Many people posted about the nutty Frenchman who, thinking he saw Bin Laden in the road, tried to run over an obviously innocent man. I didn't link to it, because I just thought it was a little weird, nothing Earth shattering.

It turns out that the editor of one of Argentina's two main dailies, Clarin, has decided to use that event to compare the "loco" to the United States, someone who is unilaterally out for justice based on a "vision" of trying to free the world. And believe me, "vision" here is not used in the good sense, but in the "apparition" sense. (As opposed to the Spanish who are working together to do the same and therefore will do a better job).

I'm sorry for not having the time to translate it, and there wasn't a direct link, so here it is:

De cuerdos y de locos

Después del atentado en Madrid, de la conmoción y del desastre, de la manipulación informativa y las manifestaciones enormes y dolidas por todo el país, el socialismo vencedor y los derrotados populares elaboran juntos un plan contra el terrorismo. Lo contamos en la página 27. Es, tal vez, la evidencia más contundente del éxito de la transición española: la fortaleza del sistema político inmune a las bombas.

Por el contrario, se reafirmaron y se reafirman las políticas de Estado, como la lucha contra los grupos extremistas. La colisión de los dos partidos mayoritarios, en un momento inéditamente feroz, devino inmediatamente en la articulación de esfuerzos junto a la Unión Europea en pleno, para recuperar la seguridad y la preeminencia de la democracia.

Algunos dirán que el acuerdo de ayer es hijo de la debilidad de los populares tras la catástrofe en las urnas y de la necesidad de compartir decisiones con el socialismo que vuelve al poder. Pero los planes conjuntos también marcan otra cosa: que sigue vigente el contrato social sellado hace 27 años en los Pactos de la Moncloa, donde se fijaron consensos esenciales para enfrentar la crisis económica y reformar el sistema político. Y que eso hoy actúa como un escudo institucional e institucionalizado. Otra vez España amanece salvaguardando la unidad y respetando la divergencia.

Una caricatura antagónica a esa racionalidad profunda la protagonizó un artesano francés de 35 años, en Montpellier. Creyó ver nada menos que a Bin Laden caminando por su mismo pueblo y entonces, tras la visión, trató de atropellarlo para vivir el privilegio de liberar al mundo de uno de sus mayores demonios.

El atónito peatón salió ileso por milagro. Entre la alucinación delirante de un adicto a la justicia por mano propia y la lógica del sistema político funcionando a pleno puede vislumbrarse una metáfora conocida: los locos con carnet existen, pero no son precisamente los que llevan a la humanidad por el buen camino.

General inerest for my Argentine relatives (none of whom reads this blog anyway).

Evita's burial shroud expected to raise 40,000 euros Thursday

John Kerry, once again, speaking on his record regarding the $87bn in supplemental funds for Iraq as reported in the Washington Post:

"I actually did vote for his $87 billion, before I voted against it"

Glad we cleared that up.

What he then went on to explain (to be fair) is that he preliminarily backed the request, so long as it was financed not by deficit spending but with a tax surcharge on the wealthy that Bush opposed. Ah, good old class warfare.

Should've. Could've. Would've.

The Kerry lies and obfuscations continue per FactCheck.Org

While Kerry claims that "Even more shocking, tens of thousands of other troops arrived in Iraq to find that - with danger around every corner - there wasn't enough body armor", the truth is slightly different.

But it's also true that as many as 40,000 US troops were sent to Iraq without the best-grade body armor. Frontline troops had the new vests, containing ceramic plates that can stop assault-rifle bullets, while others had only older designs that offered protection mainly against shrapnel and lower-velocity projectiles.

At a House Appropritions subcommittee hearing Sept. 24, 2003, Army Gen. John Abizaid, chief of the U.S. Central Command, did not dispute the estimate that 40,000 troops were without the newer design, and said the $300 million was needed to buy more of the vests.

It's a big difference to claim that there wasn't enough body armor and only some soldiers on the front lines had the best.

What's even more ridiculous is that Kerry voted against funding for better body armor when he rejected the $87 billion bill for additional funding for the war effort and Iraqi reconstruction.

Apparently, if you're a slut you can find solace in Kabbalah. As YadaBlog describes:

It's not news that Paris Hilton has been sporting a red Kabbalah bracelet for the last several months, but she's now upped her Jewish mysticism quotient by seeking solace in the study of Kabbalah after the death of her grandmother last week.

Here's the direct quote from the NY Post:

Paris and mom Kathy are said to be seeking solace in their studies of the Kaballah, the ultra-trendy form of ancient Jewish mysticism that counts Madonna, Britney Spears, Demi Moore and Sandra Bernhard among its celebrity devotees.

One more reason to fire Abe Foxman:

A nationwide survey conducted for the Institute for Jewish and Community Research finds that 83 percent of Americans familiar with the film say it's made them neither more nor less likely to blame today's Jews for Jesus' crucifixion.

Nine percent said Mel Gibson's film actually has made them less likely to blame today's Jews, while less than 2 percent said they're more likely to fault modern Jews or Jewish institutions.

The Institute's president, Gary Tobin, added that discussion of the issue has probably been good for Christian-Jewish relations.

Thanks to Drudge for the link.

Great post by Bill Hobbs deconstructing John Kerry's policy statement on fighting terror and how he has no plan except tighten our defenses at home and gamble that we can catch terrorists as they approach our borders.

After reading the criticism though, I thought that it perhaps isn't fair - that this is Kerry's domestic preparedness strategy only, and he's looking to improve it. Then, prompted by a comment on Hobb's blog I noticed that the plan was for fighting terror "at home and abroad". There's just no "abroad" in the whole policy.

Kerry's policy - have federal workers spot check a little more of what comes into this country and hope the firefighters and EMS have enough time to rescue the wounded after the bombs go off.

Regardless, I don't want to sit back and play defense.

917 days terror free and counting.......

Luckily for the Iraqi people, they are not led by the Spanish. According to Socialist Prime Minister elect Zapatero of Spain - "The war in Iraq was a disaster, the occupation of Iraq is a disaster".

Not according to ABC News - not known for it's pro-Bush leanings:

By nearly every quantifiable measure, the situation has improved since before the war.

From a John Kerry speech as reported in today's NY Times:

"I don't fault George Bush for doing too much in the war on terror, as some do," Mr. Kerry said. "I believe that he's done too little....

So now he's positioning himself as being not only smarter about the war (against Iraq, for stronger alliances), but that he'd have done more. More what? Invade more countries? Take away more liberties? Instill more fear? Add more colors to the Terror Alert scale?

Just curious.

