Titan wishes all a Happy Purim

Titan, Pollyanna and YandA   had a great Purim this week.  Natan(seven year old grandchild) joined us at the Megilla reading and as usual, the good guys won.   As Alan King summed up Jewish history, "they tried to kill us, we won, let's eat."  Have a nice hamantasch:

As promised last time, Titan is pleased to introduce the Uranian satellite, Ariel.

Discovery: 1851 by William Lassell

 Ariel has the youngest, as well as the brightest, surface of Uranus’ five major moons.  Large areas of the moon are seamed with a weird network of broad, flat-floored valleys.  These valleys form a sharp contrast to an adjacent smooth hemisphere, pocked with small craters.  No enormous craters were seen by Voyager 2, only small ones, indicating Ariel’s youth.
Whereas most of the other moons of Uranus are named for characters in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, Ariel is a sprite from The Tempest or, if you prefer, a sylph in Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock.  Next time you will meet Umbriel.

Ariel by Henry Fuseli, c. 1800-10. Oil on canvas, approx. 36.5 " x 28 ". The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.

Ariel's song:

Where the bee sucks, there suck I:

In a cowslip’s bell I lie;

There I couch when owls do cry.

On the bat’s back I do fly

After summer merrily.   

Merrily, merrily shall I live now

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

SOMETHING FAVORABLE FOR ONCE
Titan is pleased to praise the European Court of Human Rights for its ruling that Italy and Libya had systematically violated the human rights of migrants seeking asylum in Italy. In the case, Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy, the Court considered the plight of 24 people from Somalia and Eritrea who were among more than 200 people intercepted at sea by Italian authorities in 2009 and forced to return to Libya, their point of departure.

Italy and Libya forged an agreement to intercept and return migrants, in violation of human rights norms.

© UNHCR/F. Noy

The practice violated international obligations  not to return individuals to countries where they could be at risk of human rights abuses.  Amnesty International calls upon the new governments in both countries to adopt a more humane approach to sub-Saharan refugees who are fleeing ill treatment and abuse.   We support this call wholeheartedly  All over the world, refugees from persecution and war are treated badly.

IS WINNING THE ONLY THING?

The late Vince Lombardi ,  the legendary coach of the NFL Green Bay Packers,  is credited with the statement, "winning is not the most important thing, it is the only thing."  In fact that is a misquotation and a monstrous one.  Lombardi said two particular things about winning, "Winning is not a sometime thing…it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while…you don’t do the right thing once in a while…you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.”  and “Winning is not everything – but making the effort to win is.”  Indeed he regarded winning as important, but he did not call for and condone unethical behavior in order to achieve it.
Why is Titan bringing this up?  Two reasons. one in football and the other in science: we have seen recently what the pressure to achieve and to win can bring about.  One of them is the bounty system in football in which players were paid in cash for deliberately causing injuries to targeted opponents, in particular quarterbacks.  The NFL has been making major efforts to improve player safety and levies fines for hits in the head and neck areas.  It is being sued by former players because of concussions.  The bounty system was administered by Gregg Williams and funded by the players of the New Orleans Saints and it has now become a major scandal.  Let us hope that football can clean up its act.
The case of the speeding neutrinos may well be another facet of the win and be famous at all costs culture pervading our society.  As Pollyanna reported last week, the entire affair appears to be an issue of a loose cable connection.  What is most troubling is the allegation that the leaders of the international collaboration were warned of the problem but prevented investigation.  From Science this week: "A source familiar with the experiment says some researchers thought the measurement should have been rechecked before the neutrino velocity results were submitted to a journal in November, but OPERA's scientific management resisted carrying out such a check. (Autiero and collaboration spokesman Antonio Ereditato of the University of Bern in Switzerland were unavailable for comment before this story went to press.)"
In the same article we have this indication of why competent ethical physicists rushed to publish.  We present two views given in the same paper:  David Wark of Imperial College London, a physicist who works on the T2K neutrino experiment in Japan, says it was “reasonable” for OPERA to release its results when it did. “If they sit on it for [too] long, inevitably it will come out on someone's blog, and they will have no control over that,” he says. “Instead, they said to the scientific community, ‘Look, we have something weird. Can you explain it?’”
But one OPERA scientist believes the error should have been caught. “What's happened here is an accident, something unexpected, but identifying these things is part of the scientific procedure,” the researcher says. “In recent years, there has been too much pressure in science to be first. This has made us go faster than we should have done.”
Win at all costs, succeed at all costs, publish first at all costs, be top dog no matter what. Has that attitude penetrated to all facets of our society?  Maybe some introspection is in order.
CHINA/MONGOLIA THE HADA ATROCITY GOES ON
A Mongolian activist Hada served 15 years in prison for advocating the cultural and human rights of the native population of Inner Mongolia.

Mr. Hada still under extrajudicial custody after serving 15 years in jail. (SMHRIC photo)

 Hada was charged with "separatism" in 1995.  He was released in 2010 and immediately rearrested and has been held since then in a secret prison.  His wife, aunt and son have been harassed continuously by the security forces and his health has deteriorated under the ill treatment in prison.  Please send an appeal for his release.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
This is the day when everyone pays lip service to the beautiful idea of equality for women.  It is of course, all bovine excrement since everywhere you look the patriarchal society rules.  The only difference between the Muslim world and the West is the degree of hypocrisy.  In Israel, we share the worst of both worlds.  Merav Michaeli points this out in a strong op-ed piece in Haaretz.  Our Knesset is about to vote on a law that would raise the age of marriage from 17 to 18.  You can expect the Orthodox political slime to unite against it and probably shoot it down.  So Happy Women's Day  to all the conservative misogynists around the world. The brouhaha over the rants of Rush Limbaugh against a brave student Sandra Fluke shows how deep the hatred of women runs on the right.  We are pleased to see that  some of his sponsors are getting the message.  He is getting his own message as pointed out by Tom Toles in the Washington Post.

According to one source (Andy Borowitz) his most loyal sponsor is leaving him, alas.

Too much even for me says Satan

SYRIA
The carnage does not cease for a moment and almost no one seems to be doing anything. We say almost because AVAAZ, the humanitarian organization has been playing a role in helping the bleeding people of Syria.  Here is the text of an email that we received from Avaaz.  At the end there is a link by which you can donate to help support the people of Syria.  We also protest the fact that the US Army is dealing with the supplier of arms to the Syrian army.

