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Please, No! I'll Tell You Anything!

Not the President He Said He'd Be

"Not only has President Obama failed to live up to [his promises], it appears that on more than a number of occasions he’s made a conscious decision to break them."

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The decline in Barack Obama's popularity since July has been the steepest of any president at the same stage of his first term for more than 50 years.

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...the administration is digging in and doubling down even though its conduct has invited scorn from pundits of every political persuasion and become the object of ridicule.

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A White House effort to undermine conservative critics is generating a backlash on Capitol Hill — and not just from Republicans. “It’s a mistake,” said Rep. Jason Altmire, a moderate Democrat from western Pennsylvania. “I think it’s beneath the White House to get into a tit for tat with news organizations.”

Come What May

It occurs to me that Rush [Limbaugh] is sort of like Israel: You can say anything about him, and get away with it. No matter how egregious or outrageous the lie, there will be countless heads nodding, and repeating. But isn’t it nice to know that a lie can’t prevail forever? That truth will have its way, come what may?

                                                   - Jay Nordlinger

Goldstone Backtracks

Goldstone Backs Away from Report - Alan M. Dershowitz
Richard Goldstone himself now seems to be backing away from his report's conclusions. In an interview with the Jewish Daily Forward,Goldstone denied that his group had conducted "an investigation." Instead, it was what he called a "fact-finding mission" based largely on the limited "material we had." Since this "material" was cherry-picked by Hamas guides and spokesmen, Goldstone acknowledged that "if this was a court of law, there would have been nothing proven." He emphasized that the report was no more than "a road map" for real investigators and that it contained no actual "evidence" of wrongdoing by Israel. Goldstone said that he himself "wouldn't consider it in any way embarrassing if many of the allegations turn out to be disproved." The writer is Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. (Hudson Institute New York)

But the thing about lashon hara?  Once it has occurred, it can't be undone. In this case, it was not one individual who was harmed by evil speech, but all Israelis; and by extension, according to my point of view, klal Yisrael.  

Dershowitz writes:

Goldstone apparently lacked the courage to stand up to the other members and staffers of his commission and to insist that his clarifying language be included in the report itself. Nor did he have the courage to file a dissenting or concurring statement. Instead, he spoke out of both sides of his mouth, sending one message to those who read the actual report and a very different message to those who read his words in the Jewish Forward (and the New York Times for whom he wrote a more ameliorative op-ed on the day after the release of the Report). In doing so, he is trying to have it both ways.

Goldstone went so far as to tell the Forward that he himself “wouldn’t consider it in any way embarrassing if many of the allegations turn out to be disproved.” This is total nonsense. Goldstone has put his imprimatur—and his reputation—behind the reports’ conclusions. The only reason anyone is paying any attention to yet another of the serial condemnatory reports by the United Nations Human Rights Council is because Richard Goldstone—a “distinguished” Jew—allegedly wrote it and signed on to its conclusions. If he really doesn’t stand by its conclusions—if he doesn’t care one way or another whether they are true or false, proven or unproven—then no extra weight should be given to its findings or conclusions because of the “distinguished” reputation of its Jewish chairman.

Light Bulbs vs the Nanny State

From Reason Magazine:

Invented in its modern form by Thomas Edison in 1879, the light bulb became synonymous with a brilliant idea. Now, it seems, it's just one more symbol of a nanny state that increasingly dictates more choices in our public and private lives.

AhmadnotaJew

The Guardian refutes recent claims that Iran's president Ahmadinejad has Jewish roots:

Rumours that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's family converted to Islam from Judaism are false. In fact, they are proud Shias.

In the Games That Nations Play...

...nice guys don't win.

U2

Went to see them last night at Fed-Ex Field.  Not really my cup of tea music-wise, but husband likes them and practically everyone we know went.  I enjoyed the spectacle - the stage was the biggest and most elaborate I've ever seen.  It looked like a spaceship and there were several references to space flight during the concert. Just before the band came out they played David Bowie's "Space Oddity" (the last music I really enjoyed for the evening).  NASA footage was flashed up on the tubular expanding and contracting screen.  Lights flashed, smoke poured out. The crowd went wild.  

