The Last Amazon

One is a state of mind

2010-08-13T07:14:00.000-04:00

Shirza Herzog has what passes for a prominent name in Israeli politics but for the life of me I cannot recall one article or position she has taken via the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where she has been right. I really tuned out big time as she tried to pass off Sharon's disengagement as the best thing since sliced bread rather than a disaster of biblical proportions in the making for both the Israelis and Palestinians.

But she does bring up an an important topic which is being discussed seriously by both the Israeli and Palestinian body politic. Probably much more seriously in the Palestinian side than the Israeli – possibly because the so-called intelligentsia in Israel are leftwardly bent - even the so-called centralists bend from the left, and most of the opposition to the idea of a one state solution to the conflict comes from the Israeli left rather than the right. The Globe and Mail,

New winds seem to be blowing in Israel’s right wing. Prominent voices opposed to relinquishing the West Bank and Jewish settlements are calling instead for its annexation, with citizenship for Palestinians living there. On the face of it, this sounds virtuously democratic. But the right has no intention of abandoning its vision of a Jewish state in expanded territory. What’s being proposed is neither practical nor intellectually honest.

Israel’s 7.5 million residents already include nearly one million Palestinian citizens. Palestinian numbers are debated, but incorporating the West Bank and East Jerusalem would mean the addition of close to three million more and a narrower Jewish majority. Israeli support for a two-state resolution of its conflict with the Palestinians is largely based on this demographic imperative. If Israel wants to remain a democracy, maintain a Jewish majority and be a homeland for the Jewish people, it can’t possibly become a single binational state. (This underpins the reluctance of all Israeli governments to annex territories captured in 1967.)

In spite of this, Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin, former Likud defence minister Moshe Arens and former Settlers’ Council chair Uri Elizur believe that evacuating settlements and an unstable Palestinian state alongside Israel are worse than the risk of incorporating an even larger Palestinian minority in a Jewish state. The Israeli right has espoused annexation since 1967 but wouldn’t face up to its underlying weakness – the demographic issue and its impact on Israel’s democracy.

Ah, the demographic bogey-man. That argument was considered compelling during the re-birth pangs of the Jewish state, but in 2010, there is simply no place except for it in the modern state of Israel. I won't even bring up the charge intellectually dishonest charge - cause I cannot do it without a great deal of name calling, but ironically, the largest block against a single state solution comes from a marriage of the Israeli left and the official Palestinian leadership. C'est surprise - not.

Yoram Ettinger takes on the demographic bogeyman in Ynet News, an Israeli daily.

In 2010, a surge in the Israeli Jewish fertility rate is a long-term, unique, global phenomenon, while fertility rates decline sharply in the Third World in general and in Muslim countries in particular.

In 2010, there is a 66% Jewish majority in 98.5% of the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean (without Gaza) – and a 58% Jewish majority with Gaza. That Jewish majority benefits from a demographic tailwind and from a high potential of aliyah (Jewish immigration) and of returning Israeli expatriates.

In comparison, in 1900 and 1947 there was an 8% and a 33% Jewish minority, deprived of economic, technological and military infrastructures. In 2010, the number of Arabs in Judea and Samaria is inflated by 900,000 (1.6 million and not 2.5 million) through the inclusion of 400,000 overseas residents, a double-count of 200,000 Jerusalem Arabs (who are counted as Israeli Arabs by Israel and as West Bank Arabs by the Palestinian Authority), and by ignoring annual net-emigration since 1950 (e.g. 17,000 in 2009), etc. Meanwhile, a World Bank study documents a 32% “inflation” in Palestinian birth numbers.

Since the appearance of modern-day Zionism, the demographic establishment has contended that Jews are doomed to be a minority west of the Jordan River. It asserts that Jews must relinquish geography in order to secure demography. But, what if demographic fatalism is based on dramatically erroneous assumptions and numbers? What if the demographic establishment has adopted Palestinian numbers without auditing, although such numbers are refuted annually by an examination of birth, death, migration and 1st grade registration records?

What if the contended Palestinian numbers require a population growth rate almost double the highest population growth rate in the world, while Gaza and Judea and Samaria are ranked 5th and 38th in global population growth rate? What if the demographic establishment failed to realize that the Arab demographic surge of 1949-1969 (in pre-1967 Israel) and 1967-1990 (in Judea and Samaria and Gaza) had to be succeeded by a sharp demographic decline?

Contrary to demographic projections, the first half of 2010 sustains the growth of the Jewish fertility rate and the sharp and rapid fall of the Arab fertility rate throughout the Muslim World, as well as west of the Jordan River. The decline in Arab fertility results from accelerated urbanization and modernization processes, such as education, health, employment, family planning, reduced teen pregnancy, enhanced career mentality among women, in addition to domestic security concerns.

The Washington-based Population Resource Center reported a sharp dive in global Muslim fertility, trending toward two births per woman. For instance, Iran shrunk from 8 births 30 years ago to 1.7, Egypt – 2.5, North Africa – 1.9, Jordan – a “twin sister” of Judea and Samaria – is below 3 births per woman and Judea and Samaria’s fertility rate is 3.2 in 2010. According to demographic precedents, there is a very slight probability of resurrecting high fertility rates following a prolonged period of significant reduction.

In contrast with demographic fatalism, the share of Jewish births in pre-1967 Israel has increased in 2010 – mostly due to the secular sector - to 76% of total births, compared with 75% in 2009 and 69% in 1995. From 80,400 births in 1995 the number of Jewish births catapulted by 50% to 121,000 in 2009, while the annual number of Arab births has stabilized at 39,000 due to their most impressive integration into Israel’s infrastructures of modernity.

The fertility gap between Arabs (3.5 births per woman and trending downward) and Jews (2.9 and trending upward) was reduced from 6 birth per woman in 1969 to 0.6 in 2009. The erosion in the Arab fertility rate is 20 years faster than projections made by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

Okay, that's the elites duking it out, but what of those gun-crazed settlers roaming around Samaria and Judea? Joe Settler has this to say.

I’ll admit, certainly if you keep the Palestinian state of Hamastan (Gaza) out of the picture, it does have some points of merit.

Israel still remains a Jewish democratic state because we’re still the majority, and probably will continue to be so (and even with Gaza we still would have a Jewish majority). Israel annexes the whole of Judea and Samaria and gradually and carefully naturalizes the Arab population. It certainly diffuses the absurd claims that the Palestinians don’t have democratic representation (though I will admit that since the PA hasn’t had elections for a while, and the term of their Prime Minister expired over a year ago, there is something to that claim, but they’re just blaming the wrong people for that problem). The US trained PA military can be incorporated into the Police, where they’ll get along fine. And finally, everyone can live and build where they want (I can just see Tel Aviv getting flooded with West Bankers, and I would certainly start my expansion). Jerusalem wouldn’t need to be divided according to anybody, and the path of the light rail wouldn’t need to be changed. And finally, we can tear down that ugly wall heading towards the middle of my house.

After all, if we can all shop and work in Rami Levi together, a single state isn't such a impossible idea.

Joe has a valid point - it isn't an impossible idea and its time to seriously explore the idea rather than the knee-jerk no way, no how, response from the Israeli left. As for the demographics, if Jews in the homeland of the Jewish state can't care enough to keep the mitzvot – specifically be fruitful and multiply; is there any reason for Israel to remain the homeland of Jews who don't exist? Really people; what is the point?

Now there are a rather large number of practical hurdles which would have to be broached in any discussion of a one-state solution – none the less would be the Palestinian Authority and what passes for the political leadership of the Palestinians would be obviously dead set against the idea.

The red-line in the sand for the Israelis would be Hamastan in the south and 4 million+ Palestinians disbursed throughout the Arab world, but given, even if a Palestinian state would be established no one would be returning any time soon due to the one practical reality, which is, a Palestinian state could not adsorb an influx of 4 million people. The water resources and infrastructure would make it a human catastrophe in less than 6 months. Oh, did I mention Israel already has two official languages – Hebrew and Arabic - already?

NB: And yes, I am still having trouble posting at the Last Exile.

Cognitive Dissonance

2010-08-10T19:42:00.000-04:00

Just last week Minister of Defense and Labor party leader Ehud Barak had this to stay concerning the deportation of foreign nationals' children who are in the country illegally. Jerusalem Post

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reconsider the government decision authorizing the deportation of 400 children of foreign workers under the age of five, while letting 800 older children and their families stay. Barak, who did not participate in Sunday’s cabinet vote, asked Netanyahu to prevent the deportations. “The State of Israel cannot expel hundreds of children,” Barak said. “It is not Jewish or humane and will scar the entire Israeli society.”

Okey Dokey, I can be down with that, except, well, who do you explain this? Arutz Sheva:

Soldiers of the Nachal Hareidi regiment – a heretofore successful experiment in integrating hareidi-religious soldiers in the IDF – write of a “mortal blow” to their trust in the IDF command.

The soldiers say their commanders lied to them during the recent (July 26th) destruction of a large house in Givat Ronen (Ronen Hill) outside the Jewish town of Har Bracha in Shomron (Samaria). The Nachal Hareidi soldiers were sent to replace the Border Guard forces, after being falsely told that the latter had gone southward for police work.

The destroyed home, built at a cost of hundreds of thousands of shekels, belonged to the Afarsimon family. The dozens of Border Guard and special Yassam police troops also destroyed a goat pen and caravan (mobile home without wheels) at the site. The incident, in which each of the neighboring Jewish homes was surrounded by police to prevent the residents from attempting to block the destruction, was followed by a sharp clash – part of the residents’ “Price Tag” response to actions of this nature - between Jews and Arabs in which four Jews were hurt.

Forty Nachal Hareidi soldiers signed a letter, unprecedented in its sharp tone, to their battalion commanders and to IDF Chief Rabbi Rafi Peretz. Excerpts from the letter:

“This was an arrogant, disgraceful and deceptive act… We are saddened that time after time, the IDF does not realize that it should respect the values of Jewish tradition. This, in addition to the fact that the IDF does not know the different between a political mission that hurts the IDF goals and crumbles its ethical strength, and a security mission for which we risk our lives.

“In order to accomplish this mission [of destruction in Givat Ronen], the commanders knowingly lied to the regiment soldiers, telling them that they were to replace a Border Guard battalion that was leaving for the south for active duty – when in fact these Border Guardsman were actually involved in destroying Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria. This fact is a mortal blow to our trust in the IDF command. To deviate from the norm of telling the truth in the IDF is a mortal blow that could have ramifications in all the various planes of military behavior, both in routine work and at times of emergency.”

The soldiers say that their senior commanders lied to them knowing that many of the soldiers would not want to take part even indirectly in harming Jews and their property. “Instead, they chose to sacrifice the trust of their soldiers in their commanders, causing a direct blow to their combat readiness and ability – and all this in order to carry out a grave act that stands in opposition to the goals of the IDF.”

So if its anti-Jewish and inhumane to evict the children of illegal aliens from Israel; why is the eviction of Jewish families from their homes and deliberately lie to the IDF soldiers about their mission ethical and somehow kosher?

G20 Lawsuit

2010-08-10T10:10:00.006-04:00

Officer Bubbles makes an appearance at the announcement of the G20 civil lawsuits but he keeps a 'low profile' this time.

I really think the taxpayer's ought to start looking very closely at the idea of garnishing the pay of all officers involved in the civil rights violations given that any payout (not to mention the cost for the government to defend the indefensible in court) will have to come out of out of the taxpayers' pockets.

It just seems to me when we let the authorities get a free ride on the cost of civil rights violations we enabling the very kind of behaviour we not only scorn in a free society but actively legislate against.

And just because bullies make me feel particularly meanspirited I present Officer Bubbles - the cartoon.

x/posted at The Last Exile

If this is an example of Mullah tolerance in action - who'd want to experience the love?

2010-08-10T07:09:00.000-04:00

My daughter recently accompanied my mother and aunt to my other aunt's wedding. I didn't go for a couple of reasons – one being I only go to one wedding per individual and I had already used my quota with her. Besides I suspected it would be a 'dry' event and while I may not drink a lot - there is something about a dry wedding which doesn't exactly inspire a feeling of joy.

When my daughter returned she asked me why I didn't tell her our Aunt was a Baha'i and what the heck was a Bahai' anyway. I had forgotten she was, as it was a religion she acquired along with her second husband, and given the nature of that bitter divorce; I assumed the Baha'i faith went the way of the 2nd husband. My bad. Then the daughter asked me what it meant to be a Baha'i. I told her honestly I haven't a clue and had very little curiosity about it since it had nothing to do with Judaism. From what I gather there are a lot worse things to be a follower of, but apparently, not so in Iran.Ynet News:

Seven leaders of the Baha'i community in Iran convicted of spying for Israel have been sentenced to 20 years in prison, according to reports that reached the Baha'i international community. According to Bani Dugal, the Baha'i representative to the UN, "The accused received the sentence, and their lawyers are preparing an appeal." The seven leaders were arrested two years ago. In addition to espionage, they were charged with illegal organization and distribution of propaganda against the Islamic regime.

Reports obtained by the Baha'i community said the allegations of "ties with Zionists" are based solely on the fact that the Baha'i World Center - the spiritual and administrative center of the Baha'i faith – is located in Haifa.

Oy, and this just speaks volumes for Iran's famed Islamic tolerance:

A US State Department report released earlier this year criticized the Iranian government for its treatment of those practicing the Baha'i faith. The report said Iran's government prevents Baha'is from gathering in homes to worship and bans Baha'is from public schools, universities, the social pension system and government leadership posts unless they conceal their religion. "The government repeatedly pressured Baha'is to recant their religious beliefs in exchange for relief from mistreatment," the report

Nasrallah can't find his smoking gun

2010-08-09T20:31:00.000-04:00

Hezbollah leader Nasrallah had his press conference today to present the evidence that it was the Israelis who were responsible for the assassination of PM Rafik Hariri He promised to provide 'definitive' proof of Israeli involvement and instead what he provided was proof of Israeli air reconnaissance over Lebanon.

Really – he did. Actually, there was no evidence provided that the actual photographs were taken by the Israelis but Nasrallah's word. I can't stop my eyerolling – so instead read the Lebanon Daily Star's recap:

Nasrallah disclosed that in 1997, the resistance intercepted Israeli transmissions from its aerial reconnaissance aircraft, and he aired a series of excerpts of this footage, predating Hariri’s February 14, 2005, killing.

The footage was divided into three sections: it covered extensive shots of the area between the St. George Club, where Hariri was killed by a truck bomb, and the late premier’s residence in Qoreitem, with repeated shots of turns in the road along Corniche al-Manara. Nasrallah said the footage indicated that the Israelis were likely studying methods of carrying out bombings and assassinations, since official motorcades slow down at such turns.

The footage included shots of what Nasrallah said was Hariri’s path to his vacation residence in Faqra, Kesrouan, as well as the city of Sidon, with a focus on the residence of his brother, Shafik. “And there are no Hizbullah centers or homes of officials in these areas,” he said.

Nasrallah added that the resistance had begun assembling the footage only in the last two years, from an accumulated store of material, and hadn’t had time to compile similar excerpts of Israeli reconnaissance around the areas frequented by other politicians who were assassinated in the wake of Hariri’s killing. “This isn’t definitive proof,” he said, “but it opens up new horizons for the investigations.” Nasrallah added that the aerial reconnaissance footage was necessarily incomplete, because the resistance was unable to crack some of its encoding. “Just because we don’t have footage of [a given location], doesn’t mean the Israelis didn’t take pictures of it,” he said.

And the Israeli kill kittens too – just ask Nasrallah. If he looks long enough he can probably scrounge around the Hezbollah archives for aerial photographs of kitten deaths and provide testimony from an accused Israeli spy who witnessed it too!

xp: The Last Exile

Friends of Israel, but among Jews, not so much

2010-08-09T07:20:00.001-04:00

I know there is a great deal of outrage in the diaspora community over the proposed Rotem Converson Bill which would attempt to regulate and govern conversion in Israel. There has been a great deal of misinformation spread throughout the diaspora community over the bill and more than a few false outlandish claims have been made. The opposition to the bill is being led by the Jewish Reform movements and has managed to collect support via the Conservative movements.

What you need to know about the Jewish demographic in Israel is simply this – outside of North America there really is no 'Reform or Conservative' movements of any consequence or influence. Even among very secular Israelis the 'shul' they don't go to is Orthodox. The fact that the Reform and Conservative movement is person non grata within the Israeli state is well-known and this irks the Reform movement to no end. I believe the the opposition in the diaspora community is a cynical attempt to obtain legitimacy within the Israeli community via the coercive power of the state to grant them a standing which has not been won in the battleground of the Israeli public.

Barbara Kay, wrote a column for the National Post concerning the Israeli Rotem Bill (the lastest copy I could find of the bill is here and make up your mind whether is poses as a threat to Jewish unity). I did promise her column at some point. She deliberately smeared an entire group of Jewry for simply one reason – they are not her kind of Jew, and therefore, not 'authentic' and she made a rather remarkable claim that the Chief Rabbinate is under full control of the Charedi in Israel. The Charedi are not without influence in the Chief Rabbinate and the Rabbinical Council but as a fully fledged member of Jewish orthodoxy why should they be without influence? Do they control the Rabbinate – no.

In an act of supreme irony she accuses and smears Charedi Judaism of the worse excesses in the name of Judaism but fails to see while she is smearing the Chassidic 'parasitic' Jews for their lack of pluralism in outlook - she is just as guilty of the same excess of zeal in demonizing the Chassidic way. Chassidic Jews are different, in fact, this difference and a rather obvious way of dress has made them the first targets of anti-Semites, a fact which seems to have been lost on Kay. She ends her piece this way.

Between "friends" like ultra-liberal Jews on the left and the Haredim on the right, authentic Jews may not need their other myriad enemies.

Of course, I take exception to anyone claiming the mantle of Orthodox Jew who would write about the Temple this way.

The original was destroyed by the Babylonians, then rebuilt and restored (by the Judean king who ordered Jesus' death), and destroyed again by the Romans.

And the group I believe she is referring to who have built a model of the Third Temple belong in the Dati – or national religious camp of Israel and not the Charedi. In fact, most Charedi Rebbes won't allow their followers to even ascend the Temple Mount in fear of desecrating the Temple Mount so it would be rather problematic to actually attempt to build the a third temple on the Temple Mount - even if Al Aqsa Mosque was not there but why let facts get in the way of a righteous smear?

But the best response to Barbara Kay's column was written recently in a letter to the editor of the NY Times by the Chief Rabbi of Israel.

To the Editor:

Re “Israel Tries to Defuse Crisis Over Conversions” (news article, July 24):

Since the establishment of the State of Israel, conversions to Judaism have been governed by the Chief Rabbinate. As you noted in your article, this status quo has been challenged by a petition to Israel’s Supreme Court, backed by members of the Reform and Conservative movements. Yet fewer than 1 percent of the Jews living in Israel are members of these movements.

The bill provision you discuss seeks no changes; it seeks only to retain the situation as it has existed for 62 years. If these non-Israeli movements believe in democratic principles, why have they intervened in a matter that affects only Israelis and does not affect American Jews at all? Even more puzzling, how do they justify asking 12 American senators to pressure the Israeli government on this internal matter?

Israeli laws should be determined by residents of Israel who defend its security and bear its burdens. If our Jewish brethren immigrate to Israel, we will welcome them with great joy, and then they would be entitled, as citizens, to struggle for the adoption of their perspective.

Diaspora Jews who are coercing the Israeli government to drop the proposed legislation are causing great damage. The bill, within the framework of Jewish law, would expand the ambit of conversion, prevent the application of unjustified stringencies, and provide more leniency and flexibility in administration. Many Russian Israelis would benefit substantially. In fact, this legislation was proposed by Yisrael Beiteinu — a secular party — representing more than a million Russian Israelis.

May this unnecessary divisiveness end speedily.

Shlomo Moshe Amar
Chief Rabbi of Israel
Jerusalem, Aug. 3, 2010

Of course, the Chief Rabbi of Israel might not qualify to be numbered among authentic Jews as he is Sephardi rather than Ashkenazi.

Update: I should make one thing clear which probably causes a great deal of confusion and I suspect is the primary cause of Barbara Kay's nightmares. The Chief Rabbinate is a separate body from the rabbinical courts which are heavily controlled by Charedim. The Chief Rabbinate is not. The Rotem Law attempts to take conversion from the rabbinical courts and have it overseen by the Chief Rabbinate which has traditionally maintained a balance of orthodoxy.

