Grasshoppa

Looking out for fellow bloggers.

Looking out for fellow bloggers. This is for Tim Blair and Bruce Hill. Just in case...

The untold story. Christopher Johnson

The untold story. Christopher Johnson alterted me to article which goes into the gory (literally) detail of those injured by suicide bombings in Israel. The death total is often the only cited statistic in media articles, but after reading this story and looking at some of those x-rays, it's not too big a stretch to say that those who died are probably better off than some of those who survived.

Update: After reading Tim Blair's blog, I think that perhaps Brianna Martin should read this article to see exactly what suicide bombing is all about.

By their deeds ye shall

By their deeds ye shall know them. I've refrained from adding much commentary to the "American Jihad" controversy surrounding the planned speech to be delivered by Zayed Yasin at Harvard's commencement next week. However, I happened to have caught part of the segment on Foxnews this morning that had both Yasin and Harvard Senior, Ben Galper. Galper made his point, although he often looked away from the camera and wasn't exactly the most articulate person Yasin, on the other hand, was very smooth, articulate and polished. Nevertheless, once you get by the veneer and listen to his answers, they are most enlightening. I was only able to listen to one question put towards Yasin, something along the lines of how he feels about being a part of the Holy Land Foundation which the US government claims funnels money to Hamas. His reply consisted merely of retelling his experience with the HLF in Albania and how he can't believe that such a foundation would be connected to terrorist groups. Notice the lack of condemnation of Hamas' methods and also notice the lack of hypothetical condemnation, i.e.something along the lines of "if the HLF were truly in bed with Hamas, then I would condemn this." Perhaps something more eloquent would sound better, but you get my point.

However, while I am contemptuous of anyone who supports or sympathizes with Hamas (or finds Hamas not to be a black and white issue), what troubles me most is not so much Yasin's title, but what the gist of his speech is most likely to be: an apologia for Islam. There was a letter published in the Boston Metro (for those of you unfamiliar with the Metro, it's a free paper published in several major cities) which I will cite here:

"As an American and as a Harvard alumnus, I was pleased to read about Harvard's Zayed Yasin's commencement address. Some concerns about the title, 'American Jihad', merely illustrates [sic] why a talk like Yasin's is so needed. If the students actually understood the concept of Jihad before condemning Yasin's talk, I trust that they would have reacted differenlty.
Misconceptions of Islam (and especially of Jihad) are a major obstacle to cross-cultural understanding withing our society. The eight million peaceful and productive Muslims in America should be appreciated as valuable contributors to society, not as some kind of foreign threat."

The probably erronious population statistic notwithstanding, this letter exlempifies what the problem with Yasin's proposed address is. It seems to me that it is not your average American that has a problem understanding the concept of Jihad, it's a sub-group of Muslims that have a problem. I have read essays and listened to speeches (including one given by the Aga Khan at a Brown graduation some years ago) about how Islam is a peaceful religion and how "Jihad" really means an internal struggle. Upon hearing and reading these exhortations, I am always reminded of the axiom, "actions speak louder than words." To illustrate my point, peruse Fred Pruit's list of organizations and count the number of them that include the word "Jihad" in their names. I don't believe that they're all groups dedicated to helping their members with their own struggles. When an Islamic Jihadi blows himself to kingdom come in down town Tel Aviv, I just can't beleive he is completing his internal battle. When chief potato chip boy, Yassir Arafaft, shouts, "Jihad! Jihad! Jihad!" I'll wager any amount of money that he's not exhorting his people to fight their inner demons. And frankly, crashing civillian airliners into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in the name of bin Laden's jihad is just not a great way of informing the American public that jihad is essentially an internal battle with oneself.

I'll wager that Yasin's speech will parallel many aspects of the one I heard the Aga Khan give several years ago. While I disagreed with the Aga Khan's contention that Islam is essentially peaceful, I at least didn't feel it was inappropriate to make such a speech at the time. However, today we live in a different era, one in which Americans are tired of being told by Muslims that they do not understand the concept of "jihad" when it's apparently their co-religionists who are misconstruing its meaning, often with deadly effects.

Hungry Hungry Egyptians Damian Penny

Hungry Hungry Egyptians Damian Penny points out the rather paltry donations the manufacturers of Yassir Chips are making to the "Palestinian Cause." Just to give some perspective, let's throw around a few numbers.

Egypt's population is about 70,000,000. If every Egyptian ate one bag of Yassir Chips, they'd raise a whopping US$70,000 to the "cause."

World Arab population is about 300,000,000. If every Arab ate one bag of Yassir Chips, they'd raise a whopping US$300,000 to the "cause"

World Muslim population is about 1,000,000,000. If every Muslim ate one bag of Yassir Chips, they'd raise a whopping US$1,000,000 to the "cause".

The amount raised by that Saudi telethon: US$56,000,000.

Keep eating guys.

(I wonder how much Semtex costs?)

