With respect to the Senate, I think you are talking about what is known as "cloture." Can't be done. Not enough Democrats. And only the majority party in the Senate can exercise cloture (so much for Rand Paul). You can exercise only as much isolationism as your enemies will allow. For example, I remind you that America's isolationism between the two World Wars ended on December 7, 1941. Had you forgotten? There are forces of evil in the world -- chiefly in the Arab and Islamofascist world -- that do NOT wish America well. Any inkling they may get that the United States is in full-scale retreat will surely be followed by stepped-up terrorist efforts on American soil. How would you rather spend money, keeping in mind that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?

I answered your comment with respect to Rand Paul in my reply to your post at No. 27 The Senator-elect from China's comments have no bearing on reality. A Republican Congress can jack up tariffs, remove China's most-favored-nation status and call in the trillions of dollars in US-guaranteed loans to China, as well as direct US financial aid to China. Pressure can be applied to US companies who presently outsource to China to find another country to which to outsource. The US can halt shipments of food to China without which China will starve. No, I think the issue you raised can easily be countered and doesn't really qualify as an issue, anyway. I continue to disagree with you with respect to your projections of a US policy of isolationism. That is no longer feasible in this brave new world.

Obama still wants peace at Israel's expense. And he will push harder knowing he will be a one term president. But it will not matter as he can easily be stopped by the new congress. And this is the important point: Bibi must come to America and meet the new Republican members of the House and Senate. Especially the Tea Party elected congressmen.

Obama, and the democrat losers in the election, are getting ready with the rest of the bastard democrat party to shove a lot of goof-nut legislation down our throats. Remember, the new senators and congressmen don't take office until Jan. 2011. In the mean time, the Fed is busy creating more money out of thin air again. By the time the election winners take office, it might be too late. You Israelis better recognize and receive your Messiah, Jesus Christ while He may be found. The U.S. may change dramatically in a few months, and shamefully join the other side.

Wasn't it a Dem congress that the stimulus package was passed under, wasn't it a Dem President that pushed it on us? It's nice to see how eager the Dem's have been to fill the coffers of wall street, but who elected them the American citizens or wall street? The bailout is an epic fail under Dem leadership. The economy is stagnant and Americans continue to look for answers from a party that ignores all the questions.

Your posting has no substance. Stop personal attacks.

Let us have some decorum in this forum. If you are bankrupt of ideas, do not throw wild punches and name calling. Do you have insight into your foolishness by stereotyping Moslems and Catholics?

The US Senate has never had rational rules. It has relied on comity to function since its beginning. The rules have been abused on an increasingly repeated basis since about 1980, and most recently in the last four years. Debate in the US Senate is unlimited and unending so long as one person is speaking and has not yielded to a member of the opposition. The power is called filibuster and allows a minority to talk something to death. To end debate, the US Senate has a cloture rule, adopted in the 1960s. That requires a 60 vote super-majority to actually win and allow a vote on an issue. In the current Congress, the Dems had a super-majority of 60 for one of the two years. The US health care legislation only passed because the Republicans got tired of talking and allowed a vote. Otherwise they could still be talking today. But they would not have been able to leave the chamber to urinate or defecate or sleep or run for re-election or eat. That was a voluntary ending of the filibuster rule. No cloture was involved. There is another way the US Senate has to stop voting. It is the Secret Hold. Secret Holds can be exercised by any one single member and it is a function of the filibuster power. It takes a super majority written petition then to bring the subject up then even for debate. It takes another super-majority (60 of 100) vote to end debate and allow a vote on an issue. A single Senator can and has stopped everything and shut everything in the past. It is promised for the future. The US pledge of aid to Haiti earthquake victims has not been delivered. Not a dime of it. All because one single Senator has used his Secret Hold to stop it. Now that Senator and Senator-elect Rand Paul have promised to put the US into Default over the issue of the national debt ceiling unless $1 Trillion is cut from the current year's budget. They have the power with the Secret Hold and the Filibuster to do just that.

