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In the late 1950s, the now sadly departed great Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe wrote his masterpiece, Things Fall Apart . I remember readin...

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Palestinians Angry! Dog Bites Man! Sun Rises in East! Monday Follows Sunday! Obama Plays Golf!

Slow day, so I read the BBC. Even more so than the NY Times, the once-reputable BBC, the BBC of coded messages to the anti-Nazi resistance, now can be trusted only to provide a glimpse into the oh-so conventional, predictable, and uninteresting leftist mindset which dominates the news media in the West. The Palestinians are angry a headline on the BBC website tells us. They are angry because Israelis are building homes in Jerusalem and the West Bank. If they weren't building them, would the Palestinians be less angry? I wonder.

It's Sunday. I am waiting for my son to come help me move patio furniture into the garage so we can rip up our backyard tomorrow and then pave it over. My wife, the hater of all things nature, the woman who loves her two SUVs, the one who has declared "I will go to the beach when it is paved and all the sharks are dead," has decreed no more grass, bushes, trees, etc., in the Diployard. Paving stones as far as the eye can see! So when dealing with demands to pave an area, I, of course, think of the Middle East.



We also saw the amazing phenomenon of Palestinian refugees. Arabs displaced by fighting started by Arabs were dumped by Arabs on the tender mercies of the UN. The Arab countries wanted nothing to do with them. The UN being all about programs, of course, created the monstrosities known as Palestinian refugee camps, and established a massive money-sucking bureaucracy to administer them and beg for ever greater amounts of money--most of it from Western countries, including the USA. These camps, really mini versions of Detroit, held tens-of-thousands of people with nothing to do except get free stuff, and, of course, listen to political hacks lecture them about the perfidious Jews and Westerners, and recruit them into violent gangs. Please note that between 1948 and 1967, some one million Jews were expelled from their homes in Arab countries, such as Iraq. There were no UN refuge camps for them; no international bureaucracies set up to protect and "guide" them. No. They moved, and as refugees have done since time immemorial, got on with their lives. I also would note there were no perennial UN programs for the refugees from East Germany. No. West Germany absorbed them into its society and that was that. The same with the Poles and the many other Eastern Europeans displaced by Soviet Communism. No UN programs for them.

That murderous hypocrisy has continued to this day: What is held by the Arabs belongs to the Arabs; what is held by Israel belongs to . . . surprise! . . . the Arabs! When Arab pathologies create a humanitarian mess, the West gets to clean it up. We could expect this nonsense from the corrupt Arab regimes, but it has become a staple of Western leftist thought, as well. We see this in the hysteria over Jewish settlements. It seems that the UN and much of the West have bought the idea that Jews cannot live near Muslims. Areas seen as once Muslim must remain that way forever. That is certainly how Islamists think when, for example, they turn their attention to Spain.

Most interesting, we hear nothing about the million or so Arabs with Israeli citizenship, the freest and most prosperous Arabs in the Middle East. If Jews cannot live among Muslims, should the reverse be true, as well? Should the Israelis kick out the million Arabs in Israel in retaliation for the million Jews kicked out of Arab lands? Maybe the BBC can tell us.

Nothing to see here, move along. Take that Adirondack chair with you.



  1. Paving stones as far as the eye can see?

    Why sir, I think you're advocating for the creation of a giant radioactive parking lot where all the sweet little Palestinians currently live.

    I recognize the code words and dog whistle. And to you sir, I say Good Day! I will be complaining to your superiors. Let this serve as a warning!

    "When the going gets tough, it means Barack is in the rough, having missed the fairway again." Who with, we don't know, don't want to know, and don't care.

    Although, Barack's Secret Service detail is probably wondering about that incredibly slice the CiC has.


    1. You know he must be a really lousy golfer or the MSM would be writing odes in praise of his transcendental game.

    2. Well I spoke too soon!
      " In a rarity, the pool of photographers and reporters following Obama were allowed to watch him finish the first hole.

      He chipped onto the green about 15 feet (three meters) past the hole. His first putt had a chance, but missed left, prompting the body English. It took two putts from there to close out the hole."

      Three putt from 15' answers my question.

    3. So what if he chipped on from 15 feet. How many strokes did it take for President Present to get 15' out? Bonus question: Par 5, 4 or 3?

      Since we all know the President throws like a girl, it's hard to believe President Present has any ability whatsoever at golf.


    4. First he three putted from 15', granted that's possible for anyone, but most people have little trouble being down in two. He had 3 putts and 1 chip, so doing speculative math, it's a minimum double bogey for par 5, minimum bogey for par 4, and minimum double for par 3. Emphasis minimum.

    5. Every girl I've ever known could throw better.

    6. The sequester, however, removes at least three strokes from his game.

    7. Have to be per hole, must be hole bias free you know.


    I've always told people that I support the "Palestinians' right to return." But, only if it is a two-way street. When displaced Jews can return to their homes or be given financial compensation for what they lost; then Palestinians can do the same; but, not until ALL are given the SAME rights.

