cultivating a small field

Palestinian Patients

2007-07-13T08:36:00.000-04:00

Here's an under-reported piece of information. According to the Israeli Health Ministry, sixty thousand Palestinians received treatment in Israeli hospitals in 2006. And the payment? Expedited delivery on the back of a qassam.

US Charitable Donations - $1000/capita

2007-06-29T00:24:00.000-04:00

Interesting - americans donated the equivalent of 1.7% of GDP to charity last year. 30% to religious groups, 15% to educational institutions.

Phew.

2007-06-21T19:07:00.000-04:00

Every year its a relief when the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem concludes without serious incidents. This editorial sums up how I feel. There was some excitement though:

Two dozen haredi and modern Orthodox protesters were arrested in the course of the evening. Several had planned to throw eggs at parade participants, and one had dressed up as a homosexual with the intention of infiltrating the parade, police said.

It is my most earnest hope that the police release pictures of this haredi individual who no doubt donned revealing undergarments and a pink wig for the occasion.

"News" Media Bias

2007-06-21T08:57:00.000-04:00

Surprise - journalists are left-leaning. You could argue that a really honest reporter wouldn't allow their personal party affiliations to color their reporting. But when a huge majority of the news media leans left, its hard to really believe that this doesn't somehow introduce a smidgeon of bias into the news.

If its too much to ask that journalists try to refrain from having an opinion on current affairs, then news media needs to either:
(1) Explicitly declare the political position of the culture of its staff, or
(2) Ensure that staff composition reflects social structure. Just as its good to have ethnic diversity on staff, its essential to have a diversity of opinions.

I know its outrageous to ask that the NYT is 10% black, 10% hispanic and 50% republican. It's unreasonable for NPR to be 50% male. But until then, lets not pretend that the news media isn't broken. Frankly I'm surprised that journalists make donations to either party. For the skewed coverage they offer on almost any political topic their services to the Democrats are immeasurable - in a fair world, reporters would be on DNC staff.

Sidenote: BBC would have written this headline better: "Journalists" give campaign cash.

Update: Hilariously, one of the 'public-spirited' donors was Randy Cohen, who covers ethics for the NYT and NPR.

Gaza Fatah Gaza Hamas Harass Harass Gaza Hamas

2007-06-19T22:35:00.000-04:00

People often say to me, "Tofuhawk, what do you think of what's going on in Gaza?"

I can only reply Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo..

Don't Call Me Sir

2007-06-18T22:17:00.000-04:00

The Pakistani religious affairs minister responded with aplomb to the knighting of Salman Rushdie:

This is an occasion for the world's 1.5billion Muslims to look at the seriousness of this decision.

Right on! Lets respond with dignity and proportion!

The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism

Ignorant racists that they are...

If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so, unless the British government apologises and withdraws the 'sir' title.'

Err... Perhaps we could call him 'Madam' instead?

Columbia President - Boycott US

2007-06-12T22:09:00.000-04:00

The President of Columbia University has issued a surprisingly strong statement against the UCU Boycott. Surprising because this is the same guy who rigged an investigative committee to ensure that Columbia Professors would be exonerated on charges of anti-semitism.

Any statement against the boycott is a good thing but in Bollinger's case its impossible not to be cynical as to his motives. It's transparent posturing - he isn't actually proposing any concrete steps in support of his stance. Given the antipathy in US academic circles toward boycotting Israel, it doesn't take much bravery to issue a toothless press release.

Lets see Columbia deal with its problems in the department of Middle East and Asian Language and Cultures where supporters of Israel have been intimidated and threatened. Then we might believe that Bollinger is serious about "fostering scholarly and cultural exchanges that lead to enlightenment, empathy, and a much-needed international marketplace of ideas".

Ashrawi See a Veil in her Future

2007-06-12T21:43:00.000-04:00

Edward Said's protege Hanan Ashrawihas been a 'leader' of the Palestinians for 30 years. Now she can gaze in pride at her achievements

Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi said the Palestinians 'are entering a slippery slope of a civil war.'

At issue, she said, is the shape a future Palestinian state will take -- 'whether we're going to have a Palestinian state that is a national secular state; or is this going to become an Islamic state with a more closed ideological society.'

But she said the battle is currently over 'minuscule spoils.'

Odd. Is she suggesting that this violence is due to Islamic fundamentalism? Isn't it Israel's fault?

No NIH Money for British Boycotters

2007-06-03T23:15:00.000-04:00

It's heartening to read that the UCU Boycott of Israel is not going to be without negative consequences for those promoting it:

Prof Dershowitz said he had started work on legal moves to fight any boycott.

He told the Times Higher Educational Supplement that these would include using a US law - banning discrimination on the basis of nationality - against UK universities with research ties to US colleges. US academics might also be urged to accept honorary posts at Israeli colleges in order to become boycott targets.

The NIH alone spends around $30 million giving research grants to investigators in the UK. Clearly these researchers should declare their non-participation in the boycott.

Thanks Ms Pelosi

2007-05-21T23:27:00.000-04:00

Yours sincerely,
Bashar al-Assad

Blue Murder

2007-04-21T17:15:00.000-04:00

According to Dr Riad al-Aqra of the Gaza Hospital for mental health, Palestinian terrorists are depressed. And what criteria does the good Dr al-Aqra use to diagnose 'emotional depression'? Apparently it includes such psychotic symptoms as a reluctance to murder people:

One member of the Hamas security force came to me suffering from high tension, which was causing physical problems. He said he felt fear from the fact that he would burn in hell forever if he fired even one bullet at someone,' the doctor said.

Not quite DSM-IV.

An Anti-Candide

2007-04-19T22:34:00.000-04:00

A former chief rabbi of Israel claims that the Holocaust was God's wrath, apparently directed against the Reform movement. It's kind of like the opposite argument to Voltaire's Candide. Pangloss cheerfully argued that behind every disaster lies part of a benevolent plan for humanity. R. Eliyahu agrees that genocide is no mere depressing reminder of man's inhumanity, but rather represents the plan of a savage deity. Apparently the Reform movement went wrong in trying to "act like goyim". If this is true, the Haredi movement better change out of the black garb pioneered by the Polish gentry and the Chassidim drop the Sufi inspired mysticism. I'm sure they'll get right on that...

Israel Sells All Armed Dogs

2007-04-15T19:03:00.000-04:00

The Israeli Defense Force sold all dogs for Pesach, promising to reacquire them after the festival. My own sources - even more secret and better informed than Debka - have revealed that the IDF reneged on part of the deal, refusing to take back all military chihuahuas. Chihuahuas are looked down upon by the IDF as they are cowardly little mongrels. Druze community leaders are furious, as - very reasonably - they also dislike these rat-like canines. Closed door negotiations are underway with a solution likely involving release of the loathsome beasts on the foothills of the Golan Heights.

British Journalists Stand Against Israel

2007-04-14T15:40:00.000-04:00

Impressive - at least now we can take it for granted that any story written by a British journalist has more than an even chance of being written by a bigot.

The National Union of Journalists has voted at its annual meeting for a boycott of Israeli goods as part of a protest against last year's war in Lebanon.

Today's vote was carried 66 to 54...

The vote on the motion was taken after it was split from a larger motion that condemned the "savage, pre-planned attack on Lebanon by Israel" last year.

This motion, known as Composite B in Order Paper 4, was carried by a large majority and also condemned the "slaughter of civilians by Israeli troops in Gaza and the IDF's [Israeli Defense Forces] continued attacks inside Lebanon following the defeat of its army by Hezbollah".

*** Note from Blog Management.

2007-04-14T11:06:00.000-04:00

While this blog is a supporter of free speech, it also feels that popular discourse has become contaminated by unncessary nastiness and vitriole. Gratituitous slurs, such as the first comment to the previous post, even if disguised as satire, do not help this blog to set an example for the Mainstream Media about how to discuss issues without resorting to abuse.

On the other hand, this blog is not in favor of censorship and doesn't think that comments ought to be removed unless they incite violence. Nor does this blog think that radio commentators, irrespective of their offensiveness, should be fired until the public stops listening in protest. In a market of free ideas, the market should choose which ideas gain exposure and which are buried.

