Plame is a Snake (and so is Wilson) [link]

Well now that everyone knows that former State Department official (and Iraq war opponent) Richard Armitage was the person who first leaked Valerie Plame Wilson's identity to the press, one wonders if Val and Joe will go after Armitage with the same vigor that they have gone after Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and others in the White House. The answer? NO!

In July, the Wilsons sued Cheney, Rove, and Libby, along with ten other un-named co-defendants, charging that were part of a conspiracy to “discredit, punish and seek revenge against the plaintiffs that included, among other things, disclosing to members of the press Plaintiff Valerie Plame Wilson’s classified CIA employment.” Armitage was not named in the suit.

So, let's get the story straight. Armitage (along with many of the careerists in the State Department) opposed the Administration's position regarding the war with Iraq. Armitage leaked Plame's name to the media (but not the fact that she use to be a covert operative). Then Wilson told Nation columnist David Corn that his wife use to be a covert operative for the CIA and claimed that the Administration leaked her identity to ruin her career. Then Dem Senator Chuck Schumer howleds with outrage and demanded hearings.

The State Department knew who was to blame, but stayed silent since the Administration was taking the hits. The CIA was happy to play victim (anything to divert attention from the agency's decades long record of failure) and requested an investigation of the leak by the Justice Department.

Several years ago, a knowledgable friend told me that the CIA and the State Department formed an axis of information and power in Washington DC; that these two agencies shared the same world view and were opposed to the Bush Administration's approach to foreign policy. Whether by accident or design, the State Department and the CIA allowed the appearance of a scandal to develop where none actually existed...and the two agencies were quite content to let the media, the Justice Department, and the media dig into the White House.

If I were Libby Scooter, Karl Rove, and any of the other White House staffers whose lives were disrupted (and finances depleted by legal fees), I would think about filing a civil suit against Armitage and his boss, Colin Powell.

And if Powell ever runs for President, it will be a cold day in Hell before I vote for him. I would vote for Hillary Clinton or Chuck Schumer for President before I voted for Powell.

Friends

Megalon...in all her glory.

Just Plame Nonsense [link]

HUBRIS is the name of book about the Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson affair written by Michael Isikoff and David Corn. The title is more descriptive of the authors than of the Bush administrative.

I leave it to Christopher Hitchens to take the authors apart:

[T]here was always another layer to the Joseph Wilson fantasy. Easy enough as it was to prove that he had completely missed the West African evidence that was staring him in the face, there remained the charge that his nonreport on a real threat had led to a government-sponsored vendetta against him and his wife, Valerie Plame.

* * * *

After you have noted that the Niger uranium connection was in fact based on intelligence that has turned out to be sound, you may also note that this heated moral tone ("thuggish," "gang") is now quite absent from the story. It turns out that the person who put Valerie Plame's identity into circulation was a staunch foe of regime change in Iraq. Oh, that's all right, then. But you have to laugh at the way Corn now so neutrally describes his own initial delusion as one that was "seized on by administration critics."

What does emerge from Hubris is further confirmation of what we knew all along: the extraordinary venom of the interdepartmental rivalry that has characterized this administration. In particular, the bureaucracy at the State Department and the CIA appear to have used the indiscretion of Armitage to revenge themselves on the "neoconservatives" who had been advocating the removal of Saddam Hussein. Armitage identified himself to Colin Powell as Novak's source before the Fitzgerald inquiry had even been set on foot.

* * * *

[C]an one imagine anybody with a stronger motive to change the subject from CIA incompetence and to present a widely discredited agency as, instead, a victim, than Tenet himself? The man who kept the knowledge of the Minnesota flight schools to himself and who was facing every kind of investigation and obloquy finally saw a chance to change the subject. If there is any "irony" in the absurd and expensive and pointless brouhaha that followed, it is that he was abetted in this by so many who consider themselves "radical."

Ok, I have to quit writing for now. Household emergency...a bat just flew in the door while I was letting the dog out. Now I have a bat flying around the house!

* * * * UPDATE * * * *
Ok, the bat is history. I opened the front door and it flew out.

recovering - UN versus Israel - John Kerry is a sore loser [link]

Major thunderstorms complete with tornadoes just rolled through Columbus...what's a guy gotta do to get some peace and quiet so he can rest?

I caught an 11pm flight out of LAX back to CMH airport Sunday night...it got me home at 6am. The darned 737-800 was packed with extra seats...you did not have room to recline your seat or move your knees. I drank a large beer right before the flight...it helped me sleep through most of it.

I got home, took an hour nap, showered, shaved, and headed to the office. Woo hoo! Exhaustion reigns supreme. Now I am going to sleep for the next 12 hours!

Sorry about the lack of posts...I won't make up for it! But I hope to have some comments tomorrow.

Ok, maybe a comment right now.

What the FRAK us the UN up to? I read a news report earlier today (that I would link to but I can't find it) stating that the UN mission in Lebanon was posting detailed reports on Israeli forces strength and unit locations on the internet. They did NOT do the same with respect to the Hezbollah forces. That counts as enemy action in my book. When (not "if") war breaks out again, the UN should be advised that if it is going to act like an enemy force, it WILL be fired upon. And frankly, it SHOULD be fired on!

Next up, Jean Francois Kerry is crying foul over the 2004 election results in Ohio [see the link above].

An e-mail will be sent to 100,000 Democratic donors Tuesday asking them to support U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland for governor of Ohio. The bulk of the e-mail criticizes Strickland's opponent, GOP Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, for his dual role in 2004 as President Bush's honorary Ohio campaign co-chairman and the state's top election official.

"He used the power of his state office to try to intimidate Ohioans and suppress the Democratic vote," said Kerry's e-mail.

And I thought I was a crybaby. It seems the Dems don't want to heal the country...they would gladly ramp up everyone's emotions so that we are at each other's throats. Richard Nixon conceded the 1960 election inspite of evidence of massive vote fraud that cost him the White House. Nixon put the nation's interests before his own (though if he HAD been president 8 years earlier, maybe we would have avoided the mess in Viet Nam and LBJ's credibility gap).

Ok, sleepy time for your faultless Dictator for Life.

Classic movie posters

I just love the posters for old Sci-Fi movies. Not the kind of posters that Hezbollah would rip off to make as their new flag. Megalon loves these posters too...especially the ones with "50s chicks!"

This movie use to terrify me when I was very young:

And let's not forget good old old Gort! "Klaatu verata .... necktie...alright alright alright, I said your damned words..." Sorry, right line, wrong movie.

Now I remember pretty distinctly that Gort picked up Patricia Neal and carried her back to the spaceship in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. But I don't think Robbie the Robot put any moves on Anne Francis during FORBIDDEN PLANET (at least, not during the course of the movie...now they DID have a lot of time together before the story began...)

