Nicki Minaj Nipple Slip

Will not appear here. You could hardly expect it from a blogger who doesn't know what the heck "Nicki Minaj" means. Instead you will be treated by a relaxing shot of a nice little plover:

Be cool and don't surf too much - it's bad for your eyes.

The importance of being balanced

I don't know what to say aside of: balance is important, of course, and yours truly has it (sometimes) in excess. I mean, it's considered a good policy here to bash every side of every issue. Smokers and anti-smokers, left and right, Israel and Palestine, rich and poor, Semites and anti-Semites, etc. After all, where we'll all be if we see and support only one side?

But do you know what? From time to time one gets a bit tired of the balancing act. So it's with somewhat guilty conscience that I have enjoyed (and would recommend wholeheartedly that you do so too, even if guiltily) that article with a sexy title Oh, snap! by Courtney aka GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD. Yes, the site where it's published is not hers, she was invited to that place. And for a good reason. Or, to be precise, good many reasons like this:

The most literate Arabs ever on the face of the earth (your choice — the Strip or the Ramallahopolis) pounding their AKM’s, K’Ssams, K’Tushahs and K’GRADs into laptops and stripper poles in a joyous celebration of a fully functional democracy where fun and free choice reign instead of ye olde whee tarded shame, honor, gendercide and revanchist revenge driven parasite enclaves with rocket rich rejectionists and West Bank victimisticism.

Nifty writing, one-sided or not. Good (if not easy, as usual) read too. But then, there appeared a professor (one Rex Brynen, probably this one) that chides Courtney thusly:

You've also failed to address all the pretty obvious moral, strategic, and political counter-arguments. The folks (of all political stripes) who discuss these things seriously soon get pretty tired of monochrome partisanship, and veer away from it. You could do a lot better.

Now, for the sake of balance and fairness I have to quote the good professor saying in his other comment:

Well, other than that whole ethnic cleansing/mass forced displacement thing in 1948, and that post-1967 occupation thing. I think they're a tad miffed about those.

Obviously partisanship and balance or lack of it are all in the eye of the beholder professor, and what is allowed to professor is, apparently, not allowed to Courtney.

Anyhow, the situation (is it a situation, really? dunno) described above, gave me a jolt. You see, it's just the other day that I have read, with a growing sense of... well, a sense that I don't really want to read it, an op-ed by Mr Nicholas Donabet Kristof at that bastion of... all right, in NYT. The title is:

Seeking Balance on the Mideast

And the messages of this op-ed are:

• Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street is Da Joo and you, in Israel there, better listen up when he talks!
• There are some good Jooz in US of A (about 78% of them all, what voted for BHO) and the other ones, the ones "who vote and donate based on Israel" (whatever it means, don't ask me) and "are disproportionately conservative". (I was totally discombobulated by this lack of balance: 78% vs what? 22%? How can 22% be "disproportionately conservative"?  Maybe they are trying to compensate for being so few and restore the balance? D'you wanna bet that Nicholas Donabet Kristof missed this point?)
• To vote for Israel’s right to defend itself by a vote 390 to 5 (in the Congress, I guess), is not a good balance. 
• And, probably, more of them messages, but I got enough by now, if you see what I mean.

Yeah... I can see where the game has to improve to get a grudging approval by NYT: Congress has to be balanced in its voting about Israel. A simple random assignment of the votes that will assure that 50% vote for each side will do. Well, maybe with slight variance from time to time - to spice the game a bit. The Jooz will be split in two equal teams: one for Obama and one for the other one, when and if. The money to be split equally as well (anyway, Obama will take care of  the "equally" part before late). Jeremy B.A. will still be Da Joo, balance or no balance.

Here is Mr Kristof:

Looks to me like a man who's definitely found his balance (well, a Pulitzer on each shoulder will do it).

So why it is that each time I open the page with that article, I see the same ad:

Something is out of balance there in NYT...

Now: please do a reset and go back to read that cool article Oh, snap! by Courtney. OK?

