Soccer Dad

Slate's 10th

I really used to enjoy reading Slate. Why I stopped, I can't really say. I suppose that I fell it became more political and less engaging after Michael Kinsley left. I don't think that anyone did Today's Papers as well as the late Scott Shuger.

Still I think of Slate as being an influence. Slate was one of the original bloggers. True it was always professionals not amateurs; but Slate did one thing that no one else did: it linked to sources. If you didn't agree with something in Slate, why there could very well be a link to a differing opinion at the end. Or if you liked the article you could research the subject at hand in greater detail.

I suppose the most memorable article I remember from Slate is from its very beginning. Judge Alex Kozinski wrote of his family's history and how they escaped the Holocaust. But there was a detail that I didn't remember that I just saw

Those my family left behind in the small Jewish community of Dzurov were awakened on the night of Dec. 7, 1941, by Nazi troops led by an Ukrainian named Zemjanjuk.

Interesting especially in light of the classic Sanhedrin II that Judge Kozinski wrote for the New Republic.

I also like a couple of the Human Guinea Pigs entries by Emily Yoffe: Great Balls of Matzo and Guinea Get Your Gun.

Finally if we're recalling what made Slate great, it's impossible to ignore Scott Shuger. But I'd argue that his greatest contribution to journalism was not Today's Papers but Making Excuses for Ramallah. It did not appear in Slate though, but in OpinionJournal. Still after nearly 6 years, it is an important critique of media coverage of Israel.

Technorati tags: Slate, Media, Scott Shuger, Alex Kozinski.

Haveil Havalim #75 is UP!

AbbaGav has taken a break from hosting game shows and talk shows manages to meet both Roger Waters and Glenn Reynolds and still finds the time to host Haveil Havalim #75. Go check it out and have your horizons expanded!
UPDATE: Hey if you like it, why not show AbbaGav some love at JBlog Central and give him 5 stars?

#76 - July 2 - New graduate, returning traveler and incoming law student The Ignoble Experiment has volunteered. e-mail her at sicat222 at gmail dot com

#77 - July 9 - The creator the Kosher Cooking Carnival and blogress (and veteran of hosting Haveil Havalim many times) not to mention, wife, mother, grandmother, and teacher, Me-Ander. e-mail her at shilohmuse at yahoo dot com.

In addition to e-mail you may submit entries to Haveil Havalim using either Conservative Cat's handy dandy submission form or the submission form over at BlogCarnival. Or feel free to e-mail me at dhgerstman at hotmail dot com.

(Note the change in the operation of Conservative Cat's submission form. It takes you directly to Haveil Havalim.)

Remember, that while the hosts and hostesses of Haveil Havalim do a wonderful job of editing and searching for interesting posts, they can't see everything. If you want a better chance of being included in Haveil Havalim please submit one or two posts for inclusion. (And please don't submit everything or nearly everything you posted in a week. Winnowing out your best posts takes time.)

Listed at the Truth Laid Bear Ubercarnival.

Technorati Tags: Blog carnivals, haveil havalim, Israel, Judaism.

Most recent editions of Haveil Havalim at Blog Carnival
#22 Mystical Paths
#21 Rabbinical Authority Consortium of HACKers
#20 Shiloh Musings
#19 Devarim
#18 Soccer Dad
#17 Mystical Paths
#16 Critical Mastiff
#15 Soccer Dad
#14 Multiple Mentality
#13 IsraPundit
#12 DovBear
#11 Kesher Talk
#10 Biur Chametz
#9 Soccer Dad
#8 It's Almost Supernatural
#7 Bloghead
#6 Willow Tree.
#5 Crossing the Rubicon2
#4 Dov Bear
#3 Biur Chametz

Leaving the nest

The hardest balance a parent must strike are the simeltaneous desire to teach his/her child independence while still keeping the child close. In recent weeks - and in the near future - all my children have taken steps toward leaving the nest.

Our oldest just got certified by Microsoft for Excel. She took the certification test in lieu of a computer final. In a few days she's headed off to camp; but she's an expert with that by now. But when she comes back, she's planning on driving lessons.

The next just completed middle school and is preparing for Yeshiva next year. Which Yeshiva he would attend was his own decision. He also was a contributing photographer to his yearbook. And we just received word that he won an honor for academic achievement.
UPDATE: And I forgot that I spent two nights last week reviewing with him for his American history and English finals. He knew both subjects extremely well. (There were over 200 History questions that covered 230 years and he knew them quite well.) That academic achievement award is a direct result of his incredible teacher for both topics; Mr. Leach.

Our middle child just started Bar Mitzvah lessons. In a little more than a week he's scheduled to go to Israel for 3 weeks with my parents. (At which time, he will hopefully be getting his Tefillin.)

#4 just completed reading all 6 Harry Potter books. And he's only 7 1/2.

And our four year old just got her ears pierced. And if she's allowed she might well be in kindergarten next year.

Each of them progressing in his or her own way, getting ready for the day when, inevitably he or she will leave our nest.

Time marches on.

No wonder I have so many grey hairs in my beard.

ps Pictures courtesy of child #2. There was a nest in our dogwood tree. Yesterday the (apparently) two eggs hatched and one of the chicks fell to the ground.

The acceptable hate

A number of bloggers have commented on the International Committee of the Red Cross's (ICRC) decision to finally allow the Mogen David Adom admittance. Of course the MDA's admission is under conditions that renders it less equal than other member organizations: MDA's symbol is enclosed in a "Red Crystal," if members of the MDA are working in a country that doesn't approve of a Jewish Star then they may only wear the crystal.

The basic unfairness and obvious capitulation to antisemitism cannot be overstated. Still this is an accomplishment on some level, but this cannot be the final status.

However this is the ICRC's mission statement:

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence and to provide them with assistance.

By taking the irrational Arab/Muslim demand into account the ICRC arguably is violating its impartiality and neutrality.

Consider Article 38 of the original Geneva convention

Art. 38. As a compliment to Switzerland, the heraldic emblem of the red cross on a white ground, formed by reversing the Federal colours, is retained as the emblem and distinctive sign of the Medical Service of armed forces.

Nevertheless, in the case of countries which already use as emblem, in place of the red cross, the red crescent or the red lion and sun on a white ground, those emblems are also recognized by the terms of the present Convention.

Even though the MDA preceded the 1949 convention it was the one insignia that was not allowed to convert to a member organization. This compromise perpetuates that injustice.

Keep in mind that the symbol that offends the ICRC, does so because it offends the Arab/Muslim world. Just this week Ghana's John Pantsil - who plays on an Israeli soccer team - celebrated his nation's World Cup victory by producting an Israeli flag. Unfortunately, that simple act of appreciation had consequences as a number of bloggers noticed.

The cowardly reaction of the Ghana Football Association as recorded by the BBC was

Akufo-Addo met ambassadors from the Palestinian Authority, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Algeria and Morocco and apologised to them.

"The incident was the act of an individual, who was completely ignorant of its political and diplomatic implications, and clearly had no official support," he said on Thursday.

"The government of Ghana deeply regrets this act by one of our citizens.

"Ghana has not drifted from its even-handed diplomacy in the Arab-Israeli conflict and we hope that this incident will not affect our relations with our Arab brothers and sisters."

Yes let's be evenhanded, we mustn't offend Muslims by dignifying Israel's existence. Yes let's be neutral and impartial by abiding by the hateful prejudice the Muslim world displays towards the world's one Jewish state.

The acceptability of Arab/Islamic antisemitism in a world that claims to abhor mindless hatred is a disgrace. Neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post have condemned these outrages in editorials. Antisemitism disguised as hatred of Israel remains respectable even among the enlightened.

Technorati tags: Red Crystal, John Pantsil, Antisemitism.

Duncan withdraws

According to WBAL news, Montgomery County Executive, Doug Duncan will announce that he is dropping out of the race for governor of Maryland.

Multiple sources tell WBAL he will announce he is withdrawing from the race, and will say his decision is based on health concerns.

Rep. Albert Wynn, D-Md., who endorsed Duncan, said the candidate called him this morning to say he was dropping out. Wynn said Duncan told him he was making the decision because he had been diagnosed with clinical depression.

Since it's being put like that, we can assume that he was recently diagnosed and came to his decision quickly. I hope that he gets the treatment he needs so he can function normally. It must be an extremely difficult decision to give up on an ambition, but Duncan must feel he's doing the right thing especially since he seemed to be gaining on O'Malley.

(This decision would appear to be have been made very quickly and suddenly as the Washington Post's Maryland political blog, Maryland Moment noted a number of fund raisers Duncan had planned for this week.)

Those who will benefit most from his decision are Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley who will not have to compete against the increasingly competitive Duncan and the Baltimore Sun, which was going to endorse O'Malley and now won't have to waste its time trashing Duncan when it only need focus on Governor Ehrlich.

Those who lose out, will be Governor Ehrlich who now will likely face O'Malley with the Mayor at full strength, not tired out from a bruising primary fight and the Washington Post, which was going to endorse Duncan in the primary.

Once again I'd like to wish Mr. Duncan a speedy and full recovery.

UPDATE: Fellow MBA'er Monoblogue has taken a more serious look into the implications of the Duncan withdrawal - including speculating that Duncan's Lt. Gov. candidate Stuart Simms might be tempted by the open Attorney General seat. And thanks for the MBA :-) There's more in this Washington Post article.

Technorati tags: Maryland politics, Doug Duncan, Election 2006.

Graham vs. thatcher rethought

Last week Deborah Howell defended Karl Vick's A man of the people's needs and wants

That belief, far more than anything Ahmadinejad has said about nuclear power or the Holocaust, defines Iran's energetic president for the people who elected him almost a year ago, as well as the legions he appears to have won over since taking office in August. If his image in the West is that of a banty radical dangerously out of touch with reality -- "a psychopath of the worst kind," in the words of Israel's prime minister -- the prevailing impression in Iran is precisely the opposite.
...
But Ahmadinejad's government has delivered none of the widely predicted crackdowns on social behavior. Iranians remain free to drink, party and generally do as they please behind closed doors. In public, young couples can still canoodle lightly on the street, and young women stretch the definition of "Islamic dress" with form-fitting outerwear.
...
To many Iranians, the tough talk is simply that. Among a population with both the pride of the Persian empire and a long history of defensive wars, Ahmadinejad's defiance is regarded as welcome and routine. "These kinds of words have to be used," said Azar Mahdavi, 20, behind the counter of a children's boutique. "You have to show that you're a strong man."

by writing

One reader called the Iranian president "a monster" and wrote: "Ahmadinejad is publicly proclaiming his goals, and rallying support around the world for plans that make Hitler seem tame, and you can't see past the 'charisma' to his true evil intent to destroy Israel and promote global jihad?"

The Post has run dozens of stories about the rise of Ahmadinejad, and most have been filled with comments quite critical of the Iranian president, including a remark by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that he is "a psychopath of the worst kind."

It's important for readers to know why Iranians elected Ahmadinejad and how ordinary citizens view him. It reveals a lot about what the United States is up against in its diplomatic efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Perhaps there was a time to explain Ahmadinejad's appeal, but the day that the Vick article appeared in the Washington Post, Gateway Pundit was covering riots in Iran. These were "cartoon" riots, that strangely escaped the noticed of the Western media. But Gateway Pundit provided many details.

For Howell's explanation to be convincing there can't have been any other significant news from Iran at the time that the profile. But there was and it showed that Ahmadinejad was willing to repress - contradicting the second quoted paragraph above - and that his tough talk wasn't merely posturing - contradicting the third paragraph. Presenting a "kinder gentler" Ahmadinejad when it did the Washington Post was engaged in apologetics not journalism.

I bring this example up to get back to something I blogged about last week. Deciding what to and what not to publish is one of the most difficult jobs of the media. Clearly in the case of Iran right now the Washington Post has chosen to give a free pass to its extreme leader. International pressure that may have followed more sxtensive coverage of the protests could have forced the regime to scale back the use of force. But the Post (and other members of the MSM) instead chose to encourage the leaders of the regime.

