This estimate of total U.S. direct aid to Israel updates the estimate given in the July 2006 issue of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. It is an estimate because arriving at an exact figure is not possible, since parts of U.S. aid to Israel are a) buried in the budgets of various U.S. agencies, mostly that of the Defense Department (DOD), or b) in a form not easily quantifiable, such as the early disbursement of aid, giving Israel a direct benefit in interest income and the U.S. Treasury a corresponding loss. Given these caveats, our current estimate of cumulative total direct aid to Israel is $113.8554 billion.
It must be emphasized that this analysis is a conservative, defensible accounting of U.S. direct aid to Israel, NOT of Israel's cost to the U.S. or the American taxpayer, nor of the benefits to Israel of U.S. aid.
One or two percent of GDP? Hmmmmm - how many nations are donating that much to MY country? I can't recall any headlines proclaiming the generosity of foreign nations giving aid to the United States.
Troll. How can it be trolling, when I invite people to research? Go ahead, trollbait. Use Google, or whatever other tools you have at your disposal, and research. If I am wrong, if Israel has a thriving economy independent of donations from the US and religious communities around the world, you should be able to embarrass me easily. Go for it. Post the results of your research. Karma be damned - stand up and post those findings with a real name.
While the wikipedia can't be considered an authority on anything at all, the links on that page serve as a good launching point, if you wish to research. I feel that the first set of links provide reliable stories and estimates of numbers.
As with any kind of research, note the articles cited, note various names and terms used throughout the articles, then go to Google for more info.
You won't really have to spend much time following links to decide that there were few good guys involved in any of this, and in fact, all the main actors were "bad guys". I define "bad guys" as people willing to kill, pillage, and plunder to advance their political and/or religious agenda.
I haven't yet done so - I've thought a number of times that it would be interesting to pull up a map of Palestine from about 1930, and superimpose it over a map of the region today. A number of villages have simply disappeared. Gone. Phhhtttt - no more! How many? I can't even make a very educated guess - I'll just make a wild guess at "dozens". Israel has this thing about bulldozers. It isn't enough to relocate or kill the inhabitants. They feel the need to eradicate all signs that a village ever existed. Rather like the need of the Nazi party to erase the village that Adolph Hitler was born in. After all, how can you rewrite history convincingly, if physical evidence to the contrary exists?
"The retailer is under no obligation to publish unfavorable reviews"
He should be. Bear in mind, you are talking about a retailer, who presumably has a number of products for sale. If he puts up reviews at all, he should welcome both positive and negative reviews. That puts him in the position of being impartial - something that is always good for business.
I like reading negative reviews - there have been times that I've read half a dozen positives, and a few negatives, and decided that the product's detractors were clueless boobs, then bought the product. Those clueless boobs actually gave credence to the positive reviews, IMHO.
Like so many others have already said - if you see ONLY positive reviews with 5 star ratings, you should be suspicious.
It would be hard to say at what date Israel acquired nuclear and/or atomic weapons - but they certainly had them before 1970. Most certainly. I'll put my money on about 1961, possibly as late as 1963. It wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that they had a bomb before 1960. If you google hard enough, you can find floor plans for Israel's nuclear processing plants and research labs. Google a little more, and you might find the hints needed to find educated estimates regarding their arsenal. The arsenal isn't nearly as huge as that of the US - but it's big enough to be scary. Unless you happen to be Israeli, and a member of the military with a "need to know" you will NOT find any hard numbers, so don't try to pin anyone down for them.
I really don't know how you can draw that conclusion. No Israeli villages were massacred, no Israeli village was simply wiped from the map, and it's name forgotten. No Israeli prisoners or bodies were dragged through the streets, for people to gawk at, spit at, and curse.
"The bombings were unfortunate, however, the state of Israel later disclaimed any responsibility for acts of terrorism and, AFAIK, did not support any of them."
What you are actually pointing out is, Israel won the propaganda war. Former terrorists were elected to head Israel's government, and others were held up as heros. Israel can no more disclaim responsibility for the terrorism of it's activists than the US can "disclaim" the anti-slavery activists before the Civil War.
