Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Here's one my sister just sent me.
I thought the comparison numbers in the middle were shocking.

This is not the world I want to live in.

Israel's statement at the UN
by Ambassador Dan Gillerman

"There cannot be peace and terror. There cannot be peace and Hamas."

23 March 2004

Mr. President,

In three and a half years of Palestinian terrorist attacks that have murdered hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians and wounded thousands more, this Council has not met even once to express condemnation of a single attack. Not one resolution, not one presidential statement has been adopted by this Council to specifically denounce the deliberate massacre of our innocent civilians. Not two months ago when 11 Israeli citizens were murdered in a horrific homicide bomb attack on a bus in central Jerusalem on 29 January. In the wake of our anguish, our efforts to elicit some response from the Council were not met with even a presidential statement.

And yet today, following a sad and familiar pattern, the Council convenes. Why? Not to condemn the terrorism, not to honor the memory of the hundreds murdered by it, but to come to the defense of one of its prime perpetrators, a godfather of terrorism. This is not a message of which the Council can be proud. Frankly, it is an outrage.

As long as we pretend that the response to terrorism is more serious than the terrorism itself, we only invite more of it. If we want to give the peace process a chance -- the kind of terror that Sheikh Ahmed Yassin directed and perpetrated, and which he swore to continue relentlessly, cannot be appeased or assuaged, it must be defeated. It must be defeated not just for our sake but for the sake of the whole free world.

Mr. President,

Although the Security Council has never met to discuss the attacks for which Sheikh Yassin is responsible, the list is gruesome and shocking. To characterize him as a "spiritual leader" is to attempt to characterize Osama bin Laden as a Mother Therese. Underneath his supposed clerical garb, Sheikh Yassin is a true pioneer in the ruthless murder of innocents. Under his direct leadership, inspiration, and instruction, Hamas -- an organization recognized around the world for its brutal terrorism - has perpetrated over 425 attacks that have killed 377 Israelis and wounded 2076 in less than three and a half years of violence. He has stood at the head of a command and control structure dedicated to the destruction of Israel. If Sheikh Yassin was not an arch-terrorist, there is no such thing.

In my hands I hold 187 pages documenting the horrific scope and extent of Hamas terrorism that has wreaked unspeakable anguish on the lives of the citizens of Israel. Among 425 attacks perpetrated by Hamas since September 2000, the organization has perpetrated no less than 52 separate suicide attacks, in which 288 Israelis were murdered and 1,646 were wounded. I will mention only a few of them, to give you an idea of the evil this man represented and the horror the organization he headed has inflicted, while he proudly claimed responsibility.

Time and again, while Israeli mothers were in excruciating pain, burying their babies and widows mourning their husbands, Sheikh Yassin's gloating face appeared on every TV screen, exalting the murderers as martyrs. What follows is just a short list of his bloody and gruesome record.

· The June 1, 2001 suicide bombing of the Dolphinarium discotheque in Tel Aviv, in which 21 people were murdered and 120 were wounded, when a Hamas terrorist blew himself up while standing in a large group of teenagers waiting to enter the club;

