Pat Buchanan: The neo-Nazi is out of the closet

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck—it’s an effing duck. (H/T: Charles.)

On June 29th, MSNBC personality and three-time presidential candidate Pat Buchanan appeared on a neo-Nazi radio program to promote his new revisionist history of the Second World War, Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World. James Edwards is the host of the program “Political Cesspool,” the stated mission of which is to “represent a philosophy that is pro-White.” Edwards and his colleauges seek “to revive the White birthrate above replacement level fertility and beyond to grow the percentage of Whites in the world relative to other races” and believe that “Secession is a right of all people and individuals. It was successful in 1776 and this show honors those who tried to make it successful in 1865.”

According to the researchers at the Anti-Defamation League, who listened to the show, Buchanan defended Charles Lindbergh, saying, “…his reputation has been blackened because of a single speech he gave and a couple of paragraphs in it where he said that … the Jewish community is beating the drums for war … but frankly, no one has said what he said was palpably untrue.”

Buchanan is in good company. Perusing the guest list of Political Cesspool, one sees Willis Carto, (perhaps the most prominent anti-Semite in America), Mark Weber (Director of the Institute for Historical Review, a Holocaust denial outfit) and Jared Taylor, the editor of American Renaissance, a eugenicist publication. A political cesspool indeed. Calling Buchanan a “brownshirt” a few weeks ago may have seemed a little impertinent at the time, but it’s entirely accurate.

A quick reference to the Wikipedia entry on Lindbergh gives you some idea about his thoughts on Jews. They’re not unlike Buchanan’s, I think.

Lindbergh’s reaction to Kristallnacht was entrusted to his diary: “I do not understand these riots on the part of the Germans,” he wrote. “It seems so contrary to their sense of order and intelligence. They have undoubtedly had a difficult ‘Jewish problem,’ but why is it necessary to handle it so unreasonably?”

In his diaries, he wrote: “We must limit to a reasonable amount the Jewish influence… Whenever the Jewish percentage of total population becomes too high, a reaction seems to invariably occur. It is too bad because a few Jews of the right type are, I believe, an asset to any country.”

So let’s take a look at what our newly uncloseted neo-Nazi has to say about the Jews, from his piece titled, “Who’s Planning Our Next War?”

Yet Israel is even today pushing Bush into a pre-emptive war with a naked threat to attack Iran itself should Bush refuse the cup.

[…] Ehud Olmert came home from a June meeting with Bush to tell Israelis: “We reached agreement on the need to take care of the Iranian threat. … I left with a lot less question marks regarding the means, the timetable restrictions and American resoluteness. …

“George Bush understands the severity of the Iranian threat and the need to vanquish it, and intends to act on the matter before the end of his term. … The Iranian problem requires urgent attention, and I see no reason to delay this just because there will be a new president in the White House seven and a half months from now.”

If Bush is discussing war on Iran with Ehud Olmert, why is he not discussing it with Congress or the nation?

[…] Moving through Congress, powered by the Israeli lobby, is House Resolution 362, which demands that President Bush impose a U.S. blockade of Iran, an act of war.

Is it not time the American people were consulted on the next war that is being planned for us?

Blaming the Jews: Check. Blaming Israel: Check. Blaming “the Israel lobby”: Check. Implying that Israel and/or Jews are running American foreign policy: Check.

You could easily interchange Lindbergh’s and Buchanan’s words and not know which was speaking. No wonder Buchanan defended Lindbergh on a neo-Nazi radio station. They’re brothers-in-ideology, separated by a few decades.

And in case you’re thinking that people are exaggerating about neo-Nazi quotient of the radio program, here are some quotes from the host’s blog:

At any rate, it’s nice to see that, while Jews in the government, media, and among the neocons work feverishly to get America to attack one Muslim country after another because of “Islamofascism” and “the Muslim threat to Israel”, other Jews are condemning white Europeans for not warmly welcoming tens of millions of these same Muslims into their midst.

Oh, but there’s more:

Jews have always been the biggest pushers of interracial marriage in America. Not for themselves, of course, and God forbid interracial marriage should be legal in Israel! But, as Greenberg makes plain, Jews think white people people marrying blacks should happen a lot.

