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You can watch it and see into it all sorts of things, from theories about global warming to liberal bias. I simply observed the births for about 30 seconds or so and got an incredible feeling of awe at the workings of the universe. Beings, created every second, one after another. Each one unique and different from the next. The graphic representation seemed to underscore the mind-blowing aspect.
I've been tagged by SoccerDad for the following meme:
The Rules are: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves.The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
******************************************************
1. I like doing memes but I don't feel constrained to follow all the directions. For example, I have no intention of asking people to read my blog. They either do or they don't. Begging is like just too demeaning.
2. I talked very early, according to my mother. She told me that people used to hear me and then come closer to take a look in my stroller, and when they did, they were completely amazed at how young I was. One of my first phrases was inexplicably, "Who's the beautiful lady?" I think I must have heard it somewhere and then repeated it like a parrot saying "Polly want a cracker."
3. My mother thinks one of her major responsibilities in life is to build my self-esteem. I've always known that her stories about me and my great precocity and brilliance are exaggerations. But I don't dig too deeply. It's one of those fun fantasies that I kind of enjoy.
4. I was never very athletic except in a couple of things: I could connect a bat with a baseball and hit it much further than I should have been able to for my lack of athletic ability, and I was always a good swimmer. I earned Red Cross certification in senior life saving and taught swimming to kids. And I used to love to water ski. I could drop a ski and slalom across the wake, man. But I didn't have enough upper body strength to climb the godforsaken rope in gym at school. I hated PE with a passion. Don't even get me going about the puke blue uniform (it was a one-piece thing with snaps down the front, identical to a prison uniform, but it was shorts, not long pants). They made us girls embroider our names across the left breast pocket. The boys got to wear normal t-shirts and gym shorts.
5. I never ate breakfast growing up. Now I never miss eating it. I am a firm believer in feeding one's brain and the importance of morning rehydration. I have tried to impress this upon my children, and now they know my shpiel entirely by heart. The single missing piece of this successful parenting strategy is getting them to follow through on it by actually eating breakfast.
6. I love to cook and I love to hear my husband and kids brag to others about the things I make.
7. I love all four seasons. One day we will move to a place where there is no winter and I will miss it for the rest of my life.
8. When I was 6 years old, we went on a family trip to Washington DC. While we were standing in front of the White House, President Kennedy landed on the lawn in a helicopter and waved to the crowd. He was killed the following year.
I am tagging the following people/blogs:
Me. I am so not ready. We are taking middle son up to college to begin his freshman year this weekend. So much focus has been on so many other things, I haven't had time for it to sink in - that he's actually going.
Oh, I'd planned things so differently way back when. I never wanted to be one of those mothers who bemoans her children leaving the nest.
Woman plans, God laughs.
Sigh.
The one who is most like me. The one with whom I can sit for hours in companionable silence. The only one in the house with the same temperament as mine (Quiet introverts requiring time to ourselves to regenerate after socializing). We understand that about one another. We laugh at "the others." They who need to talk. Ha. Not for us talking. We communicate via thought waves.
And he was such an amazing pleasure to raise. (Until his teens, when they all go a bit haywire. His version of haywire wasn't so bad though.) He DID HIS HOMEWORK WITHOUT ANY PROMPTING! He'd remind me to sign papers that had to be brought back to school. He didn't lose things! He loved naptime. He never fussed about anything - always easy going. Never demanding. Great sense of humor.
There was only one thing, one thing alone, about which he was ever irrational in all hos 18 years. When he was little, he used to like eating pop tarts for breakfast.
GOD FORBID THE CORNER OF THE POP TART BE BROKEN OFF.
Strangely enough, it was one of the only things that made him cry.
And of course, we've ribbed him about it mercilessly.
And he's taken it with good humor like the mensch that he is.
Saying goodby is going to be very hard.
Of course, they do come back. Eldest son is still living at home at age 23. And Daughter came back. : )
But I have a funny feeling, this bird is going to be the one to fly off the soonest. He walked at ten months. He always got himself up and off to school on time.
He's ready. It's just his mother who's lagging behind.
I was able to get the answer to the second problem within 2-3 seconds. Studies say that people with brain damage do better on the second puzzle than the normal population.
Update:
Interestingly, I see many individuals showing up here and clicking on this link, yet they do not report back as to their results. 3 potential interpretations of this (there may be others, but this is all my damaged brain could come up with):
1. They are as brain damaged as I am, but are too embarassed to say.
2. They are not as brain damaged as I, but don't wish to brag about it.
3. They could solve neither puzzle, are at a loss as to what that means, and prefer to keep it to themselves.
Bullseye. Right on target, as far as I am concerned. I will add my opinion to the thoughts below: Bill Clinton was too interested in being Mr. Popularity to do his freaking job properly:
Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani on Tuesday accused former President Clinton of not responding forcefully enough to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing or later terrorist attacks.