The August 9, 2001 suicide bombing of a Jerusalem restaurant, in which 15 people were murdered and 130 were wounded;
The December 1, 2001 double suicide bombing on the Ben Yehuda Street pedestrian mall in Jerusalem, in which 11 people were murdered and 188 were wounded;
The December 2, 2001 suicide bombing of a #16 bus in Haifa, in which 15 people were murdered and 40 were wounded;
The March 9, 2002 suicide bombing of a Jerusalem cafe, in which 11 people were murdered and 54 were wounded;
The March 27, 2002 suicide bombing in the dining room of the Park Hotel in the coastal city of Netanya on the first night of Passover, in which 30 people were murdered and 140 were wounded;
The June 18, 2002 suicide bombing of the #32A commuter bus in Jerusalem, in which 19 people were murdered and 74 were wounded. The bus, which was completely destroyed, was carrying many students on their way to school.
The August 4, 2002 suicide bombing of #361 bus at Meron junction, in which nine people were murdered and 50 were wounded;
The November 21, 2002 suicide bombing of a #20 bus in Jerusalem, in which 11 people were murdered and 50 were wounded;
The March 5, 2003 suicide bombing of a #37 bus in Haifa, in which 17 people were murdered and 53 were wounded;
The May 18, 2003 suicide bombing of a #6 bus in Jerusalem, in which seven people were murdered and 20 wounded;
The June 11, 2003 suicide bombing of #14A bus in Jerusalem, in which 11 people were murdered and over 100 were wounded;
The August 19, 2003 suicide bombing of a #2 bus in Jerusalem, in which 23 people were murdered and over 130 were wounded;
The September 9, 2003 suicide bombing of a hitchhiking post near the IDF base at Tzrifin, in which nine soldiers were murdered and 10 were wounded;
The September 9, 2003 suicide bombing of a Jerusalem cafe, in which seven people were murdered and 70 were wounded;
The January 29, 2004 suicide bombing of a #19 bus in Jerusalem, in which 11 people were murdered and 44 were wounded;
And just last week, on March 14, 2004 at the Ashdod port, in which 10 people were murdered and 16 were wounded.
His hands were steeped in the blood of the innocent. Sheik Yassin personally instigated and specifically authorized homicide attacks, encouraged individual men and women to become suicide bombers, ordered the firing of Qassam missiles attacks against Israeli communities, coordinated joint activities with other terrorist organizations and collected funds for terrorist activity, campaigning throughout the Arab world to raise millions of dollars to improve Hamas' terrorist capabilities.

Through his words he spawned an ideology of hatred, incitement and murder, glorified as martyrdom. In numerous public appearances, Sheik Yassin called repeatedly for the intensification of the "armed struggle" against Israelis and Jews "everywhere." Just one day before the twin homicide attacks at Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem and the bus stop near Tzrifin on 8 September 2003, that claimed 17 lives, Sheik Yassin called on Hamas to attack Israeli civilians without restraint, saying "We will not limit the military command, battalions or factions." Indeed, he knew no limit.

Sheik Yassin's murderous reach extended not only to the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem but to our global streets. He was an arch terrorist with international aims and international ties. He called for suicide attacks against American and British forces in Iraq and praised Osama Bin Laden, wishing that Allah grant him the possibility to continue his fight against the United States.

This is the man that the Council is asked to defend. His victims were denied the attention of this Council. Will you now give that attention to the person who bears direct responsibility for their murder?

Mr. President, Members of the Council,

In comparative terms, the number of innocents deliberately murdered by Palestinian terrorists as of March 2004, is equivalent to 22,499 Russian citizens; 43,136 citizens of the United States, or 58,963 citizens of the EU. Can there be any doubt as to what your countries would do - or in some cases have already done - in the face of terrorism of this scale and magnitude? I ask those that join us today for this debate: could you sit quietly and wait for the next homicide bomber to appear on your doorstep?

By any reasonable standard of international law, Israel has a legitimate right, in fact a duty, to defend itself against those illegal combatants and their commanders who are committed to murder as many of its civilians as possible. The Palestinian leadership has proved beyond any doubt that it has no intention of taking a single measure to fight terrorism, as it is legally and morally obliged to do. This mass murderer, Shiekh Yassin, lived and operated for years not just in freedom, but under the protective authority and safe haven of the Palestinian Authority in violation of the most basic international norms. What would you have us do? Stand idly by as Yassin and the Palestinian leadership co-sign the death warrants of more innocent civilians?

It is the basic obligation of the Government of Israel -- like any other government -- to protect the lives of its citizens from the threat of terrorism. Unlike the terrorists we confront, we make every effort under excruciatingly difficult conditions to minimize harm to civilians. We recognize that we have responsibilities. But we will not negotiate by day and bury our dead by night. By removing Sheikh Yassin from the international stage, we send a very strong message to the terrorists: when you kill our civilians, you are not immune.

Mr. President,

Yesterday's operation constitutes an important stride forward in our march against fundamentalist terrorism in our region, enabling a return to the peace process. Sheikh Yassin was one of the greatest obstacles to the cessation of hostilities and the renewal of negotiations: a road block on the road map to peace. Since he founded Hamas from the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood organization in 1987, the organization has opposed peace talks with Israel, and attempted to thwart every single peace initiative. So the question shouldn't be "why now?" The question should be "why not before?"

