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Posted by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
The unfortunate breakup of the marriage between Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher should be of interest even to those who have better things to do with their time than follow mindless Hollywood chatter and celebrity gossip. This relationship was always unique in that it involved an actress who was 16 years older than her husband. That alone sent tongues wagging as soon as the relationship was announced. Many questioned whether a man in his thirties would continue to remain attracted to a woman who next year turns 50. What strained the relationship even more, according to those who always questioned it, was how Kutcher's career took off like a rocket over the past few years, including getting a huge contract from CBS for Two and a Half Men, while Moore's career stalled. Can a power couple's relationship survive when one partner becomes a supernova and the other's star fades?
There was then the curious item of just how public this relationship was. To be sure, there have always been Hollywood super couples who were photographed constantly in Cannes, at red-carpet movie premieres, and walking their children for ice cream in Beverly Hills. The difference with Moore and Kutcher was that they decided to Tweet so much of their relationship, including intimate pictures in their underwear, that the marriage seemed to lose a semblance of privacy. Could a marriage survive that kind of exposure or is erotic attraction to be found specifically in the mysterious and the hidden?
No doubt, the allegations that the marriage came to an end over Kutcher's alleged unfaithfulness will simply be seen as part of a long line of men behaving badly. Kutcher will be grouped with other high-profile alleged philanderers, most notably Tiger Woods, Eliot Spitzer, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. But – and let's not be afraid to ask the question – did any of this have to do with a young man in the prime of his life feeling less attracted to a wife that was entering middle age?
Here's my opinion on the matter. Men are becoming more shallow than ever. They are focusing on a woman's packaging to the virtual exclusion of other far more erotic elements of feminine attractiveness that are strike deeper than skin. Forget the phrase don't judge a book by its cover. Women today are judged almost entirely by the color of their hair, the size of their chest, the length of their legs, and, most importantly, how young they are and how thin they are.
I know this was always the case and it sounds like a cliché. But it certainly did not happen before when it came to, say, thinks like newscasters. But just look at who is chosen today to read the news on national networks. They are blond-haired, blue-eyed, thin Nordic bombshells who all look indistinguishable from one another. Feminism, which once had the lofty goal of having a woman taken seriously for her brains rather than her bust, seems to have failed utterly.
Now, men are certainly responsible for their own superficiality and the eruption of public men cheating in their marriages is disgusting, tremendously hurtful, and must be condemned. If you're a husband you have to honor your commitments. Period. You're unhappy. Go for counseling. Still unhappy. You can divorce. But you can't cheat. And you certainly can't blame your wife for your duplicitous behavior. Its yours and no one else's fault.
But in addition to the legitimate need to hold men responsible for their own actions, there is also a need to encourage women to stop participating in their own degradation and stop reinforcing the notion that women are to be judged by their body and youthfulness alone.
Women like Demi Moore have, unfortunately, at least in the past, served to hinder men taking women seriously or respecting them holistically by adopting roles as the libidinous man's plaything. I do not mean to blame the victim. I am clearly blaming us men for being increasingly shallow in an age of television, pictures, glossy magazines, and deluge of Internet porn. But why did Demi Moore do a movie like Striptease, which was so reviled by the critics that it won the 1996 Razzie Award for Worst Picture of 1996? It seemed that the principal purpose of the film was simply to show off Moore's body – including movie posters where she is wearing nothing – in a lousy B-movie script. The same applies to the Vanity Fair covers she did where was once again completely nude except for body paint. Now, is a woman just her body or is there a brain and a heart that counts as well?
I am saddened to see Demi Moore – or any wife for that matter – hurt and in pain at the hands of her husband. Having counseled countless women who have been cheated on and having written an entire book on adultery and infidelity, I have seen the indescribable trauma of wives who feel discarded by men who aren't faithful. But reversing the increasing trend of men behaving so selfishly involves, first, a commitment on the part of those same men to be moral, ethical, and faithful under all circumstances, and second the creation of a culture in which women are valued for something other than skin tone, biceps, and breast size. And while men who cheat are of course the guilty party, this also requires a commitment on the part of women to help create a more dignified culture where men value women holistically and not just body parts.
In my book Hating Women I focus on the bizarre phenomenon of women participating in their own degradation in a culture that uses their bodies to sell beer. Look at people like Madonna who ultimately left the United States when she was raising her children because she claimed American culture had become too vulgar. But who contributed to that vulgarity? Did Madonna not play a role when she first started to simulate masturbation on MTV? And I'm loathe to bring it up, because in truth she has changed and become more much spiritual and responsible. But can we really create a culture of men acting like gentlemen–which they must do under all circumstances without any excuses – when women don't always believe they should be ladies?
The truth of the matter is that as a woman gets older she becomes sexier. She becomes a much better lover as she learns to accept herself, becomes comfortable with her sexuality and much freer in its expression. She integrates her mind, body, and heart in a much more wholesome package so that her sensuality is expressed not only in the physical but through the mental and emotional faculties as well. Above all else, as a woman gets older she comes to know her unique gifts and as such she obtains the confidence that she has something special to contribute that other women do not have and in that confidence she radiates a more alluring erotic attractiveness. I wrote about the eight erotic qualities that make women attractive in my book 'The Kosher Sutra', with confidence at the top of the list. But for men to see that we beyond the flesh we need women who, in their Hollywood careers, demonstrate that a woman's attractiveness is comprised of not just one but five qualities: her body, her mind, her heart, her voice, and her spirit.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has just published of "Ten Conversations You Need to Have with Yourself." (Wiley) and will shortly publish "Kosher Jesus." Follow him on his website www.shmuley.com and on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
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November 8, 2011 | 11:53 am
Posted by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
One can only imagine the sigh of relief on the part of all those who contributed to the death of Michael Jackson. With the conviction of Conrad Murray, there is an official scapegoat and the finger-pointing can now end. We found the culprit. It was Michael's corrupt physician who would do anything to remain in the orbit of the superstar and receive his monthly retainer of $150k per month. Murray was even prepared to become Michael's pusher. Now he has been justly punished and we can put the matter rest. Rest in peace Michael. Your killer has been identified and sent to jail.
If only.
For years a group that surrounded Michael watched as his life deteriorated but did nothing for the very same fear that if they opened their mouths they would be out. The publicists he paid, the managers who took their percentage, the handlers who got their cut, watched as he dangled a baby from a balcony, proclaimed his pride in sharing a bed with a child on international TV, and slowly went bankrupt as he squandered his fortune as garbage purchases. And they did… nothing.
Michael's addiction to prescription medication was well known yet few cared to get him the help he needed. Worse, Michael was lethargic, uninspired, and required serious counseling to get his life in order. The response, however, was to persuade him to agree to 50 concerts in London – a staggering feat for even the most well-balanced performers – in order to take their share. Whatever the consequences, the troubled golden goose had to continue to lay some golden eggs.
So much of it came out in the trial. There was the testimony from concert director Kenny Ortega who said, ""My friend wasn't right. There was something going on that was deeply troubling me. He was chilled. He appeared lost. Just sort of lost and a little incoherent and although we were conversing and I did ask him a question and he did answer me, I did feel though that he was not well at all." Ortega went so far as to email AEG Chief executive Randy Phillips that Michael was seriously unwell. "My concern is, now that we brought the doctor into the fold and had played the 'Tough Love,' Now or Never' card, is that the artist may be unable to rise to the occasion due to real, emotional stuff… He appeared quite weak and fatigued this evening. He had a terrible case of the chills, was trembling, rambling and obsessing. Everything in me says he should be psychologically evaluated. If we have any chance at all to get him back in the light, it's going to take a strong therapist to help him through this as well as immediate physical nurturing."
But if Ortega felt this way, why was he prepared to proceed with the concerts? Why did he not resign and declare that he would not contribute to Michael's decline?
The role of AEG has similarly escaped serious evaluation. If the director you've hired is warning you that the artist you've contracted to do 50 concerts is in psychological turmoil, why were the concerts not cancelled or postponed? Was profit a factor in the decision to proceed, regardless of Michael's psychological state?
To be sure, Michael was an adult and bears responsibility for his actions. But if he was not prepared to heal himself than it was the responsibility of all those who benefited from being in his orbit to get him the help he needed and, if the effort failed, at the very least not contribute further to his self-destruction.
Is it only the doctor who gave Michael propofol who is the culprit? What about doctors who continued to continued to give him plastic surgery to the point that his body was falling apart? And even if that's not illegal, should they at least not be ashamed?
It was the tragedy of Michael Jackson to have been so successful that he became an industry that supported so many that they were prepared to look the other way as his life slowly sunk into the abyss. In the final analysis, Conrad Murray was the person was most responsible for Michael's death. But a host of others played a significant role. They ought to thank their lucky stars that the sins of the many have fallen on the shoulders of one.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is the author of "The Michael Jackson Tapes: A Tragic Icon Reveals his Soul in Intimate Conversation". Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
October 24, 2011 | 11:04 am
Posted by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
When I led public protests in the summer of 2009 against the arrival of Moammar Gadhafi to Englewood, New Jersey, that ultimately pushed him out of our town, friends called me concerned that I would be found in a shallow ditch somewhere, a victim of Gadhafi's global terror apparatus. None of us could possibly have known or believed that just 27 months later Gadhafi himself would be found hiding in a ditch in Libya and executed by his own people.
The people of Libya showed incredible courage in standing up to, and ultimately defeating, the terrible tyrant, and President Obama deserves to be applauded for America's indispensable role in dispending with Gadhafi. Too bad that our local politicians here in Englewood, nearly all of whom are Democrats, did not follow the leader of the party's example in taking related action against the Libyans living tax-free here in Englewood for nearly thirty years. Rarely in the field of peaceful protest has one municipality done so little to object to the presence of murderers in its midst.