But what about the question of covering terrorism? In a presentation some 20 years ago, the late publisher of the Washington Post defended the coverage of terrorism in these terms

I disagree. I am against any government-imposed restrictions on the free flow of information about terrorist acts. Instead, I am in favor of as full and complete coverage of terrorism by the media as is possible. Here are my reasons:

Terrorist acts are impossible to ignore. They are simply too big a story to pass unobserved. If the media did not report them, rumor would abound. And rumors can do much to enflame and worsen a crisis.

There is no compelling evidence that terrorist attacks would cease if the media stopped covering them. On the contrary, terrorism specialists I have consulted believe the terrorists would only increase the number, scope and intensity of their attacks if we tried to ignore them.

Surely if she had consulted other experts she would have gotten a different answer. Recently there was a study that concluded that, indeed, coverage of terror leads to more terror (and the study was reported on Graham's newspaper the Washington Post.)

But as is the tendency of those in her business, Graham presents the choice between freedom and government control. So it was necessary for her to show not only that she preferred freedom but that it really caused no harm either. Her paper's role in safeguarding freedom imposes no cost on society.

But thinking back on the history of the PLO, it's hard to come to the same conclusion. Surely media coverage made the PLO successful and helped transform a terrorist organization into a terrorist organization with territory. The PLO committed its terror and the media reported on the terror and the PLO's "legitimate" claims. With the latter providing cover for the former the media played a large role in legitimizing the PLO while failing to publicize the more repugnant aspects of the PLO. Had the media covered PLO terror in a negative light the PLO would not have been so successful. But the media must accept full blame for legitimizing an unreformed terror organization.

(The Washington Post carried an especially egregious such example. In 1982, during the Lebanon war, Israel correspondent Edward Cody wrote a tribute to one of the PLO commanders - a terrorist - who was killed by Israel.

UPDATE: From Soldier or Terrorist by Edward Cody, The Washington Post July 7, 1982

The Army communique was matter-of-fact: Israeli troops on patrol in southern Lebanon had discovered the hiding place of two "terrorists" in a house near Sidon and killed them both. There were no Israeli casualties.

One of the "terrorists," the communique added, was the Tyre region commander for Fatah, the leading Palestinian guerrilla group, and had participated in training and preparations for a number of operations against Israel including the coastal road assault of 1978 in which more than 30 Israelis were killed.

He was identified as Azmeh Seghaiyer, whom I had known since 1975 in the early days of the Lebanese civil war. In repeated contacts with Azmeh during the past seven years--in those Dodge City days and most recently in Tyre a few weeks before the Israeli invasion of Lebanon--I always thought of him as an honorable military officer in the closest thing the Palestinians had to an army.

Is it surprising the news coverage of terrorism leads to more terror?)

Katharine Graham was responding in part to statements made by Lady Thatcher. Lady Thatcher said at the time

Democratic nations must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend.

Though Mrs. Graham was trying to spin this as a wish for government control of the press, it was a plea for responsibility on the part of the media. It was a responsibility that the media did not display 20 years ago.

And if the events in Iran are any indication, they still have not learned it. Coddling terrorists and tyrants only encourages them. Attacking democracies unfairly only weakens them. The irony, of course, is that the free press that flourishes in the latter cannot exist in the former. But it seems that the media is lot more understanding of the tyrants and terrorists.

Technorati tags: Media Bias, Iran, PLO, Israel.

Garlasco did not change his mind

Despite a report in the Jerusalem Post that Human Rights Watch activist Marc Garlasco changed his mind, the Human Rights Watch website says otherwise. In a dispatch dated June 20, 2006 after meeting with Gen. Klifi Garlasco said “An investigation that refuses to look at contradictory evidence can hardly be considered credible ... The IDF’s partisan approach highlights the need for an independent, international investigation.”

So what happened?

In addition to the IDF investigation, Daled Amos - Hurray For Pallywood--At Gaza Beach - reported that a German newspaper raised a number of significant questions about the filming of the tragedy.

In the footage taped by an IDF drone during the attack, you can see five craters left by IDF artillery shells, but 250 meters away people could also be seen--but no one is seen running away or showing any signs of fear.

Irbad told the German newspaper that paramedics told him about what had happened and took him to the scene--but there are no paramedics on the scene until later in the footage, apparently indicating that Irbad was actually the first on the scene.

And if Irbad was the first one there, why were most bodies covered by sheets--who was there before to cover the bodies?

According to Irbad, that reason that Hadil Ghalia was not injured, is because she was swimming--but the footage he took shows here fully clothed and dry.

The newspaper notes that there is a shot of a man carrying a rifle next to the dead body of Hadil's father--but in earlier footage, the same man can be seen lying on the beach along with the injured.

Irbad's footage shows paramedics in green clothes and a dozen bearded men looking for evidence on the beach--but the question is whether those are Hamas affiliates and why they were preoccupied with collecting evidence instead of helping the injured.

Irbad said the reason he filmed Hadil istead of trying to calm her is that: "She asked me to film her. She wanted to be seen next to her father to show the world the crimes that Israel is committing."--but the newspaper asks, "Did the shocked 10-year-old girl, who had lost her father minutes earlier, give the cameraman direction instructions?"

He also linked to Deja Vu, who quoted from an e-mail sent by Dr. Michael Bayme

Some of you may have been following the tragic story of a Gazan family that was destroyed by some sort of bomb last friday. The world of course chose to blame Israel - without verifying any facts. The fact that Israel immediately accepted all the victims to its hospitals was seen as an admission of guilt, and not as a humanitarian gesture.
There is now incontrovertible proof that Israel did not cause the tragedy - shell fragments extracted from one bomb victim match the types of bombs made by Hamas - and not Israeli artillery shells. How do I know? I received the victim last Sunday (at 2:00 am), operated on her until 5am, and have re-operated every night since. Now she's out of danger, and will survive to rejoin her family.

AbbaGav, by the way is right.

Clearly Garlasco and Human Rights Watch want an independent inquiry. Did Garlasco say one thing in the presence of the Jerusalem Post's reporters to avoid further questioning and then say what was expected of him when he returned to headquarters? Or did the Jerusalem Post get it wrong?

The Washington Post, for its part, suggests that there's been no change in Garlasco's opinion

Also this month, an explosion on a beach in northern Gaza killed eight Palestinian civilians. Palestinian officials and a rights group have said an Israeli artillery shell may have caused the blast. Israel has denied involvement.

While there seems to be a bit more uncertainty "may have caused" is not definite, the "rights group" still seems to contradict Israel's version.

Technorati tags: Marc Garlasco, Media Bias.

The art of intaglio

If you read this blog last week, you know what a "plinth" is.
If you read this blog last week you also know what a "vexilloligist" is.
Do you know what "intaglio" is?
Intaglio is not an exotic dirty word, rather it is a "complex printing process" that is part of bank note engraving. The Washington Post tells us of one of its practitioners, Christopher Madden

Christopher D. Madden sat in his seventh-floor office at the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing with an engraving tool in his right hand and an antique magnifying eyepiece in his left. In front of him, at a station filled with natural and fluorescent light, lay a slab of highly polished steel.

As he described how he engraves the tiny lines into steel plates that ultimately become the pictures and vignettes on dollar bills, Madden sounded like a painter discussing stroking his brush on a canvas. His latest work was replicating an image of the Treasury Department and other elements that appear on the back of the new $10 bill.

"My job is to look at an image and faithfully re-create it by cutting lines, dots and dashes in the steel," Madden said. "You must remain very quiet and calm as you go in with your V-shaped tool. Think about a field being plowed. . . . You must stay within the bank note style that creates precise intersections."

I have a fair ability to draw, but what Madden is describing is drawing with very complex media. I'd have a hard enough time being precise with a pencil and paper. With a knife like tool on steel? Forget it.

Technorati tags: Intaglio, engraving, United States Mint.

The land of the brave - Military Monday 4

The land of the brave doesn't just open its borders to the tired, the poor the hungry, it also opens its borders to the ... brave. There is something especially poignant about someone who immigrates and then joins the armed forces of his/her new country.

Last week there was a citizenship ceremony in Virginia. More precisely it was aboard the U.S.S. George Washington where 150 service men and women took the oath of citizenship.

I did not know this

Even as Congress considers immigration legislation, the military has made it easier for legal immigrants in the armed services to become citizens. The number of service members becoming citizens increased tenfold in a four- year period, from 749 in 2001 to 7,600 in 2004.

It's by design. In July 2002 , President Bush signed the Expedited Naturalization Executive Order, easing the way for more foreign-born nationals on active duty to become U.S. citizens . Those serving on or after Sept. 11, 2001, are eligible for immediate citizenship; before the order, they were required to wait one year.

Immigration services has naturalized more than 20,000 service members since the order took effect. A total of 35,000 have filed.

(Despite this executive order there are sometimes glitches as in the case of Kendell Frederick.)

For these newly naturalized soldiers, their life as American citizens is beginning. Unfortunately, for Sgt. Rafael Peralta, his life as an American did not last long. He joined the Marines the day after getting his citizenship and served in Iraq. Here's Rich Lowry on this hero:

According to Kaemmerer, the Marines entered a house and kicked in the doors of two rooms that proved empty. But there was another closed door to an adjoining room. It was unlocked, and Peralta, in the lead, opened it. He was immediately hit with AK-47 fire in his face and upper torso by three insurgents. He fell out of the way into one of the cleared rooms to give his fellow Marines a clear shot at the enemy. During the firefight, a yellow fragmentation grenade flew out of the room, landing near Peralta and several fellow Marines. The uninjured Marines tried to scatter out of the way, two of them trying to escape the room, but were blocked by a locked door. At that point, barely alive, Peralta grabbed the grenade and cradled it to his body.

His body took most of the blast. One Marine was seriously injured, but the rest sustained only minor shrapnel wounds. Cpl. Brannon Dyer told a reporter from the Army Times, "He saved half my fire team."

Here is an online memorial to Sgt. Peralta. The Danz Family has a memorial with pictures of the hero.

I can't get over people who sacrifice themselves to save others. The idea that someone decides: "if I die many others will live but if I do nothing many more will die" requires a fortitude I cannot fathom. How would I act in such a circumstance - may I never be placed in that position? I can't know.

(Sgt. Peralta's selfless sacrifice reminds me of Haim Smadar's. Again this was someone who saw his job as protecting others who would likely die if he did not act.)

I was just helping one of my children prepare for a test on Julius Caesar, there's a quote from Caesar that seems a fitting tribute to the likes of Rafael Peralta or Haim Smadar:

"Cowards die many times before their deaths, The valiant never taste of death but once."

Last week I blogged about the recovery of injured veterans. Blogger Maspik Teruzim commented on the remarkable story of Spc. Peter Sprenger. Please read this remarkable story of a man who refused to take the easy way out. Thanks for the contribution.

If you have positive military stories of Americans or our allies in the war on terror please leave a comment or e-mail me at dhgerstman at hotmail dot com and I'll be happy to include it in a future edition of Military Monday.

Haveil Havalim #74 is UP!

No need to be blue, Havei Havalim #74 is now up at Blue Diary. Please take the time to go through the many wonderful posts she has compiled.

Two other recent carnivals bear mentioning. Centrerion has Mediocre Media #4 up that includes a link roundup and an interview with Yisrael Medad, otherwise known as My Right Word.

Yisrael's wife Batya of Shiloh Musings and Me-Ander created the Kosher Cooking Carnival. Edition #7 is up at Sadie's Luncheonette.

#75 - June 25 - Next week's host is AbbaGav. e-mail him at gavriel dot raanan at gmail dot com.

#76 - July 2 - New graduate and incoming law student The Ignoble Experiment has volunteered. e-mail her at sicat222 at gmail dot com

In addition to e-mail you may submit entries to Haveil Havalim using either Conservative Cat's handy dandy submission form or the submission form over at BlogCarnival. Or feel free to e-mail me at dhgerstman at hotmail dot com.

(Note the change in the operation of Conservative Cat's submission form. It takes you directly to Haveil Havalim.)

