British Department of Health - we'll get the darn smokers!

After the initially deployed soft measures, like throwing the smokers out on the streets to suffer the elements, subjecting the smokers to insulting ads, shaming them, libeling them by the secondary smoke canard, British DoH found the ultimate weapon:

Graphic pictures of throat cancer and rotting teeth are to appear on cigarette packets from next month to illustrate the health risks of smoking, the Department of Health (DoH) has announced. Among the other images smokers will see are rotting lungs, a corpse in a morgue and a body cut open during surgery.

The decision was preceded by a six months long clinical trial on 100 smoking and 100 non-smoking volunteers (as a control group). Out of the 100 smokers:

• 28 died of heart seizure after being shown some of the pictures
• 14 choked on their cigarettes (in 7 cases Heimlich maneuver succeeded)
• 5 female volunteers had a a miscarriage
• 19 were transferred to an ICU with brain hemorrhage
• 9 entered a prolonged catatonic state

The rest (25) asked that the tobacco rations of their fallen comrades be transferred to them.

Similar results were recorded for the control group, although it must be mentioned that only 7 volunteers from this group started smoking or displayed initial interest in the theory and practice of this hobby.

DoH is proud to present the new method that has shown at least 5 times better results than other so far used ways to quit smoking.

"It is cheap, on top of everything else", happily declared a senior employee of DoH, "after all we are just ripping off the pictures from rotten dot com...".

Enforced viewing of snuff movies is being considered by DoH now to break the intransigence of the remaining 25% of the smokers.

Update: CNN gives out (free!) some examples of the coming thing.

Alec Baldwin 'can't wait' to give up acting

Thats' what CNN tells, at least.

I feel real special today. Now I share one sentiment with the guy.

P.S. I hope it goes for the whole clan.

Shana Tova (Happy New Year)

Which is today, as it happens in our neck of the woods. So you are invited to see this little collection of inspirational pictures. I didn't embed it, since the last time I have embedded a PowerPoint, it has put the whole blog on the fritz. While the text is in Hebrew, the pictures, as I have mentioned, are inspirational enough without any text, so...

As a bonus, though, I am embedding a smashing quartet here, and remember - neutrality or painful death!



Enjoy!

The last chance?

I wouldn't say how many years I live in the land of milk and honey, it is classified - as well as the precise ways I use to get the above mentioned milk and honey. Let's say a lot of years. Why do I mention it? Because there was no year without this or another guru telling us that this year is the year of our last chance to reach peace. Or else. The part of "else" usually includes lots of fire, brimstone and more...

I was always kind of skeptical about that last chance. I know that I missed my last chance to see a live show by Sir Paul lately and don't hardly feel any regret. I missed the last show by Yossi Banai and am real sorry about it. Etc.

But the last chance for peace? Finally, here comes professor Rubin with a definitive piece on that "last chance".

Take heed. And Happy New Year!

Sunday links

That last weekday before Rosh Ha Shana is usually insane, and what is better than to give yourself a happy hour or two with COTI - the Carnival Of The Insanities?

Enjoy!

Paul Newman RIP

Good bye, blue eyes. You were one of a kind. Rest in peace and see you later.

Christianity was started by a young Palestinian named Jesus.

No, this is not a quote from a Hamas charter or a PLO textbook. It comes from... one of the 28 most widely-used history, geography and social studies textbooks in America.

In examining the 28 most widely-used history, geography and social studies textbooks in America, researchers Dr. Gary Tobin and Dennis Ybarra found some 500 instances of "errors, inaccuracies and even propaganda" on these issues. Tens of millions of schoolchildren in all 50 states use the textbooks, according to Tobin.

Says Tobin: "If the president of Iran wants to blast Israel at the UN, he
can use American textbooks to do so."

More here.

NYT sniffs out Sarah Palin's family secrets

By SNL, of course.

Police storm KLM flight in Cologne, Germany; arrest 2 terrorist suspects

Not too many details yet:

German newspaper Bild says state police tell them a special commando unit stormed a KLM flight in Cologne early Friday and arrested two terrorist suspects.
The newspaper says the Cologne to Amsterdam flight was stormed at 6:55 a.m. and police arrested a 23-year-old Somali man and a 24-year-old German born in Somalia.

The newspaper says police say the two had been under observation for months and a suicide note was found in their apartment saying that they wanted to die for the "jihad" or "holy war."

CNN has the same story.

CBS speculates on a possible link between the two and an investigation by the German authorities of a group called Islamic Jihad Union

Assaulting an officer: flatulence as battery?

You have to read this and even then you will not believe it:

A man arrested for driving under the influence in West Virginia got himself into a lot more trouble later at the police station.

Happens all the time, but this time with a new angle:

During fingerprinting, Cruz then allegedly moved closer to one of the officers and passed gas, the station reported. In the complaint, the investigating officer wrote that police noticed a "very strong" odor. The alleged stunt led Cruz to be charged with another offense — battery on an officer — in addition to DUI and obstruction, WSAZ reported.

I have checked a dictionary, trying to find out how the (more or less) innocuous act of passing gas got classified as battery. Admittedly I am neither a lawyer nor a policeman, still the case is of some interest.

bat·ter·y
(bt-r)
n. pl. bat·ter·ies
1.
a. The act of beating or pounding. No way this one will fit. There was no touching.
b. Law The unlawful and unwanted touching or striking of one person by another, with the intention of bringing about a harmful or offensive contact. Same as above.
2.
a. An emplacement for one or more pieces of artillery. With some effort, Mr Cruz could be considered to be a single artillery piece, but it's reaching, isn't it?
b. A set of guns or other heavy artillery, as on a warship. Same as above.
c. An army artillery unit, corresponding to a company in the infantry. Same as above.
3.
a. An array of similar things intended for use together: took a battery of achievement tests. Nope.
b. An impressive body or group: a battery of political supporters. The body as such wasn't mentioned and probably wasn't relevant.
4. Baseball The pitcher and catcher. OK, with some effort - Mr Cruz kind of pitched, and the police officer kind of caught it. Nah - too far-fetched.
5. Music The percussion section of an orchestra. Sound wasn't mentioned and either wasn't produced or wasn't offensive enough.
6. Electricity. Immaterial to the case.
a. Two or more connected cells that produce a direct current by converting chemical energy to electrical energy. Same as above.
b. A single cell, such as a dry cell, that produces an electric current. Same as above.

So, as you can see, the closest (oh well...) possibility to define Mr Cruz' flatulence as battery is to reclassify him as a single artillery piece. Again, I am not a lawyer, but such attempt would look extremely fishy to me.

