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October 30, 2009
Friday Footwear: Danger Heels Edition
Years ago, while in pre-production on a film, I was working with a brilliant wardrobe designer, groping towards a specific look for an actress.
I kept going on and on about blouses and skirts, fabric, cut, texture, silhouette. I was, I sheepishly confess, showing off my knowledge of Hollywood costume design history.
I dropped scholarly references to the great designers: Adrian's (real name: Adrian Adolph Greenberg) brilliant work camouflaging Joan Crawford's linebacker shoulders with padding, Travis Banton's Pygmalion transformation of Carole Lombard (real name: Jane Alice Peters) from a cheap tootsie into a sophisticated clothes horse, and Helen Rose's classically elegant and ultra-feminine chiffon creations for Elizabeth Taylor,
Wardrobe Designer vigorously waved away my suggestions:
“Shoes.”
I was like: “Huh?”
She said: “For women, I build the wardrobe from the ground up. Footwear.”
My head was, I kid you not, spinning.
“The shoes a woman wears defines who she is.”
“Really?”
Wardrobe Designer gestured to an actress tipping around in fire engine nose-bleed stilettos.
“Daddy issues.”
Nodding towards a female production assistant clomping across the sound stage in thick-soled brogues, Wardrobe Designer declared:
“Sudden attack of manhood.”
A light bulb blazed over my head; sweet enlightenment.
Wardrobe Designer concluded:
“Show me a woman's shoes and I can tell you everything about her life.”
“Everything?”
“Everything.”
So, let's take a peek at the latest footwear from some of the most important—meaning pricey—fashion houses, and try to tease some meaning from these intimidating designs.
And hey, while you're at it, ladies, why don't you tell us which heels you favor for your next stroll in the park.
No idea, but double high heels appears unusually
perilous.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and safe Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:24 AM | Comments (26)
October 29, 2009
Shooting in Los Angeles Synagogue
Adat Yeshurun, an Orthodox Sephardic synagogue in Los Angeles.
This story is still breaking, but I'd like to make two quick observations.
1. The entire notion of a hate crime strikes me as a depraved concept where crimes and criminals are categorized by an elite thought police. If the victims were, say, residents in a nursing facility for elderly black people, would that place the crime on a lesser scale? How about when black gangs and Latino gangs fatally clash because, y'know, they hate each other, does that qualify as a hate crime? Favored victim status is, in itself, a crime against democracy and justice.
2. Synagogues in America and Canada must take the issue of security seriously, right up there with prayer and Torah study. Unarmed rent-a-cops are close to useless. I believe that Jews who attend synagogue must be armed and trained. Synagogues should find out who of their membership is proficient in armed self-defense and institute a home guard. A few years ago, Muslim prisoners in a California prison hatched a plot to attack two local Orthodox synagogues. Luckily, an inmate turned snitch and the plot was broken up. But the plan was horrendous and hundreds would have died. Islamist cells—virulently anti-Semitic—in America and Canada, funded by Saudi Wahhabi petro dollars are highly motivated, and sooner or later they will turn their attention to a soft Jewish target. We must be ready to defend ourselves.
Los Angeles police have detained a man in the search for the suspect who shot and wounded two men at a synagogue in North Hollywood. The incident is being labeled a hate crime.
The shooting occurred at 6:19 a.m. Thursday at the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue in the 12000 block of Sylvan Street.
According to a police statement, a man with a handgun entered the synagogue and shot two people in the leg in what is being labeled as a hate crime.
The victims, both Jewish, were transported to a local hospital in stable condition, officials said. It's believed the men, said to be in their 30s, were shot as they arrived at the temple for morning prayers.
The suspect was described only as a black man.
Police were later seen detaining a young man matching the suspect's description about one mile away from the crime scene.
The synagogue is located next to an elementary school. It was not immediately known whether the suspect search affected the school.
The attack occurred 10 miles away from a 1999 shooting at a Jewish community center where white supremacist Buford Furrow wounded three children, a teenager and an adult. He later killed a letter carrier.
Police arrest a suspect in the Adat Yeshurun shooting.
Via: KTLA-TV, Los Angeles
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:43 AM | Comments (10)
October 28, 2009
Obama's Jew: George Bush
Charles Krauthammer rips Obama for implementing a permanent strategy of blaming President Bush for, well, everything. This from a man whose party controls all three branches of government—actually four, counting the dinosaur media, that is nothing less than a propaganda arm of Obama's White House.
Obama refuses to shoulder responsibility for his failed policies, foreign and domestic.
It's a familiar tactic that has been used and perfected in the Arab Muslim world. All their problems, they claim, are the fault of the Jooz.
For President Obama, President Bush serves as his Jew.
The eternal and oh so convenient scapegoat.
I want to point out one thing about what Obama had said when he talked about “the long years of drift.” There is something truly disgusting about the way he cannot refrain from attacking Bush when he’s being defensive about himself. I mean, it’s beyond disgraceful here. He won election a year ago. He became the Commander [in] Chief two months later. He announced his own strategy — not the Bush strategy, his strategy — six months ago, and it wasn’t off-handed, it was in a major address, with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense standing with him. And now he’s still talking about “the drift” in the Bush years. What’s happening today is not a result of the drift, so-called, of the Bush years, it’s because of the drift in his years. It’s because of the flaws in his own strategy, which is what he’s actively examining.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:07 AM | Comments (5)
October 27, 2009
The Truth About Propaganda
Ask a military man to define a defensive war and the answer will be, “Defeat.”
And so it is with Israel's feeble attempts at hasbarah, propaganda.
In truth, the Hebrew word hasbarah more closely translates as “clarification.”
And therein lies one of the problems.
Israel and Jews are engaged in a futile task: rebutting the big lies that are cleverly scripted by an enemy intent on Israel's destruction.
This is a posture doomed to failure.
Israel is always on the defensive against an aggressive body of lies that come from multiple fronts —terror, legal, political, diplomatic, social—from a formidable and deep pocketed enemy, the Arab Muslim world and the Western quislings who revel in delegitimizing and demonizing the Jewish State.
We must shift gears and engage the enemy—and that includes the odious J Street—in an ideological war.
Bill Warner identifies the core of Israel's fumbling hasbarah: the suicidal political correctness that refuses to deal with the malignant Jew-hatred that is at the heart of Islam.
Why don't Jews and Israel want to deal with propaganda? Simple. It would mean talking about Islam. Jews and Israel must face the facts that the Koran and the Sunna (the actions and words of Mohammed) are filled with invectives against the Jews. At first the words were complimentary, but when the Jews of Medina rejected Mohammed as a prophet they were all enslaved, exiled, murdered and robbed — all acts of jihad. These were not historical acts, but perfect examples of Islamic action towards Jews — models prescribed for Muslims to follow up to the present time. To illustrate the severity of this predicament, statistically speaking, in the Koran of Medina 10.6% of the text is devoted to Jew hatred, whereas, only 6.8% of Mein Kampf is devoted to Jew hatred.
