June 2005 Archives

An emailer forwards the following review of a highly political book on Israeli archaeology by a (what else?) Columbia University (Barnard College) professor. Most interesting, no shocking, is that apparently the book, Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society, includes a chapter in which the destruction of Joseph's Tomb -- carried out by a rioting Palestinian Arab mob after the site was turned over to PA control -- which resulted not only in damage to the site, but loss of life as well (see here, here and here for more information) is lauded.

Shocking, coming as it does from an archaeologist employed by a major American University, but not so shocking when one realizes that the author, Nadia Abu el-Haj, is only part scientist and the other part polemicist, as so many modern university dwellers seem to be, not only endorsing the destruction of archaeological sites in her work, but also using her position as a political platform (she's name #1 on this Columbia divestment petition, as well as a signatory to the absurd letter released just before the Iraq War blaming Israel in advance for taking the opportunity to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians -- something it had neither the intention nor plans to do -- the letter was more of an indicator of the nature of the fevered minds responsible for it). If the following review is accurate, and any indication of the quality of the scholarship that lands one a job at a major American university, I think politics are only part of the problem.

Currently, this review, by Aren M. Maeir, is only available to an academic audience, but my emailer believes it should be available to a wider audience, and I agree, so here it is:

Before MEMRI, people could give these kinds of interviews abroad and no one would ever be the wiser. While still not broadcast widely, at least now there's a chance of people wising up.

MEMRI: Head of Islamic Center in Manhattan: Many Americans Believe 9/11 was Fabricated to Enable the Forging of a "New World Order"

On Muslims and 9/11:

On Jewish control of the US:

On American goals and the influence of the "despicable" Natan Sharansky:

What's interesting here is that Imam decries the goals of democratization and openness, the fears of ordinary Americans and the administration about the goals and behavior of Muslim citizens, then he turns around and says, "Of course we need to moderate ourselves, and we should be improving our societies..." He's so bigotted, he can't admit to hearing the truth when it comes from non-Muslims.

In light of the following article, I have an offer to make. (Hat Tip: emailers)

Targeted Caterpillar boosts PCUSA holdings by $737,548

Now, in light of your Church's holdings in this oppressor-enabling corporation, and in light of your clearly very strong feelings on the subject (see below: Is Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick of the PC(USA) Giving a Wink and a Nod to Terror?), I have an offer I'm sure you can't possibly refuse, and that will end up serving us both very well.

I have no doubt that the weight of all this ill-gotten gain, these dirty spoils, this filthy lucre, has you up at night trying to scrub the blood from your hands.

I can help!

Here is my offer, and I assure you, it is made in all sincerity. Are you ready? Here it is. I will buy ALL of the PC(USA)'s stock at the exact price you paid for it. I'm serious. I can make it happen. Think of it! No need for guilt. No need to stay up at night worrying over your complicity in all those razed homes! You will have profited not at all, and the church will not have lost anything, either. I'll even accept any of the dividend amounts your organization has received!

I know, I know, no need to thank me. My contact information is in the right side-bar. Have your people get in touch. We will make this happen.

Peace of mind is just an email away.

Robert Kraft seems to have found himself in the middle of a bit of an international incident. Seems that Kraft, in Russia for a conference on foreign investment, let Vladimir Putin "see" his diamond encrusted Super Bowl ring...and Putin pocketed it.

There's something metaphorical in this.

Boston Globe: For Putin, it's a gem of a cultural exchange

Update: Bob Kraft has released a statement saying it was intentionally given as a gift. Very diplomatic, either way.

Update: I was concerned whether this was real or not at first (it was forwarded to me in email without explanation), but it sure looks like the real thing. See here, here and here for more.

Update: The Jawa Report has a comprehensive link round-up and even more photos. Do have a look.

Andrew McCarthy on the predictable screams that the President had the audacity to speak the truth -- that the effort in Iraq is inextricably linked to 9/11 and the greater War on Terror (hat tip: mal):

NRO: It’s All About 9/11, The president links Iraq and al Qaeda — and the usual suspects moan.

Worth reading it all as a reminder.

Here's an example of some rare candor that's worth passing on. It's one thing when right of center blogs and publications point this out, quite another when it comes from the horse's mouth.

From the JPost article EU asks to host event in PA post-pullout

The EU may claim that they have an official position of supporting the existence of Israel, but the people they have given billions to do not. The EU pays appeasement cash to people who actually work contrary to their own stated goals...and when the recipients of the EU's largesse are done with the Saturday People...what will become of you, Mr. Borrell?

I believe after reading the exchange below that he is. Reverend Kirkpatrick is the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) -- the guy in charge at the PC(USA).

According to Will Spotts at the Truth in Love Network in a post entitled Curiouser and Curiouser, a group of Houston Presbyterians, concerned over the anti-Israel Divestment plans of their church organization, sent a letter to Rev. Kirkpatrick and several other high-ranking PC(USA) directors, outlining a series of issues following a tour in Israel to view things for themselves.

You can read the letter (Warning: PDF File!) Here. As Will says, "The writers make a sound argument."

They received a fairly detailed response from Rev. Kirkpatrick, which you can read here:

A Letter from the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly

Among other things, Rev. Kirkpatrick's letter displays an utter contempt for Israel's legitimate concerns concerning their construction of the Security Fence. For instance, he fails to acknowledge that the wall is concrete to prevent people shooting through it or cutting it -- the latter an act performed by what the Reverend refers to as "enterprising youth" -- and defends the characterization of the fence as "electrified" by stating is "[has], at times, been charged with enough electricity to harm or even kill those who try to breach or climb them." Well, of course if you cut an electric cord, you may be shocked by it. If that makes a fence "electrified," then I am surrounded by electrified fence even as I type this. (Send help!)

This is all the usual and the expected -- Israel's security concerns are not real (a mere product of "fear" as the Reverend characterizes it -- with an irrational overtone), and in any case are a product of their own doing...

He also recommends that next time, the group gets a different perspective on the ground by being shown around by some different organizations, among them what is sometimes called the "one man NGO" of Jeff Halper's Israeli Committee Against Housing[sic] Demolitions -- an individual with a loose grasp on the truth and, to be charitable, an ambiguous at best attitude toward Palestinian terror.

All of that is frustrating, but, I'm sorry to say, somewhat de rigeur and expected at this point. What is not so expected, and what is not so excusable, is the creeping ambiguity toward violence in Rev. Kirkpatrick's reply. In his blog post, Will says, "I cannot help but think that Rev. Kirkpatrick mis-spoke:" and includes a quote from the reply. I have included an extra paragraph I thought also relevant, to wit:

Says Will of this:

He is being understandably diplomatic. I do not have any such compunctions (at least, not many). Palestinian "resistance" takes one form and one form only and I will not bother to repeat to my audience the form that that terror takes. Those who provide justification and excuse for Palestinian violence must face the natural and obvious consequences their words have. I believe the tone of the note, the finger of blame it points, the excuses it makes, the organizations it turns to for authority taken in toto point very clearly to providing a justification for Palestinian violence. You do not write and reason as Reverend Kirkpatrick has and then get away with an "oh by the way" tip of the hat to non-violence. The words and their meanings say otherwise. Their consequences are well known.

Update: Here is a link to a new article in the Presbyterian Church's unofficial paper, The Layman, which contains some of the text of the letter to Rev. Kirkpatrick, as well as the names of the signatories: Presbyterian group says PCUSA falsely portraying Israeli-Palestinian conflict

How do you mark the anniversary of a famous sea battle without offending any of the participants' decendants? Easy, identify them by color, not nationality...

