Buh-bye

Torricelli to Quit N.J. Senate Race
# Posted 3:39 PM by Karol

Wondering what the latest in hip fashion is? At once chic and showing solidarity with those who seek to blow up Israeli children and elderly, this is the look of the season.
# Posted 12:11 PM by Karol

Did this French guy just say he is ok with Islamofascists destroying France? He sure did. Welcome to the new Western world folks, self-hating is 'in', judging others for hating you is 'out'.

'The night of September 11th I was in Saint-Denis, the neighborhood where I live in the northern part of Paris. It is mainly an Arab immigrant neighborhood. People were openly excited, just like after a soccer match. In the Arab restaurant where I used to eat, people entered making V (victory) signs with their fingers. People from the cars yelled at me and threatened and insulted me. One car tried to hit me while I was crossing the street. Even very moderate shopkeepers of Arab origin, the next day, talked openly against France and how this rotten country should be destroyed. Well, I would not really oppose it, but the little detail that worries me is that in the case of racial civil war, people like me, the ones closest to and most integrated with the immigrant population, are going to be the first killed!'
# Posted 1:42 AM by Karol

My problem with protests is two-fold:

1. I think they rarely accomplish their goals. Standing or marching while screaming will get you on tv for a few minutes but are the people who can actually change the things you want changed watching? Doubtful.

2. I think protesting works best when focusing on one issue. Otherwise it tends to become a stew of half thought out ideas and people who are really more into making noise than getting things done. An example of this is a protest I was thinking of attending next week. I had heard about it through the Manhattan Libertarian Party newsletter that I receive. The idea was to protest outside Governor Pataki's New York city office against the Rockefeller drug laws. Already I saw a flaw in this plan, namely that Pataki is rarely at his NYC office since most of his business is done in Albany and so it would really be pointless to annoy the workers in the office who have no control over policy issues. Nevertheless, I was still thinking of attending. Then I went to the site for the group sponsoring this protest. In addition to protesting drug laws they also protest prisons. Their slogan 'No more prisons' is one that I have often scoffed at while walking by it scrawled on sidewalks. Yes I see the correlation between easing of drug laws and the need for less prisons but one thing at a time, kids. It's this jumping ahead of themselves that often makes protesters accomplish nothing (see item 1).


Small addition to what I just wrote: while reading old email I found the MLP newsletter from last week which highlights the problems I've mentioned. It links to a good Village Voice article that begins:

'Note to protesters: Wearing phat pants with smiley faces on them is probably not the best way to get your congressman to take you seriously. And a string of very sad and worn-looking hippies holding up a huge "Stop the Drug War" banner doesn't do much to sway the public's opinion that dope users are anything but mopey burnouts. For these reasons, anti-drug-war protests are always dicey, and combining them with the anti-RAVE Act movement—as the Stop the RAVE Act! protest last Friday in Foley Square did—makes for near disaster.'
# Posted 1:47 PM by Karol

Did you hear about the two Jews in LA attacked by a mob of Iranian men who were screaming 'kill the Jews'? No? Strange that.
# Posted 1:22 PM by Karol

I somehow missed this brilliant Q+A by Victor Davis Hanson but had it pointed out to me on the CounterRevolutionary blog which is always worth a visit.

Excerpt:
Q. But why do we have to fight the Iraqi people, who are innocent?

A. We seek to harm them as little as possible; but we are also not naïve. Either
through design, laxity, or fear, they allowed their country to be hijacked by a
madman who threatens non-Iraqis. They are as guilty or as innocent as were
the Germans under Hitler or the Japanese when Tojo ruled — to be warred
against under despots and then immediately aided when liberated. Moreover,
human nature being what it is, had Hitler taken Moscow and obliterated
London, few Germans would have rebelled, but would more likely have
flocked into Nuremberg for huge victory rallies. Had their forces won at
Midway and slaughtered us on Guadalcanal, the Japanese people would have
held massive thank-you demonstrations for their military leaders.

So it is with Iraq: Should we fail, we can assume that there will be
spontaneous celebrations in which the Iraq "street" will drag around American
bodies and cheer — without any prompting on the part of Saddam Hussein.
We need not embrace the idea of collective punishment to accept the truth
that sometimes entire peoples can go off the deep end and require military
defeat to be brought back out of their trance.
# Posted 12:05 PM by Karol

Proof?

National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, links Iraq to al-Qaida. "There clearly are contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq that can be documented; there clearly is testimony that some of the contacts have been important contacts and that there's a relationship here," Rice said.
# Posted 11:28 AM by Karol

Here is a site with a fake evite inviting the world to come to war against Iraq. I found it on a great site that tells you about airfare deals and how to get more airline miles with free market commentary and 'Impeach Mineta' bumperstickers.
# Posted 11:05 AM by Karol

I may not have nearly as many hits as the bigger bloggers but I am live in an average of ten time zones every day. Just felt like patting myself on the head. Thanks for indulging me.
# Posted 10:55 AM by Karol

North Korea to set up a zone for capitalism

Don't tell me communism isn't working!

