A great analysis by John Bolton

Jewish Russian Telegraph posted a link to a great analysis by John Bolton about possible Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear program:

What If Israel Strikes Iran?
The mullahs would retaliate. But things would be much worse if they had the bomb.

By JOHN R. BOLTON

Whatever the outcome of Iran's presidential election tomorrow, negotiations will not soon -- if ever -- put an end to its nuclear threat. And given Iran's determination to achieve deliverable nuclear weapons, speculation about a possible Israeli attack on its nuclear program will not only persist but grow.

So what would such an attack look like? Obviously, Israel would need to consider many factors -- such as its timing and scope, Iran's increasing air defenses, the dispersion and hardening of its nuclear facilities, the potential international political costs, and Iran's "unpredictability." While not as menacingly irrational as North Korea, Iran's politico-military logic hardly compares to our NATO allies. Central to any Israeli decision is Iran's possible response.

Israel's alternative is that Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs reach fruition, leaving its very existence at the whim of its staunchest adversary. Israel has not previously accepted such risks. It destroyed Iraq's Osirak reactor in 1981 and a Syrian reactor being built by North Koreans in 2007. One major new element in Israel's calculus is the Obama administration's growing distance (especially in contrast to its predecessor).

Read it all.

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Obama Tells American Businesses to Drop Dead

That is the title of the article posted by the Jewish Russian Telegraph.  Here is the original article:

Obama Tells American Businesses to Drop Dead
By Kevin A. Hassett
Bloomberg.com
Monday, June 8, 2009

President Obama plans to raise America's corporate taxes to even higher levels. This policy will be destructive to U.S. firms' competitiveness, pushing more jobs and companies overseas.

I've finally figured out the Obama economic strategy. President Barack Obama and his team have been having so much fun wielding dictatorial power while rescuing "failed" firms, that they have developed a scheme to gain the same power over every business. The plan is to enact policies that are so anticompetitive that every firm needs a bailout.

Once that happens, their new pay czar Kenneth Feinberg can set the wage for everybody and Rahm Emanuel can stack the boards of all of our companies with his political cronies.

I know, it sounds like an exaggeration. But look at it this way. If there were a power ranking of U.S. companies, like the ones compiled by football writers for National Football League teams, Microsoft would surely be first or second to Google. But last week, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer came to Washington to announce what Microsoft would do if Obama's multinational tax policy is enacted.

The U.S. now has about the highest combined corporate tax rate, second only to Japan among industrialized countries.

"It makes U.S. jobs more expensive," Ballmer said, "We're better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S." If Microsoft, perhaps our most competitive company, has to abandon the U.S. in order to continue to thrive, who exactly is going to stay?

At issue is Obama's policy to end the deferral of multinational taxation.

The U.S. now has about the highest combined corporate tax rate, second only to Japan among industrialized countries. That rate is so high that U.S. firms have an enormous disadvantage versus competitors. The average corporate tax rate for the major developed countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2008 was about 27 percent, more than 10 percentage points lower than the U.S. rate.

Read the whole thing.

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Great analysis of Netanyahu's speech

Bookworm analyzed Obama's speech, and now she offers a similar analysis of Netanyahu's speech.  Go there to read it: you'll get the complete speech along with Bookworm's comments on it.

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Insanity

The other day I found this article:

Detainees Freed in Bermuda Say China Worse Than Gitmo

The four of the Chinese Muslims, or Uighurs, released to Bermuda from the Guantanamo Bay prison told FOX News that they are innocent, glad to be free and hold no grudges against the United States for their captivity.

The men, who range from 31 to 38 years old, also said they think life in China, where they face persecution, is worse than life at Guantanamo.

With the help of a translator, they said they didn't know anything about Al Qaeda or Usama bin Laden, despite past allegations that they had aided the terror mastermind's escape.

"I am not a terrorist. I have never been terrorist," one of the men told FOX News. "I want to live peacefully."

The Uighurs, released this week, are staying at a guest cottage complex on the island without security or electronic monitoring, but their attorney said they will have to periodically check in with local police.

The release of the Uighurs comes amid increasing political tensions in Washington over what to do with the more than 200 detainees being held at the Guantanamo facility following President Obama's pledge to close the facility within a year of taking office.

But the Uighurs may be among the least threatening of the detainees whose fate must be decided, given that the Justice Department under the Bush administration already had decided that they should no longer be classified as "enemy combatants."

A September 2008 federal court motion filed by the Justice Department confirmed their change of status and declared that all 17 Uighurs being held at Gunatanamo should be resettled in a foreign country.

The Uighurs will be eligible for Bermudian passports in the future, but the U.S. has a mechanism in place to block their entry into the U.S. unless the federal government chooses to let them in.

Their attorney says the Uighurs are determined to stay in Bermuda as part of a guest worker program. There is a provision in that program that in limited circumstances allows guest workers to get Bermudian citizenship.

However, the transfer of the Uighurs has been criticized not only by U.S. Republican lawmakers but by the governments of the United Kingdom, which controls the territory of Bermuda, and China, which wants the Uighurs returned.

On Friday, some members of the Bermudan government who said they'd not been informed of the transfer questioned the wisdom of moving the inmates to the island located 640 miles off the coast of North Carolina, saying it could hurt tourism, which is Bermuda's chief industry.

But the Bermudan government defended its decision to take the Uighurs, whom the U.S. feared would face torture if sent back to China.

The Uighurs told FOX News that they plan to make their home in Bermuda, probably working first in some form of manual labor. They also may open a restaurant and look forward to swimming and fishing.

The article is too small for excerpts.  Still, you might want to go there for the comments.  So, these 17 Uighurs were apparently captured in Afghanistan.  Suppose, 16 of them are innocent.  It takes only one to do tremendous damage.

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Obama and the Jews

Bookworm has the most complete round-up of commentaries on the recent Obama speech in Cairo.  Just go there and follow her links, including her own commentary.  Indeed, there was some good stuff there and some not so good.  But here is the article that points out some disturbing moral equivalency so prevalent on the Left:

Just days ago Obama traveled to Cairo, Egypt. It was his second trip in a short time to visit Muslim countries. He sent a clear message by not visiting Israel.

But this was code.

In Cairo, Obama said things that pose a grave danger to Jews in Israel, in America and everywhere.

And if his views are not vigorously opposed they will help create a danger as great as that posed by the Nazis to the Jewish people.

Just last week, Obama told his worldwide audience — more than 100 million people — that the killing of six million Jews during the Holocaust was the equivalent of Israel’s actions in dealing with the Palestinians.

This remark is incredible on its face, an insult to the six million Jews who died as a result of Hitler’s genocide — and it is a form of revisionism that will bode evil for Jews for years to come.

While Obama acknowledged that “six million Jews were killed — more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today” — his discussion about the Holocaust was followed by this statement: “On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people — Muslims and Christians — have suffered in pursuit of a homeland.” (Emphasis mine - Eric-Odessit).