Thus the comment in question was only removed to give its author the chance to think about whether s/he shares this philosophy. If not s/he is welcome to repost the the comment and it will not be deleted.

Thank you,

Blog Management.

Israeli Melon Bombs

2007-04-13T13:52:00.000-04:00

Hilarious - next Israel will send over some reason-infested raisins.

Cocoa for Health and Vigor

2007-04-10T13:07:00.000-04:00

A new meta-analysis argues that daily consumption of cocoa reduces blood pressure. The useful dose seems to be about 100g of dark chocolate per day.

Both Boats Missing

2007-04-08T16:19:00.000-04:00

One consequence of the incident, BBC radio reported, was that the British navy would no longer be able to board merchant vessels in the Persian Gulf because Iran had confiscated the only two boats used to carry out the work.

From here and in case you think its a spoof, also reported here and here.

Can anybody lend the British Navy a boat?

Acausality

2007-04-08T15:05:00.000-04:00

From Jung's Synchronicity

In the first case it is hard to see how chemical processes can ever produce psychic processes, and in the second case one wonders how an immaterial psyche could ever set matter in motion.

Jung's argument is that causality is only one organizing principle in the universe, and that another is simultaneous manifestation of an idea in matter and consciousness. However, this notion of 'synchronicity' is broader, encompassing not just the mind-matter question, but also underlying the manifold strange coincidences of everyday life. The nicest example, which he gives in the book, and which is cited in the Wikipedia entry on Synchronicity that of Emile Dechamps and the plum pudding:

A well-known example of synchronicity is the true story of the French writer Émile Deschamps who in 1805 was treated to some plum pudding by the stranger Monsieur de Fortgibu. Ten years later, he encountered plum pudding on the menu of a Paris restaurant, and wanted to order some, but the waiter told him the last dish had already been served to another customer, who turned out to be de Fortgibu. Many years later in 1832 Émile Deschamps was at a diner, and was once again offered plum pudding. He recalled the earlier incident and told his friends that only de Fortgibu was missing to make the setting complete — and in the same instant the now senile de Fortgibu entered the room.

Unfortunately, Jung gets caught up presenting an absurd and poorly analyzed 'experiment' involving marriage relationships and astrological signs. However, I am sympathetic to the the crux of his argument, that our standard idea of 'causation' is insufficient to explain all observed phenomena. We conceive of causation as no more than touch - thing A must somehow contact thing B to exert an effect on it. Yet discovery of quantum entanglement, in which two particles widely separated in space affect each other's state instantaneously, compels us to reconsider our intuitive understanding of causality. Jung's appeal to 'synchronicity' has the feeling of an idea just out of reach, inaccessible without the right set of mental tools and metaphors to grasp.

Rule Brittania

2007-04-07T21:49:00.000-04:00

One of the hostages, Dean Harris, 30, an acting sergeant in the Royal Marines, told a Sunday Times reporter yesterday: “I want £70,000. That is based on what the others have told me they have been offered. I know Faye has been offered a heck more than that. I am worth it because I was one of only two who didn’t crack.”

The Times

Starvation and History

2007-04-07T10:24:00.000-04:00

Einstein's childhood is recounted in this Time article. It seems that his early development as a scientist resulted from the adaptation of an ancient custom born out of hunger.

Einstein's greatest intellectual stimulation came from a poor student who dined with his family once a week. It was an old Jewish custom to take in a needy religious scholar to share the Sabbath meal; the Einsteins modified the tradition by hosting instead a medical student on Thursdays. His name was Max Talmud, and he began his weekly visits when he was 21 and Einstein was 10. Talmud brought Einstein science books, including a popular illustrated series called People's Books on Natural Science, "a work which I read with breathless attention," said Einstein.

This is a great idea. Unfortunately, judging by the girth of students I see at the University, hunger isn't a big issue. I doubt that I could entice anyone to our table offering tofu scramble instead of their Campus Meal Card.

Just Another Bad Apple

2007-04-06T08:30:00.000-04:00

So... every hipster's favorite electronics company, Apple, trails miserably in mitigating the environmental impact of its products. Not so surprising really. Much cheaper to look clean with nice white headphones than to phase out or clean up toxic waste products. Here's a prediction - if this Greenpeace campaign works, it won't be a result of Apple being deluged with complaints. Apple customers are too happy with their snappy little gadgets - Ipods are today's opiate of the masses. And I doubt that IBook Hunting will replace SUV Hunting as the favored sport of angry eco-activists.

BBC Defines Democracy

2007-04-05T22:28:00.000-04:00

According to the BBC, Ahmadinejad is the democratically elected President of Iran. Perhaps the BBC doesn't have access to the Wikipedia entry describing the Iranian Presidential electoral system? To summarize - the 'Council of Guardians' must authorize potential candidates (male muslims aged 25-75) to stand for election. In 1997, this resulted in 234 out of 238 candidates being disqualified. Needless to say, all 12 members of the 'Council of Guardians' are directly or indirectly simply appointed by Ayatollah Khamenei.

Surely no definition of 'democracy' can escape the notion of rule by the people.

Inherit the Windiness

2007-04-01T12:06:00.000-04:00

I watched 'Inherit the Wind' last night and after about 5 minutes started to sense that it was basically a propaganda piece. I paused the movie and read a little of the history of the Scopes Trial on Wikipedia before continuing.

What a disgrace. Michael Moore and Steven Spielberg are the direct inheritors of this line of movie making that exploits reality for the purpose of polemicism. It's depressing to think that in the minds of most Americans, this film serves as the historical reference for a seminal clash between science and religion in the public arena. Yet this film is no more than a nasty piece of Christian-bashing.

It's a sad inversion of history to see that the science teacher, portrayed in the film as a hero of rationalism and democracy, was in fact in cahoots with local businessmen to draw national attention to their town for economic purposes and only avoided perjury by not testifying. Conversely, the representation of William Bryan as a bumbling and pompous fanatic belies his strong history of support for progressive causes in a long history in politics. In fact apparently Bryan's antipathy to Darwinism arose from his disgust at its use as the foundation for the Eugenics movement in America and abroad. In fact, the textbook which sparked the trial, Civic Biology is a eugenics primer replete with racism and I hope is indeed banned from school libraries today. The ACLU wanted to defend the teaching of this repulsive pseudo-science?

The real story of the Scopes Trial is fascinating and I've ordered Larson's 'Summer of the Gods' to learn more about it. 'Inherit the Wind' is a hatchet job on Christianity, which makes it clear that the bigotry and superiority complex of the 'enlightened elite' has a long and illustrious history.

Walking in 30 Days

2007-03-29T23:58:00.000-04:00

Iran's intention is to humiliate the British to bolster its standing in the Arab world. This idea would neatly turn the tables on them.

Fatherhood and Metazoans

2007-03-29T08:16:00.000-04:00

In preparation for Pesach, I've started reading Jonathan Sacks' Haggadah. The commentary shows pretty impressive secular scholarship. This passage got my attention:

Fatherhood and motherhood are two distinct phenomena and Judaism attaches equal importance to both. A child derives its biological identity as part of the Jewish people from its mother. The hebrew word for compassion, rachamim, derives from rechem, meaning 'a womb'. A mother, more than a father, is bound to the child through unconditional love.

Fatherhood by contrast, is a social construct. It belongs to culture rather than nature. There are animals including primates, genetically close to human beings, in which fathers do not even recognize their children after a few months. Fatherhood, like fidelity, is not a constant across cultures. The supreme challenge of any civilization said the anthropologist Margaret Mead, is to socialize males and persuade them to invest their energies in the home, the family and children.

I like this idea of the need to socialize fathers, though I'm uncertain that fatherhood is not a genetic drive in human males. Just as love has a physiological basis that varies dramatically between vertebrate species (vasopression receptor expression), it wouldn't surprise me if genetically specifies predisposition for father-child attachment didn't vary widely between and possibly within species, including our own.

With the imminent birth of our baby I've been thinking a lot about fatherhood. In a scurrilous attack piece, New Jersey journalist Matt Katz accused me of plotting to fool my offspring into becoming vegetarian by resorting to mind games. I certainly never said anything of the sort. What I might have said was that I thought as a father I could set a good example in the home but encourage my children to experiment outside the home and come to their own conclusions.

