Grasshoppa

Happy New Year

I was planning on doing a retrospective, but I just haven't had the time. Instead, I'll just wish everyone a happy new year. I'm off to Montreal (much better than Toronto...) in a few hours until Sunday. Have fun and be safe.

350 Years

2004 is rapidly approaching and it marks the 350th anniversary of the first Jews coming to America. This timeline retells what Jews have been up to in those 350 years. The timeline is courtesy of an organization dedicated to developing a year long set of programs (starting in 9/2004) to comemmorate the anniversay. Perhaps they should start with Jonathan's Arrival Day.

Blame Canada?

The Dept. of Agriculture claims that the infected mad cow found in Washington came from a herd from Alberta, Canada. Canadian officials, as you can imagine, say a more thorough investigation is required.

I sure hope we're right on this one, because last time we blamed Canada (for the summer blackout), it turned out that the problem was in Ohio.

Blinded me with scientists

I'm in the middle of reading Bernard Lewis' The Crisis of Islam and in the section in which he discusses the failure of modernity in the Muslim world, he presents a chart of several countries with their respective number of scientists. Obviously this was to demonstrate the rather low numbers in the Muslim world, but three countries stood out for me:

China

• population: 1.3 billion
  
• scientists: 15,558
  

Switznerland

• population: 7.4 million
  
• scientists: 17,208
  

Israel

• population: 6.5 million
  
• scientists: 17,208
  

The population statistics come from here

Switzerland, with a population equal to 0.57% of that of China has 1700 more research scientists. Israel with a population equal to 0.5% of that of China has only 4000 fewer scientists. For reference, the US with a population of 291 million has 466,221 scientists. No details on how many of those are Chinese ex-pats....

Update. Lewis' figures are from 1987, so I'm guessing that the number of scientists in China has since ballooned.

X-mas with Jews

The problem with living in a heavily Jewish neighborhood (something I am now doing for the first time in my live) is that there's an hour and a half wait for the best Chinese restaurant in town on Christmas. Feh.

Bam

The earthquake that hit Bam, Iran has killed somewhere between 5,000 and 15,000 (depending on which story you read) and is surely a tragedy. Admittedly, when I saw the name of the city, Bam, I had visions of a 50 ft. tall Emerill throwing spices at the city and leveling buildings. But seriously, if you think of how the lost of almost 4000 people on 9/11 affected this country, imagine how the death of more than three times that amount will affect the people of Iran. (True, intentionally murdering thousands has a differernt psychological affect than an act of God or nature or what have you, but the point stands).

It was gratifying to see that Russia, Germany, Poland, France, Italy, the United States were sending help. The Yahoo! article mentions other states. My cyncial side wonders how many of them are members of the Arab league or members of the Organization Islamic Conference.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all my readers who celebrate. I hope you all get the presents of your dreams.

Also, do us Jews a favor tomorrow: stay out of the movie theaters and the Chinese restaurants. Thanks.

Mad Cow

I suppose it was inevitable, but bovine spongiform encephalopathy, aka mad cow disease, his finally reached the US. Not surprisingly, the world has overreacted and suspended all beef exports from the US. Of course the US did the same to Canada over one cow, so I suppose I have little room to complain. However, when I read this, I wanted to scream:

The Holstein cow was sent to the slaughterhouse Dec 9. Because it was unable to move on its own and believed to be at higher risk for illnesses such as BSE, tissue samples were taken after it was slaughtered. Officials did not say precisely why the cow was immobile -- a "downer" animal -- but it could have been the result of disease, old age or injuries. Scientists conducted routine tests for BSE on 20,526 cattle in the fiscal year that ended Sept 30, 2003.

The brain and spinal tissues of the cow, the parts known to be affected by BSE, were diverted to a rendering plant where the tissues were heated and ground up. Murano said that the rendering plant might have turned the infected tissue into chicken feed or processed it for the cosmetics industry. Mad cow disease is not believed to be transmitted through those routes.

There is a small possibility chickens that ate the infected meat could have been slaughtered in turn and ended up as cattle feed -- but the disease has not been shown to be transmissible in this manner, said W. Ron DeHaven, deputy administrator and chief veterinary officer at the USDA.