More lists. There was a

More lists. There was a whole to-do over at little green footballs over some alleged anti-Israeli comments made by some announcers at the Eurovision 2002 contest. Now seeing as I didn't get to watch the contest, I was suffered watching videos of the contests to see what all the fuss is about. I think the German article Glenn Kinen cited is fairly accurate, but allow me to add my comments:

• Cyprus: If you cross the New Kids on the Block with A Night at the Roxbury, you get the Cypriot group, "One".
• United Kingdom: I've always wondered why Brits loses their accents when they sing.
• Austria: Can we bring Falco back from the dead? Austrian Rick Astley wananbes just don't cut it.
• Greece: I always wondered what happened to Information Society.
• Spain: Even a Lenny Kravitz cameo can't decrease the cheesiness factor in this video.
• Croatia: It's the Croatian Shakira. How do you say "Small and Humble" in Croat?
• Russia: Wow, Color Me Badd has made it big in Russia!
• Estonia: How does the host country get away with having a foreigner compete for them?
• Macedonia: Is that the lead singer or a life size blush applicator?
• Israel: If I were a commentator, I'd tell my audience not to vote for this one too. Please blow out this candle.
• Switzerland: A better title would have been "Dans le jardin de mon cul" Ugh!
• Sweden: It's a younger version of the Pointer Sisters...only worse.
• Finland: Disco's back in Finland!
• Denmark:She can't lip sync, but dropping the i-book in the fish tank was a nice touch.
• Bosnia and Herzegovina: I swear that this is a song from a bad radio commercial.
• Belgium: Oh my God... it's a bleach blond Tom Jones.
• France: I actually liked this one. I feel dirty.
• Germany: I can live without her music. I promise.
• Turkey: The song sucks, but the video has some promise as a promotional video for the Turkish tourism industry.
• Malta: This one might actually make it on the American Pop Charts - maybe.
• Romania: Tell me why you are singing this godawful song!
• Slovenia: These guys would scare Marilyn Manson.
• Latvia: Watch out Ricky Martin...you may have met your match!
• Lithuania: This guy OD'ed on Jheri Curl.

If I had to vote, I would have voted for the French contestant. More likely, I would have thrown my shoe through the TV after the third contestant. Ugh.

Sign this.

Concerned about Hamas sympathizers giving commencement speeches at Harvard? Me too. That's why I signed this

It's not a good point.

It's not a good point. Over at the corner, Rich Lowry posts this snippet of an email he got as a justification for arming airline pilots:

“How it is perfectly okay to arm an armored truck driver who spends a good quarter of his day out hauling funds around in public but it is not okay if it is a pilot transporting humans?”

Well, the Brinks truck driver doesn't have to worry about a stray bullet ending the life of the money he's transporting, he doesn't have to worry about a stray bullet puncturing a hole in the truck causing a massive change in cabin pressure, and he doesn't have to worry losing control of his gun to a hijacker who may use it to make swiss cheese out of a passnenger or two.

Honestly, I'm still on the fence regarding the arming of airline pilots but Lowry's posting doesn't sway me towards his position.

No amount of PR can

No amount of PR can save them. Howard Feinberg over at Kesher Talk reports that the organized Saudi campaign for a better image in the US has been ineffective, to put it nicely. I can't tell you just how broken up I am over this. I guess the Saudis can change an American's opinion piece, but they can't change an American's opinion.

The Canadian Military. Inspired by

The Canadian Military. Inspired by Bruce R.'s lamenting the state of the Canadian military and its official pullout from Afghanistan, I dug up some photos that my Canadian friend sent me that document Canada's contribution to the war on terrorism:

Helmet provided by Roots





The Canadian Smart Bomb





Osama had better not try to swim for it

Frankly, I don't know what Bruce is worried about...

Selective Editing.

Selective Editing. My curiosity was piqued by this Arab news article by "I. Heichler" and then by what Damian Penny had to say about it, espcially the missing numbers, 2 and 3. So I used that invaluable tool, Google, and did a search on "I Heichler". And Lo and Behold, I found a Lucien Heichler. I guess that "I" was a lower case "L" for some reason. I would think that the folks at Arab News would know the rules of capitalization. But sadly, that's only a minor error in the publication of this whole piece. You see, I found this link which has the original article. If you compare the original vs. the Arab News version, you get a vastly different picture. Let me illustrate:

A Jewish View of the Jewish State
As a Jewish refugee from the Nazis who narrowly escaped the Holocaust, I feel free to express negative views of the Zionist experiment, Israel’s policies, and one-sided U. S. support of Israel without fear of being instantly branded a Jew-hater. Jewishness, I insist, does not require jingoistic, uncritical support of Israel, especially not of the policies of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Likud-led governing coalition.

As an American, I am deeply concerned about the huge cost of U. S. support of Israel—not only in terms of the astronomical sums of money we spend annually on Israel’s survival—but, far more importantly, in terms of our deeply strained relations with the Islamic world. Our lopsided support of Israel over the past half century has precluded our pursuit of a balanced, realistic, flexible and potentially successful policy vis-á-vis the Arab and/or Muslim world. While there are obvious additional reasons for the virulent, violent antagonism we face, I consider knee-jerk support of Israel as the primary cause of the unprecedented terrorist attacks on America. While we have achieved remarkably rapid successes against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan, I submit that the unabating bloodshed in Palestine will increasingly hamper our war on terrorism.

