I caused the incandescent bulb ban repeal

Congress voted years ago to ban incandescent light bulbs. The reason? To save Americans as much as—hold onto your hats here—$85 a year! Also to save energy, and of course, the savings were exaggerated. It’s that global warming state of mind. Facts? Facts are for suckers.

Another issue: The fact that they will most likely be replaced with CFL bulbs, all of which contain mercurcy, and few of which will be recycled properly (do you recycle your batteries properly? Do your neighbors?), doesn’t seem to concern the EPA overmuch, because, hey, we’re going to cut down on energy use! And the nanny-staters don’t want us to waste any of our own money, because, well, it’s OUR money to waste, not theirs, right? So we can’t waste it if they don’t want us to.

Well, the second attempt to repeal the ban is underway, and it seems likely to win. (The first one failed.) And I think I can proudly tell you why this is going to happen: Last weekend, I went to Home Depot and bought dozens of incandescent light bulbs. I stocked up. Screw the nanny staters. I like incandescent bulbs. I can afford the $85 a year (which is apparently a really high estimate). So of course, the minute I finally decided to stock up, the need for stocking up disappears.

Update: It passed.

So there. It’s all my fault.

You’re welcome.

Posted in American Scene, Nanny Statism | Leave a comment

And this is why I’m retro-blogging

Just read a few of the news sites and my blood pressure about doubled. So I’m sticking with my decision to not write about the news for the foreseeable future.

It’s my very own watermelon-rind helmet. (You’ll have to click here to find out why; but you won’t know until Sarah posts the pictures. I have no idea when she’ll be getting to that.)

Update: And the picture is now up. Yep, Max is wearing a watermelon-rind helmet.

Posted in Life, Politics, Site news | 1 Comment

A mile wide and a foot deep

There’s a saying about how a person’s knowledge of a subject is a mile wide and an inch deep. I say that my knowledge is generally a mile wide and a foot deep, because I am fortunate enough to retain information on a broad range of subjects. Not enough to get me on Jeopardy (not that I even want to go on), but enough that I know a little about a very many subjects.

So I was getting into a discussion with some people on a friend’s Facebook page (I’m totally intending to show them the full Meryl debater; I just set the hook and will be reeling in the lines sometime tonight), and I started thinking about my work experience.

I have worked for nearly every kind of company you can think of. I’ve worked for small mom and pop shops. I’ve worked for Fortune 500 companies, including a Fortune 50 company. I’ve been hourly. I’ve been salaried. I’ve been a contractor. I’ve gone temp-to-perm. I’ve been self-employed. I’ve worked in the public sector. I’ve worked in the private sector. I’ve worked for a private sector company that gets most of its work from government contracts. I’ve worked for temporary agencies. I’ve worked for family-owned businesses owned by my own family members. I’ve done just about everything but janitorial work—no, wait, I forgot. One of my jobs included mopping floors and cleaning the bathrooms (the rock climbing gym). Hell, I was even a dog washer in a grooming shop back when I was nineteen years old and living in Tacoma with my cousin to see if I liked the area enough to go to U of Seattle (I didn’t).

It occurs to me that I have more business experience, by far, than the current president of the United States.

Posted in Life | 2 Comments

Retro blogging

Yeah, I’m totally going to ignore most of the news and post personal bloggy things.

For instance, I’m glad I didn’t really want to see a midnight showing of Harry Potter DH2. I’m tired enough to go to bed now; no way I’d be able to last for a two-and-a-half hour movie starting at 12.

I’ll be seeing it Sunday morning. Then it’s off to NorVA, as I have tickets to see Wicked at the Kennedy Center Sunday night. Then work on Monday. That’ll be a busy, but fun day.

So, when are you going to see Harry Potter?

