Archives for August 2005

How long do you have to live somewhere before you are no longer considered a settler.

During the past week or I have read commentary, been sent email or taken part in discussions in which people have served as terrorist apologists for groups like Hamas. It is considered in vogue and cool to explain to others how the US/Israel/Europe or the West in general is actually responsible for the actions of the terrorists.

It is a condescending attitude in which they essentially say that the poor terrorist had no other way to express themselves beyond murdering others. Pathetic apology if you ask me. Anyway I thought that this was interesting.

Hamas Details Past Attacks in Gaza Strip

“GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Hamas militants, jockeying to take credit for Israel’s Gaza Strip pullout, said they were involved in 54 percent of 400 attacks on Israeli targets in Gaza in the past five years.

The figures appeared on a Hamas Web site Monday, the day Israel set out to clear the last of its 21 Gaza settlements, Netzarim. Hamas said its numbers were reliable because they were culled from Israeli military statistics — a claim that could not immediately be verified.

Hamas and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas have been engaged in fierce competition over who will be credited with the Gaza pullout, a unilateral Israeli move. Hamas said its attacks have driven Israel out, while Abbas hopes to gain political capital from eventual improvement in the daily life of Gazans as a result of the withdrawal.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the figures “are a document of Hamas’ struggle and Hamas’ role in liberating this precious part of the homeland.”

They show that “resistance is the Palestinians’ strategy of choice,” Abu Zuhri said.

“It made this victory possible, and this victory can be repeated,” he said, referring to Israel’s Gaza withdrawal.

According to the figures posted by Hamas, the group was involved in 217 of 400 attacks against Israeli targets between September 2000, when the second Palestinian uprising against Israel began, and Aug. 15, 2005, the date Israel began pulling out of Gaza.

The Al Aqsa Brigades, affiliated with Abbas’ ruling Fatahparty, were responsible for 22 attacks, or 5.5 percent of the total. The Islamic Jihad carried out 34 attacks, or 8.5 percent of the total, according to the Hamas claim.

Hamas also claimed responsibility for killing 79 of the 167 Israeli soldiers who the group said died in militant attacks in Gaza in the past five years. Other factions killed 37 soldiers, or 22.2 percent of the total. Fifty-one soldiers, or 30.5 percent of the total, died in joint operations, Hamas said.

Hamas also suffered the most fatalities, according to the group’s statistics. A total of 145 of the 215 militants killed, or 67.5 percent, belonged to Hamas. Islamic Jihad ranked second, with 28 gunmen dead, followed by Fatah, with 23 fatalities.

Deadly Hamas attacks on Israeli targets waned this year after the group entered into an informal truce with Israel. Abu Zuhri said the truce was in force until the end of the year.”

The line in the story that says “145 of the 215 militants killed” caught my eye. How many of these attacks were launched by suicide bombers. They were not killed by Israel, they killed themselves and that is an important distinction.

400 attacks and that only covers Gaza. Just consider how many in total were committed.

A couple of jokes for you.

“A man was walking through the woods to go visit a dear friend. As he was walking he stumbled and his yarmulke fell off of his head. So he bent over to pick it up and upon standing up he noticed a bear standing in front of him.

He froze in fear and began to tremble. As he stood there he watched in amazement as the bear stood up and placed a yarmulke on his own head and began to daven.

He thought to himself, “I am saved, I have found the only Jewish bear in creation!” So he breathed a sigh of relief and began to daven and give thanks to G-d.

He finished just in time to hear the bear utter the last words of the bear’s prayer — hamotzi lekhem min ha-aretz.*”

(*the blessing that is said before meals)

And

“A Priest and a Rabbi are riding in a plane. After a while, the Priest turns to the Rabbi and asks, “Is it still a requirement of your faith that you not eat pork?”

The Rabbi responds, “Yes, that is still one of our beliefs.”

The Priest then asks, “Have you ever eaten pork?”