And finally, a movie that Megalon can really relate to:

I have actually seen her do this...with her doll houses, that is. She is going to kill me because of this next time she sees me.

What Not To Wear - Sci Fi Edition

I am hardly the master of fashion, but there are all kinds of things wrong with what this sci-fi fan is wearing:

It is southern California...ok. It is not hot out, but certainly not cold. So why is this guy wearing a coat? And the rolled up cuffs?

What is going on with that?

* * * * update* * * *

Yeah yeah, I deleted the cheesecake. Live with it.

Of course, it would not be a sci-fi convention without costumes:

I know Megalon, you are becoming afraid.

Marina Sirtis - OH...MY...GOD!

Marina Sirtis is just too funny to believe. I showed up at her presentation expecting to sit for a few minutes in the airconditioning, get some rest, then move on when I got bored. WRONG! She showed up a few minutes late and hit the ground running.


She got a question about her accent during Next Gen. She has a British accent and the producers told her that since they already had a Brit on the show, she would have to do another accent. She asked a very logical question...if Picard is French, shouldn't HE do an accent? She then went off on five minute rant bad mouthing the French:

As a Brit, I always wondered why we built that channel tunnel. We hate the f-ing French. I mean, who doesn't hate the French? Everybody hates the French.

* * * *

By the 24th Century, according to Star Trek, there are no more French speaking people left in France. Have you noticed that? That is why we built the channel tunnel.

* * * *

Look at this whole Lebanon business. The French are suppose to be leading the whole peacekeeping force. They want to send 200 soldiers; damned cowards. What is the first thing French kids learn in school. Anyone? "I surrender," in five different languages, yeah.

Marina wants to do GALACTICA, but apparently has NOT yet seen the show...she had no clue what a Cylon was.

Prices and Service

I went to breakfast at the IHOP here in Anaheim. Whoa! The prices were about 50% higher than they are at the usual IHOP...vacationland premium prices. I was not amused.

On the other hand, the quality of the food was very good and the service was exceptional. I left a 23+% tip in cash on the table...good service deserves to be recognized and rewarded (and just leaving the tip on my credit card was not good enough...I wanted the staff to see that I appreciated their efforts).

On an odd note...I went back to my room after breakfast to brush my teeth and this is what I found in the hotel corridor:

I guess today is the day they replace the beds and the mattresses!

Worldcon update

Martina has arrived!

And her paintings are hung...or at least the ones that the airline did not lose. One portfolio full of her paintings did not arrive at its final destination.

Worldcon photos

LA Con IV has begun. One of the hazards of being a fan, but dressing like a normal human being is that people assume you are responsible. I was meandering through the dealer's room and bumped into the committee chairman for the Columbus in 2008 Worldcon bid. Too make a long story short, it looks like I am now on the committee.

Here are some interesting photos of the displays there.

First, a nude photo of Governor Schwarzenegger...VERY nude:

And Robbie the Robot:

And the rest of robot row:

You would NOT believe the LEGOS models they have there:

And some fans have WAY too much time on their hands:

Airport Blogging

Here I am, stuck at Port Columbus International Airport. The good? Free wi-fi internet. But, you get what you pay for...it is painfully slow. The bad? My 6:15pm flight to LA has been delayed...estimated time for departure is now 7:30pm. There are a lot of very angry people waiting for this plane. I am not too t'eed off...though I am very tired; I put in a full day at the office before coming over to the airport.

No food on the flight...they are only serving a "snack." Peanuts or something like that. Charming. So, I had some overpriced airport food. I wish I had some toothpaste...I would really love to brush my teeth now.

Every few minutes they play an announcement telling us all the stuff we are no longer allowed to bring on the flight. Ok, no liquids or gel products. I was wondering...what about breast implants? I suppose you could have a female terrorist who had the fluid in her implants replaced with chemical explosives. Hmmmm....that ultra thin blonde sitting over there...her chest looks very suspicious!

Gate security was not that bad. There was no line at all when I went through. They gave my bag a thorough going over...through the scanner twice, then a manual search. Fortunately, the suspicous item was right on top...a die cast metal miniature of the Battlestar Galactica. The TSA employee who found it was totally confused.

Could be worse. Back in 1988, I was going through airport security and the x-rayed my carry-on bag. The agent had a puzzled look on his face and asked, "You don't, by chance, happen to have a solid steel model of the Starship Enterprise in your bag, do you? As a matter of fact, I did!

Ok, Megalon, I know. I am making you afraid.

They just told us that we will board in "zones." Priority people are in "zone 1." I am in "zone 7." Why am I not surprised?

* * * * UPDATE * * * *

My inflight movie today will be...let me check out the Delta Airlines website...ah yes... FLIGHT 93! NOT!!!!!!!

light blogging today - maybe more tomorrow

I am off to the World Science Fiction Convention in Los Angeles (actually Anaheim). I will put in a full day at the office, head to the airport, and fly out at 6:20 pm tonight. I will probably get to my hotel at 10:00 pm Pacific Time...oh I will be one very tired little trekkie.

This photo was from the Boston worldcon in 2004. I won't be bringing any costumes this year (sorry Megalon); I decided not to check any luggage and I could barely fit 4 days worth of regular clothes in it (you KNOW how badly I overpack).

Los Angeles worldcons are always filled with major media events...hopefully this one will be no different.

Here I am with my Slovakian friend Martina...we met at the last LA Worldcon back in 1996. We will be partners in crime at this con too. Woo hoo! I just have to keep her safe from her ex-boyfriends!

How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?

Actually, maybe the question for us should be, "How will the Emperor and the bureaucracy maintain control?"

Government seems to be failing at its basic tasks on a more regular basis. The complaints about FEMA and the troubles in assisting survivors after hurricane Katrina seem based on the notion that FEMA was adequately handling disaster recovery befor 2005. This was not the case. FEMA was always wasting money on a grand scale...it's just that the waste and incompetence did not matter because the state and local governments were usually good at doing much of the disaster recovery work.

Katrina was an example of what happens when none of the levels of government demonstrate basic competency. I fear that it is prologue for our future...one filled with expensive government programs that fail at their basic tasks. Our public schools are another example. In the not-to-distant past, our country's public schools were a source of pride. Not anymore.

Sorry, there is no graceful way to end this...but I have to get moving for the day. Can't blog from the office, regretably.

Mort Kondracke - frightening words of wisdom [link]

On Fox News Sunday today, Mort Kondracke said the following:

In the clash of civilizations, if that's what's going on now, I'm afraid that our side is losing, and the Iranians are ascending.

Sober words from a thoughtful man.

