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The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

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Archives for August 2004

Putin links plane disaster to Al-Qaeda

August 31, 2004 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

“SOCHI, Russia : Russian President Vladimir Putin linked last week’s downing of two passenger airliners to the Al-Qaeda network and said it was evidence of the presence of international terrorism on Russian soil in Chechnya.

“The fact that an international terrorist organization linked to Al-Qaeda took responsibility for the blowing up of two planes shows once again the link between destructive elements in Chechnya and international terrorism,” Putin told reporters.”

Tom Clancy wrote a book that semi-predicted cooperation between the US and Russia in fighting terror. Don’t be surprised to see it happen.



It is also interesting to see what the French and Germans had to say on this:



Both Chirac and Schroeder gave Putin a wide berth in dealing with Chechnya, voicing support for what they described as his efforts to obtain a political solution to the separatist crisis there.

“A political solution is necessary and this is what Russia wants,” the French president said.”But a political solution has a limit,” he added.

“It is a limit that everyone can understand and that no one can seriously contest … the territorial unity of the Russian Federation”.Schroeder offered similar backing for Putin, saying that presidential elections held in Chechnya on Sunday “demonstrate that Russia wants a political solution” there.”

We will continue to look for a solution in critical solidarity,” the German leader added.

Should I wonder if they’ll lend the same support to Israel.

Filed Under: Israel

More about the technical diffculties or why does this look different

August 31, 2004 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Ok, after a lot of hard work I have finally “restored” my Blog. My expertise does not lie in programming and I am not really a detail person, but when I decide to focus on something I can be “pit-bullish” in my determination to succeed.

And I was determined to figure out what the hell happened. I tried to to use the auto-install of Haloscan and that ^%$T^^%^ the whole thing up. And then I went bonkers along with the fercockteh computer and template trying to restore it.

So that is why you now see a very white interface. It was a whole process and I am pleased to pat myself on the back and say I figured it out myself. But I will likely not mess with this for some time again as that was a hassle. And if I do I won’t be so foolish as to not have made a clean backup so that I can correct my mistakes.

My apologies for the issue and now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Technical Difficulties

August 31, 2004 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Hello Readers,

The shack is currently experiencing some technical issues. So if you see some funky stuff bear with us, we are working on resolving the problems.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

More terrorism in Moscow

August 31, 2004 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

“MOSCOW – Explosions near a busy Moscow subway station in a shopping district Tuesday night killed six people and injured at least 20. The Itar-TASS news agency said authorities blamed a woman suicide bomber.

Initial reports said a single car blew up, but witnesses said they heard at least two explosions. The blast struck about 8:15 p.m. in an area between the Rizhskaya station and a nearby supermarket-department store complex.”

Ladies and gentlemen I expect to see the fighting between the Russian gov’t and the Chechen’s heat up real soon. Russia is still a member of the UNSEC, so don’t expect to see the UN do much in the way of preventing this.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Italian Surgeon Performs Ankle Transplant

August 31, 2004 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

Medical science consistently amazes me. This is very cool.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

On the outside looking in or I am not sure where this is all going

August 31, 2004 by Jack Steiner 2 Comments

It is a Tuesday morning in Los Angeles and I just had a flashback to August of 1985. I am 16 years-old and living in Jerusalem for the Summer. My trip is almost over and I am just beside myself because I don’t want to leave Israel. I miss my family, but I am caught, captivated and mesmerized by everything around me.

The intifada hasn’t broken out yet and I wander through the shuk and Arab quarter on a regular basis. I wander into the Jewish quarter and head to the Kotel. I am not sure why I am there. Up until a short time prior I had been convinced that I was an atheist. I hadn’t been one for very long, but I was convinced that I was.

I can’t remember what day it was. I know that it wasn’t Shabbos, but it really doesn’t matter. All I know is that my Hebrew is flowing and I don’t feel like an outsider looking in. I just feel like I am home. I am in Israel, I am in Jerusalem and I am home. I am a content teenager. I don’t care that my girlfriend and I broke up for the third time. I don’t care that I don’t have any money, I just care about having to go back to my other home.

Duality begins at that time, that is when I remember that suddenly I feel like I am two different people inhabiting the same body. So I head to the Kotel after having wandered aimlessly. I am invulnerable, I am powerful, I am alive in every sense of the word. I walk to the wall and lean against it. I slump down with my back to it and put my head in my hands. I turn and face it again and look straight up, I am like a crazy man trying to figure out how to become a part of it. But flesh and stone don’t merge, no matter how hard I try.

I offer my thoughts and ask G-d to give me a sign. It can be anything. The strange older guy that is davening in the corner can deliver it. One of the notes can fall out of the Kotel and strike me on the head. Or maybe it will be something like ESP and I’ll just know. Nothing really happens, but I just decide that G-d exists. It is kind of arbitrary and I feel a little peculiar about having just changed my mind, but I do and I wander away.

A short time later I am back at our base which in English was called the Goldstein Village. It is roughly at Ben Baba and Agnon.For what seems like an eternity we have lived in dorms with teens from around the world, primarily the US and Canada, but there are others as well.

The others are going to leave this evening. My group is staying on, but the others are going to head out. The friends I made are heading back to Toronto, Chicago, Cherry Hill, Nashville, wherever. It doesn’t matter because it is another sign that the end of Summer is rapidly approaching and I will have to leave home to go home.

That evening we hang out with the other groups, it is a chance to say goodbye while they pack. At some point someone breaks out bottles of beer, vodka, wine, brandy, gin and who knows what else. I am one of the boys so I try them all. I have never really been drunk and now I am hammered, just wrecked. I can remember people trying to talk to me and we can’t really understand each other. Ben tells me to stop speaking Hebrew, speak English. Mike says that he can’t understand me.And now I feel like I am standing on the other side of a fence looking in.

I decide to get some rest, to sleep it off and I’ll try to wake up to say goodbye to my friends. I wake up in the morning and my friends have all left. I never said goodbye, or if I did I can’t remember. I remember thinking that their last image of me will be as some stupid drunk kid and it makes me feel worse than the hangover I have. I have never had a hangover prior to this, but this is as bad as any I have seen on TV. And that is really all I have as a reference point, I have never been drunk and the experience is turning into a bit of a nightmare.

The rest of my group heads out to take the train into Tel-Aviv. I stay at the base, I am too sick to travel. And now the teenager who doesn’t mind spending time by himself feels alone. I am again on the outside looking in.

It takes me until 2 PM to get out of the dorm and head out into Jerusalem. I take a bus to Ben Yehuda and tool around. I hit Ritchie’s Pizza, Pizza Rimini, Mr. T’s and some other cafes. No one is there. I wander around the city and there are no familiar faces, but again the magic of that Summer envelops me and my batteries are recharged. I am home, now I just have to figure out how to go home so that I can leave home to come back home to Israel. I am 16 years-old, but I have a real goal in mind. And if nothing else, I am happy.

Filed Under: Israel

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