Grasshoppa

Got virgins?

After reading this IMRA piece I don't know whether to laugh or shake my head in disgust:

Michael Widlanski/Media Line: VIRGIN VIDEO ON ARAFAT'S TV PROMISES SEXY
AFTER-LIFE FOR 'MARTYRS'
By Michael Widlanski (The Media Line) June 27, 2002

When Palestinian terrorists who blow themselves up in order to murder as many Israelis as possible, are they acting out of despair or out of hope?

A new Palestinian movie video, which aired today (June 27) on Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation gives an inside view into Palestinian thinking that may supply the answers.

A dark-haired and good-looking 35-year-old Arab man is seen walking with an attractive woman of about the same age. It is clear that she is his wife or his girl-friend and that he loves her, but the movie has no dialogue or written on-screen text, only background music and some very clear and heavy suggestions.

The movie clip, which preceded and introduced the 3PM afternoon news, is about Palestinian "martyrdom"-its causes and its rewards.

The man and his wife see Israeli army (IDF) soldiers, and frowns darken their features, and the music is very morose.

The young man clearly starts thinking about how to strike out at the Israeli soldiers.

Almost immediately, the music changes to a more optimistic tone as, out of a kind of mist, stunningly beautiful young women-between 18 and 22 years of age-begin to beckon to him.

The gorgeous women, who are younger than his wife, are all clad in billowy white robes. They are all smiling fetchingly as they call to him, making motions with their hands as if to say "come-here" and "join us."

We next see the man after he is captured by the IDF following an apparent attack on them.

But, as the music takes on another sinister twist, the Israelis deliberately release the Palestinian man.

Their plan is clear: they are going to kill the handsome Arab man "while trying to escape."

He appears as a target in the cross-hairs of an Israeli automatic rifle. His wife cries, her face screwed up in agony, but the end is not sad.

The camera moves quickly from the bereaved widow to the new Palestinian martyr who is smiling in paradise. One of the gorgeous women in white greets him and pulls him into the mistwhere she and seven or eight beautiful women begin to surround him and gently caress him.

The video ends on a happy note without a word having been said, but the message is clear: here is the Islamic tradition of a martyr being welcomed into paradise where he will be ministered by 72 beautiful virgins.

This ad reminds me of the movie "Crazy People" where assylum residents would come up with blunt ads like "Volvos: they're boxy but they're good", or "Come to the Bahamas and get laid." Somehow, I think someone funnier could make this into a "Got Milk?" spoof...."Got Virgins?"

By the way, isn't the PA (and Palestinians in general) strapped for cash? Where do they get the funds to produce these ads?

Oops!

In a stroke of Enronesque accounting, Worldcom now admits to overstating its cashflow by a mere $3.8 billion. And of course, guess who was Worldcom's auditor until last month? Yep, you guessed it: Arthur Andersen.

So, in the past 8 months, we've now seen 3 large corporations get hit with major accounting scandals, causing 2 of them (so far) to go under. The third, Worldcom, is merely laying off 17,000 workers.

Let this be a reminder to those that think that privatization is the panacea to all government woes: private companies can screw up just as badly as the government, and can often cause just as much (or worse) damage. Just ask those 17,000 dead Worldcom employees walking.

Murphy's law.

Just when I get a little recogntion, thanks to John Hawkins, my new host goes down. Maybe I should return to blogspot...

As for the list, I'm flattered to be a part of it, although I believe that I am definitely outclassed by the other members of the list. But thanks anyway, John.

Weird.

You Brits you do have a strange sense of humor

Lies, damn lies, and statistics.

Lies, damn lies, and statistics. Scott Ganz takes the folks over at Warbloggerwatch (WBW) to task for, among other things, using incorrect statistics. The WBW claims that according to B'Tselem "only" 354 Israelis (civilians and security perssonel) were killed by Palestinians in the past 15 years averaging out to 24 deaths per year. Let's inpect this claim a bit.

First, the B'Tselem statistics are from Dec 9, 1987 until Jan 31, 2002 which does not constitute 15 years as WBW claims - it's actually 14 years, 2 months (14.1667 years). However let's ignore the 9 deaths that occured between Jan 1, 2002 and Jan 31, 2002 because obviously one month does not constitute a year. After all, the death toll has increased by about 200 (I think) since Jan 1, 2002. And we'll also throw out the month of Dec 1987 in which no deaths occured. This gives an average of 23.2 deaths a year but a standard deviation of 24.5 deaths a year. When the standard devation is greater than the arithmetic mean, the mean isn't a very telling statistic.