I do wonder if this approach is too liberal and the traditional method of simply instructing children in right versus wrong practice is better. In the end, I think I ascribe a lot of importance to behavioral flexibility. Evolution shows us that many species have died out because they lacked the physiological plasticity to adapt to rapidly changing conditions. I hope that encouraging children to engage in moral reasoning will prepare them best for the many unforeseeable situations they are likely to find themselves in as the world goes through a period of upheaval.

Ferocious Diplomatic Activity

2007-03-28T09:28:00.000-04:00

After 5 years of diplomatic activity aimed at curbing the Iranian nuclear program, and several months of active sanctions, its charming that the British believe that they can resolve their problems with Iran through intensive diplomatic activity

We are now in a new phase of diplomatic activity,' Beckett told members of parliament.

'We need to focus all our bilateral efforts during this phase to resolution of this issue,' she added. 'We will therefore be imposing a freeze on all other official bilateral business with Iran until this situation is resolved.'

The freeze means all official inward and outward visits will be stopped, visas to Iranian officials will not be issued, British support for other events such as trade missions to Iran is put on hold and government-to-government business on other issues will cease, the UK foreign office told The Associated Press.

No wonder the Iranians are bold. While trade sanctions are invariably ineffective, Resolution 1737 which selectively freezes the assets of 12 individuals and a few Iranian companies is an enormous joke. Who could possibly imagine that blocking the activity of a handful of named individuals could possibly impact the Iranian nuclear program?

I predict that the British sailors will eventually be released, but not after a well publicised trial designed to exact maximum humiliation and thereby prove to the Iranian population the might of the Ayatollahs against a former world power.

UN Human Rights Council Demolished

2007-03-26T23:02:00.000-04:00

Fantastic - this speech was banned by the UN Human Rights council. I wonder why...

The despots who run this council couldn't care less about Palestinians or any human rights ... they also seek to distort and pervert the very language of human rights.

Completely Uncomfortable

2007-03-23T08:46:00.000-04:00

Acephalous posts a particularly pithy student complaint letter:

I could have read books in too much detail on my own but that is not what I came to college to do because I already know how to read and I would have told you this but you make me completely uncomfortable with your words so I never said a word.

Where's Osama

2007-03-20T22:54:00.000-04:00

This piece on the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden reads like a spy novel:

To discover the whereabouts of the world’s most wanted man, it is best to turn to unofficial yet reliable sources, such as the professional soldiers for paramilitary corporations that attend the annual Soldier of Fortune convention in Las Vegas. The mercenaries (“mercs,” for short) know where he is since they are anxious albeit not willing to collect the $25 million bounty.

Osama bin Laden is alive and well and living in the valley of Dir within the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. He has been there since he escaped from Tora Bora in December 2001.

To substantiate this claim, the mercs produce shabnamas or “night letters” that are circulated among the various tribes within the frontier. The night letters contain updates of Osama at work and play and photos of the al-Qaeda leader with Maulvi Sufi Mohamed, an old and revered Muslim scholar, who maintains a Taliban-style rule over the valley of Dir with public executions of adulterers, homosexuals, apostates, and Christian infidels.

The picture is a Google Earth snapshot of the town of Dir, deep in the Malakand Pass. Is Osama really hiding under a bed somewhere there? Seems like the ideal spot. Probably in an apartment building full of human shields to discourage missile strikes.

Jews, Muslims and Germany

2007-03-19T08:21:00.000-04:00

From Ynetnews.com

The first rabbi to be ordained in Germany since the Holocaust is so worried about being identified as a Jew that he often wears a baseball hat over his skull cap.

And while rightwing sympathy is on the ascendant in Germany, the country's largest ethnic minority does not share the secular mainstream's idea of German national identity.

Germany has been for decades a multi-ethnic society but very few Germans imagine Germany as a multicultural society. German intellectuals brag a lot about being secular, well how about secularizing the German State and dumping Christianity and Judaism from the national budget.

German identity is rooted in the past and is culturally tied to race, and ethnicity. Becoming German is very difficult even for those who are born in Germany; speak German better than most natives but happen to look like me rather than Boris Becker.

It's not hard to see how this 'secular' view of national identity provides fertile ground for neo-nazi movements to thrive.

YouTube - Than Shwe's secret home found. Pyinmana map via satellite.

2007-03-15T21:59:00.000-04:00

Apparently this YouTube video, showing Burmese dictator Than Shwe's secret home has made quite a stir. It's worth watching, mostly to experience the Burmese rap background track. The caption for the video is also impressive: "One of the world's most notorious dictators, Than Shwe of Burma (Myanmar) has fled away from its people and away from the seaport, due to the risk of American/UN invasion." Scary stuff, the risk of a UN invasion.

Swedish Investigatory Journalism

2007-03-08T22:06:00.000-05:00

Apparently its not just the media in the US that feels truth shouldn't get in the way of a good story.

A story in the Swedish press alleging that the Bush administration had banned an album featuring Swedish singer Eva Dahlgren was fabricated, it has emerged.

Major media organizations including Svenska Dagbladet, Sveriges Radio, Metro and TV4 reported that the record 'Lullabies from the Axis of Evil' had been banned.

Drink to Lose Weight

2007-02-24T09:55:00.000-05:00

This is amusing. An easy way to lose about a pound a month - drink 2 liters of ice cold water per day. This has important ramifications though - if the average 12 oz beer contains around 150 calories, it requires 11 calories just to warm all that fluid up to body temperature. Add the exertion involved in lifting the glass up to the mouth and getting up and going to the fridge. No wonder beer drinkers are so lithe.

How this Blog was Silenced

2007-02-23T22:15:00.000-05:00

3 factors:

1. Blogger changed their software and made me login with a Google account. This brought home to me the fact that my blog is hosted by part of the axis of evil and made me sad.

2. Verizon took almost a month after we moved to connect our phone. No internet at home except for the few radio waves I could eke out of my neighbour's connection by standing with one foot on top of a closet.

3. Linux is ugly and deters me from browsing. The fonts are ghastly and the windows hog the desktop.

Glorious News from Mighty Persian Empire

2007-02-05T23:00:00.000-05:00

Iran has cured AIDS

'After seven long years of arduous work, Iranian scientists here on Saturday introduced a herbal medicine which cures Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS),' Fars reported.

The official announcement is set for February 11, in celebration of the Revolution that caused Iranian scientists and academics to flee the country en mass.

Shoe-Throwers Anon

2007-02-04T20:51:00.000-05:00

The NYT illuminates the slow descent of Palestinian society into chaos:

The West Bank intelligence chief, Tawfiq Tarawi, criticized some Fatah officials for trying to play “Red Cross” and mediate between Hamas and Fatah, said a security official who was there but did not want to be named if he identified the officials involved.

I'd be the first to admit that this blog rejoices in spelling mistakes and grammatical faux pases. Still I couldn't help but smile reading that sentance. After scanning it several times I think I got the idea. They are using an anonymous source, but recognizing that we, their readers, suspect them of simply inventing material attributed to anonymous sources, are trying to explain why it was necessary. In this case, I'll take it on faith. It's simply impossible to invent material this bizarre:

During the argument, heated words were exchanged and shoes were thrown, a severe insult in the Arab world.

I'm not sure whether the tossing of shoes is an abomination in American society. I'll hurl a few in the lab tomorrow and will report reactions here. Stay tuned.

Too Much Earnestness

2007-02-02T07:45:00.000-05:00

The "bomb scare" hoax in Boston leaves nobody looking good. Initial press reports of circuit boards with batteries strapped on disturbed me. Who would be so stupid as to plant these devices around the city?

But then I saw what they look like. If this is a bomb, then the Riddler has teamed up with Al Qaeda. Granted, we expect the authorities to err on the side of caution, but its absurd that the Boston police considered this a threat. And after inspecting one, wouldn't it be clear that there was no need to raise the alarm? (Unless the Riddler had planted numerous devices, only one of which, hidden in a dark tunnel deep below the city was wired to explode...)

Sadly, a society so terrified that harmless pranks can shut down a city is probably one that will need to do some self-confidence building before continuing the project of building democracy overseas.