Meat from the rest of the infected cow was sent to a deboning plant called Midway Meat and then to two processing facilities, Willamette and Interstate Meat, the USDA officials said.

The first positive test for the infection arrived Monday, DeHaven said, and confirmatory tests were conducted ahead of yesterday's announcement.

(Bold emphasis mine)

So in otherwords, a cow was noticed to be sick, and it was slaughtered. The tissue was sent out for tests, but its parts were harvested and put into both the human and animal food supple before those test results came back. How is this not idiotic?

If the US authorities are so worried about kamikaze airline pilots, then might I suggest thoroughly investigating the pilots of the following airlines:

1. Saudi Arabian Airlines
2. Pakistan International Airlines
3. EgyptAir

Those airlines, however, only have destinations on the east coast. LA and Vegas are also potential targets, and I suppose that is why attention is being paid to flights arriving from Mexico

Another roadside bomb

3 more US soldiers were killed in Iraq by yet another roadside bomb. While capturing Saddam is all well and good, I think we'd get better results if we figured out how to prevent roadside bombings.

Ref-useless

The Israeli "refusniks", the most famous of which are now the 13 reservists of the vaunted Sayeret Matkal, are the darlings of the "peace camp" and Palestinian apologists everywhere are targets of derision from both prominent Israelis and everyday Israelis alike.

Although one might salute these refusniks for having the courage to stand up for what they believe, I think their actions only hurt their cause. I was going to elaborate on this, but Imshin more or less said what I was going to say. In short, by refusing to serve, these people have lost their most effective means of changing Israeli policy: doing it from the inside.

Kettle calling

I don't support France's proposed ban of head scarves and other obvious religious accoutrements in school, but Iran, of all countries, calling it "extremist" is the height of hypocrisy.

Happy Hannukah

Ok, so I'm a bit late, but hey the holiday is still going, so Happy Hannukah to my Jewish readers.

Jacko X

Michael Jackson has reportedly joined the Nation of Islam. Rumor has it that he plans to help revive Louis Farrakhan's Calypso career.

Funny, I didn't know the NOI accepted white guys.

What did you expect?

I suppose it would be rather petty of me to say "Ha Ha" to Belgium for this stroke of genius:

Belgian police arrested a gang of local gangsters suspected of committing armed robberies and using explosives to open vaults. One of the men arrested is Khalid Al. N., a Palestinian bomb-maker, who was deported to Belgium in May 2002, after a five-week siege of armed Palestinians in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Obviously the oppression of the Belgian government forced Khalid to lead a life of crime.

(via Israellycool.)

Selectively incompetent

I think people need to remember that the same folks they accuse (or playfully suggest) of pulling off super clandestine capers, are the same folks that couldn't prevent half of the new Iraqi army from deserting.

Mixed bag

So far, it's been a good news, bad news day in Iraq, and since the bad news is the murder of 17 Iraqis by a bus bomb, the bad probably outweighs the good.

Here's a stat that needs to be researched. Since the US ended "major combat operations" who has killed more Iraqis, the US, or Iraqi (and foreign) terrorists?

More than meets the eye

Who knew that Optimus Prime was Jewish? That devious little Autobot! Of course, we can now expect the Transformers to follow in the path of Pokemon , being banned for being part of a Zionist conpsiracy.

A Zebra doesn't change his stripes

I'm always amused by those who think that Christopher Hitchens is the best thing since non-drip Chanukah candles, only to realize that he's still a dyed in the wool anti-Zionist.

Tragically unhip

Maybe it's just me, but I really find seeking validation of one's hipness through one's cell phone to be rather... unhip.

They bagged dad.

And thus we have finally come to the ignoble end of the Butcher of Baghdad. After having supposedly killed in a couple of air strikes, we were neither shocked nor awed to learn that he was found hiding underground with his fellow rodents. It was surely good news for the American military: capturing a wanted leader is always a symbolic victory and hopefully, his capture will sap the motivation of at least some of the Iraqi insurgents. Then again, maybe not. And if you ask the wife of eternal pessimist*, Juan Cole, things will only get worse.

I suppose it’s a great day for the Iraqi people, (well not these idiots given the celebrations in the street, even by those who aren’t familiar with the concept of gravity. At this point, I only care about the welfare of the Iraqis only in that theoretically, happy Iraqis means less dead Americans. I find it hard to care about the welfare of a population, a large percentage of which would happy to put a bullet in my head and then piss on my grave.

