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George W. Bush Considered Worst President of this Lifetime?

On July 5, 2010, in Political, by admin

It’s one thing for a coterie of liberals at a late-night Washington soirée to say that George W. Bush was the worst president in their lifetimes.

It’s another thing when the same is said by the nation’s 238 leading presidential scholars, who have been polled annually for the last 28 years.

President Bush ranked worst among modern presidents — and the fifth worst in history, according to the poll by the Siena Research Institute. Ranking first? President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who led the country from 1933 until his death in 1945.

President Roosevelt served four terms, the longest of any president in history. US presidents became limited to two terms after US states ratified the 22nd Amendment to the US constitution in 1951.

President Barack Obama, who hasn’t yet served a full term, rated 15th.

Since 1982, the Siena Research Institute has polled presidential scholars on whom they view to be best and worst presidents in American history, based on a variety of issues from “integrity” to economic stewardship. This year’s poll of 238 scholars found that President Franklin Roosevelt was once again ranked on top, joined by Presidents Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, and Teddy Roosevelt to complete the top five. However, President George W. Bush did not fare well since the last poll was conducted in 2002. He dropped 16 places to 39th, making him the worst president since Warren Harding died in office in 1923, and one of the bottom five of all time, according to the experts:

“Today, just one year after leaving office, the former president has found himself in the bottom five at 39th rated especially poorly in handling the economy, communication, ability to compromise, foreign policy accomplishments and intelligence. Rounding out the bottom five are four presidents that have held that dubious distinction each time the survey has been conducted: Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin Pierce.”

Bush was rated second from the bottom on “intelligence,” “foreign policy accomplishments,” and “handling of U.S. economy.” This despite promises from Bush supporters that “history will be very kind” to the former president, as his Attorney General John Ashcroft put it. Bush’s father’s legacy “held constant” in this year’s poll, with George H.W. Bush coming in at 22nd. President Reagan “dropped two places from 16th overall in 2002 to 18th today.” President Obama was ranked 15th.

Thanks Raw Story

Seattle wants to Break the Record for Zombie Block Party

On July 5, 2010, in Life/Culture, by admin

Organizers of this weekend’s big “zombie” block party in Seattle said they were shooting for a world-record crowd of undead revelers.

The Red, White and Dead Zombie Block Party Saturday night flooded the streets of the Fremont neighborhood in numbers that may turn out to be a Guinness World Record, the Seattle Times said Sunday.

The original block party did hold the mark for largest gathering of zombies of 3,894, but a similar British event later drew 132 more of the undead.

What the walking corpses in the Pacific Northwest may have lacked in numbers, they made up for in enthusiasm. The Times said costumed revelers were staggering around everywhere Saturday and some businesses posted signs warning that anyone dripping blood on their floors would be “dismembered.”

Thanks UPI.

Tagged with: block • block party • British • guinness world record • Seattle • seattle times • Washington • zombie

Hillary Clinton Urges Senate to Ratify Nuclear Deal with Russia

On June 17, 2010, in Political, by admin

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the Senate Thursday to support a new nuclear weapons treaty with Russia, assuring Republicans it would not undermine US missile defense plans.

“From the very beginning of the negotiations, this administration has been very clear. This treaty limits strategic offensive nuclear arms, not missile defenses,” Clinton told senators.

“We share a strong belief that the new start treaty will make our country more secure and we urge the Senate to ratify it expeditiously.”

She was among key members of President Barack Obama’s administration arguing before the Senate Armed Services Committee for ratification of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), signed with Russia on April 8.

Russia has said it reserves the right to withdraw from the treaty if Washington presses ahead with missile defense systems in eastern Europe in a way that Moscow opposes.

But Clinton said: “A unilateral statement made by Russia concerning missile defense does not limit or constrain our missile-defense efforts.

“Indeed, a US unilateral statement makes it clear that, quote, ‘our missile-defense systems are not intended to affect the strategic balance with Russia,’” she said.

The statement also says US missile-defense systems would only “be employed to defend the United States against limited missile launches and to defend its deployed forces, allies and partners against regional threats,” she added.

“The unilateral statement that we made also states that the United States intends to continue improving and deploying its missile-defense systems in order to defend itself against limited attack,” she added.

Under the new pact, each nation will be allowed a maximum of 1,550 deployed warheads, about 30 percent lower than a limit set in 2002.