Obama has plans for Israel. We all know that these plans are not in the best interest for Israel. He we follow the Islamic trend toward war with Israel and support any group that is against the sovereignty of the Great nation of Israel.

Your on-line civics class doesn't wash, bubbeleh. I KNEW you had no idea what cloture was, and I knew you’d look it up. Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly. A "secret hold" must be endorsed by the party of the senator seeking to issue a "secret hold." Not going to happen. Likewise a filibuster. Sigh. Mark – find another website. You are WAY too ignorant to be posting your drivel here. Try Al Jazeera or any other anti-Israel website of your choice. Unless you REALLY like getting seriously embarrassed here. As has happened to you on pretty much every occasion. Do you have self-esteem issues generally? Or do you just enjoy being chewed up and spit out? Wow. You'd think you'd have more pride, but .... I guess not. Poor, poor, pitiful you.

In your dreams!

...and you accomplished exactly what with your infantile fake posts at #42 & #43? As “Genuine Tosefta” once said: “It is me writing these posts in their name. I did it on Haaretz website too and several of them changed their names in frustration or disappeared altogether, until a year ago when Haaretz censors caught on and stopped publishing all posts I made under any name”. Nobody is ‘disappearing’ or getting ‘frustrated’ with your lame attempts to impersonating posters here, keep it up however as it always give me a good laugh to know that you are wasting your time for nought.

"Ten current members of the PLO?" Oh, Batty Droves, get a newer encyclopedia. Wiki is seriously out of date on this one. Now, either go skulk off into your ignorant corner, or come up with better facts. I already informed your ignorant self that the "PLO" is not a unique identity (surprise, surprise, Batty, didn't know that, did you?) Do your own damn homework and come up with the goods. Until then, you're not really worth answering, are you? Just ask any of the knowledgeable, articulate participants on this website. Here's a hint to help your ignorant self along: these days, the "PLO" claims 27 member organizations. Now go do your homework, Batty, before you challenge my intellect again.

A quick recap: 1) You have failed to cite any recent terrorist attack (ie: with the last ten years) by the PAF, PDU, PPP, PPSF, As Sa'iqa, PLF, etc so your claim that the PLO consists of “many of the most virulent "Palestinian" hardline terrorist groups” doesn’t stand up. 2) You have claimed that the PLO has 28-30 members and you still cannot cite any references or provide any other proof to back up your claim. I on the other hand can reference: Globalsecurity.org cites 12 members with 6 sub members: http://tiny.cc/tnoxp Wikipedia cites 10 members. One of the more recent news reports cites 18 members in the PLO: http://tiny.cc/w4lz3 3) You have failed to demonstrate where I entered into such an “ad hominem” argument with Brian Cohen? 4) You have failed to answer the question as to whether Fatah has recognized Israel’s right to exist and whether Fatah has renounced ‘terrorism’. 5) On the back of point/question 4 you have utterly failed to explain why Israel is negotiating with Fatah (a terrorist group by your definition) but not with Hamas (also a terrorist group by your definition) In short you have failed to answer any of the 5 questions I posed and you have shown that you are incapable of backing up your claim that the PLO comprises “of some 28 to 30 very, very different organizations”, in fact you have back-pedalled and now changed that number to “27 member organizations”. It is hardly a challenge if: 1) You cannot disprove any of my points or answer any of my questions. 2) You cannot back up your ‘claims’ with any substance or actual references.

