Blogging v Tweeting...

I haven't posted anything in a while, yet have been tweeting quite a bit...I wonder if Twitter has somehow blocked the blogger in me? I now look at Althouse, Instapundit, CrankyProfessor and others...yet don't post, myself. Too much trouble to come up with more than 144 characters, I guess. We'll see if this changes anytime soon. Meanwhile, I guess Twitter has it. (Also, I don't really like the new template for Blogger all that much, it is a little confusing, somehow.)

An Amazing Citation from a Korean Database

Featured Articles : Representing Islam, Terrorism, and Violence ; An American Reflection: Steven Spielberg, The Jewish Holocaust and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict ( Shai Ginsburg ) "This paper examines Steven Spielberg`s vision of the State of Israel and, to a lesser extend of the U.S., as presented in Munich (2005). The paper argues that Spielberg mounts a critique of the two states and their security apparatuses. The willingness of the two to resort to violence either in the name of their own protection or under the guise of protecting their citizens, Munich suggests, does not merely undercut their claim as democracies to embody the universal values of liberty and justice, but also the very well-being of their citizens. Spielberg`s mistrust of the state (and of the State of Israel in particular) is already hesitantly suggested more than a decade earlier in his treatment of the Jewish Holocaust in Schindler`s List (1993). I trace this mistrust to two cinematic sources: Otto Preminger`s Exodus (1960) and Laurence Jarvik`s Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die (1982). Whereas the former Hollywood epic sought to align American audiences with the State of Israel and its military campaigns, the latter documentary exposed the inaction of both the Roosevelt administration and the Zionist leadership in the face of the mass murder of European Jews during World War II. Spielberg`s films could thus be seen as a revision－both in plot and in form－of Preminger`s spectacular celebration of the State of Israel in light of Jarvik`s damning revelations. Exodus turns the story of the rise of Israel out of the plight of Holocaust survivors into "spectacular cinema." Spielberg`s films, on the other hand, and Munich in particular, suggest that spectacular cinema conceals the incommensurability between the plight of individuals and the logic that guides the action of the state and its apparatuses. In that respect, Spielberg`s films－considered prime examples of the latest incarnation of spectacular cinema－undercut their own logic of representation. " SOURCE: PaperSearch.net Article: An American Reflection: Steven Spielberg, The Jewish Holocaust and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Old-Fashioned Teaching Works

Even in Silicon Valley... According to today's NY Times.

Occupy Wall Street is Two Minutes Hate, v.2011

George Orwell described Two Minutes Hate, a daily ritual designed to brainwash the population into hating Emmanuel Goldstein and the current enemy of Big Brother in 1984. As Oscar Wilde famously quipped, life imitates art, so now we have Occupy Wall Street, a daily ritual of two-minute clips shown on television news designed to brainwash the population into hating the current enemy of the Obama Administration, intended to bully Wall Street and Republicans into submission much in the way anti-Globalization protestors extracted NGO payoffs from the World Bank and IMF and Starbucks (anyone remember those "broken windows" of a few years back?). As if on cue, Andrew Breitbart has published emails showing coordination between major media and Occupy DC demonstrators, and the "Occupation" has been publicly endorsed by leading Democrats, celebrities, academics, and President Obama himself. The purpose of Two Minutes Hate v.2011 is clearly twofold: 1. To generate hatred against political opponents, most notably Wall Street veteran Mitt Romney and the GOP (despite Obama's own Wall Street support); and 2. To distract public attention from the Obama administration's unsolved political problems, such as wars actual (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Uganda) and potential (Syria, Iran); economic collapse; the Obamacare fiasco, as well as general political stagnation. As George Orwell would no doubt have said more eloquently: You can't make this stuff up.

James Taranto on "Occupy Wall Street"

James Taranto skewers Jesse LaGreca in Best of the Web:

Behold Jesse LaGreca, who boasts of his working-class street cred while speaking the elitist jargon of the professor-cum-president's failing administration. And he does so on ABC, owned by the Walt Disney Co. He's an Audio-Animatronic revolutionary.

All that said, there is some truth to his statement that "we have succeeded tremendously in pushing the narrative." But the truth of it makes his posturing all the more ridiculous.