I may belong to a minority, but I count myself among the Jews who oppose the Zionist movement. Perhaps it was in part because of Nazi insistence on defining me as a member of a different, "non-Aryan" race that already as a boy I came to regard Judaism as first and foremost a religious faith and community. As a young teenager in Nazi-occupied Austria, I was offended by what struck me as parallels between Nazi and Zionist definitions of the Jews as an ethnic group.

When I first read The Jewish State, the "bible" of the Zionist movement written by founder Theodor Herzl (comparable in its political influence to Uncle Tom’s Cabin), I came across the naive, romantic slogan coined by this Austrian Jewish journalist, "People without land, come to the land without people!" That sentence alone persuaded me to regard the Zionist experiment in Palestine as based on a hopelessly unrealistic premise, doomed to create the tragic, insoluble problem which now confronts us daily in newspaper headlines and television news footage.

Even allowing that as a poor backwater of the dying Ottoman Empire 19th century Palestine seemed far removed from Vienna, how could Herzl believe that this land was empty of people, that after two thousand years it patiently awaited the return of the Jews from the Diaspora? How could the Zionist movement simply ignore the existence of a Palestinian population, or expect the inhabitants of Palestine to move quietly aside and make room for the establishment of a Jewish homeland?

From its beginnings Israel has faced an insoluble dilemma: In order to survive, it cannot allow the Palestinian population to become a majority within its borders. While many Palestinians fled after the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, many more remained. The neighboring Arab countries have cynically refused to admit and absorb the Palestinians, condemning hundreds of thousands of them—generations of them—to live out their lives in execrable refugee camps, in order to keep the issue alive as a weapon to use against Israel. Today the population of the territories occupied since 1967 is growing much faster than that of Israel, and there is no obvious solution to that equation.

If I could envisage a reasonably quick and comprehensive solution to the crisis in Israel/Palestine, I would not have entitled this piece "The Insoluble Problem." I do believe that certain steps are possible to mitigate the crisis, but here, too, I am pessimistic that moderate or even drastic changes in American policy will improve our relations with the region, at least over the short term.

1. I advocate that we adopt a much tougher stance, using our massive assistance program much more effectively as leverage to insist on Israeli compliance with UN resolutions and our long- standing demands that settlement construction cease. Already existing settlements in the occupied territories should be dismantled. As for our dealings with the Palestinian side, there the problem is aggravated by uncertainties about a meaningful, reliable interlocutor: How much power does Arafat really possess? We continue to demand that he put a stop to the almost daily acts of terrorism, but do we know to what extent he is in fact able to control and restrain the terrorist organizations like Hamas, Islamic Jihad et al.? And who will come after Arafat one day?

3. I believe that Israel must withdraw from the territories it has occupied since the Six-Day War in 1967. What I see as a policy of half-measures pursued over the past 35 years has led to steady deterioration of Jewish-Palestinian relations and to a dead end. One could ask whether Israel might have done better to face the wrath of the world and openly annex the conquered lands back in 1967 rather than render their occupation irreversible through the back-door method of building all these settlements. Instead, Israel has succeeded only in creating three classes or, better yet, "castes" of people: Jewish citizens of Israel; Palestinians with citizenship rights in Israel proper; Palestinians living in the occupied territories without any apparent rights or protection against arbitrary measures taken against them by the Israeli authorities. Is it possible to imagine a surer recipe for anger, hatred and violence?

4. In the event of withdrawal, Israel must repatriate the settlers, daunting though the size of the problem (200,000 people) makes this task.* But they cannot be left behind without facing almost certain slaughter.

5. I am deeply skeptical that the "Palestinian Problem" (how eerily reminiscent of what the Nazis called "the Jewish Question") can be settled by the creation of two gerrymandered, barely viable mini-states sharing the soil of a very small country. Ideally, only the willingness of Jews and Arabs to live together in one secular state, in peace and mutual respect, holds out any hope for the future, and I see very little chance of such a vision ever becoming a reality.

I define terrorism as cold-blooded murder of innocent people for the sake of gaining attention, making a point, promoting an objective—"collateral damage," as our home-grown terrorist Timothy McVeigh callously dismissed it. I find not only the PLO, Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, El Sendero Luminoso and so on and so forth, ad infinitum, guilty of terrorism, but equally so the government of Ariel Sharon with his brutal and futile efforts to impose "peace" on the Occupied Territories, equally guilty the increasingly brutal Israeli military which is harassing, maiming and killing innocent people, including women and children, wantonly razing civilian homes, tearing up their streets and roads, keeping people pent up and prevented from going where they need to go in order to earn a livelihood. Can there be a more cruel historical irony than Jews inflicting on Palestine’s native population forms of harassment, suffering and horrors reminiscent of what their forefathers were condemned to experience at the hands of the Nazis half a century ago? A plague on both their houses, I say—Arab and Israeli terrorists both in their pursuit of policies and actions which create no solutions but only more rage, more violence, more terror!

