Judeopundit

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Al-Ahram approves of FARC and Chavez

According to Wikipedia Al-Ahram's "content is controlled by the Egyptian Ministry of Information." I guess this illustrates that whatever the US is buying with all the aid that goes to Egypt, it isn't friendship:

[...] This may turn out to be the high point in Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's Latin American policy. The last thing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe would have wanted was to solicit the support of the Venezuelan leader. Ironically, the task of negotiating the release of Colombian hostages fell to President Chavez . . .

The US has had a despicable history in the region which many Latin Americans still cannot forgive. And, Uribe is widely viewed as an American stooge . . .

FARC is not on the wrong side of history. They have solid support in their native Colombia. That is an improvement on the recent past, but it is hardly an overwhelming triumph.

Chavez could tip the balance towards war or peace. A large number of Latin American leaders disagree with Chavez about almost everything. But he has staunch supporters and a popular appeal which is not restricted to his native Venezuela. Chavez's Venezuela is a bit player, but a crafty one.

The hostage-taking dilemma has confounded the Colombian political establishment. It was a necessary climb down for Uribe, but a boost for Chavez. Uribe is no Chavez, with a knowledge of radical Latin American politics that even his admirers admit is patchy.

In this episode, Chavez felt strong enough to distance himself from FARC's militancy. The Venezuelan leader is a populist leader who can stand on his own achievements.

All told, the armed opposition groups occupy an indispensable space in Colombian politics. Some estimates suggest they control a third of the country. Their popular appeal with the poor means they will not disappear. This makes Chavez their natural ally despite ideological differences.

And, despite Chavez's 2 December setback on the domestic front, his diplomatic triumph demonstrates that his Bolivarian revolution is still on track.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

IRIB Radio interviews Faurisson

"In 1990," asserts Faurisson, "the Jews approved a law to their favor . . . " Does Faurisson mumble to himself on street corners nowadays? I worked on the spacing of the article a bit so that it wouldn't be an eyesore although it doesn't deserve it.

The West, which claims to respect basic liberties and freedom of expression, has subjected objective researchers, especially in the case of the alleged holocaust that is supposed to have occurred in Europe during World War 2, to the most suffocating measures. It has infringed on their liberties to determine what actually occurred against the Jewish minority and what was blown out of proportions as part of the Zionist propaganda to usurp large parts of the Muslim land of Palestine and call it Israel.

Here we present an interview conducted by the IRIB's French Radio with French revisionist Robert Faurisson who is to be tried again for his research.

Q-Are you to appear in court again?

A-Yes, the date is not yet set but I must go to the Vichy police headquarters for interrogations on January 24th when a number of inspectors will come for this from Paris.

Q-Did these problems emerge after you took part in the Tehran Conference and on the call of then French President Jacques Chirac?

A-They emerged after my interview with Sahar network where I had said things about the Zionist entity and I was convicted in court. Then they questioned me about taking part in the Tehran Conference in 2006, and started investigations on the order of Chirac.

Q-Does the French law allow them to question or condemn you for taking part in the conference?

A-It is strange for me that the French government wants to prevent a French national from taking part in a conference and saying things that are not against the law. First of all I am a British citizen and then a French one. I also spoke in English in Tehran. How is the French government going to implement its laws on issues that occurred in Tehran?

Q-Didn't all the participants in the conference confirm your remarks?

A-Yes they did. Probably on January 24th they will refer to my writings titled Victory of Revisionism, which I brought up to acquaint others with my view.

Q-It seems like you spoke of a sensitive issue.

A-Yes, an issue that no one has the right to speak about in France.

Q-Why?

A-Because in 1990 the Jews approved a law to their favor through which they defend their own questionable interpretation of the events of WWII.

Q-Are you willing to take part in a TV debate and discuss this with your opponents?

A-For more than 30 years now I have been willing to hold such a debate. But they have always opposed it. They have even taken me to court.

Q-If they have strong arguments they can defend their views in a TV debate.

A-Yes, but they are opposed to a debate, for, they have nothing to say.

Q-Will you continue your struggle despite this pressure?

A-I am enduring a lot of pressure at this age. I think the Iranians who invited me to this conference should defend me. They should not forget me.

Q-Do you know about Maradona's case in Argentina?

A-No.

Q-Maradona, the former football champion, said recently in Argentina: I am Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez' friend and would like to meet President Dr. Ahmadinejad, too. The Argentine Jews who are many, have protested to these remarks and a Zionist outfit has said Maradona must visit the Holocaust museum.

A-I want to contact Maradona and tell him, when you go to visit the museum, take me with you. Maradona must go and visit the museum after hearing both sides' views. Going to the museum after listening to the Zionists' interpretation is like taking part in a contest with only one group's participation. He must also hear our interpretation of the events of WWII.

That of Faurisson and Iran?

Monday, January 21, 2008

Hillary's economic philosophy: bigger government, higher taxes, more regulation

The bigger the government, the stronger the economy, right? From the New York Times:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said that if she became president, the federal government would take a more active role in the economy to address what she called the excesses of the market and of the Bush administration.

In one of her most extensive interviews about how she would approach the economy, Mrs. Clinton laid out a view of economic policy that differed in some ways from that of her husband, Bill Clinton. Mr. Clinton campaigned on his centrist views, and as president, he championed deficit reduction and trade agreements.

She isn't really to the left of her husband. Conditions are just different today.

Reflecting what her aides said were very different conditions today, Mrs. Clinton put her emphasis on issues like inequality and the role of institutions like government, rather than market forces, in addressing them.

You just can't address inequality with market forces.

She said that economic excesses — including executive-pay packages she characterized as often "offensive" and "wrong" and a tax code that had become "so far out of whack" in favoring the wealthy — were holding down middle-class living standards.

It's so important to figure out who isn't getting taxed enough.

Interviewed between campaign appearances in Los Angeles on Thursday, she said those problems were also keeping the United States economy from growing as quickly as it could.

"If you go back and look at our history, we were most successful when we had that balance between an effective, vigorous government and a dynamic, appropriately regulated market," Mrs. Clinton said.

"Dynamic" and "appropriately regulated"--isn't that the same thing?

"And we have systematically diminished the role and the responsibility of our government, and we have watched our market become imbalanced."

She added: "I want to get back to the appropriate balance of power between government and the market." [...]

Mrs. Clinton’s approach to the economy would have three main components. She would roll back the Bush tax cuts for households with incomes over $250,000 while creating more tax breaks below that threshold; impose closer scrutiny on financial markets, including the investments being made by foreign governments in the United States; and raise spending on job-creating projects like the development of alternative energy. [...]

Yes, take people's money, create a government program that will have employees, and you've created jobs! (Hat Tip: Protein Wisdom)

Mehr News: "Bush gave the Zionist regime the green light to suppress Palestinian jihadi movements" if "Zionist lobby" supports GOP in 2008

The news behind the news:

A humanitarian crisis is occurring in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli army is mercilessly massacring innocent civilians, but the world is looking on in silence.

The situation in Gaza is the outcome of the sinister agreement between U.S. President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

During his trip to the occupied territories, the U.S. president made an inhumane deal with Zionist officials and gave them a free hand to slaughter the Palestinians.

In his visit to Tel Aviv, Bush gave the Zionist regime the green light to suppress Palestinian jihadi movements on the condition that the Zionist lobby supports the Republicans in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

I hope the Zionist Lobby keeps its part of the deal.

The deafening silence of so-called human rights advocates and international bodies, especially the United Nations, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), and the Arab League, in the face of the carnage only encourages Israeli officials to escalate the violence in Gaza.

