Danny Seaman - the other side of Hasbara

The issue of Israeli Hasbara is being discussed more and more lately. It seems that the recognition of the simple fact that our PR sucks is becoming widespread. In researching Hasbara and consequently its persistent failures, a name kept popping up in a variety of articles. To be honest, I would have ignored this person had I not found so much material pointing in his direction. One side of Hasbara that made me curios, was the heat with which foreign journalist seemingly had it "in" for Israel on every reportable occurrence. Knowing that Palestinians have made an art form out of hosting foreign journalists, I couldn't figure out how Israel couldn't outperform them in this seemingly simple task. One can assume that if curtsey accompaniment is lavished on foreign Hacks by Palestinians hosts, these in turn can guide the reporters to see and write on suitable materials for the Palestinian Hasbara – which kind of makes simple sense. And so, I would like to focus on one single aspect of the Hasbara – the treatment journalists receive at the hands of our Government Press Office and its chief honcho, one Danny Seaman.

If you want to know how one, relatively small government office seemingly succeeds in destroying any attempt to improve the Israel’s image, here is the apparent formula:

• Say things like: “How are journalists different from any other foreign workers?”;
• Create an atmosphere of fear where no journalist, foreign or Israeli, dares to raise his voice in protest;
• And as a result, cause more damage to the state of Israel than a concerted IAF bombing raid on the HQs of CNN, AFP, Reuters, AP and, of course, Al Jazeera, ever could

continue reading. It is a very long post, be warned!

1. Introduction – Hasbara in general

Our Hasbara suffers from many problems. Self-righteousness is the least of its sins, since it suffers from many other maladies that make it impotent and sometimes counter-productive. Our face to the world is that of a shrill, arrogant, inattentive and provincial schoolmaster that came to teach the world a lesson in everything. We do not learn from other people’s mistakes and, unfortunately, we do not learn even from our own ever accumulating body of bloopers, hasty and incorrect reports, bloody broken English and more, much more of what makes any attempt at PR a waste.

Of course, one of the problems is that this sphere is dominated by the unsmiling “My-Israel-right-or-wrong-Israel-innocent-victim” crowd. But to see the general problem of our Hasbara in a nutshell, one cannot avoid quoting from Bradley Burston’s Israel's spokesman, Israel's enemy article:

The very concept of public relations goes against every cultural fiber in the sabra psyche. It violates the sabra sacraments of directness, bluntness, in-your-face, come-what-may hyper-openness. "We know the truth - here it is, deal with it," the Israeli psyche screams. To minimum avail.

For decades, work in public relations was doled out as political patronage, or as a solution for unwanted civil servants or injured and disgruntled or well-connected army officers.

Rabin hated PR, Shamir hated it, Barak hates it, Sharon was intensely suspicious of it. Even Netanyahu, as telegenic and media savvy as he is, is often hostile to reporters and bitter about his image

Little wonder, then, that there are those, among official spokespeople for Israel, who don't know that they don't know what they're doing.

All of the above rings so true that only a representative of the government PR crowd will argue with it, and he/she probably will – to no avail. What can I say – thanks deity for MEMRI and for hundreds of Israeli journalists who do their best in damage control.

2. Danny Seaman comes into the picture

To remind you, this post is not about Hasbara in general. It is about one aspect of it – the treatment of foreign journalists. Good PR cannot afford to ignore the foreign press. No matter how objective and friendly (or vice versa) the journalist is, his/her reporting from the field starts with the inevitable encounter with the government officials that greet the arriving journalist and are supposed to ease his/her way around Israel and the West Bank, with all its complexities and dangers.

The relationship between the government and the foreign correspondents was never too easy. But it really began to deteriorate somewhere in the beginning of the first intifada, when the pictures and films from the territories inundated the mass media in the West, making the life of Israeli spokesmen more difficult than usual. The image of IDF and Israel in general took a severe beating - from which it has never, in fact, recovered. The attitude of various government offices to journalists, especially the foreign ones, worsened. The atmosphere of suspicion, undue censorship (the severity of which was directly related to the level of criticism that a specific reporter infused in his/her text) and all kinds of bureaucratic difficulties grew.

However, it was all light and games compared to the new “regime” installed by the current GPO chief, Danny Seaman, who took the reins in 2000.

GPO’s role is defined quite precisely in the following quote from a government site:

The Government Press Office (GPO) is an agency within the Prime Minister's Office assigned with the responsibility of coordinating channels of communication between the Israeli government and the press corps. The GPO issues press accreditation and are responsible for facilitating press coverage of key state functions and visits of foreign dignitaries.

One of Seaman’s first acts was to enforce the law that requires foreign journalists to have the same work visas as other foreign workers. On the one hand, the law does apply to everyone. But on the other hand, this law could be abused by a person or group that want to abuse it. And here comes a hint:

The director of the Government Press Office (GPO), Danny Seaman, said that in the past few years, over 60 foreign journalists have encountered problems in extending their work visas. "There have been many cases when journalists have been illegal residents," he said. "They have my phone number, and if they have a problem they call me."

Sixty journalists that for some mysterious reason encountered problems… And that reference to “my phone number”: doesn’t it sound suspiciously close to “I am the law here”?

During the second intifada (the period that overlaps with Danny’s reign) the bad relationship turned into an outright war. The main reason was the use of local Palestinian stringers by the media agencies. On the agencies’ side it was a reasonable way to get the information from the field, without bringing in expensive foreign personnel and endangering people (if they were permitted to enter the West Bank or Gaza at all). The GPO obviously did not like the idea of Palestinian stringers, and this started a real war between the GPO and the FPA (Foreign Press Association).

There were no winners in this war – only losers. And one of the losers was – and still is - our Hasbara.

You can see the utter stupidity of our Government Press Office in Bradley’s article, with Danny Seaman taking a star role. A shining example of mistreatment of a journalist:

Seaman was asked to comment on a case in which veteran Israel-based foreign correspondent Joerg Bremer of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, may be disallowed re-entry into Israel after he challenged seemingly arbitrary - and perhaps politically slanted - practices of granting work visas to journalists.

Irked that the German government agreed to help Bremer in his fight, Seaman responded, "I feel like screwing him over just because of this*. What kind of gall is this, for the German government to interfere in Israel's internal affairs? How are journalists different from any other foreign workers?"

Told that Bremer maintained that the visa difficulties were politically based, Seaman's reply was nothing if not direct. "I maintain that he's an idiot. That's ridiculous. If I issued press cards according to content, no one at Haaretz would get a card."

(*) In the original conversation, according to Haaretz internal sources, Seaman said “I feel like fucking him over…”, the change was enforced by the editor.

How Seaman thinks he can get away with this kind of attitude is a mystery. Take a look at this exchange (the text in bold is for the interviewer)

I think it's the intimidation ... .

What intimidation?

(Being) shot at ... .

Only in areas where there was combat, and they were not supposed to be there.

Gideon Levy's car was shot at.

He's not foreign press, (so) I don't have to answer that ... .

Priceless, isn’t it? And there is more, much more, of the same.

