[W]hat has been placed in front of them [the CBO] is a bill that is full of gimmicks and smoke-and-mirrors.

They've stuffed the legislation with gimmicks and dodges designed to get a good score from the Congressional Budget Office but don't genuinely control runaway spending.

[The Senate bill] does [a] couple of other things. It takes $52 billion in higher Social Security tax revenues and counts them as offsets. But that's really reserved for Social Security. So either we're double-counting them or we don't intend on paying those Social Security benefits.

There is the Social Security dodge. The bill uses $52 billion in higher Social Security taxes to pay for health care expansion. But if Social Security taxes pay for health care, what pays for Social Security?

It takes $72 billion and claims money from the CLASS Act. That's the long-term care insurance program. It takes the money from premiums that are designed for that benefit and instead counts them as offsets.

The Senate Budget Committee chairman [Kent Conrad] said that this is a Ponzi scheme that would make Bernie Madoff proud.

Brooks:

There is the long-term care dodge. The bill creates a $72 billion trust fund to pay for a new long-term care program. The sponsors count that money as cost-saving, even though it will eventually be paid back out when the program comes on line.

The second reason to oppose this bill is that, according to the chief actuary for Medicare, it will cause national health care spending to increase faster.

Well, if you look at your own chief actuary at Medicare, we're bending it [the cost curve] up.

Scientists acknowledged they overstated the threat, but defended their actions, saying they took the proper steps and learned the lessons of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami that killed thousands of people who didn't get enough warning.

"It's a key point to remember that we cannot end the warnings. Failure to warn is not an option for us," said Dai Lin Wang, an oceanographer at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. "We cannot have a situation that we thought was no problem and then it's devastating. That just cannot happen."

Caution is always good, but there's that crying wolf thing.  Alarms become counter-productive when they turn out to be false.  Counter-productive and expensive.

Hundreds of thousands of people fled shorelines for higher ground Saturday in a panic that circled the Pacific Rim after scientists warned 53 nations and territories that a tsunami had been generated by the massive Chilean quake.

It was the largest-scale evacuation in Hawaii in years, if not decades. Emergency sirens blared throughout the day, the Navy moved ships out of Pearl Harbor, and residents hoarded gasoline, food and water in anticipation of a major disaster. Some supermarkets even placed limits on items like Spam because of the panic buying.

You'd think the experts could predict a catastrophic event that was supposedly just a few hours away with more accuracy.  Let alone one that's supposedly a few decades away.  But the fact is, they can't.  There's a lesson in there somewhere.

Shabbat Shalom.

Israel To Claim Ibrahimi Mosque, Bilal Mosque, As Historic Jewish Sites

In 2000, after hundreds of years of recognizing the site as Rachel's Tomb, Muslims began calling it the "Bilal ibn Rabah mosque."²⁰ Members of the Wakf used the name first in 1996, but it has since entered the national Palestinian discourse. Bilal ibn Rabah was an Ethiopian known in Islamic history as a slave who served in the house of the prophet Muhammad as the first muezzin (the individual who calls the faithful to prayer five times a day).²¹ When Muhammad died, ibn Rabah went to fight the Muslim wars in Syria, was killed in 642 CE, and buried in either Aleppo or Damascus.²² The Palestinian Authority claimed that according to Islamic tradition, it was Muslim conquerors who named the mosque erected at Rachel's Tomb after Bilal ibn Rabah.

The Palestinian claim ignored the fact that Ottoman firmans (mandates or decrees) gave Jews in the Land of Israel the right of access to the site at the beginning of the nineteenth century.²³ The Palestinian claim even ignored accepted Muslim tradition, which admires Rachel and recognizes the site as her burial place. According to tradition, the name "Rachel" comes from the word "wander," because she died during one of her wanderings and was buried on the Bethlehem road.²⁴ Her name is referred to in the Koran,²⁵ and in other Muslim sources, Joseph is said to fall upon his mother Rachel's grave and cry bitterly as the caravan of his captors passes by.²⁶ For hundreds of years, Muslim holy men (walis) were buried in tombs whose form was the same as Rachel's.