Gaza, with a population of some 1.5 million and an area of about 368 square kilometers, where a Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule, the Stone Intifada, started in 1987, is the heartland of Palestine’s Islamic resistance.

That’s why the Zionist regime has always regarded Gaza as the center of opposition to the concessions policy adopted by the Fatah movement and some regional Arab states.

When the Hamas government came to power in January 2006, it had to face major political and security challenges, both domestically and internationally.

At home, the obstructionism of the Fatah movement, the Palestinian Authority, and PA President Mahmoud Abbas led to the Zionist regime’s nine-month blockade of Gaza, which was initiated to topple the democratically-elected Hamas government.

In response to the Palestinian people’s resistance, the Israeli government has been intensifying the restrictions.

In the international arena, the so-called moderate Arab countries, along with the United States and other Western countries, have made every effort to exclude Hamas from Palestine’s political arena and strengthen the government of Mahmoud Abbas while trying to undermine the democratic Hamas government. [...]

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Some views of the Gaza black-out

We're about to enter an interesting period for students of Middle East media coverage:

Guardian: "Gaza plunged into darkness as Israeli fuel blockade takes effect":

Parts of Gaza were pitched into darkness last night after its only power plant was shut down following a move by Israel to halt fuel shipments under its new closure of the small, overcrowded strip of land.

As fuel supplies ran out, the plant was shut down. Earlier, queues formed on the streets and at petrol stations and warehouses selling cooking gas as the shortages began to take effect. Blackouts have stretched to 12 hours a day in recent weeks.

The closure came after a week of the most intense conflict between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza for more than a year. Nearly 40 Palestinians have been killed in the past week, at least 10 of them civilians.[...]

According to the blurb accompanying the link on the main page: "Gaza City in darkness after Israel blocked fuel shipments to electricity plant."

Ynet: "IDF official rejects claims of humanitarian crisis in Gaza":

"There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza," a military official told Ynet Sunday, claiming that the Palestinians had enough food supply to last them for the next weeks, and that any reports of such a crisis were created and promoted by Hamas.

While admitting that the situation in the Gaza Strip was far from good, the official rejected claims that Gazans were suffering from a power shortage due to the shutting down of turbines at the local power plant.

"Even today, Israel is behind 70% of the power supply to Gaza, and therefore any claim to the effect that there are electricity problems in Gaza is unfounded," he stated. "These are media spins by interested parties. We did not cut back on electricity and don't intend to do so at this point.

"The Palestinians are in fact the ones who shut down power for several hours a day in a bid to create a crisis. At the moment, their fuel supply has not run out yet. If there is shortage of fuel oil at the power plants, they should ask themselves what happened to the supply they received." [...]

BBC: "Gaza City plunged into darkness":

The only power plant in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip has shut down because of a lack of fuel, Palestinian officials say, blaming Israeli restrictions.

Gaza City was plunged into darkness after the plant's turbines stopped.

Israel's closure of border crossings amid continued rocket fire from Gaza has brought the delivery of almost all supplies, including fuel, to a halt.

But Israel, which provides 60% of Gaza's power, says the territory still has sufficient fuel stocks.

The UN believes Gaza's 1.5m inhabitants face serious hardship and one of its officials said unheated hospitals were having to rely on generators for operations. [...]

Israeli skepticism is reported following the heading "'No shortage.'" That's after 15 one-sentence paragraphs.

Al Jazeera: "Israel keeps up raids amid blackout":

Gaza City has been plunged into darkness after its only power plant was shut down on the third day of a crippling Israeli fuel blockade of the Palestinian territory.

But the blackout did not stop Israel from continuing its military offensive, launching air raids in northern Gaza that killed at least two Palestinians late on Sunday.

Sunday's power plant shutdown has prompted fears of a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians said the worst affected could be the health sector, with hospitals failing to provide services in the absence of electricity.

"At least 800,000 people are now in darkness," Derar Abu Sissi, general director of the plant, said.

"The catastrophe will affect hospitals, medical clinics, water wells, houses, factories - all aspects of life." [...]

There is whole section called "Patients at risk." Here is an excerpt:

[...] Dr Medhat Abbas, head of the crisis management unit at the health ministry in Gaza, said that electricity from generators would only be available for a few more hours at the Al-Nasser children's hospital.

"These patients and these children are facing their destiny and they will die soon," he told Al Jazeera.

"They escaped from their poor houses were they have very cold weather ... The families brought them here to be saved in the incubator. Now the incubator and the nursery will be out of electricity.

"What sort of humanitarian law is this?" [...]

There is a great deal more to the article, including four of those BBC-style paragraph/sentences devoted to the "Israeli response." MPAC-UK reaches a pinnacle of hysteria, of course. EOZ is disgusted at the Mainstream Media. I am struck, as I often am, by the way in which a restrained but ambiguous approach on Israel's part is inevitably a public relations disaster.

Update: It seems to be the season for blackouts.

Linkim 1/20/08

Haveil Havalim 150 is up! Carnival of the Insanities is up!

University of Michigan Press may drop Pluto Press, publisher of Shahak, Pilger, Chomsky. (h/t: Martin Kramer)

Der Spiegel: "Anti-Semitism Book Could Land Historian in Jail"

j. "The Naziest place on earth"

Mere Rhetoric: "Abbas To Israel: I Won't Take Any More Of Your Land If You Keep Defending Yourselves"*

iowahawk: "Bylines of Brutality"

It's Almost Supernatural: "Human Rights Watch Takes SA Foreign Policy to Task"

Mystical Paths: "INTIMIDATION ! ! !" (h/t: Isreallycool)

The Muqata: "Censoring Bush's call for Palestinian 'right of return'"*

A new group J-blog

*Notable at HH.

Beethoven as Rapist

Wall Street Journal Online has a good current article about Beethoven's Ninth, including the following odd interlude:

Naturally, the Ninth Symphony has its critics, and chief among them is a new breed of musicologist who sees the organizing principle of Western art music -- its reliance on the gravitational pull of tonal centers, and the artful control of musical tension and resolution -- as a direct reflection of the male libido and its primal urge toward domination. One of the leading figures of this school of thought, Susan McClary, found in the opening movement of Beethoven's masterpiece the "murderous rage of a rapist incapable of attaining release" (in her article "Getting Down Off the Beanstalk"; she subsequently toned down the language for a reprint in a published collection, but the sentiments remained the same).

According to the ever-useful Wikipedia, here is a fuller quote of McClary's original passage:

The point of recapitulation in the first movement of the Ninth is one of the most horrifying moments in music, as the carefully prepared cadence is frustrated, damming up energy which finally explodes in the throttling murderous rage of a rapist incapable of attaining release.

And here is how she revised it:

The point of recapitulation in the first movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony unleashes one of the most horrifyingly violent episodes in the history of music. The problem Beethoven has constructed for this movement is that it seems to begin before the subject of the symphony has managed to achieve its identity.

What's "horrifyingly violent" about that? Incomplete revisions endanger coherence. Unless you're Beethoven maybe.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Qassam Brigades Info: "What if the Zionist entity executed its threatens and assassinated your leaders, How your response will be look like?"

This is from an interview-style article at Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades Information Office entitled "Abu Obaida, the English spokesman, answers important Questions about the Brigades." I'll just post some of the more interesting ones:

What is the justification behind the martyrdom operations against the " Israeli" civilians?

There is no justification for targeting civilians. It is against Islam to deliberately kill unarmed civilians during jihad. In addition, our doctrine is to target the enemies army, security services, and support apparatus. But it is known that Zionist society is a militarized society. Service in the army is mandatory; and reserve duty continues past the age of 40. Our determined stance is that unarmed persons on both sides of the conflict should be left out of the fighting. However, we will not accept giving the enemy a free hand against our civilians . . .

