Arizona Rep. has been released from a Houston hospital, five months after being shot in the head during a Tucson political event.
A release from the Houston hospital where Giffords has been undergoing rehab says the congresswoman is moving to her husband's home in League City 26 miles south of Houston.
Read more here.
Jefferson County resident Jonathan Stewart said he laughed in shock after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) claimed the house his family lost in the deadly April 27 twister was ‘not unsafe to live in’.Isn't this just like the Obama Administration. Such compassion, such generosity. I guess if these families were Black or Hispanic the money would flow down to them like the river Jordan. But these are just white, middle-class families. They will just have to shut up and pay the piper so to speak. I do hope these folks remember this when November 6, 2012 arrives.
Displaced families in tornado-ravaged Alabama are outraged after being denied federal aide to rebuild their flattened homes – due to ‘insufficient damage’.
The devastating reality is the house is now a concrete slab surrounded by rubble.
Mr Stewart told AL.com a FEMA inspector saw first-hand the Pleasant Grove residence he shared with his wife, Lisa, and their two children was ripped from the ground.
Three days after the visit, however, he received a letter reading: ‘Based on your FEMA inspection, we have determined that the disaster has not caused your home to be unsafe to live in.
‘Although the disaster may have caused some minor damage it is reasonable to expect you or your landlord to make these repairs. At this time you are not eligible for FEMA housing assistance.’
Mr Stewart told the website: ‘Lisa and I looked at the letter and laughed.’
While he has since found out his insurance coverage will replace his house, the family is not alone.
Lashunta Tabb’s home 15 miles away in North Smithfield Manor was stripped of its siding, and more than half of her roof blew off with tornado-force winds.
She too, received a letter claiming there was ‘insufficient damage’ – the number one reason in Alabama the people are determined ineligible for FEMA grants, worth up to $30,200.
It is not yet known how many Alabama tornado victims received the letter.
FEMA deputy branch director for individual assistance Lynda Lowe said finding of insifficient damage are often correct, and many of those who filed for assistance did not have damage.
FEMA officials encourage whose who believe they were wrongly declared ineligible to file for an appeal through local disaster recovery centres.
Spokesman Renee Bafalis said: ‘If you have a question why you received a determination of ineligibility, go in there and let them look it up and help you file an appeal.’
A report issued on Wednesday, however, revealed few disaster victims follow through.
It showed less than one percent of the 25,081 applicants initially declared ineligible for any reason had appealed, leaving the potential for millions of dollars in federal aide to go unclaimed.
An applicant has 60 days from the date of the determination letter to appeal.
It was not known at press time how many applicants were declared ineligible in Alabama due to insufficient damage. However, similar findings have occurred after nearly every recent disaster.
THE BUREAUCRACY BEHIND APPLYING FOR FEMA AIDE:
When a disaster victim applies for a FEMA grant, an inspector is dispatched to the applicant’s property.
Inspectors carry laptops connected to a database called NEMIS (National Emergency Management Information System), which guides them through measuring rooms and assessing damage.
Items marked for repair or replacement are priced depending on the geographic region.
Letters are issued based on the computerised report, telling an applicant whether he qualifies for FEMA assistance.
An applicant has 60 days from the date of the determination letter to appeal.
What qualifies as ‘insufficient damage’ remains unclear.
A pending lawsuit accusing FEMA of improperly denying thousands of farm workers in Texas money to repair their homes after Hurricane Dolly struck in 2008 based on the insufficient damage finding claims that FEMA used a concept called ‘deferred maintenance’ to back the rejections.
Deferred maintenance is not referenced in any regulation, Jerry Wesevich, an attorney with Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid who represents the plaintiffs, told AL.com.
Mr Wesevich described deferred maintenance as a ‘shorthand term that FEMA uses when it determines somehow that a condition of a home prior to the disaster caused the damage after the storm’.
An Alabama inspectors’ coordinator for FEMA said deferred maintenance is no longer used in assessing damage, although there is a place for inspectors to note ‘pre-existing’ conditions.
Broken Bible Belt: Homes In Ruins From Tornadoes Denied Aid By FEMA For 'Insufficient Damage'
Full Story
Report: US gives Netanyahu ultimatum on resuming talks
The United States gave Netanyahu an ultimatum on renewing negotiations with the Palestinians, according to reports cited by Israel Radio Sunday morning.
