Every once in a while when my six year old daughter gets angry, she asks me - "Who made you the boss of me?"  I just figured that's something she made up becuase it's not exactly the best way to my ears of phrasing the question and it's kind of cute.  (The answer of course is either "G-d" or Bill Cosby's "I brought you into this world and I can take you out").

Then I heard a replay this morning of Katie Couric asking Condaleeza Rice on last week's 60 Minutes, "To quote my daughter, 'Who made us the boss of them?'"

OK, so now I'm thinking not only is my daughter not the only one, but it's a thing that kids all over the country are saying.  But why?  Is their a popular movie or TV show that has that as some kind of catchphrase.  I asked my daughter and she gave me this "You're weird sometimes daddy" look.

Then I went to the internet and found another example from a Washington DC reporter participating in a roundtable discussion.

MS. CHAVEZ: And as my kids used to say, who made you the boss of me?

If anyone has any clue as to where this phrase comes from, I would greatly appreciate it if you could tell me in the

By the way, Rice's response to Courics question was, "Well, it's not the matter of being the boss of them. It's speaking for people who are voiceless".

When is it right to kill civilians in war? What does Jewish law and history dictate? What if saving civilians means risking your own life? Read Purity of Arms in The Jerusalem Post.

"What is written in the IDF code of ethics or what the rabbis say I should do is the last thing on my mind when in combat. The ideals instilled in me by my parents and the person I am today is what determines how I will react under pressure.

"Everything else is just a bunch of armchair moralizing."

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I have to say, I'm appalled by the treatment this story got over at Little Green Footballs. Apparently several passengers on a holidya layover in Europe demanded that a passenger with a beard show them the contents of his carry on luggage to prove he didn't have a bomb. LGF defends these arrogant SOBs. Regardless of what your stance is on racial profiling by security officials, no one has the right to demand that another passenger show them their personal items, even if they have a gun sticking out of their jacket pocket. If you don't like the looks of someone, get on another plane, don't play paranoid hero cop. Disgusting.

I understand that the comments section at LGF is full of hatred and stupidity, but until someone provides a more comprehensive log of global anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and pro-Islamist activities, that's going to be my source of information on the subject. Charles Johnson may provide snarky commentary, but there is nothing he writes that isn't linked to an actual news story, mostly taken from the mainstream media.
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Speaking of LGF, here's the type of article that they link to that I think it's important to be aware of. Remember, these are not terrorists, just working-class Muslims trying to live according to their faith, while politely (I imagine) refusing service to non-believers.

Got wine at the airport? It's harder to grab a cab

Buzek, the flight attendant, said she was refused service in March after she told a driver to be careful with her suitcase because it had wine in it. Other drivers in the taxi line passed the word, she said, and four more refused her service.

"What's going to be next? ... Do I have to cover my head?"

No Ms. Buzek, you'll just have to wait for a driver who is willing to except degenerate infidels like yourself.

Remember the movie "Not Without My Daughter" where Sally Field played an American who worked desperately to take her daughter away from her lying husband and out of Iran?  She was the hero, if I remember correctly.  Unfortunately, when an Israeli Jew finds themselves in the same situation, they become a villian.

Jewish Group Snatches Girl in West Bank Raid

Members of a Jewish group this week snatched a 6-year-old girl who was born to a Jewish mother but lived with her Palestinian father in the West Bank.

Sounds pretty evil and unfair, right?  More Israeli oppression of Palestinians, right?  Let's dig a little deeper....

The mother told Yad L'achim that her husband had pretended to be a French-American Jew, the organization said. She said she hadn't known that her husband was already married and that after their wedding, she wasn't allowed to leave the house.

Yad L'achim said the woman had left her husband and taken her daughter to live in the Israeli city of Ashdod in June this year, but that her husband had subsequently come and taken the daughter back with him to Tulkarm.

Shouldn't the headline have been "Kidnapped Jewish Girl Returned Safely to Mother"?

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I have an exit strategy for Iraq - take all our troops out and send them to Darfur.  The Iraqis should have been ready to take over their own country awhile ago and who can argue about the greater humanitarian need in Darfur?  No cut and run, just a redeployment to more pressing, morally defensible needs.

We'd still be f*cked in the long run, but it would look like a huge change in policy for Bush.

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Good riddance - Billionaire liberal financier George Soros, who spent millions of his fortune trying to oust President Bush in 2004, yesterday said he hopes to stay out of politics from now on.

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"We did not fight back in the same way that the British fought the IRA or the Spanish government fought the Basques here. Terrorism is a manageable action. It can be lived with." - Oliver Stone.  I hope I don't have to explain why provincial organizations like the IRA and ETA are not al-Qaeda.

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The first two episodes of Studio 60 dealt with the courage that the show's prodcuers needed to broadcast a comedy skit called "Crazy Christians". Oooh how dangerous and cutting edge....and how '80s!  How about fictionalizing the reaction to a skit called "Those Crazy Muslims". 

Sony's electronic book hails new dawn for reading $350 bucks plus $8-10 for individual books. I think if this came down to the $150-200 price point and all newly published books would be available, I might consider it.



Here's a comment that doesn't affect me, but could be truly revolutionary for students of all ages - "As a student, I can't wait until I can get all of my textbooks electronically. It shoud save on space, weight, and price." I'm not sure how a student would permanently highlight key information, but I'm sure they'll think of that next.

I love the idea of the machine. I also like the idea that no one has to know what it is I'm reading - bad for advertsing through people seeing an author's book cover all over the place though. I can't imagine living in a world where I wouldn't have a room with bookcases full of things I've read though.

Personally speaking, I'd love to get a system where I could get Jewish prayers and stuff on it. Not being orthodox, I am terrified of opening up a Hebrew book in public places - especially planes, both because of the funny looks I'd get in general and maybe, just maybe I'd like to pray where I'm not comfortable wearing a yarmulke.

Another question is - when do physical libraries as we currently know them become obsolete? Anyone want to hazard a guess? 2012? 2020? MMy local library just put installed a few terminals for computerized checkouts without the librarian. Even that leaves me with a somewhat guilty feeling even though I love technology. I guess I just have a general soft spot for people who work in libraries. Don't mind it in the supermarket checkout lines though - not one bit.

Hillary Clinton - "I'm certain that if my husband and his national security team had been shown a classified report entitled `Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside United States,' he would have taken it more seriously than history suggests it was taken by our current president and his national security team," Hillary Clinton said. She was referring to a briefing Bush got a month before Sept. 11.

With the help of Thomas Joscelyn, all right-thinking people call "bullshit" on Mrs. Clinton. He points out that, "The warning signs collected during the Clinton administration are outlined in the bipartisan "Report of the Joint Inquiry into the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001," which was jointly published by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in December 2002.

The document can be found here. And on page 124 we learn:

A classified document signed by the President in December 1998 read in part: “The Intelligence Community has strong indications that Bin Ladin intends to conduct or sponsor attacks inside the United States”.

Clinton signed it. Now re-read Hillary's statement and laugh at how she's been fooled again by her husband.

Regardless, I still agree with Rudy Giuliani's comments that it's time to focus on the future and stop playing the blame game.

However, after years of defending President Clinton generally in my posts since I've started blogging, I think his overreactions and lies on the Chris Wallace interview on Fox News Sunday are nothing short of reprehensible and I've lost whatever respect I've had for him. To claim that Republicans or Fox News put Wallace up to a "hit job" on the former president is ridiculous.