Once again, I had the same sensation as I had when I saw Springsteen in concert - and I am sorry, I know and fully accept the fact that I am a four-sided, equilateral geometric figure - but I am just not able to get into, feel or relate to the overwhelming sense of human worship exhibited by the audience, even if it is all in fun.  From our seats we could clearly observe the mass lock-step undulations of the crowd on the field.  Bono directed them to raise their arms, they raised their arms.  He directed them to sway left, they swayed left.  He directed them to sway right, they swayed right. He directed them about politics and they...well, who knows?  

John Miller of National Review was there and writes, "Last night, I went to a political rally and a U2 concert broke out."  

I didn't disagree with much of what Bono had to say last night. But human worship and politics are not what I am looking for when I go to a concert.

Regarding "Overseas Contingency Operations"*

*See: War on terror given new name

The Purpose of an Apology

The purpose of an apology is to take responsibility for having made a mistake. It is supposed to be made in a sincere effort to improve relations between yourself and those you have wronged.

What I wondered as I read the following: Who is Jane Fonda apologizing to here? What wrong is she trying to right? How has she attempted to take responsibility?  Has she said anything to improve relations between herself and those she wronged?

Jane Fonda has apologised for signing a petition decrying the decision by organisers of the Toronto film festival to showcase films from Tel Aviv.

In a post on the Huffington Post blog yesterday, Fonda said she had signed the letter, which has been fiercely criticised by Hollywood luminaries such as Jerry Seinfeld, Natalie Portman and Sacha Baron Cohen, "without reading it carefully enough, without asking myself if some of the wording wouldn't exacerbate the situation rather than bring about constructive dialogue".

She continued: "In the hyper-sensitised reality of the region in which any criticism of Israel is swiftly and often unfairly branded as anti-Semitic, it can become counterproductive to inflame rather than explain and this means to hear the narratives of both sides, to articulate the suffering on both sides, not just the Palestinians. By neglecting to do this the letter allowed good people to close their ears and their hearts."

However Fonda pointed out that her decision had been based on anger over the suspicion that Toronto was being used by the Israeli government to boost its newly launched campaign to "rebrand" the country. "Arye Mekel, the Israeli foreign ministry's director general for cultural affairs, has said that artists and writers must be enlisted in order to 'show Israel's prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in the context of war'," she said. "The protesters felt it was wrong for the much-respected festival to be used in this manner." [LINK]

Why shouldn't Israelis be concerned with how the world sees them?  How is this "using" a "much-respected" festival?  And even they were "using" the festival to improve their image - is respect for an arts festival really more important than the lives of the people of Israel?  Furthermore, why shouldn't Israelis be allowed to advocate for themselves in any public arena that is available to them?  Since when did the stifling of the freedom of expression become ok to people in the arts? Aren't they all about encouraging the exchange of ideas? 

Fonda was suspicious and angry that Israelis were trying to express their opinions and to defend themselves?  Shut those people up! Who the hell do they think they are - making a movie and trying to show it at a movie festival! How dare they publicize anything good about themselves! Just what are they up to anyway?  Trying to influence and connive us?  We know how evil they really are, despite anything they may say!   

Her unapologetic apology ended up only making things worse.  The truth is, she had no intention of saying she was sorry. She only wanted another opportunity to preen before the cameras, which she can now only get to point at her when she delivers assinine left wing political garbage like this.

Also, There's a Bridge in San Cristobal He's Offering For Sale...

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said the South American country plans to develop a nuclear energy program with Russia and doesn’t want to build an atomic bomb.

To Hell and Back Again

First there's this "You will be assimilated, resistance is futile" video (hell):

Then, there's Iowahawk's hilarious send up (back again)

Apparently, the video was shown at a public school in Utah, which annoyed a few of the parents.

Can You See it?

So, Obama Has a Conference Call With Some Jews...

....not just any Jews, but with a group of Jewish rabbis.  He asks for their support for his health care bill:

In a morning conference call with about 1000 rabbis from across the nation, Obama asked for aid: "I am going to need your help in accomplishing necessary reform," the President told the group, according to Rabbi Jack Moline, who tweeted his way through the phoner.

While the rabbis were on hold, guess what music was played?

Eyebrows were...raised by the choice of hold music that played to rabbis before the call began.