Or, as James Taranto puts it: 'Of course, there's already a capitalist zone that permits access to everyone except North Koreans. It's called the rest of the world.'
# Posted 10:33 PM by Karol

I thought the death penalty was illegal in Britain? Rod Dreher points this story out and has, oh, a bit more to say about it.
# Posted 10:22 PM by Karol

I try, I really do, to keep mention of my boyfriend to a minimum but today in my reading of media from around the world, the items that interest me most are three posts on his site, whattya gonna do? He is having a dialogue with an Iraqi blogger, writing about inspiring words by Abraham Lincoln that still matter today, and about loving music even while at war, even when everything seems bad. Go take a look.
# Posted 12:39 PM by Karol

If you only read one article today, this week, ever, make sure it's this one by Jonah Goldberg.
He is the epitome of spot-on-ness and this article is an example of what provoked me to start blogging. I needed to share.

# Posted 9:43 PM by Karol

Donald Rumsfeld snubs his German counterpart during a two day NATO meeting in Warsaw. Gee, ya think maybe making opposition to America the focal point in your elections was not such a good idea?
# Posted 12:41 AM by Karol

Jesse Jackson find scenes in the new movie 'Barbershop' to be offensive. The scenes include jokes about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jackson himself. The producers of the film have apologized for any offense caused but Jackson wants the scenes to be cut from the movie. The left-wing in America is, of course, outraged that Jackson would try to censor the makers of this movie. Of course.
# Posted 12:41 AM by Karol

What I did on my summer vacation


'Washington D.C, it's paradise to me.....'-Magnetic Fields


This past weekend, for the first time in my life, I visited the capital of my country. I know how weird that must sound to a lot of people that either know me in person or have come to know me through this site. I'm obsessed with politics and that obsession is second only to my obsession with travel. The reasons for my delay in seeing D.C are many. In my younger days I was exactly the kind of person that I laugh at now. I had all of these, obviously very deep, philosophies and ideas on America, and never did America come out looking well in them. With this in mind, my want to see any part of this country was absent. Of course, I was around 17 years old at the time. As I got older and more involved in politics both in theory and in practice, it seemed that since I had never been to D.C I would 'save' it for a time when an event I wanted to attend was going to be going on. Maybe a Cato seminar or Federalist society debate. What ended up happening was that I had two visiting British friends who were interested in going and so we went. Little planning, little thinking, and off we were.

Washington D.C turned out to be a much more beautiful city than I had anticipated. I know that in my limited time there I was mostly in the well kept touristy areas but I was really overwhelmed by how pretty it was. The other thing that struck me was how diverse in opinion the city was. Living in New York has numbed me to the possibility that a pretty equal divide in ideology can exist in other places in the country. The peaceniks on the lawn outside the Washington monument, playing acoustic guitars and waving incense at those who come to take a look at what they are doing, are less than a hundred feet from the men selling bumper stickers with the MIA/POW symbol with the words 'bring them home or send us back.' Outside the White House there are two hippies standing vigil since 1981 against nuclear weapons. Inside the White House, the government of the country that controls a large chunk of the world's nuke arsenal. It's an interesting place, D.C, whether you are a fan of politics or not. And that's all I have to say about that.
# Posted 12:41 AM by Karol

A long one on Germany

Jonah Goldberg has an excellent piece about the current situation in Germany. Written a few days before the election, Mr. Goldberg takes on Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor, for making the war with Iraq his central issue for reelection 'because, for some odd reason, making an issue out of an economy that's weaker than your asthmatic kid sister doesn't resonate with voters.'

He also talks about the growing anti-semitism right now in Germany. He writes 'Which brings up an interesting little factoid about Germany: Jews are very unpopular there again. As someone wrote in the Suddeutsche Zeitung recently, "It's been a long time since the hatred of Jews — once disguised as anti-Zionism — has been as socially acceptable in Germany as it is today." There are plenty of stories about how Jews are being attacked in the streets of Berlin again and how graffiti with phrases such as "Six Million Jews is Not Enough" can be spotted in various cities. Jewish schools now need armed guards out front.' As I have a close German friend I tend to receive all my 'Germany is anti-semitic' news firsthand. From the pseudo intellectuals disguising their hate as anti-zionism, to politicians on all sides making remarks about the Jewish lobby in the US (which is of course, powerful) to comparisons of Sharon with Hitler, to suggestions that the war on terror that the US is fighting is really just to protect Israel, I know that what is going on in the land of bratwurst is very real and very scary. Like in the rest of Europe, anti-semitism is all too acceptable and intellectually trendy. When I was in Germany in 1996, the amount of apologies that I received when people saw my star of David around my neck, and doubly so when they learned that I was Russian, astounded me. I couldn't believe that people who weren't even alive during WWII found themselves feeling in any way responsible for the events over 50 years prior. It made me feel uncomfortable. I felt then that all of this guilt would lead to problems. There is no way a society can be in such an extended apologetic state without it leading to resentment. Now it seems that I was right.

