Is it just me? Or are women afraid of everyone?

Is it just me? Or are women afraid of everyone?

I was standing outside of an x-ray/imaging clinic, waiting for my wife to get her MRI.

First observation: 95% of the workers and patients entering were FEMALE.
Second observation: no one would look at me. I was just sitting on the bench, looking as harmless as I could. I said good morning to a few, and got a grudging reply.

What is it?

The morning was delightful, a nice sunny day, cool but not cold. The location was a suburban large town, Columbia, Maryland. There were a few cars in the parking lot, but many spaces left.
I felt insulted and denigrated. What, am I invisible? No that was not it, because I often got the dreaded "look away". That is when a guy is walking down the sidewalk, and passes a woman, and she intentionally looks away from him, to whatever is the other direction.

Can someone tell me what is happening here?

Monster.com only 1% of hires

Last year, almost a billion dollars was sucked up by just one online "job board," Monster.com, which was reported as the "source of hires" only 1.3% of the time by employers surveyed.

I am so happy that there is a LEBANESE web site dedicated to peace. Wishing you all success for peace! I will settle for "no war", also. Thanks Baruch Atta http://www.free-lebanon.net/syria/mike-rogers-thinks-syria-crossed-a-line-even-if-no-one-else-does/#comments

Western Run Park

I frequently take walks along the beautiful Western Run Park. Unfortunately, I need to walk on a sidewalk or in the street. There simply is no trail that leads through this park My suggestion is to beat a walk path through the park. Especially between the intersection with Western Run and Greenspring, down to Mount Washington, would be a really nice walk, and I wouldn't need to walk in the street. I would build a path on both sides of the stream, so walkers could walk down one side and up the other. I am willing to volunteer to be a part of a community effort to put in a path. what do you think?

Instead of chiseling away at the Social Security cornerstone, let’s bolster it into an improved national retirement system. There are a number of ways to shore up the program’s underlying finances without cutting into benefits. For example, raising the cap on wages subject to payroll taxes from its current $113,700 for 2013 to around $250,000 extends the projected date of 2033 for exhausting the system’s reserves for another four decades or so. Eliminating the cap altogether essentially gets rid of any funding shortfall for the next 75 years. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/social-security--good--but-could-be-better-144919859.html

“The search you are about to conduct is being monitored and recorded by Google and might be used in the future for advertising or other purposes” Read more: http://techland.time.com/2013/03/27/googles-dance/#ixzz2OxajlT5J

Can Technology End Poverty? See:http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/03/can_technology_end_poverty.html?referral=00563 Short term answer: No. “Poverty” will not end with current level of technology. Long term answer: Absolutely. My projection is for robot technology to advance to the point that even the production of robots will be automated. And even the construction of factories to produce robots will be largely automated. Projection about the future is always iffy, but here are my thoughts. I take what exists today and project where it will go in the future. Today we have robot driven cars. There is no reason that this technology can’t be extended to trucks, boats, planes. The post office, UPS, Fed Ex, will not need delivery personnel. Robots are in factories and do a large part in manufacturing of cars and electronics. There is no reason that this technology can’t be extended to all manufacturing. Machines plant and harvest on farms. There is no reason why this can’t be further automated. Mining could be done with robots. And so on. Any task that can be described in physical terms can be programmed and done with robots of some form. The entire production cycle can be done with robots. So there is no reason that factories to manufacture robots can’t be built by robots. It follows that this process can be mostly automated. Doing the math, it would appear that the cost of any robot would be drastically reduced to almost nothing. Of course, the robots would need to be directed and programmed. The design process would still require people. Architects and programmers. But that would be five or ten people to direct armies of robots. With the cost of robots reduced to almost nothing, the cost of any product would also be next to nothing. Robots would farm, harvest, drive delivery vehicles and run restaurants. Any mass manufactured goods would also cost next to nothing, because the goods would be manufactured by robots. The limiting factors would be only raw materials and energy. To that, we realize that silicon and aluminum are very abundant. And energy could be obtained from the sun, with advanced solar cell panels. There are plans to convert every roof top to solar. And every street and highway could be laid with high impact solar cells. And this task would be done with robots, of course. And large areas of desert could be used to array solar panels. Fossil fuels, nuclear, and wind are really not necessary. The world would be a vastly different place with the advance of robotic automation. Any product would cost nothing. All menial work would be automated and done by robots. And poverty, as we know it, would be eliminated. (But knowing the human spirit, some may choose poverty, anyway.) So the question about poverty is answered in the abstract. Let me explore the question in the concrete. How would people react to this situation where no one need work for substance? My intuition leads me to think that people would not have as many children, if all physical needs would be provided without labor. World population would drop. Which leads to the question of ownership of the army of robots. Who would own them? Would one very rich person control everything? Or can the propagation of automation be communalized or publicly owned? What I would like to see is the robot army to be owned by the people, communally, and not privately. What will probably happen is the opposite. That is why I am proposing that a new law be enacted now, before the need arises. I would enact a rule that robots that are created by robots, and robot factories that are created by robots, be communal property and owned by the people, and not owned or controlled by private interests. In order for my vision of utopia to happen, the product of a product must be communal, not private. This is the original “means of production” vision of Marx, with a twist. The means of production may be private, but the fruits of the means of production should be shared and publicly owned. You might ask then, why would any investor want to invest in this? Well, today we have groups that create software and other endeavors in the public interest, such as the Software Commons, Public Broadcasting, and so on. There is no reason why this couldn’t be extended to create the first robot factory to produce robot factories, all in the public interest. The only limit would be raw materials and energy, and the human will to make it happen. All this projecting to the future is simply extending today’s technology to the fullest. There is nothing in this projection that is impossible or depends on some new discovery. It depends only on incremental improvements to current technology. So I am confident that these improvements will happen. It is in the interest of the people, especially people in “poverty” for this to happen. Oh, and there will not be a “singularity” where machines become “conscious” and self-aware. That would require a new discovery. This would not be an extension of current technology. Even the IBM Watson is just a pattern matching machine. It doesn’t “think” and is not self-aware by any measure. Ray Kurzeil’s vision of the singularity is based on his calculation of the improvements to computer processors and computer memory, extending Moore’s law to the time when machines will have the processing power equivalent to a human brain. Unfortunately, he fails to understand that neuron count does not equal self-awareness. He does not provide any solution to the problem of how thinking would start. He basically is saying the process would be something like “…better machine…better machine…better machine…magic happens…the machine thinks.” I don’t believe in magic.