Just in case you think Fox News in general and Chris Wallace in particular don't ask tough questions of the Bush Adminsitration - here's a sampling of questions put to Condi Rice on 9/12, two weeks before the Clinton interview.

Now we've got Shiites fighting Sunnis, Muqtada al-Sadr — these are rivalries that go back centuries, tribal rivalries, religious rivalries. Aren't we involved in a terrible case of mission creep here that has nothing to do with the war on terror?

Secretary Rice, why didn't we finish the job in Afghanistan?

I'm sure a lot of Americans are saying, isn't it a — we had them on the run. We had the Taliban completely disrupted. Isn't it a failure to have allowed the Taliban to regroup?

Didn't you and the president ignore intelligence that contradicted your case?

She could take all that without going apesh*t on the interviewer - maybe she should be the next President.

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Now for some comic relief:

"Just when you think you have seen everything in this business," he tells us, "mankind has raised the bar another notch. Or lowered it." Former TV geek Dustin "Screech" Diamond stars in a 40-minute video in which he engages in a kinky three-way with two women, sources tell us. We can't get too graphic here, but word is that the action includes some bodily functions and an act known as a "Dirty Sanchez."

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Just curious - One of the biggest complaints about the way that the Bush administration has treated enemy combatants is, in the words of today's NY Times editorial, that "all Mr. Bush would have to do to lock anyone up forever is to declare him an illegal combatant and not have a trial.".

Now, I'm no fan of locking up innocent people without a trial, but if these "arrests" are made by Presidential fiat, doesn't it stand to reason that as soon as another President is elected these same people can be freed immediately? Hell, even Anatoly (Natan) Scharansky and Nelson Mandela weren't locked up "forever". How about a little less hysteria? I'll bet that our highly respected legal system has locked up more innocent people for crimes they didn't commit than the War on Terror ever will.

I've got one more week of vacation in 2006 than my wife does and I'm trying to think of what to do with it. I want to go to Israel, but she said she'd divorce me before she lets me go there alone (for safety reasons). So now I'm trying to think of maybe a way to volunteer for some sort of Jewish-related community service, or find someplace where I could study for a week. A quick search online brings up a lot of opportunities for post-graduate programs, but little for old farts like me.

I stumbled onto what looks like an interesting recipe for a yummy sounding Quinoa Salad which I'll prepare for break-the-fast after Yom Kippur.

I thought the first episode of NBC's new show, Heroes, was spectacular - aside from the scenes filmed in very fake New York alleyways. Between that and Studio 60, monday nights have become MustSeeTV. I agree with my bro-in-law that this week's episode was much better than the first.

Kazakhstan goes on an ad spending spree to counter the fact that Borat has come to symbolize their country.



Justice, justice, justice you shall pursue - Jewish settler jailed for killing Palestinians. Just remember, it's news because this type of killing is so rare, not because of the conviction.

Thank Heaven for 7-11! 7-Eleven dropping Citgo gas. Citgo is owned by Venezuela's state oil company which of course is managed by the terrorist's best friend in the Americas Hugo Chavez.

Gas has broken into the $1.90s about 5 minutes from my house. Closer by stations are around $2.08.

I hope I never stray so far from my middle-class roots that I can't enjoy an all-the-mass-produced-food-you-can-eat dinner at the Golden Corral like I did with the family last night. Yum.

I've got one more week of vacation in 2006 than my wife does and I'm trying to think of what to do with it. I want to go to Israel, but she said she'd divorce me before she lets me go there alone (for safety reasons). So now I'm trying to think of maybe a way to volunteer for some sort of Jewish-related community service, or find someplace where I could study for a week. A quick search online brings up a lot of opportunities for post-graduate programs, but little for old farts like me.

I stumbled onto what looks like an interesting recipe for a yummy sounding Quinoa Salad which I'll prepare for break-the-fast after Yom Kippur.

I thought the first episode of NBC's new show, Heroes, was spectacular - aside from the scenes filmed in very fake New York alleyways. Between that and Studio 60, monday nights have become MustSeeTV. I agree with zarq that this week's episode was much better than the first.

Kazakhstan goes on an ad spending spree to counter the fact that Borat has come to symbolize their country.



Justice, justice, justice you shall pursue - Jewish settler jailed for killing Palestinians. Just remember, it's news because this type of killing is so rare, not because of the conviction.

Thank Heaven for 7-11! 7-Eleven dropping Citgo gas. Citgo is owned by Venezuela's state oil company which of course is managed by the terrorist's best friend in the Americas Hugo Chavez.

Gas has broken into the $1.90s about 5 minutes from my house. Closer by stations are around $2.08.

I hope I never stray so far from my middle-class roots that I can't enjoy an all-the-mass-produced-food-you-can-eat dinner at the Golden Corral like I did with the family last night. Yum.

I've got one more week of vacation in 2006 than my wife does and I'm trying to think of what to do with it. I want to go to Israel, but she said she'd divorce me before she lets me go there alone (for safety reasons). So now I'm trying to think of maybe a way to volunteer for some sort of Jewish-related community service, or find someplace where I could study for a week. A quick search online brings up a lot of opportunities for post-graduate programs, but little for old farts like me.

I stumbled onto what looks like an interesting recipe for a yummy sounding Quinoa Salad which I'll prepare for break-the-fast after Yom Kippur.

I thought the first episode of NBC's new show, Heroes, was spectacular - aside from the scenes filmed in very fake New York alleyways. Between that and Studio 60, monday nights have become MustSeeTV. I agree with zarq that this week's episode was much better than the first.

Kazakhstan goes on an ad spending spree to counter the fact that Borat has come to symbolize their country.



Justice, justice, justice you shall pursue - Jewish settler jailed for killing Palestinians. Just remember, it's news because this type of killing is so rare, not because of the conviction.

Thank Heaven for 7-11! 7-Eleven dropping Citgo gas. Citgo is owned by Venezuela's state oil company which of course is managed by the terrorist's best friend in the Americas Hugo Chavez.

Gas has broken into the $1.90s about 5 minutes from my house. Closer by stations are around $2.08.

I hope I never stray so far from my middle-class roots that I can't enjoy an all-the-mass-produced-food-you-can-eat dinner at the Golden Corral like I did with the family last night. Yum.

Commercial genius - Surely you've seen the VW ads where people are just driving along, talking to their passengers and then they get blindsided by another car in a realistic looking and sounding crash? Recognizing their success, they did another commercial with two women talking about how unrealistic they think the commercials are. Brilliant!

I also love the Burger King commercial where the "King" lays out a St. Louis wide receiver and then offers him a burger. I don't know how they do that computer substitution, but I can't stop watching it. It's the only one I don't fast forward through on my TIVO. Go to this link and click on the movie reel that says "NFL Holt".

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Paul Rieckhoff has an Op-Ed in the NY Times ("Do Unto Your Enemy") which is mostly the usual B.S. about how if it weren't for Abu Ghraib, our terrorist enemies would be building mulit-million dollar, climate controlled holding cells for the American soldiers they capture. What stunnedme though was the simple suggestion he makes in the opening of his piece - “When an enemy fighter knows he’ll be treated well by United States forces if he is captured, he is more likely to give up.”