The politicians in the Zionist entity have plans to execute more bloody operations against the brigades and Hamas, what can you say about that?

They have been doing that for 20 decades. Nothing new here. They have failed to eliminate us; and their failure, Allah-willing, will continue till we attain all our rights.

What if the Zionist entity executed its threatens and assassinated your leaders, How your response will be look like?

We do not and will not discuss details. But let us compare Hamas before and after the assassinations of Sheikh Yassin, Eng. Abu Shanab, and Dr. Rantisi. We have gained strength from these painful losses; and our organization has become more powerful. We are not a figurehead organization; we are a resistance movement with deep roots in our Palestinian, Arab and Islamic culture. We are only the tip of the iceberg of a nation of hundreds of millions of freedom-loving Muslims.

What is your message to the Zionist entity?

Our message is clear. We will not give up a single right of ours; and we will continue the struggle till our rights are restored. Till then the sword will be the judge between us . . .

How does one become a Member of Al Qassam In Gaza?

Al-Qassam chooses its members. We do not have an open registration policy.

I guess the booster club is open.

Why does Hamas stay silent about kouffaar regimes who make their support for Abbas and al-Fatah?

Our struggle is against the Zionist enemy. We are not in a war against non-Muslims or against Muslims who support parties that act against the resistance. However, we make it clear that we will defend our resistance project with all our strength. We will not allow any party to interfere or hinder our resistance action.

How come Ezzedeen al-Qassam don't punish these regimes?

We take actions, covert and visible. However, our main enemy is the Zionist occupation. We will not let this enemy rest by getting involved in other conflicts . . .

Will Hamas make the most of its weaponry and existing capabilities, by increasing the usefulness of its weapons? This can be done readily by adapting Qassam rockets to carry new warheads like smoke, teargas, anti tank, incendiary and cluster sub-munitions. It can also include the use of thermite warheads on rockets and hand grenades. Thermite will melt any Zionist armored vehicles and structures.

We are doing our best to upgrade our capabilities . . .

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Yasser Hated Needles

Yasser hated needles so bad
I guess I knew it was nothin' to do with Jihad
The first time I seen him cry
Was after one of them things came nigh
Yasser hated needles so bad . . .

Wanna add a verse or two to the song parody? Feel free to use the comments section.

Dissident Voice: Zahar "has saved more Jewish lives . . . than . . . Olmert. And how has he been rewarded?"

No good deed goes unpunished:

Hamas’s second in command, Mahmoud al Zahar, has saved more Jewish lives in his short tenure as Palestinian Foreign Minister, than Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. And how has he been rewarded?

Yesterday his son, Hussam al Zahar, was shot dead while defending a civilian enclave in the Palestinian territory by a roving band of Israeli troops. The young man was not connected to any terrorist action. He is simply got in the way of an Israeli bullet and now he’s dead. End of story.

18 other Palestinian men were killed in the attack which has been condemned by foreign leaders around the world. But not in the United States where such barbarity is considered laudable.

Even American stooge, Mahmoud Abbas, blasted the raid saying, “What happened today is a massacre, a slaughter against the Palestinian people. Our people cannot keep silent over these massacres.”

There are photos in Aljazeera of the elder al Zahar offering a final prayer over the corpse of his dead son. It is very sad. This is his second son to be killed by the Israelis. His eldest son was killed in a bombing raid two years ago that was aimed at him. Al Zahar still has not recovered.

As part of the democratically-elected government of the Palestinian people, al Zahar supported Hamas suspension of all suicide bombings within Israel.

How many Jewish lives have been saved by the directive?

At the same time, Israel’s vain and stupid Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert–whose public approval is a paltry 4%–is responsible for the deaths of 113 Israeli soldiers by his bloody and pointless invasion of Lebanon a year ago.

Consider the paradox: Hamas leaders are now saving more Jewish lives than Israel’s own Prime Minister. What bitter irony. [...]

This article kinda makes you want to say "Don't tase me, Bro."

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

"The Zionists and their masters should know that they are regarded as accomplice in these crimes and will be put on trial in future"

More examples of Ahmadinejad's bellicose rhetoric concerning Israel. From Mehr News:

Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has condemned Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, saying the Zionist regime and its allies should be brought to justice.

In a telephone conversation with Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal on Saturday, Ahmadinejad said, "Crimes against Palestinians have reached their peak. The Zionists and their masters should know that they are regarded as accomplice in these crimes and will be put on trial in future."

I wonder who those "masters" are in A's mind. The Big Satan? Some unseen cabal?

"Today the Zionists have reached a dead end in Palestine and will not benefit from their criminal acts."

He called on the Palestinians to be patient and rely on God, saying, "I am sure that the Palestinian people will pass through the hard times honorably and successfully."

Ahmadinejad said supporting the Palestinian nation is a religious duty, and Iran will stand by them to the day of victory.

Meshaal, for his part, expressed appreciation for Iran’s support for Palestine.

He briefed Ahmadinejad on the latest developments in the occupied territories and asserted that the Zionist regime must end the siege of Gaza.

"Although Gaza’s agricultural and industrial sectors have been harmed seriously and Palestinians are under heavy pressure, they will continue resistance to achieve victory," Meshaal observed.

Hamas cares about "agricultural and industrial sectors"?

Al-Jazeera has contacts with Israelis because "the knowledge about the enemy's opinion would help the Muslim media to consolidate their position"

Al-Jazeera addresses Muslims concerns. From IRIB:

Aljazeera News Director Waddah Khanfar acknowledged that most of Arab media and television channels have proved little efficient to reflect the realities in the world of Islam, not least Palestine.

"In my opinion, there is a news vacuum regarding the Palestinian issue," he told Qodsna reporter Wednesday.

"News coverage is not enough. We must also analyze and examine the Palestinian developments," he added.

"The problem is that the Palestinian issue has undergone daily developments. This would make the audience fed up. We must renovate the issue by analysis and examination of the details," he encouraged.

Asked why the Aljazeera network keeps ties with the Israeli officials, the director general said that the knowledge about the enemy's opinion would help the Muslim media to consolidate their position.

"Interviews with Israeli officials never means normalization of ties and I don't think any one would read the interviews as that," he added.

"Israelis too has criticized us. In the recent war against Lebanon they refused to allow our reporters to operate," he added.

Asked about Aljazeera news policies about the Palestinian issue, Khanfar said the TV Network has provided its staff with news guidelines, called "professional media attitude manual," the main aim of which to teach the staff to cover news material responsibly.

They must loan it to CNN. That would explain a lot.

"Our editorial policy recognizes the Palestinian dead as martyrs. It is fortunate that many giant media do not observe the idea," he added.

That was probably supposed to read "unfortunate."

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

"Raging waves of a new great revolutionary upswing rolled over the whole country"

I see, that's how they got to be so prosperous:

The DPRK has made a victorious advance, breaking through difficulties lying in chronicles in the great spirit of the times.

This is eloquently illustrated by the Kanggye spirit that kindled the flames of a new great revolutionary upsurge in the DPRK when its people had to make an "Arduous March" and a forced march previously unknown due to natural disasters that hit it for several consecutive years and the U.S. imperialists' moves to isolate and stifle it.

Songun metaphor alert!

In those days when the country was standing at the crossroads of life and death, Kim Jong Il unfolded a far-reaching blueprint to cut the Gordian knot on the pattern of Jagang Province which had shared the destiny with the revolutionary headquarters in each period of ordeals.

