New in "how to" category

By Dale Carnegie: How to get rid of friends you've acquired using my previous book.

Hat tip: H.A.

Crocodile vs Cheetah: inconclusive

But still a win for the gator crocodile, if only by points:



But no worries, felines sometimes win too.

Thanks to Guest on the correction.

Tourists nabbed with cocaine inside stomachs: an easy explanation

Surely Zionist press is unfair to otherness:

An x-ray examination reveals 2.5 kilograms of liquid cocaine concealed inside condoms in stomachs of Bolivian couple arriving at Ben-Gurion Airport; drug content worth some $200,000.

Only down close to the end of that article you see the key sentence:

As airport detectives took the couple aside for questioning, they were surprised to discover, during an x-ray examination, that the Bolivian tourists were smuggling 2.5 kilograms of liquid cocaine in their stomachs concealed inside 85 condoms.

Now, I hope, everything is illuminated: the two simply participated in a condom swallowing competition, so popular lately in that locale. And, of course, with water shortages being felt all over the world, the cheapest local filling material was chosen. The rest is history.

I hope they get a good lawyer.

Camille Grammer apologizes to Kelsey over penis Insult

The insult was "Big hands, big feet, big disappointment", but the apology was different, sounding like "The size of my disappointment was greatly exaggerated by the media".

By appointment to the Holy See

From Francis Sedgemore.

I have looked up that company. In fact, their expertise (roofing) and their claim of infallibility made me fall in love with them immediately. All roofing experts I have encountered until now (and paid dearly for the privilege) are experts mostly in empty promises. As the various patches on our ceilings are the wetness  witness... 

The Council Has Spoken!

Here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• First place with 4 1/3 votes! Right Truth–-John Bolton: ” Why I May Run For President” and Why We May Need Him
• Second place with 3 1/3 votes – The Razor-Betting It All And Losing
• Third place with 1 1/3 votes – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD-Future Palestine
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Joshuapundit-A Dark Day In AfPak
• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – VA Right!-Blaming the Downgrade on the TEA Party Is Like Blaming MADD for Drunk Driving
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Political Commentator – Egyptian elections are coming! Egyptian elections are coming!
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room – Serfing the Downgrade
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – New Zeal – IPS: Influential, Far Left “Think Tank” Proposes Deep Defense Cuts
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Simply Jews – S.A.R.A. overland convoy to Gaza – another peak of hypocrisy

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 2/3 votes! – Mark Steyn- Mad Debt submitted by The Noisy Room
• Second place with 1 2/3 votes – Walter Russell Mead – American Tinderbox submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes -Sarah Palin – Conquering The Storm submitted by Joshuapundit
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes -The Contentious Centrist – Babies submitted by Simply Jews
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes -Melanie Phillips – The chickens come frighteningly home to roost submitted by The Political Commentator
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes -Huffington Post/Christina Wilkie – Mujahideen-e Khalq: Former U.S. Officials Make Millions Advocating For Terrorist Organization submitted by Right Truth
• Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes -Doug Ross – Top 20 Obama Tour Bus Names submitted by The Watcher
• Fourth place with 1 vote - The Mellow Jihadi – Me And The SEALs submitted by The Watcher
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Jawa Report – 10 yr old’s request to CNN: Bryan Nichols submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Gateway Pundit – S&P Calls for Dictatorship? submitted by The Watcher
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Elise Jordan/NRO – It’s Okay to Fight (If France Says So) submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD

Wicked or evil?

I advise you to go there and marvel at the elegant takedown by Norm of the quote below (Terry Eagleton):

What happened on both occasions [September 11 1973 in Chile and September 11 2001 in the US] was a moral obscenity and wicked, but it was not, in a technical sense, evil. There is a distinction between evil and wickedness. It is wicked to destroy innocent people for one's political ends, as Al Qaeda did that day in New York and the United States has done in Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and countless other places around the world. For an act to be evil, however, means that the destruction must be done simply for the hell of it - for the sheer obscene pleasure of the thing, rather than for some functional end.

Meanwhile I'll stay here in the dark, wondering why Norm's decided to skip some fishy moral equivalence points. I guess he had his reasons.

P.S. I would still have to see an act of destruction where the perpetrator didn't have any "functional end" to present. Even a lunatic "functional end" counts, I dare say. Because to judge lunacy is a whole other domain.

P.P.S. My ever-present World Web dictionary (version 5.5.2 if you absolutely have to know) defines "wickedness" as one of the synonyms for "evil". Oh well.

