Reader Tips

Reader Tips 47 Comments

Good evening, EBD here, welcome to the Wednesday edition of SDA Late Nite Radio. Tonight, a real treat for SDA opera buffs: we present Der Holle Rache, aka the Queen of the Night’s Vengeance Aria, from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
Opera fans typically love to while away their evenings debating which performer’s version of any given aria is the best one, so tonight we give you two quite different versions of the Queen of the Night Aria, one by French Coloratura Natalie Dessay and one by Florence Foster Jenkins so that SDA readers may decide for themselves which version is best for them. Feel free to discuss the matter, just not in the thread. If you feel it necessary to comment, remember that musical preferences are strictly a matter of taste, so please avoid heated arguments, profanity and all-caps. In my personal opinion, both versions of the aria are exemplary in their own way.
So, grab your opera glasses and work up a persistent scratchy cough, we’re off: first, Der Holle Rache as sung by French coloratura Natalie Dessay, and then by the remarkable Florence Foster Jenkins.
The thread is open for your reader tips.

47 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  1. Why not discuss in the thread? The Florence Foster Jenkins rendition is astounding. That other singer was pretty good too.

  2. Salon complained and pointed out why this inauguration was an excess. It was.
    For the media, simply reporting on the cost of the inauguration proved to be a challenge. Most major outlets stuck to the lower, albeit still unprecedented, figure of $40 million, which the Presidential Inaugural Committee said it hopes to raise from private donors. But a more accurate figure may be $50 million. That’s the amount cited by the Washington Times (which is plugged in to GOP circles). But even that number doesn’t take into account the nearly $20 million that’s being spent for security, putting the real cost at closer to $70 million, instead of the media’s preferred $40 million.
    Find it here: http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/01/20/media_on_inauguration
    To be informed about another inauguration, you have to go all the way across the big puddle to check the maximum extreme excess.
    But by the time the final dance has been held at one of the many inaugural balls the costs for the day will be a staggering £110m.
    Find it here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1115942/Bush-declares-state-emergency-Washington-cost-Obamas-swearing-ceremony-soars-110m.html
    Why would Salon ignore such excess?
    Wander not, its not important.
    You may refer to this as a clinical example of hypocrisy.

  4. Florence Foster Jenkins cannot be discussed in a thread, or anywhere else for that matter. Her production is a singularity in and of itself.

  7. I just can’t recall any huge celebrations or ceremonies when Harper became PM (to be fair, I can’t remember any hoopla for Martin or Chretien either). I thought they just swore an oath with the GG, and then kinda went to work. Oh, well; I guess everyone loves a party.
    On a completely unrelated topic, is anyone else as amused as I am by the complete cock-up of fraudster/DB Cooper wannabe Marcus Schrenker’s escape and/or suicide plan? After his parachute drop, he hails a car while still wearing his flight goggles, and tells the couple he had a canoeing accident. Then, when he goes to a trailer park, he voluntarily starts talking to a policeman, and gives him his pilot’s license as ID (I guess there are places where you just hand over your ID in casual conversation).

  9. “Do you have a link for that, Hannibal?”
    If you go to “Spanking Ayn Rand” at my blog, you’ll get there. I hate to mention it, but link whores like myself find Reader Tips a great way to generate traffic for our half-assed blogs and to meet women who carry sidearms.
    Speaking of “women who carry sidearms” has anyone seen Shaidle lately?

