Mean, mean, mean. Separated at birth. Ursula vs. Pregnant Britney.

The Supreme Court delivers a sweeping, sharp, major rebuke (I couldn't find "stinging" for some reason) to the Bush administration in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. (Opinion here.) The opinion rules that the military tribunals set up for Guantanamo detainees is illegal (I think that's the right term). The court did not rule on whether the detention is legal or not, just that the judicial process offered to the detainees by the administration is insufficient given their rights under the Geneva Convention and military law.

I'm partial to the Bush argument of course, but reading the opinion is fascinating if you're into legal/talmudic disucussions about whether "international" literally means between nations or means taking place in different countires. Or whether "regular" means "permanent, standard" or "occassional, consistent". Or whether a state of war/hostilities started with Osama's declaration to kill Americans in 1996 or with the Authorization of Force issued by Congress in 2001 or somewhere in between. I think Justice Thomas' dissent is very logical and well laid out. If you don't think that politics or personal beliefs play a role in Supreme Court decisions, reading this opinion will disabuse you of that notion quickly.

Don't forget tomorrow at 10AMET - Quarterfinals Classic: Germany vs. Argentina.

From the WSJ, why Tom DeLay's gerrymandering in Texas, recently OK'd by the Supreme Court, is still more representative of the people's will than New York's current districting setup.

The New York Times, still failing to produce any Shakespeare, blasts the Supreme Court for mostly upholding a Republican gerrymander of Texas' congressional districts:

The new lines were drawn in such a partisan way that Republicans ended up with nearly two-thirds of the state's Congressional delegation. . . . It is disappointing that [the court] could not have come up with a decision yesterday that had a greater appearance of fairness.

Well, let's take a closer look. Under the previous, Democratic gerrymander (with which the Times finds no fault), Texas' congressional delegation consisted of 17 Democrats and 15 Republicans. After the gerrymander, Republicans had a 21-11 majority.

The new delegation, to be sure, favors the majority party more lopsidedly than the old one did. But does that mean it is less "fair"? If so, then New York's congressional delegation, in which the Democrats hold a 20-9 majority (i.e., more than two-thirds), is even less "fair" and more "partisan."

But of course Texas is a Republican state and New York is a Democratic one. You would expect the party that dominates a state to elect more representatives. How many more? Well, let's take the 2004 presidential results as our benchmark. Here are the percentages of the two-party vote Bush and Kerry got in Texas and in New York:

	Bush	Kerry
Texas	61.5%	38.5%
New York	40.7%	59.3%

Now, here is how the victorious presidential candidate's party fares in each state's congressional delegation, and the difference from the presidential share:

	Share	Diff.
Texas old (R)	46.9%	-14.6%
Texas new (R)	65.6%	+4.1%
New York (D)	69.0%	+9.7%

So by this measure at least, Texas' new gerrymander better represents the voters' preferences than New York's, which in turn does so better than Texas' old gerrymander. It is disappointing that the Times could not have come up with an editorial that had a greater appearance of fairness.

Superman or Super-Jewish-Man? Or Gay Superman?  Feh.

If you have extra time to kill, try this book - Up, Up and Oy Vey!: How Jewish History and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero.

Which reminds me, if you haven't read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, you should.  At least if you're a guy.

In other entertainment news, I saw the movie Jarhead the other day.  It didn't do much for me - probably because I didn't think there were any likeable characters. I do think Jake Gyllenhall did a fine job of acting though.  I don't know why people bother making war movies if they're not even going to attempt to come close to Saving Private Ryan.

I recently finished The Accidental Empire : Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977.  Very interesting history written from the center-left/left side of the political spectrum.  It seems clear that the settlements were a mistake from this perspective, although I think the author downplays the constant state of fear/war that Israel was under during the time.  Seems to me that not much has changed since '67, and if there were never any settlements, you'd still have things like tonight's actions happening constantly.  Are the Arabs not happy that Gaza is now Judenrein?

I'm about halfway through Suite Francaise by Irene Nemerovsky.  Némirovsky, a convert to Catholicism, began a planned five-novel cycle as Nazi forces overran northern France in 1940. This gripping "suite," collecting the first two unpolished but wondrously literary sections of a work cut short, have surfaced more than six decades after her death.  So far, I don't think it's great literature, although it definitely provides a look into a not too pleasant society and how it handled the Nazi invasion and occupation.  Like Jarhead, it's hard for me to get into because there are really no likeable characters, just people using their basest instincts in trying to survive - then again, I guess that's the point.  It's hard to believe that all of that happened only 65 years ago.

Just had a false fire alarm at the high-rise hotel I'm staying at in Manhattan at 11 o'clock at night.  Nothing like the thought of walking down 35 stories in a staircase crowded with summer tourists to get the blood going.  Not going to sleep soon.....

Ate at Stephen Pyles last Staurday night with the wife in Dallas.  Totally worth it if restaurants of note are your thing.  There are also enough menu options that allow you to keep down the tab to a reasonable price, especially at lunch time.

I din't get to eat in any fancy-shmancy palces here in NY - just room service for dinner and the usual bagel/cinammon rolls from the coffee cart for breakfast.  The tuna melt from Bazzini's for luch was quite yummy.  Hope I get a window between the rain storms to get home tomorrow night.

I'm very excited 'cuz I won 2 floor seats for the local stop of the Faith Hill / Tim McGraw Soul II Soul tour on eBay. Only a 40% markup on the face price which I didn't think was too bad - barely over the triple digits per ticket. This will be our first country concert and the first arena concert of any kind for my wife.

Am I crazy to pay that much money to go to a 2-hour concert? Maybe. However, I give you these lyrics from one of Mr. McGraw's more popular tunes.

He said I was in my early forties
with a lot of life before me
when a moment came that stopped me on a dime
and I spent most of the next days
looking at the x-rays
Talking bout the options
and talking bout sweet time
I asked him when it sank in
that this might really be the real end
how's it hit you when you get that kinda news
man what'd you do

and he said
I went sky diving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named fumanchu
and I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying
and he said someday I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.

I'll be happy when Drudge refreshes his page, as I would prefer not to read about a "teabagging" complaint during lunch.  Thank you very much.
My thoughts on the SWIFT financial transaction surveillance program can be found over at zarq's page.  I wrote, in part - There's a big difference between the public being interested in something and something being in the public interest which the newsmedia doesn't seem to understand.

Argentina vs Mexico at 3PM ET Saturday on ESPN.  Vamos Argentina!  The winner will play the winner of the day's earlier match, Germany v. Sweden.  If there is an Argentina v Germany match - oh my!

Yesterday, a Chase Bank branch near my home was robbed for the second time this year.  Not my bank, though.

I'm going to try to go to Stephen Pyles' restaurant tomorrow evening with the significant other.  He's supposed to be the hottest chef in town.  It's a splurge for us, but I'm having a little bit of a letdown after returning from our bed and breakfast getaway last weekend.  Next Sunday night I'm going to the Rangers-Astros game with my dad and daughter and I'll get my usual hot dog and peanuts in the upper deck.  It's nice to be able to live in both worlds.

