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AddReply(511881,"Respond to #17","D. Wialliams","Texas, USA","11/03/09","From the top of my hat the the bottom of my boots, thank you, kindly.");
AddReply(511619,"ALL FROM ABOVE","sharona","","11/03/09","It\'s only because of Hashem that Israel is knowledgable and successful :)\n\nWhat we should do is use that to unite in Torah; thereby bringing redemption closer and a true lasting peace");
AddReply(511576,"Louise, # 11","yvonne","cary","11/02/09","No apologies were necessary. Now, as for *sociaalism*, I grew up in The Netherlands, which Americans consider a *socialist* country. It is, however, a constitutional monarchy, and there are approx. 10 different political parties, only one of which was a socialist party, when I lived there, and another one was a samll communist party. No one in The Netherlands was force to vote for any party. The choice was free. There was a range of parties from ultra rightwing all the way to ultra left. Free choice. The parties put out an Agenda for the next years, and people vote for that, not for individuals.If the parties do not fulfill their promises, out they go next election, or even before that. That always was the way things went. I have lived in the U.S. for a long time, and have not kept up with European politics. So, you can give tzedakah, or you can not? I think it is *recommended* that you give a certain percentage of your income. You also can VOTE for a certain party, or not vote for it. If, however, as in the U.S., Congressmen and Senators respond to *donations*, political pressure groups, the choice may be an illusion. That there are problems in the Republican Party, and for good reason, becomes obvious. Republicans in some aeas now split up and vote either for Conservatives, or for Democrats, and not for Republicans.There is not one country which is totally national in decisionmaking or constituency, unfortunately. For that reason we all need to be alert and follow what is going on. Ideology may not correspond with what you really stand for.");
AddReply(511492,"Last Days","satch","UK","11/02/09","  As we see the person leading America to it\'s doom we plainly see that Barak Obama has had from the beginning an agenda to destroy The United states in any way that his loving Koran instructs, by lies cheating and stealing!  His Spending has gotten so far out of hand generations of children will be paying for his greed..  He is trying to destroy the Christian/Judeo faith by propogating Islam down the throats of mainline churches.  He (Obama) hates Israel and America and speedily is doing his utmost to destroy us both!  Hashem interviens when we turn to Him and He promises that He will redeem the faithful who put their trust in Him.   Israel will conquer!   We are a christian nation, no matter what Obama says in his lies and our forefathers founded our Constitution in bible beliefs.  Muslims have played No part in forming America,  Jews have played an important part in every facet of life in sharing their G-d given tallents making America great, [once.]  Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem and for America and its corrupt leaders who follow Satan to destroy and make desolate!   Israel will conquer the Arabs as we see the 9 final wars begin as prophesied with messiah\'s soon return to guide us. Hallaluyah, and Shalom, in that day!");
AddReply(511479," \"Settler \" - as best I can - to D. Wialliams","CDG","Yerushalayim","11/02/09","I\'ll give it a shot, with the help of Google, various Web sites and my vantage point as an 11-year-old American at the time: \n\nSETTLER: These are the people who were encouraged to settle in newly-liberated lands (since 1967) that have been, for thousands of years, part of Eretz Yisrael in other people\'s hands. (It is a matter of controversy among the Jews whether some parts of the liberated land are, or are not, part of Eretz Yisrael, i.e. the Promised Land of the Holy Torah, Prophets and Writings that the rest of the world calls the Bible. I will not get into that.) \n\nWhat gives the word  \"settler \" its peculiar quality in Israel? Once secular Israeli society, from whom the main leaders of the country spring, became convinced (wrongly, in many people\'s opinion) that holding on to this territory was an occupation of Arab land and therefore wrong, the word  \"settler \" was turned from a designation of heroic pioneers into a dirty word -- and the people so designated became anathema in the eyes of said secular society, and from there to the eyes of the world at large. At this point many of the  \"settlers \" have internalized the latter meaning, and thus are paralyzed. So far, nothing we have done has changed anyone\'s mind and thus, we get talkbackers who suggest that we go to war against the rest of Israel and become the State of Judea, among other solutions.\n\nFor more, see a short background below.