This one’s just too-too:

Boy, here’s a surprise. A homosexual Jew editor over at The New Republic doesn’t like Pat Buchanan’s new book on World War II.

That’s about as much hate as I can take in one sitting.

Remember when I said just a few weeks ago that Buchanan had gone about as low as he could go? I was wrong. He’s now fully down in the gutter with the Jew-hating scum, and no longer bothering to hide it. (I wonder if Michael Kinsley would like to change his assertion that Buchanan doesn’t have a problem with Jews.) Buchanan is now openly on David Duke’s level, and in fact, has now spoken on the radio station that proudly interviewed David Duke as well. The question is, will NBC finally fire him?

Debbie Schlussel has quite a lot of stories about her personal experiences with Buchanan’s Jew-baiting. Why is it that the news shows seem to think Buchanan is immune, but sportscasters like Jimmy the Greek get fired for racist remarks?

Oh, wait. I forgot. It’s The Exception Clause. Bigoted statements are cause for immediate firing, except when made about Jews.

Time for the Yourish.com mantra: Anti-Semites of the world, just die already.

Posted in Anti-Semitism | Tagged | 7 Comments

AP bias: What’s in a word?

You know, I’m starting to see a pattern here.

In this unbylined article about the Palestinian Prime Minister’s reaction to Israel’s raid on Hamas in the West Bank, you get this headline:

Palestinian premier criticizes Israeli raids

It’s not a bad headline at all. It’s descriptive, gets the point across quickly, and uses the right words. But then we get the update, which now carries a byline:

Palestinian PM derides Israeli raids in West Bank

So what’s the difference between “criticize” and “deride”?

A lot. A whole lot.

Criticize:

1 : to consider the merits and demerits of and judge accordingly : evaluate
2 : to find fault with : point out the faults of

Deride:

1 : to laugh at contemptuously
2 : to subject to usually bitter or contemptuous ridicule

“Derides” isn’t nearly the correct word for this headline. It is so far off that it reeks of anti-Israel media bias. Not that I’m very surprised. Why is it that the spin always seems to go more negative when our Arab and Muslim pals have the rewrite duties?

And why is it that the AP editors in charge of okaying these headlines don’t think the word “derides” is the wrong word for this headline?

Sorry. Rhetorical question. I couldn’t help but deride the AP over this.

Posted in AP Media Bias, Israel | Tagged , | Comments Off on AP bias: What’s in a word?

The AP’s moral equivalency problem

See if you can figure out what AP’s moral equivalency problem is.

An Israel-Hamas truce has boiled down to a simple tradeoff: For a day of calm, Israel adds five truckloads of cows and 200 tons of cement to its shipment of the barest basics to Gaza, but also punishes sporadic rocket fire by resealing the territory for a day.

[…] On Tuesday, each side blamed the other for lack of progress.

Hamas has not reined in all militants, particularly those from rival groups, and the Israeli army says 15 rockets and mortars have been fired since the truce took effect June 19, including a mortar shell Tuesday. Lt. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said Hamas’ failure is slowing a broader opening of the crossings.

Hamas says Israel closed border crossings for seven of 17 days of post-truce operations. “The calm is not shaky. The Israeli commitment to the calm is shaky,” said Said Siyam, a senior Hamas official, before heading to Cairo for more truce talks with Egyptian officials.

And despite some attempts to defuse tensions, both sides have stuck to pre-truce behavior.

In Gaza, an explosion went off Tuesday in a Hamas military training camp, an apparent “work accident” that killed two militants and appeared to confirm Israeli fears that the group is using a lull to rearm. In the West Bank city of Nablus, Israel ordered an entire shopping mall shut down by August as an alleged Hamas front.

Have you got the gist of it yet? Because I’ll put it in plain English. According to the AP, Israel is not fulfilling the truce by trying to shut down Hamas terror supporters in the West Bank, which is not part of the truce agreement. Meantime, Hamas is not fulfilling the truce by allowing “sporadic” rocket fire from Gaza into Israel. And notice the subtleties in this article (which is by our pal Ibrahim Barzak, with a joint byline from Karin Laub). Notice that several Palestinians are named and quoted directly. Israel is quoted as “the Israeli army says,” even when there is a named spokesman in the same paragraph. And in that paragraph, the named spokesman is not directly quoted. He is paraphrased, once again showing how the media dehumanize Israel at every turn. There are no quotes from, say, someone living in one of the Israeli areas that are still under rocket and mortar fire. But there is a quote from a Palestinian truck driver, a “senior Hamas official,” and the head of the Gaza Contractors Association. Because the narrative is always about the poor, poor, pitiful Pals. And the AP takes one of the more important quotes and buries it in the very last paragraph, usually the first one that newspapers cut when they need space:

Abu Shanab, the Gaza trucker who earns just $30 dollars for a day’s work at Sufa, said the militants need to start thinking about ordinary Gazans.

