Purveyor
Purveyor's JournalDefense-Cut Hypocrisy Makes GOP Converge With Democrats
By Laura Litvan and Julie Bykowicz - Feb 19, 2013
He’s an anti-tax Republican representative from Ohio. She’s an anti-war Democratic senator from Washington state. Jim Jordan and Patty Murray have little in common, save this: Protecting multibillion-dollar defense projects in their states from budget cuts.
Together, they embody why reducing the defense budget is difficult, even with wide agreement that the government spends too much. The Pentagon’s largess is so sprawling that, through military bases and contracts, it touches all 535 members of Congress -- money that translates into jobs and revenue for companies that are major campaign donors.
“It’s hellishly hard to cut a major defense acquisition program” because of those connections, said Gordon Adams, a U.S. foreign policy professor at American University in Washington who as an associate director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Bill Clinton reviewed the Defense Department’s annual budget requests.
Members of Congress are de facto lobbyists for defense companies, inviting colleagues to tour plants and organizing letters to pressure the Pentagon. The alternative to reducing or eliminating specific defense projects is a $1.2 trillion across- the-board, automatic budget reduction spread over nine years that would begin taking effect March 1. About half of that would come from national security programs.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-20/defense-cut-hypocrisy-makes-gop-converge-with-democrats.html
Daily News' Dan Friedman Claims He Inadvertently Started Chuck Hagel 'Friends Of Hamas' Rumor
The Huffington Post | By Rebecca Shapiro
Posted: 02/20/2013 9:09 am EST | Updated: 02/20/2013 3:36 pm EST
A New York Daily News reporter revealed on Wednesday that he might have been the inadvertent source of one of the strangest rumors about Chuck Hagel, the current nominee for defense secretary.
Republicans in the Senate blocked Hagel's confirmation vote last week. Among other disagreements, the GOP said it had issues with Hagel's views on Israel and claimed the former senator accepted speaker fees from controversial groups.
The Daily News' Dan Friedman, who is a reporter in the paper's Washington bureau, published an article on Wednesday referring to himself as "the unwitting source" of what he called a "bogus" claim about one of the groups Hagel was rumored to have addressed: the "Friends of Hamas." If Hagel had actually received money from such a group, it would likely have doomed his nomination. But no evidence has surfaced that the group even exists. So what happened?
Friedman wrote that he was interested in knowing if Hagel's Republican critics knew the names of specific groups from which Hagel received speaker fees. He contacted a Republican aide and "hypothetically and hyperbolically" asked if Hagel addressed groups such as "Friends of Hamas" or the "Junior League of Hezbollah, in France." Friedman wrote:
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/daily-news-chuck-hagel-friends-of-hamas-dan-friedman_n_2723951.html
"Inadvertently" indeed!
With Livni As His Fig Leaf, Bibi Can Now Form An Extremist Government
Give the devil his due: Bibi pulled off a masterstroke yesterday by signing Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah party to his coalition. Now he’s got clear sailing to his ideal government – one made up of the right wing and ultra-Orthodox, his base, but one that also keeps Obama and the Europeans off his back by giving the appearance – completely hollow – that he intends to try to move toward peace with the Palestinians. That’s Livni’s role, and she’ll be happy to play it; she’s been given the job of heading up negotiations with the Palestinians, which is what she always wanted, and it saves her from dying politically in the opposition with her six measly Knesset seats.
The important thing is that Netanyahu doesn’t need Yair Lapid anymore. Lapid was a problem – if Netanyahu gave in to his core demand to draft the haredim into military or civilian national service, he would have a haredi intifada on his hands and the haredim for enemies. But if on the other hand he rebuffed Lapid, whose Yesh Atid is the second largest party, he wouldn’t have enough support in hand to build a coalition, for which he needs a majority of the 120-member Knesset. But now he’s got Livni’s Hatnuah. Which means he can scoop up the haredim as well as Naftali Bennett’s far-right Jewish Home party, which, despite Bennett’s rhetoric, doesn’t want to draft the haredim because that would mean a schism with the settlers, and really only wants to expand settlements, strengthen Jewish nationalism and bash the Palestinians, which Likud-Beiteinu and the prospective haredi parties in the government want to do, too, and which Livni won’t have the power to stop.
Given the choice of making an enemy out of Lapid or out of the haredim, Netanyahu was always a thousand times more scared of alienating the haredim. After all, they will be around long after Lapid is gone, which may happen earlier than expected if and when he is consigned to the opposition, where neither he nor his middle-class constituency ever wanted to be.
