I am in receipt of a disquieting e-mail from a gentleman with a very Marathi name, pursuant today's terrorist strikes in Bombay.
For those as yet unaware: 80 dead, hundreds wounded, gunfire for the last five hours. Terrorists holed up in the Oberoi and Taj hotels with hostages, as well as at GT Hospital. Attacks also took place at the Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus, Cama Hospital, Crawford Market, Wadi Bunder. Areas currently with a heavy army presence are Colaba, Girgaum, and Nariman Point.
It appears that the group behind this are Islamists, and to the Indian mind that can ONLY mean Pakistani Intelligence agencies. There are very good reasons for that presumption.
My correspondent writes:
"It was obvious that these attacks organized by Pakistanis striking India, and Congress only interested in gathering Muslim votes. There is probably clear link with Pakistani ISI and government. Pakistan have been behind all Muslim attacks previous, and funded mujahedeen groups like lashkar e toiba. They do not hesitate to treachery. There is no Deccan Mujahedeen, that is a name of convenience only. It is Pakistan, always Pakistan. Why is America supporting Pakistan? Can one not see how dangerous that is? How untrustable all Pakistani politicians and generals? I tell you, we should demolish that country. If India should shoot nuclear rockets at Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and Karachi, that would solve this problem once and for all!"
Wiping Pakistan off the map is an extreme proposal, but my correspondent is absolutely correct in stating that Pakistan have been behind many previous attacks. The Inter-Services Intelligence agency has for two decades funded, armed, and organized Muslim terrorists in India, nominally in furtherance of Pakistani goals in Kashmir, in actuality in pursuit of a venomous Jihad against India.
Pakistani politicos have consistently looked the other way when not actually cheering ISI perfidy, likewise most Pakistani politicians have known ties with terrorist groups and are actively involved in both jihad and the drug trade.
Pakistan has time and again proven itself a most unreliable and untrustworthy ally, and Pakistan's involvement in Afghanistan continues to destabilize that country. Pakistan has been instrumental in the continuing existence of Al Qaeda, and in Osama Bin Laden's remaining a free man.
Pakistan is an enemy of India, the US, and the west.
In several ways, Pakistan is Sodom and Gomorra; it is doubtful that there are as many as ten good men in that pox of a place. Highly unlikely even half that number.
Nevertheless, leveling all of Pakistan may not be the answer. Pakistan might indeed be a wasteland, but not nuking the place is probably not a bad idea. And I am sure that once my correspondent calms down, he will surely see that even in Pakistan there are things worth preserving.
Goats! I understand they have many lovely goats!
Some of whom are probably still virgins.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
RAIN MELTS BRAINS
Apparently rain turns people's brains to mush around here. This is not something I would have predicted, but it is nevertheless an observable phenomenon. This is California, and precipitation does something to people's heads.
Crossing the street with my treif-sandwich was like dashing through a mine-field. Or wandering through a flock of soon-to-be Butterballs™.
Gobble gobble gobble.
To the DHL driver who nearly smashed into me WHILE I WAS ON THE SIDEWALK: You are a moron! The trottoir is NOT the fourth lane of a busy three-lane street, and that pass was consequently neither sane nor legal. I hope you are the only victim in a spectacular traffic accident.
To the business-suited dingus who banged into me while I was waiting for a break in traffic before crossing: You are a moron! Ten meters to my left, and at least fifteen meters to my right, were entirely devoid of obstruction. Considering that you ambled down to the corner after you had dashed across, you did not need to walk through me - you could've gone down to the crosswalk instead. Please choke on your arrogant stupidity.
To the delivery truck trying to park in a no-parking zone in front of the building: You are a moron! There is no place to unload there. There are five no-parking signs within easy-reading distance, the loading dock is fifty meters back, and that city bus one block away needs the lane. Please lock your keys in the cab, and forget where you parked.
To the business office trot with a cell-phone and high-heels ambulating in a dithery way in front of a busy entry-way: You too are a moron! I could tell you where to stuff that device, but it would necessitate talking to you. Which would not get you out of the way of people trying to go in or out any faster. Please wander into traffic.
All of you and several others are bad for everyone else's digestion. You have jinxed my lunch.
I hold you in undying contempt.
Now, dear readers, please note that all of these people were capable of elementary functioning this morning while it was still dry out. They may not have been super-smart at that time, but at least they got their clothes on.
Then it started to precipitate, and like many people who haven't seen rain in several months, they gazed upwards at the sky wondering about the strange moist crap falling upon them. It went into their open mouths, and attacked their brains. Their central nervous systems are on now auto-pilot. They have become slack-jawed automatons.
I tell you, I can't wait for global warming. It will get rid of all these pre-lunch zombies.
Crossing the street with my treif-sandwich was like dashing through a mine-field. Or wandering through a flock of soon-to-be Butterballs™.
Gobble gobble gobble.
To the DHL driver who nearly smashed into me WHILE I WAS ON THE SIDEWALK: You are a moron! The trottoir is NOT the fourth lane of a busy three-lane street, and that pass was consequently neither sane nor legal. I hope you are the only victim in a spectacular traffic accident.
To the business-suited dingus who banged into me while I was waiting for a break in traffic before crossing: You are a moron! Ten meters to my left, and at least fifteen meters to my right, were entirely devoid of obstruction. Considering that you ambled down to the corner after you had dashed across, you did not need to walk through me - you could've gone down to the crosswalk instead. Please choke on your arrogant stupidity.
To the delivery truck trying to park in a no-parking zone in front of the building: You are a moron! There is no place to unload there. There are five no-parking signs within easy-reading distance, the loading dock is fifty meters back, and that city bus one block away needs the lane. Please lock your keys in the cab, and forget where you parked.
To the business office trot with a cell-phone and high-heels ambulating in a dithery way in front of a busy entry-way: You too are a moron! I could tell you where to stuff that device, but it would necessitate talking to you. Which would not get you out of the way of people trying to go in or out any faster. Please wander into traffic.
All of you and several others are bad for everyone else's digestion. You have jinxed my lunch.
I hold you in undying contempt.
Now, dear readers, please note that all of these people were capable of elementary functioning this morning while it was still dry out. They may not have been super-smart at that time, but at least they got their clothes on.
Then it started to precipitate, and like many people who haven't seen rain in several months, they gazed upwards at the sky wondering about the strange moist crap falling upon them. It went into their open mouths, and attacked their brains. Their central nervous systems are on now auto-pilot. They have become slack-jawed automatons.
I tell you, I can't wait for global warming. It will get rid of all these pre-lunch zombies.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
TREPPENWITZ HOSPITALIZED
Fellow blogger Treppenwitz is in the hospital. No, he ain't croaking. But he'll be there for at least another day.
Please visit him and wish him a refu'ah sheleimah.
http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/
But beware - he is proving himself one of that dangerous tribe that makes their own ailments entertaining. These are the kinds of people who discuss a hysterectomy in ways that make you fervently wish that you had one. Folks who explain the freak-accident that broke their arm with such a sense of the absurd that you envy them their good-fortune at being crippled for the next two years and in horrible pain. Why, you too might want to catch your big toe in the band saw! Or at least see your cousin Timmy develop an ugly second-head.
Nuclear-waste type acid indigestion, fur in odd places, and urinary tract disaster all mean love and blessings from your friends, you know it. Your jealousy is more than justified.
In other news, hospital food is immensely unappealing. There is a move afoot to mail it to Africa. This blogger approves.
Please visit him and wish him a refu'ah sheleimah.
http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/
But beware - he is proving himself one of that dangerous tribe that makes their own ailments entertaining. These are the kinds of people who discuss a hysterectomy in ways that make you fervently wish that you had one. Folks who explain the freak-accident that broke their arm with such a sense of the absurd that you envy them their good-fortune at being crippled for the next two years and in horrible pain. Why, you too might want to catch your big toe in the band saw! Or at least see your cousin Timmy develop an ugly second-head.
Nuclear-waste type acid indigestion, fur in odd places, and urinary tract disaster all mean love and blessings from your friends, you know it. Your jealousy is more than justified.
In other news, hospital food is immensely unappealing. There is a move afoot to mail it to Africa. This blogger approves.
Monday, November 24, 2008
PAUL COMMENTS ABOUT THE DUTCH
About a fortnight ago I posted a link to an article in a popular Dutch newspaper, and translated a large number of the comments which readers of that Newspaper had put underneath it.
This post:
FROM THE DUTCH PRESS: OBAMA: HARDER JAGEN OP BIN LADEN
The article discussed Obama's plans to pursue Osama bin Laden with greater zeal than many Dutch assumed would happen, believing as many of them evidently did that Obama would somehow not adhere to a truly American agenda.
The comments underneath that article were sodden with hatred for Yanks and contempt for the USA. As my translation made clear.
Then I editorialized, stating amongst other things that "it should be evident from the above that there is an element among the Dutch who are probably insane, certainly unreliable, and entirely despicable. Not all, but enough of them."
You will understand, I hope, that this blog is sometimes a soapbox for bile.
[I am actually one of the sunniest people I know. I cannot truly think bad about anyone. Honest. I'm all sweetness and light! And cheerful butterflies! Plus lots of bunnies! Love and peace, bruddas.]
Oh, I also venomously snapped that I sometimes wished the Netherlands would be drowned by rising sea levels. But no matter.
PAUL
To my great surprise and pleasure, one reader (Paul) put a long well-thought out comment underneath that post, which I reproduce here in its entirety:
As someone who has lived and worked in the Netherlands for over 8 years, I feel qualified to make a judgment call. I hate generalizing but if I were pushed I would have to put it down to the narrow line between self-confidence and arrogance. Most Dutch people are self-confident (the nice ones). Many have slipped across into arrogance (the not-nice ones). The rest are insane (nothing special here, every country has these).
I believe it comes down to how the children are raised. By way of an example (and I could give many, many more): I cycle 5 miles to work every day. I pass a short stretch of road (maybe 20 yards) that always has cars parked on one side so is just wide enough for a car and bicycle to pass at the same time. Next to this narrow strip of road is a sidewalk. Recently, a young mother was walking on this sidewalk while holding the hand of her toddler, who was walking IN THE ROAD. Cars had stopped at both ends, waiting for the toddler to leave the road. The mother, however, was in no rush to get her child out of the way, but kept saying "goed zo, goed zo" over and over. I was stunned. This child will now grow up believing it has the power to stop traffic. If it survives its first solo encounter with a busy intersection, it will one day become a Dutch teenager who thinks it is fine to block traffic while it chats on its cellphone (yes, I've seen this a few times) or ride four-abreast (more times than I can remember) or even cycle directly towards you on the wrong side of the road because it wants to turn down a side road and it can't understand the concept of waiting until you have passed (groan!).
The simple fact is that in my 8 years in the Netherlands I have yet to meet a humble Dutch person. I think the word has been struck for their language. They believe they know everything about everything and I have never heard one of them apologize, ever (perhaps it happens but I have never witnessed it).
I always enjoy watching two Dutch people discussing something. There is no give-and-take. They just take turns saying what they believe with absolute confidence. They can contradict each other. They can both be 100% wrong. This does not worry them in the slightest. I call this the "Centre-of-the-universe Syndrome".
Of course I have met some really nice Dutch people. Like the wonderful old couple who spotted me walking along with a flat tire one day. They promptly called me over, helped me change the tire, and gave me a big glass of orange juice before sending me on my way. Which is why I don't like to generalize.
He's right.
I cannot remember apologies being common OR gracious in Dutch (actually, I cannot remember apologies in Dutch, period), and the actual verbs used for 'apology' are not exactly humble acknowledgements of error.
Verontschuldigen literally means to disavow responsibility, excuseren means to excuse oneself (frequently in the sense of withdrawing from further comment), spijt betuigen means to express regret (though not accepting blame), schuld toegeven means to admit guilt (though not regret). The person using these verbs is the focus of the action, not the one to whom an apology would be due. It is, if you will, the guilty party seizing control of the discourse, and jumping back into the limelight.
I also particularly enjoyed this statement: "I always enjoy watching two Dutch people discussing something. There is no give-and-take. They just take turns saying what they believe with absolute confidence. They can contradict each other. They can both be 100% wrong. This does not worry them in the slightest. "
That davka matches my experience debating with Dutch people. It makes for interesting conversations. And also eventually great enmity.
Paul, thanks for dropping by, and especially for your comment. You framed it in a way I had not yet considered, but what you said makes complete sense.
I hope to see you here again.
This post:
FROM THE DUTCH PRESS: OBAMA: HARDER JAGEN OP BIN LADEN
The article discussed Obama's plans to pursue Osama bin Laden with greater zeal than many Dutch assumed would happen, believing as many of them evidently did that Obama would somehow not adhere to a truly American agenda.
The comments underneath that article were sodden with hatred for Yanks and contempt for the USA. As my translation made clear.
Then I editorialized, stating amongst other things that "it should be evident from the above that there is an element among the Dutch who are probably insane, certainly unreliable, and entirely despicable. Not all, but enough of them."
You will understand, I hope, that this blog is sometimes a soapbox for bile.
[I am actually one of the sunniest people I know. I cannot truly think bad about anyone. Honest. I'm all sweetness and light! And cheerful butterflies! Plus lots of bunnies! Love and peace, bruddas.]
Oh, I also venomously snapped that I sometimes wished the Netherlands would be drowned by rising sea levels. But no matter.
PAUL
To my great surprise and pleasure, one reader (Paul) put a long well-thought out comment underneath that post, which I reproduce here in its entirety:
As someone who has lived and worked in the Netherlands for over 8 years, I feel qualified to make a judgment call. I hate generalizing but if I were pushed I would have to put it down to the narrow line between self-confidence and arrogance. Most Dutch people are self-confident (the nice ones). Many have slipped across into arrogance (the not-nice ones). The rest are insane (nothing special here, every country has these).
I believe it comes down to how the children are raised. By way of an example (and I could give many, many more): I cycle 5 miles to work every day. I pass a short stretch of road (maybe 20 yards) that always has cars parked on one side so is just wide enough for a car and bicycle to pass at the same time. Next to this narrow strip of road is a sidewalk. Recently, a young mother was walking on this sidewalk while holding the hand of her toddler, who was walking IN THE ROAD. Cars had stopped at both ends, waiting for the toddler to leave the road. The mother, however, was in no rush to get her child out of the way, but kept saying "goed zo, goed zo" over and over. I was stunned. This child will now grow up believing it has the power to stop traffic. If it survives its first solo encounter with a busy intersection, it will one day become a Dutch teenager who thinks it is fine to block traffic while it chats on its cellphone (yes, I've seen this a few times) or ride four-abreast (more times than I can remember) or even cycle directly towards you on the wrong side of the road because it wants to turn down a side road and it can't understand the concept of waiting until you have passed (groan!).
The simple fact is that in my 8 years in the Netherlands I have yet to meet a humble Dutch person. I think the word has been struck for their language. They believe they know everything about everything and I have never heard one of them apologize, ever (perhaps it happens but I have never witnessed it).
I always enjoy watching two Dutch people discussing something. There is no give-and-take. They just take turns saying what they believe with absolute confidence. They can contradict each other. They can both be 100% wrong. This does not worry them in the slightest. I call this the "Centre-of-the-universe Syndrome".
Of course I have met some really nice Dutch people. Like the wonderful old couple who spotted me walking along with a flat tire one day. They promptly called me over, helped me change the tire, and gave me a big glass of orange juice before sending me on my way. Which is why I don't like to generalize.
He's right.
I cannot remember apologies being common OR gracious in Dutch (actually, I cannot remember apologies in Dutch, period), and the actual verbs used for 'apology' are not exactly humble acknowledgements of error.
Verontschuldigen literally means to disavow responsibility, excuseren means to excuse oneself (frequently in the sense of withdrawing from further comment), spijt betuigen means to express regret (though not accepting blame), schuld toegeven means to admit guilt (though not regret). The person using these verbs is the focus of the action, not the one to whom an apology would be due. It is, if you will, the guilty party seizing control of the discourse, and jumping back into the limelight.
I also particularly enjoyed this statement: "I always enjoy watching two Dutch people discussing something. There is no give-and-take. They just take turns saying what they believe with absolute confidence. They can contradict each other. They can both be 100% wrong. This does not worry them in the slightest. "
That davka matches my experience debating with Dutch people. It makes for interesting conversations. And also eventually great enmity.
Paul, thanks for dropping by, and especially for your comment. You framed it in a way I had not yet considered, but what you said makes complete sense.
I hope to see you here again.
Friday, November 21, 2008
TIKVAH: VICTIM OF DOUBLE STANDARDS AT U.C.
Background: During my years at Berkeley the campus environment was already problematic. Since then it has gotten much more so. The past few years have been "interesting". Last week, things came to a head.
MESSAGE FROM THE ZIONIST STUDENTS AT U.C. BERKELEY
Reproduced here as a courtesy. This blogger both sympathizes with them and admires their courageous stand, especially in the face of apathy and hatred - anti-Semitism is endemic among the university population in Berkeley, and virtually institutionalized.
Tikvah: victim of double standard at U.C.
By John E. Moghtader & Elodie Resseguie
Long a hotbed of anti-Israel activity, U.C. Berkeley has barely had a strong pro-Israel presence on campus. Until now, with Tikvah: Students for Israel, the Zionist student group at U.C. Berkeley.
We are the group that stepped up to protest when academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt visited Cal in October 2007 to hawk their book, a nefarious smear job titled "The Jewish Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy."
We were also there last month when the virulently anti-Israel academic Norman Finkelstein came to speak.