Britain Marks Anniversary of Sea Victory

So if we're supposed to be moving into a post-national-EU-based reality, why would anyone be offended by the inclusion of those quaint old representations of gauche nationalism...flags? Sounds like someone's worried not everyone has moved on.

Here's an idea. Let's just let history be history, and show the colors as they were. I think that's respectful to those who fought and died -- winners and losers -- bravely for them, and it's respectful to ourselves, too.

So much for peaceful dialogue, and guess who one of the boycotters is? Why, none-other than hater-about-town, Livingstone and Galloway-pal, Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi. According to the Reuters report at Haaretz:

The cold-shoulder approach that the Israel-rejectionists have exercised since Israel's founding, and particularly since 1967, has been the chief and most visible (and legitimate) justification for every Israeli "unilateral" action since. You can't negotiate anything with people who won't even talk. Instead, you do what you have to do to go on living, including taking unilateral police action and building real walls to represent the figurative ones other people have already erected.

Why oh why is John Kerry writing op-eds on the very issues -- Iraq and the War on Terror -- that people most firmly rejected him on? And not just an op-ed, but an "If I were President..." speech. Well you ain't. Time to moooove on. Puh-thetic. I thought there was nothing worse than Jimmy Carter, the pathetic ex-President, but John Kerry has discovered it...the pathetic ex-candidate.

New York Times: The Speech the President Should Give

Update: Fergahdsake, John, they're laughing at you all the way over in Egypt. Surely you didn't intend that!

When I was in public elementary school, the choir sang Christmas carols. When I graduated from High School, a minister blessed the even in the name of Jesus Christ. It's not easy being a person with a minority belief - religious or otherwise, and both things still strike me as having been inappropriate for a public school. But neither strike me as worth making a Federal Case over.

Here's George Will on some of the recent attempts by the courts to please everyone.

High Court hairsplitting

A very interesting interview in Time with a young man who claims he will soon be an Iraqi suicide bomber. Most of those who blow themselves up (Time, I note with approval, actually uses the term "suicide murderer.") are foreigner, so he is an exception.

Was he suffering and under-privileged? No.

Are the Jihadis not true Muslims?

Don't worry, Marwan, there are a plethora of Western "Intellectuals" coming up with all sorts of justifications for what you do.

Are suicide bombers made on their own initiative -- a spur of the moment decision of desperation? No, there's an infrastructure to support them.

They view themselves as Freedom Fighters, though, no?

I have been very hard on the press and their closeness to the terrorists. Even this article talks about Time's "contacts close to insurgent groups" -- they can't even call them here what they call themselves...terrorists -- if the reporters have such contacts, why don't the authorities who might be able to do something about it? Well, anything for a good story.

There it is: Inside the Mind of an Iraqi Suicide Bomber

I like these blogger-organized protests. Ray from Davids Medienkritik was in Washington with a bunch of other sign-holders to protest the anti-Americanism of the current German Administration. They have pics.

I bring your attention to a lovely comment left in this old post from London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)...a school plagued by allegations of anti-Semitism and general hostility to Jews -- a charge hardly dispelled by this ambassador.

Sounds like it's been an ugly Student Union election at SOAS...

[None of it is anything I particularly want on the front page, but you can go to the link to see what's about.]

An IDF soldier has just been found guilty of manslaughter by a military court for the death of ISM activist Tom Hurndall.

Haaretz: IDF soldier convicted of manslaughter of British activist

It's a sad situation, but let me emphasize several things: Israeli. Military tribunal. IDF defendant. Guilty.

It's too damn bad that this soldier's actions end up giving a sympathetic air to a group (the ISM) that doesn't deserve it.

Gaijin Biker finds this jaw-dropper in an otherwise only moderately interesting Reuters report on an upcoming new Spielberg film (is Spielberg going to "Leftify" the story of the Munich Olympic Massacre?).

Says GB:

Here.

You may have read in the New York Times and elsewhere that the Anglican Church is now considering -- like the Presbyterians, Methodists, United Church of Christ and the World Council of Churches -- to "selectively" divest from companies doing business with Israel that in any way support the occupation of the disputed territories.

NYT: Anglicans Consider Divesting in Solidarity With Palestinians

Now this is where things get interesting. Who is this Bishop Riah Hanna Abu El-Assal who's serving as the driving force behind this effort? That's a picture of Bishop El-Assal there.

He looks so kind, like a big teddy bear, really. But looks can be deceiving, no? In fact, Bishop El-Assal (or Abu Asal) is a political monster. Not only is the Bishop a peddler of the "Jenin Massacre" myth, but the Bishop has truly compromised his faith for Dhimmi politics in a most astounding manner -- by going to Ramallah and praising Palestinian "martyrs." According to Come and See, "The Christian Web site from Nazareth":

Witness here the direct spread of the virus of the ethic of suicide, terror and death. The leader of a besieged Christian minority panders to his audience's politics, and that pandering habit, that expedient, based not on consistent Church teaching or brotherly love, but on pure cynical politics, reaches all the way up to the top levels in a country that should know better (England) and infects the teachings of what should be one of the great pillars of moral structure -- the Anglican Church.

This is one of the things that Dexter Van Zile's Judeo-Christian Alliance has been crying out about and crying over (see here, here and here) -- the compromise of divine principle for politics.

We see it in operation everywhere, this viral creep, this moral rot. Witness the media's inability or unwillingness to judge, even to the point of their infamous wrestling over the use of the word "terrorism." Instead, they split the difference. So on one side you have the depraved morality of the "liberation struggle" through the act of suicide murder as a virtue, and on the other you have the actions of people doing their best to protect themselves and practicing an ethic that we should be identifying with. Now along come the members of the Fourth Estate, they who claim not to judge, and the narrative they attempt falls somewhere in between these two sides...and thus our public tolerance for pure evil slips further and further over the fevered moral abyss.

And so a spokesman and leader of one of the world's great religions -- a religion in which suicide is one of the great sins -- can be heard in praise of the "martyr," and he maintains his place as one of the shepherds of the Anglican conscience.

So says Wafa Samir al-Biss, the would-be suicide bomber noted in the post below. Who's case does she cite as an excuse for her lack of remorse for trying to kill children? "The Doura child." Muhammed al Dura -- the enduring blood libel of the intifada. The media's (particularly France 2's) complicity continues to claim lives. I suggest you read the whole piece as there is much here of interest. Also of note is the indication here of the motives of some of the suicide recruits -- they often have little to do with issues of politics, and much to do with cultural flaws...honor and the like.

Telegraph: 'My dream was to be a suicide bomber. I wanted to kill 20, 50 Jews. Yes, even babies'

(Hat Tip: Mal)

This one goes in the categories of "No good deed goes unpunished," "Why there are roadblocks," "The reasons the Palestinians have trouble - they do it to themselves" and many others. Here is a photo sequence showing attempted suicide-bomber Wafa Samir Ibrahim al-Biss as posted at Roger L. Simon's blog. Click the photo for the larger version and to be taken to his entry on the subject.

This blog tends to focus on the very negative, but here is a statement in the Jerusalem Post by a Gazan doctor that can only be described as brave. Unequivocal denunciations like this are rare.

