On Raritan Avenue

I expected a motto in the window "For the gift-challenged husband: we KNOW what your wife wants."

Watcher's Council Winners 10/02/09

Moral Clarity and Commonsense Team Up to Shoot Holes In Left Wing Nonsense

Rosh hashanahs past

The New York Times has a couple articles about past celebrations of Rosh Hashanah.

In one article the Times tells about how Barbara Ann Paster relives what it was like to observe Rosh Hashanah in 1919 in Portsmouth New Hamphsire.

As Mrs. Shapiro, the wife of a pawnbroker with a 9-year-old daughter, Mrs. Paster cooks dishes that follow the rhythm of the seasons, and the Jewish calendar.

She may make strawberry jam for her strudel in June, or pickle cucumbers with dill from her garden, or put up Reliance peaches with brandy in August.

For Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, which begins on Friday evening, she excitedly pinched rolled-out strips of pasta dough into bowtie noodles to use with leftover kasha stuffing from her roast chicken, and made traditional honey and poppy seed cakes.

Mrs. Paster, 61, has been portraying Mrs. Shapiro since the Shapiro house opened in 1997. ?My entire life was made for this job,? Mrs. Paster said with a laugh. ?I married an Orthodox man. I?m Jewish from Russia, so I know the rules of kashrut and family purity. I am also a storyteller.?

The real Shapiro family arrived in the United States just a few years before my father's grandfather did.

And A soldier's voice recovered is the story of the first Rosh Hashanah service in Germany since the rise of Hitler - on Armed Services Radio with the sound of mortars in the backgound.

L'Shana Tova Tikatavu!

Results of National Journal polls

Bloggers on their favorite pundits. Krauthammer was most popular among right leaning bloggers. Here are the results of the political insiders poll.

Thomas Friedman? Even after he advocated for Chinese communist-style government? Yikes. I thought he jumped the shark with that one!

Plus the results of the regularly scheduled bloggers' poll about health care reform and the Tea Party Movement.

Watcher's Council Submissions are UP!

Weasely Submissions for a Blockbuster Week of Weasel Mania

Kemp vs. Goldstone

Why does an expert in fighting insurgencies who defended Israel get much less attention than a judge who tendentiously applies the law in service of an organization with a record of bias against Israel? Is it because the latter presented the narrative that the media wanted to hear?

Richard Kemp:

Despite Israel's extraordinary measures, of course innocent civilians were killed and wounded. That was due to the frictions of war that I have spoken about, and even more was an inevitable consequence of Hamas' way of fighting.

By taking these actions and many other significant measures during Operation Cast Lead the IDF did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other Army in the history of warfare.

See here too for an ealier video of the Colonel.

I previously wrote about Col. Kemp here.

Crossposted on Yourish.

Garlasco hits the fan

The New York Times finally covers the controversy over Marc Garlasco's hobby first reported by Mere Rhetoric and reports that he has been suspended from Human Right's Watch.

The article covers most of the aspects of Garlasco's collecting and summed up the controversy:

The suspension comes at a time of heightened tension between, on one side, the new Israeli government and its allies on the right, and the other side, human rights organizations that have been critical of Israel. In recent months, the government has pledged an aggressive approach toward the groups to discredit what they argue is bias and error.

The problems with this are that
1) The Israeli government with lumped together with "allies on the right." Human rights organizations are apparently without ideological bias.
2) It's suggested that the revelations about Garlasco are part of a campaign by the Israeli government, when there is no evidence that the Garlasco story was in any way pushed by the Israeli government.
3) The bias and error are real. Why not mention Sarah Leah Whitson's fundraising in Saudi Arabia or Joe Stork's ideological baggage?

These suggestions and omissions all blur the real issue. Is Human Rights Watch biased against Israel? The answer is unequivocally "yes."

Whitson, Stork and Garlasco are part of the story. Another part of the story are some of the members of HRW's board of directors for the Middle East. They include Helena Cobban, Anne Lesch, Phillip Mattar and James Zogby. All these four are anti-Israel (or at least anti-Zionist) to some degree. On the other side there are no members who can be said to be strongly pro-Israel. So there's no effective counterweight in HRW's Middle East Board of Directors against the documented anti-Israel biases of its staff.

This isn't about Israel and its "right wing" allies, it's about the corruption of HRW. The Times doesn't seem to get it.

For more please check Elder of Ziyon, NGO monitor and memeorandum.

Crossposted on Yourish.

Watcher's Council Winners 09/09/09

Weasels Exposed! Winning Entries for the Week of Sep 9, 2009

Still relevant after all these years

Michael Kelly from "When Innoncents are the Enemy"
 
If it is morally acceptable to murder, in the name of a necessary blow for freedom, a woman on a Tel Aviv street, or to blow up a disco full of teenagers, or to bomb a family restaurant -- then it must be morally acceptable to drive two jetliners into a place where 50,000 people work. In moral logic, what is the difference? If the murder of innocent people is for whatever reason excusable, it is excusable; if it is legitimate, it is legitimate. If acceptable on a small scale, so too on a grand.

Quote of the day

Fouad Ajami in the Wall Street Journal.

Eight years ago, we were visited by the furies of Arab lands. We were rudely awakened from a decade whose gurus and pundits had announced the end of ideology, of politics itself, and the triumph of the world-wide Web and the "electronic herd." We had discovered that on the other side of the world masterminds of terror, and preachers, and their foot-soldiers were telling of America the most sordid of tales. We had become, without knowing it, a party to a civil war in the Arab-Islamic world between the autocrats and their disaffected children, between those who wanted to live a normal life and warriors of the faith bent on imposing their will on that troubled arc of geography.

Our country answered that call, not always brilliantly, for we are fated to be strangers in that world and thus fated to improvise and make our way through unfamiliar alleyways.

Crossposted on Yourish.

Submitted 09/10/09

Council Nominations are up!

Council Submissions

• Mere Rhetoric - Figures. Feds Didn’t Clear Brush In LA Wildfire Areas Because Of Liberal Pressure.
• The Provocateur - A Psychopath at the Pittsburgh VA
• Rhymes With Right - Well, The Text Of The Speech Is Out
• Right Truth - Obama the Liar
• Soccer Dad - Verdict first; investigation afterwards
• Bookworm Room - Are Obama and the American people capable of mimicking a Hitler/Nazi-like experience?
• The Colossus of Rhodey - “Hyper-partisan?”
• The Glittering Eye - Keep Faith With the Promise
• Joshuapundit - Obamaspeak: Challenge For Youth

Non-Council Submissions

• Submitted By: The Watcher – Gateway Pundit - WaPo Mourns Loss Of Great American “Patriot” –Commie-Truther Van Jones
• Submitted By: Mere Rhetoric – Peter Finn, Joby Warrick and Julie Tate / WSJ - How a Detainee Became An Asset
• Submitted By: The Provocateur – Ranked Choice Voting - Propaganda to Remain on the Ballot
• Submitted By: Rhymes With Right – Texas Rainmaker - An Open Letter To The Secretary Of Education
• Submitted By: Right Truth – GADDAFI SEEKS ISLAMIC CONQUEST OF ENGLAND AND WALES - The Last Crusade
• Submitted By: Soccer Dad – Yourish - Analyzing the AP anti-Israel bias
• Submitted By: Bookworm Room – New York Post - Go ahead, make my high holiday
• Submitted By: The Colossus of Rhodey – The New Yorker - The Rubber Room
• Submitted By: The Glittering Eye – Villainous Company - Own It, Mr. Secretary
• Submitted By: Joshuapundit – Dr. Richard Rafal/WSJ - A Doctor’s Plan for Legal Industry Reform:My modest proposal to rearrange how lawyers do business.

