Some random thoughts about presidential politics

Some random thoughts about presidential politics
By RAY HANANIA • Friday, January 27, 2012
Voters in South Carolina apparently don’t think its that wrong to cheat on your wife, but they do think it’s wrong to cheat on Jesus.

That’s the message I got from the trouncing Newt Gingrich gave former Republican front-runner Mitt Romney there this week.

Gingrich has a documented history of mistreating his former wives. The accusations by his last wife that he wanted an “open marriage” didn’t seem to undermine the boost he received when Rick Perry withdrew from the election and urged his voters to back Gingrich.

In reality, Mitt Romney received more votes in South Carolina than he did in his prior contests. Gingrich though consolidated the Evangelical Christian vote, the hard right, that dominates South Carolina politics.

Yalla Peace: Palestinians’ worst enemy – themselves

Yalla Peace: Palestinians’ worst enemy – themselves
Ray Hanania — JERUSALEM POST – If the Israelis wanted to defeat the Palestinians, Israel would immediately recognize a Palestinian State in Gaza, the West Bank and even east Jerusalem rather than embrace policies that push Palestinians to unite. If they did that, all the Israelis would have to do is sit back and watch as the Palestinians tear themselves apart.

Yes, the tragedy of the Palestinians isn’t that they are victims of injustice at the hands of the Israelis. It is their own tendency to destroy themselves from within.

The most powerful factor keeping Palestinians together as a people is the anger they share in response to injustices by Israel. But that’s a pathetic reason for unity. Worse, anger easily turns into hatred and hatred easily turns into violence, terrorism and killings. And violence undermines even the most just of causes.

Palestinians hate Israelis but they hate themselves even more.

Lions and Syria and Falafel, Oye Vey!

Falafel and Lions and Syria, oh my!
By Ray Hanania — JERUSALEM POST – A day never passes when an Arab doesn’t complain about Israel. Of course, a day never passes when an Israeli doesn’t complain about the Arabs, either.

The complaints vary widely and cover everything from stealing food to violence.

A common complaint is Israel “stole” the falafel. Maybe. Israel has stolen Palestinian lands belong to Palestinians. But, can you really steal food?

I read recently where an Israeli official countered: did Israel also steal Italian food? Another Palestinian activist said he “snickers” whenever he sees a sign boasting of “Israeli falafel.”

In fairness, though, Israelis don’t go around bragging “Try our Israeli spaghetti” the way Israelis promote “Israeli falafel.”

But to be even more fair – is that allowed in the Arab-Israeli conflict? — many Israeli Jews are from Arab countries (Sephardic) and have been making falafel and other food delicacies for centuries, too.

Cyber wars could be better than rubber bullets

Cyber wars could be better than rubber bullets
By Ray Hanania – I quickly took notice when it was reported that someone, possibly Saudi computer geeks, had broken into the Israeli banking system to steal Israeli credit card numbers.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon (he’s the smart one) vowed to avenge the “terrorist act” by “Saudi terrorists.” Ayalon may have exaggerated the extent of the theft, though. Chances are the majority of the stolen credit cards belong to “Israelis” who are actually living in the United States.

But knowing how tough the Israelis are on violence, and on Arab members of the Knesset who think they have free speech without consequences, I fully expected Israel to launch an retaliatory cyber-strike against the Saudis.

So did the Saudis; they quickly announced that due to fears Israel would to act on its threats, planned reforms giving women the right to vote were being suspended.

I think one of the Saudi Sheiks huffed at Ayalon’s threats, declaring, “We don’t need credit cards.”

More on Fran Eaton and the Illinois Review’s campaign to push Tea Party candidates

Fran Eaton continues her hack job hypocriosy to help the GOP’s most extreme members
By Ray Hanania – Recently, as many South Suburbanites know from reading my columns, Fran Eaton, a rightwing political activist hack attacked me in her column at a little-known blog called “Illinois Review.” Eaton has been campaigning to turn the Republican Party into a pantry for the Tea Party so she and her pals, other rightwing nut jobs, can take over. That’s what she has been working on for years.

Click here to read my columns on the “Eaton scandal.”

During the scuffle, Eaton and the Illinois Review denied that she was pals with Patlak. Really? That’s a joke.

Just a few weeks ago Eaton wrote a scathing column attacking the Cook County Board of Review. (Click here to read that column.) Pretty obvious what she is saying, right. She’s attacking the Board of Review and blaming all of the Board’s problems and Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan (which is ridiculous, by the way) and on the Democrats.

In fact — and here is where the Eaton pro-Tea Party spin machine falls in to place — Eaton wrote:

The powers-that-be who control the county board and county offices as well as the board of review (which hears tax assessment appeals) are all Democrats and so solidly in place that few, if any, challenge them during elections. It’s meaningless for the most part, and those in power know it. Welcome to the “benefits” of one-party rule.

“… Are all Democrats …” at the Cook County Board of Review. Hmmm. Why would she write that? Well, her pal, her buddy, her chum Dan Patlak is a member of the Cook County Board of Review. But Patlak is a Republican endorsed by the Republican Party and by Fran Eaton.

Technology, at what price?

Technology, at what price?
By Ray Hanania – In the rare moment when my son and I actually communicate together the old fashioned way, by speech, and we’re not texting, emailing, sending photographs or playing games on the Wii or XBox Connect systems, he asked me something that made me think.

“Dad, did you know that my iPad is more powerful than all the computers they used to send Neil Armstrong to the Moon in 1969?” he asked.