“We ask them to take into consideration that we live in a very bad situation,” said the father of eight. “If they fire one rocket, it means we go backwards.”

Funny how those quotes never make it into the lead.

And one more funny: Here’s a howler the AP editorial staff missed.

Later, an Israeli soldier captured by Gaza militants two years ago is to be freed in a prisoner swamp under the deal.

Actually, I like the idea of a prisoner swamp for terrorists. Filled with alligators, please.

Posted in AP Media Bias, Gaza, Hamas, Israel | Tagged | 2 Comments

Israel: cancelled

Those moderate voices from Iran continue to reverberate throughout the world:

Iranian calls for the destruction of Israel are almost routine these days. But for a former official of the Islamic Republic to call for the destruction of the Jewish state in the city where the Holocaust was planned adds a repugnant twist – especially as the German government sponsored the event that gave the man from Tehran a Western stage.

At a conference on the Mideast in Berlin on Wednesday, Muhammad Javad Ardashir Larijani said the “Zionist project,” which has “created only violence and atrocities,” should be “canceled.” Mr. Larijani, a former deputy foreign minister, is the brother of Iran’s former nuclear negotiator and current parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani.

And it would appear that their words speak to their intent:

I believed then, as I do now, that the mullahs would never abandon their ambitions, and that after 29 years of negotiations by Europe and world powers, the world has yet to understand that the mullahs will not change direction or behavior. In the early ’90s, the senior Bush administration and the CIA finally realized they were being duped — the mullahs’ promises never materialized. The CIA asked me to look for an Iranian who could testify that Iran was in the process of making a nuclear bomb. That request was later withdrawn.

Iran remains the main sponsor of terrorism around the world. Iranian consulates, embassies, airlines, and shipping line offices are the main hub for terrorist activities. Money, arms, and explosives are transferred through these centers to fund terrorist groups and jihadists. Quds Force units of the Revolutionary Guards use the Iranian consulates as their command and control centers to plan and carry out assassinations, kidnappings, and terrorist activities. The mullahs even transferred money and arms in state visits using their high-ranking officials, knowing full well that because of diplomatic immunity they would not be subject to search during such visits. As I reported to the CIA, these activities were closely coordinated through Iran’s foreign ministry, the ministry of intelligence, and the Revolutionary Guards.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Iran, Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome | Tagged | 1 Comment

Today’s moment of kitty zen

When the world is simply too depressing for words, there are always: Cat pictures.

Today’s moment of kitty zen: Orange kitten asleep on black leather sofa.

Tig on the sofa

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.

I am happy to report that the kitty flatulence problem that has plagued me since I got Tig3.0 has been resolved. The vet gave me antibiotics, and after a few days of rubbing goop into Tig’s ears, he no longer farts. You have no idea how much more pleasant it is around here. For a tiny little kitten, that boy could really stink up a room. He tended to fart right after he ate. And his favorite thing to do after eating? Cuddle with mama. I expect that’s because it reduced the nose-to-fart distance. He would also let fly if he got excited, like, say, if we were playing.

I was highly offended by Tig’s farting. Flatulence is a dog thing, not a cat thing. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, the vets out there with medical information can keep quiet on this subject and let me rant, please.) I have never had a flatulent cat before, or even met one, and I’ve known plenty of cats in my lifetime. So I am quite pleased to be able to retire Tig’s fart nicknames. (“Little fartster,” “stinker” “my little stinkbomb” and “fartman” were just a few of them.)