Keeping on the food theme which I should post about more often, my stomach doesn't usually do well with wines, but I'm trying to find some that aren't so bad for me as I kind of like the snobby feel of drinking wine and a glass a day is supposed to be good for the heart anyway.  (I'm not too snobby though to keep a re-corked bottle in the fridge for a week which is way beyond how long a real oenophile would let his wine sit around).  In Central Market last night, i found this wine from Argentina - Postales del Fin del Mundo - "Postcards from the End of the World".  I don't care what it tastes like, but the label just took me away...I have found that I can deal with the Argentine Malbec pretty well, so technically, that's my favorite.

This report just warmed the cockles of my heart...whatever those are.

Bush seemed most animated when a European journalist asked about a belief of many Europeans that the United States is the biggest threat to global stability.

"That's absurd," Bush replied curtly.....

(Austrian Chancellor) Schuessel rose to Bush's defense, recalling the American support for European reconstruction after World War II and saying Europeans "should not be naive" about the necessity of tough action against terrorists, in view of attacks on the continent. He said the suggestion that the United States was worse than Iran and North Korea was grotesque.

Am I crazy, or is this not important?

Reading from a declassified portion of a report by the National Ground Intelligence Center, a Defense Department intelligence unit, Santorum said: "Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist."

Red Cross opens its doors to Israel

The inability of the world to accept a Jewish symbol even under humanitaian conditions says more about the World than it says about Israel or the Jewish people.

Just imagine, right now in a maternity ward somewhere in the world, a girlfriend has been born for me. Ewww. A Granddaddy fixation - James Woods (59) with girlfiend (20).

It's about time! Man Flab - It's Fab! It’s Tubby Time! Vince Vaughn, Jack Black, Leave Buff Bodies to Neutered Narcissists: Mattress-Top Torsos Hot on Beach This Summer

Do you know the Monkey Man?

Irony of ironies. A while back there was a Sunday when many Jewish organizations led nationwide protests against the genocide in Darfur. My rabbi led what I believe was one of the larger contingents of congregants in the Dallas area and was very vocal in the synagogue about how important it was for us to go (I didn't). Well, turns out those voices in Dallas and elsewhere were indeed heard in Africa. Problem is, now the President of Sudan thinks that bringing in peacekeepers to the area is a Jewish colonialist conspiracy.

When journalists pressed al-Bashir on his objection to U.N. troops in Darfur, he replied: ``It is clear that there is a purpose behind the heavy propaganda and media campaigns'' for international intervention in Darfur.

``If we return to the last demonstrations in the United States, and the groups that organized the demonstrations, we find that they are all Jewish organizations.''

New Plan Unveiled for 9/11 Memorial

Some people at Daily Kos are sure "the Jews" are behind the fact that Juan Cole did not get a professorship at Yale University. You can go and determine if the post and it's related cartoons are anti-Semitic or not. Cooment on the comments from leftist/anarchist Jewschool.

"Because shrouds don't have pockets" - Former Citigroup chairman Sandy Weill pledges to donate much of his personal fortune to charity.

In Manhattan, there's a Hispanic Kabbalah enthusiaist driving around in an old van advertising his A/C-refrigerator repair company Aleph. Thanks to Chaptzem Blog.



What kind of English do you speak? My profile is shown below.

Your Linguistic Profile::

50% General American English

30% Yankee

15% Dixie

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

In Wal-Mart's Home, Synagogue Signals Growth. It annoys me that the writer switches between synagogue and temple in the article. I hate using "temple" to describe a synagogue even though it's popular in the Reform movement. Can't explain why.

Boy do I hope this gets printed in the Arabic editions as well - Depressing Sermons

Last week, I attended Friday prayers in one of the mosques of the Saudi capital. The sermon that was delivered before the prayer addressed the issue of summer vacations stating that to travel to atheist countries is religiously forbidden except in cases of urgency. The speaker further added that one who travels to such countries for reasons that are not related to "education or medical treatment" is contradicting Sharia law.

The truth is that such an ignorant suggestion demonstrates the continuing strengthening of an extremist ideology and presents religious explanations that have absolutely no connection to the practices of Prophet Mohammed....

...The speaker finally ended his sermon by cursing the Christians and Jews.

Personally, I did not take part in these invocations against Jews and Christians as in the past, Jewish doctors have cured the illness of a relative and Christians live amongst us performing their roles honorably and faithfully, therefore, why would I pray that God curses them? The speaker has chosen to follow a path that differs to that of the Prophet Mohammed who always prayed for all people to be guided by God.

The continuation of such falsehood and fanaticism that cloaks itself in religion is disgraceful.

People are always asking, why do we give so much foreign (especially military) aid to Israel?  What do we ever get in return?  How about the targeting and recording device that brought al-Zarqawi's life to an end for starters?  Some more detail on how the system was used here at armytimes.com.

An armored bus carrying 16 year old Israeli girls was shot at in the West Bank.  Three girls were wounded by shrapnel and two others treated for shock.  I'd like to think that whoever shot at the bus may not have known it was full of children, but I could be wrong.

"We do not believe the Israelis were targeting civilians." Garlasco said. "We just want to know if it was an Israeli shell that killed the Palestinians (ed - in Gaza last week)."  Well, at least Human RIghts Watch admits that much.  That wasn't the story four days ago.  “The likelihood that the Ghalya family was killed by an explosive other than one of the shells fired by the IDF is remote,” said Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch.

The real story behind Bambi. Great podcast.

Did you know that diet soda was born in the Jewish Sanitarium for Chronic Disease in Brooklyn?  Fascinating history at AmericanHeritage.com.  More History of No-Cal.

$183 million for this?  I actually like it, which is more than I can say for most 20th century art.  Nevertheless, I think I would have used the money instead to like, buy a small country or something.



I couldn't even get through a minute of this three minute video of Connie Chung singing a farewell for her canceled MSNBC show...ouch.

The wife and I went to see The Lake House this weekend.  We really liked the movie even though the premise is totally illogical - we're suckers for date movies.  I can watch Sandra Bullock all day long.  I just so want to see her happy at the end of every movie that I'll believe anything that gets her there.

Just catching up after a nice, long weekend away from reality.  The wife and I stayed at The Inn at Craig Place in San Antonio for our first "kids-feee" weekend in six years or so.  Eleven points on a scale of one to ten.

Stuff I didn't know  - The coach (Jose Pekerman) and captain (Juan Pablo Sorin) of the Argentine soccer team are Jewish. 

The Argentine population in Houston has doubled in recent years.  The Argentine owned restaurant mentioned, Giannotti's Cafe, was voted to have the Best Pasta in Houston.

The idea of a population swap between the future Palestine and Israel is becoming a serious topic of debate.  I'm not too sure how many Israeli Arabs would be excited about living in Hamas-stan, even if they don't enjoy their current status as a minority getting second class services.

Talk about playing both sides off against each other.  Nestle is buying Jenny Craig.  What's their slogan going to be - "Crunch Bar today, crunchy granola tomorrow?" Mmmmm....Crunch Bars......

Pataki Increases Penalties For Swastikas, Hate Graffiti

New York Gov. George Pataki has signed legislation increasing the penalties for people putting swastikas on public property or on a private building without the owner's permission. The legislation also covers burning a cross without the property owner's permission. The law makes the swastikas and cross burnings more serious crimes than simple graffiti or vandalism. The governor said the swastika and burning cross have been used to threaten and intimidate members of ethnic, racial and religious minorities.