The former New York mayor criticized Democrats, accusing them of weakness and naivete in dealing with terrorism. Giuliani made the comments to about 650 business, corporate and political leaders at Regent University, the conservative Christian college founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson.
"Islamic terrorists killed more than 500 Americans before Sept. 11. Many people think the first attack on America was on Sept. 11, 2001. It was not. It was in 1993," said the former New York mayor.
Giuliani argued that Clinton treated the World Trade Center bombing as a criminal act instead of a terrorist attack, calling it "a big mistake" that emboldened other strikes on the Khobar Towers housing complex in Saudi Arabia, in Kenya and Tanzania and later on the USS Cole while docked in Yemen in 2000.
"The United States government, then President Clinton, did not respond," Giuliani said. "(Osama) bin Laden declared war on us. We didn't hear it."
In hindsight, Giuliani said, maybe it's all clearer now, "but now is now, and there is no reason to go back into denial, and that is essentially what the Democratic candidates for president want to do: they want to go back, to put the country in reverse to the 1990s.
"I'm not blaming anybody back then," Giuliani said later in the day at a campaign stop at a Jewish temple in Rockville, Md. "What I am saying is, I do blame people after Sept. 11. Now you have to get it."
In reaction to gas rationing, crowds of angry Iranians burned gas stations in protest. Pajamas Media reports:
Ardeshir Arian reports unrest sparked by gas rationing continued all night until sunrise. The rioting, mainly in Tehran, but also in other cities spread beyond the gas stations to government banks and government-run supermarkets, which were ransacked by ordinary people. It took hours for security forces to gain control and some forces fled the scene to safety.
Read more and see pictures and video.
This is both hopeful and worrisome. How badly is the government going to come down on them in response? Things can get so gruesome and ugly.
In a comment after the post above, an ex-pat Iranian wrote:
Holy SH%T!
Jag off mullahs! I can't believe that they are doing this! All this crap is for nothing...................NOTHING! I hate them with all my heart and soul. Iran should and could be a nation with one of the highest standards of living in the world but we are going to the level of sub Saharan Africa. Iran is run by traitors.
My parents are there and other relatives and friends. Death to false mullahs! Petrol rationing from a country that is one of the top 5 oil producers in the world and the filthy mullahs are sending billions of the Iranian peoples dollars to terrorists in Palestine, Lebanon and in Iraq!
They will pay, oh boy will they pay. Thank God for Pajamas media and Ardeshir PLEASE keep us up to date, this might be the spark that will ignite the IRANIAN REVOLUTION! I'm also curious about Dr. Ledeen's take on the situation. Take care Ardershir jan and I will prey for my fellow Iranians that this night mare called the Islamic Republic will be swept away.
I add my prayers to his - for Iran and for the entire Middle East.
From the Jerusalem Post:
"This is a wrong, harmful message that will not strengthen the Palestinian Authority. It will only weaken it," Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday in response to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision to release Palestinian prisoners.
"[Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, also known as] Abu Mazen will be hurt by such a decision," continued Netanyahu. "Giving them guns and releasing their prisoners is a big mistake."
Olmert announced that Israel would free 250 Fatah-affiliated prisoners at Monday's Sharm e-Sheikh summit with Jordan's King Abdullah, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Abbas and, according to the London-based Al Hayat newspaper, the PA chairman had demanded that Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti be included among the released prisoners.
...and Islamofascists love putting on a good farce. Christopher Hitchens describes Rage Boy, professional protester:
If you follow the link, you will be treated to some scenes from the strenuous life of a professional Muslim protester in the Kashmiri city of Srinagar. Over the last few years, there have been innumerable opportunities for him to demonstrate his piety and his pissed-offness. And the cameras have been there for him every time. Is it a fatwah? Is it a copy of the Quran allegedly down the gurgler at Guantanamo? Is it some cartoon in Denmark? Time for Rage Boy to step in and for his visage to impress the rest of the world with the depth and strength of Islamist emotion.
Last week, there was another go-round of this now-formulaic story, when Salman Rushdie accepted a knighthood from her majesty the queen, and the whole cycle of hysteria started up again. Effigies and flags burned (is there some special factory in Karachi that churns out the flags of democratic countries for occasions like this?), wounded screams from religious nut bags, bounties raised to suborn murder, and solemn resolutions passed by notional bodies such as the Pakistani "parliament." A few months ago, it was the pope who was being threatened, and Christians in the Middle East and Muslim Asia who were actually being killed. Indeed, Rage Boy had a few yells and gibberings to offer on that occasion, too.
