Sulaiman Arain is a fifth year UC Irvine engineering student, and he just had a letter published in UCI's student newspaper. In this letter, he attempts to do his best impression of what political argumentation looks like:

Now, to the extent that the Muslim students he's defending were wearing pro-Intifada shirts (read: not peaceful), this is a little bit dishonest. Also a reason it's dishonest: the UCI Muslim Student Union regularly brings in speakers who celebrate Hezbollah's violent attacks on Israelis. One more reason it's dishonest: having Israel get overrun by the so-called refugees - as he clarifies later, all 10 million of them, up to the fifth generation - would result in an anti-Jewish bloodbath. We're talking about the darkest pits of global anti-Semitism, where resentment and hate have served as the basis for what passes for ideology for half a century.

But let's pretend he's telling the truth, and he's only advocating wiping out the Jewish state - and not any particular Jew (because that's exactly how it would happen). It's still anti-Semitic.

(1) When placed in the context of leftist human rights activism, it often coexists with the claim that just about every ethnic group, no matter how trivially distinct from other ethnic groups, deserves their own state. Except the Jews, who don't. So Palestinians, despite being very close to Egyptians or Jordanians, deserve their own state. But Jews, who have been hounded throughout history, do not. That, it seems to us, is anti-Semitic.

(2) Let's assume that all the lies about Israel are true: it is a genocide-implementing, apartheid-enforcing state. By these measures, it's at worst as bad as Serbia or South Africa. And yet - and this is crucial - no one has ever advocated wiping those states off the map. Both the policy of destroying Israel and the viciousness with which it is advocated point to something particularly illogical and ugly - in a word, anti-Semitism.

Oh, and one more thing:

The thing about Palestinians guaranteeing basic human rights to Jews as they're overrunning them with 10 million of the most anti-Semitic people on the planet - stupid. The thing about the right of returning meaning the destruction of Israel - unusually honest. Or at least more honest than the Saudis and the Europeans.

References:
* Calling for Israel’s Destruction Not Anti-Semitic [New University Online]

Previously:
* UC Irvine Course Description: American Unilateralism Responsible For Islamist Barbarism
* FrontPage Writeup On UC Irvine: Jihadism Deeply Entrenched. Nice That UCI Hillel Is Finally Noticing.
* UC Irvine Muslims React to Anti-Terrorism Memorial

Sometimes, the obtuseness of journalists still somehow manages to stun us a little. Yehuda Litani's got an oh so heartwarming story of how Jews and Turks cooperated in renovating the Temple Mount in the late 1800s, and how this event was commemorated on a plaque. Oh - and how the Wakf destroyed that plaque in his ongoing campaign to wipe out evidence of a Jewish connection to the Temple Mount. Such a mind-bogglingly ironic twist practically writes itself... unless you're determined not to notice the mind-boggling irony. Then you just sound like a pathetic bleeding heart:

The first buried lede: the Turkish involvement in the Temple Mount is a disaster. It's the first step to the internationalization of Jerusalem - something that Israel's enemies have been trying to accomplish since 1967. Through the 1950s and up till 1967, of course, Jordanian rule was just fine for East Jerusalem. It was just fine even though the Jordanians systematically desecrated Jewish holy sites in ways that would have made the Nazis take pause ("yeah, I dunno about using the gravestones of ancient Jews to pave the way to latrines... maybe we can just vandalize the cemetery and leave it at that?") It was only after 1967, when Israel had taken over and guaranteed the sanctity of all religions' sites, that internationalization became a hot topic again.

The second buried lede is actually the very last paragraph of the article (how's that for burial?)

That's right - this beautiful symbol of Jewish-Muslim cooperation has been destroyed by the Muslim Waqf - who, incidentally, was placed in a position to destroy it because Israel went out of their way to guarantee Muslim rights. So the Turks are coming in to investigate Israeli destruction of the Temple Mount (false) and the story is about how Muslims are destroying the Temple Mount (true) - but somehow, that contrast doesn't make it into the article (h/t: MR reader Merav)

References:
* Friendship on Temple Mount [YNet]

Previously:
* Turns Out, Jerusalem Really Was Important To Ancient Jews
* The LA Times: "Islam gets concessions; infidels get conquered." Ummm... Wow
* Do They Just Get To Make Things Up Now?

We're sure that when he writes "Jews", he actually means Zionists:

"What do you want," asks the institutional anti-Zionist, "People came out against it! Stop complaining!" The worry here is not that this is permissable to say in polite European company - although, honestly, it is permissable. The point is that this is now one of the things that's routinely said out loud. It's condemned by popular opinion, but popular opinion takes notice of it. It's part of the public discourse.

We recently discovered that there's actually a name for this phenomenon. It's called the Overton Window, and it more or less describes how you can move the window of acceptable discourse by saying things even more unacceptable. So once, it would have been absurd to suggest that Israel give up security just to "test" whether the Palestinians will kill them this time. But in a world where global leaders and Western media outlets are openly questioning Israel's right to exist - well, opening the borders and hoping for the best seems positively tame.

We live in a world where the most vile anti-Semitism is openly aired in the halls of power - and they're getting more shameless about it every single day.