Here is just a small sample of attacks by the PLO and its splinter groups within the last 10 years:: July 12, 2005, Netanya, 5 dead 70+ wounded February 25, 2005, Tel Aviv, 5 dead, 50 wounded March 14, 2004, Ashdod, 10 dead, 16 killed February 22, 2004 Jerusalem, 8 dead, 60+ wounded January 29, 2004, Jerusalem, 10 dead, 50 wounded; and the list goes on. The fact that the number of attacks has gone done in recent years is not, as you might like us to believe, a result of any change of heart on the part of the PLO or Fatah or a lessening of their desire to murder Jews and destroy Israel, but because 1) Israel built the security wall which has protected it from the east and 2) the PLO and Fatah presence in Gaza was effectively wiped out by Hamas in 2007 in the west. Of course, your leftist allies protest that wall every week because to them one inconvenienced Palestinian terrorist is worth more than any Jewish life. Equally ignorant is your question about why Israel negotiates with Fatah and not Hamas. The PLO and Fatah agreed as part of Oslo to recognize Israel, to amend the PLO charter by deleting is call for Israel's destruction and to stop incitement. Hamas, on the other hand, refuses to accept Oslo or to amend its charter calling for Israel's destruction. Besides, the US is pressuring both PLO/Fatah and Israel to negotiate but not Hamas. The rest of your points have no more genuine substance than these two. None of your constant dissimulation, Matty can hide the sad reality that if Palestinians laid down their guns there would be peace but if the Israelis laid down their guns, there would be no more Israel.

Sarah BS, we are waiting for your answers to questions raised by Matty Groves. Your response was an obvious smokescreen. Answer POINT by POINT. Otherwise you are a BLUFF!!

Firstly you should be congratulated for taking up the slack and trying to answer in Sarah BS’s place as obviously she can’t and I think it is fair to say that you have done a better job than she could have. Secondly the list of attacks which you list were committed by: Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. None of these groups are members of the PLO, obviously you did not understand the question ie: “cite any recent terrorist attack (ie: with the last ten years) by the PAF, PDU, PPP, PPSF, As Sa'iqa, PLF”. Because you have failed to demonstrate that the members of the PLO have conducted attacks in the last 10 years or so this negates this point that you are trying to make. No the Apartheid Wall is condemned and protested against because it is a blatant attempt to steal land as encircles the illegal Israeli settlements. Not a bad answer, pity Sarah BS couldn’t muster up such a rely. Tsk tsk, now you have gone and quoted a much overused and simplistic pro-Israeli piece of propaganda which fails to realize the Palestinian narrative. I could equally state that if the Palestinians “laid down their guns” there would be no hope of a State of Palestine - unless of course you are going to argue that if the Palestinians “laid down their guns” Israel would agree to and acknowledge fully Palestinian nationalistic aspirations based on the 1967 line?

Based on her previous modus operandi it is highly unlikely that Sarah BS will reply as she tend to disappear once asked to back up her claims, if she does reply she will probably go off on a tangent and try and change the conversation or just engage in childish name-calling. For someone who rants on about her own “intellect” so much one really has to wonder when she is going to get around to proving such...

I am the biggest BS around. I have been like this from the day I was born and enjoy projecting my own insecurity on others. So if you guys are offended by my comments, please be a little understanding that I have no other life or purpose in life but to be the lowly creature I am.

Be sure to tell Paul and Kirk how to vote and manoeuvre in the Senate. And be sure to tell the rest of the caucus how to vote, too. And be sure to have Netanyahu tell Obama what he should do, too. I'm sure he'll step and fetch for you. How are you planning to balance our budget for this year? A poll tax maybe or literacy tests?

Since you asked: http://www.adl.org/israel/israel_attacks.asp http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/victims.html So you went from piously bleating about the "PLO" as if it were one unified group to acknowledging (incorrectly) that there are ten individual and radically different organizations currently under the PLO umbrella. You're still wrong, but keep up the good work! Hunt down the remaining organizations -- good job! I give you a D for effort. You might just pass the course, but just barely. Back to the study books for you, "Matty."

Do you really think anyone cares what makes you sick? By the way, care to explain what you mean by "Palestinian" lands? They rejected partition in 1947 (and twice since), choosing to go to war instead. Oops! Bad decision! They lost. Too fricken bad. Can't put toothpaste back into the tube. And after six wars and nearly seventy years of unrelenting terror -- they're fresh out of goodwill. Sorry. Deal with it as best you can, because it isn't going to change. Of course -- why doesn't Canada set the precedent, and give Quebec and Labrador back to France? I'm sure the French didn't mean to lose The Seven Years War .... but they did, didn't they? The governing principles of war haven't changed since 1763, mameleh. Not for England, not for France, not for Canada .... and not for Israel, either.