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Hamas offers to renew cease fire with Israel

So, they're willing to reinstitute a "cease-fire" that they broke after inventing a story about an Israeli attack.  Now they're promising to get the other  terror groups to stop sending Qassam rockets into Israel even though they had the power to do this before the "Israeli genocide".  I guess they need a cease fire so they can concentrate on killing other Palestinians.  Can't fight a two front war you know.

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The Mets are kicking ass.  I just thought I'd say that.  They're going for their 8th straight win (on the road!) in Philadelphia as I write this and are winning 5-2 in the 5th inning.

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Elder of Ziyon thanks the BBC for their diagram of how much of Israel can be reached by Palestinian rockets fire.  He gives us the added insight though of showing where these missiles could hit if they began to be launched from the West Bank and Lebabnon as well.  Not too much of Israel's population would be safe from rocket fire.  If you think you haven't heard of the longer-range Katyushas being fired from Gaza, it's not for lack of trying.

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Girls can marry at 15, Colorado court finds.  Then can go straight to jail after the post-coital run to buy cigs at the 7-11.

At what point does liberal journalism become aiding and abetting the enemy? I think it would be considered as such if a newspaper makes an active decision to give the benefit of the doubt to our enemies and publishes fantastical stories that are meant to be critical of our government and the war effort.

Case in point - The NY Times printed Detainees in Despair, a first person account by Mourad Benchellali, a former Gitmo prisoner who was supposedly falsely imprisoned and totured - all in our name.

In the early summer of 2001, when I was 19, I made the mistake of listening to my older brother and going to Afghanistan on what I thought was a dream vacation....

And this didn't set off bells and whistles to begin with at the editor's desk?!?

His friends, he said, were going to look after me. They did — channeling me to what turned out to be a Qaeda training camp. For two months, I was there, trapped in the middle of the desert by fear and my own stupidity.

Americans love self-deprecation!

After two weeks in the American military base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, I was sent to Guantánamo, where I spent two and a half years. I cannot describe in just a few lines the suffering and the torture....

For that, you will have to buy my book - see the plug at the bottom of the page.

I was eventually released and I will go on trial next month in Paris to face charges that I've never denied, that I spent two months in the Qaeda camp....

It was an accident, I assure you! (I wonder if he was free to go at any time or did al-Qaeda use Guantanamo like measures to keep him there - he doesn't say.

I wasn't anti-American before and, miraculously, I haven't become anti-American since....

But what the Times doesn't tell you is that he would be the first in his family to feel that way. You see his father and brothers were convicted TODAY, in France of preparing to commit terrorist attacks in France.

In handing down sentences, the court followed the prosecutor's office by giving the maximum 10-year term to the group's alleged chemicals expert, Menad Benchellali. However, Menad's father, Chellali Benchellali, an imam, or prayer leader, in the Lyon suburb of Venissieux, received only an 18-month suspended prison term -- far lower than the prosecution's demand for six years behind bars.

The court convicted 24 defendants of criminal association in relation with a terrorist enterprise, a broad charge used by France to sweep wide in bringing terror suspects to justice. One other was convicted of using false papers.

The Benchellali family was at the center of the case, with Menad's mother, Hafsa, and brother, Hafed, also on trial for roles in the plot to carry out an attack in France.

Coincidence? Or is there a smidgen of possibility that this guy was as dangerous as the governement says Guantanamo detainees are?

Read the Times op-ed piece again, knowing what you know now. Do you think they could have done a little research on this guy and his connections to terrorism (he admits to being at an al-Qaeda camp too!) before printing his sob story.

Disgusting.

What none of these stories say is how the French managed to catch all those family members. Could have something to do with that box of candy Benchellali earned at Guantanamo. Maybe this is really a concealed effort to try to convince his family not to kill him for giving them up.

Just imagine if it was his testimony that resulted in these dozens of arrests in Europe. Seems less fantastical to me that the story the Times is helping him peddle.

Controversial (or so says the white media) clip of A Tired Black Man.  One film director's response to the Oprah-Angelou-McMillan axis.

Top of Newsweek's link of political cartoons regarding al-Zarqawi's death.  There's rhetoric, and then there's BDS (Bush Derangement SYndrome).

Remember what the Editors of the New York Times had to say yesterday about the Iraqi Prime Minister's failure to appoint Defense and Interior Ministers to his cabinet?

"Almost six months after Iraqis voted for their first full-term government, two of the most essential jobs in that government remain unfilled: the interior minister, who oversees the police, and the defense minister, who oversees the army. That would be a serious political crisis in any country. It is little short of calamitous for Iraq."

So now on the day following the appointments, does the Times consider the situation resolved?  Is there a great releif now that disaster has been averted?

"....it will take far more than the elimination of a handful of iconic leaders to stem the tide of the Iraqi insurgency and reverse the country's alarming slide into civil war....A modest step in that necessary direction was taken yesterday with the parliamentary confirmation of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's remaining cabinet members."

When things go wrong it's a calamity.  When those same things are put right, it's a modest improvement.

Do I even need to mention that in today's editorial which focused on the death of Zarqawi there is not one word of congratulations for our military and intelligence services who had been working for years trying to hunt him down?  Even if you hate the President, give some credit to the guys on the ground.

You would think that someone with a fancy title like Vice Chairwoman for the State Senate District Committee of a county's Democratic Party would be a little less childish and liitle more smart.

Dog Feces left at Congresswoman's Office

Republican U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's re-election campaign was already heated, and it just got smelly as well: Her staff accused a Democratic activist Thursday of leaving an envelope full of dog feces at Musgrave's Greeley office.

That opening paragrpah is a little misleading given that the leaver of dog leavings admitted to the stunt.

Ensz (ed. - Kathleen Ensz, a Weld County Democratic volunteer) told The Associated Press she left the envelope at Musgrave's office but said it "wasn't in the office doors, it was in the foyer." Asked what she meant by the act, she declined comment.

And how did they find her out?

Musgrave spokesman Shaun Kenney said someone stuffed the envelope through the mail slot in the door on May 31 and then sped away in a car. Kenney said most of the preprinted return address was blacked out, but staffers used the nine-digit ZIP code to trace it to...Ensz.

Maybe next time she'll just use a plain envelope from home.

Musgrave is not unused to seeing harsh attacks though. During the 2004 campaign a group run by former Colorado Democratic Party Chair Tim Knaus aired an anti-Musgrave ad that showed "a look-alike of a Colorado congresswoman fleecing a corpse and an American soldier during battle."  That being said, her opponent claimed "I personally never would have run a spot like that in my campaign".

As usual, the NY Times is quick to point out when they think things in Iraq aren't moving as quickly as they would like.

Almost six months after Iraqis voted for their first full-term government, two of the most essential jobs in that government remain unfilled: the interior minister, who oversees the police, and the defense minister, who oversees the army. That would be a serious political crisis in any country. It is little short of calamitous for Iraq.

I guess they weren't able to retract this before this piece of news hit the wires overnight:

Iraq appoints security ministers

The Iraqi parliament has approved the prime minister's nominations for the three key security posts in the new Cabinet, ending a stalemate among politicians over the filling of these positions.

Lawmakers Tuesday approved Jawad Bolani, a Shiite, for interior minister; Gen. Abdel Qader Jassim, a Sunni who has been Iraq's ground forces commander, for defense minister; and Shirwan al-Waili, a Shiite, for minister of state for national security.