Posted in Life, Movies | 2 Comments

I can see clearly now

Okay, so I had Lasik surgery in November, and I don’t need glasses for anything but reading and close-up work now. In fact, I can actually blog without my glasses (though it feels a bit weird). And lately, I’ve been noticing—sunbeams. More often than ever. Every time there was a significant cloud cover, and holes in it, I could see the sunbeams. Now, it’s not that I couldn’t see them when I wore glasses; I could. But not nearly as frequently. So I was wondering—did my surgery not just correct my vision, but make it so good I was seeing things I never really saw before?

And then, last week, the answer struck me on the way home from work with my friend Chris. Polarization.

I bought new sunglasses, a different kind from the clip-ons I’ve been using for my prescription glasses. They enable me to see the light beams more clearly.

Ooooooooooh.

Posted in Life | Leave a comment

The news is incredibly depressing

What do you think of going to all cat pictures* and personal blogging for a week or two?

I really can’t stand watching/reading the news anymore.

*Yes, Rahel, we know where you stand on this question. It’s directed at everyone else who reads this blog.

Posted in Site news | 5 Comments

The Seriously? news briefs

You can’t make this shit up: Palestinians are going to boycott companies that don’t boycott settlement products by obeying the new anti-boycott law in Israel. Seriously.

And the Russians like to pretend to be honest brokers: The Russians, at the Palestinian behest, prevented the Quartet from issuing a statement demanding that the PA recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Note that they won’t do that even if asked to do so while demanding Israel return to the 1949 Armistice lines. Seriously.

Oh noes! Israel is recruiting “collaborators” through online games! Seriously.

So long, Sherwood: Sherwood Schwartz, creator of Gilligan’s Island and the Brady Bunch (both staples of my childhood), is no more. His name will be remembered as long as there are reruns. Seriously.

Posted in Hamas, Israel, palestinian politics, Pop Culture, Television | 2 Comments

Rounding up the news

Pakistani terror in India, again: Of course it’s the Pakistanis. Who else would it be? Say, wasn’t it a great idea to separate mostly-Muslim Pakistan from India in 1947, so the two countries could get along in peace and harmony forever after?

It’s the “cycle of violence”: Terrorists from Gaza have been rocketing Israel again. They hit a house yesterday, so the IDF hit back. And killed another terrorist in Nablus. But sure, we should totally push Israel to deal with Hamas, because all they’ve ever wanted was peace, right? Riiiiight.

So, you think Hillary’s going to give Abbas a 43-minute dressing-down for this insult? I mean, it’s a real insult, so you’d think that Obama would get all up in arms over this, unlike, say, the pretend insult of an agency that Netanyahu had nothing to do with issuing new housing plans. Oh, come on. You and I both know that the Obama administration makes this stuff up as it goes along. They’ll never slam the Palestinians.

Hopping on the bandwagon, after it’s back in the barn: I’m astonished that Obama allowed Clinton to chastise Syria this week, but this is rich: Obama says Assad is “losing legitimacy in the eyes of his people” today. Really? Ya think? What, killing 1500 Syrians for demanding democracy didn’t already lose that “legitimacy”? What legitimacy? The “legitimacy” of inheriting a dictatorship from Daddy? Say, isn’t this guy supposed to be one of the world’s greatest orators? Shyeah. Right.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Middle East, Terrorism | 1 Comment

America and the Jews

This is why America is the greatest country in the world (outside of Israel) for Jews. (H/T: Brother Eric)

Residents stepped in to help Saturday after vandals spray-painted hateful words and symbols on all sides of a neighborhood synagogue.

Because members of the Traditional Congregation of Mount Dora were honoring the Sabbath and could not immediately begin the cleanup, dozens of people unconnected to the institution converged on Donnelly Street to do the work.

The volunteers included community leaders, members of some of the city’s churches and, in some cases, passers-by who saw what had happened and wanted to help.

“Our whole community has turned out,” said Vasco Watters, a member of the City Council.

It was an unbelievable turnout, and an amazing, generous act by our fellow Americans.

