Stop the ACLU has some good comments on the modern state of Israel reaching age 60.
Oh yes we are human beings, a fact that often seems forgotten in the hate-filled propaganda that pervades too many institutions, the slanderous misrepresentation of latest fact and longer-term history which is heard far too much. A friend told me today that he was seriously informed on an international television broadcast that former prime minister Ariel Sharon drank a glass of Palestinian blood every day.
It’s often explained that criticism of Israel is not antisemitism as such but increasingly the extreme, crazed attacks precisely duplicate that hateful standpoint. More important is this: historic antisemitism’s claims and assumptions have simply been adapted to Israel; the word “Zionism” simply substituted for “Judaism” and “Israel” for “Jews.” We are the only people in the world continually called on to apologize because we survived, even after 85 percent of European Jews were murdered and about 90 percent of Middle Eastern Jews were expelled or had to flee the countries where they were born.
In contrast to the false accusations, we will be delighted to agree, cooperate, and celebrate the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state willing to live in peace alongside Israel. Unfortunately, that prospect seems distant. Equally unfortunately, that movement’s Islamist and much of its nationalist leadership prefers to continue the conflict-and intensify their own, and our, people’s suffering–rather than accept anything less than Israel, in the words of Iran’s president, being wiped off the map.
A thousand years ago, Chasdai Ibn Shaprut wrote from Spain: “Dishonoured and humiliated by our dispersion, we have to listen in silence to those who say: `every nation has its own land and you alone possess not even the shadow of a country on this earth.’” But if there really was a place, Shaprut said, “where harassed Israel can rule itself, where it is subject to nobody.I would not hesitate to forsake all honours, resign my high office.and travel over mountains and plains, over land and water,” to reach it. Well, now it exists and will keep on doing so, very probably long after seemingly more established states or at least societies vanish in its neighborhood or elsewhere.
Nahum Lenkin, one of my few relatives who escaped with his life from wartime Poland, wrote how his parents there often “went without food” to pay for the town’s Zionist school where he and others could be prepared “to one day go as pioneers to Eretz Israel.” Virtually all that town’s survivors, and their children, live in Israel.
I’ve been meaning to catch up on Liz Gordon’s latest column. For those that don’t know, Liz Gordon is one of the better comedians of the left, and has a regular column in The Press which is a pretty funny read.
Her latest makes the point that giving money to private schools is merely funding privilege. Never mind that those who would most benefit from state funding for private schools are those that can’t afford to give their kids private education at present.
Thankfully, she does mention that she herself was gifted such an education.
My father was told that either we went to boarding school, or we would be put into a children’s home. I think the local council paid most of the fees. It was, I am sure, a life-changing decision for us.
I’m not sure why she thinks that giving more children the opportunity won’t likewise change their lives for the better. (I know of at least one myself, though sadly in that case the life is already seriously damaged.)
Anyway… off topic. What I meant to say is that Save The Humans saved me the trouble of a full Fisk. Pop over there and check it out.
There’s a growing number of commentators admitting that Fox has in fact been the only news station to provide unbiased coverage of the Democratic primaries.
Not only did we learn that Hillary Clinton confidant Lanny Davis thinks MSNBC and Chris Matthews are “shamelessly biased,” but he is also not pleased with CNN, and, much like Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA), believes that “in this campaign, [Fox News] have [sic] been religiously middle-of-the-road.”
This very much reminds me of the “Mandela is dead” comments that Bush made - except that Obama was clearly making a mistake in this instance*.
Hands up who thinks this real error will be raised as often as Bush’s were, or even McCain’s. Actually, I think the criteria for a McCain scandal has been set at the “someone thought he was in danger of making the mistake” level.
*I’m quite happy to concede that he may have been meaning “states and territories”, but the point here is that left wing politicians get the benefit of the doubt, the right never seems to.
After a winter of discontent, the snapping point came while Ms. Venkatesan was lecturing on “ecofeminism,” which holds, in part, that scientific advancements benefit the patriarchy but leave women out. One student took issue, and reasonably so – actually, empirically so. But “these weren’t thoughtful statements,” Ms. Venkatesan protests. “They were irrational.” The class thought otherwise. Following what she calls the student’s “diatribe,” several of his classmates applauded.