Also according to the reporting - "Senator John F. Kerry attacked President Bush on national security issues today, asserting that Mr. Bush has played politics with the battle against terrorism and that the bombings in Spain show how ineffective his policies have been"

What do George Bush's policies have anything to do with domestic security in Spain anyway? If I was being really selfish, I would even say that Bush's policy is working perfectly well given that Al-Qaeda is attacking in Bali, Morocco and Spain and NOT here since we don't make such an easy target anymore.

Maybe Kerry's right after all! If we had more allies like France, Germany and Russia involved, there would be even more places other than the U.S. for the Islamists to attack.

I think I may have to have that "don't accept candy from strangers" talk with my daughter now.

Security sources: Tanzim intended to detonate explosives

The Tanzim militant group intended to detonate by remote control an explosive belt carried by a 10-year-old Palestinian boy,.....The boy said he was offered a large sum of money to transfer the bags.."

Per World Net Daily - John Kerry was a strong proponent for a unilateral war with Iraq after all - at least according to his views in 1997 when Bill Clinton was president.

You really have to read the whole thing, but here's my favorite Kerry quote:

"...where's the backbone of Russia, where's the backbone of France, where are they in expressing their condemnation of such clearly illegal activity?"

Here is the head of the European Union expressing his orgranization's stance on fighting terrorism:

The head of the EU executive arm, European Commission chief Romano Prodi, agreed, in an interview published by Italy's La Stampa newspaper Monday.

"It is clear that using force is not the answer to resolving the conflict with terrorists," Prodi said. "Terrorism is infinitely more powerful than a year ago," and all of Europe now feels threatened, he told the paper.

It is unclear what Mr. Prodi suggests as an alternative - negotiation with terrorists? Playing chess with them?

Yet Mr. Prodi stated immediately after the Madrid attacks that "the whole international community is -- and will continue to be -- mobilised against this inhuman, intolerable phenomenon until it is completely eradicated." Again I ask, how do you eradicate something without force?

From the definition of eradicate on Dictionary.com:

v 1: kill in large numbers; "the plague wiped out an entire population" [syn: eliminate, annihilate, extinguish, wipe out, decimate, carry off] 2: destroy completely, as if down to the roots; "the vestiges of political democracy were soon uprooted" [syn: uproot, extirpate, exterminate]

Update on March 20 - It seems like there was an error in the reporting - according to David Brooks in today's NY Times:

Correction: In Tuesday's column I quoted the European Commission's president, Romano Prodi, telling the Italian newspaper La Stampa that force was not the answer to terrorism. I was relying on an Agence France-Presse translation, which was incorrect. Prodi actually said force should not be the only answer to terrorism. He said terrorism would not abate until the Israeli-Palestinian dispute was resolved.

I still disagree.

Here's some irony for you. In an opinion piece dated yesterday in the Jerusalem Post online, Palestinian journalist, Daoud Kuttab argues that Israel should announce a cease-fire in Gaza.

After all, not a single suicide attack in Israel has been carried out by a Gazan or by a person coming from the tightly encircled Gaza Strip.

Perhaps he spoke too soon. Fatah: Ashdod Port bombers used tunnels to cross Gaza

As I did last week, it's time for my weekly criticism of Etz Chaim, the new tanach used by my shul and many others in the Conservative movement. There wasn't much to comment on in this week's parshot of Vayakhel-Pekudai as it mainly describes the building of the Tabernacle - not much explanation needed. However there was a piece of commentary that falls into what I'll call the "feel good about yourself" category. There are several places in Etz Chaim where there are gratuitous comments about how important women are to Judaism. They are usually not directly "anti-man" although in conferring this special recognition to women's achievements the underlying message is that women have historically been underappreciated which does kind of make me feel guilty as a man. Sort of like white man's guilt resulting in affirmative action commentary. I'm surprised that the editors have not requested that Jewish Women's Month be added to calendar of religious holidays.

In any case, the commentary is as follows:

25. skilled women Throughout our history, devoted Jewish women have contributed to hiddur mitzvah - the practice of giving the mitzvot an esthetically pleasing context in their homes and synagogues - through the skilled and creative work of their hands.

Now there is absolutely nothing wrong or untrue in that statement. My simple point is that since the surrounding phrases talk about the contributions of the people generally and the chieftains specifically, why not mention that throughout history the whole of the Jewish community has donated to building our synagogues, schools and created artwork that have contributed to hiddur mitzvah? Why single out the women? The only thing I can think of is to make this the Dr. Phil - feel good tanach for half of the readership.

What I might have said is that although the women are only spoken of as contributing their labor in 35:25 and not material goods - their physical labor was just as valuable as if they would have provided the material goods themselves. In the same way, raising children in the Jewish community, whether by men or women, is equally as valid a contribution as any material assets that anyone else, man or woman, might offer to the community. I think that's an appropriately egalitarian commentary, and is inclusive at the same time.

Most pundits believe that the U.S. presidential election will be as hotly contested as that of 2000. What happenes here if we have a terrorist attack on October 30, three days before? Do we do a Spain and overthrow the ruling party, or do the people stay the course and give Bush a clear victory? I hope we never have to find out.

But if I'm thinking about it, and Allah is thinking about it (see below), why wouldn't Al-Qaeda after their victory in Spain?

If you need Allah, he will be over at the Commissar's place playing with the Wonkanator. Oh, and in case you are wondering, he has the U.S. pencilled in for October 31st. Won't that be nice on Halloween? Trick or treat, Satan.

I think the hysterical ADL is the one organization I don't give money to directly - and it may be a long time before I ever do given that this is how donor's money is flushed down the toilet:

1994 case closes with payout of $12 million. Hat Tip to Protocols.

What a depressing day in the news:

We just lost an ally that never was really suppotive: Spanish ruling party swept from power

Even though the authors of "their 9/11" are possibly linked: Madrid suspect linked to 9/11 figure

Israel almost suffers it's first mega-attack at a chemicals facility by bombers who were possibly the first to come out of the Gaza Strip

Six U.S. soldiers are killed in separate explosions in Iraq

Found on Normblog:

The diameter of the bomb was thirty centimetres
and the diameter of its effective
range - about seven metres.
And in it four dead and eleven wounded.
And around them in a greater circle
of pain and time are scattered
two hospitals and one cemetry.
But the young woman who was
buried where she came from
over a hundred kilometres away
enlarges the circle greatly.
And the lone man who weeps over her death
in a far corner of a distant country
includes the whole world in the circle.
And I won't speak at all about the crying of orphans
that reaches to the seat of God
and from there onward, making
the circle without end and without God.

Yehuda Amichai

Phew! And I thought I was all alone. A poll taken in November by the American Jewish Committee shows that Bush's support among Jews is at 31 percent — up from 24 percent in 2000.