\n\nAfter the 6-Day War, when Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula came into our hands, the Israeli government encouraged settlement in those lands and even supported their move financially. This worked out well - Gush Katif was part of that and became a farmer\'s paradise, supplying not only Israel but much of the world with extremely high quality produce. We drilled oil in the Sinai Peninsula. WE WERE ON OUR WAY TO BECOMING FINANCIALLY SELF-SUFFICIENT -- no loans from the US or any other country -- when the nations demanded that we  \"give back \" the Sinai, and then Gaza.\n\nAfter we  \"gave \" the Sinai  \"back \" to the Egyptians in 1982, the precedent was set. The race has been on to see how long it would take for Israel to  \"give back \" the rest of the land she rightfully received from HaShem\'s Holy Hand (after all, the Arabs were planning to wipe her out - only by the grace of haShem did we hear about it just before it began!). This was the setup for  the  \"Disengagement \" -- which the national religious sector calls the Expulsion -- in 2005.\n\nAttempts to repeat these disgusting performances, and more, are ongoing. I hope this helps.");
AddReply(511450,"Questions to Tamar...","CDG","Yerushalayim","11/02/09","1. Do the  \"can-do \" spirit and early emotional maturity belong exclusively to secular born-in-the-Land Israelis (as Paul from Toronto seems to posit), or do other Israelis share it? I, for one, would like to hear more about other sectors, but it seems that only the seculars among us get positive press in world news...except Robert (Yisrael) Aumann, the American-Israeli who shared a Nobel Prize in 2005 for his  \"work on conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis \" (Wikipedia); he\'s RELIGIOUS. I\'m sure there are more.\n\nWhat I felt while watching the video about Israel makes me think of the little American black girl who wanted to play with a doll that looks like herself, more or less, in a country filled with white dolls, a number of years ago. Now there are black dolls. In other words, I would like to see the many sectors of Israeli society portrayed in other than stereotypical ways.");
AddReply(511386," \"settler \"","D. Wialliams","Texas, USA","11/02/09","Can someone please explain to me what this means or intended to mean?");
AddReply(511327,"USA left; Israel right!","Joyce","Midwest USA","11/02/09","Posted this to my FB.\n\nG-d bless you, and Israel!");
AddReply(511302,"Ask who the innovators really are","Paul S.","Toronto, Canada","11/02/09","Recently Walter Bingham pointed out that in the history of the granting of Nobel Prizes, many more were given to Jews than to Muslims (whether Arabs or non-Arabs).  Nine prizes were awarded to Muslims over the years out of a total population of over a billion, and 171 prizes were awarded to Jews (up to 2009), out of a total population of no more than approx. 15 million at most average over the last 100 years.  On Tamar\'s CNBC \nvideo pointing out Israeli innovation,\none sees a rosy picture of Israeli inventiveness and entrepreneurship.\nBut...who are these folks who are doing this achieving?  Who are winning the Nobel Prizes and other related awards?  For the most part it is seculars.   Big, bad seculars who display billboards with women on them and [gasp] drive on Saturday.  My advice to secular-bashers is to lay off the scolding and condemnation and do a little re-think.  Look at all the improvements in your life as of late.\nIf you are using e-mail, talking on \na cell phone or receiving excellent medical care, thank a secular.  If\nevery Jew were hard-core frum, our\ngirls would dress more modestly, but the majority of us would be living in grass huts, reading prayer\nbooks written by hand, as the printing press would never have been invented.  I know I will get flamed for this, but I am ready for it.\nInstead of griping with apoplexy, construct a logical case for your cause.  Raging will only raise your\nblood pressure and prove my point.\nYou want to be taken seriously?\nTwo recommendations:  Stop secular bashing and start winning awards and achievments on your own.  [By the way, I have no love for the hard left secular crowd, either.  They protest the \'kivush\', what they term the \'occupation\', and dream of a socialist economy\nthat doesn\'t work in the real world.\nI do not defend disloyal seculars].\n");
AddReply(511297,"To #9 - &  No. #6","","","11/02/09","#9 - Thank you for your wise response to #2, couldn\'t believe how people understand so little.\n#6 -  You are wrong in your interpretation of the world coming together to Israel in this way. Maybe, HaShem is putting us in the forefront where the world is very cognizant of Israel, but we will be the spiritual capital, center, of the world.  The high-tech, materialistic world is not of  such great importance in the Jewish perspective.  We are all influenced by the propaganda of the left and those who wish to undo any Judaism!  In the end, what matters is that we will be a  \"light unto the nations \" meaning we are the ones to make the world aware that there is  \"Only G-D \". Ein Od Milvado!");
