CELLO SCROTUM A HOAX

An old deception will result in no repercussions:

A spokesman for the BMJ said that, 34 years on, no-one faced the sack for failing to spot the implausible condition.

There's a joke in there somewhere.

MANY PROBLEMS BUT STILL FUNNY

It's fantastic that despite everything the poor guy has endured over the last couple of years – blog hacked and stolen, printer problems, Haloscan problems, Blogspot problems, train problems, hassles from Tim Blair, getting crapped on by all of Australia's major cell phone networks, divorce, etc – Jeremy Sear still maintains the transcendental sense of humour for which he is rightly famous.

BUNNY BOMBS

A scary headline:

Exploding rabbits a fire danger

Better think twice before accelerating the next time a bunny zigs-zigs down the road in front of your car.

BORING BUT EASY

Because most people couldn't care less what Antony Loewenstein has to say about anything, repeatedly writing about his screw-ups isn't likely to improve my hit count but I am very busy with work and other commitments at the moment and he's an easy target, so here we go again.

Loewenstein today:

I personally refrain from comparing Israeli actions to Nazi Germany...

In a November 2008 post titled The modern descendants of Hitler:

Settler Nazis continue to cause chaos (and the global Jewish Diaspora remains silent)...

Another Oops! moment for Loewenstein.

LOEWENSTEIN MASSACRES TRUTH, AGAIN

Canadian magazine ADBUSTERS "Journal of the Mental Environment" describes itself and states its mission:






In order to "topple existing power structures" the "Jewish problem" must be addressed, of course, as did the magazine's founder Kalle Lasn in his 2004 neo-con exposé “Why won't anyone say they are Jewish?”

Now it's pretty strange that a regularly published journalist, electronic media darling and best-selling author would seek to have his work featured at a fringe site like ADBUSTERS but that's exactly what we find with the publication of a piece by Antony Loewenstein titled The Eternal Victim. Here's the introduction and first paragraph:

Each side in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict believes criticisms in the media are biased, but the Palestinians are the ones doing almost all the suffering and dying these days. Antony Loewenstein argues for reality-based coverage.

Israel’s highly decorated Chief of Staff, Mordechai Gur, once said, “we make no distinction between civilian and military targets.”

Since Loewenstein wants "reality-based coverage", that's what the Middle East "expert" provides, right? Not even; the Gur quote is a fabrication. Noam Chomsky on the same subject:

Thirty years ago Chief of Staff Mordechai Gur observed that since 1948, "we have been fighting against a population that lives in villages and cities." As Israel's most prominent military analyst, Zeev Schiff, summarized his remarks, "the Israeli Army has always struck civilian populations, purposely and consciously...the Army, he said, has never distinguished civilian [from military] targets...[but] purposely attacked civilian targets."

Unlike Loewenstein, Chomsky is too smart to rely on Common Dreams as a source. Dodgy quoting is nothing new from Loewenstein: he misquoted family members who don't share his political views; misquoted Mark Steyn; and fabricated a George Bush quote. He refuses to admit any of this, but Crikey did retract the Bush quote (the 2006 article remains uncorrected at his blog). He also recently linked to a bogus video then disappeared the post when caught out.

Loewenstein isn't really a journalist and certainly isn't a Middle East expert: he's a left-wing activist who's trying to make a living off of being an anti-Israel Jew. If Loewenstein really does aspire to be a journalist, he needs to bear in mind item number one from the Australian Journalists' Association's code of ethics:

Report and interpret honestly, striving for accuracy, fairness and disclosure of all essential facts. Do not suppress relevant available facts, or give distorting emphasis. Do your utmost to give a fair opportunity for reply.

Oops, so much for journalism as a career.

Note to my Mossad minders: the check's-in-the-mail bullshit ain't good enough; I want my money.

Updated here.

LOTS OF WIND, LITTLE POWER

Gaia-guy James Lovelock:

Most of the "green" stuff is verging on a gigantic scam. Carbon trading, with its huge government subsidies, is just what finance and industry wanted. It's not going to do a damn thing about climate change, but it'll make a lot of money for a lot of people and postpone the moment of reckoning. I am not against renewable energy, but to spoil all the decent countryside in the UK with wind farms is driving me mad. It's absolutely unnecessary, and it takes 2500 square kilometres to produce a gigawatt - that's an awful lot of countryside.

Scam? Never.

Tufts economist Gilbert Metcalf ran the numbers and found that the effective tax rate for wind is minus-163.8%. In other words, every dollar a wind firm spends is subsidized to the tune of 64 cents from the government. The Energy Information Administration estimates that wind receives $23.37 in government benefits per megawatt hour -- compared to, say, 44 cents for coal. Despite these taxpayer crutches, wind only provides a little under 1% of U.S. net electric generation.

Maybe Obama needs to rethink his energy agenda.

SOLDIERS' BRAVEY DOUBTED

A pre-pubescent Australian female is quite taken with Australia's soldiers, describing them as "so brave, daring, beautiful, courageous etc.". Oops sorry, that's actually "fearless" "journalist" Antony "Danger Man" Loewenstein's reaction to the wounding in Afghanistan of Private Matthew Pepi.

NO DEAR, I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THE DOG SMELLS OF SOFA

WHITE PHOSPHORUS WHOPPERS II

Go here for part one.

A slide-show of the shelling of the Beit Lahiya school – with commentary by the United Nation's John Ging – is available at the Guardian site. Ging says two shells exploded in the air, showering the school with white phosphorus (as discussed in my earlier post); two shells of the four shell volley exploding close to the school. A single high explosive shell struck the school three minutes later – this explosion causing fatalities (two children). Thus, if the IDF wanted to maximize casualties at the school its gunners would have dispensed with the white phosphorus rounds, shelling the school exclusively with much more lethal high explosives.

A Jonathan Miller video (UK, Channel 4) showing damage at the school is now available as well. The scenario's much the same except that the fatalities were caused not by a high explosive round but rather by an intact white phosphorus round hitting the school and then exploding – Miller holds up shell remnants as proof. This seems, well, odd considering that the M825A1 white phosphorus round is not an explosive round. The M825A1 is not designed to kill and isn't an effective weapon.

A second Miller video is broader in scope, covering not only white phosphorus but flechettes and dense inert metal explosive (DIME) bombs. Dr Nafez Abu Shaban, director of the burns unit at Shifa hospital, says that putting water on active phosphorus in a wound actually makes the flame worse. This is a common misconception but an unusual mistake for a burns specialist. Here's what the Emergency Response Guidebook says about phosphorus burns:

In case of contact with substance, keep exposed skin areas immersed in water or covered with wet bandages until medical attention is received.

