Note: The silent-vigil and the counter demo started shortly after five in the evening on Friday November tenth, and ended around seven pm.
Being in a pro-Israel counter-demo is a crap-shoot; you never know how much outnumbered you will be.
Despite the extremely short notice, we were not much outnumbered.
The pro-Palestinian side had two dozen activists.
Our side (pro-Israel) had nearly twenty people.
I am especially grateful to the observant people who were present, as it cut into their shabbes. But everyone who came deserves appreciation - it took extra effort for them to be there.
Most passers-by studiously avoided eye-contact with either side, some took flyers and some engaged briefly in conversation.
Despite not being able to discuss the issue in any great depth with many people, I believe that we successfully got our message across that ever-increasing attacks on Israel, and the firing of Qassam rockets from densely populated civilian neighborhoods, is neither valid dialogue nor conducive to a peaceful resolution, but instead counts as both violent provocation and terrorism. Necessarily there will be regrettable occurrences - and in fact the Palestinian side deliberately elicits military responses because they know that civilian victims are invaluable, civilian shields a deterrent.
The demo was mostly peaceful, and fairly quiet.
Though there were also people who vociferated as they went by.
Several thoughts:
1. R told me that he thinks of this as a legitimate form of fighting Amalek.
Which, when you think about it, is a very appropriate way of rationalizing it. Amalek will rise in each generation, and the commandment is to combat Amalek in each generation. It is a commandment that transcends much else (Lakewood Yid and I had a conversation several weeks ago about this in the comments on another blog). If Amalek represents all that is deliberately and consciously evil, rather than strictly sitra achra by descent, then it follows that there are those who by choice and of their own free will are Amalek.
There are Ahavei-Yisroel, and there are the unknown Tzadkim; there are Sonei-Yisroel, and there are Amalekim.
2. The person who told me to go back "there" (by which he clearly meant Israel), with that very statement acknowledged the Jewish right to the land. He probably did not realize that.
3. The person who told me that the US should cut all aid to Israel unknowingly admitted what all of us already know, namely that the Arab world would commit a second and final holocaust if they could.
This is the logic: Arguing that US aid is the only thing that protects Israel is expressing that Israel could otherwise be succesfully dealt with by her enemies.
The Arabs have consistently tried to destroy Israel, and they have consistently empowered those who would do the dirty work. Blaming US aid for Israel's continued existence is an admission that the efforts to eliminate Israel are unceasing.
Which ab initio means that support for Israel is the only moral choice.
If we do not support Israel, who will? The Europeans?
The Europeans would have done nothing about Bosnia and Kosovo if the United States had not forced them to get involved. The Europeans are happy to sit back and let France block any measures to stop the Genocide in Darfur.
The Europeans were mute against the half-century threat presented by the Soviet Union, limp against Fascism and tyranny. The Europeans have fairly consistently taken the side of the Arabs. The only thing that can be expected from the Europeans would be inaction, recrimination, and ever more pro-Arabism.
Russia will sell arms to anybody in the Mideast who can pay, India has a history of being less than room-temperature at best towards Israel, China uses its weight at the UN against Israel, and the third-world has been in the pocket of the oil-states and the erstwhile Soviet Union for decades.
But of course, the statement that US support is the only thing that keeps Israel from going under is absolute horse-feathers. All the money in the world could not preserve Israel if Israel was not determined. This is not a battle of means, but a battle of will. Israel has the will to survive, her enemies have the will to destroy her. By aiding Israel we recognize both sides for what they are.
4. The grungy-looking gentleman who went into a long screaming tirade about 'damned Jews murdering babies' with his tax-money unwittingly demonstrated two things: The first being that the anti-Israel side has unbalanced and hate-filled members, the second being that there is a need to voice support for Israel - when hate-filled bigots reveal themselves, they publicly prove the need to counteract them.
5. The gentleman who gave me the finger had an ugly anti-Semitic finger.
I hope it turns septic and gangrenous.
6. Final thought: I really need to buy more flags. A mass of flags makes a visual statement that needs no words, they add punch to the message. And, as many of us who come to these events are understandably somewhat hesitant to shlep our flags and signs on public-transit, it makes sense for me to store more such props at work, being so conveniently close to the cockpit where these love-fests occur.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Thursday, November 09, 2006
COUNTER DEMO FRIDAY NOVEMBER 10TH. 2006
..............................................................
Sixty-eighth anniversary of Kristalnacht
..............................................................
EMERGENCY ACTION ALERT --- FORWARD WIDELY
Counter Protest Anti-Israel demonstrations:
1. Downtown San Francisco, Montgomery Street BART
(Montgomery and Market)
Friday, November 10th, 5-6:30 PM
2. Berkeley, Corner of College and Ashby, in Berkeley
Saturday, November 11th, 3- 4 pm
BACKGROUND
Palestinian terror organizations in Gaza including both Hamas and Fatah have been continuously shelling Southern Israel for the past two years. When Israel ended its presence in Gaza in August 2005, the shelling increased, thus putting an end to the myth that "Occupation" was the source of Palestinian violence. Israel finally decided that enough was enough in June of 2006 and launched operations designed to end the prolonged siege of her civilians.
Many of the bombs are coming from the Palestinian city of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, less then 3km from the Israeli city of Sderot.
Regrettably, there have been civilian casualties, some from being human shields for the terrorists, others from errant shells for which Israel has apologized.
Some civilians are even being treated in Israeli Hospitals.
Women In Black and and the American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee group "Break the Siege" will be protesting Israel’s defensive actions on Friday and Saturday. As was clear from their demonstration outside the Israeli Consulate this past Monday, they object not only to Israel’s defensive actions to protect her citizenry, but the very existence of Israel itself. Chants such as "Palestine will be free/from the river to the sea" and "Long live the intifada" show that they not only support the ongoing terror against innocent Israeli civilians, but they want the entirety of Israel to be wiped off the map!
EVENT DETAILS:
Friday’s event was just announced yesterday but we believe we can still mount an effective response.
Stand WithUs/SF Voice For Israel will have a representative on site to provide the pro-Israel voice. Even if you can come for just a few minutes, please add your voice to these pro-Israel
demonstration so that our enemies know that even whenever they come out to promote terror and to deligitiize Israel, we will be there.
If at all possible please bring your own signs and flags. Due to the timing of the event, we will be unable to provide many signs and flags of our own.
Signs or graphics offensive to any racial or ethnic group including but not limited to Arabs, Islam, or Palestinians will not be allowed.
Demand an end to rocket attacks against Israeli civilians!
Demand Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser be returned home safely!
Demand the Palestinian Authority put an end to terror attacks!
Demand an end to the deligitimization and demonization of Israel!
Demand the Palestinian Authority and their local supporters choose peace so that the Palestinian people can have a future!
StandWithUs/San Francisco Voice for Israel
http://www.blogger.com/www.SFVoiceForIsrael.org
www.StandWithUs.com
------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Events
Street theater performers needed!!
Saturday, November 18th, 3- 4 PM.
Counter anti-Israel protest
Berkeley, Corner of College and Ashby, in Berkeley
Saturday, November 25th, 3- 4 PM.
Counter anti-Israel protest
Berkeley, Corner of College and Ashby, in Berkeley
Friday, November 24th, 11:30AM - 1 PM.
Counter Women In Black’s annual post-Thanksgiving anti-Israel rally in Union Square.
Meet at the Bank of America building across from the Powell St. BART station, Powell and
Market, San Francisco.
Saturday, December 2nd, 3- 4 PM.
Counter anti-Israel protest
Berkeley, Corner of College and Ashby, in Berkeley
Monday, December 4th 11:30 AM.
Counterprotest anti-Israel demonstration outside AIPAC lunch 747 Howard Street, San Francisco (Outside Moscone
Center South)
Monday, December 4th 5:30PM.
Counterprotest anti-Israel demonstration outside AIPAC dinner
1001 Broadway, Oakland (outside Oakland Marriott)
------------------------------------------------
Do you want to become more involved with organizing our activities?
Send a message to
info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org
If you are interested in participating in our campaign to counter anti-Israel speakers, please send an e-mail to
info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org
Join the discussion! Do you have ideas? Classes to announce? Events to announce or discuss? Join our discussion list by sending an e-mail to
sfproisrael-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
San Francisco Voice for Israel is a non-partisan coalition that takes no position on the war in Iraq, the settlements, or Israel's final borders. Our members span the political spectrum and are united only by our commitment to preserving the State of Israel as a Jewish State within secure borders.
Please send your tax deductible donation to:
Stand With Us
P.O. Box 341069
Los Angeles, CA 90034-1069
Write SFV4I in the memo line.
ANOTHER PROTEST, ANOTHER CALL TO COUNTER-PROTEST
The usual gang of terrorism sympathisers are throwing another fit.
This site mentions details:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/11/09/18328267.php
In their words:
"EMERGENCY PROTEST Against the Massacre of Palestinian Civilians in Gaza Friday, November 10, 2006 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. Montgomery & Market Streets, San Francisco
Called by independent activists from Break the Siege and San Francisco Women In Black Bring relevant signs and candles Stop the Killing - Let Palestine Live! "
START DATE: Friday November 10
TIME: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
--------------------------------------
Note two things: this wasn't made known until today (Thursday afternoon), and tomorrow's event is planned for both the rush hour and the beginning of the Sabbath.
It would be lovely if we can get a serious presence to let an alternative voice by heard. Israel is catching hell from all the usuall loudmouths, who have already passed judgement and discounted the Israeli side, and have refused to mention the fact that a daily rocket barrage has been coming out of Gaza for months now.
Israel withdrew from Gaza last year. Israel no longer "occupies" Gaza. Yet the terrorist attacks have only increased, the level of haphazard violence directed against Israel has only gotten worse, and the chorus of hate has only gained in volume.
Palestinian terror attacks are standardly justified as righteous self-defense. Which is balderdash. Self-defense does NOT consist of firing Qassams into residential neighborhoods. Self-defense does NOT include deliberately targeting the Israeli public. Self-defense does not include kidnapping and suicide-bombers.
Qassams, kidnapping and murder, and suicide bombings are acts of terror aimed at civilians.
I know that many Europeans are largely willing to overlook perfidy, provided that the terrorists only strike the Jews.
I do not believe that Americans are like that.
Please, please, show up tomorrow and let your voice be heard. Speak out against the supporters of terror against Israel, speak out against the quislings who advocate surrender, speak out against the secretive anti-Semites who hide their hatred under a pretence of concern!
Bring signs. A good selection of possible signs and slogans can be found here: http://www.standwithus.com/signs.asp
Good messages to tell the public:
STOP FIRING ROCKETS FROM GAZA!
HAMAS, STOP THE AGGRESSION!
Also bring flags. Israeli flags, and American flags.
Thank you in advance for your support, I hope to see you there.
Be strong, and be well.
This site mentions details:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/11/09/18328267.php
In their words:
"EMERGENCY PROTEST Against the Massacre of Palestinian Civilians in Gaza Friday, November 10, 2006 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. Montgomery & Market Streets, San Francisco
Called by independent activists from Break the Siege and San Francisco Women In Black Bring relevant signs and candles Stop the Killing - Let Palestine Live! "
START DATE: Friday November 10
TIME: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
--------------------------------------
Note two things: this wasn't made known until today (Thursday afternoon), and tomorrow's event is planned for both the rush hour and the beginning of the Sabbath.
It would be lovely if we can get a serious presence to let an alternative voice by heard. Israel is catching hell from all the usuall loudmouths, who have already passed judgement and discounted the Israeli side, and have refused to mention the fact that a daily rocket barrage has been coming out of Gaza for months now.
Israel withdrew from Gaza last year. Israel no longer "occupies" Gaza. Yet the terrorist attacks have only increased, the level of haphazard violence directed against Israel has only gotten worse, and the chorus of hate has only gained in volume.
Palestinian terror attacks are standardly justified as righteous self-defense. Which is balderdash. Self-defense does NOT consist of firing Qassams into residential neighborhoods. Self-defense does NOT include deliberately targeting the Israeli public. Self-defense does not include kidnapping and suicide-bombers.
Qassams, kidnapping and murder, and suicide bombings are acts of terror aimed at civilians.
I know that many Europeans are largely willing to overlook perfidy, provided that the terrorists only strike the Jews.
I do not believe that Americans are like that.
Please, please, show up tomorrow and let your voice be heard. Speak out against the supporters of terror against Israel, speak out against the quislings who advocate surrender, speak out against the secretive anti-Semites who hide their hatred under a pretence of concern!
Bring signs. A good selection of possible signs and slogans can be found here: http://www.standwithus.com/signs.asp
Good messages to tell the public:
STOP FIRING ROCKETS FROM GAZA!
HAMAS, STOP THE AGGRESSION!
