Soccer Dad

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• Why George Mitchell Will Not Bring Peace To The Middle East
• The "galaxy quest" president
• What has and hasn't been learned
• Council speak 03/22/10

Why George Mitchell Will Not Bring Peace To The Middle East Posted: 22 Mar 2010 01:11 PM PDT This is not to say that peace cannot be imposed on the Middle East--by which of course we mean by extracting more and more concessions from Israel--but can George Mitchell actually bring a real peace to the Middle East?No.Why? Because George Mitchell's track record is based on the Good Friday Agreement that was supposed to bring peace to Northern Ireland.Ed Moloney, author of A Secret History of the IRA, writes about George Mitchell:His wasn't the central role in the Northern Ireland peace dealThe draft of the Good Friday Agreement was composed and written by British and Irish officials and then presented as if came...

The "galaxy quest" president Posted: 22 Mar 2010 04:03 AM PDT Why did the administration escalate a political mistake into a diplomatic crisis? According to Secretary of State Clinton it helped move talks forward. A less kind way of putting it, would be that she boasted of putting PM Netanyahu in his place. But Elder of Ziyon in an op-ed quality post makes a fascinating observation: Obama believes that a president, the leader of the free world, must act strong. But the problem is he cannot act that way when he cannot predict how the other parties will react to his show of strength. As in the movie Galaxy Quest, he...

What has and hasn't been learned Posted: 22 Mar 2010 03:41 AM PDT To the Washington Post's David Ignatius, the crisis between Israel and the United States was a necessary fight, that put Israel in its place. Jerusalem is the hardest issue of all in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiation, and for that reason, would-be peacemakers have wanted to save it for last. But this month's crisis makes that strategic waffling impossible. Thanks to the Israeli right, the Jerusalem issue is joined. What's needed now is for Obama to announce that when negotiations begin, the United States will state its views about Jerusalem and other key issues -- sketching the outlines of the deal that...

Council speak 03/22/10 Posted: 22 Mar 2010 03:38 AM PDT The Council has spoken! Winning Council Submissions  First place with 3 points! - Wolf Howling -  AP Goes APE Over Texas School Book Changes  Second place  *t* with 2 points - American Digest -  The Plague of Locusts Presidency Second place *t* with 2 points - The Razor - The United States of Venezuela Winning Non-Council Submissions First Place with 2 1/3 Points - Walter Russell Mead's Blog-The American Interest - Is this Lobby different from all others? Second place with 2 Points - Melanie Phillips - The Obama Intifada Submitted by JoshuaPundit For a complete list of this week's submissions see here....

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Soccer Dad

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Rerun, replay, whatever Posted: 20 Mar 2010 11:23 PM PDT Meryl was the first (whom I saw) to notice history repeating itself. I responded by blogging about an incident from the Clinton administration, from a 1998 Krauthammer column: But even more significant than the absurd arbitrariness of this number is its very existence. Under the Oslo Accords, these interim "further redeployments" are left to Israel's discretion (unlike the "final status" talks, at which Israel and the Palestinians will together negotiate their final borders). Indeed, just 16 months ago the Clinton administration reaffirmed this principle. At 11 p.m. on the night of Jan. 15, 1997, as Netanyahu's cabinet was agonizing over...

They told me that if I voted for mccain ... Posted: 20 Mar 2010 10:18 PM PDT Via memeorandum The told me that if I voted for McCain the government would stifle dissent. And they were right Hey it works for Instapundit, why can't I try it?...

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Soccer Dad - 031910

Soccer Dad

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Bullying the neighborhood bully Posted: 19 Mar 2010 03:25 AM PDT Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him, 'Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac. He's the neighborhood bully. Neighborhood Bully - Bob Dylan Scott Wilson writing on the web for the Washington Post posits that Israeli leaders are not likely to win diplomatic battles with the United States. Next, think back to 1992. Picking a fight with the Bush administration cost Shamir his job. Who succeeded...

Soccer Dad - 031810

Soccer Dad

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With friends like these ... Posted: 18 Mar 2010 04:01 AM PDT Robert Kagan argues that Israel shouldn't feel like it's been singled out. Israelis shouldn't feel that they have been singled out. In Britain, people are talking about the end of the "special relationship" with America and worrying that Obama has no great regard for the British, despite their ongoing sacrifices in Afghanistan. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy has openly criticized Obama for months (and is finally being rewarded with a private dinner, presumably to mend fences). In Eastern and Central Europe, there has been fear since the administration canceled long-planned missile defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic that...

Putting out fires with a gas bag Posted: 18 Mar 2010 04:01 AM PDT Barack Obama in his "Rev. Wright" speech (two years ago exactly!): This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naive as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy -- particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own. I love the display of false humility with the adjective "imperfect," given that the rest of the speech is less a repudiation of Rev....