Full article at The American Thinker.
Meanwhile, here's Suicide Killers, a documentary by Pierre Rehov that demonstrates that the war against Israel/Judaism is Islamic and the end game is to annihilate Israel and every Jew on the face of the earth.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:11 AM | Comments (8)
October 26, 2009
The Jews of China
Yours truly binding tefillin at The Great Wall of China.
As I wrote in a previous post, a few years ago I was in China conducting research for a script I was hired to write by one of the major Hollywood studios. The script turned out well—an unusual tale of love and loss in 1930's China—but typical for this town the film was never produced. It was horrifyingly expensive and shooting in China presented all sorts of logistical problems the studio wasn't prepared to deal with.
I was aware of the history of Jews in China, but did not have approval from the government to seek out and meet Chinese Jews. The Communist government kept a tight rein on us.
The morning we visited The Great Wall of China, our guides/government spies roused us in the middle of the night. The idea was to arrive at The Wall at sunrise. I wasn't able to daven, pray with my tefillin at such an early hour, so I shoved my tallit and tefillin in my backpack and prayed—very quickly—at The Great Wall of China.
There was a minor ruckus, a few hard-eyed and extremely suspicious soldiers wanted to know what the foreign devil was doing. My Spy leaped forward to explain that I was “praying to my ancestors.”
The soldiers watched me for a few minutes, then got bored and marched off.
My Spy kind of begged me to cool my Jewish jets in public.
Here's a wide view of The Great Wall. My Guide/Spy told me that slave
labor built the wall. When the slaves died—on the job—their bodies were mixed
with the mortar or just thrown into the foundations of the massive structure.
Here's a brief video that gives some background on the history of Judaism in China.
Here's the good news:
Ben-Gurion Airport was the setting for an unusual scene late Tuesday night, as seven young Chinese men wearing kippot arrived via Uzbekistan to make aliya.
The newcomers, who were brought here by the Shavei Israel organization, are all descendants of the Jewish community of Kaifeng, China, which flourished on the southern banks of the Yellow River for more than 1,000 years.
Chinese Jews arrive in Israel.
It marked the first time that an organized group has moved here from Kaifeng.
"I am very excited to be here in the Holy Land," said Yaakov Wang, one of the new immigrants. "This is something that my ancestors dreamed about for generations, and now, thank God, I have finally made it."
Full story at The Jerusalem Post.
And hey, let's give a mazal tov to Shoshanah Li, recently married to an American Jew in Israel.
Fo those of you who don't know Hebrew the man speaking to the camera, Michael Freund of Shavei, explains that there are about a thousand Chinese Jews waiting to make aliyah to Israel and go through the Orthodox conversion process.
Note: There has been so much intermarriage among Chinese Jews that halachically—according to Jewish law—they are no longer Jewish. The conversion, which entails deep study for over a year, affirms their faith and commitment. Thousands of Russian and Ethiopian Jews have also gone through the conversion process.
The Jewish Chinese woman, also speaking Hebrew, has been living in Jerusalem for five years. She explains that when she was growing up in China her parents told her that they were descendants of Jews: “We lit Shabbat candles, drank wine, and read the Torah. That's all we could do.”
I am humbled by the commitment and faith of these Chinese Jews.
Also humbled in the presence of the great Chinese actress Gong Li. I use any excuse to post this photo.
Pearl S. Buck authored Peony a novel about the Jews of ancient China. Not a great novel, but interesting.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:02 AM | Comments (8)
October 25, 2009
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere
Up and live Haveil Havalim #240, The Aliyah Edition, presented this week by Artzeinu.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 03:09 PM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2009
Friday Flickers: Swing Time
This clip from Swing Time 1936, in which Fred saves Ginger's job, is a perfect illustration of why Astaire and Rogers revolutionized dance in movies. Elegant, explosive—watch the amazing shifts in tempo—and deeply romantic, their dance numbers are, Astaire insisted on this, seamlessly integrated into the plot line of their films.
Astaire also wisely demanded that the dance sequences be filmed in one take, or as close to one take as was technically feasible. He did not care for the Busby Berkeley style of extravagant dance numbers photographed from extreme angles emphasizing a fearful geometry and then edited down to rapid fire shots.
Astaire favored a coherent movie geography in which time and space adhere to the rules of gravity and human beings are flesh and blood rather than mechanical props.
Astaire boldly stated: “Either the camera will dance, or I will.”
So, you think you can dance, watch this:
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a joyous and restful Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:43 AM | Comments (21)
October 22, 2009
Patsy Ruth Miller on Fire—But Not Acting
Lobby card, For Big Stakes, 1922, starring cowboy star Tom Mix and Patsy Ruth Miller.
Silent films—especially westerns—were frequently shot on location, under grueling and often dangerous conditions. There were no unions to protect actors and crew, thus safety precautions were routinely sacrificed in order to meet tight shooting schedules and even tighter budgets.
There were countless accidents, some fatal. Martha Mansfield, a stunning Ziegfeld girl, just beginning to make her mark in motion pictures, was in 1923, engulfed in flames when a careless crew member dropped a match on her voluminous gown, a Civil War costume. Mansfield died twenty-four hours later from third degree burns over her entire body.
In her delightful and revealing memoir, My Hollywood: When Both of us Were Young, Patsy Ruth Miller (1904-1995)—briefly married to director Tay Garnett—best known for her role as Esmerelda in the silent Hunchback of Notre Dame, starring Lon Chaney, recalls a frightening episode on a Tom Mix western, For Big Stakes, 1922. At the time, Miller was a high school student who had been mentored by the great if notorious Nazimova, real name Miriam Edez Adelaida Leventon, and now struggling to get a foothold in the industry.
Oaters, as B westerns were called, were not glamorous or prestigious, and the pay was awful—actors had to provide their own wardrobe—but they did afford the opportunity to gain much needed experience and garner favorable public attention. Oaters had a large and dedicated audience.
Tom Mix, a colorful cowboy star, rode Tony, his faithful horse. Tony was, arguably, just as famous as Mix, hence an extremely valuable piece of horse flesh.
Tom Mix, the most flamboyant cowboy star of his era, and
his beloved horse Tony.
Patsy Ruth sets up the frightening episode:
One day on location there was a scene in which the heavies kidnapped me and tied me to a tree—probably a Yucca—out on the lone prairie. Then the villains ride off, setting fire to the underbrush...Before the fire could reach me, Tom would come tearing in, cut me loose with one sweep of his knife, swing me up on the saddle behind him, and go galloping off...
But, as often happens when shooting a stunt, something goes terribly wrong as the camera grinds away:
The only flaw in the plan was that the bad guy who tied me was not a quick learner; he didn't catch on how to tie a slip knot in one easy lesson, and he tied a real knot—a true Gordian knot. My struggle (acting) to free myself only made the knot tighter. Then the wind shifted a little, and my frantic struggle was no longer acting; I was getting too warm; the fire was uncomfortably close. The director and crew thought I was just hamming it up a bit, I suppose.