So Bibi, after seemingly being stymied by the contradictory demands of Lapid and the haredim, has got the result he wanted. Between Likud-Beiteinu, Hatnuah, haredi parties Shas and United Torah Judaism, Jewish Home and the anybody’s party Kadima, he can have a government of 69 MKs – eight more than he needs. And if that coalition doesn’t hold together, he can try to bring in Labor, or at least some of Labor’s more pliable Knesset members.
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http://972mag.com/with-livni-as-his-fig-leaf-bibi-can-now-form-an-extremist-government/66338/
Arms Supplies to Syrian Rebels Expanding - Moscow
MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - Foreign military supplies to Syria’s armed opposition have been growing, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Tuesday.
“This is not conducive to normalization in that country and fuels violence,” Gatilov told a news conference hosted by RIA Novosti.
The arming of one party to the conflict significantly complicates the attempts to get the opposing sides to negotiate, he said without naming the “foreign arms suppliers.”
Gatilov reiterated Russia’s official position that it will not carry out fresh arms deliveries to the Syrian government, but is only supplying arms and military equipment under contracts signed before the civil war, which has claimed some 70,000 lives according to the latest UN estimates.
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http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130219/179572985/Arms-Supplies-to-Syrian-Rebels-Expanding---Moscow.html
US Cuts Jeopardize Iron Dome, Arrow
The pending US budget sequester on March 1, 2013, is liable to reduce military aid to Israel by over $700 million in the 2013 fiscal year, pro-Israeli sources in Washington told "Globes". The cut includes a $250 million reduction in current aid, which is due to total $3.15 billion, and the possible loss of all financial aid for joint US-Israeli missile defense programs, amounting to $479 million, for a total of $729 million in reduced aid. In the best case, if the aid for anti-missile programs is only reduced, rather than eliminated, Israel will lose $300 million in aid.
The brutal budget axe set to land on the US economy in just over a week could reduce the Pentagon's budget by $500 billion, spread over ten years, and somewhat less for civilian programs. All federal government spending items will be cut. Only explicitly legislated spending, such as social security payments, Medicaid, and soldiers' salaries will be exempt from the sequester. Aid to Israel, as well as all other items included in the annual budget, is on the table.
--CLIP
The sequester's impact on Israel
The sequester's impact on Israel is not completely clear, but a picture is emerging: if the sequester is implemented, as expected, current military aid to US for the current fiscal year will be cut by $240-260 million, depending on how the sequester is calculated. However, there is growing concern that US aid this year for Israel's anti-missile programs will not be reduced proportionately, but will be eliminated altogether. "So far as is known at this stage, the fate of the aid for missiles is not the fate of the current military aid," said a pro-Israeli source. "We have to hope that that won't be the final situation."
Israel is due to receive $211 million in US aid this year to procure more Iron Dome batteries, and $268 million for "current US-Israeli missile programs"; in other words, the Arrow anti-ballistic missile system, and David's Sling medium-range anti-missile interceptor. If the aid packages for missile systems is eliminated, and the reduction is current military aid is added, Israel will lose almost $750 million in US military aid in the 2013 fiscal year. If the budget cut for the missile programs is proportional, Israel will lose just over $300 million in military aid.
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http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000823816
W. Va. Bill Would Require 3 Drug Tests For Teenage Drivers
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – A bill proposed in the West Virginia House of Delegates would require three separate drug tests before teenagers could get a driver’s license. It is the latest in a string of proposals to expand government-mandated drug testing in the state.
The bill introduced Tuesday would require potential drivers to pass a drug test before they receive a learner’s permit, an intermediate license and a full license.
Last April, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed an executive order mandating drug testing for anyone who participates in government funded job-training programs.
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http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/02/19/w-va-bill-would-require-3-drug-tests-for-teenage-drivers/
U.S. Single-Family Home Starts Rise to Four-Year High
Source: Bloomberg
By Shobhana Chandra - Feb 20, 2013
Builders broke ground in January on the most U.S. single-family homes in more than four years and permits for future construction rose, an indication the industry’s momentum carried over into 2013.
Work began on 613,000 one-family houses at an annual rate last month, the most since July 2008 and up 0.8 percent from December’s 608,000, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Total housing starts dropped to an 890,000 rate, less than forecast and restrained by a slump in construction of multifamily units, which is often volatile.
Faster hiring and easier access to credit are needed to help complement historically low mortgage rates and stoke a sustained real-estate rebound. Rising sales at builders such as PulteGroup Inc. and Lennar Corp. indicate housing will keep contributing to growth this year after emerging as a bright spot in the economy in 2012.