Ever since Moammar Gadhafi made known his desire to take up residence and pitch a tent at the Libyan Embassy in our town, our local government has barely lifted a finger to make life uncomfortable for the terrorist government. It was the residents, rather than the government, that cared enough to protest Gadhafi's arrival in the memorable summer of 2009. I remember having to go to City Hall, a few weeks into our fight against the tyrant's impending arrival, and pressure the city manager and council to join the outraged citizens in taking some sort of action to stop the monster from defiling our town. That pressure led the city to go to court to stop the Libyans from renovating their mansion to make it fit for a king and, having found building code violations, a judge issued a stop-work order which was instrumental in purging our city of the mad dog of the Middle East.
And after that… nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Our city threw in the towel and capitulated to the Libyans utterly. The Libyan Ambassador to the United Nations, Muhammad Shalgham, who was Gadhafi's right hand man and Foreign Minister for eight years, was allowed to become my next-door neighbor. The residents of Englewood were forced into the immorality of having to literally support the government of Libya financially by paying for the Libyan mission's police protection and basic city-provided services. And amid the herculean pressure brought by me and a few other residents to compel the city to challenge the Libyan's tax-exemption, the city refused to take the Libyans to court ever since an original suit was filed by the Libyans in 1982, granting them immunity. Of course, this was well before Gadhafi began blowing up airliners, murdering American servicemen in Europe, and funding international terror throughout the globe. Yet, the city could not be bothered in thirty years to even bring a lawsuit against these murderers to at least pay for the removal of their own garbage, even though the Libyan Ambassador already has one tax-exempt residence in Manhattan, near the UN.
But Lord help you if you are an Englewood resident who is late or delinquent on property taxes. The city will give you up to twelve months to catch up, all while you accrue exorbitant interest, and will then move rapidly against its own citizens to sell the debt to outside investors who can then charge a further 18 percent interest against the debt and put your home into foreclosure after twelve months of non-payment.
Now that Gadhafi is dead the city has lost the opportunity to inspire other municipalities throughout America where terror-sponsoring governments buy mansions to house their Ambassadors and heads of state, expecting American tax-payers to fund their presence.
There are two transgressions in life, since of commission and sins of omission; the bad things we do and the good things we fail to do. Of the two, the latter is by far the more severe. It is not the man who cheats on his wife who will destroy his marriage, even though that is of course a very grave sin. Rather, it is the man who has failed to show his wife any affection who will never be forgiven for an indiscretion by a wife who has fallen out of love with him due to his neglect.
Englewood has sins that are, unfortunately, common to many other New Jersey municipalities: sky-high taxes amid poor city services, an inadequate educational system that spends a fortune on students yet has an unacceptably high failure rate, and, worst of all, corruption, with its Construction Code Head recently pleading guilty to accepting bribes in an FBI sting operation. But its sin of omission in passively allowing a terrorist government to live in its midst is an international embarrassment that has humiliated every single one of our elected officials and bureaucrats.
Gadhafi was killed, ironically, on the most joyous day of the Hebrew Calendar, Shmini Atzeret. Because it is a Jewish holy day, I was offline and unavailable by phone, email, or any other electronic media for three days. But I knew in my bones that the media would be asking what would now become of Gadhafi's New Jersey mansion. Sure enough, when the festival was over on Saturday night, I saw the Wall Street Journal's major piece highlighting Gadhafi's home in New Jersey. My voicemail and email mailboxes were full of press inquiries asking whether I will continue my campaign against the Libyan mission. You're damned straight. The mission must be sold and the money returned to its rightful owners, the Libyan people, who need every penny to rebuild their broken country. The millions that Gadhafi poured into the home so that he and his Ambassador can live in luxury while his own people live in squalor must be put to building basic housing for the brave citizens of Libya who overthrew their tyrannical government.
But left out of any of this is the government of the City of Englewood who continue, as before, innocent bystanders to the last, embarrassed by their own inaction, even as the world celebrates the fall of a tyrant.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has just published "Ten Conversations You Need to Have with Yourself" (Wiley) and will shortly publish "Kosher Jesus" (Gefen). He is in the midst of creating the Global Institute for Values Education (GIVE). Follow him on his website www.shmuley.com and on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
October 18, 2011 | 2:27 pm
Posted by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
No Jew, and indeed no decent person in whom there beats a human heart, could fail to be moved to tears by the reunion of Gilad Shalit and his family in Israel. Looking pale from years of being held in a cell and deprived of sunlight, and extremely shy due to years of being denied virtually all human contact, Israel welcomed home a hero for whom they had traded one thousand murderers, terrorists, and criminals committed to its destruction to keep true to its promise, that no soldier is ever forgotten or left behind.
As Hamas and the Palestinians ululated and celebrated the return to their society of killers who had taken the lives of so many innocent men, women and children guilty of no other sin than going about their daily business, Israel cheered at the restoration of one of its sons who was kidnapped while trying to protect these innocent lives. The conflicting values systems of the two opposing camps – one dedicated to the life and the other, tragically, having been overtaken for decades by a culture of death – could not have been draw in more stark terms than watching our Palestinian brothers and sisters welcoming terrorists home with parades while Israel reembraced a soldier whose first words to the world media, after having been treated like a caged animal for five years, were his hopes for lasting peace. It also goes without saying that when Israel is prepared to trade a thousand predators for one lonely soldier it is because of Israel's commitment to the infinite value of human life.
Still, the question remains whether the deal was worth it. Much comment has been made both pro and con, so I will here limit myself to a different angle of the story entirely, one that would obviate the need to trade killers for captured soldiers in the future. It is high time that Israel finally instituted a death penalty for terrorists. In the United States Timothy McVeigh, who murdered 160 people in Oklahoma in April, 1995, was dispatched after a fair trial and an appeal with no public outcry whatsoever. No man who takes that many lives may be permitted to live. So why would Israel lock up the most rancid, heartless, and cold-blooded mass murderers in its jails just so that they can serve as a lure for Israelis to be kidnapped in order that these killers be paroled?
A very partial of terrorists now released by Israel, and who were previously fed three warm meals a day in an Israeli prison for years, includes Ibrahim Jundiya, who was serving multiple life sentences for carrying out an attack that killed 12 people and wounded 50. There is Amina Mona, an accomplice to the murder of 16-year-old Ofir Rachum. She lured him over the internet to a meeting where terrorists were waiting to kill him. Jihad Yaghmur and Yehia Sanwar were involved in the abduction and murder of Nachshon Wachsman which also led to the murder of Matkal Unit member, Nir Poraz, head of the rescue mission sent to save him. I am an acquaintance of Nachson's mother and can only imagine her pain at seeing her son's killers celebrated as returning conquerors.
Also released are Ahlam Tamimi, the 20-year-old student accomplice to the Sbarros restaurant bombing in 2001 that left fifteen dead and 130 wounded, Aziz Salha who was famously photographed displaying his bloodied hands for the mob crowd below after beating an Israeli soldier to death, and Nasser Yataima who planned the 2002 Passover massacre that killed 30 and wounded 140.
The question this despicable list of the murderers being released begs is this: why were they still alive in the first place? Why were they not given fair and impartial trials and the right to appeal, and if found guilty of murder and especially mass murder, executed by the State?
Some will argue that this will only invite the Arab terror organizations to execute the Israeli prisoners they hold. It is therefore worth recalling that this is what the Palestinian terror organizations do overwhelmingly anyway and that Gilad Shalit is the first living soldier to be returned to Israel in more than a quarter century. In July, 2008, Israel arranged another prisoner exchange in order to obtain the release of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, captured two years earlier, sparking Israel's invasion of Lebanon, only to tragically discover they had been dead all along.
Others, especially Europeans, will argue that the death penalty is cruel and Israel is more humane for banning it. I disagree. While there is a robust debate here in the United States related to the death penalty over individual acts of murder, there should be no such debate whatsoever when it comes to premeditated mass murder and terrorism. The Europeans powers like Britain and France participated in the execution of Nazi leaders in the Nuremberg trials of 1945-1946, with no compunction whatsoever in mandating state-sponsored executions of mass murderers. Indeed, I argue that it is cruel and unusual punishment against the families of Israel's terror victims to leave these terrorists alive in Israeli prisons with the families not knowing day to day if they will even serve out their sentences should another Israeli soldier fall into captive hands. The families deserve closure.
For those who argue that if Israel puts its terrorists to death there will be nothing left to bargain with should an Israeli soldier or citizen become captive, I respond that other deals can always be made, be it with money, international pressure, or the exchange of Arab prisoners who are not guilty of terrorism.
And it's not as if Israel has no precedent in taking the life of a mass murderer, having put to death one abominable soul, the architect of the holocaust itself, Adolph Eichmann, at midnight in a Ramla prison on May 31, 1962. Eichmann's body was then cremated and his ashes polluting the Mediterranean a day later beyond Israel's territorial waters. And the last words of one of the most wicked monsters of all time? "I die believing in God." Let's make sure that others like him whose crimes make a mockery of G-d meet the same end.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has just published "Ten Conversations You Need to Have with Yourself" (Wiley) and in December will publish "Kosher Jesus" (Gefen). He is in the midst of creating the Global Institute for Values Education (GIVE). Follow him on his website www.shmuley.com and on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
October 10, 2011 | 11:23 am
Posted by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
This past Sunday night I conducted a conversation between Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader and highest -ranking Jewish elected official in American history Birthright Israel co-founder and Jewish mega-philanthropist Michael Steinhardt on how universal Jewish values can be used to renew America. It was a spirited and comprehensive discussion that elicited from two of the most powerful and influential Jews in the world their views on the state of America, Israel, and the Jewish people and their belief that a heightened Jewish voice in global affairs could bring healing to a fractured world.
Michael was founding chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council that instrumental in the elevation of Bill Clinton to national prominence and indeed it was once a given that nearly all Jews would vote Democrat. But times are changing as American Jewry witnesses the unshakable commitment of leaders like Eric on Israel versus President Obama's much more tenuous record.