"Occupy Wall Street" began as a left-wing protest, something about as exceptional as a pigeon in New York. It didn't become a "narrative" until the narrators made it into one. Who are those narrators? They work for companies like Disney, CBS Corp., Comcast Corp. and General Electric Co. (co-owners of NBC), Time Warner, News Corp. (our employer), the New York Times Co., the Washington Post Co., the Tribune Co., Thomson Reuters Corp. and Bloomberg LP.

These corporations make their profits (or attempt to) by pushing narratives--by selling stories. Sometimes their narratives are as preposterous as Jesse LaGreca's. An example is yesterday's New York Times editorial that begins: "As the Occupy Wall Street protests spread from Lower Manhattan to Washington and other cities, the chattering classes keep complaining that the marchers lack a clear message and specific policy prescriptions."

The disdainful reference to "the chattering classes" is just priceless. To which class, pray tell, do New York Times editorialists belong? Though come to think of it, at least the anonymous hack who wrote that editorial got paid for his effort. That makes his claim to working-class status stronger than LaGreca's.

Not Red Square, Moscow--Pennsylvania Ave, Washington...

When I was at Swarthmore, Robert Zoellick was a redneck.

Remember Alan Gross...

An American Jew being held prisoner in Fidel Castro's Cuba, story here.

Happy New Year!

Shana Tovah 5772 to all our Jewish readers!

Agustin Blazquez's YouTube Preview

Agustin Blazquez writes: This is the first preview of my new documentary series ARTS & POLITICS. The Castro regime's official artists are given venues, press coverage and glowing reviews to make an impact on the American public. Cuban American artists, with few exceptions, are ignored. The current Cuban regime continues to advance its agenda using the arts. This series will give Cuban American "politically incorrect" artists the opportunity to break the barrier of silence. My plan is to not disclose the name of the star of this production until about two weeks before the premiere. There will be other previews coming. Feel free to forward this information. In Spanish with English subtitles. Stunning! Emotional! Rivetting! A musical, artistic portrait of a great international singer! 63 songs! Distributed by Cubacollectibles.com. The preview will be the first thing that opens in the YouTube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/JAUMS

My best, Agustin Blazquez, producer/director AB INDEPENDENT PRODUCTIONS

Eliyo Matz on Birds & Jewish History

BIRD POLITICS AND JEWISH HISTORY
​
​By:  Eliyho Matz
 
O Soul, come back to watch birds in flight!
​Ch’u Yuan
 
Dedicated to the courageous Duchifat* soldiers who paid dearly for their commitment to the ideals of the young Israeli Nation: ideals of democracy, law and freedom.  Unfortunately, these ideals are today being eroded and replaced by Biblical laws (right-wing religious fanatic orthodox Jewish laws) that are totally dismantling and destroying the possibility for Israel to become a modern nation.  If the Duchifat soldiers only knew what they were fighting for….
And for Hadas….
(In this military unit of courageous Paratroopers, I served as the most unimportant soldier.)
 
* Hoopoe bird, in Arabic Hud-hud.
 