References:
* EU parliament deputy's Anti-Semitic booklet sparks outrage [Ha'aretz]
* Anti-Semitism: France’s National Shame [FrontPage]
* Overton Window [Wikipedia]

Previously:
* Global Mainstreaming Of Anti-Semitism, South Korea Edition
* Global Mainstreaming of Anti-Semitism, Comedy Festival Edition
* Global Mainstreaming Of Anti-Semitism, Hollywood Edition

She's no Tasha or Dishka. But we wouldn't necessarily throw her out of bed:

What? Stop judging us. We need the pageviews.

References:
* Bar Refaeli [SI.com]

Previously:
* Hot Israeli Chicks On YouTube
* Inquiring Minds Want To Know: Does Touching A Woman Make A Pathologically Sexist Muslim Doctor Unclean?
* UCLA Student Gets Tasered By Campus Police. Only 33,000 More To Go.

Move along folks. Nothing to see here except an unremitting pattern of anti-Jewish desecration:

If we could speak directly to the Jewish settlers in Hebron for a second: we don't really like most of you. We're sure that there are some nice folks among you. And obviously if you're a reader you're a man or woman (but likely a man) of discriminating tastes. But on the whole, most of what we hear about you makes us think you're kind of crazy. Also, you seem a little bigoted. Not like "you oppose Islamofascism so leftists call you bigoted" bigoted. Like many of you seem to really dislike Arab schoolchildren - and on the whole, we here at MR are pro-school children.

That said - it's interesting to see what kind of religious desecration triggers global riots that the left rushes to "understand" and "empathize with" (e.g. cartoons), and what kind of religious desecration registers nary a blip on the radar of global media organizations (e.g. real desecration of sacred Jewish objects). It's not a matter of saying "well if the settlers weren't there, this wouldn't have happened" - the fact is that this did happen, and all of the explanations that people make for Muslim anti-Jewish bigotry are just so many pretexts.

What - you think if the settlers weren't there the Arabs of Hebron wouldn't desecrate holy Jewish objects? Are you stupid?

PS - memo to those readers (which is none of you, we'd guess) who believe that "it's not any particular fundamentalism that's the problem, it's fundamentalism in general". That's actually not true. Muslim fundamentalists regularly destroy Jewish holy objects because their religious authorities sanction it. Jewish fundamentalists are prohibited from damaging mosques by Israel's Chief Rabbi, who - as you might have guessed by the title - carries not a little bit of religious authority. How about this? You're not allowed to spout this idiocy again until you find a Muslim cleric of similar authority who has issued fatwas against desecrating Jewish synagogues.

References:
* Hevron Jewish Religious Items Desecrated For 3rd Time This Month [Arutz Sheva]
* Press relieves Palestinian family in Hebron [YNet]
* Joseph's Tomb [Wikipedia]
* Israeli Chief Rabbi Issues Edict Against Any Jew Who Damages Mosques [MR]

Previously:
* Koran Riots Seem A Little Hypocritical
* Hamas Synagogue Desecration Continues
* The LA Times: "Islam gets concessions; infidels get conquered." Ummm... Wow

Oh it's true:

In most countries, throwing rocks at soldiers - your own or other countries' - generally gets you more than a catch and release wrist slap. So with this being evidence of Lebanese public sentiment, we're holding out a lot of promise for UNIFIL's mission.

We were originally going to just have a giggle about the digg headline for this story - Spanish peacekeepers stoned. But then we saw that Pamela already already had the best drug reference of the week with Danish Cartoon Publisher Gets White Powder, and figured that there's no way we can top that. Wait, what? Nobody else thought that was a drug reference...? Oh.

References:
* Spanish peacekeepers have another scuffle in South [Daily Star]
* Spanish peacekeepers stoned [digg]
* Danish Cartoon Publisher Gets White Powder [Altas Shrugs]

Previously:
* UNIFIL Given Authorization To Keep Sucking
* How Badly Does the UN Draft Screw Israel? Part IV: UNIFIL Will Not Get a Chapter 7 Mandate
* UNIFIL Involvement in 2000 Kidnapping Not News. Involvement of UNIFIL Soldier Who Thought of Lebanon as "Second Homeland", However, Is.

We like to think of ourselves as right of center, but we understand that many people don't share that interpretation. We get that. And so we also get that we don't exactly come off as neutral with our flood the zone, near-constant mockery of Secretary Rice's land for fake peace promises campaign.

But now there are people with actual jobs and careers that are just openly mocking the Secretary of State. When people like Rick Richman...

... and the One Jerusalem guys...

... are openly mocking an honored US Cabinet member - well, you have to ask yourself whether there's something to the idea that Abbas has neither the desire nor the authority to strike a peace deal with Israel.

References:
* Done and Done: Abbas Takes US Money and Cutting Edge Weapons, Tells the US That He's Siding With Hamas Anyway [MR]
* Secretary Rice: Iran Is Not Like Nazi Germany and Even If They Are We're Not Appeasing Them
* Abbas: Only Non-Terrorists Will Be Allowed To Get Land And Money From Israel - That They'll Give To Terrorists [MR]
* Secretary Rice: Sure, Abbas Is Allied With Genocidal Maniacs. That Doesn't Mean We Shouldn't Help Him. [MR]
* Condi's Diplomatic Breakthrough [Jewish Current Issues]
* Secretary Rice Sides With Muslim Extremists [One Jerusalem]

Previously:
* The State Department - Traitorous Incompetents or Incompetent Traitors?
* US State Department: By "Shun" Terrorist Governments We Mean "Not Shun"
* State Department Anti-Israel Ideology Gets Silly, Kills Americans

You know how you've been hearing that the world is taking a tough stand against Hamas, because of the whole "wipe out five million Jews" part of their platform? The Italian Ambassador said it, and we accused him of fibbing. The British Foreign Secretary said it, and we expressed skepticism. The US said it all the time, but actually increased aid.

