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Yes, it was a slow day

Posted on 01/03/2013 by Meryl Yourish

Actually, a no-post day.

So here’s a cat picture.

But think of the children! The asshole newspaper editor who published the names and addresses of NY area gun owners, ignoring the public outcry at the invasion of privacy, was going to publish more gun owner addresses. Except now one county is telling them to stuff it, and a state senator is talking about making a law giving gun permit owners privacy rights.

Putnam County Clerk Dennis Sant said, “Since The Journal News has published this map, Putnam has received hundreds of calls from Putnam residents urging us not to release these records … There is the rule of law, and there is right and wrong and The Journal News is clearly wrong. I could not live with myself if one Putnam pistol permit holder was put in harm’s way, for the sole purpose of selling newspapers.”

Have you noticed that every time the left tries to clamp down on the Second Amendment, it seems to leap up to bite them in the ass? Barack Obama’s talk about limiting gun ownership has guns flying off the shelves now. Look, I agree that the Newtown tragedy was horrific–but the shooter was a nutjob whose mother was a nutjob who owned guns and did not keep them properly secured. How is publishing the names of law-abiding gun owners going to prevent something like that?

Go, Canada: The Canadian diplomat who saved Americans during the Iran hostage crisis has died. A moment to think of him and thank him is in order.

Lies, damned lies, and Palestinian statistics: Once again, the Palestinians make up demographics, the western anti-Israel media parrots them uncritically, and the lie of the demographic bomb continues. In fact, they’ve been lying about it for years.

Posted in American Scene, Iran, Media Bias, palestinian politics | 1 Comment

Happy new cat!

Posted on 01/01/2013 by Meryl Yourish

Okay, he’s an old cat, but it’s a new picture.

Came downstairs yesterday to find Tig in my chair.

Posted in Cats | 5 Comments

I’ve seen this year before

Posted on 01/01/2013 by Meryl Yourish

Cold. Grey. Rainy.

2013 looks a hell of a lot like 2012.

I think we’ve been had.

Posted in Life | 1 Comment

Happy New Year!

Posted on 12/31/2012 by Meryl Yourish

Or, as I like to say, “Happy Goyishe new Year!”

Stay safe, be happy, healthy, and successful in the next year.

2012 is the year I became a published novelist.

I’m hoping 2013 is the year I earn a living from my writing and get to quit my day job.

Posted in Holidays | 1 Comment

Muslim Brotherhood to Jews: Come home to Egypt, so we can oppress you again

Posted on 12/31/2012 by Meryl Yourish

Wow. You just have to take a breath at the utter hubris and hypocrisy of the Muslim Brotherhood.

A high-ranking Muslim Brotherhood official called on Jews who immigrated to the Jewish state from Egypt to return to their native country and leave Israel to the Palestinians, Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reported on Friday.
Senior Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood official Essam el-Erian said in an interview to television station Dream TV that every Egyptian has the right to live in Egypt, and Egyptian Jews living in Israel were contributing to the occupation of Arab lands, according to the newspaper.

Why wouldn’t Jews want to return to Egypt, where they will live as second-class citizens in a majority-Muslim country where Christians are being forcibly converted and murdered, their churches bombed and their woman abused?

Here’s the absolutely jaw-dropping quote from this moron:

“Egyptian Jews should refuse to live under a brutal, bloody and racist occupation stained with war crimes against humanity,” Erian said.

They are. That’s why they live in Israel now. But wait. It gets better.

“Why did [former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel] Nasser expel them from Egypt?” Erian asked in the interview.

Good question. Let’s go find out!

Between June and November 1948, bombs set off in the Jewish Quarter of Cairo killed more than 70 Jews and wounded nearly 200.² In 1956, the Egyptian government used the Sinai Campaign as a pretext for expelling almost 25,000 Egyptian Jews and confiscating their property. Approximately 1,000 more Jews were sent to prisons and detention camps. On November 23, 1956, a proclamation signed by the Minister of Religious Affairs, and read aloud in mosques throughout Egypt, declared that “all Jews are Zionists and enemies of the state,” and promised that they would be soon expelled. Thousands of Jews were ordered to leave the country. They were allowed to take only one suitcase and a small sum of cash, and forced to sign declarations “donating” their property to the Egyptian government. Foreign observers reported that members of Jewish families were taken hostage, apparently to insure that those forced to leave did not speak out against the Egyptian government.³

Oh, that’s why. Sure, go on back, Egyptian Jews!

So what is this really about? It’s about Egypt refusing to admit they stole all the property from the 25,000 Jews they expelled–property worth billions by now, and that should be included in any deal about reimbursing Palestinian refugees. Because, if truth be told, the Arab and Muslim nations would have to pay far more in reparations to Jewish refugees than Israel would to Palestinians.

