31 July 2011

Hama, سوريا, Syria news - the history repeats itself

And definitely not as a farce, sorry Mr Marx. Some 100 killed as Syria tanks storm city of Hama

Hama is used to massacres by the Assad family, but we tell this tyrant the more you kill us the more we are determined to oust you.
Let's hope so. Meanwhile, does Baby Assad plan to beat the record his daddy left in Hama?

Justin Bieber and dad get matching Jesus tattoos in Hebrew. So?

This Haaretz piece by someone named Elka Looks is so remarkable that I've decided to keep a snapshot for posterity (click to embiggen):


Look, Elka: I know that there are millions of teenogres out there who simply clamor for any bit of information about any bit of Justin's body and its functions. But why is that article tagged "Jewish World"?

And where will Justin's (and Jeremy's) penchant for skin art take us next? I shudder at the thought...

Military what?

From 7/29 Fox News on-line edition:

Hmm... the only military Chaplin I know of is that one:

Could it be?

30 July 2011

Steve Jobs denies rumors, not going to purchase USA

Blames CNN that caused the rumors by publishing the two articles simultaneously:

Obama on US debt crisis: 'we are almost out of time'

and

Apple now has more cash than the U.S. government

Overheard mumbling to self: "Why do I need that headache, anyway I was going for Monaco or whatsitsname... er... Luxemburg... On the other hand... firesale... mumble mumble mumble..."

29 July 2011

Israel, dinosaurs, Amy Winehouse and pathetic shits

So here I was perusing a steamy pile of virtual excrement titled Israel, Dinosaurs, and Amy Winehouse. The link to it was sent by a friend (thanks, friend!), who added a sentence mentioning pathetic shits or something in that vein. Indeed, it was a fitting tribute to this opus and much too kind, as far as I am concerned.

The author calls her/him/them-selves "I4P Writers Group" and declares "We are a team of bloggers we comprise a group of 5 writers in Ireland and 1 in Israel...".Whatever they comprise, even to my amateur eye English doesn't look like their mother tongue - notice "over indulgence", "cause it's ultimate destruction", "exept", starting every second paragraph with "So", etc. Read this if you are still unconvinced:

So, this brings me to the evil rogue state of israel, which, funnily enough, as it turns out, has quite a lot in common with Amy Winehouse, exept she had a great voice and didnt kill people constantly, they both suffered from the same affliction.
I have seen many a "How I spent my summer" work penned by a better hand. But style, atrocious as it is, takes its hat off and bows deeply to the heinousness of the contents.

A detail of a slight interest: these folks calls themselves "Unrepentant Fenian Bastards" (and Belfast is mentioned), according to their avatar:
Out of idle interest: is their visceral hate of Israel some kind of ersatz for their hate of the past (and, in part, present) occupier? Not that it's in any way important, but could be a telling detail.

So here I am reading it and otherwise browsing aimlessly, and suddenly I see that Bradley Burston has already got onto that case. What he says, essentially, is expressed in the lede:
There's cowardice in an opinion piece that uses the dead to sell hatred to the living. The dead deserve better. So do the living.
Yep. Too true, the cheap way of rushing to score a political point or two and dancing on the graves is a popular pastime of cheap scribes. Torrents of propaganda unleashed by the Norway massacre are despicable. And Bradley is right comparing the "I4P Writers Group" opus and its use of Amy Winehouse' name and fate to the JP editorial (I suspect I could guess its author's name in a pinch). The editorial, in its more polished way, does its own bit of dancing on the graves, and the impression is not much less ghoulish.

Still, there is one detail Bradley has missed. Or, perhaps, he just has chosen to concentrate on his main thesis. However, the exceptional hate of Israel radiated by the Unrepentant Fenian Bastards and already mentioned, deserves a bit more attention. Bradley quoted this passage along with the other material:
But, guess what? Israel is not 'God' and ultimately what killed Amy Winehouse will also kill off Israel as well. All we have to do is wait, and just keep on chip, chip, chipping away at the out of control, over excessive, over indulgent, spoilt brat killer bully that we now know as Israel.
Emphasis mine.

Kill off Israel... I guess we should be grateful to I4P Writers Group for their straightforward no-nonsense attitude. And if anyone wants to persuade me that their fervor is fueled solely by their love of the people of Gaza, he/she is welcome to try, but all the bets are off.

Well, that's it about this team of Fenians. They  are willing to keep on chip, chip, chipping and I am willing to keep wait, wait, waiting - we, the Red Sea pedestrians, are good at that and have already outwaited few pretty serious bastards. And a pathetic shitty gang of maritime losers is hardly going to impress us. Beyond that I don't see much need (or purpose) for further discussion of the perfectly odious obvious.

So, here I am, poring over three articles and surfing around some related stuff, when lo and behold:


Op-ed, and not in some provincial rag, but in the august NYT. Now we shall get the gospel, finally the tragic events will be sorted out and explained to us. Oh well, don't be building your hopes up. The article is a usual bloviating scoring of political points. With a few items wanting a special mention. One, when the term "fellow traveler" is used - by one of the more experienced fellow travelers of the current century. And two other points (at least) in the final paragraph of that article:
Nothing, however, can excuse the widespread condoning of an anti-Muslim racism once reserved for the Jews of Europe. Not on the weekend when Amy Winehouse, a Jewish girl from East London whose artistry would once have been dismissed by a racist and murderous European right as degenerate “cosmopolitan” trash, died. A good way to remember her is finally to confront the latest iteration of a European bigotry that kills.
Amazing, ain't it? First of all, that "anti-Muslim racism" idiocy - from a luminary of NYT, no less. And then poor Amy Winehouse again - will the point scorers leave her alone, I wonder?

So, what can one do after all that? Do you know what: let's follow Bradley's advice and listen to that piece by Amy Winehouse:



And try to cheer up after all that crap...

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

The Council Has Spoken!

Council Winners

Non-Council Winners

Redefining "captive consumer"

A recent survey of about 3,000 consumers showed that 35 percent of them plan to buy Apple's next phone when it hits the market -- despite not knowing anything about it yet.
Oh boy, oh boy...

