Maimonides, LBJ and the War on Poverty

Maimonides (Laws of Gifts to the Poor in the Mishneh Torah) states the goal of welfare programs is to create independence. LBJ set that as the goal for the War on Poverty 60 years ago. But it has done the OPPOSITE.  Liberals claim that the War on Poverty has failed because we didn’t spend enough money. Their answer is just to spend more. But the facts show otherwise.
Since its beginning, U.S. taxpayers have spent $22 trillion on Johnson’s War on Poverty (in constant 2012 dollars). Adjusting for inflation, that’s three times more than was spent on all military wars since the American Revolution.
One third of the U.S. population received aid from at least one welfare program at an average cost of $9,000 per recipient in 2013.
The federal government currently runs more than 80 means-tested welfare programs. These programs provide cash, food, housing and medical care to low-income Americans. Federal and state spending on these programs last year was $943 billion. (These figures do not include Social Security, Medicare, or Unemployment Insurance.)
Over 100 million people, about one third of the U.S. population, received aid from at least one welfare program at an average cost of $9,000 per recipient in 2013. If converted into cash, current means-tested spending is five times the amount needed to eliminate all poverty in the U.S.
But today the Census will almost certainly proclaim that around 14 percent of Americans are still poor. The present poverty rate is almost exactly the same as it was in 1967 a few years after the War on Poverty started. Census data actually shows that poverty has gotten worse over the last 40 years.
How is this possible? How can the taxpayers spend $22 trillion on welfare while poverty gets worse?
According to government surveys, the typical family that Census identifies as poor has air conditioning, cable or satellite TV, and a computer in his home. Forty percent have a wide screen HDTV and another 40 percent have internet access. Three quarters of the poor own a car and roughly a third have two or more cars. (These numbers are not the result of the current bad economy pushing middle class families into poverty; instead, they reflect a steady improvement in living conditions among the poor for many decades.)

Infographic by Kelsey Harris/The Daily Signal
The intake of protein, vitamins and minerals by poor children is virtually identical with upper middle class kids. According to surveys by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the overwhelming majority of poor people report they were not hungry even for a single day during the prior year.

We can be grateful that the living standards of all Americans, including the poor, have risen in the past half century, but the War on Poverty has not succeeded according to Johnson’s original goal. Johnson’s aim was not to prop up living standards by making more and more people dependent on an ever larger welfare state. Instead, Johnson sought to increase self-sufficiency, the ability of a family to support itself out of poverty without dependence on welfare aid. Johnson asserted that the War on Poverty would actually shrink the welfare rolls and transform the poor from “taxeaters” into “taxpayers.”
Judged by that standard, the War on Poverty has been a colossal flop. The welfare state has undermined self-sufficiency by discouraging work and penalizing marriage. When the War on Poverty began seven percent of children were born outside marriage. Today, 42 percent of children are. By eroding marriage, the welfare state has made many Americans less capable of self-support than they were when the War on Poverty began.

President Obama plans to spend $13 trillion dollars on means-tested welfare over the next decade. Most of this spending will flow through traditional welfare programs that discourage the keys to self-sufficiency: work and marriage.
Rather than doubling down on the mistakes of the past, we should restructure the welfare state around Johnson’s original goal: increasing Americans capacity for self-support. Welfare should no longer be a one way hand out; able-bodied recipients of cash, food and housing should be required to work or prepare for work as condition of receiving aid. Welfare’s penalties against marriage should be reduced. By returning to the original vision of aiding the poor to aid themselves, we can begin, in Johnson’s words, to “replace their despair with opportunity.” http://dailysignal.com/2014/09/16/war-poverty-colossal-flop/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbell&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonvKTNZKXonjHpfsX56e8tX661lMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4DT8ZrI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFQrLBMa1ozrgOWxU%3D

Don't forget Iran

In a major foreign policy address, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu warned against cooperation with Shiite Iran in the fight against the Islamic State.
While praising the U.S. for leading an international coalition against extremist terror groups, Netanyahu reminded the world of Iran and its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, saying this would cause the "ultimate terror."
"I think it's crucial not to let the fight against Sunni extremism make us forget the danger of Shiite extremism. They are two sides of the same coin. We don't have to strengthen one to weaken the other. My policy is: Weaken both and most importantly, don't allow any of them to get weapons of mass destruction," Netanyahu said, according to a report in Israel Hayom.
Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, reiterating Israel's worry the U.S. focus on ISIS will distract it from more serious threats, was quoted as saying the Islamic State "is a five-year problem. A nuclear Iran is a 50-year problem ... with far greater impact."
Speaking Sept. 11 at an international anti-terrorism conference hosted by the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Netanyahu also said Israel is "playing our part" in U.S. President Obama's offensive against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, including action which he said may not be made public.