I have actually seen some of these demonstrations, most recently in Islamabad, and all I would do if I were a news editor is ask my camera team to take several steps back from the shot. We could then see a few dozen gesticulating men (very few women for some reason), their mustaches writhing as they scatter lighter fluid on a book or a flag or a hastily made effigy. Around them, a two-deep encirclement of camera crews. When the lights are turned off, the little gang disperses. And you may have noticed that the camera is always steady and in close-up on the flames, which it wouldn't be if there was a big, surging mob involved.
Link.
Michael Ledeen writes:
Just a Quiet Note from the Battlefield...
It's in red atop Drudge . It says that the Brits know that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards transported troops across the Iraq border in helicopters, in order to attack British soldiers. Some might call it an act of war. But then, there have been so many, who can keep track?
I doubt the Brits have the stomach for an effective response. Obviously the mullahs feel that way, too. But there are so many factors in play in Tehran these days that it probably requires a supercomputer to sort them out, from the succession struggle to the increasingly open war in the streets between regime and people, to the urgency the mullahs feel about the multi-front war in which they are now engaged.
I don't want to distract anyone from counting likely votes in the world's greatest deliberative body, but Iran certainly seems to be waging war openly and violently. It might be smart to pay attention. And even respond.
In a strange overreaction to Cruise's strange religion:
Germany has barred the makers of a movie about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler from filming at German military sites because its star Tom Cruise is a Scientologist, the Defence Ministry said on Monday.
Cruise, also one of the film's producers, is a member of the Church of Scientology which the German government does not recognise as a church. Berlin says it masquerades as a religion to make money, a charge Scientology leaders reject.
The U.S. actor has been cast as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, leader of the unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the Nazi dictator in July 1944 with a bomb hidden in a briefcase.
Defence Ministry spokesman Harald Kammerbauer said the film makers "will not be allowed to film at German military sites if Count Stauffenberg is played by Tom Cruise, who has publicly professed to being a member of the Scientology cult".
"In general, the Bundeswehr (German military) has a special interest in the serious and authentic portrayal of the events of July 20, 1944 and Stauffenberg's person," Kammerbauer said. Cruise's publicists could not be reached for comment.
Stauffenberg had been deeply opposed to the Nazis' treatment of the Jews and planted a briefcase bomb under a table near Hitler in his "Wolf's Lair" headquarters on July 20, 1944. The bomb went off but only wounded the Fuehrer.
Way to be tolerant of differences.
United Artists Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Paula Wagner released the following statement regarding the matter:
"To set the record straight, 'Valkyrie' is a historically accurate thriller that presents the World War Two resistance hero Col. Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg as the heroic and principled figure he was, and we believe it will go a long way towards reminding the world that even within the ranks of the German military there was real resistance to the Nazi regime. 'Valkyrie' was originated and brought to United Artists by Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie. Based on the fantastic screenplay written by Mr. McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander, we gave it the green light. Mr. Singer, the director, then offered the role of Col. Stauffenberg to Tom Cruise because he thought he was perfect for the part. Aside from his obvious admiration of the man he is portraying, Mr. Cruise's personal beliefs have absolutely no bearing on the movie's plot, themes, or content. And even though we could shoot the movie anywhere in the world, we believe Germany is the only place we can truly do the story justice."
Based upon the "Are You Experienced" meme (I called it "Have you Ever?" in my post on the subject) that was traveling around the blogosphere several months ago, Caveblogem has compiled statistics and extrapolated a general profile of bloggers from them. Very interesting idea. Take a look.
Trying to keep things rated PG, but it takes every ounce of willpower not to curse the people who did this out to high heavens. I can't begin to imagine the agony of this man's family:
Kidnapped BBC Journalist Shown Wearing Explosives Belt - Sarah El Deeb (AP/Washington Post)
A video released Monday shows kidnapped British journalist Alan Johnston wearing an explosives belt and warning it will be detonated if an attempt is made to free him by force.
"Captors tell me that very promising negotiations were ruined when the Hamas movement and the British government decided to press for a military solution to this kidnapping," Johnston says in the recording, looking nervous and stressed.
"I have been dressed in what is an explosive belt, which the kidnappers say will be detonated if there is an attempt to storm the area," he added.
Iran Takes Step Nearer to a Nuclear Bomb - David Blair
Iran moved significantly closer towards acquiring the essential material for a nuclear bomb Friday when the regime claimed to have stockpiled 100 kg of enriched uranium. So far, this uranium has only been enriched to the level needed to run civilian nuclear power stations. But if Iran chooses to enrich it to 84% purity, the uranium would reach weapons-grade level. Iran would need 50 kg of weapons-grade uranium to make one atomic weapon of the kind that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.