Also bring flags. Israeli flags, and American flags.
Thank you in advance for your support, I hope to see you there.
Be strong, and be well.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
THE VALIANT DEAD CONTINUE TO MANFULLY RESIST, COMRADES!
Note: this posting is meant as gentle remonstrance, and I hope to spark a slightly different perspective of recent events. I sincerely pray that my Arab and European readers will take it in the kindly spirit in which it is offered.
CIVILIANS IN COMBAT ZONES
Civilians die during military operations. This is obvious. Regrettable, but obvious.
More Europeans died as collateral damage during liberation than as actual combatants.
And no, I'm not calling the utter destruction of several German cities collateral damage.
Armies, whether invading or retreating, necessarily see civilians as either impediments or bumps on the landscape. Military organizations strike at combatants. Civilians occasionally get hit.
And civilians in war-zones are often not impartial observers, but actively involved, committed to one side or the other, and functioning in support-roles.
It is only in modern times that civilian casualties have generated much condemnation - and by modern times I mean the last forty years, during which the Europeans have not themselves been extensively involved in war, but have felt compelled to criticise allies that were.
MODERN GUERILLA TACTICS
Mao Tse-Tung argued that the civilian population was the natural hiding place for guerillas, and that the populace both needed to be co-opted, and considered expendable. To Ho Chi-Minh, civilians were the first and last line of defense, and the first group to throw into combat, as a distractive gambit and to tie the enemy down. A variation of this idea was used by Imam Khomeini to clear the minefields during the war with Iraq.
Such tactics have recently been employed in Lebanon, where many civilians were moved to support Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah (laqnatullah anhu), many civilians lambasted Israel and screamed bloody murder to the world "look what those horrid Jews are doing", and huge numbers of civilians volunteered to be human shields for Hezbollah.
I believe that such volunteering was because of the splendid 72 virgin opportunities......
In any case, I've been firmly told that no coercion whatsoever was involved ('heaven forefend and damn you for even thinking so'), and as the people who told me this are all good people and mostly European, who could never be accused of bias, I believe them.
I laud both the patriotic Lebanese volunteer shields, and their European supporters. Bravo.
The dead civilians of Lebanon continue to perform admirable services for Hezbollah and its supporters, much like the dead Muslims of Sabra and Shatila, killed by Christians, did for the Euro-communists.
This does however raise questions about civilians in the Middle-East. And suggests that dead civilians are extremely useful to their own side.
MIDDLE EASTERN ATTITUDES ABOUT ENEMY CIVILIANS
In warfare in the Levant, civilians are often more dangerous than the official combatants. Most of the deaths in Iraq have been caused by civilians expressing polite political disagreement with their brethren. More ordnance is in civilian hands in Iraq than is held by the army and police force, and it is wielded more effectively besides.
Civilians in middle-eastern countries are a force to be reckoned with, whose often inchoate blood-lust is easily channelled by political demagogues and religious leaders.
Armies and politicians in the Middle-East have never considered civilians inviolate; certainly not the enemy populace, and often not even their own - Saddam Hussein, Hafez Assad, and Husni Mubarak all demonstrated political spunk by the judicious slaughter of some of their own people, much as one trims some fruits from a tree to make the others thrive. And of course they have at times vigorously sought to trim enemy populations.
Since World War II, well-over six million people have died in military events in the Mideast that did not involve Israel.
This is how wars along the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean have always been waged - since time immemorial, regions have been depopulated, cities have been laid waste, populations transported into exile, kingdoms pulled down stone by stone, and areas left abandoned to the howling wolves. This is part of the web and woof of glorious empires and great civilizations, whose achievements we still celebrate, and whose splendid heritage still warms our breasts. Egypt, Ur, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Macedon, Rome, Byzantium.
Often the victors would slaughter the men and the elderly, and enslave and rape the women and children.
Even Islam could not stop what was a time-honoured custom - opportunities to convert were often not extended to enemy tribes, instead they were treated as booty and traded like cattle. War, in addition to being a favoured mode of political discourse, was also an economic enterprise, which fuelled expansion and rewarded the faithful.
Slave raiding (rather than proselytizing) was practiced against the heathen until comparatively recently. Several Sultanates and Caliphates were slave-empires, notably the Mamelukes in Egypt and the Ottomans in the Balkans, Asia-Minor, and all of greater Syria.
Plus, to a certain degree, Saudi Arabia, where the royal family kept slaves even in the post-war period, and is rumoured to still have a few - mostly elderly wet-nurses and middle-aged eunuchs.
The mess in the Sudan is demonstrative of Islamic ideas about warfare, and a last echo of the slave-raiding culture. Events in Darfur excite the imaginations of many, who cannot find it in their hearts to utter bruising criticisms of the pious Islamists in Khartoum.
As similarly in the past they did not criticise their brother Saddam for what he did to the Kurds and to Kuwait, or brother Hafez for chiding of the city of Hama in 1982.
[Arabs are often pained by blunt speech, and prefer gentle diplomatic tact over overt criticism.]
All of this must be borne in mind when regarding statements by Palestinian leaders.
MODERATE PALESTINIANS
For instance, here's what Jamel Abed, Fatah leader in Gaza, said recently: "I call on all the armed groups everywhere to avenge the blood of the dead with suicide bombings against Israeli civilians".
Fatah are considered moderates, by the way. People we can trust, a group we can negotiate with.
Jamel Abed also called for cross-border attacks against Israeli civilians:
"I call on all the armed groups everywhere to avenge the blood of the dead with suicide bombings against Israeli civilians ( ) attacks should be carried out with no bounds or geographical limitation, and anywhere the mujahideen can hit Israelis they should do so."
Again, I remind you that Fatah are moderates.
Here's a somewhat more nuanced statement by a Palestinian government official and Hamas spokesperson, Doctor Ghazi Hamad:
"This is not a country of humans, these are animals and a bunch of gangs, and this nation must be wiped off the face of the earth."
Doctor Ghazi Hamad has been described as a moderate member of Hamas.
The desirability of massive civilian casualties is intrinsically part of the welt-anshauung of moderate Arabs and respected by many opinion-makers.
I need not even mention what the other moderate Palestinian organizations and warlords have said, other than that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has again shown himself anxious to keep his position.
[Conceivably he fears being killed by his own people if he demonstrates independent thought? Well then he can always go live in Paris, like Suha Arafat. I'm sure that his friends have squirreled away enough money donated by the Europeans and Americans that he can live quite well, to say nothing of what the PLO has harvested from oil-sheikhs, fellaheen, and the former communist states.]
The only country for which the dead are not usefull, and not considered to be valiantly fighting the propaganda war, is Israel. Israel values the living. On both sides.
One would wish that other countries did not so treasure the dead. On both sides.
One might also wish that the Palestinians find a better use for their civilians.
Ambulatory explosives, lynchmob thugs, or cover for escaping murderers - surely some of them are capable of better things?
CIVILIANS IN COMBAT ZONES
Civilians die during military operations. This is obvious. Regrettable, but obvious.
More Europeans died as collateral damage during liberation than as actual combatants.
And no, I'm not calling the utter destruction of several German cities collateral damage.
Armies, whether invading or retreating, necessarily see civilians as either impediments or bumps on the landscape. Military organizations strike at combatants. Civilians occasionally get hit.
And civilians in war-zones are often not impartial observers, but actively involved, committed to one side or the other, and functioning in support-roles.
It is only in modern times that civilian casualties have generated much condemnation - and by modern times I mean the last forty years, during which the Europeans have not themselves been extensively involved in war, but have felt compelled to criticise allies that were.
MODERN GUERILLA TACTICS
Mao Tse-Tung argued that the civilian population was the natural hiding place for guerillas, and that the populace both needed to be co-opted, and considered expendable. To Ho Chi-Minh, civilians were the first and last line of defense, and the first group to throw into combat, as a distractive gambit and to tie the enemy down. A variation of this idea was used by Imam Khomeini to clear the minefields during the war with Iraq.
Such tactics have recently been employed in Lebanon, where many civilians were moved to support Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah (laqnatullah anhu), many civilians lambasted Israel and screamed bloody murder to the world "look what those horrid Jews are doing", and huge numbers of civilians volunteered to be human shields for Hezbollah.
I believe that such volunteering was because of the splendid 72 virgin opportunities......
In any case, I've been firmly told that no coercion whatsoever was involved ('heaven forefend and damn you for even thinking so'), and as the people who told me this are all good people and mostly European, who could never be accused of bias, I believe them.
I laud both the patriotic Lebanese volunteer shields, and their European supporters. Bravo.
The dead civilians of Lebanon continue to perform admirable services for Hezbollah and its supporters, much like the dead Muslims of Sabra and Shatila, killed by Christians, did for the Euro-communists.
This does however raise questions about civilians in the Middle-East. And suggests that dead civilians are extremely useful to their own side.
MIDDLE EASTERN ATTITUDES ABOUT ENEMY CIVILIANS
In warfare in the Levant, civilians are often more dangerous than the official combatants. Most of the deaths in Iraq have been caused by civilians expressing polite political disagreement with their brethren. More ordnance is in civilian hands in Iraq than is held by the army and police force, and it is wielded more effectively besides.
Civilians in middle-eastern countries are a force to be reckoned with, whose often inchoate blood-lust is easily channelled by political demagogues and religious leaders.
Armies and politicians in the Middle-East have never considered civilians inviolate; certainly not the enemy populace, and often not even their own - Saddam Hussein, Hafez Assad, and Husni Mubarak all demonstrated political spunk by the judicious slaughter of some of their own people, much as one trims some fruits from a tree to make the others thrive. And of course they have at times vigorously sought to trim enemy populations.
Since World War II, well-over six million people have died in military events in the Mideast that did not involve Israel.
This is how wars along the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean have always been waged - since time immemorial, regions have been depopulated, cities have been laid waste, populations transported into exile, kingdoms pulled down stone by stone, and areas left abandoned to the howling wolves. This is part of the web and woof of glorious empires and great civilizations, whose achievements we still celebrate, and whose splendid heritage still warms our breasts. Egypt, Ur, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Macedon, Rome, Byzantium.
Often the victors would slaughter the men and the elderly, and enslave and rape the women and children.
Even Islam could not stop what was a time-honoured custom - opportunities to convert were often not extended to enemy tribes, instead they were treated as booty and traded like cattle. War, in addition to being a favoured mode of political discourse, was also an economic enterprise, which fuelled expansion and rewarded the faithful.
Slave raiding (rather than proselytizing) was practiced against the heathen until comparatively recently. Several Sultanates and Caliphates were slave-empires, notably the Mamelukes in Egypt and the Ottomans in the Balkans, Asia-Minor, and all of greater Syria.
Plus, to a certain degree, Saudi Arabia, where the royal family kept slaves even in the post-war period, and is rumoured to still have a few - mostly elderly wet-nurses and middle-aged eunuchs.
The mess in the Sudan is demonstrative of Islamic ideas about warfare, and a last echo of the slave-raiding culture. Events in Darfur excite the imaginations of many, who cannot find it in their hearts to utter bruising criticisms of the pious Islamists in Khartoum.
As similarly in the past they did not criticise their brother Saddam for what he did to the Kurds and to Kuwait, or brother Hafez for chiding of the city of Hama in 1982.
[Arabs are often pained by blunt speech, and prefer gentle diplomatic tact over overt criticism.]
All of this must be borne in mind when regarding statements by Palestinian leaders.
MODERATE PALESTINIANS
For instance, here's what Jamel Abed, Fatah leader in Gaza, said recently: "I call on all the armed groups everywhere to avenge the blood of the dead with suicide bombings against Israeli civilians".
Fatah are considered moderates, by the way. People we can trust, a group we can negotiate with.
Jamel Abed also called for cross-border attacks against Israeli civilians:
"I call on all the armed groups everywhere to avenge the blood of the dead with suicide bombings against Israeli civilians ( ) attacks should be carried out with no bounds or geographical limitation, and anywhere the mujahideen can hit Israelis they should do so."
Again, I remind you that Fatah are moderates.
Here's a somewhat more nuanced statement by a Palestinian government official and Hamas spokesperson, Doctor Ghazi Hamad:
"This is not a country of humans, these are animals and a bunch of gangs, and this nation must be wiped off the face of the earth."
Doctor Ghazi Hamad has been described as a moderate member of Hamas.
The desirability of massive civilian casualties is intrinsically part of the welt-anshauung of moderate Arabs and respected by many opinion-makers.
I need not even mention what the other moderate Palestinian organizations and warlords have said, other than that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has again shown himself anxious to keep his position.
[Conceivably he fears being killed by his own people if he demonstrates independent thought? Well then he can always go live in Paris, like Suha Arafat. I'm sure that his friends have squirreled away enough money donated by the Europeans and Americans that he can live quite well, to say nothing of what the PLO has harvested from oil-sheikhs, fellaheen, and the former communist states.]