Postscript—An Appeal to the American Jewish Community:
As an American citizen of Jewish birth, I am deeply worried that many non-Jews may think that Jewish support of Israel is and must be automatic, even at the expense of American interests in the Middle East and around the world. I fear that the consistent U. S. "tilt" toward Israel, our unwavering support of Israeli policy, stems from fear by our elected officials of a specter called "the Jewish vote." I fervently hope that this "Jewish vote" is a political myth, that in reality there is no such bloc vote.

Having suffered Nazi hatred and persecution at first hand, I am like the child "once burned, twice careful," and I worry that, fed by blind support of Israeli policies and actions by many American Jews, and by powerful lobbies like AIPAC (the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee) and even the terrorist gang known as the Jewish Defense League, Anti-Semitism may increase rapidly in America.

I fear that blind Jewish support of Israel will sooner or later give rise to suspicions of divided loyalty. It may seem absurd (for now), but as a retired US Foreign Service officer, I have nightmarish visions of Jewish Americans being excluded from the Foreign Service and other sensitive government agencies because of doubts about the reliability of their support of American policy in the Middle East. And may Heaven preserve us from another Jonathan Pollard!

Hence I implore American Jews to recognize the danger confronting them and remember that the country to which they owe loyalty is the United States—only the United States—and that as American citizens it is their obligation to promote our interests and defend our institutions—and not those of any other country.

Now kids, take a look at what's been emphasized in bold. That is what the Arab News intentionally deleted and it explains why the version they carry is so incoherent. You'll notice that any hint of criticism towards the Palestinians (see the missing part about the cynicism of the Arab policy of keeping the Palesitinans as refugess) is deleted, any mention of the US War on Terrorism deleted, and that Heichler's words are deliberately twisted to express a hatred of Israel. The most pointed example is in the final sentence carried in the Arab News version which says:

"It may seem absurd (for now), but as a retired US Foreign Service officer, I have nightmarish visions of Jewish state."

versus the original sentence which says:

"It may seem absurd (for now), but as a retired US Foreign Service officer, I have nightmarish visions of Jewish Americans being excluded from the Foreign Service and other sensitive government agencies because of doubts about the reliability of their support of American policy in the Middle East."

This is nothing short of straight out lying committed by the Arab News. How anyone would agree to have them publish their work is beyond me. The Arab News has featured the writings of Robert Fisk, the darling of the intellectual left. Do you think he'd care about the lack of scruples of the Arab News. Probably...as long as he could blame it on Israel.

Some new links

Blogs seem to pop up everyday like dandelions, yet some of them are definitely worth reading and thus linking to:

Arrgh...the scurvy Privateer

Eerily reminiscent of The Cable Guy, I present the Israeli guy

The classy Tiger Lily (who seems to have gone on hiatus...)

A refugee from the People's Republic of Berkeley

and...

The cutest Zionist in the blogosphere, Renatinha

Why I love Martin Peretz.

Why I love Martin Peretz. In the section of his latest piece discussing the signatories of the insipid divest from Israel petitions at Harvard/MIT and Princeton, Peretz notes one name that's curiously missing:

Where is Cornel West? Did the famously anti-Israel philosopher of self-promotion decide that Israel wasn't the moral equivalent of apartheid South Africa after all? I doubt it. More likely he couldn't decide whether to sign the Harvard list or the Princeton one.

IDF = Pizza Nazi The

IDF = Pizza Nazi The IDF has told its soldiers No Pizza for you!. Fearing that terrorists will take advantage of the pizzas ordered via internet for IDF soldiers, the IDF has banned all pizza deliveries not personally ordered by IDF soldiers. While an understanable precaution, it's sad that a good gesture can easily be turned into a deadly boobytrap

The Cartoons of M. Kahil.

The Cartoons of M. Kahil. Perhaps because I was procrastinating, or perhaps because I'm just a masochist, I was perusing the cartoons that walleyed cartoonist, M. Kahil, that are prominently featured on the Arabnews website. I thought I'd share some comments on a few of them.

I found this one laughable seeing as how it basically states that a small country with a population of 6 million somehow rules the world. Mr. Kahil must have some serious inadequacy problems.

Obviously Mr. Kahil's target audience must consit of cretins and imbeciles if he feels he has to label the axe and knife as "axe" and "knife."

Nevertheless, it speaks volumes when an Arab is willing to admit the truth about Arafat.

He's baaaaaack. After the imposed

He's baaaaaack. After the imposed absence brought about by the passing of my grandmother and a following (unrelated) lack of interest in blogging, I'm back. But before I begin blogging, I want to thank everyone who was kind enough to express their condolences and sympathies about my grandmother. They were very much appreciated.

Strange coincidence. While Stephen Green

Strange coincidence. While Stephen Green (to whom I extend my condolences) struggles with saying goodbye to his dying grandmother, I will be attending the funeral of my grandmother in the morning. After almost a two year bout with bone cancer, she passed away on Mother's day.

I'm not going to wax nostalgic here about my grandmother, but I will say this much. Out of all my grandparents, she was the one I really ever knew, and she was the one who knitted 75 kippot for my bar-mitzvah, despite her arthritis. I will be wearing one of them tomorrow.

