Photo, left: The principal feature of Yazdânism is the belief in seven benevolent divine beings that defend the world from an equal number of malign entities. While this concept exist in its purest form in Yârsânism and Yazidism, it evolves into "seven saints"/spiritual persons, which are called "Yedi Ulu Ozan" in Chinarism (Ishik Alevism). The Yazidis believe in a single God as creator of the world, which he has placed under the care of these seven "holy beings" or angels, the "chief" (archangel) of whom is Melek Taus, the "Peacock Angel."
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Co-hosts: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal editorial board & host of OpinionJournal.com, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents.
Hour One
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 1, Block A:   Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal editorial board & host of OpinionJournal.com; in re: Mary's three years heading the Wall Street Journal in  Hong Kong. Under G W Bush, the Beijing leaders were taken aback by how frank he was and how clear it was that he'd defend Taiwan.  Now as the US is [vaguer] on its responsibilities, the aggressive voices in the capital are louder.  Michael Pillsbury's book, The Hundred-Year Marathon.  I  [MK] thinks that the richer a society grows, the more the populace seeks to take control of its destiny.  Jeb Bush: "reform conservatism."  What I heard sit ha we need t improve all levels of the society, to create as many opportunities as possible – a direct response to Mitt Romney's 47% remark.  G W Bush was more of a big-govt Republican.  Jeb Bush: control to devolve to state capitals, not the federal capital.
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 1, Block B:  Edward W Hayes, criminal defense attorney par excellence, in re: Albany new Speaker: status quo? / Silver and Cuomo and Schneiderman.   Silver still has a lt of influence; the new Speaker is the Bronx Dem Chairman. You  have to be careful whom you alienate.  Mayor de Blasio came down hard on the two Bronx Public Defenders who'd put out a rap vid on killing cops – they were fired and the mayor couldn't stomach it.    Schneiderman and Cuomo don't like each other; they’re sort of stuck with each other and the State Assembly mess. Possible that he Moreland Commission was getting close to Gov Cuomo?  Happened when the judge ruled that doc pertaining to Silver had to be turned over. Cuomo and Schneiderman knew that and knew the background to the subpoena.  Schneiderman comes from an upper-middle-class background, is ambitious, wants to be governor and will do anything to get there.  Gov Cuomo wants to be president of the US.  De Blasio wants to be . . .  president? New Speaker in Albany: A Skilled Operator, Embracing Change After his election on Tuesday as speaker of the New York State Assembly, Carl E. Heastie echoed calls to reform the opaque and . . .  1.     With Legislature  loath to mend its way, Cuomo is right to push for . . .And yet: Silver could spend years in prison if he is convicted of the ... is still on the prowl, and now so is Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.  2. Eric the silent  Ever since Sheldon Silver's arrest, there's been nothing more thunderous in ... Schneiderman has said before that our state laws don't give him much power ... Cuomo set up the Moreland Commission to “probe systemic public . . .   3. Editorial: Enough finally was enough

Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 1, Block C: Richard A Epstein, Hoover Institution, Chicago Law, in re:  Measles: "the cat is out of the bag." The early view  of vaccines: you thought of Jonas Salk.   In 1964, when the vaccine against measles came out, it reduced by a huge percentage and by the 1980s was effectively wiped out.  Now, as many more people opt out and measles roars back, the population is at risk. being in good health doesn't prevent you from getting measles, which can cause blindness or death. Could go from 5 to 500 cases in a week, then to 5,000.  In these last days, 68 cases: Orange Co, Utah, Wash State, Colorado, Mexico, others.   You can’t eradicate a disease in one country; have to eradicate it around the world in an age of airplanes. The non-homogeneity of the disease.    In the Nineteenth Century, had to quarantine. Dr Andrew Wakefield, in The Lancet in 1998, published an article about a mercury-based vaccine compound and autism; this has all been shown to be fraudulent. Retracted in 2004. Academic fraud with respect to toxicities that don’t exist generates widespread public misinformation and causes practical trouble.
Before the measles vaccine in 1963, the death rate from measles was close to twice that from polio. Fortunately, the new vaccine turned the situation around. In 1963 and 1964, there were over 800,000 cases of measles in the United States. By 1982, vaccination had largely eliminated the disease. Measles made a modest comeback around 1990, and then fell quiescent—until the recent outbreak of measles cases at Disneyland in California, which, as it spreads, puts the issue of vaccines back on the table . . .  [more]  (1 of 2)
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 1, Block D: Richard A Epstein, Hoover Institution, Chicago Law, in re:  Before the measles vaccine in 1963, the death rate from measles was close to twice that from polio. Fortunately, the new vaccine turned the situation around. In 1963 and 1964, there were over 800,000 cases of measles in the United States. By 1982, vaccination had largely eliminated the disease. Measles made a modest comeback around 1990, and then fell quiescent—until the recent outbreak of measles cases at Disneyland in California, which, as it spreads, puts the issue of vaccines back on the table . . .  [more]  (2 of 2)
Hour Two
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 2, Block A: US Representative Ed Royce (R / CA-39), serving his twelfth term in Congress, is now Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs; in re: Sanctions, Jordanian aid, ISIS. Yazidi women are being abducted, enslaved, butchered. This is jihad. ISIS controls land the size of the United Kingdom. It’s a growing threat and is not contained.   ISIS is recruiting every psychopath around the world that it can; they continue to fly into Turkey and cross the border into Syria
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 2, Block B: Walter Russell Mead (Distinguished Scholar in American Strategy and Statesmanship at the Hudson Institute; James Clark Chase Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College; Editor-at-Large of The American Interest); in re: Iran. US & Israel. Jordan.  What can the West do? It should have . . . the US tried to solve the nuclear issue without reference to the regional issues – Golan, ISIS, hers. By failing to link the nuclear and regional issues we telegraph weakness.    . . . The overrunning of Sanaa in Yemen – now in the hands of the Houthis, surrogates of Iran. A lot of speculation by the Adm that if it could make a Grand Bargain with Iran it could [solve it all].  By that logic, the Houthis would be called a "stabilizing force" – nuts, they’re desert savages. 