Now for the aftermath:

• The Reaction: As expected, the US and Britain hailed Saddam’s capture as a great victory, and hey, even Gerhard Schröder and Jacques Chirac had a good thing to say. (As an aside, I also saw French foreign minister de Villepin on I believe C-SPAN commenting on what a good thing Saddam’s capture was. Ironic coming from the man who refused to say who he wanted to win the Iraq war). Arab leaders were more reserved in their comments, probably because their populations were less than enthusiastic about the news. I guess it must be tough watching your great hero surrendering to the evil Americans without so much as a scuffle. Even the spawn of Saddam put up a fight. The shame is compounded when the boogeyman of the Arab world, Arik Sharon, remains free:

  "It's not Saddam that they should arrest," blurted Aziz al-Shaburi, a 34-year-old government employee, when he saw television images showing an American medic inspecting a bearded Saddam's mouth. "They would have been better to capture (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon, the real war criminal," he said, eliciting applause from other patrons in the Awlad al-Hareth cafe.

  Apparently these folks aren’t aware that Saddam has killed more Arabs than Sharon could in several life times. Admittedly, this isn’t such a great honor (I guess Sharon can join the “Not quite as evil club”) but it does at least provide a little perspective.

  Then of course are the nay-sayers. I can’t say that I’m too surprised. And while I’m on the topic of nay-sayers, let me address the meme getting batted around that the US brought Saddam to power and was solely responsible for his atrocities. Saddam came to power ten years after a coup put the Ba’athists in power. I have yet to read anywhere that the US played a role in this. Yes, the US did support Saddam as a counterweight to Iran, did provide him with some weapons and equipment, and shamefully look the other way when he gassed his own people. But we were not the only country to do so. Remember, the large majority of Iraqi military equipment is Russian and French, and it was France that sold him a nuclear reactor. (Remember Osirak?). But in the end, this point is irrelevant, as it seems to me that if the US did indeed create the mess, then it’s the US’s responsibility to clean it up.

• What to do with Saddam: This is going to be the subject of much debate. Obviously he’s going to be subject to some severe interrogation. I think it would be amusing to let the Mossad handle it, but that’s rather impractical. So far, he denies ever having WMDs but we’ll see if he changes his tune. After that, it’s trial time. If it were up to me, I’d let him rot in a cell until such time an Iraqi constitution is written and approved and a permanent government has been elected. That government can decide what to do with him.

• What’s next? Fixing up and securing Iraq is of course a main priority – the job is far from over. Hopefully Saddam’s surrender will make this job easier. However, let’s not forget whose organization knocked down the Twin Towers – Osama. Thus, the next time we fish someone out of a spider-hole, it had damn well better be Osama.
  

* At first, I thought Jeff Jarvis was being childish for complaining about Juan Cole’s consistent negativity regarding Iraq. After all, the real problem is the situation in Iraq gives him reason to be pessimistic. However, after reading Cole for awhile, I know what bugs me. It’s not the persistent pessimism, it’s that he almost seems to take pleasure at all the problems.

Anti-semitism sale

Yup, that anti-semitism is truly scarcely existing.

I like how it's described as a "hidden message" when "CC hates the Jews" is printed in big blue letters across the top of the page.

Scarcely exists

Dear Dr. Chomsky:

Does anti-Semitism really scarcely exist in the West?

Regards,
Dr. Meltzner

Nothing to see here

You know the fact that the major news outlets barely covered (if at all) the anti-terrorism protest in Baghdad yesterday only lends credence to those who claim that the media has an anti-American agenda when it comes to Iraq. Interestingly, several smaller news outlets, did provide some coverage. Of course, they all printed the same article written by a Knight-Ridder reporter.

Bombing ourselves

I suppose that it's not surprising that crime transcends politics.

Jews: our own worst enemies.

None for you.

