Crunch time

Dang-- I'm busy today, very busy. It's crunch time of the semester, so I won't have time to complain about the Arabs today.

Take care everybody!

Mentality of genocide

Not only does the linked editorial say something (and it ain't good) about the collective morality of the Palestinians, it also makes one wonder about the morality of their supporters.

Money quote and link:

The notion that Palestinians arrogate to themselves the right to impose and execute a death sentence on any and every Israeli man, woman and child says to us that, in Palestinian eyes, we have no right to exist. What the president of Iran and the leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hizbullah say openly - that Israel should be "wiped off the map" - the terror attacks clearly attempt to put into practice.

Makeover

I think I need to make some changes on this blog. Not changes in terms of what I post, but perhaps in the description of the blog. Ehhh, I'll figure it out later. I have a lot of work to do today. Work shmerk.

What about the survivors of suicide bombs?

Kinneret is an amazingly strong person. I am in awe of her.

Leave Christmas alone!

All ye readers of this blog know where I'm coming from politically and socially; basically what type of person I sort of am-- and a Christian I am not. That said, I agree with Bill O'Reilly and others like him who are up in arms over these latest attacks against Christmas.

Everybody knows that with the exception of a small number of devout Christians, Christmas is practically a secular holiday. We also know that this is a majority Christian country, so nobody should be surprised when Christmas spirit time comes rolling by. True, there is separation of Church and state, but really, what's the big deal if there is a Christmas tree in a semi-public space? I simply see it as seasonal decoration, just like a few weeks ago people festooned downtown areas with paper turkeys, or before that Halloween stuff.

I suspect that the anti-Christmas forces-- who represent a large cross-section of Americans all of whom have their own reasons for behaving like Grinches-- are going to actually invite a pro-Christmas backlash. Ha ha!

The weird part of all of this is that if there was no Christmas spirit this year, I'D feel like something was missing, like I was living in the Twilight Zone. I grew up here. I'm used to it. I have fond memories of playing with action figures near a sparkling pine tree with my non-Jewish friends. If Christians want to drag dead pine trees into their homes and then decorate them, I say great. At least they can't accuse us Jews of having strange traditions without being hypocrites; because what, really, is weirder than dragging giant dead trees into one's home for a couple of weeks? Well, building a roofless flimsy fort in the coldness of a fall is pretty strange.... but I digress.

Finally, renaming a Christmas tree a "Holiday" tree is completely asinine. Just call it what it is. Do they think we are idiots? (Yes, "they" do, actually).

Addendum

I’m not writing this pro-Christmas rant to act like some house Jew, trying to ingratiate himself with the Christian majority; a sort of “Hey, this Jew is okay with Christmas-- don’t toss him into a concentration camp!” No, I wrote the above because I believe it. If we don’t stop the uber-secular-ACLU inspired assault on many of our basic traditions, the next thing you know ALL legal tender will be changed because it mentions God. At a certain point we have to allow some harmless traditions to remain, because they are part of our cultural and historical legacy. It has nothing to do with whether you believe in God, or trust Him; it has to do with respect for history and tradition.

al-Arian acquitted

Me thinks some street justice might be appropriate for a situtation like this.

By Joe Kaufman
FrontPageMagazine.com
December 7, 2005

“Today, the United States Department of Justice is announcing the indictment of Sami al-Arian and seven co-conspirators.” That’s how United States Attorney General John Ascroft began his press conference, back in February of 2003. It was a momentous day in the war on terrorism, a triumph of the Patriot Act. We caught a leader of a terrorist ring based in Tampa, Florida, and he and at least some of his compatriots were going to be brought to justice. Now, it appears justice may not have been served.

Yesterday, al-Arian and his three friends were acquitted after five months of hearing testimony that seemed to point to the contrary. Of the 17 counts al-Arian was charged with, he was acquitted on eight of them, including “conspiracy to murder and maim people abroad,” the most serious charge. The remaining nine were considered a mistrial, as the jury was deadlocked on them. Two of his co-defendants, Sameeh Hammoudeh and Ghassan Zayed Ballut, were acquitted of all charges against them. The other, Hatem Naji Fariz, was found not guilty of 24 counts, and jurors deadlocked on the remaining eight.

Advisor

Had a very nice meeting with my academic advisor. I tried to devise a curriculum that would ensure my graduation by May, but he convinced me that I was biting off a little more than I could chew. I can, however, finish my degree over the summer. He even noted that some students finish their course load and then later complete their theses from afar, meaning if you want to move or relocate (which I do) your uncompleted thesis doesn't keep you "trapped" in a great place on a great lake. I'm aiming to finish my thesis over this summer. But it's good to know that by May I'll have ALL of my course work finished. I plan to use this winter break, which is about a month long, by doing some of the tedious, time consuming work for my thesis. In summation, I have A LOT of microfilm research to do--hours of it. So, I'll be free over winter break. Might as well spend a couple hours a day scanning through hundreds of editions of the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Sentinel, innit?

But scanning through microfilm is actually pretty darn interesting. It's like a ride through history as chronicled by the newspapers. If anything, it's hard to stay focused on what you are searching for instead of reading about past events. Sometimes it can be amazingly eye-opening. I recall reading a piece once about how a western diplomat was arguing to deal with the PLO, that they had changed and were a responsible political organization. WRONG!

Have a nice day, y'all.

Goals this week and other thoughts

1. To meet a Latina who isn't named "Maria."

2. To meet a Black man who plays hockey.

3. To meet somebody who is "scared fucking shitless of God." I mean, we always hear about this whole "God fearing" thing. Is that what God wants, for us to be afraid of Him? Does God want people cowering under the covers shivering out of fear of Him? Does that make God happy? And what does that say about God? If I was all powerful and I got my kicks out of scaring the living fucking shit out of mere mortals, wouldn't that make me some sort of perverted, sadistic Being? If that's the nature of God, then He can stick his antropomorphic thumb up His anthropormorphic ass and take a big whiff of his anthropomorphically stinky digit. And if writing this stuff condemns me to hell, then how can it be that I, a mere mortal, have a better sense of humor than God, who I imagine created humor and irony? How can I believe in a God who is decribed in the Holy books as nothing more than a jealous, immature child, albeit one who can destroy civilizations whenever his stupid little sea monkeys (Humanity) don't do what He wants? What kind of a sick fucker is He, assuming man-made scriptures are accurate? No wonder I'm agnostic. I'm not saying I don't believe in a Higher Power, I just don't happen to think this God-thing intended us to act like a bunch of snivilling sycophants.

Hmmm... what to experience this week...

4. My brother doing the dishes and sweeping the floor.

5. Watching an Arab (it's gotta be a Muslim) standup comedian on TV. I mean, you gotta admit that within the Semitic family, the Jews clearly have the better sense of humor. I just looked at a picture the other day on the Internet of an Arab holding aloft a severed head and he was SMILING (the Arab, not the severed head; the severed head didn't look too happy). Ha ha, pretty funny stuff there, Ahmed. Try doing that one on Comedy Central!

6. To meet a girl who is the same person that I thought I met even after the three month "ga-ga" stage is over, not the "actress" who was on her best behavior. To meet somebody who cares about me as much as I care about her, not somebody who will emotionally turn off and never explain why; only to later throw me enough scraps and hints to make me feel like there was still a chance, to keep my sorry ass hanging on. More specifically, it would be nice to meet the type of person who can actually consider how her selfish actions might affect other people. I suppose somebody who is not completely self-centered and self-serving. I'd like to meet the type of girl who wouldn't lead a guy on who still has strong feelings for her (especially when she is aware of this), only to invite him out to dinner so as to inform him that she got KNOCKED UP by some random dude!

7. I hope this week, or in the future, I'll be a bit more wary about who I date and fall for. I won't allow this last episode to poison my trust in other people, because I know there are truly wonderful people out there, but I will be on guard just a bit more. I suppose that is the only thing I have to be thankful for regarding the pregnant one above; that I've learned to be a little more emotionally guarded, and not believe in "the one" or any other silly romantic ideal. For her, who knows? She happens to be financially broke as far as I know, unmarried and not likely to be; there probably won't be a man to be with her every night of her pregnancy, a man to experience the joy of a baby conceived of love, to rub her belly and be with her every night and on the weekends. She is in the middle of an intense academic program, and she's struggling. It will be harder to succeed while preggers, no? If she flunks out she'll be left with a huge debt and no degree. Just a crying baby in her cramped apartment. Maybe with her beautiful watery blue eyes and tears she'll be able to manipulate another man to help her. Her mom probably won't, because she's a Christian fanatic and probably thinks her daughter is going to hell. Her dad is somewhat of a dead-beat and already has a young kid of his own from a woman he knocked up not too long ago. Runs in the family I reckon. If the father of the child doesn't really step up to the plate, this girl is in for a some tough times. Life's a bitch and she better hope she can avoid post partum depression on top of it all. GOOD LUCK!

4. To forget the above and move on to a bright future! Second semester, here I come!