Before the lecture, we respectfully distributed our literature outside. Once inside, Finkelstein’s level of anti-Semitic vitriol prompted a walkout of Tikvah students and others not associated with our group. We shouted out our opinions while exiting, as the crowd hurled expletives at us. Finkelstein and his colleague then continued delivering their insulting lies.
As a result, the dean of students is now seeking to discipline Tikvah and individual students for an "offense" which in the past barely warranted mention when undertaken by student groups involved in anti-Israel activities.
For example, when Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes tried to speak on campus several years ago, he was shouted down by members of Students for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Student Association. At the time the chancellor said, "Uncivil behavior, lamentable as it is, is not a crime, nor is it a violation of the Code of Student Conduct." No disciplinary action was taken against SJP or its members for that incident, nor when Nonie Darwish was likewise shouted down a year ago.
Only last week, SJP disrupted an innovative Zionist hip-hop concert on campus. Even though no Jewish students were involved in the physical altercation that ensued (contrary to what was reported in the school paper and what SJP claims), we wait to see how the university will deal with the assailants from SJP.
Other violations by SJP of the U.C. code of conduct — such as blocking of pedestrian traffic with demonstrations, the brandishing of fake firearms, physical harassment and intimidation of Jewish students — were presented to the dean of students but have been ignored.
What we see here is a double standard, one for the rest of campus and another for the Jews and those who actively support Israel.
Our tax dollars support the U.C. system, and Jewish donors are very prominent in supporting the U.C. campuses. It’s time for the Jewish community to become aware of what is happening at our university.
Meanwhile, Tikvah has a consistent record of positive, pro-Israel programming on campus. Until our inception a year ago, there was no substantive pro-Israel voice on campus. We changed that, attracting students of various religious and cultural backgrounds to our cause. We have collaborated with many off-campus groups, including the Israeli Consulate, Israel Peace Initiative, S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council, U.C. Berkeley Chabad, CAMERA, StandWithUs, JIMENA and more. Once again Jews walk with pride across Sproul Plaza.
We have also sponsored many successful events. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we took out ads in the student newspaper highlighting the civil rights leader’s strong support of the Jewish state. We have hosted lectures by Dennis Prager, Stanley Urman, Israeli Vice Consul Ishmael Khaldi (who spoke about being the highest-ranking Muslim in the Israeli foreign service) and others.
Last year we held two weeklong programs brimming with pro-Israel activities: Israel Peace and Diversity Week and Israel@60 Week (which included a widely attended on-campus Holocaust memorial on Yom HaShoah). We just finished our latest effort, Israel Liberation Week, and we have also been a positive influence on student government, with John Moghtader, a current senator in the Associated Students of the University of California, leading our group.
Regarding the Jewish Student Union and Berkeley Hillel, we must clarify misstatements that ran in j. Even though Tikvah is the largest and most active Jewish student group on campus, we have been allocated precisely zero dollars from the JSU this school year.
While the JSU and Berkeley Hillel remain silent, we are the ones on Sproul Plaza and around campus protesting the Finkelsteins of the world, educating students about Israel, organizing rallies and holding Holocaust memorials.
We were dumbfounded to find that Hillel is presuming to play some role in all this, as Tikvah has never been affiliated with Berkeley Hillel, nor have we ever received funds from them for any of our activities.
We are a grassroots student group. Our goal is to make sure Jewish students do not have to be subjected to a hostile anti-Israel, anti-Semitic environment on campus. That’s our bottom line.
John E. Moghtader, a third-year undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley, is an Associated Students of the University of California senator and president of Tikvah.
Elodie Resseguie is a fourth-year undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley and is on the Tikvah executive board. To learn more about Tikvah, e-mail tikvahsfi@gmail.com or visit tikvahsfi.blogspot.com.
=============================================
NOTE: This blogger frankly admits bias. My sentiments are pro-Israel, and necessarily negative about the Arab cause. However, if a member of the other side wishes to write a rational, well-balanced counterpoint, I will be more than willing to post it. Just bear in mind that it is my blog, and therefore my standards that need to be met.
Something eloquent, even if I think it utter balderdash, will slip in on appreciation alone.
I can always add comment below it disagreeing with what whatever you write. But I like eloquence. And chutzpah.
That said, the Arab and Filistinist side do at times make good points, and I do not wish to see comments utterly damning them or painting them as all black. Please reserve that for their simple-minded and depraved supporters.
=============================================
Friday November 21st., 2008 - 1:48 PM Pacific Standard Time
ADDENDUM: The message above by John E. Moghtader and Elodie Resseguie has now been cross-posted over at Jameel's place The Muqata.
Please see this post: TIKVAH STUDENTS AT U.C. BERKELEY
Please give Tikvah your attention and support, go visit their site, and blogroll it. Thank you.
MESSAGE FROM THE ZIONIST STUDENTS AT U.C. BERKELEY
Reproduced here as a courtesy. This blogger both sympathizes with them and admires their courageous stand, especially in the face of apathy and hatred - anti-Semitism is endemic among the university population in Berkeley, and virtually institutionalized.
Tikvah: victim of double standard at U.C.
By John E. Moghtader & Elodie Resseguie
Long a hotbed of anti-Israel activity, U.C. Berkeley has barely had a strong pro-Israel presence on campus. Until now, with Tikvah: Students for Israel, the Zionist student group at U.C. Berkeley.
We are the group that stepped up to protest when academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt visited Cal in October 2007 to hawk their book, a nefarious smear job titled "The Jewish Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy."
We were also there last month when the virulently anti-Israel academic Norman Finkelstein came to speak.
Before the lecture, we respectfully distributed our literature outside. Once inside, Finkelstein’s level of anti-Semitic vitriol prompted a walkout of Tikvah students and others not associated with our group. We shouted out our opinions while exiting, as the crowd hurled expletives at us. Finkelstein and his colleague then continued delivering their insulting lies.
As a result, the dean of students is now seeking to discipline Tikvah and individual students for an "offense" which in the past barely warranted mention when undertaken by student groups involved in anti-Israel activities.
For example, when Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes tried to speak on campus several years ago, he was shouted down by members of Students for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Student Association. At the time the chancellor said, "Uncivil behavior, lamentable as it is, is not a crime, nor is it a violation of the Code of Student Conduct." No disciplinary action was taken against SJP or its members for that incident, nor when Nonie Darwish was likewise shouted down a year ago.
Only last week, SJP disrupted an innovative Zionist hip-hop concert on campus. Even though no Jewish students were involved in the physical altercation that ensued (contrary to what was reported in the school paper and what SJP claims), we wait to see how the university will deal with the assailants from SJP.
Other violations by SJP of the U.C. code of conduct — such as blocking of pedestrian traffic with demonstrations, the brandishing of fake firearms, physical harassment and intimidation of Jewish students — were presented to the dean of students but have been ignored.
What we see here is a double standard, one for the rest of campus and another for the Jews and those who actively support Israel.
Our tax dollars support the U.C. system, and Jewish donors are very prominent in supporting the U.C. campuses. It’s time for the Jewish community to become aware of what is happening at our university.
Meanwhile, Tikvah has a consistent record of positive, pro-Israel programming on campus. Until our inception a year ago, there was no substantive pro-Israel voice on campus. We changed that, attracting students of various religious and cultural backgrounds to our cause. We have collaborated with many off-campus groups, including the Israeli Consulate, Israel Peace Initiative, S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council, U.C. Berkeley Chabad, CAMERA, StandWithUs, JIMENA and more. Once again Jews walk with pride across Sproul Plaza.
We have also sponsored many successful events. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we took out ads in the student newspaper highlighting the civil rights leader’s strong support of the Jewish state. We have hosted lectures by Dennis Prager, Stanley Urman, Israeli Vice Consul Ishmael Khaldi (who spoke about being the highest-ranking Muslim in the Israeli foreign service) and others.
Last year we held two weeklong programs brimming with pro-Israel activities: Israel Peace and Diversity Week and Israel@60 Week (which included a widely attended on-campus Holocaust memorial on Yom HaShoah). We just finished our latest effort, Israel Liberation Week, and we have also been a positive influence on student government, with John Moghtader, a current senator in the Associated Students of the University of California, leading our group.
Regarding the Jewish Student Union and Berkeley Hillel, we must clarify misstatements that ran in j. Even though Tikvah is the largest and most active Jewish student group on campus, we have been allocated precisely zero dollars from the JSU this school year.
While the JSU and Berkeley Hillel remain silent, we are the ones on Sproul Plaza and around campus protesting the Finkelsteins of the world, educating students about Israel, organizing rallies and holding Holocaust memorials.
We were dumbfounded to find that Hillel is presuming to play some role in all this, as Tikvah has never been affiliated with Berkeley Hillel, nor have we ever received funds from them for any of our activities.
We are a grassroots student group. Our goal is to make sure Jewish students do not have to be subjected to a hostile anti-Israel, anti-Semitic environment on campus. That’s our bottom line.
John E. Moghtader, a third-year undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley, is an Associated Students of the University of California senator and president of Tikvah.
Elodie Resseguie is a fourth-year undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley and is on the Tikvah executive board. To learn more about Tikvah, e-mail tikvahsfi@gmail.com or visit tikvahsfi.blogspot.com.
=============================================
NOTE: This blogger frankly admits bias. My sentiments are pro-Israel, and necessarily negative about the Arab cause. However, if a member of the other side wishes to write a rational, well-balanced counterpoint, I will be more than willing to post it. Just bear in mind that it is my blog, and therefore my standards that need to be met.
Something eloquent, even if I think it utter balderdash, will slip in on appreciation alone.
I can always add comment below it disagreeing with what whatever you write. But I like eloquence. And chutzpah.
That said, the Arab and Filistinist side do at times make good points, and I do not wish to see comments utterly damning them or painting them as all black. Please reserve that for their simple-minded and depraved supporters.
=============================================
Friday November 21st., 2008 - 1:48 PM Pacific Standard Time
ADDENDUM: The message above by John E. Moghtader and Elodie Resseguie has now been cross-posted over at Jameel's place The Muqata.
Please see this post: TIKVAH STUDENTS AT U.C. BERKELEY
Please give Tikvah your attention and support, go visit their site, and blogroll it. Thank you.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
INVENTORY OF WORK SPACE
The items that one surrounds oneself with say a lot about a person. Especially the things in the place where one spends the majority of one's waking hours - the office. Personal effects are often a louder statement than any curriculum vitae.
Follows a list of "decorative items" in my cubicle.
Eight Israeli flags.
Three American flags.
One "destroy Hezbollah" sign.
Seven assorted other protest signs.
A dancing robotic Woman in Black.
Six month supply of pipe tobacco.
Dolls: daemon, joker, frog, evil mouse.
Plush: mostly rodents.
Plastic animals: rabbit, lizard, dinosaur.
Three realistic heads, one of which is a mutant alien baby.
A knit kippah (blues and greens).
Framed Smicha (Yeshiva Chipas Emess).
Three Chabad baseball caps.
Three paintings (one of which represents Nick Berg and three Islamic militants).
Over a dozen "test tube babies", one of which is large and adrift in yellow liquid.
Two dozen books, of which half a dozen are linguistic reference.
Eight umbrellas.
Nearly three hundred empty cigarillo tins (brand: Panter).
A stuffed armadillo (real, dead, rotund).
And a cheerful Totoro, who encourages me with his dazzling smile.
[He is sitting on the Nederlands Etymologisch Woordenboek, by Jan de Vries (fourth edition, published by Koninklijke Brill in Leiden in 1997).]
The children of coworkers avoid my area when they visit the company. It is very wise of them to do so, even though I no longer bite. My cubicle is a cacophony.
Follows a list of "decorative items" in my cubicle.
Eight Israeli flags.
Three American flags.
One "destroy Hezbollah" sign.
Seven assorted other protest signs.
A dancing robotic Woman in Black.
Six month supply of pipe tobacco.
Dolls: daemon, joker, frog, evil mouse.
Plush: mostly rodents.
Plastic animals: rabbit, lizard, dinosaur.
Three realistic heads, one of which is a mutant alien baby.
A knit kippah (blues and greens).
Framed Smicha (Yeshiva Chipas Emess).
Three Chabad baseball caps.
Three paintings (one of which represents Nick Berg and three Islamic militants).
Over a dozen "test tube babies", one of which is large and adrift in yellow liquid.
Two dozen books, of which half a dozen are linguistic reference.
Eight umbrellas.
Nearly three hundred empty cigarillo tins (brand: Panter).
A stuffed armadillo (real, dead, rotund).
And a cheerful Totoro, who encourages me with his dazzling smile.
[He is sitting on the Nederlands Etymologisch Woordenboek, by Jan de Vries (fourth edition, published by Koninklijke Brill in Leiden in 1997).]
The children of coworkers avoid my area when they visit the company. It is very wise of them to do so, even though I no longer bite. My cubicle is a cacophony.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
THE MATING BEHAVIOUR OF THE ARENA KINGFISHER
The Arena Kingfisher, also known as the Crimson-Crested Kingfisher.
Chest feathers of the female match the crest-hue of the male. The male crest consists of a flaring crown that starts above the beak.
Native names: BUGONG TALIPIYANG, TIWIPANG
Complex instinctive behaviours coupled with a broad range of emotional responses.
GENERAL PREPARATORY BEHAVIOUR:
Female devotes attention to self-preening, displays rump with tail-feathers closed. Attends to mating arena by manipulating the shrubbery and grass with her beak. Shows her readiness to mate by strutting and pausing, while looking from side to side every few paces.
STAGE ONE: ACQUAINTING:
Male and female circle each other at a distance while miming feeding with their beaks, and making clawing motions on the ground of the arena.
STAGE TWO: MALE EXHIBIT:
The male perches on nearby branches, moving from one to another, while craning and arching neck, flaring neck and shoulder feathers, and deliberately looking away from the female.
STAGE THREE: APPROACH:
Both birds approach each other, moving in a circling advance around the edges of the arena, familiarizing themselves with the place, and with each other. During this process, they often face each other briefly.
STAGE FOUR: FLIRTATION:
The two birds move heads in synchronization. The female keeps her head lower, on level with his neck, while looking up. She responds to his craning motions with upward nudges.
STAGE FIVE: MUTUAL PREENING:
The classic display of comfort-level affirmation, with mutual neck nudging and rubbing motions along the feathers of the partner. Both birds engage in this.
NOTE: A couple at the bar a few days ago displayed a remarkable approximation of this, going through all the stages up to and including the mutual preening. Then they left. Consequently, describing what happens next is rather pointless.
Chest feathers of the female match the crest-hue of the male. The male crest consists of a flaring crown that starts above the beak.
Native names: BUGONG TALIPIYANG, TIWIPANG
Complex instinctive behaviours coupled with a broad range of emotional responses.
GENERAL PREPARATORY BEHAVIOUR:
Female devotes attention to self-preening, displays rump with tail-feathers closed. Attends to mating arena by manipulating the shrubbery and grass with her beak. Shows her readiness to mate by strutting and pausing, while looking from side to side every few paces.
STAGE ONE: ACQUAINTING:
Male and female circle each other at a distance while miming feeding with their beaks, and making clawing motions on the ground of the arena.
STAGE TWO: MALE EXHIBIT:
The male perches on nearby branches, moving from one to another, while craning and arching neck, flaring neck and shoulder feathers, and deliberately looking away from the female.
STAGE THREE: APPROACH:
Both birds approach each other, moving in a circling advance around the edges of the arena, familiarizing themselves with the place, and with each other. During this process, they often face each other briefly.
STAGE FOUR: FLIRTATION:
The two birds move heads in synchronization. The female keeps her head lower, on level with his neck, while looking up. She responds to his craning motions with upward nudges.
STAGE FIVE: MUTUAL PREENING:
The classic display of comfort-level affirmation, with mutual neck nudging and rubbing motions along the feathers of the partner. Both birds engage in this.
NOTE: A couple at the bar a few days ago displayed a remarkable approximation of this, going through all the stages up to and including the mutual preening. Then they left. Consequently, describing what happens next is rather pointless.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
I AM AN ANTI-SEMITE
That is what a correspondent firmly believes. She is serious, and horribly offended. Decent people should avoid me, and you might want to hang garlic on your monitor before reading any further.
In addition to being an anti-Semite, I would also like to propose that I am a strikingly beautiful black woman with high pert breasts. Might as well go for the complete makeover, don't you agree?
I wrote:
I am capable of believing that voodoo, Catholicism, several forms of Christianity, and many aspects of Orthodox practice are wrong. That several million people believe something does not mean we have to praise and accept that belief as valid. Especially as regards religion one can agree to disagree. Or demand to disagree.
This generated a howl of outrage.
I wrote:
I did not attack Judaism.
I do not accept all of orthodox praxis as valid.
Orthodox Judaism is not all of Judaism. Nor is all of orthodox Judaism actually orthodox Judaism.
Now the other person started jumping up and down and foaming at the mouth, as I could tell from hundreds of miles away. Furious scribbling ensued.
I wrote:
I fail to see how it could possibly be offensive.
Unless you consider all versions of orthodoxy, from the several variants of hareidi all the way through modern orthodox, to be identical. In which case the ultra-orthodox refusal to accept smicha from certain rabbinical schools becomes ridiculous.
Of course, the Conservative movement might also have an issue with the sneering non-acceptance of their accreditation by the ultra-orthodox.
But that begs the question - can Satmar validly be offended by Chabad? To the point that they refuse to accept the opinions of anyone associated with Chabad, or deny their kashrus certification? Those who are easily offended, will be offended.