Here comes another fine example of what Danny thinks about the people he is supposed to serve in his capacity as the DGO of Government Press Office:

In his professional capacity Seaman mediates between the foreign journalists and the various authorities in Israel. While the latter receive ample representation, the former are perceived as a rather bothersome nuisance. Seaman is not ashamed to admit it. He considers the foreign correspondents to be a bunch of spoiled brats that until now has received privileged conditions and has repaid that by giving back the finger.

And what do Reporters Without Borders think about the GPO and Seaman?

Reporters Without Borders expressed great alarm today at new rules in Israel for accrediting journalists, who would have to be cleared by the Shin Bet state security police, and called for them to be immediately dropped as a serious threat to press freedom and flagrant violation of journalists’ rights. The new rules, which would take effect on 1 January, apply to all journalists - foreign, Palestinian and Israeli - working in Israel.

"Having Shin Bet approve applications for press cards is totally undemocratic and harmful to press freedom," said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard. "Already Israel is the only democratic country where such cards are issued by a government agency rather than by elected journalists’ representatives."

"Now, for alleged security reasons, the authorities want to decide who can or cannot work as a journalist and therefore bar some Israeli and foreign journalists from covering the Palestinian conflict."

Security reasons… There’s no denying that security is an important issue in Israel, but too many hideous crimes have been carried out in the name of security. Do we want to be on the same list as Cuba – to use one revolting example of repression of free press?

And this is not all as far as Danny’s attempts to curb the freedom of press are concerned. Danny tried to instill security vetting even for Israeli journalists as a pre-condition for issuance of the press-card. I wonder whether he dreams about newly vetted Israeli journalists giving their vow of allegiance to the State in general and Danny Seaman in particular. Near the Western Wall, with a few strategically placed Israeli flags too…

Here is what a prominent pro-Israeli journalist, Tom Gross, has to say about Seaman (notice the low key approach):

Seaman, a civil servant, does not mince words when he describes the foreign media's conduct in Israel. Some may regard it as folly to gloat publicly as Seaman does that he pressured a journalist's employer.

This was in reference to the Kol Ha’Ir interview by Danny:

Seaman defines his job as "dual and restrictive. On the one hand, I need to represent the State of Israel and its interests to the foreign media, and on the other hand, I am supposed to represent the foreign reporters to the government and to create an appropriate media atmosphere for them. Sometimes the one role supersedes and other times the other does."

Q: Which is more dominant now?

"Today there is a greater need to look out for the State of Israel's interests because we are in an emergency situation."

A shining example of Danny’s “looking out” for the Israel’s interest:

"The way the BBC is trying to portray Israel competes with the worst of Nazi propaganda," the Israeli government's press office head, Danny Seaman, told Reuters.

Or even a better one:

Danny Seaman, head of the GPO, went as far as calling the foreign press contingent in Israel "anti-Semitic."

Of course, BBC is not exactly Reshet Bet and of course the anti-Israeli rhetoric finds its way in its articles quite easily. But how using terms like “Nazi” and “anti-Semitic” about the foreign media and its representatives in Israel is going to mend their ways and open their hearts to Israel? Only Danny could answer this question.

And I have not yet mentioned one of Seaman’s towering achievements – withdrawal of the press cards from all the Palestinians employed by the foreign press agencies – including Palestinian cameraman and stringers who had worked for the foreign press for a decade or more. One may wonder whether this act stems from Danny’s belief that all of them are collaborating with the Palestinian Authority and are trained to distort the facts, to pervert the truth and to fabricate the news that will present Israel in the ugliest possible way. There is no doubt in my mind that with some, even many of them, it is true, but to leave hundreds of families without their only source of income in such a sweeping way?

So – our Danny clearly knows best what is good for the State of Israel and looks out for its interests. In his own inimitable way. But not everyone thinks so.

Even the friends of Israel have started asking question (albeit in understated, low profile way). Here is an example from the Israel Hasbara Committee (IHC):

Daniel Seaman of the GPO was reportedly accused of making political use of his authority to recommend visa extensions. ... Is there any correlation between Israeli bureaucratic obstacles and the forming of negative attitudes of Israelis among some journalists?

There is a correlation indeed; it’s a pity that no one wants to take care of the problem.

Here’s one of the most interesting (and damning) quotes that comes from Gilad Sher, the person who appointed Seaman to his current post:

Danny Seaman was your appointment?

Sher: "He was the most suitable person in the Press Office and I supported him."

Do you regret it now?

Sher: "He is implementing a punitive policy in coordination with all the government ministries. The attempt to place unnecessary limits on the foreign networks' freedom of expression, particularly those that have never been suspected of misleading, and some of which are clearly pro-Israel, is a move that is doomed to failure both on the legal level and in terms of public relations - especially in such a period as we're in now.

"The GPO is getting actively involved in general policy, which, in the long run, will not do any good for Israel's reputation around the world, even if we're basking in American support at the moment. The head of the GPO ought to exercise his judgment not only concerning the narrow realm of present government policy: He should help foreign journalists do their jobs, even if the result aren't always complimentary about Israel's actions."

A soft answer, isn’t it? But enough to present a picture of comprehensive failure.

3. So who is Danny Seaman?

If you ask Wiki, Danny is a poster boy, really. His bio and the whole career story depict a Mother Teresa of Israeli civil service. He even received the Israel Outstanding Civil Service Award (for coordinating the international press coverage of Pope John Paul II's visit to the Holy Land in March 2000, so the comparison with the saint is not just a slip of the tongue). A paratrooper and war veteran, he served as an advisor and spokesperson to a mind-boggling list of Prime Ministers. Well, this Wiki entry is, in terms Wiki uses, a stub. A stub is “an article that is too short to provide encyclopedic coverage of the subject, but not so short as to provide no useful information”. Well, my 5 shekels say that I know exactly who has written this stub.

There is only one passage from the Wiki entry I would like to quote in full:

Seaman is mentioned extensively in Stephanie Gutmann's book - "The Other War - Israelis, Palestinians and the Struggle for Media Supremacy".Chapter 10 - "His Own Private Jihad" is specifically about his efforts to curb Palestinian influence on the media coverage.

Since Danny Seaman is not being interviewed for this piece, this Wiki entry is more than sufficient to describe his bright side. .

Due to the sad fact that not a single journalist agreed to be identified as a source of information provided for this article, there are no quotes in this chapter. This fact by itself is witness enough to the fear that reigns in GPO’s (Seaman’s actually) small kingdom.

But this article by Aviva Lori in Haaretz shows enough of the revengeful and bureaucratic soul that Seaman is quite proud to display. (I must credit Danny with at least one virtue: he is not a hypocrite, the opposite is rather true – he is carrying his heart on his sleeve.)

Personal vendettas, formal bureaucratic pretexts to get rid of journalists that do not toe the line, the indiscriminate use of royal “we”, meaning “we, the State of Israel”, the Kafkaesque “routine” security nightmares in the airport: all this directly or indirectly related to the person who is supposed to smooth the way for the journalists?

Suffice to say that several journalists lodged official complaints with the Civil Service Commissioner recently.