According to the ultimatum, Netanyahu has to decide within a month whether he agrees to accept US President Barack Obama's platform and resume talks based on 1967 lines.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu was expected to travel to Italy on Sunday where he will meet his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi.
 With every mitzvah we bind ourselves to G-d. Except brit milah. When a Jew is circumcised, G-d binds Himself to him with an eternal covenant. Thus is the Law of Moses, the Law of Israel. Since Father Abraham until today, we have not broken the covenant. When the Greeks forbade us, we went to war and won (Ever wonder why the Maccabees went to war?). Under persecution and pogroms the covenant was kept. During the horrors of the Holocaust and the repression of the Soviet System, the covenant was kept. When not circumcising our sons would make it easier for them to achieve success, the covenant was kept. And if Matthew Hess and Lloyd Schofield get their wish and ban circumcision from the city of San Francisco in the hopes of destroying the Jewish people, they will be surprised. For we will fill the jails but NEVER DESTROY THE ETERNAL COVENANT WITH G-D! In every generation there are those who come to destroy us. We are still here, they have gone.  |
Muslims threw rocks at Jewish worshipers praying at the Kotel after Friday’s Muslim prayers. No one was reported hurt.Friday it was rocks, this coming Friday it could be bullets. How can any nation even think of negotiations with such people?
The incident was captured on the Western Wall Keritage Fund’s Kotel cam, which transmits live video of the Kotel Plaza over the Internet. Worshipers at the Men's Section are seen scattering and returning to the Wall a short time later.
The violence occurred after security forces decided to allow Muslims under the age of 50 to participate in the Friday prayers. Usually, men younger than 45 or 50 are barred from praying on the Mount if there is an intelligence assessment that riots are being planned.
Police stormed into the Mount, used means of riot dispersal against the Muslim attackers and arrested three of them.
The Palestinian Authority has demanded control of the Temple Mount be handed over to it, and there have been reports that U.S. President Barack Obama supports this idea. However, incidents like the one on Friday have convinced many in Israel that the Muslims would not honor the rights of other religions if they were given power over the holy sites.
Veteran Jerusalemites have testified that before Jordan occupied the Wall in 1948, Arabs had a habit of intentionally driving their donkeys through the crowd of Jewish worshipers at the Kotel in order to harass and humiliate them. Arabs have also repeatedly ransacked the Tomb of Joseph in Shechem and recently gunned down a Jewish man who had come to pray there.
Full Story
Be careful of what you wish for, you might get your wish.
Iran has crossed the nuclear threshold and is testing its Shihab-3 long-range missile. King Ahmadinejad has just delivered a TV address in which he celebrates Iranian invincibility and lets it be known that he has no intention of sparing the Zionist entity. The United States has issued a carefully-worded reproof while at the same time extending the hand of peace and assuring its allies that containment, sanctions and dialogue remain the best policies under the circumstances. But no one in Israel sees a silver lining in a mushroom cloud and all prepare for the inevitable. Fearing abandonment from above, the rabbis raise their voices as one, in humble prayer to the God of Israel.
And lo! their prayers are miraculously answered, for the Lord has taken pity on His suffering people at last and His heart has softened. An iridescent rainbow arches across the sky and suddenly the Heavens open and a golden stairway reaches from Jerusalem to the empyrean. A Voice is heard over all Israel commanding, “Come, My people! Hearken to My Word!” And one by one, family by family, neighborhood by neighborhood, religious and secular, scholar and laborer, leftist and rightist find themselves in Jerusalem, as if Time had contracted to an eternal instant, and all proceed to climb the golden staircase into the Lord’s beneficent embrace.
A silence covers the land. A heavenly wind arises, the earth begins to shake, and cities, villages, farms and buildings vanish as if they had never been. Not even a Starbucks remains. In the twinkling of an eye gardens, groves, orchards, greenhouses, vineyards, every cultivated field, all the work of industrious Jewish hands turn back to desert and malarial swampland, leaving only desolate hamlets and clumps of shriveled lemons and puckered olives. Bewildered Palestinians, foreign journalists, NGOs and European plenipotentiaries look about in stunned disbelief for there is nothing there any longer to slake their enmity—except locusts, mosquitoes, drought and barrenness, as it was before the great aliyah. Even the tree and the stone are perplexed at the disappearance of the Jew hiding behind them, sheltering from Abdullah who is equally nonplussed.
