31 January 2012

A shitstorm in Charlotte and a troubling question

How else do you call a discovery of human excrement in a storm drain that is supposed to contain only rainwater run-offs? Anyway, watch this:



And read this:

City workers who had been cleaning the area noticed toilet paper on top of a storm water grate that drains into a nearby creek. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police and city officials believe some protesters have been using the drain as a toilet. "We're looking at the environmental impact on the stream down there with the wildlife, and things like that," said Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Dulin.

"Plus the water goes downstream for other people to drink further down. But again, we're just trying to cover all our bases, and make sure that if there is any type of environment impact, that we're able to identify that and then correct that and make sure there is no further environmental impact downstream," he added.
I wonder whether the above mentioned unfortunates who drunk the contaminated water will become occupiers as a result?

So, should we be nice to Iran?

I do hope you realise that the question is a rhetorical one. The article linked to below has a great (mocked-up) picture of Ahmanedinejad blowing out a mushroom-shaped smoke "ring". We almost don't need the article that follows. Still, Henry Kopel (who is a counter-terrorism prosecutor with the US Department of Justice in Connecticut) does a good job of explaining why the question really is a rhetorical, not to say stupid, one in the first place. He convincingly shows why sanctions are needed and why the rest of the world should not hold back from calling Iran to account not to say its bluff. He pulls together the threads that numerous other commentators have provided, to reach that conclusion.

It's a two page article, and well worth your time and trouble. You'll find it here.

By Brian Goldfarb.

30 January 2012

Egyptian election results are our business, not just Israel's

Further down this page, you will find an article entitled "Egypt's election results are none of Israel's business? Indeed?" Well, Snoopy analyses the article and comes to the unsurprising conclusion that, actually, what happens next door (and sometimes several houses away, or even several blocks away) can be very much our (in this case, Israel's) concern. Indeed, as a citizen of country 3000 miles away, I'm concerned with what happens in Egypt, Iran and many other places because what happens there can have a serious effect on me, both directly (I want no mushroom clouds anywhere in the world) and indirectly (I'm a Zionist - and anyway I have family and friends in Israel). So, for my money and for Snoopy's, Lisa Goldman, writing on 972+, gets it wrong.

Now Richard Shepherd, main man at The Commentator, has weighed in, with an opinion piece at The Jewish Chronicle that he has cross posted at The Commentator. His particular target is Human Rights Watch. As he says "HRW is aware of the potential dangers for minority rights as well as of the possibility of a lurch back to authoritarianism but its thinking betrays a profound sense of confusion." Furthermore, he argues, "there's the obligatory slating of Israel."

In between, Shepherd wonders whether HRW "...truly think the Muslim Brotherhood is like Germany's Christian Democrats?" To see how he reaches this point (and goes on from there), read the whole article here. If you weren't aware of HRW biases, you could do a lot worse than clicking on the website of NGO Monitor, here, and go down to the paragraph which states (or possibly asserts, if one is a fan of HRW) that "In October 2009, HRW founder Robert Bernstein published an article in the New York Times (“Rights Watchdog, Lost in the Mideast”), strongly criticizing the organization for ignoring severe human rights violations in closed societies, for its anti-Israel bias, and for 'issuing reports...that are helping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah state.'"

By Brian Goldfarb.

German anti-Semitism: comfortably in the middle

The headline and the lede explain the gist:

Anti-Semitism remains prevalent in German society

A new report has found that one in five Germans harbors anti-Semitic feelings. This puts Germany at about the mid-range among European countries.

But there is more in this Deutsche Welle article. A worthy read.

Update: Coincidentally, another poll has found out that one in five young Germans unaware of Auschwitz. Interesting match, ain't it?

Finally: perverts on the force to be punished

Well, at least this is the impression I get from this article. It starts with:

Undercover and uniformed officers have been monitoring three lay-bys off the A165...
And later it says:
If seen by a member of the public, those involved could be charged with indecent exposure, voyeurism or outraging public decency.
Yes! Voyeurism is a perversion and the force is to be cleaned of the members what indulge in this disgusting habit.

USS Ponce for Navy Seals?

This is what it says, I swear:

The Navy is sending a warship it had planned to decommission to the Middle East at the request of U.S. Central Command to serve as a floating base for commandos and other special operations forces.

The vessel is the USS Ponce, an amphibious assault ship that can accommodate smaller fast boats and helicopters used by Navy SEALs and other special operators.
Wiki has to say that it "is the only ship of the United States Navy that is named for Ponce in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which in turn was named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon..." Which is still weak as a consolation.

I hope that SEALS will bear it with the usual stoicism and coolness...

29 January 2012

Wayne Madsen drops another... bombshell: Barack Obama outed as CIA creation

This article, being an illustrious production of Wayne Madsen and using the word "bombshell" in its title, demands a self-quote. Which is a lowly act by any standard, but irresistible in the circumstances:


The picture above shows some kind of an overweight chipmunk doing his best to contain and suppress a humongous flatus. You can read more about Wayne Madsen here and here.

This time Wayne Madsen went for the bear and the beginning of the article promises it:

Investigative journalist Wayne Madsen has discovered CIA files that document the agency’s connections to institutions and individuals figuring prominently in the lives of Barack Obama and his mother, father, grandmother, and stepfather. The first part of his report highlights the connections between Barack Obama, Sr. and the CIA-sponsored operations in Kenya to counter rising Soviet and Chinese influence among student circles and, beyond, to create conditions obstructing the emergence of independent African leaders.
The next paragraph plunges directly into the murky waters of international intrigue and conspiracy:
President Obama’s own work in 1983 for Business International Corporation, a CIA front that conducted seminars with the world’s most powerful leaders and used journalists as agents abroad, dovetails with CIA espionage activities conducted by his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham in 1960s post-coup Indonesia on behalf of a number of CIA front operations, including the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Ford Foundation. Dunham met and married Lolo Soetoro, Obama’s stepfather, at the East-West Center in 1965. Soetoro was recalled to Indonesia in 1965 to serve as a senior army officer and assist General Suharto and the CIA in the bloody overthrow of President Sukarno.
If you have enough gumption for it, you can read the rest of the article. However, beware - you subject your brain to a hazardous substance that may leave you impaired for the rest of you life. Especially if you seriously attempt to decipher the unique style of Mr Madsen.  The man has raised his guiding principle - that of interconnectedness of it all - to the heights where oxygen supply is scarce and where a mere mortal is not wired to exist. Simply speaking, everything is a sufficient proof of anything. If, for example, Wayne Madsen undertakes to prove that you have killed Adam, Julius Caesar and Pharaoh Hor-Aha - consider it done and prepare to do time. At least some time on Russia Today, where Mr Madsen found both appreciative employers and a specific segment of the Russian public, thirsty for scoops of the kind he so easily constructs.