28 July 2011

Judge on the circumcision ban: cut it out

Good. What kind of comics will follow, I would like to know. Actually, scratch this: I wouldn't.

Steinitz to Histadrut: If you want to talk, let's talk

Well, it's one way to do it.

On the other hand...

If I had a dollar...


Hits the spot admirably...

Lifted (with thanks) from Allen Patterson.

Cops don't tazer an aggressive kangaroo

Amazed kangaroo vows not to attack people anymore.

Details.

27 July 2011

Courtney - A Woman for All Reasons


One would want to write something in the line of "our Courtney, blah blah" just to feel kind of belonging to that phenomenon called Courtney Messerschmidt. But one should know one's place in the system. So, without further ado, here is an interview with an extremely bright (and funny, too, which is important to bloggers dedicated to extermination of serious people) person called Courtney aka GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD.

Not without a remark, of course: that opinion "Someday Courtney will run State or the NSA..." is of course, limited by the author's imagination and should be treated as such. Someday Courtney will run the whole shebang, I suggest.

Oh, and don't forget to look at this week's crop of the best stuff at the Watcher’s Council nominations.

26 July 2011

Scott D’Amboise or how to get high while running for Senate

Introductory afterword

This really should have been an afterword, but I had to put it in the beginning, otherwise the meaning of all these footnotes will be lost on the reader. You see, my dear reader, while writing this post I have been high*, that without ingesting or inhaling any mind-altering substances. The cause of my exalted state shall be explained later, in the body of that post. But, while re-reading the post, I have discovered that several statements in it require a footnote. So there.

(*) After yet more R and R, I see that there is a need to correct that. I wasn't really high, rather somewhat elevated. Compared to the main protagonist, Mr D’Amboise and the man who caused his high, I was on a relatively low level.

Main part

You may remember a run-in that Andrew Ian Dodge (AID), a candidate for senate from Main, had with one Steve Martin (SM) - not the comedian. SM, being a man of strict principles (but so many of them that he gets confused trying to stick to) and impeccable moral position (which he lost in the Maine woods and can't find since), "outed" AID as: Libertarian, libertine, closet Marxist-Leninist, non-citizen, Wiccan warlock, sexual deviant, barfly, lounge lizard, running lackey dog of the world government - all that simultaneously (1). If we add to this list hard rock, writing and other AID's favorite occupations, the list as a whole certainly witnesses a stellar activity level and a unique variety of talents.

I have been looking lately at SM, being interested in the life according to this, definitely unorthodox and turbulent person. Life according to SM is a deadly maze of conspiracies, starting with the main one: the "bankers" (if you are with it, you know who is meant):

The "system" isn't broken. We just don't use it anymore. We've allowed our Constitutional Republic to be taken over by a corporate criminal syndicate, working at the behest of the Rockefellers and the oilogarchy that they control.
If I were a scion of Rothschild family, I would be insulted by this modification of the ancient formula, but let's leave this alone for now.  SM, of course is also concerned about the black helicopters of the world government (It is certain that he suspects AID of being able to fly one of these, although he didn't mention it publicly - add another one to the list of AID's talents).

Other complementary beliefs SM holds dear:
On the 9/11 terrorist attacks: The official story is a “fairy tale,” perpetrated by “the obvious winners of 9/11: the globalists, people who want to form a world government.” (3/15/2011) “Al-Qaeda is a CIA creation.” (11/1/2010)

On Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: “He’s going to be on the ark when the flood comes. He’s a bought and paid for new world order stooge, just like the ones at the U.N., just like the ones inside the beltway. And he definitely knows. You don’t get that high without knowing.” (10/4/2010)
         (Emphasis mine - getting high is a key point in this post)
On Aroostook Watchmen’s role in the media: “Really the point that we’re trying to make with this program is that there truly is a cosmic struggle between good and evil and we’re merely pointing out to you how that struggle is playing out locally and in America. The conspiracy that is seeking to bring down this nation, because it was the only nation founded on Christian values, through and through, is the Devil’s conspiracy.” (12/15/2010)
Indeed - you don’t get that high without knowing. Or vice versa, both versions are applicable where SM is concerned, I hope you understand it by now.

SM belongs to a group of folks (grass-root all, but on what grass do they grow and thrive(2)?) that calls itself Aroostook Watchmen and ask the ominous question:
If you are willing to die for your country are you willing to kill for it(3)? It is easy to die but it is a very different thing to fight for the preservation of our country and sad to say there may be a time when you will have to kill to save our country.
Sad to say? The author of this text sounds rather willing and even kind of happy to me(4). Meanwhile, before all that dying and killing starts, Aroostook Watchmen try to make the best of it, sponsoring some strange products, such as (but not limited to):
Ganoderma Healthy Coffee - Healthy Coffee For LifeTM. This coffee contains Ganoderma Lucidum (Red Mushroom)... oops, this could be it! I shall certainly order some, to get to that highest level of awareness.

OXYSILVER™ pioneers a new class of mineral waters (sic!). Must be good after (or during) partaking of the Ganoderma Healthy Coffee, I guess.

ZeroPoint Red NaturaLaser Pointer. This one is special for me, since it is supported by extra-strong scientific evidence: "...light has been shown to be one of the most efficient conduits of energy ever harnessed. It’s why fiber optic wire was chosen for the world’s most critical communications platforms, sending pulses of information-laden light around the world in milliseconds." Mmm... not clear where one should stick that pointer before activating it, but I gather it's good against every malady.

And more, but let's not take over the lucrative business of sponsoring. I just thought it is worth mentioning. After all, good old snake oil wouldn't feed you indefinitely these days, good and old as it may be.

