Israel Is Not A Threat To Peace, Hamas Is



I shouldn't have to write the statement above. It should be obvious. Israel is a democratic nation with a long history of attempts to make peace with its neighbors. Hamas is a terrorist organization with a long history of blowing people up in nightclubs and buses.

But recent events have even got Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama blaming the Israelis for derailing the peace process. And I wonder just what Barack and Hillary are basing that on. That Israelis are building some new houses in a part of Jersusalem that would most likely be part of Israel anyway if a peace plan came to pass?

Let's get the facts straight. The Jerusalem suburb of Ramat Shlomo is NOT an Arab suburb. It's not a Palestinian suburb. Ramat Shlomo didn't exist before 1995. It was built and settled by Haredi Jews. It is NOT in the disputed East Jerusalem territory, which Palestinians want for their capital. It might be close by, but it is not in any territory that was once settled heavily by Arabs.

Furthermore, Hamas, as justification for their "Day of Rage" (which involved rock throwing at soldiers and general rioting), claimed that the Jews built a synagogue next to the Al-Asqa Mosque, as part of a fiendish plan to eventually annex the mosque territory and destroy it. Nevermind the fact that the Al-Asqa mosque is more than four football fields away, on top of the Temple Mount (which Israel has placed in the hands of the Muslims ever since its independence), that the synagogue was built in the JEWISH quarter of Jerusalem, and that the synagogue replaces the one built in the 1800s that was desecrated and destroyed by Jordan in 1948. When Israel rebuilt the synagogue, they maintained, rather than destroyed, the Muslim minaret that the Arabs had built on the site.

So what has Israel done wrong? They've built more houses for Jews in a place where Palestinians NEVER lived, in a place where more than 18,000 Jews already live. They've built a synagogue in the JEWISH quarter of Jerusalem, where a synagogue already stood. My God! What ANIMALS!!!!!

Hillary and Obama have to get their facts straight. They reacted to a pro-Hamas press release, and by declaring Israel to be out-of-line, gave Palestinian extremists ammunition to rally their cause. It would be a non-issue if Obama had said, "We're looking at the new building activity and examining whether it runs afoul of the peace process." Instead, he regurgitated the first thing he was told by some anti-Semite.

I just returned from Israel. In Jerusalem, I saw a city where anyone who wants to worship can worship in the way they please, without the threat of violence. I walked through the Muslim quarter, where a mob of little arab children, fresh from school, ran through the streets chanting "Allah Akbar," "God Is Great," with not one Israeli soldier batting an eye (even when a few of the kids spat on and pushed members of our tour group). I witnessed an Israeli government that strives to create a place where all religions can operate freely and pray in peace. Even when some of those people throw rocks at them.

Can we say the Palestinians would do the same? If, when, they receive East Jerusalem, will it be a place where any tourist from a non-Muslim nation can ever go? Will it be a place where any Christian or Jewish ruins or holy sites will be safe from desecration and destruction?

We've seen how they respond to a slight that wasn't even a slight. How will they respond once the Israeli soldiers pull out, and there's no one stopping these riots from exploding?

Personally, I fear for the day. And any reasonable person should too.

You tell me: Is Ramat Shlomo (A) in EAST Jerusalem?

Just In Case You Still Thought Politics Was About "Issues":

Republicans reveal plan to scare, bribe people to support them.

"What can you sell when you do not have the White House, the House, or the Senate...?"

The answer: "Save the country from trending toward Socialism!”

-Republican Party PowerPoint presentation

Just to be clear, Democrats do this too (instead of socialism, its "fascism"). But they're usually not stupid enough to leave their PowerPoint presentations lying around.

Anyway, let the drill begin. First, disavow. Second, hint that its a fabrication. Third, accuse the other party of playing dirty politics. Fourth, carry out the plan anyway, but insist that you're not.

Followed by: an election win, corruption, stalemates, a disappointed base, and an election loss. Rinse and repeat.

One thing I like about Obama is that he seems to get that people are sick of all the BS, the scare tactics, the lies, the broken promises, the political maneuvering. He knows Americans want to get things done, make things happen. But unfortunately, all the people around him are acting like schoolyard bullies. And Obama, as hard as he tries, can't get them to act like adults. Which begs the question...