In principle, I have no problem with the decision to exclude companies from countries that actively opposed the war in Iraq. (Actually, while Canada was...unhelpful, I didn't think her level intransigence reached that of the other countries on the list) After all, as these countries liked to remind us, ye reap what ye sow. And if the EU can use politics to make an economic point (c.f. threatened targeted sanctions in response to the steel tariff), then the US can use economics to make a political point. Besides, the potential to split EU opinion on this issue (since companies from the UK, Spain and Italy are allowed to bid) alone makes this decision worth it.

However, from a practical point of view, this probably could be handled better. The Iraq reconstruction contracts could have made a fine carrot for some backroom deals with these countries, perhaps to entice them to lend a hand, either in manpower or financially in Iraq, or at the very least, to keep their mouths shut in the UN. Besides, instead of announcing a ban, those Pentagon officials in charge of doling out the contracts could have been reminded which countries were helpful and which were not.

But more importantly, whether we like it or not, we need these countries for other things including helping out in Afghanistan (remember that place?) and lending a hand in the War on Terror (TM). It would be nice if the Bush administration could walk the fine line between being firm and being spiteful (I think they call that diplomacy), but as we all know, finesse isn't exactly one of the administration's fortes.

The cleverest President

Jews for Bush? I'm not so sure either:

A private airplane was about to crash, and there were 5 famous passengers on board -- but only 4 parachutes! The first passenger said, "I'm Kobe Bryant, the best NBA player ever. The Lakers need me desperately! I'm not going to die..." So he took the 1st pack and left the plane. The second passenger, Hillary Clinton, said, "I'm the wife of the former President of the U.S. and also the most ambitious woman in the world. I'm also a US Senator & a potential future President!" She took the 2nd parachute and jumped out of the plane. The 3rd passenger, George W. Bush, said, "I'm President of the United States of America. I have a great responsibility as the leader of a superpower nation and, above all, I'm the very cleverest President in American history. America's people won't let me die!" So he grabbed the pack next to him and jumped out of the plane. The 4th passenger, the Pope, said to the 5th passenger, the Lubavitcher Rebbe,"I am old and frail, and I don't have many years left. As a Catholic, I will sacrifice my life and let you have the last parachute." The Rebbe replied, "Don't be silly, it's okay. There's a parachute left for you too. America's cleverest President has just jumped out with my Tallis."

Friedman Follies

Reading Tom Friedman's NY Times columns can give you the impression that he's bipolar. One day he'll provide some insightful analysis of the Mideast and another he'll dash off some collection of ridiculous ideas that must have been written by someone living in a bizarro world.

Apparently, it was bizarro Tom Friedman that showed up at a recent Israel Policy Forum event:

I run over to the stage to catch Tom Friedman for that question-and-answer he promised I'd get after his speech. Harvey Schwartz, a Manhattan lawyer, greets Friedman and with a smile on his face tells him he learned two things from Friedman that night: That the columnist, "Supports drilling in ANWR," and is, "willing to sacrifice Israel on the altar of Iraq."

Friedman yells "F**k you," hits the guy with his right hand, and then shoves him into a small crowd of people with their backs turned. Schwartz has a good foot and 100 pounds on the diminutive Friedman, but he went about three feet backwards from Friedman's push.

Touchy touchy, Tom.

Actually, while that section is probably the most entertaining, the part is the most disturbing:

Cornering Beilin and Rabbo is pretty easy. I ask them what their agreement contains that will ensure Israeli security, and the answer is, pretty much, "bubkes." On the question of whether their agreement addresses the question of a Palestinian right of return, they're similarly lacking in answers.

Granted, Beilin and Rabbo's answers are filtered through the perspective of Stephen Weiss, but if indeed the Geneva Accord does not truly address those two questions, then what is the point?

Bloodthirsssy Hobbitsses

Yes, yes, that's what I am:

Congratulations! You're Merry!


Which Lord of the Rings character and personality problem are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

"Israeli Arabs"

If you ever need to be reminded of the Independent's view of Israel, you only need take a glance at their reporting on the winner of the Israeli version of Big Brother. The winner is consistantly referred to as a Palestinian, while "Israeli Arab" is placed in scare quotes, as if such a thing couldn't possibly exist.

So where are they?

From the Telegraph:

In an exclusive interview with the Telegraph, Col al-Dabbagh said that he believed he was the source of the British Government's controversial claim, published in September last year in the intelligence dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, that Saddam could launch WMD within 45 minutes.