Maybe it's some sort of special Jew phosphorus. Miller then moves on to DIME bombs and the tiny fragments they produce, introducing Human Rights Watch's Marc Garlasco as a former "top munitions expert at the Pentagon". If Human Rights Watch's bio is to believed, Miller overstated Garlasco's qualifications just a tad:

Before joining Human Rights Watch, he covered Iraq as a senior intelligence analyst at the Pentagon. Garlasco has a B.A. in government from St. John's University and an M.A. in International Relations from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

A brief speculative frenzy ensues before Miller moves on to flechettes – the US used them in Vietnam so they must be really bad. Anyway, watch the video and decide for yourself how much of it is factual.

My conclusion: the IDF was probably right to exclude journalists while operations were underway; the more reporters there are on the scene, the greater the volume of misinformation produced.

CUBA PRIUS-FREE

The BBC's Michael Voss explains why Cubans aren't driving late model Cadillacs:

Since the revolution which climaxed on 1 January 1959, Cuba has seen the attempted Bay of Pigs invasion, repeated assassination attempts against Fidel Castro, the collapse of its main benefactor the Soviet Union, and a decades-long US trade embargo.

One of the effects of the embargo is that the streets of the Cuban capital, Havana, are still filled with many of the same old American cars that were here when Fidel Castro came to power 50 years ago.

God damn Americans anyway. But hang on a minute, why aren't Cubans driving Toyotas and Audis and such?

The only cars that Cubans are legally allowed to buy or sell are those built before the revolution.

Mandated retro coolness and screw the emissions.

AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT, BUY NOW!

Amazon warns customers a "best-seller" is in short supply:

Only 3 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

The book: Antony Loewenstein's My Israel Question.

Amazon sales rank: 1,688,496.

Update: The book is much more popular across the pond – Amazon UK sales rank: 688,385.

It's the reverse for Loewenstein's The Blogging Revolution.

Amazon: 565,638

Amazon UK: 1,066,310


Angus & Robertson doesn't offer sales figures but since both books "usually ship in 20 days" it's safe to assume they're not big online sellers.

JACQUES CHIRAC MAULED BY OWN DOG

Presa canario? American pit bull, perhaps? Or maybe a bitey Alsatian? Nope, the poor guy was mangled by a Maltese poodle. In its defense, the poor dog is clinically depressed. Well yeah, you wouldn't be too happy either if you were the poorest excuse for a dog on the planet and spent all your time hanging out with Jacques Chirac.

VALIANT EFFORT FAILS TO SECURE GUINNESS RECORD

Israel goes for gold:

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been present during armed conflicts for nearly four decades. It is difficult to recall a comparable slaughter of civilians in so little time. Whether Mogadishu, Somalia, or Kivu, in the eastern Congo, Sri Lanka or even Darfur -- none of these wars has involved operations that produced so many deaths by direct violence in such a short period of time. We must go back to the Russian army’s December 1999 bombing of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, to find equivalent death rates in such a short period.

Blah, blah, blah. Bettering the current record – almost 3,000 killed in a single morning (in 2001) – is going to take some effort.

ENTIRE CLIMATE SCIENCE FIELD LAMBERTED

Computer scientist Tim Lambert reads a study which finds 97% of climate scientists "think human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures" and comes up with "97% of active climatologists agree that human activity is causing global warming". The guy is not to be trusted, ever.

WHITE PHOSPHORUS WHOPPERS

Everyone who's been paying the slightest attention to events in Gaza is aware Israel's Defense Forces committed war crimes in targeting Palestinian civilians with M825A1 white phosphorus artillery shells. The videos, photos and eyewitness accounts are everywhere. Unfortunately, most of the information that is available – both at blogs and news sites – is nothing more than ill-informed speculation, at best. Read on if you want to find out more about what's really going on. But, if your looking for either support for, or condemnation of, the IDF's use of white phosphorus you will be disappointed.

Some background for those who haven't paid attention. The U.S.-manufactured (of course) M825A1 projectile used by the IDF is not high explosive; it ejects 116 white phosphorus impregnated felt wedges, each wedge producing heavy screening smoke for up to 15 minutes. M825A1 projectiles are designed specifically so that they DO NOT release the engulfing shower of flaming phosphorus chunks and particles produced by incendiary weapons.

The M825A1 is not an anti-personnel weapon as such but can be combined with high explosive artillery in so called "shake and bake" operations. In one such scenario M825A1 projectiles are fired into an area where enemy forces are entrenched; the smoke and heat intended to force the enemy into the open where they are vulnerable to high explosive shells. It is also possible to use high explosive shells to shred and disperse the flaming wedges from previously fired M825A1 projectiles. This spreads little chunks of flaming phosphorus over a wide area and down into hiding places.

So far the IDF is accused of baking without the shaking: that is, of using the M825A1 as an anti-personnel weapon uncombined with high explosive artillery. For example, this excellent night video shows a number of M825A1 projectiles creating smoke without any follow-up high explosive artillery. It is argued nonetheless that such use is designed to kill and injure civilians. Canny Jews are highly unlikely to attempt to kill so inefficiently.

The two photos immediately below – obviously shot moments apart – show flaming phosphorus wedges showering a United Nations school.






























Worth noting:

• The phosphorus is in large flaming chunks (wedges);
  
• The chunks remain largely intact after striking solid objects (roofs, vehicles, ground, etc);
• The chunks have little penetrative power (bouncing off both the lightweight carport roof in the left background and the van in the right background, for example).

It seem likely that it would take a direct hit from one of these chunks to cause serious injury.

Now take a look at a screen grab from a subsequent BBC video of the same school yard (looking back from the far end of the yard):














No damage is visible: the carport roof is intact; the trees still stand; and the ground is unscorched and uncratered – the BBC video shows kids playing with what could be a white phosphorus remnant but shows no phosphorus damage at the school.

Lobbing a white phosphorus smoke shell into a nearly deserted school yard is not the way to maximise casualties. The whole white phosphorus war crimes scenario is a beat-up designed to appeal to the emotions, confirming Jews as killers of women and children.

Update: The controversy has broadened with the IDF apparently admitting to the use of white phosphorus mortar rounds. The circumstances are unclear but it's possible white phosphorus rounds were combined with high explosive rounds in a mini shake and bake scenario:

High-explosive [mortar] rounds are used to suppress or kill enemy dismounted infantry, mortars, and other supporting weapons, and to interdict the movement of men, vehicles and supplies in the enemy's forward area. Bursting WP rounds are often mixed with high-explosive rounds to enhance their suppressive and destructive effects.