Powered by millions of online actions and donations from 75,000 of us, our community is playing a central role in supporting the Syrian people as they persist in peaceful protest against all odds. Together, we're empowering citizen journalism, smuggling in medical supplies and western journalists, and much more. We're making a difference, but the staggering bravery of the Syrian people is their gift to the rest of us. Read this email for the full story, or look at this recent media coverage of Avaaz's work on Syria: BBC, CNN, El Pais, TIME, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, AFP

Dear friends,


This morning, 4 western journalists are home safe with their families, the echoes of the horror and heroism of Baba Amr still ringing in their ears. Over 50 Syrian activists, supported by Avaaz, volunteered to rescue them and scores of wounded civilians from the Syrian army’s killzone. Many of those incredible activists have not survived the week.


Abu Hanin is one of the heroes. He’s 26, a poet, and when his community needed him, he took the lead in organizing the citizen journalists that Avaaz has supported to help the voices of Syrians reach the world. The last contact with Abu Hanin was on Thursday, as regime troops closed in on his location. He read his last will and testament to the Avaaz team in Beirut, and told us where he had buried the bodies of the two western journalists killed in the shelling. Since then, his neighborhood of Baba Amr has been a black hole, and we still don’t know his fate.


It’s easy to despair when seeing Syria today, but to honour the dead, we must carry forward the hope they died with. As Baba Amr went dark and fears of massacre spread, Syrians took to the streets -- yet again -- across the country, in a peaceful protest that showed staggering bravery.


Their bravery is our lesson, the gift of the Syrian people to the rest of us. Because in their spirit, in their courage to face the worst darkness our world has to offer, a new world is being born.


And in that new world, the Syrian people are not alone. Millions of us from every nation have stood with them time and time again, right from the beginning of their struggle. Nearly 75,000 of us have donated almost $3 million to fund people-powered movements and deliver high-tech communications equipment to help them tell their story, and enable the Avaaz team to help smuggle in over $2 million worth of medical supplies. We’ve taken millions of online actions to push for action from the Security Council and the Arab League and for sanctions from many countries, and delivered those online campaigns in dozens of stunts, media campaigns and high-level advocacy meetings with top world leaders. Together we’ve helped win many of these battles, including for unprecedented action by the Arab League, and oil sanctions from Europe.


Our team in Beirut has also provided a valuable communications hub for brave and skilled activists to coordinate complex smuggling operations and the rescue of the wounded and the journalists. Avaaz does not direct these activities, but we facilitate, support and advise. We have also established safe houses for activists, and supported the outreach and diplomatic engagement of the Syrian National Council -- the opposition movement’s fledgling political representative body. Much of the world's major media have covered Avaaz’s work to help the Syrian people, including features on BBC, CNN, El Pais, TIME, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, AFP and many more, citing our "central role" in the Syrian peaceful protest movement.


Today, a dozen more nightmares like that visited on the city of Homs are unfolding across Syria. The situation will get worse before it gets better. It will be bloody, and complicated, and as some protesters take up arms to defend themselves, the line between right and wrong will blur. But President Assad’s brutal regime will fall, and there will be peace, and elections, and accountability. The Syrian people simply will not stop until that happens -- and it may happen sooner than we all think.


Every expert told us at the beginning that an uprising in Syria was unthinkable. But we sent in satellite communications equipment anyway. Because our community knows something that the experts and cynics don’t -- that people power and a new spirit of citizenship are sweeping our world today, and they are fearless, and unstoppable, and will bring hope to the darkest places. Marie Colvin, an American journalist covering the violence in Homs, told Avaaz before she died, "I’m not leaving these people." And neither will we.


With hope, and admiration for the Syrian people and courageous citizens everywhere,


Ricken, Wissam, Stephanie, Alice, David, Antonia, Will, Sam, Emma, Wen-Hua, Veronique and the whole Avaaz team


P.S. If you want to do more, click here to help keep our lifeline of hope into Syria open:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/smuggle_hope_into_syria_rb//?vl

UGANDA HOMOPHOBIA
The parliament in Uganda is again taking up the legislative initiative that would severely criminalize  actions of GLBT people.  We thought that the international outcry had scotched this idea, but it  appears to have backfired and now we are told that our interference is neocolonialism.   If international pressure works again, the homophobes are hoping for a Republican victory in the USA to help them out.

Michele Sibiloni/Associated Press

Backers of David Kato, a slain gay rights advocate, mourned at his funeral last year in Uganda

HOME SWEET HOME
GROSSMAN IN ENGLISH ON CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE
Two weeks ago we promised you an English version of the David Grossman op-ed that appeared on the front page of Haaretz about the Arab who was thrown on the roadside to die.   It is indeed disgraceful that Haaretz failed to provide a translation of it for its online English edition. Embarrassed for the goyim?  Indeed Grossman is a great writer and not easy to translate, but Judy, bless her, has provided a translation .  There is also a translation by Sol Salbe circulating around the Web, but we prefer Judy's version.  Thank you so much.
THE FOREIGN FILM OSCAR AND US
An Iranian film, A Separation, by Asghar Farhadi

Asghar Farhadi
Photo by: Reuters

 won this year over the Israeli film Footnote.  As mentioned above, we are celebrating Purim this week which marks a Persian plot of genocide against the Jews that ended with the Jews killing 75,000 Persians--hurray, serve up the Hamantaschen!  Bradley Burston proposes a toast to the people of Iran who have no desire to go to war with us while their leaders and ours beat the drums of war and the American government seems to go along with it.  The right wing lobby AIPAC that is pushing for an attack on  Iran and actually  claims to speak for the Jews of America is really an instrument of a small number of Jewish billionaires who have the resources to buy politicians in the US and in Israel.  It is leading us down a path of doom. We are in full support of the Occupy AIPAC group who raised a voice for peace and rationality at the AIPAC meeting.  The silencing of dissenting voices on campuses across North America is certainly not an acceptable tactic.
The attack on Iraq in 1981 did not really achieve its goal and a rational analysis shows that an attack on Iran would probably backfire.   It is no accident that Israel shares bottom billing with Iran, North Korea and Pakistan as the most negatively viewed countries in the world. We have earned that rating honestly.  The right wing coalition of ideologues and clerics who rule Israel will continue to be elected for the foreseeable future because they are experts at arousing fear and anxiety.  We, as a nation of superstitious (55% believe in the Messiah) fools,  deserve everything that happens to us.
THE POSTMAN AS CENSOR
Freedom of expression in Israel is severely restricted when it comes to Christians.  The tour guides at Brigham Young University in Jerusalem are forbidden to explain their Mormon faith to us.  The New Testament was burned a few years ago in a Lag B'Omer bonfire in Or Yehuda with the connivance of the municipal government (no one was prosecuted) and now we are told that postal employees in Ramat Gan are refusing to deliver copies of the New Testament on grounds that it is "missionary material for idolatry."  It is akin to the refusal of health plans in the USA to provide contraception.  In the USA there is an establishment clause in the Constitution, but here religion and religious coercion run wild.  Let us hope, probably in vain, that the postal management will insist that people do their job and not take on authority that does not exist.