They worked through heat, humidity and driving rain, vowing to keep at it until the offensive words and images had been scoured away and painted over.

“I honestly can’t believe this stuff still goes on,” said Paul Castor, who lives next door and was among the volunteers. “You would think that children or whoever did this would have been raised better.”

Watters said he heard about the vandalism about 7 a.m. from a resident who had been on the way to work. He and his family changed their plans and drove to the synagogue to begin working, he said.

Even the mayor turned out.

Mayor Melissa DeMarco, who also had been drenched in one of the downpours that passed over the facility at least three times Saturday, said she was outraged by the vandalism.

“I want people to know whoever did this crime is not representative of Mount Dora,” she said.

We do know that. America’s Jew-haters are few in number, and are quickly prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law when they do things like this and get caught. Europe is an entirely different story. They are being driven out of Sweden. Russian neo-Nazis didn’t like the guilty verdict for their fellow thugs, who murdered dozens of people, so they attacked a synagogue. The rise of Muslim anti-Semitism in Europe has not just affected Jews in Europe, but it has also managed to close down Yale’s program that was studying modern anti-Semitism and reporting that it seemed to be based mostly in Muslim communities throughout the world. And here in North America, anti-Semitism is on the rise in Canada.

America is the greatest country in the world to live in, and not just if you’re Jewish. I’ll take my native land over any other.

Posted in American Scene, Anti-Semitism | Leave a comment

Evil right-wing anti-Semite welcomed by Israeli Knesset

Glenn Beck is in Israel, and it’s funny, for a right-wing anti-Semite, he sure seems to love the Jews.

Wait, wait! I found the anti-Semitic quote:

“When these conditions appear, it’s always the Jews’ fault. It’s not about the Holocaust – the Holocaust was just the latest in a string of [anti-Semitic] events over thousands of years. The Holocaust is the most famous, the one they made movies about.”

You see? He’s blaming the Jews, he’s denying the Holocaust.

Oh. Wait. Here’s the whole quote.

Beck also warned that “anti-Semitism is going to go through the roof” due to the current economic climate.

“When these conditions appear, it’s always the Jews’ fault. It’s not about the Holocaust – the Holocaust was just the latest in a string of [anti-Semitic] events over thousands of years. The Holocaust is the most famous, the one they made movies about.”

Beck referred to his upcoming demonstration at the “original seats of power” in Jerusalem, titled “Restoring Courage,” and implied that it came to him in divine inspiration.

“Israelis may like to hear and see that you’re not alone,” he said. “There are millions of people [support Israel] that you don’t see, because the media doesn’t want to tell their story, either.”

Darn it! Those Media Matters people must have been lying to me when they told me Glenn Beck was a Jew-hater!

This is my favorite part of the whole article:

During the meeting, Beck leaned over and whispered to his assistant: “Can you believe how much God plays a role here?”

Yeah, that’s part and parcel of being Jewish. You can be a Jewish atheist, but then, you’re just a cultural Jew, which is to say, incomplete. In order to be a whole Jew, you have to accept God. And that means accepting Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Israel, Politics | Leave a comment

Monday morning news briefs

Thanks, Greece! Shimon Peres thanks Greece for stopping the flotilla. So does Yourish.com.

Speaking of the flotidiots: “Flytilla” was a bust, but of course, the ones that did get into Israel peacefully threw rocks and such at the IDF, while cutting through the separation fence. Peacefully. Because they’re all about the peaceful protests.

Talk about your bad timing: This one’s funny. A crime ring smuggling fake Chinese meds decided that the Friday of Flytilla was the perfect time to smuggle illegal goods into Israel. Yeah, they got caught.

Disproportionate force: Syrian thugs, under orders, attacked the U.S. and French embassies. President Obama has directed his people to send a strongly-worded letter as a response. And maybe a heavy frown. And the clown car of the Obama foreign policy rolls on.