I won't defend Iran's funding of Hamas, or Iran's denial of the holocaust - but I can't see that it is any worse than the activities of Zionists prior to 1950. There simply aren't any good guys in the conflict. Only fools believe either side to be innocent, or good.
"A lot of talk about "terrorism" is really a discussion designed to get U.S. taxpayers to pay for Israel's security."
Exactly. For some insight, people should research Israel's economy. Basically, they don't have one. They subsist primarily on the inflow of funds from around the world. The US government is probably the single largest source of funds, but money comes from everywhere. If the donations dried up, Israel would be hurting.
And, that may well happen soon if the recession isn't cured.
Obviously, I'm not "many" users. Certainly not a majority. But, I have installed every operating system that MS has offered since MS-DOS 3.1. Every single one. I've done every Windows version since Windows 1.something - I missed 1.0.
I will state bluntly here that WinME was the single worst abortion that MS ever put out, followed closely by Vista.
Windows 7 runs perfectly on the very same hardware on which Vista failed. Longhorn, in various versions, runs perfectly on the very same hardware. With some moderate tweaking, Win7 runs just as fast as XP ever ran, it's stable, reliable - it just works. Vista refused to work properly on any of my home brew machines. When it ran at all, it was a resource hog, and ran as sluggishly as Win98 would run on an early 386. No exaggeration.
I will allow for the fact that Vista probably does run decently on high-end equipment that was designed for Vista. But, where does that leave the rest of the world? And, how does that explain the fact that Win7 runs perfectly on hardware that Vista barfed on?
"The true test will be how long will it take for major corporate IT uptake in Win7."
I can agree with that statement, at least. And, I'm sure that the test will be passed. A mediocre IT dude such as myself will be able to migrate a small company from XP to Win7 (let's say 50 machines) in a month or so, with only moderate headache. (Yes, migration ALWAYS involves some headache.) You simply couldn't say that with Vista. It simply wasn't going to run on a lot of the existing hardware, and the boss wasn't going to spring for all new hardware.
You probably don't watch television. The wife always has the boob tube on, and I'm sick of that little far-to-cute child telling the world about "good things" in Windows 7. There are at least two of those commercials. I can't see the television from my home computer, but I HEAR her. GAAAAHHHHH!!!
It's telling, when their marketing campaign seems to be led by a child, and aimed at children, young mommies, and grandmas. I had to google - the girl's name is Kylie. Ahhhh, Google is still my friend, try this link: http://www.geekologie.com/2009/09/windows_7_commercial_with_cute.php
Which industry are you speaking of? Patent trolling? Seriously - those people and corporations with a marketable product will continue to sell their product, until someone comes out with a better product. No industry is going to fail, aside from the patent troll industry. A few lawyers may have to search for a slightly more ethical specialty, like ambulance chasing.
Smart, sophisticated people don't need to steal to start with
Smart sophisticated people who DO steal aren't likely to be caught
The sample comes from a prison population, thereby demonstrating that they are NOT smart & sophisticated
If any of our sample population really IS smart and sophisticated, he was caught due to complacency and/or laziness, and he's not going to share hes best secrets with the unwashed masses unless it buys him an early release
Xenophobia. Yeah, I see it. I don't much like it. It is a symptom of ignorance, and it's quite hard to cure. BUT - maybe it's fair to point out that xenophobia may be a valid reaction to what has been going on over the last few decades. NAFTA, CAFTA, whoring ourselves out to make China a "most favored trading partner". Outsourcing, immigration (both legal and illegal), hiring of foreign nationals (work permits, as opposed to immigrants), as well as corporations shipping production jobs overseas wholesale. All these things, plus terrorism, have taken their toll. America's wealth is being drained, people are afraid, and people are reacting.
Xenophobia? Again, I see it as ignorance, akin to paranoia. But then again, it's not paranoia if everyone really IS out to get you, is it?
Our government is almost willing to admit that unemployment is at 10%. For a more accurate picture of unemployment, visit http://www.shadowstats.com/article/employment Depending on the methods used to figure unemployment, the figures vary. SGS places it at 21.4% for September.
Browse around shadowstats to get an idea how and why the government fails to make accurate reports on the economy.
The administration apparently had hopes that capturing the Olympics would help the economy. That's the only reason I can think of for our head of state to lobby so hard for it.
