Their society is sick. Children, mothers and young ideologues exploited to enrich their leaders. The mass of people more concerned about their corrupt leaders’ honor than their own children’s welfare. Their hate filled and violent society will not be changed by western generosity. Their chosen leaders will not allow it. Their leadership learned long ago that the more desperate and miserable the majority of the population is, the more money the world pours into their pockets... the Leaders' pockets. Arafat has become a billionaire by keeping his fellow palestinians impoverished, ignorant and illiterate.

Meanwhile, the bureaucrats in Eurabia and the rest of the civilized world have kept the $$$ pouring into Arafat’s Swiss bank accounts. Palestinians as today’s Noble Savages… it’s infuriating. Savages? yes. Noble? not in the least.

Masalha makes the point that there is a difference in the language of the souk or colloquial Arabic, and high language that permits expressing complex ideas. He contends that 80% of Arabs today lack the high language skills to express themselves as well as junior high schoolers in modern nations.

He explains that completing 8th grade, although making people literate by some definitions, doesn't give them the language skills necessary to discuss any complex idea. He was asked why he couldn't simply write in colloquial Arabic: "Impossible. We don't talk about theater, films, or television series. It's impossible to write research [about] art or history in the colloquial. You need the literary [language]."

He sees a need for more western influence in the Arab world and of the danger of the Islamist preference for looking backward. He suggests that "Woman is the Solution"

"First of all, separation of religion and state. [Then] war on ignorance, opening up to the world and to [other] cultures. The Islamic motto of 'Islam is the solution' must be replaced by 'the woman is the solution.' Women must be educated, encouraged, and enlightened. In a home with an educated and productive wife, the children will grow up to be educated and productive. A large part of the backwardness and tragedy of the Arab world lies in its abhorrent treatment of women.

"Islam is, in my view, a prescription for going back in time, to the pre-Islamic period of benightedness. The solution is to build a liberal and democratic society that places the individual in the center, and more than anything the woman at the heart of this center.

"We Arabs have a problem with self-sarcasm. We do not know how to laugh at ourselves. This is part of our problem. There are many taboos, almost [as powerful as] the living word of God, that must not be transgressed. There is no Arab satire, for example. In [satiric] Arab writing, it is rare to find anything interesting, except perhaps by Emil Habibi. We take the world very seriously."

Mr. Sharon suspends all elections and plans a decade of unquestioned rule.

Mr. Sharon suspends all investigation about fiscal impropriety as his family members spend millions of Israeli aid money in Paris.

All Israeli television and newspapers are censored by the Likud party.

Israeli hit teams enter the West Bank with the precise intention of targeting and blowing up Arab women and children.

Preteen Israeli children are apprehended with bombs under their shirts on their way to the West Bank to murder Palestinian families.

Israeli crowds rush into the street to dip their hands into the blood of their dead and march en masse chanting mass murder to the Palestinians.

Rabbis give public sermons in which they characterize Palestinians as the children of pigs and monkeys.

Israeli school textbooks state that Arabs engage in blood sacrifice and ritual murders.

Mainstream Israeli politicians, without public rebuke, call for the destruction of Palestinians on the West Bank and the end to Arab society there.

Likud party members routinely lynch and execute their opponents without trial.

Jewish fundamentalists execute with impunity women found guilty of adultery on grounds that they are impugning the “honor” of the family.

Israeli mobs with impunity tear apart Palestinian policemen held in detention.

Israeli television broadcasts—to the tune of patriotic music—the last taped messages of Jewish suicide bombers who have slaughtered dozens of Arabs.

Jewish marchers parade in the streets with their children dressed up as suicide bombers, replete with plastic suicide-bombing vests.

New Yorkers post $25,000 bounties for every Palestinian blown up by Israeli murderers.

Israeli militants murder a Jew by accident and then apologize on grounds that they though he was an Arab—to the silence of Israeli society.

Jews enter Arab villages in Israel to machine gun women and children.

Israeli public figures routinely threaten the United States with terror attacks.

Bin Laden is a folk hero in Tel Aviv.

Jewish assassins murder American diplomats and are given de facto sanctuary by Israeli society.

Israeli citizens celebrate on news that 3,000 Americans have been murdered.

Israeli citizens express support for Saddam Hussein’s supporters in Iraq in their efforts to kill Americans.

How can they be so blind?

The American Legal system, based on written law and then expounded through judicial decisions is familiar concepts to Jews: A single document, written on parchment, giving rise to volumes of commentary on case law. As wise as our founding fathers were, they had a time tested model to follow while writing the Constitution and constructing our system of governance.

Dennis Prager calls for us to better understand what Judeo-Christian means, he's right. If we intend to continue to make the world a better place, we need to understand the foundation of what is good about our society. What is the distinction between Europe's emphasis on equality our emphasis on freedom? How are the tow best balanced for the benefit of all? If we deny and ignore our roots, if we do not understand what makes America different... and come to grips with it, then we will lose our direction. Only through recognizing our collective strengths and weaknesses can we expect to make real progress in repairing and improving the world.

Understanding what Judeo-Christian means and what it stands for, both its beauty and warts, is a great place to start.

The Jag investigation's purpose is to assign blame and accountability. The Safety Investigation's purpose is to trace the chain of events leading up to the accident, to identify factors that contributed to causing the accident and to recommend changes to keep a similar accident from happening in the future. In short the Safety Investigation’s purpose was to find the truth and save lives.

One cliché in Naval Aviation is that our NATOPS manuals are written in blood. (Naval Air Training and Operational Procedures Standardization) The cliché is true because of the Mishap Investigation Report and it's underlying concept of Safety Privilege.

All information gathered by a Mishap Board is Privileged Information… disclosure of privileged information comes only under penalty of law. “Unauthorized disclosure of the information in this report is a criminal offense punishable under Article 92, Uniform Code of Military Justice” Witnesses, ALL witnesses, including the accident aircrew members, are protected from any legal consequences as a result of their statements to the Mishap Investigation Board. They cannot be prosecuted, sued, nor punished. The witnesses are encouraged to be forthright, open and complete in their statements to help the Board understand the chain of events leading to the mishap. In this way investigators have the best chance for getting at the truth.

The Safety Investigation is unquestionably after the truth. It’s whole purpose is to identify problems and deficiencies in equipment, procedures and training in an effort to prevent future accidents. It asks, "Which of the events leading to hte mishap could have been altered to prevent the accident?" In using history honestly they are trying to save lives in the future. That’s quite different from the JAG investigation.

The Jag investigation is all about assigning blame and responsibility. It’s witnesses are protected with the right to remain silent and the right against self-incrimination. Facts matter, but the whole truth does not. The JAG investigation in its search for truth cannot have access to the Mishap Investigation Report in coming to its independent findings. LIkely it will not have access to the complete truth.

Certainly the JAG investigation makes people feel better that someone is being held accountable. Accountability is important. But accountability doesn’t help save lives.