It’s a start: On the anniversary of a massacre of Jews by their neighbors, Poland’s president asked Jews for forgiveness. I’m glad he’s asking, but there’s still a long way to go. You may not remember, but I do: When Lech Walesa ran for president, they accused him of being Jewish. And not in a good way.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Gaza, Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome, Middle East, Syria | 1 Comment

Yourish.com: We get results

The AP’s third update of the Lebanon-Israel clash over maritime borders is the fairest of them all.

The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday approved a proposed maritime boundary line with Lebanon — setting up a new conflict over huge natural gas and oil reserves.

The two enemy countries are staking claims for a demarcation line in the Mediterranean Sea, where significant energy reserves have been found in recent years. Israel recently discovered two gas fields off its coast, and energy companies believe other reserves could be found there. The fields could help Israel meet its energy needs for many years.

Israeli officials said the government felt compelled to set a proposed boundary after Lebanon submitted its own proposal to the U.N. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that Lebanon’s proposal would place the border “significantly south” of Israel’s line.

“What is more significant in my eyes, it conflicts with the line that Lebanon itself agreed upon with Cyprus in 2007,” he added.

Good for them.

Posted in Israel, Lebanon, Media Bias, Middle East | Leave a comment

I am Jewish too, and here is why…

The following quotes need a bit of introduction. Israeli rabbinical authorities, being (sometimes justly, as you shall see) somewhat suspicious of Jewishness of some new repatriates, question them to establish their roots. The results are frequently hilarious. So here we go. If you feel confused by some quotes, feel free to ask.

- A young man invited me to dinner at a restaurant. After dinner I found out that I ate a piece of pork. My mood was spoiled, and I went home. At home I told all to my grandfather, a rabbi. Poor grandfather stood all night on his knees, praying for me.

- Every day I went to synagogue. In Riga there were two synagogues: one Catholic, the other Orthodox.

- My grandmother was very religious woman and has always taught us kids not to mix kosher and non-kosher.

- I know that if a woman is in her “critical” days, no one will shake her hand.

- My parents are very pious people. Father never starts fire on Saturday and lights up his cigarette from a candle that my mother lit on Friday. Mom generally doesn’t smoke.

- Frankly, I was a party member over there, but on all Soviet Holidays I’ve attended the synagogue.

- The Lord invited Moses on Mount Sinai to hand him the Torah in intimate atmosphere.

- Of all four brothers of my mother only one wasn’t Jewish.

- On Saturday we didn’t even ride deers.

- When our grandson was born, we Christened him by a Jewish name.

- The first time I was jailed for Trotskyism, and the second for Zionism. So I always remained a religious Jew.

- My father’s second wife was Jewish. I was born by his second wife. This can be confirmed by my father and his first and third wife, who hadn’t given birth to me.

- When I grew up, my mother told me that we are Jews. I myself would have never thought of it.

- Since we are from Ukraine, the family suffered a great deal while others ate bacon.

- Often my grandmother fried gefilte fish for dinner.

- At Judgement Day in our family we were not given something to eat. But we were told why.

- Yes, I broke several glasses at my wedding.

- Abraham is considered to be the first Jew, because he was kicked out of the house.

- We have two sets of dishes, one for fish dishes and the other one for meat.

- My grandmother Evdokiya Nikiforovna, earned a living doing laundry for a Jewish family. Subsequently, she had an intimate relationship with the head of the family, Iosif Davidovich. From this connection, my mother Antonina Iosifovna was born. Since age seventeen she did laundry for a Jewish family. From my mother’s cohabitation with the head of household Yakov Moiseevich, I, Ekaterina Yakovlevna, was born. At present I do laundry for a Jewish family and have a daughter Alice bat Maimon from the head of the family, Maimon Ben Alush.

Hat tip: Y.Z.