As I was about to walk into Eatzi's, a well-known gourmet deli here in Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks was walking out.  Another one of the Mavs were coming out too, but to be honest I'm not big enough of a fan to know much of the rest of the team.  Dirk is the seven foot tall German dude, so it's pretty easy to figure out who he is.

The building I work in is part of The Crescent complex which includes the Crescent Court Hotel.  Since we're only a few blocks from the Amercian Airlines Center, pretty much all the visiting basketball and hockey teams stay here.  A couple of guys in my office apparently literally bumped into Shaq going into the Au Bon Pain in the lobby.

All this may change once they finish the new W and Ritz Carlton nearby.

Game 1 - Tonight - Miami vs. Dallas.  Go Mavs!

I recently bought myself the new Motorola Q "smartphone".  For years I've been wanting to have a blackberry type device for my personal use although I never really had enough personal e-mail traffic to justify it.  Being the internet junkie that I am, I got a wireless broadband card from Verizon last year and have been dragging my 7-8 pound personal laptop with me whenever I travel.  That was getting to be a drag although the service was uniformly excellent.

So when I read the reviews of the Motorola Q and that I could have my phone, broadband internet and e-mail all in one place and that it would run on Windows software and could sync with my personal Microsoft Outlook, I just had to have it.  No more laptop, just a slim, calculator sized device to connect me to the world.  Did I mention that it also plays videos and mp3s?  With the added memory in a miniSD card (I got 1GB) it holds as much as I might ever put on an iPod.

Many reviews like this one in the NY Times have mentioned that the device is cool, but the software not so much.  This is undoubtedly true, but I'm not bothered by the extra second or two it might take to perform some functions and the extra functionality offered by other devices like the Treo are just not that necessary for me for my personal use.

I'm in love.

Al Zarqawi is dead.  I don't think I'll have much to add except that I think there's some kind of moronic convergence going on - perhaps it is a herald of the end of the world of something.

Reaction of Al Zarqawi's colleagues - "We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the majahed sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi....The death of our leaders is life for us"

Reaction of U.S. citizen Michael Berg, whose son Nick was beheaded in Iraq in 2004 (maybe by Zarqawi himself) - "I have no sense of relief, just sadness that another human being had to die."  Berg blames President Bush for his son's death.

Even if, especially if, you agree with Michael Berg's politics, is there any doubt that eventually these two philosphies of life and death would lead to some sort of clash?

In an article about Governernor Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign kickoff by Jennifer Steinhauer, the report begins in standard, relatively dry newspaper fashion.

Schwarzenegger Voices New Confidence

SAMOA, Calif., June 7 — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began his re-election campaign on Wednesday by racing through the state, boasting about budgets and bond issues and expressing confidence that he would defeat the newly minted Democratic contender, Phil Angelides, the state treasurer.

Mr. Angelides beat Steve Westly, the state controller and a former eBay executive, on Tuesday with 48 percent of the vote in the primary. In their race, the two spent the better part of their budgets on television advertising to accuse each other of malfeasance and general incompetence.

Mr. Angelides, the more liberal of the two, had the strong support of a majority of unions in the state and its top-ranking Democrats.

Pretty standard stuff, right? Then comes this line....

Mr. Schwarzenegger, whose constituents thought so little of him last winter that it seemed anyone with a bank account and a pulse could remove him, ran without serious opposition in the Republican primary and won nearly 90 percent of the vote. He said he was unafraid of the campaign against Mr. Angelides.

"I'm only afraid of not being able to do the things that I want to do," Mr. Schwarzenegger said in an interview in a restaurant here on the remote northern coast. "And I'm not afraid of that, either."

The governor, looking relaxed, well coiffed and a shade somewhere between sun-kissed and Sunkist, added: "I don't look at it as a campaign against somebody. I'm looking at it much more a campaign for the State of California."

Ouch! Pretty unprofessional if you ask me. These things should be reported, but why the snarky language? In any case, does he really look that tan, or orange for that matter, in the photo below taken at the event being reported on?

I think I'll write a letter to the Ombudsman, this seems like blatantly biased (i.e., false) reporting to me.

Democrats failed to gain the U.S. House seat given up by disgraced former Representative "Duke" Cunningham as Republican Brian Bilbray defeated Francine Busby by a 49%-45% margin.

GOP candidate narrowly wins California race

Republicans will say that the "culture of corruption" charges aren't sticking to the party as a whole and will not matter in individual races in November.  Democrats will point out that Busby lost the seat to Cunningham by 20 points in 2004 and the closer race now shows a large shift of Republicans flipping to their side in disgust.

In either case, it probably didn't help Busby much when she made the mistake of telling a mostly Hispanic crowd just before the election that, "You don't need papers for voting, you don't need to be a registered voter to help."  Although she later claimed that she was talking about minors who wanted to help her campaign, it was taken by almost everyone that she was talking about "undocumented" immigrants.  Definitely not the right thing to say in a Republican-leaning border city.

Someone died in a local traffic accident because of some stupid ass.   Stray donkey causes fatal crash on I-45

I swear that traffic was lighter today than normal, even though I left for work later than I normally do.  I wouldn't doubt if people are staying home out of fear that Satan is waiting for them.  Maybe they're just in line to see the remake of The Omen, which opens today (of course).  Then again, maybe it's all just a big misunderstanding.  Beast's Real Mark Devalued to '616'

For the first time since a concerted effort to return art stolen by the Nazis during the Holocasut began, a painting is being returned from Texas - the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth to be exact.  Kudos to them.  Honestly though, the artwork doesn't seem like anything to write home about.

Glaucus and Scylla, a magnificent 1841 circular painting on wood that has long been a highlight of the Kimbell's permanent collection, was purchased in 1902 by Jewish art collectors John and Anna Jaffe, British citizens who lived in Nice, France. After Anna's death, in 1942, the painting was among 60 items confiscated by the pro-Nazi Vichy government in Nice. It was sold in 1943 at an auction of "Jewish property." The Kimbell purchased it in the mid-'60s from a gallery in New York.



Big special election in California today to fill the House seat left open due to the resignation of Republican Randy "Duke" Cunningham after pleading guilty to corruption charges.  Final polls show Republican Brian Bilbray and Democrat Francine Busby in a dead heat.  Busby lost to Cunningham in 2004 by a 20 percent margin, so the question is whether the impending close results have to say about this case of corruption in particular versus people's views on Republicans in general.

Remember all the hoopla over the big cut in anti-terror grant money for NY budgeted by the DHS?  Of course you do, it happened only last week!

But do you remember when, in 1994, the federal governement seriously cut back on AIDS research grants to New York City?  Wasn't a "thinking" Democrat in the White House then?

New York City is losing three of its four community-based clinical trials, a decision that is prompting outrage here and igniting a debate on whether there is a right to participate in clinical trials.

The Federal Government, which pays for the research, has decided to place only one of its 16 programs in New York, the city in the United States with the most people with AIDS. Within three years, the number of New York patients being treated in the trials will decline to 534, from 2,130.

Officials at the National Institutes of Health say their motive was scientific, to pick the best research projects. But New York community groups and politicians, including Senators Daniel P. Moynihan and Alfonse M. D'Amato and Representative Charles B. Rangel, are fighting the shift, protesting that a city with such a high proportion of AIDS patients should have a commensurately high proportion of the research dollars.

