Saturday, December 11, 2010 - Motzei Shabbat

1. Some Others Aren't Impressed Either - A number of organizations have strongly criticized the rabbinic ruling about selling land to non-Jews that I referred to in my last blog posting on Wednesday.
One of the regular readers of this blog agreed with the rabbinic ruling - and disagreed with my disapproval of it - and did so in the strongest possible terms. I read his comments, which are private between him and me, but his arguments do not change my mind.

Another reader opposed to the ruling commented to me, also privately, that among other things, the ruling is a terrible injustice that "discriminates against the countless Druze, Bedouin, and other Arab-Israelis who faithfully defend (and die) for the State of Israel in uniform"

"But academic freedom does not mean freedom from academic standards, and unfortunately, Peto’s paper seems to blur the line. After trudging through more than 100 pages of political hyperbole and unsubstantiated claims, it seems questions should be raised about the conception of academic standards at U of T’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) where Peto was awarded her master’s degree." (my emphasis)

3. Stupid Moves - Brazil and Argentina have recognized a "free and independent" Palestinian state - South American countries recognize Palestinian state and More Latino countries may recognize 'Palestine'.


Here's some good advice from the last link:
"Unilateralism is a two-way street. By abrogating the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians make it legitimate for Israel to withdraw from its own obligations to negotiate a final settlement and to recognize a Palestinian state. If the Palestinians unilaterally seek international recognition, Israel should move with all deliberate speed to create, unilaterally, a territorial arrangement that suits its interests: Separation from the Palestinians, while establishing control over territory needed for security, for its water resources and yes, for the security and further development of communities in Judea and Samaria."
4. Maybe They Should Be Concerned About This Instead - Iran Placing Medium-Range Missiles in Venezuela; Can Reach the U.S. :: Hudson New York - I'm going to go out on a limb and surmise that these missiles can be launched in a southern direction as well as in a northern direction. There's nothing more comforting to know that Hugo Chavez and his Iranian sponsors have their fingers on the triggers to these babies. Maybe all this chumminess with Iran wasn't such a good thing after all.


5. More On Unilateral Declarations - Bleak House - by Benny Morris Tablet Magazine - A New Read on Jewish Life - ridiculous unilateral declarations won't change the situation Benny Morris describes - only direct negotiations will. Also se - Ron Radosh » Israel’s Fate Hangs in the Balance: Is Benny Morris’s new Assessment Right?

6. Not Too Much To Ask For - Demonstrators call for basic human rights for Schalit - oops - forgot he is an Israeli Jew serving in the IDF - gee - three strikes against him - too bad....... (that's sarcasm, by the way).




8. Fire Update - Carmel, and its people, prepare to rise from the ashes. Also - First winter rain begins falling throughout country - ironically, for the reasons noted in the article - this may actually harm the recovery effort.

Also - see this article by Melanie Philips, which ends with this question:
"Question: who is the more cerebrally challenged – the Middle Eastern peoples who are brainwashed into believing in the US/Zionist all-powerful conspiracy, or the western intelligentsia who fail to find in this theory cause for serious disagreement, let alone profound alarm about the power and intentions of those in its demented grip?"

10. Convenient Amnesia - Pajamas Media » Bidding to Build Trains in CA, Deutsche Bahn Railroad Whitewashes Its Nazi Past - after all - the Jews and others who were murdered at places like Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Sobibor and Belzec didn't walk there.

(The inscription on the railway car reads: "We are going to Poland to strike at the Jews")



(examples of insignia of Nazi rail workers)

11. Iran - a number of things to keep in mind:



13. Attention All "Gleeks" - OK - I'm a "Gleek" - a fan of the show "Glee". On a recent episode, the character Arty, who is paraplegic, was able to "walk" courtesy of an Israeli invention - what a rotten country - green energy in the desert and now this! Those perfidious Jews - what they they do next? (more sarcasm, in case you didn't notice)


14. Israeli Slang - In Hebrew I can't say much more than "hello", "goodbye", "what's this?", "please", "thank you", "right", "left" and "where's the washroom?" (that last one is a biggie - though I am relying on the person I ask to point!) - so I would be completely lost on Israeli slang - Parsing Israeli Slang – Forward.com.

15. Yiddish - which I cannot speak either, again apart from some basic words, including some curses - but is a rich language that greatly reflects the Jewish experience in Eastern Europe before the Shoah - Is Yiddish Literature the Next Big Thing? – Forward.com - too bad the major sources of Yiddish culture - scholars, playwrights, poets, actors and so on - were wiped out in the Shoah - but the "good news" (sarcasm alert) is that they were wiped out very conveniently - either the Einsatzgruppen were kind enough to come right to their cities, towns and villages and massacre them more on less on the spot, or the German rail system provided free transportation to an extermination camp. Nothing's too good for the Jews on the way to their death!



17. Wow - This Speaks Volumes - this story is truly astonishing - or maybe not, given the countries concerned and the inept, bloated, corrupt waste of space on New York City's East Side known as the United Nations - and the ivory tower intellectuals in the West (and I'm guessing that a reasonable number of them are gay or strongly support gay rights) don't say a word.


18. College Football - I am a big fan of American college football - the games and the rivalries, not the scandals, the hype and the lack of a playoff system.

Being a good Jewish boy, my favorite team is, of course, Notre Dame (?) - a team that has struggled considerably over the last number of years. I also like Oklahoma, Penn State and pretty much anyone who plays Michigan, USC, Florida State or Miami.

In my opinion, even though I do not like any of their teams, recently the most dominant conference is clearly the Southeastern Conference (the SEC), which boasts last year's national champion Alabama, this year's SEC champion Auburn (which will play Oregon for the national championship), and other perennially strong teams such as Florida, Georgia, LSU, South Carolina - even if some of those teams are having off years. This year's "Iron Bowl" rivalry game between Auburn and Alabama was one of the best games in recent memory, and junior Auburn quarterback Cam Newton is an amazing talent who is on an incredible roll this year (and who will likely win the Heisman Trophy this evening).

Anyway, here is a video of some of the top plays of the past season - with the bowl games to come.



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