Slaughterhouse-Five: soft pornography, says professor Scroggins

This post was triggered by a Reuters piece Vonnegut library offers banned book to students:

Up to 150 students at a Missouri high school that ordered "Slaughterhouse-Five" pulled from its library shelves can get a free copy of the novel, courtesy of the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, library officials said on Thursday.

I thought initially that it's an aftereffect of some older ban that hasn't been rescinded yet. Apparently not:

The Republic School District took the move at its April 18 meeting following a complaint lodged by local resident Wesley Scroggins in the spring of 2010.

So the inane censorship attempts are still a malady that pops up here and there.

One more detail that draws one's attention: according to this AP article, Mr Scroggins is "A Missouri State University professor who home-schools his children petitioned successfully to ban the books." Why a person who home-schools his children gets a say in the question of what books the school students can or cannot read, is beyond me.

I am not going to defend the late Kurt Vonnegut against drivel like this. My only hope is that our good professor doesn't intend to write any books. Because I don't want to say here what he should do with his manuscripts. Since I surely don't call for anyone to ban them.

Bleh...

More on Mr Scroggins' censorship here and here and here. And, oh well, here too.

The famous doodle test

You Are Wild

You rather travel to a new place for the holidays than spend time at home with your family. You're such a free spirit that you find it hard to commit to one person. You are fun loving, but you also have a serious side. You know when it's time to get down to business. You're willing to take risks in life... and reap the rewards. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The Circle Doodle Test

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

What, haven't you taken it yet? You must rush, before they run out of free HTML...

Thanks to Lesley.

Erdogan: We gave Syria clear message to stop bloodshed

As loud and clear as possible:

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he hoped Syria would take steps towards reform within 10-15 days and that Ankara gave a clear message to Damascus to halt the bloodshed resulting from the brutal repression of pro-democracy protests.

Or what?

Just asking...

Globalization vs national symbols

The BBC article Social media offers last keffiyeh factory lifeline sent me in several directions at once. It tells the sad story of declining and almost finished production of Palestinian keffiyeh scarf in the West Bank. The reason is mundane these days:

Wholesalers in the Palestinian Territories increasingly bought cheaper versions of the scarf from China, Jordan and Syria. A Hirbawi Textiles scarf costs around $6, while a Chinese keffiyeh costs as little as $3.

There are several observations to be made, and I shall do so presently:

1. I am personally not too fond of this glorified scarf, for the chief reason that it was used to protect the bald pate of the champion of double-speak, one Yasser A.
2. If you think about it, the fact that the Chinese keffiyeh became cheaper than the one made in Palestinian Territories is a witness to improvement in West Bank economy and standard of living, so it's not all that bad.
3. There is some poetic justice in that people who produce the cheapest Kalashnikovs, so popular with part of Palestinian folks are now producing the keffiyeh as well. It is well known that keffiyeh goes best with a well-oiled Kalashnikov. You cannot accept one and reject the other, let's be reasonable.
4. There is even more poetic justice in that people who produce the cheapest Kalashnikovs and keffiyeh are also producing the ubiquitous Che t-shirts. Because nothing fits Kalashnikovs and keffiyeh as Che on your chest and/or on your back.
5. Enough observations.

Jouda Hirbawi, one of the keffiyeh factory owners, though, made a remark that I have to quote and then to correct:

Of course no country can ban imports...

Here is a story that proves him wrong (sorry, I've found one in Hebrew only). The gist of it is that our Bank Hapoalim (Workers' Bank - oh well...) decided to send a gift of an Israeli flag to every Israeli household toward the Independence Day of 2008. The flag was wrapped in the weekend editions of three main Israeli newspapers, and the happy readers discovered that it (the flag) looks as follows:

Well, the star of David is turned the wrong way, that's all. What counts is the good intention, after all is said and done. The bank, apparently, ordered about a million and a half of flags, and in the fervor of fulfilling this emergency order, the Chinese quality control people made a slight mistake.

The story reached our lawmakers, and a left-wing one, Shelly Yachimovich*, expressed her displeasure with the fact that Israeli flags are produced elsewhere, which, in her opinion, is the chief reason for that mistake. I, personally, would say that... no, I shall withhold it for now.

Anyway, last year a new law was put into the legislative process. Another example of stupid legislative activism I am so fond of. And, of course, Shelly Yachimovich is the sponsor. I don't know how it has ended - if it has ended at all - and could care less. But there is an example and a lesson for Mr Hirbawi. I think.

(*)Her picture, that really doesn't do her justice, is in that same article in Hebrew, but there are better ones on the net.

Hat tip: Francis Sedgemore.

