Random LiquidGeneration Quizzes
05.26.05 (3:30 pm) [edit]
YAY! Finals are over! That means more time to goof off! I'm making sure I'm forfilling the requirements here!
Oprah's Mag Misses the Mark
05.24.05 (11:01 am) [edit]
Palestinian imam Now let's turn to... Oprah: The author, David France, asks the question: 'What would make a girl take such a radical and grisly step?' France quotes an author and university professor who asserts that: As Ariel Sharon declared on Sunday (5/22) in New York: New York Times columnist David Brooks made a similar point in the context of the recent Newsweek scandal. Referring to this Palestinian imam's speech, Brooks states: 'These are the real extremists, the real enemy. Let's keep our eye on the ball.' Even the Palestinian leadership has come to acknowledge the issue ― PA Minister of Information Nabil Shaath made a motion to suspend Mudayris after his defamatory May 13 sermon. Yet the problem remains widespread: HR-affiliated Teach Kids Peace notes that the IDF recently arrested a Palestinian boy with a explosive belt tied around his waist ― the fourteenth such arrest of a teenage terrorist in the past two months. Comments to 'O' magazine: click here
As you read the following speech, delivered by imam Ibrahim Mudayris on national Palestinian TV on May 13, ask yourself how these words might influence an impressionable teenage Muslim girl: 
Ibrahim Mudayris
(view video)With the establishment of the State of Israel, the entire Muslim nation was lost because Israel is a cancer that spread in the body of the Islamic nation; because the Jews are a virus similar to AIDS, from which the entire world is suffering... The day will come and we shall rule America, Britain, we shall rule the entire world, except the Jews. The Jews will not live under our rule agreeably and permanently, since they have been treacherous in nature throughout history... Listen to your Beloved [Muhammad], who tells you about the most dire end awaiting the Jews. The stones and trees will want Muslims to finish off every Jew.
Oprah Winfrey's popular print magazine - 'O' - has an ongoing feature named 'Rescuing the World's Girls.' O's June 2005 edition focuses on the plight of an 18-year-old Palestinian who was tried, convicted and is currently serving time in an Israeli jail for conspiring to perform a suicide bombing. religion is not the cause [of Palestinian suicide terror]... these are people who define their situation as hopeless. They feel that they have no way to respond against what they see as Israeli military aggression.
Incredibly, the lengthy 'O' article completely ignores a main factor behind Islamist terror ― the incitement to violence that continually spews forth from Palestinian media and mosques such as Ibrahim Mudayris' cited above. (The article makes only passing reference to Yassir Arafat's personal statements that 'seemed to incite.') Yet the Palestinian girl featured in 'O', Yusra Abdu (at right), was likely bombarded by such messages her entire life. I believe that the day will come when we will sign a peace agreement with all our neighbors.... Unfortunately, our Arab neighbors still do not recognize the Jewish people's birthright to an independent state in our homeland - the land of Israel. Such recognition can only come through comprehensive change in their education system.
AIDS Poster From France
05.23.05 (3:51 pm) [edit]
Believe it or not, what you're about to see is real. It is actual AIDS posters that are put in places like subways and bus stops all over France. Needless to say, they're quite shocking. Have a look:
Warning, might not be suitable for work!