For that matter, I would more likely accept the graduate of Yeshiva Chovevei Torah as normative in his rabbinical lomdus, than let us say, a rabbi from Beis Medrash Gohova, Belz, or even the Chabad milieu.
To the degree that I do not accept them as normative, they may be offended. More than likely, it would not matter one whit to them.
Again, I fail to see where the offense lies.
Further to the offense, I would offer the following representative sampling of elements of orthodox Judaism which are utter balderdash: Segulos, Kabbalah, Dybbuks, Sheidim, Klipos, and Gematria.
You will find that though these things are all well within orthodox belief, they are by no means universally accepted. They represent a strain of superstition rife with borrowings from heathendom and folk-beliefs. Avodah zara, more or less. Torah codes are also in that category, and quite as ridiculous.
A careful reading of the sources will show that many authorities in the past were adamantly opposed to such nonsense. Such people as the Rambam, Ibn Ezra, even the Ramchal.......
At this point, she accused me of dam-near hating Jews and Judaism.
So yes, dear readers, I am an anti-Semite.
BLACK AND FULLY BREASTED
I am also a tall and incredibly stunning black woman with lovely gazongas. Tribal jewelry suits me very well, and I wear bold colours with grace and ease.
Deeply plunging v-necks show off my lovely attributes nicely, by the way.
I have not yet decided whether I am a straight black woman, or a raging Lesbienne, nor, if the latter is the case, if I like cute little blondes or prefer chubby brunettes. But whatever I am, I have no fetiches, and a broad spectrum of tastes. A whole new world of exciting choices has opened up, and it may take me a while to choose all my predilections.
Please send me your suggestions - I need help deciding.
In the meantime, I remain, affectionately, ROTFLMAO.
-----B.O.T.H.
In addition to being an anti-Semite, I would also like to propose that I am a strikingly beautiful black woman with high pert breasts. Might as well go for the complete makeover, don't you agree?
I wrote:
I am capable of believing that voodoo, Catholicism, several forms of Christianity, and many aspects of Orthodox practice are wrong. That several million people believe something does not mean we have to praise and accept that belief as valid. Especially as regards religion one can agree to disagree. Or demand to disagree.
This generated a howl of outrage.
I wrote:
I did not attack Judaism.
I do not accept all of orthodox praxis as valid.
Orthodox Judaism is not all of Judaism. Nor is all of orthodox Judaism actually orthodox Judaism.
Now the other person started jumping up and down and foaming at the mouth, as I could tell from hundreds of miles away. Furious scribbling ensued.
I wrote:
I fail to see how it could possibly be offensive.
Unless you consider all versions of orthodoxy, from the several variants of hareidi all the way through modern orthodox, to be identical. In which case the ultra-orthodox refusal to accept smicha from certain rabbinical schools becomes ridiculous.
Of course, the Conservative movement might also have an issue with the sneering non-acceptance of their accreditation by the ultra-orthodox.
But that begs the question - can Satmar validly be offended by Chabad? To the point that they refuse to accept the opinions of anyone associated with Chabad, or deny their kashrus certification? Those who are easily offended, will be offended.
For that matter, I would more likely accept the graduate of Yeshiva Chovevei Torah as normative in his rabbinical lomdus, than let us say, a rabbi from Beis Medrash Gohova, Belz, or even the Chabad milieu.
To the degree that I do not accept them as normative, they may be offended. More than likely, it would not matter one whit to them.
Again, I fail to see where the offense lies.
Further to the offense, I would offer the following representative sampling of elements of orthodox Judaism which are utter balderdash: Segulos, Kabbalah, Dybbuks, Sheidim, Klipos, and Gematria.
You will find that though these things are all well within orthodox belief, they are by no means universally accepted. They represent a strain of superstition rife with borrowings from heathendom and folk-beliefs. Avodah zara, more or less. Torah codes are also in that category, and quite as ridiculous.
A careful reading of the sources will show that many authorities in the past were adamantly opposed to such nonsense. Such people as the Rambam, Ibn Ezra, even the Ramchal.......
At this point, she accused me of dam-near hating Jews and Judaism.
So yes, dear readers, I am an anti-Semite.
BLACK AND FULLY BREASTED
I am also a tall and incredibly stunning black woman with lovely gazongas. Tribal jewelry suits me very well, and I wear bold colours with grace and ease.
Deeply plunging v-necks show off my lovely attributes nicely, by the way.
I have not yet decided whether I am a straight black woman, or a raging Lesbienne, nor, if the latter is the case, if I like cute little blondes or prefer chubby brunettes. But whatever I am, I have no fetiches, and a broad spectrum of tastes. A whole new world of exciting choices has opened up, and it may take me a while to choose all my predilections.
Please send me your suggestions - I need help deciding.
In the meantime, I remain, affectionately, ROTFLMAO.
-----B.O.T.H.
Friday, November 14, 2008
PRO-PALESTINIAN ACTIVISTS ATTACK JEWS ON CAMPUS
Follows a statement by the pro-Israel students at UC Berkeley regarding the violence directed at Jews on campus last night.
Please disseminate widely.
Members of Students for Justice in Palestine Attack Jews at UC Berkeley Hip-Hop Concert
(Berkeley, CA- November 13, 2008)
We, the Zionist Freedom Alliance student group at Cal, are deeply concerned by the latest in a series of attacks on Jewish and pro-Israel students at UC Berkeley perpetrated by members of Students for Justice in Palestine. On the night of November 13, 2008 at around 6:00 PM, members of Students for Justice in Palestine disrupted our hip-hop concert that celebrated the Jewish connection to the land of Israel. Then they attacked students who asked them to stop their disruption.
Three members of the Students for Justice in Palestine illegally draped large Palestinian flags behind the stage of the concert, which was part of Israel Liberation Week. Yehuda De Sa (one of the performers), Cal alumnus Gabe Weiner, and current ASUC Senator John Moghtader walked to the balcony from which the flags were hanging and asked the students to remove the flags as they misrepresented the concert's message. The SJP members immediately became hostile at this request and current SJP leader Husam Zakharia instigated a physical altercation by striking Weiner on the head. As Weiner and the performer tried to defend themselves, Moghtader stood away from the scuffle and then made a successful effort to break up the fight.
Members of Students for Justice in Palestine shouted anti-Semitic epithets referencing the Holocaust throughout the ordeal. Zakharia and others from SJP were detained by the police and charged with battery. Citizens' arrests were filed against SJP members who took part in the altercation.
The violence, intimidation, and harassment exhibited by members of Students for Justice in Palestine at the concert is only one act in a pattern of similar behavior that they have exhibited towards Jewish and pro-Israel students on this campus. Last year, multiple charges were filed against SJP and some of its members citing harassment, violence, intimidation, and violation of numerous other campus rules. These charges all went ignored by Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard.
We call on state officials, the President of the University of California, the Chancellor, the Dean of Students, faculty, and the student body to take a unified stand against the continued harassment of Jewish and pro-Israel students on this campus, particularly by members of Students for Justice in Palestine.
----The Zionist Freedom Alliance Student Group at Cal
This blogger's afterword:
It has not been safe to be pro-Israel on campus in years. Bay Area universities have become, with the collaboration of administrators and the complaisance of many students, hotbeds of hatred and opposition to free-speech. I would have expected both the faculties and the officials in charge to have countered this, but it has become evident that most are willing panderers to extremists, the rest being both in denial, and in several cases outright anti-Semitic themselves.
To the Zionist students at UC Berkeley: Keep up the good work, boys, we're proud of you.
To my readers: Please show your support for the Zionist Freedom Alliance student group at Cal. They struggle against a vast array of anti-Semitic hate groups and front organizations, and bear the brunt of a battle for freedom of speech and diversity of opinion. Their opponents do not shy away from violence, intimidation, lies, and character assassination.
Please disseminate widely.
Members of Students for Justice in Palestine Attack Jews at UC Berkeley Hip-Hop Concert
(Berkeley, CA- November 13, 2008)
We, the Zionist Freedom Alliance student group at Cal, are deeply concerned by the latest in a series of attacks on Jewish and pro-Israel students at UC Berkeley perpetrated by members of Students for Justice in Palestine. On the night of November 13, 2008 at around 6:00 PM, members of Students for Justice in Palestine disrupted our hip-hop concert that celebrated the Jewish connection to the land of Israel. Then they attacked students who asked them to stop their disruption.
Three members of the Students for Justice in Palestine illegally draped large Palestinian flags behind the stage of the concert, which was part of Israel Liberation Week. Yehuda De Sa (one of the performers), Cal alumnus Gabe Weiner, and current ASUC Senator John Moghtader walked to the balcony from which the flags were hanging and asked the students to remove the flags as they misrepresented the concert's message. The SJP members immediately became hostile at this request and current SJP leader Husam Zakharia instigated a physical altercation by striking Weiner on the head. As Weiner and the performer tried to defend themselves, Moghtader stood away from the scuffle and then made a successful effort to break up the fight.
Members of Students for Justice in Palestine shouted anti-Semitic epithets referencing the Holocaust throughout the ordeal. Zakharia and others from SJP were detained by the police and charged with battery. Citizens' arrests were filed against SJP members who took part in the altercation.
The violence, intimidation, and harassment exhibited by members of Students for Justice in Palestine at the concert is only one act in a pattern of similar behavior that they have exhibited towards Jewish and pro-Israel students on this campus. Last year, multiple charges were filed against SJP and some of its members citing harassment, violence, intimidation, and violation of numerous other campus rules. These charges all went ignored by Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard.
We call on state officials, the President of the University of California, the Chancellor, the Dean of Students, faculty, and the student body to take a unified stand against the continued harassment of Jewish and pro-Israel students on this campus, particularly by members of Students for Justice in Palestine.
----The Zionist Freedom Alliance Student Group at Cal
This blogger's afterword:
It has not been safe to be pro-Israel on campus in years. Bay Area universities have become, with the collaboration of administrators and the complaisance of many students, hotbeds of hatred and opposition to free-speech. I would have expected both the faculties and the officials in charge to have countered this, but it has become evident that most are willing panderers to extremists, the rest being both in denial, and in several cases outright anti-Semitic themselves.
To the Zionist students at UC Berkeley: Keep up the good work, boys, we're proud of you.
To my readers: Please show your support for the Zionist Freedom Alliance student group at Cal. They struggle against a vast array of anti-Semitic hate groups and front organizations, and bear the brunt of a battle for freedom of speech and diversity of opinion. Their opponents do not shy away from violence, intimidation, lies, and character assassination.
PRO-PALESTINIAN PROVOCATION ON UC CAMPUS
The Daily Californian deliberately lies.
What happened was a violent provocation by Students for Justice in Palestine. What was immediately rushed onto the internet was a deliberate distortion of the facts and an attempt to paint Jews as violent racists.
This is not the first time that the Daily Californian has been caught violating the truth and promoting an extremist pro-Palestinian agenda.
This is the version originally posted:
SJP statement on violent anti-Palestinian attack on campus
November 14, 2008-- (Berkeley, CA)
Contact: admin@calsjp.org
Student organization "Students for Justice in Palestine" (SJP) is extremely concerned about a violent attack on three Arab Palestinian students on the evening of November 13, 2008 around 6:00PM, and calls upon campus administrators and authorities to immediately investigate the incident and bring those responsible to justice.
According to dozens of witnesses on the scene, three organizers for the "Zionist Freedom Alliance" attacked one male and two female Arab students who stood nearby the event holding a Palestinian flag. The assailants were identified by the Daily Californian to include current ASUC student senator John Moghtader, Cal alumnus Gabe Weiner, and performer Yehuda De sa. The paper also reported that all three had been cited by the UC Police Department on several counts of battery.
The three Arab students had decided to display the flag as a silent statement after hearing offensive anti-Arab remarks at the concert. They did not attempt to interfere with the event. Shortly after they put their flags on display, the assailants were seen angrily rushing into Eshleman Hall and disturbing several meetings to reach the protestors who were located on the 2nd floor balcony. Students on the scene report that the men were yelling racial epithets directed at Arabs and Palestinians.
When the assailants arrived at the balcony, they attempted to push the protestors aside and take their flags away. Witnesses claim that the assailants eventually knocked one protestor against the balcony railing, with a scuffle ensuing where two Arab students, one male and one female, were hit several times. Within a few minutes the assailants began to rush away, though a small group of their supporters had followed them upstairs. Throughout the process the assailants and their supporters were also overheard making remarks like, "we're about to take care of some f***ing Palestinians," and "you Arab dogs, we will kill you."
The group of assailants was eventually pushed away by a crowd of students who were waiting for the police to arrive and collect statements. One of the assailants accused his victims of assaulting him, causing citations to be issued on the victims despite the testimony of several witnesses on the scene refuting the claim. Fortunately nobody was seriously hurt during the ordeal.
SJP is concerned by the willful and concerted escalation to violence by these individuals, who are members of student organization Tikvah. SJP disagrees with the Daily Californian's characterization of the event as the result of "tensions between Palestinian and Jewish students." In fact, the incident was isolated, and the assailants are not representative of the Jewish community at Cal. After a series of similar threatening encounters with a handful of individuals this semester, SJP members began to document these incidents. Two of the attackers, John Moghtader and Gabe Weiner, were involved in another outburst at a campus lecture last month that led the Jewish Student Union to place Tikvah on probation [1, 2].
SJP calls upon campus administrators to pursue the incident immediately, and for students to remain committed to resolving their political differences through peaceful dialogue and discussion.
This is the version subsequently put on the Daily Cal site:
Fight Erupts at Israel Liberation Week Concert
By Will Kane and Vincent Quan
Daily Cal Staff Writers
Friday, November 14, 2008
Category: News > City > Crime
A previous version of this story was removed by editors after we became aware that some facts in the story were incorrect. That story has been replaced with this updated version.
The Daily Californian holds itself to high journalistic standards and always strives to produce objective and accurate content. The Daily Cal follows the ethics policy laid out by the Society of Professional Journalists, which is available at http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp.
If you have any comments or questions regarding this article or our policies, please contact me at editor@dailycal.org.
-Bryan Thomas, Editor in Chief & President
Tensions between Palestinian and Jewish students on campus ran high Thursday night after a fight broke out on an Eshleman Hall balcony overlooking a concert promoting Israel Liberation Week.
At about 5:45 p.m., as rap artists performed on Lower Sproul Plaza, three Palestinian students hung up two Palestinian flags on the building's second floor balcony, witnesses said. The students said they were responding to the anti-Palestinian lyrics they heard.
Upon seeing the flags, ASUC Senator John Moghtader, former senator Gabe Weiner and Yehuda De sa, the concert's opening act, went up to the balcony in an attempt to remove the flags. All three men are Jewish.
At that point, a fight broke out, police said. Witnesses added that the fight prompted up to half a dozen members of the audience to run up to the second floor. Police said two students and one non-student were cited for battery. Weiner was one of those students.
"I went up to the second floor because the message they were sending was an abomination to our national rights," Weiner said.
Senior Husam Zakharia, who was hit in the face during the altercation, said the rap lyrics he heard spurred him to hang up the Palestinian flag.
"We're going to go up and we're going to put up our Palestinian flag in silent protest-exercising our freedom of speech to say we're here and we exist," he said, adding that he was surprised by the violent reaction.
A number of UCPD officers and Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard spent at least two hours interviewing students and witnesses, attempting to piece together the series of events.
According to police, the fight was related to incidents of vandalism earlier this semester. In September, a bus stop sign outside Eshleman Hall promoting Israel was vandalized. That vandalism was followed by pro-Israel graffiti in a classroom in Dwinelle Hall, increasing tension among Israeli and Palestinian advocacy groups on campus.
As the altercation on Thursday night took place, Eshleman Hall's second floor was full of ASUC officials including President Roxanne Winston.
Many senators who saw the fight expressed shock that such an incident could happen among students, most notably former and current ASUC senators.
"I'm very strong now in my sentiments in that there should be immediate disciplinary action," said ASUC Senator Kifah Shah. "If it culminates to violence where three members of SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) are hit ... then that's just ridiculous."
Tags: Student Life, crime
Article Link: http://www.dailycal.org/article/103566
Background: As the Daily Cal is well aware, Students for Justice in Palestine has over the past several years promoted an atmosphere of intolerance on campus, in which Jewish and Israeli students, and their supporters, have been threatened and intimidated. Their actions have carried over into the Berkeley street, and have resulted in several incidents in which a pro-Israel view has been shouted down, speakers have been insulted and manhandled, and property vandalized.
This is mirrored by similar acts at other university campuses in California, notably at SF State and at UC Santa Cruz. School administrators and student body functionaries have not only been unwilling to step in, several are on record as stating that Zionism has no place on campus, and that Jewish support for Israel is, ultimately, the cause of such friction.
The atmosphere on the Berkeley campus was already nauseatingly anti-Semitic and poisonous before this provocation; it remains to be seen how much more vile it will become. This blogger does not expect any significant attempt by authorities and campus police to get to the truth of the matter. Especially given the increasing financial influence of certain foreign regimes in academia.
We wish the Jewish students on California campuses God-speed and the best of luck. It is a foregone conclusion that pro-Palestinian provocateurs will seek to make the academic environment even more poisonous and dangerous for Jewish students than it ever was.
What happened was a violent provocation by Students for Justice in Palestine. What was immediately rushed onto the internet was a deliberate distortion of the facts and an attempt to paint Jews as violent racists.
This is not the first time that the Daily Californian has been caught violating the truth and promoting an extremist pro-Palestinian agenda.