Orde Wingate

There's a fascinating essay on the Zionism of Orde Wingate. Who was Wingate?

Traveling through Komemiyut in Jerusalem, at the intersection of Jabotinsky and David Marcus, one will see Kikar Orde (known also as Kikar Wingate). There are Wingate Streets in Be'er Sheva, Tel Aviv and Herzliya as well. In the Carmel Mountains, just south of Haifa, there is the Yemin Orde Wingate Youth Village, which serves hundreds of disadvantaged, at-risk and immigrant children from around the world. Israel's national sports and health education institute in Netanya is fittingly named Machon Wingate, the Wingate Institute.

One might be wondering why so much was named after this man. In his book on the history of the Israeli army, Ze'ev Schiff called Wingate "the single most important influence on the military thinking of the Haganah."[1] While a complete analysis of that influence would constitute an article of its own, Samuel M. Katz put it succinctly. "Wingate had a profound impact on the molding of Israeli military doctrine. Defense, when fighting a numerically superior enemy, meant offense, and offense meant fighting deep inside enemy territory where the opposition was most vulnerable."[2] To this day, that concept remains the core of Israeli military strategy.

What inspired Wingate to be sympathetic to the cause of Zionism?

But what actually led to that conviction? It is not only his critics who point to his early Bible-intensive education as a primary source. Yigal Allon referred to Wingate's "extraordinary Zionist ardour inspired by the Bible…"[11] while Shabtai Teveth cited Haganah archives as describing Wingate as "an eccentric, a genius, a man more religious than rational, given to great pathos, a firm believer in the Bible, and fired with a sense of the special mission of the Jewish people."[12] While describing Wingate as having a genius for "grasping and using new mechanical techniques," Lowell Thomas did not argue against the conception that Wingate was also "a Scripture-reading crusader."[13]

However, the complexity that formed the foundation for Wingate's remarkable genius does not readily coincide with the notion that his Zionism was simply based upon the Bible. As Luigi Rossetto wrote, "Wingate had one quality which stands out above all others and that was his ability to examine the situation objectively and to draw on that part of his experience which applied while rejecting that which did not."[14]

Perhaps the most objective and complete assessment of Wingate at that time was made by Derek Tulloch, who broke down the oft-noted facets of Wingate's psyche as follows:

One side effect of Wingate's unhappy experience at Woolwich was to incline him to take sides, invariably, with the underdog. He never forgot the sensation of all men siding against him. . . . The discovery, however, of this quasi-biblical cause in his life, which opened before him just at a time when he was expecting a cause to appear – to justify his existence and fulfil his destiny – explains his decision to take up the challenge.[15]

Tulloch set forth three components that, in his opinion, led Wingate to embrace the Zionist cause. In addition to the "quasi-biblical" nature of the cause, Tulloch added Wingate's inclination to side with the weaker party, and Wingate's need at the time for a cause in which his destiny could be attained. While the Biblical aspect is intriguing on its own accord, the latter two components call for further examination.

There's more on Wingate here, at what appears to be an official site. His terror fighting strategy is worth a mention:

Wingate envisioned carefully selected, small and mobile units of volunteers to fight aggressively and unconventionally. In a report (as laid out in a future, prepared report dated June 5th, 1938 and titled: "Secret Appreciation of Possibilities of Night Movements by Armed Forces of the Crown - With Object of Putting an end to Terrorism in Northern Palestine") he spelled out formally the need for a unique military force. "There is only one way to deal with the situation, to persuade the gangs that, in their predatory raids, there is every chance of their running into a government gang which is determined to destroy them, not by exchange of shots at a distance, but by bodily assault with bayonet and bomb."11 This new unit was to carry the war to the enemy, taking away his initiative and keeping him off-balance. And so it was, "to produce in their minds the belief government forces will move at night and can and will surprise them either in villages or across country."12

Crossposted on Yourish.

When meticulous means exaggerated

Helena Cobban writes about the recent casualty figures from Israel's war against Hamas released by PCHR and B'Tselem.

I dare say that when we see the final report in English from PCHR, they too will be specific about the methodology they used. I have great respect for the careful work and documentary objectivity of the PCHR, which is Palestinian and operates under extremely difficult circumstances from its downtown Gaza headquarters. I would imagine that its researchers have the opportunity to do even more meticulous fieldwork than that done by B'tselem, which is based in Jerusalem and has faced many obstacles placed by the Israeli authorities in being able to get its research teams into Gaza.

"Meticulous" is an interesting way to describe PCHR's approach. As Elder of Ziyon observed:

We've already demonstrated conclusively that literally hundreds of people that the PCHR called "civilian" casualties of Operation Cast Lead were, in fact, terrorists. (And the incredible team of t34zakat, PTWatch and Suzanne are still finding more.)

The problem is not only that PCHR was unaware of these people's affiliations. PCHR's weekly reports during Cast Lead detail a number of specific incidents that show that the organization knew quite well that the dead were terrorists - and chose to categorize them as "civilian" anyway.

"Meticulous" then, apparently means exaggerating the level of destruction caused by Israel. It isn't surprising that Cobban believes this as there seems to be no libel about Israel that is too silly for her to ignore. Cobban doesn't even seem to be bothered that the blurring of the lines between terrorist and civilian was a deliberate tactic practiced by her heroes of Hamas.

Daled Amos wonders if the funders of these groups feel that they're getting their money's worth. They certainly got their money's worth from PCHR.

Crossposted on Yourish.

Why are Jews liberal?

Norman Podhoretz:

But avowed secularists are not the only Jews who confuse Judaism with liberalism; so do many non-Orthodox Jews who practice this or that traditional observance. It is not for nothing that a cruel wag has described the Reform movement—the largest of the religious denominations within the American Jewish community—as "the Democratic Party with holidays thrown in," and the services in a Reform temple as "the Democratic Party at prayer."

David Wolpe:

Podhoretz’s book is meant to explain why Jews do not vote their self-interest. I would say it is because they vote their self-conception, which is a very different thing. Jews identify with those who see themselves as on the margins: African Americans, immigrants, various minority interest groups. The blue-collar poor may feel angry, but they also feel that America is in some deep sense “theirs.” They don’t need to claim it, although they may wish to reclaim it. But for all those who suspect deep down that no matter how patriotic they may be, no matter how much they may contribute, the Daughters of the American Revolution will always see them as arrivistes, it will remain attractive to make common cause with those on the margins.

Jonathan Sarna:

Why then should Jews in the United States uphold what Podhoretz calls “the ‘Torah’ of liberalism” so much more zealously than Jews elsewhere in the world? I would point to two factors that distinguish the American situation from what obtains elsewhere. First, Reform Judaism is much stronger in the United States than in any other country, and adherence to Reform Judaism strongly correlates with liberal voting behavior. Reform today is the largest of America’s Jewish religious movements, and all surveys agree that Reform Jews vote Democratic more reliably than any other large body of Jews. There is no need to seek out the “Torah of liberalism,” for Reform Judaism is the engine that drives the liberal train in the United States; additional explanations are unnecessary.