Then, out of the blue, the connection between Rachel, admired even by the Muslims, and her tomb is erased and the place becomes "the Bilal ibn Rabah mosque." Well-known Orientalist Professor Yehoshua Porat has called the "tradition" the Muslims referred to as "false." He said the Arabic name of the site was "the Dome of Rachel, a place where the Jews prayed."²⁷

Only a few years ago, official Palestinian publications contained not a single reference to such a mosque. The same was true for the Palestinian Lexicon issued by the Arab League and the PLO in 1984, and for Al-mawsu'ah al-filastiniyah, the Palestinian encyclopedia published in Italy after 1996. Palestine, the Holy Land, published by the Palestinian Council for Development and Rehabilitation, with an introduction written by Yasser Arafat, simply says that "at the northwest entrance to the city [Bethlehem] lies the tomb of the matriarch Rachel, who died while giving life to Benjamin." The West Bank and Gaza - Palestine also mentions the site as the Tomb of Rachel and not as the Mosque of Bilal ibn Rabah.²⁸ However, the Palestinian deputy minister for endowments and religious affairs has now defined Rachel's Tomb as a Muslim site.²⁹

The footnotes refer to ample annotation in Shragai's study (highly recommended), which exposes systematic Palestinian Authority exploitation and subversion of the Oslo Agreements and their progeny, using Rachel's Tomb as a prime example.  In short, the faux outrage and verifiably false claims being made today are contrary not only to the historical record but also to the positions of palestinian Arabs themselves prior to and even after Oslo.

The pattern is clear.  It was in the wake of Oslo that the distortion of history to deny Jewish connections to our holiest places began.  And with every Israeli overture and instance of American pressure, that process is only accelerated.  The implications of these developments for the effectiveness and likely consequences of the "peace process" should not be ignored.

Catholic scholars urge pope to slow Pius sainthood

Top Catholic scholars have written an unusual and impassioned private letter to Pope Benedict urging him to slow down the sainthood procedure for wartime Pope Pius XII, accused of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust.

The letter, which was made available to Reuters by a source familiar with the initiative, is extremely rare because in the past it has mostly been Jewish groups and not Catholic academics who have written to popes about the issue.

Who really funds the NIF?

MK Danny Danon says anti-Israel groups like New Israel Fund must not be tolerated

A recent report claimed that the well-known NGO the New Israel Fund and 16 of its grantees provided the bulk of the testimony that resulted in the anti-Israel Goldstone Report. In light of these accusations I formally requested a public inquiry into the funding of this organization. I did so, because I have sufficient suspicions of the dubious nature of its funders abroad.

This would not be the first time that hostile countries and groups, which yearn for Israel's destruction, have attempted to meddle in our internal politics. However this time it's worse than ever because the report has already done untold damage to Israel's standing in the international community.

Thus in funding organizations that work to deepen the rift between Jews and Arabs in Israel, the NIF has racked up noteworthy successes. Astonishingly, however, these successes are not proudly displayed to the fund's philanthropists.

These donors, most of them Jews who support Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, are asked to contribute to the fund's praiseworthy - but as it turns out, not primary - activities: improving welfare, education and human rights in Israel.

Many NIF donors do not know that their money is being used to fund dozens of organizations committed to inflaming the Arab street, intensifying its nationalist tendencies and deepening the rift between Jews and Arabs.

These philanthropists would almost certainly object to their money being used to undermine Israel's Jewish identity and to lay a theoretical, legal and political framework for establishing another Arab state, on top of the proposed Palestinian state, in place of the State of Israel.

Avoid the term "global warming." I prefer the term "global weirding," because that is what actually happens as global temperatures rise and the climate changes. The weather gets weird. The hots are expected to get hotter, the wets wetter, the dries drier and the most violent storms more numerous.

The fact that it has snowed like crazy in Washington -- while it has rained at the Winter Olympics in Canada, while Australia is having a record 13-year drought -- is right in line with what every major study on climate change predicts: The weather will get weird; some areas will get more precipitation than ever; others will become drier than ever.

Tom clearly missed the memo.

But beyond that, it's a sign of obvious desperation when the defenders of climate alarmism bring out the big gun: reliance on foreign oil.

Indeed, I suspect China is quietly laughing at us right now. And Iran, Russia, Venezuela and the whole OPEC gang are high-fiving each other. Nothing better serves their interests than to see Americans becoming confused about climate change, and, therefore, less inclined to move toward clean-tech and, therefore, more certain to remain addicted to oil. Yes, sir, it is morning in Saudi Arabia.