​Birds are not big time complainers.  They keep themselves busy flying and do not usually need bird psychiatrists to help them resolve personal or communal issues of territory or flying zones.  The sky and the earth are their sovereign territory.  Recently, however, they have acted spontaneously, in unison, to a changed political situation in the Israeli Nation.  To explain that decision, we need to trace back a bit, to fly backwards, like only the hummingbird can do.  
On July 12, 2011, the acclaimed New York Times published on page A8, bottom left, a news article by Isabel Kershner titled, “Israel Bans Boycott Against the State” in which Kershner described the new Israeli Parliamentary law illegalizing any public boycotting of the Israeli Nation or West Bank settlements, thus making the act of calling for a boycott punishable by a compulsory fine.  A few days later, on July 18, 2011, the NYT again touched upon the situation, this time attacking the Israeli boycott law in an editorial dedicated to this issue titled, “Not Befitting a Democracy.”  However, with all due respect to this publication, which I personally have been reading consistently over the past 36 years, I believe that the NYT is totally mistaken and unclear.  I do not take issue with the fact that the NYT is worried that the law will “…chip away at free speech and political rights,” but rather that even in the title itself of this article the NYT does not recognize, or is not interested in recognizing, that the Israeli Nation, since its inception in 1948, has never written a constitution and therefore cannot be a true democracy; therefore citing this action as “not befitting a democracy” is totally misleading, and does not suit the reporting and analysis qualities of the NYT.  Furthermore, the NYT in its reporting often refers to the Israeli Nation as the “Jewish State,” and thus fails to call it by its true name, the Israeli Nation.  Ironically, the current Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also wants the Palestinian people to recognize Israel as a “Jewish State” -- when no one can even figure out how politically to define a Jew.  This type of convoluted political thought prevents the Israeli Nation from progressing to become a nation-state of the Israelis, or better, an Israeli Republic with a written constitution, that could serve to modernize its political engagement and its ability to be absorbed into the Middle East.
​Birds, which are frequent fliers between Northern Europe and Africa, have throughout time been flying through the Israeli sovereign territory twice a year: in spring they flock to Europe, in autumn to Africa.  But they have their sensitivities, too.  Apparently they are extremely aware of the nature of people, and thus, because of their sense of justice and humanity, and having followed the widespread news and protest about the Israeli boycott law via their “Bird News Services” (BNS), not controlled by the corrupt Rupert Murdoch, decided quietly, without too much twittering, to form the first “Bird Congress” on the north shore of the Black Sea, where it was decided by the birds’ top democratic leadership, to avoid, if possible, flying over Israel or any other non-democratic country that does not have a democratically written constitution.  It seems like a harsh decision to me by the birds considering the long lasting relationship that they have formed with the ancient and modern Israelis, and it is a bit out-of-place with the history of birds and Jews.  
​The Hebrew Bible quite frequently deals with the interactive relationship between humans and birds.  The familiar story of Noah is one of the first to demonstrate this relationship.  The domesticated pigeon brings back to the ark an olive leaf, thus symbolizing the end of the flood and the return to normalcy.  Then we have a more overlooked Biblical detail that Hebrew Bible researchers and Orthodox Jewish believers probably pay little attention to.  It is in the story of Moses: Moses, who is running away from Egypt, perhaps carries out his destiny in marrying Zippora (Shemot 2:21).  Although in the Hebrew Bible we do not have as much mythology as is seen in the Greek writings, Moses, as the father and lawgiver of the Hebrews, should have been aware of the connotation of the name “Zippora” -- a bird.  He marries Zippora and thus the Jewish mazel (luck) gets its start with wandering, as a matter of fact, quite a bit of it, and forever not just for the forty years in the desert.  As Adeline Yen Mah, a prominent American Chinese writer, informs us, “Jia Ji Shui Ji” -- “Marry a Chicken, Follow a Chicken” [Adeline Yen Mah, Falling Leaves (New York: Broadway Books, 1997) p. 157].  The Hebrews, while wandering in the desert, feed upon shlav, or quail, which appear every evening and provide sustenance to the Hebrews while on the move in the desert.  Then for a while in the Hebrew Bible we do not hear about birds, when suddenly further on another bird story appears.  This time it involves the legendary King Solomon, who, as the Bible tells us in the First Book of Kings (5:13), was wise and “…spoke of beasts and of birds….”  Later on, being a wealthy and very virile king (he married 1000 women), he interacted with the legendary Yemenite Queen of Sheba.  Our bird, the duchifat, was the go-between for Solomon and Sheba.  “According to the legend he [the duchifat, or hoopoe] is said to be the son of Solomon, hence he had a golden crown.  So the people in greed for gold used to kill him.  One day he referred the matter to his father, so he [Solomon] changed the golden crown into flesh and the persecution then ceased” [Samsar Chand Koul, Birds of Kashmir (p.65)].  