Michael Medved:

The liberal belief that Jews should be pro-choice and pro–gay marriage has nothing to do with connecting to Jewish tradition and everything to do with disassociating from Christian conservatives. According to this argument, Catholic and evangelical attempts to “impose” their values on social issues represent a theocratic threat to American pluralism that has allowed Judaism to thrive. The one segment of the contemporary community least concerned with this purported menace is the Orthodox—the less than 10 percent of the Jewish population that gives nearly as disproportionate support to Republicans as their Reform, Conservative, and secular Jewish neighbors give to Democrats. The reason for this contrasting response goes beyond the Orthodox tendency to agree with conservative Christians on most social issues and relates to their much greater comfort with religiosity in general. The Orthodox feel no instinctive horror at political alliances with others who make faith the center of their lives.

William Kristol:

God only knows.

Jeff Jacoby:

It is reassuring for liberal Jews to believe that all people are fundamentally decent and reasonable, and that all disputes can be settled through compromise and conciliation. It is reassuring to believe in a world in which nothing is ever solved by war, so that military force is unnecessary and expensive weapons systems are wasteful. It is reassuring to believe that America is a secular nation, that God and religion have no place in the public square, and that no debt of gratitude is owed to the Christians who created the extraordinary society in which American Jews have thrived. It is reassuring to believe that crime is caused by guns, that academia is the seat of wisdom, and that humanity’s biggest problem is global warming. It is reassuring to believe that compassion can be achieved by passing the right laws and that big government can create prosperity. It is reassuring to believe that tikkun olam—healing the world—is a synonym for the liberal agenda and that the liberal agenda flows directly from the teachings of Judaism.

David Gerlertner:

He describes today’s Reactionary Liberalism clearly. It is no political doctrine professed, as liberalism was, in rational hopes of a better future; it is a sort of religion that denies history, experience, and liberalism itself. In many cases, Podhoretz notes, left-wing politics took the place of a Judaism that felt to new American immigrants like a business suit on a beach: conspicuous, constraining, ridiculously out of place. In Eastern Europe, most Jews didn’t need to think much about Judaism per se: it was built into their homes and communities and daily routines—which made it easier to forget when those things were left behind. On this reading, emotional, facts-be-damned Jewish liberalism is a gravestone marking the death of religious faith, or a fossil where dead stone approximates the shape of a once living creature.

The j-blogosphere this week

Please check out this week's Haveil Havalim, hosted by my friend JoshuaPundit.

There must be a few thousand words in the latest J-Pix hosted by the first lady of Jewish blogging Batya.

And thanks to both for including links to Soccer Dad!

Mazel Tov to Badforshidduchim on winning the trip to Israel.

Council speak 09/10/09

This week's Watcher's council winners are up.

Joshuapundit had the winning entry with his retrospective of Sen. Kennedy's legislative career, Ted Kennedy Stumbles Offstage

This week's runner-up was Mere Rhetoric's Auto Industry Insider Explains How C4C Distorted The Market, Wiped Out Rebates, And Cemented Japanese Dominance.

On the non-council side the winning entry was Sherman Frederick @ Las Vegas Review-Journal's warning Enough is enough, Harry – Stop the childish bullying
There were three runners up: zenpundit's Apocalyptic Vision;
Big Hollywood's Mr. President, Please Don’t Bogart the Blunt; and Jerome Auerbach/WSJ's Remembering The Hebron Massacre.

Congratulations to all the winners.

Egypt's Jewish Problem

Michael Slackman explains why Egypt is rebuilding an ancient synagogue in Cairo:

So why the sudden public display of affection for Egypt’s Jewish past?

Politics. Not street politics, but global politics.

Egypt’s minister of culture, Farouk Hosny, wants to be the next director general of Unesco, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In the context of this conservative Islamic society, Mr. Hosny, 71, is quite liberal, running afoul of Islamists when he criticized the popularity of women wearing head scarves, for example.

But to appease — or please — his local constituency, he said in 2008 he would burn any Israeli book found in the nation’s premier library in Alexandria. He has apologized, but that has done little to end the attacks on his candidacy to lead an organization dedicated to promoting cultural diversity.

So his subordinates sped up the restoration process. After a year of study, the work began in June. They pitched a blue tent, and held a news conference — two, in fact — right inside the old synagogue around the corner from Mr. Badr’s shop. Mr. Badr said that was when he realized that the building with no roof and cemented-over windows was a synagogue.

Roger Cohen, of course, approves the appointment:

Hosny stands at the crux of the cultural challenges confronting us. Let’s get him inside the tent rather than stoke the old anti-Western, anti-imperialist flames — reminiscent of what led the United States to abandon Unesco between 1984 and 2002 — by rejecting him.

And then, with the big U.S. contribution to the Unesco budget as leverage, let’s press him relentlessly to fight the anti-Semitic bigotry poisoning young Arab psyches; favor dialogue; open Arab minds to science and education; and embrace the peace that Unesco was set up to foster by draining the poisonous well from which his own now-regretted venom was drawn.

Hosny's declaration about Jewish books was no slip of the tongue. It reflected the thinking of the Egyptian elite. Egypt has been quite happy to reap the diplomatic benefits of peace with Israel without fostering any meaningful form of normalization. Does Cohen really think that giving Hosny the UNESCO job will give the West leverage to fight the official antisemitism of Egypt, he's hopelessly naive.

And for all the talk of Hosny's sympathy for the Palestinians, there's an easy to miss paragraph in Slackman's article that needs to be addressed:

That was the case for Jews all over Egypt, who with each Arab-Israeli war left or were forced out. There are fewer than 100, some say fewer than 80, Jews left in Egypt today, making the preservation projects all the more important, Rabbi Baker said.

"[L]eft or were forced out?!?!" That's much too casual. The Jews of the Egypt, like those of most Arab countries were forced out. Here's the scoop on Egypt:

Between June and November 1948, bombs set off in the Jewish Quarter of Cairo killed more than 70 Jews and wounded nearly 200.2 In 1956, the Egyptian government used the Sinai Campaign as a pretext for expelling almost 25,000 Egyptian Jews and confiscating their property. Approximately 1,000 more Jews were sent to prisons and detention camps. On November 23, 1956, a proclamation signed by the Minister of Religious Affairs, and read aloud in mosques throughout Egypt, declared that "all Jews are Zionists and enemies of the state," and promised that they would be soon expelled. Thousands of Jews were ordered to leave the country. They were allowed to take only one suitcase and a small sum of cash, and forced to sign declarations "donating" their property to the Egyptian government. Foreign observers reported that members of Jewish families were taken hostage, apparently to insure that those forced to leave did not speak out against the Egyptian government.3

When war broke out in 1967, Jewish homes and property were confiscated. Egypt's attitude toward Jews at that time was reflected in its treatment of former Nazis. Hundreds were allowed to take up residence in Egypt and given positions in the government. The head of the Gestapo in occupied Poland, Leopold Gleim (who had been sentenced to death in absentia), controlled the Egyptian secret police.

The sympathy for the Palestinian is simply a dodge. It's what Arabs use to justify their antisemitism. If displacement was so awful, Egypt would do a lot more than simply fix up an old shul to make things right for the Jews it expelled.