Jew Breivik was connected to Jew Demushkin, a Jewish Russian Nationalist from Jewish KGB-FSB

At least this is what one of our favorites, Kavkaz Center delivers:

Dmitry Demushkin, Jewish agent provocateur who is widely known in Moscow as a hardened FSB staff officer, posing himself as a Nationalist, like Norway's Jewish crusader Anders Breivik, acknowledged that he stayed in contact with his fellow Jewish tribesman Breivik and possibly trained him for sabotage operations in Norway, a Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet reports in its Wednesday issue from Moscow. The paper says:"Breivik has been in contact with Russian Nazis."

Hmm... looks persuasive, doesn't it? I have looked at the source referred to by Kavkaz Center, and, unsurprisingly, the Danish source have omitted the words "Jew" or "Jewish". Obviously they are afraid of reprisals from the Elders.

As for Kavkaz Center (the Finland-based mouthpiece of Chechen Islamists, if you have to know), I have a few suggestions to make re their otherwise excellent article. Here is how it could look after some minor improvements:

Jew Dmitry Demushkin, Jewish agent provocateur who is widely known among Jews in Jewish Moscow as a hardened Jewish FSB staff Jew officer, posing himself as a Jewish Nationalist, like Jewish Norway's Jewish crusader Anders Breivik, acknowledged that he stayed in Jewish contact with his fellow Jewish tribesman Breivik and possibly Jewishly trained him for Jewish sabotage operations in Jewish Norway, a Jewish Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet reports in its Jewish Wednesday issue from Jewish Moscow. The paper says:"Jew Breivik has been in contact with Jewish Russian Nazis."

Now that should do it, I guess...

S.A.R.A. overland convoy to Gaza - another peak of hypocrisy

It's bad time for Africa again.

A drought across much of east Africa in mid-2011 is causing intense distress among vulnerable populations, many of them already pressed by poverty and insecurity. The range of the affected areas is extensive: the two districts in Somalia that are now designated as famine-zones are but the most extreme parts of a much wider disaster that stretches from Somalia across Ethiopia into northern Kenya, and as far west as Sudan and even the Karamoja district in northeast Uganda.

The numbers put at risk in this, the worst drought in the region since the 1950s, are enormous. At least 11 million people are touched by the disaster.In the Turkana district of northern Kenya, 385,000 children (among a total population of about 850,000) are suffering from acute malnutrition

You would expect that African countries (along with the rest of the world) would mobilize to help the victims of the disaster (natural or hand-made, we can argue later). However, helping their brethren in the hour of need doesn't seem to be a matter of first priority - at least for some African leaders.

Famine crisis: Africa's leaders postpone fundraising conference by two weeks

Africa's leaders postponed for more than two weeks a conference to raise funds for the continent's famine victims, despite the first official estimates showing that almost 30,000 young children had died since the start of the crisis.

It was intended to address the fact that despite the rest of the world having raised more than £600 million in aid, there is less than £350,000 in the African Union’s "special famine fund". This is despite the Union’s 54 countries having a combined GDP of more than £1.2 trillion.

Strange that, wouldn't you say? Well, the leaders of Africa cannot be bothered, attending as they are a four-day "governance, leadership and management" convention.

Kalonzo Musyoka, Kenya’s vice-president, Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former president, and Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s ex-leader, were among the delegates attending workshops at the £650-a-ticket conference. A golf tournament was planned for the final day. Famine and drought was not on the agenda.

Leadership at its best indeed...

But this sideshow of governmental inefficiency, sloth and lack of empathy pales, when compared to another travesty that is proceeding as people die

S.A.R.A. ANNOUNCES FIRST EVER OVERLAND CONVOY TO GAZA

In its on-going efforts to provide support and assistance to the long-suffering people of Palestine, the South African Relief Agency (S.A.R.A) in conjunction with communities and other organisations has embarked on another humanitarian relief mission to Gaza. The mission is scheduled to depart from Durban during the first week of April 2011 and will travel overland through Africa to Gaza. The primary objective of the mission is to answer the call of the Palestinian people to conscientise the African continent and to break the immoral and illegal siege of Gaza and show solidarity with the beleaguered people in Occupied Palestine.