Uranium is enriched using centrifuges. These have been installed in Iran's nuclear plant at Natanz. A snap inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency last month found that 1,312 centrifuges were operating. But Mustapha Pourmohammedi, Iran's interior minister, told the official news agency that 3,000 were in action. In theory, these centrifuges could produce enough weapons-grade uranium for one bomb in about a year. (Telegraph-UK)
Shouldn't we like, sound the alarms? Do we really want Ahmanutjob to have a hand on the trigger of a nuclear weapon?
I'm a believer in being pro-active. I don't like to have things just happen to me. I like to be in control. I don't trust the Mullahs & co.
I hope things are going on behind the scenes to fight this.
I sit here and give my opinion via articles I quote and headlines I write, day after day. Mostly I just vent. At times I just send prayers up to the heavens and hope they are heard. Today, a written prayer: Please, please, let's do it right.
I can see beyond war and killing and pain to opportunities and freedom ahead for all. I see friendship and goodness and peace in the future. I see history, where things looked black to those going through the experience, and great sacrifices were made, yet it all turned out ok in the end and their sacrifices were NOT in vain. They did things right.
And I think of the cliches - being cruel to be kind, breaking eggs to make omlettes - and I wonder why others are so unable to see what I see. And I feel at such a loss to explain, how I want peace, how I hate war, yet how necessary the fight is, in my perception.
And it is so frustrating to have those who disagree feel that I am having the wool pulled over my eyes, that we are being lied to, that there is no threat from Islamofascism, when I can clearly see for myself that this is not the case. And so I wonder, why are THEY having the wool pulled over THEIR eyes? Why can't they see what I see?
We seem to be at a terrible impasse - with all of us entrenched within our own positions. And we can point at one another and accuse the other of being blind, evil, stupid, and having turned into extremists - but someone, in all of this is right, and someone is wrong.
You must read this. Everyone should know. Help spread the word.
Just to keep you going through the weekend:
Just lovely:
Fatah Gunmen on Rampage in West Bank - Richard Boudreaux
For much of the last week, Fatah gunmen in black masks have ruled the streets of Nablus, a city of 180,000 in the West Bank, abducting rivals, looting or burning their property, and intimidating elected officials inside the Hamas-run City Hall. Demoralized by Hamas' military defeat of their comrades in Gaza, the gunmen are sowing retribution across the West Bank. Most of the attacks have been carried out by the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a decentralized Fatah militia that is nominally loyal to Abbas but acts beyond his control. Like Hamas, it is branded by Israel and the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization.
In the last week, masked gunmen have arrested or kidnapped 120 Hamas activists across the West Bank. In Nablus, Fatah gunmen have burned or looted 12 businesses and dozens of offices of Hamas politicians and civic organizations, officials said. Ghassan Hamdan, a physician who directs the Nablus branch of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, said, "There is a sense here that things are out of control and anything can happen....Hamas has lost support because of what happened in Gaza, but people are disgusted with what Fatah is doing here." (Los Angeles Times)
Ha'aretz reports:
Almost two years after the disengagement from Gaza, construction of permanent housing has begun at only two of the 26 sites intended for 9,000 evacuees, according to a report by the Gush Katif Settlements Committee.
For example, no groundwork has been laid at Nitzanim and Talmei Yafe, projects decided upon months before the disengagement began.
The committee predicts that the trailer parks now housing the evacuees will remain in use for at least five years, instead of the two years that the government intended. The resulting problems are legion.
-Some 1,450 former residents of Gush Katif are still unemployed.
-More than 500 families are in bad financial shape, and some even receive food packages and help from welfare agencies.
-Because of the rampant unemployment, many families are using their state compensation funds for daily subsistence instead of saving it for building a house.
-Only 33 farmers out of 400 have been given alternate lands, and of these, only a handful are back in real business. Those who resumed growing crops face major infrastructure hurdles such as erratic electricity, sewage, drainage, etc.
-Farmers lost their overseas markets, buyers and distributors.
-A memorandum of understanding with the government on amendments to the Evacuation Compensation Law improved matters on a personal level. However, business owners and farmers will not be compensated for lost income until they can rebuild their businesses. Furthermore, compensation for Gush Katif evacuees is low and does not reflect the true value of their property. For instance, compensation for greenhouses is 60 percent of the cost of erecting them. Compensation for seniority is 10 percent of that granted to people evacuated from Yamit under the peace treaty with Egypt. And 650 people who requested individual property appraisals have received either no decision or a very low assessment, because the state froze individual appraisals after it turned out that many were higher than the compensation afforded by the law.
Bookworm notes Rosie O'Donnell's inflated opinion of Jimmy Carter and observes what a great pair they make.
