Posted on 12/06/2011 4:10:46 PM PST by SJackson
Now that Americans and Israelis may have finished arguing about the campaign to bring emigrants back home, they are in full tilt about comments made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At a "closed" but thoroughly leaked meeting of Israeli and Americans concerned with public affairs, she expressed deep concern over what she termed a wave of anti-democratic legislation, and Israeli treatment of women.
She is said to have taken special aim at a Knesset bill meant to limit overseas donations to human rights organizations. She is also shocked by the fact that some Jerusalem buses have separate seating areas for men and women, which made her think about the story of Rosa Parks' refusal to give up a seat to a white passenger in the 1960s. The practice of some IDF soldiers to leave events with female singers reminds her of Iran.
Several Israeli politicians have reacted with their own shrill voices. The Minister of Finance said that Israeli democracy is alive and kicking. The Minister of Environmental Protection said that elected officials should "examine their domestic problems first." In other words, Clinton ought to mind her own business.
Both Israeli ministers are on record opposing the items that caused Clinton to express her feelings, and accused her of gross exaggeration.
The Minister of the Interior expressed himself somewhat differently. "I assume that whatever will be done here will be within the measure of the law." He is the parliamentary leader of SHAS, the ultra-Orthodox Sephardi party. This exchange may best to put into the category of items where Hillary Clinton spoke too much and too shrilly, as well as items showing her and the President's thin understanding of things Middle Eastern.
In regard to her comments about Israeli democracy, Ms Clinton was sounding like a copy of Israeli politicians of the left and center. They roundly oppose proposals to limit the funding of human rights and other leftist organizations, even while some have criticized foreign governments that fund organizations that are extreme in their anti-Israel activities. There is also wide opposition of proposals to provide elected politicians with more of a say over the selection of Supreme Court judges. However, those proposals would bring the Israel process of selecting judges closer to the overtly political procedures of Clinton's own country.
None of the objectionable proposals have become law. That meaning to increase the role of politicians in the selection of Supreme Court judges was taken off the agenda before it received serious consideration by the Knesset. That meaning to restrict donations to left-wing organizations has been modified to narrow its scope, and is still far from being approved.
The last time I considered the definitions of democracy, they did not contain restrictions against making proposals, or arguing about what governments should or should not be doing.
The American Congress, like the Israeli Knesset, has lots of members who propose actions to suit their own whims or those of supporters. Only a small fraction of items introduced get a serious consideration, and only a portion of those find themselves enacted into law, most often altered along the way. And political scientists concerned with public administration know that there may be a world of difference between the language enacted and the actions ultimately implemented.
Clinton's comments on women's rights also deserve a low grade due to her shallowness and shrillness. Perhaps we should applaud her for limiting herself to women's rights on buses and as performers, and not as participants in Orthodox religious ceremonies. That's also something that Jews argue about, but the evidence is that seating and participation in the rituals have been segregated, at least since the 11th century. The majority of American Jews affiliated with non-Orthodox congregations may look askance as the practice, but that is how the vast majority of Israeli Jews practice their religion.
Segregated buses serve only the ultra-Orthodox communities, and the indications are that women in those communities tend to support the separation. When I ride Jerusalem's #4 bus from French Hill through Mea She'arim to the city center, or bus #68 through Bar Ilan Street toward the Central Bus Station, I notice that ultra-Orthodox women getting on in those areas would rather stand than sit next to a male. They hold on with one hand while holding a book of Psalms or the prayer for travel in the other hand, and move their lips while reading the text silently.
When a religious couple that appears to be married gets on the bus together then sits separately, other passengers may conclude that it is one of the woman's "impure" days. (I'll leave it to others to explain that to the uninformed.)
Rabbis as well as politicians and ordinary Israelis are arguing about the recent uptick in religious Jews' concerns for the separation of the sexes. If someone would translate for Ms Clinton just about any page of Talmud, she might notice that argument is central to Jewish culture. It happens in just about every Israeli political party, as well as religious academies and the study groups associated with synagogues.
On relative scores for democracy, Ms Clinton might profit from a lesson in some of the more extensive ways of thinking about the concept. Someone ought to remind her about social and economic conditions existing within walking distance of the American Capitol, and in just about every other large city. Low scores on high school completion, knowledge of civic issues and voting rates, not to mention health care, along with scores off the chart of western democracies for violence and incarceration suggest that she ought really to be talking more about what is closer to her home.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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LOL!
Her own business is something Hillary couldn't mind very well.
Especially when he was president...
Has hillary yet noticed anything a bit oppressive about the Muslim treatment of women?
Honor killings, stonings, rapes for which the women are held responsible, polygamous marriage, divorce at the recital of a few words by the husband?
Even if she was 1/4 as bright as she thinks she is, we’d still be in trouble with her as Secretary of State. Sorry Hillary, you’re not up to the job.
Clinton, Obama promote gay rights as human rights around the world
Geneva, Switzerland (CNN) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton challenged nations around the world Tuesday to recognize that “gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights,” building on an order by President Barack Obama directing all U.S. agencies to “promote and protect” the rights of gay people,
In an impassioned defense of such rights, Clinton called the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people “universal” and criticized nations that criminalize gay behavior or tolerate abuse of gay, bisexual or transgendered people
Clinton made the unusually strong speech as Obama announced a presidential directive to use U.S. foreign aid to promote rights for gays and lesbians abroad, including combating attempts by foreign governments to criminalize homosexuality and making treatment of gays a factor in awarding foreign aid.
READ MORE……..
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/06/world/us-world-gay-rights/
Hillary demeaned herself by asking the world to understand and accept queers. She further totally demeaned herself by tieing her disgusting long hair in a pony tail.
Helen Thomas now has a rival for disgusting leftist appearance poster girl
"Not being beautiful was the true blessing. Not being beautiful forced me to develop my inner resources. The pretty girl has a handicap to overcome"- Golda Meir
Hillary has always thought she was president. Now she thinks she is the Pope.
By her fiat, Israel orthodox practices must end, because it does not advance her abortion agenda, or because it exhibits a devotion to a religion other than Islam, or because it has practices much milder on women than her preferred religion of Islam.
We know them by their fruits, friends. Let’s call what we see by its name. Hillary is an infiltrator, surrounded by infiltrators, and has done nothing to save the lives of Christians, and no interest in aiding, assisting, supporting or saving Christians from the brutalities of her religion of choice and favor, Islam. Enough.
Mostly, Hillary Clinton wants Benjamen Netanyahu gone. Anything to side with his enemies is what she will be seen doing. She is a wrecking ball to peace and at any price she will foment destruction against Israel, as she has gone over to the dark side.
Hypocrite
Did the woman in the white coat off Hillary’s left shoulder just “goose” her? That’s the impression I get from the photo. Eeeewwww! Go wash that hand!
Why isn’t she running all over IRAN preaching this?? She could take a few thousand HomoSexual and Lesbian Activists with her to demonstrate to the Iranians that it is perfectly normal.
It was Dick Morris, but you shouldn’t curse on FR... you’ll get Zotted!
The face is the index of the mind.
She is so evil.
The point being, there's no fear when going after a soft target.
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