The 10 000km journey is estimated to take 4 weeks travelling via Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.

The aid convoy, comprising ten trucks, will be transporting material to build approximately twenty houses, medical supplies and equipment, basic essentials and portable electricity generators.

I bet the starving population of Kenya and Uganda will greet the passing "aid convoy" by flowers and rice. Wait, they don't have rice to waste, I forgot...

In any case, here are some people greeting the hypocritical affair:

But no, it's the send-off in South Africa.

Update: Probably to relieve the boredom of their long trek, the convoy members decided to go into Palestinian cooking (click to enlarge):

I bet that recipes like these will go famously well with the starved people of Somalia, Kenya etc. Be interesting to know when was the last time they've seen ground beef or, for that matter, olive oil?


Cross-posted on Yourish.com

Dreaming about being raped by POTUS - is it a subversive activity?

Gorilla Bananas thinks so.

But what if it is the only way for a simple person to touch greatness, even if in a dream? Should a person like that be visited by Secret Service? 

Questions, questions...

Martians: the first encounter

Well, it goes/went like this: the first team of astronauts (cosmonauts, taikonauts) successfully landed on Mars. Several astronauts went out for a first stroll on the planet. After a few steps their protective suit analyzers have shown presence of oxygen in percentage seemingly sufficient for breathing.

One of the astronauts says "You know, guys, let me light a match. If it burns down OK, we probably could dispose of these helmets and breath local air". He pulls a matchbook out of his pocket, gets one match and... but at this moment a bright blue aborigine* jumps out from behind a boulder shouting "No! NO!" in perfect English** accompanied by mucho hands waving.

The spooked astronaut drops the unlit match and the aborigine retreats."What was that about?" he asks his friends. "Perhaps there is some explosive faction in the atmosphere and we could have been blown to smithereens, so the guy wanted to warn us... ", muses one of them. They've checked again their analyzers, but nothing dangerous shows in the atmosphere.

"Well", says the matchbook enthusiast, "I am gonna try to light one anyways" and gets out another match. This time a whole tribe of aborigines, led by an impressive-looking chief, appears from behind another boulder. All of them shouting "NO, NO, NO!" and waving their hands, of course. Naturally the astronaut drops the second match too. 

"Could be the ground here contains some flammable materials?", guessed one of the astronauts. "Nah, the ground here looks exactly as at our landing point, and nothing burned there", answered another. So, after a minute or so of mulling, they decide to go ahead with the match experiment. This time the matchbook owner pulls out the third match and decisively lights it. The match burns down to the end, without undue chemical aftereffects. Aborigines, though, issue a collective deep sigh of disappointment, turn and walk away.

"Wait!", calls them the matchbook owner, "why shouldn't we have lighted the match?"

"Because of the Sabbath, you jerk", replies the chief...

(*) Well, what else have you expected? Everyone knows that these days aliens are all bright blue.

(**) And everyone knows they speak perfect English.

Thanks to Y.Z.

Tobacco advertising and Aussies

This is so cool!

The new compulsory cigarette packet approved by the Australian government.

I think I'll start collecting these for wallpaper.

The Council Has Spoken!

Here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• *First place with 3 1/3 votes! Joshuapundit–-The Most Dangerous Story In The News Today
• Second place *t* with 2 votes – The Colossus of Rhodey -Think like a “progressive”
• Second place *t* with 2 votes – Simply Jews-Understanding Israeli right and left, new dichotomy and the future
• Third place *t* with 1 vote – The Razor-Obama The Anti-Leader
• Third place *t* with 1 vote – The Glittering Eye – What To Do About a Balance Sheet Recession?
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room – The Conservative Stand
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – New Zeal – Obama and Marxists March in Unison on Immigration
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Rhymes With Right – Reconstitute HUAC And Permanent Subcommittee On Investigations As They Existed In The 1950s
• Fourth place *t* with 2/3 vote – VA Right! – Democrats: Meet the New Party of NO!
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Right Truth – A Little Ray Of Sunshine
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Political Commentator- The Zadroga Act makes 9/11 victims the victims once more!
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – SoKo’s New Clear Angle