the median person, of course

To quote the late great George Carlin:

Just think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.

That would be the median person, of course.

Condescension

Condescension is the natural result of superiority.  Get over it.  

Terrorizing his own Citizens (1992)

Terrorizing his own Citizens (1992) August 28, 1992 Today's cartoon is from 1992. Twenty years ago this month! Twenty years have passed and the West still does not understand "How Arab governments work". The Arab head of State back then was Iraq's Saddam Hussein. The Arab head of State surprising the West these days is Syria's Bashar Assad. -Dry Bones- Israel's Political Comic Strip Since 1973

Fwd: Park Heights and Strathmore proposal

Hi Rikki

Please see the attached image.  This image is from a letter that we received from the Baltimore City Department of Transportation.  It is confusing.  Please make sure that the BICYCLE LANE is installed on all of Park Heights Ave as indicated in the photograph.  

We consider bike lanes in the city a civilized and modern improvement.  

I could write for hours on how much we would appreciate the bike lane, for safety and community.  And Park Heights is never so crowded or busy and that one single lane of through traffic should be sufficient.  

Thanks for your help !

Joseph Cotton

For Beth Abraham Synagogue

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Joseph B Cotton <cottonj@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 27, 2012 at 9:10 AM
Subject: Park Heights and Strathmore proposal
To: transportation@baltimorecity.gov
Cc: Kenneth Lasson, Seth Moshman 


Mr Zaied and Mr Brown

Thank you for the letter proposing a traffic calming project at Park Heights and Strathmore.  

But we are confused with the letter.

The photo indicates a situation with a SINGLE lane of traffic and A BICYCLE LANE.  Let me emphasize that WE ARE IN FAVOR OF THIS PROPOSAL.  We urge you to make a safe BICYCLE LANE along ALL of PARK HEIGHTS Avenue.  We are in favor of bicycle lanes for all major streets.  

However, the drawing included with the photo does not include the bicycle lane.  Is this an error?  

Please modify the drawing to include the bicycle lane.  

Thanks 

Joseph Cotton

for Beth Abraham Synagogue

Yes, Life Is Recursive.

Ok - a little research might help.  Scientists implant electrodes in brains of mice, then have them run the maze.  Sure enough, when running in a new maze, their little brains are wizzing away.  But in a familiar maze, their brains are mostly asleep, and they can run the maze without thinking, just by rote.  How much of our lives are done by rote!  How much more interesting it would be if we could WAKE UP and think?  Get our little brains a wizzing too!  Think!  Be aware.  Ask "why".  The little child asks "why" and asks again with each answer.  Maybe the child knows more how to live than we adults do.  Ask "why" to everything - that you hear, that you read, that you see.  What is my purpose in life?  My purpose is to ask "what is my purpose..."  Yes, it's recursive.  

Peace is not a process.

Peace is not a process.  Either you have it or you don't.

Peace requires two things - no violence and a little love.  

With peace, everything else will be resolved - borders, settlements, and all.  