Turner Co has behaved disgracefully allowing two Gen X chumps to take the wrap. Somehow corporations enjoy a mystical status that protects the individuals running them. That's illogical. Whoever OKd the campaign should be on the stand, not these two.

Next, the press conference held by the two 'suspects' was a farce. No doubt they were instructed by their lawyer not to discuss the case with the media. So turning the interview into a performance art piece could have been funny and clever. Instead, it was embaressing to watch. They had neither anything provocative to say, nor a direction to take it in. Performance Art doesn't have to be synonymous with extemporized narcisstic fatuousness (although it often is). It requires either careful preparation or an Ali G-like talent for spontanaity.

The Press made me weep. The questions by the Press Corpse suggest that modern journalism has become a division of accounting. What a bunch of humorless bores. Perhaps the media was humiliated that their campaign to scare the public into watching more news was based on a handful of diodes. Perhaps they take themselves a bit too seriously.

I'm perplexed that an Artists Collective would rent itself out to a major media conglomerate to advertise a TV show. Apparently they got $300 a piece for their trouble. Cooperating with a Mass Media company to encourage people to watch cartoons is not subversive, its being-subverted.

Gay Jerusalem

2007-01-29T20:48:00.000-05:00

Here's a rare victory for the forces of reason and humanity:

Jerusalem officially registered its first homosexual couple as married Monday, three months after a ruling by the High Court of Justice paved the way for same-sex couples to be listed in the Interior Ministry's Population Registry.

Israel thus leads such 'progressive' nations as France, Sweden, the UK and Australia in extending recognition to same-sex marriages.

Of related interest is this Wikipedia entry on Adelphopoiesis, an ancient Greek Orthodox rite for the 'making of brothers'. This tradition, long since fallen into disuse has been recently described by Yale historian John Boswell. Dr Boswell is accused of dodgy scholarship in the interests of normalizing gay marriage within the Christian tradition.

Build a Nuke for $150 million

2007-01-25T15:18:00.000-05:00

The anonymous commenter in the story below made me curious. The comment refers to this news item. The seller apparently had graduated from selling dime bags of pot to harder items. "This stuff is really the bomb" he alledgedly said.

Doing the math - $150 million to buy enough weapons grade uranium for a bomb. Not affordable on an NIH grant. But perhaps within the reach of a state-sponsored terrorist group.

Georgian Justice

2007-01-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

Seventeen year old Genarlow Wilson was jailed for 10 years and branded a child molester after concensual oral sex with a 15 year old. It's a shameful miscarriage of justice. District Attorney David McDade and Prosecutor Eddie Barker have failed to exercise the discretion necessary to prevent law becoming tyrrany. Their motive for destroying this guy's life seems to be a mix of arrogance and bigotry. Here's portrait of McDade with contact information.

Sign the online petition here.

UPDATE: Write to Georgia Governor Perdue here.

DNA on LSD

2007-01-24T22:05:00.000-05:00

Claim:

FRANCIS CRICK, the Nobel Prize-winning father of modern genetics, was under the influence of LSD when he first deduced the double-helix structure of DNA nearly 50 years ago.

Somehow, I don't quite believe it. Surely the crystallographic information was sufficient.

All About Albania

2007-01-22T08:31:00.000-05:00

Apparently

Albania is the only country occupied by the Nazis that had more Jews at the end of the war than at the beginning of the war, which is a reflection of Jews having sought refuge in Albania and survived.

I'm pleased to add a positive mental association with the word 'Albania'. My previous two associations are (1) the massive pyramid scheme that caused the Albanian economy to collapse in 1997 and (2) the writer Ismail Kadare whose book The Successor was a magnificent portrait of the paranoia surrounding a totalitarian dictator. This new cognitive connection tips my mental balance in favor of Albania.

Space Race is On

2007-01-20T09:15:00.000-05:00

Ok, so China successfully used an anti-satellite missile to destroy one of its own aging weather satellites. Big deal. We can outdo that. I think we should launch an immediate strike against one of our own super-expensive ultra-modern spy satellites. Blast it into a zillion pieces. Then send another an even more expensive one right up in its place. Then we should flood the Grand Canyon for a Presidential boating trip and drain it in time for tourist season.

That'll show 'em.

The Inner Life of the Cell

2007-01-19T14:03:00.000-05:00

Gorgeous - turn up the volume.

Who, How and Why Fish Love

2007-01-19T08:24:00.000-05:00

The most significant difference between people and fish is only skin deep. We humans are covered in a thick sheath of dead cells, while the outermost layer of the fish is composed of living, slime-secreting cells.

Most scientists wave away the difference as an outcome of our terrestrial lifestyle. Cells require an aqueous environment to live in, so our skin acts as a wrapper, keeping the wet stuff in. Fish cells secrete slime, so the story goes, to lubricate themselves against the water, protect from microbes and form a tight waterproof seal around themselves.

But a different idea, originally proposed by Aldous Huxley has, to my knowledge, never been given full consideration by biologists. In The Perennial Philosophy, Huxley argues that slime substitutes for spiritual distance from the Divine Presence.

The slime of personal and emotional love is remotely similar to the water of the Godhead's spiritual being, but of inferior quality and (precisely because the love is emotional and therefore personal) of insufficient quality. Having, by their voluntary ignorance, wrong-doing and wrong being, caused the divine springs to dry up, human beings [Here, of course, he means to include fish. -Ed.] can do something to mitigate the horrors of their situation by "keeping one another wet with their slime" [He's quoting Chuang Tzu, a Taoist - Ed.

To my mind then, the slime that oozes from the integument of the fish is no mere physical barrier, but serves a lofty spiritual purpose. It is for self-love, a narcissism made necessary by their choice of an amoral lifestyle which distances them from the Universal Compassion.

NIH funding is tight, I thought I'd try that one out here first.

Simenon

2007-01-16T07:32:00.000-05:00

I've taken to reading detective fiction by Georges Simenon on Friday nights. The Maigret novels are perfect for a single sitting. In 150 pages, Simenon conjures up a Paris populated by desperate criminals and gourmande policemen drinking red wine with lunch. The city abounds with sexual dalliances, hidden by the mist and fog, while our hero each evening returns home to his cosy wife and home. Simenon himself was known as the man of 10000 women - odd that his protagonist should be the very model of a faithful husband.

No Xenophobia in Saudia Arabia

2007-01-15T17:54:00.000-05:00

The Saudi Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is considering banning the letter X:

The letter 'X' soon may be banned in Saudi Arabia because it resembles the mother of all banned religious symbols in the oil kingdom: the cross.

And let me tell you, the letter t isn't far behind.

Bashir to Patrol Self with Great Force

2007-01-15T08:31:00.000-05:00

Once again, the African Union is set to install Sudanese genocidaire Omar al-Bashir in its chair. As such, he'd be running the organization charged with opposing his efforts to wipe out the non-Arab population of Darfur. No doubt he'll do a magnificent job, forcibly restraining himself and wrestling with his demons.

11386th Day Anniversary

2007-01-12T09:01:00.000-05:00

Its now 11386 days since the UN adopted the, now-revoked, 'Zionism is Racism' resolution. For many it was this act that made the UN project irredeemable. I mention this today, because in Moynihan's book 'A Dangerous Place' he quotes the speech to the UN made by Herzog in the minutes before resolution 3379 passed. Herzog emphatically declared "We shall not forget those who spoke up for decency and civilization ; and I thank the delegations who expressed themselves against his pernicious resolution. We shall not forget those who voted to attack our religion and our faith. We shall never forget."

It's one thing to remember on yearly anniversaries. But never forgetting requires a special kind of determination. In that spirit, I record the voting records of the member nations of the UN on that day. It should be noted that among nations voting for the resolution on the 'Third Committee' (whose favorable vote permitted passage of the issue to the General Assembly), was Spain, curiously absent from the subsequent G.A. vote.

Voted yes: (72) The 25 sponsoring nations above, and additionally 47 nations: Albania, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, People's Republic of China, Congo, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, German Democratic Republic, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Cuba, Dahomey, Egypt, Guinea, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Republic, Mauritania, Morocco, North Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Yemen, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, and United Arab Emirates.