4. Why is Danny Seaman feared by the journalists – what is the source of his power?

After several reorganizations and consistent unwillingness of all the ministers to deal with this hot potato, GPO’s chief is effectively responsible to one person in Israel – the Prime minister. Of course, the Civil Service Commissioner can say to Danny “be a good boy, Danny, do behave, please” (with the stress on “please”). But if you remember that Bradley’s point: “Rabin hated PR, Shamir hated it, Barak hates it, Sharon was intensely suspicious of it. Even Netanyahu…”, it will become clear to you that no PM ever wanted to deal neither with Hasbara nor with GPO in any of its incarnations.

Another and no less important source of Danny’s power are his contacts with security organs (chiefly Shin Bet – GSS) necessitated (at least according to his attempts to bring them into the play officially) by virtue of GPO dealing with foreign journalists and the security vetting, lest we forget and, especially, with Palestinian manpower used by these journalists.

And thus we have a seemingly small and unimportant government department that found itself in a vacuum, as far as the supervision and control are concerned. No matter how limited is the authority of such a department and how limited are its powers, these powers become absolute in the relevant domain.

On one hand, absolute power corrupts absolutely – even the angels. And Danny does not seem to be, or to have ever been an angel – unless the Wiki stub is your source. On the other hand – there are denizens of this domain, and these denizens – both Israeli and foreign journalists – are afraid. You are effectively off the map if you are a foreign journalist without a press card. And your career is crippled if you are an Israeli journalist without one and your subject is the Israeli government.

5. The Palestinian Hasbara – Arab version of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde

So how does the other side – the Palestinian propaganda chiefs – work? In a totally different way, it must be said up front:

Most foreign journalists are not fluent in either Arabic or Hebrew, rendering them dependent on a network of local Palestinian "fixers," mostly young, educated Palestinians who speak Arabic, Hebrew, and English. Palestinian fixers, who until recently have been fully accredited by Israel's Government Press Office, know their way around Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, arrange interviews with Palestinian officials, and introduce journalists to their own circle of local acquaintances. As a rule, working with a good fixer translates into getting interviews with top Palestinian leaders and moving safely around the territories. An Arabic-speaking Israeli journalist who avoids using fixers noted that most fixers trumpet the PLO narrative and terminology of the conflict, which frequently collides with established historical facts and international law. Moreover, Palestinian security forces watch carefully what is said by local residents to both foreign and local journalists.

Well, they sure do not trumpet the Danny Seaman’s narrative, nor the Zabotinsky’s ideology. No matter how much ire and indigestion it causes to our GPO.

Tells a foreign journalist:

The pampering starts after you check in the “American Colony” [an hotel in East Jerusalem beloved by most foreign journalists]. The moment you put “journalist” in your registration card, your name is passed to a fixer that will visit you and take care of all your needs: a car, a translator, all the meetings and interviews you want to set up, your travel plans and schedules. It is really a treat. And, unlike the Israeli public servants that are frequently impatient and could be rude and uncooperative, the Palestinian VIP will exude hospitality and infinite patience.

Let’s not deceive ourselves: of course, all this comes at a price. The price of lies, half-truths, deception and all the other propaganda tricks in the Palestinian inventory. And, of course, when all else fails, direct and straightforward intimidation will always work. And Mr. Hyde comes out in all his glory.

The lynching of two Israeli reservists inside a Palestinian police station in October 2000 would change the rules of Western news reporting on Palestinian violence. Nasser Atta, a Palestinian producer with ABC, recalled on Ted Koppel's "Nightline" how his cameraman was beaten and his crew prevented from filming the grisly lynchings.17

According to first-hand reports, Palestinian security forces also surrounded a Polish TV crew who were beaten and relieved of their tapes. A foreign correspondent noted that in "post-Ramallah where all good will was lost, he would be a lot more sensitive about going places in the territories." A day after the Ramallah lynchings, an Italian journalist, who had suffered a separate beating by a rioting Arab mob in Jaffa, penned a letter in English to Palestinian officials promising never to violate journalistic ethics by transmitting film to an embassy or government.

But what does our GPO have to counter the Palestinian tactics? Rudeness, bureaucracy and curtailing the basic journalistic freedoms – a "democratic" version of Palestinian Mr. Hyde? And there is no Dr. Jekyl in sight, unfortunately. Another source – Jerusalem Diaries – that is generally critical of foreign press, cannot ignore the other side of the “barricades”:

Bushinsky … pointed out another factor affecting coverage. Bushinsky explained that Arabs treat journalists far better than Israelis. Arab hospitality is legendary and Arabs will go out of their way to welcome journalists and spend hours patiently explaining their point of view. Most Israelis have such a negative view of the way Israel is portrayed in the media, that they generally are quite hostile to visiting correspondents, and don't hesitate to berate them for their coverage. So guess who's going to get the sympathetic coverage - the guy who served you Turkish coffee and invites you back to meet his daughter; or the market stallholder who calls you an anti-Semite?

Painfully clear.

6. Excuses – it is not all black and white.

It should be stated that Danny Seaman has a difficult job. Some of the journalists he is supposed to serve in his capacity as GPO chief are real pieces of work. Sleaze will not be a totally wrong word to describe their anti-Israeli opuses, full of the stuff that could boil one’s blood. From half-truths to outright lying and even to inciting Palestinian riots in the West Bank and Gaza to create a news item – the whole gamut of dirty tricks was tried, and many a reporter was caught in flagrante. Mr. Bremer who is mentioned above is a good example.

And it is not that Seaman is totally blind and does not see the problem:

Seaman has a clear understanding about how the Palestinians succeeded in seizing control of the television screens. He said that in the 1980s the Palestinians began to nurture young people who would work with the foreign press. He also alleges that all of the Palestinians who work with the media took a course in media manipulation at Bir Zeit University.

The effort paid off, if one is to believe Seaman. "For years," he explained, "the foreign reporters created a kind of romanticism surrounding the Palestinians' struggle. They adopted their point of view and their terminology." Seaman, who claims to be apolitical, said this process was exacerbated also by the "discourse in Israel”.

But what conclusions does he make of this phenomenon? Blaming “discourse in Israel” and the journalists? Taking upon himself the role of an enforcer? How could one get more absurd?

7. Conclusions

No matter whether you are of the right or of the left persuasion, whether your heart is bleeding for one case or the other (preferably both), you must ask yourself a few questions regarding the subject of this long post:

• Does GPO do its job as defined by its limited mandate?
• Doesn’t the expansion of GPO role as represented in the activities of Danny Seaman cause more harm than any conceivable good it is supposed to do?
• Does a person with diplomatic abilities and tact of a Howitzer gun fill the right spot?
• Is “His own private Jihad” compatible with the job of GPO director?

Danny Seaman has decided that his business is not just to pave the way for the journalists and to represent them before the government, but to enforce the State of Israel's point of view on the foreign (and Israeli) press. This was the starting point of the downward slide the Israeli PR is in. And worse: the way Danny has chosen to enforce this view is not by persuasion but by intimidation – the worst possible choice with the press anywhere and at any time.

From the servant of the media he (and his office) is supposed to be, Danny became a petty tyrant who acts under a dangerous illusion of unlimited power, when in reality his activities create more enemies of Israel than they gain friends.

Back to another quote, that self-fulfilling prophecy by Gilad Sher:

"The GPO is getting actively involved in general policy, which, in the long run, will not do any good for Israel's reputation around the world…

Unfortunately, this is not a prophecy anymore but a grim reality.

