Courtesy of Treppenwitz (http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/) and some guy in Britain, I have listened to an eloquent Englishman making some boffo points about the archbishop.
I shan't summarize them. Just take the time to visit his blog and find the clip yourself.
I will, however, tell you a little story.
THE THREE LITTLE INOFFENSIVE FARM-ANIMALS AND THE WOLF
"Once upon a time there were three little XXXXXX -fat-tailed sheep. Who after moving out of their mother's house decided to build their own houses. The first little XXXXXX -fat-tailed sheep built his out of straw. The second little XXXXXX -fat-tailed sheep built his out of wood. And the third built his out of bricks and mortar. Along came a big bad wolf, who stood outside the first little XXXXXX -fat-tailed sheep's house demanding to be let in. The little XXXXXX -fat-tailed sheep refused, so the wolf huffed and puffed as he had promised to do, and blew the house in, and ate the little XXXXXX -fat-tailed sheep's tofu.
Then the wolf visited the second little XXXXXX -fat-tailed sheep. Same end-result. Then he stopped by the third little XXXXXX -fat-tailed sheep's house. The little XXXXXX -fat-tailed sheep, in his house of brick and mortar, told him to go piss up a rope. So the wolf came down the chimney instead, fell head-first into the little XXXXXX -fat-tailed sheep's roaring fire, and was burned to a crisp.
Following the wolf's martyrdom, thousands of his supporters staged an angry protest in Gaza."
Okay, I added that last little bit.
For the rest, it hews faithfully to the non-offending halal version of the story. And the bit about Gaza is neutral, no judgement pro or con anything. Just a note of contemporary culture, do with it what you wish.
Please don't throw your poo at me.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
FITNA NO LONGER ON LIVELEAK, STILL ON YOUTUBE
The company hosting FITNA, LiveLeak, has removed the Geert Wilders' movie from its servers.
Their statement below makes clear why:
"This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the net but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else. We would like to thank the thousands of people, from all backgrounds and religions, who gave us their support. They realized LiveLeak.com is a vehicle for many opinions and not just for the support of one.
Perhaps there is still hope that this situation may produce a discussion that could benefit and educate all of us as to how we can accept one another's culture.
We stood for what we believe in, the ability to be heard, but in the end the price was too high."
Their statement was quoted in an article in the NRC Handelsblad:
http://www.nrc.nl/media/article1029097.ece/Liveleak_verwijdert_film_Fitna_na_bedreigingen
[Note: article includes link to YOUTUBE copy of FITNA, which bypasses need to log in or sign up. YOUTUBE also here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCrCsTMokTU]
REACTIONS
As of this writing, there were over 8050 comments underneath the clip, representing every possible point of view, in the most vociferous and ungentle ways imaginable. Including the two extremes that Islam is a peaceful religion, and that Christianity is a peaceful religion, as explained by armchair savants in such terms as to prove the contrary.
Some of those savants, by the way, are barely literate. As you probably expected.
Meanwhile, in a part of the world where it is not likely that people even know where the country Great Wilds is on the map, or who this person named Miss Fitna Dutchmans could be or why she is so famous, the usual manifestations have already taken place: hundreds of people (nearly two thousand in Peshawar alone) in Pakistan have publicly demanded that the government sever all ties with the Netherlands, and a few militant Muslim leaders have threatened bloody vengeance.
[And, according to Nasrullah Shaji, local functionary of the Jamaat-e Islami in Karachi, the Dutch are barbarians. Certainly he is in a position to know barbarism in Karachi.]
It should come as no surprise that the extremist fringe, on both sides of the ideological divide, are gleefully watching FITNA like it was porn. For the rabid anti-Islamics it shows what they have always known to be the true face of Islam, and for the Jihadis it encapsulates their great victories juxtaposed with Quranic verses in a boffo recitation.
Rational people will not let it affect them much. It is doubtful whether the movie will have any significant effect on Islamic-Western relations.
Their statement below makes clear why:
"This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the net but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else. We would like to thank the thousands of people, from all backgrounds and religions, who gave us their support. They realized LiveLeak.com is a vehicle for many opinions and not just for the support of one.
Perhaps there is still hope that this situation may produce a discussion that could benefit and educate all of us as to how we can accept one another's culture.
We stood for what we believe in, the ability to be heard, but in the end the price was too high."
Their statement was quoted in an article in the NRC Handelsblad:
http://www.nrc.nl/media/article1029097.ece/Liveleak_verwijdert_film_Fitna_na_bedreigingen
[Note: article includes link to YOUTUBE copy of FITNA, which bypasses need to log in or sign up. YOUTUBE also here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCrCsTMokTU]
REACTIONS
As of this writing, there were over 8050 comments underneath the clip, representing every possible point of view, in the most vociferous and ungentle ways imaginable. Including the two extremes that Islam is a peaceful religion, and that Christianity is a peaceful religion, as explained by armchair savants in such terms as to prove the contrary.
Some of those savants, by the way, are barely literate. As you probably expected.
Meanwhile, in a part of the world where it is not likely that people even know where the country Great Wilds is on the map, or who this person named Miss Fitna Dutchmans could be or why she is so famous, the usual manifestations have already taken place: hundreds of people (nearly two thousand in Peshawar alone) in Pakistan have publicly demanded that the government sever all ties with the Netherlands, and a few militant Muslim leaders have threatened bloody vengeance.
[And, according to Nasrullah Shaji, local functionary of the Jamaat-e Islami in Karachi, the Dutch are barbarians. Certainly he is in a position to know barbarism in Karachi.]
It should come as no surprise that the extremist fringe, on both sides of the ideological divide, are gleefully watching FITNA like it was porn. For the rabid anti-Islamics it shows what they have always known to be the true face of Islam, and for the Jihadis it encapsulates their great victories juxtaposed with Quranic verses in a boffo recitation.
Rational people will not let it affect them much. It is doubtful whether the movie will have any significant effect on Islamic-Western relations.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
FITNA
Geert Wilders has released his movie FITNA. It can be viewed by clicking the links below.
It is, for Westerners, perhaps not as shocking as it has been made out to be - we've already seen footage of planes slamming into buildings, non-Muslims being slaughtered, and gays and women being executed. We've obediently watched the educational films coming out of the Muslim world for years, and have seen Nick Berg, Daniel Pearl, and hundreds of others losing their heads repeatedly.
[We've also watched tapes of angry gentlemen with beards sternly lecturing us from such places as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere. We've watched footage of the praestations of their followers with great interest. It's almost an obsession, especially when the football season is over]
English version:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7d9_1206624103
Dutch version:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ee4_1206625795
[Update at 3:18 PM: FITNA can also be seen on YOUTUBE here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCrCsTMokTU ]
But I can imagine that for some of the more out-of-the-loop people elsewhere, the movie may prove disturbing. Following bloody-minded quotes from the Quran and hate-sermons with actual footage of those messages being taken literally could, conceivably, be offensive to some.
[A few simple cartoons upset them a while back. A work of fiction by a distinguished British author of subcontinental derivation gave Ayatollah Khomeini indigestion. Two office buildings and two subway systems really irritated some people in Afghanistan. Danish butter disagrees with lots of people (especially in the Sudan). These are profound mysteries.]
But the danger that Geert Wilders perceives is real, and the polarization of Dutch society is a fact.
It was not Western liberals who polarized Dutch society. It was not Western liberals who sliced off the heads of captives. It was not Western liberals who rioted against cartoons and screamed threats of death. It was not Western liberals who killed Theo van Gogh, chased Ajaan Hirsi Ali out of the Netherlands, and regularly threaten brutal death to politicians in Amsterdam and other cities of the lowlands.
Far be it from me to say who it is.
But I have a pretty good idea.
It is, for Westerners, perhaps not as shocking as it has been made out to be - we've already seen footage of planes slamming into buildings, non-Muslims being slaughtered, and gays and women being executed. We've obediently watched the educational films coming out of the Muslim world for years, and have seen Nick Berg, Daniel Pearl, and hundreds of others losing their heads repeatedly.
[We've also watched tapes of angry gentlemen with beards sternly lecturing us from such places as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere. We've watched footage of the praestations of their followers with great interest. It's almost an obsession, especially when the football season is over]
English version:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7d9_1206624103
Dutch version:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ee4_1206625795
[Update at 3:18 PM: FITNA can also be seen on YOUTUBE here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCrCsTMokTU ]
But I can imagine that for some of the more out-of-the-loop people elsewhere, the movie may prove disturbing. Following bloody-minded quotes from the Quran and hate-sermons with actual footage of those messages being taken literally could, conceivably, be offensive to some.
[A few simple cartoons upset them a while back. A work of fiction by a distinguished British author of subcontinental derivation gave Ayatollah Khomeini indigestion. Two office buildings and two subway systems really irritated some people in Afghanistan. Danish butter disagrees with lots of people (especially in the Sudan). These are profound mysteries.]
But the danger that Geert Wilders perceives is real, and the polarization of Dutch society is a fact.
It was not Western liberals who polarized Dutch society. It was not Western liberals who sliced off the heads of captives. It was not Western liberals who rioted against cartoons and screamed threats of death. It was not Western liberals who killed Theo van Gogh, chased Ajaan Hirsi Ali out of the Netherlands, and regularly threaten brutal death to politicians in Amsterdam and other cities of the lowlands.
Far be it from me to say who it is.
But I have a pretty good idea.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
CORPORATE QUISLINGS
Network Solutions has taken down the notice "Fitna - the movie: coming soon" (http://fitnathemovie.com/), which was the internet parking spot for Geert Wilders' polemic fifteen minute film about the Quran (to be released before the end of March).
Network Solutions has so far,not given any reason other than that they are "investigating whether the site's content is in violation of Network Solutions Acceptable Use Policy".
