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October 2013

ELECTIONS ARE COMING: GOP STAR MAYOR MARK BOUGHTON OF DANBURY, CONNECTICUT

Danbury, Connecticut was settled by colonists in 1685. The original name was Pahquioque after the local Indian tribe, but in 1687 it was formally named Danbury.
I lived near Danbury for over forty years. I have watched the city rise and fall and rise and fall. Sometimes it was mismanagement and sometimes it was a consequence of tragedy. In the early 1980s Danbury welcomed residents from New York City and from the New York suburbs seeking lower taxes and bucolic settings. Union Carbide the huge international conglomerate, built headquarters on Old Ridgebury Road and 3.300 workers relocated- the largest corporate relocation of its time. Union Carbide helped its employees find homes in the area. It gave them housing subsidies to ease their move. Danbury was on a roll. It had restaurants, movies, shops, and a first class hospital.
In December 1984, a pesticide plant Union carbide owned and operated in Bhopal, India exploded and released posion gas that killed many thousands and left an equal number permanently ill. The company’s fortunes receded and gloom and doom settled over Danbury as its economy faded.
In 1986, the enclosed Danbury Mall, the second largest in the state opened, and renewed the economy and hopes of local residents. A Federal Prison. Danbury Correctional Institution is now an all women prison. There are two high schools one of which is an excellent vocational training school, many parochial and private schools, including the Maimonides Academy. Danbury is also home to the Army Reserves Special Operation Unit the 411th Civil Affairs battalion, and uniformed soldiers are often seen at the shops and restaurants. Western Connecticut State University and the world class Richter Park Golf Course are located in Danbury as well.
The former Congressman Chris Murphy a democrat is now (alas) a Senator.
The foregoing shows that Danbury is not a village but requires great management skills and vision from its Mayor.
Since 1685 there has never been a better mayor than Mark Boughton (R.) who is considering a run for Governor of the state. See his website and read about his accomplishments. They are not hype….they are real. I was in Danbury yesterday and the improvements are amazing : http://www.ci.danbury.ct.us/content/21015/22147/

ABBAS CONTRADICTS THE ARAB “REFUGEE” NARRATIVE: by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=9836 Abbas to UN: Arabs of Safed were “uprooted and thrown into exile” in 1948 Abbas on PA TV: Arabs of Safed “left” on their own, “overcome with fear” Abbas: “The [Arab] Liberation Army retreated from the city [Safed in 1948], causing the [Arab] people to begin emigrating. In Safed, just like Hebron, people were […]

Egypt to Renew Nuclear Program in Another Setback for the West

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/4258/egypt_to_renew_nuclear_program_in_another_setback_for_the_west US and European MidEast policy could be in tatters as Egypt aims to renew nuclear program In reports from the Egypt that have thus far eluded the Western media, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is reporting Friday that senior figures in the Egyptian government are now pledging to restart their once mothballed  […]

WES PRUDEN: OBAMA’S ABUSE AND INSULT AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE SHUTDOWN

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/10/pruden-banish-the-gobbledygook-pdq/

“The president is using the government to harass people, and it’s not just the National Park Service rangers who have been instructed to make life as miserable as they can for as many people as they can. As though to rub salt in the wounds of the veterans who were evicted from the World War II Memorial on the Mall, the White House approved an invitation to immigration amnesty groups to hold an amnesty rally near the very place the Park Service blocked the veterans, many in their 90s, who had come from thousands of miles away. The government’s message was plain and clear: thousands of illegal aliens are welcome, but the veterans, all of them American citizens, are not. Imaginative abuse is what the Republicans should be talking about, abuse and insult as a consequence of Mr. Obama’s shutdown — only somewhat of a shutdown, actually — and they should be talking about it in plain, blunt terms. No more talk of CRs, of OMB projections and the statistics beloved by the wonks and geeks.”

Politics occasionally drive John Boehner to tears, but rarely to plain English. Gobbledygook is the Washington disease, and the Republicans have a bad case of it. Wonkery was not invented in Washington, but Washington is where it thrives.

Corporate-speak is closely related to government gobbledygook, and those most fluent in the tongue have been carefully trained and tutored in using words not to amplify meanings, but to hide them. One way to do this is to use five words when one or two will do. Perfumed words are preferred. Initials and acronyms are best of all.

The Democrats are rarely wordsmiths, but they understand that plain people — i.e., most of us — understand plain words. Short words are good, Winston Churchill observed, and familiar words are better. Short, familiar words are best of all. Ronald Reagan knew this, which is why he was called the great communicator. Many Republicans, having inherited corporate genes, have never learned it.

Decision-Based Evidence-Making: More Disgrace From UN Panel on Climate Change-Tom Harris and Dr. Jay Lehr

http://pjmedia.com/blog/decision-based-evidence-making-more-disgrace-from-un-panel-on-climate-change/?print=1

They claim more certainty than ever in dangerous warming, while their own report’s data contradict the statement.

Most science teachers undergo the unpleasant experience of catching students fudging experimental data so as to yield desired results. If the data is not easily faked, students may simply run the experiment repeatedly until the “right” data are collected. They then discard the contradictory data.

Some such cheaters make it right through the education system; perhaps some become politicians, willing to direct staff to find evidence supporting decisions they have already made for political reasons. So it goes with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which deserves to be disbanded following the release of their latest report.