As for the poor POTUS: you can safely leave him in Madsen's capable hands, after reading the following:
WMR previously reported on the CIA links of President Obama’s mother, father, step-father, grandmother to the CIA. Not much is known about Obama’s grandfather, Stanley Armour Dunham...
As you can see, Wayne Madsen is a busy little (hm...) bee and in a while the last fifty generations of Obama's ancestors will be outed as card-carrying employees of CIA. Unless, of course, some other paying customer decides to reveal the Obama's full and uncompromising allegiance to Knights Templar.

Or unless Obama's Jewish roots and, by default, his membership in the more ancient order of the Elders will have to be unearthed. Who knows with Madsen.

Now, my dear reader(s): if you feel quite satisfied - one way or the other with Madsen's peculiar and unique sort of crapola, please try to heed the following plea.

If you are a GOP kind of person or, in any way unhappy with Barack Obama, do your best to refrain from using Madsen's feverish discharges for any purpose whatsoever. It will only make you look ridiculous. Leave this pinnacle of idiocy to the only use it is fit for, which I, for reasons of self-censure, cannot describe on these here pristine pages*.

(*) And I don't mean Ron Paul's campaign, no sir/madam.

Senator Shortey: no more fetus-based dishes in Oklahoma, people!

Tee hee.

Let me try? Please, senator, read my lips: what you had in mind is called feta.

F-E-T-A.

Kind of a cheese, you know.

The stuff one makes from goat milk.

Now, goat is... nah, let's leave it for another time, OK?

28 January 2012

Turkish delight for Holocaust Remembrance Day

I often pass in front of the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv, and ask myself what is going on in the minds and hearts of those people who have been close friends and allies for so many years.

Prepare yourselves to be surprised - no, shocked!

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, Turkey has become the first Muslim country to broadcast a documentary about the Holocaust. And on the Turkish public television, no less!

Hurryet Daily has the story:

Turkish public television (TRT) was set to show an epic French documentary about the Holocaust last night in the first broadcast of its kind by national media in a Muslim state.
 Wow. That is, until we dig a little deeper.

What Turkey's doing is called "getting even".
Turkey warned the French president on Tuesday against signing a law that would make it a crime to deny that the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago constituted genocide, saying such a move would deal a heavy blow to the relations between the two countries.
So...the broadcasting of the Shoah is in fact payback for France's new law regarding the genocide in Armenia, maybe for EU's cold shoulder as well. No, really, who those arrogant hypocritical bastards (that felt good!) think they are, criticizing Turkey for something they (said bastards) did not so long ago.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the European "Turkey's not good enough for us" Union:
The date [Holocaust Remembrance Day] was also chosen by Austrian right-wing student fraternities to hold their annual ball in Vienna, which was expected to be attended by several European far-right leaders, including French National Front head Marine Le Pen.
Let's see if we can make heads, tails or any limbs of it. On the same day when the Turkish foreign ministry said that "This day of remembrance... reminds us of the importance of drawing the right lessons on combating racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism,", in the same Europe that has slammed Turkey for its anti-Israel stance the fascist, anti-Semitic, xenophobic far-right reared its ugly head once again. That's one knot even a jedi's lightsaber wouldn't cut.

Once again, Jews find themselves caught in the middle, eternal scapegoats, but this time the scapegoating is firmly in our favor. We are the happy victims of positive scapegoating!

The Water Libel

We all know about this one, don't we? Israel is accused of depriving the Palestinians of their due as regards clean water supplies. Indeed, there are those who claim that there will be "water wars" in the region, whatever the political outcome regarding two states or whatever.

However, Petra Marquardt-Bigman, on her JPost blog, isn't one of them. Following a French claim that Israel is depriving the Palestinians of their just (water) desserts - with friends like these… (her report cites an official French report that "blames Israeli “apartheid” water policies for Palestinian water problems" which "was angrily rejected by Israel"), Petra M-B goes on to note the Israeli refutation of these claims (and similar ones by Amnesty International - who else would one go to for unbiased and impartial reports on Israel?) "By now, there is also a new study by Professor Haim Gvirtzman, a hydrologist at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the Hebrew University, who highlighted how ridiculous the charge of “apartheid” was by pointing out that since 1967, Israel had connected more than 700 Palestinian villages to running water. Or, to quote the statement by Israel’s Water Authority:

Before the Six Day War in 1967, only about 10% of Palestinian households in the West Bank were connected to a central water system, while today more than 90% receive regular supply of water.
My apologies for such a long quote, but it's important to know who one's real friends are, particularly just after Holocaust memorial Day. Anyway, she goes on to note that this whole issue echoes the medieval libels about Jews poisoning (presumably only Christian) wells, and also brings in the "now disgraced British columnist Johann Hari [who wrote a similar libel] to mark Israel’s 60th anniversary in 2008." Never did trust the guy: some of his comments were suspect long before his fall from grace for plagiarism.

Anyway, read the whole article by the admirable Petra here.

By Brian Goldfarb.

27 January 2012

Roger Cohen and the doctrine of being right

I am starting to suspect that Mr Cohen reads this here puny blog! I swear that he does it, possibly hiding in a closet with his laptop or some iThing, but he does.

Well, he surely read the post Roger Cohen: a man who rarely misses an opportunity to miss a point. Proof? Here comes an article Doctrine of Silence, where Mr Cohen has done everything possible in the way of verbal acrobatics to insure that, no matter what the outcome, he will be right.

On the subject of silent assassination of terrorist leaders he stated straight away:

I approve of the shift even as it makes me uneasy. One day, I suspect, there may be payback for this policy and this silence.
Well, about as straight as a snake tied in an intricate sailor's knot. It this short passage its author not only put Obama in a "damned if you do and damned if you don't" position, he also insured himself by setting up at least two ("I approved it to start with" and "I told you so") future postures.

