A Peek into Others' mind » September 7, 2008

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September 08, 2008
7:10
Israeli Police Suggest Indicting Olmert
» ‎ NYT > Middle East

Israeli police on Sunday recommended indicting the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, on charges including bribe-taking, fraud and breach of trust.

7:04
NYT Pulls a Surprise
» ‎ Little Green Footballs

Here’s that New York Times article on Sarah Palin’s baby—and you’re going to be surprised, because far from the “exposé” that Drudge was trumpeting, it turns out to be ... a puff piece: Fusing Politics and Motherhood in New Way.

No one has ever tried to combine presidential politics and motherhood in quite the way Ms. Palin is doing, and it is no simple task. In the last week, the criticism she feared in Alaska has exploded into a national debate. On blogs and at PTA meetings, voters alternately cheer and fault her balancing act, and although many are thrilled to see a child with special needs in the spotlight, some accuse her of exploiting Trig for political gain.

But her son has given Ms. Palin, 44, a powerful message. Other candidates kiss strangers’ babies; Ms. Palin has one of her own. He is tangible proof of Ms. Palin’s anti-abortion convictions, which have rallied social conservatives, and her belief that women can balance family life with ambitious careers. And on Wednesday in St. Paul, she proclaimed herself a guardian of the nation’s disabled children.

“Children with special needs inspire a special love,” Ms. Palin said, echoing the message she had shared at the shower.

6:09
Clark Hoyt: "By choosing a running mate ...
» ‎ War and Piece

Clark Hoyt: "By choosing a running mate unknown to most of the nation, and doing so just before the Republican National Convention, John McCain made it inevitable that there would be a frantic media vetting. It turns out that Palin...

6:04
New Gallup Poll: McCain Leads Obama, 54% - 44%
» ‎ Little Green Footballs

Poll: Convention lifts McCain over Obama.

WASHINGTON — The Republican National Convention has given John McCain and his party a significant boost, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken over the weekend shows, as running mate Sarah Palin helps close an “enthusiasm gap” that has dogged the GOP all year.

McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by 50%-46% among registered voters, the Republican’s biggest advantage since January and a turnaround from the USA TODAY poll taken just before the convention opened in St. Paul. ...

In the new poll, taken Friday through Sunday, McCain leads Obama by 54%-44% among those seen as most likely to vote. The survey of 1,022 adults, including 959 registered voters, has a margin of error of +/- 3 points for both samples.
5:40
Olbermann Sacked As Election Anchor
» ‎ Little Green Footballs

The most openly hostile, openly crazed partisan hack on television (and his leg-tingling friend) will no longer be anchoring MSNBC’s election coverage: MSNBC Takes Incendiary Hosts From Anchor Seat.

MSNBC tried a bold experiment this year by putting two politically incendiary hosts, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, in the anchor chair to lead the cable news channel’s coverage of the election.

That experiment appears to be over.

After months of accusations of political bias and simmering animosity between MSNBC and its parent network NBC, the channel decided over the weekend that the NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host David Gregory would anchor news coverage of the coming debates and election night. Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews will remain as analysts during the coverage.

The change — which comes in the home stretch of the long election cycle — is a direct result of tensions associated with the channel’s perceived shift to the political left.

“The most disappointing shift is to see the partisan attitude move from prime time into what’s supposed to be straight news programming,” said Davidson Goldin, formerly the editorial director of MSNBC and a co-founder of the reputation management firm DolceGoldin.

Olbermann has no business being associated with “news” at all. He’s a disgrace. Hopefully, this is the first step toward tossing him out on his ear.

4:51
In Europe Next Week
» ‎ LobeLog.com

Almost certainly no posting until Sep 17 or so.

4:33
Robot Invasion Open Thread
» ‎ Little Green Footballs

We’re being besieged by web crawlers again, trying to download every page at the site as quickly as possible, ignoring the rules in our robots.txt file, and generally being a huge pain in the posterior. They always seem to get active on weekends, probably counting on people to be less vigilant.

Here’s an open thread while Stinky and I break out the delousing tools.
2:39
New York Times Preparing 'Expose' on Palin's Baby
» ‎ Little Green Footballs

Hang on to your hats. One of the headlines at Drudge Report:

NYT PREPARES TO FRONT EXPOSE ON PALIN’S BABY... DEVELOPING...

2:32
Meat, wine and murder?
» ‎ Israel Matzav

As I mentioned last week, it's now the month of Ramadamadan in the Muslim world. And as Arab Muslims worldwide gather around their television sets to watch the new programming as they eat their iftar (break the fast) meals, the programming they are watching has one dominant theme. You guessed it: Itabach al Yahud - kill the Jews. Let's go to the videotape.
1:46
When Reagan met Begin
» ‎ Israel Matzav

Until George W. Bush took over the White House and made some very strongly pro-Israel statements, particularly in the second half of his first term, the man who was known as the 'most pro-Israel President' of the United States was probably Ronald Reagan. Yehuda Avner, who was an adviser to Begin, reports that Begin nearly got Reagan to sign on a real strategic alliance with Israel. He was

1:25
in the wake of genocide..
» ‎ East Med Sea Peace

a few years ago i watched hotel rwanda in an arthouse cinema overseas..

there is this line in the movie in the midts of all the genocide when the local hotelier greets an international journalist who had just finished filming the horrific masses of bodies rotting on the unpaved streets after a slaughtering.. the hotelier says thank you for documenting this so the world can see and the journalist basically says dont get so excited - the world will watch it on the evening news and then turn back to their plates and finish their dinners..