Network Solutions states that they have received complaints about the site. As I'm sure they have. And clearly they have surrendered to those complaints.
What kind of complaints did they receive?
Probably not polite rational letters with well-thought out arguments. More likely screaming threats of death, annihilation, plagues, and religious war. Plus official guarantees that they might lose business in certain parts of the world....... And be burned in effigy.
See how easy that was?
This is rather reminiscent of Yahoo collaborating with the government of the People's Republic of China.......
Law abiding citizens cannot pressure corporations. But radicals, dictators, and brutal regimes do it with ease. Network Solutions has proven that profit outranks principle.
There is no money in free speech.
Network Solutions
Roy Dunbar, CEO
10 Azalea Drive
Drums, PA 18222
800-333-7680
www.networksolutions.com
Do please feel free to contact Mr. Dunbar. Just remember that if you aren't a jihadi or a cleric, he may not take you seriously. As a private individual you probably do not count for much. And please note that this is just an opinion - an opinion based on what I perceive to be craven corporate behaviour.
But nevertheless. An opinion.
I have absolutely no basis for believing that Mr. Roy Dunbar is not a complete gentleman in his private life, treating his family and possible liaisons with anything less than love, courtesy, and devoted consideration. Assuming that there are people that close to him.
Other than shareholders and jihadis.
Network Solutions has so far,not given any reason other than that they are "investigating whether the site's content is in violation of Network Solutions Acceptable Use Policy".
Network Solutions states that they have received complaints about the site. As I'm sure they have. And clearly they have surrendered to those complaints.
What kind of complaints did they receive?
Probably not polite rational letters with well-thought out arguments. More likely screaming threats of death, annihilation, plagues, and religious war. Plus official guarantees that they might lose business in certain parts of the world....... And be burned in effigy.
See how easy that was?
This is rather reminiscent of Yahoo collaborating with the government of the People's Republic of China.......
Law abiding citizens cannot pressure corporations. But radicals, dictators, and brutal regimes do it with ease. Network Solutions has proven that profit outranks principle.
There is no money in free speech.
Network Solutions
Roy Dunbar, CEO
10 Azalea Drive
Drums, PA 18222
800-333-7680
www.networksolutions.com
Do please feel free to contact Mr. Dunbar. Just remember that if you aren't a jihadi or a cleric, he may not take you seriously. As a private individual you probably do not count for much. And please note that this is just an opinion - an opinion based on what I perceive to be craven corporate behaviour.
But nevertheless. An opinion.
I have absolutely no basis for believing that Mr. Roy Dunbar is not a complete gentleman in his private life, treating his family and possible liaisons with anything less than love, courtesy, and devoted consideration. Assuming that there are people that close to him.
Other than shareholders and jihadis.
Monday, March 24, 2008
RANT FOR THE RECORD
A friend taunts me by sending an excerpt from an anti-Muslim screed by some shtrenge ferkrampte reformed church preacher.
[And by reformed church is meant Dutch Reformed.]
Not entirely by coincidence, it is by an author whom I had previously read, and rejected as being a heretic, member of one of the oompty-thousand unacceptable split-offs and schisms.
There is nothing worse than a Dutchman who is wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.
[Especially when I am right.]
It's a social and cultural thing much more than a religious thing. But it's also part of Dutch Reformed Church culture, and hence dominates and pervades all Dutch life. Even among those who are not members of one of the oompty-thousand unacceptable split-offs and schisms.
The dislike of groups of other Dutch people, based on some minor difference or scarcely perceived deviation, manifests itself sometimes absurdly.
Such as several years ago having one newspaper for Catholic socialists, one newspaper for Protestant socialists, and one newspaper for atheist socialists. Plus one that disagreed with all of the above.
For several years there were so many split-offs from the Dutch communist party that none of them were represented in the government, despite all of them together comprising the largest voting block - they just couldn't stand each other.
Which is by no means unlike frumme Calvinists from the Dutch Bible belt, who sneer as they pass each other's churches, and don't shop at each others stores (even if they have to go to another village for their groceries). In order to avoid contamination by "them", you know.
Then there was the couple who ran the local porno-boutique in the town where we lived. They sent their children to a rigidly Calvinist grammar school twenty miles away. For fear that the little dears would be corrupted by rubbing shoulders with us heathens.
As the old saw has it, one Dutchman is a believer, two Dutchman are a congregation, and three Dutchmen means a schism.
There's the joke about the two Dutch-reformed shipwreck survivors on the deserted island: "This is my church, that's his church, and the third one over there is the one we both broke away from."
As a fluent speaker of Dutch, a descendant of Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam, having lived in the Netherlands for a portion of my life, and being an opinionated argumentative person besides, you can probably imagine what I think of that preacher whose words were forwarded. It isn't pretty.
He is the kind of person with whom I could probably have a splendid conversation (because of all of the things we have in common), but whom I would not want to ever pollute my house, and whom I would never introduce to my loved ones, my friends, or anyone I cared about or whose estimation I valued.
I am tempted to go into a rant about all the various branches of Calvinism, and how most of them consist of stark-raving demented Dutchmen, pathetic Dutchmen wannabes, or pussy Presbies who are little more than Anglo-lite.
But I shall not do so.
[And by reformed church is meant Dutch Reformed.]
Not entirely by coincidence, it is by an author whom I had previously read, and rejected as being a heretic, member of one of the oompty-thousand unacceptable split-offs and schisms.
There is nothing worse than a Dutchman who is wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.
[Especially when I am right.]
It's a social and cultural thing much more than a religious thing. But it's also part of Dutch Reformed Church culture, and hence dominates and pervades all Dutch life. Even among those who are not members of one of the oompty-thousand unacceptable split-offs and schisms.
The dislike of groups of other Dutch people, based on some minor difference or scarcely perceived deviation, manifests itself sometimes absurdly.
Such as several years ago having one newspaper for Catholic socialists, one newspaper for Protestant socialists, and one newspaper for atheist socialists. Plus one that disagreed with all of the above.
For several years there were so many split-offs from the Dutch communist party that none of them were represented in the government, despite all of them together comprising the largest voting block - they just couldn't stand each other.
Which is by no means unlike frumme Calvinists from the Dutch Bible belt, who sneer as they pass each other's churches, and don't shop at each others stores (even if they have to go to another village for their groceries). In order to avoid contamination by "them", you know.
Then there was the couple who ran the local porno-boutique in the town where we lived. They sent their children to a rigidly Calvinist grammar school twenty miles away. For fear that the little dears would be corrupted by rubbing shoulders with us heathens.
As the old saw has it, one Dutchman is a believer, two Dutchman are a congregation, and three Dutchmen means a schism.
There's the joke about the two Dutch-reformed shipwreck survivors on the deserted island: "This is my church, that's his church, and the third one over there is the one we both broke away from."
As a fluent speaker of Dutch, a descendant of Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam, having lived in the Netherlands for a portion of my life, and being an opinionated argumentative person besides, you can probably imagine what I think of that preacher whose words were forwarded. It isn't pretty.
He is the kind of person with whom I could probably have a splendid conversation (because of all of the things we have in common), but whom I would not want to ever pollute my house, and whom I would never introduce to my loved ones, my friends, or anyone I cared about or whose estimation I valued.
I am tempted to go into a rant about all the various branches of Calvinism, and how most of them consist of stark-raving demented Dutchmen, pathetic Dutchmen wannabes, or pussy Presbies who are little more than Anglo-lite.
But I shall not do so.
Friday, March 21, 2008
ROZ ROTHSTEIN HURTS TENDER FEELINGS OF UN MEMBERS
Apparently a few short words by a Jew can turn some Arabs and Persians into badly behaved little boys.
How sad!
I am referring to the extremely short speech by Roz Rothstein at the seventh Human Rights Council of the United Nations on March 19th. 2008.
The horror, the horror!
It was interrupted by Egypt, a stalwart paragon of human rights, democracy, and free speech, as well as by Iran, a champion of freedom of expression, tolerance, and liberal-humanist ideals.
Bravo!
Roz Rothstein is the director of Stand With Us (on the net here: http://www.standwithus.com/ ), who, as befits a height-deficient and non-threatening Jewish-mother type, is a notorious firebrand, rabble-rouser, and 'slam-disturber. She is infamous for disagreeing with the righteously oppressed peaceful Hamas-members and Hezbollah supporters (mostly Euro-left and Berkeleyites), and blatantly refuses to adhere to any commonly accepted standards of political correctness.
Bad girl!
The representatives of Egypt and Iran, justifiably irked by her assertions, jumped up and down waving their little fists, shaking their bushy tails, and screeching loudly in the cutest manner. Several other representatives hastened to do nothing to prevent this, remaining loudly and supportively silent while the Egyptian and Iranian lost control of their rhetorical bowels.
Oh the humanity!
Here is her speech and where it was interrupted:
[UN Watch Oral Statement, Agenda Item 9: Review of Mandate of UN Special Rapporteur on Racism, Doudou Diène]
Thank you, Mr. President.
We strongly support renewing the mandate against racism.
We wish to address the draft resolution that is before us.
For me, the issue of racism is not academic.
My parents survived the Nazi Holocaust. Eighty of my relatives were murdered.
Mr. President, I know what racism, hatred and anti-Semitism can lead to.
What began with racist words, ended with genocide.
The United Nations and its Commission on Human Rights were created to prevent such evil from ever happening again. Tragically, however, it has happened-in Cambodia, Rwanda, and today in Darfur.
(INTERRUPTION BY EGYPT)
Equally, the evil of anti-Semitism continues to rear its ugly head, and it is rightly addressed in the proposed resolution.
There are many examples. Iran's President Ahmadinejad actively promotes Holocaust denial, and calls for eliminating the Jewish state. We salute the expert on racism for condemning this.