Societies with internal problems tend to project what is wrong with them onto others. For example, in Germany right now it has been a popular idea that George W. Bush is continuing with the war on terror because he wants to distract from his domestic problems. I always wonder where these ingrates who think things like this were hiding on September 11, 2001. In a little publicized event, New York and Washington DC were attacked by hijacked planes. Over 3000 people died. The perpetrators of the attacks weren't a rainbow coalition of nationalities and religions. They were all men from the Middle East who were taught a militant Muslim dogma. As it turns out, there are thousands of these men operating throughout the world, sitting tight until they get their instructions for their next attack. Is the suggestion then that America under President Bush's leadership should focus it's energies on an only somewhat lagging economy, that is not in a recession, instead of on protecting the lives of its people? Am I the only one looking incredulously at my computer screen? Mr. Goldberg writes:

'If you read virtually any commentary about the German election, you'll discover that Schröder is using the war to distract from his domestic problems. Germany's economy has been running like a Cuban toilet since he took office. He's spent much of the last year embroiled in a lawsuit with a tabloid over whether or not he dyes his hair. (Schröder claims he's all-man and he has the follicles to prove it.) President Bush has had stratospheric approval ratings for more than a year now; he doesn't need the war to stay popular. Gerhard Schröder's poll numbers were in the gutter until he made war — and Germany's avoidance of it — the primary issue of his campaign.'

The murmur on the international scene is that Schröder said what he said and did what he did to get elected but that he would most likely go along with a UN led coalition against Iraq and that it is a central goal of his reelected team to repair whatever damaged relations with the US has occurred. I am not unhappy that Schröder has been reelected, the alternatives were just as bleak. I'm going to end with my favorite part of the Goldberg piece and a recommendation that it is read by all:

'But, I think there's a short answer to be had. Germany has been living under the protection of the United States for so long it has internalized its own sense of security and — in a fit of wishful thinking that borders on outright amnesia — it has projected that strudel-in-the-sky view on the rest of the world. Worse, its well-deserved guilt over Nazism has melted into its more generalized peacenikery. So now it seems — at least from over here — that it's gotten to the point where force in and of itself is deemed illegitimate. Hitler used force, so force is Hitlerish. Hitler had a death penalty (and then some!), so the U.S. death penalty is Hitlerish. Hitler used tanks, and Israel uses tanks, so Ariel Sharon is a Nazi (as you can hear over and over and over again in what passes for intelligent commentary among European and Arab "intellectuals"). Meanwhile, the security provided by the United States is taken for granted, dismissed, demeaned, or otherwise belittled by a left-leaning public that believes the world is a candyland and that the United States is spoiling the party by behaving as if it were otherwise.'
# Posted 11:09 AM by Karol

There will be no posting on Friday, September 20th, as I will be visiting our nation's capital (that would be Washington D.C for all of you out of towners). Feel free to comment on existing posts and have a nice weekend.
# Posted 1:03 AM by Karol

Those wacky lefty activists are at it again. With their mish mash of ideas and vague points, they will descend on Washington, D.C later this month. Their completely realistic goals include:


That the World Bank and IMF be abolished! We don't want a seat at the table to discuss reform; they are not reformable.

An end to privatization and structural adjustment everywhere.

An end to all debt! From debt owed by developing countries to personal debt.

Housing and food for everyone.

Freedom for everyone - Immigrant Rights, Civil Liberties, Women's liberation.

An end to the racist prison industrial system.

An end to imperialism and terrorism by the US government and all states.

An end to the colonial status of DC and developing countries.


Their means of achieving these goals? Obviously influential events include:


The Bike Strike! Bike Against Big Oil.

Put the Squeeze on Capitalist Greed March Snake past political targets.

Beat the Anti-War Drums: Percussion Protest/Drum Circle

Caravan aginst Capitalism


The festivities, of course, will include a nod to the cause du jour with a 'an affinity group blocking traffic in the street to mimic Israeli Military checkpoints where only Israeli's are allowed to pass.' Better hope the faux checkpoint doesn't run into real type problems. I wouldn't want anyone missing the anti-war drum circle.

Thanks to Melissa Seckora for pointing this out.
# Posted 12:32 AM by Karol

James Taranto, as always, says it best:

Hey, Really, Thanks for the Warning

In an interview with Ha'aretz, Scott "Baghdad Jane" Ritter, who's been insisting that there's no basis on which to think Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, warns that a U.S. attack on Iraq would be "a disaster for Israel" because it might provoke Iraq to attack Israel with the weapons there's no basis on which to think Iraq has.
# Posted 10:32 PM by Karol

French pander to Nazis, again.
Wartime collaborator Maurice Papon, 92, convicted of sending French Jews to Nazi death camps, was released from prison today after a court ruled he was too old and sick to serve out his 10-year sentence. I'm sure the people he sent to the camps were also too old and sick to be there. Am I missing something or is part of the reason someone goes to jail to make them suffer for their crimes? The fact that a Nazi collaborator only got 10 years to begin with is a travesty but to let him out early because the poor dear is sick is just disgusting. I realize in today's climate Jewish life is cheap but if France really wants to protest their anti-semitic image (as Chirac has been trying to do) this is perhaps not the best way to start.
# Posted 10:47 AM by Karol

Suicide Bomber Hits Northern Israel


Meanwhile, in a bid to make terrorism pay off......

Diplomats Plan Palestinian State
# Posted 10:36 AM by Karol

Why non-democracies should be opposed at every turn when trying to develop nuclear weapons:

Russia missing 200 nuclear warheads

This is for all those people who say nonsense like 'why should Israel get to have nukes while Iraq does not?':


# Posted 10:16 PM by Karol

How can he say this with a straight face?


Time Magazine: You've spoke about having seen the children's prisons in Iraq. Can you describe what you saw there?