At the same time, the world’s infrastructure collapses. Every Israeli invention that has ever been adopted by mankind—cell phone components, computer algorithms, firewalls, voice mail, wireless LAN, search engines, SMS (texting), video platforms, desalination plants, insect control methods, agricultural drip technologies, medical applications, chemical discoveries and more, indescribably more—cease to exist. The world is bereft. The nations send up a plaintive wail. The General Assembly disbands for lack of a purpose. The United Nations Human Rights Council packs up and goes home, as does the Organization of the Islamic Conference. There is nothing left for them to do. In despair, men look about for someone to blame but find only themselves and their cankered resentments. Even Iran has begun to tremble.
The Jews in Heaven look down and are overcome with sorrow. They plead with the Lord to forgive erring humankind but His heart has now hardened. Men will reap the desert, winnow the dust and harvest destitution. Then the gates of Heaven close, although the jubilant strains of Havah Nagilah sung by the choir of angels can still be discerned, growing ever fainter.
King Ahmadinejad sits forlornly on his throne, pining for the bomb he would lovingly stroke before bedtime to inspire his dreams. It too has evaporated. Beside him, the Hidden Imam, the Mahdi, who has chosen this moment to make his long-deferred appearance, with a mixture of fury and resignation addresses the hapless monarch. His words echo in King Ahmadinejad’s ears.
“Why couldn’t you wait, you idiot?”
Several protesters in zombie makeup injected themselves into a Special Olympics ceremony in Wisconsin this week when they walked in front of Gov. Scott Walker and stood between him and the group of athletes he was paying tribute to in front of the state Capitol.
The silent protest immediately brought to mind the ongoing fight over union rights that led to three weeks of rowdy demonstrations at the state Capitol in the spring that paralyzed Wisconsin's government as Senate Democrats fled to Illinois in an unsuccessful attempt to block a vote.
Yet the protest on Wednesday appeared to be unrelated. Earlier in the day, a statewide student organization held what it calls an educational event on the opposite side of the Capitol on a new voter ID law that it says will make it harder for students to vote. The United Council of UW Students provided zombie makeup and T-shirts that read, "Students are as good as dead."
But the group disavowed any connection to the protest at the Special Olympics.
"We in no way condone that," spokesman Matt Guidry told FoxNews.com."The event is all about athletes. It shouldn't be politicized."
Guidry said a few students who were at the earlier event may have protested Walker when they saw him speaking. But he added that it's hard to know for sure since no group has claimed responsibility for it.
For his part, Walker didn't allow the protesters to distract him.
"The Special Olympics is about the cheer and the joy and the passion the attorney general was just talking about of our Special Olympians," he said in his remarks that were posted on YouTube by the MacIver Institute. "That's what the focus should be on. That's exactly what we're talking about today."
In a statement to FoxNews.com, Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said, "While it's unfortunate the protestors chose that venue, Gov. Walker was happy to promote the Special Olympics yesterday where he spoke at the opening ceremonies, and this morning where he kicked off the 25th annual law enforcement torch run."
The Special Olympics did not respond to a request for comment.
Walker has drawn the wrath of liberals over his new union law that requires nearly all public workers to contribute more to their health care and pensions and eliminates most of their collective bargaining power. Walker says the law is necessary to help close a $3.6 billion budget shortfall.
But the law is in limbo after a judge blocked it, prompting state attorneys to ask the state Supreme Court to intervene.
There were protesters outside Wednesday's ceremony holding signs that appeared to address the union issue. One sign read, "Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining."
The Torah was given by G‑d to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai more than 3300 years ago. Every year on the holiday of Shavuot we renew our acceptance of G‑d's gift, and G‑d "re-gives" the Torah.
The word Shavuot means "weeks." It marks the completion of the seven-week counting period between Passover and Shavuot.
