Of course, for an Elder it is just a change of activity: there is no real rest even for an insignificant Hasbarah grunt. But at least it will be a field duty, hitherto unspecified.
Oh well. Back in two weeks or so, if and when.
Meanwhile, as an apology to Roland:
Ach.... what can one say?
The so called Army Of Islam, which in reality is just an elite group of Gazan businessmen (According to The Times, the Army of Islam is an offshoot of the powerful Dagmoush clan, which is renowned for extortion, smuggling, arms dealing and the ruthless dispatch of rivals, and has been dubbed the “Sopranos of Gaza City) has an interesting view on the ways to get on the good side of their deity.
A shadowy group holding a British correspondent for three months threatened on Sunday to kill him, in a video broadcast by the Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel. A spokesman for The Army of Islam, identified as Abu Khattab, told Al-Jazeera that there was no deal to release BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, and “If the situation gets more complicated concerning us and our group, then we will ingrate ourselves to Allah by slaying this journalist.”Of course, that "ingrate" shall remain on the consciousness (yeah, right...) of AP or Ynet, but there is no difficulty to get the drift, is there? Allah the compassionate, apparently, is easily "ingrated" by a slaying or too. I believe he is happy as a clam with the latest goings-on is Gaza too...
Here they are, while the film is still wet:
And to add some local flavor:
Via Treppenwitz:
This revolting display of zealotry is fairly typical, unfortunately, for newly turned converts. It seems that what our hero calls "filthy Judaism" was a bit too difficult for him. He was in need of a "flawless deity" - in other words in need of simple no-nonsense guidance, built upon straight slogans that will direct his worthless life.
Unfortunately, simple slogans carry their magic for some unstable empty-headed characters, just waiting to fill the vacuum. And Judaism, like Christianity or communism or Maoism, know their fair share of zealots too. Of course, in this case, the readiness to kill and to sacrifice his own flesh and blood is outstanding.
Aw, what the heck. It is vastly preferable to watch this, somehow related, scene:
The BBC apologized this week for referring to Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and promised not to repeat "the mistake," following a complaint by four British organizations. Arab Media Watch, Muslim Public Affairs Committee, Friends of Al-Aksa and the Institute of Islamic Political Thought sent a joint complaint to the BBC after a presenter on its Football Focus program on March 24 mentioned that Jerusalem was Israel's capital and "historic soul."Knowing a bit about these four organizations, it is not surprising that BBC was so eager to offer its profuse apologies. After all, everything is flammable, as the latest developments in Gaza clearly show.
I have disliked the London 2012 Olympics logo on sight.
Who, indeed, likes this creepy jumble of tortured lines?
But now, when it is all explained and shown:
it is much easier to swallow, to love and to cherish.
What do you think?
The successful launch of the Ofek 7 spy satellite on Thursday has already started bearing fruit.
The object in the picture belongs to Ahmydinnerjacket, and the picture presented here was cropped from a larger image to keep the (strategic) location of the object undisclosed. For strategic reasons, of course, but also to reduce the offensive nature of the precise location.
More surprises to come.
Some people expressed their disbelief in our latest notice to the world about this, hitherto controversial, character. Since the day of publication of this momentous article, our field operatives have been very busy in the field (where they belong, instead of raiding the department fridge and ogling my secretary). Of course, due to the secrecy that surrounded the Jewish connection of the Commandante, the task is not easy. But the first ironclad piece of evidence eventually surfaced in the archives of the Jerusalem central yeshiva of religious-Zionist movement - Yeshivat Merkaz Ha Rav. To remind you, this is where Che spent the happiest year of his short but eventful life, totally engrossed in the ancient wisdom of the Hebrews, frequently forgetting the most sacred ritual of the yeshiva - the meal times.
As any yeshiva student, Che had to carry a student ID card - both for security reasons and to prevent the entrance of freeloaders. And it was our unbelievable luck to locate this card with a (low quality, but clear enough at that) picture of Che.