However, the larger problem with this claim is that WBW only mentions the Israelis killed within the Green Line and ignores the deaths of 312 Israelis (both civlians and soldiers) that occured in the Occupied Territories. (Those statistics are right below the previously cited ones, so they're not too hard to find). Those deaths in fact double the overall death toll. I suppose ignoring these Israeli deaths goes hand in hand with the ideology of those at WBW, I find it remarkable how people who supposedly value life so much that they are virulently anti-war, can simply toss aside the murder of civilians. But then again, those were Jews who were murdered so who cares, right?

Merkava IV

The IDF unveiled its new Merkava IV main battle tank today. Improvements over the Merkava III include a more powerful engine, improved firing system and night vision, and advanced modular armor. Apparently the tank is now protected from both vertical and horizontal attack. One wonders if they strengthened the underbelly which was shown to be a weak spot.

While the new tank is cool from the perspective of new "toys" are always cool (I've always been fascinated by weapons technology and always enjoyed those War History Channel programs about modern weapons, but once you realize what those weapons are designed to do, they're not so "cool" anymore) this sort of weapon is not going to help Israel out in the short run. I'm sure it will be very useful say against the Syrian army, but it seems to me that the use of heavy armor to fight Palestinian terrorists isn't all that effective.

It's the gas baby

What the hell is this?

WASHINGTON — Terrorists may try to use fuel tankers as weapons to attack Jewish neighborhoods, synagogues and fuel depots, the FBI advised law enforcement agencies on Friday. Officials stressed that the advisory was based on unsubstantiated and uncorroborated information and was not a warning to the general public, but rather an advisory issued to local police departments.

If this was just an advisory to the police, why leak it to the general public especially if the information is flimsy at best? The warning is supposedly based on the results of interrogations of captured al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. Sounds like these jihad boys were just shootin' the shit, thinking

"wow, Achmed, wouldn't it be really cool to go blow some tankers in the neighborhoods of those dirty Jews?"

"By Allah, you're right, Abdul! Too bad we're stuck here in Cuba..."

You know, I was planning on staying in lab and working all weekend, but maybe I'll go to synagogue and then hang out in the falafel shop just to spite those damn terrorists. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Settle down, part 2.

There seems to be a big catfight going down in the blogosphere. (Did I get everyone?). And that's not even counting what's written in the various comments sections.

So yes, it wasn't Asparagirl's best post, and yes, Pejman is a cyberflirt (sorry Pej, but you are), and yes, Jeff Goldstein can be rude and crude (but funny), etc. etc. etc. blah blah blah. Christ, I feel like I'm in high school again...get over it.

The clock has struck midnight.

The US World Cup run is over as they were defeated by Germany 1-0. I watched the first half and really thought the Americans were going to win until Germany scored. Two things:

1. Kudos to the German goalie, Oliver Kahn, for keeping his team in the game. I would have been 3-0 US after 30 minutes, if not for him.

2. I really thought the call that lead to the German goal was quesitonable. I said it when the ref called it and I'll say it now but I thought the German player took a dive.

Oh well, c'est la vie, but congrats to the US Team - you did us proud.

Not good, not good at all.

Today, the IDF killed 4 Palestinian civilians (3 children and one 50 year old man) and wounded dozens others when they opned fire on a market in Jenin. Reportedly, the Jenin residents thought a curfew had been lifted and went to the market when IDF tanks opened fire. The IDF said an initial inquiry "indicates that the force erred in its action."

Well duh I sure as hell hope it was a mistake, and not intentional, although one wonders why the IDF was using tank shells as crowd control. Perhaps they thought the crowd at the market were gunmen, I don't know. However, the army claims it was mistake, and pending a further investigation, I trust that it was just that, a tragic mistake. I'm truly sorry for those deaths, but I know that no amount of apologies and excuses will bring those lives back.

I will say this much though: these deaths, as well as the almost 2000 other Israeli and Palestinian deathss that have been lost in the past 20 months or so could have been prevented, if Arafat had made the decision to accept the Clinton/Barak plan back at Camp David. Now it's too little too late. There is no way the Israeli public is going to believe Arafat, and there is no way they're going to give Arafat and his terrorist thugs 97% of the West Bank as well as part of East Jerusalem. Right now, the best I think the Palestinians can hope for is all of Gaza, and the part of the West Bank Israel feels it can live without. Good luck getting any more.