  11. With both economics and immigration becoming so topical, check out this NBC newsclip regarding changing attitudes in Florida and its’ subsequent impact on Canada.
    http://tinyurl.com/89243e
    Illegal immigrants, rather than being ‘deported’ to their home of origin, simply drive across the border to Canada. Once here, they are provided with accomodation, food and education and health care. What’s not to like?
    At about the 2:00 mark, we’ll see a sweet young Mexican girl welcoming us into her new ‘home’ and listen to her parents who apparently themselves can hardly believe that the Canadian government looks after their every need. Oh, and Mom. Well she’s pregnant, so they’re really going to require that ‘free healthcare’ and ‘free education’.
    And do you think the word doesn’t quickly go out to the other ‘illegal immigrants’ who form part of their community?
    Now I believe that as Mexicans, this family will eventually find their place within Canadian society and become good, productive citizens who both contribute to and appreciate their new country.
    But what of the apparent thousands who have no intention of ‘integrating’ or have no history of ‘western culture’ – are we willing to embrace everyone who simply drives through a border crossing or lands at an airport?
    With PM Harper about to spend us into multi-billion dollar deficits, is this how you want your tax dollars apportioned?
    Whether it’s police ignoring hate speech in our streets or financing illegal immigrants in our apartment buildings, Canada is becoming the world’s patsy.

  13. Vitruvius: this may sound strange, but if you listen to the Naxos labels’ “Florence Foster and Friends” enough times — which is a strange thing to do, I know — you actually come to appreciate, at a human level, the strength of her forward gear, and not in an entirely perverse sense. You end up liking her. It’s kinda like watching the kid with leg braces struggling to finish the race thirty minutes after the other kids. You end up liking her.
    She really did love to sing. Not that she’s at this —
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qegedcxRhPI&feature=related
    level. But the drive is similar.

  14. Inaugeration, same as the Olympics… NOT on my watch list.
    I’ve got marginal, but still BETTER things to do…

  15. Understood, EBD. It’s sort’a like if you listen to Marsha Raven enough times, you actually come to appreciate, at a human level, the strength of her forward gear, and not in an entirely perverse sense. Although, I should be careful of that which I speak, for I actually designed and had fabricated and installed in my truck a transmission that has a perverse gear, so what do I know ?-)

  16. A truly pathetic offering from Lawrence Martin:
    “In style, Mr. Obama is GQ, Mr. Harper Rotary Club. Mr. Obama is a fine wine, Mr. Harper lime juice. Mr. Obama is relaxed, Mr. Harper suspicious.”
    This piece really made me want to cringe: http://tinyurl.com/8gksxx

  18. Have you heard of this group http://www.socialistinternational.org or the Canadian version http://www.socialist.ca/En/index.html Everything they say is eerily similar to the talking points of leftwing political parties, media etc. It would be good to do some digging into political parties, media types that are affiliated with this scary group. I especially like the part in http://www.socialist.ca/En/wherewestand.html where they say our (capitalist) system can’t be reformed “it must be overthrown” Sounds a lot like the coalition. Lots of anti Harper propaganda too that looks word for word like headlines from the Toronto Star. They appear to be behind the environmental /global warming push too and are very supportive of Obama. Apparently his new head of the environment is a member of this group. Very scary stuff.

  19. Political Pop-Quiz
    Today I started thinking about those people who change their political views over time and those who don’t. Here are some plain English descriptions of such folks:
    Left -> Right . . . . . . . . . . . . A mature adult
    Right -> Left . . . . . . . . . . . . A guy who wants to continue sleeping with his Leftist girlfriend/wife
    Left -> Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lost in Space
    Right -> Right . . . . . . . . . . . Prescient

  20. Left -> Right . . . . . . . . . . . . A mature adult
    Or someone who’s too old for military service, like me.
    Just kidding.- But I had a draft dodger highschool teacher that became a friend of my family. I hadn’t seen him for years, and was surprised a few years ago to discover he’d become a bit of a hawk. I think 9/11 hit a lot of people too close to home.

  21. dp, I had a draft dodger high-school teacher too. You didn’t go to school in Vancouver per chance, did you?
    Is it just me or does something seem very fishy about this poll???
    I simply do not believe that 70% of Canadians want to pay more taxes to have even more of a nanny state!

