Minister Eli Yishai and the unbearable lightness of rabble rousing

Granted, Israel is far from being the only place on this planet where rabble rousing is practiced. As in other countries that follow the tenets of democracy, there is no effective protection from the verbal pollution of the kind that some politicians and other public figures produce. Which is a pity. Because the manner in which our Interior Minister* Eli Yishai is using ethnicity as a political blackmail tool is, in my humble opinion, a borderline case of incitement against the state.

The recent brouhaha started with Eli Yishai's colleague and senior Shas politico Shlomo Benizri being convicted of bribery, breach of trust, and conspiracy to commit a crime. Of course, Mr Benizri is only a single link in the growing chain** of Shas luminaries ending their political careers in criminal courts. It happens so consistently and so predictably that it's not fun to follow anymore. And of course, Mr. Benizri is crying persecution, and he is doing it so loudly that his appeal to the Supreme Court ended by additional three years of prison time, after the said court reviewed the case. With a scathing commentary:

But now it is time for Benizri to serve his sentence, like any other convicted criminal; and his party and its leader must once again ask themselves how it happened that Shas, the very party that espouses social issues, is the one that has nurtured so many delinquents.

But of course, the words fell on deaf ears. Aside of that part about "social issues" that obviously triggered a knee-jerk response. As a weapon of last resort, Benizri's friend and political leader Eli Yishai turns to the ethnic issue in his appeal for pardon sent to President Peres:

As a public figure, a son of the Sephardic community, the Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of Shas, I join [the request to pardon Benizri submitted by someone else]. I don't want to use arguments raised by others who refer to the feelings of discrimination, the 'second Israel,' the feelings of oppression and the social wound that still bleeds.

I will also refrain from referring to expressions that give harsh and precise expression to the deep feelings of sorrow that exist and the exposed nerves, even though they too should be taken into account in response to this request addressed to you.

While some may find comical content in that "I don't want to use..., I will also refrain...", I find a nauseating and repeating pattern of rabble rousing of the worst kind used to deflect the issue of criminal wrongdoing into the realm of ethnic grievances - the realm where Shas***, as a political entity, excels from the day it was conceived.

It will be a stupid blindness to deny that this country has known its share of ethnic discrimination and that some social inequality still exists as a result of the past wrongdoings. Nevertheless, blaming the Benizri trial outcome on ethnic persecution is an intentional and malicious slander (against whom, by the way? - especially when used by a minister and deputy PM?), used in coldly calculating and revolting manner. The moral turpitude of Eli Yishai will make a snake throw up.

Says Haaretz editorial:

Israel's Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister is not conversant with the workings of democracy or the rule of law. As someone who grew up in a party run by an autocratic rabbi, Eli Yishai believes this is how the state should be run as well. There is no other way to explain his scandalous letter to President Shimon Peres...

Beg pardon, dear Haaretz, but you have gone off kilter. Eli Yishai is far from being stupid, he knows quite well how democracy works and doesn't have any use for it - unless for his own nefarious ends - which is precisely how he uses his freedom of speech in this case.

One thing that Eli Yishai is unable to quit in that democracy: being a professional Mizrahi.

Too bad...

(*) And Deputy PM, which means that this character in certain circumstances could become our PM. The mere thought curdles one's blood...

(**) It is not to say that other, more established parties are cleaner - they just have had more time at the public trough, so police investigations regarding them are more spread out in time. Shas folks are greedy, as many a newcomer is.

(***) This (and a few other, lesser political entities) misogynistic, gay-hating, reactionary and overall medieval gang would have not been out of place in some other Middle-Eastern states we mention as an epitome of dark ages.

Michael Jackson RIP (or not?)

Jams made my day with this one. Hope yours will improve too.

Lenin - still dangerous

If you need proof:

A Belarus citizen died falling from a Lenin's monument, upon which he climbed being drunk. The tragic incident occurred on Monday in the town Uvarovichi of the Gomel region, said local police. Young man began to swing from the monument's hand. However, the figure, made of plaster, hadn't withstood the pressure and split apart. The guy fell to the ground, where he was struck by the statue fragments. The victim died in the ambulance on the way to the regional hospital of Gomel.

The article mentions that it's not a unique story, linking it to another similar case in 2003. And the common reason (beside the natural urge to climb on Lenin) is:

Obviously, in both cases the young people were not aware that the monument is made of fragile material [plaster], since monuments of this kind are often covered with paint of metallic color.

Not unlike the whole late Soviet Union.

Hat tip: M.T.

The land of miracles

The land of miracles keeps giving:

On Sunday, Gaza militants fired mortars at a crossing into Israel just as Palestinian patients were being transferred for treatment, a Palestinian official said.

"It's a miracle nobody was hurt," Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said.

Two radical Palestinian groups, the Popular Front and the Democratic Front, said they fired 12 mortars at the Erez crossing. The Israel Defense Forces said about six shells exploded near the Erez crossing as the transfer was in progress.