The only country for which the dead are not usefull, and not considered to be valiantly fighting the propaganda war, is Israel. Israel values the living. On both sides.
One would wish that other countries did not so treasure the dead. On both sides.
One might also wish that the Palestinians find a better use for their civilians.
Ambulatory explosives, lynchmob thugs, or cover for escaping murderers - surely some of them are capable of better things?
UGLY EUROPEANS
Vanochtend was ik bijzonder blij dat de democraten zo zegevierden in onze verkiezingen.
Maar na de gebruikelijke Nederlandstalige webfora te hebben bezocht, is die vreugde grotendeels verdwenen.
Opmerkingen als "eindelijk een greintje common sense in die kleine kopjes", "demokraten zijn net zo onnozel", "stom volk", "hetblijven domme fassisten", "een verachtelijk volkje", "vuile immigranten landje", en dergelijke venijnige pennevruchten laten blijken dat het ook nooit goed is voor Jan Kaas - hij mot immer sjagrijnig zijn stomme meningen uitflappen, altijd iets rots zeggen, elke keer weer schofterig zijn grote bek opendoen.
Met dat konstant giftig gezeur zijn Nederlanders stukken gemeener dan de rest van de Europeanen, die mekkeren wel ietsje minder. Maar Nederlanders zijn niet originele denkers - wat uit hun monden of pennen gekakt word vertegenwoordigt het gedachtengoed van de rest van dat zooitje aan de andere kant van de Atlantiek. Zoals rap blijkt wanneer men Duitsche en Fransche webfora bezoekt, of kranten in die talen leest.
Ik heb tegenwoordig zodanig de rot-pest aan Europeanen, dat telkens wanneer ik die kots-aksenten hier op straat hoor ik mijzelf moet dwingen rustig te blijven, mijzelf eraan moet herinneren dat niet iedere European een rotzak is (en zeker niet diegenen die hier effe de tourist uithangen). Er zijn ook beschaafde Europeanen, goedwillende Europeanen, humane Europeanen. Een kleine minderheid die gekoesterd moet worden.
De rest van die Europeanen, vooral inkluus Nederlanders, kan me gestolen worden.
Maar na de gebruikelijke Nederlandstalige webfora te hebben bezocht, is die vreugde grotendeels verdwenen.
Opmerkingen als "eindelijk een greintje common sense in die kleine kopjes", "demokraten zijn net zo onnozel", "stom volk", "hetblijven domme fassisten", "een verachtelijk volkje", "vuile immigranten landje", en dergelijke venijnige pennevruchten laten blijken dat het ook nooit goed is voor Jan Kaas - hij mot immer sjagrijnig zijn stomme meningen uitflappen, altijd iets rots zeggen, elke keer weer schofterig zijn grote bek opendoen.
Met dat konstant giftig gezeur zijn Nederlanders stukken gemeener dan de rest van de Europeanen, die mekkeren wel ietsje minder. Maar Nederlanders zijn niet originele denkers - wat uit hun monden of pennen gekakt word vertegenwoordigt het gedachtengoed van de rest van dat zooitje aan de andere kant van de Atlantiek. Zoals rap blijkt wanneer men Duitsche en Fransche webfora bezoekt, of kranten in die talen leest.
Ik heb tegenwoordig zodanig de rot-pest aan Europeanen, dat telkens wanneer ik die kots-aksenten hier op straat hoor ik mijzelf moet dwingen rustig te blijven, mijzelf eraan moet herinneren dat niet iedere European een rotzak is (en zeker niet diegenen die hier effe de tourist uithangen). Er zijn ook beschaafde Europeanen, goedwillende Europeanen, humane Europeanen. Een kleine minderheid die gekoesterd moet worden.
De rest van die Europeanen, vooral inkluus Nederlanders, kan me gestolen worden.
GET YOUR GLOAT ON!
.
.
.
GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT.
.
.
.
And neener neener neener.
.
Bitches.
.
.
.
.
.
.
GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT. GLOAT.
.
.
.
And neener neener neener.
.
Bitches.
.
.
.
.
Monday, November 06, 2006
PRO-ISRAEL AND ANTI-ISRAEL
Report on the love-fest outside the Israeli Consulate, Monday November 6th., 2006.
I got to the Consulate by around ten past four. And was somewhat surprised by the un-impressive turnout - usually the soft-on-terror side has more people. By four thirty both sides had reached the numbers that, with only little increase, were to be maintained for the next two hours.
Our side (the Pro-Israel side) had about a dozen people. Their side had about fifteen. The police had about twenty. The anti-Israel side had billed this as a 'silent vigil'. A concept which some of them did not grasp. One of the vocal demonstrators fittingly carried an anarchist banner, the significance of which was as incomprehensible to him as the imperative to shut up and not make a fool of himself.
We are much blessed by the lack of brainpower of our enemies.
While both sides faced each other across the street, the police happily stood around keeping an eye on things. There was little for them to do, little intervention required.
By five o'clock the venomous potato woman and her friend the blinking ex-red guard had augmented their side, along with a few other known faces, maybe half a dozen. Our side had grown by probably the same number. And both sides festively moved down Montgomery Street, to take up positions at the BART station four blocks away, where the silent part of the silent vigil was abandoned in favour of angry ranting and the spitting of unprintables by the more eloquent Jihadniks.
An undercurrent of anti-Semitism (the spice of life!) coloured their rhetoric, and their uncritical support of murderers and hate-mongers did not go entirely unnoticed.....
If their motive was to rouse sympathy for the poor downtrodden rocketeers of Gaza, they failed rather miserably -- many people came over to shake our hands and voice their support for our cause and thank us for being there.
I must have spoken with around twenty people. Which is remarkable, given that I was actually deep in conversation with another member of our side about Palau (an island-nation in the Pacific, east of the Philippines) , betel nut (areca palm nuts chewed for their stimulating effects in many parts of South-East Asia and the Pacific), herring (a product dear to our hearts), red loin cloths (the crimson hue has magically protective powers), headhunting by Dayaks (when the government in Indonesia was not paying attention a few years ago, Dayaks in Borneo dealt quite effectively with Madurese transmigrants who had dispossessed them), Indonesian imperialist ambitions (anyone remember the brutal occupation of Timor L'Este? How about the continuing repression in West-Irian?), and several other matters.
All in all, the public seemed much more supportive of our point-of-view than I had experienced at previous events. Perhaps the tide is turning. Perhaps the strident hatred expressed by the other side is starting to grate on people. Whatever it is, it's a refreshing change, and I hope that the clarity and moral-support evinced today continue to spread.
The battle for the hearts and minds of the public must continue. But in that battle, our enemies are our unwitting allies. Which is a very good thing.
I got to the Consulate by around ten past four. And was somewhat surprised by the un-impressive turnout - usually the soft-on-terror side has more people. By four thirty both sides had reached the numbers that, with only little increase, were to be maintained for the next two hours.
Our side (the Pro-Israel side) had about a dozen people. Their side had about fifteen. The police had about twenty. The anti-Israel side had billed this as a 'silent vigil'. A concept which some of them did not grasp. One of the vocal demonstrators fittingly carried an anarchist banner, the significance of which was as incomprehensible to him as the imperative to shut up and not make a fool of himself.
We are much blessed by the lack of brainpower of our enemies.
While both sides faced each other across the street, the police happily stood around keeping an eye on things. There was little for them to do, little intervention required.
By five o'clock the venomous potato woman and her friend the blinking ex-red guard had augmented their side, along with a few other known faces, maybe half a dozen. Our side had grown by probably the same number. And both sides festively moved down Montgomery Street, to take up positions at the BART station four blocks away, where the silent part of the silent vigil was abandoned in favour of angry ranting and the spitting of unprintables by the more eloquent Jihadniks.
An undercurrent of anti-Semitism (the spice of life!) coloured their rhetoric, and their uncritical support of murderers and hate-mongers did not go entirely unnoticed.....
If their motive was to rouse sympathy for the poor downtrodden rocketeers of Gaza, they failed rather miserably -- many people came over to shake our hands and voice their support for our cause and thank us for being there.
I must have spoken with around twenty people. Which is remarkable, given that I was actually deep in conversation with another member of our side about Palau (an island-nation in the Pacific, east of the Philippines) , betel nut (areca palm nuts chewed for their stimulating effects in many parts of South-East Asia and the Pacific), herring (a product dear to our hearts), red loin cloths (the crimson hue has magically protective powers), headhunting by Dayaks (when the government in Indonesia was not paying attention a few years ago, Dayaks in Borneo dealt quite effectively with Madurese transmigrants who had dispossessed them), Indonesian imperialist ambitions (anyone remember the brutal occupation of Timor L'Este? How about the continuing repression in West-Irian?), and several other matters.
All in all, the public seemed much more supportive of our point-of-view than I had experienced at previous events. Perhaps the tide is turning. Perhaps the strident hatred expressed by the other side is starting to grate on people. Whatever it is, it's a refreshing change, and I hope that the clarity and moral-support evinced today continue to spread.
The battle for the hearts and minds of the public must continue. But in that battle, our enemies are our unwitting allies. Which is a very good thing.
COUNTER PROTEST ANTI-ISRAEL DEMO OUTSIDE CONSULATE -- MONDAY, NOVEMBER SIXTH
EMERGENCY ACTION ALERT – FORWARD WIDELY
Counter Protest Anti-Israel demonstration outside the Israeli Consulate
Downtown San Francisco, 456 Montgomery Street
Monday, November 6th, 4-6 PM
BACKGROUND
Palestinian terror organizations in Gaza including both Hamas and Fatah have been continuously shelling Southern Israel for the past two years. When Israel ended its presence in Gaza in August 2005, the shelling increased, thus putting an end to the myth that "Occupation" was the source of Palestinian violence. Israel finally decided that enough was enough in June of 2006 and launched operations designed to end the prolonged siege of her civilians.
Many of the bombs are coming from the Palestinian city of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, less then 3km from the Israeli city of Sderot.
As they did earlier this year, anti-Israel groups such as Women In Black, International Solidarity Movement, and the American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee group "Break the Seige" will be protesting in front of the Israeli consulate to demand that Israel stop defending herself and to allow unlimited bombing of Israel. These groups all reject Israel’s right to exist.
EVENT DETAILS:
This event was just announced yesterday but we believe we can still mount an effective response. Stand With Us/SF Voice For Israel will have a representative on site to provide the pro-Israel voice. Even if you can come for just a few minutes, please add your voice to the pro-Israel demonstration so that our enemies know that even when they try to keep us away by holding events during the workday, we will still be there!
If at all possible please bring your own signs and flags. Due to the timing of the event, we will be unable to provide many signs and flags of our own.
Signs or graphics offensive to any racial or ethnic group including but not limited to Arabs, Islam, or Palestinians will not be allowed.
Demand an end to rocket attacks against Israeli civilians!
Demand Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser be returned home safely!
Demand the Palestinian Authority put an end to terror attacks!
Demand an end to the deligitimization and demonization of Israel!
Demand the Palestinian Authority and their local supporters choose peace so that the Palestinian people can have a future!
StandWithUs/San Francisco Voice for Israel
www.SFVoiceForIsrael.org
www.StandWithUs.com
------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Events
Monday, December 4th 5:30PM
Counterprotest anti-Israel demonstration
1001 Broadway, Oakland (outside Oakland Marriott)
------------------------------------------------
Do you want to become more involved with organizing our activities? Send a message to
info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org
<mailto:info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org>
If you are interested in participating in our campaign to counter anti-Israel speakers, please send an e-mail to info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org
<mailto:info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org>
Join the discussion! Do you have ideas? Classes to announce? Events to announce or discuss? Join our discussion list by sending an e-mail to sfproisrael-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:sfproisrael-subscribe@yahoogroups.com>
San Francisco Voice for Israel is a non-partisan coalition that takes no position on the war in Iraq, the settlements, or Israel's final borders. Our members span the political spectrum and are united only by our commitment to preserving the State of Israel as a Jewish State within secure borders.
Please send your tax deductible donation to
Stand With Us
P.O. Box 341069
Los Angeles, CA 90034-1069
Write SFV4I in the memo line.
Counter Protest Anti-Israel demonstration outside the Israeli Consulate
Downtown San Francisco, 456 Montgomery Street
Monday, November 6th, 4-6 PM
BACKGROUND
Palestinian terror organizations in Gaza including both Hamas and Fatah have been continuously shelling Southern Israel for the past two years. When Israel ended its presence in Gaza in August 2005, the shelling increased, thus putting an end to the myth that "Occupation" was the source of Palestinian violence. Israel finally decided that enough was enough in June of 2006 and launched operations designed to end the prolonged siege of her civilians.