AddReply(511221,"mea culpa","louise","j-m","11/02/09","I apologize to Yvonne.....I shouldn\'t generalize and am happy to see that others also are teaching their children and grandchildren that they are not  \"entitled \" to anything.....except (according to the constitution....life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (not happiness....but the opportunity to achieve it).\n\nI would like to point out to all those writing about socialism vs. tzedaka....socialism is a political idea.  The government telling you want to do and what you must do.....\nThe government decides who is worthy and who is not.  Not so with Judaism.....The recipient also worked (following the gleaners and picking up what fell to the ground....nothing  \"given \" to them).  \n\nAgain, although we are enjoined to give tzedaka there is no one who will put you in jail if you don\'t give.....there is free will.");
AddReply(511186,"Obama and Socialism","Fred","St. George, Utah USA","11/02/09","This is what we will get under Obama. The fools (and a lot of Jews) voted for this person without a birth certificate and sealed records. Just who is this guy? ");
AddReply(511185,"#2, Tzedaka is not socialism, read the Rambam","Dan","Jerusalem","11/02/09","You are confusing mitzvot such as Tzedaka with socialism, i.e. redistributing the wealth.\n\nThe requirement for Tzedaka is 10% and no more than 20%, much less than the 50% taxes in social welfare states. Plus it is on the local level, for each community, not centralized, no monstrosity  of a welfare bureaucracy.\n\nNor is there any equivalent to the graduated income tax, which comes from the communist manifesto.\n\nYes, there are limits to competition such as opening a store across the street from someone else\'s store.  If only the US would product their industry from unfair competition.\n\nRead the Rambam, Matanot Ani\'im, last chapter.");
AddReply(511163,"Senor makes sense.","yvonne","cary","11/02/09","I clicked on the first video and saw Harding College. Harding College is an excellent school, but they are Church of Christ. Nothing wrong with that. What is wrong with Church of Christ is that they baptize jews, sometimes getting them close to their baptismal (whatever) with lies and deceit. I clicked off as soon as I saw Harding College. In some areas of the U.S. this group is very anti jewish and anti everything. They are NOT my crowd. Then I clicked on the video of Senor. I only listened a few seconds, but he immediately made sense. It is a fact. The U.S. will not integrate, not American veterans, not immigrants. Oh, it appears that they do, and they make a tireless effort. But American veterans go jobless. Immigrants from elsewhere, in our case a physician, had to do internships and residency over, do a comprehensive exam, ECFMG, national boards, state boards, etc. All that after having been recruited right before graduation and/or after finishing internships and residencies abroad. It saves hospitals money to get the cheap labor, but low wages also means low tax revenues, and profits do not go to other physicians, healthcare, innovation or research, but right into the pockets of shareholders. Research often is (partially) funded by Pharmaceutical industries, and the outcomes are then the property of those pharmaceutical companies, not hospitals, not the researcher. Many Pharmaceutical Companies or international, and profits out of products flow out of the U.S. and are not applied to healthcare. Not only that, people being hired often have to sign forms that their own inventions, even outside of the company and after they have left the company, in any field of endeavour, will remain property or become property of the pharmaceutical company for a period, of say five years.");
AddReply(511156,"Neither left, nor right...","yvonne","cary","11/02/09","Obama is pretty much middle of the road. The unemployment and financial crises were created by previous Republican governments. Deregulation, for example, led to usury, unbridled *creative* financial instruments and accounting and outflow of manifacture and jobs. Unemployment is a lagging indicator, but even so, the problem was already obvious well before Obama took Office. Healthcare is another, and separate, issue. IF one has a handicap, preexisting condition, etc. one could not get healthcare insurance and therefore no employment IF one managed to then create one\'s own business and could get insurance at all, often one could not, the insurance premiums were often higher than income, and one could not pay it. EVEN if one was fully insured, and did NOT FILE ANY CLAIMS, one could be cancelled, would be unable to get regular employments, etc. I know about this, because it happened to me, in spite of the fact that I had been fully insured all my life, had always worked, and last as a bank executive, was the wife of a neurosurgeon, etc. If one has no means, and no work, which often go together, one gets socialist transfer payments in the U.S. IF one knows how to get them, and that lasts for life. It is rather an expensive proposition and it is permanent. With universal healthcare everyone pays, everyone who is able works, not many people will need foodstamps and other transfer payments. Now we need the capitalists to create more employment at home, here, rather than outsourcing it. AsYitzi says, tzedaka                                              and caring for others is part of the jewish make-up.I learned that early from my Dad. When a beggar arrived at our house we gave money, a meal and my father gave a job as well. I asked, how do you know this person is really poor? The answer, *If you HAVE to ask!!