Unaware of the looming danger, Tom Mix, the classic white hat good guy, rides to the rescue:
He pulled Tony to a rearing halt then, wielding the knife with a flourish, pretended to cut the rope while really pulling on the loose end as in the rehearsal. But instead of falling free, the rope just got tighter; it would have taken three hands to untie it, and Tom barely had one. His left hand holding the reins, he was having all he could do to keep Tony from bolting. Horses have a terrific fear of fire. They panic and Tony was no exception.
Tom Mix and Patsy Ruth Miller, 1922.
By now, Mix understands that the stunt has gone bad and he is no longer acting. Keep in mind, Mix is mounted on his horse as he deals with the life-threatening situation:
Tom reacted quickly and with great presence of mind. Realizing that if he slashed the rope he would probably slash me, he slid the knife under the rope where it bound my shoulders. I scrunched my arms back to give him some leeway, and he sawed through it in a matter of seconds. It was a great feat of horsemanship and quick thinking. As soon as I was free, I reached up, he grabbed me, and somehow I was in the saddle behind him clinging like a limpet, and we were galloping off to safety...
Fade to black on a happy ending? Not quite.
My long, flowing hair was on fire and so was Tony's long, flowing tail. The fire didn't reach the camera truck; either they put it out or it burned itself out.
In the old days, movies were shot on nitrate stock—highly flammable, and the camera truck would have gone off like a munitions arsenal.
Tom Mix, star and producer, was furious:
But Tom's rage wasn't that easily extinguished. He raised holy hell with everyone—not mind you, because his leading lady might have been barbecued—there are always more leading ladies, but because Tony had lost a good part of his tail.
Interpolation:
An actress on one of my films pulled a hissy fit when she discovered that the bottled water in her trailer was not the brand she ordered. Her agent actually called to scold the producer and demand an immediate correction—or else. A production assistant privately suggested to me: “Wouldn't it be tragic if a light accidentally fell on her head.”
End Interpolation:
Patsy Ruth doesn't slap a law suit on the production company. She doesn't whine and kvetch. She wears a fall for the rest of the picture and promptly signs up for a Hoot Gibson oater. A few months later she's cast in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the role that established her career.
Patsy Ruth Miller never finished high school. She dropped out in order to pursue her Hollywood career. But after she retired in 1931, Patsy Ruth started writing short stories and radio scripts. She won three O'Henry Awards and her novel, That Flannigan Girl, 1939, is an excruciatingly accurate portrait of Hollywood stardom—rise, fall and comeback—in the golden era. The novel is hard to find, but highly recommended. I picked up a used library copy for two dollars.
The danger in looking back at the old days is, of course, romanticizing an often brutal and callous business. But it does seem to this veteran Hollywood screenwriter that the classic American virtues of rugged self-reliance and, yes, personal courage, have been replaced by a culture of overpaid, overbred, and overeducated Hollywood brats who are not movie stars, just ordinary celebrities.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:03 AM | Comments (11)
October 21, 2009
UK Colonel Richard Kemp Challenges Goldstone Blood Libel
The UN is an organization that thrives on hurling blood libels at Israel. Therefore, when the infamous Goldstone Report accused Israel of war crimes, I shrugged my shoulders. What else is new?
But Col. Richard Kemp, a battle hardened Brit, defends the IDF against a world of lies. And though he was only allowed to speak for three minutes—Kapo Goldstone and his Arab Muslim handlers are a bit touchy about criticism—Col. Kemp is eloquent and straight forward.
The UN Human Rights Council debate on the Goldstone Report predictably saw a line-up of the world's worst abusers condemn democratic Israel for human rights violations. In a heated lynch mob atmosphere, Kuwait slammed Israel for “intentional killing, intentional destruction of civilian objects, intentional scorched-earth policy,” saying Israel “embodied the Agatha Christie novel, 'Escaped with Murder'.” Pakistan said the “horrors of Israeli occupation continue to haunt the international community’s conscience.” The Arab League said, “We must condemn Israel and force Israel to accept international legitimacy." Ahmadinejad’s Iran said “the atrocities committed against Palestinians during the aggressions on Gaza should be taken seriously” and followed up by the international community “to put an end to absolute impunity and defiance of the law.”
What the world's assembled representatives did not expect, however, was the speech that followed organized by UN Watch. We invited as our speaker a man who repeatedly put his life on the line to defend the democratic world from the murderous Saddam Hussein, Al Qaeda, and the Taleban. The moment he began his first sentence, the room fell silent. Judge Goldstone, author of the distorted report that prompted today's one-sided condemnation of Israel but not Hamas, had refused to hear Col. Kemp's testimony during his "fact-finding" hearings. But UN Watch made sure today that this hero's voice would be heard — at the U.N., and around the world.
Roll the videotape:
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:27 AM | Comments (9)
October 20, 2009
My Chinese Spy
This is not a picture of yours truly with My Chinese Spy.
It's star-struck me with the great Chinese actress Gong Li on
location in China. I confess, I use any excuse to publish this photo.
The Death of Journalism
Journalism died in America when Barack Hussein Obama was running for President.
The dinosaur media gleefully surrendered to the cult of personality—standard for leftist politics—and since then normally skeptical journalists have turned into nothing less than a collective Pravda for the Obama White House.
It's not hard to fathom the reasons for this herd-like behavior. Elite journalists and editors recognize in Obama a kindred spirit, a hard left, big government ideologue who is adept at mouthing—endlessly, tediously and vacuously—all the politically correct rhetoric.
Questions of experience, competence, and Obama's deeply troubling political, religious and social connections were swept aside as “mere distractions.”
In fact, Obama's numerous unsavory friends and supporters was and is at the heart of the Obama presidency.
As the American public is now discovering.
Well, only if you watch Fox News or read the internet.
Dunn Does Mao
White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, speaking at the high school graduation of one of the most elite and pricey prep schools in the country, praised Mao Tse-Tung and Mother Theresa as two of her “favorite political philosophers.”
Was she joking, as she now claims?
Of course not.
As you can see, there is not a hint of irony in her delivery—there is a strong hint of psychotropic medication as Dunn reflexively licks her lips during the speech; she's got a case of dry mouth that can only be induced by drugs—and the titters when she mentions Mother Theresa and mass murderer Mao Tse-Tung in the same breath is the sound of nervous laughter from audience members who are, no doubt thinking: “Did she really say what I thought she said?”
You would think that the White House communications director's praise of Mao—responsible for the death of about 50 million people—would be big news.
You would be wrong.
Only Glenn Beck and Fox News are carrying this story.
It's a bit like, well, Mao's China or the Soviet Union, where the media is a wholly owned subsidiary of the government.