To which the Rabbi replies, “Yes, on one occasion I did succumb to temptation and tasted pork.”

The Priest nodded in understanding and went on with his reading. A while later, the Rabbi spoke up and asked the Priest, “Father, is it still a requirement of your church that you remain celibate?”

The Priest replied, “Yes, that is still very much a part of our faith.”

The Rabbi then asked him, “Father, have you ever fallen to the temptations of the flesh?”

The Priest replied, “Yes Rabbi, on one occasion I was weak and broke with my faith.”

The Rabbi nodded understandingly for a moment and then said, “A lot better than pork isn’t it?”

Last one for now.

“Yeshiva University’s new rowing team was the embarrassment of the entire sports department (which wasn’t so hot to begin with!) They not only finish dead last in every competitio, but consistently cross the finish line many minutes, even hours, after their opponents. Finally, they send Goldfarb to spy on the top-rated Harvard Crew team, in the hopes of gaining some helpful insight. Lurking in the Cambridge boathouse, he watches the team practice in the Charles River. For an entire week he observes their methods.

Finally, he returns to New York, where his teammates gather anxiously to hear his information.

“I figured out their secret!” he tells them excitedly.

“Nu!? Tell us! Tell us!” demand his teammates, impatiently.

“They have eight guys rowing,” he pronounces, authoritively.”and only ONE guy yelling!!”

Dear Readers,

As you know I have varied interests. Here is a short selection of some of the things that have caught my eye and a couple of comments. I don’t believe in invention through litigation. I don’t like the idea of overtired truckers on the road and I think that parents have to share some responsibility for the actions of their children. What do you think?

Some Claim Inventor Lemelson a Fraud

“LAS VEGAS – Jerome Lemelson was dying. One of the nation’s most prolific and perhaps greatest inventors had been diagnosed with a rare stomach cancer. The disease had spread to his liver, ravaging his body and causing severe pain.

In his final days at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in 1997, the 74-year-old Lemelson couldn’t eat or drink. Jaundiced and bedridden, he did not complain.

He made no special requests. His room was the same as any other patient’s.

Nor did he brag about his vast accomplishments. More than 600 patents to his credit. A fortune amassed. Powerful foes toppled.

As death approached, he believed his place in history had been secured, thanks to his most spectacular inventions: machine vision and the bar code scanner, technology that has dramatically altered the way in which we live.

“He was a simple man,” said his Houston oncologist, Dr. Giora Mavligit. “A mensch.”

But to his many detractors, Lemelson was something else.

They claim Lemelson’s patents were in fact worthless. Lemelson, they say, was one of the great frauds of the 20th century.”

U.S. Retains Controversial Trucker Rule

“WASHINGTON – Truckers can still spend six days on the road during the week and drive for 11 hours at a time, thanks to a rule the Bush administration decided to leave intact even though truckers and safety advocates say it’s unsafe.

For 60 years, truckers could drive for 10 consecutive hours. On Jan. 1, 2004, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration changed the rule to allow them another hour behind the wheel.

A federal court, however, threw out the changes.

On Friday, the truck-safety agency announced that a revision to the rule would still allow the big rigs to roll for 11 hours, three hours more than safety advocates say they should.

“What reasonable person who has traveled our nation’s roads and highways thinks that forcing tired truck drivers to stay behind the wheel even longer is good public policy?” asked Teamsters Union President James P. Hoffa.

More than a year ago, a federal court struck down the rule, saying it was “arbitrary and capricious” and failed to consider truckers’ health. The Bush administration was left to revise it.

Annette Sandberg, chief of the truck-safety agency, said the new rule is backed by more research and was designed to reduce the number of crashes caused by fatigued drivers.

“The research shows that this new rule will improve driver health and safety and the safety of our roadways,” Sandberg said during a press conference.

She said the rule requires drivers to take at least 10 hours off between shifts, two more than before, and reduces the maximum work day from 15 hours to 14.”