“On the other hand . . . ”?

Obama’s clever construct comparing the mass genocide of six million Jews to the Palestinian struggle will not be lost on the estimated 100 million Muslims who tuned into to hear him.

This is the worst kind of moral equivalency.  Read it all.  And now we hear about the anti-Semitic statement of Obama's mentor.  Do you think 20 years of attending this guy's church rubbed off on Obama?  You know, to certain extent I feel vindicated when Obama's anti-Israel and anti-Semitic associations come out: I hope that this will teach those 77% of American Jews that blindly voting for Democrats is not always good for them.  But then, those people usually refuse to hear and see the evidence.  Just like the Jews under Nazi occupation refused to see the evidence of mass slaughter, so the modern American Jews keep blindly voting for Democrats despite growing anti-Semitism on the Left.  A disclaimer: no, I do not compare Obama to the Nazis.  But the refusal to see the evidence on the part of the 77% of American Jews is the same.

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In case you missed it...

It's been a while since this has been posted, but it is worth reminding.

Back when the Left was screaming about harsh interrogations (waterboarding etc.), and when Obama declared that those techniques would no longer be used, Dick Cheney asked for the results of those interrogations be released along with with those memos authorizing them.  Indeed, the question of effectiveness of those interrogations is very valid.  In fact, this question even gets asked by some leftist at Huffington Post.  So, here is the summary of what those interrogations revealed:

Not one of the liberal pundits decrying the use of enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs) appears to have read the complete set of memos released by President Obama. I know this because I cannot find a single, plain-text version of the scanned memos anywhere on the web. And, the most critical section -- the results obtained from EITs -- is nowhere to be found.

Most of the anti-American leftists seem strangely incurious regarding the key question asked even at The Huffington Post: what did the enhanced interrogations reveal?

I (Doug Ross) herein present the actual results of the EITs as described in the partially redacted 5/30/2005 memo (U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel, MEMORANDUM FOB JOHN A. RIZZO, SENIOR DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, "Re: Application of 'United States Obligation; Under Article 16 of the Convention Against Torture to Certain Techniques That May Be Used in the Interrogation of High Value al Qaeda Detainees'", originally classified TOP SECRET/NOFORN).

…………………………………………………………………………….

To put things in simple terms for any "progressives" reading along, here's what the EITs revealed after 3,000 American civilians were slaughtered in cold blood by Al Qaeda:

• FACT: EITs produced 3,000 of the 6,000 critical counter-terror intelligence reports only after normal techniques had proven fruitless;

• FACT: EITs used on Zubaydah revealed KSM's identity as a mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks;

• FACT: KSM ratted out a number of mass-murderers including Hambali;

• FACT: Hambali's brother ratted out a cell bent on "9/11 Wave 2" on the West Coast;

• FACT: Zubaydah also revealed Padilla and his plan to detonate a simplistic dirty bomb in Washington, DC;

So, drones, you can either believe the CIA forged 3,000 documents and magically captured mass-murderers without EITs... or you can believe the truth.

Obviously, read the whole post by Doug Ross.

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My new favorite manufacturer of electronic components

There is a company called Vishay Intertechnology.  They make all kinds of electronic components, which I, as an Electronics Engineer, use in my designs.  In particular, they are the first ones I think of when I need to use filed-effect transistors (FETs, or MOSFETs, to be exact).  I won't get too deep into the technical details, but their FETs are very well suited for use in the switching power supplies.  Recently I learned about amazing history of this company and its founder, Dr. Felix Zandman:

In the 1950s, patents were issued for the PhotoStress® products developed by Dr. Felix Zandman.  These products reveal and measure stress distribution in airplanes, cars, and other structures under live load conditions.  His research in this area led him to develop Bulk Metal® foil resistors, the most precise and stable resistors available — both then and now, over four decades later.

Dr. Zandman, with the financial support of Alfred P. Slaner, founded Vishay in 1962 to develop and manufacture Bulk Metal foil resistors. The Company was named after the village in Lithuania where relatives of Dr. Zandman and Mr. Slaner had perished during the Holocaust (emphasis mine - Eric-Odessit).  The Company’s initial product portfolio consisted of foil resistors and foil resistance strain gages.

Here is more:

A survivor from the Polish town of Grodno, Dr. Felix Zandman, immigrated to the United States and became an inventor and important industrialist there, in Israel, and in other countries.  He named the electronics concern he established Vishay in memory of his beloved grandmother Tema Freydovicz, who was born in the town of Vishay, and the Jewish community there that had been annihilated in the Holocaust.  The electronics plants he established in Israel also bear the same name.

This indeed is an amazing story.  I sent these links to a friend of mine, an Applications Engineer from a Vishay distributor company, who is also Jewish.  He did not know this history.  But later, when he came to visit me in the office on business, he brought me a present from the local Vishay representative: the memoir of Dr. Felix Zandman.  I am sure I will enjoy this book.  And it is very satisfying to be able to use good products and support a good company and worthy causes at the same time.

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Historical ignorance and moral equivalence

I haven't posted for a while.  Part of the reason for it is some feeling of apathy on my part.  I keep encountering people who just refuse to hear my arguments about dangers of what Obama administration is doing domestically and internationally.  On the other hand, not everything is bad: they do seem to make some responsible decisions, like the ones with restoring military commissions and blocking the release of photos of some GIs mistreating prisoners.  Obama is now planning a trip to Europe and the Middle East.  Apparently the trip includes a stop in Normandy to commemorate 65th Anniversary of the D-Day, a stop in Germany and in Egypt.  The stop in Germany is what concerns me.  I recently received an e-mail with a link to this story:

In a move aimed at healing the rifts of American foreign policy decisions, President Obama will make a trip to Europe next month, including a trip to Dresden, Germany. The trip will consist of several stops and the President will meet with the President of France and the Chancellor of Germany. Also slated are several policy speeches.

Perhaps the most controversial is a planned speech in which President Obama will formally apologize for American 'war crimes' during the Second World War. This would be particularly comforting to Europeans, who have long condemned American foreign policy actions, especially regarding civilians.

This speech will also be welcome in Germany, who had over 12,000,000 of its citizens killed during the war. Mayor Johann Krupp of Augensburg in Saxony stated to DW that the speech will "help my great-uncle's soul rest. He burned to death during the Dresden bombings."

I then followed a link provided by Weasel Zippers.  There it all seemed like some sort of satire.  I could not find this story at the Deutsche Welle web site.  Could it be satire?  I started digging some more.  I found this Gateway Pundit post on the subject with more links.  Do follow those links and read the articles there.  And if you have have time for just one of them, go to this Pajamas Media article.  It does seem that Obama is planning to go to Dresden and apologize at the very least for the Dresden bombing.  Bookworm also has a post on the subject of Obama going to both Buchenwald and Dresden, where she points out that the myth of Dresden bombing just to terrorize German population and the city of Dresden having no military value was started by none other than Josef Goebbels.  And here we come to the book review.  The definitive book on the subject of Dresden bombing is "Dresden: Tuesday, February 13, 1945" by Frederick Taylor.