Hamas and Hezbollah,
(INTERRUPTION BY IRAN)
DID NOT READ THE FOLLOWING: (UN WATCH stopped her due to fear of another outburst)
Hamas and Hezbollah however, systematically promote the same kind of genocidal
anti-Semitism in their sermons, websites and media broadcasts. A terrorist translated this incitement into deed in Jerusalem two weeks ago, murdering eight young Jewish students in a religious school.
And in Gaza, the Hamas government-whose Charter openly advocates killing Jews and destroying the Jewish state-passed out candy to celebrate.
RESUMED HERE:
Organizations such as Stand With Us are doing vital work to educate against hatred.
But the UN, and all nations gathered here, must do more to fight words that kill.
At Durban in 2001, a conference meant to combat racism saw some of the worst displays of anti-Semitism since the Holocaust. Leaflets were distributed with Hitler's picture, calling for the destruction of Israel.
As this Council prepares the 2009 follow-up conference, its noble goals must not be hijacked by the forces of intolerance. Nations must rise to defeat words that kill.
For all these reasons, we support a strong mandate to combat racism.
Thank you, Mr. President.
[Note: Text courtesy of StandWithUs - E-mail: info@standwithus.com Web: http://www.standwithus.com ]--- --- --- --- ---
The honourable members of the UN, deeply aware of the great historical role played by Hitler in the founding of their institution, have an obligation to remain silent and do naught when such respected entities as Iran and the Palestinian gang propagate an appreciative interpretation of that man's legacy.
It is, after all, greatly due to that man that ancient European traditions of anti-Semitism and discrimination have been seamlessly absorbed in the Muslim world, and made palatable (nay, sweet even!) in Berkeley, Brussels, and Moscow.
Not to mention in our very own city of San Francisco, where every speaker at International ANSWER's anti-war rally two days ago dwelt lovingly on the plight of the poor huggable Palestinians and condemned Israel in the most poetic, over-the-top, and lyrically imaginative terms - but more on that display of surprisingly immaterial and irrelevant Jew-hatred later.
How sad!
I am referring to the extremely short speech by Roz Rothstein at the seventh Human Rights Council of the United Nations on March 19th. 2008.
The horror, the horror!
It was interrupted by Egypt, a stalwart paragon of human rights, democracy, and free speech, as well as by Iran, a champion of freedom of expression, tolerance, and liberal-humanist ideals.
Bravo!
Roz Rothstein is the director of Stand With Us (on the net here: http://www.standwithus.com/ ), who, as befits a height-deficient and non-threatening Jewish-mother type, is a notorious firebrand, rabble-rouser, and 'slam-disturber. She is infamous for disagreeing with the righteously oppressed peaceful Hamas-members and Hezbollah supporters (mostly Euro-left and Berkeleyites), and blatantly refuses to adhere to any commonly accepted standards of political correctness.
Bad girl!
The representatives of Egypt and Iran, justifiably irked by her assertions, jumped up and down waving their little fists, shaking their bushy tails, and screeching loudly in the cutest manner. Several other representatives hastened to do nothing to prevent this, remaining loudly and supportively silent while the Egyptian and Iranian lost control of their rhetorical bowels.
Oh the humanity!
Here is her speech and where it was interrupted:
[UN Watch Oral Statement, Agenda Item 9: Review of Mandate of UN Special Rapporteur on Racism, Doudou Diène]
Thank you, Mr. President.
We strongly support renewing the mandate against racism.
We wish to address the draft resolution that is before us.
For me, the issue of racism is not academic.
My parents survived the Nazi Holocaust. Eighty of my relatives were murdered.
Mr. President, I know what racism, hatred and anti-Semitism can lead to.
What began with racist words, ended with genocide.
The United Nations and its Commission on Human Rights were created to prevent such evil from ever happening again. Tragically, however, it has happened-in Cambodia, Rwanda, and today in Darfur.
(INTERRUPTION BY EGYPT)
Equally, the evil of anti-Semitism continues to rear its ugly head, and it is rightly addressed in the proposed resolution.
There are many examples. Iran's President Ahmadinejad actively promotes Holocaust denial, and calls for eliminating the Jewish state. We salute the expert on racism for condemning this.
Hamas and Hezbollah,
(INTERRUPTION BY IRAN)
DID NOT READ THE FOLLOWING: (UN WATCH stopped her due to fear of another outburst)
Hamas and Hezbollah however, systematically promote the same kind of genocidal
anti-Semitism in their sermons, websites and media broadcasts. A terrorist translated this incitement into deed in Jerusalem two weeks ago, murdering eight young Jewish students in a religious school.
And in Gaza, the Hamas government-whose Charter openly advocates killing Jews and destroying the Jewish state-passed out candy to celebrate.
RESUMED HERE:
Organizations such as Stand With Us are doing vital work to educate against hatred.
But the UN, and all nations gathered here, must do more to fight words that kill.
At Durban in 2001, a conference meant to combat racism saw some of the worst displays of anti-Semitism since the Holocaust. Leaflets were distributed with Hitler's picture, calling for the destruction of Israel.
As this Council prepares the 2009 follow-up conference, its noble goals must not be hijacked by the forces of intolerance. Nations must rise to defeat words that kill.
For all these reasons, we support a strong mandate to combat racism.
Thank you, Mr. President.
[Note: Text courtesy of StandWithUs - E-mail: info@standwithus.com Web: http://www.standwithus.com ]--- --- --- --- ---
The honourable members of the UN, deeply aware of the great historical role played by Hitler in the founding of their institution, have an obligation to remain silent and do naught when such respected entities as Iran and the Palestinian gang propagate an appreciative interpretation of that man's legacy.
It is, after all, greatly due to that man that ancient European traditions of anti-Semitism and discrimination have been seamlessly absorbed in the Muslim world, and made palatable (nay, sweet even!) in Berkeley, Brussels, and Moscow.
Not to mention in our very own city of San Francisco, where every speaker at International ANSWER's anti-war rally two days ago dwelt lovingly on the plight of the poor huggable Palestinians and condemned Israel in the most poetic, over-the-top, and lyrically imaginative terms - but more on that display of surprisingly immaterial and irrelevant Jew-hatred later.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
TWO VERY SMALL ITEMS
Number One: Thanks to Treppenwitz, I have used the word clyster for the first time in two decades. That man has so much to answer for.
Number Two: I have received a plaintive e-mail, which states: "Hello! I am bored today. I am nice girl that would like to chat with you. Email me at Sydney@GreatGolovaSite.com only, because I am using my friend's email to write this. I want to show you some pictures."
[The friend whose computer she borrowed is Arturo Bullard at 99tovelldav@allsaints.dorset.sch.uk ]
I am so sorry I missed the chance to chat with ms. Sydney - she sounds sweet, and I would have loved to have told her all about a fortune in a bank in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (the Switzerland of West-Africa).
Number Two: I have received a plaintive e-mail, which states: "Hello! I am bored today. I am nice girl that would like to chat with you. Email me at Sydney@GreatGolovaSite.com only, because I am using my friend's email to write this. I want to show you some pictures."
[The friend whose computer she borrowed is Arturo Bullard at 99tovelldav@allsaints.dorset.sch.uk ]
I am so sorry I missed the chance to chat with ms. Sydney - she sounds sweet, and I would have loved to have told her all about a fortune in a bank in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (the Switzerland of West-Africa).
A QUESTION OF MINHAG
Following an exhaustive and lomdish debate on the absolute and relative values of studying Torah, in a comment-string on Dovbear's blog (http://dovbear.blogspot.com/), which undoubtedly prompted much reflection among the readers, some wise words were placed in the comments underneath a far different post (http://dovbear.blogspot.com/2008/03/funny-funny-fox.html).
They reflect an insight that, once you grasp it, is transcendently obvious - but it takes genius to think of it first. The author is Margavriel.
This is what he wrote:
MG: (some line about something from the New Testament)
SAM: I've never read the New Testament, at least not large portions of it.
MG: On Purim, it's a mitzvo to read the New Testament! ונהפוך הוא
SAM: No, it should be a mitzvè to read the New Testament on Nittel, because you're not allowed to lern Torah then. Davkè, you should lern anti-Torah.
MG: Ah, right! If we were lerning Torah, it would look like we were celebrating their holiday. So instead, we lern the New Testament, so it is clear that we are not celebrating their holiday.
SAM: Yup! You're getting it!
MG: Right. You should go into the subway station on Nittel, and read the New Testament, loud and clear, so that everyone can know that you are not celebrating their holiday. Preferably, you should leyn it out of a klaf.
------Mar Gavriel
=======================================
GLOSS:
1. The Subsequentia is not infrequently called the New Testament in the common tongue. That name means merely that someone held on to a regenerative gland or organ while speaking, in the manner of Roman witnesses in a court case.
2. Klaf is also 'qlaf'. It is not the same as its Arabic cognate 'quluf'.
=======================================
ADDENDUM (RECEIVED FROM MARGAVRIEL AS I WAS POSTING):
MG: You know the minhog not to eat mattzo 30 days before Pesach?
SAM: Yeah.
MG: Well, my minhog is not to shake lulov 30 days before Sukkes.
SAM: Mine, too.
MG: And not to hear shôfor 30 days before Rôsh Hasshono. (I accomplish that by not going to shul.)
SAM: Mine, too. Plus, my minhog is not to say Slichos 40 days before Yom Kippur.
MG: Why 40? Why not 30?
SAM: Oh, you're right. I only have to stop going to Slichos 30 days before Yom Kippur. I could theoretically go to Sfardi Slichos during the first 10 days of Elul. But I'm not Sfardi, so I don't.
MG: But if you stopped by at a Sfardi minyon, you could.
SAM: Right. That would not be in violation of my minhog.