Quote of the day

Elliott Abrams in the Washington Post - in response to Jimmy Carter:

Most inaccurate of all, and most bizarre, is Carter's claim that "a total freeze of settlement expansion is the key" to a peace agreement. Not a halt to terrorism, not the building of Palestinian institutions, not the rule of law in the West Bank, not the end of Hamas rule in Gaza -- no, the sole "key" is Israeli settlements. Such a conclusion fits with Carter's general approach, in which there are no real Palestinians, just victims of Israel. The century of struggle between moderate and radical Palestinians, and the victories of terrorists from Haj Amin al-Husseini to Yasser Arafat, are forgotten; the Hamas coup in Gaza is unmentioned; indeed the words "Hamas" and "terrorism" do not appear in Carter's column. Instead of appealing for support for the serious and practical work of institution-building that the Palestinian Authority has begun, Carter fantasizes about a "nonviolent civil rights struggle" that bears no relationship to the terrorist violence that has plagued Palestinian society, and killed Israelis, for decades. Carter's portrait demonizes Israelis and, not coincidentally, it infantilizes Palestinians, who are accorded no real responsibility for their fate or future. If this is "the Elders' view of the Middle East," we and our friends in that region are fortunate that this group of former officials is no longer in power.

Daled Amos, by the way, provides many more reasons we should be glad that the Elders are no longer in power.

Musical monday #109

Well Baltiblogs is down, so I'm posting here, at least temporarily.

Welcome to Musical Monday #109. You know the drill: Every week, Elie alternate hosing ... players are invited to guess the songs, figure out the them but no "Googling." This week the theme is what the songs in each group have to do with the first one in the group. Later today check out Musical Monday #108 for results from last week!

Actually I'll allow Googling for one thing here. This is a variation on an earlier Musical Monday. So once you figure out the theme, if you want to find the earlier one for extra credit, you may search for that. (Hint: it's more than two years old.)

So with no further ado, here's Musical Monday #109. (I hope to update this tonight, so hold off on the bonuses until Thursday.)

1) There's a voice in my head that drives my heel
2) People all around but I don't hear a sound, just the lonely beating of my heart

3) Workin on a mystery, goin wherever it leads
4) Wishin' you were here by me, To end this misery

5) Elegance in eloquence - for sale or rent or hire
6) She's just a substitute, you're the permanent one

7) I'm so wired-up, dDon't need no coffee in my cup
8) Well, look-a there, look-a there, look-a there, look-a there, ooh wee!

9) These two lanes will take us anywhere
10) Maybe tomorrow, a new romance, no more sorrow

11) I bet you're singing proud, oh, I bet you'll pull a crowd
12) Don't punish me with brutality
13) My pillows never dry off

14) There's a spotlight waiting
15) Whatever it is, that girl put a spell on me.
16) But I'm gonna show you, baby, that a woman can be tough.
17) Watching the ships roll in
18) No time to wallow in the mire
19) Sat a girl named Doris
20) And it shows them pearly white

21) Who's gonna play the Opry?
22) And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when,
23) A place where even squares can have a ball
24) I gotta go now gotta try to find a way to lose these memories of a love so warm and true
25) Slander my name all over the place
26) Well, I used to pull your pigtails
27) I chew my nails and I twiddle my thumbs
28) I stood alone in the cold gray dawn

29) ... rhythmic blues
30) All your hugs and kisses and your money too
31) You shouldve heard those knocked out jailbirds sing.
32) You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
33) You're such a lovely audience,
34) And I howled at my ma in the driving rain,
35) Round the squares huddled in storms
36) I pulled my mouth harp, out of my dirty red bandana

37) I heard he sang a good song
38) The spinning don't stop when you leave the cradle

39) Lady take me, high upon a hillside
40) One more time for all the old times

PART II (updated 09/09/09

41) Play me a country song
42) I see a red door
43) Oh she left me without mercy

44) Focusing on nowhere, investigating miles
45) Before they're forever banned?
46) They had to count them all

47) I try to contemplate the cosmos
48) Does your memory stray to a bright sunny day
49) I wanna be famous, a star of the screen
50) No sweeping exits or offstage lines

51) Mugwumps, high jumps
52) I'll meet you tomorrow, sort of late at night
53) magic swirling ship

54) My daily dose of destiny, under my sign
55) I hollered, "I don't need you," ah but honey, that's a lie
56) She said I've got a 40-gallon stetson hat

57) little umbrella-shaded margaritas
58) All of those tourists covered with oil

59) I rather drive a truck
60) Pushing barriers, planting seeds,
61) I met a Mr. Grief - and he said

62) And in the cracks along the sidewalk nothing grows no more
63) Above us only sky

PART III:
64) "Well, I made the big-time at last"
65) Someone to love, somebody new.

66) He's been writin' songs speakin' out against wealth and privilege
67) Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

68) And the white line's getting longer and the saddle's getting cold
69) You'd be better off to try and rope the wind,

Musical monday #103

Ach! I slept late this morning. Consider this a down payment on the whole Musical Monday. I'll hopefully get the rest up tomorrow morning. Many of these songs are a bit more obscure than usual.

1) This big dollar town can drag you right down, if you go it alone
2) Yeah there's a storm on the loose sirens in my head
3) Oh and in the heat of rapture when I feel the cold winds blow
4) And the colors in my rainbow turn blue
5) weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
6) And there's whiskers on my chin
7) There's a mirror moving inside my mind
8) Bad boy knows where to find her, Runs the light, sneaks up behind her
9) Foolin' around, hitting the town, growing my hair
10) Stella sits in Rio
11) Hollywood ain't paved with gold, it's just a trick of light
12) Wanna have a simple moonshine, Wanna sing along on a song or two
13) Look at me, Gotta load on my back
14) You whisper something softly, I'm not meant to hear
15) So if you want to get to where you let the feeling roll
16) Once I dreamed in a dream I would find you, never thought that the dream would come true
17) Time is the essence, time is the season
18) Frame me and hang me on the wall
19) and talk about the teachers that you hate
20) You can't say you're in it, no, until you reach the limit
21) I would surely buy you a Cadillac
22) Dont be so circumscribed, are you gonna do it
23) Man, my head was spinning when I saw your feat
24) Untouchable memories seem to keep haunting me
25) Wasted days, and sleepless nights, and I cant wait to see you again
26) Don't you know you're sleeping in the spotlight
27) Standing in the cold rain, Feeling like a clown.
28) It's getting late they're waiting outside you're gonna run away
29) We live in a world, of carnivals and clowns, and buildings to the sky, that make us want to fly
30) Her hair so brilliant that it hurt my eyes
31) I will wash the dishes while you go have a beer

The #1 jewish issue

I got an e-mail from Pillage Idiot the other day (I'm assuming he doesn't mind my quoting him)

On another subject, wait till the Jews start talking about Palin. Point 1: She's pro-life, which no liberal Jew can accept. Abortion, the ultimate Jewish issue.

He's prescient. What can I tell you? The NJDC termed the choice of Palin as "bizarre."

Moreover, on a broad range of issues— most strikingly on the issue of women’s reproductive freedom— she is totally out of step with Jewish public opinion.

Of course they also mention that she has no public record on Israel. Why the governor of Alaska should speak publicly about Israel is beyond me. And why silence more of a disqualification than attending a church that supports Hamas is similarly bewildering.

On a related matter, yes Gov. Palin is pro-life. And she isn't just preaching to others. It's what she practiced. As Don Surber wrote:

I thought her pregnancy and the birth of her child this year would dash her VP hopes. Her son has Down’s Syndrome, which she learned of during her pregnancy. She does not believe in the death penalty for retarded children.

In other words she lives by the principle she wishes to see others abide by.

One final note: Crablaw points out in a comment that there are charges that Palin supported Pat Buchanan in the Republican primary in 2000.

Apparently she was extending a courtesy to Buchanan, but she supported Steve Forbes in that campaign.