The result has been that, since the Palestinians elected a government dedicated to wiping out the Jewish State, aid to them has actually increased by 10 percent:

You know, we really want to be snarky about this. But in a way, it's just too depressing: the world knows that there is a government and a population, counting millions of people locally and billions of people globally, who want to commit a second Holocaust. At best, they've paid lip service to the idea that they oppose mass genocide, and gone on funding it as enthusiastically as they can. Like, what do you say to that? "Don’t be anti-Semitic, guys, it's not nice?" It's not like they don't know what they're doing.

References:
* Italian Ambassador Comments III: This Is Where He Probably Fibs [MR]
* Wherein We Express Skepticism About Britain's Commitment To Not Recognizing Genocidal Lunatics [MR]
* Not Content With Not Cutting Off Palestinian Aid, US Will Actually Increase Funding to Supporters of Terrorism
* Made in Mecca: A roadmap for Europe

Previously:
* If Anti-Zionism Isn't Supposed to Be Anti-Semitism, Someone Should Probably Tell the Anti-Zionists
* Anti-Jewish Violence Skyrockets In Europe - Maybe It's Not Just Anti-Zionism After All
* Mainstreaming Of Global Anti-Semitism, South Korea Edition

We'll be honest: we're not former Prime Minister Netanyahu's biggest fans. The disgraceful way that he abandoned Prime Minister Sharon late in the game still grates. That said, holy hell the man is good. This (long) clip is from last November, but we just got it this morning from Aussie Dave while we were catching up with three months of JBlog posts:

The debate coach in us warms to the way that Bibi refuses to accept premises. The most obvious part is where Maher tried to compare evangelical Christians and radical Muslims, but it's all over the place. He's eloquent, he rejects the premise, and then presses his point. Almost like he's smart and knows how to argue. *

References:
* Bibi in Fine Form [Israellycool]
* Binyamin Netanyahu [YouTube]

Previously:
* Bloggers' Conference Call With Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
* Netanyahu Prepares to Install Labor Government
* Mere Rhetoric - Tomorrow's Polling Data Today

* The last paragraph of this post has been edited for style. This happened because the original post was written at 5am and sucked. Nothing substantive has been altered

Even you Peres haters have to admit that he's the most qualified sentient being in the known universe. The job of the President is to serve as Israel's public face - Peres is on a first name basis with more world leaders than Colette Avital knows. Even the party he abandoned is admitting that he's the top choice:

Oh, and he hasn't raped anybody lately. That sharply distinguishes him from the Presidential candidates that the Israeli right has supported recently. We're not sayin', we're just sayin'...

References:
* Labor betrays Avital for Peres [JPost]

Previously:
* Oh God. Not the Peres Is a Traitor Debate Again.
* The Next Time You Complain About Peres...
* Inmates Demand To Run the Asylum, Peres Hits Them On Nose With Newspaper, Says ''No''

For some reason, Ha'aretz has chosen to revisit the report that came out last year about how the BBC is too pro-Israel.

Which makes this as good a time as any to link to the Times Online article that out and out mocked the Board's absurd conclusions. Listen, the BBC lies about Israel. There's a useful, albeit truncated, catalog of mindbendingly insane anti-Israel bias.

But you really don't have to be well-versed in BBC bias to get a sense for the degree to which they are institutionally anti-Israel. The BBC lies about Israel. When they're not telling outright lies, they're lying by omission. And even when they're not lying by omission, they just can't stop sounding anti-Israel. It's a reflex. It goes all the way down.

References:
* Is the BBC too pro-Israel? Is The NY Times? [Ha'aretz]
* The BBC pro-Israeli? Is the Pope Jewish? [Times Online]
* Strange, Vaguely Anti-Israel BBC Headlines Make Them Seem Almost... Reflexively Anti-Israel [MR]
* The BBC Can't Even Write Coherent Anti-Israel Propaganda [MR]
* Strange, Vaguely Anti-Israel BBC Headlines Make Them Seem Almost... Reflexively Anti-Israel [MR]

Previously:
* Reporting Palestinian War Crimes And Israeli Responses, The BBC Way
* No Seriously, You Blithering BBC Idiot, Explain to the Poor Sheltered Pope How Islam Works
* BBC Misleads in Article, Clarifies in Sidebar, Regarding Israeli Settlements

Giggle:

We don't know where this happened, but in fairness to them it was probably rush hour so they figured they had an hour or two before traffic would start moving again.

And all she got was a ticket, huh? That's like - what - a billion times fewer floggings and executions than she'd get if she was in Saudi Arabia? Not that she'd be allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia...