OUR CORRUPT AND INCOMPETENT GENERALS
Haaretz calls our attention to the degeneracy and lack of professionalism at the top levels of the army.  The corruption coming to light in Israel in connection with the top military appointments  should be a source of concern for all of us.  Of course, nothing of that is new, the army has always been rotten to the core, run by Byzantine intrigues and sticky fingered crooks.  One might wonder how we ever won a war.  Norman Dixon in his book on the Psychology of Military Incompetence explains that victory goes to the side that has generals who are marginally less corrupt and incompetent.  For how long can we rely on the decadence and incompetence of our adversaries?

A BLOG OF PROPAGANDA AND HALF-TRUTHS.
Avi Shlaim the Oxford professor who has long been a major critic of the Israeli government, wrote an article in the Independent in which he calls upon Obama to stand up to Natanyahu and not to be dragged into a war with Iran.  The article makes many solid and valid points.  It generated a hysterical diatribe from  David Harris, Executive Director, American Jewish Committee (AJC)that attacked Shlaim personally and was full of half-truths and outright falsehoods straight from the Natanyahu/Liebermann  party line.

A REVIEW OF A VERY STRANGE BOOK
Titan would like to call your attention to a reissued book by Gregor von Rezzori entitled Memoirs of an Anti-Semite, introduction by Deborah Eisenberg, translated by Joachim Neugroschel.  It deals with the decline of an aristocratic family from the farther reaches of the defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire. In five psychologically fraught episodes, the narrator revisits his past, from adolescence to middle age, a period that coincides with the twentieth century’s ugliest years.  The narrator is not a Nazi, but his life is permeated by a perpetual Jewish question.  The book is reviewed in the Atlantic by the recently deceased Christopher Hitchens.


LISTEN TO SABA(GRANDPA)
Since becoming a grandfather almost 24 years ago, we have been accused of purveying nonsense to the wee bairns.  Fair disclosure, such allegations date back to the 1950's when the parents of the kiddies were kiddies themselves.  We grandpas of all nations have our honor to defend and Gene Weingarten and  David Clark come to our aid:(click on strip to enlarge)

THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ALL OF US(click to enlarge)

Titan is full of rants--so what else is new?

Titan is back and in the name of gender equality wishes to introduce you to Titania (no relation), Oberon's oft estranged spouse and fellow satellite of Uranus.
Diameter: 1,577.8 kilometers
Orbital distance: 436,300 kilometers from Uranus
Orbital period: 8.71 days
Discovery: 1787 by William Herschel
Titania is the largest of Uranus’ moons, though Oberon is very close to it in size.  Titania’s surface is somewhat similar to, though apparently a little older than, the surface of Ariel (next in line).  It has many small, but few large, craters, as well as networks of interconnected valleys.  There is one multi-ringed basin of about 300 kilometers in diameter, named Gertrude, near the moon’s equator.

A "super-res" color view of Titania from Voyager 2. The giant crater Gertrude peeks over the terminator at upper left. Credit: NASA/JPL/Ted Stryk 

Titania is, of course, in legend Queen of the Fairies and plays a major role in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, although when you entrust a love potion to an irresponsible sprite, you get a result that is not very auspicious.

Envy Bottom?

SOMETHING POSITIVE FOR A CHANGE 

For once Titan has a positive comment and praise, this time for the government of Peru and its agency in charge of protection of indigenous, uncontacted people.  Peru has raided an illegal logging site in the Manú National Park, just days after the world caught its first detailed glimpse of the uncontacted Mashco-Piro tribe.

Illegal logging threatens Peru's uncontacted Mashco-Piro.
© D.Cortijo/uncontactedtribes.org released 8 February

 The discovery followed  Survival's release of close-up pictures of the tribe to raise awareness of the threats illegal logging poses to their survival.  In an operation led by SERNANP, Peru’s Department for Protected Areas, park guards and police uncovered more than 3,000 feet of illegally harvested timber. Kudos to SERNAMP and to Survival International for taking these steps.  Please sign the petition.
IN MEMORIAM
 Renato Dulbecco, who won a Nobel Prize for virus research, died this week at 97.  He was a major pioneer in the study of how a virus functions inside a cell and how it can bring about cancer.  Dr. Dulbecco shared the 1975 Nobel Prize with biologist David Baltimore, then of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and cancer researcher Howard M. Temin of the University of Wisconsin for what the Nobel committee termed “their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumor viruses and the genetic material of the cell.”   We append an obituary from the Washington Post.

(Courtesy of The Salk Institute for Biological Studies) - Renato Dulbecco’s work advanced the understanding of how viruses work within cells.

BITTER CHOCOLATE
In our last blog, Titan brought up the issue of slave-grown chocolate.  Since then we have emailed the customer service departments of two major chocolate manufacturers in Israel, Strauss-Elite(also own Max Brenner) and Unilever who own the trade mark Vered Hagalil. Ordering from abroad is not an option because chocolate does not travel well and online merchants hesitate to ship to us.  It  appeared that we might have to give up our beloved addiction to the dark goodie.  The argument that dark chocolate can be classified as a cardiac medication is a bit specious when we think of child laborers in Africa.
We received a reply from Unilever who assured us that they are pure as the driven snow and referred us to the company's Supplier Code which appears quite reassuring.  On the other hand, the Corporate Watch web site has a major indictment of Unilever's corporate crimes including a most exploitative relationship with Third World suppliers.
We also received a reply from Strauss-Elite who referred us to the Web site of UTZ.  In the wake of the Unilever fairy tale, we are a bit suspicious and have written to Corporate Watch to inquire about UTZ.  The jury is still out.
We were told by Avi Levi of the Green Action movement that ethical chocolate was available at all branches of Teva Castel and Organic.    We are advised to look for this logo:

The four of us, Titan, Pollyanna and YandA visited our local Teva Castel and were greatly disappointed.  None of the workers there had ever heard of the Fair Trade concept, although they could assure us that everything was kosher.  We finally found an organic supermarket of the Eden Teva chain that among its dozens of brands of chocolate had one with the Fair Trade logo on it.  Success!!  The market in the south Industrial Zone of Natanya is most impressive and we will begin to shop there.
SEX AND THE POLITICIAN 
Dominique Kahn-Strauss is again up to his ears in a sex scandal.  He has been released from a French police station after two days of questioning over a suspected hotel prostitution ring.

