Posts Tagged John Boehner

The Tea Party and Israel?

Posted by Joel in Religion and Politics on November 27, 2010

American Israel Public Affairs Committee
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If we are going to cut social welfare programs, then we need to cut foreign aid programs first. Even foreign aid to Israel. The problem, however, is that many on the Right (and the Left in many cases) have their own pet projects. For those on the Right, it is Israel. And for the life of me, why is it that Rand Paul is actually sticking to his guns on this and earning my respect on this single issue?

But while Mr. Cantor and other newly empowered Republicans are eager to promote themselves as Israel’s staunchest defenders in Washington, the reconfigured American political landscape is a more complex and unpredictable backdrop for Middle East peacemaking.

Scores of Tea Party-backed candidates are entering Congress, many of whom favor isolationist policies and are determined to cut American foreign aid, regardless of its destination.

Rand Paul, the newly elected Tea Party-backed senator from Kentucky, bluntly told the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, an influential pro-Israel lobbying group, that they were going to disagree about the need for foreign aid and suggested that they move on to other topics, according to a person briefed on the meeting.

….

Representative John A. Boehner, the Ohio Republican who is the House speaker-designate, sent out fund-raising literature aimed at Jewish voters, criticizing the administration for its pressuring of Israel on issues like settlements.

“That was the first time I had seen Israel used in a partisan political way,” said Representative Gary L. Ackerman, a New York Democrat and outgoing chairman of the House foreign affairs subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia.

NYT: Is Tea Party a blessing or curse for Israel? – Politics – The New York Times – msnbc.com.

So, what do you think? Do you think that while we cut social programs and foreign aid to other nations, that Israel alone must continue to collect American tax-dollars?

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Question of the Day: Listening

Posted by Joel in Other Posts on November 5, 2010

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We are moving along with the this book, sometimes spending two weeks on a chapter. This week, the chapter was about listening to one another.

Adam Hamilton writes,

One of the reasons for today’s culture wars is the unwillingness of people on either the left or the right to listen to those with whom they disagree. They are quick to speak, and quick to anger, but slow to listen. (p43)

What do you think?

The GOP won control of the House on Tuesday. Fine. But the Democrats control the Senate and the White House, and yet…. Boehner and Mitchell are both demanding that the President bow to them like, pardon my vulgarity, the boy that he is. There will be no compromise, no listening, nothing. No matter that over half of this country didn’t participate in the vote, or that the majority of them are still Democrat. There is simply no compromise.

No listening. Nothing.

Do you think that we can learn, especially in a democratic republic, from listening to one another, and working with one another? Can we? Should we?

And, to what point is compromise a viable option? Not just in politics and the culture wars, but so too in our congregations and theological squabbles…

Do we ever seek to understand one another, to compromise where we can?

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