Without peace, nothing can be settled, unless it is a victor/vanquished relationship after a war.  

But with war - there is no peace.  

So I say - the parties need to make PEACE first, then settle differences.  It is of no use to try to settle differences without already having peace.  No war or violence and a little love.  That's all.  

I just got out of prison.

 I just got out of prison. I was in prison to support the release of a new software package, to be used by the guards. I noticed that the prison system just tears down. In summary, a person adapts to his environment, and prison environment is mostly other prisoners. The guards have as little contact as possible, and anyway, the guards seem to be somewhat defective souls also. (No offence intended) In the ideal world, each offender would be put in an environment where he is surrounded with good people, who would guide the offender. We do just the opposite, we surround the prisoner with other prisoners. Bad. That is simply why recidivism is so high, everywhere. I was in a "pre-release" unit where the environment is like a boy scout camp. However, the prisoners only see other prisoners, mostly. My two days in prison were so depressing for this reason. Also, it reminded me of High School.

CW Artist on Eighty Meters - the Band of Brothers.

There is a certain feeling that I get when I am Operating CW -  I operate my rig, and I am alone in the shack, because it is really hard to hold a conversation with someone in the shack and also copy code.  I get into a focus when I copy code, and when I am going well, I get into a groove, I get into the "zone", like a top athlete or artist.  But a CW artist is not ever alone.  He is connected, literally, to a Band of Brothers.  I like to say "Eighty Meters - the Band of Brothers".

I like that - I aught to copyright these phrases - "Band of Brothers" and "CW Artist".  

Israel is NOT the " No. 1 recipient of U.S. foreign aid"

Response to an article

First - Israel is NOT the " No. 1 recipient of U.S. foreign aid". That should be Iraq and Afganistan.  Trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives.  

Starting during the Vietnam war, Israel rightly claims that not one American soldier risks his life in defending Israel.  That is a big point.

Second - in response to "warmonkey" - why are you so "outraged" for "supporting the interests of another Nation"?  Huh?  Response 1 is that we support the interests of other nations when it is in line with US interests.  Response 2 is that the USA is a democracy and support of Israel is the  opinion of the overwhelming vast majority of its citizens.  Everything else you say is just un-nuanced propaganda.  

Response to "go4dan0" is simple.  Again you are wrong in so many ways.  First, the armistice lines of 1949 were not recognized as borders by any nation.  If and when the Arabs return to the negotiation table and resolve the borders and recognize the existence of Israel, then you can claim "illegal".  In Arab eyes, the mere existence of Israel is "illegal".   And Israel has vowed not to be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the region, so they will do so in response to another nation doing so first.

And Mr Reid brings the old "apartheid" accusation  - this falsehood has been rebuffed many times. 

It has been shown many times that Israel is the ONLY full democracy in the region, with many Arab and Druse and other citizens who vote and have full rights.  I don't want to get into a digression here, but this is also an accusation with no merit. 

If Israel is an "apartheid" then what is Saudi Arabia or Iran?  

An intriguing thought experiment (http://physics.aps.org/articles/v4/102)

The experiment is an extension of the double slit experiment. It seems that the photon "knows in advance" whether the second slit is open or closed. (http://www.hotquanta.com/wpd.html#BM2Slit)

It seems clear that there is some sort of feedback loop between the sensor of the wave/particle and the single/double slits.

In normal experience, we see both waves and particles as moving in one direction, and as time passes, the wave/particle moves along. I would like to theorize an additional dimension besides the four common (three space dimensions and one time dimension). This fifth dimension is outside of time or has no connection to time. So the wave/particle exists in the fifth dimension in a way that is different than the way it exists in the other four dimensions. In the fifth dimension, the wave/particle is the same object both at the single/double slit and at the sensor.

Let me provide a metaphor for this fifth dimension. Let's say I have a box with a dial on the box. I can turn the dial to zero thru nine. I put the box on the table, and turn the dial to zero. I take a photograph of the dial. I put the box on the chair and turn the dial to five. I look at the photograph, and it shows the dial at five.

Let me do a thought experiment. Consider the classic double slit experiment. Only this time, the source of the photon is a galaxy one billion light years away from the single/double slit. Then the sensor is another one billion light years away from the single/double slit. Assume that the wave/particle that exists in this fifth dimension uses the fifth dimension as a feedback. The wave/particle travels from the source galaxy to the single/double slit where a scientist is standing, and then travels to the sensor. When the scientist standing at the single/double slit opens the second slit, the scientist at the sensor sees a wave. When the scientist at the slit closes the second slit, the scientist at the sensor sees a particle. Because the fifth dimension is outside of time, the effect is immediate. It is as if the wave/particle at the sensor is in the same position, fifth dimensionally speaking, as the wave/particle at the sensor, even though the two are separated by a billion light years in the normal three dimensions.