then it struck me.. i was that world.. i was one of those people that finished their dinner while rwandans killed eachother in an erruption of evil that spread death like an unbridled plague.. i burst out into tears and couldnt stop crying for the most part of 24 hours.. i couldnt believe that such a crime could happen during my lifetime and be met by my utter indifference..

i went straight to the beach and sat there.. watching the waves hit the shoreline while waves of my own tears washed my cheeks.. i was in awe by the fact that i had lived through a genocide of such enormous scale.. hours from where i grew up and yet not even noticed..

today.. rwanda is another place.. as reported in the smh and many other sources - reconciliation between the factions has progressed in leaps and bounds..

it is amazing that where 800,000 people lay dead over one casual spring in the nineties - today flowers of hope could grow as people heal together..

be inspired.. go on.. observe the power of forgiveness and humanity..

0:00
Kuwaiti prime minster to visit Iraq
» ‎ Alarabiya.net English | Middle East

Kuwait's premier has accepted an invitation to visit Iraq, in what would be a first since the former president Saddam Hussein's forces invaded the Gulf emirate 18 years ago. Iraqi Finance Minister Bayan Jabr Solagh delivered the invitation to Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah on Sunday
0:00
Lebanon Hezbollah leader urges talks with Hariri
» ‎ Alarabiya.net English | Middle East

The leader of Shiite militant group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, called on the parliamentary leader of the pro-Western bloc that leads the Lebanese government to meet him for reconciliation talks, in comments published on Monday. Nasrallah said no objection in principle had been raised to the
0:00
Christian Iraqi militia fight back against Qaeda
» ‎ Alarabiya.net English | Middle East

With Kalashnikovs slung over their shoulders, Iraq's first Christian militia enforces one simple rule on the border of this little village. "Anyone not from Tel Asquf, is banned." This village in northern Iraq's flashpoint Nineveh province, frequently targeted by Sunni and Shiite

September 07, 2008
23:22
New Commenting System
» ‎ Israellycool

I am currently experimenting with a new commenting system called Intense Debate, which amongst other things, supports threaded comments, commenter profiles, as well as reputation points and comment voting. It will also allow you to upload a picture, without using Gravatar.com.

Let me know what you think. If I get mostly positive feedback, I’ll keep it. Otherwise, it is back to the old.

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22:57
Interesting Newsweek profile of ...
» ‎ War and Piece

Interesting Newsweek profile of Palin....

22:43
Reading Into the “W” Posters
» ‎ Israellycool

Thanks to Patriot Missive, I see that the Official Oliver Stone “W” movie posters have just been released.

Remind you of anything?

Chimpy-McHitler-Haliburton!

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22:27
Tech Note: Comment Ratings Now Reversible
» ‎ Little Green Footballs

A very common complaint I receive about the comment rating system is that people accidentally hit the wrong button—resulting in a plus where they intended a minus, or vice versa.

So now, after clicking the plus or minus button, the opposite button will still be active and clicking it will reverse your rating. And then all’s right with the world.

UPDATE at 9/7/08 3:48:19 pm:

Ratings for front page posts (like this one) are also now reversible.

22:10
Just Out: Intel: How to Fix a ...
» ‎ War and Piece

Just Out: Intel: How to Fix a Post-Bush Nation: Interviews with former CIA officials Milt Bearden, William Murray, Valerie Plame Wilson, and Paul Pillar. Bearden: "The Bush legacy, in its most reduced and understandable form, will be that the limits...
21:54
LAT: Palin's appeal to working-class women may ...
» ‎ War and Piece

LAT: Palin's appeal to working-class women may be limited:Republican delegates and activists in the convention hall delighted in Palin's jabs at the Illinois senator, such as when she poked fun at the columned backdrop for Obama's stadium acceptance speech or...

21:39
Media Not Fooling the Public
» ‎ Little Green Footballs

This is what happens when advocacy journalism dominates the mainstream media.

According to Rasmussen, fully 68% of voters believe that “most reporters try to help the candidate they want to win.” And — no surprise — 49% of those surveyed believe reporters are backing Barack Obama, while just 14% think the media is in the tank for Sen. McCain.

Meanwhile, 51% of those surveyed thought the press was “trying to hurt” Mrs. Palin with its coverage.

Perhaps most troubling for the press corps, though, was this finding: “55% said media bias is a bigger problem for the electoral process than large campaign donations.”

20:21
Real-Life Role Models
» ‎ The Muqata

While browsing through a shopping mall in Ra'anana a few weeks ago, my wife and I were amused by a poster of Albert Einstein which we thought was apt for our oldest son's dorm room; "Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater."

Encouraging children by reflecting on our own difficulties provides a much needed comfort zone -- we experienced many of their same challenges.

I find solace and hope when reading gems from our rabbinical leaders about their personal challenges and limitations.

Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski shares a very personal and eye-opening essay, "My Own Struggle with Low Self-Esteem" which I highly recommend.

Excerpted:
I first became aware that I had a self-esteem problem at age thirty-eight. For three years, I had been director of a huge, 300 bed psychiatric facility with a very busy emergency room. If a nurse could not reach an attending doctor, I was called. Every other night I was on call to the emergency room. On a good night, I was awoken only five times; on a bad night, ten or more times.

I had a vacation coming, and was desirous of getting away from an impossibly hectic situation. I sought a vacation spot that would allow me to do nothing other than vegetate. I wanted no sightseeing or activities. I finally decided on Hot Springs, Arkansas, which promised to allow me total rest.