To be sure, the President deserves high marks for enhancing America's military cooperation with Israel and especially his rejection of unilateral Palestinian statehood at the UN. Those who say that Obama is anti-Israel malign him against the facts and those who say he is anti-Semitic are guilty of character assassination. But what is undoubtedly true is that Obama cannot be trusted on Israel. Not because of any inner prejudice against the Jewish state but because of his belief that pressuring Israel is the royal road to Middle East peace. Whether calling in May, 2009 for a freeze on all settlement activity while making no reciprocal demands of the Palestinians, or disrespecting Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House in March 2010, or provocatively invoking Israel's 1967 lines in his May 2011 speech that was supposed to be about the Arabs and their spring, the President has shown a resolute conviction that putting the screws on Israel will produce broader results for Middle East stability.
Cantor, the leader of the House Republicans, and I, see it differently. The only thing that will lead to peace is the Arabs foregoing their decades-long hatred of Israel and their belief that the Jewish State is a transient entity that can be overrun, either militarily, via a slow, grinding war of terror attrition that forces Israel to cede strategic lands that ultimately render its security untenable, or through the influx of millions of 'refugees' who flood the state, diluting it of its Jewishness. The war between the Palestinians and Jews is not one primarily of land but of values, with our brothers the Palestinians tragically embracing a culture of death that glorifies martyrdom and violence and with the State of Israel embracing a culture of life and being committed to democracy and the value of every citizen, be they women, Arab, gay, or anything else.
Yes, President Obama stood firmly with Israel at the UN. But is this change of heart sincere or the product of a devastating Democratic loss of the safest of seats in Queens, New York's ninth congressional district, thereby betraying the fact that no place – solid-blue Jew Jersey where I reside included – is safe for the Democrats.
At Cairo in June, 2009 the President analogized the holocaust to Arab "dislocation" that resulted from Israel's creation: "The Jewish people were persecuted. …anti-Semitism …culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust…. Six million Jews were killed…. On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people — Muslims and Christians — have suffered in pursuit of a homeland." These are ignorant conclusions that not only equate two utterly incomparable tragedies but overlook the fact that Israel has absorbed millions of Jewish refugees while the Arab nations have used the Palestinians as pawns in their never-ending war of annihilation against Israel. And who is to say that once Obama wins reelection and is no longer dependent on Jewish money or votes, he will revert to policies based on these erroneous comparisons?
Last week I wrote about Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey's blood libel against the Jewish state, claiming it has killed "hundreds of thousands of Palestinians," and his never-ending campaign of defamation against what he labels Israeli barbarity and cruelty.
Turkey is a member of NATO and America is the very anchor of the NATO alliance. Yet President Obama has been silent while an ostensible ally daily demonizes Israel and accuses it of murder in genocidal proportions.
President Obama knows what if feels like to be defamed. Last week country music superstar Hank Williams, Jr. compared President Obama to Hitler, a disgusting and loathsome comment that was rightly condemned. Surely the President, in experiencing such vile attacks, knows what it's like to see one's name dragged through the mud and could stand up to protect America's most trusted ally, whether there is an election coming or not.
In our public discussion I was given a written question by a participant asking Majority Leader Cantor if he foresaw more Jews becoming Republican, breaking a decades-old Democratic lock on the Jewish vote. Before Eric even had the opportunity to respond there was a sudden burst of thunderous applause from hundreds in the audience.
Time will tell if a red wave is about to wash over American Jewry, and for now Eric still remains the only Jewish member in the entire United States Congress. But unless President Obama stands up clearly and unequivocally to declare that the problems in the Middle East stem not from Binyamin Netanyahu – who was recently gratuitously and shamefully attacked by another Democratic president, Bill Clinton, as an obstacle to peace – but from parties like the Saudis, whose laws declare that women cannot drive and must be chaperoned in public, Bashar Assad, who continues to slaughter his people before the eyes of the world, and Hamas and Ahmadinejad, who remain committed to Israel's annihilation, the Jewish vote might prove decisive for an Obama opponent in 2012.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, founder of GIVE, the Global Institute for Values Education, has just published "Ten Conversations You Need to Have with Yourself" (Wiley) and in December will publish "Kosher Jesus." Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
October 4, 2011 | 11:32 am
Posted by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
The Jewish debt to the Turks goes back centuries when the Ottomans took in thousands of Jewish refugees after the Spanish and Portuguese expulsions of 1492 and 1497. Moreover, when Israel was shunned for decades by nearly every Muslim country, it was Turkey that was Israel's military ally, friend, and commercial trading partner. And even in the midst of growing Turkish hostility, it behooves the Jewish state not to forget this debt of gratitude.
I have personally visited Istanbul as a Yarmulke-wearing, tzitzis-flying, Jewish Rabbi, and was warmly welcomed by Muslims everywhere. On her way back from Israel last year, my wife went through Istanbul with five of our children, including our baby, and was amazed at how many Muslim merchants gave the baby presents. My family came away smitten with Turkey.
But my call for Jewish memory and gratitude is becoming increasingly strained by the mouth of Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has made himself into a living fountain spewing anti-Israel invective. His latest attack on the Jewish state on CNN's Fareed Zakaria beggared belief. Israel, he said, "shows no mercy" and is "cruel" in its treatment of Palestinians. Not content to feed the worst anti-Semitic Shakespearean stereotypes of Jews being vindictive and heartless, he trivialized Jewish suffering at the hands of thousadns of rockets fired from Gaza by Hamas before offering an unbelievable blood libel claiming "hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were killed" as a result of military action by Israel. Earlier he had accused Israel of acting like "a spoiled boy" and described the flotilla raid as "savagery."
Erdogan is claiming that Israeli actions border on genocide and that Israel indiscriminately kills Palestinians when the truth is that the Israeli military is, given the level of threat it faces, one of the most humane and restrained in the world. Even if it were true that Israel has killed anything near that number it would still have to be seen in the context of the Palestinian people declaring a non-stop war of annihilation against the Jewish state and Israel being forced to defend itself. Hamas's 1988 charter, which calls for the complete obliteration and dissolution of Israel, captures the level of hatred the Palestinians have harbored against Israel. Some choice nuggets include:
"The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him… The Nazism of the Jews does not skip women and children, it scares everyone… Jews control the world media (and use their) wealth to stir revolutions … There was no war that broke out anywhere without their (Jews') fingerprints on it." Hamas Imam Sheik Yunus-al-Astal talked about a verse from Koran suggesting "suffering by fire is the Jews' destiny in this world and the next." And, "Therefore we are sure that the Holocaust is still to come upon the Jews." (NYTimes.com, April 1, 2008)
That Erdogan would speak as if Israel callously attacks a group which has for years launched rocket attacks against Israeli hospitals, kindergartens, and family homes is an indication of a deep-seated hostility to the Jewish state which he spares no opportunity in maligning.
But Erdogan's numbers are grotesque exaggerations designed to portray Israel as a genocidal power.
The exact number of Palestinians killed in the last two Intifadas, beginning in 1987, is difficult to glean, but the most accurate numbers as assembled in Wikipedia from the United Nations, the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and assorted Human Rights groups put Palestinian casualties from the beginning of the First Intifada in 1987 until 1993 at 1,376 by Israeli security forces and 1,000 murdered by the Palestinians themselves..
The Second Intifada, from 2000 till the present, is said to have seen the death of 4,850 Palestinians who were killed by Israeli security forces and 594 Palestinians killed by Palestinians. It bears mentioning that during the Second Intifada 1,062 Israelis died at Palestinian terrorist hands.
It goes without saying that this is a far cry from Erdogan's libel of hundreds of thousands of deaths and the attempt to decontextualize the deaths of even these thousands.
Starting in the 1960's, the PLO made a global name for itself through international terror. In 1969 alone, the PLO hijacked 82 planes. In the 1972 Olympics it murdered 11 Israeli athletes in Munich. Since the Oslo Accords signed, Palestinians have killed 53 Americans and Injured 83 Americans. (Jewish Virtual Library)
But if Erdogan is truly concerned about Palestinian life, as indeed he and all of us ought to be, he would condemn the unbelievable Arab-on-Arab violence that has left far greater numbers dead. In the first Intifada, more than 1000 Palestinians were killed by the PLO for supposedly "informing" for Israel. (Christian Science Monitor, May 22, 2002)
As early as the 1930s revolts in Palestine, Arabs fought each other. During the Lebanese Civil War, two Palestinian movements battled one another, leaving thousands of Palestinians dead. (Federal Research Division, Middle East Contemporary Survey, Volume 11, Google Books)
According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, in Gaza, Hamas has killed and tortured thousands of other Palestinians who oppose their rule. By 2007, More than 600 Palestinians died during the Struggle between Hamas and Fatah. (Ynetnews.com, June 6, 2007)
Between 1986 and 1989, the Al-Anfal Genocidal campaign in Iraq against the Kurdish People and others have Saddam Hussein's army killing 200,000 of his own civilians in that period. (The Middle East: A History, 2004) And The NY Times has reported that Saddam Hussein has "murdered as many as a million of his people." (Oct. 7, 2007) The vast majority of these people were, of course, Arabs.
I am religious Jews who believes that Arabs are my brothers and are, of course, equal children of G-d in every way. The death of even a single Palestinian is a tragedy. But what choice does Israel have when the Palestinians launch wave after wave of horrific terror against innocent Israeli men, women and children. Will Erdogan next condemn the United States for the thousands of Taliban fighters it has killed in Afghanistan? Will he deplore American Predator strikes against Al Qaida in Pakistan? Since when is there a moral equivalence between the taking of a life in self defense and the taking of a life in an act of cold-blooded murder?
