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Friday, May 17, 2002

coming around

"Call me a simple soul, but it could surprise me. The Jews that I see gathered in Times Square are howling at Nazis in Mel Brooks's kick lines. Hentoff's fantasy is grotesque: There is nothing, nothing, in the politics, the society, or the culture of the United States that can support such a ghastly premonition. His insecurity is purely recreational. But the conflation of the Palestinians with the Nazis is only slightly less grotesque. The murder of 28 Jews in Netanya was a crime that fully warranted the Israeli destruction of the terrorist base in the refugee camp at Jenin, but it was not in any deep way like Kristallnacht. Solidarity must not come at the cost of clarity. Only a fool could believe that the Passover massacre was a prelude to the extermination of the Jews of Israel; a fool, or a person with a particular point of view about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If you think that the Passover massacre was like Kristallnacht, then you must also think that there cannot be a political solution to the conflict, and that the Palestinians have no legitimate rights or legitimate claims upon any part of the land, and that there must never be a Palestinian state, and that force is all that will ever avail Israel. You might also think that Jordan is the Palestinian state and that the Palestinians should find their wretched way there. After all, a "peace process" with the Third Reich was impossible. (Even if Chaim Weizmann once declared, about his willingness to enter into negotiations with Nazi officials, that he would negotiate with the devil if it would save Jews.) So the analogy between the Passover massacre and Kristallnacht is not really a historical argument. It is a political argument disguised as a historical argument. It is designed to paralyze thought and to paralyze diplomacy."

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Thursday, May 16, 2002

what she said

"CAMBRIDGE - Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created the first realistic videos of people saying things they never said - a scientific leap that raises unsettling questions about falsifying the moving image."

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mothers little helper

"The reason for Celexa's stunning success is not science but marketing. Drug-industry consultants Scott-Levin say U.S. pharmaceutical companies spent about $10 billion last year on drug promotions. Most of that -- $9 billion -- went toward marketing to doctors (about $12,000 for each doctor in the U.S.). Drug makers command an army of more than 68,000 salespeople, one for every eleven doctors in the U.S. While pharmaceutical companies justify high drug prices by pointing to astronomical research and development costs, many who study the industry say drug companies spend more on marketing and promotions, especially for drugs like Celexa."

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go leafs

"Ground-breaking stuff. But this report, and Canada’s willingness to allow people to use marijuana for medical purposes, also seems to have raised the ire of the U.S. in a significant way. We’ve learned tonight that its drug czar is pressuring Canadian authorities not to loosen Canadian law and he's carrying a very big stick -- threatening trade sanctions if we don't do what he wants. Global National's Carl Hanlon has the exclusive details." (watch the report)

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preoccupatience

Jews Against the Occupation

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war cries

"Bush has declared it's war time all the time. After the massive bombing in Afghanistan, the escalation of intervention in Colombia, the brutal U.S.-backed Israeli invasion of the Occupied Territories of Palestine, the Bush administration has now declared they are preparing for a major ground and air war against Iraq. Tens of thousands will die unless we act now. The people of the world can stop this war before it starts. Join us Saturday, June 1 in New York City for a national day-long conference of panels and workshop discussions to plan a comprehensive anti-war strategy."

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togetherness

"Shoshanah Wolf, an organizer of the group from the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, was asked by a man in his 80’s with a European accent whether she really believed the other side was capable of honoring a just peace. Yes, she said, she really did. The man said she was naïve and wrong and a traitor, and shouted at her over and over, "You ugly bitch!" Ms. Wolf (who, by the way, is very pretty) felt that it was her duty as a young woman with an elder to hear him out. Also, she sensed that he was a Holocaust survivor."

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Wednesday, May 15, 2002

pandoras boxing

some lids are better left uncracked.

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stratocaster

"It became an annual rite of my boyhood. Each spring, I'd anticipate the arrival of a package from a Long Island company called Strat-O-Matic, makers of a classic dice-based baseball simulation board game. Inside the mailing was the newly minted set of cards representing the real-life statistics of most every player to don a uniform the prior season."

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pocket lining

"Afghanistan hopes to strike a deal later this month to build a $2bn pipeline through the country to take gas from energy-rich Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India."

"The World Bank, the United Nations (news - web sites) Development Program and the Asian Development Bank believe $10.2 billion is needed for the reconstruction of Afghanistan over five years, of which $4.9 billion will be needed within the next 30 months."

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