If only the 9/11 commission were more like a Safety Investigation. If only the commission were out for the truth instead of assigning blame, I’d feel a whole lot better. Wouldn’t’ it be nice if these politicians were genuinely interested in saving lives and making government work better instead of pointing fingers and assigning blame for partisan political purposes?

It’s a sad state when political rhetoric has stooped to such a level that, regardless of which party is in power, we are incapable of trusting our government to conduct such an investigation... Privileged Information would be seen as an evil. Our media and, subsequently, our representatives in government, are more interested in pointing fingers, demanding accountability and assigning blame than they are in finding the truth and dealing with it. They’re more interested in bickering than they are in protecting us.

Both parties are equally guilty. It’s a shame.

Slaughtered by the thousands?... they did as they were told.
Expelled from places they'd lived for centuries? ... they did as they were told.
Excluded them from the professions, civil service, prohibited from marrying Christians?... they did as they were told.
Nuremburg Laws?... they did as they were told.

SET AGAINST this backdrop, it is truly mind boggling that we, of all good people in the last 2,000 years, have to be the ones born into an era when the Jews suddenly refuse to accept their fate and be blamed, besieged, attacked, and generally do as they are told.

How dare they not listen, even when told expressly that their killing of a fine man whose only crime was to kill Jewish kids, mothers, and geriatrics like himself - is "unlawful?"

Clearly, the Jews we face are different. They don't care when we tell them the man they killed was everything they are so proud to value - a scholar, a sage, and a freedom fighter. Heck, they don't even care when we scream in their ears that killing their paraplegic adversary constitutes a war crime.

What crosses their minds when they ignore pontifications, reprimands, and instructions like those unleashed at them this week by anyone and everyone, from the UN's secretary-general to Her Majesty's foreign secretary? Do they perhaps recall at such a moment how Britain helped trap the Jews in wartime Europe?

Clearly, this era's Jews are different.

Unlike their ancestors, whose long but selective memories were focused on who killed how many Jews, when, where and how - our era's Jews prefer to recall how their ancestors didn't fight back. They fight. They don't do as they are told, and when fingered - they argue.

And yet today, following a sad and familiar pattern, the Council convenes. Why? Not to condemn the terrorism, not to honor the memory of the hundreds murdered by it, but to come to the defense of one of its prime perpetrators, a godfather of terrorism. This is not a message of which the Council can be proud. Frankly, it is an outrage.

As long as we pretend that the response to terrorism is more serious than the terrorism itself, we only invite more of it. If we want to give the peace process a chance -- the kind of terror that Sheikh Ahmed Yassin directed and perpetrated, and which he swore to continue relentlessly, cannot be appeased or assuaged, it must be defeated. It must be defeated not just for our sake but for the sake of the whole free world.

Mr. President,

Although the Security Council has never met to discuss the attacks for which Sheikh Yassin is responsible, the list is gruesome and shocking. To characterize him as a "spiritual leader" is to attempt to characterize Osama bin Laden as a Mother Therese. Underneath his supposed clerical garb, Sheikh Yassin is a true pioneer in the ruthless murder of innocents. Under his direct leadership, inspiration, and instruction, Hamas -- an organization recognized around the world for its brutal terrorism - has perpetrated over 425 attacks that have killed 377 Israelis and wounded 2076 in less than three and a half years of violence. He has stood at the head of a command and control structure dedicated to the destruction of Israel. If Sheikh Yassin was not an arch-terrorist, there is no such thing.

In my hands I hold 187 pages documenting the horrific scope and extent of Hamas terrorism that has wreaked unspeakable anguish on the lives of the citizens of Israel. Among 425 attacks perpetrated by Hamas since September 2000, the organization has perpetrated no less than 52 separate suicide attacks, in which 288 Israelis were murdered and 1,646 were wounded. I will mention only a few of them, to give you an idea of the evil this man represented and the horror the organization he headed has inflicted, while he proudly claimed responsibility.

Time and again, while Israeli mothers were in excruciating pain, burying their babies and widows mourning their husbands, Sheikh Yassin's gloating face appeared on every TV screen, exalting the murderers as martyrs. What follows is just a short list of his bloody and gruesome record.

The June 1, 2001 suicide bombing of the Dolphinarium discotheque in Tel Aviv, in which 21 people were murdered and 120 were wounded, when a Hamas terrorist blew himself up while standing in a large group of teenagers waiting to enter the club;

The August 9, 2001 suicide bombing of a Jerusalem restaurant, in which 15 people were murdered and 130 were wounded;

The December 1, 2001 double suicide bombing on the Ben Yehuda Street pedestrian mall in Jerusalem, in which 11 people were murdered and 188 were wounded;

The December 2, 2001 suicide bombing of a #16 bus in Haifa, in which 15 people were murdered and 40 were wounded;

The March 9, 2002 suicide bombing of a Jerusalem cafe, in which 11 people were murdered and 54 were wounded;

The March 27, 2002 suicide bombing in the dining room of the Park Hotel in the coastal city of Netanya on the first night of Passover, in which 30 people were murdered and 140 were wounded;

The June 18, 2002 suicide bombing of the #32A commuter bus in Jerusalem, in which 19 people were murdered and 74 were wounded. The bus, which was completely destroyed, was carrying many students on their way to school.

The August 4, 2002 suicide bombing of #361 bus at Meron junction, in which nine people were murdered and 50 were wounded;

The November 21, 2002 suicide bombing of a #20 bus in Jerusalem, in which 11 people were murdered and 50 were wounded;

The March 5, 2003 suicide bombing of a #37 bus in Haifa, in which 17 people were murdered and 53 were wounded;

The May 18, 2003 suicide bombing of a #6 bus in Jerusalem, in which seven people were murdered and 20 wounded;

The June 11, 2003 suicide bombing of #14A bus in Jerusalem, in which 11 people were murdered and over 100 were wounded;

The August 19, 2003 suicide bombing of a #2 bus in Jerusalem, in which 23 people were murdered and over 130 were wounded;

The September 9, 2003 suicide bombing of a hitchhiking post near the IDF base at Tzrifin, in which nine soldiers were murdered and 10 were wounded;

The September 9, 2003 suicide bombing of a Jerusalem cafe, in which seven people were murdered and 70 were wounded;

The January 29, 2004 suicide bombing of a #19 bus in Jerusalem, in which 11 people were murdered and 44 were wounded;

And just last week, on March 14, 2004 at the Ashdod port, in which 10 people were murdered and 16 were wounded.

His hands were steeped in the blood of the innocent. Sheik Yassin personally instigated and specifically authorized homicide attacks, encouraged individual men and women to become suicide bombers, ordered the firing of Qassam missiles attacks against Israeli communities, coordinated joint activities with other terrorist organizations and collected funds for terrorist activity, campaigning throughout the Arab world to raise millions of dollars to improve Hamas' terrorist capabilities.

Through his words he spawned an ideology of hatred, incitement and murder, glorified as martyrdom. In numerous public appearances, Sheik Yassin called repeatedly for the intensification of the "armed struggle" against Israelis and Jews "everywhere." Just one day before the twin homicide attacks at Cafe Hillel in Jerusalem and the bus stop near Tzrifin on 8 September 2003, that claimed 17 lives, Sheik Yassin called on Hamas to attack Israeli civilians without restraint, saying "We will not limit the military command, battalions or factions." Indeed, he knew no limit.