His self-defined goal is:
Educating the people of Maine about the threat of world government as represented by the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderburg Group, and the Council on Foreign Relations and the close ties between our two Democratic senators and these treasonous groups.
Yes, SM is aiming high, but then we have established to our satisfaction that he is flying high. High as kite doesn't even start to describe it - he is somewhere close to the Moon (Luna may be the more suitable term in this case, I suggest) (6). My exploration of his teachings got me only slightly elevated (6), and even this was enough of a revelation to me. A few days after this event I still have mercifully short but still powerful relapses - thus I am trying not to blink, so don't get spooked if you see me this side of 2011.

While being negative about AID challenging the incumbent Maine senator Olympia Snowe, SM is supporting  another candidate: one Scott D’Amboise (SDA). The good SDA's fate was a sad example of SM's mind-altering influence. Probably starting like I, with perusing SM's body of work, SDA proceeded next to phone conversations with SM (bad mistake), sliding further down the chute. And then the inevitable happened, and SDA started his fateful descent(7) into the SM's world. Whether SM did use some mind-altering mushrooms (the Ganoderma coffee, I wonder?) on SDA, or was SDA affectedby something similar to secondary smoking, I wouldn't even try to guess. The fact is, SDA has definitely reached the altitude where SM resides more or less permanently:
Martin: Right now, of course, everything’s mandatory and you have all of this false pursuit of people for political reasons. You have the IRS ‘siced’ on people for political reasons.

D’Amboise: Right.

Martin: We could talk about our good friend Eric Hoven who went to jail because he was so good at exposing the fallacies of the evolutionists.

D’Amboise: Right.

Martin: Well, the vice chairman who served with him, a guy named Kaufman, has now come out as a queer and joined the Democrats, so that should tell you something about where the Republican Party has been recently.

D’Amboise: Exactly, exactly.

Martin: I’ve had people like best-selling author John Perkins come on the show here recently telling me that there’s probably only, Scott, 6,000 total in the so-called Anglo-American elite and they call the shots for the other 6 billion people on the planet.

D’Amboise: They do, they do. And it’s sad that we’ve allowed it to get to that situation.

I suspect that if at this stage of the discussion SM had postulated that the Earth is flat (which it is, as any straight-minded person would agree), SDA would have readily agreed to this, such tremendous was the altitude he reached. Of course, later he disavowed all that, probably in a rare moment of lucidity, but is there a way  back to the pedestrian level for him now? I seriously doubt it, and my doubts are based on additional reports.
The most prominent Republican challenging Olympia Snowe in the Senate GOP primary in Maine says President Obama is “exercising a lot of Muslim faith” and doesn’t believe he is a Christian.
Or this:
It isn’t about the birth, it’s about the birth certificate, and whether they can prove it or not, I think we can take our energy and use it in different areas of trying to get this country back.
(Is there such thing as a half-birther, I wonder? After all, there are halfwits.) Anyhow, I fear that the brain damage caused by the mysterious influence of SM and his Aroostook Watchers to be irreparable. 

But of course, if you are into illogical, impulsive and senseless acts of charity, you can still vote for him, you know... it's a democracy, after all.

You can also join the fine Aroostook Watchmen and go with them out there to the forests of Maine, wearing the camo, drinking Ganoderma Healthy Coffee and OXYSILVER™ mineral waters (at the same time), lighting your way in the darkness by the famous ZeroPoint Red NaturaLaser Pointer (unless you have it stuck elsewhere for medicinal purposes) and watching out for azure, baby pink and green lobsters hiding up there in the crowns of the trees(8).

And the best of luck to you.

Yeah, them footnotes

(1) Only after penning this old post, I have found out that SM also added another facet of AID's busy life: "British socialist". This is a real heavy hit, there is only one more severe accusation one may level at a person, that of British... no, I can't do it here.
(2) I am asking this question because all kinds of mind-altering substances are associated in my mind with hot and humid climates, such as these of South America with all these jungles and stuff. Maine doesn't look to me as a place where one will go to get some interesting looking/tasting mushrooms and what not(5). Unless, of course, it's all about Ganoderma Healthy Coffee.
(3) People, when they are high, should generally avoid carrying and,especially, using arms. It may be hazardous for their health, I suggest.
(4) While re-reading this I have asked myself: how come that people who are that high and, as it goes with people who got to this level of high, should be exceedingly mellow, so how come that the Aroostook Watchmen sound so militant. I understand that militia members should be tough, non-nonsense and overall manly, but...
(5) But maybe Aroostook Watchmen found some other new recipe, like grounding and smoking the lobster carapaces? Or pine cones?
(6) In the hindsight I recognize this point in my reading of SM's website as one where my state of mind was altered. I definitely remember the moment when my, usually flat and two-dimensional screen, opened for me to get a glimpse of the horrors waiting in another dimension, like Bilderburg gang (not to be confused with Bilderberg one), Spaghetti Monster, ZioMasonic reptilians and much, much more.
(7) Surely you understand that "descent" is a totally wrong word for the powerful experience of getting high in the company of such an uplifting personality as SM. Apologies for using that cliche.
(8) It is obvious by now that I am still experiencing  flashbacks. Potent stuff, that...

Danon: Israel is too democratic

Also:

Danon affirmed that Israel is “a strong democracy” but that implementing limits is a necessary evil.
Much more of that in the article and in the clip.

Is Danon's brand of stupidity a necessary evil or an unnecessary one?

25 July 2011

Zionist agents of Al Jazeera

Oi... that it should have come to this... I shall soon start suspecting myself of being a Zionist agent.

Wait a minute... but I am... gosh I am getting dizzy.

Far right and far wrong

You should read it to a) educate yourself and b) to learn how not to jump into the fray with all the wrong battle cries.

24 July 2011

Link between Anders Behring Breivik and Israeli Mossad explained - by Wayne Madsen

I wouldn't dare to quote from that opus. Go there, read and enjoy, it's sweet, uncharacteristically short and goes to the heart of the matter.

More on Wayne Madsen here.

Nuclear scientist Darioush Rezaie or student Darioush Rezaeinejad?

The fog thickens. Looks like whoever done the deed has to take some Farsi lessons urgently. Otherwise, we may soon see a lot of erroneously slain people called Mahmoud Ahmadi.