Cross-posted on SimplyJews

Posted in Humor, Jews | 4 Comments

The AP is withholding facts about Israel–again

Israel is setting its maritime border. This is incredibly important, because enormous natural gas fields have been discovered in the Mediterranean sea off Israel’s borders. Naturally, Lebanon is already claiming that Israel is violating Lebanese territory. But Lebanon will not negotiate with Israel to set the border, so Israel and Cyprus went ahead and delineated where one nation ends and the other begins. The result? The Lebanese are seething, and the AP presents their side of the story as fact. Note how the headline and lead paragraph make it look like Lebanon is in the right.

Israel draws sea boundary different from Lebanon’s
Israel’s Cabinet has proposed a maritime boundary with Lebanon significantly different from the line that Beirut is seeking.

The two countries are racing to stake their own claims for a demarcation line in the Mediterranean Sea, where energy reserves have been found.

The very last paragraph of the story gives a bit more background, but it is still slanted to make it look like Israel is ignoring Lebanese borders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Lebanon’s proposed line falls “significantly south” of the line Israeli ministers agreed on Sunday.

Now let’s look at some background via the Israeli press. Compare the following with the two words that AP pulled from Netanyahu’s statement:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed the economic benefits that could come from setting the borders.

“The border delimits the state’s economic rights, including the right to make use of natural resources at sea. The border Lebanon achieved in the UN is set significantly southward of the one offered by Israel, it conflicts with the borders set by Israel and Cyprus and, surprisingly, the borders Lebanon itself has set with Cyprus. Our goal is to set the lines in keeping with the principles of international law,” he said.

That important fact—that Lebanon is claiming Israel is encroaching on borders that Lebanon itself has already set as non-Lebanese—is deemed unimportant by the Associated Press. No need to note a fact like that in the story. No, not when you can make it seem like Israel is stealing energy from its Arab neighbors.

Another day, another anti-Israel story in the media. But don’t worry. That only happens on days that end with a Y.

Posted in Israel, Lebanon, Media Bias, Middle East | Leave a comment

Lazy Caturday afternoon post

Yeah, it’s that kind of day.

Tig:

Tig getting ready for his afternoon nap

Gracie:

Gracie in the sun

Happy Saturday!

Posted in Cats | 2 Comments

File under “Not. Gonna. Happen.”

Israel is trying to repair ties with Turkey. The Jewish state is working with Turkey to soften the results of the UN report on last year’s Gaza flotilla, which criticizes Turkey for allowing the flotilla in the first place:

Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem who saw the draft report said it sharply criticizes Turkey for not doing enough to prevent the flotilla from setting sail and for conducting a tendentious investigation into the events.

Israel is working with Turkey to make the report less accusatory of the Islamist-leaning government’s informal attack on Israel.

Israel and Turkey are holding secret talks in an effort to soften the conclusions of the Palmer Report, issued by a United Nations panel appointed to probe the events of the May 2010 Gaza-bound flotilla.

According to information obtained by Ynet, sources in Washington claimed that Israel’s representative to the UN inquiry committee Yosef Ciechanover, his Turkish counterpart and other officials were crisscrossing between Jerusalem and Ankara in an attempt to use the report’s conclusions to improve relations between the countries.

So what does Turkey do in gratitude for Israel’s help? Flips her the bird.

After delaying the publication of a UN report that probed the events of the Gaza flotilla last May, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan said on Friday it was “unthinkable” to normalize ties with Israel unless the Jewish state apologized for the killing of nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists aboard the Gaza-bound Turkish ship.

Yeah, I’m thinking not. Bibi will never apologize to Turkey. What’s he going to say? “We’re sorry we killed the terrorists who were attacking our soldiers”? Or how about, “We’re sorry you’re turning your nation over to the Islamists”? Or maybe “We’re sorry you’re an effing moron who thinks he can ride the tide of Islamism and not see Turkey devoured by it and turned into a shithole like Afghanistan”?

I’m fine with all three.