And indeed, another AP story from August 7, 1999 -- one month after the Buchanan trip to Wasilla -- states that joining state sen. Mike Miller of Fairbanks on the Forbes campaign's Alaska "leadership committee will be Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin, and former state GOP chairman Pete Hallgren, who will serve as co-chairs."

(via memeorandum)

And if she did support Buchanan, it would be a negative in my mind. But I still find Sen. Obama's associations a lot more troubling. And he's not running to become the understudy in the next administration. To quote Don Surber again:

Democrats nominated an inexperienced but cute senator who won’t just be a heartbeat from the presidency; he will be the heartbeat.

Mahmoud Abbas, Master Of StandUp Comedy

Arafat II Mahmoud Abbas has had a lot of funny bits but this surpasses anything he's ever done.

Today, Abbas responded to Israeli PM Olmert's statement that Israel and the Palestinian are 'close to a deal except on Jerusalem' by saying that if Israel doesn't bend over for him on everything, including Jerusalem, he's going to call off negotiations.

I nearly fell over laughing.

Here's somebody who's authority barely extends past the door in his office in Ramallah not only representing himself as someone who can make a meaningful deal and trying to dictate conditions but threatening to pull out and drop everything if he doesn't get his way!

"We will negotiate until the end of the year, and then the president will review our options," [Abbas spokesmouth and top aide Rafik] Husseini said, adding that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's declaration this week that a peace deal on everything but Jerusalem could be reached by the end of the year was unacceptable.

"Without a deal on Jerusalem, there will not be a peace deal at all," he said.

Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, said that as far as the Palestinians were concerned, Jerusalem was a "red line" that couldn't be crossed.

If I were the Israelis,I would tell Mr. Def Jam that we're taking him at his word, no deal means no deal and end this farce. After all, the Palestinians have not kept a single one of the basic commitments they've ever made since Oslo...yet they're still hanging on to the land they managed to squeeze out of Israel, the only country in the Middle East to ever give them any land of their own at all.

Even funnier is Abbas' assumption that any deal he might make with the Israelis is worth the paper it's printed on, given that Abbas has almost zero authority to make anything stick since Hamas isn't signing on to it.Of course the real joke is on Olmert, Livni and the current Israeli government.

Abbas may still draw an audience in the EU and the US State Department, but the Arabs are definitely getting sick and tired of the Palestinians' shabby act.

They've pretty much reneged on all those flowery pledges of cash to the Palestinians as a ba-ad investment, which actually makes them a lot smarter than I gave them credit for. Anyway,why should they shell out any of their oil billions when the stoopid infidels are so willing to do it for them? $1 billion in international aid had been disbursed to the PA in 6 months by us wacky Westerners, about 40% of it passed to Gaza by Abbas to fund Hamas in the Gaza Strip...who says terrorism doesn't pay? Yet the Palestinian Authority still complains that it is broke...what
a bunch of jokesters!

If the Israeli government was thinking straight, they'd call Abbas' bluff and end the comedy once and for all.

-Rob Miller. Crossposted at JoshuaPundit

The folly of revisiting shebaa farms

Jonathan Spyer explains the untoward interest the West has in Shebaa Farms:

In the wake of the recent Doha agreement, the US is keen to bolster the position of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and the March 14 movement of which he is a part.

The Cedar Revolution, and the Saniora government which resulted from it, is considered by the US administration to be one of its most significant diplomatic achievements in the region.

Doha stipulated the creation of a new cabinet in Lebanon that would include opposition (i.e., Hizbullah and allied) representation. The US is evidently concerned about preserving the standing of Saniora and March 14 in the ongoing Lebanese political standoff.

This concern, it is understood, is shared by Sarkozy, who is considered a moving force behind the current initiative. The government of Israel is apparently willing to adopt a newly conciliatory stance on the Shaba farms in order to play its role within this process.

Rice, in Beirut, expressed her concern at Hizbullah's prominence in Lebanon and said that the administration intended to address the "real reasons and underlying causes" of this. When asked to define these, she said, according to a report in the Beirut Daily Star, that the issue of the Shaba farms must be resolved "within the context of [UN Security Council] Resolution 1701 rather than Resolution 425."

So how does this strengthen the March 14 forces?

The US administration wants to bolster Saniora and simultaneously remove the rationale for Hizbullah's continued bearing of arms. Hizbullah currently uses the Shaba farms as its central rallying cry; hence, the apparent idea is to induce Israel to cede the farms, probably to UN control. This, it is expected, will simultaneously remove Hizbullah's reason for maintaining its armed capacity - and enable Saniora to pose as the "liberator" of Shaba.

The idea is likely to backfire. First of all, while Hizbullah has declared itself opposed to the idea of placing the Shaba farms under UN jurisdiction, this will not prevent it from declaring any Israeli withdrawal as its own achievement, a delayed result of the shock and fear - and subsequent flexibility - induced in Israel by the 2006 war.

Israel, apparently wishes to be seen as aiding the forces of good. And that explains what perplexes Emanuele Ottolenghi:

That means there is nothing to negotiate on the matter–it is not for Lebanon to stake a claim on the Sheeba Farms and it is not for Israel to return the Sheeba Farms to Lebanon, given that according to the UN Israel has complied with Resolution 425 in full. It stands to no reason that Olmert should concede on this point. The Sheeba Farms issue has been settled for eight years, and reopening it means giving in on a pretext that Hezbollah has exploited far too long to justify its blatant violations of UN resolutions, Lebanese law, and the Taif agreements. So why is Olmert offering what Israel should keep?

Israel wants to be regarded as helping the West, so Olmert is willing to re-open this issue. Spyer explains why it won't work.

There were those after May 2000 who assumed that once Israel had abandoned the security zone, the former aspect of Hizbullah's identity would take precedence over the latter. This, of course did not take place. Should Shaba be ceded, Hizbullah already has a list of subsequent "grievances" against Israel that will be used to justify further "resistance."

Hezbollah will simply provide a new grievance against Israel to excuse its continued terror, just as it has done since 2000. The terror attacks that Israel absorbed from Hezbollah since 2000 and its blind eye towards Hezbollah's growing threat, essentially negated any benefit - moral or strategic - that it should have gained from withdrawing from Lebanon. It's a lesson that Hezbollah has learned well.

If Israel reopens the issue of Shebaa Farms now, in the future the world will then lean on Israel to satisfy each succeeding grievance, thereby ceding moral, legal and strategic ground to Hezbollah in the vain hope that these sacrifices would eliminate Hezbollah's raison d'etre and transform it into a legitimate political movement. But each concession will grant Hezbollah new legitimacy until Israel is forced once again to war with the terrorist group minus the advantages it ceded over the years.

Whether it has been other nations

Turkey's cabinet yesterday discussed steps to take against Israel, whose actions were condemned by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Sunday over its excessive use of force against Palestinians in Gaza.
“It is not possible for us to approve of the recent inhumane practice in Gaza. Children, civilians are being killed with disproportionate use of force,” Erdoğan said Sunday in a speech he delivered to his party's youth branches here.
“There is no humane or legal justification for the attacks in Gaza. We, the Turkish Republic, openly condemn Israel's attitude,” he said.

(h/t Daled Amos )

Diplomats

Rice called on Israel to "make a very strong effort to spare innocent life" in Gaza, but did not rescind her earlier position that walking away from negotiations would be a victory for those who oppose peace.

or editors

Yet the likelihood of achieving the two-state solution they have embraced diminishes with every rocket lobbed into Israel from Hamas-controlled Gaza and with every Israeli military strike or squeeze on civilian life in Gaza.