Iran trying to drive a wedge between US and Israel

And the buggers are doing it subtly this time:

Larijani blames Israel, US for death of Iran physicist

Difficult really to count the prongs in this attack. To start with: if the wet job was a joint exercise, then there were two people on that bike. So who was the driver and who was the shooter? Does it mean, for instance, that Americans are better bikers and Israelis are better shooters or what? Potential rivalry is brewing, I can see it.

Now to the prize money split: who gets more - the biker or the shooter?

Then the issue of related expense reports. Iranians are devilishly using the two respective bureaucracies - that of CIA and that of Mossad - that would forever withhold paying the chits, pointing to the other side and thus paralyzing the system.

Tough play, that...

Trying to understand Amazon

In this statement:

We are getting so immune (or just so inattentive) to in-your-face salesmanship that some inane turns of speech like the ubiquitous  "free gift" simply escape our internal censorship. Like in this case: if the delivery is free, how come it is included in the $9.78? Or is it free?

23 July 2011

Unknown Iranian nuclear scientist Darioush Rezaie killed in Tehran

You may think that there is a bug in the logic of that headline: how can a man be both named and declared unknown in the same sentence? Well, it's a paraphrase of an old joke I wouldn't go into right now, but it's still not exactly a mistake, you see:

Gov't minister says unclear whether Darioush Rezaie, a university teacher, was a nuclear scientist...
So, let's concentrate on what is known so far:
An Iranian physicist was shot dead by a motorcyclist in Tehran on Saturday and Iran's student news agency ISNA quoted an unnamed police official as saying he was a nuclear scientist.
Looks like a trend:
Last year, an Iranian scientist was killed and another was wounded in Tehran.
Or like a plague... guess who will be blamed?

Amy Winehouse dead - wobbles no more

I have just watched that pitiful appearance today:



And here it comes:

The Back To Black singer was apparently found at the property by emergency services at 3.54pm this afternoon, according to sources, and her death is being treated as 'unexplained' by police.

What a waste of life and talent...

Better remember her like this:



RIP, anyway.

22 July 2011

Legislative fervor - not an issue of right vs left

In the ongoing saga of idiotic legislation activities the authors of one of such ill-conceived babies: the proposal to probe Israeli NGOs remained with a stillborn cadaver on their sweaty hands.

The bill fell short by a large margin – 57 to 28 – due to the opposition of Netanyahu and Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin as well as Likud ministers Gideon Sa’ar, Michael Eitan, Dan Meridor, Yuval Steinitz, Moshe Kahlon, and Bennie Begin.
Good. As for the grieving father and mother of that baby: Likud MK Danny Dannon and Yisrael Beiteinu MK Faina Kirschenbaum: I am confident that this worthy tandem will produce new babies of the kind in the near future. At least this time, unlike the one with the BDS supporters bill (more about it later), common sense and sanity prevailed.

If you like our legislators, don't cry for that one: many more are on the way, and another one is already in the oven, so to speak:
A Justice Ministry memorandum could empower courts to order Internet service providers to disclose the identity of online commenters accused of defamation or copyright violations.
Of course, the precise definition of the term "defamation" is not forthcoming as part of the deal, and why should it? If this idea gets accepted, we are on a slippery road. Who knows whether a commenter who falsely accuses a VIP of theft or rape will be treated differently from one who declares another (or same) VIP a moron (frequently with good justification)?

In regard of the BDS bill I have to mention a post by Isi Leibler Confronting BDS from home that I took an exception to. Isi starts it with:
I am somewhat unhappy with the anti-boycott law - and not because the hysterical far Left screams that it undermines Israeli democracy. I am concerned that if it is not adequately comprehended, it enables demonizers of the Jewish state to pose as bogus martyrs in the cause of freedom of expression.
First of all, let's take the sweeping statement according to which it's only the "hysterical far Left" that objects to that law. Yours truly, hardly expected to sympathize with the extreme left (or extreme right) objects to that law too, and so do many other Israelis that don't have time for any extremes.

And the reason for this is fairly simple: unlike the statement by Isi that "The new legislation has no bearing on freedom of speech", I am confident that freedom of speech is the only kind of freedom affected by the BDS law. Anyone can read the text of the bill and see for him/herself that the only "activity" that causes the breach of this law is:

Knowingly publishing a public call for a boycott against the State of Israel

Now, the point where (in my opinion) Isi has gone wrong is the confusion between BDS as harmful activity (which both Isi and I deplore and fight against) and verbal support for such activity that fully falls under the freedom of speech guarantee of immunity.

As for Isi's dismissive remark re the freedom of expression without limits that in his opinion is a fetish: this is a thorny issue, treated differently in different countries, but I wouldn't dismiss it that lightly. Indeed, freedom of speech for hatred-inciting Nazis is grating, but once we start limiting this freedom - where does the train stop? On a personal level, to use one example: I would gladly spit in David Irving's mug had I an opportunity, but I was against his incarceration by Austrians (one of the examples of countries that limit freedom of speech).

Freedom of speech is an absolute imperative, precisely as prohibition of torture - you can't take a bite out of that cake and keep it whole. You can't limit the freedom of speech of a Nazi vermin and then cry "wolf" when someone proposes to curb the freedom of expression for Communists, ultra-nationalists, fundamentalists etc. We all know where it starts, but no one can predict where it stops, in short...

I would agree with Isi when he states "We should therefore dismiss the hypocritical calls for freedom of expression from those whose primary raison d’être is to undermine the Jewish state." However, we should listen to the numerous voices of our friends who are concerned with this attack on the freedom of speech that is only one step on the road to perdition that is being busily built by various "activists" in out Knesset.

And the current coalition, in its limitless wisdom, is busy indeed. Just a few weeks ago someone clever enough shot down a bill proposed by MK Yaakov Katz that would have punished people insulting a public figure (of course, MK Katz knows only too well why he wants this bill).

And what about the infamous loyalty pledge?  And how about the brilliant idea of our minister of transport Israel Katz to eliminate Arabic names from road signs? Can't Isi see a dangerous trend here?