MG: What about not drinking thirty days before Purim?
SAM: Well, I fulfilled that this year. I haven't drunk anything -- except small amounts of wine -- for the thirty days before Purim this year.
MG: What about the brandy that I convinced you to drink last night (11th of Ador)?
SAM: Yes, but last night was already Purim!!! Don't you remember?
MG: Oh, right. I forgot.
=======================================
NOTE: Please be aware that reading the Subsequentia on nittel nacht only applies to people from whom one actually expects a serious demeanor and a scholarly habitus. In the B.O.T.H. household this is not required - my savage outbursts of fury and insane ranting, and Savage Kitten's increasing frustration with allergies, shoppers, Chinese-Americans, relatives, recalcitrant lobsters, and sickening children's choir recordings in the kretchmutch season, should be enough to convince nearly everybody that we are not celebrating their holiday. We will tell them so if they still doubt. Nix from celebrate.
I, however, will be celebrating Purim. But you didn't hear it from me.
They reflect an insight that, once you grasp it, is transcendently obvious - but it takes genius to think of it first. The author is Margavriel.
This is what he wrote:
MG: (some line about something from the New Testament)
SAM: I've never read the New Testament, at least not large portions of it.
MG: On Purim, it's a mitzvo to read the New Testament! ונהפוך הוא
SAM: No, it should be a mitzvè to read the New Testament on Nittel, because you're not allowed to lern Torah then. Davkè, you should lern anti-Torah.
MG: Ah, right! If we were lerning Torah, it would look like we were celebrating their holiday. So instead, we lern the New Testament, so it is clear that we are not celebrating their holiday.
SAM: Yup! You're getting it!
MG: Right. You should go into the subway station on Nittel, and read the New Testament, loud and clear, so that everyone can know that you are not celebrating their holiday. Preferably, you should leyn it out of a klaf.
------Mar Gavriel
=======================================
GLOSS:
1. The Subsequentia is not infrequently called the New Testament in the common tongue. That name means merely that someone held on to a regenerative gland or organ while speaking, in the manner of Roman witnesses in a court case.
2. Klaf is also 'qlaf'. It is not the same as its Arabic cognate 'quluf'.
=======================================
ADDENDUM (RECEIVED FROM MARGAVRIEL AS I WAS POSTING):
MG: You know the minhog not to eat mattzo 30 days before Pesach?
SAM: Yeah.
MG: Well, my minhog is not to shake lulov 30 days before Sukkes.
SAM: Mine, too.
MG: And not to hear shôfor 30 days before Rôsh Hasshono. (I accomplish that by not going to shul.)
SAM: Mine, too. Plus, my minhog is not to say Slichos 40 days before Yom Kippur.
MG: Why 40? Why not 30?
SAM: Oh, you're right. I only have to stop going to Slichos 30 days before Yom Kippur. I could theoretically go to Sfardi Slichos during the first 10 days of Elul. But I'm not Sfardi, so I don't.
MG: But if you stopped by at a Sfardi minyon, you could.
SAM: Right. That would not be in violation of my minhog.
MG: What about not drinking thirty days before Purim?
SAM: Well, I fulfilled that this year. I haven't drunk anything -- except small amounts of wine -- for the thirty days before Purim this year.
MG: What about the brandy that I convinced you to drink last night (11th of Ador)?
SAM: Yes, but last night was already Purim!!! Don't you remember?
MG: Oh, right. I forgot.
=======================================
NOTE: Please be aware that reading the Subsequentia on nittel nacht only applies to people from whom one actually expects a serious demeanor and a scholarly habitus. In the B.O.T.H. household this is not required - my savage outbursts of fury and insane ranting, and Savage Kitten's increasing frustration with allergies, shoppers, Chinese-Americans, relatives, recalcitrant lobsters, and sickening children's choir recordings in the kretchmutch season, should be enough to convince nearly everybody that we are not celebrating their holiday. We will tell them so if they still doubt. Nix from celebrate.
I, however, will be celebrating Purim. But you didn't hear it from me.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
THREE O'CLOCK ANTIWAR PROTEST UPDATE
Mild ruckus down at Market and Montgomery Streets - about two hundred rather disreputable people confronting the very patient constabulary. Traffic blocked in all directions, with a white arrestee bus on South Montgomery near the art school. Two people with megaphones making what sounded like airport announcements.
No news helicopters overhead.
I'm bored.
Twelve Galaxies guy was also bored. He moved off before I could take a photo.
Some simple-minded fat man got into a screaming match with an unwellspoken young person with a bad haircut. Even though he presented his arguments supporting the war in an unconvincing manner, it was evident that he and his opponent were intellectual equals - the top-of-their-lungs conversation revealed no surprises, no talent for rhetoric, no cogent argumentation. Such a perfect match, they should've made passionate love to each other right there and then - I doubt that they would have ever found each other again, and despite their repulsiveness and unaesthetic physiques, they made a lovely couple.
Unfortunately, they simple kept it at high-decibel flirting. Shoot.
I'm soooo bored.
Eventually most of the police moved off. There was little point in staying, as they had expeditiously packed the dangerous people into the prison bus.
I really must commend the police in San Francisco. Patient, forbearing. Courteous. Very well-mannered. Such a contrast with our visitors from Berkeley. Better dressed, too.
Crap this is boring.
For your information, the city is still not shut down. This is a breach of promise on the part of the Direct Action to Stop the War folks and their cohorts.
Frank Chiu is wandering around looking for a protest. The guy selling his own rap-ceedees outside the Wells Fargo on the corner is doing no more and no less business as usual. The newspaper vendor seems happily in his own world, unconcerned with the unimpressive ruckus two blocks away. There are several people in the window-lounge of the cigar shop, less than half a block from the angry hairy folks at Market and Montgomery street, enjoying what appears to be a quiet and relaxed post-prandial smoke. An unbalanced person at Sansome and Sutter Streets is hollering at an invisible friend to stop kicking him. The gaunt engineer in the office across the street from me is smoking a pipe while correcting some documents.
There are no helicopters. The sky is nice and blue, with spots of white. A gentle breeze stirs the fresh green of the trees. Did I ever mention that I smoke a pipe?
Krikey I'm bored.
No news helicopters overhead.
I'm bored.
Twelve Galaxies guy was also bored. He moved off before I could take a photo.
Some simple-minded fat man got into a screaming match with an unwellspoken young person with a bad haircut. Even though he presented his arguments supporting the war in an unconvincing manner, it was evident that he and his opponent were intellectual equals - the top-of-their-lungs conversation revealed no surprises, no talent for rhetoric, no cogent argumentation. Such a perfect match, they should've made passionate love to each other right there and then - I doubt that they would have ever found each other again, and despite their repulsiveness and unaesthetic physiques, they made a lovely couple.
Unfortunately, they simple kept it at high-decibel flirting. Shoot.
I'm soooo bored.
Eventually most of the police moved off. There was little point in staying, as they had expeditiously packed the dangerous people into the prison bus.
I really must commend the police in San Francisco. Patient, forbearing. Courteous. Very well-mannered. Such a contrast with our visitors from Berkeley. Better dressed, too.
Crap this is boring.
For your information, the city is still not shut down. This is a breach of promise on the part of the Direct Action to Stop the War folks and their cohorts.
Frank Chiu is wandering around looking for a protest. The guy selling his own rap-ceedees outside the Wells Fargo on the corner is doing no more and no less business as usual. The newspaper vendor seems happily in his own world, unconcerned with the unimpressive ruckus two blocks away. There are several people in the window-lounge of the cigar shop, less than half a block from the angry hairy folks at Market and Montgomery street, enjoying what appears to be a quiet and relaxed post-prandial smoke. An unbalanced person at Sansome and Sutter Streets is hollering at an invisible friend to stop kicking him. The gaunt engineer in the office across the street from me is smoking a pipe while correcting some documents.
There are no helicopters. The sky is nice and blue, with spots of white. A gentle breeze stirs the fresh green of the trees. Did I ever mention that I smoke a pipe?
Krikey I'm bored.
DIRECT ACTION IN SF TO STOP THE WAR - UPDATE ao 1:35 PM
Man I'm bored. Sooooo bally boooored!
"What a totally gay performance. Gay gay gay gay gay gay gay! Damn hippies!"
------- Eric Cartman
Really, this is a waste of time. There aren't any protestors to be found. There are no hovering news helicopters overhead marking the spot of a confrontation.
Occasionally a desperate television copter scoots across the downtown sky looking for action. There are no sirens, no platoons of blue with billy clubs getting set to move off into a distant fray. No paddy wagons. No motorcycle brigade four abreast with sirens. Nothing. Nada. Zip.
How much more total zero nix diddly can it get?
I left the office with my disposable camera to get lunch. Past the Import Export Bank. No protests, no heavy security presence, no peaceniks.
Went over to the plaza with the bankers black heart in front of the Bank of America building (targets: Carlyle Group , Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley), where I took a photo of a lovely sun-drenched plaza with American and Californian flags gently flapping in a mild spring breeze -- not a single peacenik to be seen.
Over to the TransAmerica Pyramid (URS Corp. and Carlyle Group). Photo of a sunny street with a normal flow of traffic, some amiable pedestrians -- no peaceniks.
Back down Montgomery Street, past the Israeli Consulate (yes, also a target). Peace, peace, peace, sunny, sunny, sunny... photo!
Not a nik in sight.
California Street between Battery and Sansome (345 California Street, Chevron Energy Solutions, a major target). Such a lovely shady courtyard area, so quiet, so restful. Said howdy to Abdullah from Yemen (salaam, ya akhi, keyf-ak hal? Bi kheyr, alhamdulillah.....).
And, as could not possibly have been praedicted, no peaceniks anywhere!
Didn't even bother taking a photo.