Rachel Tevet-Wiesel - new IDF advisor on women’s issues

According to IDF spokesperson:

Today, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz appointed Colonel Rachel Tevet-Wiesel as women’s affairs advisor to the IDF. Upon assuming her new position, Col. Tevet-Wiesel will be promoted to the rank of brigadier general. She currently serves as president of the Central and Air Force District Military Tribunal.

I don't know about you, but to me IDF women's issues already look mucho improved.

Via The Elder of Ziyon Daily.

New dichotomy under fire

Today, Tisha B'av, calls for some customary grieving, but also, for some people like yours truly, serves as a powerful reminder of the need for unity. This is why I was unpleasantly surprised to read these posts by Batya, she of many blogs. I may disagree with Batya on some political issues, but the mere fact that a person respected in blogging community comes out with such unbridled attack at the current wave of protests is deeply unsettling.

The gist of Batya's critic is that the protests are a brainchild of the left that "is determined to convince, brainwash the Israeli public that they should be in power, not Likud's Binyamin Netanyahu." There is also evidence she brings up of a protester leveling his ire at the settlers who, according to him, are the main source of our troubles. Both Batya and the youngster tend to forget that it is all our successive governments, left and right, that supported and nurtured the settlement movement. Another bit of evidence offered by Batya is "My Israel, a right wing group tried to join on the condition that the National Anthem, Hativka would be sung, but the organizers refused". Joining on condition is a bit of a charade, I would say, but let it be.

The facts on the ground are a bit different. It doesn't take an especially trained eye to see the right wing kippa wearers mixing and mingling with the throng. It may take a more widely open eye and ears to know that the ex-settlers from the Gush Katif have their own tent among the other tents in Tel Aviv. And that there are West Banks settlers complaining about the high prices of the housing there. It shouldn't take a mathematician to understand that the current left, whatever is left of it, isn't able in the best of circumstances to get 50,000 - let alone 300,000 - protesters on the street (all over the country), as it happened last Saturday evening. And that IDF pensioners (also having their tents between the others) are not divided into parties, ethnic or other groups. And that Rabbi Lau is not one's typical example of the commie...

I have to repeat a quote from my own post here:

...the demonstrations have seen voters from Likud, Meretz and Hadash standing shoulder to shoulder; protesters with skullcaps and secular people, Jews and Arabs.

There is some truth, though, in the complaint voiced by Batya that the left parties have taken a great interest and are trying to "adopt" the protests. But the point is not that the left wingers caused the protest - they are busily hitching their wagons to it. While the right wing parties are missing the train.

And so do some settlers who, instead of looking for questions that unite us are busy inventing or rehashing  some political divides. This is bad - bad both for our phantom of unity that we seem unable to reach, bad for the protests that are pointing out real economic problems experienced by the middle class. And we better resolve this conundrum quickly - for our kids' sake.

P.S. I have seen this just after posting that one:

Settler leader visits Rothschild tent city in solidarity

Yesha Council chairman Danny Dayan: "Hardships of public don’t stop at Green Line”; expresses hope movement won't become politicized.

Me too, me too, Danny...

P.P.S and a good Tisha B'av reminder here.

Arab League bets on 'dialogue' to end crisis in Syria

That's what they say. I am trying to imagine this. Lets' say Baby Assad (BA) stands in the central square in, say, Hama, with a Kalashnikov and a rep of the Arab League (AL) approaches him.

AL: Sir, I wonder whether we can have a bit of a nice dialogue here on a possible settlement of your people's grievances.
BA: Sure thing, let me just change a magazine. It's frightful what ammunition costs these days... [changes the magazine]
AL: Yes, so about your people's grievances...
BA(interrupting): Look at this bastard, the stupid son of a thousand is trying to hide behind a bush - tell me, ain't it funny [shoots at the bush]?
AL: Good shot, that. Now, about these grievances...

Etc.

Update: Apparently reality tends to follow art (oh well) sometimes. Check this out:

According to activists and observers who've examined an extraordinary video (above) posted to the Internet, that's exactly what Maher Assad, brother of Syrian President Bashar Assad, did on Friday, gleefully shooting at unarmed protesters as they chanted for the downfall of his regime in the Barzeh suburb of Damascus.

Thanks to Soccer Dad.

Italy explained

To Cameron. By No Good Boyo.

Still, I have to remark on that bedeviling language - I mean English. This here is a snapshot from a Telegraph front page:

How did whoever added this caption know to say "makes up" and not "makes out"? To me it looks like... aw, what the heck, it's not my language and not my business, after all.