Sheik Yassin's murderous reach extended not only to the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem but to our global streets. He was an arch terrorist with international aims and international ties. He called for suicide attacks against American and British forces in Iraq and praised Osama Bin Laden, wishing that Allah grant him the possibility to continue his fight against the United States.

This is the man that the Council is asked to defend. His victims were denied the attention of this Council. Will you now give that attention to the person who bears direct responsibility for their murder?

Mr. President, Members of the Council,

In comparative terms, the number of innocents deliberately murdered by Palestinian terrorists as of March 2004, is equivalent to 22,499 Russian citizens; 43,136 citizens of the United States, or 58,963 citizens of the EU. Can there be any doubt as to what your countries would do - or in some cases have already done - in the face of terrorism of this scale and magnitude? I ask those that join us today for this debate: could you sit quietly and wait for the next homicide bomber to appear on your doorstep?

By any reasonable standard of international law, Israel has a legitimate right, in fact a duty, to defend itself against those illegal combatants and their commanders who are committed to murder as many of its civilians as possible. The Palestinian leadership has proved beyond any doubt that it has no intention of taking a single measure to fight terrorism, as it is legally and morally obliged to do. This mass murderer, Shiekh Yassin, lived and operated for years not just in freedom, but under the protective authority and safe haven of the Palestinian Authority in violation of the most basic international norms. What would you have us do? Stand idly by as Yassin and the Palestinian leadership co-sign the death warrants of more innocent civilians?

It is the basic obligation of the Government of Israel -- like any other government -- to protect the lives of its citizens from the threat of terrorism. Unlike the terrorists we confront, we make every effort under excruciatingly difficult conditions to minimize harm to civilians. We recognize that we have responsibilities. But we will not negotiate by day and bury our dead by night. By removing Sheikh Yassin from the international stage, we send a very strong message to the terrorists: when you kill our civilians, you are not immune.

Mr. President,

Yesterday's operation constitutes an important stride forward in our march against fundamentalist terrorism in our region, enabling a return to the peace process. Sheikh Yassin was one of the greatest obstacles to the cessation of hostilities and the renewal of negotiations: a road block on the road map to peace. Since he founded Hamas from the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood organization in 1987, the organization has opposed peace talks with Israel, and attempted to thwart every single peace initiative. So the question shouldn't be "why now?" The question should be "why not before?"

There cannot be peace and terror. There cannot be peace and Hamas. The Road Map explicitly requires the elimination of Hamas and other terrorist organizations, it calls for an end to funding and support for their efforts, it recognizes that peace is impossible while these messengers of death are allowed to flourish.

Israel remains committed to peace. We will persevere in the hope that a partner for peace will emerge so that we can arrive at a political solution based upon the implementation of the Road Map. In the meantime, Prime Minister Sharon has announced plans for bold measures of disengagement that hold the potential for reenergizing the process.

The Palestinian leadership has a choice. It can continue to get into bed with terrorists and tyrants. It can continue its morally depraved strategy of murder and terror and, in so doing, continue to bring suffering and despair on the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. But it can also choose a different path. It can prove to the world that it is ready to assume responsibilities, not just assume privileges. It can show that it is ready to establish a democratic society that will respect the rights of its people, and the rights of its neighbors, and not another terrorist dictatorship in the heart of the Middle East. Israel is ready, as always, to be a partner to such a leadership.

The Security Council has a choice too. It does not have to continue to send a message that puts the response to terrorism on trial, instead of the terrorism itself. It does not have to pander to initiatives that defend the terrorist rather than his victims. In the legacy of resolutions 242, 338 and 1373, the Council can also send another message: one of hope and of peace. One that does not pretend that this is a conflict in which one side has a monopoly on rights and on victimhood. One that rejects terror without compromise.

Which message will you send today, to our region, and to the rest of the world?

The world has changed. What was once liberal is now illiberal, and the old progressivism has become mean-spirited and opportunistic. What was once idealistic is seen as calculating. When I read about the “Jews” now, it is almost always negative and emanates either from the European left or the so-called liberal university here in the United States. Israel, still democratic and still attacked by autocracies, is now hated rather than respected, not for what it has done, but for what it is. The world snored, for example, this week when suicide bombers were foiled in their attempts at getting at a chemical weapons dump so that they might once more gas Jews. Neither Kofi Annan nor Desmond Tutu, for all their recent media appearances, said a word when Palestinians apologized for murdering a jogger in Jerusalem on the mistaken impression that the poor Arab was a “Jew.”

When I turn on the TV and see some wild-eyed crazy-like public figure ranting, it is not a John Bircher frothing about pure drinking water and statesmen of dual loyalties, but prominent Democratic politicians like an Al Gore or Howard Dean screaming to the point of exhaustion, alluding to the end of America as we have known it, and citing a “betrayal” of the United States. Secret meetings, stealthy friendships, and contorted past relationships—the purported exegesis of all this intrigue and plotting now comes out on NPR and in the New York Review of Books, not garish 1950 pulp newspapers printed in pink.

When I listen to those who talk of race first rather than last, and identify themselves and others by their skin color, it is almost always by those on the Left, and usually by those who have something to gain by claiming first loyalty to a race or tribe rather than to a common humanity. And when I hear America criticized for being too wasteful in its largess, too naive in its foreign policy, too extended abroad, too simplistic in its support of democracy, it is now always from a Democratic Senator or liberal professor, almost never from the old America Firster or pull-in-our horns Isolationist.

What has happened to the liberal world I grew up in?...

...Most Democrats we saw this year—Howard Dean, Al Gore, John Kerry, Terry McAuliff, and John Edwards—either grew up in aristocratic bounty or are themselves multimillionaires. Does this matter?—only in the sense of sincerity and consistency. When Republican grandees talk of the glories of the free market you know what you get; when very liberal grandees talk of its evils, you have only the assurance that what they advocate and whom they champion most certainly will have little to do with the lives they themselves will live. And the message is no longer one of guaranteed equality of opportunity but of forced equality of results—as long as we accept that such a utopia applies for everyone else outside the world of corporate Ketchup money, astronomical trial lawyer fees, inherited Kennedy capital, Park-Avenue bond security, Sun Valley, and prep-school privilege.

I don't know quite how they did it, but the Democrats' candidate looks as at home snowboarding at a ritzy ski resort as George Bush does at a NASCAR rally. And when I hear anti-Semitism, hatred of Israel, warning about Jews in government, fury about foreign aid, visceral hatred and rude exclamations, sinister conspiracy theories, and racial separatism it usually has come far more often from someone on the Left than Right and from one educated and affluent rather than poor and ignorant.

The world I grew up in really is long gone.