Unlike your detractor, AC, I understand exactly what you are saying. More, it's true. Yes, California IS all but bankrupt. The last couple of budgets took months to hammer out, services cut back, yada yada yada. In fact, most of the local and state governments in the states are the same. All rely on the fed, directly, or indirectly. Every freaking county courthouse in the country is busting ass right now, trying to balance budgets. Bonds, loans, increased traffic patrols, whatever they can do. The city of Houston, and surrounding counties were in the news just a few short months ago, desperately shifting funds around, trying to cover losses after the bank bailout, because they lost funds in that mess.
The whole nation is in trouble. And, building that train isn't likely to help much. At least it's a better use of stimulus money than bailing out another bank, so I won't complain.
All that effort to make a point, which I dismiss as irrelevant, and frivolous. Uhhhh - hello, Earth to gamers - our economy is in serious trouble right now. It's time to put the games away, and do something meaningful with your lives. Those millions (billions?) of dollars worth of games and equipment in your basements aren't going to feed you, or improve anyone's quality of life.
Funny - I've never felt any great need to own an iPhone. But, now that I know Apple is capable of crippling and/or killing an iPhone, I feel this urge to run out and get one. Now, I know that if my iPhone tries to suck my brains out, Apple can prevent it./sarcasm
Dude - I voted for Obama. If Obama did EVERYTHING just like I want him to do, AND, he brought me breakfast in bed, did my laundry, fixed my car, and maintenanced my house, and gave me his salary for the privilege of serving me, I would STILL BITCH!! It's an American's right to bitch, even when everything is going better than right.
Wait - you didn't go to boot camp, did you? You would have learned, "A bitching sailor is a happy sailor." No one worries about what the troops have to say, until they quit saying anything. When they quit bitching, THEN YOU NEED TO WORRY!
Oh, don't get me wrong - I don't want to eliminate all copyright. Harry Potter deserves some protection. I have definite problems with they way copyright law has evolved, but I do NOT want to eliminate it.
But, public education and/or books developed with public funds are the subject of this whole discussion. Those works should be much more open than something like Harry Potter.
Good points. First - the vast majority of public school text books have nothing to do with "cutting edge". I really mean, the overwhelming majority. K-12, you're unlikely to find even 1% of any textbook with anything that was "cutting edge" even 5 years ago. "See Dick run. See Jane run." Those textbooks were, and are, just as good as any reading primers you will find in the schools today. The same can be said of most subject material, up through 6th grade - 50 year old books contain all the knowledge and skills available to day. "New Math" books had nothing new in them.
Now, when you transition from high school to even a junior college or a vo-tech, THEN you start to see things that are new, and required genuine research. Going higher, you will see a lot of text books that require yet more intensive research. Someone who is working on a thesis at MIT is quite likely to require a lot of "cutting edge" material. Copyright protections on those works make sense.
We could dicker over the protections that such works should enjoy. But, I think most people can agree that general educational materials in the early grades are pretty much cut and dried. Only copyright trolls and political action committees see any great value in those copyrights.
Users vote with their money, and their feet. AdBlock Plus, FTW. Screw the advertisers. Control your cookies, disable tracking, give the MINIMUM information for required applications, games, forums, etc to work. If that minimum level of required info becomes offensive - stop using the site. Simple.
I use Google search exclusively, but they really don't have much information on me. They can't even make meaningful "suggestions" as I type in the search box.
If/when I decide that I want to purchase something, I'll do a freaking search for it. I simply don't need an advert to decide what I need or want, or what I'm willing to pay for it. Google search will find it, when I'm ready.
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.theodora.com/wfbcurrent/israel/israel_economy.html
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$200.7 billion (2008 est.)
$193.2 billion (2007)
$183.3 billion (2006)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/world/middleeast/17israel.html
Israel to Get $30 Billion in Military Aid From U.S.
This is a better breakdown, year by year:
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/114bill.html
This estimate of total U.S. direct aid to Israel updates the estimate given in the July 2006 issue of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. It is an estimate because arriving at an exact figure is not possible, since parts of U.S. aid to Israel are a) buried in the budgets of various U.S. agencies, mostly that of the Defense Department (DOD), or b) in a form not easily quantifiable, such as the early disbursement of aid, giving Israel a direct benefit in interest income and the U.S. Treasury a corresponding loss. Given these caveats, our current estimate of cumulative total direct aid to Israel is $113.8554 billion.