It's deja vu all over again.

In the War on Terror, the Department of Homeland Security studies threats to the United States and determines which targets are most likely to be hit, which are the easiest or hardest for terrorists to hit, what the casualty counts might be, etc.  Think CTU on "24".

While Americans can work up a pretty good sweat regarding traitors to Jack Bauer, will anyone get upset at ABC News for releasing an "Official Use Only" threat assessment produced by DHS?  Here is the footnote on the cover page.

(U) Warning: This document is UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY (U//FOUO). It contains information that may be exempt from public release under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552). It is to be controlled, stored, handled, transmitted, distributed, and disposed of in accordance with DHS policy relating to FOUO information and is not to be released to the public, the media, or other personnel who do not have a valid “need-to-know” without prior approval of an authorized DHS official.

In it's excitement to prove that the DHS is screwing New York and Washington by cutting their anti-terror grants, ABC News "obtained" and published a recent detailed report on the terrorist threat to the U.S. rails system. 

There really isn't a need to tap American's phones to find out who's giving info to al-Qaeda.  ABC News is publishing helpful hints for all the world to see.

The ABC report also mentions that, "New York's rail terminals and commuter rail lines are at the top of the terrorist hit list, according to a Department of Homeland Security strategic report".

First of all this is misleading because the report that was leaked to them was only concerned with the U.S. rail system, commerical and public.  It did not concern itself with other threats (to air traffic, nuclear power plants, ports, etc.) so there is no way to know if the targets mentioned are at "the top of the terorirst hit list".  What about schools or malls?  Secondly, it actually says that it would be more likely that an attack would occur on a train traveling between cities (which are generally not traditional commuter lines like the LIRR or Metro-North), and not in the rail terminals themselves.

Feh.

Jewish Heritage Day: As part of Jewish Heritage Day, the Marlins this afternoon will give away Mike Jacobs T shirts — even though they wrongly assumed that Jacobs is Jewish.

"They said it wasn't done intentionally but I don't know about that,'' Jacobs said. "It's a big joke around here.''
Click the little promotion star in the Marlin's schedule for May 28 to see that this was not a joke.

For  a few days now, I've been reading up on these violent protests in Iran, but I never really bothered to check if the MSM were really ignoring the story or not.  (You would think that any kind of upheaval in Iran where people die would be news).  Turns out the NY Times is indeed half-heartedly covering the story.  Apparently, some of the riots started when an Iranian newspaper published a cartoon or a cockroach speaking Azeri.  This pissed off parts of the Azeri community which apparently make up 25% of Iran's population.

Since the Times didn't publish an image of the offending cartoon, I figured I'd try to google the image.  I put in the words "Azeri" and "cockroach" in the search bar.  What was my result?

"Did you mean 'American cockroach'"?

Boy, somebody out there doesn't think much of us....

A CNN reporter remembers the marines serving around Haditha as being unusually restrained and cool under fire.

A New Yorker essay on Oriana Fallaci.  Muslim hater or prophet? (Have to read this later)

Subway opens a kosher store in the JCC of Cleveland.

Look out for the spawn of Satan, coming to a maternity ward near you on 6/6/06.  Some moms are inducing early.  My second daughter was born by a scheduled C-section on September 19, 2003.  I almost wanted to have my wife do it on September 11 as a sign of re-birth and hope, but figured that it would really make a terrible birthday.  Turns out that she was born about 8:50AM right about the time of the attacks, so that was a good enough connection for me.

This "fake town" is a short bicycle ride from my house.  We go there (without the kids) for a movie or the occasional nice lunch/dinner.  It is indeed a Disnified version of urban America - great place to spend a few hours - very pricey stores - not necessarily where I'd want to live.  Maybe if I were single.

I think I'll have a little dessert after lunch today. 

Making Texas Cows Proud

"Blue Bell ice cream, to be specific, which is made in out-of-the-way Brenham and which many people consider the best in the country. So many people think so that Blue Bell, though sold in only 16 states, mostly in the South, and sold for a premium price, ranks No. 3 in sales nationally....."



*drool* 

Damn, it's only 7:30 in the morning.

*drool*

Quit it!

*drool*

Hey, people can write whatever they want, but I'm having a little trouble understanding the motivations of this particular novelist....

When the author switched the protagonist's politics to Nazism, he explained, it was because he "thought he had something to say from the standpoint of a Gestapo officer."

He went on: "I think I felt I could understand the animosity and hatred which a German would have for the Jews. Nobody's trying to see it from that point of view. I guess I have stuck my neck out here in a number of ways, but that's what writers are for, maybe."

He laughed and added: "I sometimes think, 'Why did I do this?' I'm delving into what can be a very sore subject for some people. But when those shadows would cross my mind, I'd say, 'They can't ask for a more sympathetic and, in a way, more loving portrait of a Nazi.' "

Hans is lovable, or at least appealing; he's in many ways the most moral and thoughtful character in the entire book......

-------------------------------------------------------------

Now read the real story about John Updike's newest novel, "Terrorist" as reported in the NY Times.

When Mr. Updike switched the protagonist's religion to Islam, he explained, it was because he "thought he had something to say from the standpoint of a terrorist."

He went on: "I think I felt I could understand the animosity and hatred which an Islamic believer would have for our system. Nobody's trying to see it from that point of view. I guess I have stuck my neck out here in a number of ways, but that's what writers are for, maybe."

He laughed and added: "I sometimes think, 'Why did I do this?' I'm delving into what can be a very sore subject for some people. But when those shadows would cross my mind, I'd say, 'They can't ask for a more sympathetic and, in a way, more loving portrait of a terrorist.' "

Ahmad is lovable, or at least appealing; he's in many ways the most moral and thoughtful character in the entire book......

The Jewish holiday of Shavuos begins Thursday evening, June 1.   There are a number of places in the Torah where we are commanded to celebrate this holiday. Including:

Deuteronomy 16:9 You shall count seven weeks for yourself; from[the time] the sickle is first put to the standing crop, you shall begin to count seven weeks.
10 And you shall perform the Festival of Weeks to the Lord, your God, the donation you can afford to give, according to how the Lord, your God, shall bless you.
11 And you shall rejoice before the Lord, your God, -you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite who is within your cities, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are among you, in the place which the Lord, your God, will choose to establish His Name therein.

12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall keep and perform these statutes.


Shavuot is the culmination of the counting of the 49 days of the Omer. These are the number of days between Passover and Shavuos.  It marks the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. The Ten Commandments are read in synagogues on Shavuot just as they were in the desert on Mt. Sinai over 3,300 years ago.


More at the usual sites:

Chabad
Aish.com
Judaism 101
Jewish Virtual Library
OU.org


Note of interest - since Shavuot occurs 50 days after Passover, Christians gave it the name Pentecost. However, the actual Christian commemoration of Pentecost occurs on the seventh Sunday after Easter.

The Ontario wing of Canada's largest union has voted to join an international boycott campaign against Israel "until that state recognizes the Palestinian right to self-determination."

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And in Toronto today...A walk along the lakefront to raise funds and celebrate Israel’s accomplishments turned nasty and police carted away marchers and protesters after the two groups clashed. About 30 protesters wearing black stood defiantly against the annual Walk With Israel fundraiser. The group’s spokesman, Abbie Bakan of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA), questioned what is being celebrated by the United Jewish Appeal Federation’s event.