This is obviously (to me at least) nothing but another ploy by Arafat to put pressure on Israel by demonstrating to his friends in the EU and the US State Department that he really is interested in peace. Moreover, he's trying to save his sorry ass because he's losing control over the myriad of terrorist groups prevalent throughout the territories. In saner times, the world would see this gambit for what it is, but these are not sane times.

Tom Paulin would be proud.

Palestinian gunmen killed a mother, her two children, and another man in the settlement of Itamar, near Nablus.

Time to confiscate more land. Perhaps they can rock the casbah of Nablus.

Altered Logic.

Eric Alterman cites piece as a reason why we should never believe what Daniel Pipes says about the Mideast. Allow me to summarize: when Joan Peter's book From Time Immemorial first came out, Pipes praised it. However, 2 years later, after Peters had been severely criticized for her methods and conclusions, Pipes also echoed those criticisms. And thus, for this behavior, Pipes should be distrusted.

Now, as everyone knows, Alterman published his blacklist of all "reflexively pro-Israel" pundits (hey Daniel Pipes is on that list, imagine that!) that are present throughout the American media. Moreover, as most of us know, he placed Cathy Young on his list even though she had never written a column on the Mideast. Oops, Alterman made a mistake! Alterman found all kinds of ways to justify his mistake and issued some non-apologies. Thus I invoke Alterman's logic and propose that we should never believe anything Alterman writes about other columnists, including Daniel Pipes.

Little red audi

Today's suicide bomber reported got out of a red Audi, broke past a group of security forces and set off his bomb. I hope the IDF finds that car and its driver. Who knows, maybe it's Noam Chomsky's.

Hey Jack Do you have

Hey Jack Do you have any compassion for this fucker as well?

Hit 'em where it hurts.

Since the Palestinians appear to have a deathwish, Israel has decided to change tactics and take what the Palestinians so desperately desire: the land.

Obviously this will send the Chomskies, Fisks and Saids into conniption fits (a worthy goal in itself), but the change in tactics is a smart move:

1. The main goal will no longer be to kill and capture Palestinian terrorists, it will be simply to confiscate land - a procedure, unlike death, that can easily be reversed.

2. This simple act will be effective at crushing the hopes of those Palestinians who think that they can regain their country by blowing up buses full of civilians. Everytime Palestinian terrorists kill Israelis, they lose more land.

3. It will give Israel more bargaining chips when it comes down to the final negotiations.

The downside is that this action will continue the occupation indefinitely, and it remains to be seen if the pros will outweigh the cons. However, at this point I don't see any other option other than ethnic cleansing, which, frankly, is not really an option.

The victims have names.

Here are the names of some of the victims from the bus boming:

Shiri Nagari, 21: Worked at Bank Leumi, was to begin studies at Hebrew University in the fall.

Leah Baruch, 59: Oversaw the official residence at Beit Hanassi for 23 years.

Boaz Aluf, 54: A 'humble, family man' on his way to work at Bank Tefahot.

Galila Bugala, 11: Fifth grade pupil at the Paula Ben-Gurion school in Jerusalem's Rehavia neighborhood. Her parents immigrated from Ethiopian 11 years ago.

Shani Avi-Tzedek,15, pupil at Boyer High School in Jerusalem. Her parents reportedly identified her remains by a new bathing suit she was wearing to participate in a class outing.

Michal Biazi, 24, was on her way to a niece's birth party.

Dr. Moshe Gottlieb, 70. Chiropractor and grandfather who worked "to heal the people of Jerusalem and Israel."

Liat Yagen, 24, attorney's assistant.

Gila Nakav, 55, worked at the City of David archaeological site.

Helena Ivan, 63, housekeeper originally from Romania.

Tatiana Braslavsky, 41, civil engineer who immigrated from Uzbekistan 11 years ago.

Mendel Barzon, 72, shoemaker

Baruch Gruani, 60, retired Israel Military Industries employee.

Raphael Berger, 28, musician and a master's degree student in chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Iman Kabha, 25, an Israeli Arab student from Barta village. Lived in a rented apartment in Beit Safafa, near where the blast took place.

Orit Hayla, 21.

Raisa Dikstein, 67

Rahamim Tzidkiyahu, 51, the bus driver, from the East Talpiot area.

Yitkadal v'yitkadash...