NSA Monitoring - Legal Follies

The week after the bust up of a conspiracy in England to bomb ten airliners in flight, a bust up probably due to very intrusive monitoring of electronic communications, a U.S. District Court rules that the NSA's program for monitoring international electronic communications is unconstitutional.

I have not examined the legal merits of the case, but the timing certainly is bad for this decision. Gee...just after a monitoring program hits pay dirt and saves thousands of lives, a court rules that you are not allowed to monitor.

Ok, I am an unfrozen Ne[oCon]anderthal voter. WHAT THE FRAK!!!!!!! I think the American public is going to be highly cynical about this decision. The Bush administration is trying to keep us safe and the courts are more interested in legal niceties. The moonbats will be out there screaming that this proves that Bush is worse than Hitler.

Sigh. Judges (and other intelligent, educated people) can sometimes be so stupid and find themselves tied up in knots of spurious logic.

Jimmy Carter - DUNCE! [link]

What can you say about any so-called American who says things like this?

I don't think that Israel has any legal or moral justification for their massive bombing of the entire nation of Lebanon. What happened is that Israel is holding almost 10,000 prisoners, so when the militants in Lebanon or in Gaza take one or two soldiers, Israel looks upon this as a justification for an attack on the civilian population of Lebanon and Gaza. I do not think that's justified, no.

Oh, it's just the Jews' job to die quietly. Jimmy always favored the Arabs.

Now, here is Jimmy talking about devout Christians:

The fundamentalists believe they have a unique relationship with God, and that they and their ideas are God's ideas and God's premises on the particular issue. Therefore, by definition since they are speaking for God anyone who disagrees with them is inherently wrong. And the next step is: Those who disagree with them are inherently inferior, and in extreme cases -- as is the case with some fundamentalists around the world -- it makes your opponents sub-humans, so that their lives are not significant. Another thing is that a fundamentalist can't bring himself or herself to negotiate with people who disagree with them because the negotiating process itself is an indication of implied equality. And so this administration, for instance, has a policy of just refusing to talk to someone who is in strong disagreement with them -- which is also a radical departure from past history. So these are the kinds of things that cause me concern. And, of course, fundamentalists don't believe they can make mistakes, so when we permit the torture of prisoners in Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib, it's just impossible for a fundamentalist to admit that a mistake was made.

Uh, Jimmy? I really think you are describing yourself. I am a non Christian who worked closely with devout Christians on political matters and I saw nothing of what you are describing above.

Here is Jimmy on America's response to 9/11:

Unfortunately, after Sept., there was an outburst in America of intense suffering and patriotism, and the Bush administration was very shrewd and effective in painting anyone who disagreed with the policies as unpatriotic or even traitorous. For three years, I'd say, the major news media in our country were complicit in this subservience to the Bush administration out of fear that they would be accused of being disloyal. I think in the last six months or so some of the media have now begun to be critical. But it's a long time coming.

Unfortunately? And I don't think the news media is subservient to the Administration. But, Jimmy lives in a special world.

Ok, here is Jimmy on the Democratic party:

I think I represent the vast majority of Democrats in this country. I think there is a substantial portion of American people that completely agree with me. I can't say a majority because we have fragmented portions in our country and divisions concerning gun control and the death penalty and abortion and gay marriage.

Well, I think he represents the wingnut roots...Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, and company. But not Joe Sixpack. If Jimmy is representative of the Dems, then they are doomed.

Jimmy is arrogant, unforgiving, and a fool. He was a disgrace in office and an embarrassment in retirement.

Unfrozen Caveman Voters [link]

The column linked to above is hilarious! Of course, I don't think of myself as a "caveman" but more of as a Unfrozen Neanderthal Voter...or...perhaps since I am Jewish and a conservative hawk, that makes me an Unfrozen Ne[oCon]anderthal Voter.

No better monologue could capture the spirit of a large portion of America today.

Hey, all you elected politicians and media types and academics! I'm just an average guy. I wake up and I go to work and I have a family. I don't know much about Shi'ites, Sunnis, Wahhabis, Salafists, Imams, Mullahs, root causes, or the desire for democracy in the Muslim world or whatever. My mind can grasp these concepts just fine, the fact of the matter is I just don't care. I don't know much about all that stuff, but there is one thing I do know: when a bunch of "death-to-america" chanting yahoos want to destroy our culture, attack our cities, down our aircraft, and build nuclear weapons, then they are entitled to the business end of a B52.

* * * *

Don't caricature this attitude with a desire for more invasions, more nation-building, more regime-change, random airstrikes, or wanton slaughter. It's hard to say just what policy exactly might satisfy the caveman demographic. But really, the Unfrozen Caveman Voter intuits a large portion of the art of warfare: opportunities must be created and then exploited -- or if they come by luck, they must be exploited all the same. And finally, the use of extreme and otherwise intolerable violence is necessary if used in the service of victory.

Well said! All I can add is "Ugga! Spit!" That is Ne[oCon]anderthal for, "So say we all!"

If I Were a Cartoonist. . .

I have an image in my mind about the recent Israel/Lebanon war. You see a battered man climbing out of a bomb shelter in the middle of a bombed out moonscape of a land. In the distance, you see a fence/border with a tremendous concentration of military might on the other side. The battered man is shouting, "We won!" Cutting off the nose to spite one's face at the national level...some victory.

I had an IM chat with a soldier I know who is on his way back to Iraq to serve the second half of his tour. When I mentioned the failure of Israeli Prime Minister Olmert to prosecutor the war, my friend wrote, "WE ALL wanted to see him say FU to the UN, now the Iranians and Hezbullah are full of piss."

The modern laws of war are immoral. There is almost no enforcement imposed on dictator run states or terrorist groups. The tyrants and terrorists around the world use the UN and the Geneva Conventions to tie up the US and Western Powers to keep them from effectively fighting. The thugs of the world are banding together and using the UN and international law as instruments to protect themselves.

Atrocities in the third world are trumpeted as triumphs. Consider Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. This petty tyrant took a prosperous country and turned it into a hell hole filled with starving people. Yet the other African leaders treat him like a hero. In John Derbyshire's latest podcast, a story was told about a neighboring country that named a major highway after Mugabe...but which then had to post guards to protect the plaques honoring the dictator from being vandalized by the tens of thousands of Zimbabwean refugees living there. If the African nations were the least bit sane, they would band together and support insurrection in Zimbabwe. But no, they worship Mugabe as a hero.

Our Western allies are to wrapped up in self hatred and guilt to defend themselves from the influx of Muslim hatred. The allow themselves to be deceived by the smokescreens of the tyrants. It is bad enough that they are not fully supporting the US in the war against Militant Islam, in many ways they are actively opposing us. The horrendous cease-fire in Lebanon was due, in large part, to pressure from the Western allies.

