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This blog is a no-Israel-bashing zone (click for explanation)
Visit The Jewish View (my group weblog)
9/3/05
Kaff... kaff... pthew...
It looks like my old Sony may finally be giving up the ghost. I refuse to load Dreamweaver 2 on the new system, and don't have a copy of 4 (which I was using), won't buy the newer version at this point because, well, I'm still broke, even though I have that better, newer, higher-paying job (what with Rome not being built in a day, nor my debt going away in two and a half weeks), and, damn, I'm in one of those really long sentences again. Oh. I'm coding in--get this--Notepad. (Shoot, where's that emdash code? Dammit. Well, I'll fix it later.) Anyway, the WordPress blog that I've been working on? It may be up sooner than I had thought. Which would be fine, but I also need to figure out how to get Thunderbird to recognize my email. It won't let me browse to the directory I stored it, and I suspect it's looking for an older version of Netscape on this machine. It can look as long as it likes; it won't find it there. It's on my old machine, and, well, I haven't figured out how to make it search there, what with the network dying as soon as I shut down and never coming back again and, oh, never mind. If anyone knows how to make Thunderbird browse to another directory that isn't listed in the dropdown menu options it gives you, I'd love to hear it. Because I'm about to use Outlook, and I don't really want to. Too many ways to get viruses. The good news is that I can still get my email because I set it up on this computer some time ago. The bad news is all my old email is currently unreadable. I'm pretty sure it's simply a matter of reloading Windows on the Sony, but hey, I've been using both computers for far too long, and this is going to kickstart me into using the new one only. And getting my blog software up to date. Once again, Netscape 4.7 readers, you'll still be able to read this blog, but it will be really ugly, and also standards-compatible. Then again, I'm also shaking the dust off my CSS and HTML skills at my new job, so this blog may get very, very pretty and fun to use for those of you with standards-compatible browsers. Here's a hint: IE is not standards-compatible. I don't even use it anymore except when forced (like at work). Firefox kicks IE butt. I won't be working too hard on the computer today, though. It's gorgeous out, and this has been the first time all summer that the weather's been right and I've had the time to take the top off my Jeep. I'm going to have breakfast, then I'm going to take my top off (yeah, you love it when I write that), then I'm going to drive around Richmond and points suburban and try not to get sunburned today.
As for using up gas, I would like to point out that my original plans for this weekend were to drive to NJ, a 700-mile round trip. I cancelled them due to various reasons (gas shortage due to panic buying uppermost; getting stuck in Delaware is not my idea of a fun time. Though I admit a bit of civic responsibility came into the mix. I felt some duty to conserve gas, and my Jeep, while not a Range Rover, is not great on gas mileage). Instead, I shall be driving about 50 miles today, and probably about the same amount on Monday, a savings of some 35 gallons by my calculations. Holy crap, that's over $100 saved, not counting tolls. In any case, I'm off. I just physically picked Gracie up off the bed and put her outdoors to enjoy the sun while I'm home. Tig's been out since I came downstairs. So what are you doing inside? permalink
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9/2/05 Bombshell number one: The Israeli
and Pakistani foreign ministers met publicly, and of course, the pals
are seething. JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel hailed a diplomatic breakthrough
Thursday with Pakistan as the first fruit of its Gaza pullout and a
harbinger of warmer ties with other Muslim nations, after the first
public meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries. Yet the sudden public embrace of Israel by the world's
second-largest Muslim nation worried Palestinians, who warned that such
a prize was premature as long as Israel controls Gaza's borders, expands
West Bank settlements and tightens its hold on Jerusalem. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom met publicly
for the first time with Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri of Pakistan,
a Muslim country that has long taken a hard line against the Jewish
state, a development that both ministers linked to Israel's withdrawal
from the Gaza Strip. The meeting took place in the neutral site of Istanbul,
Turkey. Shalom hailed the meeting as a "historic first"
and said that with the Gaza withdrawal, it was "time for all of
the Muslim and Arab countries to reconsider their relations with Israel." Turkey is another Muslim country that currently has good ties with Israel.
