26 May 2009

Yisrael Beiteinu? Or what?

For Hebrew - challenged: Yisrael Beiteinu means "Israel our home". Or, in other words, a name for a party that is quickly becoming a fucking gang of brownshirts that will take our country to fascist hell if we don't stop them in time.

When a well-meaning minister invents a law that will prevent demonstrations against public officials near their houses, it smells bad. It irritates. It reminds you of places and times you would rather forget.

When a malicious little paskudnyak that plays a big patriot invents a law that will prohibit Israeli Arabs to mark the Nakba (no matter how malicious and stupid that Nakba day is), it starts stinking. You have to sit up, smell the air and ask yourself what the hell is going on around you?

When that same gang of brownshirts invents a law that requires Israeli citizens to pledge an oath of allegiance, you may think a first that OK, quite a few countries have their folks doing the same as a precondition to getting that red or blue or green passport. But then you notice that "I pledge to be loyal to the State of Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state...". And it starts stinking to high heaven. And you don't see red anymore - just brown.

When some of us vote in people who wouldn't know democracy if the democracy bit them on their fascist backsides and, in fact, couldn't care less about the democracy, we all pay. Not immediately, no - it will take some time. But a day may come when we all will wake up to flags we have not yet seen and to music we haven't yet heard. If we don't stop the vermin in time.

Or some of us may find out that Israel is not exactly their home anymore.

Take heed.

P.S. This here blog goes on vacation for a week or so. And no, it is not related to the mofos mentioned in this post.

25 May 2009

Happy Towel Day!

And don't panic, you all out there!

Hey, the small man that resembles a toad in a toupee went nuclear!


As expected.

In similar news:

Michigan Woman Once Thought Dead Graduates College

24 May 2009

What you didn't know about Pepsi



The clip could be watched here.

I wonder: does this dude know what "PUTZ" really stands for?

Hat tip to SEO.

Would-be egotistic suicide jumper pushed off bridge

According to this CNN report:

A passerby pushed a would-be suicide jumper off a bridge in southern China because he was angry at the jumper's "selfish activity," Chinese media reported Saturday.
And for a reason:
"I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interest," Lian told Xinhua.

Traffic was held up for nearly five hours and a crowd gathered as Chen sat on the bridge, threatening to jump, Xinhua reported.
Good move, man! I only wonder what other drivers were waiting for.

There is a slight mismatch between this CNN report:
The bridge has gained a "macabre" reputation with 11 jumpers having thrown themselves off the bridge since the start of April, Xinhua said.
and another one - from Telegraph.
Chen ... was at least the twelfth person since early April to threaten suicide at the same spot, the Haizhu bridge in Guangzhou.

But none have jumped and - until Mr Lian gave Chen a helping hand - none have been pushed.
Interestingly, both papers quote the concerned citizen, Mr Lian saying that:
They do not really dare to kill themselves. Instead, they just want to raise the relevant government authorities' attention to their appeals.
That Mr Lian must be a Telegraph reader, then...

23 May 2009

Prayer of the Webdev

our browser, which art in memory, mozilla be thy name
onLoad run, thy layout done, exactly like the PSD.
render us fast this gmail thread,
and forgive us our standards violations,
as we forgive those who use IE against us,
and lead us not into quirks mode,
but deliver our content
for thine is the pingdom
and the browser and the glory,
forever and e

what():St9bad_alloc Abort trap (core dumped)

From Dustbury via Dick Stanley.

22 May 2009

Roger Cohen - an ominous fellow traveler?

I warmly recommend an excellent article An Ominous Turn in Elite Opinion by Jonathan S. Tobin in the Commentary magazine. Not because I agree with every conclusion about the article main protagonist - Roger Cohen, I have my doubts about some of them. Rather because it is the first attempt I have seen to understand the phenomenon that Cohen represents as one of the more odious examples.

Some of the ire Cohen causes definitely stems from his consistently anti-Israeli stance. He claims that he supports Israel and only protests occupation, "disproportional" military response etc., but it will take a professional nitpicker to distinguish Cohen's consistent bashing of Israel from that of, say, Juan Cole (the name mentioned on purpose). The only claim I haven't detected yet in Cohen's ever-growing anti-Israeli collection is the one where Israel is guilty in all strife in the world. But it's not that Israel can't do with some more creative bashing, is it?

