Kesher Talk

Feeeeellliings. I was skeptical about the outraged charge that Rumsfeld doesn't personally sign autographs, er, I mean condolence letters. Why should he? Although his job involves overseeing the military, he's not in the direct chain of command to wounded or dead soldiers. He's the Secretary of Defense, a very high-level position. Signing condolence letters seems like a really picayune thing to expect the SofD to spend his time doing. I mean, it would be a thoughful gesture, but the critics act like it's a required part of his job that he is shirking, and that just goes to show what a heartless monster he is.

But what the troops and their families think is more important, and that I didn't know. But now I do, thanks to Powerline and the Corner and Instapundit, who are getting mail.
Reports from Rumsfeld's Christmas visit to Iraq.
Another report from Rumsfeld in Iraq, with photos.

"Gotcha" doesn't work anymore.

Powerline fisks Sullivan.

With friends like these . . . .

posted by Judith @ 12/25/2004 04:26:08 PM 3 comments links to this post  

Spirit of America tour update. Audio of the Global Voices blogging conference sessions is now online. You can hear Omar and Mohammed of Iraq the Model, and Matt of Blackfive, in "Bridge Blogging: The Global Conversation."
The most recent version of the Global Voices manifesto, and comments on same.)
Another report on the conference.
On the difficulties of Arabization.

Previous entries in this series:
Mega-link roundup tracking the meetings of Spirit of America in the US, with Omar and Mohammed Fadhil, Iraqi bloggers and founders of the Pro-Democracy Party. (Includes some live-blogged and reported entries about the Harvard conference.)
Mega-link roundup tracking Juan Cole's insinuations about Omar and Mohammed, and the many responses and refutations of same.
Most recent update.

UPDATE: The very last of Juan Cole.

UPDATE: Ali explains his leaving Iraq the Model. I figured it was something like that. I wonder if any of the lefties who rubbed their hands in glee speculating that he was repudiating his brothers' associations with American "rightwingers" are going to admit they were wrong. . .

posted by Judith @ 12/25/2004 01:05:05 PM 0 comments links to this post  

Merry Christmas to all my Christian readers. One of my favorite bloggers, Real Live Preacher, tells the Christmas story. Enjoy!

Jeff Jarvis on Christmas and the public sphere, with links to those who are arguing with him.
And God rolled His eyes I
And God rolled His eyes II
And God rolled His eyes III
Comments are good too.

Callimachus observes the debate, makes sensible comments, and contributes some local history.
Ann Althouse is also sensible, as usual.
Donald Sensing is loaded for bear.
Eric demonstrates why his blog is called "The Young Curmudgeon."
Michael Totten is also sensible.

Some thoughts on what is lost when individual expression of religion is banished from the public sphere.

Norsemen for Thor are emboldened to launch their campaign.

And I'm off to a Chabad-sponsored Shabbat dinner . . . .

UPDATE: An article on how American Jews interact with Christmas.

Heh.

(If you wonder how I am spending my Christmas, I attended an enjoyable community Shabbat dinner last night, and spent today customizing Firefox and learning how to manage fonts in Panther, which I just upgraded to when I bought my new computer. I finally abandoned my trusty Netscape 7.1 and began using Firefox. So far the things I dislike about the interface are really bugging me, but it is faster and very customizable.)

UPDATE: The ultimate computer customization usability rant.

Last night I had one of the most frightening dreams a man can have. I dreamt that someone, who hated me very deeply, got me a new computer for Christmas. I woke up screaming, but the dream persisted. The horror! The horror!
. . . This Christmas puppy came loaded with Fritterware. It had Pantless OS, BrokenWindows 2010, HomelessOffice 2004, Internet Deplorer, Fretscape, Opensource Godzilla, iEverthingEverywhere and Pong. The Paperclip was back as the host of a computer training program aptly named RageMaker. When I opened the box in my nightmare my first impulse was to rip open all the other presents in hopes that someone had given me a gun so I could just shoot myself.

Nothing is worse than life itself than a fully loaded new computer, and I've been using them for nearly 20 years. Setting up a new computer is like getting ready to French Kiss an elephant; you know it will be a new experience, but you know it wont taste like veal cordon blue.

Related.

posted by Judith @ 12/24/2004 04:31:03 PM 0 comments links to this post  

Antisemitism watch. First the good news:

Many new mutations of American anti-Semitism, and in particular its anti-Israeli forms, originate on the campus. Part of the battle against this is undertaken by the classic American Jewish defense organizations. However, much pro-Israel advocacy is carried out by new grassroots faculty groups. One important new initiative is Scholars for Peace in the Middle East. It was founded in 2002 to address the increasing number of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incidents in classrooms and on campus.

Ed Beck, its volunteer president and cofounder, mentions that the founding of SPME was to some extent a reaction to the anti-Semitic events at San Francisco State University (SFSU). Due to a convergence of events around the start of the second Intifada Beck realized that there was no grassroots network of faculty that advocated for Israel on campus. While Beck was monitoring what went on at SFSU he developed a correspondence with Laurie Zoloth, whose Internet description of events there captured the attention of many. He also met Judith Jacobson, who would become SPME Vice President, while monitoring anti-Israel propaganda on a "Professors for Peace" listserv. At the same time, his son was commencing studies at Tel Aviv University. It was in this context that SPME was born.

Intrepid moonbat chronicler Zombie wades into another Bay Area protest, this time against an AIPAC fundraising event. Highlight: pro-Israel activists chanting "Racist, sexist, anti-gay: Islamofascists go away!" Catchy! (Were they any Jewish groups joining the jihad sympathizers? *Sigh* What do you think?)

Has there ever been a Nobel Peace Prize winner who wasn't willing to shill for Jew-haters? Just wondering.

If you want to volunteer for jihad duty in Tehran, you have several options.

UPDATE: Bookmark cleansing, from June '04: more antisemitism from the peace-loving Bay Area. Imshin comments.

Sort of good news on the Anglican front. In a morally-relativistic way. (Previous Israel divestment watch entry here.)

posted by Judith @ 12/20/2004 10:55:34 PM 1 comments links to this post