After the love has gone

2010-08-08T12:38:00.000-04:00

Nice to see the NY Times still feels the love otherwise this has to go down as the 'blackest' weekend. I broke my coffee carafe for what was my most favourite coffee pot ever on my birthday. Faced with the idea of waking up the day after my birthday without decent fresh coffee was too horrible a fate to contemplate so I took myself shopping for a new machine – immediately.

I tried to buy the same Delonghi machine but in the end bought a higher end Delonghi machine. My daughter, the Last Amazon, was utterly scandalized by the price but there are just some things one cannot put a price on – my piece of mind being one of them. The new Delonghi makes even better utterly sublime coffee. In fact, the new machine coffee is so utterly devine that I usually brew a few cups to take in a thermos to work so I don't have to darken the doors of Starbucks or Second Cup and sip their overpriced swill. It didn't matter how my day ended because tomorrow was always held the promise of better day thanks to the fact I would face it with coffee from my new Delonghi coffee machine.

So what happened? Just after I finished telling my youngest to settle down and be careful of my coffee pot. He knocked into the machine and then jumped out of the way as the glass carafe crashed to a million tiny pieces to the floor. I don't cry often nor am I overly sentimental. I never even got teary eyed over Old Yellow or the Notebook, but I cried when I saw the tiny million pieces all over the floor. Not even a month old....now the hunt is on for a replace carafe. If anyone knows where I can find Delonghi replacement carafe in Toronto – please share.

another brick in the wall.... for multiculturalism

2010-08-08T07:24:00.000-04:00

There is a lot of criticism of Canada's multiculturalism policy from the right half of the political spectrum and there are more than a few sites who dutifully chronicle on a weekly basis some cultural clash which has rather devastating results for all those involved. While I am not a fan of state instituted and supported multiculturalism, I am a huge fan of living within a city where there is not a single cultural hegemony. Blurred Vision, an Iranian exiled band has done a remake of Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall and reminds us culture is not a one-way street and multiculturalism was never about another pavillion at a folkfest.

Personally, I prefer Blurred Vision's version which I find far more compelling. Although, that maybe because I never did enough drugs to appreciate the finer points of Pink Floyd.

Israelity

2010-08-07T22:11:00.000-04:00

Michael Totten interviews Benjaimin Kerstein and touches on a theme I have raised here and at other blogs which it is very difficult to understand a true Israeli perspective without understanding all the nuances of Israeli culture:

MJT: So what’s it like to read about Israel in the foreign press?

Benjamin Kerstein: Surreal.

MJT: How so?

Benjamin Kerstein: It rarely bears any resemblance to the country I live in, mainly because it either deals only with the conflict or because the news is produced by people who live in the English-speaking Jerusalem bubble.

MJT: Tell me about the English-speaking Jerusalem bubble.

Benjamin Kerstein: There’s a large population of English speakers in Jerusalem. The people who speak English tend to gather around each other, especially if they’re in the higher reaches of government or the media. They tend to hang out with other English-speaking people. They go to the places where such people congregate, they read English-language newspapers, and they watch English-language television. They have very little contact with the rest of Israel, which is predominantly Hebrew-speaking.

Tel Aviv is quite cosmopolitan, but if you go to the development towns in the south or to the towns in the north and in the Galilee, there are Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking populations there. Journalists have almost no contact with this world. What they portray as Israeli is a corner of a corner of a corner of this country.

So when we read about Israel in the foreign press—especially if we know about the English-speaking bubble in Jerusalem, or if we’ve ever dealt with the media in Jerusalem—we recognize almost instantly the same themes over and over and over again. All you usually get is the view of a closed subculture, which is not even interesting in my opinion.

MJT: A lot of these journalists don’t even socialize with English-speaking Israelis. I know they don’t because I’ve met some of them. I know who they hang out with and how disconnected they are. They hang out with each other and with other foreigners. That strikes me as bizarre because almost all my friends here are Israelis. Likewise, most of my friends in Lebanon are Lebanese.

Benjamin Kerstein: You find this sort of thing everywhere. People with shared interests and a shared language congregate. Hebrew isn’t a supremely difficult language to learn, but if you don’t have to learn it, you won’t. There are people who have lived in Jerusalem for thirty years who haven’t learned Hebrew because they don’t have to. This affects their opinions, it affects their view of the world, and it affects how they write about it.

If you try to get a feel for a distinctively Israeli perspective you won't get it by reading primarily the Anglo papers. In fact, quite often you will read a report in one of the English dailies which only tells half the story – usually only the half which supports whatever bias the reporter or paper want to tell you. A great example of this was last week's 'rape by deception' story.

What the Anglo versions generally won't tell you is that Sabbar Kashur is not the first man or even woman (yes, a woman has been found guilty under the rape by deception) but he was the first Arab. Nor will you be informed that Kashur was not 'found' guilty but plead guilty in a plea bargain arrangement.

He was on trial and the victim, under questioning from Kashur's lawyer admitted to telling the police he physically forced her to have sexual relations with him rather lying to her but because her consent was based on a 'lie' Kashur consequently she could not give 'informed' consent. Furthermore, she felt the police would not take the matter seriously if she admitted he only 'lied' his way into a sexual liaison. Although, under Israel's Basic Law on human rights (1992) anything which degrades or humilates the 'dignity' of a human being is a human rights violation. Now you can argue till the cows come home over whether Israel's Basic Law on human rights is too subjective and broad which makes it ripe for abuse but the fact remains Kashur plea guilty.

So in the interest of promoting Israelity; I want to share a new book I picked up yesterday which has been getting in the way of doing just about everything today. Good thing the ragu was made yesterday or the tribe would have been forced to rummage for scrapes in the fridge for dinner tonight. I haven't finished it, but the fact is; I hate to put it down. It's a murder-mystery called the Debba by Avner Mandelman and the story begins with an ex-pat Israeli living in Toronto who is sucked into the vortex of Israelity when his father is murdered in Israel. I can feel the sun and smell the orange blossoms.

So much for the long good-bye

2010-08-06T07:01:00.000-04:00

My hosting service is migrating me to a bigger, newer, faster server and somehow along the way I got shut out. So into the void did all my 'work-in-progress' posts go. It's nice to know even if the 'old' place is still cozy. Although, if I am going to be here for any lenght of time I must update the look. So until all is well in my corner of cyber-space expect to find me here. And yes, Kateland and Shoshanna are one and the same. Ata mehveen evrit? If so, then you should understand why.

the long good-bye

2009-07-01T09:16:00.002-04:00

It was my daughter who got me started blogging. She was all 13 years old and she already knew of the whole web log phenomena which was occurring under my nose. Actually, I was a little embarrassed she knew about it as it showed how badly out of touch I was with the wired world – me who started using PC's and learning basic way back in 1980. At the time, it was impossible to hold anything like a reasonable discussion of issues in our home. Her middle brother was in the frat boy stage which he is only starting to slowly emerge from and her youngest brother was fully entrenched in the Denis the Menace syndrome. She has always been a curious soul and wanted to know what I knew, but more importantly, how I came to form the opinions I held/hold.

She introduced me to blogger and told me that if I would write, she would read and send me her comments via email. It appealed to my inner parent who sees everything as a life lesson and what better way to help her improve her reading, writing and critical thinking skills? So I wrote for her about what piqued my interest. I even named the blog after my pet name for her – The Last Amazon. What else do you call a thirteen year old girl who was an academic scholar, a championship swimmer, a designated expert marksman, and a biathlon athlete?

A funny thing happened along the way in this monologue/dialogue with my daughter. It expanded to include other people's sons, daughters, parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles. Cousins too. Eventually, she grew tired of reading my blog and moved on and I gave up blogging for a bit but the bug hit hard and I found I needed to blog for my own sake. Of course, the massive writer's block which hit when I gave up blogging helped to get me back in the cyberfray.

During the last year I have been relatively discontent with the limitations of this blog and blogger. I have toyed with getting my own website and have had offers from friends to host my own site off their domain, but I just didn't want to be a guest as it seems just to much like what I already am at blogger. No different really than just changing the equivalent of changing cyber hotels. I wanted a space to eventually expand my own place to include my fiction and paintings as well as my blogging A place to call entirely my own - a permanent residence with many rooms in what I call my exile.

Blogger's actions in taking my blog offline after I was flagged as a 'spam' site was the last straw. It was resolved relatively quickly but the irony wasn't lost on me when I have so often been the victim of spammers. I don't want to be somewhere where anyone with a mission or a grudge and a chip on their shoulder can take me offline using the handy-dandy flag tab at my blog to put me in the equivalent of cyber administrative detention. The one constant hate I have had held onto in my life is a loathing of dealing with any form of bureaucracy. I have learned the labyrinth but it still doesn't mean I derived any pleasure or enjoyment from entering to navigate the corridors.

So this my long good-bye to the Last Amazon at blogspot. Its been fun but the party is over here now at the Last Exile. Come gather or not – as the road takes you. The residence-in-exile is still rather sparse and I am on a learning curb but the walls and archives are up. I'll be spending the coming months learning the software and making changes. Until then, Shalom.

No I am not going anywhere anytime soon

2009-06-30T05:27:00.001-04:00

I am particularly annoyed this morning as apparently some unknown entity has decided to report my blog as a 'spam' blog.

I realize I am not turning out more than a few posts on a busy day, but even so, this isn't going to stop me. Try again.

I'll be back when this issue is resolved.

The New Russia is starting to sound a lot like the old Russia

2009-06-29T09:25:00.000-04:00

One of my earliest memories of my great-grandfather Joe is of watching him sit in his overstuffed chair playing solitaire, drinking beer and practicing card tricks all the while mumbling under his breathe in a variety of languages - although mostly it was Russian. He was a mammoth man, and despite the fact that he could barely walk (even when sober) and he needed a cane at all times; he still wore a sense of danger and menace which never entirely left him in drink or death.

He would practice for hours on end and most of us never lingered too long by his chair if great-grandmother was hovering around. There was most definitely a war in that house for affection of the tribe, and mostly, we publicly sided with great-grandma if only because we were all terrified of crossing her. If there was a picture of fierce-some rage in the dictionary you would see her exact image.

But there were times when she wasn’t around and I would sit at his knee and we would chat. He showed me all kinds of gambler’s tricks including how to count cards and other ways to cheat. Although, he did refuse to call me anything but Rose no matter how many times I corrected him. In any other family this might seem strange but changing your name was rather a common occurrence in mine. From time to time he even allowed me to sip his beer but considering I wasn’t terribly fond of beer it wasn’t much of a perk. Although having beer on my breath never failed to impress my older male cousins so I got some mileage creds from pretending to go sip for sip with grandpa Joe.

I was the only one he did that with and I was the only one he taught to count cards and cheat. He said it was because I was the only sensible one who understood it was a fool’s game to bet against the house. I am not sure he was right about the sensibleness but he did instill in me a healthy contempt for gambling in all forms, and I remain convinced, the only people who are amoured of gambling have poor mathematical skills.

This little stroll down memory lane comes courtesy of Russia’s Putin campaign to stamp out vice of gambling in Russia. NY Times
MOSCOW — One of the largest mass layoffs in recent Russian history is to occur on Wednesday, and the Kremlin itself is decreeing it, economic crisis or not.
And in a move that at times seems to have taken on almost farcical overtones, the Kremlin has offered the gambling industry only one option for survival: relocate to four regions in remote areas of Russia, as many as 4,000 miles from the capital. The potential marketing slogans — Come to the Las Vegas of Siberia! Have a Ball near the North Korean Border! — may not sound inviting, but that is in part what the government envisions.
All the same, none of the four regions are prepared for the transfer, and no casino is expected to reopen for several years. As of July 1, not even two decades after casinos began proliferating here in the free-for-all post-Soviet era, the industry’s workers will be out on the street.
(…)The law that started the whole process was introduced in 2006 by Mr. Putin, then the president and now the prime minister, who spoke of the perils of the blackjack tables and the one-armed bandits, of shady characters having a grip on the industry.
(…)The gambling industry here does not have the loftiest of reputations, and many Russians will not grieve for it. Still, many of the 40 or so casinos in Moscow sought in recent years to behave more respectably, even as hundreds of slot-machine parlors retained a seedy, enter-at-your-own-risk feel.
The gambling industry says the ban will leave more than 400,000 people without work in Russia, at a time when it has been hard hit by the economic downturn: the World Bank predicts the economy will contract by 7.9 percent this year. The government has put the figure at 60,000 people, though industry analysts say that is absurdly low.
(…)After the Soviet Union’s fall in 1991, gambling sprang up everywhere in Russia, from first-class locations in Moscow to side-alley hangouts in the provinces. The crazy-quilt growth was something of a metaphor for capitalism here, full of possibilities and schemes and corruption.

The industry has been largely unregulated, and especially in recent years, almost anyone could get a license, for as little as $50. Russia is not a strait-laced place — rates of smoking and drinking are high — but an outcry about gambling ensued. “It is not only young people, but also retirees who lose their last kopecks and pensions through gambling,” Mr. Putin said in 2006.
All of which means - there are now new fortunes to be made running underground gambling dens in Moscow.

If it be your will

2009-06-26T08:13:00.002-04:00

Closing is happening earlier this week as my drawing pad is calling my name and it is a call I will answer. This week's closing song comes from the comments of last week, and is both for Bob and Candace. There are many versions of this song floating around but I chose this one because it is a plea to heaven, and anyone can plead to heaven, so I chose the sound of a lamentation over beauty. Besides, I suspect heaven is more familiar with the sound of our voices in sorrow than in joy.

I don't know where I picked up this piece of esoteric imagery but it has stayed with me since I came across it. It is said that the sounds of our prayers are carried up to the heavens and held lovingly, word by word, in the hands of the Mal'achim Adonai, and only then released, when they reach the court of heaven. May it be so - If it be your will.

Lyric:

If it be your will

That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring

If it be your will

To let me sing
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring

If it be your will
To let me sing

As usual I am late to the party.

2009-06-25T19:09:00.002-04:00

Free Gilad - then we all can have a reason to party.

Don't know who I mean? Watch this.

He beat it for the last time

2009-06-25T18:55:00.002-04:00

What a day, Farah Fawcett has lost her long struggle with cancer. I remember her post days well and yes - I had the long blond hair and red bathing suit.

Now early reports are coming in that Michael Jackson has a cardiac arrest and died in a Los Angeles hospital. I grew-up listening to the Jackson 5 and I remember how truly wonderful his solo album 'Off the Wall' album was. I remember speculating with friends on whether or not he could top 'Off the Wall'...but Thriller defied all expectations. His contribution to music and his videos will remembered and numbered by legion.

But. And isn't there always a 'but'? It wasn't his 'weirdness' which put me off his music but the child molestation charges. Although, he was found 'not guilty' in a court of law there were too many unanswered questions and rather dubious behaviour on his part to ever be exonerated completely of these charges in the court of my mind. I suspect I am not alone in this regard. Maybe its too much the 'mother' in me but I don't even know if I can wish his well in death. Ironic that while Michael Jackson remained an obvious looking black man he was relatively normal but his metamorphosis into a white man was characterized by the utmost bizarreness.

Either way, this is the only way - I wish I could remember him.

Gay Pride vs Parkling lots...and of course, the children!

2009-06-25T08:02:00.000-04:00

Israeli culture is like study in the most fluid contrasts. What amounts to a logical conclusion anywhere else has no relevance in studying the Israelis and past behaviour is not necessarily the yardstick used to predicting current behaviour.

Case in point – the Gay Pride parade is to held this weekend in Jerusalem and the Charedim have protested previous Gay Pride parades in rather large turnouts. But not this year, instead, it has been decided to ignore it, and the Charedim have moved on to protesting much more important matters – well, at least more important this year – like protesting the opening of a public parking lot on the Sabbath. Yes, a parking lot. Although, I wouldn't characterize it as a plus in tolerance and acceptance column. Ha'aretz:

Today's Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem is not expected to stir violent protests, police sources say.

They expect the highly controversial event to run smoothly because leaders of the ultra-Orthodox community - who in past years have led anti-gay protests - decided to cease from protesting to avoid exposing their young people to the subject. As a result, only 1,600 police officers will be assigned to the parade, compared with 12,000 in 2006.

Nobody can throw a riot like the Charedim and the possibility for riot still looms large over the parking lot issue - again. The Jerusalem Post:

With the clock ticking, a Jerusalem court on Wednesday postponed until Sunday a hearing over the opening of an alternate parking lot in the city on Shabbat instead of the municipality's underground garage, but left open the possibility for the two sides to reach an out-of-court agreement before this weekend.

The Jerusalem District Court's decision left unanswered the critical question of whether a deal to open the Carta parking lot opposite the Jaffa Gate, which is under receivership, would be reached by Saturday in place of the municipal car park at nearby city hall, or whether it would take more time to reach an accord. The timing was especially critical since massive haredi protests were planned for Friday night and Saturday if the municipal car park is reopened this weekend.

But a little further on in the article another tidbit into Israeli life leaks out, and surprisingly enough, it touches on an issue which rose in Toronto during the Tamal protests.

In light of the violent protests at Kikar Safra earlier this month, the Knesset Committee for Children's Rights met Wednesday to discuss the participation of children in the protests.

The Criminal Code of 1977 places criminal responsibility upon parents for "taking an action that would endanger a child's well-being" - a clause that some MKs took to include participation in a possibly violent protest.

A series of speakers blasted the decision to involve children in the protests, but former operations director for the Eidah Haredit and current Zaka Rescue Service Chairman Yehudah Meshi Zahav said that "bringing children to a demonstration that is against disgracing Shabbat is part of educating our children. We educate them to adhere to their values - not just when it is comfortable but also when there is a price."

"I also got hit by water cannons when I was a boy during demonstrations against violating Shabbat," said Meshi-Zahav "In our community, a person whose son was arrested in a protest gets an aliya to the Torah on Shabbat." Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, chairman of the Council for the Well-Being of the Child responded that "use of children in protests is negative in any group, not just for haredim. Use of children in protests is a gimmick that works," he said.

A fiery debate broke out between Kadman and Meshi-Zahav in which Kadman argued that "haredi parents are more responsible than what Meshi-Zahav described" and the Zaka head responded that "parents who don't bring their children to demonstrations didn't get good education like I did. Children are the best soldiers during protests and I have never seen a child who developed trauma from participating in one."

I wish a fly on the wall when the 'fiery debate broke out' just for the entertainment value of it all. I have to admit guilt on this issue. I am one of those kind of parents who has taken children to demonstrations and protests. In fact, my oldest son wouldn't dream of letting me go by myself to stand for Israel when protesting against the pro-Hezbollah demonstrations held in Toronto without him by my side. Although, he never got called to the Torah for it and the best he could hope for was a meal after.

Bubbe Treif Alert

2009-06-24T17:16:00.000-04:00

Somethings are just so wrong on so many different levels – not to mention downright brazen and shameless to ruin Challah in this way - Rachel Ray's Chinese Roast Pork Challah Panini.

Ingredients:
One 12- to 16-ounce pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut crosswise into 2 large pieces
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
4 to 6 challah rolls (3 to 4 inches wide), split

This is why you can never learn the principles of Jewish cooking from Rachel Ray as she obviously never had a Bubbe to teach her right from wrong in the kitchen.

Let them strike!

2009-06-24T07:50:00.000-04:00

CTV is reporting the LCBO workers strike deadline has been extended as long as both sides remain at the bargaining table. Well, Baruch HaShem for small blessings. The main contentious point is the 'rights' of part-time workers but its half-way through this article that the sticking point is discussed.

Workers are fighting for improved benefits for casual employees who currently receive no vacation pay, sick time or benefits. They can also be called in to work a shift that is as short as two hours. Before the strike deadline was extended, LCBO spokesperson Chris Layton said the board has a history of averting strikes. He also said casual employees are compensated fairly and make up to $18 an hour.

"We are bargaining very seriously," he told CTV Toronto. "We have tried to meet the union's demands and their concerns. We owe it to the public to come up with an agreement to negotiate a settlement." If LCBO employees do eventually strike, Beer Store locations and Ontario-only wine shops will not be affected by the job action.

"If you just have full-time employees, we would have a lot of staff at the store and not the business to warrant that staff so it helps us operate efficiently," he said.
But union officials say workers need to drive from store to store in one day in order to make enough money to support themselves."We're talking about people who have been working for this company for 10 or 15 years and they still haven't seen a vacation day or benefit or anything," said Craig Hadley with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. "The LCBO can afford to do better. We're not asking for crazy things. This just fairness.

So the union is not asking for crazy things except what do call a person who sticks with a job which only pays for 2 hours a shift for 10-15 years? I call it batshit crazy even if the job pays $18 an hour. I can't wait for the union to tell us it takes years of training and a whole host of special skills to scan a bottle...you know - its coming.