Ok, that's the hypothesis. Now you do the math.

Here is the original article.

http://physics.aps.org/articles/v4/102
A new thought experiment makes it clearer than ever that photons aren’t simply particles or waves.

Proposal for a Quantum Delayed-Choice Experiment
Radu Ionicioiu and Daniel R. Terno
Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 230406 (2011)
Published December 2, 2011
C. Orzel/Union College
Which way did it go? In a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, photons can appear to go along either of two paths (particle behavior) or along both paths (wave behavior), depending on whether the second beam splitter is in place. A new thought experiment would allow both behaviors simultaneously.

Quantum physics tells us that a photon isn’t strictly a particle or strictly a wave. And yet most of us will revert back—whenever we can—to familiar concepts of billiard balls or vibrating strings when picturing photons in our heads. A new thought experiment, proposed in Physical Review Letters, hopes to break us of these old habits. The authors imagine a type of quantum switch that controls whether a simple optical measurement tests for particlelike or wavelike behavior in a single photon. This slight reworking of a famous experiment demonstrates with logical precision the futility of trying to label the photon as a particle or a wave.

The wave-particle duality is often illustrated by splitting a light beam so that it travels along two separate paths that later merge to form an interference pattern from the combined beams. For a dim beam delivering photons one-at-a-time, this interference suggests that each photon is a wave that travels down both paths simultaneously. But if the paths are observed individually, then the photon will behave like a particle, traveling down only one path or the other and generating no interference. The fact that no experiment can measure both the wave and the particle behaviors simultaneously is called the principle of complementarity.

What Incentive Does Netanyahu Have to Make More Concessions?

Evelyn Gordon | @evelyng123409.20.2011 - 9:52 AM

Yesterday, I asked why Israel should keep signing agreements with the Palestinians if the world won't enforce previous ones? This question has an important corollary: Why should Israel keep making concessions if it gets no credit for previous ones?

A recent New York Times editorial demonstrates the problem in microcosm. While various parties share blame for the Israeli-Palestinian impasse, it opined, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "has been the most intractable, building settlements and blaming his inability to be more forthcoming on his conservative coalition."

In reality, Netanyahu is the only prime minister in Israel's history to impose a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction, a move even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared "unprecedented." Indeed, there has been less construction in the West Bank – and East Jerusalem – during his term than under his predecessors. But he gets no credit for this; instead, he's the premier who obstructs peace by "building settlements." So what incentive would he have to make further such gestures?

As for being insufficiently "forthcoming," Netanyahu, like all his predecessors, has repeatedly expressed willingness to cede most of the West Bank; what he's refused to do is cede the entire territory in advance. By contrast, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas hasn't yet agreed to cede anything Israel wants (settlement blocs, the "right of return," recognition as a Jewish state, etc.), but the Times omits him entirely from its list of parties who share the blame. So Netanyahu, who has already ceded most of the West Bank, is "intractable," but Abbas, who has ceded nothing, is blame-free. Given this, what incentive does Netanyahu have to make further concessions?

The problem, of course, is that on this issue, the Times accurately reflects the international consensus – not merely on Netanyahu, but on Israel as a whole. For the last 18 years, Israel has offered nonstop concessions. It evacuated territory and uprooted settlements; it repeatedly offered a Palestinian state in most of the West Bank, Gaza and parts of East Jerusalem; it even offered to cede Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount. Throughout this period, Palestinians haven't offered one singlereciprocal concession – not the settlement blocs, not the "right of return," not recognition of a Jewish state; they won't even acknowledge the Jews' historical connection to this land. Yet still, the world deems Israel the "intransigent" party, the one that must concede even more. Hence most of the Quartet (comprising the U.S., EU, UN and Russia) thinks the appropriate recipe for restarting talks is to demand yet another new concession of Israel –accepting the 1967 lines upfront – while still demanding nothing of the Palestinians.

The consequence of this behavior is that fully 77 percent of Israeli Jews have concluded"it makes no difference what Israel does and how far it may go on the Palestinian issue; the world will continue to be very critical of it." And if there's no quid pro quo for concessions in the form of increased international support, there's obviously no point in continuing to make them.

The only surprising thing is, the world still seems to find this reaction surprising.

 

--

Sent from my...

Dell XPS 8300 Performance Desktop PC

Intel Core i7-2600 Quad Core Desktop Processor

8GB PC3-10600 DDR3 Memory

1TB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive

Blu-ray Reader And Dual Layer DVD Burner Combo Drive

AMD Radeon HD 5670 Graphics Card With 1GB Memory

Intel HDA 7.1 Audio

Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n Wireless.  

