J Street opposes the proposal Israel’s Government is considering to amend the oath that non-Jewish applicants must take to acquire Israeli citizenship.
The oath, which currently asks new citizens to pledge loyalty to the state of Israel and its laws, would now include the phrase “as a Jewish, democratic state.” Israel’s laws and its Declaration of Independence speak for themselves in affirming Israel’s Jewish and democratic nature. Adding the new language serves no purpose other than furthering the political agenda of some factions in the present governing coalition.
Further, the new language will put Israel at odds not only with other democracies, but with its stated commitment to full equality for its Arab, Druze, Muslim, Christian and other non-Jewish citizens. We are unaware of another democracy in the world that requires an oath of loyalty to the religious identity of the state. Certainly none discriminates in this manner in the conditions for citizenship on the basis of religion.
We share the concerns expressed by such leading Israelis as Deputy Prime Minister and Likud Party member Dan Meridor who said “the proposal would harm relations with Israel’s Arabs and damage the country’s international reputation,” and Minister for Minority Affairs Avishai Braverman who said “this is an outrageous, irresponsible move that pours oil on the fire of Israel’s de-legitimization around the world.” As renowned Israeli political observer Nahum Barnea put it this morning, “With this bill, Israel is buying an exit ticket from the family of nations and an entry ticket into the family of Kahane. This is an anti-Zionist bill.”
Sunday, October 10, 2010
A shande for Israel
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Congratulations, you've been Pfizered!
"a lot of the people who work for the company who haven't engaged in criminal activity would get hurt"
There are ways to punish Pfizer (and other big Pharma companies) that would actually be better for the economy, healthcare & patients:
- prosecute executives who knew or should have known what was going on and have them debarred
- debar any person directly involved in this fraud or other overtly non compliant activity
- force the break up of these huge companies into smaller/mid-sized companies who can't use they "we're too big to fail" and/or patients will be hurt if the company is debarred excuse
- this will benefit patients/consumers and the economy by forcing more competition in drug development, more competitive pricing and employ more people to do the work
- Force the sale of the company's drugs to other firms or negate the patent on those drugs to open the door to generic competition and ensure patients have access to these medications
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Haiti
Medicine without Borders - which has already set up medical tents to treat victims
and
International Medical Corps which is a great organization despite having Sienna Miller as an ambassador.Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
What Jay Leno and a bottle of Massengill have in common
Art by Mike Mitchell.
Late to the Meme and not normally inclined to comment on late night TV, I just felt I'd add my $0.02.
While the focus of the blame for this late night debacle is NBC's epic failure when it comes to network TV programming and piss poor handling of the situation, I just feel the need to point out that Jay Leno and his ego (which is exponentially larger than his prominent chin) played a key role in creating this situation. Leno agreed to and announced his scheduled retirement from The Tonight Show ages ago and O'Brien signed his contract to take over the show. This was a transition made with a lot of planning and fanfare. By insisting he be back on the air in a similar format in the same calendar year he "retired" from The Tonight Show, Jay Leno undercut and undermined Conan O'Brien's takeover of the show. Leno then completely exacerbated the situation and further bitch-slapped O'Brien by announcing publicly that he'd be glad to have his old time slot back.
If Leno has second thoughts on his retirement and stepping aside for O'Brien, he could have approached NBC (and O'Brien) about the possibility of delaying his scheduled retirement well before his much hyped final season, but he either did not or did but would not take the refusal to give him exactly what he wanted gracefully. Why NBC went along with this is beyond me. If they were really interested in an experiment with a prime time chat show, let alone one starring Jay Leno, they would have had more luck had they waited at least a year to give time for O'Brien to find his groove with The Tonight Show so Leno's "new" show didn't seem to be just the early Tonight Show which just leant the appearance that The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien was some sort of 2nd string/understudy version following the local news.
If Jay Leno had any class or integrity, he would have insisted that his return to television not undercut his program. Instead Leno has shown himself to be something other than a windbag. It seems as though the bouquet of Leno's ego has an awful lot of notes of vinegar. . .