It must be emphasized that this analysis is a conservative, defensible accounting of U.S. direct aid to Israel, NOT of Israel's cost to the U.S. or the American taxpayer, nor of the benefits to Israel of U.S. aid.
One or two percent of GDP? Hmmmmm - how many nations are donating that much to MY country? I can't recall any headlines proclaiming the generosity of foreign nations giving aid to the United States.
Troll. How can it be trolling, when I invite people to research? Go ahead, trollbait. Use Google, or whatever other tools you have at your disposal, and research. If I am wrong, if Israel has a thriving economy independent of donations from the US and religious communities around the world, you should be able to embarrass me easily. Go for it. Post the results of your research. Karma be damned - stand up and post those findings with a real name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haganah
No attempt to understand Israel or Palestine will be complete unless you examine the haganah. Again, the wikipedia makes a good place to start.
Enjoy!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Massacres_in_Palestine
While the wikipedia can't be considered an authority on anything at all, the links on that page serve as a good launching point, if you wish to research. I feel that the first set of links provide reliable stories and estimates of numbers.
As with any kind of research, note the articles cited, note various names and terms used throughout the articles, then go to Google for more info.
You won't really have to spend much time following links to decide that there were few good guys involved in any of this, and in fact, all the main actors were "bad guys". I define "bad guys" as people willing to kill, pillage, and plunder to advance their political and/or religious agenda.
I haven't yet done so - I've thought a number of times that it would be interesting to pull up a map of Palestine from about 1930, and superimpose it over a map of the region today. A number of villages have simply disappeared. Gone. Phhhtttt - no more! How many? I can't even make a very educated guess - I'll just make a wild guess at "dozens". Israel has this thing about bulldozers. It isn't enough to relocate or kill the inhabitants. They feel the need to eradicate all signs that a village ever existed. Rather like the need of the Nazi party to erase the village that Adolph Hitler was born in. After all, how can you rewrite history convincingly, if physical evidence to the contrary exists?
"The retailer is under no obligation to publish unfavorable reviews"
He should be. Bear in mind, you are talking about a retailer, who presumably has a number of products for sale. If he puts up reviews at all, he should welcome both positive and negative reviews. That puts him in the position of being impartial - something that is always good for business.
I like reading negative reviews - there have been times that I've read half a dozen positives, and a few negatives, and decided that the product's detractors were clueless boobs, then bought the product. Those clueless boobs actually gave credence to the positive reviews, IMHO.
Like so many others have already said - if you see ONLY positive reviews with 5 star ratings, you should be suspicious.
It would be hard to say at what date Israel acquired nuclear and/or atomic weapons - but they certainly had them before 1970. Most certainly. I'll put my money on about 1961, possibly as late as 1963. It wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that they had a bomb before 1960. If you google hard enough, you can find floor plans for Israel's nuclear processing plants and research labs. Google a little more, and you might find the hints needed to find educated estimates regarding their arsenal. The arsenal isn't nearly as huge as that of the US - but it's big enough to be scary. Unless you happen to be Israeli, and a member of the military with a "need to know" you will NOT find any hard numbers, so don't try to pin anyone down for them.
"The pre-1948 violence was mutual."
I really don't know how you can draw that conclusion. No Israeli villages were massacred, no Israeli village was simply wiped from the map, and it's name forgotten. No Israeli prisoners or bodies were dragged through the streets, for people to gawk at, spit at, and curse.
"The bombings were unfortunate, however, the state of Israel later disclaimed any responsibility for acts of terrorism and, AFAIK, did not support any of them."
What you are actually pointing out is, Israel won the propaganda war. Former terrorists were elected to head Israel's government, and others were held up as heros. Israel can no more disclaim responsibility for the terrorism of it's activists than the US can "disclaim" the anti-slavery activists before the Civil War.
I won't defend Iran's funding of Hamas, or Iran's denial of the holocaust - but I can't see that it is any worse than the activities of Zionists prior to 1950. There simply aren't any good guys in the conflict. Only fools believe either side to be innocent, or good.