Voted no: (35) Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Canada, Central African Republic, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Luxembourg, Malawi, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Swaziland, Sweden, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Uruguay.

Abstaining: (32) Argentina, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burma, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Upper Volta, Venezuela, Zaire, Zambia.

From the Wikipedia

Einstein's Equation

2007-01-11T12:10:00.000-05:00

I just received David Bodanis' book, E=mc2 in the mail. I'm not a fan of popular physics books, as I feel that without the mathematical background, important concepts are conveyed by meaningless caricatures. With biology it's different - powerful ideas can be communicated without mathematical language and are accessible to the non-specialist.

However, this book looks great as it focusses on the history of ideas leading up to Einstein's famous 1905 publications. Its a treasure trove of anecdotes and I can't resist copying out a few lines from the introduction. Discussing the difficulty in grasping the meaning of 'Einsteins equation', Bodanis writes:

Even firsthand instruction doesn't always help, as Chaim Weizmann found when he took a long Atlantic crossing with Einstein in 1921: "Einstein explained his theory to me every day," Weizmann said, "and soon I was fully convinced that he understood it."

Vista - Digital Fortress

2007-01-10T08:42:00.000-05:00

A succinct expression of why Microsoft has finally lost me

Vista is being marketed to content producers, not consumers. If Windows XP was Microsoft’s attempt to embed a browser into the operating system then Vista is the attempt to embed DRM.

Its really a shame. Now that I've logged a few hours with Ubuntu, I appreciate how slick Windows really is. Its fast, visually appealing and the foundation for a universe of cool software. And it manages to accomplish this without requiring the user to open a text box and type arcane commands. However, the advent of Vista means that learning shell scripts is simply the price of digital freedom.

Pamphlets Over Lebanon

2007-01-09T21:14:00.000-05:00

Michael Totten's latest report from the Middle East is extraordinarily good. He visits Southern Lebanon, all the time under the watching eyes of the Hizbollah.

It looked – and felt – totalitarian in Bint Jbail. Everyone watched us. If Said was right that the locals weren’t allowed to speak freely (assuming they dissented from Nasrallah’s party line) it must feel totalitarian to people who live there as well.

Totten also has a piece out for The New Pamphleteer. The latter is the brainchild of Adam Bellow (son of Saul Bellow, and famously, author of In Praise of Nepotism) of which he said

My model, the one that I'm hoping to recreate, is an American pamphlet series published in the 1920s, called the "Little Blue Books." They were published by a Jewish, socialist newspaper editor, very eccentric, brilliant guy named Emanuel Haldeman-Julius. He was a very progressive figure and had a little publishing empire going in the Midwest. At some point he decided to put out pamphlets, which he charged a nickel for. It was strictly a mail order business. He sold these things for twenty years. And he managed to sell a hundred million pamphlets in five years. He was very close with the leading polemicists of the day, so some of them had original material. But the pamphlets were also an eclectic mix of history, poetry, proverbs, joke books, sex advice, household tips, occasional pieces of journalism.

Selling the Family State

2007-01-08T08:09:00.000-05:00

Big news in the the Micronation biz:

A FORMER World War II fort in the North Sea, which was settled 40 years ago and declared a state with its own self-proclaimed royal family, is up for sale.

Sealand is six miles off the coast of the UK, and boasts its own postal service and football team. If anyone is free this weekend, perhaps we could borrow a dinghy and invade?

Image from Wikipedia.

Propaganda in the London Times

2007-01-07T19:27:00.000-05:00

The Sunday Times reports that Israel is preparing to attack Iran with tactical nuclear weapons. This seems unlikely, all the more so when we learn that one of the co-authors, Uzi Mahnaimi, claimed in 1998 that Israel was working on an ethnic bomb that would target its Arab enemies only.

No molecular geneticist with an even cursory knowledge of Israeli population demographics would give this idea a second thought. Genetic research confirms that Sephardic Jews share the genetic composition of the communities in which they hail from. In other words, while it's not impossible to imagine engineering a virus that attacked only certain genetic isolates - such a virus would target half of Israel's population. Moreover, only a crazed scientist would imagine that such a viral weapon wouldn't rapidly mutate to acquire broader infectivity.

The Israeli biological research community is as advanced as any in the world. The likelihood that it would countenance a self-immolating line of research is zero. A reporter who claims otherwise can only have an agenda of his own.

Manifold Merits of Linux

2007-01-02T09:33:00.000-05:00

As this post is now overflowing with comments, a new post to discuss the merits of different Linux distros. Thanks to Ilan's comments. My summary of the front-runner distros is:

SLED
Pro: Wife-friendly
Con: Early stages of being consumed by Microsoft, DVD install

Ubuntu
Pro: Huge user community, vast array of packages ready to install
Con: Sluggish

Fedora
Pro: Long history of good support, lots of users
Con: Sluggish, requires DVD burn to install

Others in the running: Mandriva, Gentoo. Probably we'll all end up with different installations. Personally, as long as I can stream audio output to my Airport Express, as I currently do under XP with Justeport, I'll be happy!

Moslem Akeda Begins

2006-12-31T18:38:00.000-05:00

Every year at Rosh Hashana, Jews remember the 'sacrifice of Isaac' by reading the story in the Torah. This is usually followed by fierce debate in synagogue concerning what sort of heartless deity asks his followers to sacrifice their children as a token of fealty.

Eid began yesterday, the Moslem holiday in which commemorates essentially the same story - with Ishmael rather than Isaac as the sacrificee. Like in Judaism, there's plenty of casuistry.

Can a kangaroo or an ostrich be sacrificed? Can a woman be the butcher? Are children allowed to watch the ritual?

But while we await the Moslem Reformation, bast numbers of animals are sacrificed during this holiday, mostly by incompetant amateur butchers. In the meantime, there does seem to be a nascent moslem vegetarian movement.

RIAA Gag

2006-12-29T08:13:00.000-05:00

The RIAA has filed a $1.65 trillion lawsuit against AllofMp3.com. Apparently, they're counting damages at 11 million songs, $150,000 a piece. Now personally, I don't use allofmp3.com - it doesn't take VISA card. But mp3sugar.com is easier to deal with. Thanks to cheap or free music downloads, this last decade I've had enormous pleasure in discovering new artists and listening to a broader range of music from old artists. I've certainly bought more CDs as a result, often to get music that I couldn't find elsewhere, or to give as gifts.

The Tom Waits 'Raindogs' album is a great example. I have a couple of Tom Waits CDs. I'm not likely to walk into Tower Records (especially as the nearby branch just closed... (evil cackle)) and get another. However, after downloading a copy, I have discovered what a gorgeous set of tracks it is and know the perfect person to buy a copy for. In the words of Gary Graff, Tom Waits voice sounds

like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months and then taken outside and run over with a car.

A site that lets me quench my thirst for new sounds is Weirdo Music. Everything is free and (I think) legal. Lots of unavailable old records ripped to digital format and unsigned electronic artists doing unusual things.

James Baker - Subverting Oil for Food

2006-12-27T17:49:00.000-05:00

If true, this ought to put an end to James Baker's influence in foreign policy:

Former Secretary of State James Baker was involved in a cover-up of illegal trading by his law firm with the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, according to a former contractor who did work for Mr. Baker’s firm.

Ahh... lets see if the MSM picks up on this...

Luddite with a Hammer

2006-12-27T08:38:00.000-05:00

Technology has reached the tipping point of being way too intrusive. So this appeals to me! RFID chips are an invasion of privacy - you can't tell precisely what is encoded on these magical little slivers of silicon, yet you are supposed to carry one embedded in your passport to present to any officious beaurocrat wanting to read your record. It's like having a sealed letter of introduction. You can't but help wonder if engraved onto its diode array is "Warning, bearer is a serious nudnik. Give him the special search". Moreover, anybody close enough and with the right equipment can secretly read the information in your passport.

The greatest evil of technology facing us though is the new Microsoft Vista. This bloated piece of malware appears to have shelved any goal of allowing PCs to be fast and powerful, instead having embraced the goal of implementing Draconian copyright protection. Imagine Darth Vader prowling the New York subway, beheading Chinese women as they desperately gather pirated CD's of 'Happy Feet' from picnic blankets.

