Sunday, May 16, 2010

Note - Since the holiday of Shavuot will be observed this week, I will not post again until Thursday evening/Friday. I'm sure you will survive......

1. No Confusion Here - The little darling cannot complain that someone puts words in her mouth - her true colors are even more noticeable now - I mean - "Death to Israel"? Muslim student who admitted support for Jewish genocide now says, "Death to Israel" - Jihad Watch. What I think is worthy of noting is whether UCSD takes any official action against her (think if someone said "Death to Muslims" in a similar forum), whether the other student groups on campus say anything, or whether the usual suspects like the ACLU speak up. Given my limited experience in the St. Thomas University fiasco, I am not betting on anything except that nothing will be done - nothing whatsoever. Hope I'm wrong, but not betting on it.

2. Speaking Of Universities - this is very close to home - Mount Allison University, a very prominent liberal arts college in Sackville, New Brunswick (about 2 hours from here) has this little controversy on its hands. Anti-Semitism at work, says Reisman of degree uproar. The question I have is whether these professors ever protest anything else.


3. A New Superhero - Rubber Man! This is the Attorney General of the United States of America - can you answer the damn question? Nicking Our Public Discourse - Mark Steyn - National Review Online.



4. Interesting Theory - nothing to do with Israel, Judaism, antisemitism, etc. - Pajamas Media » Goldman Sachs and the Broken Windows Theory.




7. This Explains Things Pretty Well, I'm Afraid - The Rosett Report

8. Christian Zionist Support For Israel - Why Christian Zionists Really Support Israel – Forward.com


9. Come One, Come All To The Giant Public Trough - Robert Fulford: Government funding for all (even jihadis) - Full Comment


10. Did We Go Too Far? - I'm not convinced that this is genuine - White House meets with rabbis to assuage concerns on Israel | JTA - Jewish & Israel News and also this.

11. And Stay Out!! - Noam Chomsky denied entry to Israel - Israel News, Ynetnews. This does not bother me in the least. Free speech is fine for Chomsky, Finkelstein et al. - as long as what it really means is that we are free to listen to them spew their anti-Israel venom. I am not worried about the imminent demise of free speech in Israel as a result. And also, Israel has no obligation to stab itself - it's one thing if this clown goes to Egypt or Syria or Iran and speaks - but I do not think that Israel has an obligation to let this guy into its own backyard and incite the locals - and by the way, aren't the PA sponsors of this Israel's peace partners?


12. Israeli Ingenuity (Again) - knock, knock, who's there? Check this out!
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Saturday, May 15, 2010 - motzei Shabbat

1. Jewish Holiday - The Jewish holiday of Shavuot will be observed this coming week. The holiday marks the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. Some say that the holiday does not get the respect it deserves - Shavuot: The Zeppo Marx of Jewish Holidays – Forward.com. As well, it is traditional to eat dairy dishes on the holiday - want to know why? Read - Got Milk?

2. On A More Serious Note - Here is the mealy-mouthed, half-baked comment from the Muslim Students Association at UCSD regarding the burn job that David Horowitz performed on the racist student earlier this week - Muslim Students Association issues deceptive non-condemnation of UCSD student's endorsement of genocide of Jews - Jihad Watch.


3. Criticism Of B'nai Brith Canada - A former B'nai Brith Canada League for Human Rights chair speaks out on the state of BB - Full Comment - I am no more a fan of the victim card than I am of the race card - see next story.


4. Henry Gates - I was extremely critical of Professor Henry Gates of Harvard when he played the race card after his arrest in Cambridge. I was therefore quote surprised to read this - Pajamas Media » Henry Gates Deflates the Reparations Balloon - also, check out this video


5. What Will This Summer Bring? - RealClearWorld - Guns of August in the Middle East?

6. Intellectuals - Pajamas Media » Thomas Sowell Takes on ‘Intellectuals’ - which reminds me of one of my favorite sayings - adapted to be about intellectuals rather than consultants -"An intellectual is a man who knows 100 ways to make love to a woman, but does not know any women"




8. Mark Steyn - I like a lot of what Mark Steyn has to say, and his courage and forthrightness is saying it. However, he messed up with his attack on the Canadian Jewish Congress - National Post’s Full Pundit: Mark Steyn’s CJC attack “Astonishingly Disingenuous” « Canadian Jewish Congress


9. Ground Zero Developer - Pajamas Media » The Ground Zero Mosque Developer: Muslim Brotherhood Roots, Radical Dreams - better check this out further - sounds a lot like letting the Confederacy run a slave trade outlet at Gettysburg.