Now that to me is common sense. Why the Left hasn't pushed this point is beyond me because it speaks to something believable about making our soldiers' lives easier, not that of the other guys.

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The Texas State Fair is coming! Corny dogs on me! Also known as the Fried Food Capital of the World, new foods at the fair this year include Fried Coke, Fried Pancake Sundaes and Wedgees (Frozen chocolate-covered Wisconsin cheesecake-on-a-stick).

After you go, you can visit WeightWatchers or Overeaters Anonymous.

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From the "You've Got To Be Kidding" file. Dozens of Foreign Pilots Training Illegally at US Flight Schools.

Part of me wonders why any terrorists would need to train here anyway - a plane's a plane - isn't it? Another part of me says whoever is doing this deserves some kind of prize just for having the balls to come over here and do it.

Stephen Colbert - 10 Days of Repentance Hotline

Stephen Colbert - 10 Days of Repentance Hotline

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Weird things my rabbi did during Rosh Hashana. One - asked for money on Shabbos (donations to Israel Bonds). Two - told a three year old joke (maybe older?) replacing Saddam Hussein/Iraq with Ahmedinejad/Iran. Granted it was still funny - but is this an appropriate Rosh Hashanah message?

Saddam Hussein phoned President Bush and said, "George, I called you because I had this incredible dream last night. I could see all of America, and it was beautiful and on top of every building, there was a beautiful banner."

President Bush asked, "What was on the banner?"

Saddam responded, "It said Allah is God, and God is Allah."

President Bush said, "You know, Saddam, I'm really glad you called, because last night I had a dream too. I could see all of Baghdad, and it was even more beautiful than before the war. It had been completely rebuilt, and on every building there was also a beautiful banner."

Saddam said, "What was on the banner?"

President Bush replied, "I really don't know. I don't read Hebrew."

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Tomorrow's a minor fast day - The Fast of Gedaliah. Sunrise until the stars comoe out. A good opportunity to lose some of the honey cake calories from the last few days.

On NPR, former President Bill Clinton said that we should follow what I'll call the "Dershowitz doctrine" regarding torture - if you're certain that someone has information about an imminent attack against the U.S. you should be able to "beat it out of somebody or put a drug in their body to talk it out of them" on a case by case basis with a court approval. He also suggests that he can't imagine anyone in the world would be for jailing the interrogators.

I always knew he was an OK guy, but I'm beginning to doubt if he actually attended the last Democrat National Convention. I'd love to get him back in office, because I think he really wants to give someone an ass-kicking to make up for any criticism against his administration for not doing enough against terrorism. Bill, I feel your pain. C'mon, let's all give the man another chance.

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I had been thinking for awhile about putting up daily examples of how Democrats/Liberals are becoming more anti-Israel and or anti-Semitic. This was way before George Allen was called out as a secret Jew the other day putting him in a "how often to do beat your wife" moment.

I really don't have to do this however, as long as others are willing to do the legwork for me. Ed Lasky at The American Thinker has a very long piece detailing the increasing hostility of the Left in general and Democrats in particular towards Jewish interests. I know a lot of Jews aren't single issue voters with regards to Israel, and perhaps they can't stand Republicans and their positions on, well, everything else. It's almost a stereotype that the Jewish liberal would rather save someone else before saving themselves (see the ACLU defending neo-Nazi rights, etc.) There's a famous saying that I have revamped for today's times for my Democrat friends:

First they became political allies with anti-Semites, but I did not care because they weren't so many
Then they ran the Jewish candidates out of office, but I did not care because non-Jews also support what I care out
Then they supported the Arab terorrists against Israel, but I was not Israeli
Then they told me they don't really want or need me in their party and I became disenfranchised and lost my voice

I could probably have done better, but I have to get back to work.

Copied shamelessly out of The Borowitz Report. I've highlighted my favorite line.

Lewinsky Mulls '08 Run

Former White House Intern Offers Self as Alternative to Hillary

In a development that could drastically alter the playing field of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky confirmed today that she was considering making a bid for the Democratic nod in 2008.

According to those familiar with her political plans, Ms. Lewinsky plans to offer herself as an alternative to the presumptive frontrunner in the race, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York).

Rumors of Ms. Lewinsky's intentions spread like wildfire this week when the erstwhile intern made a series of stops in New Hampshire, location of the nation's first presidential primary.

Wearing a midnight blue cocktail dress, Ms. Lewinsky drew large crowds across the state, suggesting that she could be a real threat to Ms. Clinton in a head-to-head race.

"Voters are worn out from George Bush, Iraq and the war on terror," said Democratic voter Jayson Tenzer, who attended one of Ms. Lewinsky's New Hampshire rallies. "Monica Lewinsky means good times."

According to Professor Davis Logsdon of the political science department at the University of Minnesota, offering herself as an alternative to Sen. Clinton could be a successful strategy for Ms. Lewinsky: "It's worked before."

And while some Democratic insiders worry that Ms. Lewinsky lacks the political know-how to be President of the United States, Professor Logsdon does not share those concerns: "Monica Lewinsky has actually had more experience in the Oval Office than Hillary Clinton has."

Elsewhere, one day after President Hugo Chavez appeared at the United Nations and called him "Satan," President Bush said, "I think he has me mixed up with Cheney."

There's just so much hate and craziness out there on the political scene - I just want to say I'm sick and tired of it - from everybody.

That being said, Rosh Hashana starts tomorrow night, so I just want to wish everyone Shana Tova 5767!

I made a chocolate chip honey cake from Faye Levy's 1000 Jewish Recipes - came out a little inflated on top with a dip in the center, but I still think it will taste good - can't wait for lunch on Saturday to try it.

Tomorrow evening for the first night of Rosh Hashana, my synagogue is having a "family service" which means a lot of kids running around and a story time during the service. This is aside from the fact that this "evening" service will take place at 6:30, in broad daylight so that people won't get too hungry, heaven forfend they should be inconvenienced. Maybe I'm being selfish, and not just old-fashioned, but at such an important time of the year spiritually, I want to daven (pray) according to tradition and be put in the proper frame of mind for serious reflection, not chase after my kids and watch the rabbi tell cute stories. That's what I pay a ridiculous amount of money for my children's Jewish Day School teachers to do and what I, and everybody else, should be doing at home. I'm probably not going to give the usual donation at Yom Kippur appeal - I've got to try another synagogue - I even had a nightmare about it the other night, I swear. I'm just going to sit in the back with my orthodox-style prayer book and hopefully I'll be left alone. I'd feel more guilty if I didn't go to services at all.

I'm really depressed about the whole thing. I'm starting to realize that between the too orthodox and the too liberal, there really may not be any place of worship that everyone in my family will be truly comfortable in, yet I really believe that the only way to truly be happy as a Jew is to be able to join in with the community and participate. Sigh.

Sometime during the last year or so, I discovered this page in a remembrance book for the Jewish people of Grajewo in Poland which was wiped out in the Holocaust. I have finally confirmed last night via the Yad Vashem database that the woman in the picture is my mother's aunt and the children are her cousins. They were taken to the camps and killed two years before my mother was born in the U.S., so needless to say she never knew them. May G-d grant her and everyone else who I may never know everlasting peace. The memorial page regarding her death was left at Yad Vashem by a cousin in Israel in May 2001. Pages were also submitted for her husband and the little girl who was actually 14 when she was murdered. The webpage for the town of Grajewo is here. I wonder if I'll ever have the desire to go there.