Remember, that while the hosts and hostesses of Haveil Havalim do a wonderful job of editing and searching for interesting posts, they can't see everything. If you want a better chance of being included in Haveil Havalim please submit one or two posts for inclusion. (And please don't submit everything or nearly everything you posted in a week. Winnowing out your best posts takes time.)

Listed at the Truth Laid Bear Ubercarnival.

Technorati Tags: Blog carnivals, haveil havalim, Israel, Judaism.

Most recent editions of Haveil Havalim at Blog Carnival
#22 Mystical Paths
#21 Rabbinical Authority Consortium of HACKers
#20 Shiloh Musings
#19 Devarim
#18 Soccer Dad
#17 Mystical Paths
#16 Critical Mastiff
#15 Soccer Dad
#14 Multiple Mentality
#13 IsraPundit
#12 DovBear
#11 Kesher Talk
#10 Biur Chametz
#9 Soccer Dad
#8 It's Almost Supernatural
#7 Bloghead
#6 Willow Tree.
#5 Crossing the Rubicon2
#4 Dov Bear
#3 Biur Chametz

I'll scratch your back if you blow up civilians

Yesterday Instapundit wrote about the symbiotic relationship between the media and terrorism. He nicely summarized his feelings

Terrorism is an information war disguised as a military operation. The press plays a symbiotic role, and isn't willing to address that.

.

Looking for something else I found a very telling presentation by the late Katharine Graham, publisher of the Washington Post that shows the reticence Instapundit observed

Terrorist acts are impossible to ignore. They are simply too big a story to pass unobserved. If the media did not report them, rumor would abound. And rumors can do much to enflame and worsen a crisis.

There is no compelling evidence that terrorist attacks would cease if the media stopped covering them. On the contrary, terrorism specialists I have consulted believe the terrorists would only increase the number, scope and intensity of their attacks if we tried to ignore them.

Our citizens have a right to know what the government is doing to resolve crises and curb terrorist attacks. Some of the proposed solutions raise disturbing questions about how and when the United States should use military force.

The public's right to know outweighs all else. And of course what the media does protects freedom - apparently by definition - even though Mrs. Graham acknowledges one mistake. And she even found some experts to support her premises.

Daled Amos has some harsh words for the media (especially the Israeli media)

The international media may perhaps be unaware of the consequences of their doting coverage of terrorists when the consequences are not constantly and blatantly laid at their front doorstep, but what can be said of the leftist media in Israel, when the consequences are seen--and felt--on a near daily basis? It's likely more a result of the overall leftist viewpoint of the media, than anything else. Ideology trumps profit: and the results are no better.

However I think the person who addressed this topic the best, was Lady Thatcher some 20 years ago (I believe in the aftermath of the hijacking of TWA flight 847 and the murder of Robert Dean Stethem)

Democratic nations must try to find ways to starve the terrorist and the hijacker of the oxygen of publicity on which they depend.

I know this goes against Mrs. Graham's experts who view terrorism as a call for help that only gets louder if ignored. I disagree, it is bad behavior that is encouraged when it is tolerated and/or understood.

More at Blackfive.

UPDATE: Secular Blasphemy wrestles with the dilemma and mentions a suggestion

Bruno S. Frey suggests not naming the groups and whoever claims responsibility. That may be a good compromise, even as us avid followers of the war on terror want to know even such details.

Technorati tags: Terrorism, News, Media.

The critically acclaimed for a plinth

A what? (h/t Dave Durian)
Just when you thought the art world couldn't become even more bizarre ...

A budding sculptor has expressed his bafflement after Royal Academy experts judged his sculpture to have less artistic merit than the plinth on which it was stood.

David Hensel's pleasure at having his One Day Closer To Paradise sculpture chosen turned to shock when he visited the exhibition of his work – and found the sculpture, a large laughing head, missing.

It appeared the slate plinth, a rectangular cube except for a small protuberance designed to prevent the head from rolling away, had caught the attention of the judges, who thought the plinth was a 'quirky little piece'.

I know the complaints about works of art like look like little more than spilled paint. We've been hearing them for at least 30 years. But this is absurd on a couple of levels.

1) The curators of the museum thought they had a complete display. Don't they know what a plinth is? How could they not have realized that the object had not yet arrived?
2) The same question applies to the judges. What is quirky about a display plinth? Have artistic values been so subverted that judges and critics can easily fool themselves into seeing art where there isn't any?

UPDATE: featured in this week's Carnival of the Vanities.

Technorati tags: Plinth, Art, Culture.

Fun stuff

If you're vexed by a vexilloligist then check out (belatedly) the Almanac of Miscellaneous's entry for Flag Day.

Check out the art at Not Quite Perfect. Most recently Second Sanctuary, but in the recent past also Carved Star, Space Roulette, Coinage, Sucked in or Crystal Cascade.

If your taste is more toward satire, then check out AbbaGav's Who would win?. And let it be a lesson to you to be careful what you write if AbbaGav will be reading you. You'll be surprised how he twists your words - into something hilarious.

Technorati tags: trivia, fractal art, satire.

Anti-zionism ?= antisemitism folowup revisited

Even Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s purportedly generous offer at Camp David in July 2000 would only have given the Palestinians a disarmed and dismembered set of “Bantustans” under de facto Israeli control.40 Europe’s crimes against the Jews provide a clear moral justification for Israel’s right to exist. But Israel’s survival is not in doubt—even if some Islamic extremists make outrageous and unrealistic references to “wiping it off the map”—and the tragic history of the Jewish people does not obligate the United States to help Israel no matter what it does today.

From the Israel Lobby, Walt and Mearsheimer.

By quoting Arafat's view of Barak's Camp David offer, Walt and Mearsheimer aren't simply saying that Israel didn't offer enough to make a deal possible. They are saying that failing to make an appropriate offer, makes Israel illegitimate.

The term "Bantustan" refers to an aspect of apartheid. Arafat used the term very deliberately, meaning to deny Israel's legitimacy. Walt and Mearsheimer's uncritical quoting of Arafat shows their acceptance of his stance. Their subsequent disclaimer is boilerplate.

And while others don't go as far consider a recent New York Times editorial West Bank Withdrawal

Whatever borders Israel fixes are not likely to get international recognition, particularly if those borders leave Palestinians cut in half — in the West Bank and Gaza — and unable to get from one part of their country to another without going through Israel.

The idea that Israel should cut any part of the so called West Bank in half is looked at in horror. Any Israeli decision that cuts the West Bank in half doesn't deserve international approval and may even serve to condemn Israel as an illegitimate state.

Biur Chametz pointed out a major problem with striving for Palestinian contiguity - it's like playing hex. Gaza and the West Bank cannot be contiguous, unless they have a means of passage that would cut Israel in half.

(It's amazing some believed that a non-contiguous state of Palestine would bring peace or at least stability to the region. It worked so well with Pakistan and East Pakistan didn't it?)

Regardless, to much of the world, Israel's legitimacy stems from its ability to placate its enemies. If Israel is successful it deserves approval but if not it invites pressure and questions about its legitimacy. Knowing this creates an Arab or Palestinian veto. Only Israeli concessions that are approved by the Palestinians are considered adequate. So what's the cost to holding out? And thus nearly 13 years after the Oslo accords were signed there is still no peace.

What does Israel need to do?

Evelyn Gordon's (h/t Israel Perspectives ) Israel's image - why the all-time low? in the Jerusalem Post provides some answers. While I'm not sure that Israel's image is at an all time low except in the precincts she specifically mentions, the article is important. In conclusion Ms. Gordon writes the case Israel must make to change mistaken impressions

The case, briefly, is as follows:

First, this is the historic Jewish homeland: Jerusalem and Hebron, not Tel Aviv and Haifa, were the heart of the biblical Jewish kingdom. This is vital, because the fact that this was our historic homeland is what justifies establishing a modern Jewish state here at all. Otherwise, we are indeed mere foreign interlopers.

Second, this land was unequivocally allotted to the future Jewish state by the 1922 League of Nations Mandate, which was never legally superseded. The 1947 UN partition plan was no more than a non-binding "recommendation" (the plan's own language) - as are all General Assembly (as opposed to Security Council) resolutions. Thus once the Arabs rejected the plan, it had no more validity than any other unsigned deal. (Were this not true, incidentally, much of pre-1967 Israel would also constitute "occupied Arab land.")

Third, no sovereign state ever replaced the Mandate on this territory. Jordan and Egypt conquered the West Bank and Gaza, respectively, in 1948, but neither conquest ever received international recognition. Legally, the territories remained stateless lands whose ownership was disputed. The only change that has occurred since is that the Palestinians have replaced Egypt and Jordan as the Arab claimants.
And finally, Israel acquired these lands not in a war of conquest, but in a defensive war.

At this late date, reversing the international perception of Israel as a thief rather than a legitimate claimant will be a Herculean task. But unless Israel makes the effort, it will increasingly be treated as a criminal rather than a seeker of peace.

Israel must be certain of its legitimacy. Any doubt will be magnified by Israel's enemies. Meryl Yourish (courtesy of Yehuda Avner) remembers an Israeli leader who harbored no doubts - Israel does not need Palestinian recognition

SO WHEN, on the first day of his premiership in 1977, he was waylaid by a tall, debonair, rakishly good-looking Englishman in a bow tie and a perfectly pitched BBC announcer’s voice, and saucily asked whether he looked forward to a time when the Palestinians would recognize Israel, his jaw tightened in restrained Jewish anger. But honed as he was by years of legal training, he answered with the composed demeanor of a practiced jurist, saying, “Traditionally, there are four major criteria of statehood under international law. One - an effective and independent government. Two - an effective and independent control of the population. Three - a defined territory. And four - the capacity to freely engage in foreign relations. Israel is in possession of all four attributes and, hence, is a fully fledged sovereign state and a fully accredited member of the United Nations.”

“But, surely, you would insist, would you not, that the relevant Palestinian organizations recognize Israel as a sine qua non for negotiations with them?” persisted the fellow.

“Certainly not! Those so-called relevant organizations are gangs of murderers bent on destroying the State of Israel. We will never conduct talks about our own destruction.”

“And were they to recognize Israel’s existence - would you then negotiate with them?” pressed the correspondent.

“No, sir!”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t need Palestinian recognition for my right to exist.”

About this Meryl concludes

3,500 years of unbroken Jewish existence in the land of our forefathers should suffice. But it doesn’t, because the world can’t wrap its brain around the Jewish claim to Israel. It can only see the claim of the “palestinians,” many of whom moved there after Jews returned and started making the desert bloom again.

The fact that the leaders of Iran — a terror state — terrorist organizations, and various Muslim and Arab nations refuse to “recognize” Israel’s existence doesn’t make Israel any less real, or their non-recognition any more legitimate.

Israel exists. Arab and Muslim recognition or not will not change that fact.

Despite the historical ties of Jews to Israel, Isreal still seeks legitimacy for its existence. Given that Israel is the only country that seems to have to constantly defend its right to exist, I'm inclined to call anyone who attacks Israel's legitimacy - an anti-Zionist - an antisemite.

Elder of Ziyon says that's well and good. In most cases I'd be right but still apply a test to see if a specific anti-Zionist is also an antisemite. And he gets the test from Natan Sharansky.

There are a few good "acid tests" to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel or Zionism and old fashioned bigotry against Jews. One of the better definitions comes from Natan Sharansky.

He calls it the "3D" test:

Demonization - "When the Jewish state is being demonized; when Israel's actions are blown out of all sensible proportion; when comparisons are made between Israelis and Nazis and between Palestinian refugee camps and Auschwitz - this is anti- Semitism, not legitimate criticism of Israel."
Double Standards - "When criticism of Israel is applied selectively; when Israel is singled out by the United Nations for human rights abuses while the behavior of known and major abusers, such as China, Iran, Cuba, and Syria, is ignored; when Israel's Magen David Adom, alone among the world's ambulance services, is denied admission to the International Red Cross - this is anti-Semitism."
Delegitimization - "When Israel's fundamental right to exist is denied - alone among all peoples in the world - this too is anti-Semitism."
So while it may not be prudent to yell out "anti-semite!" at every critic of Israel, it is more than reasonable to dig a little deeper and see if the critic fits one or more of the above criteria. It quickly becomes clear that the motivation behind Israel boycotts, for example, is pure Jew-hatred dressed up as liberal social values.