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 2 2/3 votes! – Jonah Goldberg/The Corner- To Hell With You people submitted byJoshuapundit
• Second place with 2 1/3 votes – American Thinker – Does This Deficit Make Me Look Fat? submitted by The Razor
• Third place with 1 2/3 vote -Doug Ross – Journolist Lives: The Democrat-Media Complex’s Hostage Meme submitted by Snapped Shot
• Fourth place with 1 1/3 vote -Big Lizards – Right-Wing Folly, Another Reason Why I Am Not a Conservative submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Foundry – Liberals Force Choice Between Economic and National Security submitted by The Noisy Room
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - The Sad Red Earth – How Greenwald Argues submitted by Simply Jews
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Small Wars Journal – How We Became a Nation of Warriors submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -James Taranto/Best of the Web Today – “Fine! Call My Bluff!” submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Daniel Pipes/Big Peace – Another Islamist Soldier Turns Terrorist In Texas submitted by VA Right!
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Tea Party Tribune – How We Became a Nation of Warriors submitted by The Watcher
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Arthur Hu/Asian Week – Norway Counter-Jihadist Commits Mirror Image Jihad as Oslo City Bomber submitted by The Watcher
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Accuracy In Media – A Warning From Norway submitted by New Zeal
• Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Radarsite – Alan Dershowitz on Norway submitted by The Political Commentator

Jeffrey Goldberg vs "messianic" Jews

Not being religious, I have probably picked up a few key words here and there, thus I believe (hope?) that I can grok when somebody spews some obvious crapola. Jeffrey Goldberg is certainly hell bent on producing some. Quite a lot, in fact.

Victor Shikhman tears him apart. Enjoy.

Hezbollah: we don't need no steenking money

By Elder of Ziyon.

Early onset of senility could be caused by

insufficient amounts of trans fats, nicotine and salt in your blood.

Proof.

Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to 1967 ceasefire lines?

Canard?

And a related good question.

Understanding Israeli right and left, new dichotomy and the future

This post is mainly for my friends abroad, wherever they are, who may have trouble projecting their beliefs and experiences onto our small but peculiar country. And another thing: I am not a supporter of socialist economy, of suffocating government control, of Big Brother dictating everything from our reading material to the price and style of our underwear. My sympathies belong to Libertarians on many issues, economy included. So far capitalism, with all its inherent and acquired problems, proved itself to be a more successful economic structure (or, rather, the lack of one), and I am yet to see its replacement that would prove superior.

But, my Libertarian and conservative friends, be aware of this post possibly going against the grain of your beliefs, at least where this country is concerned.

So what is going on? And why?

It started in a small way, with the cottage cheese boycott. Was it the surprising success of the Facebook-led "uprising" or other reasons, but the unrest spread and continues to spread, expanding into new domains and involving more and more citizens, hitherto inert and apathetic. The headlines from leading newspapers describe the situation pretty well:

• Over 100,000 take part in mass protests across Israel
• Thousands of doctors protest outside Knesset
• Jerusalem: Hundreds partake in 'strollers' march'
• Activists: PM's proposal manipulative
• Social activists: The revolution is here
• Tel Aviv: Protesters clash with police

And what is the government response so far? Panic, lack of single voice and chaos for now.

• Peres speaks out over social outcry Oh well, a bit of aspirin for your migraine. We know it wouldn't help, but...
• Finance Minister: Growing calls for reform could lead to 'anarchy' in Israel Sure buddy... want to get some tanks into the streets to cope with 'anarchy'?
• PM: I'm aware of hardship, cost of living in Israel Good, now what? Fire your finance minister to throw a morsel to the wolves?
• Israeli government to suspend gas price hike following public pressure More aspirin, but every little bit counts.