Via Gawker, a fascinating "panorama" map of NYC from the 1939 Worlds Fair which shows the neighborhood between Delancey and Houston as "Ghetto".

Oprah can't pump gas - hasn't done it "since 1983". Video here. Go ahead ladies - keep buying her magazine so that maybe one day she'll pick you out of the audience and give you a job to pump her gas for her as I sign that she really knows what it feels like to be you.

Jewish German man escapes the Holocaust, comes to the U.S., and later marries a fellow German escapee. He died several years ago and was buried in the local Jewish cemetary. His widow has recently changed her plans to be buried next to him. Turns out she's an ex-Nazi concentration camp guard and has been deported.

Turns out Virginia Senator George Allen (R) does have a Jewish "background" although he's still not Jewish. So why did it matter in the first place? Is Judaism a religion, or is it in the blood? Discuss.

I watched Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip last night. It's hard not to enjoy the quick, witty banter and sarcasm that everyone in Aaron Sorkin's world seems to be capable of. I guess the things that bothered me most were Amanda Peet's character and the usual underlying liberal philosophy.



Perhaps it's psycho-sexual, but there's something that really annoys me about a young, (supposedly) attractive woman who is given power despite (or perhaps because of) her ability to manipulate people. I assume she's supposed to be a hero based on her relationship with her a**hole boss and her can-do attitude. I can't tell, but if she is, it's going to annoy the hell out of me.

As to the liberal philosophy, I don't mind the digs against Pat Robertson which he so richly deserves, but the idea that the heroes of the show need to be drug-addicted party guys and the best way to be funny is to make fun of Christians, bothers me. The fact that the response to the crack about faithful Christians being one step away from the KKK is a violent slap in the face instead of a witty comeback shows me that Sorkin has a sudden lack of imagination in defending those he dosen't agree with. What happened to the witty banter?

If they really wanted to promote a skit as outrageous, perhaps they could have made fun of the Nation of Islam or illegal immigrants. It should be noted that I've got no problem with humor that offends conservatives, which can be seen by the SNL video I posted yesterday.

All that being said - it's a cast I love to watch - except for Amanda Peet. Hooray for Timothy Busfield!

SNL TV Funhouse - imagined Saddam and Osama - Superheroes cartoon show video. Just goes to show that the best comedy is offensive to everyone.

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Keith Olberman's latest anti-Bush rant is a hit in the "reality-based" community.

"If there's any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it's flawed
logic," Bush said. "It's just -- I simply can't accept that. It's unacceptable to think that there's any kind of comparison between the
behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective....

In four simple words last Friday, the President brought into sharp focus what has been only vaguely clear these past five-and-a-half years - the
way the terrain at night is perceptible only during an angry flash of lightning, and then, a second later, all again is dark.

"It's unacceptable to think," he said.

It is never unacceptable to think.

And when a President says thinking is unacceptable, even on one topic, even in the heat of the moment, even in the turning of a phrase
extracted from its context, he takes us toward a new and fearful path -- one heretofore the realm of science fiction authors and apocalyptic
visionaries.

That flash of lightning freezes at the distant horizon, and we can just make out a world in which authority can actually suggest it has become
unacceptable to think.

Thus the lightning flash reveals not merely a President we have already seen, the one who believes he has a monopoly on current truth.

And a response:

Olbermann took an awkwardly worded, off-the-cuff remark by Bush at his Friday press conference, which was more likely intended to mean that it was "ridiculous to claim" a comparison between America and terrorists, and blew it out of proportion as if the comment were an attack on the right to think, and therefore a grave threat to democracy.

Hint to the libs - it's been almost 6 years now and I haven't seen any newspapers or TV networks shut down and I don't know of very many Americans being held as prisoners of conscience. Cut the hysterical crap and get serious if you want even a chance to get control of Congress. Even I would suggest that this country is better off with a divided governement, but you're ruining any chance we've got.

President Bush may not have a monopoly on truth, but he does have a monopoly on the Presidency. He's the decider, after all.

Just picking through Daily Kos for fun. I have to say that I agree with this analysis on Pakistan. I have no idea what the hell is going on over there, but I'm hoping we have some sort of secret plan to give the Taliban and al-Qaeda a safe haven so that we can then get them all in one place and get them all at once.

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I also found a link from someone else's LJ to an article in the Washington Post which states, '"The Bush administration's faith-based initiative is reaching only a tiny percentage of the nation's black churches".
Of course, there is no comparison as to what percentage of "non-black" churches apply and recieve grants, but that would have shed more light on the topic. The funny thing is that the main body of the article actually focuses on other findings related to the program that might come as a shock to the liberal person who posted it (which is why I'm not linking to them directly) - I don't weant them to feel I'm using their link to point out something that contradicts their point of view.

Black churches in the Northeast and those with self-identified progressive congregations and liberal theologies were most likely to be taking part in the program, a finding that surprised the researchers, who concluded that the White House has not used the program as a political tool as some critics have suspected.

Despite instances of grants going to political and ideological supporters of President Bush, the survey found that, overall, liberal-leaning churches were more likely to apply for and receive the grants, even though they tend to view the program more skeptically than their conservative counterparts do.

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Let's Go Mets!

The Wall Street Journal pointed out this bit of idiocy from Scott "Dilbert" Adam's blog.

My favorite story of the week is about Pope Benedict inadvertently insulting Islam in a speech. He quoted a Byzantine emperor who called Islam “evil and inhuman” but made it clear that it wasn’t his own opinion.

In response to being labeled evil and inhuman by a dead Byzantine emperor, a group of Muslims did what anyone would do in that situation: They firebombed two churches in the West Bank.

This is funny on so many levels that I hardly know where to start. But let me begin by saying WHAT THE HELL ARE CHURCHES DOING IN THE WEST BANK?????????

There wasn’t much detail in the article I read, but I’m assuming those churches were made of straw and had bulls eyes painted on the steeples. I don’t even think the Crocodile Hunter would have attended services in one of those churches. I can imagine the conversation today between the guy who recommended building churches in the epicenter of religious violence and the people who told him it was a bad idea. If he’s smart – probably for the first time – he’s blaming God. “He is testing us.”

Gee, churches in the place where Jesus was born? Who thought of that! Perhaps the more intriguing question would be why are there so many mosques in the West Bank and how did they get there?

Which is more out of place - the reporter's question or the candidate's response?

The Senator's Gentile Rebuke

At a debate in Tysons Corner yesterday between Republican Allen and Democrat Webb, WUSA-TV's Peggy Fox asked Allen, the tobacco-chewing, cowboy-boot-wearing son of a pro football coach, if his Tunisian-born mother has Jewish blood.

"It has been reported," said Fox, that "your grandfather Felix, whom you were given your middle name for, was Jewish. Could you please tell us whether your forebears include Jews and, if so, at which point Jewish identity might have ended?"

Allen recoiled as if he had been struck. His supporters in the audience booed and hissed. "To be getting into what religion my mother is, I don't think is relevant," Allen said, furiously. "Why is that relevant -- my religion, Jim's religion or the religious beliefs of anyone out there?"

"Honesty, that's all," questioner Fox answered, looking a bit frightened.