As if confusion about climate change has any rational connection to the inclination to move toward clean-tech and away from oil addition.  For the record, I'm all for that move, climate change (whatever Tom Friedman wants to call it) or no climate change.

Perhaps liberals can't manage to generate sufficient enthusiasm for independence from foreign oil on the basis of very real political, economic and national security threats.  Maybe they can only find the will for that effort based on exaggerated environmental threats?  Sad, if true, but let them tell themselves whatever they need to hear to get on board.  Just do it.

The problem is that reasonable people also understand economic trade-offs. Many don't like intrusive legislation. Others can sniff out fear-mongering for what it is. Some even trust in humanity's ability to adapt to any changes in climate trends.

In the end, though, the burden of proof is on the believers. And if they're going to ask a nation -- a world -- to fundamentally alter its economy and ask citizens to alter their lifestyles, the believers' credibility and evidence had better be unassailable.

Bottom line.

But, in fact, the entire terrain of the war on terror has evolved dramatically. Put simply, the moderates are fighting back and the tide is turning. We no longer fear the possibility of a major country succumbing to jihadist ideology. In most Muslim nations, mainstream rulers have stabilized their regimes and their societies, and extremists have been isolated. This has not led to the flowering of Jeffersonian democracy or liberalism. But modern, somewhat secular forces are clearly in control and widely supported across the Muslim world. Polls, elections, and in-depth studies all confirm this trend.

... JI [Jemaah Islamiah] has been marginalized and main-stream political parties have gained ground, all while a young democracy has flowered after the collapse of the Suharto dictatorship.

Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the oldest and most prestigious school of Islamic learning, now routinely condemns jihadism. The Darul Uloom Deoband movement in India, home to the original radicalism that influenced Al Qaeda, has inveighed against suicide bombing since 2008. None of these groups or people have become pro-American or liberal, but they have become anti-jihadist.

The data on public opinion in the Muslim world are now overwhelming. London School of Economics professor Fawaz Gerges has analyzed polls from dozens of Muslim countries over the past few years. He notes that in a range of places--Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Lebanon, and Bangladesh--there have been substantial declines in the number of people who say suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilian targets can be justified to defend Islam. Wide majorities say such attacks are, at most, rarely acceptable.

It is not just in the Swat valley that Islamists are on the rise. In Afghanistan the Taliban have been gaining ground for the past two years as well. In Somalia last week, Al-Shabab, a local group of Islamic militants, captured yet another town from government forces. Reports from Nigeria to Bosnia to Indonesia show that Islamic fundamentalists are finding support within their communities for their agenda, which usually involves the introduction of some form of Sharia--Islamic law--reflecting a puritanical interpretation of Islam. No music, no liquor, no smoking, no female emancipation.

What you have to realize is that the objective is to defeat bin Ladenism, and you have to start the evolution. Moderate Muslims are not the answer. Shiite clerics and Sunni fundamentalists are our salvation from future 9/11s.

Should not observers and academics keep skeptical about the U.S. government's assessment of the terrorist threat? To what extent do terrorist 'experts' indirectly perpetuate this irrational fear of terrorism by focusing too much on farfetched horrible scenarios? Does the terrorist industry, consciously or unconsciously, exaggerate the nature and degree of the terrorist threat to American citizens?

WALLACE: How hard do you think President Obama will be to defeat in 2012?

PALIN: It depends on a few things. Say he played - and I got this from Buchanan, reading one of his columns the other day - say he played the war card. Say he decided to declare war on Iran or decided really [to] come out and do whatever he could to support Israel, which I would like him to do, but - that changes the dynamics in what we can assume is going to happen between now and three years. Because I think if the election were today I do not think Obama would be re-elected. But three years from now, things could change if -- on the national security front . . .

It goes without saying that Buchanan never remotely advocated support for Israel.  But when he asks if Obama will "cynically yield to temptation, play the war card and make 'conservatives swoon,' in Pipes' phrase, to save himself and his party," he's clearly pleading with his audience (such as it is) to lobby against such a move.  Did Sarah get that?  Because if she did, why didn't she cite Pipes (who is on her side here) rather than Buchanan (who clearly isn't)?

Maybe you just believe that all people have a right to self-determination, to opportunity, to security - and you want to see an end to the occupation of the Palestinian people.

We believe in the state of Israel and support the notion of a national home for the Jewish people.