Gaza doctor fumes over bomb plot at Soroka by Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish

Update LGF has a link to video, as well as to this surreal headline that singularly demonstrates why so many of us are so utterly unconcered with international/ist opinion of any type in light of this incident: World powers urge Israel to ease checkpoints

Column One: Irrelevant visions (hat tip: mal)

With a growing number of Christian denominations here in the US considering divestment procedures against Israel, there are also a correspondingly growing number of Christians decrying this politicization of their Churches. United Church of Christ member and founding director of the Judeo-Christian Alliance Dexter Van Zile is joined by UCC Pastor Robert Everett in this op-ed in the effort to "tie the bells" around some of the groups and individuals responsible for corrupting Protestantism's long-held effort to maintain a separation between the Church and the temporal political movements of the moment. This is important work, and important to read so that you can understand who these people are, what their motives are, how they are corrupting hard-fought Jewish-Christian relations, and so that you can understand that there are voices -- maybe a majority of voices, though the power is, for now, held elsewhere -- that are available to reach out to. (See here for another friendly voice, for instance.)

JPost: Reawakening the teachings of contempt

George Bush still gets it. I subscribe to CNN alerts on keywords like "Iraq" and "Middle East," so I get a good feel for what a news outfit like CNN puts out for stories and headlines -- for what they feel is important to emphasize and what spin they put on it. The stories are, surprise, surprise, overwhelmingly negative. "When are we getting out?" the only important question. The only good Republicans those who cross the lines and start questioning the mission. They are the heroes in CNN's world. That's what I like to call the "Vietnamization" of the Iraq War -- the media's drum-beat to get us out before the job is done and to fulfill their own prophesy that it all just wasn't worth it, and if it would have been worth it, why, they'll do their best to be sure it wasn't.

CNN: Bush rejects timetable to pull out of Iraq

Maybe some of the doom and gloomers should take a lesson from little El Salvador (Hey, I thought that was one of the countries that was supposed to hate us because of our bad past!)

CNN: El Salvador's leader: Troops to stay in Iraq

A love note from an ISP in Egypt (as far as I can tell) left as a comment to this post translates to me something like, "When you least expect it...expect it..." Ah, the memories of growing up in the 70's.

From the ADL:

Akhbar al-Khalij, June 17, 2005 (Bahrain)
Bush is saying to the Arab: "Take off this barrier between me and you, and then I'll trust in you"; behind stands the Jew.

OK, I've seen a lot of these things, and I gotta admit, I'm not 100% clear on this one. I see the Jew in the background. He's responsible, I know that. The Jew is always running things. And the Jew is always putting up barriers to keep people apart -- especially to isolate and make life miserable for the cartoon-world Arab, who is always rendered miserable through no fault of his own in these things. Common themes all.

This time, though, I dunno. Bush seems to be pointing to the guy's beard. Is he telling him to shave his beard off? Is that the barrier he's referring to? I know facial hair can be very important. Remember the whole "Curse be upon your mustache" thing? And then, there's the Jew who gets to keep his beard, which is like, so totally unfair. So it's the whole double-standards thing. Is that it? I know there's some freaky hate going on here, but I'd like to be in on the joke, too.

Have you seen this painting?

One of my favorite places in Boston. One of the greatest art heists in history. Isabella Stewart Gardner is still missing some of her stuff. Where is it? Was Whitey involved? Fifteen years later and no one knows for sure. There's five million big ones in it if you figure it out, though, and one guy thinks he's onto it. Interesting story at Smithsonian Magazine.

I can't imagine that if the paintings are ever recovered that they will be in anything like their original condition. Shame.

Ripped from the Walls (And the Headlines)

Robert Spencer on the Saudi Arabia Accountability Act of 2005:

Ending the Saudi Double Game

I am not one of those people who believes there's some deep secret plot among the Bushies to play cozy with the oil ticks -- our relationship with SA goes back long before the Bush's and has been based on access to oil and stability for a long, long time. The policy is ingrained in the non-elected (and less accountable) portions of the executive branch. The Administration has to walk a tight-rope. You want to see the War on "Terror" turned into an outright war with Islam? Just turn Saudi Arabia into an overt beligerant. One thing at a time, please. Set up the pieces (like Iraq), then start applying pressure.

I do think it's important, however, to keep the spotlight on, and make use of the shortcomings of the Apartheid, racist, anti-Human Rights nature of Saudi Arabia as a rhetorical bludgeon. I'm not sure if this act goes too far or not, but it does not strike me that it does.

Wizbang Blog has a very nice "fisking" of a well-meaning commenter who believes what the Jihadis really need is a little more understanding. Well done.

Today's edition of Boston's The Jewish Advocate features an article authored by Shira Schoenberg on the issue of Columbia's Rashid Khalidi and the article which appeared for a long period of time under his by-line at what was then the American Committee for Jerusalem. Readers of this blog and others are well familiar with the issue by now. The previous relevant posts are (in chronological order):

Rashid Khalidi...a Case of Plagiarism?
Rashid Khalidi's scholarly standards
Divergence of Treatment
Update on Khalidi
Khalidi's Side

The Advocate is print only, although you can read the portion of the article which appears on the front page at the link above. This blog is mentioned, so welcome to Jewish Advocate readers who manage to Google in (the name of the blog is given, but not the URL). This blog has, as a major portion of its focus, its eye on issues involving Israel, the War on Terror and the world-wide wave of anti-Semitism we've all watched develope over the past few years, among other things--things which include whatever strikes my fancy on any given day.

Here is the article, with thanks to Shira Schoenberg and The Jewish Advocate. [Emphasis is mine, which should be obvious.]

The Jewish Advocate: Dershowitz levels plagiarism charges at Arab studies professor by Shira Schoenberg

The rest of this entry may be read by clicking the link below.

Gulag, pp. 398-399:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

From the Astronomy Pic of the Day. Click for larger version.

It's so much easier being the head of a totalitarian Fascist state than it is to be a real politician.

Rafsanjani: Those who oppose our rules must be punished

Hiawatha Bray continues his campaign for accountability on the part of Newspaper Guild editor, Linda Foley, for the scurrilous charges she has leveled against our troops. Did you know that they're intentionally murdering journalists? Neither did I.

At a time when the public's trust in the journalistic profession is at all time lows, the head of one of their major unions is doing her level best to dig the hole deeper.

Read Bray's latest here.

(via Instapundit)

It's up at Is Full of Crap...sort of a cat theme. I submitted my first Rashid Khalidi post, but there's lots of other stuff there.

Gulag, pp. 246-247:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Are the Arabs ready for peace? Just watch what they're teaching the kids.

The latest from Palestinian Media Watch:

PA Encouragement of Child Martyrdom (Shahada) Continues

By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

Click here to see clip

Introduction

Promotion of Shahada, or death for Allah, has been the backbone of the Palestinian Authority's messages to its children since the start of the terror war in September 2000. Although the number of these messages has been reduced in recent months, the promotion and glorification of child Shahada continues nonetheless, as seen this week on PA TV.

This week's Shahada promotion was seen during the broadcast of The Palestinian Diaspora, a series presented as a factual dramatization of history that has been shown daily on PA TV in a prime time slot for the past month. Throughout the series, Israel's creation and ongoing existence has been presented as injustices that must be fought.

Click here to see clip

This episode was set in 1956, as Arab's mourn Israel's existence. A 12-year-old refugee reads his uncle a story he wrote. The scene has two explicit messages.