Cool, Roger, I really admire that. Ways to go, man!

The Council Has Spoken!

Council Winners

Non-Council Winners

26 January 2012

Egypt’s election results are none of Israel’s business? Indeed?

I just finished reading an article with that intriguing headline: Egypt’s election results are none of Israel’s business. If you click on the link to read it (and I am certain that you could do much worse with your time than reading it), you shall see that it's written in the web magazine +972* by Lisa Goldman, an award-winning freelance journalist and blogger. An excellent reporter, and intrepid and courageous person, Lisa has done a lot during her illustrious journalistic career in and outside of Israel. Some of it, like her reporting from Beirut is widely known and deservedly admired, some of her tribulations during her years in Israel are still less famous (well, maybe one of these days with Lisa's permission...).

The article left me with some mixed feelings.  On the factual side of it it's an admirable job. It's difficult to argue with facts and with Lisa's opinion that revolution is a messy business and it will take quite a lot of time till the smoke disperses, SCAF (the Egyptian military) steps back and we'll be able to see what is what.

As for the main statement - the election results are none of our business - it demands some deconstruction. First of all, as far as meddling (of any kind, including verbal support for any side in the Egyptian power play) is concerned, I guess no one of a sane mind will disagree. Maybe it's worth mentioning here the fact that a few Israelis visiting Cairo, caught up with the events in the Tahrir square, enthusiastically took part in the demonstrations (at least before the Muslim Brotherhood gradual takeover) against Mubarak's regime, but this is neither here nor there.

However, Lisa then takes to task her colleague at +972, one Larry Derfner, who in his short (thanks deity) piece on Islamists' election achievement has the following to say:

I don’t regret siding with the protesters against Mubarak one bit; knowing what I knew then, I didn’t see that a democrat had any choice. But if I’d known then what I know today? I would have supported Mubarak.
Lisa, apparently, got irked by this expression of wisdom. Why, I can't even start guessing. Mr Derfner's quite pompous way of expressing his displeasure with the election results and of hinting (yeah, yeah, I know it was unwitting) about the possible withdrawal of his support from the revolution shouldn't be that strong an irritant. However, Lisa has chosen to go after Derfner in a rather original way:
Well. “We liberals” are citizens of the democratic state of Israel, which freely elected, as the largest faction in its governing coalition after the Likud, the quasi-fascist Yisrael Beitenu party. The head of that party, Avigdor Lieberman, is now the foreign minister. He cozies up to Vladimir Putin and once said that Israel should bomb the Aswan Dam. In our Knesset, we also have Kahanists and a large contingent from Shas, which is quite similar to the Nour party. So I don’t think we have all that much credibility when it comes to commenting on the election results of our neighbours.
No matter how true the above is (and much of it is true), what do the Zionist government's warts and blemishes have to do with Larry Derfner's foot being firmly lodged in his mouth? After the passage quoted above, Lisa has said something more to the point:
I am also pretty sure that the Egyptians don’t care whether Larry or any other non-Egyptian supports their revolution. They particularly don’t care whether or not Israeli liberals support or oppose their revolution. We Israelis can be quite vain, but really – this revolution is not about us. At all.
However,  there is no reasonable explanation of that previous tirade, not linked to anything Derfnerian.

This, however, is not all Lisa had to say about the potential Israeli involvement in Egyptian issues, there is more:
We [Israel] removed ourselves from the discussion by tacitly supporting oppressive dictators like Mubarak, who crushed civil society in his country over a period of thirty years, and by refusing to end the military occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Strange that. I would say we shouldn't be a part of the "discussion" for the simple reason of being foreigners with no right of being involved in any way. As for tacit (or not) support of the dictator: does Lisa mean that we should have been active in his removal or that we should have cut the diplomatic ties? And how is our military occupation of the Palestinian territories relevant to support (or the opposite of it) of Mubarak's regime that we shouldn't be involved in as foreigners to start with? Beats me.

Now we can move from the question of involvement to the question of having an opinion on the events in Egypt. In this respect I don't understand Lisa at all. Back to Derfner again. The question is simple: clumsy as Mr Derfner was in his piece quoted above: does he or doesn't he have a right to have and to express an opinion on goings-on in a largest Arab country and our neighbor to boot? In an indirect way Lisa answered this question:
When I was in Cairo last spring, I met a prominent Egyptian journalist – a liberal – who displayed an impressive knowledge of Israeli society and politics. He told me two things that I won’t forget. He said that there was not a single Israeli journalist who evidenced any true insight or deep knowledge of the Arab world. And he said that the Arab uprising was unstoppable.
With all due respect to unnamed Egyptian journalist, I tend to doubt that sweeping statement. That in the whole country, puny as it may be, there is not a single person (let's leave journos alone) with in-depth knowledge and understanding of our mighty neighbor? Not serious, no matter how unstoppable the uprising is. At best this saying reminds me of the "mysterious Russian soul" that no foreigner is supposed to understand...

Of course, besides the issue of having or expressing (or not) our opinion there is another issue, that of minding our own business. A good part of it, unfortunately, is monitoring and being prepared to any surprises our neighbors may have in store. Of course, Lisa has an unequivocal answer to that too:
But if we’re going to assess reasons to fear for the Middle East, we Israelis don’t have to look very far. The danger is not with the Islamist parties. They have no love for Israel, but they have neither the power nor the will to express their dislike by mobilizing for war. The danger is with the Israeli governing coalition, which is passing anti-democratic legislation at home and behaving increasingly like non-rational players in the diplomatic arena.
I am sure that our Chief of Staff will be glad to hear it, but let's leave him some wiggle room, at least for long range planning, could we possibly? As for our precious governing coalition, discombobulating as it may be, I could point out a few other sources of potential military danger in our corner of the world, but let's leave it alone for now, OK?

And now back to the title of Lisa's article, to remind you: "Egypt’s election results are none of Israel’s business". I have to disagree. Non-involvement issue and Larry Derfner issue being cleared and put aside, Egypt’s election results are very much our business. At least no less of our business than elections in US, UK, Uganda or Singapore. Maybe even more...

And, liberal or not, my personal thoughts are with Sandmonkey, Big Pharaoh and thousands of young and not so young good and intelligent people who went to Tahrir square hoping for better future and now are clearly despaired of seeing it anytime soon.