...
People assume that low self-esteem is caused by parental neglect, abuse, comparison to other siblings, illness or failures. None of these applied to me. I had loving parents and a nanny who thought I was G-d’s gift to the world. I was a chess prodigy, and achieved excellence in school that enabled me to graduate high school at 16. There was simply no logical reason for me to feel inferior, yet I suffered from low self-esteem and was not aware of it until the incident at Hot Springs.
...
That’s the way I felt even after being a psychiatrist for several years. If you find that you have any of the traits I discussed in Life’s Too Short, you are suffering unnecessarily from low self-esteem. Do whatever it takes to get over this.
Read and hear the rest of it over at TorahWeb.

This story is what inspires people to work on their own faults and improve themselves, not stories of perfect, flawless icons with no faults that always do the right thing. Such a person, if he actually existed, while certainly worthy of respect is completely irrelevant to our own day to day lives.

R' Twerski learned that he had an inner conflict and went about working on it, and that's why he wrote this essay and shared it with others -- to help others do the same thing.

Some might this story and censor it at best or scoff at it at worse, casting out the "insulting suggestion" that a great talmid chacham would have such faults...or if they did accept the the story as true, they would say it would be "insulting to a talmid chacham" to publicize his condition.

Such behaviour would leave this story buried and hidden, and the benifit that R' Twerski wanted to bring by sharing it with others would be lost.

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

19:41
reality check..
» ‎ East Med Sea Peace

a new tv show is airing in israel.. ok not so new to the world.. but new to israel.. big brother.. you probably all know the concept of a bunch of contestants being locked away for three months with one being kicked off every now and then.. all on camera bla bla bla..

well interestingly an arab.. yes.. shh.. not too loud.. an arab has been included.. the gorgeous renin..

i look fwd to learning about the interactions.. and also to how the public reacts to her.. did i mention that she is stunning? and polite? and well mannered? and charismatic? just making sure..

19:37
Obama: 'My Muslim Faith'
» ‎ Little Green Footballs

Oops!
[Video]
Luckily, he has ABC News and George Stephanopoulos to jump in and correct him.

UPDATE at 9/7/08 1:26:13 pm:

Please note: I’m absolutely not saying that Obama has made a shocking Freudian slip and revealed a secret devotion to Islam. This is posted because it shows that Obama’s getting seriously rattled by all this attention, and making dumb mistakes as a result.

And it’s also interesting to see a supposedly “impartial” interviewer rushing to correct his mistake.

UPDATE at 9/7/08 2:27:21 pm:

Just for the record, here’s a longer version of this clip, showing the conversation before and after the section shown above: Hot Air: No, Obama didn’t “admit” to being a Muslim on ABC.

19:01
Come meet Miriam Libicki in Tel Aviv
» ‎ On the Face

The artist behind the brilliant Jobnik! series, about her service in the IDF during the Al Aqsa Intifada, will be signing her new graphic novel in Tel Aviv this coming Friday, September 12.

Location: Comix ‘n Vegetables, 40 King George Street (around the corner from the Dizengoff Center).

Time: We are going to kick things off at 11.00 a.m. with a little Q&A session (I’ll do the Q; Miriam will do the A).

Miriam moved to Israel when she was 17, served in the army and then ended up studying art in Vancouver, Canada - which is my home town.

I, on the other hand, ran away from left Vancouver when I was 17 in order to move to Israel, but did not serve in the army. Instead, I went to study Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at Columbia. A decade later, I moved back to Israel. Also, we both attended Orthodox day schools. She is still observant; I am not.

We think the bizarre overlaps in our respective backgrounds are amusing, and that they will make the Q&A session amusing, too.

Special note to all you foreign journos languishing up on the hill (a.k.a. Jerusalem), bored because it’s Ramadan and there’s nothing to write about: come on down to TLV this Friday. We can go for beers on the beach afterward, and you’ll have a nice little human interest story to file for the weekend edition.

More about Miriam and the Jobnik! series:

The story of a nice Jewish girl serving in the IDF during an undeclared war

Miriam is a different kind of comic heroine. She also presents a rather different - certainly less glam - image of female IDF soldiers than the one presented in this much-publicized photo essay. (By the way, if you have not read Idan Gazit’s comment in response to the BoingBoing post about the photo essay, you really should. For those who know little about how mandatory IDF service affects new recruits, it’ll be an education. Click here to read, and scroll down for more interesting comments).

With her charming ineptitude, her body issues, and her naïve romanticism, Miriam bears more resemblance to Bridget Jones (albeit a Bridget Jones on an Israeli army base during wartime) than Wonder Woman. Now, her story, in the form of a 160-page graphic novel titled jobnik! from Real Gone Girl Studios, is available to a mass audience for the first time.

The story begins when Miriam, an American-Jewish girl from a religious home, enlists in the Israeli army (IDF) in the summer of 2000, against everyone’s better judgment. Many qualities seem to make her unsuited for IDF life: her Hebrew isn’t great, she is shy and passive, and she has a tendency to fall in love with anything that moves. If that weren’t enough, the Al Aqsa uprising, a.k.a. the second Palestinian intifada, erupts one month into her tour of duty.

jobnik! is a sexy, tragic, and comic graphic memoir, written and drawn by Miriam Libicki, an American-born, Canada-based IDF veteran. “I moved to Israel in 1998, after seventeen years growing up as an Orthodox girl in Columbus, Ohio.” Miriam says. “I only went on a year program, but I fell so hard for all the Israelis I met, that I realized my destiny was to dedicate myself to the country, and do whatever it took to be a real Israeli. I spent a year lobbying for citizenship, and afterwards promptly enlisted in the Israel Defense Force. My enthusiasm for army service was not exactly reciprocated by the people in charge, though… and I spent the next two years as a totally superfluous secretary on a training base in the middle of the Arava desert.