Now back to the left-right issue. I am not surprised by hysterical outcry from the Far Left: it only makes sense, with right wingers being in charge of the country now. Of course, various left wing factions are protesting: sometimes with reason and sometimes without. These days they are frequently justified. I know Isi would agree with me that the current coalition includes some unsavory elements of the ultra-right that must be held in check. And that many of the laws are proposed by these same elements. I know from the past experience that when the left gets the reins in this country, the legislative activism doesn't suddenly abate. It just changes direction. Thus legislative fervor in general should be regarded with a great deal of suspicion. And what is better to hold ultra-right in check than extra-left?

I wish, though, for more legislative effort - in the right direction. In a country without constitution, without some elementary laws (one should alwaysremember the embarrassing episode when it was discovered that we don't have any law in place against neo-Nazi activities - it was just considered useless...), we could do better with real lawmaking, instead of production of petty bills expressing our righteous indignation against real and imaginary offenses.

Otherwise we'll all be (and some think that we already are) in big trouble.

The Council Has Spoken!

Here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

Non-Council Winners

20 July 2011

Yes, Mr King is seriously un-PC

I cannot express how shocked I am by this news:

The Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee will hold another hearing on Muslim radicalization. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., plans the third in a series of controversial hearings for July 27. It will focus on the Somalia-based al-Shabaab terrorist organization and its recruiting tactics in the U.S.
So, why the shock, you may ask? Because some civic-minded people have noticed something you and I have missed:
King has been widely criticized by Muslim groups and some Democratic members of the Homeland Security Committee for holding hearings that focus strictly on Muslim radicalization rather than all types of radicalization.
Now, do you see what I do, namely: racism, bigotry and Islamophobia combined in one huge affront to PC thinking? I unanimously condemn these proceedings and call for expansion of the hearings in the following directions (in parallel, of course):

  • Atheists: digging under the foundations of all religions and other subversive activities.
  • Potterism and its recruitment of new members in US of A.
  • Evangelists: the habit of closing the church doors at the time of prayer - is its linked to terrorism?
  • Jews and their cholent: a subtle way to legalize home production of explosives?
  • Bacon eaters and their blatant disregard of other people feelings.
  • Why Mormons?
  • Moses Gomberg and his free radicals: when will the Masonic radicalization conspiracy stop?
  • How come Santa Claus' sleigh flies over  Mecca?
  • And many more lines of inquiry to follow.
Or else...

19 July 2011

And you thought senior cops don't piss?

Think again:



The story appears to be true:

The official examination didn't reveal signs of editing in the video, which captured a police colonel urinating outside his office.
Still:
However, the head of directorate requested additional and comprehensive verification, since the reported results do not provide complete and objective picture of what happened and, besides, causes and conditions that contributed to the emergence of controversial video, which caused great public interest, have not been established.
The name of the perpetrator, who was obviously blotto, is revealed: Colonel Alexei Isakov.

I am real busy, but this is objectively and completely uber-cool, so...

Lil Boosie and his codeine syrup

According to this, the life of a rapper and his friends these days is as exciting as that of a mobster of the glorious past. So here is something to chill out:


Kingfisher preparing to dive.

18 July 2011

Impatience

In fact, the person who sent me this shot titled it "When a man loses patience", but gender determination in birds could be tricky, so:

You decide...

Still busy

And so I'll be for a few more days. Then, hopefully, normal services will resume.

Meanwhile, enjoy this saga.

16 July 2011

The Council Has Spoken!

Here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

Non-Council Winners

14 July 2011

The other side of outsourcing

Sean Linnane aka Stormbringer reports:

Last year, the U.S. Navy bought 59,000 microchips for use in everything from missiles to transponders and all of them turned out to be counterfeits from China.

Wired reports the chips weren't only low-quality fakes, they had been made with a "back-door" and could have been remotely shut down at any time.
And how about the regular, quite mundane stuff in your house, like your phones, your TV set, your computers?

What if...

13 July 2011

Is that darn PETA going to do something about it?

Judeopundit describes two appalling cases of cruelty to animals in this post.

And now I ask y'all: is... oh, I have asked it already in the post title. Fine.

How do you put an American flag on a bikini?

Here is an example:

I cannot deny that I like the general idea, as presented in this case. But come on, you can't, not really.

More attempts here.

And mind you, #5 isn't really a bikini.

12 July 2011

BDS and the unbearable lightness of lawmaking

To avoid unnecessary explanations later: this here blog has no time for the BDS creepy-crawly activists. However, saying this, I have to add that this here blog doesn't have any time for tsunamis, bubonic plague, droughts and many other wonders of nature as well. It will be safe to guess that most of the citizens share most of the above mentioned sentiments.

But what I don't understand and even take an exception to is the steadily increasing tendency of our lawmakers (or Knesset in other words) to cope with any phenomenon that is not to their liking by promoting a law that will forbid it. Such was the fate of the infamous BDS.

The bill makes publicly calling for a boycott that could harm Israel “economically, culturally or academically” a civil violation, which may carry a fine.

Additionally, anyone who calls for a boycott can be rejected from working for the state, and an organization that boycotts the state may not be considered a public institution for purposes of receiving state funding or tax breaks.
Do you get it? BDS, a campaign upheld by all kinds of foreign folks and causing some minor economic harm and heartburn, is outlawed now. In Israel itself, of all places. Unless, of course, our Knesset, in its infinite wisdom, has found a way to fine Naomi Klein (to take one example) and/or deny her some tax breaks.

Yes, there are some local supporters of BDS, unfortunately. These ones, however, aside of some vague and vacuous noise, don't really divest and sanction - producing only noise. As do many of the esteemed MKs. Noise of that kind, let's be frank with ourselves, no matter how annoying, is usually protected in all self-respecting democratic countries. Freedom of speech they call it, and I am not going now to delve into the murky waters of legal definition of speech. Or freedom, for that matter.