So who isn't on strike in the Centre of the Universe?

2009-06-23T21:04:00.000-04:00

Day two in the Centre of the Universe's garbage strike. We are no longer allowed to fill public garbage bags and incredible shrinking minds at city hall came up with this solution to stop Toronto residents from using the garbage cans. In addition, there is a $380 fine if you are now caught dumping garbage in a public can. Most of the garbage cans in my neighborhood have the plastic wrap ripped off and are now filled to capacity. C'est la vie!

I have yet to met a resident who would publicly acknowledge sympathy for the garbage men and tempers are running high. The Toronto Star reported earlier that a picketing garbage man has been run down on the picket line in front city hall. The moral of which should be - don't block access to a downtown resident's parking spot.

But that is the least of the city's labour problems because as of midnight tonight - LCBO workers are set to walk off the job which means most of us are doomed. For those of you who do not have the misfortune of living in Ontario; this means no liquor will be sold. And the bars – well, once their stock is consumed - we will all be condemned to drink beer. Lucky for me, I am diversification personified and my home is well stocked with Israeli wine, Russian vodka, Jamaican Rum, and Italian spumante.

There is a simple fix to both the garbage and LCBO labor issues. Privatized, and then, pull a Ronald Reagan - and fire them all.

reality television: leaving home

2009-06-23T08:15:00.000-04:00

The Last Amazon made us all watch Jon & Kate plus 8 last night. I understand why the show had Last Amazon appeal having caught 5-10 minutes of a few episodes before the big sleep would over took me. What child raised, more or less, with only one parent home wouldn’t find it appealing?

Last night was the ‘big episode’ wherein Jon & Kate announce their separation after 8 kids. Well, well. People separate, divorce and I get that, but for the life of me, I just cannot understand how these two can sit in front of a camera and suggest they have to do what is best for themselves, and then, best for their children. How divorce in this case ever translates as best for the children it beyond my ability to understand. But as Isaiah Sender suggested – why would I understand it given that I would never turn my family into a commodity either.

Bibi may have just gotten the political pass

2009-06-22T08:00:00.001-04:00

There was a little remarked poll results released in Israel last week. If you were in North American and blinked - you might have missed it. The Jerusalem Post:
Only 6 percent of Jewish Israelis consider the views of American President Barack Obama's administration pro-Israel, according to a new Jerusalem Post-sponsored Smith Research poll. The poll, which has a margin of error of 4.5%, was conducted among a representative sample of 500 Israeli Jewish adults this week, following Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech in which he expressed his support for a demilitarized Palestinian state.

The last time Binyamin Netanyahu was Prime Minister, he was accused of bungling the Israeli-US relationship, and it played a part in the downfall of his administration. Now, Israeli-US relations are at a low, but this time, Netanyahu may very well skate on this issue as Israeli popular support perceives the US administration as being ‘anti-Israel’ - so it becomes almost irrelevant what the Israeli Prime Minister does or does not do. This is an unheard of opportunity for the Israeli government to stand firm in the face of any kind of US opposition towards Israeli policies.

The road where the Priests meet the Mullah's.

2009-06-21T12:59:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, we have the Mullah's blaming the 'unrest' in the streets on the 'dirty Zionists', Arutz Sheva

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top Muslim leader, accused “dirty Zionists" and “Zionist media” for being behind charges that the results of the election were rigged. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner two hours after the voting stations closed a week ago on Friday. His opponent, Mir Hussein Moussavi, lost even in his own city, according to official election results.

And just a few days ago we have a Jesuit priest blaming the “Jews” for the failure to beautificate Pope Pius Xll. Jerusalem Post:

The Rev. Peter Gumpel, a German Jesuit who is spearheading Pius' cause, said at a conference in Rome that Pope Benedict XVI was "impressed" by warnings that relations with Jews would be ruined if he put the World War II pontiff on the road to sainthood.

Some historians and Jewish groups say Pius didn't do enough to prevent or limit the scope of the Holocaust. The Vatican insists Pius used quiet diplomacy to try to help Jews. The ANSA news agency quoted Gumpel as saying that in recent meetings Jewish leaders had told Benedict that "relations between the Catholic church and Jews would be definitively and permanently compromised" by Pius' beatification.

The Vatican has subsequently denied Grmpel's claims...ho hum. Ho hum. Same Shit, Different Day

Legend

2009-06-20T21:10:00.000-04:00

I first started playing video games when my oldest son was 7. We finally broke down and bought him a Nintendo 64 with Donkey Kong for his birthday. Neither I or his father were much for video games. Pinball was a big deal in our day and that grew old in a hurry. His father refused to learn to play the games so the dirty job was passed to me. I had to learn the game and then teach the children. The thing was the games were actually fun. To this day, mention Donkey Kong to my children and the watch their faces smile at the memory of all of us playing.

One day when were we all Blockbuster Video I found Tombraider 1 for PC's in the bargain bin. I bought, loaded it on my computer and I was hooked. I was pretty happy with the Tombraider franchise until Angel of Darkness. Half-heartedly, I bought Legend for PC when the game came out but it lagged so badly on my machine I never got around to playing to whole game. I more or less junked the game until early this evening when I ran across it when I was looking for something else. Isn't that always the way?

I decided to load it, and well, I forgot how all engrossing playing video games can be. I don't know if it will be my favourite Tombraider but I know the laundry won't come close to being finished tomorrow.

So long, shalom

2009-06-19T17:27:00.002-04:00

Tonight's song is for my friend, Beachnut, who never really knew any Leonard Cohen before I started to post the video-songs online. The thing about Leonard Cohen is; one never really listens to the music as much pathos Cohen imparts to the imagery of his lyrics. Many of Cohen's best songs have been huge hits for other singers, and quite often, the cover is much more powerful than the original Cohen tune. Whenever I hum along to Bird on a Wire it is Aaron Neville's voice I hear. My choice tonight is the exception, and I have yet to hear anyone master this song better than Cohen.

Lyric

Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began
to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.

Well you know that I love to live with you,
but you make me forget so very much.
I forget to pray for the angels
and then the angels forget to pray for us.

School's out and summer is apparently around the corner

2009-06-19T07:58:00.000-04:00

No matter how old my boys get, they still seem to have a little too much time on their hands. I came home to find this on my photo in my picture file. What I want to know is this - will they ever outgrow the frat quality which seems to occupy their every free moment? Oh well, hopefully, by the end of summer, they will at least learned to take a decent picture with the webcam.

Cdn Airline I vote most likely to lose your luggage

2009-06-18T17:21:00.002-04:00

Will now start carrying your pets - again. The Globe and Mail:

In hopes of wooing back pet owners, cash-strapped Air Canada will again allow some cats and dogs aboard commercial flights, reversing a three-year-old decision that had banished the animals to the luggage compartment.

Beginning next month, cats and small dogs weighing up to 10 kilograms (22 pounds) will be allowed to be stowed under their owner's seat as a carry-on item on Air Canada and Jazz flights. The animals must be registered and in leak-proof containers. The airline will charge a handling fee of $50 each way for flights within Canada and the United States, and $100 each way for international connections. It's an about-face for the airline, which in 2006 announced that all pets would have to fly in the luggage hold.

"This is the latest of our customer-friendly initiatives that underscores our renewed commitment to listening to our customers and offering a competitive product that meets their needs," Ben Smith, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer at Air Canada, said in a written statement.

Flying in Canada – you still better off using West Jet as the customer service is fantastic and it usually costs significantly less.

Settlement Drink off

2009-06-18T07:55:00.001-04:00

US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton had a joint press conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman which sounds more like a face-off. Arutz Sheva:

The relationship of “good friends agree to disagree” took a tough test Wednesday afternoon as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman standing at her side, told reporters, "We want to see a stop to the settlements.”

The Foreign Minister, who lives in the community of Nokdim in the eastern part of Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, did not flinch and retorted, “We think that as in any place, babies are born, people get married, some pass away and we cannot accept this vision about an absolutely complete freezing of settlements."

Lieberman surprised me as I had no idea he spoke English – my bad. Frankly, if Hillary thinks she can steamroll over Lieberman I think she is in for a big surprise but I'd rather watch a drink-off between the two over the issues of settlements in the disputed territories and the first one who can give a coherent statement after three hours of heavy drinking wins. To make it fair Hillary, she can add Obama to her team but he has to drink too and be able to speak without a teleprompter.

The unintended consequences from the proceeds of sloth

2009-06-17T14:40:00.000-04:00

For those who have the luck not to reside in the Centre of the Universe (aka as Toronto for the uninitiated) may not know that our esteemed Mayor imposed a $.05 ‘fine’ which all retailers operating within the city limits are forced to charge their customers for each ‘plastic’ bag used to bag the customer’s purchases in. Any retailer caught not charging the fine will face a rather substantial penalty via the municipal by-law.

In a city which seems to suffer from chronic budget shortfalls one can be forgiven for thinking it was a new initiative to raise cash for the city coffers, but alas, no. This isn’t a fund raising initiative but rather the mayor’s attempt to punish all unsuitably green municipal citizens for their slovenly and sloth-filled ways. The stores actually get to keep the proceeds of sloth. Although, retailers can always get around the ‘fine’ by offering ‘paper’ bags to their customers as paper bags are deemed more ‘environmentally responsible’ via the mayor’s office, and are therefore ‘exempt’ from the sloth fine.

What I love about this half-baked venture into social engineering is all the unintended consequences which have resulted since the mayor and his cohorts came up with their ‘green’ by-law. I suppose those city hall types are so use to dealing with environ-tyrants that it never occurred to them that the vast unwashed slackers and slothful might not be so compliant or reasonable to deal with either.

The Last Amazon has a summer job working in a retail store located in a large and prominent mall. Her breaks have now become enormously entertaining watching mall security guards trying attempting to sort out the shoplifters from non-green slacker citizen consumer types who refuse to pay the sloth surcharge for a plastic bag but didn’t plan ahead for their shopping sprees by bringing their own bags, and instead, carry their purchases stuffed in their pockets, handbags, or openly in their hands with the tags hanging down.

The Last Amazon tells me nothing screams righteous and indignant outrage quite like a middle-aged type from Forest Hill who has just been confronted by a mall security guard demanding said patron prove he/she is not a shoplifter…well that is, until said middle-aged type from Forest Hill just also happens to be a lawyer as well. Good times people, good times.

Eviction, but will anyone care?

2009-06-16T08:02:00.002-04:00

Ma'an News Agency reports more than 2,600 Palestinians are facing eviction from their homes.

The 400 are only a fraction of the 2,650 families that the government intends to sue, but fill the maximum capacity for suits at the district court.

The suits charge families from the villages of Nuwei’ma, Ad-Duyuk and Al-Auja of violating state property. Dozens of hearings have already been held, most of which were postponed on the request of families seeking time to get ownership documents in order.

(...)Most families have been living on the land for decades, others for centuries, and some were refugees who returned to Palestine following the 1993 Oslo accords that permitted thousands of refugees to live in the area.

According to dozens of the families involved in the suits, the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat had given land in An-Nuwei’ma village to Oslo-era returnees. The structures range from centuries old thatched clay homes, to stone to tents. None of the homes have municipal services; there are no roads, schools are shipping containers with three classes per container. Residents of these three villages make their living from raising livestock, working in construction, and there are some even civil servants.

If that isn't pitiful enough, check this out.

One elderly divorcee, who preferred to remain unnamed, was unable to read the court summons because she is illiterate. The woman lives in a structure built out of thick cardboard she says she stole from a nearby Israeli settlement, it looks more like an arbor than a house, but shields the woman from the summer sun. The average temperature for a Jericho summer is 40 degrees Celsius, and the woman complains of the intolerable heat. “They still want to force us to evacuate and live in hell,” she said.

Because she could not read the court summons the woman missed her court hearing and was told later that she was to be evicted from the structure and would be forced to pay a 50 Jordanian dinar fine (75 US dollars).

Or how about this one?

Thirty-six-year-old Zeinab Safi, a widow whose husband died 5-years ago built a home on the contested land after her youngest son’s bed in the one room she and her six children and three of her brother’s children shared. Safi said she once saw the snakes she complained to friends, and a Palestinian man from Jerusalem helped her build a house. Just as we began to feel settled the court filed a suit demanding we evacuate the house and demolish it. Safi works as an agricultural laborer.

Someone needs to alert the NGO's so they can rally the international community or at least tell Dr. Dawg so he can get a post out denouncing the eeeevil 'colonists' who are running the government. But let's be honest - no one will bat an eyelash or care as there are absolutely no Jews involved.

I swear its the Carter years all over again

2009-06-15T20:19:00.001-04:00

Imagine, if US President Ronald Reagan went to the Berlin wall and never said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

In the Pirkei Avot, Rabbi Hillel is quoted saying, “In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man”. Why this piece of ancient wisdom?

Because now is the hour for the single most powerful man in the world to stand up and support the struggle of millions of ordinary citizens who are attempting to take back their country from the rule of the treacherous Mullah's. I am not suggesting US Marines need to be deployed. Just a simple speech supporting the Iranian people's struggle for freedom and democracy. I am told he is good at that kind of thing, I don't see it, but perhaps, more importantly, others will.

Deeply troubled doesn't cut it. The Iranian people deserve better than the Jimmy Carter redux.

No parking on the dance floor - in Tel Aviv

2009-06-15T18:03:00.000-04:00

A few months ago I had a You Tube video up of Hitler complaining about the lack of parking in Tel Aviv. You Tube pulled the video citing copywrite infringements - (and rightly so) but just how bad is the lack of parking in Tel Aviv? Apparently, Tel Aviv needs approximately another 300,000 spaces to just meet the current daily needs of the city. Ynet News:

The growing parking crisis in Tel Aviv was backed up by official numbers Sunday, as a new report by the City's Enforcement Department revealed that the humming metropolitan is lacking a staggering 324,000 parking spots.

The report was commissioned by a new municipal committee tasked with trying to solve the issue. The report also stated that the shortage results in over 3,000 parking tickets a day, most of which are given between 5pm and 7 pm, in central Tel Aviv. According to the report, Tel Avivians own 152,000 vehicle, but incoming traffic sees more than 450,000 vehicles enter the city and compete for 278,000 parking spots – including those is regulated parking lots. Other data suggested that 83% of the parking tickets issued daily are given to non-residents.

Of course, the replacement revenue stream for the municipality in all probability could never be effectively replaced if additional parking spaces were found - so there probably no relief in sight for the near future.

Boaring the Palestinians

2009-06-15T12:57:00.000-04:00

Zionists trained boars have become the bane of Palestinian Farmers. Arutz Sheva:

(IsraelNN.com) Palestinian Authority media outlets continue to blame Israel for problems caused by wild boars in Samaria, despite Israeli efforts to cull the animals. On Thursday, PA farmers near Ariel complained that “Israeli settlers” had engineered a wild boar attack that destroyed agricultural produce.

The farmers' claims were repeated by the head of the regional PA farmers' union, who accused Israelis living in Ariel and nearby towns of planning the attacks. The union head did not explain how Israelis allegedly trained the pigs to destroy only Arab crops.

Arab residents of Samaria have made several similar claims over the past three years. The claims have been backed up by PA armed forces, whose officers have been quoted as confirming to PA media that Israel is behind wild boar attacks.

Media outlets have also lent credence to the claims, with the PA-based Ma'an news agency stating, “The wild boars are being released by Israeli settlers in order to destroy the plants and crops of Palestinians.”

So why have the Zionist boars free to create havoc and mayhem.

Israel is unable to cull the boar population in Arab villages in Samaria, as those areas are entirely under PA control.

Libya wants her Jews back - but do the Jews want Daffy?

2009-06-15T10:05:00.001-04:00

Our man Daffy, is up to high jinxs again and hilarity ensues. Apparently, he wants Libya's Jews back. The Jerusalem Post:

Before leaving Rome on Saturday, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi met with about 300 Italian expatriots expelled from his country in 1970, and an unofficial group of five Jews of Libyan origin.

The official Libyan Jewish representatives had turned down Gaddafi's invitation for a Saturday meeting because "we cannot bow our heads and desecrate the Sabbath," Shalom Teshuba, vice president of the Rome Jewish community, stated in a note delivered to Gaddafi. Teshuba's letter reviewed a century of Libyan Jewish history and included a request for talks aimed at restitution and restoration of family and religious heirlooms confiscated after the massacres and expulsions in 1967.

The five unofficial Jewish representatives who walked to the meeting included distinguished peace activist and Jungian psychoanalyst David Gerbi. Clothed in the traditional white cassock, cap and pin-striped gilet typical in pre-'67 Libyan Jewry and wearing a Magen David around his neck, Gerbi asked Gaddafi to permit the restoration of the Sia Dar Bisni Synagogue in Tripoli, for which he had personally gathered funds. The community left behind over 47 synagogues, several of great historic and religious significance. He also asked that six mezuzot he had brought to Libya for this purpose in 2007, when he was arrested and bereft of his belongings, be returned to him.

Both the Italian Catholic and Jewish guests were invited to speak publicly, and were greeted individually by Gaddafi. The Libyan leader recalled the late Raffaele Fellah, a former president of the World Organization of Libya Jews. When told of his death, Gaddafi said, "Mercy to his soul," and praised Fellah's attempts at mediation. He added, however, that these attempts had brought no results because "he tied the Jewish question to that of Israel."

(...)Gaddafi reiterated his invitation to all to come back to Libya, and again stressed that priority would be given to Italian enterprises over other nationalities.

The question becomes – has Daffy run out of local whipping boys?

Obama speaks and Bibi answers

2009-06-15T08:03:00.000-04:00

Binayamin Netanyahu gave his speech yesterday and I am still turning it over in my mind. Full text of the speech can be found here.

Firstly, the speech was a direct response to US President Obama's Cairo speech. Three things immediately come to mind. He directly challenged Obama's assertion that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict does not lie at the root of all Middle East conflicts – one just has to revisit any Arab League conference and it becomes readily apparent it is not so. Secondly, he directly contradicted Obama's grasp of history, and rightly so.

Finally, he outlined what conditions would have to result for his administration to accept the establishment of a Palestinian state. This last point, in itself, was probably the biggest concession he made. I am not a fan of the so-called two state solution. I don't believe in the viability of an independent Palestinian state is possible.

Even now, the Palestinian economy would completely collapse if Israel severed all relations. All the models I have seen for an independent Palestinian state require massive injections of capital over a long-term period as well as operating on the premise that the Palestinian state would be fully integrated with the Israeli economy. For example, the most extensive analysis has to be the Rand Study. Take away economic integration and Palestinian statehood becomes just another failed state.

This is probably the biggest concession Netanyahu made. Although, I doubt the Palestinian Authority is up for the challenge. In fact, I know its not judging by this reaction in Jerusalem Post:

Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah expressed outrage and shock on Sunday over Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's call for the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state and his demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The officials said that the speech that Netanyahu delivered at Bar-Ilan University was much worse than they had expected. They also warned that Netanyahu's policies would trigger a new intifada. Some of PA President Mahmoud Abbas's top advisers accused Netanyahu of "burying the peace process" and said the ball was now in the court of US President Barack Obama.

"Netanyahu's speech is a blow to Obama before it's a blow to the Palestinians and Arabs," an Abbas aide said. "It's obvious, in the aftermath of this speech, that we are headed toward another round of violence and bloodshed." Abbas's office issued a terse statement in which it accused Netanyahu of destroying efforts to achieve peace in the region. "The speech has destroyed all initiatives and expectations," the statement said. "It has also placed restrictions on all efforts to achieve peace and constitutes a clear challenge to the Palestinian, Arab and American positions."

Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for Abbas, also lambasted Netanyahu for refusing to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state and his call for solving the issue of Palestinian refugees outside Israel. "Netanyahu's remarks won't lead to a just and comprehensive peace based on United Nations resolutions," Abu Rudaineh added.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior PLO official closely associated with Abbas, launched a scathing attack on Netanyahu, calling him a "swindler and liar." Netanyahu wanted the Palestinians to join the Zionist movement by offering them a state under the protectorate of Israel, Abed Rabbo said. He also rejected Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

What's that old saying about the Palestinians? Never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Talk about being true to type. I got a perverse chuckle out of the suggestion of the suggestion that Netanyahu's position will just lead to another round of violence and bloodshed.

I mean has the violence and bloodshed every really stopped? I have doubt there has been a week which has gone by when the IDF hasn't confiscated weapons or bomb making apparel at at least one checkpoint into Israel proper. As far as another intifada goes – well even, Abbas recognized the Palestinians paid a much higher price and achieved nothing for their efforts. Sure – go ahead and launch it again but remember this time Israel has never unlearned the lessons from the last intifada nor will the Israeli state be so easy to harm this time round.