References:
* Sex in fast lane halts traffic on Israeli road [Reuters]

Previously:
* Natalie Portman and Israeli Traffic
* University of Michigan Campuses Both Charming and Not Charming.
* Iranian Fascists Censor Bloggers, Illustrate Difference Between Actual and Imaginary Fascism

Yesterday we mocked the UC Irvine Hillel for finally figuring out that there's anti-Semitism on the UCI campus. Some of you, generous souls that you are, asked "but isn't this a step in the right direction?" Well obviously, yes it is. But there's something deeply wrong with Hillel's confused combination of identity politics and interfaith dialogue (thank you, 1970s movements). FrontPageMag has a great writeup on Reut Cohen, who's currently one of the student leaders of the UCI Zionist student group Anteaters for Israel:

And we're not just saying it's a great writeup because there are also links to MR buried in the article, although obviously, that helps. It also discusses Reut's blog at length - pointing out that it's one of the better places to keep track of the open jihadism on UCI's campus.

How did it come to this? To students openly - proudly - advocating glorious Intifada and violence after thuggishly screaming down an intellectual? Take equal parts:

(1) Supportive community of radical Muslims who enroll their kids in Little Leagues of teams glorifying jihad, pay for them to go to school nearby, and keep them in the community afterwards.
(2) Administrators who complain about uppity Jewish students in interviews with anti-Semitic hate groups
(3) National Jewish leadership that thinks the way to resolve tensions is to explain to the anti-Semites that Jews are nice

Mix.

References:
* Mere Rhetoric: Orange County Hillel Gets Idea: Maybe There's Anti-Semitism On UC Irvine's Campus [MR]
* UC-Intifada [FrontPageMag]
* reutrcohen.blogspot.com
* UC Irvine Course Description: American Unilateralism Responsible For Islamist Barbarism [MR]
* UC Irvine Gives Interview to Anti-Semitic Hate Group, Wonders Why Everyone Thinks There's Anti-Semitism on Their Campus [MR]
* Two Videos: Daniel Pipes Shouted Down At UC Irvine - UCI Administration Proud Of Insane Muslim Student Union Hate Speech [MR]

Previously:
* Lazy, Left Of Center Jewish Identity Politics Not Working Out
* The Imbecility of Interfaith Dialogue
* Global Jihadists Will Take Any Excuse To Kill Infidels

You kids have a hard time believing this, but there was actually a time when Hollywood enjoyed being patriotic more than they enjoyed being smug:

There's something vaguely familiar about this brainwashing...

References:
* Walt Disney [YouTube (user:skech3rs)]

Previously:
* It's Not the Fanaticism That Scares Us, It's the Fascism
* WaPo Discovers Egyptian Anti-Israel Movements, Gets Story Wrong Anyway
* MR Reacts to Bloggers' Conference Call With Israeli Ambassador Uri Lubrani - Public Diplomacy Probably Won't Work, and Counting On It Is Probably a Bad Idea

Oh well:

First of all, we're not convinced that telling Palestinians to turn their guns on Israelis is a sign that he wants to make peace with Israel. But even if it was - and this is kind of crucial - he is certainly not committed to the Quartet conditions. The Secretary is simply incorrect on that question:

He's whatever the opposite of committed is. Not committed?

References:
* Rice to Haaretz: This is not 1938, Iran is not Nazi Germany [Ha'aretz]
* The Oh-So-Moderate Abbas Urges Palestinians To Unite, Target Israelis [MR]
* Abbas: Recognizing Israel Not Required [MR]

Previously:
* Done and Done: Abbas Takes US Money and Cutting Edge Weapons, Tells the US That He's Siding With Hamas Anyway
* Tell Us, President Abbas, How Can We Help You Today?
* White House: Sure Abbas is Powerless, But That Doesn't Mean Israel Shouldn't Give Him Land

We're always eager to listen to how ostensibly pro-Israel Jews justify their support of the Democratic party. We understand that Heeb-reading New York and San Francisco hipsters can't care less about Israel, and we assume that they vote Democratic to make themselves feel superior to people with jobs and college degrees (or at least, with college degrees in majors other than Comp Lit). But the middle and upper class New England Jews who vote Democratic and pretend that they're casting a pro-Israel vote: you're the ones who drive us insane. Because really, you ought to know better. Let's take the speech that Barack Obama (he of we should negotiate with Syria fame) is going to give within a month:

Here's a little brainteaser for you: given that there's no support on the Palestinian side for peace with Israel (and don't say there is - if you think there is, then you're getting your news from the LA Times and ought not be making comments about Israel anyway)... any, given that there's no support on the Palestinian side for peace with Israel, what possible benefit is there for US pressure on Israel? Please articulate, in 1,000 words or less, what Israel can do to make the Palestinians like them. Hell, take 2,000 words.

Now listen, this part's important: no matter how personally pro-Israel a Democratic candidate is, their constituency is rabidly anti-Israel and their foreign policy team will be institutionally Arabist. As always, we can understand not voting Republican - we can't understand how you can be shameless enough to pull the lever Democratic.

PS - Or, at the very least, meet us halfway: feel free to vote for Democrats, but don't fool yourself into believing you're casting a pro-Israel vote. Seriously. You're just embarrassing yourself at that point.

