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Disingenuous Defined!! If we rant against a socialist welfare state here in America, why are we not ranting against the support of a socialist welfare states where we send billions in foreign aid? What’s wrong with this picture? What’s your take? Not only Arab countries in turmoil; protests wrack Israel TEL AVIV, Israel — While the world has been focused on the anti-government movements that sprang up during the Arab Spring, the largest protests in Israeli history have been sweeping the country for the past two months, threatening to destabilize the government with calls for extensive change. The protests began with a Facebook petition over the cost of cottage cheese. They now include a litany of demands, including a return to the days when the government took a more active role in subsidizing costs. Protesters also want changes in the tax system, more subsidized government housing and more spending on health and education. Last weekend, more than 150,000 people participated in a nationwide march to protest high housing costs. The organizers are calling for another march this weekend and promising an even larger turnout. Israeli officials admit surprise at the strength and staying power of the protesters, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded this week by canceling a scheduled increase in the price of gasoline that was to have gone into effect Tuesday. Analysts think it's the first Israeli political movement motivated entirely by domestic concerns. "These aren't protests about war and peace, about the Palestinians or Israel's neighbors. These are about the day-to-day life that Israelis lead, and what they want those lives to look like," said Rena Masler, a 23-year-old student and political activist. For three weeks, Masler has pitched a tent alongside hundreds of other Israelis on Rothschild Boulevard in this coastal city, Israel's largest. Home to some of the country's priciest real estate, Rothschild features a leafy promenade that's now covered in tents, filled with protesters inspired by the complaint of a young, single filmmaker who was fed up over the high cost of renting a home. Hundreds of others have pitched tents in similar protests in cities across the country. According to the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, the cost of renting an apartment in Tel Aviv has risen 60 percent in the last four years. The paper said the average Israeli increasingly paid up to half of his or her salary on rent. "I don't expect to have the home of a millionaire, but as a student there are no housing options. I live almost an hour away from school, because it's the only place I could find an apartment I could afford," Masler said. She pointed to her parents, who fled to Israel from Eastern Europe in the 1940s. They lived on a kibbutz, Israel's communal farms, before purchasing an apartment subsidized by the state for young couples. "This was a country that when it was socialist took care of its own. Where are those values now?" she asked. Many of the young protesters have pointed to their parents and grandparents as examples of true social welfare by the nation of Israel. When Israel declared independence in 1948, Jews flocked to its kibbutz living and its experiment with socialist Zionism. Early Israeli governments were strongly influenced by socialist values. They built vast low-income housing projects and subsidized apartments for young couples across the country. At a protest over the weekend, however, hundreds of thousands of Israelis carried signs calling for a "social welfare state." The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine |
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8/4/2011 8:29 am |
I think that it is rather remarkable that those that contend that Obama is a socialist and that they are concerned that we are becoming socialized are those that wanted to socialize the bank losses but wanted to privatize all instances where profits were involved. This is a further example of the schizophrenic nature of the conservatives this country.
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8/4/2011 4:19 pm |
Ane, Skipper, I couldn't agree with you more. Did you see the results of the latest poll where Americans disapprove of the way Congress is doing it's job by 82%, the highest since 1977? The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine
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Expectation of all of us is that our elected leaders work for us sincerely. It appears that they work very sincerely - kudos to them. The tragedy is that they work only for their own selves. I believe that stems from the fact that, irrespective of their background, investment that makes them gets elected is huge. It is well known that people without considerable personal financial resources have little chance of getting elected; the only way those not so well endowed financially get elected is by the largesse of the capitalists (read big business) who demand their pound of flesh once their supported ones become lawmakers. That is true of Indian leadership. I am quite sure so is the case with the US of A and would like to be corrected or advised otherwise, Sunshine. Israelis are perhaps agitating against the hand that has been dealt to them by the leadership of their promised land for whatever reasons that this leadership mouths. Have a nice day, Sunshine - keep shining.  "To fight the darkness do not draw your sword, light a candle" - Zarathustra
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8/5/2011 7:07 am |
Expectation of all of us is that our elected leaders work for us sincerely. It appears that they work very sincerely - kudos to them. The tragedy is that they work only for their own selves. I believe that stems from the fact that, irrespective of their background, investment that makes them gets elected is huge. It is well known that people without considerable personal financial resources have little chance of getting elected; the only way those not so well endowed financially get elected is by the largesse of the capitalists (read big business) who demand their pound of flesh once their supported ones become lawmakers. That is true of Indian leadership. I am quite sure so is the case with the US of A and would like to be corrected or advised otherwise, Sunshine. Israelis are perhaps agitating against the hand that has been dealt to them by the leadership of their promised land for whatever reasons that this leadership mouths. Have a nice day, Sunshine - keep shining. You are correct. In other words our elected officials are bought and paid for. My psoint in the far too long blog (because people on here don't like to read too much) is that our government is denying us to pay for the comforts and indugences of other countries. Republicans cut domestic spending here in America while they continue foreign aid to countries like Israel that they use for subsidizing young working people. Does it make sense to cut benefits for seniors, paid for by seniors over their lifetime, cut healthcare at home while paying for the indulgences of the country of Israel? The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine
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