Everyone seems to suggest that Israel be careful about civilians in Gaza even as it seeks to defend its own civilians.

And yet there's a record that shows exactly how careful Israel is with civilians (or, in one case, non-combatants)

Ynet reports

The Kerem Shalom terminal in the southern Gaza Strip was expected to reopen Tuesday after being closed for six weeks for security reasons.

Some 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to the Palestinians were expected to pass through the terminal, while 60 additional trucks containing equipment and medications were to cross the border at the Suffa crossing.

The Kerem Shalom crossing was used as an alternative terminal after the Karni crossing in the northern Strip was shut down. The terminal was shut down, however, after the defense establishment received warnings on terror organization's plans to carry out attacks at the area, and after mortar shells were fired at the terminal while goods were passing through it.

On Tuesday, the IDF was instructed to reopen the crossing, allowing a limited number of trucks to enter Gaza while following the developments in the area on a daily basis.

Sixty trucks were expected to pass through the Suffa crossing with medications, as well as equipment and food from the United Nations and donations from Jordan and Turkey. In addition, 80 trucks carrying grains were to enter the Strip through the Karni crossing.

(h/t Elder of Ziyon who notes:

Meanwhile, three Qassams landed in Israel so far today, to correspond with the three crossings that goods will be shipped through.

I guess that's what they mean by a "proportionate response.")

Israel's MFA boasts that the Barzilai hospital that was nearly hit by a Grad missile has been treating premature Palesitinian babies.

The first Hamas missiles began raining down on Ashkelon on Saturday (1 March) shortly after 5 a.m. When the Hamas shelling of Ashkelon started, the twins, a boy and girl, were still in the NICU. One of the Grad rockets fell a mere 50 meters from the hospital entrance. All the premature babies in the NICU unit, including the two Palestinian babies, were transferred to the hospital's bomb shelter for fear that the hospital itself would receive a direct missile hit.

(h/t Israel at Level Ground )

And when an Egyptian helicopter crew got lost in Gaza, it was the IAF that escorted them to safety.

The pilot of an Egyptian helicopter lost in the fog found himself over the Gaza Strip and under fire from Hamas militants Monday until Israeli warplanes escorted his aircraft back across the border, Egyptian and Israeli security officials said. The red-and-white chopper strayed into the narrow coastal strip between Israel and Egypt shortly after Israeli forces withdrew from northern Gaza, concluding an offensive against rocket squads. Hamas mistook the Egyptian aircraft for an Apache attack helicopter used by Israel in airstrikes and tried to shoot it down, the militant group said. There were no reports of injury to the pilot or any passengers.

(h/t Yourish )

On the other side we see that Hamas is using mosques to hide weapons. (There is a history of Israel's enemies using the protection of holy places to wage war.)

Frankly given the disparity of how each side treats civilians the condemnations of and suggestions to Israel are insulting.

It isn't the collateral damage of Israel's defense that threatens peace. It is the impression of Israel's enemies that they can attack Israel with impunity - and as a bonus get Israel condemned - that undermines peace. Maybe if Israel's critics were a bit more forthcoming about everything Israel was doing it would reduce the incentives of Hamas to continue attacking. (That's probably a pipe dream.)