References:
* Assad Threatened To Murder Lebanese Parliament Speaker. Plus: Obama Promises To Negotiate With Assad. [MR]
* Obama will soon make the case that he'll be as strong on Israel as anyone [Ha'aretz]

Previously:
* MR Has A Question For Democratic Jews: Are You Fucking Retarded?
* More Leaks Point To Democrats Holding Talks With Hamas Terrorists
* It's Official: You Can't Be Too Much Of A Genocidal Jew-Hating Maniac For Europeans Or Democrats

There's a lot to be written about the Rice-Abbas meetings that took place over the weekend. At some point we'll probably blog something about how Rice promised to boycott any terrorist government, and how we don't believe that. There's probably also something to be written about how Democrats think the US should negotiate with terrorists anyway. But buried deep inside the JPost report is something that's as infuriating as it is revelatory:

So let's break that down. Hamas will be in control of the Palestinian government since, well, they're the majority party in the Palestinian government. And the platform of that government doesn't recognize Israel because, well, Hamas doesn't recognize Israel. But Israel is supposed to pretend that Hamas isn't in charge, because the people they'll be talking to aren't from Hamas.

So Hamas - elected by a majority of Palestinians - will continue to pursue their genocidal agenda. But Israel is supposed to just kind of forget that in the background Hamas is running everything, and to undermine its own security in hopes of peace. Because when Hamas was relatively weak in the 1990s, they used Israeli concessions to commit mass murder - but now that they're strong and committed to wiping out Israel, they're - what - not going to do that?

Yet again, we feel the need to reference the dozens of times that Abbas more or less said that this is where he was going to end up

How about this: if the Palestinians elect people who are willing to make peace with Israel and can enforce that peace, Israel will give them land and money. In other words, when the Palestinians are willing and able to make peace Israel will make peace with them - and when they're not, Israel won't pretend otherwise? Is that too far outside the bounds of polite diplomacy?

References:
* Palestinians: Rice-Abbas talks 'difficult' [JPost]
* Done and Done: Abbas Takes US Money and Cutting Edge Weapons, Tells the US That He's Siding With Hamas Anyway [MR]

Previously:
* Abbas Complains That Israel Doesn't Trust Him
* US State Department: By "Shun" Terrorist Governments We Mean "Not Shun"
* This Is How the Palestinian Authority Will Dodge Its Treaty Obligations. Again.

Oh really?

Well in a way, she's kind of right. Hitler wanted to wipe out his enemies so he could take over their land and create living space for Germans. Iran has no intention of occupying Israel after they destroy it, because they figure that it'll be totally irradiated.

Her argument for why it's not 1938 is because much of the world opposes Iran right now. We would remind her that much of the world opposed Germany too - just not enough to do anything about the rise of the Nazi war machine. But we have a feeling that she already knows that.

References:
* Rice: World response to Iran not the same as Nazi appeasement [Ha'aretz]

Previously:
* Video: Iran Is Evil, Threatens To Destroy Israel, Murders Homosexuals
* Washington Post: We Were Wrong. Please Bomb Iran and Syria ASAP. Thank You.
* IAEA: Maybe Iran Is Developing Nukes and Maybe They're Not

Hey, Charles made it made it into YNet!

The LGF post is here if you haven't seen it yet. It's basically what the report describes - the widespread disemination of obviously fabricated propaganda. If Iranian media tries really, really hard they might actually be able to forge as many anti-Western pictures as the high-end AP and Reuters stringers.

We eagerly await DKos and Juan Cole explanations for how these are real photographs, andhow us unsophisticated neocons are just stupid warmongers.

References:
* Iran 'fakes' US photos [YNet]
* Iranian Fauxtography Bust [LGF]

Previously:
* Here's the Thing About the Anti-Israel Media: They Lie - Hezbollah Hides Among Civilians Edition
* Juan Cole - Fraud
* Media Dishonesty Is No Reason to Stop Trusting the Media - No Seriously, We Mean It

Well that's nice. From an AP report filed last week - it looks like people at Hillel have noticed that something's not quite right on UCI's campus. The Zionist Organization of American has had a discrimination lawsuit pending against the UCI administration for two years, so it's nice to see that the center-left Jewish groups have taken notice:

That little "hearsay" dig was added because students have been asking Hillel to be more militant for years, more or less to no avail. The solution proposed by the Hillel leadership has almost always defaulted to "more dialogue" with the Muslim students bringing in speakers who literally advocate genocide (wonder what those conversations would've been like...) So yeah, one might say that "there's a lot of people who are really concerned". Ah well, better late than never.

For bonus eyerolling, click through to the story and read the quotes from Hillel officials trying to wrap their minds around the situation. "There esems to be... an atmosphere of dislike for the state of Israel". Hey, you think? No really, these people are very good at their jobs.

