I simply do not understand the international media. Just now they are rubbing themselves raw over the announcement that Fatah and Hamas are going to be best friends. Either they have forgotten every other previous announcement and how short that friendship lasted or, more likely, they actually expect this one to take hold. Time will tell. But my money is on the no way in hell option.
The fact that members of Hamas’ Central Council have rejected the proposal should tell you something. Even if some part of Fatah joins up with some part of Hamas there will still be large chunks of both groups that do not recognise each other. They might form other organisations and call themselves something else, so technically Fatah and Hamas will be one, but realistically they will still be divided. Years of civil war tend to cause rifts between people whether they want to kill all the Jews or not.
Not at all surprisingly, the international media have decided that Israel is to blame for everything since Netanyahu backed out of “peace talks”. Ignoring that peace talks have always meant that Israel sets Arab murderers free and gives away more land just to get the Palestinian side to the table, and that the Palestinian side has so far never given anything in return. Ignoring that the only thing Israel wants from the Palestinian side is for them to stop trying to kill Israelis, and that asking somebody to stop killing you is not considered a painful concession in any other part of the world. The international media predictably lay all the blame on Israel on the rare occasion that Israel pulls out of “peace talks” but never blames Palestine for the hundreds of times that they have pulled out. When Israel backs out it is Israel’s fault. When Palestine backs out it is Israel’s fault.
The international media want nothing more than to place the legally elected representatives of a liberal democracy on the same level as totalitarian dictators who murder their own people but they can never seem to report anything that happens on anything close to an even level. The more they report that everything is always Israel’s fault the more Palestinian leaders complain that the international media are biased toward Israel and the more the international media report that everything is always Israel’s fault. One thing the media experts in Israel and Palestine can agree on is their amazement that the international media are so gullible.
Bibi has said that he and Israel do not and will not negotiate with terrorists. Somehow this is “proof” that Israel does not want peace. What country in the world is required to negotiate with terrorists? And these particular terrorists do not simply bomb embassies on the other side of the world. They fire rockets into Israel on a regular basis. They have vowed to kill every last Arab in the Levant if that is what it takes to kill Israel. Imagine if some separatists in Texas fired rockets into New Orleans. Who would ever tell the United States that not only do they have to negotiate with terrorists but that they are equal. Would the United States give them Texas and hope for fewer attacks? Or would the United States bomb the hell out of these terrorists with the international media’s full support?
But Texas and Palestine are not analogous. That is true. Texas was taken by force from Mexico and eventually became part of the United States. Judea and Samaria were part of Israel for thousands of years before being taken by force from Jordan.
Another difference, and this might be important, is that both Texas and the United States are democracies where all men are created equal. More or less. Israel is also such a democracy. Palestine is a brutal dictatorship where being Jewish, homosexual, and/or female is illegal. The United States and Israel are not interested in having a country of one race and one religion. What Palestine wants is nothing short of ethnic cleansing. But you will never hear that from the UN.
Much is being made of Mahmoud Abbas’ announcement that his dictatorship will renounce violence against Israel. All is well according to the international media. Just as it was every other time Abbas renounced violence against Israel. What the international media always ignore is the fact that Abbas has done absolutely nothing to stop the terrorist organisation that he controls and the terrorist organisations that support him from carrying out terrorist attacks against Israel. Saying that you will stop blowing people up is nice but means precious little if you do absolutely nothing to stop blowing people up.
Unless you are the international media. Then the next time Abbas’ terrorists blow somebody up it will be Israel’s fault.
28 April 2014
18 April 2014
Say Hello to All Those Wayward Eyes
I have no idea when Easter is celebrated throughout the world. I know it has something to do with Spring and falls at different times each year. But I know that it must be Easter time.
A group of Arabs in Dearborn, Michigan are protesting a local Presbyterian church’s Easter egg hunt, dubbed an “eggstravaganza”.
I know how Arabs in the United States feel. More or less. I grew up in South Africa. Not exactly a bastion of Judaism. Most of the people around me were Christians. Mostly because I was not allowed to spend any serious amount of time with any black Africans and their less than Christian religions. Actually, I have no idea how Arabs in the United States feel. They can hang out with whomever they want.