No time for a conclusion...I have to get showered, dressed, and on my way to the office.

Lunacy at Legal Services Corporation [link]

Legal Services Corporation never seems to be able to do its job. It is suppose to provide basic legal assistance for the poor. But too often, it gets involved in anti-death penalty cases and other high profile litigation that have little to do with helping the poor overcome day-to-day legal problems.

The federal program that provides legal help to poor Americans turns away half of its applicants for lack of resources. But that hasn't stopped its executives from lavishing expensive meals, chauffeur-driven cars and foreign trips on themselves.

Lovely, huh?

Agency documents obtained by The Associated Press detail the luxuries that executives of the Legal Services Corp. have given themselves with federal money - from $14 "Death by Chocolate" desserts to $400 chauffeured rides to locations within cab distance of their offices.

The government-funded corporation also has a spacious headquarters in Washington's tony Georgetown district - with views of the Potomac River and a rent significantly higher than other tenants in the same building.

And board members wrote themselves a policy that doubled the amount they could claim for meals compared with their staff.

* * * *

Legal Services is a nonprofit corporation run with federal money that was created by Congress to provide legal help in civil matters for Americans who can't afford their own lawyers. It funds neighborhood clinics across the country where lawyers provide such help.

Three congressional committees have questioned the program's spending as has the corporation's own internal watchdog. The chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee is threatening to withhold future money if the corporation doesn't trim its extravagance.

"It's waste and abuse," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, citing the board's doubling of the meal money as an example. "At 200 percent, it seems to me what we would call in Iowa living high off the hog."

Don't worry. Senators Kennedy, Schumer, and Clinton will rise to defend LSC...liberals love this entity because it has been a reliable platform for attacking conservative policies (with the added benefit that it uses government dollars to do so).

The scrutiny of Legal Services' spending comes as the corporation says it doesn't have enough resources to meet many poor clients' needs.

Legal Services' own study found last October that for every client who receives service, one applicant is turned away for lack of resources. Since that study only counted those who contacted the program for assistance, the corporation said it likely underestimated the unmet need.

Yes, the liberals will no doubt manage to get LSC's budget increased because, with the help of their friends in the main stream media, they will turn this into another example of those mean, nasty, heartless Republicans trying to deprive the poor of a vital service. And the cowardly Republicans will cave in rather than stick to their principles. Hey, what's another couple of hundred million dollars...it's not like it's their money!

Intolerant Anti-Christians Need to Get A Life [link]

Why are athiests and other anti-Christians so intolerant? Why does the display of religious symbols cause them such discomfort. Can't they see that a public display of a cross or the tablets of the Ten Commandments is an acknowledgement of the importance of religion?

Case in point: the display of a large cross as part of a war memorial in San Diego. From the anger coming from the anti-Christians, you would think that the display was being used to crucify non-Christians.

A giant cross in San Diego that's been contested for 17 years by an atheist became the property of the federal government Monday with President Bush's signature.

I view athiests as members of a competing religous view. Why should THEIR view be given preference? I am not a Christian and I do not feel threatened when I see Christian symbols in public.

But the legal fight that began in 1989 when atheist Philip Paulson sued San Diego over the cross is not played out yet.

Paulson's attorney, Jim McElroy, said he filed papers in federal court in San Diego last week to void the transfer and declare it unconstitutional.

"I don't think anybody really thinks the cross is going to remain on Mt. Soledad. It's been 17 years of litigation, and every court, every judge who's ever looked at it has ruled it's unconstitutional," McElroy said.

These people are selfish and incapable or realizing that the world is bigger than they are. Anything that makes them uncomfortable must be torn down....the fact that it makes other people uncomfortable is of no importance.

The U.S. Supreme Court started this nonsense by lecturing the country on the separation of church and state decades ago. The Court thought it could satisfy athiests and other anti-Christians by allowing them to sue to remove some religous symbols. Instead they created a never ending stream of litigation. There are always going to be people who are uncomfortable with things they see...the last thing you want to do is to give them a cause of action to file suit and possibly impose their values on the rest of us. .

The Jewish Left is in Shambles? [link]

What is a good Jewish leftist to do? Being an activist for world peace does not seem to be working too well.

Opinionjournal.com has a column dealing with the dilemma that the Jewish left now finds itself in.

This is a soul-searching moment for the Jewish left. Actually, for many Jewish liberals, navigating the gloomy politics of the Middle East is like walking with two left feet.

* * * *

Yet, since 9/11 and the second intifada, in which suicide bombings and beheadings have become the calling cards of Arab diplomacy, and with Hamas and Hezbollah emerging as elected entities that, paradoxically, reject the first principles of liberal democracy, I feel a great deal of moral anguish. Perhaps I have been naive all along.

And I am not alone. Many Jews are in my position--the children and grandchildren of labor leaders, socialists, pacifists, humanitarians, antiwar protesters--instinctively leaning left, rejecting war, unwilling to demonize, and insisting that violence only breeds more violence. Most of all we share the profound belief that killing, humiliation and the infliction of unnecessary pain are not Jewish attributes.

Promote appeasement as much as you can and the rest of the world's leftists STILL accuse you of working on a plan straight out of Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

However, the world as we know it today--post-Holocaust, post-9/11, post-sanity--is not cooperating. Given the realities of the new Middle East, perhaps it is time for a reality check. For this reason, many Jewish liberals are surrendering to the mindset that there are no solutions other than to allow Israel to defend itself--with whatever means necessary. Unfortunately, the inevitability of Israel coincides with the inevitability of anti-Semitism.

And here is the conclusion:

The Jewish left is now in shambles. Peace Now advocates have lost their momentum, and, in some sense, their moral clarity. Opinion polls in Israel are showing near unanimous support for stronger incursions into Lebanon. And until kidnapped soldiers are returned and acts of terror curtailed, any further conversations about the future of the West Bank have been set aside.

Not unlike the deep divisions between the values of red- and blue-state America, world Jewry is being forced to reconsider all of its underlying assumptions about peace in the Middle East. The recent disastrous events in Lebanon and Gaza have inadvertently created a newly united Jewish consciousness--bringing right and left together into one deeply cynical red state.

Of course, some Jews will never learn. Consider this excerpt from another opinionjournal.com piece last Friday:

For the past several years, the members of the religious left, upset by GOP "values" victories, have argued that the Democratic Party needs to be more welcoming to people of faith. Some have even formed an organization--the Network of Spiritual Progressives--to pursue this cause. So why did they decide not to support the candidate who has probably been more vocal about his faith than just about any other Democrat on the national scene? Ms. Seger, Mr. Balmer and Rabbi Lerner all cite Mr. Lieberman's support of the war in Iraq.