Immensely inspired by the trust shown by him in pushing them to the foreground of the era, the people of Jagang Province registered miraculous successes. They built or reinforced dozens of minor power stations in a little more than six months and operated hundreds of local industry factories and provided tens of thousands of families with lighting with the electric power generated by them.

He visited Kanggye in January Juche 87 (1998) when a new wave of innovation was sweeping Jagang Province and made a tour of over 6 000 ri in a few days for on-the-spot guidance in defiance of the intense cold of midwinter.

Going round minor power stations and a number of industrial establishments bearing the marks of the fighting spirit and sweat of provincial people, he said the people of Jagang Province had shown with practical examples how one should uphold the Party in such hard times as those days. He named their fighting spirit "Kanggye spirit" and made the whole country learn from it.

I think we have a Juche sentence of the day:

Raging waves of a new great revolutionary upswing rolled over the whole country when the Kanggye spirit, an embodiment of the revolutionary soldier spirit, was spreading over the society with great influence and attraction.

The devoted struggle of the working class across the country brought back to normal operation in 1999 thousands of industrial establishments which had been lying dead nationwide and many of them overfulfilled their annual plans.[...]

The propaganda division certainly did.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Bobby Fischer, A"H

Bobby Fischer, the man who "busted" the King's Gambit, has passed away at the age of 64. That's also the number of squares on a chessboard. According to Kasparov:

If one may judge a player's strength by comparing him with his contemporaries, it seems to me that Fischer's achievement is unsurpassed. The gap between him and his closest rivals was the widest there ever was between a World Champion and the other top-ranking players of his time. He was some 10-15 years ahead of his time in his preparation and understanding. This could be attributed in part to his dedication to the game, which was unequaled by any other player before or since.

For a round-up that discusses Fischer's demons, see Soccer Dad.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

The 10th of Shevat

The 10th of Shevat is a "Chabad holiday." Chabad.org describes the significance of the day as follows:

"Yud Shevat" -- the 10th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat -- is a most significant date on the Chassidic calendar. It is the yahrtzeit (anniversary of the passing) of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880-1950). It is also the day when, in 1951, the seventh Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994), formally accepted the leadership of Chabad-Lubavitch with a historic maamar (discourse) and address at a farbrengen (chassidic gathering) marking the first anniversary of his predecessor's passing.

As I usually point out on these kinds of days, on Thursday night your local Chabad House or Chabad Center will probably be having an event, a farbrengen, at which any Jew will be welcome. The proceedings will involve eating, drinking, singing Chassidic melodies, and hearing an inspirational speaker. Try to attend.

See also Life-of-Rubin and Aussie Echo.

Tags: Yud Shevat, Chabad, Lubavitch, Rebbe, farbrengen

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Paul Grubach at Press TV (Iran): "Holocaust revisionists and the hypocrisy of the French government"

If Holocaust denial were not criminalized, then the following vile piece of trash, "an open letter to France's Ambassador to the US, Pierre Vimont" by Holocaust denier Paul Grubach, could not exploit its criminalization:

Dear Ambassador Vimont

It has been reported that revisionist historian Robert Faurisson will face trial on charges that he made statements at the Iran Holocaust Conference in December 2006, which cast doubt on the d Holocaust.

As you know, the Gayssot Act of 1990 prohibits any public doubt in France about the Holocaust. This legal action was apparently initiated by former President Jaques Chirac. The duplicity, hypocritical double standards, and intellectual impotence of the French government are appalling. Offend Zionist Jews and the French government erupts in indignation.

Yet, if someone makes public statements that are offensive to Muslims, this is depicted as an expression of “free speech.”

The case of the high school philosophy teacher and author, Robert Redeker, illustrates the hypocrisy and double standard most clearly. In a commentary in the center-right daily Le Figaro, he made a scathing attack upon the Prophet Mohammed and the Islamic religion.

[Press TV is obliged to omit a certain Robert Redeker's quote from the original text.]

The French government labeled his statements as “expressions of free speech.” He was not put on trial or dismissed from his job. After receiving death threats, including one from an online Islamic forum, Redeker went into hiding under police protection.

In a show of support, the French government came to the defense of Mr. Redeker. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin called the threats "unacceptable." He then added this most blatant falsehood: "We are in a democracy. Everyone has the right to express his views freely, while respecting others, of course." (See The New York Times, 30 September 2006, p. A 3)

That this is an outrageous lie is demonstrated by the plight of Dr. Faurisson. In 1991 he was removed from his university chair on the basis of his Holocaust revisionist views under the Gayssot Act. Many years later he was given a three-month suspended jail term for Holocaust revisionist remarks he made on Iranian television in October 2006.

The double standard here is blatantly obvious. The French government defends a man who insults the Islamic religion, despite the fact that his statements are offensive to millions of Muslims. Indeed, not only did they defend his right to freedom of speech in a well publicized statement, but they offered him police protection as well.

Yet, this same French government allows a French professor to be removed from his university chair, orders criminal probes into his comments, and gives him a suspended jail sentence because of his Holocaust revisionist beliefs. This clearly falsifies Prime Minister Dominque de Villepin's hypocritical claim that France is a democracy “where everyone has the right to express his views freely, while respecting others." One has the right to insult and attack the Islamic religion and deny the existence of God, but Holocaust revisionists are not allowed to freely express their viewpoints. The free speech rights of revisionists like Dr. Faurisson are routinely violated.

Furthermore, it appears as though the policy of the French government to prosecute Holocaust revisionists is simply a reflection of the wishes of influential French Jews. It was reported in the February 4, 2006 issue of The International Jerusalem Post (p.10) that filmmaker Claude Lanzmann wants Holocaust revisionism to be outlawed. In his own words: “How do you fight against Arab denial of the Holocaust? Certainly not like in Western countries. But I don't know, I'm not Sephardic…It has to be outlawed, like in France, that's all.”

If you do prosecute Dr. Faurisson, this will not only demonstrate the French government's hypocrisy, but it will also help to show that the Holocaust legend really is a weak and flimsy ideology that cannot be defended with reason and science. In a word, the Holocaust is a false doctrine that needs oppressive laws and prison sentences to protect it from rational criticism.

Sincerely, Paul Grubach

Ho-hum, Iran provides more evidence against itself.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Monday, January 14, 2008

Michael Lerner on the "handful of unknown people who are bombing Sderot"

From Daily Kos--Where else? The title is "A Rabbi in the Mosque":

[...] In a subsequent dinner with the leaders of the mosque and the Imam I heard many stories of frustration as they described to me various interfaith activities with the Jewish community in which they had participated, only to find that the friendly atmosphere closed down totally when they tried to get Jewish community leaders or lay people to acknowledge the suffering of the Palestinian people. Several of the participants in this discussion were Palestinians themselves, others were from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. They told me that they truly hoped that inviting me to speak would be a first step toward creating a deeper kind of dialogue that was open to hearing and acknowledging the pain of the Palestinian people (for example around the collective punishment currently being inflicted on the entire population of Gaza in response to the vicious and unjustified violence of a handful of unknown people who are bombing Sderot . . .

I did a Google search on "Sderot claims responsibility"

Here are the entities mentioned in the various items that come up in the first page of results:

Hamas
Al-Aqsa Brigades
Hamas again
Islamic Jihad
PRC
PRC again
Islamic Jihad again
Al-Aqsa again (That's Fatah)

Update: Hamas just took responsibility for Tuesday's qassam attack on Sderot. Hamas is led by two of the robed gentlemen pictured above.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Linkim 1/13/08

Haveil Havalim 149 is up! Carnival of the Insanities is up!