Scott Ritter, former UN inspector: The prison in question is at the General Security Services headquarters, which was inspected by my team in Jan. 1998. It appeared to be a prison for children — toddlers up to pre-adolescents — whose only crime was to be the offspring of those who have spoken out politically against the regime of Saddam Hussein. It was a horrific scene. Actually I'm not going to describe what I saw there because what I saw was so horrible that it can be used by those who would want to promote war with Iraq, and right now I'm waging peace.


Cheers to Kathryn Jean Lopez for pointing out these shameful words.
# Posted 11:45 AM by Karol

Uh-oh, is that eating words regarding 'proof' I see?

Saddam Hussein Trained Al Qaeda Fighters reports the London Telegraph .

Can I just say that I love that all three of posts so far today have been from those impartial British sources?
# Posted 11:34 AM by Karol

Better get a move on boys


Iraq will have a nuke by Christmas, reports the London Times.
# Posted 11:23 AM by Karol

'Around the world minority populations are threatened with mass death or stripped of their rights. And in European cities the welcome of "multiculturalism" has been exploited by those who regard pluralism and human rights with contempt. What's complicated about this or the need to oppose it? Let's not complain of leaders who can recognise a rusty shank when it is pointed at them.'

-Christopher Hitchens, my favorite leftie writer, on how clear cut our current war is and how the sneering intellectuals can't grasp this simple concept as Bush has.


# Posted 11:06 AM by Karol

For someone born in Russia (especially to Jewish parents), I am unbelieveably unsuperstitious. But really, wasn't that wind in New York so weird yesterday? I was carrying a heavy bag, full of beer if you must know, and was almost knocked over. There was something really creepy to it. And now this and this. It's all too strange.
# Posted 2:56 PM by Karol

Obviously I'm just being paranoid about anti-semitism, so I'll just use James Taranto's words verbatim about the appalling incident at Concordia University:


Shut Up, They Explained--II

The National Post has more details on the anti-Semitic riot at Montreal's Concordia University, which we noted yesterday:


"It was 1939 Europe all over again," said Thomas Hecht, 73, chairman of the Canada-Israel Committee's Quebec branch. About 25 protesters screaming "Palestinian checkpoint!" encircled Mr. Hecht, a Czechoslovakian-born Holocaust survivor, as he attempted to enter the Hall Building. Several protesters pushed him against a wall, spitting on him and kicking his ankles.


Toronto's Globe and Mail adds:


Montreal Rabbi Howard Joseph and his wife, Norma, a Concordia religion professor, were kicked and punched. "The women aimed their punches at my breasts," Prof. Joseph said.


The university's response? Frederick Lowy, Concordia's rector and vice chancellor, decrees:


What is needed now is a period of restraint. A moratorium on the use of university space for events related to the Middle East conflict will be instituted immediately and until further notice. This includes a moratorium on public speeches, rallies, exhibits and information tables. We will be meeting with student leaders to develop a more long-term policy in this regard.


In other words, the pro-Arab thugs succeeded not only in preventing Bibi Netanyahu from speaking, but in shutting down all pro-Israel (as well as anti-Israel) speech. In this case, the cliché is true: The terrorists have won.
# Posted 12:56 PM by Karol

Tell me again how the Palestinians should be our friends same as Israel.
# Posted 12:50 PM by Karol

"They will not be stopped by a sense of decency or a hint of conscience-but they will be stopped."-President George W. Bush, 9/11/02

# Posted 12:39 PM by Karol

Jonah Goldberg finds things to laugh about on the anniversary of 9/11. He's ready to laugh at the idiocy of our enemies and also at the people in America who claim all we need is a little understanding and to know our own violent history. Jonah writes:


But, despite the best efforts of our public schools, Americans actually understand their history. We just don't wallow in it. Because one of the great things about America is that it was designed to be a life raft to escape the sinking ship of history. If Arabs and their American apologists want to bitch and moan about the crusades, if they can't get over the fact that a few hundred years ago their societies imploded like a bad soufflé in a clay oven, that's their problem. We're not mad at the Japanese for bombing Pearl Harbor anymore, but we're supposed to keep apologizing for a defensive war launched by popes nearly a millennium before the Boston Tea Party? Get over yourselves, you're not that important.


The whole thing is, as always, worth a read.
# Posted 11:07 AM by Karol

Did you know that Manhattan was discovered by Henry Hudson on September 11th in 1609? Neither did I but I did after reading this, and more, on my boyfriend's site.
# Posted 1:53 PM by Karol

Stop what you are doing and go read James Lileks give advice to the him of one year ago. It is phenomenal. I don't want to quote too much from it as it may discourage some from reading the whole thing but my favorite part is how the world 'likes America with a bloody nose, and hates us when we smash the hand that smacked us.' Go. Now.
# Posted 1:50 PM by Karol

Well, it's here. It's been one year. The city is pretty quiet although there are quite a few sirens. There has already been a bomb scare on my block. It is a tense day.

I've been wondering what to write about today for a few days now. I've had many thoughts. Yesterday, I sat in my apartment and watched several 9/11 stories. For all my focus on that day, I probably spent less time watching tv on the subject than most people. It's still a shock for me to see the faces of survivors and to hear the stories of the people that didn't make it. I heard stories of survival and of despair. I heard the story of a woman who was on the phone with her husband until the moment that the tower collapsed. He was trapped by the door of the roof, unable to open it, and spent his last few minutes telling his wife how much he loved her and how happy he had been in their 35 years of marriage. I heard the story of a lucky man who chose the right staircase from the 81st floor and chose to go down instead of up unlike most of his co-workers. He not only survived but saved another man on his way down. The stories are touching and heartbreaking. They remind us where we are, what we saw and how far we still have to go.