"First mistake," Moline tweeted, as he waited for the call to begin. "Music on hold is 'Deutschland uber Alles,' " a classical German anthem, the lyrics to which in part say, "Preserve and protect our Kaiser, our land."

(The music was chosen by the company carrying the conference call, not the White House or the RAC.) [Link]

The sort of mental images that tune brings to mind for some of us:

Just wanted to observe a case of the random(?) universe supplying a strange coincidence and unintended dark humor...

While We Are on the Subject

I have now had the opportunity to compare and contrast the toilet in Brazil vs the toilet in Portugal. These two countries share a similar language and culture, but the toilet in Rio has a certain American/western hemisphere cultural aspect to it not found in its across-the-ocean cousin.

 Portugal 

Not every toilet in Lisbon lacked a seat as this one does, but none that I came across was supplied with paper covers:

Rio 

I could not resist taking a picture of this, the cutest toilet cover ever:

I know the question on your mind - lacking both a seat and a cover, how would a woman do her business on a Portuguese toilet such as the one pictured above?  

I have encountered similar toilets in Italy, which, like Portugal, does not supply any instructions for their use.  Once I figured out what was supposed to be done, I began to call these types of mechanisms by a certain name, which never fails to make my husband laugh.  They are forever in my mind called "squattatorias."  

In answer to your next question, I move on until I find one that I am able to use in the way I am accustomed. 

Our Vice President

...is an arse.

But you knew that already, didn't you.

50 Years Ago: Nixon and Khrushchev's Kitchen Debate

Once we were a nation that was proud of our accomplishments.  Comfortable homes equipped with advanced technology were considered symbols of our success.  The American lifestyle was not something about which we were ashamed. This was clearly seen in the historic debate between then Vice-president Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev.  Yid With Lid writes:

The debate was recorded on color videotape (a video of the debate is below in B/W), a new technology pioneered in the U.S.; during the debate Nixon pointed this out as one of the many American technological advances. He also boasted achievements such as dishwashers, lawnmowers, supermarkets stocked full of groceries, Cadillac convertibles, makeup colors, lipstick, spike-heeled shoes, hi-fi sets, cake mixes, TV dinners, and Pepsi-Cola. It was Nixon’s emphasis on America’s household appliances, such as the dishwasher, that helped give the event its title, “The Kitchen Debate.”

At home this America was proud of its Vice-President's strong support of the capitalist system...

In contrast, today the American lifestyle is looked at as one of overconsumption and greed, instead of something to regard with pride. Obama travels the world, apologizing for us.

We have lost our sense of American self-esteem, once our source of energy and creativity. Our paramount concern has become whether others like us, forgetting that it's much more important that we like ourselves first.

Once we were:

Land of the free, home of the brave.

Now we are:

Land of the loser

Now that's something to be ashamed about.

The Power of the Jewish Mother

According to my kids, I am the quintessential JM. And I am proud of it - - see the last few lines:

A Jewel of a Nation on the Mediterranean 

Israel today is a vibrant jewel of a nation on the eastern Mediterranean. Tel Aviv looks like San Diego or Barcelona. In the fourth quarter last year, when the global economy went all to hell, Israel's GDP was only off 0.5%, the best figure in the industrialized world. (The United States was off 6.3% and Japan 12.1%.) What's the secret? Ayelet Nir, chief economist at IBI, an Israeli investment firm, lists six major reasons Israel's economy has done well of late: a very conservative banking system - without most of the problematic financial instruments found in the U.S., no mortgage crisis, a current account surplus since 2003, negligible inflation, prudent governmental fiscal policy, and healthy integration into the world economy.

    Israel produces more science papers per capita than any other country. Israel lags behind only the U.S. in number of companies listed on NASDAQ. 24% of Israel's workforce has a university degree; only the U.S. and Holland have a higher number. Israel leads the world in scientists and technicians per capita. Why has this produced a tech boom? Haim Harari, retired president of the Weizmann Institute of Science, says: "If the science Olympics were held in Europe, we'd be second to none. I claim our success has to do with the national character of Israelis. The Israeli - or Jewish - character is ambitious, chaotic, undisciplined, unorganized, often brilliant, and we think we know better than everybody else all the answers. These are the exact same skills you need in a high-tech start-up." An alternative theory, espoused by many serious Israelis, is that the prototypical pushy Jewish mother is driving the high-tech boom. Study hard! Make something of your life! (Weekly Standard)

Needing American Cowboys

Leigh Scott writes about a pro-American British TV show:

“Torchwood” is an odd blend of “CSI,” “The X-Files,” and “Buffy The Vampire Slayer.” It follows the adventures of Torchwood, an above-top-secret agency that monitors alien activity on earth. Their headquarters in Cardiff is above a “rift,” a sort of rip in time and space that lets creatures from other planets and dimensions, as well as other time periods, in and out of our world.

