I’m so glad I got my brother and friends to tape Gilmore Girls for me. Because NBC-12 here in Richmond started with this week’s episode, jumping over the three that were supposed to be shown during the Olympics. Or am I four episodes off?

Doesn’t matter. There are two episodes winging their way to me via snail mail, and one on tape from last night (which may be on the tape being sent). There will be a Gilmore Girls fest when the tape gets here.

I got so incredibly spoiled by living in the NY television market. Man, these midsize city markets suck.

My hair is feeling particularly soft and silky today.

One of the restrictions on WTO member countries is that they may not boycott other member countries. But the Exception Clause appears to be in full swing here, because the Saudis are openly announcing that they still boycott Israeli goods, and are hosting an OIC forum on how to improve the boycott of Israel.

Despite a promise made to Washington last November to drop its economic boycott of Israel, Saudi Arabia plans to host a major international conference next week aimed at promoting a continued trade embargo on the Jewish state, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The Post also found that the kingdom continues to prohibit entry to products made in Israel or to foreign-made goods containing Israeli components, in violation of pledges made by senior Saudi officials to the Bush administration last year.

“Next week, we will hold the ninth annual meeting for the boycott of Israel here in Jidda,” Ambassador Salem el-Honi, high commissioner of the Organization for the Islamic Conference’s (OIC) Islamic Office for the Boycott of Israel, said in a telephone interview.

“All 57 OIC member states will attend, and we will discuss coordination among the various offices to strengthen the boycott,” he said, noting that the meeting is held every March.

The OIC, consisting of 57 Muslim countries, is based in Jidda, as is its boycott office.

Gee, I wonder if any action will be taken against Saudi Arabia’s membership status in the WTO.

No, not really. I was just kidding.

The Exception Clause stands unchanged.

Take a look at Mahmoud Abbas:

See? No blood on his hands!

(That’s what Tanzim, Fateh Hawks, and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are for.)

Haaretz put up an article with that (hardly) intriguing header.

Normally, the Elders’ response would be unprintable. After all, who *^&%@#&^ cares?

“The fight against anti-Semitism has escalated as well, with Western nations making heightened efforts to root out Jew-hate and Holocaust denial.”

OK, fine. Anyway, what is really of notice is the responses to this article. Some of them, at least. Why is it that each time the word “anti-Semitism” appears in print, it immediately draws all the slithering creatures that should feel much better under the stones they belong to?

To start with - mildly infected nimrods:

“Now anti-Semitism is on the rise in North America, and its two main causes are: Israel’s harsh treatment of the Palestinians and a growing population of Muslims who do not feel guilty about the Holocaust and who identify with the Palestinians.”

Signed: Mark Marshall, Toronto, Canada

“The Israeli Occupation of Palestinian land gives a principled facade to anti-Semitism. No one can take Israeli complaints about anti-Semitism seriously when Israel operates an Apartheid regime against Palestinians.”

Stephen Murray, Amsterdam, Netherlands Antilles

The two above belong to “we do not condone, but it is understandable” category. Let’s move on.

“One doesn’t need to be a semiotician to get astounded at how the French police investigation into the money-extortion case became in the Israeli media about the Jewishness of some other victims targeted by the gang. They also ascribed solidly the “Muslim” adjective to the gang of extortionists, spiced the story with the displaced Iranian element and concluded in statistical calculus of alyiah numbers.”

“All the victims of materially-motivated crimes have one or another nationality.
I only wonder if this media manipulation is conducive to fighting the anti-Semitism. Or if that man who was stabbed for simply being an Arab next to my place in Jerusalem will get any national commemoration as was the case in France.”

Julius Chesnuliavichius, Paris, France

See how argumentative is our friend Julius? How deftly he operates complex words like “semiotician”, “statistical calculus”, “conducive”. That, instead of explaining in simple words why most of the gangs victims happened to be Jewish and why the effing eff does Julius feel a need to display his ugly self in public?