In the book Mr. Taylor proves beyond any doubt several things.  First of all, the number of people killed was exaggerated 10-fold.  As such, with 25 to 30 thousand people killed, Dresden did not have the most casualties of all the cities in Germany.  The largest absolute number can be claimed by Hamburg, and the largest percentage of the population can be claimed by Leipzig.  Further, Dresden also had significant number of legitimate military targets.  First of all, it was the largest railroad junction in the Eastern Germany, through which the German Eastern Front was supplied.  The Soviets requested in Yalta that Allies would bomb the German supply routes, and the Allies obliged.  Dresden also had large tank repair shops, clearly a military target.  Additionally, Dresden was home for a factory making communication equipment for the German Army and a factory making bombsights for the German bombers.  The local cigarette factory was making rifle ammunition, since the equipment used for stuffing cigarettes can be also used for stuffing rifle rounds.  Indeed, if you look at the history of Dresden, the ancient capital of Saxony, the claim that the city was devoid of any industry of military value would understandably seem as ridiculous as it really is.  It is true that the city did not have much heavy industry, but it did have what in modern parlance would be called "high tech".  All the jewelry historically produced in Dresden would just naturally evolve into it.  The reason why Goebbels claimed the Dresden, of all other German cities, was an ultimate victim was because Dresden was a popular tourist destination before the war, particularly for the British and the Americans.  The claim of Dresden victimhood was dismissed at the time.  Obviously, in February of 1945 it was impossible to know that the war in Europe would end in May.  But with the start of the Cold War the Soviets and their East German puppets were eager to paint the Western Allies in the bad light, so they resurrected the old Nazi lie.  Now the blame-America-first crowd on the Left is eager to repeat it.

Other things that Frederick Taylor proves in the book are:

1. The blame for the high number of civilian death should placed squarely on the city Nazi leadership who built the nice bomb shelters for themselves, but neglected to provide adequate shelters for the population;

2. There was no strafing of the ground targets in Dresden by American escort fighter aircraft.  Indeed, anyone who even played a Combat Flight Simulator game (this or this) knows that any air combat invariably sinks close to the ground, as the fighters maneuver and try to restore their air speed.  So, imagine an American P-51 Mustang attacking a German Fokke-Wulf FW-190 from above and behind (a common mode of attack), close to the ground.  The Mustang pilot lines up the German in his sights and opens fire.  He scores some hits.  But where do you think the bullets that missed the German aircraft go?  That's right, down to the ground.  Now, what if you are a civilian on the ground and you did not see the Fokke-Wulf, but you did see the Mustang shooting, the tracers from its machine guns streaming to the ground?  It would obviously seem to you like the Mustang was strafing something on the ground, even though the Mustang was in fact shooting at the German aircraft.  Indeed, the air combat did take place during the day, when Americans bombed the railroad junction.  But there were no ground targets to strafe, so there were no strafing attacks by the the American escort fighters.

The bottom line, this book should be required reading for anybody who wants to at least attempt to understand history.  For President Obama it would certainly be better to read this book rather than the crap Hugo Chavez gave him.

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Giving credit, where credit is due

Over the last weekend Captain Philips of Maersk Alabama was freed from pirate captivity.  I was very worried that the ransom demanded by the pirates would be paid, but that did not happen.  Instead, 3 of the pirates were killed and the 4th was taken into custody.  Many of my fellow Conservatives, including some in the comments of this LGF post, insist that Obama Administration does not deserve any credit for the successful conclusion of the Captain Philips' drama.  They insist that the only credit should go to US Navy SEAL team who executed the rescue operation.  Mark Levine on his radio show pointed out that all Obama did was that he authorized the US Navy to secure the release of Captain Philips by all means necessary, including deadly force, and that is why he did not deserve any credit.

Well, let's give credit where credit is due.  To be sure, the credit for the most part goes to the US Navy and SEAL snipers who actually did what needed to be done.  But here is why I think Obama also deserves some credit: he authorized the US Navy to secure the release of Captain Philips by all means necessary, including deadly force, and then got out of the way.  That was exactly what he should have done.  If it was Bush, we would all be screaming how well he handled the situation.  Obama deserves the same.  He let the pros take care of things and did not cause the pirates to be paid off.  If the Captain was killed, we would all blame Obama, and rightly so.  He also deserves to be praised for success.

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My letter to a Liberal Jew

Jewish Russian Telegraph posted a link to a very touching article by Regina Spektor.  I've never heard of her before, but then, since I am in my 40s, maybe I am too old.  Apparently she is quite famous and talented performer.  She even merits a Wikipedia entry.  Ms. Spektor is obviously yet another example of a successful immigrant and yet another source of pride for the Russian-Jewish community in this country.  But back to her article.  I don't see a reason to post an excerpt here: the article is out there, just go and read it.

What struck me about this article is the dichotomy between Regina's support for Israel and her liberal values on one side, and her desire to support the politicians who are so willing to go for her Option 3 regarding Israel.  The politicians she supports are eager to appease violent fanatics who would take away everybody's Civil Liberties.  If those violent fanatics would ever manage to take power, Civil Liberties would not matter for Regina : she and her family would be simply killed.  I would have commented on her site, but for some reason Regina decided to disable the comments for this article, so I am commenting here in the form of an open letter.  I will attempt to send her an e-mail and sincerely hope that she will read this.

    Dear Regina.

I learned about you and your article from a Jewish Russian Telegraph post.  You indeed wrote a great article.  You and I have similar backgrounds: I too was born in the former Soviet Union.  Although, unlike you, I was in my mid-twenties in 1989, when I left the Soviet Union and came to America.  I share your liberal values: I believe in protecting Civil Liberties.  I hate Racism and believe in judging people based "on the contents of their character".  So, how come, while you are supporting leftist politicians, I find myself firmly on the Right side of political spectrum?  Perhaps the answer lies in this attempt to explain my views.  In turn, I'd like to ask you a few questions.  And, while I'd like you to answer them in the comments here, you are certainly not obligated to do so.  But I sincerely hope that at least you'll think of answers to my questions and try to answer them just for yourself.