Posted in Gaza, Israel Derangement Syndrome, United Nations | Leave a comment

Friday news roundup

The Floptilla continues: The fly-in is as much of a loser as Flotilla, the Sequel. So far, some have been arrested, many have been turned back, and dozens haven’t even gotten on flights thanks to a no-fly list sent around with their names on it. Say, by the way, flotidiots, thanks for putting all of your names on a website so it was easy for Israel to make up that list. H/T to Backseat Blogger for the word “floptilla.”

When even Ha’aretz says it, you know it’s true: The UN report says the blockade of Gaza is legal, and that Israel shouldn’t apologize to Turkey over the deaths of the Mavi Marmara terrorists. It also praised the Turkel Commission and blasted Turkey’s investigation. One has to ask: Did the UN really write this report? Of course, the usual charge of “excessive force” are used against Israel. But that’s a standard complaint. Israel’s critics consider the use of any force to be excessive, including self-defense.

Did someone say “excessive force”? The UN report, authored by a man who called the Israeli response to the border incursions “disproportionate force,” says that Israel used “excessive force” in turning back a violent invasion by non-citizens. Shocked, I am. I can’t believe the UN would think that Israel used excessive force and completely ignore the fact that Lebanese soldiers were firing directly at its own civilians, causing at least half the deaths. Or that the deaths on the Syrian side were due to “protesters” setting mines off with molotov cocktails. But hey, it’s the UN. I’m pretty sure if they could get away with it, they’d blame Sudan on Israel.

Open anti-Semitism at the UN: By a Jew, no less. Or at least, an assajew. So Richard Falk, the UN Human Rights Council “expert on Palestine” (seriously?) put an anti-Semitic, anti-American cartoon on his blog, and when called out on it, first denied it, then said he didn’t mean it, and oh yeah—he deleted the post. UN Watch kept a screenshot, though. Falk, who uses the excuse that having been pushed out of a Jewish womb makes him unable to hate the Jewish State or Jews, has no real problem using Jew-hating cartoons. Awesome. Hey, Dickie? You’re on the other side, stop pretending you care about being Jewish. Fire his ass. The U.S. is calling for just such a thing.

These guys are so competent, I don’t worry at all about terrorists: The DHS put Israel on a list of terrorist nations—by mistake. Great work, guys!

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome, Middle East, United Nations | Leave a comment

Israel v. Flotilla 2: Victory to Israel

Score one for the good guys. The flotidiots are giving up and heading for home.

Norwegian Gaza-bound flotilla activists are expected to hold a press conference Friday morning in Norway to announce their decision to retract and make their way back home.

Another press conference will be held Thursday in Sweden with some 20 Swedish representatives from the Gaza-bound flotilla.

The Nordic contingent is gone. What about North America?

Similarly, most of the 36 American passengers of the SS Audacity of Hope, which was prevented by Greek officials from sailing to the Gaza Strip on Friday, have already return home or are on their way back.

The Canadians have been turned back after leaving port without permission.

The Europeans?

Meanwhile, the Greek coastguard intercepted the small French boat “Dignitiy” with Pro-Palestinian activists aboard on Thursday, the third flotilla ship to be prevented from sailing to Gaza to challenge an Israeli blockade.

All together now: Awwwwww.

I remember worrying that Israel would suffer the same problems this year as last year. Now, I’m just in awe of the diplomatic and legal offensive that stopped the second Gaza flotilla from breaking the naval blockade. All hail Shurat HaDin for their monumental (and successful!) efforts. Hail and donate.

Posted in Gaza, Israel | 1 Comment

The it’s almost Friday briefs

My schedule is so off these days. I’m up in NorVA in the middle of the week instead of the beginning of the week. Well, at least this time, my radiator didn’t spring a leak on 295. (I had the stupidest dispatcher in the history of AAA. I gave him my GPS coordinates, just like he asked, and he still took twenty minutes to find my location. Moron.)