So, Lisa,  am I allowed to express this sentiment without fearing that it may be interpreted as an intervention in Egypt's revolution?

I certainly hope so.

P.S. The above mentioned Larry Derfner, trying to make a graceful about face after that poor show, while not quite succeeded, still made a few points similar to ones expressed here.

(*) I know that the mere thought about reading +972 could be an abomination for some right wing people, but I assure you that it's worth reading some of it, if not always with admiration.

25 January 2012

Russia - Syria Yak-130 deal - bad news for Syria's uprising

Both JP and Ha'aretz report, as do some foreign sources, that Russia has signed a contract to sell 36 Yak-130 jets to Syrian regime.

If you look at the Yak-130 parameters, one thing becomes clear: this jet, when not used for training air force pilots, is not of any concern to Syria's neighbors: a subsonic trainer, carrying no more than 3 tons of weaponry isn't going to cause sleepless nights to surrounding nations.

A ground attack subsonic jet, carrying 3 tons of weaponry is going to be devastating news for military and civilian rebels in Syria, on the other hand.

And Russian readiness to sell these deadly tools of oppression to the much hated regime is another loud and clear reminder about the grim role Russians continue to play in the Middles East for so many years.

Too bad.

A poem to the bagel

On several aspects of this seductive food item you may not have thought about.

Bagel Mood Swings

24 January 2012

The call to kill Jews: applicable or not?

The latest from PMW (Palestinian Media Watch) includes three major points in its lede:

Mufti denies applying Hadith about
Muslims killing Jews to today's conflict


PMW report shows that Mufti did apply call
to kill Jews to current conflict

Following PMW report, PM Netanyahu calls
for criminal investigation of PA Mufti

It is very simple to show that there is no contradiction between these three points, but of course we all have to calm down first. Have you calmed down? Now take heed of the following:

First of all, the Mufti is absolutely right. That Hadith is like a standing instruction: you see a Joo, you kill yourself one. So there.

On the other hand, the PMW report is also absolutely on the money: standing order, no matter how ancient, once it's issued and followed to the letter, is applicable to the current time. So there.

As for Bibi being discombobulated by the Hadith, there is a reasonable explanation for that too. You see, the full text of that Hadith is:
Judgement Day will come only when the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, until the Jew hides behind the tree and the stone, and the tree and the stone say: 'Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him' - except for the Gharqad tree.
Now, the reason most Jooz are so cool about the Hadith is that every single one has planted and grown for him/herself a good Gharqad tree. Just in case, you know. However, Bibi, due to his acquired girth, has a problem you can easily grok:




















Can you see Bibi behind the tree? Me too...

Now, is the whole issue squared away? I hope so.

Let's kvell

Just a brief note. The title of this piece (from the Elder of Ziyon) is "Tel Aviv one of the 'world's most creative cities'". Says it all, really. The only other thing you need to know is that the U of T is the University of Toronto. Good reading.

By Brian Goldfarb.

Yet more of globalization surprises

I have to say, it becomes more and more complicated to read sentences like this:

This afternoon unmanned aircrafts bombed and killed our brother Hilal Al Barzawi from Lebanon with British citizenship who fought in Somalia for a long time.
You barely have time to connect the lines on the globe, and brother Hilal is already on another continent, in another country.

Oh well, at least he is fighting the same holy cause, and Chinese Kalashnikovs provide some measure of continuity too...

Breaking news: even American Zionists can publicly say and write stupid things

This little gem landed in my inbox today. I have to admit that it bespeaks such a degree of stupidity on the part of the original writer that it took me a while to believe it. But, who am I to doubt the veracity of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency? The following is, according to them, breaking news. However, by "breaking news" I guess they mean last Monday (that is, 16 January), seeing as they posted this item today, 23 January at 19.20 GMT, and the US is 5 hours behind, so it would be 12.20 local time in New York, and they'd need time to verify the truth of the email…So, you get the picture that this item is probably cooler than JTA want us to think. But, hey, if you haven't heard the news, it's hot!

Anyway, the gist of the item is that the idiot who owned (you read the tense of that right: he's resigned the editorship and is looking for a new owner) The Atlanta Jewish Times was so ill advised as to suggest that, should Iran get the bomb, the likely Israel response was one or more of the following three scenarios: attack Hamas and Hezbollah before they get too cocky with a nuclear-armed sponsor behind them, attack Iran before it could deploy the nukes, or, three, deploy a Mossad assassination team to kill President Obama. Yes, you read that last one right too: in his own words "Yes, you read 'three' correctly. Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel's existence. Think about it. If I have thought of this Tom Clancy-type scenario, don't you think that this almost unfathomable idea has been discussed in Israel's most inner circles?"

Err, no actually, I would guess that it most decidedly hasn't and, further, any Israeli "intelligence" idiot who suggested it would, probably and rapidly, find themselves drawing unemployment pay with no references for future employment. Given, at the very least strong rumour has it, that Israel has been supplied with the US's latest bunker-busting bombs, on this, supposedly anti-Israel, President's watch.

It just goes to show that you don't have to be an anti-Zionist (he said politely) "speaking-as-a-Jew" Jew (one who is anti-Israel to curry favour with his supposedly, and equally anti-Israel, left-wing buddies) to be able to open your mouth and put your foot in it up to the knee and down to the stomach. If you prefer, even Zionists can be stupid, unfortunately.

By Brian Goldfarb.

23 January 2012

French Senate passes Armenian genocide bill. Vive la France!

At last.

Scandal: prenatal care in Israel is well organized

Introduction: A short time ago I've posted a short piece De nada, Ilse dealing with an amazing view of Israeli prenatal care. The piece met some spirited defense. The article below is originally written in Dutch by Ratna Pelle, a Dutch publisher/writer on Israel, a peace activist, a friend and a person deeply involved in the sometimes convoluted coverage of this here neck of the woods.

I am sure that the reader will be able to come to her/his own conclusions after reading this rough translation of the article, made using Google Translate and assistance of the author.

Two weeks ago the Dutch daily newspaper Trouw published an article about prenatal care in Israel under a very suggestive title: "The chosen people must be perfect." The article is about the experiences of a Dutch woman (Ilse van Heusden, a journalist) in Israel, who felt that the way the health of her fetus was being monitored by Israeli medical personnel, and all the tests that were imposed on her, were very overdone.