Let's start with your assertion that all media is biased. That may be true, but you can analyze various sources and determine the facts behind reports. Besides, even though all the reporters and commentators are biased in favor of their own views, there are intellectually honest among them.  Those, who are intellectually honest, report the facts even if those facts contradict their original views. Misreporting the facts in order to push an agenda would be dishonest. There are dishonest reporters, but please don't paint them all with such a broad brush. Put yourself in their place: would you misreport the facts in order to push an agenda? So, I would recommend Bill O'Reilly in the middle, Dennis Prager on the Right, Kirsten Powers on the Left. Dennis Prager usually recommends New Republic on the Left. Additionally, you can use your own life experiences, sources, like your family and friends, and logic to decipher the facts. When the facts don't make sense to you, as reported, then they are probably misreported.  A good example of your own analysis of the news is your own views on the news reporting on Israel, as reported by the leftist media.  You probably have your own sources in Israel: your friends and relatives.  And you use your own logic.  So, you instantly see when the facts about Israel get misreported.  And it angers you.  So, now, as long as we are on the subject of Israel, we come to the first of my questions for you:

1. While here in the States about 77% of American Jews voted for Obama, 76% of American Jews in Israel voted for McCain.  Why do you think that is?  Could it be this story?  Or this?  Just to prove this point, here is the Google search result for Chas Freeman, now withdrawn Obama's nominee to chair the National Intelligence Council.

You state that we were dragged "into a horrible war in Iraq, in the name of oil".  First of all, any war is horrible, that is the nature of war, however just it may be.  But here is my second question for you:

2. You state that the war in Iraq was "in the name of oil".  What do you base this assertion on?  Just the fact that Iraq has oil?

Let's talk about this a bit.  Have you ever met anyone who was there?  Who saw mass graves created by the Saddam's regime?  Are you going to say that it is not our business?  Then it would not be very Liberal of you, would it?  Because a true Liberal would want to stop the modern Nazi regime's atrocities.  The media says that WMD were not found in Iraq.  Let's stop and think.  Everybody agrees that Saddam did have the WMD: after all, he used them.  So, where could they go?  There are 3 possible scenarios:

a) He used them all up.  Not very likely: he would have to kill pretty much the whole population of his country to do that.  Besides, if he had just run out of them, then he would not have to play all those games with UN inspectors, would he?

b) He destroyed them.  Again, if he did, why would he play all those games with the UN inspectors?  Some say that he did that in order to fool Iran into thinking that he still had WMD.  Now, let's look into this logic some more.  He got rid of his WMD in order to comply with the UN demands.  But he made the UN think that he did not comply in order to fool Iran.  Where is the logic in that?  If he wanted everybody to think that he still had the stuff, why bother destroying it in the first place?  What could be gained by destroying the stuff, if everybody thinks that you still have it?

c) He hid the WMD really well or got them out of the country just before the invasion.  Let's look into this scenario.  Saddam rightly calculated that he would not be able to successfully resist US Military on the battlefield.  Using the WMD against American troops would bring American WMD onto his head, prove advocates of the invasion right, and he would still lose.  However, if no WMD were found in Iraq, if the post-invasion occupation were messy and bloody enough, the American public might get tired of the mess and elect the politicians who would pull the troops out.  So, he got the WMD out of Iraq right before the invasion, likely to Syria, and likely with Russia's help.

It could be obvious from my description that I personally buy scenario (c).  But which one of these scenarios makes sense to you?  Can you think of any other scenarios?  Just give it some thought.  Incidentally, Saddam's calculation was correct, just not in time for him to benefit.  As for the profit motive, it is well known that the Russians and the French had long business dealings with Saddam.  So, it could be argued that they were opposed to our invasion in order to protect their profits.  And while we are on the subject of Iraq, here is what 9/11 Commission has found.  Do follow the links, you might find them interesting.

But enough on question #2.  Let's move on.  You say you believe in Equality.  So, here is my third question:

3. Do you mean "Equality of opportunity and Equality under the Law"?  Or, do you mean "Equality of outcome"?

You and I both were born in a country where the Equality of outcome was at least attempted.  Incidentally, it never worked out that way: people always found ways around the system.  So, there was Party elite, better overall conditions in Moscow at the expense of other areas, people getting rich illegally.  But majority of Soviet citizens had equally low standard of living.  So, try to answer this question for yourself: which equality do you want?  And, by the way, these kinds of equality are mutually excluding, because in order to ensure equality of outcome those who are more successful have to be deprived of their success by the law.

You say you want to end Racism.  Very well.  Here is question number 4:

4. Do you think not admitting a person into college because of his or her ethnic origin is racist?  How about admitting someone into college because of his or her ethnic origin?  Isn't that equally racist?  After all, if you admit someone based on race or ethnicity, that means that someone who is of "wrong" race or ethnicity gets denied admission.  So, how can you support politicians who support that vile quota system, otherwise known as Affirmative Action?  Is it in order to compensate for some past wrongs?  Well, for starters for example, there was a time when Jews were not admitted into Harvard.  That in fact was the reason why Einstein refused to work there and went instead to Princeton.  Is there an Affirmative Action for Jews at Harvard?  Also, back in Odessa Jews were often not admitted into colleges.  Those who were, had to know somebody, bribe somebody, or be listed as "Russians" in their internal passports.  But in places like Tashkent, for example, it was the Russians who were often discriminated against.  In fact, you had a better chance to get in, if you were a Jew than if you were a Russian.  Am I supposed to feel vindicated because of that anti-Russian discrimination?  Or is discrimination always bad, no matter against whom and for whom?  I personally like the attitude my kids have about race and ethnicity: they simply don't care.  To them a Black kid is just another kid.  That's how Racism ends once and for all: you raise the next generation to simply not pay attention to race at all.

Moving on.  You say you believe in protecting Civil Liberties, but not with guns.  So, here is question number 5:

5. How would you protect yourself from that mugger you described in your article?  Would you rely on Police to be there to protect you?  Usually the Police arrives after the fact.  But, let me suggest an even scarier scenario.  Suppose, the cops do come in time, but your mugger just tells them: "This is just a Jew I am mugging".  And the Police just reply to the mugger: "Ah, OK, let us help you.  This Jew needs mugging, beating and perhaps killing".  Oh, wait!  That has already happened before, roughly 65 years ago.  The Jews did not have guns and were murdered en masse.  On the other hand, in the instances when the Jews did have guns, they had a descent chance of survival.  While we are on the subject of Jews with guns, have you seen the movie "Defiance"?  If you haven't, you should.  It is based on true story.  You'll like the movie, you'll be able to relate to it.  Even my wife, who usually does not like war movies, liked it.  You might also cry during the movie.  My wife did. After you watch it, read this review published by CNN, one of the leftist media organizations.  If your blood start boiling after reading that crap, try calming down by reading my review of the review.  You see, the Left wants to see the Jews as quiet little victims for whom they can feel sorry.  When the Jews start defending themselves with - oh, horror! - guns, that is unacceptable to the Left.  And don't even get me started on anti-Semitism prevalent on the Left these days. You probably never went to any of the so-called "peace" protests.  Because if you did, you'd be thoroughly disgusted about vile anti-Semitism found there.  I countered a number of those demonstrations, and I saw that with my own eyes.