More Mao Maoing
Well, now we have another member of the White House, Manufacturing Czar Ron Bloom, attacking the free market, and praising, yup, Mao Tse-Tung.
Roll the videotape:
H/T: Weasel Zippers
Hey, is it any wonder that President Obama refused to meet with that good man, the Dalai Lama?
My Spy
Years ago, researching a film script, the studio sent me the screenwriter, plus director, producer, and co-producer to China.
The Communist government assigned us several translators—meaning spies—to keep an eye on us.
My Spy, a genial and delicate young woman who was crazy about Hollywood movies, and totally knocked out to discover that she was in the company of a real live Jew—“Can you not just bless the pork and make it the kosher you require?”—was kind enough to warn me that my hotel room was bugged, and that her job was to make sure that I only saw the ”best side of The People's Republic of China.”
My spy, I soon discovered, though she was working for the Communist Party, was deeply unhappy about her life and her role as a government drone.
One afternoon, as she and I strolled along The Great Wall of China—which really is great—away from the other government minders, she told me that her father, a university professor, was denounced as a counterrevolutionary during the so-called Great Leap Forward.
“What happened?” I asked.
“He was shamed and hung himself from the tree in our courtyard.”
And your mother?”
“She was sent for re-education, but I never heard from her again.”
“So you think she died?”
“Murdered. Mao killed millions.”
This was years ago and the extent of Mao's machinery of death was not yet known in the west.
“And now you're a member of the Communist Party.”
My Spy shrugged and smiled sadly.
“I survive.”
Praise of Mao Tse-Tung by western elite liberals might be viewed as trendy intellectual slumming—like Che t-shirts—by members of the dinosaur media, not worthy of notice or comment, but for me, Mao Tse-Tung conjures the image of a father dangling by the neck, a mother swallowed by Mao's vast gulag, and My Spy smiling through her tears.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:20 AM | Comments (29)
October 19, 2009
Prisoner of the Taliban
The Taliban publicly executing a woman. Her husband and
children were forced to watch.
David Rohde, a Pulitzer prize winning reporter for The New York Times, has to spend seven hellish months as a prisoner of the fanatic Taliban to finally understand that these Islamists are murderous barbarians intent on creating a world wide Muslim Caliphate.
Look, I'm glad Mr. Rohde wrote this article and I'm sorry that he and his Afghan translators endured such torment, but really, this just goes to illustrate the naivete of the western elite regarding the nature and intentions of the radical Muslim world.
These are the same elite who downplay the threat of a nuclear armed Iran, the very same sophisticates who tell us that Hamas, Hizbullah and Fatah are just political organizations, when in fact they are Muslim—Sunni and Shia—terrorists dedicated to the annihilation of the western world.
Over those months, I came to a simple realization. After seven years of reporting in the region, I did not fully understand how extreme many of the Taliban had become. Before the kidnapping, I viewed the organization as a form of “Al Qaeda lite,” a religiously motivated movement primarily focused on controlling Afghanistan.
Living side by side with the Haqqanis’ followers, I learned that the goal of the hard-line Taliban was far more ambitious. Contact with foreign militants in the tribal areas appeared to have deeply affected many young Taliban fighters. They wanted to create a fundamentalist Islamic emirate with Al Qaeda that spanned the Muslim world.
Full story here.
And gee what a shock, The New York Times is cutting 100 jobs from their newsroom. Yup, Obama's PR firm is strangling on its own irrelevance.
Once again time to remind my readers that for years I have been buying Apple—stock and products— and strongly suggest that you do too. Today, Apple's earnings went through the roof, and their after-hours trading price is above $200.00.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:57 AM | Comments (8)
The Obama Debacle
Charles Krauthammer reviews the results of President Obama's foreign policy initiatives.
This is not just a record of ineptitude, but arrogance combined with ineptitude—the worst combination possible.
In the end, Obama's White House looks not just weak, but silly.
And silly in geopolitics can be fatal.
What's come from Obama holding his tongue while Iranian demonstrators were being shot and from his recognizing the legitimacy of a thug regime illegitimately returned to power in a fraudulent election? Iran cracks down even more mercilessly on the opposition and races ahead with its nuclear program.
What's come from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton taking human rights off the table on a visit to China and from Obama's shameful refusal to see the Dalai Lama (a postponement, we are told). China hasn't moved an inch on North Korea, Iran or human rights. Indeed it's pushing with Russia to dethrone the dollar as the world's reserve currency.
What's come from the new-respect-for-Muslims Cairo speech and the unprecedented pressure on Israel for a total settlement freeze? "The settlement push backfired," reports The Washington Post, and Arab-Israeli peace prospects have "arguably regressed."
And what's come from Obama's single most dramatic foreign policy stroke — the sudden abrogation of missile defense arrangements with Poland and the Czech Republic that Russia had virulently opposed?
For the East Europeans it was a crushing blow, a gratuitous restoration of Russian influence over a region that thought it had regained independence under American protection.
But maybe not gratuitous. Surely we got something in return for selling out our friends. Some brilliant secret trade-off to get strong Russian support for stopping Iran from going nuclear before it's too late?
Just wait and see, said administration officials, who then gleefully played up an oblique statement by President Dmitry Medvedev a week later as vindication of the missile defense betrayal.
The Russian statement was so equivocal that such a claim seemed a ridiculous stretch at the time. Well, Clinton went to Moscow last week to nail down the deal. What did she get?
"Russia not budging on Iran sanctions: Clinton unable to sway counterpart." Such was The Washington Post headline's succinct summary of the debacle.
Full story here.
And here's The Best of the Jewish Blogosphere, The Post Chagim Edition.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:07 AM | Comments (2)
October 16, 2009
Friday Fotos: The Seraphic A B C Book
I like to take snapshots of doorways, interesting geometric patterns and textures and, of course, my girlses footwear.
But my favorite subjects are signs.
Signs announce commerce, civic commands, information, and geography. The best signage is finely crafted art. Most often signs are, um, signs of the times indicating trends in fashion and the changing face of advertising.
Signs are also, as Proust would say, a remembrance of things past, precious time capsules that document a business that may no longer exist, famous advertising slogans that have sunk into obscurity and evolving company logos. Further, signs remind us of popular type fonts—remember the ubiquitous Helvetica?—that appear and disappear with alarming speed.
A few years ago, Offsprings #2, and #3 suggested that we create an alphabet book by using the first letters of the various signs I photographed. It became a family activity. Some letters are easy to locate: A, B, C, D and S are a dime a dozen. Q and Z are pretty darn rare. Precious as gold is X, and when I find a nice sign that features an X I snap away like David Hemmings shooting Verushka in Blow Up.
You'll notice that several photos are taken from the car. Usually I try and park or wait for a red light. But sometimes I just shoot from the hip and hope for the best.
Legal Disclaimer: Seraphic Secret does not endorse nor encourage this somewhat questionable method of photography.