See more at GOP Courts Jewish Vote

I actually got the link from Jewschool which is one of the more left-wing Jewish sites I enjoy reading. It's just above the line where they remind us that Bush's family are Nazi bastards.

Do you believe this......MY HELL IN CAMP X-RAY

Or this......I had a good time at Guantanamo, says inmate

Mistakes in Passion of the Christ. Thanks to Yada Yada Blog.

Been away for the few days, and it's late at night, so I'm too lazy to post about the latest ugliness in the world from the relatively trivial hockey violence to the bombing in Madrid.

I'll just post this since I haven't seen it anywhere else:

British politician makes anti-Semitic remark

I've always thought about writing a weekly piece to discuss exactly what it is I don't like about the new Etz Chaim tanach that my Conservative shul uses. I finally have a few minutes, so here I go:

In a comment on this week's parsha of Ki Tissa, this is the comment in the P'shat section related to Exodus 30:14 -

14: from the age of twenty years up Judaism has always believed that religion, first and foremost, is not for children, although there is much in it that children can join in and appreciate. Primarily, it is for adults who alone can begin to appreciate its breadth and profundity. Children who see their parents taking Jewish obligation seriously are more likely to see it as something they will want to do as adults.

There are so many things that I feel is wrong with these statements that I don't know where to start. First of all, since the phrase here deals with 20 year olds and the commentary relates to children, one can assume that anyone under 20 is considered a child by the author. The last time I checked, a "child" of 13 is considered a full fledged member of the community with all the religious obligations that are implied. Children are not instructed in the religion beginning at 13 but for years before in preparation. Religion is not for children?

As for the last comment, if a child is taken by their parents to daven for three hours on a Shabbat morning while their friends are out playing in Little League, the child ain't gonna go for the davening when they grow up unless they are taught and can understand the religious significance in davening and that it's not something that Mommy and Daddy do to be boring or to punish the child. In fact I would argue that psychologically, the more "seriously" that a parent is into anything, be it religion or stamp collecting, the less likely a child will grow to embrace that passion, especially without a foundation of learning about it.

I did a quick search on the internet and nowhere could I find any commentary on "Judaism" (whatever that is) not believing that religion is for children. If it really weren't, would there be a torahtots.com?

Maybe there's some esoteric meaning here that I'm missing, but the whole purpose of Etz Chaim was to demystify and facilitate our understanding of Judaism for the 21st century.

Apparently a new movie just opened in the U.K. that's sort of a combination of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Bend It Like Beckham. It's called Suzie Gold, about a modern Jewish twentysomething that falls in love with a decidedly non-Jewish man.

I used to hate movies like this when I was younger because I was tortured in a household where talking to a non-Jewish girl meant death or worse - and the movies ALWAYS showed that mixed religion relationships always work because love rules over all, thereby negating the entire reason for my existence, as it was taught to me. Now that I'm successfully married (if I may say so myself) to a nice Jewish girl, I'm not as offended - but I do daydream about what experiences I passed up because the whole world wasn't open to me.

Love thy neighbor - Hundreds help remove anti-Semitic graffiti

I don't need to buy "Schindler's List" since I've seen the movie a few times already. But then again, can I not buy it if I have "Fiddler on the Roof"?

Here's some more on Spielberg before the release of the the DVD - For Spielberg, an Anniversary Full of Urgency

In fairness to those Arabs/Muslims who are just regular folks trying to make a living - a note that shows that because I spend quite a bit of time defending the Jewish people, we're far from perfect.

Arab taxi driver beaten by mob in Jerusalem

Spate of attacks on Arabs in capital reported in recent days. Today -- Purim in Jerusalem -- taxi driver and police officers attacked by drunken youngsters.

That being ,it is probably not wise to drive through an overpopulated area with narrow streets filled with drunken Orthodox people near where people who look like you have set off bombs killing dozens of people.

Creepy. Link courtesy of Protocols. 10 Plagues Finger Puppets

The choice this November boils down to this - from James Lileks:

Okay. A simple quiz.

1. We should promote the rebuilding of the international community through the UN to stop tyrannical regimes through forceful nonviolent intervention.

Or:

2 "You’re either with us, or with the terrorists."

Imagine a bomb just went off in your local mall. Choose one.

Tonight is my fifth wedding anniversary. Becuase of Purim, we decided to stay in after taking the kiddies our local Megillah reading. My wife and I have very fond memories of our wedding party five years ago, and while one or two things may have gone wrong, thank G-d this dodn't happen...

Grandfather sues city of Montreal over bar mitzvah gone terribly bad

I officially declare this disgusting. The only good news is that there were only "dozens". "Dozens" is an amount of people you can find very easily who think that aliens live among us and that the Mets will will the World Series.

Dozens celebrate 10th anniversary of Goldstein massacre

Will Mel Gibson be the first to direct a major motion picture about Hanukkah?

Gibson's next movie: A look at heroic Jews?

If it wasn't March 6, I would have thought it was April Fools Day.

Hopefully, this is a sign that uber left wing cartoonist Ted Rall has jumped the shark. He has been pulled from the NY Times.

Rall: NYTimes.com Pulled Comic Because of Conservatives

Anyone who accuses the NY Times of kowtowing to conservatives is waaaaaaaay out there.

Remember the gun that let's you shoot around corners? I'm beginning to think that all the cool inventions are coing out of Israel lately.

Soldiers to hurl citizens from rooftops in case of high-rise attack

This isn't quite as dangerous as it sounds:

The army has already conducted a series of training sessions to practice this rescue procedure, according to which soldiers will land on the rooftops by helicopter and will dress each person in a body carrier. The carriers contain a 200-meter metal cable and can therefore be dispatched from a great height. One end of the cable is attached to the rooftop and when the person is thrown off the roof the descent consists of circle movements around the cable. The movements control the speed of the person's descent, which never exceeds a meter per second, thus ensuring a safe landing.

Here's a great link I got from normblog regarding "The Passion". I know your tired of it by now, but I though this viewpoint was unique. Instead of denying that the Jews of yesterday or today are responsible for the death of Jesus, we should embrace the accusation which would really show how stupid it is. Just like Lenny Bruce did.

"All right, I'll clear the air once and for all, and confess," joked Bruce. "Yes, we did it. I did it, my family. I found a note in my basement. It said: `We killed him. Signed, Morty.'"

After what seems like eternity of listening to both sides in the gay marriage debate, I have decided I have to take a stand (at least on my blog). The only reason that I can think of to be against gay marriage is to take the Bible literally. Aside from having sexual relations with one's wife while she is menstruating (which may be unpleasant or undesirable, but not illegal), homosexual sex is the only biblically prohibited variety that we as a society are becoming willing to embrace - and even celebrate.