The NY Times is caught in a game of verbal acrobatics in order to triangulate between it's desire for truth and it's desire not to insult you-know-which other religion. The wording below appeared on the Times' home page as shown below.

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Many Muslims Say Pope’s Apology Is Inadequate
By IAN FISHER 30 minutes ago

The pope had only said he was “sorry” for the “reaction” to a speech discussing Islam last week, noted some Muslims.

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Well - Is it "many" or "some"?

You Are a "Don't Tread On Me" Libertarian

You distrust the government, are fiercely independent, and don't belong in either party. Religion and politics should never mix, in your opinion... and you feel opressed by both. You don't want the government to cramp your self made style. Or anyone else's for that matter. You're proud to say that you're pro-choice on absolutely everything!

What's Your Political Persuasion?

The Times has their weekly magazine cover piece up - The Battle for Guantanamo. It's not very interesting other than it shows someone's point of view of what goes on down in the camp. The moral of the story for me seems to be that the more freedom you give the detainees, the worse things get, but I'm sure others will see it differently.

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My dad is sure that the Bushies are the ones behind falling gas prices so that his poll numbers can go up. There's got to be a Krugman article out there somewhere blaming Bush for the rise in prices along with some kind of Friedman doomsday scenario about how we'll be suffering for years due to India and China's insatiable demand, but I imagine those of you willing to pay for Times Direct can find them.

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I think I'm going to plunge into the HDTV market around the "holidays" assuming that prices will come down even further. Here's some buying guides in case anyone else is thinking the same. I'll probably just get them for the small rooms where we tend to do our evening DVD watching since the girls monopolize the family room TV. I don't know that we need to see Elmo that clearly.

Ultimate HDTV buying guide - CNET
Ten HDTV myths - PC World
HD Done Right - Best Buy (surprised I couldn't find a similar page easily at Circuit City).
TV Buying Guide - HowStuffWorks

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IN MEMORIAM: ORIANA FALLACI, 1929 - 2006

One of the few people in the European media who actually defended modern Western civiliation against moral equivalence. Ignore the inevitable out-of-context hate quotes you'll read in today's papers and try to understand what she was trying to say and what she has spent her entire life fighting for - defining liberal democracy as right and totalitarianism as wrong, in any form. While the liberal media seems to think "homegrown terorrists" are some sort of recent phenomenon that never would have existed without George Bush, she's been warning us for years. Were it not for her politics, this woman would be a feminist god - in her whole life she never backed down even, even taking up arms when necessary in a time when women weren't supposed to have beliefs of their own.
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I was listening to the BBC last night on my local public radio. The British interviewer seemed flabbergasted that a US official would vigorously defend against accusations that prisoners are regularly beaten for placing their dinner trays in the wrong place, etc.

As I heard a caller to a talk show say the other night - paraphrased - "Guantanamo, what a joke - If you want to know about torture, talk to a concentration camp survivor."

From the NY Times article at the beginning of the post. Over a dinner of fish sticks and fries, they began working out a solution. Not long after, Aamer sat down with the head of the mess hall, the base nutritionist and a logistics officer on the military staff. According to one officer briefed on the meeting, Aamer unfolded a piece of paper on which he had drawn up an elaborate two-week meal plan with daily suggestions for four different diets: a standard menu, a vegetarian menu, a vegetarian-with-fish option and a bland diet for older prisoners and those with intestinal problems. Two officials said Aamer’s proposal eventually became the basis for a new meal plan that raised the amount of food offered to detainees each day from 2,800 calories to 4,200 calories.

Huh?

NY Times - It was particularly ironic that Mr. Chertoff spun this theory while he was fighting off a measure, up for a vote today, that would help protect our ports against the threat that he himself deems most worrisome — a nuclear explosion within our borders — without government spending.

Baltimore Sun - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, testifying before a Senate panel earlier yesterday, urged lawmakers to approve the port security legislation, calling it "a tremendous contribution" to measures the Bush administration has already undertaken.

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Here is Secretary Chertoff responding in April to questions about the Bush administration's supposed failure to secure our ports which according to Nancy Pelosi means no less than checking every container that comes to the US. I don't know - Chertoff's response seems reasonable to me. Especially considering that I don't know that anyone's ever been accused of trying to smuggle WMDs to our shores in containers.

Secretary Chertoff: All right, let me start with the first question. Let's see where we were prior to 2001 and where we are now.

Prior to 2001, we didn't have any radiation portal monitors in our U.S. ports. By the end of this year, two-thirds of the containers coming into this country will go through radiation portal monitors, and by the end of next year, virtually every container will go through radiation portal monitors.

Before 2001, we didn't have a network of x-ray machines or gamma machines that we could use to look inside or x-ray inside containers when we had a reason to do so. Now we have a network like that.

Before 2001, we didn't have a Container Security Initiative that systematically puts our Customs inspectors overseas so we could actually do screening and inspection before containers were loaded. Now we have a network of those inspectors overseas in 44 seaports. By the end of this year, 80 percent of the container cargo loaded on ships bound for the U.S. will be coming through seaports that are part of that initiative.

So a tremendous amount has been accomplished. And, again, as I say, including the budget in 2007, we've spent approximately $9 billion on maritime security. That's money in Coast Guard, that's money in Customs and Border Protection, that's money in grants.

So I don't think it's possible with a straight face, frankly, to make the argument that we haven't done a tremendous amount since 9/11 to raise the level of security in our ports. I'm not saying we're at the end of the road here, but we have made a considerable amount of progress going down that road.

Now, first of all, we do 100 percent screening of everything that comes through the country through our shipping lanes. Based on information we receive, we screen all those containers to determine the high-risk containers, and then we inspect those containers that are high-risk. And as I said, by the end of next year, we will be actually moving all of those containers, or virtually all of them, through radiation portal monitors.

What we don't do, which sometimes people say we should do, is physically inspect every container. And the reason is because if we were to do that, we would make it virtually impossible to move goods into this country because of the time consumed.

And I guess I would say to anybody who says, we want 100 percent inspection of every container that comes in, I think if they come from a port city, they ought to ask the longshoremen in the port, well, what do you think if we have 100 percent physical opening of every container that comes in? I suspect the longshoremen are going to say, well, you know, we'd like to keep our jobs, which means we'd like to keep the port open, so please don't do that.

The fact of the matter is the way to do this, is to do it smart, and the way to do it smart is to use technology, the kind we're using now and the kind I looked over at in Hong Kong a couple weeks ago. It's to use our intelligence to identify the high-risk containers and make sure we do inspect those. But to call for physical inspection of every container is like saying we ought to strip search everybody who gets on an airplane. I mean, in theory, that would make us very safe, but I think it would destroy the airline industry.

So we're not going to strip search people, everybody getting on an airplane, and I don't think it's wise to physically inspect every container. I do think it's wise to use the kind of technology I saw in Hong Kong, and the kind of technology we are using in ports in this country screening 100 percent, check 100 percent for radiation, and make sure we are looking at any container which is a high-risk.

I'm in the middle of reading another great spy thriller and NY Times bestseller from Daniel Silva called "The Messenger". The book begins with a terrorist attack on the Vatican which almost kills the Pope.

Uh oh.

Pope's speech stirs Muslim anger

Questioning the concept of holy war, he quoted a 14th-Century Christian emperor who said Muhammad had brought the world only "evil and inhuman" things.