My rules for shooting are pretty simple: No billboards, street or highway signs, movie ads, t shirts, ads on the side of vans, trucks or cars.
Okay kidees, time to learn your A B C's.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and spiritually nourishing Shabbat.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:27 AM | Comments (23)
October 15, 2009
Tay Garnett: Hollywood Circumcision
Actress Patsy Ruth Miller with director Tay Garnett.
Hollywood director Tay Garnett's (1894 – 1977) best known film is The Postman Always Rings Twice, 1946. Lana Turner burns through the screen with her cool and murderous sensuality. John Garfield, real name Jacob Julius Garfinkle, gives a towering performance as the cynical chump who allows himself to be drawn into the femme fatale's web of adultery, homicide and betrayal.
Garnett was an efficient but notoriously uneven director, and as revealed in his eccentric autobiography, Light Your Torches and Pull Up Your Tights, deeply immature, and for years a raging alcoholic.
In 1923, Garnett gained access to the set of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, starring the great Lon Chaney. Novice actress Patsy Ruth Miller (1904 – 1995) just 17-years old, was cast as Esmerelda, her first leading role. Garnett, star struck, fell in love, or more accurately in lust, with the high school age actress on the sprawling medieval set.
Before shooting the massive crowd scenes Hunchback's assistant director instructed the hundreds of extras through his megaphone: “Light your torches and pull up your tights!” Thus, Garnett's eccentric title for an eccentric memoir. He glosses over The Postman Always Rings Twice in just a few frustrating sentences.
But there are golden nuggets in Garnett's modest volume, and they shed a good deal of light on the director's character and career.
Undoubtedly, the most revealing details in the memoir are reserved for a woman named Joan Marshfield. For most of his adult life, Garnett was in love with Marshfield, the virtuous and elegant wife of Garnett's commanding officer in the Navy. It was a love of Shakesperian proportions that was never consummated. When she was married, Garnett was single. When he was married, she was divorced. On it went, missed opportunities, until death.
Several years after seeing Patsy Ruth on the set of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, when Garnett was an established Hollywood director, he and Miller entered into a marriage that was doomed before it began. He claims that Miller bullied him into marriage, and coolly manipulative, moved her father and brother into their home on their wedding day. Miller, no doubt, viewed Garnett as unreliable, emotionally stunted, more interested in boozing, gambling and sailing off to exotic tropical islands with his Irish buddies.
Garnett served his country as an aviator in World War I.
During training, he and fourteen members of his squad, chosen for Naval Flight Training, were, until training commenced, condemned by a hostile officer, to latrine duty.
Garnett, whose first job in Hollywood was as a gagman for Mack Sennett, dreamed up a plan to ditch latrine duty.
In disbelief, I read the following passage twice because it comes across like a lunatic gag in some lost Hollywood picture.
Here's Garnett's rather prosaic description:
Not being totally without defensive resources, the fourteen of us devoted hours of brainstorming to find a away to beat the rap. I am still proud to announce—even in memory of later misery—that it was I who came up with a Navy-proof solution.
I knew a two-striper, a medic named Dr. Cohn, who had been a urologist in San Francisco before joining the navy. I outlined our predicament to Lieutenant Cohn , and asked how long a man should remain in sick bay after undergoing circumcision.
“At least two weeks,” said the sympathetic doctor.
“Sold,” I said.
All fourteen of us signed up for surgery, and all were treated the same morning.
Snip. (No pun intended.)
That night, after surgery:
On that bygone night in sick bay, I remembered that I was sleeping on a mattress supported by a white enameled iron bedstead. I staggered to the foot of my bed and applied the chill metal to the conflagration.
Nearby I heard a groan of relief duplicating the involuntary moan I had just uttered. Another moan joined the refrain, then another.
Opening my eyes, I squinted into the gloom. Gradually it dawned on me that I was the anchor man in what had to be the world's most grotesque chorus line. There we were, all fourteen of us, lined up in identical poses, each at the foot of his icy iron bed. A frieze of outstandingly male Rockettes.
One can only shudder.
Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmerelda, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1923.
Garnett had quite a few good years in Hollywood, but frittered away all his money in an alcoholic haze. Later, his career was rescued by television where he directed multiple episodes of The Loretta Young Show, Wagon Train, Laramie, The Untouchables, Naked City, Rawhide, and Bonanza.
After a solid career as a reliable leading lady, Patsy Ruth Miller retired from the screen in 1931. She turned her talents to writing and won three O Henry Awards for her short stories. Miller authored a deeply autobiographical novel, That Flannigan Girl, 1939, one of the most revealing tinsel town tales I have ever read.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 10:06 AM | Comments (10)
October 14, 2009
Jews, Guns and Torah
Jew with gun. An Israeli soldier of the elite Nahal Brigade, during the Second Lebanon War.
Before our son Ariel Chaim ZT”L passed away, age twenty-two, in 2003, we spent a good deal of time discussing the Second Amendment, the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
Ariel was amazed that so many American Jews—overwhelmingly liberal and secular—aligned themselves with the advocates of gun control, in reality a movement to banish the private ownership of guns by lawful citizens.
Trapped and Defenseless
During the Los Angeles riots of 1992, Karen and I, Ariel and Offspring #2, were inside a film theater. Abruptly, an angry mob congregated outside; soon they were trying to break down the doors. Trapped inside, we were all terrified. I held Offspring#2 in my arms; she shivered like a frightened rabbit. Karen held Ariel's hand.
“Don't worry,” we were assured, “the police will be here soon.”
But the police did not arrive that night, nor did they protect the city from arson, looting and murder. In fact, we watched in disbelief as news cameras captured images of police officers standing idly by while looters gleefully committed their crimes.
A few days later, I purchased a pistol, a 1911 .45 ACP.
I bought a gun because I realized that the day might again arrive when civil order breaks down and we are flung into a cruel Hobbesian landscape.
Here's my three part series on the LA Riots, Hollywood is Burning:
As Ariel's conservative political opinions took form, he logically and ethically fell on the side of legal gun ownership. But because he was first and foremost a Torah Jew, first and foremost a Talmudic scholar, Ariel placed gun ownership into the framework of Jewish law, halacha.
Ariel wanted to put down his ideas on paper. Unfortunately, he never had the opportunity to write an article on halacha and gun ownership.
And so I humbly jot down a few of Ariel's ideas. Any mistakes in this article are mine and mine alone. I write from an imperfect memory, from conversations with my beloved son held years ago, and from the few notes he managed to scribble while sick and undergoing chemotherapy and radiation.
The Sword is Not the Cause
Ariel pointed out that in his commentary on Genesis 4:23, Ramban, Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, says:
“The sword is not the cause of murder, and there is no sin upon him who made it.”
In other words, a weapon, be it a sword or a gun, is neutral. It can be used for good or evil. Thus to label a gun as "bad" makes no sense, for a gun can be used in self-defense which the Torah sees as an obligation.