Tig had a playdate today. Sarah lent me one of her children to help socialize my little ex-stinker. She dropped Nate off this afternoon, and Tig reacted with utter horror and immediately hid. I spent some time with Tig and Nate, getting them used to each other, and showing Nate how to play with a kitten without getting mauled. Nate persevered enough so that I was able to go downstairs and work while listening to strange noises from upstairs. I’m used to kitten noise, but not “Boy meets kitten” noise. They had a grand old time. Laser pointer, paper wad, ping pong balls, string, any toy that Nate found upstairs that Tig reacted to was in use. Gracie even popped in on Nate to say hello. She likes Nate. She actually likes all of Sarah’s kids, just not all at once.

Gracie has started coming upstairs again, but she’s such a wuss that when Tig reacts with joy and runs up to her, he winds up inadvertently (and literally) chasing her down the stairs. But at least she’s getting less negative. She no longer hisses and swats every time he comes into reach—only when he oversteps his bounds and annoys her. (Which is pretty much every day, but hey—they’re getting along better.) I think it’s because I sleep with the bedroom door open again. Tig took exactly two nights to figure out that if he leaves me alone when I’m sleeping, he can stay in the bed. If he jumps at everything that moves, he gets locked out of the room. So from time to time, I wake up to see a Tigger on the pillow next to me again. Except this one is able to use the entire pillow as a cushion, whereas Tig the Second used to use the pillow as a pillow for his head. He doesn’t purr as loudly as the last Tig (or the first Tig, for that matter), but he’s still just a baby. He may grow into it.

I do still miss Tig, but a lot less than a few months ago. Tig3 is a worthy successor.

Posted in Cats | Tagged | 5 Comments

Still the Samir?

Given the sympathy that the Washington Post once showed for Samir Kuntar in a news story, the editorial An Unwelcome Hero was welcome, if flawed.

If anyone ever deserved the title “baby-killer,” it is Samir Kuntar. Yet his freedom has been a popular demand in Lebanon and the cause of Lebanon-based gunslingers for almost three decades. Abbas’s gang hijacked the Achille Lauro in 1985 in a failed effort to win Mr. Kuntar’s release. After Abbas faded into semi-retirement in Saddam Hussein’s Baghdad, Hezbollah took up the Kuntar cause, attempting to get Israel to swap him for bodies of Israelis killed in Hezbollah raids.

That’s correct, however, I’m a bit troubled by the conclusion:

Great changes must take place across the Middle East before a lasting peace can be achieved. Israel must make territorial compromises and foster a dignified future for the Palestinians. But attitudes among Israel’s enemies must be transformed as well. A good place to start would be to declare that people such as Samir Kuntar deserve to rot in prison, no matter what the religion or nationality of the children they kill.

I’m not bothered by their wish that Kuntar rot in jail instead of seeing him executed; the Post’s editors don’t believe in the death penalty. It’s the mantra about great changes and how Israel must make “territorial compromises” and “foster a dignified future,” these are both programs that Israel has been engaged in for the past 15 years. For the Post’s correct complaint about Lebanon and Hezbollah it ignores the bigger problem: Kuntar and terrorists like him are heroes even to the so-called Palestinian “moderates.” For there to be peace in the Middle East great changes are necessary, but the greatest change is the acceptance by the Arabs generally, and the Palestinians specifically, of the Israel’s right to exist. Fifteen years of peace processing and Israeli concessions have not changed that fundamental problem.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel, Israeli Double Standard Time, Media, Media Bias, Terrorism | Tagged | 1 Comment

Israel’s surrender, cont’d.

The terms of the truce are clear. Hamas is to stop all attacks from Gaza. No more mortars, no more kassams, no more attempts to kill Israelis. In return, Israel opens the crossings and sends in more goods.

Hamas keeps allowing mortars and kassams to be fired, or fires the rockets themselves. Israel closes the crossings. So what happens? Egypt begs Israel to ignore the fact that deadly missiles are raining down on its territory, and open the crossings anyway. And Israel caves.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday instructed the defense establishment to reopen the goods crossings into the Gaza Strip following a personal request made by Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman. The crossings will reopen partially on Tuesday afternoon.

According to the new decision, the crossings will operate several hours, rather than the entire day. The elements involved in the issue will form a proper plan, setting the list of priorities for the entry of goods into Gaza.

Oh, there’s tough talk.

“At the moment, our response is closing the truce. If needed, we will take other measures. It must be clear that any rocket, of any kind, is a clear violation of the agreement and we shall not ignore it,” a defense source said.