Soccer Dad - 031710

Soccer Dad

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• Little tommy's big plans
• The clinton replay
• Submitted 03/17/2010

Little tommy's big plans Posted: 17 Mar 2010 03:55 AM PDT Thomas Friedman in 1996 Arafat, belatedly, came to understand that Israel could never keep up the momentum of peace without Palestinians making a 100 percent effort to guarantee Israeli security, and Mr. Peres came to understand that Mr. Arafat could never guarantee security unless the peace process continued its momentum. Because they agreed on the big issues, and had forged a strategic partnership, the little issues never led to massive blowups. The violence that did occur was the Israeli and Palestinian extremes against the Israeli and Palestinian mainstreams. Thomas Friedman today: Fayyad is the most interesting new force on the...

The clinton replay Posted: 17 Mar 2010 03:30 AM PDT Meryl writes: Here's why I think the Obama administration is ratcheting up the pressure over 1,600 new housing units in a Jewish neighborhood of northeastern Jerusalem that will almost certainly remain Israeli in any future agreement with the Palestinians: The Obama administration is trying to topple the Netanyahu government. The Clinton administration did its level best to prevent Bibi from being elected in 1996, and worked very hard to get him thrown out as soon as possible thereafter. The Obama administration has found a stick, and they're using it to beat the Netanyahu administration in the eyes of the world....

Submitted 03/17/2010 Posted: 17 Mar 2010 03:30 AM PDT This Week's Watcher's Council submissions are up. To also see the non-council submissions check out the Watcher. Council Submissions Wolf Howling - AP Goes APE Over Texas School Book Changes Mere Rhetoric - Confirmed: Anti-Israel Jewish Groups Scapegoat Israel For Obama's Manufactured Crisis The Razor - The United States of Venezuela Rhymes With Right - Why Is This Not A Major National Story? The Colossus of Rhodey - On the Texas textbook controversy The Provocateur - The Untold Story of Non Profit Hospitals Right Truth - Violence Against Israel, Blame It On Obama, Biden, and Clinton Bookworm Room - God...

Freshly fallen silent shroud of snow

The large amount of snow that fell led to overhangs where the snow took on textures of layes of cloth.

The one below came out especially well.

These next two were a close up and a regular shot of the same overhang.

It's also interesting how the snow piled onto tree branches.

A snow turtle?

I was just trying for a patch of untouched snow; I had't even thought about the sun when I took this.

Musical monday #125

Every week Elie and I switch off hosing Musical Monday. If you still want to try Musical Monday #124 here, feel free. Enjoy!

1) My voice too rough with cigarettes.
2) And I howled at my ma in the driving rain,
3) Then the piper will lead us to reason
4) I can no longer shop happily
5) Got fire, in your veins, burnin' hot, but you don't feel the pain
6) Don't want to be a richer man
7) But I was lost like a slave that no man could free
8) Can anybody love anyone so much that they will never fear, never worry never be sad
9) You worry me to death
10) He sure is aquired a cool and inspired sorta jazz when he walk
11) He's got a TV in every room
12) In fields where the yellow grass grows knee-high
13) Walked in the joint, they were lined up back to back
14) She still preyed upon his mind

15) Belly-up at the bottom of a bottle
16) Cause my heart aint ready for the Rolling Stones
17) With a couple of kids running in the yard,
18) It's just a photograph of someone that I knew.
19) Six-thirty and no one knows she'll be there
20) She dances while his father plays guitar
21) I need someone to set a pick for me
22) Hits River Junction at seventeen to

Council speak 11/27/09

The Council has Spoken

Submitted 11/25/09

Watcher?s Council Nominations ? Pre-Thanksgiving Edition

Council Speak

The Council Has Spoken- The Affirmative Action President And a Detainee Circus

Council Winner
First place with 2 2/3 points! ? Bookworm Room - The Perils Of An Affirmative Action President

Non-council Winner
First place with 3 points! ? The Rosistance - The lawyer in the White House and the spy in federal prison giving away national security secrets

Musical Monday #115

1) 'Cause She Said I Blow Her Mind
2) Now I'm back in the ring to take another swing
3) I'll never break my promise or forget my vow
4) Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
5) In Winslow, Arizona
6) We saw the writing on the wall, as we felt this magical fantasy
7) I hope life treats you kind
8) Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendour
9) But we are two worlds apart, can't reach to your heart
10) And that sweet city woman, she moves through the light,
11) Listen to the wind blow, down comes the night
12) Okay, so you're a rocket scientist
13) It's just a spring clean for the May queen
14) I'm broke but I'm happy
15) Made her look a little like a military man.
16) There were hours that just went on for days
17) I don't want another pretender
18) In This Place You'll Feel, there's No Hurt Or Sorrow
19) Someone to love, somebody new
20) Far across the distance and spaces between us
21) If you wanna party let me hear you yell
22) Got to be a joker he just do what he please
23) When you lose control an you got no soul
24) radio's on and I'm moving 'round the place
25) Near, far, wherever you are
26) Maybe get a blister on your thumb
27) Just Show Your Face In Broad Daylight
28) "Wrong, Do it again!"
UPDATE 1:
29) I can't count all the times that I've told you we're through
30) An angel's smile is what you sell
31) She's got eyes of the bluest skies
32) We gotta plug and think, we gotta feed it right
33) my Spanish Harlem, Mona Lisa
34) I'm such a baby 'cause the Dolphins make me cry
35) I feel stupid and contagious

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