Go ahead. Click this link.

I dare you.

Just don’t blame me. I warned you.

Okay, I didn’t, but now I am: If you’re afraid of cats, don’t click that link. If you hate cats, feel free to click that link.

This is the 1,000th post published since this site went WordPress. It’s not the 1,000th post I’ve written. My co-bloggers have added to the mix; I’ve only written 931 of those posts (not counting the ones sitting in the drafts file, or the ones I wrote and deleted, or the ones that are languishing as text files in my computer somewhere –I’ve said before that I am a writer first and foremost, and if a post isn’t working, I won’t publish it).

One thousand posts since September 4th, 2005. Forty-nine categories have been created, and 3,500 comments have been posted (as I write this). That’s a lot of words.

While I’m on the subject of numbers, April 22nd will mark the fifth anniversary of this weblog, and the beginning of my sixth year (!) writing post after post after post. Funny. I’m not quite tired of it yet, either. I wouldn’t care to guess how many millions of blogs have come and gone in the last five years, but I have an overwhelming urge to stick out my tongue and say “Neener, neener, neener!”

The most I have done is take a one-week hiatus, and that was due to the overwhelming crush of events demanding that I take a break. Someday, maybe, I’ll write about that in more detail, but that is not this day.

There are many things that I hold back from writing. Too personal. TMI. Tempting, but really, do I want thousands of strangers to know that I suffer from Morton’s Foot?

Oh, wait, I already blogged about that years ago. And still get the occasional search for it, and let me reiterate that no, I will not publish a picture of my feet to prove it.

I wish I had more time to write an essay a day. I wish I had the energy to write an essay a day. Essays are much more difficult to write than posts. Anybody can cut-and-paste and offer a line or two of analysis. But that isn’t really writing. Writing is the stuff that doesn’t include broad swatches of cut-and-paste. Writing consists of the original work supported by facts. The writing is what I like to do the most, but which is the most difficult to do, and takes the largest amount of time. Which is why I still haven’t finished “The First of the First,” an essay about the first student in my first class to have his Bar Mitvah. Or why I still haven’t written about my trip up to Northen VA. Or why this week’s podcast did not include the recordings of various readers asking “What the hell is wrong with you?”, because as I was writing the essay for the podcast, it took off in a direction that didn’t allow me to use the recordings. That’s what writing does sometimes. It has its own rhythm and timing and feeling, and when the feeling is wrong, you go in another direction or your piece sucks.

This one has taken me all day to write, starting with being interrupted by a phone call (and then another and another and another; good Lord, everybody called me today), then being unable to get back into the mood of the piece, then trying something else to get my mind out of “This thing sucks!” mode. Finally, I’m back in the piece, and the feel is back, and the rhythm is here, and the essay is near its end.

One thousand posts, ninety-three percent of which are mine. One thousand posts in seven months. Yeah, that’s a lotta words.

It’s a good thing I have such a large store of them. I’m nowhere near running out.

Wah, wah, wah. The palestinians cry about Israeli restrictions, the media reports it, and yet, these restrictions have absolutely no context whatsoever, right?

Wrong. The context the media uses now is “collective punishment.” They parrot the Hamas line:

But Palestinian officials say the lockdown is collective punishment for the Hamas militant group’s overwhelming victory in January parliament elections.

“There’s a clear Israeli policy of laying siege to the Palestinian territories in an attempt to make the Palestinian people pay a price for choosing Hamas,” said Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for new Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas leader.

Well, today the Israeli Security Cabinet voted to cut off all ties with the PA, including not negotiating with Mahmoud Abbas. This makes sense. Abbas has nothing to bargain with. Hamas has completely emasculated him and negated all of the moves Abbas made to try to hang onto power. And Abbas is no Yasser Arafat, able to bribe, bully, and flatter his way into anything.

Of course, the media have already turned this around and made it Israel’s fault. Read this piece of drek (bring an airsick bag) titled “Life brutal under Gaza missiles.”

Once again, the world is making sure that the palestinians bear utterly no responsibility for their actions. Well, here’s a tip or three: Don’t elect terrorists to represent you and then act surprised when the world says they’re not going to deal with terrorists. Don’t send rockets into Israel and then act surprised when Israel sends rockets back, killing terrorists and destroying their hideouts.

And don’t raise your children to be suicide bombers, and then act surprised when they are killed on their way to carry out attacks.

Not that I expect any of these tips to be followed, but hey. It pisses off the hit-and-run commenters who think that I’m going to approve their anti-Israel, anti-Semitic spews in my comments. (Yes, I’ve had a few this week, why do you ask?)

Haveil Havalim, the Carnival of the Jews, is up.

Carnival of the Cats is at The Scratching Post today (Tig loves scratching posts!).

The Palestinian Space Program needs to get a better grip on its PR, because they’re both pausing and escalating rocket attacks against civilian targets in Israel:

PAUSING: HAARETZ: Islamic Jihad says suspending rocket fire on Israel for one week

Islamic Jihad said on Sunday it was suspending rocket fire from northern Gaza into Israel for one week to try to halt Israel Defense Forces artillery barrages which have sometimes hit civilian areas.