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The National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education, Britain's biggest union of college teachers, is to vote Monday on a resolution enjoining its 67,000 members to boycott Israeli colleagues who do not distance themselves from what it calls Israel's "apartheid policies."

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French police opened an investigation Monday after suspected members of an extremist group marched through a Jewish quarter in central Paris shouting anti-Semitic slogans over the weekend. Shoppers in the historic Marais neighbourhood, one of the busiest districts in the Jewish area of Paris, were left in shock early Sunday evening after a group of extremists terrorized community members with anti-Semitic verbal abuse.

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In Jerusalem, a 14-year-old Jewish boy was lightly injured in the back in a stabbing attack, police said Saturday.

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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran said that Germans should no longer allow themselves to be held prisoner by a sense of guilt over the Holocaust and reiterated doubts that the Holocaust ever happened. In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, Ahmadinejad said he doubted that Germans were allowed to write "the truth" about the Holocaust and that he was still considering traveling to Germany for the World Cup soccer tournament.....Iran's first World Cup match is against Mexico in Nuremberg (ed. - of all places!) on June 11, and German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said Iran's president would be welcome to come because Germany wants to be a good host.

Genesis - Chapter 9

15. And I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and between you and between every living creature among all flesh, and the water will no longer become a flood to destroy all flesh.

16. And the rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will see it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and between every living creature among all flesh, which is on the earth."

17. And God said to Noah: "This is the sign of the covenant that I have set up, between Myself and between all flesh that is on the earth."

First, a thank you to Pope Benedict XVI for visiting Auschwitz.  It means a lot more to me than when Oprah visits. (OK, I would like to find a torrent of the show somewhere.)



Here's the report of the German-born Pope's arrival at a mass given for 900,000 people.

Benedict made a triumphant entrance in his popemobile, riding through a sea of flags — red and white for Poland, yellow and white for the Vatican — with the choir singing the refrain, “Poland welcomes you, Poland thanks you.”

Well, one thing's for sure, it's better being the Pope than the Chief Rabbi.

Poland's chief rabbi, (American-born) Michael Schudrich, was attacked in a central Warsaw street on Saturday in what the Interior Ministry said was probably a provocation meant to portray Poland as an anti-Semitic country.

"While I was walking in Warsaw, someone yelled 'Poland is for Poles'...I went back and asked him why he said that and then he hit me and sprayed me with something like pepper gas."

Is there a word in Polish for "ironic"?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a related note, I recently finished "The Wall" by John Hersey, the author of Hiroshima who wrote most of his best work in the 1940s and 1950s.  It's a fictional story based on the true account of a solitary Jewish man who lived in the Warsaw ghetto and kept an archive of everything that happened to him and his acquaintences throughout the deportations, uprising and ultimate liquidation of the ghetto.  There are love stories, births, deaths (of course) and the day-to-day moral issues of what happens to people who know that their every action, even facial expressions, can result in life or death.  Even though this is "just" a work of fiction, I am amazed that I'm only discovering it now as I think it can add so much to everyone's understanding of what it must have been like to be Jewish in Poland during WWII.  I highly recommend it to anyone.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke this morning to a Joint Session of Congress.

Strength, without courage, will only lead to brutality. Courage, without strength, will only lead to futility. Only genuine courage and commitment to our values, backed by the will and the power to defend them, will lead us forward in the service of humanity.

To the Congress of the United States and to the great people of America, I wish to say 'Chazak Ve'ematz' be strong and of good courage, and we, and all peoples who cherish freedom, will be with you.

The Bible tells us that as Joshua stood on the verge of the Promised Land, he was given one exhortation: 'Chazak Ve'ematz' 'Be strong and of good courage".

Strength, without courage, will only lead to brutality. That is represented by Abu Ghraib.

Courage, without strength, will only lead to futility. That is represented in the article "Only Cowards Think We're At War" which appeared recently at the Huffington Post.

I've been listening to NPR a liitle more, just to listen to something other than the Bush-bashing and whining you hear all the time on conservative talk shows.  Seriously.  (If you don't think Bush is ever criticized on talk radio, you really haven't been paying attention lately, especially since all of the immigration fuss started).

I've actually thought most of the news coverage I've heard was relatively fair, or at least not way off the mark.   Then I heard an opinion piece by Deborah Mathis, a syndicated columnist and professor at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University regarding her thoughts on black Republicans. 

"If (Republicans) Steele, Swann, and Blackwell only look black and don't remember black...well, you might as well Al Jolson."

I'm white and I don't remember the last time I was more offended by something I heard on the radio.  I'm trying to think of a paralell to what a fellow Jew might call me becuase of my conservative beliefs, but I can't think of a similar insult.  Audio here.

Now I know I'm mixing a little bit of apples and oranges here, but remember when there was a big uprorar not too long ago (by Bush critics mostly) when NASA scientist James Hansen was being harassed into not giving speeches that contravened Bush policy? After all , who would be for stifling dissenting opinions in the search for truth?

The ACLU might be an example.

ACLU May Block Criticism by Its Board.

"Where an individual director disagrees with a board position on matters of civil liberties policy, the director should refrain from publicly highlighting the fact of such disagreement," the committee that compiled the standards wrote in its proposals.

"Directors should remember that there is always a material prospect that public airing of the disagreement will affect the A.C.L.U. adversely in terms of public support and fund-raising," the proposals state.

Via Israellycool, the video of Israel's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, sung by Eddie Butler.

More here:  Black Hebrew Eddie Butler to represent Israel at Eurovision Song Contest.

In other Israel-related news - looks like the IDF caught a big fish.  The BBC is unclear on why the Israelis would still go after someone whose group hasn't sent any suicide bombers into Israel for the last 15 months.  Does that mean we should have stopped looking for bin Laden years ago?

U.S. President George W. Bush has alienated Muslims around the world by using absolutist Christian rhetoric to discuss foreign policy issues, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says.

I'm not sure what "absolutist" Christian rhetoric means, but I'm not sure that President Bush is using it. Would absolutist rhetoric include statements like these...

When we think of Islam we think of a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world. Billions of people find comfort and solace and peace. And that's made brothers and sisters out of every race -- out of every race. - September 17, 2001

Islam is a peace-loving faith that is practiced by more than one billion people, including millions of American Muslims. These proud citizens contribute to the diversity that makes our country strong, and the United States is grateful for the friendship and support of many Muslim Nations that are vital partners in the global coalition to fight against terrorism. - November 5, 2002.

"Americans hold a deep respect for the Islamic faith, which is professed by a growing number of my own citizens," Bush said. "We know that Islam is fully compatible with liberty and tolerance and progress... - October 22, 2003

I could go on of course. And it's not hard to find those voices who think Bush and others have all bent over a little too far to be nice. I find it hard to see how the consistent, positive promotion of Islam translates into "absolutist Christian rhetoric". But maybe it's becuase he keeps saying that God is on our side? Let's put aside the fact that leaders of every religion say that in times of crisis, making it HUMAN rhetoric as opposed to Christian rhetoric. Now let's see some of that "God is with us and only us" talk.

We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. - State of the Union 2005

So becuase Bush mentions God often, he is accused of being a Crusader even when he specifically says that we cannot know what God ultimately wants and that our victory is not by any means inevitable!