A senior Pakistani Islamic scholar, Javed Ahmed Gamdi, said jihad was not about spreading Islam with the sword.

Turkey's top religious official asked for an apology for the "hostile" words.

In Indian-administered Kashmir, police seized copies of newspapers which reported the Pope's comments to prevent any tension.

You remember what happened the last time something offensive to radical/extreme/religious/facist/false/"not a few" Muslims appeared in the newspapers....

I'm not sure why, but I've been kind of fascinated with the Rawson College shootings in Montreal yesterday. This morning, I only saw the CBC news service identify the shooter as 25 year old Kimveer Gill.



After doing a brief Google search, if only to find out what kind of name "Kimveer" is, I came across his incredibly creepy vampire/goth page at vampirefreaks.com where his online name was "fatality666". And if that's not creepy enough, you can read his journal which has such wonderful tidbits such as:

I wonder why my household has been under surveillance by law enforcement for 6 years now? Makes no sense to me!!

Oh, you're wondering how I know?
lol
Bet you little monkeys are
Hey, assholes!!
Everything everyone says or does against me is shown to me in my dreams, I see everything. You fucking monkeys.

God, you humans are so inferior.
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The mysterious figure rides down to the earth on what would appear to be an invisible mountain. As his steads hoofs touch the wet grass, it lets out an angry growl, almost as though it yearns to be elsewhere.

The disgusting human creatures scream in panic and run in all directons, taking with them their lies and deceptions. The Death Knight gazes at the humans with an empty stare, as they knock each other down in a mad dash to safety. He wishes to slaughter them as they flee, but sensing that his war horse is hungry and quite weary of the long journey, he decides to rest.
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Look out friends

The RCMP and CSIS in Canada and Local Law enforcement and F.B.I. in the States have been scouring this web site during the last 3 months. Looking to arrest you guys and girls for nothing.

Ever since that girl from Alberta killed her family, they've been going through the pros, and have arrested dozens of people because of what they wrote in their journals (like talking about killing someone), or the pics they got (like holding a gun) or whatever.

Just be careful about what you write. Select "Private Entry" for anything that might be perceived as suspicious. For now.

The question is, how do you separate out the killers like Kimveer who write about killing people then do it as opposed to the other depressed people who write this kind of stuff just because they enjoy it or to make friends?

My heart goes out to the victims of this incredibly f***d up human being.

Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman commented on the large number of Katrina evacuees in Houston by calling them "crackheads and thugs". African-American state representative Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston tells Kinky not to be racist.

A Houston-area lawmaker said Tuesday that she is "vehemently insulted" by independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman's derogatory comments about Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

Friedman last week attributed a spike in Houston's crime rate to the "crackheads and thugs" who evacuated New Orleans.

"He has demonstrated a total lack of human sensitivity," said state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston. "The people of Katrina have lost everything and are suffering not only from the loss of loved ones, but the trauma of the event itself. What has precipitated from this tragedy is behavior that results from a disastrous event."

Sounds like the suicide bomber defense to me. The humiliation! The lack of hope!

Houston police have reported that 59 of the 262 Houston murders between Jan. 1 and Aug. 26 involved Katrina evacuees, either as victims or suspects.

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Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert doesn't know the words to our national anthem. And he can't sing either. I'm not sure which is the most painful part of watching this video.

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Elie Wiesel, Alan Dershowitz and others have an easy solution to dealing with Iran in the United Nations. Threatening a member state? Secretly fomenting wars against other countries while denying responsibility? Kick 'em out!

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A lot of conservative pundits have fun taking comments from NY Times editorials and contrasting them to opposite stands that the paper has taken in the past. I have found myself that it isn't all that hard to do.

Today's lead editorial sharply criticizes President Bush's speech last night. "Last night, President Bush once again urged Americans to take terrorism seriously — a warning that hardly seems necessary. One aspect of that terrible day five years ago that seems immune to politicization or trivialization is the dread of another attack."

Now read what the Times printed in it's Week in Review section just two days ago. (If you think I'm taking this out of context, feel free to read the whole thing.)

The Age of Terror, at least inside the United States, has morphed into the Age of the Foiled Plot. But this very success has led to a new debate. The government says the record vindicates its prevention strategy — to intervene long before an attack is imminent. Its critics assert that officials have exaggerated the threat posed by some accused plotters, painting hapless misfits as Qaeda operatives.

None of this means that a serious plot isn’t being hatched now, invisible even to a counterterrorist bureaucracy hugely expanded since 2001. But five years of evidence suggests that the terrorist threat within the United States is much more modest than was feared after 9/11, when it seemed quite possible that there were terrorist sleeper cells in American cities, armed with “weapons of mass destruction” and awaiting orders to attack.

“The idea that we are surrounded by terrorists who could strike anywhere, anytime, is a complete misconception,” said Karen J. Greenberg, director of the Center on Law and Security at New York University.....

As time has passed without a new attack, the voices of skeptics who believe that 9/11 was more a fluke than a harbinger are beginning to be heard.

“A perfectly plausible explanation is that there are no terrorists here,” said John Mueller, a political scientist at Ohio State Univeristy...

As I've discussed with my loved ones in NY, there is also a huge difference between how New Yorkers are experiencing the post 9/11 world compared to the rest of the country. The Times forgets that the President is not speaking for their benefit, but for the vast majority of Americans who don't live there. Typical myopic thinking.

I also like their comments in their editorial yesterday entitled "9/11/06". Without ever having asked to be exempt from the demands of this new post-9/11 war, we were cut out. Everything would be paid for with the blood of other people’s children, and with money earned by the next generation. Our role appeared to be confined to waiting in longer lines at the airport.

Over one million Americans have already served in Afghanistan or Iraq (not to mention the millions more that affected as close family or friends), to say that we have not sacrificed goes to show how self-involved they are. Maybe they haven't enough, and maybe I haven't enough, but we?!? Perhaps some veterans from New York should disabuse the Times editorial board of the notion that it's readership should not include them. If anything, given the Times disgust over the war in Iraq, they should be grateful that the administration hasn't gotten more people involved to be killed for an unjust, lost war.

All credit to The Borowitz Report.

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Scientists Say Knicks Are No Longer a Basketball Team
Prague Conference Demotes New York Team to Dwarf Status

Just weeks after a conference of scientists determined that Pluto was not a planet after all, the same scientists reconvened in Prague today to pronounce that the New York Knicks were not a basketball team.

Sports fans have suspected over the last few seasons that the original decision to characterize the Knicks as an actual NBA team may have been in error, but today's announcement by the scientists seemed to remove all remaining shreds of doubt.

"While the New York Knicks possess some qualities that are consistent with a basketball team, we have come to the conclusion that they are something else entirely," said Dr. Hiroshi Kyosuke of the University of Tokyo. "It would be more accurate to call the Knicks a dwarf team."

Dr. Kyosuke said it was "understandable" that scientists had assumed that the Knicks were a basketball team for so many years, because they exhibited behavior similar to such teams, such as moving around a basketball court in a seemingly organized manner and hurling an orange spherical object.

"However, they failed to exhibit two properties common to all basketball teams," Dr. Kyosuke said. "Scoring points and winning games."