“A month after I enlisted, the Camp David peace accords broke down, Ariel Sharon walked on the Temple Mount, and the second Intifada broke out. The next two years were some of the most violent in the history of Israel, not to mention the worldwide aftershocks of September 11th, halfway through my tour of duty. The graphic novel covers August 2000 to February 2001, but the saga of my entire army service, up until May 2002, will be told in further volumes.

Excerpts from the Jobnik! series:

18:57
Obama Suddenly Remembers: He Almost Joined the Military
» ‎ Little Green Footballs

He’s never mentioned it before, not even in two autobiographies, but Barack Obama has suddenly remembered that he considered joining the military.

Obama disclosed that he had once considered serving in the military.

“You know, I actually did,” Obama said. “I had to sign up for Selective Service when I graduated from high school. And I was growing up in Hawaii. And I have friends whose parents were in the military. There are a lot of Army, military bases there.

“And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honorable option. But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren’t engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it’s not an option that I ever decided to pursue.”

UPDATE at 9/7/08 9:12:26 am:

Just one problem with Obama’s little story.

Registration for selective service was not reinstated until 1980.

On March 25, 1975, Pres. Gerald Ford signed Proclamation 4360, Terminating Registration Procedures Under Military Selective Service Act, eliminating the registration requirement for all 18-25 year old male citizens. Then on July 2, 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed Proclamation 4771, Registration Under the Military Selective Service Act, retroactively re-establishing the Selective Service registration requirement for all 18-26 year old male citizens born on or after January 1, 1960. Only men born between March 29, 1957, and December 31, 1959, were completely exempt from Selective Service registration. The first registrations after Proclamation 4771 took place on Monday, July 21, 1980, for those men born in January, February and March 1960 at U.S. Post Offices.

(Hat tip: Jammie.)

UPDATE at 9/7/08 10:33:33 am:

Several readers have emailed to point out that when Selective Service was reinstated in 1980, it was retroactive, so that Obama would have been required to register at that time. But the fact remains that Obama said he was required to register “when he graduated,” and that’s simply not true.

18:16
Mark Leibovich:At the last Republican National Convention, ...
» ‎ War and Piece

Mark Leibovich:At the last Republican National Convention, in New York City, Mr. McCain hosted 50-or-so media A-listers to a 68th-birthday party for himself at La Goulue on Madison Avenue. The guest list included network anchors, network news executives, Sunday talk...

18:09
Carnival of the Insanities
» ‎ Israel Matzav

The weekly Carnival of the Insanities is up and running, and as you might expect it's a Palinpalooza this week. Unfortunately, the picture of Governor Vice President Palin in a bikini over at the Doc's place is definitely a photoshop, so I decided to give you a more complimentary picture. Anyway, please do make sure to go check out the weekly carnival to find all the latest rumors about Sarah

17:57
Kevin Drum on torches and ...
» ‎ War and Piece

Kevin Drum on torches and pitchforks....
17:45
BBC: Polish intelligence agents tell of CIA ...
» ‎ War and Piece

BBC: Polish intelligence agents tell of CIA jails. More....

17:44
Mainstream Media Diverting Terrorism Reporters Into Political Investigations
» ‎ Counterterrorism Blog

I see one after another of the mainstream media outlets which have made important contributions to the factual underpinnings of the counter-terrorism effort dropping off that beat. Editors in the print media are shifting terrorism experts on their staffs towards investigations of political candidates. At least three such reporters at three major papers are now chasing Sarah Palin stories (I haven't had time to chase down everybody in "the business"). The move away from terrorism investigations started over a year ago as the print media entered into a long-term decline in ad revenues, but the trend has been accelerated in this election year. It is an unfortunate coincidence that true experts, with some of the best contacts and intel in the private CT community, are being moved out of their chosen fields just as we approach the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. It's especially disconcerting to see this trend at the very moment when President Bush is committing more counterinsurgency resources to capturing or killing Osama bin Laden and/or Ayman al-Zawahiri before he leaves office, a strategic decision with serious ramifications for relations between the U.S. and Pakistan and other nations in South Asia.

A number of veteran reporters in the mainstream media have broken important stories using sources and methods that the intelligence community could not or chose not to exploit. The broad CT community would suffer a serious loss if these bona fide experts leave the field for any length of time. In the meantime, nonprofit organizations and dedicated blogs have the opportunity and capability to inform the public.

17:20
notes on haiti
» ‎ Body on the Line

Another hurricane, another disaster, but this one is also man-made, like the one in New Orleans, in many ways. I have yet to hear one single journalist, when they go on and on about Haiti having the highest poverty rate in the Western Hemisphere, ever say anything about the U.S. backed coup of Haitian President [...]

17:18
Death by Chocolate..Cake
» ‎ Israellycool

Question: Which of the following is not an assassination technique: Detonating a car, sniping, booby trapping a room, storming houses, poison, shooting down planes, striking motorcades, cake throwing

Answer: Trick question. They are all assassination techniques

The book at the centre of a terrorism related trial in Sydney lists assassination methods including smothering a target by throwing a “cake”.