Just as it is proper for Jews to try and overlook Turkey's current leader and remember the age-old friendship between the two people's, it behooves the Turks themselves to rein in their Prime Minister from his character assassination of the Jewish state.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, founder of the Global Institute for Values Education, has just published "Ten Conversations You Need to Have with Yourself (Wiley) and in December will publish "Kosher Jesus." Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
September 26, 2011 | 3:49 pm
Posted by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
A Universal Rosh Hashana Message
As a child growing up in America the only time I heard about vampires was once every ten years or so with the inevitable Dracula movie remake. Today, however, vampires and flesh-eating zombies dominate movies and books, especially those aimed at teenagers. And with good reason. For we, with our predictable, monotonous, suburban lives have become the walking undead. We may not dig our teeth into each other's necks to draw blood or suck out an eyeball out from a friend's socket. But we are consciously aware that as a nation we have reached a point of inertia and stagnation, a point felt most acutely by the young who look upon the passionless, consumer-oriented world of their parents and fear that they too will be transformed into lifeless androids.
Our politicians seem intent on blaming all that's wrong with America on the other party when in truth the nation as a whole is stuck. We have a broken economy that bedevils the experts. We've tried Keynesian intervention and massive bailouts and now we'll try austerity measures, all in an effort to fix what feels unfixable. No matter what we throw at the Taliban in Afghanistan, like indestructible cartoon characters they bounce right back. We pour money into 'allies' like Pakistan, only to discover they harbor our worst enemies and collude with terrorists to kill our soldiers.
On the political front we jump from personality to personality in the hope that one will prove a modern Prometheus and reignite a flickering American fire. A few months ago Sarah Palin had wall-to-wall media coverage until it was Michelle Bachman's turn. Now both are shrinking in favor of Rick Perry with whom we were enamored until he performed poorly in a single debate and we started clamoring again for Governor Chris Christie. And as we stagnate the only American sector benefits is the entertainment industry that provides us with mind-numbing escapes, all the better to forget our troubles even as a couch-potato existence causes us to vegetate still further.
Here is where America as a whole can find enrichment from this week's Rosh Hashana holiday, whose central theme is a wakeup from lethargy and stagnation. Unlike the secular new year which involves public celebrations filled with alcohol and fireworks, Rosh Hashana is a serious day whose shofar call pulls us out of our stupor and forces us to confront the stationary nature of our lives. The Biblical reading on the Sabbath before Rosh Hashana finds Moses declaring to the Israelites on the very last day of his life, "I have set before you today life and death, a blessing and a curse… Choose life."
As we pray for life on the Jewish new year we make a mental inventory of every component of our existence filing it into one of two categories: life and death. That which animates us and must therefore be nurtured, and that which stifles us and must therefore be purged.
The loving part of you that offers compliments rather than criticism to your spouse needs to be retained for it forms the lifeblood of the relationship. But the part of you that comes home tired from work and retreats into four hours of TV and internet surfing must be eliminated as it spells the death of love. The part of your married sex life which is goal-oriented and rushes to the climactic finish line will ultimately deaden the erotic connection with your spouse and must be replaced by an intimate, soul-connection expressed through the flesh.
A similar accounting is made of our intellectual life. There is the mind-death of idle Hollywood chatter and celebrity conversation versus a life of learning and thought-provoking ideas, journals, and books. There is the death of husbands and wives discussing only practical matters pertaining to children's after-school activities and picking up the dry-cleaning versus a life of soulful conversation where spouses find healing in the revelation of fears, anxieties, hopes, and dreams.
On a national level there is the death of endless and silly political bickering where the body politic becomes dismissive of politicians as hopeless narcissists out to score points, versus the constructive work of elected officials who, like the right and left wing of a bird, cause the nation to soar specifically through antithetical propulsion.
Our economy will only be rehabilitated once we separate life from death. Let's get rid of expensive social programs that have created a deadening dependency of men and women who yearn to cease being wards of the state and clamor for lives of dignity, self-sufficiency, and purpose. Let's urge our teachers unions to stop protecting the small number of dead-beat teachers who gain lifelong tenure after just two years and bring enlivened educators to the classroom who invigorate young minds.
America must drop allies who are dead weight, extending one hand in friendship while knifing us in the back with the other. We have no extra tax money to buy off governments that will never be our friends. Mahmoud Abbas thinks he can create a living Palestinian state with a stack of stapled papers, not realizing that a nation first requires a living infrastructure, something that the Israeli halutzim, pioneers, understood when they first worked for fifty years before the UN vote of 1947 that merely confirmed what was already a fact. A living Jewish state had been born from the ashes of the holocaust because decades of life had first been breathed into it.
Finally, our leaders must choose policies that embolden life and deny death. President Obama's early vows to breathe new life, say, into relationships with leaders like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not take into account that one cannot have a living relationship with a culture that glorifies death. Three years ago Obama's speeches were electrifying and uplifting. But just two weeks ago he had to move his speech to a joint session of Congress out of prime time to 7pm because he knew he could not remotely compete with a football game that same evening. His rhetoric is dead and he has lost his audience because rather than unleash the power of American individualism he has become a detached, cold professor spreading the wealth around while reading from a teleprompter urging us to reembrace tried-and-failed policies. It is the Republicans who today demand that we cut away the dead fat from the bloated Federal budget.
In this coming year let us be a nation of innovation, creativity, and imagination, as Henry David Thoreau said, one that 'suck[s] out all the marrow of life,' rather than a nation of the undead that sucks the last few drops of blood out of an exhausted and burned out economy.
This essay is dedicated to the memory of Machla Dabakarov, the mother of Rabbi Shmuley's close friend, Michael.
Rabbi Shmuely Boteach this week publishes "Ten Conversations You Need to Have with Yourself." (Wiley). In December he will publish "Kosher Jesus." Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
September 21, 2011 | 5:05 pm
Posted by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
Dear Gov. Perry,
You are a man who speaks his mind, which is rare in a politician and is a quality that I admire. I'm also grateful to you for your staunch support for Israel, which is no doubt influenced by your strong Christian faith.
I would like, however, to respectfully address your comments pertaining to America's need for a values renaissance. Recently, in speaking to a crowd of 13,000 students and faculty members at a sports arena, you said that America needs to be guided by some set of values and rightly asked, "Whose values?" to which you responded, "Those Christian values that this country was based upon."
No doubt, Christian values and Christian faith have played an absolutely pivotal role in America's founding and subsequent prosperity. One need look no further than the Pilgrims, who landed at Plymouth Rock in search of the freedom to practice their Christian faith without British Anglican hindrance, to prove the point.
But of late, Christian values seem to have been narrowly reduced in the political arena to the twin goals of stopping abortion and gay marriage. Indeed, amid my deep-seated love and respect for my Evangelical brothers and sisters — a love that will be formally crystallized in the form of a full-length book on the Jewishness of Jesus that will be published just before Christmas — I greatly lament how some Christian values have come to so deeply divide our country, and I respectfully propose that Christians begin turning to universal Jewish values in order to reinvigorate America.
Take the breakdown of marriage and family. Raising a well-balanced, inspired, independent and motivated child — an immense challenge — is far likelier to succeed with two parents than one. Yet, while rabbis talk constantly about the 50 percent heterosexual divorce rate, pastors seem to gravitate far more to opposing gay marriage, even though we straight people have done a fine job of eroding marriage ourselves. (Indeed, one of the ironies of marriage in America is that the only men who seem to want to get married are gay!)
One of the supreme Jewish values is keeping a troubled husband and wife together in peace, something I have sought to do in more than 20 books. Rather than obsess over gays marrying, why not join me in creating legislation that would make marital counseling tax-deductible so at-risk couples can get the help they need?
The same is true, Governor, of embracing another supreme Jewish value, Friday night Sabbath dinners. Unfortunately, in America only about a third of all families sit down for regular family meals. But imagine if we could create, at the very least, a weekly national Friday night Sabbath meal observed by Americans of every persuasion. The Christian Sabbath, Sunday, has unfortunately been commercialized by shopping malls, cineplexes and football. Let's ask all American families to embrace what on fridayisfamily.com you'll see called "the triple two": Call on American families, every Friday night, to set aside two uninterrupted hours without television; invite two guests; and discuss two substantive subjects, because learning and a life of intellectual depth is perhaps the most supreme of all Jewish values.
Which brings us to the economy, the most important of all campaign issues and the most serious crisis facing America today. Politicians on both sides of the aisle — from President Barack Obama to candidate Michelle Bachman — are all saying that if only their policies were followed, America would be in the black again. Many politicians promise to cure every ill, as if they were miracle workers. These promises would seem to stem from the Christian value of perfection as opposed to the Jewish value of struggle. People running for President feel forced to overpromise: Vote for me and it's all going to be all right. That's why Barack Obama has lost so much credibility. He ran as Jesus Christ, a man who could walk on water and make the tides rise. Turns out his perfection only alienated him from the people. We now dismiss him as cold, detached and aloof, a far cry, say, from Bill Clinton's all-too-human frailties that seem, counterintuitively, to have endeared him to the American public.
By contrast, we Jews have not one perfect man or woman in the Bible. In Jewish values, righteousness is defined not by perfection but by struggle. Leadership is defined not by promising a utopia but by inspiring others to be strong through the struggle. America is in for some tough years. We have a $14 trillion debt that isn't going to be paid off any time soon. Why not level with us? Tell us you're not perfect but you're prepared to wrestle with America's great issues to make things better, and inspire us to do the same. Tell us that struggle is a sign of greatness, as the Talmud says, "Only when an olive is squeezed do you get its oil." This is not Jimmy Carter's defeatist malaise, but rather Lincoln's promise of many long, hard years of battle that would inevitably result in triumph, or Winston Churchill's "blood, toil, tears and sweat" that never surrenders.
Americans today are struggling to find and hold on to jobs, struggling to pay mortgages, struggling to raise good kids and struggling against a worldwide Islamist terror enemy. And rather than take pride in the struggle, we escape into manufactured materialistic fantasies of shopping, celebrity obsession and the latest Hollywood fare. We have become soft, expecting the government to do too much for us rather than showing our mettle through the power of struggle.