And then - let's say that the definition of Mr Cruz as an artillery piece is accepted - shouldn't he had been transferred to the Army for investigation of the discharge?

Case closed, ladies and gentlemen.

Update:

A battery charge has been dropped against a West Virginia man who had been accused of passing gas and fanning it toward a South Charleston patrolman.

See? Logic works anytime.

Two bombs that exploded in Jerusalem

The first one was a small pipe bomb that (thankfully) lightly wounded professor Ze'ev Sternhell. Professor Sternhell, Israel Prize winner, is an historian and one of the world's leading experts on Fascism. Coincidentally or not, he is also one of the leaders of Peace Now movement.

Pamphlets calling for physical assault of Left-wing activists were found near the professor's home on Wednesday night, reportedly promising a NIS 1,100,000 reward to anyone who murdered someone associated with the Peace Now organization.

Due to the fact that the assassination attempt doesn't seem to be related to criminal or Palestinian terrorist activities, police quite reasonably concluded that the bomb at Sternhell's home was likely planted by far-right.

The second bomb, of a delayed action, exploded (and continues to explode) immediately after most of the news sources quoted the police on that suspicion. According to the news on the radio, several right-wind outfits of the more dubious kind have already expressed their indignation by the police provocation. Some of them have already concocted a conspiracy theory, the gist of which is that the bomb and the pamphlets were set by security services as a blood libel against the peaceful lambs of the far right. Parallels with Rabin's "provoked" murder are already being aired. The level of histrionics displayed by some of the speakers I had a doubtful pleasure to hear is a better giveaway than a pointed finger. If you ask me, that is.

This is a bomb of the mass bulshitting kind, not that easy to disarm.

I have my doubts about some of Shalom Akhsav (Peace Now) politics and activities. However, I don't have any doubts or sentiments about the "far-right" (or far out) lunatics.

Pox on their houses. Or, lacking pox, a good ole D-9.

Islamic human rights

That is for real. As opposite to human right of the "others" (read "infidels").

Proof that British women are irresistible

You know how it goes: a British woman of a certain age alone on a Mediterranean vacation, a local hunk (imagine eyes slightly moist of passion, bushy mustache, lots of bodily hair, minor inebriation caused by anise-flavored drinks), romantic seaside scenery, a jealous wife/girlfriend - in short, all the mandatory ingredients for a B-rated movie or a pink-cover romantic novel.

Here is another one, but with a slight twist:

A Turkish hotel has sacked all its male staff because they kept seducing older British women. Manager Pelin Yucel took the drastic step after catching her male waiters and barmen bedhopping with guests looking for Shirley Valentine-style romances. They have now been replaced with a women-only team at the 27-bedroom hotel in Marmaris, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Now about that role of a jealous girlfriend:

Ms Yucel, 32, said: "It got beyond a joke. The last straw was when I caught my bartender coming out of a toilet with a woman guest.

Another twist, you would agree.

Obviously now the hotel will be besieged by British male guests.

Then we shall see which team wins...

Ahmadinejad: 'American empire' nearing its end

That be all for today, folks.

The Indy angle

It will be short but sweet: Independent reports on the terror attack in Jerusalem (September 22):

Police said the incident was a "terror attack"...

A rescue worker said the group of pedestrians was about to cross a road near the so-called Green Line separating the Arab and Jewish areas of Jerusalem when a black BMW struck them just before 11pm.

That's it, nothing more to see or to add. Comments will be unnecessary.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

Itil, the lost capital of the Khazars, found

Finally!

An Astrakhan archaeologist said he has found the lost capital of the Khazars, a powerful nation that adopted Judaism as its official religion more than 1,000 years ago, only to disappear leaving little trace of its culture.

I really felt something tagging at my heart seeing this picture:

Obviously, the ancestral memories die hard. Everything came back in a flood of details: the first pony, the smoky yurt, the archery lessons...

And this reminder, of course:

The Khazars were a Turkic tribe that roamed the steppes from Northern China to the Black Sea. Between the seventh and 10th centuries they conquered huge swaths of what is now southern Russia and Ukraine, the Caucasus Mountains and Central Asia as far as the Aral Sea.

I think that Northern China to the Black Sea, plus these other bits and pieces mentioned, will do for now. Some people will have to move, I am afraid. Nothing personal, folks.

Yeeeehaaa!

T-Mobile G1, HTC and Google's Android

HTC is unquestionably the biggest fish in the smartphone world, and this announcement only serves as another reminder. The fact that Google has (wisely) chosen HTC to be the first platform for Android says it all.

With all the glitz and marketing savvy of iPhone, the serious fight is only starting. I can offer a guess about the outcome.

As for Android - I'll wait a year or two. Here's the baby...

Joseph Petcka - you are on the Elder's list now

This is Norman, PBUH, killed by a no-good drunken imbecile named Joseph Petcka.

Prosecutors say former baseball player and actor Joseph Petcka beat, stomped and kicked a cat to death in a jealous and drunken fury after complaining that his girlfriend loved the feline more than she loved him.

No need for prosecutors anymore.

...prosecutor Leila Kermani on Monday called him a liar, describing him as a "washed-up, never-made-it-to-the-big-leagues athlete" and a "D-minus list" actor.

She forgot to add "dead duck" to the list...

RIP, Norman.

FSB and its patron saint

A Russian religious group called Union of Russian Orthodox Citizens proposed promoting teh Saint Alexander Nevsky to the role of the patron saint of FSB - the Russian federal security service, the main successor of KGB. Here is Alexander:

When you stop laughing at the mere idea of a saint overlooking the essentially dirty business of the (not so) august organ, consider the following:

• Alexander Nevsky is the person to whom the inspirational slogan "Whoever will come to us with a sword, from a sword will perish" is ascribed. This text inspired, between other things, the famous KGB shield and sword emblem. So the hereditary lines are easy to trace.
• The second reason why the good folks of the Union proposed Alexander as a patron is to prevent implementation of another brilliant idea, offered by a member of the Duma (the Russian parliament): to return the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the bloody founder of the Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka, to its original location on Lubyanka Square. The historic haunts of the Cheka, NKVD, KGB and now FSB. It is not that the Union minds Derzhinsky's blood thirst, it is rather that he was a raving atheist and invested quite an effort in elimination of the church and its clerics.

So there. Cannot say I don't understand the Union's drive.

Before you become too serious, though, here is a related brilliant idea: to assign the Russian SVR - the foreign intelligence service - another patron saint. So that the respective bailiwicks of FSB and SVR will be clearly demarcated in the spiritual sphere as well as in the practical one, and they wouldn't have to fight over rights of prayer.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

Porn for women - a clear and present danger

This new movement should raise the alert level above red. See two examples of the depravity.