Myopic Idiots. The Palestinians may

Myopic Idiots. The Palestinians may be adept at missing opportunities, but no one can top the Israelis in the skill of shooting oneself in the foot. And thus we have the latest in a series of embarrassments to Israel, the Likud party vote against having any sort of Palestinian state. This may be an internal power play but to the rest of the world, always hungry for more reasons to gang up on Israel, it looks like nothing short of Israeli intransigence. Even if the Likud does not want a Palestinian state, it was foolish to make this view official for all the world to see. Waving the olive branch in one hand and whacking with a stick in the other has worked wonders for the Arab world recently; it would behoove the Israelis to do likewise. Instead, the Arab world, already buoyed by the Saudi peace sham will look like the party truly interested in peace. Absolutely brilliant guys. Really...bravo.

Bibi, your calling is not to be prime minister of Israel. Tell Arik to make a ministry of hasbara in his cabinet (what's another cabinet member when you've got like 26) and do what you do best: look good on TV. Don't coopt the best interests of Israel for your lust for power.

(The Amercian Kaiser has a better take on this.)

Phallic Trees. This gives a

Phallic Trees. This gives a whole new meaning to "getting wood."

Sheesh. Everyone's a critic. Sorry

Sheesh. Everyone's a critic. Sorry my Norwegian friend, but it's the 21st century and since I'm making the rules, no "ands" allowed.

Dershowitz Lays Down the Gauntlet.

Dershowitz Lays Down the Gauntlet. In Friday's MIT Tech, Alan Dershowitz challenges Chomsky to a debate on the divestiture from Israel. You go Alan, with your Chutzpah self.

The Censored Award.

In the ever expanding effort for a egotistical, control-freak, network administrator to control what the employees at the hospital I work view on the internet, more sites have been banned by our "net-nanny." As such, I will start giving out the "Censored Award" to those sites which I enjoy that have been banned. Prior to the creation of this award, sites that have been banned include Plastic (Adult Material), Mr Cranky (Tasteless), and Ken Layne (Adult Material). But today, I award the Censored Award to ........ Charles Johnson who has been banned for being "Tasteless". Congrats, Charles!

Sign this.

Outraged about the idiotic effort to try and convince MIT and Harvard to divest themselves of companies that do business with Israel? Then sign this.

An open letter to Chretien

An open letter to Chretien and Manley. I'm not Canadian, but I do have some important Canadian (more than) friends who passed along this open letter to the Canadian govenment. Obviously the last paragraph doesn't apply to me, but I thought the retelling of certain events is informative, especially the part I've emphasized:

Dear Hon. Mr. Manley, and Rt. Hon. Mr. Prime Minster Chretien: I would like to offer this note to bring to your attention that we do not appreciate terrorism in Canada, nor should we protect people that hold themselves beyond the justice of the country in which they have commmitted crimes. 1 - October of 1970 I trust Mr. Chretien remembers the October Crisis of 1970. The government to which he belonged, and the party to which you both belonged, saw it fit to declare the War Measures Act into effect and send tanks into Montreal because of a few mail-box bombs and the singular death of an international representative. Yet, the same government and party doesn't seem to understand or support Israel in its current campaign against MULTIPLE SUICIDE bombs that has killed MULITIPLE people, and not a person and many mailboxes. 2 - 60 Minutes I trust that Mr. Manley remembers what he said when he appeared on CBS concerning Canada's role as a harbouror of terrorists. Our reputation, especially here in Montreal is being tarnished internationally every time somebody like Ahmed Rassam is captured. How many more houses were raided in Montreal alone after his capture?

Here is something else to think about, also in Montreal, where do the university organizations Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) receive their funding from? What did it mean when the student council's agenda published by Concordia's Union of Students prior to the beginning of the semester said "September 11: the Splitting of the Skies"? What does it mean when somebody like Israel Shamir can speak at McGill University in blatantly anti-semetic rhetoric and receive support from the local Arab student unions and SPHR?

3 - Hizbollah Parade
I trust that my eyes were wrong then when Israel pulled back from Southern Lebanon a few years ago at the end of May/beginning of June and there was a parade of Hizbollah flags speeding down St.-Catherine Street and St.-Laurent Street in downtown Montreal. So Mr. Manley should be aware, that these terrorist groups don't even attempt to be clandestine in Canada, they feel free to parade already.

4 - 25,000 demonstrators supporting Israel
In Montreal recently there was a tremendous out-pourring of support for Israel, for peace, for JUSTICE. Accepting known criminals and violent individuals from other countries will not hold well for electors that appreciate Israel, appreciate peace, and especially not for those that appreciate JUSTICE.

I vow, that in the event that Canada willingly accepts criminals or terrorists from any country, even if they are accepted into a Canadian jail, I will work tirelessly to make sure that electors do not forget the type of society that the Liberal Party of Canada wishes to provide for Canadians.

Now, I'm particularly curious about the part I've emphasized in bold. I know that falsehoods are constantly sent around the internet so I'd really like to know if that tidbit is true. If anyone has any hard information about this, I'd really like to know.

