Longtime readers will remember the Woodpecker War, which I must bring over from the old pages so that new readers can appreciate the Battle of the Bird.

Well, for the last few days, something has been waking me up at six a.m., an hour before my alarm goes off. Last week, it was Gracie, who finally stopped when I pushed her off the bed while she was yowling at me to wake up and pet her. I’d forgotten how sensitive she is to being disciplined in the least, and felt extremely guilty when I heard her zooming down the stairs to hide from me. But an hour later, it was all forgotten. Except the part about her waking me up at six. Anyway, for the last few days, I thought maybe it was a neighbor warming up his car, because it seemed that every time I woke up, I could hear a car engine revving. Then, this morning, I heard it: The fateful chirp. It was a single note, over and over again, and it made me think of Bolero, and wonder if maybe the stupid bird started out softly and got louder as he chirped. There’s a tree right outside my bedroom window, and the birds and I have already had issues. So have the birds and Tig, which may actually be the same issue, but so far, these birds haven’t been stupid enough to come within reach of him.

So I don’t really know what’s waking me up, but I do know that six hours is not enough sleep for a decent workday. I am heading off to bed early tonight; posting (by me) may be light tomorrow. My guest bloggers have been posting up a storm (thanks, guys), and I hear that another Lost parody is in the works. (Tonight’s episode was so good it made me wish that Mira Furlan had her own show again, preferably a drama like B5, and a much bigger role than she has now. Sigh. Delenn. We miss Delenn.)

Take it away, boys.

It seems the UAE Airlines, which bought the naming rights to a British soccer stadium, is less than pleased that the Arsenals also have a deal with Israel to promote tourism to the Jewish state.

Dubai, 1 March (AKI) - Emirates airlines, which have bought the naming rights to Arsenal’s new stadium, and whose logo appears on the team’s shirts, have slamned a decicision by the top-flight English football club to sign a sponsorship deal to promote tourism to Israel. The two-year 350,000 British pounds (around 610,000 dollars) agreement will involve promoting Israel on LCD billboards around the pitch of Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium in London, news reports said. .

The club said it had cleared the deal with officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose national airline bought the rights to name the new stadium for around three million pounds (around 5.2 million dollars) a year. But a spokesman for the airlines has denied this. He told the Dubai-based daily Khaleej Times that the deal with Israel is “unfortunate, and we are obviously not happy.”

“We will do our best to persuade Arsenal to not renew its deal with Israel,” said the spokesman, who was not identified.

But it gets better.

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The palestinians are refusing an Israeli alternative to the closed Karni crossing. The crossing has been closed for weeks due to terrorist attacks. But the world will raise the pressure on Israel to reopen Karni, and exert no pressure on the PA to use an alternate crossing. Watch and wait.

The Palestinian Authority has rejected an Israeli offer to use the Kerem Shalom crossing in the southern Gaza Strip for the passage of goods while the Karni crossing is closed, because of fear that a temporary arrangement might continue indefinitely.

“We are worried that this will become permanent,” chief PA Negotiator Saeb Erekat, told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday. “I really urge the Israelis to stick to the agreement.”

In November, a deal was brokered by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice whereby the Karni crossing was to remain open, to allow Palestinian exports from Gaza - such as greenhouse produce - to make it to the Israeli and international markets. Karni was only to be closed by Israel in the event of an immediate security threat.

The Karni crossing was closed for three weeks in January after a series of attempted attacks by Palestinian terrorists nearby. It was shut down again in mid-February following an explosion that Israeli security officials believed was a terror-related “work accident” caused when a tunnel mined with explosives blew up prematurely.

Israeli officials said PA security officials failed to address the situation, forcing Israel to close down the crossing until the threat is lifted.

Of course, the other reason that the PA refuses to use a different crossing: They haven’t got any tunnels dug under Kerem Shalom.

So, essentially, they’d rather starve their people to make Israel look bad than let their people sell their good through a different entrance into Israel. Yep. That’s the PLO leadership for you. True humanitarians.

AP is reporting that Israel detained a “Hamas lawmaker” today.

Israeli police detained a prominent Hamas lawmaker in Jerusalem on Wednesday on suspicion of conducting illegal political activity, police said.

That’s odd. I thought that one of the goals of the Islamists running Hamas was to impose Sharia (Islamic Law). In such a situation, the Quran is considered the source of law, not man.

Does this mean that Israel arrested Allah and Mohammed?

G-d, I’m not looking forward to the riots when they publish the mug shots.

Says BBC.

A senior leader of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad has been killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, Palestinian police said.

Then the article contradicts the headline:

Abu al-Walid al-Dahdouh, the commander of the group’s military wing, the al-Quds Brigades, was hit as he drove past the Palestinian finance ministry.

So here is the real cause. A free advice to the spirit of late Abu al-Walid:

In your next incarnation, pay taxes on time, doofus!

Cross-posted on SimplyJews

I’ve been telling you about Tajikistan, a mostly Muslim state, destroying its last synague in order to make room for a new presidential palace. Yes, it’s another example of how other religions will be treated under the rule of the Religion of Tolerance(TM). Now, however, anti-Semitism in Uzbekistan has turned deadly.

Judith Apter Klinghoffer points out that last week, a rabbi was murdered. The community says it was anti-Semitism — he was hit over the head, but not robbed.

Judith also links to a report that says Iran is stirring anti-Jewish activities in Uzbekistan. If this is true, this would point to the worst case of state anti-Semitism since the 1930s and 40s. If this is true, Iran is truly walking down the same path that Hitler walked.

I am not disinclined to believe this. Iran has proven again and again how many of their people hate the Jews. Iran has refused aid from Israel during earthquakes. Iran is sponsoring a Holocaust denial conference, and leading the charge of Holocaust denial as a response to anything they perceive as anti-Islam. Then there’s the little matter of Iran’s president promising to wipe Israel off the map.

The signs are there. Jews are the first targets of the totalitarians. We are being targeted all over the world. And the impetus behind the targeting: Iran’s support.

Former Archbishop Desmond Tutu lets his anti-Semitism show. But he also makes you wonder how on earth the man ever became a Christian archbishop, because I know more about Christianity than he appears to.

The European Union on Monday said that although it regretted the cartoons were “considered offensive” by Muslims, freedom of expression “is a fundamental right and an essential element of a democratic discourse.”

Opinions like that angered former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who complained at the meeting that “we already have enough misunderstandings in our world today.”

“Insulting the beliefs and customs of people and religions is not freedom of speech. This is not only related to Islam. We must respect the beliefs of other nations and religions whether we believe in them or not. If we don’t believe or approve of them, we must challenge them through discussion and intellectual undertakings,” he said.

Actually, yes it is, schmuck. Freedom of speech is exactly the right to insult you, your Jew-hating nation, and your lying, hypocritical carcass. See? Protected speech, you Islamofascist.

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Count me in.

Together facing the new totalitarianism

After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.

We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.

The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.

Like all totalitarianisms, Islamism is nurtured by fears and frustrations. The hate preachers bet on these feelings in order to form battalions destined to impose a liberticidal and unegalitarian world. But we clearly and firmly state: nothing, not even despair, justifies the choice of obscurantism, totalitarianism and hatred. Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of domination: man’s domination of woman, the Islamists’ domination of all the others. To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed or discriminated people.

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