And this is only for starters. Here is another one:

I shudder trying to imagine the consequences...

16 wounded in Jerusalem terror attack

According to the latest from TV. Two of the wounded are defined as having serious injuries.

The terrorist was shot. It is still unclear who shot him.

From Haaretz:

The rescue service said a driver drove his car into a group of people at the intersection.

Update: Police is already at the house of the dead terrorist in East Jerusalem.

Update: Terrorist was shot by a passing artillery soldier.

Update: the car is registered in a name of a person from East Jerusalem, there is no proof yet that the terrorist came from the same address.

Hazel Blears: Sarah Palin is 'horrendous'

That's a tough one:

A British government minister attacked Republican US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin as "horrendous" at the Labour Party conference on Saturday.

In the spirit of true neutrality and natural cowardliness, this here blog will avoid commenting on the above, offering instead the following evidence:













We report - you decide.

Ehud Barak - what is he up to?

"On the eve of Israel’s 60th Independence Day, the country’s population stands at 7,282,000", says this site. Without arguing about this number - 7,281,999 of the citizens do not have a slightest idea what their minister of defense is doing lately. This quote summarizes how it looks from outside his feverish brain:

Senior Labor Party figures said Barak understands that he has to prevent Livni from consolidating her popularity from the prime minister's chair, but does not want to be criticized for provoking elections. Barak is said to believe that Netanyahu will not join a Livni government, and this could be his pretext to call for elections. Livni's associates said it was strange that Barak met with the opposition leader before finding time to meet with Livni, despite her attempts since Thursday to schedule such a meeting.

Oh well, hopefully he will understand eventually that after the elections he is pushing for he will not have a pot to piss in, politically speaking...

The other intriguing question is whether Barak knows what Ehud does... or vice versa?

More guesswork here. But no psychiatrists on the case so far.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

Hadron collider - the end of the world postponed

Here.

Some time to put your investments in order.

Pole dancing - dreaming in Dublin, acting in Bucharest

I have mislaid this picture, but yesterday it has surfaced again in someone's e-mail:

It shows* that citizens of Dublin, while possessing a keen sense of humor, are too timid to act on their ideas.

In Bucharest**, however - OK, you can click "Read more..." down there only if you are above age of ___ (as applicable in your country, state, county).

Travellers in Bucharest came face to flesh with an extreme form of busking – a woman apparently stripping for cash while pole dancing on a subway train. Shocked commuters were subjected to a saucy striptease with the woman stripping down to her underwear, before asking the packed train for money, reports BalkanInsight.com.

Now to the really important part - LiveLeak generously provides a clip dedicated to the anonymous, but valiant, pole dancer.

(*) I suspect that this Dublin picture is photoshopped anyway.

(**) It should be noticed that for some inexplicable reason most of the articles about the Bucharest lady appear in Australian news sources.

Frosted butts, daylight savings time 2008

The autumn is officially declared here too, but I am not certain that we'll have to cope with the frosted butts issue. Not with +33 (Celsius)... Many surfers, however, are concerned with this problem, and the advice is simple: keep it covered when outside!

Sunday links

Sit up at attention, pleas. Jack, the current boss of the whole enchilada, produced Haveil Havalim #183 - Lost But Found Again, and if you are included, don't forget to put in a sniveling comment. If you are not included, do it too, for the next time. Anyhow, it's a biggish one, so take your time.

And COTI - the Carnival Of The Insanities is jumping and twisting again!

Enjoy!

Terry Glavin and the heights of politeness

You just have to listen to this priceless dialog: Terry Glavin discusses Afghanistan with a NDP MP Denise Savoie.

When you read Terry's post about the dialog, it is clear that he, being great and nice people, goes out of the way to be nice to Ms Savoie. Well, after listening to her vacuous mumbling about a diplomatic solution, about withdrawal of troops, about letting other people (UN - what does UN mean for her, it's interesting - all these yellow, black and brown people or what?) handle this, I don't feel obliged to be polite. She came out plainly stupid.

What is worrying in this case, though, that her kind of stupidity seems to be contagious.

Lindsay Lohan blogs about Sarah Palin

LOL, I would say, is somewhat of a breach of blogging etiquette, but it's funny indeed.

September 1st - back to school

Thanks to MM.

Blow me heid off!

If you haven't read this... come on, people!

Who wants the sixth Hitchhiker's book?

Not me, at any rate. Sorry, Mr Colfer.

The Man is dead. Let him rest in peace. Please.

The mold is thrown away, the books are written and the gods are eternally smiling at him.

Let him be.

Kim Jong Ill or not? And NK female soldiers.

North Korea's Kim is fine, his deputy says

So what do these lady soldiers train for?

Hope springs eternal.

The Johnson Curse

This headline is so ambiguous that one, especially one that doesn't know much about internal US politics, is just bound to jump on it.

Then it appears to be about Obama again.

Obama's Johnson curse... So what else is new?

Olmerts retirement - heads or tails?

David Hazony, in The Last of Olmert? tries to predict whether we are seeing the end of Olmert's political career this September, after the elections in Kadima.

The most striking conclusion is that he has no intention of going anywhere. In other words, even if he quits his post as Prime Minister, Olmert has every intention of continuing to play a vital role in the Israeli government, either as Foreign Minister or, more likely, in a major advisory role in Israeli foreign policy.

That is reaching a bit, I think, but weirder things have happened. I am not sure Olmert is up to doing a Putin here, but who knows indeed.

The Elders are not taking bets at the moment.

P.S. After some mulling: the real question that should be asked about Olmert's delaying tactics is not whether he will go eventually, but what it is he plans to do between his announcement of retirement and the real retirement date. It could be that he plans to go with a bang, rather than with a whimper, but this is for Mahmoud the Mad to ponder...

A newcomer to the 9/11 conspinuts crowd

When some white trash Western conspinuts start their "debunking" of 9/11 events, they frequently use something in the line of "It is simply impossible that 19 arabs blah blah blah...". Thus proving only one thing - their built-in racist genes.

Now another conspinut-to-be joins the crowd, and he is an Arab, so his first steps into the vortex of insanity are quite interesting to follow. Professor Rubin of GLORIA Center does a surgery of The Arab World's Intellectual Mess: A Case Study. Enjoy.

Councillor Kalashnikov or legal beagles vs bloggers again

There is no rest for a blogger who tries to eke his humble Internet existence by humbly biting a knee here and a hand there. Hardly had the virtual blood of Harry's Place dried, and there is another blogger being picked upon by another pride of the eternally hungry lawyers. This time the victim is a British politician and blogger Kezia Dugdale.