“I happen to be a Catholic Christian; anti-Catholicism is the root religion of the English! But we have the confidence to recognise prejudice and accept that it’s part of the failing human condition.”

“Why should everyone like us? Or you?”

Catherine Appleby, United Kingdom

Why, Catherine, you may be much better off converting to Judaism then, it seems. Come to us, baby! You will like us at the end - it is a promise! And we’ll like you and everything will be just peachy!

And the “Friendly Reptile Of The Day” prize goes to:

“Falling back on the old “anti-semitism” bit anytime a Jew is attacked (and in this case, it looks as though it was actually an extortion plot) only devalues the term and serves to keep real “anti-semitism” underground and unchecked, where it festers until there’s no more room to contain it.”

“Just a friendly bit of advice. :)”

J.J., Washington, U.S.A.

I rather like you, JJ, you are a guy/gal after my heart, I can tell. No mincing your words and no hiding behind the bushes. And since you are direct and to the point, we’ll give you a direct and free advice: go buy a banjo, choose a convenient monument in Washington, have a seat in the vicinity and sing the text quoted above to the tune of Yankee Doodle. You will be the rave of the city in no time, I promise. You may even use the proceeds to buy yourself a trailer in Oklahoma, where, with deity help, you shall become another victim of a beer OD.

And stop posting in Haaretz - there is no future in it, especially after the nice Mossad folks knock on your door.

Cross-posted on SimplyJews

Gotta say, folks, I don’t call the UNC SUV attack terrorism any more than I call the “attack” on the Church of the Annunciation terrorism.

Mind you, that’s not to say that I don’t think he tried to kill people. It’s just that I think he’s nuts — not a terrorist.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - A University of North Carolina graduate accused of running down nine people on campus told an emergency dispatcher he wanted to “punish the government of the United States for their actions around the world,” according to a 911 recording released Monday.

Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, a 22-year-old native of Iran, called 911 to surrender Friday a few minutes after a sport utility vehicle sent students scurrying to escape. No one was seriously hurt.

Taheri-azar was later charged with nine counts of attempted murder and nine counts of assault, and his bail was set at $5.5 million.

University Police Chief Derek Poarch said Taheri-azar told investigators he intentionally hit people to “avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world.”

Why do I think he’s nuts? Well, this gave me a clue:

At his first appearance Monday in Orange County court in Hillsborough, Taheri-azar told the judge he planned to represent himself and was “thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah.” He was assigned a public defender, but ignored the lawyer’s advice to stop talking.

Is he a religious nut? Maybe. Is he a terrorist? I don’t think so. I think this is a man with a problem, and thankfully, he didn’t kill anyone when he drove his car into the group of students at UNC. Yes, it was a deliberate act. But that doesn’t make it a terrorist act. Nutcases act deliberately, too.

Vladimir Putin has given Hamas legitimacy that it doesn’t deserve. Not that the Russians care.

MOSCOW (AP) - Hamas’ leader said his visit to Russia “opened the door to the entire global community,” claiming in an interview published Monday that the international isolation of the militant Palestinian group was coming to an end.

Khaled Mashaal, the Hamas political chief whose three-day visit to Moscow ended Sunday, also said that “Russia’s position is completely unlike that of the West” and praised Russian officials for understanding Hamas’ stance.

He was quoted as telling the daily Vremya Novostei that the visit “broke the blockade which Israel and the United States have been trying to impose on us.”

“At the Russian Foreign Ministry we felt that we were being understood,” he said.

So gee, do you think this means that Hamas is going to “moderate”?

In interviews with Russian media, Mashaal did not mention a promise to extend the cease-fire, and in a separate interview with Al-Jazeera television, he indicated the group had made no such promise.

“Is it reasonable to pressure the Palestinians to renew the truce? No. Go to Israel, exert pressure on it. It is the reason for the problem,” he told Al-Jazeera.

Thanks, Vlad. They couldn’t have done it without you. Well, yes, they could, but they wouldn’t have that extra tinge of credibility the Russian meeting with Hamas gave them.