The book states “cake throwing” is well-known in the west, and suggests that instead of the sweets, an “adhesive substance could be used”.

Another method listed is wrapping the target in “a strong plastic bag”, which the book says hardly leaves a trace on the body and could leave the impression that it was suicide.

An English translation of the Arabic text in the book has been given to the Sydney jury hearing the New South Wales Supreme Court trial of Belal Saadallah Khazaal.

Today, the translator, Dr Muhammad Gamal, gave evidence in a closed court, after his translation was tendered as evidence in the case.

Mr Khazaal, of Lakemba in Sydney’s southwest, has pleaded not guilty to knowingly making a document connected with assistance in a terrorist act.

He also has denied attempting to incite the commission of a terrorist act.

In the Crown’s opening address on Wednesday, Peter Neil SC said Khazaal produced the 110 page book in September 2003 and soon after caused it to be posted on an internet website.

He said the book espoused a type of jihad which was “very violent” in order to advance the Muslim religion in the world.

But Mr Khazaal’s barrister, George Thomas, said except for a few paragraphs written by his client, the book was compiled from material authored by others which was freely available in the public domain.

The book is titled: Provisions on the rules of jihad - short judicial rulings and organisational instructions for fighters and mujahideen against infidels.

It is dedicated to various people including: “the prisoners languishing in the prisons of tyrants be it infidels, apostates or hypocrites, Christians or Jews or Infidels, Idolater and apostate”.

Twelve methods of assassination are listed, including detonating a car from a distance, sniping, booby trapping a room, storming houses, poison, shooting down planes and striking motorcades.

The smothering section includes drowning and the cake throwing technique.

“A couple could pretend to be joking before attacking the target,” the translation reads.

“This would lead to his eyes, nose and mouth being plugged and loses the ability to breathe.

“Few would suspect the fatal consequences.”

And I know just the shop western intelligence agents could use.

(Yeah, I realize I’m a little - ok, a lot - late with the story, but it’s blog fodder credentials were just too good to resist).

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15:32
Talks over evacuation bill postponed
» ‎ JPost.com Front Page Top Stories

PMO denies debate over evacuation-compensation is based on diplomatic considerations.
15:24
Gov't okays Friedmann's bill to cut Supreme Court authorities
» ‎ JPost.com Front Page Top Stories

13 ministers vote for, 11 against revised version of minister's plan; proposal suggests Knesset can re-legislate 'unconstitutional' law.
14:53
Al-Qaida inspired group warns Hamas
» ‎ JPost.com Front Page Top Stories

Palestinian group says Gaza rulers must release jailed leader or they would use "their own means."

14:51
strike part deux
» ‎ Body on the Line

I’m usually the last person to leave my office or the campus each evening, or so it seems. Saturday I needed to get some research done and I have no internet connection at home so I spent some time in the late afternoon in the solitude of my office. But whether or not it is [...]

14:43
Iran to hold anti-aircraft war games
» ‎ JPost.com Front Page Top Stories

Islamic Republic also announces successful launch of weather satellite built jointly with China, Thailand.

14:39
أمواج اسبانية في فرات الشام: حب ... أم كراهية
» ‎ Syria Planet

مشيت في طريق انتظارك مخمورا لذلك لم أجدك في النهاية وأنا الآن محكوم بأن أنظر إليك من بعيد و اسمح بأن يعانقك ضوء الشمس و يغازلك الهواء و أنا بدون حراك تخيلت حياتي عبارة عن درج و تخيلتك أعلاه بانتظاري لكنني قضيت العمر كله بحثا عن الدرجة التالية لذلك لم أصل أبدا بدونك.... لم أجد معنى للأيام ... ولا للساعات أقلبها ... أشرحها امزقها ... أحطمها ولا أجد هذا المغزى التافه سيرت جيش أحلامي البيضاء
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14:39
Ahmad Edilbi's Blog |: islamic-mass_media
» ‎ Syria Planet

الإعلام الإسلامي إعلام متميز، يستمد صفاته وخصائصه من تعاليم الإسلام ومن منهج الدعوة فيه، وبعبارة أخرى فإن خصائص الإعلام الإسلامي يمكن استنتاجها من خصائص “الكلمة” كما يرتضيها الإسلام.. وهذه الخصائص هي: أولا: الصـدق: الصدق هو لسان الحق، وكما نعلم فإن المسلم مأمور بتحري الصدق في النية والقول والعمل. والصدق قي القول هو قوام الاتصال والتعامل والتعارف والتناصح [...]
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14:39
Maysaloon - ميسلون: The [extremely short] history of Arab sites online
» ‎ Syria Planet