In New York, Knicks coach Isiah Thomas welcomed the reassessment of the Knicks, saying that being designated a dwarf team represented a unique opportunity for the franchise: "If this means that now we can play against actual dwarves, maybe we'll start winning."

Elsewhere, Mel Gibson blasted California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for making disparaging comments about blacks and Latinos, calling his remarks "incomplete."

I can't say I'm upset at Berkeley Breathed, just disappointed.  I am no longer supised by the anti-Israel sentiment (notice I do not say anti-Semitic) that I find anywhere in the media among people with left-leaning views, even in comic strips.  I also understand that the Israeli character is just one of many people/things that Opus needs to be fearful of (why?) and that the cartoon is still very funny.

I guess the cartoonist could be putting Opus in the place of Palestinians/Arabs, but I never took the character to be anything other than a lampoon of purely American sentiment and culture, so It's still disappointing.   If he's just generalizing that all the actors in the Middle East are frightening to Americans, it's still disappointing.

My wife and I finally got around to seeing World Trade Center last night. I didn't think it was a great movie (maybe because I knew how it would end), although I thought it was extremely well done. I also didn't think Nicolas Cage, who I like, did a very good job becuase I kept thinking thorught the movie - That's Nicolas Cage in a PA cop suit - instead of feeling liek he was a real Joe new York. While some of the images of NY seemed like obvious computer renderings that added the Twin Towers, there were a lot fo filmed scenes where I couldn't believe how realistic they looked down to the individual broken windows in the buildings across the street from Ground Zero.

I was a little worried about how watching the film would effect me physically and I did start to feel a little nervous before it started when an ad ran for buildthememorial.org, but after that I didn't really have any visceral reaction - the actual attacks happen off screen or via the rumors that the characters hear about. In fact, the one group of scenes tha probably impacted me the most were the first few minutes showing a typical NYC morning from various points in the suburbs and the city which made me think - Hey, that's where I was! I was driving into work downtown at that exact time! I was on that bridge that morning! There was one scene that takes place during the afternoon of 9/11 that shows my office building a few blocks away from where one of the rescuers was walking and I couldn't help but point excitedly as if it confirmed for me that eveything really did happen.

I was also reminded never take it for granted when my daughters scream "Daddy's Home!" when I come home from work.

Anyhow, I would still recommend the film because I think any reminder of the sacrifices made that day and how people came together afterwards is a good thing.

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Speaking of daughters, today is my youngest's third bithday. She was born duing a planned c-section almost to the minute of the first attacks on the Twin Towers, albeit the day before the anniversary. I had thought of asking that she be born on 9/11 as a sign of rebirth and renewal but then I thought better of it as I can't imagine anyone would really want that for a birthday. In any case, it is still a reminder of hope and happiness in what will probably always be a general time of refelction.

I am in f*cking shock. From the NY Times?!? Al-Qaida Core Has Degraded Since 2001

To an unknowable degree, the Madrid attack and others reflect success in the hunt for the al-Qaida leadership responsible for killing nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania five years ago.

A global dragnet against bin Laden's group has been far more effective than most people realize (ed. - that means liberals) in neutralizing al-Qaida's top command. Osama bin Laden and his top deputy are still at large, but many of their most trusted men are not.

Abu Zubaydah. Ramzi Binalshibh. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani. Abu Farraj al-Libbi. All were once among al-Qaida's top commanders, and all were arrested in Pakistan and handed over to American custody, along with hundreds of lesser figures.

The one-time al-Qaida No. 3, Mohammed Atef, was killed in U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan in 2001. Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, al-Qaida's chief operative in Yemen, was blown up by a Hellfire missile in Yemen in 2002. More recently, al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was taken out by two 500-pound bombs.

While others have stepped in to fill their shoes, many experts doubt the organization can replace the experience of its top leaders as quickly as they are lost.
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If the continued existence of the Taliban in Afghanistan is some sort of evidence that America is losing the War on Terror, what can we say about WWII? Is it too late to claim defeat?

Belgium arrests neo-Nazi soldiers

Many of those arrested were soldiers, and some were "people with an extreme-right ideology who clearly express themselves through racism, xenophobia, Holocaust denial, anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism," the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Belgian police on Thursday arrested 17 suspects in an alleged plot by right-wing extremists to terrorize the country.

If I were the Administration, I'd start calling the Taliban "neo-Taliban". It sounds less threatening.

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On a similar note, I have to laugh about the people complaining that the rise of the poppy crop in Afghanistan is some kind of symbol that we lost, or are losing the war.

Afghanistan has become a narco-state. The opium trade has corrupted public officials nationwide and made economic development far harder to achieve. That's not just a shame; it could signal a failed U.S. effort in Afghanistan.

Has anyone ever heard of The Cold War that went on for 50 years and cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars because we didn't end WWII right? Do I have to mention how WWII is generally accepted as having happened for not finishing WWI right? I'm not saying it isn't a problem, but can you possibly have a more defeatist attitude?

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The Times ran a piece today on religious bias after 9/11 and focused on the story of one young Muslim woman, Dena al-Atassi. I don't deny that this woman has been discriminated against and that all discrimination is terrible. I just think the story is a little misleading in that Ms al-Atassi is not just your everyday Muslim-American, she's the chairwoman of the Florida chapter of the Muslim Students Association which the article duly mentions in the next to last paragraph. She is a leading member of a sometimes controversial national organization which is known for supporting anti-Israel rallies, terrorist supporters like Sami al-Arian and others, and other generally anti-U.S. government and anti-war events.

Could they not have made a better choice to make me feel sorry at least, not someone with an agenda?

I just got one of those personalized e-mails from Amazon telling me what they think I should buy based on my previous visits to their website. This one bothers me on a number of levels. What does it mean when people who are buying sentimental stories about a woman's Jewish rabbi grandfather are also interested in flag-burning anti-Israel/American protesters?

Dear Amazon.com Customer, We've noticed that customers who have purchased My Grandfathers Blessings : Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging by Rachel Naomi Remen have also ordered My Name is Rachel Corrie by Rachel Corrie. For this reason, you might like to know that Rachel Corrie's My Name is Rachel Corrie is now available. You can order your copy for just $10.36 ($2.59 off the list price) by following the link below. My Name is Rachel Corrie Rachel Corrie Price: $10.36 You Save: $2.59 (20%)

See below for an example of what cute Rachel above grew up to be, which is the reason the book was written, I'm sure - to show her passion for people.

Even those of us who think of ourselves as "All Jews, All The Time" can't keep track of every attempted attack on Jews or Jewish organizations.  This happened earlier this week.

Explosive device left at synagogue in Corsica; fails to explode

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Strange Man Spotted Following Women In Plano Park

Police said they received several reports of a strange man following women in the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve. Investigators said the man wears black clothes and shoes and drives an older-model black Ford Escort.

This park (really a large nature preserve which is mostly an open area with rolling hills) is a few blocks from my house and I have been walking there several times a week for the last few months.  Just want to let the womenfolk know that if you see a guy not dressed in black that can asisst you with the creep in black, just give a shout and I'll do what I can.

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No To Terror - Arabic website with commercials condemning terror attacks. "Terrorism has no religion."

This was bound to happen eventually - if it hasn't already. Jewish man removed from airplane for praying.

The airplane was heading towards the runway at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport when eyewitnesses said the Orthodox man began to pray.

