While Tom is putting the podcast up, here’s a preview of something that I, er, borrowed from for my podcast. It’s funny, and language warnings are in effect. Not safe for work. But very funny.

There’s a site online for the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous that has stories of Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews from the Holocaust. I think these stories will make an excellent counterpart to the incredibly depressing news of the day. And so, I bring you Alena Divisova, a young woman in the Czech Republic who provided false IDs to save her friends from the Nazis, and protected Jews throughout the war at great risk to herself.

Prague, Czechoslovakia…1942 - After finishing school, Alena Divisova and Charlotte Bloch-Kostenbaum worked as apprentices in a dressmaker’s shop. Charlotte was planning on emigrating to Palestine and was active in a Zionist youth group. Through Charlotte, Alena became friends with many young Jewish people. In 1942, nine of her Jewish friends decided not to report for deportations, but rather to go into hiding or pass as Christians.

Alena provided false identity documents to Charlotte and her friends so that they would be able to walk freely, work “legally,” and be eligible to receive food rations. On several occasions, Alena snuck into the Terezin ghetto to deliver food.

In the fall of 1943, Ernst Kruh, one of the nine who did not report for deportation, returned to Prague from Berlin. He brought Josef Matejicek, a friend that he had met in Berlin, whom the Gestapo had been looking for since 1939. Alena hid the two men for several months. Somehow the authorities learned of Alena’s aid to Josef and arrested her on March 28, 1944. She was imprisoned until May 1945.

Meanwhile, Erna Friesova, another of Alena’s nine friends, and three other Jewish girls, escaped a death transport and traveled back to Prague. Alena’s parents hid the four girls in their weekend hut on the outskirts of Prague.

Of the nine Jewish friends, two died in Auschwitz. The other seven survived the war. Alena is in her 80s and continues to live in Prague.

There is something to be said for America being the freest of the free lands. Especially when you read this paragraph at the very end of an article about the Australian elections:

Participating in elections is compulsory under Australian law and more than 13.5 million people were expected to vote.

Yes, voting is compuslory in Australia. Why?

Compulsory voting was introduced in 1924 [3]. The immediate impetus for compulsory voting at federal level was the low voter turnout (59.38%) [1] in the federal elections of 1922. Voting is compulsory both at federal elections and at elections for the state and territory legislatures. In some states voting at municipal elections is also compulsory. About 5% of enrolled voters fail to vote at most elections. People in this situation are asked to explain their failure to vote. If no satisfactory reason is provided (for example, illness or religious prohibition), a relatively small fine is imposed ($20-$70)[4] , and failure to pay the fine may result in a court hearing.

So how do you refuse to vote? You put a blank piece of paper in the box.

I would say, “God save us from the idiocies of compulsory voting,” but it isn’t God who would save us. It is the American traditions and ideals. I really love our “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do!” attitude, and I hope that it prevents our nation from becoming the nanny-staters that Europe has become, and that Australia apparently doesn’t have a problem with.

One of the things that comes of being a democracy is allowing your people to decide whether or not they’re going to vote. You can’t force people to think the way you want. You would think that Australia would get a clue. Eighty-three years of compulsory voting… damn. I’d probably not vote every year just for the principle of the thing.

The conference hasn’t even begun, and Hamas is already threatening more terrorist attacks after it’s over.

Hamas will step up attacks against Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank after a US-hosted peace conference next week, an official said in a statement on its website Saturday.

“The period that will follow the Annapolis conference will witness an increase of the resistance against the Zionist occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” said Mussa Abu Marzuq, top aide to Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal.

“The Annapolis conference has two objectives: to help shore up (Israeli Prime Minister) Ehud Olmert after his defeat in the south of Lebanon and secondly to cover up for American plans of a war against Iran,” he said.

I think that’s pretty much an admission that Hamas is in Tehran’s pocket, which we, well, already knew. And just to prove they’re serious, they’re holding a counter-conference of terrorist groups this Monday.

On the other hands, Hamas Movement called the Arab countries not to normalize their relations with Israel and not to give any up during the conference that is expected to be held November 27. In a progressive step, the movement announced that it holds in Gaza a counter-conference. The movement said that it holds this conference backed by Islamic Al Jihad and other Palestinian factions. This counter-conference will be succeeded by a mass rally Tuesday, to be coincided with the starting of the conference’s works. In a similar move, the Popular and Democratic Front of Palestine Liberation and Islamic Jihad Party hold a counter-conference in Gaza without Hamas participation.

How much you want to be that the Gaza conference calls for the destruction of the Jewish State? Any takers? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?