Mercy

2009-06-12T19:27:00.001-04:00

Once again I find that I am racing against the sunset to get everything done which has to be done and still find time to argue with my teenagers...lucky for me (not so much for them) I mastered multi-tasking long ago. So without much further ado, I am closing down the blog with the Sisters of Mercy because, well, I just am.

Sure, sure, let's have a war of lawyers

2009-06-12T18:15:00.000-04:00

Ynet News is reporting that the UN is considering 'Fining' Israel for damage to the UN facilities in the Gaza Strip during the Israeli Operation Cast Lead.

WASHINGTON – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday it was "critical" that Israel halt all settlement activity. He added that he was considering fining the state $11 million for damage it did to UN facilities during the Gaza war. Ban says the fine was recommended by a committee elected to investigate damage done by the IDF to UN structures during Operation Cast Lead.

This gave me my second laugh of the day. I don't know who the little genius was who came up with this bright idea but obviously he/she has never heard the concept about turnabout is fair play.

There is no shortage of sharp lawyers in Israel, and I can just imagine the suits and counter-suits. They can start by 'fining' the Palestinian Authority and present the PA with a bill for 'humanitarian aid', for security measures in Sderot, the cost for manning checkpoints...travel down this road and the Palestinians may become the first state to declare bankruptcy before a state is even established.

Scary Women

2009-06-12T08:09:00.000-04:00

Inspite, what the children might believe, I am rather benign middle-aged woman, and until I read this Newsweek Blog, I hadn’t realized how truly scary other middle-aged women can be.

My seemingly well-adjusted posse, myself included, morphed into archetypal Adam Lambert fangirls. We became Glamberts, besotted with the leather and rhinestones, the perfectly smudgy guyliner, the emo coal-colored coif and, oh, yeah, the preternatural vocal range. When we got together, we no longer talked about good books, North Korea or the recession. We talked about all things Lambert. We became the thing that we normally despise: a cougar court that fell into a gentle loin lust with a man young enough to be our son. And a gay one, to boot.

In terms of biology, Adam Lambert's attractiveness is kind of bizarre. Some research shows that women like square jaws and deep brows—iconic masculine traits—when they're looking for a fling. But we like more feminine traits when we're looking for The One, the long-term mate. Lambert has a little bit of both going on for him, as anyone who saw his version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" can attest.
When we aren't laughing at our patheticness (because, let's get real, even if Lambert were straight or gave in to some bi-curiosity, he would never be interested in us), we are actually ruminative enough to wonder what it is about this fellow that turned us into such loons. One thing we know for sure is that we are not alone. There are thousands of women of a certain age out there who are just one Adam Lambert Google search away from crashing their computers.

The good news is that people who know about these things think that our little Lambert love-fest is downright mentally healthy. "I think more women would be happier if they channeled their inner 14-year-old girls once in a while," says sex therapist Laura Berman, director of the Berman Center in Chicago. She's always been fascinated with the Clay Aiken phenomenon, that of girls going crazy for a seemingly sweet, innocent-looking boy-man (Aiken is now, like Lambert, out and proud).
I just don’t get this cougar thing…words completely fail me, but then again, I never got the whole 'sex in the city' cult thingy either.

land swap - the dog of an idea which could only bark

2009-06-11T10:12:00.001-04:00

George Mitchell is sure to get himself and via extension the Obama Administration in deep doo-doo with Israeli Arabs if there is any ‘truth’ to this report – Arutz Sheva:

U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell sounded out the Palestinian Authority on a land swap that would allow Israel to retain large population centers in Judea and Samaria in return for the PA’s receiving land that includes Arab cities. He broached the idea in his meeting Wednesday morning with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, according to the BBC. The PA has not confirmed or denied the report.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu have been at loggerheads over the issue of the Jewish areas, where the president wants a halt to all construction. Israel has maintained that it cannot stop families from growing and prevent their children from marrying and needing homes of their own.

In addition, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the Obama government will not honor a promise in a letter to Israel by former President George W. Bush that the large population centers would not be included in a future PA country.

The land swap idea originally was proposed by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of the Yisrael Beiteinu party. Maaleh Adumim, Gush Etzion, Beitar Illit, Ariel and possible the Karnei-Ginot Shomron communities would be under Israeli sovereignty if the proposal were to be accepted.

In return, Israel would surrender to the proposed PA state areas with a concentration of Arabs, most probably the Triangle area between Netanya and Kfar Saba, which is part of the Galilee. Surveys have shown that Arabs living in eastern Jerusalem, which the PA wants as its capital, are opposed to losing their Israeli citizenship, which provides them with financial benefits and services that the PA so far does not provide.

Which is all well and good but the last time a land swap was suggested by Yisrael Beiteinu, Israeli Arabs were absolutely outraged that they might a) lose their Israeli citizenship and b) were horrified they might be stuck under the authority and sovereignty of a Palestinian state. But by all means let the Obama administration try to sell this dog of an idea.

oh, the sisters of esponiage, have not departed...

2009-06-11T08:08:00.000-04:00

The Jerusalem Post is carrying an intriguing report about two elderly sisters arrested in Lebanon as they tried to leave the country.

Two sisters have been arrested at Beirut International Airport for holding Israeli passports, Hizbullah's Al-Manar television network reported Wednesday night.

According to the report, the two - Josephine Moussa, 67, and her 69-year-old sister Georgette - arrived in Lebanon several days ago, entering using Lebanese passports. They were reportedly arrested when trying to leave the country.

Georgette is said to live in Israel while Josephine is believed to reside in the US and also hold an American passport. Al Manar also said that Georgette Moussa admitted to voting in Sunday's Lebanese elections in one of the districts of Beirut. The Foreign Ministry said it was looking into the report.

After an initial investigation, a Lebanese Military Court judge ordered the two to be transferred to the Lebanese Internal Security's intelligence branch. According to the report, the judge made his decision after information in the sisters' travel documents and other papers were found to be contradictory, and after it was discovered that Georgette's Israeli passport stated that her original nationality was Jordanian.

Kind of makes one wonder who paid for their trip? Although, I sincerely doubt the sisters are spies - as they do seem quite hapless and long in the tooth for that kind of work. There is very little to match Lebanese paranoia but G-d look out for them - because they have now descended into whole new world of hell.

Adventures in PC Hell

2009-06-10T18:48:00.007-04:00

This is my public service announcement for anyone who bought a Dell computer recently. I know, I know, but in my defence - my main computer was starting to act funky and we commenced a death countdown lottery for my oldest computer in the house. The boys needed another one and Dell presented an offer at a price I couldn’t refuse…although I continue to lust for a iMac and possess one in an alternative dimension in another life. The real downside to this deal was I had to take Vista or pay an extra $150 for Windows XP. What does that tell you? In the end, I decided to go cheap and took the Vista. I figured if nothing else I would add to my ‘knowledge’ base. Oh, how the little lies we tell to comfort ourselves.

It's turning out to be quite a learning experience and 72 hours I will never get back. Since the new Dell arrived I had been trying to install my preferred anti-virus program - AVG for the last three days. No more Norton and their dreaded ‘LuCallBack Proxy’ to seriously grind my computer to a halt. Ditto for McAfee. In my test case scenario, AVG has captured trojans which managed to successfully allude both North and McAfee in the past, and there is none of that negative option billing to your credit card dodginess with AVG either.

The new Dell arrived, everything looked good except I neglected to specify in my Dell order that I didn’t want any pre-loaded ‘free’ anti-virus software - so the first order of business was to remove McAfee. Little did I realize to successfully remove all remnants of McAfee I had to go to their website and download the mcpr.exec removal tool after I completed the uninstall otherwise, a resident shell would remain on my hard drive…

I knew enough that when I went to download my AVG that I had to turn Windows Defender off. The download appeared to go well except when AVG went to load, I got an AVG Tray Monitor Error 0xc0150004. I removed AVG and rebooted the machine and tried again. Same result. Then I tried again. Same result. I tried just about everything I could think of. I reached out to others I knew who were running Vista and AVG. I scanned the forums and tried to follow every conceivable scenario suggested. It appears, this particular issue error number is relatively recent although other tray monitor errors have happened before. Finally, I found the solution on a UK forum and I am going to share it in a more ‘dummies’ way for the computer challenged like myself.

First thing, uninstall AVG, reboot your computer and do an immediate backup.

Click on the Vista Start Orb/button.

Click into the ‘Start Search’ box at the bottom and type ‘regedit’, hit enter.

Choose the ‘registry key’ directory which should open up other sub-directories and look for the following

‘HIKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS\DerivedData\Components\'

Eventually, each directory will take you to a long series of code. Look for this line exactly -

x86_microsoft.vc80.mfc_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_none_0c178a139ee2a7
ed

Use your mouse to highlight just that line of code. Then hit delete - but don‘t take out any other line. Then get the frack out of all the directories you have opened without touching any other line of code - asap. Re-start your computer. Now go and reload AVG and you should be good to go - well I was.

As I understand it, the problem lies because AVG recognizes this line of code, thinks its installed and skips over it in the installation process except it isn’t really installed. Hence, the tray monitor issue error. Think of it as a kind of empty code - all shell, no substance. When you download and install AVG after deleting this line of code AVG won’t see it and skip over it this time but will then download and install the code correctly.

If this doesn’t work for you - aren’t you glad I told you to back-up your computer before you did anything else?

All is fair in love and politics in Lebanon providing - you don't have to live with the daily result

2009-06-10T08:12:00.001-04:00

I was going to do a longish piece on the Lebanese election, a kind of Amazonian Primer in the 101 Dummies mode but all the published election result is by district candidates and no final tallies are given for parties/seats. So it is going to have to wait while I go through the district candidates list and align their party affiliation. Instead I want to leave you with a little food for thought on the charges of ‘hampering” or hedging one’s vote in Lebanon. The First one is from Ynet News and is oh so predictable.

Lebanese Telecommunication Minister Gibran Bassil accused Israel on Tuesday of causing massive disruptions in cellular communication in the country ahead and on Election Day on Sunday. conference at his office Bassil claimed that inquiries conducted by his ministry revealed Israel was responsible for jamming cellular signals and interrupting communication among private users, defense officials, political activists and embassies. Bassil said he asked Lebanon's foreign minister to issue a formal complaint with the UN regarding the alleged disruption.

The second comes from the CBC news report which might suggest the March 14th Coalition victory might owe more to do with Saudi largess rather winning the hearts and minds of the Lebanese who actually live in Lebanon and have to live with the result.

Canadians who are flying to Lebanon on free plane tickets provided by party supporters could tip the difference in a close parliamentary election in that country. Corporate sponsors are paying for hundreds of supporters of the pro-Western Future Movement in Calgary and in other Canadian cities to vote on June 7, CBC News has learned. Dual citizens must be physically present in Lebanon to cast a ballot in its elections.

"This is a big election, and it is a lot of people who [would] love to vote but they cannot vote because of funds … so those companies are making it easy for them," said Faouzi Salem, a Future Movement co-ordinator in Calgary.

"There [are] sponsors in the world who [pay] for those tickets … European companies, Middle Eastern companies who … they would love to see free Lebanon, independent Lebanon. They want to see democratic government in the future, so they're dedicating all their supports." The party has rented an office in a Calgary mosque where volunteers have been working to match people of Lebanese descent with tickets to Beirut.

Sam Hammoud's uncle is one of the people flying to Lebanon for the election. "It's the sense that I have a say in my own country. I still have ties to my own country, whether I live here or not," said Hammoud. "He said, 'why not, why not?' So he's going. All he has to do is vote and head right back home to Canada."

Indeed. I am no Hezbollah fan but I still take a very dim view of foreign funding in anyone's election.

War crimes investigation hits a wall

2009-06-09T10:30:00.000-04:00

Ynet News is reporting the UN investigation into Israeli war crimes has hit a few snags:

After interviewing dozens of war victims and poring through the files of human rights groups, a veteran UN war crimes investigator acknowledged that his probe into possible crimes by Israel and Hamas is unlikely to lead to prosecutions.

Israel has refused to cooperate, depriving his team access to military sources and victims of Hamas rockets. And Hamas security often accompanied his team during their five-day trip to Gaza last week, raising questions about the ability of witnesses to freely describe the militant group's actions.

But the chief barrier remains the lack of a court with jurisdiction to hear any resulting cases. "From a practical political point of view, I wish I could be optimistic," Judge Richard Goldstone said, citing the legal and political barriers to war crimes trials.

You know, I am weeping big fat crocodile tears over this one. Meanwhile there is always Sri Lanka and the Tamils...opps, I forgot - cross it off the list too.

So, just how many armed terrorist groups are running around the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip?

2009-06-09T07:47:00.000-04:00

Yesterday there was an attack launched against the Israeli border from the Gaza Strip. Ynet News:

An Israel Defense Forces' investigation into a major terror attack thwarted Monday morning south of the Karni crossing in the Gaza Strip revealed that the gunmen, believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda, arrived at the crossing with several trucks and at least five horses loaded with explosive devices and mines.

According to the army, it is possible that the gunmen had planned to kidnap a soldier. A new organization called "the army of Allah's supporters" claimed responsibility for the foiled terror attack. The organization said it would release details about the attack later in the day. About 10 to 12 terrorists took the horses off the truck and began planting the devices near the fence. At this stage, they were spotted by an IDF force and began firing at soldiers from Golani's 13th Regiment.

The troops fired back, and the terrorists tried to escape and return the horses into the truck. At least four gunmen were killed in the battle. The force chose not to enter the Strip for fear of an abduction trap, and the army sent warplanes and tanks to the area instead.

I am not sure I am buying this 'new' terrorist group and find it a mite convenient for Hamas not to take the blame for another 'failed' attack. If you are anything like me you are wondering why PETA is so silent about booby-trapping horses? Possibly they have not recovered from protesting our Governor-General.

Hezbollah is not yet Lebanon

2009-06-08T08:03:00.000-04:00

(Photo - AP)
The Lebanese held an election and the results prove Hezbollah is not yet Lebanon - even with the shameful alliance of former General Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement. While some may credit the March 14th alliance win was helped by the Maronite Christian Patriarch speaking out against the pro-Syrian/Hezbollah alliances, I think it far more likely the Patriarch was simply echoing the feeling of most Christian Lebanese. Beirut Daily Star

BEIRUT: Lebanon's opposition conceded defeat against the March 14 coalition in pivotal polls Sunday after weeks of fierce campaigning. "We've lost the election," a senior opposition source, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. "We accept the result as the will of the people." "We'll go back to the way we were," the source added.

The opposition source said the March 14 coalition is expected to ensure between 69 and 70 seats in the 128 parliament. The number matches figures predicted by the March 14 Forces.

(…)The 2009 electoral battle centered in Christian districts, since the results of almost 100 seats of the assembly were decided in advance. As The Daily Star went to press, unofficial results showed the March 14 Forces won by a clean sweep the districts of Beirut I, Batroun, Koura, and Bsharreh, and Tripoli.

According to unofficial results, Prime Minster Fouad Siniora won a parliamentary seat in the coastal city of Sidon. Preliminary results also showed the March 14 Forces as having a chance to win the Bekaa town of Zahle's seven seats. According to unofficial results, the Free Patriotic Movement won all seats in the districts of Kesrouan, Jbeil, Baabda and Jezzine. The results of another decisive district, Metn were still unclear at dawn on Sunday.

Official results are not yet published but by all accounts the March 14th Coalition has only increased its majority slightly. In practicality, this means very little has changed from the last parliament except that Hezbollah’s Christian allies were unable to deliver the votes necessary for a more powerful Hezbollah block in parliament.

First there was the 'new' math, now there is the new 'geography'

2009-06-07T17:27:00.000-04:00

In the last 20 years I have seen a variety of societal changes, most of which leaves me scratching my head wondering how it all came about. There is currently a show on MTV where a bi-sexual female recording artist (her names escapes me but its some kind of liquor) stars in this reality based series wherein she is looking for ‘love’ and approximately 20 people (both male and female) compete equally for the opportunity to find ‘love’ with her. Male, female - same or no difference for her.

My teenagers were completely blasé about the show and were more shocked to learn that I had no idea this is the kind of thing is considered standard fare on cable stations. Obviously, I don’t watch enough television. Forget about the unseemliness and vulgarity of the human experience being reduced to a reality show, and ask yourself; how and when did this kind of transition happen? I swear, some days I wake up and wonder how I became such a stranger in a strange land without ever leaving the country.
I was cleaning up the house and discovered a booklet distributed which offered a clue to how these transitions are made right under our noses. It was given out in my youngest son’s grade 9 Canadian Geography course. He has to keep it as his teacher advised him some of the material may end up on his geography exam but he did let me take pictures.

If you thought Canadian Geography was a nice ‘safe’ subject and would not present much of an opportunity for so-called progressives crew to put into practice a bit of ‘social engineering’ - it just shows your ignorance. The booklet – Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating’ distributed by the Vegan Outreach Organization based in Arizona. Not only was it distributed in my son’s Canadian Geography, it was presented with a guest speaker who also gave a little speech and was prepared to answer every possible question they might have or want to know about ‘vegan’ living.

How this relates to Canadian Geography is a bit of a stretch but then I am old school and thought Canadian geography course material would deal primarily with the physical geological composition of the country. It did when I took the course in the seventies – my fracking bad. If it was to be offered anywhere I would have thought ‘health’ classes might have been a better fit…oh well and so it goes. The pamphlet ends with a quote by Peter Singer of Animal Liberation. Of course, no one representing Canadian dairy producers or from the Canadian Association of Beef Cattle Farmers was invited to speak to ‘offer’ balance.

No-knock raid comes to the West Bank

2009-06-06T20:44:00.000-04:00

I'm conflicted, and cannot decided if this is a good or bad thing. The Jerusalem Post:

IDF soldiers who raid the homes of Palestinians are more polite than the Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank, the mother of a top Hamas terrorist who was killed by Israel said over the weekend.

The mother was speaking shortly after security forces loyal to PA President Mahmoud Abbas stormed her family's house in the village of Rafat in the West Bank.

Her son, Yihye Ayyash, nicknamed The Engineer, was responsible for a spate of suicide bombings in the 1990s that killed more than 100 Israelis and wounded hundreds others.

The mother said that about 30 Palestinian security officers participated in the raid early Friday. "They behaved in a shameful way," she said. "When the Jews come, they ask for permission and cry out before they enter a house." She said that Abbas's security forces acted in a "barbaric" manner and did not take into account that women and children were sleeping inside the house.

The Palestinian policemen did not even knock on the door, she added. "They raided the house and started searching for weapons," she said. "They left behind a lot of damage. Even a copy of the Koran was not spared."

Obviously, the Americans have a great more to 'sensitivity' training to do for the Palestinian Security forces.

I have tried, in my own way, to be free

2009-06-05T20:18:00.001-04:00

Don't ask why, only the blogger gods knows, but for some reason Friday's post did post as scheduled. I suppose if I cared enough I could solve the mystery except I don't care.

Posting has been spotty this week as I have been busy using my time pursuing other interests - mainly drawing and reading. Besides, I am tired of going to bed every night only to dreaming of painting, and when I wake, the longing to paint is almost overwhelming... but there is so little time in which to paint. Something had to give, and this week, it was blogging. Next week - who knows? So it's apt that this week's song is Leonard Cohen's Like a Bird on a Wire.

The incredible lightness of same old, same old

2009-06-04T09:00:00.000-04:00

US President Obama gave a speech in Egypt which is apparently part and parcel of his ‘outreach’ to the Muslim world. ‘A new beginning between Muslims and the United States’ or some such thing – too bad he doesn’t feel the need to make give a few more speeches to his own countrymen – half of who strike me as feeling more than a mite disenfranchised at the moment.

Be that as it may, it’s hard for me to look at this speech as ‘a new beginning’ and for outreach efforts it gets a failing grade. Look, if Obama was interested in true outreach to the Muslim world his speech wouldn’t be given from Egypt, or in Saudi Arabia, UAE or any other gulf state, but in Pakistan, Afghanistan or even in a Muslim area of India. There, his speech would have true meaning rather just show of much touchy-feelie hot air. He has said very little different that George W. Bush hasn’t said a hundred times already from more or less than same safe spots. Furthermore, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states already enjoy relatively decent relations with the United States.

