For weeks, “Jericho” junkies have been firing e-mails (effectively shutting down InBoxes at CBS and this newspaper), signing petitions and sending bags of nuts to CBS headquarters in protest.
The assault seems to have worked, “Jericho” creator and executive producer Carol Barbee said Tuesday. CBS executives are in discussions with the show’s producers and actors to resuscitate the show — killed just last month — for an eight-episode run in mid-season.
“The idea would not be to bring it for eight and out, but to bring it back for eight with the hope that it would keep going,” Barbee said. “They’re making deals with the actors and there’s other logistical stuff to work out too. ‘Swingtown’ [a new drama] was supposed to take over the same stages so it’s a lot about the logistics of how to work out a schedule that works for all of us.”
Looks like they’re starting to notice the online TV-watchers.
“I really think that what has been learned here is that networks are going to have to look at numbers and who is watching their show and who is downloading their show in a different way from here on out. I think they have to understand that the Nielsens are not telling the story anymore and that the 18-49 demographic they’re all so keen on is online and that’s how increasingly they are getting their news and entertainment.”
Since the fan revolt began, “Jericho” viewers have insisted they also would not be satisfied with a TV movie or online re-cap that told them how the “Jericho” story ends.
If the actors sign on the dotted line — and those deals should be in place in the next day or two — Barbee said “Jericho” junkies will get their way.
I can’t really explain why I like this show. I just do. A lot. Yes, the topic is depressing—a post-nuclear holocaust America—but the show, overall, is not depressing. It’s about people dealing, and learning how to survive.
Of course, every time I see it, I tell myself: You really do have to learn how to shoot and buy a gun.
The head of the research division of Military Intelligence, Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz, told lawmakers Monday that Hezbollah is rebuilding its forces south of the Litani River in Lebanon, despite the presence of international peacekeepers in the area.
[…]”Hezbollah continues to rehabilitate, from a military and a social perspective. It is acquiring a large number of weapons from Iran and Syria,” Baidatz said.
“It is preparing itself for possible conflict in the summer, but is not interested in this as it aspires to a period of calm in which to rehabilitate.”
Syrian President Bashar Assad has called for “better cooperation” between Damascus and Tehran in “the confrontation with the Zionist regime and the USA,” according to a report published on Sunday by Iran’s official state news agency, IRNA.
The report, which was reproduced on the personal blog of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, quoted a telephone conversation between the two leaders, after Ahmadinejad congratulated Assad on winning the Syrian elections.
Fact three: Hamas has imported tons of weapons, dug numerous tunnels and bunkers, and has readied Gaza for a Hezbullah-style war with Israel.
According to Baidatz, “Hamas is satisfied with the outcome of the current fighting against Israel, as it has resulted in the desertion of Israeli towns. They understand that Israel will not launch a deep ground incursion [into Gaza].”
Baidatz warned that Hamas is continuing with preparations for a major attack, and there have been many alerts over attempts to kidnap Israelis.
“The IDF is preparing for an escalation on the Palestinian front and the northern front,” IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi stated Tuesday during a drill at the Shizafon army base in the south.
“The army’s next objective is to improve its readiness and fitness, while continuing to fight terror,” Lieutenant General Ashkenazi told officer training course cadets who came to watch the drill. “The drill here displays very impressive abilities.”
Not ever. From an interview in the Saudi daily Aljazeera in April, Ismail Haniyeh said:
“As far as we’re concerned, the issue of recognition of Israel has been settled once and for all. It has been settled in our political literature, in our Islamic thought and in our Jihadist culture, on which we base our moves. Recognition of Israel is out of the question. We have been advocating the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital and the return of the refugees. In exchange for all that, we will declare a truce, but no recognition of Israel.”
“The concept of a Palestinian state is clear in our view: ‘Palestine’ within its borders and its legitimate historical heritage. However, we don’t have a problem with a unity government in this phase. We are in agreement with our brother Palestinians and Arabs about establishing a Palestinian state within the ’67 borders with Jerusalem as the capital. We are telling everyone that we have an objective for this phase, as well as a national goal.”
Not that this is new to any of my regular readers. I’ve written versions of this post many, many times.
What’s new is that the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs seems to finally be managing a decent publicity push so that the world can see Hamas for what it is: An organization of murderers and terrorists whose goal is the destruction of Israel.