Finally, Governor, one of the biggest problems we face in America today is that many good men and women refuse to run for public office, fearing that they will be outed as hypocrites. The microscopic media review to which they will be subject will be too revealing, and none, in truth is perfect. Yet the Jewish-values view of hypocrisy is different from the Christian view, which defines hypocrisy as saying one thing and practicing another. But, Judaism argues that human beings have two competing impulses within them, one godly and pure, the other selfish and animalistic. Therefore, when a man says one thing and does another, he is not a hypocrite but rather inconsistent. In most cases, he believed the good he preached but simply could not summon the willpower to live by it, whereas the hypocrite is someone who says something for public consumption and never believes it in the first place.
Gov. Perry, Christians have brought immeasurable good to America, and today, Evangelical Christians like you account for 60 percent of the American military and are Israel's most staunch supporters. But the time has come for Christians in America to embrace the Jewish values that Jesus, as a staunchly devoted Jew, himself practiced. It is time, after thousands of years of Jewish values being heard in a somewhat altered way through the megaphone of Christianity, to be heard in its own right and with its own voice.
Rabbi Shmuely Boteach this week publishes "Ten Conversations You Need to Have with Yourself." (Wiley). In December he will publish "Kosher Jesus." Follow him on Twitter @RabbiShmuley.
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But even though economists predict unemployment will still be at 7.5 percent at the end of this year, little improved from the current 7.8% rate, about half of those surveyed believe the Fed will stop its purchase program this year.
The rest expect purchases to stop next year. Those surveyed expect unemployment to be at 6.9% at the end of 2014. One economist, Bill Watkins, executive director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at Cal Lutheran University, thinks the Fed will keep buying assets until at least 2015.
The views expressed are not those of this site, this station or its affiliated companies. By posting your comments you agree to accept our terms of use.

subset: commoncrawl


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This kiddush cup is an adaptation of a 19th-century Hungarian cup in the permanent collection of The Jewish Museum. The original ceremonial cup was engraved with the name of its first owner, Rachel, and passed down through three generations. This adaptation has been left blank. It makes a perfect gift for a newborn or bar/bat mitzvah. Made in the USA.
Polished pewter3-1/2"h x 2-1/4"w


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Downloadable Brochure (PDF)
With the increase of computer and network attacks, information security has become a very serious concern. Organizations need information security professional to protect digital assets. The Information Security Certificate is offered to students who wish to obtain theoretical and practical knowledge in information security. The Center for Law Enforcement and Technology Collaboration, which incorporates the programs of Computer Science, Criminal Justice, and Management Information Systems at GSU, is also involved in offering this certificate.
In addition to meeting the university requirements for certificate admission, applicants must have completed the following courses in either Category 1 or Category 2:
Note: Students need to be aware that they must have a discrete mathematics background. If the student does not have that background, they will need to seek assistance.
To receive the Information Security Certificate, undergraduate students must complete each required course with a grade of "B" or better and submit the petition for completion to their faculty advisor.
CPSC 4580/MIS 4580 Information Security (3) CPSC 4581/MIS 4801 Information Security Policy and Management (3) CPSC 4582 Cryptography and Network Security (3) CPSC 4583 Laboratory in Information Security (3) CPSC 4584 Special Topics in Information Security (3)
Note: GSU Undergraduate students may enroll in this certificate for elective credit toward their bachelor's degree. Undergraduate students from other colleges/universities are also eligible to enroll but would need to check with their institution to determine the transferability of the courses.
To view the program fact sheet, please go to Information Security Certificate Fact Sheet


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This is an unusual reason to review a hotel. I had a room booked through Priceline and showed up to check in. The desk staff informed me that a computer problem caused them to overbook and they had no room available for me. BUT they immediately called another nearby hotel and arranged for a room there. That room was significantly... More
- Also Known As:
- Holiday Inn Express Niceville - Eglin Afb Hotel
- Holiday Inn Express Niceville - Eglin Afb Hotel Niceville
- Holiday Inn Niceville
- Niceville Holiday Inn
- Official Description (provided by the hotel):
- Welcome to the Holiday Inn Express® Niceville - Eglin AFB. Our centrally located hotel is minutes from Eglin AFB, Army 7th Special Forces Base, Northwest Florida Regional Airport (VPS), Destin Commons Shopping, great golfing and the "World's Whitest Beaches."Our hotel is the best choice for business at Eglin AFB military complex, DOD contractors, EOD School and Duke Field and Fort Walton Beach area. Our meeting facility is ideal for groups up to 45 with Fast Fiber Optic Internet access, and A/V equipment. An executive business center features high-speed color printing, fax and scanner.Families love the abundant attractions close to our Niceville hotel. Bask in the sun on white sandy beaches and play in the emerald green waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Big Kahuna's Water Park, Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park and world-class shopping are just a short drive. Don't miss the Air Force Armament Museum near Eglin AFB.Each guest room is equipped with microwave, coffeemaker, refrigerator, free Internet access, flat screen HDTV's with HD channels. Our hotel's guests enjoy the complimentary Express Start hot continental buffet breakfast and daily newspaper. Exercise made enjoyable in our executive club fitness center with the latest in cardio and fitness technology, large screen HDTV, towel station and refreshing water and fruit bar! Or relax by the outdoor pool to enjoy Florida's sunshine. ... more less
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- TripAdvisor is proud to partner with Expedia, IHG, Travelocity, Hotels.com, Priceline, Agoda, getaroom.com and Venere so you can book your Holiday Inn Express Niceville - Eglin AFB reservations with confidence. We help millions of travellers each month to find the perfect hotel for both holiday and business trips, always with the best discounts and special offers.


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[D.C. Council: setting the scene, rating the starters, assessing the subs, providing the analysis, and catching anything that you may have missed. Unlike the real DC Council, everything here is on the table. Game No. 40, Washington Wizards at Utah Jazz; contributors: Rashad Mobley , Adam McGinnis and Adam Rubin from behind the television screen. The title of this post references a Band of Horses song, "The Great Salt Lake."]
Jamaal Tinsley Dribble Show |


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Going Rogue: An American Life by Sarah Palin
Read this book and understand the American ideal
I just finished reading Sarah Palin's autobiography. The whole book--not just Chapter 1 as Deborah J. Saunders, who wrote a dismissive review on Townhall last week, obviously did. Not just the juicy campaign parts that the media immediately pounced on. As Sarah herself might say, the whole kit and caboodle.
I'll give you my appraisal up front: it's a great book. I'd read her biography by Kaylene Johnson last year so I already had a good idea of who the real Sarah Palin is. Palin's book is about 400 pages and the first half mirrored in greater depth the events of Sarah's life before she burst on the national stage in August 2008.
The second half deals with the vice presidential campaign, the events up to her resignation from the governorship and the writing of the book itself. The campaign parts are fascinating to someone who's never been on the inside of a political campaign but who did watch the events of 2008 unfold. It is very honest, complimentary to many and not so much to others. She doesn't give herself a pass either. It's been written that she plays the victim. I didn't read it that way at all.
I can't help but contrast this biography with those of Barack Obama. She didn't have a ghost-writer and she sticks to the facts. That's a big difference between the conservative mindset with an emphasis on facts and rationality and the liberal one with an emphasis on feelings and where the truth is relative.
I would also say that this is an important book. Read it and reflect on it. If, when you finish reading this book, you still don't understand or agree with Sarah Palin, then you don't really understand or agree with the ideal of America. She's as American as apple pie: a strong faith and a belief in fiscal responsibility, limited government, and the unlimited potential of the American people.


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Asda graduates celebrate (From Warrington Guardian)
Text us your news! Start your message Warrington News and send any photos or videos to 80360
Asda skills academy graduates celebrate
3:15pm Thursday 23rd February 2012 in News
A WESTBROOK supermarket has been celebrating the first graduates of its skills academy.
Two colleagues from Asda were among the first in the country to graduate from the City and Guilds apprenticeship programme with the retailer.
Katy Monks, aged 21 and from Great Sankey and Hannah Tidswell, aged 19, from Old Hall, joined more than 100 fellow apprentices from across the UK to receive their level two and three qualifications and mark the start of National Apprenticeship Week.
Andy Clarke, CEO and president of Asda, said: "This is a really special day for us.
"I'm incredibly proud to see our first colleagues graduate from the Asda skills academy.
"Training and qualifications don't just give people pieces of paper – they give them the confidence to do more than they thought they could."
Graduates successfully completed 12 modules of study designed to develop their retail knowledge and skills, as well as presenting a portfolio of their work for assessment.
More than 4,200 colleagues enrolled on the apprenticeship programme when it was launched in June 2011 and last week's graduates are among the first to complete the programme.
The supermarket is currently offering employees a second opportunity to enrol on the programme.


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Chrysler has decided to recall 2.7 million 1993 to 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee and 2002 to...
Ford C-Max Energi qualifies for California tax credits, HOV lane
The 2012 Ford C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid will cost as little as $28,495 in California after $5,250 in tax credits available for buyers. It was also just approved for the high-occupancy vehicle lane in the Golden State.
The C-Max Energi is rated for 21 miles on electric power only. Ford says that should be enough for at least one leg of a driver's daily commute. If by chance owners can plug in at work, it could add up to 40 miles of zero-emission driving per day.
The C-Max was approved for the Green Clean Air Vehicle Sticker as part of the Clean Vehicle Rebate Program. The program is funded by the California Environmental Agency's Air Resources Board. To get the sticker you must act quickly; according to CARB, stickers are available to the first 40,000 applicants.
"We're pleased with California customers' early interest in the C-Max hybrids, our first dedicated hybrid-only nameplate in North America," said Michael O'Brien, Ford electrified vehicle marketing manager. "This extra carpool lane incentive and rebate will help Californians go further with Ford in every sense of the phrase."
The Ford C-Max Energi has an EPA-certified 108 miles-per-gallon equivalent (MPGe) city rating, 92 MPGe highway rating and a combined rating of 100 MPGe.