A request

I know they're are plenty of these floating around out there, but I don't have the time to go websuring for them. Can anyone pass along some info as how to donate some money to the Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorists? Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Infamous list update. Surprisingly, this

Infamous list update. Surprisingly, this list has become far more popular than I had anticipated, so I thought I'd start filling in the blanks with some of the suggestions I've received. You can see them below. And hello to all you new readers.

EU Flag update. Jay Zilber

EU Flag update. Jay Zilber has proposed some designs for the new EU flag which are far prettier than mine. I particularly enjoyed the mosaic version. But, as I told Jay, think of the children! How ever are they going to be able to draw his proposed flags? Since I have the drawing skills of a 5 year old, I understood their plight and thus felt that my design would suit them best.

Cool. I have a self-described

Cool. I have a self-described fan. Obviously since this man has such good taste it behooves you to read his blog as well.

Oh Canada!

Jean Chrétien yesterday tentatively offered sanctuary in Canada to 13 Palestinian militants who have been under siege in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity since April 2. Perhaps not so coincidentally, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been decimated by injuries and are seeking replacements.

One man's scum is another's

One man's scum is another's separatist. After some terrorists set off a bomb during a military parade in the town of Kaspiisk in the Russian province of Dagestan, killing 34 people, Russian President Vladimir Putin said,

"This crime was carried out by scum who hold nothing sacred. We have the right to regard them as Nazis, whose purpose is to sow death and kill. During the war, there was the slogan, `Tread the viper.' And it was destroyed. Difficult as the tasks facing us today are, they will be carried out."

Who wants to lay odds on Colin Powell urging the Russians to act with caution Anyone? Anyone?

Making a list, checking it twice

The following is a list of all the nations that voted for that UN assembly resolution condeming Israel just as a Palestinian terrorist killed 16 Israelis. Since this is my blog and I can do what I want to, I'll comment on each nation. If the nation has no comment, I just couldn't think of one (but I'm open to suggestions).

Algeria: This country is so bad that people are dying (ha!) to leave it for France.

Antigua and Barbuda: This is a country? You cannot be a single country and have an "and" in your name. Sorry.

Argentina: I won't be crying for you while your economy is a disaster.

Armenia: Don't expect much sympathy from the Jews about your genocide.

Azerbaijan: A post-USSR basketcase..woopee!

Bahrain: An Arab-Muslim country; I'd expect nothing less

Bangladesh: Poster-child for the term "banana republic."

Belarus: Just because you beat Sweden in Winter Olymics ice hockey doesn't mean anyone cares what you think.

Belize: Only claim to fame is being the locale of "Temptation Island".

Bolivia: You're supposed to have one capital guys.

Brazil Your World Cup team lost to France. Ha ha.

Brunei Darussalam: Home of a royal family whose corruption is only rivaled by that of the Saudis.

Burkina Faso Who?

Cambodia: The country which produced Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge criticizes Israel. Only at the UN.

Cape Verde: Who cares?

Chile: Sorry, you're name sounds too much like a food. Your opinion doesn't count.

China: Yes Israel, you're bad. And no, we're not occupying and colonizing Tibet.

Colombia: We've being very nice to our civilians while fighting the FARC.

Côte d'Ivoire: Another African mess.

Cuba: Fidel knows human rights.

Cyprus: Look! Something both halves of the island could agree on.

Democratic People's Republic of Korea: Q. How many N. Koreans does it take to change a lightbulb? A. What's a lightbulb?

Djibouti Shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake Djibouti

Ecuador So the equator bisects your country. Big deal.

Egypt: And if you'll give us $100 billion, we'll actually do something to fight Israel

Eritrea Shouldn't you be more concerned with your starving population?

Guinea: Sub-Saharan mess, just like all the others.

Guyana: A South Amercian country no one cares about.

Haiti: People are dying to leave this country too.

India: So much for that Indian-Israeli alliance.

Indonesia: Just look at what we did in East Timor as an example of how to act.

Iran: Do I have to comment?

Jamaica: What exactly were you smoking?

Jordan: 70% of the population is Palestinian, what do you expect?

Kuwait: We're allowed to kick the Palestinians around; you're not.

Lebanon: What Syria said...yeah, yeah.

Malaysia: Muslim country, would expect nothing less.

Maldives: Muslim country, would expect nothing less.

Mali: How sad to be named after a forgotten empire.

Malta: I hope you get EU membership. You deserve each other

Mauritius: Don't know much about it so I can't comment.

Mexico: I hope the US seals the border just to piss you off.

Morocco: Arab Muslim country, would expect nothing less

Myanmar:: We just freed Aung San Suu Kyi, so now we're good enough to criticize Israel.

Namibia:

Nepal: Only our rebels can't be trusted; you can trust the Palestinians. (scutum)

Nigeria: See? We didn't actually stone that woman for daring to be raped!

Oman: Arab/Muslim country...'nuff said.

Pakistan: We just had free elections..honest!

Panama: Aren't we cool? Van Halen wrote a song about us!

Paraguay: Because two guays are better than one (Steve Moe)

Philippines: We can fight Islamic terrorists, but you can't.

Qatar:Home of Al Jazeera. Need I say more? (Meryl Yourish)

Republic of Moldova: Another post-USSR mess.

Russian Federation: We're not really raping Chechnya, honest!