There are many indignant articles and blog posts about Cohen and his "support" for Israel, my recommendation will be to focus on excellent series by Soccer Dad, more could be found by using this Google search (as a side remark: Soccer Dad says here that he is "tempted to say about Roger Cohen that the less said about him that better", but apparently Cohen is irresistible, and I absolutely understand and share SD's feelings). Still, Soccer Dad refers mostly to Cohen's outlandish opinions, and I am currently into anthropology.

The more interesting and revealing chunk of Cohen's recent body of work, however, relates to his Iranian experiences. This is where the budding fellow traveler eventually flowered to perfection. His lyrical descriptions of the golden days of Jewish community in Iran (periodical arrests on false charges of spying on behalf of Israel and hangings notwithstanding), his acceptance of anything told to him by a "random" selection of Iranian Jews via a government-appointed translator and handler, his praise to the "vibrant democracy" of Iran - all these so painfully reminiscent of similarly inexplicable support for Hitler and for Stalin wholeheartedly provided by Britons, some of whom could have been Cohen's grandparents.

And Cohen's Oxbridge pedigree is so reminiscent of a whole range of Britons - from supporters of Hitler to the opposite wing, where the Cambridge Five are immortalized in all their revolting glory, that it is not that easy to get rid of this parallel too. But of course, Oxbridge produced thousands of highly respected scientists, politicians, teachers and of course there is a widest spectrum of political beliefs between Lord Haw Haw and Kim Filby, and it will be a sure proof of a paranoid mind to suspect Cohen of being an agent of this or another foreign power.

A simpler explanation (that Occam's razor enforces) will be that, like many others before him, Cohen is being a blind slave to his wishful thinking. And, like hundreds of VIPs before him were successfully blinded and enthralled by (firmly guided) tours of hotels built for such occasions in Soviet Russia, of happy Russian farmers unable to say a word in English, of thriving factories, caviar-cum-vodka dinners and insidious "translators", of burgeoning Hitlerite economy, law and order, clean streets and clockwork precision of Mussolini trains; so was Cohen successfully led through a succession of Iranian Potemkin villages. Cohen has seen what his hosts wanted him to see and heard exactly what his hosts wanted him to hear.

On the other hand, Cohen could not be that stupid, could he? The man with his experience and journalistic background must have seen through this ploy, right? But no, the power and enchantment of wishful thinking could overcome any professional scruples. Even in a journalist of Cohen's calibre who describes himself as "smart, driven, liberal, Jewish". So much for smarts then...

Still... imagine that you are Mahmoud the Mad, or, even better, an anonymous clerk in the Iranian propaganda department. What could be more convenient than, on one hand, professor and Farsi expert Juan Cole (this is why that mention above) who adroitly interprets any genocidal declaration of your betters as a peace offering, and on the other hand, a leading journalist in such an august media outfit like NYT, singing praises for your regime? And not just any leading journalist, but smart, driven, liberal and Jewish? I mean, it's a godsend, isn't it? Nothing better than these two to turn the elite opinion, whatever "elite" means to you. Throw into the mix Mahmoud's kissing buddies of Jewish Ultra-Orthodox persuasion, "socialist" Hugo Chavez and a bunch of other hosanna - singing characters all over the world, and the Ayatollahs with their puppet Mahmoud the Mad look more kosher than a kugel.

Yes, it definitely seems that if Mr Cohen didn't exist, Iranian propaganda ministry must have invented him. Very convenient, almost made to order.

Whose order, I wonder? How does a poisoned fruit like Roger Cohen flourish?

Questions, questions...

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

21 May 2009

An augur required urgently

The terminology will take care of itself if we have the substantive understanding.
This is another Bibism that causes great hilarity in the media. Most radio channels had a field day yesterday with it, and I don't blame them. Of course, no one has a substantive (or any other) understanding of that sentence, but this was precisely the goal.