If you were an Arab who lived abroad in the year 2000, unless you had a satellite dish, it was incredibly difficult to keep in touch with things that were happening back home. I used to remember endlessly searching the Internet looking for things about Damascus whenever I was home sick, and I recall having on my computer desktop a picture of Damascus which showed Qasyoun mountain in the background of a sprawling city. To make it a tad more nostalgic, I had the image converted into black-and-white since it wasn't of good quality. To my surprise it is still floating about online and I've attached it on this post for you all to see. This is one of the first pictures of Syria on the Internet by an unknown photographer - enjoy. Another thing which I found hard to do at the time was to find any good Arabic MP3's. Back then I had just discovered Napster but, to my deep dismay, there were precious little good Arabic songs available. The many Arabic music sites now available were nowhere to be seen and the most people could hope for was the - at the time extremely popular - Arabia.com which is now defunct and which could have allowed people to share their favourite songs online or tips on where to find all things Arab on the web. There were also the beginnings of the horrid discussion boards which are now everywher. All these were a way for the online Arab community to stay somehow stay connected in the wilderness of a technological plain called the web and it is with these faint reminders that I was able to temporarily sate my home-sickness.
Arabic music sites did eventually start emerging and one of the earliest I was told about was 6arab.com (the 6 represents the letter ط in the Arabic alphabet) which gave a - by those days' standards - huge music selection but all in Real Media player format unfortunately. I pondered often about this annoying choice since it meant I could not play these songs on my MP3 player and the quality was often terrible. I later reasoned that because the Internet connections were so slow in many parts of the Arabic world, it made sense to have it in a format that people could easily obtain. It also made commercial sense since bandwidth cost more money for hosting providers back then. To see the state of many sites as they were back then, you can use the Wayback archive on the Internet which lets you see websites as they existed since they first started. This is particularly handy for sites which no longer exist or which have been taken down by malicious activity. One of the first sites to offer some MP3-format songs was Mazika.com, a site which used to be my favourite till they started charging people money. It is still around but I find having to login and fiddle with card details extremely annoying. Currently, my favourite site has to be sawari.com, a site which lists only the Arab musicians worth mentioning and leaves out the ridiculous Rotana, Star academy-esque media monkeys.
Like many expatriate Syrians my age I had little idea about how rich Arabic music was and the most one could expect with me was a deferential bob of the head as I listened to Umm Kalthoum or Abd el Halim (in short doses of course) but which were categorised as something I 'should' appreciate because they lived in black-and-white. As a nostalgic expatriate I was also expected, and happily obliged, with listening to Fairouz in the mornings. A wonderful time but anything more than that and I lost my frame of reference. To be very honest it hasn't been until the last two years, since beginning my Oud classes 12 months ago and since listening to al Sheikh Imam, that my interest in Arabic music widened and I grew to appreciate the full breadth of Arabic music. I began to realise how little I actually knew about it and how much pleasure could be gained by soaking in the words and the beautiful melodies. I now really do enjoy Abd el Haleem and Omm Kalthoum, as well as Fairouz, but in a way I could not have comprehended all those years ago. Sayid Makawi, Sheikh Imam, digressions with Fahd Balan and Samira Tawfiq. I discovered that Sabah was not just a woman who likes to marry younger men but that her voice was also amazing. I gradually learned to love Sabah Fakhry, and stopped associating him with the fat Syrian bourgeoise expats who only listened to him because he was 'Syrian'. In short, a wonderful new world opened to me and this coincided with the explosion of Arabic music sites which now offered much better quality downloads and for a wider variety of singers. Youtube is also amazing for just clicking away on a plethora of Arabic songs and you can now make sophisticated playlists of the songs you like to play in the background as you work, read or cook.
It is much nicer being an Arab expat online nowadays, home is a click away and the chatter of my fellow exiles is sometimes much more varied and interesting. I feel like an old grandfather, recalling the old days and seeing now how a huge city has been built, but with memories of the meadows or hills which once existed before everybody came and started living there. In some ways I am nostalgic for that special feeling which came when we managed to connect for the first time with other Arabs online, with discovering a great site on the Levant like Al Mashriq, or with finding that song that you absolutely 'had' to listen to and enjoying it on a tinny Real Audio player. On the other hand, I can't imagine going back to those solitary days where the only way you could communicate with back home was buying a phone card and making calls from the booths outside in the street whilst it was freezing cold. It is good to be an Arab online these days.
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14:39
أحمد نذير بكداش: ترجمة الأحاديث
» ‎ Syria Planet

اثناء تجولي في مدونة الأخت ناريمان, وجد فكرة جميلة وهي عبارة عن قيامها بكتابة بعض الأحاديث باللغة الأنجليزية ربما حتي هذه اللحظة لم تكتب سوى حديثين إلا أن الفكرة أعجبتني كثيراً. سوف أنقل حديث منهم: Hadith - Servant The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “When your servant brings your food to you, if you do [...]
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14:39
Voyage: كصة سندريلا
» ‎ Syria Planet

I have recieved this "bel shami" once...and it was as funny as this one...I just couldn't find it now.
لبست الفسطان وراحت جري عالكصر وشافها الأمير وحبها وركصو سوا وفجأة دكت الساعة طنعش وجراي صارت ترمح و ترمح ووكعت ببوجها عالدرج ...

سندريلا راحت عالبيت واتمنت لو انو الساعة ما دكتش على الطنعش، بس شو تسوي بحظها المشحر مثل حظ هاظا الشعب.

الأمير حط فردة البابوج على مخدة يمكن لونها زركة أو نهدي، المهم صار ينادي بالصوت على كل البنات عشان يكيسن البابوح، كل البنات كاسن إلا سندريلا .....

سندريلا نزلت على الساحة ومعها فردة البابوج، وحطتها على المخدة الي عليها الفردة الثانية، ولما كربت عشان تكيسها ضربها الأمير كف، وحكالها: وين جاي ياما،

حكتلو: يقطع وجهك ما أزنخك، مش شايفني بدي أكيس البابوج

حكالها: وحدة مثلك كيف بدها تكون فلكة الكمر هديك،

حكتلو: هسا بفرجيك وأحط على عينك

ولما اجت تكيسها، ما طلعت كد اجرها، لأنها كانت ورمانه من كثر الشغل، ويا حرام ما حدا صدكها، وانجنت المشحرة ودارت في الشوارع، والأمير اتزوج غيرها وحكى: لوينتا بدي أظل ادور عليها الله لا يردها هي الخسرانة.

