JAHG-USA Newsletter: Week of 16 Iyar, 5766 / May 14, 2006

"Is the Medicare prescription benefit plan a good idea?" More than three-quarters of respondents favored repealing Bush's plan entirely, while the remainder favored keeping it completely intact. No one took an ambiguous or "other" position. There were only a couple of relevant comments:

Factual Background:
When President Bush first proposed his massive prescription drug subsidy, he published cost estimates somewhere in the low hundreds of billions of dollars over ten years.

By the time Congress agreed to pass the bill in 2003, estimates had risen to $400 billion. By last year, shocked Republicans discovered that the true costs would be at least $724 billion over a decade. That sparked a revolt, with many Congressmen openly considering revising or entirely repealing the measure. But Bush defiantly stood by his new Medicare program, risking defections from his party's ranks and a potentially huge loss of voter support to insist that he would veto any attempt to change the costly program. In other words, Bush didn't care — and as is now known, knew all along — how expensive it would be, but also knew he had to hide those costs to get the otherwise unpopular bill passed (he was caught having suppressed information on those higher costs until after the bill had become law).

The measure was proposed as a solution to the rising costs of medicine, and of prescription drugs in particular. Rather than directly purchasing the drugs, the program subsidizes the private insurance premiums of senior citizens who enroll, thus indirectly underwriting their purchase of medical drugs.

But "solutions" like this overlook the reason medical costs are rising in the first place. Back when medical insurance (private or Medicare) didn't even exist, medical costs remained low and stable; ever since tens of millions of Americans began receiving health plans, costs have spiraled out of control. So it seems strange to insist that the only solution to rising costs lies in more subsidies that didn't exist before, when costs were low.

Simple economics explain the medical crisis. Whenever people pool their money together and then use that collective fund to purchase things, costs always rise uncontrollably (or shortages take over). The automatic human instinct is to try to get back more than one puts in. No one wants to be the "sucker" who pays in more than he receives in benefits, especially when his fellow participants are greedily dipping into the fund. So before long, the pooled fund's expenses rise faster than its income, and the situation becomes chaotic. That's why collectives and communes have never really worked.

That's exactly what we see today in medical plans. Have you yet met the person who gladly pays more in premiums than he receives in benefits? Yet unless everyone would have such an impossible attitude, costs can't be held down. Every time a person makes sure he's receiving benefits at least equal to what he pays into the fund, he's pushing up the costs of medicine for everyone else. And since everyone feeds at the collective trough that way, the costs are shooting skyward.

Medical costs began rising in the wake of two key developments: the passage of Medicare in the mid-1960s, and the passage of a tax exemption for private health plans at around the same time. Medicare, funded by tax monies, is automatically a pooled, collective fund, and thus it pushes medical costs upward; private insurance, which no one previously saw a need in having, is less expensive than receiving the premiums as direct wages for one's employment, since wages are taxed (on the employer and employee both) while health plans are tax deductible. So people chose to receive health plans instead of the equivalent wages, opting to pay their medical costs indirectly. But, of course, this created the "dipping effect" that makes everyone try to receive his full benefits — thus inflating medical prices.

Without Medicare, HMOs, or other private health plans, people would simply pay their medical costs directly. It is immediately apparent that, under such a traditional system, nobody would be overly eager to run to the doctor or demand maximum testing or treatment. Thus demand for medicine would be held down, and costs along with it.

But under our collectively pooled system, everyone in the medical industry eyes those funds with greed and finds a way to dip in. Pharmaceutical companies develop worthless, unneeded, often dangerous drugs that no one would buy unless a medical plan pays; biotechnology firms invent useless tests and ineffective treatments that only Medicare or an HMO would underwrite; and doctors perform totally unnecessary testing and generously prescribe toxic drugs with no positive effects, and bill the medical plan with glee. Scientists get into the act and win government grants by twisting studies to justify the worthless, dangerous treatments. Federal regulators get their palms greased while looking the other way, recklessly approving the deadly procedures and drugs. Etc., etc.

The only person in all this who naively believes the drugs are actually needed is the unfortunate consumer, who is bombarded by medical industry propaganda scaring him that he's about to die unless he takes the medicine, and which kindly offers to bill his health care plan to provide him the drugs that he must keep taking — as long as possible (or until his health plan coverage runs out). In the end, the patient is poisoned and becomes more ill than ever, sinking into a fearful addiction to medicines he doesn't actually need, while the medical industry grows astronomically and prices spiral out of control.