I have some terminology for that, but even this here blog cannot carry it. Rain check, please.

From Russia with a smirk

Депрессия - это когда включаешь интернет и не знаешь, куда пойти.

(Depression is when you open the Internet and don't know where to go.)

Красное вино полезно для здоровья. А здоровье нужно, чтобы пить водку.

(Red wine is good for your health. And you need your health to drink vodka.)

В вине - мудрость, в пиве - сила, в воде - микробы.

(In the wine - wisdom, in the beer - strength, in the water - germs.)

Hat tip: MT.

NZ hunts accidental millionaires

That's mighty unfair. Finders keepers.

4 arrested in alleged NYC synagogue bomb plot

This goes a long way to show that when you are technically inept and lack military training, you should at least think about hiring an expert. Dumbos.

20 May 2009

Why it is always useful to visit Washington

On the next trip: women play a vital role in childbirth. To be explained with all the necessary details by Sen. Kerry.

19 May 2009

Obama vs Netanyahu: round 1?

Of course, the title above is full of crap, as are the long, essentially empty of any new content, articles. Unless you consider a headline like PM praised, upbraided after Obama meet (JP) to be news.

Of course, it wasn't a fistfight, if only for one simple reason: the opponents, if they may be called such, are in incomparable weight classes. And I don't mean the personal weight. Both sides know very well who butters whose slice of bread, and Bibi should remember well enough the past humiliations in the White House to know not to overstep. In any case, meetings like these, prepared well in advance, are not supposed to produce sensational results. At least not in the public deliveries (see the transcript).

What really counts is not what the protagonists say immediately after the meeting, but what they will do in the coming months. And there is no way to predict now, for instance, what will happen to the next wish list of IDF purchases from US. Or what will happen at the next UNSC session when another resolution concocted by Islamic countries is put on the table. Or...

We'll not know any too soon what was really said in the meeting, and whatever follow-up interviews by the participants will reveal could be safely discounted. The best we can hope for is that inevitable book of memoirs by Obama, but to figure out the possible date of publication is a bit difficult at the moment. In any case, I shall disregard the mandatory trumpeting to be produced by Bibi upon his return home.

There always remains hope, surely. Hope that Obama, after the first few months in the office, has learned that gung ho approach to the world problems doesn't work (and there are many signs that it is happening indeed). And hope that Bibi will find a way out of the impossible political trap he created for himself - but a very weak hope at that.

And anything else is just what it is: quesswork, as Ami Isseroff shows here.

18 May 2009

Montauk Monster - does it carry swine flu?

It appears that a second carcass of Montauk Monster was discovered. I am not showing its picture here, first of all for copyright reasons... aw what the heck, whom do I kid? It is simply too barf-inducing.

Anyhow, Nicky Papers, who published the news and the pictures, suspects that the monster could be a carrier of that dreaded disease. So, if you happen to encounter another one while strolling along the Montauk beach, please be careful. You better carry with you a shovel and a big garbage bag at all times.

A stray thought: could it be a message from Elvis?

Give E.B. Solomont that Nobel Prize!


Now.

The Guardian editorials

Anonymous as this blog (for instance), the editorials in this august mouthpiece of progress are frequently striking in their pointlessness and/or vapidness. Like these two. From the first:

The international community, which put pressure on Colombo too late to stop a bloodbath, must insist on transparency and accountability. War crimes have undoubtedly been committed by both sides.
And from the second:
Not gourmet, not pretty and certainly not good for you, but there are times when only a bacon sandwich will do.
Yeah... what was the point I wanted to make?

Joe Biden reveals location of his wine cellar

Here. Keeps mum on the name of hairdresser.

17 May 2009

The Discount Havel Havelim #217

Batya, she of many talents and many blogs, presents (on her birthday, too) a scrumptious HH #217.

Mazal tov!

16 May 2009

A Durex eye catcher

Hat tip: BB.

15 May 2009

The enema remedy - doing quite well, thank you

Since then, as that ancient Jewish story tells, each time when a Pharaoh gets sick, Jews get the enema.
Sorry about that annoying habit of quoting own posts, but the quote is not mine, so...