They are also restricted to 700 air, ground and submarine-launched nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles.

But Republicans have cautioned they will oppose the pact if they think it will hamper US missile defense.

Treaty ratification needs 67 votes, but Democrats and their two independent allies hold only 59 seats in the 100-member Senate, meaning they will need to rally at least eight Republicans to their side.

Thanks Google.

Tagged with: Clinton • Europe • Hillary Clinton • Missile • Moscow • Republicans • Russia • Secretary of state Hillary Clinton • Senate • US • Washington

Washington D.C. Man Arrested with Goat in Trunk of his Car

On June 17, 2010, in Life/Culture, VOD, by admin

A knocking sound coming from a car stopped during a regional drunken-driving checkpoint Friday evening originated from a goat, bound and shoved in the trunk of the sedan, authorities said.

When the car, driven by Fiona Ann Enderdy, 32, of Washington, D.C., pulled up to the checkpoint at the Bedford County/Campbell County line on U.S. 460, Bedford Sheriff’s Deputy Allison Key heard noises from the trunk and asked the driver what was in there, according to a Bedford Sheriff’s Office news release.

The driver said she had a goat, and that’s what Key found when Enderdy opened the trunk, the release said. The goat was panting heavily.

An animal control officer also working the checkpoint said the temperature in the trunk was 94 degrees after it had been opened for about 10 minutes, the release said.

Officers gave the goat water and transported it to the Bedford County pound, the release said.

Enderdy told Key she bought the goat from a farmer to give to the four passengers in her car, who are from Kenya but reside in Lynchburg, the release said.

She told deputies she is from the United Kingdom and transporting goats in this manner is acceptable there.

Enderdy was charged with cruelty to an animal and released. Her advisement hearing is scheduled for July 8. A hearing in Bedford County General District Court will soon determine what will happen to the goat.

Friday’s checkpoint was a joint effort among the Bedford and Lynchburg police departments; Bedford, Campbell, and Amherst County sheriff’s offices and the Virginia State Police.

Almost 15,000 vehicles traveled through the checkpoint in just over four hours, resulting in 82 arrests and citations, including three for driving under the influence and one for drugs.

Thanks NewsAdvance.com

Tagged with: bedford county • car • goat • kenya • knocking • lynchburg • United Kingdom • US • Washington • Washington D.C.

Hillary Clinton Opens Talk with India, “Limitless.”

On June 3, 2010, in Political, by admin

Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began a set of strategic talks between the two most populous democracies that will range from agriculture to investments.

“I truly believe ours is a relationship of limitless opportunity for mutual benefit,” Krishna said at the State Department in Washington today.

The dialogue follows up on November meetings between President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Washington, a visit that was marked by the first state dinner of Obama’s presidency.

The Obama administration began its work to expand communication and cooperation with India with that visit, which built on agreements during President George W. Bush’s administration on nuclear-energy trade. At the time, Obama described the ties between the U.S. and India as “one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century.”

Krishna said he was “happy” about the creation of a new financial framework and partnership trade agreement, which he said would “help us reach new heights in bilateral trade and investment.”

The opening session touched on the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008, with Krishna saying it would a “logical next step” for the U.S. to allow India access to individuals detained in connection with the assault.

The Indian minister praised a decision to deepen cooperation on trade and moves to liberalize U.S. export controls that apply to India. The so-called strategic dialogue will also encompass environmental and clean-energy technologies, an area where Krishna said the U.S. and India should collaborate.

Thanks Bloomberg.

Tagged with: Clinton • democracies • George Bush • Hillary Clinton • Indian • Obama • Secretary of state Hillary Clinton • US • Washington

Washington Man Accidentally Shoots Himself in the Balls

On June 3, 2010, in Life/Culture, by admin

A Washington state man accidentally discharged his gun at a Lowe’s Home Improvement store and shot himself in the testicles, police said.

Lynnwood police spokeswoman Shannon Sessions said the man was shopping at about 12:30 p.m. Sunday when his gun, which was in the waistband of his pants, went off in an apparent “accidental discharge,” The Seattle Times reported Tuesday.

“It made a loud noise and scared a lot of people in the store,” Sessions said. “I believe he shot himself in the testicles and he also had some injuries to his leg and foot. He was obviously in shock.”