If true, then where in the world are the Weapons of Mass Destruction? Three possibilities:

1. As al-Dabbagh claims, they've been hidden in Iraq by the Saddam Fedayeen.

2. They were smuggled out of the country, possibly to Syria or maybe even to Saudi Arabia.

3. Al-Dabbagh is full of shit.
   

I'm voting for #3. Of course I hope I'm wrong and it would surely help our cause if we do find these weapons. It might also help remove the doubts that cloud American claims about North Korea.

Iraq on the Jordan

The tactics the US military is begining to use in Iraq are starting to resemble those used by the IDF, and frankly I don't think this is a good thing. To be fair, I don't have a better suggestion to combat the guerillas and terrorists in Iraq, but ostensibly, we're supposed to be "winning the hearts and minds" of the local populace, a goal not shared by the IDF.

Of course this doozy of a quote is going to get plenty of mileage:

"You have to understand the Arab mind," Capt. Todd Brown, a company commander with the Fourth Infantry Division, said as he stood outside the gates of Abu Hishma. "The only thing they understand is force — force, pride and saving face."

I think that anyone who doesn't believe that pride and saving face (and honor) are important in Arab culture is naive, but these military officers ought to be mindful of their tongues.

Making a list

I see that indymedia is taking a page out of Eric Alterman's playbook.

PC run amok

In my high school valedictory speech (way back in 1991) I warned about political correctness and how it focusses on words rather than on intent behind them. It would seem that my warning was apt, given the events surrounding circus.

The controversy started during a conversation about controversial sports teams names during a staff meeting at UVA. The "offender",

said something like this: 'I can't believe in this day and age that there's a sports team in our nation's capital named the Redskins. That is as derogatory to Indians as having a team called Niggers would be to blacks.'"

And thus a complaint was filed because the word "Niggers" was used in the sentence. Nevermind the fact that the word was used to illustrate the offensiveness of another word. The mere uttance of the word was offense enough.

The rest of the article retells a series of statements and events that are nothing short of mindboggling, a "Protest Against Racism at U.Va. and the U.Va. Medical Center After a Recent Racial Incident," the national chair of the NAACP calling for an apology and sensitivity training etc.

Academia has truly gone off the deep end.

Pho Palestinian

I'm sorry, but I can't stop from chuckling after visualizing this story.

A tale of two Arabs

It was the best of Arabs, it was the worst of Arabs.

I pray that the identity of the Palestinian who alerted the IDF to the roadside bomb is never discovered by Hamas et al. else the next time you read about him will be in his obituary.

Ritual Murder

Diana believes that the digusting murders of two Jews, allegedly by Muslims, do not deserve the appelation "ritual murder." She may have a point about the second murder (of the woman) but I must disagree with the first. According to the first victim's mother, the murderer said, “I have killed my Jew. I will go to heaven,” suggesting there was a religious basis for the deed, thus making it a ritual murder. Now while there is no concept of ritual murder in Islam, if the mother's account is true, then this particular Muslim believed otherwise; this murder was his ticket to heaven. Sounds like a ritual to me.

By the way, I'm assuming this sentence:

"With the woman...sex crimes are all too rare. ">

is the result of a momentary mental lapse. I assume she meant "all too common" which is true, but in this case there was apparently no evidence of sexual assault.

The trip

Yes, I'm behind the times only commenting now on Bush's lightning quick Baghdad visit but I generally don't blog much on Holidays. What I find most intersting about the trip is how it's become a Rorshach test for the blogosphere. Those who support Bush feel it was an excellent move, while those who hold Bush in contempt not surprisingly find the trip contemptuous as well. I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but I find it rather pathetic for a blogger who continues to blog under the safety of internet anonymity to call Bush a "chickenshit" for only staying in a war zone for two hours. I guess those "Bush fedayeen" are far more lethal than their Saddam counterparts.

But I digress. As far as I'm concerned, the trip was a brilliant political move and maybe brightened the day of a few of the troops. But make no mistake, it hasn't changed my opinion of the administration: only positive results in Iraq will do that.

Goodbye Guardian

I'm all for a Guardian columnist telling her employers to take their anti-semitism and shove it, but the "Judeophiles are smarter and prettier" line strikes me as rather childish.