Man I'm bored. What is it with you folks? You promised a day of direct action, a day of raging against da man, fury, righteousness, traffic jams, civil disobedience, flags, banners, signs, and broken glass. Not that I approve of most of that, but shee, can't y'all even organize a storm in a teacup? Where are y'all? Why aren't you at least providing entertainment? Street-theatre? Revolutionary interpretive dance? Impromptu mime performances? An overturned garbage can?
Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored!
Anyways, I had a half-way decent biriani for lunch, along with some rocking mango lassi. So it wasn't a complete waste of time. And I saw Abdullah from Yemen.
Maybe later in the afternoon something will happen. After the folks in Berkeley finish their leisurely breakfast, and down the last of their organic fair-trade lattes and cappuccinos.
Probably made with 0% fat 'Cream-o-Soy' instead of dairy.
"What a totally gay performance. Gay gay gay gay gay gay gay! Damn hippies!"
------- Eric Cartman
Really, this is a waste of time. There aren't any protestors to be found. There are no hovering news helicopters overhead marking the spot of a confrontation.
Occasionally a desperate television copter scoots across the downtown sky looking for action. There are no sirens, no platoons of blue with billy clubs getting set to move off into a distant fray. No paddy wagons. No motorcycle brigade four abreast with sirens. Nothing. Nada. Zip.
How much more total zero nix diddly can it get?
I left the office with my disposable camera to get lunch. Past the Import Export Bank. No protests, no heavy security presence, no peaceniks.
Went over to the plaza with the bankers black heart in front of the Bank of America building (targets: Carlyle Group , Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley), where I took a photo of a lovely sun-drenched plaza with American and Californian flags gently flapping in a mild spring breeze -- not a single peacenik to be seen.
Over to the TransAmerica Pyramid (URS Corp. and Carlyle Group). Photo of a sunny street with a normal flow of traffic, some amiable pedestrians -- no peaceniks.
Back down Montgomery Street, past the Israeli Consulate (yes, also a target). Peace, peace, peace, sunny, sunny, sunny... photo!
Not a nik in sight.
California Street between Battery and Sansome (345 California Street, Chevron Energy Solutions, a major target). Such a lovely shady courtyard area, so quiet, so restful. Said howdy to Abdullah from Yemen (salaam, ya akhi, keyf-ak hal? Bi kheyr, alhamdulillah.....).
And, as could not possibly have been praedicted, no peaceniks anywhere!
Didn't even bother taking a photo.
Man I'm bored. What is it with you folks? You promised a day of direct action, a day of raging against da man, fury, righteousness, traffic jams, civil disobedience, flags, banners, signs, and broken glass. Not that I approve of most of that, but shee, can't y'all even organize a storm in a teacup? Where are y'all? Why aren't you at least providing entertainment? Street-theatre? Revolutionary interpretive dance? Impromptu mime performances? An overturned garbage can?
Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored!
Anyways, I had a half-way decent biriani for lunch, along with some rocking mango lassi. So it wasn't a complete waste of time. And I saw Abdullah from Yemen.
Maybe later in the afternoon something will happen. After the folks in Berkeley finish their leisurely breakfast, and down the last of their organic fair-trade lattes and cappuccinos.
Probably made with 0% fat 'Cream-o-Soy' instead of dairy.
DIRECT ACTION LAYS AN EGG
Quick report on events near my office , as of 12:00 PM
[Note: The anti-war community spent two months preparing for mass-protests to shut down San Francisco today, it being the fifth anniversary of our invasion of Iraq. This is supposed to be the last big huzzah before Bush is out of office, my office is located right in the centre of events. Whoopee.]
Intersection of Sansome and Sutter: a table with some activists, two or three very nice professionally done banners, and a backdrop banner stating that it is a non-violent direct action to stop the war. Including passers-by, maybe ten people.
Nobody at the Citicorp plaza or the BART exit. Earlier there had been some people with George Bush and Cheney masks dancing to the music of Barbarella - or something like that. It didn't interfere with anyone coming to work in any way at all.
At 9:30 AM a peloton of maybe forty anti-Chevron bicyclists had come down Montgomery and turned onto Bush. They did not interfere with traffic.
Fewer sirens than normal in this neighborhood for the past two hours. It is quiet. Traffic has been a bit slower and more sludgy than usual, but transit was/is not interrupted.
---
Montgomery and Market at 11:30: About three hundred to four-hundred wheatish-looking people blocking traffic on Post Street, dully listening to speeches, being very unphotogenic.
Market street is clear. Montgomery is clear. The cops are calm, the bystanders bored.
---
If this is an attempt to "shut down the city", it isn't working.
There is no anger. There are no furious chants and screams. There is nothing to photograph.
Many of the participants are having a bad hair-day and their mom dresses them funny.
Anaemic. Pathetic. Futile. Silly.
However, as many of the people likely to come to SF for further protests are only just now waking up, who knows what else will happen.
At least it looks like 'stark-nekkid fer peas' is still on at four-thirty.
-----BOTH
PS. I'll be posting more later. At this point I expect the "Day Of Direct Action' to end up an anticlimax - their grand plans appear to have fizzeled, and whatever advantage there may have been to spreading action out (both in time and place) seems negated by the sheer convenience to the police of having small isolated groups who can easily be arrested in stages rather than a large unruly and potentially violent mass of demonstrators.
Taking these people into custody is much more like a leisurely dimsum brunch than a hot-dog eating contest. And who doesn't like dimsum?
The SFPD should really thank the extremists for so nicely sabotaging themselves. It was very kind.
[Note: The anti-war community spent two months preparing for mass-protests to shut down San Francisco today, it being the fifth anniversary of our invasion of Iraq. This is supposed to be the last big huzzah before Bush is out of office, my office is located right in the centre of events. Whoopee.]
Intersection of Sansome and Sutter: a table with some activists, two or three very nice professionally done banners, and a backdrop banner stating that it is a non-violent direct action to stop the war. Including passers-by, maybe ten people.
Nobody at the Citicorp plaza or the BART exit. Earlier there had been some people with George Bush and Cheney masks dancing to the music of Barbarella - or something like that. It didn't interfere with anyone coming to work in any way at all.
At 9:30 AM a peloton of maybe forty anti-Chevron bicyclists had come down Montgomery and turned onto Bush. They did not interfere with traffic.
Fewer sirens than normal in this neighborhood for the past two hours. It is quiet. Traffic has been a bit slower and more sludgy than usual, but transit was/is not interrupted.
---
Montgomery and Market at 11:30: About three hundred to four-hundred wheatish-looking people blocking traffic on Post Street, dully listening to speeches, being very unphotogenic.
Market street is clear. Montgomery is clear. The cops are calm, the bystanders bored.
---
If this is an attempt to "shut down the city", it isn't working.
There is no anger. There are no furious chants and screams. There is nothing to photograph.
Many of the participants are having a bad hair-day and their mom dresses them funny.
Anaemic. Pathetic. Futile. Silly.
However, as many of the people likely to come to SF for further protests are only just now waking up, who knows what else will happen.
At least it looks like 'stark-nekkid fer peas' is still on at four-thirty.
-----BOTH
PS. I'll be posting more later. At this point I expect the "Day Of Direct Action' to end up an anticlimax - their grand plans appear to have fizzeled, and whatever advantage there may have been to spreading action out (both in time and place) seems negated by the sheer convenience to the police of having small isolated groups who can easily be arrested in stages rather than a large unruly and potentially violent mass of demonstrators.
Taking these people into custody is much more like a leisurely dimsum brunch than a hot-dog eating contest. And who doesn't like dimsum?
The SFPD should really thank the extremists for so nicely sabotaging themselves. It was very kind.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
NUDE PEACE RALLY
As part of the SF Bay Area's contribution to protesting the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, I wish to inform y'all of one particular action planned for tomorrow.
Nudes for peace:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/02/19/18480200.php
March 19,
Wednesday:
Nudes4peace will gather at 4:30 pm, in United Nations Plaza, San Francisco; near the equestrian statue (Simon Bolivar on his horse).
Heavens.
As Dildo Bob often yells at people in the bar: GIT NEKKID!
Seeing as most of the people in Nudes for Peace are significantly beyond retirement age, this is one place where any of us can truly make a difference. By sheer dilution of the ghast-factor.
Not that I have any intention of doing so.
I shall be both dressed and entertained.
My idea of entertainment at times involves either nose-wrinkling or schadenfreude.
And this qualifies as far more edumacalacational than anything else the peace movement is planning.
PS.I: Scrotal-inflation guy will be there. So bring your family, they've never seen anything like it. Tell them it’s a cultural experience. A San Francisco treat.
PS.II: If the nudists pour baby-oil over themselves, they will be much harder to arrest.
PS. III: Peace is manifestly not a pretty sight.
Nudes for peace:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/02/19/18480200.php
March 19,
Wednesday:
Nudes4peace will gather at 4:30 pm, in United Nations Plaza, San Francisco; near the equestrian statue (Simon Bolivar on his horse).
Heavens.
As Dildo Bob often yells at people in the bar: GIT NEKKID!
Seeing as most of the people in Nudes for Peace are significantly beyond retirement age, this is one place where any of us can truly make a difference. By sheer dilution of the ghast-factor.
Not that I have any intention of doing so.
I shall be both dressed and entertained.
My idea of entertainment at times involves either nose-wrinkling or schadenfreude.
And this qualifies as far more edumacalacational than anything else the peace movement is planning.
PS.I: Scrotal-inflation guy will be there. So bring your family, they've never seen anything like it. Tell them it’s a cultural experience. A San Francisco treat.
PS.II: If the nudists pour baby-oil over themselves, they will be much harder to arrest.
PS. III: Peace is manifestly not a pretty sight.