Free Gaza from Hamas: Hamas is now arresting men for working on women’s hair. Well, they said they would. But yeah, totally protest Israel’s supposed violations of human rights, and support the misogynistic, homophobic, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic government of Gaza. Because that’s what all the cool kids are doing.

That’s funny, I thought Hague promised to rescind the law that forced Peretz had to leave England early: Give Amir Peretz some credit. He stood his ground, he tricked the morons trying to arrest him, and then he beat feet out of the U.K. before the asshats could throw him into jail under their ridiculous universal whatchmacallit doctrine. Funny how they never seem to try to arrest, oh, I dunno, Iranians, Syrians, or Sudanese, but they always go for the Israelis. It’s almost as if they don’t care about the human rights violations of all those other nations. But no. That would be unthinkable, right? Right? Right?!?!?!

If Israel declared the sun rose in the east, the Arabs would protest that, too: Israel is thinking of joining the rest of the Western world and creating an actual two-day weekend (though why they don’t want to make it Friday and Saturday I don’t understand). The Arabs are protesting that they don’t want to be forced not to work on Sundays. Yeah, what-EVER.

No Love Boats to Syria: Cruise lines have decided that Syria and Libya are not good destinations for their ships. Really? What makes them think that?

Posted in Hamas, Israel Derangement Syndrome | 2 Comments

Ah, the good old AP whitewash routine

Yesterday, Israeli drones killed a couple of Palestinian terrorists who were trying to fire rockets into Israel. And while even the AP couldn’t find people to insist they were farmers, or boys collecting scrap metal, the AP did manage to completely whitewash how those “projectiles” kill Israelis (though this one wasn’t a “homemade” rocket, but a deadly accurate one:

On Sunday a rocket fired from Gaza struck open fields in southern Israel causing no damage or injuries. The army said two other projectiles were also fired Saturday. They were the first fired from Gaza since June 16 but the border between Gaza and Israel has been largely calm in recent months.

In early April, tensions ratcheted up after a rocket-propelled grenade fired from Gaza struck an Israeli school bus, killing a teenager.

Israel responded with a series of air strikes that killed at least 19 Palestinians in the deadliest violence since Israel’s devastating 22-day Operation Cast Lead on the Palestinian territory in 2008-2009.

Remember that RPG that killed Daniel Viflic? It wasn’t just an RPG. And its victim had a name and age. Funny how the AP can name and age the terrorists in their news article, but can’t remember the name and age of the child killed by a laser-guided missile that deliberately targeted a schoolbus. It was not a simple “rocket-propelled grenade” that murdered a sixteen-year-old boy on his way from home, and that would have murdered dozens had it struck five minutes earlier.

When the attack happened, the AP could identify the weapon as a laser-guided anti-tank missile. But not now, when a few months have gone by and they can whitewash the attack with abandon.

It’s also worth noting that the headline to the AP story linked above is “Israeli drone attack kills two militants in Gaza.” New headline? “Israeli airstrike kills 2 in Gaza.” Note the difference. The “militants” are no longer identified as such in the headline. And this time, Ibrahim Barzak did manage to find people to claim that Israel killed civilians, thus justifying the headline even though this is the lead:

An Israeli aircraft fired at Gaza militants about to launch rockets at Israel, killing two in the deadliest cross-border fighting in three months.

And the updated history (still whitewashed):

Hundreds of people have been killed in fighting along the Israel-Gaza border in recent years. The most fighting took place in March, with militants firing rockets and heavy mortar barrages at Israel and Israel retaliating with airstrikes. Nineteen Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes over a two-day stretch in the second week of April after Gaza militants fired a rocket at an Israeli school bus. Egypt’s new government brokered an informal cease-fire later in April.

In the update, they don’t even mention that a child was killed. Way to be objective, AP! Way to present both sides of the issue, just as your News Values and Principles demand.

That means we abhor inaccuracies, carelessness, bias or distortions.

Shyeah.

Posted in Gaza, Israel, Media Bias, Terrorism | 2 Comments