Many of the bombs are coming from the Palestinian city of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, less then 3km from the Israeli city of Sderot.
As they did earlier this year, anti-Israel groups such as Women In Black, International Solidarity Movement, and the American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee group "Break the Seige" will be protesting in front of the Israeli consulate to demand that Israel stop defending herself and to allow unlimited bombing of Israel. These groups all reject Israel’s right to exist.
EVENT DETAILS:
This event was just announced yesterday but we believe we can still mount an effective response. Stand With Us/SF Voice For Israel will have a representative on site to provide the pro-Israel voice. Even if you can come for just a few minutes, please add your voice to the pro-Israel demonstration so that our enemies know that even when they try to keep us away by holding events during the workday, we will still be there!
If at all possible please bring your own signs and flags. Due to the timing of the event, we will be unable to provide many signs and flags of our own.
Signs or graphics offensive to any racial or ethnic group including but not limited to Arabs, Islam, or Palestinians will not be allowed.
Demand an end to rocket attacks against Israeli civilians!
Demand Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser be returned home safely!
Demand the Palestinian Authority put an end to terror attacks!
Demand an end to the deligitimization and demonization of Israel!
Demand the Palestinian Authority and their local supporters choose peace so that the Palestinian people can have a future!
StandWithUs/San Francisco Voice for Israel
www.SFVoiceForIsrael.org
www.StandWithUs.com
------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Events
Monday, December 4th 5:30PM
Counterprotest anti-Israel demonstration
1001 Broadway, Oakland (outside Oakland Marriott)
------------------------------------------------
Do you want to become more involved with organizing our activities? Send a message to
info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org
<mailto:info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org>
If you are interested in participating in our campaign to counter anti-Israel speakers, please send an e-mail to info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org
<mailto:info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org>
Join the discussion! Do you have ideas? Classes to announce? Events to announce or discuss? Join our discussion list by sending an e-mail to sfproisrael-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:sfproisrael-subscribe@yahoogroups.com>
San Francisco Voice for Israel is a non-partisan coalition that takes no position on the war in Iraq, the settlements, or Israel's final borders. Our members span the political spectrum and are united only by our commitment to preserving the State of Israel as a Jewish State within secure borders.
Please send your tax deductible donation to
Stand With Us
P.O. Box 341069
Los Angeles, CA 90034-1069
Write SFV4I in the memo line.
ACTION! MONTGOMERY STREET BETWEEN CALIFORNIA AND SACRAMENTO STREETS, FROM TEA-TIME TILL THE COCKTAIL HOUR
If you're in the downtown today, please spend some time with us making a counter-statement to the usual bunch of retrogrades and hate-filled jugend.
Vigil at the Israeli consulate, 4-6 today, sponsored by the usual suspects.
It would be nice to have a pro-Israel presence as well.
We will send out a "formal" announcement as soon as we get our act together.
All our best,
------The vast Zionist Conspiracy
PS. This is of course why I keep an Israeli flag at my desk, along with some protest signs.
Vigil at the Israeli consulate, 4-6 today, sponsored by the usual suspects.
It would be nice to have a pro-Israel presence as well.
We will send out a "formal" announcement as soon as we get our act together.
All our best,
------The vast Zionist Conspiracy
PS. This is of course why I keep an Israeli flag at my desk, along with some protest signs.
Friday, November 03, 2006
UNDERCOVER JEW
Yesterday evening, famous Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdaiev was a guest on The Daily Show ('Der Taglishes Shau', for those of you with Boropark cable), speaking with Jonathan Stewart (Reb Yonosson Stebartabam, f.t.o.y.w.b.c.).
When explaining the toast 'le chayim' to Borat, reb Yonosson let slip that he was Jewish.
Borat recoiled, and accused him of having had plastic surgery, as his horns were no longer visible ("and also, please to keep your claws where I can see them...").
Which brings two things to mind.
The first one being the old idea that Jews have horns.
Where did that idea come from?
It came from a misinterpretation of the verse in which Moses comes down from the mountain after forty days face to face with the divine.
Seifer Shemos (Exodus), Parshas Ki Sisa, seventh Aliyah, psookim (verses) 34:29 - 30 "Vayehi beredet Moshe mehar Sinai ushenei luchot ha edut be yad Moshe beridto min ha har u Moshe lo-yada ki karan or panav bedabro ito" (And so it happened that when Moses descended from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of testimony in his hand, that when he came down from the mountain he did not know that horns of light came from his face when He spoke with him), "Vayar Aharon ve chol Benei Yisrael et Moshe vehine karan or panav vayiru migeshet elav" (And when Aaron and all the Children of Israel saw Moses, lo, horns of light came forth from his mien, and they were scared to come near him).
'Karan Or', idiomatically, meant rays of light. But the word karan specifically refers to horns.
For centuries, analogous to Alexander the Great (Sikander Dhulkarnain - Alexander with the two horns), who was represented with the ram's horns of an Egyptian divinity springing from his forehead on coins struck during his reign in Egypt, Moses was portrayed as having actual horns.
[A very Egyptian image, by the way, but it is doubtful most people realized that.]
Now, to the typical mediaeval European, Moses was the quintessential Jew, and one of the few shown in a multitude of representations. If Moses had horns, then horns should mark other Jews as well. Logic and actual observation would contradict this, of course, but most ignorant Christian peasants never came in contact with Jews, and happily believed that the Jew with whom they did exceptionally come in contact must have trimmed or cut his horns to pass unnoticed among them. The foolish-looking hats that Jews were forced to wear as identifying marks by the authorities in many provinces were re-interpreted by the ignorant as being a Jewish choice, meant to hide the stumps.
[These hats were often bright yellow, with tall floppy peaks, and broad drooping rims - very distinctive. The kind of hat you would see in a Dr. Seuss book.]
This brings us to the second thing brought up by Borat's comment about the horns, namely the idea that Jews hide their true identity and attempt to blend in, or pass unnoticed among the rest of us. Paired with this is the idea that if they do so, they do it because of some plot or evil intent.
Jews are actually one of the very few minorities whose presence does not register - blacks, Asian-Americans, Latinos, all stand out by their difference. But Jews come in every hue and stripe, and often look no different than the dominant ethnic group. The average well-bred bigot will happily tell black jokes when no black people are present, or say something incredibly stupid about Asians behind their backs, but has a 'problem' as regards the unseen and unknownable Jew.
Often the average well-bred bigot will either assume that there are no Jews present ('cause everyone here looks like us'), or that there might be Jews within hearing distance. If the first assumption dominates, our average well-bred bigot may tell a Jew-joke. And thus innocently create a problem.
Objecting to the joke, whether one is Jewish or not, marks one as a Jew, and specifically as an undercover Jew who hides his identity to trap poor unsuspecting Gentiles.
Not objecting means that one is a person with whom one can share this delicious forbidden fun (along with cracks about blacks, Catholics, Asians, Mexicans, Polish, Irish..... Etcera).
[And this reminds me of an old joke; an orthodox rabbi, an ignorant bigot, and an albino black man were walking down the street together..... ]
It is ironic that almost all of the old-fashioned western world bigotry and misinformation about Jews has found fertile soil in the Middle-East, where most ignorant Islamic peasants never come in contact with Jews, and will happily believe that the Jew they might exceptionally come in contact with has trimmed or cut his horns to pass unnoticed among them.
[Oh Abdullah, my friend, perhaps the Mossaaaaaaad has a horn-trimming department?]
Borat is a perfect send-up of the anti-Semitic praeconceptiva of the Muslim world. Muslims have been spoon-fed nonsense about the Jews for so long, that they'll believe anything, including second hand bigotry that isn't even taken seriously by most people in Europe any more. Borat represents the Islamic everyman - credulous, good natured, and often so staggeringly mis-informed that you don't even know where to begin correcting him.
But Borat is also the perfect undercover Jew, hiding his identity to trap poor unsuspecting bigots.
And as such, he also speaks poignantly to a particular demographic.
In the audience watching this movie there will probably be people of hues, who wistfully will dream of doing the same - venturing unnoticed and unremarked among the people of pallor.
Which is something that us melanin-deprived folks can only dream of dreaming about.
When explaining the toast 'le chayim' to Borat, reb Yonosson let slip that he was Jewish.
Borat recoiled, and accused him of having had plastic surgery, as his horns were no longer visible ("and also, please to keep your claws where I can see them...").
Which brings two things to mind.
The first one being the old idea that Jews have horns.
Where did that idea come from?
It came from a misinterpretation of the verse in which Moses comes down from the mountain after forty days face to face with the divine.
Seifer Shemos (Exodus), Parshas Ki Sisa, seventh Aliyah, psookim (verses) 34:29 - 30 "Vayehi beredet Moshe mehar Sinai ushenei luchot ha edut be yad Moshe beridto min ha har u Moshe lo-yada ki karan or panav bedabro ito" (And so it happened that when Moses descended from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of testimony in his hand, that when he came down from the mountain he did not know that horns of light came from his face when He spoke with him), "Vayar Aharon ve chol Benei Yisrael et Moshe vehine karan or panav vayiru migeshet elav" (And when Aaron and all the Children of Israel saw Moses, lo, horns of light came forth from his mien, and they were scared to come near him).
'Karan Or', idiomatically, meant rays of light. But the word karan specifically refers to horns.
For centuries, analogous to Alexander the Great (Sikander Dhulkarnain - Alexander with the two horns), who was represented with the ram's horns of an Egyptian divinity springing from his forehead on coins struck during his reign in Egypt, Moses was portrayed as having actual horns.
[A very Egyptian image, by the way, but it is doubtful most people realized that.]
Now, to the typical mediaeval European, Moses was the quintessential Jew, and one of the few shown in a multitude of representations. If Moses had horns, then horns should mark other Jews as well. Logic and actual observation would contradict this, of course, but most ignorant Christian peasants never came in contact with Jews, and happily believed that the Jew with whom they did exceptionally come in contact must have trimmed or cut his horns to pass unnoticed among them. The foolish-looking hats that Jews were forced to wear as identifying marks by the authorities in many provinces were re-interpreted by the ignorant as being a Jewish choice, meant to hide the stumps.
[These hats were often bright yellow, with tall floppy peaks, and broad drooping rims - very distinctive. The kind of hat you would see in a Dr. Seuss book.]
This brings us to the second thing brought up by Borat's comment about the horns, namely the idea that Jews hide their true identity and attempt to blend in, or pass unnoticed among the rest of us. Paired with this is the idea that if they do so, they do it because of some plot or evil intent.
Jews are actually one of the very few minorities whose presence does not register - blacks, Asian-Americans, Latinos, all stand out by their difference. But Jews come in every hue and stripe, and often look no different than the dominant ethnic group. The average well-bred bigot will happily tell black jokes when no black people are present, or say something incredibly stupid about Asians behind their backs, but has a 'problem' as regards the unseen and unknownable Jew.
Often the average well-bred bigot will either assume that there are no Jews present ('cause everyone here looks like us'), or that there might be Jews within hearing distance. If the first assumption dominates, our average well-bred bigot may tell a Jew-joke. And thus innocently create a problem.
Objecting to the joke, whether one is Jewish or not, marks one as a Jew, and specifically as an undercover Jew who hides his identity to trap poor unsuspecting Gentiles.
Not objecting means that one is a person with whom one can share this delicious forbidden fun (along with cracks about blacks, Catholics, Asians, Mexicans, Polish, Irish..... Etcera).
[And this reminds me of an old joke; an orthodox rabbi, an ignorant bigot, and an albino black man were walking down the street together..... ]
It is ironic that almost all of the old-fashioned western world bigotry and misinformation about Jews has found fertile soil in the Middle-East, where most ignorant Islamic peasants never come in contact with Jews, and will happily believe that the Jew they might exceptionally come in contact with has trimmed or cut his horns to pass unnoticed among them.
[Oh Abdullah, my friend, perhaps the Mossaaaaaaad has a horn-trimming department?]
Borat is a perfect send-up of the anti-Semitic praeconceptiva of the Muslim world. Muslims have been spoon-fed nonsense about the Jews for so long, that they'll believe anything, including second hand bigotry that isn't even taken seriously by most people in Europe any more. Borat represents the Islamic everyman - credulous, good natured, and often so staggeringly mis-informed that you don't even know where to begin correcting him.
But Borat is also the perfect undercover Jew, hiding his identity to trap poor unsuspecting bigots.
And as such, he also speaks poignantly to a particular demographic.
In the audience watching this movie there will probably be people of hues, who wistfully will dream of doing the same - venturing unnoticed and unremarked among the people of pallor.
Which is something that us melanin-deprived folks can only dream of dreaming about.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
TWO MORE LOVELY SOLICITATIONS
I have received two more lovely letters kindly requesting my assistance.