Another bird connected to King Solomon was the white-cheeked Bulbul, which the legend says “…are reputed to have given to Solomon the power to differentiate between an artificial and a natural nosegay, and to be ready to offer advice if one has the ear willing to listen” (Koul, p. 13).  Paradoxically, in Israeli popular culture the word “Bulbul” has become a derogatory expression for a person who is totally confused.  The Hebrew Bible continues to amaze us with stories of birds.  Another very interesting one is about the prophet Elijah, who ran away to Mt. Sinai and was fed by ravens.  “I saw a small chapel commemorating the spot where the ravens fed Elijah.  It is supposedly built over the cave where the prophet hid from Jezebel” [Wendell Phillips, Qataban and Sheba (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1955), p. 134].  A captivating legend from Chinese history documented by Thanh and Benjamin Cherry in their book Of Pandas and Wandering Geese (London: Minerva Press, 1999; p. 251) tells a story about the building of the Great Wall of China and the loss of many lives, especially of one person whose wife “…lamented his disappearance so vigorously that some ravens showed her where his body was buried; whereupon the wall split apart revealing the bones.”  
​From Biblical times to modern times, we do not hear much about birds and Jews, even though Jews continued to wander, ultimately becoming known as the “Wandering Jews.”  Aside from the commonly known explanations for their wandering, one should consider the business opportunities Jews have undertaken since time immemorial by traveling, on the Silk Road doing business with the Chinese, or on the high seas to India, and the consequences of such activities.  For example, I truly believe that the religious laws defining who is a Jew, by making the mother the sole determinant, and the laws prohibiting Jews from marrying more than one wife developed between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE and in the 10th century, are all related to the business occupation of Jews traveling between East and West, North and South, like birds.  
Thus we have moved to modern times.  The poet Chaim N. Bialik speaks to an imaginary bird that just arrived at his window from the Land of Zion.  The poem, which is the ultimate instrument to explain the Jewish Zionist activities in Palestine to rebuild the nation, is still considered a masterpiece of poetry.  Of course the political and social reality has changed, from the early days of the Zionist naiveté, to the modern Israelis’ convoluted political thoughts.  The poet Saul Tchernichovsky, who was a contemporary of Bialik, also deals with birds.  In his case he introduces a more aggressive bird of prey, the eagle, in his poem “Eagle, eagle over your mountains.”  Well, this poem definitely will later usher the Israelis into the modern age when their airplanes will eventually control the skies of the Middle East, thus making Tchernichovsky sort of a poet-prophet.  One of the most interesting writers and translators of modern times is Zev Zahbotinsky, who, extremely talented as a translator into Hebrew, takes the poem by Edgar Allen Poe, “The Raven,” and transforms it into one of the most celebrated poems in modern Hebrew, so much transformed that he made it more interesting than the original version.  The singer Ester Offarim, one of the most unique Israeli voices, has spilled her soul while singing “Mi Itneni Auf Tzipor Kanaf Ketanah” (“Who will give me the power to fly,/A small little winged bird wandering forever”) – boy, has this singer been wandering!  The Israeli singer-songwriter Igal Bashan has contributed to the bird image through the lyrics of his song “Yesh Li Tzipor Ketanah Balev” (“I Have a Tiny Bird in My Heart”).  Moving from the heart to the head is another Israeli singer and songwriter Matti Kaspi, who contributed, “Yesh Li Tziporrim Barosh” (“I Have Birds in My Head”).  We do not yet have any poet or singer who writes about Israeli legs and compares them to birds’ legs to complete our body picture in allegorizing the Wandering Israelis, who travel today as Tarmilaim  (backpackers) from Thailand to Argentina.
In the early days of the Israeli Nation, shortages of essential foods were common and rationing was imposed on the Israeli public.  One of the products that was rationed was coffee beans.  Here is a story about birds first developed by Abram Sorramello, the legendary Jerusalemite (dubbed by journalist and writer Baruch Nadel as “Mr. Tzipporovich”).  Sorramello told of a man arriving at the airport coming from abroad carrying a sack of coffee beans.  The custom agent asked him what he had in the sack, and the traveler answered “birdfood.”  “Birdfood?” questioned the agent, who smelled coffee in the sack.  “Well,” answered the fellow, “if the birds want it, they eat it, if not, not!”  
Certainly the motif of birds has contributed forcefully to Israeli culture.  However, most serious and critical of Israeli culture and politics is Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, although I think that he himself is not really aware of the implications of what he is describing in his poem “Dangerous Country [Benjamin and Barbara Harshav, Translators, Yehuda Amichai: A Life of Poetry 1948-1994 (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), p. 393].  To me, this poem represents the ultimate analysis of birds and politics: “Even the migrating birds know it,/They come in spring or in autumn and do not stay,…”  So the terrible conclusion: the Israeli land, Zion, is where people and birds come and go.  Not so good a reality if Israelis want a future Israeli Nation to exist.
 