So what should be done about it – besides letting Danny Seaman go, which is all too obvious. The second part of Sher’s quote:

The head of the GPO ought to exercise his judgment not only concerning the narrow realm of present government policy: He should help foreign journalists do their jobs, even if the results aren't always complimentary about Israel's actions."

It is not enough to replace the GPO chief, far from it. The whole issue of Hasbara should become one of the chief concerns of our government. Aside of a reorganization that will put GPO under a permanent supervision and promise its increased funding, manpower and ability to really provide the required service, a clear definition of its scope of activities should be worked out. The situation where the GPO chief decides to venture into areas that are not really his business at all should be prevented at any cost, seeing the results of such ventures.

And, of course, choosing a right person for the job this time is vital. Just as an example of a suitable candidate, a quote from a comment to the same Bradley’s article:

Israel has plenty of talented, well - spoken (fluent in English!) people who could effectively & respectfully represent Israel & her positions. People like Alon Pinkas, for example, the former ambassador to NY.

Yes, that would be my first choice too.

But the most important thing is for our government to realize that the sooner we start to deal with PR seriously and professionally – and that includes excellence in service of foreign and local journalists – the more chances we got to turn the tide of bad news.

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Margolis: good actress, crap Jew, useful idiot

You can do yourself some good by reading about it here.

But then - you may become pissed off as well, so it is up to you.

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On the policy of understatement

My friends (especially some of them that are more into newspaper business than I am) always try to calm me down when I go on a rave about the titles some articles carry. It is not the authors, they tell me, it is the editors who perpetrate these small crimes (mainly crimes of stupidity, which is not considered a crime in most places and cases anyhow). Still, I do like some moderate raving from time to time - gets your old red cells moving.

The title that got me raving this time is Hamas fails to condemn Eilat bomb that killed three from Inependent. I don't know whether this title is invented by a bored/stupid editor or by the author (Donald Macintyre), but it could not be farther from reality.

Macintyre himself does confuse the issue even more:

Hamas, which controls the Palestinian Authority, notably refrained from condemning the bombing, with one of its Gaza spokesmen, Fawzi Barhoum, calling it a "natural response" to Israeli military policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as its boycott of the authority. " So long as there is occupation, resistance is legitimate," he said.

So, the article offers a spectrum of options, from "fails to condemn" via "refrained from condemning" to "calling it a natural response".

I am an admirer of the British knack of understatement. Its pinnacles like this one from Wiki rarely fail to fill me with joy:

Event: British Admiral David Beatty had just watched two of his battle-cruisers explode and disintegrate under German fire at the Battle of Jutland, May 31, 1916. Comment: "There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today..."

But in the case of this Indy's article I seriously doubt whether pegging an outright support of the homicidal act as a failure to condemn it is an understatement.

Or just too much eagerness to embellish the stark and ugly reality of Hamas and what it stands for.

Bloody Indy - and this is an understatement of the century.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

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Thrice failed

AP wasn't my personal cup of tea, there are people who are much better in this specific subject.

But I have stumbled by an accident on an article Palestinian bomber had lost his daughter by one Sarah El Deeb, AP writer. The title triggered a chain of guesses even before I started to read the text: uhu, probably these Zionists deliberately (as usual, of course), shot the bomber's daughter to pieces, which act of murderous genocidal maniacs was the turning point in the life of the young idealistic Mohammed (this is the name of the bomber).

It appears that I was wrong:

The Palestinian who blew himself up in the Israeli resort of Eilat on Monday was unemployed, despondent over the death of his baby daughter and driven to avenge his best friend's killing by Israeli troops, relatives said.

Dozens of neighbors celebrated outside 20-year-old Mohammed Siksik's house after the fiery attack that killed him and three other people, waving his photo and praising him as a martyr. Inside, his mother greeted mourners with a smile.

"He told me: 'Meeting God is better for me than this whole world,'" said Rowayda Siksik, wearing a white veil.

She said her son told her only that he was going to carry out an operation inside Israel. "He said, 'Goodbye, I am going, mother. Forgive me.' I told him, 'God be with you.'"

Siksik never found steady work, getting by with occasional jobs with his father, installing tiles. "You can't find work in this place," his mother said. Her son lost his 7-month-old daughter to a nerve disease, she said.

A quick analysis of the above quote shows:

• That the bomber's daughter has succumbed to a disease - not to a hail of Israeli bullets
• That the bomber was unemployed
• That at some unspecified time IDF killed his friend, for unspecified reasons
• That dozens of neighbors (also called "mourners" further) celebrated the occasion
• That the "bereaved" mother is greeting the "mourners" with a smile
• That the above mentioned mother gave her son a blessing, sending him to commit the murders

I was trying for a moment to imagine an Israeli, some unemployed Moshe (we have quite a lot of unemployed too, unfortunately) whose daughter was taken from this life by a disease and whose friend was killed by a Palestinian bullet or bomb or by a Hizballah' rocket. I have tried to see Moshe building himself an explosive belt and going to Gaza or West Bank to blow himself up in a bakery or pizzeria or hotel.

I have failed.

But, assuming that our Moshe succeeds in this imaginary task, I have tried to imagine an AP (or CNN, or AFP, or Reuters) writer sitting down a day after the atrocity that has taken three innocent lives and writing an article that will be as full of understanding and sympathy to the plight of Moshe as the article we are talking about here is to the plight of Mohammad. I have tried to imagine an article that will not mention the perfidy of the insidious Zionists, the brainwashing that Moshe underwent in his synagogue (if our Moshe was religious, otherwise in his Zionist cell). I have tried to imagine that this article will not mention Moshe's innocent Arab victims in more than one measly sentence...

I have failed again.

And of course, I have made a supreme effort to imagine the Jewish crowd celebrating our Moshe's "martyrdom" near Moshe's house and his mother smilingly receiving the celebrating "mourners". And handing around video clips with Moshe bravely embracing that AK-47, with the Israeli flag on the background, berating the Palestinians and singing Hatikva just before embarking on his last murderous adventure.

I have failed again.

Oh, but I am reminded by the usual suspects - it is that occupation of Gaza...

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

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AP - moral relativism and body count

This is not a good day to squabble about politics or to nitpick. But this headline by AP got up my nose:

Suicide bombing kills 4 in Israel

I thought that another Israeli died since the bombing and looked closer at the text:

A Palestinian suicide bomber attacked a bakery Monday, killing himself and three people, police said. It was the first suicide bombing in Israel in nine months and the first ever to hit Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city.

No, the number of murdered Jews is still three. Of course, technically speaking, there was another dead body. But it is a technicality, with all due care about humanity and life. The youngster sent by his Islamic Jihad operators was dead after the last round of brainwashing and after his parents prayed for the "success" of his homicidal mission.

But in the smelly moral relativism of AP there is no much difference between the murderers and the victims.

And another detail: the stringer that sent this piece in is obviously an Israeli, one Revital Levy-Stein. Shame on you.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

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His mother and father prayed for him to succeed...

You would place a sentence like this quite naturally in some article about a sports event. Or about a career in arts, crafts, science.