I'm visiting Memphis, Elvis's Jewish roots

Elvis Presley’s Jewish Roots Highlighted on his 35th Yahrtzheit

August 16, 2012 8:43 pm 44 comments

Author:

Atara Arbesfeld

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Dan Hartal Elaine Dundy Elvis and Gladys Elvis mother Elvis Presley Elvis Presley Jewish Jewish Elvis Jewish Identity Jewish mother matrilinial descent Schmelvis

Elvis Presley. Photo: wiki commons.

On the 35th anniversary of his death Thursday, Tablet magazine highlighted something about Elvis Presley that even his die-hard fans probably don’t know: he’s Jewish!
According to Talmudic law, whereby one is considered a Jew by matrilineal descent, then Elvis Aron Presley is indeed a member of the tribe by virtue of his mother.
Tablet points out that when Elvis’ eligibility to be nominated to the Jewish American Hall of Fame was highlighted along with other Jewish celebrities, the organization cited historian and biographer Elaine Dundy’s book “Elvis and Gladys” as evidence of the rock legend’s Jewish heritage:

“…Nancy Burdine was married to Abner Tackett (Elvis’ great great maternal grandmother). Nancy was of particular interest to Gladys for her Jewish heritage, often remembering Nancy’s sons for their Jewish names Sidney and Jerome. Nancy and Abner had a daughter Martha who married White Mansell. The daughter which they named Octavia, nick-named Doll, who was Elvis’ maternal grandmother.

“…Doll and Robert had nine children. Gladys Love was the fifth daughter born followed by 3 more brothers and one sister. After his mother died, Elvis personally sought to design his beloved mother’s gravesite which included a Star of David on Gladys Love Presley’s tombstone. The decision was made by him in honor of his Jewish heritage. Something his mother was proud of and acknowledged to Elvis at a very early age.”

Elvis reportedly paid tribute to his heritage on several occasions; donning a “Chai” necklace during a 1972 concert in Salt Lake City, Utah, and  having a Star of David engraved on his mother’s headstone following her passing in 1959. Elvis also has his fair share of Jewish impersonators, including one Orthodox Jew named Dan Hartal, who goes by the moniker “Schmelvis.”

Update on Flourishing of Jihad 2009 until now under Obama,

Flourishing of Jihad 2009 until now under Obama, much with his direct aid. You decide whether its purposeful on his part, or incompetence, or horrible consequences of wrongheaded world view.
1.Libya: he helped push out Quaddafi, and now Libya in hands of various jihad groups. Egypt is very worried about them.
2.Iraq: pulled out after war was won opening way for ISIS
3.Syria: drew red lines and then ignored them when breached and now Isis controls half
4.Hamas: secret talks with this terrorist group while they toss missiles daily at Israel for 6 months and continued to fund PA even after the have unity government with Hamas. Secret talks with them.
5. Iran: weakened sanctions consistently and now extends talks while they move forward tried to overthrow Mubarak and support Moslem Brotherhood, gave them 1.5 billion and sophisticated weapons
6. Turkey Obama’s favorite foreign leader calls Israelis Nazis It is also no surprise that Obama would name this vicious Jew-hater as his closest friend among world leaders. “Erdogan calls Israel more barbaric than Hitler,” Times of Israel, July 19, 2014
7. He backed Morsi in Egypt, head of Moslem Brotherhood who said Jews are descended from pigs, gave them 1.5 billion and f16s.
8. Iron Dome vs Terrorist funding Follow the money: each round of Iron Dome funding, Obama has tried to cut substantially. Congress overruled him. http://freebeacon.com/national-security/house-restores-funding-for-israeli-missile-defense/  His response? $47 more for Hamas to rebuild, $500 million for Syrian rebels (which will go straight to Isis, $11 billion arms deal with Qatar
9. Opens southern borders, allowing terrorists cross into US easilyhttp://www.nationalreview.com/article/346591/southern-border-our-welcome-mat-terrorists
10. http://www.jewsnews.co.il/2014/09/06/sleep-tight-america-obama-lifts-ban-barring-libyans-from-us-flight-schools-and-nuclear-studies/
11. Lost whereabouts of 6000 “students” of foreign nationality who never showed up for class
12. The unilateral release of five senior Taliban back to the enemy while the enemy is still fighting us.
13.  http://www.tpnn.com/2014/08/14/allen-west-barack-hussein-obama-is-an-islamist/
14. Does this bother anyone else? Obama had a meeting with an "interesting" cleric -- on the anniversary of 9-11 no less. http://allenbwest.com/2014/09/connect-dots-obama-met-cleric-supports-hezbollah-911/
15. His administration hired senior terrorists to work for US government. One example http://www.debbieschlussel.com/19764/sleeping-w-the-enemy-obama-hires-muslim-extremist-to-tsa-senior-policy-advisor/
16. Had Bagdadai, Isis leader in custody in 2009 but released him
17. Severly limits FBI ability to monitor Islamic extremists in USA http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/n/NSA-SNOOPING-OFF-LIMITS-082613.htm#.VBWzbxYjwyc
18. They've lifted all restrictions on Muslim Brotherhood visits to the United States and now restricting entry of Israelis to US http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/us-state-dept-denying-israelis-entry-visas-record-level”
19. He and Hillary lied and lied about 9-11 Alquida attack in benghazzi being caused by Youtube video,  to continue their lying narrative that al quida was vanquished to try and assist his 2012 election,