This is the version originally posted:
SJP statement on violent anti-Palestinian attack on campus
November 14, 2008-- (Berkeley, CA)
Contact: admin@calsjp.org
Student organization "Students for Justice in Palestine" (SJP) is extremely concerned about a violent attack on three Arab Palestinian students on the evening of November 13, 2008 around 6:00PM, and calls upon campus administrators and authorities to immediately investigate the incident and bring those responsible to justice.
According to dozens of witnesses on the scene, three organizers for the "Zionist Freedom Alliance" attacked one male and two female Arab students who stood nearby the event holding a Palestinian flag. The assailants were identified by the Daily Californian to include current ASUC student senator John Moghtader, Cal alumnus Gabe Weiner, and performer Yehuda De sa. The paper also reported that all three had been cited by the UC Police Department on several counts of battery.
The three Arab students had decided to display the flag as a silent statement after hearing offensive anti-Arab remarks at the concert. They did not attempt to interfere with the event. Shortly after they put their flags on display, the assailants were seen angrily rushing into Eshleman Hall and disturbing several meetings to reach the protestors who were located on the 2nd floor balcony. Students on the scene report that the men were yelling racial epithets directed at Arabs and Palestinians.
When the assailants arrived at the balcony, they attempted to push the protestors aside and take their flags away. Witnesses claim that the assailants eventually knocked one protestor against the balcony railing, with a scuffle ensuing where two Arab students, one male and one female, were hit several times. Within a few minutes the assailants began to rush away, though a small group of their supporters had followed them upstairs. Throughout the process the assailants and their supporters were also overheard making remarks like, "we're about to take care of some f***ing Palestinians," and "you Arab dogs, we will kill you."
The group of assailants was eventually pushed away by a crowd of students who were waiting for the police to arrive and collect statements. One of the assailants accused his victims of assaulting him, causing citations to be issued on the victims despite the testimony of several witnesses on the scene refuting the claim. Fortunately nobody was seriously hurt during the ordeal.
SJP is concerned by the willful and concerted escalation to violence by these individuals, who are members of student organization Tikvah. SJP disagrees with the Daily Californian's characterization of the event as the result of "tensions between Palestinian and Jewish students." In fact, the incident was isolated, and the assailants are not representative of the Jewish community at Cal. After a series of similar threatening encounters with a handful of individuals this semester, SJP members began to document these incidents. Two of the attackers, John Moghtader and Gabe Weiner, were involved in another outburst at a campus lecture last month that led the Jewish Student Union to place Tikvah on probation [1, 2].
SJP calls upon campus administrators to pursue the incident immediately, and for students to remain committed to resolving their political differences through peaceful dialogue and discussion.
This is the version subsequently put on the Daily Cal site:
Fight Erupts at Israel Liberation Week Concert
By Will Kane and Vincent Quan
Daily Cal Staff Writers
Friday, November 14, 2008
Category: News > City > Crime
A previous version of this story was removed by editors after we became aware that some facts in the story were incorrect. That story has been replaced with this updated version.
The Daily Californian holds itself to high journalistic standards and always strives to produce objective and accurate content. The Daily Cal follows the ethics policy laid out by the Society of Professional Journalists, which is available at http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp.
If you have any comments or questions regarding this article or our policies, please contact me at editor@dailycal.org.
-Bryan Thomas, Editor in Chief & President
Tensions between Palestinian and Jewish students on campus ran high Thursday night after a fight broke out on an Eshleman Hall balcony overlooking a concert promoting Israel Liberation Week.
At about 5:45 p.m., as rap artists performed on Lower Sproul Plaza, three Palestinian students hung up two Palestinian flags on the building's second floor balcony, witnesses said. The students said they were responding to the anti-Palestinian lyrics they heard.
Upon seeing the flags, ASUC Senator John Moghtader, former senator Gabe Weiner and Yehuda De sa, the concert's opening act, went up to the balcony in an attempt to remove the flags. All three men are Jewish.
At that point, a fight broke out, police said. Witnesses added that the fight prompted up to half a dozen members of the audience to run up to the second floor. Police said two students and one non-student were cited for battery. Weiner was one of those students.
"I went up to the second floor because the message they were sending was an abomination to our national rights," Weiner said.
Senior Husam Zakharia, who was hit in the face during the altercation, said the rap lyrics he heard spurred him to hang up the Palestinian flag.
"We're going to go up and we're going to put up our Palestinian flag in silent protest-exercising our freedom of speech to say we're here and we exist," he said, adding that he was surprised by the violent reaction.
A number of UCPD officers and Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard spent at least two hours interviewing students and witnesses, attempting to piece together the series of events.
According to police, the fight was related to incidents of vandalism earlier this semester. In September, a bus stop sign outside Eshleman Hall promoting Israel was vandalized. That vandalism was followed by pro-Israel graffiti in a classroom in Dwinelle Hall, increasing tension among Israeli and Palestinian advocacy groups on campus.
As the altercation on Thursday night took place, Eshleman Hall's second floor was full of ASUC officials including President Roxanne Winston.
Many senators who saw the fight expressed shock that such an incident could happen among students, most notably former and current ASUC senators.
"I'm very strong now in my sentiments in that there should be immediate disciplinary action," said ASUC Senator Kifah Shah. "If it culminates to violence where three members of SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) are hit ... then that's just ridiculous."
Tags: Student Life, crime
Article Link: http://www.dailycal.org/article/103566
Background: As the Daily Cal is well aware, Students for Justice in Palestine has over the past several years promoted an atmosphere of intolerance on campus, in which Jewish and Israeli students, and their supporters, have been threatened and intimidated. Their actions have carried over into the Berkeley street, and have resulted in several incidents in which a pro-Israel view has been shouted down, speakers have been insulted and manhandled, and property vandalized.
This is mirrored by similar acts at other university campuses in California, notably at SF State and at UC Santa Cruz. School administrators and student body functionaries have not only been unwilling to step in, several are on record as stating that Zionism has no place on campus, and that Jewish support for Israel is, ultimately, the cause of such friction.
The atmosphere on the Berkeley campus was already nauseatingly anti-Semitic and poisonous before this provocation; it remains to be seen how much more vile it will become. This blogger does not expect any significant attempt by authorities and campus police to get to the truth of the matter. Especially given the increasing financial influence of certain foreign regimes in academia.
We wish the Jewish students on California campuses God-speed and the best of luck. It is a foregone conclusion that pro-Palestinian provocateurs will seek to make the academic environment even more poisonous and dangerous for Jewish students than it ever was.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
THE SMELL OF FERMENTING FRUIT
People who move to the West Coast often complain about the lack of seasons here. No freezing winters, no blooming spring, no hot hot summers, and no glorious red-leafed fall. It is a character defect of ours, apparently, that we don't all get together and do something about it. Why, if this were New Jersey, we'd force the governor to institute drastic measures so that we would indeed have fall colours and winter snow.
Frankly, I'm rather pleased with the local climate. Sure I miss snow occasionally.
Snow is a great thing to visit..............
But who wants to live there?
And if you desire autumn colours, walk on Clay Street over the top of Nob Hill. The ginkgo trees are turning, and the leaves are layered in pale golden drifts along the sidewalk. In another two months the cold will affect the gingkos on Pacific between Kearny and Grant, and their delicate leaves will cluster in eddies along the wall of the Ping Yuen housing complex.
The lower elevation down there, and shelter from the winds that come off the ocean, has created a slightly different micro-climate.
It isn't that we don't have seasons, it's just that our seasons are more subtle.
We get the point faster than you guys, obviously.
We do not need to be clobbered over the head with bold shifts in weather, and storm conditions, unlike you.
Autumn in San Francisco is just so much more civilized.
The title of this post?
Oh, just remembering fall in Valkenswaard - the thick unkempt grass in backyards, wet with moisture, the fruits that littered the ground, slightly rotten but exuding the smell of sweetness...... and the wet wet leaves beginning to rot. One could easily slip on those gloriously coloured pads, the vermillion and orange underfoot becoming more slicked with each passing day. And all around the fragrance of fallen apples. It was wonderful.
Frankly, I'm rather pleased with the local climate. Sure I miss snow occasionally.
Snow is a great thing to visit..............
But who wants to live there?
And if you desire autumn colours, walk on Clay Street over the top of Nob Hill. The ginkgo trees are turning, and the leaves are layered in pale golden drifts along the sidewalk. In another two months the cold will affect the gingkos on Pacific between Kearny and Grant, and their delicate leaves will cluster in eddies along the wall of the Ping Yuen housing complex.
The lower elevation down there, and shelter from the winds that come off the ocean, has created a slightly different micro-climate.
It isn't that we don't have seasons, it's just that our seasons are more subtle.
We get the point faster than you guys, obviously.
We do not need to be clobbered over the head with bold shifts in weather, and storm conditions, unlike you.
Autumn in San Francisco is just so much more civilized.
The title of this post?
Oh, just remembering fall in Valkenswaard - the thick unkempt grass in backyards, wet with moisture, the fruits that littered the ground, slightly rotten but exuding the smell of sweetness...... and the wet wet leaves beginning to rot. One could easily slip on those gloriously coloured pads, the vermillion and orange underfoot becoming more slicked with each passing day. And all around the fragrance of fallen apples. It was wonderful.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
YOWZAH! HOT SHIKSAS!
An article in Arutz-Sheva details a fascinating viewpoint by an Egyptian politician, and I have to believe that it must be of interest to you.
How can I not quote it?
And subsequent to that quoting, add commentary underneath.
Female Egyptian Lawyer Promotes Sexual Harassment against Jews
by Hana Levi Julian
A female Egyptian lawyer has recommended that Arab men begin sexually harassing Jewish women as a means of forcing Jews to leave Israel. [CUT]
In a video clip of the interview which aired on Al Arabiyah television on October 31, 2008, Nagla Al-Imam said, "In my opinion, they are fair game for all Arabs, and there is nothing wrong… this is a new form of resistance."
According to a translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which released the clip, Al-Imam specified, however, that her "resistance" plan did not include rape.
"No. Sexual harassment… In my view, the [Israeli women] do not have any right to respond. The resistance fighters would not initiate such a thing, because their moral values are much loftier than that. However, if such a thing did happen to them, the [Israeli women] have no right to make any demands, because this would put us on equal terms – leave the land so we won't rape you. These two things are equal," she said.
Al-Imam added that she did not want "young Arab men to be interrogated," but rather, she wanted "these Zionist girls with Israeli citizenship to be expelled from our Arab countries. This is a form of resistance, and a way of rejecting their presence."
SOURCE:http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128352
LOFTY ARAB VALUES?
The statement about lofty values is rather ridiculous, especially when you consider how many Arab men harass blondes, and how many Arab women are victims of sexual harassment, groping, and rape by their fellow Arabs. Recent articles about such goings-on in Egypt rather put paid to the idea of lofty values, honour-killings bury the idea entirely. And what Arab men in the gulf do to their Philippina and Indonesian house-maids is already so well-known that Arabs are hated and despised all over South-East Asia.
More interestingly, this tactic would prove interesting if applied to Arab women.
Consider, for instance, that there are numerous Arab women who wear the Jilbab to satisfy the fetishes of men. What should in fact be an indication of modesty may also serve as advertising for a trollop on the prowl.
[Jilbab is actually a plural. The correct term in Arabic is Jilabah, and refers generally to a mantle that covers the entire body except for head, hands, and feet. The head is covered by a khimar (scarf), which frames the face but covers the hair and neck. Jilbab is the Indonesian and Malay term for the scarf. The word is also used in that sense in other parts of the world.]
ALLURING MUSLIM WOMEN
So appealing is the concept of a sleazy adventure with a woman wearing a jilbab that the term is commonly used in Indonesia as a sexual reference, along with such words as 'telanjang' (stark naked), bugil (unclothed), ngentot (connubulatus), tante girang (happy auntie) and others. These terms are both common search criteria, and website-labels.
[Indonesian slang terms of a sexual nature are quite fascinating. It is impolite to use them in mixed company. The internet is not considered mixed company, being rather a dump for pornography, recipes, and kitten pictures.]
The scarf (khimar), which to the Indonesian mind is one of the most sexual of garments, and which elsewhere is often seen as both an erotic advertisement and an accent, is not limited to the Muslim world. A western woman wearing a scarf in Muslim lands can expect to be propositioned just as much as her bare-headed sister, if not more.
The Hijab, of course, is the most common disguise for a prostitute, as it allows an anonymous get-away if the two people are interrupted by the approach of others, and hides the identity of the woman in public in any case - consider what charms may be hidden underneath the folds of cloth.
Contradictorily, not wearing the full chador-style hijab could get a woman killed in some parts of the world. Go figger.
MUSLIM WOMEN IN EUROPE AND ISRAEL
Anyhow, rather than wondering whether ms. Nagla Al-Imam wears a Jilaba, Khimar, or a Hijab, one is struck by the extreme loopiness and depravity of her proposal. There are several million more Muslim women in the western world than Israeli women in the Arab world, and they are seen as far more of a nuisance by the natives. One can only hope that the French, Dutch, Belgians, and Germans do not start propositioning Muslim women en-masse.
It's probably not very likely in any case, as, quite unlike ms. Nagla Al-Imam, they are gentlemen. Mostly.
Nor would one want innocent Israeli lads to proposition Arab women either, because that might inadvertently confuse an already muddled ethnic situation. In addition to causing massive immorality among the Edomites.
Rabbosai, let them go. Let them go. Let them go. Let them go.
Do not dwell on the where of their going, or the how or why, but merely the when - let them go.
Ignore those vixenish glances, those tempting almond eyes, those delicate fat fingers. Pay the undulations within the potato sack no mind, do not meet the glance of those raven-dark eyes, and above all, immediately cease inhaling the attars and unguents of those tempting plump gazelles!
Let them go.
How can I not quote it?
And subsequent to that quoting, add commentary underneath.
Female Egyptian Lawyer Promotes Sexual Harassment against Jews
by Hana Levi Julian
A female Egyptian lawyer has recommended that Arab men begin sexually harassing Jewish women as a means of forcing Jews to leave Israel. [CUT]
In a video clip of the interview which aired on Al Arabiyah television on October 31, 2008, Nagla Al-Imam said, "In my opinion, they are fair game for all Arabs, and there is nothing wrong… this is a new form of resistance."
According to a translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which released the clip, Al-Imam specified, however, that her "resistance" plan did not include rape.
"No. Sexual harassment… In my view, the [Israeli women] do not have any right to respond. The resistance fighters would not initiate such a thing, because their moral values are much loftier than that. However, if such a thing did happen to them, the [Israeli women] have no right to make any demands, because this would put us on equal terms – leave the land so we won't rape you. These two things are equal," she said.
Al-Imam added that she did not want "young Arab men to be interrogated," but rather, she wanted "these Zionist girls with Israeli citizenship to be expelled from our Arab countries. This is a form of resistance, and a way of rejecting their presence."
SOURCE:http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128352
LOFTY ARAB VALUES?
The statement about lofty values is rather ridiculous, especially when you consider how many Arab men harass blondes, and how many Arab women are victims of sexual harassment, groping, and rape by their fellow Arabs. Recent articles about such goings-on in Egypt rather put paid to the idea of lofty values, honour-killings bury the idea entirely. And what Arab men in the gulf do to their Philippina and Indonesian house-maids is already so well-known that Arabs are hated and despised all over South-East Asia.
More interestingly, this tactic would prove interesting if applied to Arab women.
Consider, for instance, that there are numerous Arab women who wear the Jilbab to satisfy the fetishes of men. What should in fact be an indication of modesty may also serve as advertising for a trollop on the prowl.
[Jilbab is actually a plural. The correct term in Arabic is Jilabah, and refers generally to a mantle that covers the entire body except for head, hands, and feet. The head is covered by a khimar (scarf), which frames the face but covers the hair and neck. Jilbab is the Indonesian and Malay term for the scarf. The word is also used in that sense in other parts of the world.]
ALLURING MUSLIM WOMEN
So appealing is the concept of a sleazy adventure with a woman wearing a jilbab that the term is commonly used in Indonesia as a sexual reference, along with such words as 'telanjang' (stark naked), bugil (unclothed), ngentot (connubulatus), tante girang (happy auntie) and others. These terms are both common search criteria, and website-labels.
[Indonesian slang terms of a sexual nature are quite fascinating. It is impolite to use them in mixed company. The internet is not considered mixed company, being rather a dump for pornography, recipes, and kitten pictures.]
The scarf (khimar), which to the Indonesian mind is one of the most sexual of garments, and which elsewhere is often seen as both an erotic advertisement and an accent, is not limited to the Muslim world. A western woman wearing a scarf in Muslim lands can expect to be propositioned just as much as her bare-headed sister, if not more.
The Hijab, of course, is the most common disguise for a prostitute, as it allows an anonymous get-away if the two people are interrupted by the approach of others, and hides the identity of the woman in public in any case - consider what charms may be hidden underneath the folds of cloth.
Contradictorily, not wearing the full chador-style hijab could get a woman killed in some parts of the world. Go figger.
MUSLIM WOMEN IN EUROPE AND ISRAEL
Anyhow, rather than wondering whether ms. Nagla Al-Imam wears a Jilaba, Khimar, or a Hijab, one is struck by the extreme loopiness and depravity of her proposal. There are several million more Muslim women in the western world than Israeli women in the Arab world, and they are seen as far more of a nuisance by the natives. One can only hope that the French, Dutch, Belgians, and Germans do not start propositioning Muslim women en-masse.