So horrified am I at the advent of Microsoft's looming operating system, that I finally took the step of installing Linux on a partition this weekend. Readers of this blog have been encouraging me to take this step, and frankly, having done so I'm not so enthusiastic.

I chose Ubuntu, the open-source, 'free' version of linux that is apparently extremely popular. It took me about 3 hours to achieve an internet connection. Navigating the Ubuntu help site was like reading a Choose Your Own Adventure where every fork lead back to page 1. The instructions for activating my wireless card - a not uncommon Linksys USB device - were so abstruse that at first I thought they wanted me to make a sushi roll. The documentation was replete with helpful tips like

ndiswrapper v1.1, kernel 2.6.11.7 vanilla: kernel-oops! ndiswrapper v1.2-rc1 loads fine (EHCI loaded with modprobe ehci-hcd log2_irq_thresh=4) but oopses when unloading the module and the adapter is still plugged in (Kernel 2.6.11.7 vanilla)

Then, having finally eeked out a connection to the net I found that (1) It was even more sluggish than WinXP and (2) Ubuntu doesn't play mp3s. Or to be more accuate, Ubuntu in its native installation doesn't play mp3s but with a little more hieroglyphic research I should be able to open them. Apparently its my fault, because I should be using 'ogg'. Don't smirk, so should you.

So thats it for now. I'm not uninstalling Ubuntu, but I think of that partition of my hard-drive as an impenetrable African Jungle, with lurking Sudos and prowling Synaptics. Until Windows Vista colonizes my boot sector and forces me out, I'm remaining camped at Windows XP.

New Miniscule UN Role in Sudan

2006-12-23T10:35:00.000-05:00

Instead of sending 20,000 troops to Darfur, the UN has agreed to send a few hundred advisors to help out the ineffectual and tiny African Union force currently observing the genocide in Sudan.

Operations of the AU force are restricted to daytime hours - night-time patrols are off due to insufficient manpower and funding. Meanwhile, even refugees in camps across the border in Chad are not safe, with Janjaweed raiders crossing the border to attack civilians.

While US companies are forbidden to trade with Sudan, Canadian (Talisman), Malaysian (Petronas), Chinese (CNPC), Swedish (Lundin) and Austrian (OMV) petroleum companies operate in Sudan and are therefore complicit in supporting the Government's murderous campaign.

Carter's Oily Finances

2006-12-23T09:25:00.000-05:00

In considering Carter's book, it's a good idea to consider how his research is funded. According to Carter Center's 2004-2005 report, among donor's with cumulative giving of more than $1 million are:

His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Fund
The Sultanate of Oman
His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Bakir M. BinLadin for the Saudi BinLadin Group
The Saudi Fund for Development
Government of the United Arab Emirates

To be sure, there are many innocuous donors - Home Depot and Delta also make the top donor list. And the Institute has genuinely positive goals fighting diseases in the Third World.

Giving a Damn

2006-12-20T23:45:00.000-05:00

Peter Singer writes on the ethics of charitable giving. Some of his arguments I like very much. In particular, the idea that in purchasing raw goods from countries ruled by despots and revolutionary cabals, industrialized nations are effectively fencing stolen goods. Thus our affluence in part derives from robbing the poor. This, I would argue - and here I recall that Singer in other writings disagrees - is a good reason for us to refuse to coddle tyrants Jimmy Carter style and instead to spread democracy.

Surprisingly, he supports the U.S. system whereby the government 'contracts-out' a substantial portion of its philanthropy to individuals (tax deductions on philanthropic contributions mean that that ultimately, the government is merely empowering individuals to spend its money). He argues that individuals are less likely to try to make political capital out of aid and thereby direct away from the truely needy. This may be true, but similar arguments could be made against many democratic institutions. Elections encourage the exchange of moral positions for expedient ones. Trial by jury is notoriously inefficient. Democracy does not strive to maximize efficiency. The alternative, allowing wealthy businessmen to set the philanthropic agenda of the nation is wrong. Success in business does not entitle any individual to arrogate the power of deciding which causes a society should support, nor does it guarantee any insight into which causes are most worthy. Rather, private giving should be encouraged for the good that it does to the giver. But society, through its elected institutions, should decide where to channel its giving.

Hoorah...err..

2006-12-15T20:27:00.000-05:00

The British Medical Journal reports that vegetarians are smarter. Apparently it's not that eating healthier improves brain power, rather its that smart people choose to be vegetarian. Strangely, 33% of the veggies surveyed ate fish or chicken. Fish I can excuse... but chicken!? Tragically though, it appears that vegans are dumber - though they base this on a sample of just 9 vegans. Apparently the authors eat a bit of meat themselves.

Moreover, veggies aren't just more clever, they are more public spirited too, working for charitable organizations and public serve institutions at a greater rate.

Meaty Emissions

2006-12-10T16:35:00.000-05:00

From the Independent

A United Nations report has identified the world's rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife. And they are blamed for a host of other environmental crimes, from acid rain to the introduction of alien species, from producing deserts to creating dead zones in the oceans, from poisoning rivers and drinking water to destroying coral reefs.

No doubt Al Gore's next film will encourage liberals to go veg.

If It Quacks Like a Duck...

2006-12-07T00:09:00.000-05:00

From the Journal of Conflict Resolution, an article statistically demonstrating what is intuitively obvious - that anti-Israel views are a cover for more straightforward antisemitism. The authors used data from 5000 citizens across Europe and found that anti-Israel sentiment is an excellent predictor of anti-semitism.

The research in this article shines a different, statistical light on this question: based on a survey of 500 citizens in each of 10 European countries, the authors ask whether those individuals with extreme anti-Israel views are more likely to be anti-Semitic. Even after controlling for numerous potentially confounding factors, they find that anti-Israel sentiment consistently predicts the probability that an individual is anti-Semitic, with the likelihood of measured anti-Semitism increasing with the extent of anti-Israel sentiment observed.

Specifically, they find that 56% of people 'deeply critical of Israel' are actually antisemitic, holding views like "Jews are more willing than others to use shady practices to get what they want" . Other interesting findings: Anti-semitism seems to have no correlation with degree of contact with real jews, suggesting that it springs from ideological, not personal bases. Muslims were 7.8 times more likely than Christians to be antisemitic. Of the ten countries surveyed, the Spanish and the Swiss were most antisemitic - the Danish and Dutch were least.

Iranian Economy

2006-12-05T07:35:00.001-05:00

A good idea from the Back Talk blog

Basically, I'm advocating placing Iran's oil fields at risk (instead of their nuclear facilities). The Iranian economy is rocky and could not withstand a reduction in oil revenues for any appreciable length of time. An announcement by the US that it might be prepared to disrupt Iranian oil export capacity would be taken seriously by countries thinking about signing long-term contracts with Tehran.

Eet Mor Chikkin

2006-12-04T20:26:00.000-05:00

USA Today reports:

Eighty-three percent of broiler chickens tested by a leading consumer magazine were infected with either or both campylobacter and salmonella, the leading bacterial causes of food-borne illnesses.

...

The USDA, which tests chickens extensively for salmonella, says the 2005 infection rate was 16.3% and is an average 11.4% in the first three quarters of this year, said Raymond, undersecretary for food safety.

So a minimum of 1 in 6 chickens is writhing with bugs. Makes me want to revert to flesh eating.

Beilin versus Bigots

2006-12-03T09:06:00.000-05:00

Even as the crazies at the top of the Israeli religious pole seek to delegitimize converts, Yossi Beilin is proposing amendments to the law of return with quite the opposite effect. Where the Chief Rabbi's suggestion seeks to humiliate and undermine the identity of Diaspora Jews, Reform and Orthodox alike, Beilin's proposal recognizes the value of hundreds of thousands of emigrants to Israel, who contribute considerably more to Israeli society than the Chief Rabbi, including military service.

The Israeli Chief Rabbis have a long and ignoble history of malicious and stupid public comments. We need state-sponsored religious orthodoxy about as much as we need the legions of Chabad shlichim currently corrupting Jewish minds throughout the Diaspora. The narrow-minded bigotry both promote is anathema to the majority of the Jewish people and should be kept at the margins of Jewish life.

