Obama to Israel: 'Open Border with Gaza'

Signifying a major shift in Middle East policy, President Barack Obama on Thursday pressured Israel, fresh from its response to years of terrorist bombs from Gaza, to open up its border with the area.

If Israel's leaders have one single ounce of rationality left in their bodies, they will simply say, 'No, thanks, Mr. President,' to the Obama plan.

The mere suggestion that Israel consider opening borders with one of the most dangerous and deadly areas on earth is cause to wonder if the new President has taken leave of the entirety of his senses.

To their credit, Israel's response to Obama was measured. Without flatly refusing to consider the proposal, the Israeli leadership merely stated that they would never consider opening the border if the result would be the strengthening of Hamas, which is precisely what such an action would do.

As long as the Palestinians allow Hamas to continue to send rockets into Israel, and as long as residents in the area continue to spout their sentiment that Israel has no right to exist, then the Jewish state would be well within its rights to tell the American President to kiss off.

This is the kind of pie-in-the-sky, liberal knee-jerk type of foreign policy that will get the entire Middle East blown to bits in the long run.

Jews Launch Peaceful Counter-March in NYC

This is absolutely, positively gratifying to see...thousands upon thousands of Jews and supporters of Israel gathering in NYC for a peaceful counter-demonstration as an answer to the violent hate-spewing pro-terrorist marches staged by the supporters of Hamas.

Never before in my lifetime have I witnessed such a baffling, worldwide demonstration of hatred toward Jews. This sort of thing happened prior to WW II, but for the most part we have never seen this sort of thing since the Jew-haters were blown to smithereens.

From Denmark, Sweden, and the U.K., to France, Germany, and Italy, the Muslim extremists have taken to the streets to scream 'death to the Jews.'

Even in the United States, some terrorist-supporters have carried placards that read, 'Jews back to the ovens!'

In the midst of these shocking and deeply troubling events we find a gathering of multi-thousands, in New York City, where no hatred was shouted, no violence toward police officers was observed, and no cars were firebombed.

This was a most gratifying sight to behold.

Atlas Shrugs has the news with a complete pictorial that tells the story.

CNN Exposed! Gaza Story Doesn't Add Up

Anyone who has been watching the spectrum of mainstream media news of late knows that an anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian bias has permeated it's reports on the war in Gaza.

On Saturday evening, for example, NBC News' nightly piece from Gaza focused exclusively on the toll the war is taking on children. Fair enough.

But not a single instance was mentioned of Israeli children that have been harmed or killed by Hamas rockets sent into southern Israel for the last few years.

The entire story focused exclusively on Palestinian children, as if 'those evil Jews' should be condemned for initiating war against Gaza's poor, defenseless children.

CNN has certainly been on the front lines of the anti-Jew campaign.

NewsBusters posts an example of CNN's bias as shown in a video from Gaza that in all likelihood is fake, based upon the known circumstances.

When the story of the fake video hit the blogosphere, CNN received hundreds if not thousands of protests. It then took down the disputed video.

But the video was re-posted when CNN got its story together and insisted that the video is legitimate, although several investigative reporters aren't buying it.

At issue is the death and burial of a 12-year-old younger brother of a cameraman, which supposedly was taped in real-time, as it happened, and then posted on CNN's website.

Investigative reporters from the 'new media' were skeptical. Here is a sampling of their views:

Johnson at LGF isn't impressed:

If they really had “little hope” the patient could be saved, they’d be going all out with CPR, which means very vigorous chest compression (it’s not unusual to break ribs if it’s done right), and ventilation to oxygenate the blood—not delicately touching the boy’s abdomen with the tips of their fingers as we see in that video.

Morrissey isn't either:

It’s not only a fake, it’s an absurd fake. It’s not even done well, and Gilbert’s dramatic headshake at the end of the supposed CPR — in which Doctor #2’s hands keep coming off the body — is only the cheesy coup de grace. Why did CNN republish this?

..... Maybe Martin can explain how a missile hits a roof and kills two boys but does no more damage to the roof than what a pickaxe could do in five minutes — and how the furniture didn’t get disturbed.

Here's a bit from Owens's post:

CNN has also yet to explain what kind of Israeli drone could have fired the purported missile, and what kind of missile would cause the minimal damage shown on the rooftop where it is claimed these boys are killed.

For the full story, be sure to click on the link to NewsBusters as shown above.

It is important for citizens to be able to trust their news sources in a world such as ours. And, increasingly, we are being shown little by little every day that the mainstream media is clearly not a trustworthy source of news.

Second Amendment News Roundup for 1/8/09

Focusing on guns, politics, and news of interest, here is today's Second Amendment News Roundup:

Like a good little Socialist, Obama stated today that 'only government can fix what ails us.' No, Sir. Only autonomous individuals who take responsibility for their own actions can fix what ails us. CNS News has the story.