He was really making a statement in the form of a question, which is what kids do. They are uncertain but think they know the answer? I call it a “question-observation.”

Everyone says the advancements in technology are moving us into a greater age of communications and enlightenment.

But I wonder. And so should you.

Just what Israel needs – more Jewish sushi chefs

Just what Israel needs – more Jewish sushi chefs
By RAY HANANIA
01/03/2012 JERUSALEM POST

Yalla Peace: My real question though is
can investing in sushi chefs create peace?

If you have been reading the papers, you know that most sushi chefs in Israel are Asian. Now, I didn’t think that was so unusual until I realized that chop suey is probably one of the most popular Jewish foods in the world. Oh yes. Drive to any Jewish neighborhood in a Western city and it will be inundated with Chinese restaurants and take-out. (I’m not sure who I offended more with the stereotype so I apologize to everyone.)

You see, I always thought Chinese food was kosher. Every time my wife and I planned a celebration for some national holiday or event, I would suggest an Arab restaurant and she, being Jewish, would recommend Chinese take-out.

I always ask my wife, “what is Israeli food?” She’d always start out by naming recipes and foods that are clearly Arab like felafel, humous and shawarma.

Fran Eaton and the real creepy politics of the Southwest suburbs

Fran Eaton and the real creepy politics of the Southwest suburbs
By Ray Hanania – Fran Eaton calls me a “character,” but I wonder what she would call herself if her writing wasn’t so far up the butts of the Tea Party conservatives and the extreme wing of the Chicagoland Republican party.

Eaton writes a PR puff piece for the Illinois Review, a conservative Republican publication that gives her a platform to promote her extreme rightwing pals. I should say it’s not about her hiding behind the Republican Party coats that bothers me; there are a lot of great Republicans out there. But Eaton is a phony. She wants people to think she can analyze politics objectively but she can’t. Her writing is stilted and her naalysis is handed to her usually by her political buddies who feed her the inside “scoops” she passes off as news.

This week, I wrote about how State Rep. Kevin McCarthy has decided not to run for re-election, and speculated based on my 35 years of covering Chicagoland politics, that he was stepping down on a high note rather than facing off with Republican Renee Kosel. Kosel is a powerhouse in Republican circles and not one of the nutjobs that Eaton usually pals around with. Eaton has taken shots at me before. I covered Chicago politics for 35 years including 16 years covering Chicago City Hall (from Daley to Daley 1976 through 1992). So although my family is Republican (and so is my wife) I lean towards the Democrats since there is no real Republican presence in Chicago at all.

And Eaton took off on me again, this week attacking me in her usual wet blanket and pacifier in mouth style.

What angered Eaton this time? Well, in analyzing the McCarthy decision not to run, I wrote critically of Jeff Junkas who ran against McCarthy in 2010. Junkas is a rightwing Tea Party activist and is a personal friend of Fran Eaton. During that battle against McCarthy, Eaton played an active role in trying to diss the other Republican in the race, Molly McAvoy Flynn and also Cook County CommissionerElizabeth “Liz” Doody Gorman.

Yalla Peace: The abnormality of ‘normalization’

Yalla Peace: The abnormality of ‘normalization’
By RAY HANANIA
12/27/2011 JERUSALEM POST

Normalization may not be “normal” in the Middle East
or in regard to Palestinians and Israelis relations.

There is nothing normal about “normalization.” It sounds like a good word, but to many Arabs, not all of them political extremists, “normalization” is a very bad word. Normalization means to Arabs what anti-Semitism means to Jews. It’s a word with very negative connotations. Yes, it is that bad. But why?

As you might imagine, I have been accused of “normalization” a lot. I talk to Jews. And visit Israel, and Palestine, as if there was nothing wrong. I did stand-up comedy with Israelis (not just Jews) and that angered a lot of extremists who still attack me every chance they get to this day.

I understand their attacks. I recognize they are incapable of achieving anything on behalf of the “Palestine cause” and that in attacking me, they are assuaging their guilt and failure. Israeli critics are the same. They can’t save Israel, either. Both sides are failures, in truth.

They can stop things but they can’t make things happen. They can destroy things but they can’t build anything. That’s one reason why Israelis have never achieved their dream state, and why Palestinians have never established their own state.

Israel, American Jews – familiar to Palestinians

Israel, American Jews – familiar to Palestinians
By RAY HANANIA
12/20/2011 JERUSALEM POST

Yalla Peace: Christmas is more than a religious holiday to Christians,
as opposed to Hanukkah for Jews and Ramadan for Muslims.

When I heard that Israel’s Immigrant Absorption Ministry had launched an advertising campaign in America to convince ex-Israelis living in the US that marrying and mixing with American Jews was bad, it made me wonder because it sounded so familiar – in a strange way.

The message of the million-dollar campaign was to warn these Israelis that their American-born children could lose their Israeli and Jewish identities if they were raised in the United States.

It was kind of an ugly message about America, but even more to the point it wasn’t clear what precipitated the campaign at this time. Was it because we have entered the Christmas season and many American Jews have conflicted views about the holiday celebrations?

There’s a big “political correctness” debate among mainstream Americans about whether people should be “sensitive” to non-Christians. Some argue that instead of saying the Christian-specific “Merry Christmas,” they should say the more PC and generic “Happy Holidays.” I say them both. I even say “Happy Hanukka,” although the Jewish holiday creates even more controversy. First, how is Hanukah really spelled correctly, anyway? Hanukah? Hanukkah? Hanukka?