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Find a Restaurant
PT's Gold
3770 S. Hualapai Way, Las Vegas, 89147
Phone: 702-893-7777
Chef Joe Romano, former chef of Aureole and the short-lived JW's at the Rio, has jazzed up the menu, adding a variety of chicken wings, delicious honey-wheat, thin-crusted pizzas, a Cobb salad, and other nice touches. 35 locations in Las Vegas, self-proclaimed "neighborhood bar of Las Vegas."
- Business hours
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- Credit Cards Accepted
- Yes
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- Casual


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Sunday, 12 April 2009
Tottenham, How Much Does One Goal Cost?
The Cockyfools are strutting their stuff this morning after yesterday's epic 1-0 trouncing of the mighty Hammers but, whilst trying to come to terms with our reserves suffering this shocking reverse at White Hart Lane, I got to thinking, how much did that 1-0 Tottenham victory actually cost?
Below, I give a break down of the cost of the two teams available yesterday, including the substitutes benches. For the sake of argument, I have left off the add on fees - let's face it, bonus payments made on the basis of trophies won are never going to be payable by Tottenham, whilst, because of injuries, appearance fees are never going to apply to West ham players! So, for example, I show Keane at £12m, whilst in cloud cuckoo land, that could rise to £19m if Tottenham ever qualify for the Champions League.
The figures are staggering! The West Ham squad yesterday cost a total of £32m in transfer fees. Tottenham's squad was put together for a total outlay of £136.5m.
So how much does one goal cost? If you are Tottenham, £104.5m! Bless me, is it any wonder those Cockyfools are gloating?
Gomes 10
Corluka 8
Assou-Ekotto 3.5
Woodgate 7
King Nil
Huddlestone 3
Lennon 1
Jenas 9
Modric 16.5
Bent 16.5
Keane 12
Pavlyuchenko 14
Zokora 8
Cudicini 1
Bale 5
Bentley 15
Dawson 4
Chimbonda 3
West Ham
Green 2.5
Tomkins Nil
Ilunga 3
Collins 3
Upson 6
Neill 1.5
Noble Nil
Stanislas Nil
Boa-Morte 5
Tristan Nil
Di Michele Nil
Dyer 6
Savio 5
Lastuvka Nil
Lopez Nil
N'Gala Nil
Payne Nil
85 comments:
Really, please get over it.
You have no strength in depth and we beat you earlier in the season with a full strength team, at your place.
Excuses all you want but we have the 3 points and can only beat whats in front of us. Which we did. Using our nice overpriced squad. - 12 April 2009 11:36
lick your wounds however you like and take whatever comfort you can find. i recall the less than gracious attitude when you beat a team that had 9 members throwing up before and during the game.
- 12 April 2009 11:37
It doesn't matter about the cost in the end. We're much more financially stable than you. So if we manage our finances well we can afford to spend more. So the cost of the team doesn't matter in the end. The goal didn't cost anything if at the end of the day we make back the money we spend which is what we seem to be doing.
These are the latest figures:
Spurs are ranked top in the country for effective cost management, calculated by the key performance indicator wages to turnover ratio, and they generated £27 million from television rights in 2006/07 - fifth highest in the Premier League. They come third in the league in terms of surplus cash when wages have been deducted from their revenue, and also third on the predicted five year operating profit table with £70.2 million, as well as having the fourth highest stadium utilisation with 98.4 per cent of White Hart Lane's 35,699 capacity being filled on average.
West Ham:
West Ham have £142 million of debt and, along with Newcastle, were the most notable under achiever with regards to wages in 2006/07. Their league position was 15, while they were they were outspent on wages by only five other clubs. This supports the view that the correlation between wages and on-pitch performance is weaker outside those clubs in the top four, and the relegation zone.
Hope you enjoyed that... - 12 April 2009 11:39
- 12 April 2009 11:39
Get over it. We have always had a bigger budget as we have always been a bigger club. It was pretty much a one-nil spanking yesterday. Nice to hear the gas chamber hissing from the away fans, once again covering themselves in glory...
- 12 April 2009 11:40
What a stupid notion. Money spent does not equal goals scored. Really dumb even for a spanner. Get over it you lost your cup final.
- 12 April 2009 11:42
Sorry, but pointless stats. Love it or loath it money is a big part of football. The days of teams like Clough's Forest have long gone and even he bought the first million pound player. I could easily say, and have, Chelsea bought the title but the bottom line is so what? Their fans celebrated a title, we didn't. Anyway, injuries, cost of squad, what next? Yesterday you lost a football match. Get over it!
- 12 April 2009 11:44
Can I have a little credit for showing that they're financially f***ed and we're showing profits... I think that shows the spanner up pretty good?!
- 12 April 2009 11:45
The Spammers should have come and had a better go at the Lane, they may well have got more from the game but instead they were happy to try to counter and nick the game that way.
Under the current form, Spurs weren't going to allow that especially not at home but teams need to be a little more adventurous, making up excuses such as squad prices is just a rehearsed manager's line.....Strachan said it when Spurs beat them convincingly in a pre season tournament and it's been used by every manager Spurs have beaten since the Summer...
West Ham have come a long way under Zola but they need some more re-building, but they are alot better today than I've seen for a few seasons. Let's see if they can hang onto their position between now & the end of the season. - 12 April 2009 11:47
- StuDaveJim said...
Yes, good points, Anon...Plus the fact that they pay higher wages than us, dont they? I mean Bent came to us even though they offered twice as much per week...
As I'm on this site though, I should say something good about West Ham (I am an honest guy)...Green should play for England. And good to see Dyer back again, I used to watch him play for Ipswich. Still remember when he scored with his broken leg. - 12 April 2009 11:51
Coming from a fan of a team who are in dire financial trouble against a club that consistently posts record profits this really is a joke. Yes we spend more that's because we are big club. I like that you comfort yourself with these types of arguements. Shows how uneducated you are. Ohh and keep bringing great youth players through so we can buy them!
- 12 April 2009 12:01
This really is petty.
I almost thought you were okay after your Jimmy Neighbour piece. The sentiment in this completely contradicts that.
Wheeling out the old 'reserves' line, too. We still put out a team under the club name, regardless.
Let's get on with it, move on, next game. - 12 April 2009 12:11
well done, you've discovered that your team is shit AND worthless
- 12 April 2009 12:13
never heard so much bollox even from the hammers. reserves my ar*e. yesterday was a Prem game so whatever team you put out is your FIRST TEAM!! get it? our record against you over the past 20+ years says it all. you are not in our league, and never will be. that's not banter, it's a stone cold fact. you know it, it keeps you awake at night. you should concentrate your efforts on Millwall, they are more on your level. I look forward to the Sheff Utd players litigating you for the next 10 years, which by the way is definately going to happen. you are screwed my ol' chinas!
- 12 April 2009 12:15
Spurs supporter here. Not really sure i see the point of this article, save to vent a little frustration. I would prefer to congratulate West Ham and esp Zola in doing such a great job with all their current problems with finances, sheff utd and injuries. I think all things considered = ther should take some top award for in the circumstances over achieving more than any other club in the prem. There is a lot to be said for that, but not a lot to be said for having go at another club in attempting to show how well your own club has done. Anyone with a very small brain can see west ham have done VERY well this year and congratulations to them for that.
- 12 April 2009 12:16
erm...record profits for spurs anybody? and you say about our financial investments...1 word savio.
- 12 April 2009 12:16
So basically you're saying you got beaten by a bigger richer club with better players. and thats nothing unexpected.
Yes thats right.
We already knew that.
Is this how West Ham sulk? - 12 April 2009 12:24
It's not Spurs' fault that we are a well run club with lots of money and little debt.It's also not our fault that wet spam are a sad little,badly managed ,debt ridden club that buy crap ,injury prone players then pay them stupid wages.You bring some good players through sometimes but always sell them and never replace them.Lets face it this won't change and you have already done your doe for next year buy paying for your cheating last year.Will be interesting next year to see how the two clubs fair considering you will be unlikely to be given the massive head start from Spurs that you had this year
- 12 April 2009 12:26
This is awful and petty.
You've really asked for these comments.
Sad that you have no respect for players you probably cheered, only to label them 'reserves' afterwards.
...the same players you're then eschewing the salt-of-the-earth values of, by listing them as having cost nothing??
Sour grapes. Let it go. - 12 April 2009 12:27
You may call them reserves to save face.
We may call them reserves based on their limited ability.
But face facss. Thats you FIRST team!!!
ha. bloody ha.
I feel for ya spammer. I really do.
Our WORST ever season is probably gonna be better than you have achieved. Cup Final and 7th spot on the radar...
Stop Sulking you got beaten by the better richer bigger club. As Zola said you fought tooth and nail and did yourself proud almost getting a draw against one of Englands best sides. - 12 April 2009 12:27
one word.......JEALOUSY..........and is it really 1 goal????....i make it 7 without reply my dear pikey!
- 12 April 2009 12:28
Sifting through the bullshit of this thread, the crux of the argument seems like this:
"Ha Ha you only beat us by one goal".
Nice. Don't see many spammers defending your arguments here? - 12 April 2009 12:31
So... to sum up, this piece is merely to explain that your team are substandard in one way or another?
If it serves to point out that your football club have much better and honest business acumen, then you're mistaken.
"Look! Haha! We're spending so little money that we must have a great big stash of money somewh... ... oh. shit." - 12 April 2009 12:31
"Zola said you fought tooth and nail and did yourself proud almost getting a draw against one of Englands best sides."
at last , a Hammer (actually, a Chelsea boy) who talks sense!! - 12 April 2009 12:32
Fuck you Tottenham, compared to you we have spent hardly anything but you have bought rubbish players like Modric, pavlyuchenko corluka
and you only beat us because we our players werent as good as yours and a couple were injured who also werent as good as yours anyway.