USIP's indirect association with al-Muhajiroun has many pernicious consequences. Perhaps the most consequential of these is the legitimacy USIP inadvertently confers on Bokhari and CSID, permitting radicals to pass themselves off as moderates. THAT LEGITIMATION follows an assumption that USIP carefully vetted CSID before working with it. But USIP did nothing of the sort. When its leadership insisted on working with CSID, it explained its reasons: "The CSID is assessed by relevant government organizations and credible NGOs supported by the administration to be an appropriate organization for involvement in publicly funded projects organized by both the government and NGOs, including the Institute." Translated from bureaucratese, this says: "Others have worked with CSID, so why not us?" But such buck-passing means that in fact no one does due diligence – each organization relies on those that came before. Once in the door, a disreputable organization like CSID acquires a mainstream aura.

The administration set themselves up for the charges of deception and lying that are being hurled their way. It didn’t have to be that way. A year ago Thomas Friedman was making a good case for war that the Bush team ignored. My concerns of February last year that were shared by many, were never addressed. Bush’s failure to adequately handle that has been the major failure of his administration. It’s not that I think his actions have been wrong. He’s just been wrong in the way he’s handled talking to us.

Like Friedman, I believed that bringing Democracy to Iraq would be a very good and worthwhile result. But the way the Administration handled the lead up to war came off as extremely arrogant. They treated the American public as if we couldn’t understand the intricacies of the debate. They didn’t prepare us for the long road ahead and allowed too many to think it would be easy. They allowed the perception to develop that finding the WMD smoking gun would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that invasion was the right course of action. So, it’s no surprise that the “No WMD = No Justification” equation has been so prominent among the left.

I looked to my thoughts a year ago. Even after the war started my fears had not been allayed…. From March 29th:

I’m not feeling great about the war today because I don’t see anyone even trying to prepare us for what is ahead. Are we going to do it right or are we going to cut and run? We are about to experience first hand the terrorism that Israelis live with every day. The difference is, we can, leave Iraq if it gets too difficult. Unless we are better prepared for what is likely ahead, I’m afraid we won’t have the will to do it right. I'm afraid we'll cut and run. I'm afraid a messy post-war Iraq that becomes a divisive issue in next year's elections. I'm afraid we'll lose our resolve to defeat those forces in Islam that are working so hard to destroy our way of life. We're about to experience the terrorism that Israel endures every day. How many Americans will believe it's worthwhile? How long will it take before the cries to pull out are loud enough to matter?

If only they had made the case more thoroughly. If only.....

By dealing in sound bites, the Administration allowed the anti-war crowd to frame the debate with the finding of WMD as it’s only aim. By not trusting the public to engage in free and open debate they appeared sneaky and arrogant. By being superficial they opened themselves up to accusations of lies and deception. I hope it’s not too late to correct that.

It’s now a year from the beginning of the war. Much has changed… sadly much has remained the same. The President, instead of being out front and leading, instead of using his bully pulpit, has been content to let his minions handle things. The stirring speeches in September and October of 2001 and his address to the UN, stand quietly by themselves. He’s allowed the anti-war crowd to take the initiative and to put him and his team on the defensive. He’s handled it poorly, and the many successes have ignored.

What was easily foreseen has come to nag the Administration in the war’s aftermath. Things are messy, terrorists are murdering people for the sole purpose of sapping our collective will…. and It’s working. A year ago tonight the President should have set that out for everyone and made the case that post-war Iraq is going to be a long, difficult struggle… I’m certain the administration realized it. If they didn’t, then they don’t deserve to be re-elected. I have no doubt they anticipated the possibility. In fact you can find various instances where the words were spoken… but the case was never made forcefully. The allowed the anti-war left and the anti-Bush liberals to ignore and downplay the words. They allowed their opponents even to make the opposite accusation, that the President said it would be a cake-walk.

Their arrogance in pressing forward without effectively presenting the likely negatives is rightly criticized. But in the end, what they have done and are doing was/is right. It is a good thing to have an Iraq free of Saddam. It’s a god thing to be introducing Democracy into the heart of Islamdom. It’s a good thing to be helping the Arabs join the modern world. But it’s going to be a long, expensive struggle. Many are wavering in their support.

Encouraged by the campaigns of Howard Dean and John Kerry many decent people are losing their resolve to see this through. The administration is failing us by not making the case more forcefully. John Kerry is failing us by making it a divisive issue, when he knows how important it is. Now is not the time to waver. Especially with the events of 3/11, NOW is the time to make the unequivocal statement that we are in this for the long haul. Iraq will be free. We stand for freedom everywhere in the world. We will not cut and run. It’s time for the President and John Kerry to unite in that purpose.

A couple minutes later the reporters show up to ask me about it[the league fining him $10,000]. The Dallas Morning News had already posted the same misinformation on their website. When I questioned the reporter who wrote it, he dismissed it as only being the website. Then he tried to make the point that I actually beat the league and got off lucky because I only was fined 10k dollars — that it was nothing — till I asked him if he wanted to pay it.

But that’s not the good stuff.

It was then I told them that rather than providing any commentary or quotes to them on this matter, or on any upcoming matters, I would be posting whatever I had to say on my blog. They were not happy.

”How are we going to ask you follow up questions?” I explained that he could email me directly or from the site, but that I would most likely post his question and my response. “Is the league sending a message that they didn’t want you talking to reporters?” Ding ding ding. Give him a lollipop.

I went on to explain that this was the best way for all of us. They could get all the quotes and information they needed. “Will this be just you writing it, or will you dictate it to someone else?”

The satisfaction of knowing that each will have to explain to their editors what a blog is — and argue for who knows how long about whether or not BlogMaverick.com is an attributable source — crept over me and that jaunt on the gauntlet flew by.

Something's happening here...

Indeed, for most of his Senate career, Kerry was in opposition of the Palestinians’ very right to statehood. As recently as 1999, he went on record opposing Palestinian independence outside of what the Israeli occupation authorities were willing to allow.

Today, Kerry not only defends Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, he has backed Sharon’s policies of utilizing death squads against suspected Palestinian militants. He claims that such tactics are a justifiable response to terrorist attacks by extremists from the Islamic groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, even though neither of them existed prior to Israel’s 1967 military conquests and both emerged as a direct outgrowth of the U.S.-backed occupation and repression that followed.

In summary, Kerry’s October 2002 vote to authorize the U.S. invasion of Iraq was no fluke. His contempt for human rights, international law, arms control, and the United Nations has actually been rather consistent.

Now the Arabs are humiliated.

Today that is all reversed. The number of books per person in Europe is more than ten times that in Africa and the Middle East. The number of books translated into Arabic over the past thousand years is about the same as the number translated into Spanish in one year.

There are only 18 computers per thousand persons in the Arab world, compared to 78 per thousand persons worldwide. Fewer than 400 industrial patents were issued to people in the Arab countries during the last two decades of the 20th century, while 15,000 industrial patents were issued to South Koreans alone...

Those in the Islamic world have for centuries been taught to regard themselves as far superior to the "infidels" of the West, while everything they see with their own eyes now tells them otherwise. Worse yet, what the whole world sees with their own eyes tells them that the Middle East has made few contributions to human advancement in our times.