Tags: NBC Jay Leno Conan O'BrienSphere: Related Content
Saturday, December 19, 2009
When Bull met Bingo
Rob Hutchinson at the online bingo club and bingo enthusiasts are staging a pre-emptive strike with a poll @ www.OnlineBingoClub.co.uk Maybe "
Tags: BINGO! bs language Sphere: Related Content
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Roman Polanski promises the Swiss he'll be a boyscout
The Associated Press reports that attorney Herve Temime told a French radio station on Sunday that the 76-year-old's latest bail offer would be in cash, after Swiss authorities rejected a previous bail offer last Friday that was not a cash offer. Temime also told the radio station that Polanski would accept any decision on extradition "whatever it is," adding that the filmmaker would not act "like a fugitive," says the AP. The Insider
Wow, Polanski says pretty please with some cold hard cash on top and promises not to act like a fugitive? What the Hell does that mean?! That, unlike your average fugitive, he'll carry on living a lavish lifestyle in private as well as in the public? Since he's now claiming that he's willing to accept any decision on extradition, maybe his promise not to act like a fugitive should be backed up with waiving his right to fight extradition so he can submit himself to the jurisdiction of the court to submit a legitimate request to reopen his case (the court has ruled he has no standing to do so as a fugitive) or complete the piddly amount of time he would serve under the terms of the original plea plus whatever limited time is added due to his decision to flee.
It seems to me, the path to getting this whole ordeal out of the media spotlight and lightening Ms Geimer's emotional load as the outed victim of this crime, would be for Polanski to just come back to the US, accept the court's decision, complete his sentence and then pay Ms Geimer the balance due, plus interest, on the settlement they reached in her civil case against him.
Tags: Roman Polanski statutory rape Samantha Geimer cause celebre Sphere: Related Content
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Wye not?
Tags: health care mergers & acquisitions FTC pharma off label promotion Health medicine Pfizer Wyeth
Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
FDA cracks down on corporate drug dealers
I'm cautiously optimistic that the FDA's willingness to threaten to pull every box of Cheerios over fraudulent but relatively innocuous claims (and no real potential for adverse effects to consumers) will be parlayed into attempts to regain the truly necessary oversight and regulation of the vitamin and supplement industry. The fact that FTC chairman, Jon Leibowitz, has grown a set to look into the marketing of that that bastion of addiction liability and dangerous treatment for Attention Deficit Disorder, Frosted Mini Wheats® makes me wonder why that agency has only decided to act because some kids believe an animated mini wheat that says they'll be more attentive if they eat the cereal when the energy could be much better spent holding the enormous diet industry accountable for overtly fraudulent and deceptive advertising practices (some of which are on products that have never been proven to be safe, let alone effective). Is the agency afraid to go after these companies because their reaction to FTC suggestion they may want to expand oversight of advertising to include testimonials on blogs and make it clear that user testimonials aren't evidence of product efficacy was for the diet industry to lobby for a right to make false advertising claims?
Both the FTC and the FDA need to get their priorities straight and take action against the more egregious manufacturers of dietary supplements before they go after the breakfast food industry.
Tags: health care FDA FTC advertising off label promotion clinical research Health medicine scientific integrity General Mills tastey breakfast treatsSphere: Related Content
Monday, March 09, 2009
How long before big Pharma companies have their hands out for more?
Tags: economy; job loss; Pharma; schering; ; healthcare; drug developmentSphere: Related Content
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
When the trickle down drippage from the golden parachute isn't gold
"For top executives to award themselves these kinds of compensation packages in the midst of this economic crisis isn't just bad taste -- it's a bad strategy -- and I will not tolerate it. We're going to be demanding some restraint in exchange for federal aid -- so that when firms seek new federal dollars, we won't find them up to the same old tricks," the president added.
Under Obama's plan, companies that want to pay their executives more than $500,000 will have to do so through stocks that cannot be sold until the companies pay back the money they borrow from the government. CNN
What I'd like to know is will company execs still be able to provide these huge payouts to execs if they take money from banks who've received bailout money that was, ostensibly, meant to help the economy and prevent job loss for the unnecessary acquisition of another large company that will cause massive layoffs and do significant damage to local economies in two states. . .you know, the Wye-Pfi deal?
Tags: economy; job loss; Pharma; Wyeth; PfizerSphere: Related Content