Police can hold Dominique Strauss-Kahn for up to 96 hours for questioning.

MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES FILE IMAGE

 There is a suspicion that the money to fund the fun and games at the Carlton Hotel in Lille may have had a corporate source which would put everyone involved in deep trouble.  In any case, we think that some prize should be given to his lawyer for a beautiful statement that will ring down the ages, “He could easily not have known, because as you can imagine, at these kinds of parties you're not always dressed, and I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman.”

MONSANTO GUILTY 
In another item from France, we learn that the Monsanto Corporation has been found guilty by a French court of chemically poisoning a grain grower, Paul Francois,  who says he developed neurological problems such as memory loss and headaches after being exposed to Monsanto’s Lasso weedkiller back in 2004. The monumental case paves the way for legal action against Monsanto’s Roundup and other harmful herbicides and pesticides made by other manufacturers.  It is about time that Monsanto be called to account for the results of its deadly concoctions.

NOAM CHOMSKY provides us with an interesting, albeit depressing, analysis of US foreign policy and the steady decline of the influence of the United States around the world.  In this context we might note that President Obama has commented that the 21st century is not the century of America, i.e. he understands what is happening, whereas Romney and the rest of the Republican stable of candidates responded to this with bluster.  Food for thought.  We shall  return to this when we discuss Israel's Iran policy or lack of such.

THE BLOOD CONTINUES TO FLOW IN SYRIA. 
The latest well-known victims are journalists covering the conflict.  On   Wednesday, the shelling in Syria centered on a house that was a makeshift media center where journalists were working and staying. From initial accounts they ran from the house and tried to escape but at least two were killed by either explosions or shrapnel.  Dead are Remi Ochlik, a French photographer in his late 20s, and Marie Colvin, an American reporter for The Sunday Times of Britain who was in her 50s.

Marie Colvin, left, an American reporter working for The Sunday Times of London, and Rémi Ochlik, a French photographer, were killed in Syria on Wednesday. Left, Sunday Times; right, Julien De Rosa

Others are injured but reports of who they are or the severity of their wounds or how they will be treated are murky at best.
Jonathan Littel describes graphically what is happening in Homs.

A doctor treats a wounded man in Homs. Photograph: AP

 Somehow, the world must take action, despite UN paralysis, as it did in Kosovo and Darfur.
CHINA
Human Rights Watch has published its annual report.  Their section on China highlights enforced disappearances and is worthy of your attention  In February 2011, unnerved by the pro-democracy Arab Spring movements and a scheduled Chinese leadership transition in October 2012, the government launched the largest crackdown on human rights lawyers, activists, and critics in a decade. The authorities also strengthened internet and press censorship, put the activities of many dissidents and critics under surveillance, restricted their activities, and took the unprecedented step of rounding up over 30 of the most outspoken critics and “disappearing” them for weeks.  We recommend that you take the time to read this detailed report on human rights violations.


HOME SWEET HOME
Now for rants about our home turf.  We can start with something positive, a victory of sorts for nonviolent protest over the arbitrary power of the Israeli occupation and security forces.  After 66 days of a hunger strike, the "administrative detainee" Khader Adnan is to be released on April 17 and the Israeli authorities have promised not to ask for an extension.

It is impossible not to wonder why he was detained (and abused) in the first place and whether the "secret evidence" used against him in his hearing really exists.  It also confirms what we have always suspected that the judges who view this "evidence" are corrupt lackeys of the security services and the purpose of the detentions (about 300 at the moment) is intimidation.   The agreement to end the hunger strike and the detention came just minutes before the start of a hearing in the Supreme Court.  Let us hope that this will serve as an example for the Palestinians to focus on nonviolent protest, as proposed by Mustafa Barghouti and suggested to them by people of note such as Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama.
IRAN
The blather of a possible Israeli attack on Iran goes on.  It is of course all rank nonsense and it is refreshing to read a realistic analysis by Yoel Marcus who tells Barak to come off the Rambo gig and confront the real world.  Let us all hope that cooler heads will prevail and that we will eventually learn to live with a nuclear Iran.  Certainly we need to have a deterrent and a strong second strike capability, but launching a war that will tear up the Middle East and cause thousands of casualties here and elsewhere would be the height of irresponsibility.  Nonetheless, the possibility exists as noted in a detailed analysis by Eli Lake , the senior national-security correspondent for Newsweek and the Daily Beast.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING 
To our great shame, Israel has long been a world center for human trafficking and the international sex industry.  In the past it has been threatened with a cutoff of US aid and indeed some steps forward have been taken, mostly because of push by human rights and women's organizations.  Please take a look at this web site and click on the petition to the government.
OUR KIND OF MORALITY
About 2700 years ago a man named Isaiah ben Amotz made a speech in Jerusalem that could be reproduced in a newspaper today and be fully relevant.  (Is. Chap. 1.)  Let me quote a sentence with respect to something that happened a few years ago, but is still making waves.

 ט לולי יהוה צבאות, הותיר לנו שריד כמעט--כסדום היינו, לעמורה דמינו.  {פ} י שמעו דבר-יהוה, קציני סדום; האזינו תורת. אלוהינו, עם עמורה

"Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah."
In 2008 the  body of a young man was found besides a road.  He was barefoot and clad in a thin hospital gown from the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer.  It was only a few days later - after the man’s family was located in the Gaza Strip and brought to Israel for DNA testing - that his identity was clarified. The dead man was Omar Abu Jariban, 35, present illegally  in Israel.  He had been injured in an accident in a stolen car.