Distorting Israeli Arab Reality
05.18.05 (4:23 pm) [edit]
Israeli by nationality, Palestinians at heart, Israel's 1.2 million Arabs, descendants of those who remained on their land after the Jewish state was created in 1948, are treated as second class citizens. And here's the latest: An op-ed column denouncing Israeli policy toward its Arab minority was published in the Los Angeles Times (May 11) and The Christian Science Monitor (May 17). The author, David Aaron Miller, laments 'the predicament of Israel's own Arab citizens', claiming: The status of Israeli Arabs, without access to military or national service, and constantly under suspicion as a potential fifth column, is indeed nation-dividing. Israel risks becoming a preferential or ethnic democracy much as the US was in the 1950s and before, when millions of African-Americans suffered from discrimination. (emphasis added) Let's address Miller's two claims separately: 1) ARABS IN THE IDF Soldiers from an IDF In fact, both the LA Times and Christian Science Monitor have recognized Arab service in the IDF on their own pages. As noted by Snapshots, the LA Times published a correction of a similar error in Feb. 2004, stating that 'In fact, although they cannot be drafted and most choose not to serve, Israeli Palestinians can enlist in the service'. And the CSM published an in-depth article on Arab Israelis in 2002 that noted: As Arab citizens of Israel, the villagers aren't required to serve in the army. They go by choice... almost every family in the village has a member in the local military cemetery. Indeed, a recent study indicated that the number of Arab volunteers to the IDF ― including Muslim Arabs ― is growing. Given both media outlets' prior recognition of this fact, the error can only be ascribed to sloppy editorial review, which should be acknowledged and corrected. Comments to LA Times: letters@latimes.com (Hat tip: Mediacrity) 2) STATUS OF ARAB ISRAELIS Durham, NC bus station Though the government of Israel has officially recognized some policy shortcomings toward its Arab minority, it's ludicrous to compare that to the discrimination suffered by ● [The State of Israel] will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex... We appeal, in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the building of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions. (Israeli Declaration of Independence, 1948) ● Eleven Israeli Arabs currently serve in Israel's Knesset, including two in the dominant Likud party. Israeli Supreme Court ● The Israeli government is currently implementing a 4-year, 4 billion shekel plan to develop infrastructures in the Arab sector. ● Even diplomatic positions are open to Israeli Arabs, who have held key posts in Atlanta (Consul-General), South America, Finland (Ambassador) and elsewhere. ● Israeli Arabs consistently state that they'd prefer to remain in Israel rather than join a future Palestinian state. A May 2001 survey found that just 30 percent of Israel's Arab population would agree to the Galilee Triangle being annexed to a future Palestinian state. By February 2004, according to the Haifa-based Arab Center for Applied Social Research, that figure had reached 90 percent preferring to remain in Israel. HonestReporting encourages subscribers to monitor the media for ongoing distortions of the status of the Arab minority in democratic Israel.
The co-existence of Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel has long been a model for the potential for democratic pluralism to take root in the Mideast. But rather than publicize this encouraging fact, the major media outlets have repeatedly distorted the status of Israel's Arab community. 
When Arab players on Israel's national soccer team scored key goals in recent international matches, AFP turned a positive news story on its head with this highly editorialized line:
Miller's first claim ― that Israeli Arabs lack 'access to military or national service' ― is patently false. While Arab Israelis are not generally required to serve in the IDF, many (especially from the Druze and Bedouin communities) proudly volunteer to do so, and have served with great distinction. 
Arab Bedouin unit
Comments to Christian Science Monitor: click here
Miller's second maneuver likens the status of Arab Israelis to that of African-Americans in the US before the civil rights movement. This, too, is an irresponsible distortion. 
1940
● An Arab Justice, Salim Joubran, holds a seat on the Israeli Supreme Court. 
Justice Salim Joubran
● Israeli Arabs attend and lecture in every Israeli university. In fact, prominent Arab Israeli academics such as Sari Nusseibeh were outspoken against the recent boycott of Israeli universities by the UK's Association of University Teachers.
NEWS FLASH: PETA KILLS ANIMALS!
05.18.05 (4:19 pm) [edit]
Got this in an email. Check this out!
[line]
Since you are one of the 63,000 Americans who visited [url=http://www.PETApetition.com]PETApetition.com[/url] and signed our online petition (encouraging the IRS to revoke PETA's federal tax-exemption), you already understand the hidden threat that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and its $25 million annual budget pose to the American way of life.
If PETA were ever to reach its goal and impose "total animal liberation" on the rest of us, meat and dairy foods would become things of the past. The same goes for zoos, aquariums, rodeos, circuses, hunting, fishing, leather, wool, silk, and even lifesaving medical research that requires the use of lab rats.
Now PETA's scandalous story has become even more disturbing. We've discovered that since 1998, PETA has actually "liberated" over 10,000 dogs and cats -- from life itself. PETA killed these animals at its Virginia headquarters, rather than spending a portion of its enormous bankroll actually caring for them.
You can find the shocking details at a new website, [url=http://www.PetaKillsAnimals.c...]PetaKIllsAnimals.com[/url]. In order to spread the word about PETA's stunning hypocrisy, we unveiled a giant billboard today in New York City's famed Times Square. But please do your part by forwarding this e-mail to everyone in your address book.
PETA kills animals -- and they dare lecture the rest of us! For more breaking news about PETA, bookmark [url=http://www.ConsumerFreedom.co...]ConsumerFreedom.com[/url] and visit us there regularly.