I've been thinking about the 'Star Spangled Banner' the last few days. I've always liked the song, I can remember singing it when I was a child and not knowing what any of the words meant. The 'Pledge of Allegiance' was some of my first English words and the national anthem followed close behind. After 9/11, the song that was sung at memorials and gatherings was 'G-d bless America.' It is a beautiful song, a good call to faith when we needed it. Now though, I think we need to go back to our anthem, we need a different song. The anthem is about war, it is the story of one man talking to another asking if America is still alive. A lot of people don't realize that, even as they sing it. The words are too old fashioned to really make an impression, especially with much of our MTV watching youth. The words are beautiful and mean more to me now than ever. America has fought battles before and the flag was still there. This one will be no exception. G-d has blessed America, our call has been answered. Now we must sing the song of war to insure our survival. Read the words out loud, find the meaning and the strength in them again. Know we have fought greater enemies and have often turned them into friends. Know that the star-spangled banner yet waves and will, for as long as we are here to defend it.

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
# Posted 10:42 AM by Karol

It's probably nothing but can someone with a view of the Verrazano Bridge in Brooklyn/Staten Island tell me why most of it is obscured in some type of cloud/smoke? Any idea of what's going on?
# Posted 4:46 PM by Karol

SUGGESTION FOR BUSH'S UN SPEECH by Jonah Goldberg:

Here's how Bush should begin his speech to the UN on Thursday...

"Let me explain why we bombed Iraq yesterday...."
# Posted 2:38 PM by Karol

Stop laughing: Arafat accuses US, Israel of hampering peace bid, reports the Arab News.
# Posted 10:03 AM by Karol

Front page news: Arafat condemns terrorism but of course does not call for an end to suicide bombings. Why would he? The whole world hangs on his every fake word as it is.
# Posted 4:13 PM by Karol

A religion of peace both at home and abroad. Thanks to LGF for pointing out both of these stories.
# Posted 4:09 PM by Karol

I went to a wedding yesterday. It was the third wedding I had ever been to, as my friends tend to be a single bunch. The first wedding I had ever gone to I had managed, along with about 8 of my friends, to miss the ceremony. My friends tend to be a late group as well. Our friend got married without any of us there and that thought has always deeply bothered me.


With this in mind, my boyfriend and I arrived in Long Island, where the wedding was to take place, about an hour early. Practically melting in the hot sun in our formal clothes, we stopped at a diner to get a soda and refresh. We sat at the counter and I went into the bathroom to fix my make-up. When I walked in, there were two girls about 8 years old. They both stared at me and asked me where I was going (as I suppose a diner in the middle of the day in Long Island isn't what I was dressed for). I told them I was going to a wedding. One of the girls told me she was going to a wedding in two weeks in Washington D.C. I told them that I too was going to D.C in about two weeks. Then they told me that they had written letters to the President. I asked them what they had written and they told me. One of the girls, with a little cross around her neck, told me that she had written to President Bush to ask him to protect and take care of Israel. The other little girl assured her that he was protecting Israel but had to make it appear as he was not. It is an understatement to say that I was in awe of their conversation. The fact that Israel is so close to the hearts of so many Americans, the fact that at least one of the little girls wasn't even Jewish and still had this deep appreciation and love for a country on the other side of the world, was inspiring. When I mentioned this story later to friends the consensus was that she probably grew up surrounded by Jews and so is guided by that. It seems logical given the highly Jewish area we were in when I met her. Still, even with influences like that, it was interesting that her concern led her to write a letter to her President. I hope he writes back.


Earlier that day, with plenty of time to waste, we had stopped by my grandmother's house. We hung around her kitchen and showed off our fancy attire. On our way out of her building, three Hasidic Jews approached us. Their interest was primarily in my boyfriend. They put a yarmulke on his Catholic head and he followed their lead in reading from the bible in Hebrew. After they were done they blew a shofar to commemorate the second day of the Jewish New Year. As my grandmother lives in a heavily Muslim (mostly Pakistani) area, there was a sense that these men were risking something by being there. Like the non-Jewish girl in the story above, there are probably many non-Jews who come to be influenced by these men going door to door. I always would say that Hasidic Jews are just as fanatical as their Muslim counterparts. My boyfriend pointed out to me that though they might be fanatical, though they might be going through rough terrain preaching Judaism, throwing yarmulkes on people's heads and reading in Hebrew, they weren't blowing anyone up. It was a fair point and one that would stay with me for the rest of the day.


We left the diner and continued on to the wedding. It was at a beautiful castle and the day couldn't be more gorgeous. The ceremony went perfectly and then we sat down to dinner. At our table were another couple and four singles, two of them visiting from Israel. The conversation inevitably turned to the events of 9/11 and to the continuing terrorism in Israel. No matter the surroundings, the weather, the occasion, 9/11 is still with all of us and the smallest spark on the subject can launch a full-blown conversation.