The story starts with a Glasgow SNP Councillor Jahangir Hanif. The man, apparently, has some Middle Eastern roots and, also apparently, has some habits that could not be satisfactory handled in the stiff and well-mannered environment of Great Britain. He suffers from the urge, you see, to shoot a semi-automatic rifle, namely Kalashnikov, at something or other from time to time. Since this craving cannot be indulged in Glasgow or its environs, he has to do it in Afghanistan (don't ask me why). Not only that, but he wants his family, including his little kids, to partake in this sport.

It so happens that Mr Hanif is one of the two sides in the quite a messy divorce. Acrimony spilled over from a married couple to the children. One of the children, one Noor Hanif, decided to complain about dad's rather quirky tastes in firearms and other behavioral traits to a political luminary - the SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond. She send him a rather long letter, complaining about this and that. More on the story here, there and in other blogs.

As it happens, the full and unabridged text of this letter found its way to the general public, and some bloggers, including Ms Dugdale, published it in full or in part. As a result, Councillor Kalashnikov is mightily pissed off and has instructed his lawyers to take steps. Lawyers, of course, readily took steps. First of all by sticking their poisonous talons into the bloggers (they obviously understand that tacking a newspaper will be much more difficult). Ms Dugdale issued a brief statement after removing the letter from her blog. Suffice to quote this:

The firm of Bannatyne, Kirkwood, France and Co., gave this site 15 minutes to remove the letter.

I don't know whether it was really necessary to publish the whole letter. There are some pretty personal things that are better left alone, or for the divorce courts. But after so many people published it, the business of keeping it under lock and key becomes not only impossible but plainly stupid. And the Streisand effect will do its work. I, myself, will not publish the letter here - it's quite long and frankly, a bit tedious. But I shall happily send it to anyone who requests it (look up our e-mail on the right side of the blog). But not before quoting Councillor Kalashnikov on that famous Afghanistan (or was it Pakistan) outing:

He was saying “Look at these people, my friends, I could have anyone shot”.

All in all, the letter shows a fairly loathsome dude. A loathsome dude with some attack lawyers at his disposal to boot.

Bleh...

Via Alwyn ap Huw aka Miserable Old Fart.

Caroline, Tzipi, Bibi, frustration...

Preface 1: I know that I have less chances to become a darling of Jerusalem Post than a snowball to survive in hell. So, let's have another go. What the heck, I mean?

Preface 2: I don't really care who of the current brood of pretenders to the PM chair wins. They are all looking kind of not there. Still, I would prefer to see a new face, and the two already used ones (Barak and Bibi) could do with more time on ice. Like another 50 or 60 years.

Now, I confess to liking Caroline (some have even suspected that I am falling in love, but really, let's be careful here, SWMBO is looking over my shoulder, OK?). She (Caroline, not SWMBO) is straight, in-your-face, no nonsense and passionate about her causes. What is there not to like?

Still, there is one subject where she kind of loses the... perspective. The political torch she is carrying for Bibi who languishes in the political limbo for too many years (at least Caroline thinks so) produces some special fumes that definitely have an impact. Easy to see in the latest Mrs. Clean is a Fraud article that starts with an immediate go at a knockout.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni may not be a crook, but she is a fraud. And if polls are to be believed, Livni the fraud is just one fraudulent election away from becoming our next prime minister.

Oh boy... I would have waited for the count of ten, I bet. Of course, if after the full count of ten I were able to move my jaws, I would have humbly inquired how is the alleged fraud Tzipi different from any other alleged fraud politician, without even mentioning any names. I don't even want to guess what the answer would have been. Probably an uppercut to finish the lower jaw off.

The expressed goal of Livni and her three opponents - Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit - is not to ready Kadima for elections, but to select a new prime minister who will form a governing coalition that will bar the public from electing its representatives until March 2010.

If the uppercut hadn't finished me, I would have tried to master the scant remainders of my strength to ask again how is Tzipi different in this from any other politico. I mean, if the chair could be reached without the drudge, expense and uncertainty* of the elections, why rock the boat? Would any other aspiring pretender to the throne behaved otherwise? Come on...

Besides, it's so clear who is meant in that "electing its representatives" thingy. Really, Caroline, he can wait for another year or so. After all, we all agree that no matter who it is that Kadima chooses to form the new government, that government is practically a goner. One year, no more. Surely the Man could wait that long?

Well, the two quotes used more or less summarize the main thrust of that piece. And the rest of it says that:

• Tzipi uses vote contractors to sign up blocs of voters on her behalf. Nah - she is the first, I bet! Mr B never...
  
• Tzipi will divide Jerusalem (this one is as old as Shimon Peres, and he is old!)
• Tzipi concocted a detailed fraud to compel her Likud colleagues Binyamin Netanyahu**, Limor Livnat and Silvan Shalom to vote in favor of Sharon's bid to withdraw from Gaza and northern Samaria and expel all Jews from the areas. Wow! A politico who decieves - that's a new one, surely!
• Tzipi caused "thousands of protesters were illegally arrested and held in jails for weeks at a time without charges being brought against them". A budding tyrant on top of all.

Well, what can I say, besides quoting Lenin: "They frighten us but we are not scared"? Or whatever. Anyhow, if this is the whole file Caroline can drop on Tzipi, we are in a relatively good shape. Compared to the other alternatives, I mean. And I am not going to start dive-bombing Mr. B like an irate gull, it is too boring by now. Like bombing a football field, as far as your chances to miss are concerned.

Just suggesting that this torch is smoking somewhat awful. Really. Time to give it a good cleaning or change it.

Nah, folks, sometimes frustration is just too funny. That's all.

(*) There isn't any uncertainty, in fact. With the current roster of run-ups and the electorate's short memory, Mr. B is a hands down favorite.

(**) In praise of Caroline, I have to say that she mentions Mr B. only once in the article. Cool!

Last minute update: Just when I promised not to dive-bomb Bibi, he comes out with another blooper that is impossible to pass over. In his TV appearances of Sep 16 (notice the date) he compared Kadima fiscal leadership with Lehman Brothers' crash, beating self on chest and claiming that he warned repeatedly about the financial "tsunami" coming.

The man's megalomania is certainly of Galactic proportions.

A morsel of Hungarian wisdom - for men only

The story is not only exquisitely told by No Good Boyo, it is also inspirational and educational to the unheard of degree.

Er... and as it says in the title. Not that ladies are prohibited, but all in all...

Crissangel.com, crisangel.com, criss angel, crissangel, aetv, aetv.com

It is this:

In this episode Criss Angel will attempt to escape from the nine-story Spyglass Resort building in Clearwater Fl. as it is being imploded by a team from Advanced Explosives Demolition, Inc. www.biggerblast.com.