Mr. Balmer, who says that he has voted for Mr. Lieberman in previous elections, explains: "My objection is not to Lieberman as a person or voice of faith. I just happen to disagree with him on this issue." Rabbi Lerner, who is also the national chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives, is more forceful: "I think you have to ask Lieberman, 'What part of "Thou shalt not kill" do you not understand?'"

What part of "thou shalt not kill" does Rabbi Lerner not understand? Is it OK for Muslim militants to slaughter Jews? I was raised to believe that suicide was the greatest sin a Jew could commit. Refusal to defend oneself against Muslim militants is suicide. I guess this rabbi feels that it is better to be a pure suicide than to justifiably defend oneself.

Of course, later in the piece Rabbi Lerner demonstrates that he is an idealistic idiot for whom symbols are more important that substance:

Rabbi Lerner disapproves of Mr. Lieberman's recent vote for federal tax cuts. "He disempowers government," Rabbi Lerner says, keeping it from caring for the poor.

I disapprove of Rabbi Lerner. He is too stupid to be permitted to provide anyone with spiritual (or any other kind) of guidance.

ATTACK of the Cursed Undead VW from HELL!

Yesterday, I came to recognize a force in the universe every bit as evil as the one I wrote about on 7/29/2006 in the post "The Battle for Columbus Has Begun!" Sadly, it is a force that is in my own garage. I was going to post a photograph of it here, but it is so evil that blogger.com won't allow me to upload the photo.

Of course, I am writing about my 1974 VW Superbeetle Cabriolet. Yesterday was the annual VW collector's festival here in Columbus, Ohio. I woke bright and early, hopped into Greenie, and headed off for the festival. I got about five miles from home when the clutch pedal fell down...it had become disconnected from the clutch cable. This had happened before and supposedly my mechanic had fixed it...well...obviously not.

So, there I am alongside the road in a broken down VW. I managed to get the cellphone number for the president of the local club....I called him hoping that he could send a "search and rescue" team out to help me (otherwise I would be stuck calling AAA and having the car towed home). The president told me that they could send out help, but then he said, "You know, you can drive your bug without a clutch." He told me that if I started the car in first gear ("It will lurch forward, but give it some gas and it will go") then just shift gears as I normally would ("Force it...it may grind a bit...but it will go into the new gear.") I could drive the car.

Ok, I tried it. Greenie started with a lurch, and started chugging along. I got up to about 15 mph and I forced the gear shift lever from 1st into 2nd gear. It took a little force, but it popped into gear with no grinding at all. The same thing happened from 2nd to 3rd gears and 3rd to 4th gears. There was a little grinding when I first tried to downshift...I learned that I had to rev the engine a bit before forcing the lever.

I made it to the meet. The folks at the membership desk were wonderful. I parked along side the road, walked over and filled out my paperwork, then they let me drive straight through the line of cars and park my bug with the others in its class (Class I: 1970-79 Beetle and Superbeetle Cabriolets).

It was a lovely day out there. There were HUNDREDS of Beetles. I was more than a little heartsick when I saw that I could have bought a restored Beetle convertible for less than half what I paid to have Greenie restored (to its PARTIAL state of readiness). I took over a hundred photos. Why then you ask, gentle reader, are none of those photos here...patience. In time all will be revealed.

About an hour after I arrived, another Ravenna Green VW Superbeetle Cabriolet parked two cars down from mine...a 1973 in beautiful condition. I talked with the owner; she and her husband drove in from Indiana that morning. There were some other friends of theirs who suffered last minute mechanical failures and were unable to attend. I guess Greenie is not the only evil VW genius out there.

I wandered around, took photos, ate a steakburger, bought some parts for Greenie, and had a pretty fun time. At 3pm, I realised that it would be smart to leave a little early and beat the rush...especially since I have a car that is now incapable of handling stop-and-go traffic. I made my final farewells and headed out on the road.

I decided to take the freeway back home since there would be fewer traffic signals to deal with. Bad mistake. Greenie just had the front of its frame replaced and I have not had time to get a proper front end alignment. I got out on the road and, after driving a few minutes at 65 mph, I heard a horrible noise and the wheel started to shake a bit. I pulled over to make sure that nothing had broken loose. Then I got back behind the wheel and drove on at 45 mph.

What a nightmare. I could not put the emergency blinkers on (they need repair too) but that probably would not have made any difference. People would fly up from behind me, jam on their brakes, ride on my bumper for a few moments, that speed around me. I tried to stay in the right lane; but it was not easy to get over since people would start passing me on the right everytime a new lane would get added to my right. I got home with a major headache and case of the shakes.

I took the memory chip out of my camera and plugged it into my computer to pull the pictures out...and there were none! My camera had been taking pictures all day....but none of them had been stored on my camera's xD memory chip. Oh, I was unhappy. I was despondent. I was to the point of asking existential questions. I got in my newer car and drove over to BestBuy to buy a new digital camera (I had hoped to put this expenditure off for a few more months but Greenie's evil will not be denied).

I am keeping a low profile today. Hopefully Greenie's lust for causing me pain has been satisfied.

Terror Stopped - For Now

The news today is filled with information about the plot to destroy ten or so jetliners over the Atlantic ... a plan for mass murder comparable with 9/11.

Here we are engaged in an "international war against terror." Our military forces carefully choose targets in an effort to minimize civilian casualties. Meanwhile, our enemies are using every means at their disposal to target and kill unsuspecting civilians...ours, theirs, they don't care. And there are people on our side (supposedly) who claim that our enemies are justified in the way they are fighting us.

Some moral relativists claim that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." I disagree. True warriors/freedom fighters in the modern, civilized world limit the force they use based on the nature of their enemy.

The amount of force that you use against an enemy should be limited by the way in which your enemy fights you. If you are fighting an enemy who is only using nonviolent, political methods then it would be immoral to use violence against them. It would be outrageous and criminal for Joe Lieberman's supporters to start blowing up buses in Connecticut just because their guy lost at the polls on Tuesday...it would be ludicrous and wrong because they have effective, nonviolent means to achieve their goals.

If you are fighting an enemy who is using violence in a "limited war" fashion (such as the way the US and Israel use force), then it is immoral to respond with terror and violence aimed at unsuspecting civilians. Ok, you don't want to mass your forces into a major attack on the enemy ... that would be stupid since you would get wiped out. But if you can't achieve your goals through a direct military assault and if you can't achieve them through the political process, perhaps you should examine your goals ... maybe you need new goals.