Eliyho Matz: The Unknown Story of the Altalena

The Ship Altalena
Tel Aviv Beach, 1948
 
​By: Eliyho Matz
 
 
PROLOGUE
​
The story of the ship the Altalena is one of the most complex dramas in the creation of the Israeli nation.  My intent with this piece is not to solve  the puzzle of the Altalena story, but rather to bring to light some interesting details relating to the story.
In the early 1940’s, a small group of people, members of the Etzel (Jewish-Palestinian underground), better known as the Irgun, arrived in New York City from Europe and Palestine.  The commander of the group was Hillel Kook, who later took the name Peter Bergson, and his group became known as the Bergson Group, or the Bergson Boys.  The work of the Bergson Group in the USA can be summarized in three parts: the first was their attempts to create a Jewish army that would fight alongside the Allies in WWII; later on they shifted focus to become a political pressure group targeted in their attempts to save European Jewry; and finally following the end of WWII they reincarnated themselves as the Hebrew Committee of National Liberation, a political lobby to support a Hebrew Republic in Palestine.  
The Bergson Group’s narrative in the United States during the Holocaust and in its aftermath is not part of the historical curriculum that is currently taught in Israel.  During his eight years of work between 1940 to 1948, whether in New York City or in Washington, DC, Peter Bergson gained the respect of American Congressmen and Senators.  However, during that same period, most Jewish organizations in the United States rejected, criticized and protested against his activities.  But the record is clear: it is beyond a doubt that the Bergson Group’s activities in the United States influenced the American people and its President Harry Truman to recognize the emerging Israeli nation in 1948.
One of Bergson’s chief lieutenants was Samuel Merlin, who was closely involved with the New Zionist Organization and its leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky.  Merlin, who lived in Paris and Warsaw prior to WWII, had developed a deep and complicated relationship with the French Intelligence authorities.  He arrived in New York City as a refugee with their help and connections.  
In 1946, Ben Hecht, the prominent screenwriter and playwright, collaborated with the Bergson Group and produced a play that appeared that year on Broadway. The play, “A Flag is Born,” with the young Marlon Brando in its starring role, envisioned the emergence of an Israeli state.  The play became a commercial success and made the Bergson Group quite a bit of money.  Thus it was with these proceeds supplemented by some other financial resources that they were able to purchase the ship the Altalena.  Next the ammunition was provided free-of-charge by the French, thanks to the special connection between Merlin and the French government authorities; it was loaded on to the Altalena in France before the ship embarked for Tel Aviv.
The superficial details of what happened to the Altalena on the beach of Tel Aviv are well known to most Israelis: there was a confrontation between the Etzel and the emerging Israeli government led by David Ben Gurion.  What is not so well known is the story behind the story.  
Two small details that might elaborate that story are necessary here.  One revolves around Aryeh Ben-Eliezar’s return to Palestine, at Bergson’s instructions, to establish  Menachem Begin as the new leader of the Irgun (this, according to Bergson himself, was probably the worst decision he ever made).  This was an exercise that started in New York City.  As a result of the Bergson Group’s activities in the US Congress to support a resolution to save the Jews of Europe, Bergson had built up various connections that eventually helped enabled Ben-Eliezar’s departure to Palestine in 1943.  Ben-Eliezar helped in Palestine to reestablish anew the Irgun, with the agreement of Bergson in NYC.
The second detail involved David Ben Gurion.  As the political leader of the Jewish Palestinian Workers Party, and a central figure in Zionism, Ben Gurion was very well aware of the Irgun’s activities.  The Zionist Movement leadership in the United States, along with various other American Jewish leaders, supplied the FBI with plenty of information about the Bergson Group and funneled the same information to Ben Gurion in Palestine.
The efforts carried out by Zionist and other Jewish leaders to deport Bergson from the United States, failed.  Ben Gurion was well informed of the political power and influence Bergson had built up in the US; along with his Zionist cronies, Ben Gurion did whatever he could to stop the Bergson Group’s activities.  It is possible that Ben Gurion’s reaction to the arrival of the Altalena was an attempt to crush Bergson.  Only history will judge.
 
 
HILLEL KOOK (PETER BERGSON): A CONVERSATION ABOUT THE SHIP THE ALTALENA, NEW YORK CITY, 1983, AS RECORDED BY ELIYHO MATZ
 
​The following is a transcribed and translated transcript
of a taped conversation I had with Hillel Kook in which at a rare moment he spoke in detail about the Altalena incident and its surrounding circumstances.
 