10. What If The Politicians Minded Their Own Business? Pajamas Media » ‘LandPeace’: A Bottom-up Approach to Peace in Israel




12. Perhaps The Best-Known Jewish Song - best line of the video - "Jews leaving food on their table to dance......"


which reminds me of the scene in the Billy Crystal movie "Memories of Me" where the Mexican band thinks that Billy Crystal and Alan King are saying "Have a Tequila" when they ask the band to play Hava Nagila..... which reminds me of this famous scene from "The Princess Bride":

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Friday, May 14, 2010 - Brief Posting Before Shabbat

1. More Goldstone - Israelis Condemn Goldstone’s Role In South Africa During Apartheid – Forward.com


2. They're All Terrorists - you can't pick and choose - Israel slams Russia's Hamas stance

3. Did They Have Surfboards in Auschwitz? Since the usual suspects like to describe Gaza as the world's largest prison or concentration camp, I wonder aloud how often the victims at Auschwitz got to go surfing. Gaza surfers ride on wave of goodwill from Israel - CNN.com


"Let my words echo in the depths of your soul: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--make no mistake about it."

5. Look What Was Under The Rock - It certainly was not hard to get this ostensibly moderate Muslim lady to show her true colors.


6. Margaret Atwood - Yes, she could have been more specific about not boycotting Israel, but nonetheless - Novelist Atwood Boycotts Boycotts.


"Although 20 percent constitutes a small minority, its consistency over time and place offers encouragement. That one-fifth of Muslims, Arabs, and even Palestinians accept Israel as a Jewish state suggests that, despite a near-century of indoctrination and intimidation, a base for resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict does exist.

Would-be peacemakers must direct their attention to increasing the size of this moderate cohort. Getting from 20 percent to, say, 60 percent would fundamentally shift the politics of the Middle East, displacing Israel from its exaggerated role and releasing the peoples of this blighted region to address their real challenges — not Zionism but such, oh, minor problems as autocracy, brutality, cruelty, conspiracism, religious intolerance, apocalypticism, political extremism, misogyny, slavery, economic backwardness, brain drain, capital flight, corruption, and drought."


9. Here's Good Advice - Pay for your own parade

10. The Habs - The wildly improbable ride of the Montreal Canadiens in this year's NHL playoffs continues. Montreal (surprisingly easily) defeated Pittsburgh 5-2 in the deciding game of their 7 game series on Pittsburgh's home ice and now wait the winner of the Philadelphia-Boston series (to be decided tonight). So while we are waiting for the next series to begin.....let's enjoy the last win - and reminisce about past triumphs....









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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

1. Here's Some Great News For A Change - OECD is one place where the occupation won't count - Haaretz Daily Newspaper Israel News and 'This is a big day for Israel' - can anyone imagine what Israel could have accomplished - for the benefit of the entire world - if it did not have to divert so much time, attention and resources to defending itself?


2. JINSA - The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs - does American support for Israel endanger American troops? Apparently not - JINSA Flag & General Officers Ad | JINSA Online
"The correct response to those who denigrate the U.S.-Israel relationship, is to note that Israel is a friend by virtue of shared civic and political values and a security asset upon which the United States can rely."


"This is a long twilight war, the struggle against radical Islamism. We can't wish it away. No strategy of winning "hearts and minds," no great outreach, will bring this struggle to an end. America can't conciliate these furies. These men of nowhere—Faisal Shahzad, Nidal Malik Hasan, the American-born renegade cleric Anwar Awlaki now holed up in Yemen and their likes—are a deadly breed of combatants in this new kind of war. Modernity both attracts and unsettles them. America is at once the object of their dreams and the scapegoat onto which they project their deepest malignancies."


5. When Times Get Tough, Blame The Jews - Satellite of Hate - by James Kirchick > Tablet Magazine - A New Read on Jewish Life - how many times has this happened in history?