The IDF needs to be open and honest about this.

The Guardian continues to speculate wildly:

As the Guardian reported yesterday, Palestinian doctors have reported treating dozens of cases of suspected phosphorus burns.

A video is attached:

Phosphorus bombs in Gaza – the evidence

On Tuesday 13 January Israeli forces attacked Khoza'a, a small rural community east of Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip. Missiles containing white phosphorus were deployed. Dr Ahmed Almi from the al-Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis describes serious injuries and chemical burns, with victims covered in a white powder that continues to burn long after initial exposure. Warning: contains graphic footage of war injuries

No evidence is offered with only seconds of the 5:46 video relating to possible phosphorus burns. Narrator Dr Ahmed Almi describes a laws-of-physics-defying white powder:

First it burns the exposed parts. Then after that the clothes are coated in the white phosphorus. Then after an hour it penetrates the clothes until it reaches the body and usually the whole body is burned. So this type of burn is the first time for us to see this type of chemical burn.

That's the Guardian's evidence. Most of the rest of the video describes mysterious shrapnel wounds – lacking phosphorus evidence Dr Almi veers off on the experimental Jew weapon tangent.

Update II: Go here for the latest.

BEST EVER LAMB CHOPS

On hot days when the kids were little we sometimes drove to Mandurah to take advantage of the public barbeques in the sea-breeze-cooled park on the estuary. During one of these outings, while I was cooking snags and chops, I was approached by a Vietnamese couple who wanted to use the barbeque when I finished – the couple was obviously intimidated by the assorted bogans using the other barbeques and felt I was the least threatening so they approached me. I suggested there was plenty of room so they could start cooking whenever they were ready.

My new friend pulled from his esky an old plastic ice cream carton filled with very cheap marinaded forequarter lamb chops. An unusual and intirguing smell filled the air as soon as the first chop hit the grill. Responding to my obvious interest my new friend immediately offered some chops for us to try. They were the best lamb I've ever tasted.

Here's the basics of the recipe provided by the very nice Vietnamese guy who shared his food with us.

What you'll need:

• Lamb chops (however many you need, cheap or expensive – the more fat the better)
  
• Beer (I prefer Cascade but suit yourself)
• Sugar (the darker the sugar, the heavier the taste)
• Onion (I prefer red but suit yourself)
• Fish sauce (for cooking, the darker the better; if you plan to also use it as a condiment you'll want translucent, golden)

You'll have noticed no quantities are given. That's because you're going to measure the ingredients by eyeball.

Right, when the Cascade is icy cold pop one open and take a swig – barbequing completely sober is un-Australian. Now place the quantity of chops you'll need to feed your guests in an unreractive container (glass, plastic, ceramic, etc,. not metal) – the chops should just fit in the container in a single layer. Put the chops back in the fridge and have some more beer while you prepare the marinade.

Set up the food processor and throw in enough onion to cover the chops. Process the onion until it just starts to liquify. Pour in enough fish suace so that you got a nice slurry – don't worry, the chops will taste nothing like the smell. Now add as much sugar as you think will dissolve in the onion/fish sauce slurry. When fully mixed pour the slurry over the chops and return to the fridge. Allow to marinade for up to two hours – the first time you try this you might want to cook the chops after an hour; if you leave them longer they could be too salty for you. Turn the chops once, keeping their tops covered with the finely chopped onion bits.

Cook the chops at reasonably high temperature but not as hot as you'd use for blasting a steak; the sugar in the marinade will burn. When the fat is crisped to your likning they're done. And since you've by now had three or four beers they're going to be extra-tasty. Enjoy.

BEER MARINADE CUTS CANCER RISK

A beer marinade greatly reduces the formation of cancer causing compounds normally produced while barbecuing beef. Recipe at link.

DEAD DRUNK

An acquaintance recently injured herself having had a bit much to drink. The following morning, thinking herself fit to drive, she drove herself to the local hospital. After treatment she headed for her car, at which point hospital staff, realising she was over the limit, offered her a taxi voucher to cover the short ride home. She refused the voucher, arriving home to find police waiting for her, hospital staff having dobbed her in. Her driver's licence is now suspended.

I reckon it's fair enough she lost her licence but, if this legal decision is any indication, it seems she could have contested the infringement, arguing that hospital staff should have prevented her driving.

A Tasmanian woman whose husband was killed in a motorcycle accident has successfully sued the hotel he was drinking at for giving him his keys and allowing him to leave on his bike.

Shane John Scott was more than five times over the legal alcohol limit when he crashed his bike at Orford on the state's east coast seven years ago.

Mr Scott went to the Tandara Motor Inn at Triabunna for a few drinks in January 2002.

He consumed about seven cans of whiskey and cola, and a beer.

Mr Scott gave his motorbike keys to the publican and his bike was locked in the hotel storeroom.

However, when he was ready to leave Mr Scott became aggressive and demanded his keys and bike back.

The publican gave them to him.

I'm sure bar staff would like to know how much force can be used to prevented intoxicated patrons driving.

CONSPIRACY THEORIZED

A helpful note attached to video of yesterday's Gaza rallies:

sydney gaza Rally 2009 ONLY reported on SBS

Channel 7 ( Jews )
Channel 9 ( jews )
Channel 10 ( jews)

Check out the background images at Australian You Tuber AbuSufyaan's user page for another example of Blair's law in action.

THE WAR ISRAEL CANNOT WIN

The mainstream media's assault on Israel continues, the Guardian website featuring two videos providing "evidence" of Israel's use of white phosphorus in Gaza. Now since the distinctive signature of phosphorus shells exploding over Gaza was repeatedly observed this might seem like overkill. In fact, the Guardian vidoes are not meant to prove Israel's use (legal or otherwise) of phosphorus weapons; the videos are meant to show phosphorus's horrendous impact on civilians. But the videos aren't news, they're propaganda.

According to Guardian security editor Richard Norton-Taylor this video shows "injuries consistent with the use of white phosphorus shells". No, it doesn't: the almost six minutes of video shows injuries, some massive, none having anything to do with phosphorus. Mere seconds of the video relate to conjecture about phosphorus as the possible cause of some of the wounds, much of the video devoted instead to "mysterious" shrapnel wounds – perhaps caused by sinister experimental Jew weapons (hint, hint).