Saint Lucia: huh?

Saudi Arabia: hehehehehehe...ooh I can't stop laughing.

Senegal:

Sierra Leone:Hey, Palestinians! If you run out of bombs, we can show you how to use machetes instead! ("Dean" from the comments)

Singapore: We almost didn't vote for this resolution because it didn't comdemn Israelis for chewing gum.

South Africa: Everything they said in Durban was true!

Sri Lanka: Only Tamil suicide bombes are terrorists.

Sudan: We really do care about Christians; they make such wonderful slaves.

Syria: Want to know how to fight terrorism in a civilized manner? See what dear ol' Dad did in Hamat.

Thailand: Don't mind us, we're busy with our bustling child-sex industry.

Togo: This could be a place to party!

Trinidad and Tobago: See Antigua and Barbuda

Tunisia: That Synagogue attack was an accident..really!

Turkey: See Chile.

United Arab Emirates:just like the United States of America, only without that whole democracy nonsense. (Kevin Downey)

Uruguay:

Venezuela: See Argentina (Sasha Castel)

Yemen:See the other Arab countries.

(Update: please don't take this to mean I think Israel is beyond reproach or that I hate all these countries and their inhabitants. I'm just sick of the one sided resolutions that constantly emanate from the UN)

I'm embarrassed that I am

I'm embarrassed that I am a student at both MIT and Harvard after seeing this crap I guess ol' Noam took a break from sucking off Arafat so that he could host this farce.

Oh the irony. I couldn't

Oh the irony. I couldn't help but snicker at this. I wonder if the British were fighting those terrorists who were not Palestinian as Chris Patten described it.

Gnarly. This is what happens

Gnarly. This is what happens when you screw up a suicide bombing. I do hope they were able to save the bastard, just so he can suffer for the rest of his miserable life with his horrible wounds and knowing the fact that he was an incompetent screw-up. (Link via Glenn Kinen)

They blinded me with bad

They blinded me with bad taste.


It looks like the EU is considering this atrocity to become their new flag. Seeing as how it's destined to receive a failing grade, I propose the following as the new flag:

(link via Damian Penny)

I won't hold my breath.

I won't hold my breath. The EU is studying the Israeli report documenting that EU funds for the Palestinian Authority were used to fund suicide bombers. According to EU Commission spokeman Gunnar Wiegand,

"These are serious allegations and we will look at them in a serious way."

So far, so good, but then I continued to read on and I ran across this:

Wiegand said Wednesday the 15-nation EU had strict rules and conditions on attributing the aid, which totals 369 million euro (337 million dollars) over the past two years, to make sure it was being spent on civilian purposes only.

EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten is expected to highlight the issue when EU foreign affairs ministers hold their monthly meeting on Monday.

Chris Patten eh? This is like the fox inspecting the henhouse. Once this investigation is finished, I fully expect to see a press conference where Chris Patten acts like Leslie Nielsen saying "Nothing to see here, move along."

A good read. I really

A good read. I really do hate jumping on the NRO/Victor Davis bandwagon, but his latest summarizes a great deal of my thoughts on the situation in the Middle East.

Possible terror attack. There has

Possible terror attack. There has been an explosion in a Rishon Lezion event hall that is being treated as a terror attack. Right now there are reports of at least 40 injured and of several others remaining trapped in the ruins of the collapsed building. If this indeed is a suicide bombing, expect some wishy-washy condemnations by EUro types followed by a big BUT...

Update: Ha'aretz is reporting at least 10 dead.

Question 1: How long will it take until someone makes the comparison between Palestinians caught in the rubble of demolished houses in Jenin to the Jews trapped in the rubble of this demolished building? I say 24 hours. Any other guesses?

Question 2: Should I hold my breath waiting for the EU and the UN to demand that a fact finding mission be sent to Rishon Lezion to investigate whether or not there was a massacre and if any war crimes were committed?

Apologies. I didn't mean to

Apologies. I didn't mean to offend the folks behind the American Kaiser. I was just reminded of the Guess Who song, "American Woman." To make amends, I'm adding them to the blog list on the right. Now don't be so sensitive guys, ok?

Infinite loop.

I don't have anything useful to say today, so I present to you instead, my pseudocode version of what happens on a daily basis in the blog world:

While (Robert Fisk == Afghan punching bag)
Glenn Reynolds will be proclaimed as a blogger “god”;
if (reading Instapundit) ingest lots of fluff but no substance;

Pejman Yousefzadeh will write something really long;

Charles Johnson will never cease to be amazed by the amount of Jew hatred in the Arab world;

The UN will be shown to be a useless anti-Semitic organization;

Europe will be shown to be led by a bunch of clueless weenies;

Andrew Sullivan will hand out a bunch of awards to people he doesn’t like all while pining for the opportunity to give George Bush a rimjob;

if (reading Libertarian Samizdata
if (poster==Perry de Havilland) read about forced collectivism;
if (poster==Natalija Radic) read about Croata or incest;
endif

Asaparagirl will post something that will be deemed insightful and then will be beset upon by a bunch of cybersuitors in her comments section;

Damian Penny, glutton for punishment that he is, will read yet another indymedia post that will give him agita;

Nothing useful will be written on this blog;
end

Only in the blogosphere will

Only in the blogosphere will you find a political critique of They Might Be Giants lyrics (ok ok, so it was a cover, but you get the point).