Or this:

In what could only have been pulled off by the most amazing illusionist of the 21st century - Chris Angel mind freaked Arctic ice shelf specialists at Trent University in Ontario into believing the 4,500-year-old Markham Ice Shelf disappeared.

Or even this:

Illusionist Criss Angel, together with high-end quality apparel manufacturer Dussault Apparel, will be launching his own clothing brand called MF13.

Fer Criss sake... in any case, it's crap. So?

'Multiple casualties' in blast at Yemen U.S. Embassy

It sounds bad. Let's keep our fingers crossed and wait for more info.

Update 1: Between killed six Yemeni policemen and four civilians

Israel: too many prophets and no king

For the sake of brevity I have omitted the word "mad" in the headline, you might want to work out by yourself where it fits.

We are used to joke about that famous "three million presidents"* thing, about three Jooz having five opinions and more and more in the same vein. But every joke is half the truth, and the problem of our infighting is far from being a joke. United we stand, but united we are on very rare occasions, and rarely we take a breather from tearing the nation apart. I am never tired repeating this. But Ami Isseroff does it so much better in the latest piece The biggest danger to Israel.

The worst period in the early history of ancient Israel was the time of the Judges, of which the Book of Judges states more than once, In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. The gift of men like Herzl and David Ben-Gurion is that they were able to overcome the futile, petty and egotistical quarrels of Diaspora Jewish life and rabbinical Judaism, and to produce a united people, ready to undertake sovereignty.

What happens when these elements are missing?

WYSIWYG, ladies and gentlemen - What You See Is What You Get, and it's past time to stop and do something about it.

But read the whole article, please.

(*) The story goes more or less like this: in a meeting between Nixon and Ben-Gurion, the former complained about the burden of managing a country of 200 million citizens. Ben Gurion countered: "Imagine the problem of managing a country of three million presidents".

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

The Daily Kos: beneath contempt

The original headline of the article describing this:

is The Daily Kos: Beyond Outrage, Beneath Contempt. Frankly, outrage is a bit too strong a feeling for this bunch of spineless vermin.

But read the whole article, and there are a few more.

Via Roger W. Gardner from Maggie's Notebook.

To this mysterious Russian soul

You know how it goes, my dear non-Jewish reader (goy, gentile, whatever): one day, while sitting in a pub, you discover that you are out of funds for the next round. Or your beloved dog dies of a simple deworming procedure (or so your vet said). Or the weather sucks. And you don't exactly know whom to blame for this or that minor mishap. Then a thousand watt bulb goes off in your head and all becomes clear: the Jooz!

Nah, knowing you, my reader, I doubt that you entertain such an idea for a long time. This is just not you. There is, however, a sizable community of people that do entertain this idea on a more or less permanent basis, and these are the ones this post is written for.

For this reason, the rest of the post is relevant to the people who read, speak and understand (this is an important point) Russian. So click "Read more" if ready.



Исполнителю и автору: спасибо дорогой, правдолюбец ты наш неугомонный и бесстрашный. Это о содержании: действительно великая сермяжная - всю боль душевную с грязью, гноем и дерьмом на стол! Мы, Старцы Сионские, век тебе не забудем. А то глядишь и два - время у нас есть.

А вот что касается исполнения, тут ты, мягко выражаясь, петуха пустил, да ведь и сам то ты петух, между нами. Нет уж, под Барда лучше не коси. Как говорится: "Не делай под Высоцкого а делай ка ты, жопа огородная, под себя".

Так что вот послушай Барда и больше так не делай, мудила (Картинки там кстати твоими друзьями наворочены, да не в них суть). Может и поймешь что то. Хотя вряд ли, юродивый ты наш...



Береги себя и не ешь сырых помидор на ночь.

Elders of Zion - Старцы Сионские.

В.Высоцкий

"Антисемиты"

Зачем мне считаться шпаной и бандитом -
Не лучше ль податься мне в антисемиты:
На их стороне хоть и нету законов,-
Поддержка и энтузиазм миллионов.

Решил я - и, значит, кому-то быть битым,
Но надо ж узнать, кто такие семиты,-
А вдруг это очень приличные люди,
А вдруг из-за них мне чего-нибудь будет!

Но друг и учитель - алкаш в бакалее -
Сказал, что семиты - простые евреи.
Да это ж такое везение, братцы,-
Теперь я спокоен - чего мне бояться!

Я долго крепился, ведь благоговейно
Всегда относился к Альберту Эйнштейну.
Народ мне простит, но спрошу я невольно:
Куда отнести мне Абрама Линкольна?

Средь них - пострадавший от Сталина Каплер,
Средь них - уважаемый мной Чарли Чаплин,
Мой друг Рабинович и жертвы фашизма,
И даже основоположник марксизма.

Но тот же алкаш мне сказал после дельца,
Что пьют они кровь христианских младенцев;
И как-то в пивной мне ребята сказали,
Что очень давно они бога распяли!

Им кровушки надо - они по запарке
Замучили, гады, слона в зоопарке!
Украли, я знаю, они у народа
Весь хлеб урожая минувшего года!

По Курской, Казанской железной дороге
Построили дачи - живут там как боги...
На все я готов - на разбой и насилье,-
И бью я жидов - и спасаю Россию!

Robert Fisk - see how it is done

No, I don't plan another example of fisking per se. Just a vague mealy-mouthed vignette on the general lines of how some unscrupulous journos use sleight of hand to deceive and mislead the reader, especially one that desires to be mislead and confused or just doesn't give a flying donut. Here is a quote from Fisk's recent piece, and I am not even going to talk about the general thrust of that piece:

And I am reminded now of how Benjamin Netanyahu released Sheikh Ahmed Yassin from prison after two of Israel's Mossad would-be killers tried to murder Khaled Meshal of Hamas in Amman. King Hussein had angrily demanded the antidote to the poison they gave Meshal – which is how Yassin obtained his release. Then, after Yassin had been greeted by his Palestinian followers and gone ranting on about the need to avoid recognition of Israel, praising suicide bombers into the bargain, an Israeli pilot fired a missile into his wheelchair – not exactly a noble act since the old man was a cripple – and once again we heard about the barbarity of the now dead Yassin.

The master (some call him venomous professional hate pedlar, but this is not my point), takes two true incidents: 1) release of the Sheikh by Bibi and 2) Sheikh's demise by metal poisoning.

Fisk conveniently forgets that the first incident (release) happened in 1997, while the second (demise) in 2003. Thus creating an impression that the Sheikh was released just to be cruelly cut down in prime of his free life.