7. More On Brandeis - If this is our future


(maybe this should be an ivory tower)

8. Human Rights Update - a variety of articles:



11. Important Reminder - Studying Judaism




13. Got Some Free Time? - "Hey, wanna be part of the group that goes up to Parliament, man, cut off some heads?" - Jihad Watch - oh yeah, I forgot - it can't happen here.







18. Hockey - The Montreal Canadiens have extended their playoff run to include a Game 7 Wednesday night at the home of the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins - should be a barn burner - all I can say is GO HABS GO!

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Blog From Away #3 - May 10, 2010

1. I'm Still Worked Up About This - The story of the reluctance of Canadian youth to fight Hitler still has me worked up. Here are some additional stories about the role of the Canadian military in the liberation of Europe:
However, some people apparently think otherwise - this letter was in today's Halifax paper:
‘Good War’ not so good

In the Canadian Press article "Fight Hitler? Today’s young folk not so sure" (May 6), Andrew Cohen, president of the Historica-Dominion Institute, laments the fact that a survey shows 60 per cent of Canadians below age 35 said they’d reject serving in the Second World War. Cohen asks: "Do they know enough?"

In my opinion, yes, the young people are better informed today. They realize, perhaps, that the victors were not saints, proved meticulously by Canadian historian James Bacque in his book Other Losses (available at your local library). Bacque shows how the victorious Allies so wilfully maltreated POWs that millions of German POWs died of starvation after Germany capitulated.

Also, in his later book Crimes and Mercies, Bacque shows how the victorious Allies brutally expelled over 15 million German civilians in ethnic cleansing, causing over two million to die. Perhaps this is one reason why 60 per cent would not serve in the "Good War." Neither would I.

David Morgan, Lower Sackville

I doubt the accuracy of Morgan's comment that young people are better informed today. And, right off the top of my head, I am not sure that James Bacque is the go-to historian on this subject . I would instead suggest that one read The Bitter Road To Freedom by William Hitchcock.


That said, war is not a pretty business, nor is it a black and white business. The famous Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who knew a bit about the subject, said "It is well that war is so terrible — lest we should grow too fond of it."

Defeating tyrannical regimes such as Hitler's Nazi Germany or the militaristic Japan of World War II requires all-out war. I rather doubt that in the context of the day, many people would agree with this letter writer - and despite what his letter says, isn't he really saying that he would not have lifted a finger to fight the Nazis - a racist totalitarian regime that murdered millions and millions of people? Gee - great to have you on the team!

Mr. Morgan is entitled to his views, of course, (I think that they reflect revisionist baloney that is so in vogue these days) but he is damn lucky that someone fought that war for him - otherwise, if he was even permitted to express his individual opinion in a letter to a newspaper, he might well be writing his letter in German.

2. Credit Where Credit Is Due - Peres salutes Red Army ahead of visit to Moscow and Western troops march on Red Square for Victory Day - Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca - like it or not, the Red Army played an integral role in the defeat of the Nazis - and paid an unbelievable price in terms of casualties.




4. Interview With Dan Meridor - the Deputy Prime Minister of Israel

"I think we need a Palestinian state alongside Israel, not for them, but for us. Because I want to maintain the Zionist dream of a Jewish state, a democratic state, equal for all its citizens. Because I am Jewish, I want to treat the minorities with equality and humanity, and not the other way around. I think the numbers of the two communities in this land – it is all ours historically, I agree – but the numbers, and the fear and the hatred that grew over the 40 something years and more than that, do not allow for one land. I think one state is dangerous for our dream. As an imperative of our reality, we need to strive for a separation, for a division, partition."

6. Caroline Glick - I know that people have rather varying views on Ms. Glick - some find her alarmist, others find her to be eerily accurate. I tend rather more toward the latter camp of accuracy. Here is one of her latest columns - Caroline B. Glick: Time to plan for war.



8. It Is Now Official - the inmates are now running the asylum - The Rosett Report » Iran Grabs a Seat at the UN’s High Table — By Hosting the Dinner



10. A Rare Affair - Sunday witnessed the 19th perfect game - 27 up, 27 out - in the history of major league baseball.


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