What do the Arabs want with respect to Israel? Do they want to live within the borders of Israel and enjoy the full rights as citizens in a western style representative government? They can do that without war. A certain amount of immigration into Israel is allowed. Of course, not everyone who wants to move to Israel can do so ... just as not everyone who wants to move into the better neighborhoods in any American city can do so.

But the Arabs don't just want to live within the borders of Israel, they want to control the country. There is an exclusive neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio named Bexley. It is a great place to live; I live a few blocks outside of it and love to walk there. There are a limited number of houses for sale there. What would happen if a thousand families decided that they wanted to live in Bexley ... and THEY wanted to take control of the local government? They could try and move in legally ... but if there were not enough houses for sale (or if they could not afford to buy the houses that were available) they would be out of luck. They absolutely would not have the right to start killing people and destroying property in order to frighten Bexley residents into abandoning their homes so that the newcomers could move in.

Our enemies can't defeat us on the battlefield. They have goals that cannot be achieved through the political process nor through diplomacy. The only way they can achieve their goals is to terrify us into submission. The problem is, their ultimate goal is to dominate the world. If we retreat for now, they will only come after us later.

So, where do we go? What do we do? How do we respond?

On Friday September 13, 2003 an essay was posted at The Belmont Club entitled THE THREE CONJECTURES.

Conjecture 1: Terrorism has lowered the nuclear threshold
Conjecture 2: Attaining WMDs will destroy Islam
Conjecture 3: The War on Terror is the 'Golden Hour' -- the final chance

Why will attaining WMDs destroy Islam?

Because capability is the sole variable of interest in the war against terrorism, the greater the Islamic strike capability becomes, the stronger the response will be. An unrepeatable attack with a stolen WMD weapon would elicit a different response from one arising from a capability to strike on a sustained and repetitive basis. The riposte to an unrepeatable attack would be limited. However, suppose Pakistan or North Korea engineered a reliable plutonium weapon that could be built to one-point safety in any machine shop with a minimum of skill, giving Islamic terrorists the means to repeatedly attack America indefinitely. Under these circumstances, there would no incentive to retaliate proportionately. The WMD exchange would escalate uncontrollably until Islam was destroyed.

Consider a case where Islamic terrorists obliterate a city, causing five times the deaths at Hiroshima and an American limited response.

In a war between nations, the conflict might stop at this point. But since there is no one with whom to negotiate a peace and no inclination to stop anyhow, the Islamic terrorists will continue while they have the capability and the cycle of destruction continues.

At this point, a United States choked with corpses could still not negotiate an end to hostilities or deter further attacks. There would be no one to call on the Red Telephone, even to surrender to. In fact, there exists no competent Islamic authority, no supreme imam who could stop a jihad on behalf of the whole Muslim world. Even if the terror chiefs could somehow be contacted in this apocalyptic scenario and persuaded to bury the hatchet, the lack of command and control imposed by the cell structure would prevent them from reining in their minions. Due to the fixity of intent, attacks would continue for as long as capability remained. Under these circumstances, any American government would eventually be compelled by public desperation to finish the exchange entering -1 x 10^9 in the final right hand column: total retaliatory extermination.

In other words, the moment they hit us, we would need to kill them all ... otherwise they would eventually build more nukes and hit us again.

Our enemies want to terrify us into submission. They would show us no mercy and leave us with no freedoms. One need only look at the history of Islam in India to see what is in store for the entire world if we surrendered to the terrorists.

The terrorists believe that if they use enough violence we will capitulate. Hopefully, we will not. But we must make it clear to the terrorists that we are willing to destroy them ALL if they continue to ratchet up the level of destruction and use WMD. We choose to fight our wars in a limited fashion ... it has been a luxury that we could afford. Once the enemy deploys WMD, we will no longer be able to afford that luxury. We will return to the horrific days of the Second World War when civilians were legitimate targets ... total war.

At the top of this essay, I wrote, "The amount of force that you use against an enemy should be limited by the way in which your enemy fights you. " Our enemies are willing to wage total war against us; we are morally justified to respond in kind. Our very survival is at stake!

Shocking animal video [link]

Park rangers in Africa tried to release a leopard (not a cheetah, Megalon) back into the wild. Note to file...do NOT poke the leopard with a stick when you are trying to get it to leave its cage. Leopards do not appreciate being poked with sticks.

The Lieberman Lesson [link]

Submitted for your approval, a column by Noam Scheiber discussing the reasons behind Joe Lieberman's troubles.

IF you asked Senator Joseph I. Lieberman why he faced the fight of his life in yesterday’s Democratic primary in Connecticut, the answer would likely be “Iraq.”

It’s basically an argument by deduction. Mr. Lieberman has repeatedly said that his endorsements from a who’s who of environmentalists, abortion rights groups and labor unions certify that he’s a Democrat in good standing. The war, he has suggested, was the only major issue on which he dissented from his party. So the fact that many Democratic voters turned on him in the primary must mean that the party has become intolerant of dissenting foreign policy views.

In truth, Mr. Lieberman’s problem wasn’t so much the war as the perception that he’s a less than reliable partisan. To see why you probably have to go back to his overly civil performance during the 2000 presidential campaign. Or to his 1998 speech denouncing President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky. Or to his occasional flirtation with school vouchers. Or to his ... well, you get the idea.

Good analysis, even if it IS in the NY Times.

Consider the way Democratic politics has worked for most of the last 40 years. If you were a Democratic member of Congress, pretty much the only way to earn yourself a primary challenger was to oppose a powerful local interest group on an issue it deemed critical. If you represented a Rust Belt district, for example, you could all but count on winning your party’s nomination every two years as long as you voted with the local union on trade legislation.

Under this old model, Mr. Lieberman was an all-star. He was a reliable vote on what Connecticut liberals care about: defending the right to abortion, fighting oil drilling in the Alaskan Arctic, raising the minimum wage.

When he did depart from Democratic orthodoxy, it usually involved attacking constituencies with little influence in his state, like Hollywood movie producers.
But over the last six years this old model has broken down. As anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave knows, traditional Democratic interest groups have steadily lost ground to a more partisan, progressive movement skilled at using the Internet to communicate and raise money. The most visible faces of the new movement are the thousands of political bloggers — and their millions of readers — who delighted in panning Mr. Lieberman these last several months.

The Dems are purging members who are not towing the BUSH LIED line...they do this at their own peril. Non-partisan voters will be repelled by the shrill noise that this crowd makes.

Anti-Israel or Anti-Semitic? You Decide [link]

Read the comments hear at the DIGG posting linked to above. The underlying story deals with a rant by the offensive George Galloway on tv. Apparently, he shredded a news interviewer by spewing hatred towards Israel. The comments at the DIGG posting approve of Galloway's comments and many of them are dripping with hatred towards Israel and Jews.