Relevant Torah Principles:
1) In Pirkei Avos 5:10 ("Ethics of the Fathers," a section of the Talmud), the sages say that one who says we must all share ("What's mine is yours, and what's yours is mine") is an ignoramus ("one of the [ignorant] masses," more literally). Why an ignoramus? Because he doesn't realize how he makes expenses spin out of control through such a system.

2) The Torah places great importance on the protection of private property. Among the 7 Noahide Laws, it is listed as the commandment against stealing, including against various forms of cheating and dishonesty. The concept of individual, private property is important precisely because of the "dipping effect" of collectively pooled resources.

3) The Torah does allow government- or collectively-owned properties, but only to solve problems, and thus only in a limited way. This is not a blanket permission to collectivize everything, which is the "ignoramus" system warned against by Pirkei Avos.

4) The Noahide Laws, furthermore, mandate the government to ensure and protect the economy's stability and productivity. Any system that leads to a breakdown or uncontrollable costs is not allowed.

Analysis:
The new Medicare prescription subsidy will only make medical costs rise more wildly while bankrupting the system. In the end, all medical coverage will collapse entirely.

This is exactly the kind of disaster the Communists are looking for as a justification for emergency measures (such as rationing, euthanasia, and even genocide) — and for revolutionary overthrow of the system. That's the reason Communists always push for more socialism and collectivized funds. Such measures always drive the system into instability and collapse, paving the way for outright revolution. It was through such economic instability and inflation that the French Revolution brought its Reign of Terror, that the Bolshevik Communists seized control of Russia and destroyed that country, and that the Nazi Party came to power in Germany.

We're not just facing more medical expenses; we're on the verge of a potential Communist Holocaust. Thus not only must all collectivized medical funds be repealed (including Medicare and the tax exemption for private health plans), but we must move to prohibit any further advocacy of socialized medicine, with severe penalties for those who continue pushing for it. And undoubtedly, internal security investigations (which need to be reinstituted) will find vast numbers of Communist agents and collaborators behind the push for socialized medicine. Those agents must be prosecuted and executed as enemies of the state and of G-d.

Several years ago, the Taliban regime of Afghanistan publicly destroyed ancient Buddha statues. To what extent should archaeological findings be protected?

(1) There must be strong laws with severe penalties.
(2) Each country should decide, based on the nature of the findings.
(3) There should be much less protection than now.
(4) Other

Only one answer per e-mail address will be accepted; only e-mail addresses on our subscription list are eligible. Please send your input by Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006, 12pm PST.

Subversion Alert

This week:
Rabbi Michael (Shelomo) Bar-Ron, Jerusalem (?), Israel (part 2)

Last week we began exposing Rabbi Bar-Ron an official spokesman for the ruling council of the phony, Moscow-controlled "Sanhedrin." We pointed out that he works closely with members of the Communist-front Root & Branch Association (R & B), and that he quietly promotes certain Christian beliefs (such as considering Jesus the Nazarene a "righteous teacher" and supporting the learning of some things from the heretical "New Testament," in open violation of Torah rules). But he may be worse than some undercover missionary, as we continue this week reviewing his sabotage activities from inside Judaism:

…2) Worse yet, Bar-Ron quietly works to promote the notion that many gentiles are actually hidden members of the Jewish people, especially of the ten exiled tribes from northern Israel. He brazenly declares certain Ethiopian, Indian, and Burmese gentiles to be Jews of the lost ten tribes (even though the evidence only suggests that those gentiles were members of old Christian sects that adopted a few practices similar to those of Jews). Jewish tradition, on the other hand, suggests that most of the members of those ten tribes already rejoined the Jewish people centuries or millenia ago — many of them returning to Israel to build the second Jerusalem Temple 24 centuries ago, an event recorded in the book of Ezra/Nehemiah.