Beat that with your tiny cell phone!

Posts to a discussion on Social Security

BaruchAtta
Oh, and another thing.  Since SS is a "pay as you go" plan, then SS really does not need the Treasury Bonds in the "SS Trust Fund".  Meaningless trust fund. It doesn't exist.  
Soooo....
SS should just "forgive" all of the Treasury Bonds in the Trust Fund, and return the money to the government.  
That should lower the national debt by trillions, and we wouldn't need to talk about any silly "debt ceiling" for a long time.  (maybe?)
Thank you again.
Baruch less
0 minutes ago | Reply | Report abuse

BaruchAtta
A simple solution, a solution that saves the backside of any politician that is afraid of the "third rail" is this:
Link the SS retirement age with the ratio of workers to retirees.  
Now wasn't that easy?  
It is automatic, like a cost of living increase.  
It saves the politicians from ever having to raise the issue again.
It is automatically funded at the proper rate.
Workers can plan with SS in mind.

So, elect me, and I will...
Thank you. less
0 minutes ago | Re

IBM Watson and the Future of Robots

Watson did well in the things that computers do well. That is, to pattern match.
Here is the future in computer development, as I see it now.
2011 - Watson wins Jeopardy
2015 - IBM Watsons are installed in medical and customer service applications
2016 - Watsons installed in robots. Robots can now perform menial household and factory tasks, and programmed by just being told.
2020 - Watsons installed in cars. Driverless cars introduced, first high end (Caddilac, Lexus) then all cars.
2021 - Most trucks driver-less on interstates.
2025 - Most mining operations now use robots.
2030 - A Manufacturing operation uses robots exclusively from mining raw materials, smelting, and production, and delivery.
2035 - Robots manufacture and install solar cells, 95% of all energy now solar. Cheaper than oil.
2041 - First factory that reproduces itself, completely automated, producing robots that build another factory.
2048 - Reproduce-able robot factories now on Moon and Mars.
2050 - Reproduce-able robots now number more than human population.
2066 - Human population falling as people see less need for children to support them in old age due to robot availability.
2070 - Robot population limited by available energy.
2090 - Economics and Money abandoned as population declines and all products are free anyway.
2240 - Messianic age arrives. No more war.

Oh, and one more thing. There is never a "singularity". Watsons never gain consciousness. It is just not what computers can do.

Anthony Weiner and the National Adultery Ritual

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/the-national-adultery-ritual/

I am dismayed with all these so-called "men" who snivel at being caught at something which comes natural and is a part of their sexuality.  If gays and lesbians can protest for their rights to be who they are, then certainly normal men can.  I would think.  

I say "grow a pair" and if you are caught, then admit and say "so what?"  It's consenting adults and all that.  

Cheating?  Who is cheating who? It is the men who hide their real sexuality in the closet who are being cheated.  

So why hide it in the closet?  Men should tell the world:  "this is my wife, this is my concubine, and this is my one night fling on a business trip".  Men, are you ashamed of what you really are?  

It is too bad that Congressman Weiner resigned.  I would have liked to see him stand his ground, like a man.  Wimp.  

Should I Buy a New Radio Now?

From Pop Sci magazine read through Google Books (copyrighted, presumably fair use - one page)

I often have this discussion with my wife. 

Questions for prospective boss

Questions for prospective boss

What is your management philosophy

If you walk past a meeting and there is laughter - what do you think

How do you show value in this organization

What are the plans of upper management for this department

Explain the organization structure

How do you make decisions

What do you enjoy about your job

What is the communications plan

What are your day-to-day responsibilities

What is the long term outlook for this job

What is the company policy on training and seminars

What is the decision making aspects of this job

Describe an ideal employee

Describe how performance reviews are conducted and received

What happened to the last person on this job

What is the turnover in this job, department and company

Why do you release/file employees

What are the challenges of this job

Can Obama recognize the “Nakba” Nakba?

President Barack Obama came to town riding on a series of assumptions about the Middle East. But the region's harsh realities have contradicted his fanciful notions. 
 

Demanding a settlement freeze increased Israeli mistrust and Palestinian extremism. The "Arab spring" proved that the Palestinian problem was not the keystone to Middle East progress, or world peace. This week's "Nakba Day" violence revealed that Israel's existence since 1948, not its occupation since 1967, remains the Palestinians' target. Obama must recognize that this "Nakba" nakba – the Palestinians' catastrophic reading of Israel's founding as a catastrophe – damages peace prospects. Yet again, Palestinians seem more committed to destroying Israel than building their own state.