Forty years ago today, according to the calendar that much of the world goes by, Israeli airplanes launched a pre-emptive attack on the Egyptian air force, totally destroying the planes on the ground, as well as the airbases from which they might have been launched.
In six days, Israel defeated the combined armies of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, supplied with arms and troops from Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria. The Arab armies combined came to a total of 900 combat aircraft, over 5,000 tanks, and 500,000 men. The Israeli forces consisted of 275,000 men, 1,100 tanks, and about 200 planes. (All numbers taken from Michael Oren’s Six Days of War.) Watching the PBS special, “Six Days in June,” I was struck by the events that unfolded in those six days, and in the months leading up to the war.
As I watched the documentary, hearing the tale of the Egyptian army surrounded and attacked in the Sinai, and watching the films of Egyptian bodies lying on the sand, I thought of another Egyptian army defeat, several millennia ago. And I thought of the series of coincidences, accidents, and good and bad luck that occurred on both sides: Yitzhak Rabin’s breakdown before the war, from which he recovered in time to lead the IAF to its stunning victory. The Egyptian commander in Sinai, Abdel Amer, panicking and causing a rout rather than an orderly retreat, which Ariel Sharon used to encircle and destroy the Egyptian army in Sinai. The agreement between Egypt and Jordan that forced Jordan into the war against Hussein’s better judgment, and that put his forces under the (inept) Egyptian command—and lost him the Old City and allowed Israel to unite Jerusalem. Nasser’s overall hubris, certain that he would be the Arab leader who would rid the Muslim world of the Jewish State once and for all.
But more than anything else, I thought of the timing of a song that sprang from a contest earlier that year, in which Teddy Kollek, the mayor of Jerusalem (the Israeli part) asked that the 1967 Israel song contest be devoted to songs about Jerusalem. Naomi Shemer, a prolific and popular songwriter, came up with Jerusalem of Gold (lyrics in English here). Shuly Nathan‘s singing made the song an overwhelming hit. A few weeks later, when the IDF retook Jerusalem from Jordan, the song became almost mystical in its timing. “Jerusalem of Gold” rang out from everywhere. Soldiers sang it as they streamed to the Kotel. (You can hear Shuly sing the song in this video. You have to sit through most of it to get the song, but it’s well worth it to hear what Israelis heard 40 years ago.) After the war ended, thousands and thousands of Israelis walked hand-in-hand to the newly-made plaza and beheld the Wall for what for many was the first time in their lives. And they prayed. And they sang. And Jews returned to the site of our ancient Temples.
Listen to this beautiful version of the song by Ofra Haza (thanks to Omri for enlightening me to its existence) dubbed in Hebrew and English. And while you’re listening, reflect on the amazing number of coincidences that led to the recovery of Jerusalem, and the recovery of the Temple Mount, our holiest site, which was forbidden to Jews under Muslim rule. Think especially of the years of 1948 to 1967, when the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, occupied by Jews for millennia, was taken by force by the Jordanians, who then expelled all the remaining Jews, destroyed all of the synagogues, and descrated Jewish cemeteries that had been there for centuries. There was never an outrcy by any world body over these events. There was never a movement by any world body to repatriate the Jews of Jerusalem—the “indigenous” inhabitants of the Jewish Quarter since the time of King David. There was never a movement by any world body to guarantee Jewish religious access to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. But on June 7, 1967, the tables were turned, and the Temple Mount was once again under Jewish control. It didn’t take a world body. It took something much greater.
I think about all those coincidences, and I see God’s touch in the events of 1967. I see God’s hand in the recovery of Jerusalem. And I, as a writer who has experienced what I call the “lightning from God”—the overwhelming urge to write something that seems to utterly write itself with no conscious input from me—see God’s touch in “Jerusalem of Gold.”
I’m with those who think that Israel will have to give much of the West Bank to the Palestinians, if the Palestinians ever renounce terror. But I think there is no way that Jerusalem will ever leave our hands again, nor do I think that it should. Naomi Shemer captured the hearts and minds of Jews everywhere in her paean to Jerusalem. Listen, and even those of you who aren’t Jewish will understand why, at the end of the Passover Seder, Jews all over the world say: “Next year in Jerusalem!”
Check the air for flying pigs, because the New York Times is taking Israel’s side on an issue. Okay, they really should be backing Israel in this instance, because journalists and academics are supposed to be bias-free, impartial automatons (or at least bias-free). But I’m just not used to seeing a NY Times editorial that actually backs an Israeli stance. And on a Sunday! The highest readership day of the week!