Monday, March 17, 2008
I'M ONLY DRINKING COFFEE!
The Chag Ha-sinpaddim is two days in the land, three days outside.
Why is this?
Because outside the land one celebrates not only the chag itself, but also the fact that one is outside the land.
But another opinion is that without liquor one cannot possibly stomach corned beef and cabbage - a punishment (chumrah) that they do not actually observe inside the land. It is accepted custom to eat the leftovers before they turn green, hence the additional day.
[Eating corned beef and cabbage is, d'rabbanan, one of the mitzvos asei shehazaman grama from which women are excused. It is enough that they HEAR it. ]
As the Dubliner Maggid said, "everything is dependent upon either beans or fermentation - no wonder life stinks".
How wise these words.
Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzhok, 1040 - 1105) says that one goes from the lesser to the greater - start with Guiness, finish with Whiskey. But Rabbeinu Tam (Yakov ben Meir, 1100 - 1171) advocates the Whiskey first, going by the hair. Many modern Chassidim hedge their bets by doing both. But this is kilayim!
According to the Mishneh Toreh, there are five prohibited mixings: plowing by cattle and asses in the same furrow, grapes and other crops in the same arbor, wool and linen in the same garment, Jews and Midianites in the same world, and hard and soft liquor at the same meal (one should wait six hours in the land, or three hours in Boro Park).
Errrm, enough with the St. Paddy shtuss - happy Policeman's Heritage Day, y'all.
---------------------------------------------------
For a complete calendar of feasts and fasts, please see this post:http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2007/09/jewish-calendar-for-5768.html
---------------------------------------------------
In other news, there is a fascinating discussion of bedikes on Dovbear's blog.
[See here: http://dovbear.blogspot.com/2008/03/perfect-example-of-how-over-ritualized.html ]
Bedikes invariably reminds me of Renegade Rebbetzin, Potatoes Paprikash, what Dovbear eats after the fast (Letsho), the two Irish girls I used to work with down in Palo Alto, vitamin C, Lucky Strike Filter cigarettes, Motzei Shabbes. There is a logical sequence to that series of associations. But I do not want to explain it in any great detail - you already have some doubts about how grounded I am on a Monday, right?
Why is this?
Because outside the land one celebrates not only the chag itself, but also the fact that one is outside the land.
But another opinion is that without liquor one cannot possibly stomach corned beef and cabbage - a punishment (chumrah) that they do not actually observe inside the land. It is accepted custom to eat the leftovers before they turn green, hence the additional day.
[Eating corned beef and cabbage is, d'rabbanan, one of the mitzvos asei shehazaman grama from which women are excused. It is enough that they HEAR it. ]
As the Dubliner Maggid said, "everything is dependent upon either beans or fermentation - no wonder life stinks".
How wise these words.
Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzhok, 1040 - 1105) says that one goes from the lesser to the greater - start with Guiness, finish with Whiskey. But Rabbeinu Tam (Yakov ben Meir, 1100 - 1171) advocates the Whiskey first, going by the hair. Many modern Chassidim hedge their bets by doing both. But this is kilayim!
According to the Mishneh Toreh, there are five prohibited mixings: plowing by cattle and asses in the same furrow, grapes and other crops in the same arbor, wool and linen in the same garment, Jews and Midianites in the same world, and hard and soft liquor at the same meal (one should wait six hours in the land, or three hours in Boro Park).
Errrm, enough with the St. Paddy shtuss - happy Policeman's Heritage Day, y'all.
---------------------------------------------------
For a complete calendar of feasts and fasts, please see this post:http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2007/09/jewish-calendar-for-5768.html
---------------------------------------------------
In other news, there is a fascinating discussion of bedikes on Dovbear's blog.
[See here: http://dovbear.blogspot.com/2008/03/perfect-example-of-how-over-ritualized.html ]
Bedikes invariably reminds me of Renegade Rebbetzin, Potatoes Paprikash, what Dovbear eats after the fast (Letsho), the two Irish girls I used to work with down in Palo Alto, vitamin C, Lucky Strike Filter cigarettes, Motzei Shabbes. There is a logical sequence to that series of associations. But I do not want to explain it in any great detail - you already have some doubts about how grounded I am on a Monday, right?
Friday, March 14, 2008
DUTCH PARLIAMENTARY LYNCH MOB
Dutch parliamentarian Sybrand van Haersma Buma accuses Geert Wilders of cowardice because he refused to attend a debate about freedom of expression and freedom of religion in the second chamber.
"Here is where it will be decided how far one may go with offensiveness", according to a peevish Haersma Buma, "if you always have an opinion about that outside the chamber, you should also have the guts to defend that here. I think that it is really cowardly to now walk away from the debate about this".
[Quote in Dutch: "Hier wordt bepaald hoe ver je mag gaan bij het kwetsen. Als je daar buiten de Kamer voortdurend een opvatting over hebt, moet je die ook in de Kamer durven verdedigen. Ik vind het echt laf dat hij nu wegloopt voor het debat hierover."
Source: http://www.ad.nl/binnenland/2134098/lsquoLaffersquo_Wilders_ergert_Kamer.html ]
What's to debate?
I do not see how the issue can be argued, nor what use discussing it will have. There are laws that permit Mr. Wilders to criticize religion, irrespective of who, or what group of who, feels itself insulted. Dutch laws on this matter are pretty specific (lèse-majesté is pretty much the only exception to freedom of speech - they're still a monarchy over there). Either these laws maintain, or, as several politicians wish, they are abrogated, and with them democracy in the Netherlands.
Geert Wilders may say what he thinks about the Quran, and unless his fifteen minute video-polemic against that book actually advocates violence or criminal acts, it should be shown to everyone that wants to see it. There is no defensible argument for banning it, nor is there any morally justifiable reason that Mr. Wilders should be kept from voicing his opinions.
It is only the worry about possible reactions by the Muslim world that prompted this desire to debate and attempt to curtail ancient liberties. The very real danger that inflamed Muslim mobs will attack Dutch diplomatic offices and businesses, or lynch Dutch citizens traveling abroad, has put such gutless fear into some Dutch politicians that they are willing to toss the fundamentals of democracy out the door.
Freedom of speech (and freedom FROM religion) is the very basis of Dutch independence - the revolt against Philip of Spain was sparked by the execution of Egmont and Hoorne in 1568 for speaking their minds. The eighty years war that followed was for rights which are now considered fundamental to democracies and open societies. To put limitations on what over four centuries ago was so hard won, which has subsequently been proven just and worth winning by every western society since, is to dishonour every generation of Dutchmen since that war, and devalue everything that the Netherlands has represented as an independent nation.
Frustrated commisars who would limit liberty have no business walking the halls of power in a democratic society. It is up to the Dutch people to recognize that, and remove these traitors from office.
A few months ago someone accused the Netherlands of being 'onafwendbaar laf' (irrepairably chickenshit). A mob of quislings in the second chamber, come together for a bully session, would indeed make it so.
At present, only one man keeps the accusation that the Netherlands is irredeemably gutless from being true. That man is the parliamentarian accused of cowardice by Sybrand van Haersma Buma.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Note: this posting is further to Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, his polemic film against the Quran (which has not been shown yet), and the attempts by Dutch politicians and prominenti to forestall Muslim rage by caving in.
[Please see previous relevant postings by clicking the labels 'Fitna' and 'GeertWilders' underneath this post.]
I do not see eye to eye with Mr. Wilders about Islam, but I absolutely support his right (and his duty as an elected public servant) to speak his mind, and to speak out against what he sees as a danger to society. If the Muslims outside the Netherlands do not like what he has to say about the Quran, tough - they may go do something obscene to themselves with that bloody book; whatever happens in the Netherlands is really none of their damn' business and unless they can speak about it in Dutch to the Dutch, they really should shut their traps. If the Muslims INSIDE the Netherlands don't like it, they should counter-argue Mr. Wilders. Either these matters are fully open to debate, or Mr. Wilders is right, and we are at war with a repressive ideology bent on destroying us.
In either case, Mr. Wilders must speak.
"Here is where it will be decided how far one may go with offensiveness", according to a peevish Haersma Buma, "if you always have an opinion about that outside the chamber, you should also have the guts to defend that here. I think that it is really cowardly to now walk away from the debate about this".
[Quote in Dutch: "Hier wordt bepaald hoe ver je mag gaan bij het kwetsen. Als je daar buiten de Kamer voortdurend een opvatting over hebt, moet je die ook in de Kamer durven verdedigen. Ik vind het echt laf dat hij nu wegloopt voor het debat hierover."
Source: http://www.ad.nl/binnenland/2134098/lsquoLaffersquo_Wilders_ergert_Kamer.html ]
What's to debate?
I do not see how the issue can be argued, nor what use discussing it will have. There are laws that permit Mr. Wilders to criticize religion, irrespective of who, or what group of who, feels itself insulted. Dutch laws on this matter are pretty specific (lèse-majesté is pretty much the only exception to freedom of speech - they're still a monarchy over there). Either these laws maintain, or, as several politicians wish, they are abrogated, and with them democracy in the Netherlands.
Geert Wilders may say what he thinks about the Quran, and unless his fifteen minute video-polemic against that book actually advocates violence or criminal acts, it should be shown to everyone that wants to see it. There is no defensible argument for banning it, nor is there any morally justifiable reason that Mr. Wilders should be kept from voicing his opinions.
It is only the worry about possible reactions by the Muslim world that prompted this desire to debate and attempt to curtail ancient liberties. The very real danger that inflamed Muslim mobs will attack Dutch diplomatic offices and businesses, or lynch Dutch citizens traveling abroad, has put such gutless fear into some Dutch politicians that they are willing to toss the fundamentals of democracy out the door.