1. A child should be willing and anxious to fight and die in order to destroy Israel.

2. Arab 'refugees' can never resettle, but must 'return' to Israel.

The following is an excerpt from the scene

Boy: "His mother cried and said, 'My son! Swear to me! Don't leave me alone...! I'm afraid you
will be killed.'

"Her son said to her, 'Don't cry, my mother! Let me go and fight for the sake of the homeland. The enemy stole our beautiful land... We all must fight in order to redeem the lost paradise... We lived in joy and happiness, until the foreign enemy [Israel] came and expelled us from our land, and we became refugees in tents. But we will return, by Allah's will!'

"His mother told him, 'Farewell, my son. Allah be with you.' He kissed her and left to fight, and fought until he became a Shahid [martyr for Allah]."

Uncle: "...Let me ask you, if they come and tell you, we will give you a very big house, a car,
land and money, just resettle! Would you agree?"

Boy: "No!"

Uncle: "...the homeland is greater than individual possessions."

[PA TV, June 16, 2005]

It's important to note that the segment opens with the boy's friend writing "I shall return" over a map he drew of 'Palestine' - which removed Israel's existence.

HNN has updated their entry on the question of plagiarism and Rashid Khalidi with his response. Basically, he's saying he contributed to the piece, but did not write it and it was attributed to him improperly.

HNN piece here.

Previous posts here, here, here and here.

Update: Todd Gitlin, in the comments to HNN's post, is on the war-path over "anonymous charges." He sounds vindictive and angry that the issue should be brought out in the first place--thereby inadvertently reinforcing the concerns in the mind of the source that caused them to wish to remain anonymous in the first place.

We all should be concerned and skeptical of charges made anonymously, particularly when anonymous sources bring forth evidence who's provenance thereby becomes impossible to confirm.

Such is not the case here. The anonymous source in this case is simply pointing out the issue. All of the evidence is publicly available and equally accessible by all, allowing each to make his or her own decision. The identity of the source in this case is meaningless one way or the other to the question of plagiarism or how serious a case it is. Whether presented by a university president or an anonymous poster on a message board, the issues remain the same.

Gulag, p. 332:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

And you thought it was only the Palestinian school system that was teaching crazy stuff to its kids? Well they have nothing on these Korean kids (OK, none of the Korean kids has blown him or herself up yet, but still...). Take a look at this post at the Marmot's and follow the links (the captions are good, too).

...it just seems that some of us are here for different purposes.

MEMRI: Syrian Historian Georgette Attiyya: The Womb of the Palestinian Woman - A Factory that Produces Fighting Children

Via LGF where you can see the video.

No good deed goes unpunished. Also, more Koran flushing.

YNet: Palestinian woman tells interrogators she intended to blow up at southern hospital

I wonder what the excuse will be (the horrors of roadblocks, the humiliation of having a brother who's a terrorist?).

Also, more copy-cat Koran flushables. At least Koran pages don't expand when they get wet and clog the pipes. This one's at Jewish Telegraphic Agency. I can't figure out how to do a permalink for it.

Another year, another Boston for Israel rally. No big report this year--check out last year's multi-part entry here, complete with photos of Bus 19 and transcripts of some of the speakers. That was a much more political event, this year was just fun.

I actually took my wife and daughter, and we did the full day, starting at the big gathering at Copley Square, and then marching with the parade the one and a half miles to City Hall Plaza. As I mentioned no speeches this year, just fallafel sandwiches and music, provided by...uh, some Israeli group "Mashina," of whom, of course I had never heard. They were quite good, though. A couple guys played an accoustic guitar (well, one played, one just sang) as the warm-up act. Also very good, although they were on for a long while--long enough so that after we arrived at City Hall, we went down to Faneuil Hall for something more to eat and when we came back they were still on, but whatever.

I'd say turn-out was excellent, as these photos of the march (looking in front of us and behind us) and then the crowd watching the music attest.

Yes, there was the usual collection of moonbats, haters and freaks. Same crew, same signs as last year ("We support the resistance," etc...) They were allowed very close to where the marchers were entering the plaza (there was a security check), and were screaming at people as they filed in. They were lead by someone with a megaphone and, unlike last-year, the cops let them keep it. Also unlike last-year, however, the set-up was much better, with the concert around the corner of City Hall from where the "protesters" were, so the entire afternoon wasn't a shouting match between the entertainment and moonbaticus odiferous. Also, it appears that, as this picture shows, the cops actually pushed them much farther back later and they were completely surrounded by riot cops by the time we left (we didn't stay for the whole show). Sorry (or not), but you have to be completely fucked in the head to still be screaming slogans three hours after you start, and not only that, but screaming into the faces of whole families (it was a family activity with face-painting, balloon animals and all that, so there were many children present) as well. Way to show the Jews and whatever other part of the world that takes notice of these things that we still need to be vigilant. BTW, the six clear sort of "towers" in the picture above are part of Boston's Holocaust Memorial.

[Edit: I wanted to add one more thing here. Every time I've been to one of these things where there were protesters present, the same pattern emerges. On the Israel side there is a multiplicity of voices present. There were people carrying signs against the disengagement, and people who were "Pro-Israel, Against the Occupation"--hell, there was even a contingent of Jews for Jesus. There was one main theme aside from the celebration of Israel, and that was "peace"--uneqivocally. The contrast with the so-called "pro-Palestinian" side could not be more pronounced. The protesters were a single-message group, and there was no message of peace among them. There were no signs of reconciliation, two-state solutions, hands open to others...the only signs of peace I see are signs like "No Peace Without Justice," and that "Justice," as I noted in this earlier post, is purely the retributive type that has nothing to do with real peace. Not to mention that their favorite chant is "Shut it down!" referring to Israel.

Another side-note: The only side that carries the American flag at these things (I exclude the Nazis here) is the pro-Israel side, and they were distributed along with Israeli flags to the marchers.]

And, of course, the usual half-dozen White Supremacist/Nazi/whatever they are guys were there. Barely worth a mention, but always worth a look:

Anyway, we had a nice time, and the march was nice exercise. My daughter had a good time riding my shoulders and waving her little Israel and American flags and being part of a "parade." She also enjoyed the police horses and the police escort. Here's a shot of a few of the horses:

See you next year. Am Yisrael Chai.

Update: Jewish Russian Telegraph has a report along with a transcript of one of the kick-off speeches.

Boston Globe report here.

Gulag, pp. 305-306:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

They hate us for our freedoms! Especially our debauched freedoms. I hate Megan Mullally for her freedom to do what others can only imagine.

USA Today: No raised eyebrows

What else are friends for?

I don't hate Debra Messing, BTW. I like Debra Messing, but I do hate her nose. I have one word for Ms. Messing: Rhinoplasty.

Via Southern Knight, who is not amused. More and larger pictures here, at The Superficial.

Further on my entry Rashid Khalidi...A Case of Plagiarism?, Elizabeth O'Neill at History News Network has put up a post recapping the facts and includes reaction from Khalidi himself.

The Complaint Against Rashid Khalidi

(The article gets my url wrong, BTW. It's "solomonia.com," not "Solomnia.com." At least, I hope it isn't.)

Update: They fixed it.

Update2: More here.

Crusader Zionazi Storm Troopers play bizarre game of cat and mouse with innocent Palestinian children.

Israeli soldiers play soccer with Palestinian boys at the centre of West Bank city of Hebron June 16, 2005. The Palestinian militant group Hamas disclosed on June 16 that European Union diplomats had held talks with some of its members, an apparent shift in EU policy that drew sharp criticism from Israel. (Nayef Hashlamoun/Reuters)

And what's this? BOYCOTT CATERP...oh...

