31 August 2008

Michael Moore and proof of deity's existence

According to this, the world-famous creator of post-documentary documentaries found a new proof of existence of deity and His/Her attention to political affairs in US of A:

During an appearance Friday on MSNBC, Moore noted the coincidental timing of Gustav, which threatened the Gulf Coast on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina as the Republican Party planned to hold its convention in St. Paul, Minn.

"I was just thinking, this Gustav is proof that there is a God in heaven," the Oscar-winning director of "Fahrenheit 911" said. "To just have it planned at the same time, that it would actually be on its way to New Orleans for Day One of the Republican convention, up in the Twin Cities, at the top of the Mississippi River."
I was just thinking after reading the above that:

  1. This mug is another proof that the deity exists and that He/She has been unusually cruel toward the mug's parents. On the other hand, the parents might have sinned mightily - who knows?
  2. Michael Moore must have been paid by Republicans to sabotage the Democrats' cause.
  3. Krispy Kreme donuts definitely cause brain damage in the long run, especially if a person who is a walking cemetery of these donuts wasn't a genius to start with.
  4. Being an ugly, fat and lying jerk is not an excuse for moral debauchery. Or for idiocy.
  5. Who is hating America more - Osama or Michael Moore?
  6. Re item 1: Since we have established the existence of the deity, there is a five words message the deity should have passed to the parents (probably mislaid it due to extreme busyness): "Contraception, contraception, contraception!".
  7. More miscellaneous items that could not be published.
As you might have noticed, the items are not arranged in a particular order. Just thinking, you know...

More on the slobbo here.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

New Orleans vs Gustav

Hey folks, we'll keep our fingers crossed. Hope you will overcome it and get back in good shape!

Sunday links

Another reason to be happy that the week starts: Haveil Havalim #180 — The Alyn Edition is up.

Lebanon wants Kadhafi arrested, hanged

Yeah. Keep dreaming. Meanwhile, how about a few homegrown criminals that have more to pay for than Kadhafi? Who, I have to add, provides a lot of entertainment value, unlike the local villains.

Kateland is conflicted regarding this issue, asking self who it is she should root for in this case. I would say - for rope manufacturers, generally speaking.

P.S. Upon second though, hanging Kadhafi will alleviate the nightmare of spelling his name: Kadhafi, Gaddafi, Qadaffi, Q...

P.P.S. On the other hand, he has eight children, seven of them sons. Shit.

P.P.P.S. On the positive side, it means more rope.

A tragedy unveiled: Sean "Diddy" Combs grounds his private jet

This is a day of deep mourning for me, after this shocking discovery:

Sean "Diddy" Combs wants you to know celebrities are feeling the rise in gas prices, too, and wants his "Saudi Arabia brothers and sisters" to help him out.
Now, please understand my situation: a few hours ago I didn't know Sean "Diddy" Combs from a deep sea mackerel (is there a deep sea mackerel anyway?), but this tearful plea for support has really squeezed my heart:



"As you know, I do have my own jet, but I've been having to fly back and forth to L.A. pursuing my acting career . Now, if I'm flying back and forth twice a month, that's like $200,000, $250,00 round trip. F--- that. I'm back on American Airlines."
Dontcha even think of laughing, you freaks. The man is truly suffering, and if you heart doesn't bleed for him, you must be an inhuman monster, I swear!
"Give a shout out to all my Saudi Arabia brothers and sisters and all the brothers and sisters in all the countries that have oil — if you could please send me some oil for my jet, I would truly appreciate it," Diddy says, showing his commercial jet boarding pass to the camera.
Oh boy, what could I do? I am going to buy a jerrycan of jet fuel and Fedex it to him as soon as possible. You should too. I am confident that if we all pass a barrel around and if Saudi Arabia brothers and sisters come through too, we'll save Sean from that coach seat on American Airlines.

Amen and let's beat the motherf.....g gas prices!

30 August 2008

Pakistani lawmaker defends honor killings

The story of the barbaric-motivated barbarian murder of five young Pakistani women is not over:

A Pakistani lawmaker defended a decision by southwestern tribesmen to bury five women alive because they wanted to choose their own husbands, telling stunned members of Parliament this week to spare him their outrage. "These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them," Israr Ullah Zehri, who represents Baluchistan province, said Saturday. "Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid."
As a reminder:
The women, three of whom were teenagers, were first shot and then thrown into a ditch. They were still breathing as their bodies were covered with rocks and mud, according media reports and human rights activists, who said their only "crime" was that they wished to marry men of their own choosing.
I am afraid some people don't read the writing on the wall yet:
"I was shocked," said lawmaker Nilofar Bakhtiar, who pushed for legislation calling for perpetrators of so-called honor killings to be punished when she served as minister of women's affairs under the last government. "I feel that we've gone back to the starting point again," she said. "It's really sad for me."
Dear Ms Bakhtiar: this is much worse than just going back again, unfortunately. Dark times are at hand with the sicko fundies running unchecked all over the world.

Female Russian Soldiers

Well, not as such. If you still lick your chops after perusing this one about the female Ukrainian soldiers, the following picture could be a bit of a letdown for you:

Well, WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get.

But at least you know now that Russian army is impervious to Ukrainian provocation.

Hat tip to SEO - Search Engine Optimization

The fishy Chinese urinal

How could I have missed this one?

A Chinese restaurant has been criticised - for keeping ornamental fish in a urinal.

The restaurant in Changchun city has around 20 fancy carp in the four-metre long trough in the gents' bathroom.
Read the rest yourself.

I only hope they don't ser... or do they? Oh boy...

"How do you want your fish urinated, sir? Medium, please."

Carp is out of my menu for now.

29 August 2008

Sarah Palin - yeah, well, is she Jewish?

You know the drill by now.

Go ahead, place your bet!

Micheline Calmy-Rey and Osama Bin Laden

"Swiss FM would talk to bin Laden", the headline says.
But don't get your knickers twisted, there is a purpose to this:

Switzerland's foreign minister told top diplomats on Monday she favours direct talks with Osama Bin Laden to tackle the threat of terrorism.
I can imaging the forthcoming meeting - somewhere in a cave near Pakistan - Afghanistan border:

M: Good morning, dear Mr Bin Laden...
O: Oh, just call me Sammy, please, let's dispense with formalities!
M: OK, fine, but only of you call me Micheline.
O: So, Micheline, how do you do? You look younger than the last time I've seen you.

[Embarrassed silence for a minute or two, one of Osama's bodyguards faints]

M: You too, Sammy, look quite good. I would say more attractive than ever...

[Osama faints. More embarrassed silence interrupted only by goat bleating]

O [recovering]: Do you know what, Micheline, let's be done with the Oriental small talk. So what brings you here?
M [unperturbed]: Why, it's that thing I always root for [Osama blanching]. I mean the threar of terrorism, of course. Er... eliminating it.
O [visibly perking up]: Oh, that... Sure, sure, why not? Do you want some goat cheese, figs and pita before you go?

Well, and more in that vein. Anyhow, I cannot even start guessing what the heck is there for Swiss FM to talk about with OBL. At least we know why she went out of her way to kiss and make up with this one:
(Even Mahmoud The Mad seems to be somewhat put off, but let's write it off on cultural shock).

The aroma of natural gas permeated by a strong aftertaste of oil is surely a great stimulant. But what kind of gas does she expect to get from Osama?

Update: there is someone jealous of that Swiss one-upmanship.
Norway has joined Switzerland in opening up for talks with terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. That doesn't mean Norway is going soft on the fight against terrorism, though, said the country's deputy foreign minister.
...
He noted, though, that he has no illusions that bin Laden would sit down for negotiations. I don't think Osama bin Laden or the forces around al-Qaida want dialogue," Johansen said. "They prefer rather to take the lives of infidels."
Go figure that diplomatic lingo. Does it mean "buzz off" from Norwegian FM to the Swiss FM?

But it's hardly material. What is more intriguing still: what the heck these two would talk to Osama about, assuming he is available for such an eventuality?

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.


So whose fault it is?

San Adrea revisited. Superbly. As usual.

David Duchovny - when the role grows on the actor


Duchovny plays a sex-obsessed character on the Showtime series "Californication"...
Should go next time for the role of Ebenezer Scrooge. Or the Hulk. Something calming, in short.

Oh, and how exactly they cure the sex addiction? Electrodes on his unmentionables? Just asking...

28 August 2008

Abie Nathan, RIP

Over time, he earned a reputation as a maverick peace activist who often took diplomacy into his own hands. He was called a crackpot and a prophet. But many admired the daring of the former Israeli air force fighter pilot as he pounded on Egypt's doors, sailed his pirate radio ship into hostile Middle East waters or risked his life on hunger strikes for peace.
More from Batya.

More yet from Ami Isseroff.

RIP - he was a mensch indeed.

The Northern Ireland Analogy

The question of analogy between I/P conflict and the NI one has always intrigued me. Northern Ireland, aside of a slightly different climate, has the same ingredients that proved their potency for Middle Eastern brew: the occupying power, the religious rift, the settlers...

If the Northern Ireland conflict has anything to teach us about the conflict between Israel and Hamas, it is that negotiations on substantive issues with the present rulers of the Gaza strip will be a waste of time as long as they continue to believe that they have viable military options.
More here.

Mad Haiku goes visual

Audio-visual, that is. Rejoice, here he is:



Cool.

Is Rose the Israeli Madeleine McCann?

Looks who is complaining about the sickish interest displayed lately by international press.

That after a week the local media milked the story for everything it's worth, getting the histrionics to the level that would make Jeffrey Dahmer barf.

27 August 2008

Mahmoud Darwish, the murdered Palestinian poet

Nu, well - here you have history in the making. Cool.

Jenna Delich took Harry's Place down or coalition of the muzzled burns their strawman

"The law is an ass", they say, and there is a good measure of truth in it. The (temporary, I hope) demise of Harry's Place (HP) blog has shown again how easy it is in Britain to suppress any kind of writings anyone deems offensive (libelous will be the term used) to him/her. Even when the contents of that writings happen to be perfectly true.

The story starts with an "anti-Zionist" lady, one Jenna Delich, warmly recommending a article published on David Duke's (the famous Jew-hater who will not be linked from this place) site to her buddy. When Harry's Place made the story public, another "anti-Zionist" (and AssaJew to boot), Mike Cushman, advised Ms Delich to complain to the HP's ISP, which she has promptly done.

As a result, the blog that simply told the truth is shut down.

Aside of the current UK law on libel being ridiculous, there is a supreme irony in the way the two lowlifes mentioned above behaved. These two belong to a small but vociferous crowd of "anti-Zionists" that chronically complain about being muzzled by everyone - from the Zionist lobby to the British Royal Post. And look what have they perpetrated. It will be quite difficult for them to revive their favorite strawman now, I am afraid.

To make the rest easier for myself, I shall quote the beginning and the end of an excellent post by Ami Isseroff:

Next time you read that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism, and next time you hear that the Zionist conspiracy is "muzzling" criticism of Israel" remember this one.
And:
Remember Jenna Delich next time you read that "anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism." Remember Mike Cushman when someone tells you, "he can't be an anti-Semite, he is a Jew." Remember Harry's Place when someone tells you about the "Zionists" muzzling criticism.
Indeed. Now read the rest of that post.

And a few technicalities:
  • You can follow the new developments on a mirror blog The Jenna Delich Archives
  • You can express yourself by e-mailing these two characters:
  • Jenna Delich: jenna.delich@sheffcol.ac.uk
  • Mike Cushman: m.cushman@lse.ac.uk
Good luck.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

Update: HP is back on-line.

Hillary Clinton: 'Obama is my candidate'

Yeah. She didn't specify what exactly it is she plans for him.

Another quick lesson in modern Russian

Since the name of "peacekeeping" Russian operation against Georgia - "Принуждение к миру" - was first published, I had one heck of a trouble translating it into two other languages I claim to be more or less familiar with. The literal translations - "Coercion to peace" or "האלצות לשלום" sound so outlandish that people whose (respective) mother languages are English and Hebrew just goggle stupidly, and no explanation penetrates.

Thankfully, the Russian authorities haven't been deaf and/or blind to the issue of translation. To help out the curious foreigners, they have decided to offer several examples that will definitely make you grok the above:

  • Coercion to generosity = robbery
  • Coercion to a vacation = firing (sorry, it's "downsizing" these days)
  • Coercion to better health = beating
  • Coercion to change of scenery = arrest
  • Coercion to a wedding = rape
  • Coercion to friendship = raising natural gas price to $500
Capisce?

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

A tale of two houses

The message presented in this e-mail is such that it just has to be posted in its entirety.

Description: Email flier
Circulating since: March 2007
Status: Mostly true


Email contributed by Jesse F., 20 Aug. 2007:

Subject: FW: A tale of two houses



House #1 A 20 room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house, all heated by gas. In one month this residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400. In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in a Northern or Midwestern "snow belt" area. It's in the South.



House #2 Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university. This house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide. The house is 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds; geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer! The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Waste water from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.

~~~~~
HOUSE #1 is outside of Nashville , Tennessee ; it is the abode of the "environmentalist" Al Gore;

HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas ; it is the residence the of the President of the United States , George W. Bush.

An "inconvenient truth".


Comments: Apart from the fact that the photograph of the residence labeled "House #1" does NOT depict Al Gore's Nashville mansion -- that's actually his farm outside Carthage, Tennessee -- this widely forwarded message challenging the environmental crusader's green credibility is accurate as far as it goes.

26 August 2008

Want your ass kicked?

Look no farther: this here blogger will do for you:

Kick Ass Blogger Award

I have been honored by the nomination coming from Kateland aka TZH aka The Last Amazon.

The rules of this meme are: link back to Mama Dawg, nominate five of your own ‘kick-ass bloggers’ and let them know. After mulling a bit on my five candidates, here they are, not ordered by any criteria:

Soccer Dad: one of the best and the finest the blogosphere has an honor to host. He has done so much for rallying Jooish bloggers together (yes, an impossibility, but he has!) that his contribution could be hardly (over) estimated.

Sonia Belle: she doesn't wear shoes (or anything else, for that matter, according to her), but even unshod her kick is much worse than her bark (I am sure besides that she doesn't bark - it gives an unfair advantage to barkee).

The Atheist Jew: politically incorrect and irreverent bacon eater who never surrenders his beliefs for a friendly slap on the shoulder. Cool.

Will. Speaking about kicking ass and not taking prisoners: what ass? which prisoners?

Well, she, of course. I am just afraid to nominate her, not being able to predict the response. Having one's posterior kicked from here to Wichita without notice could be too painful.

It is easy to notice that this is a motley crowd. Never to gather in one room. But fun.

Female Ukrainian soldiers

Watch them parading:

Click on the picture to enlarge - at your own risk!

The picture raises at least two questions:
  1. What should be the response of the Russian army to this blatant provocation?
  2. What is this paparazzi bloke on the right side trying to do?
Somehow I suspect that there is a common answer to these questions...

The Russian answer to Ukraine is here.

Hat tip to SEO- Search Engine Optimization.

25 August 2008

Is Jill Biden Jewish?

Of course, as I have predicted, the wave of queries on the above subject is already rising. Leaving some sleazy traces on the shores of the Internet.

Well, on one hand we have this short bio blurb in Wiki, saying that she is Roman Catholic. Which is but a thin cover for the 1.1 billion closet Jooz. Speaking about covers, you have doubtlessly noticed the curious headgear that Pope fancies:

Tells you a lot, doesn't it? Anyway, let's look at the body of evidence:

OK, fine, part of the body - it's not Penthouse here, you know. Blond hair, blue eyes, the schnozzle is way too small - nah... On the other hand, with today's plastic surgery and contact lenses you never know, some years ago she could very well served as a model for this ad:

But somehow I am in doubt about this possibility...

Still, you know, people (lots of people, by the way) are asking. So it may be worth looking at the kid, I mean Ashley Biden:

Hmm... this one is more difficult. There are some Jooish traits: the hair, the nose, etc... Suspicious...

Definitely worth looking into, what do you say?

P.S. for the surfers who come by via "Jill Biden Jewish" inquiry: knowing your intellectual prowess - Ashley is in the middle of the picture above.

Or you can count - she is the third from the left. To make it easier - she is the second from the right.

Oh well, don't strain it: the one with that white T-shirt and the longest hair. OK?

The earring in the left ear?

The sticker badge on her shirt?

The mammary glands, for crying out loud... yes, the teats...

The horribly beweaponed Georgians and Russian stand-up comedy

It goes without too much explaining that the dream of every general is to die in the thick of a battle, this crowning achievement to be immortalized in monuments, street or at least hill names and other such means of perpetuation. Failing this feat and being honorably discharged, some generals dive into the murky pond of politics, some generals open security-related agencies and some just quietly grow orchids, roses and other horticultural wonders. Whatever.

This picture saved for eternity the first time when a general decided to devote himself to the genre of stand-up comedy, and this before leaving the service.

"We have registered an increase in [Georgia's] reconnaissance activities and preparations for armed actions in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone," Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian military's general staff, told a news conference.
So the mighty military empire of Georgia has decided, after having its nose considerably bloodied, to make another go at the peaceful Red Russian Army. And our good general wasn't satisfied by the comical effect the above statement obviously contained:
According to information at his disposal, since 2005, Georgian tank numbers increased from 98 to 183, armored vehicles from 83 to 134, artillery weapons from 96 to 238 combat helicopters from three to nine and warplanes from seven to nine.
This must really make the thousands of Russian generals shake in their boots. Imagine the awful din their medals are making. The fragile art of raising a souffle was made impossible for Russian cooks for weeks to come!

Well, I am certain that the good general made an astonishing entry in the entertainment industry. Notice his deadpan facial expression - it's a sure sign of a promising one.

Hat tip to SEO- Search Engine Optimization.

Jewish ghetto and a Portuguese blogger

The ghetto is probably one of the greatest myths of Jewish propaganda
Interesting? More here.

24 August 2008

Yitzhak Abergil, his brother Meir and a new line of export

According to the latest:

Alleged organized crime kingpin Yitzhak Abergil was arrested on Sunday following an extradition request by the United States.

...both Yitzhak Abergil and his brother Meir were detained on suspicion of smuggling Ecstasy pills into the US.
If you remember the previous case of Zeev Rosenstein, also extradited for the same reason, it looks like a new lucrative line of Israeli export is being born as we speak: Manned Ecstasy.

And, unlike in that previous case, let's play by the "finders keepers" rules: you got them - you keep them.

Seumas Milne, Mission Creep and that other creep

This is superb, besides the Man knows a lots about goings-on in Afghanistan, especially as compared to some half wits on the Guardian payroll. Would it teach this Milne twat not to blab on subjects he is ignorant about, though? Nah...

We are not gods, the other creep says, and who am I to disagree with this?

This I don't believe

Oh boy... How could I?

Megan Fox films sex scene for zombie flick

And, of course, it got the surfer community buzzing. So rest your eyes:

If after five minutes or so you still feel restless - go there and climb it, all 800 feet of it.

The woman who stabbed lizards

It is mighty confusing:

A Kane County judge has sentenced a West Dundee woman to pick up roadkill after she pleaded guilty to stabbing two of her ex-husband's lizards, killing one of them.
Must be some dark symbolism at work here...

SS Free Gaza and SS Liberty - a deflated balloon

It looks like the high seas spectacle with bloodthirsty Zionists sending the peaceful provo protesters to the bottom has not happened, to the chagrin of some expectant observers.

So, 200 hearing aids for children and 5,000 balloons reached their destination, and IDF managed not to turn this festive event into another PR disaster.

Good.

And here is a sampler from the eagerly expecting Guardian:

A standoff with the Israeli navy and the arrests of the activists if they tried to enter Gaza had been expected.

In a statement issued as they departed yesterday, the activists said they would lodge a legal protest against any attempt by the Israelis to arrest them.

"If Israel chooses to forcibly stop and search our ships, we will not forcibly resist," a statement said.

"If we are arrested and brought to Israel, we will protest and prosecute our kidnapping in the appropriate forums ... it is our purpose to show the power that ordinary citizens have when they organise to stand against injustice."
The shame of premature ejaculation...

23 August 2008

The New "Antifascist": Far-Right Weirdo, 911 Truther, Self-Ordained Pope, Putschist

This is another excellent post by Terry Glavin on another Troofer, this time with a twist.

In this post, Terry links to a clip about a few other conspiracy fiends:



Being of a rather too charitable disposition, Terry wouldn't mention this. I will: while knowing about the treacherous nature and other drawbacks of physiognomy, what did you think about looking at the characters shown in that clip?

The Hadron Collider rap



My only hope is that they are better engineers and physicists than rappers.

Joe Biden, Beau Biden, Jill Biden, Ashley Biden, ...

Now watch the tabloids. It has started...

22 August 2008

A mote in his eye...

Austrian Times have some fun on account of Poles:

Bungling railway bosses have wasted millions building a railway tunnel that's too small for trains to get through.

The mistake was only uncovered when building inspectors measured the finished tunnel in the Polish capital, Warsaw, and realised the roof of the tunnel was so low no trains would get under it.
...
The bungle is the latest in a line of public transport construction fiascos in Poland. A tunnel built recently to divert lorry traffic in Warsaw turned out to be too low for lorries while last year the Polish road authority produced plans for two sections of major motorway across Poland that would have missed each other by five miles, each coming to a dead end in the middle of the countryside.
Oh well, here is some evidence that the bungling market is not cornered by Poles:
The 'blind' serial killer of Lower Austria who slaughtered four family members almost two months ago has been arrested by police after going on the run.
And if two months searching for a blind man was not enough:
Josef Branis was arrested by 15 officers from special police unit 'Cobra'...
A bit of an overkill, don't you think? But this "Cobra" moniker is definitely thrilling.
He escaped police on the day of the killings on a women's bicycle he left at the local train station.
If he had a man's bicycle, the capture would have taken a year, I bet!

Now Poles may start feeling better, I am sure.

Paris Hilton wants a BFF with a funny accent

Here he comes:



Cool enough?

21 August 2008

Mary Dejevsky - Milne light?

If you look at Indy as Guardian light, it only makes sense to have a Milne light in Indy. Reading this article, I believe that I have found that counterpart for Milne. Mary Dejevsky - "one of the country’s most respected commentators on Russia".

Well, Russia did not have long to worry about losing its reputation as backyard bully.
Mmm... I wonder, does Ms Dejevsky have a slightest idea about the country she is commenting upon and this country's neighbors? Does Moldova and its "breakaway" Pridnestrovye ring a bell? How about the gas and oil blackmail against Ukraine and other ex-Soviet republics to make them behave? How about a bit of hanky-panky in the Balkans to favor their Serbian friends?

There is a lot of other crapola in this article, but then I have probably misread that blurb about Ms Dejevsky. After all, they call her "most respected commentator". Doesn't mean knowledgeable. Doesn't imply any understanding. Or anything else aside of respect, for that matter.

Sorry.

dictionary.com - is it the winningest?

Reading this article by The Angry Grammarian, I cannot but identify with his angst.

"Winningest" indeed. Bleh...

Yes, TAG - we have a problem here and we'll solution it!

صور sex - here it is

The phenomenon isn't exactly new, it is talked about (in whispers), so just a reminder:

Click on the picture to enlarge

The word in Arabic means "photos", according to Google translation. So here is a photo:

Enjoy!

20 August 2008

The Art of Negotiation

This isn’t an attack on the Government, may our leaders all live long and prosperous lives in the service of their country and not the service of themselves.

The art of negotiation, or the art of getting what you want, is a skill that has been perfected over many years by business gurus, but has yet to take into account what I call the ‘princess factor’.

The ‘princess factor’ also called by some ‘my little prince factor’, is a skillful and uncompromising almost savage negotiation technique between two hardened parties, you on the one side and your kids on the other.

The G8 in its trade negotiations uses it all the time. One side has a little tantrum and the other side gives in. The government makes endless use of this tactic, releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from its very effective prison system, by giving in to every demand even when there is only the slightest hint or threat of a tantrum.


In fact, the government has so perfected the ‘princess factor’ that it seems to give in even when it is not negotiating; I think it is called “good will”.

We have to make concessions, sometimes very painful, but surely only if we can have something in return, you know small things like recognition, the right to survive, the right not to be murdered, trivial stuff.

“Oh”, they cry, “you wouldn’t understand what goes on behind the scenes the tough negotiation, the diplomacy and the painful concessions”.

To be fair, when I feel there is the slightest discontent brewing in our happy little home I immediately start the pacification process offering bribes and promises just to diffuse a potentially explosive situation.

Take the swimming pool incident or “debacle” as history will recall it. The word swimming pool was used in a completely different context, but they got it into their pretty little heads that I had promised to take them. I tried to reason, negotiate and bribe but to no avail. Truth is, I was tired and couldn’t be bothered but that didn’t seem to bother them. Then the ‘princess card’ was played. One spontaneously exploded into tantrum-land, one ran to her room and slammed the door and one grabbed hold of my leg crying and wouldn’t let go.

A three pronged attack that would make even Neptune’s trident seem impotent, using every one of the three princess factor negotiation techniques; tantrum, cold silent treatment and puppy dog eyes.

Needless to say we swam that afternoon.

I couldn’t help thinking, as the kids clung and pulled at me in the swimming pool, what would the government have done?

Well, release some prisoners for a start.

Oh, where is the fisking of yesteryear?

I don't know about you, but I am feeling nostalgic about the years when there was some rich fisking material in the works of Fisk. When one could sink one's teeth into some juicy fact-shuffling, ignorance or the usual passion for things un-Western (or, rather, anti-Western).

I realize that it is over for a long time since that infamous beating. Whether it caused some neurons in that brain to go boing (or whatever the neurons do when knocked about) or the impact was more of psychological nature, I wouldn't presume to guess. Still, one could only hope, even in vain, for the return of the good old Fisk.

So I confess freely to taking a shufti at the pages of Indy now and then to see whether there is some fisking to do on Fisk. Shame, I know, but old habits and all that. And of course, one couldn't really fisk something like this:




Robert Fisk's World: A region boiling with tales of kings, gangs and war

So, according to the anonymous editor of Indy's online pages, there is already a whole world belonging to Fisk. It makes sense, actually, since the man has been cooking on another planet for quite a long time, and obviously by now it's a fully populated world.

What is encouraging, however, that the Master is again sticking the word "Israel" into his texts. In this one it appears four times, even when the article is not about Israel as such - OK, here I am being wrong - in that world of Fisk Israel is over every table and under every bed, so there...

Let us dispose of the mentions of Israel first:

  1. ...American reporters are so fearful of being criticised by Israel that their work is bland to the point of incomprehension...
  2. ...David Petraeus, the US commander who has turned anarchic Iraq into a tourist paradise with just one surge and a lot of walls (or "fences" as we would have to call them if they were built in Israel).
  3. Since 2006, the US has given about £170m in military assistance to Lebanon – Israel, of course, gets £1.5bn year – which includes Humvees, ammunition and lots of new blue police cars.
  4. Yet still the Middle East debates whether Israel or the US will bomb Iran. Personally, I don't believe this will happen...
I don't see any special need to comment on the above, aside of that last one: I was quite sure that this wouldn't happen till I read it. The man is a walking reverse prophet. Take his prophecy and bet all your money on the opposite - you can't go wrong.

Well, so what is the article about after all? Here is my attempt to gather some points:
  • Two groups from Moscow fought it out with Kalashnikovs amid Dubai's architectural masterpieces.
  • [news items are] bursting into the papers when I'm on holiday or flying back to Beirut from Los Angeles, or, most awful of all, when I'm marching into The Independent office in London for a rare visit.
  • ...journalists are often more interesting to talk to than to read.
  • The Middle East is currently boiling with rumours about the state of the monarchy in Morocco.
  • Engineers in Dubai have apparently noticed that the carriages on the largely overhead track will be so narrow that passengers will not be able to carry baggage on them.
  • Petraeus saw Lebanon's new President, Michel Sleiman, and the acting commander of Lebanon's army, General Shawki el-Masri...
  • Less than a week after Petraeus's visit, Sleiman was to pay his first presidential visit to Damascus, Did the American general perhaps have a few requests to make of President Bashar al-Assad via Sleiman?
  • Well, if America bombs Iran, the Islamic republic's missiles are likely to come hissing towards US forces in Qatar [do you hear that zipper opening sound?]
  • I received a letter last week from an old friend whose son has just returned from military duties in Iraq. And he's been wandering the Pisgah mountains in the US with a group of schoolkids in an area where he noticed a lot of military training going on a year ago...And I looked carefully through my friend's snapshots of rocky mountainsides and thick forests. And, darn me if they didn't remind me of the Elborz mountain chain just outside Tehran.
This is it, more or less. Reach your own conclusions from the above. The man is not known for any outstanding acts of gratuitous violence, rather the opposite - he is always ready to be beaten, as long as the beating is administered by some anti-American element, if possible of agricultural persuasion. So there is no urgent need to see him off to a funny farm.

But no, nothing to fisk here... move on, people...

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

Usain Bolt - another record!

Jamaica's Usain Bolt broke the 200-meter world record to complete the first Olympic golden sprint double in 24 years, surging ahead from the start to win Wednesday's final in 19.30 seconds.
Wow. Wow.

CAT scan

Filched from here.

19 August 2008

Gratuitous links

The Rich Jew returns is a mandatory reading, as is this post by Harry about the shenanigans of "progressive" anti-Zionists that somehow don't seem to be able to keep that "anti-Zionism" mask in place over their antisemitic snouts.

About Swapo: Are the SWP a thick pack of evil, vile tossers, as Will sez? I totally agree with thick, vile and tossers. As for evil - I am not sure, evil requires some brain activity level above that of a thick vile tosser, doesn't it?

Now to all the morons who still think (and say) that Russia is the shiny white knight in the last Georgian do - read this carefully. If you are able, that is.

And this one, which I have stumbled upon really by an accident:



Let me put it this way: my heart is split in two (at least) by that clip. I mean, an anti-Israeli anti-vegetarian could make one's brain boggle.

It is not that I am totally anti-veggie. Some of my best friends are of that kind, but them folks who want to force other people to do as they do, no matter what they do - be it Buddhism, chain smoking, libertarianism, vegetarianism, Mormonism - all of them street peddlers, door-to-door persuaders, starry-eyed missionaries, two-bit prophets of doom or redemption etc... could go and vigorously fuck themselves. As far as I am concerned.

More on stupidity

As they say: three Jews usually have about 5 opinions. But I wouldn't argue this time.

18 August 2008

Roseanne Barr vs Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

Roseanne Bar has some serious problems. One of these with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Here:

jon voight your evil spawn angelina jolie and her vacuous hubby brad pitt make about forty million dollars a year in violent psychopathic movies and give away three of it to starving children trying to look as if they give a crap about humanity as they spit out more dunces that will consume more than their fair share and wreck the earth even more. (just sayin').
I hope you have been able to get through the singularly dense writing style.

But I think I got to the root of this problem. Another journal entry:
was picking nuts, got hit in the head with one from high up in the tree...stone cold dead center and hard in the crown chakra. ... I ran to the house and began writing like nobody's beeswax!
Chakra or not, the head was obviously damaged. Otherwise, how do you explain this eruption?

Er... maybe this:









Nah... couldn't be.

Hollywood - Shmollywood

According to this, George Clooney denies advising Barack Obama:

Hollywood heart-throb Clooney is known to have strong views on Middle East politics and is a strong supporter of the Democratic Party. Sources claimed he is friendly with Presidential candidate Obama and has become an unofficial advisor.
Which probably means that George whispers in Obama's shellike from time to time. Bully for him.

There is a picture attached, too:

I don't know. On one hand, it's clear that after starring in a few movies about Middle Eastern affairs and getting some significant dough for his trouble, George here decided that he is really an expert on Middle East now.

On the other hand, looking at this picture, I cannot get rid of a completely different hunch. Ain't their ears quite similar? I mean, this is where it all starts. A bit of color, some smart application of make up, and here you are: the next Messiah movie!

Well, we shall see. Meanwhile, Brad Pitt becomes Jewish hillbilly in new Tarantino film.
Pitt has signed on to play Aldo, aka "Aldo the Apache," in Quentin Tarantino's upcoming World War II film, "Inglorious Bastards," about a handpicked group of American-Jewish soldiers who kill Nazis in brutal and violent ways in order to undermine the Third Reich. Pitt's character has "the Apache" moniker due to his signature move of scalping Nazi soldiers.
Nu, shein. Now Brad Pitt will become another tentacle of Zionism. A scalping one, too.

What if... yes, it could be a good one: what about a shootout between Brad and George?

Beverly Hills at noon. Wow. It could be cool. The last one standing gets the scalp...

The worst opening sentence? Come on!

I totally fail to see the funny side of this story. So this guy describes a steamy love affair in NYC:

Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers stamped 'Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J.
Let's sort out the quote:
  1. Checkered taxi ride - isn't any love affair checkered? Check.
  2. Burning rubber - definitely has its place in a hot love affair. Check.
  3. 24/7 - Does real passion allow coffee breaks or weekends? Check.
  4. Steam rising from their bodies - what with climate control or lack of thereof in NYC... Check.
  5. Warm, moist, white breath - isn't it steam in other words? Check.
  6. Through manhole covers - isn't it the person's business where he/she emits steam from? Check.
I say it's stark realism. Faulkner is left standing by this one.

17 August 2008

Cannibalistic attack on Greyhound bus prompts PETA scumbags

When you think that cheap and revolting propaganda cannot get any cheaper and more revolting, here come PETA puppets - a pitiful result of accidental cross-breeding between STD and Ebola - with a new idea. Read about it here. See it below:

Click to enlarge

I almost wish to send the Greyhound man a set of kitchen knives and the PETA membership list.

Don't you?

Time for an emergency EATAPETA day.

Hat tip: Graeme.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

Sunday links

Rejoice, people! Because it's Sunday again, and Haveil Havalim #178 — The Tu b’Av Edition is up.

Enema of the people and for the people

A new imperial monument was unveiled recently in a Russian city:

A monument to the enema, a procedure many people would rather not think about, has been unveiled at a spa in the southern Russian city of Zheleznovodsk.
The nature of the monument, the timing and the location could be fraught with meaning more than the linked article or even the creator of the monument ever dreamed. Look at the map:

The red marker stands for Zheleznovodsk

Who better than Georgians to witness the might of the Putinesque Russian enema?

Nasrallah, Georgia, Israeli generals, crap

Nasrallah the Lebanese groundhog issued another victorious communique:

In speech marking two-year anniversary of Second Lebanon War, Hizbullah secretary-general mocks Israeli political, military leadership: 'Gal Hirsch was defeated in Lebanon, and now lost the war for Georgia'.
The frequency and the pitch of the interminable speeches by the Sheik are going steadily up. Has he succeeded to persuade himself that his was a brilliant victory?

Anyhow, Georgia is just a tip of the iceberg. What about Israeli generals and the dive taken by Atlantis? What about that diminutive Israeli general who lost for France the Waterloo battle and now aspires to become our PM?

But let's face it, dear Nasrallah - this subject was just a thin smokescreen for the main announcement:
I tell the Zionists: We don't fear you. Say whatever you want and do whatever you want. We know that you are planning new assassinations of resistance leaders. But this will not make us retreat.
Which is Mediterranean lingo for one more year (at least) in a bunker.

Right?

Lunar eclipse August 16, 2008

Nothing yet

In the penumbra

Yep, it's starting

Definitely busy

A serious bite taken

As good as it gets

Good night everyone!

16 August 2008

Good questions all

Pity not many people keep asking them like this.

Beg pardon, Norm 2

The ink has barely dried on that post where I have dared to dispute Norm's statement on limits of stupidity, and here comes more proof that I was right. Stupidity is unlimited.

This proof comes from the same (possibly inexhaustible) source of morons - the Comment Is Free of The Guardian. This time the author is one Richard Silverstein, a good example of the "assaJew" species.

As an appetizer (or an introduction to ease your way into the situation and to avoid trauma), here is a sampler (no links, look it up yourself if you don't believe) of Richard's feverish brain activity. The post in question is titled:

IDF JUSTIFIES KILLING JOURNALISTS*

And the first sentence of the post starts with:

The IDF has formally exonerated the tank crew which killed Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana...
Well - exonerated, justified - who cares, especially if you are an idiot in a hurry to throw more shit at the darn Israelis.

(More on the subject here.)

There is more in the story quoted above, it's definitely worth your attention, but I judge you now ready for the main course - that CiF article linked above, which includes the following gem re Mahmoud Darwish and his Israeli colleague Yehuda Amichai:
In the US, you might have to go back to either Robert Frost or Ezra Pound to find someone of comparable stature.
Bingo. Yehuda Amichai, a dovish and gentle leftist whose poetry rarely, if at all, hurt anyone and Ezra Pound - while a genius, also a raving anti-Semite, a fascist and all around dirty character.

Comparable stature, indeed... See, Richard, you are an imbecile. "Imbecile" means that the problem is not with your upbringing, education or lack of thereof. It is the (rather unfortunate) fact and associated vagaries of your birth and as such cannot be alleviated. So make peace with your imbecility and smile.

Richard smiles...

Many thanks to DT for the tip, and many thanks to Will for this essay on stupidity that I'll be enjoying shortly - as soon as I click "Publish" on this post.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.

(*) The habit to shout in upper case is beyond my comprehension. It must have something to do with abusive or repressive parents. Or some other childhood trauma, like falling on one's head from one's chamberpot. Who knows... But, on the other hand, who cares?

Jewish pornography squared - Lenin licking chops



How did you like this hunk? Lenin is orgasmic.

Lindsay Lohan, Blake Fielder-Civil, Alex Rodriguez, Isla Fisher

What do these names have in common? Besides being good keywords for attracting sexually frustrated surfers (which is 99% of the surfers, let's admit).

It appears that these four have fallen prey to a Jooish heartthrob.

And now their love life fell under the sign of pink Magen David (Star of David). Which for some reason causes them an ardent desire to convert to Judaism. I cannot figure out how (to take one example) sniffing controlled substances together with Amy Winehouse requires conversion to Judaism. Not to mention... oh well. But what do I know?

Maybe you dig it, my dear reader(s)?

Hat tip to Wendy of the Frisky.

15 August 2008

Bigfoot hunters' press conference

More of the same. Or, in other words - lots of crapola.

"...a number of scientists would be performing an autopsy on Monday."
Yeah. We'll perform a number on you, folks. Just keep your wallets handy.

Oh Debka, Debka...

Time to infuse new blood into this old hobby of mine. Now it's about this:

The fervently pro-US, pro-Israeli Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, has decided to hold out no longer. He has thrown in his lot with the most extreme pro-Syrian, pro-Iranian, anti-Israel force in Lebanon...
I mean you couldn't be more off target if you were holding your rifle (or whatever you are holding generally) backwards.

Even my dog knows that the only side Walid Jumblatt was and is pro- is Walid Jumblatt. And I don't even have a dog, nor do I consider ever getting one.

Who started yakking about dog anyhow? Oh, that's about that load of doggy poo on Debka...

George Szirtes goes mainstream

I understand now that this headline is pathetic. I mean, deity forbid this happening. Mainstream in this case means that George Szirtes went to Blogger, quite a blessed move where linking and stuff is concerned. Should he merely contemplate a thought of considering a possibility to go mainstream in the future... no, it doesn't pay to think about.

Mind you, lots of his stuff is in other parts of his Internet empire, but it's all conveniently linked from the blog. Would do you good to stop imbibing all this rotten political drivel for a while.

Aw, shucks, who I am talking to here?

14 August 2008

Beg pardon, Norm

When taking to task the incomparable Seumas Milne, the relentlessly asinine Stalinist of The Guardian, Norm states (rather optimistically), that "stupidity does have its limits".

With all due respect, Norm - this is a serious underestimation of Milne. Watching his mental (mmm...) contortions for the last ten or so years, I cannot avoid reminding myself the eternal words (was it my beloved professor Challenger of The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?): "Before I met you, I have been certain that there is a limit to human stupidity" (not a precise quote).

Believe me, the man has just started to spread his wings. If there were a position for an angel of stupidity, he would have been a second pretender to it - only because he is too stupid to be first in anything.

Milne is a gift that has barely started to give. You just wait - the unearthly delights are coming!

Bigfoot Trackers Say They've Got a Body

Finally.

Two Northern California men and two Georgians say they've got a body, a photo and DNA evidence pertaining to the elusive forest-dwelling man-ape — and that they'll reveal all at a press conference in Palo Alto, Calif., on Friday.
Two Georgians. Aren't they supposed to be fighting them Russians? Nah, it's an old one.

Now we can sleep well, without all that shouting and lights in the neighborhood forests.

Update: missed this part with more details. And the happy hunters site here, which is overloaded, it appears.

Update 2: no, after all this doesn't look like Jimmy Hoffa carelessly wrapped up in a rug.

Update 3: a stray thought while looking at "before" and "after" pictures of the freezer here - where do they chill the Bud cans now?

Update 4: marginally more here. Maybe still Hoffa? Go figure...

The Alltop - a news thingy?

Thanks to Haloscan (which is displaying some signs of being unwell lately, by the way) I have stumbled on Alltop a rather intriguing aggregator of news. Here I shall pass the mike to the owners:

We help you explore your passions by collecting stories about “all the topics” on the web. We’ve grouped these collections — “aggregations” — into individual Alltop sites based on topics such as environment, photography, science, Muslim, celebrity gossip, military, fashion, gaming, sports, politics, automobiles, and Macintosh. At each Alltop site, we display the headlines of the latest stories from dozens of sites and blogs.
There is a nice graphic explanation of Alltop here.
And a charming argument for it here:
You may not have a use for Alltop yourself, but it's time you showed it to your mom and dad.
Yep, being in the "dad" category (or is it a tag, for crying out loud?) I can see where it could be convenient and intend to give it a ride for some time.

Of course, pining to be considered by Alltop, I strongly recommend that you too give it a whirl.

When both sides are right

I agree with both sides of this dialog wholeheartedly.

Barak did not limit his tongue lashing to Livni, and went on to criticize the entire Kadima Party, saying that Kadima was "disposable, a party that is a refugee camp," which has offered nothing but the leftovers of the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza, the Second Lebanon War and a string of embarrassing corruption scandals in which its heads have been implicated.

Kadima Party sources hit back Wednesday to ongoing criticism by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, saying that the Labor Party chairman was a hysterical man suffering from exhaustion and heading a party on the verge of bankruptcy.
Now what?

A short IQ test

Here is a headline and the lede of an article from JP front page:

You have got 30 seconds to:

  1. Figure out what the lede is about
  2. Prove to me that this is not the much cursed globalization in action
Good luck.

13 August 2008

The rotten and more rotten

Reading these letters under a suggestive header Georgia's game of Russian roulette, I couldn't shake off the feeling that I am viewing a bad dream. Mostly related to this face:

And to these words:

He was succeeded by Winston Churchill but remained very well regarded in Parliament.
I wonder, whether the people who write these letters to Guardian are related to Sir Neville or is it something in the general gene pool? How do these people sleep at night? I bet they sleep the sleep of the just and the righteous...

Read what Terry Glavin has to say about the goings on in Georgia. And what he has to say about Russia.

Read this excellent roundup by Bob from Brockley.

More on the ship of fools - SS Free Gaza

Of course "ship of fools" is a banal and trivial shot, far from a broadside that some more powerful writer could issue. But there is nothing that sticks better to SS Free Gaza. The other one, the SS Liberty, is rather a ship of provocateurs, as could be seen from its goals here.

Read this article by Ben Cohen. Look at the motley collection of do-gooders. Don't laugh.

Because what is expected to happen at the end of this journey is another PR disaster courtesy of IDF, that will give the do-gooders some fat to chew for quite some time.

12 August 2008

Howard Rotberg's affair

The story of Howard Rotberg's unfortunate encounter with two or three pro-Palestinian provocateurs, followed by boycott of his book The Second Catastrophe
by the biggest Canadian bookstore chain Chapters Indigo, was eerily reminiscent of an episode in life of a professor, the protagonist of The Human Stain by Philip Roth, probably one of the greatest books written in US in the last century. For people who haven't read the book yet (but should): the professor had a misfortune to use the word "spook" in his lecture. It so happens that quite a lot of years before this imaginary lecture took place, the word "spook" was used to indicate African Americans. And one of the students, needless to say - an African American with a grudge against our professor (Jewish to boot - well, he appears to hide his real origins, which are African-American, but it's too much of a story for a post) causes his academic demise by accusing him as a racist.

To make it even more eerie, The Second Catastrophe describes a similar misfortune caused by a careless expression in it's protagonist's lecture. Which doesn't matter a lot, since the real life mishap that changed Rotberg's life is even weirder.

A young man came in and sat in the second row. He picked up a copy of my book from the table, took a perfunctory look at it, and started interrupting me.

“You think all Muslims are terrorists,” he asserted.

“I do not,” I replied, as categorically as possible.

“Well, that’s what your book says,” he retorted.
And it gets better:
“He has no right to lecture if he is going to say things in support of Israel,” said the Palestinian.
It appears that some Canadian Palestinians have an interesting point of view on freedom of speech. And how is this for a coda?
Then the Iraqi started in. Again someone pleaded with him to be quiet so I could lecture. Then came the words that still ring in my ears: “He’s a fucking Jew.”
Well, and who gets punished for all this? Believe it or not, it's the "fucking Jew" himself. First of all, Chapters Indigo hastily issued a press release, where they blamed both sides of the incident:
Indigo spokesperson Sorya Gaulin said that while an author who'll draw a big crowd warrants security guards, "You wouldn't expect this behaviour at a discussion of a novel. The author's behaviour was inappropriate — we were seeing (that) on both sides."
But this was only an opening shot by Chapters Indigo. The next one was to remove the book in question from their shelves. Believe it or not, it was done indeed - I am quite far from Canada, so I am using Chapters Indigo site that says that the book is unavailable. Someone else will have to re-check the stores, if that someone disbelieves the author's word.

The punitive steps mentioned above were executed in spite of the easily available evidence by witnesses that there was nothing racist in Rotberg's lecture and subsequent behavior, even after he has been provoked. See this affidavit. The Chapters representative that issued the press release had the affidavit available in time to prevent its hasty wording. But no, in their zeal to clean themselves of any possible accusation, they have preferred to blame both sides.

Even assuming, for the sake of the argument only, that Howard Rotberg (an experienced lawyer who definitely knows very well the high price of hot-headed speech) has indeed uttered something damaging in the heat of the altercation with the provocateurs - how could this act have caused the withdrawal of the book from the Chapter Indigo stores?

Here I have come upon another interesting detail. I am told that the owners of this esteemed book vendor are Jewish. No, I wasn't expecting a preferential treatment of Howard Rotberg by Chapter Indigo. Still, the last thing I would expect of Jewish owners was their shabby treatment of their fellow Jew. Especially such an easy acceptance of the trumped up charges of racism.

But there is another angle I have (almost inadvertently, believe it or not) discovered. The esteemed book vendor, so sensitive to a merest whiff of politically incorrect behavior, doesn't see anything fishy (smell-wise) in displaying a book by Hitler (yes, the Adolf), an exotic edition of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion or the infamous Holocaust Industry by Finkelstein. Yeah... but of course, these books don't clash with the new wave of "progressive thinking" as understood by some people in Canada.

All in all, a classic case of the racism card being played to its utmost by dirty manipulators. And not very clever manipulators, as it becomes clear from this funny chapter in the whole sad story. Still, they have succeeded (meanwhile) in suppressing one voice that wasn't toeing the "progressive" line.

I hope that "meanwhile" is going to end soon. Howard Rotberg is suing Chapters for financial losses caused by Chapters’ actions. He has chosen to bring it in Small Claims Court (maximum jurisdiction is $10,000) to simplify the matter and show it is not about money but the principle of what was done. Chapters should pay, albeit symbolically, for not protecting the right of Mr Rotberg to free speech, for unjustly accusing him in racism and for their bureaucratic zeal in persecuting Mr Rotberg by withdrawing his book from the shelves.

I hope some heads in the Chapters' empire will roll* and deservedly so. I don't tend to ascribe to malice what could be explained by stupidity. But stupidity needs to be punished as well.

Meanwhile you all can vote for Howard Rotberg by ordering his book here. And by downloading and reading his new book, which includes the story briefly touched upon in this post.

More info here and here and here. An interview with Rotberg here. And follow the (hopefully good) news on Howard Rotberg's new blog.

(*) Potential beheaders accidentally reading this sentence asked not to get overexcited. It is a figger of speech.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com.