  22. LindaL quoting Lawrence Martin: “In style, Mr. Obama is GQ, Mr. Harper Rotary Club. Mr. Obama is a fine wine, Mr. Harper lime juice. Mr. Obama is relaxed, Mr. Harper suspicious.”
    Where’s the barf bucket? Given that Martin is a partisan, sleazebag a**hat, ‘not surprising his gushing over the Obamessiah.
    Barak in a word: BLING.
    And we’re going to see it all through his presidency. Because he’s an Afriggin’ American, the toadies in the MSM will turn a blind eye, even though, just like his speech at the DNC with the Greek-God Columns and all, this grandstanding is going to cost the taxpayers big-time in an economic downturn. But, because he’s an Afriggin’ American, it’ll be downplayed.
    In fact, Lawrence Martin has just proved my next point: Not only will the over-the-top excess be downplayed, it’ll be seen as proof of Obama’s innate and suave “style.”
    BARAK BLING = BIG BUCKS
    been around the block

  23. Re Macleans magazine, my husband and I got a subscription last year because of Mark Steyn. We decided we wouldn’t renew—because of Mark Steyn, who’s no longer around. (And why would he be? I’m sure he’s just wiped the Canadian dust off his feet and moved on—to a more civilized place, out of reach of the Canadian thought police.)
    So, I was surprised to get a postcard from Macleans, informing me that they would use my credit card number to renew my subscription for me: isn’t that considerate of them?! “This notice is to advise you that the credit card charge for your next year of Macleans will be processed next month.” Oh no, it won’t! I’ll be phoning the 1-888 number to tell them.
    A suggestion for people who have Macleans subscriptions and are thinking of cancelling them: why wait for spring, do it now!

  25. Politicians are politicians after all….what else explains only half of the Accountability Act’s promises being killed before they were even born…..?
    Watchdog Bites PM
    By GREG WESTON
    For years, annual federal budgets have been stricken by a remarkable twist of fiscal fate: Government estimates of expected year-end surpluses or deficits are always massively wrong. Like clockwork, successive Liberal and Conservative regimes have miraculously managed to exceed expectations every year, vastly under-estimating surpluses, and equally overstating projected deficits.
    Somewhere along the road to power, Stephen Harper concluded that either the finance department was full of nitwits, or taxpayers and parliamentarians were being fed a crock. Either way, Harper vowed a Conservative government would create an independent watchdog to finally bring some semblance of truth to fiscal forecasting.
    It must have seemed like a good idea at the time.
    In March, the Conservatives appointed highly respected senior bureaucrat Kevin Page to be the nation’s first parliamentary budget officer. Ever since, it has been all perfectly Harpernian. The more Page tries to be the watchdog the Conservatives hired him to be, the more they try to muzzle him….
    In a wide-ranging interview with Sun Media, Page admitted his office has been under “pretty constant pressure.”….The government is now threatening to cut Page’s promised budget for this year 30%….. In a letter to the finance department dated a week after Flaherty floated his rosy fiscal fiction for the years ahead, Page asked to review the department’s data. In particular, he wanted to know details of the more than $10 billion in spending cuts and federal asset sales Flaherty claimed would keep the country out of deficit.
    No surprise — Flaherty’s department stonewalled. ….
    Not News: Lying politicians doing what they do best, all for their own benefit.
    News: ‘Conservatives’ support Liberal government
    Liberal/Tory, same old story…

  26. Anti-Israel = Anti-Semitism, according to Yale study. Hmmm.
    “Europe Reimports Jew Hatred”
    (Wall Street Journal)
    This brings a unique challenge to the difficult integration of Muslims in Europe. When it comes to issues like Shariah law and terrorism, one can expect a true “clash of civilizations.” There is no Western tradition that would justify “honor killings.” Anti-Semitism, on the other hand, is not alien to Europe’s culture — to the contrary, the Continent once excelled at it and many still share the feeling.
    A Pew study from September shows 25% of Germans and 20% of French are still affected by this virus. In Spain, 46% have unfavorable views of Jews. Is there really no connection between this statistic and the fact that the Spanish media and government are among Europe’s most hostile toward the Jewish state? Is it just a coincidence that Europe’s largest anti-Israel demonstration took place Sunday in Spain, with more than 100,000 protesters?
    A 2006 study in the Journal of Conflict Resolution based on the survey in 10 European countries suggests otherwise. Yale University’s Edward H. Kaplan and Charles A. Small found “that anti-Israel sentiment consistently predicts the probability that an individual is anti-Semitic, with the likelihood of measured anti-Semitism increasing with the extent of anti-Israel sentiment observed.”