A Palestinian police officer stands guard as a bulldozer runs over an unregistered vehicle in the West bank city of Jenin June 16, 2005. The Palestinian militant group Hamas disclosed on June 16 that European Union diplomats had held talks with some of its members, an apparent shift in EU policy that drew sharp criticism from Israel. (Saeed Dahlah/Reuters)

Yassmeen, an Iranian woman holds her passport after casting her vote at the Iranian embassy in the Jordanian capital Amman June 17, 2005. Iran holds a presidential election on Friday under international scrutiny over its nuclear programme, its rocky relationship with the United States and the direction the Islamic Republic will take after the presidency of reformist Mohammad Khatami. REUTERS/Ali Jarekji

A wider view:

Exposing the real agendas of some of the groups running about masquerading as being about "peace and justice" can be a full-time job. It's doable, but never-ending. Fortunately, there are some people who make it a point of doing so. One of those is Dexter Van Zile of the David Project's Judeo-Christian Alliance. Dexter sent me the text of a letter he has sent to the Jewish Journal, a Jewish newspaper covering Boston's North Shore. The letter exposes the agenda of a group called Sabeel, who's leaders have shared the stage with many of members of the clergy during "peace conferences" held at venues around the Boston area.

This may seem like a story of local interest, but this story is the same around the country, so I post Van Zile's letter in full in the extended entry for those interested in the issue. The letter is currently on the paper's Opinion page, here, and I also recommend the letter below it written by a Mark Nystedt as also being worth your time.

Here's the latest from Palestinian Media Watch:

PA TV Culture:

Israel established through theft of land and murder of infants; Palestinians hold "key" - ownership of Israel

By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

Introduction

While the Palestinian Authority (PA) focuses on the West Bank and Gaza in international forums, to its own people delegitimizing Israel's existence as a state continues to be the cornerstone of its ideology. Two recent broadcasts on official PA television reinforced this hate message, presenting Israelis as killers and thieves who "stole" Arab land to create the state, and promoting the symbol of the "key" - the claim to be the rightful owners of all of Israel.

The first is from a so-called "historical" TV series depicting events before and during Israel's War of Independence in 1948. The daily broadcasts distort history, presenting Israelis as well armed evil soldiers fighting with British support against valiant Arabs defending their villages. The seven Arab armies that attacked Israel are not shown. In one of the many vicious libels in the series, actors portray Israeli soldiers murdering an infant in cold blood after destroying his family's village. See picture above.

To see this video online, click here

The second is through a cultural program in which dancers carry giant "keys" on their backs. Though burdened by the weight, they slowly dance. The "key" symbolizes the PA's claim to ownership of all of Israel and its plan to "return". See picture below.

To see this video online, click here

Let's make sure everyone understands. In a press conference the other day, Jack Straw was asked if Britain would drop Hamas from its list of terror organizations if they did well in the Palestinian elections.

What was Hamas' reaction?

And we always looked at 'taking a principled stand' as a good thing, didn't we? I guess it all depends on what your principles are.

Gulag, pp. 293-294:

Part 1
Part 2

The New England Conference of the United Methodist Church has voted to divest from companies that "support the occupation" in a resolution that mirrors the Presbyterian Church for its one-sidedness and empty hat-tip to Palestinian terror. The resolution recycles the canard of blaming Israel for the decline of the Christian population in the territories -- in fact, Christian populations are down across the Middle East, but have quadrupled in Israel proper since 1949. (It's not the Israelis they're running from.)

Illegal this, illegal that, the wall, the terrible (life-saving) wall...it's all there. I won't belabor the thing, read it for yourself.

This is cute:

I must have been sleeping through the part at Hebrew School where they covered that "coveting thy neighbor's land" business.

Update: I understand that Virginia has followed-suit, but I do not have a functioning web link yet.

Update2: Here is a link to a PDF File report. Warning PDF file.

Mediacrity takes note (hat tip also to my emailer) of the divergent reaction to the plagiarism allegations against Columbia's Rashid Khalidi, and a commencement address delivered at University of Missouri:

Perhaps there are lower expectations for some people, or perhaps it's just the venue.

...but trust us, it's no big deal...

New York Times: Iran Said to Admit Tests on Path to Atom Arms

Nothing to see here. Move along, move along...

Gulag, pp. 319-321:

Part 1 is here.

OK, I'm overdue on providing my responses to the latest Book Meme thing, with thanks to Lynn B. for the invite. For my answers to the other book quiz, see here.

I find these things very difficult, because I can never decide on an answer to any of the questions that require a judgement call, and those always depend on where I am in time and tastes. Some of the stuff that might have been influential when I was younger, like Stranger In A Strange Land, or The Once and Future King, or even Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, are fading somewhat from my memory and I'm forgetting to a large extent what it was that I loved so much about them. Sooo...my policy for "filling this out" is to twirl in my chair, look around at what's on my shelves now and pick out my answers without too, too much agonizing over the answers.

Here we go...

Number of books I own: I'm guessing around 700. Not sure, really.

Last book I bought: I think it was John Adams: Party of One -- sort of an impulse purchase at BJ's Wholesale. No, really. I like Adams and find him a very sympathetic figure. A Massachusetts man of enormous accomplishments, curmudgeonly, always feeling unappreciated and worried that history wouldn't recognize him as it should (he was right).

Last book I read: Alexander of Macedon 356-323 B.C.. I'm looking forward to renting the movie when it's released on DVD. I'm given to believe I'll regret it.

Five books that mean a lot to me:

OK, here's where I spin the chair and look around.

The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror by Natan Sharansky: An intensely important book for understanding the world as it is today.

Hitler's Willing Executioners : Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen: All about understanding and facing history as it was, not as we'd like to excuse it.

CITIZEN SOLDIERS : The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany -- June 7, 1944-May 7, 1945 by Stephen Ambrose: Read about what our fathers did and what they sacrificed.

Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey by David Horowitz: Horowitz's personal story of his journey from Left to Right is an important story for anyone no matter where they are now on the ideological scale -- but especially if you're on the cusp of a similar move.

Downfall : The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire by Richard B. Frank: I call this the book with the redundant title. This is another book that's all about "appreciating our Fathers." It's a detailed, amazingly researched work that serves as a great primer for what you need to know about the allied effort in the Pacific War.

Now, I'm going to be a bit of a bastard and not pass this on. I did that the first time and I just don't like putting it on people to post something if they don't want to (which is not to say I mind being asked myself...bring 'em on!) -- I also don't want to leave anyone wondering, "Hey, why didn't he pick me?." SO! If anyone out there would like, I leave it to you to pick up the stick and post your own answers. I'll update this post with the links.

Edit: I hate the way the new Amazon links add an extra space. Sorry 'bout that.

Stefania of Free Thoughts has a very interesting interview with the Egyptian fellow who blogs at Rantings of a Sandmonkey. It seems that just as there are a lot of Americans who's outlook too a new turn after 9/11, there are some Egyptians who did the same after the Taba bombing.

Read on.

Here is more of the same pattern I noted in a previous post (Some People Will Believe Anything) about the amazing nonsense that the Palestinian Authority is proclaiming and that others who should know better are either passing on uncritically or making themselves complicit in by ignoring (a sin of omission they would never commit if the perpetrator were any responsible Western government).