So if Muslims in places like Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iran heard this same speech given from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran and saw an American President who felt deeply enough to come to where the American-Muslims relations are at their most contentious and offer a hand in friendship – this would have been a true outreach which would have had the potential to reap unlimited good-will. Instead, watch the Obama Administration garner very few brownie points in the places which Americans need goodwill the most.

the future is in good hands

2009-06-03T18:15:00.002-04:00

Because little Amazons are found all over the world - Jerusalem Post:

A six-year-old girl helped put a knife-brandishing robber under arrest Tuesday night after the man had already successfully stolen money from two grown men. The Dan District Police Station registered two complaints on Tuesday by apartment owners in Ramat Gan, saying a man threatened them with a knife and took money from them.

The 51-year-old robber, also a Ramat Gan resident, then moved on to a third apartment. After he knocked on the door, a little girl opened it. When he demanded she leave the house, she refused and said she would call the police. He then threatened her with a knife, but the child got hold of a broom and hit him with it.

The man fled the scene, but after the girl described his appearance to the police, he was caught and arrested while still in possession of the knife he had used in the robberies.

This child needs to grow up and run the country.

Somedays

2009-06-02T08:01:00.003-04:00

Blogging just blows for me and this is one of these days. Last night I had to deal with the Blue Screen of Death. Go ahead and say it - I should be using Linux and I would but I am far too lazy to get as proactive as I would have to be to make the change over. I have a new computer coming with 'Vista', so I expect I will be making the change-over rather soon.

My particular Blue Screen of Death issue wouldn't let me reboot even in safe mode so I could determine where the problem lies. I eventually solved my problem but without a knowledge of DOS from the old days before Windows based operating systems my only options would be junking the hard drive and replacing it or send the machine into the shop. Neither idea particularly appealed to me. Everything is running properly - for now.

But I just don't have any urge to blog this morning. Perhaps, I will later or not.

Yes, it surely does sound democratic.

2009-06-01T07:07:00.000-04:00

In a follow up to a post at Stageleft (see this post) and my response, I thought I would follow up with an update because Stageleft won’t. First up, the so-called “publicly mourn the loss of your land or your home, or the loss of anyone else’s land or home, on National Israel Happy Day, you get to go to jail for three years” otherwised known as the proposed “Nabka Law”. Ynet News:

Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser has initiated an amendment in a new motion referred to as the "Nakba law", which was approved last by the Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs and angered Israel's Arabs and Left.

According to the initiative, backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, activities marking the "catastrophe" of Israel's establishment will not be banned, but institutions encouraging such activities will not receive government funding.

So if you want to publicly mourn the founding of the Israeli state in Israel the worst which will happen is that your ‘ceremonies’ will no longer be subsidized on the Israeli taxpayer’s shekel which seems an entirely reasonable position to me.

Second, the so-called ‘Loyalty Oath’. Ynet News:

The Ministerial Committee on Legislation rejected Yisrael Beiteinu's loyalty bill Sunday, entering a majority vote against it. The loyalty bill was meant to be an amendment to Israel's Citizenship Act, and stated that anyone seeking an Israeli citizenship would have to pledge their allegiance to the State of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.

Other sections of the amendment demanded the pledge be a prerequisite to getting an Israeli ID and that the interior minister would have the power to revoke the citizenship of those failing to comply. The bill was opposed by the Likud, Labor, Shas and Habayit Hayehudi members on the committee, with only Yisrael Beiteinu members voting in favor. "I hope these kinds of motions will never be heard in the government again," Minister of Minority Affairs Avishay Braverman, who voted against the amendment, said Sunday.

So the proposed legislation was put to a vote and shot down in the cabinet meeting, consequently, the government will not be sponsoring or proposing this piece of legislation in the Israel Knesset which sounds entirely democratic to me although I wait with baited breath Stageleft’s explanation as to this doesn’t mean the bar for democratic process.

One of the Israeli gems of a writer I read regularly is Yaacov Lozowick’s Ruminations. I see I don’t have him in my sidebar (note to self, add YLR) but he is a regular read in my feeder for some time. Yaacov Lozowick explains the legislative map any proposed bill must travel through to become law in Israel. It is well worth the few minutes of anyone’s time but it is his ruminations at the end which I want to highlight.

All of which leaves the question, why try in the first place if everyone knows it won't happen? Why give the Guardian and the Juan Coles of this world unnecessary grist for their mills? A fine subject for a different post, someday. Though I will note that no matter how childish the politicians-media-NGO activists are, the foreign reporters who eagerly take only part of the story and use it to damn Israel shouldn't be exonerated. They could tell the same story I've just told you, but scrupulously won't, ever.

And oddly enough, progressive bloggers won’t tell it either.

Let me introduce you to my new best friend

2009-05-31T09:07:00.000-04:00

The Moscow Times informs us that the Bolshoi Theatre is set to give tribute to Sergei Diaghilev and it is one of the few times I wish I was in Moscow to see the performances to be staged this month in honour of Sergei Diaghilev.

One hundred years ago this month, impresario Sergei Diaghilev presided in Paris over the first of his so-called Russian Seasons, the results of which were to cause one of the most profound revolutions ever in the world of dance. Ballet companies everywhere are marking the anniversary this year with festivals and special performances, and Saturday the Bolshoi Theater pays its homage to Diaghilev and the Russian Seasons with a gala program of four Diaghilev-commissioned ballets, performed both by its own dancers and by guest companies from Paris and Perm.

The Russian Seasons were originally designed to bring Russian culture to the attention of the outside world. And that they did. But Diaghilev's principal achievement lay elsewhere. As ballet developed through the 19th century, it was dominated by choreography, with music and stage design mostly playing a subsidiary role. Diaghilev believed in giving equal prominence to all three art forms, engaging such formidable talent as that of Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Richard Strauss and Francis Poulenc to compose ballet scores and of Lev Bakst, Nataliya Goncharova, Henri Matisse and Georges Braque to design sets and costumes. For choreography, he turned above all to three young natives of Russia, Mikhail Fokin, Leonid Massine and George Balanchine, who eventually came to be ranked among the greatest innovators of 20th-century ballet. And to execute the results he engaged an outstanding company of dancers, one that included such now-legendary figures as Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina and Vatslav Nijinsky.

Diaghilev could be rightly characterized as one of classical ballet’s best friends. Now there comes a time when dancers are no longer dancers, and as they age there comes a particular affliction which no one warns you about and it strikes long after the pointe shoes are hung up in the back of the closet. It’s called arthritis and it is the result of pounding away for hours after hours, year after year, in pointe shoes. It makes one’s knees and ankles sheer burning swelling misery. I have tried all kinds of prescription drugs, and unfortunately for me, all those little annoying side effects which one is duly warned about by a responsible physician - come out to strike in full force in me. So I gave up the prescription drugs and decided I would spend the rest of my life chanting the dancer’s mantra – it is only pain.

Along the way, I discovered, there was one over the counter drug, which doesn’t bring on the vomiting, the migraines, the profusely bleeding nose and does not turn my stomach into a bbq pit. Let me introduce to my new best friend – 400 mg of Ibufren – absolute liquid gold. Two of these beauties and I can at least walk for a few hours.

I am going to have to start a 'cool chassids' file

2009-05-29T10:07:00.001-04:00

In general, I find it fascinating to listen or read other people’s spiritual journeys. Probably because I am such a work in progress myself and I instinctively perk up when I catch the familiar chords of journey echo in another’s voice.

In the old days, Bob Marley sang, “Stolen from Africa, brought to America, Buffalo Soldier”, and it is too bad Bob’s not alive to sing what could be the next line “Hip Hop Gangstar to Frum Yiddishkeit". Okay, I am no Bob, and he would have a far more lyrical way of essentially saying the same thing.

So what could be more fascinating than a Spanish Town yardie to hip hope gangstar to Frum Jew? To me it makes perfect sense and I get it, though others might not. Besides, the mix seems just seems - one my favourite places and people seasoned with my love of Torah. Okay, I am not really a fan of Spanish Town and am more of a Negril, Orange Hill kind of woman, but my house in Jamaica is located not too far away from Spanish Town as far as these things go.

From Yoseph Robinson’s home page:

Raised in Spanish Town, Jamaica by his Grandma Pearl, Yoseph Robinson, like most of the island kids, thought of the United States as of kind of utopia. It was a fantasy come true when he and his two sisters were finally able to join his parents in Midwood [Flatbush?], Brooklyn in 1989. At the age of 12, he exchanged his slower-paced life of mango-picking, fresh water fishing, and swimming for an Americanized one filled with stylized clothes, girls, and worries about being cool enough.

Constant disobedience in school and a strained relationship with his parents during his teenage years led Yoseph to drop out of high school was he was just 16. Influenced by a group of older kids and in need of money, Yoseph entered the world of drug deals, street crime, and violence. His reckless lifestyle took him to the Bronx, Philly, and finally LA, where he invested in a lucrative hip hop label. But by the time he was 23 years old, Yoseph knew he had to leave the affluent Hollywood scene behind in order to physically and mentally survive. He turned to Judaism as a means to surrender control, accept humility, and educate.

He is also in the process of writing a book on his experiences and journey.

Did I mention he blogs too! Frum from Rebirth

So this is how the lies and smears start

2009-05-29T08:01:00.001-04:00

Stageleft:

If you live in Israel and you publicly mourn the loss of your land or your home, or the loss of anyone else’s land or home, on National Israel Happy Day, you get to go to jail for three years.

Well, except Stageleft’s alleged statement of fact is nothing more than twofer - a lie and smear. Like most effective smears it is not completely without a grain of truth, but unlike what he leads one to believe, it is a long, long legislative way from either law or fact. What I find noteworthy is how a mere germ of some piece of the complex Israeli body politic is taken and turned and twisted to fit any agenda.

In fact, public ‘Nakba’ ceremonies just occurred less than a month ago and no Israeli citizen was arrested for ‘publicly mourning’ or participating in public Nakba ceremonies – unless your idea of publicly mourning is causing or participating in a riot, stoning, or stabbings. Let alone be sent to jail for three years for ‘mourning the loss of your land’ etc.

What Stageleft omits is that it is a long way from a proposed bill to legislative fact to ‘criminal’ charges and I am highly doubtful Israel Beiteinu has necessary mandates to win a vote let alone the support of the Knesset.

The proposed loyalty oaths legislation will probably not get the endorsement of the Charedi parties and probably Shas as well. Not to mention support from Labor, Kadima and Meretz will vote against the bill. I suspect the Likud will be divided on the bill. The loyalty oath cuts two ways and targets two distinct groups. Israeli-Arabs and the Charedim and many in the Charedi community are highly anti-Zionist as well as anti-Israel. Furthermore, many are outraged in Israeli by the idea of the government dictating what can be mourned or celebrated. For just one such voice let’s quote SnoopytheGoon.

For Hebrew - challenged: Yisrael Beiteinu means "Israel our home". Or, in other words, a name for a party that is quickly becoming a fucking gang of brownshirts that will take our country to fascist hell if we don't stop them in time.

When a well-meaning minister invents a law that will prevent demonstrations against public officials near their houses, it smells bad. It irritates. It reminds you of places and times you would rather forget.

When a malicious little paskudnyak that plays a big patriot invents a law that will prohibit Israeli Arabs to mark the Nakba (no matter how malicious and stupid that Nakba day is), it starts stinking. You have to sit up, smell the air and ask yourself what the hell is going on around you?

When that same gang of brownshirts invents a law that requires Israeli citizens to pledge an oath of allegiance, you may think a first that OK, quite a few countries have their folks doing the same as a precondition to getting that red or blue or green passport. But then you notice that "I pledge to be loyal to the State of Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state...". And it starts stinking to high heaven. And you don't see red anymore - just brown.

But in Israel there is something called the democratic process and every half-baked badly thought out outrageous proposed piece of legislation can be proposed and then everyone will get they say. After that a vote comes. Stageleft offers no analysis or reason why these bills would pass – of course, he does present it as a fact accomplished. So who knows, he probably blames what he perceives as the innate fascism and racism of the Israeli body politic.

Speaking of racist pieces of legislation there is this from Ma’an News Agency:

Hebron – Ma’an – A special Palestinian Authority (PA) military court in Hebron in the sentenced a Palestinian man to death by hanging after he was found guilty of selling land to Israeli settlers on Tuesday.

(…)The military court held a hearing session on 21 April, on the charge of “leaking lands to Israel.” The PA announced just over a week ago that it is investigating Palestinians who sell land to settlers.

PA courts have convicted Palestinians for collaborating with Israel in the past, usually for providing information about resistance fighters to the Israeli intelligence services. These convictions are based on the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Revolutionary Code.

While Stageleft is quick to condemn every half-baked outrageous piece of legislation the Israeli body politic comes up with he is notorious blog-silent on what Israel’s neighbors and peace partners are up to in actual fact. But don't take my word on it. Go search Stageleft for yourself.

Why Chabad remains the coolest Chassids

2009-05-27T10:20:00.003-04:00

In times of economic hardship charitable organizations are looking for new ways to raise funds. So what does Chabad do to meet this challenge? They embrace and harness internet technology to make it work for all their good deeds. Enter the Chabad Search Engine.

h/t Shearim

Bambi does not live in my world - the update

2009-05-27T08:04:00.003-04:00

Photo -Sean Kilpatrick,The Canadian Press

I use to work with a woman whose family comes from Northern Ontario. Every fall her family would go hunting and whatever was shot became their food for the winter. Long after she left home, her father and brother still went hunting to supply their family with meat. And no, they weren’t Aboriginal Canadians, just plain Canadians living in the north.

This summer when I was out in West I ate elk and buffalo. My youngest son rather likes slow roasted buffalo or buffalo burgers. I, myself am rather partial to elk. It’s a very versatile delicate flavoured meat. I have worn furs for years and have high hopes for a new fur coat soon.

I suppose this makes me a blood thirsty Neanderthal, and yes, I probably would have eaten the heart to if it was offered or gladly taken seal pelts if they were offered to make a coat out of them. I blame Disney for a great deal of this ridiculous squeamishness which surrounds the eating of animals and the wearing of their fur. I wrote this some time ago and I think it still applies with just another caveat – I have found yet another reason to be grateful my family left old Europe.Bambi does not live in my world.

Let me get my bona fides out - front and centre. I once had a seal coat. It was the best coat I ever owned. I bought it second-hand at a church rummage sale in Holtville, New Brunswick for $2 in 1981. It was 35 years old when I bought it and it lasted another 5 years before the pelts eventually dried up so badly that the coat was splitting beyond repair. The only downside to owning a seal coat is that seal coats are heavy but unlike the high end rodent furs such as minks seal coats do not have to be babied. Seal coats can be worn in the freezing rain and you will stay warm and dry without damaging the fur. Furthermore, seal coats do not shed like the dog furs of coyote or wolf do.

I tried to replace my seal coat with another seal but by that time the anti-seal/fur fanatics had so ruined the market that even the wholesale furriers on Spadina Avenue were no longer purchasing any furs but farm fur coats. Hence, I had to settle for mink instead. Say what you will and I have worn all the alternatives to furs coats; down-filled, wool, the new synthetics like polar fleece, but nothing, and I do mean nothing, suits the Canadian climate as well as fur. Nothing will keep you warm like a fur coat in -30C or colder than a fur. It also does not require over a 100 plus years for a fur coat to biodegrade back into the environment unlike a coat made with a synthetic shell.

My grandfather was a fur trapper. He raised five children by trapping and working as a wood’s guide. He trapped my grandmother a bear coat that saw her through more winters than I have lived. After my grandmother died, my mother and my Aunties took my Grandmother’s bear coat and had it made into 5 teddy bears. In that way my grandfather’s labour of love was shared equally between his daughters.

I have a grey tabby cat named Rogue and I really like this cat, but he owes his existence in my home and my life because of his mousing abilities. If he had no mousing ability I would not live with a cat. The downside of living in a 19th century townhouse is that the rodents have too many ways in and places to nest. When the pest control specialist advises that the only way to keep the rodent population under control is to either demolition the building and start again or get a cat; one gets a cat.

I had a Shetland Sheepdog named Mistress. Not only did Mistress protect me and guard my property, she also herded the children when we were out. No child could step more than a few feet away before Missie herded the child back to me with either a nip at the pant bottoms or a pull on the pampers. Furthermore, Missie did not like fighting. Fight in front of Mistress and she would drag you down and bark in your face.

I have eaten beef, deer and moose on occasion. I have killed and plucked chickens. I have caught and gutted fish. I wear leather shoes and have leather clothes. I have marveled at the majesty of a bull moose, respected the power of bear, and the feral beauty of a wolf. I have cared for all my pets and I made sure that their physical needs were met before my own. I am grateful for the bounty and variety the Lord has provided but at the same time I will not place an animal on equal par with the value of a human life. It is time that we all take a deep breath and realize that Bambi exists only in the realm of make believe.

Backstories

2009-05-26T08:11:00.000-04:00

There is something rather disturbing about the whole concept of time. When one is very young, every hour and every day is too long but when one grows older, every hour and every day is fleeting, and yet, time remains constant whether young or old. I am most definitely in the time is fleeting camp. I wish I could capture time within my hand and measure it out a little bit at a time so there could finally be enough time to do all that I am compelled to do in any given hour or day. Alas, I have no such hands or luck.

So blogging may or may not be almost existent. Although there was something which caught my eye at the Toronto Star and I just wanted to note for future reference. It is a classic case of agenda manipulation in the media.

JERUSALEM – The mayor of Jerusalem and the prime minister of Israel are both in serious denial – or they are if you ask Menachem Klein."I wonder how these people can maintain loyalty to their own statements," Klein, a research fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, said yesterday. "For the time being, they live in denial."

Klein was referring to declarations on the status of Jerusalem issued this week by Nir Barkat, the city's recently elected mayor, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both men took advantage of the celebration Thursday of Jerusalem Day to vow that the so-called City of Peace will never again be divided, as it was between 1948 and 1967, when Israel controlled the western city, while East Jerusalem was ruled by neighbouring Jordan.

According to Klein, such statements not only diminish the prospects of Middle East peace. They also fly in the face of at least two demographic and political realities. First, Jerusalem is already divided – split between a Jewish city in the west and a predominantly Arab city in the east, a situation that four decades of Israeli occupation have not managed to reverse.

Also, Jerusalem's Arab minority, which now represents 35 per cent of the city's total population, is growing at three times the rate of the Jewish community. Klein says Arabs will form a majority in the city in 10 to 15 years.How, he asks, will Israel – which prides itself on being both a Jewish and a democratic state – continue to claim sovereignty over a national capital that soon will be peopled primarily by Arabs?

Oddly enough, Klein makes these statements despite demographic information published from his own institute. Ha’aretz carried an article on the declining Arab birthrate in Jerusalem last July.

Fertility rates in Jerusalem have been declining among Arabs and rising among Jews in recent years, according to statistics the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies issued to mark Jerusalem Day, today.

Among Arabs the rate has dropped to 4 children in 2006, from 4.3 in 2000, and among Jews it has risen to 3.9 children in 2006 from 3.7 in 2000. However, the ratio of Jews and Arabs hasn't changed - 66 percent Jews (489,480) and 34 percent Arabs (256,820) totaling 746,300 at the end of 2007.

Of course, most of us sitting in Toronto wouldn't have a clue that Klein is purposely undermining demographics published by his own institute. There is only one reason for him to do so and in three words the why is – hard left politicking. And the Toronto Star Middle East bureau eats up every word Klein spews out. Klein was one of the advisers to the ill-fated Oslo Accords but has been actively promoting the Geneva Accord as well. Go google him, as I don't have the time.

Justice Blind

2009-05-25T10:03:00.001-04:00

According to this Toronto Star article the Toronto Police mistakenly released an email suggesting a press release should be issued to the media detailing the rights of people accused of shoplifting and the limits of citizen’s arrests when a storekeeper was once again accused of beating a shoplifter.

Two of the three storekeepers accused of bundling a suspected shoplifter into a van and beating him on the weekend were involved in a similar incident in 2001, according to a Toronto police email.

On the face of it the shopkeeper’s alleged response does seem a mite extreme, although, often profit margins are often barely above costs in small stores, and if it meant the difference between feeding his family or not, I can understand the shopkeeper's response.

But isn’t this really the only logical response when the courts only hand out the merest punishments to convicted shoplifters? If justice isn’t seen to be done - why bother with the courts at all?

There is no dividing line

2009-05-25T08:00:00.000-04:00

In recent days, there has been a great deal of push exhibited towards the idea that the Israelis can and should negotiate to divide Jerusalem again. Ynet News:

France accused Prime Minister Benjamin Neyanyahu on Friday of prejudicing the outcome of the Middle East peace process by declaring that Jerusalem would forever be Israel's undivided capital. "The declaration made by the Israeli prime minister yesterday in Jerusalem prejudices the final status agreement," Foreign Ministry spokesman Frederic Desagneaux told reporters in Paris

Melanie Phillip’s column penned the best response to the French outraged over an Israeli Prime Minister declaring without hesitation or ambiguity that the eternal capital of the Jewish nation will never be divided again.