F-I-V-E questions were asked. Please answer them! If you cannot, you are a BLUFF!

1. Predictably enough, not having authoritative information about the PLO (until yesterday, "Matty" thought it was an actual entity rather than the umbrella organization which it is -- an embarrassing lack of knowledge which I very generously corrected), "Matty" has failed to identify the dozen or so splinter factions with outlandish names that are under the PLO umbrella. I will not do "Matty"'s homework for her, sorry. 2. "Matty" enters into ad hominem arguments with EVERYBODY. I don't have to prove it, just read the threads. And exactly how would you characterize her hairbrained attacks on me, if not ad hominem? 3. Fatah has not recognized Israel's right to exist. In fact, just recently, Abbas (i) refused to do so and (ii) refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. There is also the little matter of Fatah's charter, which calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and the extermination and/or expulsion of the Jews, which has NOT been repudiated. 4. Israel is not "negotiating" with Fatah, Israel is "toying" with Fatah. In case it hasn't occurred to you, one does not negotiate with an entity bent on your destruction. Israel is just marking time, making sure the entire world sees the futility of "negotiating" with Fatah. Did the Canadian government negotiate with the terrorists that murdered the Canadian postal minister back when Trudeau ordered in the tanks and imposed martial law in Quebec? No, he did not. But he pretended to. That said, Israel has made concessions to Fatah and, predictably enough, Abbas has demonstrated to the world that all he can do is make demands, while failing to make any concessions himself. 5. I provided links to the litany of terror which the various "Palestinian" terrorist organizations have visited upon Israel in the past ten years. In case you missed them, here they are: http://www.adl.org/israel/israel_attacks.asp http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/victims.html I congratulate you, Gregory. I would not have believed that you could count as high as "five." Your mommy must be SO proud! I posed a question to you in the fourth paragraph of my post at No. 54. Please answer, if you don't wish to be considered a fraud and a phony.

So the recap is: You have been unable to show where the PAF, PDU, PPP et al have been directly involved in any recent terrorist attacks within the last ten years. After repeated requests you have been utterly unable to provide any proof that the membership of the PLO ranges from 28-30 members. You have been unable to demonstrate where I entered into such an “ad hominem” argument with Brian Cohen. You have utterly failed to explain why Israel is negotiating with Fatah (a terrorist group by your definition) but not with Hamas (also a terrorist group by your definition). This gets you an F minus. I would also remind you that you have in the past been utterly unable to back up other silly claims such as: 1) The USS Liberty was passing on Intel to the Syrian and Jordanian High Commands. 2) “the Palestine Authority is now the single largest recipient of United States aid”. 3) “the fact that France is officially a Catholic country”. 4) You claim that the US currently has an “embargo and blockade of North Korea -- including humanitarian aid and food”. 5) Your claim that the Stuxnet worm is an Israeli creation. All of the 5 claims above have been challenged by myself and other and you have *never* been able to offer up a shred of proof to back up any of these claims. Sarah BS if you make ridiculous claims the onus is on YOU to back such claims up when challenged - the fact that you never can is why you have zero credibility.