As I've mentioned several times on my site, I am Russian-American. Although I haven't been to Russia since I was a child and although I am a very proud American, I know that there is something in me that is still distinctly Russian. It's a realistic attitude that many Russians feel Americans lack. To Russians (and by my writing 'Russians' I mean those living in America, I can not speak for those who are not), Americans are idealistic, friendly, law abiding and trustworthy. Maybe it's a reflection of the Russian-American community that these things are looked upon as almost negatives. These things are seen as dangerous, leaving yourself open to harm. A Russian, even one who has lived in America for over 20 years, will say someone is 'so American' and mean that good natured, 'have a nice day' kind of attitude. The couple at the table had just such impressions of Americans. They said that Americans were 'lahee', a Russian word that means at once dumb and naive. They said that no other country would tiptoe around people's feelings like America does. No other country would care about criticism of its retaliation when it just lost 3000 of its people. They want to see action taken on behalf of those lost and on behalf of those still living. They think Bush is a wuss. Their opinion is not unusual and it isn't limited to the Right (in fact, the male of the couple identifies himself as a Democrat). It is a realism that America as a country will have to start facing.


I realize I have gone on quite long. I could go on and on, but won't, about the conversations we had, about how we feel we can't wear our Star of David around our necks while in Europe, about how we are terrified for Israel because of the depth of hatred we see that the world has for it, the double standard that it is examined under, about how my feeling when I talk of terrorism in front of Israelis is one that is almost shameful: where have I been all these years that Israel has been suffering through what we are just starting to learn?


There isn't any conclusion to this post; I just wanted to share a day of my life, the second day of the Jewish New Year, which seemed to meet me at every step with Judaism and talk of Israel.

# Posted 10:23 AM by Karol

Comment Section Update: Haloscan is working on fixing the bug with the comment section. I was on here a few minutes ago and there were new comments but when I returned they were gone. Hopefully they will reappear. I'll get back to you all when I have more information.


Update: This is what the Haloscan people have to say: Sorry for the delay. *All* comments are still safe and you will not lose any. We have been having issues with the hardware our ISP installed that we mentioned in the "Recent Events" post and we are working with them to change the configuration.
# Posted 9:46 AM by Karol

Why is it that retarded Americans can only make their moronic statements to foreign press? Oh yeah, because they're censored here (ie: can't take the criticism). The latest example in the string of idiotarians is Norman Mailer. His choice comments:


"There's just too much anger here, too much ruptured vanity, too much shock, too much identity crisis. And worst of all, too much patriotism. Patriotism in a country that's failing has a logical tendency to turn fascistic...


"Let's suppose ten people are killed by a small bomb on a street corner in some city in America. The first thing to understand is that there are 280 million Americans. So, there's one chance in 28 million you're going to be one of those people. By such heartless means of calculation, the 3000 deaths in the Twin Towers came approximately to one mortality for every 90,000 Americans. Your chances of dying if you drive a car are one in 7,000 each year. We seem perfectly ready to put up with automobile statistics. I fear I am ready to say there is a tolerable level to terror... "


How does one argue when stupidity takes on such levels? I guess one does not.
# Posted 6:29 PM by Karol

Police charge man over sex with traffic cone in Edinburgh, Scotland.

What is going on in my favorite city?


# Posted 4:18 PM by Karol

WARNING: Some of the photos linked to in the following post are graphic. Some show decomposed bodies, some show a jumper from the WTC when he has landed. Not for the squeamish.

As New York settles in to it's post Labor Day groove, it also readies itself to commemorate the one year anniversary of the deaths of 3000 people in one awful swoop. The day will surely be somber and no one is quite sure how a city handles such an occasion. There are people who want vigils for the dead and nothing more, people who want to see the plane crashing images again, people who want to see the jumpers and the reality of the situation that they convey. I don't know anyone that wants to do nothing. I want to do all those things. I want to light a candle for the people that never came home that day. I want to see the planes crashing, I want to remember the awfulness, I want it to be real and close again. I want to remember what it felt like to see the 'Missing' posters go up all over the city. I want to see the images they wouldn't show us last year. I want to be horrified. I want to be scared. I want to be angry. I want to see the people that made the decision to jump. I want to see them land. I want to remember what the Taliban was about. I want to see the Palestinians dancing, laughing and celebrating in the street. I want to be reminded how much they hate me.

I've had this REM song in my head steadily for the past year. It is a short, quiet song called 'I'm not over you' on their album 'Up.' Michael Stipe practically whispers the ending lines 'I'm not over you, I'm not over you' over and over. As someone who gets over things quickly, I'm not over 9/11, nowhere near it. I'm not over the feelings of that day and I don't want to be. My own quiet prayer for my city and my country is that we don't get over it, we don't forget, we need to remember what it felt like to get smacked on a beautiful Tuesday so that we'll be ready and aware to deal with whatever comes at us. The vulnerability of the days following 9/11 is something that is ingrained in my mind. Passing by firemen in midtown, resting in a row outside the W hotel, cars honking at them and people waving in thanks. The checkpoints on the FDR Drive that no one was even half annoyed at. Getting to the blood bank on the 11th and seeing signs that they are over capacity. Not seeing my brother for over a week, the longest we've ever gone without seeing each other whilst living in the same state. Driving over the Queensborough Bridge from Long Island City after visiting a friend in Greenpoint and seeing the graffiti 'war' with an arrow pointing to the still smoldering city. We were ready for it then, we were ready for whatever was coming. We can't let excusemakers and equivalency babblers stop us from making ourselves safe. Whatever it takes, I never want to feel like I did last September. And, in the same way, I want to never forget what that time felt like.
# Posted 2:48 PM by Karol

In 1999, David Howard, an aide to Washington D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams, used the word niggardly, a synonym for stingy, in a meeting with two city employees. The two employees misunderstood his comment and a controversy based in ignorance began. Mr. Howard was basically forced into resigning and Mayor Williams accepted his resignation. Soon after, under a lot of pressure from people with good vocabularies, Mr. Williams asked Mr. Howard to withdraw his resignation. He did and the city of D.C. was happy once again.