Anyhow, this time it applies to the supposedly shabby treatment Christians in the whole Middle East get in the hands of Zionists. Honest Reporting got on a few cases of the familiar enema application: one in the Time Magazine by Andrew Lee Butters from Beirut and another on BBC by Tim Franks from Bethlehem. Both blame the exodus of Christians from Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon and even Egypt (sic!) on the Zionist oppression.

So, as you see, the ancient prescription works just fine: you have a problem, and here is a handy and time-tested solution: find a Joo and hey presto! Apply at will.

Only there is a small bug in the works that even a BBC correspondent couldn't sweep under the the BBC's rich Persian rug:
Privately, some Christians in Bethlehem say another factor sometimes motivates their decision to leave - concern about the rise of radical Islam - but they are unwilling to put such views on the record.
The only fitting answer to the scribes mentioned: come over folks, we have a few big enemas too. For a private and frank discussion, you know. Off the record.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

Imaginary book title

The short life and deeds of Joel Nimrod, the fastest draw in the West and a lousy shooter

14 May 2009

Obama declares May 'Jewish American Heritage Month'

Cool. So why do I get a feeling that the shaft being prepared for Bibi in the White House us growing all the time?

Heritage, shmeritage...

The Ross Sisters - Solid Potato Salad

No one seems to know what does "solid potato salad" mean. However, watch this clip in full and I guarantee your self-esteem will get down a few notches. I feel pain in all my bones just thinking about it.



Hat tip to SEO.

13 May 2009

An idle question

This is a message from a friend who will remain unnamed.

Take a look at:

Afghan official: 95 kids died in US-Taliban clash

I wonder whether there will be an urgent session of the Security Council following this event. And I wonder whether there will be mass protests throughout the world. And whether courts in countries such as Spain, Belgium and UK will issue orders to arrest the responsible American officers and politicians.

I wonder... But actually I know what the answer is.

Do you?
Dunno, what do ya'll think?

Best contractor of 2008 award

12 May 2009

Somali pirates guided by London intelligence team - a very quiet scoop

If this news item is true, the lack of attention it gets from mass media is amazing. At least, kudos to The Guardian where kudos due:

The Somali pirates attacking shipping in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean are directed to their targets by a "consultant" team in London, according to a European military intelligence document obtained by a Spanish radio station.
Another piquant detail:
The national flag of a ship is also taken into account when choosing a target, with British vessels being increasingly avoided, according to the report.
In relation to this I feel it's my duty to remind you this Johann Hari's extraordinary presentation of Somali pirates as fearless warriors for clean environment. Going with this theory for the moment: it may be a good idea for the law enforcement to take a close look at the British Greens...

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

Sandstorm in the Negev - spectacular

The picture has been taken during flight. The sand storm came from Sinai Desert at a velocity of
60 Kmh. The height of this sand wave was 4,000 feet (approximately 1.3 km).

Photographer - unknown at the moment. Will update if and when.

There will be a lot of laundry to do in the next few days, that's for sure.

Hat tip - DB.

Jon & Kate Plus 8

Appear to be so popular that it's a shame not to mention them and then, of course, get you treated by a totally different bird picture:

Springtime bulbul, for those who grok...

10 May 2009

Tee hee...

This is not bad at all.

So, what is cooking this week?

Many people here are overexcited because Pope will be flying in tomorrow. Some because of his childhood enrollment into Hitler-Jugend - go and explain to them that for a 14 years old it was the same as being enrolled in Komsomol in Soviet Union - you are enrolled or else...

Some are pissed off by the idea of handing over the ownership of a few pieces of land here with Catholic Church properties on them to Vatican sovereignty. Blame Peres, folks - it's his brilliant idea.

Some are enraged by Pope's casual acceptance of that slightly loony, slightly anti-Semitic and a strong Holocaust denier bishop Williamson back into the warm lap of the Church. In short, almost every citizen of Israel is enraged by at least one point in the Pope's behavior. Good luck, Mr Ratzinger and beware of flying shoes! I, at least, count as a big plus his headgear:

And that he a heavy smoker, too, judging by that picture. Nah, he couldn't be all that bad...