The second Guardian video allegedly shows "fresh evidence of Israeli phosphorus use in Gaza". Uh no, it's actually four and a half minutes of heavy-duty propaganda from the International Solidarity Movement. The video provides "eyewitness" accounts of:

• Random use of phosphorus weapons.
• Targeted use of phosphorus weapons.
• An unsuccessful attempt to bulldoze undead civilians.
• Firing on civilians.
• Firing on civilians carrying a white flag.
• A "sniper" chasing a woman down the street, ultimately shooting her in the back.
  

What, no babies incinerated? Them evil Jews is out of form.

Update: the incident above, at Khan Younis , is another example of Israeli military incompetence in unsuccessfully attempting to bury, incincerate, shoot and otherwise murder civilians yet allowing many to survive to give witness.

The Observer notes a similar case of alleged military incompetence:

Israel stands accused of perpetrating a series of war crimes during a sustained 12-hour assault on a village in southern Gaza last week in which 14 people died.

In testimony collected from residents of the village of Khuza'a by the Observer, it is claimed that Israeli soldiers entering the village:

• attempted to bulldoze houses with civilians inside;

• killed civilians trying to escape under the protection of white flags;

• opened fire on an ambulance attempting to reach the wounded;

• used indiscriminate force in a civilian area and fired white phosphorus shells.

If the allegations are upheld, all the incidents would constitute breaches of the Geneva conventions.

Looks like Hamas, the Guardian and the Observer are reading from the same script.

EDITOR REQUIRED

Journalist, best-selling author and reliable language-mangler Antony Loewenstein:

Thankfully, some, like Bill Moyers, simply refuse to be cowered.

Update: Loewenstein silently edits; "intimidated" replacing "cowered". Glad I could help!

RALPH-O-MATIC

The multi-purpose Sonic Nausea.

FEAR OF DOMESTIC UNREST GUIDES UK FOREIGN POLICY

This might appear to be a group of British police being herded by an angry mob; it's actually the whole of the government.

ISRAEL FIELDS NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Israel, perceiving that it isn't causing itself enough PR damage by drenching Gaza with white phosphorus, which, by the way, burns hotter than the surface of the sun and like those trick birthday candles has an inextinguishable flame, is now using nuclear weapons on Palestinians. This sickening revelation comes from Norwegian medical doctor Mads Gilbert, who you might remember in 2006 exposed Israel's use in southern Lebanon – denied by the IDF, of course – of experimental LIME (lard impregnated Muslim exploder) bombs, which consume targets (mostly women and children) in a supersonic jet of super-heated nanotech particles of a super-secret plutonium/lard alloy. Only later, when the particles were examined under an electron microscope by scientists at the Palestinian Institute of Media Promotions, was it revealed that each and every tiny speck had been micro-forged using advanced Israeli nuclear weapons technology so as to bear an uncanny likeness to a Danish cartoonist's caricature of Mohammed. The very few to survive a LIME blast would perhaps be better off dead, reporting as they do a serious long-term aftereffect: savage cravings for pork crackling.

Israel's use of nuclear weapons comes up during a Democracy Now! segment on the possible use of banned and experimental weapons in Gaza. Lunatic lefty Gilbert, recently returned from Gaza, admits that none of his many Palestinian patients was injured by burning phosphorus, claiming instead to be reliably informed that other doctors had treated such victims. He also speculates that Israel is using experimental DIME (dense inert metal explosive) bombs on hapless Palestinian test subjects. The interview is by then falling flat so he spices things up by saying DIMEs are classified as nuclear weapons by the EU Commission on Nuclear Matters(!?). The interview is worth watching to see the contrast between Gilbert's ravings and the entirely sensible views of Marc Garlasco of Human Rights Watch.

IRFAN YUSUF WRONG AGAIN

Sydney lawyer Irfan Yusuf confirms the worst:

GAZA: Evidence Israel is using white phosphorus ...

To add gravity he includes a photo of a burn victim found by doing an image search for "phosphorus burn" or similar. The thing is, the photo has nothing to do with Gaza or phosphorus: it's an old photo of an Iranian soldier burned by mustard gas. Anyway, the IDF claims to use phosphorus shells legitimately for screening purposes; the pictured burns resulted from mustard's use as a lethal chemical agent by Muslims against Muslims.

That's Irfy's second major stuff-up in two weeks; maybe he should check his sources just a bit more carefully.

ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN UNDER-RESOURCED, MENTALLY

Libby (radio 2SER, Sydney) introduces interviewee Antony Loewenstein:

Right now we're joined on the line with Antony Loewenstein who's a journalist and a bit of a Middle East expert.

Resource wars is the topic. Right. And next week he'll be back to discuss a topic about which he's equally knowledgable, quantum mechanics.

Loewenstein was invited on the program after someone at the "educational" station read his 5,600+ word essay, The Resource Wars, in lefty mag overland. The gist of the essay: the United States, aided and abetted by Israel, is doing whatever needs to be done to secure the resources it needs. The Iraq war is but one example.

Now since Loewenstein knows next to nothing about the subject he's discussing (nothing new here) the essay is mostly the same old anti-US, anti-Israel schtick. To spice things up a bit he points out (at the 4,600 word mark) the dangers confronting dissident Jews such as himself:

I’ve spent years writing, speaking and campaigning for a just Middle East and faced intense hostility in doing so. Advocating for Palestinian rights can be a lonely business, drawing hatred from the mainstream Jewish community for daring to criticise the racially discriminatory Zionist state. Hate-mail and death threats have become a part of life since I first started speaking out in 2003. I was initially shocked by the invective thrown in my direction by fellow Jews, the accusations that I had no right to speak out publicly if I wasn’t sufficiently positive about the Jewish state. A former Jewish partner received a death threat simply because she was dating me.

Poor girl, as if dating Loewy wasn't bad enough. But being an extra-brave Jew, Loewenstein shrugs off these threats posting a helpful link at his blog to photos of his life, including family and loved ones.

Loewenstein is determined to add "resource wars" to his repertoire, the other day linking to this from Michel Chossudovsky:

The military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves.

This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are extensive gas reserves off the Gaza coastline.

Maybe Israel's Gaza action is about energy but Loewenstein does nothing for his credibility by citing and linking to a 9/11 conspiracy theorist who claims, amongst other things, that it is impossible for any cell phone calls to have been made from flight 93.

It's funny but also kind of sad that lefties lap this crap up.

USELESS FORCES STILL CONVERGING

Proving the validity of Blair's law:

The [Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network] encourages all members and supporters of Venezuela to follow the lead of President Hugo Chavez and the Venezuelan government and help to strengthen the campaign in Australia against Israel’s war on the people of Palestine by participating in the protest actions that have been organised around the country in the next week.