Andynonymous ends a string of posts asking why the media can't just report the facts, period. When we want editorializing, we'll ask for it.
Daled Amos explains that the Israel of today is different, and pundits have yet to catch up with the change. "Oh, for the good old days when it could be assumed that Israel would take action when threatened..."
GMRoper discusses the potential presidential candidacy of Michael Bloomberg. He polls readers: Will Bloomberg hurt the Republicans, the Democrats or will he have no effect at all?
From Israel Matzav: "The Hebrew daily Maariv is reporting that Israel is preparing to attack Iran's nuclear weapons sites in cooperation with the United States." However, as Carl notes, this is not the first time rumors of a strike have been heard. Preparation does not mean they have a definitive plan to take action just yet.
Mark enlightens us with a quote concerning faulty translation from Irshad Manji's book, "The Trouble With Islam Today." This is the book, by the way, that I found several copies of turned around and facing in the wrong direction and placed in the Judaism section of Barnes and Nobles at Tyson's Corner Center (I described this in a post of a few weeks ago).
Shirl shares the Rules of Lomography and her mother's beautiful delpheniums.
Oceanguy comments on palestinian fantasies, war, and our options. "If the Arabs will not step up and help themselves and will not acknowledge their role in creating the disaster on their palestinian brothers, then they are doomed to civil war and we are doomed to be sucked into it..."
Jack of Random Thoughts observes the changes that occur over a long period of blogging. Do all of us tend to become more reserved over time?
SoccerDad discusses and provides many links on the question of whether or not Fatah "took a dive" and willingly allowed Hamas to take over for tactical reasons.
Smooth Stone reports about fears in the Arab World following the Gaza coup.
Ilona posts a map comparing Israel in King Solomon's time to Israel of today.
Patti continues to GET BETTER!
Yankee From Mississippi reassures us by observing that most of the young people she knows may watch Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart, but they are NOT the source they use for getting serious news.
Treppenwitz lists his 100 favorite movies. It's an excellent list, with one exception. No Groundhog Day!
And last, but not least, Seawitch asks us to vote for our favorite alien.
Who came to mind when you read the title of this post? Let's see if you guessed correctly:
We just don't get it. The Left in America is screaming to high heaven that the mess we are in in Iraq and the war on terrorism has been caused by the right-wing and that George W. Bush, the so-called "dim-witted cowboy," has created the entire mess.
The truth is the entire nightmare can be traced back to the liberal democratic policies of the leftist Jimmy Carter, who created a firestorm that destabilized our greatest ally in the Muslim world, the shah of Iran, in favor of a religious fanatic, the ayatollah Khomeini.
Carter viewed Khomeini as more of a religious holy man in a grassroots revolution than a founding father of modern terrorism. Carter's ambassador to the UN, Andrew Young, said "Khomeini will eventually be hailed as a saint." Carter's Iranian ambassador, William Sullivan, said, "Khomeini is a Gandhi-like figure." Carter adviser James Bill proclaimed in a Newsweek interview on February 12, 1979 that Khomeini was not a mad mujahid, but a man of "impeccable integrity and honesty."
The shah was terrified of Carter. He told his personal confidant, "Who knows what sort of calamity he [Carter] may unleash on the world?"
Let's look at the results of Carter's misguided liberal policies: the Islamic Revolution in Iran; the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (Carter's response was to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics); the birth of Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization; the Iran-Iraq War, which cost the lives of millions dead and wounded; and yes, the present war on terrorism and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
WHEN CARTER entered the political fray in 1976, America was still riding the liberal wave of anti-Vietnam War emotion. Carter asked for an in-depth report on Iran even before he assumed the reins of government and was persuaded that the shah was not fit to rule Iran. 1976 was a banner year for pacifism: Carter was elected president, Bill Clinton became attorney-general of Arkansas, and Albert Gore won a place in the Tennessee House of Representatives.
In his anti-war pacifism, Carter never got it that Khomeini, a cleric exiled to Najaf in Iraq from 1965-1978, was preparing Iran for revolution. Proclaiming "the West killed God and wants us to bury him," Khomeini's weapon of choice was not the sword but the media. Using tape cassettes smuggled by Iranian pilgrims returning from the holy city of Najaf, he fueled disdain for what he called gharbzadegi ("the plague of Western culture").
Carter pressured the shah to make what he termed human rights concessions by releasing political prisoners and relaxing press censorship. Khomeini could never have succeeded without Carter. The Islamic Revolution would have been stillborn.
Gen. Robert Huyser, Carter's military liaison to Iran, once told me in tears: "The president could have publicly condemned Khomeini and even kidnapped him and then bartered for an exchange with the [American Embassy] hostages, but the president was indignant. 'One cannot do that to a holy man,' he said."