Not the stuff that I want to read in the morning.

Galloway excels at twisting and ignoring facts to make it seem as if the tyrants and murderers he supports are virtual cherubs. He is a vile and disgusting man who can talk his way around any challenger who is not verbally adebt. Christopher Hitchens cleaned Galloway's clock several months ago in a debate. Hopefully, there will be MORE of that.

Say It Ain't So, Joe! [link]

With over 80% of the precincts reporting, it looks like cable TV multimillionaire Ted Lamont has defeated veteran Senator Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democrat primary.

This is good news for the Kos-ites but bad news for the Dems; they will now get dragged to the left by the hate Bush appeasement-at-any-cost crowd.

On the bright side, it looks like Cynthia McKinney is trailing Hank Johnson in the runoff race for the 4th Congressional District of Georgia.

Israel Strikes Beirut with new super weapon!

This just in! The Israelis are clearly buying weaponry from Japan.



Oh, Megalon...check your voice mail. The IDF is probably trying to reach you to lend some air support.

* * * * UPDATE * * * *

MEGALON JOINS THE BATTLE IN BEIRUT















NOTHING can save Hezbollah now!

Motion to Compel [link]

Ladies and gentlemen, submitted for your approval is a draft of a motion to compel that can be used as a model for getting difficult people to attend social functions.

Don't overuse it!

Battlestar GOP-actica [it bears repeating]

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The Democrats were created by man.

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They rebelled.

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They evolved.

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They look

and feel

human.

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Some are programmed to believe they are human.

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There are many copies.

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\

And they have a plan.

The Last Honest Man? Hardly [link]

Robert Kagan writes today in the Washington Post:

Twenty-nine Democratic senators voted in the fall of 2002 to authorize the invasion of Iraq. There isn't enough room on this page to list the Democratic foreign policy experts and former officials, including those from the top ranks of the Clinton administration, who supported the war publicly and privately -- some of whom even signed letters calling for the removal of Saddam Hussein. Nor is there any need to list the many liberal, and conservative, columnists on this and other editorial pages around the country who supported the war, or the many prominent journalists who provided the reporting that helped convince so many that the war was necessary.

The question of the day is, what makes Joe Lieberman different? What makes him now anathema to a Democratic Party and to liberal columnists who once supported both him and the war? Why is there now a chance he will lose the Democratic primary in Connecticut after so many years of faithfully serving that state and his own party?

Kagan describes Lieberman's devotion to the Democrat party and his hard work. Then he describes the support that other Democrats gave to the war in Iraq...and how they changed their position after the war became unpopular.

These have been the chosen tactics of self-preservation ever since events in Iraq started to go badly and the war became unpopular. Prominent intellectuals, both liberal and conservative, have turned on their friends and allies in an effort to avoid opprobrium for a war they publicly supported. Journalists have turned on their fellow journalists in an effort to make them scapegoats for the whole profession. Politicians have twisted themselves into pretzels to explain away their support for the war or, better still, to blame someone else for persuading them to support it.

Al Gore, the one-time Clinton administration hawk, airbrushed that history from his record. He turned on all those with whom he once agreed about Iraq and about many other foreign policy questions. And for this astonishing reversal he has been applauded by his fellow Democrats and may even get the party's nomination.

Apparently, amazingly, dispiritingly, it all works. At least in the short run, dishonesty pays. Dissembling pays. Forgetting your past writings and statements pays. Condemning those with whom you once agreed pays. Phony self-flagellation followed by self-righteous self-congratulation pays. The only thing that doesn't pay is honesty. If Joe Lieberman loses, it will not be because he supported the war or even because he still supports it. It will be because he refused to choose one of the many dishonorable paths open to him to salvage his political career.

He is the last honest man, and he may pay the price for it. At least he will be able to sleep at night. And he can take some solace in knowing that history, at least an honest history, will be kinder to him than was his own party.

The LAST honest man? Hardly. Mr. Kagan is forgetting all the Republicans and Neo-Conservatives who continue to support the war. Oh well, I guess to many, only the Dems count.

Why Sulla? [link]

So just who was Sulla? That is Lucius Cornelius Sulla, my absolute favorite Dictator of Rome. My long time readers (ok, let me be honest, READER...that would be YOU Megalon) have read this before, but it bears repeating.

A famous Roman general stood poised to take the unprecedented step of marching on Rome with his legions, to purge the Senate of his political enemies and to ensure the downfall of a rival general, once more famous, now vying for command of the Roman armies. Of an old but decayed patrician family, he was famous for his conquest of foreign kings and his unrivaled luck in battle. He was ruthless, brilliant, alternately merciful and pitiless to his enemies. The younger general's actions sent shock-waves to the very foundations of the enfeebled Republic and led to his seizing the dictatorship of Rome; however, he would not step aside from the office in the traditional six months, but proceeded to force through legislation to recreate Rome in his own image. His name would become a byword for those who helped destroy the Roman Republic in its final years.

His name was Lucius Cornelius Sulla "Felix" - the fortunate.

The parallels between Sulla's notorious career and that of Julius Caesar (who was not even born when Sulla first rose to prominence, but who lived his youth under his shadow) are uncanny. As Caesar had his Pompey, Sulla had his Gaius Marius. The increasing struggles between the two warlords resulted in civil war and a seesaw of alternating political regimes that immersed Rome in blood. Caesar grew up in this political chaos. Sulla's ruthless actions must have profoundly influenced the mind of the young Julian.

If you are a fan of the HBO series ROME, then you should read Colleen McCullough's outstanding series, MASTERS OF ROME. The first book is FIRST MAN IN ROME. To be honest, she portrays Sulla as a monster...but I find it easy to ignore the outrageous antics she attributes to him (Gaius Julius Caesar's enemies made similar claims about him) and enjoy one of the few men in history who exercised absolute power, then retired to private life to party himself to death.

Michelle Malkin - SUPERSTAR

I am humbled and amazed. Last night I emailed my HEZBOLLAH/EXODUS find to Michelle's website. This morning, I got an email back from Michelle (or one of her minions) saying that a link was made to this puny little blog.

Now, 12 hours after that link, I over 3 times as many people visit the Sulla Institute than in the entire previous year that it has been in operation.

Thank you Michelle. And thank you everyone else for visiting. Now I have to be religious about adding content.

Hezbollah - Stealing Ideas from the Jews

I saw the flag used by Hezbollah and it occurred to me that it looked as if it was inspired by the movie poster for the Otto Preminger film EXODUS. Very odd...that was a movie that portrayed the Jews creating the state of Israel in a very heroic light.

It turns out that the poster for EXODUS was created by Saul Bass. You take a look and tell me if you see the simularity:

No Comment [link]

I hear nothing! I see nothing! I know nothing!