    Oddly, this comment usually shuts up those on the left who haven't thought through their anti-Israeli stance.

    1. RE: "I've always told people that I support the "Palestinians' right to return."

      YES, I agree whole heartedly. The Palestinians have the right to return to whatever 3rd world hell-hole they crawled out from. Better yet, let them assign to themselves the right to return to the 'dust' of the earth: Genesis 3:19.

      This entire conflagration can easily be placed upon the head of the Israeli leadership. Mercy can become very complicated and costly. If they had just terminated their unwelcome guests to Israel, then there would be nobody to claim anything about the mythical Palestinian 'homeland'. The Palestinian 'graveyard' perhaps, but not the 'homeland'. The only happy Muslim/Arab seems to be one who is dead or is actively trying to kill somebody else. Therefore, why not make all the imitation Palestinians 'happy'?

  3. The Palestinians have a homeland. It's called Jordan...
    And wasn't it dubbed "Bloody Tuesday" or something like that when the Jordanian army slaughtered and drove thousands of Palestinians out of the country and that is how they ended up in Lebanon, a formally Christian majority country?

    1. You are absolutely correct, Jordan is the designated homeland of the Pali-swinians, however decent society cannot stand their presence.

      The purging of the Pali-swinians that you refer to (and the lead-up to it) is described reasonably succinctly here:

  4. " but it has become a staple of Western leftist thought"

    All we are saying is give guilt a chance,
    All we are saying is give guilt a chance,
    C'mon everybody sing it!

  5. Ah...the Religion of Perpetual Outrage.
    Everyday, some new and imagined slight they deem worthy of murdering innocents over.

    1. Well, KellyJ, this appears a good time to add this "public service announcement", that the accurate comment "Religion of Perpetual Outrage" would be the first of the recently coined, Ten Islam Commandments (--By (commentator) Wellington of Jihad Watch)
      I: No religion handles criticism worse than Islam.
      II: No religion fears and hates alternative interpretations to its Received Wisdom more than Islam.
      III: No religion even remotely threatens bodily harm or death for mocking it as Islam does.
      IV: No religion is as devoid of spirituality as Islam is.
      V: No religion produces haters in droves the way Islam does.
      VI: No religion is so hostile to the concept of romantic love as Islam is.
      VII: No religion is anywhere near the burden to the world that Islam is.
      VIII: No religion would run away from someone like Robert Spencer as much as Islam does.
      IX: No religion even remotely produces as many violent adherents as Islam does.
      X: No religion ceasing to exist would benefit (all) mankind more than would Islam's cessation.

      Of course one could argue a quarter billion plus bodies, usually butchered, and the infamous mark of the zabiba and beard, are the proof of spirituality through it's successful prayers for death.......and of course the great benefits derived of imposed population control--RIIIGGHHT.

  6. UNRWA has been enabling the Palestinian anti-Israeli mobs/intifada for almost 65 years. Perhaps if the West stopped financial- & NGO-support of education, health care, social services and emergency aid to the Palestinians, they'd give more thought to the type of leadership they should elect. But perhaps that's asking too much of a population that's been brainwashed for 6 decades to blame Israel for all of its problems.

  7. I've been away for awhile - how lovely to be back. I see you have not lost your edge.
    Interesting to find out you had to choose "retirement" over capitulating.
    Gratefully, 8th Reader

    1. Hey Dip, am I right on that or do I have it wrong?
      I really would appreciate someone to respond to my "Bloody Tuesday" claim.
      How did the Palestinians end up in Lebanon?

    2. Baba,
      I think it's called "Black September". If I remember right the PLO was going to launch a coup against King Hussein, but he struck first with his Bedouin troops( who at the time hate the town living Pals). Killed a bunch then ousted the rest out of country.

  8. Speaking of Arafat, didn't they dig him up looking for some polonium-210 in his painties? I would think they would have found it by now. I mean, you don't just go around digging up cadavers looking for half-life's of something or another. Nor should one go around tossing out accusations of treachery and intrigue without, well, proof. It's a cacophony of crickets, I tells ya.


    1. I know a PhD. in international studies that swears the guy died of AIDS from boinking child male prostitutes...
      That story is at least as reasonable as dying from polonium.

    2. I'm not picky as to the means, just glad he's gone. (And still wishing the Israelis would have chosen the immediate aftermath of 9/11 as a time to take the gloves off and just whack him...)

      [Word verification: "difaya 184". Don't understand it myself, but I suspect it means something fairly ominous in Arabic...]

    3. " I mean, you don't just go around digging up cadavers looking for half-life's of something or another." Heh, that's funny!

  9. Here's a thought. Since the Balfour Declaration of 1917 (see link below) right up until the present day, I wounder how many times the map/borders of Europe has been changed ?