Israel Matzav: "Israel to go after bloggers?"

SerandEz: "Blessing on Bush?"

Simply Jews: "Norman Finkelstein in Lebanon"

Judeosphere: "Starstruck"

EOZ: "When scholarship can get you killed"

Cross-Currents: "Prisoner of ‘the fanaticism of reason’"

Mere Rhetoric: "No, Israel Is Not Planning To Wipe Out The Hamas Leadership Next Week"

Amir Taheri: "The Day the Americans Sunk Khomeini's Navy"

Final Status talks timed to coincide with Pappe-Finkelstein Continued Existence talks

According to the AP:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the most serious peace talks in seven years would begin on Monday and the final deal must address all the sensitive issues including Jerusalem.

Abbas said his chief negotiator, former Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, would meet his Israeli counterpart, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, as part of U.S. President George W. Bush's push for a statehood agreement before leaving office.

"All the issues will be discussed ... We told Bush that we will not accept delaying any of the final-status issues," Abbas said in a speech, referring to state borders, the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, and Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. [...]

Abbas went on to explain that the timing of the talks is particularly favorable because the question of Israel's continued existence is going to be settled at the Oxford Union debate between Norman Finkelstein and Ilan Pappe with Finkelstein assuming the role of Israel's defender. "If it happens to be determined that Israel is entitled to a final status that involves its continued existence," he explained, "then we can discuss what that final status should look like." (h/t: Martin Kramer)

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Dissident Voice on the origins of Ashkenazi Jewry

I sometimes link to items in the Dissident Voice, a blog-like self-styled "radical newsletter" that currently features a contribution from Cindy Sheehan. Recently it has been running a multi-part series called "Defining Israeli Zionist Racism," written by Dissident Voice "co-editor" Kim Peterson and a collaborator named B.J. Sabri. Part 12 addresses the topic of Jews who became refugess from Arab countries following the founding of Israel. According to Peterson (who "enjoys scuba diving, working out, and advancing the struggle for a world based on principles of peaceful and equitable sharing and respect for the environment and life") and Sabri

the total number of Arabs of Jewish faith from Egypt, Syria, Libya, etc. that Britain (again with the complicity of Arab rulers under its control) managed to send to OCCUPIED PALESTINE so the newly formed Zionist state would not collapse because of lack of population, could not have exceeded at best the 200,000. Any number beyond this is falsification.

We also learn that

the expulsion of Arabs of Jewish faith including a genuine minuscule minority of descendents from the ancient Hebrews (not to be mixed with European converts to Judaism), did not happen automatically, but was, again, engineered by Britain, France, and the United States.

Where do all these unsourced Arthur Koestler-like assertions about the origins of Ashkenazi Jewry come from?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Nasrallah: "Victory shall be ours by blood and will"

"Blood and will"--that has a nice Nazi sound. The source is Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. This kind of rhetoric goes over well in Iran evidently:

Secretary-General of the Lebanese Islamic Resistance Movement, Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah slammed US President Bush for trying to force Lebanon to acknowledge Zionist regime and Palestinians to give up on right of return.

Nasrallah said Friday that "President Bush is forcing the Palestinians to give up on the right of return and accept refugees settling in other Arab nations."

Nasrallah spoke at a rally honoring the Muslin New Year, which was held at the Sayyed Al-Shuhada mosque in Beirut. "The Zionists would take their pick out of the '67 territories, Beit Ul Moqaddas and the settlement, and will give the Palestinians whatever crumbs they'll have left over."

"He (Bush) will demand the Lebanese accept reality and acknowledge Israel_ that is Bush's testament, which he feels like he can dictate to us," said Nasrallah.

Resistance, he continued, is the only way: "We will not emigrate_ We will stay on our land, in our cities and villages, even if our homes are destroyed and our soldier captured."

"The only way to deal with the Israeli plan for our region in through resistance... As I have promised you before _ we are going from victory to victory, and it shall be ours by blood and will."

"If he goes back 60 years, who started the killings? The Palestinians didn't do it, and the Jews who lived in Arab states lived peacefully. The ones doing the killing were Zionist gangs."

Nasrallah also slammed American media outlets and their pro-American-Zionist allies for presenting Zionist regime as a symbol of democracy in the region. His comments were met by chants of "Death to America and to Israel" from the crowd.

Bush, warned Nasrallah, views Israel "as a Jewish state, that is, racist...its existence is premised on race. Israel aspires for a racially pure existence." [...]

Nothing is more egalitarian than an Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Thursday, January 10, 2008

North Korea produces "appealing poems," nuclear subterfuge

The collectivization of artistic endeavors always produces such Songun results!

Poets of the Central Committee of the Korean Writers Union created dozens of poems calling upon the people to turn out in the general advance for this year.

The poem "May the sea of single-minded unity meander" fully represents the faith and will of servicepersons and the people to single-mindedly uphold the ideology and leadership of Kim Jong Il and resolutely defend Korean-style socialism despite any ordeals and hardships.

Among them are such poems as "Storm of general advance arises," "Call of the country" and "Let's advance faster for higher goal on swift horse of Songun," which vehemently call upon the people to accelerate the all-out drive for building an economic power in the same spirit and vigor as was displayed when they built socialism on the ruins.

There are also "We will further glorify our mother Republic," "Before the motherland" and other poems fully reflecting the firm determination of the army and people to proudly greet the grand festival in September with signal labor achievements this year.

Undoubtedly North Korea produced such an artistic flowering by redirecting the resources formerly devoted to Uraniun enrichment. As John Bolton explains in the WSJ:

[...] In the aftermath of the Feb. 13 agreement, North Korea had to develop a cover story for its uranium-enrichment activities, as well a way to conceal its stock of plutonium and actual nuclear weapons. And yet -- despite the seemingly active and continuing collaboration by the U.S. State Department in coming up with a convincing line of patter -- Pyongyang still insists it never engaged in uranium enrichment, producing as evidence melted-down tubes. Melting the tubes was curious in and of itself, suggesting that in their original form they appeared much more like centrifuge equipment than artillery barrels. The regime made a fatal mistake, however, because the metal showed unmistakable traces of highly-enriched uranium (HEU).

They had made a great leap forward with the might of Songun!

Perhaps even the State Department's East Asia Bureau was shocked at this evidence of North Korean duplicity. In any event, the "dual use" dodge was now out of play, and Pyongyang had to be persuaded to come up with a more convincing cover story. Even this they have now refused to do.

The timing is important, because elements within the U.S. intelligence community were questioning the community's 2002 assessment that North Korea had launched a production-scope procurement effort for enrichment equipment. This effort, similar in origin and intent to the recent National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear program, may well have been sidetracked by the findings of HEU, which at least in part reinforced the 2002 conclusions.

Moreover, whatever the North Korean declaration says about its nuclear activities -- assuming just for sport that we actually get a declaration -- it was always only a first step in a long process of verification, and not even the most important one. If North Korea and the State Department, working together, can come up with something they think will pass the public smile test once it is released, we still need to verify the accuracy and completeness of the declaration. Here is where State has failed most obviously: There has yet to be, 11 months after the Feb. 13 agreement, even a hint of what specific mechanisms will verify a declaration. Unless and until this vacuum is filled, we are going nowhere fast in denuclearizing North Korea. [...]

The singleminded unity of the servicepersons is smashing all Imperialist plots! (h/t: Lucianne.com)

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Greenland to melt and drown Alexandria

Sort of reminds you of the interconnectedness of things, doesn't it? From Islam Online:

[...] Alexandria hosts the biggest harbor in Egypt. It is an important economic and trade hub and contributes nearly 40 percent of the country's industrial activities. According to projections from computer climate models, a large part of the city may be inundated due to climate change.