But hey. Let’s not obfuscate the issue with facts.

Posted in Israel, Middle East, World | 2 Comments

New Year’s Eve briefs

Posted on 12/31/2012 by Meryl Yourish

Now THAT’s commitment: A 100-year-old man emigrated from Brazil to Israel in 2012. His children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were all there before him, so what was he waiting for? His wife of 60 years passed. May he live to be 120. (1,853 immigrants were from France. That’s a pretty big spike, I think.)

Shimon Peres is going senile: He thinks Hamas is going to accept the Quartet’s conditions for talking to Israel? Dude, get checked for Alzheimer’s. They reiterated their intent to destroy Israel just a few weeks ago. Oh, look. They did it again, today.

Oh, he also thinks Mahmoud Abbas is a partner for peace. Did you know that Abbas is now working on getting the Security Council to recognize the faux mini-statelet of East Palestine as a real state, instead of working things out with Israel? Of course you didn’t, because the news media ignore things like this until the U.S. bursts his little bubble and vetoes the resolution. Then they blame “the Israel lobby” for having too much control over the U.S.

Here we go again: The same paper that published the Mohammed cartoons is publishing a biography of Mohammed. Copied from an Islamic source. But don’t worry, the riots in France will begin again, just because. And the West will kowtow. Because that’s what we do when Muslims get violent. Say, anyone heard from that poor woman who started the “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day”? No? That’s because she’s still in hiding.

Awww. The tyrant is ailing: Bad news for Sean Penn. Hugo Chavez is suffering from “complications” from his cancer. May they be enough to do him in, and may his successor be a weakling who is easily defeated by the democrats in Venezuela.

Posted in Hamas, Religion, United Nations, World | Comments Off

How Israel avoids civilian deaths (and the world ignores their efforts)

Posted on 12/30/2012 by Meryl Yourish

60 civilians were killed in one missile strike in Syria, and there are not worldwide protests or banner headlines. Nor are there outrageously outraged statements from the UNHRC or the Secretary General.

Israel, on the other hand, works very hard to minimize civilian casualties, and from the world, there is… crickets.

Critics of Israel’s actions invariably suggest a lack of concern about collateral damage when air strikes are used, but ‘Major G’ revealed in detail how a drone operator sitting somewhere in Israel can clear a target on the ground in Gaza of innocent civilians.
“In a lot of cases we have regular houses where in the basement there is a lot of ammunition, bombs and missiles. The house is populated sometimes with the families having willingly cooperated with the Hamas, and in other cases they don’t have any choice; Hamas forces this on them. In cases where there are people inside a house or building we never strike the target without prior warning. We make phone calls, send leaflet flier warnings, and sometimes use a technique called ‘Knock On the Roof,’ where we fire very, very small, very precise tiny bombs onto the edge of the roof and then they (the family) know that the attack is about to begin and everybody can go outside.”

Not that the world recognizes Israel’s efforts. But there you have it.

Posted in Gaza, Israeli Double Standard Time, Media Bias | Comments Off

A writing update

Posted on 12/29/2012 by Meryl Yourish

Yes, I know. Most of you read this blog to hear about Israel and my take on the news. But sometimes, I post about my life, and at the moment, the most important thing in my life is my writing.

It’s very frustrating trying to get noticed as an Indie author, but I’m starting to see the pebbles roll a little further down the hill, and that, my friends, is a wonderful feeling.

It’s the little things here and there, like the rabbi’s wife, who bought copies of my book for each of her daughters, complaining that I was too hard on two of her favorite characters. She wouldn’t say that if they weren’t written well enough to make her attached to them. Or another reader telling me she admired my plotting and couldn’t figure out how I was going to get the hero out of the jam I’d put him in. Or a really nice review from one of the people who won the Goodreads giveaway (another one’s going on, go ahead, go for it).

I spent a few hours plotting out the whole series today. I need to have it all done before I can move forward in a big way with Book 2. It’s interesting to realize that by deciding I’m writing five books in the series, I’m setting up the next few years of my life. I’ve never planned my life before. I’ve always hated having too many plans. Don’t like to be tied down, I guess. But now I’m tying myself to four more books. And I really can’t wait to get to Book 5, because boy, have I planned a finale for the series.

I haven’t sold a lot of copies yet, but I’m feeling really good about my prospects. If you haven’t given the sample chapters a try yet, you should. I’m rather proud of it.

Posted in Writing | Comments Off

Fluffy kitties

Posted on 12/28/2012 by Meryl Yourish

I’m tired of the news.