Is anyone on Capitol Hill qualified for their job?

Maybe instead of voting for people who vow to uphold our their beliefs NO MATTER WHAT, we should elect leaders who vow to weigh solid evidence and study issues closely to find workable solutions that benefit most Americans while not imposing hardship on the minority.

But we'd call that guy a flip-flopper, I guess.

Oh Snap! Boyfriend/Girlfriend Fight On Yahoo Answers!


[Click To Enlarge]

I have to agree with the girlfriend. You put a guitar pick in a CD drive, I have very little sympathy for you.

Eat Like An Olympian, A Retrospective

Seriously McDonalds? "So tonight, we eat like Olympians.?!?!?WT*??" Yeah, Johnny Spillane's just scarfing those chicken McNuggets down.

Side note, I once wrote about McNuggets for my local paper when I was in Lillehammer, Norway with my dad for the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Not just McNuggets of course. But also about the men's aerials, hockey, Dan Jansen's gold medal and world record in the 1,000 meters. That was one of the most incredible moments of my life. The whole trip was full of those moments. My dad and I met Kristi Yamaguchi (I'd show you the picture, but I dropped my Disney World Mickey Mouse Camera, and the photos were wrecked), bobsledder Brian Shimer, along with several of the CBS sportscasters. It was cold, and we ate little more than granola bars everyday, because all the restaurants were booked, and the only food at the venues was a pretzel type thing with a lingonberry jelly . We went skiing, and I dropped my gloves off the ski lift. it was freezing. The coldest I'd felt in my life. My dad calmly put his gloves on my frozen hands and marched down the mountain in ski boots, retrieving my gloves from a rocky ravine.

Then I accidentally skied off towards a double diamond slope. My dad yelled at me to fall down to stop myself. We finally found a slope we could deal with, until it leveled out and we realized that we'd actually left the slope a ways back and had been skiing on a road. It was white. Everything was white. Norway was like the inside of a sugar bowl.

One night I got sick. My dad carried me inside the hotel, helped me into bed. Went down to the front desk and asked where the drug store was. That has a different meaning in Norwegian. After convincing the woman at the front desk he wasn't searching for the narkotika, she directed him to the nearest pharmacy, where he bought medicine for me. My dad was really the American hero of that Olympics. He deserves a gold medal.

As for the McDonalds, ""Eat Like An Olympian"" stuff? Well, gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps does consume 12,000 calories a day. So i guess McDonalds isn't lying, they're just being misleading.

I have to say, I'm enjoying this Olympics. I mean, who knew Nordic Combined could be interesting? Although the longer cross-country races are like watching raindrops slowly trickle down a windowpane. But how about those Chinese pairs skaters? Amazing.

Of course there's been tragedy. And venue mishaps. But I love the Winter Games.

Even so, totally watching Lost tomorrow.

NEW FEATURE: Today's Winter Olympics Did You Know?:

"Polar bears eat seals almost exclusively."

Thanks Mary Carillo.

F#ck Snow Plows

"Emergency snow removal"

That's what the security guy at Stuyvesant Town called it at 4:20 am when I called to complain about the freaking snow plows blasting warning beeps every two seconds. It's fing ridiculous. No one is walking around in a snowstorm at 4am-- warning beeps are completely unnecessary. Of course, the noise can not be shut off. But it's louder than my damn alarm is that wakes me in the morning. It's right outside my fing window. I've never wanted to strangle a snowplow driver more. Or at least the fing guy who invented the backup warning beep. I'm thinking anyone who doesn't see a HUGE ASS SNOWPLOW backing up deserves to die. Survival of the fittest and such.

Or here's a freaking novel idea: just let the damn snow pile up. Let us have a damn snow day. Half the city is shut down anyway tomorrow. What ever happened to good old fashioned, "Oh my! We're snowed in!"

Seriously. Suck one snowplows.

[UPDATE: 311 noise complaint filed. Apparently, according to the woman I spoke to, they've been getting calls about this all night. "It makes the time pass," the woman said. At least someone's getting something out of this.]