Here's the bible passage from Leviticus for reference if you don't believe me:

10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

11 And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

12 And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them.

13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

14 And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.

15 And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.

16 And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

17 And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.

18 And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

19 And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister, nor of thy father's sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their iniquity.

20 And if a man shall lie with his uncle's wife, he hath uncovered his uncle's nakedness: they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.

21 And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.

All this being said, in my heart of hearts I disagree with every anti-gay marriage commentator that I've heard because their only argument against it seems to be that marriage is "defined" as being between a man and a woman, as if that definition was created by G-d and not by human beings. Adam and Eve didn't get married - they slept together (we assume) and they had children. If our society can change the primary definition of "gay" from happy to homosexual, we can certainly redefine the word marriage.

So while I am not "for" gay marriage so to speak, I can think of no real good reason to be against it. The best analogies I can think of is that my position is like those that are against abortion personally but wouldn't feel right denying it to others, or my dislike for women who wear skullcaps and prayer shawls to Jewish services - a right I wouldn't deny but wouldn't teach to my children.

If I was asked to attend or participate in a gay wedding I would do it, but I just wouldn't feel the excitement of the moment - I just wouldn't really see the point. I got married for the religious nature of the ceremony, and honestly to show the world that yes, someone would actually choose me to spend the rest of their life with. I could care less that the State gave me a license to do it. I would have done it anyway.

That being said if there is a law that says that gay marriages are illegal in a certain place and someone wants to change it, they should break the law, get arrested and prove it unconstitutional or get their local legislature to repeal the law. That's the way things work. (Maybe even throw in a Million Gay/Lesbian March in Washington for fun.)

I'm tired now. Time to go back to my hotel where I will be alone for the night. That's something that sucks for everyone, gay or straight.

I don't know that I like this particular building in this particular place, but it is certainly interesting.

Thinking Outside Box, Architect Comes Up With Cubes



Also as much of a capitalist as I am, there's something that bothers me about the fact that this prime space will only be occupied by at most a few dozen of the ultra-wealthy.

Way to go Princess Amidala! Portman's Charity Role

Hollywood actress Natalie Portman played a leading role in helping Israel's OneFamily charity raise more than £100,000 for the survivors of suicide bombings at a North London event on Monday night.

She told an audience of almost 200 in Hampstead Garden Suburb that her support for OneFamily came about after her cousin had been hurt in a terrorist incident in Israel. She pledged to front a major fund-raising dinner for the charity in Los Angeles.

I give to this charity and you should too.

It's the end of an era...McSupersizes to be phased out

I can't even bring myself to post the pictures from this year's global bloodletting that Shiite Muslims call Ashoura - the holiest festival of the year. I'll just post the link from LGF.

Islamic Blood Ritual

John Kerry has no problem criticizing Bush for unilateral action in Iraq in order to establish democracy (although it's not unilateral, just not universal). However, he has no problem with real unilateral action when the principle is "protecting democracy". Hat Tip to LGF.

Kerry's Haiti jab

A Kerry administration would have given the rebels a 48-hour ultimatum to come up with a peaceful agreement - “otherwise, we’re coming in,” he said.

“I would intervene with the international community, and absent an international force, I’d do it unilaterally,” he said, adding the most important thing was to protect democracy.

Hmmm, shades of our policy in Vietnam don't you think?

And for the tinfoil hat wing of the Democrat party - Kerry throws out more evil Bush conspiracy theories:

Kerry also suggested Bush sat on December's deal to have Khadafy renounce weapons programs to get a political boost. "Khadafy's been trying to get back into the mainstream for several years now," Kerry said. "There's evidence that we could have had that deal some time ago."

As proof, he said he'd heard "from friends in the British government that the deal was in a slow lock," although he declined to give specifics to back it up.

FLIP FLOP FLIP FLOP FLIP FLOP FLIP FLOP

I will once again state for the record that I liked Bill Clinton and thought that aside from his moral failings he wasn't a such a horrible leader for the times. Part of that was his vagueness, not wanting to offend anyone, not really taking too many unpopular stands on serious issues, etc. However, today we are at war and I just don't trust anyone who, right or wrong, doesn't give me clarity with where they want to take this country or what they plan to do.

Will the real John Kerry please stand up? Is it this John Kerry?

Last October, at an Arab American Institute conference in Dearborn, Mich., then-candidate Sen. Joe Lieberman got booed for defending the Israeli fence, while Kerry called it "provocative" and said, "We do not need another barrier to peace."

Or this one....

But at a CBS debate yesterday just before he met the Jewish leaders, Kerry said it's "a fence necessary to the security of Israel until they have a partner to be able to negotiate" - he took a similar line at the meeting, those present said.

And who will be his trusted advisors?

Kerry also backed away from a prior speech in which he suggested he'd name a Mideast envoy like Jimmy Carter, Reagan-Bush aide James Baker or Bill Clinton - raising alarms among Jewish leaders, who see Carter and Baker as anti-Israel.

Instead, sources said, Kerry yesterday floated names like Clinton adviser Sandy Berger and Bush-Clinton Mideast adviser Dennis Ross as the kind of people he'd rely on; both are seen as far more sympathetic to Israel.

Read all about it here - KERRY IN APPLE TO MEND 'FENCES' WITH JEWS

This was buried in a tiny paragraph on page A18 of my local newspaper. I thought we were involved in a war against these people? I guess becuase these victims aren't white or European, they don't deserve our attention.

Group Claims It Blew Up Philippines Ferry

MARIVELES, Philippines - The Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf claimed responsibility Sunday for a ferry explosion and fire that killed at least two people, though 180 more were missing, according to a radio report.

Of course I think it would have been a bit more helpful to say "Muslim Extremist Group" in the headline, but who am I to judge those poor, oppressed people. I mean don't they have the right to kill a couple of hundred or couple of thousand people every once in awhile to relieve the pressure they must feel having to live under the thumb of the U.S. and Israel.

This is something that should never have to be read in a truly just world:

Rima Novikov, 25, and her husband Eitan Kukoi, 30, are survived by their 2-year-old.

Especially when it's done on purpose...

PFLP, Al-Aksa Martyrs claim shooting attack

Nah, I take that back - they would have killed the two year old too, but didn't fulfill their mission of killing ALL the Jews.

Even though this article in the NYT Magazine doesn't tell us anything we don't already know (except perhaps a new way to insult Jews), I feel obligated to link to it.

A Frenchman or a Jew?

Not that I wanted to go, or anything.

Saudis: No Jews Welcome

Interesting update from the Congressman that brought this to light:

Last night, the Saudis’ official tourism website said that travel visas would not be issued to “Jewish People.” In response, Weiner sent a letter to President Bush, urging him to deny travel visas to Saudis until their policy towards Jews is clarified. As of this morning, the Saudi tourism website had removed any mention of Jews.