And of course, he doesn't mention several hundreds of murdered and several thousands wounded and traumatized for life (during this period) Israelis, and the much higher numbers of Palestinians sharing the same fate as a result of our response. A major part of this feast of death was inspired by the poor, paraplegic, nearly blind and confined to a wheelchair monster.

But why should Fisk mention all this? After all... but see above re the mislead and confused.

And re "venomous professional hate pedlars" - yeah, let's leave it alone for now. After all, you have to do something with your spare time.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

Morgellons disease, Morgellons syndrome and Zionist conspiracy

Almost missed this one. The signals department is in a state of total disarray, what with the upcoming holidays and counting and stacking the greenbacks from that financial do on Wall Street.

So what do we have? A link between the mysterious Morgellons malady and the Agrobacterium. And then it becomes Krystal Klear: Morgellons - Agrobacterium - GM food - US boffins - US government (actually ZOG) - Zionists - the Elders.

Oh, and chemtrails, I have almost forgot the chemtrails. My bad...

But the grim reality is much simpler:

...symptoms including crawling, biting, and stinging sensations...

Just look at this ZioBolshi here:

What do you feel now?

Q.E.D.

Sitemeter rollback

It takes some guts to say this:

Our intention is and has always been to offer you, our customer’s better tools and more accurate data. Obviously we fell short of this.

As an ex-developer, I know precisely what it takes to come out with a statement like this.

I shall stick with Sitemeter then. Good guys.

Muslim leader threatens to kill Paul McCartney over Israel gig

Omar Bakri... He may be a big cheese in interpretation of Koran and offing the infidels, but doesn't the ijit know that Paul McCartney is dead? Proof - I didn't move a finger to get a ticket.

Elvis, on the other hand...

Some answers to the surfers

I know that this post will not endear me to some people who look askance at this itch to post search strings and related cheap wisecracks. But the urge is simply irresistible, and once in a while one must succumb. So here.

To field-dress a moose doesn't mean taking a moose for a fitting session in Bloomingdale. Check the link out.

Hadron - it's not a typo for hard-on. And what is a hard-on collider? - no, really!

I don't rightly know whether Large Hadron Collider is Zionist - I am in Hasbara, will ask the boffins, OK? Back to you with the answer soon.

Is Maria Sharapova Jewish? Who, that one?

Should we really care? As far as the Elders are concerned, she could be a reptilian. Looking like this...

Palin never in Iraq, campaign now says

Heaven forbid! Do they want the whole shebang to be over in a week? What would the generals say? What would the generals do? What would the generals think?

Sunday links

Getting more and more senile, what with all these Hasbara pressures. Plain forgot to submit stuff to Haveil Havalim, which is today and which is by Batya, she of many blogs. Very colorful and full of goodies.

And here it comes - sanity no more!



Enjoy!

Seth Freedman - an apologist for Hamas TV

Seth Freedman as an apologist - this sounds strange, no matter what entity he is supposed to apologize for. The opposite was believed to be true - as one of the main contributors of the Guardian political cesspool called Comment is Free, he became rather prominent as an attacker. His attacks are directed against the Zionist Entity - which happens to be precisely what is expected from him by his editors and the shoal of his faithful followers that cheer him as kind of a new Guardian Messiah.

Frankly, a terrible disappointment. Some years ago, with appearance of his first articles, my friends and I had high hopes for the youngster. Not afraid to decry injustice of his own side, he was not blind to the behavior of Palestinians. No more - the guy clearly figured out which side his bread is buttered. And this side has no trek with criticizing Palestinians, obviously.

Besides, he is lately becoming more and more religion-minded, finding his real roots in the Jewish faith, apparently. Nary a piece of his ends without mentioning the deep chasm between his religion and the Zionists' atrocities. So much so that a friend of mine asked, quite reasonably, whether Seth is in apprenticeship to Neturei Karta. Certainly a possibility.

But his latest shenanigans left many an anti-Zionist standing. It started with Edwin Bennatan publishing in Jerusalem Post a rebuttal to quite a poisonous piece by Freedman, in which Freedman says, between other things:

People object to the wanton destruction meted out in [Palestinian] villages by the IDF being likened to pogroms - the word having been somehow arrogated by certain Jewish people for their exclusive use.

Well, as acrimony goes, the rebuttal by Bennatan was quite moderate. And then something unique happened: the relatively right wing JP removes the Bennatan's article and publishes an apology:

The Jerusalem Post would like to apologize to Seth Freedman for certain comments that appeared on our site following a September 1 blog entry written by Edwin Bennatan that were defamatory, threatening, and inappropriate.

The Jerusalem Post apologizes for any distress caused to Mr. Freedman, expresses its sincere regret that such a situation was allowed to occur, and will endeavour to prevent any recurrence.

A donation will be made by the Jerusalem Post to a charity of Mr Freedman's choice.

Wow... wow... But hold your horses before saying your wows - notice this: it is not the Bennatan's article that caused Mr. Freedman's ire, it were "certain comments"! And the forces our Seth brought to bear on poor JP were of such magnitude that they have decided to remove not only the offending comments, but the article itself! Unbelievable.

So, it looks like the fearless fighter for freedom of Palestinians and freedom of his expression in CiF is not exactly averse to some legal hanky panky when it comes to silencing the opposition. Might be interesting to know whether he threatened JP with a British court, which, as we all know only too well, is unbearably easy to persuade re libel. Might be also interesting to know where a humble CiF correspondent gets such an easy access to some legal talent that, as we all know, doesn't come cheap.

So, folks, in the interests of the freedom of expression, follows the unabridged version of the Bennatan's article, taken from Google cache memory. It doesn't look as if there is a copyright issue in this case, unless Edwin Bennatan himself calls for its removal from this here blog. You shall see that the article is no more incendiary than the endless drivel Seth Freedman feeds his readers on CiF. Enjoy.

An apologist for Hamas TV

Counterpoint to

Harsh words: but true
Source: guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/21/israelandthepalestinians.middleeast

People object to the wanton destruction meted out in [Palestinian] villages by the IDF being likened to pogroms - the word having been somehow arrogated by certain Jewish people for their exclusive use."

Seth Freedman
The Guardian (London)
August 21, 2008

At which point do absurd comparisons become blatantly offensive? The Guardian's Seth Freedman recently compared the western media to the Al-Aqsa television station. You need to realize just how perverse this station really is in order to fully grasp the absurdity of Freedman's comparison.

Here's a brief glimpse of Al-Aqsa TV, which was launched by Hamas in 2006 as part of its campaign to counter what it saw as Israeli propaganda in the western media. The station transmits news, documentaries, and children's programs from Gaza.