Ms. Venkatesan informed her pupils that their behavior was “fascist demagoguery.” Then, after consulting a physician about “intellectual distress,” she cancelled classes for a week. Thus the pending litigation.
Considering the fact that most teachers would be thrilled to have their students so engaged in a lecture that they ask questions, one must wonder what Ms. Venkatesan found so objectionable. Having taken a few literary theory classes himself, the Beast thinks he knows the problem.
Literary theory is crap. When one must teach crap, one gets a little defensive about challenges, because there is no good defense available. This is particularly galling for feminists.
…I would have thought then that he would have the common courtesy to actually turn up for the memorial service of the seven killed in the canyoning disaster held today. Try as I might I just couldn’t see him there.In fact ther[sic] wasn’t even one Labour MP, candidate or lickspittle in attendance, not one. ot Clark (probably because all seven were eeeeevil Christians), not Chris Carter the Education Minister and especially not Brenden Sheehan. In stark contrast two local MP’s were there, Pansy Wong and Judith Collins, the dynamic duo of the South East.
While I don’t approve of WO’s scrapping with Brendon, that behaviour is par for the course on WOBH - but not for a canditate to high office. Given the outright wierd stuff Mr Sheehan has on his blog (like implying that Bob Clarkson did the Nazi salute, when the triumphal signal he gave was more like the signature of Brendon’s beloved unions…), and some of his reported behaviour, one would think that the guy is setting out to deliberately undermine any chance of Labour winning the seat - and not just for this election.
Shunning this ceremony is not going to help in that score either. Even more odd is that he was very keen to be seen there early on. In fact, the words of that post appear very, very hollow.
I have just returned from Elim College where I spent the evening with a shattered principal, parents, students and staff. Unfortunately our worst fears have been realised and at least 4 students and one of their teachers have perished in this disaster.
Update: Mind you, he has a track record of less-than-sane comments. One is left wondering how he became the candidate for such a high-profile race. Oh, silly me - he’s in the union.
The man who really nailed Labour’s reputation as the party of corruption is to stand trial.
Remember, this guy would be still in that party had he not suggested that he’d still say in parliament regardless.
After four weeks of evidence and 50 witnesses at a depositions hearing, District Court Judge Charles Blackie ruled a prima facie case had been established against the Mangere MP and referred him to the High Court.
Field is facing 40 charges, including 15 of bribery and corruption and 25 he attempted to obstruct or pervert the course of justice.
The charges were laid after Field allegedly accepted work on seven of his properties by Thai nationals in return for immigration assistance between November 2002 and October 2005.
The charges of perverting or obstructing the course of justice were laid after he was alleged to have made false statements, encouraged others to make false statements and created false documents during subsequent inquiries into the corruption allegations by Noel Ingram, QC, and by police.
This so-called “verse” doesn’t even pass the sniff test. It’s not even close to the theology that appears throughout the Bible. It does however, match the theology promoted by liberal environmentalists.
I guess they think that’s enough. It’s not.
(CNSNews.com) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is fond of quoting a particular passage of Scripture. The quote, however, does not appear in the Bible and is “fictional,” according to biblical scholars.
In her April 22 Earth Day news release, Pelosi said, “The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, ‘To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.’ On this Earth Day, and every day, let us pledge to our children, and our children’s children, that they will have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature.”
Cybercast News Service repeatedly queried the speaker’s office for two days to determine where the alleged Bible quote is found. Thus far, no one has responded.
…
Is Pelosi’s alleged quote merely an attempt to express a biblical principle about man’s need to care for the environment? The scholars differed slightly on that question, but none believe the case for environmentalism comes directly form Scripture, as Pelosi indicated.
Eric Jenislawski, a professor at Virginia’s Christendom College, said that the Bible teaches in Genesis that man was placed on earth “to till it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). But just a few verses earlier, he pointed out, God also commanded man “to fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28).
