Israel Defense Forces

Benny Gantz, Chief of Staff for the IDF, stood on the tracks at the station in Berlin on Saturday, from which Jews were deported to the death camps.

Today too, we are required to deal with hostile states and organizations that seek to harm us, but unlike the past, we face our enemies from a position of strength – stronger than ever before.We won’t allow the horrors of the past to return, we will not allow those who seek our harm to raise their heads. We won’t be helpless when facing our enemies. The nation of Israel will always have the most protective and skilled force. Against any threat, from any distance, we will be fortified and independent in our abilities to defend ourselves. We won’t bow our head before any danger that threatens the Jewish people in its land. The IDF is the Jewish people’s answer to the incinerators, gas chambers, the pits and the killings.

Gantz is the son of a Hungarian Holocaust survivor,  who began his military career as a paratrooper.

reprinted from November 2013

UPDATE: Yesterday, Benny Gantz's commission expired. He is being replaced by Gadi Eizenkot, like all Israeli generals, a veteran and hero of many battles in the defense of Israel.  "I can tell you now, Gadi, I can guarantee that there won't be an easy day. Israel faces many challenges. The Middle East is falling apart," Prime Minister Netanyahu said. "Only the strong survive."

The Obama Jew

Yesterday's post on Netanyahu addressing Congress received the following comment;

Anonymous said... Please explain to me why American Jews continue to support Obama. Are they blind, or do they just not care about Israel? February 12, 2015 at 9:35 PM

The Jewish support for Obama has exasperated me for years, but I am a minority member of the clan. Obama received 78% of the Jewish vote in his first election, and despite several snubs of Israel, still received 69% of their support in 2012. The Jewish alliance with the Democratic Party goes back to the Roosevelt era. Some sociologists believe that contemporary Judaism has metamorphosed more into social liberalism than traditional religion.  Obama was a liberal's dream candidate.

Netanyahu's Upcoming Speech

Netanyahu's speech to Congress, scheduled for early March, has become a point of multiple controversy. Did Boehner invite Netanyahu as a partisan to embarrass Obama? Did Netanyahu accept for political purpose back in Israel? Is the invitation and speech so diplomatically uncomfortable as to constitute disrespect to United States? One thing for sure is that there is much more consequence for Israel than United States with any nuclear deal made with Iran. As the United States becomes involved in the ever changing dynamics of the Middle East conflicts, it is Israel which is in the cross-hair of Iranian produced missiles, not America.  According to Netanyahu, “Iran continues to forge ahead through the rubble of the new Middle East; it has already taken over four capitals, Damascus, Beirut, Baghdad and now Sana’a. Now it wants to open a third front from the Golan Heights.” Netanyahu said that if that was the way Iran acted without nuclear arms, “Imagine what it will do when it has nuclear weapons.”

Under the dire circumstances facing Israel, I do not find Netanyahu's speech either political or undiplomatic. However, I believe that those terms apply to our Congress members who choose not to attend.

The Minimum Wage

Although I consider myself a conservative, especially in fiscal matters, today I joined Lehigh Valley's State Representatives and candidates in endorsing the bill to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10. The event was organized by Alan Jennings of Community Action, and held at the Second Harvest Food Bank. My position is simply that the fruits of person's labor should earn them more than one Happy Meal. Although the sparse audience was essentially the food Bank workers, one by one, the representatives gave essentially the same speech, some even quoting Roosevelt and Martin Luther King.
reprinted from September 2014 
A sample comment, submitted by Wayne Woodman in Sept. of 2014
Fewer than 2% of working adults earns the minimum wage. It will have no real effect other than to make self indulged elected officials feel like they have compassion for the working poor. Maybe it makes for good politics but it makes for bad policy. A fifty percent increase will definitely have a trickle up affect causing those making more than $10.10 an hour currently to demand commensurately more since they offer more value. In the least worst case this will lead to wage and price inflation negating the increase of the minimum. In the worst case, which is more likely, business owners, especially those in low margin businesses like restaurants, will have a greater incentive to invest in capital to streamline their services or, if possible, fully automate a position currently held by a low wage earner. To weak kneed politicians this is preferable to addressing the real problem. Failing schools are producing graduates, if they graduate at all, unqualified for all but the most minimal of tasks. Our economy is currently oversupplied with these workers and for many residents of inner cities, in particular, these minimum skill jobs are their only access to the first rung on the employment ladder. There is no doubt at all that having a job, even a low wage job, is better than remaining idle when it comes to producing a better future for ones self. This type of thing seems to always occur in election years as the equivalent of the tradition of the Roman Empire of providing bread and circuses to the mob upon the elevation of a new emperor. Once again what makes for good politics produces bad policy. Wayne Woodman September 2014 

At the time, I received many comments opposing an increase to the minimum wage. Yesterday, Tom Wolf pledged to introduce a minimum wage bill to Pennsylvania's State House. Locally, Pat Browne supports the increase. With a Republican majority in both chambers, I see no possibility of it passing. My support is based on my experience as a property manager. When the fruits of a minimum paying job cannot support even a modest roof over your head, in a low rent town, some increase is in order.

The New Allentown

As I mentioned in a recent post, there certainly is a new order in Allentown. In the Golden Era, we were led by the business giants, through their appointed, duly elected minions. I suppose we are now in an oligarchy, again fronted by appointed minions. There has even been a change in the minion pool. In recent years, you had to be a Democrat to win, now you must be a cooperating Democrat. It is interesting to note that this lack of true democracy seems to bother very few citizens of this former All American City. The anointed mayor can choose the City Council, which was supposed to help regulate him. The oligarchy can choose the school board, which in turn can cooperate with property taxing strategies, which best suit them. While a few of us will still sign the sheet to speak out at public meetings, our words will fall on deaf ears and blank pages.

Allentown's 8th Street Bridge Project

When the bridge was built in 1912, it was the largest of its type in the world. General Trexler and his Portland Cement Company built the bridge to connect the trolley service from center city Allentown to points south, all the way to Philadelphia. Trexler was also a principal in the trolley company. PennDOT is now doing the first major renovation to the bridge in a century, and I am sorry to report it seems very compromised. While the shorter approaches from both ends are being completely replaced, the longer middle section remains. It appears as if they choose to replace those sections because they're not as high off the ground. The broken rubble from those sections, which could be examined last year on Harrison Street, showed dense concrete, in excellent shape. The bridge in 1912 was a showcase for the new Lehigh Portland Cement Company, and the pride of both Allentown and Trexler. If the high middle sections are still structurally sound, I suspect the approaches were also. I've been told by sources that PennDOT is having trouble with binding the new roadbed to the old concrete. In addition to the binding issue, the new roadbed is higher, adding additional weight to the high arches. Lastly, the bridge to being altered architecturally, by removing the signature walls. This change is supposed to accommodate new walls designed for suicide prevention. I would think that a barrier could have been designed and fastened to the classic existing walls.

Allentown's New Order

Back in the day, downtown Allentown was invigorated by three department stores, several five and dimes, six movie theaters and countless stores. All these buildings and businesses were owned by different people. There were so many players that these merchants had their own center-city club. Three of the biggest owners merged together and operated Park & Shop.

Allentown is having a rebirth, but not in the historical mercantile  pattern pictured above. Yesterday, the NIZ Authority approved another taxpayer approved loan, again with no deliberation. The beneficiary is, as always, J.B. Reilly, this time to renovate small properties between his large projects. With no due diligence by the Authority so charged, and no scrutiny by the press, only this blog speaks for the underwriting taxpayer.