The group told Reuters the launching of makeshift rockets would resume if Israel did not stop air strikes and artillery attacks on the strip. Israel has said it was responding to the militant rocket fire.

ESCALATING: JERUSALEM POST: Islamic Jihad vows to step up attacks on Israel

In contradiction to an earlier report circulated Sunday that the Islamic Jihad intended to stop Kassam rocket attacks on Israel provided that Israel cease its attack on launch sites in Gaza, the organization vowed Sunday to step up its attacks on Israel.

“Islamic Jihad is going to escalate its attacks on the Zionist entity by all possible means,” Khader Habib, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, said. “We are going to teach the government of Tel Aviv a lesson they are not going to forget.”

Perhaps if the IDF starts plinking these so-called spokesmen like ducks in a shooting gallery, these kind of inconsistencies would stop?

If you read this article, and only this article, about Hamas, and had never heard of the organization before, you would think that they were simply another Muslim political party in the territories.

Cash has run out, but Hamas chief optimistic
To Ismail Haniyeh, the Palestinians’ first-ever Hamas prime minister, the decision of Western countries to stop aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) is hypocritical: The long push for free and fair elections hasn’t been accompanied by support - particularly in financial terms - for the vote’s outcome.

But Mr. Haniyeh shies away from belligerence, instead preferring businesslike calm with which he hopes to persuade donors to replace some of the $1 billion in annual foreign aid in jeopardy now that militant Hamas is in power.

Sure. He shies away from belligerence. From a news story two days after the CSM interview:

“Our people have the right to keep the arms of resistance and to respond to the aggression,” he told reporters. “We understand the need of our fighters for training bases to rebuild themselves. We will secure that,” he added.

And then there’s this, from yesterday:

The United States and the EU said Friday they were cutting off hundreds of millions of dollars in aid since Hamas had not agreed to revise its militant policies. Hamas has rejected demands to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept peace agreements.

“I want to affirm here that this siege and this blockade have one aim and one target, to blackmail the government,” Haniyeh told reporters in Gaza. “They are not going to blackmail us or make us give in on the rights and principles of the Palestinian people.”

Nope. Not belligerent at all. Why, he’s just some poor schlub, trying to run his government, while the evil Israelis and Americans force everyone to help starve the poor, poor, pitiful pals. And you simply have to love the last line in this paragraph:

Hardly a week into his job, Haniyeh is facing the cash-flow crisis of a lifetime. The PA cannot pay salaries for its 140,000 employees, and needs about $170 million a month to stay in business. Some $50 million a month has been promised to Hamas by the Arab League, Haniyeh says, but doesn’t come close to meeting operating expenses. The US, Canada, and the European Union have all said they will stop direct financial assistance to Palestinian institutions run by Hamas, which they deem a terrorist organization. But the EU’s foreign policy chief said Wednesday that he would like to give Hamas some time to change. The organization’s charter calls for Israel’s destruction.

It seems thrown in as an afterthought: “Oh, yeah, Hams also wants to destroy Israel. But otherwise, they’re really nice guys just trying to do their jobs!”

What? Anti-Israel bias at the CSM? You’re joking!

Looks like Hamas’ lies are being uncovered, bit by bit. Because remember that so-called “truce” they keep talking about? Yeah, how’s that working out for you?

Hamas explosives lab found

Despite low profile kept by Hamas military wing since movement rose to power, underneath the surface, the terror activity continues. In a lab uncovered overnight, explosive devices and large bomb ready for use found by IDF forces

IDF forces uncovered an explosives lab in Hebron in which an explosion took place on Friday, apparently due to a work accident by the Palestinians who assembled the device.

The lab, which was neutralized through a controlled explosion, contained a number of pipe bombs and explosives that were apparently meant
to be used against IDF forces in the city.

A check with the security forces found that the explosives lab belonged to Hamas. Three Palestinians injured in the explosion were members of the organization’s military wing. An IDF source said following the incident: “This is more proof that Hamas is still dealing with terror and is preparing an infrastructure.”

But wait, there’s more!

Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, has joined the Palestinian organizations threatening to attack Israel, following yesterday’s targeted assassination in Rafah .

In the attack, a rocket engineer for the Popular Resistance Committee, Iyad Abu al-Aynayn, his son Bilal, and four armed Palestinians
were killed. His wife and another one of Aynayn’s sons were seriously injured.

[...] The military wing’s stance was strengthened by the Palestinian National Interior Minister, Khaled Abu Hilal, who said that “it is the right of the Palestinian resistance groups to hold weapons and training facilities in order to deal with the occupation,” at a Gaza press conference.

“The government will do everything to differentiate between resistance weapons and illegal weapons,” he said.

So, basically, a Hamas PA cabinet member just said that armed palestinian groups, which are in violation of the Oslo Accords (among other things), are just peachy-keen, because they’re part of the “resistance,” which is the word used when they really mean “movement to destroy Israel.”

Hamas has not moderated. Hamas is not moderating. Hamas will not moderate. Every day brings us more and more evidence that this is so.

Will the EU continue to cut off funds? I am not hopeful.