Moron. British Foreign Sectrary, Jack

Moron. British Foreign Sectrary, Jack Staw, expressed "compassion" for suicide bombers:

“When young people go to their deaths, we can all feel a degree of compassion for those youngsters — they must be so depressed and misguided to do this”

It baffles me how somone in Mr. Straw's position can express compassion for a murderer of a bus-load of school children, especially a murderer who knew exactly what he was doing. The sucide fucker, al-Ghoul, was a 22 year old graduate student in Islamic studies who knew exactly what he was doing. At what point do we no longer consider a person a "youngster" who is not responsible for his/her actions? A 22 year old isn't a youngster; he is a man, an evil man who could think of no greater joy than murdering as many Jews as possible.

Hey Laurence, I have a new experiment for you to perform. Walk up to Jack Straw and hand him a small slip of paper that says "BOOM! You're dead." and see how much compassion Mr. Straw has for you.

We're famous!

The project of which I am a part is covered in the first part of this Newsweek article. Read the part about the artificial larynx - that's us. Dr. Hillman is one of my advisors. Notice the term "elite group of researchers" phrase. Cool eh?

Sigh.

So there was yet another sucide bombing in Israel today, which killed 19 people and wounded at least 40. Frankly, I don't have much to say. I could vent my anger and rant on about how Israel needs to hit back hard, but it would be nothing more than spitting into the wind.

Bush says one thing, Powell says another. Sharon says "terror must be struggled against and fought against" and then sends in tanks to lay siege to Arafat for a couple of days, and then let him go. Right now, the Israeli security cabinet has reportedly approved an "unsually harsh" retaliation which may include a mass deportation of terrorists and the expulsion of Arafat. Right. I won't be holding my breath. Besides, I'm not even sure what good it would do.

It's painfully obvious that neither the American nor Israeli governments have any idea of what to do. Then again, neither do I.

Update. Laurence Simon has far more interesting things to say. His experiment is eye-opening and his comparisons of the family of the Palesinian murderer and the families of the Israeli murdered are depressingly accurate. Too bad he had to sacrifice himself in order to make his point.

I'm off.

After trying to read and understand various papers and books on various forms of Code Excited Linear Prediction (CELP)speech coding, I've given up for the day. (It's all Greek to me... oh wait, some of the symbols ARE Greek) I'm leaving for Montreal (yet again) tomorrow morning and won't be back till Monday evening, so don't expect any updates until Tuesday. However I will leave you with this bit which should tell you just how far we've come in the past 17 years:

One of the papers I was reading was written in 1985 and explained how processing 1 second of speech took 125 seconds on a Cray-1 computer. In the next few months, the new 3G cellphones (some the size of a deck of cards) will be able to run a more complicated (albeit probably more computationally efficient algorithm) in mere milliseconds. How's that for progress?

P.S. While I'm gone, if anyone could figure out where my archives disappeared to, I'd really appreciate it.

Against the flow

Christopher Johnson of the Midwest Conservative Journal has moved TO blogspot.

Echos of Golda Meir.

Meir once said, "We will have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us." Judging from this MEMRI translation (with David Tell editorializing), that day is far from imminent:

Then there's the May 9, 2002, program on "discipline in the family," featuring one Jasem Al-Mutawah, an "expert on family matters," who patiently describes to his viewers where on her body, how severely, with what weapon, and under what circumstances a man should beat his wife.

And, most harrowing of all, perhaps, especially if you have kids of your own, there is the May 7, 2002 edition of "Muslim Woman Magazine," hosted by Doaa 'Amer, a soft spoken, highly polished anchorlady who might just as well be Joan Lunden or Katie Couric--except that she's wearing a body-length robe. And also that she's a monster. Ms. 'Amer begins as follows:

"Our report today will be a little different, because our guest is a girl, a Muslim girl, but a true Muslim. Allah willing, may our God give us the strength to educate our children the same way, so that the next generation will turn out to be true Muslims who understand that they are Muslims and know who their enemies are. This girl will introduce herself immediately. She is the daughter of my sister in faith and of the artist, Wagdi Al-Arabi. Her name is Basmallah and we will ask her as well."

The camera then begins a low pan downward and to the right as Ms. 'Amer offers a "peace be unto you" welcome to her guest. Who turns out to be . . . a toddler.

Toddler: Allah's mercy and blessing upon you.

'Amer: What's your name?

Toddler: Basmallah.