An article comparing prenatal care in different countries would be interesting, and can indeed reveal something about a country, its culture, politics, level of organization and the priorities it sets. This article however, talks only about specific experiences of one woman, with some quotes from others linking prenatal care to Israel's focus on military(!) and politics, the Jewish past and, of course, the Holocaust. We learn nothing about health care in Israel in general, about the infant mortality rate compared to other countries (very low, unlike in the Netherlands), about the experiences and satisfaction of Israeli women (Jew or Arab) with the system, etc.

The author admits that reading a menu card is as far as her Hebrew goes, and her poor knowledge of the language may have contributed to her negative judgment.

The purpose of this article seems not to inform people, but merely to convey a sentiment and thus to score some cheap points. In fact it's a boring story, since details of the birth of another person's child are just not necessarily interesting. So the author spices it up by throwing in an occasional suggestive note, hinting that things are better organized in the Netherlands because "here they are not so exacting," and in the Netherlands you "can still enjoy pain during childbirth". If you ignore these comments and consider only the facts, a picture emerges of a very well organized health care system, where every effort is made to ensure that your child is born healthy. And that would seem to be a good thing, perhaps an example we can adopt.

The article evoked a lot of reactions and emotions, and I've read several comments from women who claim to be happy with the Israeli system and the care they received. Van Heusden also casually mentioned her 'friends in Netherlands' who "jealously sighed that at least for me it was all well organized." But she immediately added that Israel obviously can't guarantee that your child will be healthy, because a 100% guarantee does not exist.

People always refer to the Holocaust when writing about Jewish people. No report about Israeli society or politics can do without linking it to Judaism, the Bible and the Holocaust. Van Heusden also makes ample use of these clichés in her story to liven up its dullness. A woman told her that she switched to another gynecologist after hers had urged her to have an abortion because a deviation was found:

"What is with this country?" I sighed. "The Jewish people are the chosen people," she replied. "And their children should be perfect."
This is a false suggestion, which is repeated several times. There are more abortions committed in the Netherlands than in Israel, and it is not true that Israeli women are pressured not to have an abortion. Like in the Netherlands there is a stringent procedure. It would also contradict the stated Israeli desire for a high birth rate (which the article strongly suggests), but consistency is just not the strong suit of Israel bashers:
Children need not only be perfect: what makes things even more emotionally charged is the Israeli demand to have many children. The state promotes having children, for instance through high child support.
The latter is true, but mainly because of ultra-Orthodox parties' disproportionate influence on politics (they are indispensable in almost every coalition). In exchange for supporting government policies they stipulate government support for religious schools and exemption from army service. Incidentally, Arab families benefit from this as much as Jewish families, and the birth rate among Arabs is higher than among secular Jews. The suggestion that Israel consciously encourages a high birthrate to strengthen the Jewish majority is therefore contrary to the policy which also favors Arabs with many children.

The article then links the high birth rate in Israel to the Holocaust:
The very fact that Israel is in a permanent conflict area, contributes to the high birthrate in Israel, according to Israeli Professor David Passig: "It is known that everywhere in the world more children are born after a war. Here the wars come and go." But the futurologist at Bar Ilan University sees the real cause somewhere else: the Holocaust. "We have barely recovered from that disaster. The State of Israel lives in fear and striving to survive, so we get more kids."
That fear is allayed by many check-ups. That is helped, says Passig, by the fact that the prenatal tests are not controversial in Judaism.

It is quite possible that the many disasters the Jewish people have lived through, and the wars against Israel, had an influence on their attitude towards children. In addition, Israel at its inception had about 700,000 inhabitants, and in a short time more than one million refugees from Arab states as well as Holocaust survivors from Europe joined them and had to be provided for, meanwhile fighting off Arab attacks. This is not so much about defusing (irrational) fears, but about pure survival. Israeli society is more focused on ways to survive than the Dutch. People work harder, everyone must serve in the army (except Arabs and ultra-Orthodox, which is an increasing problem as both groups grow). People are inventive and enterprising, helping strangers on the street and getting involved with each other, and there is less attention paid to 'luxury' stuff like tidy streets and parks.

An article without negative intent or undertones, investigating how the Holocaust affects modern Israel, might be interesting, although one should remain wary of easy clichés. An article on how health care in Israel is organized as compared with other countries would also be instructive. A study in which regulations regarding pregnancy care and infant care in some countries are associated with the attitude towards children in the dominant religions and cultures can also be interesting. An article in which a woman describes her own, by no means exciting experiences and dishes out most hackneyed clichés about the country ("having a child in Israel is like a military operation") which concludes that it is all wrong in Israel once again, is not only terribly boring but is also unworthy of Trouw. Every opportunity to present a negative story about Israel is grabbed with both hands, since such stories are doing well in Europe these days.

The unsavory headline with a subtle reference to the anti-Semitic notion that Jews consider themselves superior to non-Jews, disguises the less substantial content of the article. Congratulations, Trouw, you are slipping more and more down to the level of a tabloid.

This is not the first time the childbearing subject is used to show Israel and Judaism in a bad light. Two years ago, Dutch TV news show Nova did a report about IVF treatments in Israel, emphasizing the generous multiple IVF reimbursements for women of a relatively advanced age. Scandalous, of course, and clear proof of the ominous Israeli plans to dominate the non-Jews by power of the womb. Perhaps we can stop with this nonsense and just agree that the Israelis may make other choices and organize their society different than the Dutch do? Sometimes better, sometimes worse, sometimes just different.

Ratna Pelle

Press TV no more

I am not sure I am in full agreement with the Ofcom decision to close down that nest of (fairly stupid) vipers. One likes to be able to see and count one's vipers in the open. Still, a person can enjoy his moment of Schadenfreude, can't he? So, to preserve the moment, here is a snapshot of the article's intro:


I could have expressed a gleeful concern about Galloway's next source of income. But you know, this cat will land on all four feet. In another gutter.

22 January 2012

Iran: Motorcyclists kill military officer

This raises a natural question: are these motorcyclists out of nuclear scientists or what?