Jury: Parents Share Blame in Son’s Attack

“CINCINNATI – The parents of a teenager who stabbed a 13-year-old girl must bear most of the responsibility, jurors decided as they awarded $10 million to the injured victim and her family.

Lance and Diane White share 70 percent of the blame for the 2003 attack on Casey Hilmer, the Hamilton County jury found Friday. Their son Benjamin, who was 17 at the time, bears the rest.

“It sends a message to parents that even if the child is 11 days shy of 18 years old, a parent is liable for the supervision and control of their children and what they entrust them with,” said attorney Stanley Chesley, who represented the Hilmer family.”

Authors offer immortality in Web auction

“NEW YORK (Reuters) – How much would you pay to be immortalized as a zombie in a Stephen King novel or a good guy in a John Grisham thriller?

King and Grisham are among 16 authors selling the right to have a character in a book named for the buyer to raise money for the First Amendment Project, a California-based nonprofit group that promotes freedom of information and expression.

Details of exactly what each author is offering have been posted on Internet auction site eBay and the auctions will be held between September 1 and September 25, the group said on Tuesday.

King said he was offering the chance to name a character in a novel called “CELL,” to be published in 2006 or 2007.

“Buyer should be aware that ‘CELL’ is a violent piece of work, which comes complete with zombies set in motion by bad cell phone signals that destroy the human brain,” King said.

“Like cheap whiskey, it’s very nasty and extremely satisfying,” he said on the site, adding that if the buyer wanted the character to die, it must be a female name.”

The disengagement has been a horrific experience. It has just been awful and like so many others I have tried to figure out why Sharon has conducted it in this matter. Some more thoughts to share.

It was unilateral. It was done without any concessions from the Palestinians which is part of why it has been so painful.

The Palestinian rhetoric from all corners has been filled with joy and defiance. Not that I am surprised. I didn’t expect them to say anything very different, but I had some small hope that there would be more of a peaceful response. That maybe Abbas would speak in terms that didn’t praise terror and set the table for something more relaxed.

You can say a lot of things about Sharon including that he is a determined and crafty chess player. Here is a thought to share with you. It is not based upon any inside information but my own speculation.

One could argue that there is near universal agreement that the Gazan settlements were similar to waving a red flag in front of a bull. Their existence infuriated many of the Palestinians and made it easier for many to justify terrorist responses. I am not going to get into a question of whether they were justified, that is a different post.

So if accept the premise that their very being incited violence than you have to consider the ROI on leaving them there. What is the return on your investment. Do they serve a real purpose that you can use to justify the trouble that comes with them.

I think that Sharon looked at them and decided that it was not worth the price anymore for such a small minority and that he anticipated that removing them would create a number of things.

About a year into the second intifada I was speaking with a friend who had made aliyah either just before or just after the Yom Kippur war. He told me that one of the problems that many younger Israelis had was that they had not experienced as many terrorist incidents and that they were far more easily rattled than some of the older folks who had lived through so many of the wars. I don’t have a way of measuring the veracity of this, but it sounds plausible to me.

One wonders if Sharon did not look at this and hope that through the pain of the disengagement he would create a situation in which the resolve of Israelis to batten down the hatches and not give in to terror. In theory the pain and discomfort of this action would help to make people tougher and less willing to give in.

Because one can easily argue that the real battle is coming. There are many more people in Judea and Samaria and the commitment to the land is stronger.

I also wonder if he didn’t do this to try and force Abbas and company to toe the line of the roadmap with the thought that they would be incapable of doing so. If would present an opportunity to say to the world that Israel had acted in good faith and that the Palestinians had not and therefore Israel is under no obligation to follow it until such time as the Palestinians met their responsibilities.

Anyway, those are some thoughts on why this might have taken place in the manner that it has. One more to share with you. I have recently read a number of different entries around the net that suggest that it is crazy for Jews to claim to have a religious connection to Israel but there is no mention of this for Muslims as if it is ok for them to say that they have reason to be there but we do not.

I find that troubling.