وفي قول اخر ان البنت انكتلت يا حرام في غارة اسرائيلية ..
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14:39
مــــــــداد: medaad
» ‎ Syria Planet

مؤخراً باتت بعض الأدبيات العربية والإسلامية تحمل راية (التكفير) ضدّ كل ما هو غير متماهي مع السياق العام للدين الإسلامي تارةً من أجل بثّ الحمية الجهادية لدى أتباع الدين الإسلامي في محاولة للوقوف ضدّ التمدّد العسكري للغرب في الجسد الإسلامي - وبالفعل نجح الكثير في دفع الكثير من الشباب للانخراط في صفوف المجاهدين - وتارةً [...]
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14:25
Caption this photo
» ‎ Israel Matzav

Here's a little more Sunday fun:

14:15
Police discuss whether to indict Olmert
» ‎ JPost.com Front Page Top Stories

Decision expected at end of meeting between police investigation chief, head of investigative teams.

13:47
New Sarah Palin campaign ad
» ‎ Israel Matzav

A bit off topic, but Sarah Palin rocks! Let's go to the videotape!

13:35
Picture of the Day: Fonzie Peres
» ‎ Israellycool

Israeli President Shimon Peres gives Yasser Arafat a run for his money when it comes to Fonz impersonations.

“Heyyyy”

Update: Another great Peres picture from today:

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12:39
משלחת צבאית של משמרות המהפכה האיראנים ערכה בשבוע שעבר ביקור חשאי אצל ראשי חיזבאללה בביירות, וחתמה אתם על הסכם צבאי לאיחוד המסגרות המבצעיות
» ‎ DEBKAfile

המקורות הצבאיים והמודיעיניים של תיקדבקה. בעוד סגן נשיא ארצות דיק צ'ייני, 'מגלה' לנשיא המדינה שמעון פרס, את 'החדשה המסעירה', כי חלק מהנשק שרוסיה מוכרת לאיראן, וסוריה, מועבר לחיזבאללה, ופרס מודיע לצ'ייני, כי אין צורך לתקוף צבאית את איראן, ממשיכות טהרן וחיזבאללה להעמיק ולבצר את מעמדן הצבאי בלבנון, מול ישראל.
המקורות הצבאיים שלנו מדווחים כי משלחת של מפקדים בכירים של 'גדודי אל קודס', הזרוע המבצעית והטרוריסטית של משמרות המהפכה האיראנים נפגשה בביירות עם ראשי הזרוע הצבאית של חיזבאללה, וחתמה אתם על הסכם אינטגרציה, איחוד מבצעי, בין יחידות הטילים, וכוחות הקומנדו של 'אל קודס', לבין יחידות הטילים והקומנדו של חיזבאללה. במילים אחרות,היחידות האלה תפעלנה תחת פיקוד משותף שינוהל על ידי האיראנים. בכך השיגה טהרן, מה שחיפשה מאז מלחמת 2006, קרי-פיקוח איראני צמוד על מערכי הטילים, והקומנדו של חיזבאללה.
במערכת הפוליטית ובצה''ל, בהן נמשך השיתוק המדיני והצבאי, אין גורם אחד שיתייחס לכך, כי האלמנטים החשובים ביותר במערך ההתקפי של חיזבאללה נגד ישראל, עברו עכשיו לפיקודו של מפקד 'גדודי אל קודס'.

12:15
The one who stayed behind
» ‎ JPost.com Front Page Top Stories

Hadag Nahash frontman Shaanan Streett is proud to call Jerusalem home.
12:10
Free the mayors
» ‎ JPost.com Front Page Top Stories

Kudos to MK Pines-Paz for efforts to free the municipalities. Thumbs down to the Treasury.

11:58
ISRAEL - SLOW DOWN STRIKE - CONGESTION SURCHARGE $125 per teu eff. 3.9.08
» ‎ IMRA Middle East News Updates

[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: Strike action at Israel's ports gets next to no
media coverage and thus Israeli officials allow the action to drag on even
though it is not only increasing the cost of trade with a congestion fee of
$125/20 foot container only the tip of the iceberg but also causing delays
that discourage foreign markets from relying on Israeli supplies.]

ISRAEL-SLOW DOWN STRIKE - CONGESTION SURCHARGE $125 per teu eff. 3.9.08

TO ALL

Owing to strike action in Israel ports, berth-waiting time has increased
significantly up to current waiting time of 7 days. Consequently, feeder
operators have introduced a Congestion Surcharge of US$125 per teu with
immediate effect.

"K" Line will apply this surcharge as additional to all E/B & W/B cargo on
the ALL services to/from FAR EAST,
INDIA, EUROPE, USA, BLACK SEA etc

W/B this includes any cargo that is awaiting transhipment in PSD or cargo
currently on the water for POD Israel, as well as new any bookings.
E/B this includes cargo currently awaiting export on quay or future bookings
from Israel.

Normal procedure for collection of this payment will be :
W/B - collection from the Consignee
EB - collection from the Shipper.

KINDLY DISTRIBUTE THIS MESSAGE TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN AT YOUR ORGANIZATION

Best regards

Moshe Ben Hemo
Vice President Logistics & Marketing
Mano Maritime Ltd as K line agent
Mano Maritime Ltd
www.mano.co.il

11:57
Mofaz: Livni misusing survivors funds
» ‎ JPost.com Front Page Top Stories

Asks "Where is her shame? Where are her morals?"; FM slams attack as "embarrassing behavior."