Omar Abu Jariban

Three days before his corpse was found he had been released from the hospital and taken to the Rehovot police station. At the station he seemed confused, unable to fathom what was going on around him, non-communicative and barely ambulatory. Instead of readmitting him to hospital, senior police officers at the station decided to “return him to the territories” - a code phrase meaning dumping him at a road junction in the middle of the night. Three policemen were sent to take the man and leave him at an entrance to the West Bank, but after failing to do so, they dumped him by the side of the road.  He died there of dehydration.
For the full details read the story of the negligence by Chaim Levinson along with the follow up exposing the lies of the police officers who were involved.  David Grossman, the author, wrote an op-ed piece for Haaretz that was placed on the front page.   Unfortunately, it is not yet available in English.  We promise to post it when it appears.  In the meantime, here is the link to the Hebrew original.
We wonder why no one at the higher levels is being prosecuted.  Two cops at the bottom of the food chain are presumably indicted for manslaughter by negligence.   We also wonder how the doctor who released him feels today.  David Grossman seems to think that there might be some stirrings of conscience in the minds of the people involved.  We doubt it--what the hell?  Just an Arab, hardly worth consideration.  Maybe some world wide publicity will have an impact. Isaiah ben Amotz, where are you when we need you?
BOYCOTT WHOM?
We have always had our doubts about the morality and effectiveness of a general BDS of Israel, although we personally avoid purchasing goods made in the made by companies that profit from or engage in economic activity  in the settlements.  It would appear however, that our government is busy boycotting the peace camp, us and all our supporters of Israel who disagree with the policies of the government.  For a good description of this policy and its results, we refer you to a Bradley Burston posting.   In the meantime, Israel Apartheid Week in the US, with all its mirroring of the hypocrisy of the Israeli right wing, took a beating from one of its long time supporters, Norman Finkelstein.
Listen to what he has to say:


You should also read what Bradley Burston has to say both about Finkelstein's comments and the state of affairs in Israel today.    His comparison of Israel at 64 and the US at 64, i.e. 1840 with slavery and genocide against the Native Americans is interesting.  Yes, in the 19th century much was wrong in the US and they fixed it, albeit with a bloody civil war and much pain over a long time.   What is happening today in the US will also require a lot of painful fixing and we too will have to struggle to create the kind of Israel that we want to have, but it will be doable, if the people who care about democratic values stick to their guns.

IN A LIGHTER VEIN, let us enjoy bit of Fry and Laurie, courtesy of Yosefa:




and




THE CORIOLIS FORCE
This is an effect of the rotation of the Earth that causes an object to deviate from its path in the rotating coordinate system.  The Coriolis force  figures prominently in studies of the dynamics of the atmosphere, in which it affects prevailing winds and the rotation of storms, and in the hydrosphere, in which it affects the rotation of the oceanic currents.  It reverses its sign at the equator.  One might be surprised to learn from Barney and Clyde that it also has biological significance in animal behavior.

A trip to South Africa with Murphy is in the preliminary planning stages.  In the meantime, we are observing his behavior closely and are building a computer model.

ORION
 In the Northern Hemisphere winter, the night sky is dominated by the constellation Orion, which contains the Orion Nebula , with Betelgeuse and Sirius in attendance along with thousands of others.

Orion is supposed to me a mythological hunter, bearing a sword.

Orion as depicted in Urania’s Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c. 1825.

 Our friend at XKCD has a slightly different take on it and would like to persuade the IAU...

Greetings and rants from Titan

Titan is back and as usual is full of rants about the world and the way it is run.  First, however, he would like to continue our tour of the solar system and introduce you to his colleague Oberon, who is orbiting the next planet out, Uranus.  Here is the best picture acquired by Voyager 2 during the 1986 flyby.

We had a good time with Uranus, a weird planet lying on its side and orbiting the Sun.

Uranus’ tilt essentially has the planet orbiting the Sun on its side, the axis of its spin is nearly pointing at the Sun.
CREDIT: NASA and Erich Karkoschka, U. of Arizona

View full size image

By that we mean that the rotation axis is in the plane of the ecliptic and every 46 years it points directly at the Sun.  Its moons are named after characters in Midsummer Night's Dream, but alas Bottom has not yet been recognized despite an impassioned appeal by the late Carl Sagan.
DATA
Discovered by     William Herschel
Discovery date     January 11, 1787[1]
Designations
Alternate name(s)     Uranus IV
Adjective     Oberonian[2]
Orbital characteristics
Semi-major axis     583 520 km[3]
Eccentricity     0.0014[3]
Orbital period     13.463 234 d[3]
Inclination     0.058° (to Uranus's equator)[3]
Satellite of     Uranus
Physical characteristics
Mean radius     761.4 ± 2.6 km (0.1194 Earths)[4]
Surface area     7 285 000 km²[a]
Volume     1 849 000 000 km³[b]
Mass     3.014 ± 0.075 × 1021 kg (5.046 × 10-4 Earths)[5]
Mean density     1.63 ± 0.05 g/cm³[5]
Equatorial surface gravity     0.348 m/s²[c]
Escape velocity     0.726 km/s[d]
Rotation period     presumed synchronous[6]
Albedo    


    0.31 (geometrical)
    0.14 (Bond)[7]


Temperature     70–80 K[8]
Apparent magnitude     14.1[9]
Atmosphere
Surface pressure     zero

Uranus, named after the Greek sky deity Ouranos, the earliest of the lords of the heavens, was the first planet to be discovered by scientists.
IN MEMORIAM
The famous pop singer Whitney Houston died yesterday at age 48 in Beverly Hills .  It is tragic to see such a young life and great talent snuffed out so early.  The link contains an obituary and summary of her career.


RANT TIME
OK, enough of this civilized stuff, on to the garbage of the world.  A fairly mild resolution in the UN Security Council calling for Syrian president Assad to step down and put an end to the carnage  was vetoed by Russia and China.  Thousands of people have been killed and yet the international community can do no more than wring its hands.


An anti-regime demonstration in the city of al-Qsair, south-west of Homs where activists say Syrian forces have killed more than 200 people. Photograph: Alessio Romenzi/AFP/Getty


The disgust felt around the world at this action by Russia and China is beyond description.  Let us quote an unnamed Arab ambassador from a Gulf state who put it thus "It's absolutely unacceptable that we see on a daily basis hundreds of civilian deaths in Homs and other Syrian cities. This international silence and the use of the veto against condemning the Syrian regime is a moral and political scandal by any measure."
There is talk of a new mission to Syria, Arab League plus UN, after the previous Arab league mission accomplished nothing in terms of abatement of the violence.  In any case, it is clear that the people of Syria are being tossed to the wolves unless some way can be found to help them.  You can act via Avaaz to help smuggle in aid for the opposition and you can squawk to your government, especially if you live in Russia.   The Russian opposition thinks that the veto came about to protect Putin from the contagion of deposing dictators, represented by the Arab Spring.  For China, there is no hope of redemption.