The basic argument of both epistles is that if I help the writer commit an illegal and unethical act, I will receive a percentage.
I'm sure I will.
Here are both letters.
Letter 1.
MR. SAMUEL AMAGO,
THE SENIOR AUDITOR INCHARGE
FOREIGN REMITTANCE UNIT,
BANK OF AFRICA{BOA}.
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO.
Dear Friend,
I presumed that all is well with you and your family. Please let this not be a surprise message to you because i got your contact information from the international directory few weeks ago before i decided to contact you on this magintude and lucrative transaction for our present and future survival in life. Moreover, i have laid all the solemn trust in you before i decided to disclose this successful & confidential transaction to you.
I am the senior Auditor Incharge of Foreign Remittance Unit of our bank and i decided to contact you for this financial transaction worth fifteen Million, United States dollar ($15m) for our present and future success. This is an abandoned fund that belongs to one of our bank foreign customers who died along with his entire family through plane crash few years ago.
Meanwhile i was very fortune to come across the deceased file when i was
arranging the old and abandoned customers files in other to sign and submit to the entire bank management for an official re-documentation and audit of the year against 2006.
Informed clearly that it was stated in our Foreign banking rules and regulations which was signed lawfully that if such fund remains unclaimed till the period of 4 years started from the date when the beneficiary died, the money will be transferred into the treasury as an unclaimed fund. However, it is not authorized by the rules guiding our bank for a citizen of Burkina Faso to make the claim of the fund unless you are a foreigner no matter the country. So the request of you as a foreigner is necessary to apply for the claim and transfer of the fund smoothly into your reliable bank account as the next of kin to the deceased.
When the fund is transferred into your account, { 36% } Thirty Six Percent will be for you in respect of all your assistance for the transfer of the fund into your account and provision of the bank account where the bank will remit the fund,{ 56% } Fifty Six Percent will be for me being the pioneer of the business while the rest { 8% } eight Percent will be shared to respectable Organisations such as Charity , Motherless Babies Homes, and helpless disabled people arround us in the World.
If you are really sure of your, Trustworthiness, Accountability and confidentiality on this transaction, contact me and accept not to change your mind to cheat, or disappoint me when the fund is transferred into your account. So reply for the assurance with your telephone and fax numbers necessary to facilitate an easy communication. As soon as you reply, you notify me so that i will let you know the next steps and procedures to follow in order to finalize this transaction immediately.
I expect your urgent communication.
Yours sincerely,
MR SAMUEL AMAGO.
-------------------------------------------------------
Letter 2.
MR MR ERIC MACUS,
CREDIT MUTUAL DU SENEGAL BANK GROUP
DAKAR SENEGAL
ericmacus@safe-mail.net
Telephone:+221-525-1855
FOR YOUR ATTENTION ONLY
I AM MR Paul Cooper, A SOUTH AFRICAN WORKING WITH SENEGAL BRANCH OF CREDIT MUTUAL DU SENEGAL AS THE MANAGER. I HUMBLY WISH TO SEEK YOUR ASSISTANCE IN A MATTER THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME WHICH REQUIRES UTMOST URGENCY AND CONFIDENTIALITY.I WANT TO START INVESTMENT WITH THE SUM OF($9.000 000) NINE MILLION UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DOLLARS IN YOUR COUNTRY OR ANY OTHER COUNTRY WITH GOOD ECONOMIC STABILITY AND POLITICAL CLIMATE YOU MAY RECOMMEND. I SHALL BE INTERESTED IN REAL ESTATES, HOTEL BUSINESS, STOCKS & BONDS OR ANY OTHER BUSINESS YOU MIGHT RECOMMEND.
THIS MONEY EMANATE AFTER MY BANK WAS BURNT DOWN FEW WEEKS AGO. A LOT OF LOSES WERE IN CURED BOTH IN CASH AND DOCUMENTATIONS. BEFORE THE FIRE INCIDENCE, WE HAD IN CASH A FOREIGN EXCHANGE TO TURN OF NINE MILLION UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DOLLARS. AFTER THE FIRE ACCIDENT, THE BOARD OF THE BANK SUMMONED ME TO ACCOUNT FOR DAMAGES. I DECLARED THAT THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE WAS COMPLETELY BURNT. BUT THE TRUTH IS THAT THE MONEY IS SAFE IN MY PERSONAL CUSTODY.
FOR OBVIOUS REASONS I CANNOT POSSIBLY PLACE THIS FUND WITH ESTABLISHED FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND THIS REQUIRES ME TO URGENTLY LOOK FOR A RELIABLE FOREIGNER TO HELP MOVE THIS FUND OUT OF HERE, INVEST/MANAGE IT FOR ME FOR SOME TIME BEFORE I FINALLY RESIGN FROM MY OFFICE. IT IS ALSO MY WISH THAT THIS DEAL BE HANDLED AS QUIETLY AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT ANY LEAKAGE TO THE PRESS. IF YOU AGREE TO ACT AS A FUND MANAGER FOR ME, THEN I WILL RELEASE THE MONEY TO YOU IF YOU MEET MY REQUIREMENTS.
UPON A FAVORABLE RESPONSE FROM YOU I SHALL LET YOU KNOW HOW TO RECEIVE THE FUND.
AFTER SUCCESSFUL DEAL, YOUR COMMISSION SHALL BE THIRTY PERCENT OF THE TOTAL SUM WHICH IS($3.000 000) THREE MILLION USA FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE IN SAFELY MOVING THE MONEY OFFSHORES OF SENEGAL. SIXTY FIVE PERCENT FOR ME AND FIVE PERCENT SHALL BE USED TO RE-INBURES EXPENSES WE MIGHT INCURE DURING THE TRANSACTION.YOU SHALL BE ENTITTLED FOR AN ANNUAL FOURTY PERCENT OF THE MONEY AFTER TAX RETURNS FOR THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF MANAGING MY SHARE OF THE DEAL IN GOOD BUSINESS.
THEREAFTER THE TERMS SHALL BE REVIEW.
IF YOU ARE WILLING TO DO THIS PLEASE INDICATE YOUR INTEREST VIA MY EMAIL SPECIFIED FOR FURTHER DETAILS.
BEST REGARDS,
MR ERIC MACUS,
ericmacus@safe-mail.net
Telephone:+221-525-1855
-------------------------------------------------------
I really like the schizophrenia of the second writer, who seems blisfully unaware of his naming surplus. But he's all business.
The first writer indulges in obsequiy and lyricism, and is so far from using majuscule that he humbly lowercases himself. Oh courteous man from waggadoogoo!
The basic argument of both epistles is that if I help the writer commit an illegal and unethical act, I will receive a percentage.
I'm sure I will.
Here are both letters.
Letter 1.
MR. SAMUEL AMAGO,
THE SENIOR AUDITOR INCHARGE
FOREIGN REMITTANCE UNIT,
BANK OF AFRICA{BOA}.
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO.
Dear Friend,
I presumed that all is well with you and your family. Please let this not be a surprise message to you because i got your contact information from the international directory few weeks ago before i decided to contact you on this magintude and lucrative transaction for our present and future survival in life. Moreover, i have laid all the solemn trust in you before i decided to disclose this successful & confidential transaction to you.
I am the senior Auditor Incharge of Foreign Remittance Unit of our bank and i decided to contact you for this financial transaction worth fifteen Million, United States dollar ($15m) for our present and future success. This is an abandoned fund that belongs to one of our bank foreign customers who died along with his entire family through plane crash few years ago.
Meanwhile i was very fortune to come across the deceased file when i was
arranging the old and abandoned customers files in other to sign and submit to the entire bank management for an official re-documentation and audit of the year against 2006.
Informed clearly that it was stated in our Foreign banking rules and regulations which was signed lawfully that if such fund remains unclaimed till the period of 4 years started from the date when the beneficiary died, the money will be transferred into the treasury as an unclaimed fund. However, it is not authorized by the rules guiding our bank for a citizen of Burkina Faso to make the claim of the fund unless you are a foreigner no matter the country. So the request of you as a foreigner is necessary to apply for the claim and transfer of the fund smoothly into your reliable bank account as the next of kin to the deceased.
When the fund is transferred into your account, { 36% } Thirty Six Percent will be for you in respect of all your assistance for the transfer of the fund into your account and provision of the bank account where the bank will remit the fund,{ 56% } Fifty Six Percent will be for me being the pioneer of the business while the rest { 8% } eight Percent will be shared to respectable Organisations such as Charity , Motherless Babies Homes, and helpless disabled people arround us in the World.
If you are really sure of your, Trustworthiness, Accountability and confidentiality on this transaction, contact me and accept not to change your mind to cheat, or disappoint me when the fund is transferred into your account. So reply for the assurance with your telephone and fax numbers necessary to facilitate an easy communication. As soon as you reply, you notify me so that i will let you know the next steps and procedures to follow in order to finalize this transaction immediately.
I expect your urgent communication.
Yours sincerely,
MR SAMUEL AMAGO.
-------------------------------------------------------
Letter 2.
MR MR ERIC MACUS,
CREDIT MUTUAL DU SENEGAL BANK GROUP
DAKAR SENEGAL
ericmacus@safe-mail.net
Telephone:+221-525-1855
FOR YOUR ATTENTION ONLY
I AM MR Paul Cooper, A SOUTH AFRICAN WORKING WITH SENEGAL BRANCH OF CREDIT MUTUAL DU SENEGAL AS THE MANAGER. I HUMBLY WISH TO SEEK YOUR ASSISTANCE IN A MATTER THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME WHICH REQUIRES UTMOST URGENCY AND CONFIDENTIALITY.I WANT TO START INVESTMENT WITH THE SUM OF($9.000 000) NINE MILLION UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DOLLARS IN YOUR COUNTRY OR ANY OTHER COUNTRY WITH GOOD ECONOMIC STABILITY AND POLITICAL CLIMATE YOU MAY RECOMMEND. I SHALL BE INTERESTED IN REAL ESTATES, HOTEL BUSINESS, STOCKS & BONDS OR ANY OTHER BUSINESS YOU MIGHT RECOMMEND.
THIS MONEY EMANATE AFTER MY BANK WAS BURNT DOWN FEW WEEKS AGO. A LOT OF LOSES WERE IN CURED BOTH IN CASH AND DOCUMENTATIONS. BEFORE THE FIRE INCIDENCE, WE HAD IN CASH A FOREIGN EXCHANGE TO TURN OF NINE MILLION UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DOLLARS. AFTER THE FIRE ACCIDENT, THE BOARD OF THE BANK SUMMONED ME TO ACCOUNT FOR DAMAGES. I DECLARED THAT THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE WAS COMPLETELY BURNT. BUT THE TRUTH IS THAT THE MONEY IS SAFE IN MY PERSONAL CUSTODY.
FOR OBVIOUS REASONS I CANNOT POSSIBLY PLACE THIS FUND WITH ESTABLISHED FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND THIS REQUIRES ME TO URGENTLY LOOK FOR A RELIABLE FOREIGNER TO HELP MOVE THIS FUND OUT OF HERE, INVEST/MANAGE IT FOR ME FOR SOME TIME BEFORE I FINALLY RESIGN FROM MY OFFICE. IT IS ALSO MY WISH THAT THIS DEAL BE HANDLED AS QUIETLY AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT ANY LEAKAGE TO THE PRESS. IF YOU AGREE TO ACT AS A FUND MANAGER FOR ME, THEN I WILL RELEASE THE MONEY TO YOU IF YOU MEET MY REQUIREMENTS.
UPON A FAVORABLE RESPONSE FROM YOU I SHALL LET YOU KNOW HOW TO RECEIVE THE FUND.
AFTER SUCCESSFUL DEAL, YOUR COMMISSION SHALL BE THIRTY PERCENT OF THE TOTAL SUM WHICH IS($3.000 000) THREE MILLION USA FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE IN SAFELY MOVING THE MONEY OFFSHORES OF SENEGAL. SIXTY FIVE PERCENT FOR ME AND FIVE PERCENT SHALL BE USED TO RE-INBURES EXPENSES WE MIGHT INCURE DURING THE TRANSACTION.YOU SHALL BE ENTITTLED FOR AN ANNUAL FOURTY PERCENT OF THE MONEY AFTER TAX RETURNS FOR THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF MANAGING MY SHARE OF THE DEAL IN GOOD BUSINESS.
THEREAFTER THE TERMS SHALL BE REVIEW.
IF YOU ARE WILLING TO DO THIS PLEASE INDICATE YOUR INTEREST VIA MY EMAIL SPECIFIED FOR FURTHER DETAILS.
BEST REGARDS,
MR ERIC MACUS,
ericmacus@safe-mail.net
Telephone:+221-525-1855
-------------------------------------------------------
I really like the schizophrenia of the second writer, who seems blisfully unaware of his naming surplus. But he's all business.
