The Golan Heights is undoubtedly one of the most important pieces of real estate in the Middle East. Israel has controlled the region since 1967, however that could change. Recently there has been talk among Israeli officials of giving the Golan Heights back to Syria. What could possibly motivate Israel to give up such an important strategic asset? Before we answer this question, let's take a moment to examine Israel's current predicament.
Syria and Israel have technically been at war for the last 60 years, and Syria has yet to officially recognize the Jewish state. Formal peace negotiations between the two nations fell apart in January of 2000. Today, for the first time in more than seven years, the two nations are taking (although not directly). The talks are being mediated by Turkey, so the two sides have yet to sit down and negotiate face-to-face. However the current dialogue is seen as an important first step in what will probably be a very long and difficult process. Perhaps the most controversial issue on the table is that of the Golan Heights.
Strategic Importance
Israel captured Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 six-day war. Syria tried to recapture the land ...   more »

Residents of West Bank settlement clash with IDF, Judea and Samaria police officers, as reports of violent acts stream in from Adi-Ad outpost, village of Burin, Shilo Junction
Efrat Weiss
A series of violent incidents involving settlers swept through the West Bank Thursday, as dozens of settlers clashed with IDF and police forces, stoned cars and vandalized Palestinian property. 
The gravest incident of the day occurred in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, when during the riot a settler was able to snatch a weapon away from an IDF soldier standing next to him and began firing in midair. A second settler began firing in midair as well. No injuries or damage were reported; both men were arrested.
History of Violence   
Police forces, settlers clash in Yitzhar  / Efrat Weiss  
Riots erupt as police forces, Civil Administration officers arrive to tear down illegal structure in settlement. Rightist Baruch Marzel: 'Police must be severely judged'     
Eralier Thursday, the Judea and Samaria Police received reports of settlers rioting in the West Bank village of Burin, near Nablus.
Original Source
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By Chuck Norris   
Jesse Jackson (on an off-air mic before "Fox & Friends") and Whoopi Goldberg (and another host on "The View") have raised the cultural language debate to a new level: Who has the right to say the N-word? Their answer: Blacks can, but whites can't. Unfortunately, this derogatory debate has degraded into Don Imus on steroids.
I agree with a lot that Whoopi had to say about the imbalances between the races. But I disagree with her for going off on an intentional N-word marathon, which was bleeped out repeatedly in order to demonstrate her point. There's a reason her diatribe was bleeped and our society still veils our full expression of the N-word: because it still is regarded by most as derogatory and demeaning. (Even among blacks, the N-word obviously can be defamatory, as Jesse Jackson proved when he used it in the same breath he used to describe how he would like to cut off Barack Obama's genitalia.)
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by Steven Ertelt
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- One year ago this week, Barack Obama promised activists with the nation's largest abortion business that the first thing he would do as president is overturn every pro-life law in all 50 states. Obama said his first action would be signing the mislabeled Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA).
The measure, if it becomes law, would codify Roe v. Wade by making the infamous Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited abortions the law of the land.
But it would go further, warns Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council.
"If FOCA were to become law it would overturn hundreds of state laws that have put limits on abortion," he explains.
Perkins points to a new research paper written by FRC Vice President of Government Affairs Tom McClusky and he said Planned Parenthood, NARAL and other pro-abortion groups agree with This assessment.
The ACLU has said, "This [FOCA] bill prohibits such restrictions as parental notification and consent, as well as the requirement that all abortions be performed in a hospital, spousal consent, waiting periods, etc."
"Recent polls show that most Americans agree there should be more restrictions on abortion and that tax dollars should not go ...   more »

By Paul Craig Roberts
The Bush Regime’s “terrorist” protection schemes have reached the height of total incompetence and utter absurdity. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, a private organization that defends the US Constitution that inattentive Americans neglect, there are now one million names on the “terrorist” watch list.
One of them is that of former Assistant US Attorney General Jim Robinson, whose top security clearances are current. Every time Mr. Robinson flies away on business, he is delayed by a totally incompetent “terrorist” protection racket that cannot tell a person named Jim Robinson, who served in the highest echelons of the US government, from a Muslim terrorist.
What confidence can we have in a regime that is incapable of differentiating an Assistant US Attorney General from a terrorist?
Mr. Robinson said: “If I were convinced that America is a safer place because I get hassled at the airport, I might put up with it, but I doubt it. I expect my story is similar to hundreds of thousands of people who are on this list and find themselves inconvenienced.”“Hundreds of thousands of people” on a watch list that they have no business being on?
Yes. “Members of Congress, ...   more »

Chuck Baldwin
I want to begin this column with one of my all-time favorite quotes. It comes from the great German reformer Martin Luther. He said, "If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."
Luther's trenchant statement reminds us that today's Christians, especially our Christian leaders, are conspicuously absent from the field of battle. Oh, they may host large crowds in their gatherings; they may deposit multiplied millions of dollars in their financial accounts; they may receive thunderous applause from politicians, but they have fled the battlefield at the point of attack.
For the record, the real battlefield today is not abortion. It is not homosexual marriage. It is not Social Security. It is not al Qaeda. It is not taxes. It is not inflation. It is not electing conservatives. It ...   more »