  27. My concerns for the near to medium term are deepening. Since Barack Obama stated that as POTUS he would allow/expect trillion dollar deficits for years to come the Dow has been down every day – off nearly 9%.
    By saying that he is implying that he has no faith in the resiliency of the american economy and the private sector – that it will need a bailout – that it has become a ward of the state. Looking at his past statements this should come as no surprise.
    Jimmy Carter redux and maybe even worse?

  28. (Via Azure) Brendan O’Neill, Israel, Starbucks and the new irrationalism
    For me, the most striking image from Saturday’s big London demo against Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip was the gutted Starbucks coffee shop. On Kensington High Street, opposite the Israeli Embassy, hardcore anti-Israel protesters clashed with police on the evening of 10 January. The violence escalated and some protesters turned their anger towards Starbucks. Other shops were slightly damaged, but the Starbucks was completely destroyed: metal railings were thrown through its windows; fittings were ripped out; coffee machines were smashed to pieces. A special fury was visited upon this little shop.
    Why? Because Starbucks funds Israel’s war in Gaza…

  29. Jeffrey White, The IDF in Gaza: Operational Concepts, Lines of Effort, and Effects
    Almost three weeks into Operation Cast Lead, Israel clearly intends to compel Hamas to accept an end to its attacks on targets in southern Israel. If Hamas does not comply, Israel will destroy as much of Hamas’s organizational capacity as possible, leaving the group in a significantly weakened position. To this end, and with the hard-won experience of the 2006 Lebanon War, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are conducting a coherent military campaign that poses a serious, but not yet existential, threat to Hamas…

  31. Chávez reopens oil bids to West as prices plunge
    CARACAS: President Hugo Chávez, buffeted by falling oil prices that threaten to damage his efforts to establish a Socialist-inspired state, is quietly courting Western oil companies once again.
    Until recently, Chávez had pushed foreign oil companies here into a corner by nationalizing their oil fields, raiding their offices with tax authorities and imposing a series of royalties increases.
    http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/15/america/15venez.php

  32. charles macdonaldl – thanks for the link to the myth that Starbucks ‘funds the Israeli IDF’; myths, as immune to empirical evidence, are tough to dispel.
    As for your other link, about the agenda of the Israeli war on Gaza, I question the very axioms of this war. They are assuming that they can break Hamas and its capacity to operate by destroying its operational infrastructure. I disagree.
    I think that this Gaza incursion is strengthening Hamas. Most certainly, as the link agrees, infrastructure (tunnels, safe houses)can be rebuilt. This will take time and money and thus the first experience might be the reduction of Hamas’ power. But above all, the anger of the average Palestinian is going to drive many youths to radicalism, ie, to Hamas membership.
    And, the Islamic fascism nurtured in other Arab countries – which is NOT due to the I-P situation but to the internal tribal repressive nature of their own countries – will drive radical of these other countries to divert their focus to Israel. This is exactly what the Arab countries want – the diversion from dealing with their internal repressive structures…to..another country (Israel, USA).
    I claim that the only way to reduce radicalism is to enable the average Palestinian to participate in a robust economy, to feel secure in their own ability to participate in the political, social and economic agenda of their society. Radicalism will be reduced to a marginal ratio if the majority of the population feel strength in their own capacity to live.
    Without a state, this doesn’t exist for Palestinians. And since Israel has destroyed the Gaza economy by its blockade to all exports and cutting off of water, hydro and gas supplies to, in particular, the greenhouses – they don’t have an economy and are reduced to relying on international aid.
    That is, the tactic of developing and carrying out a war or ooccupational control versus developing and carrying out an integrated and robust economic infrastructure ought to be explored. Israel hasn’t done the latter with regard to the Palestinians – neither in the WB nor in Gaza. It has opted for the former.
    The problem with the former is that it won’t solve radical Islam, for two reasons. One – the cause isn’t within the I-P situation and two, the I-P situation is being used by radical Islam as an enormous attractor site for both increasing membership and diverting attention from the real causes of its fascism.