References:
* Jewish group forming task force on anti-Semitism at UC Irvine [SF Gate]

Previously:
* UC Irvine Gives Interview to Anti-Semitic Hate Group, Wonders Why Everyone Thinks There's Anti-Semitism on Their Campus
* Terrrorists Hiding in Plain View at UC Irvine
* UC Irvine Outrage - Muslim Student Union Brings In Rabid Anti-Semite

H. Allen Orr and Daniel Dennett are having an absolutely vicious throwdown right now - over how much of a douchebag Richard Dawkins really is. They've been going at each other for well over a decade, and this time it's the New York Review of Books that's hosting the battle. Orr just unloaded on Dawkins last month, extensively mocking the world's least persuasive atheist:

Daniel Dennet - who, again, has been feuding with Orr for years - took exception to the review. Very, very unamused exception. Orr then responded in kind, and the NYRB printed both letters. Much amusement is being had by all, as they go back and forth about who is a more of an unfit scientist, a shoddy intellectual, and an all around bad human being. This is all via 3 Quarks Daily, which has - if you can handle the excitement - even more background on the deep, deep loathing that these two public intellectuals have for each other. Good times.

References:
* A Mission to Convert [NYRB]
* 'THE GOD DELUSION' [NYRB]
* H. Allen Orr and Daniel C. Dennett clash over Richard Dawkins [3 Quarks Daily]

Previously:
* Video: The Dawkins Delusion
* Reminder: "... Religion In General Is The Problem" Is An Excruciatingly Stupid Statement
* Evangelical Support of Israel - Now With Even More Good Will!

We try to avoid sports blogging because, well, we know you don't care. Except for the victories of our beloved Pittsburgh Panthers, which are obviously the most important thing in the world. But if you've got six minutes or so, here's a video conclusively proving that Kobe Bryant is, indeed, the best clutch player in the NBA:

The moving pictures, they don't lie.

References:
* Kobe Bryant Game Winners [YouTube]

Previously:
* University of Michigan Campuses Both Charming and Not Charming.
* Big East Update
* GO PANTHERS!

The big nose and black hat, of course, are hallmarks of Zionism. Which is why this cartoon - one of so many used to brainwash kids to hate Jews - has nothing at all to do with anti-Semitism:

How brave of them, to take a stand against all the Jewish Nazis of the world.

We originally found this video on the YouTube account of a rabid anti-Semite, who had it posted because he agreed with it (he even had anti-Semitism in scare quotes - because apparently this cartoon is the furthest thing from bigotry). The link you're seeing now is to a copy of the video we uploaded to our account - if you're from MEMRI and this isn't supposed to be in the public domain, let us know.

References:
* Vicious Iranian Anti-Semitism [YouTube]

Previously:
* ADL Thinks Real Hard, Identifies Religious Threat to American Jews - Christians!
* Iran Not Sure What Everyone's So Pissed Off About - Nuking Israel is Long Established Policy
* OneJerusalem.org Conference Call: Pastor John Hagee, Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Church [FAQ: Debunking Liberal Myths About Evangelical Support For Israel]

The US's man in the West Bank isn't that US's man any more:

Hey, you know what would be a really great idea? For the State Department to get the US government to give Abbas's troops cutting edge weapons. Because they'd never give them to Hamas! Except for the part where they're now explicitly allied with Hamas. But honestly, who could have seen that coming? Seriously, who could have known that a man who never made serious moves to stop terrorism, who openly incited terrorism, and whose troops engaged in terrorism - who could have known that such a man would end up siding with terrorists?

Well, we kind of knew that Abbas wouldn't demand that Hamas recognize Israel way back in October. You know how we knew? Because way back in October, he said that he wouldn't demand that Hamas recognize Israel. That was our tipoff (subtle, we know). Oh, and when he endorsed the de facto destruction of Israel. That kind of gave us the hint that he wasn't overly concerned with preventing Israel's destruction. But we don't have the training and expertise and sophistication and nuance of the US State Department, so we probably just couldn't tell what he really meant.

And now begins the inevitable slide to international recognition of Hamas even though they don't recognize any Palestinian obligations under any peace deal with Israel. A decade and a half of Israeli concessions - of giving up land and of freeing terrorists - and we're right back where we started, with Palestinian leaders unapologetically dedicated to the destruction of Israel. And people wonder why Israelis don't have much faith in Israeli-Arab peace treaties - or in the international community to demand that Israel's enemies live up to them

References:
* U.S. State Dept. official meets Abbas [Houston Chron]
* Mere Rhetoric: US Government To Give Palestinian Terrorists Cutting-Edge Weapons
* Mere Rhetoric: Palestinian Civil Society Watch - Abbas Sulks A Lot, Fails to Stop Terrorism
* Mere Rhetoric: The Oh-So-Moderate Abbas Urges Palestinians To Unite, Target Israelis
* Mere Rhetoric: Oh, So The Al-Aqsa Terrorist Brigade Is Loyal To Abbas After All?
* Mere Rhetoric: Abbas: Recognizing Israel Not Required
* Mere Rhetoric: Bonus Outrage: Abbas Rejects Two-State Solution, Eilat Bombing Happened After Israel Released Money To Him Anyway

Previously:
* US State Department Shines Again
* US State Department: By "Shun" Terrorist Governments We Mean "Not Shun"
* US State Department Shines Again

How on earth did we miss this the first time around? Jewish ingenuity at its most robust and amusing:

Read that again. There's a tech company that specializes in technologically exploiting loopholes in Jewish law, and they find great demand among some of the most religious of Jews. Using this as a basis for a discussion of differences between Jewish and Muslim fundamentalism is left as an exercise to the reader.