But in this case mom and dad prayed for their son, one Mohammed Faisal al-Saqsaq from Gaza City, to succeed in blowing up himself with as many Jews as possible in a bakery in Eilat.

There must be something seriously wrong with this parental pair. And with the religion that encourages this kind of prayer.

Oh, but of course, this is the Zionist occupation of Gaza that causes all this...

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

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Wow, this is a steamy one!

A nice Jewish boy, Mark Guterman, who is a Clinical Psychology PhD student working with Orit Avishai of the University of California at Berkeley, called for help with an extremely interesting survey he is conducting.

The site calls you to fill in the questionnaire to make a difference. I can tell you that the questionnaire makes a difference by itself. So there are at least two reasons to click here and to answer the questions, but remember - the Elders are watching, so the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth! And you acquire a lot of new ideas as you go, so your marriage will never be the same after you are done with the survey. It's a promise.

Them Berkeley folks...

***

Too many Jews...

Ynet is telling about a newly discovered Jimboism:

Former US President Jimmy Carter once complained there were "too many Jews" on the government's Holocaust Memorial Council, Monroe Freedman, the council's former executive director, told WND in an exclusive interview.

Former US president also rejected Christian historian because name sounds 'too Jewish'...

Which immediately reminded me a joke told during the same period (1980 or a bit earlier) about Carter's kissing buddy - Leonid Brezhnev of the late USSR.

Some time before the 1980 Olympic games Brezhnev (B) calls one of his flunkies (F).

B: Listen, F - these forinners will swarm our capital soon, and we have to show them that our minorities are being well taken care of.

F: Minorities? We don't have no minorities in Moscow, comrade Brezhnev! Only good loyal Soviet citizens.

B: Oh, come on, you know whom I mean, these troublemakers...

F: Oh, you mean Jooz?

B: Right, F. Quick thinking.

F: So, comrade Brezhnev, should I remove them... for a while, that is?

B: No, you dummy, just the opposite. I want you to create 20, no, make it 30, synagogues, with all that Jooish stuff and attending worshippers. All that is needed to show the tourists that Jooz are free to pray to their hearts' content. You have a month to report back to me.

In a month:

F: Comrade Brezhnev, I have a report to make. Your order was implemented, but there was a snag...

B: What, didn' t you locate enough buildings?

F: No, buildings are fine, some closed churches were reopened and cleaned up a bit.

B: So what - a problem with the congregation?

F: No, that was easy - all highly trained and loyal KGB people, not a hitch on this front...

B: Now come on, what is the deal, man?

F: It is the rabbis, sir...

B: Wazzat - aren't they Soviet people? Aren't they loyal? Aren't they communists, for Lenin's sake?

F: Well, comrade Brezhnev, they are all Soviet citizens, loyal to the hilt and, of course, communists...

BUT THEY ARE ALL JEWS!!!

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

***

A small balloon that can

You would imagine that the goings on in Lebanon would keep Lebanese citizens' attention riveted. But, as it appears, this assumption is wrong.

An Israeli promotional campaign involving balloons caused panic among Lebanese civilians Saturday when the wind carried them over the border into southern Lebanon. The Lebanese media reported that some civilians were hospitalized after inhaling the gas in the balloons.

Lebanese sources said the balloons reached the southern Lebanese cities of Nabatiyeh and Tyre, and the Lebanese army warned civilians not to touch them. Some were brought to Italian UN troops for examination. Lebanon's official news agency claimed that they were "poisoned balloons" dispersed by IDF aircraft.

Poisoned balloons now. Oy vey. Will these Zionists ever stop inventing new ways of genocide?

And why do they use a newspaper logo on the balloons? It is clear - to blame the media after the fact...

***

So, Google - we are watching

Via Andrew Ian Dodge: a stand-off between a lone blogger and the government of New Zealand.

Now Google is requested to pull a blog (CYFSWATCH) because it pissed off a government bozo or two.

The decision Google is to make will be an important precedent for freedom of speech as it applies to bloggers.

Let's keep an eye on this story.

***

Join your feeble voice in protest!

Because if this is not state terror, what is?

***

Canada: white supremacist saved by Jew

This JTA news item deserves to be copied in full:

A Canadian Jewish leader saved a white separatist who was attacked by protesters at a Halifax hotel. Jon Goldberg, head of the Atlantic Jewish Council, was attending Jared Taylor’s Jan. 16 speech on the costs of racial diversity and integration in North America. Aside from Goldberg, only protesters and journalists attended Taylor’s speech. The masked protesters shouted obscenities at Taylor, then shoved him into a hallway, at which point Goldberg intervened.

Goldberg surmised Taylor would be furious to learn he had been saved by a Jew.

Yeah. I have some news for Mr Goldberg. I am furious too. Guess why...

***

Blogging - pet peeves and other stuff

What is it that I dislike when reading other blogs?

• The 8-letter "word verification" crap in comments. Come on, Blogger, if you cannot deal with spam, buy them Haloscan people - they do an excellent job, we barely have spam here ever. No spam filter is going to get rid of stalkers, haters and such anyway.
• Templates with bright letters on dark background. If the deity were planning that we read the stuff this way, surely we would have been given white ink and black papyrus?
• Blogs that start playing music at you suddenly, causing you to drop your coffee mug in your lap.
• Blogs that demand registration to allow you to write the same irrelevant inanities in the comments section as you would have done anyway.
• Blogs that do not open the linked pages in the new window, requiring you to go back each time you are done with that link (I know Meryl will say a few strong words about that).
• Blogs that are so loaded with features, animation, embedded or linked crap that it takes half an hour just to open them. If I wanted a multi-media show, I would have gone to one of these special places.

Enough for now, I am getting riled up here. Now we are starting the Elders' stopwatch to give you all some time to mend your ways...

***

Outdoing a pessimist

The article with a headline like Israel's image hits nadir is bound to attract attention. Even of a person like I, who always (and in all languages I know) mixes zenith with nadir.

Of course, it is no other than Sever Plotzker, who for some unknown reason is stubbornly called Plocker in Ynet articles. And he even looks like a pessimist:


And this is more or less the gist of what he says:

Israel is no longer viewed as a thriving, high tech superpower or even as a brutal occupation power. It is viewed in a completely different light:

It's seen as a declining and dysfunctional country whose president is about to face charges of rape, whose prime minister will be interrogated on suspicion of advancing his associates' interests, whose finance minister will be ousted from his post due to an affair involving finances and non-profit organizations, whose army chief already resigned due to the failures of the war, and whose defense minister will soon be forced to follow suit.

Ehehe... If I were an optimist, I would have known what to answer: just look at the half-full part of that glass:

1. The MSM is a fickle mistress, and will forget our little transgressions soon
2. We are still more than moderately high-tech
3. And fairly brutal
4. But the president is a real macho, just look at him here
5. The care our PM shows to his near and dear is proof that he will take good care of all of us
6. Our finance minister shows his acumen in the money movements
7. We have now a brand new CoS with a brilliant smile
8. And the defense minister going will be a cherry on top of this... er.. OK, you get the drift!

But, being a bigger pessimist than Sever P. ever will, I do not say all of the above. Instead, I can assure Sever that it will go downhill all the way from now on. See, Sever, as a pessimist you must know that there are people better in the pessimism business than you are. Right?