Time for a Tigger break.

And Gracie, too.

Posted in Cats | 2 Comments

Thursday, briefly

Posted on 12/27/2012 by Meryl Yourish

When the Defector General defects, you’re in big trouble: So the general in charge of stopping people from defecting from Syria has–defected from Syria. Say buh-bye, Baby Assad. I’m sure the Dorktator is wishing hard that the world didn’t have that stupid internet and social media so that he could continue to torture and murder his people with abandon, like his daddy did in the 1980s. But alas, time marches on. Take note, China. Take note.

Third intifada watch: They think it’s the way to get a state, so they’re throwing firebombs at Israeli vehicles. Rocks, too. Oh, and they’re trying to kidnap Israelis. But hey, let’s bring Israel to the ICC.

Don’t worry, the MSM won’t note this, ever: Israel is easing the ban on construction materials in Gaza. That was part of the truce deal. Contrary to Hamas claims, they got hit hard during the last Gaza operation. More Hamas terrorists than civilians were killed, and some of the ones that got hit were big ones. Hamas really did take a big hit, their claims to the contrary. Note that there aren’t any more rockets raining down on southern Israel–for now.

But of course, the AP didn’t print the retraction: The AP gleefully posted articles on the wire about the supposed killing of two Palestinians by Israeli fire on Sunday. Turns out that never happened, and the Palestinians retracted their claims.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Iran, Israel, Media Bias, palestinian politics, Syria | Comments Off

On Christmas Day in Iran

Posted on 12/27/2012 by Meryl Yourish

I saw three guards come charging in
On Christmas day, on Christmas day
I saw three guards come charging in
On Christmas day, in the morning

And why did they come charging in?
On Christmas day, on Christmas day
And why did they come charging in
On Christmas day, in the morning?

Pastor Nadarkhani was right there
On Christmas day, on Christmas day
Pastor Nadarkhani was right there
On Christmas day, in the morning

They came to take the priest to jail
On Christmas day, on Christmas day
They came to take the priest to jail
On Christmas day, in the morning

He went to join his lawyer there
On Christmas day, on Christmas day
He went to join his lawyer there
On Christmas day, in the morning

They’ll both have fun in the torture jail
On Christmas day, on Christmas day
They’ll both have fun in the torture jail
On Christmas day, in the morning

Shyeah. Tolerance of other religions, my ass.

Posted in Iran, Religion | Comments Off

Wednesday briefs

Posted on 12/26/2012 by Meryl Yourish

We don’t need no stinking transparency: The EU told NGO monitor that sure, member countries weren’t following the laws regarding transparency in regards to who is paying for all those EU anti-Israel organizations. And then it threw the lawsuit out, thus negating its own laws. Gee, European bureacrats not following their own laws. What does that remind me of? (Besides the Obama administration, I mean.) Oh, right. L’etat, c’est moi! By the way, you can see those anti-Israel NGOs in action here.

Those deadly apartment buildings: The EU condemns Israel, yet again, for the crime of–wait for it–building apartments. Still waiting for the condemnation of the PA for the unilateral moves at the UN. Oh. Wait. Half the EU nations voted for the faux mini-statelet of East Palestine. The EU is joined by Hamas, which is now calling for more suicide bombings over the planned apartments. Think the EU will condemn Hamas, which is the elected (once, anyway) ruler of Gaza? Yes, that was a rhetorical question. The EU doesn’t condemne terrorism. They won’t even label Hezbollah a terrorist organization. Why? Because the vote has to be unanimous, and some of them aren’t quite sure that Hezbollah blew up Israelis in Bulgaria. Well, hey, Obama likes Israel now, right? Maybe he’ll get them to–Oh. Wait.

And yet, there are no worldwide protests against Assad: You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d think that all those people who swear they’re only protesting Israel because they believe in human rights, the sanctity of life, etc., etc. are, well, lying. Because I can’t recall a single non-Syrian protest against Assad’s murdering his civilians. The death toll has now topped 45,000, and yet, all those anti-Iraq war, anti-Israel protesters are, well–not protesting. I don’t understand it. Don’t the protestors care that innocent men, women, and children are dying at the hands of a bloodthirsty regime? Or does that picture only work if you insert Jews instead of Arabs (and Persians, with the aid of Iran) doing the killing?

Of course I know the answer to my questions. I didn’t really need to search the Code Pink website (though I did, at the cost of my eyesight, I think) to know that they’re not doing squat to protest the Dorktator’s murdering ways.

The world simply does not give a shit about dead civilians unless they are dead due to Israeli (or American) actions.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israeli Double Standard Time, Lebanon, Syria, United Nations, World | 1 Comment