  33. The Canadian Journalism Foundation is hosting a talk by Maher Arar, on his ‘torture’ in Syria, and the role of the Canadian MSM in defining him as a victim of the US and Canadian governments.
    I myself remain sceptical of the veracity of Arar’s claims which were accepted by our government only on his word and without any empirical evidence of his having been tortured and with ambiguity about the nature of his contacts with individuals associated with Islamic fundamentalism.
    Arar and the Canadian MSM
    Arar is speaking, along with Hugh Winsor, a journalist, and Kerry Pither, an activist who works to “expose the Canada’s role in the overseas detention and torture of other Canadians”.

  34. ET, have any of these same people bothered to even mention the treatment of William Sampson who was tortured by some of the same type of animals? He had evidence of torture. Arar leaves a lot of doubt about his but it was deemed worth $10 million bucks of our money.
    If Arar were smart he’d want to go away and shut up, count himself lucky Canada is so EASY. He could still be playing for big bucks from the US, this could be his downfall.
    Sampson was an immigrant from Great Britain and a Canadian citizen. He got little help from Canada. In the end, he returned to Great Britain, they gave him the support he needed. Now it’s forgotten, never mentioned.

  37. This is a real letter that was written by a small business owner
    somewhere in the states last month that was sent to his employees before
    Christmas.
    To All My Valued Employees,
    There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of
    this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy
    has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the
    good news is this: The economy doesn’t pose a threat to your job. What
    does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in
    this country. However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which
    might help you decide what is in your best interests.
    First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against
    employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is
    a Back Story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by
    what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You’ve
    seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I’m sure; all these
    flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.
    However, what you don’t see is the BACK STORY:
    I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300
    square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was
    converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building
    a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.
    My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent
    went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a
    defective transmission. I didn’t have time to date. Often times, I
    stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and
    partying. In fact, I was married to my business — hard work,
    discipline, and sacrifice.
    Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a
    modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy
    cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes.
    Instead of hitting the Nordstrom’s for the latest hot fashion item, I
    was trolling through the discount store extracting any clothing item
    that didn’t look like it was birthed in the 70’s. My friends refinanced
    their mortgages and lived a life of luxury.
    I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a
    business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to
    afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.
    So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9 A.M., mentally check
    in at about noon, and then leave at 5 P.M., I don’t. There is no “off”
    button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a
    weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat,
    and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest.
    There is no weekend. There is no happy hour.
    Every day this business is attached to my hip like a
    1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of
    that garden — the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations… you never
    realize the Back Story and the sacrifices I’ve made.
    Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right
    decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who
    didn’t.
    The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the
    same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.
    Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I’ve paid is steep
    and not without wounds.
    Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is
    starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell
    you
    why:
    I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don’t pay enough.
    I have state taxes.
    Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes.
    Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes.
    Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage
    all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing
    him.
    Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes
    with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the
    US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my
    “stimulus” check was? Zero.. Nada. Zilch.
    The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy
    who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000
    people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother
    sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next
    welfare check?
    Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this
    country.
    The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you’d quit
    and you wouldn’t work here. I mean, why should you? That’s nuts. Who
    wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which
    is why your job is in jeopardy.
    Here is what many of you don’t understand … to stimulate the economy
    you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government
    mandated to me that I didn’t need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of
    depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have
    spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic
    growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in
    the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.
    When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don’t
    defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to
    life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the
    heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate
    it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the
    poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic
    engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of
    change you can keep.
    So where am I going with all this?
    It’s quite simple.
    If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be
    swift and simple. I’ll fire you. I’ll fire your co-workers. You can then
    plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your
    child’s future. Frankly, it isn’t my problem any more.
    Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and
    retire. You see, I’m done. I’m done with a country that penalizes the
    productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to
    provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.
    So, if you lose your job, it won’t be at the hands of the economy; it
    will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this
    country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its
    landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach,
    retired, and with no employees to worry about….
    Signed, THE BOSS

  39. ET, time will tell whether Israel’s strategy against Hamas is effective. It will largely depend on maintaining control of (and preferably, expanding the size of) the Philadelphi corridor cordon sanitaire to cut off the smuggling tunnels, keeping up the naval blockade, etc.
    There is a further way to defuse radicalism: reduce the youth bulge of perpetually irate Arab young men. Emigration is one way to accomplish that; combat is another.