11:52
Cairo rockslide search continues
» ‎ BBC News | Middle East | World Edition

Rescuers in Cairo continue their search for survivors after a rockslide hit dozens of homes in Egypt's capital, killing at least 30 people.

11:50
"Nine/Eleven Finding Answers:" Just another MOSSAD 9/11 disinformation outlet?
» ‎ Wake Up From Your Slumber - The Truth Will Set You Free

NEFA: Just another Zionist front organization that helps confuse and obfuscate the real truth about 9/11?

read more

10:58
Excerpts: Arab League meeting.Bolivia/Iran cooperation. Turkey/Armenia raproachment. Sunni anti-Al Qaeda fighters under threat. 7 September 2008
» ‎ IMRA Middle East News Updates

Excerpts: Arab League meeting.Bolivia/Iran cooperation. Turkey/Armenia
raproachment. Sunni anti-Al Qaeda fighters under threat. 7 September 2008

+++SAUDI GAZETTE 7 Sept.,'08:"Palestine is AL's priority - Qattan"
QUOTE: The Palestinian issue is the most important priority . . .The
meeting will discuss 33 items ...and joint Arab action"
EXCERPTS: The meeting of 130th regular session of the Council of the Arab
League at delegates level began at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on
Saturday(Sept.6).. . .the Palestinian issue is the most important priority
of joint Arab action, which is currently working to achieve reconciliation
among the Palestinians ... Saudi Arabia... believes that the resolutions of
the Arab League on the dispute between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas,
and the Cairo, Makkah and Yemen agreements signed between them, in addition
to the Palestinian constitution, are references for solving the internal
Palestinian dispute.
. . .The Saudi Ambassador considered the crisis of Iran's nuclear file is
one of the challenges facing our region and a source of concern to all ...
.The meeting will discuss 33 items dealing with various issues and joint
Arab action.

+++JORDAN TIMES 7 Sept.'08:"Bolivia moving Mideast embassy to
Iran",Assocoated
Press
FULL TEXT: - Bolivia's leftist president says he's moving the country's lone
Middle Eastern embassy to Iran as he builds increasingly warm ties with one
of Washington's least-favourite countries. Until now, Bolivia had its
embassy in Egypt. President Evo Morales announced the change at a news
conference on Friday following his return from Iran and Libya. Morales and
fellow socialist Hugo Chavez of Venezuela have irked US officials by signing
a series of deals with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Many involve
petrochemicals, but Morales says Iran will help Bolivia in cement and
agriculture as well. Iran is building tractors and automobiles in Venezuela.

+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 7 Sept.'08:"Gul pays historic visit to Armenia"Mariam
Harutunian, AFP
FULL TEXT:: The presidents of Turkey and Armenia said yesterday(6 Sept.)
there now is a "political will" to resolve decades of animosity, following
landmark talks here.
"I hope that this visit will create the possibility to improve bilateral
relations," Turkey's President Abdullah Gul said at a joint press statement
here alongside Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian.
Sarkisian declared there is a "political will to decide the questions
between our countries, so that these problems are not passed on to the next
generation." Gul was paying a landmark visit to Armenia , the first by a
Turkish president since Armenia's independence in 1991, for the first of two
World Cup qualifiers between the two national teams.
Sarkisian said he had been invited by Gul to attend the return fixture in
Turkey next month. "Today the president of Turkey invited me for a
reciprocal visit to Turkey to watch the next match. I think this is a good
start," Sarkisian said, without specifying if he would attend.
Gul said the two "shared opinions on how to bring stability and cooperation
to the Caucasus region" and thanked Sarkisian for welcoming a Turkish
proposal for a new regional forum in the volatile zone. NATO member Turkey
has called for the establishment of a forum to boost cooperation in the
Caucasus, involving regional countries and Moscow, after tensions between
Georgia and Russia erupted in a military conflict last month.
Sarkisian, for his part, said he was "very pleased" to see from Turkey "a
readiness to create stability and cooperation in the region." The two
countries , which have no diplomatic relations. have waged an international
diplomatic battle over Yerevan's efforts to have the 1915-1917 massacre of
Armenians recognized as genocide.
In 1993 Turkey also shut its border with Armenia in a show of solidarity
with its close ally Azerbaijan, then at war with Armenia over Nagorny
Karabakh, an Armenian-majority region in Azerbaijan that declared
independence.

+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 7 Sept.'08:"Anti-Qaeda fighters fear for their future",
Ali Al-Tuwaijri , AFP
QUOTE: Sunni Arab fighters battling Al-Qaeda . . .set to be taken over by
by Baghdad's Shiite-led government. . .leaving them both disarmed and
jobless"
EXCERPTSBAQUBA, Iraq: Sunni Arab fighters battling Al-Qaeda in Iraq say
their future is bleak as the government prepares to take over responsibility
for them from the Americans and they also face Al-Qaeda fury. . . ."I've
made dozens of applications for a job in the security forces but with no
luck," said Samarraie, one of around 100,000 mostly Sunni Arabs who have to
date been backed by the US military in the fight against Al-Qaeda.
In September 2006, the American military began supporting the formation of
neighborhood groups of Sunni Arabs to band together and fight Sunni
extremists, paying them an average monthly salary of around $300.
Most were

A Peek into Others' mind » September 7, 2008

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