We have also located the photographer who has taken the picture (after Che spent a month in hiding, growing his hair according to the obligatory fashion). The red background, it was explained, served as the best measure to hide the location, the time of the day and the surrounding scenery that could have been otherwise discovered by CIA and KGB. On the other hand, the new image of Che was an ideal one for hiding from the above mentioned unmentionables - who would look twice at a yeshiva student when seeking the fiery Commandante?
It is very possible that in the next newsflash we'll present the rabbinical diploma of Che (it is a very rare case when an especially gifted student finishes the studies and is able to pass the final exams in one year). We are currently in the difficult, but nonetheless enjoyable process of turning the screws on the Mossad Chief Archivist. Soon...
There are many techniques of poisoning the wells of friendship between Christians and Jews. Cyrus of Christian Hate? tells the story about two members of Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel and their amazingly one-sided conclusions.
Indeed these two idealistic people seem to have convinced themselves that presenting one-sided propaganda is a positive moral imperative for them - but more of that later.Part 1 of the post, linked above, takes apart some of the main points conveyed by the two.
I'll begin by dealing relatively briefly with three fairly predictable manifestations of propaganda, before going on to a more detailed examination of one which took me aback.
When you know people, people will inadvertently let you know some other people. This is was happened when I read a short post by Olly, he of the Olly's Onions, about a discovery of the real John Lennon's killer. Following the lead, I browsed (without any undue excitement) through the overabundant proof of Stephen King being the perpetrator of one of the most heinous crimes of the last century.
What can I say: Steve Lightfoot, the author of the whole file, should not have bothered that much. After all, here he brings all the proof a reasonable individual may possibly require:
Nope. Stephen King has never even denied my claims, publicly, ever. This in spite of the fact that I spent several months in his hometown of Bangor, Maine in 1992 with my emblazened van and magazine.And if this does not clinch the deal in some reactionary, small-minded brains, consider The Dark Tower series: a person who wrote this will not stop before any crime, there could be no doubt whatsoever now, don't you see?
And, before I begin, I am not an anti-Semite. I think 95% of Jews are just fine.Of course, it is just the opposite: 95% of us are just what he thinks the other 5% are: saber-rattling aggressive blood-drinking running neocon lackeys of the world Zio-imperialism (which in turn is a mere facade of the Elders' outfit). It is the other 5% of us who are limp-wristed under-indoctrinated liberals, suffering from lack of sun and essential vitamins and mostly located on the island of Albion.
The Jews openly brag that New York City and Washington D.C. are under Zionist occupation now. It's not a matter of dispute. It can be proved. It can also be proved that our banks and media are also under Jewish control, by and large. I've also heard our military is as well.Sure Steve, no argument here. And look at the Fort Knox - a veritable nest of Zionists. And of course, it does not stop with NYC and Washington, we owe it all - lock, stock and barrel. And I do not mean just US of A...
But I must put my credibility on the line and say that all this could only make sense if our government has succumbed to nuclear blackmail from the former Soviet Union and is going totalitarian on us behind our backs lest we get nuked per their threats.Ehehe, Steve - it is much more than your credibility that is on the line here. Of course, we have taken into account all the extenuating circumstances. Such as:
Lightfoot is an English sirname [sic!] and I am also part Scot, Irish and Yugoslavian.Show a fertile ground for multiple personalities disorder.
I have two brothers and a sister and I had a pretty normal upbringing.Oh well, obviously, if you say so, Steve. And here is the key character witness:
I met a young woman at the time who proved to be quite the pathological liar. When we met she gave me a phony name and past and lived with me for a short time....This experience made me different from most of you because I was no longer naive about liars or lies.This one has almost made us stop. Even the most battle-scarred field operatives were seen turning away, doubtlessly to wipe a tear or two. But, at the end of the day, the good of the outfit required that Steve be thoroughly punished, and a pair of our trained reptilians has been dispatched to General Delivery**, Santa Rosa, CA 95402. To make it simpler for the reptilians, every person named Steve above age of 18 will be taken care of.