The latest whopper from the PA is that Israel is distributing cancer-causing juice to Palestinian children. See this JPost article:

PA: Israel sells us 'carcinogenic' juice

Again, these are not conspiracy-theories being passed around on the Gaza streets, but come straight from the highest levels of the PA government from named sources:

See also this report from Honest Reporting pointing out this story as well as the fact the Google News passed it on.

Add these many nonsense pronouncements together and you get an Israeli electorate that might rightfully ask why they're bothering to make concessions for peace with people who are obviously making no effort on their part to do the same. Not only are they still refusing to take steps to disarm the terror gangs leaving the Israelis to do it themselves (see: LGF: Teenage Death Cult Gang Busted among many, many other examples), but the highest levels of government in the PA continue to spew this incitement -- and incitement is what it is, for what would you do to someone who was trying to intentionally give cancer to kids?

Why should Israelis bother trying to build bridges, why should anyone bother building bridges when those bridges are thrown back in our faces? Even Palestinian NGO's refuse to agree to ensure the money they receive is not used for terrorist activities, they call cooperative efforts with Israeli groups -- even groups of the "Left" -- a sort of trap, as this letter from a long list of Palestinian groups opposing such cooperation attests to.

This unusually well-done report from the IDF -- Security Crossing Improvements in Judea and Samaria -- describes the efforts that Israel has made to not only decrease the number of checkpoints, but make them more comfortable and fast-moving. What do they get in return? More conspiracy-nonsense about Israelis trying to irradiate border crossers -- see: Israel Limits Rafah Radioactive Screening After Protests. The radiation device in question, BTW, was an American device that uses RF radiation and doesn't even penetrate human skin. Not using it wouldn't save anyone. In fact, it ensures people carrying weapons and bombs have an easier time getting through. Thank you, conspiracy-theorists.

Hand it to the Palestinian Arabs -- they have their talking points straight. From the PA itself, to the terror gangs, to the NGOs, the teachers and the doctors in the hospitals, the cult of victimhood, the conspiracies, the refusal to compromise or cooperate is the enforced party line. In a fear-based non-free society, where dissent is not tolerated and uniformity of thought is not tolerated (or at least channelled - in other words, you can dissent about x or y, but a difference on z is not allowed) it is impossible for those who wish to buck the dominant paradigm to organize themselves, and that's a key problem. If only the haters are allowed to combine their voices, it doesn't matter how many "moderate" individuals there are. Ten organized people can control thousands of individuals.

Change is simply not on the march inside Palestinian Arab society. It's where PA society interfaces with the outside world -- in the realm of their press-releases as a start -- that there is an opportunity for change. It's only when they are held responsible for these childishly irresponsible pronouncements by those on the outside -- when we stop humoring them and coddling them and treat them instead like real adults -- that they will start acting in the responsible way adults are expected to act in.

From Anne Applebaum's Gulag, p.277:

It's a classic film, but bad history, and not many people are celebrating in Odessa.

[via Cliopatria]

DePaul Profess Thomas Klocek has finally filed his inevitable lawsuit against the University (see multiple entries on this case by doing a search at left). Marathon Pundit has the details:

Marathon Pundit exclusive: Thomas Klocek files slander lawsuit against DePaul

Good luck to Tom Klocek.

My previous post on Rashid Khalidi was superficially one of a question of plagiarism, but the real question this gateways into is how rigorous of an academic standard does Khalidi live up to? Michael Rubin begins to address that question in today's Frontpage.

Academic Standards, R.I.P.

Hassan Nasrallah is mouthing off about he need to lop off chunks of Israel again. Most people understand, and the article makes clear, that this is just a tactic by Hizballah to remain relevant and prevent disarmament. And here I thought Hizballah was all about hospitals and social services. Yet somehow whenever they feel they need to project their raison d'etre, it's not clinics and welfare payments they shout about, it's guns, bombs, resistance and fighting "Zionists" they scream.

YNet: ‘Israel must cede more land’

The A/C was out of commission at my office today. Sweat city. We haven't had rain for several days, in spite of the overcast skies and the thunder I heard rumbling in the distance yesterday. And get this, while performing my morning ablutions, I look out the bathroom window and see...smoke. Is there a fire? Is that mist? No, I literally watched a cloud of greenish/yellow pollen blow through my back yard. Freaky. Absolutely everything is covered in a thick coat of yellow dust -- plants, cars...the grass. Everything. Good thing I don't have allergies.

Norm has a report on the debate on the AUT's boycott of Israeli universities. Sounds like things went quite well.

Congratulations Norm!

Sad but true satire at Norm's.

Last year I posted pics of a robin's nest (also here) that was built in one of the shrubs outside our house. It was actually visible when sitting at the couch inside. I missed the birds getting much bigger than in the pics -- they either got eaten or grew up real fast and flew off.

Anyway, this year the nest has been recycled and there's a new batch of babies. Funny, I've looked in there a couple times because I've seen the robin collecting nesting stuff and food on my front lawn and flying in and out of the shrubs, but I didn't see anything in the nest. The birds (and eggs) must have been hunkered down in there and I must not have looked that closely. Tough to miss now.

Got worms?

The Washington Times reports on the admirable effort by an Israeli-Arab man to set up the Arab World's first and only (as far as I know) Holocaust education center.

Washington Times: Muslim in Nazareth takes on Holocaust

NAZARETH, Israel -- No one talked to him at a recent family wedding, Khaled Mahameed says. Neighbors curse him at the supermarket. A relative accuses him of unwittingly playing into Israel's hands.

I first posted about Mr. Mahameed's efforts back in March, here. It appears to be a promising, though potentially flawed (no one need have taken, or "settled" anyone else's land as a result of the Holocaust) effort.

The same cannot be said of the AP's report (reprinted by the Times) which is an example of moral equivalency and Holocaust minimization rolled into one. The report goes on:

The inclusion of the words "to some extent" accomplishes little here. Although it indicates some amount of self-consciousness in the comparison, the author, Kristen Stevens, is drawing a clear equivalence between the Holocaust and the "nakba" -- demonstrating a horrible, though not unexpected from the AP, moral blindness. That would be understandable from an Arab reporter, where knowledge of what the Holocaust really was is low -- hence the need for Mr. Mahameed's project and the fact that it's a story in the first place -- but coming from a Western reporter the comparison is inexcusable.

Stevens stretches to make the well-known and wide-spread phenomenon of Arab Holocaust denial equivalent to Israeli insensitivity to the "nakba" including an all-too-obvious and supremely odious comparison of the murder of millions of Jews to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza -- lands it only occupies as the result of winning a defensive war against an avowedly genocidal enemy and continues to occupy only as a defense against one of the most blood-thirsty and savage campaigns witnessed in the modern era.

Someone may also wish to point out to the author that the supposed events of the nakba and the occupation are some two decades separate and have little to do with one another in any case. The only connection is in some sort of vague stew of 'Arab grievance' which only continues to have appeal because Western reporters like Stevens continue to humor it. She implies that this documentary she mentions is the beginning of a fracturing of the Israeli inability to self-examine and self-criticize, but anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Israel's free society should know that one thing the Israelis don't lack for is internal critics. Free, even condemnatory voices come from both Left and Right, and the Israeli Left is and has been for many, many years particularly vociferous in its questioning of everything - up to and including the State's right to exist. Where are the equivalent voices among the region's non-Israeli Arabs? Hanging with their throats cut in Ramallah, or sitting on Abbas's death row as collaborators.