  40. charles macdonald – no, I don’t think that the strategy of maintaining control over the arms corridors that enable the radicals to bring in arms and supplies is the major strategy. It ought to be one tactic, to be sure, but the key strategy has to be long term, to reduce not simply the number of radicals but the proportion of radical to non-radical in the group.
    Israel’s strategies of: (1) reducing the population to penury by blockades and ‘punishments’ for allowing the radicals into Gaza/WB; and (2)actual war; and (3) control of borders etc – won’t reduce the proportion of radicals. In fact, it will have th opposite effect of increasing the proportion!
    And of course, emigration of radicals to the West doesn’t help the situation, for they simply turn their hatred as we have seen, against the West. Combat won’t solve the ratio either, for a combat nation is usually also a high-regeneration population.
    And remember, the real cause of Islamic fascism is the lack of a democracy and middle class in the Arab States. The I-P situation is simply a channel of diversion, and the Arab State tribal leaders will encourage this diversion.
    I take a different view. First, I reject viewing a population within the definition of a Universal. Quite a few commenters here and elsewhere do that: ‘Nuke them all’; ‘All of them are arabs and so, Palestinians should just go and live elsewhere with the rest of the arabs; ‘Reject ALL Muslim immigration’. ‘ALL muslims are fascists’. We can see the same kind of universalism in anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric. I reject this as fictional and unrealistic.
    Instead, I posit that SOME are radicals and SOME are not-radicals. I’m not at the moment talking about the percentages here; I’m just rejecting the Universal ‘ALL’. The strategy in this perception is to introduce tactics that increase the proportion of the type of behaviour you prefer, and reduce the proportion of the undesirable.
    Israel’s tactics – settling the West Bank, and differential treatment of Palestinians vs Settlers re water access, road access etc; economic blockade of Gaza etc..in my view increase the radical proportion.
    The strategy ought to be to increase the non-radical ratio so that these people would on their own reject the radicals. This strategy is economic; enable the average Palestinian in the West Bank and Gaza to have a productive, stable economy, connected to the Israeli economy. Enable them to have a democracy in their own control.
    To me – that is the ONLY way to deal with radicalism in this situation. You have to change the proportion of membership in the two sides.
    Bush did that in Iraq. He enabled the Iraqi people to develop a middle class, which is in charge of their own political system (that’s democracy) and to engage, themselves, in a modern and developing economy. When the people are involved in this – they won’t want radical ideologies messing it up.
    But, since Israel’s agenda, in my view, is NOT to enable a Palestinian state because Israel wants the West Bank in its full control, then..what’s left? I don’t think Israel is going to officially admit that it intends to retain the West Bank, though it’s a basic axiom in the Orthodox beliefs, and certainly, people like Sharon and others have referred to this agenda. But what’s left? I get the feeling that Israel wants Egypt to take over Gaza (which would remove Gaza as a part of a Palestinian state); and hopes, somehow, that the Palestinians in the WB will..what..disappear? I admit I don’t get this part. But you don’t settle a land that you intend to hand over to someone else.
    Again, the strategy ought to be to change the proportion of radicals vs non-radicals in a population and the best, most long-lasting and most powerful tactic is to enable more of the population to live a constructive economic life.
    We have two examples. Bush’s strategy vs Israel’s strategy. I prefer that of Bush.