The DePaul University decision not to grant a tenure to Norman Finkelstein is carefully wrapped in the bureaucratic lingo. So we have decided to help you our with some more difficult passages.
He is a nationally known scholar and public intellectual, considered provocative, challenging and intellectually interesting, although the dossier reveals some division of opinion as to the soundness of some of his scholarship."Public intellectual" is a curious term even for the bureaucratic lingo. One expects a scientist (which title Finkelstein holds to for dear life) to be, you know, a scientific intellectual. "Public intellectual" sounds like... a motormouth, shall I say, to be polite.
...comments from the department minority report are critical of the accuracy of some of the evidence he uses in his scholarship and the cogency of some of his arguments.Simply put - the man does not hesitate to invent some material he is in need of for an especially intellectual public performance.
The UBPT found his service at the departmental level to be limited, with no service at the college or university level.In other words, our intellectual cannot spare time for mundane university business. Too busy sharpening his tongue for TV.
Criticism has been expressed for his inflammatory style and personal attacks in his writings and intellectual debates.That means that, instead of trying to argue on a level, Mr Finkelstein will behave like a regular blogger - meaning spew some invectives to cover for his lack of knowledge or lack of arguments.
If you thought that life in Israel is boring, here comes a lively story:
A Ramat Gan resident was indicted at the Tel Aviv District Court Sunday for arson, after he torched a man's motorbike because the latter failed to give him his squirrel. According to the complainant's testimony, Anton Surami, 25, arrived at the complainant's place of work, a pizza parlor in Ramat Gan, last week. The complainant was carrying his pet squirrel in his fanny pack, and upon seeing the small rodent, Surami grabbed it and demanded to take it with him. The complainant refused and took the squirrel back. ... But the appeasement efforts proved futile, and Surami responded by shoving the complainant, slapping him, and running toward him with a kitchen knife. Two hours later, Surami torched the complainant's bike that was parked under his house.Judging by the eruption of emotions, it must be love at first sight - the feeling you thought does not exist anymore...
Reuters, in a reckless streak of openness tells the story:
The Palestinian journalists' union criticised militants on Sunday for using a vehicle marked with a "TV" sign to approach Gaza's border with Israel and attack an Israeli military position across the frontier. One militant was killed in Saturday's attack, jointly claimed by Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah faction. The Israeli military said none of its soldiers was hurt.So far so mundane - after all, this is not the first time a vehicle with 'Press' sign or an ambulance carries brave "freedom fighters". But here comes the punch line:
"The use of vehicles that carry 'Press', 'TV' or other signs ... expose journalists' lives to danger, gives the Israeli occupation a pretext to target and kill journalists and restricts their ability to perform their professional and national duties," the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate said.
Abu Ahmed, spokesman for Islamic Jihad's armed wing, accused the Israeli military of fixing the TV sign to the armored car.Truth, apparently, is in the eyes of the beholder. Here are some samples of another Zionist conspiracy:
An unexpected bonus of global warming is predicted:
Yet another potential impact from global warming: It may speed Earth's rotation. According to a computer model run by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, climate change will warm the oceans; as the water warms, it will expand, causing sea level to rise—already up 0.17 meter (nearly seven inches) over the course of the last century—shifting liquid from the ocean depths to the shallows near shore.Of course, the speeding up will play havoc with our watches that shall be adjusted to the new rotation speed.
As a result, the relative distribution of water mass will shift away from the equator and closer to the poles. Enough water will move that Earth will actually spin slightly faster, like a figure skater who brings her arms closer to her body. "Earth's rotation rate changes if its moment of inertia is altered via redistribution of mass in the oceans," geophysicist Felix Landerer and his colleagues report in Geophysical Research Letters. The result: a day that is 0.12 millisecond—slightly more than one ten-thousandth of a second—shorter two centuries from now.