Zionism is simply the movement for the self-determination of the Jewish people. And its significance is greater than any other movement of national liberation because Judaism itself rests upon three legs — the people, the religion and the land. If one is lopped off by having its legitimacy denied, the whole thing collapses. That is why anti-Zionism is far more than an unpleasant political position. It is a direct attack on Judaism itself.

Jerusalem is the heart of Zion. It can no more be divided than the Vatican City or Mecca. The Palestinians will have to find somewhere else to plant their flag as Jerusalem is not for division.

Generous Times

2009-05-22T18:13:00.002-04:00

The other night the Last Amazon and I were discussing poetry and music – don’t ask why - I am still not sure how it came up. I recited part of an Earle Birney poem I was forced to memorize in grade 12. Literally decades after the event and these four lines are still stuck firmly engraved in the recesses of my mind. Of course, it probably didn’t hurt that I was publicly chastised in the classroom for suggesting the Birney poem contained ‘homoerotic imagery’. Frankly, it seem rather self-evident to me and when I tried to justify my reasoning, I was tutted and hissed all the way to the principal’s office. What can I say – it was seventies. I can’t remember the name of the poem but it went like this -

There are better ways to catch a god,
who is feeling gay and girly,
then tickling with a fishing rod,
among the short and curly

The Last Amazon agreed there was a strong element of homoerotic, but then again, she shares not just my DNA but my poetry dyslexia. Anyway, as smart and savvy as the Last Amazon is, there are still things she shares in common with most of her peers – this blind belief that her generation just invented not only sex but sensuality, bawdiness and vulgarity. Some would suggest it is the arrogance of youth but I prefer to think of it as the wonder of first discovery.

Anyway, this lead to a whole discussion of the bawdiness in songs and I mentioned the Cohen’s Chelsea Hotel. She didn’t believe me when I recited how it started, so tonight’s song for her. Read ‘em as Cohen sings along and pay up the $10 we bet Kikibird, and take this as your life mantra – never bet against your mother.

I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel,
you were talking so brave and so sweet,
giving me head on the unmade bed,
while the limousines wait in the street.
Those were the reasons and that was New York,
we were running for the money and the flesh.
And that was called love for the workers in song
probably still is for those of them left.

A new aggravator in the Canadian 'sphere

2009-05-22T12:59:00.001-04:00

It’s no secret when Neale News went offline Canada’s bloggers lost one their best online resources. Bourque is okay, but its layout is poor which makes it touch harder on the eyes. There were high hopes for the National News Desk but it’s been a half-empty/full kind of thing. Nowhere else would anyone find a collection of some of the most stunningly ignorant opinion pieces via local Halifax newspapers - which also explains why the Maritimes votes predominantly liberal.

So its nice to report there is a new online source for a news aggravator - Canada News Desk. It’s nicely laid out and gives you a two or three line taste beyond the headline and it accepts comments too! So far it seems balanced and as an extra bonus - there is no weirdness with daff opinion pieces from Halifax or pimping the liberal blog most likely to launch a defamation suit against you.

there ought to be a law...not

2009-05-22T10:06:00.000-04:00

There really should be a law requiring all of us to insult the dignity of a public official on a regular basis. Anyway, lucky for a protestor against the ill-fated Gaza Disengagement has been acquitted for insulting the ‘dignity of a public official’. Ynet News:

The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court has decided to acquit a settler who gave police officers the Nazi salute while chanting "Heil Sharon" during the disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday. The accused, Hebron resident Oren Zar, was charged with giving the Nazi salute to two police officers. He was brought to court on charges of insulting a public official.

I maybe wrong, but I believe the Sharon government dusted this law off from the Brits when they ruled the Palestine Mandate. Time to scrap it off the books entirely.

Everyone is feeding the fires now

2009-05-22T08:03:00.000-04:00

We were treated to Hillary Clinton musing on the dangers of the nuclear arms race in the Middle East which could be sparked by Iran's quest for nuclear energy. Yesterday, Obama gives the heads up to share and set up the United Arab Emirate with nuclear technology. Jerusalem Post:

President Barack Obama agreed Wednesday to share US nuclear power technology with the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, giving his consent to a deal signed in the final days of George W. Bush's administration. The pact now goes to Congress, which will have 90 days to amend or reject it. The agreement creates a legal framework for the US to transfer sensitive nuclear items to the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven Middle Eastern states that wants nuclear power to satisfy growing demand for electricity.

Funny how that 'hope and change' mantra looks so much like so the old Bushisms.

Larry's Law

2009-05-21T12:54:00.000-04:00

I feel sorry for columnist Larry Derfner at the Jerusalem Post. He must be the most unlucky of columnists of all time. He submits a column days before its published ranting about this or that, and what happens? Either the day of publication or shortly before whatever he was ranting about as so much fear/war (insert whatever)mongering and it something comes to pass to justify exactly as he said he shouldn’t worry about. Take today’s column and the non-threat of the Iranians, and what do the Iranians do? Launch a successful wide range ballistic missile. I mean, what are the fracking odds the Iranians would successfully launch a missile shortly after Larry submits a column.

The Arrow missile defense system successfully tracked the Iranian long-range missile that was test-fired on Wednesday, just days after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with US President Barack Obama to discuss the Iranian nuclear threat.

Iran said the solid-fuel Sajjil-2 surface-to-surface missile - also called the Ashura - had a range of about 2,000 kilometers. It is a new version of the Sajjil missile, which the country said it successfully tested late last year, and has a similar range.

"The firing of the missile should serve as an alarm to Europe and the United States," said one defense official. "This long-range missile is proof that the Iranians are not just a threat to Israel, but to the entire Western world."

Kismet, I tell you. So I an instituting Larry’s Law in honour of Derfner’s many gaffs and idiocies which works like this – whatever position Larry takes on any given issue – no matter how farfetched - one should immediately take the opposite view of Larry’s.

Sound the all clear

2009-05-21T10:54:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am sure we all sleep better for these French pronouncements from the French contingent of UNIFIL. Ynet News:

It is highly unlikely that Lebanese Hezbollah militants have more weapons now in southern Lebanon than they did at the time of their 2006 war with Israel, the head of UN peacekeeping said on Wednesday. "I think it would be very difficult for Hezbollah to put additional weapons in the area," Alain Le Roy, the French head of the UN Department of Peacekeeping, told reporters. (Reuters)

Isn’t amazing how soundly one can sleep if one does not patrol at night?

Papal Bull

2009-05-21T09:17:00.001-04:00

Some stories just have me laughing my head off. This story at Ha’aretz illustrates exactly what I mean.
Roman Catholic Church officials say they would like an explanation from Israel for the poor turnout at Pope Benedict XVI's open-air mass in Jerusalem last week. Monsignor Antonio Franco, the papal nuncio in the Holy Land, said Thursday that church officials are still trying to figure out what happened. He says he's received reports that worshippers with tickets were turned away at the entrance while others received their tickets too late.
Apparently only 3,000 showed up rather than the expected 5,000. So you could blame either the Israeli police, the Elders and the International Jewish Conspiracy or you could just state the obvious…that Jerusalem is primarily a Jewish city and Jews just don’t do mass…

don't feed the fire

2009-05-21T07:54:00.001-04:00

I haven’t referenced or quoted Hillary Clinton since the democratic primaries race but Ynet News quoted her most recent pearls of wisdom re; the fallout of the Iranian nuclear ambitions. Ynet News

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says a nuclear-armed Iran is "going to spark an arms race" in the Middle East. Without commenting directly on reports that Tehran has conducted a nuclear missile launch, Clinton did refer Wednesday to a host of threats to the United States that she said are "daunting."

But of course Hillary. Although I dare say it would help if the United States amended its foreign policy and not sell nuclear technology to such bastions of liberal democracy like Saudi Arabia but the ball and the nuclear arms race is strictly in your court.

It couldn't happen to a more deserving guy

2009-05-20T19:32:00.000-04:00

I have only caught Glenn Beck a few times when he was on CNN. I wasn’t terribly impressed then, and even less so when I heard Fox News picked up his show. I did catch his public meltdown after minor surgery and in my mind his name has been synonymous with the term ‘wingnut’ ever since. The world needs more principled conservatives - not raving loony demagogues.

I can’t stand his voice or the sneering condescension to which he approaches every viewpoint that differs from his own narrative. O’Reilly has nothing on him. I don’t watch The View, well, because I am employed and I often find I know far more about any given topic the ‘women’ of The View. A prime example – Lubavitchers, and for the record, Lubavitcher women are the hot ‘chassids', but having said all that, I love the public smack down Glen Beck receives at the hands of the women of The View. Good on them for doing what has long been a long time coming. As a public service, I am posting the You Tube segment of the Beck Smack Down.

h/t Little Green Footballs

What is your first clue this story didn’t happen in Canada?

2009-05-20T12:52:00.000-04:00

The incident:
A Samara region court has sentenced a 20-year-old man to three years in prison for biting his friend's nose in a drunken argument, permanently disfiguring the victim.

Apparently, nose biting is something of a tradition in Mother Russia.
Zadornov — the nose-biter, not the comedian or the former minister — was three sheets to the wind in January 2008 when he got into an argument with his drinking buddy, identified only as "B.", regional prosecutors said in a statement this week.

In his fit of rage, Zadornov grabbed his acquaintance by the shoulders to keep him from resisting and chomped on his nose, investigators said. So violent was the bite that the cartilage in the victim's nose was damaged, leaving his face permanently disfigured, doctors said. Zadornov was subsequently charged with aggravated assault, and while he admitted biting the man's nose, he challenged the aggravating circumstances in court.

Unlike our current criminal court justices in Canada, this Russian judge didn’t buy it and not only found Zadornov guilty, but gifted him with a three year stint in the hoosecow.

Just another Wednesday, much like the last Wednesday

2009-05-20T11:03:00.001-04:00

Once again, Palestinian ‘unity’ talks in Egypt ended without an agreement. I suppose to mark another round of fruitless discussions Hamas sent kassams flying into Sderot.

Speaking of another round of fruitless discussions, Ynet News is reporting Palestinian claims that the new revised peace plan includes East Jerusalem.

US President Barack Obama's new peace plan for the Middle East continues to unravel, ahead of it official presentation in Cairo, on June 4. Official Palestinian Authority sources told Ynet Wednesday that following Jordan's King Abdullah's visit to Washington, as well as other visits to the US capital, they were given the impression that any new American peace plan would call for establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

And never fret over the fate of ancient Jewish Quarter of East Jerusalem as Obama apparently has a plan for that too.

The revised plan is also said to call for east Jerusalem to be made the new state's capital – with the Palestinian Authority's flag waving over it official institutions and the UN banner waving over the Old City and places sacred to Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

Yeah, like really, the UN will protect Jews and sites sacred to Judaism. Speaking of the UN and Israel, apparently the UN probe of alleged war crimes will go ahead without Israeli cooperation. Why the UN bothers wasting time ‘investigating’ when we all know how the report will end – in the condemnation of Israel just like a million and one other UN reports.

Palestinian farmers claim to have been attacked by Jewish settlers, meanwhile Israeli vehicles outside of Nablus and Hebron were stoned yesterday.

But the good news is that Russia has decided to halt sales of fighter jets to the Syrians.

Much ado about nothing article - leads at the Toronto Star

2009-05-20T10:05:00.000-04:00

Biggest non-story of the day has to be this Toronto Star report suggesting ‘Canada eyes arms sales to Pakistan’ and leads opens with dramatic opening:

ISLAMABAD–Canada is considering ending its 11-year embargo on the sale of military technology to a nuclear-armed Pakistan, Defence Minister Peter MacKay says. The development comes as Pakistan's army prepares to take its fight against Taliban militants into the tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

However, this is what Peter MacKay actually said - as quoted in the Toronto Star – no less!

In a telephone interview from Islamabad, MacKay, who this week called Pakistan the "most dangerous country in the world," said he's impressed with Pakistan's resolve in taking on the Taliban. "Doing military business in the future, and trade in particular, is something that is under consideration," MacKay said after meeting with Pakistani President Asif Zardari. However, he added, "We're not there yet."

Let me paraphrase - at some unknown potential day in the future - Canada might consider do military business with Pakistan. Is it any wonder the newspaper business is dying?

Obama vs Bibi

2009-05-20T07:57:00.001-04:00

I woke up dead-tired - again. I really don’t get what it is about these long weekends but they do wear me out something fierce - much more than the regular variety. Then there really wasn’t much news which interested me enough to blog yesterday – hence the blankness - and I make no promises about today.

Most of the newspapers this weekend were running opinion pieces on the Israeli Prime Minister’s first trip to the Obama White House. The anti-Israeli fractions were gleefully predicting person non grata status for Bibi Netanyahu and/or he would finally get his comeuppance as Obama would hand Bibi his butt. The pro-Israel sides all seemed worried over Bibi and fretted endlessly that Bibi would cave into American delusions rather than stand strong and resolute.

From the sounds of it, an hour meeting went on long after its Best Before Date expired which leads me to believe, and judging from Bibi’s statements to the press afterwards - it went better than anyone could possibly hope for it -Bibi held his ground and Obama got nothing but gets does get to keep his own parts workable.

Anyway, I read this NY Times piece on the meeting and this sentence really seem best suited to summing up the process for me.

In a sense, Monday’s meeting in the Oval Office was as much about the two leaders’ efforts to develop a relationship as it was about the substance of the issues between the nations. Mr. Miller, the former Middle East negotiator, characterized the session as “President ‘Yes We Can’ sitting down with Prime Minister ‘No You Won’t.’ ”

Believe it or not, I figure Bibi more or less has prevailed as there is nothing Obama has done in his 100 plus days which doesn’t scream foreign policy pussy.

The World's Strictest Parents - dateline Israel

2009-05-18T12:15:00.000-04:00

I said it before and I will say it again. The world needs more Israel – specifically more national religious Israelis. While I am not a fan of reality television I wouldn’t mind watching this show. The Jerusalem Post on the World’s Strictest Parents:

Two non-Jewish teenage school dropouts quit their rebellious lives in Britain for a week-long obedience lesson with a firm religious-Zionist family for the BBC reality TV show World's Strictest Parents.

Sixteen-year-old Gemma Lyons and 17-year-old Jack Travers, both from Hampshire in the UK, went to live with David and Tzippi Sha-ked and their five children last week in Nof Ayalon, a community near Modi'in. The teens, who admit to smoking and drinking alcohol, come from troubled homes - Gemma living with her mother and 14-year-old sister and Jack with his mother, stepfather and four siblings. The first thing these two non-Jewish teens had to contend with was the ‘family’ dress code.

The week wasn't easy for either of the youngsters, Gemma and Jack told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. Both were quickly escorted to a mall to buy "appropriate" clothes for their new lifestyle. Jack, who describes himself as a "goth," on meeting his new family, appeared in his full-black garb, complete with heavy eye-liner, nail varnish and long unruly hair. "It was a very strict dress code," said Jack. "[When I] turned up on the first day with it on, they didn't make a big thing out of it but said 'we don't dress this way' and 'we want to change how you dress'."

Gemma, who explained that she is more accustomed to "prancing around" in her bikini in hot climates, found the dress code challenging, but the change had a profound effect on her. "When they explained the reason behind it, I understood it more and wanted to give it a go," she said. "When I go back to England, I'm going to dress a lot more modestly. "I've learned so much … I think you need to respect yourself and if you cover up, you are respecting yourself, and when you get into a relationship, it's something special between yourself and the boy."

And the trip - highlight:

Gemma and Jack both listed the Western Wall as the highlight of their trip, even though Jack describes himself as an atheist. "I'm not religious, but it was amazing," enthused Jack. "I'm really interested in the Wall," said Gemma, who identifies as a Christian. "You can study it as much as you want, but when you go there, it's totally different." Gemma said she was "so excited" when the show's destination was revealed to her, but Jack recalled that he, on the other hand, "was dreading it." "If there's one thing I hate, it's when people try and [force] religion on you." However, Jack soon felt like part of the Sha-ked family and at the end of filming, found it hard to say good-bye.

Although the teens were staying with the Sha-keds, the whole community shared in the experience, said neighbor Chani Hadad. "They thought they were choosing a family, but in fact they chose a whole community. The kids repeatedly expressed their amazement at how close this community is. "Everyone got so close, there were so many tears," Hadad said. "[From their perspective], they landed on a different planet, but they embraced the community and will take away a great deal of self-esteem because they both came with issues. They were both judging themselves on the lowest common denominator out there."

The teen resolution:

Both participants resolved that they are going to return to school and that they will apply some of the lessons learned to their family life at home.

On discipline:

"On the first day I got into an argument about the rules and people were so calm about everything; no one shouted, everyone was polite and no one got aggressive at all," Jack said. "It makes the whole way of life much nicer. If there is one thing [I'll take away] it'll be that, because in my [family] home, there are loads of arguments," Jack said, adding he has a "bad relationship" with his mother.
The Sha-ked family's attitude to discipline also resonated with Gemma. "When I go home, if I have a problem, I'm going to approach it in a mature manner … One day if I have kids, this is how I'm going to go about it."

The host parents:

Tzippi Sha-ked told the Post that she was overcome by "the resolution." It did not go smoothly at all," said Sha-ked. "We were quite anxious, but we decided we would put our best foot forward and be completely accepting. "The thing that was most amazing was seeing two non-Jews who knew nothing about Judaism other than negative stuff from the BBC and they got a newfound appreciation; it's a pity that secular Israel doesn't see what they saw."

The more I think about this idea, the more I like. A few surrogate national religious families play parent-hosts with Palestinian teens might go a long way in opening up a change in dialogue, but then again, the Palestinian teens would have to be young enough to be trusted not to murder the Jewish parents while they are sleeping. Perhaps, it would better just to place teens of ‘progressive’ North American and European families for now.

h/t: The Muqata

Best before date for breast implants.

2009-05-18T11:42:00.001-04:00

Years ago, I had to take some kind of liberal arts elective. I settled on an introduction to inter-personal psychology and because there was only no major research paper but a series of in-class exercises and only two exams - a mid-term and a final. It turned out to be the biggest single mistake of my post-secondary education. I was at least 12 years older than everyone in the class but the professor. I found myself much like an alien who transported in an unexplored touchy-feelie universe.

One of the first class exercises the professor gave was to hand out a sheet of paper to every class member (yes, I it was a long time ago and I realize this dates me.) We were given 15 minutes to write out everything we hated about ourselves. I drew a complete blank. As I scanned the room everyone’s head was down and scribbling furiously but mine. Some even requested more paper.

By the time 15 minutes were up, I still had nothing to show for my time. I spent the next hour listening to a long boring litany of complaints from my classmates listing how they hated their noses, faces, eyes, thighs, weight or lack of – yadda, yadda. Then it was my turn to join in the fest of mutual self-loathing and I simply stated there was nothing I hated about myself. Of course the professor challenged me and demanding there had to be something I hated about myself – like the fact I was short.

I simply stated no. It had been a distinct advantage in my former career and I had a husband who was very tall so it worked out quite well for us as he could reach where I couldn’t and I moved with ease where he strained. This turned out to be a rather long bitter exchange between the professor and myself and the course simply went downhill from there for me, but my point was, there comes a time when one should realize that spending time focusing one any alleged physical short-comings is as futile as nailing jello to a wall. So what has this got to do with Quebec women getting short-changed on their breast implants? Well, who knew breast implants have a limited shelf-life? Toronto Star

Saline implants have about a 10-year shelf life before they must be replaced, he said, adding gel implants are believed to last up to 25 years though it's impossible to say for sure as they've only existed for 17 years. Saline implants, he added, are also more prone to ripple at the sides or become hard.

Who knew? Certainly not me, but then, I have never had the desire to spend overt amounts of time and/or energy to supplement or enhance significantly what my genetic code has wrought. It seems to me we spend far too much time and energy focusing on any alleged deficiencies in our physical appearance rather than doing the necessary soul searching which leads us to believe we are less than what we were created to be – an entire universe within ourselves waiting only to be discovered.

The limits of self-interest

2009-05-18T08:42:00.001-04:00

There is a kind of innate dishonesty in ‘little’ things, which when I run across it, I have a hard time understanding as it flies in the face of basic self-interest. This Toronto Star article is a prime example. Ten employees have lost their rather lucrative jobs by swiping their personal airmiles card on customer purchases at the LCBO.

Ten LCBO employees – accused of doing just that – were fired in the last year for using their own Air Miles cards to skim the miles from customer purchases, according to an internal audit dated October 2008 and released yesterday.