Read the story yourself. I have nothing to say about this.

Democrat Hypocrisy - DeLay and the ballot [link]

The Democrats in Texas want to keep Tom DeLay on the ballot. They claim that it would be a serious abuse to allow the Republicans to offer a different candidate. Excuse me. Is this the same Democrat party that sued to get Robert Torricelli OFF the New Jersey ballot?

Here is a link to a summary of the situtation over at National Review Online:

http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock100702.asp

What is outrageous about all this is that each state has separate rules with respect to how and when a candidate can resign from a race, and whether or not that candidate can be replaced. In New Jersey, the local courts ignored the law and allowed Torricelli to be replaced. In Texas, DeLay complied with the law, and the Dems have moved Heaven and Earth to keep him ON the ballot so they can run against him.

Of course, this could come back to bite them on the backside. If DeLay is forced to stay on the ballot, he can run his usual aggressive campaign. The Dems have foolishly given him an issue to run ON...they won't let him off the ballot. It is the DEMS who don't want the people of that district to have a choice. They may regret having Tom stay on the ballot.

I hope that Jim Bopp is able to convince the 5th Circuit to let the Republicans replace DeLay. But if not, I hope DeLay gives them hell and a solid whooping!

The Gibson Apology [link]

Over at Drudge Report, there is a report that Mel Gibson has issued an apology. I took a look and, at least for a first step, it is acceptable (a lot more than you see out of your typical "avoid all blame" Hollywood liberal): http://www.drudgereport.com/flash3.htm

MEL SAYS SORRY TO THE JEWS

Tue Aug 01 2006 11:10:45 ET August 2, 2006 -- There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of Anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.

I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.

The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life. Every human being is God ' s child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.

I'm not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.

I have begun an ongoing program of recovery and what I am now realizing is that I cannot do it alone. I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery. Again, I am reaching out to the Jewish community for its help. I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed.

This is not about a film. Nor is it about artistic license. This is about real life and recognizing the consequences hurtful words can have. It's about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad.

END

I am willing to forgive someone for insulting me, provided they make a good faith effort. Gibson was arrested with a blood alcohol level of 0.12. That is not terribly high. In the not too distant past, the BAC for DUI was 0.15! So, he was only mildly impaired when he made those dreadful comments.

My guess is that Mel has more than a few anti-semitic bones in his body. The question is whether or not he truly believes that it is wrong.If he tries an easy path (find some Jews who will forgive ANYONE) and make a big show of going into recovery like Patrick Kennedy or (oh...fill in the name of some celebrity who tries to use substance abuse as an excuse for their criminal behavior...drug abuse) then I will have a more hostile opinion.

If he is sincere, he should meet with some "hard case" politically active Jews (maybe Abe Foxman at ADL or Rabbi Daniel Lapman at Towards Tradition) who will really make him WORK at getting forgiveness. He probably will never be able to totally banish the hatred of Jews from his heart; but if he keeps working at it I am willing to forgive. None of us are without sin or hate in our hearts; but being civilized means that we control it and, if we screw up and accidentally let it out, we make a strong, good faith effort at trying to repair the damage. Catholics have confession; Jews have Yom Kippur.

We are not perfect; we just need to keep pointing our noses down the path of righteousness no matter how far off the path we have slipped.

* * * * * UPDATE * * * * *

APOLOGY ACCEPTED

New York, NY, August 1, 2006 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today accepted actor Mel Gibson's apology for anti-Semitic remarks he made during an arrest on suspicion of drunken driving.

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:
This is the apology we had sought and requested. We are glad that Mel Gibson has finally owned up to the fact that he made anti-Semitic remarks, and his apology sounds sincere. We welcome his efforts to repair the damage he has caused, to reach out to the Jewish community, and to seek help.

Once he completes his rehabilitation for alcohol abuse, we will be ready and willing to help him with his second rehabilitation to combat this disease of prejudice.

Hezbollah-wood...possibly another Islamofascist hoax [link]

There is something suspicious going on up in Lebanon. Everyone was waiting for an Israeli bomb to go astray and hit a building with lots of civilians. Over the weekend it finally happens. 60 people dead! Over 3o of whom are children! International cries of outrage pour in and Israel announces a 48 hour suspension of its air attacks (did Hezbollah suspend ITS air attacks? Probably not!).

But then an odd detail comes out. The apartment building where all the deaths occurred did not collapse (because of a second explosion?) until 8 hours after the attack. So, are we to believe that everyone was killed in the initial attack?

Remember the supposed massacre at Jenin? Maybe the same thing happened at Qana. Here is an excerpt from the article linked to above:

Lebanese rescue teams did not start evacuating the building until the morning and only after the camera crews came. The absence of a real rescue effort was explained by saying that equipment was lacking. There were no scenes of live or injured people being extracted.

There was little blood, CNN's Wedeman noted: all the victims, he concluded, appeared to have died while as they were sleeping -- sleeping, apparently, through thunderous Israeli air attacks. Rescue workers equipped with cameras were removing the bodies from the same opening in the collapsed structure. Journalists were not allowed near the collapsed building.

Rescue workers filmed as they went carried the victims on the stretchers, occasionally flipping up the blankets so that cameras could show the faces and bodies of the dead.

But Israelis steeled to scenes of carnage from Palestinian suicide bombings and Hezbollah rocket attack could not help but notice that these victims did not look like our victims. Their faces were ashen gray. While medical examination clearly is called for to arrive at a definitive dating and cause of their deaths, they do not appear to have died hours before. The bodies looked like they had been dead for days.

Viewers can judge for themselves. But the accumulating evidence suggests another explanation for what happened at Kana. The scenario would be a setup in which the time between the initial Israeli bombing near the building and morning reports of its collapse would have been used to "plant" bodies killed in previous fighting -- reports in previous days indicated that nearby Tyre was used as a temporary morgue -- place them in the basement, and then engineer a "controlled demolition" to fake another Israeli attack.

The well-documented use by Palestinians of this kind of faked footage -- from the alleged shooting of Mohammed Dura in Gaza, scenes from Jenin of "dead" victims falling off gurneys and then climbing back on -- have merited the creation of a new film genre called "Palliwood." There is increasing evidence that the Kana sequel is another episode in this genre, a variety which might be called Hezbollywood. The Hezbollah have evidently learned their craft well.

Hooray for Hezbollah-wood! Rather than wait for the inevitable tragedy to occur, Hezbollah stages one! It does not matter though. The world will condemn Israel regardless of what really happened. Israel gets blamed for unintentially causing civilian deaths while Hezbollah rains missiles down on civilian areas of Israel INTENDING to cause civilian deaths.