While it's a good thing that the meeting occurred, I will remind my readers
that Pakistan is a dictatorship, and the people have been trying to murder
or overthrow Musharraf for years. If he dies, so does this newfound relationship
with Israel. There's talk that Musharraf and Sharon will
meet soon. That's a fascinating development, but once again, I point
out that Musharraf is a dictator. I think the Madrassas speak more for
the public opinion in that nation than he does. Bombshell number two: Israel is freezing
construction on Ma'aleh Adumim. JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel has frozen plans to expand
its largest West Bank settlement and will only revive the project with
U.S. consent, Israel's vice premier said in remarks published Friday,
addressing an explosive issue that could determine the future of disputed
Jerusalem and Mideast peacemaking. Why stop
building in Jerusalem now, right after Sharon insisted Israel would
never give up Ma'aleh Adumim? Olmert said that Israel made the commitment to the
Americans several months ago when final approval of the plan, known
as E1, seemed imminent. At the same time, the deputy prime minister stressed
that in the future Israel will definitely go ahead with the project,
although, with elections on the horizon, he pointedly declined to commit
to a date, and said such a move would come only after consultations
with the Americans. "It is absolutely clear that at a certain point
in the future Israel will create continuity between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh
Adumim, and so there is not even an argument that in the end we will
have to build the project," he said. "When the conditions are ripe, we will raise the
issue with the Americans again," he said, adding "it is clear
we will not do anything behind the back of the Americans." Say, is there any illegal building going on in the area? Olmert noted that the construction of a new police
station in the area, which received final government approval this week,
would help in cracking down on illegal Palestinian building in the vicinity
– construction that could prevent the realization of the plan in
the future. Oh, so the palestinians are trying to create "facts on the ground,"
eh? Funny how nobody's screaming about illegal palestinian building. But
then again, they destroyed Joseph's Tomb and nobody raise a peep. Except
for Jews, of course. This is a huge item, and I'm not calling Olmert a liar, but there has
to be much, much more behind this. I'm starting to think a whole hell
of a lot of deals have been struck between W. and Israel lately, and we
don't know the half of them. permalink
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9/1/05 Katrina Aid blogburst and links Glenn's got the
most extensive list of links. I can't match that, but I thought you
all could paste the links to your favorite charities in the comments to
this post, or trackback to your post, or whatever you think would be helpful. A quick tutorial on how to insert a link into text: <a href="http://www.mylink.com">REPLACE THIS TEXT WITH
WHAT YOU WANT THE LINK TO SAY</a> If you cut and paste that exactly, change "mylink.com" to your
link, and change the text in caps to what you'd like the link to read
(e.g., "This is my favorite link!"), you'll have a link to text
in the comments intstead of a long URL. I saw one on Charles'
site (go there and scroll, there are links to many charities) from
a Jewish reader: Jewish Hurricane Relief: Chabad-Lubavitch
of Louisiana. Put as many links to charities or to your own blogs in the comments.
This is free link time, as long as it's all Katrina-related. Update from Rahel: Miriam
at Bloghead has a list of Jewish organizations that
are collecting donations for hurricane relief. Noah's
Wish: disaster rescue for animals Punditeria: A grassroots rescue and relief effort by LGF
readers on the scene Strengthen the Good, which will match donations to the Red Cross
up to a certain amount (see their site for more information). permalink
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Sometimes you feel like a nut: There has
to be a break in the tragedy. I figured that since I have to behave myself
at my new job (at least until they really get to know me), I can't quite
let them know how crazy I can be, but I sure as hell can do it on my blog.
Of course, if they read my blog, I'm s.o.l., but hey. That's life. Millions and millions of cicada butts: Yes,
butts. On my way into the building where I work this morning, I saw a
cicada on the ground starting to make the patented, yet extremely annoying,
cicada noise. Now, I'm sure I could have looked this up, or watched some
documentary somewhere to get the answer, but instead, I decided to stop
and watch Mr. Cicada, because I had no idea how they made such an offensive
noise, and I thought I'd see if I couldn't spy out the secret. So I stopped.
And watched. Mr. Cicada's butt started vibrating. The cicada noise grew
stronger. The butt started pointing skyward. The noise grew louder. The
butt pointed higher still, vibrating faster, and the pure, loud, effing
annoying cicada noise surrounded me. And I realized, holy crap—all
that noise you hear all day and all night long through the sweltering
summers—it's coming from a cicada's butt. When you come right
down to it, the cicadas really are blowing smoke through their asses.
So to speak. Changing sleep patterns: Gracie is a cat
of habit so strong that she refused to sleep on my bed the entire time
I lived in Montclair, because I had moved the nighttable to the other
side of the bed from where it was in Bloomfield, and so slept on a different
side of the bed. Unlike Tig, who said, "Oh, okay, I'll sleep on this
side now," Gracie never slept in my bed while I lived in that apartment.
