Two Irritants and an Idiot

Peace Now. Sounds like something one should strive for and something that most normal people would want. The group is celebrating 30 years of one sidedness that also wears blinders. Peace now was formed with one aim, to stop the occupation. I hate the term and no I do not live in la la land. It is the term adopted from the enemy which gives the impression that we went out to get us some more land when what we did was fight a defensive war and we ended up with extra land. The term occupation ignores the fact that we wanted to return the land and the only answer was NO from the Arabs. While I am at it let me just mention that although we wanted to negotiate its return it is as much Israel as Tel Aviv. So what irritates me? Certainly not vocabulary. What irritates me is their inability to advocate for peace on both sides. For them the end to the "occupation" will bring the coming of the messiah. Get out and peace will come. They ignore all Palestinian acts of violence against Israel. They ignore the fact that these terrorists see ALL of Israel as being occupied. They demand nothing from the Palestinians. They show no sympathy for the people of Sderot or victims of other terrorist attacks. Maybe if they had called themselves by another name and not pretended to be peace activists I would be less offended by them. You need only one side to make war but you need both sides for peace. Ironically I would like to see a Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza. But for this goal I will never give my support or stand with those from Peace Now.

The second irritant I discovered this morning as I read my paper. The Ultra Orthodox community has decided to boycott a certain supermarket chain because the owner also operates mini markets that are open on Shabbat. Hypocrites! They do not boycott other establishments whose owners own other businesses that are open on Shabbat. I agree with the author of the article who said that this particular tycoon wasn't donating money to Ultra Orthodox venues. Money trumps halacha any day.

And lastly the idiot. Mr Meshal the CEO of Hamas in Damascus. I almost never think of him as a fool. His daughter just got married and he told her to have many children with which to fuel the resistance. Looks like our old buddy realizes that what he is doing won't succeed and he will need future generations because we, Israel, will still be here! Actually I may not be giving him enough credit because he did get that part right! 

Holy Cow!

Hey I woke up this morning and my usual routine is ro read the paper and have some coffee. I hadn't taken a sip of coffee yet as I opened the newspaper. There was an article on the front page, right in the center actually, about Sderot. For a few seconds I thought I was looking at Haaretz. Then I realized it was the International Herald Tribune. I was stunned. Okay so maybe it was the lack of caffeine but still amazing.

Fitna

I guess I need to add my 2 cents to the talk about this movie made by the Dutch member of parliament. For those that have not seen it the majority of the film consists of verses from the Qu'ran paired with speeches made by radical Islamic leaders. The verses are also paired with scenes from 9/11 and scenes from suicide bombings that took place in Israel. The later part f the film shows statistics pointing to the growth of Islam in Holland and in the world. This is paired with speeches by radical Islamic leaders where they talk about their quest for world dominance.

As a Jew I could not help but think how easily someone could take bits of text from the Torah to do something similar to the Jews. This guy crossed a dangerous line by using the religion to make a case against radical Islam. It will fuel those bigots who cannot or do not want to see the manipulation.  He seems to have a great fear of Islam taking over the world. I believe that is his motivation for making the film.

I hate radical Islam and all its bigotry and hate that they promote. This film however is the wrong answer to the problem of radical Islam. Hopefully his 15 minutes of fame will end and not in violence by either side. 

In Memorium

Our English bulldog, Max, died today.

He was the best dog ever. Hell, Max was the best friend ever.

He was old. He was eleven and a half years old and evidently for a bulldog, that's pretty damn old. He hadn't been doing well lately and there was nothing anyone could do for him but make him comfortable. Max went to sleep last night and I found him in his usual comfortable position this morning, but he wasn't with us anymore.

From the day we adopted him, Max was a character. He was so small I carried him home on the inside of my jacket because it was raining outside. I don't know if you've ever seen an English bulldog puppy, but they're three-quarters head and one-quarter body.

Max had more personality than 80 percent of the humans I know. His heart was huge, and pure. He demanded that you love him, and could never conceive of the concept that someone, either human or animal, might be put off by him. Being a male, other male dogs may growl at him, and Max would stand there wagging his piglet shaped tail with the attitude of, "Don't be mad at me...LOVE ME!" Have you ever seen a bulldog smile? Well, I don't care what you say. Max could smile.

He was a nurse. He knew instinctively when one of us wasn't feeling well and he would lay down next to us our use his best known cure...smelling our eyes. In Max's world, that was healing.