"Projections depend on lots of things," said Dr. Piers Forster, a Roberts Research Fellow in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. "You get a whole lot of different scenarios and you put them into your climate computer and it produces several models." [...]

"We can predict quite accurately how sea level will rise by thermal expansion – and this could be anywhere between 20 cm to 60 cm by 2100, or half this by 2050," explained Forster. "This won't be too bad, but some scientists are predicting that Greenland could melt very fast - and there is an extra 600 cm of sea-level sitting on top of Greenland."

This could easily lead to Alexandria – and several other coastal cities in Egypt – completely disappearing under water. "However, there are big arguments between the experts as to whether Greenland will melt fast." Some think it could happen in 50 years, while others say it may take up to a millennium. [...]

So it wouldn't be a good thing to have an office pool about.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Palestinian Chronicles backs Ron Paul

Put on your tin-foil keffiyeh:

[...] Ron Paul is the only candidate to openly question support to Israel. US support of Israel was and is one of the main reasons behind the 911 attacks and subsequent “jihad” against American Imperialism and Missionary Democracy, attacks not against American’s or our way of life, but war waged against failed foreign policy which is contrary to America’s core ideals; (2) an Israeli, US endorsed policy that supports war crimes, murder of innocent children and political opponents, land theft, the collective punishment of a people while violating US and International law, ignoring clear UN mandates such as UN Resolution 242.(3) There is no conflict between Israel and Palestine, that was resolved by UN 242. All are usurpations of the Constitution, yet only Ron Paul dares to speak out.

Only Ron Paul has clearly defined “terrorism.” No candidate has done this. Terrorist acts are a war tactic, not insane actions of “extremists.” There is no hate of our way of life, America is not indiscriminately attacked by extremists, we are attacked because of our governments failed foreign policy decisions that do not reflect American ideals. Israel’s domination of American Middle Eastern Foreign Policy must end, Ron Paul is the hope for that tomorrow that will come.

Israeli oppression of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Iraq must end, but out of the myriad of web sites and organizations, even among governments that oppose such actions, there is no centralized effort to effectuate political change which creates strategic results. Though unintentional, this incongruence becomes political apathy, the only benefactor being Zionism. Patriots against tyranny must become active politically in America’s never ending saga against tyranny and usurpations of its constitution.

The American ideal of government will always be on the defense against usurpations, even internally; “We The People” was a revolution that is alive once again today, through “The Ron Paul Revolution.” The Palestinian 50 year struggle against occupation will possibly become a continued distant long shot unless the groups that call for an end to this saga unite, overcome political apathy, quell infighting and begin positive involvement in this 2008 Presidential Election. Collectively they must support the only viable solution to this travesty, America’s long shot, Ron Paul.

Take that, Zio-Trilateralists!

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Roseanne on dividing Jerusalem

What better way to foster interfaith unity!

i noticed that the subject of dividing jerusalem into three was covered on the front page of drudge report today. This was the first time I ever saw the story make it to the news.

I have written here of my desire to see that happen...a tribunal of muslims, jews and catholics administering the City of David according to the vision of David himself:
Jerusalem as a living example of International Interfaith.

I see the three different interpretations of Abrahamic Law (which was basically about replacing human and animal sacrifice with a monetary system) becoming ONE together. I see the rebuilding of The Temple in Jerusalem as allegorical. The thought of it still relevant today.

This is what was taught in the temple: brotherhood and peace, charity, justice and the apportioning of wealth to include caring for the poor. No private wealth was allowed. The top ten percent of the GNP of the city went first to caring for the needy and the poor, and the orphans. David's wife was Arab.

THE CITY OF DAVID is about Utopian Peace.

Oddly enough, that last statement is true.

Press TV (Iran): "Secret Service fears for Obama's life"

Let's see, how can we spin Secret Service protection for a leading candidate?

The US Secret Service is keeping a watchful eye on Senator Obama, fearing the first potential black US president may be assassinated.

The Democratic presidential candidate now rivals US President George W. Bush in security with a dozen Secret Service agents at his disposal, Washington Times reported.

The agents, wearing dark suits and earpieces, lead bomb-sniffing dogs through event venues, sweep all equipment brought by journalists and flank the candidate as he plunges into crowds of supporters during his campaign meetings.

"For many black supporters, there is a lot of anxiety that he will be killed," said Melissa Harris-Lacewell, a Princeton University professor.

Although it is unknown whether the Illinois senator has received an explicit death threat, he has been under federal watch since early last year.

Obama's campaign has also refused to give any details regarding the security of the Democratic Iowa caucus' winner.

The 1980s black presidential candidate Jesse Jackson had also received Secret Service protection while campaigning because of the violent death threats made against him.

Former State Secretary Colin L. Powell ruled out a presidential run in part because his wife expressed fears he would be assassinated.

Monday, January 07, 2008

Decay Deficit in Deutschland

As a current Der Spiegal article explains, the deceased in Germany have been overstaying their welcome. Germany evidently likes to reuse those graveyards, but the dearly departed are refusing to cooperate. I doubt they'll be able to hold out long against the modern technological tools wielded by the living:

[...] Corpses are no longer decaying in many German cemeteries. Instead, the deceased become waxen, an uncanny process that has become so rampant it can no longer be ignored.[...]

A high moisture content in the subsoil combined with low temperatures and a lack of oxygen are the main culprits. These conditions transform the soft tissue of many bodies not into humus, but rather "a gray-white, paste-like, soft mass," says soil expert Rainer Horn from the Christian Albrecht University in Kiel, Germany.

As time passes, the remains of the departed coagulate to form "a hard, durable substance." When knocked with a spade, the wax-like bodies sound hollow.

This "grave wax" buildup has disturbed the natural cycle of decay -- and created a horror scenario for burial authorities. When bodies don't decompose, their graves can't be reused -- a common practice in Germany. Contrary to many other countries, where final resting places are traditionally maintained in perpetuity, Germany recycles cemetery plots after a period of 15 to 25 years. Experience has shown that the earthly remains of the deceased rot away almost entirely in this amount of time, but only under favorable soil conditions.

Many German cemeteries today have far from ideal conditions. To make matters worse, the problem appears to be a homemade one: "Huge blunders committed over the past few decades" are to blame, says engineer Heinrich Kettler, who specializes in reconditioning soils that have become unsuitable for decomposition. [...]

This widespread problem has given rise to an entire industry that aims to save the day with new methods of rot. The latest innovation on this morbid market is the Swiss-engineered Linder reconditioning system -- a severe method that involves deep incursions into cemeteries. After excavating the unusable soil, Linder fills the area with a "custom mixture of topsoil, woodchips and gravel." Finishing touches to the burial place include a drainage system with additional filter and seepage layers. [...]

The city of Cologne has ordered a total of 5,000 concrete vaulted chambers and the nearby town of Herne has purchased 3,000. Many wealthy private individuals order these sarcophagi, made of pre-fab components, as a final resting place. [Salesman Bernhard] Ufer delivered three of them recently to Kürten in the Rhineland for relatives of the late composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.

A straight-faced reference to a "late composer" in an article about decomposition? That's either authorial restraint or a missed opportunity.

These barren chambers are meant to offer the rot-friendly atmosphere that graveyard soils can no longer provide . . .

Some manufacturers have fine-tuned their product and installed filters in the concrete crypts. Now the funeral trade has pinned its hopes on another Swiss invention called "Rapid Rot," a fungal extract designed to accelerate the decomposition of wooden coffins.[...]