The real issue here is that Jews and Christians in the U.S. (read - liberals) don't like Bush's mention of God because they either don't believe in God or more often believe that God would not want us to follow the path that the Bush administration has taken. For those that do believe in God, do they NOT believe that God moves and chooses as He wills? Of course they do.

Finally as for Albright's ridiculous claim that, "I worked for two presidents who were men of faith, and they did not make their religious views part of American policy," she said, referring to Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, both Democrats and Christians.", I would like to quote President Carter himself.

"You can't divorce religious belief and public service ...
I've never detected any conflict between God's will
and my political duty. If you violate one,
you violate the other."

Just wanted to pass on a comment I heard on talk radio this morning.  Laura Ingraham (who I do find kind of screechy and Ann Coulter-ish) was playing a clip of Judge Judy who was ripping into some guy for not wanting to pay child support to his ex-wife or something like that.  Anyway, Judge Judy said something like, "it is the children's right to have the financial support of both parents".

I never thought about it that way - I always thought of child support as being the right of the guardian parent (even if the law proscribes that the money is spent on the children's needs).

If the law doesn't read that way, it probably should.

Nice article in the Charleston Post & Courier (of all place) about Radio Jai in Argentina (pronounced Chai with the guttural "ch" which means "life" in Hebrew) .

Buenos Aires' Radio Jai lone voice for Jews

I actually listen to the Coffee Break program (yes it has an English name!) every once in a while over the internet at work. Not too long ago I sent them an e-mail during their show and they responded and talked about it (all in Spanish, of course). They then thanked their "new listener" from Texas!

It's amazing that there is no 24 hour radio station with a Jewish focus in the U.S. Are guess we're all just too divided amongst ourselves to come up with a format.

The Dixie Chicks: America Catches Up With Them

In a three page web-article on the Dixie Chicks, the NY Times tries to make the claim that most Americans are now embarrassed that George Bush is President of the U.S. Or that it's a good idea to criticize the choice of the fellow citizens to an overseas audience as we're about to go to war.

The album arrives at a time when approval for President Bush has dropped to as low as 29 percent, in a recent Harris Interactive poll.

There's no doubt that the President is extremely unpopular now as the article points out by using the lowest poll number it can find. But unpopular is different than embarrassed. And it's not like most other Presidents haven't had their moments in the doghouse.

On Amazon.com, preorders recently placed "Taking the Long Way" at No. 5 in a Top 10 that also includes albums with antiwar songs by Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Paul Simon and Pearl Jam.

Since when does the Amazon.com better reflect overall record sales than Billboard? Only one of the albums mentioned by the Times is actually in the top 10 (Pearl Jam) and that probably has more to do with the fact that a great band has come out with a new album after a long absence than becuase of it's anti-war stand. Besides, why would anyone think that the top selling albums represent "Americans" in any way shape or form? 50 Cent anyone? Nick Lachey?

Natlaie Maines sings as "I'm Mad As Hell" in the single that plays as you open the Chicks' website. Because a liberal's righteous anger is the only anger that is valid. She still doesn't get the fact that when she said she was embarrassed that Bush was Presdient she wasn't just insulting the man, she was insulting the intelligence of everyone that voted for him. I guess we all see the light now. After all, who doesn't like Bruce Springsteen and Neil Simon?

I really enjoyed Larry Derfner's piece in the Jerusalem Post, which was a response to Israeli author A.B. Yehoshua who said...

[Being] Israeli is my skin, not my jacket. You are changing jackets... you are changing countries like changing jackets. I have my skin, the territory," the author told the audience, adding that Israeli Jews live a Jewish life in a totality that the American Jews do not know.

...or in other words, you can't be as good a Jew in America as you can in Israel.

Derfner: Who's living an incomplete Jewish life?

For serious, honest-to-God religious Jews in the Diaspora - people whose days revolve around Jewish law, prayer, mitzvot and usually religious study as well - Judaism isn't in the outer shell of their lives, it's in the core. It suffuses their personal life, and usually their communal life as well. Imagine the Jewish Diaspora without the State of Israel. Then imagine a 100% secular State of Israel in a whole world without any practicing, believing Jews. Obviously I wouldn't want to choose either one, but if I had to, as an atheist Israeli but also a Jew, I'd choose the former.

Yes, their lives would be more Jewish, completely Jewish, if they lived in Israel. But the lives of us secular Israeli Jews would be so much more Jewish, completely Jewish, if we were religious.....

I, being neither Orthodox nor Israeli have a long way to go. The majority of Jews in the U.S. obviously don't think you need to be either to be a good, or "complete Jew". I disagree, but that's a topic to write a book about or to fill future hours on a psychiatrist's couch when I have some time to kill.

This is just really, really bad.

Murtha: Iraqis were killed 'in cold blood'

WASHINGTON, May 17 (UPI) -- A Pentagon investigation will show that U.S. Marines killed 15 civilians in Iraq "in cold blood" a U.S. congressman said in Washington.

Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., confirmed Wednesday that Iraqis in Haditha said Marines killed the unarmed Iraqi civilians, including seven women and three children, NBC News reported. Military officials told NBC the Marine Corps' own evidence appears to confirm Murtha's statement.

A Marine spokesman issued a statement in November saying a roadside bomb had killed 15 civilians and a Marine, but U.S. military officials later retracted that account.

Murtha said military sources have told him the Pentagon investigation will show the troops "overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

Three officers in a California-based Marine battalion involved in the incident were relieved of command. A spokesman for the 1st Marine Division said the officers were removed "due to lack of confidence in their leadership abilities stemming from their performance during a recent deployment to Iraq," the Marine Corps Times reported last month.

I so want to believe that this is all a big misunderstanding.

If it's true, it's awful and the full measure of the law should be brought to bear against those directly responsible. That does not include Rumsfeld or Bush although the Left will protray it that way.

Also, I hope that those on the Right who try to put this event into perspective and our soldiers (99.99% of who have followed the letter of the law) are not all called baby-killers.

Of course if Murtha has leaked the story incorrectly, he should resign immediately. In fact even if the report turns out to be inconclusive, Murtha should resign.

Should this affect our decision whether to stay in Iraq if it is true? Of course not. To me logic says that one illegal action, no matter how heinous, should undo an entire operation involving hundreds of thousands of people which will effect tens of millions. If such was the case, major urban police departments would have been taken off the streets long ago.

I pray that this didn't happen as the news is reporting - for all of our sakes.

Man does Glenn Reynolds hit the nail on the head with this one.  He looks at the "industrial societies are having fewer children" story and takes it one step further.

The Parent Trap (excerpts below)

We've taken a lot of the fun out of parenting. Or to echo Longman, the "social costs" of parenting continue to rise, and, more significantly, perhaps, the "social returns" continue to decline...

You're responsible for your kids in ways previous generations weren't, but your ability to discipline them is much reduced, and as my wife (a forensic psychologist) notes, the bad kids know that they can cow most adults by threatening to call 911 and make a bogus abuse charge. And forget disciplining your child, even with a harsh word, in a public place: At the very least, if you do you'll be looked on not as a virtuous parent helping to preserve the social fabric, but as that worst of all sinners in contemporary American culture: a meanie....