Now, what is our PM up to? So far he seems to be a clear winner of the undeclared contest he is running against Mr Obama - how to squeeze more SNAFUs in the shortest time. Starting with his "no new taxes" declaration and the crippled budget that is chiefly based on ideas for new indirect taxes, via his brilliant brand-new FM Lieberman who seems to step on his own knuckles every time he leaves his home (or opens his mouth, whichever comes first), to his public brawl with his chief supporter Gideon Sa'ar, to the general signs of chaos in his administration... But this is nothing compared to the shakes Bibi gets preparing to the upcoming meeting in the White House, where he is expected to explain to the host his new "economic peace" politics, whatever it means, and get out of the place without too many kicks in the bottom. I hope for his own sake that when he flies home he will have enough presents for his electorate in his beak, bruised arse notwithstanding.

Meanwhile, Obama's administration provided Bibi an excellent excuse, declaring that Syria stays in the list of chief sponsors of the terrorism. A day or two after, Bibi declared that Israel will never leave the Golan Heights, jumping on the bandwagon. Let's see for how long he will be allowed to stay there. On the other hand, we are still waiting for his uber-vague promise from his first incarnation as our PM: to reach a peace treaty with Syria without getting off the Golan. Let's wait a tad more. As for now, Bibi is playing some regional politics with our neighbors, doing his puny best to deflect the White House' attention from the main points (see the mention of them bruises):

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will tell Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah II at meetings this week that they need to work with Israel to counteract the Iranian nuclear threat.
Yeah. Don't forget the global warming, the drying out Dead Sea and the whales, never forget the whales, Bibi! Oh, and the spotted owl...

And in related (?) news: from Arutz Sheva:

Homesh Lag B'Omer Bonfire to Light up Sky in Tel Aviv
Thousands of nationalists are expected to march to Homesh on Lag B’Omer on Tuesday in an event that the IDF has authorized even though Homesh is in a “closed military zone.” A mammoth bonfire will light up the skies in Tel Aviv as a reminder of the strategic importance of the area.
Hmm... interesting choice of words, that "light up the skies in Tel Aviv". Mahmoud the Mad couldn't have found a better one...

09 May 2009

Photohunt: in memory


The theme for this week is "In memory".

First of all, the date (May 9) is celebrated in Russia and a few other countries as a Victory Day - the day when Nazi Germany surrendered (the surrender document was signed late on May 8, and it was already May 9 Moscow time). Of course, Soviet Union was not the only country to fight the Nazis, but Soviet Union and the Red Army took the brunt of this war: estimated USSR losses within postwar borders now stand at 26.6 million. So, the most fitting picture for the date:

Soviet soldier putting up the red flag over Reichstag.

Well, now to more pleasant an fresh memories: a few non-famous but memorable corners of Jerusalem.

Just a wall.

Just a narrow lane.

Going home from the Friday market (that's the special shopping day - for the Sabbath).

And what does this girl read on the roof? We shall never know.

And another side street.

In a back yard.

If you liked this short walk, leave a comment, and I promised to visit your place.

If you liked what you have seen (or read) in this post, add your link in the comments:
I promise to visit your place as soon as possible!


To look for other photo hunters, go there.

***

08 May 2009

For the Muslim fetus who seeks Jihad



The Hamas mullah in this clip eloquently explains that "the mosque is a prime factory educating men to fear and please Allah; [it is] the prime factory educating Jihad fighters..." Nothing new here, and we have seen recently some creative uses of the Gaza mosques.

Then our mullah adds a more creative element to his speech:

The Palestinian fetus in its mother's womb, the Muslim fetus throughout the world in its mother's womb, call [on Muslims] to unite through fear of Allah, through pleasing Him, and through choosing Jihad and Resistance.
We have a strong feeling that the intrauterine stage of the young Muslim development have been hitherto neglected. To facilitate the intrauterine search for Jihad, the Elders' labs have developed a new pill, tentatively named Belt-o-caine. Daily intake of three pills for a week will modify the genetic code of the fetus, causing it to grow an explosive belt from week 4, getting out at the prescribed time ready for immediate martyrdom.