The giving of the Torah was a far-reaching spiritual event-one that touched the essence of the Jewish soul for all times. Our sages have compared it to a wedding between G‑d and the Jewish people. Shavuot also means "oaths," for on this day G‑d swore eternal devotion to us, and we in turn pledged everlasting loyalty to Him.
The holiday of Shavuot is a two-day holiday, beginning at sundown of the 5th of Sivan and lasting until nightfall of the 7th of Sivan. (In Israel it is a one-day holiday, ending at nightfall of the 6th of Sivan.)
- Women and girls light holiday candles to usher in the holiday, on both the first and second evenings of the holidays.
- It is customary to stay up all night learning Torah on the first night of Shavuot.
- All men, women and children should go to the synagogue on the first day of Shavuot to hear the reading of the Ten Commandments.
- As on other holidays, special meals are eaten, and no "work" may be performed.
- It is customary to eat dairy foods on Shavuot. Among other reasons, this commemorates the fact that upon receiving the Torah, including the kosher laws, the Jewish people could not cook meat in their pots, which had yet to be rendered kosher.
- On the second day of Shavuot, the Yizkor memorial service is recited.
- Some communities read the Book of Ruth publicly, as King David-whose passing occurred on this day-was a descendant of Ruth the Moabite.
Blintzes are a traditional dish for the holiday of Shavuot. Top with sour cream, apple sauce or cinnamon and sugar.
BATTER
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 package vanilla sugar
Pinch of salt
1 Tbsp. oil
CHEESE FILLING I
1/2 pound farmer cheese
4 ounces cream cheese
4 Tbsps. honey or
maple syrup
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 egg yolk
CHEESE FILLING II
1 pound cottage cheese,
strained
2 egg yolks
2 Tbsps. flour
2 Tbsps. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla sugar
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
USE: 7 inch skillet
YIELDS: 12 blintzes
BATTER: In a large mixer bowl combine eggs, milk, water and blend well. Gradually add flour, then both sugars, salt and oil. Beat well until there are no lumps in the batter.
FILLING I: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and beat well. Or combine all the ingredients in a blender container and blend until smooth.
FILLING II: Combine all ingredients, except raisins, in a bowl and beat well. Or all the ingredients can be combined in a blender container and blended until smooth. Then add raisins.
TO ASSEMBLE CREPES:
1. Prepare batter and filling of your choice. Using a paper towel or basting brush, apply a thin coating of oil to a 7 inch skillet. Place skillet over medium heat until skillet is hot but not smoking.
2. Ladle approximately 1/3 cup of batter into the skillet. Tilt pan to swirl the batter so it covers the bottom of the skillet.
3. Fry on one side until small air bubbles form, and top is set. Bottom should be golden brown. When done, carefully loosen edges of crepe and slip out of skillet onto a plate..
4. Repeat the above procedure until all the batter is used. Grease the skillet as needed..
5. Turn each crepe so that golden brown side is up. Place 3 tablespoons of filling on one edge in a 2 1/2 inch long by 1-inch wide mound..
6. Roll once to cover filling. Fold the sides into the center and continue rolling until completely closed..
7. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the skillet and place each crepe seam side down in the skillet and fry 2 minutes on each side, turning once.
VARIATION: Whole wheat pastry flour can be used instead of white flour.
Having come clean about sending so-called "dirty pictures" to various young women, he doesn't have the decency to resign his office.
And what type of woman is married to this slimeball? He cheats on her with other women (It wasn't physical, but it is still infidelity under both Man's and G-d's Law.), and she stands by him.
It is time for Weiner to quit today!
NORMANDY, FRANCE (June 6, 1944) Three hundred French civilians were killed and thousands more were wounded today in the first hours of America's invasion of continental Europe. Casualties were heaviest among women and children. Most of the French casualties were the result of artillery fire from American ships attempting to knock out German fortifications prior to the landing of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops.
Reports from a makeshift hospital in the French town of St. Mere Eglise said the carnage was far worse than the French had anticipated, and that reaction against the American invasion was running high. "We are dying for no reason, "said a Frenchman speaking on condition of anonymity. "Americans can't even shoot straight. I never thought I'd say this, but life was better under Adolph Hitler."