The first writer indulges in obsequiy and lyricism, and is so far from using majuscule that he humbly lowercases himself. Oh courteous man from waggadoogoo!
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
HOLOCAUST CARTOON
The winning entry in the Iranian sponsored holocaust cartoon competition shows, in the background, the dome of the rock (al Masjid al Aqsa, built on the site of the Temple after the Muslim conquerors took Jerusalem), and in the foreground a crane placing segments of the terrorist-separation barrier, on which is painted the universally recognized vista of the approach to Auschwitz.
We can guess what message the Moroccan artist (Abdullah Derkaoui) intended, and we pretty much know what the Iranian judges thought they saw.
But there is more to it than that. Much much more.
Let us construe.
As follows:
The dome in the distance is the permanent scar left by centuries of Muslim violence and tyranny, while the wall in the foreground is a reminder that the same brutality and barbarism that led to the holocaust not only survives but thrives among the Arabs on the eastern side of the wall.
Would the Muslims want to repeat the holocaust?
There is no doubt that they would - their media, their intellectuals, and their leaders have made that more than clear. Anti-Semitic drivel from their side is such a flood of venom in so many flavours, that the only way to deal with it, in the short-term, is to close ones' ears and close off the source. Doing otherwise would leave one weeping at the amount of evil in the world, and asphyxiating on the smoke-clouds of burning hatred roilling forth from their cities.
They hate, they hate with a passion, they seem incapable of passion other than hate.
The fact that the wall has stopped them from sending their less-gifted children with bomb-belts to blow up buses no doubt leaves much of their society frustrated. All that is left for them is fond-daydreaming of what the Europeans did and what the Iranians promise.
Auschwitz on the wall perfectly represents the frustrated bloodlust of millions, for whom the world is too small and too filled with people who do not acknowledge their claims to superiority and total ownership; it represents decades of murderous propaganda, and billions of dollars wasted by petro-sheikhs and despots who would rather pay for terrorist acts beyond their borders than libraries inside their own capitols.
Auschwitz on the wall represents the complete failure of Arab societies to achieve anything of note in the eight decades since the end of the Ottoman Empire. They've quarreled with each other, fought with each other, betrayed each other, and murdered each other.
And at each turn, they've blamed everyone but each other.
Now there's a picture of Auschwitz on a wall facing them, like a remonstrance, or a reminder of their failings. And tens of millions of them have immigrated into the Western lands, trying to get away from themselves. Europe and America are awash with bitter refuse from all the Arab lands, who saw no future in Fez, or Cairo, or Damascus.
Thank you, Abdullah Derkaoui, for so ably illustrating the ghastly void that is your society, the sad and dismal bankruptcy of your culture, and the dashed hopes and dreary hatreds of your people. Nothing better shows the perversion and destructiveness that lives among the souls lost to Islam.
And also, thanks go out to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose pettiness and loss of contact with reality made this illustration possible, and whose government so perfectly demonstrates why vigilance is still necessary, why the struggle for civilization must still be fought, and why each generation will still have enemies to quell.
I would also thank the Prophet Muhammad, whose dreams and nightmares ultimately made all of this possible - but he's been dead for centuries, and we cannot form any real impression of his character, as we gratefully know so little about him. Other than that he took a nine-year old as wife - an act that in our age and in our society would stamp him as depraved, but which was probably quite normal and fashionable in Mecca and Medina during that dark age.
In any case, it is not entirely fitting to speak ill of the long-dead.
We can guess what message the Moroccan artist (Abdullah Derkaoui) intended, and we pretty much know what the Iranian judges thought they saw.
But there is more to it than that. Much much more.
Let us construe.
As follows:
The dome in the distance is the permanent scar left by centuries of Muslim violence and tyranny, while the wall in the foreground is a reminder that the same brutality and barbarism that led to the holocaust not only survives but thrives among the Arabs on the eastern side of the wall.
Would the Muslims want to repeat the holocaust?
There is no doubt that they would - their media, their intellectuals, and their leaders have made that more than clear. Anti-Semitic drivel from their side is such a flood of venom in so many flavours, that the only way to deal with it, in the short-term, is to close ones' ears and close off the source. Doing otherwise would leave one weeping at the amount of evil in the world, and asphyxiating on the smoke-clouds of burning hatred roilling forth from their cities.
They hate, they hate with a passion, they seem incapable of passion other than hate.
The fact that the wall has stopped them from sending their less-gifted children with bomb-belts to blow up buses no doubt leaves much of their society frustrated. All that is left for them is fond-daydreaming of what the Europeans did and what the Iranians promise.
Auschwitz on the wall perfectly represents the frustrated bloodlust of millions, for whom the world is too small and too filled with people who do not acknowledge their claims to superiority and total ownership; it represents decades of murderous propaganda, and billions of dollars wasted by petro-sheikhs and despots who would rather pay for terrorist acts beyond their borders than libraries inside their own capitols.
Auschwitz on the wall represents the complete failure of Arab societies to achieve anything of note in the eight decades since the end of the Ottoman Empire. They've quarreled with each other, fought with each other, betrayed each other, and murdered each other.
And at each turn, they've blamed everyone but each other.
Now there's a picture of Auschwitz on a wall facing them, like a remonstrance, or a reminder of their failings. And tens of millions of them have immigrated into the Western lands, trying to get away from themselves. Europe and America are awash with bitter refuse from all the Arab lands, who saw no future in Fez, or Cairo, or Damascus.
Thank you, Abdullah Derkaoui, for so ably illustrating the ghastly void that is your society, the sad and dismal bankruptcy of your culture, and the dashed hopes and dreary hatreds of your people. Nothing better shows the perversion and destructiveness that lives among the souls lost to Islam.
And also, thanks go out to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose pettiness and loss of contact with reality made this illustration possible, and whose government so perfectly demonstrates why vigilance is still necessary, why the struggle for civilization must still be fought, and why each generation will still have enemies to quell.
I would also thank the Prophet Muhammad, whose dreams and nightmares ultimately made all of this possible - but he's been dead for centuries, and we cannot form any real impression of his character, as we gratefully know so little about him. Other than that he took a nine-year old as wife - an act that in our age and in our society would stamp him as depraved, but which was probably quite normal and fashionable in Mecca and Medina during that dark age.
In any case, it is not entirely fitting to speak ill of the long-dead.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
NOT ENOUGH SLEEP AND A MOUTH THAT FEELS LIKE ONE OF MY MISTRESSES CRAWLED INSIDE AND DIED THERE - BUT IT WAS SO GOOOOOD! MCCLELLAND'S NO. 25 VIRGINIA
McClelland's No. 25 Virginia - a balanced mixture of red and black aged Virginia cake tobaccos in a fully-rubbed form.
The manufacturer claims that this product is "ideal after dinner when a rich, satisfying flavor is most desired".
Indeed.
Virginias should be smoked patiently and slow, very slow. One need not worry about them going out, because they burn better than Orientals, and with a snail-like smoke there will not be a significant turning of the leaf (unlike with cigars and Oriental blends, which are harsher if re-lit). Properly treated, Virginias (flakes and Cavendishes) can be a great comfort.
Bought this particular tin of pipe tobacco yesterday on a whim.
While Savage Kitten was out of the apartment I loaded an old Charatan about half-full, and lit up.
Gracious!
Like re-discovering an old flame, who has kept her figure and become riper and juicier with the years!
I enjoyed her ample charms three times last evening, and did not go to sleep till one o'clock.
Soft velvety upper arms, fragrant silken tresses, oh my. Ears to nibble.
Grace and charm, and some long-stilled memories re-awakening.
For me this a very nice tobacco.
Memory is often sparked by specific aromas - this blend reminded me of the last few times my Dad loaded up the calabash (1964 - we still lived in Naarden), of an old friend of the family who liked deeply curved pipes, and of a grand-hotel in Switzerland (visited sometime in the early seventies, in summer).
I also remembered the streetlights beyond a building complex near the old road to Waalre, just east of Saint John (but that is more associated with two other tobaccos, whose names I have forgotten).
Spring sunlight and summer showers - early evenings during the long-twilight, or mid-afternoon with a cup of tea while warm rain falls just feet away.
There were some very similar tobaccos to McClelland's No. 25 Virginia, which off and on I smoked all the way through to my discovery of Balkan blends. Broken and rubbed flakes with an ancient fragrance. What were their names? Hundred gramme tins, a green label with a red text medallion edged in yellow scrollwork. I think they stopped making it in the early seventies - I must've bought the last of the stock.
I am very much looking forward to this evening.
A nice cup of tea. And a self-indulgence. Both not too strong.
TOBACCO INDEX
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
The manufacturer claims that this product is "ideal after dinner when a rich, satisfying flavor is most desired".
Indeed.
Virginias should be smoked patiently and slow, very slow. One need not worry about them going out, because they burn better than Orientals, and with a snail-like smoke there will not be a significant turning of the leaf (unlike with cigars and Oriental blends, which are harsher if re-lit). Properly treated, Virginias (flakes and Cavendishes) can be a great comfort.
Bought this particular tin of pipe tobacco yesterday on a whim.
While Savage Kitten was out of the apartment I loaded an old Charatan about half-full, and lit up.
Gracious!
Like re-discovering an old flame, who has kept her figure and become riper and juicier with the years!
I enjoyed her ample charms three times last evening, and did not go to sleep till one o'clock.
Soft velvety upper arms, fragrant silken tresses, oh my. Ears to nibble.
Grace and charm, and some long-stilled memories re-awakening.
For me this a very nice tobacco.
Memory is often sparked by specific aromas - this blend reminded me of the last few times my Dad loaded up the calabash (1964 - we still lived in Naarden), of an old friend of the family who liked deeply curved pipes, and of a grand-hotel in Switzerland (visited sometime in the early seventies, in summer).
I also remembered the streetlights beyond a building complex near the old road to Waalre, just east of Saint John (but that is more associated with two other tobaccos, whose names I have forgotten).
Spring sunlight and summer showers - early evenings during the long-twilight, or mid-afternoon with a cup of tea while warm rain falls just feet away.
There were some very similar tobaccos to McClelland's No. 25 Virginia, which off and on I smoked all the way through to my discovery of Balkan blends. Broken and rubbed flakes with an ancient fragrance. What were their names? Hundred gramme tins, a green label with a red text medallion edged in yellow scrollwork. I think they stopped making it in the early seventies - I must've bought the last of the stock.
I am very much looking forward to this evening.
A nice cup of tea. And a self-indulgence. Both not too strong.
TOBACCO INDEX
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Monday, October 30, 2006
DEMO AND COUNTER DEMO
Saturday was lovely - sunny, not too warm, hardly a cloud in the sky.
A lovely day to spend some time out doors - at a counter-demo.
Some hundred or so of us on the south side of Market Street, versus around two-thousand on the other side. Not all of whom were members of International ANSWER or similar front-groups. Most were probably the usual ultra-lefties, willing to troll for any group that demands the U.S. be destroyed and willing to scream in favour of violent radicals in third-world hell-holes.
SIGNS:
Iraq. Iran. Cuba and Venezuela. Sudan. Free-Mason conspiracy. Bankers. Christians. North-Korea. Animals. Skull-and-crosbones. A zombie. A big hand. A bald man. A rabbit. Spandex. Orange jumpsuits. A big bird. Bushzerkers. Bad grammar, mis-spellings, and incomprehensible stuff.
Kinda hard to figure out what it was all about - several signs were off-message, some of the agendas were inchoate anger only.
All the usual anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic garbage slogan signs and banners were evident.
Though the protest was SUPPOSED to be about Iraq, these folks just cannot leave their favoured props in the closet.
Israel, in their eyes, is the alpha and omega of all that they think wrong with the world.
Their sound-system was mediocre, so their speechifying was well-nigh incomprehensible (it often is, but this time it was because of sound quality, not content).
Grumble, rumble, rumble, roar. Belch, static, shriek, mumble mumble mumble.
Imagine listening to an airport announcement. An angry airport announcement. An airport announcement that lasts for well-over two bitchy haranguing hours (that airport has issues, and desperately needs therapy).
After working up the emotions of the crowd, they moved off down Market Street, to win friends and influence people in the shopping district. Or overturn garbage cans outside of Macys.
Hatred of Jews was strangely back-burnered (though nevertheless present -- as someone put it "anti-Semitism is like crack, they just can't keep away from it").
Maybe they finally realized that overtly screaming obscenities about the Zionist world plot turns off all rational people.
Strange how that works.