Batteries not included.

Hat tip: PMW.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

How it all started


Author - unknown, hat tip: DB.

07 May 2009

UC Irvine hatefest starts again

From time to time the Muslim Student Union in UC Irvine has to prove that it doesn't exist for nothing. Their new entertainment program goes under this poster:

After the movie, several presentations will be given by the principal actors:

  1. Cynthia McKinney: FEMA refrigerator trucks and 5000 Zionist bullets to the head
  2. George Galloway: ZOG and million nuclear missiles provided by it to the Zionist entity
  3. Cynthia McKinney: Green movement and its grass roots or what do I smoke after lunch
  4. George Galloway: How to dress attractively when your oil income is curbed or the best way to wear a leotard
  5. Cynthia McKinney: Obama - not black green enough and Zionist to boot
  6. George Galloway: The man (PBUH) who taught me to lick hands and other appendages (PG 14)
  7. George Galloway/Cynthia McKinney: duet rendering of "Yes, with blood and with spirit we will redeem you Palestine!"












And for a musical encore: "How to recognize me - up close and personal". An aria by Cynthia McKinney.

Halal refreshments served to survivors in the lobby.

More info here.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

Good move

I am not absolutely sure this is who I think that he is, and the location escapes me too.

But in any case, as the person who I think he is used to say: capital idea!

06 May 2009

Hey, I be cyberbullying right now! Come and see!

Something refreshing for your attention:

Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
So here it goes: Linda Sanchez, a California congresswoman who invented this, is a dumb broad indeed. Repeat as prescribed by your physician.

Er... that's it, ladies and gentlemen, move on, nothing more to see here.

Hat tip: Dick Stanley.

P.S. Just stumbled on a CNN article: Myanmar tops list of worst places to be a blogger. This could change soon...

05 May 2009

The day for augurs

Augur: (ancient Rome) a religious official who interpreted omens to guide public policy

A long one, too...

China: the last refuge for a smoker?

If it comes to it, I'll know where I'm welcome.

Officials in a county in central China have been told to smoke nearly a quarter million packs of locally made cigarettes annually or risk being fined, state media reported.
Good people.

Hat tip to SEO.

Carrie Prejean photos

Will definitely not appear on this blog, since:

Carrie Prejean says photos taken of her as a teenager had been released "surreptitiously to a tabloid Web site that openly mocks me for my Christian faith."
And we are not in faith-mocking business, at the moment at least (it is post-prandial time here). So all you get is a nice shot of a picturesque cave near Beit Shemesh. Speaking of faith, Beith Shemesh... nah, let it be.

Click on the picture to embiggen.

If you continue looking at this picture for more then 3 minutes, you might get a feeling that a huge beast is swallowing you. The feeling will come true if you don't quit looking.

No Good Boyo on charities

This is a definitive treatise and should be read by you immediately. Awesome.

04 May 2009

India Knight and her keen for Carla Bruni and Princess Letizia of Spain

Clarification:

Keen: A funeral lament sung with loud wailing

Generalization:

We, the men, are usually inarticulate, due to mostly outdoor upbringing and lack of schooling in verbal communications. Our ability to express our thoughts is limited to short sentences, mostly of descriptive nature, related to sports events, motor vehicles, quality of food and drink and, of course, the better gender. Frequently these short sentences are interspersed with expletives and, in some cases, expletives form most of the sentence, being perfectly clear to the male listener. All in all, simple and basic, hardly requiring a mental effort of any significance. Thus we coast through life on its surface, barely leaving a scratch on the polish. The exceptions to this general rule become writers, politicians, lawyers, hawkers, insurance agents - generally the sort of people you wouldn't invite to your house for a relaxing afternoon of weekend football (soccer) on the sports channel and a few beers.

Cutting to the chase

Now, women, on the other hand, are much more sophisticated when expressing their thoughts, frequently veiling the message (or, even more daunting to a simple male, several messages) in a way that, frankly, leaves a male lost and wandering out there in the cerebral maze without any hope of deliverance. This is precisely what happened to me while I was reading the article Poor Carla: dismissed with a pat on the backside by India Knight.