Across our southern border, things are not so great either.  The Egyptian government apparently needs some scapegoats after its scandalous failure to prevent a football riot in Port Said last week in which 74 people were killed.  They are taking an example from Israel and going after NGO's that have foreign funding.  The trick is  putting people on trial and it is clear that it is all politically motivated.   The US is being put in a difficult position with respect to continuance of its massive aid to Egypt. The Arab Spring is rapidly turning sour. The Egyptian people elected a religious government and it is their right to do so.  Nonetheless, basic human rights standards must be maintained.  We are awaiting the full turnover of power to the elected government.   In Libya, Amnesty has documented torture and other severe human rights abuses by entities of the new government against suspected Qaddafi supporters. Amnesty is not aware of any efforts by the new Libyan leadership to hold perpetrators accountable.  A revolution driven by protest against human rights violations is betrayed if the revolutionaries adopt the values and actions of the regime that they have displaced.  There are reports of prisoners dying under  torture and the response of the Libyan government has been woefully inadequate.



CHOCOLATE HAS A DARK SIDE
All of the team, Titan, Pollyanna and YandA, love chocolate.  We were, therefore, taken aback by disclosures of the terrible conditions in the cacao plantations in West Africa.  A majority of the workers there are children held in what amounts to modern day slavery.  Read more and view the video.   We have written to the Green Movement in Israel in the hope of obtaining information about the source of raw materials for the chocolate we consume. 

Work on cocoa farms in the region can be demanding - and dangerous

 The chocolate industry is worth more than $90bn (£56.5bn) a year, and more than 40% of people in the Ivory Coast live below the poverty line.
Ten years ago, under international pressure, chocolate companies signed an international protocol to stop the practice of dangerous child labor. They promised to "commit significant resources" and act "as a matter of urgency."

Cocoa is the raw ingredient for chocolate and one of West Africa's main export

But the report by Tulane University in the US, found that the chocolate industry's funding since 2001 had "not been sufficient" and it needed to do more.  Let us all start making noise about this and think of children in Ivory Coast when we next bite into some delicious chocolate. If necessary, we shall have to give up chocolate, alas.


CHINA 

It is impossible  to talk about human rights in the world without touching upon the arch-violator of human rights, the government of China.  This week Titan wishes to join the protest by Amnesty International against the excessive and unjustified use of force against Tibetans who are doing no more than to protest the discrimination against their community that has become standard policy.  We all call upon the Chinese government to cease and desist the use of lethal force against nonviolent Tibetan protestors.  We show a demonstration in India against the persecution.

Tibetans' grievances against cultural and religious repression under Chinese rule are worsening

© Gerardo Angiulli / Demotix

We have just had another case of self-immolation, this time an 18 year old nun.  

Tenzin Choezin, the Buddhist nun who was reported by the International Campaign for Tibet to have set herself on fire Photograph: Freetibet/AFP/Getty Images

 The usual culprits are also creating havoc in Darfur.  China, Russia, and Belarus continue to supply weapons and munitions to Sudan despite  compelling evidence that the arms will be used against civilians in Darfur. Exports include supplying significant quantities of ammunition, helicopter gunships, attack aircraft, air-to-ground rockets and armored vehicles.

Arms sold to Sudan are often used to commit human rights violations in Darfur

© Private

HOME SWEET HOME

Let us start with something that is at least somewhat positive.  The members of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe who were about to be forced to resettle near a garbage dump in East Jerusalem have  won a reprieve.  They have also been assured that their school in Khan al-Ahmar would be allowed to remain standing until the tribe moves to the new site, Palestinian sources said. A demolition order has been issued for the school, which is built out of tires and mud.

Italian architect Valerio Marazzi, who designed and built a school for the Jahalin Bedouin tribe.
Photo by: Alex Levac

 
HUNGER STRIKE-PLEASE ACT
 Please sign this petition  to try   even at the 11th hour, to save the life of Khader Adnan. Like all Palestinian administrative detainees, he is subject to ‘occupiers’ justice’ i.e. no justice at all. In Ireland internment, imprisonment without trial, was a major issue in the early 1970’s and its failure led to the fall of the Stormont Government.  The petition is a letter to the International Red Cross pleading with them intercede with the Israeli authorities on his behalf.  He has been on hunger strike for 58 days as we write.

As Israelis we should all blush with shame over this matter of administrative detention.  It means that a low-ranking Army officer can throw anyone into prison, no charge, no trial and no effective recourse.  There is indeed a charade of getting a judge to sign off, on "evidence" that the detainee is not allowed to see and probably (in our estimation) does not exist.  The judge will sign off on anything the Army requests since the judiciary in Israel sits in the back pocket of the military establishment.  The Supreme Court itself sits by idly while the Army flouts its decisions.
About the International Committee of the Red Cross, let me quote from Tony Greenstein's blog( I am sure he will not mind):
"Israel has routinely detained, without trial but with torture, thousands of Palestinian prisoners. This has merited no response from those who are so concerned at human rights in Syria. It has also merited no response from the International Committee of the Red Cross. The ICRC throughout the 2nd World War repeatedly failed to take up the case of the civilian population in Nazi occupied areas. They even allowed the Nazis to use them to whitewash the the ‘model’ camp of Thereinstadt in the Czech Republic. In anticipation of the ICRC visit, a few thousand detainees were ‘transferred’ to Auschwitz where they were murdered. Even at Auschwitz the ICRC allowed itself to be fooled by the Czech children’s camp, where in contrast to the rest of the camp, the children were treated humanely, until it was time to be gassed –after the ICRC had long left never to return or inquire.

Over Guantanamo and torture the ICRC has kept silent, so it is not surprising that the conditions of Palestinian prisoners merit no mention. Its record over the hunger strike of Khader Adnan is no exception.
But Israel is behaving like the most stupid occupier. It believes that the use of force is all that is necessary and it has behaved with the utmost brutality, failing to even understand the outrage at detaining people at will on secret evidence for months and years at a time.

Khader Adnan’s life at risk as He enters day 56 of hunger Strike - since 17 December 2011‏"

 AMEN

ACCOUNTABILITY
One of the characteristics of the establishment in Israel is systematic evasion of accountability for catastrophes brought about by human incompetence.  The greatest fire in Israel's history broke out in early December 2010 and was only  put out 82 hours later. Within four hours of the blaze, a bus carrying Prison Service cadets coming from  the Damon Prison was caught in the flames, killing 42 people. More than 10,000 people were evacuated from their homes and 5000 hectares of land were destroyed.  Now the State Comptroller has laid personal responsibility for the incompetence and lack of equipment needed to fight the blaze at the door of the Interior Minister Eli Yishai

Minister Eli Yishai Photo: Gil Yohanan

and the Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz.

