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February 2013

MY SAY: EDWARD I. KOCH R.I.P.

He was not the Big Apple’s first Jewish mayor…..that was his predecessor Abraham Beame (1974-1977). Although he rescued the city financially,in my opinion he fell short of being the best mayor. That praise is shared by La Guardia and Rudi Giuliani. Koch was the most colorful, brash, gutsy, original and spunky mayor. He was the last of his kind….a diehard Democrat who was also conservative jousting like Don Quixote at political correctness. He was always feisty and combative, but my best memory of him actually comes from my son.

In 1990 Koch gave a speech at Harvard Law School (Incidentally…that was while President Obama was there…but I don’t know if he attended). After his talk he took questions from the audience. One young lady raised her hand and before she could ask her question….he blurted out (I paraphrase based on my son’s recollection) “Oh I remember you. You accosted me before in New York. Sit down!” Next he was asked about legalizing drugs and he evoked the “Singapore solution”….life in jail. Best was his answer to a question about terrorist suspects being held in a 60 square feet room. His answer: ” They should hold 60 suspects in one square foot. Next question!”

For almost twenty years I have had the privilege of being invited four times a year to a small and private breakfast which Ed Koch never missed. He was often crass, insulting and combative. At the last breakfast he showed me a children’s book he had just written. He had many better angels. May they guard his rest.

N.B. the best way to Queens is the bridge from Second Avenue and 59th St. in New York City. It is now the Edward I. Koch Bridge.

DANIEL GREENFIELD; ON THE DEATH OF EDWARD I. KOCH ****

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/on-the-death-of-ed-koch/print/ Six days ago, Ed Koch described the tombstone that he had arranged for himself. On my tombstone, which awaits me at the Trinity Church nondenominational cemetery at 155th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, I had inscribed the last words of Daniel Pearl — uttered at his publicly viewed murder — which were, “My father is […]

ANDREW McCARTHY: SENATE REPUBLICANS ARM MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/339590/senate-republicans-arm-brotherhood-andrew-c-mccarthy I’m done grumbling about how President Obama is empowering America’s enemies. After all, it is not just Obama. When it comes to abetting the Muslim Brotherhood, Republicans are right there with him. Not all of them, of course. This week, for example, Senator Rand Paul proposed an amendment that would have prohibited our government […]

CONTAINING HAGEL: MARK STEYN

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/339573/containing-hagel-mark-steyn You don’t have to be that good to fend off a committee of showboating senatorial blowhards. Hillary Clinton demonstrated that a week or so back when she unleashed what’s apparently the last word in withering putdowns: What difference does it make? Quite a bit of difference it seems. This week, an over-sedated Elmer Fudd […]

P. DAVID HORNIK: WHAT NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES TELL US ****

http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2013/01/27/what-near-death-experiences-tell-us/?print=1 There is an afterlife, and a benign deity. At least, that’s the testament of tens of thousands (some say it’s now millions) of people all over the world who have had near-death experiences (NDEs) (an online collection of these reports is here). Two books now at or near the top of the New York […]

French Journalism Drowns Trying to Save Charles Enderlin: Nidra Poller

http://dev.d-intl.com/en/articles/international/2013-01-31/french-journalism-drowns-trying-save-charles-enderlin PARIS. The honor of French journalism reached new depths on January 16 with one more absurd hearing in the lawsuit brought by France 2/Charles Enderlin against Philippe Karsenty, convicted of slander in 2006, acquitted in 2008, thrown back into Appellate Court after the highest court (Cour de Cassation) rejected the 2008 judgment on a […]

MARTIN SHERMAN ON ISRAEL’S ELECTIONS: CAVEAT EMPTOR

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=301727 Into they Fray: Time and time again the Israeli voter has been hoodwinked into voting for allegedly centrist parties only to have them evaporate later. This [remark by Yair Lapid] showed a kind of crude contempt, mixed with a whiff of racism, for those whom Lapid does not consider part of his political camp. […]

RUTHIE BLUM: DON’T CRY FOR ARGENTINA

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=3361 Reports of an alleged Israeli strike against a Syrian weapons’ convoy headed for Hezbollah in Lebanon — followed by threats of retaliation from Damascus and Tehran — have sent Israelis lining up at gas-mask distribution points across the country. The above example of Israel’s external problems, coupled with the current internal uncertainty as to […]

SENATE TABLES THE TRANSFER OF TANKS AND AIRCRAFT TO THE GOVERNMENT OF EGYPT….

THANKS DPS
Just to clarify, the vote was to ‘table’ the amendment which is why there are more YEAs than NAYs.

Rand Paul’s amendment “To prohibit the sale, lease, transfer, retransfer, or delivery of F-16 aircraft, M1 tanks, or certain other defense articles or services to the Government of Egypt” failed in the Senate today by a vote of 79-19.

The only 19 Senators who tried to block the transfer of weapon’s to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood were:

Boozman (R-AR)
Coats (R-IN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
Cruz (R-TX)
Fischer (R-NE)
Grassley (R-IA)
Heller (R-NV)
Lee (R-UT)
Moran (R-KS)
Paul (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)

Rubio (R-FL)

Scott (R-SC)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)