Here's the original webpage with no No Jews Allowed remark.

Wherever am I going to go to satisfy my dirty, disgusting mind?

Howard Stern Show Taken Off Clear Channel Stations

Has the King of All Media been dethroned?

Roger Ebert, my favorite critic gives it 4 stars and a big thumbs up....

This is the most violent film I have ever seen.

My own feeling is that Gibson's film is not anti-Semitic, but reflects a range of behavior on the part of its Jewish characters, on balance favorably. The Jews who seem to desire Jesus' death are in the priesthood, and have political as well as theological reasons for acting; like today's Catholic bishops who were slow to condemn abusive priests, Protestant TV preachers who confuse religion with politics, or Muslim clerics who are silent on terrorism, they have an investment in their positions and authority. The other Jews seen in the film are viewed positively; Simon helps Jesus to carry the cross, Veronica brings a cloth to wipe his face, Jews in the crowd cry out against his torture.

Gibson has not made a movie that anyone would call "commercial," and if it grosses millions, that will not be because anyone was entertained. It is a personal message movie of the most radical kind, attempting to re-create events of personal urgency to Gibson. The filmmaker has put his artistry and fortune at the service of his conviction and belief, and that doesn't happen often.

NYT Review of The Passion is now online.

Is "The Passion of the Christ" anti-Semitic? I thought you'd never ask. To my eyes it did not seem to traffic explicitly or egregiously in the toxic iconography of historical Jew hatred, but more sensitive viewers may disagree. The Pharisees, in their tallit and beards, are certainly shown as a sinister and inhumane group, and the mob they command is full of howling, ugly rage. But this on-screen villainy does not seem to exceed what can be found in the source material.

In most movies — certainly in most movies directed by or starring Mr. Gibson — violence against the innocent demands righteous vengeance in the third act, an expectation that Mr. Gibson in this case whips up and leaves unsatisfied.

Hmmm....

Not likely - but a funny joke. From Normblog via Not a Fish

A Jew was walking down the street when he was attacked and beaten up by a Christian. The Jew asked why on earth he had been beaten. The man replied,
"The Jews killed Christ!"
"But that was 2000 years ago!"
"I know, but I only heard about it today!"

As much as the Bush-haters criticize his lack of ability to speak off the cuff, let me know if you find John Kerry the least bit intelligible as he was interviewed on 9/11 by Larry King regarding how we should respond:

KERRY: There are three ways to pursue it, Larry. One is multi- laterally, which takes more time. That's the way George Bush, the father, did it in the Gulf War. You can do it bilaterally, you and another nation. You can you reach an agreement. You can work together. And you can do it unilaterally when the circumstances call for it.

I personally believe this is a circumstance because of the nature of it. As Dianne says, many have said today this is an act of war. The difficulty is, unlike Pearl Harbor, this is a stealth enemy.

Japan was identifiable. We knew where to find them ultimately, you know, after chasing around and we could identify. Here, we know pretty much. I mean, there's had a great certainty among many people about where the fingers point. But ultimately, we don't want to be a terrorist ourselves.

We have to do what we do with the knowledge and the certainty that we can determine, but we must be prepared, absolutely, to move unilaterally if we need to, to protect the honor and the civility that we stand for. And I think everybody in this country would support that based on the proper response with the proper information.

P.S. I'm still trying to figure out if Kerry ever visited Ground Zero. I'm assuming he has, but I'm having an awful hard time finding any record of it on the internet.

I'm still having trouble understanding why Senator Kerry's having served in Vietnam and been awarded some medals has anything to do with his ability to be president given that there are millions just like him who served and there have been numerous successful presidents without any war medals.

After arriving in Atlanta to campaign for Georgia's March 2 primary, Mr. Kerry said, "I don't know what it is that these Republicans who didn't serve in any war have against those of us who are Democrats who did."

And why does he think he's immune to criticism on his political views on defense in 2004 because he served in a war 40 years ago as a 20 year old? Do I want to see Kerry and Bush both debate how stupid they were back then? Kerry does because he was a "HERO".

Senator Kerry challenged Mr. Bush to a debate on the Vietnam era and "the impact of our experiences on our approaches to presidential leadership."

Read all about it here in the Times.

Oh, and a special thank you to Ralph Nader. Almost-President Gore sends his love.

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times is so disgusting that I can't even bring myself to provide a link. Suffice it to say that she compares President Bush to Ken Lay of Enron for no logical reason, just to put their names together in a sentence. She claims that Bush needs to use his wife to defend himslef against the AWOL charges when he himself faced off with Tim Russert on meet the press just a couple of weeks ago. What garbage.

President Carter blames YOU, my dear American readers, for the lack of peace, freedom and health in the developing world. Speaking on behalf of all of us, he says "we don't really care what happens to them".

Oh, please teach us of the white man's burden, Mr. Ex-President, liberator of the peoples of Iran, Afghanistan and Nicaragua!

And talking about helping the people's of the world - haven't we created more wealth through free trade and our economic success than anything else in the world? If we have such a huge trade deficit, isn't that in and of itself a form of aid? Giving anohter 10 or 20 or 30 billion dollars in aid will do one tenth as much for the future of the world as all the jobs we "lose" overseas and all the goods we purchase. If the Africans and the Arabs can't get their acts together, there is nothing we can do short of overthrowing their governments and starting from scratch like we're doing in Iraq. In short, democracy and trade better lives, not throwing money at corrupt governments.

Jews are upset with the utter ineptness and ridiculousness of Jewish groups claiming to represent them. And Mel Gibson is the squabble's benefactor. See the article at Jewsweek.

I absolutely agree - I am totally embarrassed by the actions of the Anti-Defamation League with regards to this movie. As I may have mentioned before I live only a few blocks from the "Dallas" multiplex mentioned in the article. In fact I just got a postcard invitation to join a local church in the mail with "Jesus Is Lord" stamped on the back. And people wonder why I want to send my daughter to a Jewish Day School when the evangelical Christian community is subtly pushing their religion on children like so many trench-coated strangers offering candy.

To get to my original point, that doesn't mean I think there's going to be a pogrom in my town - just more pamphlets and postcards in the mail which is annoying enough.

How can you not like this t-shirt, even if you're a Mets fans like me?

I'd like to make a twist on a famous quote by saying that "good news is no news", especially when it come to Iraq and the mainstream media. That's why you never get to here about stories like this one about an Iraqi who previously had a hand in making staues of Saddam Hussein, now honoring the Americans who liberated his country.