So, here is my question number 6:

6. How can you be on the same side politically with those anti-Semites?

You say that the Government has a duty to help people with education and health care etc.  I actually agree that the Government should serve as a safety net.  As Winston Churchill said (not an exact quote), the Government should encourage competition, but mitigate the consequences of a failure.  But how to help people effectively is also important.  So, on the subject of education, here is a question number 7:

7. What is wrong with tying the money to a kid, rather than to a school?  You give a kid a voucher and pay whichever school the kid attends.  That way the schools have to compete for kids and parents.  This system is apparently successful in countries like Belgium.  But the leftist politicians are against it.  Why?

Moving on to the subject of health care and Government involvement in it.  Here is the question number 8:

8. Have you heard a phrase (I am using translit because I am not sure if you can read in Russian) "Lechit'sya darom - eto darom lechit'sya"?  Since this is an open letter, for those who do not speak Russian, this phrase can be roughly translated as "You get treated for nothing, and your treatment is nothing", i. e. "The health care is free, and you get what you paid".  If you haven't heard it, you might want to ask your parents.  They might be able to describe the joys of the Soviet free health care for you.  Oh, and by the way, here is a story from Canada, reported by another fellow Jew from the old Soviet Union.  Read it in full: the punch line, or rather the punch paragraph, is at the end.

Moving on.  You say you support abortion rights.  I actually happen to agree that the Government should stay out of this issue: it is too often a purely medical decision in which no government bureaucrat should have any say.  However, I do think that abortions for convenience are immoral and, in fact, kill babies.  I came to this conclusion after seeing an ultrasound picture of my older daughter over 8 years ago.  So, here is my question number 9:

9. Where do you draw the line for abortions for convenience: 1st trimester, exit out of the womb?  Why not later?  For example, Peter Singer argues that it should be OK to kill infants.  What do you think of his argument?  Or how about this scenario: a late term abortion was performed, but the baby (or the fetus, if you will) survived and has been removed from the womb alive.  Should such baby be given medical care?  Obama said: "No".  But what do you think?  You see, here is a good way to test whether you want to support a certain policy: if you can support a policy taken to its logical conclusion, then you can support it.  Or, if you think you can support support a policy up to a point, you should know where that point is, and why.  Think about it.

You say you don't believe in good and evil.  OK, here my question number 10:

10. Were the Nazis evil?  I will even re-phrase: is the Nazi ideology evil?  How about modern day Nazis of Hamas and Hezbollah?

You say you love everybody.  Question number 11:

11. Do you love people who want to murder you and your family and everybody you love?  Would you love a young SS soldier, who in his indignation against the enemies of the Reich, however misguided, took Jewish babies by their feet and smashed their heads against cobblestones somewhere in Warsaw?  Because that was how the SS murdered Jewish babies in order to save bullets.  You see, a proper reaction to the actions of SS by any normal human being, let alone a Jew, is not love, but hate toward the SS and overwhelming desire to kill the bastards.  Think about this one.

Finally, you say you support Obama.  OK.  The guy has barely become President, and now there is a book about him?  Before elections there was this.  So, here is the question number 12:

12. Does this cult of personality give you pause?  Does it scare you, just a little bit, especially coming from the former Soviet Union?  What do your parents say about it?

As for Mother Russia, I'll just leave you with the words of Evgeny Kliachkin, who called the old country not a mother, but a step-mother, and a wicked one at that.  Again, if you were too young when you left that country, I'll refer you to your parents.  Ask them.

I hope I did not offend you.  I meant no disrespect.  I just wanted you to stop and think.  I bet our views are very similar: after all, I call myself a true Liberal.  Best wishes and have a wonderful Purim.

Eric.

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Quick links

Here are several links from LGF:

France finally admits role in Holocaust.

Two great articles by Michael Ledeen:

We Are All Fascists Now

We Are All Fascists Now II - American Tyranny

Just read it.

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Man bites dog

This is is what comes to mind when a former KGB Colonel and a current Prime Minister of Russia explains the dangers of socialism.

I get interesting e-mails from someone named Larwin.  I am not sure who it is, but I am sure I have exchanged comments with this person on some blog.  Larwin sent me a link to the Gateway Pundit post with links and comments on former Russian President Putin's speech in Davos at the World Economic Forum.  The transcript of the speech is here.  Here is the money quote:

Esteemed colleagues, one is sorely tempted to make simple and popular decisions in times of crisis. However, we could face far greater complications if we merely treat the symptoms of the disease.

Naturally, all national governments and business leaders must take resolute actions. Nevertheless, it is important to avoid making decisions, even in such force majeure circumstances, that we will regret in the future.

This is why I would first like to mention specific measures which should be avoided and which will not be implemented by Russia.

We must not revert to isolationism and unrestrained economic egotism. The leaders of the world's largest economies agreed during the November 2008 G20 summit not to create barriers hindering global trade and capital flows. Russia shares these principles.

Although additional protectionism will prove inevitable during the crisis, all of us must display a sense of proportion.

Excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state's omnipotence is another possible mistake.

True, the state's increased role in times of crisis is a natural reaction to market setbacks. Instead of streamlining market mechanisms, some are tempted to expand state economic intervention to the greatest possible extent.

The concentration of surplus assets in the hands of the state is a negative aspect of anti-crisis measures in virtually every nation.

In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state's role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated. (Emphasis mine - Eric-Odessit).

Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.

And one more point: anti-crisis measures should not escalate into financial populism and a refusal to implement responsible macroeconomic policies. The unjustified swelling of the budgetary deficit and the accumulation of public debts are just as destructive as adventurous stock-jobbing.

Putin knows what he is talking about.  I can vouch for that based on my personal experience.  Here is the video with this quote:

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Is it surprising?

A Nazi hiding out in an Arab country?  Converting to Islam?  Wow, you don't say:

BERLIN —  Documents have surfaced in Egypt showing the world's most-wanted Nazi war criminal, concentration camp doctor Aribert Heim, died in Cairo in 1992, Germany's ZDF television and The New York Times reported.

Wednesday's reports said Heim, known as 'Dr. Death,' was living under a pseudonym and had converted to Islam by the time of his death from intestinal cancer.

ZDF said that in a joint effort with the New York Times, it located a passport, application for a residence permit, bank slips, personal letters and medical papers — in all more than 100 documents — left behind by Heim in a briefcase in the hotel room where he lived under the name Tarek Hussein Farid.

Though he did not know Heim's real identity, Egyptian dentist Tarek Abdelmoneim el Rifai said he knew him through his father, Abdelmoneim el Rifai, 88, who was Heim's dentist in Cairo.

He told the AP on Wednesday that he only met Heim a few times, 20 years ago, but confirmed that he knew of his death.

"He died in 1992. I didn't know that he was a doctor and that he is the most wanted Nazi war criminal. I am surprised," he said in a telephone interview.

"He introduced himself to my father as a German and I know that he converted to Islam and changed his name."

When he met Heim two decades ago at his father's clinic, el Rifai said he had the impression he was on the run.

"The only thing I knew about him is that he fled from the Jews," el Rifai said.  (Emphasis mine - Eric-Odessit).

That poor German escaping from those murderous Jews!  He was just a doctor, dedicated his life to science!  Of course he was welcomed by another Jew-hating regime.  Come to think of it, there seems to be a lot of Jew-hating doctors, just look at Hamas leadership!  What, they don't like the competition?

Read it all.  Of course, it is not surprising that the Nazis find asylum in the Arab countries governed by the modern Jew-hating Nazi-like regimes.  Another one, Alois Brunner escaped to Syria and might still be alive.

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Russians in Afghanistan again?

Here is an interesting news item from Fox News that I stumbled upon:

MOSCOW —  President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday that Russia and its ex-Soviet allies want to help the United States stabilize Afghanistan, saying Moscow wanted "full-fledged" cooperation with Washington.

He spoke a day after the ex-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan announced it would evict the U.S. from an air base key to the Afghan war. Kyrgyzstan made the move after getting a promise for $2 billion in loans from Russia — which resents the American presence in a region Moscow regards as part of its traditional sphere of influence.

The possibility of the base closure poses a serious challenge to the new U.S. administration and President Barack Obama's plan to send up to 30,000 more American forces into Afghanistan this year.

Click here for photos.

"Russia and other (alliance members) are ready for full-fledged comprehensive cooperation with the United States and other coalition members in fighting terrorism in the region. This fight must be comprehensive and include both military and political components. Only in the case will this have a chance to succeed," Medvedev said.

It was not clear if Medvedev's reference to "full-fledged" cooperation was an attempt to reassure Washington or an indication that Moscow would seek concessions in exchange for helping keep the Manas air base open.

Read it all.  There were some news stories back in late 2001 - early 2002 about the Russians helping us in Afghanistan.  It was all believable back then.  But then Russia started being a pain in the ass.  It is very hard to trust them.  They always have some strange angle.  At the same time, it is in their interests to be our allies, in my opinion.  After all, they have their own problems with the islamists.  But the idiots dreaming of Russia's greatness might screw up the life for us and them.

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A good movie and pretentious blowhards

As I have mentioned before, last Saturday my wife and I went to see the movie "Defiance".  The movie is based on a true story told by Nechama Tec about 4 Bielski brothers who organized a Jewish partisan band in Nazi-occupied Western Byelorussia and saved 1200 Jews.  This is the only kind of Holocaust movie that I like: the kind where Jews save themselves, have guns, fight back and defend themselves.  The movie is very well made, and the acting is pretty good too.  The reviews by regular movie-goers are almost universally good.  People can relate to the story: people hunted like animals stand up and defend themselves.  The professional critics, being the pretentious blowhards that they are, don't particularly like the movie and keep analyzing artistic merits of the story.  But there are no artistic merits in this story, it is what it is.  This is a docudrama, or, more properly, a reenactment of historical events.  The script writer did not have to invent any clever plot lines, they were provided by life itself.  However, the review linked to above is not the most insulting and idiotic.  Yesterday my co-worker sent me a link to this Atlas Shrugs post, which links to a review written by someone named Tom Charity and published by CNN.  Pamela quotes this lovely passage from the review:

"The timing is unfortunate. For a story that has gone neglected for the best part of 60 years, this is hardly the ideal week to be extolling heroic Jewish resistance fighters. Ari Folman's angst-laden nonfiction animated film, "Waltz With Bashir," is altogether more relevant."

This guy of course has a problem with the Jews in Israel defending themselves against Hamas murderers.  This basically reveals the main problem the Left has with Israel.  Besides the anti-Semitism prevalent on the Left, the leftists prefer Jews as quiet little victims silently marching into the gas chambers, so the Left can feel sorry for them afterwards.  But as bad as the passage above is, the complete article is even worse.  The term "pretentious blowhard" is, well, too charitable for Mr. Charity (pun intended).  Mr. Charity writes his review with very little, if any, knowledge and understanding of the subject matter of the film.  Well, I will take up an exercise in futility and attempt to enlighten Mr. Charity and his ilk.

One of the idiocies of this review that stands out is this:

In "Defiance" those words come with a thick, guttural European inflection (Hebrew is spoken as English, though characters also break into subtitled Russian and German on occasion). The speechifying is often clumsy and long-winded.

I would have forgiven Mr. Charity if he would have said "Yiddish is spoken as English".  This is probably the way it was intended by the director anyway.  But Hebrew?  This guy is just an ignorant idiot.  No, I am not being charitable any more.  Apart from a rabbi conducting a service, Hebrew was never spoken by Jews in Byelorussia.  The language spoken by those involved in the story was probably a mixture of Russian, Byelorussian, Polish and Yiddish, with Russian predominating among the city dwellers from the East and Polish among those from the West.  Any commands and speeches would probably be given in Russian.  How do I know this?  Well, look at my background!  Yes, Odessa is not in Byelorussia, but I know enough people from there too.  And there are and were enough similarities in conditions in Odessa and Byelorussia for me to know what language was spoken by the real characters in this story.  And by the way, there was no German spoken by the Jews in the movie.

Mr. Charity laments Zus' decision to join the Soviet partisans and take the fight to the Nazis.  Hiding in some hole must be more appealing for Mr. Charity.  He does not think that the Russians were true friends of Zus.  It would help if Mr. Charity would have read Nechama Tec's book on which the movie is based.  Victor Panchenko, the Russian commander, is not shown as a villain in the movie.  Indeed, he was not.  Unlike many Russian partisans, Panchenko accepted Jewish able-bodied men into his group.  And once he esteblished contact with the Belski brothers, he sent the non-fighters their way.  If Mr. Charity would have read the book, he would know that Panchenko was very helpful to the Belski brothers.  He helped the Jewish partisans establish contact with the Soviet High Command, which was necessary for treating the wounded and getting supplies.  Jewish fighters were participating in missions together with the Russians, missions ordered by the Soviet Command.  And Panchenko made use of Jewish camp as a base, using skilled laborers weapons maintenance and repair and medical professionals for treating lightly wounded.  This actually alluded to in the movie, when the newcomers to the camp are asked what they can do.  And, by the way, Panchenko punished anti-Semites.  While Zus and some of his comrades did come back to the Belski camp, some other Jewish fighters stayed with Panchenko because they wanted to fight the Germans more actively as members of a more mobile Panchenko group.  Here is one more news flash for Mr. Charity: wanting to take the fight to the Nazis is a good thing.

Here is another lovely passage by Mr. Charity:

The movie is full of mud and muck, yet somehow Zwick sanitizes the things that matter most. In the most challenging scene, just as Tuvia turns a blind eye as his enraged fellow Jews beat a German prisoner to death, Zwick consistently pulls back from anything that might be too unpleasant or tasteless.