Kofi - Quietly Aiding Genocide

2006-12-02T18:10:00.000-05:00

Kofi Annan is still soft-pedalling the genocide in Darfur. His latest 'breakthrough'

The secretary-general, Kofi Annan, announced after a meeting in Ethiopia that he and the Sudanese government had agreed “in principle” to a new “hybrid” UN force. This would take command of, and enlarge, the existing 7,000-man African Union (AU) force which has manifestly failed to keep the peace.

Despite his proclamation, it seems the Sudanese have actually rejected this proposal. If the Secretary General was serious, he would have pushed the UN to accept that the murders in Darfur constitute genocide, and named China as the primary patron of the Sudanese government, with special responsibility for its actions. Instead, he engages in these endless and useless discussions that only give the Sudanese government time to continue murdering the African inhabitants of Western Sudan.

Kofi Annan's silence permitted the Rwandan genocide ; his sudden loquacity ensures disaster in Darfur.

Chabad Riots

2006-11-30T07:34:00.000-05:00

Chassidut - self-righteous boozin' and brawlin'. And it wasn't a bunch of disaffected yeshivabokkers either, this melee was sanctified by 3000 chabad shlichim.

The Color of Money

2006-11-28T21:21:00.000-05:00

The government discriminates against blind people

by printing money that all looks and feels the same, a federal judge said Tuesday in a ruling that could change the face of American currency.
...
'Of the more than 180 countries that issue paper currency, only the United States prints bills that are identical in size and color in all their denominations,' Robertson wrote.

Yes. Colorful notes will really help blind people.

Hitchens on the Right to Speak

2006-11-28T07:25:00.000-05:00

Christopher Hitchens take on the Judt non-affair. Judt's position is 'Nation states are passe and distasteful. Israel should be the first country to stop being one'. Why Israel? Because Judt doesn't like Israel. He has the luxury of running his own Institute and basically having a column in the NYR - yet declaims loudly that his freedom of expression is being quenched because Zionists dared protest that he be allowed to rail against Israel at a Polish Consulate function.

Press or Propaganda

2006-11-27T21:39:00.000-05:00

I picked up the Epoch Times today, the Falun Gong propaganda newspaper and flicking through it, noticed that unlike most newspapers, most of the International section contained stories written by ET reporters rather than being copied from AP or Reuters. I wondered if perhaps the ET was so keen to spin the news their way, that they insisted on writing everything from scratch (though they do have some Reuters pieces). But after reading today that the AP has been using a fake source for months, its hard to conclude that our own 'news' organizations have less of an agenda than the Epoch Times.

Too Good to be True

2006-11-18T15:47:00.000-05:00

A novel Israeli technique to produce synthetic oilwill start production in 3-4 years. Apparently, oil shale becomes an economically viable resource when oil prices fall below $40/barrel. The catch is that because of the investment in infrastructure, nobody is going to invest in this technology unless its clear that the hike in oil prices is permanent. The exciting thing about the Israeli technology, is that it lowers that threshold. At some point, oil shale becomes competitive with regular supplies - preventing OPEC from bankrupting the emerging industry. And oil shale reserves are supposedly enormous, dwarfing currently exploited oil fields.

Hate Crimes

2006-10-24T07:30:00.000-04:00

The FBI Hate Crime Statistics 2005 makes for sad reading. There are some curiosities however. According to the report, four incidents were classified as "anti-atheism" (all carried out by the same individual). Believe or die, infidel...

While its unclear what the Muslim population of the U.S. actually is, serious estimates seem to put the number at about 2 million, that is, half the Jewish population. From the data then, hate crimes occur at about the rate of 1 per 7000 Jews, and 1 per 16,000 Muslims. Clearly, Muslims are beginning to experience similar levels of hostility to Jews in the United States. However, given that the U.S. is currently at war with Muslim terrorists, its surprising that the number is not higher.

UN intervention in Sudan runs into trouble

2006-10-23T22:00:00.000-04:00

The UN's Sudan policy is running into trouble.

KHARTOUM, Sudan - The chief U.N. envoy to Sudan planned to leave the country Monday after the government ordered him out for saying its forces had suffered two major defeats in fighting in the Darfur region, a U.N. spokeswoman said.

Unbelievable. But I guess having declared that its not a genocide they really don't need to do anything about it....

New Death Politics from the Lancet

2006-10-11T06:59:00.000-04:00

England's leading political journal of medicine is publishing a new study claiming 655,000 excess Iraqi deaths due to the war. Given the shoddy quality of their last paper claiming mass casualties in Iraq, its hard to imagine this one will be much better.

Ban Ki-moon to Assume New Irresponsibility

2006-10-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

How is it that the UN is about to select a new Secretary General, one Ban Ki-moon, and there is almost zero media coverage? At the bottom of an article about the North Korean nuclear test, I found this:

On Monday, members of the U.N. Security Council are expected to select South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to succeed Kofi Annan as secretary-general of the world body.

Remarkable. I suspect public discussion is avoided to prevent the choice falling prey to nationalist sentiments. Still, given the appalling corruption and incompetence of Kofi Annan, its hard to argue that the system currently works. In fact, all indications are that Ki-moon is set to continue the tradition of ineffectual UN leaders. According to Wikipedia

Ban has been actively involved in issues relating to inter-Korean relations. In 1992, he served as Vice Chairman of the South-North Joint Nuclear Control Commission, following the adoption by South and North Korea of the Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In September 2005, as Foreign Minister, he played a leading role in the diplomatic efforts to adopt the Joint Statement on resolving the North Korean nuclear issue at the Fourth Round of the Six-Party Talks held in Beijing, China

In other words, the day after the international community's strategy for dealing with North Korea has been shown to be a wreck, one of its architects is to assume leadership of UN. Unbelievable!

Jews and the Democrats

2006-09-24T22:35:00.000-04:00

The American Thinker enumerates reasons for the Jewish community to be concerned at the direction the Democrats are taking. Seven Democratic reps voted against House resolution 921 "Condemning the recent attacks against the State of Israel, holding terrorists and their state-sponsors accountable for such attacks, supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, and for other purposes...". The lone Republican holdout, Ron Paul, is an isolationist apparently mostly concerned with restricting American foreign aid dollars. Anti-semitic voices in the democratic party may be a minority, but they are vocal, and seem to be mostly supported by the blog-based 'net-roots' gaining increasing sway over DP politics.

2006-09-24T22:13:00.000-04:00

A nice turn of phrase:
Lifestyles of the Lear Jet Liberals

The Real Outrage

2006-09-17T23:54:00.000-04:00

A careful reading of the Pope's speech reveals that his insult to Moslems has been radically misunderstood. In fact the heart of his argument is this:

Only thus do we become capable of that genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today. In the Western world it is widely held that only positivistic reason and the forms of philosophy based on it are universally valid. Yet the world's profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions.

To paraphrase: if the West wants to be able to talk to irrational Moslem fundamentalists, its going to have to embrace its own irrational Christian fundamentalists to do so.

It seems to me that this is a good deal more insulting than his choice to introduce the discussion by quoting a couple of lines from a debate between a 14th century Byzantine emperor and a Persian nobleman.

Calling Ahead to Terror Targets?

2006-08-08T15:58:00.000-04:00

The World Tribune reports that the IDF at least sometimes calls the occupants of buildings that are the targets of air strikes, warning them to leave.

Mohammed Shurafa said in an interview with a Gaza radio station that he received a call from a man who identified himself as an Israel Army representative. The caller ordered the resident to leave his house.

The military has acknowledged the story. A spokeswoman said the northern Gaza house was used as a warehouse for the Islamic Jihad.

Shurafa said he and his family complied. But a few minutes later, concluding that the call was a joke, they returned. At that point, the telephone rang again.

"He said: 'Why did you return? This is not a joke,'" Shurafa recalled.

Shurafa said he and his family fled the home. Several minutes later, the house was struck by an air-to-ground missile.

