Soccer Dad

Public access?

Sarah's Images is having connection problems.

Maybe she should hang out at her local public library - after closing. (via Instapundit, h/t Don Surber by e-mail.)

Alaska state troopers had chased Tanner off a few times at other locations, Remaley said.

Tanner said that was true. He has a device on his keychain that sniffs out wireless networks. When he found one, he would park in his neighborhood and use his $800 Dell laptop to hop on the Web. But worried neighbors summoned the troopers, who told him to park in a public place.

"I went to the public library because I go there during the day," Tanner said.

Though the library was closed, its wireless was up and running, he said.

Tanner said he was upset that he hasn't gotten his computer back yet. The police have told him he won't until the case is concluded, he said.

Jeanne Novosad, the library system manager, said the wireless connection is normally shut off when the library is closed. But the library was waiting on a technician to install a timer and the connection was left on after hours for several days, she said.

Heh, I found another case of this. It reminded me a bit of this story about Ooka the wise.

Not apartheid

One of the common charges against Israel is that practices apartheid against the Palestinians. The charge is repugnant. The charge had a lot of currency in the 1980's at the height of the international campaign against apartheid. The Washington Post in a not so subtle move even re-assigned its South African correspondent to Jerusalem. (Allister Sparks who also reported for the Washington Post at that time is now one of the most vicious anti-Israel critics and a proponent of a one-state solution.)

And yet even after Israel withdrew from Gaza despite the risks that were unfortunately realized the charge is still made. Jimmy Carter titled his most recent book "Peace not Apartheid." Walt and Mearsheimer uncritically accepted Yasser Arafat's excuse for rejecting an agreement at Camp David in 2000 because it would have created Bantustans.

Charging Israel with apartheid isn't just any criticism. It is a criticism that says that Israel has no right to exist.

It's Almost Supernatural has simply and elegantly refuted the charge first by describing the nature of apartheid.

Legislation was passed to legally separate blacks from whites in all aspects of daily life. The separate public amenities act ruled that blacks and whites would receive separate public services. Blacks and whites were to have separate education, medical care, transport and beaches. The legislation even pervaded to the use of parks – blacks could not sit on the same benches as whites and they could not even use the same water fountains used by whites.

And later by showing how none of those elements apply to Israel. Read Part Hate. You must.

Also blogging this: Jack's Shack, Backspin. Deja Vu. Israel Matzav. Digital Irony.

Blogdigger tags: Israel, Apartheid.

If ... you must 02/28/2007

If you haven't read The difference at Aidel Maidel; you must.
It's wonderful to read that she's happy and that her spirits are sky high. May it continue and get even better!

If you haven't read Prodigy of Old age at Pillage Idiot+; you must.
The New York Times issued a correction about that op-ed. Nothing significant. If I could correct 3 things from my younger days I would have wanted to have become accomplished at reading the Torah, playing chess and playing a musical instrument. Good luck to Pillage Idiot on the last of those!

If you haven't read On the to do list: mapping the cancer genome at White Pebble; you must.

If you haven't read the mystery of missing red hair at A Simple Jew ; you must.
Did you know that the Red Headed League closed up shop on my birthday?

Technorati tag: If you must.

Blogdigger tags: Shidduch, Piano, Cancer, Red Hair.

Juggling carnivals

Thanks to Dr. Sanity for featuring a post of mine in the most recent Carnival of the Insanities.

The second edition of J-Pix the Jewish Photography carnival is at the home of its creater Bagel Blogger. Next hostess scheduled is Me-Ander who's been doing some really great photography lately and who's passing off hosting her Kosher Cooking Carnival to Baleboosteh.

Last but not least is my hometown carnival, the FIRST Carnival of Maryland hosted at it the home of its creator CrabLaw.

For more on each check out Carnival of the Insanities, J-Pix and Carnival of Maryland.

Blogdigger tags: Blog Carnivals, Carnival of the Insanities, Kosher Cooking Carnival, JPix, Carnival of Maryland.

Differing visions

In Going Nowhere Fast, David Ignatius looks at polls in the Arab world and concludes that the United States's influence is a low ebb due to the mistaken policies of the Bush Adminstration.

"Are you on the road, or in the ditch?" Back when I covered labor negotiations 30 years ago, that was the question reporters would ask to get a sense of how contract talks were going. The phrase came back to me last weekend as I listened to a series of relentlessly negative presentations at a conference here on America's relations with the Muslim world.

We are in the ditch in the Middle East. As bad as you think it is watching TV, it's worse. It's not just Iraq but the whole pattern of America's dealings with the Arab world. People aren't just angry at America -- they've been that way to varying degrees since I first came here 27 years ago. What's worse is that they're giving up on us -- on our ability to make good decisions, to solve problems, to play the role of honest broker.

In a similar vein Jean Abi Nader writes in "the Gulf between the Arabs and America":

During my visits to the region in the fall and again last month, it was evident in Syria and Saudi Arabia that there is widespread concern for the Iraqi people and equal conviction that the United States wants to prolong their suffering . . . As the recent crisis grew, I heard the same litany in conversations with Kuwaitis, Lebanese and others: that the United States has double standards when it comes to enforcing U.N. resolutions on the Middle East . . .

Shibley Telhami, quoted by Ignatius, also wrote on his own in U. S. Iraqi policy alienating Arab allies

The answers underscore the need for a new U.S. approach to Middle East policy even as Washington must remain steadfast in demanding Iraqi compliance. Specifically, the current institutional separation between Arab-Israeli issues and the rest of the Middle East must be erased. "Linkage" of these issues, temporarily suspended in 1990, can no longer be avoided. The essential task of maintaining a broad consensus on what to do about Iraq requires greater U.S. sensitivity toward its allies' concerns. . . . Instead, the rift between the United States and its Arab allies over Iraqi policy has been growing daily, exacerbated by Arab frustrations over the glacial pace of the Arab-Israeli peace process.

The ellipses in the two preceding paragraphs though, should clue the reader in. I haven't exactly been forthright in those quotes. Those quotes are not contemporary, but the Nader article is from March 1998 and the Telhami article's from Nov 1997. In other words both articles are critiquing the Clinton administration's approach to the Middle East, not the Bush administration's. The point is that most American administrations are going to have significant differences with the Arab world, and the Arab world and its interlocutors will use those differences to blame the alienation of our Arab allies on America's myopic leadership.

In a different approach Maryland Conservatarian dismisses the polling that underlies Ignatius's argument

... when a man in a coma garners more dislike than the current Israeli leader; that really can’t say too much for the attention span of those surveyed.

And he points out

But not to be all negative; his suggestion about brokering “a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute” is just the kind of innovative thinking we need for our Government. Perhaps some input from Bill Clinton would be of some help in this matter. I think he has some experience from a similar matter some 8 years ago.

Yes we should go back and see what the Arab world was saying back in the heyday of the Clinton administration. Ignatius's expert, Shibley Telhami, was active back in 1998. What did he write then?

In large part, the United States is mediating the Arab-Israeli conflict because it is the only party acceptable to Israel. It is unlikely that the Palestinians would have accepted a proposal for Israeli withdrawal from only 13% of the occupied territory if any other country had made it. Left on their own or to the mediation of others, the Palestinians would probably have rejected even a larger offer from Israel. Although the United States, as a mediator, always applies some pressure on both parties, it is clear, by the sheer asymmetry of power, that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is more often the recipient of such pressure than Netanyahu.

Pressure? In 1998, a year after signing the Hebron Accords and committing to limiting the size of his "police" force, promising to halt terror, reversing the Palestinian charter and stopping incitement against Israel, Arafat still hadn't made good on any of his commitments. And who did the Clinton administration treat as the problem? From the Jan 20, 1998 Washington Post.

Having declined to find time for Netanyahu in November, even as their aircraft parked nose to tail at Los Angeles International Airport, Clinton is continuing what one administration official described as a deniable but obvious pattern of "snub diplomacy." Today's schedule includes no breaking of bread, no visit to Blair House, no joint public appearance -- no touch at all of the usual warmth that greets Israeli leaders on visits of state.

"We're treating him like the president of Bulgaria," who is arriving to a modest reception on Feb. 10, the official said. "Actually, I think {Clinton will go} jogging with the president of Bulgaria, so that's not fair."

Those arguing for the concerns of the Arab world and complaining about the lack of attention that the United States pays to those concerns often have to ignore what's really happening to make their case. For Telhami to accuse the Clinton administration of only pressuring Arafat when it was clear that the administration was in fact pressuring Netanyahu (when Netanyahu was making the "unreasonable" demand that Arafat actually adhere to the Hebron accords the he had signed and that the U.S. had guaranteed) shows that in some ways placating America's Arab allies is difficult, if not impossible.

There are fundamental differences between America and the Arab world. Blaming the lack of cooperation on American indifference, insensitivity or bias is unfair. The United States is a liberal democracy the Arab world consists of tyrants and somewhat benevolent dictators. If there weren't differences in world views and priorities that would be surprising.

But the differences exist and will always exist unless one or the other changes.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Blogdigger tags: Arab World, Diplomacy, President Bush, President Clinton.

If ... you must 02/27/2007

If you haven't read Treppenwitz's Hitting Close to Home; you must.
Life in Israel has similar thoughts with a context.

If you haven't read New line of export old line of import at SimplyJews; you must.
Half funny. Half unfortunately not.

If you haven't read Leaving the Good Fight at Jewish Current Issues; you must.
How committed was Beinart? Didn't he write a book on how only liberals could win the war on terror?

If you haven't read Why Jews are Liberal at Kesher Talk; you must.
Continuing thoughts and a link back to those thoughts from a few years ago.

If you haven't read The Spine's Wisdom of Ze'ev Schiff; you must.
And here's Ze'ev Schiff. The Spine focused on what I would have focused on. But Schiff's wrong when he differentiates between Fatah and Hamas; especially now.

If you haven't read South African demonstrates its biased Mid East Foreign Policy - Again at It's almost Supernatural; you must.
As goes France, so goes South Africa. Apparently.

If you haven't read Seraphic Secret's Setting the Shabbos Table; you must.
I do more of the cooking and less of the setting. But I do get the candles ready.

If you haven't read Making sense of the Mishkan at Elie's Expositions; you must.
It's a very creative reading of the Mishkan and its service. And it's still apropos for another few weeks of Torah reading!

If you haven't read How do they teach American history to the Second Graders? at Daled Amos; you must.
What war was George Washington famous for fighting in?

If you haven't read playing fetch with Dolly at Different is not necessarily painful; you must.

If you haven't read Club Sandwich at Dr. Helen; you must.
I don't feel the tug, yet, thank God. But I have friends who do.

If you haven't read Bet you didn't know they were Jewish #10 at Israelly Cool!; you must.
I knew who it was from the clues. I really didn't know she was Jewish. I'm pretty certain I heard she was Christian, though I forget the denomination.

If you haven't read The Clintons and Money at the Spine; you must.
Related thoughts at Kausfiles.

If you haven't read More Gore at Jules Crittenden; you must.
He links to mostly critical pieces including Outside the Beltway on the politicization of awards shows. And, of course, The Spine has kind words for his former student and still good friend.

If you haven't read So who blew the forecast at Maryland Weather Blog ; you must.
An inside look at the consideration that weather forecasters have to deal with, including some that don't show up until the last minute. And thanks for taking my question. And getting it answered (or dismissed.)

Technorati tag: If you must

Blogdigger tags: If ... you must, Blogging, Iraq, Jews, Liberalism, Dogs, History, Al Gore, The Clintons, Shabbos.

Tom and Jerry and Jack and Will

I thought I'd seen another picture of Israel's Defense Secretary Peretz with covered and backward binoculars in the past, but I've been assured that the only other person to do that in the past is the current President of the United States.

One thing I remembered correctly though was that the idea of Tom and Jerry being a sign of Jewish conspiracy. Why it's resurfaced (at Instapundit and Roger L Simon for example) a year after it's initial appearance, I have no idea.

As one of Roger's commenters noted this story was originally at MEMRI.

But MEMRI tells us that those sinister Zionists weren't just spreading their influence through a cat and mouse game (incorrectly) attributed to Disney, but also through Jack and Will - that Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner - the Pirates of the Carribean (correctly) credited to Disney.

Having seen Dead Man's Chest, I can't say I recognized anything remotely Jewish about it. Ah but there's more.

"In 2004, Disney supported the Bush administration's expansionist policies, and refrained from screening the film Fahrenheit 9/11, which harshly criticized Bush's policy in attacking Iraq. This film, which won the Palme d'Or award at the Cannes film festival, became the bestselling documentary in the history of the film industry. Disney's move brought it nothing but disgrace.

This is lovely. The Iranians are citing Michael Moore's false claim that Disney refused to distribute Farenehit 9/11 out of deference to the Bush administration. (I doubt that it even bothers Moore that his own arguments are being appropriated by folks trying to show the world domination of the Jews.)

So remember Jews aren't just spreading their influence through Tom and Jerry, they're also doing it via Pirates of the Carribean.

Blogdigger tags: Antisemitism, Iran, MEMRI, Tom and Jerry, Pirates of the Carribean.

If ... you must 02/26/2007

If you haven't read AbbaGav's definition of Chutzpah; you must.
Meryl Yourish has one that's not funny.

If you haven't seen Snow Photos at Crossing the Rubicon3; you must.
And check out all her new pictures with her new camera: First shots, cameras are nifty and experiments in Sepia.

If you haven't read OyVayBlog's Korean antisemitism; you must.
Follow the link for more info.

If you haven't read Searched and Found at Simply Jews; you must.
I finally found a member of SJ other than Snoopy the Goon! Welcome AgentAzure

If you haven't read Meryl Yourish's We like you, really, like you; you must.
I guess those folks using Yahoo! aren't from the U.S.

If you haven't read Funny Math Answers at Binza; you must.
(h/t Pillage Idiot)

If you haven't read Elder of Zion's PalArab Self Death Update; you must.

If you haven't read Ocean Guy's Diplomatic Fetishists; you must.

"Dialogue does not equal peace."

Who'd have thought that!

If you haven't read France Capitulates at Treppenwitz; you must.
If you hadn't read France Capitulates, you would have assumed it anyway. You just wouldn't know in which arena it capitulated.

If you haven't read The ongoing struggle against reality at Dr. Sanity; you must.
Reality: France will capitulate.

If you haven't read Europeans spying on Jewish communities at Israel Matzav; you must.
Maybe it would be good if some Europeans surrendered.

If you haven't read Solomonia's CAIR brings the Temple Mount Conspiracy Westward; you must.
How many more times will we read that CAIR is a civil rights organization?

If you haven't read West Bank Mama's Won't you be my neighbor?; you must.
Sort of like Mrs. Rubenstein's neighborhood. UPDATE: see Israel Matzav on the American side of things.

If you haven't read How you know you're from Cleveland at SerAndEz; you must.
I've never been in Cleveland, I don't recognize most of them. But they're still amusing.

If you haven't read Original Sins, Fair Game at Jules Crittenden; you must.

If you haven't read Don Surber's Hillary's Free Speech Problem; you must.

If you haven't read Monoblogue's Odds and Ends No 7; you must.
At least if you're interested in Maryland politics.

Blogdigger tags: If ... you must, Israel, France, CAIR, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Math Problems, Chutzpah, Gallup.

Technorati tag: If you must.

Edwards, variety, bonior, israel

Israel Matzav has a good rundown on the John Edwards that Israel presented "greatest short-term threat to the world" flap. (Or is that flip?)

But even granting Roger L. Simon's critique of the interview, there's a serious reason to be wary of Edwards's view towards Israel. Edwards has taken on longtime Congressional Israel basher, David Bonior, as his campaign manager.

Apparently even Edwards realizes that Bonior is a potential liability among Jews.

He drew loud applause when he endorsed AIPAC's trademark issue: isolating Iran as long as it resists nuclear transparence.

“For years I have argued that the United States has not been doing enough to deal with the growing threat in Iran," he said. “While we've talked about the dangers of nuclear terrorism, we've largely stood on the sidelines as the problems got worse. I believe that for far too long, we've abdicated our responsibility to deal with the Iranian threat to the Europeans."

Such talk has helped draw major Jewish donors to Edwards' campaign. He raised eyebrows late last year, however, when he named as his campaign director David Bonior, a former Michigan congressman noted for his tough criticism of Israel.

Bonior and Edwards reached out to top pro-Israel figures and assured them that Bonior's role would not extend to foreign policy.

(Emphasis mine.)

I'm willing to cut Edwards slack that he mis-spoke in the Variety interview and didn't mean to imply that Israel was the threat. However his appointment of Bonior speaks louder than any words he said or didn't say.

Crosposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Blogdigger tags: Israel, John Edwards, David Bonior.

Haveil Havalim #108 is UP!

If life wasn't busy enough for Life of Rubin - he's conspiring with Bagel Blogger and Mystical Paths on the 2006 JIB's - he volunteered to host this week's Haveil Havalim #108. Unfortunately his theme got lost; but not the great work he did accumulating the best of the Jewish Blogosphere.

I'd like to thank the wonderful folks at BlogCarnival for this wonderful Blog Carnival Widget that gives information on upcoming hosts and past editions.

Thanks for participating, reading and keeping Haveil Havalim going!

Next Week is Purim. There will be no Haveil Havalim. However the Muqata has plans. If you're a blogger please participate and make this a very happy blogging Purim.

In two week's time, March 12, the host is scheduled to be Life in Israel who is making his freshman appearance as a host for edition #109!

In addition to e-mail you may submit entries to Haveil Havalim using the submission form over at BlogCarnival. Or feel free to e-mail me at dhgerstman at hotmail dot com.

Also if you'd like to host an upcoming edition e-mail me at the above address.

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.

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

Keep on truckin'

A number of years ago the Baltimore Sun had an editorial about Maryland's Shock Trauma unit. The editorial called for changes at the hospital because of the higher mortality rate than at other hospitals in Maryland. (IIRC, changes were instituted subsequent to that time.) What struck me, though, was that the argument was phony. Of course the mortality rate will be higher at Shock Trauma, that's where more severely injured patients are taken. The reason was so obvious, why didn't the editorial writers consider it.

Reading this editorial on truck safety has me asking a similar question.

Large trucks are a growing presence on America's highways -- and a growing cause of traffic fatalities. Between 1995 and 2005, the number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes grew by more than 10 percent. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 5,212 people died in truck-involved crashes in 2005 and speeding was a common factor.

I don't know much about trucking but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that from 1995-2005 the number of large trucks on the highway or the number of miles travelled (or both) increased by at least 10%, making an increase of 10% understandable. In other words, again, this is data that proves nothing. Presented out of context I have no way of knowing if this increase is, by itself, a crisis that needs to be addressed.

A proposal under review by the U.S. Department of Transportation would require all speed governors on trucks weighing more than 13 tons to be set no higher than 68 miles per hour. It was filed by the safety advocacy group, Road Safe America, and a coalition of 10 major trucking companies.

The plan makes a lot of sense. There's no good reason for trucks to travel any faster, and it's not uncommon for large carriers to restrict vehicles in their own fleets anyway. Trucks that travel at reasonable speeds are not only safer but more fuel efficient and cheaper to operate.

I'm not convinced that this is a great idea. The speed governor sounds like a great idea, but as the editorial notes later

It's not because trucks speed more often than cars (they don't) but because the consequences of an out-of-control, 80,000-pound truck are so much worse than with a 3,000-pound car.

Exactly, physics is at play in truck accidents. But it's not just in accidents, it's at play when a truck is travelling normally. Ever head down a grade and notice that the truck that was comfortably behind you is right on your bumper as you reach the bottom? A truck driver uses hills. On the way down he'll let gravity do some of the work. Restricting the maximum speed could interfere with this and make driving somewhat less safe.

I'm writing this as survivor of a truck accident. Miraculously we were pushed accross an empty lane of traffic off the road into tall grass instead of toward the Jersey wall. We weren't crushed either. The problem, though, wasn't the truck's speed. It was its blind spot.

If there are ways to make transportation safer, I'm all for it. I'm just not convinced that the speed governor is as risk free as the editors of the Sun feel it is.

Blogdigger tags: Trucking, Speed Governor, Accidents.

Maryland's death penalty

There's been some discussion about Maryland's death penalty. Not just because of Governor O'Malley's high profile opposition to the death penalty but because a conservative State Senator Alex Mooney is considering opposing the death penalty.