It's probably not very likely in any case, as, quite unlike ms. Nagla Al-Imam, they are gentlemen. Mostly.
Nor would one want innocent Israeli lads to proposition Arab women either, because that might inadvertently confuse an already muddled ethnic situation. In addition to causing massive immorality among the Edomites.
Rabbosai, let them go. Let them go. Let them go. Let them go.
Do not dwell on the where of their going, or the how or why, but merely the when - let them go.
Ignore those vixenish glances, those tempting almond eyes, those delicate fat fingers. Pay the undulations within the potato sack no mind, do not meet the glance of those raven-dark eyes, and above all, immediately cease inhaling the attars and unguents of those tempting plump gazelles!
Let them go.
FROM THE DUTCH PRESS: OBAMA: HARDER JAGEN OP BIN LADEN
That was the headline on an article in the most popular newsrag in the Netherlands.
Translation: Obama: increase hunt for Bin Laden.
http://www.ad.nl/buitenland/2765888/Obama_harder_jagen_op_Bin_Laden.html
Obama indicated that he will ramp up the search for the elusive Saudi national.
The reaction, from the Dutch who read the article, was predictable: sour, bitchy, and paranoid. These are all good Dutch virtues, by the way. Please don't ask about their vices (sexual enslavement of foreign women, child-prostitution, inner-city gang-rape clubs, and numerous cases of bestiality, inter alia - but please, don't ask).
Here are some of the first comments underneath the article on the internet site.
It is a sampling, and may be taken as representative of the whole.
Hmm dat wordt lastig jagen op een door Bush verzonnen fantoom om zijn oorlogszucht goed te praten en olievoorraden veilig te stellen.
[Mmm, that's gonna be difficult, hunting for a phantasm created by Bush to justify his belligerence and secure oil supplies.]
Ik - ke - 12/11/08 - 08:01:52 2766225
Ik geloof nog steeds niet in 'de terrorist' Bin Laden. Voor mij is hij een product van de CIA en wordt hij gebruikt voor politieke doeleinden. Anders was hij toch al lang opgeruimd?
[I still do not believe in the 'terrorist' Bin Laden. As far as I'm concerned he's a product of the CIA and is being used for political purposes. Otherwise he would've been caught long ago?]
Frans - Den Haag - 12/11/08 - 08:02:42
Tim Osman was zijn CIA naam, doodverklaard door wijlen presidente Butto, en niet gezocht voor 911 door de FBI omdat zijn betrokkenheid bij 911 een onbewezen bewering uit kamp Bush was. Maar Obama weet het beter.
[Tim Osman was his name in the CIA, declared dead by the late president Bhutto, and not wanted before 911 by the FBI because his involvement in 911 was an unproved claim from the Bush camp. But Obama knows better.]
Hendrik - Zulde - 12/11/08 - 09:04:11 2766347
Ik geloof wel dat hij bestaat maar dat ze hem eerder hadden kunnen pakken, ben ik met je eens. Alleen denk ik dat hij niet wordt gepakt doo USA omdat anders de wapenindustrie in stort, en bush geen reden meer had gehad om oorlog te voeren.
[I do believe he exists, but that they could've caught him sooner, I agree with you. I just think that he isn't being caught by the USA because otherwise the weapons industry would collapse, and Bush would not have a reason anymore to wage war.]
marijke - bahrain - 12/11/08 - 10:23:53 2766604
Natuurlijk heeft hij bestaan maar hij wordt nu in leven gehouden door zowel Al Qaeda als de VS want hij is al lang dood. Voorheen kregen we nog wel eens een filmpje te zien van Osama over zijn oproepen en grootspraak maar de laatste 5 jaar heb ik niets nieuws meer gezien.
[Of course he existed, but he is now being kept alive by both Al Qaeda and the US because he has been dead for a long time. In the past we'd occasionally get a clip of his proclamations and blowharding, but the last five years I have seen nothing new.]
Hit m up - Utreg - 12/11/08 - 11:30:13 2766832
Er is na 9-11 geen seconde serieus jacht gemaakt op Bin Laden. Al snel bleek de olie alsmede de strategische ligging van Irak veel interessanter.
De gevolgen van dat geweldige beleid, dat werd verkocht onder de noemer 'War on Terror' merken we nog steeds....
[After 911 there wasn't a serious search for Bin Laden for even one second. It soon became apparent that oil, and the strategic location of Irak, were much more interesting. The results of that belligerent policy, that were busked under the nomen 'War on Terror', we still endure....]
Jan - Spijkenisse - 12/11/08 - 12:06:33 2766975
Ik ben blij om te lezen dat steeds meer mensen niet in deze onzin trappen.
Hij is gecreerd door de CIA en allang dood.
Maar dat mogen wij niet weten want dan hebben wij geen vijand meer.
[I am pleased to read that more and more people aren't falling for this guff. He was created by the CIA and has been dead for a long time. But we aren't allowed to know that, because then we would no longer have an enemy.]
Bob de Bouwer - roosendaal - 12/11/08 - 12:16:57 2767017
And so on and so forth.
It should be evident from the above that there is an element among the Dutch who are probably insane, certainly unreliable, and entirely despicable. Not all, but enough of them.
Sometimes I really wish that the North sea would rise and erase that poisonous little mud-blot from the map of Europe. The attitudes exhibited above, which were already prevalent during the early seventies, were at a higher level of fester each time I revisited the place in the nineties. I have not been back since 1999.
After the phenomenal venom that was puked forth on several Dutch internet forums discussing American policies, politics, and involvements since 2002, and the bitch-ass anti-American and anti-Semitic toxic waste on so many Dutch mailing-lists, I have little need and even less desire to ever visit the old dung heap again.
I fear that after only one week of being surrounded by such people I would incline towards murder, two weeks would mean mass-slaughter.
I would much rather leave such acts to the Turks and Moroccans who have to put up with Dutch arrogant ignorance on a daily basis. It would be both more fitting, and more deserved.
Collectively, the Muslims resident in the Netherlands have put up with so much, for so long, that all of them, even their extremists and morons, qualify for saint-hood. As do most foreigners who have the misfortune of living there.
Translation: Obama: increase hunt for Bin Laden.
http://www.ad.nl/buitenland/2765888/Obama_harder_jagen_op_Bin_Laden.html
Obama indicated that he will ramp up the search for the elusive Saudi national.
The reaction, from the Dutch who read the article, was predictable: sour, bitchy, and paranoid. These are all good Dutch virtues, by the way. Please don't ask about their vices (sexual enslavement of foreign women, child-prostitution, inner-city gang-rape clubs, and numerous cases of bestiality, inter alia - but please, don't ask).
Here are some of the first comments underneath the article on the internet site.
It is a sampling, and may be taken as representative of the whole.
Hmm dat wordt lastig jagen op een door Bush verzonnen fantoom om zijn oorlogszucht goed te praten en olievoorraden veilig te stellen.
[Mmm, that's gonna be difficult, hunting for a phantasm created by Bush to justify his belligerence and secure oil supplies.]
Ik - ke - 12/11/08 - 08:01:52 2766225
Ik geloof nog steeds niet in 'de terrorist' Bin Laden. Voor mij is hij een product van de CIA en wordt hij gebruikt voor politieke doeleinden. Anders was hij toch al lang opgeruimd?
[I still do not believe in the 'terrorist' Bin Laden. As far as I'm concerned he's a product of the CIA and is being used for political purposes. Otherwise he would've been caught long ago?]
Frans - Den Haag - 12/11/08 - 08:02:42
Tim Osman was zijn CIA naam, doodverklaard door wijlen presidente Butto, en niet gezocht voor 911 door de FBI omdat zijn betrokkenheid bij 911 een onbewezen bewering uit kamp Bush was. Maar Obama weet het beter.
[Tim Osman was his name in the CIA, declared dead by the late president Bhutto, and not wanted before 911 by the FBI because his involvement in 911 was an unproved claim from the Bush camp. But Obama knows better.]
Hendrik - Zulde - 12/11/08 - 09:04:11 2766347
Ik geloof wel dat hij bestaat maar dat ze hem eerder hadden kunnen pakken, ben ik met je eens. Alleen denk ik dat hij niet wordt gepakt doo USA omdat anders de wapenindustrie in stort, en bush geen reden meer had gehad om oorlog te voeren.
[I do believe he exists, but that they could've caught him sooner, I agree with you. I just think that he isn't being caught by the USA because otherwise the weapons industry would collapse, and Bush would not have a reason anymore to wage war.]
marijke - bahrain - 12/11/08 - 10:23:53 2766604
Natuurlijk heeft hij bestaan maar hij wordt nu in leven gehouden door zowel Al Qaeda als de VS want hij is al lang dood. Voorheen kregen we nog wel eens een filmpje te zien van Osama over zijn oproepen en grootspraak maar de laatste 5 jaar heb ik niets nieuws meer gezien.
[Of course he existed, but he is now being kept alive by both Al Qaeda and the US because he has been dead for a long time. In the past we'd occasionally get a clip of his proclamations and blowharding, but the last five years I have seen nothing new.]
Hit m up - Utreg - 12/11/08 - 11:30:13 2766832
Er is na 9-11 geen seconde serieus jacht gemaakt op Bin Laden. Al snel bleek de olie alsmede de strategische ligging van Irak veel interessanter.
De gevolgen van dat geweldige beleid, dat werd verkocht onder de noemer 'War on Terror' merken we nog steeds....
[After 911 there wasn't a serious search for Bin Laden for even one second. It soon became apparent that oil, and the strategic location of Irak, were much more interesting. The results of that belligerent policy, that were busked under the nomen 'War on Terror', we still endure....]
Jan - Spijkenisse - 12/11/08 - 12:06:33 2766975
Ik ben blij om te lezen dat steeds meer mensen niet in deze onzin trappen.
Hij is gecreerd door de CIA en allang dood.
Maar dat mogen wij niet weten want dan hebben wij geen vijand meer.
[I am pleased to read that more and more people aren't falling for this guff. He was created by the CIA and has been dead for a long time. But we aren't allowed to know that, because then we would no longer have an enemy.]
Bob de Bouwer - roosendaal - 12/11/08 - 12:16:57 2767017
And so on and so forth.
It should be evident from the above that there is an element among the Dutch who are probably insane, certainly unreliable, and entirely despicable. Not all, but enough of them.
Sometimes I really wish that the North sea would rise and erase that poisonous little mud-blot from the map of Europe. The attitudes exhibited above, which were already prevalent during the early seventies, were at a higher level of fester each time I revisited the place in the nineties. I have not been back since 1999.
After the phenomenal venom that was puked forth on several Dutch internet forums discussing American policies, politics, and involvements since 2002, and the bitch-ass anti-American and anti-Semitic toxic waste on so many Dutch mailing-lists, I have little need and even less desire to ever visit the old dung heap again.
I fear that after only one week of being surrounded by such people I would incline towards murder, two weeks would mean mass-slaughter.
I would much rather leave such acts to the Turks and Moroccans who have to put up with Dutch arrogant ignorance on a daily basis. It would be both more fitting, and more deserved.
Collectively, the Muslims resident in the Netherlands have put up with so much, for so long, that all of them, even their extremists and morons, qualify for saint-hood. As do most foreigners who have the misfortune of living there.
GOUT, GOUT, GOUT
Strange invasive nightmares, nightsweats, plus pedal throbbing, itch, and swelling. An interesting night was passed, indeed.
The description of the problem:
Gout (metabolic arthritis) is a disease created by a buildup of uric acid. In this condition, crystals of monosodium urate or uric acid are deposited on the articular cartilage of joints, tendons and surrounding tissues. These crystals cause inflammation and pain, both severe. If unchecked, the crystals form tophi, which can cause significant tissue damage. Gout results from a combination of elevated concentrations of uric acid and overall acidity in the bloodstream.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gout
GOUT!
GOUT!
GOUT!
Gout in men often occurs in their toes but may also manifest in other parts of the body. Mild fever may also occur. It affects women as well.
There are two causes of pain. Crystals inside the affected joint cause intense pain whenever the affected area is moved. Inflammation of the tissues around the joint may cause swelling and extreme tenderness.
Gout usually affects the big toe, but it also can attack other joints.
GOUT!
GOUT!
GOUT!
To deal with this problem I am following a strict food regimen:
No Gehakte Leber, no lobster, no Oysters Rockefeller, no Beef Wellington, no massive infusions of port or other dessert wines. No rich meats slathered in Béarnaise. No Hollandaise. No Crevettes en Sauce Commandeur de Ameland.
This is harder than I thought.
The description of the problem:
Gout (metabolic arthritis) is a disease created by a buildup of uric acid. In this condition, crystals of monosodium urate or uric acid are deposited on the articular cartilage of joints, tendons and surrounding tissues. These crystals cause inflammation and pain, both severe. If unchecked, the crystals form tophi, which can cause significant tissue damage. Gout results from a combination of elevated concentrations of uric acid and overall acidity in the bloodstream.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gout
GOUT!
GOUT!
GOUT!
Gout in men often occurs in their toes but may also manifest in other parts of the body. Mild fever may also occur. It affects women as well.
There are two causes of pain. Crystals inside the affected joint cause intense pain whenever the affected area is moved. Inflammation of the tissues around the joint may cause swelling and extreme tenderness.
Gout usually affects the big toe, but it also can attack other joints.
GOUT!
GOUT!
GOUT!
To deal with this problem I am following a strict food regimen:
No Gehakte Leber, no lobster, no Oysters Rockefeller, no Beef Wellington, no massive infusions of port or other dessert wines. No rich meats slathered in Béarnaise. No Hollandaise. No Crevettes en Sauce Commandeur de Ameland.
This is harder than I thought.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
MURDEROUS NEANDERTHALS IN SUFFOLK COUNTY
One of the most disturbing things I have read in recent weeks is an editorial in the New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/opinion/11tue3.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
It mentions the killing of a hispanic man in a Long Island town.
Quote:
"The police arrested seven teenage boys, who they said had driven into the village from out of town looking for Latinos to beat up. The police said the mob cornered Mr. Lucero and another man, who escaped and later identified the suspects to the police. A prosecutor at the arraignment on Monday quoted the young men as having said: "Let’s go find some Mexicans."
They have pleaded not guilty."
Another article:
http://ktar.com/?nid=45&sid=987734
Quote:
"The teenagers - one junior and six seniors at Patchogue-Medford High School - were arraigned Monday on gang assault charges and entered not guilty pleas. The teen believed to have wielded the knife, 17-year-old Jeffrey Conroy, was also charged with manslaughter as a hate crime. His attorney did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment."
Another quote:
"In 2000, two Mexican men were beaten by two locals in Farmingville who promised them work. On July 4, 2003, a Mexican family barely escaped with their lives after teens set their Farmingville house ablaze by shooting fireworks through a window.
Two years later, two Mexican immigrants fishing off a Long Island jetty were set upon by four white youths who beat them and stole their money while using racial and ethnic slurs."
And, to top it off:
"Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, a co-founder of a national group called Mayors and Executives for Immigration Reform, rejected suggestions that the killing was related in any way to the immigration debate."
With all due respect, I would like to suggest that mr. Steve Levy is both a dunce and a rascall.
The immigration debate was fueled by racism and bigotry, the attitudes and actions of those teenagers were fueled by racism and bigotry, the entire chain of events is clear evidence of racism and bigotry. The killing of mr. Lucero and the debate about immigration are in effect, and in practice, two pages from the same book. If it weren't for the racism and bigotry that flourishes in small towns and among the under-educated, and the encouragement that such racism and bigotry have received from politicians over the last several years, it is unlikely that any one would have thought "let’s go find some Mexicans", even less likely that anyone would have considered acting upon that thought, and barely even conceivable that it would have been seven highschoolers.
Without the racism and bigotry which is fundamental to our immigration debate, mr. Lucero would not have been murdered.
Clearly there is a venomous atmosphere in the hinterlands.
Suffolk County may need to rethink its membership of the civilized world. And seriously consider making family planning and abortions easily available to the natives, because, dammit, the slope-brows are breeding.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/opinion/11tue3.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
It mentions the killing of a hispanic man in a Long Island town.
Quote:
"The police arrested seven teenage boys, who they said had driven into the village from out of town looking for Latinos to beat up. The police said the mob cornered Mr. Lucero and another man, who escaped and later identified the suspects to the police. A prosecutor at the arraignment on Monday quoted the young men as having said: "Let’s go find some Mexicans."
They have pleaded not guilty."
Another article:
http://ktar.com/?nid=45&sid=987734
Quote:
"The teenagers - one junior and six seniors at Patchogue-Medford High School - were arraigned Monday on gang assault charges and entered not guilty pleas. The teen believed to have wielded the knife, 17-year-old Jeffrey Conroy, was also charged with manslaughter as a hate crime. His attorney did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment."
Another quote:
"In 2000, two Mexican men were beaten by two locals in Farmingville who promised them work. On July 4, 2003, a Mexican family barely escaped with their lives after teens set their Farmingville house ablaze by shooting fireworks through a window.
Two years later, two Mexican immigrants fishing off a Long Island jetty were set upon by four white youths who beat them and stole their money while using racial and ethnic slurs."
And, to top it off:
"Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, a co-founder of a national group called Mayors and Executives for Immigration Reform, rejected suggestions that the killing was related in any way to the immigration debate."
With all due respect, I would like to suggest that mr. Steve Levy is both a dunce and a rascall.
