St. Monk

Picture credit goes to Cox & Forkum.

That's what I want to be.

Click here to watch a terrific Sundance film about Jews, Barbie, and Persecution.

Hat-tip to Catherine at Out In Left Field.

This just can't be real.



Corpulent indeed!



I bet this guy trusts the cat about as far as he can fling it.

I bought a Siddur on Half.com a few days ago. A Siddur is a Jewish book of prayers. I bought it to learn the prayers, and to supplement my learning of Hebrew.

The guy selling the Siddur emailed me and said that it is Nusach Sefard, he forgot to mention it in the selling description, and if I didn't want it, he'd refund my money.

I didn't know what the heck Nusach Sefard was. I thought maybe it meant that it was a book of photos of historic Siddurs, used by good Jewish people throughout history. So, like any good Dutch guy, I did some research.

According to this site,

Nusach Sefard is the order of the prayers for the Chassidim (who, by the way are also Ashkenazi in origin), and it is the order used in Israel and in most shteebles throughout the world. Many Ashkenaz Jews attend both Nusach Sefard and Nusach Ashkenaz shuls. The Nusach Sefard siddur has a little more content, and the order differs only slightly from that of Nusach Ashkenaz.

Fine by me. I emailed the seller back and said that I was happy with my purchase, please send the book.

He responded with a word which has become my new favorite word: Hatzlacha.

Again, I had to look it up. Hatzlacha is a Hebrew word which means success.

Hatzlacha, I'm beginning to realize, is the result of seeking the Almighty. Hatzlacha is what one finds when they seek the truth, when the seeker removes distortions and lies. Hatzlacha is Judaism.

It was, according to the Left, an illegal war, fought against a nation who had no ill intentions towards America. Here's yet more proof that they are wrong:

David Nason, New York correspondent
February 17, 2006

SECRET tapes recorded in Saddam Hussein's inner sanctum in the mid-1990s reveal the former dictator discussed the inevitability of terrorist attacks on the US.

The tapes, recorded by Saddam in his palace office, also provide strong evidence that Iraq's chemical weapons program was hidden from UN inspectors.

On one of the tapes, Hussein Kamel, a Saddam son-in-law who was in charge of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program, speaks candidly about deceiving the UN.

"We did not reveal all that we have," Kamel says in a meeting with Saddam and his top henchmen. "Not the type of weapons, not the volume of the materials we imported, not the volume of the production we told them about, not the volume of use: none of this was correct."

The tapes, broadcast yesterday on the ABC television network in the US, support claims that the 2003 "coalition of the willing" invasion of Iraq was justified because Saddam was intent on developing WMD and could have provided them to terrorists.

But Saddam is also heard telling aides that Iraq would not launch terror attacks on the West and that he had even warned the US and Britain that they were terrorist targets. "Terrorism is coming. I told the Americans and told the British as well," Saddam says on the tapes.

"I think Hamed was there keeping the meeting minutes with one of them, that in the future there will be terrorism with weapons of mass destruction.

"What prevents this technology from developing and people from smuggling it? In the future, what would prevent that we see a booby-trapped car causing a nuclear explosion in Washington or a germ or a chemical one?

"This is coming, this story is coming, but not from Iraq."

On the same tape, Iraq's former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz tells Saddam a biological attack would be easy to arrange.

"It's so simple that any biologist can make a bottle of germs and drop it into a water tower and kill 100,000," he says.

Good. I'm encouraged. In fact, we should use a stronger medium to spread this news. Why not have the president include this bit of trivia in a fireside speech?

"This is not done by a state. An individual can do it."

The ABC said it had obtained the tapes from John Tierney, an Iraqi-speaking former UN weapons inspector who was hired to translate them for the FBI.

The CIA had recovered the tapes in Baghdad after Saddam was deposed in 2003.

Mr Tierney said he leaked the tapes because he felt they were "too important" for the US to keep secret. The US State Department had no comment, but Charles Duelfer, head of the US-led search for weapons of mass destruction after the first Gulf War, told ABC News the tapes supported the view that Saddam was intent on rebuilding weapons of mass destruction.

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Michigan Republican Pete Hoekstra, said the US was sitting on 35,000 boxes of Saddam tapes and documents that were yet to be translated or analysed.

Mr Hoekstra said they needed to be examined urgently.

US officials confirmed the Tierney tapes were authentic, and that they were among hundreds of hours of tapes Saddam recorded in his palace office.

Mr Tierney intends to publicly release 12 hours of the tapes at a non-government intelligence summit this weekend.

"Because of my experience being in the inspections and being in the military, I knew the significance of these tapes when I heard them," he said.

By JOSEF FEDERMAN

Associated Press Writer

AMONA, West Bank (AP) - Israeli riot police wielding clubs and water cannons cleared out part of this illegal Jewish settlement outpost Wednesday, as resisters fought back with sticks, stones, bricks and paint. More than 200 were injured, one-quarter of them officers.

Illegal. I wonder who's side the Guardian is on?

In anguished scenes reminiscent of last summer's Gaza withdrawal, the security forces dragged hundreds of protesters from rooftops barricaded in barbed wire and flattened empty homes with bulldozers and heavy machinery. The military said 32 people were arrested at the scene along with ``dozens of other rioters'' in the area.

The fierce battle was a likely harbinger of what lies ahead if Israel decides to leave other parts of the West Bank. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the front-runner in the March 28 Israeli elections, is widely expected to withdraw from more areas of the territory and dismantle additional Jewish settlements if he wins.

G-d, please let him lose.

Olmert has said he is ready to make painful territorial concessions as part of a negotiated peace agreement with the Palestinians, but has signaled he will act unilaterally if an accord is not possible.

The likelihood of unilateral action - including limited withdrawals meant to boost Israeli security - has grown since the victory by the militant group Hamas in last week's Palestinian parliamentary elections.

Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings, has come under world pressure to change its ways. In the first major challenge to Hamas, Israel froze the transfer of about $45 million owed to the Palestinians while Egypt called on the Islamic group to give up violence.

Wait, the Israelis were giving the Palestinians financial support?! But, they're supposed to be evil oppressors, practicing Apartheid!

The Israeli decision deepened a financial crisis for the Palestinian Authority, which said it did not have enough money to meet its monthly payroll. Palestinian officials said they had arranged emergency funding from Arab allies.

The battle over Amona, an Israeli hilltop enclave in the heart of the West Bank, was seen as a test for Olmert, who has said he would act with determination against settlers violating the law.

The clashes were on par with the most violent scenes during the pullout from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, in which 25 settlements were dismantled.

``The behavior of the settlers cannot be tolerated,'' Olmert said. ``Today they crossed every line.''

The confrontation began Wednesday morning after Israel's Supreme Court ordered nine uninhabited houses recently built on private Palestinian land to be demolished. The remainder of the outpost - including a synagogue, playground and cramped trailer homes inhabited by about 35 families - was not affected.

During the daylong operation, the rioters, most of them young Orthodox Jews, including girls, pelted police with eggs, rocks, sand and paint-filled balloons from their rooftop strongholds.

Good for them. Paint-filled balloons. What a good idea!

Police burst into the homes, climbing ladders and riding in the shovels of bulldozers to reach the roofs. The protesters beat the police with sticks and set fires on the rooftops. Thick, black smoke from burning tires rose into the air and covered the area with a stench, as police aimed water cannons at the rioters.

Hundreds of protesters watched the melee from afar, occasionally scuffling with lines of riot troops, some on horseback. The houses were cleared out one by one, and bulldozers and large jackhammers knocked down the buildings.

Israel's rescue service said 219 people were injured, including 10 people in moderate to serious condition.

At a field clinic, people milled about, their heads wrapped in bandages and blood splattered on their shirts. Others sat dazed on the ground, their arms in slings. Several lay motionless on the ground, necks in braces, before being taken away by ambulances.

Shmuel Greenwald, an 18-year-old seminary student from Jerusalem who had holed up in one of the homes, accused police of using excessive force. ``They hit me on the back, no questions asked. They just came in swinging,'' he said.

Among the wounded were more than 50 police officers, one with serious head wounds, and two ultranationalist lawmakers who supported the protesters.

Amona is among dozens of illegal West Bank outposts established by Jewish settlers since the 1990s to prevent Israel from turning over the territory to the Palestinians. Under the U.S.-backed ``road map'' peace plan, Israel has pledged to remove about two dozen outposts.

Settlers and their extremist reinforcements vowed to fight that. ``If there is no resistance, the withdrawals will continue,'' said Uriel Shub, an 18-year-old West Bank settler who was injured in the elbow. Settlers and their backers say all of the West Bank belongs to the Jews.

Hamas maintains that all of Israel - as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip - belongs to the Palestinians.

The United States and the European Union have said millions of dollars in aid could be in jeopardy unless Hamas renounces violence and recognizes Israel's right to exist.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev explained the decision to freeze this month's transfer of $45 million in taxes and customs payments to the Palestinian Authority by saying Israel and the world could not be expected to finance ``suicide bombings and violent jihad.''

A senior Palestinian official said Saudi Arabia and Qatar pledged to transfer $33 million to the Palestinian Authority to ease its budget crisis. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal was not final.

The deal will be final once Hamas swears to continue their intifada against Israel.

In Egypt, officials said their country would send a strong message to Hamas to recognize Israel, disarm and honor past peace deals - the latest sign of Arab governments pushing the group to moderate its stance.

May God bless Ariel Sharon. Get well soon.

Well, it turns out, according to Michael Moore's research for his next documentary Axis of Al Copper, accidently swallowing a penny (or a similiar type of coin) leads to homicidal rage. Eventually.

He's connected all of the dots (often obscured by spilled chili and/or chocolate sauce), and concluded that each of the fifteen hijackers on 9/11 swallowed a copper coin at some point during their childhood.

The gist here is that money is evil, and it's consumption leads to acts of evil. Therefore, don't eat money. Buy lot's of food with the money, and eat the food.

"Yum..."
Michael Moore

Juan Manuel Alvarez left his SUV on a railroad track after changing his mind about committing suicide.

So, he changed his mind, but left the SUV on the railroad track. He got out of the vehicle, and left it on the track, and watched as the train smashed into it. Somewhere along the way, he decided, "You know, Ese, I don' wanna die. I wanna kill somebody else!"

I don't get it. He's being charged for the deaths of 11 people. He could get the death penalty. He probably will.

So, essentially, the State of California is going to double as the Make A Wish Foundation.

Between 1.2 million and 1.5 million people died at Auschwitz, of whom about 1 million were Jewish.

Other groups of people who died included Polish political prisoners, Soviet prisoners of war, Gypsies, homosexuals, people with disabilities and prisoners of conscience or religious faith.

The complex contained three camps and at least 36 sub-camps which were built outside the town of Oswiecim, on an isolated 40 sq km site, between 1940 and 1942.

May 20, 1940 - German forces occupying Poland set up Auschwitz I in an old Polish army barracks which later served as the administrative centre for the whole complex. It was the site of the deaths of around 70,000 Polish intellectuals and Soviet prisoners of war.

June 14, 1940 - The first transport of Polish political prisoners from Tarnow arrives at Auschwitz. Among the 728 Poles there were a number of Jews. The entrance to Auschwitz I is marked with the sign "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work makes you free).

Sept 3, 1941 - First victims gassed to death in Auschwitz using Zyklon-B are 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 Jews from the infirmary.

Oct 1941 - Auschwitz II, or Birkenau, which could accommodate over 100,000 inmates opens. It would become the main site of mass killings.

Jan 1942 - Four large gas chambers added to Auschwitz II camp, capable of disposing of about 2000 a day people per day. Three more extermination camps opened to step up killings. Auschwitz III supplied forced labour for the nearby I.G Farben plant.

Jan 1942 - Senior Nazis meet at the Wannsee conference to co-ordinate the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" and to agree on a definition of "Jew".

March-June 1943 - New crematoria put into operation at Auschwitz-Birkenau. By 1944, 6000 a day were being killed.

Nov-Dec 1944 - Germans dismantle, bury and plant over Auschwitz's gas chambers and crematoria.

Jan 1945 - Auschwitz evacuated as the Soviet Red Army advances, many prisoners killed in camp, 58,000 compelled to leave and most die during forced march.

Jan 27, 1945 - Soviet soldiers enter Auschwitz and free the remaining 7000 prisoners.

About 200,000 inmates of the camp from 1940-45 survived.

God bless the Jews, and Israel. May they never be made victims again.

In a little more than a week, we'll have the best possible match up for the Super Bowl, the Eagles verses the Patriots.
I want to give my prediction:

One of those two teams will win.

That's right. I'm going out on a limb, I know, but I'm confident in my prognostication.

Go to Condi Rice, our future President.

I've been gone for so long. I've been uber busy, had to fight a dragon, was in prison for defending the honor of a lovely woman, was over-seas trading with Oriental merchants, was establishing garrisons in distant lands, was creating technology to propel mankind to the stars, yadda yadda...

Okay, I have no excuse, other than, life. This time, I'm back, and I really mean it. I swear.

I'm done grieving. My period of mourning has passed. Now, I'm just mad.
Catch the ball! That's what receivers are paid to do. Just, catch the funny looking ball. Don't drop it.
Ugh! I can't handle it.

Edgar Ray Killen murdered James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in 1964. Mr. Killen was a member of the KKK, and the murder was a racist crime.
Personally, I don't like the designation of certain crimes as Hate Crimes. All crimes are, in a sense, hate crimes. But, I hope this dude meets a very large brother in prison. And, I hope the brother demonstrates the full power of retribution on him.


(Photo Courtesy of ABC News)

This is a horse, enjoying the face-numbing morning of frost.

As the death toll rises above 125,000, American corporations have responded with millions of dollars in contributions.

As the death toll rises above 125,000 with countless injured, widowed and orphaned, there has been a rush of aid and supplies to millions of the tsunami’s victims. Assistance came from a variety of “unlikely” sources, such as President Bush and large corporations, much to the chagrin of the liberal media and Hollywood elite. The network news bureaus and largely liberal entertainment industry have remained eerily silent regarding this devastating global crisis. Indeed, at this time of year most of the entertainers go on winter holiday to the slopes or sunny beaches. To date, they have ignored the crisis rather than help the relief efforts and lend their support for donations. The vile and rotund Michael Moore is filming his docudrama Sicko on the so-called “evil” pharmaceutical industry. Moore will certainly omit the timely and generous contributions made by this altruistic industry sector. As of December 31, 2004 the following pharmaceutical giants have donated and/or pledged for the Southeast Asia tsunami disaster relief effort: • Pfizer Inc. $10 million cash and $25 million in drugs to relief agencies
• Merck & Co. $3 million in cash
• Both Abbott Laboratories and Johnson and Johnson have pledged $2 million in cash. Johnson and Johnson is also supplying needed medical supplies and drugs.
• Bristol Myers Squibb $1 million in cash and $4 Million in much needed anti-biotics.
• Roche Group and GlaxoSmithKline Plc will announce shortly their own disaster relief contributions. Another past target of Moore’s vitriol is General Motors. GM just pledged over $2 million in cash, agreed to match employee donations and will provide vehicles to transport medical supplies and food to the stricken region. The voices of the entertainment elite were energized against President Bush during the recent election campaign, but they have yet to respond to this international emergency. Our “heartless” President raised the U.S. relief pledge tenfold in less than a week to a staggering $350 million. How long would it take to organize a Tsunami-Aid concert via Pay-Per-View to collect donations? By the time Bruce Springsteen, Bono and the others return to the microphones, thousands more will die from starvation and disease. Activist actors such as Ben Affleck, Susan Sarandon, Al Franken, P. Diddy, and Barbra Streisand have not been heard from. Oh, and where is George Soros and his billions when you need him? Too busy distributing rolling paper and needles for addicts? President Bush was roundly criticized by the media for failing to issue an immediate statement from his Crawford, Texas ranch regarding the devastation. However, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was given a free pass. Amidst this serious global catastrophe the Secretary General remained in Colorado on holiday for three additional days after the tsunami hit. When confronted by a Fox News reporter why it took him so long to return to UN headquarters, Kofi replied that he monitored the situation via the Internet while away. Perhaps the Secretary General was plotting with his son how to auction off the remaining Iraqi food-for-oil vouchers on e-Bay. By way of contrast, President Bush was fully informed and actively working on a U.S. response to the crisis from his Crawford ranch. He appointed both Secretary of State Colin Powell and brother Governor Jeb Bush to lead America’s relief efforts. The President fully supports a European hosted Tsunami aid conference, which probably will reduce the UN influence over the aid effort. More disgusting than the personal failures of the entertainment industry to act is the ungrateful and obviously anti-Semitic response from Sri Lanka’s government to Israel’s attempt to aid disaster victims. A lack of accommodations in Columbo and airport congestion was cited as Sri Lanka’s excuse for refusing a 150 man Israeli relief mission that included 60 members of the Israel Defense Forces. An uproar from Sri Lanka’s small but vocal Muslim community was cited as the true reason. To be fair, reports reaching the West cite individual Sri Lanka citizens providing food and shelter to stranded foreign tourists, including Americans, and for that we are grateful. Special recognition should be afforded to Hong Kong entertainers, Jackie Chan, Chow-Yun-fat and tycoon Li Ka-shing for their generous assistance. Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova donated $10,000 for Thailand disaster relief. She and Venus Williams are also providing moral support by participating in an exhibition match in Chiang Mai. Other major corporations deserving special recognition and thanks for their efforts include: Nike Inc., American Express, General Electric, First Data Corp., Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Exxon-Mobil, Citigroup, Marriott International and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Kudos to the Catholic Relief Services for its generous pledge of $25 million for emergency relief and long-term programs. Our prayers and thoughts are with all those impacted by this monumental natural disaster.

**Update**
Sandra Bullock, my new favorite actress, has donated $1 million to the Red Cross. God bless her. And Leonardo DiCaprio, still a punk, has donated a large sum of money, too.

My apologies for the long delay in posting. The holiday season hit me hard this year. Not in a bad way. It's always a great time to celebrate the life of my Savior.
On New Years we took our kids to see National Treasure. A terrific movie. My five year old loved it. He's tough to please.
I want to wish you all a great New Year.

For Christmas, I got a book titled Imperial Hubris, authored by Anonymous. It is subtitled Why The West is Losing the War on Terror. I received the book from a friend who tends to lean to the left politically, so my initial reaction was "Great, thanks for the leftist propaganda."
It turns out, the book was written by Michael Scheuer, who ran the CIA office that tracked Osama bin Laden. While he's not a raging Neo-Con, his book and views are pretty smart, and worth considering. So far. I haven't finished it yet, but I'd recommend it. I've learned a lot.

The Dollar is losing strength quickly. Why?
The answer is Europe's challenge to the dollar, the €uro.

"Some day, taking its pattern from the United States, there will be founded a United States of Europe."
George Washington

"The importance of each nation as a living power today is dependent upon the proportion of genuinely Teutonic blood in its population. Only Teutons sit on the thrones of Europe."
Houston Stewart Chamberlain

"Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland: Who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island: Who rules the World-Island commands the World."
Sir Halford Mackinder

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Osama bin Laden praised Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Monday, dubbed him al-Qaida's Iraqi head and said cooperating in the Iraq elections would be the act of an infidel.

In an audio tape broadcast by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite television station and monitored in Beirut, bin Laden praised the "daring" attacks carried out by Zarqawi's group against U.S. forces and the interim government of Iyad Allawi in Iraq.

Bin Laden described Zarqawi as "the Mujahed Emir, dignified brother" -- the fighter prince -- and said: "It should be known that Mujahed brother Abu-Musab Zarqawi is the emir of the al-Qaida for Jihad organization in the Land of the Two Rivers (Iraq). The brothers in the group there should heed his orders and obey him in all that which is good."

Bin Laden called for a boycott of the Iraqi elections scheduled on January 30.

He blasted Paul Bremer, the former civilian administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority, for imposing "a man-made, secular constitution" that was not solely based on Islamic law.

Such a constitution, according to Islam, he said, "is an infidel constitution" even if "the source of 90 percent of the laws is the Islamic Shariah (law) and the source of 10 percent is man-made legislation.

"Based on that, whoever participates, knowingly and willingly, in the elections we have just described, becomes a non-believer."

Now in the presence of the Almighty...

The father of the European Union, Jean Monnet.


Image taken from here.

"All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute. Speaking on SKY TG24 TV, Boschi said the quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation.

Living in the Seattle area, earthquakes catch our attention because a major one is supposed to strike us in the very near future. At least, they've been saying that since I was a kid.
We all know what to do if the ground starts shaking. Get the heck under a desk or a table, and stay away from windows. Common sense, right?
In third world countries, its a good idea to put a GPS tracking device on your fishing boat, so that you can find it once the tsunami has swept it onto somebody's roof.

In Sri Lanka, 1,000 miles west of the epicenter, more than 2,150 people were killed, the prime minister's office said. Indian officials said as many as 1,130 died along the southern coast. At least 408 died on Sumatra from floods and collapsing buildings. Another 168 were confirmed dead in Thailand, 42 in Malaysia and 2 in Bangladesh.

We should pray for these people, and anybody else missing. And, for their families.