It's not that hard. Cashiers can fraudulently intercept reward miles by simply swiping their own card if the customer does not present a card at the time of purchase. "Common sense would suggest that, during times of recession, illegal activity of a general nature tends to increase," Bill Kennedy, a spokesperson for the LCBO, told the Star last night. "The purpose of the audit is to be proactive and to ensure management is vigilant."

The 10 cases identified in 2008–09 are a sharp rise from a single instance detected the previous year and six cases the year before that. Kennedy said there was no cost to the LCBO as a result of the fraudulent activity, which, he added, is committed by a tiny fraction of the LCBO's 7,000 employees. The 10 employees were nabbed thanks to an agreement with LoyaltyOne Inc., the company that runs the Air Miles program, to allow LCBO auditors access to employees' private card information if fraud is suspected.

They could have earned more legally than they stole without risk to their livelihoods, future careers or their character. Go figure because I can’t.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flatter

2009-05-17T11:36:00.000-04:00

Yadda, yadda, and all of that but how are they ever going to come up with the Saudi version of Paula Abul? Ha'aretz:

"I accept Allah as my God, His religion as my religion, and His Messenger as my Messenger," he intones, as the audience, divided into men's and women's sections, claps along with the rhythm.

The singer is a contestant on a new Islamic version of American Idol, launched to find and promote talent for the Arab world's first Islamic pop music video channel.

At long last I will something in common with every other middle aged parent in the Arab middle east - loathing every time the show comes on the television.

About those rocks

2009-05-17T10:31:00.000-04:00

Ever wonder why Palestinians throw rocks? You Tube provides a possible answer.

This is my lame attempt at making light of the peaceful intentions of Israel's 'neighbors - the 'Palastians'. Those little 8 year olds with their stones and throwing arms poised for the Pallywood photo-op grow-up to take stoning to its next level.

Victoria Day weekend - hallelujah

2009-05-15T15:18:00.000-04:00

I turned the moderation on early as I intend to be tied up early for the first long weekend of warmer season here in the north. Friday’s song is simply Hallelujah – in concert. What more is there left to say?

Symbolic Marriage

2009-05-15T07:59:00.000-04:00

I read this story at Ha’aretz and it broke me up wondering if ‘symbolic’ marriages will be the new ‘in’ thing? It reminds me of the whole ‘temporary marriages’ the Iranians use to have sex with prostitutes.

Music superstar Madonna may be tying the knot in a Kabbalah ceremony, the father of the intended groom told Brazilian magazine Quem recently, New York City's Daily News reported Thursday.

"The kabbalah ceremony that will link up my son Jesus Luz and Madonna only confirms that he is extremely happy," Luis Heitor Pinto da Luz told Quem.

The father of the 22-year-old model added that he did not think that the ceremony would be legally binding. It would only be a symbolic ceremony signifying the union, he said.

I have a confession to make. I haven’t read the Book of Splendor so I am not up on all the ins and outs of Kabbalah. Every now and then I see it on sale at the bookstore for $4.99, and although I am tempted to buy it, I always put it down. Tradition dictates a study of Kabbalah is only for one who has mastery over both the written and oral torah and has reached at least 40 years of age – otherwise great confusion will result. Seems like a sound rabbinical ruling to me.

Remember the Zionist Oranges in Iran?

2009-05-14T18:58:00.000-04:00

Here is the Jerusalem Post recap of the story of the Zionist Orange saga:

Here's a juicy story: Panic erupted over the weekend in Teheran after Iranian authorities were horrified to discover that citrus fruit being snatched up by buyers across the capital were marked as Israeli-grown Jaffa sweeties.

It was later discovered, however, that the "sweeties" were likely Chinese fruit fraudulently marketed as the prestigious Israeli product. Two Iranian press agencies reported Sunday that citrus with stickers bearing the words "Jaffa sweetie Israel PO" had appeared in Teheran, but that the suspicious fruit had been packed in boxes that clearly said "Product of China."

Nevertheless, Teheran immediately responded to the "Zionist" infiltration. According to Iran-based Press TV, Hossen Safaie, the head of the Fruit and Vegetable Distribution Center of Teheran, expressed his hope that the lawbreakers would be brought to justice and that "his organization will not allow those who want to make a profit ignore the Iranian citizens' religious and revolutionary learning."

Well the story does not end there, and I gotta love those anti-Zionists twists which have vaulted the Iranian-mind think into a league of their own. Courtesy of the Elder of Ziyon (and why aren’t all of you reading him daily?) Iran’s Press TV:

Iran has arrested individuals behind a scheme to 'smear the government' through importing alleged Israeli oranges into the country. "We are absolutely certain that the oranges were not imported from Israel and that the stickers were fabricated," Iran's Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

"It is obvious that the move was aimed to smear the government and overshadow its anti-racism activities," he explained. "[In addition to those detained,] some people have been summoned or invited for further study of the case, the result of which will be announced accordingly," the minister went on to say.

The oranges which were allegedly imported from Israel sparked controversy in Iran, as Tehran bans any sort of dealings with Tel Aviv. The oranges had stickers with a sign that read Jaffa Sweetie Israel PO. However, they were distributed in boxes bearing 'made in China' imprints.

Say a prayer for the poor sods who will have to take the bounce on this.

Incitement is now in the eyes of the beholder

2009-05-14T18:30:00.000-04:00

I actually wrote this piece last night for posting first thing this morning but then I opened my email and got seriously annoyed – and then pressed for time. Since I wrote this, the premier of Ontario has now called the federal government to act to stop the bloodshed. Like serious Dude, what do you suggest - deploying Canadian troops? Too bad he didn't think to send the troops to visit the Chinese or Japan consulants.

Last night there has been an ‘incitement’ incident and The Toronto Star carries this report:

As many as 5,000 demonstrators reacted angrily this afternoon as a small airplane circled Queen's Park with a banner that proclaimed: "Protect Canada Stop Tamil Tigers."

The message incensed the crowd and the protesters started chanting more loudly.
Members of the Tamil community began forming a human chain in the shape of a semi-circle around the edge of the front lawn of Queen's Park at around noon today as part of a series of roving protests designed to draw attention to the situation in Sri Lanka, which the United Nations has referred to as a "bloodbath."

"It's not a smart thing to do," said Staff Inspector Don Campbell of the circling aircraft."All it's doing is fueling the crowd, its inciting them." Campbell said efforts are being made to contact the pilot.

The Tamil community continues to suggest they are protesting in order to pressure the Canadian government to stop the ‘genocide’ and killing of civilian non-combatants in the Tamil Tiger controlled area of Sri Lanka. Short of demanding Canadian troops be sent in to battle both sides I am at a loss to understand what the government could do.

I don’t have a dog in this fight but I am increasingly puzzled as to what the Tamil protestors expect the Canadian government to accomplish when logic dictates it would be far more productive to be ringing the embassies, trade missions and consulates of the Iranians, Russians, Chinese and Japanese governments with protests since it these governments who do have considerable influence with the Sri Lankan government. But by all means, continue your protests at Queen’s Park.

Photo Pawel Dwulit/Toronto Star
Great pains in the media have been consistently suggesting the Canadian Tamil protests are not to save the Tamil Tiger terrorist organization from certain and final defeat by the Sri Lankan government forces, but then why is a banner flown above the crowd “Protect Canada Stop Tamil Tigers’ considered ‘incitement’?

While most reports are quick to point out the UN has called the current war a ‘bloodbath’ and while I won’t for a minute suggest this civil war (or any war) isn’t one of the ugliest a human can devise or imagine; what surprises me is why I do not hear the Tamil community demanding the Tamil Tigers lay down their arms and surrender – if for no other reason than to spare non-combatant lies.

If anything, what I do see is the flag of the Tamil Tigers, and the face of Tamil Tiger leader prominently displayed. I read accounts from the organizers of the Tamil protests that they want the Canadian government to pressure the Sri Lankan government into accepting a ceasefire with a terrorist organization.

At this point, I am again going to quote the War Nerd (and before anyone groans, he was a big Tamil Tiger fan – so there)

We also don't get nice, crisp starts and endings to wars any more. That seems to bother a lot of people, because a lot of readers wrote me asking why the peace treaty in Sri Lanka between the Government and the Tamil Tigers broke down. That's like asking why a Yugo breaks down. It breaks down because that's what Yugos DO.

Like I said in my earlier column on the LTTE, these treaties between governments and guerrilla armies are just a time-out, not the end of the game. Usually, neither side expects them to last, or even wants them to. In fact, the only suckers gullible enough to think they're really solving the problem are the do-gooder Jimmy Carters and Scandinavian diplomats who broker the treaties.

In Sri Lanka, it was the Norwegians who dragged the Tamil guerrillas and Sinhalese government to the table and got them to sign on the olive-branch line. I guess that's what Norwegians do now that going a-Viking ain't an option: sail the seven seas ruthlessly imposing peace treaties with a half-life shorter than some subatomic particles. I bet the Sri Lankans went screaming, fleeing for the hills, when they sighted the dreaded Norwegian banner flying from the mast of some bio-diesel powered Green Peace-frigate carrying Norwegian mediators into the harbor. "Help! Foreign invaders trying to impose peace!"

Eventually, though, feuding tribes like the Tamil and Sinhalese figure out they've got nothing to fear from signing the pieces of paper these blond busybodies shove in front of them, because the EU's guilt-ridden bureaucrats will shovel money at you if you go through the peace-making motions for the press.

Before the ink is dry on the treaty you've got Airbuses full of rice and penicillin darkening the skies. All for free, or rather for profit, because the locals never see any of it. It goes straight into the carefully-guarded warehouses of the guerrillas' wholesale operations. Every guerrilla movement that lasts past its first manifesto has some very cool heads running things behind the scenes, and the most carefully run, orderly places in the country, sometimes the ONLY spic'n'span interiors in town, are the secret storage depots where the Movement keeps all its donated food, meds and weapons.

There's another reason these treaties don't last: hate momentum. That's what I call it anyway. See, people have the wrong idea; they think "violence" starts when the insurgents set off their first bomb. It doesn't work that way. That's just when the violence first makes the press. There was ALWAYS violence in these places, lots of violence. But as long as the government is strong enough to dish it out, nobody notices. When the people getting zapped non-stop suddenly start zapping back, suddenly it's a "man bites dog" story, a big turnaround, and every TV channel in the world is on the story.

So my question becomes - what would make this ceasefire from all the other ceasefires the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers have already entered into? Frankly, I can see no evidence or any proof that a ceasefire will accomplish anything other than allowing the Tamil Tigers to survive as an organization with sufficient breathing room to recoup their losses until the fight moves to the next round and it begins all over again.

While I won’t suggest the Sri Lankan government is blameless or absolve it of any sins; the Tamil Tigers are a horrendous terrorist militant group which does grave injustice to all concerned. The sooner the Tamil Tiger movement dies, the sooner Sri Lankans from all communities can heal themselves and pursuit legal civil remedies for all injustice for all Sri Lankans - regardless of ethnicity.

To the anonymous putzs and the not so putzie in the virtual world

2009-05-14T08:12:00.001-04:00

In my first two weeks of blogging, I do not believe I had even 10 visitors to my blog but I did receive the first death threat via email. Alas, it was not the only death threat but merely the first of many. I have been blamed for everything from the sexual abuse of animals to the rise of anti-Semitism and cited as the primary cause of climate change. I have been defamed and maliciously so at times in the comments. I have harassed and pilloried by other bloggers but it’s the true gauntlet of personal email which have astounded and stupefied me - ranging from promises of undying love and affection, proposals of marriage and sexual liaisons right up to death threats, threats of bodily harm to threats of sexual mutilation. There have been witticisms and many a wry observations which have caused me to spit out a few mouthfuls of early morning coffee. I took it all in stride and put it down to the hazards of the internet blogging.

I keep all the emails and duly and log and tag all the IP addresses. I have worked in criminal law and lived in the urban core long enough to know that one never knows when either the benign or malicious will make good on their proposals or threats but here is what I will not tolerate – some two-bit putz commenting anonymously and embedding a picture of another woman and claiming its me. I take my own bounce and no one has to take the fall for anything I have written, said or believed and that is just how I roll.

So here I am folks, not the greatest picture, but it’s me, and I duly claim every line on my face and extra pound on my 46 year old middle aged frame - right down to the gray hairs on my head. Take your best shot because I guarantee you won’t every get another chance to take another.

Public Service Civil War Primer for Torontonians

2009-05-12T12:55:00.002-04:00

Rightly or wrongly, I know very little about the Sri Lankan civil war. Call it a case of too many wars and not enough lives to study them all. Besides, nothing really ever caught my eye as a particularly extraordinary about the civil war in Sri Lanka to make it stand out from literally hundreds of other civil wars waged in the last 10 to 4,000 years. Anyway, I figure there are more than a few Torontonians who feel much the same today. And so in the spirit of public service announcements - I am going to quote from the War Nerd (aka as the Che of Fresno) and then direct you to read the whole column on LTTE at The Exiled.
One thing you have to give the doomed Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka credit for: their supporters sitting in comfortable first-world cities have no shame when it comes to begging for help. Militarily the Sri Lankan Tamils are o-vuh, but when it comes to demanding favors from people who have every reason to hate their guts, these guys are world-class. For some hilarious examples of propaganda from a doomed army, check out the LTTE’s glossy but totally insane website, Tamilnet.

(…)These guys have no shame at all. They’d probably be willing to go on Flava Flav’s “Workfare for Overage Street Ho’s” show, they’re so shameless. They even, believe it or not, called for the US to save them with “gunboat diplomacy.” I kid you not. After decades of playing the bold revolutionaries, they’re actually screeching for American destroyers to rescue them. Ah, it’s a fun world as long as you remember we’re all garbage at heart.

Now that the Tamils’ great Sri Lankan kingdom has been whittled down to about ten acres of blasted scrub, they’re so desperate they’re even tying up traffic in Toronto by way of attracting attention to their sad little plight that they totally brought on themselves. The Canadians are giving it their typical mealymouthed cowardly PC response, “We understand your frustration,” while these losers tie up the biggest freeway in Toronto.

But my favorite little desperate gesture from the Tamils is the way they’ve reached out to Sonia Gandhi, the big Indian politician, to ask for help. Which is funny because Sonia happens to be the widow of Rajiv Gandhi, who was killed by a suicide bomber in 1991. And who sent the bomber? Nobody but the LTTE, the Sri Lankan Tamils’ great liberation army. Yup, they didn’t like Rajiv’s policy on Sri Lanka so they sent him the LTTE version of a strip-o-gram: a zombie girl who shimmied right up to Rajiv at a rally and pulled her own string. It stripped her all right; it stripped the flesh off her and Rajiv and anybody else within the blast radius. Scorched-earth erotic dancing. The ultimate Bollywood closing number.

And now that the LTTE is cornered like a weasel with its foot in a trap, they actually have the gall to ask for her help. This is why I could never be in politics: you have to have the ability to forgive people. I’ve never forgiven anyone in my life. I don’t even get the concept. If something was bad, something offended you, then it stays that way. It doesn’t turn nice because a little time has passed. I never did get that idea. But Sonia just sat up on a dais in Chennai and listened to a bunch of old LTTE supporters read poems about the glorious Tamil martyrs—you know, like the girl who erased Sonia’s hubby—and politely remind them that India can’t interfere in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation, bla bla bla.

I guess that would’ve been sweet, in a quiet way, but me, I’d want to offer the Sri Lankan army the full support of every fighter plane the Indian AF can send down there. “Oh, I’ll help your friends in the LTTE, all right: I’ll help them all be reincarnated as tapeworms after we send the Indian Air Force down there to wipe out your last-ditch bunkers! Oh yeah, my little Tamil buddies, we’re gonna put on a little air show for ya, we’ll call it the Rajiv Gandhi memorial air munitions display because after all my hubby was a pilot back when he was alive before you turned him into blackened meat, remember little buddies?

Go read. So young, so cynical and so very unforgiving - and he’s just warming up.

Iraqis propose filing lawsuit against the ‘State which cannot be Named’

2009-05-12T12:55:00.001-04:00

The correct spelling of a defendant/respondent’s name is one of those annoying little things which can cause a lawsuit to be delayed unnecessarily or even thrown out of court. It is one of those little nagging traditions of common law which law clerks wrestle with on a daily basis. I remember once having to file five different affidavits for a criminal records search for a single individual as the police had spelled the witness’ five different ways in the police disclosure.

So I am thinking the Israelis won’t have much problem dodging this proposed lawsuit.Arutz Sheva.

IsraelNN.com) Iraqi parliamentarians are weighing a lawsuit against Israel in which they would demand compensation for Israel's 1981 strike on the Osiraq nuclear reactor. Israel demolished the reactor to prevent the terror-supporting state from attaining nuclear weapons.

Iraqi MP Mohammed Naji Mahmoud is leading the push to sue. Iraq deserves “billions of dollars” in damages, Mahmoud has said. The MPs hope to pass a bill that would require the Iraqi government to sue Israel for damages. However, the government must do so without recognizing the State of Israel as a legitimate entity, the MPs say. The suit, if it is filed, will use the United Nations condemnation of the Israeli strike as proof that Israel unfairly caused Iraq financial losses.

I can’t help it. I am actually looking forward to see how the Iraqis will solve this problem. I just cannot see how the ‘Zionist Entity’ will be allowed to stand or how about the ‘State which cannot be named’ as a defendant/respondent?

Pope Walk

2009-05-12T08:26:00.000-04:00

I figured by now most people would have heard how the Pope took a walk during an inter-religious meeting in Jerusalem yesterday but then I caught CTV’s coverage of the Pope’s tour of Israel last night and not a word was mentioned. I guess the Pope cutting short a visit due to an anti-Semitic diatribe isn’t considered newsworthy. I am not a papal watcher so for all I know it may happen all the time. Anyway, for the record, here is the Jerusalem Post account:

A leading Palestinian cleric commandeered an evening devoted to interfaith dialogue with Pope Benedict XVI on Monday to rant against Israel for "killing Gaza's children," "bulldozing Palestinian homes" and "destroying mosques."

In an impromptu speech, delivered in Arabic at the Notre Dame Pontifical Institute in Jerusalem, Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, chief Islamic judge in the Palestinian Authority, launched a 10-minute tirade against the State of Israel for confiscating Palestinians' land and carrying out war crimes against the residents of Gaza. He also called for the immediate return of all Palestinian refugees, and called on Christians and Muslims to unite against Israel. Tamimi invoked the name of Saladin, the Muslim sultan who recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187. Tamimi said that unlike Israel, Saladin upheld the religious freedoms of all faiths.

Following the diatribe and before the meeting was officially over, the pope exited the premises. However, he shook Tamimi's hand before walking out. The pope, speaking before Tamimi, discussed the importance of religion and truth for the advancement of humanity's mutual understanding.

He was visibly uncomfortable with the tone of Tamimi's discourse. Even those who did not understand his Arabic quickly understood that the Muslim cleric was giving a militant speech. Several attempts were made by Latin Patriarch in the Holy Land Fouad Twal, a Palestinian, to politely stop Tamimi. But Tamimi would not be deterred from reading his written speech, apparently prepared in advance without the knowledge of the organizers.

When Tamimi finished, applause could be heard from a few dozen in an audience of a few hundred. Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, responded to Tamimi's tirade by e-mail. "The intervention of Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi was not previewed by the organizers of the interreligious meeting that took place at Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem.

The irony was the meeting was held as an ‘inter-faith’ dialogue and one of the first opportunities for the Pope to meet with the religious leaders. I am not a fan of the current Pope but good on him for walking out. Although did he really have to shake the Sheikh’s hand on the way out?

Red Shoe Diary

2009-05-12T06:25:00.000-04:00

I have always loved red accessories. Don’t ask why, just accept it. Every spring I seem to run across a pair of red shoes which call my name and I just have to have them. This year it was a pair of red patent leather Italian slingback sandals on super sale. I have put off wearing them because I just know breaking them in is going to hurt. I might have danced on pointe for years but I do just about anything else to avoid hurting my feet which is why I do not own a pair of high heels. I look at a pair of Jimmy Choos and my feet actually break out in a sweat and my toes curl up in fetal position instinctively.

Yesterday, I finally felt brave enough to break out the shoes and wear them to work. I managed the entire day without a single pain or ache. Happy Feet. Absolutely amazing. G-d bless the Italians. What they can craft in a pair of shoes is beyond precedent. For this alone, Italian cobblers should merit a place in the world to come.