According to the procedure, the Palestinian patients are brought to the crossing in local ambulances and transferred to Israeli ambulances for their trips to hospitals.

What can one say about this act of national liberation struggle?

Nothing...

Reading Leaving the Alamo

Just finished reading the book by Dick Stanley, my good pen-friend from Austin, Texas, retired Texas newspaperman (politics, crime, science, medicine, technology), married father of one child, antique rose gardener, self-publisher, and Vietnam combat veteran (MACV, I Corps, 1969). A good man, and no, this is not a critic's review of the book. As far as I am concerned, all literature critics could... but that's another story.

This post happens to be not about the book, which you better buy and read for yourself (believe me, PDF is way too overrated a tool, so do like I did - the book is two or three clicks away).

The thing that caught (again) my attention in the first story of the book was:

"Do you think they will call us baby killers, too?" a young captain, Abi Badil, an Army trauma surgeon home from Iraq, had asked Ben the previous summer.

Causing my heart to experience that unpleasant clenching sensation I get when being reminded of the hate some people vent in the entirely wrong direction. Granted, USA is a big country, with all kinds of people, including all kinds of whacked out brains and minds. Still, it is a bad sign for a nation when its people hate and deride those whose lot is not to reason why. I hope I'm mistaken, but this is the sign of internal rot setting in. Not that some of the folks who curse the soldiers and spit at them would mind...

It is difficult to apply logic when your instinctive response will be to spit back. Or something stronger. But how do you explain to a hateful creature that he or she is as responsible as the next citizen for the soldier being where he is and doing what he does? That he or she being unable to prevent this or another war that put the country's sons and daughters in the harm's way and yes, made some of them into killers (and some of them dead) is far from being the soldier's fault. This is democracy for you, nimrod, and this is your doing and thus, your fault, too.

And the question that the young captain asks... unfortunately, the answer is yes, there will be some deranged haters, name callers and worse. So, keep you head high, captain, and be proud: you are a good man, one of many good men who do what they have to do.

Now back to the book. Not being a critic, I'll be short: I learned from it. It is wholesome and, like your best rye bread, true. Like a good slice of rye bread* it doesn't try to deceive you. I assure you that it will be a good investment of your hard-earned money. So click here.

(*) This is a point I feel we may have a disagreement about with Dick . Americans don't dig bread. That spongy white stuff...

P.S. The quote was used without an explicit permission. I hope it's OK.

finally i agree with roseanne

bar that is as regards her past life thanks to aussie dave

Baitullah Mehsud left this world

Without washing his hair beforehand, as it looks. Unless, of course, it wasn't his own hair but that of his beloved horse.

Still it was unwashed...

Bibi going nuclear, Fatah going spare, etc.

A photograph of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visiting the Dimona nuclear reactor was aired Tuesday night on the Israel Broadcasting Authority's Channel 1 news show Mabat.

The article goes into speculations about the reason for the visit, such as (for instance) sending a message to Mahmoud the Mad, about the provenance of the picture, which existence is denied by PM's office etc.

Methinks it's taken on a dairy farm. If you could prove otherwise, using this poor shot, go ahead. And if you think that dairy farms are less important than nuclear reactors, think again.

The Fatah party, which is meeting in Bethlehem, beat the incitement drum Thursday and accused Israel of being responsible for the “assassination” of Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004.

The article carries a (low quality) picture - (is it a day for low quality pictures or what?) that may shed some light on the real culprit:

Surely if a man is ready to stoop so low for a childish prank of giving his boss horns for the photo op, he is able to...

And than comes Haaretz, in all their disarming naivete and asks:

Charming, just charming, folks... check the methods on www.paranoid_schmucks.com.

The Obama administration hopes to tamp down violent extremism by showing that "seemingly intractable problems and legitimate grievances" such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be resolved through diplomacy and democracy...

That article comes under a headline Obama 'has no illusions on terror'. Surely not, only a few delusions, which, deity willing, will be taken care of by the flow of time. Time is known as the best cure for this malady. In most cases, that is.

Well, another week went by.

At least 4 die in gym shooting near Pittsburgh. Plus a mystery.

Any tragic affair could have a funny side, as CNN is hell-bent to prove.

The shooter, who was not immediately released, was among the fatalities, said Gary Vituccio, manager of Collier township.

Not to mention the politically correct inclusion of the shooter in the list of "fatalities", but do they really release shooters immediately in Collier? Even the dead ones?

Snapshot of the text for posterity:

Human dog hybrid

Not that any other dog is better, but this is another proof that the only thing dogs are good for is:

U.S. hikers detained in Iran share love of travel, learning

CNN reports:

Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal -- three University of California-Berkeley graduates believed to have been arrested Friday after crossing from Iraq into Iran during a hike -- are seasoned travelers with an appetite for interaction with other cultures, friends and associates said.

There is something missing from Berkeley curriculum, I suspect. Common sense?

In any case, Shane Bauer's site - highly recommended.