To compare the murder of millions with the displacement of hundreds of thousands is bad enough, and again, we might expect it from the Palestinian Arabs who have made great efforts to co-opt the Jewish narrative and make it their own, but this equivalency also leaves out the agency of the event.

There was no catastrophe because of the Holocaust or because of Israel's creation, at least there need not have been. The catastrophe occurred because of Arab rejectionism, the inability to compromise, the inability for Muslims to accept a non-Muslim state in the Middle East and the resulting failed attempt at an avowed war of genocide by the armies of every one of the new state's neighbors. They wouldn't accept the state they were given, wouldn't accept the state given to someone else (in which they had every right of citizenship), lost the resulting war they started and still blame others for their problems.

There's a very good reason that Israelis are less sympathetic to the nakba than they expect others to be about the Holocaust - they're not the same thing.

I will point out one more thing, particularly to those who think that elevating and respecting the nakba does some good, that somehow by honoring this we show our humanity to the Other and can expect some reciprocation in return - this "catastrophe" is not the result of an earthquake, or a tsunami, or a volcanic eruption. This catastrophe is a product of human agency, and the presence of a human agency means that there's someone to blame. And who do they blame, you Israelis, you friends of Israel (however tangential)? They blame you. They...blame...you.

And having someone to blame means having someone to place guilt upon, it means having someone to place your own guilt upon -- a highly effective way of relieving a burden -- and it means someone to go to to demand restitution...and justice. Justice is a harsh word, and one that means many things to many people. Best get to know the person wielding the word if you want to know its meaning, and most people in the Arab Middle East who talk about Justice don't generally mean a conciliatory, peaceful style of resolution -- they mean by this type of Justice that people deserve to be punished for their transgressions. The worse the sin, the harsher the comeuppance. Beware justice in human hands.

How harsh a comeuppance does the perpetrator of the equivalent of a Holocaust deserve? Certainly one tougher than a little understanding, a furrowed brow and statements of "I feel your pain" can buy off.

As I write this, I am sensitive to the fact that Mr. Mahameed's project is an important one, and that he is a special person for starting it -- whatever nits I have to pick with it, and they are nits in this context. His project appears to be a start (I can't read the Arabic to know or analyse what's really going on), and a worthy one, but that doesn't excuse the AP their moral and historical blindness, nor me from saying what I believe is important to be said about it.

As an adendum to the post below about the PC(USA), a commenter points to this piece from Caroline Glick at the Jerusalem Post (well worth reading the non-quoted parts as well):

Our World: In our eternal, undivided capital

The degree to which Christian Churches in the Middle East are tethered to and bridled by the demands of Arab politics and the effects of their Dhimmi status is a vastly underreported phenomenon.

I hear some people are concerned about aspects of the Patriot Act, but given a chance to call witnesses to make substantive arguments about whatever problems there are with it, Democrats took the opportunity to invite people to rant about Guantanamo Bay and the evils of the Bush Administration. This included representatives of "the Gulag of our times" Amnesty International, and James J. Zogby of the Arab American Institute. The committee chair, James Sensenbrenner, after repeated attempts to get the witnesses to stick to the subject, finally gaveled the meeting to an early close ("showing his pique" as the Washington Post puts it).

WaPo: Panel Chairman Leaves Hearing - Sensenbrenner Ends Patriot Act Meeting as Democrats Plug On

Is there no serious opposition left in Washington? Has the Democratic Party finally drowned itself in the Michael Moore school of government? The Patriot Act is a serious matter. What to do with enemy combatants is a serious matter. Where are the rational alternatives? Where is the serious discussion ? I understand that electoral politics and posturing infect everything in Washington, and conflating the Patriot Act and Gitmo is becoming a favorite demagogic sport, but there must be limits somewhere. It's sad the limits can't be found before the gavel needs to fall. Kudos to Mr. Sensenbrenner for trying to keep things on track. For this he will be vilified.

Democrats are complaining that Howard Dean is a distracting figure (imagine!), and blaming...the VRWC.

Washington Times: Durbin blames 'right wing'

Howard Dean perfectly represents so much of what's wrong with today's Democratic Party -- shrill, thrashing -- and the reaction to him in the party is the other side of the coin -- a demonstrated inability to look inward and be honest about their own problems, instead pointing and blaming other for having the audacity to point out their obvious issues.

Speaking of which, see Michelle Malkin: Reporter Challenges Dean; MSM Horrified!

If I believed like this, I'd boycott, too:

I wouldn't exactly call that a sympathetic view of people trying to protect themselves from genocidal terrorists. A people who 'wrestle with God' can expect no less I suppose.

Rashid Khalidi is the 'Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies' at Columbia University. The chair has provoked much controversy, starting with the controversial nature of the academic it is named for and the suspicion that it will serve as a highly political position -- exacerbated by the fact that Columbia at first refused to release the names of the donors behind the chair. Finally, after doing so under great pressure, the controversial nature of some of the donors was revealed -- including one donation from the government of the United Arab Emerates.

Khalidi himself has been no stranger to controversy, having come under criticism for his own views:

He was recently dropped from a plan to have him instruct New York City public school teachers in a class on Middle East issues.

This post presents what may be a new controversy involving Professor Khalidi -- a charge of plagiarism.

I will leave it to the reader to decide how serious this matter is. Upon first examination of the facts, it does seem that the case is one of fairly classic academic plagiarism. On the other hand, the piece in question is not an academic one, but instead is a fairly short piece appearing on a web-site. Should that matter for an academic of Khalidi's stature? You be the judge...

I know, I know, you hate those "sorry for not posting" posts. Nevertheless, here's one, 'cause even though I've been way busy, I'm jumping out of my skin to post at least a few links to some of the stuff that's been making an impression on me and I don't want you to think I don't care...sniff. On a side note, hits are way up here since Google seems to have found and linked an image search to the one naughty picture I posted round here (odd, since you can't get to it without being referred from this site or putting in the url directly due to my htaccess settings).

Anawho...working on a couple of interesting posts, and then it's back to normal. Stay tuned.

Big Pharaoh has an interesting post about a friend's trip to Iran that's well in keeping with what Nicholas Kristof reported in his series from Iran -- that the only negativity he encountered as an American was from a group of Europeans in an Iranian teahouse -- as well as with Natan Sharansky's remark that a friend of his told him that Iran today is just like the Soviet Union before the wall came down, where the government hated America and the people loved it.

The Big Pharaoh: My friend just came from Iran

(via Daily Scorecard)

Diana Muir suggests that the genocide in Darfur is a perfect opportunity for Germany and Turkey to take the moral leadership and do just that. The odds, of course, are not good, especially in the case of Turkey which recently cancelled an academic conference on the Armenian Genocide (attention AUT!).

HNN: The German-Turkish Solution to Darfur

Can nations atone? Can the World? Not yet.

Haaretz: Israel works to prevent PA execution of 50 collaborators

Still searching for signs of the possibility of a secular, binational future state where human rights are protected I keep hearing about...

Haaretz: Soldier hit by stone during anti-fence protest loses eye

This for the I'm always the last to know department. Jethro, of Beverly Hillbillies fame is Max Baer, Jr., son of the famous boxer, Max Baer (Sr.).

He's not very happy about the way his father is portrayed in that new movie. Can't say as I blame him.

I know, what else is new? Anyway, here's a little controversy over a teacher's manual.

JTA: Barcelona controversy flares over comparison of fence to Holocaust

One might think that rendering respect to the memory of such events would entail not trivializing those events with bad comparisions.