Freedom of speech (and freedom FROM religion) is the very basis of Dutch independence - the revolt against Philip of Spain was sparked by the execution of Egmont and Hoorne in 1568 for speaking their minds. The eighty years war that followed was for rights which are now considered fundamental to democracies and open societies. To put limitations on what over four centuries ago was so hard won, which has subsequently been proven just and worth winning by every western society since, is to dishonour every generation of Dutchmen since that war, and devalue everything that the Netherlands has represented as an independent nation.
Frustrated commisars who would limit liberty have no business walking the halls of power in a democratic society. It is up to the Dutch people to recognize that, and remove these traitors from office.
A few months ago someone accused the Netherlands of being 'onafwendbaar laf' (irrepairably chickenshit). A mob of quislings in the second chamber, come together for a bully session, would indeed make it so.
At present, only one man keeps the accusation that the Netherlands is irredeemably gutless from being true. That man is the parliamentarian accused of cowardice by Sybrand van Haersma Buma.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Note: this posting is further to Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, his polemic film against the Quran (which has not been shown yet), and the attempts by Dutch politicians and prominenti to forestall Muslim rage by caving in.
[Please see previous relevant postings by clicking the labels 'Fitna' and 'GeertWilders' underneath this post.]
I do not see eye to eye with Mr. Wilders about Islam, but I absolutely support his right (and his duty as an elected public servant) to speak his mind, and to speak out against what he sees as a danger to society. If the Muslims outside the Netherlands do not like what he has to say about the Quran, tough - they may go do something obscene to themselves with that bloody book; whatever happens in the Netherlands is really none of their damn' business and unless they can speak about it in Dutch to the Dutch, they really should shut their traps. If the Muslims INSIDE the Netherlands don't like it, they should counter-argue Mr. Wilders. Either these matters are fully open to debate, or Mr. Wilders is right, and we are at war with a repressive ideology bent on destroying us.
In either case, Mr. Wilders must speak.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
WARNING!
You are all familiar with warnings on certain products, yes?
The explanation that smoking causes cancer, bad breath, crooked teeth, pimples, idiocy...... As well as the stern advisement that pregnant women shouldn't drink alcohol...... or drive.
These are all comfortingly familiar texts.
While reading the fine-print on a cortizone ointment which I purchased for alleviation of a persistent skin-allergy, I found this bijou of a sentence:
DO NOT APPLY DIRECTLY TO ANUS!
Thank you so much for putting the idea into my head. I had heretofore not considered it.
It's the kind of soothing warning that, in my mind, belongs on many things. Toys. Cigars. Bottles of French wine. Type writers. Can openers. Opposable digits. Perfume.
Political flyers. Candidates. Editorials. This phone number: 415-992-7612.
Iguanas. Hamsters. Bubba Hotep.
I'm sure you can add many more things to the list. And I want you to do just that; underneath this post you will find a handy clickable link, which will take you to a comment form. Go ahead, type your suggestions there. Wax poetic. Let your imagination run riot. Free-associate.
Just do not apply direc......
The explanation that smoking causes cancer, bad breath, crooked teeth, pimples, idiocy...... As well as the stern advisement that pregnant women shouldn't drink alcohol...... or drive.
These are all comfortingly familiar texts.
While reading the fine-print on a cortizone ointment which I purchased for alleviation of a persistent skin-allergy, I found this bijou of a sentence:
DO NOT APPLY DIRECTLY TO ANUS!
Thank you so much for putting the idea into my head. I had heretofore not considered it.
It's the kind of soothing warning that, in my mind, belongs on many things. Toys. Cigars. Bottles of French wine. Type writers. Can openers. Opposable digits. Perfume.
Political flyers. Candidates. Editorials. This phone number: 415-992-7612.
Iguanas. Hamsters. Bubba Hotep.
I'm sure you can add many more things to the list. And I want you to do just that; underneath this post you will find a handy clickable link, which will take you to a comment form. Go ahead, type your suggestions there. Wax poetic. Let your imagination run riot. Free-associate.
Just do not apply direc......
EURABIA? HMMPH! AN ABSURD CONCEPT!
In an article in The Brussels Journal, journalist Paul Belien paints a picture of a Europe destined to disappear before a tide of Islamists and non-Europeans. He writes that Muslims will outnumber, by outbreeding, the European natives, and that in twenty-five years immigrants will take over from a population that has neither the will nor the spirit to resist.
Wikipedia entry for the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Belien
Link to the front page of the Brussels Journal: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/
The article in question: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1609/print
That point of view is unnecessarily defeatist.
A generation from now, many of those Muslims will be European - much more European than their more noisy elements seem at present.
[They are more likely to blend into the overwhelming majority and common culture than blend into each other - on the way to sameness with an Algerian, for instance, a Pakistani will have to go through English and French first. A Dutch Moroccan will need German to speak to a Berlin Turk. And your average Somali in Rotterdam has nothing in common with a Bengali in Warsaw. Not even religion unites them, even though they claim that in common. The idea of a pan-Islamic Umma is an abstract concept that only grabs your loyalty if you speak the same language as whoever else is in your mob.]
There are already intellectuals, professionals, scholars, and businessmen of Muslim background - some of the best writing in Dutch today is by people of Turkish or Moroccan extraction. Their writing is secular, and humanist. And while they appreciate their parents culture and history, to them it is mostly something they know second or third-hand; they read about it, in Dutch, from an academic pov.
Hell will freeze over before they think of "returning" to the back of the Riff mountains or Anatolia.
If they were forced, by rising European xenophobia and intolerance, to do so, they would upset the applecart in North Africa and Asia Minor. They are too European.
The other tendency that is often overlooked is that underneath that flinter-thin veneer of civilization, most Europeans are still too darn close to the homicidal maniacs that they were for twenty centuries.
Europe has indeed experienced peace longer than ever before..... As a continent. As individual countries, much of Europe has experienced civil discord and repression: Spain was a brutal dictatorship until the seventies, along with Portugal and Greece. All of Eastern Europe was under the boot of Stalin and his successors until the eighties. Northern Ireland has barely had ten years of peace. The Balkans haven't even had that.
The Dutch didn't start getting over the loss of their empire till the seventies. The French still hold on to a few scraps of empire, and fought savagely in Indochina and North Africa till barely one generation ago. The British have sent troops overseas fairly regularly, even up to the present. Europeans are less removed from organized violence than we think.
Underneath that seeming calm (remember, flinter-thin veneer), the average European has less tolerance towards otherness than many Americans. The likelihood of ethnic bloodshed is probably greater than when anybody still felt any guilt over the Jews.
Turkish and Moroccan neighborhoods conveniently concentrate the probable victims of future pogroms, in combustible substandard housing, away from the limelight. The Banlieus of Paris will never be economically developed - any Arab living there who wants a better life will have to yank himself out of that environment and into the middle-class. And there is no other way to do that than by becoming middle-class. That same Arab will not look kindly on thuggery and goon-style behaviours from his kindred; they more than anything else will be a hindrance, and a threat to his family's wellbeing and future. And he knows that. Boy does he know that. The cries for a stronger police come loudest from the people on the verge of escaping poverty. They do not want the open doorway and the beckoning brightness to be shut off by Abdoullah the high-school drop-out or Iftakar the drug-dealer and petty-thief. Heck, they won't even admit that Abdoullah is their cousin, or Iftakar their former classmate.
Meanwhile, in the small towns of Europe, the inhabitants beat the crap out of anything too foreign. And shut off their society from weirdoes, freaks, and outsiders.
Trust me - I grew up in liberal, tolerant, humanist Holland. You do NOT want to be an immigrant in the country districts of that society. Those folks simply haven't discovered lynching yet; when they do, they'll take to it like they were to the manner born.
Every week, there are reports of immigrants being persecuted, beaten up, harassed out of their homes, threatened........
Pogrom doesn't seem to be a Dutch word.... Yet.
Other Europeans aren't any better. They too will discover the meaning of that practice, even if they have to invent a different word for it.
[Perhaps the term Serb will become a verb - even though many people seem to have forgotten that the Serbs committed mass-Hutu in the Balkans. It's worth speculating about.]
I do not fear for the Europe I know. It was not a very pleasant place to begin with, and that which was indeed pleasant will quite probably survive. The immigrants have already enriched the host countries - not only by their cheap labour, but also culturally.
As just one facet of that change, English food nowadays is even half-way edible (both Chicken Tikka Masala and Vindaloo compete for British National Dish), the Dutch certainly would face gustatory boredom were it not for Indonesian, Surinamese, Turkish, and Moroccan influences, and the best that can be said for German and Scandinavian cuisines is that they do not particularly offend (well, other than 'Curry Wurst' - that offends beyond all reason).
More Europeans today speak English than ever before, and European horizons have expanded enormously.
The world has become a different place. That is all. There is no deluge.
Now if only the twentieth century would finally penetrate to the provinces, things would be perfect.
Wikipedia entry for the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Belien
Link to the front page of the Brussels Journal: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/
The article in question: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1609/print
That point of view is unnecessarily defeatist.
A generation from now, many of those Muslims will be European - much more European than their more noisy elements seem at present.
[They are more likely to blend into the overwhelming majority and common culture than blend into each other - on the way to sameness with an Algerian, for instance, a Pakistani will have to go through English and French first. A Dutch Moroccan will need German to speak to a Berlin Turk. And your average Somali in Rotterdam has nothing in common with a Bengali in Warsaw. Not even religion unites them, even though they claim that in common. The idea of a pan-Islamic Umma is an abstract concept that only grabs your loyalty if you speak the same language as whoever else is in your mob.]
There are already intellectuals, professionals, scholars, and businessmen of Muslim background - some of the best writing in Dutch today is by people of Turkish or Moroccan extraction. Their writing is secular, and humanist. And while they appreciate their parents culture and history, to them it is mostly something they know second or third-hand; they read about it, in Dutch, from an academic pov.