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 2, Block C:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Jordan, King Abdullah's steadfastness and courage., Iraq civil war to t=his east, ISIS and al Nusrah to his north, and his relations with Washington are a mystery.  He has a strong security force, has invited the Muslim Brotherhood into his government to [show their mettle in governance, and] they failed.   . . . In Buenos Aires, the murder of a prosecutor who was that day to present evidence of the complicity of the president and her associate in concealing the culpable parties in the 1993 AMIA bombing.  It all leads (as has long been known) back to Iran: to the mullahs and to Velayati, now in an elevated governmental position [and a childhood friend of Valerie Jarrett, who lived in Teheran until the age of five]
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 2, Block D: Benjamin Weinthal, European correspondent at The Jerusalem Post; Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies; in re:  France is now the center of lethal anti-Semitism; soldiers protecting Jewish organizations were stabbed this week. Police protection in Germany for years, but Hezbollah is legal in Germany,, annually hold a massive anti-Jewish demo in Berlin calling for the end of Israel.  Huge rift btwen rhetoric and actions across Europe in Franc and Germany, above all. Litmus test is if they’ll shut down Hezbollah, which tries to kill Jews worldwide [in Peru last year).  Also jihadi Muslims – over 500 German Muslim fighting in Syria and Iraq, and many have returned – the intell agency can't track the returnees.  They target not just Jews, but also Christians, of whom 150,000 have been displaced in Iraq and many killed. Is there a future for Jews in Europe? I don’t think so.  . .  Europeans are watching this and willing to let it happen- it won't protect all religions. It’s stunning.   UK report yesterday: anti-Jewish incidents have doubled in the last year. It’s just getting worse; not enough countervailing forces in Europe as there are in the US and Canada.  . . . Yes, the numbers of Europeans attending church has dropped markedly; much tolerance of Muslims's intimidating non-Muslims (incl the Berlin opera).  The media have expressed hatred of Israel, which quickly translates into anti-Semitism. / European anti-Semitism. Radical Islam in Europe. Arc of Iran’s influence. Nisman
Hour Three
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 3, Block A:   Mitch Ginsburg, Times of Israel military correspondent; in re: Iran. Hezbollah. Hezbollah's shadow war in the north: Golan to Beirut – a major escalation ordered by Iran?  Apparently working to open a second front along Israel – the Lebanese border and now the Golan Heights.   Maybe 90% of the Syrian Golan is in rebel hands.  IDF says significant escalation is planned.  Why is the Iranian IRGC allowing someone to be in jeopardy,  then appear at Mughniya's grave?  Nonstop Iranian subterfuge.  In southern Lebanon Farsi was often heard over the radio .  Iran also in Yemen, all around the region; it has global aspirations.  . . .  Quneitra:  a border crossing; Israel and a highway to Damascus.  Closer to the intl airport. Benny Gantz's four-year term as Chief of the General Staff of the IDF,; he'll retire on Monday. The PM and then-Defense Minister didn't want Benny in the post; Gantz didn't much favor a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, then he was readmitted to the position. Has done an excellent job of protecting the Israeli border, esp Golan, where the army made significant changes for the better, and he put up a huge fence. Did something similar in Sinai.   History will judge if we thus missed an essential opportunity  or took the wiser course.
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 3, Block B: Amb. Dore Gold, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs; in re:  Iran's activity and expansion in the Middle East, including Yemen and Syria. Schabas (ICC: "From the Israeli perspective, Schabas’s failure to resign early on could actually be the best-case scenario for a legal argument of questioning the evidence in any court.")  . . .  Iran can now threaten the oil tankers sailing past Yemen (20% of the world's traffic). "Four Arab capitals are in our hands: Teheran, Beirut, Damascus, and Sanaa.  "Iran is about to get 6,000 centrifuges, will have enough weapons-grade U for atomic bombs in – not two year but six months. My source is the US Administration's own expert, Robert Einhorn, who wrote a repot for Brookings.  In the Washington Post, several careful thinkers and writers.
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 3, Block C: Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review & Pirates fan, in re:  "You have to wait to thin the herd out, until it pares down to about three or four candidates,” said Miller, a registered Independent.  The telephone survey from Jan. 15-25 sampled 1,009 adults and has an error margin of 3.09 percentage points.   Among a list of near 40 possible candidates from both parties, “Don't Know” was the top choice. Former Secretary of State and first lady Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, placed a distant second with 13 percent, followed by  LINK.   The moderate Democrat Joe Manchin has a decision to make LINK.   Joe Manchin is torn.  The popular West Virginia Democrat, sitting in the U.S. Senate since 2010, said he genuinely wants to stay there — but only if real legislating can get done between majority Republicans and minority Democrats.  If not, he said, he . . .
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 3, Block D:   Lee Smith, The Tablet & Hudson Institute, in re:  Middle East   Nuclear Dreams: Iran Now Controls Four Arab Capitals, plus Washington, D.C.  What the burning of a Jordanian pilot reveals about Obama’s flawed Middle East game [more]
Hour Four
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 4, Block A:  Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East, by Gerard Russell (1 of 4)
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 4, Block B:  Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East, by Gerard Russell (2 of 4)
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 4, Block C:  Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East, by Gerard Russell (3 of 4)
Thursday  6 February 2014 / Hour 4, Block D: Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East, by Gerard Russell (4 of 4)