This "lost tribes" doctrine — the notion that certain groups or races of gentiles today are actually those lost tribes — is not only against Judaism and completely false, it is the source of much modern anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism. Among the proponents of this "lost tribes" doctrine have been the British-Israel movement (which widely penetrated Protestant churches early in the twentieth century and promoted the notion that Anglo-Saxons are the "true" Jews, while Jews themselves are not!), the Identity Movement (a virulently Jew-hating movement that arose from British-Israel and spawned various white-power, Aryan, and neo-Nazi groups), the Aryan Nations (a neo-Nazi terrorist group connected with the PLO and derived from the Identity Movement), the Order (another neo-Nazi terrorist group whose members are continuing to organize from within U.S. prisons, and which came from the Identity Movement and Aryan Nations), Herbert Armstrong's "Worldwide Church of G-d" and his Plain Truth magazine, and, of course, the Root & Branch Association and its larger network.

In fact, Bar-Ron specifically expressed his support of the British-Israel position (that Anglo-Saxons are the "true Jews") to active members of the R & B network, with whom he repeatedly mentions "our plan" — apparently a cryptic reference to some scheme to promote the British-Israel, "lost tribes" theology secretly without drawing too much Jewish attention.

Bar-Ron also seems to indicate that step one of the "plan" involves formally accepting "Hasidic Gentiles" before Jewish courts — which, as we explained last week, cannot be done now. Thus this idea is a clear, blatant violation of Torah Judaism. But apparently these "Noachide covenant" declarations are intended by Bar-Ron and his fellow conspirators to be the first step in insinuating the "lost tribes" theology into Judaism (G-d forbid!).

This would explain Bar-Ron's central role last January in overseeing the fraudulent "declarations" by "Noachides" before the phony "Sanhedrin." This is especially evident in light of R & B's hidden role in supervising that mock "Sanhedrin."

This scheme, like all other R & B machinations, will fail disastrously. And anyone who collaborates with Bar-Ron, R & B, or any other promoter of the "lost tribes" lie will be judged most severely by the Creator, who will soon send the true, righteous Moshiach to complete the Jewish victory and the annihilation of International Communism and its undercover agents.

(Note: The underground Communist apparatus and its aboveground tentacles are actively engaged in subversion in all sectors and institutions of society today. Its agents would dearly love to know the full extent of our information, which would assist their disinformation efforts. Consequently, we do not divulge all our facts or sources. These profiles are intended only as a warning to the wise to monitor the individuals and groups exposed here, and to avoid their influence.)

After a few months of mainly asking Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis for endorsement of the PLO-defunding Proclamation, we began approaching other orthodox, non-Chabad leaders more systematically to get them involved as well.

Rabbi Nelkenbaum was shown our Proclamation last September 7th. He actually did agree with it, and he even signed — but with a stipulation: His affiliation with the famous (non-Lubavitch) Mirrer Yeshiva could not be mentioned! The problem is that an anonymous (or semi-anonymous) "endorsement" doesn't help; what good is the signature of a rabbi wearing a hood over his face and refusing to say who he is? So, unfortunately, we are forced to count this as a refusal.

The rabbi isn't just a teacher at the yeshiva; he's the assistant Dean. So the fact that he personally supports the campaign should send a strong message to others to get involved. Ironically, by making that stipulation, the fact that he wanted to sign — and his affiliation with the Mirrer Yeshiva — become public knowledge anyway. There's no "safe" way to side with the Jewish people against their enemies. Either way, each person must (and will ultimately) take a stand and be judged accordingly.

Terrorism Update:

Two injured victims of the Passover bombing in Tel Aviv (carried out by PLO affiliates with full PLO endorsement) died of their injuries this last week. One of them was a 16-year-old American boy.

The Soviet/ Red Chinese/ PLO war against Israel is still in full pitch, funded by the Bush Administration. Here are your tax dollars at work over the last week:

previous Monday (May 8): Despite official Israeli denials, it turns out that the PLO's al-Aqsa Brigades have fired new "Bahaa" missiles at targets in the West Bank (these are shorter-range than the Kassams); 2 were fired that day, and 6 altogether recently. The PLO threatens to start firing many more at major civilian centers.
Wednesday: 1 Kassam rocket fired from Gaza (presumably by the usual coalition of the Palestinian Authority/ PA, the al-Aqsa Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees/ PRC — all PLO affiliates — and/or the PLO-allied Islamic Jihad); the Israeli navy intercepted a boat smuggling explosives from Egypt to the PLO in Gaza (part of a ton of such material caught recently); shots fired at Israeli soldiers; more than 20 members of Hamas arrested in Jordan for smuggling missiles and Soviet Russian assault rifles for use against Jordan itself.
Thursday: 3 Kassam rockets fired by the usual PLO-affiliated groups.
Friday: PLO-affiliated terrorists fired guns at Israeli troops who came to arrest a member of the PLO's Fatah Tanzim militia; a mob of "palestinians" (read: "PLO-drafted civilians"), "Israeli left-wing activitists" (read: "members of the Israeli Communist Party/ ICP &/or its 'Jewish' front groups"), & "foreigners" (read: members of groups such as the International Solidarity Movement/ ISM, a Communist, non-Arab organization) threw rocks at Israeli soldiers; 3 Kassam missiles fired by the usual PLO-affiliated groups; 1 firebomb (a Molotov cocktail) thrown at an Israeli car on the road; stones thrown at a school bus, damaging it; 1 bomb thrown at Israeli soldiers.
Saturday (Shabbos & Sat. night): 2 Kassam rockets fired by the usual PLO-affiliated groups; rocks thrown at cars driving through the West Bank.
Sunday: Members of the PLO-allied Islamic Jihad and a Palestinian Authority (PA) commander fired guns at Israeli troops who were arresting members of the PLO's al-Aksa Brigades and the Islamic Jihad; rocks were thrown at Israeli troops during the same event; the Israeli navy intercepted a fishing boat smuggling explosives from Egypt to the PLO in Gaza; a pipe bomb exploded near Shilo, injuring 1; 4 other pipe bombs found hidden elsewhere; 1 large bomb found in a car, on its way to being used in an attack; 3 firebombs found; shots fired at Israeli troops near Gaza; shots fired at Israeli troops in the West Bank; 1 Kassam rocket fired by the usual PLO-affiliated groups; 1 bomb thrown at Israeli troops in Bethlehem who were confronted by PLO-instigated rioters.
Monday: Shots fired at Israeli soldiers; the Israeli air force intercepted members of the PLO-allied Islamic Jihad preparing to launch Kassam rockets, firing a missile at them instead and injuring 4 terrorists; rocks thrown at Israeli cars during rush hour; 3 Kassam rockets fired by the usual PLO-affiliated groups; 1 caught carrying a knife; rocks thrown at a bus, damaging it.
Today (Tuesday): 6 Kassam rockets fired by the usual PLO-affiliated groups; the PLO-allied Islamic Jihad fired 1 advanced Katyusha rocket (a Grad missile made in Soviet Russia, with a longer range and more explosive power than Kassams, & probably smuggled to the PLO via Iran and Egypt) from Gaza, exploding in a town, where it damaged a chicken coop and killed 30 chickens; rocks thrown at a bus & a car in 2 locations, damaging them.

This week's casualty count (not counting dead & injured terrorists):

Successful: 1 injured; 4 buses, 1 car, & 1 chicken coop damaged
Prevented: At least 1 missile launch; 5 bombings; 3 firebombings; 1 knifing (plus uncountable bombs & missiles from smuggled explosives, & innumerable attacks in Jordan)
Attempted but failed to hit targets: 19 missiles; 3 bombings; 1 firebombing; 6 shootings; 4 rock-throwing attacks

Not only is the Bush Administration opening new channels for aid to the PLO (while maintaining back-door aid to Hamas), now the president has also restored full diplomatic relations with Communist Libya, a pillar of the Soviet Russian terror network since 1969. So yet another conduit is developing for PLO aid, since Libya fully participates in supporting the PLO.

The PLO, the Palestinian Authority (PA), and their allies (including Hamas) would collapse within months without a continuous stream of billions of dollars to prop them up. The great majority of that money is American. By getting involved in the JAHG-USA PLO-defunding campaign, you can throw a serious monkey-wrench into the PLO terror machine.

(Sources: various Israeli and American news agencies)

…AND THE HALL OF FAME
Many Jewish Leaders Are Helping the JAHG-USA Campaign

This week's examples:
Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Goldstock, Heart to Heart Foundation, Brooklyn, NY;
Rabbi Dr. Sidney Zvulun Lieberman, Hon. Pres., Vaad Harabonim of Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY; and
Rabbi Phillip H. Singer, past Pres., Vaad Harabonim of Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY

The first endorsements for JAHG-USA's PLO-defunding campaign came in 2001. On June 22nd of that year, a volunteer approached three rabbis and received their signatures on an earlier, shorter version of the current Proclamation (but which was broader in its endorsement). All three have since re-signed the newer Proclamation as well:

Rabbi Goldstock signed the earlier version in 2001, and when re-approached by another volunteer this year, on March 24th, signed the newer Proclamation as well. Rabbi Goldstock is a Lubavitcher, and signed on behalf of his charitable foundation. His support for our campaign has remained strong over the five years since he first got on board.