Minister Yuval Steinitz Photo: Alex Kolomoisky, Yedioth Ahronoth

It will be important to see if the PM has the cojones needed to collect the bill.  Titan has severe doubts. We have also seen that the army forgives incompetence and lack of judgement, but at least it will take steps if an officer tries to cover up failure with deceit.  Operational failures seem to be a different story. For example, most recently in the case of  the failure to stop demonstrators from Syria crossing the fence at Majd al-Shams in May, and of the attacks near Eilat in August, Chief of Staff Gantz drew criticism, which we share,  for not taking strict action against officers who failed in their duty.  It is indeed a question of where the line is drawn.  In our army, incompetence carries little sanction, i.e. the Chief of Intelligence told a Knesset committee on January 25, 2011 that the Mubarek regime was stable and he still has his job.  If that lack of insight caused diplomatic or other damage, he should have been sacked.  Apparently, the mafiosi of the military caste look out for each other within limits. 
As an example of the "chutzpa" of the military mafia, consider the case of Brig. Gen. (res. ) Aharon Haliva who told his reserve division that their training was curtailed because of social unrest.  Some people give idiots a bad name.  He is not even an active officer but he still has the military mindset.  One of his officers gave him a good reply which you can read in the linked article.

Brig. Gen. ‏(res.‏) Aharon Haliva. Asked the reserve soldiers not to leak the conversation.
Photo by: Amos Halfon

MAHSOM WATCH
These are the women who stand at checkpoints and help Palestinians deal with the autocratic and heavy handed minions of the Occupation.They help the Palestinians who are choked by the brutal bureaucracy of the Israeli Occupation.  Amira Hass describes their work and asks the difficult question whether helping individuals helps prolong the occupation.  It is the old dilemma-is worse better?  The doctrinaire Marxists saw palliative social efforts as something counterproductive because they postponed the revolution.  Sylvia Piterman, a retired senior economist has written a report on the Occupation and how it works.   It is reminiscent of Kafka's "The Castle."

Franz Kafka

There is no shortage of Kafkaesque sagas of individual Palestinians in the mazes of the occupation in our newspapers. But the report tells a saga of thousands. That is why throughout the report one can hear the refrain: There's a method here, there's a purpose behind the wholesale denial of permits and of restrictions of movement.
Doesn't the assistance to individuals (even when there are thousands ) beautify the system? That is a question that comes up in the report, as in the constant conversations of the activists. This is a dilemma that faces every anti-occupation group in Israel. In the overall battle against a regime of privileges for Jews, Jewish Israelis exploit their superior rights in order to try and help people (usually of those classes which are not wrapped with money and connections ) in their daily dealings with the empire of prohibitions: to go to Israel for medical treatment, to overturn a home demolition order, to prepare a building plan, to dig a water cistern, to file a complaint with the police against settler harassment, to go to study, to visit a sick mother.

The theoretical understanding that this is a repugnant system, and its overall rejection does not weaken their caring and commitment to individuals

IN A LIGHTER VEIN
We pride ourselves on being open minded and liberal, free of prejudice.  Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal takes us down the long road of the future of liberalism...

Gene Weingarten in his new medium retains the old flair:(click on image to enlarge)

Our times are marked by social unrest of which Titan approves even if the idiot Israeli general does not.  Indeed it is time for people to stop behaving like sheep and to take their own destiny into their own hands. XKCD shows us what this can bring about (click to enlarge):

The Colbert Report can be most illuminating:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Titan is here

Titan has returned with more raving and ranting, probably futile, but maybe someone reads us.  He would like to share a picture with you that for once is not of him and his domain, but of the planet Mars.  The Rosetta spacecraft on its way to a comet rendevous picked up a gravity boost at Mars and while there took a full planet closeup.   It is gorgeous.
Thanks to Phil Plait of the Bad Astronomy blog (just to the right of us)for bringing it to public view. 

Credit: ESA / MPS / UPD / LAM / IAA / RSSD / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA / processed by Emily Lakdawalla

Emily Lakdawalla has a blog  where you can see more beautiful planetary images.  In fact, while you are there in the web site of the Planetary Society you might want to join and help the cause.
In mythology, Mars is the god of war, the Roman version of the Greek Ares.  He was the son of Zeus/Jupiter and Hera/Juno and had a famous adulterous affair with Aphrodite/Venus.  The moons of Mars are named for their sons, Deimos and Phobos.  DEIMOS (or Deimus) was the god (daimon) of fear, dread and terror, and his twin-brother PHOBOS (Phobus) of panic fear, flight and battlefield rout.

IN MEMORIAM
Joe Paterno the legendary football coach at Penn State University died this week of lung cancer at age 85.

Joe Paterno with players

He had a great career which was  shattered at the end by a scandal involving child abuse by one of his long time and most trusted assistants Jerry Sandusky.  We append an obituary from the Washington Post.

AGAIN FORCED EVICTIONS:THIS TIME ETHIOPIA

This new village had to be abandoned because there was no water source for cattle, HRW says

Titan has long ranted about the forced eviction of people from their homes.  This is usually done for the economic advantage of someone who has managed to buy off the local government or otherwise managed to violate the human rights of vulnerable people, usually indigenous, often nomadic or semi-nomadic.  We have seen it in the Negev region of Israel, in  the Palestinian Occupied Territories, in Alberta, Canada, in Cambodia, in Mexico and many other places including Brazil and Europe, where the usual victims are Roma.  The latest case we wish to bring up comes from Ethiopia, where the government has driven semi-nomadic people off their traditional grazing areas into villages that lack the basic services  that people need.  The sorry tale is documented by Human Rights Watch whose investigators spoke to many victims of the so-called "villagization" policy of the Ethiopia government.  In a  BBC interview the Ethiopian government tries to deny the accusations and to make a case for itself.  Titan's experience has been that the protestations of governments ring very hollow when compared to reality.

SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL
We are calling your attention to this organization and its latest campaign to protect the Jawara people of the Indian island of Andaman.  This is an "uncontacted" tribe whose privacy and means of survival are under attack by unscrupulous tour operators who use them as a human safari zoo and poachers who invade their preserve to  hunt the animals essential for their survival  Most recently the tour operator bribed a local policeman to get the women of the tribe to dance before the tourists for food.   This is shameful and I hope you will all pick up on the link and write to the Indian Minister of Home Affairs.

A Jarawa man and boy by the side of the Andamans Trunk Road
© Salomé

CHINA
It seems that we can never blog about human right violations without bringing up China.   It never seems to change.  Even the cosmetic "reforms" in the runup to the 2008 Olympics have vanished.

Tienanmen Square 1989: Jeff Widener

We have a report from a human rights defender Yu Jie  who was tortured and abused in a Chinese prison.