But there is only talk. Meantime, Hamas is training its terrorists on better ways to murder Israelis.

At least two Palestinians were killed on Tuesday morning in an explosion in a training camp for Hamas armed wing in southern Gaza Strip, security and medical sources said.

“The paramedics evacuated two dead bodies and two wounded persons and we expect more casualties because the blast destroyed the whole facility,” said Muawia Hassanien of the Health Ministry ambulance department.

The training center is located in a former Israeli settlement in Khan Younis city in southern Gaza Strip. Security sources confirmed there was training when the explosion occurred.

And here’s the kicker of the Xinhua piece:

Since Israel refused to deal with Hamas government, most of the projects to rebuild the empty former settlement was halted and the large spaces turned into training camps for the different Palestinian militant groups.

Meantime, the world has flooded yet more money into the Palestinian coffers, and the leaders of the PA are begging for more all the time. Funny how none of that money seems to be reaching the Palestinian poor.

The international community has paid out nearly a billion dollars in direct aid to the Palestinians in six months, officials of the International Donors’ Conference for the Palestinian State said here late Monday, while hitting out at Israeli restrictions on movement by Palestinians.

The chair and the co-chairs of the Paris conference, which last December came up with pledges of donations totalling 7.7 billion dollars over three years, ‘strongly welcomed’ the process of disbursing the funds.

Money is raining in, and the economy of the Palestinians is not improving. Who is at fault? Why, Israel, of course.

But ‘restrictions by the Government of Israel on Palestinian movement and access continue to weigh heavily on the economic outlook.

‘Without a significant lifting of such barriers in the West Bank, and a relaxation of the restrictions on humanitarian and commercial flows to the Gaza Strip, there is a much-reduced prospect for private sector recovery, public and private investment programmes will continue to be delayed, and consequently any economic recovery will continue to be inhibited.’

Thank you, Tony Blair. It’s obvious you haven’t learned a thing since you left office. Because your Palestinian partners aren’t showing one whit of evidence that they are changing. Not at all.

In a series of reports published in the ‘al-Hayat al-Jadida’ newspaper Israel is accused of poisoning Palestinian prisoners in its custody and conducting “medical experiments’ on them.

[…] “Many of the male and female prisoners were given injections from needles they had never seen before, that led to permanent hair loss and facial hair loss. There are prisoners who have lost their sight and their sense, those who have lost their sanity and those whose mental condition is increasingly deteriorating, there are prisoners who have become barren and cannot reproduce,” the article said.

This is the official Palestinian media. In other words, international donors are paying for incitement against Israel, something that the world has never truly had a problem with. Europe is once again subsidizing the murder of Jews. Only this time, they get to pretend that they have nothing to do with it.

Thus ends your depressing post of the day. Geez. No wonder I want to discuss ice cream vendors instead of this.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, palestinian politics, Terrorism | Tagged | 2 Comments

Authority without accountibility

After Arafat died, a number of news articles appeared reporting on how pragmatic Hamas politicians were. The gist of the articles was that though Hamas was known as a terrorist organization, there was no denying that the politicians from Hamas were excellent administrators, who were only working for the betterment of the Palestinians.

Consider this or this. The level of credulity is astonishing. The media, aware of the popularity of Hamas went into deep denial mode. If Hamas is popular it can’t because its sworn to Israel’s destruction and launches terror attacks against Israeli civilians. If that’s true what does that say about the peaceful intentions of the Palestinians who support Hamas?! It must be that they’re popular because Hamas is honest whereas Fatah was corrupt.

Of course over the intervening years we’ve read how Hamas smuggles huge sums of money into Gaza or how it intimidates Christians and journalists or how it attacks the Nahal Oz terminal, and anyone who’s the least bit aware must realize that Hamas is likely no more honest than Fatah.

Though I disagree with some of his analysis, I felt some vindication when I read this observation by Gen. Amnon Lipkin-Shahak:

Since its takeover of Gaza, the organization has replaced Fatah in terms of corruption. Hamas members and officers are the only people with gas in their vehicles; they have the best jobs, and seem to be doing fine while the rest of the population struggles. Although it has made improvements in terms of law and order, Hamas does not offer much to the people.