It is also quite possible that International ANSWER deliberately advised the hard-core Muslim fundamentalists and Islamo-nationalists not to come this time - sad to say, the usual lively young Levantine thuggim were not in attendance. Not the bald fellow with the likeable grin and creative slogans, nor the brutish oaf with nazi-salutes. Nor even the buff bullethead (on probation, I've heard - he was arrested for flag-burning at the previous love-fest).
No inbred-looking Abdullah the Shrimp-Boy with dull eyes and plastic darbuqa (for playing revolutionary rythms on). No feisty vixen with the flashing eyes. No long-tressed temptress with mouth agape in sensuous outrage. No rabid gazelle with shapely calves in tight denim.
Not even the livid plump charmer who shook so delightfully four months ago.
There were no hate-filled anti-Semitic chants. No Arabic screams about el yahud. No yallah yallah paeans about the latest suicidal fanatic, or the Islamo-loony of the hour. No praise-songs to sheikhs or mullahs. No formulaic curses and vitriol.
Even the poisonous potato woman, seduced by a Palestinian and converted to her bed-mate's cause, was absent.
In front of the consulate three months before, even from across the street, one could tell that spit was flying from her scream-hole. She trembled with fury, she vibrated, she quivered, she nictitated (tick nervosa?), and her jowls wobbled. A flapping, foaming, fist-clenched hopping harpy. Dumpy virago in a bag-dress and kerchief - very tzniusdik.
I missed her. I was kinda hoping this time to witness a fit.
I know she can do it.
Oh well, maybe next time - I'm keeping the faith, baby.
The angry hawk-faced Imam in the dishdasha was also absent.
He normally shows up at these events....
Maybe he blew himself up?
The most exciting thing on the north side of Market was the little tyke with a kefiyeh hiding his face, only his eyes showing, resolutely flashing us a V sign. Just the cutest little fellow.
Final note: My sign said "Int'l Answer, apologists for Janjaweedism!" It was as pointed as I could get without offending ethnic or religious sensitivities.
But the thought was there.
A lovely day to spend some time out doors - at a counter-demo.
Some hundred or so of us on the south side of Market Street, versus around two-thousand on the other side. Not all of whom were members of International ANSWER or similar front-groups. Most were probably the usual ultra-lefties, willing to troll for any group that demands the U.S. be destroyed and willing to scream in favour of violent radicals in third-world hell-holes.
SIGNS:
Iraq. Iran. Cuba and Venezuela. Sudan. Free-Mason conspiracy. Bankers. Christians. North-Korea. Animals. Skull-and-crosbones. A zombie. A big hand. A bald man. A rabbit. Spandex. Orange jumpsuits. A big bird. Bushzerkers. Bad grammar, mis-spellings, and incomprehensible stuff.
Kinda hard to figure out what it was all about - several signs were off-message, some of the agendas were inchoate anger only.
All the usual anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic garbage slogan signs and banners were evident.
Though the protest was SUPPOSED to be about Iraq, these folks just cannot leave their favoured props in the closet.
Israel, in their eyes, is the alpha and omega of all that they think wrong with the world.
Their sound-system was mediocre, so their speechifying was well-nigh incomprehensible (it often is, but this time it was because of sound quality, not content).
Grumble, rumble, rumble, roar. Belch, static, shriek, mumble mumble mumble.
Imagine listening to an airport announcement. An angry airport announcement. An airport announcement that lasts for well-over two bitchy haranguing hours (that airport has issues, and desperately needs therapy).
After working up the emotions of the crowd, they moved off down Market Street, to win friends and influence people in the shopping district. Or overturn garbage cans outside of Macys.
Hatred of Jews was strangely back-burnered (though nevertheless present -- as someone put it "anti-Semitism is like crack, they just can't keep away from it").
Maybe they finally realized that overtly screaming obscenities about the Zionist world plot turns off all rational people.
Strange how that works.
It is also quite possible that International ANSWER deliberately advised the hard-core Muslim fundamentalists and Islamo-nationalists not to come this time - sad to say, the usual lively young Levantine thuggim were not in attendance. Not the bald fellow with the likeable grin and creative slogans, nor the brutish oaf with nazi-salutes. Nor even the buff bullethead (on probation, I've heard - he was arrested for flag-burning at the previous love-fest).
No inbred-looking Abdullah the Shrimp-Boy with dull eyes and plastic darbuqa (for playing revolutionary rythms on). No feisty vixen with the flashing eyes. No long-tressed temptress with mouth agape in sensuous outrage. No rabid gazelle with shapely calves in tight denim.
Not even the livid plump charmer who shook so delightfully four months ago.
There were no hate-filled anti-Semitic chants. No Arabic screams about el yahud. No yallah yallah paeans about the latest suicidal fanatic, or the Islamo-loony of the hour. No praise-songs to sheikhs or mullahs. No formulaic curses and vitriol.
Even the poisonous potato woman, seduced by a Palestinian and converted to her bed-mate's cause, was absent.
In front of the consulate three months before, even from across the street, one could tell that spit was flying from her scream-hole. She trembled with fury, she vibrated, she quivered, she nictitated (tick nervosa?), and her jowls wobbled. A flapping, foaming, fist-clenched hopping harpy. Dumpy virago in a bag-dress and kerchief - very tzniusdik.
I missed her. I was kinda hoping this time to witness a fit.
I know she can do it.
Oh well, maybe next time - I'm keeping the faith, baby.
The angry hawk-faced Imam in the dishdasha was also absent.
He normally shows up at these events....
Maybe he blew himself up?
The most exciting thing on the north side of Market was the little tyke with a kefiyeh hiding his face, only his eyes showing, resolutely flashing us a V sign. Just the cutest little fellow.
Final note: My sign said "Int'l Answer, apologists for Janjaweedism!" It was as pointed as I could get without offending ethnic or religious sensitivities.
But the thought was there.
WHITE JEW-BOOKS, OR JEWISH WHITE BOOKS
A friend asks:
Heb jij wel eens gehoord van de "Weisse Judenbücher"?
Het zou iets te maken moeten hebben met de rechtspraak in tTsjecho-Slowakije in de jaren 1600-1750.
[Have you ever heard of the "White Jew Books"? It has something to do with the justice system in CzeckoSlovakia in the years 1600 - 1750.]
I've never heard of this subject.
But you, my readers, well might have. Or leastways have a clue where to look.
Please advise.
Much thanks.
Heb jij wel eens gehoord van de "Weisse Judenbücher"?
Het zou iets te maken moeten hebben met de rechtspraak in tTsjecho-Slowakije in de jaren 1600-1750.
[Have you ever heard of the "White Jew Books"? It has something to do with the justice system in CzeckoSlovakia in the years 1600 - 1750.]
I've never heard of this subject.
But you, my readers, well might have. Or leastways have a clue where to look.
Please advise.
Much thanks.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
ACTION ALERT FOR SATURDAY OCTOBER 28TH
........................................................................
ACTION ALERT – FORWARD WIDELY
........................................................................
Wrong A.N.S.W.E.R. Counter Rally
Saturday, October 28th
11:30 AM to 1 PM
UN Plaza, Market St. between 7th and 8th Streets in
downtown San Francisco (exact location within the
plaza to be determined)
Join us for the next "Wrong, A.N.S.W.E.R."
counter-protest, Saturday, October 28th in San
Francisco.
Once again, ANSWER will be using opposition to the war in Iraq to attempt to galvanize support for destruction of Israel. Once again, they will try to demonize Israel for defending herself and once again, they will try to link Israel to the Iraq conflict.
Additionally, they demand support for the "Palestinian Right to Return," unsubtle code for the demographic destruction of the world's only Jewish state by flooding it with descendants, no matter how remote, of those that left the area during the Arab instigated war in 1948.
Previous A.N.S.W.E.R. rallies have included calls to support Al-Queda affiliates, nuclear arms for Iran, and Palestinian terror groups. They have also included overt anti-Semitism. We expect this rally to be no different.
Once again, StandWithUs/San Francisco Voice For Israel will be there to stand for Israel and expose the hatred and lies of A.N.S.W.E.R.
Stand against hatred!
Stand against anti-Semitism!
Stand for Israel!
Please bring your noisemakers, flags, and signs. As always, feel free to make your own signs but please no signs or graphics offensive to any racial or ethnic group including but not limited to Arabs, Islam, or Palestinians. Signs in violation of our policies will be dealt with definitively.
Please contact us at info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org if you are interested in being part of our security team.
We also need help with sign making, logistics, and rally monitors. If you would like to be involved with any of these tasks, please contact us at
info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org .
Demand an end to attacks against Israeli civilians!
Demand Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser be returned home safely!
Demand the Palestinian Authority put an end to terror attacks!
Demand the UN fully implement UNSC 1559 and 1701!
Demand an end to the deligitimization and demonization of Israel!
Demand the Palestinian Authority and their local supporters choose peace so that the Palestinian people can have a future!
StandWithUs/San Francisco Voice for Israel
www.SFVoiceForIsrael.org
www.StandWithUs.com
------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Events
Sunday, October 29th, 4PM -- Israel and the Palestinians - Realities Behind the Headlines with Jerusalem Post Reporter Khaled Abu-Toameh
APJCC Auditorium, Levy Family Campus
14855 Oka Road, Los Gatos, CA 95032
Please RSVP to 408-358-3033 or dfisher@jcrcsv.org
Monday, December 4th 5:30PM – Counterprotest anti-Israel demonstration
1001 Broadway, Oakland (outside Oakland Marriott)
------------------------------------------------
Do you want to become more involved with organizing our activities? Send a message to info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org
If you are interested in participating in our campaign to counter anti-Israel speakers, please send an e-mail to info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org
Join the discussion! Do you have ideas? Classes to announce? Events to announce or discuss? Join our discussion list by sending an e-mail to
sfproisrael-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .
San Francisco Voice for Israel is a non-partisan coalition that takes no position on the war in Iraq, the settlements, or Israel's final borders. Our members span the political spectrum and are united only by our commitment to preserving the State of Israel as a Jewish State within secure borders.
Please send your tax deductible donation to
Stand With Us
P.O. Box 341069
Los Angeles, CA 90034-1069
Write SFV4I in the memo line.
----------------------------------------
NOTE: Keep in mind that the other side will seize ANY opportunity to make our side look bad. So any signs you make should be straightforward and have a clear point. This is especially important because we are trying to engage with the people on the sidelines (who may be trying to understand the issues), not pick a fight with the kefiyeh-wearing fascists who will be yelling their hatred for the entire world to hear - let them discredit themselves.
ACTION ALERT – FORWARD WIDELY
........................................................................
Wrong A.N.S.W.E.R. Counter Rally
Saturday, October 28th
11:30 AM to 1 PM
UN Plaza, Market St. between 7th and 8th Streets in
downtown San Francisco (exact location within the
plaza to be determined)
Join us for the next "Wrong, A.N.S.W.E.R."
counter-protest, Saturday, October 28th in San
Francisco.
Once again, ANSWER will be using opposition to the war in Iraq to attempt to galvanize support for destruction of Israel. Once again, they will try to demonize Israel for defending herself and once again, they will try to link Israel to the Iraq conflict.
Additionally, they demand support for the "Palestinian Right to Return," unsubtle code for the demographic destruction of the world's only Jewish state by flooding it with descendants, no matter how remote, of those that left the area during the Arab instigated war in 1948.
Previous A.N.S.W.E.R. rallies have included calls to support Al-Queda affiliates, nuclear arms for Iran, and Palestinian terror groups. They have also included overt anti-Semitism. We expect this rally to be no different.
Once again, StandWithUs/San Francisco Voice For Israel will be there to stand for Israel and expose the hatred and lies of A.N.S.W.E.R.
Stand against hatred!
Stand against anti-Semitism!
Stand for Israel!
Please bring your noisemakers, flags, and signs. As always, feel free to make your own signs but please no signs or graphics offensive to any racial or ethnic group including but not limited to Arabs, Islam, or Palestinians. Signs in violation of our policies will be dealt with definitively.
Please contact us at info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org if you are interested in being part of our security team.
We also need help with sign making, logistics, and rally monitors. If you would like to be involved with any of these tasks, please contact us at
info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org .
Demand an end to attacks against Israeli civilians!
Demand Gilad Shalit, Eldad Regev, and Ehud Goldwasser be returned home safely!
Demand the Palestinian Authority put an end to terror attacks!
Demand the UN fully implement UNSC 1559 and 1701!
Demand an end to the deligitimization and demonization of Israel!
Demand the Palestinian Authority and their local supporters choose peace so that the Palestinian people can have a future!