Technorati tags: antisemitism, anti-Zionism, Israel/'s Right to Exist.

The times's peace posturing

I missed a recent NY Times editorial Palestinian Peace Politics. It does not start well

Most Palestinians are believed to favor a two-state solution that would acknowledge Israel's pre-1967 borders and thus, explicitly or implicitly, Israel's right to exist. But the Hamas-led government that Palestinians elected this year refuses any such gesture.

"Most ... are believed?" Does the Times have any hard data to support this optimistic assertion?

Elder of Ziyon though does have recent polling data from Bir Zeit University that he helpfully posted at Latest Peaceful Palestinian Poll: 4% oppose terror! Relevant to the assertion of Gail Collins and Co.

19. As to funding the Palestinian National Authority, which one of these two directions do you support?

1) Hamas continues to reject recognizing Israel, while reaching out to countries like Iran and the Arab world to get funding
60.8%
2) Hamas recognizes Israel and continue to receive funding from the international community
31.0%

Nearly twice as many Palestinians support the Hamas government's rejection of Israel's right to exist as oppose it. Once again wishful thinking falls before polling data.

The vehicle that Mr. Abbas has seized upon to use as leverage with Hamas is a proposal put together by Palestinian prisoners now serving in Israel jails. Many of these come from Mr. Abbas's own political party, Fatah. But others come from Hamas. The proposal's political appeal to Palestinians comes from the popularity of its authorship and the ambivalence of some of its provisions. Its weaknesses as an actual peace plan come from some of those same ambivalences.

What, pray tell, are these prisoners in jail for? For political activity? Actually they're there for murder and terror. But of course in order to find some good in this proposal, the Times needs to finesse that. The popularity of Marwan Barghouti comes from his violence, actions fully supported by the Palestinian polity as borne out by the Bir Zeit poll.

For example, unlike the unfulfilled Oslo agreements of the 1990's and the Arab League peace plan of 2002, the prisoners' proposal offers only implicit, not explicit, recognition to Israel. Even worse, it appears to legitimize Palestinian violence against Israelis in the West Bank and other occupied territories. And in contradiction to the spirit of a two-state solution, it asserts the right of Palestinian refugees to return to pre-1967 Israel.

The above paragraph is amazing for its brazenness. Just after the Times finesses the crimes of the prisoners it criticizes their proposal because "it appears to legitimize Palestinian violence against Israelis." Well treating the prisoners as statesmen and not convicted terrorists does the same exact thing.

For these and other reasons, the prisoners' proposal is unacceptable even to dovish Israelis, and, in its present form, can represent no more than an initial bargaining position. Serious talks could begin only after some of the plan's most glaring omissions and ambivalences have been remedied.

In an effort to find a pony in all this the editors of the Times characterize the prisoners' document as a non-starter, then call it an "...initial bargaining position." What sort of idiocy is that.

Five years ago, such a plan would have represented a step backward. But that was then. Today's climate is considerably bleaker. No real peace talks have taken place for more than five years. Current Israeli peace proposals talk mostly of unilaterally imposed boundaries. Palestinians have saddled themselves with a government that endorses terrorism, refuses to recognize Israel implicitly or explicitly and shuns any talk of a two-state solution. In this dark picture, Mr. Abbas's embrace of the prisoners' proposal, with all of its obvious problems, can only be greeted as a welcome step in the right direction.

In truth not much as changed in five years. Sure five years ago Arafat, his allies and enablers would argue that he wasn't strong enough to make the necessary concessions, or that Israel wasn't offering enough. But the very things that make the prisoners' document unacceptable were in play back then.

If it is so terrible that the prisoners excuse terror why was the Times supportive of all the prisoner releases that included people who had actually committed acts of terror? And Arafat despite all the prodding never changed the Palestinian National Covenant.

Also let's not absolve the Palestinians of voting in Hamas. The weren't "saddled" with anything. They enthusiastically voted for Hamas because it vowed to destroy Israel; the Bir Zeit poll shows that the Palestinian electorate is in synch with its government.

Things haven't changed so much, though, perhaps some pretenses have been dropped. But the necessary change for peace still has not taken place. The Palestinians still do not accept Israel's right to exist.

Technorati tags: Israel, Hamas, Media Bias, New York Times.

Soccer dad on target; mark garlasco off target

Marc Garlasco the self credentialed "expert" that news organizations trot out to convict Israel of killing a family last week may not have the requisite knowledge to draw the conclusions he does. I asked yesterday

So Wilson does report rather well on the Israeli denials, but he does bring an expert witness with "seven years with U.S. military intelligence" to dispute the Israeli claims. Why someone with intelligence experience is uniquely qualified to judge the results of an explosion is puzzling. Wouldn't seven years of experience with ordnance be a proper qualification?

'

Jerry Gordon at Israpundit knows someone who worked with Garlasco (h/t Deja Vu)

I knew that my buddy had been involved with doing targeting in the preparation for the bigh push at the outbreak of hostilities in Iraq. I had looked at Marc Garlasco’s resume on line at Mother Jones radio and noted his Irag related stint.

As it turned out my MILINT buddy worked with Garlasco on pre-war Iraq targeting effort at DIA.

He noted that Marc had bolted when the war began and the rest became history as Garlasco became the purported senior military analyst for Human Rights Watch with his housing destruction reports in Gaza and such.

My buddy pointed out to me that Garlasco is not technically qualified to point to a depression in the sand on Gaza beach and state uncategorically that it was caused by an Israeli 155 MM round. Why? he had no scientific training required to do bomb damage assessment-typically a USAF intel function.

(empahsis mine)

HonestReporting ties Garlasco to another dishonest Human Rights Watch report.

Earlier today, I noticed through Sitemeter that someone from Human Rights Watch has visited my earlier posting on Garlasco and visited other bloggers too. So if anyone visits tomorrow from HRW, I'd be very interested in hearing exactly what Mr. Garlasco's credentials are.

UPDATE: While this doesn't relate directly to Garlasco (though he's referred to) Charles Krauthammer's "Who's to blame for the grief on the beach?" and asks the important question

An expert at a local chapter of a human rights group disputes the Israeli claims. Okay. Let's concede for the sake of argument that the question of whether it was an errant Israeli shell remains unresolved. But the obvious question not being asked is this: Who is to blame if Palestinians are setting up rocket launchers to attack Israel -- and placing them 400 yards from a beach crowded with Palestinian families on the Muslim Sabbath?

UPDATE II: via Buzztracker
Boker Tov Boulder builds nicely on Krauthammer's diagnosis:

This is an excellent commentary, worth reading in full, but I would take it a step further. I would say that the Palestinians prefer victimhood because it works for them.

Right on the Right also has a nice observation

The Hamas terrorists and the media sloganeers spin this ON PURPOSE to instigate further acts of terror.

Technorati tags: Marc Garlasco, Human Rights Watch, Media Bias, Israel, Gaza.

If ... you must 06/14/2006

Zarqawi aftermath

If you haven't read SarcastiPundit's The War Criminal Career Path; you must.
You might also read A Good Career move by Daniel Pipes.

If you haven't read the best Zarqawi headline at OyVay blog; you must.

On the beach

If you haven't read Pallywood on a Gaza Beach at the Augean Stables; you must.

If you haven't read Palestinian pants burning brightly at Crossing the Rubicon2; you must.
In a similar vein the Washington Post originally reported Israeli Fire Kills 7 Beachgoers in Gaza. No reversal yet just a couple of AP reports to the effect of Israel Blames Hamas Mine for Beach Blast. Do you think that we can expect a dispatch from the Post's Scott Wlson that starts "Citing overwhelming forensic evidence Israel's Chief of Staff today showed convincingly that the family whose members were killed in a beach explosion this past Friday were killed by mines planted by Hamas...?"

If you haven't read Oops at Boker Tov Boulder; you must.

If you haven't read Al Dura and Ghalia at Elder of Ziyon; you must.
I've noted elsehwhere that there are contemporaraneous reports that debunk the notion that Ariel Sharon's walk on the Temple Mount instigated the intifada. Amb Lancry's letter and this report from Ha'aretz also show the advanced planning of the beginning of the war.

If you haven't read Deja Vu's comparison of Larsen to Garlasco; you must.

If you haven't read Palestinian PM defends terror at the Partisan Times; you must.

Depressing press

If you haven't read Maryland Conservatarian's critique of Journalism; you must.

If you haven't read Media Swarm at Dr. Sanity; you must.

If you haven't read SerAndEz's Rush to Judgment; you must.
And while you're there check out the baby picture; cuteness, it's a cheap trick, but it works.

If you haven't read the related rant at Life-of-Rubin; you must.

Jews, Israel, History

If you haven't read Honey am I home at The Ministry of Offence; you must;
h/t the Ignoble Experiment

If you haven't read The Aliyah that wasn't at I'm Ha'aretz; you must.
An answer.

If you haven't read about the cleric who was ruined by ruins at the Muqata; you must.

Misc

If you haven't read A blogger's confession at Jack's shack; you must.
I prefer Sisko to Kirk and Picard. I guess I really scenery chewing.

If you haven't read A penny for your words at Social Worker frustrated Mom; you must.

If you haven't read Precocious Standards of Modesty? at Orthomom; you must.

I'm with those commenters who feel that given the alternative, there's nothing wrong with this. I'm reminded of a trip to a department store a few years ago. The children's department featured pictures of girls my daughter's age dressed like streetwalkers. Too much modesty allows our children stay children just a little longer in a society that wants them to grow up too fast.

Just a flesh wound

One of the funniest scenes in Monty Python and the Holy Grail is when King Arthur encounters the Black Knight who will not allow him to pass. So the two get into a sword fight and Arthur wins, convincingly. Instead of acknowledging his wounds the Black Knight dismisses his missing limbs with "Just a flesh wound" and other inanities. After Arthur defeats the Black Knight, the latter shouts taunts at the King, calling him a coward for refusing to fight further.
If a modern newspaper were reporting this absurd scenario we'd probably see a headline "Arthurs attack emboldens Black Knight." The reporting would attempt counterintuitively to show that King Arthur's victory was really a setback.
With Analyzing A Victory Into Defeat and (as a counterpoint) Bulletin: Zarqawi's Death Could Hurt the Bad Guys Post Watch Blog notes this unfortunate trend.
Post Watch quotes approvingly from Death Could Shake Al-Qaeda In Iraq and Around the World

The death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi could mark a turning point for al-Qaeda and the global jihadist movement, according to terrorism analysts and intelligence officials....

Guido Steinberg, an expert on Islamic radicalism at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin, said other groups of foreign fighters that kept a loose alliance with Zarqawi, such as Ansar al-Sunna, might turn away from al-Qaeda in Iraq now that he is gone.

"It's a great loss for the these jihadi networks," said Steinberg, who served as a counterterrorism adviser to Gerhard Schroeder when he was chancellor of Germany. "I don't think there is any person in Iraq able to control this network the way Zarqawi did. It's very decentralized. He was the only person in Iraq who could provide the glue....

For recruitment efforts, the importance of Zarqawi's death "cannot be overestimated," Germany's foreign intelligence chief, Ernst Uhrlau, told the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.

Just as I noted last week that after Israel killed Yassin and Rantissi, Hamas's operational capabilities were diminished, I expect the same here. But instead of looking at means and opportunity reporters almost exclusively look to motive or reducing significant items to mere politics such as Zarqawi Helped U.S. Argument That Al-Qaeda Network Was in Iraq.

In addition to his indisputably prominent role in the Iraqi insurgency, Zarqawi was always a useful source of propaganda for the administration. Magnification of his role and of the threat he posed grew to the point that some senior intelligence officers believed it was counterproductive.

Given the number of experts available (and anxious to see their names in print) it's no surprise that a reporter can find one to support any storyline he or she wants. And in the case of the war in Iraq, that storyline was mostly one that painted the Bush administration as wrong on every count. So if that meant embracing a viewpoint that was trivial or counterintuitive; a reporter would pass it off as sophistication and further proof that he or she was a guardian of democracy by being skeptical of the administration's excesses. While such an approach has the benefit of lending a sense of nobility to one's efforts but it obfuscates rather than enlightens and transforms reporting into advocacy.

The killing of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi was more than a flesh wound. Unfortunately many who should have conveyed its significance to us had other priorities.

UPDATE: Included Carnvial of the Insanities for 6/18/06.

Media Bias, Iraq, Washington Post.

Withdrawn

Do you ever watch a courtroom drama where the prosecutor goes just a wee bit too far in his statements? The defense attorney calls out "objection." The judge agrees and says, "the jury will disregard that last remark." The prosecutor then smugly says, "withdrawn," knowing full well that human nature is such that the jury will almost certainly not disregard that last statement and that it will have its desired prejudicial effect.

When the deaths of the Ghalia family were reported originally the Washington Post ran with a headline Israeli Fire kills 7 Beachgoers in Gaza.

Israeli artillery fire targeting the northern Gaza Strip on Friday killed at least seven Palestinian civilians and wounded 30 others, Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses said.

The Israeli military immediately suspended the artillery assault on the strip, designed to cut rising Palestinian rocket fire into Israel, and ordered an investigation. The armed wing of Hamas, meanwhile, indicated it would end a 15-month cease-fire with Israel to avenge the killings.

I was curious how the Post would follow up to this report when the Israeli had apparently proven that the explosion was not the result of an Israeli shell. Would Scott Wilson report that the Israelis convincingly showed that the shell was not theirs? Or would he simply qualify any Israel defense with a "Israel's military claimed ..." Here's what was reported:

But Israeli defense officials said Tuesday that an internal investigation found that the military was not responsible for the explosion. At a news conference in Tel Aviv, Maj. Gen. Meir Kalifi, who led the inquiry, said it concluded that artillery shells that the Israel Defense Forces fired Friday afternoon could not have landed in the area where the family was picnicking.

"I can say, I can rule out, in a definite and unequivocal manner, the possibility that any kind of firing from the IDF during these hours, or others, is the source that caused the damage," said Kalifi, who is deputy commander of Israel's land forces.

Using maps to illustrate his points, Kalifi said that the military fired six artillery rounds toward the beach during the time in question and that all but the first landed more than 500 yards from the site of the fatal explosion. He said the investigation could not determine where the first shell landed, but he said it was fired at the same trajectory and in the same direction as the five others.

Kalifi also said that shrapnel taken from a Palestinian woman being treated for her wounds in Soroka Medical Center, in the Israeli city of Beersheba, did not come from a 155mm artillery round -- the kind fired that day.

Although Israeli military leaders did not officially accuse the Palestinians of responsibility for the explosion, military sources have indicated privately in recent days that the blast was the result of land mines that Hamas gunmen laid along the beach to prevent Israeli commandos from entering the area from the sea.

Reasonably straightforward. Except, Wilson disputes it:

But a human rights investigator specializing in military affairs raised doubts about those claims during a news conference in Gaza.

Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst with New York-based Human Rights Watch, said he had not compiled enough evidence to say definitively that the Israeli military fired the fatal shell. But he said shrapnel gathered at the site, the wound patterns on Palestinians treated in Gaza hospitals and the characteristics of the crater left by the blast indicated that the victims were killed by a 155mm artillery shell that fell on the beach.

"It is my contention that the most likely scenario is that the blast was the result of Israeli shells coming down on the beach," said Garlasco, whose military experience includes seven years with U.S. military intelligence.

Garlasco was in Gaza to investigate the Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli response. His presence here at the time of the explosion, he said, was coincidental.

He said he examined the site a day after the explosion and acknowledged that wind and the number of people who trampled the area after the blast made conclusions difficult. Nevertheless, he said, shrapnel he found lodged in a car near the explosion and other samples collected by the Palestinian bomb-disposal unit made clear it was from a 155mm shell.

He said the size and depth of the crater -- roughly seven feet in diameter and six to eight inches deep -- suggested it was from a falling shell. He said he compared it with other craters left by Israeli artillery on the beach, a frequent target because of its use by Palestinian rocket launchers, and the sizes were similar.

Garlasco also said most of the 30 people injured in the explosion suffered from wounds to the torso and head, while a land mine generally does the most damage to the lower body. But he said he could not rule out that the shell had been left on the ground.

How much of an expert is Garlasco? He's got an agenda as Deja Vu writes

Because, MSM WANTS TO FIGHT PLAGUES, NOT HUMAN EVIL and Garlesco helps them "prove" that democratic governments are as evil as their enemies. Moreover, they together exploit the fact that as Winston Churchill said: "Evil A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on."

So Wilson does report rather well on the Israeli denials, but he does bring an expert witness with "seven years with U.S. military intelligence" to dispute the Israeli claims. Why someone with intelligence experience is uniquely qualified to judge the results of an explosion is puzzling. Wouldn't seven years of experience with ordnance be a proper qualification? And if Garlasco weren't there would Wilson have declared the Israeli claims "defnitive" or would he have simply turned up Palestinian sources to dispute Gen. Kalifi's account?

Then there's another problem. Garlasco claims that there was a crater. But according to Palestinian Media Watch

It should be noted that not only is the video falsified, but the beach scene clearly backs the Israeli contention that the deaths were not caused by an Israeli shell. Any Israeli shell would have left a giant crater and spread sand over the entire area, as well as on the victims. There is no crater and the beach scene is not disturbed in a way that indicates an Israeli shell could have landed nearby.

Deja Vu notes

Now, suddenly, there is a crater. Where did it come from? It cannot be seen in the footage with the girl but only in a later footage clearly taken today, not at the time of the explosion. The possibilities of tinkering are obvious.

In other words, even though Garlasco (according to the Washington Post)

said he examined the site a day after the explosion and acknowledged that wind and the number of people who trampled the area after the blast made conclusions difficult.

Or he might have acknowledged that there was time to tamper with the scened. But the Post's Wilson finds no reason to doubt Garlasco, just Israel.

Ocean Guy has a nice round-up of links on the subject.

LGF has more on Garlasco's dubious ties.

Unfortunately, the Post's reaction to the Israeli investigation were part of a story about a subsequent Israeli shelling that accidentally killed civilians Israeli Airstrike Kills 10 Palestinians.

Still I find it telling that in yesterday's incident, Israel did not deny its responsibility. But even some of the civilians killed in yesterday's attack were not exactly bystanders as Daled Amos notes (quoting from Ha'aretz)

Haaretz is making an issue of the fact that the IDF is not releasing the video they have of the attack to back up their claim and notes that the presence of medical pesonnel indicates there was more than just a one minute lull.

By the same token, the article also notes what happened after the first missiles hit:

The missiles landed near the van, causing only minor damage, and the Jihad operatives quickly abandoned it, apparently unharmed. Some of them then went to a nearby house, while others, aided by the numerous bystanders who had gathered at the site, surrounded the van and apparently tried to extract the Katyushas.
Palestinian civilians who decide to get involved in an attack are no longer innocent bystanders--while it is a tragedy that true bystanders were killed, as long as the attempt was made to save the the Katyushas for another strike, the threat still remained.

But of course what the bystanders were up to isn't really important? Not when you (if you're Scott Wilson of the Washington Post) have an important moral calculus to make

According to U.N. humanitarian monitors, the Israeli military has killed 32 Palestinians since the beginning of this month, less than half of them members of armed groups at war with Israel. An additional 109 Palestinians have been wounded, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.

Over the same period, Palestinian rockets have wounded 11 Israelis, one gravely, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's emergency service. The Israeli military reported that 38 rockets were launched toward Israel from Gaza in the 24-hour period before Tuesday's airstrike.

More Palestinians killed - a high percentage of them non-combatants - therefore Israel is wrong. And who could dispute the charges of UN humanitarian monitors?

The only evidence the MSM is interested in is that which convicts Isreal. Perhaps the proper analogy is not the overzealous prosecutor but the crooked investigator who plants incrinimating evidence.

Technorati tags: Media Bias, Israel, Palestinian Authority.

Belated blogging milestones

In the category of better late than never let me note some recent blogging milestones.

My friend Daled Amos has reached the 10000 level.. One meta question he notes that it occurred

on May 27, 2006 at 11:53:56 pm with a hit from Staten Island, viewing my latest post, Not Everything Going Ahmadinejad`s Way.

But when he was posting it wasn't "10000 hits" then the latest?

Simply Jews has now been squeezed 30000 times, even if they're unsure what they've evolved into.

And SerAndEz has been in blogging for a year now. His graciousness is always appreciated.

And did anyone notice who is now atop the the Technorati rankings for "Judaism?". Why it's satirist extraordinaire, AbbaGav.

Congratulations to all! Well done.

And Pillage Idiot's Maryland Blogger Alliance keeps growing. I pestered encouraged Monoblogue, who just joined up! Monoblogue writes:

Although we all generally have a conservative viewpoint, I think my blog is focused a little less on policy and more on process. My emphasis of late has been to get voters in the Eastern Shore area to inform themselves on those who seek their vote this fall. To that end, I’ve started two continuing features on monoblogue that I think would be good for the others to follow.

The first is called the Ten Questions. Back in early May, I sent a list of 10 questions on a variety of issues that will face them to each of the U.S. Senate candidates in Maryland, as well as Delaware and Virginia. Each Tuesday and Friday, I’m posting one set of answers from a randomly-chosen candidate. The bad news is thus far I’ve only posted answers from one hopeful (Democrat Allan Lichtman) out of the three who have had their turn.

His focus on the political process is always fascinating.

Before Monoblogue, the Not So Free State joined up. He has helped the cause by writing a script to update the list of the alliance dynamically. Thanks a lot.

Have I forgotten any? (I think I have.) At my advanced age I forget a lot more than I used to. If you know I'm a regular reader and I've missed you, send me an e-mail and I'll rectify the situation!

And while it's not a blogging landmark, it's an important personal one. Did you know that June 7 was National Chocolate Ice Cream Day? I can think of no more important day of the year. Unfortunately I didn't get myself any triple Brownie Overload to celebrate. (No wonder I can't Haagen Dazs no longer seems to produce the flavor, just triple chocolate. If you'd like to learn more about the history of chocolate (who wouldn't) go to the Haagen Dazs site and click on the text.

UPDATE: I received an e-mail that my friends at Colossus of Rhodey have just surpassed 20000.

And the one that I knew but forgot: Happy 2nd blogiversary to South Africa's top political blog for 2005: It's almost supernatural.

And happy 13th blogiversary to AbbaGav. Wait a second, it's not his blogiversary it's that other kind of anniversary.

Technorati tags: Blogging, Chocolate.

Reporting for duty - military monday 3

What do you say about a soldier who returns to action after a serious injury?

When he went on patrol last September in Camp Liberty, Iraq on the 4th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Staff Sgt. Willie Hall had no idea that the events unfolding that day would separate him from his unit, Company B, 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, for more than six months.

Hall’s dismounted patrol came under attack in Ghazaliya, September 11 from a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device followed by small-arms fire.

According to members of Hall’s unit, he provided first aid to his fellow Soldiers before realizing he himself was significantly wounded in both the neck and arm. After the unit forced their attackers to flee, Hall’s battle buddies evacuated him to receive treatment.

Unfortunately, not all soldiers can return after an injury. I inadvertantly found the Helping our Heroes foundation devoted to helping injured soldiers.

Some injured soldiers are rehabbing by playing golf.

Others are learning kayaking. (And sometimes the injury isn't physical.)

Hamm was a warehouse worker in Nashville whose National Guard unit went to Iraq last year. He lost a buddy there, killed by two bullets that got past his body armor. Hamm inventoried his friend's effects: a letter, a computer and a bloodstained uniform that triggered something in him that he could not control. He fasted, taking little more than water for two weeks, "for my brothers' safety," he said. On patrol in Iraq, he needed to check every village, every building, every room. One day he circled the same empty car 15 times, and eventually wound up at Walter Reed.