“The fact that single-family starts are up is very encouraging, it is more important to the economy in terms of employment and growth” than the multifamily area, said Gus Faucher, a senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. in Pittsburg, who projected total starts would drop to an 895,000 pace. “The housing market recovery is continuing and will be an important contributor to economic growth. Permits look very solid, and that is a great sign.”
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-20/work-begins-on-most-u-s-single-family-homes-in-four-years.html
Russian Warships Head To Syria In Show Of Power
Source: Chicago Tribune
MOSCOW -- Russian warships are returning to the waters near Syria in a new demonstration of the Kremlin's interest in the outcome of the crisis there.
The Russian Defense Ministry told the RIA-Novosti news agency on Tuesday that four large landing vessels were on their way to the Mediterranean near Syria, three weeks after the Russian navy conducted its biggest maneuvers in the region since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
"Based on the results of the Navy exercises in the Black and Mediterranean seas from Jan. 19 through Jan. 29 ... the Ministry leadership has taken a decision to continue combat duty by Russian warships in the Mediterranean," the ministry said in its statement. “In the future the number of warships in the group and types of vessels acting in the said region will be defined in accordance with the given situation."
Russia has been a close ally of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad and has strategic and economic interests in the country.
The Defense Ministry said the landing ships Kaliningrad and Alexander Shabalin are en route to the region from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. Two other big landing ships, the Saratov and the Azov, are scheduled to join them by the end of February.
Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-fg-wn-syria-russia-warships-20130219,0,4228868.story
Senate Minority Leader Fooled by Report in Military Version of The Onion
The best parody contains elements of truth. Which might explain how the military’s answer to The Onion suckered the Senate’s Republican leader.
Meet The Duffel Blog, if you haven’t already. A must-read for national-security nerds — and anyone who enjoys humor, really — it provides pitch-perfect military parody online, such as this piece about Syria hosting Iraq War reenactors (bylined by “G-Had”) or this one about a Google Street View Prius getting blown up in Kandahar. The Duffel Blog, as dutiful readers know, is America’s oldest online source for fake military news, founded in 1797 in a moment of farsightedness. It often gives more real talk than most legit journalistic institutions, but there is no way you can confuse it with the real news.
Unless you are a senior member of the United States Senate.
On November 14, 2012, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wrote to Elizabeth King, the Pentagon’s congressional liaison, with a an unusually credulous query. “I am writing on behalf of a constituent who has contacted me regarding Guantanamo Bay prisoners receiving Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits,” McConnell wrote in a letter acquired by Danger Room. “I would appreciate your review and response to my constituent’s concerns.”
Um, Guantanamo detainees getting GI Bill benefits? Yes, that’s from the Duffel Blog, as McConnell’s constituent clearly states, complete with the reference URL. Said constituent even notes that he or she can’t find any information about the alleged government payouts to suspected insurgents and terrorists.
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http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/02/mcconnell-duffel-blog/
Hagel, Israel, "Apartheid"
--CLIP
Today, Goodman reports on another Hagel speech, also at Rutgers, in April 2010. The source is a "pro-Israel activist" named Kenneth Wagner who literally tattled on Hagel, in real time, by emailing "a contact at AIPAC."
“I am sitting in a lecture by Chuck Hagel at Rutgers,” Wagner wrote in the email. “He basically said that Israel has violated every UN resolution since 1967, that Israel has violated its agreements with the quartet, that it was risking becoming an apartheid state if it didn’t allow the Palestinians to form a state. He said that the settlements were getting close to the point where a contiguous Palestinian state would be impossible.”
The headline, here and at Jennifer Rubin's Right Turn, is the "Apartheid" bit. "Does this fundamentally shift the playing field?" asks Rubin. "Requests for comment from Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) were not answered." You simply can't use "apartheid" and "Israel" in the same sentence. Unfortunately for the nominee, I've obtained a quote from Hagel saying this in February 2010:
As long as in this territory west of the Jordan river there is only one political entity called Israel it is going to be either non-Jewish, or non-democratic. If this bloc of millions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state.
My mistake! That wasn't Hagel. That was Ehud Barak, speaking in his capacity as Israel's defense minister. If we accept the text of the email, Hagel didn't accuse Israel of being or becoming an apartheid state. Wagner has Hagel saying that Israel risk[ed] becoming an apartheid state if it didn’t allow the Palestinians to form a state, and saying that two months after Israel's former PM and contemporary defense minister had said it.
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http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/02/19/hagel_israel_apartheid.html
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