 

Although outsiders cannot tell Palestinians to ignore their anguish that resulted from Israel's founding, Nakba Day is a new, post-Oslo, 1990s phenomenon.  Yasir Arafat inaugurated the day in 1998. It feeds Palestinians' worst instincts – freezing time, distorting history, wallowing in victimhood, dodging responsibility, vilifying Israel, treating the conflict as a zero-sum game. Mahmoud Abbas's May 16 New York Times op-ed epitomizes these vices with ahistorical statements claiming: "Shortly" after the 1947 UN Partition declaration, "Zionist forces expelled Palestinian Arabs to ensure a decisive Jewish majority in the future state of Israel, and Arab armies intervened." Reversing chronology and causation, Abbas ignores that: Palestinians rejected the partition plan; many Palestinians fled voluntarily; Arab armies attacked as Israel became a State, not because of any Israeli action.

 

Yet the Palestinians have snookered the world, seeking a free pass for violence, incitement, delegitimization, exterminationism, and intransigence.  World leaders function as the great enablers of Palestinian dysfunction, rationalizing Palestinians' political culture of negation and hatred, while according them special treatment, including only treating Palestinians' refugee status as hereditary, whereas tens of millions of other refugees from the 1940s settled down.

 

Every President must make post-inauguration adjustments, replacing outsiders' presumptions with the insider's perceptions. Obama's Middle East-related rigidity is not some idiosyncratic shortcoming.  He is imprisoned in a groupthink reading that is popular and resistant to reality.

 

Too many elite Americans mistakenly compare Palestinians' struggle for statehood with African-Americans' struggle for civil rights (when most Europeans hear "occupation" they think Nazi- or Soviet- which is even more inaccurate and problematic). In his Cairo speech, by reminding Palestinians that American blacks rarely resorted to violence, despite "suffer[ing] the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation," Obama made the comparison. George W. Bush's Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was more explicit, equating her childhood miseries in the segregated South with Palestinian suffering, while comparing Mahmoud Abbas to Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

This analogy is, in my opinion, sloppy, perverse yet irresistible to many Americans. Americans usually view the world through homemade prisms, with the civil rights movement looming as a compelling, heroic and digestible historical standard. Additionally, Palestinian propaganda has pushed this comparison for decades. The UN's New Big Lie in 1975 labeling Zionism racism implicitly cast the Palestinians as "noble blacks" and the Israelis as "oppressive rednecks."

 

The false analogy distorts the story into one of racial oppression not national conflict. This reading sanctions Palestinian violence, given our abhorrence of racial tyranny. Perpetuating the "Nakba" nakba treats Israel's very founding as its original sin, like slavery is America's original sin, which had to be undone violently by Civil War. This falsehood also views Palestinians as passive, less responsible players, feeding into a modern liberal condescension empowering those perceived as white rather than those labeled black (ignoring the light-skinned Palestinians and dark-skinned Israelis).

 

By contrast, recognizing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a national conflict – linked to the Arab-Israeli conflict – restores balance. It makes Palestinians responsible for their choices. It highlights their power, as part of the broader Arab assault against Israel, which, unlike the Civil Rights movement, threatens Israel, seeking its destruction.  Understanding this fight as a national struggle among more evenly-balanced forces also explains Israeli sensitivity to Palestinian rhetoric. Calling Israel's founding, its very existence, a catastrophe, delegitimizes Israel and dehumanizes Israelis, justifying violence against this supposedly disaster of a state.

 

Restoring historical balance and moral accountability would also restore mutuality. Imagine the outrage if Israeli leaders spoke about Palestinians the way leading Palestinians speak, write, teach, preach, and broadcast about Israel. Imagine the scandal if Israel ever proposed let alone adopted anything paralleling the Hamas Charter's anti-Semitic and genocidal wording.  Note that, this month, while Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is volunteering new concessions, President Abbas is embracing Hamas terrorists.

 

Jews' culture of acute self-criticism juxtaposed against the Palestinians' culture of self-righteous condemnation creates absurd imbalances. While Jews, mired in guilt, anguish over how to validate detractors like the playwright Tony Kushner who is accused of spreading Palestinian lies alleging Israel committed sins like "ethnic cleansing;" Palestinians, in their enforced no-criticism zone, feel their biased accusations are justified, yet again dodging any responsibility. Similarly, minor Israeli abuses are treated as major human rights crimes; major Palestinian abuses are ignored.

 

The multi-dimensional war between Israelis and Palestinians includes a clash of narratives. As America's story-teller-in-chief, President Obama can shape a narrative that brings the parties closer -- or divides them further. Obsessing about Israel's settlements, exaggerating the conflict's international significance, excusing Hamas's genocidal rhetoric, or encouraging the "Nakba" nakba intensifies Palestinian intransigence and Israeli insecurity. Barack Obama must affirm that "Threatening Israel with destruction – or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews – is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of [Holocaust] memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve."