Sincerely,
David Martosko
Director of Research
The Center for Consumer Freedom
My Two New Children
05.17.05 (7:05 am) [edit]
While finals week is upon me, I took it upon myself to bring new additions to my home last week. After mulling about it for a little over a month. Allegra (which means joy or happy in Italian) and Donna (which means lady in the same language) came home for the first time.
No, I'm not talking about human children. Perhaps some day in the future, but not this time. No, right now I'm bragging about my two new little female baby mice.
My older "child" is named Pharaoh. He's an older black cat who just turned 10 last month. Right now he's a little jealous because the new ones get a little bit more attention as they are settling in. I know what you're thinking -- mice? why? you have a cat! won't it eat them?!
Truth is, cats have to be shown that mice are a form of prey for them. That is not in their genetic make up. Now, if a mouse were to escape from the cage and start running around on the floor, he might kill it. That is because his genetic programming tells him, "if it runs, chase it!" But eating, he'd probably not do. As is, I put a mouse on him while he was laying down and the response was a resounding "whatever."
At any rate, so that he won't feel slighted, here's a picture of the new big brother first:
I think mostly he's used to getting pretty much my full attention as far as pets go. He's getting used to it day by day though.
At any rate, here's Allegra in my hand:
This is them together in their cage:
Chowing down (that's Allegra) and exercising (that's Donna):
A close-up of Donna exercising (cute, no?):
So there you have it. These are my braggin pictures. Perhaps I'll have more later. :)
I get interesting email
05.12.05 (11:49 am) [edit]
This came to me randomly from a message board group I belong to. I found it to be an interesting email so I thought I'd share. Please read on.
[line]
Dear Fellow Blogger
By now, almost all of us know there is no such thing as a Palestinian people. We know only 1-2% of the Arabs living in Gaza and the West Bank come from Arabs who lived there before 1870. We know there is no such thing as a state/kingdom/country called Palestine, nor was there ever - for centuries, the area that is now divided into Jordan, Israel and the territories was an administrative segment of the Ottoman Empire. England renamed it Palestine, around the time she undertook to expedite the creation of a Jewish state. (Yeah, I know the Mandate says "homeland", a term used first by Max Nordau, a timid Jew, who thought "State" was too in-your-face.)
Most of us know that Israel has the right to Biblical Israel - Samaria and Judea (the "West Bank") and Gaza - not just morally but biblically, historically, by the Mandate and because she conquered it in wars the Arabs started and lost.
Many of us are disturbed by Sharon's unseemly haste to expel Jews from Gaza - in what promises to be the start of a larger expulsion of Jews from the territories and eastern Jerusalem. We know he is doing this against the advise of
many of his military and intelligence people. And we believe that it will be much harder for Israel to defend herself
from her enemies once she starts retreating.
Some of us know that in the Middle East, the Arabs have 99.9% (not a typo!) of the land area and Israel has all the rest.
Yet it is always Israel that is asked to give up land. Never are the Arabs asked to help their "palestinian" brethren.
Some of our authors have suggested that it makes more sense to transfer Arabs to Arab land than to cut out still another part of tiny Israel, cf,
http://www.think-israel.org/elonplan.html" title="http://www.think-israel.org/elonplan.html" target="_blank"http://www.think-israel.org/e... and http://www.think-israel.org/l...
Fewer of us seem to know about other consequences of the retreat from Gaza. Think-Israel has run a series of articles
about Israel's absolute right in international law to Israel and the territories, cf,
http://www.think-israel.org/shifftan.uprooting.html" title="http://www.think-israel.org/shifftan.uprooting.html" target="_blank"http://www.think-israel.org/s... and http://www.think-israel.org/g...
What is amazing is that few know that when Israel gives up control of the territories, she puts control of her water
supply in the hands of the Arabs, cf.
http://www.think-israel.org/wulfsohn.water.html" title="http://www.think-israel.org/wulfsohn.water.html" target="_blank"http://www.think-israel.org/w... and http://www.think-israel.org/s...
I'm writing to you to ask that you help us tell more people these facts about Israel, especially the facts about water and international law.
Thank you
Sincerely
Bernice
'Maharashtra Day' in Israel
05.03.05 (3:14 pm) [edit]
This is interesting. . .
[line]
LOD (Israel): The Indian Jewish community in Israel has celebrated 'Maharashtra Day' with a pledge to strengthen political and cultural ties with their country of origin.