    You can take any number of countries to see not just how boarders have changed, but how countries have come and gone, and in some cases, come back again.

    Does my country, England, still hanker for our lost lands in Normandy and Aquitaine (France) ? No !

    Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire. Jews and Palestinians lived there under their rule.

    Today, the claim for Jews to leave Palestine is not so much a call to right a social-political wrong. More to rid Muslim lands of non-muslims.


    1. Yes, nations' borders have changed throughout history; in modern times, for example, look at Poland, Russia, throughout E. Europe, Germany, Mexico, Bolivia, etc. Somebody can always have claim somewhere depending how far back one goes. Islam, however, openly states that what was once under Islamic rule must return to that status.

    2. anonymous form Britain:

      Re Normandy, aren't Guernsey and Jersey (and maybe a couple other tidbits in the Channel) all that's left of the Duchy, and in those bailiwicks they speak of "the Queen our Duke"? Just curious.

  10. Dip?

    Your "mini versions of Detroit" made me have to stop and dry out my keyboard - from now on I'll be finished with coffee prior to click here.

    You've travelled Sir, to more (I suspect) places than me - so I was wondering (I'd come across another named "organization" the CCIF) - [Cmte 'Against Islamaphobia in France - I don't speak French so I haven't a clue where the extra 'C' fits].

    My question is - You ever been anywhere where say, Presbyterianophobia, maybe Episcopalianophobia gets mentioned in the press?

    Just curious.


  11. Only slightly off topic, but I just have to ask whether you have any better insight towards what kind of international restraint is really keeping Israel on this suicidal death march of coddling those who wish to kill them?
    I have *no* idea what's going on over there, or how there can be such enormous international pressure that Israel can take such leave of its sense of self-preservation.
    They not only tolerate, but sometimes nearly endorse or advocate on behalf of millions of next door neighbors who are avowedly only waiting for the right time and tools to strike and decimate Israel.
    If the 'Palestinians' had access to nuclear weapons, Tel Aviv would be a sheet of glass and a dust storm.

    What are they waiting for? Is it their hope that those who wish to kill them will simply have a change of heart *before* they develop the means to destroy Israel?

    I am *absolutely* sure that the US would not tolerate such a threat on our doorstep, particularly not when we have the means to remove it. But then, we haven't previously acted with restrictions of international acceptance (yes, we do right now, but if things got hot again, I still have confidence that our pillsbury-dough-boys-of-morality would be quickly trounced out of office).

    When I think about it outside the context of enormous external pressure on Israel, I just have no idea why Israel is so idle in this conflict.

    1. I'm going to violate tradition and self-reply to sign my post(s)
      - reader #1482

    2. That's a good point. It seems at time as if Israel just gets exhausted.

  12. One other point about the Palestinian Arab refugee problem:

    About the same time, there were a few million Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians moving from Eastern Bengal, Western Panjab, Sindh, and a few other places that became Pakistan; and a few million Muslims leaving what became Bharat (India). Yet these millions of refugees were left to be absorbed by the receiving states without any international qualms of conscience.

    I also understand that the Arab states still will not naturalize the fourth-generation descendants of "an-Nakhbar" (please correct me if I'm wrong). This is inexcusable. In an era which not too long ago saw Oudh-born Pervez Musharaf sit down with Lahore-born Manmohan Singh to discuss defusing tensions between Pakistan and India and when so many descendants of the Maghreb, Mesopotamia, and Yemen are no-questions-asked Israelis, the continued "refugee" status of the Falastin Arabs in the Arab states is a scandal. Given that the state-owned media of every Arab country uses the plight of the "poor, poor Palestinians" to whip up hatred of the USA (as Israel's ally), it ought to be a mandatory talking point of every US diplomat in the area to remind the Arab states that our fifteen-times-accursed Great Shaitan of a country has given passport-holding, property rights, voting rights, and public office eligibility to more victims and offspring of an-Nakhbar than any seven Arabic-speaking states combined, apart from Hashemite Jordan and Israel itself.

  13. I believe that the ruling caste in Israel are suffering from the sin of Pride. They think they can be "better" than other people, and hence they refuse to kill enough enemies to defuse the situation. I say this as a woman who has lots of Israeli relatives who think I'm bloodthirsty when I say that they should womp places that send missiles into Israeli communities.

    The vicious Europeans who organize boycotts against Israelis should also fear for their lives, just like those who speak against Islam. What do Jews gain by being overly "nice"? Nothing.

    Sultan Knish has several good recent posts on the costs of being "nice." The most recent one is about the United States. An earlier one is about Israel. He writes about the many deaths that occur when governments show unnecessary weakness.


  14. Bret Stephens has a fun op/ed in today's WSJ about changing borders. It may be locked for nonsubscribers. If requested, I can copy the whole thing & paste, but it would be a very long comment.