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

Archives for August 2007

CNN Buffoons Interview "Brave" Terrorist

by 14 Comments

You’ll forgive me for calling journalists infantile and moronic but it is hard to read the sort of preening and fawning praise of a murderer that they presented here.

He then explained he was more than willing to discuss anything we wished, ranging from a captive Israeli soldier to the peace process to U.S. foreign policy.

The still abducted Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, was a key part of the interview, and Meshaal was more than willing to talk about him.

“We did not blackmail Israel, and we gave free information to Gilad Shalit’s father and his family that Gilad Shalit is still alive. When he asked us to bring him a medical glasses for his sight, we did so as humanitarian duty. We treat Gilad Shalit in a humanitarian way that is in line with the Palestinians’ morals,” he said.

Why didn’t CNN ask him to clarify what he considers blackmail to be. Would it involve threatening to murder a captive if your demands are not met. This is so much claptrap and nonsense. But it is not as ridiculous as what follows.

Robertson began to ask about Hamas’ view of the United States and the Bush administration’s foreign policy. Suddenly, Meshaal hinted at a potential shift in Hamas’ policy toward Israel. The slightest chance of change, of course, depends on events, according to the Hamas leader.

“Hamas changed a lot and great efforts have been made to conform with the realistic positions of Palestinians and Arabs. When Hamas says with other Palestinians forces that we demand for a Palestinian country as the border was back in 1967. Isn’t this a development change?” he said.

You’d think that at this point CNN would be smart enough to ask if this means that Hamas has amended its charter. You know that little document that states:

“There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”

Unfortunately it appears that they did not do so. All they did was nod and smile and provide a platform for a terrorist leader to spout off doctrine. Apparently they were too impressed to think.

Shortly after the interview began, the room filled up with his guards and those that work with Meshaal. They wanted to hear what he had to say as much as we did. In the middle of the interview, one of his guards handed him a cell phone. He had a brief conversation and apologized to us for the interruption.

“Who was that?” I asked one of my contacts.

The answer: “A very powerful Arab leader.”

That sounds like a version of an old sales trick. Gee Mrs. Jones I’d sure like to sell you this house, but as you just heard me say, there are at least three offers for this house. I call bullshit. Don’t tell me that it is a powerful Arab leader unless you can prove it. CNN made a mistake by not holding his feet to the fire about this.

And it just gets worse.

I must say it’s difficult to truly enjoy your coffee when you know you’re about to go to a place run by Hamas to meet a man who at any moment could be killed by Israel.

Did they not see what happened in Gaza. Did they not hear about the war between Hamas and Fatah. All they can do is worry that Israel might try to execute the murderer of innocents.

Watch him use the journalists to spread his propaganda.

The interview with Meshaal lasted around 90 minutes, but it seemed to fly by far faster.

He discussed the role of Saudi Arabia and how Hamas’ relationship plays into wider regional politics, as well as his wish to speak to the West, to have peace talks and be invited to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice next month. He spoke of mistakes he believes the Americans have made — especially not backing the Hamas government in Gaza, which was democratically elected — and much, much more.

They never bother to question. They just accept his propaganda and feed it to the world. Somewhere Meshaal is smiling like the cat who ate the canary.

This just disgusts me. They should be embarrassed to have been so easily duped. It is just shameful.

Do You Force Yourself To Blog?

by 16 Comments

*Sticky Post*

Ok friends. It is time for a new question.

Do you have to force yourself to blog? Is blogging a chore, a responsibility or something that you do for fun?

For a list of posts that ask similar/related questions/comments about blogging try the drop down menu entitled BLOGGING on the right side of the page.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Jewish boy served as Nazi ‘mascot’

by 3 Comments

Ynet has an interesting story called Jewish boy served as Nazi ‘mascot‘.

Over 50-years after the Second World War came to an end, Alex Kurzem of Australia revealed to his family that he was a Jew who survived the war by being adopted by the SS at the age of five and becoming a Nazi mascot.

Kurzem, 70, revealed his story to his wife and two children in 1997, and now, 10 years later, a book entitled The Mascot and written by Kurzem’s son Mark, has been published in London.

“Who would have believed such a story?” Kurzem told Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper over the phone Thursday night.

“Only after my son decided to dedicate himself to research did we realize that I was documented in Nazi propaganda ads and Nazi press and Nazi newsreels where the photographs appearing in the book were taken from. In newsreels I was nicknamed ‘The Reich’s youngest Nazi’.”

Dressed in a little SS uniform and armed with toy gun, Kurzem looked like a real Nazi.”Only one Nazi knew I was Jewish, and he made me swear not to tell,” Kurzem said, “This was a daily struggle, because I was troubled by it every day. Luckily, I did not look Jewish, but more German than the Germans, and so, despite my fears, no one ever doubted my identity.”

Kurzem’s story begins in 1941, when his Belarusian village was invaded by Germany. The then five-year-old boy managed to escape the massacre, but witnessed the death of his mother and two siblings, along with the rest of the villagers.

The young boy wandered through the woods for nine months, surviving on wild berries and handouts, until he was handed over to the Latvian police brigades, which later became incorporated into the Nazi SS.

The Latvians were convinced Kurzem was a Russian orphan of German descent. “They were sure I was a German orphan, and that’s why I deserved to become their mascot,” he said.

Jimmy Cox- First try

by Leave a Comment

I have been to my share of AA meetings. Spent more than a couple of hours in smoke filled rooms listening to the tales of those in recovery and those who are still trying to recover. I have seen a man receive a chip for 50 years of sobriety and another for 5 years.

Some of those stories are just as sad as you can imagine. Tragedy and heartbreak bought and sold for two bits. Misery is a shared currency that can be traded and bartered for or so Jimmy Cox tried to tell me. Jimmy had all sorts of sayings. We used to laugh about it. One day we planned on using them to fill a book we planned on writing. It didn’t have to make us rich or famous. It just had to serve as proof of a life that actually meant something.

Jimmy didn’t have any illusions of grandeur. He was a simple man who had a simple disease. The biggest problem was that euphemism, simple disease didn’t quite illustrate just how badly it could fuck it up your life. Jimmy had learned the hard way that he wasn’t cut out to only have a couple of beers. He wasn’t someone who could walk away from the table. Some people can. Some people can ignore the piece of cheesecake lying in front of them.

Jimmy couldn’t. He used to say that it was part of his nature. There wasn’t any challenge too big for him to take on. He couldn’t find the man that was tougher than he was. And for twenty years he proved it. For twenty years he drank and fought his way through bars, restaurants, employers, wives and more than a couple of girlfriends.

In a different life Jimmy might have been an engineer or a teacher. In a different life he would have come home from work and not needed to take a shower. He had dark thoughtful eyes, a weathered, yet friendly face and a great smile. A fine sense of humor tempered by a fierce anger helped to round him out.