Via Jewschool here's a worthwhile cause. Children of Abraham is an organization that seeks to bring together Jewish and Muslim teenagers together from all over the world via the internet and through photographs representing the different, yet similar practices of both religions. I'd like to believe that those that participate in programs like that and Seeds of Peace are benefiting not only themselves but future generations.

I'm probably a year behind, but I'm finally hooked on Sudoku. I'm particluar to the online version I found at MSNBC - the soothing Japanese music in the background really helps me to fall asleep at night. It also reminds my wife of some of the places she's gone for birthday massages.

I know a lot of folks think that Israeli Jews have nothing to worry about - they're the most powerful country in the Middle East and oppressors of the worst sort. Let me do some explaining.

We all know that most of Israel's neighbors are hostile to it and have been from before the U.N. agreed to set aside Jewish-majority lands for a state in Palestine. Apart from the periodic suicide bombers, missiles literally rain down on Israeli towns from the north, south and west. Only the sea prevents Israel from being safe from the east. As Americans we may have feared at one time that other powers might have taken over our country, but not even the Nazis or Communists ever thought to wipe us out completely and send us packing. Here's Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, addressing the leaders of Germany and Austria:

"Why did you come to give a piece of Islamic land and the territory of the Palestinian people to them (the Jews)?

"You oppressed them, so give a part of Europe to the Zionist regime so they can establish any government they want. We would support it," he said, according to a transcript of his original Farsi-language comments given to AFP.

Lillte does he know apparently, that a large bloc of Israeli Jews actually come from Arab states where they were treated like crap for centuries as well. He also of course, doesn't really believe the Holocaust happened at all which is the only reason why the UN thought the Jews deserved a unique homeland to begin with.

He also noted that European countries "believe in this so much and are so determined that any researcher who denies it (the Holocaust) with historical evidence is dealt with in a most harsh way and sent to prison."

I am sure he also doesn't believe that Jews ever had any significant ties to the Holy Land. (That's a whole other post on the Muslim Waqf's active effort to destroy historically significant sites associated with the ancient jewish community in Jerusalem.)

Even America's worst enemies only wanted to take over America politically, but did not look to drive us all away. Israel's enemies will stop at nothing except the expulsion of the entire Jewish population of the Middle East - as if there hadn't been Jews in all Arab countires, including "Palestine" for eons. Apparently it's not enough to kick us all out and have us cornered, we must be eliminated altogether.

Zarq is decrying a decision by the Conservative Jewish leadership to push for the conversion of non-Jewish family members of current congregants.  My response below.

I don't think this program is quite as heinous as you suggest. To me proselytizing is going after people with no affiliation or connection to the religion whatsoever. The focus here seems to be existing (dues paying?) Jewish congregants who have chosen not to raise their children as Jews and incentivizing them to have their families learn and experience more about the religion. I could be wrong, but I believe that more non-Jewish spouses convert to Judaism as a matter of course than vice-versa.

IMHO, you probably should leave the Conservative Jewish community if you believe it's OK to marry someone not Jewish and raise your children outside the religion. That's what Reform is for. I don't mind if my Christian neighbors invite my kids over for Christmas dinner. I do mind if someone in my synagogue invites my kids over for Christmas dinner.

This doesn't mean I think these are "bad" people (and certainly their non-Jewish spouses/children are not at fault), but they're certainly not doing the Jewish community a service if they have so little regard for the religion that they put their emotional/sexual needs above their belief in the continuity of the religion. Judaism is not a religion of self-fulfillment, it is about following the laws, the bettering of the community, and the future. I would even go as far as to say that intermarrying and raising non-Jewish children is probably one of the worst things a Jew can do (biblically speaking) aside from converting out of the religion themselves.

I want to reiterate that this is not to say that I don't respect other people's religions. This has nothing to do with how or what non-Jews do.

I will agree that Conservatism is in big trouble since it has to deal with the issue of a dwindling membership to begin with.

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, has a blog. It's absolutely hilarious.

You’ve probably noticed that opinion pollsters go out of their way to include as many morons as possible in surveys. That’s called a representative sample. And what it means is that the opinion of Einstein, for example, counts as much as the opinion of the guy who thinks The Family Circus comic is sending him secret messages via Little Billy.

You might argue that my example is bad because Einstein is dead. But according to physicist Erwin Schrodinger, Einstein is neither dead nor alive until we dig him up and open the casket. If he’s alive, he might want his brain back, which I understand is in a Ziploc bag in some guy’s freezer. And this is a perfect example of why examples always distract from the main point.

Apparently, some Danish Muslims think that jodekager, a traditional Danish Christmas treat, needs to be renamed as the cookies are offensive to Islam. Why? Jodekager is means "Jewish cakes/cookies". As one Jewish community leader puts it, "I think that it would be better to educate Muslims to respect the culture of the majority in Denmark, if they want the majority to
respect their culture". Here is the original article.

Danish Deli Food has a recipe for anyone interested. Yum.

This is exactly the reason why we can't fight the war on terror in the courts.