Great, I finally get to wear that red and green striped shirt. Click the link above and take a look around the AVSN site; it's very informative. Did you know all Venezuelans can now read and write, Chavez having "abolished illiteracy"?

While at the site you can add your name to the list of Australians wanting the pig-faced Castro wanna-be to visit Australia – Antony Loewenstein is on board so you know it's gotta be a good idea.

GREAT ART? MAYBE NOT. FUNNY? OH YEAH.

Czech artist David Cerny's sculpture Entropa, depicting the 27 EU member countries, is causing a huge controversy – Bulgaria is especially miffed at being shown as a "series of Turkish squat toilets". Other examples (courtesy of Wikipedia):

• Denmark is built of Lego bricks, and some claim to see in the depiction a face reminiscent of the cartoon controversy, though any resemblance has been denied by the artist. [Cerny wishes to continue breathing - ed.]
• France is draped in a "GRÈVE!" ("STRIKE!") banner.
• Germany is a series of interlocking autobahns, described as "somewhat resembling a swastika"...
• Italy is depicted as a football pitch with several players who, according to some, appear to be masturbating.
• The Netherlands has disappeared under the sea with only several minarets still visible; the piece is supposed to emit the singing of muezzins.
• The United Kingdom, known for its Euroscepticism and relative isolation from the Continent, is "included" as missing piece (an empty space) at the top-left of the work.
  

A BBC video report is here; photo gallery here.

Suggestions for selected non-European countries:

• Australia: a shearer surrounded by empty beer cans cutting a sheep's arse out with a chainsaw alongside a coal fired boiler belching skulls into the atmosphere.
• Canada: a giant retarded beaver.
• Cuba: a shack labelled "50 years of socialist progress".
• Iran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad saying "trust me" with his fingers crossed behind his back.
  
• Israel: a big fat big-nosed Jew biting the head off a baby, with Bushitler offering encouragement.
  
• Mexico: a sign reading "the last one north is a rotten egg".
  
• Pakistan: an al Qaeda theme park (with missile-shaped roller-coaster cars marked with the nuclear symbol).
• Venezuela: Bolivarian beefcake-boy Hugo Chavez tongue kissing Fidel Castro (both naked except for Che T-shirts).
• USA: a very fat m16-wielding Uncle Sam – his hat adorned with various corporate logos rather than the usual stars – saying "I want your resources".
  

The possibilities are endless.

WHEN IN DOUBT BLAME ISRAEL

Not content with targeting babies, women, the old and infirm, bloodthirsty Israeli soldiers shell a United Nations safe haven:

The UN refugee agency says its Gaza headquarters has been struck by Israeli artillery fire and the building is now ablaze.

Spokesman Chris Gunness said the building was hit today by what was believed to be three white phosphorous shells. Or maybe not:However, witnesses said a nearby building was struck, and the UN building remained intact.

The attack on a United Nations truck leading to the suspension of aid convoys, originally reported as a certain Israeli attack, is also iffy:

Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for UNRWA, said the agency had not accused Israel of deliberately targeting its personnel.

Gunness said the UN had based its account on reports from truck drivers at the scene, who saw an Israeli tank nearby and "were in no doubt they had been fired upon."

Funny how the initial reports blaming Israel make the news but... you know.

KITTY-KILL CHAOS

Conservation measures on Macquarie Island produce unintended consequences:

The cats were shot as they had been preying on the island's burrowing birds. But the newly rampant rabbits have devastated vegetation over 40% of the island. Clearing up the mess is expected to cost at least $16 million, and it remains unclear whether the island will ever fully recover. A landslip in 2006 that badly damaged a penguin colony has been blamed on rabbit destruction of the vegetation.

In other environmental news, a new study finds wind turbines to be a better energy source than nuclear not because of the radiation hazard but rather because of nuclear's carbon dioxide emissions:

Half of those emissions are caused by the time it takes to plan and build a nuclear power plant – time during which fossil fuels have to be burnt for energy.

Now there's a really good argument for getting moving on the construction of new nuclear plants.

GLOBAL WARMING NOT ALL BAD

Pre-cooked birds:

Temperatures have topped 45C during a two-week long heat wave which is thought to have cooked the birds, mostly juvenile budgerigars and zebra finches.

So in the future all you need do is stake a chicken in the yard and it'll be ready to eat by the time you get home. Cool, I hear chickens make great pets and they are tasty.

GERMANY SYMPATHETIC ON GAZA

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has offered to send a team of experts to help Egyptians close down smuggling tunnels. He also expressed support for Israel:

He said he understood how the Israeli government could not accept the status quo, saying rockets had been fired onto Israeli territory for months, and that the international community should not leave the country to face such attacks alone.

Steinmeier is going to be savaged.

AMBUSH FAILS

Sitting on my towel as I reached for it following my morning shower was a good-sized white-tailed spider. They have a very bad reputation but the severity of the bite is apparently massively overrated. Now normally I catch spiders and release them outside but as I was wet and naked I didn't really feel like hunting around for a container so I thumped it and flushed it. What an exciting life.

AXIS SALLY? NOPE, TEHRAN LOEWY

Self-proclaimed Middle East expert Antony Loewenstein:

My following interview, published in the Tehran Times, is now available online. Aside from an excessively flowery introduction, my comments are exactly as I sent them...

Let's just ignore that his intro doesn't quite make sense, concentrating instead on the interview. Presumably the Tehran Times emailed him the questions and he took his time answering before emailing back. Regardless, Loewenstein's only quibble is that the interview's introduction is "excessively flowery" – flowery in this case meaning non-native-English-speaker psychobabble:

Amidst the harrowing blitz of Zionist arsenals on the defenseless civilians of Gaza and under the heart-rending silence of international community, UN officials, Western powers and Arab leaders who sketch the doleful and grievous fate of humanity and ethics in our tumultuous and chaotic era by their disappointing stance against the belligerence of Israel in the region, one can still find the awakening consciences of praiseworthy peoples who cling to their innate, human values yet and revolt against inequality, injustice, atrocity and violation of definite human rights boldly.

That's right, everyone who's anyone is supporting Israel. Now for the interviewee (my bold):

Antony Loewenstein is a world-renowned anti-Zionist advocate, the co-founder of Independent Australian Jewish Voices and the regular columnist of Guardian, Washington Post and Sydney Morning Herald.

