These expressions have achieved perfect synchronicity in the real world at the world-famous London School of Economics. It has been disclosed that over the years the LSE gratefully (greedily) accepted gobs and gobs of cash from Libyan madman Colonel Gadhaffi. So not only did the school accept blood money, it also turns out that - surprise, surprise - the school has taken a consistent anti-Israel stance and advocates boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel - Jewish Ideas Daily: The best universities money can buy, RED FACES AT THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: MELANIE PHILLIPS and Libya and the LSE: Large Arab gifts to universities lead to 'hostile' teaching - Telegraph. Better still is this story - LSE academic’s ‘slap threat’ to Jewish leader - Just Journalism.
So when the proverbial sh*t hit the fan, some genius at LSE (we are talking about very high and powerful academic intellectuals, after all) decided that the best thing to do was to pretend that its ties to Libya never existed - witness the rapid cleansing of the online biographies of any member of the school who had anything to do with Libya - Cover-up claims after editing of academics' biographies.
I do not give a damn that Sir Howard Davies, the now-former Director of the LSE, immediately stepped down over the issue. I hope that he has many a sleepless night with an extraordinarily guilty conscience, and I hope that all others who participated in this fiasco take a bullet (figuratively speaking, of course) and find their careers in shambles.
This sordid affair reminds me of thesis of the famous pre-World War II book "The Treason Of The Intellectuals", and I think it illustrates the true meaning of greed, sanctimony and corruption. I hope the LSE gets what it deserves - and I do not mean new endowments. I would not put it in charge of a kindergarten class.
And I'm sure that the LSE is not alone - as was stated in an editorial in the English newspaper The Independent:
"Sir Howard's departure, however, must not be used as a pretext for sweeping under the carpet awkward questions about foreign money in British academia. So far as the LSE is concerned, it is to be hoped that the inquiry, which will be headed by the former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, will sort out what was given, by whom, and how it was used, so that clarity is brought to the whole affair. But the LSE is far from alone among educational establishments in having benefited from links with Gaddafi's Libya. Nor is the colonel's the only dubious regime to have seduced British universities with its money.
If the soul-searching at the LSE encourages others to review their sources of recent funding, that is all to the good. The incentives given to universities to take any money that might be going, both in fees from overseas students and endowments, has brought about a situation where – it might seem from outside – almost anything goes."
But my personal favorites are the entertainers who performed concerts for Gadhaffi and gang - 'Yeah!' Usher is giving back Libya money - CNN.com and Music's Kadafi connection: Private concerts stir up controversy - latimes.com (to single out one example - a Canadian example - Nelly Furtado - $1M for a 45 minute concert in 2007 - are you kidding me?) - uh, guys, it would mean a lot more if (a) you never did the concerts in the first place, (b) you gave the money back before the sh*t hit the fan, (c) you do not think that donating the money to charity is some great act of selflessness and repentance, and (d) you did not make a bunch of bullsh*t excuses (like, "I was naive....").
If anyone knows anyone who thinks that these guys would have given back the money on their own - please have that person examined by a mental health professional immediately.
But don't worry - I have a good way to start to make amends - go and perform some free concerts in Israel.
3. What's That Smell? - Oh yeah, it's time for the annual Israel Apartheid Week hatefest. Want a nice home-grown example? Try this - Rector of Queen’s University celebrates Israeli Apartheid Week, declares Israel guilty of ‘genocide’ | Full Comment | National Post.
I'm not going to give this disgusting event any more space than it deserves, which is the amount of space available under a cockroach.
I will instead refer you to these few links - Israel Apartheid Week, and efforts to combat it, begin, MPs Baird, Volpe join forces to denounce Israeli Apartheid Week, Catherine Chatterley: A history of Israeli Apartheid Week and Israeli Apartheid Week: Political Theater at Its Worst.
And please - to the university administrators who permit this disgraceful annual event to take place on their campuses - which are supposed to be bastions of truly free speech, dialogue and the peaceful exchange of views - you are no better than the LSE - and, and since you reside in your ivory towers amongst the rest of us great unwashed, when the event on your campus concludes, please remember to flush the toilet. There's simply no other way to put it.