Cheer up, Sever!

***

Katsav indictment kicks off presidential race

This is what the media says. The body is still warm, so to say (it's a figger of speech), and the sharks are already circling.

Kadima's Peres is frontrunner in presidential race opinion polls show, representatives from Likud and Labor also aiming for presidency.

So why it is that my bookie refused to take my bloody money when I insisted I am going to put it all on the second place winner? And his living room furniture, his wife's diamond and his daughter's dental work is all my investment!

Polls shmolls. These polls will not settle the question of the winner, since it is only the 120 Knesset dwellers who are supposed to vote. And I want to appeal to their politicized unfeeling souls. Look at this man, people:


Look at his eyes full of anguish caused by this endless sequence of second places in any elections whatsoever. Look at the hope that still spring eternal in these eyes, anguish notwithstanding. For how many years do you want to continue this immoral and inhuman cruelty toward the man?

Do you know what? I wouldn't even try to bet on the second place anymore if you promise to show some humane consideration.

Deal?

***

The price of progress

In his post Alternative histories Norm is arguing with Will Hutton's point of view on China so touchingly expressed in the Guardian's CiF article. (I have expressed my own disgust by Will Hutton and his ilk in a longish post here. )

Looking up to Norm as a moral compass and an impeccable example of academic style, I was not surprised by the subdued manner in which he takes Hutton to task. What caused me a second take, however, was the following sentence:

Achievements should certainly be noted where there are such, but if they're bought at an exorbitant, a gigantic, cost, then they can't be treated as unambiguously positive.

I know I am still incensed by Hutton's garbage and it may muddle my reception. However, it was still strange to find such an ambiguous statement by Norm. Does it mean that there is an acceptable price of progress (measured, of course, in human lives)? If 30 million lives is a price too exorbitant, is 3 million acceptable? Or 300 thousand?

Worse: does the sentence mean that we can consider the revolting idea of Hutton's "balance sheet", accepting in fact the mere principle of counterbalancing pure evil by economic/social progress? That our children and grandchildren will be taught a new version of history that embellishes the evil by addition of "but the economy flourished" or other such drivel?

I hope not, I hope that the moral relativism was not hidden in this message from Norm whose stance (to take torture as one example) does not allow trading absolute moral imperatives for a real or imaginary salvation in any form.

Tagging Norm.

***

Alessandra Mussolini - Reflections of an MCP

That is Male Chauvinist Pig - for the acronym challenged. And the purpose of the heading is to preempt the inevitable response from some rogue elements among our readers. Now to the subject.

Seeing some lively discussions about the rise of the fascist wing in the European parliament and the frequent mentions of the Italian feather in that wing - one Alessandra Mussolini, I have done some basic googling to educate myself on this interesting character. To confess to my ignorance: at first I got an impression that there are several persons with the same name, but that Wiki link settled my confusion.

It appears that Alessandra has passed at least one significant stage on her way to the political career. At first, she was quite successful as an actress and topless model, witness this (relatively prudent) Italian playboy cover*:


After a career in the movies (where, remarkably, she played a nun rescuing Jews from Benito Mussolini's fascists in The Assisi Underground), Alessandra discovered her gramps' genes and decided to move into politics. And this is how she looks now as a neo-fascist MEP:


What can I say (this is where the MCP butts in, pay attention!): I think I have liked her much better as a servant of Melpomene and Eros than as a servant of Benito's ghost cum politician. If this is any indication of my male chauvinism or remaining buds of dormant anti-feminism, I plead guilty and am ready to serve my time in a feminist-controlled institution of the jury's choice.

And to think that this lady is a niece of The Goddess!


Argh...

(*) To all who decides to google for other images of Alessandra, following my steps: make sure your underage relatives are busy elsewhere.

***

AG Mazuz decides

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided Tuesday that President Moshe Katsav should face charges for alleged rape as well as sexual harassment, obstruction of justice, fraud and breach of trust. The sexual assault charges relate to the claims of four women who worked for Katsav during his terms as president or before that as a cabinet minister.

As supportive of the presumption of innocence principle as ever, we'll not deal with any predictions.

But that was surely a wild exaggeration!

***

Our Worst Ex-President

First of all - don't panic, it is not about the Israeli worst ex-president, for the simple reason that the jury is still out on the question. Besides, the current one seems...

Anyway, it is the title of an article by Joshua Muravchik about the ex-POTUS James Earl Carter in Commentary magazine. The article is a breathtaking history of Jimbo's shenanigans, so I made a few decisions re this post:

• To focus on subjects unrelated to Israel. Too much words are spilled lately on the subject, including accusations of anti-Semitism. Indeed, some bloggers would do better throttling down a bit... The man is 82 years old, FFS! He is not anti-anything, rather pro-everything, which makes him cuter than any time before.
  
• To avoid extensive quoting. The original article should be read as a whole, this post notwithstanding.
• To prepare a picture gallery instead based on (some of) the Jimbo's bosom buddies, which gallery could serve as a teaching aid for the reading challenged youth.

So, to start with quoting:

...one of Carter’s personality tics, strange in a man who boasted so often of his honesty: a compulsion to engage in flattery. At times, this could manifest itself toward a rightist ally like the Shah of Iran. Just months before the outbreak of the revolution that culminated in his toppling, Carter declared in a toast that Iran was an “island of stability” thanks to the “love which your people give you.” But the impulse expressed itself most strongly toward leftist strongmen.

So let's embark on the tour of the photo gallery: Jimbo and the dictators. Barf bags at ready!

Jimbo and Shah of Iran

Jimbo and Josip Broz Tito

Carter hailed Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito as “a man who believes in human rights”...

Jimbo and Polish Stalinist Edward Gierek

Visiting Poland, then ruled by the Stalinist hack Edward Gierek, he offered a toast to its “enlightened leaders” and declared that “our concept of human rights is preserved in Poland . . . much better than other European nations with which I am familiar.”

Jimbo and Romanian tyrant Nicolae Ceausescu

Our goals are the same... [ain't it delicious?]

Jimbo and North Korean Kim Il Sung

"The U.S. desires to live in peace and harmony with North Korea. We don't believe our different government systems should be an obstacle to full cooperation and friendship." The fruits of these "peace and harmony" will feed generations to come...

And now brace yourself and keep your young ones and/or pregnant ones away:

Jimbo and the Wet Kisser signing SALT II

From Wiki: An agreement to limit strategic launchers was reached in Vienna on June 18, 1979, and was signed by Leonid Brezhnev and President Jimmy Carter. Six months after the signing, the Soviet Union deployed troops in Afghanistan...

I hope you have a picture now of what in many places would be sufficient legal grounds for a court martial and summary execution.

And this man continues to roam the world, generously sharing with us from the bottomless pool of his wisdom...

What can one say about the whole storm in a teacup? It seems that Jimbo is trying to deflect the arrows from all directions but one:

"I have been called a liar," Carter said at a town hall meeting on Saturday, the second day of a three-day symposium on his presidency at the University of Georgia. "I have been called an anti-Semite," he said. "I have been called a bigot. I have been called a plagiarist. I have been called a coward."

How about being called simply dumb?



to Andrew Ian Dodge.