 
Hillel Kook:  “…If on the 15th of May, 1947, one year before the creation of the Israeli nation, a messenger of “Ribbon HaOlamim,” better known as “God,” would ask one-thousand people, the most important and respected people in the Land of Israel [Palestine], the question, “Do you believe that in one year from now there will be an Israeli [Hebrew] nation, a new nation on planet earth?” – from the thousand not a single one would have said, “Yes!”
​The expression “Partza HaMedina,” “a nation has erupted,” is the biggest “truth” about Zionism.  All the proceedings that led to the creation of “the State” were one thing, and all the people that took it over were another.  Begin, apropos, the leader of the Irgun, did not believe in the coming of the new nation Israel.  Begin, by the way, was a serious problem.  At the first celebration of the Israeli Independence Day in 1949, Ben Gurion invited the public for a party in the Kiryah in Tel Aviv.  Begin, the head of the Herut party, called for [his own] ceremonial meeting for independence at the Herut headquarters in Tel Aviv.  He raised a glass of wine and proclaimed, “By the way, we in the Herut Party received an invitation for the party at the Kiryah by Ben Gurion, but all of us are not going to go.”  
​I had met Ben Gurion in 1942 in the home of Rabbi [Emanuel] Newman in New York.  Dr. Newman was a very important Zionist leader, and he was aware of the Irgun’s work in the US.  In his report to the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem, Ben Gurion, who was a very cunning politician and a perpetual liar, purposely did not mention that he met me.  I was in New York during the War years as the commander of the Irgun there.  Then, I met Ben Gurion in the Knesset, and I did not say hello to him because of the ship Atalena incident and the “Holy Cannon.”
​At [this 1949] meeting in the Herut Party headquarters, I said to Begin that this is not a personal invitation from Ben Gurion, but rather an invitation from the Israeli Prime Minister; I personally disagree with the fact that we should not go to that party.  My reasoning was that if Ben Gurion would invite me to his home I would not go; but because we all received an official invitation to celebrate the first Independence Day, I will go.  Eri Jabotinsky agreed with me. Others present did not.  In any case, I went to the Kiryah.  It was a very interesting and exciting event.  Ben Gurion stood there with his wife, and I shook their hands.  
​On the issue of the ship the Altalena, about a dozen books have been written.  None gets close to telling the truth.  It is very difficult to understand the Altalena incident without understanding Begin, and to understand Begin is a very difficult task.  Begin lied to the Irgun people, because he kept the Irgun after the creation of the Israeli state.  At the end of 1947, Begin was already an askan [a low-level politician].  The British did not run after him.  At the middle of 1947, the British brought the issue of the Palestinian Mandate before the United Nations.  Begin was a totally confused and frustrating person.  A week before the arrival of the ship the Altalena [June 18, 1948], I arrived in Israel.  On the eve of the Altalena’s arrival, there was a meeting.  Begin sat there, Ever Hadani, and others.  I asked Begin, “A few hours ago you raised a glass of Carmel red wine for the State of Israel, and you blessed everybody in the name of Malchoot, the nation of Israel.”  What will be with the Etzel [Irgun]?  Begin answered that the Etzel will continue to fight till they will free Jerusalem.  I then asked again, “You just recognized the Israeli government; how will you fight in Jerusalem?”  Begin’s answer was that the Israeli government headed by Ben Gurion does not claim Jerusalem.  I asked again, “Do you really think that Ben Gurion will really give up Jerusalem?”  Begin was not a statesman.  He was, as mentioned before, an askan, or a low-level politician, this I did not understand immediately.
​With the ship the Altalena he did the same tricks. He spoke to them [Ben Gurion’s people] and he didn’t speak to them.  My life was destroyed because of the Altalena.  Begin was sitting in the other room speaking to Galili [the negotiator for Ben Gurion] on the phone.  I heard him summarizing that 20% of the ammunition from the Altalena will go to a warehouse in Jerusalem and will be watched together by the Israeli military and the Etzel.  Then it will be given to the Etzel.  Galili did not agree.  I became hysterical and I began yelling at Begin, “You are crazy!  This is the first and the last ship; the ship was purchased by the US Etzel group.  You [Begin] should worry that there shall not be any discrimination against the Etzel fighters in the army.  We have to dissolve the Etzel.  Call Galili and tell him that you will give him all the ammunition.”  Begin asked Yaakov Meridor what to do, and Meridor said that I was right.  Begin called back Galili and claimed to have made a mistake.  Let the chief of the Israeli army decide where the ammunition should go.  Begin asked only for one thing: he wanted the representative of the Etzel to make a speech and inform [the soldiers] that the ammunition was brought to Israel by the Etzel.
​And then, something strange happened, which I cannot understand.  Either that Galili cheated Ben Gurion or vice versa.  Galili does not talk about it, and Begin doesn’t talk about it either.  There must have been some sort of misunderstanding between Ben Gurion and Galili.  Or it is possible that Ben Gurion decided to use the Altalena incident to create a crisis.  I doubt that.  The fact that Galili was a liar I am sure.  Galili claimed that Begin wanted to give part of the ammunition to the Etzel group, and that was not true.  
​You have to understand the Begin mentality of duality.  On one hand the Etzel is dissolved, and on the other hand it continues on.  
​By the way, do not forget that Begin was not arrested.  They [Ben Gurion’s people] arrested me and wanted to kill me as the result of the Altalena incident.  Luckily, as you can see, I am still here.
 