I was surrounded by Christians through no fault of my own. People in the United States can surround themselves with pretty much anything.
I never understood the Easter egg concept. Rabbits laying coloured chicken eggs symbolise Jesus rising from the dead somehow. But I was never offended by Christians having an Easter egg hunt. The children seem to enjoy it and it hurts absolutely nobody. Unless you are vegan it should not be a problem.
The issue in this fabricated controversy is supposed to be that pamphlets for this egg hunt were handed out at a local school. The United States has a separation of church and state. Supposedly. That means that the state is not allowed to tell people how to worship. Supposedly.
I can get behind that. I do not want any government anywhere in the world telling me how to pray. Whether I voted for you or not it is absolutely none of your business. But in this instance no American government agency was handing out pamphlets or advertising this event. The local church did that and, this part might be important, the egg hunt was open to anybody and everybody, regardless of religious persuasion. Muslim children were just as welcome to dig around for chicken eggs as anybody else.
The school was not at all involved. As far as I know. Pamphlets were handed out at the school because this is a neighbourhood event for children. Schools are a good place to find flocks of children in their natural habitat. The school did not force anybody to worship anything in any way. It did not force anybody to attend the egg hunt. Blaming the school for this is like blaming the road when your car runs out of fuel. And once you take the school out of it there is no church and state issue.
Far more troubling than the Easter egg hunt is that many Christians eat ham for dinner on a day set aside to honour Jesus. Did Jesus eat pork? Even more disturbing is that this event was called an eggstravaganza. That alone deserves an honour killing.
A group of Arabs in Dearborn, Michigan are protesting a local Presbyterian church’s Easter egg hunt, dubbed an “eggstravaganza”.
I know how Arabs in the United States feel. More or less. I grew up in South Africa. Not exactly a bastion of Judaism. Most of the people around me were Christians. Mostly because I was not allowed to spend any serious amount of time with any black Africans and their less than Christian religions. Actually, I have no idea how Arabs in the United States feel. They can hang out with whomever they want.
I was surrounded by Christians through no fault of my own. People in the United States can surround themselves with pretty much anything.
I never understood the Easter egg concept. Rabbits laying coloured chicken eggs symbolise Jesus rising from the dead somehow. But I was never offended by Christians having an Easter egg hunt. The children seem to enjoy it and it hurts absolutely nobody. Unless you are vegan it should not be a problem.
The issue in this fabricated controversy is supposed to be that pamphlets for this egg hunt were handed out at a local school. The United States has a separation of church and state. Supposedly. That means that the state is not allowed to tell people how to worship. Supposedly.
I can get behind that. I do not want any government anywhere in the world telling me how to pray. Whether I voted for you or not it is absolutely none of your business. But in this instance no American government agency was handing out pamphlets or advertising this event. The local church did that and, this part might be important, the egg hunt was open to anybody and everybody, regardless of religious persuasion. Muslim children were just as welcome to dig around for chicken eggs as anybody else.
The school was not at all involved. As far as I know. Pamphlets were handed out at the school because this is a neighbourhood event for children. Schools are a good place to find flocks of children in their natural habitat. The school did not force anybody to worship anything in any way. It did not force anybody to attend the egg hunt. Blaming the school for this is like blaming the road when your car runs out of fuel. And once you take the school out of it there is no church and state issue.
Far more troubling than the Easter egg hunt is that many Christians eat ham for dinner on a day set aside to honour Jesus. Did Jesus eat pork? Even more disturbing is that this event was called an eggstravaganza. That alone deserves an honour killing.
05 April 2014
No Pill’s Gonna Cure My Ill
I have been prone to headaches since my accident in 2002. I rarely talk about it because there is little I find more tedious than when people whinge about minor medical issues. I have received all manner of magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, and even computed axial tomography back when those were popular. The hospital in Alaska was especially thorough, as any hospital should be after such an impact trauma, and assured me that there was nothing wrong with my brain. From the accident, at least. I have been to the best hospitals in Israel and they have all assured me that everything in my head is where it should be. Apparently nobody fully understands the human brain or why it does what it does but mine is not trying to kill me.