Chinese writer Yu Jie is now in self-imposed exile in the US with his family

Mr. Yu was persecuted for his support for the Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo.  Mr Liu is currently serving an 11-year jail term in China for "inciting subversion."

Continue reading the main story
Mr. Yu said he was picked up by plainclothes officers on 9 December 2010, the day before the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, hooded and and taken to an undisclosed location. There he said he was stripped of his clothes, beaten for hours and told that his naked photos would be posted online. He said he also suffered cigarette burns. "They verbally abused me non-stop with vulgar language, calling me a traitor to the state and to the Chinese people, and trash," he wrote in the statement. He was eventually taken to hospital for treatment and released on 13 December.
THE CRACKDOWN CONTINUES

This week in the wake of recent harsh sentences of democracy and human rights activists, Chinese authorities sent another dissident, Li Tie (李铁), to prison for 10 years for “subversion of state power.” Mr.  Li’s sentence, issued by the Wuhan Intermediate People’s Court, comes shortly after Chinese courts in late December handed down a nine-year sentence to Sichuan activist Chen Wei (陈卫) and a 10-year sentence to Guizhou activist Chen Xi (陈西), both for “inciting subversion”.  In addition, Chinese authorities sent another dissident, Li Tie (李铁), to prison for 10 years for “subversion of state power.”
The New York Times documents in detail the harsh crackdown on dissidents and human rights defenders.
This week also, prosecutors in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, charged a fourth activist, Zhu Yufu, with subversion for writing a poem that urged Chinese citizens to gather together to call for freedom.
The poem at the heart of the indictment, “It’s Time,” appears to have drawn the authorities’ attention for its timing around the Jasmine Revolution controversy. By one translation, it states, in part:

It’s time

It’s time, Chinese people!

It’s time,

The square is ours,

The feet are ours,

It’s time to use our feet to go to the square and make a choice.

Obviously the fear of the Chinese people has created paranoia in the Chinese government.  This is characteristic of despotic regimes that know that the people hate them.  We recall on our visits to Egypt that on the streets of Cairo there was an armed soldier posted every fifty meters or so.  Eventually Mubarak fell, but as stated so eloquently by  Aung Sung Suu Kyi, in Asia soldiers are willing to fire on their own people, in contrast to Tunisia and Egypt.  Alas, we see that in Syria the army is also willing to kill its own people.  No one is running to protect them as in Libya.  I wonder if the definition of Saddam Hussein and Muamar Qadaffi as "bad" dictators as against the impunity enjoyed by generations of the Kim Jong and Assad families and Omar el-Bashir is related in some way to kazillions of dollars invested in oil resources.  Just a thought, cynical indeed and off topic, and not worthy of a Titan.

MALAWI HARASSMENT OF WOMEN

In Malawi, violent conservatives have recently been attacking women and stripping them on the streets. The victims have been singled out for wearing “nontraditional dress” – in this case, pants. Last week, President Bingu wa Mutharika condemned the attacks in a national radio broadcast. “I will not allow anyone to … go on the streets and start undressing women and girls wearing trousers, because that is illegal,” he said, according to the BBC. “You are free to wear what you want,” the President added. “Women who want to wear trousers should do so, as you will be protected from thugs, vendors and terrorists.”
Read more. It is small comfort to know that Bet Shemesh is also in Malawi.

GINGRICH AND THE MOON 

Recently Newt Gingrich proposed colonizing the Moon by 2020.  If anyone needed further proof that this man is a cretin, we now have it.  Let me give the floor to Phil Plait who puts things into their proper perspective very well.

HOME SWEET HOME

Now let us turn our attention to the local scene.  We start with something rather positive.  The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has started to publish a roundup of the activities of the court system in the area of human rights.  Indeed, the news is not all that great, but it is a useful compendium and Dan Yakir is to be commended for it.
HA'ARETZ, A LIBERAL NEWSPAPER.

As Israel slips down the slippery slope towards fascism and repression of dissent, there is still a voice that speaks out clearly and is a beacon in the darkness.  We refer to the daily Haaretz, published in print in Hebrew and online in Hebrew and in English.   There are many thin-skinned politicians who would like to silence  this voice and legislative initiatives aimed at curbing freedom of expression are constantly coming down the pipeline.  Gideon Levy gives us an impassioned defense of Haaretz  and details what we owe to it.  It is interesting that our PM regards Haaretz and the New York Times as the greatest enemies of Israel.  As Israelis, Titan and I blush with shame.

AMERICAN JEWISH HERO/IDIOT

We really are nonplussed by the latest idiocy to come to us from our fellow Jews in the  US.  Andrew Adler the publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, wrote a column entitled “What would you do?”  He tried to imagine what Israel might do against Iran.  His first two proposals were merely stupid, preemptive strikes to take out Hezbollah and Hamas, as if this were possible.  The second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead showed how futile that is.  The third option  goes beyond stupidity.  Let me quote him since it is something out of Tom Clancy indeed:

Third, give the go-ahead for U.S.-based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel in order for the current vice president to take his place, and forcefully dictate that the United States’ policy includes its helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies. Yes, you read “three” correctly. Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel’s existence. Think about it. If I have thought of this Tom Clancy-type scenario, don’t you think that this almost unfathomable idea has been discussed in Israel’s most inner circles?
For a proper reaction to this we refer you to two bloggers who have written most cogently on the topic, first to David Harris and then  to Richard Silverstein in  Tikkun Olam. 
What is happening in Israel is that  Natanyahu exploits Iran as a useful boogie man designed to distract public attention from social issues such as housing and unemployment and to justify the anti-democratic legislation being cranked out by the Knesset. Everyone knows that a strong second strike capability will deter a nuclear Iran and we and the Iranians will live with MAD as the Americans and Soviets did for decades and the Indians and Pakistanis do now. Everyone who is rational here also knows that ending the Occupation should be the first priority and that it will defuse Iran as well. Unfortunately the settler-messianic tail here wags the dog. Our American hawks who talk the talk but do not walk the walk are important only to the extent that they can buy Congress and prevent Obama from leading an effective peace effort. Our sons and grandsons are in the Army, theirs are in college–it costs them nothing to be armchair heroes. Adler is an idiot and not worth the silicon spent on him here and elsewhere.  I might mention that a dinner table conversation with an Israeli woman of the educated class convinced me that Natanyahu is not underestimating the intelligence and sophistication of the public.

As we all know, Gene Weingarten has moved to the realm of social commentary by means of comics, some of which are more amusing than others.

Many of us have noted that sustainability has become a major buzz word in discussions of the environement and other issues.  This has not escaped our friend at XKCD: