next four years, every day, making decisions based on that single criteria, is this going to help the American people achieve their dreams and keep them safe, then I'll be able to look at myself in the mirror and say, 'You know what, you did a good job.' "
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