 
Great Barrington, MA
August 13, 2011
(413) 528-4073
(212) 620-0440
 
 
 
 
​
 

Gone Fishin'...

I'm taking off the month of August, to think of something to say come September. I'll be tweeting in the meantime.

Until then, to all our readers, have a good summer!

Deal or No Deal?

Haven't blogged in a while...news has been too awful to contemplate.

The Norwegian massacre is just too horrible to write about.

The current debt deal has been preceded by weeks of irresponsible and dishonest Chicken Little hysteria and posturing in the media that bummed out the country, if not the world. The final agreement is disgraceful. Better an honest bankruptcy, IMHO. This affair has been demoralizing.

Finally, Washington has been very hot, 104 degrees Farenheit the other day, 99 today--too hot to think, or write at any length.

So, better to follow me on Twitter--at least until it cools down.

Europe Shall Bleed Once Again by Amil Imani

Europe Shall Bleed Once Again

Too hot & humid to blog today...

Maybe next week?

Ron Paul Blasts Debt Ceiling Charade on YouTube

In a video called Conviction, Not Compromise!

The Debt Ceiling Charade

Sen. Mitch McConnell's proposal has exposed the Republican postion on the debt ceiling as a fraud. Indeed, it would cede the congressional power of the purse to the White House. Cowardice and stupidity are necessary but insufficient explanations. Clearly, with the exception of Michelle Bachmann and the Tea Party folks, the GOP is on the take, ready to take a dive in 2012 to re-elect President Obama. The only good news so far is that Ron Paul has announced his intention to resign from Congress to run for President. Like Ross Perot or Ralph Nader, the spoiler could end up kingmaker in 2012. Which at least gives us something to look forward to--an unpredictable election. If Sarah Palin runs, all bets are off, IMHO.

Something has got to give...

Document of the Week: A Letter to Mark Steyn

From Mark Steyn's mailbox:

Re "The Credentialed Society":

In days of yore, you would not be considered "uneducated", Mark, because you went to a good public school. And of course you do know a lot; in particular about Middle Eastern history and things which are not widely known in North America. I would assume that your teachers suggested readings, you found others on your own, and that you then rubbed shoulders with people who also knew such things. (But no credentials!)

If any single idea marked Obama as a stupid and reckless incompetent, it is the idea that every American should go to college. An advanced society needs— absolutely needs— electricians and plumbers, various other specialized mechanics, computer technicians, truck drivers, aircraft pilots, etc. Indeed, it is only a nasty snob who will look down on supermarket checkout clerks, who are also essential.

Also, most of the skills needed for oilfield work are not taught in any university; offshore oil adds further skills necessary for the marine environment, and these skills are uncommon and justly very well remunerated. Some of the most intelligent and capable men I have ever met work in the offshore oil patch.

Nor can we overlook the military trades.

My enumeration is so incomplete that it is almost ridiculous; I would suggest that Obama might watch such TV programs as "Ice Road Truckers" and "The Most Dangerous Catch" to get some idea of what is necessary in today's world.

You will notice that I have not included "theoretical physicist" in the above list. Try as I might, I cannot get my own profession into the list of essential trades, crafts, and professions.

John Lewis
St John's, Newfoundland

Happy Independence Day!

What has Google done to its iGoogle layout?

This morning I saw an ugly black bar across the top...it looked like Twitter, or something from Microsoft. Horrible, dark, and scary. Corporate and icky--someone I know pointed out the red indicator makes the colors on the bar red, black, and white...Verizon colors. YUCK!

I don't know how to get the old friendly, calm, sooting blue and white version of iGoogle back. It was relaxing to look at.

Not this new page. I hate it.

Is this the beginning of the end of Google?

If I had stock in the company, which I don't, I'd start selling...unless they fix it, as Coca-Cola did with New Coke.