StandWithUs/San Francisco Voice for Israel
www.SFVoiceForIsrael.org
www.StandWithUs.com
------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Events
Sunday, October 29th, 4PM -- Israel and the Palestinians - Realities Behind the Headlines with Jerusalem Post Reporter Khaled Abu-Toameh
APJCC Auditorium, Levy Family Campus
14855 Oka Road, Los Gatos, CA 95032
Please RSVP to 408-358-3033 or dfisher@jcrcsv.org
Monday, December 4th 5:30PM – Counterprotest anti-Israel demonstration
1001 Broadway, Oakland (outside Oakland Marriott)
------------------------------------------------
Do you want to become more involved with organizing our activities? Send a message to info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org
If you are interested in participating in our campaign to counter anti-Israel speakers, please send an e-mail to info@SFVoiceForIsrael.org
Join the discussion! Do you have ideas? Classes to announce? Events to announce or discuss? Join our discussion list by sending an e-mail to
sfproisrael-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .
San Francisco Voice for Israel is a non-partisan coalition that takes no position on the war in Iraq, the settlements, or Israel's final borders. Our members span the political spectrum and are united only by our commitment to preserving the State of Israel as a Jewish State within secure borders.
Please send your tax deductible donation to
Stand With Us
P.O. Box 341069
Los Angeles, CA 90034-1069
Write SFV4I in the memo line.
----------------------------------------
NOTE: Keep in mind that the other side will seize ANY opportunity to make our side look bad. So any signs you make should be straightforward and have a clear point. This is especially important because we are trying to engage with the people on the sidelines (who may be trying to understand the issues), not pick a fight with the kefiyeh-wearing fascists who will be yelling their hatred for the entire world to hear - let them discredit themselves.
SUPERSTITIONS
One of the superstitions I have come across many times is that the State of Israel would not exist had it not been for the concentration camps.
That presumes two facts which are not accurate.
The first one is that the State of Israel would not have existed without the vote of the UN or the massive guilt which made that vote possible.
This is incorrect. The UN was largely immaterial, as the Jews in the land were determined to get the British out. Had there not been a UN vote, and had the British not despaired of maintaining their authority, events would eventually have both forced the British Mandate out and the State of Israel in to being, and the Jewish underground would have continued to expedite that happening - with as a result a proclamation of independence. We can see from the British blockade, and subsequent arming of the Arabs, that the UN vote was largely meaningless.
A state comes into existence because of those who make it so, not the benevolent clucking of people on the sidelines. That the state of Israel came into existence is because Zionists were determined - the world was largely apathetic, or actively attempting to make it not happen.
Five Arab armies, with much outside help and support, could not prevent the state of Israel coming into existence. How thoroughly over-estimated then is the actual importance of the UN and its guilt-weighted voting.
The other fact incorrectly assumed is that it was a massive influx of concentration camp survivors which made it possible for a state to be created (this despite most of them still being in Europe at the time).
It was already inevitable before the war that Israel would become a state - it was more so after the war. The concentration camp survivors may indeed have sped up the inevitable (by showing that there was a need for a Jewish state in the yishuv), but their number did not make inevitable.
In that immediately following Israel's independence the population expanded enormously, drawn from not only Europe but also the entire Middle-East, it might however make sense to argue that it was NOT the refugees that made Israel possible, but Israel that made refugees welcome, and made it possible for refugees to become non-refugees again. There is a definite link, but it is not causal in the way it is commonly presumed to be.
No one gave the Jews a state, the Jews built a state.
There was no state to give, but there eventually was a state to call into existence.
I despise the idea that 'Israel exists because of the concentration camps'. Israel exists despite the concentration camps.
That presumes two facts which are not accurate.
The first one is that the State of Israel would not have existed without the vote of the UN or the massive guilt which made that vote possible.
This is incorrect. The UN was largely immaterial, as the Jews in the land were determined to get the British out. Had there not been a UN vote, and had the British not despaired of maintaining their authority, events would eventually have both forced the British Mandate out and the State of Israel in to being, and the Jewish underground would have continued to expedite that happening - with as a result a proclamation of independence. We can see from the British blockade, and subsequent arming of the Arabs, that the UN vote was largely meaningless.
A state comes into existence because of those who make it so, not the benevolent clucking of people on the sidelines. That the state of Israel came into existence is because Zionists were determined - the world was largely apathetic, or actively attempting to make it not happen.
Five Arab armies, with much outside help and support, could not prevent the state of Israel coming into existence. How thoroughly over-estimated then is the actual importance of the UN and its guilt-weighted voting.
The other fact incorrectly assumed is that it was a massive influx of concentration camp survivors which made it possible for a state to be created (this despite most of them still being in Europe at the time).
It was already inevitable before the war that Israel would become a state - it was more so after the war. The concentration camp survivors may indeed have sped up the inevitable (by showing that there was a need for a Jewish state in the yishuv), but their number did not make inevitable.
In that immediately following Israel's independence the population expanded enormously, drawn from not only Europe but also the entire Middle-East, it might however make sense to argue that it was NOT the refugees that made Israel possible, but Israel that made refugees welcome, and made it possible for refugees to become non-refugees again. There is a definite link, but it is not causal in the way it is commonly presumed to be.
No one gave the Jews a state, the Jews built a state.
There was no state to give, but there eventually was a state to call into existence.
I despise the idea that 'Israel exists because of the concentration camps'. Israel exists despite the concentration camps.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
THEY ARE BEASTS
No, this is not lashon horo - I mean it in a good sense. I guess.
This is about pipe tobacco - or actually, it's about smokers talking about pipe tobacco, and ripping into a well-respected blend with poetry and venom. Pipesmokers, as you may have guessed, are a remarkably opinionated bunch, and often penny-pinching tightwads to boot. So imagine what their reaction is when they believe they've just bought a tin of tobacco that they will never want to smoke again.
Petulant and childish.
But also brutal and eloquent.
As the small selection of quotes below will illustrate.[All examples lifted from http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/index.cfm - a website where a number of different subscribers go on and on ad puke about tobacco. Some of them wish to educate, some to egoflate, and some to praise. Others are sheerly unreadable.]
The quotes are all about pipe-tobacco mixtures from Charles Ratray, a fine old company from Perth in Scotland, recently revived by the Germans. The name of the mixture which is reviewed heads each selection of quotes. These are actually very fine tobaccos, but they just didn't work for the reviewers. Who are of course convinced that they are right, any idea of degustibus non disputandem est be damned.
Enjoy.
3 NOGGINS"Smoked in the evening, it is just plain boring... "
"A strong moist tobacco that burns hot and harsh."
"I found nothing positive here and for the price, this was a total disappointement. "
"It gets tiresome very soon."
7 RESERVE"If you have enough tastebuds left to enjoy a well behaved, tasty, top quality mild English blend, then pick up a tin and give it a whirl."
"Denuded of any aggression, a pleasant smoke though in the latter part of the day one searches for something a little more assertive."
"Save your money this one is a real stinker. "
ACCOUNTANT'S MIXTURE
"I am not sure that this tobacco or any other is just cause for vulgarity; however pipe smoking is no longer exclusively for gentlemen. "
"I can't believe Rattray would allow this to be sold with their name on it - this is a perfect example of how shit in a tin will sell with the right name on it. "
"I don't dislike it. "
"This is as dull and boring as anything you can imagine. A grey taste, with very little variations or pleasant notes. "
BLACK MALLORY
"The Virginia is harsh and the nicotine level stronger than one would imagine."
"Wonderful to smoke while you guzzle your dad's expensive single-malt."
BROWN CLUNEE
"Brown Clunee, Old Gowrie and Hal O' the Wynd are morning, afternoon and evening smokes respectively - all three are delicious examples of its genre; why the darker stoved Marlin Flake pierces like a cornered porcupine ( ) is a mystery. "
"There is nothing of any great interest here."
"One of the most anonymous blends I've ever tried."
HIGHLAND TARGE"This is a decent tobacco, unquestionably better than a lot of German blends out there, but I certainly will not purchase more."
"It is difficult to tell what this blend attempts to be."
"It is bland and has virtually no character. Aren't there enough bland rip-off blends already?"
JOCK'S MIXTURE
"Jock's Mixture is like drinking a light beer. I know what it is when I taste it, but when I smoke it in bunches, all it does is make me pee."
"Yet another shit in a tin blend from Rattray. After smoking Marlin Flake, HOTW and Ol Gowrie, Its hard to believe the same company puts their name on this vomitous abomination."
"Another totally insipid light English/Scottish mixture from Rattray."
PROFESSIONAL MIXTURE
"I tried it and was not pleased - nearly burnt the nose hair right out of my head."
"Variations on the theme of dullness - examples of very uninspiring tobaccos. "
"The flavor is bland to the point of boredom, absolutely monochromatic and reminding of burning paper."
RED RAPAREE
"Uniquely harsh compared to any other English or Oriental mixture."
"The tin aroma had a distinctively unpleasant smoky sourness to it, and the tobacco itself was damp and greasy. "
"A very peculiar smoke"
"My German Shepherd hates the smell but loves the way it smokes."
That last one says it all, doesn't it?
I wonder if the dog also likes his dram of an evening.
And a dog is, after all, a man's best friend. Those two must have a wonderful bond.
TOBACCO INDEX
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
This is about pipe tobacco - or actually, it's about smokers talking about pipe tobacco, and ripping into a well-respected blend with poetry and venom. Pipesmokers, as you may have guessed, are a remarkably opinionated bunch, and often penny-pinching tightwads to boot. So imagine what their reaction is when they believe they've just bought a tin of tobacco that they will never want to smoke again.
Petulant and childish.
But also brutal and eloquent.
As the small selection of quotes below will illustrate.[All examples lifted from http://www.tobaccoreviews.com/index.cfm - a website where a number of different subscribers go on and on ad puke about tobacco. Some of them wish to educate, some to egoflate, and some to praise. Others are sheerly unreadable.]
The quotes are all about pipe-tobacco mixtures from Charles Ratray, a fine old company from Perth in Scotland, recently revived by the Germans. The name of the mixture which is reviewed heads each selection of quotes. These are actually very fine tobaccos, but they just didn't work for the reviewers. Who are of course convinced that they are right, any idea of degustibus non disputandem est be damned.
Enjoy.
3 NOGGINS"Smoked in the evening, it is just plain boring... "
"A strong moist tobacco that burns hot and harsh."
"I found nothing positive here and for the price, this was a total disappointement. "
"It gets tiresome very soon."
7 RESERVE"If you have enough tastebuds left to enjoy a well behaved, tasty, top quality mild English blend, then pick up a tin and give it a whirl."
"Denuded of any aggression, a pleasant smoke though in the latter part of the day one searches for something a little more assertive."
"Save your money this one is a real stinker. "
ACCOUNTANT'S MIXTURE
"I am not sure that this tobacco or any other is just cause for vulgarity; however pipe smoking is no longer exclusively for gentlemen. "
"I can't believe Rattray would allow this to be sold with their name on it - this is a perfect example of how shit in a tin will sell with the right name on it. "
"I don't dislike it. "
"This is as dull and boring as anything you can imagine. A grey taste, with very little variations or pleasant notes. "
BLACK MALLORY
"The Virginia is harsh and the nicotine level stronger than one would imagine."
"Wonderful to smoke while you guzzle your dad's expensive single-malt."
BROWN CLUNEE
"Brown Clunee, Old Gowrie and Hal O' the Wynd are morning, afternoon and evening smokes respectively - all three are delicious examples of its genre; why the darker stoved Marlin Flake pierces like a cornered porcupine ( ) is a mystery. "
"There is nothing of any great interest here."
"One of the most anonymous blends I've ever tried."
HIGHLAND TARGE"This is a decent tobacco, unquestionably better than a lot of German blends out there, but I certainly will not purchase more."
"It is difficult to tell what this blend attempts to be."
"It is bland and has virtually no character. Aren't there enough bland rip-off blends already?"
JOCK'S MIXTURE
"Jock's Mixture is like drinking a light beer. I know what it is when I taste it, but when I smoke it in bunches, all it does is make me pee."
"Yet another shit in a tin blend from Rattray. After smoking Marlin Flake, HOTW and Ol Gowrie, Its hard to believe the same company puts their name on this vomitous abomination."
"Another totally insipid light English/Scottish mixture from Rattray."
PROFESSIONAL MIXTURE
"I tried it and was not pleased - nearly burnt the nose hair right out of my head."
"Variations on the theme of dullness - examples of very uninspiring tobaccos. "
"The flavor is bland to the point of boredom, absolutely monochromatic and reminding of burning paper."
RED RAPAREE
"Uniquely harsh compared to any other English or Oriental mixture."
"The tin aroma had a distinctively unpleasant smoky sourness to it, and the tobacco itself was damp and greasy. "
"A very peculiar smoke"
"My German Shepherd hates the smell but loves the way it smokes."
That last one says it all, doesn't it?
I wonder if the dog also likes his dram of an evening.
And a dog is, after all, a man's best friend. Those two must have a wonderful bond.
TOBACCO INDEX
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
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