4 in Florida Are Cleared on Many Terrorism Charges

With any luck, Sami al-Arian will be deported beased on his falsifying of immigration documents and fraudulently presenting himself as a citizen so that he could vote here.

Here's a timeline from the Tampa Tribune. I was lived in Tampa from 1994-1997 when this was a local story and 9/11 was just an unfulfilled dream among al-Arian's buddies. How we didn't deport him years ago is beyond me.

Huh? Israeli Suicide Bomber Kills Five at Mall

"Ah, they're all the same", a Yahoo News staffer was overheard saying....(just kidding)

Actually, perhaps it's the AP's poblem based on a similar headline used in The Evening News of Scotland.

Thanks to Norm for catching this positive sign from Fallujah of all places.

Earlier this week, a leading cleric in Falluja, Hamza Abbas al-Issawi, 70, considered the city's grand imam, who had urged Sunni Arabs to defy the insurgents and vote in the Dec. 15 elections for a full four-year national government, was shot and killed. He had received insurgent death threats in recent months.

Tensions appeared to be rising ahead of the election, when American and Iraqi officials are hoping for a repeat of the October constitutional referendum, when 170,000 votes were cast in Falluja, the strongest turnout of any Sunni Arab area in Iraq. Iraqi election officials calculated that 80 percent of the votes were against the constitution, but celebrated the fact that the city had chosen to take part in the political process.

In Falluja's mosques, angry residents have vowed in recent days to avenge the clerics' killings by hunting down Islamic extremists loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, America's most-wanted man in Iraq. The anger spread on Friday to fiery condemnations at the main weekly prayers at two of Baghdad's most militant Sunni Arab mosques.

At the Mother of All Battles Mosque in the west of the city, the preacher, Sheik Ali Abu Hassan, called the killers "murderers" and said believers should respond by voting in large numbers. At the Abu Hanifa Mosque in the eastern Adhamiya district, a stronghold of support for Iraq's ousted ruler, Saddam Hussein, the preacher, Sheik Ahmad al-Samarrai, said, "The election is both legitimate and necessary, and your duty to vote is heavier than a mountain."

Zarq is left speechless about a CIA rendition story in the Washington Post.

Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake

He writes: We held a German citizen illegally for 5 months because someone thought he might be an Al Qaeda operative. Then, we returned him. He’s suing the government (ours, not theirs,) alleging torture and abuse. An interesting look at how the CIA handles its own mistakes, when no oversight group exists to make sure they comport themselves appropriately.

I've decided not to spread too much of my devil's advocate view on his journal, but I've put my thoughts here:

Just for the record, Khaled el-Masri is not accusing the US Government of torture. I've read several articles all which talk about "the case", but it seems to be more of an investigation by German prosecutors into what happened as opposed to Mr. Masri suing anyone at this point. At this point they seem most concerned with a potential cover-up by German politicians who were told of the abduction by the US.

What is interesting to me is that this is obviously a co-ordinated attempt by the German prosecutors (and the Washington Post?) to embarrass Secretary of State Rice as she visits Germany tomorrow. This is especially odd since an April article in the NY Times referred to Rice's demands that he be released, over the objections of the CIA and others.

Why do I think this is a vast left-wing conspiracy? Becuase the events took place over a year and a half ago - and they were reported numerous times in the American and German media since at least January of this year. Why all the fuss now?

The Democrats officially declare that Al-Qaeda and Saddam's henchmen have defeated the United States.

Dean: US Won't Win in Iraq

Saying the "idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong," Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean predicted today that the Democratic Party will come together on a proposal to withdraw National Guard and Reserve troops immediately, and all US forces within two years.

There are no words. Actually, yes there are.

In over two and a half years of war we have not lost even close to the number of soldiers than we lost civilians in two hours on 9/11 and this guys ready to throw in the towel. Nobody even knows how many of the enemy we've killed or wounded (i.e. are we in the least bit successful in our missions) and the media doesn't seem to care. On 9/11 we gained nothing, while since then we have removed Saddam from power, started Iraq on the road to consitutional democracy through a series of free and fair elections, encouraged Lebanon to kick out the Syrians, killed/captured who knows how many Islamofascist thugs. This is not to mention our successes in Afghanistan. Our "broken, hand-to-mouth" military has done a fantastic job. These fights weren't supposed to be "like Vietnam" - they were supposed to BE Vietnam, tens of thousands dead, hundreds of thousands wounded, massacres of the innocent.

Howard Dean should have just declared on 9/11 that we had lost. What did he have to lose anyway, a few thousand maple trees and some ski resorts?

Rocky says - f*** you.



There....that felt better. I will never let this country go back to the Jimmy Carter days of sit back and hope for the best and let the Arabs f*** us in the a** becuase we're embarrassed about our success. Actually they used to just f*** us, now they come to kill us by the thousands and all the Democrats want to say is "Thank you sir, may I have another!"

In the immortal words of Howard Dean himself - We will not give up! Yahhhhhh!

Christians - good. Muslims - good. Humanity.



Jews - embarrasing. Accept their money and sweat, but keep them away from the children, please.



A delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, holds a flag with the new emblem "Red Crystal", during a two-day conference bringing together representatives of the 192 signatory states to the Geneva Convention, at the International Conference Centre, CICG, in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Dec. 5, 2005. The conference aims at approving the "Red Crystal" as a third emblem for the international Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The new additional symbol is considered as being devoid of any national, religious and cultural connotation and will be available for use by those national societies which do not wish to use any of the existing emblems - the cross and the crescent.

The only thing that can bring Christians and Muslims closer together - Jew hatred.

Howard Stern, Free At Last from New York Magazine.

Howard’s radio world will be a red-light district. “Wouldn’t it be brilliant if my audience could all lie down at night together and come together?” he wonders. “Cum together?” Howard’s idea is “Tissue Time With Heidi Cortez,” a 24-year-old Playboy model and “orgasmer” who will offer phone sex to Howard’s audience. He’s also working on a show called “Confessions From the Bunny Ranch,” a Nevada whorehouse. Howard plans to tape a room 24 hours a day. “You’ve heard of Taxicab Confessions, but that’s bullshit,” he says. “You’ll be right in the prostitute’s room. You’ll hear the negotiation. You’ll hear the screwing. You’ll hear the after-sex conversation. And that fascinates me. I want to be in that room.” Howard hopes to launch a show called “I Want to Fuck a Porn Star,” a send-up of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. “It’s going to be difficult,” cautions Howard. “If you can answer the questions, you will get to fuck a porn star. So many guys from my audience would love that opportunity.”

Oh my.

Howard Stern, Free At Last from New York Magazine.

Howard’s radio world will be a red-light district. “Wouldn’t it be brilliant if my audience could all lie down at night together and come together?” he wonders. “Cum together?” Howard’s idea is “Tissue Time With Heidi Cortez,” a 24-year-old Playboy model and “orgasmer” who will offer phone sex to Howard’s audience. He’s also working on a show called “Confessions From the Bunny Ranch,” a Nevada whorehouse. Howard plans to tape a room 24 hours a day. “You’ve heard of Taxicab Confessions, but that’s bullshit,” he says. “You’ll be right in the prostitute’s room. You’ll hear the negotiation. You’ll hear the screwing. You’ll hear the after-sex conversation. And that fascinates me. I want to be in that room.” Howard hopes to launch a show called “I Want to Fuck a Porn Star,” a send-up of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. “It’s going to be difficult,” cautions Howard. “If you can answer the questions, you will get to fuck a porn star. So many guys from my audience would love that opportunity.”

Oh my.

The sub-heading of the NY Times article on Saddam Hussein's trial reads as follows:

"The first witness today described torture by Saddam Hussein's security police, including a human grinding machine." (I don't know how long this will be up on their home page so I copied the HTML from their site below - I'm not good at the screen shot thing).

There is no mention of the grinding machine in either the article or the link to excerpts from the trial. Perhaps, we the readers, are too delciate to handle such information?

Hussein Is Fiery Again in Unruly Court Session

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS  1:00 PM ET
The first witness today described torture by Saddam Hussein's security police, including a human grinding machine.

Classic John Kerry. On this Sunday's "Face The Nation", Kerry had this to say...

KERRY: You've got to begin to transfer authority to the Iraqis. And the is no reason Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the-of-the historical customs, religious customs. Whether you like it or not...

SCHIEFFER: Yeah.

KERRY: ...Iraqis should be doing that.

So...Kerry believes that Iraqis should be terrorizing their own women and children. Nice.

The main issue of course is that Kerry feels that the image of the American soldier is that of a terrorist in the eyes of Iraqi children, as opposed to a builder of schools, giver of candy, etc. Even the terrorists know that American soldiers often do their best to befriend Iraqi children. That's why they keep setting off bombs in those situations.

I had no idea that my favorite photogrpahy store, B&H Photo is referred to in some corners as "Beards and Hats" because of the hundreds of Orthodox guys who work there. Pretty funny.

Speaking the day after September 11, President Bush said,
"Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts."

As the banner of my blog says, "So It Shall Be Written, So It Shall Be Done."

Blast in Pakistan Kills Al Qaeda Commander

I am extremely proud of the fact that four years later, we are relentless in our search for these bastards and that not even a house hidden in a mountain range on the other side of the planet is safe for Al-Qaeda.

Good job, Mr, President and thank you for your resolve.

The Washington Post had to dig pretty deep in it's rolodex to find someone with something negative to say. (Did you really doubt that they'd find someone?)

"It's a success story, but al Qaeda has turned into a multi-headed hydra: you chop off one head and another head takes its place," said Magnus Ranstorp, a specialist on al Qaeda at the Swedish National Defense College in Stockholm. "It's a good thing they got him, but I'm sure there are others in the wings who are ready to play a similar role."

OK, seriously...the Swedish National Defense College?

How News Is Made - proof that most modern "journalism" is a farce.

"Who do you know who isn't saved? Your sister? Your brother? Your mom, your dad? A good friend? Your child?

Think of they're terrible fate if they die without Christ".- Kirk Cameron