The University and College Union, a newly formed British union of college teachers, shamefully called last week for a boycott on contacts and exchanges with Israeli academic institutions. That follows on the shameful call in April by the National Union of Journalists in Britain to boycott Israeli goods.
It is hard to imagine two organizations that should be less given to such nonsense. Who would respect the judgment of a scholar who selects or rejects colleagues on political grounds? Who would trust the dispatches of a reporter who has been openly engaged against one side of a conflict? The unions argue that they have an obligation to demonstrate labor-union solidarity with the oppressed, as they did in opposing apartheid. That is absurd.
Of course, here is where the pig falls back to earth:
First, Israeli journalists and academics are among the most dedicated critics of their own society. Second, the lack of similar “solidarity†by these unions with any other oppressed or suffering people in the world, and there are plenty, reduces these gestures to an exercise in hypocrisy, or worse.
Don’t you see? They shouldn’t boycott the Israelis because they already think the right way! And the Times editorial writer manages to again emphasize that fact before closing:
Critical thinking and well-thought-out criticism are intrinsic to good scholarship and good journalism. These boycotts represent neither. Posturing like this only alienates the very forces in Israeli society that should be encouraged and offends the calling and honor of journalism and academia.
Too bad the Times can’t simply stick to the principle of its own industry, and say that a boycott of journalists and academia is anathema to the free exchange of information, which the Times has fought for for decades. No, they have to add the caveats of rightthink to the reasons why the boycott is wrong.
I think the boycott is wrong for many reasons, not least of which is the continued delegitimization of Israel. I have no caveats. But then, I’m not very big on nuance. Never have been.
Amnesty overload: Amnesty Intl. released yet another anti-Israel report, but I can’t be bothered to read it. There’s only so much bias I can take. Just remember, Amnesty is impartial. Because they say so.
AI is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion. It does not support or oppose any government or political system, nor does it support or oppose the views of the victims whose rights it seeks to protect. It is concerned solely with the impartial protection of human rights.
WALL OF DEATH “Mortal danger – military zone – any person who passes or damages the fence endangers his lifeâ€. This message is written in Hebrew, Arabic and English on signs all along the fence/wall, as the picture shows.
In fact, simply being near the wall can put Palestinians in mortal danger.
The report is sprinkled liberally with pictures of the cement barrier section of the wall, ignoring the fact that the majority of the wall is a fence topped with barbed wire, which can be easily removed—if the Palestinians ever renounce terror against Israel. The main report, of course, glosses over the reduction of terror attacks in 2006—which is partly due to the fence.
But don’t let the facts stand in the way of a good Israel-bashing, Amnesty. You go, guys! You’ll be getting free drinks at cocktail parties all over the elitosphere thanks to yet another year of Israel-bashing.
By the way, if you hurry to the above link, you’ll see that they can’t even be bothered making sure “Israel” is spelled correctly. The current link says “Download Isreal as printable PDF file.”
Inspires confidence, that does. They must be big on accuracy.
In this week’s edition of Shire Network News, we speak to Venezuelan blogger Daniel Duquenal about Hugo Chavez and the way he’s killing democracy while the global left stand on the sidelines applauding.
Podcast wonders what’s worse for Venezuela- Socialismo or Muerte – or Chavez #92 However, as those of you you who saw the Joss Wheedon movie Serenity will know, Chavez can close down all the opposition TV stations he wants, but you can’t stop the signal. A website protesting at Hugo Chavez’s crushing of dissent “Free RCTV” is now available with video clips, news and a petition to sign. And you can read more about the anti-Chavista resistance at Harry’s Place.
And our thanks for those links goes to our friend in the underground, “Nighthawk”. This is London calling Nighthawk. The package has been received, Stand by for further instructions.
Chavez’s Bolivarian “Socialismo O Muerte” revolution gets the Doug Payton treatment in “Consider This”, and Israeli Tomer in “Push the Button” slags off Israel. Criticism of the Jewish homeland on SNN, home of the last unreconstructed red-in-tooth-and-claw neoconservatives in captivity? Strange but true.
In Blog News, the US and Iran hold talks, I feel safer already, don’t you?