I can't believe we have to find out about this on a website that confirms or denies stories that seem so unusual that it bears digging deeper to see if they're true. My bet is that this is not as unusual as it appears, but we have become accustomed to hearing "quagmire", "growing insurgency", etc.

This picture of the statue was made by an Iraqi artist named Kalat, who for years was forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted Baghdad. This artist was so grateful that the Americans liberated his country, he melted 3 of the fallen Saddam heads and made a memorial statue dedicated to the American soldiers and their fallen comrades.

It seems that in the latest large exchange of prisoners and bodies between Hezbollah and Israel that a mistake was made and the body of a dead Jewish man was transferred by accident to Lebanon instead of an Arab. So, does Hezbollah politely ask to send the right body? Of course, not - they're terrorists, remember?

The paper reports that when Biro’s [the Arab's] family received the body, they discovered that it was actually a “religious Jew with a beard”, in their words. They hastily reported the mistake to Hezbollah officials. At first Israel denied it but later admitted that there had been an error and Biro’s body was still in Israel. Hezbollah is now demanding 30 additional bodies in return for the Jewish body that it received

U.S. official: Uranium enrichment parts found in Iran

No Kidding. Bombs away!

Found this on Instapundit - Michael Duff looks at Bush's post 9/11 strategy at the 30,000 foot level and it all makes sense.

Basically, now everyone knows for certain that someone's gonna git it if there's another attack on our soil. And I would hate to think of the weapons we'd have to use if we ran out of soldiers to place on the ground.

Although it is said that "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree", it is also said that children should not be punished for the sins of their fathers. Nevertheless, Mel Gibson's dad is not an educated man, to say the least. Here are his thoughts about the Holocaust.

"It's all -- maybe not all fiction -- but most of it is"

Jews are out to create "one world religion and one world government"

Many European Jews counted as death camp victims of the Nazi regime had in fact fled to countries like Australia and the United States

Needless to say he's even less smart for saying these things a week before his son's filmed passion play opens.

I think I'm beginning to like this John Edwards guy. OK, so I don't know what any of his stands are on any of the issues, I just think what he said here after the Wisconsin primaries was funny.

"The voters of Wisconsin sent a clear message," Edwards said. "The message was this: Objects in your mirror may be closer than they appear."

According to the Jeruslaem Post, thousands of haredi (orthodox) teenagers are turning to the dark side.

Haredi punks

Only time will tell...

Hicks: Deal aids Rangers' youth movement

The Texas Rangers, my adopted hometown team should still suck, although Soriano is a great player to watch. I wish I had had ore time to watch A-Rod before he was traded to the Evil Ones.

Well, since it's President's Day it wouldn't be right to speculate about the past lives of potential presidents.

4 days after the Drudge report (see below), John Kerry's alleged intern says "I never interned or worked for John Kerry."

Yet there is a strange double standard as the major newspapers try desperately to find out if Bush was AWOL for National Guard service 30 years ago.

"Both the New York Times and the Washington Post, for example, have written about whether President Bush actually carried out his duties as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard in 1973.

That has public importance given that trust and national security issues are major campaign themes. John Kerry's record as Senator and the support he has or has not received from lobby groups are also obviously fair game.

But neither paper has covered the John Kerry story which has engaged the attention of websites, radio and TV talk shows, some of the tabloid papers and elements of the foreign press."

And this from the same article according to the Washington Post's London correspondent:

"In any case, nobody would be too shocked if Kerry lied about an affair. Even if someone came to us with photographs we still wouldn't run it."

Dear friends - going on a nice vacation for about a week. If a can log on somewhere for awhile I will, but my goal is to relax. See you next week!

Finally, a lamp that you can turn "on" and "off" on Shabbos! The Kosher Lamp!

Hat tip to Protocols.

JUICY! From Drudge - of course.

CAMPAIGN DRAMA ROCKS DEMOCRATS: KERRY FIGHTS OFF MEDIA PROBE OF RECENT ALLEGED INFIDELITY, RIVALS PREDICT RUIN

Is it possible to accuse terrorist groups of war crimes when their whole rationale for being (genocide/suicide bombing) is a crime against humanity? Let's not quibble over semantics. Some things are just plain wrong.

Terrorists sending children on reconnaissance

And if this doesn't make you sick, here's some more lovely photos of how Palestinain freedom fighters use camouflage in order to safely battle those bastard Israelis who mercilessly kill children who are just walking to school or to their friend's homes.

A masked Hamas militant sets up a makeshift mortar launcher against Israeli forces, unseen, as Palestinian youths try to cover him from the sight of the forces during an incursion in a Gaza city's neighborhood, Wednesday Feb. 11, 2004.

What type of respect do we owe Islamic terrorists who are freaked out about touching non-Muslims? And if these people were ever caught and convicted for a crime (instead of killed), how do they not get off by having themselves declared insane?

AP Enterprise: Saudi-Born Leader Reflects Increasing Influence of Radical Islam on Chechen Rebels

"...many midlevel commanders initially refused to accept Abu Walid, said the rebels' liaison in southern Russia.

"But his attitude to the war and his faith won him a lot of respect," the liaison said.

He recalled a telling encounter at one meeting of rebel commanders when Abu Walid - who adheres to the conservative Wahhabi strain of Islam - embraced a journalist, convinced by his beard that he was a good Muslim. When he learned otherwise, he retreated from the world for two days, praying night and day to cleanse himself after touching an infidel.

That extreme piety, the liaison said, has won supporters."

I'm not exactly sure what the issue is here. Maybe because I grew up going to a modern Orthodox shul I don't see a problem with a mechitza at the Kotel.

Conservative rabbis protest segregation at Western Wall

Just like the old song - the Catholics hate the Muslims, and the Muslims hate the Protestants, but everybody hates the Jews.

Anti-Semitism infuses French debate on scarves

I'm glad I've already been to France to sightsee a couple of times, because I'm not really sure I want to go back.

Scary - Sex offenders found at extended-stay hotels. I was considering staying in one with my family on our next trip. Now I'm not so sure I would consider it. Could be a one-off case, but it's something to think about.

Quake rocks Israel, neighbor countries

little damage was done, so somebody's out of a job....

10,000 could die if earthquake were to hit Israel, Knesset panels told

There were some on the right who used to make jokes about the prisoners at Guantanamo saying that they probably were better off in an American prison without a right to a lawyer than they would have been living "freely" at home. Nice weather, consistent food, access to imams, etc.

Maybe it wasn't a joke?

I had a good time at Guantanamo, says inmate

I know it's just "kids", but it's still obnoxious. I hate kids who taunt other kids. I couldn't stand it in high school and I can't stand it now that I'm 20 years past high school. And all this at an elite Manhattan school to boot.