why does Obama call them ISIL? TO screw Israel

Everyone else calls them “ISIS.” Obama calls them “ISIL.” Is there a reason? Yep!

Posted by Thomas Madison / September 3, 2014

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ISIS or ISIL? There is a BIG difference!

I posted this peculiarity last week. It has become increasingly conspicuous, annoying even, that while the rest of the world refers to the cockroaches beheading innocent people, including children, across Syria and Iraq, as ISIS, or IS, King Hussein, and the rest of his administration insist on referring to the lice-ridden scumbags as ISIL.
“Tomaytoes/tomahtoes?” Hmmmmmm, I don’t think so. If you look closely at the literal, geographical difference between the two acronyms, it appears that there is much more to the story.
ISIS is an acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which includes only territory within the clear borders of those two sovereign countries.

ISIL is an acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The “Levant” includes Israel.
Ostensibly, anyone referring to this nest of rats as ISIL, and only as ISIL, while the rest of the civilized world refers to them as ISIS, is denying the existence of Israel, a point much harder to support had not that talking point made its way to every official mouthpiece of every agency and department within the federal government.

Read more at http://threepercenternation.com/2014/09/isis-or-isil/

Islamic is not Islamic?

Bernard Lewis, a leading American authority of Islam, notes: 'it is surely presumptuous for those who are not Muslims to say what is orthodox and what is heretical in Islam' (That Obama was born and raised a Muslim has no relevance here, for he left the faith and cannot pronounce on it.)" ('ISIS Is Not Islamic?,' Daniel Pipes.org, September 10, 2014).

ZOA National President Morton Klein said, "President Obama is making the absurd, untenable claim that all terrorism, carried out by avowedly Muslim groups, acting explicitly in the name of their religion, and citing Islamic scripture and sources, are somehow not Muslim.

"Has President Obama not noticed that Hamas, a U.S.- and E.U.-listed terrorist organization, calls in its Charter for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews? Does he not know that Hamas is an avowedly Muslim organization, indeed, part of the Muslim Brotherhood? That it cites in support of its program authoritative Islamic sources, like the hadith which says, 'The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.'

"Has he not noticed that other radical Muslim groups call for terrorism and murdering non-believers? Does not Al-Qaeda call for murdering civilians, even Muslims who oppose it? Did Al-Qaeda not carry out attacks on Muslims in Jordan in 2005, for example? Is Al-Qaeda not an avowedly Muslim organization?

"Did not Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the avowedly Shia Muslim terrorist group Hizballah, not say in 2002: "if they [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide"? 

"This statement by President Obama is shockingly inaccurate but not surprising. The Obama Administration has a long record of denying any Islamic connection between jihadist terrorism and the religion of Islam.