*. If he is not poor it is on his head. If I refuse to give a needy person, it is on my head. It is not socialism, it is being a mensch. For a jew it is being true to self. As for louise, I do not know about YOUR grandchildren, but my children and grandchildren have always worked, and paid their way through school. They started early, at age 13 or 14. And, no we were not poor, their Dad, as stated above is a neurosurgeon, and the family is well off generally. One granddaughter, at 20, is finishing College, while having worked full time at a regular job (insruance company) and part time as a waitress, again from a very young age on. My offspring knows how to do anything, striping parking lots, making pizza, driving a truck, whatever! And, in fact, Louise, that applies to most kids here. As a teacher I often had kids in class who could not keep awake, because they had been working late, and after that had done their homework too. American kids go out and get what they want too, and they pay for it, out of their hard earned money. Most of them are NOT chauffeured. They drive. They drive a car they buy themselves. Their parents are off working too, full time. Rich families I know intimately, have the chauffeur only drive the young kids who can not drive yet, and the older ones, a few of them, do not only drive their own car, but fly their own plane!  Unfortunately, Republicans have outsourced that lifestyle for a great many Americans as well, who now would love to just get a job, and keep a roof over their heads. My rich family members and acquaintances know EXACTLY who caused the mess up here, and it was NOT the Democrats. We are getting out of it. Socialism is not the American way. Capitalism of the variety we have had here, is also not the American way. It certainly is not the Torah way. But most economies today are neithr socialist, nor capitalist, they are mixed economies.");
AddReply(511136,"Israel Becoming Center of the World","neshama","ny","11/02/09","Hashem is slowly moving Eretz Yisrael into position to be the center of the world, in the area of food production, leadership, technology, science, medicine, agriculture, and the list goes on. The world will be coming to her eventually, bringing gifts for the Beis HaMikdah, and offering korbonos IY \"H");
AddReply(511124,"Q. ? What\'s a socialist?","hurricanes65","","11/02/09","A.  A capitalists who\'se job was outsourced!");
AddReply(511114,"#1 yitzi","Judah","jerusalem","11/02/09","Tzedakah has nothing to do with socialism or the ideas behind socialism.  Tzedakah if, anything, is more akin to a flat-rate tax.  Socialism is a different animal altogether.");
AddReply(511110,"Today, it\'s all the same","","","11/02/09","Firstly, to #2, where did you get that misinformation?  \nThere really is no right and there is no left; this is a worldwide coming together for an agenda where the control will be taken from the people.  I think, after all the information out there, please - who doesn\'t see what\'s happening before our eyes?  It is very disturbing and yet, hopefully, these are the signs of  just before the redemption.  Let\'s pray that it be with mercy for Bnei Yisroel!");
AddReply(511084,"Socialism isn\'t all bad","Yitzi","USA","11/01/09","Many of the Torah\'s laws are socialist in nature (particularly involving tzedakah and similar).  It\'s only when socialism is taken to an extreme that it\'s an issue.");
AddReply(511019,"Israeli youth","louise","jerusalem","11/01/09","I have both American and Israeli grandchildren......for years I have seen the difference.\n\nThe Israeli children want something they go out and get it.....the Americans are unable to do it on their own.\n\nPerhaps one reason is the play dates, the fenced in playgrounds, the chauffering of the children back and forth......  Israeli children are out playing day into night, hop on busses, and more interested in what is going on outside their ken.\n\nIsraeli children, especially my  \"settler \" grandchildren, are growing up to be the new Maccabees and two thousand years from now people will be celebrating the miracles they will perform.\n\nOf course, you probably think that i am saying this because they are my grandchildren but I assure you.....I am completely objective.  Yeh!");

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