On the surface, the show is very British. The slang, inside jokes, and references are undoubtedly more entertaining to the BBC audience than to the U.S. Syfy Channel audience. There are even references to Welsh characters dreading crossing over into England. That’s how inside it is. Clearly, its not made for us.

...Everyone is British, save one. The enigmatic Captain Jack Harkness, an extra-terrestrial time traveler with an American accent. He’s the leader of the Torchwood team, and episode after episode he makes the tough decisions, does the ruthless things, and acts in the greater good for the other characters and mankind as a whole. He does all this despite the hemming and hawing coupled with emotional weakness of his European cohorts. Episode after episode the other characters scream and cry and allow their human frailty to jeopardize the planet. Episode after episode Jack Harkness does the dirty work, exposing his wisdom and strength to his associates who ultimately accept and thank him for his decisions. Jack does gain some insight and knowledge from his co-workers’ empathy, but it only serves to make him stronger, never detracting from the mission at hand.

...In a not so subtle way the shows creators are admitting what a lot of us already suspect; that despite their complaints, objections, and dislike for America and its policies, Europe ultimately needs us. Furthermore, Europe needs the “cowboy” American, and not some mirror image of itself.

Very nice to see something positive about the US coming from Europe.

Read the whole thing.

I Am Not Turning into My Mother...

...I am turning into my mother's mother.

Palin Derangement Syndrome

A self-described left-wing feminist writes:

Sarah Palin is only the second woman in the history of this country to run on a major party’s presidential ticket. That alone makes her, to me, a fascinating figure worthy of serious investigation. When McCain announced Palin as his choice for VP, I immediately tried to find out as much about her as I could. I wanted to know who she was, what she believed, what her politics were. It never occurred to me that this interest would make me in any way unusual among feminists, but apparently it did. Apparently most feminists — at least the ones online — are content to just take the word of the frat boys at DailyKos or the psycho-sexists at Huffington Post. That amazes me. Aren’t you even interested in who she really is? I want to ask. She’s only the second woman on a presidential ticket in our whole fricking history!

But even weirder is what happens when you try to replace the myths with the truth. If you explain, “no, she didn’t charge rape victims,” your feminist interlocutor will come back with something else: “she’s abstinence-only!” No, you say, she’s not; and then the person comes back with, “she’s a creationist!” and so on. “She’s an uneducated moron!” Actually, Sarah Palin is not dumb at all, and based on her interviews and comments, I’d say she has a greater knowledge of evolution, global warming, and the Wisconsin glaciation in Alaska than the average citizen.

But after you’ve had a few of these myth-dispelling conversations, you start to realize that it doesn’t matter. These people don’t hate Palin because of the lies; the lies exist to justify the hate. That’s why they keep reaching and reaching for something else, until they finally get to “she winked on TV!” (And by the way: I’ve been winked at my whole life by my grandmother, aunts, and great-aunts. Who knew it was such a despicable
act?)

Read the whole thing

Someone Gag That Governor

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says he "crossed lines" with a handful of women other than his mistress — but never had sex with them.

The governor says he "never crossed the ultimate line" with anyone but Maria Belen Chapur, the Argentine at the center of a scandal that has derailed Sanford's once-promising political career.

During an emotional interview at his Statehouse office with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife. [Link]

I don't know about anyone else, but I've heard just about enough with regard to Governor Sanford's extracurricular activities.  

His wife is a saint.  

"Trying to fall back in love?"

Egad, what a nasty thing to say publicly.  Could he possibly humiliate her any further?

A Disturbance in the (Life)Force

Wow. Losing both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson in one day, right on the heels of Ed McMahon.  

Too many icons of youth leaving at the same time.