Obama's catastrophic foreign policy by U of C prof

Obama’s catastrophic foreign policy

America's meltdown abroad

May 20, 2014|By Charles Lipson

At a recent meeting with two dozen Chicago leaders, some Democrats, some Republicans, I asked a simple question, "Can anyone name a significant American achievement in world affairs over the past five years?" The room was completely silent. Since the group had traveled widely, I posed a second question, "Have any of you visited countries where relations with America are better than five years ago?" Again, silence. These were people who zip all over the globe and deal with senior officials. Many had backed Barack Obama's historic presidential candidacy in 2008 and his re-election in 2012. Yet they were stumped when asked to name any recent achievement in American foreign policy.

Over the past few months, I have posed the same questions to a variety of groups, some American, some European and Asian. Can anyone think of a major American success on the global stage? Can anyone name a stronger bilateral relationship? Silence. There's usually an awkward pause before they begin grumbling about America's sinking stature and incoherent policies.

Even Hillary Rodham Clinton was struck mute by these straightforward questions. Speaking before a friendly Manhattan audience in early April, she was tossed a softball question. "When you look at your time as secretary of state," the moderator asked, "what are you most proud of?" Clinton, who led U.S. foreign policy for Obama's entire first term, had no answer. She eventually stumbled on an answer that would embarrass the semifinalists in the Miss Teen Alabama Pageant. "Well, I really see — that was good — that's why he wins prizes. Look, I really see my role as secretary, in fact leadership in general in a democracy, as a relay race. When you run the best race you can run, you hand off the baton."

That's right. Clinton's proudest achievement as secretary of state is that she managed to "hand off the baton." Alas, she handed it to John Kerry, who is now twirling it mindlessly as he tries to figure out why every one of his negotiations has failed and why nobody believes his empty threats. Why the long face, John?

These policy failures are more than a long line of individual screw-ups:

Russia's easy, unopposed annexation of Crimea,

the president's quickly erased "red line" in Syria,

the fruitless effort to launch "final status" talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority,

 the chaos now engulfing Libya after we killed off the previous government,

the panic in Saudi Arabia over Iran's nuclear program,

the deep concern among our Asian allies that the U.S. will not deter China's growing aggressiveness.

America's credibility has been shredded by feckless promises and vacuous threats. That's what happens when you draw bright red lines in Syria and Ukraine and your enemies goose step over them without paying a heavy price.

Nobody has any clear idea of America's global strategy. That worries allies, emboldens enemies and raises the risks of war.

It will be hard to reverse this decline because America is overstretched financially, growing slowly and tired of endless, fruitless conflicts. Our overarching problem, then, is how to protect America's vital interests within these constraints.

Obama replaced Bush’s hostility toward Moscow, Caracas, Tehran and Damascus with a friendly, outstretched hand.

Pursing that strategy, the U.S:

pushed the "reset" button with Russia,

dropped our promises to build missile defenses in Central Europe,

 refused to support the popular uprising in Iran,

and called Syria's Bashar Assad a "reformer."

Today, the Obama strategy is a smoking ruin, torched by reality. That's why nobody, including Hillary Clinton, can name any foreign policy achievements. The president has not acknowledged these gaping failures or devised a new approach beyond his rhetorical "pivot to Asia," which infuriated our allies in Europe and the Middle East.

Charles Lipson is a professor of political science at the University of Chicago

When you look a this speech’s and meetings, it seems the country he reserves his rage for is Israel, the best US ally in the world.

Add to this jihad is on the march on Obama’s watch.  Hezbollah, Hamas, Taliban, ISIS, El Nusra, Al-Qaida, Islamic Jihad, Muslim Brotherhood, Iran. He held secret talks with Hamas, stalled for a year before developing a supposed strategy to deal with ISIS, plans to pull out of Afghanistan opening the way for Taliban to reflourish there, pulled out after a direct warning from President Bush that the consequences that happened, would happen if he did what he did. In the USA Obama has limited the FBI way to investigate Islamic potential terrorists. He lied and blamed Benghazi and the death of 4 Americans on a youtube video when he knew that was a lie, just to not negate his campaign lie that Al-Qaida was on the run. He supported Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and gave them 1.5 billion and sophisticated f16s. He called the Islamist jihadist mass murder by Moslem army psychiatrist “workplace violence”. He traded 5 top terrorists for alleged deserter Bergdahl. During hi reign, Turkey has become a pro terrorist nation and he calls the Islamic president there his favorite foreign leader friend.