They're morbidly upbeat about their chances for success.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Sunday, January 06, 2008

I have a brilliant idea: free bulb choice

Now it seems that some people may need to use incandescent bulbs. If there is enough public support to pass a law mandating the switch to low-energy bulbs, then many people must want to convert to using them anyway. So never mind the law, and whoever still needs to use incandescent bulbs will be free to act accordingly.

Using environmentally-friendly light bulbs can be bad for your skin, say doctors.

The new energy-saving bulbs produce a more intense light and can exacerbate a range of existing skin problems.

Now it is feared that thousands of people may be unable to use electric light in their own homes, visit family and friends, or have access to employment and public services if the government's plan to phase out the normal variety of incandescent lighting goes ahead without exemptions.

The warning has been issued by Spectrum, an alliance of charities working with people with light sensitive conditions, and the British Association of Dermatologists.

It comes after the Migraine Action Association warned the energy-saving light bulbs could trigger migraines.

The government wants to phase out traditional, incandescent bulbs by 2011 but no allowances have been made for people suffering from light sensitive conditions who often suffer severe and painful reactions to fluorescent lighting and other forms of non-incandescent lighting.

Spectrum is running a campaign to raise awareness of the impact on people's health in response to the government decision to ban incandescent light bulbs. They claim as many as 340,000 people could be affected.[...]

From among those surviving the coming famine caused by the switch to biofuels.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Better dead than Knut?

Sniff . . . From Der Spiegel:

While Berlin Zoo is busy negotiating a Hollywood deal for its hand-reared celebrity Knut, Nuremberg Zoo is determined to avoid "Knutomania" for its newborn polar bears. It is even prepared to let them die in a strict hands-off policy.

Two polar bears have given birth to an unknown number of cubs in the southern German city of Nuremberg, but the zoo is determined to avoid what it calls "Knutomania" and is prepared to let the cubs die rather than hand-rear them should the mothers reject them.

"Vera" and "Wilma", two young polar bear females, gave birth three weeks and five weeks ago respectively, and Vera occasionally strolls out of her cave, sparking concern in the local media that she might not be showing enough interest in her offspring.

But Nuremberg's deputy director Helmut Mägdefrau told SPIEGEL ONLINE that the cubs will not be hand-reared like Knut, who was bottle-fed from birth in Berlin Zoo after his aging mother Tosca, 21, showed no interest in him.

"If something goes wrong, it goes wrong," said Mägdefrau. "If you don't let the mothers practice, they'll never learn how to bring up their cubs. We have two young mothers here and if something goes wrong they'll always have other opportunities."[...]

"Opportunities"?! They're little lovable white cubs!! Sorry . . . I got a little carried away . . .

Linkim 1/6/08

Haveil Havalim 148 is up! Carnival of the Insanities is up!

Norman Finkelstein, according to MPAC-UK, "Destroys Israel Security Myth." As Judeosphere points out, he is also in Lebanon explaining why Hizbullah was "Right to Give Human Rights Watch the Boot."

As noted by Eye on the World, a new study "rips to shreds the Lancet 'study' that claimed 600,000 dead civilians in Iraq."

A Simple Jew announces that "Torah Or and Likuttei Torah [are] Now In English"

According to JTA, "Throughout his career, Obama has reached for Jewish support." We learn that "on domestic issues, Obama is savvy about Jewish social justice commitments."

Martin Kramer comments on this LA Times Editorial: "Israel's true friends are... Walt, Mearsheimer!"

Brian Whitaker argues that "The view that support for human rights around the world is tantamount to imperialism is based on a series of misconceptions." Most of the comments don't seem to buy it.

Note on the Template "upgrade": One of my goals was to regain the ability to save drafts. So far it didn't work. Stay tuned . . .

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Bad times for bikes

In Fullerton a disgruntled pedestrian booby-trapped a bike path with "nearly 50 holes":

Police said they arrested a man who acknowledged digging holes on a park bike trail as payback for nearly being run down by a cyclist.

Warren John Wilson, 52, faces a single felony count of vandalism, police Sgt. Linda King said Friday.

King said nearly 50 holes measuring about 1 foot by 2 feet have been found since June along a trail at Laguna Lake Park, and in some cases attempts had been made to hide them from cyclists. She said some riders went over their handlebars after hitting the holes, but none reported major injuries.

Detectives watching the trails questioned Wilson, who said he had nearly been run over by a mountain bike rider and began digging the holes in retaliation, King said. [...]

Meanwhile in India, a new, very cheap "People's Car" is set to be unveiled, one that should allow many Indians to upgrade from motorbikes to cars. Environmentalists are freaking out:

After years of secret preparation, the world's cheapest car will be unveiled in Delhi this week - delighting millions of Indians as much as it is horrifying environmentalists.

At 100,000 rupees (£1,290), the People's Car, designed and manufactured by Tata, is being marketed as a safer way of travelling for those who until now have had to transport their families balanced on the back of their motorbikes . . .

Last year just over one million cars and seven million motorbikes were sold in India. Tata wants to transform some of those motorbike buyers into car owners and believes that the company can eventually sell up to a million People's Cars a year. Analysts say the project could revolutionise car prices, not just in India, but globally. Several other manufacturers have similar products in the pipeline.

These figures alarm environmentalists, already concerned by the congestion and rising pollution levels in India's overcrowded cities. The Tata car is expected to sell for a few hundred pounds more than the most popular motorbikes and less than half the price of the current cheapest car on the market, a Maruti 800. Pollution analysts warn that such a drastic cut in prices could have devastating consequences . . .

Automobile analysts are curious to see how safety and environmental regulations will be met at that price. Tata has claimed that the vehicle would be no more polluting than a motorcycle and the launch was delayed to improve emission levels. But Indian emissions standards lag behind European levels, and cars are not subjected to crash impact standards. If the car were to meet Western regulations, its price tag would most probably shoot up.

These concerns are of little interest to millions of Indians who aspire to owning a car. At a gleaming Maruti showroom in south Delhi, manager Vivek Puri said that their sales patter was carefully designed to tap into the desires of the newly rich.

'When people are preparing to get married they want a car. It's a question both of safety and prestige. The way buses are driven in Delhi, it's difficult to save yourself if you're on a bike, but you've got a much higher chance if you're in a car. Status-wise, it's very important too.' [...]

They tell me that cars are also better for carpooling.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Mehr News: "A Gore agenda is simply genocidal imperialism hiding under a new mask"

Tehran Times and Mehr News dip more into general conspiracist literature than the more-official IRNA and IRIB do. Here we learn about the genocidal "Gore agenda" of the coming Hillary administration:

[...] A Gore agenda is simply genocidal imperialism hiding under a new mask, a new show. Instead of killing off the Indians by killing their buffalo, it kills off populations by removing their access to food in other ways. Once again, ‘they’ must be sacrificed so that ‘our’ way of life can continue and expand. We might note here that more Iraqis died under Bill Clinton’s sanctions than have been killed in the current Iraq war. In Bill Clinton’s time the pattern was invisible genocide, rather than the more violent Bush variety. Apparently in Hillary Clinton’s time we are to return to that earlier invisible pattern.

Clearly the consequences of a Gore agenda are genocidal, but one might question whether that is a primary intended outcome. I’ve been suggesting that it is, and I think more elaboration is in order on that point. I haven’t made the case very well yet. I’ve merely presented some of the evidence and suggested a pattern. In order to get a proper perspective on this issue, we need to step back a bit and consider the bigger picture of the industrialized world vis-à-vis the Third World in the face of a broad range of mounting resource shortages -- the strategic perspective of our ruling clique.