Maryland Conservatarian considers both stories in Situational Ethics who argues

I’m ambivalent about the Death Penalty. Like, I suspect, most people, there are instances of such absolute evil (like the John Thanos case the Governor mentions) that a resulting application of the Death Penalty doesn’t seem worth any anxiety. But the State killing anyone is still reason for pause so LEGISLATIVELY eliminating the Death Penalty won’t get much out of me.

What does irk me though is the selective application of statistics such as was done by our Governor so INARTICULATELY (it’s OK – he’s white). For many, deterrence is not even a prime reason for having the Penalty. Instead, the Death Penalty just seems an appropriate punishment for certain crimes against society.

Rhymes with Right appreciates the Mooney article but wonders how the Post would treat a politician who's opposition to abortion was also based on his faith.

It is a wonderful piece, and raises all sorts of arguments -- pro and con -- about the death penalty/life without parole debate. But could you imagine the Washington Post running an article like this about a liberal legislator going against the grain on abortion or gay rights, and seeking to bring their Catholic religious values into the legislative process? There would be howls of outrage!

CrabLaw quotes Catholic doctrine and tries not be cynical about State Sen. Mooney

I don't claim to know Alex Mooney's soul or personality; I have met him twice and found him to be a pleasant, straight-forward person both times, but that's it. His politics stand to my right, particularly on issues such as same-sex marriage. But I am prepared to believe that Senator Mooney might, just might, actually be thinking about the morality of the matter at hand, rather than how to angle the politics of the situation to extract a cynical benefit.

The Sun's iconoclastic columnist Gregory Kane last week weighed in after watching the murder trial of one of the suspects accused of killing his first cousin.

No, I'm going to take Taylor at his word. He didn't do it. Some other dude done it. So why was Taylor the first time I saw him - at a hearing on a defense motion to suppress a photo array in March 2006 - smiling when he came into the courtroom?

Why was he cheesing and grinning in court yesterday at two women sitting in the back of the courtroom who cheesed and grinned right back and blew kisses at him?

Let's recap: Taylor is accused of a triple homicide. He's accused of the attempted murder of Shawn Brown, who has testified that Taylor is the man who shot Antwon Arthur in the head the night of Jan. 10, 2005. Owens, his girlfriend who was living with him at the time, has testified that he went to that recovery house in the 500 block of W. 27th St. to collect a drug debt from Arthur.

While I didn't want to read too much into the column, it appeared that Kane was arguing (implicitly) that if murder suspects felt they were on trial for their lives they'd be a bit more concerned about the proceedings. Perhaps he feels that way, but in his next column Kane argued for the death penalty, giving other reasons.

Let's say there's an inmate serving life without parole. He has it in for a corrections officer, one like McGuinn, whose only fault was doing his job the right way. This inmate knows three things:

• He's got life with no parole.

• Maryland has no death penalty.

• He can kill the corrections officer and not get punished for it because he knows he has already received the maximum penalty Maryland allows.

Now, governor, would you want one of your relatives working as a corrections officer under those conditions?

There's more to the column, but it is a practical (not necessarily moral) argument for the death penalty.

I have few problems with the death penalty. Given that Maryland only executed 3 killers in the four years of Gov. Ehrlich's term in office and that the courts have put a hold on executions, I have little regard for those grandstanding now that abolishing the death penalty is a great moral crusade.

(State Sen Lisa Gladden is a criminal defense attorney. If the death penalty is abolished, it hypothetically makes her job a little easier if she takes on clients accused of murder in Baltimore County depriving prosecutors of some of their leverage.)

Baltimore City's murder rate is a much greater blot on society than the occasional exercise of the ultimate punishment for convicted murderers.

Blogdigger tags: Death Penalty, Maryland.

If ... you must 02/23/2007

If you haven't read Another Spacecraft Explodes at Maryland Weather Blog; you must.
The NY Times reports on a concern about the increasing volume of space junk.

If you haven't read A great Briton at Don Surber ; you must.
This is how the Prince put it:

"If they said no, you can't go in the front line, then I wouldn't drag my sorry arse to Sandhurst and I wouldn't be where I am now, because the last thing I want to do is to have [my unit] sent away to Iraq or anywhere like that, and for me to be held back home twiddling my thumbs," Harry said on his 21st birthday in 2005.

In other words if he's going to do the training, he's going to serve like anyone else.

If you haven't read Power Line's The indispensible founder; you must.
Great article about George Washington's career as a distiller with this great tidbit:

But for all of Washington's commendable belief in moderate alcohol use, he very much appreciated its utility. Esther White, a Mount Vernon archaeologist, told me Washington once lost a 1755 campaign for the Virginia House of Delegates because he didn't treat prospective supporters to a drink. Two years later, he rolled out 144 gallons of refreshment. He won with 307 votes, a return on his investment of better than two votes per gallon. He never lost another campaign.

And don't forget to read the American Cincinnattus.

If you haven't read Secular Blasphemy's The Mythology of International Law; you must.
It's not just a problem if the framework makes war criminals out of Churchill or Roosevelt as Secular Blasphemy writes; it's also a problem when it makes Arafat legitimate as the late Jeane Kirkpatrick wrote.

If you haven't read Crablaw's Baltimore Examiner: Anne Arundel County Renovates "Snoezelen" Room for Autistic Students ; you must.
It includes his loving and poignant observations of his own autistic child.

If you haven't read Jules Crittenden's Quote of the Year; you must.
Somehow that last sentence about Vietnam reminded me of the Mouse that Roared.

If you haven't read Jules Crittenden's FDR ... Hitler Natural Allies; you must.
There's a certain arrogance possessed by by Thomas Friedman whose column is quoted here. In the aftermath of the 9/11, he was trying to whitewash Saudi Arabia giving over his column to promote Prince Abdullah's "peace plan" (rather it was series of specific demands on Israel and with vague promises in return.) To appreciate the degree to which Friedman's push for Abdullah's plan served Saudi propaganda needs, consider that the Saudi government for a while had it up on its website! So now Friedman wants the U.S. to engage Iran. But wait a second just a few months ago Friedman was arguing that the U.S. should engage Syria to break it out of the Iranian sphere of influence. The only consistency to Friedman's views is his opposition to the Bush administration. Again he misuses his expertise to take cheap shots at the administration instead of offering serious analyses. Unfortunatly there are plenty of people who uncritically accept everything he writes.

Blogdigger tags: If ... you must, Prince Harry, Space Junk, Quote of the Day, Iraq, Thomas Friedman, George Washington.

Technorati tag: If ... you must.

Changing the past

The Senate Democrats readying a bill to limit the country's military options in Iraq. (Which might prompt Sen Lieberman to switch parties.)

Riehl World View doesn't expect the vote to have any real impact because of delaying tactics. What matters, he writes, is results. If the new tactics aren't successful, America will be out of Iraq by 2008 anyway.

In the No way to end a war ( or here )Charles Krauthammer takes issue with both the Congressional approach

Unfortunately for the Democrats, Murtha is not disingenuous enough to have concealed the real motives for these ostensibly pro-readiness, pro-troops conditions. He has chosen conditions he knows are impossible to meet -- "We have analyzed this and we have come to the conclusion that it can't be done'' -- in order to make the continued prosecution of the war very difficult, if not impossible, for the commanders in the field.

But think of what that entails. It leaves the existing 130,000 troops out there without the reinforcements and tactical flexibility that the commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, says he needs to win.

and the Senate approach

Levin has a different idea -- change the original October 2002 authorization. "We'll be looking at modification of that authorization in order to limit the mission of American troops to a support mission instead of a combat mission,'' says Levin. "That is very different from cutting off funds.''

While this idea is not as perverse as Murtha's, it is totally illogical. There is something exceedingly strange about authorizing the use of force -- except for combat. That is an oxymoron. Changing the language of authorization means -- if it means anything -- that Petraeus will have to surround himself with lawyers who will tell him, every time he wants to deploy a unit, whether he is ordering a legal "support'' mission or an illegal "combat'' mission.

If Levin wants to withdraw our forces from the civil war in the cities to more secure bases from which we can continue training and launching operations against al-Qaeda, he should present that to the country as an alternative to (or fallback after) the administration's troop surge. But to force it on our commanders through legalisms is simply to undermine their ability to fight the war occurring on the ground today.

There's something perverse about changing the 2002 authorization. Why? Because what if Bill Clinton had been elected to a third term? Or if Al Gore had gotten the few hundred votes he needed in Florida? Does anyone believe that neither of those Democratic administrations would at least have considered going to war with Iraq if they knew the same things that the Bush administration knew at the time? I can't believe that they wouldn't have considered a military option. The maneuvering now is being done with the benefit of (or perhaps the burden of) hindsight. Things don't look good; let's cut our losses. And if you voted for the war, well now you need a dodge to escape responsibility.

But go back to 2002 and see what was reported then. Or go back to 1998. You'll find that Iraq was a major concern. And that America's intentions and actions toward Iraq were a source of friction with the Arab world. To claim otherwise is disingenuous.

Bush chose to go to war. And any responsible Democratic President would have had to have at least considered war in 2002. Changing the authorization hides that. Perhaps that's good politically if one's goal is to escape responsibility. But as Krauthammer puts it, it's no way to end a war.

Blogdigger tags: War, Iraq, Politics.

Council speak 02/23/2007

The council has spoken and these are the results. On the Council side, Right Wing Nuthouse's A rock, a hard place and the deep blue sea was the winning entry. It considered how much of an ally Musharaaf really is. There was a second place tie between JoshuaPundit's I'm Tired of ‘Supporting the Troops’ and the Glittering Eye's The Impossibility of Victory. The former deals with the hypocrisy of those - both on the right and the left - claiming to 'support' the troops and undermining them with their actions; the latter argues that a stable, democratic Iraq was never in the cards. And because I really enjoyed two of the third place finisher's this week here are the third place finishers. Colossus of Rhodey considered the Best (And Worst) TV Show "Replacements", which brought up lots of memories. It was just plain fun. The Sundries Shack entered Global Warming -- What Can We Do? (Part I), which was a simple idea to save energy and the environment. The third third place winner was the Eternity Road's Fallen Angels about the purity of ideology.

On the non-Council side the winning entry was my submission of the Islamist Historiography at Cross Currents by Jonathan Rosenblum in which he re-considers the idea that the Islamist forced Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan is what's energized today's aggressive Islamist movement. The runner up was WizBang's No blogger is an island, the post that was the starting point for the Eternity Road's Fallen Angels.

Would you like to take part in a future edition of the Watcher's Council? Follow these instructions.

Blogdigger tags: Watcher's Council.

If ... you must 02/22/2007

If you haven't read the Ignoble Experiment's Blogosphere's gone PC?; you must.
I understand and agree with her point to a degree. In blogging we create our communities. Once we're established in those communities we're comfortable and unwilling to rock the boat. So instead of promoting new ideas we just reinforce the old ones and censor ourselves. Thus blogging is just another way to communicate and it doesn't really stretch the boundaries of discourse as we boasted to ourselves when we got started.
Perhaps not.
(And there is a post I want desperately to write. On the other hand it will likely lead to my ostracism by a number of bloggers including one or two that I like. So I'm holding my keyboard. For now.)
On the other hand if our goal was to write and be read and now 100 or 200 (or more) people are reading us than would have been if we weren't blogging, well then haven't we accomplished something. We've built our own audience. And who knows? Maybe we'll change a mind or two. It may not be a lot, but it's something.
Me-Ander has an excellent and amusing post on the topic.

If you haven't read Cheney Unaware of Wilson Trip Until He Went Public at NRO's Media Blog; you must.

If you haven't read Baseball Cranks' Rashofitz; you must.
He doesn't sound much convinced by Libby's defense. On the other hand there didn't seem to be many witnesses whose testimony rang true either.

If you haven't read PostWatch's This time I turn in early; you must.
Reminding us, as the NRO post did, that there was a self seeking publicity hound and liar at the center of this controversy. Instead of getting locked for pulling a false alarm, Joe Wilson with the help of his "impartial" friends in the media has been able to damage the administration politically. Frankly this is a worse abuse of power than Ken Starr's investigation.

If you haven't read Hillary shaves head to grab limelight from Obama at Scrappleface; you must.
Well you must unless ... well it's not suitable for people with weak hearts of stomachs or young children whom you would not want to traumitize. What can I say? Hillary-ty ensues for the rest of us.

If you haven't read Heroes at Done with Mirrors; you must.
In which he profiles two young people who sacrifice their lives for their principles.

If you haven't read Life of Rubin's is Herores drawing material from Kabbalah?; you must.
It wouldn't surprise me. In popular culture religiosity is often equated with mysticism and the supernatural.

If you haven't read the Hedgehog Report's Does County Exec Ulman Need An SUV?; you must.
But it's a hybrid! That makes everything all right.

If you haven't read Maryland Conservatarian's Great moments in diversity; you must.
In which Maryland Conservatarian wonders if ensuring diversity is more important than ensuring effectiveness.

If you haven't read There's something special about Israeli cab drivers at Daled Amos ; you must.
Here's my experience.

If you haven't read On being tasted and other moving experiences at AbbaGav; you must.
AbbaGav is BACK!

Blogdigger tags: If ... you must, Blogging, Ken Ulman, Martin O'Malley, Libby Trial, Israeli Cab Drivers, Heroes, Heroes the TV Series.

Technorati tag: If ... you must.

Gender fender bender

You figure that you could call this a gender fender bender?

Fortunately they were caught by a traffic cop, not by morals police.

But if traffic isn't a good place for finding love maybe a bank would be better!

Blogdigger tags: Love in all the wrong places.

Juggling carnivals

Let's see ... other than Haveil Havalim that wasn't hosted this past week at Yid With Lid there've been some other carnivals of note that I participated in.

Thanks to Dr. Sanity for using a link to me in her most recent Carnival of the Insanities. And while I didn't have anything of my own in the 15th and most recent Kosher Cooking Carnival, Me-Ander used a number of items that I suggested. (She's been doing some great photography, I bet we'll see some of it in a future carnival ... keep reading.)

Upcoming in a few days are the second edition of the JPix photography carnival and the very first edition of the Carnival of Maryland. The former is a Jewish photography carnival and the latter is for Maryland bloggers or Maryland related material. Hat tips to Bagel Blogger and CrabLaw for originating and hosting them.

That should be enough to keep everyone busy. Oh, and I still want to submit something to the upcoming Harry Potter Carnival.

UPDATE: In all my juggling I let a very important ball drop. This week's Haveil Havalim will be hosted at Life of Rubin. Submit entries here. Check out his most recent hosting, the alphabet soup Haveil Havalim #104.

Blogdigger tags: Blog Carnivals, Haveil Havalim, Carnival of the Insanities, Kosher Cooking Carnival, JPix, Carnival of Maryland, Harry Potter Carnival.

Permanent with an expiration date

Two weeks ago I noticed that the Permalinks that were generated by the NY Times brought me back to the paid archive, despite a notice saying that it would keep the article free.

Finally after a number of frustrating exchanges with the technical support at the Times I got this response today.

We reviewed the links you e-mailed and discovered they were made prior to an update to the service made on 2-8-07. Unfortunately we can not repair the 'share' links that were generated earlier.

This seems like deja vu. I wrote two weeks ago that the Times often changed the terms of its free archives with no advance notice. It appears that they've done it again. (I know that I discovered this prior to Feb 8, but I'll assume that the explanation of a new URL scheme still applies.)

So what if you saved an article like the one I boasted about saving two weeks ago? That article was about Israel and Syria by Michael Oren. So search for the article by Googling the title, "What if Israel and Syria Find Common Ground?" The third URL that was returned was one with RSS in the scheme. (The first response, the IHT version also worked.)

On January 9, I praised the Times for providing Permalinks. Now I have to take that back and recommend that you use Bloglines, Google or Yahoo! to generate RSS based URL's if you wish to keep permanent links to NY Times articles that you're referring to. Also I have to give you a working link to the Dennis Ross article that I cited back then.

Blogdigger links: Blogging, Sources, NY Times, Permalinks.

If ... you must 02/21/2007

If you haven't read The UN ready to condemn Israel again at Meryl Yourish; you must.

If you haven't read AbbaGav's You can tell by the way I use my walk; you must.

If you haven't read West Bank Mama's Deniers Everywhere; you must.

If you haven't read Israelly Cool's Men with Guns; you must.
The PA has really given priority to guns over butter.

If you haven't read Elder of Ziyon's Qassam Rocket Calendar February; you must.
When did the ceasefire start?

If you haven't read Good Fences Good Neighbors II at Media Backspin; you must.
I've been looking for a post of mine on the topic. Haven't found it yet, but there's also a fence in Northern Ireland separating Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods and keeping the peace.

If you haven't read Mere Rhetoric's Jihadism Deeply Entrenched. Nice That UCI Hillel Is Finally Noticing; you must.

If you haven't read More Bombings at the Spine; you must.

If you haven't read Bill's Dubai Connection a problem for Hillary at Deja Vu; you must.

If you haven't read Don Surber's Hillary 'Alf Landon' Clinton; you must.

If you haven't read Majikthise's Bloggers Politicians and Noice Machines; you must.
I don't agree with all of this of course. But her prescription that bloggers working on campaigns shouldn't be the story is correct. MacacaGate wouldn't have happened without the full complicity of the MSM, which she doesn't acknowledge.

If you haven't read Roger L Simon's McCain running Scared; you must.
Didn't I link to an article yesterday declaring McCain the Republican frontrunner? Yes, but this makes a good point too.

If you haven't read Athens - anarchy, tyranny and democracy at Secular Blasphemy; you must.
Over the past 4 years one of the pleasures I've had is following Mr. Leach's lessons of mixing history with etymology for my middle school sons. This is a nice short lesson that does just that.

If you haven't read Rhymes with Right's The American Cincinattus; you must.
Another fascinating bit of history.

If you haven't read the Futility Closet's Frost Fairs; you must.
What froze over?!?!

If you haven't read the Big Snow four years gone at the Maryland Weather Blog; you must.
And if you go back just 13 years you had another winter with more ice than snow and sustained cold temperaturess worse than this year's.

If you haven't read Regrow Lost Limbs at Jack's Shack; you must.
I suppose I would have expected to learn that the secret to regeneration came from reptiles not pigs. But I suppose that The Pig wouldn't seem nearly as sinister for Spiderman as The Lizard. The Lizard's alter ego Dr. Connors is a lapsed Catholic. Who knew?

If you haven't read Crossing the Rubicon3's Star Trek Alert; you must.
Star Trek is always important.

If you haven't read The Hedgehog Report's Important and not so Important News; you must.
He reports; you decide - what's important.

If you haven't read Great Moments in Government Regulation by the Volokh Conspiracy.Ilya Solmin; you must.
This isn't about getting government out of the bedroom. It's about getting it out of another country altogether.

If you haven't read the Baleboosteh's Busted: Nosey neighbors caught spying; you must.
I herd it throught the grapevine. Or some other flora.

If you haven't read Best (And Worst) TV Show "Replacements" at the Colossus of Rhodey; you must.
While it's true that Cheers didn't really lose much when Kirstie Alley replaced Shelley Long, I still much prefer the first five years. And I preferred the Coach to Woody, but not by as much.
There's a lot to debate here. No one will convince me that Mike Farrell was better than Wayne Rogers, who left for his own ill fated "City of Angels." (Is there a better MASH than the Adams' Ribs one? I preferred David Ogden Stiers to Larry Linville except when the writers seemingly used left over scripts that changed the name from Frank to Charles.
Roseanne featured two different actresses as her older daughter. Once Roseanne and the original were watching TV and debating which Darren they preferred in Bewitched.
Usually I don't like to tip my hand about my vote for the Watcher's Council. But I really enjoyed this. I already tagged it before I knew it was entered. Right now this one of the top two entries I've read. (I've only read one other so far. ;-)

If you haven't seen Not Quite Perfect's Flourescent Ribbon ; you must.

If you haven't read Wisdom from Unlikely Sources at Treppenwitz; you must.

Blogdigger tags: If ... you must, Temple Mount, Qassams, Television Trivia, Excessive Regulation, Uncommon Wisdom, Greek History, Fractal Art, Regeneration.