***

Code review

Warning: the contents of this post are encoded to make it readable only by programmers!
To all others: move on, people, there is nothing for you to see.

Author: unknown.

Via: DB.

***

Some moderate shvitz

But first of all we would like to thank the anonymous blogger who nominated Simply Jews for the People's Choice Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards. It means, among other interesting things, that out there still roams one person on whose nerves we didn't get yet. We promise to take care of this issue in the near future.

Now to some moderate shvitz.

Ain't we great? Ain't we the best? Ain't we awesome?

Nah... But we'll be there. One day.

And congratulations to all other participants and winners.

***

Haveil Havalim and the art of dating.

Yehuda, he of Board Games, definitely knows a thing or two about developing an intriguing narrative that will sweep you and drag you through the whole Haveil Havalim # 103, if you are not careful.

On the other hand, why would you want to be careful? Just go there and enjoy a free lesson in multicultural dating.

The only disappointment: they do not kiss and marry at the end. But to know who are "they", you have to go through each and every word...

***

Satisfying the entropy law

A serious deviation from the Second Law of thermodynamics occurred in the fair city of Minneapolis.

Joshua Hanson landed on his feet after crashing through a window at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Minneapolis and falling onto a roof overhang almost 200ft (60 metres) below. He suffered multiple broken bones and internal injuries and was in a critical condition in the city's Hennepin County Medical Centre last night.

A partial explanation comes from a police report:

According to Lt Barsness, Mr Hanson, of Blair, Wisconsin, was in Minneapolis with his friends to attend a darts convention and returned to the hotel at about 1.30am.

If you let your brain to use its power of free association, the following chain will become clear and inevitable: darts - beer - intoxication - inebriation - horsing around - accidents.

However, the last step of the chain, namely the accident, ended in a giant fluctuation from the law of entropy and must be settled to prevent undue disturbances in space/time continuum (whatever it means). So let's start fixing.

"This guy must have had a guardian angel on his shoulder," said Dale Barsness of the Minneapolis police department. Lt Barsness said that Mr Hanson, 29, had been drinking and was fooling around with friends in a corridor when he lost his balance and fell through the double glazed, floor-to-ceiling window.

Let's check first why that angel did not prevent Mr Hanson from the collision with the window in the first place, Mr Hanson. And let's leave theology to the experts.

Dr Steve Smith, who works in the emergency room, said it was rare for anybody to survive a fall from such a distance.

Everything is in your capable hands, Mr Smith. After all, Mr Hanson is still in the hospital, if you get the drift. Mind the space/time continuum...

Tom Mason, the Hyatt Regency's general manager, said the hotel would look at why the reinforced window, which was also protected by a metal bar, was not strong enough to hold Mr Hanson in.

One word only, Mr Mason: contractors. You better check all these windows. You can have a lot of volunteers from that darts convention, but do it on the ground: the angels come at a price these days.

OK, now that it's all settled, let's go back to that Middle East mess...

***

Yes, throw the book at the infidel!

A Muslim cleric in Australia, Faiz Muhammad, 30, has urged in a DVD that Muslims should teach their children to be soldiers for Islam, and characterized Jews as "children of monkeys and pigs."

Australian police have launched an investigation to determine whether the cleric was inciting terrorism through his call for jihad. This is the second time this week that a Muslim cleric in Australia has caused much consternation to Australians.

Not only should he be jailed for terrorism incitement but also for being an infidel who misinterprets Islamic teachings. It is clear even to a Muslim child that Jews cannot be children of monkeys and pigs, since it is Christians who are the children of pigs and Jews who are the children of monkeys.

Off with his head!

***

It is so simple!

Unwillingness of some people to take a hint is sometimes too amazing.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Florist Auvaroza Abraham's shop was broken into again. That's life, you might say. But not if it has happened more than 30 times.

The New Straits Times reported Sunday that the flower shop in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak state on Borneo Island, has been robbed four times this month alone, the latest on Saturday.

Auvaroza estimated her total losses so far at $56,300 in the serial burglaries since 2004.

Auvaroza has filed police reports 30 times but police have come to her shop to investigate only three times, the newspaper quoted the woman as saying.

Auvaroza, darling, a perfect solution is right here:

And don't thank us, just open a donut stand pronto.

***

Yet another Jimboism

To post about Carter's dhimmitude is becoming boring lately. But what can one do when almost every day a new pearl of ex-POTUS wisdom is uncovered:

January 15, 2007 -- Has a former president of the United States - a Nobel Peace Prize winner, no less - given his blessing to wanton murder and terrorist assaults against Israel?

Sure looks that way.

How else to read that astonishing statement on page 213 of Jimmy Carter's new anti-Israel screed, "Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid"?

To wit: "It is imperative that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace are accepted by Israel." (Emphasis added.)

You don't have to read between the lines here.

Thankfully, no need to comment on this one either.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com



to Steve Decatur.

***

Tough luck

Or was it a tough duck?

A duck in the US state of Florida has survived gunshot wounds and a two-day stint in a refrigerator. A hunter shot the duck, wounding it in the wing and leg. Believing the bird was dead, he left it in his fridge at his home in Tallahassee. The hunter's wife got a fright when she opened the fridge and the duck lifted its head, a local veterinarian said.

There is a lesson somewhere in this story. What is clear, though: our hapless hunter has a low chance of enjoying the fruit (so to say) of his hard work:

Staff at the Goose Creek Animal Sanctuary who are treating the bird said it has a 75% chance of survival.

That means: 25% chance of seeing this, if I am not mistaken:



More chances of seeing this:


Next time wring their heads off to make sure your meal does not leave your fridge. And that you do not make yourself the laughing stock of all your hunter buddies...

***

A new player in Israeli politics?

It definitely looks like the colorful, albeit a bit crazy, potpurri of Israeli political map got another player of significance.

Hezbollah head hails resignation

Hezbollah head Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has welcomed the resignation of Israeli army chief Lt-Gen Dan Halutz in the wake of the two sides' summer conflict. Sheikh Nasrallah told his movement's al-Manar TV in Lebanon: "Any of them that don't resign will be forced out."

Hassan could definitely bring some new zest into the stagnating pool of same old names. I wonder which party will welcome him into its warm embrace? Or do I?

Likud Tables 'No Confidence' Following Halutz Resignation

The Likud faction in the Knesset tabled a no-confidence measure Wednesday, following IDF Chief of General Staff Halutz's resignation. The measure will be debated in the Knesset Plenum next Monday.

That could be a good idea, to think of it. Like the Likud's current honcho, Hassan could talk the socks off a deaf octogenarian. Unlike the Likud's current honcho, though, people whom Hassan wants assassinated, stay assassinated. So here...

***

And the dust finally settled

Rule by decree passed for Chavez

Venezuela's National Assembly has given initial approval to a bill granting the president the power to bypass congress and rule by decree for 18 months.

So there is not need for the mask anymore. The ugly face of the Caudillo is out in the open, for all to see, and do not be mislead by the suit and tie:


That's only for MSM consumption. The real one is here:


And no quantity of worshippers, including even such luminaries of freedom as Red Ken, could change the fact: a dictatorship is settling in behind the gun sights.

He has said he wants to nationalise key sectors of the economy and scrap limits on the terms a president can serve.