Read the whole thing.
(HT SoccerDad)
Behind the Masks - Thomas L. Friedman
Why were both the Hamas and Fatah fighters wearing ski masks? (And where do you buy a ski mask in Gaza?) These masks are worn by fighters who wish to shield themselves from the gaze of their parents, friends and neighbors, for there was surely an element of shame that Palestinian brothers were killing brothers, throwing each other off rooftops and dragging each other from hospital beds. The mask both protects you against shame and liberates you to kill your brothers - and their children. In our society, it's usually only burglars, rapists or Ku Klux Klansmen who wear masks. The mask literally says: "I don't play by the rules." (New York Times, 20Jun07)*************************
Inside Gaza, a Landscape Marked by Violent Change - Scott Wilson (Washington Post)
The intensity of Hamas' military rout of Fatah forces last week and the accounts of doctors, fighters and survivors who witnessed it suggest that a furious score-settling had taken place.
Raji Sourani, 53, director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, said three fighters were shot dead at point-blank range while recovering from wounds in Gaza's hospitals.
Many other summary executions happened in the streets, he said, implicating both Hamas and Fatah.
After a Hamas-issued ultimatum for Fatah forces to give up their guns expired Friday, Hamas fighters began going door-to-door seizing rifles and ammunition, working from lists seized in the security posts.************************************
Fatah Kills Suspected Collaborator with Israel in West Bank Hospital (AP/Ha'aretz)
Palestinian militants on Sunday shot and killed Amjad Jouri, 26, whom they suspected of collaborating with Israel, as he lay on the X-ray table at a hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus, witnesses said.******************
As soon as I saw this video, I knew I had to send it to my husband. It reminded me so much of him when our kids were babies. Me? I'd been an RN and had changed GROWN UP diapers. Changing little baby diapers was nothing to me. But at times it was a bit of a challenge for my life partner. He was game - he really did want to take part. He'd grit his teeth and, standing a full arm's distance away, he would dab at the rear end before him in tiny ineffective wipes. I'd generally end up taking over, "to do it right." (the thing we wives are never supposed to do - but believe me, he was always relieved)
You might think the situation unfair, but I did not mind changing the great majority of diapers. You see, Husband can squish bugs without getting grossed out. I, otoh, am exceptionally squeamish around the little critters. So it was a perfect trade off as far as I was concerned.
This provided us with a good laugh and reminder of days gone by:
Carl in Jerusalem writes:
Here's more news you won't read in the international mainstream media.
Five seriously wounded 'Palestinians' have been transferred to Israeli hospitals by MDA ambulances that drove into the Gaza Strip to pick them up. The five 'Palestinians' include two who were wounded when Hamas terrorists shot at 'Palestinians' at the Erez crossing who were trying to cross into Israel.
More.
(HT Jack's Shack)
Gaza's Christians Fear for Their Lives: Latin Church Torched - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
Christians living in Gaza City on Monday appealed to the international community to protect them against increased attacks by Muslim extremists. Many Christians said they were prepared to leave Gaza as soon as the border crossings are reopened.
The appeal came following a series of attacks on a Christian school and church in Gaza City over the past few days. Father Manuel Musalam, leader of the small Latin community in Gaza, said masked gunmen torched and looted the Rosary Sisters School and the Latin Church.
"The masked gunmen used rocket-propelled grenades to storm the main entrances of the school and church," he said. "Then they destroyed almost everything inside, including the Cross, the Holy Book, computers and other equipment."
Musalam expressed outrage over the burning of copies of the Bible, noting that the gunmen destroyed all the Crosses inside the church and school. "Those who did these awful things have no respect for Christian-Muslim relations," he said.See also "Christians Must Accept Islamic Rule" - Aaron Klein (World Net Daily/Ynet News)
Christians can only continue living safely in Gaza if they accept Islamic law, including a ban on alcohol and on women roaming publicly without proper head coverings, an Islamist militant leader in Gaza said in an interview.
Christians in Gaza who engage in "missionary activity" will be "dealt with harshly," he said.
The threats come two days after a church and Christian school in Gaza were attacked following the seizure of power by the Hamas terror group.
"I expect our Christian neighbors to understand the new Hamas rule means real changes. They must be ready for Islamic rule if they want to live in peace in Gaza," said Sheik Abu Saqer, leader of Jihadia Salafiya, an Islamic outreach movement that recently announced the opening of a "military wing" to enforce Muslim law in Gaza.
UN Condemns Rocket Attack on Israel
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, followed by a statement to the press by the UN Security Council, on Monday condemned rockets attacks from southern Lebanon on the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. (UN News Center)
Nothing as effective as a condemning statement from the UN, I always say.
What does Judaism say about war, violence and peace?