The Torah (Exodus 22.2) teaches that, when necessary a householder may kill a burglar to save his own life.
The Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin (72A) says:
“He who rises to kill you, you must kill first.”
It seems odd to have to defend the most basic notion of self-defense, but in America today, the shrill and self-righteous voices of pacifism and appeasement have become alarmingly prominent.
Ariel and I agreed that if gun control advocates had their way, the only people with access to guns would be the police, who cannot be counted on for security, and criminals, who can be counted on to be, well, criminals, with no respect for the hundreds of gun laws already on the books.
An Ethiopian Jewish woman soldier takes aim.
Tyrants Ban Gun Ownership to Secure Their Power Base
Ariel also pointed out that in the story of Purim the Jews were given royal permission to defend their lives. The King's edict did not order the army to protect the Jews. Instead, the Jews were permitted to purchase arms in order to defend themselves.
Obviously, as a minority in the Persian Empire, Jews were forbidden weapon ownership.
This is not unique in Jewish history. During the Roman occupation of Judea, Jews were forbidden to own swords, spears or any implements of war. What better way for a ruling empire to control an unruly and rebellious population?
And of course, in Europe, one of the first laws that Hitler imposed was an all-encompassing weapons ban. Imagine how different Jewish history would be if every Jewish family in Europe owned at least one gun that had six bullets in the chamber.
Surprise Folks, Evil Exists
One of the hallmarks of modern Liberalism is an astonishing inability to recognize, much less confront, evil. Therefore it becomes psychologically necessary for the liberal to place the blame on an inanimate object—the gun—rather than on the person who pulls the trigger. It is easier to fault the gun manufacturer for the horror at Columbine, rather than admit that two sixteen-year-old boys are evil.
The Jewish attitude, Ariel maintained, is to place the blame where it squarely belongs: on the two young men; declare their evil, and never again utter their names. For just as goodness is a reality, so is evil. Try and imagine, said Ariel, if one or two Columbine teachers had guns with them. Imagine if these armed teachers had been able to protect the students who were massacred.
There was another aspect to these stories that Ariel detected and deeply troubled him. The media always referred to Columbine and even 9-11 as “tragedies.”
“They are not tragedies,” Ariel insisted. “They are atrocities.” A tragedy is when people are killed in a flood, a fire or an earthquake. But when people are murdered in cold blood, it is an atrocity. Again, Ariel pointed out, the media, overwhelmingly liberal and marinated in moral equivalence, is unable to distinguish malevolent acts from natural disasters because their moral compass is broken.
Ariel concluded that Jews in America should be at the forefront of the right to bear arms. For Jews to rely on the power of the state for protection is sheer foolishness. Time and again, Jewish history reveals governments cruelly betraying their Jewish citizens.
And though Ariel felt that America was “unique,” he maintained that allowing the state to make the ownership of weapons illegal is a dangerous policy that opens the door for tyranny in the name of social justice.
But like so much else in American Jewish life, Jews have signed on to aggressively utopian ideologies that go against their self-interest. Instead, countless Jews espouse principles that feed their need to feel virtuous. But in the end, these are beliefs that defy common sense and display an appalling ignorance of Jewish history, halacha, and human nature.
“Announce this among the nations:prepare for war; arouse the mighty; let all the soldiers approach and ascend. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning forks into spears; the weak shall say, I am strong.” Joel 3:9
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:00 AM | Comments (30)
October 13, 2009
Obama's Enemies: You. And You. And Yeah, You.
It's good to know that the Obama regime is up for a fight.
Unfortunately, it's not against the Taliban, not against Iran, North Korea, a Russia that is now indistinguishable from the former Soviet Union, Syria, and hey Fatah, Hamas and Hizbullah are no problemo.
The enemy is Fox News.
Yup, Obama and his courtiers have targeted the free press because they don't, y'know, fawn over the Dear Leader.
No surprise here. Obama is simply taking a page from the leftists playbook—Lenin, Castro, Chavez, etc.—and has decided to demonize and put the big chill on independent journalists.
You see he's not content with owning 99.9 % of the American media.
He wants total obediance.
Last night, Karen and I watched Glenn Beck nail it.
We looked at one another and agreed: “We. Are. Scared.”
Roll the tape:
Barack Hussein Obama is a radical leftist. An American who completely embraces European style nanny state Socialism. That's why the Nobel Prize for, well, nothingness, is such a telling moment.
Even if you are a Liberal/Democrat/Progressive Obama's assault against Fox—using tax payer money—should be greeted with contempt and outrage for it's not just an attack on Fox, it's an attack on freedom.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:03 AM | Comments (16)
October 12, 2009
Obamacare is Coming for You!
Obamacare, if it becomes the law of the land, means that the federal government will take over approximately 16% of the American economy.
Obamacare will punish patients, physicians, innovation in medical companies, as a maze-like federal bureaucracy calcifies American medical care.
Because that's what federal programs do: stifle competition, destroy innovation, debase human compassion, and enslave the citizenry to a nanny state.
For an example of how the federal government bungles even the most simple health care initiative, take a look at this.
This odious legislation—a massive power grab by the Democrat majority—can be defeated.
This important information via Bookworm Room:
Citizens in Action is providing Americans who are opposed to the proposed health care legislation with an easy and effective way to fax the 31 Senators who could vote one way or the other on health care reform. Because the first important Senate vote is Tuesday, the time to act is NOW!
In just a few minutes, you can fax your opposition to this irresponsible health care reform to 20 Democrats, 1 Independent and 10 Republicans. It is critical that you let these 31 Senators know how the American people feel and inundate their fax machines with non-stop faxes.
HERE’S HOW:
1. Go to http://ciafax.ning.com/
2. A fax has already been prepared although you can elect to write your own.
3. Fill out all of the information under Step 1.
4. Select the Responsible Healthcare Fax.
5. After you send the fax, locate the DONATE button in the lower left hand quadrant of the page. Please either pay with PayPal or send a check to the address listed.
IMPORTANT:
While there is no fee for this service, which is being provided free of charge by Citizens in Action, they are doing so at a great cost. Therefore, Bay Area Patriots [the organization that sent out this notice] is requesting that you donate a minimum of $3 to defray their costs and, if you can, please donate more. Any extra donations will fill the gaps for those who are not in a position to make the suggested minimum donation.
Please forward this email and link to any groups or individuals you know who want to take this kind of action to stop the passage of this irresponsible healthcare reform.
It’s important that this blast fax campaign reaches every citizen who is opposed to this irresponsible legislation, especially in the states of MT, IN, AK, CO, PA, ND, NC, SD, AR, FL, PA, VA, MO, UT, IA, NH, ME and OH. Our best chance to stop this government healthcare takeover is to let our legislators know, whether they are home or in Washington, we are watching closely.
Thank you for participating in this important blast fax campaign.