Twisted Political Maneuvering

I made a very similar point as this on a message board I frequent just the other day - only it had to do with the Holocaust Museum murder, while this quote was written in relation to Iran:

It takes a certain kind of sociopath to witness great tragedy and then turn back to his narrow political talking points completely unaffected. It’s pretty much the same as seeing someone brutally murdered in the street and saying, “This is why we need to change subsidies on corn farming.”

An excellent article. Read the whole thing.

I, Toaster

A project designed to lament the ills of Capitalism only ends up highlighting the benefits:

This week, a new exhibit called "The Toaster Project" opens at the Royal College of Art in London, England. On his website, artist Thomas Thwaites explains the gist: "I'm trying to build a toaster, from scratch—beginning by mining the raw materials and ending with a product that Argos sells for only £3.99." So Thwaites has been traveling around the world to acquire iron, nickel, copper, and oil from which he planned to make refined petroleum for the appliance's plastic moldings.

The basic theme of Thwaites' Toaster Project....was first conceived back in 1958 in the brilliant essay "I, Pencil," written by Leonard Read, founder of the libertarian think tank Foundation for Economic Education.

...Thwaites' frustrations at making a toaster from scratch don't illustrate the "helplessness" capitalism has created in consumers, it illustrates the way free markets have liberated us. Instead of the day-to-day struggle to stay nourished or to collect wood to fuel the fire that cooks our food so it's safe to eat, developed economies have food that is plentiful, safe, and mostly delicious. That has freed us from substistence struggles to pursue other intersests, such as culture and the arts—even, inevitably, art projects that mock and denigrate the very economic processes that made art possible in the first place.

Read the whole thing.

The New Media

Two examples of how the internet provides a unique experience for getting news: 

I was able to "listen" to Netanyahu's speech live yesterday (it was not televised in the US) through Twitter.  Two of the people I follow are from Israel, and each was simultaneously translating the speech and posting it as it aired there.   I was only able to "listen in" for a few minutes, but I was blown away by the fact that I was able to do it.  Each person highlighted different aspects of what they heard. Though they did not disagree with what was said by the other, they emphasized different points and used different wording.  Shows how word choice and translation technique can affect what one hears. If I'd had time, I would have found other translators to read as well.  

Many people knock and ridicule Twitter and I can see why - a lot of it is garbage. The thing is, what you get to read is only as good as the people you follow.  I follow some very interesting and knowledgeable folks who provide insight, links and information I am not able to get anywhere else. I find value there.

Second, volcanic eruptions in the political atmosphere in Iran took place all day yesterday, but if you were to tune into CNN, MSNBC or Fox news, you would not have known.  The internet had the video and eyewitness accounts.  Even the fact that at various points during the day, feeds from Iran disappeared completely  seemed significant. Many blogs criticized the media for ignoring the story, which they finally seemed to begin noticing about 11 pm.  

As my husband said to me when I complained about the lack of coverage, however, internet and TV play two different roles.  The internet just pours it all out there.  You may hear things faster, you may hear more detail, but some of it turns out to be false rumors.  TV news takes the time to say, hey, wait a minute - is this true?  More fact checking and research can be done (supposedly) before reporting takes place.  And therefore, it can sometimes be more reliable.

The mainstream media filtering system also allows for more bias, though I guess we have to be careful in reading too much meaning into what is and is not covered and when.  One thing I thought of yesterday was that feeling the current economic pinch, perhaps the networks had to cut correspondents from the budget.  Maybe they didn't have people in place to do the reporting.

In any event, it seems that the only way to know anything at all about what was going on in the Middle East yesterday was to have a computer with an internet connection.

Stephen T. Johns

A hero who would die for you.

The US is the Biggest Jewish Country in the World

See the stats.

From comments at Althouse.

Obama Says...

Let's be "honest" with Israel - - but "diplomatic" with Iran. 

Clearly the way to go for Israelis is shoot off some missiles during a presidential speech, grab an American journalist or two and denounce American “imperialism.” Then they might get the kid glove treatment.

And for Mancow's Second Act...

After submitting himself to waterboarding, then calling it ‘absolutely torture’, WLS talkradio host Erich ‘Mancow’ Muller announced that next week on his show he’ll stand by a shattered window in a burning office tower and decide whether to jump or to perish in the flames.