Israel: Ties With U.S. in Historic Crisis

The news that is not White House approved...

Troubled Times

The Obama administration promised change in this country's foreign relations, and boy, has it delivered by precipitating a diplomatic crisis with Israel.

During Vice President Biden's visit to the region last week, Israel announced its plans to build 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem. The Obama's administration's diplomatic response was to lash out at our only democratic ally in the Middle East:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID AXELROD, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: What happened there was an affront. It was an insult. This was not the right way to behave.

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: The announcement of the settlements the very day that the vice president was there was insulting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Wow. Those are harsher words than I've heard this administration use against our sworn enemies.

Well, Israel's envoy to the U.S. took that all in and declared that, "Israel's ties with the U.S. are in their worst crisis since 1975… a crisis of historic proportions."

I thought it would take a lot to damage the relationship between the U.S. and Israel, but this administration has managed to do it. Very embarrassing.

Broken Promises

The Obama presidency has been tainted by several high-profile broken promises, the most famous of all being the failure to close Gitmo. And now the president is being called out on the carpet for going back on his word when it comes to transparency.

Remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The way to make government responsible is to hold it accountable. And the way to make government accountable is make it transparent so the American people can know exactly what decisions are being made, how they're being made and whether their interests are being well served. The directives I am giving my administration today on how to interpret the Freedom of Information Act will do just that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

But now more than a year later the report card is in, and according to a review conducted by George Washington University, President Obama has failed to fulfill his Freedom of Information Act pledge.

Thomas Blanton, who helped oversee the study, told The Washington Post, "President Obama sent a clear message for Freedom of Information and we found that agencies are talking the walk, just not walking the walk."

"Not walking the walk." Maybe President Obama can use that as a slogan for his re-election campaign.

Quiet Dignity?

Last month, Newsweek magazine ran an article hailing the "Quiet Dignity of Rielle Hunter." The magazine congratulated Hunter for maintaining her silence as the John Edwards scandal unfolded in the media and commended her from refraining from posing naked in Playboy magazine.

I have a feeling that the author of that article is probably wishing he never wrote about Rielle's so-called quiet dignity. Take a look at these racy new photos, showing a scantily-clad Hunter in what appears to be her daughter's bedroom, taken during a photo shoot for GQ magazine.

But even more bizarre than the photos is the interview that she did with the magazine in which she reveals, "I love Johnny… He's very supportive of me talking now. He believes that it's something that will help me be at peace with it. And he knows how important truth is to me."

Isn't that sweet?

British Bungle

The news about Climate-gate has apparently yet to reach some in the British government.

The U.K.'s Department of Energy and Climate Change was rebuked by the country's Advertising Standards Authority for publishing misleading ads about global warming like one that reads, "Rub a dub-dub, three men in a tub, a necessary course of action due to flash flooding caused by climate change."

Wow, I'm nervous.

The ad is accompanied by a dire warning about the impact of global warming.

The advertising authority noted in its ruling that the findings of the U.N.'s Climate Panel involved "uncertainties."

Well, that's a nice way to put it. I'm just happy that somebody is finally putting an end to this bizarre and insane fear mongering.

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