After you send your faxes reward yourself with The Best of the Jewish Blogosphere #238, The We Love The Dodgers Edition.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:36 AM | Comments (4)
October 09, 2009
Friday Footwear: Aunt & Niece Edition
Offspring #3, newly married, arrived in Los Angeles with wonderful son-in-law #2, right before Succot. Thus, we had both girlses, both husbands, and one granddaughter in Casa Avrech at the same time.
Oh joy.
Ever since Ma'ayan Ariel was born a year and a half ago, Offspring #3 has blossomed as a doting and loving aunt, plying Ma'ayan with affection, food and gifts.
Not necessarily in that order.
The latest gift from aunt to niece is—you guessed it—new shoes.
Ma'ayan Ariel knowingly poses in her new shoes and a
freshly baked oatmeal cookie.
Ma'ayan hearts her Mary Janes and the Mary Janes heart Ma'ayan.
Meanwhile, Offspring #3 also bought herself a new pair of shoes. In this way, aunt and niece bopped around town, sisters in footwear.
Offspring #3's shiny red flats. Very red, very shiny. The new shoes look like a Ladybug on steroids.
The red stitching gives the shoe a sleek, streamlined look, a Ferrari on the streets of Beverly Hills.
Totally sensible, totally cute, They've got that adorable Audrey Hepburn vibe—spiced with Bridget Bardot on the Riviera. And hey, maybe Offspring #3 can gain entry into the White House, disguised as a true believer—red, get it?—and secure the position of Footwear Czar.
We wish all our friends and relatives a spiritually nourishing Shabbat, and a joyous Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.
And hey, congratulations to Barack Hussein Obama for winning The Quisling Prize.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:28 AM | Comments (12)
October 08, 2009
Stuff
Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod.
Okay, time to speak directly to my readers about, uh, stuff.
Seraphic Secret started in May 2004 with zero audience. Now, on a daily basis, we have thousands of faithful readers.
With high readership comes private correspondence. Numerous emails to yours truly. Here are the five basic categories and my responses:
1. “Love your blog.”
Thank you.
2. “You're a fascist Zionist Jew.”
Definitely a Jewish Zionist. I'm strongly opposed to big government, therefore, by definition, I cannot be a fascist.
3. “Will you read my screenplay?”
No.
4. “I have a great idea for a screenplay I just need someone to write it for me, will you?”
No.
5. “Can we meet to discuss important issues.”
No.
On a daily basis, I receive about two-hundred emails. I try my best to respond personally—no form letters—to each note, but sometimes I fall behind and, well, some emails fall through the cracks.
My apologies.
Some are dissatisfied and charge that my responses lack warmth or sufficient detail.
It is true, I am parsimonious with words.
Look, most people talk too much.
You know why?
Because they have nothing to say.
And most bloggers/columnists/whatever scribble too many words.
You know why?
Because they don't understand that writing is rewriting, and rewriting involves cutting.
Note the sign posted on my desk:
Seriously wise words.
I receive far too many emails from Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and, uh, San Francisco, which strongly hint at frightening personality disorders, bi-polar activity, or just pathological Jew-hatred. For the love of G-d people, modern day meds can do wonders.
And then there are the long—I mean looooong—earnest, single-spaced emails berating me for my taste in movies and literature.
Sorry if I don't like The Sound of Music. Hey, as far as I'm concerned that movie can replace waterboarding and probably be more effective.
Sorry if you think I'm a no-talent hack because I consider Isaac Babel a moral coward.
Sorry if you're positive that I know nothing about literature because I think that Dostoevsky is the dopiest writer I have ever read in my life.
Sorry if you think it's “totally gay” that Jane Austen is my favorite author.
Sorry if you think that I “highly overrate” Akira Kurosawa.
Sorry that I have never read Ulysses by James Joyce. Bo-ring.
Sorry if you think my Hollywood profiles are infantile.
Sorry if my political articles put you to sleep.
Sorry if I'm not religious/observant/spiritual enough for you.
Sorry if Friday Footwear makes you shake your head in puzzlement. I'll say it again: If you want to understand women you must understand their love affair with footwear.
Sorry if you think that my movies stink. I am my own worst critic.
Finally, and really most important: I appreciate and enjoy 95% of the mail I receive, especially the notes that speak of our son, Ariel Chaim ZT'L. Your kind and generous words are a great source of comfort—more than you could ever know.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:14 AM | Comments (63)
October 07, 2009
Obama's New Leverage Against Israel
President Obama has found a new community to organize: The Jew-haters who congregate—on American tax dollars—at the U.N.
President Bush rightly shunned the U.N. Human Rights Council—Orwellian speak for racists, and genociders—refusing to confer legitimacy on a rabid gang who seek Israel's destruction.
But Barack Hussein Obama, always comfortable in the company of Jew-haters, has joined the club thereby making America an enabler of these creatures, some of the worst abusers of human rights on the planet.
No wonder Israel is moving away form America's orbit and seeking new alliances.
Ann Bayefsky, of Eye on the U.N., skewers Goldstone's blood libel, the tyrants of the Organization of Islamic States, and America's new role in this hate fest.
On September 29, Richard Goldstone presented his report on the Gaza conflict to an enraptured UN Human Rights Council. The Council, in which the Organization of the Islamic Conference holds the balance of power, commissioned his report. Goldstone promoted his 575-page smear campaign against the State of Israel by parading his Jewishness and then analogizing his work to his prior efforts to combat apartheid.
At its core, the report repeats the ancient blood libel against the Jewish people. Or as Goldstone casts this abomination for a modern audience, Israel "deliberately…terrorize[d] a civilian population;" Israeli "violence against civilians w[as] part of a deliberate policy."
The report claims to be a human rights document but never mentions the racist, genocidal intent of the enemy which Israel finally confronted after years of restraint. It invents laws of war which never mention the "right of self-defense," and it relies on testimonies from witnesses speaking under circumstances that gave rise to "a fear of reprisals" from Hamas should they have dared to tell the truth.
Full story here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:33 AM | Comments (2)
October 06, 2009
Iran's Big Victory in Geneva
The gravest threat facing the West is Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Iran, an imperialist Islamic theocracy, seeks regional hegemony, considers Bahrain a lost Iranian province, regularly threatens genocide against the Jewish State, and has been killing Americans, Israelis and Europeans for over thirty years using their proxies Hizbullah and Hamas.
President Obama's engagement with Iran is but the latest Western initiative that allows Iran to skillfully stretch out talks, thereby giving the Mullahs plenty of time to cross the nuclear threshold.
Ambassador John Bolton analyzes the Geneva talks, that, contrary to Obama's claims of progress, have only strengthened Iran's hand in the face of a dangerously gullible American president.
The most widely touted outcome of last week's Geneva talks with Iran was the "agreement in principle" to send approximately one nuclear-weapon's worth of Iran's low enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia for enrichment to 19.75% and fabrication into fuel rods for Tehran's research reactor. President Barack Obama says the deal represents progress, a significant confidence-building measure.