All that money and you could only take all 6 points off us this seasopn...ha who is LAUGHING now??!!
and fuck you and your big stadium plans do you think having a 60000 seat staidum and loads of money and better players makes you BETTER than us?? huh?? Do YOU??!! fool.s - 12 April 2009 12:40
Totally stupid.If you compare yourself to any big club it will be the same.Face it you are a $hit,small ,second rate championship team with no money,History or anything else.Oh you won the world cup though didn't you?to say we never win anything is such a joke coming from you.When did you last win anything or even beat us(your other cup final)? stick to your real rivals Milwall,they are much more your level.You never have been or will be anything to us other than an annoying little fly that we have to swat every year.
You'll never beat the Tottenham.
HANDBALL,HANDBALL lmfao - 12 April 2009 12:41
- Hammersfan said...
To all the Tottenham fans above, I presume that you have no objections to the way City, Liverpool and Chelsea are trying to buy success? Nor do you object to Manchester United buying your best players? Personally, I think it is sad the way money is destroying any sense of a level playing field. You live and die by the sword. You are no longer a big club because not even you are able to spend in the same league as the big 3. Mind you, you've spent FAR MORE than Arsenal and still can't catch them! How does that feel?
- 12 April 2009 12:42
You wree fucking laughing when we almost got a draw against you home or away..
who was laughing when you appealed for handball only to win ONLY 1-0!!
sO WHO IS LAUGHING HERE REALLY?? The oh im so richa nd famous and successful Spurs or Wets Ham with Zola (legend).
Lets See OUR FIRST team play YOUR reserves of Huddlestone, Bentley, Pav, SDawson etc and tehn we wills e who will win. And it wont be us. but we wuill fight unlike you . because we are POOR and you hat eus for it and are jealous.
Up the West Ham - 12 April 2009 12:44
This is so funny...
QUOTE : "let's face it, bonus payments made on the basis of trophies won are never going to be payable by Tottenham"
When was the last time hammers were blowing bubbles around silverware again?
Oh but spurs did that last season!
QUOTE : "Below, I give a break down of the cost of the two teams available yesterday,"
Now go work out how much profit one goal earns a team. we have recovered from a pitfull start, and now we are 3 points below you because your shit and can not handle a full season of football. Spurs can!
Whats more we have finished in top 5 twice in the last 5 years. When was the last time hammers did that...
Spurs are consistantly in europe, hammers are lucky if they ever reach it.
Spurs have a wicked new stadium, hammers have bollox all.
Spurs have some wonderful kids going through in the next couple of years.
Hammers only have average looking kids coming through.
Spurs have bigger fan base in the UK and through out the world.
We are among the top20 riches clubs, and always have been even when we didnt have europe.
In short, it seems spurs are better than west ham at, well, EVERYTHING! - 12 April 2009 12:44
- 12 April 2009 12:53
I am a West Ham fan and this is addressed to the author of these anti Tottenham posts. In short it is a game of football and we lost. You think that you are clever in writing inflamatory articles about Tottenham but in truth, you are really just a mindless moron. Yes, there should be rivalry between the two teams but your articles are pathetic and written without any logical football reason. What comes round, goes round. We will get the better of Tottenham again but until we do can you please write proper football based articles?
- 12 April 2009 12:54
Kudos to the author of this piece for the effortless display of bitterness. You lost to Spurs, again. You always have been and always will be small time. GET OVER IT!
- 12 April 2009 12:56
I actually thought the blog owner would retract this entry having realised how petty, ridiculous and bitter it was...
...but no, he posts comments to defend it, using the same argument, and trying to appeal/taunt with the argument that bigger teams are wrenching players from us.
...it goes back to the SAME POINT!!
We're not in such financial disarray that we can't hold those teams up for unholy transfer fees, irrespective of how much the payer wants to go.
Stop with the salt-of-the-earth arguments.
It's that kind of thinking that really will send your team under.
Fortunately or unfortunately this *IS* the modern-age. - 12 April 2009 12:57
West Ham Fan Club: how are you enjoying your Easter Holidays? I am guessing that you are a schoolboy (girl?) as you can't even spell your own team's name... Wets Ham?? Ha ha ha... Arsenal is our big game of the season. You hate us so much and we really couldn't give a shit. We even care more about the Chavs than you lot. 1 nil in your cup final. Handball!!
- 12 April 2009 12:59
Can you stop embarrassing us with your bedroom bullshit so we can move on?
We've still got a decent season to finish and you seem tied up in whingeing about one game.
Take a look at the table, see where we are, and let's make a strong finish.
This just looks fucking tearful, after the event.
Total bollocks. - 12 April 2009 13:02
Spurs just scraped a win against us, and we had some very very good chances. With a full strength team I believe it would Spurs would have by a couple of goals. No joking here. An injured team(with players out of position) nearly held their own against a cashed up 'big club'.
Tottenham did have the better team on the night, and they played a little bit better. However without an injury or 2 (or all 8 or however many of them!), the game could have been much, much different. - 12 April 2009 13:07
Ahhhh this is quite hilarious at times.
Westham 44
Tottenham 41
rofl - 12 April 2009 13:08
if only...
if we'd...
DIDN'T. - 12 April 2009 13:15
if Spurs hadnt ahve scored there goal when they did and if dimichealey had scored his
then who would be laughing!!!
it would BE 1-0 to weEST hAM
You only JUST got 6 points against us this season>. and how much you spent..????!! - 12 April 2009 13:23
sorry, they dont do a list of the poorest. - 12 April 2009 13:25
West Ham United manager Gianfranco Zola has accepted his side's 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur with typical good grace, believing Spurs are one of the six best teams in the country.
- 12 April 2009 13:27
Spurs for me
We won a game of football 1-0, we were short of 2 or 3 players that may otherwise have played. The team we beat were short of a couple of players too. So what, normally when two teams play and one wins its the better team on the day that won. This is very true in this game. Spurs were very good value for the win. - 12 April 2009 13:48
Get over it!we won, it should been 2 0. Dont matter how much was spent or who has the best acadmey!weve played you twice and won twice its that simple!the stats dont lie.
- 12 April 2009 14:16
This is hilarious.... it's too easy...the mugs just don't get it at all do they?
Not a very well written article but it does the job every single time...
I suggest the next blog to be titled.. Spurs - Your Mum!
Cue 134 responses from spurs fans saying 'My Mum is fantastic, she keeps the house tidy, makes me nice kosher food, yours lives in a caravan, etc, etc, etc...'
Snigger... mugs - 12 April 2009 14:37
Snigger... no.
Nice try at saving face, but... no.
No points (again).
Even you're embarrassed by this piece, hence the only way you can bear to take this 'not very well written article' is to pass it off as trolling.
Nice try.
It clearly is what it is, hence the writer's other blog entry on how he feels after the game.
No points. - 12 April 2009 14:45
Read... it... again... mug!
;-) - 12 April 2009 14:51
Bitter, shamed author desperately tries to save face.
Just enjoy your Easter. - 12 April 2009 15:07
you west ham fans are all a bunch of idiots
- 12 April 2009 15:09
No...I am not the author... I would not have lost my way like that...Seriously... just read the first paragraph again....
Saving face?...pot, kettle,lillywhite...
and get a sense of humour... you are spurs fans ffs... your gonna need one...
;-) - 12 April 2009 15:24
Ah, so victories count for nothing if you have an expensive squad?
Oh wow, wait til I tell Man U and Chelsea - they are going to be soooo disappointed... - 12 April 2009 15:24
Take this from a Spurs fan
West Ham tried hard as the did the last time we played...o and the timbefore that, and so on. Unfortunatly you dont get points for tring in football, if you want points for that play rugby.
Spurs won they are the better side and we are better people because we spurs fans have support the best team, we live in nicer houses have better families and have loads more money.
BEING A SPURS FAN IS GREAT! LIFE IS GREAT. all things West Ham fans will never experience. - 12 April 2009 15:30
Another Irons fan here.
I've got the good grace to say that we didn't deserve anything yesterday. Spurs played better...and it doesn't matter what team we/they put out, you can only beat what's in front of you.
The arguments about money are useless...Spurs spent more on those players because they've got the financial capabilities to do so. Also: Modric, Keane, Defoe, Palacios etc etc are actually better players than ours. Sorry, but it's the truth.
I love the rivalry between the two clubs, some of the banter between fans is brilliant. However, both sets of fans should have the grace to accept defeat to a better team on the day. We will get the better of them again, but I just hope the author of the site then makes an article that doesn't make the rest of us look like idiots again.
It works both ways I know, as there are plenty of Spurs fansites that have similarly stupid articles, but perhaps we could have one less if you pay attention to all the comments on here? - 12 April 2009 15:40
Oh...and I will also say:
I hope other Spurs fans reading this will hate the arguments of some of your "fans" on here.
To say all your fans are "better people with nicer houses" and all that...ridiculous.
It works both ways, but that kind of argument has no place in football or any sporting forum.
If we get rid of those kinds of fans...football would be a much better place. - 12 April 2009 15:42
1980 .....................
- 12 April 2009 15:48
WHo exactly where these first team superstars The Sham were missing?
I assume they are better players than our first teamer out ie Palacios, Defoe, Hutton.
Seriously who were these players missing from West Hams first team, that would surely have changed the outcome of the game. I need a laugh.
We must be talking world class players here. - 12 April 2009 17:27
Are we are talking Carlton Cole??
Stop it stop it. i cant take anymore.
Holy fuck how funny
Carlton cole.
HA - 12 April 2009 17:29
That's entirely true.
I don't think money is the issue here, neither is whether a football match is a no-contest because fielded players are deemed to be 'reserves'... which is sadly insulting to the players getting a chance, or those having to tow the line and play out of position.
The 'reserves' argument is one of the most tedious and exhausted in football, and it's also the one that kills off any magic of cup competitions... "Yeah, but we were playing our reserves."
Regardless, it's that particular club, playing under that name and badge. End of.
Granted, it's a pain in the arse when that selection is dictated by injuries and suspensions, but it's part of the lottery and a manager will have to work to develop a squad that can adapt and cope with that.
I didn't think either team was spectacular, irrespective of price-tag. Your defense coped incredibly well with us for the entire game. We lacked the final product. It was always going to take a chance turn to get a goal.