And as you can see, it is settling for good. Now don't say you weren't told...

***

Another mass murderer in the Guardian's pantheon

Re-writing of history was done in different ways during different times. The good old way of razing whole cities (or city-states) with all the inhabitants is rarely used anymore. Probably today it is considered not economically wise and not enough environment-friendly.

There was a less drastic way of doing things in the ancient history: first of all you do away with that VIP you want to erase from the annals (and, of course, his/her family with all, even the most distant, relatives - just in case). Then you destroy his statues, pictures and any mention of his name in official correspondence. Then you can always ask "Jim who?" if the name is mentioned by a hapless somebody. Of course, you must make sure that this somebody goes through the steps described above.

After the advent of Gutenberg a new issue appeared - that of printed matter. The printed matter was widely disseminated and difficult to keep track of. But during the Hitler and Stalin era that issue was taken care of as well. In Germany the books were simply burned. In the blessed USSR, with its economic issues this method was found too expensive, and a replacement pages with erased names, texts and even faces were distributed to the libraries.

But today the whole re-writing business is flourishing on the wave of information and population overflow. Just because of the sheer quantity of printed material, TV and radio information streams and, of course, the great garbage bin of the humanity - the Internet - there is no need to destroy the older material. You just continue changing the data, more or less subtly, and the time will do its dirty work. Who out of 7 billion people will care enough to go to the archives and breath the dust, I ask you? And out of the very few who will - whose voice is strong enough to overcome the background noise of the countless scribes who are busy with their re-writing duties? And, after a few years, the accepted history of this planet will look different. Just as you like it.

A few years ago I have stumbled upon a nauseating article by a Guardian scribe, Seumas Milne. In this article Milne (an indoctrinated and nauseating character if I ever seen one, and yes, it is an ad hominem) probes the waters by trying to re-paint one of the last century monsters - one Joseph Stalin (or Koba the Dread or Uncle Joe) in a new shades of pink. The main motif of this exercise is "Yes, Stalin was cruel, but...". A sampler:

Despite the cruelties of the Stalin terror, there was no Soviet Treblinka, no extermination camps built to murder people in their millions. ... Part of the Soviet tragedy was that that victory was probably only possible because the country had undergone a forced industrial revolution in little more than a decade, in the very process of which the greatest crimes were committed.

Yeah. But knowing what kind of creature we deal with in case of Mr Milne, it is hardly surprising. One can always discount this garbage as a revolting, but natural, effluvium of a diseased mind.

But today the Guardian produced another opus in the same genre. Stalin being already established in the Guardian's pantheon of "great, but slightly sullied" leaders, somebody there decided that the time is ripe to add another murderer of a similar caliber. And now we have to deal with another, no less nauseous, exercise of embellishing Mao. Predictably, it is titled "Mao was cruel - but also laid the ground for today's China". With a subtitle "The crimes of communist China's founder shouldn't blind us to achievements which paved the way for its current modernisation".

I really don't want to go into analysis of this garbage. Suffice to say, that unlike the Milne's apologetics for Stalin, this time even the numbers of victims murdered by Mao and his henchmen are not mentioned. And to add the following attempt that stinks to high heaven:

The German sociologist Max Weber, in a famous essay, argued that statesmen facing these kinds of challenges - of winning a war or of master-minding economic development - have to be judged by different moral criteria.

Sure. Different moral criteria. Max Weber, Seumas Milne, Will Hutton... The trend is clear. Who is next in that row of apologists for the unspeakable? Because the titles are easy, we could work them out in advance:

• "Genghis Khan was a cruel dictator, but he has improved his nation's mobility"
• "Mussolini was a fascist, but the trains were on schedule"
• "Hitler was a mass murderer, but the German economy flourished, not to forget the Beetle!"
• "Pol Pot was cruel, but very environment friendly, fertilizing the fields by organic bodies"

Etc. Just make sure to distribute the work fairly between the queueing Guardian scribes. And to buy some deodorant for Guardian's offices.

***

Carter: no doubts at all now

The Ynet report: Carter: Palestinian rockets not terrorism removed the last shadow of doubt in my mind.

Former US President Jimmy Carter told al-Jazeera television he "was not equating Palestinian missiles with terrorism," during an appearance on the Arab satellite station on Sunday.

All of you who tried to explain his strange behavior by bias, corruption etc. - you can get down from the moral high horse. The man is obviously loopy. Barmy. A few tacos short of an enchilada. There is nothing to worry about but to make sure that he receives humane treatment, necessary medication and a padded room - just in case, because you never know with such characters...

To prove my point further, here comes another good one:

Responding to criticisms of his book, Carter added: "Most of the condemnations of my book came from Jewish American organizations, which think that I believe there is racial segregation inside Israel. I don't base it on that."

Should we expect a condemnation from the United Council of Eskimo Tribes instead? And what does he mean by "I don't base it on that.": segregation on Israel or Israel on segregation? Bonkers, I say. Gone to a very long lunch and forgot to return...

Unless, of course, somebody persuaded him that the rockets in question are not what they seem to be to an amateur observer. I hesitate to say this, but there were rumors indeed that Gazan rocket scientists strive to develop a mail delivery system that will reduce the transit time of post sent from Gaza to the West Bank. The rockets falling short of target on Sderot and other Jewish villages is just a temporary technical glitch that will be straightened out in due time.

There even are plans, hitherto undisclosed, I hear, to put a picture of a dove on each rocket. That to ensure that people of Sderot understand and accept these totally non-terrorist rockets. A competition for the best picture of a Palestinian dove is gearing up as we speak.

The only condition is that the dove must resemble Jimbo. Go figure...

***

Ahmadinejad: Israel and the U.S. would not dare

Actually, he wanted to say: "Israel and the U.S. would not dare attack Iran", but it was a bit too long for a mere blog headline, so...

What it means is that Ah, my dinner jacket has started another (is it monthly or weekly, I wonder?) one in the long series of dick waving stand up performances. Look at me, he says:

Viewers, beware: the head in the above picture is the size of a peanut, albeit a big one - it may interfere with your size estimates.

"They well know the power of the Iranian people. I don't think they would ever dare to attack us, neither them nor their masters. They won't do such a stupid thing," Ahmadinejad told El Mundo during a visit to Nicaragua, referring to Israel.

It is rumored that in a private discussion after that interview Ah, my dinner jacket continued with his obsession with sizeism:

"Look how small both of them are in comparison", he exclaimed proudly.

Not to disabuse Mahmoud of this notion, the Elders would like to inquire about the nature of his activities as depicted in the following snapshot:

While not trying to cast any aspersions, we would like to be sure that there is nothing in these activities that his mom would be averse to seeing. In more details, that is. After all, the poor old lady had enough grief with the two previous snapshots:











To state it loud and clear: the Elders, as such, do not mind any way of... how to say it... expressing affection between two human beings, it is only the traditional ways Mahmoud mom is used to that are of concern to us. You see, in the latest news, directly related to Mahmoud indecent tonguing of the rabbi it says that the said rabbi's wife already left him and filed for a divorce...

Oh, and there is also that habit of mullahs to hang people in public places for not being traditional enough. Consider it and take care, Mahmoud.

***