The immigration debate was fueled by racism and bigotry, the attitudes and actions of those teenagers were fueled by racism and bigotry, the entire chain of events is clear evidence of racism and bigotry. The killing of mr. Lucero and the debate about immigration are in effect, and in practice, two pages from the same book. If it weren't for the racism and bigotry that flourishes in small towns and among the under-educated, and the encouragement that such racism and bigotry have received from politicians over the last several years, it is unlikely that any one would have thought "let’s go find some Mexicans", even less likely that anyone would have considered acting upon that thought, and barely even conceivable that it would have been seven highschoolers.
Without the racism and bigotry which is fundamental to our immigration debate, mr. Lucero would not have been murdered.
Clearly there is a venomous atmosphere in the hinterlands.
Suffolk County may need to rethink its membership of the civilized world. And seriously consider making family planning and abortions easily available to the natives, because, dammit, the slope-brows are breeding.
Monday, November 10, 2008
THE CHRISTMAS LOBSTER IS A RACIST!
On Saturday night Savage Kitten and I retired shortly after dinner. We were both wide awake. Now, a normal person would probably be single-mindedly overjoyed to have an unclothed silky-skinned Cantonese-American female lying next to him...... young, fresh, inviting......
I, however, made the mistake of committing small talk. One of the things I mentioned was the blood-relation several generations ago who threw pork chops at his wife.
This novel information fascinated her. She promptly asked me for details that I did not have (even if I knew the details, I wasn't really interested in divulging them at that time, but no matter).
Were they cooked pork chops? Raw? What kind of chops, and what kind of pig? How large, and how fresh? Juicy? Well-marbled at least?
These seemed to be VERY IMPORTANT considerations to her.
Cantonese-American girls are passionate about food, by the way. Not the kind of passion I was looking for, but that was my mistake.
She wondered whether there was a message on, or in, the chops. Perhaps written on them, in protein-based ink, an endearing message like "I love you", "do me!", or "sauce". This would be starkly visible after cooking. And how did he throw them? Like a Frisbee? An underhand toss? A smart whip of the arm? A casually flick of the wrist?
"Perhaps it was his way of showing affection. No? Maybe a family tradition, or a regional custom?"
Well, no, I don't think it was a family tradition. Really, the person who could've answered all those questions would have been my late brother......
"What, you mean that Tobias was the only one who knew these crucial details? What kind of family doesn't ask about the customs of their own ancestors?!? There are traditions involved, for heaven's sakes!!!"
...
"Really, you should try to find out more about the pork chop thrower. The idea that he was a butcher with an excess of meat just doesn't cut it! What did his wife do in response?"
The information that the wife of porkchopman was a recluse who kept the shutters closed and the gaslight on all day drew a sneering speculation that pork chops hardly require darkness, and perhaps the woman went around the house gleefully reveling in lardy surfaces.
Savage Kitten made no bones about her opinion that there was a flaw in my character for not wanting to talk about all this at great length.
Early this morning she awoke me with a brilliant idea for a new family tradition. Probably to replace the lost pork chop flinging custom.
THE CHRISTMAS LOBSTER
As she explained it, the Christmas Lobster scuttles around on December 24th to reward good little children with his Generous Claw of Plenty, showering them with sweets and crustaceans. Obviously this is much much better than some fat old pervert in a red bekeshe visiting kinderlech in secret during the night - that merely makes them buy into the patriarchal value system, frightens the very young, and does nothing for people who are not wasps.
The Christmas Lobster, with his Generous Claw of Plenty, is perfect for Cantonese-Americans. Apparently he favours little Cantonese-American girls especially. He is non-threatening.
He also has the Dreadful Claw of Punishment. With which he snips off the heads of bad children.
"So there is a scary side to this after all?"
I guess I should've expected the answer I got to that question.
"Oh no, because all Cantonese little girls are sweet and good, and richly deserving of candies and seafood, and should get EVERYTHING they wish for. The only ones who have anything to fear are little boys. Especially nasty little white boys."
Frankly, I am appalled at the racism. I would've said something, but in the back of my head was the knowledge that if I objected in any way at all, she would use the special relationship that good Cantonese girls have with the Christmas Lobster against me.
There's this thing called the Dreadful Claw of Punishment..........
Santa Claus ain't got nuttin' on this.
Even his reindeer are a bunch of wimps.
I, however, made the mistake of committing small talk. One of the things I mentioned was the blood-relation several generations ago who threw pork chops at his wife.
This novel information fascinated her. She promptly asked me for details that I did not have (even if I knew the details, I wasn't really interested in divulging them at that time, but no matter).
Were they cooked pork chops? Raw? What kind of chops, and what kind of pig? How large, and how fresh? Juicy? Well-marbled at least?
These seemed to be VERY IMPORTANT considerations to her.
Cantonese-American girls are passionate about food, by the way. Not the kind of passion I was looking for, but that was my mistake.
She wondered whether there was a message on, or in, the chops. Perhaps written on them, in protein-based ink, an endearing message like "I love you", "do me!", or "sauce". This would be starkly visible after cooking. And how did he throw them? Like a Frisbee? An underhand toss? A smart whip of the arm? A casually flick of the wrist?
"Perhaps it was his way of showing affection. No? Maybe a family tradition, or a regional custom?"
Well, no, I don't think it was a family tradition. Really, the person who could've answered all those questions would have been my late brother......
"What, you mean that Tobias was the only one who knew these crucial details? What kind of family doesn't ask about the customs of their own ancestors?!? There are traditions involved, for heaven's sakes!!!"
...
"Really, you should try to find out more about the pork chop thrower. The idea that he was a butcher with an excess of meat just doesn't cut it! What did his wife do in response?"
The information that the wife of porkchopman was a recluse who kept the shutters closed and the gaslight on all day drew a sneering speculation that pork chops hardly require darkness, and perhaps the woman went around the house gleefully reveling in lardy surfaces.
Savage Kitten made no bones about her opinion that there was a flaw in my character for not wanting to talk about all this at great length.
Early this morning she awoke me with a brilliant idea for a new family tradition. Probably to replace the lost pork chop flinging custom.
THE CHRISTMAS LOBSTER
As she explained it, the Christmas Lobster scuttles around on December 24th to reward good little children with his Generous Claw of Plenty, showering them with sweets and crustaceans. Obviously this is much much better than some fat old pervert in a red bekeshe visiting kinderlech in secret during the night - that merely makes them buy into the patriarchal value system, frightens the very young, and does nothing for people who are not wasps.
The Christmas Lobster, with his Generous Claw of Plenty, is perfect for Cantonese-Americans. Apparently he favours little Cantonese-American girls especially. He is non-threatening.
He also has the Dreadful Claw of Punishment. With which he snips off the heads of bad children.
"So there is a scary side to this after all?"
I guess I should've expected the answer I got to that question.
"Oh no, because all Cantonese little girls are sweet and good, and richly deserving of candies and seafood, and should get EVERYTHING they wish for. The only ones who have anything to fear are little boys. Especially nasty little white boys."
Frankly, I am appalled at the racism. I would've said something, but in the back of my head was the knowledge that if I objected in any way at all, she would use the special relationship that good Cantonese girls have with the Christmas Lobster against me.
There's this thing called the Dreadful Claw of Punishment..........
Santa Claus ain't got nuttin' on this.
Even his reindeer are a bunch of wimps.
ESAU'S FAN CLUB: JIM HARRIS AKA TOM JOAD
Saw the noted anti-Semite Jim Harris this past Saturday (hi Jim, you're looking unwell as usual). He was standing with Women In Black, which at Grandlake is composed mostly of sour Presbyterians and a few antiquated anarchists.
The East-Bay chapter of Women In Black sincerely treasure the half-a-dozen misguided Jewesses in their ranks, because these simple souls allow them to claim that they have nothing against Jews, why even their best friends etcetera, etcetera, etceblablatera.
One wonders how the one Jewish person in their line this past Saturday felt about being in the same place as Jim - he's quite rabid, and never at a loss for the wrong word. Perhaps she is the one who insisted that he stand apart, facing into the cross-street.
I was actually hoping she'd whack him over the head with her sign.
But that would probably have been considered an unnecessarily Jewish approach to his principled ideological stand. Not at all cricket. Not when you both oppose the existence of the state of Israel.
JIM HARRIS / JAMES HARRIS / TOM JOAD
Jim Harris is the remarkably ignorant and unpleasant activist in charge of the Berkeley anti-Semites who call themselves the international solidarity movement (ISM). He can be recognized by a bad haircut, a vacant or unhappy expression, and a smoothly bagged double chin.
Sometimes, when he wants to make an intelligent impression, he writes under the name 'James Harris', but usually his screeds show up on indymedia under the moniker 'Tom Joad'.
The International Solidarity Movement, which also goes by the name of Stop AIPAC (substantially the same membership roster), is just one of the representatives of organized anti-Semitism in northern California. In addition to circulating all the usual falsehoods about Jews and Israel, and slamming the presence of any and all Jews in any political circles, they also create rumours about politicians that they feel are too close to Jewish causes. What they tried to say about Nancy Pelosi was virtually unprintable, and I shan't repeat it here.
Their main claim to fame is as actively involved supporters of terrorists and a cheering squad for murder. Jim Harris has a history of calling such acts justified and appropriate. In that he is hardly original.
But one would not expect originality from Jim Harris in any case, one is merely grateful that he is leaky as a sieve and should not be trusted with any information about planning at all. Jim just isn't intelligent.
Things have been said about his sexual habits that I am far too much a gentleman to parrot, even if they are true.
Stay tuned for personality reviews of Paul Larudee, Joseph Anderson, Ron (Ralph) Klein, Barbara Lubin, Hatem Bazian, and the Nakba Jews who tried to take over the JCC several months ago. It may take a while, because if you wade through a sewer you want to scrub down with a steel brush afterwards. Something which I fondly imagine Jim, Paul, or Joseph actually doing for pleasure.
Please note the new label: ESAU'S FAN CLUB. Appropriate, no?
The East-Bay chapter of Women In Black sincerely treasure the half-a-dozen misguided Jewesses in their ranks, because these simple souls allow them to claim that they have nothing against Jews, why even their best friends etcetera, etcetera, etceblablatera.
One wonders how the one Jewish person in their line this past Saturday felt about being in the same place as Jim - he's quite rabid, and never at a loss for the wrong word. Perhaps she is the one who insisted that he stand apart, facing into the cross-street.
I was actually hoping she'd whack him over the head with her sign.
But that would probably have been considered an unnecessarily Jewish approach to his principled ideological stand. Not at all cricket. Not when you both oppose the existence of the state of Israel.
JIM HARRIS / JAMES HARRIS / TOM JOAD
Jim Harris is the remarkably ignorant and unpleasant activist in charge of the Berkeley anti-Semites who call themselves the international solidarity movement (ISM). He can be recognized by a bad haircut, a vacant or unhappy expression, and a smoothly bagged double chin.
Sometimes, when he wants to make an intelligent impression, he writes under the name 'James Harris', but usually his screeds show up on indymedia under the moniker 'Tom Joad'.
The International Solidarity Movement, which also goes by the name of Stop AIPAC (substantially the same membership roster), is just one of the representatives of organized anti-Semitism in northern California. In addition to circulating all the usual falsehoods about Jews and Israel, and slamming the presence of any and all Jews in any political circles, they also create rumours about politicians that they feel are too close to Jewish causes. What they tried to say about Nancy Pelosi was virtually unprintable, and I shan't repeat it here.
Their main claim to fame is as actively involved supporters of terrorists and a cheering squad for murder. Jim Harris has a history of calling such acts justified and appropriate. In that he is hardly original.
But one would not expect originality from Jim Harris in any case, one is merely grateful that he is leaky as a sieve and should not be trusted with any information about planning at all. Jim just isn't intelligent.
Things have been said about his sexual habits that I am far too much a gentleman to parrot, even if they are true.
Stay tuned for personality reviews of Paul Larudee, Joseph Anderson, Ron (Ralph) Klein, Barbara Lubin, Hatem Bazian, and the Nakba Jews who tried to take over the JCC several months ago. It may take a while, because if you wade through a sewer you want to scrub down with a steel brush afterwards. Something which I fondly imagine Jim, Paul, or Joseph actually doing for pleasure.
Please note the new label: ESAU'S FAN CLUB. Appropriate, no?
Friday, November 07, 2008
JORAN VAN DER SLOOT AND WOMEN FLESH
You remember Joran van der Sloot? Joran is the gentleman who was involved in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005.
Neither the Aruban police nor the Dutch national police ever managed to pin her disappearance on Joran van der Sloot, and the Dutch press and public were adamant that he could not have had anything to do with it. After all, he was a well-brought-up Dutch boy, from a good family, whose father was a respected lawyer (Paul van der Sloot).
Natalee Holloway was merely an American high school girl (one strike against her), from the south (two strikes against her), distantly related to the Bush family (three strikes against her), who was drunk at the time.
The Dutch public was outraged at the attempt to blame Joran van der Sloot, and insisted that the young lady had probably run away to join the sex-industry in Latin America, and in any case deserved whatever happened to her.
Joran was innocent, and in their eyes Natalee was an American slut who only got what was coming to her.
Since then, tapes and casual remarks of Joran van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers have pretty much established that they drugged Natalee, gang-raped her as she was dying, and dumped the body in the ocean.
Much of the Dutch public still feels that she got what she deserved.
After all, she was an American high school girl, from the south, distantly related to the Bush family, who was drunk at the time.
Drugging girls for the purpose of sex is common enough in the Netherlands that it does not excite much comment.
At this time, all evidence in the case, while establishing the course of events clearly, does not constitute actionable material to the Dutch authorities.
The Dutch public remains angry at crime reporter Peter DeVries for uncovering much of what actually happened.
SELLING THAI WOMEN INTO SLAVERY
Joran van der Sloot is now living in Thailand, selling Thai women to European pimps.
Sources:
Algemeen Dagblad
http://www.ad.nl/binnenland/2752995/Joran_in_Thailand_in_vrouwenhandel.html
De Telegraaf
http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/2401897/__Joran_loopt_weer_in_val__.html?p=39,1
[Note, both articles are in Dutch.]
His price for a Thai girl is ten thousand Euros. Included in the deal are letters and documents showing that she is going to the Netherlands for educational purposes, plus all necessary identification and travel papers, and the young woman herself, to be smuggled into the Netherlands and delivered to the purchaser.
Fresh deliveries can be made every week, guaranteed.
It is not known whether drugs and rape are part of the bargain.
Judging by the villa in Bangkok in which he lives, business must be good. Booming, in fact.
The demand exceeds supply, and potential buyers in Holland abound.
Please note that Joran van der Sloot is well-brought-up, and from a good Dutch family, whose father is a respected lawyer. You can trust him.
Neither the Aruban police nor the Dutch national police ever managed to pin her disappearance on Joran van der Sloot, and the Dutch press and public were adamant that he could not have had anything to do with it. After all, he was a well-brought-up Dutch boy, from a good family, whose father was a respected lawyer (Paul van der Sloot).
Natalee Holloway was merely an American high school girl (one strike against her), from the south (two strikes against her), distantly related to the Bush family (three strikes against her), who was drunk at the time.
The Dutch public was outraged at the attempt to blame Joran van der Sloot, and insisted that the young lady had probably run away to join the sex-industry in Latin America, and in any case deserved whatever happened to her.
Joran was innocent, and in their eyes Natalee was an American slut who only got what was coming to her.
Since then, tapes and casual remarks of Joran van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers have pretty much established that they drugged Natalee, gang-raped her as she was dying, and dumped the body in the ocean.
Much of the Dutch public still feels that she got what she deserved.
After all, she was an American high school girl, from the south, distantly related to the Bush family, who was drunk at the time.
Drugging girls for the purpose of sex is common enough in the Netherlands that it does not excite much comment.
At this time, all evidence in the case, while establishing the course of events clearly, does not constitute actionable material to the Dutch authorities.
The Dutch public remains angry at crime reporter Peter DeVries for uncovering much of what actually happened.
SELLING THAI WOMEN INTO SLAVERY
Joran van der Sloot is now living in Thailand, selling Thai women to European pimps.
Sources:
Algemeen Dagblad
http://www.ad.nl/binnenland/2752995/Joran_in_Thailand_in_vrouwenhandel.html
De Telegraaf
http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/2401897/__Joran_loopt_weer_in_val__.html?p=39,1
[Note, both articles are in Dutch.]
His price for a Thai girl is ten thousand Euros. Included in the deal are letters and documents showing that she is going to the Netherlands for educational purposes, plus all necessary identification and travel papers, and the young woman herself, to be smuggled into the Netherlands and delivered to the purchaser.
Fresh deliveries can be made every week, guaranteed.
It is not known whether drugs and rape are part of the bargain.
Judging by the villa in Bangkok in which he lives, business must be good. Booming, in fact.
The demand exceeds supply, and potential buyers in Holland abound.
Please note that Joran van der Sloot is well-brought-up, and from a good Dutch family, whose father is a respected lawyer. You can trust him.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
FROM FRUM TO TREIF: WIGS, ANARCHO-ZIONISM, AND PORK
The time has come to digest. No, not a scrumptious meal made of the three ingredients listed above, but recently discovered blogs and ideas.
SHEITELS, and PARSHA BLOG
Dovbear alerted me that the sheitel thing has flared up again. That directed me to this blog( http://parsha.blogspot.com/ ), which I have decided to add to my blogroll.
The wiggy post is here:
http://parsha.blogspot.com/2008/11/my-reaction-to-rav-elyashivs-latest.html
ANARCHO-ZIONISM, and AARON VAN PRAAG
A recent discussion about anarcho-Zionism alerted me to Aaron van Praag, who scribbles on LiveJournal over here: http://aaronvanpraag.livejournal.com/
Aaron van Praag seems to be an old-style revolutionary, but one with a creative method to his rhetorical madness.