Reviews for Tuscan Whole Milk

2006-08-06T08:24:00.000-04:00

Courtesy of digg: Amazon.com: Reviews for Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz: Gourmet Food

A lot of folks have mentioned the big con with this Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 Gallon, 128 fl oz: no instruction manual. But come on now - let's be fair to Tuscan. Putting together a manual for this product would be an unapproachable chore, as there are a million and one uses for this stuff.

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2006-08-04T08:54:00.000-04:00

In Kiryat Shmona

'One day,' said Motti Avraham, owner of the Mor Minimarket near the southern entrance to the city, 'two elderly men walked into my store. I could tell they were from Jerusalem by their accents. One of them asked me if I sold on credit. I said I did. Then he asked me whether some of my clients were poor. I said they were.

'He told me to take out my list of people who owed and mark those who were poor. After I did that, he turned to the other man and said, 'Take it out.' The other man took out a wad of crisp NIS 200 bills. He then began to give me NIS 300 for each of the people I had ticked off and told me to deduct the money from their debt.

'I asked them who they were. They replied, 'What difference does that make?' Then I asked them to at least give me their phone numbers so that their beneficiaries could thank them. They replied that the greatest mitzvah is when the donor does not know whom he has given to.'

HRW

2006-08-03T09:14:00.000-04:00

Haaretz reports that "On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch questioned the death toll in the Qana attack". This is not the first time that HRW has avoided gross bigotry towards Israel. In the 1990s they were atrocious. Signs of change.

Three Mothers

2006-08-02T21:38:00.000-04:00

Haaretz - This war is different

Neocon Central

2006-07-26T21:31:00.000-04:00

A piece in Forward by Allan Nadler (author of the excellent book "The Faith of Mithnagdim") describing the curious philosophies of Leo Strauss, NeoCon of NeoCons. Time is short and mini-bios like these are probably the closest I'll ever get to knowing anything about this suddenly relevant, long obscure thinker thunk.

A Rainbow in Red

2006-06-21T18:55:00.000-04:00

I never thought much of the American 'branch' of the Rainbow tribe. It's all a bit too theme-park like. Now reports of violence at the current gathering:

The Rainbow Family peace gathering turned hostile Tuesday when a group of attendees began hurling rocks and sticks at law enforcement officers, U.S. Forest Service officials said.

Denmark Sells Out

2006-06-19T11:24:00.000-04:00

Well thats the end of my pro-Danish vodka buying spree. Denmark provided the crucial vote in undermining the moratorium against whaling. What a disgrace.

According to this report the pro-whaling members of the IWC are: Antigua and Barbados, Belize, Benin, Cameroon, China, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Grenada, Guinea, Iceland, Japan, Kenya, Kiribati, South Korea, Mali, Mauritania, Mongolia, Morocco, Nauru, Nicaragua, Norway, Palau, Russian Federation, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and Grenada, St Lucia, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Suriname and Togo.

You can write to the Danish embassy - the address is on their homepage

Plunderphonic Electronic Horses

2006-06-17T16:36:00.000-04:00

I just downloaded the album Balkan Spezialitaeten by Vernon LeNoir. Described as

This work is a variation of balkan themes in an electronic and plunderphonic way. The concept is a 20 minute experience of balkanic sounds transported on electronic horses.

Let me add that the electronic horses in question appear to have drunk a great deal of virtual cherry brandy and are break dancing on five legs.

I'm in the process of listening to everything else this guy has released...

Courtesy of Weirdomusic.com

DIY Pollock Dot Com

2006-06-17T14:51:00.000-04:00

jacksonpollock.org

Nineteenth Century Gossip

2006-06-17T10:43:00.000-04:00

Who knew? A son of the founder of Chabad converted to Christianity. Internecine warfare between Chassidic sects, suicide attempts and other long buried secrets of the Chassids are described in a new book by David Assaf, reviewed in Haaretz.

More Vodka Less Dairy Delights

2006-06-15T23:06:00.000-04:00

Christopher Hitchens is needlessly anxious to demonstrate that Iraq was harbouring terrorists before we invaded it. It's not a very strong argument - there's no evidence that any misdeeds were actually plotted in Mesopotamia - and supererogatory besides. Iraq used to be the private Slave State of Saddam Hussein, who terrorized his subjects mercilessly. The most interesting part of Hitchen's article is the postscript:

I have today received a note from one of the Copenhagen editors who published the original cartoons, informing me that in the last quarter, Danish exports to the United States have increased by 17 percent and that, overall, the Danish economy has more than compensated for the results of the unjustified Muslim boycott.

Must be all that good Denaka vodka I've been drinking!

Untouched on a high pinnacle of nobility

2006-06-13T07:50:00.000-04:00

Noam Chomsky rejects Mearsheimer and Walt's Protocols Paper. It's not an easy read - Chomsky, a Deep Grammer zealot, would do his readers great kindness by employing a little more everyday, garden-variety English Grammar.

To be sure, he applauds the authors' willingness to brave the hysteria of the Intellectual Herd (apparently Zionists to a man). His main grudge is they seek to displace responsibility for the great evil wrought by The Great Satan (TM) onto a minor incubus, thereby leaving "the US government untouched on its high pinnacle of nobility...".

Contrary to Mearsheimer and Walt, he feels that US Policy has been remarkably successful for those in whose interests it has been pursued - the oil companies.

I think Chomsky is overly gracious in being so sparing of the US government. He places the blame for US Imperial Policy at the feet of an apparently all powerful Energy Lobby, leaving the good people of North America smelling like roses. Apologetics, thats what I call it.

We learn that Israel's main contribution to US Middle Eastern policy was to crush secular Arab nationalism by defeating Nasser. Damn! The roots of secular Arab nationalism must run pretty shallow if a few million Jews sitting in the desert can emasculate it in six days. And what on earth did Israel create all those Palestinian Universities for - to become centers of Islamic religious thought?

Finally, Chomsky rejects the Islamoleftist argument that Washington Neocons are isomorphic with the Israel Lobby. Apparently, with Democracy sprouting like Palm Trees across the Middle East, he refuses to give credit where it's due.

Swedish Prisons - Leading the World in Luxury

2006-06-12T08:09:00.001-04:00

The good life in Sweden.

Three Israelis jailed in Scandinavian country turn down offer to continue serving their sentence in homeland, explain 'here we are treated with steaks, sex and private television airing World Cup games for free'

I'm not sure whether to be amused or outraged. What did these three guys do to land in the clink? If its 6 months for mail fraud, I'd say its appropriate to treat them comfortably. But I'm also curious about the 'effectiveness' of the Swedish criminal system - perhaps humane treatment of prisoners does encourage earnest reflection and repentance. After all, most prisoners are eventually going to be released. It's in everybody's interest that their experience doesn't leave them bitter and hostile to society.

Swedish Prisons - Leading the World in Luxury

2006-06-12T08:09:00.000-04:00

The good life in Sweden.

Three Israelis jailed in Scandinavian country turn down offer to continue serving their sentence in homeland, explain 'here we are treated with steaks, sex and private television airing World Cup games for free'

Aliens in India?

2006-06-11T14:21:00.000-04:00

An Indian scientist is proposing that mysterious red rains contain alien spores. He's either wildly incompetent, or on to something very cool!

Hamas Enters Rag Trade

2006-06-11T07:39:00.000-04:00

I think Ynet has mistakenly reprinted a piece from The Onion.

Hamas has found a new way to try and cope with its financial crisis - by auctioning off items of clothing that belonged to dead terrorists.

The really good news will come when Hamas starts to raise funds by selling off clothes belonging to living terrorists. What do true jihadi warriors about to enter the Kingdom of Heaven need clothing for anyway? Surely the market value of a denim jacket is higher without the blood stains and artillery shell pieces.

Naked terrorists are the only real deal.

Israel Persecutes Piano Tuner

2006-06-06T23:27:00.000-04:00

The Zionist Entity is a hotbed of antagonism toward humble piano tuners and is now incarcerating them as quickly as they show up at Ben Gurion airport. His lawyer is rightly concerned for his well being in Israel custody. I for one guess that he is being compelled to listen to the Moonlight Sonato played on an ancient and weathered harpsichord. The good news is that apparently there are still 40 pianos remaining in Gaza. No doubt the Israel's plot against piano tuners is aimed at spreading discord.