"A lot of talk about "terrorism" is really a discussion designed to get U.S. taxpayers to pay for Israel's security."
Exactly. For some insight, people should research Israel's economy. Basically, they don't have one. They subsist primarily on the inflow of funds from around the world. The US government is probably the single largest source of funds, but money comes from everywhere. If the donations dried up, Israel would be hurting.
And, that may well happen soon if the recession isn't cured.
Obviously, I'm not "many" users. Certainly not a majority. But, I have installed every operating system that MS has offered since MS-DOS 3.1. Every single one. I've done every Windows version since Windows 1.something - I missed 1.0.
I will state bluntly here that WinME was the single worst abortion that MS ever put out, followed closely by Vista.
Windows 7 runs perfectly on the very same hardware on which Vista failed. Longhorn, in various versions, runs perfectly on the very same hardware. With some moderate tweaking, Win7 runs just as fast as XP ever ran, it's stable, reliable - it just works. Vista refused to work properly on any of my home brew machines. When it ran at all, it was a resource hog, and ran as sluggishly as Win98 would run on an early 386. No exaggeration.
I will allow for the fact that Vista probably does run decently on high-end equipment that was designed for Vista. But, where does that leave the rest of the world? And, how does that explain the fact that Win7 runs perfectly on hardware that Vista barfed on?
"The true test will be how long will it take for major corporate IT uptake in Win7."
I can agree with that statement, at least. And, I'm sure that the test will be passed. A mediocre IT dude such as myself will be able to migrate a small company from XP to Win7 (let's say 50 machines) in a month or so, with only moderate headache. (Yes, migration ALWAYS involves some headache.) You simply couldn't say that with Vista. It simply wasn't going to run on a lot of the existing hardware, and the boss wasn't going to spring for all new hardware.
"I'm yet to see a single advert for it."
You probably don't watch television. The wife always has the boob tube on, and I'm sick of that little far-to-cute child telling the world about "good things" in Windows 7. There are at least two of those commercials. I can't see the television from my home computer, but I HEAR her. GAAAAHHHHH!!!
It's telling, when their marketing campaign seems to be led by a child, and aimed at children, young mommies, and grandmas. I had to google - the girl's name is Kylie. Ahhhh, Google is still my friend, try this link:
http://www.geekologie.com/2009/09/windows_7_commercial_with_cute.php
Which industry are you speaking of? Patent trolling? Seriously - those people and corporations with a marketable product will continue to sell their product, until someone comes out with a better product. No industry is going to fail, aside from the patent troll industry. A few lawyers may have to search for a slightly more ethical specialty, like ambulance chasing.
Yeah, my thoughts went along these lines:
Smart, sophisticated people don't need to steal to start with
Smart sophisticated people who DO steal aren't likely to be caught
The sample comes from a prison population, thereby demonstrating that they are NOT smart & sophisticated
If any of our sample population really IS smart and sophisticated, he was caught due to complacency and/or laziness, and he's not going to share hes best secrets with the unwashed masses unless it buys him an early release
Most definitely, we have a sample error here.
Xenophobia. Yeah, I see it. I don't much like it. It is a symptom of ignorance, and it's quite hard to cure. BUT - maybe it's fair to point out that xenophobia may be a valid reaction to what has been going on over the last few decades. NAFTA, CAFTA, whoring ourselves out to make China a "most favored trading partner". Outsourcing, immigration (both legal and illegal), hiring of foreign nationals (work permits, as opposed to immigrants), as well as corporations shipping production jobs overseas wholesale. All these things, plus terrorism, have taken their toll. America's wealth is being drained, people are afraid, and people are reacting.
Xenophobia? Again, I see it as ignorance, akin to paranoia. But then again, it's not paranoia if everyone really IS out to get you, is it?
Our government is almost willing to admit that unemployment is at 10%. For a more accurate picture of unemployment, visit http://www.shadowstats.com/article/employment Depending on the methods used to figure unemployment, the figures vary. SGS places it at 21.4% for September.
Browse around shadowstats to get an idea how and why the government fails to make accurate reports on the economy.
The administration apparently had hopes that capturing the Olympics would help the economy. That's the only reason I can think of for our head of state to lobby so hard for it.