Judge Goldstone: From Zero to Hero…or vice versa

An interesting one, this. It comes from UNWatch (which carries broadly the same watching brief on the UN that CiFWatch does on The Guardian's Comment is Free online blog) and, from the title, you'd think it was quite innocuous. It says that the column is a correction as to their reports on one William Schabas (of whom I was ignorant until I read this) and Judge Richard Goldstone. William Schabas is, variously, Chair of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, Associate Professor at the University of Middlesex and the same at Quebec University. He also holds degrees in History and Law from a variety of prestigious universities. So, he's no slouch, then. Oops, nearly forgot: he's also a 'door tenant' at barristers chambers in London. So he really is no slouch.

Anyway, if you read the UNWatch article, you'll see that they said, back when Goldstone retracted most, if not all, of his criticism of Israel and the IDF, that Schabas had turned on his 'good friend' Richard Goldstone when he retracted. This Schabas denied, so UNWatch "corrected" their earlier comments by noting what he did say, which was (in this article) that "when Goldstone retracted the core charge of the report, Schabas was among the first to respond, adopting a different tone toward his friend. He now accused Goldstone of being “certainly more indulgent towards Israel.”" (There's an internal link in the article to a fuller version of what Schabas said). However, they are much more forthright (which is a very British way of saying rude) about Roger Cohen and Richard Falk and their reactions to Goldstone's retraction, with links to their sayings.

By the way, if you'd like to read more examples of "very British" ways of insulting people, you might like to go (he said, very immodestly) to my review of Benny Morris's book "One State, Two States". The examples are Morris's. You can find it here. Should you do so, please note my comment at the end of paragraph 5 of the review. I'd be interested to hear what your answer to the sum might be.

By Brian Goldfarb.

The elusive recognition question

Remember Bibi's dream about Palestinians recognizing Israel as a Jewish state? Let's keep dreaming then, because:

Hamas, Fatah and the others are not waging war against Israel right now for reasons related to balance of power. There are no two Palestinians who disagree over the fact that Israel exists, and recognition of it is restating the obvious, but recognition of its right to exist is something else, different from recognition of its [physical] existence.
Adli Sadeq, PLO Ambassador to India, in official PA daily.

And, in somewhat related news: Labour’s Shadow Justice Minister praises Hamas “concessions” at PSC event. But be prepared for a nauseating experience reading this.

21 January 2012

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey vs FUKUS

Today I felt a need to refresh my knowledge about the life and tribulations of Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey, a man of many talents I have had an opportunity to mention several times.  Characters like Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey* are in short supply, and ignoring him for too long just wouldn't do.

And I was happy to discover that my timing was right. Apparently, Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey has recently coined a new term, hitherto unknown to connoisseurs of acronyms. It is FUKUS, which is supposed to mean France, UK and US or, as he puts it in the long form "the two ex-colonial powers the UK and France and their former colony(ies), the USA". In other cases, when he is especially irked (probably by stale food in the Pravda's canteen),  he adds the Little Satan to the trio.

I don't want to inquire how exactly this acronym is pronounced by Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey, but I am confident you are able to make an educated guess. Anyway, I like the acronym and probably will adopt it for some cases.    

What else is new with Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey? First of all, his style - never stable or easily readable to start with - became even more indicative of his tendency to histrionics, unbridled by judicious use of tranquilizers. An image of a rattlesnake trying to excrete several razorblades comes to mind. Nothing could alleviate Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey's passionate hate of the dreaded FUKUS. His Pravda patrons could rest assured, knowing that they have such a loyal sentinel at their beck and call.

Another important development in creative life of Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey is his newly discovered love of long sentences. Observe the example from the above linked piece (where he is especially irked):

Iraq provided a telling preview of what was to come - the wanton breach of international treaties, charters, covenants, resolutions and promises, the targeting of civilian structures with military hardware to then dole out rebuilding contracts, the purposeful theft of resources and historical artefacts, the opening of the concentration camps and the holding of detainees without due legal process, the torture, the sodomy, the urinating in food, the urinating on prisoners... these demonic acts - not one-off breaches by rogue elements but rather, an integral part of policy (water boarding, for instance) - alerted some of us as to the true nature of the FUKUS-Axis (France, UK, US and Israel) and showed us quite how low they can stoop.
I can only imagine the size of his lungs: try to shout the whole quote without stopping for breath and you shall see. I hope you don't doubt that this sentence is written to be shouted, do you?  Oh, and doesn't its rhythm remind you this:



As for the last paragraph of this article, where Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey got tired, most probably losing his breath after all that shouting:
This is the two-tier international community in which we live - a bunch of criminals and those who look on and mutter things about respect for the law. How sickened I feel to belong to the human species at this moment in time.
I would surely want to calm him down a bit: since there are a lot of people who think that Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey doesn't really exist, being a figment of some Russian prankster's imagination, that issue of belonging to human species is highly hypothetical anyway.

So there...

(*) After contemplating the question of the double-barreled name and its possible replacement by an acronym, I came to a conclusion that I can't do it. This name has a life of its own. Unlike its owner.

On the burgeoning quotations business

Hear, hear. And heed.

20 January 2012

Etta James RIP

They don't have the mold anymore to make another one.

Now just close your eyes and listen:



And remember.

Why you should put Richard Millet's blog on your personal list

Mainly because he constantly risks, if not life, then certainly limb in bringing both pictures and videos of really not very nice anti-Israelis to his website. Quite often, he is physically threatened for filming/snapping anti-Israelis and has actually been physically attacked on occasion, although fortunately not seriously hurt and his assailant was arrested.

This posting is about the very unlovely Lady Jenny Tonge (the one who can't seem to distinguish between antisemitism and anti-Israelism [tho' I find it difficult to distinguish the two myself, but for very different reasons, of course]), at a meeting in the House of Commons. The title of the article says it all: "Jenny Tonge rants about the Holocaust and idolises Ismail Haniyeh". She is one of the original users of the Livingstone Formulation. For those who don't know of this, it's what happens when someone criticises Israel unfairly, without supporting evidence, and is called on the lack of evidence, their response is on the lines of "Whenever I criticise Israel, I'm accused of being antisemitic", when no-one, other than them, has mentioned the "a" word. Not surprisingly, it's named after the late and unlamented Mayor of London. In the second video clip in this article, Jonathan Hoffman calls Tonge on this very matter, and she fails to provide an example of this happening to her or anyone else.