Hell will freeze over before they think of "returning" to the back of the Riff mountains or Anatolia.
If they were forced, by rising European xenophobia and intolerance, to do so, they would upset the applecart in North Africa and Asia Minor. They are too European.
The other tendency that is often overlooked is that underneath that flinter-thin veneer of civilization, most Europeans are still too darn close to the homicidal maniacs that they were for twenty centuries.
Europe has indeed experienced peace longer than ever before..... As a continent. As individual countries, much of Europe has experienced civil discord and repression: Spain was a brutal dictatorship until the seventies, along with Portugal and Greece. All of Eastern Europe was under the boot of Stalin and his successors until the eighties. Northern Ireland has barely had ten years of peace. The Balkans haven't even had that.
The Dutch didn't start getting over the loss of their empire till the seventies. The French still hold on to a few scraps of empire, and fought savagely in Indochina and North Africa till barely one generation ago. The British have sent troops overseas fairly regularly, even up to the present. Europeans are less removed from organized violence than we think.
Underneath that seeming calm (remember, flinter-thin veneer), the average European has less tolerance towards otherness than many Americans. The likelihood of ethnic bloodshed is probably greater than when anybody still felt any guilt over the Jews.
Turkish and Moroccan neighborhoods conveniently concentrate the probable victims of future pogroms, in combustible substandard housing, away from the limelight. The Banlieus of Paris will never be economically developed - any Arab living there who wants a better life will have to yank himself out of that environment and into the middle-class. And there is no other way to do that than by becoming middle-class. That same Arab will not look kindly on thuggery and goon-style behaviours from his kindred; they more than anything else will be a hindrance, and a threat to his family's wellbeing and future. And he knows that. Boy does he know that. The cries for a stronger police come loudest from the people on the verge of escaping poverty. They do not want the open doorway and the beckoning brightness to be shut off by Abdoullah the high-school drop-out or Iftakar the drug-dealer and petty-thief. Heck, they won't even admit that Abdoullah is their cousin, or Iftakar their former classmate.
Meanwhile, in the small towns of Europe, the inhabitants beat the crap out of anything too foreign. And shut off their society from weirdoes, freaks, and outsiders.
Trust me - I grew up in liberal, tolerant, humanist Holland. You do NOT want to be an immigrant in the country districts of that society. Those folks simply haven't discovered lynching yet; when they do, they'll take to it like they were to the manner born.
Every week, there are reports of immigrants being persecuted, beaten up, harassed out of their homes, threatened........
Pogrom doesn't seem to be a Dutch word.... Yet.
Other Europeans aren't any better. They too will discover the meaning of that practice, even if they have to invent a different word for it.
[Perhaps the term Serb will become a verb - even though many people seem to have forgotten that the Serbs committed mass-Hutu in the Balkans. It's worth speculating about.]
I do not fear for the Europe I know. It was not a very pleasant place to begin with, and that which was indeed pleasant will quite probably survive. The immigrants have already enriched the host countries - not only by their cheap labour, but also culturally.
As just one facet of that change, English food nowadays is even half-way edible (both Chicken Tikka Masala and Vindaloo compete for British National Dish), the Dutch certainly would face gustatory boredom were it not for Indonesian, Surinamese, Turkish, and Moroccan influences, and the best that can be said for German and Scandinavian cuisines is that they do not particularly offend (well, other than 'Curry Wurst' - that offends beyond all reason).
More Europeans today speak English than ever before, and European horizons have expanded enormously.
The world has become a different place. That is all. There is no deluge.
Now if only the twentieth century would finally penetrate to the provinces, things would be perfect.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
LITTLE MISS MAYHEM
Sometimes I come up with ideas of such astounding brilliance I am utterly surprised no one has thought of them before.
Often these are ideas for products which would sell like cupcakes. And make me very rich.
One such idea is for a product aimed at the teenage girl market. And you, dear reader, can have it for free - just make sure you do something with it.
Coming soon to the toy-aisle at a store near you...
The Little Miss Mayhem™ Junior Chainsaw
With neat-o accessories
Suitable for ages 8 through 12.
It's empowering. And it speaks to the little woman within, the little woman who has not yet fully explored all the options available to her. Plus it appeals to the fiercely independent streak of today's young woman: punky, pugnacious, yet soft and vulnerable.
Someone's vulnerable, at any rate.
As recommended by child-psychologists, it is also adaptable to role-playing games.
She can be a lumberjack......
Or a Texan madman.
Her choice.
It's a voyage of personal discovery.
I expect to see this product on store shelves by the time next Christmas rolls around. With all the accessories. Appliqué butterflies to personalize it. Rhinestones. A little pink Hello Kitty carrying case.
Stain-resistant, and headless, Hello Kitty.
There should also be a fan-magazine, of course. With letters from sweet little girlies who own a chainsaw.
You may submit your testimonial in the comment section provided. Just click.
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
This post is dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Bruzelius, who any moment now will be the parents of a daughter. Point her to this post as soon as she is able to read, you two.
-----------------------
Often these are ideas for products which would sell like cupcakes. And make me very rich.
One such idea is for a product aimed at the teenage girl market. And you, dear reader, can have it for free - just make sure you do something with it.
Coming soon to the toy-aisle at a store near you...
The Little Miss Mayhem™ Junior Chainsaw
With neat-o accessories
Suitable for ages 8 through 12.
It's empowering. And it speaks to the little woman within, the little woman who has not yet fully explored all the options available to her. Plus it appeals to the fiercely independent streak of today's young woman: punky, pugnacious, yet soft and vulnerable.
Someone's vulnerable, at any rate.
As recommended by child-psychologists, it is also adaptable to role-playing games.
She can be a lumberjack......
Or a Texan madman.
Her choice.
It's a voyage of personal discovery.
I expect to see this product on store shelves by the time next Christmas rolls around. With all the accessories. Appliqué butterflies to personalize it. Rhinestones. A little pink Hello Kitty carrying case.
Stain-resistant, and headless, Hello Kitty.
There should also be a fan-magazine, of course. With letters from sweet little girlies who own a chainsaw.
You may submit your testimonial in the comment section provided. Just click.
-----------------------
-----------------------
-----------------------
This post is dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Bruzelius, who any moment now will be the parents of a daughter. Point her to this post as soon as she is able to read, you two.
-----------------------
CHARING CROSS MIXTURE BY G. L. PEASE
The tin description states that this is a Balkan mixture of "fine Virginia leaf, richly seasoned with smoky Cyprian Latakia and spiced with the exquisite and exotic tobaccos of the Orient".
This does not entirely enlighten the customer - there is enormous variation among Balkan blends, and Oriental tobaccos (Turkish, Greek, Macedonian, or even Black Sea Russian) also differ quite a bit from each other. But most smokers will know roughly what to expect.
Here is the review I cross-posted at somewhere else dot com:
CHARING CROSS
If you were being exiled to a desert island with only one tobacco, this blend would be a wise choice.
It's a medium-full Balkan with a voluptuous mouthfeel. Not overly rich, but well balanced - the key concept is restraint; not a single one of the components hijacks the smoke, but all the main players co-operate. It is a symphony, rather than a samba.
I think there is some toasted Cavendish in here. If so, it unites the Turkish and the Latakia rather than adding a third stream of flavour.
This is enjoyable all the way down. It burns evenly to a fine ash. But some rubbing of larger pieces of tobacco is advisable before loading the pipe, to prevent the top surface not lighting evenly, or slow embers from occurring at the end of the bowl.
Ceylon tea. Gin and tonic. A good solid Burgundy.
===========================
There are several other reviews of Charing Cross at that same other internet address dot com. The overwhelming majority of writers seem to like it, but you might have to wade through entire pages of dense wafflegab to know that, as some of us do rather go on a bit.
Honestly, no one cares where you bought it, how long the beard of the salesman who sold it to you was, which particularly collectable instrument you smoked it in, or how amazingly pure-bred the handsome dog that gazed up at you adoringly while you sat in your favourite armchair by your favourite fire with your favourite wife by your side when you smoked it.
TOBACCO INDEX
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
This does not entirely enlighten the customer - there is enormous variation among Balkan blends, and Oriental tobaccos (Turkish, Greek, Macedonian, or even Black Sea Russian) also differ quite a bit from each other. But most smokers will know roughly what to expect.
Here is the review I cross-posted at somewhere else dot com:
CHARING CROSS
If you were being exiled to a desert island with only one tobacco, this blend would be a wise choice.
It's a medium-full Balkan with a voluptuous mouthfeel. Not overly rich, but well balanced - the key concept is restraint; not a single one of the components hijacks the smoke, but all the main players co-operate. It is a symphony, rather than a samba.
I think there is some toasted Cavendish in here. If so, it unites the Turkish and the Latakia rather than adding a third stream of flavour.
This is enjoyable all the way down. It burns evenly to a fine ash. But some rubbing of larger pieces of tobacco is advisable before loading the pipe, to prevent the top surface not lighting evenly, or slow embers from occurring at the end of the bowl.
Ceylon tea. Gin and tonic. A good solid Burgundy.
===========================
There are several other reviews of Charing Cross at that same other internet address dot com. The overwhelming majority of writers seem to like it, but you might have to wade through entire pages of dense wafflegab to know that, as some of us do rather go on a bit.
Honestly, no one cares where you bought it, how long the beard of the salesman who sold it to you was, which particularly collectable instrument you smoked it in, or how amazingly pure-bred the handsome dog that gazed up at you adoringly while you sat in your favourite armchair by your favourite fire with your favourite wife by your side when you smoked it.
TOBACCO INDEX
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
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The karaoke place was a big slice of steaming putrified hell, so we didn't go in. I don't even know what that song was, but it sound...