Sessions said police did not have a chance to interview the man before he was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, but investigators determined “at this point it does look like it’s accidental.”

Police are continuing to investigate, the spokeswoman said.

Thanks UPI.

Tagged with: GUN • LOWES • LYNNWOOD • pants • shot • TESTICLES • Washington

Hillary Clinton Says Coca Cola and Intel will Assist Muslim Entrepreneurs

On April 28, 2010, in Political, by admin

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced initiatives to create ties between U.S. companies and entrepreneurs in Muslim-majority countries, steps she linked today to social gains and improved relations with their people.

Clinton described mentoring backed by New York-based Ernst & Young LLP and Intel Corp. of Santa Clara, California, a global entrepreneurship program, a Silicon Valley effort to fund start- up companies, and a collaboration with Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. to get businesses involved in these State Department programs.

“Relationships between nations are sustained by the connections between their peoples,” Clinton told a gathering of the entrepreneurs in Washington. “You have the power not only to drive economic growth, but promote shared prosperity, call for open and accountable governance, help expand access to services like health care and education.”

Clinton announced the new programs at a two-day conference meant to jumpstart the “new beginning” between the U.S. and Muslim nations that President Barack Obama called for in a speech last year in Egypt. The conference drew more than 250 participants from over 50 countries, including Algeria, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh and Cameroon, the administration said.

“This summit reflects the new approach to foreign policy that President Obama described last year at Cairo University,” Clinton said. “One that we have been putting into practice through partnerships based on shared values, mutual respect and mutual responsibility.”

The use of business ties and assistance reflects an administration effort to make various kinds of development assistance a pillar of U.S. foreign policy, alongside military involvement and diplomacy.

Poverty, Democracy

In a January speech, Clinton said that a safer, more prosperous, democratic and equitable world remains out of reach as long as one-third of the world’s people live in poverty. Today, she announced four new programs designed to help aspiring small business owners in the Muslim world prosper.

The Global Entrepreneurship Program will provide “concrete support” to entrepreneurs in Muslim-majority countries, eventually expanding worldwide. The program will sponsor business plan competitions, help with access to credit and facilitate exchanges between U.S. business schools and those in other countries.

The program will be in a dozen countries in the next two years, Clinton said.

In a second initiative, the State Department has partnered with Global Technology and Innovation Partners and the Innovators Fund, Silicon Valley groups started by U.S. venture capital investors and business leaders.

Capital, Expertise

They will support innovation and entrepreneurship in predominantly Muslim countries with seed funding, venture capital and expertise. The program will begin in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Malaysia and expand from there, Clinton said.

A third program called e-Mentor Corps would expand mentoring opportunities and draw on expertise at Intel, Ernst & Young and the Young Presidents’ Organization in Irving, Texas.

The final project is intended to involve U.S. companies, universities, and foundations in the administration’s outreach efforts.

The State Department will work with Partners for a New Beginning, a non-profit led by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that will spearhead the effort to get private business involved in State Department programs.

Coca-Cola CEO

Partners for a New Beginning, co-chaired by Coca-Cola Chief Executive Officer Muhtar Kent, will reach out to U.S. companies, universities, laboratories, research centers, non-profit organizations, philanthropists and others. They will be asked to invest in and guide entrepreneurs in Muslim-majority countries and contribute equipment or technology.

“Global corporations have an important role to play in small business development and in helping to create sustainable communities where they operate,” Kent said in a statement read by Coca-Cola executive Barclay Resler.

Coca-Cola has been present in countries such as Malaysia since 1936 and in Pakistan since 1953, according to Kent.

Thanks Bloomberg.

Tagged with: atlanta • California • Clinton • coca cola • companies • Hillary Clinton • New York • Secretary of state Hillary Clinton • silicon valley • stae department • US • Washington

East Jerusalem Construction is Frozen for Time Being

On April 26, 2010, in Political, by admin

The Israeli government has imposed a de facto freeze on new Jewish construction in Jerusalem’s disputed eastern sector, municipal officials said Monday. The decision was made despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s public insistence that building would not be stopped in the face of U.S. pressure.

It remained unclear if the slowdown constituted a formal moratorium or how long it would last, but the move reflected Netanyahu’s need to mend a serious rift with the U.S. over Israeli construction on lands the Palestinians claim for a future state as Washington tries to bring the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

An Israeli government official claimed a weekslong delay in reviewing plans for new construction was nothing more than a bureaucratic issue. Nonetheless, signs of the freeze drew angry criticism from hard-line lawmakers, including a member of Netanyahu’s own party who warned the government could collapse over the matter.