'Amer: Basmallah, how old are you?

Toddler: Three and a half.

'Amer: Are you a Muslim?

Toddler: Yes.

'Amer: Basmallah, are you familiar with the Jews?

Toddler: Yes.

'Amer: Do you like them?

Toddler: No.

'Amer: Why don't you like them?

Toddler: Because . . .

'Amer: Because they are what?

Toddler: They're apes and pigs.

'Amer: Because they are apes and pigs. Who said they are so?

Toddler: Our God.

'Amer: Where did he say this?

Toddler: In the Koran.

'Amer: Right, he said that about them in the Koran. Okay, Basmallah, what are the Jews doing?

Toddler: The Pepsi company.

'Amer: [Approving laughter.] You also know about the boycott, Basmallah? Did they love our master, Muhammad?

Toddler: No.

'Amer: No. What did the Jews do to him?

Toddler: [Pauses, struggling for the right answer.] The Prophet Muhammad killed someone . . .

'Amer: Obviously, our master Muhammad was strong and could have killed them. All right, you know the traditions about the Jews and what they did to the Prophet Muhammad?

Toddler: [Mumbled assent.]

'Amer: Is there a story you know?

Toddler: Yes, the story about the Jewish woman.

'Amer: The Jewish woman? What did she do to our master, the Prophet Muhammad?

Toddler: The Jewish woman?

'Amer: Yes.

Toddler: There was a Jewish woman who invited the Prophet and his friends. When he asked her, "Did you put poison (in my food)?" she said to him, "Yes." he asked her, "Why did you do this?" and she replied, "If you are a liar you will die and Allah will not protect you; if you speak the truth Allah will protect you."

'Amer: And our God protected the Prophet Muhammad, of course.

Toddler: And he said to his friends, "I will kill this lady."

'Amer: Of course, because she put poison in his food, this Jewess.

Toddler: Oh.

'Amer: [Speaking directly into the camera.] Basmallah, Allah be praised, Basmallah, Allah be praised. May our God bless her. No one could wish Allah could give him a more believing girl than she. May Allah bless her and her father and mother. The next generation of children must be true Muslims. We must educate them now while they are still children so that they will be true Muslims.

Settle down people.

I have never seen so many people get so upset over such a meaningless article. And yet, while ranting against the perceived smear written by a current NC resident (and former Houston resident), these folks respond with some nasty generalizations and ignorant claims of their own.

Plenty of New Yorkers may think their city is the center of the universe, but plenty of Texans think that Texas is God's crowning achievement. And yes, New York's air is far from clean, but Houston's air is the worst in the country, even "besting" LA. And Laurence how was Giuliani asleep on the job when those planes hit the WTC? I didn't know the Logain airport security fell under the domain of the mayor of New York.

Obviously neither city is perfect, but frankly I think you Houstonians could learn something from New Yorkers: they don't give a shit if someone insults their city. Neither should you.

Glenn, we hardly knew ya

Glenn, we hardly knew ya Now that he's officially a Harvard alum, Glenn Kinen is going to hang 'em up. It's a shame really...Glenn was one of those bloggers who could produce some thoughtful writings without taking himself too seriously. He also has good taste in beer, which is always a good thing.

By the way, Glenn, I don't think Joanne Jacobs' comment was all that bizarre - exaggerated, but not bizarre. Think "Soul Man" for homosexuals.

You can go to Mars.

You can go to Mars. No doubt, Glenn Reynolds would appreciate this

Ouch.

No sooner did I move off of blogspot did my new host go down. I hope this isn't a bad omen.

Turning lemons into lemonade

I read this story in today's Boston Metro:

" China. Beijing is enlisting an army of ducks to eat countless locusts engulfing valuable cropland, but the birds with end up in restaurants. The Manasi locust station will unleash 4,000 hungry ducks into fields to munch their way through as many insects as they can. "Ducks are the best way to get rid of locusts because they have such a big appetite," a locust station spokesman said. "After two or three months, they typically weight around 2 kilos and can be sold to markets for roasting."

Mmmm Peking Duck...

Why now?

Why now? If what the government is saying about Jose Padilla/Abdullah al Muhajir is true, why are they only now announcing his arrest now when he was arrested a month ago. Is it because they were hoping to catch his collaborators, or is it because the government is trying to take some heat off of the embattled FBI and CIA.

Welcome!

Welcome! Welcome to my new home. Please update your bookmarks and links accordingly!