A Mickey Mouse lookalike character tells children that he will eat the Jews, and then sings "We will never recognize Israel", while a little girl joins in for the refrain: "Until we liberate our homeland from the Zionist filth."

A TV bunny is tempted by Satan to steal, and is sentenced by children viewers to be punished according to the Koran, by having his hand chopped off. He then threatens to kill the people of Denmark for the publication of a cartoon that illustrates the prophet Muhammad.

And in a particular potent strain of edification, Arab children are stuffed into a crematorium embellished with a nazi swastika and a Jewish Star of David, while for more mature viewers, a Hamas documentary program explains that it was the Jews who planned the Holocaust in order to kill other Jews who were handicapped.

The station's news broadcast reports that Israel is creating artificial earthquakes to shake the foundations of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, and in an interview with Agence France-Presse, the station's news manager, Ibrahim Daher, explains: "We adapt news so that it is compatible with our culture, the values of our people, and Islam".

Freedman recently summarized his impressions of the television station after having spent some time with a Palestinian family in the West Bank watching the news with two of his host's sons.

He implies that there is a balance of bias between the way the supposedly pro-Israel media disseminates information from the Middle East and the way Hamas television reports its version of events. He states: "The abandoning of western media parlance... in favor of an entirely different lexicon was a rude awakening for me, having been fed on a vastly different diet over the years." (Freedman is a fairly recent immigrant to Israel from Britain.)

Freedman sees an equitable parallel between the Hamas broadcasts on the one hand and the Israel and Western media (he combines the two) on the other; they are basically two sides of the same coin. "...it would be "wholly understandable" if a viewer of al-Aqsa TV who tuned into any western station from the BBC to Sky News and beyond felt a mirror-image outrage simply because of the terms used to describe the conflict."

And regarding the news broadcast that he was watching with his host's sons, he adds, "...the terms used ...were indicative of how wide the gulf is between ordinary citizens "on either side of the divide".

Freedman's lengthy introduction leads up to his main point: the vocabulary that is used to describe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is always unavoidably offensive to one side and acceptable to the other, due to the sides' different perspectives of the conflict. Thus, whenever Freedman tries "to call a spade a spade" he inevitably finds himself under fire from one side or the other. (Of course in his case the fire almost exclusively come from the Israeli side, because he rarely, if ever, has anything good to say about his newfound homeland.)

Freedman gives examples of his difficulty in calling a spade a spade. According to Freedman, the Palestinians are upset with the use of the terms settlers instead of colonists, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) instead of the more appropriate (according to Freedman) Israel Occupying Forces.

On the other hand, Israelis are upset with the term apartheid despite it being the more appropriate term for the situation in the West Bank (according to Freedman), and with the term pogrom to describe the destruction by the IDF in Palestinians villages, which is a term that Freedman believes has been "arrogated by certain Jewish people for their exclusive use, and only then in relation to the Jews' own historical suffering." (Freedman is apparently unaware that the term 'pogrom' entered English from Yiddish/Russian where it described the carnage of Jews in Eastern Europe.)

By his defense of these egregious descriptors, Freedman has set himself up as an apologist for the excesses of the Al-Aqsa station. In particular, his attempt to explain away the sensitivity of Israelis towards the careless use of the term 'pogrom' is inexcusable, considering that as a Jew and an Israeli he cannot claim ignorance.

Freedman concludes with one of his more remarkable statements. "While I understand how emotionally invested people (myself included) become when focusing on the conflict," he says, "we should not allow a situation where plainly-spoken facts are dismissed simply because the reader or viewer feels uncomfortable with the truth." In other words, those who reject the use of descriptors such as apartheid, Israel Occupying Forces, and pogroms, are clearly doing so because they are "uncomfortable with the truth". The possibility doesn't even enter Freedman's mind that they are rejecting these terms because they are uncomfortable with falsehoods.

While Freedman's most extreme allegations have been omitted here, he himself is a living rebuttal to his own claims. In Israel, he can call a spade a spade whenever he wishes; in fact he can even call it a pogrom. This is one of the benefits of living in a free society, - a privilege certainly not afforded by Hamas to the Gaza viewers of Al-Aqsa TV.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

On the need to arm bears

Which is more pressing than ever, you will agree after reading this.

A middle school teacher suffered some bruising and a big scratch on his back after he struck a bear while riding his bicycle to school.

Jim Litz said he was traveling about 25 mph Monday morning when he came upon a rise and spotted a black bear about 10 feet in front of him. He didn't have time to stop and T-boned the bruin.

I bet you that if, instead of a bear, the teacher had T-boned one of his pupils, the article would have been much less sympathetic to him.

The bear rolled over Litz's head, cracking his helmet, and scratched his back before scampering up a hill above the road.

Give them guns, I say.

Dissident Frogman does Matt Damon

As far as I am concerned, Matt Damon is a so-so actor and somewhat south of an average fungus as a deep thinker. Team America have done an excellent Matt Damon, if you ask me.

So I think that this documentary (Michael Moore style) by Dissident Frogman hits the nail.

Enjoy.

What is a flurge, flurg, flirge, flerge, flerg, flurj?

And why it is driving Google bonkers?

Update: uhu... here.

Flurge

v. A cross between flush and purge

"I flurged the wax from my ears."

For more information go and Flurge your Flerg.

Antony Lerman and the Jewish question

A fairly standard battle cry on the Israeli roads is: "The person that gave you a driver license has to be killed!". I don't need to describe the situation relevant to this cry, do I?

The first thought I had reading the Haaretz article Jews attacking Jews by Antony Lerman wasn't totally dissimilar to that battle cry: who the heck is the editor that published this one? He definitely needs some killing. On the other hand, it could have been a slow day in the office of Haaretz, and this thing just happened in the inbox - who knows, let's be charitable.

One cannot, of course, keep a straight face and blame the author - he is too daft, it looks like, to be held responsible for the drivel he spouts. For example:

When Jew-hatred is identified, it's mostly in the form of what many call the "new anti-Semitism" - essentially, anti-Zionism. Others (this writer included) fundamentally dispute that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are synonymous.

"Many" usually say that the new anti-Semitism is using anti-Zionism as a cover - not that all anti-Zionists are automatically anti-Semites. So "others" (Antony Lerman included) could go and screw themselves vigorously, instead of "fundamentally dispute" the false strawman these "others" created to publicly destroy to their own satisfaction.

Another good one:

Anything from strong criticism of Israel's policies, through sympathetic critiques of Zionism, to advocacy of a one-state solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict, is defined as anti-Zionism, when none of these positions are prima facie anti-Zionist.