Now, is there something that will allow us to blog without breaking Shabbat? (via Crunchgear via uberphones via textually.org via pasta and vinegar)

References:
* 'Kosher phone' helps IDF minimize Shabbat desecration [JPost]
* Shabbat Shalom (Inside A Phone) [Crunchgear]
* Israeli soldiers get Shabbatphone [uberphones]
* The Shabbat phone for israeli soldiers, minimizes Shabbat desecration [textually.org]
* Yet another kosher phone [pasta and vinegar]

Previously:
* Morning "Civilizational Progress" Roundup
* More Israeli Geniuses
* The Death Of The Future

A Valentine's Day greeting from Tasha and Dishka. On one hand, it's set to maybe the worst song in the history of sound. On the other hand, it has a girl running through a field in a white skirt. So on balance, we give it an A+ for effort.

This one is brought to you courtesy of MR reader Robert, who found it even though it wasn't posted on Tasha's normal YouTube account. So we thank him for that. And we also thank him for shouldering us out of the way to get to the top of Tasha's restraining order list. Outstanding work, MR reader Robert.

Shabbat shalom everyone.

References:
* Valentine's day by Tasha and Dishka [YouTube]

Previously:
* Video: Tasha Fridays, Two For One
* Video: Tasha On A Very Boring Night
* Video: Dishka Becomes An Arachnid

UPDATE 11 - At this point we're in the downward spiral of charging our Treo from our laptop (seriously, no electricity or broadband for over an hour now - we're suffering here - this is like Survivor... or post-Katrina New Orleans). So we're going to conserve some battery life and open up a book or something. If anyone figures out what we did to make the LAFD ground us for the afternoon, feel free to let us know.

UPDATE 10 - More interesting technical analysis from the creepy intercom: "If you have a remote, cordless phone it might not operate properly". We don't even know what that means? Are they overwhelming the spectrum with walkie-talkies? Because that's one potential problem for cordless phones. The other would be, you know, the TOTAL LACK OF POWER in the building.

UPDATE 9 - The LAFD has just come over the intercom to inform us that we "may notice a momentary loss of power to the building". Umm... we've been without power (and have we mentioned broadband) for the last couple hours. If they're under a different impression, that'd be nice to know.

UPDATE 8 - Since it appears that no local news stations are deigning to cover this non-emergency which is preventing us from getting either electricity or light, we're going to have to do our best impression of what the local news coverage. So while we have nothing new to report, but here are some pictures of fire fighters where before there were no fire fighters.

UPDATE 7 - Were it not for noise canceling headphones to drown out the LAFD's constant interruptions, we'd get nothing done around here. Anyway, here's the most recent message: "There is no fire, there is no emergency. Please remain on your floor and in your rooms". Funny, those aren't two sentences that you usually hear together. Anyway, here are some pics. Because you earned it. First one is 2nd and Hope being totally shut down for the lack of emergency, and the second is a reflection of two firetrucks on 3rd and at least one on Grand.

Sorry for the weird angles and the lack of anything substantive - but, well, apparently we've been grounded by the LAFD.

UPDATE 6 - High-rise apartment building in the middle of downtown's Culture District totally shut down. Residents ordered to stay in their rooms. Local news coverage? Nada. If they'd stop coming over the damn intercom, maybe we could use this time productively for sleep. Alas, not so much.

UPDATE 5 - We're strongly considering having Shawarma Kitchen deliver lunch. That or some pizza place with a guaranteed 30 minute delivery time. We admit, it's more for amusement potential than anything else.

UPDATE 4 - If they turn that siren on one more time... Who the hell put an intercom in our room? Is this a safety issue? Can we just suck up the risk and have it removed?

UPDATE 3 - We've just realized that there's a very real chance that either our Treo or our laptop will run out of batteries before power is restored. That presents the very real possibility of being trapped in our room with no Internet access. Honestly, we're not sure we can take that.

UPDATE 2 - There's that intercom again: "This is the LA Fire Department. There is no fire, please remain on your floors and in your rooms". Which we're happy to do, but the bastards won't turn off the SIREN that they're playing over the intercom.

UPDATE - In an interesting turn of events, the siren on this new intercom just came on. Sirens are - what? Good? Bad?

ORIGINAL - There are several, several police cars and fire trucks outside our apartment building. Normally, we'd shrug it off and go back to sleep because, honestly, what do we care? But just now the LA Fire Department came on the intercom inside our studio (which we didn't know existed - seriously, there's an intercom in our roof) and literally ordered us to stay on our floor because "the emergency is being taken care of". Google News has nothing on any emergency, so we're curious about what emergency is being handled so well that we're not allowed to leave our floor.

Previously:
* Public Security In Los Angeles Sucks Disgracefully
* Some Real Emergency Response In Los Angeles

You remember that scandal from January, where Northwest Airlines bumped 40 American Muslims off a plane after they arrived from Saudi Arabia? CAIR threw a hissy fit and Northwest Airlines promptly caved, offering all sorts of abject apologies. At the time, we thought that CAIR was in the wrong because the 40 Muslims showed up at the ticket counter 20 minutes before the flight took off - not the best strategy for making an international flight. But now moderate Muslim organizations have had a chance to explain things to the press, and it turns out that the bigotry runs exactly the opposite way that the bullies from CAIR pretend it does:

Saudi Arabia discriminates against Americans? Even if they're Muslim? And no one ever says anything about it? You're kidding!