Moving time! I broke down

Moving time! I broke down and got my own server and domain name. So please note that this blog will now be published at http://www.meltzner.net/grasshoppa . Please update your bookmarks and links accordingly.

Just a thought.

It occurred to me that we all could use an Eminem remake of "Ice Ice Baby" as a sort of tribute to the man that made it all possible.

Boom.

I have to agree with Jim Henley here. I cannot see Arafat's blustering as a veiled threat of a nuclear attack. It won't take much to ignite a major conflict in the region; imagine if (God forbid) a Palestinian attack killed only (!) a 100 Israelis. Can you imagine what the Israeli reaction would be? Frankly I'd rather not. Then again. I too could be misreading Arafat...perhaps he was warning us about this.

Captain Euro.

This cheesy comic is not only racist but also promotes the usual anti-American stereotypes as well. Check out in the Origins episode where Captain Euro uses the term "polyglot" and the American tourist (accompanied by cheesy country music) says "would they even understand polyglot in Milwaulkee?" This is because, you know, all Midwesterners are illiterate bumpkins.

I would think that this is just a big joke, but it appears to be the real deal. Do European kids actually like this thing? Most kids I know would be ripping this cartoon apart.

Muntz to you.

I can't say I've been following the World Cup too closely, but I cannot help be satisfied with the way things are panning out so far:

1. Saudi Arabia is the first team eliminated from the World Cup tournament after losing to Cameroon 1-0. Ha ha.

2. France is on the verge of elminatrion after tying Uruguay 0-0 (a symptom of why pro-soccer isn't so popular here). Ha ha

3. The US pulled off an upset by defeating 5th ranked Portugal 3-2. Way to go boys!

As far as soccer goes, I really do enjoy playing it, and I used to referee when I was kid, but I just get bored watching it. I can deal with low scoring affairs...after all, low scoring hockey games aren't uncommon. But at least in hockey, there are usually tons of close calls. I can live without the goals if I get to see lots of great saves and near misses. However, from the soccer games I've watched, you just don't see those kinds of things that often. It seem to me that 90% of the action occurs between the 18-yard boxes and it's really quite boring. I know billions of people love watching the game...I'm just not one of them.

American Jihad, again. For some

American Jihad, again. For some reason this site is #2 on Google for searches on "Zayed Yasin." I don't understand why since I don't have a lot about him on here. For those that are interested in more information, check out Glenn Kinen or Matthew Yglesias.

But while I'm on the topic, it's now one day past Harvard Commencement. Did anyone hear Yasin's speech and/or have a transcript. Does anyone have any comments on it?

Dumb and dumber.

Renata brought this up the other day and since I too saw the ad (and the petition) I will comment on it as well. Basically, one time when I was reading the Ha'aretz front page, there was a banner ad at the top calling for Israel to join the EU. Frankly, this has to be one of the most inane ideas I've read since I started blogging.

There are several reasons for Israel not joining the EU. A sacrifice of both economic and diplomatic independence jump out among the others. It's bad enough that the Europeans feel they can dicate how Israel should act towards its Arab enemies; one could only imagine how they would act if Israel were a full EU member.

However, my biggest problem with is petition is because it reminds me of the slightly chubby, fashion challenged high school teenager doing what ever it takes to be accepted by the popular, yet annorexic beautiful people. Let's face it, the EU does not like Israel and would prefer that it never had been created. Why in God's name should Israel want to join a club of nations that question its very right to exist?

Although I am not Israeli, I always understood the Israeli spirit to be defined by a fierce independence. Joining the EU is nothing short of forfeiting Israeli independence for basically nothing. Do yourselves a favor, my Israeli friends, stay far far away from the EU.

First time for everything

Well, it only took about five months, but I finally got my very own anti-Semitic response Too bad the anonymous pussy can't even spell.

By the way, coward, I tracked down your location and I will be informing the elders of Zion so that they can take care of the problem ;)

Actions speak louder than words redux

American Jihad

or

Islamic Jihad

You decide.

How fitting.

N.Z. Bear has a classification of all the bloggers he's permalinked to. Not surprisingly, "Grasshoppa" is classified as an insect. Good job.

Update. It looks like I've evolved into a slithering lizard! I pity the fool that doesn't accept the theory of evolution!

Traffic wars.

Memo to Glenn Reynolds, Andrew Sullivan, the folks at Tapped, and Eric Alterman: No one gives a shit.