 

He said that in Cairo. Now, Obama should show he means it, by insisting that all parties, especially the Palestinians, end incitement, stop demonizing others, and learn to preserve their own national stories, including tales of woe, without using words that reveal a collective desire to destroy those whose trust you need to achieve peace.

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University and a Shalom Hartman Research Fellow in Jerusalem. The author of "Why I Am A Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today," his latest book is "The Reagan Revolution: A Very Short Introduction."giltroy@gmail.com

Britain's reaction to bin Laden's assassination: surely some mistake?

Britain's reaction to bin Laden's assassination: surely some mistake?

William Hague and David Cameron have lavishly praised the Americans for assassinating bin Laden. Yet  when the Israelis were suspected (but never proved) to have assassinated Hamas front-man Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, Hague and Cameron were so apoplectic with rage that they expelled an Israeli diplomat from London in protest. 

This was despite the fact that Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was the person responsible for shipping Iranian weapons to Hamas in Gaza. His work posed a direct threat to Israel's survival. In contrast, bin Laden no longer represented any kind of analogous threat to the USA.

And here are some other differences worth thinking about:

• in the bin Laden assassination several civilians were also killed
• in the al-Mabhouh assassination no other person was harmed

• the bin Laden assassination took place in a country that is supposed to be America's 'ally'
• the al-Mabhouh assassination took place in a country that is a sworn enemy of Israel.

• al-Mabhouh was personally responsible for the slaughter of several Israeli hostages.
• as despicable as bin Laden was he had never personally murdered any Americans. 

 And while on the subject of British hypocrisy has anybody noticed the deafening silence when NATO airstrikes kill children in Libya? Funny how the argument about 'despots using civilians as human shields' is used as a valid defence in this case but is never allowed to be a valid defence by Israel. 

Finally, while the news on bin Laden is obviously welcome, it has two extremely worrying long-term implications.

1. It will enable Obama to claim a personal military victory that could propel him to a second term in the White House (notice his consant use of the first person in his speech today). Such a term will go a long way to achieving bin Laden's objectives anyway.
2. The media blackout of all other stories will enable Assad in Syria to crush the rebellion there with even greater brutality and speed, thereby possibly ensuring the survival of the Syria/Iran axis which poses the greatest threat to the world.

Update: Guess who has condemned the bin Laden assassination decrying "the killing of an Arab holy warrior"? Cameron and Hague's new best friend Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. What's the betting you won't hear about that in the British media?

posted by Edgar Davidson @ 4:09 PM

ISRAEL SPEAKS

ISRAEL SPEAKS

Sir, – As our prime minister prepares for his forthcoming visit to the US ("Big speech or big sleep," Diplomacy, May 13), I would urge him for the sake of his supporters who may be intimidated by the constant barrage of big lies that have become "conventional wisdom" to clearly state what I believe is the view of the overwhelming number of Israeli Jews.

We are not occupiers of anybody's land. State lands beyond the 1967 borders came into Israel's possession as the result of a defensive battle. Palestinians never owned these lands and Jordan has relinquished all claims.

Both from the point of view of international law and historical association, Israel has the strongest claim. Nevertheless, it stands ready to make accommodations for a Palestinian entity as a neighbor living in peace, mutual respect and cooperation.

Israel owes the Palestinians nothing. It is up to them to articulate their vision of statehood, their role in the region and their relationship with neighbors.

Should they do so they will find a generous response on the part of Israel.

Binyamin Netanyahu will never have a more sympathetic audience than AIPAC and the US Congress, nor a more auspicious time as the present. Let these words be heard, for they are the words of truth.

SHUBERT SPERO 

Jerusalem 

Ten top Israeli business ventures that inspire peace in the Middle East | social-action

Ten top Israeli business ventures that inspire peace in the Middle East | social-action

Mystery Deepens over Deadly Jerusalem Bus Bomb

jacobblues 
Except for the fact that the West Bank GDP is growing at near double-digit rates and auto purchases are the highest in a decade, sure signs of Israel causing the Palestinians lives to be miserable.   
 
Of course, there are people who will rationalize the idea of knifing a baby and his siblings to death in their beds to as 'leigitimate armed resistance'  
 
These same people, who try to equate the decision by the Palestinians to launch rockets at Israeli civilians, with Israel's right to defend its citizens from such attacks, try to make the argument that Israelis "DESERVE" this violence by falsely claiming racism, in this case arguing that the Israeli government is an apartheid one.  
 
Which of course is a lie.  The reality is, Israel's government allows voting and participation by all ethnic groups, including Arabs, both Christian and Muslim.  Arabs are members of Israel's courts, it's parliment, in its diplomatic corps, and executive cabinet.  Israel's free-press, which includes Arab run news organizations provide for free speech.  Arabs, both Christian and Muslim serve side by side in Israel, whether it is in the hospitals, where Arab doctors treat Jewish patients, and Jewish doctors treat, not only Arab patients, but Palestinians from the territories and other Arab states as well.  But also in the IDF, they have the ability to serve, and do, under the same uniform and flag.   
 