We will build a home together where our organizing and our advocacy around Israel lines up with the values and the principles of our people.

A community where it is acceptable to study and to learn about history and about competing narratives and claims to the land - where we can hug and wrestle with Israel at the very same time.

Hug and wrestle?  Is he serious?  Or this one

You'll help redefine and expand the very concept of being pro-Israel. No longer will this pro- require an anti-.

Mr. Ben-Ami, judging by this performance, is a pretty terrible public speaker, which I must say is a bit encouraging.  But his organization is a nasty, disingenuous scam designed to dress up patently anti-Israel rhetoric in the guise of "progressive" pro-Israel ("pro-peace," pro-democracy") advocacy.  It plays on the hopes and fears of the hopelessly naive and uninformed, and hopefully this latest initiative will die on the vine.  In short, J-Street is a wolf in sheep's clothing. 

(Hey.  It's a demon sheep!)

Shabbat Shalom.

There has been controversy, recently, over statements made by radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh about Jewish voting patterns, political ties and the recent Massachusetts election. We are deeply dismayed by the unfounded criticism of the talk show commentator's observations.

While one may agree or disagree with Mr. Limbaugh's views on many subjects, his outspoken support for Israel has been eloquent, informed and undeniable. Moreover, in commentary on the Jewish people, he has been nothing short of a philo-Semite. We are grateful for his strong and singular voice on these issues."

Because at the heart of that decision was a sweeping defense of free speech protections afforded to Americans under the First Amendment, regardless of their corporate identity. We may not like what's coming our way, but as Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the 5-4 majority: "Because speech is an essential mechanism of democracy - it is the means to hold officials accountable to the people - political speech must prevail against laws that would suppress it by design or inadvertence."

Yes, even if that speech is uttered by a corporation.

I'm definitely among those who dreads "what's coming our way" (though it will be interesting to see if it's actually worse than what we already have with the 527s).  But as our government gets bigger and bigger, I've grown increasingly wary of giving it the power to place restrictions on speech.

Shabbat Shalom and a very Happy Tu B'shevat!

The Holocaust only gets media coverage because of affluent Jews' financial backing, military might and lobbying fronts, presenting a skewed version of events to the world, a high-ranking Polish bishop told a Catholic news portal on Monday.

Tadeusz Pieronek, a Polish bishop and professor and a friend of the last pope, John Paul II, claimed that "the Holocaust as such is a Jewish invention" promoted in the press by Jews to gain support for Israel.

"The anti-Semitic history of Poland is an invention," he said. "A joke ... offensive to our people."

White House senior politcal adviser David Axelrod countered critics that believe Scott Brown's win in the Massachusetts special election for Senate Tuesday was a blow to Democrats' efforts to reform health care by saying that polls show the opposite sentiment.

"I must tell you that, if you look at the polling in the Washington Post yesterday on the Massachusetts race, it's very clear, people don't want us to walk away from health care," Axelrod said. "They want us to address their concerns with the program, and they want Brown to come and work with us and not be obstructionist. That was very clear in the polling."

WALLACE: But, Robert, Scott Brown had a clear platform. Let's lay it out. Stop health care. Cut taxes. End backroom deals with special interest and don't give terrorists Miranda rights. It wasn't the same thing that swept Barack Obama into office. Scott Brown explicitly campaigned against the -- campaigned against the Obama agenda. 

GIBBS: That may be what he campaigned on but that's not why the voters of Massachusetts sent him to Washington. If you look at exit [sic] poll, done by the ""Washington Post"" --

The Simon Wiesenthal Center rebuked remarks made by director Oliver Stone during a press conference for his new history documentary. Stone said, "Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and it's been used cheaply. He's the product of a series of actions. It's cause and effect."

The director is using the series to expose what he calls lies and biases behind the conventional interpretation of American history and that would include reexamining WWII history and putting Hitler "into context."

I picked an exciting week to visit Venezuela. The night before my arrival, the regime seized the country's largest shopping mall. The day after, Israeli authorities disclosed that a recently intercepted shipment of missiles to Hezbollah had originated in Venezuela.

These two dissimilar events are importantly related. The seized mall belonged to one of Venezuela's wealthiest Jewish families. Following an armed attack on the country's most visible synagogue in January 2009, the seizure sent a strong message: None of you are safe.

The Chavez regime's turn toward harshly anti-Jewish policies is part of an ominous self-radicalization.