Fans' Anti-Semitic Slurs Incite a Flurry of Reaction at Schools

Can you believe that this has been going on for 2 1/2 years now?

Al Qaida planned airliner attack on Israel

U.S. Terror Expert Warns of Dirty Bomb

Arab Newspaper Says Al Qaeda Has Ukrainian Nukes

Which of these stories exactly does John Kerry think that President Bush is making up and pushing like crack in order to exaggerate the threat of terrorism?

Kerry says threat of terrorism is exaggerated

I am posting this in part to show that I am not opposed to airing out really stupid comments made by Israeli officials:

Israeli Minister Urges Christian Missionaries to Convert Muslim Militants

I'm telling you we Jews have it all wrong. We keep sending millions to Israel when other religions in the U.S. receive support from their "home" countries. The Catholic Church is supported by Rome, mosques are supported by the government of Saudi Arabia, etc.

To a point I made earlier, if radical Islam is supposed to be a small, not-widely-accepted version of Islam, how come it's so popular in the largest mosques here in the U.S.?

This from Chocago - Hard-liners won battle for Bridgeview mosque

An film made by a young Argentine Jew about an Argentine Jewish family was selected to be shown at the Berlin Film Festival. It's called "El Abrazo Partido" which is translated to "A Lost Embrace". I've seen this director's work in "Waiting for Messiah" at a Jewish Film Festival at Lincoln Center in NY a couple of years ago. It was a very good picture. I always love to see movies about Jewish life in other parts of the world, expecially Argentina where I spent quite a bit of time and met my wife.

It's one thing to be trapped while test driving an automobile with an evangelical Christian salesperson (which did in fact happen to me just after I moved to Texas). It's worse to be trapped in a speeding aluminum tube with said person as your pilot.

I better brush up on my bible as I'm planning to fly a couple of round trips on American later this month.

Just wanted to point people to a well-written article about why the Christian churches single out homosexuality as a sin becuase it's in the Old Testament, yet ignore other traditional laws like kashrut and death penalties for certain other acts, etc. The byline is from someone at my local daily newspaper, but I caught it on the online site for the Grand Forks Herald.

The New York Times, and possibly most other newspapers do not print responses to letters to the editor, but I just have to do it here. Lisa Rubin, who is probably a nice Jewish upper-middle class mommy, just like my wife writes the following about the War in Iraq:

Reading "The Administration's Scramble" (editorial, Feb. 6) and "Get Me Rewrite!," by Paul Krugman (column, Feb. 6), just reinforces the poor example the Bush White House is setting for children.

My son is 6 years old and already interested in politics. We talk about major news stories every day, and closely follow the election campaigns.

How does a strategy of pre-emptive war play out to children? If they told us, "I hit him because he was planning to hit me," that would never fly. Even my 6-year-old believes that self-defense is the only rationale for a fight, and even then we must try to use words first to resolve differences.

I think Ms. Rubin is raising her child rather stupidly - I hope he turns out OK. Let's say the bully in question goes to another school. The bully kills a bunch of his classmates, starts fights with a couple of nearby schools where your son's friends go and kills a bunch of kids there and then tries to kill your husband when he goes to visit the area. Your son goes over to the other school, takes out a bunch of the bully's friends and then captures the bully to be tried by law, in a manner agreed upon with the bully's classmates. Some more innocent children are hurt or killed in the process, but only a tiny fraction of those who the bully has hurt and killed in the past and most likely would have in the future.

Now Ms. Rubin, you've just taught your son to do the right thing and is a hero instead of a walking potential victim who chooses to spend his life debating with monsters.

And by the way, there's a man named Joe Smith in Florida who Ms. Rubin should "talk to". By herself. Maybe if she gets him to give up his car or other weapons he might have, he won't kill anyone else again. Or maybe not. But why should she care - he lives far away and never hurt her son.

And by the way, how would Ms. Rubin's son plan to stop the bully with "words". And what if it hadn't worked for 12 years while the killings continued?

I was watching a John Kerry speech on C-Span tonight which took place in Michigan. He came out with a line that was something like this - "We should not be builidng firehouses in Iraq and closing therm here" which got big applause from the crowd. I thought that was really appealing to the lowest common denominator - selfish desire for government funds and ignoring the world around you.

I figured he'd used it before, and sure enough it's an old line. See this Salon related blog from last July.

Here it is on Kerry's campaign site as transcribed from a speech last August.

Since I've been surfing the net, I don't think I've ever seen such an graphic description of a Jewish person taking a beating by bigoted assholes. Even more stunning was that it was a German guy in New York beating up a non-Jewish woman wearing a Jewish star.

I hope that this brave woman gets well quickly and the Nazi bastard gets sent back to his country of origin.

Link found at KesherTalk.

When the local evangelists come by with tickets for the Passion, show this woman's picture to them and then give them a history about real suffering.

Now that the latest unemployment figures are out, let's look at Bush's jobless recovery. While it is true that under President Clinton unemployment went down from 7.5 to 3.9 percent, it did take 8 years. In the best year of those years, unemployment was down 1.2 percent from Feb. 1994 to Feb. 1995 when the rate went from 6.6 to 5.4 percent. And that didn't happen until the economy had already been growing for 3 years!

Just in the last seven months, the unemployment rate is down 0.6 percent which seems to be a pretty steep drop, shaping up to be equal to Clinton's best year. And this is happening only 2 years after the last recession ended. Patience my friends!

In fact if you look at unemployment at the beginning of 2002 when Bush's first budget took affect, it's about the same now or a little lower and heading downward. That's after dealing with the post 9/11 recession, a bear market on Wall Street and a couple of wars. Seems like the Bush plan is working to me.

And by the way about the deficit/debt - percentagewise it was much worse under Reagan and everyone was screaming that future generations would have to suffer for it. Well, it's 20 years later the next generation has been born and I don't see us as being much worse off.

I'm more than happy to have someone show me numbers to convince me otherwise, because as they say, "figures lie and liars figure". And we all know BUSH LIED! Don't we?

The New York Times has once again used lawyerly language and subterfuge to alter the debate on Saddam's WMDs. This is from today's editorial - The Administration's Scramble

Mr. Rumsfeld told Congress that it was "possible, but not likely" that Iraq had not had weapons of mass destruction at the start of the war. He suggested that weapons might have been shipped to another country, destroyed just before the invasion or buried somewhere in Iraq. Those possibilities have largely been discounted by Dr. Kay.

Yet here is a quote from a January 2004 interview with Dr. Kay as reported in the Times-owned International Herald Tribune:

‘‘But we know from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some components of Saddam’s WMD program. Precisely what went to Syria, and what has happened to it, is a major issue that needs to be resolved.’’