Apparently our MKs, when they are annoyed, tend to forget the little and inconsequential detail which is that word "democratic". Zealots tend to do it from time to time. I only hope that, as it inevitably happens with such idiotic attempts of gutsy lawmaking, this law will be stricken by the High Court of Justice as well. And that with passage of time we'll be able to forget the embarrassing situation.

Now about the wonders of nature to outlaw: what is your opinion about mosquitoes? This year the freaking monsters are really ruining my life, encroaching on many of my civil rights. So why not...

P.S. To give you  a sense of proportion: some of the lawmakers behind the bill consider Glenn Beck to be a softie and leftie. So there.

Israel and Lebanon to settle their mutual maritime borders

A temporary solution was achieved in the commencing war between Lebanon and Israel regarding the issue of maritime borders. According to the solution, FM Lieberman - bouncer par excellence - and Hezbollah chief underground/underwater expert Hassan Nasrallah will settle the issue, meeting underwater close to disputed area. Here is a recording of the preliminary meeting. Warning: adult content, please don't let your kids watch beyond first 35 seconds!

The decisive meeting of the two is set for next week. Bets are accepted by all major betting enterprises and bookies. At the moment the rate is 7:1, favoring Nasrallah due to his outstanding underground experience. However, Lieberman is issuing war cries at an impressive pitch and volume, so there is no telling...

Gonorrhea, Kremlin, Moscow, Bill Maher

These searches dominate the interwebs today. Not mutually exclusive, this bunch is, mind you.

Regarding the first: Gonorrhea strain H041 - going in without my reading glasses, I thought at first it's some new kind of the famous 401K program. Apparently it's about a new strain of the bug, resistant to the class of antibiotics called cephalosporins, commonly used to treat the STD. Can't say I'm unduly worried. Too late for me.

As for Kremlin, which is in Moscow, the news that "Vladimir Putin was sent to Russia by God" is really not a shocker. As far as I understand theology, which is not very far, everything was sent by the above mentioned, including tomatoes, bedbugs, grisly bears and prime ministers. So be it.

So what is left? Oh, Bill Maher, the conspicuous stain on the otherwise healthy and fit body of the media. Why is he so popular today, I really don't know. Don't care, too. So there.

11 July 2011

Yeah... apparently Nazi is in the eyes of the beholder

One wishes to be fair and balanced, like some other people. So, without further ado:

Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino has ordered an investigation against producers of a YouTube video that compares police special forces to Nazis.
Nope, the authors are not left wing do-gooders in the frenzy of... er... do-gooding. Because:
The video shows footage taped at a number of right-wing protests, combining the footage with scenes from Nazi Germany showing soldiers beating prisoners.
So, yes, to be fair and balanced: why don't we put these ones in the same detention cells where these ones are kept? For fairness sake. And without undue emotions and, deity forbid, rancor or summat other in this vein.

Meanwhile, enjoy the imagery:

Who operated on Chavez after all?

With all the hype you hear about the miraculous successes of Cuban medicine, it was kinda surprising to read this:

Chavez has referred to his illness as “one of life’s ambushes,” and he has spoken about the “very difficult” hours after Fidel Castro told him in Havana last month that he had a malignant tumor.

10 July 2011

Oral Sex Holocaust - for Mr Dieudonné

The details of the story are here. The author is well known and popular in France and has more ideas in this direction.

Well, I wouldn't tell what exactly and where Dieudonné should suck on. And that donkey doesn't have to be Jewish, but for the purpose it better be a dead one.

I am Jewish too, and here is why...

The following quotes need a bit of introduction. Israeli rabbinical authorities, being (sometimes justly, as you shall see) somewhat suspicious of Jewishness of some new repatriates, question them to establish their roots. The results are frequently hilarious. So here we go. If you feel confused by some quotes, feel free to ask.

- A young man invited me to dinner at a restaurant. After dinner I found out that I ate a piece of pork. My mood was spoiled, and I went home. At home I told all to my grandfather, a rabbi. Poor grandfather stood all night on his knees, praying for me.

- Every day I went to synagogue. In Riga there were two synagogues: one Catholic, the other Orthodox.

- My grandmother was very religious woman and has always taught us kids not to mix kosher and non-kosher.

- I know that if a woman is in her "critical" days, no one will shake her hand.

- My parents are very pious people. Father never starts fire on Saturday and lights up his cigarette from a candle that my mother lit on Friday. Mom generally doesn't smoke.

- Frankly, I was a party member over there, but on all Soviet Holidays I've attended the synagogue.

- The Lord invited Moses on Mount Sinai to hand him the Torah in intimate atmosphere.

- Of all four brothers of my mother only one wasn't Jewish.

- On Saturday we didn't even ride deers.

- When our grandson was born, we Christened him by a Jewish name.

- The first time I was jailed for Trotskyism, and the second for Zionism. So I always remained a religious Jew.

- My father's second wife was Jewish. I was born by his second wife. This can be confirmed by my father and his first and third wife, who hadn't given birth to me.

- When I grew up, my mother told me that we are Jews. I myself would have never thought of it.

- Since we are from Ukraine, the family suffered a great deal while others ate bacon.

- Often my grandmother fried gefilte fish for dinner.

- At Judgement Day in our family we were not given something to eat. But we were told why.

- Yes, I broke several glasses at my wedding.

- Abraham is considered to be the first Jew, because he was kicked out of the house.

- We have two sets of dishes, one for fish dishes and the other one for meat.

- My grandmother Evdokiya Nikiforovna, earned a living doing laundry for a Jewish family. Subsequently, she had an intimate relationship with the head of the family, Iosif Davidovich. From this connection, my mother Antonina Iosifovna was born. Since age seventeen she did laundry for a Jewish family. From my mother's cohabitation with the head of household Yakov Moiseevich, I, Ekaterina Yakovlevna, was born. At present I do laundry for a Jewish family and have a daughter Alice bat Maimon from the head of the family, Maimon Ben Alush.