4. Speaking Of Synchronicity - odd, don't you think, that these 2 stories appeared in the news at the same time? Britain expels Israeli diplomat over 'intolerable' actions of Mossad - contains video and SAS unit, diplomats bungle secret mission into Libya | The Australian. In case you missed it in the latter story:
"The BBC reported that the Britons had been approaching an agricultural compound when the mission went wrong. They were confronted by Libyan guards who searched the soldiers' bags and found weapons, ammunition, explosives, maps and passports for at least four different nationalities." (my emphasis)
- Guardian amends Ghajar article following Just Journalism PCC complain - Just Journalism
- Guardian admits Israel ‘straightforward target’ | Just Journalism
- Vogue Defends Profile of Syrian First Lady - Max Fisher - International - The Atlantic
- American Thinker: NY Times Uses Rescued Chilean Miners' Pilgrimage to Holy Land to Score Points Against Israel
- 'British show demonizes Israel' - Israel News, Ynetnews
- Ombudsman: Sorry, Readers, the Washington Post Can't Afford Accuracy Anymore
- NPR Senior VP: Zionists Don’t Control NPR Like They Control the Newspapers
- Video: NPR Promised to Hide ‘Muslim Organization’ from Federal Scrutiny
6. What If This Is True? Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas Rape, Mutilate and Harvest Organs of African Migrants - I'm waiting for the outrage.......
7. Ruth Wisse - her interactions with Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow and Irving Howe:
8. Oh, Please - does anyone have skin that is thicker than tissue paper? No BC and AD? That Spells Culture War and OUR VIEW: Drop ridiculous grab for attention, Nina
9. I'm Done With Hockey - I have been a huge fan of hockey since I was a kid. But the total inability of the National Hockey League to deal with escalating violence (and I do not mean fighting) has reached a tipping point after this week's sickening occurrence involving Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins and Max Pacioretty of the Montreal Canadiens. After Chara manhandled Pacioretty into the stanchion supporting the glass between the benches, the NHL, in its infinite wisdom, saw fit not to impose further discipline on Chara - but what do you expect from a league that failed to impose further discipline for 2 incidents involving Sidney Crosby - the best player in the world and the heir to Wayne Gretzky?
Miraculously, thankfully, Pacioretty has been released from the hospital. Canadiens' Pacioretty released from hospital His season, and maybe his career, is over - refer to Todd Bertuzzi's vicious on-ice attack on Steve Moore 7 years ago in which Moore sustained similar injuries - after which he has never played a second of professional hockey.
And to be perfectly clear, this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the victim was a member of the Montreal Canadiens. It has everything to do with an arrogant league administration that simply cannot see the forest for the trees and a greedy players' union that blames the injury on the construction of the rink - both obviously think that the fans who follow the sport like a religion, who (used to) look up to professional players as idols - and, perhaps most importantly, support the whole damn thing with their hard earned money - are a bunch of morons.
So I'm done. Honest to G-d. All the excitement I felt last year when my beloved Canadiens upset the Capitals and the Penguins in the playoffs has simply evaporated.
Here are some links about the latest "incident", as well as the video of the incident itself.
- NHL should be terrified of threat to Crosby
- The ‘hockey play’ defence is getting old
- Wake-Up Call: Chara deserves suspension for reckless hit
- NHL loses moral compass with Zdeno Chara hit on Max Pacioretty - Michael Farber - SI.com
- Bettman fiddles while NHL burns - The Globe and Mail
- Bettman unfazed by Air Canada sponsorship threat - The Globe and Mail
- Bettman: Pacioretty hit was horrific but part of the game
(here's the NESN version - does anyone really believe the analysis from the home town network? - poor decision?)
(also from NESN)
(Mr. Gary Bettman - the epitome of arrogance)
10. Sorry - just not in the mood to find anything humorous on which to end. But I did find something inspirational.
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