The invasion also caused severe environmental damage. American troops, tanks, trucks and machinery destroyed miles of pristine shoreline and thousands of acres of ecologically sensitive wetlands. It was believed that the habitat of the spineless French crab was completely wiped out, thus threatening the species with extinction. A representative of Green Peace said his organization, which had tried to stall the invasion for over a year, was appalled at the destruction, but not surprised. "This is just another example of how the military destroys the environment without a second thought," said Christine Moanmore. "And it's all about corporate greed."
Contacted at his Manhattan condo, a member of the French government-in-exile who abandoned Paris when Hitler invaded, said the invasion was based solely on American financial interests. "Everyone knows that President Roosevelt has ties to 'big beer'," said Pierre LeWimp. "Once the German beer industry is conquered, Roosevelt's beer cronies will control the world market and make a fortune."
Administration supporters said America's aggressive actions were based in part on the assertions of controversial scientist Albert Einstein, who sent a letter to Roosevelt speculating that the Germans were developing a secret weapon -- a so-called "atomic bomb". Such a weapon could produce casualties on a scale never seen before, and cause environmental damage that could last for thousands of years. Hitler has denied having such a weapon and international inspectors were unable to locate such weapons even after spending two long weekends in Germany. Shortly after the invasion began, reports surfaced that German prisoners had been abused by American soldiers. Mistreatment of Jews by Germans at their so-called "concentration camps" has been rumored, but so far this remains unproven.
Several thousand Americans died during the first hours of the invasion, and French officials are concerned that the uncollected corpses will pose a public-health risk. "The Americans should have planned for this in advance," they said. "It's their mess, and we don't intend to help clean it up."
 |
| Berlin Wall |
We have openly said that the map will never again be the same as on June 4, 1967. For us, this is a matter of security and of principles. The June map is for us equivalent to insecurity and danger. I do not exaggerate when I say that it has for us something of a memory of Auschwitz. We shudder when we think of what would have awaited us in the circumstances of June, 1967, if we had been defeated; with Syrians on the mountain and we in the valley, with the Jordanian army in sight of the sea, with the Egyptians who hold our throat in their hands in Gaza. This is a situation which will never be repeated in history.
Abba Eban
- Abba Eban, Israeli Statesman, in Der Spiegel, November 5, 1969
 |
| Am Yisrael Chai!!! |
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields
In memory of a plague during the lifetime of Rabbi Akiba. Haircuts during this time are also forbidden. The 33rd day of the Omer (the eighteenth of Iyar) is a minor holiday commemorating a break in the plague. The holiday is known as Lag b'Omer. The mourning practices of the omer period are lifted on that date. The word "Lag" is not really a word; it is the number 33 in Hebrew, as if you were to call the Fourth of July "Iv July" (IV being 4 in Roman numerals). See Hebrew Alphabet for more information about using letters as numbers.As restrictions of mourning are lifted on this 33rd day of the Omer, weddings, parties, listening to music, and haircuts are commonly scheduled to coincide with this day. Families go on picnics and outings. Children go out to the fields with their teachers with bows and (rubber-tipped) arrows. Tachanun, the prayer for special Divine mercy on one's behalf is not said, because when God is showing one a "smiling face," so to speak, as He does especially on the holidays, there is no need to ask for special mercy.
There was at one time a dispute as to when the counting should begin. The Pharisees believed that G-d gave Moses an oral Torah along with the written Torah, and according to that oral Torah the word "Shabbat" in Lev. 23:15 referred to the first day of Passover, which is a "Shabbat" in the sense that no work is permitted on the day (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are both referred to as "Shabbat" in this sense, though they cannot both occur on a Saturday in the same year; see Lev. 23:24 and 23:32; see also Lev. 23:39 the first and eighth days of Sukkot are called "Shabbat"). In this view, held by most Jews today, the counting begins on the second night of Passover, that is, the day after the non-working day of Passover. The Tzedukim (Sadducees) rejected the idea of an oral Torah and believed that the word "Shabbat" in Lev. 23:15 referred to the Shabbat of the week when Pesach began, so counting would always begin on a Saturday night during Passover. The Sadducees no longer exist; today, only a small sect call the Karaites follow this view.