Sometimes war is necessary. Judaism teaches the supreme value of life, yet we're not pacifists. Wiping out evil is also part of justice. As Rashi explains (Deut. 20:12), dangerous disputes must be resolved. Because if you choose to leave evil alone – it will eventually attack you.
People today don't relate to the concept that if you don't destroy evil, it will destroy you. Today, most Westerners grow up in nice neighborhoods, they never experience war, real suffering, or in the case of Jews, anti-Semitism. Therefore it's very easy to pontificate brotherhood, peace and other liberal notions at the expense of defense. There's a well-known funny expression defining a liberal as “a conservative who has never been mugged.” Questioning the ancient Hebrews' sense of justice and morality is not really fair if you haven't dealt with harsh reality of their experience.
It is ironic that the Jewish people created the basis of Western morality – such as an absolute morality and the concept of the sanctity of life, and today civilizations that rest on our foundation turn around and throw into our faces the accusation that Torah espouses cruelty to Canaanites! People today can only criticize ancient Hebrews because those very Hebrews taught them that murder, conquest, and abuse are wrong and immoral. The values such as respect of life, freedom, and brotherhood, all stem from Judaism. Today we have the mindset that wiping out a city down to the children and animals is immoral because Jews have taught that to the world!
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People mistakenly think that the Torah's directive was to wipe out the Canaanites indiscriminately, in a cruel fashion. In truth, the Jews would have preferred that the nations never deserved punishment. That’s why the Canaanites were given many chances to accept peace terms. Even though abominable inhuman practice had been indoctrinated into the Canaanite psyche, the hope was that they’d change and accept the Seven Universal laws of humanity. These “Noachide Laws” are basic to any functioning society:
1) Do not murder.
2) Do not steal.
3) Do not worship false gods.
4) Do not be sexually immoral.
5) Do not eat the limb of an animal before it is killed.
6) Do not curse God.
7) Set up courts and bring offenders to justice.At the root of these laws lies the vital concept that there is a God Who created each and every person in His image, and that each person is dear to the Almighty and must be respected accordingly. These seven laws are the pillars of human civilization. They are the factors which distinguish a city of humans from a jungle of wild animals.
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Even as the Jews drew close to battle, they were commanded to act with mercy. Before attacking, the Jews offered terms of peace, as the Torah states, "When approaching a town to attack it, first offer them peace." (Deut. 20:10)
For example, before entering the Land of Israel, Joshua wrote three letters to the Canaanite nations. The first letter said, "Anyone who wants to leave Israel, has permission to leave." The second letter said, "Whoever wants to make peace, can make peace." The final letter warned, "Whoever wants to fight, get ready to Upon receiving these letters, only one of the Canaanite nations (the Girgashites) heeded the call; they emigrated to Africa.
In the event that the Canaanite nations chose not to make a treaty, the Jews were still commanded to fight mercifully! For example, when besieging a city to conquer it, the Jews never surrounded it on all four sides. This way, one side was always left open to allow for anyone who wanted to escape. (see Maimonides, Laws of Kings ch. 6)
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It is interesting that throughout Jewish history, waging war has always been a tremendous personal and national ordeal which ran contrary to the Jews’ peace-loving nature. King Saul lost his kingdom when he showed misplaced mercy by allowing the Amalekite king to live. And in modern times, when Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir was asked if she could forgive Egypt for killing Israeli soldiers, she replied, “It is more difficult for me to forgive Egypt for making us kill their soldiers.”
The reality is that war makes one callous and cruel. Therefore, since God Himself is commanded the Jews to rid the Land of evil, God likewise promises the soldiers that they will retain their compassionate nature. In the words of our parsha: “God will have compassion on you, and reverse any display of anger that might have existed" (Deut. 13:18).
With blessings from Jerusalem,
Rabbi Shraga Simmons
Aish.com
I really resent the fact that they made me an "older Boomer." My big brother? He's one of the older boomers. But me, on the other hand? I'm nothing but a...a...baby boomer.
Barry Rubin writes about the reality of the situation for moderate Arabs:
Years ago, when Saddam Hussein was still in office, I was asked to address a visiting delegation of Arab journalists. The other American speakers gave the standard blah-blah. We felt their pain, we were working to resolve the Israel-Palestinian issue, we were sensitive to their Arab nationalist sentiments.
Having no ambition to hold high political office, I decided to introduce a dose of reality. Let's face it, I explained, we know that your real enemy isn't Israel or the United States but the regimes in Libya, Iraq, Syria, Iran, as well as Yasser Arafat and others. They are the ones who take away your rights, wreck your societies, destroy your dreams. Afterward I was mobbed - in the friendliest sense possible - by the audience who all wanted to thank me and say that they agreed.
It is heart-breaking. What do you say to a Syrian dissident who is facing prison and quite possibly torture? Can you tell him that the West will support him, that journalists will condemn the regime that beats him, Middle East experts will give papers at conferences praising his work, US congressional delegations won't visit unless he is freed, or European governments will demand his release?
How can one not feel the misery of the Arab peoples, intoxicated as many are by the opiate of Arab nationalism and Islamism, the false promises of impending triumphs and the horror stories of satanic foes? How can one not sympathize with the frustration of real moderates who live in societies where they are treated as madmen and traitors.
And how can one not feel the utmost disgust at those living comfortably in the West who celebrate or advocate their own countries' surrender to all the evil forces holding them down and back?
The sound of my head exploding.
Oy, what a mess. I'd better go clean it up.
The Father's Day edition of HH is up at Random thoughts. There's a lot going on in the Middle East right now. Jack has links to an excellent selection of information and analysis on the latest. Be sure to take a look.
A description of some of the recent events in Gaza:
Even before this week's violence, activists had been busy attacking cafés, video shops and restaurants that serve alcohol or sell what are regarded as subversive Western films.
An internet café at the Jabaliyah refugee camp was bombed because zealots believed its customers might be exposed to pornography or pop music. The desire to enforce a strict interpretation of Islamic law even resulted in a gunman attacking a UN primary school because it allowed young boys and girls to mix together in the playground.
...Hamas is trying to replicate Hizbollah's success in Gaza, not a pleasing prospect for Israel, which now faces the threat of having two Iranian-backed, Islamic fundamentalist organisations dedicated to its destruction camped on its northern and southern borders. It is not a thought that will help Israelis sleep easy.
Conclusion: Bad for Israelis, bad for Palestinians, bad for world.
Recommendation: You wouldn't want to know my recommendation.
Ah, the joys of self-rule.
Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister who conceived the disengagement plan, had a brilliant insight: Why not let them have it? They want it? It's theirs.
After all, over the course of Israel's 38 years of occupation, fewer than 10,000 Jews actually sought to live in Gaza - and their settlements required tens of thousands of other Israelis to risk their lives protecting them.
The Palestinians spent decades professing their detestation of Israeli occupation and demanding self-rule . . . so Israel gave them their heart's desire.
Gaza is Judenrein - emptied of all Jews, just as Hitler dreamed Germany would be. No Jews live in Gaza. No Jews patrol Gaza. It's Jew-Free-by-the-Sea, with a charming Mediterranean coast worth billions of dollars in tourism and trade.
So what's the problem?
The problem is that the Jews weren't the problem.
The problem is that the Palestinians are the problem: They are drenched in an ideology of blood and murder and suicide.
A new nation must be brought into being, nurtured and built. But Palestinian political culture is a culture of destruction.
And a culture of destruction is, inevitably, a culture of self-destruction.
So: Bye-bye, Palestinian state. See you in a few decades, when Palestinians learn how to do something other than destroy others and themselves.
Today's Washington Post deserves to line every bird cage and and cat litter box in the US. The fact that they are blaming President Bush for the chaos in Gaza is no surprise does not make it any less annoying. Why am I annoyed? Because the Post has so blatantly been after Bush from the moment the soles of his shoes hit the rug in the Oval Office. I am so tired of them looking for any and every excuse to criticize him - always from that annoying liberal holier-than-thou, wearing-full-blinders-with-regard-to-the-rest-of-the-world anti-American perspective. Secondly and even more annoyingly, because they refuse to hold accountable the people who really deserve the blame for Gaza - the Palestinians themselves who voted for the thugs and gangsters who rule in the vacuum where law and order should be.
The only good thing about the WaPo is Charles Krauthammer and the movie listings.
"They're firing at us, firing RPGs, firing mortars. We're not Jews," the brother of Jamal Abu Jediyan, a Fatah commander, pleaded during a live telephone conversation with a Palestinian radio station.
Minutes later both men were dragged into the streets and riddled with bullets.
As I read this story (discussed in greater detail here, here and here) and was tempted to gloat at the death of such a blatant example of antisemitism (note that he did not say, "We are not Israelis," he said "We aren't Jews"), I couldn't help remembering the midrash in which it is described that after the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, the angels were scolded by God for singing songs of praise. "The creations of My hands are drowning in the sea and you sing before Me?"
At times it can be very difficult to remember that we are all God's children, we are all miracles of creation.
When a human in possession of the gifts of life and free will goes wrong, it is a thing of great sorrow. Instead of rejoicing right now, I am thinking about what might have been.
What if the Muslim world had embraced Israel? What if they were great friends and neighbors?
So much destruction and death and grief could have been avoided.
It could have all been so different.