Assassination.

Lex Luthor..er I mean Pym Fortuyn, an anti-immigration Dutch politician was shot dead today after giving a radio interview. I won't make any comments since almost nothing is known. It will be very interesting to find out who the killer is.

American Kaiser .... stay away

American Kaiser .... stay away from meeeeeheeeee. Well that's pretty harsh, but that's the first thing I thought of when I read the name of that blog.

Welcome to reality. You've just

Welcome to reality. You've just now figured out what the Catholic Church is all about? Where have you been for the last millennium and a half ?

I have returned... and all

I have returned... and all I'd like to do is give a hearty fuck you to Bin Laden, his henchmen, and the pipebomb terrorists, who caused the US government to tighten the US/Canadian border so that it takes an hour and a half to cross into the US.

Ok now I'm really gone.

Ok now I'm really gone. Ciao and have a good weekend.

Whoa. I'm not quite sure

Whoa. I'm not quite sure what to make of this:

The US Congress will vote today on a proposal to recognize the West Bank as sovereign territory belonging to the State of Israel. Rep. Richard Armey, the Republican Congressional leader, said the Palestinians should build their national home within a neighboring Arab country. Armey noted Arab nations have large tracts of unsettled territory where the Palestinians could build a nation. In Armey's opinion, there is no reason for Israel to hand territory over to the Palestinians in exchange for peace. The White House is urging Congress at this time to dramatically tone down the proposal's language, Israel Radio reported.

It appeals to me on some level; after all it would simplify things. But then again, forcing 1.5 million people to just uproot and move doesn't sit well with me.

Away again. I am leaving

Away again. I am leaving for Montreal to see my girlfriend's newborn niece. I won't be blogging again until Monday. In the mean time, feel free to show me some love and leave some comments. You can also read Mark Steyn's latest. There's a reason he gets paid to write and why the rest of us are only pathetic wanabees who clog up the internet with our pathetic writing.

Gee, what do you expect?

Gee, what do you expect? Roger Clegg over at NRO is concerned about supposed special efforts being made by American universities "to boost Jewish enrollment." He quotes Vanderbilt Chancellor, Gordon Gee, saying, "

"Jewish students, by culture and by ability and by the very nature of their liveliness, make a university a much more habitable place in terms of intellectual life."

Three things about this:

1. I don't want any univeristy, save Yeshiva U or the like, going out of their way to recruit Jews. I specifically turned down an offer of admission from Caltech (sorry Paul) because they paid for college visits made by "underrepresented minorities" and women. This practice made me feel unwanted so I said screw 'em and found greener pastures elsewhere. However, specifically recruiting my ethnic/religeous group doesn't make it any better. As far as I'm concerned, all such efforts are wrong, regardless of the target, except perhaps for the economically underpriviledged.

2. Gordon Gee is a schmuck. Clegg mentions that he recently arrived from Brown but doesn't mention anything about his tenure there. I'm a little fuzzy on the details since I heared things second hand via my sister, but he was unanimously reviled by the Brown community. Given his might short tenure at Brown, I sincerely doubt he would know what "Ivy League" status means.

3. Imagine UC Berkeley specifically recruiting Jews when posters such as these are so common. I'm sure that if the Berkeley students found out about such a program, they'd proclaim it was a Mossad plot trying to ruin the integrity of the school.

How about this reason? I

How about this reason? I knew this would happen sooner rather than later, but the lazy pseudo-intellectuals comprising the anti-Israel crowd are complaining about the apparent double-standard applied by the UN towards Israel and Iraq. Damian Penny suggests some reason why Israel was right to rebuff the UN but Iraq wasn't. Allow me to suggest another. As part of the agreement which ended the Gulf War, Iraq (the defeated party) agreed to allow UN inspectors into their country. Israel has made no such deal.

You go with Sunoco. I

You go with Sunoco. I am leaving for Montreal this afternoon and I filled up my car before leaving. I usually fill up at a Sunoco station because it's conveniently located and competitively priced. But now I've learned of an even better reason to buy Sunoco. (Link via Damian Penny)

Breaking news!

We are receiving reports that Lazarus has returned to the holy land. According to video caught by IDF drones,

"In the tape you see the fake corpse being wrapped and then lying down on a stretcher. The stretcher bearers are not particularly adept and you can see him fall off several times. One time he falls off the stretcher when he is already in a crowd. This is being filmed by the Palestinians for their own purposes - to show as many casualties as possible were buried inside Jenin.When he came back to life in the middle of the crowd the crowd breaks up because they didn't know that it wasn't really a corpse."

With the return of Lazarus, rumors of Jesus' immientent return have been running through the Holy Land like wildfire. Our IDF source claims that Jesus is being held hostage in the Church of the Nativity by Palestinian terrorists demanding that he produce enough fish and loaves of bread of them to eat. Jesus is refusing to comply, reminding them that if they hurt him, his father is going to come and kick their asses.