A British Foriegn Office diplomat thinks the Air France hijacking that led to the Entebbe raid was … you guessed it, a Zionist conspiracy. It was reported on the BBC, so it’s gotta to be true, innit?
The latest bizzare Islamic pronouncement sheds new light on the origin of the pious phrase “piss be upon him”.
And Australia apologises to an Indonesian politician suspected of involvement of the murder of Australian citizens, for having the temerity to want to ask him one or two questions about the event. Naughty kuffar, extra jizya for you this month!
Not that the UN is going to do anything about it. They never have.
“The arrogant superpowers and the Zionist regime invested all their efforts during the 33-day war, but after 60 years, their pride has been trampled and the countdown to the destruction of this regime has been started by Hizbullah fighters,” the president was quoted as saying by Iranian news agency Mehr.
Ahmadinejad added that “with the help of all the Lebanese and Palestinian fighters, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future… Anyone who works for God and believes in the power of the people will prevail.”
Meantime, Hamas plays the pretend-truce game, where they say they’ll observe a one-year truce as long as Israel extends it to the West Bank. The reason? Hamas wants to arm its West Bank contingent, which is much smaller than its Gaza branch. The reason the West Bank Hamas is so much smaller is because the IDF has been arresting terrorists and breaking up Hamas cells on a regular basis. It’s a “hudna” all over again. There is no truth to terrorist truces. Israel shouldn’t play this game any more.
It’s time for a diplomatic offensive against Iran, an enemy nation that is fighting a proxy war with Israel.
The dust of the UCU boycott brouhaha is still in the air, but the first glimpses of the practical effect the resolutions might have could be already seen. When the leading UK universities such as the ones belonging to the Russel Groupreject the idea outright, there is not a lot left of the resolution in its practical meaning.
But the boycott, I am afraid, wasn’t at all about a short term practical goal. The people who spearhead the boycott drive could not care less about the scientific freedom or about cooperation on the joint projects. Moreover – they know very well that scientific cooperation cannot and will not be stopped by a Stalinist style embargo on knowledge.
No, this is not what they work for. They pursue a different long term target – that of stripping the hated Zionist entity of legitimization. The mere fact of Israel’s existence is the thorn in their side, and nothing, including the most unholy alliances, will deter them from that goal.
To see the real face of the boycott movement leaders, it is sufficient to view the clip that recorded the amazing treatment of the last Israel-Lebanon war by John Rose* – the leader and main sponsor of the boycott motion. I have made the effort and made it to the end of the clip, so can you (although it may make you sick, so be warned).
While the wild mix of lies, half-truths and sheer ignorance is peerless, there is another feature of the clip that is really exceptional: the level of hate displayed by this character. It distorts the speech and it distorts the face so strongly that there really is only one historic prototype that comes to mind.
No, it is not a submission to the “separated at birth” contest, and I apologize in advance before every reader that may be offended by the comparison. Still, there was nothing else that could be compared to this extraordinary eruption of hate – not even the speeches by Rose’s spiritual mentor – one Sheik Nasrallah, levelheaded and balanced in comparison.
And if you have the patience to view the clip to the end, you shall see that nothing short of destruction of the Zionist Entity will satisfy our good speaker. And that his hypocritical care about Lebanese and Palestinians’ lot is a very minor theme of his hate speech.
Topple, disband, eliminate… of course, Mr Rose does not mean “kill them all”. There is no need to add that part, really. Just to lick the chops in eager anticipation.
Not in your lifetime, quisling.
(*)Tell me who your friends are, they say. Just as a reminder – professor Rose, besides his other doubtless intellectual achievements, is one of the leaders of the notorious SWP – the so called “socialist” party that would be difficult to distinguish from the no less notorious BNP lately.
The last of my second-year students has his bar mitzvah this weekend. I know you’re not supposed to have favorites, but I confess that J. was always one of mine, even as he was one of my most challenging students. He has ADHD—for real, not the conservative “oh, he’s just a boy” thing—and he moves through life on a constant fast-forward. But he’s also one of the sweetest boys I have ever known. He’s the only b’nai mitzvah child that I noticed said “Thank you” to the rep from the religion committee when she presented him with his kiddush cup. I’m sure some of the others must have said it, but none as loudly and clearly as J.