He was a clown. There are too many stories of the funny things he did, sometimes seemingly on purpose, that had us in tears of laughter. Charlie Chaplin couldn't have mastered physical comedy the way Max was able to. Someday I'll tell you the story of the frisbee.

He snored. He snored like an eighty-year-old man from the day he was born. Samantha found it soporifically soothing. I couldn't sleep if he was even in the next room.

He was stubborn, he was belligerent, he was self-willed, and he made those all into attributes. Something no human could pull off.

He was love defined. Max made it possible for our dog Elvis to find his home here, and Max saved a cat's life who we call Smelly and is also part of our family. Elvis loved Max. Smelly loved Max. And Max's opinion? Of course!

He was a friend. I know he fought to stay with us, but as "bulldogish" as he always was, he knew when it was time to go.

The phrase, "all dogs go to heaven" comes to mind about now. I gotta tell you. I believe that. And I also must say that I know there's a special place for Max in that heaven, and he's saying, "What's to eat?!"

There's going to be a huge, Max-sized hole in my heart from now on, but I'd never trade this pain for not knowing him at all.

Max was a great person. You shoulda known him.

Max Warady
September 1, 1996 - March 5, 2008



Submitted by Charley

The War

I had a wonderful Saturday with my family. As the day started to come to an end I turned on the TV and caught a special news bulletin. The rockets continue to hit Sderot and Ashkelon. We are fighting in Gaza trying to push the launchers back. Two soldiers are dead. The price of war. Make no mistake, this is war. I pray we kick ass and I worry because we have a prime minister leading us who is unfit for the job. As I watch the news I feel incredibly tired. I continue to watch the news like the people who stare at horrible train wrecks. I guess we just wait and watch and pray.

Spelled With a G?

Imad Mugniyah no longer walks this earth. So already its a better place. For those unfamiliar with his name he is the terrorist extraordinare of Hezbollah. Nasrallah is really just a pretty face compared to this guy. Imad was the commander of Hezbollah's military wing. With roughly 1000 deaths directly connected to him you could say he had a flair for evil and thats why he rose to the top so quickly. He was only 45 when he got kicked out of this world.

A lot of speculation as to who was responsible. The first name on every terrorists lips was Israel. Maybe so. The other was the United States. That would be cool too. A little revenge for the murder of 230 Marines in Beirut that our buddy was responsible for. In my opinion its all good. Of course there will be a price. I would have a guess what it is but I don't want to give them any ideas. Anyway there has been tons of analysis on this issue. We may not know for sure who did it but we know who Hezbollah will make pay for it. Its only a question of how. So lets stay on our toes people.

For me there are two issues that intrigue me. They stuck a G in his last name. Its not pronounced so how the heck did it get there? Does the G give it the correct pronunciation which is mooniyah as opposed to mun which rhymes with sun. To further confuse things his first name pronounced Eemad is spelled with an I yet his name is not pronounced EYEmad. Although as I roll it around its not really Eemad. Its a shorter e sound. The complexities of transliteration are beyond me.

I leave you with this thought. If they could get to Mugniyah in Damascus they can get to pretty boy Nasrallah in Beirut. Sweet dreams Hassan.

Submitted by Carol

No Excuses

I am starting to slide back to my slacker ways by not blogging and I will have none of it. There are enough slackers in this country. We had the Winograd report. I think the earthquake was a big fat zero on the Richter scale. Some army reservists and officers demonstrated. Joining them were the families who lost someone in the war. A couple thousand protesters at best. They should have had the demonstration at the water cooler at work. People congregate their all the time and this way they wouldn't have to be asked to make an effort. Of course we all know that everyone is ready to spout off while waiting to get a drink. They'll tell you what you want to know. Just don't ask them to make an effort.

Yesterday we had a dynamic duo from Hebron who wanted to do some shopping in Dimona. They probably got ticked off because there were no sales so they decided to blow people up. First one. Then when security and the ambulances came the other was supposed to but he was spotted and got shot in the head before he could push the button. Do you think the successful one is gloating because he has 72 virgins and his buddy doesn't. You'd think he'd at least share and give his friend one of them. One woman died and her husband is in critical condition. The UN apologizes and says that they are sorry but they cannot condemn these attacks because only one person died. When the Palestinians are able to kill more Israeli's so that the number is proportionate they will at the very least fret and wring their hands . So the qassams that only injured a woman today don't count in our favor at all. Do you see a pattern here as to the mood I'm in?

I think I'll be watching the results of Super Tuesday. I voted! At least for a bit there will be something interesting on TV. That is until the results get analyzed to death. Oh let me go take a happy pill.

Submitted by Carol