In his 2006 book “My Israel Question”, he questioned the existence of Israeli regime in the Middle East fundamentally and won several international awards for his courageous and innovative way of criticizing Israel afterwards.

Loewenstein doesn't question the above so he must consider it correct. He is getting lots of play in the print and electronic media so the "world-renowned" claim is close enough to the truth. The "regular columnist" nonsense – he is a columnist for no paper and his work has never appeared in the print edition of the Washington Post – can be overlooked because it's likely whoever wrote this doesn't understand the meaning of "columnist". He has received no awards, international or otherwise. His courage and innovativeness are debatable; his stupidity is legendary. On to the interview:

Tehran Times: Israel is holding an unrelenting and multilateral incursion on the people of Palestine from the air, earth and sea. The casualty rates are surging dramatically and most of the victims are innocent infants, children, women and civilians. What’s your opinion on such atrocities?

Antony Loewenstein: As a human being first and Australian Jew second, I unconditionally condemn Israel’s attack on the Gazan people. Hundreds of innocent Palestinians have been killed by the Jewish state’s disproportionate response. After a nearly two-year blockade on the Gaza Strip in a futile attempt to weaken the democratically elected Hamas government, both Palestinians and Israelis have the right to leave in peace. This current action will only embolden extremists on all sides.

Doesn't everyone want to "leave" in peace? Imagine editing this crap.

Tehran Times: U.S. vetoed the anti-Israeli resolution of Security Council two times, as it had done several times before. It didn’t allow the UN to impose embargo on Israel for its belligerent massacre of Palestinians. What’s the reason?

Antony Loewenstein: The United Nations, with notable exceptions, has been ineffective in managing the major issues of the Middle East. Israel has defied countless Security Council resolutions and is protected by Washington due to the Israel lobby, Jewish money and Holocaust guilt, among many other issues. The vast majority of the civilized world condemns Israel’s over 40-year occupation of Palestinian land and yet peace has never seemed further away. There is a desperate need for other world powers, such as India, to become more actively involved in the UN and re-balance the current status-quo, where the leading powers bully the developing world.

Israel is almost a religion within American politics that is seemingly beyond criticism, despite recent polls finding that a majority of Democrat voters opposed Israel’s current attack on Gaza. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Israel was the only country that all major candidates pledged loyalty to. It’s pitiful to watch. It is unlikely that President-elect Obama will change this narrative, exert pressure on Israel to give up its colonial addiction to land, which is why other methods are required, such as boycotting elements of Israel that actively profit from the occupation of Palestinian land.

Stupid, religion-crazed Americans, all being Zionists, won't care – Hell, they've been so thoroughly brainwashed by the all-powerful Jewish lobby they won't even notice – that Obama will be the first President to sweat to "preserve, protect and defend" Israel rather than the Constitution. And wouldn't Loewenstein prefer that Obama change reality rather than pointlessly changing the "narrative"?

Tehran Times: Notwithstanding their continuous pretension of independence, American media seem to be reluctant or somehow restricted to publish any kind of report and news with anti-Israeli essence, even some slight criticisms. Is it correct?

Antony Loewenstein: With a few exceptions, most of the American mainstream media refuse to criticize the Jewish state. This may be starting to change, however. During last year’s 60th anniversary of Israel’s birth, leading papers, such as the New York Times, ran stories about the Nakba, the Palestinian term for the 1948 “catastrophe”. Such articles would have been unimaginable even a few years ago.

Much of the American media is far from independent, run by a handful of corporations with many interests. Challenging the Zionist narrative is regarded as bad for business.

Many journalists in the West are afraid of the Zionist lobby. This is something I’ve personally experienced many times over the years, but it’s mostly comical and should be ignored. Any criticism of Israel can elicit censure from the usual suspects. Alternatives are starting to emerge, however, as the internet is far harder to control than the opinion page of a national newspaper. Israeli publications such as Haaretz provide accurate information from within Israel itself and the occupation that leaves most of the American media for dead.

Please reread the bolded orange sentences above so you're absolutely certain of what Loewenstein wrote.

Okay, welcome back. An internal search for "nakba" at the New York Times yields 368 results, with many of the articles dated prior to 2008 and going back at least to the 1970s. A search for "palestinians 1948" yields 10,000+ results. Yet according to Loewenstein, the many pre-2008 articles do not exist; Jewish money, and the influence it buys, preventing the articles being written. It's impossible to know if he actually believes this or if he's simply ignorant. Either way, he's wrong. Back to the interview:

Tehran Times: Israel claimed that it just seeks retaliation against Hamas by raiding on Gaza, while we see that it has closed the Rafah crossing, prevents the admittance of food, cash and pharmacy into Gaza. What’s this obvious contradiction for?

Antony Loewenstein: The Jewish state, rather than stop the crimes of rockets from Gaza, has been attempting to pressure the Palestinians in the most densely populated area on earth, and force them to grow tired of their Hamas rulers and overthrow them. Alas, this hasn’t happened and the group is likely to emerge from the current conflict emboldened morally and politically. Hamas, like Hizbollah in Lebanon, is a fact of life in the Middle East, supported by millions of Arabs and Persians.

Gaza is not nearly "the most densely populated area on earth". This keeps coming up for a couple of reasons. It's meant to emphasize that residents' quality of life is not good at the best of times, you know, being tightly packed together. It also drives home the point that any military operation there is bound to result in masses of civilian casualties.

Tehran Times: And then, what’s your anticipation about the prospect of Israeli regime with its aggressive and inhumane approach? Is it going to be capable of soldiering on its current genocides without any stoppage?

Antony Loewenstein: Israel is at cross-roads. It can either continue on its current path that is expanding its occupation and refusing the Palestinian’s self-determination, or it can realize that Palestinians will never accept, and nor should they, a truncated state. Within 5-10 years, there will be more Palestinians than Jews in the lands of Israel and Palestine. Israel is currently an apartheid state, oppressing Arabs in ways that every older black South Africans are shocked to witness. The Jewish state is like a child that won’t grow up, screaming and fighting its way out of every fight. Thankfully, a growing number of citizens in Western countries and much of the Arab world no longer fear its muscle or threats.

So, it's always better to surrender than to fight. School must have been great fun for a young Loewenstein.

The guy is certainly entitled to his opinions. The problem is, Loewenstein has nothing to offer other than opinions, but unfortunately these usually aren't grounded in reality. This won't be obvious to those unfamiliar with him, who might assume from his seemingly spectacular bio that he's a font of wisdom on matters middle eastern when he's anything but.