“Responsible use of the Old Testament cannot divorce the biblical notion of stewardship (that man is obligated to care for God’s creation) from the equally important biblical view that the entire natural world was created for man, for him to subdue it and to reign over it,” Jenislawski said.
“Environmentalists who make man subservient to the natural world actually invert the biblical view of man’s relationship to the earth,” he said.
Tony loves the fact that the Goverment’s bought the trains back. (He doesn’t love the price though)
A modern and efficient rail system will be as crucial to our future as fiber to the home broadband. So I’m extremely pleased to see that the Government has secured this crucial rail infrastructure.
Point 1: We already owned the rails.
Point 2: How exactly does buying old trains after already owning the rails they run on create a “modern and efficient rail system”?
As petrol prices go up and up and up public transport (rail and buses) will be increasingly important.
Given this move only buys trains in Wellington (Auckland’s are run by another company) and has nothing to do with buses, this move doesn’t exactly go very far towards any improvements in public transport especially as opposed to leaving the trains in private ownership.
Update: I didn’t mind the goverment owning the rails. But having split the infrastructure, it means that complanies like Veola now have to deal with a rail company that has the same owner as one of it’s completitors.
That’s not good. Better to have the goverment own the rails and have any private companies try their luck running profitable services. That way the government acts as a referee, not as the referee and the biggest player.
Last year, the Heartland Institute (a US climate-change denial thinktank) published a list of 500 scientists they say disagree with the central theses of anthropogenic global warming (that the climate is changing and that it’s our fault). Unfortunately, but perhaps as should be expected from an organisation which takes money from the oil and tobacco industries to muddy the waters around threats to their business plans, they were less than honest in their representations of people’s views. The five New Zealand scientists listed today took the extraordinary step of issuing a joint press release demanding to be removed:
…The scientists fully endorse the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as to global warming and its causes. Much of their work has been concerned with climate change over many thousands of years, which, while supporting the idea that climates have fluctuated in the past and have at times been warmer than now, does not in any way weaken the conclusions reached by the IPCC about recent changes.
(Emphasis added)Given the damage this deliberate misrepresentation could do to their scientific reputations, I’d say they have a pretty good case for defamation.
Unfortunatly, they have no case at all, because they’ve misrepresented the Heartland Institute list.
Dr Salinger had told the Herald he objected to the implication that his research supported the theory that global warming, which he believed was real, was not manmade but a result of natural cycles.
Mr Bast said Dr Salinger’s comment that global warming was real was an empty cliché.
“That list, plus a new list of 700 names whose research has found evidence of a natural 1,500 cycles in global climate, remain on Heartland’s website because both lists are accurate.”
…
Mr Bast said DeSmogBlog had initiated the controversy and could have misled Dr Salinger into thinking he was identified as co-author with Avery or Singer of an article expressing skepticism about man-made global warming.
“He was not. He is merely listed in a bibliography of co-authors of scholarly articles that confirm key facts and theories that undermine the notion that the modern warming is entirely man-made or will be catastrophic.“
Mr Bast said the article accompanying the list stated that not all the scientists were sceptical of anthropogenic global warming.
“The presence of alarmists in the list was, in fact, a major point of compiling the list.”
But you have to love the very vague “an organization which takes money from the oil and tobacco industries”. That’s so broad that our own government falls under that definition.
There’s more stories coming out of the woodwork regarding Obama and those connected to him. I’ll leave it to you as to whether you believe this or not - I suspect there’s a reason why the MSM isn’t reporting this stuff.
First, it seems that our Rev Wright may have married the wife of a parishioner after they asked him to help with their marriage.
Second, Obama’s relationship with the Teamsters Union may not be above board.
The Journal tells us on page A1, “Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption, according to officials from the union and the Obama campaign.”
Whoa! What’s this all about?
Well, 20 years ago, the Justice Department filed a federal civil racketeering complaint against the Teamsters, alleging the union had “made a devil’s pact” with the Mafia. A year later, the union settled with the government, agreeing to a consent decree in exchange for a dismissal of the lawsuit.
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Sheehan has on his blog (like 
(He doesn’t love the price though)