Aplologies to my blogger friends

Lately, maybe it has to do with the switch to the new Blogger, I've noticed that some of my regular reads have dropped off of Bloglines and thus off of my blogroll. It wasn't intentional. However, given the size of my blogroll, I didn't always recognize the missing blogs right away. So OyVayBlog, Parsha Blog, SerAndEz, and Elder of Ziyon, and anyone else, welcome back. I did miss you.

Writing about math anxiety

I noticed this article in Reuters Math anxiety saps working memory needed to do math later, it appeared in a "corrected" version with this notation:

Corrects name throughout to Ashcraft from Ashcroft; in second paragraph corrects spelling of Las Vegas

So apparently writing about math anxiety saps the ability to spell correctly.

Blogdigger tags: Math Anxiety, Irony.

If ... you must 02/20/2007

If you haven't read NY Subway Vignettes by the Ignoble Experiment; you must.
I remember once getting on a train when all of a sudden a group of uniformed young men boarded the train. I was scared at first. But then at some point I realized they were the Guardian Angels.

If you haven't read Simply no excuse at In Context; you must.
Even if you agreed with disengagement how can you justify the failure of the Israeli government to make good on its promises to help the expellees? Clearly it wasn't just the security questions that weren't adequately considered prior.

If you haven't read Parsing the meaning of 56 votes at Maryland Conservatarian; you must.
Encouraging or shutting off debate? It depends on your party.

If you haven't read Outside the Beltway's McCain running different campaign than 2000; you must.
I did not realize that if McCain was successful he'd be the oldest candidate elected to the presidency. But now he's got to be considered the Republican front-runner.

If you haven't read McCain casts aside age old tradition at Biur Chametz; you must.
How traditional is a campaign website anyway?

If you haven't read two things that Cheered this blogger up at AbbaGav; you must.
AbbaGav's back, that should cheer any blog reader up. It's also great that Biur Chametz is back.

Bloggers, if you enjoy the If ... you must series and would like to participate, send me an e-mail with a link to your best or most interesting recent post and I'll include it (if I like it.) I hope to do If ... you must, most weekdays and will include up to 5 outside submissions. Send me an e-mail at dhgerstman at hotmail dot com with If you must in the subject line.

Blogdigger tags: If ... you must, Blogging, New York Subway System, Disengagement, John McCain.

Of portkeys, thestrals and more

A few weeks ago a Washington Post editorial got it right about Harry Potter:

In fact, J.K. Rowling's amazing ability to get young people to read is valuable in itself, as her American publisher's name, Scholastic, would imply. While there may be more abstract educational value in other tomes, there's a great deal to be said for inspiring the sort of page-turning passion that makes kids want to rip through a novel in a day and be hungry for more. Will it move them to a similar passion for Willa Cather or Vikram Seth as they get older? Who can say? Maybe today's Potter addicts someday will even read a newspaper.

Though I admit to no passion for Willa Cather or Vikram Seth (what's with the pretentious name dropping?) the point here is right. My eight year old was just bragging that he's reading The Goblet of Fire for the 4th time.

But with the Harry Potter phenomenon coming to an expected end, I have a few questions. (And if you haven't read Harry Potter yet, be forewarned there are spoilers here. I will try to minimize the spoilers, but certain things can't be finessed.)

1) On page 70 of The Goblet of Fire

"...For those who don't want to Apparate, or can't, we use Portkeys. They're objects that are used to transport Wizards from one spot to another at a prearranged time."

(emphasis mine.)

One of the things I like about Harry Potter is that J. K. Rowling doesn't spring something on the reader at a critical moment. Portkeys aren't just introduced at the end of the Goblet of Fire to capture Harry, their utility is established early on. But their usage at the end of the book aren't consistent with the "prearranged time" bit. I guess you could argue that in the maze Voldemort's plant had arranged things so that Harry would find the Portkey at just the right time. But for Harry's escape later how is it possible that Harry used the Portkey at a prearranged time? Is it possible to reset the Portkey? How? Or was "prearranged time" something thrown in without thought to the limit that it would impose?

2) On page 446 of The Order of the Phoenix, Heroine is describing thestrals.

"The only people who can see thestrals," she said "are people who have seen death."

All indications are that the Order of the Phoenix is the first time that Harry sees the thestrals because he witnessed Cedric's death. But why? Hadn't he witnessed his own mother's death?

3) My final two questions have to do with Dumbledore. These are things that I'd hoped he'd have explained before the end of the series.

How is it that someone described as the world's greatest wizard would allow two undercover enemies and one charlatan to serve as Defense of the Dark Arts teacher in the first 4 books? In fact at the end of the Sorcerer's Stone Dumbledore gets called away by a phony message by the plant at a critical moment. Is it that easy to fool him? (Apparently Tom Riddle couldn't fool him, but the lesser lights who took the position he wanted did!)

4) On page 810 of the Order of the Phoenix, Harry casts Cruciatus Curse at Bellatrix. The problem is that the Cruciatus Curse is an unforgiveable curse and forgetting about its effectiveness, Harry used an illegal curse. Dumbledore, if he kew about it, never talked to Harry about that. (I guess it's possible that Dumbledore didn't know about it, so then there's no question.) But I do find it odd that Harry used the curse with no particular reprecussions.

UPDATE: Elie's Expositions has questions of his own.

Blogdigger tags: Harry Potter, Thestrals, Portkeys, Albus Dumbledore, Cruciatus Curse.

Snow scenes 02/2007

The deck floor.

The gas grill - out of season.

Sheds in the snow.

Lights reflected on the refrozen snow.

UPDATE: I had forgotten how much more snow we got last year. This year it's not been the snow, but the ice. Likely Again.

Blogdigger tags: Photography, Winter, Snow Scenes.

Kamal what will

Killer's daughter admits it was political

Ali Abu Kamal's relatives say they are tired of lying about why the Palestinian opened fire on the observation deck of Empire State Building, killing a tourist and injuring six other people before committing suicide.

Kamal's widow insisted after the shooting spree that the attack was not politically motivated. She said that her husband had become suicidal after losing $300,000 in a business venture.

But in a stunning admission, Kamal's 48-year-old daughter Linda told the Daily News that her dad wanted to punish the U.S. for supporting Israel - and revealed her mom's 1997 account was a cover story crafted by the Palestinian Authority.

"A Palestinian Authority official advised us to say the attack was not for political reasons because that would harm the peace agreement with Israel," she told The News on Friday. "We didn't know that he was martyred for patriotic motivations, so we repeated what we were told to do."

(via memeorandum)

A Blog for All gives a reasonable read of the situation.

So, we have a confluence of PA and American domestic political agendas to blind the American people to the fact that Islamic terrorists attacked on that day in 1997. It was also yet another example of how terrorist attacks were glossed over by the US government because of the desire to be peacemakers between Palestinians and Israelis despite the fact that the Palestinians had absolutely no desire to make peace with Israel - they continue to this day to seek Israel's destruction.

Unfortunately that may not have been the case. On February 28, 1997, Newsday reported that it was the Giuliani administration that played down the terror motive. "Rudy Kept Public In The Dark / 2 major Jewish groups briefed on Empire State gunman's note"

The evening Ali Hassan Abu Kamal shot seven people and killed himself at the Empire State Building, mayoral aides confided to two major Jewish organizations that the Palestinian gunman had anti-Israel motives. The Giuliani administration, however, announced to the general public that the gunman's motivation was that he had been swindled out of his life savings, which later proved to be false.

"The mayor made a decision to selectively release issues in order to maintain calm in the city," said David Pollock, associate executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, one of two Jewish groups briefed by City Hall aides shortly after the rampage occurred at about 5 p.m. Sunday. Aides also advised representatives of the Jewish groups that steps were under way to increase security at high-profile Jewish and Israeli institutions.

It appears that the Mayor sought to keep calm by not disclosing everything relevant and allowed the "despair" motive to take hold. I'd guess that it's fair to assume that Giuliani thought that there might be a wider threat to Jewish interests and was interested in working quietly to defuse it. Still it would appear that it was a conscious decision of the Giuliani administration not to publicize the jihadi motive.

(It wasn't beyond the Clinton administration at that time to play down terrorism.

James Woolsey, former head of the CIA, criticized the American administration for its unwillingness to accept the version of events put forward by Israeli intelligence, according to which PA Chairman Yasser Arafat gave the "green light" to carry out the terror attack in Tel Aviv last week. "The Administration is ignoring the possibility that there is more than one way to encourage acts of terror," Woolsey said in an interview with Ha'aretz. "In the struggle against terror it is preferable not to get into a dispute over semantics," he said.

To illustrate the point, Woolsey cited the case of the British monarch, Henry II. "He did not give the order to murder Thomas Beckett, the Archbishop of Canterbury, but he went to the trouble of surrounding himself with people who would understand his intentions. I do not know if Henry II gave a green light or a strong flash of a yellow light, but it was enough to eliminate the Archbishop," he said.

I'm just not certain that it deserves the blame in this instance.)

Michelle Malkin points to another way this story could hurt Giuliani among Republicans, in that, as Riehl World View points out he used the incident to push for stricter gun control.

The gun control discussed had to with preventing people from bringing in guns from jurisdictions with gun laws that were more lax. (Kamal had purchased his gun in Florida.) Clinton used the incident to push for limits on gun purchases by foreigners.

It's good that the truth is out there for all to see.

Blogdigger tags: Ali Abu Kamal, Rudy Giuliani, Bill Clinton, Terror, Gun Control.

Maryland's get law?

The case of the Orthodox Jewish husband who refused to give his wife a get - a divorce that conforms to Jewish law or Halacha - that was reported by CrabLaw back in September is back in the news. Del. Sandy Rosenberg is proposing that Maryland adopt a law similar to the one in New York to give an Orthodox woman stronger standing to force her recalcitrant husband to give her a get.

According to the Baltimore Sun Some Maryland legislators have revived the fight for a bill that would place Orthodox Jewish women on an equal footing with their husbands in divorce proceedings.

Under Jewish law, a man must grant his wife a divorce degree, or get, to end a marriage. Without it, a Jewish woman is unable to remarry within the faith, and she becomes known as an agunah, or "chained woman."

Advocates of the bill say husbands use this power to demand favorable custody or visitation schedules - or money from their wife's family - during divorce negotiations.

"We have to persuade people that the rabbis cannot address this problem on their own, that they cannot undo what the Torah commands," said Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat and the main sponsor of the House version of the bill.

Rosenberg first sponsored bills to address this issue in the late 1990s, but a September protest in front of the University of Baltimore School of Law to resolve the plight of a Park Heights woman renewed interest in a legislative solution.

The article quotes both Rabbi Michael Broyde and Marc Stern on the subject. Clearly the reporter did a little research because both have commented on the problem of empowering a wife within the bounds of Halacha at JLaw - the Jewish Law website.

Here are some of the relevant articles.

"A Legal Guide to the Prenuptial Agreement for Couples about to Be Married"
Marc D. Stern
Note: Please see the Halachic Forms section for the prenuptial agreement referenced in this article.
"A Suggested Antenuptial Agreement: A Proposal in Wake of Avitzur"
Rabbi J. David Bleich
Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, Vol. VII
"The New York State Get Bill and its Halachic Ramifications"
Rabbi Chaim Malinowitz
Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, Vol. XXVII
"The New York Get Law: An Exchange"
Rabbi Chaim Z. Malinowitz
Tradition Magazine (Summer 1997)
"The New York Get Law: An Exchange"
Michael J. Broyde
Tradition Magazine (Summer 1997)
"Comments on the New York State 'Get Law'"
Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz

The main problem is that Halacha forbids a get to be forced. Rabbi Broyde argues that certain kinds of force are proper and that a legal mechanism instituted by the state would not invalidate a get. Rabbi Malinowitz considers coercion of the state to be problematic.

Marc Stern's article points to a different solution to the problem. Many in the Orthodox community are signing prenuptial agreements that would insitute a mechanism to force the husband to give a get or face severe financial penalties. According to many this gets around the problem of coercioin.

I wish I knew if Delegate Rosenberg was working with any Halachic authorities or if he's just doing this on his own.

UPDATE: I should be clear. The problem of women whose husbands won't give them a proper get is a serious one. The question is how to balance the need for justice with the need for conforming with halacha. I hope that Del. Rosenberg is less interested in making a big splash than he is in balancing these competing needs.

Blogdigger tags: Sandy Rosenberg, Get Law.

Believe the road is fixed

The pride of Governor O'Malley's tenure as mayor of Baltimore was his CitiStat system that was supposed to introduce elements of responsibility into city government. Based on New York's CompStat system for tracking crimes (that the article we will cited does not, but should have, attribute to Mayor Giuliani), the CitiStat system was supposed to analyze the responsiveness of city agencies quantitatively.

Now as the Sun reports, the Governor wishes to institute a similar program, StateState to the state of Maryland.

Matthew D. Gallagher, 35, who oversaw CitiStat and will oversee StateStat as O'Malley's deputy chief of staff, says that moving the city-oriented program to a larger stage makes sense.

. . .

CitiStat was adapted from the crime-mapping Compstat program pioneered in New York City. O'Malley applied the concept to urban issues such as vacant housing, drug treatment and trash collection.

In a former curator's loft in Baltimore's City Hall, his staff constructed a futuristic conference room complete with huge projection screens that danced with freshly updated charts and maps. Officials would explain and interpret data, and were sometimes grilled if the answers did not match up.

The results were tangible: During a three-month trial period, overtime in the Public Works Department dropped by 25 percent and unscheduled leave fell by more than 33 percent.

While critics wondered whether the meetings were just a showy and time-consuming way of managing, the accolades started rolling in. Officials from King County, Wash., to Nicaragua have requested demonstrations, and dozens of municipalities implemented the program. In 2004, CitiStat won an award for innovative government from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Wednesday last week a water pipe burst on a nearby street. Repeated calls have gone in to the relevant city agencies. Last night, guess what? The water's still flowing. I hope some managers in the Department of Public Works are going to grilled over this.

The water of Olympia

With a streetlight

I don't know what metrics were used to show that CitiStat made city government more responsive; but clearly in this case it didn't. (A neighbor told my wife that the city has indeed come out several times and claimed that the problem was fixed. If I remember correctly in order to fix a broken pipe the street needs to be dug up and, as you can see, there's not a lot of mud here, so that hasn't happened. And in sub 30 temperatures, you don't have running water in the street, unless it's coming from some place else. Say, underground.)

It's true, there's a new mayor now and maybe Mayor Dixon didn't run the program effectively when she inherited it. Of course if CitiStat wasn't easily exportable, it makes you wonder how effective it is.

If Mayor Dixon hasn't carried on with CitiStat, it wouldn't be the only O'Malley program she's doing away with. According to the Sun, Mayor Dixon is considering doing away with the Believe campaign.

Criticized by some as a public relations gimmick, the "Believe" bumper stickers, T-shirts, buttons and trash cans became, at the very least, a ubiquitous symbol of O'Malley's administration. Though hard to measure, some say "Believe" accomplished its goal, challenging residents to focus on Baltimore's potential while acknowledging its crime- and drug-ravaged neighborhoods.

"It was the first stage of recovery. I think it was instrumental in causing the community to look at itself in a very stark and realistic way," said Michael Cryor, a communications consultant who revamped O'Malley's public relations office and who was a chairman of the "Believe" effort. "To do that in public was, frankly, pretty novel."

I don't know how CitiStat evaluated "Believe", but unless I'm really wrong (I'm going out on a limb here) I don't believe that a single suspect was arrested by one of those "Believe" bumper stickers. If they didn't accomplish anything it's safe to say that they were just part of a PR campaign.

I haven't observed that city services got significantly better during O'Malley's tenure, so I'm likely to write off CitiStat as more PR than results oriented. Sort of like another one of the Governor's initiatives, the Believe campaign.

UPDATE: I should note that I'm not calling for his impeachement like some blogging hotheads. (Some hothead.) I'm just questioning again the record on which Governor O'Malley got himself elected. It seems awfully thin.

UPDATE II: I should be clear: the job is now Mayor Dixon's to get done. So far she hasn't impressed. Of course it may be that the tools she inherited didn't quite match their press.

UPDATE III: At about 6 PM last night, about 3 hours after my wife called Councilwoman Rikki Spector's office with a complaint, the city trucks were out.

(I took the picture with available light and didn't hold the camera steady.)
Whether it was due to an intercession by our councilwoman or whether the city just scheduled to fix the leak a week after it happened remains uncertain. It hardly is confirmation of responsive government.

Blogdigger tags: Governor O'Malley, Baltimore City, CitiStat, StateStat, Believe.

If ... you must 02/18/2007

I'm in a rush to get ready for snow tubing with the children, so this won't be a long one ...

If you haven't read QandO's Another milestone in the anti-DRM wars; you must.
This explained something I hadn't really given much thought to. I just buy CD's and listen to them. But taking away the portability of music is a problem especially when it doesn't violate copyrights.

If you haven't read OrthoMom's lawsuit roundup; you must.
Honestly, I don't know how much legal danger OrthoMom really was in. Yahoo! (I believe, though it may have been a different host of bulletin boards) was already found not to be liable for something on one of its bulletin boards. It doesn't mean that a lawsuit couldn't have produced some headaches, but the law is clearly on her side. And it's also wonderful seeing unity.

If you haven't read Vocabulary Words at Jack's Shack; you must.
Some unusual words. And let's not forget plinth or vexilloligist

If you haven't read You talkin' to me at Seraphic Secrets; you must.
Words that you're even less likely to use. But a link to fantastic blog Futility Closet is well worth checking out.

Blogdigger tags: If ... you must, Blogging, Vocabulary Words, DRM Schemes.

Haveil Havalim #107 is(n't) UP!

About a month ago Yid With Lid asked if he could host Haveil Havalim. I responded sure. Now he posts that he couldn't as he writes:

So, here I sit at 12:03 on Sunday morning, my family in the other room watching a Saturday Night Live rerun and I am realizing that I just can't do this.

Darn, because there were so many good (or great) posts he wanted to include. So he posted about them anyway. But doesn't that make it not Haveil Havalim #107 at he's Yid with Lid and you're not?

I'd like to thank the wonderful folks at BlogCarnival for this wonderful Blog Carnival Widget that gives information on upcoming hosts and past editions.

Thanks for participating, reading and keeping Haveil Havalim going!

Next Week's host is Life of Rubin making a return apperance thanks for volunteering again!

Talking about future hosts, there will be no HH the week of March 5, Purim. There's something else going and I'd rather not detract from those efforts.

In addition to e-mail you may submit entries to Haveil Havalim using the submission form over at BlogCarnival. Or feel free to e-mail me at dhgerstman at hotmail dot com.

Also if you'd like to host an upcoming edition e-mail me at the above address.

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.

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

Rich thugs - 2007

Bloggers Solomonia and Seraphic Secret recommend Jeff Jacoby's Statehood for Palestine? Take a good look and with good reason. Jacoby writes:

The wonder is not that the Palestinian Authority seethes with violence and instability; there are other places too where bloodshed is the daily fare. The wonder is not that the Palestinians, who receive copious amounts of international aid -- more than $1.2 billion last year from Western governments alone -- channel so much of their resources into weapons and warfare. The wonder is that so many voices still push for a Palestinian state.

But has any population ever been less suited for statehood than the Palestinians? From the terrorists they choose as leaders to the jihad promoted in their schools, their culture is drenched in violence and hatred. Each time the world has offered them sovereignty -- an offer that the Kurds or the Chechens or the Tibetans would leap at -- the Palestinians have opted instead for bloodshed and rejectionism.

Another question is what why did anyone expect anything else? Here's Daniel Pipes from 1983!

When PLO guerrillas were initially stationed in South Lebanon following the 1967 war, their struggle against Israel enjoyed the sympathy of local Lebanese, especially the Shi'is. Relations between residents and the PLO deteriorated, however, as Israel's overwhelming military superiority dashed hopes of the conflict being moved to Israeli territory. Instead, the PLO settled into South Lebanon. Its troops, better armed and organized than other militias in the area, compelled the Lebanese to supply sustenance, shelter, medical services, and money. By 1975, the PLO constituted an elite that effectively controlled South Lebanon, flouting local regulations and enforcing its will in capricious ways. PLO soldiers billeted themselves in the best houses, grabbed what they fancied, expelled property owners, availed themselves of local women, indulged in random violence, directed drug and prostitution rings, and ran protection rackets. Foreign mercenaries employed by the PLO became especially notorious for extracting whatever they could from South Lebanon, and the PLO's thirty autonomous groups, each with its own loosely disciplined troops, wrought havoc with the civilian population.

The result was a reign of terror. For seven years the outside world heard little from South Lebanon-in part because the inhabitants feared retribution if they talked, in part because the PLO kept journalists from the region. When its control was broken and newsmen appeared in June 1982, stories of life under the PLO began to filter out. Everyone seemed to have a tale-Muslim and Christian, Sunni and Shi'i, Lebanese and Palestinian-and was eager to tell it.

This article doesn't just document the violence that was part of the PLO governing doctrine but the massive resources that the PLO accumulated nearly a quarter century ago! And subsequent article like the The return of the tribes, Man who swallowed Gaza and Investing in Yasser Arafat show how the PLO's corrupt governance has taken hold in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

The descent into civil war and chaos was foreseeable. But all those blinded by the vision of a Palestinian state as a prerequisite for peace and stability in the Middle East couldn't see what JoshuaPundit expressed to me in an e-mail yesterday about Fatah and Hamas :

in reality they are one and the same....different mafia families vying for the same turf, if you will.

The PLO and Hamas are more similar to criminal syndicates than they are to national liberation movements. Giving them money and autonomy won't reform them, it will just produce rich thugs.

UPDATE: Israel Matzav links to a PJM report

But giving guns to Abbas is utterly unnecessary. The Palestinian security forces Abbas commands already have tens of thousands of rifles and millions of bullets; rifles and bullets they have never used to stop the attacks of Hamas, Islamic Jihad or other militias against Israel. In fact, Abbas has control over some 45,000 members of a dozen security forces in the Gaza Strip. In addition, Abbas also controls thousands of gunmen and activists belonging to his Fatah party. Hamas, by contrast, has less than 6,000 militiamen.

Clearly Abbas has all the men, guns and ammunition he needs to stop Hamas’ rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. Instead he uses these military resources to wage war for personal power, not peace.

Blogdigger tags: Israel, Palestinian State, Hamas, Fatah, Corruption.

Cinnamon raisin customer service award

I have no idea how they found this but a website devoted to customer service website awarded this post as Customer Service Experience of the week.

And here's a cool logo to along with the recognition. (Thanks to Goldberg's Bagels and Cocoaccino's for making this possible!)

Blogdigger tags: Customer Service, Cocoaccino's, Goldberg's Bagels.

A mass hallucination?

Read:
Israeli Matzav
JoshuaPundit
YidWithLid

Are they suffering a mass hallucination? Or is someone else suffering from an individual one?

Blogdigger tags: Peace Process, Israel, Palestinians, Ehud Olmert.

If ... you must 02/16/2007

If you haven't read Andrew Olmsted's You keep using that word; you must.

If you haven't read American Future's Iran's Economic House of Cards; you must.
Pressure on Iran may not need to be military.

If you haven't read Jules Crittenden's Good New/Bad News; you must.
You need a scorecard. This is it.

If you haven't read View from a Height's Colorado's Kelo; you must.
Taking by fiat is wrong even if the property owner is wealthy.

If you haven't read Don Surber's Dutch Treat; you must.
The secret of no-tax but spend liberal celebrities.

If you haven't read Jew Hate Week at Seraphic Secret; you must.
Especially for this line:

Do not fool yourselves, these people and the groups they represent are not "merely anti-Zionist." They are rabid Jew-haters.

But read the whole thing, he explains his rationale.

If you haven't read Why a barren mountain is being painted green at Judeopundit; you must.
Oh frabjous day, if he's quoting Lewis Carroll so must I. And it illustrates a nice offbeat story too.

If you haven't read Mind Blogging at From Hollywood to the Holy Land; you must.
A new blog at Arutz-7. This entry's on the etymology of the word "blog." (h/t Cosmic X)

If you haven't read 3 friends then and now at A Simple Jew; you must.
I'm a little overwhelmed that I have friends with whom I've been friendly for over 25 years.

If you haven't read Reading, Writing Eliana's new tricks at SerAndEz; you must.
2 years ago I might not have paid much attention to this post. But now, it's what I have to look forward to, in about a half year! And Eliana is almost one, too!

Blogdigger tags: If ... you must, Blogging, Iran, Green Chinese Mountain, Friends, Babies.

Council speak 02/16/2007

The council has spoken and the winning Council entry for the week is Bookworm Room's San Francisco Has Bigger Scandals Than a Debauched Mayor in which she laments (and documents)the decline of San Francisco State University. The runner was What a tangled web by Done with Mirrors as he deftly unravels a thread about whether respect for other cultures or segregation was a higher progressive value.

Also of note was JoshuaPundit's SqueezePlay in which he explains the details of the Hamas/Fatah Mecca agreement and its implications regarding the president's vision for the Middle East. It was a more analytical approach to the agreement than my own polemical A loaf of bread, a toga and no go.

Among the non-council entries the winner was Flagrant Evil by Council alum Gates of Vienna in which she discusses the nature of evil from religious perspectives. Runner up was Mattias Kuntzel's Iran's obsessions with the Jews from the Weekly Standard.
Also of note were Villainous Company's First Things First, a guide to appreciating one's spouse and Does Barnard need Junk Academics at the Muqata that includes contact information for the University's leaders.

Blogdigger tags: Watcher's Council.

Still processing

Dennis Ross focuses today on the Art of the Possible Peace.

The assessment of the common threat perception is correct. But basing policy only on this misses an important regional reality. Priorities differ on how best to respond to the Iranian threat. For the Saudis, weaning Hamas away from Iran and producing intra-Palestinian peace is more important than trying to forge peace between Palestinians and Israelis. For the Israelis, however, an intra-Palestinian peace that entails accommodating Hamas (and that does not require Hamas to change its hostile posture toward Israel) is hardly a basis for reaching out to Palestinians in a way that would satisfy the Saudis, Egyptians and Jordanians.

That's reasonable enough.

In Middle Eastern terms, what is logical and possible is intra-Palestinian peace and Palestinian-Israeli calm. That would argue for a comprehensive cease-fire to be negotiated between Abbas and Olmert. A deal would require all Palestinian attacks against Israelis to stop and all smuggling of weapons into Gaza or the West Bank to end. In return, the Israelis would stop all incursions, targeted killings and arrests. As Palestinians demonstrate that they are fulfilling their responsibilities, checkpoints would be lifted and crossing points opened, making economic revitalization possible.

This agreement would differ from previous cease-fires in that it would be negotiated with clear understandings of what constitutes a violation and penalties for violations. Israel might be willing to accept such a deal because Hamas would have to enforce the cease-fire -- not merely observe it. Hamas's readiness to enforce it would mean for the first time that Hamas was acting to prevent "resistance," which would signal that its fundamental credo might be changed.

There's something amusing about this. Ten years after Binyamin Netanyahu came to power demanding "reciprocity" Ross is finally willing to accept the concept. That's really nice. But when it was Netanyahu's idea the Clinton administration portrayed him as a hardliner sending its valentines to Arafat in the vain hope he would change.

The PA was supposed to eliminate incitement, keep its police forces limited to the numbers allowed in the Oslo Accords, stop terror. And it never did. Arafat and the PA learned by using the language of moderation that many decision makers - including the administration in which Ross served - considered them moderates no matter how radical or violent their actual actions were.

So what would make Hamas or any other PA government observe actual metrics of peace now?

Hamas might be willing to accept such a cease-fire for two reasons: First, it needs a respite. Second, in an atmosphere where life is improving and conflict with Israel is deferred, Hamas is likely to believe its superior organization will allow it to supplant Fatah and dominate Palestinian society.

That would be nice if Hamas's main goal was political power. While that's surely one of the goals of the organization, it is by no means its only goal. I'd consider the destruction of Israel to be Hamas's core value to which all other goals and values are subordinate. (This is true of Fatah too.) And I don't see how giving the organization benchmarks is going to convince it to make peace - even the temporary peace of a ceasefire.

Ross is ever the peace processor, looking for what's possible. But no peace is possible as long as Palestinian nationalism is based on the destruction of Israel. That has yet to change and Ross played no small role in allowing that and the resultant violence to continue.

Maybe he has the right idea now, but it is at least ten years too late.

Blogdigger tags: Israel, Palestinians, Peace Process, Dennis Ross.

Free and open exchange of ideas

Universities are supposed to be institutions that engage in free and open discussions of ideas. Yet, it seems that many institutions are open to certain ideas but not other.

LGF notes that Stanford will be showing an incendiary Turkish film.

Meanwhile the Brandeis administration seems to have problems with Daniel Pipes. President Reinharz replies here.

While it's possible that Reinharz's comments were somehow taken out of context, Pipes's brief against the university was much broader than that. As Pipes wrote

What, precisely, are those scholarly resources available at Brandeis? Might Hose be referring to the University's leading specialist on "contemporary Islamic thought and practice" (the title of her course), Prof. Natana DeLong-Bas (NEJS), an apologist for Al-Qaeda whose depraved thinking was exposed in several recent articles (including "Natana DeLong-Bas: American Professor, Wahhabi Apologist" and "Sympathy for the Devil at Brandeis," from frontpagemag.com)? Or is he referring to Khalil Shikaki, a Crown Center fellow who has been credibly accused of terrorist links and has a second-to-none record in getting it wrong in his chosen field of Palestinian public opinion?

Reinharz may not want his university to become a battleground of the Middle East. But as the comments above show, he has already taken sides in some of his hirings. And they haven't been on the side of Israel.

UPDATE: The Muqata has information on Barnard's descent and what to do about. Boker Tov Boulder looks at Fascism on Campus at Hunter College. Bookworm room has two posts on the descent of SFSU. And JoshuaPundit writes about a strange case at Guilford University where supposed victims of a hate crime have now recanted their story and stopped intimidating the school.

Blogdigger tags: Academic Freedom, Den of Wolves, Daniel Pipes, Jehudah Reinharz, Stanford, Brandeis.

If ... you must 02/15/2007

If you haven't read What if the deficit falls ... at Bizzy Blog; you must.
Don Surber compares Bushonomics favorably to Pelosionomics. Brain Terminal tells us to temper our enthusiasm, but the economic news - regarding the deficit - is indeed good.

If you haven't read Sadr and Chait: Separate Realities at Kesher Talk; you must.
Maybe BDS should stand for Bush Denial Syndrome, an inability to acknowledge any good that the President does.

If you haven't read Opportunities in doing one thing well at Critical Mastiff; you must.
This could be an argument against diversification.

If you haven't read Ocean Guy's CAIR an enemy within; you must.
When will the MSM stop referring to CAIR as a civil rights organization?

If you haven't read Contradictions at the Libby trial at NRO's The Corner; you must.

If you haven't read Post Watch's The trial isn't all that mysterious; you must.
When I heard on the news that the defense expected to call neither Libby nor Cheney it struck me as good news for the defense. It must mean that the prosecution witnesses have not been effective. The news didn't draw the same conclusion.

If you haven't read Instapundit's Second Time Farce; you must.
Though I supported it at the time, the Clinton impeachment was folly. Yes I'm convinced that Bill and Hillary were involved in shenanigans with Whitewater. But the prosecutors couldn't pin anything on them. Starr should have left bad enough alone. The Monica thing should never have come under his purview.

If you haven't read Color or Crime at the Ignoble Experiment; you must.
Should hate crimes be limited?

If you haven't read Lincoln 1 Obama 0 at Don Surber; you must.
Similar to Best of the Web Today's Great Orators of the Democratic Party.

If you haven't read Of mid-February snowstorms at Maryland Weather Blog; you must.

If you haven't read Rhymes with Right's CSI: St. Helena; you must.
They've been trying to figure out how King Tut died. So why not Napolean?

If you haven't read Pillage Idiot's Naptime; you must.
Just check with your boss before you try it at work.

If you haven't read The blind leading the unkind at Done with Mirrors; you must.
An unforeseen complication of hybrid vehicles.

If you haven't seen Twilight Star at Not Quite Perfect ; you must.
It looks new to me! The shape and colors mesh wonderfully.

Blogdigger tags: Deficit, Economics, Libby Trial, Hybrid Cars, Napping, February Snowstorms, Politics.

Milk cartons of love

Jan 25, is St. Dwynwen's Day. St. Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers. In honor of her day, there's been a story making the rounds about single Welsh dairy farmers who are advertising their availability for marriage - on milk cartons.

A group of dairy farmers are putting single's ads on milk cartons in the hopes of finding Mr. or Mrs. Right in the far-flung countryside of Wales.

The novel approach to the singles' scene coincides with Thursday's celebration of St. Dwynwen's Day, the Welsh patron saint of lovers.

"My family thinks I'm nuts," said 30-year-old farmer Iwan Jones, who appears on the cartons and hasn't had a date in a year. "My friends think it's hilarious but everyone's taking it with kind of a lighthearted attitude."

They even have a related website where you can follow up if you "Fancy a farmer."

It's a cute idea, and I wish them luck.

It's a much better idea than what Japanese dairy farmers are doing.

Making beer. Out of milk.

Called "bilk" the concoction was created when Japan was faced with a surplus of milk.

It doesn't taste or look much different from regular beer, other than a slight milky aroma.

I'm not a beer drinker but this really doesn't sound all that appetizing. Still apparently they haven't been able to keep the stuff in stock since it started being reported. Apparently people want to get, um, bilked.

Blogdigger tags: Welsh Dairy Farmers, St. Dwynwen's Day, Dairy Beer, Bilk.

The temple dodge

In Temple Mount Truths, Honest Reporting complains (with justification)

Why is the media taking Arab propaganda at face value encouraging incitement to violence?

Currently the Arab/Muslim world is raising a hue and cry about Israeli threats to the Muslim holy places on the Temple Mount. These phony charges are calculated to raise tensions and put pressure on Israel. Caroline Glick (cited by Honest Reporting) observes in the Jerusalem Post:

the Israel Antiquities Authority coordinated its salvage dig by the Mughrabi Gate of the Old City with the Islamic Wakf, the Jordanian government and all other relevant authorities before its archeologists began their work this week. Everyone understood that the excavation is being conducted 70 meters away from the Temple Mount and will in no way affect it.

An aggravating factor in the media's failure to scrutinize Arab/Muslim claims is that we've been here before. At least 3 times.

(In additon to treating Arab/Muslim claims uncritically, the media usually minimizes or ignores Israeli claims. Meryl Yourish has more.)

In October 1990, during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, a group called the Temple Mount Faithful said that they would lay a cornerstone for the third Temple. The Israel government forbade the group to ascend the Temple Mount and asked the Wakf (Muslim religious trust) to defuse the situation. Instead

... suddenly, violent and threatening calls were sounded over the loudspeakers "Allahu Akbar" [God is Great], "Ahad" [Holy War], "Itbah Al-Yahud" [Slaughter the Jews]). Immediately afterwards, enormous amounts of rocks, construction materials and metal objects were thrown at Israeli policemen who were present at the site. Many in the incited, rioting mob threw stones and metal objects from a very short range, and some even wielded knives. The actions of the rioters, and certainly the inciters, constituted a threat to the lives of the police, the thousands of worshippers at the Western Wall and to themselves. This was a serious criminal offense committed by masses who were incited by preachers over loudspeakers, and this is what led to the tragic chain of events.

(Source: Summary of a Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Events on Temple Mount on 8 October 1990, 26 October 1990 h/t In Context for finding this document and referring it to me.)

In contrast to the official Israeli version the Palestinians claimed that the violence started when the Border Police started attacking the crowd and that the violence against the police and the Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall was not premeditated. Yet the presence of the crowds and the availability of objects to throw suggest very strongly that the violence that day was indeed planned.

(Accounts in American newspapers were scrupulous in claiming that the riots were spontaneous. Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post wrote in stories on October 14, 1990 "THE BATTLE AT TEMPLE MOUNT
NEITHER PALESTINIAN NOR ISRAELI VERSION TELLS FULL STORY"

Still, the available evidence suggests that what happened was a kind of spontaneous explosion between a crowd impassioned with religious and national feeling and a police force that felt overwhelmed. No one intended violence, or shooting, on such a scale, but as the conflict broke out, both sides lost control.

. An article by Diehl on October 27, takes issue with the official Israeli government report.)

During the riot approximately twenty Palestinians were killed and 140 more injured. The diplomatic fallout to the violence was that Israel was condemned by the UN Security Council. President Bush, more interested in keeping together his anti-Iraq coalition than in defending an ally, had the United States support the condemnation.

It also, at least temporarily, redirected attention in the Middle East away from Saddam Hussein who was occupying Kuwait and allowed him to wear the mantle of Muslim defender of Jerusalem.

In September 1996 after the Israeli government opened the Hashmonean tunnel just outside the Temple Mount leading to riots and the first sustained confronations between Israeli forces and Palestinian "police" in the post-Oslo period. Nadav Shragai, writing then, as now, about the conflict over the Temple Mount and its history, in Seeds of Calamity

That is more or less what is also happening now, before our very eyes. Since the events of 1929 [the widespread Arab rioting], the mosques on the Temple Mount ceased to serve as a place of worship and a purely religious symbol, and became one of the main national symbols of the struggle against Zionism. Behind the scenes, it may perhaps be possible to reach understandings with the Waqf, but it is difficult to do this when the issue is the Temple Mount.

In 1988, Israel tried for the first time to open an exit from the Hasmonean Tunnel on to Oneima Street, adjacent to the Temple Mount. What occurred then in the city and in the West Bank greatly resembles what has happened now, even though Waqf officials were invited to visit the tunnels before the opening was cut, toured them, and even examined the maps of the Israeli engineers. The attempt to coordinate the opening operation with Waqf officials failed this time, too, even though the Waqf had been offered the compensation of permission to open an additional gate to Solomon's Stables and the possibility of holding religious services in them.

The Waqf will always raise difficulties over excavations in the area of the Temple Mount; if the question depended on it, the Southern Wall and the Western Wall along its entire length would never have been uncovered -- and the Moslem heritage of Jerusalem, disclosed in these digs, would still be buried in the depths of the earth.

The allegations about upsetting the foundations of the mosques are utter nonsense: the Hasmonean aqueduct was hewn out of the rock thousands of years ago, and only now has been re-exposed. The work of removing sewage water and mud from this tunnel could not upset the foundation of anything, especially as the route of the tunnel does not pass under the Temple Mount perimeter, but west of it.

In contrast to similar events in the Temple Mount vicinity in the past, the wave of rioting this time was organized by the people of the Palestinian Authority. A senior police officer said this week "it was easier to do business with Jordan in the Temple Mount zone." On Tuesday, Yasser Arafat declared in Gaza: "Our blood is cheap in the face of the issue for which we are gathered here." On Palestinian Radio, a listener said the time had come "to slaughter all the Jews [and] to appoint a Caliph for Palestine." This went on without anyone participating in the program -- Waqf leaders and members of the Palestinian Legislative Council from the Jerusalem electoral district -- protesting.

The diplomatic fallout of these riots was to bring about American pressure on newly elected Prime Minister Netanayhu leading to the Hebron Accords in January 1997.

Then in September 2000, the "Aqsa Intifada" started supposedly as a spontaneous reaction to opposition leader Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount but as Dennis Ross wrote (h/t It's Almost Supernatural

Ironically, there was an incident on the 27th, the day before the visit. But this involved the killing of an Israeli soldier in an ambush in Gaza, an event the Israelis claim marked the real beginning of the Intifada. On the 28th, when Sharon went to the Haram [Temple Mount], everything was quiet. All hell was to break loose on the 29th.

But on the 28th, the last day of our discussions, no one on either delegation acted if this was a potentially catastrophic development. No one even raised it, even though Sharon - given the 7 hour time difference-had already completed his visit to the Haram before we began our last day's discussions.

(I wrote more about this here.)

The violence in 2000 was designed to draw attention away from Arafat's refusal to come to terms with Ehud Barak two months earlier at Camp David and to bring pressure on Israel to increase its offer to Arafat.

Though there are superficial differences among the four incidents, the general thrust remains the same. If an Arab or Muslim leader has a goal, he will use the conflict over the Temple Mount divert international attention from his ambitions and rally the Muslim world around him. Ahmadinejad is using the cover of the phony charges now to increase his saber rattling and divert attention from his nuclear program and his foreign adventures in Lebanona nd Iraq. As it did before, the world just tut tuts at the chutzpah of the Jews.

Blogdigger tags: Israel, Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Temple Mount, Wakf.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Follow ups 02/13/2007

Simply Jews has no fear of flying. Or of falling. Remember it's the bounce that kills.

Jack's Shack's stopped slacking on the snake coverage.

Meryl Yourish's protesting Valentine's Day. She's not the only one. What's Craig Browning got to do with it?

UPDATE: Whoops that should have been Craig Bowerman. (h/t Elie's Expositions and the magic of Google.)

Blogdigger tags: How To Survive A Fall From A Great Height, Snakes, Valentine's Day.

How to open doors with just a smile

Israelly Cool! and Dr. Helen object to the viciousness directed towards Anna Nicole Smith.

Larry Miller humanizes her a bit.

As I walked away from their table I turned around and took one more look back, and they had returned to . . . I don't know. Just being there, I guess. Two people smiling, as happy as could be. I don't know what they could've talked about. He didn't speak English, and, I'm sorry, but I think it's a fairly safe bet she didn't speak Arabic.

I didn't know that her step-son didn't outlive his father by that much as Miller recounts.

Similarly, you had to have known she married the rich old guy a dozen-or-so years ago and was unpleasantly embroiled ever since with his first loving family over--what a shock--the money. When I heard the old fellow passed away, I read about his son suing her over the will, and I remember thinking, "His son? What is he, 60?" Sixty-seven, it turns out, and he's gone now himself.

As my wife (and Dr. Helen) note, the person to feel bad for is her infant daughter. With lots of money attached to her and uncertain paternity she is going to be sought after for the wrong reasons. Named for a brother she never knew by a woman who can no longer grieve Dannie Lynn, still an infant, has the potential for a very unhappy life.

Blogdigger tags: Anna Nicole Smith, Larry Miller.

A little weather

Unless I'm reading the weather map wrong it doesn't look like today's going to bring the anticipated wintry mess. Or not much of it anyway.

Sorry kids. There's going to be school today.

Blogdigger tags: Snow, National Weather Service, Prediction, Baltimore Weather.

If ... you must 02/13/2007

If you haven't read PostWatch's If you do say so yourself; you must.

If you haven't read Chicks win with whiny album at Rhymes with Right; you must.
It appears that the Grammy folks took a page from the Nobel people who awarded Carter a peace prize in order to get in dig at the President. Looking forward to Al Gore winning an Oscar.

If you haven't read the Spine's Giuliani-Liberman '08; you must.
I don't think it stands a chance of happening. But it's at least intriguing.

If you haven't read Monoblogue's Reinventing the Republican Party; you must.
Under George Bush the Republican Party has lost its connection to the principle of limited government and consequently to libertarians. Monoblogue wants to re-establish the primacy of that principle among Republicans. (Though he still separates himself from libertarians.)

If you haven't read Is this what Obama meant at It Shines for All; you must.
When a politician talks about being an outsider or that he's trying to change the ways of Washington; he's most likely not.

If you haven't read Jules Crittenden's Baghdad Nights ; you must.
A surge about the surge.

If you haven't read Don Surber's Right about Iraq I now turn to Iran ; you must.
In which he reminds us that even without WMD Saddam was quite a threat. And let's not forget the absurd amount of conventional munitions that Saddam had. One may assume that he wasn't storing them for Uday's birthday party.

If you haven't read Meryl Yourish's Israel conducts successful anti-missile test; you must.
West Bank Mama shows her pride.

If you haven't read Honour for German Leica manufacturer at Simply Jews ; you must.
It's a Schindler like story.

If you haven't checked out The case of the disappearing ocean at Sarah's images; you must.

Blogdigger tags: Iraq, Iran, Pacific Ocean, Israeli Anti-Missile Test, Barack Obama, Republicans, Giuliani, The Surge.

Carter & Soros & Lerner & Beilin

In a review of Zev Chafets' book A Match Made in Heaven: American Jews, Christian Zionists, and One Man's Exploration of the Weird and Wonderful Judeo-Evangelical Alliance, Jonathan R. Cohen writes in the January issue of Commentary about the increasing antagonism of Protestantism for Israel:

A large part of the problem, he [Zev Chafets] writes, is the "post-millennial" theology of the liberal churches, which holds that "every house built for Habitat for Humanity; every hot meal served at a downtown soup kitchen, every human-rights document signed at the United Nations, helps speed the arrival of the messiah." In this deeply political view of the "end of days," Israel is prayed as an obstacle to peace, a war-mongering nation that imposes suffering on the innocents. Thus, while evangelicals proudly declare their Zionism, many of the mainline churches battle the Jewish state with every tool at their disposal, from meeting with Islamic radicals to disinvestment campaigns that equate Israel with apartheid-era South Africa. [emphasis added]

This "political view of the 'end of days," may be one element in the creation by Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton of a New Baptist Covenant that would differ from more conservative Baptists on the issue of Israel, tending more to the view that Carter has taken in his new book.

But this "political view of the 'end of days" is not so different from the worldview of liberal Jews who have been critical of Israel--even after the Disengagement, and claim that Olmert is not doing enough. So besides Carter trying to challenge the conservative landscape, we now also have George Soros who spent millions funding Moveon.com and tried to have Bush defeated in the 2004 election.

Similarly, we have Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun magazine, who definitively stated:

“I would not be surprised to learn that some branch of our government conspired either actively to promote or passively to allow the attack on 9/11,” Lerner wrote in an essay published in the new book, “9/11 and American Empire: Christians, Jews, and Muslims Speak Out.” Lerner added that he would also not be surprised if it turned out that the attacks were not the result of a government conspiracy. [emphasis added]

Besides the fact that we see that nothing surprises Michael Lerner, apparently Lerner--by buying into the conspiracy theory--puts himself in the interesting position of potentially allying himself with other like-minded conspiracy theorists: the kind that think that Israel was behind 9-11 and warned Jews to leave in advance of the attack.

Not surprisingly, Lerner also buys into actual anti-Israel claims. In his defense of Jimmy Carter Lerner buys into Carter's repetition of the accusation of excessive Jewish influence whereby:

peace is impeded by the powerful voices of AIPAC and the mainstream of the organized Jewish community, who manage to terrify even the most liberal elected officials into blind support of whatever policy the current government of Israel advocates.

Then there is Yossi Beilin, who also wants to create massive change--but this time not just in terms of Israel itself. This time around, Beilin wants to do for Judaism what he did for Middle East Peace with his Geneva Plan. Beilin wants to create a secular Jewish movement:

The new forum's goals include instituting some kind of civil marriage and divorce, instituting secular conversions to Judaism and obtaining state funding for secular yeshivas. It will also work to promote separation of religion and state.

...The forum's long-term goal is creating a secular Judaism movement, including secular conversions. Such conversions, according to Beilin, will require familiarity with Hebrew culture, the Hebrew language and Jewish history. "Secular conversion might be harder and more complex than religious conversion," he said, adding that such conversions would be the real revolution.

...Shabbat is also likely to be a subject of controversy. Beilin wants Jews to be able to work on Shabbat and to choose any other day of the week as their day off, as members of other religions can.

Go one step further: what happens when you combine Jimmy Carter, Michael Lerner, George Soros, and Yossi Beilin together?

Michael Lerner, founding editor of the liberal bimonthly Tikkun, wrote in an email to the magazine’s contributors early this month that he is in the process of exploring the possibility of working with the former president to build support for a left-wing alternative to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Lerner mentioned that he and Carter had just spoken on the phone about the issue, but declined to discuss specifics, saying the chat was confidential.

Lerner is not alone among Jews on the left eager to launch a counterweight to the pro-Israel lobbying powerhouse. The Forward and JTA have reported that financier George Soros has been consulting with leaders of dovish groups, including the Israel Policy Forum, Americans for Peace Now and Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, on launching some sort of pro-peace process initiative.

In an interview with the Forward, Lerner said that his envisioned collaboration with Carter would be in harmony with the efforts of Soros and liberal Jewish groups, not in competition with them. [emphasis added]

And of course

Meretz chairman MK Yossi Beilin yesterday commended the establishment of the new lobby. Beilin told Haaretz that the lobby would not compete with AIPAC but portray another facet of American Jewry. [emphasis added]

So we have anti-Israel Carter and anti-Zionist Soros along with extremists like Lerner and Beilin focused together on the same project.

"Consider the possibilities"

By Daled Amos

Technorati Tag: Jimmy Carter and George Soros and Michael Lerner and Yossi Beilin.

But just try to collect ...

Backspin linked to a story last week about Moshe Saperstein's legal victory against the PA and PLO.

Except unfortunately we've been down this road before. When the estate of Yaron Ungar won a judgment of $116 million against the PLO, the U.S. government fought to prevent the estate from collecting.

In a case that pits judicial process against the foreign policy concerns of the executive branch, federal attorneys argued that evicting the Palestinian Arabs from their longtime location would damage the Middle East peace process and "cause serious embarrassment" to America in its relationship with the United Nations.

"In consideration of the strong foreign policy interests at stake here, the United States asks that the Court dismiss this matter on any available legal ground," stated the 30-page document, which was dated September 12 and signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Danna Drori.

This is nothing new as the Flatow family discovered even earlier.

Eighth Circuit Judge Myron H. Bright, sitting by designation, wrote that the court regretted that its holding would prevent the family of college student Alisa Flatow from recovering against Iran, a nation found by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to have offered material assistance to Palestine Islamic Jihad in the attack.

...

But Bright said the bank’s California property could not be the source of any recovery.

“The government of Iran should pay its debt to the Flatow family, but BSI cannot be held liable for this debt,” Bright said. “We follow the clear path set out by the applicable case law.”

Flatow’s lawyer, Thomas Fortune Fay, blamed this and other appellate court defeats on opposition from the U.S. government, which he said repeatedly blocks plaintiffs’ efforts to collect against the handful of officially designated “terrorist states.”

“We filed over 30 attachment actions in the Flatow case,” Fay said. “The State Department has come out consistently in support of Iran. It tells Iran and other countries that we’re not very serious in this war on terrorism.”

That Congress passed a law giving American citizens the standing to sue for damages inflicted by terrorists is a good thing. The reality is, unfortunately, that winning in the court of law and actually getting to collect are two separate things. The latter will necesarily run afoul of the federal government's desire to be the sole arbiter of foreign policy.

I wish that these lawsuits would get wider play in the MSM. While they may not prove the complicity of many of their defendants in terrorism beyond a reasonable doubt, they do bring a preponderance of evidence suggesting that governments such as Iran or the Palestinian Authority are actively choosing to be against us. But the MSM for reasons of its own doesn't wish to shatter the myths of moderation.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Blogdigger tags: Terror, Verdicts Against Terrorists, Estate of Yaron Ungar, Stephen Flatow, Moshe Saperstein.

A loaf of bread, a toga and no go

In Saudi Arabia's Diplomacy, the Washington Post charges

ONE CONSEQUENCE of the Bush administration's recent decision to divide the Middle East between "extremists" and "moderates" was to marginalize U.S. diplomacy in the region. The administration refuses to talk to the "extremists" -- Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas -- but those governments and groups are at the center of every major conflict from Iraq to the Gaza Strip. Now one of the administration's "moderate" allies, Saudi Arabia, has stepped into the vacuum. The result has been a revealing demonstration of how talks with adversaries can sometimes be useful -- and a hint of what may be lost by Mr. Bush's inflexible policy.

Let's go back a few years to the Clinton administration. President Clinton did all he could to engage Hafez Assad to join the peace process. He invited him - actually begged him - to attend the grotesque Summit of the Peacemakers in 1996. Assad refused. In 2000 Clinton made a trip to Geneva to convince Assad to accept Israeli concessions. Assad again refused to be engaged.

Thoughout his terms in office Clinton honored Yasser Arafat by meeting with him more than any other head of state. Did Arafat change? What happened at Camp David in July 2000 when Clinton tried to push for a final deal between Israel and the Palestinians? Did all that investment of political capital pay off for President Clinton?

Really one's memory doesn't have to extend that far to call into question the utility of engaging extremists.

But leave it up to those nuance loving Saudis, they're about to get something done.

They could determine whether a Palestinian administration emerges that is both willing and able to settle with Israel, or whether recent Palestinian factional fighting escalates. Significantly, the Hamas representatives in Riyadh include Khaled Meshal, a militant leader based in Damascus who has blocked previous moves toward a Palestinian accord. Saudi relations with Mr. Meshal's sponsor, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, may be warming; Mr. Assad will soon be in Riyadh for a Saudi-hosted summit of the Arab League.

I can't wait for those dominos of friends to start falling. Really. Wait there's more.

Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran back opposite sides in the escalating sectarian conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon, but the talks show that both governments are interested in tamping them down. Though there have been no breakthroughs, the diplomacy seems to have succeeded, at least, in cooling the situation in Lebanon, where a Hezbollah campaign against the Saudi-supported, pro-Western government led to several days of violence last month.

A news story in the New York Times was scarcely less encouraging.

The Saudis, who have usually preferred to work quietly behind the scenes, have grown increasingly alarmed at the chaos engulfing the region and have stepped forward to try to use their religious credibility, and vast oil wealth, to try to preserve the status quo and serve as a counterpoint to Iran’s growing influence.

Prince Saud said his country had always been involved in regional diplomacy, but more recently had moved with more urgency.

The kingdom has grown concerned over the rise in sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims — which he said has been driven by the bloodshed in Iraq. It is fearful of a civil war in Lebanon, and he suggested that the kingdom was looking to limit Iran’s involvement in Arab affairs.

I'd actually be a little less generous to the Saudis. They see the Sunni hegemony threatened. They'd like to maintain their status and wealth. Who would want the Shi'a of Saudi Arabia to be encouraged by a nuclear Iran to demand their share of the oil wealth?

So what was the result of the talks in Saudi Arabia followed by a wholesome toga party? (Or here.)

According to the AP, Palestinians celebrate in Gaza after agreement announced in Mecca

Gazans welcomed the deal with euphoria and celebratory gunfire, hoping it will end the internal feuding that has kept them huddled in their homes in fear.

However, it quickly grew clear that Hamas might have trouble selling the accord - with its vague, implicit recognition of Israel - to its supporters, who have long called for the Jewish state's destruction.

Ah yes, another implicit recognition of Israel. Or was it?

The, devil, according to the Washington Post is in the details. In A Palestinian Pact the Washington Post opines

Whether the deal serves to advance an Israeli-Palestinian peace process is another and considerably more uncertain question. Because his main aim was to stop bloodshed among the Palestinians, Mr. Abbas didn't insist that Hamas meet the three conditions set by Israel, the United States and other outside powers for a resumption of aid. Hamas still hasn't recognized Israel or sworn off violence, and the "respect" for "international resolutions" and previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements included in the pact falls short of a commitment to compliance. Consequently, a cloud has fallen over the three-way meeting of Mr. Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice planned for Feb. 19.

The Post goes on to take another shot at the Bush administration.

For now, the accord has confounded an already confused U.S. policy in the Middle East. Having recently divided the region into "moderates" and "extremists," the Bush administration was attempting to strengthen the "moderate" Mr. Abbas against the "extremist" Hamas. Now another of the "moderates," Saudi Arabia, has stepped into the diplomatic vacuum created by American policy and brokered a deal across a divide that only the Bush administration and Israel perceived; as the Saudis see it, the dividing line in the region is sectarian, not ideological. Unable to embrace the Palestinian accord but reluctant to offend a Saudi ally it has been counting on for help against Iran, the Bush administration adopted an awkward wait-and-see position. As events unfold in the coming days, it will watch from the sidelines, to which it has been relegated by its own ineptitude.

It would appear that the division between "moderates" and "extremists" is not as clear as the Post (or the Bush administration) would have it. In the end the "moderate" Abbas encouraged by the "moderate" Saudis moved close to the position of the "extremist" Hamas. It's hard to see what the Bush adminstration would gain from having played a role in this agreement. But I'd still say that the Bush adminstration's refusal to deal with extremists is certainly less damaging than the Post's belief in engaging everyone.

The New York Times though was even further removed from reality in A very Partial Palestinian Peace.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is set to meet with Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and Mr. Abbas a week from tomorrow. Her past trips to the region have been empty exercises. By recognizing last week’s minimal Palestinian pact as a potential starting point, the White House could give her a chance to improve on that dismal record.

"a potential starting point?" for what? Good Grief. 13 1/2 years ago Yasser Arafat renounced terror to gain legitimacy. He gained the legitimacy but failed to keep up his end of the bargain, resorting to terror every time he didn't get his way. Now his successor has agreed with Hamas. The Washington Post may spin the agreement in his favor by saying that he was attempting to stop the bloodshed, but in the end the so-called "moderate" Abbas adopted the Hamas position not vice versa. I would argue that this is not a starting point for anything but rather the end of the illusion of Palestinian moderation.

What is it about the Middle East that has intelligent people looking for moderation in all the wrong places.

Blogdigger tags: Mahmoud Abbas, Ismail Haniyeh, Palestinians, Saudi Arabia, Togas.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

If ... you must 02/12/2007

If your haven't read Muslims Converting to Christianity by the Thousands in France at the IRIS blog; you must.
This is a phenomenon covered by Daniel Pipes among others. Despite the apparent ascendancy of Islam, in many places Christianity is the world's fastest growing relgion.

If you haven't read Kite Flying Day Feb 8 at the Alamanac of Miscellaneous Merriment; you must.
But why is Kite Flying day celebrated in February?

If you haven't read Ah that's better Harvard at Boker Tov Boulder; you must.
The fact that Larry Summers is Jewish probably didn't mean much because apparently he wasn't the right kind of Jew.

If you haven't read In Context's Thumbnail; you must.
My mother's an alumna of Barnard. Maybe I'll pass this on to her.

If you haven't read Israelly Cool!'s the Object; you must.
I anxiously await the remake of Animal House starring Abbas, Haniyeh and co.

If you haven't read Making terrorist listen to bad music is off limits at Mere Rhetoric; you must.
In other words they'll defend Manuel Noriega but won't try to protect me from having to listen to Muzak while on hold by some customer service representative.

If you haven't read Life of Rubin's Vote for Obama or the puppy gets it; you must.
It must be said the puppy thing did not work for Michael Steele.

If you haven't read Ocean Guy's I'm just saying; you must.

If you haven't read Why Blogs at SerAndEz; you must.
Why blogs indeed? Anyone and everyone can have an opinion. A lot of professionals go through the motions of arguing soundbites or failing to provide context for their argument. Many bloggers do more work than the big names. Discovering a good blogger is just like discovering your favorite op-ed columnist. Maybe better, you just might get to know him or her.

If you haven't read Meryl Yourish's Why the checkpoints are crucial part two; you must.

If you haven't read NRO's Media Blog on WaPo corrects Feith scoop; you must.
One of the nation's leading newspapers use flawed intelligence to support the paper's pre-existing editions.

Blogdigger tags: Temple Mount, Terrorism, Barack Obama, Blogging, Bad Music, Barnard College, Harvard University, Kites, Mecca, Christianity.

Haveil Havalim #106 is UP!

Haveil Havalim #106, the terrible twos is up at Jack's Shack. Terrible twos?
How about 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 - 22? That equals 106!

I'd like to thank the wonderful folks at BlogCarnival for this wonderful Blog Carnival Widget that gives information on upcoming hosts and past editions.

Thanks for participating, reading and keeping Haveil Havalim going!

For next week's let's welcome Yid with Lid as our newest first time host!

In addition to e-mail you may submit entries to Haveil Havalim using the submission form over at BlogCarnival. Or feel free to e-mail me at dhgerstman at hotmail dot com.

Also if you'd like to host an upcoming edition e-mail me at the above address.

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.

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

Broken corkscrew

Two conference calls

Last week and this week I was invited by the good people of One Jerusalem to join blogging conference calls. Last week's call was with Dr. Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the UN and author of the new book The Fight for Jerusalem.

Among the other bloggers participating were Atlas Shrugs, Boker Tov Boulder, Tel Chai Nation, Daled Amos, The American Thinker, Meryl Yourish and the Muqata.

Dr. Gold's presentation was to argue the thesis of his book that right now the central conflict between Israel and the Islamic world is over Jerusalem. Ceding any ground on the matter of Jerusalem will not bring peace but rather embolden the forces of extremism, especially Iran.

The transcript is here. Check out Atlas Shrugs, Tel Chai Nation, Boker Tov Boulder and Daled Amos for synopses of the call.

What I found frustrating but unfortunately couldn't quite verbalize was that despite the fact that little of what Dr. Gold presented was new, the Arab/Muslim narrative permeates much of what passes for conventional wisdom these days. Certainly the idea of Israel's compromising on Jerusalem is considered a good thing - not a folly as Dr. Gold presented it. With these ideas so entrenched how can anyone hope to fight it?

Dr. Gold responded to the question I asked - what difference can we make - that we need to argue from facts and make those argument time and again.
For example, when I had the opportunity to sneak in a second quesiton at the end, if Jerusalem was really the third holiest city in Islam, Dr. Gold responded that it was, but, unlike other important cities in Islam it never served as a capital like Cairo or Baghdad did. (More on this in this article by Daniel Pipes, including that no foreign Arab leader visited Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967.) Further Dr. Gold noted that his research showed that Jerusalem became a Jewish majority city in ... 1863!

I find his arguments convincing, I just don't know how many minds they will change.

Yesterday, I was invited to participate in a conference call with former PM Netanyahu. His basic thesis was that the greatest threat, not just to Israel, but to the West, is Iran under its current government. The current controversy over Jerusalem is just a way of uniting the Muslim world behind Iran. Information on the call is here.

Other bloggers participating included Jewish Current Issues, Treppenwitz, The Hedgehog Blog, Blog-o-Fascists, the American Thinker, Regime Change Iran, Atlas Shrugs, Mere Rhetoric, Tel Chai Nation and the IRIS blog. (I didn't realize so many bloggers were on the call as only a handful of them were able to ask questions due to time constraints).

I went in hoping to ask a two part question, which would have been Given the orchestrated violence that has been used against Israel regarding the Temple Mount in October 1990, September 1996 and September 2000, do you expect the violence to intensify as a way of distracting from Iran's nuclear ambitions? How closely is the agitation about Jerusalem being co-ordinated between Iran and the Palestinians?

I don't know if former PM Netanyahu would have answered the first question. (He might have said that the possibility of greater violence existed, but probably wouldn't have committed himself to anything more.) He observed that Haniyeh had visited Iran before touching off the recent controversy. So the second question would have been revised to how closely is Hamas co-ordinating its moves with Iran.

The two points that Netanyahu made that I found most fascinating were that he's campaigning for divestment for Iran. Not just on moral grounds - though he appeals to others using a moral argument - but because he views the government's standing to be a bit shaky and that further blows to Iran's economy might turn the people against the regime. The other important bit was his observation that 1/4 of Iranians support the regime, 1/4 are opposed to it and the remaining half are vulnerable to change their minds if things get worse. (The breakdown of the Iranian population was in response to a question by Treppenwitz about using a "wedge" against Iran.) Hopefully Israel's using its Farsi language broadcasts effectively to build support against the current regime.

Overall both calls were enlightening and it was honor to be included in both. I'd recomment that One Jerusalem do what Rick Richman did before another conference call and set up an order for those to ask questions. That way there will be less hesitation and make for a smoother program. Still thanks for arranging these calls with such distinguished guests.

UPDATE: Bloggers writing about the Netanyahu conversation were Treppenwitz, Jewish Current Issues, Ocean Guy, Atlas Shrugs, Mere Rhetoric, and the Hedgehog Blog.

Blogdigger tags: Blogger Conference Calls, Dore Gold, Binaymin Netanyahu, Jerusalem, Iran.

Council Speak 02/09/2007

The Council has spoken.

This week's winning entry among council members was the American Future's who is George Soros? in which he examines the dubious history of the man who calls for the de-Nazification of the United States. The runner up was the Sundries Shack's (justifiable) contribution to the fisking of William Arkin, Once again, William Arkin, with feeling.

This week's winning non-Council post was QandO's Media Mischaracterizations of the Senate vote. One more demonstration of how the media seems to be unable to differentiate between stifling and continuing debate. Runner up was my nomination Once in a While a Veterans Thoughts Are Echoed at Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, which is Latin for "The best diplomat I know of is a fully loaded phaser bank."

Blogdigger tag: Watcher's Council.

If ... you must 02/09/2007

If you haven't read the Russert Roundup at NRO's Media Blog; you must.

If you haven't read Grilling Russert at Kesher Talk; you must.
Great line: Being a journalist - and having an ethical responsibility not to reveal what sources say - only comes into question when the matter of one's testimony becomes public." It's on a par with yesterday's remark by Instapundit about free speech.

If you haven't read Post Watch's Kurtz on Kurtz; you must.

If you haven't read Blogger Outreach at Captain's Quarters; you must.

If you haven't read look up in the sky it's Pelosi's plane at Maryland Conservatarian ; you must.

If you haven't read Distilled form of Evil at Simply Jews; you must.
This is not a new controversy as this article makes clear. I am generally not opposed to the death penalty, but the way China carries it out and the way it takes advantage of the executed prisoners is absolutely chilling. Lately China's added mobile execution vans to its death penalty apparatus.

Blogdigger tags: Libby Trial, Tim Russert, Nancy Pelosi, China, Executions, Organs.

Galaxies and galaxies

This image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows the diverse collection of galaxies 450 million light-years away in cluster Abell S0740 near the constellation Centaurus.

Read more.

Blogdigger tags: Hubble Space Telescope, NASA, Galaxies.

If ... you must 02/08/2007

If you haven't read Are Political Blogs Stagnating at Outside the Beltway; you must.
I do think that the wave of the future is toward group blogs and away from individual blogs.

If you haven't read Saudi Arabian influence in England ... at Daled Amos ; you must.
You also might want to read A tale of two Schools at Israelly Cool!

If you haven't read More on the Arkin affair at Instapundit; you must.
Actually it's this line you must read: "Free speech is speech that doesn't offend people you're afraid of."

If you haven't read Brain Terminal's March of the Nannies ; you must.

Blogdigger tags: Saudi Arabia, England, Nanny State, William Arkin, Blogging.

(Post) orbital threat

Orbiting Junk, Once a Nuisance, Is Now a Threat the headline reads.

Well it's about the little bits of satellites and other sundries that are floating in orbit around the earth.

In the last decade or so, as scientists came to agree that the number of objects in orbit had surpassed a critical mass — or, in their terms, the critical spatial density, the point at which a chain reaction becomes inevitable — they grew more anxious.

Early this year, after a half-century of growth, the federal list of detectable objects (four inches wide or larger) reached 10,000, including dead satellites, spent rocket stages, a camera, a hand tool and junkyards of whirling debris left over from chance explosions and destructive tests.

Still the headline seemed to hint at the sad story of Astronaut Lisa Nowak.

Here's her NASA biography. And here are two interviews she gave.

I thought that this Q & A from the 2006 interview was particularly poignant.

It’s been more than three years now since Columbia and its crew were lost. What was it like for you to learn that an accident had cost the lives of friends and colleagues?

It’s devastating for everybody, and when it’s friends, people that you know, it’s even harder. Three of those people were in my class, that I knew very well. So that’s hard. But I remember on that day, sitting there with my son, and we’re both watching together everything’s that’s happening, and he reached over and took my hand and said, “Mom, I still want you to go.” So, it’s a terrible tragedy to happen, but we know that there is a cause behind it and that we’re going to continue to follow that.

To read her biography it's impossible not to wonder what went wrong. She is a woman of incredible accomplishments. What made her throw all that away?

Blogdigger tags: Lisa Nowak, Space Junk.

Lie down with ...

Richard Cohen argues in Cheapening the fight against hatred (or here) that his classification as someone who abets the new antisemitism has turned all critics of Israel into antisemites and has thus robbed the term of any meaning.

I started writing a column for The Washington Post in 1976. It was about local affairs and so it took me about a year to write my first column about anti-Semitism. Since then, I have written about 90 more, most of them full-throated condemnations of the hatred that killed fully one-third of all Jews during my own lifetime. So it comes as a surprise that has the force of a mugging to be accused of aiding the very people I so hate -- an abettor of something called "The New Anti-Semitism.''

While I have not read the report from the American Jewish Committee, I have read a number of Mr. Cohen's columns. And the charge isn't inappropriate.

One of the problems that few of Israel's critics acknowledge is that criticism of Israel often doesn't stop with just criticism, but rather it involves an attack on Israel's legitimacy. I believe that it's fair to say that someone who considers Israel an illegitimate country is an antisemite because after 2000 years of diaspora it remains a safe haven for Jews from all over.

In July, Cohen wrote an article Hunkering down with history. In it he wrote

The greatest mistake Israel could make at the moment is to forget that Israel itself is a mistake. It is an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable, but the idea of creating a nation of European Jews in an area of Arab Muslims (and some Christians) has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing now. Israel fights Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, but its most formidable enemy is history itself.

Perhaps the language is imprecise but in arguing that Israel is a historical mistake he made the argument of many of Israel's enemies. I pointed out at the time that this was essentially the argument of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

It's remarkable that someone who makes his living with words can be so oblivious to their meanings. Earlier, Cohen had defended Walt and Mearsheimer from being labelled antisemitic.

My own reading of the Mearsheimer-Walt paper found it unremarkable, a bit sloppy and one-sided (nothing here about the Arab oil lobby), but nothing that even a casual newspaper reader does not know. Its basic point -- that Israel's American supporters have immense influence over U.S. foreign policy -- is inarguable. After all, President Bush has just recently given Israel NATO-like status without so much as a murmur from Congress. "I made it clear, I'll make it clear again, that we will use military might to protect our ally Israel," Bush said. This was the second or third time he's made this pledge, crossing a line that previous administrations would not -- in effect, promulgating a treaty seemingly on the spot. No other country gets this sort of treatment.

Israel's special place in U.S. foreign policy is deserved, in my view, and not entirely the product of lobbying. Israel has earned it, and isn't there something bracing about a special relationship that is not based on oil or markets or strategic location but on shared values? (A bit now like Britain.) But I can understand how foreign policy "realists" such as Mearsheimer and Walt might question its utility and not only think that a bit too much power is located in a specific lobby but that it is rarely even discussed. This may be wrong, but it is not (necessarily) anti-Semitic. In fact, after reading the Mearsheimer-Walt paper, the respected Israeli newspaper Haaretz not only failed to discern anti-Semitism but commended the paper to its readers. "The professors' article does not deserve condemnation," Haaretz stated in an editorial.

I'll agree with him that the Walt Mearsheimer paper was sloppy. But the sloppiness always cut against Israel. And its most noxious charge was that even the "Clinton parameters" as discusses in Camp David in July 2000 would create "Bantustans." This, of course, was the evocative language of Arafat and his defenders. The choice of "Bantustans" was hardly accidental. Its purpose was to make the charge that Israel, even at its most concilliatory was still the moral equivalent to Apartheid-era South Africa. In other words, illegitimate.

In his current essay Cohen takes to defending Jimmy Carter.

But having said that, let me wonder about those American Jews who interpret criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism or something that abets it. The charge has been leveled at Jimmy Carter over his recent book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." I, too, didn't like the book. I, too, found the book hostile, oddly unbalanced and chillingly lacking in historical context -- not just a near-total neglect of the Holocaust but also no mention of pre-1948 Arab pogroms, such as the 1929 murder of 67 Jews in Hebron. Still, Carter's overall point about Israeli occupation of the West Bank is apt, and calling him all sorts of names does not change that. The former president has in effect embraced the current, ahistorical context for Israel. For many, it is no longer the orphaned waif of the Holocaust but the bastard child of Western colonialism.

Carter used the term "Apartheid" in his title. He said it was to be provocative. But Apartheid has a meaning. Like Bantustan, it is a code word for an illegitimate form of government.

But like Walt and Mearsheimer, Carter also makes a claim that his view has been too long stifled by the Jewish influence in public discourse. What? Did they fail to read Anthony Lewis in the NY Times? Did he fail to read Georgie Ann Geyer? William Pfaff? Robert I. Friedman? All these (and more) were critics of Israel of varying degrees of viciousness and one-sidedness. No one silenced them. If Walt and Mearsheimer couldn't find an American publisher for their work it was because they didn't try too hard or because their work was sloppy and it didn't meet the standards of the publishers they approached. It wasn't because no one American would allow them to make their case.

Walt and Mearsheimer later agreed to an interview with Robert Fisk that was illustrated with a picture of an American flag where the star field was filled with Jewish Stars using imagery that would be at home in any neo-Nazi publication. The only reason Walt and Mearsheimer disassiated themselves from David Duke is because they recognized his status in America. But associating with Robert Fisk didn't bother them at all.

Cohen ought to consider his own phrase about Israel being "... the bastard child of Western colonialism." How has that view gained currency? It's gained its currency by people excusing the excesses of Israel's critics. Cohen has been at the forefront of those who defend those excesses.

Blogdigger tags: Richard Cohen, Antisemitism.

It depends what the meaning of "permanent" is

The New York Times has generally cut down on the amount of material that it has available for free online. And when it's restricted material to the paid archive it generally hasn't given advanced notice. (Except IIRC when it changed the free archive from two weeks to one week.)

So recently I was very pleased when I noticed that the Times generated a Permalink that provided a permanent link as the pop up tells us:

To link to this article from your blog, copy and paste the url below into your blog or homepage. Using this link will ensure access to the article, even after it becomes part of the NYT archive.

Well I started using that a few weeks ago instead of relying on the RSS URL's that also keep an article out of the paid archive after a week. And now guess what happens. Check out this "permalink."

That's right. I'm in the paid archive. And it wasn't just one permalink. Every permalink I tried that was more than 1 week old sent me to the archive. (Except for reviews, which the Times has always allowed free access to.) The RSS URL's though didn't re-direct me to the archive.

So what's going on here? Is it a software error? Or did the Times pull the plug on the permalink experiment without telling us?

Blogdigger tags: New York Times, Permalink.

If .. you must 02/07/2007

If you haven't read the Coming Purge at Done With Mirrors; you must.

If you haven't read Not Moving on by Jules Crittenden; you must.

If you haven't read Brain Terminal's the Healthcare quaqmire; you must.
Penmanship kills.

If you haven't read Borgs of the Middle East at Bookworm Room; you must.

If you haven't read McConnell vs. Reid Round I at the Hedgehog Report; you must.
And a followup at the RCP blog.

If you haven't read Closing the Book on Cloture at Second hand conjecture; you must.
h/t Instapundit. NRO's Media Blog writes that the reporters got it right; it's the editors who messed this one up.

If you haven't read A blog for all's Diane Sawyer interviews Bashar Assad; you must.
Part II is here. What is it about tyrants that attracts newspeople so?

If you haven't read It's OK to present the defense at Just One Minute; you must.

If you haven't read Sundries Shack's At least he speaks the truth ; you must.
It's not the first time Evan Thomas has said too much.

If you haven't read Toward a paperless newspaper by Don Surber; you must.

If you haven't read Desperately Needed: Some Good News at Secular Blasphmey; you must.
It's why, if you're interested in Israel it pays to check out Israel 21c. Jacob Richman's Good News from Israel.

If you haven't read Don't fear the Professor at PowerLine; you must.
Check out the follow up here. And you must read the Washington Post article about More Cowbell.

If you haven't read With Warm Hands by Treppenwitz; you must.

If you haven't seen Not Quite Perfect's Stone Flower; you must.
In a word, wow!

If you haven't read White Pebble's I travel to Las Vegas; you must.
In which her knowledge of math prevents her from losing money.

Blogdigger tags: Media Bias, Future of Newspapers, Blue Oyster Cult, Las Vegas, Islamic Fascism.

With Friends Like Hillary and Edwards...

The issue of Iran and it's pursuit of nuclear capability is of major concern both to Israel and the US--so it is important to hear what the presidential candidates have to say on the topic. Apparently, some candidates feel they don't really have to say anything at all--even while they're saying it.

That seems to be the case when Hillary Clinton addressed AIPAC, as presented by James Taranto on Monday:

How does Mrs. Clinton deal with a problem about which public opinion has not yet gelled? On Thursday she spoke to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and blogress Heather Robinson captured this choice quote:

I have advocated engagement with our enemies and Israel's enemies because I want to understand better what we can do to defeat those who . . . are aiming their weapons at us. . . . This is a worthy debate. . . . There are many, including our president, who reject any engagement with Iran and Syria. I believe that is a good-faith position to take, but I'm not sure it's the smart strategy that'll take us to the goal we share.

What do I mean by engagement or some kind of process? I'm not sure anything positive would come out of it . . . but there are a number of factors that argue for doing what I'm suggesting.

Says Robinson: "And what was it she was suggesting, exactly? Well, she never said." [emphasis his]

So on Iraq, Mrs. Clinton stands resolutely on the side of public opinion, whichever side that may be in any given year. On Iran, about which public opinion is unformed, she is maddeningly noncommittal.

Compare that with the comments by John Edwards who seems to want to actually take a stand--a stand depending on who he is speaking to. James Taranto comments on this on Tuesday:

On Sunday her fellow Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards gave an interview to Tim Russert on "Meet the Press," in which he engaged in similar circumlocution:

Russert: Would President Edwards allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon?

Edwards: I--there's no answer to that question at this moment. I think that it's a--it's a--it's a very bad thing for Iran to get a nuclear weapon. I think we have--we have many steps in front of us that have not been used. We ought to negotiate directly with the Iranians, which has not, not been done. The things that I just talked about, I think, are the right approach in dealing with Iran. And then we'll, we'll see what the result is.

Russert: But they may get one.

Edwards: Yeah. I think--I think the--we don't know, and you have to make a judgment as you go along, and that's what I would do as president.

Compare this with what Edwards said on the subject Jan. 22--just 13 days earlier--when he delivered an address by satellite to Israel's annual Herzliya Conference:

Let me be clear: Under no circumstances can Iran be allowed to have nuclear weapons. . . . Once Iran goes nuclear, other countries in the Middle East will go nuclear, making Israel's neighborhood much more volatile.

Iran must know that the world won't back down. The recent U.N. resolution ordering Iran to halt the enrichment of uranium was not enough. We need meaningful political and economic sanctions. We have muddled along for far too long. To ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons, we need to keep ALL options on the table, Let me reiterate--ALL options must remain on the table.

Last week Ezra Klein of The American Prospect, a liberal-left magazine, asked Edwards about the Herzliya speech, and he sounded quite a different note:

Klein: So, I just want to get it very clear, you think that attacking Iran would be a bad idea?

Edwards: I think would have very bad consequences.

Klein: So when you said that all options are on the table?

Edwards: It would be foolish for any American president to ever take any option off the table.

Klein: Can we live with a nuclear Iran?

Edwards: I'm not ready to cross that bridge yet. I think that we have lots of opportunities that we've . . . We're not negotiating with them directly, what I just proposed has not been done. We're not being smart about how we engage with them. But I'm not ready to cross that bridge yet. And I think the reason people react the way they do--I understand it, because, when George Bush uses this kind of language, it means something very different for most people. I mean when he uses this kind of language "options are on the table," he does it in a very threatening kind of way--with a country that he's not engaging with or making any serious diplomatic proposals to. I mean I think that he's just dead wrong about that. [emphasis his]

Both of these candidates made their pitch before Jewish groups--Clinton before AIPAC and Edwards in Herzliya. One refused to take a firm stand; the other took a firm stand that he promptly diluted when having to deal with a different audience. Granted this is very early, but even granted that we are talking politics, is it really too much to ask that when a candidate touches on an issue, they actually tell you where they stand on it--and say it consistently?

Barack Obama, for his part, has suggested launching surgical missile strikes into Iran in order to prevent extremists from gaining control of nuclear bombs--at least he did back in September 2004.

Fast-forward to January 2007:

In regards towards Iran's nuclear program, Obama called for exhausting all diplomatic options but declared that U.S. must "keep all options on the table" and try to stop Iran from pursuing its nuclear ambitions, lest anyone listening think the presidential hopeful would be afraid to use America's military might should he become commander-in-chief.

Obama also warned the administration that he and his colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will keep a close eye on U.S. action against Iran, saying that "we do not want to see precipitous actions that have not been thought through, have not been discussed, have not been authorized."

Of course, that was during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. What would Obama say in front of a Jewish or Israeli audience?

Bottom line, this whole issue is moot, considering the lock the Democratic Party has on the Jewish vote. But whatever other issues the average Jewish voter makes a priority, perhaps he should give some consideration to the issue of honesty.

By Daled Amos

Technorati Tag: Israel and Hillary Clinton and John Edwards Barack Obama.

Council speak 02/02/2007

The council has spoken and decreed that the winning council entry was Right Wing Nuthouse's 9/11 just a really bad day a response to a moonbat professor writing in the LA Times who thinks that the U.S. overreacted.

The runner up was newcomer Bookworm Room for They've finally admitted it. That is that the Arab world is motivated not out of love for the Palesitnians but by the hatred of Israel.

The winning non-council post was New Trend on the Rise: The Patriotic Terrorist a surprising entry at the Huffington Post.

Runner up was Self Delusion and Emboldening the Enemy at Dr. Sanity.

If you'd like to participate int he weekly fun and submit a post for consideration, follow the directions here.

Blogdigger tags: Watcher's Council.

If .. you must 02/06/2007

If you haven't read A Blog for All's Palestinian Steel Cage Match Continues; you must.

If you haven't read Dr. Sanity's Apocolypse Now; you must.

The degree to which global warming is taken as catechism is evident in this Washington Post editorial, Global Warning

IT'S NOT quite the hurricane-force blow to skeptics of global warming that many climatologists would have preferred, but for a document drafted by hundreds of scientists representing 113 governments, the latest report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released Friday, is nevertheless full of frightening evidence and, we hope, policy-inducing conclusions.

"Hurrican force blow?" An opposing view is the Wall Street Journal's Climate of Opinion

For example, the Center for Science and Public Policy has just released an illuminating analysis written by Lord Christopher Monckton, a one-time adviser to Margaret Thatcher who has become a voice of sanity on global warming.

Take rising sea levels. In its 2001 report, the U.N.'s best high-end estimate of the rise in sea levels by 2100 was three feet. Lord Monckton notes that the upcoming report's high-end best estimate is 17 inches, or half the previous prediction. Similarly, the new report shows that the 2001 assessment had overestimated the human influence on climate change since the Industrial Revolution by at least one-third.

Such reversals (and there are more) are remarkable, given that the IPCC's previous reports, in 1990, 1995 and 2001, have been steadily more urgent in their scientific claims and political tone.

Increasingly dire proclamations in the face of less dramatic predictions? Sounds more like superstition than science.

And check out Dr. Sanity's latest Carnival of the Insanities.

If you haven't read Bookworm Room's Weather Warfare; you must.

While you're at it read George Will's Inconvenien Kyoto Truths

Only the first tenet is clearly true, and only in the sense that the Earth warmed about 0.7 degrees Celsius in the 20th century. We do not know the extent to which human activity caused this. The activity is economic growth, the wealth-creation that makes possible improved well-being—better nutrition, medicine, education, etc. How much reduction of such social goods are we willing to accept by slowing economic activity in order to (try to) regulate the planet's climate?

and Jack Kelly's I vote for Global Warming.

But the planet is always getting either warmer or cooler. The current warming trend began about 300 years ago, in the depths of the Little Ice Age (A.D. 1350-1900).

The Little Ice Age followed the Medieval Warm Period (A.D. 800-1300), when global temperatures were about as warm as the climate-change panel predicts they might be in 2080. In those days Greenland was actually green, and wine grapes grew in Nova Scotia.

Instapundit recommends a practical way to cut down on greenhouse gases.

If you haven't read Good Intentions and sheer stupidity at Elie's Expositions; you must.
A commercial for PATH.

If you haven't read OAR @ MSG take 2 at Penny Stock; you must.
She went to a garden party.

And finally if you haven't read tips forcrossing guards at AbbaGav; you must.
He's back! (I hope.)

Blogdigger tags: Palestinian Civil War, Global Warming, New York City, Crossing Guards.

Palestine needs you yasser truman

JudeoPundit links to an absurd statement by Uri Avnery.

"If Arafat were alive, what's happening now in Gaza wouldn't be happening"--"If Arafat were alive, we would have somebody to talk with"--"If Arafat were alive, Islamic fundamentalism would not have won among the Palestinians and would have lost some force in the neighboring countries!"

(And read Judeopundit's song satire - great stuff.)

Of course the truth is that Arafat is likely responsible for a lot of what's going on now. Back in 1997 Graham Usher wrote Arafat Revives Tribal Power

"Since the PA was installed in 1994, Arafat has based his rule on two crucial constituencies. One was his Fatah movement, many of whose cadres were absorbed into the PA's burgeoning and often lawless security forces. But the other was Arafat's deliberate reempowerment of Palestine's traditional or tribal families, like the Abu Samhadanahs or, for that matter, the Al-Dhairs. In Rafah, the two constituencies have become one, with tribal and political loyalties so interwoven as to be inseparable.

Of course with Arafat gone those loyalties are gone too and the rivalries have come to the surface. More on this at My Right Word.

Blogdigger tags: Arafat, Palestinians, Clans.

Thanks of thanks

I received an e-mail from BlogCarnival yesterday, informing me that today Haveil Havalim will be the featured Carnival. One of the qualifications for being a featured carnival are

We like carnivals that have a track record, and that involve lots of people. We also notice that these carnivals tend to be more interesting and longer lived.

The longevity, the involvement and the track record are all the results of Haveil Havalim's readers, contributors and, most of all, hosts and hostesses. There are too many of you to mention by name so I won't (except later ...) because Haveil Havalim would not exist or succeed without you!

With that in mind I'd like to thank Books and beliefs, Israellycool!,Da boys of 905, I won in Jeopardy: Haveil Havalim, Bagel Blogger, Dodgeblogium, The Ignoble Experiment, Me-Ander, A Barbaric Yawp, Tikkun Ger, Jack's Shack, Life in Israel, Simply Jews, JudeoPundit, Yid with Lid, Life of Rubin, Cosmic X, Biur Chametz and Israel Matzav for linking to this week's Haveil Havalim.

(All this support led to a listing on TailRank.)

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

Five months

At 1:15 this morning she turned 22 weeks.

Hard to believe that it's been so short.

The most noticeable difference this month is that her hair has started coming in a bit more. And it's looking like she'll be a dirty blonde.

Grabbing has become a major activity. She has a grip and won't let go. Often it's a hand or finger that she brings to her mouth to gnaw on. It makes us wonder if she's teething about 6 months earlier than any of her siblings.

She enjoys her Exersaucer and deliberately seeks out some of the activities. And she can turn around in it. She also likes her gym. One of the decorations hanging down is a rooster that she seems to prefer. Last night I was trying to give her to her Imma for a bottle and she wouldn't let go of the rooster taking the whole gym with her.

She has started expressing herself. If someone is holding her (or near her) and isn't paying attention, she will poke the person or jabber until the person pays attention. She will not be ignored.

She does make some very cute sounds with her babbling. And she seems to enjoy it when I make nonsense sounds in response. However after a time her babbling can get loud and shrill. (No it's not Memorex.)

And the past few days I've noticed something else. If I walk into the room she's started twisting toward me and reaching out a hand.

She still doesn't roll over and doesn't particularly enjoy tummy time. But she is sleeping pretty well. She also has an excellent temperment and isn't very fussy.

All in all a bundle of joy!

Previous related posts: One Month, Two Months, Three Months, Four Months.

Haveil Havalim #105

Welcome to Haveil Havalim #105 - I was in Jeopardy.

Alex Trebeck surveyed the contestants curiously. Meryl, Yehudit, Israelly Cool!? He remembered when the contestants all had good Canadian names like Dick, Jane, Sally or Francois. What ever happened to the good old days, he wondered. That's right, that's back when the show was in New York and hosted by Art Fleming.

The voice boomed, "Welcome to Jeopardy"

The camera panned over the contestants and settled on Trebek. "Welcome to Jeopardy - the special Haveil Havalim edition. With we have Meryl of yourish.com, Yehudit of Kesher Talk and Aussie Dave of Israelly Cool!.

The categories we have are Jewish Holidays, Terror, Antisemitism, Media and Politics, Meryl by virtue of an arbitrary decision you may begin.

Meryl, "I'd like antisemitism for $100, Alex"

"According to posters at the Daily Kos, what university did Jew buy control to prevent the hiring of Juan Cole?"

"Yes, Meryl?"

Meryl: "What is Yale University?"

Alex: Excellent. For that reason and more, YidWithLid fears that Antisemitism is becoming fashionable in America. Meryl you have control.

Meryl: Antisemitism for $200 Alex.

Alex: And the answer is, This organization sponsored an event called Finding our Voice to help leftists recognize antisemitism among progressives.
Meryl?

Meryl: What is the ADL?

Alex: Excellent Meryl you may go again, you're now in the lead with $300.

Meryl: Antisemitism for 300.

Alex: And the answer is This government recently failed to support a resolution condemning Holocaust denial at the UN even though it had its roots in fighting racism. Israelly Cool!?

Israelly Cool: What is South Africa?

Alex: Excellent you are now tied with Meryl at $300, the board is yours.

Israelly Cool: Antisemitism for $400, Alex.

Alex: This organization noted the rise in antisemitic incidents in Germay, Austria and the Scandinavian countries. Yes Meryl?

Meryl: I should know this, I blogged about it. What is the Global Forum against Antisemitism? And I'd like antisemitism for $500.

Alex: And the answer is "This young Frenchman who was killed this past summer will be reburied in Israel." Israelly Cool!?

Israelly Cool: Ilan Halimi.

Alex: Excellent after completing one category, Israelly Cool has a lead of 800 to Meryl's 700. Yehudit has yet to ring in. Israelly Cool! what's your choice?

Israelly Cool: Jewish Holidays for 100, Alex.

Alex: And the answer is The Jewish New Year for Trees? Yehudit?

Yehudit: Tu B'shvat. I'll stay with the category for $200.

Alex: This virtual artist from New Zealand creates pictures commemorating the Jewish holidays? Israelly Cool.

Israelly Cool: Who is Marc Chagall?

Alex: Sorry, that's not correct. Remember "virtual." Meryl?

Meryl: Who is Ruth Light Braun?

Alex: No I'm sorry. New Zealand. Yehudit?

Yehudit: Who Nzdzeni of Not Quite Perfect?

Alex: Excellent. Things have tightened up with Israelly Cool now leading with 600, Meryl following with 500 and Yehudit at 300. Yehudit?

Yehudit: Jewish holidays for 300.

Alex: The answer is This marks the Yahrzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe prior to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Yehudit?

Yehudit: What is Yud Shvat? Jewish holidays for $400.

Alex: And the answer is optimism. Yes, Israelly Cool!?

Israelly Cool: What quality does Dry Bones ascribe to the celebration of Tu B'shvat? I'd like the last one in the category.

Alex: The answer is This might be the strangest place to eat the bread of affliction. Israelly Cool!?

Israelly Cool: What is a Pesach Hotel?

Alex: Excellent. You've pulled out to a commanding lead of 1500, your opponents have 500 each, your next selection?

Israelly Cool: I'd like politics for 100.

Alex: This former Justice Minister has just been convicted of improper behavior towards a subordinate.

Isreally Cool: Who is Chaim Ramon?

Alex: Excellent, choose again.

Israelly Cool: Politics for 200.

Alex: The answer is this President just had to resign under pressure after being indicted.

Israelly Cool! Who is Moshe Katzav? Politics 300.

Alex: Barack Obama.

Israelly Cool! Who did Turning the Tide recommend to take Katzav's place? Politics for 400.

Alex: And the answer is He proceeded to mention Israel as a problem in the Middle East even though other commissioners did not agree.

Isreally Cool! Who is James Baker?

Alex: (pausing during the applause.) Excellent you have run the category and your lead is now 3000 to 500 to 500. You have control.

Israelly Cool: I'd like Terror for $100.

Alex: And the answer is: This general was honored by a full page ad in a surprsing newspaper. Yehudit?

Yehudit: Who is Gen Yair Naveh? Terror for 200.

Alex: Last week marked the first time that this southern resort city was hit be terror. Meryl?

Meryl: What is Eilat? Terror for 300.

Alex: Going through their paces. Yehudit?

Yehudit: What is everyone's response to the Eilat terror attack? Terror for 400.

Alex: And the answer is, Moderate. Meryl?

Meryl: What is a word that Reuters is clueless to its meaning? Terror for 500, Alex.

Alex: A few hours. Israelly Cool!?

Israelly Cool: What is the average duration of a ceasefire that Hamas agrees to?

Alex: Well done. We now have Israelly Cool with 3500 and Meryl and Yehudit tied at 1000. Israelly Cool! it's your pick.

Israelly Cool: Well I'll go with media for 100.

Alex: And the answer is This Lebanese ally of Hezbollah learned his lessons from Reuters very well. Meryl?

Meryl: Who is Michel Aoun?

Alex: Excellent, choose again, we only have about a minute left.

Meryl: Media for 200.

Alex: The answer is Ruth Tenne. Israelly Cool!?

Israelly Cool: Who is a self-hating Israeli? Media for 300 Alex.

Alex: The answer is a reason that terror attacks have dropped in Israel. Meryl?

Meryl: What is the security fence? Why that was so easy even the NY Times implicitly acknowledged it. Media for 400, Alex.

Alex: The answer is Danny Seaman. Yehudit?

Yehudit: What is a reason that Israel's hasbara hasn't been effective lately? And I'll finish up with Media for 500.

Alex: The answer is 0. Meryl?

Meryl: What is the number of names of the Israeli victim of the Eilat terror attack mentioned by Reuters? They were, by the way, "the two owners of the bakery, Amil Elimelech, 32, and Michael Ben Sa’adon, 27 were killed in the attack as well as one of their employees, Israel Samolia, 26."

Alex: Excellent we have completed Jeopardy. Now it's time for Final Jeopardy. (We're skipping Double Jeopardy because Soccer Dad isn't clever enough and doesn't an infinite amount of time to devote to this.) Israelly Cool leads with 3800, Meryl is in second with 1800 and Yehudit is in third with 1400. Now place your wagers for the following category: Group law blog founded by a Jewish emigre from Russia and his brother who is now a professor at UCLA.

Alex: And the final Jeopardy answer is: Eugene Volokh, Sasha Volokh, David Bernstein, Kevan Chosett and Jim Lindgren.

(interlude of 30 seconds of famous music.)

Alex: Put your pens down and lets see your answers. Yehudit, you first.

Alex: You have the Volokh Conspiracy. Excellent. And how much did you wager? You wagered 1400, bringing your total to 2800 and first place for now. Meryl? You also have the Volokh Conspiracy and how much did you wager? You wagered all of you 1800 and now you're in first place with 3600. And now Israelly Cool! what did you answer? You're shaking your head. "Who are 6 people who have never been in my kitchen?" I'm sorry that's wrong. But if you didn't wager more than 200 you're still the champion. You wagered .... 3799. That brings you down to 1. Making Meryl our champion. Well done.

Except, this Haveil Havalim, vanity of vanities, the points don't translate into dollars ....

"Soccer Dad wake up," Mrs. Soccer Dad said. "You need to change the baby."

"I just had the weirdest dream about Jeopardy."

"If you didn't blog so much you wouldn't fall asleep at the computer. Now change the baby."

After I changed the baby I was able to finish Haveil Havalim.

Israel

YID With LID examines Jimmy Carter's Obessive Hatred of Menachem Begin: Why He Hates Israel.

Life in Israel examines repealing a chumrah and notes that changing practice can be difficult in other arenas too.

Am Echad - עם אחד promotes positive support for Israel in Let us Build & Create: Draft oped.

Boker Tov Boulder reminds us that most of the Jewish farmers from Gaza still have not been able to return to their former careers.

Hebrew Blogging grammar? Me-Ander has the details.

Esser Agaroth presents Naveh's Crimes.

Judaism

Me-Ander presents Tu B'shvat memories. And while we're at it please remember to submit to the Kosher cooking carnival.

A Simple Jew presents Guest Posting From Chabakuk Elisha - Isolation posted at A Simple Jew.

Crossing the Rubicon3 considers the sensitivity required in Teaching the Holocaust to 10 Year Olds.

Presence considers the nature of the Jewish holidays. If I understand his argument and what I've learned in the past it's roughly the view of Rav Kook.

Moder Uberdox learns a lesson during carpool.

Terror, antisemitism, Zionism

SimplyJews presents Thrice failed a tribute to the terrorist who killed himself along with three others in Eilat this week.

Kesher Talk asks us to Render unto Christian Zionists and expresses her misgivings.

Mere Rhetoric isn't so unsure, and presents a Christian-Zionist FAQ.

These posts were in response to a One Jerusalem blogger conference call with Pastor John Hagee.

The Ignoble Experiment, a.k.a. Live Dangerously! wonders if people pay attention to the implications of their fashion statements in Culture or Oversight?.

Dodgeblogium lets Miriam Margolis fellow traveler have it.

Israel Matzav presents 'Progressive' Jewish thought and anti-Semitism a seminar for leftists who don't recognize antisemitism in their own ranks.

The Volokh Conspriacy.David Bernstein discusses antisemitism of the Left too.

In Context provides the context in which the Holocaust has become universalized, losing its specifically Jewish character, and the way it intersects with the Ahmadinejad's Holocaust conference.

Israel Matzav presents Hamas claims to have intercepted US arms shipment. The arms shipment was destined for the "moderate" forces of Fatah.

Personal

Books and Beliefs asks Do You Blog Like You Talk?. I probably talk in run on sentences a lot more than I blog in them.

Ha'azina Tefilati recalls in What happened I and What happened II her trials following the death of her father, a"h.

Bagel Blogger encounters an adventure when ordering Jewish texts in a jungle. He doesn't get his books so fast, but he does get targeted for a marketing campaign. And remeber today's the deadline for J-pix!

Making the political personal Israel Matzav remembers Father Robert Drinan and the support he showed for Israel.

House of Joy is catching up.

Anarcho-Judaism presents BULLET POINTS ON moses judaism a consideration of anarchist Rabbis (Profanity alert).

MISC

YID With LID presents Mideast Quartet Meets Today: Groundhog Day.

Israel Matzav writes about The Peaceful Majority. Of Muslims.

YID With LID recalls with fondness Chirac: Still Stupid After All These Years. This is the guy, after all, who was trying to help Saddam get the bomb.

A special correspondent at Seraphic Secret recalls a recent evening the Dr. Charles Krauthammer and his views on a variety of timely topics.

Shiloh Musings asks if we are Jews of silence.

Jewish Blogmeister reviews Ohad. And check out Life of Rubin's Ohad vs. Shwekey smackdown.

To Meryl, Yehudit and Aussie Dave, please don't be offended. I chose you because I'm pretty certain I've been reading you the longest. I hope you don't mind the kidding. Hat tip to Jerusalem Board Games for the idea of doing Haveil havalim as a narrative.

That concludes this edition.

As you can see below next week's host is --- Jack's Shack.

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Thanks for participating, reading and keeping Haveil Havalim going!

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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'm waiting for the condemnation

Joel Mowbray

But when Israel had attempted earlier this month to prevent terrorists from firing rockets into its sovereign territory, the international outrage machine ginned up. All but seven members of the United Nations' General Assembly voted to condemn Israel for its military incursion into Gaza.

Clashes Between Hamas and Fatah Escalate

In Gaza, the Presidential Guard, a security force made up of Fatah loyalists, stormed onto the Islamic University campus, where administrators, teachers and students mostly support Hamas. The Fatah fighters set fire to the library, the computer center and other buildings. Plumes of black smoke rose over the university, and the damage appeared to be significant, though the full extent was not immediately clear because of the intense fighting nearby.

“I tried to go to the university, but it was impossible due to all the shooting,” said Kamalen Shaath, the university’s president. “There were many places that were set on fire, but we don’t know exactly how bad it is.”

Fatah said the Presidential Guard raided the university because Hamas militants had been firing mortars from the grounds.

“There was shooting from the university, and it is a place for weapons storage,” said Maher Mikdad, a Fatah spokesman.

(Emphasis mine.)

Blogdigger tags: Hamas, Fatah, Mortars, Bias.

No doubt he was seeking cold cash

Burglar caught red-handed in air conditioner

Police arrested a suspected burglar who got stuck in the casing of an air conditioner that had been removed, his head and arms dangling out of the grocery store wall with the rest of his body inside.

Blogdigger tags: Stupid Criminal Tricks

The oily show

Maryland Conservatarian decries the obscene profits Google makes. (And after yesterday's performance of Blogger it's even more outrageous! And that's the new improved Blogger too.)

Jeff Jacoby is outraged at the obscene profits the government makes.

The Fireant Gazette concurs.

Blogdigger tags: Exxon-Mobil, Google, Oil Profits, Taxes.

What are we fighting for?

In Who's to blame for the killing (and here) Charles Krauthammer assigns blame for the ongoing violence in Iraq and concludes.

We have made a lot of mistakes in Iraq. But when Arabs kill Arabs and Shiites kill Shiites and Sunnis kill all in a spasm of violence that is blind and furious and has roots in hatreds born long before America was even a republic, to place the blame on the one player, the one country, the one military that has done more than any other to try to separate the combatants and bring conciliation is simply perverse.

It infantilizes Arabs. It demonizes Americans. It willfully overlooks the plainest of facts: Iraq is their country. We midwifed their freedom. They chose civil war.

This isn't entirely satisfying though, earlier Krauthammer observed:

America comes and liberates them from the tyrant who kept everyone living in fear, and the ancient animosities and more recent resentments begin to play themselves out to deadly effect. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have died, the overwhelming majority of them killed by Sunni insurgents, Baathist dead-enders and their al-Qaeda allies who carry on the Saddamist pogroms.

Where have we heard this story before? In the Balkans! After the fall of communism the ethnic hatreds that had been kept in check by Tito exploded for the world to see. Much the same thing is happening in Iraq now.

For all of my optimism about a democratic Iraq, I see that I was naive. The rise of the oppressed Shi'ites in retrospect was a much more realistic outcome. Was there any way to prevent the bloody conflict? Perhaps not, but the failure to anticipate it is probably at the heart of the aministration's political problems as Krauthammer observes.

Our entire strategy has been to fight one side and then the other to try to prevent sectarian violence -- a policy that has been one of the leading reasons why Americans are ready to quit and walk away. They can understand one-front wars, but they can't understand two-, three- and four-front wars, with Americans fighting any and all in sequence and sometimes in combination.

Clearly communicating the likely post-invasion difficulties would have saved the administraiton a lot of grief. Now it's time to make up for that blunder.

Blogdigger tags: Iraq, Charles Krauthammer.

Undocumented

Proudly linking to the documentary evidence submitted in the Scooter Libby trial David Ignatius gloats in A Failed Coverup

The trial record suggests a simple answer: The White House was worried that the CIA would reveal that it had been pressured in 2002 and early 2003 to support administration claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, and that in the Niger case, the CIA had tried hard to resist this pressure. The machinations of Cheney, Libby and others were an attempt to weave an alternative narrative that blamed the CIA.

That documentary evidence, of course, is geared toward establishing what Scooter Libby knew and when he knew it. So that evidence wouldn't include the results of Senates' Select Committee on Intelligence's report on the subject. That only goes to the credibility of Ambassador Wilson.

Funny thing too that Ignatius missed it because two and a half years ago there was a nice article on the topic of that report featured in Ignatius's own paper, the Washington Post by Susan Schmidt.

Wilson's assertions -- both about what he found in Niger and what the Bush administration did with the information -- were undermined yesterday in a bipartisan Senate intelligence committee report.

The panel found that Wilson's report, rather than debunking intelligence about purported uranium sales to Iraq, as he has said, bolstered the case for most intelligence analysts. And contrary to Wilson's assertions and even the government's previous statements, the CIA did not tell the White House it had qualms about the reliability of the Africa intelligence that made its way into 16 fateful words in President Bush's January 2003 State of the Union address.

Yesterday's report said that whether Iraq sought to buy lightly enriched "yellowcake" uranium from Niger is one of the few bits of prewar intelligence that remains an open question. Much of the rest of the intelligence suggesting a buildup of weapons of mass destruction was unfounded, the report said.

In other words Wilson's a blowhard. The administration wasn't engaged in some sort of sneaky attempt to undermine Wilson or get at him through his wife. It was attempting to push back against a phony accusation that was undermining the administration's political credibility.

Yes I read what Schmidt wrote. She wrote that the Senate report found the issue of yellowcake was an open question. It was not refuted by Wilson.

Ignatius writes

So we begin to understand why the White House was worried about the CIA in the summer of 2003: It feared the agency would breach the wall of silence about the claims regarding weapons of mass destruction. Robert Grenier, a CIA official who was the agency's Iraq mission manager, told colleagues that he remembered "a series of insistent phone calls" that month from Libby, who wanted the CIA to tell reporters that "other community elements such as State and DOD" had encouraged Wilson's Niger trip, not just Cheney.

The Senate report here is very clear. The CIA attempting to answer the question from VP Cheney sent Wilson on his wife's recommendation.

Officials from the CIA's DO Counterproliferation Division (CPD) told Committee staff that in response to questions from the Vice President's Office and the Departments of State and Defense on the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium deal, CPD officials discussed ways to obtain additional information. who could make immediate inquiries into the reporting, CPD decided to contact a former ambassador to Gabon who had a posting early in his career in Niger.

( ) Some CPD officials could not recall how the office decided to contact the former ambassador, however, interviews and documents provided to the Committee indicate that his wife, a CPD employee, suggested his name for the trip. The CPD reports officer told Committee staff that the former ambassador's wife "offered up his name" and a memorandum to the Deputy Chief of the CPD on February 12, 2002, from the former ambassador's wife says, "my husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts), both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity." This was just one day before CPD sent a cable DELETED requesting concurrence with CPD's idea to send the former ambassador to Niger and requesting any additional information from the foreign government service on their uranium reports. The former ambassador's wife told Committee staff that when CPD decided it would like to send the former ambassador to Niger, she approached her husband on behalf of the CIA and told him "there's this crazy report" on a purported deal for Niger to sell uranium to Iraq.

It's hard to see how Ignatius is skeptical that it was the Vice President's office who was alone in pushing for the investigation. It states it very clearly that State and Defense also asked for the information. Libby wasn't calling around to cover things up but to set them straight.

It's nice that Ignatius has everything figured out. His narrative would be a lot more convincing if he included all the relevant information instead of doctoring the intelligence to arrive to his conclusion.

UPDATE: see memeorandum

UPDATE II: More at Buzztracker Macs Mind and Maryland Conservatarian has an important followup.

Blogdigger tags: Joseph Wilson, Scooter Libby, David Ignatius, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

If ... you must 02/02/2007

State of Maryland

OK if you're not from Maryland you don't have to read these.

If you haven't read State of the State Response at the Hedgehog Report ; you must.
Hedgehog Report looks at Governor O'Malley's popularity and compares it to former Governor Ehrlich's at the same time in his term. He also explores some issues.

If you haven't read Governor O'Malley's State of the State at Maryland Conservatarian; you must.
In which he parses the new Governor's speech and finds some interesting nuggets.

If you haven't Let's get to work at Monoblogue; you must.
And Monoblogue will help you find out how much that "work" will cost you.

Biden's foot problem

If you haven't read Colossus of Rhodey.Hube's Ah, the irony; you must.
Let's give him first shot at his Senator. It's a good one.

If you haven't read Is Biden Right? at Don Surber; you must.
Clean isn't just about taking baths Reverend.

If you haven't read Is Obama Like Sharpton? at It Shines for All; you must.

If you haven't read JoshuaPundit's Biden's Remarks kill two birds with One Stone; you must.
He may not be like him; but he does like him. And that doesn't say much for the Senator's moral fiber.

If you haven't read Jonah Goldberg's In Defense of Biden at NRO's Corner; you must.

Misc

If you haven't read Now Palestinians are Allies of U.S? at Daled Amos; you must.

If you haven't read Shenken Glasses at Treppenwitz; you must.

If you haven't seen Not Quite Perfect's Glass Bowl; you must.
Exquisite

If you haven't read WaPo's Arkin slams U.S. troops at NRO's media blog; you must.
Lots, lots more at memeorandum. And why oh why would he think it was good idea to irk MAJ Andrew Olmsted?

Blogdigger tags: Maryland, Governor O'Malley, Sen Biden, Sen Obama, Palestinians, Fractal Art

Bully for bush

The New York Times is seeking sympathy for a devil. In its editorial Bullying Iran the editors write

Given America’s bitter experience in Iraq, one would think that President Bush could finally figure out that threats and brute force aren’t a substitute for a reasoned strategy. But Mr. Bush is at it again, this time trying to bully Iran into stopping its meddling inside Iraq.

The American Future observes that though the editorial calls for negotiations with Iran and Syria but provides no benchmarks for what would make such negotiations successful. He concludes that the Times's words are empty.

Because the editorial falls well short of meeting this requirement, it is nothing more than a rant against the Bush administration. But that is what I have come to expect of the New York Times.

Q and O notes a reversal

So let's see if I've got this straight. We go into Iraq, remove a murderous dictator, remove at least the threat of WMD, allow 18 million people to take a stab at an open self-government, rebuild their infrastructure, get their oil flowing again, build schools, train police...

Iran meddles by training and arming terrorists to kill totally innocent people and attempting to destabilize Iraq and move them towards Islamic theocratic dictatorship.

And we're the bullies.

Part of the reason for Iran's ascendancy is that its puppets Hezbollah and Hamas. How did they get their power? Well in 2000 Israel withdrew from Lebanon. That was supposed to weaken Hezbollah as it would take away its pretext for attacking Israel.

In 2005 Israel withdrew from Gaza and that was supposed to strengthen moderate Palestinians and give them a chance to govern themselves. Instead it brought Hamas to power and invited terrorists to shoot rockets at Israel with even greater frequency than before.

When dealing with extremists, the "reasoned approach" only encourages them. Sure they'll fight back if you attack them. But that's the only hope of degrading their abilities.

more at memeorandum

Blogdigger tags: Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Israel, War on Terror.

At a loss

At some point these two items were listed consecutively at memeorandum.

Now That a Penny Isn't Worth Much, It's Time to Make It Worth 5 Cents linking to a story at the New York Times that begins

How dumb do you have to be to mint money at a loss?

The folks at the New York Times would know something about losses as the previous item was New York Times Reports 4Q Loss of $648M

Blogdigger tags: Losses, Pennies, New York Times.

If ... you must 02/01/2007

If you haven't read Mere Rhetoric's The Oh-So-Moderate Abbas Urges Palestinians To Unite, Target Israelis; you must.

If you haven't checked out the New Dictionary Entry at Secular Blasphemy; you must.
Similar stuff at Backspin.

If you haven't read Deja Vu's India's Second War Front; you must.

If you haven't read Life imitates 24 at Brain Terminal; you must.
I once watched the Unit. At the end the heroes are discussing a call they put in. One asks "The State Department?" "No the Air Force." Then there's a sound of a helicopter, a brief appearance of a Hellfire missile and then the bad guys' car explodes. I'd like to see a lot more of life imitating the Unit.

If you haven't read the Long War gets Ugly at Jules Crittenden; you must.

If you haven't read Baseball Crank's Why I'm with Rudy; you must.
He cites this excellent City Journal article.

If you haven't read NYT back new campaign finance reg at NRO's Media Blog; you must.

If you haven't read Competing Rough Drafts at PostWatch; you must.

If you haven't read Israel Matzav's New Poll... ; you must.
There are an awful lot of undecideds in this poll. Still it can't be good news for Kadima.

If you haven't read Don Surber's London Calling; you must.
Rule #1 about being a media columnist: get your facts straight.

If you haven't read The Duke Women's Lacrosse team should be honored at the Volokh Conspiracy ; you must.

If you haven't read Ennuipundit's Baseball Hall of Fame Nonsense at OTB Sports; you must.
I like the diagnosis. I'm not sure I agree with the cure.

Blogdigger tags: Terror, War on Terror, India, Israel, Rudy Giuliani, Campaign Finance Reform, Baseball Hall of Fame, Duke Lacrosse, Mahmoud Abbas.

Eats donuts and leaves

Wikipedia Brown and the case of the Captured Koala

h/t Volokh Conspiracy

Blogdigger tags: Encyclopedia Brown, Satire, Wikipedia, Koala.

The town hall meeting will be over soon

The conviction of Chaim Ramon and the ongoing legal and political problems of PM Ehud Olmert remind me that the town hall meeting is nearing its end.

In April 1988, Ted Koppel of Nightline arranged a Town Hall meeting between Israeli and Palestinians. The Israelis were Ramon, Olmert, Dedi Zucker and the late Eliahu Ben-Elissar. The Palestinians were Saeb Erakat, Hanan Ashrawi and Dr. Haider Abdul-Shafi. When you think about it, it seems that ABC did a good job of picking up and comers. Ramon and Olmert both ran to be heads of their respective parties. Ashrawi and Erakat have been prominent spokepeople for the PA, though only Erakat seems to have actually reached the heights of any political power.

It's interesting to read the Washington Post's account of the spectacle. ("DIPLOMACY, KOPPEL STYLE IN JERUSALEM, 'NIGHTLINE'S' ISRAELI- PALESTINIAN PANEL," Glenn Frankel, April 28, 1988)

The Palestinians . . . insisted that they were speaking to Koppel and the viewing audience, not to the Israelis. To hammer home that point, they insisted that "Nightline" erect a small symbolic wall between them and the other panel. Koppel, the diplomat-showman, straddled it, sometimes sitting facing one group, sometimes facing the other.

The dehumanization of the Israelis by the Palestinians was quite apparent though Frankel apparently didn't see it that way. He did see insults going the other way though.

But the best television moments probably were the nastiest. The two Likudniks continually baited the Palestinians, and Ben-Elissar struck a particularly vicious note when he accused Palestinian men of "hiding behind kids and behind women" because "you are afraid to come out to the streets to cope with Israeli soldiers yourselves."

And he only got half of the most telling episode.

Erakat launched his own emotional tirade, comparing Israel's occupation with the Nazi occupation of Europe, while Jews in the audience booed lustily.

It's a shame that Frankel left out Zucker's reaction. After that tirade Zucker (a child of Holocaust survivors) was visibly shaken, his faith in Israel's ability to make peace with the Palestinians shaken. He said in an agitated voice (this is from memory) "I can deal with your friend. I can't deal with you." (Erakat's tirade wasn't characterized as "particularly vicious.")

Eliahu ben Elissar passed away in 2000 after a long diplmatic career. Dedi Zucker left politics after showing a bit of intellectual honesty and getting booted from his party. (I forget the exact details.) Chaim Ramon's political career is over. And Ehud Olmert's is in jeopardy. (I expect him to hold on for awhile. No one in the governing coalition wants the government to fall as each knows that his/her position of power will disappear with the government.

I don't know what happened with Abdul-Shefi. Ashrawi always used to seem available for comment but she was always limited because she's Christian. Erakat ended up heading the Palestinian's negotiating team.

Nearly 19 years later it looks like the participants of the town hall meeting are leaving the building.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Blogdigger tags: Eliahu ben Elissar, Chaim Ramon, Ehud Olmert, Dedi Zucker, Hanan Ashrawi, Saeb Erakat, Haider Abdul-Shafi, Ted Koppel, Nightline, Town Hall Meeting.

For John Conyers, Impeachment Is Like Getting To Carnegie Hall

Congressman John Conyers, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, blogs in Daily Kos that Congress Is No Longer Silent:

Today marks the first hearing I will conduct in the Judiciary Committee since taking over as Chairman and this feels like a momentous occasion.

Our country has been run, far too long, by an Administration that seeks to rule in secrecy. The Bush White House has ignored our founding fathers' separation of powers, claiming an ever increasing scope of authority in direct conflict with the constitution.

For the past six years Congress has been silent, watching idly as its powers are usurped.

No longer.

Some are saying that despite Pelosi's statement before the November elections that impeachment is off the table, Conyer's is going to put it back on the table.

Where is Conyer's determination to pursue impeachment proceedings against President Bush? Perhaps John Nichols of The Nation has part of the answer.

According to Nichols, Father Robert Drinan, the Jesuit priest who served in Congress and died recently, introduced H. Res. 513 – "Resolution impeaching Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States, of high crimes and misdemeanors"--on July 31, 1973. It would be a year before action would be taken, but when it was

With support from the Congressional Black Caucus, Drinan pressed the committee to move his article of impeachment against Nixon for ordering the bombing of Cambodia without the permission of Congress. Key Democrats in Congress opposed the article, arguing that, while America people were prepared to impeach the president for the petty crimes of Watergate, they were not ready to remove him for violating the Constitutional constraint on presidential warmaking. Drinan was having none of it. To the suggestion that an article of impeachment sanctioning the president for the ordering the bombings would not "play in Peoria," the congressman from Massachusetts asked: "How can we impeach the President for concealing a burglary but not for concealing a massive bombing?"

Drinan's argument drew enthusiastic support from a number of the Judiciary Committee's younger members, including the Michigan representative who would eventually become its chair, John Conyers. But the committee's majority rejected the sanction by a vote of 26-12. [emphasis added]

Maybe Drinan's fire and determination make such an impression on Conyers that he cannot help seeing a parallel between Nixon and Bush. One thing is certain--Conyers has been practicing for impeaching President Bush.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post reported in June 2005 about a mock impeachment hearing over the Iraq war that Conyers staged for the media:

In the Capitol basement yesterday, long-suffering House Democrats took a trip to the land of make-believe.

They pretended a small conference room was the Judiciary Committee hearing room, draping white linens over folding tables to make them look like witness tables and bringing in cardboard name tags and extra flags to make the whole thing look official.

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) banged a large wooden gavel and got the other lawmakers to call him "Mr. Chairman." He liked that so much that he started calling himself "the chairman" and spouted other chairmanly phrases, such as "unanimous consent" and "without objection so ordered." The dress-up game looked realistic enough on C-SPAN, so two dozen more Democrats came downstairs to play along.

But that was not the only time that Conyers held mock hearings, or had himself referred to as "Mr. Chairman." Conyers had already started staging such mock hearings since December 2004:

In December, ranking member John Conyers (D-Mich.) began holding alternative hearings using one of the committee’s smaller hearing rooms.

Republicans objected to the first hearing in December, noting that participants had called Conyers “Mr. Chairman” and that the proceedings very closely resembled an official hearing. Their complaints prompted Conyers to redub the gatherings “forums” and to ask attendees to refrain from addressing him as “Mr. Chairman.”

After Conyers’s most recent forum several weeks ago, Democrats were notified that they would be denied future use of hearing rooms.

Now Conyers plans to take the meetings to the Democratic National Committee headquarters on South Capitol Street, where he will again call them hearings and be addressed as “Mr. Chairman,” said his spokeswoman Dena Graziano. “He would be chairman of the Judiciary Committee Democrats,” she said.

The mock hearing Milbank refers to would be one of these--which explains why Conyers was again having himself referred to as "Mr. Chairman" and calling them 'hearings' instead of forums. Conyers even posted to Daily Kos, inviting readers to watch his televised hearings.

One assumes that now that Conyers can now rightfully use his title, and having taken advantage of the opportunity to lead his own 'hearings', he will be more successful conducting them than he was during practice. Milbank recounts Conyers difficulty during the rehearsal he covered:

Conyers's firm hand on the gavel could not prevent something of a free-for-all; at one point, a former State Department worker rose from the audience to propose criminal charges against Bush officials. Early in the hearing, somebody accidentally turned off the lights; later, a witness knocked down a flag.

The obvious danger is that Conyers may jump from merely conducting mock hearings to just plain making a mockery of justice. President Bush's actions are of course open to criticism and debate, but Conyers' actions till now do not inspire one with confidence that he is the one to lead them.

UPDATE: Soccer Dad adds: In Bush is not above the law, James Bamford writes:

The issue is not original. Among the charges approved by the House Judiciary Committee when it recommended its articles of impeachment against President Nixon was “illegal wiretaps.” President Nixon, the bill charged, “caused wiretaps to be placed on the telephones of 17 persons without having obtained a court order authorizing the tap, as required by federal law; in violation of Sections 241, 371 and 2510-11 of the Criminal Code.”

Under his program, President Bush could probably be charged with wiretapping not 17 but thousands of people without having obtained a court order authorizing the taps as required by federal law, in violation of FISA.

I'd guess that the NY Times is laying the groundwork for Congressional Democrats.

By Daled Amos

Technorati Tag: John Conyers.