With the Summary for Policymakers of the Working Group I part of the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) along with the draft full report now released, we have an extreme example of such “decision-based evidence-making.” Since its last Assessment Reports in 2007, the IPCC has been revealed as committing most, if not all, of the below evidence-making ploys to prop up the global warming scare:

Ignoring contradictory data, and acting as it does not exist.
Releasing preliminary results before they are confirmed when those results support already decided-upon conclusions. Corrections made later rarely get as much attention as the initial announcement and so politicians ignore them.
Highlighting apparently supportive information that is true, but irrelevant. In the hands of a skilled communicator, such information can be made to sound significant to the uninformed.
Choosing supportive information from biased and/or unqualified sources.
Making the underlying foundational science so complex that even qualified experts need weeks to assess it. This gives politically motivated bureaucrats a window of opportunity to make grandiose announcements that almost no one recognizes are inconsistent with the underlying data.
Without consulting the experts who assembled a report, strategically editing the document just before release to the public so as to support political objectives while asserting that the report is supported by experts.
Outright fabrication of data to support expedient conclusions.

ROGER KIMBALL: IT’S ALWAYS WORSE THAN YOU THINK

http://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/2013/10/12/its-always-worse-than-you-think-washington-d-c-edition/?print=1

You’re busy, right? You have a lot on your plate. I know that, and I am going to help you out. Forget about the pseudo-shutdown and the posturing by Reid and Obama on one side and Boehner on the other. The only thing you really need to read this weekend is Andy McCarthy’s piece at NRO, “Funding Jihadists while Denying Military Benefits. [1]” It’s only about 1200 words. You can read it in a few minutes. But you’ll remember it for a very long time. Think you’re disgusted with business-as-usual in Washington? Just wait till you get your mind around what Andy has to say about how these clowns are actually conducting, or failing to conduct, the people’s business. And by “clowns” I very much include the Republican as well as the Democratic establishment. Listen:

The Republican establishment — the guys who told us that for a trillion dollars and several thousand American casualties, we could build “Islamic democracies” that would be reliable U.S. allies in the War on Terror — say it is Ted Cruz who is “delusional” and the effort to stave off Obamacare that is “unattainable.”

These self-appointed sages are, of course, the same guys who told us the way to “stabilize” and “democratize” Libya was to help jihadists topple and kill the resident dictator — who, at the time, was a U.S. ally, providing intelligence about the jihadists using his eastern badlands as a springboard for the anti-American terror insurgency in Iraq. That’s probably worth remembering this week, during which some of our new “allies” abducted Libya’s president while others car-bombed Sweden’s consulate in Benghazi — site of the still unavenged terrorist massacre of American ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other U.S. officials 13 months ago.

Feeling bad yet?

JONAH GOLDBERG: OBAMA’S CONFESSION OF INDIFFERENCE

http://www.nationalreview.com/node/360936/print The president has admitted that his strategy is to punish the innocent to score partisan points. Last week I wrote a column accusing the president of having a vindictive streak — of deliberately trying to make the lives of average Americans worse just so he could score ideological and political points. We already knew […]

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL: MICHAEL ORDMAN

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
http://blogs.jpost.com/users/just-look-us-now
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Israeli hospital saves electrocuted student. Romanian Jewish student David Fintzi struck an electric cable as he leaned out of a train window. 27,000-volts set him on fire and he was close to death in a Bucharest hospital. The Jewish Agency flew him to Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital where a medical miracle has taken place.
http://www.hadassah.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=keJNIWOvElH&b=7657019&ct=13267495

Teva launches generic treatment for kidney disease. Teva is the first company to produce generic Zemplar (paricalcitol) tablets in the US. The treatment is for patients with Stage 3 or Stage 4 chronic kidney disease and in Stage 5 patients on dialysis.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000882384&fid=1725

Keep taking the tablets. Israel’s MediSafe has just raised $1million to expand its medication management solutions. MediSafe’s smartphone app keeps track of medication taken and sends alerts to relatives or monitoring organizations if any treatment is missed.
http://www.geektime.com/2013/09/23/medisafe-raises-1m-for-medication-management-app/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmJ7JJmr03k

One year at Hadassah hospital. In the last 12 months, Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital treated nearly a million patients including 137,142 emergency cases. It performed 4,318,652 lab tests and delivered 10,971 babies.
http://www.hadassah.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=keJNIWOvElH&b=7730783&ct=13262873&notoc=1

Israel’s contribution to World Vision (Thanks to Israel21c) October 10th was “World Sight Day”. Here are 10 products from the “Light to the Nations” that will transform the field of vision. They include implants, keyboards, a smartphone for the blind, electronic spectacles and cameras.
http://israel21c.org/health/top-10-incredible-israeli-advances-in-vision/

Funding Jihadists while Denying Military Benefits: Andrew C. McCarthy

http://www.nationalreview.com/node/361051/print We can fund al-Qaeda but we can’t fund the families of our war dead? Here is where we’re at: The Republican establishment — the guys who told us that for a trillion dollars and several thousand American casualties, we could build “Islamic democracies” that would be reliable U.S. allies in the War on Terror […]

YORAM ETTINGER:The Two-Way US-Israel Street

http://bit.ly/166LQOu In 1948, US-Israel relations were a classic case of a one-way-street: the US gave and Israel received, economically and militarily. In 1952, the US Administration rejected a proposal by General Omar Bradley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff, to elevate Israel to a role of a major ally, just like Iran and Turkey.  In […]