Quote:
"Anti-Semitism is so fundamental to the cultural milieu of the west that it is seldom recognized when encountered elsewhere; it is the great common denominator, the characteristic which builds a sense of commonality between anti-imperialist intellectuals in Europe and the faux anti-colonialists of the third world. The Jew, in this common worldview, stands in for all the flaws of the society requiring a cure. If the Jew of revolutionary fantasies does not exist, very well, they will invent him."
You can see why I read his blog and am adding him to the roll: longwinded brevity.
Besides, with such an Amsterdammish name, how can I not like him?
Further to the Anarcho-Zionist worldview, I might as well mention that I miss the visits of Miss Lance Thruster, who wrote such sparkling things underneath PIE FOR FINKELSTEIN that the remembered frisson still thrills.
I miss her. Come back, dear lady, all is forgiven.
[Well, not quite - your insane anti-Zionist sentiments still make me heave, but I am an attention-whore, and I just LOVED the zesty thing you and Grant Patel had going. I hope the two of you didn't get a room together? My monkey is a voyeur, and would have liked to watch.]
THE PORK
KARIN'S DUTCH FOOD BLOG
http://dutchfood.about.com/b/
It is what it says - Dutch food.
A LETHE
http://www.tobysterling.net/
A resident of Amsterdam, writing about things that interest him.
CUPCAKES OR DEATH
http://cupcakesordeath.blogspot.com/
A very fattening blog written by a person in Muddy Estuary.
LP'S CORNER
http://lpkorner.blogspot.com/
A somewhat less fattening blog. Peranakan food.
It may not be immediately apparent why I refer to these last four blogs as pork, but perusal of the sites will show that they are somewhat out of place in the blogroll, though quite fitting for this place.
SHEITELS, and PARSHA BLOG
Dovbear alerted me that the sheitel thing has flared up again. That directed me to this blog( http://parsha.blogspot.com/ ), which I have decided to add to my blogroll.
The wiggy post is here:
http://parsha.blogspot.com/2008/11/my-reaction-to-rav-elyashivs-latest.html
ANARCHO-ZIONISM, and AARON VAN PRAAG
A recent discussion about anarcho-Zionism alerted me to Aaron van Praag, who scribbles on LiveJournal over here: http://aaronvanpraag.livejournal.com/
Aaron van Praag seems to be an old-style revolutionary, but one with a creative method to his rhetorical madness.
Quote:
"Anti-Semitism is so fundamental to the cultural milieu of the west that it is seldom recognized when encountered elsewhere; it is the great common denominator, the characteristic which builds a sense of commonality between anti-imperialist intellectuals in Europe and the faux anti-colonialists of the third world. The Jew, in this common worldview, stands in for all the flaws of the society requiring a cure. If the Jew of revolutionary fantasies does not exist, very well, they will invent him."
You can see why I read his blog and am adding him to the roll: longwinded brevity.
Besides, with such an Amsterdammish name, how can I not like him?
Further to the Anarcho-Zionist worldview, I might as well mention that I miss the visits of Miss Lance Thruster, who wrote such sparkling things underneath PIE FOR FINKELSTEIN that the remembered frisson still thrills.
I miss her. Come back, dear lady, all is forgiven.
[Well, not quite - your insane anti-Zionist sentiments still make me heave, but I am an attention-whore, and I just LOVED the zesty thing you and Grant Patel had going. I hope the two of you didn't get a room together? My monkey is a voyeur, and would have liked to watch.]
THE PORK
KARIN'S DUTCH FOOD BLOG
http://dutchfood.about.com/b/
It is what it says - Dutch food.
A LETHE
http://www.tobysterling.net/
A resident of Amsterdam, writing about things that interest him.
CUPCAKES OR DEATH
http://cupcakesordeath.blogspot.com/
A very fattening blog written by a person in Muddy Estuary.
LP'S CORNER
http://lpkorner.blogspot.com/
A somewhat less fattening blog. Peranakan food.
It may not be immediately apparent why I refer to these last four blogs as pork, but perusal of the sites will show that they are somewhat out of place in the blogroll, though quite fitting for this place.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
ASTLEYS NO. 99 - FULL LATAKIA MIXTURE
In the seventies there was a middle-aged medical gentleman at the Eindhovensche golf-course with whom I would occasionally share pipe tobacco. He would have some of my ribbon cut Maryland, I would try some of whatever he had in his pouch. We did not speak much, and having lit up, would part and go our own way - I did not drink in the clubhouse in those days, and preferred to wander around near the swampy end of the links where the scrubby pines and sand gave way to pools of black water in the forest.
Occasionally I would run into him there also - especially if he was golfing by himself, and hitting his balls badly.
RATTRAY'S
In 1981, when I still restored pipes in the backroom of Drucquers, and lived with my grandmother in Berkeley, I discovered Rattray's tobacco. Charles Rattray of Perth produced blends of great repute, seasoning assertive Virginias boldly with Turkish, Latakia, and Perique.
In those days I would go out to the end of the Berkeley Pier after teatime to watch the sun set and smoke a pipe. Doing so was peaceful, and allowed me to forget things. The pipe was often a Castello, the tobacco was Rattray's.
That autumn my grandmother finally succumbed to cancer, and I severed my ties to Drucquers, crashed the car, and put aside Rattray's tobacco.
I no longer have that Castello pipe.
KOHLHASE & KOPP
Rattray closed and the blends eventually landed in the care of Kohlhase & Kopp in Germany, who, despite many recent negative reviews by crotchety old crocks, are doing a credible interpretation of the blends. The only major difference, and this is actually a serious problem, is that the climate in their part of Germany does not resemble the climate in Perth - average temperatures differ, as do moisture levels in the air. It really does change the flavour of the blends considerably. The bacterial influences are not the same.
ASTLEYS
Quite recently I cracked open a tin of Astleys No. 99.
Astleys is another brand that was once ranked up there with the legendary British tobacconists, most of which were eccentric operations run by opinionated gentlemen sincerely devoted to guiding their smokers on a fragrant journey. Many of them were either heirs to a family business, or staff who had purchased the company upon the owners retiring. Astleys had been founded in 1862, and was owned by Mr. Bentley, whose family had acquired the store in the nineteen thirties.
Astleys was located in the Piccadilly Arcade - their address of note was 109 Jermyn Street. They blended their own tobacco, and had pipes made for them by Comoy, GBD, and Charatan. They closed their doors about four years ago, I believe.
Their tobaccos are now, like Rattray's blends, manufactured by Kohlhase & Kopp.
Almost all of the great London tobacconists are gone now. Times have indeed changed.
ASTLEYS No. 99 ROYAL TUDOR
Full Latakia Mixture
"Traditional full strength English mixture of Virginia, Turkish and Latakia."
Kohlhase & Kopp
Von hand gemischt und gepakt
This tobacco smells in the tin precisely like an old fashioned British mixture should; nicely plummy-raisiny, due to a proportion of pampered Virginias. The problem is the description of the product as a full Latakia mixture.
Which it isn't. Not by a long shot.
Unless you started smoking a pipe back in the nineteenth century, when this blend would indeed have been at the full end of the spectrum, Latakia-wise.
It's an excellent product, and the cut is lovely. It is, however, so old-fashioned a blend that many modern pipe-smokers will not understand it, nor want to understand it. It reflects a blending tradition that based everything on the interplay of condimentals and base tobaccos, with the seat of honour given to a ribbon Virginia. Such blends were frequently melded by panning over heat, causing the flavours of the tobaccos to mix and unite.
As such it cannot possibly appeal to young men, or smokers searching for a full strength Latakia dump. It is far too restrained.
There is a nice sweetness to the first few puffs, that slowly gives way to a more complex range of flavours, before gracefully closing at the bottom of the bowl.
It smokes easy, and will not bite unless provoked.
This is perfect for wet summer days. Teatime and early evening. Perhaps with a bottle of sherry and a good thick book.
AFTERTHOUGHT
You will note that I have already mentioned Kohlhase & Kopf in reference to Rattray's. But there is another point where Rattray's and Astleys coincide - the Astleys No. 99 is remarkably reminiscent of the Rattray's blends that I smoked in 1981.
I suspect that the medical gentleman at the Eindhovensche Golfclub must have been a smoker of either Rattray's or Astleys, and I'm inclined to believe that it was actually Astleys' tobacco in his pouch. There was a Londonian temper to his habits.
I shall not smoke this often, but I will order more of it from back east, along with a few tins of Astleys No. 1 Medium Latakia Mixture. Which is a little more Scottish in its tendencies.
Post-teatime afterthought: You might want to read up on Rattrays. In October of 2006, when this blog was still young, I quoted several angry people on the subject of Rattray's tobaccos.
See here:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2006/10/they-are-beasts.html
Their remarks can fairly be described as cheapskates mad with both barrels. Each one of them spent money on that tobacco.
TOBACCO INDEX
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Occasionally I would run into him there also - especially if he was golfing by himself, and hitting his balls badly.
RATTRAY'S
In 1981, when I still restored pipes in the backroom of Drucquers, and lived with my grandmother in Berkeley, I discovered Rattray's tobacco. Charles Rattray of Perth produced blends of great repute, seasoning assertive Virginias boldly with Turkish, Latakia, and Perique.
In those days I would go out to the end of the Berkeley Pier after teatime to watch the sun set and smoke a pipe. Doing so was peaceful, and allowed me to forget things. The pipe was often a Castello, the tobacco was Rattray's.
That autumn my grandmother finally succumbed to cancer, and I severed my ties to Drucquers, crashed the car, and put aside Rattray's tobacco.
I no longer have that Castello pipe.
KOHLHASE & KOPP
Rattray closed and the blends eventually landed in the care of Kohlhase & Kopp in Germany, who, despite many recent negative reviews by crotchety old crocks, are doing a credible interpretation of the blends. The only major difference, and this is actually a serious problem, is that the climate in their part of Germany does not resemble the climate in Perth - average temperatures differ, as do moisture levels in the air. It really does change the flavour of the blends considerably. The bacterial influences are not the same.
ASTLEYS
Quite recently I cracked open a tin of Astleys No. 99.
Astleys is another brand that was once ranked up there with the legendary British tobacconists, most of which were eccentric operations run by opinionated gentlemen sincerely devoted to guiding their smokers on a fragrant journey. Many of them were either heirs to a family business, or staff who had purchased the company upon the owners retiring. Astleys had been founded in 1862, and was owned by Mr. Bentley, whose family had acquired the store in the nineteen thirties.
Astleys was located in the Piccadilly Arcade - their address of note was 109 Jermyn Street. They blended their own tobacco, and had pipes made for them by Comoy, GBD, and Charatan. They closed their doors about four years ago, I believe.
Their tobaccos are now, like Rattray's blends, manufactured by Kohlhase & Kopp.
Almost all of the great London tobacconists are gone now. Times have indeed changed.
ASTLEYS No. 99 ROYAL TUDOR
Full Latakia Mixture
"Traditional full strength English mixture of Virginia, Turkish and Latakia."
Kohlhase & Kopp
Von hand gemischt und gepakt
This tobacco smells in the tin precisely like an old fashioned British mixture should; nicely plummy-raisiny, due to a proportion of pampered Virginias. The problem is the description of the product as a full Latakia mixture.
Which it isn't. Not by a long shot.
Unless you started smoking a pipe back in the nineteenth century, when this blend would indeed have been at the full end of the spectrum, Latakia-wise.
It's an excellent product, and the cut is lovely. It is, however, so old-fashioned a blend that many modern pipe-smokers will not understand it, nor want to understand it. It reflects a blending tradition that based everything on the interplay of condimentals and base tobaccos, with the seat of honour given to a ribbon Virginia. Such blends were frequently melded by panning over heat, causing the flavours of the tobaccos to mix and unite.
As such it cannot possibly appeal to young men, or smokers searching for a full strength Latakia dump. It is far too restrained.
There is a nice sweetness to the first few puffs, that slowly gives way to a more complex range of flavours, before gracefully closing at the bottom of the bowl.
It smokes easy, and will not bite unless provoked.
This is perfect for wet summer days. Teatime and early evening. Perhaps with a bottle of sherry and a good thick book.
AFTERTHOUGHT
You will note that I have already mentioned Kohlhase & Kopf in reference to Rattray's. But there is another point where Rattray's and Astleys coincide - the Astleys No. 99 is remarkably reminiscent of the Rattray's blends that I smoked in 1981.
I suspect that the medical gentleman at the Eindhovensche Golfclub must have been a smoker of either Rattray's or Astleys, and I'm inclined to believe that it was actually Astleys' tobacco in his pouch. There was a Londonian temper to his habits.
I shall not smoke this often, but I will order more of it from back east, along with a few tins of Astleys No. 1 Medium Latakia Mixture. Which is a little more Scottish in its tendencies.
Post-teatime afterthought: You might want to read up on Rattrays. In October of 2006, when this blog was still young, I quoted several angry people on the subject of Rattray's tobaccos.
See here:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2006/10/they-are-beasts.html
Their remarks can fairly be described as cheapskates mad with both barrels. Each one of them spent money on that tobacco.
TOBACCO INDEX
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
A MUSLIM, A TERRORIST, A SOCIALIST, AND AN ARAB
I present a guest-post by SM, who is one of the commenters on Dovbear's blog whom I have always admired. A shtarke denker whose tight and to the point writings often express ideas that I wished I could have put so well.
He doesn't know that he's guest-posting, by the way. I just decided to lift his text wholesale and plonk it here. It was in a comment string underneath a guest-post by JS on Dovbear's blog.
SM writes:
1. Obama is genuinely inspiring to many, many people. This hurts the teeth of the right wing nut jobs but it is true. Their response is to talk down inspiration as lies - a betrayal of the political process which exposes them as 'only if you think like me' democrats (small 'd').
2. Because he is inspiring Obama has persuaded millions of people to vote who would otherwise not have voted. That is far more important than converting Republicans. He has persuaded people who felt excluded from the political process that they are included. That is a triumph for democracy - unless like some of the moaners above - you don't like the result. How dare dem uppity black folks vote in your election, eh guys?
3. Those same people have been alienated by McCain's choice of a woman who is stupid, uneducated and - most of all - uncaring as his running mate. Never was a more obvious choice to go with the benefit of publicity made. And to my credit I said this when DB first posted on Palin.
4. The right have done nothing but moan about media bias and Obama scare stories. See our own dear mad Essie and her mates. For most people who have never voted before this is a massive turn-off which motivates them against McCain. Lesson: if you whinge endlessly about conspiracies then people will quietly make your worst nightmares come true.
And, as an English football manager once memorably said, 'I am LOVING it'. Bush stinks. McCain was alright but never managed to step away from the smell because his veep (hahahahaha) carried it around with her. I am fed up of hearing Obama is a Muslim, a terrorist, a socialist, an Arab. These are lies told by the desperate because they cannot deal with the truth. And today that sort of crap is being flushed.
The message will not, of course be learned by those who should learn it. They lack the capability. But the USA will swing to the left and there ain't a damn thing anyone can do about it save assassinate the President. I wonder which idiot here will be the first person to defend that? And I shall be there - rejoicing. If Essie moves to Panama I might even take her green card...
Source:
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/dovbear/5825415106459307815/?src=hsn
Guest post by JS:
http://dovbear.blogspot.com/2008/11/vote.html
Dovbear's blog:
http://dovbear.blogspot.com/
The Essie referred to above is Esther, who believes that Obama is a pro-terrorist communist islamo-black-nationalist voodoo practitioner. Or so she has told us in several verbose and over-the-top comments and communications.
We think of her as the Madame Blavatsky of the blog world, purveying messages from the spirits of truth, justice, beauty, and shoes that are too tight.
He doesn't know that he's guest-posting, by the way. I just decided to lift his text wholesale and plonk it here. It was in a comment string underneath a guest-post by JS on Dovbear's blog.
SM writes:
1. Obama is genuinely inspiring to many, many people. This hurts the teeth of the right wing nut jobs but it is true. Their response is to talk down inspiration as lies - a betrayal of the political process which exposes them as 'only if you think like me' democrats (small 'd').
2. Because he is inspiring Obama has persuaded millions of people to vote who would otherwise not have voted. That is far more important than converting Republicans. He has persuaded people who felt excluded from the political process that they are included. That is a triumph for democracy - unless like some of the moaners above - you don't like the result. How dare dem uppity black folks vote in your election, eh guys?
3. Those same people have been alienated by McCain's choice of a woman who is stupid, uneducated and - most of all - uncaring as his running mate. Never was a more obvious choice to go with the benefit of publicity made. And to my credit I said this when DB first posted on Palin.
4. The right have done nothing but moan about media bias and Obama scare stories. See our own dear mad Essie and her mates. For most people who have never voted before this is a massive turn-off which motivates them against McCain. Lesson: if you whinge endlessly about conspiracies then people will quietly make your worst nightmares come true.
And, as an English football manager once memorably said, 'I am LOVING it'. Bush stinks. McCain was alright but never managed to step away from the smell because his veep (hahahahaha) carried it around with her. I am fed up of hearing Obama is a Muslim, a terrorist, a socialist, an Arab. These are lies told by the desperate because they cannot deal with the truth. And today that sort of crap is being flushed.
The message will not, of course be learned by those who should learn it. They lack the capability. But the USA will swing to the left and there ain't a damn thing anyone can do about it save assassinate the President. I wonder which idiot here will be the first person to defend that? And I shall be there - rejoicing. If Essie moves to Panama I might even take her green card...