The article starts with a harangue about men's bottoms that got my sensitive MCP (male chauvinist pig) antennae twisted immediately. Aha, said I to self, we are going to get it in the neck again (notice the simplicity of that thought, typical for a male). Why? Just because:

Acres of newsprint and media commentary were expended last week on the “battle of the bottoms”. Nobody appeared to think this was especially silly since the bottoms happened to be female and belonged to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and Princess Letizia of Spain.
Of course, this got some of my other antennae going and I've soon got onto the source of Ms Knight's displeasure. If you scroll a bit there, you shall see the picture that is, probably, the one to cause most of that ire. Well, as far as bottom shots go, this one is not revealing too much. Definitely (to a male's eye, at least) not enough for a qualified judgment. But back to the displeasure. At first you would think it's fairly simple and straightforward:
What I object to is the idea, so widely disseminated in the media last week, that adult women – you*, me, princesses and political consorts – are so pathetic, so uninteresting, so completely tragic and brain-dead, that they view all other women through the prism of demented competitiveness and might be deflated and made distressed by the idea that someone they meet has a better bottom than them.
Well, if you think that it is indeed as simple and straightforward as that, you must be clearly a male reader. And the only thing I can say to you is: ha!

Because Ms Knight then gets onto Carla Bruni's case. And she does it in such a complicated polyphonic way that really leaves Bach and others of his ilk standing. Schönberg, if you ask me, is eating dust too. To start with:
Like all beautiful women – go on, name me four exceptions – she is a victim of her looks, doomed to be defined by them for eternity, or until she becomes wrinkly and we all express our horror at the ruination of her face.
Of course, you would say, it is a clear denunciation of victimization of female beauty by the dominant male chauvinist swinish patriarchal society. But then, what do you make of that one:
Minxy old Carla, 41, has apparently “met her match” in the pulchritudinous, pert-bottomed, 36-year-old Letizia. Because, obviously, Bruni wakes up every morning, in the manner of Snow White’s evil stepmother, and asks herself whether hers is still the fairest Euro-bottom of them all. The question probably keeps her awake at night, I shouldn’t wonder.
This adds quite a few overtones (or undertones, how could an MCP figure it out?) that sharply increase the complexity of the whole enchilada, wouldn't you say? Or take this:
She may be vocal in her criticism of France’s failures when it comes to offering black and North African immigrants equal job opportunities, and she may speak out against sexual violence in Africa and for the 300,000 women who have been raped in the Congo – but hey, we all know what she’s like really: a silly, giddy former model, ergo thick, competitive arm-candy and bottom-fixated to boot.
Is it still about the male-ruled world of bottoms, boobs and whatnot? Hmm... probably. And then came a couple of sentences that were for me the equivalent of the coup de gras. First this:
I rather love Carla, although I appreciate that many don’t.
And then:
Carla can’t help the way she looks, even though she works the look like the pro she is.
I don't know, really. I am done in. I shall never grok what that piece is about. As a primitive soul, I have tried to look for some explanation in these two links. But no, it is only at the level I am able to raise myself to, surely? It is so much more complex than that... Hopelessly confused, I can deal with the issue in the only way I know. Here it is:

(*) Found this only upon second reading. After all, this shows that the article was not meant for male consumption at all. This goes some way to consoling me.

An idle maritime speculation on Somali piracy

Over the past year, more than 100 suspected pirates have been picked up, Prazuck said. Of that total, 27 have been released...

On Friday, a Portuguese warship seized explosives from suspected Somali pirates after thwarting an attack on an oil tanker, but later freed the 19 men.

If a pirate drowns in the middle of an ocean and no one sees the bubbles, does it count?

Just asking.

03 May 2009

Haveil Havelim #215 -- the One Topic Edition is up!

And running extremely well.

By Gila of My Shrapnel.

Breast implants as a Silicone Holocaust

First it were the PETA morons who declared the Chicken Holocaust.

Now, it appears, there are some new rivals: a Silicone Holocaust group. Ehehe...

Will the world supply of morons ever be exhausted?

Like, you know, a Morons Holocaust or something?