It is long overdue for the powers that be at Macquarie University to remove Loewenstein from the board of the Centre for Middle East and North African Studies, where he's the token almost Jew. In fact, given Loewenstein's extreme views, appointing him to the board was a serious error in judgement. Independent Australian Jewish Voices' members – no matter what they think about Israel's rights and wrongs – might also want to consider resigning from the group in order to distance themselves from Loewenstein's relentless self-promoting. That's the bottom line here folks, Antony Loewenstein's primary goal is making Antony Loewenstein a media star.

CUNNING STUNT

It comes as no surprise that freelance journalist Katherine Wilson (aka Sharon Gould; aka weathergirl) has achieved mainstream notoriety not through fact-based reporting or well-argued opinion but rather by duping Quadrant's editorial staff into publishing a well-crafted but bogus article.

Wilson's most personally revealing writing was once found on collective blogs Larvatus Prodeo (moderate left) and Left Writes (far left). Wilson's LP posts were removed at her request after a falling out with proprietor Mark Bahnisch. It is unclear exactly why her LW posts were removed. I suspect Wilson's self-described intemperance accounts, at least in part, for the disappeance of her online writing:

This blogging medium is great for folk who have arrived at positions, or who have considered opinions, or who have a wealth of knowledge behind them. I have none of these: I’m impulsive, rash and have a bower-bird approach to knowledge. So often I’m thrashing out ideas which I haven’t thought through.

The disclaimer above comes after a Wilson post at Left Writes, followed by one several days later at Larvatus Prodeo, proposing that the previously unknown Arterial Bloc protesters, who violently disrupted the 2006 Melbourne G20 summit, were actually police agents. When her conspiracy theory was soundly rejected by LP's other bloggers and commenters alike, Wilson updated the post:

Update: please let it be clear that I don’t believe this conspiracy theory, much as I enjoy proposing it.

In order to make it appear that she never really believed the agents provocateurs theory she herself proposed, Wilson later removed the update and inserted the following into the body of the post:

(Please let it be clear that I don’t believe this conspiracy theory, much as I enjoy proposing it.)

A major edit like that should have been noted; it's a matter of integrity. Wilson's views on abortion also say something about her character:

I felt nothing but relief when undergoing abortion–the surgeon, in Townsville where I had it, even allowed me to take a peek when he scanned the bunch of cells he was about to remove. I did not for a moment wrestle with any moral question, any more than those sitting down to eat a steak from a sentient animal do. (Although a meat-eater, I find the latter more morally troubling.)

It is unclear at what point Wilson came to regard the child she now carries as something more than a valueless "bunch of cells".

None of the above has any bearing on Wilson's clever and well-executed Quadrant stunt. It does help explain Wilson's decision to seek notoriety through deception, however. In duping Quadrant she discredits (at least a bit) both the magazine and editor Keith Windschuttle; something she could never achieve through honest argument.

Update: John Quiggin:

The real hoax victims here have been those on the political right, who’ve repeatedly swallowed Windschuttle’s promises to refute well-established facts about Australian history “later this year” and who are now getting their “science” from his discredited magazine.

Bizarre.

WELCOME BACK WALLY

It's good to see Jeremy Sear back online after a short break. Rumour has it he was in the United States helping to defend a man accused of doing illegal dental work. Sear is something of an expert in such matters.

Rumour also has it that this matter is hush hush because Sear was paid cash.

SLUT SIGNS UP: ISRAEL CONDEMNED

My ongoing preoccupation with Antony Loewenstein is easily explained. There's no getting around it, whether he's wearing a cowboy shirt or velvet, the guy is hot. But Loewenstein is more (actually less) than just a pretty face: he's a moderately bright yet untalented writer and gratingly monotonous public speaker who at 34 has yet to write or say anything worth reading or hearing. Were he not an anti-Jew Jew – his sole distinguishing characteristic (Okay, there is his dress sense) – the news media would ignore him, there would be no speaking engagements and his books would remain unpublished. Were he not an outspoken anti-Jew Jew, no one other than whining like-minded lefties, many of them perpetual students, no-hopers and academics, would take any notice of him, his less than profound thoughts garnering no notice beyond the occasionally-published letter to the editor.

Loewenstein's prodigious output coupled with a total lack of talent, insight, and analytical skill make him an easy target. His relentless attention seeking, claims of death threats, censoring of comments at his blog while perversely claiming to be a censorship victim himself, spurious claims of expertise having spent a long time in the Middle East (he hasn't) and ongoing dishonesty only add to his target value. It is the undue attention accorded him by the media that ultimately motivates me to write about him, however.

Again today Loewenstein receives the unwarranted attention of Australia's print and electronic news media. His "newsworthy" achievement? He organised and submitted a statement condemning Israel's Gaza assault, the statement being notable simply because it is "signed" by Loewenstein and 130 other Australian Jews. In fact, the statement (and Loewenstein's participation in it) is notable because it is endorsed by so few.

The statement was first announced last Friday with Loewenstein asking the 507 members of Independent Australian Jewish Voices (IAJV) to endorse it. The statement supposedly received 131 signatures but this number is dubious. Four of the signatories insisted on anonymity and cannot be counted thereby reducing the total to 127. Of these 127 signatories 29 are not among the 507 existing IAJV members and are not verified to be Jews. In fact, one of the 29 is one Shari Mutta, an obvious corruption of sharmuta, common slang for "slut", as used in Adam Sandler's You Don't Mess With The Zohan. (This isn't the first time Loewenstein, keen to get the IAJV's member numbers up, failed to recognise an obviously fake name most Jews would pick up.) Regardless, only 98 IAJV members – fewer than one in five – came on board with Loewenstein. In a word, WOW!

That 409 of IAJV's 507 members did not sign up probably has something to do with an earlier Loewenstein-orchestrated controversy. According to the Australian:

Antony Loewenstein, a founder of Independent Australian Jewish Voices, was a signatory to the advertisement, published in The Australian on Wednesday, which said the 60th anniversary [of Israel's founding] was a "celebration of the triumph of racism and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians". Other members of the group, including publisher Louise Adler, declined to sign.

The advertisement also caused a stir when it emerged that [IAJV] names had been added to the advertisement without permission.

It sometimes takes a while but even his allies eventually work out Loewenstein plays fast and loose with the truth. It's all about attention seeking.

Update: Vexnews provides additional information:

“Shari Mutta” (not something you would ever call your daughter) originally emailed Loewenstein to say she’s “Jewish by marriage”.

Any real Jewish person knows you cannot possibly become Jewish by marriage, and only by birth or a very involved and difficult conversion process.