Then, when I moved to Richmond and the nighttable reappeared to the left
of the bed, Gracie reappeared on the bed. Tig sleeps on my right, Gracie
sleeps at the foot of the bed but comes for a bellyrub on the right. Except
now Tig's been sleeping at the foot of the bed on her side, because
that's where the fan is, so she's decided to sleep on the left-hand side
of the bed. But she hates it when I move around, so I have to move a foot
or so towards the middle if she wants to sleep in the bed. Are you still
following me? Good, because I'm lost. The upshot of this is that the cats have pushed me to the middle of the
bed, because I'm such a soft touch that I will move my feet if
Gracie wants to sleep in the bed. So now I have to reach a lot farther
to turn off the clock radio in the morning. Then again, I've been waking
to a double-sided plea for bellyrubs, too. Waking up to a pair of purring
kitties isn't half bad. 30-second TV and movie reviews: I've been
watching Boston Legal. I didn't watch it last year because The Practice
had grown so ridiculous it annoyed me. BIG mistake. Boston Legal is great.
The premise starts with an out-there group of attorneys, so I'm not annoyed
at how unrealistic it is. I just laugh my ass off at the goings-on, which
are quite funny. Hey, I found a new David Kelly show to watch. Big cheer! I caught some entertainment special on Jennifer Aniston, and it mentioned
her performance in The Good Girl. Well, it was on over the weekend, and
wow, they weren't kidding. It's a great movie, and she's great in it.
Highly recommended. Anderson Cooper is an idiot. I caught his Hurricane Cooper routine. He
was crouched behind a mailbox or something, talking about how dangerous
it was to be out there. He was holding a metal pipe. To prove how strong
the winds were, he let it go. A metal pipe. Into hurricane-force winds.
One has to wonder if that metal pipe wound up inside anyone's sternum. Schmuck. permalink
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8/31/05 American courts froze
PA funds due to a lawsuit
over victims of a PA suicide bombing. Yes! (Lair mentioned this yesterday.) It's never enough: The pals are going to claim that Gaza is occupied
even after full withdrawal. And they will also go after the fence
at the UN. Looks like the pals are going with the Shebaa Farms defense,
thanks to the assholes at State that agree with Hizbullah. Gee, there's a surprise: The IDF says the PA has plenty
of weapons. What made you think so? All those pictures of hooded men
in guns at PA rallies, maybe? And I'm out. permalink
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Hurricane Katrina relief roundup Katrina is looking to be the worst natural disaster in American history.
Others are concentrating on the news. I'm just going to pass along some
links to help. Harrison has a link to send funds for the
animal victims of Hurricane Katrina. And if you're worried about donating
to the American Red Cross, don't
be. They're not the ICRC, and have never taken part in the ICRC's discrimination
against Israel. Send money if you can afford it, supplies if you can't.
Check your local charities. I'm sure a great relief effort is going on
all over the nation. Michele is collecting good
news about the hurricane. Heartwarming reading. Glenn has a collection of links
to relief efforts that will be staying on top of Instapundit for a
while. He also has a collection of links for those seeking
information on relatives. Overall, I think our city disaster relief plans need a bit of work. They've
declared martial Law in New Orleans, yet there is widespread looting,
and the police are simply not available to waste their time on looters
while there are lives to be saved. permalink
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8/30/05 You say it like this is a bad thing: Reuters
is unhappy. Reuters is also a bit shrill. In a
story filed under "World Crises," they say that President
Bush has the nerve to expect Mahmoud Abbas to stop his people from murdering
Jews. EL MIRAGE, Ariz., Aug 29 (Reuters) - President George
W. Bush stepped up pressure on the Palestinians one day after a suicide
bomb attack, urging Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday to
show the courage to crack down on terrorism. Bush praised Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
for pulling Jewish settlers out of Gaza, saying this was a first step
toward creating a democracy for Palestinians. "It took political courage to make that decision,"
Bush said during a speech in El Mirage, Arizona. "And now it's going to take political courage
by the Palestinians and ... Abbas to step up, reject violence, reject
terrorism and build a democracy," he added. The horrors! The horrors! Ow, it hurts! Wow, Reuters has a skewed sense of reality. But then, we already knew
that. It must be irony day: The Egyptians say
they
will not rest until the palestinians have a state in Gaza and the
West Bank. You know, the world could have been saved a lot of trouble
if Egypt and Jordan hadn't kept Gaza and the West Bank for themselves
between 1948 and 1967. Effing hypocrites. Israel steps up: Israel has relocated
an entire village from Gaza. But you already knew that, right? Wrong.