  41. “And remember, the real cause of Islamic fascism is the lack of a democracy and middle class in the Arab States.’ – ET
    Bah.
    “And remember…” Why should anybody remember, pray tell?
    Another didactic lesson from ET, an assertion based on nothing more than what she would like to believe. Completely devoid of 1400 years of observed history. Completely devoid of Islamic fascists currently enjoying the fruits of western democracy, the western economy and a middle class, yet still behaving savagely. And devoid of what Islam teaches, what fanatics believe and say and what they are all commanded to do as devote adherents of Islam.
    San Jose State University Middle East history lecturer, David Meir-Levi, has this to say. Which unlike ET’s lectures, is actually based on historical fact:
    The State of Israel was created in a peaceful and legal process by the United Nations. The UN partition plan (resolution #181, November 29, 1947) created two states: the State of Israel for the Jews, and the State of Palestine for the Arabs.
    The Arab refugees were people who fled because of the war, the Arab states started. The rulers of eight Arab countries whose populations vastly outnumbered the Jews initiated the war with simultaneous invasions of the newly created State of Israel on three fronts. Nascent Israel begged for peace and offered friendship and cooperation to its neighbors. The Arabs rejected this offer and answered it with a war of annihilation against the Jews, which fortunately failed. To this day the Arab states and the Palestinians refer to the failure of their aggression and the survival of Israel as the Nakhba – the catastrophe.
    Had there been no Arab aggression, no war, no invasion by Arab armies whose intent was avowedly genocidal, not only would there have been no Arab refugees, but there would have been a state of Palestine on the West Bank and Gaza since 1948.
    Israel offered to return land it had acquired in defending itself against the Arab aggression in exchange for a formal peace. It made this offer during the Rhodes Armistice talks and Lausanne conference in 1949. The Arab rulers refused. Had Israel’s offer been accepted, there could have been prompt and just resolution to all the problems that have afflicted the region since. The only problem that wouldn’t have been resolved to the satisfaction of the Arabs was their desire to obliterate the state of Israel. After their victory, Israel passed a law that allowed Arab refugees to re-settle in Israel provided they would sign a form in which they renounced violence, swore allegiance to the state of Israel, and became peaceful productive citizens. During the decades of this law’s tenure, more than 150,000 Arab refugees have taken advantage of it to resume productive lives in Israel.
    It should be completely obvious to any reasonable and fair-minded observer of this history, therefore, that it was not the creation of the State of Israel that caused the Arab refugee problem, nor was it Israel that obstructed its solution.
    On the contrary, the Arab refugee problem was the direct result of the aggression of the Arab states, and their refusal after failing to obliterate Israel to sign a formal peace, or to take care of the refugees who remained outside Israel’s borders.
    Between 1949 and 1954 about 800,000 Jews were forced to flee from the Arab and Muslim lands where they had lived for hundreds and even thousands of years – from Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and Iran. These Jews were peaceful citizens of their Arab countries and in no way a hostile population. Nonetheless, they were forced at gun-point to flee with nothing but the clothes on their backs. The only reason for their expulsion was revenge against the Jewish citizenry of Arab countries for the shame of the Arab defeat in their war of aggression.
    Most of these Jewish refugees came to Israel, where they were integrated into normalcy by the tiny fledgling Jewish state, which did for its own precisely what the Arab states (and later the PLO) have refused to do for theirs.
    Some observers have suggested that this turn of events could be understood as a “population exchange” – Arabs fled to Arab countries as Jews fled to the Jewish country, both as a result of the 1948 war, both under conditions which their side regards as forced evacuations. On the other hand, no one on the Arab side has suggested the obvious: if Jewish refugees were resettled on land vacated by fleeing Arabs, why not resettle Arab refugees on the lands of Jews who were forced to flee the Arab countries. One reason no one has suggested this is that no Arab state with the exception of Jordan will even allow Palestinians to be citizens. Another point: Taking into account the assets of the Jewish refugees from Arab and Muslim lands, one can conclude that the Jews have already paid massive “reparations” to the Arabs whether warranted or not.
    The property and belongings of the Jewish refugees, confiscated by the Arab governments, has been conservatively estimated at about $2.5 billion in 1948 dollars. Invest that money at a modest 6.5% over 57 years and you have today a sum of $80 billion, which the Arab and Muslim governments of the lands from which the Jews were expelled could apply to the benefit of the Arab refugees. That sum is quite sufficient for reparations to Arab refugees. There is no way of accurately assessing the value of Arab property left in Israel’s control; but there are no estimates as high as a 1948 value of $2,500,000,000. So, hypothetically, the Arab side would be getting the better of such a deal.
    (Excerpt from ‘The Big Arab Lie: The Political Abuse of the Refugee Issue’)