My mother reports that when she was a newlywed (she was married in 1959) you weren't seen as fully a member of the adult world until you had kids. Nowadays to have kids means something closer to an expulsion from the adult world. People in the suburbs buy SUVs instead of minivans not because they need the four-wheel-drive capabilities, but because the SUVs lack the minivan's close association with low-prestige activities like parenting, and instead provide the aura of high-prestige activities like whitewater kayaking. Why should kayaking be more prestigious than parenting? Because parenting isn't prestigious in our society. If it were, childless people would drive minivans just to partake of the aura.

Of course I don't agree with everything - I don't think the elderly of past generations all had comfy retirements because of the number of children they had - but all in all an excellent piece.

Jimmy "I never have anything bad to say about the Palestinians" Carter has an op-ed piece on Israel in USA Today. Need I say more?

Israel's new plan: A land grab

The barrier is not located on the internationally recognized boundary between Israel and Palestine....

I didn't realize there was a country called Palestine - who exactly has recognized this imaginary country's borders?

Only about twice the size of Washington, D.C., Gaza is now a politically and economically non-viable region, almost completely isolated from the West Bank, Israel and the outside world.

Only half the size of Gaza, Washington D.C. is now a politically and economically non-viable region, almost completely isolated from Maryland, Virginia and the outside world. - OK, I just threw that in for laughs :-)

It would be a mistake to underestimate the difficulty of finding a mutually acceptable agreement, but many Israelis, Palestinians and international representatives are familiar with what must be its ultimate basic terms. They include reasonable border compromises based on the swapping of land, which could leave a substantial number of Israeli settlers undisturbed on Palestinian land.

I know that Israel was willing to swap land when Arafat rejected their proposals in the past. I wasn't aware that any Palestinians were open to that. Besides, as Carter mentions himself...

"..The recently elected Hamas legislators will neither recognize nor negotiate with Israel while Palestinian land is being occupied."

So if I follow the logic "many Palestinians" know what must be done for peace yet the majority elected Hamas. Sorry Jimmy, peace isn't made with "many people", it is made with governments. "Many Palestinians" are straw men if I ever saw some.

A mutual Israeli-Palestinian agreement would undoubtedly result in full recognition of Israel by all Arab nations, with normal diplomatic and economic relations, and permanent peace and justice for the Palestinians.

Right - and the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freed the United States from a legacy of hate and discrimination and ensured the eternal equality of African-Americans. Oh puh-leeze.

Now, if the Washington Post can get a Pulitzer Prize for reporting secret government programs that no one can confirm, why not give one to USA Today for their error-prone reporting about the NSA's secret tracking of all our phone calls.

BellSouth Says It Gave NSA No Call Records

ATLANTA (AP) - BellSouth Corp. said Monday its "thorough review" found no indication it gave telephone records to the National Security Agency as part of a federal anti-terrorism surveillance program.....

"Based on our review to date, we have confirmed no such contract exists and we have not provided bulk customer calling records to the NSA," the Atlanta-based regional Bell said in a statement.

BellSouth spokesman Jeff Battcher said the company's investigation found "no contract with the NSA and we are confident that we have turned over no phone records."Last week, Battcher said the company had "not provided any information we would need a subpoena for." On Monday night, Battcher said "we cannot find anyone within BellSouth who has ever been approached by the NSA."

I am about to write an article about the secret government plan to collect information on everyone's earnings and then force them to pay a large percentage under threat of jailtime or seizure of assets! I'm going to call it - The Federal Tax Code: a Bill of No Rights. Where's my Pulitzer?

Comedian Judson Laipply spends seven minutes showing us famous dance moves of the last 50 years. It's helpful if you have a working knowledge of some of the more popular music videos since MTV's been on the air. An explanation of the act can't do it justice. Via GVOD. Enjoy.

Imagine you're only married two weeks. Four days ago you moved into a new apartment with your husband. Around lunchtime, your husband invites you to lunch but you say no thanks, you're busy and not really hungry. Not too long afterwards your husband goes into a small restaurant, maybe somewhere he wouldn't have gone if he wasn't eating alone...and is mortally woudned by a suicide bomber.

Please say a prayer for Maya Anidzar and her husband Lior.



P.S. Lior's sister is six months pregnant and is planning to name the child after his uncle, may he rest in peace. A rare thank you goes out to the New York Times.

I thought I had my TV habits under control, just watching 2 hours a week religiously - 24 and The Sopranos.

Just out of curiosity, I started recording a show on TLC called Shalom in the Home. It's hosted by modern orthodox Rabbi Shmuley Boteach who I formerly thought of as kind of a quack, rabbi to the stars (including Michael Jackson.)

Shalom in the Home is a reality show where families who are having significant problems (kids, remarriage, finances, etc.) call in Shmuley who works with the family in question for a week after having recorded their homelife to figure out what's going wrong. The Rabbi uses counseling sessions in his Airstream mobile home and group activities to try to bring the families back together. The thing that gets us is that the families are very real - these are not freaks or white trash. And the families are not all Jewish - in fact a recent episode had an adopted Jew who converted to Islam to marry his Turkish wife.

Shmuley has some beautiful words of wisdom that he doles out in the counseling sessions and in the breaks that really hit home. There's a list of "Shmuleyisms" on the show's website.

The greatest gift that a man can give his children is to love their mother. Conversely, the greatest gift that a mother can give her children is to love their father.

The man who has a woman who believes in him is impregnable and invincible. Nothing in life can hurt him because he has peace at this center.

A parent’s bedroom is not a family sitting room or family dormitory. Children should never sleep in their parents’ bedroom. If you need to hire a security guard to make your bedroom into Fort Knox, that is still better than allowing your role as parent to conflict with your role as lover to your spouse.

Boy, do we have to work on that last one. I now admire this man tremendously. He's a child of divorce who has eight children of his own who seems to have it all together.

Yeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Texas to consider 80 mph limit

Via Instapundit, I bring you the following charge that the at least some in the MSM are willing to portray people with similar problems differently depending on whether they are well-liked or not

Kennedy's "Stigma" Is Limbaugh's "Crime"

Now, I'm not one to normally jump on "if they were black" or "if they were conservative" debates. However, I figured I have some time to kill, so let's see which is the easiest liberal source of any kind that is willing to make fun of Limbaugh yet be sorry for Kennedy. Keeping in mind of course that Limbaugh was never accused of doing anything to harm anyone yet Kennedy could have been killed or killed someone else in the process.

General criticism of Limbaugh's political views and even jokes about his weight didn't count. I wanted to find someone who specifically makes fun of his drug addiction.

The Democratic Daily Blog had this to say about Patrick Kennedy on May 5, 2006:

Patrick Kennedy said he hoped that his “openness today and in the past, and my acknowledgment that I need help, will give others the courage to get help if they need it.”

For anyone who has struggled with addiction, or has had a friend or loved one who has (or worse, lost a friend or loved one to addiction) , they understand the courage it takes to speak publicly, as Patrick Kennedy has. For the media and right-wing blogosphere who have twisted this a thousand different ways — you should all be ashamed.

On December 22, 2005 however, the following comments were made regarding Rush Limbaugh:

Conservative parnaoia hits childrens books. In efforts to brainwash children, they use their usual tactic of creating strawmen to attack rather than actually responding to liberal ideas....The Oregonean reports that, thanks to promotion from Rush Limbaugh (who perhaps will also teach kids how to take OxyContin)...

Ashamed indeed. That was easy.