There cannot be peace and terror. There cannot be peace and Hamas. The Road Map explicitly requires the elimination of Hamas and other terrorist organizations, it calls for an end to funding and support for their efforts, it recognizes that peace is impossible while these messengers of death are allowed to flourish.

Israel remains committed to peace. We will persevere in the hope that a partner for peace will emerge so that we can arrive at a political solution based upon the implementation of the Road Map. In the meantime, Prime Minister Sharon has announced plans for bold measures of disengagement that hold the potential for reenergizing the process.

The Palestinian leadership has a choice. It can continue to get into bed with terrorists and tyrants. It can continue its morally depraved strategy of murder and terror and, in so doing, continue to bring suffering and despair on the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. But it can also choose a different path. It can prove to the world that it is ready to assume responsibilities, not just assume privileges. It can show that it is ready to establish a democratic society that will respect the rights of its people, and the rights of its neighbors, and not another terrorist dictatorship in the heart of the Middle East. Israel is ready, as always, to be a partner to such a leadership.

The Security Council has a choice too. It does not have to continue to send a message that puts the response to terrorism on trial, instead of the terrorism itself. It does not have to pander to initiatives that defend the terrorist rather than his victims. In the legacy of resolutions 242, 338 and 1373, the Council can also send another message: one of hope and of peace. One that does not pretend that this is a conflict in which one side has a monopoly on rights and on victimhood. One that rejects terror without compromise.

Which message will you send today, to our region, and to the rest of the world?

Thank you, Mr. President

Author Biography:
Ambassador Dan Gillerman is the permanent representative of Israel to the United Nations.

Monday, March 29, 2004

Here's one I just found and had to reprint.
You should check out the picture it was with...


RESUME - GEORGE W. BUSH

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

COLLEGE:
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average.
I was a cheerleader.

LAW ENFORCEMENT:
I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver`s license suspended for 30 days.
My Texas driving record has been "lost" and is not available.

MILITARY:
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:
I ran for U.S. Congress and lost.

I began my career in the oil business in Midland, Texas, in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn`t find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.

I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money.

With the help of my father and our right-wing friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS:
-I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union.
-During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.
-I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money.
-I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.
-With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father`s appointments to the Supreme Court, I became president after losing by over 500,000 votes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:
- I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.
- I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.
- I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.
- I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.
- I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
- I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
- I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market.
- In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues every month.
- I`m proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.
- I set the record for most campaign fundraising trips by a U.S. President.
- I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.

This is the email I just sent my mom in response to this email she forwarded me.
The forward is after my response...

Sorry...but we’re Americans and we really don’t care.
Do you see anyone still avoiding or talking about anything to do with France and the war boycotts? C’mon...it was only a year ago (exactly a year...as the wars anniversary just passed). How about the exxon mobil boycott email that is currently circulating the States? Personally I haven’t used Exxon since the Valdeez so adding mobil to the list for me isn’t a big deal (they are apparently the same company now) so this is one I’m doing and have no problem with.
However...I buy domestic cheese and have never really noticed a product from Norway.
Not to mention I don’t know if any of the supposed facts of this email are true. I really have no problem with their labels...at least they have a national ant-killing conscience. It’s not 1941

p.s. Yay Israel for blowing up that dude.
Boo a planet that still thinks it ok to blow people up!





The following is the email my mother sent me.


Subject: Norway

Bennett M. Epstein is a criminal defense lawyer practicing in New York City.
He is a former prosecutor and professor of criminal justice.

Why I won't be seeing the fjords this summer
By Bennett M. Epstein

On the heels of Mr. Roed-Larsen's now infamous remark that Israel "ceded all
"moral ground" in Jenin, comes word from his home country of Norway that
some supermarket chains have decided to place special identification
stickers on products from Israel.

Other Scandinavian countries may follow suit.

The Norwegians say the stickers do not constitute a "boycott" of Israel;
they just want their customers, who are overwhelmingly pro Palestinian, to
pay attention to where these products are produced.