  42. Hey, who won the Best Conservative Blog? Kate?
    Wasn’t the tally supposed to be ready by 5:00 p.m. tonight? It’s now 5:36 — at least that’s what my computer says …

  43. I bet there where government Union people in the hate rally. The vicious ANTI-Semite Sid Ryan ,is the head honcho here for Government Unions. A proud communist of course, who forces members dues to be used in this disgusting way. Trust me 9 out of 10 workers despise the Union & this bigot. They have Presidents for life. So much for democracy. This is a Petition by regular people & folks like me who where forced to join. This may or not get me in trouble but these day’s to stop the juggernaught of malice. We all have to contribute no matter the consequences or beliefs. This is a danger for us all against barbarity. Please sign the Petition. G-D Bless.
    http://www.petitiononline.com/CUPESR1/petition.html

  46. Lewis Smith, Nasa says methane on Mars offers powerful evidence of life
    Powerful evidence that life may still exist on Mars was presented by Nasa last night after the discovery that huge plumes of methane were being spurted into the planet’s atmosphere.
    Detection of the gaseous emissions fell short of offering proof of life but indicated to astronomers a distinct possibility that it not only evolved on Mars, but is still there. Most of the gas on earth is created by animals and plants…
    Methane was detected using infrared spectrometers in Hawaii but it was impossible to determine whether the gas had been created through biological or geological processes…

  47. Some excerpts from President Bush’s farewell address:
    “The battles waged by our troops are part of a broader struggle between two dramatically different systems. Under one, a small band of fanatics demands total obedience to an oppressive ideology, condemns women to subservience, and marks unbelievers for murder. The other system is based on the conviction that freedom is the universal gift of Almighty God and that liberty and justice light the path to peace.
    This is the belief that gave birth to our nation. And in the long run, advancing this belief is the only practical way to protect our citizens. When people live in freedom, they do not willingly choose leaders who pursue campaigns of terror. When people have hope in the future, they will not cede their lives to violence and extremism”.
    And: “In the face of threats from abroad, it can be tempting to seek comfort by turning inward. But we must reject isolationism and its companion, protectionism. Retreating behind our borders would only invite danger. In the 21st century, security and prosperity at home depend on the expansion of liberty abroad. If America does not lead the cause of freedom, that cause will not be led.”
    That’s what it’s all about – enabling people to be free, to live in economic and political and social freedom. And that is what I keep suggesting Israel ought to do – enable the Palestinians to be free. No-one else other than Israel can do this for them. The Arab States consider Palestinians the ‘lowest of the low’ and most certainly don’t want an Arab democracy in the midst of their own tribal nations.
    Only Israel can do this; so far it has rejected this task, it has hoped that the Palestinians would simply disappear ‘into the arabian morass’. They haven’t done so, and the occupation has actually led to more and more rage and violence in the region. So far it has focused only on its own borders, and ensuring that it retains the West Bank.
    Hamas, which is Islamic fascism, has moved in, with its links to Iranian imperialism. [At one time, Israel even aided Hamas, supporting it as an effort to undermine Arafat’s PLO.] But, if Israel would align itself with a Palestinian sovereign and democratic state, a state economically tied to Israel – this would drastically weaken the hold that fascism has in the Arab States. And weaken Iran’s capacity for imperialism.
    Therefore, the agenda ought to be to ensure that the ratio of non-radicals to radicals gives the dominant percentage to the non-radicals. Israel, even more than the US, because it is ‘there’, has the capacity to change this ratio. Will it do so? Or will its agenda of keeping the WB override such a tactic?

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