That was three years ago and surely there has been time for some people to get a dictionary. Richard Lowry, in NRO's The Corner, draws attention to the fact that unfortunately that is not the case. A teacher in North Carolina used the word and because some ignoramus was offended in their misunderstanding of the word, the teacher had to write a letter of apology to her student's parents and was admonished 'for lacking sensitivity to the school's diverse population and not being aware of cultural differences.' Is it just me or does that seem demeaning to black people? This is the classic example of 'wanting to help' but in fact treating other races/cultures as though they are beneath us, as though they need to be protected and sheltered even when there is nothing to protect them from.

One of my favorite articles about ignorance is by Mark Goldblatt, a teacher at a college in New York. I read it some time ago (and it became mandatory reading for my brother, his girlfriend and any other college age people I could find and coerce) and it was recently reprinted on NRO. The worst thing, in his opinion, isn't so much the ignorance as the egotism that leads people to ignore the fact that they are ignorant and in their ignorance hurt others. In his article he discusses asking his students on the first day of class who said the words 'religion is the opiate of the masses' with the hint that the author was German. No one knew and one girl wagered a guess. Her guess was Martin Luther. It wasn't a bad guess, as Mr. Goldblatt writes, Martin Luther did write about religion and was German, yet the class erupted in laughter. One guy corrected her with 'Don't you know he was a brother?' Obviously they had misunderstood her to mean Martin Luther King, Jr. It wasn't enough that they were ignorant, they had to put someone else down in their ignorance. Teaching self-esteem has become more important that teaching factual information. The kids have to feel good about themselves and they can't feel good if they are wrong. Mr. Goldblatt writes:


Want to scare yourself? Sit down with a half-dozen recent public high-school graduates and ask them what they believe. Most are utterly convinced, for example, that President Kennedy was murdered by a vast government conspiracy. It doesn't matter to them that they cannot name the presidents before or after Kennedy. Or the three branches of government. Or even the alleged gunman's killer. Most are convinced, also, that AIDS was engineered by the CIA — even though they cannot state what either set of initials stands for. Most will voice passionate pro-choice views on abortion — even though they cannot name the decision that legalized it. Or report the number of judges on the Supreme Court. Or define the word "trimester." Most will happily hold forth on the hypocrisy of organized religion — even though they cannot name the first book of the Bible. Or distinguish between the Old and New Testaments. Or state the approximate year of Jesus's birth (a trick question). Most will bemoan global warming — even though they cannot name three greenhouse gases. Or convert Fahrenheit temperatures to Celsius. Or say what planetary phenomenon causes seasons.


This article should be recommended to anyone who has teenagers in their life. It's obvious that ignorance can only be improved through teaching but that misplaced self assurance must be taught away as well. I work closely with the teens I know. Some tell me they are afraid to see me if they haven't been reading the newspaper. Good. That's how it should be. Let them be afraid to be ignorant and to be caught in their ignorance. It's the only thing that will save them.


# Posted 10:37 AM by Karol

Little Green Footballs and its readership have some interesting takes on the news that 55% of Europeans from 6 countries polled believe US foreign policy is to blame. 'Foreign policy' is, of course, code word for standing with Israel. As several readers on LGF point out, if it wasn't for the US standing with Israel then we'd buying our oil from Israel and the Arab states would be speaking Hebrew. I'm not even going to go into the fact that 65% of the Europeans polled think that the EU should be a superpower alongside the US. As Charles Johnson, the LGF blogger, writes: 'The EU, a superpower. With no military deterrent, and an unelected ruling class. What a curious concept.'
# Posted 4:47 PM by Karol

It seems like federalizing airport employees and taking away my tiny nail scissors has much improved airport security.
# Posted 3:16 PM by Karol

The comment section, though it appears to be working, is in fact not. I was going to write a post saying 'where is everybody?' but then tried commenting myself and it did not work so now I know you all are still out there. Thank goodness.
# Posted 3:07 PM by Karol

Hunter Thompson joins the chorus of voices who say that they are being censored in today's America. Mr. Thompson said 'Overall, American journalism I think has been cowed and intimidated by the massive flat-sucking, this patriotic orgy that the White House keeps whipping up. You know if you criticize the President it's unpatriotic and there's something wrong with you, you may be a terrorist.' while adding that this cowering doesn't apply to the two biggest newspapers, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

When will these type of people learn that freedom of speech does not mean freedom from criticism? While it's fine for you to say whatever you want about the President, about our country, about anything else, it is equally fine for me to find fault with what you say. It happens that the President is very popular just now so yes, if you're throwing the 'Bush is an idiot' line around, chances are someone is going to point out that in fact you are the idiot and it is well within their rights to do so. For example when Mr. Thompson was asked 'Do you think that the event (9/11) completely transformed the way in which Americans see themselves and their own vulnerability,' his answer was 'No, the event by itself wouldn’t have done that' and then goes on to suggest that Bush has benefited from the attacks, my stupidity alert was on high and I'm sure most other people who think the event might've transformed America just a bit, would think the same. Are we censoring him? Are we taking away his right to be stupid? No, we're just calling him on his stupidity. If that is his idea of censorship then he is living in the wrong country. He should go try to write 'Fear and Loathing in Havana' if he wants there to only be one correct opinion.
# Posted 12:04 PM by Karol

FBI probing LA airport shooting as terror attack.