In terms of skin color, which is what Apartheid is based on, Israel not only accepted thousands of Ethiopians as Jews, during the decades when they were persecuted by their Muslim neighbors, but continues to see a stream of refugees flee the violence in Sudan, travelling through Muslim and African Egypt, braving gunfire from Egyptian border guards to flee to this supposed 'Apartheid' state.  Someone must have forgotton to tell them about Israel's government.   
 
When the so-called Humanitarians are screaming about the Palestinians, they should remember that these are the same people who handed out candy in celebration of the baby-killings of the Fogel family but two weeks ago. 

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2061088,00.html#ixzz1HX6chQAN

Robert Blumenblatt replied: "Five Killed in West Bank Attack"

• Robert Blumenblatt replied:

"Five Killed in West Bank Attack"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704296604576196323547699628.html

I consider this a sample of what Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians want to do to Jews in and around Israel. Have you been paying attention to the recent fate of Coptic Christians in Egypt?

World War II was the product of the center of European civilization, the center of the productive culture scientifically and artistically . And the Holocaust, in which 6,000,000 Jews were exterminated. Yet you expect the Jews in Israel to trust the Sharia racist-like culture of Palestinian Muslims and accept the "liberal" terms of the Palestinian cause?

AIPAC is a legal United States lobbying group. Its job is to promote the views and interests of Israel. And if you want to change those views, I suggest you convert to Judaism, under Orthodox terms, move to Israel, and participate in its politics, including Voting there. How dare you second-guess the well-being of Israeli Jews?

What is your problem? There are 22 Arab states. Do you see any of them opening their doors to Jews or Israelis or Palestinians? How come they are so backward politically? Do you blame that on the Americans too?

There was once a strong Liberal and Leftist movement in Israel. But Israel learned its lessons since as to what the Muslim Arab Palestinians want - the end of Israel. All the moves Israel made since the peace with Egypt show that the aim of Muslims is to annihilate Israel. And now, Egypt's Mubarak fell while Jordan's king is under pressure. It may very well be that both will turn on Israel - just as the Turkish demagogue, PM Erdogan has: as he said to Nobel Laureate President Perez of Israel: "You know how to kill people." Perez should have said, "No, we didn't follow your example of the Armenian Genocide, we didn't even simply expel ALL the Palestinians into the surrounding Arab countries. 

I suggest you first solve the problems of national-states elsewhere, particularly among the countries with a Muslim majority, and then come back to the issue of Israel.

Look at India and Pakistan, one is Hindu mostly, the other Muslim. They got rid of their dictator - now Sharia law rules and infidels are being executed. And you know, the millions of non-Muslim citizens there must wear a special red head covering to indicate their submission to Islam. What your take on that?

I really would like to understand people like you who have an apparently weird preoccupation with the political virtues of Israel - but it's still primarily a mystery.

In the culture of Islam, Honor and Humiliation plays a major role. And to have Jews, with a state of their own, living in the "third holiest place in Islam" is an insult that can only be solved through a Jihad and Martyrdom. Since the Wall that Israel built, and its most recent wars against Lebanon and Gaza, Palestinians were unable to execute their cause of annihilating Israel through violence. So the effectively created their own International "AIPAC." Of which you seem to be one of its too many informal members. The aim is to de-legitimize Israel. Here it is the Muslims who lobby and control the UN far more effectively than AIPAC influences the US.

The PLO and Fatah are relatively weak - supported by the West in opposition to Hamas which demonstrates what Islamic culture really wants. Read about the rejoicing in Gaza over the murder of the above five Jews. Also, pay attention to the Bedouins in Sinai and how they are raping and ransoming Eritreans who want to go to Israel to work.

If the Arabs where wise politically they would take over Israel the way the Mexicans have in the USA since WWII, and the way the 4 million Muslim Turks have in Germany.

At least I know why the 14 out 15 Security Council members voted to condemn Israel - self-interest, wanting Muslim Oil, and no more Muslim refugees. But why are you an advocate of the Palestinian destroy-Israel position, is beyond me. What do you expect that Israel do on the thorny Palestinian refugee issue - flood Israel with reactionary Muslims and turn Israelis Jews into a minority once more/ Don't you understand the Pogroms and Holocaust of Europe, in the centers of the Modern Civilized World? I suspect that you really want to annihilate Jews. But why/ At least a Palestinian has his self-interest. But your name suggests your Christian. So what's your personal reason for hating the Jews in Israel?