Oh Caroline, Caroline...

That was so easy. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

On the other hand, somebody has to do it, and who better than Norm?

Wishful thinking

They call themselves The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement. They hope to persuade us all to stop reproducing. I sympathize with the goals, but cannot contribute anything to their effort personally, being out of reproductive cycle already.

Otherwise, they have trapped themselves, saying this:

Crowded conditions and resource shortages will improve as we become less dense.

No way, Hose. We have been dense, we are dense and we'll stay dense not matter what.

Via The Texas Scribbler.

O Porrajmos – Zigeunernacht, the destruction of the Zigeunerfamilienlager at Birkenau

Better late than never. In memory of the Roma people that perished.

Toilet Readers of the world, rejoice!

Dear fellow TRs,

After centuries of being neglected and kept in disdain - esp. by our spouses and other competitors for Shared Toilet Time (STT), lack of understanding, medical and other attention, finally the day arrived for us to come out of the water-closet smiling: we have been noticed! The article Toilet reading habits in Israeli adults* is the first ray of light in the darkness of public ignorance. And we can proudly state that from hitherto insignificant, dispersed and somewhat persecuted minority we are emerging as the world most powerful faction:

We found that TR is common and involves 52.7% of the population.

I don't have to explain the meaning of the above number. Just point out a political party that reached this level of support in any democratic country... all we lack is organization - an then the world is in our hands.

(*) Of course, the results of this local research are relevant to the whole world. There is no reason to assume that all TRs are concentrated here. Besides, the article states clearly: "The incidence is similar to that reported in other countries."

It is in our power now to put the world on the new, healthy social, economic and ideological basis. No more hiding in the... er... restroom, no more need of pitiful excuses. Just look at this:

This habit probably exists since then the appearance of printed books. A controversy exists whether TR may improve or worsen bowel habits. One of the claims is that TR extends the stay in the toilets, leads to an inefficient strain and may lead to the development of constipation and hemorrhoids. Others claim the opposite.

Our hypothesis was that TR provides a distraction and acts as an unconscious relaxation technique and allows an easier defecation process.

This clinches the deal. Of course, our rule will be benevolent and promises to bring uncounted advantages to all - in economic, cultural and public safety areas, as I will shortly demonstrate. Think of the following changes that we are going to introduce (examples only, to be fully developed in the New World constitution):

• Building and architecture: revision of toilet policy to allow the TR people to read undisturbed, by increasing the number of available facilities. For buildings that are built to accommodate public forums of different kinds (parliaments, city halls, party HQs etc.) - suitable communication infrastructure that will allow TRs to carry out their duties in situ.
• Public toilets to be increased to allow unlimited usage time by TRs. Eventual goal - to eliminate the necessity of STT (see above).
  
• Porcelain industry and furniture: design of more comfortable seating arrangements.
• Specially designed book clubs and libraries for TRs.
• Health care and public hygiene: improved care of toilet seats. Psychiatrists and analysts - to be trained in services to TRs in their natural environment.
  
• Publishing houses: washable books and washable e-book readers.
• Transportation: special sections / railway carriages / buses... for TRs
• Science: increase in quality TR time will cause a drastic acceleration in scientific progress. It is well known* that most momentous scientific discoveries were made during TR.
  
• Etc.
  

To be sure, the new era of economic, cultural and general prosperity will be crowned by abolishing states, borders, parties, races and religions. It also goes without saying that at some stage the issue of non-TRs will have to be resolved - whether by persuasion or by more drastic measures, remains to be seen.

The new era is afoot, ladies and gentlemen. Of course, not everything will be smooth in transition to the New World Order. For instance, this worrisome fact:

The preferred reading material was: "whatever is around" or more than one answer in 42% of TRs followed by newspapers (38%), books (9%), crossword or Sudoku (5%) and professional literature in 2.3%.

The statistics and esp. the mention of Sudoku and crosswords show lack of TR planning, expressed best by the late Douglas Adams in The Meaning of Liff:

Great Wakering (participial vb.)

Panic which sets in when you badly need to go to the lavatory and cannot make up your mind about what book or magazine to take with you.

We, TRs, as a new rulers of the world, should insure that every TR session be planned in advance and started in an orderly fashion.

Or, speaking about sore spots:

Among the 263 reading/playing, 92.8% only read, 1.5% only play and 5.7% enjoy both activities. Among the questioned, 26.5% mentioned that they own a laptop or a handheld computer.

The 1.5% + 5.7% mentioned above should be warned severely (once). This "playing" phenomenon should be dealt with by any means available. And these 26.5% laptop and/or handheld owners should be taught that the only activity allowed involving their electronic gadgets is reading. Or else.

And, of course, the newspaper readers should be encouraged (gently!) to switch gradually to books. In short, there is a long way to go.

The future is here, fellow TRs. And may our TR be serene and not interfered with. Amen.

(*) The myth about the falling apple assisting Newton was invented by constipated prudes. He wasn't sitting under no tree.