In fact, the agreement constitutes another in the long string of Iranian negotiating victories over the West. Any momentum toward stricter sanctions has been dissipated, and Iran's fraudulent, repressive regime again hobnobs with the U.N. Security Council's permanent members. Consider the following problems:
• Is there a deal or isn't there? Diplomacy's three slipperiest words are "agreement in principle." Iran's Ambassador to Britain exclaimed after the talks in Geneva, "No, no!" when asked if his country had agreed to ship LEU to Russia; it had "not been discussed yet." An unnamed Iranian official said that the Geneva deal "is just based on principles. We have not agreed on any amount or any numbers." Bargaining over the deal's specifics could stretch out indefinitely.
To read the rest of John Bolton's article, please click here.
And you should know that sanctions will not work.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:56 AM | Comments (5)
October 05, 2009
Afghanistan: Obama's Setup and Payoff
Skillfully written movie scripts are frequently structured around a series of carefully constructed setups and payoffs.
The most rudimentary example is, of course, the pistol in the desk drawer, revealed in Act I, and then in Act II, the gun is used to kill someone.
For an intensive workshop in movie setups and payoffs screen the Back to the Future series, where setup and payoff are brought to an entirely new level.
It's kind of fascinating, watching Obama construct the setup for his Afghanistan policy. He's following a familiar dramatic structure:
1. Anguished self-reflection, all very public for maximum benefit.
2. Striking out at supporting players—Generals Petraeus and McChrystal—for their disloyal behavior.
3. Floating trial balloons through the comic relief character, V.P. Joe Biden, regarding an alternate—i.e. losing—policy in Afghanistan.
But of course this is all a set-up for Obama to do nothing for as long as possible, which is, by the way, doing quite a bit. And then as the body count rises and the tactical and strategic situation in Afghanistan deteriorates, Obama will surrender to the Taliban terrorists and bring the troops home, heroically saving us from a Viet Nam like quagmire.
The blowback will be massive.
1. The Islamists will—rightly—declare victory over the Crusader infidels.
2. Radical Islam will correctly point to a failure of Western resolve in the face of imperial Islam. The propaganda value of this claim cannot be overstated.
3. The Taliban will swallow the entire country and a reign of Islamic terror will spread like the Black Plague.
4. Afghanistan will devolve into a terrorist state sending out death squads to Europe, North Africa and America.
5. Emboldened, the Taliban will set their sights on neighboring Pakistan, a failed state—a nuclear state ripe for picking. India will have to get into the act or face a nuclear Taliban and their non-state Islamist allies, including Hamas and Hizbullah, proxies for Iran.
6. America's allies will view Obama's America as an unreliable ally and draw away from America's orbit.
Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:45 AM | Comments (8)
October 02, 2009
Friday Fotos: The Many Moods of Ma'ayan Ariel
Offspring #2, her wonderful husband, and our granddaughter Ma'ayan Ariel are with us for Succot. For the past two days I've been spending almost ever minute of the day with Ma'ayan Ariel. She is, as my son-in-law says, “A happy pill.”
Ma'ayan smiles as she tumbles, snuggles and wriggles on our bed.
Looking pensive, Ma'ayan and I are screening King Vidor's The Big Parade, 1925. Silent movies are the perfect entertainment for children, the ravishing images are simply hypnotic.
Happiness is an Oreo cookie. Instructions for eating: separate outside layers, gleefully lick frosting, devour chocolate, gulp down cool glass of milk. Repeat until package is empty or stomach really hurts. Photo by Son-in-law #1.
In the Casa Avrech Succah, Ma'ayan reaches for the fruit. The joy of the upcoming holiday is expressed on Ma'ayan's lovely face. Photo by Offspring#2.
Karen and I and our entire family wish all our friends and relatives a lovely Shabbat and a joyous Succot.
Hey kiddies, welcome to Obamalympics!
Top 10 Reasons Chicago Didn't Get the Olympics
by Michael C. Kingsley
10. Dead people can't vote at IOC meetings.
9. Obama distracted by 25 min meeting with Gen. McChrystal
8. Who cares if Obama couldn't talk the IOC into Chicago? He'll be able to talk Iran out of nukes.
7. The impediment is Israel still building settlements.
6. Obviously no president would have been able to accomplish it.
5. We've been quite clear and said all along that we didn't want the Olympics.
4. This isn't about the number of Olympics "lost", it's about the number of Olympics "saved" or "created".
3. Clearly not enough wise Latina judges on the committee.
2. Because the IOC is racist.
1. It's George Bush's fault.
H/T Jake Novak
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:25 AM | Comments (17)
October 01, 2009
The Persian Peril
From our good friends at DeNuke Iran:
Today was a meeting among Iranian and Western diplomats in Geneva.
It sounds like this will be the first of many such talk-fests.
If history is any judge, this is a clever delaying ploy on the part of the Iranians.
What seems to be forgotten by all the “talking heads” are the stakes.
Please watch this 30-second internet ad – “Peril” – which is an attempt to keep the potential danger at the forefront while the Western world sings kumbaya.
Counterterrorist analysts Matthew Levitt and Michael Jacobson argue convincingly that The World Can't Trust Iran.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 11:51 AM | Comments (2)
Victor Davis Hanson: Trying to Make Sense of Obama
This VDH keynote address was delivered right after the Presidential election, but it's still relevant and filled with fascinating insights into Iraq, Afghanistan and Obama's “anti-Platonic” world-view.
And here's VDH today, on “Three Dangerous Stooges:” This is an important article that nails the left for their delusional economic path that enables these tyrants.
Last week, three dictators — from Iran, Libya and Venezuela — delivered lunatic hate speeches at the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Why do these anti-Semitic dictators feel so free to damn America from downtown New York? Why do their abettors spurn our requests for help? And why do creepy regimes plot to get nukes, and fund terrorists?
Easy. They do not fear, much less listen, to an indebted and energy-hungry America that either needs their cash or oil — or both.
Snip
All three freely express hatred of Jews, reminding us that there is no longer a downside to flashy anti-Semitism. It used to be rightwing scourges whom we associated with the hatred of a Hitler or the Klan.
Today, leftist oil-rich thugs voice slander against tiny Israel to show their revolutionary credentials, even as they find scapegoats for their own colossal failures.
Snip
America better pay attention. The president is to be congratulated for pressing for more alternative energy and conservation to curb our imports and bring down the global price of oil. But until we reach a new age of non-carbon fuels, we must far better exploit the oil and coal we have. Recent large finds in Alaska, California, North Dakota and off the Gulf Coast remind us that America has plenty of oil left. Its rapid development would lower our import bill, reduce global prices and take some profits out of these repugnant three regimes.
Our enemies have cash; we don't. The United States is running a projected $2 trillion annual deficit, while adding to an existing $11 trillion national debt.
Full article here.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:16 AM | Comments (0)