Hundreds of Indian Jews, who immigrated from Maharashtra and are commonly referred to as Bene Israel, descended to this small town near Tel Aviv to participate in a day-long cultural programme in Marathi. "We are proud of our Indian heritage. With Israel chosen among the countries where people of Indian origin will be extended dual citizenship, this sentiment will hopefully soon get a new meaning," said Noah Massil, president of Central Organisation of Indian Jews in Israel and editor of Marathi journal 'Maiboli'.
Thanking the Indian government, Massil said, "We haven't forgotten how we were treated in India where there was no trace of anti-semitism. We have brought with us a message of love and peaceful existence to Israel." Indian ambassador to Israel, Arun Kumar Singh, greeting the community on the occasion in Marathi got a rousing welcome. There are about 70,000 Jews of Indian origin living in Israel.
Orla Guerin's Lack of Contiguity
05.02.05 (7:48 am) [edit]
GUERIN'S LACK OF CONTIGUITY A recent Guerin report on development in eastern Jerusalem provides both an opportunity to see her bias in action, and to debunk one of the most widespread myths currently disseminated in media coverage of the region ― the claim that Israel is unilaterally eliminating the contiguity of a future West Bank Palestinian state. Guerin's April 28 BBC radio report addressed the proposed plan for future building in the Jerusalem suburb of Maale Adumim, a plan called 'E-1'. (Here is a NY Times map of the proposed development project, including one proposed route for the security fence enclosing it.) Guerin's report is built around the statements of Jeff Halper, whom Guerin presents as a neutral party ― in her words, Halper is 'an impassioned defender of human rights, and a critic of his own government's policies.' But as NGO Monitor notes, Halper is actually a well-known radical who 'routinely uses terms such as "apartheid" and "war crimes" to refer to Israeli policy against Palestinian terror, supports a "one state solution", and advocates sanctions and boycotts.' In Guerin's report, Halper traces the outline of the planned expansion of Ma'aleh Adumim on a map, showing how it will close off East Jerusalem and split the West Bank in two, north and south. "I do not believe there is any way back to a viable two-state solution," he says. Looking at the lines on the map, it is hard to argue. Actually, it's very easy to argue, since Halper's claim is manifestly untrue: Even if Maale Adumim were to be extended to its full municipal boundaries, an open channel of land would remain between northern and southern sections of the West Bank. That channel of land would at its narrowest be 9 miles (15 km) ― the same sized 'waistline' that Israel has lived with in its central region for over 50 years. Traffic could easily flow through this region, so by no means would this development, as Guerin claims, 'split the West Bank in two, north and south.' This 'contiguity distortion' has appeared in many other recent media reports as well. For example, the Philadelphia Inquirer (4/13) claimed the proposed Maale Adumim development would 'cut the West Bank in half,' and syndicated columnist Georgie Anne Geyer falsely asserted (4/19) that 'Ramallah and Jericho... has no land connection with the southern section that includes Bethlehem and Hebron.' ACTION ITEMS 1) Write to the BBC's 'Correspondent' program to request a correction of Orla Guerin's 4/28 report that claimed Maale Adumim development would 'split the West Bank in two': Click here to use the online form. 2) Be on the lookout in your local media for false claims that development of a Jerusalem suburb would 'split the West Bank in two', or otherwise deny Palestinians territorial contiguity in a potential future state. Thank you for your ongoing involvement in the battle against media bias. HonestReporting 
BBC correspondent Orla Guerin has long been criticized for her anti-Israel line of reporting. One telling episode: When a would-be teenage Palestinian suicide bomber was apprehended at an IDF checkpoint in March 2004, Guerin's BBC TV dispatch stressed neither the mortal threat that had been thwarted, nor the ongoing terrorist abuse of children, but rather dismissed the event as an Israeli PR stunt ― 'a picture that Israel wants the world to see.' Following this Guerin report, Minister Natan Sharansky sent an official letter of complaint to the BBC, slamming Guerin's 'gross double standard to the Jewish State.' 
So it came as a shock to media monitors when Guerin was recently honored with a special citation from the British government (via the Queen of England) for 'outstanding service to broadcasting.' One Israeli government official said awarding Guerin in this manner fits into a pattern that began in 2003 when the UK's Political Cartoon Society awarded its Cartoon of the Year to a depiction of Ariel Sharon biting the head off the bloodied head of a Palestinian child.