For a fuller version and discussion of the term, you need to go to the Engage website and put "Livingstone Formulation" into their own search facility and see what comes up.
Note that the fourth illustration down the article features the equally unlovely Gerald Kaufmann.
Most of Richard Millet's postings are about the anti-Israel, pro BDS crowd, by the way, but the two immediately previous articles on his blog are especially worth reading. The first article, on Tonge, is here.

By Brian Goldfarb.

Dr. Faber's oversight

Marc Faber aka Doctor Doom once said (most of you are familiar with this, I bet):

The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate. If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China. If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer it will go to India. If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany. If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy. The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in US. I've been doing my part.
Prophetic as the words might be, he made two mistakes, pointed out by an Israeli economist, who wrote:
Dear Mark,
You are right, the economic situation in US is terrible, with no improvement on the horizon. Unfortunately, I have to tell you that:
  • The Budweiser brewery was acquired by a Brazilian company InBev. So only the prostitutes are left.
  • But if the prostitutes decide to send money to their sons, the money will wind up in the Israeli Knesset, where the majority of SOBs reside.
Hat tip: L.G.

The Council Has Spoken!

Council Winners

Non-Council Winners

19 January 2012

Iran to kick off World War Three? Nope, but McDonald's just might...

Pravda at its scaremongering best: Iran to kick off World War Three. According to this piece, it will start with Israel attacking, US getting involved, China "taking responsive measures" etc... until, of course, Trinidad and Tobago start getting serious about the whole brouhaha...

But, unnoticed by the scribe that penned this article, another Pravda's scribe revealed the stark reality that will, most probably, put paid to this here world:

McDonald's to expose everything about its chemical food in Russia

Consumer rights' advocates filed a lawsuit against McDonald's fast food chain in Russia. The lawsuit was filed at Moscow's Tverskoy Court. The plaintiffs intend to oblige the company to indicate the complete list of ingredients on packaging, rather than the content of protein, fat and carbohydrates.
Civilizations were ruined for reasons that pale into insignificance compared with a thought of such disclosure. The Mayan calendar with its reminder about 2012 was on the money, after all.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34)

Golshifteh Farahani naked uncensored and banned in Iran

The picture will not appear here, but you can read the sad story. And then rest your eyes on this:


Rested? Now you can continue surfing.

Israel says decision on attack on Iran is not close

Now they really should start worrying, I suggest. The man didn't say what he really thinks for ages now.

18 January 2012

LSE Nazi games in context

Hear, hear!

Also: notice where the article appears. What do you know...

Two Items from Petra Marquardt-Bigman's JPost Blog

The first is headed "American Judas Money". I'm sure that it's no news to anyone here that when Abbas and the PA sought statehood via the UN Security Council, the US Congress, to a congressperson (more-or-less), decided to cancel the US's $800 million aid package to the Palestinian Authority and to replace it with a $200m package, including $150m for the PA security services. One Daoud Kuttab writing in the Washington Post at the end of last November, explained that due to “principled” opposition, “the Palestinians might reject U.S. aid.” This was because, according to Kuttab, Mahmoud Abbas didn't want to be seen as a Palestinian Judas, accepting US money for security when Palestinian schools, etc, would remain unbuilt.

As Petra M-B notes, "expecting Washington Post readers to believe that the overwhelmingly Muslim Palestinians would associate US aid with a story from the Christian Gospels" is a bit unlikely, and she concludes her piece with this:

Abbas wants to be given a state, and he wants to be given the money to develop this state, and he wants this state to have no obligations whatsoever – just rights, including the right to pursue a “two-stage-solution” and the right to team up with Islamist terror groups like Hamas and threaten jihad.
Again, I'm sure that this is hardly news to anyone here. Elsewhere, Petra notes that Kuttab used to be on the board of the admirable American Task Force for Palestine, but decided that it wash't pro-Palestinian enough for him (i.e., it was too impartial).

This other item is also old news, in at least one sense: we believers in the right of Israel to exist in peace and security have known for some time that Amnesty (or at least some parts of it) are hardly even-handed when it comes to the Middle East. Petra M-B takes this a little further, with a story focused on Amnesty UK. Personally, I'm constantly surprised that Amnesty and other supposedly non-political organisations (such as Oxfam) can get around the UK Charity Laws that are designed to bar overtly political activities and still retain their charitable status. My own former (I left when I retired) professional association was registered as a charity. The Board of Trustees (of which I was a member at the time) refused to allow one its wholly-owned journals publish an anti-Israel, pro-BDS statement as an editorial comment: because it was "political" and not educational. When the matter came up, I was sitting there, rehearsing my resignation speech in my mind, should the Chair and a majority of the Trustees have decided otherwise.

Anyway, enough of memory, and back to Petra M-B and the JPost. She notes in this column that "It’s a tired old formula, but some just can’t let go of it: peace in the Middle East, and the world at large, requires doing away with the Jewish state...To give the assorted opponents of the right of Jews to self-determination in a state of their own a boost, Amnesty UK will host a “special launch” for the second book of hyper-active anti-Israel activist Ben White. His first book was – no prize for guessing – “Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide.”" Once again, I'm sure that Ben White needs no introduction in these columns, but, just in case, he's a graduate in English who's now working (when he can get it) as a journalist, and writing books on the side. An enormous amount of his efforts appear to go into denigrating Israel - without cause (other than in his fevered imagination, as the title of his first book shows) and boosting Palestine and the bi-national state. Though with friends like him, I'm not sure the Palestinians need any enemies.

According to AmnestyUK "'Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy' is the new book by Ben White, and considers an issue neglected by the mainstream “peace process” and many commentators: the Palestinian minority in Israel." Or, in plain language, not that we here need it, the apartheid that they suffer from. Pity about all that civic equality they suffer from, all that right to vote, attend university in Israel, serve as MKs, Judges (even of the Supreme Court), etc. It's still, really, to those in the know, apartheid.

Isn't it interesting that so many of those who graduate in English don't know how to use the language properly?

By Brian Goldfarb.

Who says politics couldn't be fun?

Not every day, of course, but still:


From here.

Danny Ayalon vs 0xOmar

As reported:

Ayalon said in response: "No one will make me stop my diplomatic and PR activities in the various arenas, especially cyberspace.
Deputy FM of a sovereign state vs a two-bit hacker?

Pathetic.

Or is it a slow day in the Foreign Affairs?

17 January 2012

Thou too, China?