Recently the headaches have increased in frequency and duration. So, living in a country where medical treatment is not considered a luxury item, I went in for another round of tests. They put more radiation in my brain and told me that everything looked as it should. Then they moved on to other tests.
During all of these adventures in modern medicine, Dara had her own medical announcement. My sister is pregnant again. They tried for years to get pregnant the first time and assumed that it would likely never happen again. Her second child is due two months before her 41st birthday.
Then the doctors figured out what is making my brain explode. Tests revealed that my body is flooded with human chorionic gonadotropin. The two most likely causes of this are testicular cancer, which the doctors pretty much ruled out straight away, and pregnancy. I seem to have got knocked up.
More tests revealed that I do in fact have a living creature growing inside me. Hopefully not in a John Hurt sense. Either way it will take some getting used to. I am generally only accustomed to having somebody inside me for very limited periods of time. They always consider it a long time, but let’s face it, nine months of something growing in you is far longer than one or two minutes.
The first time in my life that I thought I was pregnant, I was not. This time, pregnancy never crossed my mind. I was too busy trying to keep my head from exploding. Every mother in the world, mine most definitely included, can tell you that children are a headache. This one simply started the process early.
To make life more amusing, Dara and I are due at pretty much the same time. Maybe not the exact day but close enough. I like the idea of cousins growing up together. In theory, at least. I never had any cousins so I have no idea what they are actually like. Yoel, their oldest cousin, will hit 19 just before they are born. Dara’s daughter will be 4 just before her younger sister or brother is born. So we went from a family of only one child for a very long time to a family of three young children all at the same time.
Neither Dara nor I know if they will be boys or girls. We do not want to know and it is too soon to tell anyway. They are currently sexless blobs. Not unlike many members of Congress. I hope they each have more common sense.
Now I have to read a bunch of pregnancy and baby books. Have you ever read any of these things? They are not the most exciting reads. On the plus side, I do not have to deal with itchy balls.
Recently the headaches have increased in frequency and duration. So, living in a country where medical treatment is not considered a luxury item, I went in for another round of tests. They put more radiation in my brain and told me that everything looked as it should. Then they moved on to other tests.
During all of these adventures in modern medicine, Dara had her own medical announcement. My sister is pregnant again. They tried for years to get pregnant the first time and assumed that it would likely never happen again. Her second child is due two months before her 41st birthday.
Then the doctors figured out what is making my brain explode. Tests revealed that my body is flooded with human chorionic gonadotropin. The two most likely causes of this are testicular cancer, which the doctors pretty much ruled out straight away, and pregnancy. I seem to have got knocked up.
More tests revealed that I do in fact have a living creature growing inside me. Hopefully not in a John Hurt sense. Either way it will take some getting used to. I am generally only accustomed to having somebody inside me for very limited periods of time. They always consider it a long time, but let’s face it, nine months of something growing in you is far longer than one or two minutes.
The first time in my life that I thought I was pregnant, I was not. This time, pregnancy never crossed my mind. I was too busy trying to keep my head from exploding. Every mother in the world, mine most definitely included, can tell you that children are a headache. This one simply started the process early.
To make life more amusing, Dara and I are due at pretty much the same time. Maybe not the exact day but close enough. I like the idea of cousins growing up together. In theory, at least. I never had any cousins so I have no idea what they are actually like. Yoel, their oldest cousin, will hit 19 just before they are born. Dara’s daughter will be 4 just before her younger sister or brother is born. So we went from a family of only one child for a very long time to a family of three young children all at the same time.
Neither Dara nor I know if they will be boys or girls. We do not want to know and it is too soon to tell anyway. They are currently sexless blobs. Not unlike many members of Congress. I hope they each have more common sense.
Now I have to read a bunch of pregnancy and baby books. Have you ever read any of these things? They are not the most exciting reads. On the plus side, I do not have to deal with itchy balls.
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