He and his mother gave me a Hulk pinata towards the end of his year as my student. I have a collection of Hulk memorabilia from various students, parents, friends, and relatives. The pinata has not been smashed. It has been put away. J. likes to identify me to new people by telling them, “She likes the Hulk.” His class was during the year the movie came out, which explains their fascination with my fascination with the Hulk. B.’s mother gave me the Hulk Slim Jim canisters she’d bought from Costco (minus the Slim Jims). Now B. and I discuss comic books, to his mother’s great amusement.
I think one of the main reasons I get such a kick out of J. is because he’s so enthusiastic, about almost everything. His grandfather was telling him about a kiddush cup made from a twelfth-century souvenir from Israel that has been in their family for some time, and J. ran out of synonyms for “Cool!” before long. I told him the oldest things I own are nineteenth-century coins inherited from my father, and he thought that was cool, too.
Well. I think J. is way cool. I look forward to watching him grow up. I’m getting a real kick out of seeing all of them turn into young adults. And in four more years, my first class goes to college. Now that’s going to be cool.
Comcast bought out Richmond’s old cable company years ago. Back when it was AT&T, it never went out, the service was great, and it wasn’t that expensive. All that changed, of course, because Comcast sucks great big hairy you-know-what. And it’s a monopoly to boot: What other cable network can I get in my neighborhood?
That’s right. None.
So a few weeks ago, Comcast decided to force all us old-fashioned cable box subscribers to go digital by putting HBO on all-digital, effective June 1st. So what’s happening right after June 1st? The Soprano series finale. They did it in Philly, too.
Apparently, enough outraged Richmond-area Comcast customers called Comcast and threatened to switch to satellite, because now Comcast has backed down and changed the date to June 11th—the day after the series finale.
Mind you, I don’t watch the Sopranos, and don’t care about it at all, but I don’t want to go digital yet, either. I’m pretty happy with the old box. But I have no choice if I want to keep the premium channel.
Whoops, don’t care enough to do it. I can always rent my favorite movies and series.
But I have to say, I hate monopolies. Businesses have proven, every single time, that without competition, they’ll screw the consumer. Every single time. Unless the consumer gets off his ass and complains loudly enough. Great PR move, Comcast!
A substantial number of you are ignoring the poll (be still my heart; I never would have suspected that), but if the remainder are fairly representative of my readers (and that’s a big if, but it’s the only if we have to go by), then here is how things look so far:
A substantial number of my readers are Jewish, as I suspected, but as I also knew, a large minority is Christian. And very few of you are Christian Zionists. Gee. Go figure. The conventional wisdom is wrong about Christian Zionists, too. Who knew? (Okay, we did, but still…)
What surprised me is the percentage of Conservative Jews who read this blog. Yes, I’m Conservative, but there are fewer of us than there are of the other two denominations.
The overwhelming majority (59%) of my readers consider themselves centrists. That would be because the overwhelming majority of Americans consider themselves centrists. Several of you have asked me to break out the poll into social and political issues. I will do that when I get the chance.
This one didn’t surprise me at all, which is why I added the second answer for why you read: I have a lot of readers who hate cat posts.
Sorry, folks, but sometimes, you simply have to post kitty pictures. They’re staying. As for the rest, I’m starting to think you guys really, really don’t want me to change the formula. The answer to what I should change around here:
Hm. I think the humor may be heading over to Hot Air for a while, because I’ve always been a visual writer, and I’m finally getting a chance to express some of the things I see in my head. But some will spill over to here, I’m sure.
By the way, if you haven’t taken the poll, please do. I know how many of you read me every day, and so far, the poll-takers are in single-digits of the percentage of people who read. Geez. You could at least bump it up to 10%.
Update: Folks, Bryan’s video skills and Robert Spencer’s voice talents were equal parts of the success of this video. Robert was just hilarious. He had the right amount of whiny indignation that I thought while I was writing it.
Andy thought he was going crazy when a talking cat showed up at his front door. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Goldeneyes is a Catmage – a cat with human intelligence and magical abilities. Andy is an eighth grader who is smart, impulsive, and trying to avoid the school bully at all costs. A prophecy threw them together. There’s just one problem: Goldeneyes can’t stand humans.
The Catmage world is heading toward war. Goldeneyes and Andy must try to stop the enemy from getting stronger. And they must save a powerful Catmage who’s been kidnapped. For Goldeneyes, it’s personal. That Catmage is her grandmother.
Andy and Goldeneyes must try to put aside their differences. If they can’t, the enemy will soon be too powerful to defeat…