Maybe the rest of us should run down to our local supermarkets with a pad of
yellow "post-it" notes so that consumers of Norwegian salmon or Jarlsberg
cheese can also pay attention to where those are produced. Stick them on
the packages with a note: these products come from a place with a shameful
past that continues to operate as a European free zone for Neo-Nazis and
other right wing extremists.

Those asking the question of whether Europeans are anti-Israel because of
Israel's actions in fighting terror, or because of their own latent
anti-Semitism, should study the example of Norway. Behind the current
disclaimer of a boycott you will find that Norwegians are quite experienced
at boycotting Israel. Norwegian labour unions have recently refused to
off-load Israeli farm produce..

Last year, a Norwegian "labor youth movement" organized a demonstration
against Israeli singers from the Eurovision song contest.

Another Norwegian group has been boycotting Israeli oranges since the early
90s.

This group, "Boikott Israel l," rejuvenated by the latest "Intifada" to
include a boycott of all Israeli commerce, denies on its website that it is
anti-Semitic but states its goal is the end Israel's "50 year occupation"
of, and the return of refugees to a "free Palestine."

Not anti-Semitic? In 1941, the graffiti on Jewish businesses in Oslo read:
"Jews, go to Palestine."

To campaign now in Norway to get the Jews out of "Palestine" seems
anti-Semitic to me, if only by process of elimination. Indeed, the roots
of Norwegian boycotts of Israel run deep. Anti-Semitism has held a unique
place in Norwegian politics since the 1930s when Vidkun Quisling, later the
leader of a Nazi puppet government in Norway, formed the National Union
Party.

While many Norwegians fought with the Resistance, many became eager
collaborators of the Nazis, including some 60,000 members of the National
Union.

Under its auspices, Norway formed its own branch of the SS and established
academies sending hundreds of officers the rings of like-minded groups from
Sweden and with little fear of official interference.

More significantly, according to a report published by the Stephen Roth
Institute of Tel Aviv University, the extreme right wing Progress Party is
the second largest party in Norway with 25 out of 160 seats in the
Parliament. Among other racist and anti-immigration views, this party
advocates banning male circumcision.

Schechita, kosher stickers on Israeli goods are the modern-day equivalent of
painting "Joden" on the Jewish-owned businesses of Oslo and Trondheim in
1941.

We needn't be reminded that after that, all of Norway's remaining Jews were
deported to Auschwitz.

Fewer than 30 (THIRTY!) survived the Holocaust.

I'm not the sort that usually pays attention to boycotts and
counter-boycotts, because often you don't know who you are really hurting.
But there is a good reason why I won't be buying Norwegian products any time
soon, or cruising on the Norwegian Line.

Their stickers have caught my attention.

Pass this on to others who might want to read this information.

Sunday, March 28, 2004

Rej....you'll love this.
I just sent this to WIP.
So much for Philly Sports Radio while in the garden this summer.

I just called into the local radio station...ended up sending this as my comment on their website.

I would just like to thank you guys for my first and last call in experience today with Steve Fredericks & Reuben Frank. First of all you are morons. You should really know your facts better for people who have a sports talk radio show you say, “Uh” and, “I think it was some year, I don’t remember” way too much. I know girls who have a better handle on sports facts than you do. You are also rude, I do not appreciate being hung up on after being on hold for half an hour.

And now for the points you missed by not listening.

You were looking for devastating loss to a community.

I gave you the largest stadium in the state with 106,000 people who instantly went from rabid screaming to dead silence. The whole way out to the parking lot nobody spoke. I have never seen the air come out of a place like that.

People who had already made their reservations for the Sugar Bowl because we knew Joe would win and probably retire after.

Yes...a frenzied drive ended on a tipped ball and the perfect season was no more.
Joe has had more loosing seasons in the 4 years since that game than he had his whole career up to that point.

That game changed the course of Penn State Football.
And I know you don’t understand, because you were mumbling something about it when I turned my radio back on after you hung up on me, what being a part of the Penn State Community is. There is a reason we say, “We Are Penn State”
It makes me smile to know that is something you do not now nor will you ever understand.

You had a shot at making a new listener this afternoon. You could have agreed or disagreed with me or argued your point and I would have been onboard for sure. But you were rude and stupid so I’ll go back to WXPN on my radio and I’ll turn on my friends radio stations when I want to listen to sports...she listens to the New York sports stations...Now those talk show folks really know what they are talking about! Too bad I hate the Yankees.

Thursday, March 25, 2004

VHEMT
I haven't finished reading yet....but it's interesting so far!



Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Street Light Outage Patrol
Last night Roz noticed one went out on the side of a building as we drove past just before midnight on our way home from dinner at Rej's house.
Funny...I just remembered I thought about it happening on the way over there. I stared at one while we were at a red light to see if I could get it to happen. no dice. Maybe I was early?

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

In the midst of having a Deja-vu I just realized something…I can change what is going to happen.

Monday, March 22, 2004

Chair

Because Rej will smile when she clicks on it.

How am I ever going to reach enlightenment if I don't follow the path when it presents it's self to me??

Maybe it’s not that nothing matters Rej…Maybe it’s just that nothing that society has engrained into our heads is what’s important…matters.

They just said in a news blurb on wxpn (The public radio station I listen to all the time) that they are going to have to start putting warning labels on anti-depressants that the people need to be closely monitored now especially at the beginning because apparently soon after people start taking things like zoloft or prozac or whatever….they commit suicide.
Yup…when you’re dead I guess you’re not depressed any more.

See what I meant about not trusting humans (scientists and doctors) to know what they are doing well enough to let them fuck with my brain chemistry?

Thursday, March 18, 2004

mmmmmmm Doughnuts

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

I have another update for the Streetlight Outage Patrol

Not exactly a streetlight…but while at the Philadelphia Flower Show last Wednesday one of the big overhead lights went out right above me. A quick survey of the room didn’t find any others out.

An odd form of Insight #6 Rej?

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday Happy Birthday...
Happy Birthday to me!!

Thursday, March 11, 2004

Holy Map Batman

I saw this on a West Wing episode.
I had no idea the map of the world in my head was wrong.
Just goes to reaffirm my basic premise...Everything I ever thought or believed is wrong.
Extrapolation...We as humans are still really fucking dumb.
we think we're so smart because we know the world isn't flat.
Take a look at the map and tell me how smart we are.

No picture but mentions West Wing...better info

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

The Eagles just traded linebackers (by signing eachothers free agent) with the Giants. Stupid. Free agency like that is stupid.
And the cheeses team just got my teams runningback...pretty funny on that one.

I feel more and more like I don't belong here.
Maybe I need to go to Europe and find out who my family is.

Aha!!

Thursday, March 04, 2004

Dutch Masters
Perhaps there is something to the whole Amish thing of having your picture taken stealing your soul...and maybe the eyes are the windows to the soul...and maybe there was something weird going on and those windows needed to be closed.
I recently saw an exhibit of The Dutch Masters at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam where first of all I learned why they are called that (pictures in books and the minor works I have seen in the US had me thinking it was cigar box art). I was so completely blown away by the scale and detail of the works. At one point I actually thought I saw one of the people in the painting laugh. So maybe that’s where the Amish (Pennsylvania Dutch) get their fear from….Maybe the Dutch Masters were stealing their souls and putting them into their paintings.

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Mark this moment down…4:25 3.3.4
I just willingly, although somewhat begrudgingly, put on a watch for the first time in I don’t know how long. Many many years.
I have said as long as I can remember, “I don’t believe in time as a concept in and of it’s self.” And now I realize the true nature of the universe…time is all we have. Not stuff. Time. How ironic…I have collected one and ignored the other…and all this time I had it backwards. Whoda thunk it.

Do something you love and you will never work another day in your life.
There was a paper printout sign with pink lettering on the wall at the nursing home where my dad is that said that.

Monday, March 01, 2004

I’m watching yesterdays Democratic … uh … I don’t want to say Debate … Press Conference maybe?
The democrats and the television news have already anointed John Kerry the Democratic nominee and they are all sitting there trying to get him elected.
It seems almost scripted as far as who is answering what question.
They are deflecting the issues from Kerry.
And I’m pretty sure John Edwards is going to be the nominee for Vice President.