The main reason for the protests and for the unrest glares in the face of any observer: for too many years our successive governments, enamored with the free market ideas, lost control of the growing greed of the economic powers that be. The profits grew, the said powers using and abusing the easiest way to increase them - by increasing the retail prices. This "entrepreneurial" activity was, on one hand, facilitated by governmental lack of attention and, on the other hand, by almost total lack of competition in a country of our size and quietly arranged agreement on prices between the few possible competitors (cartels, you are right).

In a country where weight of the direct and indirect taxation is one of the highest in the world (some say the highest, coming up to 75-78% of income), where corporate taxes are amazingly low (According to unofficial estimates, Teva's corporate tax rate is practically zero.), the middle class bears the brunt of feeding the healthy appetite of the government and has to bear the piracy of runaway prices of practically everything. From cottage cheese and milk via babies' pampers to cars and, especially, housing.

One can say that, in a way, our government enjoys the "best" of two worlds: uncontrolled (by now uncontrollable) free market and Big Brother style suffocating taxation system.

It's very symptomatic that Stanley Fischer, Bank of Israel Governor (our equivalent of Mr Bernanke and his teacher, by the way) confessed to be surprised by the unrest. Indeed, Israeli macro-economy survived almost painlessly the last crisis, when most of the world (China and few other economies possibly excluded) suffered and still suffers recession, high unemployment, currency devaluation etc. The GDP growth, the low unemployment, the balanced (more or less) budget, the foreign currency reserves - in short, most KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that comprise our government's "dashboard" look peachy and allow Bibi much posturing with frequent winks to his first time as our minister of finance.

Unfortunately, that dashboard made our government(s) deaf and blind for many years to the growing pain experienced by its main source of income, power, brains and ability to defend the country - the above mentioned middle class.

The new dichotomy

There is something important about Israeli internal politics that many (or even most) foreigners don't know or don't understand. The accepted definitions of left and right, where left is normally associated with socialist worldview and right with a conservative, capitalist one, where left is comprised of and is supported by the poor or, at least, lower income part of the population; and the right by the well-to-do and rich - all this is wrong where Israeli politics are concerned. For too many years to count, most of the left and most of the right defined themselves according to their attitude towards Palestinian question and the peace process. It may sound absurd, but for years our Labor party faithfully represented interests of many tycoons, while Likud included and represented lots of low-income members and supporters.

Here I can take a break, piggy-backing on two remarkable articles: an editorial from JP The new Right-Left dichotomy and a matching Haaretz article by Avirama Golan The protest wave has changed the face of Israel's political map. Why remarkable? Because it's a rarest case when these two media outfits publish articles on a ground-breaking political event in Israel that agree on something. Of course, excepting the usual grumbling one issues about the extreme left and the other about the settlers - but that was in the nature of a stifled burp after a rich meal and doesn't really signify anything.

Where one (JP) observes:

One out of five Israelis lives under the poverty line, including tens of thousands who work, the second highest poverty rate among OECD countries after Mexico’s. Also, 39% of Israelis said they find it difficult or very difficult to live on what they earn, significantly higher than the OECD average of 25%.

the other (Haaretz) adds:

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

The non-partisan nature of the unrest is undeniable, and this new dichotomy will be certainly exploited by existing political entities that will try to present themselves as saviors and valiant fighters for the better future. For now, the pols behave predictably:

They [the left] are demanding more state spending on social welfare, a freeze on tax cuts, and other steps to increase state involvement in the economy. In contrast, Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and others on the economic Right argue that more needs to be done to foster competition and to cut red tape to allow market forces to lower prices and improve efficiency.

Hopefully both sides will come to their senses before it's too late.

And Bibi?

Nor being a supporter of the man, I have to confess that I was rather supportive at the time of his relentless efforts to create an unfettered, intervention-free true free market economy. Up to a point.

To be fair, no one has a quick solution to the crisis brewing for so many years, there just isn't a miracle cure that will resolve everything by tomorrow. But currently Bibi is in panic, zigging and zagging as usual, lacking a coherent message that will half satisfy the angry middle class. It is during days like these that the truth of the old observation about Bibi's inability to stand up to pressures is confirmed to the hilt.