I thought the decisive factor was in the midfield where you seemed to be giving the ball away so often. Again, fair-play, due to a selection crisis.
It was a game of football. It had nothing to do with who had posher boots and therefore lost out on the earnest, keeping-to-their-roots prize. If that's what the author's after... then his team won, but it's hardly worth clinging on to for years on end until clubs go under. - 12 April 2009 17:41
Hammers fans go mental when they have a slither of success (i.e. finish above Spurs or go one round further in a cup comp than Spurs) but otherwise you come out with playground idiocy like "you spent more than we did" "we had injuries" "well, you didn't win the UEFA Cup so what was the point of qualifying for it" and the best one of all: "we finished closer to the top in '86 than you did when you last finished 3rd"! Or even better "At least we didn't buy Bent". No but you bought David Kelly all those yrs ago when he blew Spurs out for first team footy at the Boleyn and I remember pi**ing myself for years afterwards coz he was so shi*e. And Bent scored against you lot in the 4-0 last yr. And Zomora, that crock of cra*, scored I think his only goal for Spurs in a league cup tie against you lot (when you were in the Championship!) to knock you out. And Rebrov in the FA Cup. I love being a Spurs fan for many reasons but one of the best is the buzz of mugging you lot off yr after yr after yr! I can't wait for our new stadium to see the look of jealousy on your boats although we'll prob need to wait for a cup match coz you could be on one of your regular sojourns down into the Championship esp if the liquidators of the Icelandic banks decide to turn Boleyn into Asda and make you share with FC Barking. Nice sticky tape over your sponsors name by the way, real class!
- 12 April 2009 17:43
- 12 April 2009 19:38
- Hammersfan said...
Lots of passion here but not much logic. You Tottenham fans, do you remember 'Arry complaining about the fixture pile up and surrendering your UEFA Cup place by fielding s "reserve" team? That was a valid excuse for you then, despite spending all that money! Of course money is a factor, that's why the big 3 are the big 3. You guys seem to be proud of the fact that you buy rather than produce your own players. At West Ham, maybe through necessity, we do it a different way, a better way in my view. Anyway, thanks for your passionate contributions!
- 12 April 2009 19:44
No, you're absolutely wrong.
It wasn't a valid excuse for us.
Who would we be proffering the excuse to?
Tottenham Hotspur played, irrespective of who the players were.
Tottenham Hotspur went out of the competition.
End of subject.
It wasn't an excuse to strut around a blog crying off and howling that it was only our 'reserves' after all. Digging for excuses. That's one of the limpest, most pathetic things a football fan can come out with. Eleven players faced each other under their respective club badges.
You're pushing that pathetic 'reserves' argument which frankly slates your own players, then on the other side of the coin trying to be noble and take moral-high-ground with some idea about how grass-roots and earnest your Barclays Premiership side are.
So, by that measurement, Leyton Orient are far superior to West Ham.
As for your home-grown ethic, thank God you got rid of Tevez, then? he must've really been showing you up.
All of this would be your idea of logic, then. - 12 April 2009 20:04
The one thing we have in common is that both set of fans demand a certain football now if that is delivered because a club is able to buy good players then so what?The bottom line is Spurs will always have more chance of actually winning things than Wet Spam.So who cares about your home grown players?You don't play better football(which is what I pay to watch) and you sure as hell never win anything.Look at the 2 clubs history's etc.We don't consider you our rivals and in all honesty the two clubs are miles apart when it comes to history,finances,trophy's and once our new ground is built there will be even more of a gulf.Stick to your real rivals Millwall eh? You NEVER beat us! get it.If you could actually buy good players you would in a heartbeat .It's sad because you have to pretend that doing it your way is better even though YOU ARE $hit.I genuinely feel sorry for you.You act like you choose to do it that way when in reality you are a small club that HAS to do it.We've even done the double on ya in officially our worst ever start of season etc.Give it up Mugs
- 12 April 2009 20:06
My Hammers friend, a "better way" is not a description I would apply to anything west ham do and if you think that you are somehow keeping the traditions of the beautiful game alive down at the Boleyn by doing things "the West Ham way" then you must be on drugs. And I notice you lot jumped on the money bandwagon when the Icelandic muppets took over, waiving yer wads around like Loadsamoney - then reverted to type once you were skint again. Loyal fans but a very average club these days I'm afraid.
- 12 April 2009 20:07
"So, by that measurement, Leyton Orient are far superior to West Ham."
Absolutely Great point lol! - 12 April 2009 20:08
The stupid thing is that if they do bring anyone through that is any good then that player looks to leave as quick as poss because they know it's just a nice little club to start at because they HAVE to play ya.They are always quick to leave though and always have done going way back.All this reserves BS as well is just an admission to the fact that your squad aint very good and these so called amazing youngsters are not that ...well..amazing....
- 12 April 2009 20:15
If anyone can't be arsed to read this article it says...
'We are a feeder club.'
. - 12 April 2009 20:19
- Hammersfan said...
LOL Lots have read it mate and responded. As for "Feeder Club" jibes, I give you Carrick, Keane and Barbietop! But you have to buy them first!!!!
- 12 April 2009 20:23
again you point out the different levels of the two clubs.If we are a feeder club then it's to man u ,liverpool where as you are a feeder club to the likes of us and villa.We bought carrick off of you for peanuts then he raised his profile playing at a bigger,better club and we then sold him for 18mill.No one would pay you that as you're crap do ya see the difference.Also west Ham have done it since time began Carrick,Lampard,cole blah ,blah yet we prob got more for Carrick than you got for all of them put together,why?because we are richer and bigger so need to be paid more for our players.
- 12 April 2009 20:31
Nice one Hammersfan. You got us there.
I'm sure I heard a pane of glass breaking somewhere. Keep throwing those stones.
...because of course, we didn't recoup massively over the odds for each one of them.
Carrick and Berbatov, repaying their fees in spades of course. Legends in Manchester, the pair of them.
Cheers for Carrick by the way. and Defoe. and Kanoute. I would say keep 'em coming, like you say, that's how you do it at West Ham. Clever, clever stuff... but the well looks to have run dry.
Do the maths carefully and correctly on Keane as regards what we've paid out and received. Marvellous piece of work.
Do you wear glasses with coke bottle-bottom lenses?! - 12 April 2009 20:34
If we are a feeder club then at least it's to the top of the tree, we make a lot of money from it and more importantly re invest it.West Ham are our feeder club LOL.You will soon go bust probably then watch for the fire sale and egg on that director of yours face hahahaha
- 12 April 2009 20:35
- Hammersfan said...
The really sad thing is that we declined to take your money for Bellyache. That was one player we should have sold to Tottenham!
- 12 April 2009 20:39
I honestly can't think of any of wet spams players I'd want at Spurs anymore.That says it all ....
- 12 April 2009 20:39
Hammersfan, credit to you though, you seem to be taking this in good humour. I can't fault that. Good on you.
- 12 April 2009 20:40
- Hammersfan said...
Mate, as passionate as I am, it is a game. You lot are as passionate about your club as I am about mine - credit to you lot too!
- 12 April 2009 20:44
Hammers fan- Fair play you done us a favour not selling us him!Most Spurs fans didn't want him anyway tbh!I can only think that Green would be the only player you have that could maybe command a starting place at Spurs these days so I can't see us coming calling for any of your players .
- 12 April 2009 20:44
- Hammersfan said...
You wont get them anyway mate. Watch Collison and Tomkins, they will make you eat your words. Behrami would walk into your team. So would Ashton if he is ever fit!
- 12 April 2009 20:49
Hammers fan -you have a couple of players I rate but like you said "when fit".Why is it that when you did have a bit of money to spend you bought mercenary's that came for the wages or injury prone mercenary's that came for the wages lol.You was happy spending then but spent badly imvho.The kids you have seem ok but from the outside looking in nothing special.you have a couple that would have a chance at Spurs(and would jump at it lol) but none that would walk into our team imo.Still you are one of the more ok Irons it seems so fairplay.I have a few mates that are Irons that I've known since right back at school and ya aint all muppets.catch ya later. COYS
- 12 April 2009 20:57
- Hammersfan said...
Cheers mate. re our signings, for our Curbishley, read your Oneday Ramos!
- 12 April 2009 20:58
Lol fair enough! It only takes one to feck it all up.I just wish Bent would of taken the bigger wedge at your gaff!lol anyway laters mate.
- 12 April 2009 21:01
Spurs have been spending money they can afford to spend. West Ham is in trouble due to overspending (wages, wages, wages). Keane have cost us 2m in net transfer fees, ljungberg cost you more. In addition ljungberg was paid more than twice as much pw. Neill cost little, but his wages...oh dear. It's also important to remember that some of the most expensive west ham players are so injury prone that they almost never feature in the squad, and that west ham loan several of their players which is falsely deflating the price of the squad.
- 12 April 2009 23:48
- Hammersfan said...
All valid points but doesn't make up for a £104m difference does it mate?
- 12 April 2009 23:54
You know we belong together
you and I for ever and ever
no matter where you are
you're my guiding star
and from the very first moment I saw you
I never felt such emotion
I'm walking on air
just to know that you're there
hold me in your arms
don't let me go
I want to stay forever
Home and away
with you each day
let me be the one that you turn to
someone you can rely on
closer each day
Home and away - 13 April 2009 11:46
- Hammersfan said...
Dear God Anon, so where are we going on our honeymoon?
- 13 April 2009 12:34
Not reading all the above so apologies if this is a repeat. Ilunga has not officially been bought so technically is still on loan - trim 3m, takes it down to 29m and more than 1/6th is Boa Morte ffs! So many comment on this one...time to go forum. I'm looking for a new home, I barely even look in the window at my old one anymore!
- 13 April 2009 19:59
- Hammersfan said...
Den, I don't know how to do it. If you know, I'd gladly put in some spade work to get it off and running.
- 13 April 2009 20:03