Mr. Ignoramus conveniently does not notice clearly visible SS insignia under the "poor" German's camouflage coat.  The fact that he was SS means that he was likely a member of one of the Einsatzgruppen, a special SS unit whose only purpose in life was to murder Jews.  So, what would Mr. Charity have Tuvia Belski do, shoot his fellow Jews in order to save an SS-man?  And what would partisans do with a POW?  Start a POW camp in the woods?  The circumstances were such that the German had to be killed anyway.  Or should they let him go, so that he would come back with his Einsatzkommando?  I personally would have preferred that the Nazi were thoroughly interrogated and then disposed of cleanly with a bullet to the back of his head.  But once the mob started beating on him there was no stopping them without shooting one of long suffering people whose loved ones were perhaps murdered by that SS-man.  It obviously was not worth it.  The ignorance and lack of historical perspective displayed by Tom Charity is staggering.  And he uses this episode to take another anti-Semitic potshot at those "murderous" Jews.  By the way, why is this scene more challenging than, let's say, the scene where Tuvia shoots Arkady, the man who challenged his command authority?  The man was a jerk, but at least he was on our side.  He was one of the Jews initially saved by the Belskis.  Could it be that Mr. Charity feels more sorry for the Nazi than for the Jew?  "His [Edward Zwick's - Eric-Odessit] heroes remain fundamentally unsullied," Mr. Charity laments.  He clearly would prefer to sully them.

There is also this idiotic passage:

Zwick's Hollywood liberal credentials are not in doubt, but his films have a surprisingly gung-ho undercurrent (they include such martial adventures as "The Last Samurai," "Glory," "The Siege," "Legends of the Fall" and "Courage Under Fire").

Tom clearly does not like plots where good guys are fighting the bad guys.  He must subscribe to the notion that "War never solves anything".  Well, I have to remind him that war did stop slavery, Nazism and Communism.  So, it did solve something.  And who cares about "Zwick's Hollywood liberal credentials"?  He probably does lean Left, but it does not matter.  He made a good movie, movie I can relate to.  Older generation of my family lived this story.  I know people who were participants in similar stories.  And he made a movie about Holocaust where the Jews take up guns, shoot back and defend themselves, killing the Nazis.  That's better than all the "Schindler's Lists" and "Pianists" combined.

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Defiance, resistance and support of Israel - picture corrected

Correction: in the picture identifying Rabbi Goldstein of Chabad of Poway the rabbi is misidentified.  Some people pointed out to me that the rabbi in the picture is actually Rabbi Leider.  Sorry about that.

Yesterday there was another demonstration by by Hamas supporters.  I wanted to counter it, but some of the supporters of Israel who are observant Jews would not be able to participate because of Shabat.  I went there anyway, just to see what was going on and to alert the local news organizations that there would be a pro-Israel demonstration today.  But the news weren't there, according to the cops at the scene they got tired of those Hamas supporters.  So I simply e-mailed the local news channels the information about our demonstration.  In the evening, as if we needed more inspiration for the action today (not really, I was pretty gung-ho as it was), my wife and I went to see the movie "Defiance".  The movie is based on a true story told by Nechama Tec about 4 Bielski brothers who organized a Jewish partisan band in Nazi-occupied Western Byelorussia and saved 1200 Jews.  The movie is very well made.  What makes the movie and the real story itself particularly good is the fact that in it the Jews actually shoot back, the same fact that continuously annoys the Left about Israel.  And so today we had a demonstration in support of the Jews who shoot back and defend themselves.  Despite the short notice we had relatively descent turn-out: between 50 and 100 people.  Doing your own demonstration is different from organizing a counter: you need more preparation and you need to have your own program for the rally.  Just standing somewhere with signs and flags might get boring.  We had a little bit of a program: we had fliers to give away, writing letters to Israeli soldiers, and a rabbi was putting tefillin on any Jewish man who wanted it.  Next time we should plan it better.  Of the local news channels only KUSI and NBC 7/39 showed up.  Once they have their coverage on their sites, I will link to it.  Below are some pictures from our rally.

There is our table with fliers.

Our crowd.

Some of our guys with signs.

Rabbi Goldstein from Chabad of Poway.  He was "the Water Rabbi" who distributed water to firefighter during the 2007 fires in San Diego.

Rabbi Mendy from Chabad of Poway.

Raj from India expressing solidarity with Israel and USA.  He remembers Mumbai and other atrocities of Islamist terrorists.

Our signs.

A Protest Warrior sign.

More of our signs.

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Success

What constitutes a successful counter-demonstration?  When you do this, your audience is not the people you are countering: you will never change their minds.  Your audience is general public.  So, in countering your opposition you are successful if you get a descent news coverage.  Fairly sizable crowd on your side is also pretty nice.  The best situation is when the bad guys (and is this particular situation the Hamas supporters really are the bad guys) show their true colors for the general public to see.  Well, San Diego Fox 5 Channel captured exactly that.  In their video segment they interviewed one of our guys.  He had just finished explaining to the reporter that the pro-Hamas people chants "From the river to the sea..." mean that they don't want peace, but rather the destruction of Israel.  And then, as if on cue, the Hamas supporters started chanting: "From the river to the sea..."  That is what I call "success".  See for yourself:

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Of Israel, media and "World Community"

A friend from Israel sent me a great article that describes the struggle Israel involved in, the media reporting on it, the "World Community" reactions to it, and frustration of all freedom-loving people, Jews and non-Jews alike, watching the news covering the events.  The article appeared originally as a post on an Israeli blog and has no title.  Since the author (her name is Julia) is originally from Russia, the whole blog, including the article, is in Russian.  For those willing and able to read the original article in the original Russian, please go ahead.  For the English-speaking audience, here is my translation:

You and your family came out of your house. You – let's say, personally you – the head of family, your wife, two kids (5 and 10 years old), and your dogie, the beloved poodle, affectionate and silly. You go about your business and suddenly you are attacked by a bunch of wild dogs. One of them jumps on the poodle, the second brought down the little one and it looks like it is going to gnaw through his throat, while your wife attempts to drive it off, the third one got the oldest kid up into the tree and keeps barking below. A few more large and sharp-toothed dogs approach the place of struggle from several different sides. The most aggressive of them bites into your foot. You pull out a gun and shoot – first the one biting you, to get it out of the way, then – the one tormenting the child, afterwards – the one eating your poodle, and finally you shoot the one waiting for its prey under the tree. The rest scatter, but not too far, and they are standing at some distance roaring threateningly. You shoot one more dog, it falls, the rest runs away, now for good.
You help your wife the youngest child to get up, help the oldest to climb down from the tree; alas, the poodle is already beyond help. You call the ambulance which takes you all to the ER, where you, your wife and the bitten child get stitches and prescriptions for 40 injections into the stomach. At home you turn the TV on, and an anchor reports: “Today in Town N Mr. M. shot to death several vagrant dogs”. And a picture – a puddle of blood at the place of the fight, but, as far as you remember, the blood belongs to your poodle. Another news broadcast clarifies that one of the killed dogs, the one that was biting your foot, was an eight-months old puppy (never mind that it was a puppy of mastiff, still, it was a baby), the second (the one that attacked your child) belonged to a prominent member of the community. The third dog, which was barking under the tree, was completely harmless, had never bitten anyone, although barked at everyone and everything with and without any reason. And only the fourth one, that tore the poodle apart, was rabid. The anchors ask various experts some questions. The talking heads are talking on.
“Certainly,” says one, fine looking and well-fed, “dogs should not be killed. Moreover, in such unequal battle. Indeed, they do not have pistols, they honestly fight with their teeth. Furthermore, they were really hungry. It is possible to understand them”.
“Sooo,” the second, shaggy and bearded, guy timidly inserts, “but, what do you expect? For Mr. M. to bite them back?”
“No,” answers the third talking head, the bald and passionate one, “absolutely not. It was necessary to kill the rabid dog, but why the rest had to suffer? The puppy didn't really do anything at all. It bit his foot, big deal! You don't kill for this! The barking one also was not going to bite anyone. And the prominent citizen might now sue. For the murder of his dog”.
“Yes, but how do you determine, which one is rabid and which is not, in this extreme situation?” the news anchor asks.
“That's why we are human, so we can distinguish between the rabid and not,” the bald one replies authoritatively, “we must not stoop to the level of animals. Nothing there was extreme. Indeed, everybody survived, did they not?”
“But wait,” interferes the representative of the society of the protection of animals. “How is it? Is it possible in general to shoot the living things? They trust us! We should feed them, protect them, not shoot them!”
You are amazed listening to this crap, then you go on-line and see the headlines: “Shooting of defenseless animals!” one site screams. And a photo with a puddle of blood on asphalt. “Unprovoked attack on dogs!” another site shouts. And a picture of a cute puppy face. “Let us protect our beloved pets!” the third one says, not to be too far behind the first two. And in the photograph – muzzle of an automatic weapon pointing toward a reader. You go to your own blog and describe events from your point of view. You don't have photographs from the scene of the incident, so you get your camera out and take pictures of your child with stitches on the hands; then you post the photographs as an illustration. In the comments there are many of those who sympathize with you, but there are also home-grown investigators and moralists.
“Photoshop,” they confidently declare about the photograph.
“In general, why do you walk around with a handgun?” they question. Your answer “If not for that gun, we would not be alive now” follows this remark: “Well, great, then the dogs would remain alive”. To the observation “They killed our dog too” they with the knowledge on the matter declare: “This still needs to be verified, who killed your dog, you must have hit it yourself accidentally”.
“You kill puppies!”
“You should not live in dangerous neighborhood!”
“You should be taking another road!”
“If you fed them, they would not touch you!”
To the last slogan, something like “Death to the dog-killers!”, you answer exhaustingly: “Get lost, you, idiot”. The commenter gleefully rubs his hands and screams: “Look, how aggressive he is! Why are you so aggressive?” Yes, really Why do you think?

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Protest Warrior lives!

Although technically today's counter of the pro-Hamas rally in Balboa Park was not an official San Diego Protest Warrior action, it was in spirit of the San Diego Chapter of Protest Warrior.  We met at the statue of El Cid in front of the Art Museum and the proceeded to the fountain in front of the Science Museum, where all the action was.  Our turn-out was surprisingly good: News 8 reported about equal crowds on both sides, which it probably was.  Although, initially we had slightly more people.  Both sides just stood there and shouted at each other, but generally it was pretty peaceful.  We tried to keep a distance of several feet between us and the pro-Hamas people in order to keep the police happy.  The cops were trying to maintain neutrality but, as often in these situations, had their sympathies on our side.  Apparently at one point one woman from the Hamas side started choking on something and was saved by a Jewish doctor from our crowd.  A cop present at that scene commented: "That's about sums it up".  I hope I will be able to get more details of that particular episode.  Overall it went pretty good, and we all had some fun.  The only downside was that we left after the Hamas guys did their march because we thought that they were done.  Turns out, they stayed.  But they did not stay unopposed: some of our guys showed up late for the main thing and ended up being our 2nd shift.  So, it all worked out.  Below are some pictures and videos that I took.

These are 2 crowds with some distance in between.

Our crowd looks bigger.

Note conspicuous absence of American flags on their side.

More of us and them.

Us from the back.

We chant.

They teach their kids to hate while they are young.

San Diego Fox 5 TV crew.

Below are the short videos I took with my camera.  When we were chanting, we were at disadvantage: the Hamas guys had a couple of megaphones, but we had just our voices.  Still, we managed.  For those who still has illusions that the Hamas crowd wants 2 peaceful democratic states, Arab and Jewish, living side by side, pay close attention to the Hamas crowd chants.  Their chants about "From the river to the sea..." should put an end to any illusions about their peaceful intentions.

Finally, some of our signs.  They are pretty self-explanatory.

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It's about time

What Israel is now doing regarding the rocket attacks by Hamas from Gaza should have been done a couple of years ago, right after the Israeli civilians were removed from Gaza and the first rockets started raining down on Sderot.  But it is better late than never.  Here is the primer explaining what is happening and why:

Defending Israeli citizens from terrorist fire

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  A quarter of a million Israeli citizens have been living under incessant terror attacks from the Gaza Strip with thousands of missiles fired over the past eight years.

  
  


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  These missiles have been described as "home made" by the media. They are, in fact, deadly. Hamas has in its possession longer range Katyushas and Grad-type missiles which can cause devastation such as that on Monday 29 December as one Israeli was killed and 14 injured in a Grad attack on Ashkelon.

  
  

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  Israel left Gaza in 2005, giving Palestinians the chance to run their own lives. Despite this, more than 6300 rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel since then.

  
  


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  During the past year alone, more than 3000 rockets and mortars have been launched into Israel.

  
  


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  Since the end of a formal ceasefire (during which terror attacks continued) with Hamas came to an end on Dec. 19, more than 170 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israeli civilians including a barrage of some 80 missiles on Dec. 24 alone. 

  
  


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  As US President-elect Obama stated during a visit to Sderot five months ago, "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing."

  
  


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  No other country in the world would have exercised the amount of restraint that Israel has shown for the past several years without responding.

  
  

Read the whole thing.  And, in case someone thinks that this is just pro-Israel point of view, here is what Egyptian Foreign Minister had to say on the subject (thanks to LGF):

This is the proof that there are sane politicians in the Arab world, which in turn gives me hope that ultimately peace is possible.

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