Construction in east Jerusalem has been a major sticking point since Israel infuriated Washington last month by announcing a major new east Jerusalem housing development during a visit by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

Jerusalem Councilman Meir Margalit of the dovish Meretz Party said top Jerusalem officials intimately involved with construction projects told him that Netanyahu’s office ordered a freeze after Washington expressed anger over the building plans.

“The government ordered the Interior Ministry immediately after the Biden incident to not even talk about new construction for Jewish homes in east Jerusalem,” Margalit said. “It’s not just that building has stopped: The committees that deal with this are not even meeting anymore.”

He declined to identify the officials who informed him of the order because they had not approved the disclosure of their names. A Jerusalem municipal spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking interviews with the officials.

Another councilman, Meir Turujamen, who sits on the Interior Ministry committee that approves building plans, said his panel has not met since the Biden visit, after previously meeting once weekly.

“I wrote a letter about three weeks or a month ago asking (Interior Minister Eli) Yishai why the committee isn’t convening,” he said. “To this day I haven’t received an answer.”

Turujamen added that the last time his committee met was on March 9, when it made the provocative decision to approve the 1,600-apartment Ramat Shlomo project that riled the Americans.

He said he received no official word of a de facto freeze order, “but based on the situation, those are the facts. We used to meet once a week, and now for several months we haven’t met. It’s clear there’s an order.”

After word of the Ramat Shlomo project got out, the Palestinians called off indirect U.S.-mediated peace talks. Under American pressure, Palestinian leaders will seek backing this week from the Arab League to renew participation in those talks.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he has not heard anything official about an Israeli construction freeze in east Jerusalem. “What counts for us is what we’ll be seeing on the ground,” he said. “We hope the Israeli government will halt settlement activity so we can give proximity talks the chance they deserve.”

Attempts to advance construction haven’t halted altogether. A lower-level municipal planning committee last week gave preliminary approval to a synagogue and kindergarten in a Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem, he said. But that decision still needs Interior Ministry approval.

An engineer who oversees residential construction in a Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem said requests for proposals to build hundreds of apartments already approved haven’t gone out. “I think it’s related to the political situation,” he said, adding that he knew of no official order to block construction.

The engineer spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to jeopardize his business ties with the city.

Netanyahu has said he was taken by surprise by the approval of the Ramat Shlomo project while Biden was here, and aides announced that he would make sure he would be kept in the loop in the future before any decisions were taken on controversial construction.

But he also has repeatedly stated he would not freeze construction.

Asked about Margalit’s claim that a freeze order was in effect, government spokesman Mark Regev replied: “Following the Biden visit and the mishap, the prime minister asked that a mechanism be put in place to prevent a recurrence of this kind of debacle.”

He would not elaborate, and stopped short of saying Netanyahu had ordered a freeze.

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Efrat Orbach said this mechanism explained why planning committee meetings were being delayed, because now multiple ministries had to be involved in the coordination.

“There is no freeze, there is bureaucracy,” Orbach said.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, the site of sacred shrines holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians, in the 1967 Middle East war and immediately annexed it. Some 180,000 Israelis now live in Jewish neighborhoods built there in the past four decades, and about 2,000 more live in the heart of traditionally Arab neighborhoods.

The Palestinians, the U.S. and the rest of the international community do not recognize the annexation.

The hawkish Netanyahu, however, has said repeatedly that east Jerusalem will remain under Israeli sovereignty in any peace deal, a position the Palestinians reject. Most of the partners in his hardline coalition have publicly opposed sharing Jerusalem with the Palestinians or freezing construction in east Jerusalem.

Netanyahu huddled with members of his Likud Party on Monday and denied any freeze was in place, said Danny Danon, a lawmaker who attended the meeting.

“If we see there is a freeze, we will not sit quietly and the prime minister knows that,” he said. “This coalition will not allow the prime minister to freeze building in Jerusalem.”

Also Monday, Israeli troops killed a wanted Palestinian militant in a raid on a West Bank house. The body of the man, identified by relatives as Hamas activist Ali Sweiti, was carried out of the badly damaged building.