Even Middle Eastern oil was largely discovered and processed by people from the West. After oil, the Middle East's most prominent export has been terrorism.

Today the vanguard of this triumphal march of history is in the United States and Israel. Few have considered in sufficient depth and nuance this simple poignant truth, that our alliance with Israel is not a regional phenomenon, it is powering the very engine of modern history. One instance of this is the fact that in recent decades Israel has become virtually the equal of the United States in advancing the thresholds of medical and agricultural technology.

He even tells us he pays to research and track official's trends... but I digress, today he fisks a local Dallas writer. After an e-mail exchange, (he posts the entire correspondence) he looks at the published product and takes it apart. .

This is what he wrote. Note that he conveniently used only part of my response to make it seem like my comments to Josh were in response to Bruce Bowen and Michael Finley getting into it. Unfortunately, he ignored the part of my response that said it was not. My conversation with Josh was long before Fin and Bowen got into it.

And of course, this intrepid columnist completely ignored and left out the entire reason I was talking to Josh so he could come in with a slam about why I shouldn’t be talking to players. How convenient for him.

There were two sets of rules at the Hague. One for the Israelis. A second for the Arabs. Chezi's bus was flatbedded in for the Israeli protest. At 12 noon, it was sequestered on a side street away from Arab protesters. KLM counter agent Erik, said, "The police should have left the bus there for the Arab march. Then the world would have seen how they really behave towards Jews." PLO flags were marched through the Hague. A block long PLO flag covered the storybook style cobblestone streets. Arabs screamed "Kill Israel. F--- the Jews. F--- the Jews." PLO protesters carried postercards bearing swastikas, illegal in the Hague. The Arabs built up a symbolic wall at their protest. Why did the Israelis not build their own wall of over 900 faces representing the murdered? Jewish protesters, on nearby monument steps, holding a hand drawn Israeli flag, were ordered out of public sight. Israeli pro flags during their march. Defiantly, they wore them on their backs, superman style.

My concern is different. This has amplified a fear I’ve deliberately tried to tamp down and keep discrete, at least on this site. I mentioned it in Predictions for the Year of the Biscuit: “I hesitate to mention my greatest fear, never mind make it a prediction. I only hope that our enemies aren’t that smart (and the evidence on that is mixed, at best), as the next year presents a unique opportunity to make mayhem in our democratic process. I’d prefer not to get into specifics, but I’m sure those with a creative mind can fill in the blanks.”

In February, I touched on it again in Bush’s High Stakes Strategy: “Put aside the political personalities, or at least, your personal reference to them. Realize that Al Qaeda is an organization obsessed with personalities (theirs versus ours, Osama versus Bush) and symbolism, and in their warped world view, they would certainly see the electoral defeat of Bush as a victory for them ... especially if they felt they had a hand in it. Please, no flames that I’m claiming a vote for a Democrat makes Osama smile, it’s not about the party. It’s about the Office. If Clinton had gone after Osama hard and heavy in 1998, he would be their Infidel #1. To them, Republican or Democrat truly makes no difference at all. It’s about defeating the symbol, the personality...”

...That’s why in some ways it’s not important that I personally know why the Spanish people made the choice they did. Each political camp will choose a “reason” that furthers their own philosophy. Some will say it was the people’s punishment of Aznar for siding with Bush. Others will say it was because the Aznar government tried to manipulate the investigation of the tragedy for political advantage, and an angered populace voted them out.

I’m more concerned about the message it sends to our enemy.

Yet, those on the left keep insisting there is no connection between the War in Iraq and Al Qaeda. "Bush Lied," they tell us, there is no relationship between Iraq and Bin Laden. There is no proof.

What proof will be sufficient for them? The terrorists own admission is not good enough.

there had certainly been a declaration of intent from al-Qaeda. A tape aired in October — the voice purported to be bin Laden's — had singled out Spain for retribution because of its government's staunch support for the war in Iraq. And documents on an Arabic website studied by Norwegian defense researchers in recent months indicated that al-Qaeda was considering attacks on Madrid ahead of the election. The 42-page document, titled "Jihad's Iraq," had been submitted to the discussion forum of a politically oriented website that no longer exists, according to Brynjar Lia of the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment. The section of the report devoted to Spain read in part: "We must exploit to the maximum the proximity of the election in Spain ... We believe that the Spanish government cannot tolerate more than two or three attacks before it will be forced to pull out" of Iraq.

Spaniards now expect to be left alone. they believe they're right and good and just. They assume the terrorists will recognize appreciate that goodness. The collective naivety astounds me. More than that it frightens me, for it's the same Pollyannish naivety that affects the moderate left in this country.

By being generous and loving, the kind and compassionate left make themselves feel good, even superior, to the "thuggish war-mongers." To them, history means nothing and evil doesn’t exist. To them, there are no enemies… there are only victims whom we must do more for. The murderer is innocent, for it is evil America's fault that they murder.

The murderer as victim... It's a perverse form of a radical Liberation Theology which terrorists have latched on to, ala Sendaro Luminoso. In this bizarro world, encouraging murderers to kill makes the appeaser feels good about her generosity and idyllic intentions. Meanwhile the murderer kills with virtual impunity.

It's no coincidence that Al Qaeda has picked up on this western weakness. The palestinians long ago embraced Liberation Theology and have been champions at emphasizing their victimhood. The western left has lapped it up, and for 30 years we've continually demonstrated to terrorists, specifically the PLO, that their murderous acts are excusable. The more they murder, the more they appear as victims... It is absolutely insane. It's Israel's fault that Jews are murdered. It's America's fault that Islamofaschists killed 3000 on September 11, 2001. It's George Bush's and José María Aznar's fault that 200 were murdered in Madrid. The murderers are victims... victims to be helped. It doesn't even matter when the murderers scream for our destruction... that only proves we need to give them MORE, they don't really MEAN it.

It just makes me want to scream. How much are the appeasers willing to give up? Will there ever be a point when they will finally say, "Enough?" Is there anything they find worth fighting for? Do they recognize any evil in the world?

The PLO continues to fight for the utter destruction of Israel.... the left conveniently ignores it. Islamofaschists continue to fight for destruction of the west, and to place Islamic governments in Washington, London, Paris, Madrid, Bonn, Amsterdam, Brussels...... Not only do they continue to fight, they are openly declaring their aims.... the left conveniently ignores them.

How many more must die before enough people on the left wake up to the threat? How many more will die in Jerusalem? In New York? In Washington? In Madrid? Where will the next attack be? Damn all those whose memory only goes as far as Viet Nam. Damn all those who ignore the threat. Damn all those who give Yasser Arafat more credence than their own government. Damn on all those who are blind to our enemies. How many more must die before they wake up?

Between September 29, 2000 and February 28, 2004 931 Israelis were murdered by terrorists and 6077 more have been injured.

Some have pointed out that Spain's population is roughly the same as California's... Israel's population is roughly that of Massachusetts.... Spain: 24 Million, Israel: 6.5 Million. You can do the math.

Where is the outrage over murdered Israelis? Why does the PLO get to kill Jews with impunity? Why does the left celebrate the PLO and condemn Israel? Why is Europe so quick to exonerate the Arabs, even when they claim responsibility? How can Europe maintain any credibility when they collectively deny the confession of Arab terrorists?

I look at the concern of people throughout the world for the attacks in Madrid, and am torn. I'm saddened by the senseless murder. I feel for the children who lost parents, and for the lost children, for the lives that will never be the same again. I'm angry that free Western civilization has not decided to deal with the terrorists. I'm angry at the world for ignoring dead Jews. I see upwards of 25-30% of Spain's population showing up in the streets and demonstrating against the senseless murder, and I'm angry that for at least the past 11 years, they never mourned the murder of Jews in Israel.

When will the west wake up and realize it's the same enemy? September 11 didn't wake enough people up. March 11th probably won't either. We, in western civilization have largely ignored that a large group of people have named Western Civilization as the enemy. While ignoring that fact, many in the West look for ways to appease them, after all, in their minds, an enemy is just a friend we haven't done enough for. A large and growing population wants to see western civilization destroyed, and too many people deny that fact while trying to identify the causes.

If someone threatens your life, you best take care of the threat before you start trying to analyze the assailant. When will we finally wake up?

Lair certainly knows, and Imshin knows, and Meryl knows… when will the Western world wake up and realize it’s all the same enemy… Yes, that's right they are our ENEMY.

I pray March 11 wakes enough people up to sound the alarm. I pray thousands more don't have to die to get our society to open its eyes. People like Diana Moon, intelligent and caring people, can argue over whether there is an Al Queda connection or not. They can split hairs over specifics of tactics and the particular MO's of various terrorist factions. But they're just wasting time and patting themselves on the back for being so discerning. While they study the intricacies of the relationships among Al Queda, PLO, Hamas, Iraqi insurgents, Chechnya, and whatever other Islamic Fascist groups are involved, they miss the fact that those terrorists are waging war against them... regardless of what they think. They enjoy chastising us "war-bloggers' or the Neo-Cons, or the right wing, or whatever label they decide to put on us while they sit on their righteous ideals and try to figure out just what it is they believe.

You disagree with Iraq? Fine, I don't like the way it was done either, but make no mistake, it had to be done. Sooner or later it had to be done, for me it was 12 years too late. I'm not at all concerned at a lack of evidence of a direct link between Hussein, Al Queda and September 11. It doesn’t matter at all in the bigger picture. Go ahead, bicker over the details, and wake me when you're done... I hope we're not murdered in the meantime.

You disagree that there is any connection to the terrorists in Israel? Fine, but get your head out of the sand. The world has unquestionably demonstrated that terror works by supporting the PLO and consistently condemning Israel. If you want to fight terror, then the PLO is a good place to start. Fight them, defeat them, destroy them, don't keep appeasing them and try to buy peaceful intentions. Everything we give them, every concession they take, every dollar and Euro they receive in aid, just continues to show that terrorism pays. And the rest of the Arabs applaud. Does that mean that the PLO bombed Madrid? Of course not, but they may as well have.

ETA says they didn't do it, Al Queda says they did. I say chalk another one up to Islamofaschist murderers. OK, if it is ETA, you’re right, I'm wrong... about who bombed Madrid... But, I'm still right about the wider war of Islamofaschists against us. They are threatening me with destruction and I’m taking them for their word. You want to ignore that and try to figure out why they want us destroyed… go ahead, but don’t expect me to wait patiently for you to come to a conclusion while they keep killing. Don’t expect me to applaud every concession you want to make to them. Don’t expect me to be patient while you bicker over insignificant details. I’m angry.

I'm still angry that terrorists of any sort can kill Jews with impunity, I'm still angry that so many of those who are slow to action but quick to condemn Israel, see the murder in Madrid as something different, something separate and distinct. I’m still angry at the self-righteous anti-war crowd, more interested in proving their personal sanctity, than they are in really making the world a better place. It’s so much easier to sit back and criticize than it is to actually take action, to take risks in order to better our society. The lack of action only hurts everyone. We ignore those who declare us the enemy.

You on the left of the "War on Islamofaschists" issue, keep analyzing the situations, finesse the issue to death, grasp every subtlety, dissect every nuance... eventually you'll figure it out... someone has a gun pointed at your head. Hopefully it won't be too late.

Mr. Lord brings up another point that may be a vital distinction between today's left and the rest of us. The core leftist only recognizes the sovereignty of the party.

As an Israeli lefty, Lord broke from his liberal roots to vote for Benjamin Netanyahu who was running against the failures of Oslo. What he describes is eerily familiar:

The atmosphere on the Left towards such a move was documented in the huge collection of letters sent to the Haaretz supplement after the long and sympathetic piece by Ari Shavit when Netanyahu was in office for one year. He called it "the year of hatred."
The very fact that Shavit described certain aspects of Netanyahu in a positive light were enough to define him as a "defector" and "traitor." In leftist parlor talk, the phenomenon was called "the Amnon Lord syndrome." That is, anyone doubting the all-embracing totality of leftist rectitude.
After I started studying the nature of the Israeli "Left," its roots, its history, its patterns of action and its ideology, I concluded that a leftist's loyalty is almost completely to a political organization, to a movement. It has been said about European social-democratic parties that they do not recognize the sovereignty of the state, only the sovereignty of the party. That is true of the Israeli Left, too.
The word "treason" is unsuitable in the context of various figures on the Left and their actions. It is an issue of an entire elite class turning its back on its nation and country. Yossi Beilin and his people's Geneva agreement expresses that moral collapse in the most poignant way. It includes a willingness to collaborate with PLO propaganda against Israel, a surrender of matters of principle such as Jerusalem and refugees, and especially a waiving of Jewish sovereignty in Israel along with a waiver of our ability to defend ourselves.

Unilateral withdrawal will change none of that. Withdrawal from Gaza without any Arab concession or promise, or without any threat to return in force, simply sends the wrong message. Regardless of the reasons for withdrawal and disengagement, and regardless of any message Israel intends to send, the Arabs will only receive the message that terrorism, violence and murder pays.

From the Washingtone Post:

"We believe that testing of an individual, not because of something he is suspected to have done, but simply because he is a member of a particular class, is at odds with fundamental principles of which we in this country have long and rightly been proud," said Fehr. "It is not up to the individual to prove he is innocent, especially of a charge of which he is not reasonably suspected."

Thus do low goals, such as protecting rich cheats and their union-backing agents, produce lofty rhetoric.

Fehr protested that it was an unnecessary invasion of privacy to have "suspicionless urine testing."

Maybe no one should care.

In a tape played last night on Channel Two television, Deif could be heard saying, "The criminal [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon, who always refused peaceful solutions and viewed them as treason against Israel, and who came to eliminate the resistance within 100 days - his campaign slogan being 'Netzarim is like Tel Aviv' - this same Sharon has now decided on a total evacuation and full withdrawal from Gaza, with nothing in return. That is one of the biggest signs of victory."

"Israel's fall is near, with Allah's help, and it is closer than they imagine. We will see victory with our very own eyes. Martyrdom is the ultimate desire of Palestine's elderly, young, and female young " Deif said.

Until these terrorists are dead or imprisoned there will be continued violence. it doesn’t' matter who the Israeli Prime Minister is.

From one of Pejman's commenters:

One big difference here between the NeoCons and this amusing Democratic avatar --And I say this as a recently former lifelong Democrat...in San Francisco, no less: NeoCons, whatever their faults --or Hebraic genes-- love this country. They love it passionately and they love it as it really is. As it really is.
In the context of the world as it really is.

Democrats, since the 60's, only kind of love their idea of what America should be...and since it never is that, they spend all their time apologizing for it or disciplining it. They love their own selfrighteous idea of what America should be far far more than they love this actual real country and its actual real people.

Democrats, ironically enough the party of enlightened women, really remind me of the kind of bad father we have all seen: one who never praises his son, never really shows his son that he is proud of him or displays real pleasure in his existence and his life. But in the name of holding him to a higher standard, does nothing but push him, goad him, demand more and more, downplay his successes --both to him and in front of other people-- and give the kid the clear idea that Dad does not in fact love him, or even like him, because he can never live up to his impossible standard.

I will vote for George Bush in November for one reason only. He loves this country and he will defend it against Muslim terrorists and --and this is very important-- agains the corrupt civilizations that breed such people. He does it in a sometimes apparently half-assed manner, but he does it. Despite the fact that he spends money like water, kowtows to the Pat Robertsons of this world and kisses Vicente Fox's ass.

But I gotta tell ya, compared to those Democrats, he's the best dad in the whole world.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Arab viewer said one of the propaganda ploys of Al-Hurra was to broadcast educational programs targeting the younger generation. Once they start watching them regularly, they discover that the programs are “education-coated US-made freedom pills.”Damn that education.... Islam doesn't want its adherents to be educated.

From a call to action on ACT-MA's bulletin board:

Now is the time for the Church to act and to make the forthright condemnation of Zionism that it did not make of Nazism in the 1930s. The controversy over The Passion of the Christ is far more than a matter of Catholic-Jewish or Christian-Jewish relations. It provides a chance for Catholics and all Christians to make amends by standing up to the genocidal racists. As long as Catholics and any other Christians maintain friendly relations with pro-Israel groups, all their repentance for neglect of the victims of Nazi Germany is totally in vain.

This is what columnist Ahmed Ramrabi in the Qatar newspaper Al-Watan had to say about the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hezbollah: "One of my colleagues drew my attention to the Lebanese and Palestinian citizens who returned to Beirut and to Ramallah, and to the fact that their faces radiated health, as though they returned from vacations in Europe. The moral of the story is clear: Prisons in Israel are better than those in the Arab world. My colleague told me that had these people left Arab jails, they would have looked like skeletons. Not to mention those who never get out of such prisons alive."

Rassan Suleiman al-Atibi wrote in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas: "For several days, the Arab newspapers have discussed the deal between Israel and Hezbollah, in which 500 Arab prisoners were freed in exchange for the remains of a few Israeli soldiers. Arab media outlets started to pay homage to Hezbollah with such effusive rhetoric that the leader of the organization began to think that he had already defeated Israel. The truth is that the deal illustrated to us the value that the body of an Israeli soldier retains, compared to the disregard for the value of an Arab life. It also made palpable the extent of Arab foolishness."

Khaled Jalabi in Saudi Arabia's Al-Watan wrote with forthright candor: "At first glance, it appears that Israel endured the humiliation of conducting negotiations with a faction and not a state, with the aim of freeing one individual in exchange for hundreds of prisoners. But only a child would miss the point: On a pure arithmetic reckoning, the meaning is that Israel viewed the three corpses and the one living man as being equivalent to any number of people, even if that total reached hundreds or thousands. In terms of moral logic, the moral is that, in Israel's view, the life of an Israeli, even one of Arab origin, is considered invaluable. In contrast, an Arab citizen can be thrown in prison for having surfed on the opposition's Web site ... that shows how much a citizen's life is worth in the eyes of Arab regimes."

...most people are unwilling or unable to "read the writing on the wall" — a Biblical reference describing this type of selective blindness — until it's too late to do much of anything but comply and hope for the best. That's as long as you don't happen to be the lunatics' declared target, that is.

If you are a member of the targeted group, as the Jews coincidentally or otherwise, nearly always seem to be, you also have choices, but they're different ones, all of them are hard, and none of them offer much hope for personal survival.

You can try and be what they say they want you to be, and some people throughout history have taken that approach in an attempt to save themselves and their families. What usually happens to that type, is they are reviled by both their tormentors and their own people for what they're forced to do to stay alive, and they end up victims anyway because, in the end, what they want you to be, is dead.

Another possible choice is to flee, and some people have survived that way, mostly because others have chosen to fight, and succeeded in turning back the darkness before it completely enveloped the world.

I believe the world has collectively failed to see some important writing on the wall for probably 30 years now as far as Islamic terrorists are concerned, and that 9/11 was, in effect, a 100-plus-story message written in indelible black smoke on a clear, blue canvass. It was written in letters big enough for even me to see, and I got the message, but not everyone did. The lunatics have overtaken several wings of the asylum already, and are going for the rest. We need to find a way to stop them before it's too late.

The feminist writer Phyllis Chesler aptly described the hatred often directed against Israel and supporters of the Jewish state by some young people as eroticized. That is what I saw: passionate hatred, ecstatic hatred, orgasmic hatred. It was beyond mere differences of opinion. When I looked into their faces, I could imagine young Nazis in the 1930s in Hitler's Germany. They had no doubt that they were right and that I was pure evil for my support of the Jewish state, despite my public disagreement with some of Israel's policies and despite my support for Palestinian statehood. There was no place for nuance here. It was black and white, good versus evil, and any Jew who supported Israel was pure evil, deserving of torture, violence, and whatever fate Hitler and Goebbels deserved...

...As it turned out, I was not actually able to express any of my opinions, even in response to their outrageous mischaracterization of my views or their comparisons of me to the most evil men in the world. When I turned to answer one of the bigoted chants, the police officer in charge gently but firmly insisted that I walk directly to my car and not engage them. It was an order, reasonably calculated to assure my safety, and it was right. The officer got into my car with me and only got out a few blocks away. The intimidation had succeeded. I was silenced, and their horrible message went unanswered in the plaza near Faneuil Hall.

That is not the way the marketplace of ideas is supposed to work. It is not the conception of liberty for which Sam and John Adams spoke so eloquently and controversially in and around Faneuil Hall more than two hundred years ago. It was far more reminiscent of rallies conducted by Nazi thugs in Berlin seventy years ago.

I will not be silenced nor intimidated. The shouters know that. Their goal is to silence and intimidate others, who do not get police protection and do not have access to the media. Let the debate about Israel and the Palestinians continue unabated. Let all views be heard. The shouters in front of Faneuil Hall wanted no views but their own to be seen and heard. They succeeded that day in front of Faneuil Hall, as they have on some university campuses, but the marketplace of ideas is far too vibrant to be shut down by a bunch of self-righteous thugs shouting ugly and bigoted epithets.

According to the recent issue of Stuff Magazine, the newest manifestation of metrosexuality is known as “gancing.” If I understand things correctly, gancing is a dance practice where heterosexual males “boogie woogie” together on the dance floor in an effort to attract the attention of female club goers.

Apparently, there are numerous iterations of gancing. In one of these, a fellow pretends he is a shark and chases another fellow around the dance floor. In another variation, one guy pretends he is giving birth to another fellow. How this is logistically demonstrated is something I would rather not know.

In all cases of gancing, the objective is the same – to garner the attention and approval of any females who happen to be present at the club or party. The supposition behind gancing is that women are more attracted to men who are “uninhibited,” “free spirited,” or “fully comfortable with their feminine side.”

Has it come to this?

Just this past weekend, Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani threatened Israel again after signing military pacts with the Syrian and Lebanese governments. Speaking in Beirut, Shamkhani said that if Israel strikes Iranian nuclear sites, "I can promise you that Ariel Sharon, assuming he stays alive, will appear on television screens and announce that he regrets this folly. He will suffer and scream out in pain."

Israel's options regarding the Iranian nuclear weapons program are all bad. With the EU busy appeasing Teheran and the Bush administration divided between those advocating military strikes and those advocating adopting the European line, Israel stands more or less alone before the specter of nuclear holocaust. The Iranian leadership has said outright that it does not see its nuclear arsenal as a deterrent force, but rather intends to use it to annihilate Israel.

Israel can either preemptively strike Iran's nuclear facilities; pressure the US to take action against them from its forward bases in Iraq and Afghanistan; or do nothing. Today it would seem that Israel has chosen the third option.

Does he work well with others? The worry here isn't so much that Kerry is an untested executive--he's never run anything larger than his Senate office--but that the presidency requires more than mere executive competence. A CEO can give orders, but to make the Founding Fathers' balky triple-veto system work, a president has to cajole congressmen and construct complicated alliances. Is that something Kerry is likely to be good at--or is he more likely to be a Jimmy Carter-style president, aloof and resented even within his own party?

The hints in Kerry's senatorial résumé aren't encouraging...

...Sometimes a president's initial rapport with the public disappears--as Jimmy Carter's arguably had by the time of his "malaise" speech, or certainly by the end of his term. But Kerry would, I think, be in the uniquely precarious position of starting his term with no particular rapport. (Contrast with John Edwards--now there's a guy who could talk his way back from a 40 percent approval rating.)

I admit, I'm allergic to Kerry. Something in the vibration of that deep, pompous tone he adopts--the lugubrious, narcissistic fake gravity--grates on me. Others, bizarrely, say they don't have this problem. But few would argue that Kerry has formed a special bond with any large group of voters other than veterans. If he wins it's likely to be because voters see him as an acceptable alternative to an unacceptable incumbent, not because he's inspired them. It doesn't help that Kerry has a tendency to play the voters for fools--letting them think he's Irish (when he's not) or letting them think he's cleaner, in the campaign contribution department, than he really is

Jews are being persecuted every day in France. Some are insulted, pelted with stones, spat upon; some are beaten or threatened with knives or guns. Synagogues are torched, schools burned to the ground. A little over a month ago, at least one Jew was savagely murdered, his throat slit, his face gouged with a carving knife. Did it create an uproar? No. The incident was stifled, and by common consent—not just by the authorities, but by the Jews.

Some Jews are simply frightened; they are reluctant to take the subway, walk in certain neighborhoods, go out after dark. Others, clearly identifiable as Jews, are courageous and defiant. Many, perhaps the majority, show no outward signs of Jewishness and do not seek to know the truth about the rampant and increasingly violent anti-Semitism all around them. If you are Jewish but do not defend Israel or act too religious or look too different, you are not yet a target—so why insist on monitoring the danger when daily life is so delicious?

And the lies so tantalizing. A thick, hand-knit comforter of prevarication spreads itself over the French population. Every morning, instead of waking people up, the press tucks them in. France has become a nation of sleepwalkers.

Will the pacifist and pacified French stand up and defend their nation? Or will we have to leave?

That is what it boils down to. Things have gone from shouting "death to the Jews" to firebombing schools and synagogues, to persecution, attacks, even murder. We have Muslim rage in schools, hospitals, and courtrooms. Police headquarters are attacked, hospital personnel beaten, judges threatened. The Republic is under siege, and what are the French doing about it? They are trashing America.

This, it seems, is their new Maginot line: the sneer of hatred. Hand in hand with the government and the intellectual classes, the French media are channeling the national dismay over lost grandeur into contempt for America. Watch these suave Europeans, snickering to themselves because American soldiers are getting killed in Iraq. Is that (they sneer) any way to risk your life?...

...If only the accusations bandied about so mindlessly by the French talking heads were true: American imperialism, Washington’s insatiable drive for hegemony, the Yankee need to dominate the world, and all the rest, the whole stars-and-stripes version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Just look at the American eagle spreading its wings, asserting its dominion: look at those sharp claws, that crafty eye, that hooked nose. If only it were true. Give me empire, my dear Yanks. Come over here and colonize this place so that I can put my suitcases back on top of the closet, keep my swishes and furbelows, my fanfreluches and baubles, my adopted family jewels and Continental airs, and live to a ripe old age here in the center of Paris, in the middle of nowhere.

Just half a century ago Bethlehem was 80% Christian; today it's down to 20% and constantly dwindling. Like Christian Arabs elsewhere in the Palestinian Authority - an entity whose official religion is Islam and whose basic laws reflect the Shari'a - Bethlehem's Christians have been subject to discrimination and harassment and are abandoning the town to those aiming for an Islamic monolith in the Middle East.

But the home of the Church of the Nativity and of Rachel's Tomb, a focus of prayer and pilgrimage for both Christians and Jews, is not only succumbing to grim Islamic totalitarianism. Even worse, Bethlehem is now a terrorist haven...

...The Islamists, among whom Yasser Arafat was a pioneer and is still at the forefront, want to drown the Judeo-Christian world in blood, and they're succeeding. They've got Bethlehem and the Temple Mount, the parts of the Holy Land they control are almost empty of Christians and the Jews are supposed to be yanked out by their government, and they're gunning for the rest. It may be that the Bush administration, out of a mix of geopolitical calculation and coziness with the Saudis and others, has a hand in making the Israeli government behave in ways that appear bizarre, suicidal, and criminally irresponsible. If Islamists can take over the town of Jesus' birth, drive the Christians out, use it as a base to slaughter Jews in Jerusalem, and get away with it - we're not doing well.

Many of these E-mails were nasty and unprintable.

Some attacked me personally, dismissing my looks and assuming that if I didn't like the movie, I must be Jewish, thus betraying their own prejudices.

Just as religious leaders of all stripes have feared, the movie has become a lightning rod for the anti-Semitic undercurrent that runs through society - many of the letters I received dragged out old canards about Jews running Hollywood, the media, and having too much money.