One week after my letters to AP and Reuters pointing out their error in identifying the Western Wall as “Judaism’s holiest site,” we have this from AP:

The archaeological dig is taking place about 60 yards away from the Al Aqsa mosque and gold-capped Dome of the Rock an area considered the third-holiest in Islam.

It is also Judaism’s holiest site, having housed the biblical Jewish temples. Jews have gathered for centuries to pray outside the compound at the Western Wall, a remnant of the ancient compound.

Grade: A. Good work, AP.

Now, to Reuters:

Israeli officials have said the dig, about 50 metres from the compound overlooking the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, would last at least eight months and that no work on a walkway would start before it is completed.

And that’s an F. I sent another letter to Reuters. We’ll be watching.

Neither service, by the way, responded to me personally. Not that I expected it.

Yes, we totally saw this one coming.

A United Nations anti-racism panel has questioned Israel’s policy on preserving holy sites, asking the country to explain whether it protects places considered sacred to religions other than Judaism.

Israel is expected to go later this week before the panel of 18 independent experts overseeing compliance with the United Nations’ 38-year-old anti-racism treaty a hearing that could fuel the debate over an Israeli construction project at Jerusalem’s disputed hilltop compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. The project has prompted protests among Palestinians and others in the Muslim world.

“To date, approximately 120 places have been declared as holy sites, all of which are Jewish,” the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said in its list of questions, written before the recent furor over the construction project.

Gee. Does Israel protect non-Jewish holy sites? Let me think. Hm.

HEY! ASSHATS! WHAT ARE THOSE TWO MOSQUES DOING ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT?!?!

I think the answer to that question has been found. But let’s not let facts get in the way of more Israel-bashing.

This committee, by the way, is the committee that brought us the UN World Conference on Racism in Durban, the conference that caused the U.S. and Israel to walk out in disgust at the virulently anti-Israel tone. I fully expect them to show their usual unbiased face to the Jewish state.

Okay, no, not really. Because the UN is one of the most anti-Israel bodies outside of, well, all of the Arab and Muslim governments, and yes, I’m including Jordan and Egypt in that generalization.

I look forward to the report. No, really. It’s going to be fodder for more posts.

First, let me set the scene: Yesterday afternoon, I went to shower and dress to get ready for Sorena’s concert. I always shower with the door slightly open so the cats can come in; otherwise, they yowl outside the door and annoy the crap out of me. Gracie usually waits until the shower ends before yowling for me to come pet her. Tig will sometimes jump on the toilet and yowl to see if he can get me to pop my head out of the curtain. So, things being what they are, I get into the shower, and almost immediately, the yowling commences. This is what I heard:

TIGGER: MROWL! MROWL! [Let me in!]

MERYL: Come inside! The door’s open.

GRACIE: MROW! MROW! MROW! [Let me in!]

MERYL: Gracie, the door is OPEN. Just come INSIDE.

TIGGER AND GRACIE: MROWL! MROWL! MROWL! [No, really, let me in!]

MERYL: Will you just come in the door and shut up!

[Variations of above for ten minutes. Shower ends, I start drying myself. I am one of those people who refuses to get out of the tub until I'm mostly dry, as I hate dripping on the bathmats, so while I am drying myself, the yowling continues, as does my telling them both to shut up. By this time, Tig is on the toilet seat, yowling vigorously at me.]

TIGGER: [Runs to bathroom closet door] MROWL! MROWL! [Let me into the closet!]

MERYL: Shut UP!

GRACIE [From inside bathroom closet] MROW! MROW! [Let me out of the closet!]

MERYL: Oh. [Opens door. Gracie exits.]

Which just goes to show you: Just when you think you understand cat language, you discover that you know absolutely nothing about what they’re saying. Basically, the translations above should have been variations on:

GRACIE: “Hey! I’m stuck in the closet! Let me out!”
TIGGER: “Hey! Gracie’s stuck in the closet! Let her out!”

This was, without a doubt, my most annoying shower ever. I’m thinking it was Gracie’s most annoying one as well.

The picture in this post is of her in the kitchen pantry, where she’s liked to nest since she first came home from the vet’s after her long illness. I let her mess up the plastic bags because, well, I spoil her. She’s going to hate spring cleaning.

Yesterday, 63 people were murdered in Iraq by Muslim “insurgents”.
Yesterday, 7 people were murdered in Thailand by Muslim terrorists.

Yesterday, no people were murdered by Jewish terrorists.
Yesterday, no people were murdered by Christian terrorists.

Someone’s got the labels mixed up.