The Israeli army said Sweiti was wanted in five shooting attacks, one of which killed a paramilitary policeman in 2004. The army said he was killed after he refused calls to surrender and opened fire at soldiers.

Thanks Breitbart.

Tagged with: alestinians • Israeli • jerusalem • Jewish • Joe Biden • Netanyahu • US • Washington

Hillary Clinton Player of the Week

On April 13, 2010, in Political, by admin

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has been extraordinarily busy lately.

In recent weeks, she has called on Congress to back a new arms treaty with Russia, stressed that the U.S. will keep nuclear weapons as long as there are countries that have access to weapons of mass destruction and tiptoed around Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to skip this week’s conference in Washington on nuclear issues.

The conference, aimed at convincing world leaders to tackle the threat of nuclear arms falling into the hands of terrorists, could be a defining moment in Clinton’s tenure at the State Department.

What is most pressing on Clinton’s mind is convincing the necessary two-thirds of the Senate to approve the U.S.-Russia nuclear arms pact.

During a Friday speech in Louisville, Ky., with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in the audience, Clinton said the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) merits bipartisan support. She said the START agreement “is the latest chapter in the history of American nuclear responsibility, a chapter that has been co-authored by Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and even further back.”

Clinton will need at least eight Republicans to sign on — and that will not be easy.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said on “Fox News Sunday” this weekend that Clinton does not yet have 67 yes votes.

In order to get the votes, Lieberman said, the Obama administration should commit to modernizing America’s existing nuclear stockpile and reject Russia’s demand that the U.S. halt plans for a European missile defense system.

As she is looking for senators to endorse the treaty, Clinton will need to deal with speculation that the president will tap her for the Supreme Court. The White House on Monday sought to dispel that possibility, but it will still be a topic of conversation in the halls of the Senate this week.

Thanks The Hill.

Tagged with: Benjamin Netanyahu • Clinton • Congress • Hillary Clinton • mithc mcconnell • Nuclear • Russia • Secretary of state Hillary Clinton • terrorists • US • Washington

Israel WILL continue to Build in East Jerusalem Despite what U.S. Says

On March 21, 2010, in Life/Culture, by admin

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Sunday that Israel would not restrict construction in east Jerusalem, a step the U.S. has requested—sticking to a tough position hours before he sets off on his first trip to Washington since a diplomatic row erupted between the two allies.

Netanyahu also said he was willing to broaden indirect talks with the Palestinians to include the main issues dividing them. The prime minister originally had wanted to put off a discussion of issues like the status of contested east Jerusalem, final borders and the fate of Palestinian refugees until direct talks are launched.

Netanyahu’s refusal to budge on east Jerusalem—whose fate lies at the crux of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—defies a U.S. demand to cancel a major new housing project at the heart of the feud. But in confidential talks, he apparently offered enough steps to prompt U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to call them “useful and productive” and dispatch an envoy back to the region this week.

Before meeting with Israel’s defense minister on Sunday, envoy George Mitchell described ties between the U.S. and Israel as “unshakable.”

Netanyahu takes off for Washington Sunday night to address the annual conference of the pro-Israel lobby in the U.S. He will meet President Barack Obama on Tuesday, Mark Regev, the Israeli prime ministers spokesman said.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, who was touring the Gaza Strip Sunday. Ban wants a nearly three-year blockade of Gaza lifted and said Israel’s recent opening of Gaza’s borders to allow in window frames and other supplies to complete a 151-apartment U.N. housing project in southern Gaza was “a drop in a bucket of water.”

The blockade causes “unacceptable suffering” and “undercuts moderates and encourages extremists,” he said after visiting the project in the Khan Younis refugee camp. “My message to the people of Gaza is this: The United Nations will stand with you, through this ordeal.”

Most of the 15,000 homes destroyed or damaged during Israel’s war in Gaza, which ended in January last year, have not been repaired because of the blockade. Israel launched the war after years of militant rocket fire from Gaza on its southern communities.

The blockade was imposed in 2007 after Hamas violently took over the territory from its rivals in the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, said troops in the West Bank shot dead two Palestinians carrying pitchforks and an ax who tried to attack a soldier.

A third Palestinian died of a gunshot wound to the head inflicted by an Israeli soldier at a demonstration the day before. His brother died Saturday in the same protest.

Israeli construction in east Jerusalem is such a fraught issue because it challenges Palestinian claims to that sector of the city as a future capital. The announcement of a major new building project during Vice President Joe Biden’s visit earlier this month insulted Washington and provoked the biggest rift between the two allies in decades.

That rift has put Netanyahu in a particularly difficult bind, forcing him to find a formula that would repair ties with the U.S. without antagonizing his hawkish coalition partners, who vehemently oppose sharing sovereignty in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu’s office denied reports that he promised to slow construction in the city’s eastern sector.

“Our policy on Jerusalem is the same as that of all previous Israeli governments in the past 42 years and it hasn’t changed,” he told his Cabinet at the start of its weekly meeting. “As far as we are concerned, building in Jerusalem is like building in Tel Aviv. We made this clear to the U.S. administration.”

But Cabinet ministers said in practice, construction will be restricted—as it has been in the West Bank since November, when Netanyahu officially agreed to do so under heavy U.S. pressure.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 Mideast war. The international community does not recognize the annexation and considers the Jewish construction in east Jerusalem to be settlement building.

Netanyahu also told his Cabinet that the U.S.-brokered talks with the Palestinians would include a discussion of the main issues between them, but added that a “real resolution” of the conflicts could only be achieved in direct talks.

These issues include the status of Jerusalem, final borders and the fate of Palestinian refugees from the war around Israel’s 1948 creation.

The row over east Jerusalem construction held up the start of the indirect talks, which are to be brokered by Washington’s special Mideast envoy, George Mitchell.

Mitchell is to meet with Netanyahu before the prime minister sets off for Washington and on Monday with Abbas.

Thanks Breitbart.

Tagged with: abbas • Benjamin Netanyahu • construction • east jerusalem • gaza strip • george mitchell • Hillary Clinton • Israel • jerusalem • Palestinians • UN • US • Washington

Hillary Clinton Pledges Support to Israel After Beef

On March 16, 2010, in Political, by admin

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has dismissed the idea that US-Israeli relations are in crisis amid a row over Jewish settlers in Arab East Jerusalem.

She said the two nations had a “close, unshakeable bond” but made clear the US wanted both Israel and the Palestinians to prove their commitment to peace.

Earlier, US envoy George Mitchell postponed a planned visit to Israel.

Heightened tensions in Jerusalem have led to violent clashes between hundreds of Palestinians and Israeli police.

Israeli police said about 60 Palestinians had been arrested and medical officials said a number of people had been injured.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged restraint from both sides, the AFP news agency reports, and reiterated that Jerusalem’s final status should be decided by negotiation.

‘Dismay and disappointment’

Israel angered Washington by announcing its plans for 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem as US Vice-President Joe Biden visited the region last week to try to kick-start stalled peace talks.

Israel’s ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, was quoted by Israeli media on Monday as saying that ties between the US and Israel were at their lowest point since 1975.

Asked if that was the case, Mrs Clinton said: “I don’t buy that.”

She said Washington had an “absolute commitment to Israel’s security”.

But, she added, the US did not always agree with its international allies on everything, and it had expressed its “dismay and disappointment” to Israel over last week’s incident.

Last week, Mrs Clinton called the settlements announcement “insulting” to the US and, in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanded Israel take steps to show its commitment to peace.

The US says it is still awaiting a “formal” response from Israel to those concerns.

Mr Mitchell had been due to meet Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday but the trip has been put off to an as yet undetermined time, officials said.

State department spokesman Philip Crowley said Mr Mitchell would not meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders before a Middle East Quartet meeting in Moscow on Friday but talks would be scheduled at some point.

BBC state department correspondent Kim Ghattas, in Washington, says the pressure is piling up on Israel but the question being asked is whether the US can get anything from Israel at this stage.

It is possible the Israeli prime minister cannot deliver what Washington wants without paying too heavy a price at home, our correspondent says.

Although he has apologised for the timing of the settlement announcement, Mr Netanyahu has stood by Israel’s policy, telling parliament on Monday there can be “no curbs” on Jewish building in Jerusalem.

The BBC’s Paul Wood in Jerusalem says there seems to be an impasse – if Mr Netanyahu caves in and cancels the new settlements, the stability of his government may be in doubt; if he does not, it is hard to see how the peace talks can take place.

‘Day of rage’

Tensions in East Jerusalem have risen in recent days with the settlements issue and the rededication of a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Old City, which Palestinians have condemned as provocative.

Hundreds of Palestinian protesters burned tyres and threw rocks, while police fired stun grenades and tear gas, as rioting broke out in a number of areas – including the Shu’fat refugee camp, al-Eisaweyah and the Qalandia checkpoint between Israel and the West Bank.

Israeli police said they had deployed 3,000 officers across the city.

The reopening of the twice-destroyed Hurva synagogue, in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, which Palestinians seek as part of a future capital, triggered a wide backlash.

Hatem Abdel Qader, Jerusalem affairs spokesman for the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said: “This synagogue will be a prelude to violence and religious fanaticism and extremism.”

Militant group Hamas had declared Tuesday a “day of rage” against the move.

Thousands of people turned out in Gaza to protest against the rededication of the synagogue, not far from the al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, although demonstrations there remained relatively peaceful.

Our correspondent says the call by some Palestinian officials for people to defend the Haram al-Sharif or Temple Mount, site of the al-Aqsa mosque, comes amid rumours of plans by Jewish extremists to take control of the area.

He says that although the clashes so far are small-scale, no-one has forgotten how the last Palestinian intifada – or uprising – began over the holy sites in Jerusalem.

Thanks BBC.

Tagged with: arab • bbc • Benjamin Netanyahu • east jerusalem • general ban ki-moon • george mitchell • Hillary Clinton • Israel • Israeli • Jewish • Joe Biden • middle quartet • Palestinians • Peace • Secretary of state Hillary Clinton • shimon peres • US • Washington

Florida Vampire Decides to Run for President

On March 16, 2010, in Life/Culture, Political, by admin

Not satisfied with living in Florida, Jonathon “The Impaler” Sharkey wants to move to Washington, D.C., to become the nation’s first vampire president.

Sharkey, 45, spent Friday on a Greyhound bus with his new fiancee, Audrianna Foster, a 19-year-old girl from Ohio he met online. She too believes she is a vampire, or vampyre.

“I haven’t dated a girl older than 19 since 2006,” said the Tampa man as his 19-year-old daughter and his 2-year-old grandson met him at the Greyhound station. “It’s good to be me.”

“The Impaler” claims he’s a direct descendent of Vlad II the Impaler, better known as Dracula.

He has scheduled a Monday news conference in Tampa to announce his plans to file paperwork to run for president of the United States in 2012. He recently switched his party affiliation from Independent to Republican so he can run with the GOP.

He ran for governor of Minnesota in 2006 and also had short-lived bids for U.S. Senate in 2000, U.S. President in 2004, and U.S. President in 2008.

In an extended interview with WTSP-TV, Sharkey shared well-thought-out opinions on capital punishment, the abortion issue, and veterans issues. However, he also bragged about having numerous teen-age girlfriends in recent years.

The girls have also provided several skeletons in Sharkey’s closet.

- He’s accused of “brainwashing” a 16-year-old in Minnesota. The two were engaged until last month. Her family now has a restraining order against Sharkey and claims his texts to her violate it.

- He reportedly admitted to harassing another 16-year-old Minnesota girl online in 2009.

- He was arrested in Tennessee several years ago and is currently on probation from Indiana after he was found guilty in 2009 of intimidating a judge. He served six months in a Marion Co. jail before his release. Sources confirm the Secret Service has had to keep him on its radar, since he moves around the country.

Sharkey was once on the Executive Committee of the Hillsborough Co. Republican Party in the 1990s, but A.J. Matthews, HCRP State Committeeman, says he didn’t show any of the extreme behaviors he’s exhibiting now.

“He does believe in Republican values,” Matthews said. “Is he going to make a big splash with his current identification of being a vampire? That’s up to the voters to decide.”

Matthews said he’d help Sharkey with campaign basics, just like he would any Republican candidate. But he’s been trying to advise him to focus on mainstream issues and away from the extreme behaviors.

Sharkey, meanwhile, continues to develop a movie on his campaign, “The True Impaler.” You can read about the campaign on his Web site, www.TheImpalerForMNGovernor.us.

Thanks AZ Central.

Tagged with: d.c. • dracula • Florida • GOP • greyhound • impaler • Minnesota • Ohio • online • President • Republican • Senate • Tennessee • Vampire • veteran • vlad • Washington • wtsp-tv