Washington Post, November 17, 2004:

U.S. officials have expressed fear that China's veto power could make Iran more stubborn in the face of U.S. pressure.
The burgeoning relationship is reflected in two huge new oil and gas deals between the two countries that will deepen the relationship for at least the next 25 years, analysts here say.
Deepen, and for 25 years, really? Well, if analysts say so, it might be true, though I wouldn't bet anything important on it...

The New York Times, September 29, 2009:

...as the United States issues new calls to punish Iran for secretly expanding its nuclear program, it is not at all clear that Washington’s interests are the same as Beijing’s.
That will make it doubly difficult, these analysts say, to push meaningful sanctions against Iran through the United Nations Security Council, where China not only holds a veto but has also been one of Iran's more reliable defenders.
 Are those the same analysts, I wonder? The chinese meaning of "reliable defenders" might have eluded those analysts just a tad, me thinks.

AFP, this weekend:
Later on Sunday, China signed energy deals with Saudi Arabia as Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited Riyadh.
The two countries inked several economic and cultural agreements including a Memorandum of Understanding between Saudi petrochemical giant SABIC and China's Sinopec to build a petrochemical plant in Tianjin, Saudi state news agency SPA said.
Strangely, I couldn't find the word "analysts" in the entire article. They're probably on a sunny beach somewhere, sipping exotic drinks with little umbrellas. Quite sure that they won't be needed for another, uh, 25 years or so.

Oh, well. That should teach western politicians (and analysts, let's not forget the analysts!) a lesson about both the Middle and Far East. Should, but will it?

Too bad  the not-analyst John Elfreth Watkins jr isn't around anymore. His totally non-analytical predictions from more than 100 years ago proved true, well most of them:

Several suspects in killing of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan arrested

From the horse's mouth (or from the general area of it):

Iran has arrested a number of people in connection with the assassination of the academic, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani told Al-Alam News Network on Monday.
Of course, prison walls, even in Tehran, are a scant protection from the Elders' information machine. So, for your viewing pleasure, here are the pictures of the suspects:





The arrested are signing their confessions currently.

16 January 2012

Ron Paul, black helicopters and Paulbots' BM

I do remember promising no more posts on RP. So I lied.

If before watching this clip you have had any doubt about the worthy candidate's mental facilities, you will have to revise your doubts:



If you still don't agree that the man is cooking on another planet (out for a prolonged lunch, a few floors short of skyscraper, barmy, looney), you have only two things left to do: a) apply to have your own head examined and b)  stand on the roof every night watching out for the black helicopters dropping sacks with the NWC (New World Currency). And good luck with both activities.

In related news: A great recipe for improving Paulbots' digestive tract function:

Go online and buy or make your very own KKK robe, complete with hood (hood is important). Then get some Ron Paul signs or make your own. Follow Paul around South Carolina and be sure to get photographed by the media. Again, hoods are important. All can be Klansmen for Paul. Black, white, Jewish, Asian - those Paulbots will shit a brick.
Indeed.

De nada, Ilse

A Dutch lady spends some time in Israel, while pregnant. She goes through the usual rigmarole of prenatal tests, is diagnosed with some virus which is subsequently taken care of. Eventually, she gives birth to a healthy baby and here it starts: she pens an article The chosen people have to be perfect. It's her unique way to thank the Israeli medical establishment, I guess. With statements like this:

To be pregnant in Israel is comparable to a military operation. Countless echos and blood tests should produce the perfect baby, nothing can be left to the luck of the draw. The state demands healthy babies and a lot of them too.
Or like this:
What makes things even more emotionally charged is the Israeli demand to produce many children.
Pity I didn't know about this demand when I came over to Israel so many years ago. I would have recruited a battalion of female volunteers and organized a breeding farm. With self in an easily predictable role, of course. Too late, unfortunately...

Read more in CiF Watch.

One point the author missed: the Arab, Bedouin and all other minorities in Israel are subject to the same "countless" Zionist tests. Which means... but let's not make the issue too difficult for a Dutch Christian daily, the virulently anti-Zionist lady who authored the article and their grateful readers.

If you wish, you could address Ms Van Heusden at her Facebook page. Here is her thoughtful image:


So, don't thank us anymore, Ilse. Really.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com

You could say it again

For all their intellectual vanity, it is clear that the Left is not only incapable of organising a root in a brothel, the brothel itself would be renamed a non-procreative recreational outlet; a place where lonely men could part with their hard-earned to have one off the wrist over dog-eared photographs of Margaret Mead while the organisers stood in the hallway arguing angrily about the phallic symbolism of the stairway banister.
From (via) Peter Risdon.

15 January 2012

On senseless sensibilities

The two cases I am somewhat forcibly joining in this post are continents away and politics apart, but I consider them to be connected. To start with:



Of course, this petition is righteous, and thanks to Francis for pointing it out. In fact, only due to my lack of Photoshop skills I don't add a Judaic element to that picture. Besides, there already is a Jew in it, so let's consider the triangle being complete.

The second case is no less loaded, although its protagonist is of a more ephemeral nature, to be consigned to archives in one or five years:

Whoever follows the exploits of the first lady and her husband has had an opportunity to notice the somewhat profligate habits of the pair. Some of the facts are mentioned here, if of interest. Deservedly or not (and I tend to consider the criticism to be deserved), these facts cause considerable ire in the midst of American taxpayers. The above caricature is one of the results.

And the response, by one Christopher Knight of LA Times, was swift:
The caricature of Obama as a profligate queen relies on the racist stereotype of an "uppity Negro," which emerged among slave masters in an earlier American era.
How do you like them chickens? To my, admittedly less sensitive eye, the caricature relies on the image of Marie Antoinette, but the things you see from LA are obviously different. Should I mention that the school of thought crying "racism" every time someone criticizes the POTUS or his minions is already somewhat of an institution in American political circles? Nah...

Well, I just have to quote a part of the Bookworm's response to Mr Knight of LA Times:
Sherlock Holmes famously said that “when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” Since it must be impossible for a major publication such as the Los Angeles Times to have hired an idiot, the improbable truth we are dealing with is that, since being hired, you have had your brain sucked out by zombies.
Being much less delicate than Bookworm, I have to add something (related to both cases mentioned in this post). Do you know what they wish to people who can't take a joke?

Yep. Right.