Nicki provides some slightly strong-worded commentary on this government fix business.

Sebastian responds to charges that the prags are not doing enough to pressure the NRA on the Holder nomination:
*The Holder Battle and the NRA
*Political Capital--What Is It?
*Political Capital--How It's Spent

Codrea's War on Guns points to an NRA alert. The NRA's stance concerning the Holder nomination is problematic, as you will see below.

Sipsy Street Irregulars posts Jeff Knox's response to Sebastian's take on why the NRA hasn't been as forceful or public with it's opposition to Holder.

Western Rifle Shooters Association weighs in on the subject with 'Holder and the NRA.'

Mindful Musings issues an urgent call to NRA members to contact Angus McClellan of the NRA-ILA to urge them to do all they can to oppose Holder. All the contact info is there.

Gun Rights Examiner: 'Another Reason to Hold Holder' by David Codrea.

Days of our Trailers says Holder's confirmation is a done deal, and, given the makeup of the current Congress, no doubt he's right. The issue is what we do afterward. Read it!

Say Uncle reports that ACORN wants background checks for ammunition purchases.

Robb Allen has a buddy in Israel and says he provides a front lines point of view on the current conflict...as well as gun issues.

Armed and Safe posts some encouraging news that 2 gun manufacturers are pulling out of California.

2A Musing reports on a case of private property infringement in what has recently become a new mecca for leftwing politics in the South. In fact, some are already calling this state the South's California.

Blogstitution provides excellent reading on who are the REAL Nazis in the Gaza conflict.

Gun Pundit comments on a thread he found at the Pennsylvania Firearms Owners Association forum that asks, 'what laws should gun owners be pushing in '09?'

John Jacob H posts an interesting follow-up to the story of the Obama birth certificate issue, which, in my humble opinion, has not been adequately settled.

Pax Parabellum reports that the Islamic terrorists that attacked India had direct connections to Pakistan. Should Pakistan therefore be designated as a state sponsor of terror? Maybe so!

Michelle Malkin points to a riveting UCLA study that shows FDR worsened the Great Depression by his economic policies--policies that Obama intends to resurrect.

Texas Fred adds his commentary to the debate on Obama's economic stimulus package.

Walls of the City provides excellent reading on modern attitudes toward the carry of firearms.

The Rustmeister says that Glocks aren't manly. I tend to agree. Women love 'em, which is fine. But as for me, I prefer S&W or Taurus .38 police-and-military specials or their .357 Magnums.

ARRA News Service says that Obama's pick for CIA will gut our intelligence-gathering capability. Say hello to more terrorism on our own soil!

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) has been a friend to conservatives and gun owners. But Mike McCarville wonders if the Senator has had enough of Washington. This is a MUST-read analysis!

MOWCA Blog posts an intriguing read on Israel's tactical analysis regarding which structures to bomb in Gaza. Read it all! (H/t to Paul Davis).

Atlas Shrugs reports that Hamas rigged the UN school with explosives! So, then, does that make Hamas the real murderers of 'innocent civilian children?'

ALERT! Israel Sends Ground Troops Into Gaza

The ground incursion has begun.

But as Caroline Glick correctly observes, the current Israeli government has failed to set out reasonable goals that insure victory. 'Disarming' Hamas will never be enough. Iran will only send them more.

Crushing Hamas is the only hope for longterm victory, and the government has expressed little resolve to accomplish this goal.

Ynet news.com (H/t to Atlas Shrugs)

Breaking Updates on Israel-Gaza Conflict

The top news of the day is that Hamas has hijacked pro-Israel bloggers. Hackers attacked the blogs and set up messages on the sites indicating Hamas was in control. Cyber-attacks are the latest weapons in the arsenal of Islamic terrorists.

In addition, Pamela Geller live-blogged a blogger conference call of a briefing provided by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli Consulate of New York. You may read the contents of that conference call here.

For the past 2 days Hamas sympathizers in New York have staged protests of the Israeli retaliation against Gaza terrorists. Here is a report of those protests, along with photos.

Stating that Israel's response to Hamas has been 'disproportionate,' Jonathan Mark, writing in the Jewish World Review, maintains that the Jewish retaliation is but a mere drop in the bucket compared to the tsunami of attacks Hamas has unleashed against Israel over the last 7 years.

Indeed. A 'proportionate' response to Hamas would be roughly equal to the nightmarish horrors Israeli citizens have suffered at the hands of Islamic terrorists who live in Gaza. But of course, the world community would have nothing of it, and Israel would be condemned as a 'rogue nation.'

Personally, I think only a proportionate response would suffice. And needless to say that means allowing Israel to open up full throttle against the terrorist thugs of Gaza.

And finally, daily updates would not be complete without the invaluable live-blogging of Israellycool.com from the front lines.