Lesson: when you give terrorist thugs authority with no accountability they will be corrupt.

Related thoughts from Barry Rubin.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas | Tagged , | Comments Off on Authority without accountibility

Closing the crossings again

Another mortar, another truce violation, another pretend measure. The crossings are closed, but they’ll reopen, and the mortars will resume.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak ruled Monday against the reopening of Israel’s goods crossings with Gaza on Tuesday, in wake of Sunday’s mortar fire on Israel.

Palestinian gunmen fired a mortar shell at Karni crossing on noon Sunday. The rocket landed in an open area near the crossing causing no injuries or damage.

Barak’s order came just 48 hours after Israel reopened the crossings, in accordance to the ceasefire agreement brokered with the militant groups in the Gaza Strip.

Really, what’s the point? Barak isn’t going in in force, Olmert won’t order the IDF into Gaza in force, and Hamas is using the “truce” to re-arm, train, and regroup.

One of the main reasons Barak doesn’t want to go in is because there is no exit strategy. I read some time ago that the IDF thinks it’s pointless to go into Gaza without a plan for what happens after they’re done rooting out the Hamas infrastructure. Who will run Gaza? What happens after the IDF leaves? What if Hamas regroups?

Hello? Is this thing on? Leave. There will be that many fewer terrorists left to murder Israelis. Let Hamas lick their wounds. Because in the past, when the IDF has gone after Hamas in force, Hamas has sued for a real truce.

But hey, what do I know? I’m just an observer who gets to write the same posts over and over again. Think I’m kidding? Go look in my archives.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel | Tagged | 1 Comment

My, how big you’ve grown

Compare and contrast.

June 11:

Tig in the kitty condo in June

July 7:

Tig in the kitty condo in July

He’s a growing boy.

One of my coworkers is particularly impressed by the double-curl of Tig’s tail. She says she’s never seen that before. Here’s a better picture of it:

Tig and his curly tail

It’s a cat thing.

Posted in Cats | Tagged | 6 Comments

More girl stuff

Gentlemen, you may be excused. Don’t blame me if you don’t care for the content of this post. You have been warned by the title and the category and, well, this warning.

You know, I think we already discussed how I have reached that phase of my life where I would cheerfully strangle, well, everybody if they’re around me at the wrong time. And no, I’m not exaggerating. In fact, I would have had words with God Himself if He had the nerve to be around me two weekends ago. And they wouldn’t be kind words, either.

The weekend before last, I was furious with Ukrops because their U-Scan machine a) didn’t accept my putting canvas bags on the bag rack, b) didn’t have an attendant around to make the machine accept my bags and c) stopped allowing me to skip bagging after the sixth item so that I had to pile everything on the bag rack and then put the articles in my bags after finishing up. I was furious. And by “furious” I mean “approaching Hulk-level rage.” I got to my car in the parking lot and was wondering what on earth was the matter with me, and why I was so angry. I was still angry, but it wasn’t making a whole lot of sense for me to be furious with Ukrops over some stupid computer problems. And then it hit me. Raging hormones. Teenage-level rage. The one I described in my last post about this subject.

It is absolutely astonishing to me that I have to relive the worst parts of my teenage years when I am supposed to be leveling off in my mellow fifties. And I am very, very mellow compared to the person I used to be. (Yes, really. No, I’m serious. You should have seen me in my twenties and thirties, when I didn’t bother keeping my anger in check, like, ever.) I mean, I know life isn’t fair. But to feel like I’m thirteen again? That’s just wrong on so many levels. These hormonal fits of rage are unpredictable. But they feel exactly like the ones I had when I was a teenager. And may I say: This sucks. This really, really sucks.

The good news is that my cycle is, indeed, settling down. (You boys can stop reading now. The ones that get all weirded out over women talking about—menstruation.) (EEEEK!) So phew, no 150 days a year for me, and no every three weeks. I’m approaching my old 28-day cycle. The bad news is that I also have unpredictable hot flashes. There are nights where I wake up drenched in sweat every hour. My usual time seems to be early morning, six-thirty-ish. But sometimes four, and sometimes seven. Not a day goes by when I’m not suddenly sweating in a room that was otherwise perfectly comfortable until that moment. I keep looking at the thermometers to make sure the AC is working.