Carla Bruni’s Sex Tape

Will definitely not appear on this here blog. Still Sarkozy is one lucky so and so, we recon. No matter. Here is a get-well-soon picture of a crow guarding the Bahai garden (Haifa).


Right.

02 May 2009

Nikki Catsouras Car Crash Photos and the Dark Side of Humanity on the Web

This article shows clearly why the Internet was invented - for some people.

Nikki Catsouras was killed in a horrible car crash on Halloween day of 2006. The 18-year-old Orange County, California, resident had been driving her father's black Porsche 911 Carrera at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour when she lost control of the vehicle and smashed into a concrete tollbooth. She was killed instantly, and, much to her family's horror, nine grisly Nikki Catsouras car crash photos found their way onto the Internet and went viral.

A few days after the accident, Nikki's father, Christos, who is a real estate agent, opened an e-mail that he thought to be a property listing. But that was far form the case. Instead, what he saw his daughter Nikki's blood-covered face accompanied by the following caption: "Whoohoo Daddy! Hey Daddy, I'm still alive."
No comments required, I believe.

The Unbearable Lightness of Wishful Thinking

I have always suspected that any person who indulges too much in wishful thinking is the best material for a future fellow traveler.

Prof. Barry Rubin of GLORIA Center got on a case of an interesting interview Mahmoud the Mad gave to ABC.

In my opinion, George Stephanopoulos of ABC tried his best to put some words he desperately wanted to hear in the mouth of Mahmoud the Mad. Not very successfully, I suggest.

Even more disturbing is the response of the global media to this experiment.

Worthy reading.

01 May 2009

Gideon Levy - the summary of his life?

I've stumbled on this article accidentally. I don't really follow Gideon Levy, the Haaretz scribe and self-appointed moral compass of the country, all that diligently, if at all.

But the headline How Gideon Levy's first scoop got buried was definitely alluring, and who could have guessed that the article is by Gideon Levy himself? But even after seeing the byline, I was still interested. After all, what is a scoop if not a pinnacle of journalist's professional life and realization of his dreams? And who knows what it is about? Perhaps young Levy discovered some deeply buried Zionist secret, or a nuclear missile silo in his backyard, or... go figure.

And then the article appears to be about... discovery by Gideon Levy about Arafat's marriage (to the inimitable Suha), which discovery was "buried" by Haaretz shortsighted editor for two or three days. Imagine the chutzpa and stupidity of that editor!

It is May 2009 already. The man in question, whom another Palestinian aptly characterizes as "a man whose only notable skill is the ability to out-slime an eel in a bucket of olive oil", is dead for almost five years, and almost everyone tries to forget him. Not our Mr Levy, apparently. So much so that he doesn't see anything embarrassing in calling that act "royal wedding". Nor do his ever so sensitive sensors detect anything embarrassing in this passage:

Once when I dined at Arafat's table, I reminded him that I had broken the news of his secret wedding. The chairman looked at me and said nothing. Another time I phoned the house where Suha was staying in Paris and she answered the phone. Again, I identified myself as the person who had first published news of the nuptials and again my remark was met with distressing silence on the other end of the line, followed by a giggle.
Sorry, Gideon, I cannot even spare a giggle reading this. It's too pathetic a testimony of the life and achievements of a person who thinks he is really an outstanding journalist. Remember, you have done it to yourself...

P.S. It is as good a time as any to make myself clear on the subject. I don't have any problem with any conscientious criticism of Israel, Judaism or Zionism. Deity knows, all three could do with as much criticism as the media market could bear, definitely as much criticism as any other country, nation or religion. What I cannot abide is Levy's self-aggrandizing and the sanctimonious kind of scorn he heaps on Israel, especially the kind that readily and hungrily uses distortion, lies and lies of omission. He is precisely the "Conscience Pimp" we can do without.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

Got it finally!


Took me a lot of years. But now, I believe, I know which letters are missing in the good old:

Workers of the world unite

Triggered (somehow) by Gadjo Dilo, so many thanks to him.

P.S. This post doesn't have anything to do with the date it's published on. Nothing personal...