23 June 2011 Evening

Topics
Humor This is supposed to discourage religious door to door proselytizing. I’m afraid that it would just encourage me:

Social
I am tempted to say that this represents my worst stereotype about Republicans. But, it was a Republican that alerted me to this (albeit one with a military background):

An Evans neighborhood association has blocked a group that was prepared to build a home free of charge for a local veteran who was injured in Afghanistan.

The homebuilding group, Homes for Our Troops, says Knob Hill Property Owners Association approved the home’s design June 2 but reversed its decision in a later meeting.

A member of the association, however, says the group got only a conditional approval, pending a review of its design; the neighborhood is carefully protected by building covenants, and the final design did not fit.[...]

But owners association member Tom Rogers said Homes for Our Troops did not do everything asked of it. The group did not have written approval from the association’s architectural review board, but negotiated through e-mail only.

“What’s important to understand is the family already lives here. They’re a great family. We have no qualms with them,” Rogers said. “The problem is, that street down there has 5,000-square-foot homes all the way up and down the street there. … It just doesn’t fit. That’s the whole issue.”

Gonsalves said his team checked association documents, which do recommend that at least 2,700-square-foot houses be built, but Rogers said homeowners in that section built much larger homes.[...]

Entitlement; house size, “fitting in”. Pity there is no such thing as “karma” as I wouldn’t mind it if a tornado just happened to slam into that neighborhood (but just destroy the houses and not injure anyone).

Politics
No Drama Obama: remember how Israel’s prime minister just told off President Obama? Well guess what:

Today, news has broken that – SURPRISE – Netanyahu “agreed to peace talks based on 1967 borders on the condition that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state and solve the Palestinian refugee issue outside of Israel’s borders” in talks with presidential advisor Dennis Ross and acting Middle East enjoy David Hale.

In other words, Netanyahu today, it is reported, has agreed, more or less, to Obama’s terms – those same terms he spent many a glorious hour defaming and ridiculing while being hosted by our President in Washington, while here as our guest.

Now, Netanyahu, if reports coming out of Israel are accurate, is eating those words. And who do you think is the one making him chew?

Yes. Obama don’t take no mess.

Author’s Note: Two things. First, Netanyahu’s communications office “denied” that today’s reports are true that the Prime Minister accepted 1967 as future borders. However, this denial, it seems, is purely cosmetic, for the denial itself doesn’t actually address what Netanyahu is reported to have agreed on, which is “peace talks based on 1967 borders.” Second, the significance of Netanyahu’s bending to Obama’s will, if true, is, in and of itself, a game-changer in the Middle East with reference to a possible negotiated settlement between Israelis and Palestinians. However, that analysis will have to wait for another diary (or for your comments below).

Of course, someone else called this some time ago (e. g., said that Israel’s PM would have to make a show of being offended…that was all part of it)

The Last Word

Obama and Israel, posted with vodpod

2012 Race
Nate Silver handicaps the Republican field; he has Romney at 40 percent, Pawlenty at 18 percent (too high), Perry at 12.5 percent and Bachmann at 12 percent. He’ll handicap the lower tier candidates in a subsequent post.

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