How about a little editorial control over bad scholarship?

Someone needs to teach these teachers about the differences between a fence surrounding a Warsaw Ghetto and a fence designed to keep suicide murderers away from buses and pizza parlors, and between a death camp designed for mass-extermination and a POW camp for violent Jihadis who's holy book is provided to them in 16 different languages.

Yes, today I went with my father to another Red Sox game. Beautful day for baseball, and we had good seats, Grandstand Section 20, second row - behind home plate not too too far up. Damn, I always forget how unfomfortable those seats are. You've really got to get familiar with your neighbors. Anyway, I kept score, and the Sox won. Yay. Even Foulke had a quick ninth inning. Add in more clutch hitting from Ortiz...yahoo.

There's been a mini-controversy in sports radio, btw, since during Spring Training the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy guys showed up to film and had a couple of the Sox players in. That episode is scheduled to air Tuesday night, and some people have been bitching about it. I have to say I'm a little surprised. They're not there to get married kids, they're just there...being gay, which is what they are. I know some people don't like it, which I can understand I guess, but some of the commentary has been ignorant and mean-spirited beyond what I would have expected in this day and age. That means you, Gerry Callahan.

Someone should remind those chumps about the excellent episode the Queer Eye guys did to kick-off last season in which they set up a US Army guy who was shipping out to Iraq. They fixed that guy up with a great wedding, re-did his house, set up his wife and child, set him up with stuff to take with him, then capped the episode with a sort of PSA on the things to send to our troops overseas to help them out. Not one word about politics. No judgement. They just took care of the dude in style. Extreme style.

Anyway, the reason I bring it up is that as a promo, the Queer Eye guys were there to throw out the first pitch!

That's Carson Kressley in the pink Red Sox shirt. Who else? The other two are Kyan and Thom. My favorite, Ted (the cooking guy), wasn't there, and Jai sang a very good National Anthem.

Speaking of first pitches, I mentioned in my last Red Sox post that an Iraq War vet who lost both arms had thrown out the first pitch last time. Turns out that was Sergeant Peter Damon of Brockton, and I know that because I saw him last night when I watched Michael Moore Hates America -- which is finally available from Netflix -- and recognized his name. Sergeant Damon is the guy who appears in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 in his hospital bed at Walter Reed and he's not happy about it. He's since made appearances in FahrenHype 9/11 (another good film I recommend) and Michael Moore Hates America telling Moore he can stuff it and trying to undo the damage Moore did using his image without Damon's permission.

Despite the name, Michael Moore Hates America is not mean-spirited, and I'm giving it a strong recommend for rental.

The filmmaker, Michael Wilson, sort of performs a reverse Roger & Me, chasing down Michael Moore for an interview he never grants, and in the mean time, exploring some of the distortions Moore put in his films, interviewing some of Moore's subjects (like Sergeant Damon) and giving them the chance they never had - to have their say back to Moore. Along the way he interviews some ordinary folks and some punits, portraying a much more positive view of the good ole US than Moore does -- he also finds himself wrestling with some of the ethical issues documentary film makers face. His struggle against going over to "the dark side" are some of the most interesting segments in the movie.

The film is a nice antidote to some real poison.

The focused sound device I posted about over a year ago (I assume it's the same device) has gotten a work out in Israel. Neat.

JPost: IDF uses 'The Screamer' on protesters

Damn straight.

Take note.

Thank God!

The story about LeMonde being found guilty in a French court for "racist defamation" is finally getting a little bit wider play. At the time I posted about it below, it was only a brief item at JTA, and a Google News search turned up no other matches. In fact, a search of "Le Monde racist defamation" still only turns up one hit...and that's to a blog.

Haaretz has an article with a little more deapth here (also noted by a commenter in the previous post): Le Monde editor found guilty of defamation against Jews, Israel

Further, Norm has posted a lengthy excerpt from the pay portion of the Wall Street Journal that covers this and more ground. I recommend reading the whole thing, but here's quick snip:

I haven't said much about the Koran controversy, but I understand that the inmates themselves were three times more likely to have messed around with their own Korans than the guards.

This rant at Captain's Quarters is tough to beat.

Update: A surf around the headlines, most of which seem to boil down to "See, there really was Koran abuse!" is really regurgitation inducing. I'd like to say that it's hard to remember such a blatant display of media self-justification at all costs, but it's not really hard at all is it? That seems to be most of what the MSM does these days - justify themselves, their biases, their errors and their bad spin - then when they get called out on it, their gyrations of justification just dig them deeper.

Guess who?

Al-Ittihad, May 28, 2005 (United Arab Emirates) President George W. Bush is depicted as a Jew in disguise. Caption: "(Palestinian President) Abu Mazen complains about Sharon to Bush."

From the ADL.

Sorry for the light-weight blogging lately. Busy, yadayada, etc...

Here, have a couple of pictures of a fuzzy squirrel chowing down at my bird feeder (taken through the glass, hence the hazy look)...

Also, as an update to my earlier post about the Canada Goose nest behind my house, we had a spate of very rainy days with no let-up, and I was sure the little spit of land the geese had their nest on would be flooded (it does flood over when the rain is intense), so during a let-up in the wet I went down to take a look and found that the area of the nest was still dry, but the geese were gone and the eggs were broken and flat. I *think* they must have hatched, as the shells themselves were in pretty decent shape, not all shattered as I might expect if a coyote or something had gotten to them and given them a munch. I didn't get a picture then, but I did snap this photo about a week later (the shells had been in better shape before):

The worrisome thing is that the geese were not around, and I'd be surprised if the gosslings got big enough to go far so quickly, so maybe the end was not so happy after all.

The excellent web site, Peace with Realism, has a very good backgrounder on the Camp David negotiations of 2000, here. The author has sourced his essay well, and explains in sufficient but not choking detail just how much Arafat passed up five years ago.

Has anything changed?

Had a nice day at the Red Sox game today. I managed to get Green Monster seats (the newish seats built on the top of the left field wall) - front row, though way out in the center field area. Very neat seats. At 100 bucks a piece they better be! We had two, so I took my father and daughter. That's the second time I've taken my four-year-old to a game without her own ticket and the staff hasn't questioned it at all. That's one thing that's a huge change since the new ownership has taken over - in addition to the cleaner feel of the place, the attitude of the staff is completely different. It used to be that everyone there was like a life-long T or Amtrak union employee who knew someone who knew someone so they could do anything without worrying about their job. The attitude is now more Disney than anything else, and that's a big and positive change.

My daughter's usually very shy, but she saw a guy making balloon hats and wanted one, so she actually answered the man's questions ("How old are you?" etc...) and held still to get the hat. He was doing this for tips only, BTW.

Pretty comfy seats for Fenway:

Just about directly under the flag and penant. Everyone was looking at us during the National Anthem! (A veteran who lost both arms in Iraq threw out the first pitch. Very emotional. Very class. Standing ovation.)

Not a bad view for high up in the air:

We stayed through the seventh inning. It was a perfect day for a ball game, but sitting with a 4 and an 82 year old is not conducive to lasting out the full nine, so we missed the ninth inning heroics. A good day, though.

This is happening tonight. Sounds interesting. I don't think I'll be making it, but I thought those of you in the Boston area might like to know about it.

To go to Israel. So sells product. Nice bracelet. See photos. Make purchase.

You've got to take these opportunities while you have them. Good luck!

Ha'aretz: Egypt blocks prominent playwright from entering Israel to receive honors