An Egyptian man opens fire at an El Al counter in Los Angeles on the 4th of July. It then takes the FBI two months to label it a terrorist attack. What is wrong with this picture?
# Posted 11:06 AM by Karol

Phil Donahue says his show is on thin ice because of low ratings. Now, I'm no television executive or anything like that, in fact I have been tv-free for most of my life and have only really had a tv for a little under a year but, by just using my common sense, I'd like to offer some advice to Mr. Donahue.

Mr. Donahue, I realize that you can't remove that smug look from your face and I know it's hard for you to listen to anyone to the right of Socialist without constantly rolling your eyes, so I'm not making any suggestions in these areas. What I would advise though is a little more thought, put in by you, as to which guests are brought on for which topics. Using yesterday's show as an example, perhaps hip hop mogul Russel Simmons and that girl with the baby from Sex and the City are not the best guests to have on when the topic is education. I know that these two fancy themselves as quite the fighters for education funding but, the fact that they in actuality know very little, should have made some sort of impact on you. You are, after all, the host and as such should really consider if an actress and record producer would be wise choices to discuss schools. When a caller phoned in the comment that 'the government pays about $10,000 per student in NYC and this is a more than a sufficient amount that in numbers could give the teacher a salary of at least $60,000', Mr. Simmon's response was 'no, teachers get about half that.' Well yes Mr. Simmons, did you perhaps not hear the first part of the comment? Your own response, Mr. Donahue, was to mock the idea that the teacher's unions care more about their job security than about the pupils. Woman from Sex and the City then rambled something about NY being expensive. If she is saying that $10,000 per student is not enough to finely educate within our schools then perhaps you should've pointed out to her that there are a myriad of private schools that cost less and perhaps vouchers might be a sensible solution. Of course, such methods of fixing schools must never be entertained. The status quo must remain at all costs. After all, what would the left's position be on schools if such a practice was accepted? In ending, Mr. Donahue, I'm sure you can go far in the tv business. I remember when you used to have a 'Jerry Springer without the punching' type show. Surely that type of setting can again be resurrected. You should've never disturbed what was obviously working for you.
# Posted 10:43 AM by Karol

You know what really sucks? Working for a candidate, raising money for him or her, campaigning, really putting yourself out there with your support, only to have him quit a few days before the primary election because he wasn't polling well enough for his ego to withstand. Or I imagine it does, anyway. My candidate, last year, stayed in the primary despite the fact that his campaign was penniless and he was running against a billionaire, while polling 20% to the inevitable winner's 74%. But then, you know, we can't all work for such a stand-up guy, as a sometime commenter of this page might've found out today.

:-)

Sorry to throw a private joke on the page but I just had to.
# Posted 4:58 PM by Karol

Also from today's Best of the Web:

Great Moments in Socialized Medicine
"A retired New Zealand man cut off one of his fingers with kitchen scissors because it was gangrenous and he could no longer stand the pain after months waiting for surgery," the Associated Press reports from Wellington. Meanwhile, the New Zealand Herald reports that "cancer patients are waiting up to 18 weeks for first appointments with a specialist at Waikato Hospital," despite "national guidelines [that] say semi-urgent cancer patients must see a specialist within 20 working days."
# Posted 4:15 PM by Karol

James Taranto is back from his summer vacation and with him the return of the phenomenal Best of the Web feature on Opinion Journal. His whole piece today is great but I especially like this tidbit:


Speaking of Atta, Britain's Guardian reports that his father, Mohammed el-Amir Atta, insists his son is still alive and phoned on Sept. 12. "He is hiding in a secret place so as not to be murdered by the U.S. secret services," claims the Atta pop. But although he denies that his son was involved with the Sept. 11 atrocities, Atta père thinks mass murder of Americans is a dandy idea. "Every day our Palestinian brothers are being murdered, their houses destroyed. If their relatives were to fly a plane into the Empire State Building I couldn't hold it against them."


At least Atta's father doesn't hold the popular misconception in the Arab world that the Jews were responsible for the 9/11 attacks. He blames it on 'American Christians.'
# Posted 3:50 PM by Karol

Shocker: Experts say Iraq has 'tons of chemical weapons.'


In other news: Iraq Is Ready to Discuss Inspectors. I don't assume it's because they've already hidden all the weapons, do you?
# Posted 12:13 PM by Karol

It's Labor Day in the US today and I tried my hardest to stay away from the computer on the one day that I can. However, upon coming online I discovered that my comment section is absent. I don't know why that is or how long it will last so that should answer the few emails I got (from people that never comment anyway) on the subject. Hope you are all enjoying the three day weekend and I will be back to regular blogging tomorrow.

UPDATE: The comment section is still experiencing technical difficulties. Haloscan, the comment provider, says they are working to fix the problem.
# Posted 12:42 PM by Karol