These are Arabs who have been accused of collaboration with Israel, and
who would doubtless be murdered by their fellow citizens of the new palestinian-controlled
Gazaland. (Or will it be Yasserland?). They're in temporary quarters now
and will be given the same benefits as Israeli citizens who were just
evacuated from Hellholeland, er, Gaza. Once more, Israel proves her morals
are far superior to the palestinians. Once more, the world will ignore
it. Newsweek gets the terrorist interview: No
time to read the whole
thing, but the excerpt is chilling. There will be no peace until Hamas
(among others) is destroyed. What truce? Let's see, boy
tries to smuggle bombs past checkpoint, check. Another smuggling
tunnel in Rafah, check. Soldiers
shot by terrorists, check. This is the "shaky truce" that
Israel risks every time she captures or kills a terrorist, but that is
never put at risk by terrorist attacks. permalink
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8/29/05 Iran's undeclared war against Israel: The
rockets fired from Lebanon last week were made
in Iran. No surprise there, but the continued silence from the world
about the influence of Iran on Lebanon, and the resulting aggression against
Israel, is deafening. Not that I expect otherwise. The President says palestinian terror must cease:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but will he follow through? Jerusalem of Gold: You can't have it, Abu
Merang. Whine all you like, but the "fight"
for Jerusalem is over. And Israel won. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia told the PA
cabinet Sunday that the "fight has begun for Jerusalem." Meeting in the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis instead
of its usual hall in Ramallah, Qureia accused Israel of building the
West Bank security fence in order to trap Palestinians in a "ghetto". "Dozens of Palestinian settlements will be in
this ghetto as a result of Israel's racist plans intended to push West
Bank Palestinians off their land. We will never agree to this,"
he said. PR campaign The cabinet meeting was intended to open a PA public
relations campaign against the fence, especially in the Jerusalem area.
Ministers viewed a presentation about settlement expansion around Jerusalem,
according to which, thousands of new apartments are planned in the Maaleh
Adumim and Gush Etzion areas. Never again will Muslims prevent
Jews from worshipping at the remains of our Temple. (By the way, this
previous post was wrong. The fence encircles all of Jerusalem. It
isn't split.) Information, please: I didn't have time to read anything but the summaries,
but these
three
pieces
look like they're worth your time. Off to work, and thinking about all those in the path of the hurricane.
I hope the Superdome holds, and that the people who didn't make it out
of New Orleans stay safe. This is a
good site for regular updates. And by the way, the reporters who are
at ground zero? Idiots. You couldn't pay me to stay in the path of 150
mph winds. permalink
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8/28/05 May God help everyone in the hurricane's path. My thoughts and prayers
are with you. Stay safe. permalink
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These men are heroes. Bus driver Nissim Horesh said the terrorist approached
him and asked whether he was heading to the hospital. "I told him I don't stop there…I suspected
him, as he was carrying a heavy backpack and had a plastic bag in his
hands. I directed the security guard's attention to him. The guard arrived,
maintained eye contact with the terrorist, and called over another guard.
Then, the blast occurred." The first paramedic at the scene, Yaron Barel, told
Ynet: "I found two security guards who sustained serious injuries…they
prevented a disaster with their bodies." One of the guards is an Israeli
Arab. The villains? The bomber was a member of Islamic
Jihad. Mahmoud Abbas has supposedly
used the T-word to condemn this attack. I'll believe it when someone
who can read Arabic confirms it. RAMALLAH, August 28, 2005, (WAFA)- President Mahmoud
Abbas denounced Sunday the "anti civilians terrorist operation"
took place in the city of Beir Sheva' this morning. There are also the usual excuses made: In an official statement issued Sunday, Abbas asserted
on the necessity of calmness and self restraint despite the Israeli
provocations including the assassination of five Palestinian citizens
including three children three days ago in Tulkarem. He also called on the Israeli side to reiterate commitment
to quietness and to end assassinations and incursions in the Palestinian
territories. Funny, you didn't see that anywhere when Israelis were condemning the
two attacks on Arabs by Jews in recent weeks. On the contrary, they seemed
to try to outdo one another in condemnations. Not so, of course, the AP
report, which goes out of its way to blame
Israel's actions for the attack, as if a natural response to the capturing
and killing of terrorists is the murdering of numerous civilians. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. All
the major Palestinian militant groups had threatened to avenge an Israeli
raid in the West Bank last week that killed five Palestinians. In his
comments Sunday, Abbas suggested the raid had provoked the attack. Oh, so that's all right, then. Bastards. permalink
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Last week's blogs are archived.
Looking for the Buffy
Blogburst Index? Here's Israel
vs. the world. Here's the Blogathon.
The Superhero
Dating Ratings are here. If you're looking for something funny, try
the Hulk's
solution to the Middle East conflict, or Yas
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