It seems very clear that the industrialized nations have no intention of changing the basic path they are on, or of abandoning capitalism. We can expect only more industrial growth, more energy consumption, continued use of energy-intensive agricultural methods, etc. The energy band-aids of a Gore agenda make no significant difference in this picture whatsoever, they simply affirm the intention to proceed with business as usual.

The only way the industrialized North can continue on this path is by taking over more and more of the Third World’s land, water, and resources for its own use. As the industrial appetite for resources continues to grow at a rapid rate, and as our global resources are increasingly stressed, we are going to see a very rapid expansion of Third World hunger and starvation -- the globalization of African-scale famines. This is inevitable while the North stays on this basic path -- whether we have Gore-like policies or some other set of policies is of little consequence.

This ‘inevitability’ of mass die-offs in the Third World is well known to those who run the industrial nations. From the perspective of the heights of power, the question becomes: “How can we manage these die-offs so that they cause the least disruption in the global economy, and so that they don’t arouse too much public outcry?” Of course, once you begin managing die-offs, you are then engaging in genocide, i.e., arranging for particular populations to die in preference to others.

The pattern for the management strategy has been made very clear in sub-Saharan Africa, where all those civil wars, genocidal atrocities, droughts, and famines have been occurring. Not many people realize that these disasters have been systematically imposed on Africa, by means of IMF requirements, covert destabilization programs, denial of medical care, the widespread distribution of automatic weapons, the manipulations of international banks, the dedication of agricultural land and water to Northern consumption, and the list goes on. Not only is Africa being starved to death by market forces, but the process is being accelerated by covert genocidal interventions. [...]

Apparently, having field-tested holocaust tactics in sub-Saharan Africa, a decision has been made to go global with the program. For this purpose, the Gore-style policies have the potential to be the appropriate Weapon of Mass Destruction, the equivalent in the starvation game to nukes in the kill-by-fire game. This decision to go global was evidently made some time ago, no doubt just before Gore was asked to make An Inconvenient Truth. The film was the first signal of which way the winds were going to blow, the first preview of the ‘new show’.

The primary mission of the Hillary administration, under the banners of ‘doing something about climate change and peak oil’, will evidently be to undertake a massive resource grab in the global South, leading to the selective and massive elimination of certain populations through starvation. In other words, the mission is to expand the starving-Africa model globally, a process that will presumably be helped along by the usual shadowy suspects in their usual destabilizing roles. [...]

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

On that "Moderate" MLA resolution

As covered in Inside Higher Ed, the Modern Language Association recently considered two resolutions considering the supposed to danger to academic freedom represented by the Ward Churchill case and the cases of other academics, presumably Norman Finkelstein and Nadia Abu El-Haj, who "criticize Zionism." The more "balanced" and "moderate" substitute resolution offered by (self-described in his book title "Manifesto of a Tenured Radical"?) Cary Nelson

noted that the "Middle East is a subject of intense debate," said it was "essential that colleges and universities protect faculty rights to speak forthrightly on all sides of the issue," and urged colleges to "resist" pressure from outside groups about tenure reviews and speakers and to instead uphold academic freedom. Nelson’s resolution did not identify one side or the other as victim or villain in the campus debates over the Middle East and said that academic freedom must apply to people "to address the issue of the Middle East in the manner they choose."

I'm not sure I agree with Judeosphere that hell froze over or that "sanity" prevailed at the MLA. Academic freedom isn't defined as tenure and freedom from outside criticism for extremists and shoddy scholars. Why is outside criticism inevitably "pressure" requiring "resistance"? Perhaps outside criticism should be listened to if it has intellectual validity and ignored if it doesn't.

Judging from the account given in the Inside Higher Ed article, the substitute resolution could easily be taken as vaguer, more controversy-avoiding expression of solidarity with Finkelstein, El-Haj, and Churchill. Did the substitute resolution refuse to take sides or did it simply avoid naming the side it was taking? What other tenure battles might the resolution have had in mind?

There is also the matter of campus speakers, but somehow I don't think the impetus for the resolution had anything to do with pro-Israel speakers who have been squelched, but rather involved such things as Juan Cole's complaint that "At . . . Harvard, there have been a number of disinvitees-- academics asked to speak and who then saw the invitation withdrawn, apparently on grounds of disagreeing with Alan Dershowitz." I suppose it comes down to how much of a rebuke might be seen in the radicals' failure to get the wording they wanted. Perhaps moonbats don't always get what they want, but if they try sometimes they find they get what they need.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Kamangir: “the Police cannot intervene in these cases”

Kamangir, a valuable source of glimpses into the Persian blogosphere, presents a disturbing quote from an Iranian official:

One of the high-commanders of the Police force stated a few days ago that in 63% of cases of murder with a female victim, women are killed by a family member and that "the Police cannot intervene in these cases" . . .

Roseanne World: "hilary clinton and barak hussein obama cannot win, and they are put in place to assure a victory by mitt romney"

This is one of the "40 Most Obnoxious Quotes of 2007," courtesy of Right Wing News:

hilary clinton and barak hussein obama cannot win, and they are put in place to assure a victory by mitt romney... this is the plan of all the insurance companies that are owned by Mormon interests. It is unfolding as the mormon church planned over the last fifty years. When Mitt is in, the total destruction of the separation between church and state will be complete, and the whole country will be like Utah...church owned and church run, from the newspapers to the radio and television stations. Karl Rove is their braintrust... a vote for Mitt is another vote for Karl

"Obnoxious" doesn't quite capture it. I see also that she posted a Chanukah message:

chanukkah . . . is about the power of light. I feel that the light is reaching the jews of america to end their support of israel. Israel is part of halliburton, a mythical land that means nothing at all, except the fact that every atrocity was visited upon anyone who ever wanted to live there. Let it stand as the graveyard of religion, as its ultimate monument to meaningless merciless aggression and cruelty. Let the vatican have it and administer it along with a representative from the most fiercely right wing of the zionists, and one from the most radical fundamentalist of Islam. Let those who wish to continue the murdering and the terrorism stay there, but Unnarmed. The rest of us, (the majority) who do not yet hate each other enough to want to destroy each other must move together now. to the safety of the middle.

Religion prevents united mind...Mystics tell us that the will of the people when united, is Godlike. Seperatism (religion) is the tool of Satan. The whole globe is the holy land.

Who knows what else lurks in those archives. Stay tuned . . .

IRNA: Supreme Leader anticipates Iowa Caucus?

Timely:

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that during elections campaigns all should respect candidates and avoid defaming them.

The Supreme Leader advised people to elect best candidates and termed elections as the most important issue of the Iranian people and as a scene to demonstrate people's wisdom and insight.

Addressing thousands of enthusiastic people in Yazd, the Supreme Leader lauded the sincere welcome accorded to him by people in the province and called the nation's national confidence as the main cause of their success in various fields.

Highlighting the importance of the 8th parliamentary elections in Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei called on the nation to massively turn out in the upcoming elections to elect the best possible candidates.

The Iranian people attach importance to elections in the country which demonstrates their firm determination, resistance, wisdom and rationality, the Supreme Leader said.

Ayatollah Khamenei said that enemies try to throw obstacles on the way of elections in Iran, adding that thanks to the will of the God Almighty, the efforts of enemies are doomed to fail and people through massive turn out in various elections have added to the glory of religious democracy.

People should choose the best candidates among qualified nominees who can better serve the nation, pointed out the Supreme Leader.

Good thing to point out. We wouldn't want people voting for the least qualified nominees.