Haveil Havalim #115

Welcome to the May 6, 2007 edition of Haveil Havalim.All week I had a lot of ideas about how I wanted to organize this carnival - but of course, I then realized that current events were going to dictate it, not me. Therefore I gathered some posts about the Aftermath of the Winograd Report together. I am sure future hosts will have a lot more to say about it as events continue to unfold in Israel.
One thing I did want to take an opportunity to say here was to thank everyone at JBlogs, those I've met, those I'm getting to know and those getting to know me - for being so welcoming to me.
Despite blogging for almost 4 years now I was very hesitant to join a blogging "community" for a long time. Over the summer I joined the Progressive Faith Bloggers and went to their BlogCon. It was very motivating and something I would love to see the JBlogosphere get together on. But still I dragged my feet, preferring to keep my little personal blog to myself and concentrate on the people who needed me - my children, of course and the readers at my Anti-Domestic Violence Blog.In late February I shared with my counselor some more things I had written, at her request. We spent a couple sessions talking about why wasn't I doing more with my personal blog - because despite the fact that I was disabled, blogging could put me in contact with others for debate & discussion, educate me more about the Judaism I had just embraced and help restore my courage and my "voice." She gave me the URL to Israel Forum and JBlogs and told me to go for it. So I did.And I am so glad I did. I am a read-a-holic and always have been. I have gotten into reading so many blogs I would never have seen otherwise. Whether I agree or not I am exposed daily to new information, new insight and reminded how differently the same situation can be seen among people. I get daily Torah learning I wouldn't have gotten otherwise and Jewish law is turned over & upside down as we learn together. Thank you to all the JBloggers who brought their wisdom, humor and rants to me. I must waste a good hour a day just going through Today's Catch. I thank you and my brain thanks you.Now... let's see what came in this very busy week:
MY PERSONAL PICK FOR THIS CARNIVAL
Nuch Epes Ah Chosid presents Did you get the message? posted at Nuch Epes Ah Chosid, saying, "A major post on the topic of hashgacha protis - divine intervention how nothing is by accident, and the signal from heaven we get , but we need to respond to them."
Hashem sends us "Wake up call" in form of things that upset us, or g-d forbid cause us pain. If we have the right understanding that NOTHING happens just by accident, then we remember that this is a call for action, for 'cheshbon hanefesh' to inspect ourselves repent and correct something. (from this great blog post)
General JBlogging Goodness
Yisrael Medad presents Belgian Justice or should we say Belgian "INJUSTICE"?My Right Word, saying, "Seems MyRightWord wouldn't mind getting his hands on Veronique De Keyser, or more properly around her neck" (and after reading that post can't say I'd blame him either)Yisrael Medad presents an interesting ethical dilemma that asks can we honestly trust information from an 'unnamed source'? (this one doesn't fall under whistleblower status either) Media Ethic Matter posted at My Right Word, saying, "As is his wont, MyRightWord deals with a media ethics matter concerning the identity of sources."
SnoopyTheGoon reports "Army undergoing revolution," Peretz says But what kind of revolution? Ask yourself at SimplyJews.Carl in Jerusalem presents Why Feigele can't be Prime Minister posted at Israel Matzav.
Carl in Jerusalem posts a dilemma facing the IDF & its Hesder soldiers IDF threatening Hesder (again) on ideological grounds take a look Israel Matzav.
Carl in Jerusalem presents Israel Matzav: Treason at Haaretz: Haaretz helps Iran look for nuke builders or the New York Times strikes at Israel again... a good post at Israel Matzav.
CultureTherapyDoc posts an article which I appreciated personally. It was honest, well thought out and about a lot bigger issues than a rehash of the Virginia Tech massacre - but about something missing from a lot of people these days... EMPATHYCho Copycat and Life is a Battlefield posted at Everyone Needs Therapy, saying, "Sometimes a blogger has to make some tough choices when it comes to posting. Choosing Cho once again to make a point about surviving childhood wasn't easy." (But I, for one, am glad she did!)
Elie presents What's in a (Jewish) Name a question we've all thought about at one time or another, posted at Elie's Expositions.
V presents a post I found enlightening regarding a "jewish marketing" tactic Tznius - In Defense of Gedolim - A Positive Spin posted at V's Jewish Blog.
yours truly posts about spirituality & culture being two pieces of the same puzzle at Spirituality & Culture posted at Barbara's Tchatzkahs.
Culture: Sports
Mark asks "Did you know there was a Jewish Sports Hall of Fame?" No! and this is very enlightening! Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Inductees posted at SportsBiz - The Business of Sports Illuminated, saying, "This year, the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inducted 12 athletes, including Mark Spitz, Dwight Stones and Howard Cossell (ok, not all of the inductees are athletes)."
Mark writes about Hockey's Up and Comer Benjamin Rubin - an Orthodox Jew at An Athlete's Dilemma posted at SPORTSYIDS - Celebrating Jews In Sports, saying, "Benjamin Rubin is an excellent 18 year old hockey player whose chances to make the NHL are compromised because he is also Orthodox, and as a result will not play or practice on Shabbat."
Humor
Ah! The frustrations of rules, customer service and the airline industry as told by TherapyDoc who shows us how NOT to do behavior modification in And Another Thing: British Air and Behavior Mod posted at Everyone Needs TherapyI included this in humor because it did make me laugh - as only Debbie Schlussel can at Muslims Upset that Breast Cancer Awareness, Blacks Get Whole Month posted at Debbie Schlussel
Israel
Rafi G reminds us its not just Aliyah but successful Aliyah to strive for at Kosher Style posted at Life in Israel.
West Bank Mama gives it to us straight about Aliyah Some Straight Talk About Making Aliyah posted at West Bank Mama.
muse presents a blog post close to my gardener's heart Didn't I tell you? posted at me-ander.
Cosmic X presents a commuter's lament Commuting To The Holy City Of Tel Aviv posted at ****** Cosmic X in Jerusalem ******.
Cosmic X continues by expressing the longing of many to channel their inner 'Easy Rider' and knowing you never will in The Holy City Of Tel Aviv: Motorcycles posted at ****** Cosmic X in Jerusalem ******.
Wolfline writes a blog post I loved - about personal victory in the face of injury, disability and how love and perseverance can win out at Roni's Victory posted at Busywolf
Elder of Ziyon lets media spin have a piece of his mind with US official praises Palestinian Arab press posted at Elder of Ziyon.
Ya'aqov Ben-Yehudah alerts us It's Official...We're Rednecks.... posted at Esser Agaroth, saying, "tongue and cheek" -- yes the truth is always the most humorous! ;)
muse compares day to night with the current situation in Israel Transitions aren't always beautiful posted at Shiloh Musings.
Judaism
JackB waxes nostalgic about the Good Ole' Days vs. the Good New Days The Golden Age Of The JBlogosphere posted at Random thoughts- Do they have meaning?, saying, "A few thoughts about the JBlogosphere"
Irina has some deep thoughts about her identity - a great post we can all relate to Who Am I Anyway? posted at The IgNoble Experiment, a.k.a. Live Dangerously!.
Happy Mom of 6 asks Medical Miracles or just Mistakes personally, I have had this happen and I like to think - its a miracle but you should take a look and give your opinion at Baby Lox.
Jerusalem Joe presents a fascinating look at psychology, Jung and its relation to a Halacha at Why Women Are Exempt From Prayer In Judaism – A Jungian Explanation posted at The Israeli Tikkun Blog.
A Simple Jew shows us there's always a new opportunity for a "Lego Castle" and a new chance to be a better Jew & a better person - however it presents itself atLego Castles & The Yahrzeit Of The Degel Machaneh Ephraim posted at A Simple Jew.
Ya'aqov Ben-Yehudah tells of a date correction at Um,...Hello?! RaShB"I Didn't Die on Lag b'Omer posted at Esser Agaroth
Kashrut
Mottel presents a photo essay worth taking a look at Shechita -A Photo Essay on Ritual Slaughter posted at Letters of Thought.
and Mottel follows up the above photo essay with some thoughts about animals, ethics and ritual slaughter PETH: People for the Ethical Treatment of Humans you can weigh in your thoughts atLetters of Thought.
Jewish Blogmeister asks for help in getting BeachNut to keep their baby food kosher atBeechNut Baby Food Alert: Going Non Kosher posted at Jewish Blogmeister.
Personal
Robert J. Avrech tells many a man's dilemma of saying, "What happens when Trash TV meets Kosher Yoga."No Yen for Yoga posted at Seraphic Secret
Nuch Epes Ah Chosid writes another post I personally like this week, about failure, personal accountability & determination at Tell Me What You Want.. What You Really Really Want ?! posted at Nuch Epes Ah Chosid, saying, "A view on our personal struggle in life to be better, and yet even if we fail, we still want to be good." (Yes, I believe most people's default setting is GOOD)
muse talks about how, in her area of Israel, a simple commute can be life threatening on a daily basis at With this map... posted at Shiloh Musings.
yours truly shares more of the trials & tribulations of being a "New Ju" at OPPRESSION, CONVERSATION and FITTING IN posted at Barbara's Tchatzkahs.
Politics
Irina asks about the American Authorities and their relations to the Jewish Community today with a news story at Old News Resurface Despite All Odds posted at The IgNoble Experiment, a.k.a. Live Dangerously!, saying, "On the arrest of Rabbi Avi Weiss"
Smooth alerts us all to the WMATA's Anti-Israel posters and the letter Smooth wrote - a must read! - at My letter to WMATA, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, for partnering with US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation posted at Smooth Stone
Elder of Ziyon presents more re-writing of the English Dictionary meetings to whitewash Palestinian intentions at Elder of Ziyon: Today's Palspeak/Reuters word: "siege" posted at Elder of Ziyon.
Freedom's Cost asks some hard questions that Europe needs to ask itself “Europe or Eurabia?" posted at Freedom's Cost. (I included this one because not only is this one of my favorite new blogs but it begs a question that I asked myself on and since my recent trip abroad and seeing what is going there)
Torah
Dixie Yid brings Hashem's presence a little closer to us with What's the Pillar on Which the Whole Torah Stands? posted at Dixie Yid - Thoughts on life and Chassidus, saying, "This post discusses the pasuk, "V'ahava l'reyacha kamocha, Ani " and it's meaning as the Klal Gadol BaTorah."
Rafi G gives a very good analysis at Emor: from rags to riches posted at Torah Thoughts.
Dan gave a great lesson with analogy to illustrate Lag B'Omer at Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai's Kabbalah posted at Tsmicha.com, saying, "Lag Baomer and Kaballah"
Josh Waxman puzzler at P3: Parsha Punning Puzzle for Emor #4 posted at parshablog, saying, "This week, I've launched a serious pictorial parsha punning puzzles.[Earlier entries from the same week are:#3#2#1Though the last two listed have already been solved.]
Reb Chaim HaQoton enlightens us for Lag B'Omer with Carobs and Dates posted at Reb Chaim HaQoton.
Avrohom adler writes some learning we can all use at Daf Yomi - Chagigah 23 - JUSTIFYING A CUSTOM REGARDING GEBROCHTSDaf Yomi - Chagigah 22 - AVOIDING STRIFE posted at Daf notes.
Avrohom adler presents some debate & information on the measurements of the Ark More measures posted at avakesh.
Avrohom adler continues with - the difficulty of relating to non-observant family posted at Divrei Chaim.
Avrohom adler presents an explanation of Sefiras HaOmer: Short, straight and simple posted at Drush and Agadata.
Avrohom adler blog posts Limud Torah with Rav Chaim - COVERING THE BREAD WHEN STOPPING TO MAKE KIDDUSH posted at Limud Torah.
Avrohom adler presents Standing Up: Part 2 posted at Nefesh HaChaim.
Avrohom adler presents Emor 5632 Second Ma'amar posted at Sfas Emes.
History
Mr. Bagel wishes a very Happy Birthday to Theodor Herzl (1860) the 'Father' of Modern Zionism posted at (in my opinion-- one of the most imaginatively designed blogs in the JBlogosphere) The Original Bagel Blogger.
Yisrael Medad presents A Bit Odd posted at My Right Word, saying, "MyRightWord doesn't like the avoiding of Jabotinsky in the Shalem Center's new essay collection on Zionism."
On the Aftermath of the Winograd Report
SnoopyTheGoon presents Ask a good question a day-before-the-Winograd-bomb-dropped post which asks some very pointed questions indeed at SimplyJews.
Rafi G presents another pre-Winograd release blogthoughts on the upcoming firestorm posted at Life in Israel.
Carl in Jerusalem presents Shootout at the OK corral and includes an image of a historic U.S. document that is a good reminder for all at Israel Matzav.
muse talks about the rally Correction/Clarification--Yes, I admit mistakes! posted at Shiloh Musings.
Olah Chadasha puts the effects of Winograd and some masterful and prophetic thoughts in this post at Golda Meir He Aint posted at Greetings from the French Hill, saying, "This article is my take on the Winograd Report and what I believe Olmert's next move will be to try and delay his inevitable demise."
yitz presents MISSING THE RED QUEEN posted at Shiloh Musings, saying, "Wonderful post linking an excerpt from Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" to today's political situation in Israel."
muse presents Olmert's Greatest Miss-Calculation! posted at Shiloh Musings.
Cosmic X reminds us of history at Who's To Blame? Olmert, Peretz, Halutz, and the Israeli MSM posted at ****** Cosmic X in Jerusalem ******.
That concludes this edition. I want to thank Soccer Dad for his trust and for giving me the opportunity to host Haveil Havalim this week. Despite some technical glitches earlier in the week I have truly enjoyed it and all the submissions. I would love to do it again sometime! (o.k. so now you all know I am not in my right mind) Though, I can never hope to do it as well as Soccer Dad does!
Have a wonderful, peaceful and successful week everyone. Enjoy! - Barbara
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Haveil Havalim #111 is UP!