So the advocates of a one-state solution are not anti-Zionist? Yeah. But in this passage Antony Lerman makes his dimness outstandingly clear:

The new EU-approved definition fundamentally subverts the term because to warrant the charge of anti-Semitism, it is sufficient to hold any view ranging from criticism of the policies of the current Israeli government, to denial of Israel's right to exist - without having to subscribe to any of the elements that historians have traditionally regarded as constituting an anti-Semitic view. And it puts out of bounds the perfectly legitimate discussion of whether increased anti-Semitism is a result of Israel's actions.

Notice the last sentence, which is a final giveaway: these pesky Israelis are making Lerman's life hard by their ill-considered behavior. Repeating many an anti-Zionist (and many an anti-Semitic) "thinker", starting with incomparable Seumas Milne who several years ago claimed that Jews in Europe would feel much better were Israel to behave...

More detailed debunking of this stupid article by Ben Cohen here.

Another definitive piece by David Hirsh on linking Israel's behavior and the anti-Semitism here.

>Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

More proof of Darwin's evolution theory

Sometimes paparazzi, while seeking a scoop, provide (unwittingly as their nature is) information that spills new light on something totally unrelated to the subject they are excited about. This is what happened this time. Look at this picture:

Taken quite a few years ago, it depicts Osama Bin Laden and his faithful sidekick Ayman al-Zawahiri during their careful and uncertain walk over the uneven and treacherous terrain of Afghani mountains.

But nature is kind and caring, making sure to give an even chance for those whose will to survive and persevere is strong. Coupled with Darwin's law, gene-modifying and not totally understood environment of the cave system in the area and cosmic rays, it took some years, but the result is a smasher. Behold the magic transformation of this pair, totally adapted to the harsh surroundings mentioned above:

Q.E.D.

Now let the creationists squirm!

Diversity, diversity and once more diversity

The post title is a ripoff from Lenin's "To study, to study and once more to study", but you cannot ignore its wisdom and applicability to many situations. Like the one addressed by the UK Film Council's online Diversity Toolkit. This toolkit will guide you, my dear and rare reader, in your simplicity and nincompoopery, to the true meaning and practical implementation of the sacred Diversity.

It even has a quiz that checks the depth of your understanding. I have gone through it and am not telling the results. Suffice to say that now I am able to expand the quiz by examples of my own. Here comes one:

You are a security guard / tickets checker in a movie theater. The several steps of the stairs leading to the entrance you guard are relatively high and may be an obstacle for a child or a smallish* person, while the building is not blessed by an arrangement that will enable a handicapped person or a child to get up the stairs. Now a vertically challenged (85 cm including heels and sombrero) Jewish gay person of color approaches the stairs and looks helplessly in your direction. Your choices are:

1. To make yourself looking busy with other customers entering the door (for example showing that tearing the control stub off is a difficult and consuming activity)
2. To throw something (ashtray?) at the VC (vertically challenged...) to make him go away
3. To tell him to bring his parents that may help him out with the stairs and stuff
   
4. To call the UK Film Council for instructions
5. To spit on the stairs in disgust and just quit the job
6. Offer your own solution

Go ahead, answer the challenge.

Via Peter Risdon.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg - the closure

It looks like finally the years of controversy and bad blood could be put to rest. Julius Rosenberg was a Soviet spy. He got his comeuppance. Case closed.

Leading scientist urges teaching of creationism in schools

Another British strike for multicul.. multicru... aw what the heck - for diversity.

The Rev Michael Reiss, a biologist and its [Royal Society] director of education, said it was self-defeating to dismiss as wrong or misguided the 10 per cent of pupils who believed in the literal account of God creating the Universe and all living things as related in the Bible or Koran. It would be better, he said, to treat creationism as a world view.

Totally correct. I, personally, am a closet Flat Earther (now you all know), and it is only fitting that Flat Earth model be studied in school.
And what about the Brits, including some luminaries, that believe in 911 conspiracy? This too should become a part of the curriculum.
And how about the Bigfoot?
And that fake lunar landing?
And...

The unbearable snootiness of the Old World

No one does that trick of looking at the unwashed forinners down his nose better than some members of British establishment. Here comes Peregrine Worthstone, former editor of the Sunday Telegraph:

Did he consult the allies? Of course not. For even with the little knowledge that was available to him he must have known all too well that her qualities and talents were strictly for local consumption, and almost provocatively off-putting for the rest of the free world.

Whether McCain blundered or not is immaterial for the case at hand. But imagine, for instance, President Sarkozy being told off for not calling, say, Gordon Brown (the latter was chosen for comic effect really) to check Brown's opinion on choosing his PM or something in this vein. Sounds unbelievable, doesn't it?

Bleh...

Via Andrew Ian Dodge.

Not exactly the same, but similar.

More proof that Obama is Jewish. And Muslim too.

The Republicans issued a lot of heated statements about Obama's saying:

… you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.

I don't know, people - why dontcha cool down? After all, you cannot force a Muslim or a Jew to take pork calmly.

Just wait for his Christian or Hindu day. It is all detailed here.

We have still almost a month to go, and with this level of mudslinging somebody might blow a gasket yet. We don't want that, do we?

In related news: more comedians in Senate:

Minn. Democrats Pick Al Franken For Senate

But will he make a difference?

9/11 - seven years later

It still grips your heart.

Have we all learned something from this tragedy? Was the jolt strong enough to make us open our eyes?

If not, we have more, much more coming.

Rose's body found in a suitcase

This is how it ended. The last hope against hope that she may be alive is gone.

Divers find suitcase containing human remains believed to be those of missing four-year-old in Yarkon River's waters.

As for the person(s) who killed the girl, put her in the suitcase and threw her away as garbage: to remind ourselves - we still have the capital punishment buried deep in the law books.

We still have some suitcases.

We still have some poisonous streams.

Sarah Palin and this end of the world LHC thingy

Reading this short side remark by Norm. What could be the link between the eagerly anticipated (by some) end of the world and very feminine and controversial Sarah P.

Trying to connect the Freudian dots: LHC - black holes - life starts in a woman - exiting a black hole - that Almodovar movie with man life's amazing end - right wing Sarah Palin and visions of apocalypse - black holes again...

No, of course I am not analyzing Norm here, so no offense.

As for the spectacular dreams some people have re Sarah Palin: I wish I got one of them. Instead, the only Sarah-related dream I had was where I was a boxing ring floor mat with four people fighting, running and jumping around upon my prostrate body.

One of them was wearing stiletto heels...

Update: another nice interpretation of the same dots.