Saturday, January 16th, 2010 - motzei Shabbat

1. Haiti - Yet another natural disaster has ravaged this country. The death and destruction appears to be at incredible levels. Among the countries rushing to give aid is Israel - I wonder if anyone will remember that the next time Israel is singled out for criticism?


2. Don't Stop On My Account - Hey guys, knock yourselves out!

3. Death Of A Hero - Miep Gies, the woman who helped the family of Anne Frank during World War II and preserved her diary, dies at age 100.



4. Works For Me! - Let the UN move to Dubai. And it makes a great target. And the terrorists and their supporters would not have to travel all the way to North America. Think of the saving in energy.



5. Another True Hero - The work of this Catholic priest is sad, but amazing.


6. OK, Who Wrote This Headline? - I mean, isn't this something of an understatement, perhaps the greatest of all time?

7. The Palestinians - Can't Obama and his staff see this for what it is? A very dangerous development.

8. I'll Bet They Don't Serve Booze - So here's an irony. Arab Terrorists operating an "airline". And a further irony - they won't drink alcohol, but will traffic in narcotics. Makes perfect sense. Do you think they do security checks?

9. Annoying Liberals - Here is one person's assessment of the 20 most annoying liberals in America today - certainly a "take no prisoners" approach.


10. This Is Funny - I guess that when you are the 12th man on the Ohio State Basketball team, you have some free time on your hands.

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Monday, January 11, 2010

1. I Just Don't Get It - Jonathan Kay: B'nai Brith compares Vancouver's treatment of female ski jumpers to Nazi policies of 1936 - Full Comment - the basic story struck me as somewhat unfair in a very limited context, but the analogy to the Nazi policies of 1936 entirely escapes me. It also seems to me that to raise an issue in such a manner does serious damage to the rest of the agenda that B'nai Brith pursues.







4. And If You Believe This - I have a bridge or two to sell you - Commentary » Blog Archive » George Mitchell: “Fatah Believes in Nonviolence”



6. Another Israeli Innovation - While "they" come up with "underwear bombs" - Feature: Bugg off! Around Israel Jerusalem Post






10. Shouldn't There Be Some Sort of Credit? I mean, the UN let this stuff in Gaza go on for years, facilitated largely by the UNRWA itself. Some damaged buildings seems like a minor price for the UN to swallow. Israel Will Pay 10 Million to U.N. for Damaging Gaza Buildings – Forward.com



12. Just Like The World Forgets The Evil of the Nazis - Pajamas Media » Forgetting Communism’s Evils


13. Airport Security & Terrorism - Having seen airport security in action this morning at Stanfield International, I am really not sure what to think except that it looks like a huge waste of time and effort that does not really go after the problem. Here are some more perspectives on this issue:
14. Turkey - Turkey lashes out at Israel International News Jerusalem Post - more idiocy from Erdogan - the Iranians and Syrians use Lebanon like a conveyor belt to replenish Hezbollah, and all anyone can complain about is Israeli violations of their airspace and waterways.


16. And Now For Something Completely Different - Pajamas Media » Did America Bring Down the British Empire?

17. NBA - The League That Cares


18. The Patriots Had A Bad Day All Around - this is indicative of their woes. As is this picture:

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Motzei Shabbat - January 9, 2010

1. How Come No One Says a Word? - Egypt declares UK politician George Galloway persona non grata Headlines News Jerusalem Post and Commentary » Blog Archive » Egypt Does PR Right.



3. Israel - An Apartheid State? This article is from Ha'aretz, which is known to be well to the left of centre -Akiva Eldar / Is there really a difference between Israel and apartheid South Africa? - Haaretz - Israel News - it does not surprise me to see it published there.

I think that the author makes a huge and erroneous leap from the facts in first paragraph of the story to his apartheid analysis, as well as either missing, misstating or ignoring many other factors. There are a number of good responses to the author's points in the comments section below the article - they won't be hard to spot.

I have included the article here to show how easily Israelis (and Jews) attack themselves and that such material is readily available in a main-stream Israeli newspaper. If we are going to advocate for Israel, we need to be aware of this type of material to be able to meaningfully respond to it.

4. Never Paid Attention To This - Why Jews Hate Palin


5. Perspectives on Ariel Sharon - still in a coma, some 4 years later - Rip Van Sharon - by Seth Lipsky > Tablet Magazine - A New Read on Jewish Life.


6. Iran - Ahmadinejad: Iran will not fall on its knees | Iranian - Iran News | Jerusalem Post - oh, and by the way, we have no issue with the ordinary Iranian - it's the brutally repressive, genocidal, terrorist supporting thugs at the top we don't like (Hey "Ahmadinejad" - that means you!)




8. Conversion to Judaism - one of the really hot button internal Jewish issues, particularly as between Israel and North America - Return Conversion to the Rabbis – Forward.com - and the author is no left wing liberal, but the past president of the Rabbinical Council of America.


10. Probably Just An Isolated Incident - That is what Janet Napolitano would say - Mumbai Chabad receives threat JTA - Jewish & Israel News - I mean, who would attack a Chabad House in Mumbai?

And using Napolitano as my segue to the airline story, here are some related articles:



12. The Epitome of Grace - On Thursday evening, the Texas Longhorns and the Alabama Crimson Tide met in the NCAA national championship football game. On the 5th offensive play for Texas, Colt McCoy, their senior starting quarterback and likely the key to their chance to win, was injured and was unable to return to the game. Alabama eventually won the game and the national championship. Interviewed after the game, I though McCoy displayed remarkable grace in a terrible situation. I must say that I do not usually like it when a player or coach flaunts their religion in these types of interviews, but I found his comments to be sincere and low-key. Judge for yourself.

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Friday, January 8, 2010

1. If This is An Issue, What Hope Is There? Iran soccer chief apologizes for Israel greeting - CNN.com

2. While They're Open, Let's Get To The Truth About Pope Pius XII - Vatican unlocks its secret archives - thestar.com





5. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished - The Deadly Price of Pursuing Peace

6. Airport Security - a variety of articles, including one from the Halifax paper with, naturally, a complaint - I can see the ACLU and their fellow travelers (no pun intended) going berserk over this:


Also, see this interview of Ed Koch:









12. Hockey News - To the chagrin of many, the Canadian National Junior hockey team lost the championship game 6-5 (in overtime) to a very deserving US team. This broke a streak of 5 straight gold medals for the Canadian team. While the games themselves are great (once the teams get on a equal footing - Canada beat Latvia in the opening game by an 18-0 score), the exclusive media coverage by Canadian sports channel TSN has come under a lot of criticism - Chris Selley: The five golden rules of broadcasting the World Junior Hockey Championships - Full Comment#commentmessage#commentmessage.

I love hockey, but guys.....it's a game....

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Sunday, January 3, 2010

The first blog entry of 2010 - I am afraid that there will be the same themes as last year, starting with.....

1. Iran - If anyone had any notional deadlines of December 31, 2009, well, the clock struck midnight a few days ago:
2. Lebanon and Syria - The Murdered Fathers Club


3. Airport Security - Stories abound on this issue resulting from the failed Christmas Day terrorist attack by a member of some unnamed religious group, from the "failure" of the Western airport security model, to the superiority of the Israeli model, to whether the Obama Administration is waking up, to the pros and cons of profiling.


5. Enraged Member of Unnamed Religious Group Attacks Cartoonist - Somali shot after allegedly attempting to attack Danish cartoonist - CNN.com - OK, I'll let you in on the surprise - "Buddy" was a Muslim.....hey - wait a minute, so was that guy up above in item 2 - is this a trend worth observing?




7. Another Useful Idiot - 2009 gave us the "Goldstone Report" - here is a good article from November that is well worth the read - The Goldstone Illusion | The New Republic



9. Catch-Phrases - Since I am not a big fan of political correctness, I am also not a huge fan of meaningless catch-phrases that often serve to do more than muddy an issue with imprecise language - The catchphrase of the decade. - By Ron Rosenbaum - Slate Magazine



11. Yale - Oh, to reside in an ivory tower - Pajamas Media » Yale Wimps Out Again

12. Winter Classic - In my opinion, one of the great things that the National Hockey League does is to play one game per year outdoors - previous games have been held in Edmonton (the so-called "Heritage Classic", where the temperature hit -30C with windchill), Buffalo and Chicago.

This year's edition was held at Fenway Park in Boston - Boston beat Philadelphia 2-1 in overtime.

Here's how they got the "rink" ready (after the obligatory commercial):

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