For six weeks, he's sat in sessions on combat stress, taken medications that "make me feel down, make me feel out," and then he met Mornini.

Who now glided up, to critique Hamm's first shot at the rapids. "When in doubt, paddle like hell," Mornini said. "You got your paddle up here" -- waving it over his head -- "you've got a zero percent chance of taking the correct stroke. Again."

The second time, Hamm made it through the rapids, only to roll in an eddy at the bottom. Shivering, he got back to the top, where Mornini joined him again.

Skin chalky with cold, Hamm paddled upriver again, then pealed out into the froth.

(Here's another article about injured soldiers kayaking.)

Joe Mornini came up with the idea of using kayaking for therapy and founded Team River Runner.

Some other injured soldiers have taken to the Potomac for fishing.

Nearly 30 active duty soldiers and Army National Guardsmen on medical hold at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., were released from the hospital for a day recently to go fishing.

Spc. James shows off the 3.95-pound largemouth bass he caught while fishing in the first Operation Iraqi Freedom Soldiers Fishing Tournament on the Potomac River Diffenderfer is recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington from injuries he received during duty in Iraq in February.
(Click photo for screen-resolution image); high-resolution image available.

The soldiers participated in the first Iraqi Freedom Soldiers Fishing Tournament at the Columbia Island Marina just off the Potomac River. The marina sits right across the road from the Pentagon.

"We wanted to do something that got the soldiers out of the hospital," said Lee Branham, president of the NOVA Bass Anglers fishing club and organizer of the event. "We decided to take them fishing."

It's wonderful that some soldiers can heal sufficiently to return to combat. Unfortunately, due to the destructive nature of war that cannot always happen. For the others we can only hope that they recover as fully as possible. They all are the heroes who have been fighting for us.

Though Military Monday is my own initiative, if you have positive stories about America's brave soldiers, feel free to send them my way. Maybe this can become a carnival.

UPDATE: Included in Carnival of the Blue Star #14.

Technorati tags: Military Monday, Team River Runner.

My articles

I write most months for Where, What and When, a community publication in the Baltimore/Washington area. They have recently put the publication online. An index of my recent articles is here.
My favorite writer (from Where, What and When) Rabbi Dovid Katz has written an extended article in memory of Rabbi Neuberger.
The editor Mrs. Elaine Berkowitz is an excellent interviewer (and editor).

Every good terrorist deserves his raisins

AbbaGav remembers Samhadana.
Dry Bones remembers Zarqawi.
Technorati tags: Terrorism, Samhadana, Al Zarqawi.

No baggage mfume

To the Washington Post's Lee Hockstader, author of the paper's Democratic talking points op-ed observer of local political races, the Maryland Democratic Party has a "Kweisi Problem."

As Democrats elsewhere rub their hands in anticipation of congressional gains in the midterm elections, Democrats in Maryland are gloomily contemplating a scenario in which they may lose a U.S. Senate seat they've held for 30 years.

And that scenario has a name: Kweisi Mfume.

Then he carefully tells us Kweisi's part of the story

Smart, personable and politically shrewd, Mfume is not exactly the image of a nightmare candidate. He has the bearing, bona fides and oratorical panache of a senator, and he possesses that priceless commodity for any New Age politician -- a poignant personal narrative. Having run with violent street gangs and fathered five children by four women by age 22, Mfume pulled himself together, earning a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University and winning a seat first on the Baltimore City Council and then in Congress before becoming president of the nation's most august civil rights group, the NAACP.

In March of last year, just a few months after resigning as head of the NAACP, Mfume announced that he would seek to replace Sen. Paul Sarbanes, just days after the incumbent announced that he would not seek another term.

About a month later allegations surfaced that in his time at the NAACP, Mfume had behaved improperly with female employees.

Allegations detailed in a confidential NAACP report claim that Kweisi Mfume gave raises and promotions to women with whom he had close personal relationships while he was president of the nation's oldest civil rights organization.

The 22-page memorandum, prepared last summer by an outside lawyer, did not accept as true the claims lodged against Mfume by a female employee but determined that they could be "very difficult to defend persuasively" if she filed a lawsuit.

Mfume, 56, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Maryland, has denied the allegations. In an interview yesterday, he said the allegations in no way influenced his Nov. 30 announcement that he would leave the NAACP after nine years.

The nature of the allegations - they were made by one person - and the lack of an apparent followup suggest that the claims don't have much to them. However it's quite possible that the rumors were already being heard before they were reported and that would explain why

Mfume's strained relations with the party started like a bad first date. He was the first Democrat in the Senate race, resigning from the NAACP and jumping in just three days after the five-term incumbent, Sen. Paul Sarbanes, announced his retirement last year.

Then: silence. Democratic party elders, notably Rep. Steny Hoyer, the state party's capo di tutti capi , scoured the field for a viable alternative to Mfume. For a month and a half, while Mfume was the only big-name politician in the race, nearly every major Democrat withheld endorsement.

First of all, Hockstadter ignored the allegations against Mfume as playing a role in the Democrats' unwillingness to support him wholeheartedly. Mfume blames his political rivals for leaking the report, but the leak more likely came from his rivals within the NAACP as only members of the board had access to the report.

Second of all, at the time Mfume announced his intention to run

Four other members of Maryland's congressional delegation have said they are looking at the race, including C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of suburban Baltimore, who plans to announce an exploratory committee this morning, and Chris Van Hollen of Montgomery County, who said yesterday that he would set up an exploratory committee "shortly."

Baltimore Reps. Benjamin L. Cardin and Elijah E. Cummings also are considering bids.

While Mfume was the first to announce there were a number of other potential candidates for the seat. I don't know if state political parties usually support the first candidate just because their first or if they wait to see how the race shapes up. I suspect the latter is true, but Hockstader's loyally parroting from Mfume's lines rather than offering up any sort of analysis.

But then there's another factor that makes Mfume a less than attractive candidate. When he announced for Sarbanes's seat the Washington Post noted

Mfume described himself as unabashedly liberal on social issues but said he had grown increasingly conservative on fiscal matters.

"Am I too liberal for the state of Maryland?" Mfume said. "We'll find out."

Liberal yes. And what about his allies? It was Mfume who, as head of the Congressional Black Caucus made a "sacred covenant" with the Nation of Islam, a racist and antisemitic group. Given that one of the factors in Gov. Ehrlich's surprise election victory in 2002 was that he attracted more Jewish support than expected, perhaps the Democratic party felt a little hesitant to support Mfume who would almost certainly alienate a significant portion of the Jewish vote. Loyal stenographer, Lee Hockstader, ignores that too.

Frankly, I don't see Cardin losing either the Democratic primary or the general election. There will be those who will play up Mr. Mfume's dissatisfaction, but he isn't as attractive a candidate as he thinks he is. Inspirational story aside, he has a lot of baggage.

Though Hockstader wrote an opinion column, his failure to disclose Mfume's shorcomings too made the piece look like campaign literature more than serious analysis.

Technorati tags: Kweisi Mfume, Maryland Politics, Election 2006.

Anti-zionism ?= antisemitism folowup

Judeopundit expanded on my thoughts about Antisemitism and Antizionism

So I think that maintaining the distinction bewteen anti-Zionism and anti-Semtiism may actually provide some clarity in the face of people who claim that they are being labeled "Anti-Semites" for mere criticism of Israel. The answer to such poeple is that they if are entertaining beliefs about Israel that no informed objective person can entertain or exhibiting an extreme tendency to single out Israel, they may not be "Anti-Semites" per se, but they are bigots all the same.

He developed his thought extremely well but I don't know that I agree. (I'm stubborn.)Augean Stables (h/t Watcher's Council) filled in a few of the blanks in my formulation

Antidhimmi comments: “So its not that the supporters of the Canadian Boycott don’t understand the consequences of the ‘right of return”, those consequences (the destruction of Israel) are precisely what they seek.” But of course, they seek this not with malice towards the Jews, but with all the best intentions since the fall of the Jewish state will give rise to a much better one — multicultural, just like us! At what point does stupidity become malice?

Shiloh Musings wrote

And even though technically, Arabs are Semites, anti-Semitism has nothing to do with hatred of Arabs.

My quibble here is that the term "Semite" was created by Wilhelm Marr so he could invent "antisemitism." The Arabs like to say "how can I be an antisemite, I am a semite." The Arabs cannot be subject to antisemitism therefore they are not semites. (They can be subject to a prejudice against Arabs and/or Muslims but that's a separate matter.)

And by all means follow her link to the "Pipeline of Hatred."

Technorati tags: antisemitism, anti-Zionism.

Haveil Havalim #73 is UP!

Wander on over to Perspectives of a Nomad to view his wonderfully done (and illustrated) Haveil Havalim #73.

(Thanks Instapundit for the mention!)

#74 - June 18 - A new hostess (via SerAndEz), Blue Diary has volunteered.

In addition to e-mail you may submit entries to Haveil Havalim using either Conservative Cat's handy dandy submission form or the submission form over at BlogCarnival. Or feel free to e-mail me at dhgerstman at hotmail dot com.

(Note the change in the operation of Conservative Cat's submission form. It takes you directly to Haveil Havalim.)

Remember, that while the hosts and hostesses of Haveil Havalim do a wonderful job of editing and searching for interesting posts, they can't see everything. If you want a better chance of being included in Haveil Havalim please submit one or two posts for inclusion. (And please don't submit everything or nearly everything you posted in a week. Winnowing out your best posts takes time.)

Listed at the Truth Laid Bear Ubercarnival.

Technorati Tags: Blog carnivals, haveil havalim, Israel, Judaism.

Most recent editions of Haveil Havalim at Blog Carnival
#22 Mystical Paths
#21 Rabbinical Authority Consortium of HACKers
#20 Shiloh Musings
#19 Devarim
#18 Soccer Dad
#17 Mystical Paths
#16 Critical Mastiff
#15 Soccer Dad
#14 Multiple Mentality
#13 IsraPundit
#12 DovBear
#11 Kesher Talk
#10 Biur Chametz
#9 Soccer Dad
#8 It's Almost Supernatural
#7 Bloghead
#6 Willow Tree.
#5 Crossing the Rubicon2
#4 Dov Bear
#3 Biur Chametz

If ... you must 06/07/2006

Airbrushing and whitewashing

If you haven't read AbbaGav's Jenin week on the Oprah show, you must.
And he thoughtfully completed it in time for Shavuos, as you all know Oprah was really named Orpah!

If you haven't read Deja Vu's "wedding tent" post; you must.

If you haven't read that 4% oppose terror at Elder of Ziyon; you must.
Jihadi sympathizers hold martyr's sinless; need the MSM do that too?

If you haven't read Meryl Yourish on liars; you must.
Health crisis! What health crisis? Just give us cash!

If you haven't read Women should know their place at It's almost Supernatural; you must.
It makes you wonder why so many "progressives" favor a Palestinian state, even at the expense of Israel.

If you haven't read Not in our name at Simply Jews; you must.

If you haven't read about Zarqawi's excellent companion at Adloyada; you must.

History, current events, math and grammar lessons

If you haven't read last week's History Friday ( part I and part II ) at Ocean Guy; you must.

If you haven't read about TransJordan at Boker Tov Boulder; you must.

If you haven't read The Sanctuary and the Temple Mount at Jewish Current Issues; you must.

If you haven't read 'It's over for Jews of france' at Solomonia; you must.

If you haven't read Pillage Idiot's Medio-passive in Iraq; you must.

If you haven't read Yoel Marcus and the Green Eyed Monster at West Bank mama; you must.

If you haven't read Why must an Arab state be Jew Free at Saba yeshayah; you must.

If you haven't read the Muqata's warning; you must.

If you haven't read 19 and Islam at View from a Height; you must.

If you haven't read Is Europe finally getting it at Israel Matzav; you must.
A lot of people will be reading this; it's been nominated.