"He was clearly a Hasidic Jew," said Yves Faguy, a passenger seated nearby. "He had some sort of cover over his head. He was reading from a book.

"He wasn't exactly praying out loud but he was lurching back and forth," Faguy added.

The action didn't seem to bother anyone, Faguy said, but a flight attendant approached the man and told him his praying was making other passengers nervous.

I'm not Orthodox, but I am relatively active in my Conservative synagogue and usually take a prayer book with me on trips just in case the mood strikes me. A few years ago I was in first class (read - close to the cockpit), when I took out a few pages of Hevrew text from the Torah so that I could practice a reading that I would be doing that Sabbath at my synangogue. After a semi-innocuous, "what's that?" from the flight attendant, I figured it would be better for all involved just to put it away. I haven't even read English religious texts on the plane since, just in case, which is a shame because there's no better time to reflect on things when your sitting by yourself for several hours in an aluminum tube.

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Classic "The Onion as Real Life" from Opinion Journal:

"The first Muslim to be crowned Miss England has warned that stereotyping members of her community is leading some towards extremism," reports London's Daily Mail:

Hammasa Kohistani made history last year when she was chosen to represent England in the Miss World pageant. . . .

She said: "The attitude towards Muslims has got worse over the year. Also the Muslims' attitude to British people has got worse.

"Even moderate Muslims are turning to terrorism to prove themselves. They think they might as well support it because they are stereotyped anyway. It will take a long time for communities to start mixing in more. . . ."

So let's see if we follow this argument. According to Kohistani, Muslims are so thin-skinned and so violent that they respond to prejudice with terrorism.

Um, isn't that an invidious stereotype?

Maybe she got the idea from a 1997 Onion piece, datelined Hebron, West Bank:

In an emotionally charged press conference Monday, crazed Palestinian gunman Faisal al Hamad expressed frustration over the stereotyping of his people.

"As a crazed Palestinian gunman, I feel hurt by the negative portrayal of my people in the media," said al Hamad, 31, a Hebron-area terrorist maniac. "None of us should have to live with stereotyping and ignorance."

He then began screaming and firing into a busload of Israeli schoolchildren.

"It hurts that in this supposedly enlightened day and age, people still make assumptions about other people," al Hamad said. "We should not rely on simple generalizations. Each crazed Palestinian gunman is an individual."

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I remember when John Kerry was telling us during the 2004 presidential campaign about the fact that Bush would be the first President with a net loss of jobs during his presidency (which turned out not to happen, barely) which boded poorly for the future of job creation. Since then millions of jobs have been created amid two years of continued economic growth and a dropping unemployment rate.

Now, the Democrat's "New Direction for America" plan, featured at the top of Nancy Pelosi's website is concerned about "gas over $3 per gallon." It's in the $2.30s and falling in my area. Now where the hell is that website guy they hired? The Democrats are so confident that things can only get worse that if hurts their message. They should stay away from the numbers. If people really do feel that awful about the economy and their financial situation then they will vote for Democrats as Americans are famous for voting their wallet. It shouldn't be necessary to have to convince them how bad things are.

And the last time I checked, the President doesn't control gas prices. In theory, without the tax breaks to oil companies that Democrats also complain about, the price of gas would need to be even higher for the companies to earn the same profits.

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What a bitch! Phone Records Scandal at HP - To catch a leaker, Hewlett-Packard's chairwoman spied on the home phone records of its board of directors.

Come on, admit that it's the first thing that came into your mind when you read the article.

Denis Leary joins the Red Sox broadcast team, finds out the first baseman is Jewish and hilarity ensures.  Hint: Denis doesn't like Mel Gibson very much.  Video here - make sure you watch 'til the end.

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I have been negilgent in not having posted this video. An Israeli reporter goes along with an IDF team on a night mission a few kilometers into Lebanon to clear a village of Hezbollah fighters and their weapons.  The video also shows wounded soldiers being treated in the field and their recuperation in an Israeli hospital.  If you don't understand what "in harm's way" means, you will after watching this video.  There are English subtitles to follow along.  May G-d protect them all.

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Reply to Pink's "Dear Mr. Presdent".  I certainly don't agree with all of it, but some of it is very funny.

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One more brave/psychotic, angry Muslim takes on the West.  I'm too lazy to do the research, but when did individual Muslims start taking it on themselves to start killing random people they don't like?  Even in the days of hijacking airplanes and intifadas, I don't think this used to be a regular occurence.  In my opinion it can't be the recent wars - it's got to be that there's a concerted effort by a large group of Muslim leaders to incite hatred and violence.  Any other sugestions?   If we accept that one can protest against Israeli policies without being anti-Semitic, those who protest radical Muslim behavior should be able to do so without being painted with the Islamophobe brush (although I have yet to see this argument made in the media).

I've gotta agree with this - I still have a hard time believing this was a real squadron, but it is - Academy Graduate: Get Rid of 'Crusaders' emblem.

Mikey Weinstein, who has sued the Air Force over allegations that Air Force Academy cadets were unconstitutionally subjected to Christian evangelization, has complained about the 523rd’s unit emblem, which features a cross, a sword and an armored helmet.

“The airmen of 523rd Fighter Squadron ... not only have invoked the term ‘Crusaders’ to describe their unit, they use blatantly sectarian religious symbolism on the patches they affix to their uniforms and the official logo of their unit,” Weinstein wrote in an article for the Sept. 4 issues of the Air Force Times, Army Times and Navy Times.

It shouldn't take a young, Jewish Air Force Academy Graduate to point out how utterly stupid this is.

Weinstein ...said it is a “sick irony” that Air Force personnel can wear religious emblems when the United States is fighting fundamentalist Islamics who “exploit religion as a means to cause mass devastation and death.”

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More violence against Jews from the UK - Screams ignored as girl, 12, is attacked

A 12-year-old Jewish girl who was beaten unconscious and robbed by anti-Semitic yobs on a bus has spoken out at her disgust that no-one came to her aid.

The girl, who does not want to be identified, was stamped on several times in a racist attack lasting around five minutes while on board a 303 Metroline bus in Mill Hill, north London.

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Looks like I'm not the only one that actually decided to actually read the Pentagon's latest report on Iraq and come to a different conclusion than the mainstream media.

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Gotta give credit where credit is due. Annan reprimands Iran over Holocaust cartoons.

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The 10th Annual Dallas Jewish Film Festival starts this week. I'm too lazy to post links to the individual movies, although I must admit it doesn't seem like a strong a crop as prior years have been. I am glad though that they have moved one of the host theaters to Plano just a few minute drive from my house.

I just finished reading A Woman In Jerusalem by acclaimed Israeli author A.B. Yehoshua.  It's the fictional account of an unidentified woman who dies in a suicide bombing and how a divorced, lonely white collar worker winds up with the task of uncovering her identity and in a way, uncovering his own.  A nice technique the author uses is to use a "Greek chorus" , periodically inserting a few paragraphs of the thoughts of characters that are peripheral to the story as if they themselves are looking at the events taking place with the same interest that we, the readers have for the odd goings on. 

The somewhat moralizing ending didn't satisfy me so much, but it was well worth the ride and a great, quick read.

The New York Times review is here.  The first chapter can be read here.

A.B. Yehoshua made the news recently when he basically called Jewish life in the diaspora meaningless.