<(until yesterday, "Matty" thought it was an actual entity rather than the umbrella organization which it is -- an embarrassing lack of knowledge which I very generously corrected)> Sarah BS as much as you would like to believe your own delusions I can easily correct you on this point, see: http://tiny.cc/ozkfzb0t8z At post #28 of the Ynet Talkback from last month you can clearly see I state: “Fatah, headed by Abbas, is the largest party within the PLO [...] I would add that although Hamas is not a member of the PLO”, I would think that even to you it would be clear that if Fatah is a member of the PLO and Hamas isn’t that the PLO itself is made up of member parties. <"Matty" has failed to identify the dozen or so splinter factions with outlandish names that are under the PLO umbrella. I will not do "Matty"'s homework for her, sorry> Ah another attempt by Sarah BS to weasel out of a silly claim. The simple matter is that the burden of proof was on Sarah BS to back up her claim and she has been utterly unable to provide any proof that the membership of the PLO ranges from 28-30 members as she claimed. I on the other hand have provided 3 references which show that the membership of the PLO (even with sub groups) is no higher than 18. <"Matty" enters into ad hominem arguments with EVERYBODY. I don't have to prove it, just read the threads> Again Sarah BS tries to dodge the onus that was upon her. She was asked to show *specifically* where I entered into an ad hominem argument with Brian Cohen in post #23 on this thread and she cannot do so. It is obvious that she does not understand the term “ad hominem argument” as she used the term in an instance where it did not take place. Here Sarah BS agrees that Fatah has never recognized Israel's right to exist nor given up the right for armed resistance. Here Sarah BS tried to twist the reality of the matter, Israel does indeed negotiate with Fatah. And yet Israel signed the Oslo accords and the letter of mutual recognition recognizing the PLO (a bunch of terrorist groups according to Sarah BS) as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. And why should Israel be concerned with world opinion? Sarah BS would have us believe that it has all been a ruse for the last 20 years in which time Fatah and other Palestinian groups have only grown stronger. Actually negotiations were held from Oct 12 onwards. In effect the Canadian Gov was negotiating with the terrorists. Did he also ‘pretend’ to allow seven ‘terrorists’ including Lanctot safe passage to Cuba for the release of James Cross as that is what happened due to these ‘pretend negotiations’. Sarah BS you obviously don’t know what you are talking about. You were specifically asked to show where the members of the PLO ie: PAF, PDU, PPP et al have been directly involved in any recent terrorist attacks within the last ten years. You haven’t done so even though you have been given several opportunities to do so. A childish insult, is this all that Sarah BS can muster with all her ‘intellect’?

All member organization of the PLO are well documented to have engaged -- or to have attempted -- terrorist acts against the State of Israel. Just because you cannot find documentation doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I suggest you polish your research "skills," which aren't terribly skillful. Israel did sign the Oslo Accords. The "Palestinians" did not. They rejected the accords and went home and initiated the second intifada. So, for all LEGAL intents and purposes, the Oslo Accords never happened. I gave you links to terrorist attacks in the past ten years, as requested. What's the matter? Does the truth bother you? That said, why aren't you even considering the question of why there are continued "Palestinian" attacks upon Israel and, in light of that, why should Israel even think of negotiating with terrorist rabble? Are you hamhandedly actually suggesting that terror attacks upon Israel are acceptable? I have yet to read anything from you disdaining and condemning ANY terrorist attack upon Israel. What do you suppose that says about you? I'll tell you. Nothing much. Trudeau let the FLQ terrorists out of Canada. (Who wouldn't rush to agree to get terrorists out of one's country?) Ask yourself if any have been allowed back. "Matty," you are a known commodity on this and a number of other fora. You despise Jews and the State of Israel. Did you fall victim to the phony advances of some Arab lothario? Did he promise to deliver the moon in return for your ceaseless invective against the State of Israel? Dream on. You live in a folk song fantasy already. Stay there. You're pretty useless everywhere else, and your attacks on me (personally) are really getting tired and old. I guess when you lack the facts, you resort to insults. Insult away .... I'm pretty much immune to the likes of supporters of terrorist scum -- like you. In case you have not noticed, Israel has issued a quid pro quo. There will be no moratorium on building in the settlements until the "Palestine Authority" recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in its ancient homeland; until the "Palestine Authority" recognizes the identity of the State of Israel as a Jewish state; until the flotsam and jetsam that comprise the "Palestinian" people repudiate their vile charters calling for the destruction of the State of Israel and the extermination and/or expulsion of the Jewish people. Thus far, "Matty," all "Palestinian" organizations have categorically refused to do so. Why is that, "Matty?" And why should Israel -- the victor in SIX wars -- demand anything less? You're just a dyed-in-the-wool Jew hater. Face it. You've been outed!

In Sarah BS’s latest post all she can do is hop from one foot to another spouting irrelevant titbits in a vain attempt to divert attention away from the fact that she still hasn’t provided a morsel of proof to back up her previous claims. Yet again she has been found to be without substance.