Though his expertise is in the daily study of the Gemora (Talmud) Daf-Notes has produced Haveil Havalim #111 - the final pre-pesach edition of Haveil Havalim the weekly Jewish Blogging Carnival. Thank his wife for letting him do it instead of cleaning the car!

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Loss for words

In Sad Devotion to an Ancient ReligionThe Loss Column argues that it's silly for Orioles fans to criticize Peter Angelos. And it's sillier yet for them to criticize him for declaring that he nixed a proposed trade of Brian Roberts and Hayden Penn to the Braves for Marcus Giles and Adam LaRoche.

In particular The Loss Column went after Thomas Boswell's excellent critique of Angelos, "Angelos says Plenty." Boswell blasted Angelos not just for what he said, but for demonstrating the Orioles fans can expect no change from the owner.

What rival GM wants to spend his time, especially in trading-deadline situations, working on a complex deal with the Orioles when it's known how often Angelos has erased all the work at the last minute? How will Roberts now feel about Flanagan and Duquette? And how enthusiastic will the Atlanta Braves feel about working up another big deal with Baltimore?

What Orioles star, in his walk year, wants to put his faith in Baltimore's ability to negotiate a new contract during the season? After all, from Rafael Palmeiro to Mike Mussina, the Orioles' owner has dawdled for months on big contracts -- paralyzing all parties -- as his asbestos-wrangling background misinforms him that more time off the clock equals more negotiating leverage.

These are all problems that Dan Connolly pointed out in the Baltimore Sun two years ago. Angelos's recent talk with the Sun confirmed that we can expect more of the same as long as he owns the team.

And why does the Loss Column think that Angelos is right in this case?

The worst part about this — and this is partially the well from which tonight’s thoughts spring — is that not dealing Roberts was the right move. Marcus Giles ended up getting released while LaRoche was subsequently dealt to the Pirates for closer Mike Gonzalez, on whom the jury is decidedly still out. I get the argument that meddling is bad, and it carries a lot of weight. But he is who he is, and we’re stuck with him. We may as well play fair and admit he was right for a change.

Marcus Giles was released because of payroll - not performance - considerations. He was headed to arbitration and the Braves weren't willing to spend what it would take to retain him.

This was, frankly, a perfect opportunity for the Orioles to use some leverage. The Braves were conceding that Giles was lost to them and wanted to get some value in return. The Orioles had an opportunity to ask for additional considerations. The Orioles should have told the Braves that if they didn't want lose Giles for nothing, they'd have to add in a solid AAA or AA pitching prospect. Or offer someone with less perceived value than Hayden Penn.

Instead Angelos nixed the deal.

Giles - though coming off a disappointing season - at his best is likely better than Roberts at his best. Given that Roberts hasn't played like he did at the beginning of 2005 at any other time in his career, it's not reasonable to assume he will achieve that level again. Gile is almost certainly a small step up over Roberts. Adam LaRoche may not be as good as Boswell claims, but he's a step up over the Orioles current first base options. Is upgrading at two positions worth Hayden Penn? Quite possibly.

I've been following the Orioles for nearly 40 years now. I'm still going to listen to their games. But my patience is wearing thin. If they're winning, I might just stick around, but if not, I'm not wasting my time on them.

I'm not wishing for some mythical past. I just want a decent present that I can enjoy. Consider the thoughts of FOX Sports writer, Dayn Perry. On the downside he considers Mike Flanagan one of the GM's on the hot seat.

Mike Flanagan, Orioles
On the job since: 12/4/2002
Cumulative Winning Percentage: 0.452
Winning Seasons: 0
Playoff Appearances: 0
Last-Place Finishes: 0
For the first two seasons of his tenure, Flanagan shared GM duties with Jim Beattie. Beattie was let go following the 2005 season, but increased autonomy for Flanagan hasn't improved the state of the organization. The Orioles of late have been so uninteresting, so decidedly vanilla that their best marketing angle might be something like: We''re Not the Devil Rays!" Of course, once the Rays' exceptional collection of young talent finds its sea legs, they'd have to scrap that slogan. To Flanagan's credit there are some promising youngsters in the Orioles' system: Nick Markakis, Adam Loewen, Bradon Erbe, Pedro Beato, to name but a handful. However, there's just no chance of breaking through any time soon, what with the Yankees and Red Sox in the same division. Flanagan could take the fall if 2007 is anything like, well, the previous nine years.

I feel bad for Flanagan. I really do. I have no idea how good he is as a GM, because he many not be the final word on transactions. But Perry thinks he may be in trouble.

But hey Perry also is looking a the good. He thinks that the Orioles may be one of the surpise teams in the majors this year. Really.

Baltimore Orioles: No way, no how will Baltimore earn a playoff spot in 2007, but they could improve. If the young-ish rotation responds to the tutelage of Leo Mazzone and Nick Markakis continues to exhibit skills growth, then the O's could finish as high as third place for only the second time since 1997.

In other words this year the Orioles are likely to finish somewhere above the Devil Rays and somewhere below second place. About where they've been the past decade. Such a consistent record of failure deserves mocking. Lots of it.

Blogdigger tags: Peter Angelos, Baltimore Orioles