Of course any real Jewish person below the age of 60 would also know what ‘Sharmuta’ was.

Not really Jewish? You reckon?

Update II: Loewenstein will be pleased that the IAJV statement, signed by possibly 0.098% of Australian Jews, is receiving worldwide news coverage.

TRUTH MASSACRED

Always keen to make Israel look bad, Antony Loewenstein links to a video at Raw Story – given the source and linker this is bound to end badly – showing numerous Palestinians horrifically mangled by an explosion. Loewenstein's brief post attributes responsibility for the devastation:

A graphic account of Israel’s “defensive” war in Gaza.

Yes, the pictured carnage does result from an explosion but has nothing to do with Israel. The video, grabbed from Live Leak, is now claimed to show the aftermath of the 2005 explosion of a pickup truck filled with Qassam rockets being shown off during a parade of military might in Gaza. This hoax video is blamed on Jews exploiting dead and injured Palestinians. Of course.

I first saw this video soon after it was posted to Live Leak, immediately thinking it suspect. Had an Israeli attack caused casualties on the scale shown al Jazeera would have been crowing about it. It also seemed odd to see Hamas goons in uniform running around the streets; military dress makes it hard to hide.

Update: More disinformation, this time from EUobserver:












The Israeli bombing in Gaza has killed
over 380 Palestinians so far, including
45 women and children (Photo: wikipedia)

No country other than the United States flies B1 bombers and the United States has flown no missions supporting Israel.

Update II: Irfan Yusuf, Australia's biggest blogger (click and scroll down), is also fooled by the bogus video:

The video shows the aftermath of an Israeli bombing in Gaza It shows dead bodies of women and children. If, after watching this video, you still believe there is no humanitarian problem in Gaza, you may as well believe the moon is made of lettuce.

Yep, them Jews is evil.

Update III: Raw Story has removed the video, describing it as "misdated", but hints that Israel could be responsible:

The source was in error. The footage was actually taken on September 23, 2005 at the Jabaliya refugee camp, described as a bombing of a parade that killed at least 15 Palestinians. Israel denied responsibility, and the ruling Palestinian Fatah blamed Hamas.

Raw Story's source is more honest:

The video was not taken on January 1st 2009. It was not taken in a civilian market, and it was not the result of an IDF air strike.

This video is from September 23rd 2005, and was taken in the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. A Hamas pick-up truck carrying Qassam rockets detonated by mistake during a Hamas rally, leaving at least 15 killed and dozens more injured.

Antony Loewenstein's post has yet to be corrected.

Update IV: Rather than admit he'd linked to a bogus anti-Israel video, Loewenstein has silently consigned his post to oblivion. The link now produces this:

Oh no! You're looking for something which just isn't here! Fear not however, errors are to be expected, and luckily there are tools on the sidebar for you to use in your search for what you need.

Using the sidebar tools won't help locate a post that's been removed. It is available in Google cache, however.

SLAVES TO A MALE SEX TOY

A collective of irreverent comedy geniuses finds significance in selected right-wingers' frequency of use of the phrase "make no mistake". What then to make of these left-wing jerks' preoccupation with male masturbation tools?

TOO LATE FOR THIS YEAR"S ACADEMY AWARDS

An ideologically opposed workmate yesterday directed me to a video from Press TV showing a parade of Palestinian children arriving at a Gaza hospital following an Israeli air attack. This was to bolster her claim that the "Middle East's most powerful air force" was executing a "disproportionate" and "indiscriminate" attack on "one of the most densely populated regions on Earth". She doesn't blog, knows that I do and wanted me to write an anti-Israel post linking to the video. I thought she was going to punch me after being told that Israel's air force, if it did aim to kill civilians, would have to be supremely incompetent in managing to kill only some 400 people during a multi-day air assault. But rather than continue down a path that could only lead to a full blown argument we decided to have another drink and switched the discussion to Western Australia's economic prospects.

It was only after my friend left that I watched the video closely. Several viewings convinced me this is something more than the typically grotesque Palestinian media carnival. Approximately one minute into the video a little girl with a large blood-absorbing pad taped to her head above her left eye is shown in the arms of a woman.














The commentator (possibly Syrian) says,

"These pictures are giving us a new evidence that the war is not against Hamas only... it is against Palestinian people. They are killing civilians. Look for the pictures, they are killing kids, children, women, elders. So this wild war is against Palestinian people. It's against Palestinian innocents. It is not against Hamas movement."

So this little girl is part of the evidence that Israel is in fact targeting civilians. This same little girl – recognisable by her distinctive striped top and somewhat chubby build (what food shortage?) – appears again later (at 6.30). The girls forehead is unbandaged and she's on her back on a gurney so this footage was obviously shot BEFORE the earlier footage showing the prominent bandage. The odd thing is, her forehead is unmarked. As the clip plays the girl is attended by five medical personnel (no shortage here either), two of whom apply thin gauze pads to her left temple. Not only does the girl appear to be uninjured, no blood is visible on the guaze pads when they are lifted from the invisible wound. The girl is soon thereafter (at around 8.45) shown with her left temple lightly bandaged being carried toward the hospital's exit.

An al Jazeera video clip, much more widely viewed than the one above, also features the same little girl.
















This clip also features (at 1.28) a little boy wearing a black and white striped top and blue pants standing in a group of men. He appears to be the same boy carried into the hospital in the earlier clip (at 3.50) and later receiving treatment (at 5.50) – watch as medical staff ignore the "wound" on his back, roughly flipping him over.

It is possible that this little boy is injured, perhaps as a result of Israeli action. The little girl's injuries appear to be purely imaginary, however. So, it's obvious that al Jazeera and PRESS TV are not to be trusted, ever.

Update: Israel-hater Antony Loewenstein is also not to be trusted. He not only erroneously claims to spend a lot of time in the Middle East, he later claimed to have traveled to Lebanon. (The Lebanon claim is made in remarks at the Berkman Center, Harvard, during which he can't even get the temperature right, claiming it was 90º F in Sydney on the day he left, when it was, in fact, 68º F.) Also, transparency advocate Loewenstein has recently stealthily deleted at least one comment at his blog. The guy is not to be trusted.

I'M BACK, SORT OF

For the past few months I've been involved in what is probably best described as an adventure. This little undertaking's learning curve was very steep, requiring a huge investment of time and effort. So, not only have I been pressed for time, I haven't felt like blogging. I can't comment on what's going on while events continue to unfold but will try to post on other topics when I do have the time.