Hat tip: Y.Z.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

09 July 2011

Pro-Palestinian activists called us 'Nazis'

The poisoned fruit of frustration:

It was very chaotic. They protested near the gate of a Lufthansa flight and yelled "collaborators" at the French and called us 'Nazis'
Whatever gets them off...

Little African-American cocktail dress

Of course, overabundance of political correctness could screw up more that just an innocent text, but... anyway, tee hee.

9 lives? Pfui...

This one is a real gem: I mean, talk about cats that supposedly get 9 lives to spend, and here comes a man:

Melvin Roberts of South Carolina has been struck by lightning an unbelievable six times.

He believes that his record with lightning is connected to his record with marriage: "I've married five time and I've been hit by lightning five times. But [his sixth wife] says this is the sixth time and I'm not leaving my wife, so I'm going to have to do something different."
Let's do the uncomplicated math right: five (or six) times struck by lightning and is currently on his sixth marriage. That makes it eleven or twelve lives already spent, depending on whose report you consider more reliable.

And I am not even counting the name - Melvin - that should be by rights considered as another two or three lives spent...

08 July 2011

Israel as a failed state

Never be it said that we are perfect here in our neck of the woods. I will be first to... and all that, but this?

The Council Has Spoken!

Council Winners

Non-Council Winners

Science news

According to the latest research by team of psychologists from MIT, men spend their evenings in bars for two main reasons:

  1. They are not married
  2. They are married
More discoveries to follow.

07 July 2011

Eneko Gogeaskoetxea Arronategui arrested. Good.


Rarely was a more deserving person arrested. Everyone with a name more complex than mine should get the same treatment, I say.

With drummers leading the way - or the march of the putzes

You can't make stuff like this up indeed.

Kyle Richards: redefining dumb


The story of Kyle Brandon Richards, 21, starts with a unique way of bank robbery, committed quite recently:
The suspect walked into the bank handing a teller a note advising her to give him money. He fled on foot with approximately $900 where witnesses observed him running east across Utica Road. There was a fresh coat of snow on the ground and officers were able to follow his footprints to an apartment complex just east of Utica where they recovered some of the money on the ground. They found additional footprints that led to a different building in the complex.
The robbery MO doesn't leave many doubts about Kyle's intellectual abilities, but the follow-up topped the robbery:
Kyle Richards thinks that the ban on pornography and erotica enforced by the Macomb County Jail—and, to a lesser extent, the absence of video games in individual cells—amounts to "cruel and unusual punishment," and is therefore unconstitutional.
So Kyle has decided to become a prison lawyer, and:
21-year-old Richards—who's coping with "chronic masturbation syndrome and severe sexual discomfort," and apparently needs porn to treat these medical conditions—wants to explore this legal issue in court. To that end, he's filed a "five-page handwritten lawsuit" in the U.S. Court in Detroit against Gov. Rick Snyder and the state of Michigan, in which he demands that prisoners at the jail (located near Detroit) be allowed to "possess erotic/pornographic materials along with personal televisions, video game consoles and radios."
And thus he states:
Sexual deprivation has been used against plaintiff in a way as to both sexually frustrate the plaintiff, deprive the plaintiff of any sort of sexual gratification, and deny the plaintiff his right to sexual reproduction.
I don't know: didn't someone explain to Kyle the true story of bees and flowers? And did he skip the sex education lessons in school. It's a good thing he isn't married.

Or is he?

Adding insult to injury: a dead man arrested

According to this AOL News article. Here is the snapshot (click to enlarge):


Well, the night is young in Las Vegas...

06 July 2011

Chomsky vs Chavez and/or Chomsky vs Guardian

Mastermind of the Century (the last one) decided to spice the current century. The story is simply delicious. It starts with an article by Rory Carroll where Chomsky criticizes Comical Hugo for his inhuman treatment of judge María Lourdes Afiuni, for his dictatorship, including hardly believable (for Chomsky) sentences like "Concentration of executive power, unless it's very temporary and for specific circumstances, such as fighting world war two, is an assault on democracy."

One might want to ask the Mastermind where has he been for the last twelve years, when Caudillo stripped Venezuela of its democratic institutions, building up his ersatz socialism. Weren't Chavez' intentions clear from the day one?

But let's go back to the story. Guardian, you see, was very excited for some reason about the rift opening between the hitherto best buddies: Noam and Hugo. So excited that the headline they've chosen says Noam Chomsky denounces old friend Hugo Chávez for 'assault' on democracy. Which is a bit of exaggeration indeed: whatever Mastermind said is not such a scalding denunciation of Comical Hugo, rather a liver-spotted finger shaken in his general direction. Of course, our Mastermind, hilariously egged on by a blogger, blames the hapless Guardian in "extreme dishonesty". A classic case of pot calling kettle.

Well, the next act of the drama follows: The Guardian, hurt to its bone marrow by the accusations of the Mastermind (but also mindful of their previous clash with the latter) produces a transcript of Rory Carroll's interview. It's quite a boring reading and, to be frank, still doesn't support the headline that so riled the Mastermind.

So, we have here not only a rift opening between Chaves and Chomsky but also one opening between two important disinformation sources of the free world. Two birds and no stone wasted. Cool.

And, of course, as a bonus, the priceless correspondence between the Mastermind and Alek Boyd - the blogger mentioned already. Here is the second part of it. There are quite a few interesting passages in both parts, but I shall quote only a sentence:

The world needs to understand just how unhinged you, those you admire, and those who admire you, are, and these exchanges are just the perfect way to do it.
Indeed. I would suggest adding " and those who admire those who admire you" for completeness, but it's excellent as it is.

P.S. Still, I tend to disagree with Alek on Manning. Whatever the rights and wrongs, the man took the POTUS' dime.

U.S. Army Bans FiveFingers shoe

I wondered, reading this story: usually decision mills in the army (any army) grind very slow. Why such haste in this case?

Try to imagine a unit of GIs advancing on the enemy ranks shod in these. I would be terrified, frankly.