Source:
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/dovbear/5825415106459307815/?src=hsn
Guest post by JS:
http://dovbear.blogspot.com/2008/11/vote.html
Dovbear's blog:
http://dovbear.blogspot.com/
The Essie referred to above is Esther, who believes that Obama is a pro-terrorist communist islamo-black-nationalist voodoo practitioner. Or so she has told us in several verbose and over-the-top comments and communications.
We think of her as the Madame Blavatsky of the blog world, purveying messages from the spirits of truth, justice, beauty, and shoes that are too tight.
REAL CHOICES IN THIS ELECTION
As the day progresses, the tension becomes so thick you can cut it with a knife. Coworkers sneak onto the internet to read about the election, mutters and starts are heard from all corners of the office. Who just yelp-whispered "that bastard", and which colleague sneered "stinking cheat" under her breath?
The air around here is just crackling and popping
This evening is going to be too interesting.
Actually, I don't understand what all the fuss is about.
I already voted. Why do the rest of you get to do it too?
After all, I'm right. Punkt.
I am not Ohio.
-----------------------------------
CHOOSE THE RIGHT STINKER
There, now the we've got that out of the way, it's time to distract you with more gibbering about tobacco. It will help pass the time between now and the polls closing.
Yossi Izrael wrote "you have some C&D's "Black Dawg"? It's goooooooooooood", then asked whether I would "recommended Sam Gaw Balkan".
Almost all the Samuel Gawith products are very well made. I cannot remember a Samuel Gawith Balkan mixture, however - perhaps you mean Gawith Hoggarth's Balkan blend? Which smells terrific, and is a flavourful smoke. A very worthwhile product. But despite the name, it isn't really a Balkan. Not enough Oriental leaf.
Samuel Gawith's Squadron Leader has far more Oriental. Takes a bit of practice to pack it, because of the cut, but it's probably tops in it's category, and in any case one of the very few old-school Balkans still made in England by an English company.
If you meant Samuel Gawith's Balkan Flake, I have not tried it yet, but it has gotten some very good reviews, and Gawith's pressed tobaccos are uniformly excellent.
I question their nomenclature, however. Balkan can absolutely not mean Virginias and Latakia without Turkish. What makes a blend Balkan is the overdose of Turkish, supplemented by Latakia, supported by Virginia and other base tobaccos.
I look forward to trying their Balkan Flake once I've smoked through the various opened tins of tobacco currently floating around the house. Samuel Gawith has a line to some of the very best Latakia around.
Just sticking your nose into a tin of Commonwealth or Squadron Leader is a wonderful thing.
How much more so offending your neighbors by lighting up?
TOBACCO INDEX
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
The air around here is just crackling and popping
This evening is going to be too interesting.
Actually, I don't understand what all the fuss is about.
I already voted. Why do the rest of you get to do it too?
After all, I'm right. Punkt.
I am not Ohio.
-----------------------------------
CHOOSE THE RIGHT STINKER
There, now the we've got that out of the way, it's time to distract you with more gibbering about tobacco. It will help pass the time between now and the polls closing.
Yossi Izrael wrote "you have some C&D's "Black Dawg"? It's goooooooooooood", then asked whether I would "recommended Sam Gaw Balkan".
Almost all the Samuel Gawith products are very well made. I cannot remember a Samuel Gawith Balkan mixture, however - perhaps you mean Gawith Hoggarth's Balkan blend? Which smells terrific, and is a flavourful smoke. A very worthwhile product. But despite the name, it isn't really a Balkan. Not enough Oriental leaf.
Samuel Gawith's Squadron Leader has far more Oriental. Takes a bit of practice to pack it, because of the cut, but it's probably tops in it's category, and in any case one of the very few old-school Balkans still made in England by an English company.
If you meant Samuel Gawith's Balkan Flake, I have not tried it yet, but it has gotten some very good reviews, and Gawith's pressed tobaccos are uniformly excellent.
I question their nomenclature, however. Balkan can absolutely not mean Virginias and Latakia without Turkish. What makes a blend Balkan is the overdose of Turkish, supplemented by Latakia, supported by Virginia and other base tobaccos.
I look forward to trying their Balkan Flake once I've smoked through the various opened tins of tobacco currently floating around the house. Samuel Gawith has a line to some of the very best Latakia around.
Just sticking your nose into a tin of Commonwealth or Squadron Leader is a wonderful thing.
How much more so offending your neighbors by lighting up?
TOBACCO INDEX
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
ANARCHO-ZIONIST TENDENCIES
[JEWS, CHRISTIANS, ANARCHISTS, LEND ME YOUR EARS...]
Pursuant yesterday's post, in which I mentioned some aspects of Anarcho-Zionism, I have noticed two things.
One of them is the intemperate fury of various individuals writing on the Cleveland Indy-media site. Apparently the concept of anarcho-Zionism struck a chord. And made them quake. These are not people capable of dealing with ideas that undermine their political superstions; there are profoundly fearful little folk in Cleveland.
The other thing I've noticed is the blog of Aaron van Praag. Who quoted me, and who subsequently was quoted to me by someone else. Interesting.
I shall return the favour.
An recent post by Aaron van Praag can be found here:
http://aaronvanpraag.livejournal.com/#entry_845
[Compatibility of Judaism and Anarchy]
Quote;
"Fundamentally, religion is not by definition anti-revolutionary. It has been argued that religions, like the societies in which they flourish, go through both revolutionary and anti-revolutionary phases. Christianity in its early centuries was profoundly revolutionary, but having become the ideology of the establishment, has subsequently been more anti-revolutionary than not. Change, in the eyes of the church, implied threat. "
This actually reflects the transformation of Christianity from a mediterranean cargo-cult to a symbol of Rome, and, after Rome fell, a bastion of stability and order during the barbarian invasions. It should be noted that since then, this has been one of the strongest (self-assumed) roles of the church, even when the attack has come from other Christians. As such, it has echoes in all ideologies formed by the Christian environment, such as the various socialist and extremist movements.
Quote:
"Judaism lacks both the Christian establishment-supporting tendency, and the Islamic religious authority as a main component in political life attitude. There is no universally acknowledged supremacy within Judaism, nor an ideology commonly accepted by the majority of Jews. In consequence, claims of religious need, or scriptural imperative, are given scant credence by most of the intended audience. This is in effect a democratic tendency within the tradition, and a strength utterly lacking in most other religions. Judaism is, in one way of looking, naturally and instinctively anarchic. "
One of the 'cultural imperatives' within the Jewish tradition is the tendency to argue over points of interpretation. Disputation, from a Judaic perspective, is part of learning the material. This cannot be said about Christianity or Islam.
Perhaps more importantly, the habitus of scholars in the Judaic tradition was also training for life, and was applied to mundane matters, whereas in Christianity (and Islam) scholarship often devolved into criticism of life - specifically, how others chose to live.
This is an aspect that Marxism and its adherents have in common with their Christian kinfolk - Marxism is often closer to fundamentalist Christianity than any other creed.
Like all fanatics, the Marxist is a critic but not a practitioner.
Quote:
"...anarchism is, logically, almost an instinctively Judaic political movement. It cannot be otherwise. "
Anybody who has contrasted the militaristic and rigid uniformity of most church experiences with the chaotic individualism of davening cannot disagree with this statement.
A shul is by definition an anarcho-Zionist collective.
Please - feel free to disagree.
Pursuant yesterday's post, in which I mentioned some aspects of Anarcho-Zionism, I have noticed two things.
One of them is the intemperate fury of various individuals writing on the Cleveland Indy-media site. Apparently the concept of anarcho-Zionism struck a chord. And made them quake. These are not people capable of dealing with ideas that undermine their political superstions; there are profoundly fearful little folk in Cleveland.
The other thing I've noticed is the blog of Aaron van Praag. Who quoted me, and who subsequently was quoted to me by someone else. Interesting.
I shall return the favour.
An recent post by Aaron van Praag can be found here:
http://aaronvanpraag.livejournal.com/#entry_845
[Compatibility of Judaism and Anarchy]
Quote;
"Fundamentally, religion is not by definition anti-revolutionary. It has been argued that religions, like the societies in which they flourish, go through both revolutionary and anti-revolutionary phases. Christianity in its early centuries was profoundly revolutionary, but having become the ideology of the establishment, has subsequently been more anti-revolutionary than not. Change, in the eyes of the church, implied threat. "
This actually reflects the transformation of Christianity from a mediterranean cargo-cult to a symbol of Rome, and, after Rome fell, a bastion of stability and order during the barbarian invasions. It should be noted that since then, this has been one of the strongest (self-assumed) roles of the church, even when the attack has come from other Christians. As such, it has echoes in all ideologies formed by the Christian environment, such as the various socialist and extremist movements.
Quote:
"Judaism lacks both the Christian establishment-supporting tendency, and the Islamic religious authority as a main component in political life attitude. There is no universally acknowledged supremacy within Judaism, nor an ideology commonly accepted by the majority of Jews. In consequence, claims of religious need, or scriptural imperative, are given scant credence by most of the intended audience. This is in effect a democratic tendency within the tradition, and a strength utterly lacking in most other religions. Judaism is, in one way of looking, naturally and instinctively anarchic. "
One of the 'cultural imperatives' within the Jewish tradition is the tendency to argue over points of interpretation. Disputation, from a Judaic perspective, is part of learning the material. This cannot be said about Christianity or Islam.
Perhaps more importantly, the habitus of scholars in the Judaic tradition was also training for life, and was applied to mundane matters, whereas in Christianity (and Islam) scholarship often devolved into criticism of life - specifically, how others chose to live.
This is an aspect that Marxism and its adherents have in common with their Christian kinfolk - Marxism is often closer to fundamentalist Christianity than any other creed.
Like all fanatics, the Marxist is a critic but not a practitioner.
Quote:
"...anarchism is, logically, almost an instinctively Judaic political movement. It cannot be otherwise. "
Anybody who has contrasted the militaristic and rigid uniformity of most church experiences with the chaotic individualism of davening cannot disagree with this statement.
A shul is by definition an anarcho-Zionist collective.
Please - feel free to disagree.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
ANARCHO-ZIONISM
One of the terms that is gaining wide-spread currency among those who support Israel is 'Anarcho-Zionism'. It names one of the more interesting movements, and shows that left-wing ideology need not be slavishly pro-Palestinian, nor witless, gutless, and insane.
Pursuant this concept, I would bring the intellectual heritage of Sam Dolgoff to your attention.
Sam Dolgoff was born in Russia during the Czarist period, and raised and educated in the United States, to which his family moved when he was three. He became politically active in his early twenties. Throughout most of his life he was involved in both organizing and formulating the political thought of the Anarchist movements, and represented a more intellectually rigorous approach to political theory than has been evident in recent decades.
As was common for many on the left until fairly recently, he saw national movements of liberation as great advances in human history, and particularly derived inspiration from those struggles which brought about genuine social change, such as the Cuban revolution in its early years until Stalinism took over, and most particularly the Zionist movement, which culminated in the re-birth of the Jewish homeland and the re-assumption by Jews of the rights of nation-hood, which had been in abeyance since Roman times and repressed by all subsequent imperialisms.
It must have been a matter of keen disappointment to so driven a revolutionary that Arab nationalism never acquired a strain of social liberation, becoming instead merely another authoritarian and imperialist ideology - albeit one that allows its adherents great latitude in political expression, due to the rivalries of the various societies in the Middle-East - from Nasserite and Baathist at one extreme to classic Fascism in the style of Hitler or Mussolini at the other - often combining both, and almost always shaped by the personality cults of great opportunists.
Sam Dolgoff, along with other thinkers in progressive circles, felt that Zionism was not only possibly the only counter to the dangerous tendencies in Arab Nationalism, but the best. Zionism represented an ideal which Anarchists could well support - an enlightened social movement, a national liberation movement, and a revolutionary change from the tired ideologies of social and economic control which for millennia kept the population in chains.
To quote from a key tract:
In anarcho- Zionism, Zionism is approached not as a political ideology necessarily but as a system of collective self defense and with the belief that resisting the forces of globalization and capitalism by definition includes resisting the forces of Islamic- empire building. As in all anarchist movements, anarcho-Zionism is opposed to racism, sexism and the intolerance that is often seen in Islamic areas. Islamic empire building cynically uses the religion of Islam as a means of control , both keeping the Moslem population subservient to their capitalist overlords while at the same time providing a philosophical justification for the under classes to submit to institutionalized oppression. "Zionism" provides a necessary protective stage until the Islamic world progresses through the necessary revolutionary stage.
[Nation Building as the means of Social Liberation, Passover 2008]
And to quote Sam Dolgoff himself on this issue:
".... the Israeli comrades are forced, like the other tendencies, to accept the fact that Israel must be defended. The day after the proclamation of the state of Israel (15 May 1948) Assam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League, threatened that: "This will be a war of extermination and momentous massacres like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades." In discussion with Israeli anarchists it was emphasized that the unilateral dismantling of the Israeli state would not at all be anarchistic. It would, on the contrary, only reinforce the immense power of the Arab states and actually expedite their plans for the conquest of Israel."
It is interesting to note that anti-Zionism, like all classic bigotries, knows no class or caste, and occurs across the entire spectrum of political action. The Nazis were anti-Semitic, the Stalinists were and are still anti-Semitic, and the Arab Nationalists have always been anti-Semitic. That anti-Semitism reaches its fullest modern expression in anti-Zionism.
That anti-Zionism is a destructive poison which the sympathizers and collaborators of Arab Nationalist Movement on both the left and right, in America, in Europe, and in the third world, have infected the political discourse.
It is time to put paid the corrupting of social movements. To take back the discourse. To weed out the ideology of hate, and to remove anti-Zionists from the causes that they have crippled.
It is time to recognize Zionism as the great movement of social change that it is; one that should serve as an example to all progressives.
Pursuant this concept, I would bring the intellectual heritage of Sam Dolgoff to your attention.
Sam Dolgoff was born in Russia during the Czarist period, and raised and educated in the United States, to which his family moved when he was three. He became politically active in his early twenties. Throughout most of his life he was involved in both organizing and formulating the political thought of the Anarchist movements, and represented a more intellectually rigorous approach to political theory than has been evident in recent decades.
As was common for many on the left until fairly recently, he saw national movements of liberation as great advances in human history, and particularly derived inspiration from those struggles which brought about genuine social change, such as the Cuban revolution in its early years until Stalinism took over, and most particularly the Zionist movement, which culminated in the re-birth of the Jewish homeland and the re-assumption by Jews of the rights of nation-hood, which had been in abeyance since Roman times and repressed by all subsequent imperialisms.
It must have been a matter of keen disappointment to so driven a revolutionary that Arab nationalism never acquired a strain of social liberation, becoming instead merely another authoritarian and imperialist ideology - albeit one that allows its adherents great latitude in political expression, due to the rivalries of the various societies in the Middle-East - from Nasserite and Baathist at one extreme to classic Fascism in the style of Hitler or Mussolini at the other - often combining both, and almost always shaped by the personality cults of great opportunists.
Sam Dolgoff, along with other thinkers in progressive circles, felt that Zionism was not only possibly the only counter to the dangerous tendencies in Arab Nationalism, but the best. Zionism represented an ideal which Anarchists could well support - an enlightened social movement, a national liberation movement, and a revolutionary change from the tired ideologies of social and economic control which for millennia kept the population in chains.
To quote from a key tract:
In anarcho- Zionism, Zionism is approached not as a political ideology necessarily but as a system of collective self defense and with the belief that resisting the forces of globalization and capitalism by definition includes resisting the forces of Islamic- empire building. As in all anarchist movements, anarcho-Zionism is opposed to racism, sexism and the intolerance that is often seen in Islamic areas. Islamic empire building cynically uses the religion of Islam as a means of control , both keeping the Moslem population subservient to their capitalist overlords while at the same time providing a philosophical justification for the under classes to submit to institutionalized oppression. "Zionism" provides a necessary protective stage until the Islamic world progresses through the necessary revolutionary stage.
[Nation Building as the means of Social Liberation, Passover 2008]
And to quote Sam Dolgoff himself on this issue:
".... the Israeli comrades are forced, like the other tendencies, to accept the fact that Israel must be defended. The day after the proclamation of the state of Israel (15 May 1948) Assam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League, threatened that: "This will be a war of extermination and momentous massacres like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades." In discussion with Israeli anarchists it was emphasized that the unilateral dismantling of the Israeli state would not at all be anarchistic. It would, on the contrary, only reinforce the immense power of the Arab states and actually expedite their plans for the conquest of Israel."
It is interesting to note that anti-Zionism, like all classic bigotries, knows no class or caste, and occurs across the entire spectrum of political action. The Nazis were anti-Semitic, the Stalinists were and are still anti-Semitic, and the Arab Nationalists have always been anti-Semitic. That anti-Semitism reaches its fullest modern expression in anti-Zionism.
That anti-Zionism is a destructive poison which the sympathizers and collaborators of Arab Nationalist Movement on both the left and right, in America, in Europe, and in the third world, have infected the political discourse.
It is time to put paid the corrupting of social movements. To take back the discourse. To weed out the ideology of hate, and to remove anti-Zionists from the causes that they have crippled.
It is time to recognize Zionism as the great movement of social change that it is; one that should serve as an example to all progressives.
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MAY GET DIZZY, DON'T GET PREGNANT
After picking up my refills I mentally calculated how often I've been to that pharmacy. More times than my years of age. Which is not su...