Rabbi Lieberman likewise enthusiastically signed the earlier Proclamation, and signed the newer one last October 23rd when re-approached by another volunteer. Rabbi Lieberman is a Rav, the head of a beis din (rabbinical court) with authority to render decisions in Jewish Law; as such, his endorsement is particularly authoritative. Rabbi Lieberman, not a Lubavitcher, is also the honorary (and past) president of the official council of rabbis for the (heavily Jewish) Flatbush area of Brooklyn, as well as chairman of its kashrus (rules regarding kosher food) committee and its Israel Action Committee (which organizes pro-Israel activities). And he is the emeritus head of the Congregation Beth Torah synagogue in Brooklyn.

But he also has a tragic personal stake in the PLO defunding issue. His son Hillel, also a rabbi, was one of the first victims of the new PLO war against Israel that began in September, 2000; the PLO murdered the younger Lieberman and left his bullet-ridden body to be discovered later. It is no wonder Rabbi Zvulun Lieberman is so strongly supportive of JAHG-USA's campaign.

But do "refusenik" rabbis have to wait for personal tragedy before they will repent and join the PLO-defunding campaign? Must you?

Rabbi Singer also signed the earlier Proclamation in 2001, and signed the newer version last October 31st when approached by another volunteer. Rabbi Singer is likewise a former President of the official council of rabbis for the Flatbush area, and is the president of the Congregation B'nai Isaac synagogue. As a close friend and associate of Rabbi Lieberman, he had no hesitation whatsoever in endorsing the JAHG-USA campaign — then or now.

For a complete listing of all rabbis who have received our proclamation, the up-to-date status of their responses, and how you can help the campaign, visit ATTAC Report at http://www.attacreport.com/plo/.

NOTE: We continue our publication of, and responses to, letters sent in during the last several weeks.

• (In response to the recent article on art, specifically to where we wrote, "Degrading or subversive art… must be completely censored — and the subversive artists executed before they can bring down the system into Communist anarchy and the Red Terror"):

"…a G-d-appointed man… would be subject to sin, corruption and failure.… man could never be righteous — the entire purpose of the [Biblical] law was to convict man of his own failings in his attempts to be righteous.…" — DJ.

Our response to this letter, part 2: Aside from trying to smear righteous leaders like King David, another pillar of the Christian Church's war against G-d consists of arrogantly dismissing G-d's Law as nothing but a temporary, vain exercise in futility simply to demonstrate that that Law can't ever be followed and therefore never had a purpose anyway (G-d forbid!). In other words, the Church and its Roman "New Testament" simply want to bring in their own agenda, and can't allow G-d's Law to stand in their way.

But is it true that the Law can't be followed? After all, says the Church, don't people often sin? Once a person has sinned, what's his solution to "get right" with G-d again?

The answer is so obvious, it's staring us right in the face. It isn't just found in that part of G-d's Word that the Church rejected (G-d's Holy Talmud, His Holy Kabbalah, and other parts of His Spoken Word received by Moses), it's explicitly written literally all over the Hebrew Scriptures themselves — much to the Church's chagrin. It's no wonder the Church re-named G-d's eternal Hebrew Scriptures the "Old" Testament, hoping to dismiss their contents from the minds of misled followers!

That answer is called "teshuvah" (Hebrew for "return," or "repentance," more loosely translated). Although there are many details and ramifications, in essence teshuvah is a simple process consisting of (1) regretting one's sin(s), (2) confessing them before G-d in prayer, and (3) returning to the Law with a renewed commitment to follow it. There's no limit to how often a person can do teshuvah, even for the same sin, as long as he genuinely means it each time.

The references to teshuvah are so innumerable we can't even begin to list them here. But this is a tiny sample of poignant quotes (our translation from the Hebrew):

(Next issue: More response to this letter on the issue of theocracy and rule by G-d.)