How the words "we know" turns into "largely discounted" I'm not exactly sure. I think what the Times wants to say is that we are discounting Dr. Kay's statements since we do not have exact details as to the WMDs that went to Syria.

As much hatred as I have for radical Islam, I still consider myself fairly ignorant about the religion in general. Therefore, I still have faith in the "religion of peace" description, co-Abrahamic faith and all of that good stuff that will eventually win out in the end.

Just to show my ignorance, even after everything I've read about the hajj and Eid al-Adha this week, I thought Muslims were commemorating the potential sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. It turns out that at least part of Islam teaches that it was not Isaac under the knife, but Ishmael and that the Jews surreptitiously changed the Old Testament so that they could claim the covenant with G-d given to Abraham's son.

Here's on of the more in-depth defenses I saw from the standpoint of Islam. If you just "google" Isaac and Ishmael you'll find a lot more.

Does everyone who follows Islam think that the Jews stole what was rightfully theirs and lied to cover it up?

Now that my anger and disgust is back up - let's read about how some Palestinians "celebrate" this holiday (the attached photo is presented with the story but I don't know that it's from the event described below):

The holiday commemorates the story from the Quran when God told Ibrahim to sacrifice his son as a test of his faith. As Ibrahim raises the knife to carry out the command, God replaces the child with a sheep, which Ibrahim slaughters instead. In the Quran, Ibrahim is about to sacrifice his son Ishmael. The same story in the Bible has the man, known as Abraham, about to sacrifice another son, Isaac.

Muslims throughout the world slaughter a cow, camel or sheep to mark the feast. Freshly killed animals hung upside down from doorways across Gaza on Sunday so the blood could drain out. Some men carried plastic bags filled with meat.

In past years, Baha Nakip, 36, would slaughter a sheep. But this year, he said he and five friends each pitched in $245 to buy the cow to have more meat.

They tied it up to a post in an empty garage. Ashraf Abu Karish, a local butcher the men hired for $65, circled the frightened animal, occasionally jabbing it in the neck with a small, sharp knife.

About 20 friends, family and small children huddled in a doorway to watch - and Nakip pulled out his video camera to tape - as the cow struggled and slipped in its own blood before dropping dead.

Karish hoped to slaughter five or six cows by the end of the day, with each one taking about one and a half hours.

Nice



Good for a laugh - A Palestinian boy laughs, backdropped by handprints made by youths from the blood of a freshly slaughtered sheep, on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha

There's an interesting op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about some apparent contradictions in how some Muslims choose to celebrate Eid al-Adha:

Both in Mecca and Erbil, Eid al-Adha was marked by an inversion of traditional intent: to celebrate the sanctity of life. The bitter irony of this year's holiday speaks to an erosion in respect for human life in large parts of the Muslim world.

The thread that connects the recurring stampedes in Mecca, the suicide bombings in Iraq, and the lopsided exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah is the deficit of respect for the individual in the Arab world. This erosion has occurred in a political context, where too many governments in the region deny their citizens basic individual rights in order to maintain a tight grip on society. When societies trample over the individual, human life is debased.

Eid al-Adha offers a message of redemption, that a near child-sacrifice can be transformed into an appreciation of human life.

Amen.

Read the whole thing here.

Are you among the "unsaved"? If you see someone walking around with a pin that has Aramaic writing on it - don't ask.

Some Christians See 'Passion' as Evangelism Tool

I took this test from AOL News and Time Magazine and it told me that I should vote for Kerry, then maybe Edwards. Even Dean ranked ahead of Bush. Either my personal political compass is way off base or these guys have an agenda.

This game will keep you busy for awhile. Who needs an X-Box?

You gotta love this story:

PITTSBURGH - A second-grader was suspended for a day for telling a classmate he would go to hell for saying, "I swear to God."

Brandy McKenith, 7, was suspended for swearing for saying the word "hell," but her family says she was referring to the biblical location of fire and brimstone.

But that's not the funniest part - read her father's reaction:

"I said, `Hell? She got suspended for that?"' McKenith said.

You can't make this stuff up. Second grader suspended for swearing warning

I sure hope this guy represents Iraqi mainstream thought. Also from the Wall Street Journal.

'Battered But Not Bowed'

Here's a very interesting twist on the usual post 9/11 "Why do they hate us"? soul-searching. Bernard Lewis says we're asking the wrong questions.

“More generally ... you can’t be rich, strong, successful and loved, particularly by those who are not rich, not strong and not successful. So the hatred is something almost axiomatic. The question which we should be asking is why do they neither fear nor respect us?”

And here's another question from yours truly. Why do they think it's a zero sum game? Why can't we all be rich, strong and successful?

You can read the whole story in the Wall Street Journal here. Hat tip to LGF.

Aside from the pure revulsion that I felt when I read this story, it made me think. If one person heckles you, it's annoying. If thirty people heckle you and think you deserve to die, it's scary. Especially for a young woman.

And another thing - I think these hoodlums felt they could do what they did because in France they feel comfortable doing it - notwithstanding government statements that someone will "look into it".

French singer heckled as 'dirty Jew'

It looks like the Gaza pullout may actually happen and has the backing of the majority of Israelis and Sharon's opposition in the Knesset. Isn't it always the hardliners that wind up giving up land?

Olmert: Gaza evacuation to commence in June or July

Is there a punishment harsh enough for this crime?

Techie Names First Son Version 2.0

HOLLAND, Mich. - Tacking Jr. or II onto a boy's name is too common, a new father decided, so the self-described engineering geek took a software approach to naming his newborn son.

Jon Blake Cusack talked his wife, Jamie, into naming their son Jon Blake Cusack 2.0.

Version 2.0 was born Tuesday at Holland Community Hospital, and the proud parents took him home Friday.

"I wanted to find something different to name him besides Jon Blake," Cusack, who is self-employed with Westshore Design and Cusack Music, told The Holland Sentinel.

Umm, how about Jeffrey or Justin?

Sharon Tells Israeli Daily He Plans to Remove Israeli Settlers From Gaza

I'm all for this personally, I don't really see how Jews will ever we welcome there and I'm not particularly educated about any historical significance attached to Gaza. Normally, I think this kind of thing shows weakness, but this one really isn't worth it.

Perhaps it will make a good test case for what I think will eventually happen in the West Bank. First, the Jews pull out. Then the terrorists swarm in and attack Israel proper more frequently with rockets, missiles and such. Then the Israeli Army goes in and forces the Palestinians out of Gaza altogether into the Egyptian desert.

Is there another scenario that's even remotely likely?

By the way, if anyone thinks that peace is coming anytime soon, check out this cover of Life Magazine from 35 years ago, posted at LGF:



These are the parents (or even grandparents) of today's Palestinian death cult.