If you haven't read Me-Ander's blogging memories; you must.

D-Day today?

If you haven't read Colossus of Rhodey's top 11 things ...;you must.

If you haven't read #12 at Crossing the Rubicon; you must.

Child's Play

If you haven't read Elie's Expositions remembering one of his favorite toys, you must.
It's now a perfume. And who knew that he liked to square dance?

If you haven't read Why IS Miss Mary Mack All Dressed In Black? at Daled Amos, you must.
His daughter got him started on one of those clapping games girls love so much; so what does he do? He researches it!.

If you haven't read Support the Socceroos at Israelly Cool! you must.

Fat tax, fat chance?

Dr. Helen asks if we should have a fat tax.

This sort of discussion seems to be leading Wendy's to (according to the Delusional Duck) to switch to healthier cooking oil

The Gateway Grizzlies aren't intimidated. A Krispy Kreme Cheeseburger?!?! I'm sure people gain calories just thinking about that!(Thanks to the Beltway Gourmet.)

Technorati tags: fat, Diet.

Gates of hell

After an Israeli Hellfire missile retired Sheikh Ahmed Yassin two years ago Hamas responded like this.

Hamas warned that it would have its revenge on Mr Sharon. The attack, it said, had "opened the gates of hell and nothing will stop us from cutting off his head".

I looked at a list of major terror attacks in Israel and looked at terror attacks 7 months prior to the killing of Sheikh Yassin and 7 months subsequent to the killing of Dr. Rantisi.

---

Aug 19, 2003 - Jerusalem
23 people were killed and over 130 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated himself on Egged bus #2 in the Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Sep 9, 2003 - Tzrifin
Eight IDF soldiers were killed and 30 people wounded in a suicide bombing at a soldier hitchhiking post outside the Tzrifin army base and Assaf Harofeh Hospital. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jan 14, 2004 - Erez Crossing, Gaza
A female suicide bomber detonated herself at an inspection point at the entrance to the Erez industrial zone, killing 4 Israeli security personnel and injuring several others. Hamas and Fatah claimed joint responsibility for the attack.
Jan 29, 2004 - Jerusalem
Eleven people were killed and over 40 were wounded when a suicide bomber blew up on a #19 bus on Gaza Road. The bomber was a Palestinian policeman from Bethlehem. Both Hamas and the Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility.
Mar 14, 2004 - Ashdod
10 people were killed and 16 wounded in a double suicide bombing at Ashdod Port. Hamas and Fatah claimed responsibility.

---

Apr 17, 2004 - Erez Crossing, Gaza
A border policeman was killed and three others wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up. Hamas and the Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility.

---

June 28, 2004 - Sderot
A man and a 4 year old boy were killed, and 7 others were wounded (including the boy’s mother) during a Kassam rocket attack on Sderot. Hamas claimed responsibility.
Aug 31, 2004 - Beer Sheba
Sixteen people were killed and 100 wounded in two nearly simultaneous suicide bombings aboard two city buses. Hamas in Hebron claimed responsibility.
Sep 29, 2004 - Sderot
Two toddlers were killed, while playing in the street, by a Kassam rocket fired from Gaza. Hamas claimed responsibility.

---

In the 7 months prior to the killing of Sheikh Yassin 56 people were killed in 5 terror attacks for which Hamas claimed credit. In the 7 months after the death of Dr. Rantisi Hamas claimed three terror attacks that killed 20 people.

Despite the boast of the gates of Hell, the killing of Yassin (and his successor Rantisi) hardly unleashed a deluge of terror. In fact Hamas was somewhat more limited in successful attacks after they were killed. Yassin wasn't simply a spiritual leader and Rantisi wasn't simply political. They were organizers and excellent ones at that. They knew how to recruit and train. Killing them set Hamas back.

Though we will hear a lot of voices saying that killing Zarqawi helps more symbolically than it does practically. Don't be so certain.

Zarqawi got to the top of the terorrist heap in Iraq by being effective. Yes others might take his place, but none are likely to be as deadly as he was.

In the case of Yassin and Rantisi the gates of Hell opened to receive two evil men, not to allow all sorts of demons to escape and wreak havoc on Israel. Don't be surprised if the insurgency in Iraq is weakened (at least temporarily) by the klling of Zarqawi.

Daniel Byman in Slate, though, explains why the Zarqawi/Yassin comparison may not be apt

Nor does the structure of the Iraqi insurgency suggest that the killing will have a lasting impact. When Israel killed the leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fathi Shiqaqi, in 1995, it paralyzed the organization. Shiqaqi had led a highly hierarchical organization, and his successors squabbled for years over leadership and next steps. The Iraqi insurgency, in contrast, is highly decentralized, and the loss of any individual leader will not shut down most of the fighters because they are not waiting for their commanders to tell them where and when to strike. (It also means that, like Zarqawi, any new leader will exercise at best limited control of the overall movement.)

My gut feeling is that the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi will hurt the insurgency's fighting capability.

Partisan Times brings the good news that Zarqawi wasn't the only terrorist retired today and that the Palestinians once again demonstrate that Israel's enemies are America's enemies too.

SerAndEz writes

It was a decisive blow, but it's not over yet - and probably won't be for a long time. But it is a huge step on the road to rebuilding Iraq and in the war on terror. May his memory soon be forgotten.

and links to a roundup of reactions at Life-of-Rubin.

Technorati tags: Al-Zarqawi,
Iraq, al-Qaeda.

The devil's area code

I know this is a few day's late. But punctuality has never been one of my strong points.

I never saw "The Omen." However I remember the Saturday Night Live spoof the "The OintMENt."

I don't think that the transcript is so funny (though the priest walking around with a lightpole attached to him was a hilarious sight gag.) And of course you'll learn of the connection between the devil and 666.

Technorati tags: The Omen, 666.

We don't make news, we only report it

One of those annoying things about the media, is the way they claim "We don't make the news, we only report it." A few items I saw today give lie to that claim.

Because there is limited time to report and limited space to print on, editorial judgments are made all the time. Choosing what stories and what aspects of stories to report are subjective opinions. Even if everything reported was objective (an unlikely possibility), the choices made in deciding what to report will skew the report.

Amir Taheri recently returned to Iraq and reported what he saw in "The Real Iraq" in Commentary

The first sign is refugees. When things have been truly desperate in Iraq—in 1959, 1969, 1971, 1973, 1980, 1988, and 1990—long queues of Iraqis have formed at the Turkish and Iranian frontiers, hoping to escape. In 1973, for example, when Saddam Hussein decided to expel all those whose ancestors had not been Ottoman citizens before Iraq’s creation as a state, some 1.2 million Iraqis left their homes in the space of just six weeks. This was not the temporary exile of a small group of middle-class professionals and intellectuals, which is a common enough phenomenon in most Arab countries. Rather, it was a departure en masse, affecting people both in small villages and in big cities, and it was a scene regularly repeated under Saddam Hussein.

Since the toppling of Saddam in 2003, this is one highly damaging image we have not seen on our television sets—and we can be sure that we would be seeing it if it were there to be shown. To the contrary, Iraqis, far from fleeing, have been returning home. By the end of 2005, in the most conservative estimate, the number of returnees topped the 1.2-million mark. Many of the camps set up for fleeing Iraqis in Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia since 1959 have now closed down. The oldest such center, at Ashrafiayh in southwest Iran, was formally shut when its last Iraqi guests returned home in 2004.

This is an indication of some of the success of the Iraq war. Iraqis are returning home. Despite what is reported, people who apparently hear what is going on inside the country from friends and relatives feel safe enough to return.

Two questions: Would this information change the way some Americans feel about the war and its success? Now that this information is out there, will we see articles in the NY Times, Washington Post or hear items on CBS news about the returnees?

With all of the reporting of diplomacy and war with Iran, the media has been silent on the ferment going on in Iran itself. PostWatchBlog wants to know why the action is ignored by the Washington Post. And from him we see that Gateway Pundit has been covering the anti-Government violence for quite a while.

Critical Mastiff highly recommends the Belmont Club's coverage of the media's non-coverage of the events in Iran.

The Belmont Club, in turn, recommends Deja Vu who observes

So anxious is the media elite to ensure that the US will take the appeasement route that it seeks to convince its readers that Iranian domestic unrest is not only hopeless but would be counter productive.

The Belmont Club compares the media inattention to the rebellions in Iran to the NY Times' shameful hiding of the famine that Stalin imposed on the Ukraine. Without offering specifics he outlines what we need

What's needed is a way to reform our organs of sight and escape from a world where practically every terrorist attack is prefaced with a denial that a particular community is a threat; or that taxes can be cut and spending upped without consequences. What's needed is some way out of the maze of lies, not to get at the liars, because liars never pay the price, but to get away from the lie.

Compared to Iran and Iraq, how the President is covered is small potatoes, but nonetheless NRO's media blog picks up on something Elizabeth Bumiller, outgoing White House correspondent for the NY Times, writes in her valedictory

Media critics have devoted countless words to how "he said, she said" journalism often results in the public learning little more than the spin of both sides, with scant attention paid to the actual substance of the policy in question. Especially in this case, the advantage goes to the side that's spinning against the White House, because as Bumiller writes, she often "worked the phones in concentric circles inward, from members of Congress who were mad at the president, to put-upon State Department officials, to those ubiquitous 'Republicans close to the White House.'" In other words, the administration's opponents in Congress often drove the story selection, with its supporters playing defense.

(Could Maryland's hostile politics also be media driven?)

Unlike the cases of Iraq and Iran where the bias comes from a lack of reporting, this kind of political reporting is agenda driven. It is the agenda of the President's opponents that drives this kind of coverage.

In all three cases we see ways how media can be biased - both by comission and by omission.

It's time that the media took a good look at itself. It is not serving the public's best interests.

Technorati tags: Media Bias.

Vigorously protest

A month ago a Baltimore Sun editorial wrote (I'd link to it, but the link has expired. The Sun isn't as generous with its RSS feeds as the NY Times is.)

But support for terrorism and the destruction of Israel undercuts the PA's legitimate right to vigorously protest the occupation.

After all those years of paying lip service to condemning terror while professing understanding of the Palestinians use of violence due to the humiliation of occupation, the American media (and other enablers) has created a sense that "vigorous protest" involves firepower.

Bad cellular service?

Can you hear me now? No? BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Bad day for the Rafedia Quarter Industiral Average?

unknown gunmen fired shots at the Palestinian Stock Exchange

Bad media coverage?

Palestinian journalists attacked, threatened by leading factions

Technorati tags: Terrorism, Palestinian Authority, Media Bias.

J-blog community

In mocking the recent efforts to capture the essence of the Jewish Blogosphere or J-Blogosphere a contributor to Jewlicious reminds us to think

“I am not a significant person. My opinions are not significant. The fact that 50 people who share my opinions comment on my site everyday is not significant. I will refrain from investing cosmic import into the musings of my online buddies, and I will remind myself that probably 95% of Jewish people have no idea what a blog is, nor do they care. All Jewish blogs are is Jewish people expressing opinions, which I can see everyday at my local synagogue, which often, by the way, has a buffet, unlike my blog.”

The writer, frankly, missed the point. If you look at the contributors to the J-Blogosphere blog they are all committed to creating a community. How far that community will reach, remains to be seen. They may benefit from this definition and collaboration, but that's not the point of the exercise. The point is to create a community.

(I would note, too, that none of the J-blogosphere contributors feel the need to use 4 letter words to make their points. They are all more evolved than that.)

What's this community idea? Let's consider a couple of recent initiatives.

In honor of Yom Ha-atzmaut, Daled Amos started an Israel Meme. Overall a baker's dozen of bloggers wrote of their experiences in Israel. These recollections of Israel were entertaining and enlightening.

In a similar vein, West Bank Mama recently celebrated her Aliyah (emigration to Israel) by asking other bloggers to share their Aliyah stories. Again the result was more entertaining than you'd read in any American-Jewish weekly. And it was self-organized. She links to them all.

Like the Israel Meme, she created a feature the equal of which you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else.