References:
* Northwest Airlines Caves To CAIR Boycott Threat And Apologizes, MR Caves To Our Worst Instincts And Publishes Conspiracy Theory Bait [MR]
* Is There a 'Flying While Muslim' Bias? [US News]

Previously:
* CAIR Protest In So Cal
* American Muslim Organization Protects Readers from Women's Hair
* Politically Active Filmmakers Find a Religion-Based Summer Camp They Feel Safe Criticizing

Here's a little brainteaser: what - exactly - would have to happen at this point for you to have less faith in TSA? A frustrating and incoherent combination of random checks and useless instructions that accomplish nothing so much as allowing creeps to feel up Midwestern cheerleaders? Check. Totally useless redundancy that makes everything more inconvenient and everyone less safe? a href="http://www.mererhetoric.com/archives/11272175.html">Check. A no fly list that any 10 year old can circumvent and a weapons screening process that fails 10 out of 11 times? Most definitely check.

And now - TSA's servers have been badly hacked and compromised. Excellent job guarding our security, guys:

Not to put too fine a point on it, but many of the people in charge of protecting us are really bad at their jobs.

References:
* Are These Union Jobs? [MR]
* Mere Rhetoric: Airport Security in This Country is a Bad Joke [MR]
* Mere Rhetoric: Q: Could Airport Security Suck Worse? [MR]
* Homeland Security Website Hacked by Phishers? 15 Signs Say Yes [Wired]

Previously:
* Public Security In Los Angeles Sucks Disgracefully
* Pelosi To Take Stance On The Side Of Airline Imams?
* Northwest Airlines Caves To CAIR Boycott Threat And Apologizes, MR Caves To Our Worst Instincts And Publishes Conspiracy Theory Bait

This is from a couple of days ago. We've been putting off blogging it because just thinking about it makes our head hurt. Here, then, is exhibit a billion in our ongoing demonstration of how the media will stick to whatever their anti-Bush line is no matter what the facts:

Now, gentle readers, we may not know much. But we're pretty sure that we can mathematically prove, using symbols and everything, that both of those headlines can't be true. We're not sure which one is more anti-Bush, the "he lied" or "he's a warmonger" one. We are sure that the LAT wants you to believe that Bush is backtracking and the NYT wants you to believe that Bush is obstinately going to war - and that they're basically reporting the same story.

For what it's worth, here are the links to the LAT article and the NYT article, respectively. Not that you need to click through, since you know what they're going to say based on the headlines. Although the articles do have some good lines about domestic and international opposition to our evil warmongering President. Not that you need to click through to know that either, since you know what they're going to say based on the names of the newspapers.

Bonus media analysis: check out the lede of the LA Times story. Then flip back to the NYT hed. Then the LA Times lede. Try to keep your eyes from bleeding.

References:
* Tehran's Iraq role unclear, U.S. now says [LAT]
* Bush Declares Iran’s Arms Role in Iraq Is Certain [NYT]

Previously:
* NYT, LAT: Hamas Popularity is Israel's Fault
* NYT: Just Because You Were Forced at Gunpoint to Convert To Islam Doesn't Mean You Were Harmed In Any Way
* LA Times Forgets To Mention Fatah's Responsibility For Today's Suicide Bombing

Even will the sheer tonnage of crap on YouTube, gems like this singlehandedly justify its existence:

Just incredible. (via: Boing-Boing

References:
* Nina Simone - Erets Zavat Chalav - 1962 [YouTube]
* Nina Simone sings Hebrew folk song [Boing Boing]

Previously:
* Video: Exodus Trailer
* Video: Buddy Rich Being Incredible
* Video: Dishka Becomes An Arachnid

This is brilliant in ways we can't even wrap our minds around. The rhetorical strategies are just so spot on. It wouldn't work nearly as well if Dawkins wasn't such a total dick, but since he is...

And that, boys and girls, is what it looks like to see an insufferable prig hoisted by his own petard.

References:
* The Dawkins Delusion [YouTube]
* The Dawkins Delusion [3quarksdaily]

Previously:
* Reminder: "... Religion In General Is The Problem" Is An Excruciatingly Stupid Statement
* OneJerusalem.org Conference Call: Mark Steyn
* Water On Mars!!!

TPMCafe blogger M.J. Rosenberg is the kind of Jew that we address when we write subtle, reconciliatory posts like MR Has A Question For Democratic Jews: Are You Fucking Retarded? (because sometimes nuance has to be sacrificed for clarity). He's been working for Congressional Democrats for 15 years, and apparently his current job involves lobbying in support of Israeli land-for-peace deals. He's also a former AIPAC editor, but his TPMCafe bio indicates that he broke with them over his support for the Oslo Accords. So if we knew nothing else about him, we'd know that he has good judgment and a history of betting on the right horse.

Anyway, he wrote a post over the weekend expressing something approaching orgiastic joy about Barack Obama:

Yeah. Very brave and courageous. Obama took the position endorsed by almost all of the left, most of the international community, and the James Baker wing of the Republican party. Definitely standing out there all alone, isn't he?

You know who'd be really psyched about Obama cozying up to Syria? The Lebanese Speaker of Parliament that Assad just threatened to murder: