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THE DIOGENES REPORT THE BORDERS WAR You are reading the title correctly, but it’s not about the war on the borders between Russia and Chechnya, or between India and Pakistan over the borders of Kashmir. It’s about a conflict between Borders, the book retailer and the Jewish community of Stamford. Borders invited Wendy Pearlman, the author of Occupied Voices: Stories of Loss and Longing from the Second Intifada for a book signing and discussion. Publishers Weekly in its review wrote that “only one side of the conflict gets to speak”. Pearlman claims that she did not encounter any hatred of Jews or a yearning to push Israelis into the sea. Yet the comments she selected drip with hatred and a desire for revenge. In addition, her book is replete with Arab lies that she repeats and supports. Stamford Jews Take Up The Challenge A sizeable number of Stamford Jews felt that Borders lacked sensitivity and was even delivering a slap in the face by giving the author of this hateful book a platform. Dozens sent e-mails to the president of Borders and the local store manager explaining why the store’s proposed action was an affront to the Jewish community, as well as noting their intentions not to patronize Borders if the store went through with it. Borders’ management was adamant on carrying out their affront in the name of ‘free speech’. An electronic mailing also was used to get community members to the store to challenge Ms. Pearlman’s presentation. Some 15 challengers turned out, plus four or five Arab supporters and about a half-dozen curious listeners. In her book and presentation, she is quick to point out that she is Jewish, with the hope that this will give her an aura of objectivity. Her ploy fails and what comes across is a twisted psyche that some would identify as a self-hating Jew who is trying but cannot escape her Jewish connections. Her book is basically a psychological study about her hegira, not a work of history or sociology. A Twisted Psyche She says that she attended a Jewish religious school on Sunday mornings back in her home state of Nebraska. She shares this early outlook with us but leaves us wondering about the trauma that caused it: “... I could not see what Israel—a foreign place in the desert on the other side of the ocean--had to do with me.” When asked why she ‘fell in love’ with another people in the desert on the other side of the ocean, she replied that after college she wanted to study “the third world” and went to Morocco. Was it by chance that she went to an Arab country, in the desert, on the other side of the ocean? Despite her efforts to distance herself from Israel, she is drawn into the Israeli vortex, but not with benign intentions. She Can’t Escape Israel Since she made an issue of being Jewish and attending religious school, she was asked about the level of her connections to the Jewish community and Judaism. It took her a little time to come up with the fact that she attends a friend’s seder—her only connection, other than birth, with Judaism. Unfortunately, no one asked her if she roots for Pharaoh and the Egyptians or the Hebrew slaves during the seder. She likely would have fudged her answer as she did many others. Asked why she wrote the book, she said to give the unheard Arabs a voice in the United States. When it was pointed out that the American public hears the Arab point of view regularly on CNN, network TV, in the pages of The New York Times and most of the other major daily papers, in the weekly news magazines and on the Internet, she claimed that those were the voice of the Arab/Palestinian leaders, not ‘the man in the street’. When asked if their leaders did not represent the man in the street, she answered with forked tongue. Just A Recording Artist Asked if she challenged any of the comments of the Arab voices she recorded, she replied that she did not—that was not her function. Half truths and half stories—with an absence of cause and effect-was evident throughout her book and presentation. She claims that Israeli soldiers block and shoot at Arab ambulances. She neglects to mention that Arab ambulances carry more terrorists, weapons and munitions than they carry sick or injured Arabs. She interviewed an Arab theatre director without mentioning that he is one of the few remaining Christian Arabs that have not been driven out of the ‘West Bank’ by the Muslim Arabs. She interviewed a woman whose family lived in Kuwait and returned to live in the war zone without noting that the Palestinians were driven out of Kuwait for siding with Saddam Hussein instead of with their hosts during the Gulf War invasion by Iraq. The author also paints an idyllic picture of relations between Arabs and Jews in the Holy Land before the establishment of the State of Israel spoiled everything. Challengers in the audience had to pointedly remind her of the on-going Arab attacks and massacres in the pre-State era. The author blames Sharon for causing the 2nd Intifada by going to the Temple Mount. Her implication is that a Jew has no right to go to the site of the ancient Jewish temples. She appears to support the Muslim clerics who claim there were never Jewish temples on the Temple Mount. And since the Muslims built mosques on the mount some 700 years later it makes the mount off-limits to Jews. The Sunday school and Bir Zeit University (an Arab terrorist institution) scholar hasn’t yet caught up with the fact that the Arab leadership prepared to launch the Intifada long before Sharon decided on his visit. How Jews Bake Matzos And Other Blood Libels Wendy’s hatred has completely eliminated fact and rationality.. It sinks down to blood libels. She accuses the Israel Defense Forces of bulldozing homes with people in them. Having lived in Israel, she knows this is an outright lie yet she repeats it. The well-known record of the IDF is to warn even the Arab military and police to evacuate facilities that are going to be bombed or rocketed. I challenge this sick young woman to give one instance where the Israelis bulldozed a house with people inside. Unfortunately, because of the large number of challenges to her many misrepresentations, this area was not covered during her presentation. Another of her blood libels is that the IDF shells civilian Arab neighborhoods with heavy artillery. This Arab lie, which she repeats, went around the world when the Israelis were cleaning out the terrorist nests in Jenin. The world now knows that the Israelis suffered needless casualties because they did not shell the civilian areas which were used as covers by the terrorists. Despite this traditional way of Arab fighting—behind women and children and old people-- not 1,000 or even 500 civilians were killed as the Arabs claimed—but only 52 Arabs were killed of which 34 were armed terrorists. Near the close of the discussion, she was asked if she considered suicide bombing wrong or immoral. She refused to say suicide bombing was immoral. She claimed that this was a ‘rabbinic’ question and that she looked at this issue as a ‘political’ problem , and as such suicide bombings can be justified. To me Wendy is not ‘misguided’ but she is as evil as the voices of the evil people who send their children out to be sacrificed in the middle of battles or as suicide bombers. The Arabs that she interviewed are no different than the ancient Canaanites who were driven from the Holy Land because they sacrificed their children in fire to their god Moloch. The ‘true picture of the Palestinian Arabs’ is nowhere to be found in Wendy’s book, in her op-ed articles, on her Internet writings or at her book signings. Her disdain for the Jewish people and for Israel has led her to embrace the worst elements of Jew-hate spewed by the Arabs. The garbage and lies that this sicko wrote, a publisher printed and Borders gave a platform to is now being promoted by Wendy on a book tour and it is up to each of us to make her experience and the experience of those who give her a platform as miserable as possible and awaken the public to the dangers of the lies she spouts. Borders, Barnes & Noble and any other institution that gives her and other Jew-and-Israel-haters a platform should be challenged and boycotted. In this area she will be at:
ACROSS MY RADAR SCREEN War Stories These snippets come from What Every Person Should Know About War by Chris Hedges: Fewer than half of America’s World War II riflemen fired their weapons. Because of improved training, 90 percent fired in Viet Nam. The most dangerous military jobs go to whites and Hispanics because blacks, more likely to pursue military careers, take safer jobs with more civilian transferability. At the beginning of 2003 there were 30 active wars in the world., which has been “entirely at peace” for only 8 percent of its recorded history. Quite possibly 20 to 25 percent of officers killed in Viet Nam were killed by their own troops.
Coming Attractions 1. Law Enforcement Is Jubilant—The announcement from scientists mapping the genome that they have isolated the DNA that differentiates consensual sex from rape has excited America’s law enforcement community, as well as many prisoners serving time for sex offences. “Neither sexual predators nor lying ladies will be able to lie their way out of this kind of evidence,” one police official stated. Three bio-tech firms are already battling for the application patents from this new scientific discovery. 2. Family Values Menus—One of the prominent law firms that has been leading the battle of the bulge against the fast food industry has opened up a new front in the calories war. On behalf of a 400-lb.client, Fresser, Fresser & Greptz is suing their client’s 285-lb. wife for unhealthy cooking and serving over-sized portions. They claim that their client weighed only 349 lbs. Before he got married and his weight gain is due sole to his wife’s culinary efforts. If this novel suit is successful, the lawyers believe that the family’s homeowners insurance company will pay the judgment. Stay tuned for the next course. 3. He Should Have Got It By Now—Col. General Homer Dumbkoff who has led a number of American convoys in Iraq that have been ambushed is finally scratching his head to ignite the bulb of understanding. The terrorists who launch grenades at his vehicles quickly melt into the countryside before his troops can retaliate. The strange thing is that there is 30 miles of desert around them and only one town in the immediate vicinity. So where could the terrorists be hiding? It’s a truly perplexing dilemma to the General. He is starting to think that, maybe, he should drive his convoy into the nearby town, have his sharpshooters pick the muezzin/spotter off the minaret and shoot up all of the buildings. Then, maybe, after this is done to a few towns and cities, the guys who are killing the Americans will have no place to melt into. Hey, Dumbkoff is no dope, he graduated from the Academy. They Don’t Appreciate Free-Lance Liars—I realized this as I read a cartoon feature in The New York Times magazine section on the Intifada battles on the Gaza-Egyptian border. In the best Times’ twisting of the news the peaceful Arabs were being bashed by the big, bad Israelis. The Arabs who were smuggling weapons from Egypt through tunnels were not terrorists, they were merely “militants.” And, very likely, if they used these weapons to murder Israelis, they would still be militants, according to the Times. The comic book cartoonist was intent on showing the lack of sensitivity on the part of the Israeli army in bulldozing the Arab homes that were the outlets for the smuggling tunnels from Egypt. As a refutation of the need for bulldozing, the cartoonist notes that a lot of the smuggling only involves drugs, not weapons. Nothing to get excited about if it’s only drugs, of course. He did give voice to the Israeli explanation for the need to destroy the homes. But he saved the most sympathetic voice for the Arabs whose homes were bulldozed and for those that prevented the smugglers/militants/terrorists from using their homes. At no time did the cartoonist question who these smugglers/militants/terrorists were. Were they family members of the people who lost their homes or did they just drop into Gaza from Mars? As I read this ‘article’ it dawned on me that the management of the Times wants to hire experienced writers and reporters to distort the news or lie about it. They hire specific journalists to be fabricators and prevaricators; they fire staff members who go off on their own to become fabricators and prevaricators Let the Jayson Blair case be a warning to inexperienced prevaricators of the news.
It Must Be A Catholic Thing—It’s not only pedophile priests that the Church transfers without accompanying warnings but it is office workers, as well. A financial manager at the Palm Beach, FL diocese, who embezzled $400,000 was recommended by Church officials for a job at the Jewish Community Center He was later charged with grand theft at the Jewish Center and pleaded guilty to the crime. His theft at the diocese was hidden by Church officials. Sound familiar? Role Models—I read that Liza Minnelli and David Gest have separated. After all, they have been married for almost 1-1/2 years. But look who were the role models at their wedding. Michael Jackson who carried the bride’s train and Elizabeth Taylor who served as maid of honor. I believe that between those two there were more weddings than wedding anniversaries. The wedding, however, proved Oscar Levant wrong. He quipped about Elizabeth Taylor ‘always a bride, never a bridesmaid.’
NAMES This one is a pretty good fit. Sarah Summons is a defense attorney in Bridgeport, CT. Maybe this one isn’t. Rob Warden is the executive director of Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions. This one is a little stretch, but it works. Rocky Fidelbus will be playing the bass in a Stamford, CT concert.
HEADLINES AND COMMENTS
The New Europe Sounds Just Like The Old
The Administration Has Quit Arguing The Rights And Wrongs Of Killing Enemies
Report Claims Canada Is A Haven For Terrorists
Giordano Moved To Federal Prison In California
Youth Gambling On Rise, Experts Say
Gays Are In The Majority On New Reality TV Shows
Question For “David”: Is He Ready For Makeover?
(Experts are debating whether Michelangelo’s "David" should be restored to its original perfection or simply cleaned.)
Arafat And Abbas Agree On Roles In The Peace Effort
U. S. Will Defy Court’s Order In Terror Case
Iraq To Send Delegation To U.N.
Inmate Gets 9 More Years For Arranging Child Pornography
France Declines U. S. Call For Iraq Force
Fake Goods Support Terrorism, Interpol Official Is To Testify
Priest Is Given 18-Year Term In Sex Assaults
Rastas Meet For ‘One Love’
Man Who Held Class Hostage Is Acquitted Because Of Insanity
New Orleans Struggles With Homicide Rate That Belies Its Size
Investigation Raises Questions About The ‘Texas Miracle’ In Schools
Lieberman, Other Hopefuls Apologize To NAACP
Pat Robertson Attempts To Explain Remarks
State’s Poorest Bracing For Budget Cuts
Driver In Car Fatality Gets Two Traffic Tickets
House Trims Bush Plan For Research On Weapons
Environmentalists Take Fish Census IBM Explores Shift Of White Collar Jobs Overseas
President Takes Softer Stance On North Korea
U. S. To Outline 60-Day Plan For Iraq Rebuilding Projects
Spain: Bombs Hit Resort Hotels
Liberian Says He’ll Leave In 10 Days; Fighting Eases
Dieters Go Crazy For New Weight Loss Capsule (ad headline)
Death Penalty Ruled Out For Two British Detainees
Judge: ‘Six Fingers’ Murder Case Can Move Forward
On Alert For An Attack, Israeli Police Shoot 2 Unarmed Arabs
With Hussein’s Heirs Gone Hopes Rise For An End To Attacks
Bush Team Faces Widespread Pressure To Act On Liberia
Judge Dismisses Terror Charges Against Lawyer
New York Firm To Market Ethnic Shaving Cream
Report: Africa To Grow By Billion People In 50 Years
Bush Calls For Bipartisan Bill On Medicare Prescription Benefit The Palestinian Prime Minister Is A Welcome Contrast To Yasir Arafat
Palestinians And Israelis Still Far Apart On Prisoners
Blyth’s Mexican Plant Destroyed By Fire
A Clock Ticks For Hubble, Some Ask For A Reprieve
Indian Premier Urges Major Push On AIDS
Israeli Checkpoints Stay
Study Finds 2.6% Increase In U. S. Prison Population
QUOTES I LIKE
When I went to Catholic High School in Philadelphia, we had just one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team.
The State Department denied today that a puppet show and an a cappella rendition of “It’s A Small World” performed by Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice for Israeli and Palestinian leaders yesterday were any indication that the president’s peace plan may be in trouble.
Farmer: I can’t keep my hands off my wife. So I fired them and bought a tractor.
I was able to send my girlfriend flowers every day.
Personality is what you are when people are around; character is what you are when everybody goes home
A pessimist is a man who tells the truth prematurely.
Judaism: a nation and a religion at one and the same time.
An army without culture is a dull-witted army, and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy.
The capital-D variety is a caricature of real diversity, for it’s only diversity is in appearance. Its object is to fashion an American elite that looks different but thinks alike.
And David said to Gad, ‘I am exceedingly distressed. Let us fall into Hashem’s hand for his mercies are abundant, but let me not fall into human hands.’
The U. S. State Department looks at Israel through a microscope and the rest of the world through the wrong end of a telescope.
The secret of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven.
When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport: when the tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity.
In the beginning, God created earth and rested.
The punishment for bigamy is two mothers-in-law.
I write for myself—not necessarily for readers, not for musicians. I’d be dead if I tried to please a particular audience. Criticism is only informed opinion. I write a piece that is a personal reaction based, hopefully, on a lot of years of study, background, scholarship and whatever intuition I have. It’s not a critic’s job to be right or wrong; it’s his job to express an opinion in readable English.
Hermit: a person whose vices and follies are not sociable.
Heredity: something everyone believes in until his children start acting like fools.
Vows can’t change nature; priests are only men.
If, with the literate, I am
The West: a place won by men on horseback—and being lost to men on bulldozers.
Wealth: the savings of many in the hands of one.
READERS’ COMMENTS Re: The Brits Are Against The Death Penalty...Sometimes Be careful now. Are you for or against capital punishment? Your complaint against the Brits could be repeated verbatim about Israel which doesn’t have a death penalty with an exception made for Sour Krauts. But Israel, under Sharon the Toothless, Peres the Panglossian and Barak the Beneficent, make “assassination” of terrorists public policy. Any different from the Brits? Depends on which side you’re standing on.
Comments welcome. e-mail to: elscomm@earthlink.net Comments welcome. e-mail to: elscomm@earthlink.net |
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