Will thousands of people read these? Maybe not. But those who contributed (and read the posts) have a shared experience that can't be matched in other media.

One other nice thing of a community. Given the common interests some in the community go off looking for information that doesn't get emphasized elsewhere. Someone with an interest and persistance can bring an otherwise obscure story to the forefront. In this case I'm thinking of the Hashmonean who has been following the story of the Israeli developed Trophy "Active Protection" system and its apparent rejection by the U.S. Military for protecting American armored vehicles.

This is a story that should be getting more attention. (Elder of Ziyon also has shown a great interest in this technology.)

Will J-Bloggers change the world? Probably not. But they will inform and entertain an expanding community.

BTW, as a number of bloggers have noticed there's a new aggregator J-Blogsphere.net. It has a nice preview feature too. If you haven't been added yet, use the contact form.

Technorati tags: J-Blogosphere, Blogging Community.

Welcome to the sun lies

Pillage Idiot has announced that The Sun Lies has joined me, Maryland Conservatarian and the Baltimore Reporter in the Maryland Blogger Alliance.

In honor of of the new addition let's fisk "Perils of the state's angry politics" by David Nitkin.

There's so much dishonest about the article it's hard to know where to begin.

So why don't I begin with the one honest paragraph in the article?

Experts say it is understandable that political tensions are at an all-time high. Ehrlich is Maryland's first Republican governor in more than a generation. Democrats don't like sharing power, and Ehrlich is playing tough because he is seeking re-election in a state where his party remains outnumbered by Democrats by a margin of nearly 2 to 1.

No one likes to cede power. And when politicians have to, they give it up no more willingly than a four year old gives up his or her favorite toy. And they're likely to cry a lot louder than a four year old does.

The gist of Nitkin's argument is that politics in Annapolis has become more polarized because each party has become more ideological. Of course the only examples he brings are former Republicans who finds Republicans too extreme.

Do the math. Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1 but Ehrlich won 52% of the vote. That means that he took roughly (this is inexact) one quarter of the Democratic vote. He also got the support of a number of former Democratic office holders and he usually works well with Democratic Comptroller William Donald Schaeffer.

On the face of it Ehrlich appeals to a not insubstantial minority of Democrats, so how is it that he has played a role in the polarization that Nitkin laments?

Oh that's right, he fired political appointees left and right. Well actually he retained about 96% of all inherited political appointees. (The Ehrlich administration claims that it has fired about 280 out of 7000 such appointees. This is terrible for those who lose their jobs, but hardly the wholesale firing that Democrats and their media cheerleaders want us to believe.)

Oh and his appointee smeared Mayor O'Malley! Well yes Steffen admitted to spreading the rumor. It's still unclear who started it. And there seems to be a bit of skullduggery that someone close to O'Malley engaged in (possibly with the connivance of a reporter for the Washington Post) in order to draw Steffen out.

There's no point in tying the angry politics to anything national. Does anyone doubt that House Speaker Busch will suddenly see the light and find slots acceptable if they're proposed by Governor O'Malley next year? Why no mention of Maryland's Voting Rights act that questioned the legitimacy of Ehrlich's election in 2002? (Although some other anti-Ehrlich bills are mentioned, none are more nefarious than the voting rights bill.)

And to whom does Nitkin turn to suggest as an alternative to the petty bickering Democrats and Republicans? To certified Angry Left denizen Kevin Zeese who is pushing ahead with his plans to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Yes, exactly the sort of person disenchanted voters will turn to. If they're moonbats.

And finally the Sun hasn't exactly been absent in these partisan tiffs. It has come down in the corner of the Democrats time and again. When Mr. Nitkin and his then colleague, Michael Olesker got careless with the facts, the Governor banned state agencies from talking with either. (Maryland executive branch employees could talk to other Sun reporters and columnists so it was hard to see the "chilling effect" the ban had on journalism. And of course, though the Washington Post hasn't exactly been supportive of the Governor the governor took no action against any of its reporters. Olesker subsequently left the Sun under less than auspicious circumstances. And, speaking of the Washington Post, in its brief supporting the Sun's legal action it compared the Ehrlich administration to a "repressive regime." I fail to see how such hyperbole - that the Sun didn't reject - added to the comity in Annapolis.)

Simply put the article is merely Nitkin's barely disguised complaint that there's no Democrat in the State House. No doubt, if the natural order of things is restored this November Mr. Nitkin won't wait long to start praising the "new spirit of cooperation" in Annapolis. Of course that won't be bi-partisan cooperation. But "bi-partisan" isn't important unless a Republican's in charge.

I hope that the Sun Lies likes this.

And while you're in the mood check out the Hedgehog Report's latest Maryland political news. My only issue here is that those who are questioning Mayor O'Malley's crime fighting strategy probably won't be improving Baltimore's policing either.

Technorati tags: Maryland Politics, Governor Ehrlich.

Anti-zionism ?= antisemitism

I started this by writing

Proving as reliable as a stopped watch, stark raving moonbat, Tikkun Olam can't get around his fixation with the occupation, but still finds the blanket boycott of Israeli academic institutions troubling. Having looked at the text of the boycott he also wonders if the language may be antisemitic.

While the introduction was unnecessarily snarky I was simply giving Tikun Olam credit for being bothered by the tone of the call for the boycott.

However he objected to my using the "antisemitic" when he meant that an aspect of the boycott seemed to be anti-Zionist.

I responded that I made the mistake because I equated anti-Zionism with antisemitism. So Tikun Olam responded

Pro-Israel propagandists have a hard time distinguishing bet. those opposed to Israel as a state and being opposed to Jews as a people or race (aka anti-Semitism). The distinction is crystal clear to most reasonable people. But if Israel can do no wrong & criticism of it is the worst sin imaginable, then there is no difference at least in their limited perspective.

Lest the author mischaracterize my views by claiming I AM an anti-Zionist let me preempt him by explaining that I am not. And if he didn't intend to make that claim I apologize. But so many others have done so in this type of situation I thought I'd get the potential canard out of the way.

And let me give him & his readers some more food for thought by pointing him to Gideon Levy's courageous column (linked in my post which is linked to my name here) about the boycott effort published in Haaretz. But I guess even Israelis who support Israel's best long-term interests by supporting the boycott can be anti-Semitic in the eyes of Soccer Dad.

First I'd like to quote a famous pro-Israel propogandist (h/t Elie's Expositions ) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I researched Dr. Martin Luther King's famous, oft-quoted "Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend", only to discover, to my chagrin, that the letter is apparently a hoax, as confirmed by Camera and other sources.

However, although not actual, the letter is at least in tune with Dr. King's real personal beliefs regarding Jews and Israel; an "almost-fact", if you will. As he was positively confirmed to have said at a 1968 Harvard University appearance:

“When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews; you are talking anti-Semitism.”

While I'm flattered that Tikun Olam considers me a pro-Israel propagandist he is wrong that my failure to distinguish between anti-Zionism and antisemitism is a shortcoming of mine.

Perhaps it is because his definition of Zionism is deficient. Zionism means believing that there is a historical connection between Jews and Israel. Anti-Zionism - at the core of Palestinian nationalism - denies that connection. It means, further, that one believes that Jews alone among all people have no right to an independent country.

Simply put anti-Zionism denies 2000 years of Jewish history. If someone who denies 15 years of Jewish history (i.e. a Holocaust denier) is considered beyond the pale surely someone who denies so much more should be too.

I realize of course that those promoting anti-Zionism usually hide behind a mask of caring for Palestinian rights. But that's just putting a noble face on a vile belief. Anti-Zionists are revealed as phonies because the Palestinian rights they so loudly demand are nowhere in evident in the state currently being created by the Palestinians. If they truly cared about Palestinian rights, they'd be demanding a lot more of the Palestinians. But the only rights they want for the Palesitians are those that deny Israel its legitimacy. In other words just like the original antisemitism, the anti-Zionism of today uses another cause to make it respectable.

The term antisemitism was invented by a German, Wilhelm Marr. The term was one of pride for Marr. He hated Jews not because they believed in the wrong God, but because they really were inferior.

Antisemitism is indeed not only an unfortunate phenomenon, but by universal admission an unfortunate term. Its origins are clearly documented. It was coined in 1879 by the German journalist Wilhelm Marr, the author of a book called "The Victory of Judaism Over Germanism." In that year Marr, in step with the swelling tide of anti-Jewish feeling in Germany, founded his Bund der Antisemiten or "Antisemitic League." The term caught on immediately. In 1881 an "Antisemitic Petition" bearing 225,000 signatures was presented to Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, and by 1882 there was an official "Anti-Semitic Party" in Germany that won several seats in the Reichstag.

Why did the German word Antisemitismus so quickly replace the older Judenfeindschaft, or "Jew-hatred," and spread to other European languages as well? The answer lies in the growing propagation in late-19th-century Europe of a pseudo-Darwinian racial ideology that, dividing the world's population into various "biologically" definable groups of which the "Aryan" was deemed the most advanced and fittest to survive, relegated Jews and blacks to the bottom of the ladder. The problem was, however, that Jews could not be "scientifically" considered a separate race in themselves. After all, they originally came from the Middle East, where, like all other Middle Easterners, to whom they bore many resemblances, they had spoken a Semitic language — in their case, Hebrew. "Racially," therefore, they had to be considered "Semites," thus making anyone who opposed them or considered them inferior on racial rather than strictly religious grounds an "anti-Semite."

I do not intend to continue this conversation. To argue with an unthinking ideologue is like teaching a pig to sing.

If Tikun Olam is really an anti-Zionist, then let me say he is an antisemite. If he's simply sympathetic to anti-Zionists then he is sympathetic to antisemites.

If he believes that I believe that Israel can do no wrong he is mistaken. But it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that he believes that Israel can do no right. What amazes me is that after Syria, Hezbollah and the Palestinian Authority rejected Israeli peace overtures in 2000 that anyone still places the onus of peace making on Israel. (Yes I know each offer by Israel was inadequate for one reason or another. Actually they were all inadequate because the Arab world - an unprogressive place as any in the world - is still hostile to Israel's existence. Those making excuses for this hostility are excusing the reactionary in the name of progressive politics.)

Finally my hostility toward Tikun Olam isn't just a reaction to his intellectual laziness. Six months ago another blogger twisted my words. Tikun Olam in true progressive fashion cut and pasted that post into his own, and expressed his approval of the other person's judgment. I don't feel I owe him any apologies. He is an unpleasant moonbat through and through.

Technorati tags: antisemitism, anti-Zionism.

The army's heart - military monday 2

Umar Mohammed is a 7 year old Afghani boy who was recently released from the hospital.

Umer was released from a District hospital on Wednesday, almost two weeks after surgery to repair a hole in his heart and remove blockages in passages leading to his lungs. Such defects are normally repaired in infancy, but Umer's condition wasn't fully diagnosed until U.S. Army doctors examined him about a year ago.

Umer's heart was four to five times thicker than normal, said Gerard Martin, the chief heart doctor at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, where Umer had surgery.

The Larry King Cardiac Foundation takes credit for having arranged for Umar treatment.

Mohammed had been air-lifted from Afghanistan to Andrew's Air Force Base in Maryland and then transported to Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. where he received life-saving treatment sponsored by The Larry King Cardiac Foundation (LKCF). His physicians say he is making great progress and is slated to be released from the hospital later today.

Although he will need to stay in the vicinity for four to six weeks, as an additional cardiac catheterization procedure is necessary, Mohammed can look forward to a child's life, free of cardiac disease.

The gregarious Mohammed, who is the Foundation's 30th patient of 2006, suffered from a congenital heart condition known as tetralogy of Fallot -- or a hole in the heart -- the most common cause of cyanotic heart disease. This condition causes dangerously low levels of oxygen in the blood, hence the reason for Mohammed's blue skin tone appearance and his nickname "Blue." If left untreated, it could have resulted in death or brain damage. Mohammed's surgery was performed by Richard Jonas, MD, Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Children's.

It is not unheard of for American Army doctors to treat the civilians in Afghanistan. A quick review of the Army's website gives us two similar incidents.