Live long and prosper

2009-05-11T19:04:00.001-04:00

After meals, dishes, and 10 loads of laundry the Last Amazon and her brother Isaiah Sender decided to take me to the movies for Mother’s Day. No slacker Mommas in my house. The movie choice was completely theirs. I suppose because they grew-up hearing stories of me sneaking into my grandmother’s bedroom to watch the original Star Trek in the dark, it was only appropriate to take me to the latest Star Trek franchise.

Here’s the thing. I loved Star Trek in the late sixties and I have loathed every single new franchise since. The original was daring for its time and the characters compelling. The plots were interesting and the series didn’t shy away from philosophical dilemmas in encountering new situations and life forms. I had my interest in Milton piqued during the Wrath of Khan episode and I remember deciding, one day when I grew up, I would read Paradise Lost - that is, once I learned to read in English. And oddly enough, in my late teens, I saw a copy of Milton’s Paradise Lost and read it for no other reason than remembering the Wrath of Khan episode. The original series was not only cheesy but exceedingly corny which is why the old series is relatively unwatchable for those who grew-up watching it.

There are not enough words in the English language to describe how much I loathed Star Trek: the Next Generation. All that angst and touchy-feelieness, with standard pop psychology measured out in large dosages in every episode. I am not going to even get started on the deliberate neutering of all Federation males but Worf and the Ferangi. Talk about a progressive wet dream, besides, there is not enough imagination in the world to make it even remotely plausibly that in the future - an aging French metrosexual will captain and lead a space ship to boldly go where no man has gone before. Replacing Dr. Spock’s with a machine was a damn stupid idea and belied what made Spock’s character interesting in the first place - which was watching the interplay between his hidden human inner self and his outer coldly rational Vulcan self.

So how did I like this one? Well, it has been years since I managed to stay awake watching a movie from beginning to end in dark movie theatre. This is why I generally wait for movies to come out on DVD. So it has ‘stay awake’ appeal which is really quite a feat. The characters possess all the charm, warmth and flaws of the old Star Trek. Although, I do have to admit that as the plot unfolded, I did have to have a little talk from time to time with my inner child and remind her; this was the Star Trek of a new generation. And if they want to play havoc with the time-line continuum and all of what we know of the old that came before – it is their prerogative as we had our day. Now is the time for new generation to go boldly and discover what this alternative universe has to offer and say. And actually, I am just grateful the tribe still wants me to make the journey with them. Oh, and the oldest son, he stayed home and ordered dinner.

No rooms in the Inn…for a Jew

2009-05-11T07:57:00.001-04:00

The more things change, the more things stay the same. Ha’aretz:

A hotel in the Austrian region of Tyrol that said it does not accept Jewish guests has caused shock in the local media and tourism industry, the daily Tiroler Tageszeitung reported Sunday.

A Vienna family of seven had had tried to make a reservation at the Haus Sonnenhof apartment hotel in the village of Serfaus, but the owner replied by e-mail that although the room was free, she did not want to take in Jewish guests because of "bad experiences" in the past.

The region around Serfaus has become popular among orthodox Jewish tourists in recent years, and several hotels in Tyrol have begun offering kosher food.

At least once a week I run into someone who suggests Canadians should adopt more European ways or model for this or that way of doing whatever which always astounds me. I mean, if Europe was really that answer why did our ancestors leave in the millions?

Speaking of Europeans, the Pope made a rather interesting pronouncement from Jordan over the weekend. Apparently, Jews and Christians share an inseparable bond which is rather news to me and probably for all those Jews who accepted death rather than conversion at the hands of Christians. Ha’aretz:

"The ancient tradition of pilgrimage to the holy places also reminds us of the inseparable bond between the church and the Jewish people," said Benedict. "From the beginning, the church in these lands has commemorated in her liturgy the great figures of the patriarchs and prophets, as a sign of her profound appreciation of the unity of the two testaments."

I have a Chumash, Tanach, and book after book of commentaries and there is somewhere in the house of a Christian bible but in none of my Jewish religious books can I reconcile the ‘Christian’ testament with anything found within those Jewish religious books. Most days, when I run across a blog posting referencing something in the Christianize ‘Chumash’ listing its English name, chapter and line number, I have come to learn its going to be a hunt tracking down the alleged corresponding reference.

Battering down the hatches

2009-05-08T19:13:00.000-04:00

All week I wondered what song I would batter down the hatches of the blog with and as I opened up my newsreader this morning, I still hadn’t a clue, but a story out of Germany sealed the deal for this week’s song. Really, it couldn’t be anything other than the Partisan by Leonard Cohen.

Lyrical highlight:

Oh, the wind, the wind is blowing,
through the graves the wind is blowing,
freedom soon will come;
then we'll come from the shadows.

NannyGreed

2009-05-08T18:48:00.001-04:00

Nannygate is the perfect Liberal storm and contrary to Dhalla’s lawyer’s insinuations this isn’t a political plot to discredit a Liberal MP. Quite frankly, Canadian political conservatives just aren’t known for doing anything better than an awkward political fumble or two. Just think Puffin-Dion.

What fascinates me is how quiet all the left-leaning liberal bleeding-hearts have gone. Three immigrant nanny/caregivers all claiming abuse at the hands of the family of an elected member of parliament and not a word is blogged on their behalf by all the usual suspects. I suspect commenter “you’dbesurprised” at the Toronto Star summed up the Liberal position best:

I am normally a happy Liberal but I'm distressed that the Star reported on this story in the first place.

I bet you are. And Bob Rae too. It is a modern Canadian cautionary tale of greed – as in greed - either of the nannies or greed of the Dhalla family for going cheap and not hiring Canadian in the first place.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

2009-05-08T07:56:00.000-04:00

My grandfather use to use this expression all the time – what is bred in the bone comes out in the flesh. It is one of those saying which comes back to me constantly as I move about my very ordinary life, and when I think of it, I hear the sound of his voice very clearly saying it in my mind. I once asked him what was bred in my bone and I remember his smile as he answered rather cryptically that one day we would see. Not much of an answer and I suspect he knew but he also understood it was a journey I would have to live out for myself. Such is the wisdom of our grandparents.

A have a copy of Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror. It’s a history book detailing life in 14th century Europe. I have owned this book longer than any other and it’s dog-eared and worn. This book has seen 30 years of traveling and half the cover has fallen off but I find I refer to it over and over again. Reading this book wasn’t just an eye-opener on life on the 14th century but my first experience with the idea the more things change; the more they stay the same.

One of the more striking (well in my mind anyways) stories from the book I encountered was reading the response of the good volk of the Rhineland when faced with the Black Death. They perceived it as G-d’s judgment and punishment for allowing the Jews to live unmolested among them. So all across the Rhineland the Jews were rounded up and forced in their synagogues, the windows and doors were nailed shut and the buildings set a fire. Six centuries later and the good volk created the death camps and the ‘showers’ for the Jews. Why this brief walk through memory lane? The Jerusalem Post carries this rather unsurprising report from Germany:

A legal opinion submitted by law professor Jürgen Vahle to the Interior Ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia state in late April upholds the propriety of a police ban on and seizure of two Israeli flags during a violent anti-Israeli demonstration in January. The report, a copy of which was obtained by The Jerusalem Post, asserts that "the entry by force in two apartments" and "the securing of the flags was lawful."

During a protest against Israel's Operation Cast Lead organized by the radical Islamic group Milli Görüs that attracted 10,000 protesters in Duisburg, two police officers stormed the apartment of a 25-year-old student and his 26-year-old girlfriend and seized Israeli flags hanging on the balcony and inside a window. According to Vahle's report, the protesters threw "chunks of ice, pocket knives and cigarette lighters" at the Israeli flags.

North Rhine-Westphalia's domestic intelligence agency (Protection of the Constitution) cited in its 2008 report the anti-Semitic and militant Islamic group Milli Görüs, the organizer of the anti-Israeli protest, as a threat to the democratic structure of the federal republic.

The student, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he fears for his safety, told the Post that two weeks after the removal of the flags "a couple of young folks" hollered in front of his apartment, "Damn Jew, come outside."

He displayed the Israeli flags in January to "show solidarity with a republic [Israel] in the Middle East that is surrounded by dictators but is viewed as a pariah state. I was in Israel and find the land super." Asked about Vahle's report, the student said, "False questions were poised." Given the background of the radical Islamic group Milli Görüs, he asked, "why was a police unit of 280 officers present at a demonstration where 10,000 protesters" were present?

Vahle's report drew mixed reactions from police union officials. Frank Richter, chairman of the police union (Gdp) in North Rhine-Westphalia, told the Post that the "special relationship between Israel and Germany is good" but the entry into the apartment was "legal according to the police statute." If the police unit had not removed the flags, "it could have come to a big escalation" and "jeopardized life and limb" of those present, Richter said.

“For mankind is ever the same and nothing is lost out of nature, though everything is altered” – John Dryden, A Distant Mirror.

Enough said.

Goodbye Rhuby Thursday

2009-05-07T17:15:00.002-04:00

Now a third housekeeper/caregiver has come forward with allegations of abuse at the Dhalla family home. The Toronto Star:

A third foreign worker has complained of being treated as a low-paid servant by the Dhalla family. The 32-year-old woman says MP Ruby Dhalla promised she would help the Filipino national stay in Canada if she passed a tryout at the Mississauga home. The test turned out to be brutal working conditions, and long hours, and money paid under the table. Nine days later, the woman quit.

The woman was in Canada working on a temporary work permit at an Ontario resort. When that job ended, a placement agency sent her to work at the Dhalla home in Mississauga.

Unlike the other two workers, who were nannies, this woman was hired as a housekeeper. In an interview with the Star, the woman said Dhalla’s mother, Tavinder, worked her so hard she had no choice but to quit. She had to wash all the floors while on hands and knees daily. She also had to shampoo the rugs each day at the four-bedroom home.

She said Rhuby Dhalla promised she would sponsor her through the Live In Caregiver Program if she stayed. She was eventually paid $370 cash for working 12 hours a day for 9 days.

Liberal MP Rhuby Dhalla has bravely demanded an investigation from the Parliamentary Ethics Committee into the tales of nanny/caregiver abuse alleged by former employees in the Dhalla home to clear her name, which is all well and good, except the nannies/care-givers are alleging criminal and labour violations. The parliament ethics committee can only investigate and clear her of any ‘ethnic violations’ and not labor violations or criminal behaviour.

Regardless, of which family member takes the fall for the violations, $370 for 9-12 hour days works out to less than a $3.43 an hour and is the merest breathe away from slave wages and is not close to the $250 a week offered to the other ‘caregivers/nannies’.

Furthermore, according to the transcripted conversations/emails between the Toronto Star reporter and Liberal MP Rhudy Dhalla, the caregivers were for her mother, a woman who is neither elderly or infirm, and in fact, according to the Right Honourable Dhalla, her mother even cooked for her ‘caregivers’ all of which would rule against sponsoring anyone for the nanny/caregiver program. Even promising to sponsor said potential employee was an abuse of a federal government program process and Dhalla family should have known better.

Who controls the nukes?

2009-05-07T16:42:00.000-04:00

The Defense News carries this report of India war gaming on the Punjabi border with Pakistan using its elite Kharga Corps.

NEW DELHI - Even as Pakistan's Army battles Taliban fighters near the capital Islamabad, India's elite land forces, capable of hitting deep inside enemy territory, have begun exercises in Punjab along the Pakistani border. The Ambala-based Kharga Corps, a rapid-action force of 15,000, is equipped to operate behind enemy lines and to carry out a proactive strategic role.

The exercise is being conducted as a two-sided exercise to practice the elite Kharga Corps in their operational tasks," the Defence Ministry said in a May 4 statement. "The Army aims to validate its doctrine of proactive strategy through the exercises."
A senior Defence Ministry official said the weeklong exercise began May 3 at Barnala along the Indo-Pakistan border.

"A large number of tanks, infantry combat vehicles, artillery guns and specialist vehicles continued these maneuvers by day and night under near warlike conditions," according to the ministry's statement. "A parachute drop by airborne troops and other heliborne operations was also undertaken to supplement the offensive by the mechanized forces."

Indian defense forces have been preparing for operations behind enemy lines and incorporated a new military doctrine to this effect in 2004. The Army has 5,000 elite soldiers, trained at unknown locations by Israeli troops, who can swiftly enter enemy territory and even operate behind enemy lines, Indian Army sources said.

According to Debkafile, the Kharga Corps has not been alone but war gaming with elite Israeli officers. This may or may not be true. Certainly, the relationship between India and Israel has only grown closer in recent years, and given the current threats/realities from Islamic militants groups which both countries have had to grapple with, it makes sense for them to ‘share’ knowledge and expertise.

I would loved to been a fly on the wall during the planning scenarios because I would suspect the Indians have been fine tuning a plan to take control of Pakistan’s nukes in the event the civilian Pakistani government collapses outright or spirals into civil war.

Time will tell, but we should remember neither India or Israel can afford to have an Islamic insurgency simpatico to either Iran or Al Qaeda in possession of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. And for the Indians, how often does this kind of opportunity come to potentially disarm and rendered your enemy relatively nukeless? Frankly, I would only be surprised, if the Indians were not war gaming for an eventual incursion into Pakistan.

Wrap a scarf around her head, add a pair of gold earrings and she’s good to go for a career change

2009-05-07T09:19:00.002-04:00

Elizabeth May channels the election fairies while P-Iggy dodges the current fall-out from Nannygate:

Elizabeth May made the comments in Parksville Thursday while promoting her new book, Losing Confidence, Power Politics and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy. “Michael Ignatieff is doing better in the polls and there are some hawks in the Liberal party who want to go,” May said. “We could be in an election as early as June.” May said there’s a good chance the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP would throw their weight behind the Liberals, should they decide to pull the plug on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minority government.

The more I see and read of Elizabeth May, Canadian Green Party Leader, the more I think she possess real career potential as one of those dial-a-psychics advertised in the back pages of the tabloids. All she needs to do is wrap a scarf around her head, a pair of gold loop earrings and she good to good. And she’s already got the mou-mou dress and the gab down.

Blowing Smoke

2009-05-07T07:52:00.001-04:00

The Jerusalem Post is reporting that the Palestinian Authority will be forming a new ‘unity’ government - less Hamas.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas plans to ask his prime minister within the coming week to form a new government without Hamas, a senior aide said Thursday. Months of power-sharing talks between Fatah and Hamas have gone nowhere. "If they continue like this, it could last for years," aide Yasser Abed Rabbo said.

Formation of a new government enjoys "external support," he added, referring to Egypt, which has mediated the floundering power-sharing talks. There was no immediate comment from Egyptian officials. Abed Rabbo said the next round of Egyptian-brokered contacts would take place on May 16 as planned, but Hamas shared his pessimism regarding their outcome. "There are no signals on the horizon of a power-sharing deal with Fatah," said Mahmoud Ramahi, a Hamas leader.

Fatah insists that Hamas yield to international demands to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, "which the movement will not accept under any condition," Ramahi said. But he cautioned that if Abbas forms a new government "that would undermine" the unity talks, he added.

Abbas ordered the formation of the current government in the West Bank after Hamas overran Gaza nearly two years ago, routing Fatah security forces and in effect creating dueling Palestinian governments. He claims authority over Gaza, too, but in practice has no influence there. The new government PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad will be asked to form will include old ministers and new, Abed Rabbo said.

Abbas’ mandate to govern expired in January and owing to a bit of high-flaunting legalistic shenanigans reminiscent of Arafat, he was able to extend his mandate until January of next year. And the new/old prime minister of the PA already resigned from his post this year. Go figure.

More importantly, despite the lectures from all and various US officials to Israel there can be no peace agreements, accords or even the creation of a Palestinian state without a single unified group representing the Palestinians. You can attempt to bully and create a Palestinian state in the West Bank but not only does Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip it is a force to be reckoned within the West Bank as well. Did I mention the extensive patronage Hamas just happens to enjoys courtesy of through the Hezbollah-Iran Axis?

You can try to go it ‘alone’ without Hamas but it will all come to naught while Hamas consolidates and builds up its arsenal in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in order to continue to destroy the Zionist entity next door. You can train and arm the Palestinian Authority to arrest and prosecute Hamas members within the West Bank, but in the end, all that will be established is just another tinpot repressive government in the Arab world. And good luck with that. By the way, did I mention rocket fire was launched against Israel courtesy of the Gaza Strip?

One more thing to ponder. Is there one rational reason why Israel should offer up as a lamb to the slaughter its security as the coinage to pay for US influence within the Arab and Muslim world?

Status Quo Update - everything remains the same

2009-05-06T12:55:00.000-04:00

And just in case you thought all things were quiet from the Gaza Strip. Ynet News:

Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing claimed responsibility for the mortar shells fired at Israel Wednesday morning. The shells exploded near the border fence in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council

No reason for the mortar shells were given so I expect it’s the old standby – because the Jews are over there. And remember the UN just released a report highly critical of Israel’s conduct of Operation Cast Lead based mostly on unsubstantiated claims and allegations from Gazans. The UN report was mostly silent on Hamas’ conduct during Operation Cast Lead and deftly avoided all the evidence which would cast Hamas in a less than a stellar light. No doubt the UN will conveniently ignore this barrage just like all the other barrages…

when the river runs dry sometimes you just have to learn to live with dirty laundry

2009-05-06T10:31:00.000-04:00

The Jerusalem Post is reporting that the Israeli government is set to revoke the citizenship of 4 Israeli-Arabs. I have to say, in this situation, I am not entirely in agreement. While I recognize none of the men have lived in Israel in the last 30 years and have actually worked to undermine the Israeli state as well as have alleged to have participated in terrorist acts, I am still ‘old school’ when it comes to citizenship and believe citizenship should be absolute unless fraud was proven in the case of nationalization or another citizenship was taken.

Interior Minister Eli Yishai intends to seek a court order revoking the citizenship of four Israeli Arabs who have lived in Arab countries since the 1970s and are alleged to have been involved in terrorist acts here or abroad, the Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday.

Bader Agbariyeh, an Umm el-Fahm lawyer representing the four men, recently applied to the ministry for Israeli passports on their behalf, which would enable them to reenter the country. All lived at one time in northern Israel but left at different times in the 1970s. They have since lived in various Arab countries, including those classified as enemy states, including Lebanon and Tunisia.

In response, Yishai announced that the four would be arrested if they arrived at the border. The ministry refused to divulge their names and Agbariyeh could not be reached by telephone. In 2002, while serving as interior minister, Yishai withdrew the citizenship of two Israeli Arabs in connection with hostile acts against the state.

At the time, the Citizenship Law authorized the minister to strip the citizenship of anyone who "committed an act involving breach of faith toward the State of Israel." However, the law was later amended to require the interior minister to petition a district court to revoke a person's citizenship if that person committed a breach of faith toward Israel. The person would also have to hold citizenship from another country.

Now if it could be proved the any of the 4 individuals had taken citizenship of another country I would be willing to along with revoking their citizenship under the conditions outlined for terror acts committed against the Israeli state, but until then, no. And before anyone goes ballistic on me, think of the case of Yigal Amir. If a conviction for murdering a Prime Minister of Israel isn’t a case deserving of having one’s citizenship revoked – then what is?

At the end of the day

2009-05-06T08:02:00.000-04:00

Apparently, the Mid-East Quartet have come up with a variation to the Saudi Peace Plan which hints at a revision to the ‘right of return‘. Ha’aretz:

Arab states are revising elements of a 2002 peace plan to encourage Israel to agree to the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state, the London-based paper Al-Quds al-Arabi reported Wednesday.

The countries are making the amendments at United States President Barack Obama's request, the paper said. Some of the changes deal with a controversial "right of return" for Palestinian refugees to Israel or a future state of Palestine. The notion of a return to Israel proper by Palestinian refugees and their descendents has met with considerable opposition in Israel from across the political spectrum.

According to the pan-Arab paper, the amendments are also to the framing of a timetable for the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab world, which the plan offers in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from territory conquered in the 1967 Six Day War.

The obvious question becomes will Israel accept the plan without the alleged ‘right of return’ but in my mind the real question should be – has anyone asked the Palestinians if they are willing to give up all pretenses to the ‘right of return’ in exchange for a Palestinian state?

I am betting the answer is a hearty – FRACK NO! And at the end of the day, it’s the Palestinians who have to live in their state and not the Saudis, Jordanians, Egyptians or even the Americans. Although, I do harbour this suspicion that in the end, the revisions to the right of return, aren't nearly as dramatic as hyped.

Some of these things are not like the other

2009-05-05T20:27:00.001-04:00

The Globe and Mail reports 'West Jet is pinched by price war’ rather than what should be the ‘feel-good’ story of a successful business model which continues to succeed despite the hard economical times in the Canadian airline industry this year.

Contrast this with another demand for a bail/hand-out to Air Canada.