I would say I now feel some kind of sympathy for what my mother went through, but that would be a lie. Really, I don’t care about anyone else’s hot flashes. Only mine. (Or is that the raging hormones speaking again? I can’t tell anymore.) I mean, I know what they’re going through, but it seems far less important than what I’m going through. Yeah, I think the hormonal fluxes are making me a little more selfish, too. I don’t recall being this way.

I have a couple of friends who are watching me keenly, what with their being about to go through the same thing in a few years. So I get to be a guinea pig on top of everything else.

“Golden years” my ass. This isn’t golden. It’s annoying.

Posted in Girl Talk | 8 Comments

If I were the dictator of the world

Ice cream trucks would have bells. And that’s it.

No stupid songs.

No stupid noises.

Bells only.

Using anything other than bells would be a capital offense.

I hate living in an apartment complex in the summertime.

Posted in Evil Meryl | 4 Comments

The AP: Hamas rockets are Israel’s fault

Our old buddy Ali Daragmeh, one of those unbiased AP reporters, had this to say about the reason for the violations of the truce by terrorists from Gaza:

Three weeks ago, Israel and Palestinian militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza agreed to a truce. Although the cease-fire is limited to Gaza, confrontations between Israel and Hamas in the West Bank have already provoked Gaza militants to violate the agreement.

Do you understand? It’s Israel’s fault that the terrorists are firing rockets and mortars. Because Israel didn’t violate the truce by acting against Hamas in the West Bank, but by acting against Hamas in the West Bank, they provoked Hamas in Gaza to “retaliate” by violating the truce. Got that? It’s Alice in Wonderland logic.

This is what passes for objective reporting by the Associated Press. And oh yeah—check out the unbiased lead.

Israeli troops in jeeps swooped down on the West Bank town of Nablus early Monday, shutting down a girls’ school, a medical center and two other facilities of a Hamas-affiliated charity, witnesses said.

Just in case you hadn’t gotten the point. And yes, this is what constitutes Israeli “provocation” to break the truce. Israel arrests terrorists and siezes property. That means Hamas is “provoked” into responding by trying to murder Israelis.

Yep. That unbiased media. Gotta love it.

Posted in AP Media Bias, Hamas, Israel | Tagged | 1 Comment

Both sides of the story do not equal truth

One of the things that is extremely puzzling about any AP report on Samir Kuntar is why the AP insists on presenting Kuntar’s side of the story as if the facts were disputed. In every story about the Lebanese prisoner exchange, you now read something like this:

One of the Lebanese convicts to be freed in the deal has been held in an Israeli prison nearly 30 years for his role in a 1979 attack that Israelis perceive as one of the cruelest in their history.

Samir Kantar dragged a man and his 4-year-old daughter from their apartment to the beach below, and according to witness testimony, shot the man to death in front of his child, then crushed her head against a rock with his rifle butt. He also was convicted of killing a policeman. The man’s wife accidentally smothered their 2-year-old daughter in an effort to keep her from crying out and disclosing their hiding place in a crawl space in the apartment.

Kantar has denied killing the older child or crushing her skull.

He was caught by Israeli soldiers. When he saw that he was about to be caught, he murdered his two captives. There is no dispute, which is why he’s serving life in prison. And yet, the AP sees fit to include Kuntar’s denial in every article in which they mention his crimes.

Why?

What purpose does it serve?

How does it show “objectivity” to include a murderer’s protestations of innocence? There were witnesses. He was tried and convicted in an Israeli court. And still, the AP includes Kuntar’s lies.

I think it speaks volumes about the AP’s utter lack of objectivity when it comes to Israel.

Posted in AP Media Bias, Israel, Lebanon, Terrorism | Tagged | 3 Comments

Haveil Havalim – doing what he does anyway

Check out the latest Haveil Havalim #172 hosted by my old friend (appropriate since it’s the “old fogey” edition) Daled Amos. Truth is he’s doing what he does daily anyway. If there’s any blogger out there who’s promoting the rest of the J-Blogosphere on a regular basis, I haven’t seen him or her. Not only does Daled Amos regularly link to other J-bloggers, he also keeps Google Reader windows linking to Israel and Jewish related blogs. So if you want to know what Jewish bloggers are blogging about, Check out Daled Amos regularly.

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