Prunes, right? Pirates need dried fruit in their diet after all.
Unlike your detractor, AC, I understand exactly what you are saying. More, it's true. Yes, California IS all but bankrupt. The last couple of budgets took months to hammer out, services cut back, yada yada yada. In fact, most of the local and state governments in the states are the same. All rely on the fed, directly, or indirectly. Every freaking county courthouse in the country is busting ass right now, trying to balance budgets. Bonds, loans, increased traffic patrols, whatever they can do. The city of Houston, and surrounding counties were in the news just a few short months ago, desperately shifting funds around, trying to cover losses after the bank bailout, because they lost funds in that mess.
The whole nation is in trouble. And, building that train isn't likely to help much. At least it's a better use of stimulus money than bailing out another bank, so I won't complain.
Your friendly neighborhood stalker will be watching over your shoulder.
Stalking you on slashdot . . .
You most definitely have an overinflated sense of importance in this universe..........
As for the rest of your rant, and your insults, pack 'em where the sun don't shine. Maybe, just maybe, some day you will become relevant. Til then.
All that effort to make a point, which I dismiss as irrelevant, and frivolous. Uhhhh - hello, Earth to gamers - our economy is in serious trouble right now. It's time to put the games away, and do something meaningful with your lives. Those millions (billions?) of dollars worth of games and equipment in your basements aren't going to feed you, or improve anyone's quality of life.
Funny - I've never felt any great need to own an iPhone. But, now that I know Apple is capable of crippling and/or killing an iPhone, I feel this urge to run out and get one. Now, I know that if my iPhone tries to suck my brains out, Apple can prevent it. /sarcasm
"We're not a Borg."
Assimilation of this unit must be completed soon - such heresy must not be allowed to spread.
"I've had this account for over a year now!"
Yes, I can see that.
http://slashdot.org/~DonalBlaney
Odd, though, you've never made a single post until this article. Hmmmm. What's that UID? Ahhhhh.........
Dude - I voted for Obama. If Obama did EVERYTHING just like I want him to do, AND, he brought me breakfast in bed, did my laundry, fixed my car, and maintenanced my house, and gave me his salary for the privilege of serving me, I would STILL BITCH!! It's an American's right to bitch, even when everything is going better than right.
Wait - you didn't go to boot camp, did you? You would have learned, "A bitching sailor is a happy sailor." No one worries about what the troops have to say, until they quit saying anything. When they quit bitching, THEN YOU NEED TO WORRY!
Oh, don't get me wrong - I don't want to eliminate all copyright. Harry Potter deserves some protection. I have definite problems with they way copyright law has evolved, but I do NOT want to eliminate it.
But, public education and/or books developed with public funds are the subject of this whole discussion. Those works should be much more open than something like Harry Potter.
Good points. First - the vast majority of public school text books have nothing to do with "cutting edge". I really mean, the overwhelming majority. K-12, you're unlikely to find even 1% of any textbook with anything that was "cutting edge" even 5 years ago. "See Dick run. See Jane run." Those textbooks were, and are, just as good as any reading primers you will find in the schools today. The same can be said of most subject material, up through 6th grade - 50 year old books contain all the knowledge and skills available to day. "New Math" books had nothing new in them.
Now, when you transition from high school to even a junior college or a vo-tech, THEN you start to see things that are new, and required genuine research. Going higher, you will see a lot of text books that require yet more intensive research. Someone who is working on a thesis at MIT is quite likely to require a lot of "cutting edge" material. Copyright protections on those works make sense.
We could dicker over the protections that such works should enjoy. But, I think most people can agree that general educational materials in the early grades are pretty much cut and dried. Only copyright trolls and political action committees see any great value in those copyrights.
Users vote with their money, and their feet. AdBlock Plus, FTW. Screw the advertisers. Control your cookies, disable tracking, give the MINIMUM information for required applications, games, forums, etc to work. If that minimum level of required info becomes offensive - stop using the site. Simple.
I use Google search exclusively, but they really don't have much information on me. They can't even make meaningful "suggestions" as I type in the search box.
If/when I decide that I want to purchase something, I'll do a freaking search for it. I simply don't need an advert to decide what I need or want, or what I'm willing to pay for it. Google search will find it, when I'm ready.