Read this devastating article (again, and remarkably, from JP):

Netanyahu takes more of an interest in economics than Shamir ever did, but just as Shamir was hostage to his Greater Land of Israel ideology (which Netanyahu shares, despite his occasional remarks for PR purposes regarding “two states for two peoples”), Netanyahu is hostage to his extreme, neoconservative free-market beliefs.

So far Bibi proved the truth of this article, sticking to his guns:

The state should stop poverty, but cannot limit success and the pursuit of happiness.

Apparently under Bibi's management pursuit of happiness seems to succeed more than stopping poverty, as his "own" newspaper shows:

And prosperity is not trickling down. If in 1990 the top 1% of Israeli breadwinners earned 8.5% of the country’s income, in 2009 they earned 12.8%

Will he listen to the voice of his electorate? Hard to say.

But what is there to do?

First of all, to remember an old observation, made by one of the Israel's founding fathers. I don't have the source handy, but its meaning was: "If it were only about economics, Israel wouldn't have been created". It was true sixty plus years ago, it is still true today.

The interpretation of this saying is fairly straightforward, hard as it is for me, a supporter of libertarian worldview to swallow: the socioeconomic setup in this country must provide a sufficient level of welfare, must insure that people want to stay here not only because of Zionist beliefs but also because staying here is affordable - which is becoming increasingly and demonstrably untrue lately.

In other words: as long as we here are in a "circle your wagons" situation vis-a-vis our neighborhood, as long as continuing survival is the first priority, with economy a distant second at best, our socioeconomic aspirations, no matter how lofty, should be put aside.

And if this means more government involvement (yes, I know, I know, its' anathema to Bibi) and (instead of patiently letting the free market forces to build more competition and reduce the prices*) more price control and anti-cartel activity - so be it. And even if it means that, having in mind the fiasco of trickle-down theory, some squeeze-down pressure should be applied - call me a commie**, but better do it.

(*) Which phenomenon, as it was already mentioned, doesn't really happen here.
(**) Better don't call me a commie. It could be hazardous to your health.

Before it is too late.

Taking into account that the middle class is the one with superior mobility, it is a proof of love and exceptional loyalty to the country, the place and to the idea that most of these people don't choose to migrate to better pastures. But this might change if the prices and taxation continue moving in the direction they are moving today.

There is some hope when even a JP editorial says:

Nevertheless, the emergence of serious debate on the economy has given a new dimension of meaning to Left and Right. This is an eminently positive development that might give birth to an Israeli version of The Third Way that manages to combine the compassion and social solidarity of the Left with the liberalism and respect for personal freedom and initiative on the Right.

Amen to that.

P.S. And just for comic relief: Caroline Glick who blames (in spite of all these other opinions her own newspaper presents) leftist media and commies. Ehehe...

From Russia with a smile

In the upper part:

July 8
Pan-Russia Day
of Family, Love and Faithfulness

In the lower part:

Strip show
Theater
Discotheque till morning
Cocktails

Thai helicopters crash sequence

As it frequently happens, tragic events tend to have a comic undertone, even if of a rather macabre style. This is definitely a case:

Third Thai helo crashes while looking for bodies from two earlier accidents

A third Royal Thai Army helicopter has crashed in the same area in the west of the country in a little over a week, local news outlets have reported.

I shall try to present it in sequence, since the article has muddled the story a bit:

1. According to the reports, a Bell 212 'Huey' came down in Phetchaburi province...
2. The Bell 212 had been dispatched to Phetchaburi province to recover the bodies of nine personnel killed when a Sikorsky S-70/UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter belonging to the army crashed on 19 July while attempting to recover those killed in an accident the previous weekend.
3. On that occasion, a Bell 212 reportedly crashed in bad weather with the loss of all five on board.

It might be a good idea to stop sending helicopters for any purpose related to this mission. Maybe a big enough unit of motorized infantry will be able to cope with it without loss of life.