And if the army would have gone one additional step: allow soldiers to paint each finger in a different color, according to his/her taste, the enemy could be not only terrified but confused as well. Easy victory is practically guaranteed.

At least, army could have offered a compromise: allow the middle toe to be separated. Imagine...

Jennifer Aniston's Topless Scene or Facebook announcement?

I really don't know which one to choose. Both lack... er... some meat, I would say. But this one is definitely worth watching:


If you watch the picture for about 45 seconds, focusing on the point where the beaks cross, you should start seeing the beaks opening and closing. If that happens, you are fine and don't have to visit your family physician. Otherwise...

05 July 2011

The story of a fanatic or why Alice Walker is sailing to Gaza

I have spent some time since reading Alice Walker's article in The Guardian Why I'm joining the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza attempting to get my head around it. I was trying to understand her motives and her justification in joining the travesty of what, in effect, was unabashedly confirmed by its leaders to be a political provocation, having nothing to do with the mythical and largely unnecessary "humanitarian assistance". The problem with Ms Walker's article is that, filled by so many slogans and buzzwords, it's a veritable jumble of frequently contradictory emotions, bereft of logic and, eventually, of common sense. To borrow from a much better writer than I, Howard Jacobson:

That Alice Walker believes it is right to join the Freedom Flotilla II to Gaza I do not have the slightest doubt. But beyond associating her decision with Gandhi, Martin Luther King and very nearly, when she talks about the preciousness of children, Jesus Christ, she fails to give a single convincing reason for it.
It is easy to dismiss Alice Walker's stance as a case of useful idiocy, as my good friends of CiF Watch rightly diagnose. And, especially when you read the full version of Walker's article on her blog, her obsession with Israelis=Nazis imagery certainly justifies what they say:
To equate the democratic Jewish state with Nazi Germany is more than stupid, its unimaginably cruel – a simply grotesque moral inversion of the worst order.
But somehow it wasn't satisfactory. Here we have a case of a supposedly very intelligent person, author of highly esteemed books, champion of many worthy causes. A black woman who suffered from both the racial injustice and male chauvinism, who knows a lot about Jews, being herself married to one: how could a person like this display some traits that rightfully belong to someone stupid and bigoted? How could she be so blind and deaf to suffering of one of the warring sides, choosing not only to support so ferociously the other side, but going over the top when blaming one side only? When saying "One child must never be set above another child", how could she then totally dismiss one child and focus on suffering of another in the same breath? How, to continue this line of questioning, could a person lay a claim to sanity of her thought process, after producing what she calls "a small book: OVERCOMING SPEECHLESSNESS: A POET ENCOUNTERS THE HORROR IN RWANDA, EASTERN CONGO, AND PALESTINE/ISRAEL" (capitals by Ms Walker)?

I was especially riled by her invocation of Gandhi's name. Distance between Gandhi and the racist, misogynistic, murderous leaders of today's Gaza and the easy way Alice Walker overlooks the chasm, shows that she is not exactly in touch with reality. Joining the team that supports everything she fought against once is beyond understanding of mere mortal.

So I have started to look elsewhere for the cues. Mainly looking for Alice Walker the person behind the incomprehensible rhetoric of her article. You can say that this is equivalent to killing the messenger, but sometimes the message is the messenger and there is no way to separate the two. During different periods of her life Ms Walker undertook different causes, mostly righteous I have to say. Her courage and tenacity are worthy of admiration. But... her courage and tenacity are accompanied by selective blindness and a typical black and white vision of the world - the vision of many an extremist. This bothersome trait comes through loud and clear in the memoirs of her daughter, Rebecca, the fruit of Alice Walker's marriage to Melvyn Roseman Leventhal, a Jewish civil rights lawyer. The linked above article is tellingly titled How my mother's fanatical views tore us apart. And it shows very well the inordinate fervor and ferocity that characterize Ms Walker way to carry a torch for a cause:
You see, my mum taught me that children enslave women. I grew up believing that children are millstones around your neck, and the idea that motherhood can make you blissfully happy is a complete fairytale.
I was raised to believe that women need men like a fish needs a bicycle.
As a little girl, I wasn't even allowed to play with dolls or stuffed toys in case they brought out a maternal instinct. It was drummed into me that being a mother, raising children and running a home were a form of slavery.
I love my mother very much, but I haven't seen her or spoken to her since I became pregnant. She has never seen my son - her only grandchild. My crime? Daring to question her ideology.
Ironically, my mother regards herself as a hugely maternal woman. Believing that women are suppressed, she has campaigned for their rights around the world and set up organisations to aid women abandoned in Africa - offering herself up as a mother figure.
I was 16 when I found a now-famous poem she wrote comparing me to various calamities that struck and impeded the lives of other women writers.
And I don't know what can top this:
Although I knew what my mother felt about babies, I still hoped that when I told her I was pregnant, she would be excited for me. Instead, when I called her one morning in the spring of 2004, while I was at one of her homes housesitting, and told her my news and that I'd never been happier, she went very quiet. All she could say was that she was shocked. Then she asked if I could check on her garden.
After reading this, I believe that Rebecca put her finger on the central point of Ms Walker "activism". Yes, Ms Walker is a fanatic of any cause she chooses to support, and this explains all and answers the questions I have tried to ask in the beginning of this post. Her selective blindness and deafness, her black and white vision, her inability to face objections, her Nazi=Israeli tune, her extremism - all this and more becomes clear when you consider the way of life and behavior patterns of any out-of-the-box fanatic.

Alice Walker starts her article with the following passage:
Why am I going on the Freedom Flotilla II to Gaza? I ask myself this, even though the answer is: what else would I do? I am in my 67th year, having lived already a long and fruitful life, one with which I am content.
I cannot be an adviser to Ms Walker, of course. But I know what I would do in her situation. To start with, I would do my best to heal the rift with my kid. And to do this, I would want to examine myself - just to see what are the root causes of the unbearable situation I brought myself to, my blindness to my own follies and my fanaticism.

To start with...

Hat tip: Francis Sedgemore. Thanks for background info: Dick Stanley.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com